Can God Fix What is Broken in My Family? | Clayton Hentzel

Well, you stay standing, stay standing, stay standing, stay

standing. I am so glad to be with you

today. If you're thankful for Jesus,

put your hand up. If you're thankful that you get

to be a church, they put your other hand up.

Check to make sure that you put on deodorant and have a seat.

God bless you, guys. I am so excited to be with you

today. You guys have been so good to me

recently and I'm just so thankful to be a part of this

church. I want to welcome all of you

joining here at our 48th Street location.

Those of you joining from all of our different locations, those

of your part of our inside family, those you were part of

our online family. Something weird has been

happening to our online family. Some of you keep showing up for

church at one of our physical locations and we absolutely love

it. I went to encounter last night

to check on our high school, students met a kid at encounter

who has only ever attended our church online and he was doing

magic tricks. And so I was like I see That

I'll raise you one. I did a magic trick back.

His magic trick was better. Okay, and then before service

started day I met some people from Peoria who have been

watching our church online they decided hey you know what, we

got nothing to do. Let's drive in and hang out

here. So if you're watching online and

you're looking for an opportunity to hang out reach

out to one of our campuses, you can click on my face on the on

the website. And we'll get you connected one

of our campus pastors plan a visit.

We'd love to have, you come hang out and interact with us.

A little bit. Well, this year, the theme for

our church is everyone and we spent the first five weeks

talking about the kind of church that we want to continue to be.

And that we want to be a church that's for everyone, a church

that gives people time. Offers them hope takes

faith-filled risks searches for the loss, binds up the hurting

and proclaims the truth. Well, we also believe that

everyone wants a better family. We want better relationships

with our spouses, we want better relationship with our kids, But

our relationship with our parents better relationship with

grandkids, but a relationship with grandparents, all of us

want to win at home. All of us at some point in

other, though have come to grips with this devastating reality,

that relationships are complicated.

Hard. And sometimes hurtful, if you

agree with that statement, you can go, mmm, okay?

I just want to make sure I had the right group of people

because listen, if you guys are going, know, things are like as

easy as they've. It doesn't get any better than

where I'm at. You know, here's the mic.

Okay? When God made us, he hardwired

us for community. That is and what it is.

One of the primary ways that we were supposed to experience God

and grow in God, and learn about him.

And the greatest expression of this community is supposed to be

the family and it's because of the incredible power of the

family that has always been the target of Satan.

Make no mistake about it, your family has a very real enemy,

Satan wants to get a foothold in your family, so that way he can.

So generational dysfunction, Some of you you have seen sin

issues and challenges, go get passed from one generation to

the next to the next to the next.

Some of you are carrying the weight today, shouldering it on

your back, trying your best, to make sure that the pain you

experience doesn't get passed on.

It's because Satan got ahold of one person and he's so to seed

that reap the generational weed that keeps sprouting up in

generation after generation and without God's help, you'll never

kill that weed. But God, As a plan, he has

tools. He has power.

He has wisdom available to you, and to me, that keep the odds in

our favor because if God is for us, who can be against us and

some of you right now, you might be tempted to take the exit ramp

and go Clayton. Really appreciate the first

couple sermons of the year like jet loved you, but this sermon

is not for us. I don't have a spouse yet.

I don't have kids yet or my kids are out of the house.

So what do you want me to do for the next eight weeks?

Let me tell you something. I want you to show Oh, up keep

your butt in the seat and watch what God does.

Because I believe that there are principles in this series that

are either going to prepare you for when the opportunities come

or they're going to help you realize that you have way more

opportunities in front of you than you originally thought

whether or not we want to admit it admit.

It most of us have a plan for how we want our family to

operate and how we want our family to turn out.

It may not be spoken. It may not be written down but

internally we have a set of Expectations newlyweds figure

this out because they just think that everything is going to be

perfect and then they have to fold the towels and they're

like, oh, dear God. Who did I marry right?

We have like I thought we were always going to fold the towels

this way. What breaks our heart is that

rarely does our experience match our expectations.

