(upbeat music) - Welcome, welcome. (congregation clapping and cheering) It's good to be back with you guys. Super excited, especially
if you're a visitor to Sandals Church, thank you so much for coming to our series called you. This is a series about you, even if you've never been
in church in your life. Listen I want you to
know that Christianity, is a relational movement
in three directions. Upward towards God, outward
towards our neighbors and inward towards our souls. Jesus says this, that
the greatest commandment, in all of the Bible is
to love the Lord your God with all of your heart,
soul, mind and strength and to love your neighbor, wait for it. As yourself. Look becoming a Christian, isn't just about getting to know God. Becoming a Christian is about
getting to know yourself. You ever wondered, why does God love me? Why did God send his son
to die on the cross for me? Why do I matter so much to God? You see the Bible isn't all about God. It's all about God's love for you. For me, for us. And for a lot of us, even those of us that call ourselves Christians, it's really, really hard for us to say, yeah God loves me. I matter, this is who I am. Look for the next couple of weeks, man, I mean I don't say this lightly. I believe these sermons
will change your life. Change your marriage. Change the way you see your kids. Change the way you see your spouse. Some of you might like your spouse again. After this series. Feel free to laugh unless
they're sitting next to you. (congregation laughing) 'Cause you might not be
invited back next week. You know for some of you,
it's gonna give you grace. To finally get along
with that person at work that instead of loving,
you've been judging. For you to have a little sympathy for people who maybe raise their kids, a little bit differently from you. I don't know if you've noticed, but we're different. Have you noticed that? Like we come from different ethnicities, we come from different
socioeconomic backgrounds, we have different genders. Like we come from different worlds. Even if you were raised in the same home. Anybody ever look at your
brother or your sister and go, where were you raised? (congregation laughing) Like I'll listen to my brother
talk about our childhood and I'll be like, I don't
know where that was. We see things differently. And in this series, we're
gonna talk about three things. How do you, how do you perceive the world? Not everybody sees the
world the same way you do. If you're married, give me an amen. - [Congregation] Amen. - Right, two different eyes
looking at the same thing but you see it differently. We perceive the world differently. And then we process what we
perceive very differently. Here's what I thought I saw and here's how that makes me feel. And then, we present
ourselves in a certain way. So this is a series called you. It's about you, God loves you, God sent his son to die
for you on the cross, God cares about you and God wants to transform and change you. He wants to enhance the
beauty that's in you and he wants to begin
to heal the brokenness, that's in all of us. I don't know if you
noticed but we're broken. The world is broken. Right, even as we speak, once again nations are
at each other's throats. The Cold War we thought was gone is, seems to be coming back and there are threats
being literally shared back and forth between nations,
the world's broken. And we need to be healed. But for that to happen, the
world doesn't need to heal, you and I need to heal. And then we can take that
peace that's inside of us and we can begin to share it. And so I just want you to
know that about 15 years ago, I encountered this thing
called the enneagram. For some of you don't know what it is, it's simply a tool. And let me say this. It's the best tool I've ever found, to begin the process of
being real with yourself. Our vision at Sandals Church
is to be real with yourself. So you say that great,
that's a great vision, how do I do that? This is the best tool I've found to help you in that process. It's helped me understand my wife, it's helped me understand me, it's helped me to understand my kids. It's helped me to understand some of you. (congregation laughing) 'Cause for some of you, I was praying God would
lead you somewhere else. (congregation laughing) Right? It's not always just people
that wanna change churches, sometimes pastors are
hoping people will be lead by the Spirit somewhere else. But it's helped me to understand people. And it's that first step
into understanding ourselves. So I just wanna begin
with a word of prayer. I want everybody to relax. I want you to know that everything that we're gonna do in this
series is out of the Bible. But what we're gonna do is use this tool to help God begin to
teach you about yourself. Because not all of you
have the same strengths and not all of you have
the same weaknesses, we're all sinners, but we
sin in very different ways. So let's bow our heads
and let's pray together and ask God to just really
speak to us in this series. Heavenly Father, I just
