Almost True: Week 5

You go. Good morning Church.

Ay Man, We're just gonna transition from there to here.

And I gotta be honest, I got all this stuff

going on in the inside, so I just needed to

settle down a little bit. An experienced that on Thursday

night and it was just like overwhelming, So I just

want to transition.

Tis so sweet to trust him, jeezesus, just to take

him mad, He's just to rest happen. He's promous, just.

To the same, Jeezesus, geez Peus, high trust him, high

proved him, Jeeesus Geesus racious.

Jesus, Oh for grace to trusts.

Father, We trust you this morning.

We thank you, Lord God, that there's never a moment

or time that you failed us, that you always take

us from gory to gory.

You're the god of the hills and the valleys, So.

Lord, take this moment with your people and declare your

word with so much clarity that no one walks out

of here the same.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

We're continuing in the series Almost True, and it has

been amazing to kind of walk through these things that

feel true, but we kind of find that they are

not true. And along the way I've heard so many

good things come out of the mouths of our pastors.

Last week, James said something that literally through the TV

screen just.

Had me like WHOA, And I was just like overwhelmed

with it.

When he said God will not compromise his holiness for

our happiness, I was like wow, and I said, I

gotta follow that. Wow. So this week we're talking about

nobody's perfect. Many of us in this place we may

have struggled in our life with perfection or the idea

of perfection, especially in the church, in the church realm.

Sometimes we come to church because we want a perfect life,

we want a better life, and we think that when

we walk in the doors of the church and we

surrender to Jesus, that everything is going to be perfect.

And sometimes we walk through life thinking that everyone who

serves the Lord is perfect. But everyone in the room

who serves the Lord, you know this is not true.

Uh huh.

And so because it's not true, we need to come

to a space where we start to deal with this

philosophy of perfection, this ideology of perfection, this theology of perfection.

And many of us we may find that when we

start going down the.

Corridors of our life, the corridors of our history will

see those points where we thought things were perfect and

they were not.

Some of us feel like we can't stay connected to

God because we don't feel perfect.

We don't feel like we are doing everything that we

need to do. But I want to let you know something, beloved,

that God.

Is working on you. He's working in you, He's working

through you. So this morning.

The problem with almost true, the biggest problem with almost

true is it never works. It never works. It's like

getting brand new batteries and putting him in the remote

upside down.

It never works.

Now I've done this on occasion because I could not

see and I just realized I left my glasses somewhere.

But it's gonna work out.

And so it's the thing that you think it's gonna

work because they're in the remote, But just because they're

in the remote, if they're not turned the right way,

it won't work. And so truth has gotta be all

the way true. And the Word tells us in John

fourteen six, this is talking about Jesus. Jesus says, I

am the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is

the only perfect standard. You can't compare truth or or

or what is perfect to your mind, your dad, your grandma,

your grandpa, the people who come before, not even people

who are in the Bible.

Peter, my lord, please don't compare perfect to Peter, and so.

On and so on.

We will see that perfect is not people. Only Jesus

lived a perfect life. And even in that perfect life

we saw so many things happen, and he was criticized

in his perfection.

What a world we live in.

Matthew five is what brings us a lot of conflict.

When you read Matthew five, verse forty eight, this is

the words that we hear, and many of us have

internalized these words. These words have become truth to us.

But I want to clarify that truth. The words say this,

you therefore must be perfect, as your father in heaven

is perfect. If you look at Matthew five, this is

when Jesus gives his great a sermon on the mountain.

He starts saying, all of these things blessed are bless

it are blessed are And he goes on. He talks

about all of these things that are proper way of living,

and he says, if one person slaps you on one side,

turn the other, and y'all all gave up on that part,

didn't you, right, And so he said, if somebody wants

one garment, give him another one. He keeps going through

all of these things, and then at the end of it,

it says, you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly

Father is perfect.

But listen this to this, beloved, challenges.

This challenges us to reflect on God's character, not on

his flawlessness or our flawlessness.

It's not about us being flawless.

It's about us reflecting on the character of God, aiming

for the character of God, seeking the character of God,

being more like the character of God. And so this

morning I want to submit a couple things to you.

