two unusual things

Two unusual things happened last night. I went to Pick up D from the hospital and as I was sitting in my car, a woman in a wheel chair was wheeled out to smoke. I recognised her as Michelle Bonnet. The hospital is a large site, the chances of her wheel chair being put next to my parked car are small and yet it happened. later, I was a Ds flat and we were watching a TV programme about a family with a disabled son and he had been away for five years. the House had to be adapted to his needs. When she looked at the TV D said, "I know him" and she was able to name him and recognised his parents.

The Shack: re-inventing God | Evangelicals Now

The Shack: re-inventing God | Evangelicals Now

Getting upset about the wrong things

Unfundamentalist Christians Above all, love Home About UC Submissions Books UC on Homosexuality Comment Policy Contact « Finding Community in the Image of God A Trauma-Informed Approach to Sin » Christian: You Are Upset About the Wrong Things June 22, 2017 by Guest Contributor 310 Comments This guest post was written by Darrell Lackey. Detail from “The Cleansing of the Temple" by Raimondi via The Metropolitan Museum of Art licensed under CC0 1.0 Detail from “The Cleansing of the Temple” by Raimondi | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | CC0 1.0 Sociologist Tony Campolo has been known, when speaking to Christian audiences, to begin by saying something like this: I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact I just said “shit” than you are that 30,000 kids died last night. When citing this, I have had people prove his very point by responding something to the effect of, “Yeah, I get it, but I still wish he would make his point some other way…” Ummm, that is his point. His point, in my opinion, isn’t really about the children (although it is, obviously); his point is that we (Christians) get upset over the wrong things. Our moral sense of outrage is often misdirected. The fact that we notice the language, our being offended, before we really register the fact that children are dying, tells us all we need to know. Any focus on a crude term and not on his greater point that children are dying of starvation or malnutrition and that we might be complicit proves his very point. If there was a tiny gasp from the crowd at that word or an awkward silence—such reactions were misdirected. These people were upset about the wrong thing. The legalistic, simplistic, and shallow world of fundamentalism (and even many aspects of evangelicalism) breeds some rather odd triggers for what it is we are supposed to get upset about. Here are just a few: If you become upset when hearing that gay marriage is legal or that a transgender person may use the same public restroom as you, but you are less upset regarding the hate, violence, and discrimination directed toward such people, often leading to suicide: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when people use the greeting “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” but you are less upset at the wasteful use of resources during this season and the rampant shallow consumerism while many live in poverty: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when the government uses its power to make corporations protect their workers and protect the environment, but you are less upset when those workers are exploited, injured, or the environment is critically harmed: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset at the grocery store when you see someone pay for their food with vouchers or food stamps, but you are less upset with the institutional and cultural structures that often create the very need for such help: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when you see people smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol, but you are less upset when you see people over-eating, knowing the health effects of such, or wasting food, knowing that people go to bed hungry every night: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when Hollywood puts out movies that contain coarse language or nudity, but you are less upset with the excessive, sadistic, and pornographic displays of violence, murders, gore, and bloodletting in war movies, action movies, or even movies like “The Passion of the Christ”: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when the government tries to pass reasonable gun restriction laws, but you are less upset with the amount of accidental firearm-related deaths among children and the general level of gun violence in America: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when you feel the government is restricting your religious liberties, but you are less upset or even applaud the restriction of the religious liberties of others: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when someone commits adultery or at the sexual lapses of others, but you are less upset when people gather around to stone them, or gather around to throw insults, or gossip, or shun them, or shame them, or pass laws to single them out: You are upset about the wrong things. If the response to the above is still, “I get it, BUT…” you have missed the point and made the point, all at the same time. Yes, you can be upset at those other aspects (rightly or wrongly). The point, however, is that those aspects pale in insignificance when placed alongside the deeper and much more important moral failing noted—the failing that should really upset us. It would be like someone telling Jesus, just before he overturned the money-changer’s tables and grabbed a whip, how upset they were at the price of doves that year. It isn’t a false dichotomy. It’s a problem of scale. I am reminded of a scene in the movie “Life is Beautiful” where we see Guido (Roberto Benigni) so happy to think that his old friend, the Nazi doctor, will help him after the doctor recognizes him and makes his life easier inside the death camp. The doctor remembers how clever his friend was, and how he could solve difficult riddles. We begin to think the doctor realizes the moral wrongness of the death camp. Maybe he will try and save Guido and his family. But no, we finally realize, as does Guido, that the doctor simply wanted help solving a riddle. He doesn’t see Guido or the suffering. That doesn’t upset him. What upsets him is not finding the answer to something as insignificant as a riddle. He even says he can’t sleep at night because of it. An extreme example? Maybe. Still, I think such is the sort of person we look like, and are perhaps in danger of becoming, when we get upset over the wrong things, when we focus on the incidental and miss the deeper moral issue. Christian: Don’t be that person. darrell-lackeyAbout Darrell Lackey Darrell Lackey has been a lead pastor and is currently working in the private sector. He is part of a home gathering of some amazing, wonderful Christians and a graduate of the University of San Francisco and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (Now Gateway). He and his wife reside in Northern California.