We have this Unwritten set of rules of how we want our family

to operate. And then when it doesn't operate

that way we get frustrated, we get depressed, we get angry.

And then that frustration in that depression in that anger,

we sin. And we so a generational seed

into our family, this got to be careful here.

This is complicated. This is what most of us kind of

want our family to look like, We have this perfect vision, this

dream or like, Yep, this is what I want it to be.

In fact, we looked through all the different families that were

out there and all the different houses and we picked this one

and we're like, that's exactly what I want it to look like.

And so we go to work, trying to make that happen and every

couple that meets with one of our staff members for premarital

counseling, it's here that they're like, this is what I

want us to look like. And man people who are getting

ready to get married, are some of those funnest people to hang

out with, because they have no. How real marriage actually is

okay. They're like, we're never going

to be like our parents and like your mother.

Okay? Yeah, there's yeah, brother.

Hold on. Okay.

Yeah, they're going we're not even gonna fight.

We love each other. We can't stop holding hands.

My brother. You're going to buy a suburban

and she's gonna ride in back. Okay.

This is this is you got stuff coming your way but everybody

wants. This is what every parent wants

with their kid. Every kid wants with their

parent. We have this ideal dream.

We Looked at her like, yes, this is what we want.

The same is true for grandparents and grandkids.

However, in order to get this life, you have to have three

things, you need a plan, Did you follow?

Okay, you need all the pieces. And you need everybody involved

to follow the same plan. And just so, you know, it's that

simple. the problem is, Some of us.

We started to build this house and we ended up with this house.

Even the dogs dead in this picture, okay?

And one day you're looking at your your marriage, you like I

thought I was gonna get this. This is what it looks like.

The boys are supposed to be on top of the house and you put

them in the front yard honey. How did this happen?

Well, for some of us it's because we didn't follow the

directions. We thought we knew better.

Others of us were like, hold on a second.

There were directions. I got no clue.

Some was, we didn't get all of the pieces.

Your you never had a Godly dad, you didn't have a chance to

learn from somebody and watch, how you're supposed to interact

with your spouse. And so, here, you are trying to

be a dad without ever having one.

Your grandparents died young and so you don't even know how to be

a grandparent because you never got to observe it.

Some of us are houses look like this because not everybody was

willing to follow the plan. You did your part but they

definitely didn't do their part it requires everybody to

participate. Everybody to follow the plan,

but some of the people in your family that had ideas of their

own parents of teenagers. You know what I'm talking about

parents who have adult kids, you know this pain and we thought

everything was going good. But no, it's some of us.

Fear describe your house right now.

This is what you'd say. It's not together.

I don't think all the pieces are there.

But there's potential. Okay, yeah, this is where I

won't point in time. You, you thought you were

building this There's a period of your life where you felt like

your family was headed in the right direction.

You're engaged but then you learn some of their secrets.

And you had to send the invitations out saying the

wedding's been postponed or canceled.

You were married and all of a sudden they changed got caught

up in sin and walked away from God.

Maybe your parents and you thought that getting pregnant

was going to be easy. But it hasn't happened.

Yet you thought your child would be healthy but you're still

reeling from a miscarriage. Your you thought?

Your kid would stay innocent and pure You thought they would keep

talking to you, you thought that you guys were going to be best

friends? And now they look like you, they

sound like you, they talk like you but when they come down the

stairs or when they come back from college or when they visit

you for a long weekend, they look like you.

They sound like you but you don't recognize him anymore.

Maybe you're divorced, you thought you'd be together

forever. You thought you had someone on

your team, and now you're trying to figure out how to do it all

alone. You're married Faithfully for a

number of years. And then out of nowhere, they

passed away. And now you're a widow.

And there's all kinds of things that you didn't expect.

You'd have to navigate, I mean, on top of the grief, there's now

a cold side to the bed. You you haven't even figured out

how to start making the right amount of coffee in the morning

because you keep making enough for them to you go shopping and

you buy too many bananas and you keep just when you're having a

good day you come home and you realize that you didn't make it

through the bananas. Again this week, it's nose and

for years, he got up early and plowed it, and now you're trying

to figure out How many trips outside?

