SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Springs Church podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We are so glad you joined us.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to reach the lost by raising up fully trained disciples that are empowered by God to impact their world.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that you are challenged and encouraged as you listen to this week's message.
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate everything that you've done.
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate your friendship.
SPEAKER_01: I'm grateful that our churches are friends.
SPEAKER_01: So our church has been praying and interceding for the Springs Church and all of you through this time, this season of grieving.
SPEAKER_01: I know that it's been a very difficult week.
SPEAKER_01: So we're with you.
SPEAKER_01: We're praying for you.
SPEAKER_01: We love you.
SPEAKER_01: And I appreciate the opportunity to share with you today.
SPEAKER_01: I I really am grateful for the friendship that I have with Pastor Owen.
SPEAKER_01: That's not just words.
SPEAKER_01: Um we spent time together.
SPEAKER_01: We've even had some retreats together, and his friendship is valuable to me.
SPEAKER_01: So I look up to Pastor Owen.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm thankful for him and Sarah.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I want to just thank you as a church for how incredible you are.
SPEAKER_01: The way that you have served us this weekend with the singles conference has been just excellent.
SPEAKER_01: All of you, greeters and people that have prepared tech teams, worship teams, everybody, the coffee team.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, they're incredible.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they're overlooked, but they're incredible.
SPEAKER_01: And um I'm just really grateful.
SPEAKER_01: It's wonderful coffee.
SPEAKER_01: Wonderful coffee.
SPEAKER_01: And um I hope you've had some so you can stay awake during this preacher today.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm so grateful, and and I just want to honor my wife.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, just seriously, this is our today is our 40th anniversary.
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: She is an amazing wife, an amazing mother.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, she has just an absolute beautiful devotion to Jesus and to her family and to our church family back home.
SPEAKER_01: And um, and I'm just so thankful for everything God does through her life.
SPEAKER_01: Um, we homeschooled our kids.
SPEAKER_01: Well, she homeschooled our kids.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if I was homeschooling my kids, they'd still be in kindergarten.
SPEAKER_01: Um so I'm uh they turned out okay.
SPEAKER_01: If if you've met them, you may question that, but no, seriously, they've turned out okay.
SPEAKER_01: And my son is with me today, Ethan is here, and so I'm grateful that he's here.
SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, we've had a beautiful time with our children, and we're blessed now.
SPEAKER_01: We have two grandchildren, one's a year old, one's three months old, and so I thought it was a lot of hype, but it's not, it's true.
SPEAKER_01: Grandkids are amazing, and um I thought I'd spend this morning showing you pictures of the no, I'm teasing.
SPEAKER_01: Um they are incredible, and um, and we're blessed with two of the best.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's a good phrase.
SPEAKER_01: I never said it blessed with two of the best.
SPEAKER_01: That is really good.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so we might keep that, but um I'm really I just celebrate you, Carla.
SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate you, and I appreciate the the years that God has given us.
SPEAKER_01: We were married June 7th, 1986, and three months later, we started our church in Baton Rouge.
SPEAKER_01: Um had no idea that we would be starting a church when we got married.
SPEAKER_01: It was just a sovereign move of God, and we walked in faith, obeying the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: 40 years later, we're still here, we're still serving the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We have a very beautiful church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and um, and I'm grateful that God has allowed us to serve for so long and still love it, and still love the people, still love the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I love the church, I love the church, I love you.
SPEAKER_01: I am so grateful to be able to speak to God's children.
SPEAKER_01: You are the ones he has redeemed with his own blood.
SPEAKER_01: You're not bought with silver and gold, but you have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And you are beautiful to the Lord, you are beloved of God.
SPEAKER_01: He loves you with an unconditional love.
SPEAKER_01: And the devil would try to distract you from that.
SPEAKER_01: The devil would try to lie to you as that word came about deception, that you're not valuable to God, but you are of infinite value to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of times we look at our life and we try to see what kind of value we bring, but it's not the value you find in yourself, it is the grace of God that gives you value.
SPEAKER_01: It's what God is doing in your life, it's the life of his son, the work of the Holy Spirit that makes you the treasure that you are, and that gives your life purpose and worth.
SPEAKER_01: So I thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I want to pray if you would just join me in prayer this morning, please.
SPEAKER_01: And as we start praying, can we lift up Pastor Owen?
SPEAKER_01: He's got a lot on him for the next couple of days, and I just want to pray for his voice to be strengthened.
