Confession

[0:00] Let's join together and this is the day that the Lord has made.

[0:30] This is the day that the Lord has made.

[0:41] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[0:56] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[1:12] Good morning and welcome to our church. We have a gift for our visitors at the Connection site. Please fill out your friendship card for any prayers or concern or just so we can get to know you.

[1:23] It's fun to be part of the welcoming committee here at Edmonton Center. And we do welcome you to church this morning. I have one clipboard, literally one clipboard to pass around.

[1:34] It's for Vacation Bible School. I guess there's still some things they need. So if you can help with that, that'd be great. You can sign up for Vacation Bible School if you want to out at our Welcome Center. And also, if you'd like to, we're still going through our summer Bible study.

[1:48] You can jump in at any time. It's 1 Timothy. Love to have you come down and join us in studying the scripture. Let's turn to the Lord in prayer, shall we? Dear God, we just pray a special blessing, an anointing come upon this place.

[2:01] Let your Holy Spirit just pour into us, Lord, that we might experience a living God. Somehow, in the words of the songs of the prayer, in some place, we might need you to bless us this morning.

[2:14] In Jesus' name, amen. I'd like to invite you, if you're able, to stand as we're going to sing together. All hail the power of Jesus' name. Amen. Howe ye family, angels fast shared by son, Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown him Lord above.

[2:49] Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord above.

[3:03] He chose the seed of Israel's race, he ransomed from afar. Hail him who saves you by his grace and crown him Lord above.

[3:36] To others whose love can never forget the world and the calm. Go spread your true fears at his feet and crown him Lord above.

[3:57] Go spread your true fears at his feet and crown him Lord above.

[4:09] Go spread your true fears at his feet and crown him Lord above.

[4:19] Go spread your true fears at his feet and crown him Lord above.

[4:31] Go spread your true fears at his feet and crown him Lord above. The everlasting song and crown him Lord above.

[4:46] The Lord be with you. Take a moment if you will and greet your neighbor with the peace of the spirit. Good morning. Good morning.

[5:19] Children come up. Any kids want to come up and join us now? Any kids want to come up? You and me?

[5:33] I think somebody else is going. Good morning. How are you ladies doing? Good? Yeah? Have you ever had a dog?

[5:45] Your aunt has a dog? Have you ever been around a dog? Yeah? Let me tell you something about puppies. Puppies have really, really sharp teeth. Their teeth are sharper than big dogs.

[5:57] I don't know if you knew that. And they don't know it either. So every once in a while they get all excited and they bite you. Now, if a puppy bites you, do you think you take the puppy and get rid of it?

[6:11] No. People don't get rid of the puppy because, you know, they love the puppy. And puppies are cuddly and fun and they play around and jump all over the place and everything, right? So we keep the puppies and we feed the puppies and we try to teach the puppies not to bite anymore.

[6:24] I usually do this. They don't like that when you hold their mouth together. And that teaches them that something is wrong there. And then they don't bite me anymore. After a little while they stop biting. And little by little they just become more lovable.

[6:36] You know, people are like that. They do things wrong. They don't even know sometimes they're doing something wrong. But they do things wrong. Have you ever done anything wrong? I have too. So when you do something wrong, do your parents kick you out of the house and not feed you anymore?

[6:52] No. That would be wrong, wouldn't it? They just teach you the right thing and they try to get you to do the right thing and help you to grow. Just like we do with puppies, right? And God does the same for us.

[7:03] Are you guys have anything you want to thank before? Raise your hand if you want to share something. Mom and Dad. My family. Family.

[7:15] All right. Let's pray, shall we? Lord, we do thank you for our families. We thank you for the blessings you give to us. We even thank you for puppies and little kittens and all the blessings that they give us. We pray that you'll bless us today.

[7:26] Lord, with your peace, your strength, and your wonder. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, you guys can go out to church school. All the kids are welcome to go out to church school now. I'm going to invite Sun Kim Kubiak to come up and share our tackle moment this morning.

[7:51] Good morning. Good morning. So, I want to talk a little bit about relationships today. And I am so grateful for the different kinds of relationships in our lives.

[8:05] And though there are many different types of relationships that are necessary and vital to our lives, today I'd like to lift up life partners. And a couple of summers ago, as some of you may know, after Mr. Floyd Goff's wife passed away, I remember one particular Sunday just sort of sitting near him and just being struck by how lost he looked.

[8:34] And I hadn't really known him or interacted much with him at all, but I felt pulled to offer something. So, that morning, I just gave him a hug. But I continued to feel a desire to offer something a little bit more.

[8:47] And around that time, I was also touched by some others who were experiencing significant loss, both here at this church and out in the world.

[9:01] So, with all that in my heart, I started writing a song. And I hope that I might be able to complete it and perhaps sing it for Mr. Goff. But at that time, it just wasn't coming together.

[9:15] It just wasn't right. And so, I left it. And then this past winter, we were informed that Mr. Goff himself had passed. And in those past several months, I also started feeling pulled to some other folks at church.

[9:34] I was reminded of Mrs. Carol Dombrowski, who had shared with me last summer, about how God had brought her and her husband together so many years ago.