Are you going to have to go in 15 minute increments, to be able

to get yourself all the way out of the drive to get to work on

time? In the middle of the heat of

Summer? You're finding yourself, trying

to Google. How do you start a lawn mower?

Because he just always took care of it.

How do you navigate this? Perhaps one of the hardest

things to do on planet Earth is to raise a Godly family.

Maybe we need to recognize that the thing that we think is going

to be easy and perfect, and life-giving is going to take

absolutely everything inside of us to pull off.

It's it's comforting to me that when I read through the pages of

scripture, anytime the Bible goes into detail about anybody

in the Bible, you know what, you'll find every single one of

those families was dysfunctional.

You don't find a really good Godly family to kind of model

your life. After all of them have glaring

sins and leave Devastation in their wake.

And the way we pull ourselves through the pain and the way, we

navigate the sorrow, the way we pick up the pieces is by

clinging to the words of God, everything happens for a reason.

You've probably said this, you've probably heard this.

And we see the beauty of this on the other side of a divorce,

when we find a new person to share the rest of our lives

with, we see it in the marriage that's put together after the

counseling or the relationship we get to have with our

grandkids that we never had with our own kids.

We go through a difficult spell and someone comes up and they

offer us. These kind words, everything

happens for a reason and it's like honey to our lips The

problem. Is that God never said that.

Because if you say those words to the wrong person, you're not

going to comfort them, you're going to anger them.

You're going to push them further away from God because

everything happens for a reason. If God's the one who said that

then that makes God the architect of your pain.

If everything happens for a reason, then your husband

cheated on you, Thank God, instigated it.

It means when you fall down the flight of stairs, you go.

God, thanks for not pushing me down two flights.

Just just one flight. When your child dies, when your

friends turn on you, when your wife won't speak to you, when

your kids move out on you, because they don't want to be

under your home anymore. Everything happens for a reason

God, why would you do this to me?

You say these words to the wrong person and they'll run from God

and they'll be angry at God for something that God never said.

so if you've ever said these words, and if you're clinging to

these words, Stop. And your desire to say something

good and nourishing, to a person who is hurting, you might be

saying the exact wrong thing. Let me give you something better

to say. We need to replace everything

happens for a reason with anything can be redeemed.

Oh, that's better. That means that if God can get

his hand in a situation, he can make it so good that in

hindsight, you'll go. I had no idea that my life would

turn out like this, even though it started out like that, let me

show you what I mean by anything can be redeemed.

Because if you're here today, if you're listening to my voice and

you're going, I would like an aspect of my family redeemed.

Let me tell you why. I personally have hope that

anything can be redeemed. You ready for this?

We're going to go through a bunch of scriptures, you're

going to have to hang on, but trust me, it's all going to make

sense in the end. The reason I believe that God

can redeem anything is because of these verses right here

Romans chapter 8, verse 1 through 4, therefore there is

Romans 8:1–4

now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Because through Jesus Christ, the law or Christ Jesus, the law

of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin

and death for what the law was powerless to do because It was

weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the

likeness of sinful flesh, to be a sin offering.

And so he condemned sin in the flesh.

In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be

fully met in us who do not live, according to the flesh.

But according to the spirit, I know that God can redeem

anything. Because God redeemed, the worst

thing, he redeemed me, he redeemed you, if you're able at

all of our locations, just this is To sound weird, but trust me,

touch your ankle. I mean, you guys do the, oh

yeah, praise God for the flexibility.

Now, listen, if I know you can touch your ankle, I don't have

to ask you. Can you touch your nose?

Because if you can reach your ankle, you can reach your nose.

If God can redeem your soul from hell, then I have no doubt in my

mind that he can navigate and redeem the nose of your

relationships. I know that God can redeem

anything because he redeemed, the worst thing, he redeemed us

through his son, he took us pay attention this from being

prisoners to sin and set us free in him.

