Praise the Lord, everybody. Like five of you. Praise the Lord. Yeah. Amen. Good to see you. We really have to go through tutorials for greeters. Like, we gotta do that. Is that a thing? You guys tired? What's wrong? We'll get you on Tired in a minute. Hey, there's so many things going on. There's so much happening. Uh, the 29th uh this week, uh, the shelf is having a cookout. Um, it's a fundraiser that Pastor Matt Thiner and them are doing. Uh, they need a new furnace. Uh, they're trying to raise $17,000 for that. Uh, they've been trying to get through with just space heaters. And if you know, the shelf is a good part and a good thing in our community. Also, uh, for our Pack Astoria, the backpack program coming in the fall, uh, we'll be hosting all of our food and everything there. Um, so it's a big initiative. Um, if you're able to go get some good food. The 29th, the cookout. I forgot the times. You'll see a post on it on social media this week. Um, so just know that. But there's so much good happening. Hoping a haircut August 2nd. I want to tell you a little bit about that now uh to get you anticipating. And here's why. You know, I never want to be a stagnant church. You know, I never want to be a part of that, like a dead church, like a church that just isn't about the kingdom. Uh, we don't want to be that. And we always want to do more. We always want to continue to press in community. And we're gonna have a really good opportunity to do that here in August. We're gonna give free haircuts uh to young people uh so that they can go back to school, uh, not having to worry about that. We're gonna give away 150 backpacks with 52 essential supplies in them. Uh so each kid comes, family comes, they're going to be able to get a backpack, the supplies that uh are essential, they're gonna get a free haircut. We're gonna have uh food, drinks, and and it's just gonna be a good time of games and everything else to love on our community. Amen. And so I want you to understand that when we say give, you know, you may think, you know, I can't give a lot, but every little bit you do give to the kingdom of God makes a huge impact. Because of your giving, we're able to love our community, love people, do the things that God's actually calling us to do to see lives change. I believe on August 2nd, we're going to see moms and dads and children their lives radically be changed by the love of Jesus Christ through the simplicity of a haircut, a backpack, some supplies, but more than that, the love that we show them. Amen? That's so important. So, if you're a door greeter, I understand you're not just a door greeter. You are a child of God that is giving love to people that are walking in, that may be on the edge of trying to figure out do they really believe? Is this a place for me? Is this where God's calling me to go? Every part that you play here, whether in Sunday school, whether greeting, whether teaching, whatever it may be, leading worship, it's all kingdom-oriented and it all matters. It all matters. If you're the janitorial person here, it matters. It all matters. Everything is kingdom-minded. So thank you for your giving. Thank you for all that you do. Um, I think we had some of the board minute copies back there. Um, just so you know, uh, some people say you shouldn't share that. I'm going to. Our giving for the quarter was up 40% than it was last year. Praise God. Can we thank the Lord for that? Um, I think that was right, Josh Miller. Am I correct on that? I'm lying to people right now. That's correct. Okay. Uh, just making sure. Um, I say that because of your giving, we're able to continue to do things that we're doing and move the kingdom forward. So it's a blessing. Uh, if you ever have questions about board meetings or whatnot, get with uh Brother Jeff, I, whoever uh from the CLC will be more than happy to meet you there. But there is a lot of good things happening. Um God's good. God's good. Today we're finishing off what's been really a since I got here journey um today and next Sunday. I I don't know if you noticed the theme, but we have been on the path of understanding this God, his grace, his mercy. Who is this man that we speak about when we say Jesus? And what is he? You know, like how does he really operate? I was reminding myself this week as I was reading in Genesis about Abraham and Sarah, and how there was Hagar, and Ishmael became because of Abraham and Sarah's impatience, essentially, and they thought that they could do it on their own. And it's Hagar that has Ishmael, and it's Ishmael that would become, you know, great and against God's people, and that's where we get Islam from, actually. And it's in this moment that God meets Hagar, and he he he really just comforts her and he tells her, he foresees it that your child will be against my people. And when we get a snapshot snapshot of God and and how he operates and who he is, we see a God that is full of grace and full of mercy, but also at times full of justice. It is who he is. But my hope for your life and understanding where you're at in 2026 is to see the God that's the pure and true God of the Bible. Not just this idea from religions and denominations that, you know, one side teach you can do whatever you want in spine, or another side that teaches that, no, he's gonna send his wrath up on you, and if you don't do this, you're gonna die. Like, you know, like I think we should all have a holy reverence and a fear of God. I think if we're a child