WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:00.800 My name's Colton. 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:06.000 I haven't preached here in two weeks because I was out of town with my family on vacation. 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:09.279 And um but I love having guest preachers preach to our church. 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:10.720 It is not like on accident. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.119 We're actually doing that on purpose. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:25.280 Um we want to have, we want to not only have other pastors in this city that serve this city, we not only want them preaching in our church and blessing our church, we also want to raise up preachers in our church and people who can preach God's word. 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:29.039 I feel like Moses when he says, like, I wish everybody prophesied the word of the Lord. 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:30.239 I feel that in this church. 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:33.520 I wish everybody had that gifting to express those things. 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:39.520 But um mainly because like I don't want this church to ever be built on one pastor, I don't want it to be built on me. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:46.960 Any church that's built on one pastor will last for one generation, and then when that pastor dies or fails morally or whatever, that church will go away. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:52.240 And so the church needs to be built on one message, which is Christ and Him crucified, but many messengers. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:57.119 And so um it is actually something we're aiming at to have different people preach in the life of this church. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:00.000 But um I love it and I want to do it, and I'm not going anywhere. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:02.719 I just wanted to let you know the vision that we have for this thing. 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:19.599 Um, in line with that, we um back last November, this is just an update, uh November, um, Pastor Tommy, that used to be on staff, when he told us that he was planning on retiring, uh, we began the process of looking for another full-time pastor to come in. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:26.319 And as we looked at the life of our church, we felt like uh there is a male pastor to care for the men in the church. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:36.000 I try and care for everybody, but I primarily have the gifting and ability and um uh I guess ability to care for the primarily the men in our church. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:48.879 And so we felt the need to hire a full-time women's pastor uh to be in the life of our church to focus primarily on shepherding and discipling and meeting with and caring for the women in our church. 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:57.359 Um and so we took on that process back in November and uh had uh a handful of candidates, but we ended up hiring Liz Trinkman here. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:02.000 Uh in the photo, she's she's right there on the left side, very excited. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:08.560 She is going to uh she actually I think she'll arrive next Wednesday here in the States. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:13.680 She is she's from Idaho, but their family is currently serving in ministry in the UK. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:18.960 And uh so she's coming from uh overseas, and uh she's gonna be our women's and teaching pastor. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:31.360 She also is a gifted communicator and has that ability, which is such a gift, uh, to consistently be able to hear not only good preaching, but also from uh another gender will be uh a gift in the life of our church. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:36.319 Um she has like a uh undergraduate degree in Bible and theology. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:40.080 She's working on her master's in theology, has 20 minutes 20 years of ministry experience. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:43.120 She's incredibly gifted, and we're very, very blessed to have her. 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:50.000 And if you had the chance to meet her when she was candidating here uh back near uh last Easter, uh, she's a gift to be around. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:54.719 And so Liz from left to right, Liz, Alec, Caleb, Lily, and Rob right there. 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:55.680 Rob's her husband. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:57.520 Anyways, their gift, they'll be here next week. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:08.080 Their first Sunday here, I think, will be the 28th, and then she will begin work here, I believe, on the on July 5th, and so just trying to get settled from moving all of their stuff from the UK to here. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:10.240 So, anyways, when they're here, welcome them. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:15.840 I'm so thankful that they're gonna be here and bless our community, but I'm also thankful that they will be able to be a part of this community. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:19.360 And so, um, yeah, that's that's just an update for the life of our church. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:19.840 Okay. 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:23.039 In a teaching series right now, hard pivot. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:25.759 In a teaching series right now on prayer, teach us to pray. 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:33.039 The disciples asked Jesus one question when he was like, I we want to learn something from you, and it's not how you raise the dead, walk on water, turn water into wine. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:34.000 Those have been cool questions. 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:35.840 I don't know why they didn't ask, but they didn't. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:37.520 They asked, Teach us to pray. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:38.800 How do we pray like you do? 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:40.159 And he answers that question. 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:47.199 And so we've been trying to learn how to pray more from what Jesus actually offers us when he answers the disciples here. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:50.879 And so the teaching text comes from Matthew 6, verses 9 through 12. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:54.479 Jesus says, This then is how you should pray. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:57.439 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:01.039 Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:06.319 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts just as we forgive our debtors. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:07.759 This is the word of the Lord. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:17.279 But street hockey was where it was at. 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:31.279 My brother was a little bit older than me, and I always wanted to beat him, and so we would play with two goals and like this lady's driveway and our driveway, and then we just risk the street in between to not die or get hit as we played the game. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:32.399 It was a lot of fun. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:44.560 Um but one time I we were I was you know shooting the little ball that we used, and I was aiming at the goal that right behind it was Miss Gloria's garage and all of her windows. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:45.360 Terrible idea. 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:47.839 We don't know why we set it up that way, but we're kids. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:51.120 And uh I was I was really good, obviously. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:05:01.519 And um I only missed every now and then, and I shot it as hard as I could and just barely missed it, and it shattered one of her windows in her garage. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:03.519 And I did what any kid would do. 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:06.000 I ran home to my dad and tried to blame my brother for it. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:08.800 And I was like, it's Tony's fault, it's his fault. 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:12.560 And uh my dad, obviously, I think he was watching me do it. 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:14.959 He's like, dude, I saw you, I saw you do it. 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:25.199 Um but he said something to me, he was like, Look, as you age, the older you get, uh, the more you need to begin to be able to own your mistakes. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:28.160 Like it's it's part of growing up, it's part of maturing. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:31.759 You have to be willing to acknowledge I made some mistakes. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:33.360 This is my fault, I made some mistakes. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:38.480 And so you what you need to do is you need to go to Miss Gloria, knock on the door, and tell her what you did, which sounded like pure death. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:39.920 Um, but I went and did it. 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:46.720 Miss Gloria was really sweet, and um, we ended up fixing her window and the whole thing, and it was fine. 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:54.480 But part of growing up, part of maturing, is being able to own your mistakes, to being able to acknowledge the stuff that you did wrong. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:58.480 And it's the same, not only in life, but it's the same in the spiritual life as well. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:10.720 Part of growing up, part of maturing in the faith is being able to acknowledge your sins, being able to say those things out loud and admit, I'm guilty, I've made mistakes, I've done things that I know are wrong. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:13.120 Part of spiritual maturity is to do those things. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:24.399 And so Jesus is telling us and trying to aim us towards what he's asking us to pray in this is be willing, have a regular practice of admitting and confessing your sins to God. 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:31.040 Make that a way of doing things that makes it, this is a consistent thing that you do in your life. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.319 A constant practice, a regular practice of confessing your sin. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:36.160 That's what Jesus is calling us to do. 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:46.959 Tyler Staten in his book says that um on prayer, he says, one of the biggest mistakes that we've made in the modern church is to reimagine that spiritual maturity is the need to confess less. 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:53.839 The unspoken assumption is as I go on and have sinned in my relationship with God, I confess less because I have less to confess. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:54.959 I just don't sin as much. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:58.079 And he says true spiritual maturity is the exact opposite. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:00.079 It means more confession, not less. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:05.920 A maturing community is a confessing community, not a church without sin, but a church without secrets. 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:07.360 I love that idea. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:15.920 That our church, as we grow into the fullness of what Jesus actually wants his body to be and what he wants what he wants his church to be, it's not a church without sin. 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:17.519 It's just a church without secrets. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:19.040 We're not hiding those things anymore. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:23.920 We feel very safe to actually bring those things to the forefront and just say we're sorry for the stuff that we did. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:26.000 And so that's what Jesus wants us to be. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:31.279 That's what he's calling us to do here for Christians, to just being able to own, own this stuff to your Father. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:33.600 Be able to say that you're sorry to your dad. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:37.199 Um, and so what I want to do, the message has eight points. 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:38.480 We'll be fast. 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:48.480 But I want to give you three quick things up front that really are just things that I felt like I couldn't get around and trying to give this message, and then I want to focus on five reasons why Jesus tells us to pray this. 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:50.720 But three quick things, very fast. 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:55.199 The first is this is not the first thing that Jesus tells us to pray. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:58.399 When you pray, begin with having your sins forgiven. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:00.560 That is not the first thing that he tells us to pray. 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:05.199 It can be very easy to think that I can't come before God before I get my sins forgiven. 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:07.839 I have to get cleaned up before dad wants to see me. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:08.800 That's not true. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:12.639 Jesus says we can ask for our needs before we even ever ask for forgiveness. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:15.360 We can ask for stuff that we want before we ask for forgiveness. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:18.480 And so that is this is not the first thing that he tells us to pray. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:21.199 This isn't do this in order to gain access to God. 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:22.160 It's not the first thing. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:25.279 It's a part of it, and it should be a part of it, but it's not the first thing. 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:36.879 If I told Teddy, hey, before you ask for breakfast or a hug or anything to do, you need to tell me all the wrong things you did wrong yesterday, like that'd be a terrible father, and he would hate my guts and not want to be in a relationship with me. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.039 Our father in heaven knows the exact same thing. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:40.960 That's not the way that you build relationships. 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:42.799 Begin before you get serial. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:44.320 Tell me everything that you did wrong. 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:46.000 Like, no, that's not, that's not it. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:47.519 And so he's not saying that either. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:51.360 He's not saying, do this before, otherwise, I don't want to hear anything you have to say. 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:52.799 That's not what our father is like. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:53.600 That's the first. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:55.039 Second quick thing. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:57.919 Jesus assumes that you have sinned. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:02.399 He doesn't say, pray this, forgive us our sins, if there's anything to forgive me of. 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:04.399 He just assumes sin on your behalf. 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:10.159 He's like, if you can't keep your New Year's resolutions or hold to your diet, you probably can't hold to the holiness of God. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.080 We're assuming sin on your behalf. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:13.200 It is something that's there. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:18.320 He's not condemning you over it, he's not shaming you over it, but he is assuming there is sin in your life. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:21.120 There are ways that you've missed the mark, which is what sin means. 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:24.960 There are ways that you've missed what God actually commands of you. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:27.759 And what you need to do is not try and pay it off or anything like that. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:29.759 You just need to tell him that I missed the mark. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:31.440 You need to ask for forgiveness for those things. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:33.039 He assumes sin on your behalf. 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:39.120 And then third, this prayer is the only prayer that comes with fine print. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:41.840 There's something about it that's different than every other petition. 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:43.120 It comes with fine print. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:48.879 You are asking when he says, forgive us our sins the way that I have forgiven others. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:52.960 You are asking for the type of forgiveness that you are also willing to forgive. 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:57.840 And so, in effect, you are saying, God, forgive me the way that I also forgive. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.879 The way that I forgive people, forgive me that way. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:07.279 Now, people who are unwilling to forgive people, who hold grudges, like, I'm not forgiving that person. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:13.840 People who are unwilling to forgive and have prayed this prayer, forgive me as I forgive those who've sinned against me. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:20.879 People who are unwilling to forgive have accidentally prayed for their own condemnation because they're unwilling to forgive. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:27.759 And so what they're actually saying is, God, I don't want to forgive people, and so forgive me the way that I forgive others. 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:30.720 And I don't forgive anybody, therefore do not forgive me. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:34.320 And they're accidentally praying for their own condemnation. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:38.000 Now, luckily and kindly, God's like, hey, I'm not gonna do that. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:39.360 I don't want to do that. 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:44.399 But it is true that this this prayer, the fine print is search your heart. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:53.440 If you are choosing to ask something from God that you are unwilling to give to other people, then what you're asking for is what you do. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:11:02.799 Forgive me the way that I don't forgive them, which is therefore condemn me, hold me accountable to my sins because I hold them accountable for theirs. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:06.240 And so it forces us to search our heart and examine our own hearts. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:13.919 And if Jesus' grace has actually reached your heart and transforms you, grace should be something that it then flows from your heart. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:21.679 And if you do not have grace coming out of your heart towards other people, it's likely that you have not experienced the saving grace that Jesus actually has for you. 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:25.759 And so this is the first prayer that it comes with some fine print. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:27.759 And so those are the first three things. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:33.600 They're just kind of anecdotes as we move towards why Jesus actually wants us to pray those things. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:35.679 But we need to actually look at those things. 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:38.639 It is not the first thing that we need to pray. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:44.080 He assumes that we have sin in our lives and it forces us to examine how we actually forgive others. 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:53.840 And so, the rest of the message, I want to give you five reasons why Jesus wants confession to be a consistent, regular practice in our lives. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:59.200 Not the first thing that we do, not something that we have to go before him and go, like, oh, just I need to come under this thing. 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:02.159 Like, just here's why we actually need to press into this. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:08.480 And I think there's so much goodness in this that I want to actually try and drill out and get out so that you can see. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:10.799 But five reasons why Jesus tells us to pray this. 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:12.159 The first. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:38.080 It is super easy for people to love you when you're crushing it, when you're doing good things, everything, everything that I'm doing, they love, and therefore they're loving me really well. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:42.159 I'm checking every box, dotting every I, crossing every T. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.200 Of course, they're love, they're showing love to me. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:46.720 I'm doing everything right. 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:59.840 But you experience, if they actually love you, you experience the depth and the riches of their love, not when you're doing everything right, but when you're actually doing things wrong and they choose to love you anyways. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:06.399 How they respond to your wrongdoing actually helps you experience the fullness of the love that they have for you. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:07.840 And that's what Jesus is telling. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:24.480 Like, I want you to experience the fullness of God's love for you, not just when you're crushing it and doing everything right, but when you failed miserably and you come to him and he has the ability to condemn you if he wants to, but he chooses to forgive you and to embrace you and to actually bring you back into relationship with him. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:34.879 He's like, I want you to experience the fullness of his love, and we only really experience that when we've messed up and we have nothing good to offer, and he chooses to love us anyways. 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:37.440 That's what he wants us to experience from the Father. 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:45.039 Jesus is not telling us to confess our sins so that we can feel bad, to harp on our wrongdoing, so that he can condemn us or shame us or anything. 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:49.519 It is like, I want you to do this so that you experience something good, not something terrible. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:51.679 And we see what God is like. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:55.360 Um, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:14:02.559 You see, he Jesus is portraying what the what the father is like when someone comes and confesses their sin to him. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:05.440 Jesus is telling the story to go, this is what the father is like. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:06.480 That's one of his points. 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:10.799 And so you see what God is actually like when someone confesses in this story. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:21.039 And so if you remember that story, the prodigal son basically tells the dad in the story, like, I wish you were dead, give me all your money, or at least my half, and I'm gonna bail out of here and live my own life and do my own thing. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:29.519 And so he goes off, sleeps with prostitutes and lots of drinking and parties and all the rest of it, all this stuff, finds himself in a spot that's very difficult. 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:31.919 He's starving, feels like he's gonna die. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:41.519 And the son realizes, like, I think I just need to go home and just tell my dad, I'm sorry, and I can be a servant there, but at least I won't be, you know, starving and stuff like that. 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:46.480 And so the prodigal son leaves where he is and he begins heading home to his father. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:50.080 And this is the experience of the son coming to confess. 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:51.360 This is what happens. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:54.799 It says, he got up, the prodigal son got up and went to his father. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:15:05.519 But it says, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him, and he ran to his son, threw his arms around his son, and he kissed his son. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:10.879 And so what I want you to notice immediately is this happens before the confession. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.679 The son has not acknowledged anything to the father. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:17.600 The son hasn't said anything to the dad about how wrong he's done. 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:26.639 He he is currently experiencing the affection and love from the father before he's done anything right, before he's confessed and acknowledged anything. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:28.639 He's already experiencing that. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:47.039 And what Jesus is trying to communicate is even the act of seeking to confess, even before you say the words, the environment that you're stepping into when you're headed towards God to confess something, the environment that you're in is the environment of affection, of love, of incredible compassion. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:54.000 Before you even say anything, before you acknowledge anything, you're gonna walk into an environment where he loves you. 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:58.080 It's not a condemning environment, it's a welcoming environment with incredible love. 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:00.799 And then you need to notice the actual confession from the son. 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:02.000 Verse 21. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:07.360 It says the son said to the father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:10.559 This confession as they go is super vague. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:14.879 Doesn't say anything about the prostitutes, or like, hey, really sorry, I wish that you were dead. 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:16.000 It says nothing about that. 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:18.080 It's very vague, it's super short. 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:19.919 And the father doesn't mind. 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:23.919 He's not sitting there like, Oh, tell how many prostitutes was it? 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:24.399 Huh? 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:27.120 Like he doesn't, he's not like, Are you really sorry? 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:30.320 Like, tell me, like, let's see how bad you want it. 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:36.080 He doesn't leverage where he's at, his high stature, he doesn't leverage where he's at to look down on the sun. 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:40.080 The son uses this super vague, very short apology. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:42.399 And notice what the father does after that. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:50.480 He speaks to the servants and says, Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him, put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet, bring the fattened calf and kill it. 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:51.679 Let's have a feast and celebrate. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:53.919 For the son of mine was dead and he's alive again. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:55.200 He was lost and now he's found. 00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:56.960 And so they began to celebrate. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:01.039 So, what is the father's response to this confession? 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:04.000 It's like, grab the fatty brisket and let's celebrate. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:04.880 This sounds amazing. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:05.839 Let's do this thing. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:08.880 Let's have a huge party in celebration of my kid. 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:16.480 And so, what in Jesus' mind, when he's saying, like, I want you to confess, he's like, I want you to experience that story. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:24.400 I want you to be willing to stand before him and acknowledge your stuff, but I want you to move into an area of affection. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:35.920 I want you to feel safe enough to admit your wrongdoing, and then I want you to know you you can feel safe enough to do that because his response is always gonna be joy, celebration, party. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:37.599 I'm so thankful you're back. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:40.160 And all you're gonna experience from the Father is love. 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:44.319 He's never gonna grab those sins and hold them over your head and use them against you. 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:50.559 If you continue reading in Luke 15, the older son tries to do that, like that son of yours, he was terrible. 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:53.759 And the dad defends him, like, hey, we don't talk about that stuff. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:55.759 Like he's that's over. 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:57.759 We're gonna move on like nothing happened. 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:01.839 And so Jesus just, this story is like, I want people to experience this. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:05.200 I'm calling you to confess, not to hang it over your head or to make you feel bad. 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:12.559 I'm calling you to confess so that your constant experience with the Father is the experience that the prodigal son had with his father. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:15.200 So that you're moving into a space of affection. 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:18.720 You feel safe to confess and you experience the love he has for you. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:19.759 That is what confession is. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:31.440 It is stepping into the father's affection, it is acknowledging your sin to him, and then it is receiving, go to the next slide, then it is receiving the father's response, which is joy, celebration, moving on like it never happened. 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:33.039 That's what confession actually is. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:35.119 It's not groveling before God. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:45.759 And the issue is for many people, if we choose to not confess it with our sin, if we choose not to go before him with our confession, what we're doing is we're hindering the love that he actually wants to give us. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:58.000 If we don't have that type of relationship with him, if we can only go to him when we're doing things right, when we're serving the poor, we're giving money, if we only go to him in prayer with those things, then we'll never experience the love that he has for you when you do all the wrong things. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:01.359 And you experience the fullness of somebody's love for you, not when you're killing it. 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:03.440 Of course they love you when you're doing it right. 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:12.960 You experience the fullness of their love for you when you're not killing it, when they actually have license to reject you, and the ability to go, like, you know what, you've done this way too many times. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:18.160 But to go before him in that way and to not experience that, that's what Jesus wants us to experience from the Father. 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:24.559 He loves you so deeply, and you will know that depth when you go to him with your sin, not with your sinlessness. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:28.240 And so we say, confess your sin to him, experience the Father's love. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:33.680 Second, Jesus wants us to make a practice of confessing our sin. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:43.519 Consistently do that, because he wants us to run to God, to learn to run to him with our sin, not to run away from him with our sin. 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:46.000 Run to God, not run from God. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:57.920 We all have a natural tendency, it's just in us, to hide when we make mistakes, to cover up, to present a curated version of ourselves. 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:01.119 Instagram and all the socials make us do that. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:03.200 Like, here's the best version of my vacation. 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:05.519 It doesn't mention the fact that I was very lonely. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:10.079 Like all these different things, like we just present a very curated version of everything that we have. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:18.000 That is our natural tendency because we're afraid of what people will do if they notice the hidden stuff in our lives. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:20.720 And Jesus is like, aim against that. 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:22.000 Do the exact opposite. 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:26.960 Your natural go-to, your gut instinct is to run away from God when you've messed up. 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:27.920 Switch that. 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:30.880 Make your gut instinct to run to him, not away from him. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:32.480 Adam and Eve ran away from him. 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:34.960 In Genesis 3, we get this from them. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:42.079 They sin, and the first thing they do is run and hide, then they sew fig leaves together to cover their nakedness and cover their sin and cover their shame. 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:44.799 And he's like, Jesus is like, do the opposite of that. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:45.920 They ran from God. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:49.759 And then God had to run to them and comes to them, which is what he does. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:53.279 He always enters into our darkness, trying to heal us from it. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:55.839 But he walks up to Adam and Eve and he's like, Where are you? 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:58.000 Which is their opportunity to confess. 00:20:58.319 --> 00:20:59.599 Say what you've done. 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:02.400 This is the opportunity to confess, and they will not do it. 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.119 And so they don't experience the Father's love in that way. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:07.519 And so this is what Jesus is telling us to do. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:08.400 Run to him. 