Morning, everybody. Y'all give the worship team a hand. How's everybody doing? Y'all good? Welcome to the 11 o'clock service. How many of you are glad to be here this morning? How many of you are glad it's above 12 degrees? Yeah. Yeah. Let's get the temperature jumping some more. Yay.
Hey, guys, we welcome you. Thank you so much for being here at Harvest this morning. It's an honor and a privilege to have you with us. We don't ever take that lightly or take it for granted. But we appreciate you taking time out of your week to come and worship King Jesus with us.
If you're part of the Harvest family, thank you so much for being here. But if you're a guest with us, man, we really appreciate you just taking time out of your schedule and being here and being a part. I hope you feel loved and at home here today.
I know we also have a crew online. I think Mr. Michael Guyton is at Rolling Hills. Y'all give our online folks a hand. Everybody who's joining us via live stream, we'll see you next time. Thank you so much.
Everybody, whether you're a guest, whether you're part of the family, whether you're watching online, we ask everybody every week to fill out our connection form. And if you would take just a moment, you can see the QR code on the screen. It's also on one of the chairs in front of you. You can scan that. And if you would fill that out for us, that would be awesome.
If you're part of the Harvest family, it just allows us to make sure your information is up to date and know that you are here and all that kind of thing. But if you're a guest with us, it allows us to get your information as well, but be able to reach out to you and let you know how much we appreciate your visit and answer any questions that you may have.
And so if you would take just a moment and do that, we'd appreciate it. Note too, that at the bottom of that connection form is a place for your prayer needs. And so if you would put down whatever it is that you believe in God for, we want to be praying too. And we've got a team that's going to be praying every day this week. They're going to be praying over your prayer need, and we're believing for breakthrough in your life. Because we serve a God who answers prayer. Amen?
So if you would do that, we'd appreciate it. And then lastly, if you are a guest with us and you haven't yet done so, if you would stop out in the lobby at the connection desk, there's somebody there that would love to meet you, greet you, and they've got a gift for you. Just to let you know how much we appreciate your visit this morning.
A few quick announcements and then we're going to jump into the word today. So, the end. Awesome. I'm done.
All right. Well, good morning again, everybody. A couple of cool things this week. We had some of you know Johnson and LaToya Reynolds got married yesterday. We were so glad for their wedding and happy for them. Looks like they told me they were going to be here this morning. Gosh, got to give them a hard time.
And then also, as we mentioned, first service is Pastor Bob's birthday today. Now, I've also understood that it is Malachi's birthday. And if I want to also understand, we've got a McGee birthday. Which McGee? Hannah. She's not in here, is she?
So, we've got three birthdays here today. So, who's going to lead us in a happy birthday? Go ahead, Christina. Go ahead, Will.
Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Hey, dear. Happy birthday to you.
All right, that's how it's done. Thanks for stepping up, Will. Man, that's awesome. I know you do.
I was welcome again to Harvest. We're a family of Christ followers. We love God. We love people. We serve the world as the hands and feet of Jesus. If you're part of the Harvest family, what's our vision? To make, grow, and equip followers of Jesus to fulfill their God-given purpose in life. And we accomplish that through community, discipleship, and outreach.
We're on week three of a series. What's it called? Pulse Check. Pulse Check. And you know, it is good to have a pulse. That's always a good day. Count it as a blessing.
How are you doing today? Well, I got a pulse. Well, things could be worse. Yes.
Week one, we talked about the importance of self-examination of the heart. David said, search my heart, oh God. Not always the funnest thing in the world, but something that is necessary.
Week two, we talked about how true contentment is found only in a relationship with Christ. And people look all different places, find it all different ways. No, you're not going to find it. It's only found in a relationship with Jesus.
And then week three, last week, we talked about the importance of slowing down, quieting our racing minds, and intentionally seeking God's presence, and finding peace and contentment in our busy lives.
So today, I'm going to kind of go a little bit different direction. I'm going to talk about another topic that could arguably be a topic that maybe doesn't even get talked about enough. But when it comes to a pulse check, do you have a repentant heart? Today, we're going to talk about repentance. Everybody say repentance.
Man, we say it like it's something you love. Everybody's like repentance. They're like repentance. Repentance. Yeah, put a smile on your face when you say it. Repentance. Yay. Man, we love repentance.