pray in Jesus name. To the power of your Holy Spirit, God, that you would connect us to ourselves. In a way that you see us. In the truth that you see. In the light that only you can see. God wrap your arms around us and show what's beautiful about us and God in a way that only you can, show us what's broken and help us to give grace for ourselves, in the same way that you do. So Father bless this series
we pray in Jesus name amen. All right, a series called you. We're gonna start with
the personality type that I call the reformer. I want you to know this is not me. This is also called the good person, this is not me, that's not who I grew up, I did not grow up this way. I've been broken since the day I was born. The reformer is the person who sees how things could be. You can write this down there, they're kind of a perfectionist. I have zero perfectionist in me. Right, my wife has a lot of one in her, this is who she is. Always wants to make sure she looks good, I just assume I am good. Let's just roll, I'll look good, this is what you get, let's go. 'Kay, I don't change outfits 80 time, I got one outfit, let's get out the door. The reformer wants things to be perfect. Wants to be good, wants the
world to be a better place and so they see flaws. They see how things could be different. And so we're gonna start
off with an amazing story. From Jesus and I think
a lot of you miss this. Even if you know this story, a lot of you fail to recognize this. Now you don't have this in your notes, but I'm gonna start in Luke 15:11. This is where the story starts. And Jesus says to illustrate
the point further, Jesus told 'em a story. Listen to me, some of you've
never paid attention to this. Here's the story and how it begins. Jesus says, a man had two sons. How sad is it for 2,000 years, we've called this story, the prodigal son. It's not a story about one kid. It's a story about two. And so here's what's amazing is. The one son who screws
up, gets his life right and has a right relationship with God at the end of the story, we focus all the attention on that and not on the other son. It's a story about two kids. Listen to me parents, your
kids are gonna be different. You have to treat 'em different. You have to love 'em different. You have to approach
'em differently, right. I mean some of you as
parents, you're like, how on earth did you come
from the same household? Each one of 'em comes out
so radically different. Even if you're biological twins, you can be very, very different. So Jesus tells us this story. A man had two sons, the
younger son told his father, this is offensive, he says I
want you to share your estate with me now before you die. So when do you get the
inheritance from your parents? When they die. It's a little inappropriate, say, Dad you're kinda lasting a little longer, than I thought you would and I want my money, so give me my money so the younger son wants his money. What's amazing is, the father agrees. And so he divides his
wealth between his two sons. Now here's how it went
in the ancient world. The oldest son got 2/3 of the estate and the younger son would get one 1/3, unless there are sisters. If there are sisters involved,
each sister gets a dowry. And so she gets money set aside to make, you know, her more
appealing for marriage. So the young guys, his inheritance
is gonna be chopped up, based upon, first of all he loses the 2/3 from the older brother,
then he gets his 1/3, subtract any sisters that he has, we don't know about any sisters, remember it's a made-up story. So just remember that. People always get a little
crazy, Jesus is telling a story. To prove a very real point. So what happens, this guy goes off and he parties, he gets all of his money. He gets the stuff from his dad, he goes off, he has wild living. He loses all of his money,
everything goes crazy, right and that's often what happens, when young people gain wealth too soon. They didn't earn it, they
don't know how to handle it. And so his life begins to fall apart. Here's where the story
picks up in your outline. When he finally came to his senses, he finally comes to his
senses and he says to himself, at home, even the hired servants
have food enough to spare and here I am dying. He begins to become real with himself, I've made a mistake. Anybody ever been there? This is not working out well. People always ask me,
why do you follow God? I say, well I tried following myself. I did that, I was really good at it. Didn't have good outcomes but I was good at following myself. My desires, my hearts. He says, at home, even the hired servants
have food enough to spare. It's always amazing how lame
your kids think you are, until they get out on their own. Isn't it amazing how smart, smarter your parents are
once you start paying bills? All of sudden, you're the light Nazi, turn that off, turn
that off, turn that off. I don't care if it's 110 inside, we can sweat it out. (congregation laughing) He says, I know, I'll go home
and I'll say to my father, I have sinned against both you and heaven. I'm no longer worthy
to be called your son. He says, please take me