The first thing I would like to submit is the

call to pursue, not to achieve. The call to pursue

not to achieve. This is not about an achievement making

the perfect brownie, Right, Somebody's got a great brownie recipe

in here, and I know it is great, and it

might be perfect in your home, but I'm sure there's

somebody else who may have a better brownie recipe, right,

And so we get to this place where we feel well,

I gotta have the best. I gotta have the top,

I gotta have this. Well, I want to let you know,

it's not about achieving something. God has not called us

to perfection. He's called us to pursue him. It's not

about perfection. It's about pursuit. It's about us getting to

the place where we are pursuing.

The things of God.

God. We're going for the things of God. Paul helps

us out, and Paul is I would have God, excuse me.

Paul is a g He's like the God. He is

like I mean, he is really like all in on this.

In Philippians three thirteen, we hear this, this this scripture,

I press on towards the goal to win the prize

for which God has.

Called me heaven word in Christ Jesus. But notice this.

Before he gets to this place, he.

Starts to talk about his lifeline, his lineage, all the

things that would make him perfect by the world's standards.

And he says at the end, right in the middle

of that, he says, I count all of this as garbage.

I count my accolades, I count all the things that

the world will acknowledge. It's like, hey, he is the

best Hebrew, he is the best of power, attention, he's

the best this. Someone might say, you're the best teacher,

or you're the best whatever you do for your life.

But guess what, Paul says. I count that as garbage.

That means nothing. But I press towards the goal to

win the prize.

I want to let you know, believer, there's a prize

at the end of this that while we're living this

life right now, we are pressing towards.

Well, what does that look like? It looks like me

on the treadmill. It's a horrible site. Guys. First of all,

I hate to run. I don't like to run. You

may you know that feeling you get where it feels

like your legs are on fire. Uh huh.

They say that's a lactic acid in your in your

body starting to stir up and whatnot.

I can't stand that feeling. And so I'm the guy

where they tell you don't scratch. I scratch, right.

So I only want to go fast enough so that

doesn't happen. And often it it looks like a jog.

And so I'm walking, well mount it doesn't look like

a job. It's a walk fast. It's like you know,

And I'm getting it. I'm getting I'm like, I'm getting it,

getting it, getting it right. And then and then I

get inspired somewhere in the middle and I say, okay,

well pick up your feet, and I'm looking good for

about forty five seconds and I start.

Back with the walk.

And so it's I'm pursuing something, but it looks so

strange because I'm going nowhere.

Uh huh, I'm going nowhere.

I want to let you know, sometimes when we are

walking with the Lord, it looks like you're going nowhere.

But the reality is, as long as I'm on that treadmill,

my body isn't having a reaction. My body is doing

something because I am working out. I don't see it

in the moment, but eventually I start to sweat, and

that is a sign that I'm doing something.

People of God this morning.

I want to let you know, keep pursuing the Lord,

even when it looks like you're not doing anything.

Keep pursuing the Lord. And so.

Paul says, press, press, push, pursue. Well, what does that

look like for the believer? First, in this whole passage

of Scripture and Philippians, it first looks like acknowledging our

need for grace.

I want to let you know I need the grace

of God.

I need the grace of God every single day because

every single.

Day I mess up. I guess I'm by myself. Amen,

you do two. Amen.

We were doing a video for this announcement and at

the end of the video, James says, you guys have

a great week, and I said you too. On the

video and I was like, this is what say that.

They're leaving it in so when you see it, just laugh.

The reality is is that we mess up daily. We

do things we don't want to do. We have these

things that we omit. You ever heard of sins of omission,

sins of We have sins we commit commission, sins of oldmission.

We have all these things that happen in our lives.

We get stuck in traffic, we we deal with things

at work, we deal with things at home, we deal

with things at school. We're dealing with our friends, we're

dealing with interactions. We're doing and we don't do it perfect.

It's not about doing it perfect. It's about pursuing the

Lord in the situation, Pursuing the Lord at your school,

pursuing the Lord on your job, pursuing the Lord and

your marriage, pursuing the Lord with your kids. As you

are pursuing the Lord, things start going in the direction

that the Lord wants them to go. It's not going

to be perfect. Your kids are not going to be

perfect parents, mom, dad, Let me help you, Let me

help you, young people, Let me help you.

