Sunday First Service | Unburdened #1 | Pastor Rob Thomas

Guys, I want you to understand something in this series. What I'm trying to communicate is Jesus didn't rise from the dead to give us a pep talk. That was not his pep talk for us. He it was not his attempt to give us a slightly improved version of ourselves. He rose from the dead to set us free. He rose from the dead to set us truly free so we no longer would have to carry those weights and those burdens and that baggage day after day after day in our life that we were never meant to carry in the first place. [00:54:59] (31 seconds)  #FreedomNotPepTalk

Guys, the resurrection, you gotta understand, is so pivotal to our faith. It is not an optional add on to Christianity. It is the moment that dot god declared, I have already carried what you were not meant to carry. I've already carried what you can't carry. Now he's inviting us to lay it down and to rise with him in freedom. In this, I'm believing that by the end, you're gonna make the decision to walk away from guilt and from shame and from drama, from trauma, from disappointment, from baggage, from all these things that you've carried so long in your life. [00:55:39] (47 seconds)  #LayDownRiseWithJesus

whatever it is that we have been carrying. Because here's the good news. This is what we're building to over the next few weeks. Guys, Jesus didn't come to manage your mess. That's why many times we look at ourselves. I've got Jesus now. He's managing my mess. Jesus didn't come to manage your mess. He didn't come to cover them up. He came to die for them, bury them, and raise you to new life, unburdened, free. [01:03:41] (29 seconds)  #DieBuryRiseFree

And here's what many of us would do, and I can't actually, you know what many of the other kings of Israel would have done that moment? They would just had the prophet executed right then and there for exposing his sin. Many of us, we would've run from it. We would've tried to cover it up and and and and just run and keep that thing covered up. It's not what David does. David doesn't make excuses. He doesn't run. Instead, he does something crazy that's not natural to humanity. He stopped hiding, and he started confessing. [01:02:55] (28 seconds)  #StopHidingStartConfessing

Acknowledging the depth of our sin is the starting point for freedom. I know so many people that come and say, hey. I messed up. I need freedom. I've had guys come that had jacked up and done something they shouldn't have done in their marriage, and they just run-in and say, hey. I I need freedom. Can you sign me up for freedom? But there's no true repentance. How you know you ain't gonna get you're not gonna get freedom until there's true repentance. Acknowledging the depth of sin is a starting point of freedom. [01:12:06] (33 seconds)  #ConfessToBeFree

Guys, it's a reminder of the cross. It's a reminder of what happened at Calvary. He's already paid the price. You don't have to carry this one more day. You don't have to take it an inch further. He already rose. He already proved that it is finished. This thing don't belong to you. Bring it on up. Guys, it's all under the blood of Jesus. He paid the price. He purifies and burns up everything that doesn't belong. All these things allow them to be consumed by the mercy and grace of our God. [01:34:29] (53 seconds)  #FinishedAtCalvary

They have no power over you anymore. Freedom is yours. Freedom has been paid for. These things have been buried. They no longer belong to you. And because he rose, you are unburdened, and you are free in Jesus' name. Sin has no grip. Shame has no guilt. Guilt has no grip on you in Jesus' name. Because he rose, you are unburdened, and you are free. Don't carry it for another moment, guys. [01:35:22] (57 seconds)  #RiseUnburdened

Maybe I I said this couple weeks ago because it's really dawned on me. I had a couple people say this, and I and I felt like it's the lord. I I I believe that there are some of you as parents that are so grieving over the acts of your children, and you're taking it personally. You're taking it upon yourself, and you're pick nitpicking every mistake that you made in their life. And granted, we all make mistakes as parents. Right? We all look back and see things going, man, wish I had done that differently. But you gotta remember they belong to the Lord, not to you. And you've got to release that thing, and you've gotta move forward. [01:32:07] (35 seconds)  #ReleaseParentingRegret

Talked about this purification and how it symbolizes the purification of metal by fire. The bible talks again about the fire of God. Guys, the fire of God does not destroy you. Aren't you glad for that? It doesn't destroy you. It destroys what's been destroying you. Because of the cross, your burdens burn up so that his joy can rise in you. So we're gonna burn it. Y'all ready? Yes? Alright. [01:37:02] (36 seconds)  #FirePurifiesNotDestroys

We are are we we don't like to call sin what it is today. We like to water down and say, oops. I met who was that? Is that Britney Spears back in the nineties? Oops. I did it again. Oops. No. You committed adultery for the third time. Call it what it is. You didn't make a little mistake. Right? You committed sin. Call it what it is. We all do it. Right? But yet we try to water it down. Well, you don't understand. Let's not make excuses. [01:07:32] (31 seconds)  #CallSinWhatItIs