He did that kind of Redemptive work.

Look what else? He did.

Romans five are right. Verse five and six those who

live, according to the flesh, have their minds set on what the

flesh desires. But those who live in accordance

with the spirit, have their minds set on what the spirit

desires, the Mind governed by the flesh is death.

But the Mind governed by the spirit is life and peace.

Leave this up here for just a second, he gives you and me a

new mind that is governed by the spirit.

If you don't have the new mind of Christ in you, it's going to

lead to death. So you're taking a mind that

leads to death into your marriage, into your parenting,

into your grandparenting, into your relationships or Do the

work of Jesus Christ in your life, you can take a mind that

has been governed by the spirit, and this brings life and peace.

If you were to get two wishes today for your family, Two

wishes that when you enter the room to talk to your wife that

when you enter into the room to talk to your kids, if you were

going to Usher some counseling to your grandkids, how many of

you at all of our locations would go?

I want to give Life Giving words and words that give peace to

your family. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. If you didn't raise your hand

pool. Okay.

I tried to set you up for a win there.

Okay, if you want this, you get this through the spirit and the

spirit takes up residence in a guide.

Your mind look, what else it does.

Romans 8:9 you, however, are not in the realm of the flesh for in

Romans 8:9

the realm of the spirit. If indeed the spirit of God

lives in you, and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ,

they do not belong to Christ. Leave it right here for just s.

Go back one, slide. Yeah, hold on a second.

So, how do I get the mind of Christ?

I get it through the spirit of Christ.

And if you don't have the spirit of Christ, you're not in Christ.

Well, how do you get the spirit? The Bible tells us that when we

are baptized, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We become United with Christ. So when you are baptized into

Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit.

You have your mind. That's governed by the spirit

and it moves you out of the realm of the Flesh and into the

realm of the spirit. Now, let's keep going verse 10.

But if Christ is in you though, even In though, your body is

subject to death because of sin. The spirit gives life because of

righteousness. And if the spirit of him who

raised Jesus from the dead is living in you.

Hold on a second. Okay.

This what this means is that he has the power to redeem, you

from death. So there's going to come a

moment time. When every single one of us are

going to die, our bodies are going to cease to operate.

And when that happens, the holy spirit is going to be a part of

resurrecting us. So that way we become come

Eternal in Christ in heaven forever, if he can redeem a body

from death, That means that he can redeem your marriage if he

can redeem. The biggest thing I can trust

him in the small things, if I can trust him.

With my eternity, I can trust him with my today.

If I can trust him with my salvation, I can trust him with

my parenting. The conversations.

I have to have now. Let's keep going in the text.

See what God does next. Romans 8:12, therefore, brothers

Romans 8:12

and sisters. We have an obligation but it is

not to the flesh to live according to it for if you live,

according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the spirit, you put to death the misdeeds of the body,

you will live through the spirit, you have the power to

put to death, the very sins that are Waging War and causing harm

in your family. There is a sin in your marriage,

in your parenting and your grandparenting it exists.

If you don't know what it is, ask them.

They'll tell you. Okay, I need you to know that

the spirit gives you power to put to death, the sin that is

causing harm to the very people you love.

That's how good your God. Is he is coming alongside of you

helping you to have the relationship that you

desperately want to have. He's coming and giving you the

tools to bring death, the things that are causing.

Those you love harm. Look at verse 14, for those who

are led by the spirit of God are the children of God, the spirit

you received, does not make you slaves.

So that we live in fear again, rather the spirit you receive

brought about your adoption to sonship and by him, we cry Abba

Father, this is crazy here we find out that in God's

Redemptive plan. He takes us from being enemies

of God to being children of God. I think I've told this story

before when I was either 11 or 14, my parents adopted my

brother. You can tell he's my brother

because he has blond hair blue eyes, great metabolism and loves

to run, okay? He he'll be sitting on a couch

and go I think I'm just going to go for like a Four Mile Run.