[9:47] I also noticed Mr. and Mrs. Goff. And I noticed that she's not here today. I noticed that one or both weren't here because I'd become used to them always being here.

[10:02] And I have been glad to see them both here much more consistently as I like. I was happy to see Mr. Phillips walking around the church and being Mr. Phillips.

[10:12] And all this pulled me back to this unfinished song. And it just started to come together. And I finally finished it some months ago.

[10:26] And around that time, I started planning and communicating with the pastors so that I could do this thankful moment and share this song with you. And as it turns out, since then, it has also become much more personal for me.

[10:42] And I think I'll be okay today. But my mother-in-law was here last night. And, oh my goodness. Okay.

[10:53] I thought that might happen last night. I did not think this would happen this morning. But for a while, I had been noticing how my father-in-law had really slowed down in the past year.

[11:05] How much more medical attention he was needing. And I had noticed the diligence and commitment from my mother-in-law to be there for him, in spite of how draining and wearing it had been on her.

[11:16] So I had started to think that their time may be coming up in the near future. Though I hadn't expected it to happen as quickly as it did. So my father-in-law passed away June 3rd of this year.

[11:32] And to say that the last weeks were painful and difficult for my father-in-law, mother-in-law, and the whole family is certainly a huge understatement. I do think that there is some relief in the ending of a suffering and now being with God.

[11:44] But there is certainly great loss and some very complicated feelings for those who will miss him, for those who will laugh and cry with each memory of him.

[11:56] And my mother-in-law will be without her husband physically there for the first time in 52 years. Now I do want to take a little note and just kind of say that I'm aware that their relationship was not ideal from beginning to end.

[12:10] I'm aware that there were some very difficult, painful periods. Periods where, truthfully, I would not have blamed her and I might have even encouraged her to leave. But with her constancy and enduring love, he was able to overcome alcohol addiction, was sober for 31 years, and with her help, he was able to develop into the loving father, beloved grandfather and great-grandfather that he became.

[12:41] So I share this to say, I know that relationships are complicated, sometimes very difficult, and never perfect, but love is perfect, and God is perfect, and for those who trust and live in God, there can be a blessed purpose for the relationships that God places in our lives, even in the midst of struggle.

[13:05] So, this song was, and is still for Mr. Goff, who I envision as no longer lost, but back with his wife, his life partner.

[13:15] It's for the people that I notice in our church, who demonstrate the constancy of God's love through their relationships, through times of joy, and times of suffering.

[13:28] And now it is also for my mother-in-law, oh my goodness, who can only see her life partner in her memories for now. And I hope that she can be assured that she will see him again in the presence of God, together with him now and forever.

[13:49] Thank you. Thank you.

[14:19] Thank you.

[14:49] Thank you.

[15:19] Thank you. Thank you.

[15:49] Such a life for me. Thank you.

[16:22] Thank you.

[16:52] Thank you.

[17:22] Thank you. Knowing this is not the end, we'll say hello again.

[18:06] So I'll wait there for you in the presence of our Lord.

[18:21] Hold the love to be by your side, each aching moment passing by.

[18:36] As I wait here for you in the presence of the Lord.

[18:51] Till we're once again, hand in hand, each splendid moment.

[19:03] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[19:15] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[19:27] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[19:39] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[19:51] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[20:03] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[20:17] Dear Heavenly Father, we give you thanks and praise for this day, for the opportunity to gather in worship, to celebrate the love that you have poured out into our lives.

[20:28] And to the life of your church. We ask that you would bless this offering. It's a symbol, Lord, of how much we love you. But we ask that you would bless it.

[20:41] And give us wisdom to know how to best use it for the furtherance of your kingdom. Bless all the gifts that you have given us. Show us how we should call others to you with the gifts you have given.

[20:56] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please be seated. What a blessing it is to remember the love of God and how that love manifests in our lives.

[21:16] And through us, it is a great joy. A joy beyond all other joys that we can experience. Amen. Amen.

[21:27] We want to remember some folks in our prayers today. Nettie Tubbs, the mother of Bill Tubbs, Bill and Sue. And she's nearing the end of her life now.

[21:39] And we're just praying that she will pass peacefully for that family. Sally Accord is home. She's recovering from surgery. I understand from Pastor Sherry that she's doing very well. And that's a good thing.

[21:50] And Donna Swain is in need of healing. I know there are some other folks who are not able to be with us today because they're having some troubles and illnesses that they're overcoming too.

[22:02] I know you know about some that I don't know about. So with all of the concerns that are on our hearts and all the joy that fills us because we know we go to God with our prayers.

[22:14] Let's turn to them and pray.

[22:28] Gracious Heavenly Father, You who have made all things that are and who love us with an everlasting love in spite of all those things we do, all of our shortcomings.

[22:49] We come to you now and lift up our lives before you. We ask that you would infuse us with love, the kind of love that never ends.

[23:06] That you would bind us together with those in your church that you have called us to support and to love and to care for.

[23:20] Sometimes we need to point them to you as often we need them to point us to you.

