Healing Hurts: Part 1 - The Journey To Healing

[Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning to everyone and welcome to the well here at stsa as we are starting a brand new series today called as you see up on the screen healing hurts and this coincides with the beginning of the holy 40 days of lent okay lent started a week ago but you know that the first week is like a preparation week and then the holy 40 days we say like jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights begins this weekend and runs through uh palm sunday and during that time we're going to discuss one topic which is this topic of healing but before i get into the topic let me do a survey and i want show of hands and this applies to the people who are watching at home as well show of hands wherever it is that you're watching how many people believe how many people believe that god can heal people today raise your hands how many people okay so how many people say that's pretty much everyone and i hope on the at home everyone's hand is up how many people let's keep on going how many people believe that god can heal physically today whether it's diseases or cancer coma okay everyone's hand is up how many people believe that god can heal emotional sicknesses today whether it's unforgiveness or hurts or past very good very fantastic how many people believe that god can heal relational sickness and relational problems today broken homes broken marriages okay very good everyone's hand is up now i want to ask you the same questions but i just want to add one word to all of those questions and i won't ask you for a show of hands because i believe the answer might change it's going to add one word to all of those questions the same word two little letters and see if it makes a difference how many people believe don't raise your hands how many people believe that god can heal my sickness today how many people believe that god can heal my emotional baggage my hurts my bitterness my resentment how many people believe that god can heal my home and my relational dysfunction somehow again i didn't ask for a show of hands my bet is a lot of hands that were up at the beginning may have gone down and maybe some that maybe some just got a little shaky okay they were just kind of in between doing one of these things and that's exactly why we're doing this series we're doing this series called healing hurts because lent more than anything else lent is a journey towards healing okay lent is a journey towards healing or as father abraham talked about last week it's a road trip now one i wanna i wanna this this definition right here there's two words i wanna focus on journey and healing let's start with journey first lent is a journey lent is not a season oftentimes we think of lent as a season but season means nothing okay season just means something that the calendar says so like today it's winter like yesterday was winter and it was 70 degrees next week is spring and it could be snowing so it just season means nothing season just means the calendar says it's march 21st so therefore it's spring or it's march 20th and somehow that's how we sometimes it's how we approach lent it's lent because the calendar says it's lent and lent just means something you just kind of go through and i always talk about the merry-go-round okay the merry-go-round or the of the church calendar which is like okay now it's christmas and now we do christmas stuff and now it's land and then it's the summer time and now it's this then rinse and repeat okay now it's christmas again and we're just kind of going through it no lent is not a season lent is a journey what's the difference between a season and a journey a journey means you start in a place and you end in a different place it's not much of a journey if i start here and i end up here unless it's like a round trip but in general a journey means that i start someplace and i'm moving towards a destination or a goal and i'm not just passing the time as i would during the season but i'm going somewhere and if i start a journey and i end up in the same spot something is wrong and please if we start lent and we fast for 55 days and we end up in the same spot as we started like come on like that's a waste of time it's waste ever waste effort that's a waste of precious time that could be spent with meat okay that's what it is more than anything else so lent for us is not a season lent is a journey it's a it's it's it's we're trying to get somewhere and where it is that we're trying to get the word that i'm going to use here is healing the reason i chose the word healing like sometimes we would think it's like lent is all about salvation because it's all about christ on the cross and it's about resurrection it's about salvation i'm not against that it is 100 about salvation but i remember several years ago i've shared this story in the past some people may have heard it before is that i was at a conference and i was speaking it was like a college and graduate conference from the indian orthodox church this is probably like 10 15 years ago something like that and they asked me to come and speak at the conference and when i got there i discovered that there was another guest speakers like me and this other guy and he is like a very distinguished theologian like phds not phd phds okay like written many books sits on the the board of like seminaries and and academic institutions and it's like me and him and i got there and i'm like am i in the right place like did you pick up somebody else but they said no you're in the right