late marriage

Late Marriage is Not a Curse Posted on 06/22/2017 by Brandon Adams picmonkey_imageOK, this takes the cake. I just ran across a blog post vigorously arrayed “against” late marriage. The author was praying for his release from any sin or curse that might be keeping him in the “cage” of late marriage. He went through everything imaginable…generational sins, unfaithfulness, betraying others, demonic sacrifices, everything but the kitchen sink. And then ended with visualizing the fulfillment of his expectation that he would marry soon. All in Jesus’ name, of course. Double take. I want to be clear that I do practice spiritual warfare. I’ll even admit that an idea isn’t automatically ridiculous just because it strikes me so. I’ve heard respected Christian authors say that great couples are opposed from before their meeting. So who knows, maybe a few people do have to fight that battle. And I certainly agree that marriage sounds good. I’m the family type, always have been. Some people are simply built that way. Independence is overrated for me. (My readership is now skewing their heads quizzically: are we sure he’s male? Yes.) But the assumption that late marriage is always a curse? Can’t get on board with that. I wonder what this blogger does with Paul, who chose lifelong singleness for the Kingdom’s sake. I wonder what he does with Matthew 19, where Jesus bluntly tells us that not everyone is cut out for matrimony. “His plans are for my good,” this blogger chants. But how do you know what’s good for you? Perhaps singleness is better. Perhaps Satan isn’t a convenient catch-all for every circumstance you dislike. At the risk of flipping your worldview upside down, what if it’s God holding you back? I must be clear on another thing: I don’t believe every Christian single is being “held hostage” until they check off “enough boxes”, or reach “Expert Level” on being satisfied in God, before God marries them off. That all-too-common theory knows nothing of grace, and it leads singles into an awful existence running around in circles rummaging for internal flaws so that God might “lift his hand”. A terrible motive for pursuing righteousness. But…I won’t make a principle either. I do believe God does this with some people. He’s certainly entitled to. This blogger is obviously operating from a prosperity gospel mindset where his definitions of “good”, not God’s, are in effect. Such richness is lost that way. Waiting is transformative. It’s given me time to grow, to stabilize, to get deeper into God’s Word and become a better potential head for a wife. I cannot tell you how valuable the wait has been. Thanks to God opening my eyes and ears to the realities of marriages around me, I’ve been able to beat back the ignorant albeit near-subconscious fantasies that singles buy into (marriage is a cure-all, etc.) and start plugging into the Thing that matters most. It’s forced me to reckon with God. It’s forced me to acknowledge that I’m not in control and that his ways are best; that he is my ultimate validation, strength, and peace; and that he really is enough. That’s a shipload of treasures that would have missed the port entirely had I married when I wanted. Believe me, I look forward to tying the knot someday. But I won’t try dictating to God what’s best, and I won’t claim that singleness is the absolute nadir of human existence, to be avoided at all costs. There are things far worse. Like living life without God. Thus the Gospel and its theology of hardship keep their place as the Main Thing, above every other consideration. Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)More Related Singles Training #2: How to View The KingdomIn "Singleness" Singles' Training #1: How to View A SpouseIn "Singleness" 6 Spouse-Related Reasons You Need Jesus More Than a SpouseIn "Singleness" This entry was posted in Singleness. Bookmark the permalink. Post navigation ← One Way Loyalty 10 thoughts on “Late Marriage is Not a Curse” nightshade130 says: 06/22/2017 at 6:28 am I concur with everything that you’ve said here Brandon. Sometimes, I think people become anxious in their “singleness”, that they feel the need to speed up the process by doing unnecessary things to get attention perhaps towards the wrong person that they deem as their “awaited” spouse. It’s so important to build a solid foundational relationship with God as a single person (In my opinion) before thinking of joining up with another person because another person can’t fulfill you the way that God can. Building that personal relationship with God is an individualistic thing and it matters if a person wants to grow in maturity and knowledge. Sometimes, people run into a relationship thinking that the other person can fill the voids that they probably have in their hearts, but only God can fill those places. Joining up with another person while still having an identity crisis will do nothing but be a disservice to the individual and the overall duration of that relationship. Personal growth is an individualistic thing and when a person truly knows who they are in Christ as they build intimacy in knowing God for themselves, will such a person be ready for a real relationship with another person. That’s just my 2 cents on the matter. – Sherline 😀 Liked by 1 person Reply Brandon Adams says: 06/22/2017 at 8:38 am Well said, all of it. I don’t fully understand why some people are required to train with live bullets (by marrying early) and why others are put through years of drills first, but at some point, you just have to play the hand you’ve been dealt. I’m playing mine. Liked by 1 person Reply SheldaRay says: 06/22/2017 at 6:52 am Waiting is definitely transformative. Singleness is a season of restoration as well. If we can’t learn to depend on God and trust in Him during our singleness then how can we keep God first in a relationship? Some people also idolize and worship marriage. They put marriage first. Again, God uses singleness to transform or restore a person’s dependency and identity through Him and not through a spouse. Great post! Liked by 2 people Reply Brandon Adams says: 06/22/2017 at 8:39 am Thanks for the visit, Shelda. Liked by 1 person Reply damarisb513 says: 06/22/2017 at 7:54 am This post is a great reminder that marriage isn’t the end goal – Jesus is. It is definitely hard being a single in a predominantly non-single church body because you feel like you are missing out but then I remember in 1 Cor 7 where Paul talks about it being better to be single because you don’t have the distractions of the world and can have a full heart of devotion to the Lord. There are continual ups and downs in the single walk, for sure, but I look back at all that I have been able to do BECAUSE I was single and I am so grateful for the season that He has kept me in and preparing me for the next. God is so sovereign. Also, I pray for that man that ranted about late marriage – God’s time is the best and perfect time. Liked by 1 person Reply Brandon Adams says: 06/22/2017 at 8:39 am I pray for him as well. I admit I can’t fully know his heart from a single blog post – maybe he’s quite mature in other ways. Like Reply feelingsuicidalblog says: 06/22/2017 at 8:11 am Amen! Love your comments about God being the One who often holds us back…and about Him being the Main Thing. Couldn’t agree more! Liked by 1 person Reply Brandon Adams says: 06/22/2017 at 8:40 am Thanks for the comment. 🙂 Like Reply insanitybytes22 says: 06/22/2017 at 9:27 am LOL! Training with live bullets? I love what you said above. Cracked me up. My husband and I actually met when I was 16, went our separate ways, and he reappeared in my life when he was 27. That’s not really late marriage, but my point being we both really needed over a decade to figure out what was what. My oldest daughter and her hubby married at 18 and they’re still going strong. My second daughter is pushing 30 and claiming she’ll never meet anyone. A friend of mine is 50, divorced twice, swore off women forever…. but recently married one with 3 small kids. It’s a bit funny, he’s as puzzled about it as we are. Not what he thought he’d be doing,not what he planned,and yet it’s right somehow. So, there is great diversity in what God wants to do with people, what song He is writing for each one of us. Liked by 1 person Reply Brandon Adams says: 06/22/2017 at 9:35 am That’s actually a very important point. A lot of singles’ literature we read tries to apply one-size-fits-all principles to everyone. That doesn’t take into account that God works differently with everyone. There are commands that apply to us all, of course, but there also needs to be some breathing room in our understanding of what God’s doing with each of us. Liked by 1 person Reply Leave a Reply Top Posts & Pages Late Marriage is Not a Curse One Way Loyalty God's Not Done with Your Dad We Must Never Become Black Holes About Reflections on "The Case for Christ" To the Mother Who Second-Guesses Herself It's Not About You, Christian Graduates Losing My Religion The God of Winks and Lost Wallets Search Archives June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 Blogroll Christy Fitzwater Grace for the Road The Evidence is Plain

abandoned

looking back to when my mother died, I just feel that I and my family were abandoned by someone who should have been there for us. I joined OM and from the start got no support from the minister. this led to the final break down in our relationship. When my mother died I did not get a single message of condolence from him and to the best of my knowledge neither did the rest of the family in spite of of our years of service in the church. Right now we are looking at loving and valuing one another, which is good and it is timely reminder for all of us to love and value the body of christ. However, in recent years, I have found people who feel let down by the church. I try to do what I can. I only have a limited experience of feeling the way they do, but looking back for that period, church did not work for me either and fellowship was restored by the ministers departure. His departure was timely for I had decided that any commmunication from me to the church would no longer go to him as I was just at breaking point. I had enough of his neglect and I was bereaved. that said, what about forgiveness? for me that question is a mighty challenge.

from the times, by Jermemy Clarkeson on Brexit.