[23:33] We pray in Jesus name, Lord, for all those who are sick and infirm, those who are nearing the end of life, and those who are just going through a season where they're in need of some help to bring them back to wholeness in their physical being.

[23:56] We pray for their families and for their caregivers, that all would be patient and compassionate. We pray for them, Lord, for all those who are grieving losses, Lord.

[24:10] We ask in Jesus name that you would bring comfort by your spirit. Bring hope into their hearts and into their lives. We pray, Lord God, for all of those who are going to be going on the mission trip. We pray for all of those who are grieving losses, Lord.

[24:21] We ask in Jesus name that you would bring comfort by your spirit. Bring hope into their hearts and into their lives. We pray, Lord God, for all of those who are going to be going on the mission trip.

[24:33] For the adults who will be leading and guiding and for the youth who will be learning and growing in ways that they can't even begin to imagine now as they anticipate with excitement.

[24:58] Their journey and the people they'll meet and the things they'll do. We just pray for your protection, Lord God, and we pray that you would bless them so that they may be able to bless others abundantly.

[25:16] Help them to be able to show your love. Turn them safely to us, Lord.

[25:27] We pray, Lord God, over all of the things that are happening in this world. We pray for the families and friends of those whose lives have been taken throughout our world through all kinds of means, through all kinds of violence.

[25:51] We pray in Jesus name for their souls. We pray for those who have caused this violence to happen in our world.

[26:05] We pray that they will see you, Lord. That they will acknowledge who you are. And that they will turn from sin.

[26:17] We ask also, Lord, that we would remember that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We all need you to save us.

[26:32] Help us, Lord. Help us to love. We ask in Jesus name that as we hear your word, as we continue to hear the music, as we continue to pray that your word, your very being would wash over us and transform us.

[26:54] We pray for Pastor Tom as he delivers the message you have given him. Let it be a blessing to him and to us. And please make all of our worship to be a blessing to you.

[27:09] In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Shall we hear from the word of the Lord?

[27:33] Good morning. Today's scripture lesson comes from Psalm 32. Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

[27:49] Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them, and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

[28:04] For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.

[28:18] I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore, let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found.

[28:32] Surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. You are my hiding place. You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

[28:43] I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding, but must be controlled by bit and bridle, or they will not come to you.

[29:03] Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him. Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous. Sing all you who are upright in heart.

[29:17] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thank you, Bill. Regrets? I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention.

[29:30] I did what I had to do and sought through without exemption. Had a few regrets? Maybe him. Not me.

[29:41] How about you? How about you? I've got a lot of things that I regret. Things that I wish wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't want my life to be done over. Not on the big things. Not on the important things of life.

[29:53] But there are some things I'd like to change about my journey. How about you? Would you like a little do-over here and there? A few things you could kind of take back and stop from having happened?

[30:05] We're talking about worship and this morning we're going to talk about confession. Confession. We do a prayer of confession in our church. I have to tell you it's because a couple came into my office one week and said to me, why don't we do a prayer of confession before communion?

[30:19] It doesn't seem right to go to communion and we haven't confessed our sins. I said, sounds good to me. Let's do it. So that's why we do a prayer of confession. Believe it or not, people can change the worship with their thoughts.

[30:32] In the book of 1 John it says, if you confess, we confess our sins, he is faithful, God is faithful, and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

[30:45] It begins with confession. Lord, I have sinned. Why don't we confess? Because we don't want to admit we're weak. We don't want to admit that we fail.

[30:57] We don't want to admit our shortcomings. In this wonderful Psalm 32, he starts out by saying, Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered, in whose heart there is no deceit.

[31:15] We do try to hide things, don't we? We try to keep them behind the curtains, if you will. And I understand that. It's just like, you know, our garbage.

[31:26] I have garbage, you have garbage. And we all know we have garbage, but we don't put it on our front lawns. We put it in the cans behind the house, right? Because that's where it belongs.

[31:38] But trying to hide it sometimes just becomes counterproductive. And people struggle to try and make it sound like they didn't do anything wrong in the first place.

[31:49] You misunderstood. You know, I find out most of the time, whenever somebody says you've misunderstood, the people they're talking to haven't misunderstood at all. Have you ever noticed that?

[32:01] I find that when I say you misunderstood, it's to somebody who's understood it completely. And I'm just trying to wiggle my way out of what I've done wrong.

[32:14] Better to say, I misunderstood. And then do something about it. In verse 5 of this passage, it says, I acknowledge my sin to you, and I didn't cover up my iniquity.

[32:28] I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And then you forgive me. We can't change until we admit something is wrong.

[32:40] Now, that doesn't mean we need all the details. We don't have to put it all out there, like I said. We don't really need to show every failing we have. It isn't helpful, really.

[32:51] It doesn't help with our lives. It doesn't help particularly the people around us. If I tell you everything wrong with me, and you've heard plenty of stories of what was wrong with me, but if I tell you everything that is wrong with me, that's not going to be helpful.

[33:06] And certainly we don't want to embarrass our family and our friends, and all it does is create distrust and disappointment. We do have to admit, Lord, I have sinned.

[33:18] And I can tell you that I have sinned, and I still continue to struggle with my failings when I say the wrong thing, when I neglect to do the right thing.

