Marriage in Light of Eternity | Francis and Lisa Chan

[Applause] foreign mic fell out of my pocket all right sorry on the unorganized one of this Duo it's all right well I'll help you um so I want to pray um this is gonna sound really weird but when I think about this Gathering have you guys ever played Mario Kart you know the the driving game and stuff um and I if you've ever played it you know I you know we have a bunch of kids so um you know you get behind and you get these little box gifts and every once in a while you get the one that's the bullet yeah you know what I'm talking about the bullet and and you push the bullet it doesn't matter if you're in last place it just makes you zoom sometimes you go from very last to first so sometimes I just like I'm just gonna kick back and hope for a bullet and and and every once in a while I see one of my kids like when they're learning and they got the bullet on the Square I'm like push the bullet push you know and they don't they don't they don't you know and it's like you know I'll reach over and push I go see look you're in first place it's just that for some reason that I'm not saying it's prophetic it's got but that thought keeps coming to my mind is you know not to reduce the holy spirit in any way but I I just feel like sometimes we don't know the amount of power that's available to us that's right there at our fingertips that can change everything and so we keep like our our hands on the wheel like we're gonna fix it we're gonna I'm gonna push push push but yeah I'm gonna but when you read the scriptures they're supposed to be like this power okay otherwise I could just give marriage talks and and little helpful hints on how to have a happy marriage anywhere but we're in a church right now and we have almighty God on his throne that this book is filled with times when when someone just changes completely there's like a power and so the last thing I want to do is come here and just give you a few thoughts on marriage help you communicate better and and you know have your kids like you or whatever I mean those things are great you know mm-hmm that they can be done anywhere and I know there are people in here with deep deep connections with God and when we unite in something we gather together before his throne and say God would you please pour your grace out on this place would you just do it where it's invisible where it's in a way you won't even be able to point you well it's when the speaker said this or when she said this or when I no it just like falls upon you and you leave here and you're going I don't even remember what I remember one time I was I was counseling a good friend of mine that was going to leave his wife and and I remember just saying I go God can you just do a miracle right now because I have one last talk with him can you just do a miracle right now where I know it's you and it's not me and it's just boom would you just hit him and we're talking we're in my living room and I'm talking to him and he just gets up and he goes I gotta go I'm like what he goes everything makes sense now he goes I I'm gonna go back I'm gonna get things right I go well what did I what what was it he goes I don't know a thing you just said he seriously said he goes I seriously cannot tell you anything you've said but and now they're married 25 years you know raised kids everything you know dear dear but you know some of our best friends but I remember that moment where oh my God I asked for that remember when he left I was just like God you heard me like he didn't remember what I said but the spirit something happened and I want to pray that over us that that just throughout this weekend at some point God just pours his grace out I want it tonight so those who are strong in prayer I know some of you are let's let's come before the throne together I mean it all depends like like this whole conflict everything depends on one person there's one being he's sitting on his throne right now and he's looking down and he just decides you get that and he just makes a decision like I'm just gonna pour my grace out on you he just decides to do that and everything's different and so I'm not up here working so hard like oh did I say that right there it's not about that and you're not going home going oh did we get everything we needed to get out of tonight and did you answer that question right you know let's go back it's just so much pressure and Jesus says my yoke is easy it's come to me you who are weary it just exhausted just don't have this peace come let me take on my yoke my yoke is easy my burden is light that's our god of Grace and so let's come before him right now Praise You Jesus praise you king of kings and Lord of lords Praise You almighty God sitting on your throne giving us life right now keeping everyone in this room alive allowing all of our brains to work well enough to understand the words of this prayer everything's in your hands and you're a God of Grace I am so grateful that you're a God of Grace where would we be if you were not a god of grace and mercy Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on us pray that you would Pour Your Grace out every person here everyone who's watching on a screen it's all up to you this is all a waste of time unless you decide open our eyes Lord show us the lies we've believed show us the power that's available to us show us the amount of love