Bible

I remember the night that I became a Christian very vividly.

Even now, it's one of the nights that I look to as potentially one of the most overwhelming and significant nights in my life.

As a 14-year-old boy, I cried that night.

14-year-old boys aren't supposed to cry, but I did.

In fact, I wept that night.

I was absolutely levelled and humbled by this incredible, unconditional love that God would show me in sending Jesus.

I remember that even as a 14-year-old, I was pretty aware of the parts of my life that weren't particularly love-worthy.

And even though I had great parents who loved me incredibly, there was clearly something special, something more about this love that God had for me.

And so I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

And at the same time, having for the first time understood how amazing God's love was, I was convicted and I was committed that from that point on,

I was going to serve God in every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every year that he gave me.

I was going to be all in.

And I remember it happened on a camp in January of 1996.

I came home from that camp still buzzing, still on fire for Jesus, still enthusiastic to a fault.

I was ready to change the world.

I was ready to be completely different.

I was ready to leave my old life and my old sinful habits behind.

And then I was on that same camp 12 months later.

And I had a moment of just incredible guilt as I realised that all of that resolve and conviction that I had had,

had just kind of worn off over the year.

In fact, if I'm honest, by mid-February of that year, I was basically back where I'd started, back into the usual rhythms of life.

And so this new me that I had resolved to be seemed like an embarrassing overstatement.

I remember standing, I was in the same place.

It was the same point on camp where they were inviting other people to become Christians, other people to respond to God's love.

And I remember suddenly realising I hadn't arrived.

I wasn't this person that I thought that I was supposed to be.

Now I knew and I believed that God loved me more than my weakness and failure and my sad attempts at following him couldn't undo that.

But I also just felt pretty embarrassed that there was almost nothing in my life that said something had changed,

that said now I belong to Jesus.

And so the preacher is standing at the front of the room, 12 months later giving a similar message,

talking about Jesus, inviting people to become Christians.

And I'm sitting there thinking, something needs to change.

I'm not where I'm supposed to be, but I can't do that because I've already done that.

I've already done the becoming a Christian thing.

So what am I supposed to do with my guilt?

Maybe you've heard Christian testimonies, stories of stuff, of how people became Christians,

and they go something like, before I was a Christian, I was a jerk.

Then I met Jesus, and now I'm amazing.

That wasn't my story.

Before I was a Christian, I was a jerk.

Then I met Jesus, and 12 months later, I was still a jerk.

And some of you might think that I'm still a jerk nearly 20 years later.

It wasn't my story.

And so I was sitting there with this guilt, conscious that something wasn't right,

but not sure what I was supposed to do with that.

I figured I only had two options.

I couldn't admit that I hadn't gone anywhere and start again.

That was too embarrassing.

I couldn't admit that.

So I figured my best hopes was either to play down how bad I still was and kind of act like

I was doing better than I really was, or I could just try harder from now on and just

have such a good year in year number two that kind of makes up for how bad I was in year number one.

I felt this pressure that if I was going to follow Jesus, I had to meet some kind of standard.

I didn't want to be another one of those Christian hypocrites.

I figured I figured I needed to be as good, at least as good as the other Christians around me,

who all looked like they were doing much better than me.

And if I'm honest, what I actually thought I had to do was be like Jesus.

I even had the wristband to remind me of it every day.

WWJD, what would Jesus do?

Nothing like what I was doing.

I felt a pressure to be perfect.

And that's a pressure that a lot of Christians feel.

That could even be a pressure that you're feeling right now as you attempt to follow Jesus,

or as you figure out whether or not you want to follow Jesus, or you're allowed to follow Jesus,

or it fits for you.

It could be the intimidation of feeling like, can I meet up to this standard?

I mean, Christians never say you have to be perfect because that would sound ridiculous.

It does sound ridiculous.

But think about the way that you respond to moral failure.

When you come across sin in someone else,

do you ever find yourself wondering whether or not they're really a Christian?

Do you find yourself looking around the room and kind of measuring who the better Christians are

based on their level of goodness or morality?

Or what about in your own life?

When you discover something, some sin in your life,

are you tempted to justify it, play it down as it's not such a big issue,

kind of pretend like it's not there?

Or maybe you feel the pressure to somehow up your game, try harder, make it up to God?

Does it get compounded by this fear that other people might find out?

Find out what you're really like?

Find out that you're not as great as you've been pretending to be?

Not as holy as you've been pretending to be?

And so then you just do everything you can to cover it up.

Keep it a secret.

Try harder at church.