on as a hired servant. Think about this. He's thought about his
apology before he comes home. This kid's serious. So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming, filled with love and
compassion, he ran to his son, he embraced him and he kissed him. His son said to him, Father I have sinned
against both heaven and you and I am no longer worthy
to be called your son. I want you to notice here,
the father stops him. He doesn't make him run
through the whole speech again. But his father said to his servants, quick, bring the finest robe
in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger
and sandals for his feet. I want you to know that this
is not the robe he left. This is the robe reserved
for visiting royalty and wealthy guests. This is the best piece of
clothing the household has. Give me the finest robe. And he says, give me
a ring for his finger. Remember he said, I'm not
worthy to be called your son. I want you to think about if you're married, when you got married. You put a ring on a finger and you said, with this ring I thee wed. The ring symbolizes the
permanence of family. You're not a slave, you're my what? You're my son. And then in the ancient world, one of the ways that
you could tell a slave from a son was shoes. Put sandals on his feet. He's not my slave, he's my son. And kill the calf we've been fattening. Apparently they thought
there was gonna be a party but here it is. We must celebrate with a feast for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. Man think about that. I thought this son was gone. Man this weekend, excuse
me not this weekend, this last week, Tammy and I
were invited to the White House, which is a whole story, I'll share probably over
the next couple weeks. But we got to be part of a debrief, where we sat with President Trump's staff and they just began to talk
about, some of the issues that religious people are
facing around the world. And here we are sitting in the White House with this briefing and one of Donald Trump's core cabinet members, as she begins to share,
this is what she says. She says before I begin to tell with you, about the things that are
going on in the world, can I ask for prayer? It's one of Trump's cabinet members and this is what she shared. She said, my daughter's missing. Here she is, in one of the most powerful
positions in the world, she can't find her own kid. She said, would you
guys please pray for me? And then she got a little uneasy and she said, are there any press in here? No, let's pray. And we did right there. Isn't that interesting? No matter how powerful you are, no matter what your position is, when you're missing a kid, life isn't right. Nothing's right. Would you pray for me? That's how this dad feels in this story. It doesn't matter how
successful he's been, it doesn't matter how blessed he's become, he's missing a kid and he
thought the kid was dead. But he's alive. He thought the kid was gone
forever, but he's home. And now it's time to party because the son I thought I lost and yeah he's an idiot. But he's my idiot. (congregation laughing) He's found. And so the party began. Meanwhile, how many sons were there? Two. We got two boys, moms, dads. We got two sons. We got an idiot. And we got the kid everybody wants. We got the kid that does the right thing. We got the kid that does well in school. We got the kid, my son is an
outstanding student at, boom. My parents never got that sticker. (congregation laughing) My parents never shared stories about where Matt was gonna go to college. They're like, we don't know. We don't know. I found out the day of
graduation in high school, I was graduating. Yes, woo! Here's your robe, all right. Meanwhile, the older son, underline this, where is he? Where is he? Doing what he's supposed to be doing. Why, that's what reformers do. They get crap done. Thank God for them. Let me just say this, for everybody who wants to
be critical of good people, without them there's no Sandals Church. Do you know why? They serve. Do you know why, they tithe. Do you know why, they're here. Some of you are praying
every single weekend, I don't know if we're gonna
go to church this weekend, I gotta feel it, I gotta get in my yoga, man, ones are here, boom. It's the Lord's day, we're in church. Thank God for these people. They pay for these
buildings you're sitting in. They pay my salary so
you can hear this truth. Lot of you are the
idiots out with the pigs. Coming into church, oh man
that was a rough weekend. You know. Our ones, they're not in Coachella. (congregation laughing) They're not. No, they're here. Wait for the sevens, they're in Coachella, they'll come back,
they're gonna come back. He's in the field work,
he's getting stuff done. Can you imagine, everybody
wants to be critical, oh you're such a good person. If we didn't have good people, can you imagine what
the world would be like? What if everybody just drove
on the highway like you did? (congregation laughing) You know what I saw this
week on the 91 freeway? I saw someone flip around accidentally, without hitting anyone and go the wrong direction