You young people were jolly naughty on June 8. Go to your rooms with no vote Jeremy Clarkson Share Save So that’s two elections on the trot that have been messed up by Britain’s young people. They couldn’t be bothered to vote in the European Union referendum and we ended up with Brexit. And then, having realised the error of their ways, they decided they would vote for that arse Jeremy Corbyn in the general election, so now we’ve ended up with a hung parliament. Which won’t be able to deal with the mess their bone-idleness created in the first place. Frankly, I’d smack their bottoms and send them all to their rooms for the day, and then I’d raise the voting age to 46. Actually, I’d go further. I’d make people sit an IQ test before being allowed to cast a vote, because I’m sorry but anyone who plumped for Corbyn is so daft they really need to be on medication. Britain’s national debt is more than£1.7 trillion and it’s growing at the rate of almost £1bn a week. Which is about £100,000 a minute. And the weird-beard Islingtonite thinks that this can be tackled by making Starbucks pay a bit more tax. He’s deluded and should be in prison. The problem is he has a soft voice and kind eyes and he sounds genuine when he says that if Sir Elton John and Lord Bamford would only pay a little bit more to the government each week, it would end all poverty, hunger, crime, terrorism and war. I’m sitting there screaming: “The man collects manhole covers. He’s a lunatic.” But young and stupid people are turning to their fat friends and saying: “Well, that makes sense.” In a northern accent. We see this problem not just in Britain but all round the world. In America the people elected a man who has nylon hair because he said he’d build a wall along the border with Mexico. In France they elected a man who married his teacher because he has a nice face. In Russia they fawn over a president — who has at some point in his life at the KGB pushed another man’s eyes into the back of his head — because he wants to reinstate the Soviet Union. And so it goes on. In Canada they were offered a choice between a normal politician and a two-year-old. And they decided to give the toddler a chance because he has a huge tattoo of a weird raven on his left arm. It’s not hard to see what’s going on. People are bored with politicians and politics and they want something new. Anything. Just so long as it doesn’t sound like Tony Blair or David Cameron or any of the others. The Tories must choose a leader who’s odd and funny and different. Only one name springs out At one point in the run-up to the election Theresa May took her campaign to Plymouth, or it may have been Portsmouth — somewhere with a lot of ships, anyway. There she was quizzed on camera by someone from the local newspaper, and she answered all his questions with the conviction and sincerity of a regional radio DJ. You could see she didn’t mean a single word she was saying. She therefore said a lot of words without saying anything at all. And people are bored with that. Remember Ed Miliband? The one who lost an election after he failed to eat a bacon sandwich? He’d plainly been told by his spin doctors that the news crew that had been sent to interview him would use only one soundbite and that no matter how tricky or varied the questions might be, he should just say the same thing over and over again. So he did. And then, when the whole unedited interview ended up on YouTube, we could see him sitting there, repeating himself like a Dalek. Blair was an actor, so he made a much better fist of looking as if he knew what he was talking about. But he wasn’t a very good actor, which is why we all knew there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We could see it in his eyes. But still the politicians keep on believing that a smile, a soundbite and a nice suit are all that’s needed to keep them in a job. Well, they aren’t. Not any more. There’s talk, as I write, that May won’t be able to keep her job, but, seriously, when you look at the replacements whose names are being bandied about: Philip Hammond, David Davis, the other one? They’re like milk bottles. It’s impossible to say which you prefer. Which is why we are drawn to the weirdos, the odd ones out. There’s a theory in America that presidential elections are always won by the candidate you’d most like to have over for a barbecue on a Sunday afternoon. That’s why John F Kennedy beat Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter, and it’s why Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton. I think there’s a kernel of truth in that in Britain too. It’s probably why we have a hung parliament, because who would you prefer to have over for Sunday lunch, a woman who goes on walking holidays or a man who collects manhole covers? The answer is: “Er . . .” This is what the Conservative Party must understand in the coming months. If it gets rid of May — and it should, really, because she’s a dead duck — it must remember that in Britain there are millions and millions of people who are stupid or young or both. And who thus won’t really grasp the complexities of Brexit and austerity and so on. That doesn’t matter. Any Conservative is going to make a better job of pulling us out of Europe and balancing the books than Corbyn would. That’s the main goal. To keep him at bay. So the Tories must choose someone who’s odd and funny and different from all the others. Someone who the voters would like to have over for a few beers on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The only problem with this idea is that there’s only one name from all of the 300 or so contenders that springs to mind. It’s Boris Johnson. Which means we’ve had it.

trajedy Nicola Stugeon Joke

Nicola Sturgeon was visiting a Scottish primary school and the class was in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked Mrs Sturgeon if she would like to lead the discussion on the word 'Tragedy'. So the illustrious SNP leader asked the class for an example of a 'Tragedy'. A little boy stood up and offered, "If ma best freen, wha’ lives on a ferm, is playin' in the field and a tractor rins ower him and kills him, that wid be a tragedy." "Incorrect", said Nicola, in her best trying-not-to-sound-too-patronising-Scottish-accent, "That would be an accident." A little girl raised her hand, "If a school bus kerryin' fifty children drove ow’r a cliff, killing a'body inside, that wid be a tragedy" 'I'm afraid not', explained Nicola, "that's what we would refer to as a great loss’’. The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Nicola searched the room. "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of a tragedy?" Finally, at the back of the room, a wee lad raised his hand and, in a quiet voice, said: "If a plane kerryin' you and your deputy ' wiz struck by a 'freendly fire' missile & blawn tae smithereens, that wid be a tragedy." "Fantastic!" exclaimed Nicola, "and can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?" "Weel", says the lad, "it has tae be a tragedy, because it certainly widnae be a great loss, and it probably widnae be an accident either!"

friends 1st yet again

I am clearing rubbish off my desk and discovered some of the Friends 1st material. For me it was £397 wasted. All their material makes them seem caring, but in reality I was nothing more then a contract, not a person or human being. the prices rise to £2127 and I see that such a rich person gets a 60 minute telephone conversation with the woman who created this deceitful and manipulative company. I got 10 minutes and when I told her that it is difficult finding a partner for mission, she said, "I think you are over thinking that". I was appalled by that. I have been in mission a good number of years and I know what it is like and the demands that are made. She was not really listening to me and I later found out that she is a Roman Catholic within the church of England who is married to a Roman Catholic and sometimes goes to his church which tells me that the woman is deceived and has never had a conversion experience. I regret joining friends first. I should have just stuck to the web sites which in my case after years of searching has produced a result. A woman I love and who understands mission. As the cheapest option only gives you monthly profiles, how is it that they can say my profile goes out monthly unless they only mean Gold and platinum plus. I discovered when I contacted people that I had been given that they had not recieved my profile. I quickly reached the conclusion that they exist only to milk money out of their victims for that is in fact what I am a victim.