we could have oh God please Holy Spirit please come and fill this place in Jesus name we pray all right well I'm gonna have Lisa kinda maybe share where we're at life introduce the family where we're at in life um kind of give a state of the Union we are we are a union of nine we have seven children um but we have grown we have two married daughters and three granddaughters oh yes there they are um Rachel and Justin and they're two bigger girls five and almost three and then mercy and Peter and their little baby Anna she's six months now and right next to me is our daughter the law who came to us through adoption and Zeke and Ellie are on the end there are 17 and 18 year olds they are actually both out of the country right now with why Wham um South Africa and Bahrain I don't know how to say that exactly um and then we have two left at home Claire and Silas are 11 and 8 year old so and Zeke my son on the right he's not that I'm taller than him I don't know what happened on this picture I mean I'd love for him to be that tall I'm like you look like a foot taller than me and he's actually an insurer than me so it's like a miraculous picture for him are you a little bit mad no no I I just don't understand it I don't know what he does no because he looks taller than my son-in-law and my son-in-law's like half a foot taller than him yeah it's weird Okay anyway I think he Photoshopped it he wore wedge shoes what do you wanna okay here's a question for you um what's your hope is this good okay and I want you guys to think about this too um a friend of mine was just telling me he goes yeah dinner the other night we had this lady over with her kid and and she before we pray she was okay before you pray I want to pray for you and I want you to I want to ask you what is your greatest hope in life right now what are you most hoping for because I want to pray for that I thought wow I haven't thought about that but if I if I had to narrow down what do I want most and so I even think about for today and tomorrow what what what would you say would be your greatest hope why do you have to make me cry right from the start [Laughter] you guys get used to it I cry a lot and I can't help it okay I've tried um I think it's when you get older I remember my grandma crying all the time and I'm like why did she always cry even when she's baking a cake she's like honey I forgot an egg but Jesus made my cake taste so good like she was just this she was so so aware of the love of Christ and that's a whole other story but um I think right now currently my greatest hope is that Jesus would come back and make all things new and right um I happen to be in a little bit of a like sometimes you just carry the weight of where the world is at and it's hard sometimes the darkness feels so dark but even like walking into Jimmy and Laura's house tonight after flying here and driving for a couple hours and if you know Jimmy's just all excited and they're happy and talking about you know just how awesome God is which he is but it's like my spirit needed that just to be reminded like don't ever lose hope you know um and I just really do want the Lord to like receive his reward um we had a couple in our church that actually lost their six-month-old baby about six months ago and it was just a huge tragedy for our whole church family to walk with them through this but even just this last Sunday we had a memorial service at her what would have been her one-year birthday and like witness them worshiping the Lord and clinging to like the promises of God I just kept thanking the lord throughout the whole morning like God thank you for showing me how shallow I am like that's deep you know when someone is suffering and in such deep pain but their heart is just crying out to the Lord and holding on to his goodness and it it was like and I'm thinking Lord thank you for stirring my affections for you like they are spurring me on to love and Good Deeds just like your scripture teaches and I so want that like I'm when it first happened and we actually had a service at their home and Francis I'd never heard him do this before but as he was praying he was like Lord receive the reward that you are due like this is an offering to you that this couple would praise you and say preach the gospel to us give us the good news we just want you to we want to hear it out of your mouths we want it to just wash over us that was their number one desire when all of us came to their house a couple days later and then for Francis to kind of set that perspective like this is like a pleasing Aroma to the Lord like we don't talk like that anymore but you think about all of these passages that you've read like this we are now living sacrifices right holy and pleasing to the Lord and I just picture this Aroma going up and the Lord is like you know I didn't want this pain to be on the Earth but I receive the praise of my Saints who know that I am still good and that my sovereignty is overall and I will make things new and I am coming back to make everything perfect there will be no more death no more sorrow no more Struggle No More hardship and yeah I just was that's what I want wow all right good she just know she was uh when I met her she was oh my goodness she was Miss Teen California I was just thinking about that one because they usually ask you if you know what is your hope for the world so I just felt anyways um