place and you he's gonna talk that you're gonna talk and then i heard him speak now after i heard him speak what i discovered is okay that that changed my my mentality what a true theologian is because that guy i understood every word he said and all the kids who were there understood every word he said and it shows the true theologian is not the person who confuses people but the person who clarifies just like the good doctor isn't the one who gets good test grade the good doctor is one who can explain to a child why his booboo hurts and that's what i discovered about a true man of god is the one who can okay doesn't just use big words for no reason but anyway he taught me something and he told me the word salvation has been abused has been misused and misunderstood and everyone means says salvation means different things he said anytime you want to understand clearly what does salvation mean replace it with the word healing and instead of saying christ came to save us i'm not saying christ didn't come to save us christ came to save us but if you want to define or you want to distill it or you want to clarify it what does it mean that christ came to save us use the word heal because christ didn't come just for the salvation of all mankind the way we think of it christ came for the healing of all mankind what does that mean that was like an aha moment for me we think of salvation in terms of a ticket to go to heaven after we die that's how we think of it okay because we are bottom line like we don't got time just give me the heart give me the bullet points salvation means i'm going to heaven or i'm going to hell that's all it boils down to but no no no no salvation is so much more than that salvation not just a ticket to go to heaven after you die that's part of it but salvation is just about just as much about this life like saying god sent his son to save us meaning that we go to heaven after we die nothing else is like saying i want to adopt that orphan so that she can have a good retirement plan when she gets to 65 years old no like yeah you want her to have a good retirement like for sure and you want her to be comfortable but there's so much more leading up to there like you want her to live a good life when she's like four years old and five years old and six that's why you that's why you adopt a child well it's the same thing our god fill in the blank for me since we're doing trivia our god is not the god of the dead he is the god of the living our god and salvation doesn't just apply after we die like it doesn't make a difference today and tomorrow and the next day but when you die that's called insurance okay god is more than just an insurance plan that in case of disaster or in case of death like god is not just a life insurance god is salvation for all mankind healing for all mankind and that applies today first john chapter 5 verse 12. saint john says he who has the son has life but he who does not have the son of god does not have life now my question for you is what's this life is he talking just about eternal life like something happens after we die or does it mean something right here like saint john is talking about people right now who are breathing who are living but don't have life because you know what this life is it's a healed life it's a whole life whole w h o l e whole because salvation is more than just after we die salvation is about living healed while we are alive and this is why if you look at the prayers of the church there's one particular prayer that you may not realize it but it is said at just about every single church service every church service whether it's in the church or outside the church whether it's funeral or whether it is um a liturgy whether it's a blessing of a home every church service for the most part not every but most church services have a prayer for the sick and then i i used to think about it like we would go to bless someone's house someone gets a new house and the first prayer we pray is the prayer of the sick and you're like what's the connection between the house and the sick well the connection is the church is a hospital and the goal of everything the church does again is not just life insurance after we die but healing as we are here on this earth i want to show you an excerpt from the prayer of the sick and i want you to see the connection between salvation and healing salvation and healing this is what we pray say all souls that are distressed or bound give them mercy give them rest give them coolness give them grace give them help give them salvation give them the forgiveness of their sins and their iniquities look is praying that right now give them something now give them help give them grace give them salvation meaning and give them healing if the purpose was just go to heaven after we die then how come i don't go in the prayer of the sick and say lord take them to heaven now okay somebody is sick and why don't i just come and say like if that's the goal of salvation just lord take them up to heaven right now two reasons number one if i pray that the family may send me to heaven right now okay that might be the first consequence of what happens and the second thing is the goal of the prayer isn't just the person dies and goes to heaven the purpose is that they find healing on this earth and then go to heaven at when god says the right time is keep on going as for us oh lord this is what the priest prays the maladies of our souls heal and those of our bodies too do cure that's not after death talking about right now oh you the true physician