What the Bible tells us about suffering

Hope of the World addresses grief, persecution, and the seeming triumph of evil in light of the tragic death of Charlie Kirk. Rooted in 1 Peter 1:3–9, it reminds believers that our ultimate hope is not in this world but in the eternal life promised through Jesus’ resurrection.

[Music] Good morning, Eternity Church. Will you stand as we prepare to worship together in this place? And if you would, would you lift your hands as a sign of surrender as we just uh pray together to commit our service to the Lord? God, we thank you so much for who you are. We know that in your presence things change. Lord, we ask just that you help us to focus on you. You're the one that truly matters in this place. Help us to set aside any distraction, any weight that we may have brought in here, Lord. Draw us to yourself as we just pursue you in worship. As we lift up the name of Jesus in this place, we need a move of God. We need a move of God for our families, for our city, for our nation, for our church. We praise you. We thank you. And we want to honor you here in everything that we do here together. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Here we go, church. [Music] Oh, we need a move of God. [Music] We've come for a move of God. We've come for the Holy One. All we want, all we hunger for is you. Come on, [Music] Lord. Come on, sing it out. Holy Spirit, come alive. Fire on the altar, a fresh wind blowing through. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. Make us an offering. Make us an upper room. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. Until we encounter you. Come on. Make us desperate. Tear our idols down. We're repentant. This is still your house. Lord, you made it. When you said you'd pour your spirit out. So, Holy Spirit, come alive. Fire on the altar. A fresh wind blowing through. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. Make us an offering. Make us an upper room. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. Until we encounter you. Come on, church. We're going to declare in this place that we need a move of God. Come on, sing it. We need a move of God. We need a move of God. We need a move of God. We're hungry. We're desperate. Lord, open the heavens. We need a move of God for our families. We need a move of God for our nation. We need a move of God. We're hungry. We're desperate. Lord, open the heavens. We need a move of God in our church. We need a move of God in our city. We need a move of God. We're hungry. We're desperate. Lord, open the heavens. Fire on the altar. A fresh wind blowing through. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. Make us an offering. Make us an upper room. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. A fire on the altar. A fresh wind blowing through. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. Make us an offering. Make us an upper room. We're going to stay here until we encounter you. We need a move of God. We need a move of God. We need a move of God. We're hungry. We're desperate. Lord, open the heaven. Sing it out. Come on. [Music] We need a move of God. Come on. We need a [Music] We're hungry. We're open. [Music] Oh, we praise your name. Lord. Yeah. Hallelujah. Give God a shout of praise this morning. This is weird and awesome all at the same time. Hey, welcome to church this morning. My name is Brad. I'm one of the pastors here. We are so glad that you that you joined us this morning. Like to say welcome to you. If you are new here, I'd like to invite you to our connection lounge. It is right out door number one and there's a tall sign that says connect here. Please go there. We'd like to get some information from you. We'd like to meet you. We have a free gift for you when you stop there. Also, if you're new immediately following the service, outdoor number three around the corner is E101. Now, E101 is a place where you can learn all about Eternity Church, our vision, our values, and you can also learn how you can get connected here at Eternity Church. So, please do that if you never have before. Um, we'd love to. And there's food there, too. I forgot about that. Don't forget the food. Mamas, if you've got a squirmy child or you need to change a diaper or take care of any other of your little ones needs, right here in the back, right by door number one, there's a sign that says mother's room, that's for you. Dads, if you need to change a diaper, um, in all the men's restrooms, there are changing tables. Now, we've met. Now, it's time for you to meet each other. Look around. See someone that you don't that you've never met? Say hi to them. Hug a neck. Shake a hand. Invite them to lunch. All right. Um, I've been instructed by this fine group of people down here that you can join them down here to worship. They promise they won't bite, but come on down. I have a few announcements. A few announcements as we move on this morning. Um, tomorrow night at 7 PM right here in the sanctuary, there's corporate prayer. So, you're welcome to come. There's a group of people that gather the first Monday night of each month. And that's tomorrow night. Also tonight, tonight at 5:00 p.m., baptisms under the Jesus Tower. Now, we have seating for about 160 people on bleachers, but we have lawn chair seating that's unlimited if you bring your own lawn chair. So, do that. Come and join us. We've got 35 or so people signed up. We actually had a gentleman come last night when we were setting up the tanks and he said, "Can I get baptized?" And I'm like, "Right now?" He goes, "No, I'll come back." But so anyway, come and get baptized. It's going to be awesome. Going to be awesome. Next weekend, October 12th, is our finally home weekend. It's going to be a great celebration. Yeah, God has done amazing things and we're going to celebrate that next week. There's going to be inflatables for the kids out in the north parking lot. There's going to be food giveaway and there's going to be tons of special guests. We're going to honor all of the people that have helped us do this because they are awesome and they deserve honor and we're going to do that next week. So, come join us for that regular service times next Sunday. Um, as we get ready to receive the offering, I'd like to invite the gotcha crew forward. I'm just going to pray, but you can give in any of these ways on the screen. You can scan the QR. You can text eternity to 77977 or you can go to myetternity.com/give. Also cash and checks in the bucket. Make your checks payable to eternity church. Come join the youth and worship. And we're going to pray. Jesus, thank you that your word says give and it shall be given to you back to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. God, we believe that this morning and we thank you that your word is true in Jesus name. Amen. Let's continue to worship. [Applause] [Music] [Music] I don't want to play a in that [Music] I don't want to grieve your heart. Lord, I pray that you would make a place for you to rest, place for you to speak, for you to have your way. Make me a dwelling place. There's room for you to move, room for. Holy Spirit, stay. Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling place. Oh Jesus. Make me a dwelling place. [Music] Humble me with holy fear, [Music] never to abuse your mercy. Consecrate and keep me near. It's my joy and it's my honor to be. A place for you to rest. A place for you to speak, for you to have your way. Make me a dwelling place. There's room for you to move, room for you to brea. Holy Spirit, stay. Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling place. Oh, make me a dwelling place. [Music] Clean hands, pure heart, holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, pure heart, holy and set apart. More than a song, that's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, pure heart, holy and set aart, more than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, pure. Your heart holy instead ofart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands. Your heart. Holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, your heart holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. To rest. A place for you to speak, for you to have your way. Make me a dwelling place. There's room for you to move, room for you to breathe. Holy Spirit, stay. Make a dwelling place. [Applause] clean hands. Your heart holy and set up high. That's what you're worthy of. We hand your heart. Holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. [Music] That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. [Music] You're worthy. You're worthy. [Music] Worthy of it all. [Music] You're worthy of it all. Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling. [Music] Make me a dwelling place. [Music] I pray. I pray. Make me a dwelling place. [Music] Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling place. [Music] I pray. Make me a dwelling place. [Applause] [Music] Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling place. [Music] I pray. I pray. [Music] Amen. [Applause] [Music] If your people who are called by your name humble themselves and pray you will heal our land. If we turn from every wicked way and turn to seek your face, then you will heal our land. [Music] You will turn your face from heaven with mercy and forgiveness. [Music] You will heal our land. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. And by your stripes we are healed. Come on. And in faith we grab the he of your own from where the mercy will flow. Jesus is the Lord. All sickness, bondage, and disease, oh it must bow his name for Jesus is the Lord. Your Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. And by your stripes we are healed. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer and by Christ we are here. Oh, come on church. Let faith rise up. Let faith rise up cuz it's who he is. Come on, sing this with me. that by your stripes we are healed. [Music] That's right. [Music] By your blood be drawn near by your Come on we stand [Music] that by your stripes we are healed. By your stripes we are healed. You made a way for us all. Lord, we stand in hope. By your blood, we draw near. Oh, by your blood we draw near. You made a way for us all. Lord, we stand in hope. You're Jesus, the healer. You're Jesus, the healer. You're Jesus, the healer. And by your stripes, we are healed. You're Jesus, the healer. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. And by your stripes we are healed. [Music] Come on church. We're going to sing this again. Oh, you made a way. Oh, you made a way. [Applause] [Music] So by your stripes we are here. Sing it out. [Music] Come on, receive it [Applause] by your blood. [Music] Only by his blood you made a way. [Music] By your stripes we are healed. Oh by your stripes we are healed. You made hope for us all. for we stand in. Oh, by your blood we draw the air. Oh, by your blood we draw near. You make a way for us all. Lord we stand in your Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. And by your strip we are healed. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. You're Jesus the healer. And by your stripes we are here. Sing it again. Your Jesus. [Music] Come on. One more time. Give us eyes to see that you're Jesus the healer. [Music] Come on. Let faith rise up. Let faith rise up. Amen. Amen. What do you say? Wild. Let's show how we worship on Wednesdays. Huh? Wandering into the night, wanting a place to hide this weird soul. This black ball. And I tried with all my might, but I just can't win the fight. I'm looking drifting a bag of just when I ran that road, I met a man I didn't know. And he told me that I was not alone. Come on. He picked me up. He turned me around. He placed my feet on solid ground. I thank the master. I thank the Savior because he healed my heart. He changed my name. Forever free. I am not the same. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. I thank God. Oh. [Music] Not what I see. Got no choice but to believe. And my doubts are burning like ashes and wind. So long to my old friends. Burning and bitterness. You can't just keep it moving. Now you ain't welcome here. From now till I walk the streets to go, I'll sing how you save my soul. This way where one has found a way back home. You picked me up. You turned me around. You placed my feet on solid ground. I think the master. I think the savior because he healed my heart. He changed my name forever free. I am not the same. I think the master I [Music] declare this victory will hell off another one. I am free. Come on. I am free. I am free. Hell lost another one. I am free. I am free. I am free. Hell lost another one. I am free. I am free. I am free. Will hell lost another one. I am free. I am free. I am free. Hell another one. I am free. I am free. I am free. I am free. I am free. He picked me up. He turned me around. He placed my feet on solid ground. I thank the master. I thank the savior. Because he healed my heart. He changed my name. Forever free. I am not the same. I thank the master. I thank the savior. I thank God. [Applause] The testimony of Jesus is a spirit of prophecy. That means what he did for another. He can do it again. That means what he did for another, he can do it again. Come on. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that little bit. Now get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Let's party. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up out of that grave. Get up out of that grave. Because he picked me up. Turn me around. He placed my feet on solid ground. I make a master. I think a savior because he my heart. He changed my name. Forever free. I'm not the master. I thank the savior. I thank God. Thank you Jesus. [Music] Come on. Good to be in church. Amen. I love having the privilege of pastoring a church that loves the presence of God. Amen. I love that our worship team come to worship, not to put on a performance. I like David. I will get even more undignified than this. I love it when people give us a review. They're too hyperactive. I'm like, "Sorry, I was dead and I'm alive now. Sorry, I was going to hell. I'm going to heaven now. I'm a little excited about it. Sorry, I was lost, but I know the way now." Yeah, I'm a bit excited about it. I love that our church loves to worship the Lord. I love that our youth love to worship the Lord. Don't you love that? God is good. If you're new to Eternity Church, thanks for coming. We love you. But more importantly, Jesus loves you. He's got a plan for your life. Uh way back in the beginning, Genesis, in the beginning, all right, God created the heavens and the earth. And then he said, "Let us make mankind in our image." And when God said that, you were in the mind of God. You're now so many years into the future, but but in that moment, you were in the mind of God. And God saw the earth unfold and every tragedy and every good thing, everything. He saw it all. and he knew that it would all lead to you being here having an opportunity to make him your Lord and Savior. He's been excited about this moment since in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Scripture tells us that when one sinner repents, when one sinner gives their life to Jesus Christ, that there is more rejoicing in heaven. And I got a feeling there's going to be some rejoicing in heaven today when people give their lives to Christ. Now, I'm not a prosperity gospel preacher, so I got to tell you stuff. Yes, life is better God's way. Yes, every area of your life that you do God's way is better than if you do not. So, so, so your marriage is better if you do it God's way. Your your your children are better if you parent God's way. Your relationship with mom and dad is better if you honor your mother and father. Do it God's way. Your finances are better, too, if you do them God's way. Amen. Your health is better if you do everything in your life is better if you do it God's way. But I want to be honest with you, doing life God's way is not always easier, though. Sometimes it's actually more difficult cuz the world's running one way and you're trying to run the other way. The world's running away from the Lord and you're trying to run to him. And it's not easy. Sometimes you get caught up in a crowd. Sometimes you get caught up in in in just just ungodliness. And sometimes you have, you know, bad ideologies and bad belief systems and things that don't honor the Lord. And God wants to come into your life and transform you and help change those things in your life. And and if I'm honest, that's not always easy. But what I want to encourage you is this. If you give your life to Christ now, even though it might not always be easy, it will always be better God's way. Look, nothing good comes super easy. You know, like if you want a new house, it's got to get built. You know what I'm saying? Like good things sometimes are hard work. And sometimes this better life is a little bit of hard work, but it is better God's way. And so I want you to give your life to Christ today. If you're away from God, I want you to give him your life. And I want you to find out quick smart in a hurry that God's ways are better than your ways. God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts. God's ways are better than our ways. And so if you're here and you're away from God, I'm going to say a prayer right now, one line at a time. And I want you to repeat it back with me after each line. We're all going to say it, all of us together, so no one's praying alone. But scripture says if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord that you will be saved. And so as we pray it as you speak it with your mouth, I want you to believe it in your heart and according to God's word, your life will change. God will come into your life and you will become a son or a daughter of God. And then the journey begins. This journey of lining your life up with his word where you discover some things are hard, some things got to change, but everything's better God's way. Even in the pain of change, it's even better than God's way. More joy, more strength, more fulfillment as you're living your life on his purpose. Amen. So, I'm going to say this prayer right now, and I want everyone in the room to repeat it after me. And I especially want those who are away from the Lord to pray it with us as well. But everybody together, repeat after me. Dear God, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I believe that he died on a cross for my sin. And I believe that you rose him up out of the grave to give me life, hope, joy, peace, and everlasting life. I receive it all. I receive this new life with you as my Lord and my Savior. I I ask for your forgiveness as I repent of my sin and I ask for your help to live my life your way from now on. I pray this prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. [Applause] So now what we're going to do is this. If you gave your life to Christ just now, I haven't even preached yet. Kind of did little mini sermon, but but if you gave your life to Christ in our service, I want you to do two things for me. Maybe three things actually. Number one, I want you to tell somebody that you did that. Throw something up on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook or or all three combin Twit face, whatever you want. Just put put it up online. Tell some I gave my life to Christ today and everything's going to change now. Tell somebody. Tell your mom. Tell your dad. Tell your tell your co-workers. Tell somebody. Be bold. Stand up. Tell someone. I'm a believer. Now, number two, I want you to tell us. Okay? I want you to text the word Bible to the number 5153350335. You can't see it. I can. I got the special glasses. There we go. Bible. 5153350335 or scan that barcode. If you do that, we're going to send you a Bible in the mail this week cuz you're a Christian now. You're like, "But I haven't changed much." You're a Christian now. God wants to speak to you. You need to read your Bible. God will speak to you through the word. He'll speak to you through friends. He'll speak to you in sermons. God will speak to you. And so, you need to read your Bibles now. So, text that number. We'll send you one in the mail. And lastly, though, so tell somebody. Tell us. I want you to tell me. If you could all close your eyes, everyone in the room, close your eyes and bow your heads. There's nobody looking around. If you prayed that prayer, if you gave your life to Christ, when I count to three, I want you to tell me by lifting up your hand, cuz I want to pray for you that God would move in your life, that God would help you make the changes to make your life line up with his plans for your life and help you find out real fast that God's ways are better than yours. And uh I'm just want to pray for God's favor and healing and protection on your life. And so, if that was you and you gave your life to Christ, I want you to be bold and take a step of faith. I'm not going to point you out or come down there. I'm not even going to tell anybody. But I do want to celebrate with the angels in heaven that you gave your life to Christ. That everyone in this room who got saved today, I want to know who you are. So be bold. And on the count of three, while no one's looking around, lift your hand up and hold it up for 15 to 20 seconds. Right now, if that's you, 1 2 3, shoot your hands up and hold them up all over this place. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 people. God bless you. You can put your hands down. Come on, let's pray for these 20 people. Heavenly Father, thank you for 20 more brothers and sisters coming home to you. Finally home. Lord God, I pray you bless them and protect them and protect the seed that's been planted in their hearts today. Lord God, I pray you would help them to to line their lives up with your word. You would speak to them and lead them and guide them and help them that they could become all that you designed them to be, Lord. And that that that you would heal their brokenness. That you would break the pain and the shame of their past off their lives. And they would know I am not what I did. I am not what I was. I'm a son or a daughter of my creator of God. Now God, they would know that you love them, that you're for them, that you're with them, and that they would find out quick, smart, and in a hurry that God's ways are better than ours in Jesus name. Someone give the Lord a shout of praise and say, "Amen." All right, I'm going to go through my quick things at the start. All right. Hi, I'm Jesse. Welcome to church. Next on my list, uh, we're still very new here. It's only our fifth week. Our big grand opening is next week. Bring a friend. and bring someone to church. Baptism's at 5:00 p.m. today. It's not too late for you to get baptized. Or if it is too late, and somebody already said that they're wrong, I'm right. You can get baptized if you want. So, all you got to do is be a believer, love Jesus, and believe that his ways are better than your ways. That God is right. And sometimes we're wrong. Okay? You want to You're just saying baptism is I'm going to follow you every way I can now. I'm going to live in obedience to the Lord. And so, if you want to get baptized, just turn up at 5:00. will have some shirts and shorts for you as well. But you do have to be a believer and you do have to actually want to honor God's word in your life if you want to get baptized. Lastly, I'm going to read one short verse from Matthew chapter 4. I'm going to read verse 17 from Matthew chapter 4. Then we'll pray and you can take your seats. It says in Matthew chapter 4, right after Jesus began his ministry on earth, it says, "And from that time on, Jesus began to preach saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for every person that's here. I don't know what everybody went through this week. I don't know what pain they're carrying. I don't know whether people came to church today feeling like they completely messed up their entire lives by making terrible mistakes. I don't know what's going on in people's hearts, but I do know that you know. And that even though you know the worst things they've done, you've invited them into your house, into your presence, that they might receive your grace and mercy, and that they might experience the power of transformation, the power of a transformed life. God, I just pray that you would help us all to receive your word today. God, I pray you would help us to understand this topic of repentance. What does it mean to repent? How do we do it? Why is it not scary? Why is it good? God, help us to leave this place just reminded of your goodness, inspired to live for you and encouraged to never give up. I pray this in Jesus name. Someone say, "Amen." Amen. You can high-five one of your neighbors and take your seats. Thank you, church, for letting me go a little off script. I just felt like the the room was ready for salvation. Amen. Because I don't need to preach a big sermon for people to get saved. We just need to know that God is moving for people to get saved. Amen. Well, the topic of my sermon today is repentance. Okay? The power of repentance or as you would say, the power of repentance. The power. Someone say power. The power. The power of repentance. Now, in the world that we live in, uh, repentance has become a bit of a dirty word. It's become, um, uh, and that's kind of become true in many corners of Christianity as well, where people want salvation without repentance. They want forgiveness without even the slightest desire to change their behavior. They want a relationship with God, but they don't want to do anything that he says. And if a church has the gumption to preach on repentance, they would say it's a hatefilled church. It's a judgmental church or that's just an oldfashioned church. But the truth is that repentance is not hateful at all. Repentance is a gift from God. It's a wonderful opportunity that God has given to each and every one of us at multiple times in our lives. And we certainly do not deserve the opportunity or the privilege to repent. Yet by the grace and the love and the mercy of God, we can repent. And now further distorting and confusing people on the issue of repentance uh is when people in the world fall or when people in the world fail and when they own up to their mistakes uh having been caught or or simply just owning up, the world does not forgive. They get cancelled. They get crushed. They're never allowed to live it down. And it's any wonder that people hate the word repentance because the world I in the world repentance doesn't really lead to victory. It can lead to shame. Now with God, it's the opposite. With God, repentance is an open door. It's his mercy. And he gives us a chance to turn back, to be forgiven, to have a fresh start, to let him wipe the slate clean. Repentance is not a curse word or a hate word. Repentance is a hope word. If repentance had a sound, it would be the sound of chains breaking and angels rejoicing. Because scripture says that every time a sinner repents, there's rejoicing in heaven. If repentance had a sound, it would be chains breaking off your life and angels rejoicing in heaven. Amen. Repentance is proof that no matter how deep into the pit you have fallen, God's love is deeper. that no matter how wide the pain and the effects of your sin have reached, God's love reaches wider. That no matter how far the rumors and the talk and the gossip of your failings have traveled, that God's love travels further. that no matter how deep you've gone, how wide it hurt, and how far the rumors have traveled, you still have the privilege of repentance and the opportunity to be transformed by the power of God back into the image of his son. You can still become all that God designed you to be. Repentance is a gift, not a scary word. It is a gift from God. Now, Psalm 51 is a very powerful example of repentance. Uh, it was actually David's response to being caught in sin. Um, what sin was it? Well, we actually read the passage a couple of months ago. Uh, that that describes what happened when David got caught. In 2 Samuel 11:2, it says, "It happened late one afternoon when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of his house that he saw from the roof a woman bathing and the woman was very beautiful and David sent and inquired about her." And someone said, "This is Beth Sheeba, the daughter of Iliam, the wife of Uriah the Hitittite." So David, knowing that still sent messages uh messengers who took her and she came to him and he lay with her. um she returned to her house and she conceived a child and she sent word back to King David saying I am pregnant now. Then after all of this happened, David proceeds to try to cover his sin up. And as he tries to cover up his wrongdoing, things go from bad to worse. Has that happened