SPEAKER_01: And he would move and minister in great power and anointing.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I thank you that we can come before you.
SPEAKER_01: You are the God of yes and amen.
SPEAKER_01: You're not the God of maybe, you're not the God of no.
SPEAKER_01: But when we come to you through Jesus Christ, your promises are yes and amen.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, in this new covenant is the promise of healing.
SPEAKER_01: And we thank you, Father, in Jesus' name that you would touch Pastor Owen, that you would strengthen him, Father, and whatever illness, cold, congestion, allergy may be affecting him right now, we bind it in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We speak life and health into him, into his voice.
SPEAKER_01: Father, that he would speak so powerfully and unhindered the gospel and the glory of Jesus Christ at a time, God, where so many are going to need the word of God, the life of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And I thank you for using him and all of the pastors of this great church and all of the people, God, as they're gonna love on so many over the next couple of days.
SPEAKER_01: And so we give you the glory.
SPEAKER_01: Father, help me to minister to these beautiful people today.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I pray that you would clothe yourself with me, fill me with your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, let your word come forth with power, let it burn within our hearts, God.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I pray that we would rise up in faith to serve you and to live in glory and victory and joy, even in the times of great trial and suffering and confusion.
SPEAKER_01: Father, that we would know what is the hope of our calling and what you are doing in our life, and we would bring you honor.
SPEAKER_01: And I thank you, Father, that I rest and I trust in you.
SPEAKER_01: And I entrust the people to you and into your grace.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you would please, I'm going to read this morning from the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 3, and also going into chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have your Bibles, I would appreciate it if you would be able to sh to read with me.
SPEAKER_01: I believe these scriptures will also be on the screen so you could follow along with me.
SPEAKER_01: But I wanted to begin this morning by asking you a question.
SPEAKER_01: And the question is: would you just be great for Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: I know that there's a lot of things in our life that we try to do and we try to be accomplished at.
SPEAKER_01: There are many desires that we have, there are needs that we have.
SPEAKER_01: We have mortgage notes and car notes, and we have children to get through school, and so we try to be great at our jobs, and we try to be, you know, financially successful in all of these things.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm asking, would you be great for Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: I believe that you're here this morning in a Sunday morning in church because I would assume that most of you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You have given him your life, you have given your commitment to him.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm asking you tonight or today to consider being great for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Like just really being sold out to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Not living a mediocre life, not giving him a half-hearted commitment, but really giving him all.
SPEAKER_01: And when your life comes to an end, that you would be able to look at that life and say, this was a great life for God.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that what I'm asking you may seem absolutely impossible because for us to make that promise, it is.
SPEAKER_01: Who among us can say, I'm gonna be great for God?
SPEAKER_01: I will do that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think any of us have that in our capacity to make that kind of commitment to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: The Apostle Paul simply suggested and advocated that we would give ourselves as living sacrifices to God, to be holy and acceptable unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And so I would ask you, if you desire to be great for God, then be a living sacrifice for Him.
SPEAKER_01: Not to come and just pound on your chest, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that for God, and I'm gonna be so incredible for the Lord, but to be humble before God and ask the Lord, take up my life, and by your grace and by your spirit, Lord, do something for your glory through me.
SPEAKER_01: It's not the promises that I can make that I will be these things for you, but I believe, God, that all things are possible with you.
SPEAKER_01: I believe one of the great things of the Pentecostal blessing of the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit changes personalities.
SPEAKER_01: He changes us from the pre-people we were or the person I used to be into the person that he wants me to be.
SPEAKER_01: There's no impossibilities with God.
SPEAKER_01: The experiences of my past and the bondages and the failures of my past do not dictate the future that God has for me.
SPEAKER_01: The future that God has for me is determined by the power of God's Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And those that were acquainted with the work of the Holy Spirit in their life and the baptism in the Holy Spirit, they were able to testify to the generations, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
SPEAKER_01: There's not an impossibility.
SPEAKER_01: God, if you want to do it, then let's do it.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to use my life in that way, then use my life in that way.
SPEAKER_01: However, the sad truth is, and the difficulty is that we oftentimes measure greatness even for God in outward terms.
SPEAKER_01: We look at people that we consider to be great.
SPEAKER_01: We look at their character, we look at their life, we look at their accomplishments, and we determine this is greatness.
SPEAKER_01: And most people will look at the people around them and say, I believe that you have the capacity for greatness with God, but I don't.
SPEAKER_01: Most of the time we don't feel that way about ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: We don't feel that we have anything of value to offer the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We look at others and see that they certainly do.
