"Broken Beyond Repair?" with Pastor John Gonzalez - June 13, 2026

If we’re honest with ourselves as we look around at the state of the world, it doesn’t take an observant person to see that there is much brokenness. If we continue that honesty and assess our own hearts, perhaps we can admit that there is brokenness in us, too. How do we reconcile that perception of brokenness with the idea that we’re not only made by God in His image, but that we’re completely loved by Him as well? If you’ve ever struggled with self-worth, self-doubt, or the weight of past sin that you just can’t seem to shake, this message is for you! Listen in as Pastor John Gonzalez shares a glimpse into the heart of God, who longs for nothing more than to make us whole and restore us to who He originally created us to be.

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Transcript

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And before I pray, I do want to tell you the heart behind today's message. Today's message is a personal one for me because it stems from my time with baby Cairo. For some of you guys know this, that I spent three months with Cairo when he was two months old to five months old. I believe the picture's there yet. There he is, smiling as always, very happy and smiley. Unless he's hungry or tired, of course, but that's the norm. But, you know, one of my precious moments that when I think back to this time was when he would take his first nap. Right? The mornings would be so hectic. He's crying. I wake up, I you know, make his bottle, I feed him, and burp him, which burping takes forever. And this is a stressful morning, but then I'm rocking him to sleep, he falls to sleep, and finally I get to spend my time with God. And what what what I would do, you see there, I had the air pod in, I would put an airpod, and I would put the audio Bible on. And as I'm holding Kaiva, as I'm rocking him to sleep, I'm listening to God's word. And for me, those were very holy ground moments. I'm holding my son, I'm praying over him, I'm meditating on scripture. There was one day the audio Bible was on the story of Solomon. You guys know the story. God appears to Solomon in a dream and says, Solomon, I'll give you whatever you ask for. What would you like? And what does Solomon pray for? What does he ask for? For wisdom. I remember being a child hearing that story, blown away. Man, he could have asked for anything. And he asks for wisdom. And as I'm thinking about this, as I'm meditating on this, I felt like the Holy Spirit was asking me a question. Here's what I felt the Holy Spirit was asking me. John, if you could implant one truth into the heart of Cairo, what would it be? If you could just boom, zap into his mind, one truth, what would it be and why? And right away, of course, my mind goes to God. I just want him to know you. God, I just want him to love you. I just want him to serve you. But I felt the Spirit asking me to dig deeper. And I meditated on this for about a whole week. And today's sermon is actually a response to that question. I want to speak to you under the title Broken Beyond Repair. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, God I pray that what you've revealed to me in the secret place would be revealed today in this place. We love you, we praise you in your name. Amen. I have a confession to make with uh to tell you this morning. And here's the thing. I know this is a safe space. I have an unhealthy addiction to Facebook Marketplace. Does anyone here relate with me? Okay, I'm gonna be the only one honest today. Okay. Here's the thing about Facebook Marketplace. I don't know what it is about it, but it is just so thrilling. It's just there's just something about finding a great item at a great price in a great condition. Right? There is nothing like it. And for me, one of the things that I realize about Facebook Marketplace is yes, there's a lot of great items, but it's also a lot of junk. And if I'm being honest with you today, I'm not on Facebook Marketplace looking for things to fix, right? I'm on Facebook Marketplace trying to find things near perfection. I'm trying to find things that are in mint condition. What I'm not looking for is for broken things. In fact, if I see something that's that, even if it says F-R-E-E free, guess what I do? I just keep scrolling. Why is that? Could it be because in our everyday economy, if something is broken, it's essentially useless. It's actually a waste of space. But here's a simple truth that makes marketplace work that the value of an item is always in the eye of the beholder. You see, a broken car can look worthless, but in the hands of a mechanic, it's fixable. Right? A broken dresser can seem to be just trash or garbage, but for the carpenter, it's a project waiting to be restored. A box of baby clothes could seem to just be taking up space. But for a family in need, that's something that they've been praying for. You see, this is also true in our walk with the Lord. That really the gospel according to Facebook Marketplace is this that what one person has given up on is exactly what someone else is searching for. I'm gonna say that again. What one person has given up on is exactly what someone else is searching for. And when I think about our walk with the Lord, this is true as well. When the world wrote us off, and let's be honest, when we wrote ourselves off, God saw something worth redeeming. You see, when people looked at your life and saw junk, God saw something worth restoring. But here's where we get stuck, and this is the elephant in the room when we talk about this topic, is that when we look at ourselves, we see where we messed up. We see our failures, we see our limitations, we see all the flaws and the cracks, and we can be tempted to think, God, you really want to use me? God, can