Now, here's the deal. A heart, what we're looking for is a heart that strives for righteousness and holiness. A heart that is grieved by sin and has a repentant posture before God. Lives a repentant posture.
Now, listen, I understand we think repentance, we immediately think that we repent when we receive Jesus, right? We say through Jesus, come into my heart, I repent of my sins, which is a great thing. And hopefully you've done that. But here's what you may not recognize. As a Christ follower, continued repentance remains of critical importance in our lives.
How many of you know that we always have more to give to the Lord? There's always more for us to surrender. And we always have more to surrender. And that surrender starts with repentance. You recognize that? To surrender more, to give more to God, we repent for not having done that already. We repent for holding that back. And we lay down at his feet and we surrender it.
So repentance is vitally important. It's amazing when you minister the gospel to somebody, you find how often that they feel like failures. They feel like they're burdened by past mistakes. They feel like they're not worthy to be loved by God. They can't believe that God would forgive them, much less save them.
How many of you were in that boat at one point? You didn't feel worthy of God's love and God's grace and his salvation.
Well, 2 Kings 21 tells us the story of King Manasseh. How many of you have heard of King Manasseh? King Manasseh. In 2 Kings, it records King Manasseh as being a very wicked king, one of the most wicked kings in Israel's history. As a matter of fact, he was guilty of grievous sins for everything from idol worship to human sacrifice. How many of you would say that's pretty bad?
So when you read the parallel account of this in 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 33, it gives the story as well of King Manasseh. It actually describes how after they were taken into captivity into Babylon, King Manasseh, he humbles himself and he repents before the Lord and he prays for mercy.
And eventually he is restored to his throne. And upon returning back to their land, he's like I say, returned to his throne, but he removes all the idols and he leads Judah back to worshiping the one true God. Guys, this is a picture of repentance.
His transformation, it not only changed his own life, but he influenced an entire nation, demonstrating that nobody is beyond redemption when we truly repent and turn to God. You know, many people have been saying for years, America needs another great awakening. America needs revival. How many of you have heard somebody say that?
We need another good old-fashioned Holy Ghost revival in this nation. But here's the thing, guys, I'd present to you, even by just looking at history, that true revival always begins with personal repentance.
If you look at history, research even shows that the great awakenings that America experienced in the last couple hundred years and every major revival in that time started with God's people on their face in a posture of repentance.
We don't think about that. We look around and we just want to sit in the prayer room and pray for revival. Oh God, send revival, send revival, send revival. But what if there's more to it?
Every great revival has started with God's people on their face in a posture of repentance. 2 Chronicles 7:14. You guys know this, I'm gonna read it from the New Living. It says, then if my people who are called by my name, you would say, that's me.
If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and do what? And pray and do what? And seek my face and do what? And turn from their wicked ways, then what will God do? He says, I will cure from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will do what? I will restore their land.
Who is he saying needs to repent? Because listen, the church has gotten good at pointing out the sin of the world. Who's he saying in this scripture, who's he saying needs to repent? My people who are called by my name.
Again, who would say that's me? Guys, he's talking about not the filthy, dirty people who haven't yet received Christ, he's talking about God's people. He's talking about God's people here.
So we can see in this passage how national restoration or national revival is only possible when God's people humble themselves, seek his face, turn from their sin. And guys, I would present that it's more important than ever that we examine our hearts, that we repent and we live according to biblical truth.
Now here's the deal. Political engagement is important. We should do our part. We've been given certain rights as Americans. We should make our voice heard. But I would say this, the most urgent need is for personal and corporate repentance.
Because some of y'all need to write this down. Transformation must start within the church before it can impact a nation. Transformation must start within the church before it can impact a nation.
Could I, oh man, yeah. Yeah. Christians like griping right now about what our nation looks like. But could it be a reflection of the church of Jesus Christ? In this nation today?
I think it's time for us to repent and get on our faces before God with a repentant heart.
So let's dig in for a minute. The Bible talks multiple times about godly sorrow. Did you know that sorrow can be productive? We don't like sorrow because usually it follows something we really don't like, right? And we're sorrowful.
But sorrow can be productive. The Bible tells us that godly sorrow leads to repentance. And it leads to healing. And it leads to a deeper relationship with Him.