SPEAKER_01: And we oftentimes judge greatness based upon a person's appearance.
SPEAKER_01: A person that is good looking, a man that is handsome, that they're well kept.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they have fame, maybe they have success in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Those that have riches, those that have been accomplished, entrepreneurs and businessmen and business women that have made something of their life, and we would say, now that's greatness, and those are great people, but I will never measure up to that.
SPEAKER_01: I will never accomplish those kinds of things in our life or in my life.
SPEAKER_01: We look at people on a stage and we say, those are the great people.
SPEAKER_01: We look at pastors and we look at worship leaders that have somehow made it up here, and we desire that, we envy that.
SPEAKER_01: Could God ever use me like that?
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times we even shut ourselves down and say, you know what, I could never do something like that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think God would ever use me to be able to do something like that.
SPEAKER_01: There's just not much value in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I have some vases that are set up here on this table just as a simple illustration, because I believe it illustrates a truth that we find in religion.
SPEAKER_01: And the truth that we find in religion is we typically gravitate to what we think is most attractive.
SPEAKER_01: And what we consider to be priceless is where we put the value on things.
SPEAKER_01: And I could shift this vase up to the forefront because of all the vases that are up here, this certainly is the most beautiful and the most valuable.
SPEAKER_01: And so if I were to take a group of roses and I were to bring them up here on this table, and I was gonna say, we're gonna put these beautiful roses in one of these vases, I don't think anybody would choose, even a man, I don't think he would choose to put the roses in here.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's just like, no, that's not worthy of a rose.
SPEAKER_01: That's not worthy of a bouquet.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we're just not going to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe this, you know, if it's just something that we're gonna put out for a few days.
SPEAKER_01: But if it's really special, if it's a big day and a big event, then we're going for the crystal.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna put the crystal out because that's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: And that crystal is worthy of these incredible flowers of this incredible arrangement of roses, but certainly not these other things.
SPEAKER_01: And oftentimes that's what we do in our churches, that's what we do in religion.
SPEAKER_01: We take the people that maybe we don't seem or see the value in their life, and we may put them on the shelf, and we push others forward.
SPEAKER_01: They look more beautiful, they look more talented, they have more intellect, they have more skill, they have more ability, they have more natural inclinations, and so we're gonna push them forward.
SPEAKER_01: But we've got these other ministries in the church, and a lot of people don't see those ministries.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna take you and we're gonna put you over here in this ministry.
SPEAKER_01: You'll never get up here, but we're gonna put you over here and we're gonna show off and showcase the most lovely and the most valuable and the greatest people in our church.
SPEAKER_01: And oftentimes that's what happens in religion.
SPEAKER_01: And most of the time, this is the way that we feel.
SPEAKER_01: We feel like we're just this clay pot that doesn't have much value in life, and I'll never amount to much.
SPEAKER_01: There's a there is a man in the Bible that I love.
SPEAKER_01: I love to read about his life.
SPEAKER_01: I love his heart, his name is David.
SPEAKER_01: And I respect this man, and I respect the passion that he has for God.
SPEAKER_01: Of all the people that live, this is this is a statement that is made of David.
SPEAKER_01: David was a man after God's own heart.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there were many people in the Bible that had a heart for God.
SPEAKER_01: There were many men and women in the Bible that had a heart for God.
SPEAKER_01: But it was not said of them that they had a heart after God's heart.
SPEAKER_01: God said he is a man after my heart.
SPEAKER_01: And when I consider that about David, I understand that this man had a very difficult life.
SPEAKER_01: His home life was filled with abuse.
SPEAKER_01: His own son would rise up against him and cause a conspiracy, a national conspiracy, in an attempt to overthrow his father's son, his throne.
SPEAKER_01: David would commit adultery and David would commit murder, mass murder.
SPEAKER_01: He not only killed Uriah, he had to kill the whole platoon that Uriah would fight with in order to make sure that he died.
SPEAKER_01: In Psalm 51, David's famous prayer of repentance because of his adultery and his murder.
SPEAKER_01: He's crying out to God for mercy, and he's crying out to God for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: And in that Psalm, David says, God, I know that it is you do not delight in sacrifices and burnt offerings.
SPEAKER_01: If that's what you wanted, God, I would bring you thousands of them.
SPEAKER_01: If that would make you happy, if that's what would give you pleasure, then God, I would give that to you.
SPEAKER_01: But Lord, the thing that you don't despise is a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
SPEAKER_01: That is what you delight in.