[33:29] And it's a struggle in our lives. All we like sheep, Isaiah said, have gone astray. Romans says, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

[33:48] When I was growing up, I was known as the number two bum son. My father would introduce our family, and he'd say, this is my daughter, Chris. He'd point to my older brother and say, this is my number one bum son.

[34:00] He'd point to me and he'd say, this is my number two bum son. And then he'd say, this is my son, John, and this is my son, Pete. I didn't have a name. I was just number two bum son.

[34:11] When I went to eat dinner with my father, he'd keep his head down so he didn't have to look at us. He told us that. He didn't like the length of our hair. He didn't like to think of how we were behaving and living.

[34:24] Because, well, to tell you the truth, we were bums. We caused trouble at every turn. A bunch of my friends and I used to think that it was fun to throw snowballs at cars, trucks.

[34:39] We'd just toss them at these things. And we were actually pretty large, strong teenagers. One time, I remember a fellow getting out of his car to yell at us and to correct us, and he came down the side street and he saw seven teenagers standing there saying, you want to go?

[34:55] We'll go. And some of us were aren't. We did the right thing. He got back in his car and he yelled and he left. We'd do things like, when we heard the steps of somebody in school coming up the staircase, we'd toss a water balloon over them.

[35:14] You know, they would yell, GRASS! How did they know? They couldn't see me. How did they know it was me? They didn't catch me at this stuff a lot.

[35:26] Because I was kind of smart about it. But I probably was what you would call a bum. If we went into a store and saw something we didn't want to pay for, we took it.

[35:40] We hurt people. We did things wrong. And the problem with sin is, even when we don't realize it, it eats at our soul.

[35:54] It hurts. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was staffed as in the heat of the summer.

[36:08] God wears us down when we have unconfessed, unforgiven sin. It holds us.

[36:19] The sins that we commit, and even the sins that are committed against us by others. One causes us deep, broken regret. The other, unrelenting resentment.

[36:35] Because there's consequences to sin. Even if it's somewhere along the line it's forgiven, there are consequences. Sin hurts people. This actual psalm is written by King David, I suspect, after his episode with cheating on his wife with Bathsheba, with killing one of his loyal soldiers, murdering him.

[36:56] And he realized that it was made known. It hurts. Even if your spouse forgives you, if you're unfaithful, it hurts.

[37:09] And it breaks the trust. Even if you think that nobody saw you, it hurts when you steal something from someone else. It's a little store that we took from.

[37:22] We're run by people who probably scraped by on a tiny little profit to feed their family, and we were taking the food out of their family's mouths. We didn't know that. But it still hurt.

[37:34] If only I could take the broken stuff and do it over. Wouldn't that be cool? Kind of like this. Do you ever wish you had a reset button?

[37:57] Feel tethered to an embarrassing outburst? Feel ashamed by the way you handled a criticism? Wish you could reword what you said yesterday? Yeah, well, you're not alone.

[38:11] Do-over is a compelling biblical examination of real life issues in the book of Romans. Hope, forgiveness, change, renewal, love, and faith.

[38:23] It's about the good news that Jesus offers us. The do-over we've been looking for. If I confess my sin with my mouth and believe in my heart, I will be saved.

[38:38] That's what Romans says. A do-over, forgiveness, freezes from the pain, from the guilt, to joy, and to love, and to possibilities and hope.

[38:49] Verse 1, it says, Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them.

[39:01] Brokenness with God not counted against us. On the day of judgment, when the books are opened and they're judging the whole world by what they have done according to the book of Revelations in chapter 20, it says that Jesus will say, Dad, their name's in the book of life.

[39:19] Don't count it against them. And that's a blessing, amen? That's part of being a Christian. We've got a fantastic retirement plan. Forgiveness is not just about some future hope, some possibility that will occur on the day of judgment.

[39:36] Forgiveness is also about today. Now, we want God to forgive us. We want the promises. We want to know that we aren't broken with our God. But sometimes we struggle when it gets down to people.

[39:51] Sometimes we don't want to forget. We want to hold on to a grudge. That unrelenting resentment that somehow makes us feel better.

[40:02] You see, because when we hold a grudge, then we can feel better than somebody else. And we don't feel as broken. Have you ever noticed when somebody talks about a grudge, they puff their chest out?

[40:13] Well, you know what they did to me. It makes us feel like we're proud of ourselves. Well, you know how they treated. Because we think somehow by pushing someone else down, by remembering their sin, by talking about their shortcomings, we can feel like we're not so bad ourselves.

[40:32] We hold on to these grudges. But it hurts our soul. It breaks us. And it keeps us from God's forgiving love.

[40:44] Remember the story about the publican and the Pharisee, the poor tax collector who stood at the altar and said, Lord, I'm such a sinner. I'm a miserable failure.

[40:55] Please forgive me. While the other one stood on the other side of the church and basically said, I'm glad I'm not like that one, Lord. Thanks for making me better than the guy on the other side. I am glad that I do everything right.

[41:07] And I'm the kind of guy that people would be proud to call friend. And Jesus said, which one do you think was forgiven? You see, we hold the grudges because it somehow makes us feel we're not so bad.