of God, we should have that. I think it's important. I think it's also important that as a child of God, we know that he's our friend and he's our advocate, and he's here for us, and he's not against us. I think that's so important. Today we're going to jump in. Last week, we talked a lot about Jacob and Esau and the lineage, and then we got to Judah and others, and it was a lot to digest, I understand. But today in our Start Again series, I want to take you to a king. His name is Manesse, and he was the son of a godly king named Hezekiah, and he became king of Judah at just 12 years old. That's crazy, right? Maddox, you turn 11 here in a few months, and the idea of you being a king at 12 terrifies me. Like, no. Stay king of the Oreos. We'll keep it there, alright? He's gonna hate being a pastor's kid by the time he's 18. You know, he reigned for astonishing 55 years, the longest reign of any king of Judah. And it's in 2 Kings 21 that we see this dark side of this man. Now keep in mind, God always has a plan. And the reason why we're gonna talk about this this morning is if you're here, and by the way, if you're a guest, we welcome you. We're glad you're here. Um, we hope you feel at home. But if you're here this morning and you're you're thinking, can God really use someone like me? Or does God really like, does he really forgive the things that I've done in my past? Like, are those, is that like a real thing? Because I can still remember them all. Like I still remember them all. I have to wake up and I have to look in the mirror and I have to see my mistakes and my pains and all the things I've done. If I can still remember them, how does God really forgive that? The people I've hurt, the things I've done, the things I've done against him. Like, how is that a true thing? Like, you talk about this God that all I have to do is truly repent and that he's going to forget. Like, is he that good? I think he is. I think he is. And today we're talking about this start again series within this king Manesse. And you know, I want to tell you a little bit about him. He he did evil in the eyes of the Lord. His daddy was a good man, loved the Lord. His daddy brought down all the pagan idolatry and he tore down the idols. His son built them all back up. He began to practice and erect altars of Baal and made ashera poles and bowed down to starry hosts. And Manesse would practice sorcery and divination and even sacrifice his own sons in the valley of Benhem and by fire. He shed so much blood. The scriptures say this about him. You ready? The scriptures say that he shed so much innocent blood that it filled Jerusalem from end to end. Isn't that crazy? He led people to Judah into deeper sin than the nations God had destroyed before them. All the nations that were really bad before that God destroyed, he's done worse. He's led them into deeper waters. His reign was a spiritual disaster that contributes significantly to Judah's eventual exile. You know? We talk about this thing about a personal walk with Christ. A personal walk with Christ. We all have to have a personal relationship with God. You want to know why? Because I'm not with you every day, and everyone else around you is not with you every day. The only person that's with you every day is the kingdom of heaven, and unfortunately the kingdom of hell. Influencing you, tempting you, trying to lead you. What are you pressing into? You cannot control what everybody else thinks, does, or believes, but you can control the relationship that you have with God. And I know it may be controversial to say, but you are not neutral in this. It's either you have a relationship and a destination with the kingdom of God, or you do have a relationship, regardless of whether you see it or not, with the kingdom of hell. Truth. So it's in this moment that we have to decide. In King Manesse, he is deciding that his relationship is going to be that of hell. And it's in 2 Chronicles 33 that it gives us a bigger picture of what's really happening from 2 Kings 21. Manasseh at his worst and at his turning point, God spoke to him and the people in 2 Chronicles 33. But they paid no attention. You know, the things that I thought I wanted that he tried to steer me, the things that he told me not to do, and yet I did it anyways. You know, there's that old story a man one time prayed and said, Lord, I won't eat the donut if there is a parking space right at the front of the store. And so he drove around the parking spot 33 times until he found it. At some point, we have to quit pursuing our will and bow to the will of God. And it's in 2 Chronicles 33 that we see that they paid God no attention. So the Lord allowed the king of Assyria to capram an essay and with hooks and bind him with bronze shackles and take him into Babylon. We'll read this in a moment. It's in this place of utter distress and humiliation that the worst of the worst became a candidate for the best demonstration of God's mercy. Now, I want to give you a crazy story real quick before we get into this. But in the New Testament, it talks about the prophets that were killed and slaughtered. Okay? This is crazy because it doesn't show it in this text, but you can go research it and look at it for yourself. But like you want to know how bad of a dude this was. His grandma or sorry, his mom's uh father was Prophet Isaiah. Okay, so his grandpa on the maternal side, he chased his grandpa to kill him. And his grandpa hid in a tree. I don't know how that happened. I don't know what that looks like. But Manesse was like, cut it down! And he saw his grandpa in half through the tree. That's what kind of man we're dealing with. It's a crazy story. This is a man that loved to shed blood. He enjoyed it. 2 Chronicles 33, if you're with me today. Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. And he reigned in Jerusalem 55 years. And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nation the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. And he rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished. And he also erected altars to Baal and made asherapoles, and he bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. And he built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, My name will remain in Jerusalem forever. In both courts of the temple of the Lord he built altars to all the starry hosts, and he sacrificed his children in the fire in the valley of Benhem, practiced divination and witchcraft, sought almonds, and consulted mediums and spiritualists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger. He took the image he made and put it in God's temple, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. This dude is messing up. I will not again make the feet of the Israelites leave the land I assigned to your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them concerning all the laws, decrees, and regulations given through Moses. But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites. The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose. Could you imagine that? Put a hook in his nose. That's embarrassing. Bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. In his distress, he sought the favor of the Lord his God. Now you do? Like, dude, sometimes I read the Bible and I just want to punch a guy. Like you punk. Oh, it took a hook in the nose. That's what it took. Okay. In his distress, he sought the favor of the Lord, his God. I'm struggling, guys. I'm struggling. Did you just read what we read? Filled the streets of Jerusalem from blood to blood. Dude, you cut your grandpa in half. In his distress, he sought the favor of the Lord. His God. It was Jacob. Even Jacob wasn't ready to say it was his God yet. We have Manesse saying his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea. Thank God that I am not your God. So he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. And Manasseh knew that the Lord is God. And afterward he rebuilt the outer wall of the city of David, west of the Gion Spring in the valley, and as far as the entrance of the fish gate and encircling the hill of Ofel. He also made it much higher. He stationed military commanders and all the fortified cities in Judah. He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the Lord, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem, and he threw them out of the city. Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thanks offerings on it and told Judah to serve the Lord the God of Israel. I'm sure this is going to go great. The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the Lord their God. And the other events of Manasseh's reign, including his prayer to his God and the words of the seers spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are written in the king of Israel. And his prayer and how God was moved by his entreaty, as well as all his sins and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up ashra poles and idols before he humbled himself. And all these are written in the record of the seers. Manasseh rested with his ancestors and he was buried in his palace. And Ammon, his son, succeeded him as king. Alright, let's talk about it. Because it's a big story. You know, when I read this story, I'm shocked because when I read it, there's part of me that's like, just be honest. Just be honest. There's a flesh part of you that's like, he got off way too easy. Like, isn't there a flesh part of you that's like, no, no, no, no, no. I want him put in a tree, and I want him cut in half. Like, you ever no, y'all are just good people. Okay. Yeah, that's cool. Y'all never looked at someone that said something about you, did something to you, maybe cheated you out of a business deal, maybe said something about your family, maybe said something to your face and then turned around and said something to someone else, maybe stole from you, maybe lied on you, maybe hurt you. I don't know. You ever had some of those things happen in your life and you looked at them and you just, I don't know, you just wanted them to pay for it, suffer a little bit? You know, I think there's a realization we need to have as people of God. That it is not our place to worry about the outcome of God's judgment upon people's life. But it is our purpose and our response to make sure that however God wants to work it out, that we keep our life and our mind and our spirit in the right place. It's so important for us as people of God to understand that we cannot control how other people act or believe or what they say about us, but we can control how we live our life as a child of God. And this is why I talk about a personal relationship. Because it's so easy. It's so easy for us to read this story right here and say, well, that's not fair. Why would God allow that? You don't know the kind of suffering he had to go through. You don't get a timeline really. You don't. You don't know how many days he stopped in the heart change that was really