Put on a bigger show of godliness.

And the pressure just builds.

So where you're saying you're here and you're slowly doing this,

and so it gets harder and harder to live up to a standard that you're getting further and further away from,

and the pressure is building, and you're feeling more guilt,

and you're driven to serve more or read your Bible more or give more,

but inside you're just feeling horrible.

Somewhere along the line,

we started to believe the lie that if we're going to follow Jesus,

we have to be perfect.

Or at very least, we've got to be better than most people.

Better than the people out there.

We started kind of expecting ourselves and other people

to have arrived as Christians.

To be like Jesus.

We read verses like the one that Deb read in 1 John 5.

Have a look at it.

It says,

This is the message we've heard from him and declare to you.

God is light.

In him there is no darkness at all.

If we claim to have fellowship with him,

and yet walk in the darkness,

we lie and do not live out the truth.

And so we look at a verse like that,

and we go,

God's light,

and we can't have any darkness,

so basically the only answer is we've got to be perfect.

That's not what it's saying.

I mean, if you go just down to the next verse,

verse 7,

it says,

If we walk in the light as he is in the light,

we have fellowship with one another,

and the blood of Jesus,

his son,

purifies us from all sin.

So walking in the light,

whatever it means,

doesn't mean being perfect,

because you still need to be purified by the blood of Jesus

when you're in the light.

So it's not saying that,

but somehow we've grabbed verses like this

and put a pressure on ourselves

and on other people

that if you're going to wear the Christian badge,

you've got to be up here.

You've got to be better.

You've got to be putting on a show.

And I want to start this series

by saying really clearly

that that is a poisonous lie.

That is absolute rubbish.

If there is any part of that sentiment

that sounds familiar for you,

that resonates with you,

if you feel even a little bit

like there is a standard you have to meet

for God to love you,

for you to be valid as a Christian,

you need to really listen today

and through this series.

Jesus wants you to understand what he means

when he says,

my yoke is easy,

my burden is light.

Following Jesus is a journey.

It's about becoming something.

It's about being slowly transformed.

Christians are not finished products.

They haven't arrived yet.

They're on a journey.

Billy Graham,

the famous evangelist,

his wife Ruth,

when she died,

had these words put on her tombstone.

End of construction.

Thank you for your patience.

Jesus describes following him

like being on a narrow road,

a road that leads to life,

but being on the road

is not the same as being

at the end of the road.

Being on a journey

is not the same as being

at the destination

that you're trying to get to.

Anyone who has ever been

on a road trip with kids,

some of you guys in this room

are still closer to being

the kids on that road trip,

know the haunting chorus of,

are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

And after answering no

for the thousandth time,

as a parent,

you start to try and get creative

about how you might answer this.

And so you come up with,

well, we're on the way.

We're there.

Or we're almost there.

Or, you know,

the euphemism,

which is actually close to a lie,

it's not about the destination,

it's about the journey.

That's rubbish.

A journey is about the destination.

That's why it's a journey.

It's about getting somewhere.

Kids are pretty astute

and they quickly work out

that no matter how you spin it,

being on the journey

is not the same

as being at the destination.

The point of the journey

is to get to the place

that you want to get to

and they know

that you can use

fancy, clever words

and profound,

seeming statements,

but it's still not the same thing.

We are on a journey

and so we shouldn't expect

our life to be

as if we're already

at the destination,

we're already finished.

If you're a Christian,

you haven't arrived yet.

You are between two points.

Jesus says

he will carry on the work

till the destination,

till completion,

but that will happen

at the end of the journey.

The completion will be heaven.

The two points

that define being a Christian

are the cross.

The first time

you understand

and encounter the fact

that Jesus died

so that you could be forgiven

and you hand your sin over,

that's the beginning

of the journey

and the end of the journey

is heaven.

It's home.

It's when finally

you're with God,

you're with him forever

and in heaven

you will be perfect.

You will be sinless.

It will be amazing.

You will be just like Jesus

but that is not a standard

that he expects

of anyone before then.

That is not a bar

that he is holding you to.

And as long as we keep

expecting it of ourselves

and each other,

all we're doing

is adding pressure

and burdens

in our lives

and in the lives

of other people

that just don't belong there.

In fact,

for some people

who are trying to decide

whether or not

they should follow Jesus,

it's this pressure,

it's this standard

that we add

that deters them,

that turns them away.

Jesus sounds great

but I can't realistically

live up to that perfection

that the rest of you guys

are apparently living up to.