I definitely would not have given that answer I was 17 years old it was but uh I don't know why I brought that up um he literally brings it up all the time I think it's funny that you were in Patrick like honey in over 30 years you need to let it go still proud of you honey if they had like a missed grandma in California Dominique Dominique um but you know what Lisa was saying about our friends I mean it was it is uh it's just one of those moments where you go I'm so grateful to be surrounded by godly people like this I mean when we first went to their house I mean this was just shortly after the you know their their child died this is our biggest fear right let's just let's just be real right any of us that are parents this is our this is what I hate about living on the earth you know like Lisa said we've got a son in Africa another one in the Middle East you know down in the Middle East I you know she was sick for like two weeks straight we can't get there we don't know what's going on it's it's those types of things and you you know and then and then it then it happens to some of your closest friends and and and and you go to the house and you know immediately they just come up and they just Embrace and they just SOB you know and all the elders and wives were there and we all just we just wept we just wept together we don't know what to say we just all got in a circle like 15 of us and we're just crying together it's probably 20 minutes of just crying together until you know the mom just goes okay please just just someone preached the gospel to us preach the gospel we need to hear good news just just start saying verses just you know and it was just so powerful and I I just kept thinking about how wow you two are defeating the enemy right now do you know how angry the enemy is right now and how honored God is that's just beautiful like that's what we want to do as a family that's what we want to do as a couple I mean when I think about uh My Hope you know there's always expectations wherever you go and so if you go to marriage conference and people come with expectations and and and and and yet as a a pastor as a preacher I kind of have to not care you know let me explain that right like like I yeah as a pastor you just have to not care about people you know uh no you have to you have to get this point where you're like God I know some people are coming with certain expectations but I gotta say what I gotta say you know like you you just go Lord I'm I'm not put on this Earth to meet everyone's expectations I want to meet yours I want to say what you and and really when I pray like I'm on my knees over there going God what what is the most loving thing I could say to you it's like your kids they want something specific but you have to think is that the most loving thing for them is that what's best is that that's what most needed and as as I'm on my knees over I'm like God just just make me love these people I care about you as individuals like really care not come up here and do my thing okay but but to care about every single soul that's here man and as I do that honestly I it's not my goal it's not my hope that you just have a happy marriage okay this is this we didn't even and it's not like a bait and switch we didn't say hey how to have a happy marriage you know that's the name of this no it's marriage in light of Eternity okay then that's what we call her but you and me forever marriage in light of Eternity okay understanding like this life is over any second there's no guarantee that everyone that's here on a Friday evening everyone is watching this on their screen in the Friday evening that you're gonna make it to tomorrow night there's no guarantee of that and so when I think okay what's the most loving thing I can do is is helping you think with an eternal lens like like to to prepare you for the most important second of your existence that one second when suddenly this is just over it's just over and I find myself before this Almighty being like that second what is that gonna be like and and so my heart just always goes back to that and besides the thing is is is so many marriage issues are not really marriage issues it's really that's not that at the root of it and the root of it is do I really know him am I so at peace with him do I get so much pleasure from knowing this God that I'm going to face one day then I'm just overflowing like Psalm 23 says like my cup runneth over where he says the Lord's my shepherd and so I don't have these once in fact my cup is overflowing it's you know picture a cup here and I'm just you know like like if this is my life this this little cap you know it's just like it's just like whoa whoa it's it's just going it's it's overflowing and I'm so full that I'm not looking to my wife and going oh I feel so empty I'm so needy it's it's just it's I'm just like oh man I'm spilling over let me splash some onto you because I've gotten so much pleasure from this God and knowing him that I'm just overflowing and once uh this illustration at the church where I brought a SCUBA tank you know on stage and and I said you know when I feel like some of your marriages are like it's like there's just one tank and uh and you know and and so she's trying to grab so I'm grabbing it back from her you know back and forth rather than both of us we've got a full tank and we just swim around together but when we're needy um