Galatians 4: Boys to Men

so father God we confess we are in and of ourselves inadequate and we need you to step into the emptiness of our lives so father God would you do that now through the preaching and proclamation of your word our hearts are ready to receive whatever it is you have for us so fill us Lord God with the seed of your word may it fall on good ground and may it produce a harvest of fruit in our lives I'm available for you to use me Lord God give me great clarity I rest Lord God under your hand of anointing speak Lord we pray in Jesus name Amen amen you may be seated if you have your Bibles please meet me in Galatians chapter 4 Galatians chapter 4 we're continuing on in our series on the book of Galatians I'll to let you know where the teaching is going to be going Lord willing next week we'll be in Galatians 5 the week after that Galatians 6 and then we are going to spend all the way through June and a series called Unleashed I want to talk about what the gospel looks like unleashed in our relationships with other people the gospel is not just something that is to impact your heart in fact the way we know that we've really embraced the gospel the way that we know that we're really swimming in the deep waters of the gospel is it should have a radical impact on how I deal with people how I relate to people so it is it is spiritual malpractice to say that I've been filled with the spirit but I'm that same old unforgiving grudge holding person that's just just not what the gospel looks like so we're going to talk about what it looks like unleashed on people who've wronged us we're gonna talk about what it looks like unleashed in friendships unleashed in marriage Unleashed in parenting in a whole lot of other ways one also just come before you right before we get into God's Word and to let you know that we're kind of doing a makeover in our Resource Center we've still got we've been selling DVDs and CDs that's just so wrong god bless you for for buying them but we put it into that because you can get all this stuff for free and we've got a few CDs and DVDs left right next to the 8-track cassette tapes and so if you want to pick those up they're totally for free but we've also restocked the resource center with some of my favorite books that I've ever read my kids asked me the day dad how many books are you know I don't know a couple thousand it's not because I'm a voracious reader it's just that's just kind of how I'm wired I just love books and I've restocked the bookstore with some of my favorite books and some of my favorite authors that'll deepen your affections for Christ so please if you haven't done so yet go to the Resource Center and get equipped for some for some great resources to help you be effective followers of Jesus Christ pick me up in verse one Galatians chapter four guy who wrote this his name is Paul Paul says this I mean at the air as long as he is a child is no different from a slave though he is the owner of everything but he's under Guardians and managers until the date set by his father in the same way we also when we were children when we were children were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world but when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son born of woman born under the law to redeem redeem redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons and because you are sons God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying Abba Father so you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son than in the air through God formerly when you did not know God you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods but now that you have come to know God or rather to be known by God how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless worthless worthless elementary principles of the world whose slaves you want to be once more you observe days and months and seasons in years I'm afraid I may have labored over you in vain brothers I entreat you verse 12 become as I am for I also have become as you are you did me no wrong you know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first and though my condition was a trial to you you did not scorn or despise me but received me as an angel of God as Christ Jesus what then is become of your blessedness for I testify to you that if possible you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth they make much of you but for no good purpose they want to shut you out that you may make much of them it is always good to be made much of for a good purpose and not only when I am present with you my little children for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone for I am perplexed about you tell me you who desire to be under the law do you not listen to the law for it is written that Abraham had two sons one by a slave woman and one by a free woman but the son of the slave was born according to the flesh well the son of the freewoman was born according was born through promise now this may be interpreted allegorically these women are two covenants one is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery she is agar now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia she corresponds to the present Jerusalem for she's in slavery with her children but the Jerusalem above is free she is our mother for it is written rejoice o barren one who does not bare