The Power of Repentance Part 4 The Good Shepherd 03-08-26

So what it really says is this, is that the church is that fire. It's that place where we can get reignited, where you come in here and you you sing a song and you hear a sermon and you hug your friend and you praise God. You can go back out in the world, but we don't come here to stay here. We come here to relight our flame so that we can go out, but we don't stay away too long or [00:15:55] (26 seconds)  #ReigniteYourFaith

our little torch might just be extinguished and burn out. We come back and continually reignite our flame. In fact, you shouldn't even wait a week. You should go to bible study or small group midweek regularly, and then church regularly in person. Why? So you can fellowship. You see, it's not just the preached word, and it's not just the singing on songs. If you're doing it online, God bless you. Wonderful. It's a good thing. [00:16:20] (32 seconds)  #DiscernHisVoice

So so we are not waiting for some last minute change. Choose whom you will serve today. Be changed today. Repentance is about that transformation. So how do you hear his voice? Well, there's three things that help can help you to understand whether or not you are hearing his voice and to train your ear to it. The first is this. Jesus' voice is always a voice of charity, and the enemy's voice is always one of selfishness. [00:21:28] (45 seconds)  #ProcessOverPerfection

We mean that if you think about doing something you know you shouldn't do, the fear of God helps to keep you from doing it, and that's good. Jesus even said that. When he was in the wilderness and tested, the enemy told him to go to the highest point and throw himself down cause the angels are gonna come and get you. And Jesus said, no. Do not put the Lord your guide to the test and fear him only. What was he saying? He was saying, [00:26:20] (31 seconds)  #ProtectTheNextGen

I'm not God. I don't know what God will do. I might throw myself down and I might hit the ground. You don't test God. You give everything you can going upward. Testing testing is throwing yourself down from your high point. You go as high as you can in the Lord. Go as high as you can with God's grace and help, and do it with humility. So fear God and don't fear the world. We fear the world when we're afraid of being, you know, [00:26:51] (31 seconds)  #HearTheGoodShepherd

You see, we don't have to get into other people's business to help them because sometimes just your example is the light that needs to shine on them. So all that means is that we just need to make sure that we're just not shining our light on each other to make it comfortable. We have to go out a little bit further to bring light to where the darkness is. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, wait a minute. You know, I don't wanna get mixed up with the riffraff. [00:14:16] (29 seconds)  #SubstanceOverShow

So Jesus is the good shepherd, meaning that he is telling you the truth, the whole truth, and not for him at all, just for you. In this world, everyone's got an ulterior motive. They they they they all have an angle. There is no angle with God. There is no no gotcha at the end. It is just pure love, charity, and blessing. And so listen to Jesus. He says, if you hear my voice he says, my sheep hear my voice and and those that do will follow me. [00:19:59] (47 seconds)  #GodLovesTheLost

And, you know, we do that in our local churches too. You know, We have our little men's club and our little women's club and our little kids club and this, that club, and we do all these things. And it's all about how we're going to make things comfortable for ourselves even in our worship service. All we think of is what it will, you know, tickle my fancy. Right? What will please me? And then we wonder why there might be some empty seats. [00:07:09] (30 seconds)  #OneSoulMatters