Discipleship Training Part 4 - Discipleship Training

We got a special night tonight.

You that were a part of the uh seminar on making disciples.

We've got Rock and Bev Bottomly with us, and Rock's gonna be sharing.

Bev's gonna be sharing, and Rock and Bev, we just loved uh last night and this morning.

It was just really wonderful.

And Air Force One, so you know, there's something about having you in the area, I guess, just inspired them.

Is that like the first time they beat Navy in like a hundred years or something?

A few announcements, you guys.

If you are new to the road or you are not online with us, uh you can email us at theroadcs at gmail.com, and that's how you get information.

You as you notice, you don't get a bulletin when you come in.

We depend on you.

You're smart.

Everybody say, if you're smart, say I'm smart.

Yeah, you're smart.

You don't need a little bulletin thingy.

And so if you want to be online and get announcements, those come out weekly, they tell you everything that's going on.

As a matter of fact, what are you doing?

That is just that's so embarrassing that you would do that.

Um, okay.

Whatever, okay.

This is National Life Chain Sunday, October 5th.

Well, here's one of the beauties about being at the road is you don't have to go to church on Sunday.

That's a beautiful thing.

I I'm gonna live that out as long as I can.

I've been actually enjoying Sundays, not going to church.

First time ever in my whole life.

You gotta understand, I grew up in a home where my dad, I mean, you did not miss church.

And of course he's a pastor, so that's what you get paid to come, but um, even when we went camping, we went to church.

He'd go find some church, really bad churches, too.

But uh, so anyway, this Sunday, 2 to 3:30 p.m., Academy Boulevard and Austin Bluffs Parkway.

I'm assuming that has to do with uh Pikes Peak Citizens for Life.

So just so you know about that, that's happening tomorrow.

Prayer ministry training.

As you know, almost every week we have prayer ministry up here, and we are starting to do training.

And so what we're gonna be doing over the last for the next year is we're gonna be doing regular trainings.

Our first training, if you'd like to be on the prayer ministry team that comes up front, is going to be October 19th.

That's Sunday a week.

That is going, no, Sunday two weeks, 12 p.m.

to 4 p.m.

at the Garcia Residence.

And is the address up there?

There it is.

Listen, there's only room for 16 people, so it's first come, first serve.

So you can see, you can email right there, or you can sign up in the lobby.

It's all right there.

Um, and speaking of Roy and Betty, would you guys come up?

Roy and Betty Garcia.

How many of you know Roy and Betty?

And um, kind of a cool story, but Roy, Roy and Betty um go way back with us.

Um, they were a part of me starting Mountain Springs Church um 20 years ago, and then became close friends, then went to Omaha, then came back, and so just over the years, Roy and Betty have been some of our closest ministry friends.

And I asked Roy and Betty to consider being our directors over children's ministry, and they said yes, and so they're gonna be overseeing that, and um, I wanted Roy to share kind of a little bit about how God spoke to you about that.

So it's been quite a weekend for us.

Yesterday morning, Pastor Steve asked if he could see us to talk to us.

We thought it was gonna be to give our testimony up here, like Don and Carol did, so Betty was all nervous about that.

But to our surprise, he asked us if we'd consider taking over the children's ministry.

Now that to us was out of the blue.

We didn't expect that.

And so we discussed it for a while.

At first, we said, Us, we're too old.

You're talking about little kids here.

And we don't have the energy we used to have.

But you know, we discussed it and we said, We'll just talk it over and we'll pray.

After work, I went home and we prayed, and I was reminded that in my Bible there were some notes from 2002 that we went to seek guidance from the Lord in Kansas City.

We were living in Omaha at that time, as he said, and we were asking for guidance, and some people prayed over us and they prophesied over us.

Well, two things stuck out from these notes.

One was there is no such word as retirement that's speaking to me.

And the other was you'll be spiritual parents and grandparents, with many children under you.

Now that was a long time ago.

And we hadn't heard from the Lord for a long time concerning this, and we hadn't even been working in children's ministry.

Going back to our references of people speaking into our lives 2009, some ladies in Kansas City again prayed over Betty, didn't even know her.

Here's what they said you have a nurturing heart and they saw children.

A ministry to children.

Easy to it's easy for you to relate to children, and easy for children to relate to you.

You really have a mother's heart, and God will send children to you to minister to.

So after these two things, there was no doubt that this was a call of God.

And we can't say no.

So we're very nervous, and we need your prayers for grace and guidance and God's wisdom, and we need your prayers for twenty-four people, including men.

I've always been with Betty.

This has been her ministry most of the time since she was young, but I've always worked with her, and God's given me a heart for children as well.

As a matter of fact, in the neighborhood, all the little kids come over.

Can Roy come out and play?

And so I go out and play.

But we need your prayers, and Betty has something to say.

Well, I just there's one question I want to ask.

Um, all the people that were here this weekend with Rock and Dad.

Did you enjoy the seminar?

But you know one thing about this seminar, this isn't like all seminars that we used to go to and you go home and you say, Oh, I'm so blessed, that was so good.

And then it's gone.

I believe that this seminar is something that we can take.

That we can start and I'm saying she did it.

She said yes.

And she's um going to give me a name that I can contact her that I want to bring this whole seminar into her children.

That again we need your prayers and your support.

And we just we just really do feel honored and thank you all.

Okay, let me just tell you something about this couple.

Um, we had little kids and we were, you know, planting the church and everything, and we had very many people constantly on a regular basis wanting to babysit our kids.

I think because they were our kids, we were really choosy about who we'd babysit.

We got to be such uh in love with these guys that we flew, we flew um was it did we just fly Betty?

Okay, Betty from Omaha all the way back to watch our kids when we went to Japan because we wanted her and her only.