When we hold ourselves

and others to this standard,

for some Christians

that's enough to crush them

and make them give up

because we've made

following Jesus

harder than it's supposed to be.

In fact,

we've put an impossible task

in there

and so we're surprised

when they feel so guilty

that they decided

just be easier to jump out

and not have any standard

to live by.

Being a Christian

means being unfinished.

That means

that every person

in this room

who is following Jesus

is unfinished.

That is not perfect.

No one's got it all together.

Every one of us

is failing.

Every one of us

is struggling

to obey and love God

the way he deserves.

The issue is not

if we will fail.

It's what we do

when we fail.

That's the important thing.

Have a look at verse 8.

If we claim

to be without sin

we deceive ourselves

and the truth

is not in us.

See,

none of us,

again,

is claiming to be sinless.

I haven't heard

any of you say

and I probably will challenge you

if you do,

I'm sinless.

I'm perfect.

We don't say that explicitly

but if we're not

recognizing

or acknowledging

or confessing

specific things

regularly,

we're more or less

doing the same thing.

If we're not saying

here's something I've done

that I need forgiveness for,

we're more or less saying

I don't have anything

that I need to say

and ask forgiveness for.

We're kind of

claiming perfection

and if you talk

a big game like that,

if you walk around

with this persona

of I've got this

all sorted,

I'm nailing it

at following Jesus,

people will expect you

to back it up.

So if you're not

confessing sin,

it's a reasonable assumption

for the people around you

to make

that either you don't

have any

or at least you don't

think you have any.

And either way,

that's a recipe

for pressure

on you

because you've said

here's where I'm traveling.

I'm nailing it.

I'm perfect.

And so people will be watching.

And so if you make a mistake,

it's even harder

for you to admit it now

because you've been saying,

no, no, I'm up here.

I don't make mistakes.

I'm doing it right.

It's a recipe for pressure,

for insecurity

and ultimately

for hypocrisy.

And so you've got to

ask yourself the question,

why do you do that?

Why do we do that?

Why do we try and act

like we're doing better

than we actually are?

Especially as Christians.

Christians,

who is it that

we're trying to impress?

The other failures

who are sitting around us?

We know we do it.

It's why the world

calls us hypocrites.

Because we claim

we're here

and in reality

we're nowhere near it.

We know it's true

because often people

come into church

who don't fit

our moral code,

maybe who have

the self-awareness

to realise

that it's an impossible one

and so they feel

like they don't belong here.

But why do we do it?

Why do we hold ourselves

so rigidly

to an impossible standard?

Because it's not a pressure

that God places on you.

The Bible never says it.

Jesus never says,

I'll save you,

I'll die for you,

I'll forgive you,

I'll love you

if you just

meet this level

of goodness.

He doesn't even say,

look,

I'll love you

even though you don't

deserve it

but from now on

I'll only let you

stay around

if you start being

a certain amount

of goodness.

See,

the power

of sin,

the power of failure

is fear.

It's fear

of the judgment

that might come

if people knew

what we were really like.

It's fear

of what we might lose.

Fear of what people

might think of us.

And it's a fear

that Satan loves

to grab hold of.

Satan's sometimes

known as the

great accuser

because when we fail

he will push the button

of insecurity

that we already feel

sometimes

with God.

He'll remind us

of something

that's actually true

that we don't

deserve to be

loved by God.

And then while

we're conscious

that we don't

deserve it

and he's reminded us

that we're failing

he'll just kind of

put the pressure on

and go,

you may as well

give up.

You're not anywhere

near the standard

anyway.

Or he'll go,

you better keep

trying harder

because if you

stay down there

maybe God

won't actually

love you.

So many

Christians,

people who are

trying to follow

Jesus,

live with that

pressure when they

fail.

with that

fear,

how would God

respond if he

really knew

what I was like?

How would the

people around me

treat me if they

really knew that I

wasn't as holy

as I pretend to be?

On the outside

their commitment

levels might be

increasing.

They're trying

harder and harder

because they're so

scared and inside

they're just

petrified that at

any moment God's

going to stop

loving them.

But that's

not how God

responds to

failure.

That's not what

he's like.

Look at verse

9.

If we confess

our sins,

he is faithful

and just

and will

forgive us

our sins

and purify us

from all

unrighteousness.

Jesus responds

to your moments

of sin and

shame and

failure

with a gentle

invitation to

come back.

Jesus calls

you to

confess to

him and

says I

will forgive

you.

Not I

might forgive

you, not

depending on

how many bad

things you've

done leading

up to this,

whether or not

this is a

track record,

whether or not

we've been

over this

before.