I'm like, okay. It's are you all right?

Like someone chasing you is every, I mean, what do you need?

Yeah, he's a freak now. Check this out.

My parents adopted him. I guess what?

My last name is Hensel. Guess what?

His last name is. Hensel.

When my dad dies, guess how much of whatever my dad has is mine.

Well, there's four of us. I get 25%.

Guess how much my brother gets? 25%.

That's a pile of stink right there.

He's not even one of us. Oh, hold on a second.

God's the one who adopted adopted us?

My dad chose to make my brother one of us and I wouldn't have it

any other way. I was just joking about, I can't

believe it. He gets the same amount because

when he got brought in, he got full Airship of being a pencil

and that makes sense to all of you, right?

That of course if my parents are going to adopt him, he shouldn't

be treated as a second class citizen.

Look at how good your God. Is he adopted us?

He put his name in us and he makes us here's heirs with who

with Jesus. Are you kidding me?

That's how good he is. If he can take you, from being

his enemy to being his son, what could he do with your parenting?

What could he do in your marriage if he has?

That kind of power is anything off limits?

Now, this is not going to be easy, it's going to be hard, it

may be a challenge today and the love loving your family.

Well and leading them, well will be costly and heavy but one day

it will be made perfect. If we don't give up, look what

it says in Romans. 8:18, I consider that our present

Romans 8:18

sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that

will be revealed in US. When Paul writes this, he's

writing to people who are carrying a heavy burden for

their faith to bring about Godly redemption in a community, and

it's hard and it hurts, but he's saying don't give up.

Because one day there will be some beauty in this.

Some of us, we want a better family, we just don't want it to

hurt. We want to have a better family

but we don't want to take the high road because the high road

always seems uphill and let's be honest, it's hard for us to take

the high road. When we see everybody else

taking the low road and then we write ourselves a permission

slip before God gets it is able to do the Redemptive work, we

walk it for a little while, like some of you today you're going

to be like you know what, I'm going to go home.

I'm just going to do a really awesome job in front of my

spouse. And you're going to last like 15

minutes. And I'm like, okay.

All right, I guess this is how it is.

Then No lie. You know.

I'm right. You like Clayton.

Quit. You know how I know because I

I've seen what Jennifer goes through.

Okay, I've seen it. Yeah, we were like all energized

to go home and make a difference and bring about a change.

In we go. Hey, I just want to talk to you,

son. I know things haven't been like

I am busy now, car, I find it. Then then then then, then then

then then, then no, no. It was God's patience.

And his kindness that brought us to Redemption.

Oh, that we should be patient with the people.

We're trying to turn things around.

Do you want a better marriage? Better parenting, but a

relationship with your kids. What if it's going to take

longer than you thought? Do you think that God could

Supply you with the strength and the patience and the kindness to

endure? The present hardship for future?

Glory in your marriage? Look at Romans 8:18, or and last

Romans 8:18

one in the same way the spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the spirit himself

intercedes for us through wordless, Roans.

And he who searches our heart knows, the mind of the spirit.

Because the spirit intercedes for God's people, these are the

people he's adopted. This is you and me, once we

start an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ

in accordance with the will of God, no matter how hard it gets,

no matter how heavy the load is, no matter how dark the

situation, no matter how anguishing the moments, you need

to know this, you have constant access to God In Prayer All I

need you to hear the truth of this.

It is in that constant access to God In Prayer that he will give

you the gifts and the strength that you need to carry the heavy

load that you're carrying to give you the patient's to

navigate the situation, and sometimes you're going to go.

But Clayton, I don't even know what to pray for.

Yeah, I've been there too. You don't even know where to

start. I've been there too and it's in

those moments when you don't even know what to pray for and

you don't even know where to start that I need you to know

that the Holy Spirit who is in. You is interceding on your

behalf to the father who knows exactly what the situation calls

for. I'm a super simple guy.

There's all kinds of things that I want for my kids and for my

family like a long long list. And if you try and figure out

what are you not going to pray for?

