God's Pursuit: Embracing Our Identity in Christ

1. "So Tim talked last week about the lost sheep and what that means and kind of kind of what his his uh his context was that in the God's kingdom is devoted to committed to finding the lost and it delights in celebrating their return so in the kingdom of God Jesus telling the story about he's done these three stories about the lost sheep the lost coin the lost son and he's talking about how in heaven how it's celebrating the recovery of the lost we know the message of Jesus was that Jesus came to seek and save the lost so as God's people we should be about loving and caring about lost people and seeing them restored rejoicing when they're restored and you and and we wouldn't want to be we wouldn't want to be judgmental religious people because that's kind of the context" [42:18] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "So what Jesus did the debt against us everything that every sin we've done and everything that we've done wrong Jesus took all of that and he nailed it to the cross and then he wrote across the bottom paid in full right paid in full so he's taken away he's taken away from the world and he's taking away from the world taken away the debt the debt has been paid in Christ we received that this debt we could never pay and it was paid before you were born right it was pain without your knowledge without your participation without your agreement it was paid in full by the perfect work of work of Christ so when you receive Jesus when we talk about receiving Jesus as your Savior and Lord you're receiving the work that he did for us that perfect work you're agreeing I believe the good news that" [01:00:06] (62 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "So what i want to talk about today is that the bible talks about this repentance and it doesn't seem to talk about it in a bad way because repentance means to change the direction right so you're going one direction and you repent and change direction it's kind of like have you ever used your maps program and maps programs are intolerant of you taking a break let's say you need to get gas and so you pull off of the highway you pull off of the highway siri or a lexa or whatever her name is she's going to get upset she's like because she knows you don't need that snack she's been tracking your exercise activities she knows how many steps you had yesterday she's saying keep off of the you don't need a snack she's up but she's going to immediately when you pull over she's going to say what rerouting rerouting and you're like just leave me alone okay i just have to go to the bathroom so that's all repentance is repentance is rerouting it's getting you back to your purpose in god you have an intended divine purpose from the foundation of the world in god god has a purpose in the design for you and it is fulfilled in christ and so he reroutes us so what i want to talk about in the few minutes i have left is do we as christians ever need to repent do we need to repent as christians" [57:02] (99 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "So Jesus how often once and for all it's it's done once and for all right I how there's nothing like that never you ever cleaned your house once and for all it's done I'm gonna let's go get gas let's go get gas once and for all and you even and you feel like that something here's the only staan when you get close to feeling like that it's like Thanksgiving and you think I'll never eat again I'm done once and for all then you take a nap what's important you get up you have saute going to stories you the pastor type this thing works even for you football and you think, is there that turkey left? How about the pumpkin pie? Was there any pumpkin pie left? Right? It's not once and for all, but in Christ, it's the only thing. Jesus fulfilled once and for all, Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering, he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. So it's done. It's finished. It's complete. Nothing, we can't add anything to it. It cannot, it doesn't need to be repeated. It's finished." [01:01:53] (68 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "So our actions and works should be responsive to God's love for us, not an attempt to earn his favor. So, so Christians, most Christians will acknowledge that we still sin. We lose our temper. We say things we shouldn't say. We do things we shouldn't do. We act in ways that are not Christ-like. So how do we deal then? How should we deal with daily stuff like that? How should we deal with, with those sins that are already covered by the blood of Jesus? I mean, it's not like they're going to bring them back under the blood of Jesus. In every sin that you did sin in the past, every sin that you are sinning right now, and every sin that you will sin is covered, already covered, totally covered, done, finished, nothing you can add to it by the work of Jesus. Christ. So why do we need to repent? If it's already a done deal, then why do we need to repent? Because Jesus says to the seven churches of Revelation, he says to them, hey guys, it's me, Jesus. You need to repent. And he just lists some things they need to repent of. So, so do we as Christians need to repent? And I'm going to say the answer that I believe is yes." [01:11:19] (90 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "So confessing is not a payment. It's not a payment. It's not a condemnation even. There's therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. So confessing is not a payment. In other words, there's no, I can't, I can't buy any, I can't crawl on my hands and knees with, penitence, and make everything all right with God. I can't flagellate myself with a whip until I'm bloody so that I can't pay any of my own sins. There's no way I can pay for that. So even by repenting, I'm not paying for anything because it's already paid. You get that? Have we established that? So it's already paid. But my confession is, I'm just agreeing with God that what I did was ugly, maybe unworthy thing for a believer to do. You ever done anything ugly? Ever had been ugly? Had an ugly attitude? So that you would have godly sorrow and not worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow, the Bible qualified, and I'll go to all of them, all of this, but worldly sorrow is condemnation." [01:14:12] (88 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "So what are you, he's going to, he's just going to deal with some stuff. He's going to point out some stuff because he loves us. You just say, what's repentance? Rerouting. I need to change direction. So, do I need to repent? I think sometimes we do. I think we do. And it's not about getting our salvation back. Because we can't lose it. It's not about starting all over again. You see, I grew up, I mean, I went to the altar as a kid all the time because I thought, well, I messed up. I got to start over again. And then I, I'm going to give my life to Jesus. And then, you know, I'd, I'd sin some great sin. I can't remember what they were, but it had to be great sins. I was 12 or 13 years old. And, would commit my life to Christ. And then I would, say, damn in the garage or something like that. And I'd say, well, I can't be a Christian. Apparently, I can't be a Christian because I can't not make mistakes. And, and if you're a Christian, because I never thought Christians made mistakes. So, I can't be a Christian because I keep making mistakes. I keep sinning. I must not be a Christian because I keep sinning. One night, when I was 19 years old, I understood, I think it was by revelation because I'd never been taught it. I understood that salvation was not based on me." [01:18:10] (91 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "But on Jesus. And I received the complete work of Jesus in my life. And it's never been the same. He's still working on me, but He's not working on me in condemnation. He's working on me in love. And you know there's a difference. You know there's a difference. You feel it. If somebody loves you and they tell you, hey, you need to watch what you're eating. Someone who doesn't love you and tells you to watch what they're eating and you want to tell them, well, let me tell you something. I don't know if there's a few things that you haven't noticed about yourself. If that's what we're doing, if this is judgment hour, well, let's bring it on, right? Our security in the work of Christ. And we can rest in that. We can have peace in that. Amen." [01:19:40] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "There may be an area where the Holy Spirit has just been dealing with you. You know, the Holy Spirit has just been prompting you that maybe you feel kind of stuck in your walk with the Lord. You think, I don't feel like I'm making progress, but the Holy Spirit's been saying, hey, you know, you need to forgive this person over here. And you're like, no, not yet. It's not going to do it yet. Or you need to change this attitude or this, whatever. And I would say this, agree with God, about what He's doing in your life. Just say yes. Just work at saying yes to God. None of us do it all the time. I don't do it all the time. I should. I don't do it all the time. But the process of maturity and growth is often works, fruitfulness often works in our continuing surrender to the complete work of Christ on the cross." [01:20:41] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "Father, in Jesus' name, I receive what you did. I believe in the gospel. I believe the good news of Jesus Christ, that you came and you lived and you died and defeated death, hell, and the grave and rose again and ascended to the Father on my behalf. And that sacrifice has been applied to me. And now I'm a child of God. I'm a son of God. I belong to you. And that is not going to change. It's done. It's a done deal. Once and for all." [01:21:40] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)