Amen. They're not gonna be perfect. They're gonna make mistakes.

And I know you're trying to aim them, you're trying

to launch them, You're trying to get them somewhere. But

guess what, Just help them learn to pursue the Lord.

If they learn to pursue the Lord, they're gonna be okay.

But guess what, how do they learn to pursue the Lord?

You pursue the Lord. Come on, somebody in here.

As you're pursuing the Lord, I know sometimes you're like.

Well, pastor, I'm praying, I'm bathing the word, I'm doing everything,

and it seems like they're not lining up.

Don't stop pursuing.

Stay on the treadmill, keep on running, keep on going,

because in due time that's.

What is gonna start happening.

Things are gonna start turning around, and things are changing

for your family acknowledging our need for grace, then we

have to surrender the areas of pride and sin.

I need God's grace. His grace.

Helps me through everything that happens in my world. But

then as I receive grace, I have to also surrender

or put down my pride and my sin.

What are we prideful about? What's the sin that so

easily besets us?

Remember Paul talks about that, the thing that throws us

off course, the thing that we've been battling for a

long time.

What is that thing? I need to surrender that to

the Lord.

That's what pursuing God, Lord, this heavy weight I'm trying

to carry.

God, I don't want to carry.

It anymore because while I'm carrying it, I cannot pursue

you effectively.

I can't run after you. And so Lord, I'm want

to cast down this thing so that I can run. God.

Don't want to run after you. I want to be

where you are. I want to see what you see

in me.

Also, pursue looks.

Pursuit looks like striving to love, forgive and live in

obedience to God.

To love forgive and live in obedience to God. That's

what pursuit.

That means every day I'm saying, Lord, listen, listen, Lord,

how do I love better?

How do I love you more? I want to let

you know.

It's impossible for you to love God and not love

your neighbor. It's impossible for you to love God and

not love your wife and love your kids and love

the people that are around you. It's impossible. And so

when we say, Lord, help me to love Lord, Lord,

help me to love everybody.

Help me to love the stranger. Help me love the

people who don't look like me, who don't live where

I live and don't go through where I go to

work and school.

Lord, when I see somebody, give me the capacity to

love them. I want to love better. And I want

to forgive. Some of us have some unforgiveness, some stuff

that we just won't can't let go.

Yeah.

I know they hurt you, and I know it's been

something that you've been caring for a long time. But

I want to let you know the Lord wants you

to release that thing. When you release that thing, you'll

actually get healed. My wife and I we went through

the twenty one Days of Fasciing prayer. How many you

guys enjoyed twenty one days of fastening prayer. Amen, and

some of y'allre like, listen, I'm just glad I made

it through. I'm telling you.

Some of y'all went out get a big state on

last Monday, didn't you right? Because it was over right?

But it was hard.

It was difficult because you had to lay some things

down in order to see some things. But every day,

my wife and I would gather at seven in the

morning and we would pray, and we would do this devotional.

That's a long straight with the devotional, but we would

do this devotional that the Lord had me right. And

every day we read the devotional, we talked and we prayed.

While we were talking, one day we started to talk

about the past. We started to talk about ministry things

and all kinds of things in the past and people

of the past.

And we realized that in the midst of it, we

had been healed.

From some things, healed from some hurts, healed from some pains,

healed from some stuff that we thought we didn't even

think about anymore. But we had already asked God to

forgive us, for them to forgive us, for us to

be released of.

That thing because sometimes we have to go.

To extramund say, Lord, please help me to release forgiveness,

forgive me for not forgiving. And in that space we

felt the peace and the joy of the Lord because

we were striving to love, to forgive and live in obedience.

Just oh bam.

There used to be a good old hymn that said

trust and obey, for there's no other way to be

happy in Jesus but to trust and obey Lord.

I just want to obey you. I just want to

do what you say do, even if it makes me

feel uncomfortable.

Sometimes it's gonna make you feel uncomfortable to go and

ask that person, can I.

Pray for you? But just obey? It may change that

person's day. Today.

I'm standing and I'm hoping that my good friend Anna.

I was on a flight coming here.

Amen. I was on a flight. Hey, Amen, won't be

doing that too much more? Amen, Look at that? Ain't

God good?