So your kids are gonna get discipled in some powerful ways, and you couldn't work with a greater couple than Roy and Betty.

And so Roy and Betty, we just are so excited about that, and really are.

You guys stay up here because I want to do one more thing.

Um, okay, Amy and the Lathan family.

You guys come up here.

Amy's running for mayor of Colorado Springs.

And uh I feel like we need to pray for for all these guys up here.

And and Amy, um, do you just want to take a moment and just share anything that we can pray about?

Um, well, thank you so much.

Um this is a big undertaking, obviously, and something that I do already, and and forget all the technical issues that we deal with.

Uh something that when we prayed about whether or not this was the right decision, something that just kept coming around.

Um, one word was love, and it it matters to take into this office and this position a love of people.

And that's true whether it's staff or other elected officials throughout the community that we work with or or you know, citizens across the board, and that's about loving people.

And I think there's a different way to do things.

And so we just need prayer for strength for this very, very mighty journey that we're on.

And um just uh that we get a little sleep every now and then and uh stay strong as we go through the journey.

Bob Lathan just had a heart attack uh recently.

We were in the hospital with him, and so this is a big deal for that to be happening on the cuspice of the other, and so we need to pray for the whole family and just uh love all you guys uh so much, and so we're gonna pray for the whole family.

Can I have all the shepherds?

Can I have shepherds and stewards come up?

All the shepherds and stewards, would you guys come up and let's lay hands on these precious saints of the Lord?

Father, right now, in the name of the blood of Jesus, we lift up Roy and Betty, Bob and Amy, the whole Lathan family, the Garcia family.

And Father God, we ask for the power of your Holy Spirit to be upon them.

Oh God, we pray for the blood of Jesus to be over them.

Lord, I pray that as Roy and Betty navigate decisions that relate to our children and discipling them, that they would know that they're hearing from you and walk in step with you.

Father, as Amy is making decisions, as Emily is involved and Bob and Nick and everybody, we just bless them with wisdom.

Supernatural, powerful insight and rhema that would open doors that no man can shut, shut doors that no man can open.

And so, Father, we anoint them from the road with all the anointings and the power that you've given us as a body.

We anoint them with your spirit and with your word in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

All right.

Well, tonight, Rock and Bev bottomly are here.

Rock used to be the pastor at uh pulpit rock church many years ago.

He's a graduate of the Air Force Academy.

He's done a seminar for us uh Friday night and Saturday morning called Making Disciples.

He went to Purdue University, was a pilot, and after the Air Force, God called him into the ministry.

He's been the pastor at Pulpit Rock, uh Bridgeway in Oklahoma City, our Lord's community church right now in Oklahoma City.

Before that, he was the family institute here teaching on marriage and family.

So let's welcome Rock Bottom.

Thanks, Steve.

Thank you, Steve.

Hey, we've enjoyed being here with you.

Uh it's been a delight, it really has.

We we've loved being here in Colorado.

Bev and I went up to the crags yesterday and saw the last one, the last of the gold kind of turning, and oh, it is so fun.

And and uh we were here for history in the making, Air Force Beat Navy.

I like it, I like to say it's routine, but it's historic, unfortunately.

It's about, you know, like a solar eclipse.

Um and uh but we love you guys.

We love we love the mission, uh, what you all are creating, what God is, what you're allowing God to create through you here.

A church that really uh, the main purpose of which is to build wholehearted disciples of Jesus.

And we spent last night and this morning just talking about how how on target, how central what you all have have described as your mission really is to the heart of the Lord.

I mean, that's his great commission is go make disciples.

And uh that's the longing of God is that he'd have people who are genuinely with all their hearts following the Savior.

And that's what you guys are about.

And we talked about uh what it means to be a disciple, we talked about uh just how simple it is, really, to make disciples, the simple things that God tells us to do, and how important it is that we all see ourselves, both as disciples and disciple makers.

And uh I wanted to let Bev just start out this morning because we we did a lot of things together in the time that we had, but I wanted Bev just to talk about the benefit of the kind of thing that we talked about, what we talked about D groups, just the disciples' groups, just small groups, where men and women, in her case, women, receive the benefit of personal attention.

And uh and they get to get those essential ingredients of growth of the word and prayer and fellowship and witnessing and the ministry of the Spirit, experiencing, hearing the Lord's voice, and they uh they do it up close and personal.

So I just asked Bev to share.

She's really involved in in three different kinds of D groups.

She'll tell you about that and kind of the benefit of each.

So, Bev, here you go.

I think it's this one, is the one that is this one, Greg?

Okay, right here.

Come and tell them about the benefit of this for women.

Well, good evening, y'all.

Am I on?

You all are um go-getters.

I I know many of you were here last night and this morning, so we appreciate you coming out um tonight.

Uh D groups, these are um these are small groups that that um that really I've been involved in since I I met the Lord and got involved with Castrusade what I see here and call it.

Um but it's so fun now uh several chapters down the road that that first of all um the the passion of my heart is still to be a disciple.

You know, I I feel like the closer I get to Jesus, the um you know, the the more wonderful he is.

And it's not that just the lesser I am, but the the um, you know, like when Isaiah saw him, he he said, Whoa, you know, woe am I, you know, just a sinful man.

Uh so the the passion of my heart, nothing is more exciting than knowing that Jesus Christ is really alive.

That this is just not something that we have um been uh doing.

It's not a way of life, but that there is a God who gave himself a face, as I heard back many years ago, and that he went to the cross and that he loved us so much that he knew that it would take the death of a perfect man to make us right with the Father, and he took my death.

