Crooked Lines Make Me New, God

[Music] [Music] [Music] well good morning impact church come on put your hands together God has been good to you in this place where'd you do me one more favor put your hands together help me thank Cristina Williamson for just being such a blessing [Applause] thank God that guy can use all two different arts and means of reaching people to accomplish his purposes can I just ask you to do one more thing for me would you put your hands together to say hello to all those that are connected with us through impact Church online come on out Orlando campus down there down I for those that are all over the different cities and our correctional facilities well come on let them know they may not be physically here but they're in our hearts we love you we're so excited to have you here with us today and welcome to all of you who are new here to impact for the first time I'm not sure who invited you but I thank them for nudging your a little bit and encouraged you to come out and we believe today's gonna be an amazing day for you because God has something really good in store for you we started a teaching series in here last week called crooked lines and I want to pick up today with what we started in her last week and really dive right into to helping us to understand that God's got something amazing that he wants to do in our lives and so many times we we think that we've disqualified ourselves because our pathway is not a nice straight one and all of us kind of start this thing called life off we started some spot and we can envision in our head I'll graduate high school I'll go to college I'll be married by this time I have kids by this time and everything kind of work out have my dream job and then sometimes we look up after a while in life and realize things haven't worked out exactly like I thought they would and in fact sometimes life messes up on us sometimes we mess up on life and sometimes other people get involved and throw a curve ball our way and I'm here to encourage you today that even if you've got some crooked lines you're in good company because there many of us in here that have come to this place is just getting flat-out honest with ourselves that even if my lines aren't nice and straight our beautiful aren't aren't lovely in the eyes of other people my god is still amazing this part I like right here we serve the god of the crooked lines he's the one that's able to get us back on track and still redeem the time and help us end up where he intended for us to be so the premise statement that we've been using for this series is simply this life in Christ is not one straight line from salvation to eternal victory instead it most often resembles crooked lines and we made a decision around here at impact search to just just just kind of take the mask off we've decided that we're not coming to church to play Church come on say man somebody we've decided we're not gonna let Church be a museum where all the perfect people come and sit and showcase how perfect we are we recognize the fact that church is kind of like a hospital and worst thing in the world to do is wait so you get better before you go to the hospital you go to the hospital when you recognize there's some things in me that need to be repaired to need to be fixed and it's beautiful to be to come into an environment we can be honest we can be transparent we can be authentic about the crooked lines that we have observed that show up in our lives from time to time and one things I've found that is so liberating is when you get to a place where you you you take the mask off and you wave the white flag that I'm done trying to act like I got it all together all the time it's liberating because when you don't have to act like you got it all together all the time you can be honest about those moments when it's really not together another thing I found that happens is when you get to that place you also look around you start to realize I'm not the only one that's got a few crooked lines in fact if I got any honest people in the house anybody else willing to admit you got a few crooked lines ooh let me look around anybody willing to be honest you got a few few crooked lines look around look around come on look around anybody that doesn't have their hand up stretch your hands towards them and say come out of your lying devil you come out of them because all of us got some crooked lines and that's one of the benefits that's why I'm constantly harping on small groups we just started our new small group semester last week and if you've not yet gotten plugged into a small group you still have time you can go to our website we're impact comm slash small groups find one in that directory that fits for you and for your family because I'm convinced you cannot grow to the level God wants you to grow to if you're trying to do life by yourself in fact I just believe that you got to have community and what happens in community is what I just talked about you get a chance to be open and be honest and you get a chance to find out that what you're going through somebody else already went through it and not only did they go through it but God took them through a victoriously and watch this if he did it for them he'll do it for you too come on say man somebody and so narita our text Scriptures the scriptures that we've kind of used to build this the first one I'm gonna reach is and when I told you last week it's kind of my life Scripture that's Philippians 1:6 and it says and I am certain that God who began the good work within you will continue his work until somebody shout until come on you didn't shout somebody shout until God will continue his work watch this until it is finally finished and when is that gonna happen God on the day when Christ Jesus returns that means that what God has started in you he's not gonna quit on you because you made some mistakes he's not gonna quit on you because all your family and friends got fed up with you he's not gonna quit on you because you guys have talked about this before and you still find yourself in this place again God says the work that I started you is such a good work I'm gonna keep working at it watch this until it's the finished work and I'll keep working at it till it's finished right up until the day that Jesus Christ returns every time I read that what