break forth and cry aloud you who are not in labor for the children of the desolate one will be more than those are the one who has a husband now you brothers like Isaac are children of promise but just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit so also it is now but what does the scripture say cast out the slave woman and her son for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the freewoman so brothers we are not children of the slave but of the free the word of the Lord thanks be to God amen my father is an extremely intelligent man in fact growing up in Newark New Jersey he showed such an intellectual and academic aptitude that back then I don't know if they do that much now they actually skipped him a grade so I think he jumped from the fifth grade to the seventh grade I don't think they do that that much now you know because that's just violating all kind of socialization patterns and so on and so forth but that's what they did back in the early 1960s and a typical report card for my dad even though he's extremely intelligent the same time he was extremely rambunctious little child is he would come home with straight A's and academics and you flip the report card over and there'd be all use and conduct use meaning unsatisfactory and my dad recalls coming home one day I think he's in seventh grade something like that and he gives a report card to his mom and it's typical straight A's and academics and conduct flipped it over all use unsatisfactory and his teacher mrs. Cotner actually taken some time to write a note and the note simply said Crawford is well on his way to becoming the class clown well dad saw that didn't you know he was just kind of braced himself for what's gonna follow and he sits down to eat dinner and his his dad my grandfather's home and my dad figures he'd hurry up and eat dinner get get excused from the table and going about the evenings affairs but just as he's about to leave his mother says Crawford hold on I need to show your dad something shows his dad the report card and there's my grandfather I can see him now studying this report card flips it over sees all you studying it studying it for a moment of just eerie silence and he's exasperated he excels and he says to my dad son you're getting too old for this you should be past this by now and he said some other things and did a few other things to submit the kind of behavior he was hoping that his son would get into but my dad says I never forgot that he says I don't know why I just kind of stuck with me when my dad said you're getting too old for this you should be past this it is as if my grandfather said to my dad this was cute in first grade this is cute in second grade maybe third grade but seventh grade not so cute you you should be you should be past this and that was a defining moment my dad says in his life it was as if my grandfather was calling him up into maturity sociologists tell us and you've heard me say this before that we are in an age called extended adolescence you've heard me give you this definition of adolescence before adolescence is simply defined as wanting the privileges of adulthood without the responsibilities that's why shacking up appeals to so many extended adolescent males boys trapped in a man's body wait a minute I can get the benefits of a relationship without having the responsibilities of one that is adolescent behavior and young lady I'm telling you don't let him test drive you you're better than that I know I know you can change him I know I know I know I know because of that adolescence has extended sociologists tell us to age 35 it is plaguing our society boys trapped in a man's body who aren't growing up now as he come to Galatians chapter 4 Paul is not talking in sociological terms but he is he's got a a problem he's dealing with and that is extended adolescence not sociologically speaking but spiritually speaking here is Paul he's exasperated remember we actually read it just few seconds ago he says I am perplexed by you it is as if he's rubbing his forehead looking at the spiritual record report card of the nation of these believers and he's saying you should be past this by now here he is in the opening seven verses he likens the the nation of Israel he he likens them to to time and he say look when you were kids you were enslaved to the elementary principles of this world namely the law the law is a standard of do's and don'ts it was a bunch of directives eat this don't eat that do this don't do that in fact that's how you speak to kids you speak to kids in directives god bless you and I said I know you a new age parent now you you want to have a conversation with the two-year-old about whether or not they should stick their hand in the socket that's ridiculous and just let me just correct you on that little Johnny wants to run across El Camino Rey al and you want to have a conversation with him about that that's abusive little Johnny needs well I can't say that email me at Keith dot al CF dotnet but with kids this is how you speak to kids you speak to kids and directives don't do that you will eat your food you will make up your bed you will do this you won't do that you will you won't you will you won't you will you won't that's how you speak to kids you speak to them in directives and you speak to them kind of in law kind of language but here's what Paul is