And and and so um I'm so thankful that because of the Holy Spirit in me, um, he continues to captivate my heart with with that, because I know it would be so easy just to get sidetracked on a lot of good things and miss the one thing that is the best.

And I I personally appreciate these D groups because um back when we moved to Oklahoma City leading focus, um I I mean I had I I've always spent time with the Lord, but I really feel like it's been more hit or miss than a consistent time with him.

And you know, Rock has been talking to me, he was a navigator, I was a campus crusader, um, about 15 minutes with God.

But you know what's interesting is he started having a quiet time with me.

I mean, it wasn't every day, but it it really started maybe once or twice a um a week.

But during those those mornings that we would read together, we would do exactly like what we've done.

He'd read, and then Rock would go, well, let's look back now and just see what you know what the Holy Spirit wants to say.

I I mean, he still does it, you know.

I mean, let's look back now.

I mean, I love it.

Um, and so we would we'd just kind of go to our own little place.

We have our two chairs in our bedroom, and we would listen, and we journal, and then we would share with each other.

And and we've been doing that now a good six, seven years.

And and we have had a Christ-centered relationship, like like many most of you, but there is a dimension of intimacy with Jesus that coming to the the word and listening and sharing with each other and then praying that has added a whole new dimension to our relationship, our oneness in in Christ.

So I would encourage you, if you've never tried it, you know, that you would um that you'd, you know, stick your toe in and and try and do this with your wife, with your husband.

This isn't a time to teach each other or to tell each other what really only the Lord needs to tell the other person, but this is a time to listen and love Jesus and grow in that love.

So really my favorite D group that I've learned about over the last six, seven years has really been with rock.

Um, and then it's just as I've been more regularly coming to him, then I am hearing him say go.

And and and really my go, my neighbor in this season of life, it's the women in the church, but let me tell you, it's it's my it's my own children, it's our 12 grandchildren, it's my little Kate, who is six years old, who is who is very eager to read and to listen.

And and before she she could write, she could draw pictures of what Jesus was whispering in her ear.

And now, as my granddaughters are um learning how to write and they're learning how to read, now they can actually write in a sentence or two what they think Jesus is saying.

So the D group flushed into this special time with my my granddaughters.

Um and then in the church, um my heart really, I think because I came from a non-Christian family, and I had very significant spiritual mothers throughout the years.

And now at this stage in my life, when I grow up, the person I want to be is like Philistanly, you know.

You never get too old to have someone who you just deeply admire, and you see a relationship with with God that you you really want.

You don't want to just be like them, but you want those qualities.

And um, and so my heart has always been to work with young women.

I mean, that just that makes me so excited to be able to have that time.

So I have a D group with young moms, and we meet every week.

We um we do meet at the church, we have child care, and um what we do is we we go through, we're going through the book of Luke, and we break into small groups, so we're really getting the personal attention.

And and I've got four mentoring moms, and so we can each have three or four moms that we're getting to know, and and these ladies, they're really learning just the simplicity and yet the importance of just regular daily time of coming to Jesus and being with him and being in his word.

Um, and then we we have um we have D groups in our larger community groups, and um I personally, when Rock and I came to this new church, um, even though we'd been in Oklahoma City before, these are all new new friends.

And so God was very gracious to give me three ladies, um, and we have been meeting really through the years doing a D group, and really what has come out of that is not only companionship, friendship with like-hearted women who are really um pursuing God in with all of their heart, but but they have been um they have been prayer warriors for me, you know, as as as I've gone through hard times, as one of the ladies in the group, a very strong mature woman, you know, for various reasons, circumstances in their their lives, their marriage has really Gone through a difficult time.

And so this has been a safe place where she could come and know that there are women that are regularly praying, standing by her, holding her arms up and saying, God is going to be faithful.

And she's really come through that.

But it's been a place of real support, accountability, and it um it is just it's it is wonderful to have a a place where you you feel known.

Someone knows your heart and you know their heart.

And um and you can just be right where you are, you can you can cry, you can laugh, um, and and yet you know you're received and will be loved, and maybe and pushed at times, um if if need be.

So those are just the different, the many spectrums of um of of we're a D group.

I have a a neighbor across the street that I'm praying for, uh and she's retired, a pharmacist, and um I I mean it would be so easy.

She seems very open to do something like this.

So um just thank you.

I appreciate ladies, you wanted me to come up um and just share my own experience, and um we're we're really eager to watch and listen and hear what God does here as you all first come to him and um love him and get to know him, and as he sends you out, um, just what's gonna happen here at on the at what the road?

On the road, on the road.

Okay.

Thanks, Bev.

Good, thanks.

You know, our favorite for both Bev and me, our favorite D group is the one we do with each other.

We do it once a week, and uh Monday, it's my day off.

We sit in our chairs in our bedroom there, and and we do what we did you guys did this morning and last night.

And uh, it's the most bonding thing we've done in our 40 years of marriage.

Um open our hearts and share what God is saying to us and pray, you know, for each other and for what he's saying.

It's a marvelous way, man.

You know, often we talk about spiritual leadership, and that's kind of a vague thing.

What does that mean?

Uh, you know, it really begins with something like this is taking the initiative with your wife and say, hey, sweetie, would you like to sit down and let's let's read the word together, let's listen to what God's saying, let's share what he's saying with each other, let's pray together.

And uh marvelous way to step out and be a spiritual leader.

Okay, I want to talk to you about the most important subject in the world.

And uh the most important subject in the world by far, hands down, is the love of God.

When I mean the love of God, I mean the love of God for you.

How God feels about you, what he thinks about you, what he does for you, um, his love for you.

And the reason it's the most important subject in the world is that the most important command is the world, is that you love him, you love him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.

I mean, that's that's what we're here on the earth to do.