on the 91 freeway. I don't even know how it was possible. What are you doing in your car? Ones are driving. They're not on their phone. They're not texting. They're praying for your soul, 'cause you're going to
hell and they know it. They're good, they get stuff done. You know why we love to
hire at Sandals Church? Ones. 'Cause they work, they get stuff done. So where is he? He's in the field working. When he returned home, ah
I know my brother's home. Why, I can hear Coachella. I can hear it. He heard the music and
the dancing in the house. Oh man. The father thought he was dead, the good son was probably hoping, right. Geez, my little brother's an idiot. Not mine, this guy's. I love my brother. He heard music and dancing in the house and he asked one of his
servants, what's going on. Your brother is back, woo! And your father killed a cow. That's a party. Somebody's alive, someone must die. The cow. We are celebrating because
of his safe return. Underline this and the
older brother wouldn't what? Go in. Why, it's not fair. It's not fair. Listen to me, ones. Life's not fair. It's not fair, quit keeping score. Quit keeping score. Right, ones are monitoring, they're like the world's referees. Foul! Foul! My wife has a lotta one. We're in line to the
airport, someone's cutting, she's, foul! (congregation laughing) TSA, taser that rule-breaker. You know what I told her,
it's gonna be okay babe, we're gonna make it, we're gonna make it. Okay, we're gonna be okay. Yeah but he's cutting. (congregation laughing) It's okay, babe, it's okay. Right. It's not fair. It's not fair. You know if you have a child that's a one, when you pour cereal, before they eat, the first thing they do is evaluate. (congregation laughing) Okay I can eat it now 'cause
the portions are equal. Right, it doesn't matter if
the one is the smallest child. It's like you're 30 pounds,
your brother is 180. The cereal bowl should be fair. The older brother was angry
and he wouldn't go in. His father came out, underline
this, and begged him. Come on son. He says, all these years
I've slaved for you, I've never once refused to do
a single thing you told me, I do everything right! And thank God for you, someone
has to pay their taxes. Right ones, they pay their taxes on time. And they don't cheat, thank God for you. We love you. He says in all that time, you never gave me even a young goat. You killed the cow for the idiot kid! I don't even get a goat. For a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of
yours, notice what he says, not my brother. When this son of yours comes back, after squandering your
money on prostitutes, hmm how'd he know that. (congregation laughing) Don't know, it's an
interesting little addition to the story. You celebrate him by
killing the fatted calf. Not the skinny calf,
fine kill the skinny cow. He gets the fat cow. His father said to him, look dear son. You have always stayed by me. Listen to me, ones. God sees what you do. And you will be rewarded. You will be rewarded. And one day, God will measure out, into proportion to how you served. But today's not that day. Today's about, your brother was dead. And now he's alive and that's
something to celebrate. Look dear son, you've
always stayed with me. Everything I have is yours. Do you know that that's actually true? Because the story began
with the father what? Divided his assets. He's actually taking the fatted
calf from the oldest son. It's his cow. And he's giving it to the idiot son. And what does that feel like, ones? Stealing. Stealing. We divided the estate, idiot
junior blew all his money, I've invested it, that's
why the cow is fat, Dad. He said, you've always stayed with me and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead
and has come back to life. He was lost but now he is what? He's found. He's found. Listen to me ones. The first thing I wanna challenge you, is to praise God that God made you a one. That he put that in you,
that he gave you a desire. You were born from the moment
you came out the chute, you were born with a
desire to do what's right. And that's beautiful. It's beautiful. The reformer, write this down, the reformer reflects God's goodness. Do we need more goodness in the world? Yes! Do we need any more prodigal sons? No, we're good. We're good, right. Do we need to lose any more children? No! We need to praise God for these good kids that reflect the goodness of God. They care about what's right, they care about what's true, they reflect the goodness of God. This is how you reflect your maker. 1 Peter 2:9 says this. But you are not like that,
for you're a chosen people. You are royal priests,
you're a holy nation. You're God's very own possession. As a result, underline this, you can show the others
the goodness of God. Listen to me ones. This is what you do. You show people there
is good in the world. You do what's right, even
when you don't feel like it. Praise God for you. Praise God for you. I praise God for you. I love you. There's no Sandals Church without you. There's no kingdom without you. You serve, you give, you tithe, you show up, you build,