of our souls and our bodies the bishop of all flesh visit us with your salvation healing and salvation are intertwined because you can look at them you can say the same word in both places what we need is healing relationally that's what we're praying right here is give healing to our broken relationships give restoration to our broken homes what we are praying is lord give healing and salvation to our sick spirits that are enslaved to sin and lust and addiction and all kinds of bad stuff we are praying lord give healing to my mind and my heart which is controlled by anxiety and by grief and by worry we're asking god to make us whole that's what salvation is all about and that's why jesus came he said it this way in mark 2 17 he says those who are how well have no need of a physician but those who are sick i did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance the goal of everything we do in the church why we read our bible why we pray why we fast why we give why we serve why we do everything we do is to get to the healed life is to find that salvation yes after we die but also while we are alive and living on this earth again as we pray in the liturgy finish the sentence for me make us worthy to partake of your holy mysteries unto the purification of our souls bodies and spirits like that's what we're praying for that's why we partake of the of communion for the purification the sanctification the healing of our entire person and that's what lent is all about so here's what we're going to do during this series during this series we are going to go week by week with the good physician the great physician of our souls our bodies and our spirits we are going to follow him week by week and what we're going to see is that every week we're going to see jesus interacting for the most part next week is a slight exception but for the most part we will see jesus interacting with broken and sick people who are in need of healing and sometimes they'll be physical like the blind man sometimes they will be emotional sometimes they'll be relational okay like the prodigal son or the samaritan woman we're gonna see jesus coming to people who are in bad shape who are living a unhealed life and we're going to see how he brings healing to them and for our purposes we're going to learn the path we're going to follow the same steps that they followed that he instructed them to see how we can find this healing in our life and let me give you the punch line kind of from the start of the series of what we're going to discover what we're going to discover is that being healed isn't the same as being not sick being healed isn't the same as being not sick just like being fixed isn't the same as being not broken one we want one he wants we want not sick we want never sick we want no problems we want no issues and what we want is okay god just remove the bachelor from my life and actually you know while you're at it make all the consequences go away thank you so much really appreciate it thank you so much but that's not how it works like when you go to the hospital they don't remove your sickness like you don't come in with a broken leg and they say oh boop that never happened anymore that's fun that's not what happens they fixed it they heal it okay when i went into the doctor and i had a a disc a herniated disc in my back he didn't say boop now that's gone that's never again he said no i'm gonna help you to heal it but healing takes time healing takes effort like which would you want back to my back example which do you want me to just numb the pain so you don't feel it or you want me to give you the therapy and the exercises to fix it we want not sick god gives us healed and if you're wondering how that works let me ask you a different question i'm going to ask you a question like i asked you in the beginning and i'm going to give you the same word as a second time how many people you don't need to raise your hands because i already know the answer how many people believe that god is everywhere how many people believe that god is in every circumstance how many people believe that god is with every person how many people believe that there's not an inch on this planet on this universe in anything that's created seen and unseen there's not one square inch that god isn't fully present and the answer is everyone believes that so let me add the same let me add the same word now not how many people believe that god is present in all circumstances how many people believe that god is present in my circumstances how many people not just believe that god is present in every home but is present in my home in my problem in my circumstance and my unsolvable we all know that god is with us everywhere and we know that god has promised to never leave us alone and i'm telling you that includes our problems and that includes our sicknesses and the things that that we suffer from and the key to finding healing is going to be to find him in there let's go some examples from the scriptures once upon a time you know this story about there was three youth three young men who were thrown into a furnace to burn to death because they refused to bow to an idol okay they were thrown into a furnace and they prayed god here's how we would pray god remove the fire remove the furnace what does god do does god remove the furnace no god stands in there with him see how he solves see how he didn't make them not sick but see how he healed them he didn't make the problem to go away but he stood with them in it and that was the beginning of their solution saying