And then you got worldly sorrow on the other hand. Worldly sorrow always leaves us trapped in a cycle of guilt and shame.
So embracing godly sorrow brings salvation and it brings transformation.
So I'm gonna give you four things to think about today. Four points, if you want to follow along. I've got the notes loaded on the YouVersion Bible app. If you got that on your phone, open the Bible app, hit more and hit events. And our notes will pop up on your screen there. You can also scan the QR code on the chair in front of you. It'll take you to the notes as well.
But I'm gonna give you four things I want you to think about for a few minutes as we're talking about repentance.
Number one, we gotta recognize godly sorrow versus worldly sorrow. This is what we were just talking about. Godly sorrow versus worldly sorrow. 2 Corinthians chapter seven, verse 10. Now listen to this.
For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience. Did you know that God wants us to experience a type of sorrow? The kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow.
But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in what? Spiritual death. So godly sorrow. This is something that God intends for us. Godly sorrow.
When we think about this, I immediately thought of King David. How many of you agree that King David, he was a man. He was a man of men. I mean, he was just like the guy, the warrior king. The one who did incredible feats for God. Probably Israel's greatest king in their history. A man that God loved. The word of God says he was a man after God's own heart. Y'all remember that? You agree with that?
You also remember the Bathsheba debacle? Yeah, that happened. Right? David was supposed to be out. He was supposed to be at war with his men. It was the season for war. They were all out at war. David stayed behind. He decided to stay back and relax.
He wasn't where he was supposed to be. And so what's he doing? It's downtime when he wasn't where he was supposed to be. He goes up on the rooftop and looks out over the city and he sees in the distance a woman bathing off in the distance. We know her name was Bathsheba.
What's he do with his downtime alone as he wasn't where he was supposed to be? He calls for her. He sleeps with her and impregnates her.
How many of you know that's going to lead to some guilt and some shame? And in the midst of that, we know that he goes to such lengths to cover up his sin that he ends up having her husband, Uriah, murdered. Has him killed.
How many of you know that sin, especially lust, will lead you down a dark road? Eventually, we got Nathan the prophet comes along. God sends him to David and Nathan calls him out, right?
And he doesn't just call him out. He tells him the consequences of his actions, the consequences of his sin, which leads to sorrow. David was very sorrowful. If I remember correctly, he put on sackcloth and ashes. And he went in and he was praying and fasting.
So the question is, when David experienced sorrow following this terrible thing that he did, was it godly sorrow or was it worldly sorrow? Now, we know because we know the story. But we also know because he wrote it down. He wrote it down in Psalm chapter 51.
And you can turn there if you want to. We're going to read a good bit of that chapter. But I want you to look at this because in this, you can see the difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow.
So here's what it says in Psalm chapter 51. By the way, it's subtitled, A Psalm of David regarding the time Nathan the prophet came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. Is there any question when this was written or what it was written for?
Okay. So this is David's response after Nathan comes to him and calls him out.
Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin, for I recognize my rebellion. It haunts me day and night.
Against you and you alone have I sinned. I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just. Purify me from my sin, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Oh, give me back my joy again. You've broken me. Now let me rejoice. Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
Verse 16. You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You don't want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
Godly sorrow or worldly sorrow? That's godly sorrow, isn't it, guys? Guys, this type of sorrow is productive, and we see it in David's life. Why? Because it got him back on track and back where he was supposed to be. It brought him back into God's favor.
Now, I don't know how many of you, we got anybody here that was in school at some point, you were caught cheating at one point? You were caught cheating on a test or an exam or whatever it may be.
Now, what do you do? You immediately apologize because you don't want to get a zero on that. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that. And the question is, are you really sorry or are you sorry you got caught, right?
How many of you have said that to your children before? Oh, you're sorry. Oh, you're sorry now that I've told you the consequences. Uh-huh. Are you sorry that you got caught or are you really sorry?
Well, guys, it's easy to tell the difference because here's the deal. True repentance would involve confessing and taking responsibility and changing behavior. It's one thing to say sorry, but I don't mean anything if it's not taking responsibility, confessing, and changing behavior. That's repentance. Amen?
So maybe you've got like, that's one example, but maybe you've got like a businessman who falsifies some financial records to make a better impression on the investors, but somebody ends up catching the math being off and it boils down to him and he gets called out on it.