strong and stable

Strong and stable has not worked for Theresa May and the man who came up with that slogan has lost his seat in yesterdays General Election

hustings

Owen Paterson given tough ride at election hustings Published date: 06 June 2017 | Published by: Colin Channon Read more articles by Colin Channon Email reporter Owen Paterson was given a rough ride by a packed audience as the four North Shropshire candidates took part in a hustings event at The Marches School. The Conservative, who has been MP for the past 20 years, had a hard time over health cuts, the number of police on the streets and especially during a debate about extra income. Mr Paterson acts as consultant to Randox Laboratories Ltd, a clinical diagnostics company near Belfast, and receives £8,333 a month – almost £100,000 a year – for a monthly commitment of 16 hours. He is also a consultant to Lynn’s Country Foods Ltd, a processor and distributor of sausages in Northern Ireland, and receives £12,000 a year for four hours’ work every other month. He defended the payments by saying it would be a shame if every MP was a ‘career politician’. “MPs come into parliament with their own skills – sometimes in business, in academia, the military, or whatever – and they use those skills,” he said. A member of the audience shouted: “You’ve been bought”, to which Mr Paterson responded: “That’s so wrong.” Mr Paterson, who said MPs were on call for 24 hours a day, also insisted the payments were open and in the public domain, included in an MPs’ register of financial interests. Liberal Democrat candidate Tom Thornill, a student teacher, said: “When I qualify as a teacher I’ll have a salary of £21,500. An MP gets a salary of about £80,000. I can’t imagine ever earning £80,000 – it’s a figure people in the public sector can only dream of.” Green Party candidate Duncan Kerr said: “If MPs were busy 24 hours a day, I can’t see they’d have time for any outside work. “When MPs take retainers, people become cynical and wonder who they will represent – their constituents or the business paying them a retainer. I think the price is too high and if that means people don’t want to become MPs, so be it.” Graeme Currie, the Labour candidate, said: “I think it is outrageous. If you’re an MP, you’re an MP. What these firms are buying is influence. “If there is a political earthquake and from Friday onwards my diary becomes somewhat disturbed and I become your MP, I would commit 10 per cent of my salary towards finding solutions for homelessness and rough sleeping.” Mr Paterson was also heckled over the nation’s security because of the number of police officers on the streets have been cut. He responded by saying the number of ‘specialist’ officers and intelligence had been increased. Mr Thornhill said he was horrified at the thought ‘Jeremy Corbyn and Dianne Abbott could soon be in control’ and Mr Currie added: “The Conservatives said they should be judged on their record – well, judge them.” Mr Kerr said: “There are evil people out there. I think as a country we should look at who we are selling arms to.” Finally, the candidates were asked why they should receive our vote: Mr Currie: “For a different type of society than we have now, funded in a different way, supporting getting people into jobs and the development of our economy.” Mr Kerr: “For a caring Britain, putting people before profits. We can have an economy for the common good.” Mr Paterson: “To finish what we have started. Under Labour the country was borrowing £300,000 a minute – we have plenty of work still to do.” Mr Thornhill: “Our children deserve the best education they can get. But let’s be honest – Owen Paterson knows he will get back in because we have a broken electoral system. We need a fair system.”