they had a buddy named daniel daniel found himself in a tough predicament one day face to face with a lion found himself in a locked place with a lion i don't want to be with a lion in an open space or a lock space or any kind of space one kind of line i want to see is the stuffed kind that's the only kind of line but there's david or daniel face to face with a lion god remove the lion nope what's god gonna do how about i come sit next to you in the lion's den so how about instead of being not ever broken not ever in a problem not ever sick how about i come and give you healing by standing next to you david and goliath you know the story david big guy goliath good lord i'm in trouble make goliath short make goliath small make goliath break his left hand and his right hand and maybe his kneecaps no no no no god doesn't remove problems what god does is stand next to us in the problems and then the best of the best there's one guy who had serious problems in life one guy who was to quote an expression which i hear a lot these days a hot mess of a life i'm gonna go with job and in case you don't know the story of job job in like one day job lost his family job lost his livestock which means like all his money his future his retirements everything else he lost his health and on top of that his wife was nagging him so like the worst of the worst days imaginable possible like job was a mess and everything in jobs like joe needed physical healing job needed relational healing job needed emotional healing job needed everything and what did god do for job did he solve all his problems did he remove all his problems did god go and and erased everything that had taken place in job's life end of job job chapter 42 verse 5 tells us god didn't do any of that job says my ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you you see what god did for job he didn't erase any of his problems he didn't erase anything that like god didn't go like back to the future like let's go back in time and make it so that that's not what god did well god said job i'm gonna stand with you in the problems and before job you've heard of me like there you are job in your problems and you heard of me this god okay this creator and that's like us in a lot of ways right like we've heard of god healing people we've heard of god answering prayers we've heard of god touching hearts we've heard of god like freeing people who are enslaved like we've heard of this but we do like job right here which says i have heard of you with my ear but now my eye sees you and that gets us to kind of the the key to finding healing the key to finding healing is this healing comes from finding the healer in our circumstances healing comes from finding the healer in our circumstances and this is i don't think i'm a very smart person i don't think i'm a very wise person but if there's like one smart thing that i've said in my life or that i'll say to anyone like if you ever want to listen to one piece of thing for me listen this this is like the one million dollar advice for me when you are in a trial or a tribulation or in a situation or whatever it may be stop looking for answers start looking for the one who wrote the test stop trying to find answers to the questions start looking for the one who wrote the test stop trying to find solutions find the solver stop trying to find a way out and find the one who put you in because i promised you because you said it your theology says it the god is everywhere there is an inch on this planet that god doesn't exist there isn't one molecule that isn't fully under his control that includes your problems that includes your sicknesses that includes your unsolvable situations that you've been praying for and that you've been waiting for an answer and that you wish had never happened and god just take this out of my life all of those things god is present and this the start to the healing journey is finding him in them like i said that's what we're going to do in this series we're going to week by week we're going to walk foot step by foot step with christ as he meets broken people as he meets confused people as he needs blind people blind physically blind inside as he meets people who are broken and despair and hopeless and we're going to walk with him step by step and we're going to see how in every one of those situations he revealed himself and he showed himself to that person and as soon as he revealed himself to that person the healing process began and i'm telling you if there's ever a time you agree with me on this one okay there's ever a time that we need the healing presence of god it's this year like lent is always a special time we know that lent is always a sacred tie and a special time but this year like come on like after all that we've been through in the past year and i'm not talking about like i'm not talking about me like i'm talking about us we as a church family and us as a community and us as a nation us as the world like after all we've been through like there's people in our church like we've been our church family we've seen sickness we've seen death we've seen serious mental health issues surfaced we've seen broken homes like we've seen a lot in his past 12 months and i'm telling you god after all that there's no way god doesn't have a special healing during this time of lent like lent already is special lent already is healing and i'm telling you this here i believe it with all my heart god wants to do a great great work a mighty work and that's why he has been preparing us throughout this whole time and