He says I'm

faithful, I'm

just and I

will forgive

you and

cleanse you.

So often

we let our

failure become

a moment of

insecurity and

fear when it

comes to

following Jesus

but we

actually don't

have to.

It doesn't

have to be

that.

In his grace

God has made

your weakness,

your imperfection,

your low

moments an

opportunity to

deepen your

security in

him, to

grow your

confidence in

just how much

he loves you.

One of the

things that I

love to do

with my two

boys is

building with

blocks.

We have

like three

different kinds

of blocks and

we make all

sorts of

towers and

hotels and

tunnels and

whatever else.

Sometimes they

ruin my

excellent

creations but

I'm growing in

my grace to

forgive them

because they're

little.

But something

I've noticed

in particular

in my eldest

son Bailey is

this fierce

independence.

He has a

deep desire to

be able to do

whatever it is

that he's trying

to do on his

own.

He doesn't

want me to

get involved

and so he'll

be sitting

there and

he'll be

struggling to

get this

tower to

balance or

to get these

two pieces to

connect properly

and I'll offer

would you like

me to help?

He will

quickly let me

know that he

doesn't need my

help and then

I'll watch as he

continues to

struggle, still

unable to get

this thing to

balance or these

blocks to

connect.

I'll watch for

as long as I

can physically

restrain myself

for and then

I'll feel the

need to offer

again and so

I'll be like

are you sure

you don't want

daddy to help?

Daddy can help

you with that,

I can do that.

He'll reject my

offer a little

bit more

aggressively second

time around and

he's getting

increasingly agitated

and frustrated

but the struggle

here is that

what he's trying

to do, his

desire there is

actually good.

he wants to

be capable,

he wants to

broaden his

skills, he

doesn't want to

always have to

ask for help

but that good

desire becomes

toxic when he

lets it stand

between him and

the one thing

that can actually

solve his

problem and in

this situation

that's me

sitting there

desperately wanting

to get involved

and fix the

issue.

in the same

way we have

this right

desire to

please God

when we're

following him.

We have this

good desire to

live up to a

standard that

honors him, we

have this correct

response of shame

and guilt when we

do the wrong

thing but those

responses and

those desires

become toxic when

they drive us away

from the one thing

that can actually

help us in our

failure.

The only way that

you will ever

deal with sin in

your life is

through the death

of Jesus in your

place.

No amount of

trying harder and

he's saying every

time you fail just

come back to me.

You don't have to

do it by yourself.

Have a look at

chapter 2 verse 1

it says my dear

children I write

this to you so

that you will not

sin that's the end

game but if anybody

does sin we have

an advocate with

the father Jesus

Christ the righteous

one.

he is the

atoning sacrifice

for our sins and

not only for ours but

also for the sins of

the whole world.

The only thing that

can deal with your

sins is the death of

Jesus and it is

enough to deal with

every sin you have

done could possibly

ever do and not just

you but the sins of

the whole world.

This is written to

people who are

already following

Jesus.

It says my dear

children those who

have already started

the journey who have

discovered the cross

who have asked for

forgiveness at some

point and it's

saying don't leave

confession behind.

Don't leave

confession at the

beginning of the

journey and try and

do the rest of it

out of kind of good

intentions and hard

work.

Every time you sin

there is still grace

on offer.

no matter how big or

how bad there is

forgiveness offered

freely and the only

thing that could stand

between you and that

offer of grace and

forgiveness is your own

pride.

Is your own attempts to

try and self-justify.

Is your insistence to

hold on to your mistakes

and try and make up for

them.

Whether it's playing down

your sin as if it

doesn't matter or whether

it's trying to make up

for it.

So long as you

somehow believe that

God needs you to be good

enough for him to love

you, you will always be

crushed by the standard

that you are trying to

reach and you will never

live up to.

If you're following

Jesus, God knows what

you're like.

The Bible says that while

we were still sinners,

Christ died for us.

Before we had a chance

to try and impress him,

Christ had already

decided to die for us.

Before the creation of

the world, God chose to

send his son so that we

could be forgiven.

God knows who you are.

He knows your deepest,

darkest secrets better

than you do.

And he's decided to love

you anyway.

When you fail, grace is

on offer.

And again, this isn't an

if you fail issue.

This is a when you fail.

When you fail, God

offers grace and he

offers forgiveness.

And this matters more

than just trying to

relieve the discomfort

that goes with being

guilty.

This is more than just

trying to take the

pressure off so that you

don't have to worry

about the fact that

you've done something

shameful and embarrassing.