it's not because your wife isn't meeting your needs or because I'm not meeting her needs it's you're looking for the wrong place you're looking to the wrong place to be like filled up and Jesus says I came that you might have life and have it to the full and that doesn't mean you know as long as you marry the right person and and that he's just like I will give that to you and so my heart is for you to just to know that you know him and I believe that's the root of this and besides marriage isn't forever Jesus made that clear is in heaven there's not going to be a marriage and there is going to be a marriage to to the lamb um to Jesus himself but he says it's it's not going to be like this and and I I know this is something that's deep in my heart a lot you guys know my testimony that my mom actually died giving birth to me and uh and then my dad remarried but then my stepmother died in a car accident when I was about seven and then my dad got married again then he died of cancer when I was 12. so you know you just go I I don't know I did not expect to make it to 55 none of my my parents sir didn't even come close to that and so I just go wow I'm still here I'm gonna use it for the Lord and um but at the same time I just go at any moment this is done and uh and I stand before the god who created me and I so badly want to want to hear him say well done good and faithful servant you know and marriage is a part of that marriage is a huge part of that how we interact with one another but you got to understand the goal is to hear that and to stand before that God and go well done your marriage had an impact it brought glory to me you know like when we talk about our friends losing their child and how much Glory was brought to God I believe God just looks at that situation and says well done and I want that for all of us and so I'm gonna um I'm gonna share a message yeah a little bit do it is that all right yeah should I just no no stay here stay here it is eye candy um and you can uh share more tomorrow morning great but if you have something interrupt me great okay because okay uh I just want to share a couple passages with you um just to remind you of who we're talking about sometimes we get get in church and you know that old hymn this is prone to wander Lord I feel it prone to leave the God I love like we just we we just prone to wander right you just feel it like like you can know something at one moment and then just wander so far from that truth and so I just want to remind you of who our God is and some of this now I'll share that later okay but but Hebrews chapter 12. I think we have it on the screen right Hebrews 12 verse 18. okay he's he's talking and um it's just a great description of God you know Hebrews kind of takes you back to the Old Testament and everything about Hebrews is is man God was intense when you look at the way he was with Moses but but here's what people where people get mixed up because when I grew up I kind of thought oh that Old Testament God is so intense in the New Testament is like oh he mellowed out and it's all Grace and that is so far from the truth God is a god of Grace in the Old Testament he's the same yesterday today and forever and if anything it's not wow he was so intense in the Old Testament oh we can mellow out now no it book of Hebrews explains as amazing as that was we're in a new time where it's even more intense and you read the book of Revelation you go yes this ends pretty intensely um but so here he's saying for you have not come to what may be touched a blazing fire and darkness and Gloom and a tempest okay when you pray remember before just earlier how we prayed what did you picture in your mind anything you know sometimes we can come to prayer and I do this I wander and I'll just throw words up in the air and not think about who I'm addressing Hebrews 12 is so good because he says do you understand who you're coming before you're not coming before what can be touched okay we're not coming before like another human being I can just slap on the back he says but you're coming for a blazing fire and darkness and Gloom and a tempest a tempest is a storm like a tornado okay he's quoting from Exodus 19 it seems like he takes the Tempest from job where it says God answered him out of the Whirlwind and and exodus 19 is when Moses going up the mountain and and the people are standing at the further Mountain going oh my gosh he's actually walking up to this mountain that is on fire and it talks about this darkness and Gloom and and we don't normally use these words when we think about God okay but I want us to understand this is who we're going to face at the end of our lives so you you've not come to one maybe touch a blazing fire and darkness a Gloom a tempest the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them you see the people back then when they when they saw all of that and they heard this trumpet they're telling Moses okay we're not getting close to that mountain we don't want to hear the voice of God anymore because we're surprised we're still alive after hearing that you just go on our behalf okay this is the same God we pray to right now one of the most impactful moments of my life was when God gave me the clarity to think about who I'm praying to before I just start talking and it's become a practice in my life that I Wander from occasionally but then I get right back oh wait a