happening, and you don't know the full story of his life. You don't know how his daddy treated him behind closed doors. You don't know any of these narratives or any of these things. All we know is the dude is a really bad dude. He's messed up, he kills people, he enjoys blood, he practices witchcraft, all these different things that happen in his life. I don't know why he chooses the go direction he does, but here's what I have to believe as a child of God that if God heard his heart and he was truly turned to him and it was enough for God, it's enough for me. It's enough for me. It's enough for me. And there's part of us here that have to understand this is a pendulum swing here. Because you know how messed up you are, and you know all the mistakes you've done, and you know how you've been two-faced to other people, and you know how you've said bad things, and you know how you've hurt people, but in God's righteous mercy and grace, He has forgiven you. And there are people looking at you saying, No, you deserve death, you deserve to be cut, you deserve to pay the price. And God's saying no, because they humbled themselves before me. They have reached my throne and I have heard their prayer. I am restoring them. And you want it for you, but oftentimes we don't want it for them. Oh no, no, this is the king at work. This is what he does best. You want to know why we can tell that it's in this moment that he had truly changed, because he goes home and he begins to wipe out all the things that were not of God. Listen, when God blesses you and forgives you and leads you, it should lead to a life change, not a manipulation scheme against the kingdom of heaven. Truly be humbled by his presence. And sometimes it takes us having a hook in our nose to understand how serious the Lord is in reaching us. This morning I want to share a few points with you. And I don't know where you're at as we finish these last two weeks out, but I want to preach it again and again and again to you that no one is too far gone for God to reach. No one is too far gone for God to reach. Manesse's sins were extreme. We can talk about the idolatry. We can talk about the child's sacrifice. We can talk about the bloodshed, the occult practices. He ignored God's warning and turned his head away from him. That alone, you would have thought that fire and brimstone might come down upon Judah. But no, because Judah was a part of God's plan. He reversed his father's reforms yet in captivity when he humbled himself and prayed. God responded. And I need you to know that you may think that your past is too messy. I promise you, I can almost wager with you that you have not out sinned, uh, definitely not this man, and you can't outsin the cross of Jesus. You can't. Your failures are not too public. Your heart can't be too hardened. You can't outrun the power of God upon your life. So my advice to you this morning is to humble yourself before God, repent of your sins, and allow him to work in you and through you the way he desires to. Come on, we can't be selfish, church. We can't make this all about us. We got generations on the line, you got children on the line, you got grandchildren on the line, you got children after that of the line. You don't have the time to come in here with your arrogance or your self-pity and say God wouldn't forgive someone like me. Let me tell you, God died for people just like you. You gotta believe it. He's got a plan and a purpose for your life, in your life. And while we live today, man, I gotta tell you, Memorial Day, ooh. Man, I watched a 98-year-old give one of the best speeches this weekend. He said this. He said, we gave up our yesterdays for your today's and hope that your kids could have it tomorrow. He said, when they ask who did it, tell them that it was a 16-year-old in a 98-year-old man's body who was proud to do so. My goodness gives me chill still. To know people sacrificed and gave up so that one day you and I could live in this country and our kids could live in this country. And let me tell you, we better not forget the price that was given. Because the moment we forget the price that was given, we forget what it was all about. Let me tell you, we have the opportunity to be children of the king and to live in true fulfillment of what God's calling us to. If we could just get over ourselves and understand that his ways are better than mine. His ways are better than mine. They're all better than mine. We have the opportunity. You're not too far gone. You're not too messed up. Get over yourself. Quit letting the enemy lie to you. Quit letting the enemy tell you how you're gonna live your life. It's in 2 Chronicles 12, 13. It says, in his distress, he sought the favor of the Lord. When's the last time you sought the favor of the Lord? When's the last time you got down by your bed and actually cried out to God, God, I know I'm messed up. God, I know I can't figure it out. God, but I need you. And he humbled himself. How do I humble myself? I don't know. Maybe it's when I make him greater and me smaller. He must increase, I must decrease. God, I cannot do this without you. Listen, I know I can't raise four kids on my own. I know I can't figure this thing out. I can't save these kids if I wanted to. I'm trying to do the best that I can, but to do the best that I can, it starts on my knees, folks. Humble yourself. We gotta humble ourselves. We gotta humble ourselves. God, I can't do this without you. God, I've messed up. God, I've made mistakes. This is what Manessiah is doing. Manesse, sorry you know, Isaiah 1 and 8, it says it like this. You remember Isaiah, the one he killed? This guy. That was not the right verse, guys. That was for somebody. I don't know who. Somebody needs a cucumber field. Alright, it's fine. 1 Timothy 1, 15 through 16. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save the sinners, whom I am the worst. This is Paul writing. Of whom I'm the worst is a trustworthy saying. He came to save people like you and I. And actually, the right verse, now that I remember, was Isaiah 1:18. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. I want you to think about that. I missed that, darling. That's me, not you. Go back and read that. Remind yourself of that. Isaiah 1 and 18. Though my sins are like scarlet, when I humble myself, when I repent, they become white as snow. That's it, guys. That's the power of the cross. And it's in 1 Timothy that Paul understands this. This is what the gospel's about from the beginning to the end. And I don't know how to beat it in our heads any better for you to understand that you are not too far gone. You're not. He's been doing this for a long time. My next point is this true repentance, true repentance, true repentance, true repentance. I'm sorry is not true repentance. We need to understand that. Okay. True repentance is not I'm sorry. I'm sorry is a good start. But I'm sorry is not going to change your mind. Only true repentance can come from that. Because when we say true repentance, we mean to truly turn away from our sin and go this direction. True repentance. We're growing. Brother Jeff today in Sunday school did a great job. And we were talking about faith and how in 2 Chronicles, you know, they didn't just listen, but they begin to march. They put their faith in action. Faith in action. You know, I have to be better at putting my faith in action. When I truly repent from something, and I say, God, I don't want to be this man anymore, and I turn from it, I have to understand that it will take action to continually walk out my true repentance. I think sometimes we think that true repentance is just telling God we're sorry. Sorry is a word. Our action is how we actually turn from that thing and start pursuing God. How are we actually pursuing God in this? Let me tell you how Manasseh actually pursued God through his true repentance. When he was released from Assyria, he went back and he began to put action into his true repentance. He tore down all the things that he had built, he turned away from it, he began to then set the altars the way that they were supposed to be. He did and followed through with true repentance. Does that make sense? Are we there? Are we good? Makes sense? It's in this moment that we don't just say sorry, but he humbled himself greatly. He prayed, and upon restoration he acted, removed the foreign gods, tore down the altars, restored the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed to God. His repentance produced fruit. Isn't that good? Some of you and I would do good when we follow through our true repentance to understand that God uses the worst things of our life as the benefits for his kingdom. Some people say, I will never be able to be used by God because my past is too bad. I've been divorced or I went bankrupt or whatever it could be. Let me tell you, God will use that situation of your past to help others who might be currently going through that right now. Listen to me. You're not too far gone. You just have to start again. But you can. You can. Starting again just isn't an emotional regret. It's turning from our sin toward God with a willingness to clean house and walk differently. You know, I have a cousin who I love deeply. But he'll say whatever he needs to say to get whatever he wants. Over and over and over and over again. And sometimes, if we're not careful, that's how we treat God. We'll tell God what we think he wants to hear in hopes that we get what we want over and over and over and over again. The reality is we're not just hurting God, but we're hurting ourselves. Because we're never coming to the realization of true repentance. Listen, we need each other in this. This is why I've talked so much about true accountability with one another to have those small groups or to have those friends or to have those that you can actually trust. Because if we don't share our struggles together, how do we really come through on the repentance part? You know? Like we can become rebellious in our own ways. I joke about it often, but like food can be the biggest struggle for me. You know? The Lord tells me like vividly, like this is something that doesn't make me happy. I repent. I try to, but I keep falling. I trust that his mercy and his grace is that good to a stand me. But it's a struggle. What's your struggle? Is there someone in here that's ever struggled with what I'm struggling with and you've overcame it? Maybe you could help me. That's what the church is supposed to be. That's what the church is supposed to be. It's not supposed to be, oh well, if we buy an Oreo as a Dollar General, maybe you'll get better. One, y'all put the parsonage next to the Dollar General. It's your fault. This is what it's supposed to be. True repentance is not supposed to be embarrassing. It's supposed to be, hey, I know we're walking toward Jesus together and I want to go to heaven too. So can you help me? That's what it's supposed to