It's not just about

escaping guilt.

coming back to God

and confessing sin

is a chance to

encounter God's grace

again and again.

And that is essential

if you are going to do

this journey home well.

It is so important

that we confess sin

because it is an

assurance-building

activity.

I'll say that again.

Confessing sin is an

assurance-building

activity.

Confessing sin is scary

because you're airing

your dirty laundry.

And so often we don't

want to do it.

And it comes from that

place of fear.

Will God still love me?

But he's actually

designed confessing sin

to be a chance for you

to be more secure

on the other side of it.

I mean, think about

what you did when you

first became a Christian.

Now, you confessed sin.

It might have been

vague.

It might have been

kind of generic and

not particularly well

expressed.

But on some level,

when you became a

Christian, you said,

God, I don't deserve

it, but I want you

to forgive me.

I want you in my life.

And he said yes.

And he did forgive you.

And he did wash you.

And he did purify you.

And every step since

then, if you're following

Jesus, has been a

response to the love

that you experienced

in that first moment.

Every step has been

fueled because you

tasted God's grace

there and it was

enough to drive you

forward.

regular confession

draws you back

to that first

experience.

Engages you again

in how incredible

it was

to be loved

and forgiven

for the very first

time.

See, it's

kind of like a

long-distance

relationship.

If you don't

speak to or see

the person that

you're in love with,

it's inevitable

that over a period

of time,

the power that

that love has

to drive your

actions and

your emotions

is going to

slowly decrease.

Now, it might

still be sufficient

that you remain

faithful and

committed to that

person, but it's

never going to have

the same force

or energy or

power as is

possible if the

distance is removed

and you get to see

and enjoy that

person face-to-face,

day in, day out.

Now, in the same

way, that first

experience of God's

grace, when you

said, I'm in, I want

to follow you and

you learnt that you

were loved unconditionally

and irreversibly,

that's enough to get

you home to heaven.

I want to say that

really clearly.

If you've taken step

one, God promises

he'll make sure you

take all the steps

until you get to

heaven.

But God doesn't

want you to just

kind of survive life

and then collapse

over the finish line

and think, oh,

thank God that's

over.

That's not his

desire for you.

He wants your life

to be amazing.

He wants you to

gain momentum in

your Christian walk.

He wants every day

to be a day where

you are more confident

in how much God

loves you, more

fearless to stand

up in a world that

thinks maybe you're

crazy for following

him because you

know he loves you,

you know nothing's

going to change and

you are getting more

and more excited for

how good heaven's

going to be when

you get that love

with nothing in the

way, with no

restraints.

And for that to be

your reality, you

need to keep tasting

grace.

You need to keep

growing your appetite

for grace and

confession, regular

confession of sin is

God's gift to you

for you to taste and

experience his grace.

It's a tool he's

given you.

If you feel insecure,

if you feel unsure

about whether or not

you're going to spend

eternity in heaven,

confession is a tool

that God has given

you to help you grow

in your confidence,

in your certainty.

It's an invitation to

come back again and

again and again and

find him faithful.

You need to dish up

your dirty laundry.

You need to lay out the

things that you are

embarrassed about, the

most shameful sins in

your life to him in

confession and you know

what you'll discover?

According to this verse,

that he's faithful, he's

just and he'll forgive

you again and again

and again and again

and again and again.

It doesn't run out.

He is faithful and just

and he will continually

forgive you and purify

you.

And as you find him

forgiving you, your

confidence will grow for

next time.

Because I remember that

when I dumped that

thing, he forgave me and

he still loved me and so

I'm confident he's going

to do this one.

And then suddenly you've

got this track record.

God just keeps coming

through and keeps loving

me and so you get more

confident and more

excited even to

acknowledge that you

have stuffed up, to

acknowledge that you

need his help because

you are so confident that

his love is more

powerful than your pride

or your lust or your

greed or your laziness or

your selfishness.

confess.

Every time you confess,

it's like reliving in

mini version what it was

like to become a

Christian for the very

first time.

It's like tasting that

incredible love of God

again for the very first

time.

That first time joy over

and over again, driving

you to love God and serve

him and confess to him

absolutely secure in God's

reliable and effective

love.

But for that to happen,

you've got to confess

sin.

Regularly.

Specifically.

Jesus says he who's

forgiven much loves

much.

He who's forgiven little

loves little.

And so if you're not

asking for forgiveness,

if you're not regularly

recognizing that you

need it, acknowledging

things that you've done

that are wrong and

handing them over and

being forgiven, then his

love is going to seem

kind of small, kind of

distant, maybe inadequate

in your life.