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:10.799 Pivot on what Adam and Eve did. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:12.000 Do the other thing. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:14.480 Run to him to actually be freed by him. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:19.039 Don't run away from him and keep your the chains and the bondage that you're in because of sin. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:21.440 He wants us to learn, Jesus does. 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:25.519 He wants you to learn that when you sin, you do not need to be afraid of God. 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:27.440 You do not need to fear his rejection. 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:30.400 You do not need to fear his condemnation or his shame. 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:35.440 You get to come to him with your sin, ask for mercy, and expect mercy. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:39.359 I'm gonna ask for mercy, I'm gonna expect from I'm gonna expect mercy. 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:40.960 Read all of the gospels. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:44.880 Every time somebody cries out for mercy from Jesus, he always gives it to them. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:48.240 There's not a single time that he says, No, I'm not gonna give you mercy. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:50.240 Every single time he says yes. 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:53.119 His response to mercy is, How much do you need? 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:55.200 I will cover what you have. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:03.519 Jesus wants us to see that our Father in heaven, He is The safest person to tell your worst mistakes to. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:12.079 There are people in your lives that maybe you can't tell all the hidden junk that's in there, all the all the things that are in your mind, the thoughts that you have, and the stuff. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:15.440 There are people that you might not be safe enough to actually share those things to. 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:17.359 And he's like, he is not that way. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:19.359 He's the safest person you can tell. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:23.359 You can be more honest with him than you can be with anyone else in your life. 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:28.160 I love what Bonhoeffer says about this, or about us, really. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:34.720 He says, Um, you and I, you are a great sinner, a great and desperate sinner. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:39.839 Now, come as the sinner that you are to the God who loves you. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:41.680 He wants you as you are. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:45.359 He does not want anything from you, a sacrifice, a work. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:47.039 He wants you alone. 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:48.960 You can hide nothing from God. 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:52.160 The mask you wear before others will do you no good before him. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:56.400 He wants to see you as you are, and he wants to be gracious to you. 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:01.119 You do not have to go on lying to yourself and others as if you were without sin. 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:03.279 With him, you can dare to be a sinner. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:04.400 I love that. 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:06.640 With him, there's very few people. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:12.240 Think of the people in your life, if you just told them, can I dare to be as sinful as I am with you? 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:20.000 I would fear that there's people in my life, one that would get me fired from my job, or my, I don't, I'm I'd fear that my marriage might struggle, or things like that. 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:24.559 There are things you're like, oh my gosh, the stuff that lives in my heart and in my mind sometimes. 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:28.400 And it's like, Monarch's like, look, that's who you are. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:33.039 And Jesus does want to renew you and change you completely, but you do not have to wear a mask before him. 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:33.920 He knows. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:36.720 And you get to walk in before him and go, here's who I am. 00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:39.599 And he's like, I will love you in the way that you are. 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:42.559 And so you can dare to be a sinner with him. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:46.799 He will never respond with wrath or anger to your admissions of guilt. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:51.200 He's not waiting for you to say something and then he's gonna go, Gotcha. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:55.599 Just kidding, I told you I was gracious, but actually I'm gonna leverage this to actually harm you. 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:57.039 He's never going to do that. 00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:00.559 He will respond to requests for mercy with mercy. 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:04.960 The promise that you get from 1 John, we we do this every time we prepare our hearts for communion. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:13.519 The promise that we get is if we will confess, if you will confess, the promise is he will forgive you and he will cleanse you of all unrighteousness. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:14.640 That's his only play. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:16.000 What do you do with confession? 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:17.279 I forgive and cleanse. 00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:18.559 That's what I do. 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:22.559 Never once has someone asked for forgiveness, and I'm like, sorry, I'm gonna crush you. 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:24.400 He does not do that. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:25.839 So that's the second. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:29.759 Number three, Jesus wants us to confess our sin. 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:30.480 Why? 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:35.039 Because acknowledging our sin is how sin loses its power over us. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:42.000 If you struggle with sin, if you have issues in your heart, addictions in your mind and in your heart, and things that you just don't want to struggle with anymore. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:49.920 If you think about yourself way too much, if you think about what other people think about you way too much, and it guards around you, and it's something that you can't seem to get off of you. 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:57.920 Acknowledging those sins of vanity, of addiction, of whatever they are, acknowledging those sins to him are not a way of him shaming us. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:00.960 They're a way that those sins lose their power over us. 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:11.279 The sin of fear, the sin of doubt, the sin of worry, all these like whatever that particular sin is, acknowledging those things to God, confessing them to him is how sin loses its power. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:15.839 There is power in bringing sin, darkness, into the light. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:23.920 And we know that just if we all the lights are on right here, but if we flipped, turned them all off, it actually is almost pitch black dark in here. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:27.039 I've walked through this and hit chairs a couple of times in the dark. 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:34.640 But as soon as you flip the light on, as soon as you bring light into the darkness or darkness into the light, all of a sudden that darkness runs, fleeing. 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:48.319 And so you have this mental picture of what it's actually like, and acknowledging our sin as the way of bringing sin from the darkness where no one sees it, bringing it into the light and going, Would you please shine light and blow away the darkness that's actually here? 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:58.640 David, uh, when he was king and he um slept with Bathsheba, he really raped Bathsheba, and then he kills Bathsheba's husband, not a strong day for the king of Israel. 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:05.839 Um, when he does that, uh he talks about what it was like to hide his sin and just to try and conceal it so nobody could see it. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:06.799 And this is what he says. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:15.519 Psalm 32, he says, When I kept silent, when I didn't talk about it, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:20.960 For day and night your hand was heavy on me, my strength was sapped as in the heat of the summer. 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:26.160 But then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. 00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:31.440 I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:42.319 And then all of a sudden, like all the crushing weight that he's experiencing in his body, just like lifting the lid and going, Okay, I'm gonna flip this over and show you everything, all of a sudden that weight is lifted off of him. 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:44.240 And he experiences something completely different. 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:46.799 And that's a beautiful psalm of confession. 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:49.680 But sin in our hands leads to death. 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:51.680 If you keep it, it's gonna lead to death. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:54.079 But sin in his hands is something he can kill. 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:57.920 Sin in our hands leads to death, sin in his hands is something that can be put to death. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:00.559 And so we're not, he's not calling us, hold on to it. 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:03.039 God doesn't want it, he's going, give it to him. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:07.759 There's two things in this life that you can give to God that he doesn't have weakness and sin. 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:10.400 He doesn't have any weaknesses and he doesn't have any sin. 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:12.240 And he wants both of those things. 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:19.519 He wants your weakness because in your weakness his power can be made perfect, and he wants your sin because you can't, it will kill you, but he can kill it. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:20.880 He wants those things. 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:24.799 And so you bring sin to him so that he can actually strike it dead. 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:28.160 A lot of people want to try and overcome their struggles by themselves. 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:30.160 There's like, I'll just willpower this thing. 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:35.839 I got the sin struggle, I got this issue, I just won't tell anybody about it, I'll fix it and then I'll confess it. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:42.000 As soon as I fix it and kind of get a handle on it, then I'll tell other people, you know, I used to struggle with this thing, but I had a pretty good handle on it. 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:48.640 If you do that, and I have done that, you will just continue to struggle with sin, and it will get more and more grip on you. 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:55.039 You will not become more free by your willpower, you'll become more bound by the sin as it entangles you. 00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:59.200 Ray Orland says, We do not overcome sin by heroic willpower. 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:03.519 You just can't overcome it by heroic willpower, but by confessing them to death. 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:05.359 You put sin to death by confessing it. 00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:07.359 Give it to the one that actually has power over it. 00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:11.039 Tyler Staten likened confession to going to a doctor. 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:14.960 He says, A doctor can't heal you without an accurate diagnosis. 00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:20.400 If you show up to a great doctor and describe yourself as generally sick, they're not going to be able to do a lot for you. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:28.720 But to confess is to say, I want to name my illness completely and comprehensively because I want healing completely and comprehensively. 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:32.480 That is why Jesus calls us to the constant practice of confession. 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:35.680 Bring the literal thing to him, whatever that thing is. 00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:38.960 You can also pray vaguely like the prodigal and be like, just forgive me my sins. 00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:40.240 I don't even know what they are. 00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:48.079 But the ones that you want healing over, like this is an illness, this is a sickness, this is something I don't want to battle, this is something I don't want to deal with, bring that to him. 00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:50.640 I want healing completely and comprehensively. 00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:52.960 And so this is the symptom. 00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:54.640 This is the issue. 00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:57.920 And that's why Jesus tells us, bring those things to him. 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:06.559 Number four, Jesus tells us to pray, forgive our debts, tells us to confess our debts and confess those things to him. 00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:11.279 Because there is no other way to get rid of the debt that we owe. 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:15.519