Embracing Humility: The Journey of Repentance

"Pride just the unwillingness to say I'm wrong and I'll tell you what if you're going to live this Christian Life those words had better be in your normal vocabulary because you won't live the Christian Life well you'll just be a miserable person that's all if you don't know how to humble yourself to others and say I'm wrong you're not going to get anywhere you know it's just a very childish immature attitude that can't say I'm wrong." [00:26:21]

"Your counselor is a travel guide because he's been to the far country you know how to get to the far country you didn't need a travel guide for that but how to get back he knows how to get you back you know there was a black lady named Harriet Tubman who was a slave and um she somehow made it up into the North and had freedom and um instead of just staying there and enjoying herself she spent the rest of her life making trips for rays back into the South finding these poor slaves that are wandering around trying to find their way North hated by everyone around them at least that's the way they felt and she would go down there and get these bands of black people and she knew the Underground Railroad to get them up to Ohio." [00:28:14]

"And never disparage the pig pin because the pig pin is a secret entrance into true Christianity it's where you first see what God is really like and it's where you first see what you are really like it's also where you learn to deny self and pick up your cross and follow Jesus that happens in the pig pin." [00:32:30]

"So there's a word in the Old Testament that describes this life this this experience the word is sub and it's usually um translated as turn or return um it's used like over a thousand times uh in the Old Testament for instance 2 Chronicles 7:14 you all know this verse If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face right seek my presence and turn from their Wicked Ways then I will hear from heaven will forgive their sin and will heal their land." [00:33:00]

"The journey of repentance is ongoing and requires us to continually return to God. It is a lifelong process of acknowledging our sins, seeking forgiveness, and striving for purity. This journey is challenging but necessary for true spiritual growth." [00:49:41]

"A religious person is more concerned about presenting an image of godliness to other people around him than in truly living in the presence of God a religious person has never been to the pig pin where they come face to face with their sinfulness and unworthiness a religious person mistakes moral uprightness for godliness a religious person is self-righteous and I Define self-righteousness as embracing a form of righteousness to please self rather than to please God." [00:45:58]

"He's religious in appearance but inwardly he's given over to sin in other words physically he's in the father's house but his heart is in the far country he's worse than the older brother because he's polluted his mind with sin or pornography and he's worse than the prodigal because he's got this outward pension for keeping the rules and that has deceived him into thinking and really believing that he's in good standing with God and that false Assurance has kept him out of the pig pin the very place he needs to be in not only is he diluted by the deceitfulness of sin but he's deluded by his religiosity he's got just enough religion to keep him from seeing his need and from really turning to the Lord." [00:45:06]

"The Prodigal had plunged deeply into the far country and now he must retrace his steps all the way back I know for myself I lived in that for 10 years or 12 years I can't remember 10 years whatever that was a long time you know every time you look at some image on the Internet or do some give yourself over to some sin every time you do something like that you're going further and further and further away from God and you know the wonderful thing as we've already heard that when we repent God graciously instantly forgives us right there he forgives us but you still have to face the consequences of a lifetime of rebellion and iniquity and the stain of iniquity and it takes God God years to undo what you have done to yourself to your soul the way you've marred your soul with sin and you've done it to yourself just like I did and I'm 69 years old and I still pay the price for the things I did 40 years ago and further I still pay the price in some ways I know things I wish I wish I wish I wish I didn't know." [00:35:14]

"Learning to fight for a life of Purity is not for the faint of heart but the alternative is Unthinkable and you better get that drilled deeply into your heart the alternative is Unthinkable you will never have another opportunity like you have right now and if any of you are thinking about you know I've just about had it with this place I understand it's difficult but you know what you guys just like myself you've been going the easy route in life for a long time it's time to man up and do the hard thing you got to do or you will be going around the same Mountain 10 years from now I know I have talked to men who I ministered to 30 years ago and they're the same person they sat in these chairs and I meet them now same person same struggles same delusion same habits only now they're just far worse don't squander what God has giving you in this place." [00:37:39]

"All right let's talk about the older brother and all the guys in the program say thank you these two couldn't be more unlike each other the younger brother was impulsive and impetuous while the older brother was cautious and reserved the younger brother was outwardly rebellious while the older brother kept his willfulness Under Wraps the younger brother was willing to flagrantly pursue sin while the older brother kept himself under control the younger brother's life was defined by the sin he pursued while the older brother's life was defined by his religion the older brother's life you know he was more upright and he was proper the problem is he was religious minded instead of being spiritually minded." [00:41:28]

"The point of obedience is to draw near to God and to dwell in his presence that's that's the point of obedience it it's to please someone who you love you don't let me say it this way people who are rule Keepers by nature and you know by Nature that's not necessarily a bad thing but um they want the boundaries and they don't feel safe unless they have clearcut boundaries to live in you know and again some God people are rule Keepers by Nature that's not bad in itself but the problem is when that becomes everything and God becomes small inside of the rule system and as we heard earlier from God's perspective the older brother really wasn't much better off than the younger brother." [00:45:06]

"You're going to have to keep having these moments with God this is going to be the rest of your life if you're going to live in Victory you are going to repent and repent and repent and repent you know why because what you've given your flesh over to is in your mind you know and you're going to have to keep keep coming back to God and saying Lord forgive me I don't know why I allow my mind to just sit and let that filth Fester inside me forgive me Lord you're going to find yourself coming back to the Lord over and over and over again you might as well get used to it and you're going to have to know what it means to repent to people I had to repent for someone this morning actually have to pent to my wife pretty regularly it's just going to become a lifestyle guys of saying I'm wrong I'm wrong Lord forgive me." [00:49:41]