SPEAKER_01: You delight in the broken heart and you delight in the contrite spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And so I would imagine, David, who had this intimacy with God, that if David was going to choose a vessel to display for God, I would imagine that David would come to this table and he would probably pass up the crystal.
SPEAKER_01: I saw crystal before.
SPEAKER_01: I saw crystal in the king that preceded me.
SPEAKER_01: He stood head and shoulders above everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: He was beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: God even anointed him and turned him into a different man.
SPEAKER_01: But that man became corrupt.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's not the crystal.
SPEAKER_01: It's not the beautiful people, it's not the people with all the talent, it's not the people with all the strength.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not even those that are somewhat okay.
SPEAKER_01: And even somewhat look presentable.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe we would imagine that David would take this one.
SPEAKER_01: And David would say, this would be more along the lines of what God would delight in.
SPEAKER_01: This would be more along the lines of the thing that would bring God pleasure.
SPEAKER_01: But even more so, not even this, but actually it would be this.
SPEAKER_01: If I could be anything for God, if I could give God anything, I want to give him my brokenness.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to give him what I call beauty.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be so valuable and so precious that the only thing God can do with me is put me on a shelf or put me on a table to show me off.
SPEAKER_01: But if I could be anything for God, I'd want to be a broken vessel for him.
SPEAKER_01: Because I've learned the past that I've lived in, the things that I've done, my failures, my moral failure.
SPEAKER_01: Me, the man that is after the heart of God, I've had a moral failure.
SPEAKER_01: I've committed murder.
SPEAKER_01: I've done atrocious things.
SPEAKER_01: What could God ever do with my life?
SPEAKER_01: It's over for me.
SPEAKER_01: But David saw it.
SPEAKER_01: He saw that love, that grace, that redemption of God.
SPEAKER_01: And David knew no, it's not that I can put myself back together.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not that I can make this commitment for the next five years so that I begin to look like this.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe I can look like this, and God will love me again.
SPEAKER_01: No, God loves this.
SPEAKER_01: This is what he loves.
SPEAKER_01: This is what God wants.
SPEAKER_01: When David stood before Israel at the coronation of his son Solomon being given the kingdom of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: David stood in front of Israel and he made this statement.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Do you know why God has chosen me and made me the king?
SPEAKER_01: Now remember, this is a man.
SPEAKER_01: In his home, there was incest and rape.
SPEAKER_01: And he did nothing about it.
SPEAKER_01: This is a man that committed adultery.
SPEAKER_01: This is a man that committed murder.
SPEAKER_01: And this man stands in front of Israel and he says, Do you know my God made me the king of Israel?
SPEAKER_01: Because he likes me.
SPEAKER_01: He likes me.
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of us would maybe be able to say, because it's so common to say it, it's so Christian to say it that God loves me.
SPEAKER_01: And we say that because it's just what the word says.
SPEAKER_01: But there are not too many people that say, God likes me, God really enjoys me.
SPEAKER_01: God desires my company.
SPEAKER_01: God desires to be with me.
SPEAKER_01: God likes me.
SPEAKER_01: And that is a more difficult thing to say because, in spite of how we try to present ourselves to other people, and even if we can present our best self and people begin to admire us, deep down in our own lives, underneath our own skin, we know what we are.
SPEAKER_01: How could God like me?
SPEAKER_01: How could God want to be with me?
SPEAKER_01: Sure, He loves me and He's gonna redeem me and bring me to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, He's gonna do that, but how could God like me and bless me?
SPEAKER_01: And David said, God liked me and He made me the king.
SPEAKER_01: And you know the word for like.
SPEAKER_01: In the Hebrew is the word for a broken piece of clay.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it means.
SPEAKER_01: When David said God likes me, when David said God does not delight, God does not like just the burnt offerings and the sacrifices, but what he likes, what he desires is the broken heart and the contrite spirit.
SPEAKER_01: It means the broken clay.
SPEAKER_01: It means the broken heart.
SPEAKER_01: It means the humbled spirit that is bowed before God and poured out before God.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason is because in ancient times, when people needed to send messages, they needed to send messages to a family member that might be a few miles away.
SPEAKER_01: Or they needed to send a message to another city.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have the convenience of paper and pen and mail like we do today.
SPEAKER_01: And so in ancient times, what they would do is they would take worthless pieces of clay like this that were of no value anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And they would write the message in the clay.
SPEAKER_01: It was reliable.