second who am I talking to oh yeah and passages like this come to mind in the next verse for they could not endure the order that was given if even a beast touches the mountain it shall be be stoned indeed so terrifying was the sight that Moses said I tremble with fear but you have come to Mount Zion to the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem okay so this is where he gets in the New Testament he says not only that but in addition that you have this understanding that you've come to Mount Zion to the city of the Living God so so Moses was on Mount Sinai here now you've come to Mount Zion the city of the Living God the heavenly the Jerusalem and to innumerable angels in Festival Gathering so picture more Angels than you could even imagine up there celebrating so so when I pray I'm coming for this God who's as blazing fires not just someone you can touch just you know just this a voice like a trumpet and on and on and on this Tempest this Whirlwind but then there's also just innumerable Angels celebrating at his throne and now I'm going to talk to him and he goes on and he says and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a New Covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel so he says uh stuff is really important to know that when we sing we're not starting a worship service like there's something going on in heaven okay something's going on right now they're celebrating him people that we know and love that have gone before us it says they're there this is this all happening simultaneous with us being in the room and so sometimes we'll just join with them in heaven and the Bible says they they're like these Witnesses and and somehow there's knowledge of what's going on down here and so we want to be one with all of this and sometimes we can just get into our little problems and some of that's because we don't look at the big picture of everything that's going on and then it goes on um see that you do not refuse him who is speaking for if they did not Escape when they refused him who warned them on Earth much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven you see that it's not like oh that was scary back then they're saying no they had that you have that and on top of that you had Jesus warn you so again it's Hebrews is about upping the intensity and then he goes on at that time his voice shook the Earth but now he has promised once more I will shake not only the Earth but also the heavens this phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that are shaken that is things that have been made in order that things that cannot be shaken May remain therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire okay it's passages like that where I go okay do I care about your marriage yeah you know I do I do um but really only as it pertains to that like we have a God who is a consuming fire and I and he's genuinely here with us and watching this innumerable angels infestal Gathering this God who is a blazing fire and darkness and Gloom and a tempest who says yah shook the Earth guess what I'm going to shake the earth and the heavens like everything's going to change and he says we need to worship him in a way that's acceptable with reverence and awe for our God as a consuming fire that's who we stand before at the end of our lives see by the grace of God I've understood what that God is like and that's why divorce never enters my mind it's never entered a conversation it's just it's why because I'm going to stand before that God who he says I hate divorce and this is a gift from God okay people go oh you're one of those Hellfire Brimstone those those fear of God type of preachers but God says in Isaiah he says to Israel he goes the fear of the Lord is your treasure I'm so glad I Fear God man the amount of trouble I'd be in and gotten in the ways I would have ruined my life if I didn't have a fear of God at the foundation if I didn't have that picture of what God is like and knowing who I'm going to answer to at the end of my life I mean I'm so great that's the grace of God some of you may may read that and and maybe you were thinking about sometimes you're still stuck on Mario Kart you're you're like whatever you know and uh because your mind wanders and others by the grace of God you'll read that and you'll go home and you'll read Hebrews 12 again and you'll go oh man I've forgotten what God is like God and it'll stick with you and you just have this respect and this ah and that's what makes you tremble that's a gift oh God I don't know why other people have read these passages and it did nothing to them and yet I read it and it just hits at the core of who I am and I go man I know who I'm going to answer to and I don't just flippingly say his name I don't just flippantly pray to him and talk to him like I'm talking to just any one of my buddies understand who this God is that has to be at the foundation of your life but here's the other thing so by the grace of God he's shown me that but he showed me something else recently something I have not noticed in 40 Years of studying this book and it's embarrassing to admit because it's so blatant so obvious but we all have baggage and sometimes our baggage causes us to see certain things and not see certain things in Scripture you know what I mean and uh and also the other thing is I prayed for this this is a prayer that has been changing my life