It gets really that gets like, you're like, oh my goodness.

I need to be praying for way more things.

And so, then I was like, God, I'm just going to pray for like

two things, so that way you don't forget, and I don't

forget, okay? And I mean this, if you were to

hop in the car, with me, on Tuesday, when I take my kids to

school, I pray the same prayer. I prayed the same.

Prayer for Kennedy, when I was taking her to school.

And there's a little, there's a tanning salon place that we used

to where we turned the right to go to her school.

And I would start praying that prayer until she was in high

school. And I, when we got to a stop

sign on Ward Street that are on Grant Street, I'd start praying

for her there and here when we get to 15th Street, I start

praying for my boys. I'm just going to tell you what

my super spiritual prayer is you ready?

It's just scripture. God help.

My kids to grow up to love you with all their heart, mind,

soul, and strength, and help them to embrace, the Great

Commission to make disciples of all Nations.

And God help them to find a spouse who loves you and will

love them. Well if God just answers that

prayer, I'm good. Do you want your kids to be

wealthy? Nope, I want them to love the

Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength,

and breaks, the Great Commission, and Make Disciples

of all Nations, and help them to find a spouse who loves them and

loves them. Well, because it doesn't matter

how much money they have if there's not loving their home

and there's not the love of Jesus in the heart, it had mean

a hill of beans will do you want him to have a job?

Really. Don't care about that either,

because I just really if I could pick between my kids being

gainfully, Floyd and having an intimate personal relationship

with Jesus. I I know which one.

I'll figure the rest out. Okay, I'll save harder.

I just want my kids to know Jesus and to be United with

somebody who knows and loves Jesus.

And when I don't know what to pray about situations, sometimes

I just know, God, you're covering for me.

This week at ever seen one of our locations, you're going to

have an opportunity to pray over the relationships that you have

and we've got cards at all of our locations.

Most of your campus pastors will be talking to you about this

during the plane landing. Some might be doing it during

the announcements and what we want you to do is we want you to

start praying over your family and some of you are going, I

already pray over my family, cool, man.

All right, careful. Okay.

We're not saying you have to stop, okay, but for those but we

want to give you like maybe an area to just to kind of Gaston

for the next week and see what God does.

Because here's one of the things that I've noticed we can't

expect Godly wins without pursuing Godly ways.

That I can't expect God to take the ground in my life that I'm

not yielding to him in prayer. Sometimes God uses prayer to

open up my eyes to the work that he's already doing.

That when the things I'm praying about, I start to be more

sensitive to it when I'm not praying and I see it represented

in other, people's lives. Romans 8:28, this where we're

Romans 8:28

going to finish up. And we know that in all things,

God works for the good of those who love him, who have been

called, according to his purpose.

Let me give you some hope. Not only did God redeem you, but

God is working for your good. If you are in a relationship

with him, he is working for your good.

That means that you and God are on the same team when it comes

to your marriage. He wants a Godly marriage for

you. God is on your team when you

want a better relationship with your kids, or your grandkids, or

your parents. He wants that too.

God. Will you want a family that

loves well and represents Christ and cares for the world around

them? God wants that to you want a

family that prays and gives and connects and lives for a greater

purpose. I want you to know that God

wants that to you. Want your kids to grow up to

love the Lord and to find a spouse that loves the Lord and

race kids. That love the Lord showed us God

and he is working for For this good, not only is God working

for are good, but he is giving us good things.

He is working to rescue us and forgive our sins and remove our

shame rescue your heart redeem, your past.

Nothing is too big for him. If you can touch your ankle, you

can touch your nose. If he can redeem your life, he

can redeem your relationships. Cole Miller, who's a part of our

Pike County location. Help me with this sermon, and he

told me about can Suki. And some of you guys are way

more What I am. But I had never heard of this

and I am, like, all the way in now.

Consider you just means golden joinery.

Okay? And what it is, is when someone

breaks a bowl, they put it back together.

Here's a picture of what it looks like.