for anybody else? Right. You mess up, you try to hide it, try to cover it up, try to make sure nobody finds out about it. And it just gets worse and worse and worse and worse and worse, right? And so, first he conspires to have the woman's husband come home so that he would sleep with her and then everybody would think it's his child that she is pregnant with. But that doesn't work because while his mates are at war, they're at a war that David was supposed to be at. See, this passage actually starts saying in the time when kings were supposed to be at war, David stayed home. Okay? So his mates are at war, a war David should himself have been at. So Uriah refuses to sleep with his wife while and enjoy that kind of experience while his friends are risking their lives. He was a good man. So then David goes, "Well, this idea didn't work. I need a better idea to cover this up." So So then he says, "Well, send him send Uriah to the front lines where he will most certainly die." And then it unfolds exactly as his plan was. The man returns to war, dies on the front lines, and then David takes this takes uh Uriah's wa wife to be his wife. Then what happens after he's sinned, tried to cover it up, tried to cover it up again. Does he repent? No. Nope, he doesn't. God has to send a prophet to rebuke David to call him out on his sin. And then David has a moment of clarity and with a broken heart tears his robe and and realizes just how far from God he has fallen away and then he repents. Now often when people get caught and then they repent, people say, "Well, they didn't really repent. They just got caught." Listen, we don't know people's hearts. David really did repent because he got caught. Okay? We don't know people's hearts. And we've got to stop trying to decide and try to judge whether people really are repentant or not in their hearts. We got to look at the behavior. If they've stopped doing it, let's just trust their word that they've repented. Come on now. Right? Like like if they say they have, that's between them and God. So David repents. Okay. Um he gets to Psalm 51 and he he prays a desperate prayer after being caught and rebuked for his very awful sins. He says, "Have mercy on me, oh God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy." Have mercy on me, oh God. See, David, who God would call a man after God's own heart, uh, loved the Lord. And David, at least most of his life, knew the Lord, wanted to follow the Lord, knew his precepts, knew his ways, knew a lot of God's character. And knowing who God was, David appeals to God, appealing to his love and his mercy. Now, we all know about the grace of God. We we talk here all the time. We preach truth. We preach grace. We preach truth. And we don't lower the standard, even if it's uncomfortable in this world, but we lift up the grace of God to match it because Jesus came full of truth and full of grace. Amen. And so, we preach truth. We preach grace. But do we know what mercy is? Grace and mercy are not the same thing. Uh God is both gracious and merciful. See, mercy is when we do not get what we deserve. We're like, I know I deserve that, but but but please have mercy on me. And grace is when we get what we do not deserve. We're given something we didn't earn. We didn't earn it, but by God's grace, we've been given it. Thank you, Lord. mercy. We deserve to be punished, but by the mercy of God, we are not. So, grace is amazing. We do not deserve eternal life. We do not deserve forgiveness. We do not deserve healing. I do not deserve to be standing here on this stage preaching the word in front of all of you. Yet, by the grace of God, here I am. I do not deserve my wife and children. Yet by the grace of God, look at the beautiful family that God has blessed me with. I do not deserve eternal life, but by the grace of God, I will walk the streets of gold with most of you after this life. God is good. Amen. Oh, how I love the grace of God. I have been given so much more than I deserve, but mercy. Oh, I love the mercy of God as well. I deserve to go to hell. I deserve to be punished for my sin. I deserve to have every good thing taken away from me as a consequence of my behavior. I deserve to be banished from his presence. And yet hell will never see me. And yet my punishment was poured out on another. His name was Jesus Christ instead of me. And I will not be cast away from the Lord's presence. But I will live with him for ever and ever and ever. Oh, I love the mercy of God. Cuz I will not get what I deserve. David knew this. David knew that by the power of God's love and the strength of God's mercy, that though he had failed again and again and again, doing worse and worse things, one terrible thing after another to cover the last thing that he did, yet David still knew that by the mercy of God, he could approach the Lord and he could repent and God would receive him. Because God's love and mercy run deeper than your greatest failure, you can still repent. No matter who you are. Looking at David, many of you might see him and think, "Wow, I have not gone that far. I have not stood on the roof and taken someone else's wife and then killed the husband." I hope I hope that that hasn't happened in this church. But if you look at David, you might think I have not gone that far. Man, if God can forgive David, if if God's mercy extends to David, his mercy will extend to me. Right? But then there might be others who say, "Wow, I've gone further. Please don't tell us." You know, just keep that to yourself between you and God. But others might say, "I've gone further. I've done worse." Or at least you might say, "I know of someone who's gone further and done worse things than David." Well, then hear me when I say this. David is not an example showing us the limits of God mercy. No, David is an example that shows us that there is no limit to God's mercy for those who are willing to repent. Hear me when I say, you got to understand this. David is not the limit of God's mercy. That's not what David isn't the limit. David is an example that there is no limit to God's mercy for those who are willing to repent. Amen. So firstly, paving the way for repentance is understanding that God's mercy runs deeper than your greatest failure. And all who are willing to repent can enter the throne room of God. They will be met with mercy and God will receive them. Praise God. Isn't God good? So no matter what you've done, no matter who you are, whatever you've been carrying, listen to me. God's mercy still reaches you. Repentance is a gift, isn't it? So what happens after that? Next, David confesses his sins. Verse three and four of Psalm 51. For I know my transgressions. My sin is ever before me against you. And you only have I sinned and and done what is evil in your sight. So, so that that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. And some people have taken exception to this. Against you and you only have I sinned. What he's saying here is the most important thing to recognize is I sinned against you. There's three things in David's confession that I want you to recognize. David recognized, "I know I have sinned." Number two, David recognized, "I know I have sinned against God." Number