I hear is even when the rapture happens when the trumpet sounds God's gonna be saying get your attitude right put on your way up he's gonna still be working on you or something he's let me say leave that Rolex watch behind you'll need that drop it drop it let it go why you don't need all this stuff but God's gonna constantly be working in US and on us right up until the day when Jesus Christ returns which means if you're not perfect yet that's okay you're in good company if you're not perfect yet it's okay because God is gonna continue to work with you and on you until he perfects his work on the inside of you the second person I want to give you is Romans 8:28 it says and we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them that's a good place to say a man right there I mean I like think of it this way God takes all the broken pieces the missing pieces he takes everything he puts it all into this big pot all of our mistakes all of our faults all of our failures all of our missteps he puts it all into this big pot we looking at while we see his ugliness all we see is bad stuff but then he takes a dose of his mercy and grace and the Holy Spirit and answer to the mixture stirs it up and by the time he serves their life up for the world to see all they see is I'm an amazing blessing so that's why if you're if your recipe right now doesn't look so good hang on and keep following Jesus because as God adds his ingredients to the mess that you might have made it a time I have made when it's all said and done he still knows how to make it come out just right he takes all the pieces and works them together for our good as long as we make the commitment that we stay deeply in love with him so now I want to take you over to Psalm number 23 so there's a passage that most of us are familiar with even if you're new to church having been in church your life you've probably heard this business passage in Psalm number 23 and it goes like this it says the Lord is my shepherd because of that I shall not want he makes me to lie down in green pastures he leads me beside the still waters he restores my soul he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake because he loves me and even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil why not for you are with me your rod and your staff they bring me comfort you prepare a table before me right in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup runs over surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord what come when I would dwell in the house of the Lord words I would dwell in the house of the Lord forever verse number three of this passage says that the Good Shepherd the one that if I'm following him I will lack no good thing the Bible says that he restores my soul and if you look the word restore up here the Old Testament was written not in English it was written primarily in Hebrew it hasn't written in Hebrew the new test was written primarily in Greek so the original language that the Bible is written in it was Hebrew in the Old Testament and the actual Hebrew word that we've now translated to the English word restores is a Hebrew word called Shuba you spelled Shu WB pronounced Shoob and that word means to return to turn back to refresh or to repair so in the Bible says that God restores my soul what he's saying is that God shoobs my soul he returns my so he turns my soul back around he refreshes my soul and I love that last definition he repairs my soul is he good when the cable is broken the guy shows up to repair and come over fix it he makes it right and all of us have a soul you say what is my soul well in order to understand what the soul is you got to understand the nature man man is not a soul man in fact they're three parts that make up every man whether you're saved or unsaved they're three parts all of us all of us as the the real you is a spirit being you say how can you say that because the Bible says God made us in His image and after his likeness and then in John 4 the Bible says that God is a spirit so if God is a spirit and I'm made and you're made in His image and after his likeness then the real you is not this flesh and blood body that's why when you breathe your last breath this part of you is gonna go into a casket this part of you is gonna go into into a grave or go into a mausoleum or be cremated this part of you is not the real you the real you is that spirit being that lives only inside that body and that's what can I just say that's one reason why we should get all jacked up with racism and let's let people pit us against each other based on the color of the outside of this house that we live in the real you is not that house that you're walking around in the real you is a spirit being we live in a physical body and we possess a soul now the soul is your mind the will and your emotions and so what the Bible says here is that one of the things that God the Good Shepherd does is that he restores our soul part of the nature of our Good Shepherd is to restore our soul to its original state of wholeness all the way back in Genesis chapter 2 anytime you want to find out what God original plan was what did God intend go back to Genesis 2 before mankind ever sinned and this is the words you find in Genesis 2 verse 25 it says Adam and his wife were both naked and I believe that means they were literally naked they physically had no clothing on but I also believe there's a deeper meaning they were they were a figuratively naked which means they didn't have anything to hide from each other there was no embarrassment there's no you know let me cover myself up let me not tell you this I don't want to share this about myself you'll respond to me they were physically naked but they were figuratively naked as well and then the Bible says this they were naked before each other and they felt no shame Adam and Eve though they were created fully grown were created with a childlike innocence that knew nothing about hurt they knew nothing about shame they knew nothing about being embarrassed they knew nothing about being disappointed they didn't have a concept in their heads of grief Adam and Eve born fully grown didn't have any concept of inferiority where you're you're stronger to me you're taller than me you're pretty to me they knew nothing about racism or frustration or unforgiveness they didn't