We ought to acknowledge the depth of our sin. It's more than surface mistakes. And then we see that in what David does here. David begins his psalm by doing something many of us avoid. He fully acknowledges the depth of his iniquity, the depth of his sin. He refuses to treat it as like a small little mistake or a one time lapse in judgment. He calls it out. He calls it what it is, something that runs deep. He goes so far as it's as to call it something that has marked him from the beginning. [01:08:03] (30 seconds)  #AcknowledgeDeepSin

Those things that still bring up negative emotions, maybe decades after they happen. Think about the shame in your life that tends to still come up and whisper in your ear and tell you, you're just not enough. You'll never measure up. Think about the guilt that keeps replaying that scenario, that thing that happened in your life over and over again while you try and lay in your bed at night even after weeks, months, and years have gone by. Think about that hurt, that thing that happened to you that won't seem to let go no matter how hard you try. [00:54:15] (40 seconds)  #LingeringShameAndGuilt

Or maybe it's a failure that we can't seem to forgive ourselves for. Or maybe it's a secret shame that makes us feel like we don't really belong and we are disqualified from God's best. How many of you know those things are a lie? Right now, before we move on, would you do something for me? Just close your eyes for just a second. Cross this place. Think of one heavy thing that you've carried in your life. Maybe something that you're carrying right now. [01:00:44] (34 seconds)  #CloseYourEyesRemember

Maybe you don't know. Maybe maybe you're struggling to think, but what is that one thing? Maybe it like I say, maybe it's something that you've let go, maybe you've forgiven, maybe you've released, whatever it may be, but still certain things tend to come up periodically. Maybe a year or two goes by, but then something can be said that kinda triggers you. And all of a sudden, these feelings all bubble back to the surface and just makes you cringe or it makes you hurt or it makes you feel ashamed or whatever it may be. [01:01:18] (29 seconds)  #TriggersBringFeelingsBack

Maybe it's been there for months. Maybe it's been there for years and years. Allow yourself to feel it for just a moment. I think there's some of you here that feel a heaviness in your chest right now. That's the burden. And here's what I encourage you. I'm not encouraging you to go back and just sit in that moment, but I'm also not encouraging encouraging you to rush past it. I want you to sit there with it for just a second. Alright. Look up at me. [01:01:47] (43 seconds)  #SitWithTheBurden

So David admits he that he's his he quote is quoted saying there that his sin is con he said it's constantly before me. He's talking about a persistent weight that he can't seem to escape. And he says, against you and you only have I sinned. He recognizes that not only did it hurt others, but it hurt God. It hurt the hurt the heart of God himself. And then he traces it all the the way back to his very conception highlighting the original sin in the garden. [01:10:22] (32 seconds)  #PersistentWeightBeforeMe

He talks about his sin in there. The Hebrew word translated sin literally means to miss the mark. How many of you have ever missed the mark? How many of have ever I mean, air ball. I mean, just missed the mark. I mean, you didn't even get close. It gives a in Hebrew thought, it would have given the the probably the picture of somebody, an archer, a a skilled archer who just misses the target completely, doesn't even get close. [01:09:32] (30 seconds)  #SinMeansMissTheMark

That's why we've all dealt with this. And Paul goes on to reaffirm this in Romans chapter three twenty three. Y'all know this. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And how do you know that nobody's exempt from this verse? It's all of us. So we don't have the right to judge one another. Right? We've all sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard. That it's not just David's problem. It was our problem too. [01:11:01] (29 seconds)  #WeAllFallShort

So David confesses this is true confession, but he doesn't stop at confession. He knows that simply admitting the sin is not enough to remove the stain or to lift the weight that he's carrying. He pleads for something from God that only he can offer, that only God can give him. True, thorough cleansing that goes all the way to the root. And so what does David say? In verse six, he says, behold, you desire in the innermost being. You desire truth in the innermost being. And in the hidden part, you make me know wisdom. [01:15:27] (38 seconds)  #ConfessionToRootCleansing

Guys, we've seen David come along and he confesses the depth of his sin. He pleads for cleansing, and he prays for recreation, for a new creation. I'm gonna invite the worship team to come up. And, guys, in this, we're gonna go a little different direction here for a minute, and I invite you to just hang with me. Guys, we've we've walked through David's journey here. Again, confessing the depth of his sin, pleading for true cleansing, and praying for god to recreate his heart and to restore his joy. [01:28:17] (50 seconds)  #DavidsJourneyToRenewal