saying I'm perplexed about you because you're 30-some years old still acting like a spiritual two-year-old basing your sense of identity off of a list of directives called the law that's not maturity that's immaturity if who you are is based off the fact that I don't see certain kinds of movies and you know I don't go certain places and I haven't done certain things in such a long time and my identity is kind of being formed off of my moral choices and the fact that I've memorized X amount of verses and in my giving report and hear me there is a place for those things but we never rest our identity on those things we only rest our identity in the finished work of Jesus Christ so Paul says what is this I'm hearing about you he literally says you observed days and seasons and years what is he getting to he's he's getting now back to the Mosaic law you're basing your identity on why don't you keep the Passover you're basing your identity of the fact that you Sabbath he's not saying those things are wrong but we don't lean on those things for our own sense of identity that leads to self-righteousness and it is profoundly immature the law is like a set of training wheels here you are 35 years old boasting in your training wheels catch it if paddling down the street training wheels this is unpleasing here and and you're going that's wonderful but I'm not a follower of Jesus Christ so I guess it only applies to them no not so fast the phrase he uses is actually telling he talks about being enslaved to the elementary principles of the world what he's getting at here is is is anything we look to for identity outside of Jesus Christ and all of us no matter where you are on the spiritual spectrum if you've been raised in the church and you've been saved since you're a little kid or you're here today and you say I don't know anything about Jesus Christ we all struggle with idolatry looking to other things to find our identity in outside of Jesus Christ so you may not know Christ Jesus but you're here today and maybe you're basing your identity on your GPA maybe you're right give your base your identity on your success or the amount of money in your bank account or or the fact that you're in a relationship whatever it may be these are elementary principles and it's profoundly immature corine are a person that we we know we were just talking about this week who we when we're at this one church this individual was in the entertainment industry and he wasn't a list actor a b-list actor not even a c-list actor I mean he had gotten like one line and went a little two-bit sitcom that didn't last half a season but he was so impressed with himself he went out and got a custom-made a license plate that said seen on TV and you shake your head at the immaturity now watch this we're so judgmental at least he's honest see see we all do that we all do that we all struggle with resting our identity and where we went to school the letters behind our name where we live what we own or don't own and Paulo saying I'm perplexed by you that's that's profoundly immature he's saying in so many words you're getting too old for this Paul is calling us up into spiritual maturity what is spiritual maturity look like I'm gonna give you three things I want us to take this test today and as we walk through Galatians chapter 4 this is going to be profoundly helpful for diagnosing how we're doing if we're on a trajectory to maturity or if we're on a downward trajectory towards spiritual and maturity Paul gives us three Diagnostics in which we can measure whether or not we are on the pathway to maturity the first is what he calls a renewed heart a renewed heart verses 1 through 7 again he's talking about time and he's speaking of it very anthropomorphic terms he's applying human characteristics to time he says but verse 4 but when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son vibrate please born of woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption his sons he pitchers time as a pregnant woman he says when the fullness of time had come he's writing in Greek the Greek word for fullness 4 fullness is play Roma it means to be filled to overflowing filled to overflowing it was actually used of of pregnant women and not just any old pregnant woman but a pregnant woman in her third trimester of pregnancy I'm talking sho'nuff pregnant I'm talking can't bend down and tie your shoes pregnant because you're so overflowing with baby pregnant I'm talking can't get comfortable at night pregnant he pitchers time as being in his third trimester and the apex of time Paul says is when she gave birth to Jesus Christ in the fullness play Roma the fullness of time God sent forth his son born of a woman born under law and when Jesus came what did he come to do he came to redeem us what did he come to redeem us from in context from being enslaved to the law he came to redeem us from the vicious curse of legalism the idea of this word redeem it means to set free means to emancipate I love this my wife and I we just we just spoke on this marriage cruise love like you mean it they do it every single year fifteen hundred couples just coming together on a cruise getting inspired to have better marriages I highly encourage you doing this it's an incredible opportunity so my wife and I went and we spoke at it then afterwards we're at the airport headed back and we