And So I was on a flight and annas a

flight attendant on American Airlines, and maybe she's tuning in.

But I felt an urged to invite Anna to service.

So I ended up having this conversation. I went to

the bathroom.

I didn't really have to go, but I knew she

was up in the front, So I went in the.

Bathroom, washed my hands, came back out and I said,

I said, hey, hey, Anna, and she introduced how I

introduced myself, and I said, yeah, I'm headed back to Indianapolis.

And I said, what's home for you? And she said, well,

I've stayed. My location for work is indian and Apolis area,

but I'm from I believe she said Atlanta. Lord, And

I'm sorry if I messed that up, And so I said,

I said to her, I was telling her what I

was coming for and all that stuff, and she said,

I'm looking for a church. I'm looking for Well, I haven't.

I got a church for you. And so I'm trying

to figure out how to send her a connect card.

I was like, Oh, we're gonna have to do this differently.

We're gonna find a way just to scan it QR

code and they can do it. But anyway, but anyway,

I'm sitting there and I invited her and then we

exchanged numbers and then the funny thing I did that

and I told her, I said, I'll send you the

information for the service yesterday.

Anna text me. She said, how do I connect? She's seeking,

she's looking.

Do you understand what I'm saying. So, when you feel that,

obey it. Obey the Lord whatever he's asking you to do.

It may be awkward, it may feel strange, but.

Just do it.

God is gonna bless you if you do.

So. That's what pursuit looks like. There is a process

of perfection, the process of perfection. Now I just told

you nobody's perfect, right, But there is a process of perfection.

Now you're like, I'm confused, Mike, what are you talking about?

Check this perfection is not a prize to achieve. It's

a process to embrace. It's the process perfection. It means

that I am moving, I am going, I am doing,

I am headed somewhere. And as we're in the process

of perfection, you're not who you used to be. Listen,

when I was younger, the Saints used to testify like that,

and I had no clue to what they were talking about.

They would say this, they were saying, I'm so glad

I'm not who I.

Used to be. I'm not who I want to be,

but I'm not who I used to be. And I

was like, huh, well, who do you want to be?

All this?

You know as a young person, I'm twelve thirteen, I'm like,

who do you want to be?

But I realized that they were talking about the process

of being perfected in the Lord. It's the process of

allowing God to change your life, as receiving his grace

over your life so that you could be transformed. I

want to remind you that Romans twelve says this, do

not conform any longer to the patterns of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Renewing

means that you extended over and over again. Like when

you go to the library, right, you said you was

gonna read that book in two weeks, but you didn't, Right,

just couldn't do it. Right, go to lifevery and you say,

I need to renew this book. I need to hold

it a little bit longer. And I want to let

you know that the Lord is renewing your mind. He's

changing your mind. He's giving you time to be transformed.

He is changing you day by day. This is what

Tewod Corinthians twelve nine says. My grace is sufficient for you,

for my power is made perfect in weakness.

In other words, everything that you're struggling in.

When you submit your weakness to the Lord, his grace

gives you strength to be able to endure.

By myself, I'm a mess.

By yourself, you are a mess, amen, Oh messy person.

You right. But when I take my weakness and I.

Surrender it to the Lord and say, Lord, I understand, Lord,

I am all messed up.

But Lord, I sur rendering myself to you, I give

myself to you.

He then takes his grace and lays it on your weakness,

and he gives you perfect strength. Have you ever been

to a place where you say, I can't take no more.

It usually happens to me at the gym.

Just can't take no more. This can't take no more.

It's nothing like laying on the bench and you're doing

a press. Right, Uh huh, going back to that pursuit press. Right,

you're doing a press. And when I'm by myself, I

press a lot less. I'm gonna say that again. When

I'm by myself, I press a lot less. So I'm

not gonna throw up two forty fives on both sides.

I'm just not gonna do that, right, because I'm gonna

embarrass myself and I'm gonna need.

Some help, right.

Right.

I don't want to be that guy. No one wants

to be that guy. But when I am with my buddy,

my gym buddy, I will attempt that. Why because I

know that he will be there to assist me. Oh,

he's not gonna carry the weight, but if the weight

is too heavy, two fingers literally can assist.