That the fractures on a ceramic Bowl, don't represent the end of

that objects life, but simply an essential moment in its history.

How many of you have a chipped plate at home and you haven't

thrown it away, you just keep it there and it's chipped.

How many of you've pulled out a coffee mug and you've dropped it

on the ground and it shattered and you up got upset because

someone gave it to you and you end up having to throw it away

and can sue you, you don't throw it away, you put it back

together. And the way you put it back

together, as you put gold in all of the broken places.

This is probably the best description of what our

relationships could look like if we were to let God in the middle

of them, that the broken pieces of your relationship aren't

something to be thrown away, but there a place for God to come in

and fix it. They don't represent the end of

that objects life but an essential moment in its history.

It the flaws of its shape are not hidden from inspection but

in blazoned with golden significance, how many of us

we've tried to hide Broken pieces of our life, instead of

Allowing God to put his golden finger in and restore it and

then show it off for the world to see.

Look at what my God redeemed. It was Hemingway's famous line

from A Farewell to Arms where he says the world breaks everyone

and afterward. 'S many are stronger in the

broken places. This repair requires

transformation and the good news is that the God we serve

specializes in transformation the pottery didn't crack for a

good reason. You don't take your marriage and

dash It On The Ground just so God can put it back together.

No, that's not what it's about. It's about when life happens and

things break that we believe that God can redeem them when we

put the situation and we put the sin in his hands and he takes

his golden finger and he Something beautiful out of it.

This is why people say everything happens for a reason

because you can't help but look at this and go if it hadn't

broken, I never would have had something so beautiful.

But what we're focusing on is God's Redemptive work, not his

intended work. God intended for your marriage,

to be happy and whole and forever.

But when it breaks, when it shatters, I need you to know

that God can redeem it and then when you share your testimony

you allow other people to see the part where God worked his

greatest work inside of each and every single.

One of you, the interesting thing.

But I love about Lego pieces is even though you can break the

house down, you can never destroy the power of a single

piece. The little knobs on the top and

little spaces on the bottom are like the most indestructible

part of a Lego. I mean, sure, you can pull them

apart and you can make them all a bunch of just singular pieces.

And so while the house, may not exist, the building blocks for

the house never disappear. God hardwired into your DNA, an

undestructible Force this that you were designed for ever

designed to be connected to God and connect it to the people

around you. No matter how bad the situation

has been, no matter how bad you were hurt, no matter how many

heartaches you have had to endure.

There is an Okay? And part of you that was put in

there by God, that is uncrushable, and it is the

ability to always be rebuilt, one relationship at a time.

It is deep in the DNA of us. That's maybe why it says, in

First Peter 5:10 and the God of all Grace.

1 Peter 5:10

Whoo. Okay, let's do this together and

the God of all Grace, who called you to his eternal glory in

Christ. After you have suffered a little

while. Will him will himself restore

you and make you. Look at these words, strong firm

and steadfast. Who called you to his eternal

glory, after you have suffered a little while, keep suffering,

folks, you're trying to fix that marriage.

Keep suffering, you're trying to endure the heartache of your

kids keep suffering, keep suffering because he himself,

will restore you, and make you strong firm, and steadfast.

And when he does that, there's only going to be one thing to do

to say these words to him. Be the power forever and ever.

Amen! God bless you!

We're moving to a time of decision.

Real quick. Those of you who are single.

I got to clear something up. I didn't clear it up in the

sermon. I didn't have time and I'm

already running late. If you don't ever get married, I

want you to know. You're just fine.

If you don't ever find that someone you're good, if you

already found a someone and that someone didn't work out and

you're going I feel like I have to find someone again.

You don't you don't, you are not a better Christian when you get

married. You're not more, holy more

useful, more Godly because you're married, because marriage

isn't what gets you into heaven? Oh, we'll get you into heaven is

actually a single guy who never married.

His name was Jesus and if being married is what makes you were

usable and worthwhile boy, Jesus would be a gigantic, that's

weird. How about this one a most of

your new testament? was written by a man named Paul,

you know, an interesting thing about Paul He never got married.