you really truly love me as broken and cracked as I am? But here's the beautiful truth for you today: that God doesn't look at us like other people look at us. He doesn't even look at us how we look at ourselves. God looks at us through completely different eyes. What we call damaged, God calls redeemable. What we call used up, God calls valuable. What we call worthless, God calls worth saving. And what we call broken beyond repair, God sees treasure waiting to be restored. All this brings us to David in Psalm chapter 51. And before we read Psalm 51, you have to understand this is David we're talking about, right? This is David, the man celebrated by generations as the giant killer, the boy who walked onto a battlefield with a slingshot in his hand and took down the giant Goliath. This is David, the one whom God himself called a man after my own heart. This is David, the one who was appointed, anointed, and chosen to be the leader of God's people. But something happened to David. When you read 2 Samuel chapter 11, it tells us that David allowed power to corrupt his mind. You have to understand the tragedy of David's fall is deeper than murder. It's even deeper than adultery. The problem with David is that David has become a man who only takes. He takes things, he does whatever he wants. And 2 Samuel chapter 11 begins by telling us this in the spring, when kings go out to battle. And you will read that and be like, okay, so David went out to battle. But it tells us that David did what? David stayed behind. The shepherd boy who would run towards a giant is now the king who's sending others in his place. He commands and things happen. He now he's become a person that is used to getting his own way. And when you read 2 Samuel chapter 11, you have to notice the verbs. It says, David saw, David sent, David took, David sent, David sent, David sent. And this is so impactful. Why? Because if you back up and read 1 Samuel chapter 8, when Israel demanded a king, Samuel warned the people, and he's warned them this way. Notice how the verbs are so so similar. He warned them, he, the king, will take your sons, he will take your daughters, he will take your fields, he will take your vineyards, he will take, he will take, he will take. So now, generations later, David has become the very king Israel was warned about. When you read Psalm 51, you can see how far the king has fallen. The shepherd boy who used to protect the vulnerable is now a taker. The leader who was praised after, who was praised as a man after God's own heart, is now ruling like Pharaoh. And I wish we could stop there, but it gets even darker. If you read 2 Samuel chapter 11, Bathsheba is not even called by her own name. When you read the story, she's referred to as the wife of Uriah. Why is this? Perhaps it's because the Bible is trying to help us remember what David has forgotten. See, this woman belongs neither to David nor his desires. This is someone's covenant partner. And even as the story says, the wife of Uriah, it's a quiet rebuke to David and to us to remember that God always sees people, even if they're broken. See, David may have forgotten, but God has not. And then as you read the story, one of the most interesting insights is this. Do you know what the name Uriah means? Uriah literally means, Yahweh is my light. Yahweh is my light. And think about that contrast for a second. The man named the Lord is my light, is walking in the light while the king is stumbling in darkness. David is blinded by desire. Uriah sees clearly. David is at home when he should be at war. Uriah is at war when he could be at home. David breaks covenant. Uriah honors covenant. Here's the king acting like a pagan, while the foreign-born Hittite is acting like a true son of God. Wow. And for nearly a year, David holds it all together. For nearly a year, everything's going smoothly. The palace still stands. The crown on his head is still shining bright. His reputation is still intact. But then something happens. God sends the prophet Nathan to wake him up from his slumber. And here's something we can appreciate about David when you read the story. We can appreciate the fact that when David is confronted with his sin, he doesn't make any excuses. He doesn't call his PR team to come in and remedy the remedy the situation. No, he acknowledges his sin and surrenders to God. And this is really the biggest difference between King David and King Saul. That King Saul, when he was confronted with his sin, he was more sorrowful about the consequences. David, as he's confronted with his sin, he's more sorrowful of his sin. He recognizes his brokenness and he's poor, he pours out his heart to God. So Psalm 51 is really David's journal entry to God from the darkest season of his life. If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to open up to Psalm 51. And we're going to be reading from verses 1 to 17. I know it's a lot of verses, but with this context, with this backdrop of understanding who David is and how far he's fallen, I want you to hear the words of a broken man as he writes this. Again, we're in Psalm 51. We're going to be reading verses 1 to 17, and I'll be reading from the English Standard Version. The Bible says, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sins. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. But behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. God, purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones that you have broken rejoice, hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. God, create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. God, restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then, then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. We'll end with verse 16 and 17. It says this for you will not delight in sacrifice, where I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. A broken and contrite heart you will not despise. David knew about sacrifices. He's been around altars all his life. He knows what animals to bring. He knows the system and how it works. But now, standing in the aftermath of his own decisions, David realizes something. There are some sins so deep that no animal can fix. There are some wounds so profound that no ritual can heal. It's almost as if what David is saying is, Lord, if there was something I can do to fix this situation, to remedy what happened, God, I would do it, I would bring it. But there is nothing else I can bring before you but my brokenness. What David discovers is the truth that God isn't a God that runs away from our brokenness, but God is a God that restores our brokenness. And that is why, as he's trembling with his hand, as tears are pouring down his face, he says, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. I want us to analyze the word broken for a second. In the Hebrew, this is the word Nishbar. We have to understand about this word for broken. It's something that they would use to refer to something that's completely shattered. Think of pottery that fell off a shelf and just broke into pieces. It's crushed, it's broken, it's shattered. So what David is saying is, God, I don't just feel bad. God, I am ashamed of what has happened. I can't believe I allowed myself to go down this route. And God, I am aware of how broken my heart is. It's shattered into pieces, but Lord, I want to hand you those pieces. God, I've fallen apart, but I'm going to give you the broken pieces. But he doesn't just say broken, he also says contrite. Contrite in the Hebrew is daka. And the call, the call references something that's crushed, something that's like pressed down by a weight. So not only is his heart broken, but he recognizes that the decisions he's made, he's being crushed by the weight of those decisions. But to me, here comes the most beautiful part: a broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise. You will not despise. See, David knows exactly what he deserves. David knows he deserves rejection, that he deserves judgment. He knows he deserves to be cast away. But he discovers something about God. That God does not despise broken hearts. God welcomes them. God is not afraid of the brokenness in our lives. In fact, he tells us to bring those pieces to him. And the beautiful part about God is that, and I don't know how he does it, but he takes the broken pieces of our lives and he'll put it back together in a way that was more beautiful than before. Only God can do something like that. And so if you're here today or watching online and you're feeling broken, you're feeling broken by the weight of your own decisions, you're feeling broken by the weight of this life, I have good news for you. God can still use you. In fact, if you read scripture, you'll notice that God excels in using messed up broken people. That's what God does over and over again. He uses broken people for his perfect purpose. And maybe this is why Jesus in Matthew 5, in the greatest sermon ever preached and lived, he starts out his sermon with these powerful words. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. You have to understand that in the Greek, this isn't referring to someone that's merely humble, right? This is referring to someone who's like a beggar, to someone who has nothing. It describes someone who cannot fix their situation on their own, who cannot fix their condition on their own. It's really referring to spiritual bankruptcy. So, in other words, what Jesus is saying is blessed are the broken in spirit. Blessed are those who have come to the end of themselves. Blessed are those whose self-sufficiency has shattered. Blessed are those who are no longer okay with just pretending things are alright. Blessed are those who have stopped trying to impress God with their resume and have started crying out for his mercy. And why? Why are they blessed? What does the verse tell us? That blessed are them, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Isn't that fascinating? Because we spend our lives trying to hide our brokenness from the people around us and even from God. Yet God says the very people who will inherit the kingdom are those who are not only aware of their brokenness, but surrender it to him. Because the reality is the kingdom of heaven is not for the spiritually successful, it's for the spiritually desperate. It's for those who are aware of their condition, aware of their brokenness, and they surrender it to him. There's no wonder why the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 9, echoes this very same thing when he says, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is what? Made perfect in what? In weakness. My power is made perfect in weakness. When you find yourself in a state of vulnerability, a state of brokenness, in a state of weakness, you're actually in one of the best places to witness God move in your life. And that's the beauty of the gospel, that no matter how broken you are, God can still use you. But maybe you're here today and you're like, hey, listen, John, I'm not like David. Yeah, I made mistakes, but I didn't commit a great sin like David. I'm not crushed by that. What I'm crushed by is this life. And it's true, this life has a way of crushing us and breaking it, breaking us. And maybe you're broken because of grief. Maybe you lost a loved one and you don't know how to live on, and your heart is broken. Maybe you're broken because of betrayal. Someone you you love walked out on you and left a mess. Maybe you're broken by a medical report or financial stress or a child that has wandered far from home and you feel completely crushed by the weight of it all. I want you to hear the word of the Lord this morning. In Psalm chapter 34, verse 18, it tells us, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. That was your cue to say amen. I'm gonna say that again. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Praise the Lord. Doesn't say that He He draws away from those who are broken. It actually tells us that God draws near to brokenness. God doesn't distance Himself from broken people, He actually draws close to them. And here's the sermon in the sentence. Here's the one truth I hope you walk away with is this. Your brokenness is not a barrier to God's presence. Your brokenness is an invitation to it. Said it again. Your brokenness is not a barrier, it's not an obstacle to God's presence. It's actually God inviting you into his presence even more. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that wonderful? That what God wants us to do is to draw to him with our brokenness. If I could be honest with you for a second, the months leading up to the birth of Cairo was some of the most painful months of my life. And the reason why is because when I was spending time with the Lord, the Lord was revealing that there are some things that I needed to look deeper into. And just to make this illustration a little bit better, is uh almost like think of a house, right? When someone comes to your house, what do you show them? You show them the clean areas. But I I found that what God was doing was he wasn't just you know walking through a living room that's nice and neat, or the kitchen that's completely cleared of all the plates. He was like, What's this closet over here? What's this room? What is this door? I'm like, uh Lord, you don't want to go in there. Like, trust me, we'll I left it locked for a reason. He's like, no, no, let's let's go through this together. And little by little, the Lord was taking me to the basement of my heart, to the attic of my mind, peering under the the bed where all the mess is. He was taking me room by room, and I was like, God, why are you doing this? It's so painful. This is this is makes me feel making me feel like I'm I'm just broken. But that was the whole point. God was trying to make me realize that in order for me to be the best father I can be for Cairo, there were some things I had to work through, but not work through on my own, work through with him in his presence. And yes, it was painful, yes, it was hard, but God brought me to a place of surrender that I'm seeing fruits for that even today. You see, the thing is that when we're broken, we try to hide ourselves. But to God, we're he knows everything already. And I realized that God wasn't doing this to shame me, God was doing this to heal me. God wasn't doing this to expose me, God was doing this to restore me. And in the hard moments of God opening those doors, little by little, the light of his grace and goodness started to shine in. And no longer are those doors closed, they're wide open. I'm like, Lord, if we gotta go back in there, let's go back in there together. But Lord, I thank you because you are a God who restores. So no wonder David, he writes, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise. So, what's that one truth? What's that one truth that I would implant into the heart and mind of Cairo? What's the one lesson I hope he never forgets? It's this. When he awakens to the brokenness of this world, when he awakens to the brokenness of his own heart, when he discovers that people will disappoint him, that his parents will fail him, that dreams don't always come true, and that even his own heart is capable of wandering from God. What I want him to know is this that his brokenness is not evidence that God has abandoned him. His brokenness is an invitation to surrender. His brokenness is an invitation to draw near, to come close. And if there's one prayer, I hope Cairo would learn to pray is this. It's not, Lord, make my life easier. It's not, Lord, make me successful. It's not, Lord, give me everything I want. It's simply this. Lord, when my heart begins to wander, break whatever needs to be broken, so I never let go of you. God, break whatever needs to be broken, but don't let me let go of you. Because the truth is this the greatest gift God can give a person is not wealth, it's not success, it's not power. The greatest gift God can give a person is the awareness of their brokenness, but also the heart to say the same words Jesus said as his heart was being broken. Lord, not my will, but your will be done. God, show me the higher perspective in this. Help me to see things through your lens. Help me to surrender myself to you. And friends, when that becomes our prayer, what we truly recognize is that nothing in this life is broken beyond repair. Because God is a God who restores and redeems broken hearts. Lord Jesus, God, I thank you that you're a God that restores. I thank you that you're a God that redeems. I thank you that no one here is too broken where you can't fix them. And nothing really surprises you, Lord. It's it's it's it's interesting how we try to hide our brokenness from you when we're exposed already. But Lord, I thank you that you don't judge us in the way we judge ourselves. But Lord, you come close and you heal the brokenhearted, you restore what's been broken. And we praise you and we thank you for that. And so, Lord, what I'm asking for, that you would help us to surrender, that you would help us to surrender those broken pieces that we've been holding on to, trying to stitch back together. God, may we hand it to you. And when we do, Lord, I'm praying that my friends here would know and they would get to experience the God who takes the broken pieces of our lives and puts it back together, even more beautiful than how it was before. We love you, Lord. We thank you. In your name we pray. Amen.