So much to be able to lift the weight.

I want to let you no believer that when you

are in the press of life, when you're going through

the trials of life, that Jesus is there and he

is saying you go ahead and struggle.

A little bit.

But I got you, baby, I got you. I'm gonna

hold you out so that you can lift this weight. Yes,

by yourself, you're a week. Yes, by yourself you can't

make it. But in my strength, with my grace, you

can lift that weight. And so.

It's not about.

Perfection or achieving the prize, but it's about embracing, embracing

the Lord.

Here we go, the promise of perfection. I want to

let you know.

That the promise of perfection is not a prize to achieve.

It's a promise to receive. It's not a prize to achieve,

it's a promise to receive.

What do you mean, Mike. In other words, perfection will

not come here. I'm gonna say that again.

Perfection will not come here in this lifetime while we're

walking this earth, because you are being perfected process. As

you pursue, He processes you, and He takes you through

this process of perfection. And as you are being perfected,

they'll come a day when you are perfected. Listen to

this first John three and two who says this, dear friends,

Now we are children of God, and what we will

be has not yet been made known. In other words,

we are the children of God, and we can't even

figure out what it's gonna be at the end. I

have no clue what it's gonna be at the end.

But I am a child of God. The good news. Listen.

I am not finished, but I am a child of God.

I love the scripture right here. I'm still a child

of God, even though I am not perfect. I gotta

say it over here, because somebody over here you need

to hear this.

I am still a child of God. Even though I

am not perfect. God is perfecting me, and then it

goes on to say this. It says, but we know

what when Christ appears. We know that when Christ appears,

we shall be like him, for we shall see him

as he is at the end. When we see him,

that old song says, when we all get to heaven,

when we see him, we will know him because we

will be like him, because we will.

See him as he is. Listen, I am not going

to achieve that on this side of heaven. But one day,

my God, one day we.

Will all stand before the Lord, perfect it, ready for glory.

That's the good news. That's the good news. The promise

of perfection is this, one day we will stand before God.

Fully perfected, not because of our own efforts, but because

of Jesus's sacrifice.

It all goes back to.

It all goes back to Calvary. There's nothing you can

do to perfect yourself. There's nothing you can do.

To fix it all.

But you can pursue Jesus. And as you pursue, he

will transform, He will renew you, and on that day

you will be perfected. I started with an old hymn

because that song has always meant so much to me

as I transitioned through life. It's meant a lot to

me because anytime I came to a big moment in life,

it usually as a song that.

Gave me peace. That is tis so sweet to trust

in Jesus. But the last verse.

Is so powerful because it's the verse that you sing

after it's all said and done.

It's the verse that you sing on that day. We

sing it now, but it's the verse that you would

sing on that day, and it says, I'm.

So glad.

I learned to trust him. It's about trust.

Precious Shesus saved.

For friends. Hand I know that Thou hard with me.

We be.

Be the.

Geesus Gesus.

How trast him, How I proved him more him, Oh.

Geeesus Geesus.

Pray shout she Esus. Oh for grace to trius his more,

Oh for grace to trush.

I want to let you know something.

This morning, as a worship team starts to come back,

it takes grace to trust the Lord. Don't put your

trust in people because people will let you down. Don't

put trust in yourself because you might even let your

own self down. This weekend, I went to a hockey game.

Hockey's for everybody.

I heard.

And so my first hockey game and went with Pastor James.

It was really cool. It was a great experience.

And so Pastor James brought me this great jersey because

you know, I wanted to blend in right. So I

had on a hockey jersey, first time ever wearing a

hockey jersey.

It looked good. I might just get one to style

it right.

And so in my excitement, I got to his truck

and I put my phone on the back of his

truck and put on the hockey jersey, and everything got

hopped in his truck because we're gonna drive on over.

To the arena.

And then I'm looking for my phone and I'm looking

like in the chairs, and I said, oh man, I

must have left it in the car. So we go

through the whole game. Pastor Andrew drives me back to

where we parked, and I look at my car and

I'm looking for it, looking for it. Can't find the phone,

and I'm like, I must have left it at the restaurant.