run into one of the couples who spoke at it and we're talking to them and sis um it's this white couple and this this guy speaking of this this elderly white guys speaking the saint of am an incredibly godly I don't know how we got in the conversation we were talking about race he's got tears in his eyes and he's talking about his great great grandfather who was who was so um he was so taken back in aghast at slavery that one day he says my great-great-grandfather went to the auction block and bought a slave and when he bought him he told the slave I don't want anything from you here's your papers I bought you to set you free the slave could not believe it he takes off running and then a few moments later he turns and barrels back to this man who had just bought and purchased his freedom and says I don't know what to do I have nowhere to go I don't know how I'm gonna make it so if you don't mind I'd love to work for you my friend says his great-great-grandfather thought about it for a moment he says I'll do it on one condition that you serve me out of freedom that at any given moment you can leave you're not in bondage to me this is voluntary servitude this is the idea of redemption we were enslaved to sin but on a hill called Calvary Christ redeemed us he set us free watch it and he didn't set us free for us to now do life on our own terms but to turn around and to voluntarily serve Him this is what Redemption is in fact anytime Paul writes one of the things he always addresses himself as is Paul a servant of Jesus Christ you have been set free not to serve rules you have been set free to serve within the context of a relationship of a God who loves you and cares for you deeply the tragedy of legalism is legalism teaches us it is quite possible to love rules that it is Jesus and we never fall more in love with reading through the Bible in one year than the man who authored the Bible so I should hope that we're tracking through and we're continuing read through the Bible to hear but listen to me I think for some of us reading through the Bible in a year means more to us than what it actually means to God it is quite possible to read through the Bible and never have intimacy with God it is quite possible to pray and to do so never praying out of a context of intimacy with him you've been created to be in relationship with a God who loves you so deeply and so profoundly and He gave His only Son for you so Christ came to redeem us watch this now and he now goes on to say here's how you know you're redeemed and he has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying crying crying Greek word crowds Oh it means a loud shrill a yell Abba Father here's how you know you're saved there's one song on repeat in the sound track of your heart Abba Father Abba Father Abba Father Abba Father Abba Father Abba Father Abba Father that's how you know you're saved what does it mean Abba is Aramaic baby talk for daddy this is a picture of a two year old girl crawling into her daddy's lap maybe grabbing him by the face saying Abba Abba Abba Abba you only said Alba to those you are in intimate relationship with how do I know that I'm saved the Spirit has been sent into my heart and my heart's cry is daddy daddy daddy daddy daddy daddy it's how I know I'm saved notice you don't know you're saved because you've conformed to a rule if I could take it to Luke 15 this is the famous story we call it the prodigal son it's mislabeled it should be called a dad and two lost sons he's got a young irreligious son who goes to the far country waste his money on prostitutes but there's another son an elder brother who's at home both of them are far away from the father one just happens to live in close geographic proximity but his heart is far away from his dad if you read that story what you figure out is he's very responsible he hasn't left home he shows up every day for work but there's no heart connection with his dad that's exactly what Paul is good what what Jesus is getting to in this story when he's talking about religion the danger of religion is we can come to church being close proximity to the Father but our hearts are far away from him that's why Jesus would call the Pharisees whitewash graveyards full of dead men's bones you're a finely manicured Sepulcher but the truth of the matter is you're dead there's no heart for God that's why you may be here today those who have a heart for God they sin and yet when they sin there is deep what Paul calls godly grief godly conviction because I've hurt the heart of daddy if you can sin and feel nothing be very concerned about the legitimacy of your salvation so here's how God does it I love this the problem with the law is the law only focuses on behaviors the law is like a long New Year's resolutions list you may have moments where you're doing well but there will never be long term transformation all the law can do at best is behavior modification God says I am concerned about your behavior but the way I'm going to get to your actions is I'm going to first get to your heart I'm going to change you from the inside out this is exactly what Ezekiel 36 gets to look at it with me on the screen Ezekiel 36 verse 26 God says I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh God says here's how I'm going to change you I am NOT going to focus on the change first let me give you a new heart