How to Experience God When You've Blown It Big Time, Part 2

How to Experience God When You've Blown It Big Time, Part 2 Scripture: Psalm 51 Maybe you've heard someone say, “Jesus is the God of second chances." Well, they're right. Jesus is the One you can go to and say, "I blew it. I want a do over. I failed. I’m sorry. Will You give me another chance?" The question is, how does that actually happen? How do you get cleansed, forgiven, and headed back on the right track? Chip shares, from Psalm 51, how you can be forgiven, restored, and set free. Message Notes 90 Transcript The third step to spiritual recovery, “Own responsibility for your sin.” And that flows out of verses 3 through 5. He says, “For I know,” it’s in the emphatic position. And notice there are going to be five different times, in these three little verses, he is going to own his sin. “For I know that my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, and You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight; so that You are proved right when You speak and justified when You judge. Surely, I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Do you hear what he’s doing? He owns it. You know, this is almost unheard of in our day. When we sin, our first words are, “Well, you understand the kind of home that I came out of. Well, you understand the environment at our job and in the industry, everyone lies. And when you travel this much, everyone is going to have an affair now and then. And you don’t understand, my marriage really isn’t very fulfilling and, I mean, you know, I have to have my needs met. I gotta be fulfilled and surely you…” You know what that does? That’s just another layer of denial. It’s another layer of trash. I have a good friend who somehow along the way got in a jam and didn’t pay the IRS one year, then he went another year and didn’t pay, and then third year, and then a fourth year. And pretty soon you start not paying, then paying one year and they check your records and it gets a little bad, you know? And I remember the conversation at a restaurant. And this guy is involved in ministry and doing all kinds of stuff and it’s amazing the dissonance we can live with, isn’t it? You know, we can pray and lead a Bible study and have people over at our home and go to church and just be flat out lying and cheating over here. And I remember the day he decided to own his own sin, made a call to the IRS, and said, “If you put me in jail, you put me in jail. I’ve not paid a cent in five years, I want to work something out but I know what I deserve. Have mercy on me.” They developed a payout plan, they worked it out, and that guy’s life with God total changed because he got rid of the secret. He came clean. Fourth, “Accept God’s forgiveness and cleansing,” and this is critical. See, David was a man of faith. Even after the sin, the New Testament describes him as a man after God’s own heart. We need to come clean with God, ask Him for forgiveness, own responsibility for our sin and the consequences, by the way, which he did. And, by the way, as your read that, he wasn’t blaming his mom, he wasn’t, he was saying, “My sin problem was so big, it goes all the way back to my roots.” We sin as people, David alluded to, not only by choice but by nature. We’re all sinners. From the moment we walked into the world, we sin. Adam is our father and the apostle Paul would teach that this is a part of who we are and that’s why we need the second Adam, Christ. Now he says, accept God’s forgiveness and cleansing. There’s a major shift in the Psalm in verse 6, it now turns very positive. He’s putting it behind him, “This is what happened, now I want to move on with it, God, “Surely, You desire truth in the inner parts.” He’s saying, “God, I want a relationship with You,” and here’s the deal, you only have a relationship with God the second you get honest. It’s not about making up for it, it’s not about trying to do good things to balance it out. The moment you get honest, see that’s what God wants. John 4, what did He say to the woman at the well? “The Father is seeking worshippers who worship Him in spirit and in truth.” See, what I’ve learned is I’ve done some dumb things, I’ve done some bad things, I’ve done some sinful things, and I’ve often felt really bad for two or three weeks and try to do good things to balance them out, nothing helps. But the moment I’ve gotten honest with God, come clean, and said, “I blew it. Help me.” Whoo. You get grace. You get grace because God is looking for truth in the innermost man. Then he goes on to say, “You teach me wisdom,” or skill, “in the innermost place.” He’s talking about how to live and how to be a man of God, woman of God. And then he says, “Cleanse me with hyssop,” it’s a little herb they would dip in blood, ceremonial cleansing, “and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; and let the bones You have crushed rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.” Now, I want to show you something. If you have a pen you might want to jot this in. It doesn’t come out in the NIV as clearly. There are four phrases here that are in the future tense. The first one here where he says, “Surely You desire truth in the innermost parts,” literally, after that it says, “You will teach me wisdom in the innermost place. You will cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; You will wash me, and I’ll be whiter than snow. You will let me hear joy and gladness.” See, what these really are, they’re more than desires, they’re affirmations. See, David has accepted, “You will!” He says, “I know, based on Your character and not my sin, You will restore, You’ll guide me, You’ll restore me, You will return me.” You see, he is accepting the work of God. When Nathan said, “The Lord has forgiven you,” David didn’t go back into the palace and say, “But I just can’t forgive myself. I know God has forgiven me but I just can’t forgive myself.” Have you ever done that? Boy, I have. And I don’t know about you, but, I mean, I’ve had things where, you know, “God, I’ll never do that again,” and I do it. “God, I’ll never do that again.” I do it. “God, I promise never, never, never, never, never, I’ll do that again,” and I do it. You ever do that? Don’t look at me that way! And then I felt so overwhelmed, and so guilty, and I feel like why even pray? Why ask Him again? You know, I’m a jerk. And then, I know the Scripture. I know what the Bible teaches. I know it says that Christ died on the cross for all my sin. I know the moment I trusted Christ, He paid for my sin: Past, present, and future. I know I’m positionally right in my relationship with God. But I need to confess my sin, agree with God about it to be cleansed and restore fellowship, but I played the game for years, “But I can’t forgive myself.” Little sins meant be depressed two days. Big sins mean be depressed two months. Don’t read your Bible, don’t pray, mopey, mopey, mopey, mopey, which usually led me to other sins, by the way. And then I had a guy sit down with me and open the Bible and I was expecting comfort and encouragement and I didn’t get it. I got rebuked. He said, “Ingram, how arrogant can you be?” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “You are arrogant.” I said, “No, I just can’t forgive myself.” And you fill it in. I just can’t forgive myself; I had an abortion. I can’t forgive myself; I had an affair. I can’t forgive myself; I stole money and I knew better. I can’t forgive myself; I was not a good father, I’m not a good mom. He said, “Now let me get this right, Chip. God looks at your situation and He’s taken the guilt of your sin, taken it off of you, allowed Jesus to hang on the cross, who was perfect, fully God, fully man, and He placed it all on Him for the purchase price and the payment, and God has declared you innocent and declared that Christ’s payment of His pure blood pays for it. And you’re going to say to God, ‘That’s not quite good enough.’?” I said, “I’ve never looked at it quite like that.” Have you? Are you willing to accept where you’ve blown it but then accept the cleansing? Can you accept, I don’t understand, you are loved. You are special. You are valued. And it’s not because of who you are. It’s because of who God is. He doesn’t love like other people. He loves you unconditionally. Accept God’s forgiveness and cleansing. Fifth, “Request a fresh work of grace.” You know, this isn’t like doing bad things and then wiping it off so you can do something else on the board. I remember a situation in my life and I’ll get myself in trouble here. I mean, I was, like, on the tilt and I was just ready to sin in a very familiar area and I was thinking, “No, no, no, no, no, Holy Spirit, work;” and my flesh going, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.” “No, no, no, no, no.” “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.” And this thought came to my mind, “Well, I’ll go ahead and sin and then I’ll ask for forgiveness later!” Do you ever think of that one? It’s called presumption on the grace of God. It may be one of the most dangerous things you ever think, let alone do. See, genuine forgiveness means you’re genuinely repentant and what David says is, “Man, I’ve wept, I’ve had that guilt. Against You and You only have I sinned.” Now, did he sin against Bathsheba? Yeah. Uriah? Yes. The nation? Yes. But what he understands is every time we violate another person, ultimately it goes back to their Creator, God. And so what he is going to say is, “I don’t want anything to do with sin. I want a fresh start!” And if you’re genuinely repentant in your heart, you’re not going to try and play games with God. “Oh good! Thank You for forgiving that. This is kind of easy!” That’s dangerous ground. You may find the high, heavy hand of the Lord when you start playing those kind of games. Notice what he says in verses 10 to 12. He says, “Create in me a pure heart, O God,” great word here, by the way, it’s used about two or three different times in Scripture. It’s used in creation. It means “To bring bara’.” It means to bring something out of nothing. God