And so then I said, Andrew, go ahead, I'll go

to the restaurant. I get in the car and I

was like, well, I couldn't have left at the restaurant.

Because I used directions to get here. I was just

really slow that day, guys.

And then something said, look on the ground makes sense.

So I look on the ground, and sure enough my

phone was in the middle of the parking lot, turned

upside down like this, and I'm just like, you know,

you know the feeling, you young people really know the feeling, right,

It's like oh, and so I approach it with much caution, excitement, caution,

and I get there and I pick it up and

I look at it, and sure enough the screen was cracked,

and I'm like, oh, man, man and so. But I

was grateful because on the other side of my phone

is my wallet, got all my cards in there, my

ID not a pretty photo, but still it's all in here,

and I'm so grateful.

So I'm grateful, but my screen is cracked. My my

my screen is cracked. Grateful but cracked, right.

So I called the company yesterday and I said, called

AT and T and I said, hey, I got a

crack screen.

What can I do if I brought my phone in?

Can you give me another phone? And they were like, well,

what kind of phone you have to have?

A I said, I have an iPhone sixteen Pro and

They was like, oh, yeah, you want to get that fixed?

And I was like yeah, and they said, well, if

you go to we can have repair companies. You can't

bring it in and get a new phone. And so

basically you're gonna have to deal with the phone you have,

but you're gonna have to get it repaired. And so

I said, okay, well I'll deal with it later. I'll

deal with it when I get back home. This morning,

I was getting dressed and then it dawned on me.

It was like, hold on, wait, my screen is cracked.

But I forgot that. After I bought the phone. I

went to this little shop and I'd gotten a screen protector,

and I said, hold up, I wonder, I really wonder

everybody's like, we're buying that now. I started to peel

back the screen and I said, I said, hold up,

is the whole phone crack or is it just the protector?

And I kept peeling at it and it started making

this sound. I said, oh, that doesn't sound nice. And

then I pulled it off and I could see where

the protector was cracked, but not the phone. Believer, this morning,

I want to let you know that you have a

protector over your life. His name is Jesus. And though

things may be hitting you left and right, and you

see the cracks and the dens and the bruises and

the scrapes and all the things that have come your way,

I want to let you know that you have a

protector and he's covering you.

I know it's been hard. I know you've been through

some hard places, but He is perfecting you through all

of it. He is doing a work in you that

you couldnot even imagine.

You can't do it yourself, but as you pursue the Lord,

he is perfecting you. Would you stand on your feet

with me this morning, I'm talking to the one who's

cracked up this morning. Your life is all cracked up,

and you've been trying to be perfect. You've been trying

to avoid falling because falls create cracks, so you've been

trying to avoid falling. You try to buy a nice

fancy case for your life, nice fancy house, a nice

fancy car, nice fancy job, But cracks still come. I

want to let you know that what you can't cover,

the grace of God will. He will protect you.

He will keep you. All you gotta do is pursue.

Let us pray, Father, I thank you for today, Ool God.

You're so good, Lord God.

I thank you for bringing all the pieces together, Lord God,

when we don't know how it's going to work.

I thank you for your anointing in.

This place because some of us struggle with perfection. Our

lives don't seem perfect in Lord God. We want it

to be perfect because we feel like that makes us

more like you. But God, that's not what you're looking for.

You're looking for pursuit.

So God, give us a hunger.

Inside of ourselves to pursue you, or God, to pursue

you with all of our might, Oh God, to pursue.

You like we could never ever reach you, but we

still are gonna try. Lord God.

I pray in the name of Jesus, Oh God, that

you would give us the abilio God, to long for

your presence, that when we wake up in the morning,

the first thing we want to do is talk to you,

sing to you, read your word, to spend time in

your presence of God, to lay down all of our stuff,

our shame, and all of our mistakes, O God.

And to allow your grace to cover us that we

can run for You. God. We get on that spiritual

treadmill this morning. And we'll keep going and keep going,

and keep going. And Lord God, when we can't jog,

we'll walk. And Lord God, when we can't walk, we'll run. Oh,

Father God, and Lord God.

When we can't do anything else, O, Father God, we

know that you will carry us.

We receive your grace.

As you perfect us and make us more like you.

We thank you for it now in Jesus' name, Amen,