know anything about being pessimist they know anything about saying well the Sun is up their office won't happen tomorrow they knew nothing about being filled with worry or too rigid for God to work with them it wasn't until sin entered into the picture that their soul the mind will and emotions started to suffer from the effects of death remember when God said the day you eat of that fruit you surely die well they ate of the fruit they didn't drop dead physically but the moment it took place they had a separation from God but in the moment that they ate of that fruit that God said not to eat of all the effects of death started to come into life we could say this way the moment they hated that fruit crooked lines started up until the enemy they were living a straight line man the moment that sin came into the picture crooked lines started to happen and after sin all the effects of death started to show up that's for the first time Adam and Eve understood inferiority for the first time Adam and Eve understood fear remember when God came looking for Adam in the guard he said where are you Adam he said I heard you coming and I hid myself because I was afraid before that he knew nothing about fear before that he's standing in front of elephants 2030 times his size and he doesn't bat an eye there's a lion that walks right up to him he tells him to sit down right here he knows nothing about fear until sin comes in until his soul gets contaminated until the effects of having missed the mark start to show up in his life until then they were masking they remember they were naked and they weren't afraid but now that sin is kicked in if they're looking for fig leaves they're covering themselves up they don't want anybody to see who they really are I'm preaching better than you send a man see baby before sin kicked in we could come to church and be honest with each other had sin never kicked in we can show up at church time I ask you how you're doing we can say well I'm blessed but I'm kind of struggling right now in my marriage a little bit not appreciate if you pray for me but once sand kicked in we get we wish now we come to church with fig leaves on now they're designer fig leaves I mean I know you go to Louis Vuitton and you got Gucci fig leaves but it still fig leaves now when somebody ask you hiding I'm blessed highly favored empowered to prosper knowing when I've never had a problem a day in my life but you're crying in the car before you got here you haven't suicidal thoughts and harming yourself and but we can't say that because once and kicked in they started covering themselves up once and kicked in Adam and Eve can no longer take responsibility now it's always somebody else's fault as two white man's fault direct men's fault Republicans fault the Democrats fault when God said what did you do at him I don't say I don't even know I was minding my business and it was that woman that you gave me when sand kicked in it became too hard to say no I'm wrong I'm just wrong nobody else's fault I gotta fix this man I messed this up I got to fix it it was easy to do that before sin kicked in when sin kicked in our soul got contaminated crooked lines showed up and part of God been able to help redirect rewrite our crooked lines that we got to come to a place where we allow him to restore our soul same thing happens to us all and naturally in life as well many of us as little kids are living our lives we're having a ball man we're the happiest thing in the world yes is what we want to be when we were little man we had these big dreams or we wanted to be and then life started happening to us parents ended up getting a divorce they crushed you maybe you and your dad had a close relationship but after the divorce happened he moved away now for whatever reason y'all don't talk like he used to and that father wound is so deep down on the inside of this it's change your whole perspective and personality for some people the hurt that has come from that situation when you were a little girl or even a little boy and some adult or some cousin it you were supposed to be able to trust mistreated you used you touch you inappropriately shattered your innocence wounded your spirit and watch this instead of going to the shepherd to let him restore our soul well we have a tendency do we adjust to it we put in filing back on my I'll never let that happen to me again and our whole personality now changes can somebody help me out in this place today so our lines get more crooked more jagged because instead of going to God to let him heal us we just adjust we go into this default mode we never recovered from the devastation we alter our personalities just live with it now that young girl that was so innocent that just loved God it was a worshiper with all of her heart now she becomes a teenager now she's promiscuous she's not having sex with so many guys because she just wants sex she's having sex because somebody lied to her and made her think that the only way she can get love is by giving up her body wasn't that way in the beginning it'll keep a little kid you should play with the trucks on the playground man vroom vroom to just enjoy life now all of a sudden you mad you thugged-out and you you get you angry at the world yeah you act like you don't like relationships with people with in reality you're screaming for relationship but we end up with instead of letting the great Shepherd heal our soul restore our soul we don't watch we can adjust to it and just learn how to live with that devastation that has hit us sometimes we even have folks that because they've gone through different situations in life life has adjusted them and it grows this place today I like I don't care about anything anymore truth is you care so much it is painful to admit how much you care sometimes even our sexual appetites and sexual orientation gets perverted twisted because of something that happened in our past that if we simply stop letting ourselves identify with pain and brought it to God to let him heal us then the real you could come back to the service you Comus you deep down inside you are more than amazing come on I'm preaching real good I'm not talking about the you that you allow us to see him that time I've you that's got an angry and bitter and put the wall up in the shell right now I'm talking about the real you down