speaks and creates life! David, he’s asking for a miracle! He said, “Man, I was low. I was bad. I have offended You.” He says, “God, I want You to do a new creation. I want You to do a miracle.” What is it? “Create in me a pure heart.” And then, “Renew a steadfast spirit,” why? I don’t know about you, when I sin, I want to give up. “Give me that steadfast spirit within.” And then, “Do not cast me from Your presence or take the Holy Spirit from me.” Where did he get that? Remember Saul? Saul was the king, Saul turned away from God, Saul backslid, and in the Old Testament economy, they weren’t sealed with the Spirit. It’s the New Covenant where we have the Spirit of God living in us. They didn’t have that. The Spirit of God would come upon a prophet, or a king, for a special assignment. They don’t have the Spirit and didn’t have it like we have it. And so David saw what happened to Saul and he said, “O God, don’t take the Holy Spirit from me. Please don’t.” Now, you don’t have to worry about that. The New Covenant is is that, “I will be their God, and they will be My people.” Ephesians 1:13 says, “You have been sealed with the Spirit.” Romans 8:28 to 38 or 39 says that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. But notice what he does, “Create, renew, don’t cast,” and then, “restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” You feel low, you feel depressed, you don’t like yourself, you know what he’s saying? He said, “God, I want back in. I want to experience Your fellowship. I can’t do it. It’s not about me pulling up my bootstraps, trying harder once again, saying, ‘I’ll do, I’ll do, I’ll do, I’ll do.’” No you won’t! I never did. You don’t have the power. David didn’t have the power. “Create, renew, restore, sustain.” He’s saying, “God, I want to pray and feel Your presence like I did before. God, I want to pray and see You work. God, I want to go into the worship with God’s people and sense Your love and Your appreciation and Your affirmation and Your joy. God, I don’t want to just be cleansed. I want to get filled again.” Ask God to do a fresh work. Request of Him to do a fresh work in your heart. He’ll do it. Some of the greatest people in all Scripture are people who blew it big time. Moses: Murderer; Paul: Murderer. You think they got forgiven? You bet. Did they experience great times with God? Yes. Were they used mightily by God? Yes. Was there baggage, hurt, pain, tough issues? Yes. Six, “Resolve to use past failures for ministry.” You heard it from Jim, didn’t you? Here we have a drug dealer. This is a great story. We have a drug dealer from Alaska and I remember the first time, we had a little room that we called the library. We had two boxes of books and a little area. And I remember he and Diane coming in, I remember the first weekend, I don’t know why I remember, and I introduced them to Theresa and we talked and got to know them. I had no idea what was going on in their life. But I watched him grow, watched him grow, watched him grow. I remember when he would come here and he had a little meeting and maybe one, or two, three alcoholics would come. And then the next week a different two or three would come. And he was just about ready to give up. And then God put a dream on his heart. He said, “I’m going to stick with this.” And he went back down to Southern California and learned about a recovery ministry at Saddleback and found a team of people with a dream and a heart and a vision. A year later, a year later, the second largest recovery ministry in all of Northern California God birthed through a team of people through a former drug addict. With his wife on the line praying the whole time. See, God wants to use the most difficult, painful, sinful thing you’ve done and make you a trophy of His grace where your testimony is, “This is where I was and only by the grace of God, this is where I am. He gets all the credit.” Notice in verse 10 to 13, or, I’m sorry. Picking up verse 13, what’s he say? “Then, God, when You do this new work in me, then I will teach transgressors Your ways and sinners will turn back to You.” He says, “I don’t want to just have fellowship. I want to get back on the team, I want to get back on the playing floor, I want to be used by You! I want to teach other people Your ways.” What ways? “The ways of our forgiving, grace-filled God, who takes the evil that we do and somehow forgives and turns it around for good.” He goes on to say, “Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.” I want people to know about what You’re really like, Your character. “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.” See, he wants to be back a part of ministering to others. He’s resolved, “I’ve blown it, I deserve death, I’ve been forgiven, I’ve been restored. And now, God, I don’t want to be some second-class Christian citizen who says, ‘Well, I’m a Christian but I’ve been divorced. I’m a Christian but I’ve had an abortion. I’m a Christian but I had an affair. I’m a Christian but I lied at work. I’m a Christian but I was convicted of embezzlement. I was a Christian but I spent some time in jail.” You know what you are? You are a Christian who is forgiven of all that. And God will use those very things. Harold Bogardus was going to share part of his testimony this weekend, but he had to work. Five to six hundred people every midweek eat here. Do you know that Harold spent some time in jail? Did you know Harold found the Lord in jail? Did you know Harold has a whole team of people that cook food for all of us? Hundreds, thousands of people, thousands of people have been impacted by Harold Bogardus. And he works up at Mount Hermon as a chef, a great chef. He got the job because he did it here part-time, they saw what a great job he did, they hired him up there. And when I say part-time, I mean as a ministry. See, God will take wherever you’ve been and He’ll use it for good. If you and me can let our pride go and say, “God, I’m open. I’m willing.” And then notice the little aside, “You do not delight,” verse 16, in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” Do you hear what David learned? This is like a little aside, a little theological aside - perspective. Is David saying that the Old Testament Law is no longer… that no burnt offerings would be given? No, of course not. What he’s saying is that external religion, doing things by the book, reading your Bible more, giving, praying, getting involved in ministry, whatever ours are. What David saw was, “Hey,” all the time he was in sin with Bathsheba, I’ll guarantee he was still going to the temple. It’s part of the king’s role. He was still playing the game, he was still religious up to his eyeballs, and God wasn’t showing up in his life. You know why? Because of this: The true sacrifices of God, prayers have meaning when they come from a broken and contrite heart. A gift of money has meaning in worship when it comes from a broken and contrite heart. Loving other people, being involved in ministry has meaning when it comes from a broken and contrite heart. When you understand who you are and you understand who God is, and you come clean. He says, “That’s the sacrifice.” And notice, I love the line, “You will not despise.” I don’t care where you’ve been, I don’t care what you’ve done, I don’t care what you’re doing right now. You come to God with a broken heart, He will not turn you away. You come honestly repentant and you say you’re sorry and you will be hugged by the God of the universe and He will forgive out of His character and His Son’s work on the cross. Finally, “Pray for limited fallout from your folly,” that’s number seven. Notice, David picks it up and he says, “In Your good pleasure, make Zion,” that’s Jerusalem, “prosper. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to delight You; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.” Do you hear what he’s doing? He heard what Nathan said, “The sword is not going to depart from your house.” Well, he’s the king. Your family, out of your own family, there is going to be great embarrassment. And what David knows is, just like us, your sin never affects just you. My sin never affects just me. And what David knew was, his enemies, the last line of II Samuel 12:13 is, “Now, your enemies have this advantage because of what you have done.” And you know what David is basically saying? “Hey, limit the fallout. Just please limit the, please don’t let my sin mess up my kids too bad. Please don’t let my sin mess up my family too badly. Please don’t let it, my sphere of influence, as the king of Israel, don’t let it mess up Jerusalem, O God. O God, I’m the one. I deserve to get it.” And what God would say to you today and to us is, “Come clean with Me, one. Ask for forgiveness, two. Own responsibility for your sin, three. Accept God’s forgiveness and cleansing, four. Request a fresh work of grace, five. Resolve to use past failures for ministry, six. And pray for limited fallout from your folly.” Radio Teaching Series Finding God When You Need Him Most Purchase Series How to Experience God When You Get a Raw Deal, Part 1 How to Experience God When You Get a Raw Deal, Part 2 How to Experience God in Times of Crisis, Part 1 How to Experience God in Times of Crisis, Part 2 How to Experience God When You Feel Like a Nobody, Going Nowhere, Part 1 How to Experience God When You Feel Like a Nobody, Going Nowhere, Part 2 How to Experience God When You're Troubled and Depressed, Part 1 How to Experience God When You're Troubled and Depressed, Part 2 How to Find God When You're Gripped by Fear, Part 1 How to Find God When You're Gripped by Fear, Part 2 How to Experience God When You've Blown It Big Time, Part 1 How to Experience God When You've Blown It Big Time, Part 2 Experiencing God in Times of Confusion, Part 1 Experiencing God in Times of Confusion, Part 2 Home Broadcasts Small Groups Blog Chip Ingram Store Give New Believers Living on the Edge exists to help Christians live like Christians. 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How to Experience God When You've Blown It Big Time, Part 1