That's the primary reason for life on the earth.

That's the dream of God.

If you wonder what is God's dream for my life, it is that you would come to love him with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength.

But before you can love him, the Bible tells us you have to realize something.

You have to realize how he loves you.

Because when it comes to love, you and I are pure moons.

We can only reflect what we've received.

That's the truth of it.

Now you know that from your life.

Uh there's certain people, there's certain people in your life, maybe, some of us don't have a person like this, but there's some, for most of us, we have somebody in our life we really like.

I mean, we enjoy them, we look forward to seeing them, right?

We love it when they come in the room.

Can you think of somebody like that?

I mean, I know some of us can't.

Uh honestly, I'm not being pessimistic.

Some of us have honestly never really been loved.

And so there is nobody we really love, like, look forward to seeing.

We we don't even know what that feeling feels like.

But many of us do.

Maybe it's a grandmother, maybe it's a mom, maybe it's a dad, maybe it's a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a husband or a wife or, you know, a grandchild or somebody.

But I'll guarantee you the one thing that all the people you like and look forward to seeing have in common is you sense they love you.

Right?

I mean, who wants to be with somebody who doesn't like you?

Right?

Who wants to be with somebody who's skeptical or cynical or critical or, you know, doesn't really pay much attention to you?

Nobody.

I mean, we are wired to respond to people who love us.

It's the way we are as human beings.

The truth about us as human beings is we can only love to the extent that we realize that we are loved.

And so the most important subject in the world is God's love for you.

Because until you realize God's love for you, you not only can't love him, it's hard to love anybody else.

The Bible says we love because he first loved us.

That's not just a little poetic saying, it is a deep truth of metaphysics.

We love only and to the extent that we realize that he loves us.

That's true.

You can only forgive to the extent you realize how God forgives you.

Okay.

You can only be patient to the extent you realize how God is patient with you.

You can only be loyal and stay when you feel like leaving to the extent you understand how God stays with you when he has every reason to leave.

You can only really be generous to the extent that you understand how extravagantly generous God is with you.

That's the way it is.

So this is the most important subject in the world.

It's not only the most important subject in the world, it is the most transforming subject in the world.

And what I mean by that is if you understand the love of God, it changes everything.

Really.

It changes the way you think and feel on the inside about yourself, about life, and most importantly about God.

Until we understand the love of God, the truth is most of us are afraid of God.

We're afraid of God because we believe the devil's lie.

The devil's lie is extremely persuasive, and there's a bent in us that tends to believe it.

The devil's lie is simple.

If you give your life to God, he will ruin it.

Now that is the devil's lie.

And there is.

There's a fear in it, uh, in most of us about the will of God.

There's a fear that if I really follow God with all my heart and all my soul, if I just give myself to God, He will take my life and I'll take the color out of it and the fizz out of it and the perfume out of it.

He'll make it smaller than it is.

If I'm single, I'll never get to get married.

If I really follow him and make me go where I don't really want to go and do what I really don't want to do.

And so honestly, until we understand the love of God, most of us are afraid to really hear the voice of God for our life, the will of God.

And there is, there's a tendency to keep a distance, there's a tendency to evade, to avoid.

There's kind of, you know, the thinking, the best way to do life is to kind of sow your wild oats, be yourself, do your own thing right up until the end of your life, then make peace with God.

Then you have the benefit of having doing life your own way, and you get heaven.

Does that sound strangely familiar to your soul?

It's the way we tend to think.

The truth is the opposite.

The way to have the most life is as early as you possibly can.

Recognize the goodness and the genius and the wonder of God and his love for you, and as early as possible, give everything you've got, your whole soul, to your Father.

And he'll not only give you a marvelous eternity, he will give you a great life on this planet.

A life that when you come to the end, you are glad you went that way.

A life that when he sees you at the end, he will say to you, Well done, and you'll deserve it.

Because of the way you lived and the choices you made.

It'll be a heroic life.

It'll be a life that your children will remember and want to emulate.

They'll tell stories about it.

It's a life that'll touch people and enrich people and leave behind a marvelous legacy.

Will it be an easy life?

No.

You'll have opportunities to make heroic choices, to show heroic patience and heroic forgiveness, and heroic mercy, and heroic loyalty and devotion to your wife and your children and to God Almighty.

But at the end of it, there'll be a gladness and a joy that I've come this way.

No regrets and no shame and an excitement about seeing God and hearing him say, Well done.

Now that's a great life.

And the way we have that life is we give ourselves to God as early as we possibly can, and we follow him with all of our heart.

And it leads to a wonderful end.

So understanding the will of God, it changes the way you think about God.

Rather than being afraid of God, resenting God, you want him, you're hungry for him, you want to know his way, you want to try it out, you want to see what God will do if you give him all of yourself.

So it's the most important subject in the world, it's the most transforming.

Paul said, the love of God constrains me.

The love of Christ constrains me, it controls me.

It changed everything.

Because we thus judge that if one man died for all, then we're all dead, and that all, you know, that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who loved them and died for them.

Understanding the love of God changes my whole posture towards God from kind of fear and distance to desire for intimacy.

Unfortunately, it's not only the most important subject, but the most changing, it does, it transforms the way you think about yourself and your life and God, but it is the most difficult subject in the world.

The reason is nobody loves you like God loves you.

There's nothing you can imagine.

In fact, the Bible says that the love of Christ surpasses knowledge.

We can't even imagine it.

It's a marvelous thing.

It's interesting when Paul writes, if you're a Bible reader, you know in many of his books, the first half of the book is about all God's love for you.

Second half is about how you respond by loving him back.

It's true in the book of Ephesians.

In the book of Ephesians, the first half is about all that God has done and how he loves you.