on the inside you are amazing fearfully and wonderfully made and all your heavenly Father is saying is come back to me let me heal those crooked lies let me mend and let me fix it let me restore your soul if you let me fix you on the inside you'll find out that the real you is so much more amazing than the you that you've defaulted you and I'll use you to help heal somebody else's hard that's what God is saying to you right now hey man I said hey man now I read to see your min ago but let me read it again Genesis 2:25 Adam and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame they were both naked and they felt no shame if you looked at words shame up in the Hebrew it is defined as a state characterized by feelings of worthlessness a state that is characterized by feelings of worthlessness if you look the word shame up in the American Heritage Dictionary it's defined as a painful emotion caused by a strong sense of guilt embarrassment unworthiness or disgrace strong sense of the painful emotion caused by strong sense of guilt embarrassment unworthiness or disgrace now once you grab this right here lock into me right here because I believe this is this is a key point key moment in our sermon shame is the Umbrella emotion that feeds all other areas of our brokenness once you grab this one please believe that when you're walking around your anger and you walk around you want to hurt yourself we walk around depressed all the time and walk around and ready to fight people all the time where we walk around it and I'm needing attention from people at the root of it where you say where's they come from because so many times we spend our lives dealing with the surface thing but we never get to the root and I believe that the root is shame shame is the Umbrella emotion that feeds all other areas of our brokenness and Satan has learned how to maximize capitalizing on our crooked lines to turn it into shame now put together Lissa just some of the things that I've seen in my life in the lives of other people that if we don't stay on top of it could just cause a shame things like having children that are born out of wedlock or maybe you're the kid that was born out of wedlock having a failed marriage failed business having multiple children by multiple different people being unable to read as an adult being an adult but being illiterate an enemy pounces on you to make you think you're the only one not knowing that if we were to take a poll of honest people in this room right now there's several people in this room they fit that same category and if we get past ashamed watch this God could touch that spot in our lives to heal it and take away the devil's ability to make that thing cause a shame come on save man somebody sometimes shame can come our way back because we were overweight somebody told us we're overweight we compared our shape to what the marketing folks and all the media says we ought to look like we end up being ashamed sometimes we can get shamed because of underweight feel too skinny sometimes we can be ashamed because we were molested as a child shame can kick in because we grew up with crooked teeth fit glasses being too light-skinned being too dark-skinned in somebody's eyes our hair was too blind our hair was too dark drug addiction alcohol addiction but at secret pornography addiction that we're praying nobody else ever finds out about shame can kick in because our kids didn't turn out to be what we thought they failed in life and now if we feel like it's a reflection on us shame can kick in even because we've been suffering from mental illness so we got a loved one who does if we don't watch the shame could kick in because way back in third grade I failed the grade I got held back shame he kicked in because I got fired from a job we've been struggling financially I never completed my high school education shame could kick in because I was dating somebody we were engaged everybody knew we were the amazing couple but in the relationship didn't work out Shane can kick in because you got evicted you got a car repossessed house got foreclosed on you had to file for bankruptcy Shane can kick in because you've got a homosexual pass or maybe struggling with homosexual feelings today felt like if I actually ever told somebody they'd shown me they wouldn't help me they'd kick me to the curb Shane can kick him because you had an abortion years ago and it's haunting you to this day you won't help so desperately but you're so afraid that if anybody finds out they're gonna look at you differently can I get somebody to help me out in this place and what God wants to do is he doesn't want us living with this shame because if we live with the shame it's gonna manifest in some other bad behaviors it's going to show up in some other areas so what he wants to do is he wants to restore our soul heal us on the inside so we can become a whole on the outside now how do we do that first thing we got to do watch this we got to get low so we can get high we've got to get low in order to get high proverbs 11:2 says it so when pride comes then come shame in other words shame can't show up if pride is not there first when pride gets to the party pride says hey come on this good over here come come on in now when pride comes then shame comes afterwards but with the humble or the humble is wisdom listen this right here it is impossible for me to be filled with shame unless I believe that my value in life is a result of my own personal goodness oh you missed a good place of shouting man that's a good meditate on that the rest of the afternoon it is impossible for me to be filled with shame unless I believe that my value in life is somehow other tied to my own personal goodness I've done something that got me here that's why the Bible says pride and shame go together and like conjoined twins you can't get one without the other the pride shows up shame is eventually gonna show because none of us can be good all the time and if shame is there shame can only be there because there's been enough pride there to make me think I should be better than this right now come on help am i that's why I found this verse over here in Romans chapter chapter 12 I've read it a ton of times but I read it in the message Bible it just it just exploded on the inside Paul says I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for