How to Experience God When You've Blown It Big Time, Part 1 Scripture: Psalm 51 Have you blown it - big time? Maybe you think God can never forgive you or love you again. If you’ve sinned and you know it’s wrong, but you don’t know where to go, join Chip as he unpacks Psalm 51 and shares how you can begin to experience God, even if you’ve really messed up. Message Notes 84 Transcript Sometimes smart people do dumb things. Sometimes wise people do foolish things. And sometimes even godly people do sinful things. The person who is talking to you has made a few of those. And the people that are listening? You’ve made a few of them. But over and over in Scripture we find that we are related to a God who, although He will never, ever treat sin lightly, understands that we’re but dust, understands when we blow it big time, and is willing to meet us in a way that is absolutely contrary to human logic, absolutely contrary to what we know about anyone or anything else other than Him. He wants to forgive. He wants to take even our worst moments, even when we knew it was wrong, and reclaim us for Himself. I want to just read a story. This is one of the most godly men in all Scripture, his name is David. David was where he wasn’t supposed to be as well. The Scripture says that it was time for kings to go out to battle and he stayed home. He was walking on the roof one night, he saw a very attractive woman. “He was a good man,” I have written in my Bible, in the footnote on the side, “in a weak moment.” He was attracted, he lusted, he called for her, he committed adultery, she became pregnant, he brought home her husband, tried to get her husband to sleep with her so when the child came he would think it was his own, the husband had too much honor, so David sent him back on the battlefield and had him killed. He later married the woman, she is now pregnant with his son, months have gone by and God is going to intervene through the prophet. And we pick up the story in II Samuel 12. Follow along. “The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said,” that he’s going to use a word picture. To confront a king was like, “This is a good, quick way to get killed.” So, he decides, “I’ll use a word picture.” “There were two men,” he says to David, “in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle. But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe that he had bought. He raised it and it grew up with him and his children. And shared his food and it drank from his cup and he even slept in his arms, it was like a daughter to him,” or a pet. “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his sheep or cattle, to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him; instead he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and he prepared it for the one who had come to him.” In this culture hospitality is very, very big. Very sinful [not to extend hospitality]. So, if a stranger comes, you are obligated to provide a meal. And here’s a super rich guy with all these sheep, all these cattle, and he says “Oh, I don’t want to waste any of mine,” so he takes the one little sheep that’s almost a member of the family from the poor man, butchers it, and prepares a meal. Now, David is a shepherd. This hits close to home. Notice his response, “David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.’ Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man!’” Boom. Now, notice he explains. “This is what Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house to you, I gave your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if this had been too small, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the Word of the Lord by doing what is evil in His eyes? “You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore,” here’s the judgment, “the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised Me and took Uriah the Hittite to be your own - his wife. “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all of Israel.’” Here’s his response. David has been in denial, David has been pretending, he has been lying, he’s been living with a guilty conscience, and now when he sees it clearly, here’s his response. “Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’” He comes clean. “And Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has take away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, and the son born to you will die.’” Under the Law, David understood. I mean, David got it right in his face and he understood, under the Law, committing adultery, what’s the penalty? Death. Under the Law, what’s the penalty for murder? Death. God has given mercy to David. He’s owned his sin. Now, he understands the sword is not going to depart from his house: Judgment. He understands from out of his house there is going to be calamity and embarrassment and consequences. But the prophet has said, “God has forgiven you.” It’s a graphic picture. There’s a question that I’d like us to ponder because Eugene Robinson is dealing with it right now. I bet he’s had a lot of long talks with his wife, a lot of explaining to do with his kids, a lot of explanations to coaches and teammates, and he has a book coming out. I happened to meet the publisher while I was at the NRB. And I met with him the morning that all this came loose and he said, “We sent ten thousand fliers to advertise the book of Eugene Robinson to the Superbowl and in a month it’s coming out.” See, sin is an amazing thing. There are always ripples, aren’t there? Here’s the question I want you to answer along with me: How do you ever recover when you know you’ve done something terribly wrong? I mean, how do you ever get back on your feet? How do you overcome the guilt and the shame and the embarrassment? How do you ever get right with God again? How do you ever experience His fellowship? How do you ever get this huge bump in the road behind you? How do you get restored? How does it work? I believe God has given us the answer in Psalm 51 and as you open up the teaching handout here, notice that what we have is David’s prayer after this conversation with Nathan. We literally get to eavesdrop on this great and godly man who committed adultery, who committed murder, who knew better, who knew God better then at this point than probably any of us will ever know Him. And yet, in a moment of weakness, in a window of time, in a point of vulnerability, he made a disastrous mistake and then did what most of us do. Instead of owning it early, he tried to hide it and cover up. And what do we learn? What have we learned? When you cover up, cover up, cover up what does sin do? It grows and its impact grows. In fact, if you want to jot down in the margin of your notes, “Psalm 32.” Psalm 32 tells us what was happening inside of David. And he said, “The Lord’s hand was heavy upon me. When I was silent about my sin it was like being in a desert. My body was wasting away.” When we know things aren’t right with God, when we have sinned against Him and others, it will eat you up. It will crush you, spiritually. It will devastate you, emotionally. Remember Jim and his testimony, what did he say? He was depressed. And, you know, in a group this size, we’re all human, aren’t we? What we all have in common, as human beings, is failure. Is failure. Now, we rank it, I’m not sure how much God ranks it, the consequences are different but you have failed and you have failed and you have failed and you failed and you failed and I have failed but here is the message of Psalm 51: With God, failure is never final. We’re going to take the Lord’s Supper later in the service. And by the time you get a little piece of unleavened bread that will represent the sinless work of the Son of God dying on the cross, His body in your place, and His blood spilled, I hope you’ll be able to hold those. And as you hold them, I hope in the VCR of your mind, the pictures, the things that you’ve done that you’re ashamed of. Maybe some things that no one knows about, maybe some things that, right now today, you’re involved in. I’m praying that by the time you get those elements, the Spirit of God will break through the armor of your denial, break through how you’re covering and hiding your sin, and let you know that you can come clean today. You can be forgiven today. For some it’s from your past, no one knows about the abortion and you’d be ashamed if anyone ever found out. For some of you men, you’re the one who urged her to have the abortion. For others, it’s the affair, it was the business trip, it’s just a one night deal. For others it was flat out stealing. You got away with it! No one knows but you never know if they’re going to find out. For some people it’s a big, dark, ugly past. For others it’s a secret. And it’s dipping into the Internet or to adult bookstores