[41:20] But it eats at our souls. It tears at our bones that waste away and we groan all day long. I understand when we get hurt.

[41:35] But sometimes it's by somebody that doesn't have what they described in here, deceitful spirit. They're not intending to hurt us. They said something. They weren't thinking. They didn't consider their thoughts, their actions, their words.

[41:49] They weren't trying to be hurtful. They made a mistake. They were ignorant. Part of the reason why we confess is that we're not going to be hurtful.

[42:00] Every week is to remind us of our own brokenness. So that we can have a little more forgiving attitude towards those who sin against us.

[42:12] Because the problem with thinking that it's all about what everybody else did is we forget our own sin. Then we're the ones who remain in sin and the people who have hurt us, they're the ones who are forgiven.

[42:28] We're not perfect. We're not perfect. I know we don't want to forgive people because it hurts and because it takes away our moral superiority.

[42:39] But God said that we should pray, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. I don't misunderstand. Not everyone wants to be forgiven.

[42:51] Some people like that they hurt you. They actually are proud of it. They'll just rub it in and make you feel even worse.

[43:02] They're glad they got you. They go through life trying to play a game where somehow they make you feel miserable about how you are by hurting people.

[43:14] I think we threw snowballs at people's cars for that reason. Made us teenagers feel like we were somehow, you know, okay compared to the adults.

[43:26] Some people need restraining. Don't be like a horse or a mule which have no understanding but must be controlled by a bitter bridle. Don't be the kind of people that need to be locked up and need to be thrown away.

[43:41] Some people don't want to be forgiven. And people say, well what do I do about that? Well God doesn't call you to be more forgiving than he is. If people don't want to confess, if people aren't remorseful, people don't want to change, then why would you be expected to forgive more than God does?

[43:57] But you need to get rid of that demon anyways. You see, because that grudge, that holds you and it hurts you. And it makes you not see what's broken about you but only see what's broken about others.

[44:09] It keeps you from growing. And it keeps you so focused on the pain that they caused that you actually become the loser as they're smiling and walking away.

[44:21] We gotta let it go. If you can't forgive someone, at least cast out that demon, that grudge, that pain, that hurt that holds you.

[44:34] It's just not healthy. That unresent, relenting resentment will chew you up on the inside.

[44:45] People do things that are wrong. I learned it was wrong to throw snowballs at cars. I figured out that it was wrong to steal. She got caught one time.

[44:56] That helped teach me. I learned that throwing water balloons at people in the stairwell kind of got them angry. And that wasn't really a positive experience for people.

[45:09] They didn't enjoy it. But as I got older, I still did things that were wrong. When my friend and I would hit the thruway and it was empty, we'd see how fast our cars could go.

[45:23] He had a Trans-An that was modeled after the Smokey and the Bandit movies. I chased after him with my little tiny Honda. If the police saw us, guess who got a picket, not me.

[45:38] Sometimes I'd go out at night and I'd drink until I couldn't even figure out where I was. I figured these things weren't hurting anybody, but they were.

[45:52] We don't realize it. We don't realize that the things that sometimes we think we're only doing to hurt ourselves actually hurt other people. My wife is home worried and troubled.

[46:04] And thank God I didn't kill somebody driving at those reckless speeds. Even myself or my friend. It wasn't smart. It wasn't a good thing to do.

[46:15] It was foolish. Sometimes we need to learn. And sometimes we need to grow. But to do what we have to do best.

[46:27] I got a problem. I had to say, I had a problem with drinking. I had a problem with some of my behaviors. I needed help.

[46:38] See, we can get stuck in sin. And in the broken regret of sin. Sometimes people won't even forgive us. Sometimes we do something and people will not let it go.

[46:51] We have to live with that. With that regret and pain. And we say, I'm sorry I hurt you. And they say, well, I'm not going to forgive you. It's hard.

[47:03] We understand that sin hurts people. You can't make someone forgive you. In the Bible there were times when people didn't want to forgive.

[47:16] David's own wife, Michal, couldn't forgive him for his actions But he didn't really seem like he wanted to change. People took a chance on me.

[47:30] My wife took a chance on me. That's the best blessing of all. Folks gave me an opportunity to grow. But people won't forgive you.

[47:42] You have to somehow give that up to God too. Or else that brokenness will just eat in your lives and in your heart. And you can't live with yesterday's regrets. Sometimes the people you've hurt aren't even there to forgive you.

[48:05] I have no idea who the guy was we threw a snowball at. And now I suspect that he probably went home, ticked off, frustrated, aggravated at how humiliated he felt by these teenagers and probably took it out on his family.

[48:19] And whose fault is it? Because I wanted to throw a snowball. As just a young kid, that's a regret I'll have to carry. And somewhere along the line, you have to let go of those regrets.

[48:31] You see, sometimes even when God forgives us, even if other people forgive us, we won't forgive ourselves. We won't let it go. I don't know how many people, especially Christians I talk to, that will tell me about some great sinful past they have.