And all of a sudden he's very, very sorry, right? He's devastated. And it may be not because, maybe not because he was caught in, you know, doing dishonest things, but maybe more so because it ruined his reputation and maybe his job.
However, if he truly repents, if he's truly sorry, and he'll confess publicly, he'll make restitution and he'll commit to integrity and his dealings moving forward. And it'll be obvious because of the change.
So feeling bad about sin, guys, feeling bad about sin has never been good enough. True sorrow, true godly sorrow produces a transformed heart and a changed life. And that's something that God can use.
So the first thing I told you, I'm gonna give you four things. The first thing is we got to recognize godly sorrow versus worldly sorrow.
Number two, we got to recognize the need for repentance. Okay, so you now feel sorrowful. Now you've got to recognize the need for repentance.
So Romans 2:4. Now listen to this. It says, do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
Y'all understand what's being said there? Saying, are you taking it lightly? The riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience with you? Not recognizing those things are there to lead you to repentance?
Let me read to you from the New Living. It says, don't you see how wonderfully kind and tolerant and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
Guys, I believe most of us, if not all of us in this room, we're Christ followers. So the question is, does God forgive you when you mess up and repent? Yeah, of course he does.
But here's the thing. If your behavior doesn't change, if you find yourself repenting of the same thing over and over and over and over again, well then going back to that scripture, could it be that you're taking lightly the riches of his kindness and his tolerance and his patience in your life, not realizing that those things are a reflection of his goodness that is meant to lead you to repentance?
So we all know the story of the prodigal son, right? We know the prodigal son is this young man. He's looking to go do his own thing. So he comes to his father and he demands his inheritance, right? And so he gets his inheritance. The Bible says that he gets it and he goes out into the world and he basically spends it all real quickly on just, you know, filthy living, reckless living.
And so this famine hits the land, famine strikes, he finds himself broke. And next thing you know, we find him in the pen with the pigs and he's sitting there longing for their food, right? That's a pretty low place. Yeah.
And so what happens next? Next time we see in Luke chapter 15, verse 17. I'm going to read this to you here. It says, but when he came to his senses, how many of you are glad that you came to your senses at some point in your life? You look back and you're like, I went stupid for a while, you know, but I came to my senses.
But when he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I'm dying here with hunger. I will get up and go to my father and I will say to him, father, I send against heaven and in your sight. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men. In other words, I can say as one of your hired servants.
Guys, realizing the error of his ways, he decides to return home to his father, hoping to just be reserved as a mere, received as a mere servant. However, we know the end of the story, right? The father is full of compassion. His father runs to him and embraces him and restores him as a son and celebrates his return with a big feast, which really offended his brother, right?
But you know, the father communicated here that love and restoration are always worth celebrating. But the parable illustrates God's infinite mercy, the joy of repentance and the extravagant grace that extends to everyone who returns to him.
His return to the father illustrates true repentance, turning away from sin and toward restoration.
So a person struggling with some sort of addiction, maybe you've struggled with some sort of addiction in your life. Well, you know that it takes radical steps. If you've overcome addiction, you know it takes radical steps to overcome addiction. And, and, and, and you know when you're ready because you're ready to set up boundaries and, and, and, and you're ready to get accountability and you're ready to do what needs to be done in order to break that addiction off your life and not return back to it, right?
You allow God to heal your heart. This demonstrates true repentance.
And so part of my point here is that, guys, repentance is not as much, repentance is not an emotion. Repentance is an action that we take. Turning away from sin requires decisive steps and, and, and, and a commitment, a heart commitment to change.
So we're recognizing the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. Repenting quickly is vital because it restores our fellowship with God. It prevents sin from taking a deeper root and allows us to experience his grace and his mercy sooner.
So why is immediate repentance crucial? I'm gonna give you several things. I just made several notes here. Several things. Why is immediate repentance crucial?
One, sin hardens the heart. The longer we delay repenting and changing our ways, the more comfortable we become in sin. Hebrews 3:13 says, encourage one another daily. Why? So that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
How many of you, sin has hardened your heart before? You remember a time in your life when your heart was hardened by sin. Sin dulls our spiritual sensitivity and makes it harder for us to hear God's voice and respond to his conviction in our life.