and you are hooked on pornography. For other people you have a thought life and a mind that goes in directions that you feel so overwhelmed by guilt you just feel like the biggest hypocrite. You feel pulled this way and pulled that way and you’re here today and you want to be close to God but you feel like there’s a war and it’s always going on inside and you don’t know how to get out. And then there are some of you that just think, you know, “Boy, thank God I’ve never blown it big time. I like the title to this message. How to experience God when you’ve blown it big time because I’ve never blown it big time!” I’d encourage you to read the Sermon on the Mount. See, what happens in our day is we rank those sins. Jesus says that God is absolutely pure, absolutely holy. And so in Matthew chapter 5 He says, “If you’ve never had an affair but lusted for a woman in your heart, you have already committed adultery in your heart. If you’ve never acted and committed murder but you’ve had anger and wrath toward someone else, you have assassinated them already in your mind. If you have gossiped and torn down it’s like shooting or assassinating another person’s character by gossip.” Now, you may not think that’s big time but I got news for you. He does. And that sin, although never seen, never popping up on the screen, and having more limited impact on others, it’s an offense to a holy God. If you don’t think so, try something. Just as an experiment I dare you to turn the TV, the radio, don’t go to a movie, don’t rent a video. Have a media fast for seven days and substitute that with time in the Scriptures. And you will turn on the TV a week from now and you’ll see things in commercials and language and images that will offend you that never offended you before. And if you really want to get offended and you really want to get a picture of who God is, take a thirty day media fast and you will start to open and you’ll say, “I can’t watch that anymore.” Because you will begin to look at life the way God looks at life. James chapter 3 says, “Anyone who becomes a friend of the world,” you know what he calls us? He says, “You adulterers.” And we have a Church and we have a nation that has become a friend to the world where you know something? Sin doesn’t bother us very much. It bothers God a lot. And we don’t experience the freshness and the promptings of the Holy Spirit and we don’t experience the kind of joy and we don’t see the power and answers to our prayer. You know why? Because God is holy. I did something I’ve never done before on Friday afternoon. I was just in the mood and I’m reading through the New Living Translation, I’m just checking it out. Somebody sent it in the mail. It was nice. It’s very readable and I read in one sitting the entire book of Leviticus. I read it fast. I usually get stuck there. I’m reading through the Bible this year. I was astounded, I mean, it was like a fire hose. I was astounded of how high God views the issues of holiness, how particular and how He longed for holiness and His presence to be in every aspect of worship and life for the people of Israel. And, boy, I realized, “Whoa. The God that I worship has grown much smaller than the God who is.” So, with that as a backdrop, maybe you and maybe I have blown it a little more big time than we think. So, what do you do? There are seven steps, I believe, that flow out of Psalm 51 to spiritual recovery. If you pull out a pen I’ll put you to work, have you fill in the key word. Step number one is, “Come clean with God.” Get honest. Get it out in the open. Stop the secrecy. Stop rationalizing. Stop minimizing. Stop reframing it. Stop saying everyone else does it. Stop comparing yourself to someone else that does it worse. Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, and come clean with God. That’s what David did. “I’m the king. I got special privilege, I have all the pressure of the office, and it’s a struggle and she’s a beautiful woman and what’s…” And we do it. Do what David did. He got to the point he said, “I have sinned against the Lord.” This is the most difficult step but without this, the next six mean nothing. Come clean with God. As I continue to speak, I want you to pray a little prayer. Pray the prayer of Psalm 139, even as I continue. “O God, search me and know me. See if there be any wicked way in my heart.” And the Holy Spirit… don’t manufacture stuff. You know, some of you that have a guilty conscience that comes naturally. Don’t try and think something up to feel bad about. Trust me. The Holy Spirit will make it vivid and clear if there is a problem. But just be open to Him about relationships, about conduct, about viewing, about habits, about your relationship with the Lord. And then come clean. Come clean. You do that, it begins to happen. I read a book on the way back on the plane by a fellow named Steve Arterburn. He is with the New Life Clinics, used to be called the Minirth Meier Clinics. And there’s a chapter, one of the seven keys to renewal is - confession. And let me just highlight, he makes one point I think is worth mentioning. He says there are three reasons why people don’t come clean with God. The first is fear of losing our reputation. But then he says, “The fear of being publically exposed can keep us awake at night and with a feeling of dread. But it’s better to be found out and even have a damaged reputation than to allow the venomous secrets to poison our relationship with God and others.” Get it out. The second reason he says we don’t do it is fear of losing our favorite sin. You know, when you come clean with God you realize you can’t keep doing that anymore. You need to break that relationship off, you need to stop that habit, you need to address that. And the third he says is the fear of losing our security. When our emotional or financial security is linked to something sinful, naturally we fear confession. Confession will bring change and the immediate change may not seem to be good. This is where faith comes in. If we agree with God about it, what He says, and what He says is good, we can trust the ultimate outcome of obedience will be good. You know, Jim, as he shared his testimony, can you imagine what he felt like? If I tell my boss, I might lose my job. If I come clean, my whole life will fall apart. But you know what? Staying where we are will destroy us for sure anyway. The second step to recovery is, “Ask God for forgiveness.” Look at Psalm 51, the first two verses. He prays, he’s been confronted, and now we’re eavesdropping right in his room as he prays to God and he says, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from all my sin.” Did you notice the verbs? There are four of them. Here is a guy who just says, “Help me! Forgive me. Cleanse me. Have mercy. Blot out. Wash away. Cleanse me.” Did you notice the basis? He’s not cutting a deal. He’s not negotiating a settlement. He’s not saying, “Now, God, I’ll do this if You do this.” He’s not saying, “Now, God, I know that I was a little off and…” He’s not reframing things, he’s not minimizing, he’s not saying, “Now, a lot of kings have done a lot of things worse.” What’s he say? “On the basis of Your character,” two things he cites. One, “Your unfailing love.” It’s a Hebrew word that means God’s loyal covenant love toward us. And the other word is His compassion. The related New Testament word means, literally, “out of the bowels,” or, “out of the womb.” Out of something down deep inside of God that feels what we feel. He says, “God, on the basis of who You are, not on the basis of what I have done, will You wash, clean, forgive, and cleanse?” If you’ve never done that, get honest and then ask Him to forgive you. Ask Him to forgive you. He wants to. Radio Teaching Series Finding God When You Need Him Most Purchase Series How to Experience God When You Get a Raw Deal, Part 1 How to Experience God When You Get a Raw Deal, Part 2 How to Experience God in Times of Crisis, Part 1 How to Experience God in Times of Crisis, Part 2 How to Experience God When You Feel Like a Nobody, Going Nowhere, Part 1 How to Experience God When You Feel Like a Nobody, Going Nowhere, Part 2 How to Experience God When You're Troubled and Depressed, Part 1 How to Experience God When You're Troubled and Depressed, Part 2 How to Find God When You're Gripped by Fear, Part 1 How to Find God When You're Gripped by Fear, Part 2 How to Experience God When You've Blown It Big Time, Part 1 How to Experience God When You've Blown It Big Time, Part 2 Experiencing God in Times of Confusion, Part 1 Experiencing God in Times of Confusion, Part 2 Home Broadcasts Small Groups Blog Chip Ingram Store Give New Believers Living on the Edge exists to help Christians live like Christians. 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