you do the right thing, when everybody else is
doing the stupid thing. Thank God for you. You're God's possession and as a result you can show
others the goodness of God. But underline this, he's
called you out of darkness. So if you're the good person,
if you're the perfect person, what's your darkness that
God's calling you out? None of us is perfect. Even if we strive for perfection. So if you're a good person,
let me ask you this question. What's your sin? And this is what's so tragic, especially if you grew up in the church. If you're a one, you don't
have a good testimony. (congregation laughing) You don't, your testimony's lame. You don't have a, you know, Vegas, heroin and prostitutes story. You just don't. You're like, one time I
drank a Diet Pepsi and, just had a crazy headache and you know, I just never am gonna do
Splenda again, that's my story. And it's tragic right. It's tragic that in the church that we've drummed up
the prodigal son stories and we fail to understand that
both sons need the Gospel. For different reasons. Both sons were lost. One son was an idiot but
the other was judgemental. And listen to me if you're a one. I don't believe this story was
ever about the prodigal son. Do you know why I don't believe that? Because his whole life is fixed. We know everything that happened to him. Do you know how it ends with the good son? We don't know. Do you know why I believe that? Because this is a made-up son, Jesus isn't talking about this boy, he's talking about you. And here's his question, reformer. Can you trust me? Can you trust that I'll be good to you, like I am to these idiots that come to me? Can you trust me that I'm gonna reward you for your faithfulness? You see here's how Satan
tempts you reformers. Is God really good? Is the father in this story really good? Is what he's doing really wise? 'Cause here's the point, if you're a one. Not only does the son think
his brother's an idiot, he thinks his father might be one too. And that's sin. He's called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light. So what's the motivation,
what's the core motivation, if you're a one? To do what is good and right. What's the right thing to do? You ask this before you
ask what do I want to do? Most of us we say, well I'm
gonna do whatever feels good. Not ones! We'll get to feelings later. We're gonna do what's right. We're gonna make sure everybody's
in their appropriate box, we're gonna make sure
everything's in line, everything's gotta be good and right. What's the core need of the one? Write this down. To be perfect. Good luck with that. Good luck with that. What does the one have
to avoid at all costs? Criticism. Here's the thing if you're a one, do you know who you're
the most critical of? Yourself. Yourself. You have the least amount
of grace for yourself. Ones can be very, very
critical to their children. To their spouses, to their friends. They can be very, very
critical to their employers. Or their employees. Write this down, this is what ones do. They should all over
themselves and others. If it sounded like I cussed, I almost did. They should, you should,
you should, you should, you should, you should all over
yourself and everyone else. You need to stop shoulding on everybody. (congregation laughing) See none of those are ones laughing, right now, ones are like, I
don't know, I, that's, oh. What does the one focus on? Flaws. Some of you are like I can't
believe he said should. I can't believe, ba, ba, ba. He's wearing army pants, that's
inappropriate for church. I don't know why he's doing that. Listen to me ones. All you see is your flaws. My wife's a one or at least
has a lot of one in her. She cut her hair this week, she says, do you like my hair? I said, I like you. We're good. We're good. Hair, no hair, I prefer hair, but you know, just, we're good. You know, I like you, I like you. Short, blonde, whatever, gray, right we're
getting older, it's good. I'm in it for the long haul. I like you. 'Cause what my wife tends to
see is how beautiful she's not. And what she needs to be reminded of, is how beautiful she is. Right, that's what we have to do for ones. They don't give themselves
or anyone else any grace. They focus on their flaws
and guess what that does? It creates a core sin called,
write this down, anger. What is the older brother's
response to the party? He was angry and he refused to go in. Your brother's alive, how
does that make you feel? That ticks me off. (congregation laughing) If life was fair, he'd be dead. And here's the thing, your core fear, if you're a one is being
flawed and guess what? You are. You are. So your nightmare is like every day. Over and over and over again. You're not perfect, you
will never be perfect. And the harder you try,
the worse you're gonna get. So let's talk about some
Biblical truths to pursue. Now let me give you the
one's favorite Bible verse and then let me just shatter it. Here's the one's favorite Bible verse, it's not in your notes, Matthew 5:48, but you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect! Do you know why we have