the starting point is like job is like the three youth is like daniel the starting point is to find him because when we see him we see everything that we need for healing our key verse is going to be this is going to be our our our theme verse for the series jeremiah 29 13. and you will seek me and find me when you search me with all your heart say that with me say it with me together and you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart let's go one more time because i would love to memorize this first by the end of this series and you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart that's gonna be us throughout this next six weeks we are going to seek we are going to search we do with all our hearts and we trust because this is a money-back guarantee this is this is this is god himself saying that if you seek and if you search and if you open your eyes whether you're the samaritan woman whether you're the prodigal son whether you're the born blind whether you're in a broken home whether you got the emotional baggage whether it's the physical whether it's the spiritual anyone who's any state of sickness you search for me you seek for me with all your heart and you will find me money back guarantee that's god himself speaking that's what we're gonna do in this series sound like a good plan okay good before we find him though we need to start with the homework assignment today is the first we're setting kind of the the beginning as we kick off this journey and there's a homework assignment from the start okay because we're not here just to mess around we're going to start with homework and it's a homework assignment that everyone needs to do and you need to do it this week and that is going to be this starting point of this journey is set a goal set a goal because it's a journey not a season because it's a journey the starting point of any journey is where am i going where's the destination like you get in the car you don't just start driving you're putting the gps where it is you're trying to get to but you don't just say to yourself i'm gonna just drive and where are you trying to get the journey starts today ends in six weeks where do you want to be if you start right here where do you want to be in six weeks whether like i said it's relational healing whether it is uh emotional healing whether it is spiritual healing like i don't know where it is that you want to be and let me tell you what a not good answer is tell you what a not good answer is what a lazy answer is i want to get close to god okay i want to get close to god that's not a good answer okay because that's kind of like the whole purpose of life and that's just basically a cop out saying i want to get close to god it's like saying we're gonna go on vacation sweetheart okay where are we gonna go we're gonna go west okay like west like what's west like west like hawaii west or like west virginia west there's a very big difference between the two so same thing spiritually okay what's the where am i ahead of this lent get close to god no no no no be specific where is your brokenness where is it that you need god the most what aspect of your life what relationship is the most void of god that god we need god's healing touch there what thought pattern okay what habit what it become and maybe it's an addiction what what what is it that is in your life where you feel like i need god the most where god's touch is lacking in my life be specific you've heard the expression he who aims for nothing he who aims for nothing hits it every time never heard that before okay never heard that it's okay i invented it that's for me okay that's yes copyright me okay he who aims for nothing hits it every time that's like the guy okay with the the the archery guy okay and there's no aim in it boop wherever it hits is where i say i was aiming for he who aims for nothing hits it every time copyright father anthony 2021 it would be a shame agree with me it would be a shame it would be a shame to fast for two months two months it would be a shame to fast for two months and end up in the exact same place that we started wouldn't it so what is your goal in today's gospel the first sunday of lent jesus emphasizes the importance of setting a goal matthew chapter 6 verse 19 through 21 jesus says do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy where thieves break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also jesus speaks about treasures and we can substitute the word treasures with goal destination our aim what is it that we're what is it we're driving towards your treasure is what is it that you insta you input into the gps as this is where i want to get to and you realize that once you put it in the gps okay once once you set like that's the goal that's the treasure then what the gps does if i start to stray over here it says come back over here and if i go too much it starts it always is pulling me back it's like a magnet your treasure becomes your magnet so if my treasure is make as much money as possible be as rich as possible then you know what every time i'm over here and they're like uh come over for dinner or let's go out to dinner i'm like well i'm gonna spend a lot of money so no thank you over there it pulls me back over here and then this person said investment over so it the the treasure is always pulling me back if relationship is your treasure whatever it is it's your treasure so what jesus is telling us right here is set for yourself a good goal and set for yourself a goal that that that makes sense and that lasts where thieves