Peter, the guy just read from he only wrote two books in the

Bible. He was married thinking what he

could have done. Hear me.

Some of you are carrying around this weight.

You're going to Clayton, you just prayed for your kids to get

married. Yeah, I'd like my kids to get

married, but listen. You don't need to get married to

be used by God to be a powerful force to be leveraged, for the

advancement of the Gospel. You don't have to get married

for God to love you anymore. Listen, if you get married, he's

gonna love you. The exact same amount he did

before you got married. So, if you're carrying around

some spiritual, wake that you have to get married, not here.

Not at this church, not in the Bible because two of the most

famous people in Scripture. Did it without a spouse.

Just be faithful. Just follow.

After God, if it's the desire of your heart if you want it, keep

praying for. But listen I don't want you

thinking that this church is just for married folk because

listen married folk have all kinds of problems.

We need some people that don't have marriage problems, coming

to our church. And the best way to do that is

more single people, okay? Okay, you're my heart in this

second thing. If you don't have a relationship

with Jesus Christ, You just don't you just don't stand a

chance. You can't fix your marriage,

your parenting, your grandparenting, on your own

power on your own strength. It only comes through him.

And it's only after he comes in and with his Spirit starts, to

put the to death, the Deeds of your life that you'll never be

able to live the life that you were designed for known as I was

going through. Romans 8, I'm hoping that maybe

you are going. I want what they're talking

about. I want a new mind and a new

spirit, I want life and I want peace.

I want to live a life where there's no condemnation where

I've been rescued and made a son and I get to cry out Abba

Father. What the Bible is telling us

there is you get to call god, dad, when my kids get hurt in

the house when they fall and trip or you know, something bad

happens, they don't go past the Clayton.

Pastor Clayton. I beseech, thee.

Come to thy Aid. No, they don't let him go.

Elder, Clayton, that they don't do that.

If I was a doctor, they wouldn't go.

Ah, doctor Hensel, you know, my kids cry out, dad, dad.

What? What I make a horrible God,

okay, that's why it's better him than me and better him than you

trust me. Do you?

Yeah. Well, hold on a second.

Clicking. What are you saying?

Yeah you get to call god, dad. When you come into intimate

personal relationship with him. He is your father always he

Jehovah Jireh Jehovah Rapha. It was he all kinds of things as

he e Lo Keem? Is he a man?

You, well, yeah, but you don't have to remember any of those

words, because you get all of those words when you cry out

Daddy and that could be true for you.

Today, you could find your heavenly father if you have

questions about that, there's a new somebody right over by the

baffle. Sure he would love to talk to

you about it. For the rest of y'all.

In here, up here at the steps in different spots, we have these

little prayer cards. We have one for single people,

we have one for married people, we have 14 people with kids and

we have ones for grandparents. You might be going with Clayton.

I'm, I'm married. And I've got kids and I've got

grandkids fine. I mean, overachiever pick up

three cards, okay, what I want you guys to do this week, just

just think with me for a second. What if you and all the people

in your row where to start praying to God in a singular

Direction? What do you think could happen

to our marriages? Well, what do you think could

happen in our homes? I don't know.

Let's find out. Would you stand with me, man?

God, I love this church. All of the time that we get to

spend together and grow together and I pray that you would use

this time right now, to bring about a change in every heart,

both in this room and to those watching online, the God, you

would help us to take steps. I know there's some people in

here that maybe in their pride their going, my marriage is

good, my parenting is gold. God, I pray that they realize

that they ain't seen nothing yet that when they turn over pieces

of Life to you. You can make broken things

brand-new. Yeah, I know there's people in

here right now that believe that their marriage is beyond saving

that their kids are Beyond reaching, but God, nothing,

nobody ever is beyond the reach and the power of your love.

And so God were claiming that truth today.

And as we come up here and get down on our knees and pray, as

we pick up these prayer cards, I'm asking you to meet us here,

inject. Our hearts full of hope your

name, I pray. Amen.