Another one, unrepentant sin creates distance from God. Isaiah 59:2 says, your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. Guys, sin doesn't remove us from the love of God, but it does hinder our fellowship with him.
Repenting quickly ensures that we stay in close communion with him. Here's another one. Delayed repentance leads to greater consequence.
Delayed repentance leads to greater consequence. What I thought of in this was, you know, we've all had a cut. Anybody ever had a cut or something that got infected? Now, you guys, up until a couple hundred years ago, the smallest cut, an infection could be deadly, right? An infection, I mean, they didn't have access to antibiotics and stuff back then.
And so infection was deadly. Why? Because they didn't care for the wound. They didn't take care of it early on. They let it sit there and fester, right? Thinking again about King David. He endured some serious consequences, personal and family turmoil because he delayed repentance. Immediate repentance may have prevented some of his suffering.
Another one, God's grace is immediate and abundant. When we repent, the Bible says that God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Guys, there's no waiting period. There's no probation period. He's not waiting to see, well, hold on, let's see if they do it again in a few weeks. When you truly repent, you're forgiven. It's done. Again, how many of you are thankful?
The moment we genuinely turned to him, we're fully restored. Two more. Quick repentance leads to transformation. Repenting quickly doesn't just free us from guilt, it allows us to grow in holiness and to become more like Christ. Proverbs 28:13, whoever conceals their sin does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces finds mercy.
Guys, repentance is not about just feeling sorry. It's not about feeling sorrow. It's about changing direction.
The last one I was gonna mention the importance of repenting quickly is, guys, spiritual warfare is real. If you got sin in your life that's causing guilt and shame, the enemy is using that against you. He is keeping us trapped. He loves to keep us trapped in guilt and shame, specifically over unconfessed sin in our life.
I don't know how many people I've talked to, I've invited to come to church and be like, I grew up in church and stuff, but man, my life got off track and I just can't come to church right now. I gotta get some things cleaned up first because if I walk through the church doors today, I think lightning would strike. No, it won't.
We all come into God's presence on equal standing. We come before him, right? We gotta be quick to repent. Because what does it do? It removes the foothold of the enemy and it keeps us strong in the Lord.
So imagine you're driving down the road and you take a wrong turn. Now, hopefully you turn around right quick, but maybe you're one of them stubborn people, one of them stubborn people that ignores, you know, will argue with the street sign and take the wrong road home.
Maybe you're one of those people. You make that turn and you're like, well, oh well. And you just continue on down that way and you're just hoping it's gonna get you to the same destination. Well, good luck with that, right?
The quicker you turn around and get back on track, the closer you're gonna find that you are still to your destination, right? But the longer you go, the further and further and further away you're going to stray.
The same way we recognize sin in our lives, repenting quickly ensures that we don't drift further from God's best for us. Repentance is not about dwelling in guilt. It's about running back to God's love and his grace and his mercy.
The sooner we confess, the sooner we're freed from the burden of sin and restored to the joy of his presence. By the way, guys, confession is the gateway to freedom.
Confession is the gateway to freedom. The quicker we repent and confess, the faster we experience God's grace and renewal.
So our three things so far, recognizing godly sorrow versus worldly sorrow, recognizing the need for repentance, recognizing that we need to confess quickly and repent wholeheartedly.
And lastly, number four, we need to recognize the transformative power of God's grace. The transformative power of God. I keep talking about the life change here.
So many of us have dealt in our life at different points with guilt and with shame. Why? Because we feel condemned. We feel condemnation. But here's the thing. Condemnation is never from God. What does Romans 8:1 say? What does it say? There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
If you feel condemnation, it's not coming from the Lord. It's not coming from him.
Y'all remember the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8? We got this woman who's literally caught in adultery. Back in that day, I mean, that was punishable by death. He's stoned to death. And so these guys, they want to test Jesus. So what do they do? They grab this woman, caught in her sin, and they drag her before Jesus to see what he'll do.
Is he going to recognize her sin? Is he going to enforce the law? Is he going to let her off the hook? What's he going to do? He did what nobody expected, as Jesus tended to do. What did he do? He did recognize her sin, and he extended grace to her.