And at the end of it, Paul, in frustration, you can tell he's frustrated, he says, you know, no matter what words I use, no matter how I describe it, there's no way people can understand God's love for them.

And so he stops writing, he stops teaching, and he just stops and he prays.

And he says, For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth derives its name, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man.

And I pray that you might be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

Okay, that you might be filled up to all the fullness of God.

In other words, that you'd become all that God wants you to be, that you'd enjoy God as fully as He wants you to enjoy Him.

In other words, I can't describe you in words, but this is something only the Holy Spirit can reveal to the depth of your soul.

So, Father, I'd ask in the name of Jesus tonight that you would release a revelation of your love.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, I want to read to you about the love of God, and I want to go to the very first place in the Bible that God speaks about his love.

It's the first place he describes himself, and it's in Exodus 34.

If you have your Bibles, if you'd open to Exodus 34, you may remember this is the first place where God really describes what he's like.

And you may remember the story.

Um Moses asks God, he says, I want to see your glory.

I mean, if you want me to follow you, I want to see what you're like.

I want to see your glory.

And God said, Well, you can't see my glory.

If you see my face, you'll die.

You'll have a stroke, you'll you'll have a heart attack.

It'll just be, it'll blow all the circuits in your in your body to see what I'm like, you'll die.

But I will proclaim my name, he said.

And to proclaim your name in Hebrews means I'll I'll I'll reveal my nature.

I'll show you, I'll tell you what I'm like.

I can't let you see me.

If you see me, you'll die, but I'll tell you what I'm like.

And this is the first time in the Bible where God describes himself.

And at the core, God is what?

Love.

And so he describes how he loves us.

And this is the first thing.

Now, all I want you to do, I'm going to read this passage, I just want you to notice one thing.

I want you to notice the very first word he uses to describe himself.

And we'll come back to that.

So, Exodus 34, starting at verse 5.

Then the Lord came down in a cloud and he stood there with him and he proclaimed his name.

Or does he describe himself?

He he he told Moses what he's like.

He says, He said he passed in in front of Moses, proclaiming the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.

Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished, he punishes the children and their children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.

As you read that, what is the first word that God uses to describe himself?

Compassionate.

It's like he's saying, Look, I don't know what you've heard about me, but if you only know one thing about me, I want you to know that I am compassionate.

I want to talk to you about two things.

I want you to know what this means, and then we'll talk about what it means for us.

What it means, the Hebrew word is the word rachum, rachum.

You have to spit to say it.

Rachum.

And that's compassionate.

And as in so many of the Hebrew words that are abstract.

Compassionate is an abstract.

You can't see it.

It describes something that's true of the soul, of the heart.

It's not concrete like a tree or a chair or water or food.

And often what the Hebrews will do is they will take a concrete thing that helps you feel and understand what the abstract means.

Well, the concrete root of this word is womb, a mother's womb.

And the meaning of this word is it means the love, the feeling that a mother has for her newborn child.

This is our daughter Megan looking down into the newborn eyes of, who is that?

Wyatt?

Her firstborn son.

What she's feeling as she looks into that little baby's face is rachum, compassion.

That's the word.

A little bit more broadly in the Bible, it means a parent's love.

Talks about a father's love, a mother's love for their child.

It has an intense longing to comfort, to help, to rescue.

The first thing God wants you to know is that He thinks, He feels, He acts towards you.

The way a mother acts towards her newborn, a father towards his young kid.

That's what it means.

And uh you look at these kids and nothing happens in you except you think they're strange, probably.

But for Bev, when we look at those kids, we feel compassion.

Those are our kids.

That's Zach, that's Bo, that's Bethany, that's Josh.

They're our kids.

And there is an intensity about the way we watch them and pay attention to them, about how we feel about them.

You you all, I mean, one of the great benefits of growing up and getting a job and getting married and having children is once you have children, for the first time, you understand rachum, the way God feels about you.

It's the way you feel about your own kids.

That's what it means.

Now, what does it mean for us practically?

There are three things, a number of things.

You can kind of run this through a prism, but I just want to mention three things that this means about God and the way He thinks and feels and acts towards you.

The first thing it means is God is eager to do you good.

He wants to do you good.

Think of your own kids.

You love to do them good.

Uh, you know, one of the worst things about grandparents is we're the first ones to feed our grandchildren uh uh peach yogurt, you know, much to the dismay of the mother who's trying to keep sugar and and all these things away, you know.

But grandparents, man, we want to get, we want to see that kid's eyes light up the first time he tastes frozen peach yogurt, right?

I mean, don't we do that?

We we we want to do that.

We want to be the first one to take him out and pet an animal, uh uh a goat or a sheep or something, take him to the zoo.

This is me with my my young grandson Jack.

Now, here's here's the scene.

I want you to look at my face, look at Jack's face.

Jack has no idea what's coming.

We are right across the beach, we're in Panama City, and we're about to take him across the street.

When we get across the street, it'll be the first time he's ever seen the beach and the Gulf of Mexico.

Now, I know what that sand is like.

It is that white sugar powder sand.

I mean, it is the most fun thing to put your little toes into and wiggle.

And the Gulf, it's uh it's June or July, it is warm.

I know that look at me.

Who's excited?

I'm excited, aren't I?

Can you tell it from the picture?

We are, I'm taking Jack to the beach for the very first time.

And I know he's gonna love it.

This is the heart of a father, it's the heart of a grandfather.

It's the way God feels about you.

It's why he asked you to take your life and make it a living sacrifice, give it to me.

Not so I can take it and ruin it, so I can take you to the beach.

I can take you to the beach, I can take you to places in your soul and your heart that you long for and desire.

I can give you a sense of value and worth and dignity.