three, David recognizes that I know God is right to judge me. That I deserve judgment. I deserve to be punished. And I know that if God chose to do that, that God would be righteous to do it. Our sin was against God. See, when we sin or are sinned against, our sin is against God. If you sin against me, you're sinning against God. If I sin against you, I am sinning against God. Our sin is against God. And what's most important above who has sinned against me or against you is that all our sin is against the Lord God. And the most important thing that people who sin against me need to do is recognize that their sin was against God and that from God they need mercy and from God they need forgiveness. See, I think we get too distracted by whether or not people have come back to me and asked me for forgiveness. And and honestly, as I think about my own life, uh when people have sinned against me, when people have hurt me, the the the moments of real healing that I have experienced is when I finally got to the point that I let God deal with them, where I began to trust God. God said, "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord." So I say, "God, I'm going to let you deal with them cuz I know that it's you that they sinned against. And I know that you defined what's right and what's wrong, and it's you they sinned against. So God, I'm going to trust you with them. I I I stop at that moment. I stop needing them to come to me. And I just hope and I pray that they go to God." See, what matters most is the sin is against God. So when people sin against me, yes, it hurts. And I'm not belittling what's happened to you. And I'm not belittling what people have done to you or around you and how much it's hurt you. But I am not going to live my life waiting for them to show up and apologize to me before I can be set free. My healing my healing begins when I say, "God, they sinned against you first. I trust you to deal with them. If they repent, praise God. Receive them. If they don't, you'll deal with them. And you'll deal with them better than I ever could. That's when healing comes into my life. But either way, I am free to forgive. Of course, it's healthiest when they come to me and apologize as well, but but that's not what I need to heal. I don't need closure from somebody. I get my closure from the Lord. I don't need closure from you. I'mma get my closure from God. Can I get an amen, church? In David's repentance, he's recognizing I sinned against God. And he recognizes God is right. God's ways are better than mine. God's thoughts are higher than mine. God is right to judge me. Again, it's the mercy that he knows about the mercy and the love of God. And that's allowed him to recognize that that that he can say, "God is right to judge me and punish me because he knows the mercy of God will receive him." Too many people sin, fall down, do terrible things, live terrible lives. And instead of accepting God's mercy, instead of humbling themselves and recognizing, I've done the wrong thing, I'm doing the wrong thing, instead of instead instead of declaring that the truth that God is right and I am wrong, they convince themselves and they convince other people that God is wrong and my ways are better than his ways. Instead of repenting, they distort the scripture to make themselves feel better. They take the word of God and they twist it. People who do that are not becoming more like God. They're becoming like the devil. Our first encounter with the devil in scripture, he comes up to Eve. He twists the word of God. He twists what God says. He says, "Did God really say?" It's the oldest trick in the book that people who want to make themselves appear righteous to man instead of to God will say, "Did God really say?" Get people to question God's word. Get people to twist God's word. And people still do it today. Instead of accepting the wonderful mercy of God that allows us to admit that we have sinned against God and have been living in in opposition to his word, instead of simply humbling ourselves and accepting his mercy, they defend themselves so that they can appear righteous before man instead of being righteous before God. And it works. There are entire denominations in America that effectively exist for one reason and one reason only, to justify your sin and let you feel good about it. They'll say things like, "Well, how does what I do hurt anybody else?" Can I tell you, we don't preach truth because of whether or not you've hurt us. It's because you've sinned against God. We don't preach the word. We don't have this social gospel where it's like, "Hey, you know, if I'm hurt by something you do, I need to preach a sermon on it." No, no, no, no. I want you to know how to honor God in your life. I'm supposed to be a preacher of the word of God, not the word of Jesse. I'm supposed to be a preacher of the word of God, not the word of the world. Come on now. I want you, all of you, everybody in here and out there, all around the country to know, hey, here's what God says is right and wrong. And whether what you do hurts me or not is irrelevant because God says it's sin and against you I have sinned. We don't preach tough stuff so that people can make us feel better. We don't preach tough stuff so that so that you know to to sort of get it off our chest. We don't preach tough stuff because we hate people. It's because we love you and he loves you. And you can humble yourself and admit, "I've been doing it wrong." You don't have to pretend it's fine. You can just admit it's wrong. You can come to the Lord and say, "What I've been doing is so wrong." And God will say, "Welcome, son. Welcome, daughter. Let me help you change it." Did God really say, "Is the word of God really pro-life? Did God really decide what marriage and family is? They've forgotten that whether you hurt me or anyone else is of least importance. The thing you need to worry about. What's most important is, have we sinned against God? I don't want to look righteous to some blinded and confused congregation because that's not a righteousness that saves. The only righteousness that saves is a righteousness that comes from God. And so whether we want it to be this way or want it to be that way, it doesn't matter. If we want people to be saved, we want them to receive their righteousness from God, not their righteousness from a blinded and confused congregation. We want them to repent and experience the goodness and power of God in their lives. Repentance, changing course, living a new life. It's not easy and we all make mistakes and none of us will ever be perfect. It's not about perfection, but it only works if we're willing to admit that it's against God that we sinned. Repentance doesn't work if we don't recognize it's it's against God that we sinned. Repentance doesn't work if all we care about is, "Oh, what people have I hurt?" No, no, no, no, no, no. Have I sinned against God? We have to admit that we were wrong and he is right. You see what David would do? David would read the word of God and be changed by it. David David submitted to the word of God over o over his life. He lived under the word and and he let the water of the word wash over him as scripture says. So we