We know that he basically turns and he looks at these guys who dragged her there before him and said, okay, has she sinned? Yeah. You want to enforce the law? Okay. We can stone her. Only thing I ask, the person without sin needs to be the first one to step up and cast the first stone.
And what did they do? Slowly but surely, they all wandered away until the woman was left alone there. Probably kneeling down on the ground. And of course, we got that whole thing, sorry, we got that whole thing there where Jesus kneels down on the ground there too in the midst of that writing.
It says he began writing in the sand. Nobody knows what he wrote, but many believe that he was actually pointing out the sin in the accusers. It very well could be that he knelt down in the sand. He's like, okay, y'all all brought her here because she committed adultery.
And I think he may very well just started drawing arrows to all the different ones that were guilty of adultery in their life as well. And said, okay, the one of you without sin cast the first stone. Let's go.
And they all wander off. They're all gone. And then what do we see happen in John chapter eight, verse 10? Straightening up, Jesus said to her, other version, another version says, woman, where are your accusers? Where are they? Did no one condemn you?
She said, no one, Lord. The accusers are all gone. And Jesus said, I don't condemn you either. He said, from now on, from this point forward, do you realize he's recognizing her sin right here? He sees it.
From here, from now on, sin no more. He's saying, don't go back to that. I've forgiven you. I've extended my grace and my mercy. So now walk in freedom. Don't go back to it. Walk in freedom.
Someone burdened by guilt from past mistakes, they experience freedom when they grasp the truth of God's forgiveness. This realization inspires them to live a life of obedience, a life of purpose.
You think about somebody who's a former criminal, comes out, maybe they've been in prison several times. They come out of prison again. Everybody, family's all giving up on them and everything else because they've seen him do this before. They know what's gonna happen.
But instead, God gets a hold of his life. Jesus, he encounters Jesus. Jesus transforms his life and turns them upside down. And then they begin to see differences as he begins to live different.
Instead of returning to his old ways, he dedicates his life to living in freedom. Maybe investing in the lives of others. Maybe at-risk youth. Maybe making sure people don't go down the same path that he went down.
Looking at his life, they see the behavioral change. Guys, God's grace is not an excuse to continue in sin. People say, people get so cautious today about talking about grace too much. Guys, we're saved by grace. We gotta talk a lot about grace. Lots and lots about grace. We need lots and lots of grace.
But grace is not an excuse to continue in sin. Like dad always says, grace is not a license to sin. Humanity never needed a license to sin anyway. We did it just fine without a license.
Grace is the power to break free from sin and to walk in true freedom.
On a final note before I close, we live in a society today, I said this earlier, that's gotten really good at making excuses for sin. We call it everything but sin. We come up with all kinds of different words.
And unfortunately, that just spilled over into the church. And guys, I believe that we need to, we're not pointing the finger at others. We're doing self-examination looking at our own hearts. And we need to call things what they are. We need to call sin, sin.
You know, if you got a bad attitude in your heart, I've heard people say, well, oh, I don't know, it's a bad attitude. It's just the way God made me. I just speak whatever comes into my head. I'm just a blunt person. You're also rude. And that's not something God gave you. You know, repent. Right? It's sin.
It's not just the way you are. It's sin. It's time for us to call it what it is. It's time to rededicate ourselves to the Lord and be quick to repent. And that repentance should be very obvious because of the action steps we take and by the behaviors that change in our life.
We had, I've told this story before. We had a couple years back who came to the church and they'd been living together for a long time and had a few children together and at service they recognized that they had never made a formal commitment or covenant with one another before God. They had never been married and so they recognized that they were living in sin.
And so in that they wanted God's best for their life. And like we just read, it talks about our sin that makes it so that it separates us, it brings, breaks fellowship so that we can't and we can no longer hear his voice.
And they wanted the favor of God on their lives and on their children and everything else. And so after church that Sunday they called me up, we were at the house and they called and said, hey, we want to get married. It was that same day and I said, that's awesome, that's great, yeah, let's get you married.
And they said, no, we want it to happen today. And I was like, I looked at Sean, I was like, well, I mean, what, you know, within an hour or so they were at our house and we married them on our back patio.
To me, that's true repentance. Somebody who's ready to make a change, ready to surrender everything to the Lord. Guys, we have to stop making excuses for sin. We got to live with, we got to live from a place of a repentant heart.