You might find yourself

like I did a year into

following Jesus.

Sure, I was a Christian

but I wasn't going

anywhere.

So often, if you find

yourself with a lack of

energy for God, a lack of

enthusiasm, a lack of

drive, you can trace it

back to only ever having

an entree-sized encounter

with God's grace.

grace.

Just grabbing that bit at

the beginning and

thinking that should hold

me for the rest of the

day.

God is inviting you to a

grace buffet.

He's inviting you to

feast on grace.

All you can eat grace.

Just keep coming back

every time you fail and

he will keep loving you

and forgiving you and

getting you more excited

for heaven when you will

not have to do it anymore

because his grace will

have finished his work and

removed all those bits

that you're embarrassed

about, all the things

that bring you shame.

If you want to be

someone who runs the

path God has for you,

who thrives, who

flourishes on this

journey between the

cross and heaven, if

you want to be somebody

who is certain, certain

in the hope of heaven,

fearless in the face of

opposition, you've got

to be somebody who

walks in the light, who

walks honestly, who

regularly and specifically

confesses to God and

finds him faithful and

just to forgive.

We as a church here at

St. Paul's have a core

value.

It's something that

likes to define the

culture of who we are.

A core value called

humble authenticity.

That's where this hits us

as a group.

We want to be a

community that doesn't

fake how we're going, but

is honest with one

another.

Because when you're

honest, that gives me

permission to be honest.

When I'm honest, you don't

have to live up to my

standard because my

standard's not particularly

high or impressive.

What you see in me is an

amazing God who forgives

even people like Sam.

And you think, actually, I

belong here too.

We want to be a

community that is so

humble and so honest

about what we're doing

that people don't turn up

and think, wow, what a

moral and good group of

people.

They think, wow, their

God must be amazing if he

can love them.

And also, maybe that

means he would love me

too.

Maybe that means the

people who walk in here

fresh out of prison, the

people who walk in here

fresh out of having an

affair, fresh out of

supporting a drug

habit, fresh out of all

the sort of things that

maybe make us blush and

embarrassed and are not in

our world, our version of

what we think good and bad

is.

If we would be honest, if

we were regularly putting

up a hand and going, I

need God's grace as much

today as I did the first

day I started, maybe those

people would get to

discover the grace that

we've found.

We regularly confess here

at church.

We say prayers together on

the screen, we sing songs of

confession, but there is the

potential when we do that to

just kind of dodge it, not

engage it, say the words,

oh yeah, God, I haven't been

good enough, I haven't done

the stuff I'm supposed to,

yada, yada, yada, without

actually going, no, no, no,

what's going on in your own

life, specifically.

If you want to taste grace,

you've got to be honest.

If you just say, hey God, I'm

generally not good enough, that

doesn't sting really, because

everyone's not good enough.

But if you say, hey God, I've

been struggling with lustful

thoughts, that feels

embarrassing, that feels

shameful, that's something you

need grace for.

If you say, hey God, I've been

really selfish with my money

at the moment, that's maybe a

bit embarrassing.

If you say, hey God, I've been

talking about some of these

people who I'm sitting with in

a way that doesn't honour them

or you, that's embarrassing.

That's not something you want

everyone to know, that's

something you need grace for.

Confession needs to be regular,

specific, honest, and because of

Jesus, it can be confident and

even joyful.

And so I'm going to finish up

right now and the band's going

to come up and they're going to

play some songs and then they're

going to lead us, but just as

they begin, I want to encourage

you, in fact more than

encourage you, I want to push

you, I want to say take this

opportunity right now.

If your life has been surviving

on the entree of grace, it's

time to come to the buffet.

It's time to be specific.

As they play and as we sing and as

we reflect, I want to challenge

you, you don't have to say it to

anyone else, although I would say

there is some real gifting that

God has given to us in brothers

and sisters who walk with us.

But for right now, maybe for step

one, just confess to God.

Just one thing.

If you're sitting there and you

can't think what that would be,

maybe that's your starting point.

Maybe you've gotten so good at

playing down sin in your life that

you can't even recognise the

things.

Remember, you're unfinished.

There's stuff you need to confess.

And so maybe step one is to say,

God, open my eyes to recognise

that I'm not there yet.

Give me the grace to see the

things that I need grace for so

that I can get more of your grace.

Take this opportunity.

Take the gift God has given you

and find that again,

He's faithful.

He's just.

And He will forgive.