everything that God has given me anybody grateful what God has given you come on don't leave me up here by myself anybody really grateful come on anybody truly grateful for what God has given you Paul Paul said right now I'm talking to you out of this this place of gratitude for everything God has given me and especially as I have responsibilities as they relate to you he says living then as every one of you does watch this in pure grace hid myself pure grace come on everybody say pure grace boy everybody shout pure grace now when I think of pure grace what I think of is grace is not contaminated grace that hasn't been diluted grace that hasn't had anything else mixed into it what he's saying is that he's expecting that those of us that love God we're gonna be living in this place called pure grace pure grace means I'm not mixing in some of my works in it to think that I've done something pure graces I'm not trying to take credit or blame I'm just recognizing that God Almighty is just so good to me I'm gonna live in this place called pure grace he says living like you do in this place of pure grace it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves let me translate that for you he said don't get it twisted you're living in this pure grace place oh don't get it twisted into thinking that you are people who are bringing this goodness to God no God brings it all to you the only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us not by what we are and what we can do for him come on drop the mic Paul go ahead and walk out basta don't get it twisted that you actually brought something to God don't think that you actually had something to offer to God that made a difference in this whole thing he said no it's not what you brought to me he said I found you when you're in the mud you think I'm gonna stop loving you because you got cleaned up a little bit and got a little money you said no when I found you were in the mud when I found you you were dirty when I found you there was nothing about you that anybody else would have paid for I paid for you when there was nothing you better believe I'm not going to turn my back on you now because you got a few crooked lines he says when you come to God come to him in pure grace in other words we got to accept this reality right here watch this I am what I am by the grace of Jesus Christ come on say to say I am what I am by the grace of Jesus Christ you didn't say like you mean to say I am what I am by the grace of Jesus Christ say this wait say in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing so I can't take the credit I can't act like I got it together and I refuse to be ashamed of my crooked lines because I am what I am because of Jesus Christ now if you're grateful but less you ought to give the Lord a shout of Thanksgiving in this place hooah to tear the roof off this place I am what I am not because of man it's not my goodness I am what I am because of the grace of Jesus Christ that means I don't trust myself to take care of myself that means I've got too much broken there's too much damage for me to pretend like my crooked lines or straight lines I need to be healed I can't act like I got it together when I'm asking him to heal me the scripture says in 2nd Corinthians 12 but God's answer to Paul was my grace is all that you need for my power is greatest when you are weak are you listening to me today this is not George talking that this is God talking to you he said I'm trying to taste of my power works the best when you're weak so when you show up to God I got it together God I'm blessed highly favored empowered to pacify my no need to end I was like well and not much I can do for you did if you got it all together already in fact I'd say this way God does his best work in the middle of our weakest moments God does his best work in the middle of our weakest moments one of my friends Mike Todd passed a great church out there in Oklahoma man transformation church he has a series called damaged goods and I was listening to part of it as this past week and one things he said they just explode on inside him he says God can heal our damaged places if we can't admit that they're there he can't heal those twisted feelings those upside-down feelings he can't heal that broken spot if we can't get honest with ourselves to admit that they're there he can't heal the insecurity about your weight if you if you can't admit that is there he can't heal the insecurity about how you feel when people say certain things you the reason why you feel so left out if you don't get praise and approval he can't heal that if you can't get honest with yourself to admit that is there and and the higher we go in leadership and the higher we go in notoriety the harder it becomes to get honest to admit that we got crooked lines that's why I'm working with everything in me to redo the atmosphere in this church I don't want you to come in here you got to act like you got together I want you to come in here no it's okay to not be okay it's okay to have some crooked lines you're among some other folks with some crooked lines it's okay to be able to admit I got some weaknesses it's okay to admit to the right person I've got some temptation in this area I just had a real courageous conversation with my best friend Joel Gregory's my best friend he passes a great Church in Atlanta Georgia I called him this week I was like look man we've been best friends for a long time but we got to get a little bit closer because I need to be able to tell you everything good bad and ugly and it's not like I can't but you know sometimes you can be friends for so long and you can do so well together for so long you can have you can struggle to go back and admit when the moments show up where I don't want to act like a preacher I need to better tell you when the spirit of cus starts trying to come on me can I just be on it they they don't they don't they don't generally slip out of my mouth but I feel them dance in my head every now and then and I'm like you better get back and go get back no don't you dare come on and I need to be able to say that come on somebody I need you baby say win it when I'm feeling so much pressure that I'm tempted to be bad in my decision-making I don't need to better con have to come to my friend and and and always have it together