recognize it is God that we've sinned against. We recognize that God has a right to judge us. And church, I know this has been a brutal sermon. This might be, you know, someone's brand new today and they're like croaky. But hey, you want to know what repentance is? Hey, I put it on Instagram before I preached it Sunday. I told you what I was preaching on. It's your fault if you didn't see it. All right, we recognize it's God we've sinned against. We recognize that God has a right and is right to judge me. But let's read on because it does get better. It's been brutal, but here's some powerful and wonderful and awesome and fantastic news for you now. Okay, verses 7 to 10. Purge me with hip and thou shalt be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that have been broken uh that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins. Blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. David's asking for a couple of things. One, he's saying, "Lord, please cleanse me. I feel dirty. I feel disgusting. these things that I've done, this this this way I've been living, this stuff I've been thinking, these things I've been doing, this way I've been beh I I feel disgusting. I feel dirty. I feel I feel revolting. I I don't know about you, but but I've felt that before anybody else. And you're like, and and I can't clean it up. There's nothing I can do, Lord. There's nothing I can do to fix this. There's nothing I can do to feel better about this. There's nothing I can do to to shake this stink off my life. There's nothing I can do to make myself feel better or feel clean after what I've been doing or what I've done. So God, I'm going to need you to clean me. And he's also asking the Lord to change him. Create in me a clean heart and renew in me a right spirit. This is so important because we cannot clean our own hearts and we cannot change our own hearts. Now that's not an excuse to keep on going. David is responsible for his own actions. But at the same time, the more we say yes to sin, the more our hearts love to sin. It's like a person addicted to drugs. I've I've seen this hundred times. I grew up in a family full of substance abuse and drug abuse and and the person addicted to drugs, they they chose the drugs. They made the choice to start smoking that, to start sniffing that, to start injecting that, they they made that choice. And every time they they took them, the more their body wants them. And yet for some addicts, even as they want the drug, they hate the drug. There are some that want it and love it. There are some that there are some that that want it and don't hate it. But but there are some that that want the drug and they hate the drug. And those are the people that eventually get free. They know that it's ruining them, but they're stuck in this dichotomy of worlds where where I love it when I do this. Oh, I hate it when I do this. People who are addicted to pornography have felt the exact same way in the moment. They love it while simultaneously being ashamed and they hate it. I I love this. I hate this. Come on. Anyone Anyone ever been stuck in sin and know what I'm talking about right now? Come on now. Can we admit that we've had sin in here? I love this. I hate this. The people who hate this are the ones that will find freedom. still can't blame anybody else. But praise God, we hate this. And can I tell you right now, if you're stuck in sin and you hate it, praise God, I'm so glad you hate it. Scripture says that God will give them over to the lusts of their heart. What's he saying? He's saying, "Look, these people, they're ungodly. They've chosen ungodliness. They're never going to change. They have gone so far. I know they will never come back. Just get out there. They'll never change." But if you hate your sin, praise God, the Holy Ghost is still working in your life. Praise God. God's not done with you yet. You will receive the mercy of God. You will receive the grace of God. You will have victory. You will overcome. Amen. Cuz you still hate your sin. You have not given up the fight. You have not made peace with sin and despair and destruction and brokenness. You still hate it. Praise God. You will overcome. But that part, too many people lack that. Too many people are shameless in their sin. They don't care about it. But only those who hate their sin will finally have victory over their sin. Because those who hate their sin will come to God admitting their sin and asking God to clean them up and to change their hearts. And God will deliver them. And God will receive them. And God will clean them. And God will heal them. And I want to tell you right now, whoever you are, whatever your sin that you've been struggling with or working through or maybe even hiding from everybody else, if you love the Lord, if you hate your sin, if you ask God to help, you will overcome it. You will find victory over your sin. Do not make peace with it. You will overcome. This may be your first time in church today, and you already know why he dragged you in this door. You will overcome. Don't make peace with it. It's heartbreaking when you start to wonder, am I ever going to get over it? Yes, you are. James, the book of James actually tells us if we confess our sins to one another that we will be healed. Sometimes God uses a brother or a sister in Christ to help us overcome our sin. Not even saying that you have to go. It doesn't say if you confess your sins to the person that you sinned against, you'll be healed. No, it says if you confess your sins to one another, you will be healed. Go to a brother in Christ. Go to a sister in Christ. Humble yourself enough to say, "Hey, I've been struggling with A or B or C or D or ABC and D." And then you you then you know you've got a friend praying for you, calling on heaven for you, encouraging you, calling you up to to to to hold you accountable. You will have victory. Hey, I'm telling you right now, if you've been battling something forever and you feel like you'll never overcome it, maybe it's time to take God's advice and share it with a friend and ask for their help and prayers. Amen. You don't have to change alone. You don't have to battle this alone. You certainly don't have to battle it forever. You can, and I believe with all my heart, you will be free from the change that seemed to have so easily ens snared you. Tell God you're sorry for sinning against him. Recognize his standard is the right standard. Ask him to clean you up, and he will. You don't have to feel dirty. Even if you sin again tomorrow, pray this prayer again. Psalm 51's going to get you through, my friend. Pray it again. Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me. Ask him to clean you up and help you meet the standard moving forward to change your heart. But as we get ready to pray for people, because we're going to open the front for prayer in about 2 minutes, 3 minutes, cuz you can go home still struggling, still feeling filthy, still feeling dirty, wondering if you'll ever change. Or you can come down the front and say, "I need prayer. I need prayer. You You don't even have to tell us what's going on if you don't want. Don't have to tell anybody. And by the way, if you do tell somebody, they won't tell anybody else. If they do, we'll kick them off the prayer team. They'll never be up here again. I mean it. If people can't trust the prayer team to not gossip, then people won't find healing and victory. So, if you're thinking about joining the prayer team, but you got a problem with gossip, don't join the prayer team. We Let me be even clearer. We don't want you on it. We want you in church, but we want you to get We want you to come down and get prayer if you're a gossip. All right, I say that to say this. You can trust the team to just pray for you and believe for victory and healing and God to clean you up. Amen. But don't go home. And nobody's going to be like, "Yeah, that's definitely the porn guy. That that that that definitely the that's definitely the speeding guy. That's the bitter guy." Nobody's going to be No. People are going to come down for gossip. People are going to come down for bitterness and brokenness and unforgiveness. People are going to come down for all sorts of different sins they can't shake off their life saying, "All right, it's time to get help." Amen. So, come down the front. But as we get ready to do that, I want to say this. There's something else really cool. After sinning, the most important thing to David wasn't losing his reputation, his job, or his crown. Nope. He wasn't like, "Oh, no. I messed up. I'm not going to be king anymore. Lord, please don't take my crown. Don't take my crown, Vic. Don't take my job. Don't take my reputation. Don't take my money. Don't take my No, he didn't care about any of that. All he said was, "Lord, cast me not away from thy presence, oh Lord. Take not thy holy spirit from me. Cast me not away from thy presence, oh Lord. Take not thy holy spirit. I don't care about anything else, Lord God. The only thing I know I'm a need to be in your presence. I'm going to need to be in your house. I'mma need to be I'mma need to have your Holy Spirit leading me and guiding me and helping me or I will never be able to overcome this church. You need to love God's presence. You might be the world would tell you that that you know what? You've sinned. You've messed up. You're terrible. You're stuck. You got these bad habits. You're you're a hot mess. You're disgusting. You don't deserve to be in church. And God would say, "You need to be in church. You need to You need to worship me in your car. You need to worship me at home. You need to worship me in church. You You need to be in church and worship God. I like that song. This is how I fight my battles. Worshiping God. Amen. But lastly, the other thing he says after all that, after this great mess up, David says, "And by the way, and then Lord created me a clean heart. Cast me not away from your take not the Holy Spirit from me. and then I will teach transgressors your ways and lead sinners back to you. The world would say, "You messed up. How dare you talk about the word of God? You messed up. How dare you talk about God?" And God says, "All I've got is people. So, I'm going to need you to keep talking." And all the people have messed up in one shape or another. So, keep on keeping. The world would say that makes you a hypocrite. God says that makes you a person on a journey trying to line your life up with my word step by step, moment by moment, day by day. Hey, the mercy of God has paved the way. You have not gone too far. He will receive you. Admit you've sinned against God and he's right to judge you. Ask him to forgive you. Ask him to clean your heart. ask him to change your heart, stay in his presence, and keep preaching the word. Would you all stand up with me, church? Lord God, I pray for our church that people in this room who have been struggling with sin in their lives or areas of their lives, struggling in repentance, not knowing how to get through. God, I pray that today would be a turning point in their lives that they would remember this moment. They came to church. They walked down the front. God spoke. God moved in their lives. And they finally got traction, had victory, and everything changed. God, speak to all of us in this room. God, have none of us who need to be down the front who need prayer. Have none of us leave without it. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. I say that because here's the deal. You can leave looking righteous to man or you can say, "God, I don't care what they think as I walk down the front. I want a righteousness that comes from you." Amen. So, God bless you, church. We're going to sing. Brad will be out in about four minutes to close the service and uh and then uh and he's got some other instructions for you. But let's worship our way out. And if you need prayer, walk on down the front. God is good. Let's have some victory today. Amen. [Music] anything that is [Music] I don't want to grieve your heart. I pray that you would place for you to rest, place for you to speak, for you to have your way. Make me your dwelling place. There's room for you to move, room for you to brea. Holy Spirit, stay. Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling pray. [Music] Humble me with holy fear, never to abuse your mercy. [Music] Consecrate and keep me near. Cuz it's my joy and it's my honor to be. A place for you to rest. A place for you to speak, for you to have your way. Make me a dwelling place. There's room for you to move. room for you to breathe. Holy Spirit, stay. Make me a dwelling place. Make me a dwelling place. [Music] Clean hands, pure heart. Holy and set apart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, pure heart, holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, pure heart, holy and set apart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Your heart holy instead aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. Clean hands, your heart holy and set aart for them a song. That's what you're worthy of cleaning hands. Your heart holy and set aart more than a song. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of rest. A place for you to speak, for you to have your way. Make me a dwelling place. There's room for you to move. room for you to breathe. Holy Spirit, stay. Make me your dwelling place. Clean hands. Your heart holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. clean hands. Your heart holy and set aart. More than a song. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. [Music] That's what you're worthy of. That's what you're worthy of. What a God, huh? I'm so thankful for the grace and mercy of God. So thankful for his love. So thankful for his grace and mercy. Friends, thanks for coming this morning. Um E101 outdoor number three and around the corner. Please go to that if you're new here and come back at 5 for baptisms out under the Jesus Tower. Going to be awesome. We love you heaps. Have a great week.

This sermon, Arrival Syndrome, warns against the danger of becoming complacent after victories, using David’s fall with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:1–5) as a cautionary example. It challenges believers to keep pressing forward in faith, to stay spiritually alert, and to run with endurance rather than settling into comfort.

A short description about the what's on your door sermon.