I can give you a partner, I can give you a purpose in life, I can take you on a journey that at the end of which you will be so glad you came along.

God desires to do us good.

It's a wide theme in the Bible.

Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Is there anything hard to understand about that?

Delight yourself.

In other words, give yourself, let him shape you with his word.

Let him lead you, let him have his way in your life.

Follow him when he calls you to back off and tries to restrain you some things that would harm you and harm the people around you.

Why?

Because he wants to give you the desire of your heart.

He wants to give you children who, as they grow up, they respect you and love you more and more rather than less and less.

He wants to give you a marriage that as time goes by, there is a coming together so that there's a companionship and a delight in each other rather than a boredom or resentment of each other.

So that when you get old, you don't get old alone.

You've got a companion, you've got kids who come and see you, and they want to be with you.

So that when you look back on your life, it's not full of shame.

Shame and regrets and should've and would've and could've.

It's I am so glad I made that decision, that choice, and did that thing.

And there's an ability to come to the end of the life and enjoy the memories.

And look in the mirror and enjoy who you see.

This is what God wants to do with your life.

He wants to do you good.

Jesus said, I'm coming that you might have life and have it abundantly, overflowing.

Don't be conformed to this world.

Don't run away from God.

Don't resent and be afraid of God, Paul says, but be transformed.

Let the word of God change your mind to see the truth about God, which is he wants to do you good, so that you can experience, you can taste what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

The psalmist said, taste and see that the Lord is good.

Let him have his way.

I'll tell you, the first time I came to grips with this, I just graduated from the academy and I was engaged, but to the wrong girl.

I'd had a girlfriend.

It's a funny story, we're in biology in the tenth grade.

We had worms.

I dissected her worm, and from then on she loved me, and I loved her, and we were boyfriend and girlfriend.

Her name was Holly.

So Holly and I were boyfriend and girlfriend, 10th grade, 11th grade, 12th grade.

I went away to the academy all the way through those four years, seven years.

During that time is when I came to Christ.

My roommate led me to Christ, and my heart changed, and my goal in life was to know and please God and serve Him.

Holly was glad about that, but that never happened in her life.

And so she was pleased, it made me a nicer boyfriend.

Should have, it really didn't in some areas.

And uh and so, you know, that never happened to her.

And so as we were in our college years, the direction of our life became apparent that we were going in different directions.

We had a different master, a different dream, a different desire for what we wanted to do with our life.

But she was my girlfriend.

And if you've done that, you kind of have these memories, the longer you go, the more bonded you get.

And I knew it wasn't right.

I knew it wasn't right because I knew that if you want to go for God, you want to get a companion who wants to go for God.

So that you both help each other when you stumble.

And that's plain in the scriptures.

So I knew this wasn't right.

But I enjoyed having a girl who loved me, liked me, was a girlfriend.

It wasn't right, it was not a clean, pure relationship, but I enjoyed the pleasure of that sin.

I enjoyed having somebody who liked me, who admired me.

And so even though I knew that God was saying this needs to end, I wouldn't end it.

Because I loved it.

So we got engaged.

And even when I asked her to marry me, I knew she wasn't the one.

I knew it.

But uh I didn't want to let go.

So I graduated.

Now you can get married, and uh, so we were engaged.

I went to Purdue University and I was part of the nav ministry, I was part of the leadership team.

But I didn't tell anybody I was engaged.

Now that's a pretty big thing, right?

I didn't want anybody to know because I didn't want anybody to ask me about it.

I didn't want anybody to interfere with it.

And uh, but somehow the guy who was in charge of the navs there, he found out.

He says, Hey, I hear you're engaged.

Yeah, that's right.

Well, congratulations, tell me about it.

And so I began to try to tell him about it without really telling him about it.

And uh and he was a wise fellow.

He said, Listen, uh, you know, this marriage thing, it's a big deal.

It'll more than anything else, it'll shape the rest of your life.

Marriage is good, life is good, marriage isn't good, life isn't good.

So he said, You really want to get this one right.

And so he told me, he said, I want you to go out, do me a favor, go out and spend a day with the Lord and just ask him how he feels about this, will you?

And then come back and tell me what he says.

So I said, sure.

Thinking, uh, I don't want to do this at all.

And uh, but I did.

I went out by the banks of the Wabash River there in northern Indiana, and you know how when you're trying to avoid dealing with God, that's what I was doing, you know, throwing rocks in the river and watching the squirrels and anything except dealing with God.

But finally I began, I began to read.

Began to read the Psalms, and and God was so gracious.

I mean, he was very gracious.

I just began to read things like what I just told you.

Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

He was telling me, assuring me of his love.

Finally, the turning point came.

I came to Psalm 84.

Psalm 84, 11 says, For the Lord God is a son and shield.

The Lord will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

And I knew at that point that God was saying to me, Listen, you've been a believer now for that going about three and a half years.

This is this is the test.

Do you trust me?

Do you trust me in this area?

And I remember, thank you, I remember uh uh wrestling through that and thinking, I do not want to spend the rest of my life wondering what God would have done if I'd have obeyed him.

And so I decided that I knew what I needed to do.

I went back, I told this guy, he said, what'd God say?

He said, I need to end it.

He prayed for me, he put me in my car there and Lafayette.

I drove down to Knoxville, the University of Tennessee, where this girl was going to college, and I got my ring back and we cried and broke up.

And I went back, and it was painful, as any of you would know if you're in that kind of thing.

It's deeply painful.

But for the first time I had peace in my heart.

It was about a year later I went home on leave, and a young woman had moved into our home.

Her name was Bev.

She was working with Campus Crusade.

Her heart was wholly for God and for the Great Commission.

I mean, she was an amazing thing.