can't break in and steal and where moth and rush don't destroy because whatever goal you set is going to always pull you it's going to be the lens through which you filter all of your decisions in life and like i said there's some goals that last and some that don't last so it's not enough just to set a goal we got to set a good goal some goals can be stolen can be destroyed and some will last forever so for example would a good goal for this lent be a new job can that be stolen away from me yes that is not a good goal because that can be stolen you can lose that job someone else can you the job is here today and gone tomorrow okay we changed jobs right now like we changed toothbrushes when we were kids okay so that's not a good goal but how about a goal of a new outlook on money and a new outlook on a career well that's a much better goal because that's something that no one can take from me how about the goal of i want my spouse to leave me alone i want my spouse to stop nagging me about this is that a good goal no it's not a good goal because what isn't nagged about today may be nagged about tomorrow okay so that doesn't get you anywhere but how about a goal of true communication and honesty in my marriage that's a good goal how about a new level of intimacy in my marriage like that's a good goal that's something that no one can take for me spiritually would a good goal be i want to avoid this sin for 55 days i want to avoid this sin it sounds like it's a good goal but you know what you can avoid a sin kind of like holding your breath like you're gonna hold your breath for not 55 days obviously but i'm saying when it comes to sin you can like hold your breath okay and you can but then in the end on day 56 you're worse than you started so i don't think that's a good goal but a good goal might be to get to the root of why i keep falling back into it to understand why is it that no matter how many times i promise no matter how many times i've wanted to change i keep coming back into it so you know what even if i fall that's not the target here the target is i get to the root of it and i find help that's why jesus said this at the end of this passage verse 33 he said seek first seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you that's the goal of this series that's the goal of lent to seek first the kingdom of god and to trust him with the rest to seek first the internal the healing on the inside to get to the root and trust him with the rest we want get rid of my problems we won't get rid of on the outside but you know what that's not what we need we've tried that before that's why in this series we are not going to focus on outside stuff we're not going to focus on the things on the exterior we're going to focus on the inside and there's two analogies okay i'm going to give you two analogies that's going to kind of carry us through these next several weeks in this series two analogies that we'll use throughout the first analogy is building a house or a building or whatever it was any builders right here anyone in construction construction engineering anything like that anyone play with legos here legos legos okay very good okay let's go with the legos me i love watch construction like i remember before i was a priest the guy was a consultant and i was at a project downtown in dc and i used to every day on my lunch break just take a walk outside because they were doing this big huge construction project i think it was like the uh what's it called some kind of conference center or some kind of big huge thing okay right by verizon center or whatever it was over there and every day i would go out there and i'd love to watch it and i remember and i was watching it the one thing i remember is the foundation takes forever forever and it seems like no progress is being made just forever in the foundation you're like come on like y'all sitting there working like there's a hundred of you guys you're working all day and all night and there's nothing to show for it just actually the hole keeps getting deeper and deeper like it's not this is going backwards not forwards but once that foundation when i remember seeing once the foundation is up the rest of it pops up no time so that taught me a lesson and the lesson is a consumer versus a builder looks at buildings looks at homes in a different completely different way a consumer or a novice or someone who's untrained goes and looks at a new house and and and looks at the outside and says oh you know what i like the color of the wall well this carpet is looking very very nice oh look at the shower it's the with the two nozzles okay so you can shower your belly and your face at the same time okay so it's like oh wow this is great that's a novice a builder doesn't look at those things what does the builder look at the stuff that can't be seen he'll look at the carpet he looks at the structure underneath the carpet he'll look at the color of the walls he looks at the what's inside the walls he'll look at the double nozzle or the belly shower or whatever it is he looks at the piping behind all those things because he realizes because he's a wise builder that if the foundation is good and the foundation is solid you can switch all that other stuff you can paint the wall you can add another nozzle for your belly like you can do whatever it is that you want to do if the foundation is good but if the foundation is no good and the foundation has as as holes or corruption no matter what you do on the outside you're gonna have a bad house well that's what we're gonna do in