what's the major so I'm telling you need to get into small group cuz a moment I got done telling him now he said man I'm so glad you called me if he didn't call me I'll get ready call you cuz the enemy makes you think you did you're the only one see you to eyeball air bounding your role got it together they lines sewed all going straight look at them man look look down the road look how straight their lines are you don't know one with the crooked lines no I'm trying to tell you the one next you got some crooked lines come on the one on the other side got some crooked lines you got crooked lines I got crooked lines all the guys children got some crooked lines when we get to heaven gonna walk around here and talk about our crooked lines cuz all of us got something and what God wants to do is let us become humble enough to where we don't have to live with them we can let him heal them come on shot a man somebody second thing that we got to do we got to give Jesus what he paid for we got to get low so we can get high then we got to give Jesus what he paid for and I'm not talking about the cent we know he paid for our sin I tell you he paid for our sin and our shame I'm gonna read it to you Jesus died not just to pay for our sin what he went through in route to the crucifixion was intended to take the sting of shame away so you wouldn't have to live with it in the Book of Isaiah Isaiah is speaking prophetically he's looking into the future and he's looking ahead to the Messiah that is going to come and he's telling us what the Messiah is going to experience on the cross he's telling us what the Messiah is gonna say in some cases and he says as he writes this in what we call Isaiah chapter 50 verse 6 the Messiah says I gave my back to those who struck me I gave my cheeks to those who would walk out my beard he said I didn't even didn't even hide my face from shame I even let him spit right in my face that's what Jesus was saying I gave him my back I gave him my face and I let him rip my beard right out to rip the beard out of a person being crucified was not only agonizingly painful it was also one of the highest and final forms of disrespect Jesus was laughed at he was mocked by a host of soldiers he was even blind forward they smacked him like he's blindfolded laughing and tell us it was hitting you now you saw your prophet tell us who it is is hidden you but given the fact that the length of a man's beard was considered a high mark of honor and respect it was an extreme dishonor to not cut a man's beard but to rip the beard out before you nailed him to the cross I want you to hear what Jesus said though he said I gave my back go ahead beat it please beat it come on please beating he said here here here's my beard embarrass me please rip it out shame me get gather all 500 soldiers together bring them all into the praetorium while I'm in here let him spit on me go ahead I'll take it I could call right now for a legion of Angelyn we put a stop to all of this he said but I want you to do that please do it for me because if I take all this shame I'm setting my brothers and sisters up so they won't have to be ashamed of having made some mistakes in life come on somebody then we have to live their lives acting like they got it all together I'm taking the shame so they won't ever have to take the shame for me five years ago many of you walked through this journey with me when I found out who my biological dad was and all I can take it's been an amazing timing to this day we're still the best of friends we talked pretty much every single day when I tell you when I found that information out five years ago I had so many most emotions that flooded my mind I was glad to find it I was glad to know the truth glad to my mom and I could have that courageous conversation but then the next thoughts and went through my mind is men I'm up in front of a group of people every week I'm pastoring thousands of people now dude do I just keep this a secret just just my own family just knows about it do I do it always done be transparent if I'm transparent and that means everybody's gonna find out that the man I thought was my dad my whole life isn't my dad when I brought down on father's days who I would still bring down on father's days I loved him still the stand-on stays it that's not actually my dad then my mind went to what folks think about my mother and all the thoughts of shame embarrassment tried to flood my mind right on the heels of that I was reminded of what Jesus said that Bible says about Jesus in Philippians 2 he made himself of no reputation in other words Jesus ain't got none approved Reina yo I never told you I was anybody so now I have to put on an act like I'm somebody but what I found happen is what always happened when you open up and get honest and transparent folks that really love you don't ridicule you they rally around you I got so much prayer support man I got so many people to sit your story set me free I'm gonna go now and find my biological parent I can't tell you how many folks got liberated because I had enough courage to say stop acting like you got it together because your story doesn't stop being your story because you're afraid to tell it [Applause] last thing we got to do is he had to take back your power just take him back from the devil stop letting him bully around take back your power Hebrews 12:2 says looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross how did he do that by despising the shame how did he get through all that ridicule all that embarrassment all that punishment how did he get through them spitting on him and ripping his beard out because he despised the shame and now he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God Jesus endured the cross because he despised the shame he said what does it mean to despise it don't mean to dis to dislike it it means to think against it if you looked at word up it means to think against the shame it means to diss esteem it I'm not gonna elevate it I'm gonna diss esteem it sometimes we have esteem so highly what other people think about us that it makes us esteem the shame that we believe we will face if they really knew our crooked lines we're learn how to just this esteem that I'm not concerned about what they think about me this is who I am this my story one of my younger brothers is 5 years younger