And I just want to say, you know, several years later, we were married.

And I want you to know the greatest part of my life on this earth is my marriage to this woman.

God did not withhold a single good thing.

He's eager to do you good.

Now I just say that because we all face times where we we know the will of God, we have a sense of it, and there's this fear that if I follow God, he'll mess me up.

You need to know that's the devil's lie.

The truth is, Rahum.

Compassion means he is eager to do you good.

He wants to take you to the beach.

There's a second thing that it means, and uh compassion means he's willing to forgive.

If you guys have kids, you know there's something about your children that's very different than everybody else, and that is they can say mean things about you, they can do unfair things about you, but the moment they turn, something inside you just wants them back.

And it's true of God.

Uh the passage, you see it in the passage here.

Compassionate and gracious, God says.

I mean, think about this.

God is telling us before we walk with him, you can read this before you care anything about God.

He says, I'm compassionate, I love you like a parent.

I'm gracious, that means I'm generous.

Compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving, kindness, and truth, who keeps loving kindness for thousands.

Then he says this who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin.

Now, iniquity is the ugly stuff, it's the really shameful, embarrassing stuff, the stuff you would really want nobody else to know.

Because it's so embarrassing.

That's the iniquity.

Transgression is the proud stuff, it's the arrogant stuff.

It's who needs God, who needs people.

I'm king of the mountain.

You know, it's the obnoxious, noxious stuff of an arrogant human being.

And sin, it's just the stuff that's wrong.

It's gossiping, it's deceiving, it's taking stuff that doesn't belong to you, it's being inconsiderate, it's being greedy.

It's just wrong.

God tells us right from the beginning, he says, you know, I'm willing to forgive iniquity, the ugly stuff, transgression, the noxious, arrogant stuff, and sin, the stuff that's just wrong.

The underlying assumption is you repent and you want to come home.

You repent, you want to come home.

I'm telling you in advance, I will forgive it.

Jesus said this: He said, every sin that men shall commit shall be forgiven them.

The only thing that you can't, it's not forgiving is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

What's that?

It's rejecting throughout your life what the Holy Spirit tells you about the Savior of the world.

That He died for your sin, He loves you, and if you repent and come back, He'll forgive you.

If you reject that, there's no hope for you.

But everything else Jesus said shall be forgiven.

Iniquity, transgression, and sin.

Now I just say that because all of us have things we hope nobody finds out.

And all of us have things we wonder, because we know God knows about it.

We wonder, will God really forgive that?

Will he really restore?

Will he really bless?

Will he really use me?

And the answer is yes.

You need to hear that.

If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.

It is a wonderful thing to be a saved man, a saved woman.

To know that the sin of the past is gone.

This is Rembrandt's, you know, Rembrandt, uh the Dutch painter.

This was his last painting.

It was uh, it's like he's saying, listen, I don't know if you got anything I said before this, but if you don't get anything, get this.

It's called the Return of the Prodigal.

And you see the Father there.

Look at the Father.

The Father's God, the young boy, the coming back, that's you, that's me, that's us.

Look at the father's hands.

The simple message of the painting is when we do this, God does that.

Receives us back, forgives our sin.

Wonderful thing.

There's a third thing, and that is compassion means that God is easy to please.

It doesn't mean that he doesn't care about sin, he does.

He wants to rescue us and pull us out of it, and he'll he'll he'll speak to us softly, and then he'll speak to us through people, and then he'll speak to us through some gentle circumstances, and then he'll do whatever he needs to do to kind of turn us because sin destroys us and the people around us.

So it doesn't mean that he he he's not Santa Claus, he's not blind, he's not a doting father.

He wants us to live heroic lives of honor so that we give life rather than take it.

But it's also true that he is extraordinarily easy to please, and by that I mean he is patient with us.

He understands what it's like to be a person and how long it takes to get it right.

And there's something about God that sees right into our heart, and he can tell when we're trying.

And really to God, that's all that matters.

When we try, he's pleased.

And I'll tell you what this does when you realize this, and it says it in the Bible.

It says, as the father has compassion, here's that word, as a father has rachum, compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

He knows that we're, he knows our frame, he knows that we're dust.

Now, where I came face to face with this is uh, let's go back, Randy, and go back.

I'll tell you a story about this little fellow in a minute.

But I don't know about you, but for most of my most of my adult years, I've wrestled with perfectionism, the need to be perfect.

And uh it's a terrible disease uh because it robs of the joy of life.

Um I can remember playing Little League Baseball and I played shortstop, and I just I'd sit out there and I just hoped they would not hit it to me.

Why?

Because I saw a ground ball coming to me not as the opportunity to do something great, but as the opportunity to miss it.

And if I didn't miss it, I'd throw it away.

I remember in high school, I was a good student in high school, but I hated school.

There was something about there was something about the need to be perfect at school that weighed heavily on me.

And I would overstudy and I'd over-prepare and I'd overwork.

And it's kind of a combination of the fear of not doing well enough, so people won't like you, and a desire for everybody to think you're wonderful.

That's what drives perfectionism.

And so I frankly I did a lot of things extremely well, but it was, but I didn't enjoy any of it because there's this fear that it wouldn't be good enough.

It wouldn't be right enough.

And it's like every day was an opportunity to fail and to be embarrassed and and to not live up to this perfect standard.

I don't know if any of you wrestle with that, but but I wrestle with that throughout my life.

Finally, at the end of uh three pastures, I just burned out.

It wasn't that the people were mean, they weren't mean.

You know, I just I just week after week had this need to be perfect when I preached or talked or taught or whatever it was.

And there was always the fear it wouldn't be.

And uh and as soon as that one was over, there was another one.