SPEAKER_01: If it got rained on, the message is still there.
SPEAKER_01: And the messenger would take that message and he would run that to a family that was a couple of miles away or bring it to another city that was a little bit distant.
SPEAKER_01: And he would bring that message, and the people were able to read the message.
SPEAKER_01: And David said, That's what God likes.
SPEAKER_01: Not so much the beautiful life that everybody admires, and we put it on a shelf or on a table.
SPEAKER_01: But God likes the person who can be so broken that God can write his message on their life, and God can send that message into another town, into a workplace, into a school, into a church that brings the message of God, the message of redemption, and the message of hope, and the message that your past does not determine your future.
SPEAKER_01: Because David would be able to say, look what he did for me.
SPEAKER_01: That's what God likes.
SPEAKER_01: It's not what David can make of himself, but it's what God could do with a broken David who has a corrupt past, but a hopeful future, because of what God can write on his life.
SPEAKER_01: Many people would throw this away.
SPEAKER_01: Many people would say this is of no value.
SPEAKER_01: It happens in religion all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Religion throws people away.
SPEAKER_01: Churches that are filled with religion, they throw people away.
SPEAKER_01: You failed.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't measure up.
SPEAKER_01: You don't dress like we want you to dress.
SPEAKER_01: You don't act like we want you to act.
SPEAKER_01: And so now we just throw your life away.
SPEAKER_01: And people would throw their lives away.
SPEAKER_01: We would throw David away.
SPEAKER_01: We would throw Peter away.
SPEAKER_01: We would throw Matthew away.
SPEAKER_01: We would throw all these guys away.
SPEAKER_01: And I could just imagine us throwing David away.
SPEAKER_01: And everybody just turns their backs on David.
SPEAKER_01: But God says, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: That's my David.
SPEAKER_01: You can't throw David away.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm going to write my message.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to build my testimony now in his life.
SPEAKER_01: And for the generations that come, David is going to tell you the kind of God I am.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm going to write on his life.
SPEAKER_01: And I say to you today that you desperately need God to write on your life.
SPEAKER_01: You need God to write on your brokenness.
SPEAKER_01: God is not asking you to make get yourself so pretty, get yourself so educated, get yourself so skilled, take all of the lessons, go to all of the schools, and just really know the part so well that I can display you in my church.
SPEAKER_01: But God is saying, allow me to break you.
SPEAKER_01: Allow me to break you so that the glory is me and not you.
SPEAKER_01: So in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, the Bible tells us this in verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: It's not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, not me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sufficient for this.
SPEAKER_01: It's God that makes me sufficient.
SPEAKER_01: And he says in verse 6, who has also made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm asking you this morning, honestly, church, I know you're lovers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And you young people, and your life is just getting underway, and you've got all of this future before you.
SPEAKER_01: How many in here want to be ministers of the new covenant?
SPEAKER_01: How many of you want to be anointed by God?
SPEAKER_01: How many of you want God to get a hold of your life and make you something that man cannot make you, and you cannot make yourself, and your sufficiency is of God, and you become an able minister of the new covenant?
SPEAKER_01: Who wants that?
SPEAKER_01: There is a ministry of the letter that brings death, and there is the ministry of the Spirit that brings life.
SPEAKER_01: And the new covenant ministry is a ministry of the Holy Spirit, and it is a life-giving ministry.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you want God to use you to be givers of life?
SPEAKER_01: Givers of life in your workplace, givers of life in your home, givers of life with your grandchildren, your sons, your daughters, givers of life in your community, givers of life in Jacksonville, Florida.
SPEAKER_01: God can bring this city to its knees in a moment.
SPEAKER_01: He just needs givers of life.
SPEAKER_01: And if you want that, you want to be a giver of life, then I'm going to show you how.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to explain it to you through the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Because the giving of life can come in the most strange way, in a way we're not expecting and we're not supposing.
SPEAKER_01: So in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul continues about his ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And he tells us this in verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: So I have this clay jar because he says in verse 7, there is a treasure in the earthen vessel.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're born-again Christian, the very life of Jesus is in you.
SPEAKER_01: And inside of your clay is the treasure of God.
SPEAKER_01: And God wants to bring that treasure out for the world to see it and for the world to experience it.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is what God begins to do in our life.
SPEAKER_01: Because now we are that vessel.
SPEAKER_01: This is you.
SPEAKER_01: This is your life.
SPEAKER_01: And God takes your life that you've surrendered to Him.