to me - anse you know some of you around here know him when the most creative people I know in my life and has always been ever since is located and beat me being the older brother 5 years old right so you know pick on him that's what brick brothers doing it bully him a little bit and you know you know but I would protect him I can miss him but you better not mess with me and think about my little brother you know I could try to play the dozens on him you know talk about him but it didn't work because I could say to him which a big hair self and he instead of him crying and getting upset him I gotta be kidding me so it wouldn't stick why because he disesteem the words that were coming against in fact a little known fact that many of you don't know but growing up as a teenager I was a pretty amazing breakdancer that's where I get the holes in my jeans from pregnancy I'm freely you think I'm playing but seriously growing up I was a pretty good breakdancer I'm talking about doing the days of a breaking and B Street you would have found me walking around with a cardboard box in any given moment ready throw it down with her with her with a boom box on my shoulder at any given moment ready to challenge you want to bow you want some of this huh I was in a group called masters of the universe there's two of us me and my best friend Dexter waves and he was master Dean I was master G come when I say good name you got admit us Master G and then we come on we can get it back in a day Oh Oh back in the day we could get it if we had to and I mean we really was doing this thing me to the point that we did two national commercials we did one for McDonald's we did one for NBC and we were in a ton of dance competitions in federal most part one almost every one we were in and having done that my little brother being a little brother he formed his own load dance crew with his best friend and I remember there's one dance contest we were in when we had put our routine together so I helped him choreograph their routine and so me my guy came out we did our routine and he was literally about 2,500 people in this auditorium big deal in in town and we tore ours up man felt real good about it it's my brothers time for them to come out and do their routine and when putting his routine together he had given him all the moves but there was a dance out back in the day called the shake some y'all too young to know what the shake was but the shake was one where you kind of and I said to my brother whatever you do do the moves I gave you do not do the shake and I remember clearly man the lights came on they came out doing their little routine they got going the crowds going while the lights got brighter the crowd got bigger I'm sitting on their front row like you better undo their shake bend under shake and as soon as the crowd got real big he hit the shake with everything in him the crowd goes wild they win the competition in her age bracket why because he disesteem concern about the shake when I'm saying to use it you got to learn how to disesteem what people say you walk by the whisper no back care what they're talking about they might not be talking about you at all but they might be talking exactly about you really doesn't matter what they're saying disesteem it don't give it the kind of power that the enemy wants it to have take the power away by doing what David did when everybody else was afraid of Goliath the Bible says David charts acta life and for somebody the thing you're gonna have to do is you're gonna have to attack that thing that's causing you shame what I'm really trying to say this it's change which you can change and then give the rest to the Lord if your teeth are crooked like mine were crooked most of my life growing up my teeth were crooked that was one reason why I learned how to play the dozens so if you're gonna cap with my teeth I had to make sure I had a good comeback then I hit the age of 23 and I realized I don't have to let the rest of my life with crooked teeth got braces at 23 then enemy tried to hit me with shame you 23 got braces and I was 26 starting a church with braces but guess what I don't have braces today and my teeth have been straight for 20 plus years what am I saying the thing you can change do something about it if you're struggling with illiteracy don't sit around in that prison afraid somebody's gonna ask you to read something or put you on the spot so you don't go to small group because you're nervous you may get put in a bad position understand you're not the only one in this room that is struggling with that but you can do something about that find yourself an adult reading program come and talk to one of us we have teachers who would love to sit with you be a part of your victory story help your crooked lines get straightened out future you dropped out of high school go back you say I'm oh go back it's embarrassing go back because in doing so you're gonna take all the power out of the devil's hands he said but what about what people think watch this watch this watch this watch this if the people in your life can't handle your crooked lines then they probably are not a part of your God Squad [Applause] my baby girl Kerrigan is be 18 next month and when she was a little girl had just learned how to walk she learned she actually learned how to walk in the back hallway we knew we got home one day and she was taking her first real steps across the living room from mommy today mommy's on one side she releases Kerrigan daddy I'm on the other side I got my hands I said come on baby come on I got you and I remember like it was yesterday she starts walking and she's taking her little steps toward me and she had this little stuffed animal called Poochie and Poochie was in the middle of the floor she's walking from Miami to daddy he's taking her first steps she's gone she's gone and she got to where Poochie was and she stopped and looked down and an on her hair what she was thinking I'd love for Poochie to enjoy this moment with me walk today and for half a second she was getting ready to bend down to get Poochie then his thought went through her mind I'm sure I don't walk well enough to try to get Poochie I'll see you later Poochie she kept on coming to daddy what am I saying there's some of you they're gonna have to realize there's some people that used to be on your