because God understands whatever has your heart gets your actions so we just take tests I could look at your checkbook and tell you exactly where your heart is your heart is seen and whatever money flows freely to that's your heart where's your heart I'll never forget when I was single I talk a lot of cinema I talk a lot of smack I ain't going out like no sucker my boys a henpecked and I'm fell in love with these girls you don't see him anymore That's not me when I get in relationship I ain't gonna band in my boys hang out all the time i'ma run this I'm gonna be in control I'm I'm gonna be I ain't gonna tell the girl I love her that's for soft people I got this you know I love that Mike Tyson line you've heard it everybody got to play until they get punched in the mouth that's the most profound thing Mike Tyson ever say but I got a plan today get punched in the mouth well when sister Loretta showed up I broke all the rules from day one all up all up you know back in the day how it was you got a girl's number back in a day you're supposed to wait 24 48 72 hours for you called her because you don't want to come across looking too excited I called her the day of my boys were like have you seen Brian we seen him in a while all of a sudden I have abandoned them I'm hanging out with her all the time she doesn't turn this introvert to extrovert I'm talking on the phone to the wee hours in the morning but you hang up no you hang up no you hang up oh they just keep that between us okay edit that don't put that on radio but this one I want you understand now now we all know what's going on here my actions changed why did my actions change was she got my heart she got my heart the problem with rules is rules will never get your heart they'll never get your heart some of us as parents we even know the the pain of maybe having kids who outwardly conform to rules but there was never a heart connection between mom and child daddy and child because rules ruled get this in your mind God is more concerned about your heart than he is your behavior it blows my mind that David an adulterer is known as a man after God's own heart how does that happen because David said stuff like Psalm 51 as he is pouring out his heart in confession over his sin what does he say created me not new actions but created me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me if God knows your heart God's more concerned about your heart than he is your actions how do I know I am on a trajectory of spiritual maturity it's got my heart that when I even when I blow it there's tears because he's got my heart I can't just sin and go into sin and feel nothing why because he has my heart in fact he we just tell the truth have you ever planned on doing your dirt and you couldn't even enjoy your dirt and the reason why you couldn't enjoy your dirt is because he had your heart secondly I love this how do I know I'm maturing he's got my heart but secondly I know I'm maturing because I'm real I'm studying this thing this week and I'm pouring pouring my energy and effort over Galatians 4 and then I come across verse 12 and I read verses 12 through verse 20 and I'm going this doesn't seem to fit because beginning in verses 12 through 20 Paul says Paul says stuff like brothers I entreat you verse 12 become as I am verse 13 you know is because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first and though my condition was to try to you wet in the world poverty what are you getting at here I love this don't miss it Acts chapter 14 you've got to read it sometime Paul goes into Lystra he preaches the gospel there the people don't like it they are so repulsed by this gospel message they actually stoned Paul if you know anything about stoning stoning involved always hurling a person off of an elevated platform at least thirty feet high in the air and the fall most times was enough to kill you at the least it would it would cause you in modern terminology to be concussed so Paul gets pushed off of this elevated place he's dazed he's concussed and then the townspeople begin literally pelting him with miniature sized boulders most scholars tell us that that that here's Paul he's miraculously survived most scholars tell us that Paul now deals for the rest of his life with the lingering effects of that stoning and part of the lingering effects this affects our is that they say Paul has bad eyes but we understand this again if you look back at our text Paul alludes to this when he says stuff like in verse 15 for I testify to you that if possible you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me or if you look at chapter 6 verse 11 Paul says see with what large letters I'm writing to you with my own hand Paul had an eye problem he had actually prayed that God would do something about it most scholars tell us this is exactly what Paul is getting to in 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 when he says three times I prayed Lord take this thorn of the flesh from you each time he said my grace is sufficient for you Paul was not an impressive looking man now here's what really challenges Paul Paul came along in a culture in which the Greeks love their speakers they place a high priority on oration in fact speakers to the Greeks are kind of like actors and entertainers to us today they were the local celebrities they loved their speakers to have it