SPEAKER_01: And you said you want to be a minister of life, and God now begins to put pressure on your life.
SPEAKER_01: And you can feel the pressure coming on your life, and you're like, God, this hurts.
SPEAKER_01: God, I don't understand this, but God, there's pressure on me, and I can feel it, God.
SPEAKER_01: And you begin to look at verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul says, We're troubled on every side.
SPEAKER_01: And you feel it, God, I feel like I'm being squeezed.
SPEAKER_01: I gave my life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I want to serve you, God.
SPEAKER_01: I want my friends to know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And God, it seems just as I gave you my life, it's just like from every direction, my life is being squeezed.
SPEAKER_01: The very life of me is being squeezed out.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul says, we're troubled on every side.
SPEAKER_01: And you feel it, the pressure and the working of life, like you've never felt it before.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says that we are the trouble on every side.
SPEAKER_01: We're perplexed, but we're not in despair.
SPEAKER_01: And there are those times in your life where God's doing things in your life, and you're just like, God, I don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: God, what are you doing with me?
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand why you're putting me through this.
SPEAKER_01: The pressure's everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's confusion in it, God.
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know it was going to be like this, God.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know coming to Jesus was going to be like this.
SPEAKER_01: And then he said, Not only are you perplexed but not in despair, but we're persecuted.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, oh God, I'm being persecuted.
SPEAKER_01: God, I feel it.
SPEAKER_01: People are rising up against me, God.
SPEAKER_01: This pressure is almost more than I can bear, God.
SPEAKER_01: The struggle is becoming too great for me, God.
SPEAKER_01: And then all of a sudden, Paul not only says that we persecuted, but he says we're forsaken.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, oh God, I feel this pressure.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Jesus, I don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand this.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't it say in your word, God?
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't it say in your word that you will not allow me to be tempted above what I'm able to bear?
SPEAKER_01: But God, I can't bear this.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, look at me over here.
SPEAKER_01: God, don't you know that my life is collapsing?
SPEAKER_01: Don't you know, God, that my life is falling?
SPEAKER_01: God, what happened?
SPEAKER_01: God, you broke me.
SPEAKER_01: You broke me, God.
SPEAKER_01: I've been I've been crying out to you.
SPEAKER_01: I told you I couldn't bear it.
SPEAKER_01: I told you it was too much for me, God.
SPEAKER_01: What have you done with my life?
SPEAKER_01: God, my life is my life is shattered, God.
SPEAKER_01: My life is broken.
SPEAKER_01: Is this what you wanted from me?
SPEAKER_01: And the verse tells us.
SPEAKER_01: If you look at it, it tells us.
SPEAKER_01: We're always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
SPEAKER_01: For we which live are always delivered to death.
SPEAKER_01: For Jesus' sake.
SPEAKER_01: That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
SPEAKER_01: So you want to be a new covenant minister.
SPEAKER_01: You want to be a giver of life.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta be broken.
SPEAKER_01: God has to get the contents that are inside of you out.
SPEAKER_01: Because what's inside of you is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: God's not gonna break you if there's no life in you.
SPEAKER_01: But beloved, if Jesus is in you and the Spirit of God is filling you, then God is desperate to get that treasure out of you because those messages are gonna be better than any message you will ever see on a stage.
SPEAKER_01: Those will be the greatest messages ever preached, not in a pulpit.
SPEAKER_01: Those will be the messages of life.
SPEAKER_01: And people just like us, broken lives, thought we had no future until Jesus got a hold of me.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus transformed my life.
SPEAKER_01: And he says this last verse in verse 12 death works in us, but life in you is a crippling experience with God worth the intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: You have to judge that.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you would say, No way.
SPEAKER_01: But there will come a time in your life, and you need to understand it.
SPEAKER_01: There will come a time in your life like Jacob, who has an encounter with God, and he says, I am so tired of Jacob.
SPEAKER_01: I am so tired of being known as Jacob.
SPEAKER_01: I'm so tired of being a deceiver.
SPEAKER_01: I'm so tired of a life of hypocrisy.
SPEAKER_01: And I've got a hold of you, God, now, and you've got a hold of me, and God, I'm not gonna let go of you until you bless me.
SPEAKER_01: And that man wrestled with God throughout the night and into the morning, and the angel of the Lord said, The sun is rising, you've got to let me go.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Not till you bless me.
SPEAKER_01: And blessing came in brokenness.
SPEAKER_01: God touched the hollow of his side.