that in our Bibles? Because of a Catholic priest named Jerome. Do you know what Jerome's problem was? He fell in love with a nun. Some smoking hot nun, in Rome, and it was affecting his holy life. And so he confessed it to his bishop and his bishop said, as penance, if you don't know what that is, it's a Catholic word for like repenting. As penance, this is what his bishop said, you will go to Bethlehem and learn Hebrew. That's the worst thing that you can do. And so Jerome did. He went to Bethlehem, to the place where they
believe Jesus was born and he buried himself in a cave and he learned Hebrew and he translated the
Hebrew Scriptures into Latin and when he came to this Greek word, (speaking foreign language), he translated it, be perfect as your
heavenly Father is perfect and listen to me, every translation is built
upon a previous translation. They're all influenced by them. And so literally for 1,700 years, we go all the back to Jerome, who said be perfect as your
heavenly Father is perfect. The problem is (speaking
foreign language), doesn't mean perfect, it
means whole, complete. That's what it means. It doesn't mean bake the perfect pie once, it means make sure you
have all the slices. That's what it means. Be complete as God is complete and what you're missing is God. You're missing God. So here's a Biblical
truth for you to pursue. Quit, don't make Matthew
5:48 your favorite verse, I'm gonna submit Ephesians 4:26. And don't let sin control you by letting your anger control you. Don't sin by letting anger control you. Don't let the sun go down
while you're still angry, and some of you are like, well then I would never sleep, I'm a one. (congregation laughing) That's how I go to sleep at night, is I count all the sins of my spouse. (congregation laughing) I don't count sheep, I count sin. One, two, three, four. Don't, listen, nobody's perfect. Why do you think the older
brother's younger brother, is an idiot in the story? Because we're all idiots
compared to you ones. All of us. We're out partying, ha, ha, ha. And you're just righteous. I mean Jesus is a genius. He knows exactly what
ticks you off, idiots! Idiots blowing their life,
screwing their life up and God, I know you have a list in heaven but we will compare
notes when I get there. (congregation laughing) And we will make sure that every, every sin is accounted for. Here's the problem. When you focus on the sins of others, it makes you angry and when
you allow anger in your life, it gives the devil permission in your life and that's not even close
to perfection, that's evil. Don't sin by letting anger control you. Look, you can be angry but
don't let it get a hold of you. Don't let it destroy you. One's pursuit of perfection
can destroy their marriage. You can want a perfect
marriage and end it. You can want perfect
children and ruin 'em. You gotta learn to relax. Sometimes just go in the cabinet and move the beans to the like,
you know, over to the rice. And just like get crazy. Put a chocolate bar, you
know over by the crackers. It's a party at my house! You know. Just embrace life. Embrace it. Because your desire for
perfection will ruin you. It will destroy you. It will wreck you. Your kids will never be perfect. Do you know why, they're
being raised by you. 'Kay, your company, your clothes, your church will never be perfect. We're gonna screw it up,
we're gonna mess it up, there's a bloody, gross
cross with a dead Jesus on it that says nobody's perfect. Nobody's perfect. That's why we're Christians. Don't let sin control you. Don't let anger control you. Don't let the sun go down
while you're still angry, listen to me, ones, this is your confession every
night before you go to bed. God help me, help me to forgive this imperfect
world that's not fair. It's not fair. It's not fair, but
listen to me God is good. You see, ones, here's the
question for you as the good son, do you trust your Father? Who knows best, you or Dad? That's the story. Well you're a one, so
you know what's best. And God would do well to
listen to your wisdom. Well let me ask you this ones,
who gave you your wisdom? God did, trust him. Trust him. Here's a verse for how
you relate to others. Make an allowance for
other people's faults. You're gonna have an idiot brother. You might marry an idiot. Yeah, my wife's prayed this many times. Lord, she did not marry a one. She did not. She married the prodigal son. She did. She strapped herself to an idiot forever. Make an allowance for each other's faults. That's why I'm a professional apologizer. Do you know what the hardest
thing for a one to do? Is say I'm sorry. Because that means you have to
admit you were wrong. (gasps) What happened? You're human. Right. One time I said to my wife and I don't recommend this. (congregation laughing) I said, just say it. Just say it. She's like what, you're wrong, just, I'll help you, I say it all the time. I'm wrong, I screwed up, I'm sorry. Doesn't that feel good? It's empowering. Not for a one. Make an allowance for each other's faults. And forgive anyone who offends you. Ones are professional offenders, not offenders, they get offended. That offends me. That is offensive. You're the offensive police. There's defensive and offensive and you're the offensive. That's offensive. Why, why ones do you need