[48:46] Something they did years ago. Something that hasn't happened for so long. And yet they're wandering around and carrying it. I've had people tell me, God will never let me into heaven because years ago I did it.

[49:00] Blank. Paul was a murderer. So was David, the guy who wrote this song. An adulterer. Lots of things people did wrong in the Bible. The Bible is made up of dysfunctional, messed up people.

[49:11] I don't know if you know that. This is not a book about spiritual heroes that did everything right. This is a book about messed up, confused people. You know why? Because it's a book that's supposed to help us figure out how to be so messed up.

[49:26] Let me hold on to these things. Somewhere I failed, as if that one sin is the only thing we've ever done wrong. Some people won't let go.

[49:38] John Wesley sang and wrote a song about it. He breaks the power of canceled sin and sets the prisoner free. Canceled sin. God already forgave it, but you won't forgive yourself.

[49:50] Forgive yourself. And why do we do that? Because we get stuck. We get stuck with yesterday's problems. And you know that's a trick of the devil. To get us focused on what was wrong with us back then.

[50:03] So that we don't look at what we've got to change in our lives today. Do you follow? We don't grow anymore because we're so stuck back in the day when we did something wrong. I've done a lot of things wrong in my life.

[50:17] I know. I'm not supposed to say that on your past, but I'm supposed to say I live the perfect life in every way. But I haven't. But you know, I don't live walking through every day trying to remember everything I've ever done wrong.

[50:28] In fact, even trying to figure out this sermon, I had to think about what did I do wrong? I can't remember. Because God takes it away from you if you let him. Because I don't have to fix the old problems.

[50:40] I don't throw snowballs at cars anymore, you know? When I go into a store, I pay for things. I don't do that kind of stuff anymore. I don't go out all my drinking.

[50:51] I don't do the kind of things that hurt people that way. Living in the past just keeps us from recognizing the problems we have to deal with today.

[51:06] That we need to confess right now. Because we still have problems even when we overcome our sins. I planned each jotted course, each careful step along the highway.

[51:22] And more, much more than this, I did it. God's way. See, there's something wrong with that song. It's not about doing it my way.

[51:34] It's about doing it God's way. And so confession has to lead to repentance, which means that we're going to change. Go and sin no more, Jesus said.

[51:45] And that requires true humility. Sometimes I'm reminded that when I tell these stories about my past, that I think it's some kind of joke and something I'm proud of. I'm not.

[51:56] These are terrible things I did when I was younger. Humility tells us that we're still convicted by God's love because God still loves us. Day and night, His hand was heavy on us.

[52:10] But He became our hiding place. He protected me from trouble and surrounded me with songs of deliverance. He instructed me and taught me a way to go.

[52:22] Because God will change us and guide us. And sin requires not just confession and not just God's forgiveness, but repentance to turn our lives and change.

[52:35] If differently, I am still a sinner in the need of God's grace. And I will always be one. But I'm not trying to stay stuck in that.

[52:47] I don't use that as an excuse to never grow. You should be able to look at your life and say, seven years ago, I wasn't as good as I am today. When I was ordained by the bishop, he said, are you going on to perfection?

[52:59] And I thought, seriously, dude, that's pretty heavy. Perfection? If you're not going towards perfection, if you're not trying to get as good as you possibly can, where are you headed?

[53:10] Staying in stuck in brokenness? That's not what God calls us to. He calls us to change, repent again and again and again. In Hebrews chapter 12, it says, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves and he chastens everyone he accepts as his child.

[53:29] Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as his children. What children are not disciplined by their parents? My father called me his number two bum son because he was trying to change who I was.

[53:42] As I sat at the dinner table eating with him. Do you follow? He didn't kick me out of his presence. He didn't turn me away from his home. He didn't deny me sustenance. He didn't deny me love. But he disciplined me and he challenged me and he grounded me and he told me I couldn't do all sorts of stuff because he was trying to help me grow as God is trying to help us grow.

[54:04] God reveals to us little by little what's broken in our lives. God was stealing from stores or throw water balloons at people unsuspecting or toss a snowball at a car.

[54:16] I don't get in a car and try and drive it as fast as I can. There's days I regret what I've done. There's days I regret what I've done. And I look at the words that I said carelessly.

[54:28] Or the actions that I did without meaning any malice. Not wanting to hurt somebody and wish I could do a do-over and get them back. Get them back.

[54:40] Probably the hardest thing about being a pastor really and truthfully I'll tell you. The hardest thing is trying to live up to the expectation that people have.

[54:51] Not because I'm trying to be perfect but because I'm not trying to cause somebody to hurt or lose faith. You follow? And I know that I can't do it well enough.

[55:03] One of the reasons why someday I want to escape. Become a civilian again. But even if I do that it's not going to take away my responsibility to live the best I can in this life as an example for God.

[55:18] Amen? That doesn't mean I've got to do things that are made up or other people say are right or wrong that don't have anything to do with God. But if you do something that hurts someone you have to say sorry.

[55:29] And you have to say what am I doing? Why am I doing this and change? I hope. I hope those of you who have known me for a while have seen little by little that I'm not quite as bad as I used to be.