We got to stop abusing God's grace. When we talk about taking it lightly, it's time for us to quit abusing God's grace. We got to stop abusing the fact that he's patient with us lightly.
Remembering that godly sorrow is not there just to make you feel bad, it's to bring you back into fellowship with God. It's to bring you closer to him and you've got to have that if you're going to fulfill your God-given purpose in life.
Remember, confess quickly, repent wholeheartedly, live a life of transformation, transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ.
So we got to recognize the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow, recognize the need for repentance, recognize we need to confess quickly and repent wholeheartedly and then recognize the transformative power of God's grace. Amen.
Let's stand together. I want to invite the worship team to come up. And guys, I want you to stick around here for just a minute. We're running well ahead of schedule here. We got plenty of time. Like I said last week, Guadalajara is still going to be there.
Hang with us for a minute because I believe the Lord wants to do a work, okay? So let's all just stand and let's just bow our heads for just a moment.
With heads bowed across this place. Guys, this message, this message brings conviction to me. And if you can just lift up a hand and say, I feel some conviction today too. I feel conviction. Maybe the attitudes of your heart. Maybe something you've been brushing under the rug.
Maybe something that you haven't dealt with that you've kept in the shadows. You feel a little bit of conviction there. You're like, man, I need to make a change. Man, I need that repentant heart.
Guys, that's part of our worship. Our worship before God, humbling ourselves and living before Him from a place of transparency. Not trying to hide in the shadows. But putting it all out there in the open.
And I just want to take just a moment and allow the Holy Spirit to work within our hearts. I just want this to be a moment of reflection.
With our eyes closed, it's just you and the Lord here for the next couple of moments. We're doing a heart check. Are you living your life from a place of repentance?
Remember, the Lord wants a broken and repentant heart. Is that what you're presenting before the Lord every day of your life? As you work your job, as you lead your family, as you go about the duties and responsibilities of life, are you doing so from a place of humility with a repentant heart?
I just want you to ask the Holy Spirit right now, just like David did, just say, say, Lord, search my heart. Say it within yourself, say, Lord, search my heart. Allow him to point out those areas inside of you that maybe have been holding you back for a long time.
Maybe it is something big and blatant. Maybe it's addiction. Maybe it's something that's affected your life and your marriage and your family. Maybe like we talked about that businessman, maybe you've lost jobs because you struggle with honesty and integrity and character.
I don't know what it may be for you. Again, it may be something as simple as just an attitude of the heart. And you recognize that you just need to humble yourself today.
I want us to take just a moment, just the keys play in here for just a minute. And I want you to ask, Holy Spirit, what are you speaking to me today? What can I do to live my life with more of a repentant heart before you? What are you asking of me today?
Allow him to speak to you. Just sense his presence for just a moment.
Heavenly Father, we come before you with open, repentant hearts today. Lord, we ask you to search our hearts, those areas you bring to our attention, we repent and we seek your forgiveness in Jesus' name.
God, I ask that you would lead us into godly sorrow that would produce repentance and healing. God, help us to confess quickly. To repent wholeheartedly. To embrace your grace.
Lord, your kindness, we recognize that it draws us closer to you. May our lives forever be a reflection of your goodness and your grace and your love in Jesus' name.
To every head bowed today. Guys, we've touched a number of times on salvation. We are told to repent and be baptized. Confessing Jesus is Lord and believing that he was raised from the dead.
Guys, these aren't simply words that we speak. This is a heart change. You recognize that you can pray a prayer to receive Jesus. But as I said earlier, if nothing changed, then you didn't receive Jesus, you just prayed a prayer.
So I ask you right now to examine your heart. Who is on the throne of your heart? Who is leading and guiding? Is it your way or is it God's way?
I'm going to lead us all in a prayer, whether you're here in person or watching online, I'm going to lead us in a prayer to receive Jesus as Lord. Again, recognizing that it's about your heart posture, much less than it's about the words.
You recognize that your sin separated you from a loving father. There was no, not just fellowship, there's no relationship. And there's nothing yet that can be done to restore that relationship. Except to receive the sacrifice that God sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ.
At that point, there is relationship and there is fellowship. As we keep our eyes on him and we live out that repentant life, doing things his way, allowing him to lead us and guide us.