be. Because God desires for you and I to be in heaven with Him and to have a relationship with Him. And true repentance involves humility to be able to have the courage to say, I need help. I don't want to be this way anymore, God. I want to be what you called me to be. I want to do what you called me to do. And then it involves a changed direction. And a changed direction means going in a direction that you've not gone before. You've been in this direction the whole time. Go this way. And when I turn this way, I need people around me to spur me on and to help me and be the person and the people that we need to be for each other. You know, it's in Acts 3.19, it says, Repent and then turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out and the time of refreshing may come from the Lord. That times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Times of refreshing. The church of God, times of refreshing, times of refreshing. I can be refreshed. The enemy had me captive, but thanks be to God. We humbled ourselves, we repented from it, and times became refreshing. James 4, 6 through 10. But he gives us more grace. That is why the scriptures say God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble. Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinner, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and well. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. That's what he does. And this is what he did in Manesseh's life. This is how he works. He's so good. He's so good. My last point is this God's discipline is often the doorway to restoration. It really is. In Hebrews 12, 5 through 11, he says it like this. And when you have completely forgotten the words of encouragement that addressed you as a father addresses his son, it says, My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you. Because the Lord disciplines the ones he loves and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. I want you to understand this. This is a big deal, guys, for you and I. Quit taking it as punishment. This is not, I want to kill you. This is not the wrath of God. He disciplines. Maddox, I love you, but you know sometimes I discipline you. And what do I do after I discipline you? I hope I tell you I love you. He's like, sometimes. I don't like disciplining my kids. They probably think I do. I don't. I don't enjoy it at all. But I have to do it because I'm trying to prevent this small act from growing to some bigger one that's going to destroy their lives. This is not acceptable. I only do that to my kids because they are my kids. And you are children of God. And sometimes when you are in the lineage of Jesus Christ, just like Manasseh was, he's got to send somebody with a hook to put it in your nose and some shackles on your legs to get you to the place that your face is in the ground because God needs you to return to Him more than anything. Some of us better wake up and wonder would God allow me to go through these situations? Maybe it's because you've not come home yet. Have you come home yet? Have you come home yet? I'm not talking about just being in the church. I'm talking about your heart. This goes back to a personal relationship with you and the Lord. Have you come home yet? Have you said, yes, God, I've struggled with this. Yes, God, I'm mad at you at this. Yes, God, this is why I've not given you my full heart. This is why. At some point, we have to have Manesse encounters with God. This is God, I am sorry. But this is why. And you know what? I bet those conversations aren't easy, are they? They're not. But you have to humble yourself before the throne of God and say, God, I might have been angry about this, and this is why, or God, this is why I've struggled, or God, this is why I've done what I've done. Or maybe you don't even know why you've done what you've done. But he's got you in a grip, and all he wants you to do is to surrender your life to him because he loves you and has accepted you as a son or daughter. This is it. This is it. Verse 7. Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as his children, for what are children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. That's a hard word. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much should we submit to the father of spirit or of spirits and life and live? They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. This is hard, but this is what happens in Benesse's life. God didn't abandon him in his sin. I want you to know God's not going to abandon you in your sin. He's not. Your sin is not the reason that you may feel the way that you feel right now, alone, afraid, or serious. That's not it. He's not abandoned you. You just haven't humbled yourself. He's right here. He's right here. God allowed consequences that broke through the hardness. You ever had hardness? I had hardness in my life. You know, people try to talk to you, try to tell you, you're just stiff, like, nope, I ain't budging. You say whatever you want. I'm not doing it. I don't care. I'm not going. I'm not coming. They can say what they want. This is how I feel. I feel justified in this. This is who I am. You ever had people like that? Like you just want to take a two by four. You listening, you know what I mean? You know? Just just just just hard. I'll tell you a quick story and we'll get on with it. I had an elderly man two years ago. I was helping a buddy, he had a shed business, and he said, Hey man, I can't find anyone to work for me. He