[55:42] I'm sure I'm still a bit arrogant. I'm working on it. I still have to struggle with some of these things I wrestle with. And as pastors we have to open our mouths so much that we're going to get accused all the time.

[55:57] But I'm trying. And repentance is about overcoming these sins one at a time. Another one, another one, another one. And thank God he won't reveal the whole message right away.

[56:09] If he did it would crush you. He shows you what you need to work on today. So you did something bad in the past. Let it go. You keep staying stuck back there.

[56:21] God is going to not be able to move forward with you. You're not going to be able to deal with your problems now. We need to focus on our goals today so that we can move into that love and joy that he talks about in here.

[56:36] God wants to have with us. You see, that's the whole goal of forgiveness. It's to restore the relationships of love and joy with God and with other people.

[56:48] We forgive so that we can gain that love. And we're willing to take the pain and the hurt of forgiveness. And the risk of taking a chance on somebody.

[57:01] And giving up the moral superiority of holding grudges. So that we can be in love. And God is willing to do it for us first.

[57:13] And calls us to do the same. Families are made up of disappointments. I can't tell you one person that I've ever met who can't tell me how they were disappointed by someone in their family.

[57:29] It's constant. My daddy didn't call me his number two bum son for the rest of my life. His son's father-in-law had problems early in their marriage.

[57:43] But he didn't keep those going all his life. So his wife was proud to call him husband. Because we can hold on to the pain or let it go so that we can live and love.

[57:58] Church families are the same thing. If you're thinking that you walked into a place where everybody's perfect and everybody will do everything right. Nobody will make a mistake. day, it's a good time to go now because I'm going to tell you what, there's no such place on earth. Remember, as soon as you walked into it, all your sins were added to it too. What we are is a family that's trying to do better.

[58:18] Amen? Trying to give the best example we can to each other. Amen? But remember that we were forgiven. So we've got to forgive others as well.

[58:33] I've hurt people. I've been hurt by people. Regularly. All the time. Don't hold on to that. God delivers us. He becomes our protector. He surrounds us with songs of deliverance. Otherwise we live in the woes and troubles of the world and there's plenty of that already. When God offers us peace.

[59:00] The last verse of this passage, it says, Rejoice in the Lord. Be glad you're righteous. Sing all you who are upright in heart.

[59:12] That same singer, Frankie, sang to God, Accentuate positive healing. Dominate the negative. Hold on to what's affirmative.

[59:24] Don't mess with Christmas and in between. There's room for love and joy and healing and hope if we hold on to God. Verse 6 tells us, but don't wait until it's too late.

[59:38] Turn it over to God now. Prepare your hearts. God is about to do the most amazing thing that's ever done in the course of life. In just a little bit, He's going to take everything that's broken about your life and remove it.

[59:56] Amazing. Grace of God. Lord, I fall I rest I wait here I find my friends Without you I fall apart You're the one that guides my heart Lord, I need you Oh, I need you Every hour I need you

[60:57] Every hour I need you Every hour I need you Every hour I need you My one defense My righteousness My righteousness Oh, God How I need you I need you I need you I need you I need you Every hour I need you Father I need you Your grace You're swo Shiny Your grace Re Leaving you For everything You are My grace He lu kad Person For everything For everything everything Buns Even What reason Hisль lord i need you lord i need you every hour i need you my wonderness my righteousness lord i need you to teach my soul to rise to you when temptation comes my way when i cannot stand out for you jesus you're my hope and save lord i need you lord i need you lord i need you every hour i need you my wonderness my righteousness oh god how i need you my wonder my righteousness oh god how i need you will you pray with me dear god in heaven dear god in heaven i have sinned you know every dark part of it every part i'm embarrassed about every part i'm ashamed of even the things i don't know forgive me lord change me lord teach me to grow into the person you want me to be to love others and forgive them in jesus name we pray amen amen we struggle with forgiveness but god doesn't he's been waiting for all eternity for this moment for you so that he could say to you those wonderful words in the name of jesus christ your sins are forgiven glory to god amen amazing great how sweet the sun that saved the rest of the world

[64:58] of the world of the world of the world of the world of the world of the world my heart not not the death but one of the ум who and grace had moved Praise my feet, believe.

[65:44] How precious did that grace appear? The hour I first believed.

[65:57] My chains are gone. I've been set free. My God, my Savior, has rights on me.

[66:11] And like a flood, His mercy rains. Unending love, amazing grace.

[66:33] The Lord has promised words in me. His word my hope, Savior.

[66:48] He will my sins and poison me. As long as life has gone.

[67:04] My chains are gone. I've been set free. My God, my Savior, has ransomed me.

[67:17] And like a flood, His mercy rains. Unending love, amazing grace.

[67:30] I've been set free. I've been set free. My God, my Savior, has ransomed me.

[67:44] And like a flood, His mercy rains. Unending love, amazing grace.

[67:59] Unending love, amazing grace.

[68:11] The earth shall soon, His arm like snow. The sun for man to shine.

[68:23] But God who called me here, dear Lord. Will be forever mine.

[68:37] Will be forever mine. You are forever mine.

[68:57] You are forever mine. We stood before creation.