to learn to forgive people? Because the Lord Jesus forgave you. For what? Your sin. And what's your sin? It's self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is believing that you are right within yourself. Righteousness comes from God. Only God is truly right. Only God is truly good. So it's okay for you to make a mistake. It's okay for you to screw it up. It's okay for you to mess, it's okay. We have a wonderful Savior and a wonderful God that can forgive us and hopefully there are
Christians in your life that can extend grace to you. But a one's greatest fear is that someone's going to treat them, the way they treat themselves. It's okay ones. We know you're better than us. But you're not perfect. We praise God for how awesome you are. Yay you. But you're still a sinner. And you're still gonna blow it. And you know what that means? You can do your very best and still have a screwed up marriage. You can do your very best
and still struggle at work, struggle in friendships and
struggle in relationships. Sometimes your best isn't good enough. So you know what you need? Grace. You can have good
intentions and still sin. See what ones will do
instead of saying I'm sorry, is they'll say this, well what I meant to do. I didn't mean to slay your heart, what I meant to do was to say, wouldn't you look better
in a different outfit? Right. When you look at your
kid and you see seven A's and all you talk about is the B minus, that's the one in you. It's the one in you. Don't try to make your kids be something, you can't be yourself. Make an allowance for each other's faults. Everyone that drives is
an idiot and so are you. Right. I always, you can always
identify ones on the freeway. They're going. (congregation laughing) And I'm just like, what up. You wanna see something funny? Put a one in the passenger seat. (congregation laughing) Man I know I, if I didn't have to keep all my attention on the road, then I'd kill my family, I would just watch my wife while I drive. She does the brake thing. It doesn't work ever. But she (grunts) Right, man, sorry she's gonna kill me. All right. (congregation laughing) 'Kay, Bible verse for your
relationship with God. Jesus says this, why do you call me good? Jesus asked, underline these words ones. Only God is good. Only God is good. And if you grew up in the church, you say God is good,
you say, all the time. Only God is good all the time. Ones, you're good most of the time. Most of the time. Psalms 86:15, but you, oh Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy. Slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. Listen to me ones, isn't it good to know that
God is faithful to us, when we screw up. That God can enter into a
beautiful, wonderful relationship with us that is perfect because of Christ, even when we are imperfect. Your core sin is anger. You have to pursue grace. Grace. And think about this, how does God, how does God deal with
his anger for sinners? He poured grace over us on the cross. How do you deal with your anger? You ask God to give you grace. For self and for others. And listen to me ones,
in your darkest moments, you're going to accuse
God of not being good. In your lowest, darkest moments. Because life does not always make sense. But here's the difference. Ones, we see rules. Jesus sees souls. Do you see the difference? There's two games. Ones are playing for perfection, Jesus is trying to save souls. And my idiot son who
was dead has been found. And so we're gonna celebrate that. God's inviting you to celebrate and listen to me ones. Listen to me, he's
inviting you to the party. Your anger will keep you from the party. He's inviting you, he's begging you, please come to the party. I wanna challenge you to
pray this prayer this week. I wrote this for you, if you identify with the one, the reformer. It says, God help me
not to seek perfection. But to seek you. See that's completeness. That's being whole. It's not just about getting life right, it's about getting God. Help me to see others
the way you see them, not as perfect but as perfectly loved. As perfectly loved. Listen to me reformers,
that's how God loves you. Perfectly, perfectly. And he's inviting you to
love others in the same way. Let's pray. Heavenly Father I pray that we would all, God find grace for ourselves. God, right now I know the
ones are just spinning with criticism for themself and so God I just speak
to the enemy right now and I pray that you would block that and that you would just reassure them God that they're the best amongst us. The most moral, the most
right and the most pure. But they're still sinners, God and they need grace just like all of us. God help them to know that
they reflect your goodness but God like all of us,
they need your mercy. I pray in the name of Jesus, they would find the mercy
they need at the cross. I pray this in Jesus name, amen.