that I've been praying for the last two or three months here's my prayers been I'm saying God please show me where I'm deceived because we'll look back at like remember when we used to fight about this you know 25 we're laughing like that's so stupid we all look back at life and we see things we did that we regret they were stupid and you're just like why were we like that and sometimes you really thought you were doing the right thing and you you just go what was I thinking but you were deceived how many are deceived right now okay the rest you're really deceived you know because here's the point you guys by very definition you don't know you don't you can't know that's the thing I'm not talking about Temptation we know when we're being tempted we don't know when we're being deceived and so we've all believed things that weren't true and we but we didn't we figured it out later but I want to know now because the the worst deception is I don't want to come to the end of my life and all those people like in Matthew 7 they go Lord Lord but but I thought I did these miracles in your name and I thought I did this and he goes apart from me I never knew you it's like a surprise wait I thought I there's it's about deception and so I've been praying oh God I know there's things that I believe about you that aren't true fix that in me I know there are the ways that I'm doing certain things there are things I'm sure I am not doing right but I'm I I just don't know where those holes are by your grace would you reveal them to me and I'm telling you God is showing me and it's not in this like scolding like oh I'm so embarrassed of who I am what an idiot I am I just want to die it's been like a very gracious like good because I hurt people when I'm deceived and I lead them in the wrong direction and the older we get the more regrets you have in your life and the more you realize yes some things you can laugh about but then some of your deception and some of your mistakes hurt people for a lifetime and it's not funny especially when it's your own children and so I've just been praying God I want to know show me where I'm deceived show me where I think I'm right and I'm not and I'm begging you pray that this weekend pray that tonight God show me where I'm deceived because the enemy is a Deceiver he's a liar the Bible says so he puts these lies in your head and and it's not like you just muster up your by your own power yes we read the word but we also depend on the Holy Spirit to Enlighten us so here's a passage Hebrews chapter 4. this has been so beautiful to me Hebrews 4 verse 14. I think I gave it to you guys there you go since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the son of God let us hold fast our confession go on next verse 15. for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses okay when you think of Jesus do you think of him being able to sympathize with your weaknesses that was one area of deception in my life where I just think he doesn't he's so powerful like he can't understand my weaknesses but that's not what scripture says and and this is why we have scripture because my natural mind would say he doesn't understand he can't sympathize with my weaknesses he's almighty God he has no weakness but then I have to trust the word of God see that's why we have to worry otherwise you come up with a god who's like you right well I think he'd be like this I think he'd be like this and is it kind of your imagination that's why we need the scriptures to go wait sympathize this with my weaknesses I have to believe that because it's the word of God and I this next one but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are wait every respect do you know the Temptations I've been through you're telling me that Jesus was somehow tempted in the in every respect in the same way as I am and that's my high priest and again this is not stuff I would naturally believe the other stuff that I read earlier I naturally get that I just go yeah of course he's God he's a tornado he's everything he's all unapproachable light I get it he and yet without sin and then look at this next verse this is the one that hit me let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace and 40 Years of studying this book I don't think I ever noticed that it was a throne of grace I have preached many sermons about The Throne of God some of you have heard me preach about The Throne Room of God I don't know anyone that's preached more about The Throne of God like I you know you you talk about Isaiah 6 Revelation 4 5 you know I mean I just I'm infatuated with that throne and if you ask me describe the Throne of God I I would go to Revelation I'm like man he sits on this throne and he's lofty he's exalted from Isaac's the train of his rope fills a temple but he dwells in unapproachable light and there's lightning and thunder coming from the throne there's pillars of fire around the throne there's a sea of glass around the throne there's there's these four living creatures with eyes all over their body they have six wings they're kind they're covered with I can tell you all these things it's like and that is the throne and I come before that throne and yet I never noticed Hebrews 4 16. that we draw near let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find Grace to help in time of need God has opened my eyes just in the last two weeks just like I asked him