said, Will you sit in here and do your church stuff and help me out? And guys, I gotta tell you, I'm good at some things, but I know nothing about construction and buildings and sheds. Now I do. I'm a little more knowledgeable on it. But this guy came in and he essentially, an elderly man, he was 89, right around there. And he came in and he uh it became his daily destination stop every morning. He kept telling me that he wanted a 20 by 12 building and um or a 12 by 20, whatever. And uh he wanted me to design it for him, and I was like, I'll be honest with you, I'm not the guy you want designing. And Barry was like, no, just do it on the iPad, let him see what it'll look like. We have a system that that draws it up, and said, All right. And you know, this guy came in and and he was he was always kind. And then one day he came in and he was crying because his family brought up his his past, and he brought in a paper that showed that he had been, you know, arrested several times for anger issues and domestic violence and these other things. And I'm looking at this guy and I'm like looking him up and down, like, dude, you might be 120 pounds soaking wet. I'm like, all right. Well, he says he has a shed and he wants it, and you know, he keeps telling me how he just can't get over his anger issues. I'm like, okay. So we start praying together and we start talking about it. His wife would come every now and then and she would complain about it to me. And it was just this whole mess. Well, we built him this shed. It finally, big shed, we got it done. And he comes in one day, and I'd never seen the sight of this man. And I mean the anger. You messed up, my side! Well, I didn't build it, man. I'm gonna be honest with you. You messed it up! You did this! I'm gonna tell you right now, uh, you're not gonna yell at me like that. I'll make you think I'm gonna yell at you, and I mean this man gets in my face, grabs me my mouth, and starts shaking me. And I looked at him, I said, Whoa, you are the person that you said you weren't. And he steps back and he looks at me. And I said, You got two options. Two options. We can fix this right now. We can we can humble ourselves, we can fix this right now. I'm gonna call the police. No, don't call the police. Please don't do that. Please don't do that. No, no, no, no. You put your hands on me, you're threatening me. I got customers out here outside that are watching this happening. I said, you can repent before God. You don't have to repent to me. You can repent before God, and I want you to know that you better change your ways right now. And he looked at me and said, No, no, please don't, please, I'm sorry. He won't he walks outside, and I didn't know this. Somebody else had already called the police. And there's two cops out there that pull in. And he goes outside and he gets down on his knees right there on the pavement. And he said, God, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I don't want to be this man. I don't, I don't want to do this, I don't, I don't want to, and he's just pleading. And the cops come up to me and they they talk to me, and he just stays there on the ground, just on his knees, shaking and praying. And they said, What do you want to do? And I said, I don't want to do anything. I wanted him to do that. I want him to truly repent. I want him to truly have a life change. You know, I hate to say it, but sometimes it takes being scared to truly repent. I told the cops, I said, just wait here about another 10 minutes. They said, Do you want to press charges? I said, Absolutely not. Do you know? After that encounter, he would come in almost every week. Not every day, but every week. And he would say, I've never had someone confront me that way. I never felt the fear of God that way. And it has completely changed my life. I gotta tell you, I don't know if words are words. But you know what? Guess what? We don't get to decide that, do we? Just like we don't get to decide with Manessa. We don't get to know what people's hearts truly are. Only God does. But you know what? Every time I saw him, I loved it. I loved him. You want to know why? Because I hope that my friend was restored in a way that maybe he never had with God. Shouldn't that be what we want for each other and for the church? Shouldn't it be what we want with the listen? To be able to be restored in a way. This is your warning. Don't wait till then do it now. You don't have to wait in the valley. You don't have to wait till the nose ring is put inside you and pulled out. Recognize your sins now. Save yourself in the trouble. Save yourself the trouble. Save yourself the trouble. I want to tell you right now that this takes reflection in the mirror. This takes us. This takes us being real with ourselves and knowing our weaknesses and our struggles and truly repenting. I'm done. Worship team if you want to come forward. Limitations 332. We are not consumed. But his compassion never failed. Great. Your faithfulness. Great is your faithfulness. Great is your faithfulness. Great is your faithfulness. Because I gotta tell you, he might have only been 120 pounds, but I was a little scared. I was a little nervous. I got reflexes. I'm sorry. I don't think I would have. But I don't know. You know what though? Brother Jeff? There's a lot of things that I don't think that I would do that I've done. What about you? Am I the only one? You ever seen someone fall and be like, did you hear what so-and-so did? I would