all together to look good to be polish to be all that now watch what Paul does Paul says when I came to you I came to you in weakness I didn't have it all together you saw my bad eyes they were he says a fiery trial to you I didn't try to cover it up I didn't try to make it look good I didn't try to sweep it under the rug I came to you and profound authenticity why here's how you know you are maturing in Christ Paul is so secure in his relationship with God it is as if Paul said if God knows me fully if he knows everything I've ever done good bad and ugly and if he still knows me fully and still embraces me fully then why in the world am i trying to please you who will never know me fully and who cannot possibly embrace me fully see what he wants us to understand is security breeds authenticity when you are secure in Christ you are free enough to fire your inner lawyer when you are secure in Christ you are release from the tyranny of people-pleasing I'm authentic I'm authentic I don't need to hide some of you here today you don't know Christ as Lord and Savior but maybe you've heard of the biblical story of Adam and Eve sin enters into the world what's the first thing they do they hide vulnerability is gone transparency is gone authenticity is gone they look for fig leaves parentheses we got to be careful here because authenticity doesn't always mean transparency you can be authentic but not know everything about me there are certain things you'll never know about me that that only my wife and I will know about each other that doesn't mean I'm not authentic but nonetheless we've been called to be authentic if there's one thing kids can teach us boy kids are authentic aren't they kids are gonna keep it real I mean my God brother he's about five or six years of age I'll never forget my god brother walking into Sunday school one day and announcing to the whole class Sunday school teacher everybody I don't feel like hearing nothing about no Jesus today let's just say his dad didn't have a conversation with him you know we laugh but we felt like that before we felt like that there's one thing abundant life I want this to be I really believe the Church of Jesus Christ needs to be leading the world and modeling what authenticity looks like if you can't be authentic in the house of God why are we here just this week one of my pastor friends called me he said hey man I need you to walk with me I feel like I'm getting dangerously close to crossing a line with another woman I love the authenticity they're part of the problem with we pastors is we can be so obsessed with our brand and pleasing people and having you buy into this notion that that Who I am on stage is exactly who I am all the time and and and I start listening to you and all the accolades you give me and then I get fearful of whether or not I can be authentic and real and whether or not you accept me and and because of that fear I now get isolated and nobody really knows me and now I'm lonely it's a tragedy they'd say this most pastors I know don't really have friends in the real sense of the word and they're easy picking for the enemy I've made up my mind if I can't be real and authentic why be a pastor I can make a lot more money working somewhere else who knows you who who knows you who knows the financial mess you're in right now who knows about the Instagram chats and Facebook in boxing stuff you've been doing with a person who's not your spouse who knows you who knows about that addiction who knows about that drinking problem who knows you one of the things God says it's not good for a man to be alone one things proverb says the fool isolates himself all of us need this we we need this someone to embrace us but someone to love us enough to give us a sanctified kick in the pants who knows you Paul says you saw my stuff I didn't hide I'm secure in Christ so I ain't trying to please you I'm free and if you reject me that's okay cuz God accepts me I'm secure let's go home on this one what does it mean to be on a trajectory of spiritual maturity it means that I've got a renewed heart that God is alive and at work in my heart it's with the Puritans call my affections are being stirred towards him not only that but I'm real I'm authentic I'm swimming in the deep waters of the gospel and I know that god this astounds me knows everything about me and yet he still says this is my beloved son this is my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased Wow so I got time to be fake with you but thirdly finally there's a daily reliance on the gospel what does that mean Paul ends with up with with an illustration he he's trying to get this point home that you don't want to go the way of the law you want to go the way of the gospel and to solidify his point he talks about two women he says some he says here's Abraham here's Sarah they're they're married to one another God shows up to them one day and he says listen I know you've struggled with infertility all your life but but I promise you I'm gonna make of you a great nation and you're gonna have a child and and this is amazing this is absolutely amazing they're in their early to mid-80s when God makes this promise 14 years go by after this nothing's happened Sarah says this ain't working maybe we misunderstood God why don't you take my maid Hagar Abraham have relations with her and then you guys have a baby