And so perfectionism.

Somewhere in my mid-50s, uh, I went to a little seminar on healing things like this that are broken inside.

And they said, uh, you know, God can take you to the root of that, set you free from that.

And they sent us out and gave us a little assignment to do this thing where you ask God to kind of show you where this started and what are the lies and what's the truth and get you out of this kind of thing.

And I said, okay, I'll do it.

I sat in my car and it was raining outside, and I remember, Lord, it's this perfectionism thing.

It's just fear of not being good enough.

Would you set me free so I can enjoy doing what I do, even if it's not perfect?

So I said, Lord, would you show me where this started?

And, you know, I didn't really think, I didn't know God was there, I didn't know he could speak.

And you know, almost immediately three things came to mind.

Three pictures came to mind.

Picture number one, I was learning my multiplication tables.

And dad was my coach.

And it was Sunday night and it was right before Disneyland.

And we're sitting at the kitchen table and we're doing the, you know, seven times.

And the deal was, if I got them all right, I was a wonderful boy.

If I missed one, I was off TV.

Second picture came to mind, I was learning to tell time.

And once again, Dad was my coach.

And we had this toy clock, and he'd set the hands at different times.

They'd say, What time is it?

And we're at the kitchen table right before Disneyland on Sunday night, and the deal was the same.

If you got them all right, you're a wonderful boy, but if you miss one, you're off TV.

Third picture, we were living in Arlington in Virginia, and we had these uh roses on these gray split rail fences, and little Japanese beetles would get on them.

And the picture was my dad handing me a kerosene, jar of kerosene, and he says, I want you to get all the Japanese beetles off of them and put them in this jar, and when I come out, there better not be one beetle on the roses.

Now listen, I have a I have a wonderful dad.

He was trying to make a man out of me, he's trying to teach me how to do it right the first time.

But those were the pictures.

I said, Okay, and those things happened.

So I said, Lord, well, uh that that happened.

But what's the so what's the lie?

What is it I believe that's not true?

And I just listened, and uh, and and almost immediately what came to mind is if something isn't done perfectly, it's no good at all.

Might as well not do it.

And uh and I knew I believed that.

Because if I didn't do something, you know, right, I I'd I'd labor, as a pastor, I'd labor over my messages because uh thinking that if I didn't say it just right, that people wouldn't get it, and it'd be a waste of time, and I'd waste their time and nothing would happen.

And so I'd worry, am I gonna say it just right?

Because if I don't say it right, it won't do any good at all.

But then there was a second thing.

I was quiet, and a second thing came to mind.

And that is if it's not done perfectly, you are no good at all.

You're irresponsible, you're unfaithful, you're unreliable, you're lazy.

And I believe that.

Because if somebody would come up after a message and they'd say, hey, you know that illustration about cats?

Well, I love cats and you insulted me and you shouldn't have said mean things about cats.

You know, what I should say, well, I shouldn't, but I what I should think in my heart is, hey, just stick it in your ear, will you?

I mean, really, just get over it, you know, for heaven's sakes.

But I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't think along those lines.

I'd be so ashamed and embarrassed that I hadn't anticipated this and I caused them this distress.

I thought, I'm no good at all.

And then I remember saying, Well, Lord, if that's not true, because I believe those things.

If that's not true, what is true?

And I was just sitting there and listening for what the Spirit might say.

And a picture came to mind.

It was a picture of something that had happened about four months before.

We were home visiting uh uh my daughter Bethany, and I had a jack, this is, and this is Jack.

Jack was about this size.

He was about 13 months old, just getting to the point where he was about ready to walk.

And he'd gotten to the point where he could, you know, get on a on a coffee table and go like this, you know, and scooch around.

You know how little kids do that?

And the picture was me sitting in a chair about six feet away, and I had my hands out, and I was saying, Jack, Jack, come on over here.

And then it happened.

And I know what God was saying.

I feel about you the way you feel about Jack.

And I knew exactly how I felt about Jack.

I knew what Jack would do was he look and he'd grin and he'd get up a little courage and he'd take one step and he'd stagger, maybe another step, and then he'd fall on his butt.

And you know what I would do?

I would go over and I'd scoop him up, and I'd say, Jack, I am so proud of you.

That was so good.

And we'd celebrate that, and I'd put him back over there, and I'd say, Jack, let's try it again.

You know what God was saying?

When I think of you, I am compassionate.

And all I ask is that you try.

And when you try, I am so proud of you.

It doesn't have to be perfect.

I can use it powerfully when it's imperfect, and I love you and I'm so proud of you, even though it's imperfect.

And I'll tell you, somehow, if that gets through to your heart and soul, and you realize that's the way God is, it'll set you free from perfectionism, from wondering, does God love me?

It's a wonderful thing.

Psalm 103 says, as I said before, the Father has compassion on his children, so the Lord's have compassion on those that fear him.

He knows our frame that we're dust.

He's easy to live with.

If we just try, he's so proud of us.

It's a wonderful thing.

So, what's the first thing God wants you to know about him?

He's compassionate.

Rahun loves you like a father loves his kid.

He's eager to do you good.

You want to find his will and do it.

You want a great life, find the will of God, and follow it to the end.

You will be so glad you did.

He's eager to forgive iniquity, transgression, sin, all of it.

Give you peace with him.

And uh he's easy to live with.

Now just bow your head a minute.

I want to let the Lord speak to you.

Very personally.

And here's the question: where do you need to experience the compassion of God?

Just listen.

Lord, I just ask you to speak to each one, just very simply.

Holy Spirit, come and speak and release compassion.

Release an awakening, a revelation of your compassion.

Lord, release peace, release joy, release hope.

I just want you to listen.

Let God speak to you.