never do that. Then what happens? Uh-huh. Yeah, it happens to you. Did you see so-and-so on the paper? Man! Wouldn't have thought that. And then give it a little bit of time. What sin has not been uncovered in your life that gets out in public and people are judging you and ridiculing you? Listen to me right now, church. It's new every morning. His faithfulness, his goodness, his mercy is new every morning. It's not a God problem, it's a you and I problem. If we don't learn to humble ourselves before God and change the way we react, if we don't humble ourselves and see God the way that He calls us to see, if we don't humble ourselves and see people the way that He's called us to see them, you know, when I hear something bad about someone, it shouldn't be. Can you believe that? It should be God, help them, lead them and guide them. Help me to be the best influence in their life that I can be. But also, God, protect me from that happening to me too. Because the enemy is seeking to kill, steal, and destroy. And if we don't humble ourselves, we will find ourselves just like Manesseh, because there's no difference in Manesse's sin and our sin. What's the difference between a man that killed his grandfather, bloodshed throughout Jerusalem? Nothing between him and your sin. Because a man that drowns in five feet of water still drowns in 500 feet of water. We're both drowning. But praise be to God. The cross of Calvary. The ability to be what He's called us to be, to do what He's called us to do. We have the opportunity. I give it to you. Will you stand with me? I'm never gonna be a perfect pastor. I'm never gonna have it all figured out. Brooke, I'm never gonna be a perfect husband. I know you think that, but I'm never gonna be. You know, from the dysfunctional family lines of Jacob to Judah, the sinful brother who produced the line of the Messiah, we now have Manasseh, the wicked king who repented. God's plan to prosper and deliver his people never depended on human perfection. Can I tell you? You don't get Jesus Christ without Manasseh. Oh man. You don't get Jesus Christ without Judah. You don't get Jesus Christ without Jacob. You don't get Jesus Christ without Abraham. And let me tell you something right now. You don't get eternity without the cross. I have set a cross from people who have told me that they never felt like their sins could be forgiven. There was a man who said that he had killed a lot of people in his life. And I saw the pain in his eyes. He fought for our country. And he was ashamed because of one of the people that he did kill was one of his own. And he said, I just do not believe that God will forgive someone like me. I need to tell you something. If you humble yourself before God and you repent of your sins and you turn from your wicked ways, He's not only going to heal your land, but oh man, He's going to bless you, He's going to lead you, He's going to guide you. But I'm going to tell you the same way I told Him, my words aren't going to amount much to you. But God's going to meet you in the silent moments of your life. Because it's a personal relationship. And you have to meet him there. And don't make him put you on the ground with a ring in your nose and shackles on your feet. Submit now. And let him do the work and remind you that he's the same God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. He's the same God of Judah. He's the same God of Manasseh. He's the same God of David and Solomon. He's the same God of Paul. He's the same God of Peter. He's Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And he came and he died because he knew that you were going to need it. It's because of that, and that alone we have the opportunity to start again. To start again. We pray with me. Father, we love you. We thank you. We thank you. God, I pray for Jerry today. I don't know where he's at. I don't know how his health is, but Lord, thank you for doing a work in his life. God, I pray for him. God, I thank you for these people here today. Lord God, I thank you for their hearts. I thank you for their minds. Lord, I thank you for their willingness to be a part of your kingdom. Lord, I thank you for their willingness to say, you know what? I'm not worthy, but you make us worthy. Thank you for what you're doing in our community, God. Let us grow together. Let us be what you've called us to be. Let us be true brothers and sisters. Lord, let us be easy to correct. Lord, when I fall out of line, God, let someone tell me. Let me not be offended by it. I want to be the best for your kingdom. God, when I mess up, let me be quick to humble myself and repent. God, let me look in the mirror and say, you know what, I'm weak here, God. I need help. And let there be a brother or a sister, a family, a couple that we can confide in and trust that they want to see us make it to. God, let us learn from an essay. Let us learn that no sin is too far for you. There's nothing that we could do that would make you turn your face from us or run from us. But you love us so much. God, I thank you for the church. Your church, your people, your kingdom. God, I'm ready for heaven. I'm excited about heaven. I'm ready to teach on heaven. God, I'm excited about heaven. I'm ready to come home. I'm ready to see my grandmother. I'm ready. I'm ready to see you. I'm ready to enjoy eternity. Lord, because of what you did for us, God, let me humble myself. Let me repent of my sins. And let me run into your arms. In Jesus' name. Amen.