train not gonna be able to walk with you today why cuz I got some freaky lines you can't handle my crooked lines all you can handle is the version of me where it looks like I got it all together but I've been set free come on I've been liberated I'm living in victory now and I'm not walking around act like I got straight lines any longer I'm gonna enjoy my curriculums and thank God that he loves me right there even with my issues come on lift your hands and thank the Lord for his love come lift your hands we thank you lord thank you Lord for loving us right where we are even with my issues even with my crooked lines I'm so grateful for you Lord thank you for who you are and all that you've done thank you Jesus now every head is bowed and all eyes are closed in prayer in just a moment I'm gonna ask everyone if you'd open your eyes back up but for just a moment I want to speak to the heart of the person that if you were to walk out of here right now you know in your heart of hearts if you were to breathe your last breath you would not make heaven your home and for some of you you thought you messed up too bad God was done dealing with you but today you've been made aware and no he's not done dealing with me he loves me right where I am today God is knocking on the door of your heart he's saying open up give me a chance to come in and I can make all things brand new on the inside of you if that's you God's ready to do something great in your life right here open your eyes everybody look up at me for a moment when you came in the door every one of you should have gotten a little yellow card like this will you take that card out everybody front row back row take that card out for me if you don't have one lift up your hand just keep it up for a moment pushes are in place they're they'll they'll quickly come by to get a card to the hand of the person doesn't have one lift your hand up just keep it up if you don't have one cuz on this card there are four letters on this car and I can tell you right now one of these letters describes every one of us in here where we are spiritually and so I'm asking you we have some hands up over here can you guys help it over here I'm asking you to take this card and let's identify where you are not be ashamed but be courageous enough to say yes Lord this is me and then let's take whatever that next step is in this journey with Christ right here please right here please in the centre please right here please on this card before letters a B C and D and 4a H stands for I already have a solid relationship with Jesus Christ in fact I know today if I were to breathe my last breath I'd go straight to heaven to be with the Lord for some of you in this room that describes you if s you check that a box for me you already have a strong solid relationship with Christ for some of you the B box describes you and that is I'm ready today I heard this message I thought God was mad at me thought I had messed up too bad but I realized guys not mad at me and today I'm ready to begin a new relationship with Christ well for some of you maybe it's renew my relationship with Christ but if you ready to begin or renew that relationship with the Lord today check that B box and I'm going to pray with you in just a moment there's some of you in here to say it's been great today but I just need a little bit more time to consider this and I'm not quite ready to make that decision today but need a little bit more time to consider it less you see check that box consider it a little longer then there might be some of you in here they say truthfully pastor even though I've heard everything today I don't ever plan to make that commitment to Christ if that's you I'm asking you to just be brave enough to check that D box and all I'm gonna do is I give you my word I will pray with you every single day pray for you every single day and just ask God to continue to love you and continue to let His grace shower your life you have the courage to check that D box which every one pertains you go ahead and check that box now hey I already have a solid relationship with the Lord B I'm ready to begin that relationships they see I need more time to consider it more D I don't ever plan to make that decision please check the appropriate box and then in just a moment ake time to pray over all those who check that B box that are ready to begin the relationship with Jesus today every head bowed eyes closed if you're one of those that check that box B I'm gonna ask you to pray this out loud just loud enough though for you and God to hear it right there at your seat and guys gonna meet you right there and change your life say this out loud dear God in heaven thank you for loving me today thank you for bringing me here to receive this word I know you love me I know Jesus died for me I know you raised him from the dead and I'm asking you Jesus come into my life save me now forgive me for trying to live life without you I need you I love you I confess you as my Lord and I surrender my whole life to you forever in Jesus name Amen come on impactors put your hands together come on impact with your hands together come we'll help us celebrate for those and made that amazing decision every one of you that fill that card out would you just go ahead and put your name or whatever information you're comfortable giving us but especially those of you that check that B box would you be sure you fill this out because what it's gonna allow us to do I want to send you some information to give you some next steps that you know what to do now that you made this amazing decision to say yes to Jesus Christ and one things I want to encourage you do get plugged into a good church right away get baptized as soon as you can those things will help to jumpstart this great relationship that you just began today everybody when you finish that car put into the offering bucket when it comes by in just a few moments and we'll take the time to pray over every single one of those and pray for you and your house as well one more time impact put your hands together help me celebrate with these men and women come on you can do so much better than that come up with

Channel: Impact Church

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Id: kSDwC8dQRvk

Length: 51min 42sec (3102 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 15 2019