SPEAKER_01: And for the rest of Jacob's life, because of an intimate encounter with God, he walked in what looked like weakness.
SPEAKER_01: He was never more vulnerable to Esau than he was right now.
SPEAKER_01: God made him weaker in his desire to be blessed, but you're just looking on the outward because you see a man walking with a limp.
SPEAKER_01: But God sees a man now who's no longer Jacob, he's Israel, and he is a prince with me.
SPEAKER_01: You better think twice before you touch that man.
SPEAKER_01: He is my prince, he has prevailed with me, and he has prevailed over everything else.
SPEAKER_01: He has my ear, he has my arm, he has my life, and Jacob would walk through life with that limp, but he walked with power from God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what broken people look like.
SPEAKER_01: They don't look broken, they don't walk around with sharecloth and hashes on them.
SPEAKER_01: They're the happiest people you'll ever.
SPEAKER_01: Why are you so happy?
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm broken.
SPEAKER_01: I'm broken.
SPEAKER_01: If you could choose to not be broken, would you not on your life?
SPEAKER_01: Finally being broken is the best thing that ever happened to me because I don't have to pretend to be this guy.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have to pretend to be him.
SPEAKER_01: I'm him.
SPEAKER_01: I've got nothing good, I've got nothing to give God but my brokenness.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
SPEAKER_01: He picked it up and he wrote on it.
SPEAKER_01: He wrote his testimony on it, he wrote my future on it, he wrote his life on me, and he changed me forever and forever.
SPEAKER_01: Christmas time, I'm I'm driving down one of the boulevards in my city, and I've noticed these advertisements for Christmas gifts at these jewelry stores, and it was like every one of them was advertising crosses.
SPEAKER_01: They had these crosses that they would give out, or you'd go by gold crosses, silver crosses, crosses with diamonds on them, all kinds of crosses.
SPEAKER_01: And I was driving down one particular day, seeing these billboards over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_01: I was driving down one particular day, and I was like, Well, this is really strange.
SPEAKER_01: The cross has become beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: Cicero, who was one of the great statesmen in Rome, said that the cross, the word should be outlawed throughout our country, and no Roman citizen should ever hear it or have to say it.
SPEAKER_01: It's so detestable.
SPEAKER_01: I'm driving down the road and I see all these advertisements on billboards for crosses.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, you know, I've never seen a jewelry store advertising a guillotine.
SPEAKER_01: I've never seen a jewelry store advertising meth needles.
SPEAKER_01: I've never seen a jewelry store advertising an electric chair.
SPEAKER_01: They all advertised the cross.
SPEAKER_01: And I was just driving down the road and I said, God, why?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Because I touched it.
SPEAKER_01: And what I touch becomes beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you have a past as bad as David's.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you don't.
SPEAKER_01: So you think you're okay.
SPEAKER_01: You're this or you're this.
SPEAKER_01: You know you're not quite here yet, but you're this or you're this.
SPEAKER_01: This is what God likes.
SPEAKER_01: This is his go-to right here.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody was broken like his son.
SPEAKER_01: And look what he wrote through that cross.
SPEAKER_01: We'll close with this if you stand with me.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, listen to me, please.
SPEAKER_01: Just give me a few, give me a couple of minutes.
SPEAKER_01: Please, please, please, listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm begging you.
SPEAKER_01: This is such an important moment.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta hear it.
SPEAKER_01: God's not the only one who likes the broken pieces.
SPEAKER_01: Satan likes them.
SPEAKER_01: And God has a pen in his hand and he's ready to write on your broken peace.
SPEAKER_01: A glorious future.
SPEAKER_01: A message of hope.
SPEAKER_01: A message of redemption.
SPEAKER_01: A message of freedom.
SPEAKER_01: But Satan has a pen in his hand, and he's ready to write on your broken pieces too.
SPEAKER_01: Bitterness.
SPEAKER_01: Anger.
SPEAKER_01: Abuse.
SPEAKER_01: Victim.
SPEAKER_01: Corrupt.
SPEAKER_01: Hopeless.
SPEAKER_01: Worthless.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing for you to look forward to.
SPEAKER_01: Your life is worthless.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Satan's been writing on your life.
SPEAKER_01: And even as a believer, you find it very hard to think that God would ever like you or want to use you.
SPEAKER_01: And if Satan has been writing on your brokenness, because everyone in you in this room has been broken.
SPEAKER_01: And either God or Satan has been writing on it.
SPEAKER_01: And if Satan has been writing on your brokenness, you need to come to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Even as a believer, I'm not saying you're lost.