With every head bowed, if that's you and you're here today and you'd recognize, I don't care if you've prayed a prayer to receive Jesus before or not. Right now, if you recognize that Jesus is not on the throne of your heart and that you need him, I want you to just lift a hand up high and say, Jesus, I need you.
Who in here would say, I need Jesus today? I see your hand. I see your hand.
Anybody else would say, I need Jesus today. I'm going to pray a prayer and invite you to pray with me. Just say, Heavenly Father, I thank you for Jesus. As I recognize, I'm desperate for a savior. I've tried living life my way and I am a failure. I'm bankrupt and empty.
Today, I repent. I confess and repent of my sin. God, I've lived in a way that was not pleasing to you and I ask you to forgive me and I'm going to make a change.
Today, I confess that, Jesus, you are Lord of my life and I believe that you were raised from the dead and I'm going to follow you to the end. Forgive me. I die to my old self and I ask you to make me that new creation.
You are my savior and I'll follow you to the end. And just say, Holy Spirit, fill me, empower me to be everything you called me to be. And just tell the Lord, Lord, I'll follow you all the days of my life.
In Jesus' name, everybody said, amen.
As we're still running early, give me just a couple more minutes. Let me get our prayer partners, pastors, elders, senior leaders. I'll have some across the front, some across the back.
First and foremost, if you surrendered your life to Jesus today, I want you to tell one of these folks, tell one of them, go to them and say, I surrendered my life to Jesus. I made, I'm making him first. I'm putting him on the throne of my heart. And will you just pray for me? Allow one of them to pray for you.
But maybe you came to a place today where you just really felt conviction in this. Maybe it's something you're dealing with in your life. Guys, listen, I don't know what it is you're walking through. It may be a serious addiction. It may be something that you have tried and tried and tried to get free from, but I'm telling you, you can be free. You can be free.
I promise your situation is far from hopeless. I encourage you to get with one of our prayer partners and let them pray over you. Confess your sin. Guys, confession of sin brings healing and freedom.
Go to them and talk to them and say, man, I'm believing for freedom in this area of my life. Will you pray with me? Allow them to pray with you and give you some direction.
But whatever your prayer need may be, they're here and they would love to talk to you and they'd love to pray for you. In the meantime, we're going to press into this song one more time.
We're going to sing for just a minute, but I want you to do what needs to be done. If you need to go to a prayer partner, go to a prayer partner. If you need to just sit in your seat and you're like, man, I just need to repent. You may need to go to somebody and repent. You may need to call somebody and repent to get things right.
Do what needs to be done. Get your life right. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Let's press in for just a moment.
Now seated. Guys, we're going to go ahead and dismiss. There's still plenty of prayer partners available. So grab one on the way out, whatever it is you may be believing God for. You may need prayer. Maybe you need healing in your body. Maybe you need, maybe you're believing for a financial breakthrough. Maybe you're believing for the salvation of one of your children.
I don't know what it is in your life, what it is that you're believing God for. We got lots of people around the room that are standing there just waiting to pray for you. So take advantage of that.
But guys, we're going to continue this series one more week. We're going to conclude next week. It's going to be a good one, so make sure you're here for that. Get involved in community this week. Great things happening here at Harvest. So get involved and be a part.
In the meantime, you guys have a great week. Be salt and light. Be the hands and feet of Jesus. We love you guys. You are dismissed.
Those of you who joined us on the live stream, those of you at Rolling Hills, wherever you've been watching from, thank you so much for being a part of service today. I hope that you were blessed by the message. I believe that God spoke to your heart wherever you were at.
If you didn't vouch for the connection form, if you would be sure to do that for us, we would certainly appreciate it. As I said earlier, there is a place at the bottom to fill out your prayer needs. And we do have a prayer team of like 30-some people. And every day this week, they're going to be praying over your prayer requests.
And we do serve a God who answers prayer. And we're believing for a breakthrough in your life. And so if you would take a moment and fill that out, you should find the link for it in the live stream feed. And that would be awesome.
We'd love to see you in person sometime here at Harvest. Come and visit us. Come and say hello. But in the meantime, we just pray that you have a blessed week. Know that God loves you and we love you. Love you. God bless you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
on Feb 23, 2025