[69:13] You are forever mine. You are forever mine. You are forever mine.

[69:23] You are forever mine. I saw not to stand. You stood before my failure.

[69:37] And carry the cross for my shame A sick weight upon your shoulders I'm so down to your stand What could I say?

[70:01] What could I say? For what could I say?

[70:13] I would love God And believe in you I walk upon salvation Your spirit alive in me I'd like to declare your promise My soul out there's a hand What could I say?

[70:50] What could I do? For the blessing of God And believe in you I'd like to declare your promise I'll stand to the Lord's hand I've been in awe Of the one who gave it all I'll stand to the Lord's hand On His surrender All I am is yours I'll stand with arms high and mouth And lift him up For the one who gave it all

[71:51] I'll stand with my soul And hold on to His surrender All I am is yours All I am is yours All I am is yours Please be seated You've been prepared Your sins are forgiven You're welcome at the table of the Lord Free to live As God intended you to Join us in the joy of the Lord Even if this is your first time here It doesn't matter God invites you to the table You're part of His family Come and join us Come and join us Amen The Lord be with you And also with you Lift up your hearts We lift up your hearts We lift up your hearts

[72:52] We lift up your hearts Let us give thanks to the Lord our God It is right and a good and joyful thing Always and everywhere To give thanks to you, Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth You formed us in your image And breathed into us The breath of life When we turned away And our love failed Your love remained steadfast You delivered us from captivity Made covenant To be our sovereign God And spoke to us Through your prophets And so with your people on earth And all the company of heaven We praise your name And join their unending hymn Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might Heaven and earth Are filled with glory Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he who comes In the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest Holy are you And blessed is your son Jesus Christ Your spirit anointed him

[73:53] To preach good news to the poor To proclaim release to the captives And recovering of sight to the blind To set at liberty those who are oppressed And to announce that the time had come When you would save your people He healed the sick Fed the hungry And ate with sinners By the baptism of his suffering Death and resurrection You gave birth to your church Delivered us from slavery to sin and death And made with us a new covenant By water and the spirit On the night in which he gave himself up for us He took bread and he gave thanks to you He broke the bread and gave it to his disciples He said take and eat This is my body Which is given for you Do this in remembrance of you When the supper was over he took the cup He gave you thanks and praise and gave it to his disciples

[74:56] He said drink from this olive oil This is the cup of my blood The blood of the new covenant poured out for you Poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin Do this as often as you drink it In remembrance of you And so in remembrance of these Your mighty acts in Jesus Christ We offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving As a holy and living sacrifice In union with Christ's offering for us As we proclaim the mystery of faith Christ has died Christ is risen Christ will come again Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here And on these gifts of bread and wine Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ That we may be for the world The body of Christ redeemed by his blood

[75:58] By your spirit make us one with Christ One with each other and one in ministry to all the world Until Christ comes in final victory And we feast at his heavenly banquet Through your son Jesus Christ With the Holy Spirit in your holy church All honor and glory is yours almighty Father Now and forever Amen Shall we pray together the prayer Jesus taught us Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom And the power and the glory Forever and ever

[76:59] Amen For those who are serving Please come forward Amen Urs купa

[78:01] For those who are serving Amen To the holy church grace of your spirit The pit of fear Along the world The strength is to allow mankind To ourauti and to our conference Let us know what the land is Do not worship It is or at other times Help everyone And now you're invited to join us at the table at the rail for prayers for healing and anointing to light a candle. Come and join us.

[78:58] Amen. Amen.

[79:58] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[81:05] Amen. Amen.

[81:45] Since Jesus came into my heart. What a wonderful change in my life Has been brought to Jesus came into my heart.

[82:06] I have fallen in my soul, oh it's wrong, I have fallen. Since Jesus came into my heart. Since Jesus came into my heart.

[82:20] Since Jesus came into my heart. What a joy of my soul like the sea will go. Since Jesus came into my heart.

[82:35] I have seized from my wandering and going astray. Since Jesus came into my heart. And my sins, which were many, I walked away.

[82:49] Since Jesus came into my heart. Since Jesus came into my heart. Since Jesus came into my heart.

[83:02] What a joy of my heart. I could say mellows come. Since Jesus came into my heart.

[83:12] Since Jesus came into my heart. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Pikachu's over there. People are flipping out about this.

[83:27] I have people say, oh it's so terrible. They're walking on church lots. You know, they set these things up at churches. There's Pokemons all over the place in here. It's so cool. And all people are doing is finding some reason to criticize it.

[83:40] Really? Seriously? The other night I traveled through the table, there had to be like 50, 60 young people. How they have a good time enjoying themselves. And they're all doing this. Smiling.

[83:52] We can focus on the brokenness. We can focus on the problems. We can focus on all the pain and all the hurt. Or we can live into the joy. The celebration and the love that God puts into this place.

[84:04] Go catch a Pokemon. Enjoy your life. Have a good time. Stop worrying about everything that went wrong in your life. And start focusing on the good things that God wants to make happen.

[84:15] You've been reset. You've been restarted. All your sins have been forgiven. Now go live into that. In Jesus' holy name. Amen. Thank you.