SPEAKER_01: And you need to come to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You say, Jesus, I need you to, with your blood, just erase what Satan's been writing on my life.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't realize that my brokenness was for you.
SPEAKER_01: I was just confused and I didn't know the pain, but now I do.
SPEAKER_01: There's a treasure in me, and you want the treasure out.
SPEAKER_01: It's for your glory.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm going to ask you, Jesus, now you take my brokenness and you start writing on my life.
SPEAKER_01: Right joy.
SPEAKER_01: Write peace.
SPEAKER_01: Right life.
SPEAKER_01: Victory.
SPEAKER_01: Power.
SPEAKER_01: Write healing.
SPEAKER_01: And that's your choice.
SPEAKER_01: But I can promise you, somebody's going to write on your brokenness.
SPEAKER_01: And you don't want anybody but Jesus to do it.
SPEAKER_01: So if you could see your life as this piece of clay that God says, This is what I like.
SPEAKER_01: This is it.
SPEAKER_01: I think most of us in this room could say, Oh, that's a relief because that's me.
SPEAKER_01: Would you come like this was your life?
SPEAKER_01: And just come to this altar and say, God, write on me.
SPEAKER_01: You write your message in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want Satan doing it.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want the world to do it.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want my pain to do it.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to do it.
SPEAKER_01: And I need you to erase what Satan has written.
SPEAKER_01: We had a word today about suicide being defeated.
SPEAKER_01: That's because somebody's here struggling with suicide.
SPEAKER_01: Satan's been writing on you.
SPEAKER_01: You need the blood of Jesus to wash that off.
SPEAKER_01: You need a clean slate, and you need Jesus to start writing.
SPEAKER_01: Would you come?
SPEAKER_01: People are coming.
SPEAKER_01: Would you come?
SPEAKER_01: You need to be healed.
SPEAKER_01: You need the life of God.
SPEAKER_01: You want the ministry of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: You want to be a giver of life.
SPEAKER_01: This is the new covenant ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And the beautiful thing about brokenness is you don't look broke.
SPEAKER_01: Because the most beautiful life is now pouring out of you.
SPEAKER_01: Your life is a miracle.
SPEAKER_01: And your whole future now is hopeful.
SPEAKER_01: And now I understand why, as a believer, I have difficult days, and I have trials that I don't understand, and I have suffering that I don't like.
SPEAKER_01: I understand it now.
SPEAKER_01: It's because there's a treasure in me.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is revealing himself through me, and I want him to.
SPEAKER_01: Would you just come, leaders?
SPEAKER_01: Come and help us pray.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all just talk to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Just talk to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Say, Jesus, write on me.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm broken, I'm hurt.
SPEAKER_01: I'm wounded.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, there might be more that need to come.
SPEAKER_01: Just tell him I'm wounded.
SPEAKER_01: But I don't want anybody riding on my life but you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want anybody determining my future but you, because you're the God of redemption and the God of hope.
SPEAKER_01: Just begin to pray.
SPEAKER_01: If you have a friend up here, just come and pray for us.
SPEAKER_01: You got a family member up here.
SPEAKER_01: Mothers and fathers, would you just pray over your children right now?
SPEAKER_01: Would you just pray, Lord Jesus, you write on my child's life?
SPEAKER_01: Your children have been hit in ways you don't even know.
SPEAKER_01: Their life has been cracked in ways you don't even know.
SPEAKER_01: But just pray right now, Jesus, you get in there first and start writing on their life.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for your family, pray for your grandchildren, pray for your marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's a lot of forgiveness that needs to happen in your marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Let Jesus write on it.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let the devil write on your marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Because it'll end badly.
SPEAKER_01: But let Jesus write.
SPEAKER_01: Right now, take the hand of your spouse right now.
SPEAKER_01: Just begin to pray for your families.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for your children.
SPEAKER_01: Children, pray for your parents.
SPEAKER_01: They've been broken.
SPEAKER_01: They have been broken.
SPEAKER_01: They have been hit so hard.
SPEAKER_01: Your parents have.
SPEAKER_01: But they're still here.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for, pray for joy.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for peace.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for healing.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to this free church podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that you were encouraged, uplifted, and challenged by the message today.
SPEAKER_00: If you need prayer or want to learn more about the church, we would love to connect with you.
SPEAKER_00: Visit the New Here page on tcjacks.com.
SPEAKER_00: We pray you have a great week walking in all that God has for you.