this series each week we're gonna look at a foundational principle of the spiritual life of the healed life i'm sorry not the spiritual life we're gonna look at a foundational principle of a life in christ a salvation a healed life has to have certain things in the foundation and each week we're gonna look at one of those foundational things what we're not going to talk about is fasting and prayer and read your bible not because those aren't important those things are great but those things must be built on top of foundation of things like humility and honesty and repentance and we're going we've tried all the outside things okay but for many of us if we're honest our spiritual life feels like it feels like adding new drapes to a house that has no foundation but now what it feels like sometimes it feels like we're trying to paint the walls on the titanic as it's sinking in the thing so we need in this series not to focus on the outside not to focus on the things that can be seen but to focus on the things that can't be seen and laying a proper foundation because that according to jesus that's what is going to make the house stand the test of time he said this in matthew 7. he said whoever hears these things of mine and does them i will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock that's our goal in this series is to make sure the foundation is solid to fix any holes in the foundation i'm telling you when the foundation is good and the foundation is solid change the drapes paint the whatever it is like do whatever on top of that foundation that house will stand and the inverse is also true that's the first analogy the building in the house the second analogy we're going to go agriculture any farmers here anyone like to eat fruit okay very good that's fantastic we'll go with that we're going to talk about soil we talked about building and foundation we're going to talk about soil as it gives fruit to the trees or the plants whatever it may be like the builder with the foundation the smart farmer knows that the most important thing that he will do to give himself fruitfulness is way way way before he even picks up a seed way before he harvests anything it's in preparing the soil and if the soil is no good and the soil is hard and the soil is is is you know that the crunchy kind okay that that soil that that's tough then no matter what kind of seed you can put the the miracle gross seed or whatever it is you put it inside that kind of soil it's not going to bear much fruit and again this is a lot of times our spiritual lives are this way we're putting great seeds into bad soil that needs work and for many of us our soil which is being honest we do an honest assessment our soil is hardened and it's been hardened by years of focus on the outside and not and neglecting what's on the inside it's been been hardened by the distractions of this world and the cares of this world and my job and the pressure and the kids that they keep on screaming and when they're gonna stop streaming and and the finances and then the covet and then the election and like it's just it's our soil on the inside has been hardened and the soil has been not i won't say ruined because it's never ruined but it's gotten tough to the point that you know what but the seeds just kind of bounce off it and we're going to make progress and we're going to find healing we need to spend more time up front on the soil to break it apart okay and you know that machine i don't know what it's called this machine okay that goes in okay and does like this okay and it goes deep inside and it just looks like it hurts the soil so much and you want to say like no go easy on the soil like it looks like it hurts but that's what it does and it's doing that because that's the only way to bring forth fruit hosea chapter 10 verse 12 says break up your fallow ground fallow means like hardened soil okay like the hard kind break it up tiller i think it's called tilling isn't it what it called tilling okay we're telling break up your fallow ground for it it's time to seek the lord till he comes and reigns righteousness on you this is a great verse because it shows us how this series is going to work we're going to work on the soil we're going to break up and we're going to ask ourselves some tough questions in this series and we're going to look at the man in the mirror okay or the woman in the mirror okay and we're going to to look at some stuff we're going to say you know what there's some things that need to change in there and we're going to dig and we're gonna to to make a mess but you know what when we do that he will come and reign righteousness we're gonna work on the soil we're gonna trust him for the fruit we're gonna work on the inside we're gonna trust him on the outside we're going to work on the foundation we're going to trust that when we do that that he will build a beautiful house on the outside so builder with the foundation farmer with the soil us with the inside focusing during this time of lent on building it right on the inside and the reason why this will not be easy as i said but it will absolutely pay off and the reason why i'll give you this verse from revelation chapter 3 verse 20 this is a verse for all of us that i believe is true this lent more than ever behold i stand at the door and knock this is jesus saying this if anyone hears my voice and opens the door i will come into him and dine with him and he with me this is what lent is all about lent is all about the healer coming and making himself available and we know that lent like we know