to and he has shown me that his throne is a throne of grace Grace is when he just gives you something He blesses you you didn't earn it he just gives you this undeserved favor he just gives it to you he says you're going to find Mercy you're going to receive Mercy Mercy is when you should be punished but he's not going to punish you and God is opening my eyes because look yeah I told him my dad died when I was 12. I had a terrible relationship with him though we never had a conversation he would beat me so bad for the tiniest things I remember you you know when we opened a door we have to open it really slowly so it doesn't click and open it you know you know if there's any noise if we pull a door shut and it clicks he'd come out and just start beating me things like that just remembering him just tying me to a tree and just going just different times when he just went after me and so that's why the Hebrews 12 passages Isaiah 6 I get that you want to talk about the Holiness of God and the unapproachability of God and go no he dwells in unapproachable light are you kidding me it's like going to the sun you don't go to the sun you don't and yet this God says let us then with confidence draw near draw near to the throne of grace that our God is a god of Grace the throne is called a throne of grace just like when they built that Ark of the Covenant it was the mercy seat that was on top of their and and when Moses you know heard from God you know and God's revealing himself he says the Lord the Lord a god merciful and compassionate slow to anger abounding and steadfast love like this is our God and I just realized you know I never received Mercy I always got punished beyond what I deserved in my mind you know and so the thought of throne of grace where it's his very nature that he just wants to give and I don't know sometimes when I prayed I realized when I pray and I ask for things I ask as though God doesn't really want to give them you guys ever do that where you're you know I'll be on my knees like God please can you please just get this marriage back together can you please like cause the church to get serious about you would you please have your spirit come into this room and and change I know you don't want to do this and I know you're busy with a bunch of other stuff and it's not in your nature to do it's like dumb no it's a god of Grace you know and and and it's it's just like I don't know like we're on the way to our gathering the other Friday night and and we passed this restaurant called House of noodles caught my eye um it's it's almost like sometimes when I pray it's like walk into the house of noodles and I'm asking for a hamburger or something you know and of course the owner's like I don't know I guess we could you know squash some of this together you know but if it's a house of noodles and I walk in and go hey I don't want to buy 10 bowls of noodles the guy's going ah good night you know it's a you know it's this is what I I can do that I'm Chinese okay you guys better not okay so it's like well this is this is what we do of course I'm so thrilled in the same way he says no would you approach my throat because my throne's a throne of grace and you're gonna come here and ask for Grace as though it's called the throne of grace and you can draw near to that and say God I need some Grace in my life right now he's like finally this is what I do you know it's I I do but you you gotta come on just push the button let me give you this grace so this is a this has been such a powerful now do I did I know that God was the god of Grace of course I did I've said but you know what just one of those times where God just like ah I really get it and I never thought of your throne as the throne of grace I don't think I've ever called it a throne how many times have I read this book and you have different verses will pay you know throne of grace and I'll just keep reading and sometimes I realize God was showing me that um I uh I take too much control like I think well everyone's talking about Grace so I'm going to talk about Holiness and breath and you know it's kind of like if I moved to Waco I'm not going to open a barbecue place because everything's barbecue I'd open like the house of noodles like a real give it a little variety here you know it's it's that same thing I I think sometimes I just see everyone take advantage of God like he's this little nobody like this little Chihuahua or you know just like talk to him like like you're so disrespectful and I'm so tired of it that I I maybe I've been afraid talk about his grace and that's wrong I mean heresy isn't just saying something that is absolutely wrong heresy can be just being so lopsided one way that you neglect the totality of what God is like And yet when you put it all together and you go we've got this consuming fire and praise God for that's why the fear of the Lord is our treasure if God was weak I wouldn't feel safe under him you know I'm protected by God almighty you know not Jimmy you know it's just like I have you know what I mean like if it's just a you know an older man who's you know it's just like but it's the very fact that's why like we have to understand the Holiness of God and then we're like wait that God is for me and then that God tells me that his throne is a throne of grace and he tells me I can approach his throne and I'll receive Mercy and he actually sympathizes