everyone's like oh all right sure so they have a baby son named Ishmael Paul's whole point is Ishmael is birthed out of human ability and because he's birthed out of human ability that is illustrative of the law do this do that don't do this don't do that but the problem he says is God says that ain't the child of promise so they get cast out his point is when you go the path of human ability that cannot get you to God like I said last week it's as ridiculous as asking a four-year-old to dunk on a ten-foot basketball they don't have the ability to jump that high then there's Isaac Paul calls Sarah the barren woman I want to be sensitive to this because some of you are wrestling with that right now infertility here's Sarah his point is there she cannot of her own ability manufacture the promises of God she's barren if God doesn't step into the barren places of her life and pull this thing off it will not get done so God steps in in a miracle she gets pregnant with Isaac Isaac is the child of promise if I had more time I develop this barren women back then were social pariahs your sense of self-worth and self-esteem as a woman was tied into your ability to have kids here's here Sarah she's marginalized she's in her 90s she doesn't have a kid she's marginalized I love this what this is teaching us is that the gospel is not just for insiders it's for outsiders too it's not just for those who have it together it's for those who have been ridiculed and and and talked about and push to the fringes don't you see we're all Sarah we may not have barren wombs but we have barren hearts hearts that are totally cold to God I hope you felt this early on the message you can't manufacture a heart for God you can manufacture tithing but not a generous heart God has to do that so God says stop giving me Ishmael I want to birth Isaac in you and I want to step in to the barren places of your life some of you are addicted to sins in your life and you've tried everything you've tried to go about victory in your life through the pathway of Ishmael and Hagar gustas would you try me would you try me would you not just give me your be hey but would you give me your heart and if I can get your heart if I can get your heart I'll get the rest be patient I'm I'm giving you an Isaac but you don't get an Isaac before I first get your heart in the early days of Direct TV I was so excited I went to the local electronics store and I got the Direct TV tuner took this bad boy home to my house ripped the Box open opened up the manual study this thing meticulously followed all the instructions connect it to the TV precisely the way it said turned on the power and nothing little frustrate it we'll try it again took everything apart followed the instructions meticulously laboring laboring laboring for well over an hour reconnect this thing turned on the TV and nothing my wife isn't helped it because she's yelling from downstairs is it working yet and I'm in the flesh because I need to show her I'm a man and I can put this thing together on my own stop asking me is it working yet I tried again nothing by this time I'm food not through food so I call Direct TV and the woman on the line I I tell her my problems and I'm clearly frustrated I bought your product and I'm doing it every way that I'm trying to do it I'm following the instructions and and she kind of chuckles at me she says well do you have the dish I said this I said I don't have one of those where do I get one she says you don't get that I says she says we'll send someone out who will bring the dish and they will position it in such a way to where it'll talk to a satellite way up into the heavens and those satellites will communicate and it will give you the signal but you can't get the signal on your own we've got to do that for you some of y'all are frustrated because you're trying to manufacture a godly life on your own you're trying to be like Christ on your own God says will you give me your heart and I'll connect your heart to my heart way up into the heavens and those two things will start to communicate to one another and you'll start saying Abba Father Abba Father if you live the life you've always wanted but it begins with you saying god I give you my heart I give you my heart more than your money God wants your heart more than your ministry God wants your heart more than your marriage God wants your heart let's pray father we bless you in this place today Jesus you did not die for our activities you died for our hearts so father we we give you our hearts today may you Lord God put on the soundtrack of our hearts one song that plays on repeat Abba Father Abba Father God even when not if even when we sin and fail and mess-up may there be godly grief because our hearts have been pricked and our hearts have been pricked because they belong to you so help us with that Lord Jesus as we come to the table now Lord God we come with hearts fully submitted totally committed to you for father who had profound love for father who has a deep abiding love for us and we celebrate you right now in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Abundant Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 3,601

Rating: 4.5625 out of 5

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Id: Wxn4AfxgxGI

Length: 50min 18sec (3018 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 04 2018