that the story the road of lent ends with him on the cross father forgive them for they know not what they do we know exactly where the road ends the question is as christ is walking the road for the salvation slash healing of all mankind as he is walking that road which you know he will walk the question is will we find him and will we walk alongside him and we will we give him a chance to work his healing touch not just for all mankind but for me is that another way i know he's coming are we ready to receive him i know he's going to knock at the door are we ready to welcome him in that's the question that we need to wrestle with throughout this time of lent so recap our homework assignment is set a goal and you need to have a specific goal and it needs to be in writing because as long as it's in right now i'm not saying you got to submit it or anything like that but get yourself a little journal get yourself a lent journal get yourself a journal for this this series okay that you can use in your take to your life group and take whatever lessons and in life we're going to talk about a book that we're going to read together get yourself a journal and start off day one what is the goal what am i driving towards how do i hope to be any different on day 55 as it was on day one lent is not a season lent is a journey what am i trying to accomplish one time someone asked me this way said if god were to say yes and to grant whatever it is that you say you are driving towards whatever it is that you're praying for during this time of lent what is it that you'd say that's how i want you to pray what is it okay because sometimes we think to ourselves yeah like no be specific god's gonna say yes just i'm not saying he's gonna say yes but i'm saying like that's how we gonna think that be specific and set ourselves a goal where is it that we need god and his healing touched the most the way it's gonna work we're gonna set a goal we're going to hopefully be attending life group throughout this week again i hope everyone here has signed up for life group and if you haven't signed up for life group just still use your last chances today okay there's still groups that are open there's still a few groups that are available and if there's so much demand that we need to open another group we can absolutely do that but you got to sign up today you go to the stsa app you hit the sign up button okay and there's all kinds of options that includes youth as well okay there's youth options as well the whole point is we're going to listen to a message here today i'm going to give you a homework assignment you're going to go to life group you're going to be prepared to put the practical the teeth on that the theory that we heard here today so everyone shows up at life group this week ready with their goal prepared to share now if you say mine is too personal okay you don't have to share the personal part of it okay but you can generalize it okay but you need to have the personal even if you don't share the personal okay you need to have it even necessarily you don't share okay and if we do that i promise you i promise you i i promise you i promise you if you do that if we do that i promise you he will work i got no doubt that he's gonna work like i said after all that we've been through i know he's gonna work the question is will i be ready will i see him will i find him or will i be distracted will i be walk around like this when he's over there samaritan woman found healing because she found him born blind man found him paralyzed man found him now the question is we find him too and if we do i promise you we'll find healing can we see our memory verse again y'all remember the memory verse put it up here on the screen altogether and you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart starting point is set a goal at your homework assignment for this week second assignment step two come back next week and we'll talk about that okay but for now let's stand for a prayer in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit one god amen heavenly father we thank you lord for the message that you've given us here and for your love for us and your desire to heal all mankind including me and every single person who's here today i pray lord that you would help us to seek you with all our hearts and to trust that if we do that lord we know we're gonna find you and we know lord that if you come you bring salvation you bring healing with you and that lord that's what we're driving towards during this time bless us all lord during this time and help us to truly seek you with all of our hearts as you told us to do we ask this in the name of your son jesus christ with the prayers of all your saints hears as we pray thankfully our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one in christ jesus our lord the thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever amen thanks for joining us here today we'd love to connect with you throughout the week you can find us on any social media platform where you may feel free to share a message that inspires you with family and friends if you'd like to receive our weekly email please click the stay connected button on our website stsa.church if there's anything we can do for you please visit our website and let us know how we can help you or how we can pray for you thanks again for joining us and have a great day

Channel: STSA Church

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Id: n3keI6t7OAE

Length: 47min 19sec (2839 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 14 2021