with my weaknesses and he's been tempted in every way just as I've been he says he gets me and I can come to his throne that all-powerful Holy unapproachable Throne I can draw near and ask him for Grace it's the only thing that makes sense otherwise why the cross if God was not a god of Grace don't you understand that that's what the cross was all about we know these verses while we were yet sinners we had nothing to offer him we were a mess while we were yet sinners Christ died for us and God made him who knew no sin to be sin on behalf on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God this is all just do you understand that there's this almighty God up there but he's a god of Grace that's why despite all your rebellion and everything you've done and he knows every Secret he knows your weaknesses he knows the lies that are in this room he knows the thoughts that have gone through your minds he knows it all and that's why Jesus died on the cross he was paying for that he paid for that why because God is a god of mercy and Grace it's like they deserve it and I have all power to execute my wrath and they are by nature objects of Wrath but I'm going to show the greatest act of Grace because I want you to know what my Throne is like that you can come and find Mercy you'll receive mercy and you'll find Grace in your time of need that's why we want to start tonight in prayer and with the right picture of God because we all can kind of lean one way or another and some of it is the way we were brought up that's why I try so hard I go God I'm trying to be that perfect Dad I'm trying to be strong like you are so that my kids understand like you are the authority and so I am the authority in my home and yet you are this God that is so approachable once relationship and so I have deep relationships with my kids and I'm trying to be both but I'm going to fail times are going to be on both sides and our parents failed and and it warps our view of God that's why I'm like gosh this is a heavy thing to to be a good father because I'm going to affect my kids I want to hang out and enjoy them and love them and be with them because because that's the way God is and yet I need to be the authority and and hold the line because that's the way God is and somehow our greatest Authority is also our our most intimate relationship and those never go together but God I want to be that because that's who you are and so somehow to be that type of man in the home we need the grace of God and say God okay I need to become that Lord and only you can do that in me and so that's a great promise is the holy spirit that he puts in us and enables us even even though I didn't really understand that throne of grace that well even though it was the new revelation to me some reason God had Grace on my life um even though I was raised the way that I was I think that was one of the biggest surprises Lisa said it's really weird seeing you with our kids like you immediately just loved them and you never tasted of that and yet they're crazy about you you're crazy about them that's a grace of God I don't know I didn't even read throne of grace until a couple weeks ago you know like I that's what I mean it's like God just gives you things it's like the bullet it's just like I'm a great dad you know like it's just how did that happen it's just his grace but we got to come and we've got to believe you got to believe that he's an almighty God and he's a god of Grace and you pray to him and you'll find Grace so I already went over our time but I don't know I still got 50 seconds um yeah Lisa is going to preach to you tomorrow I can you pray sure for everyone because I know we're gonna have some discussion time and this and that and but I just wanna believe in this prayer God have mercy on us we need your grace to understand Who You Are what you have accomplished what you are doing I pray Lord that your spirit would lead in direct conversation between husbands and wives so that our marriages can glorify you God so we can bring you the glory that you deserve would you pour out wisdom that we do not have on our own Lord we recognize our weakness we come with all of our baggage and lay it before you and say please Lord take this bring beauty from ashes that's what you do so I just pray for Holy Spirit directed conversation now and I pray for a spirit of humility Lord because pride is our greatest enemy and you oppose the proud you stand against us when we're so proud so please give us the spirit of humility by your grace Lord we need humility we want to be humble because you give grace to the humble We Trust You Lord thank you that your word is a light it's a light Lord it's so precious to us help us to love your word to Delight in your commands to desire Your Truth above every all the quotes and just all the incessant talking of all of us fools Lord we want the truth of your words a grass withers of flowers fade but the word of the Lord stands forever give us a fresh love for your word Lord that we would literally just have a hunger for it we would want to devour it like an amazing meal that would satisfy our hearts we love you Lord and we thank you for this time we pray in Jesus name amen foreign

Channel: Crazy Love

Views: 60,309

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Id: Ozqmv3drJGw

Length: 64min 19sec (3859 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 22 2023