A Better Heart - June 7, 2026

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast.

I have made the Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6, 19, pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's plan for your life.

There it was beautiful live

technicolor but it wasn't on the

television set it was on the refrigerator with these beautiful magnets made

out of popsicles with a picture in the middle hanging on for dear life and that

is something you may all know about the infamous family chore chart.

You know what I'm talking about, don't you? We may or may not have tried and

been moderately successful with this in our household many years ago, but you know what it is.

It's a big table that has all the chores that have to be done in the household

and a grid with all the people that are supposed to do those chores.

And of course, the oldest kid always gets stuck with the most because they've

been around a while and they know what has to be done in the house.

And I'm not talking about the mom or the dad. They clean up on that.

But you've got that name and a ton of chores. Then the next kid comes along

and as soon as they get old enough, their name is on there.

And you end up with this big, beautiful chore chart with highlighters and colors and stickers.

And you know how effective the chore chart is, right?

I'm taking from the response I get that not everyone has been successful with

that, including maybe the Curry family.

Only one kid here this morning that could tell you yes or no,

but he wouldn't remember.

So it's that infamous family chore chart that we know is a work of art.

And you start out with a full head of steam.

Yeah, we're going to raise these kids right, and we're going to make sure they're

responsible and they do the things that they're supposed to do.

And so we have great intentions at the beginning.

We want to follow these rules. We want to have the trash out to the road before Tuesday.

And we want to have everything in the house, all the cat litter,

everything in there. And it's going to be there.

And maybe for a week or two that happens, they get their smiley face sticker on it.

But then it trails off as parents get busy with life and work and church.

And as kids do what kids do and forget things. and so you're left with this

beautiful work of art that just kind of blends into the background as some kind

of wallpaper for your refrigerator.

We've experienced the chore chart.

The point of that little story is very simple.

When it comes to rules, rules can inform you, hey, I know what I have to do. Look at the chore chart.

Rules can pressure you, oh man, I got to get this done or I won't get my smiley

face sticker on the board or allowance or whatever you did in your household.

Rules can also remind you of what needs to be done.

So you get the information, boy, you get the pressure and you get the reminder,

but they really can't transform you into who you are.

There's more to raising kids, as we know, than a chore chart,

and there's more to keeping your house clean and you're keeping your house running

strong than the chore chart, but yet we know the chore chart is there and things have to be done.

Now, the good news about this this morning is that Hebrews 8 tells us a solution

not just to the chore chart, but to other rules and regulations we just must

feel weighed down with, and maybe you feel that way today.

Because God says the solution isn't just better rules. The solution isn't just

a better chore chart, but really it comes down to what Hebrews 8 says that we all need,

and that is a better covenant, a better relational covenant.

And so this morning, we are going to bite off more than we can chew.

It's like going to the Big Texan in Amarillo, Texas and getting a 72-ounce steak

that you have to consume in like an hour if you want to get it for free. Anyone ever been there?

No, I did not take the challenge. The family would not let me at the time.

But boy, does it look good. YouTube it. You could see some guy slobbering down

all the gristle and everything else.

No, don't YouTube it. That's not a very pretty sight.

What we're going to do is we're going to take this chapter, chapter 8.

And normally we stand. You're invited to do so. But I will tell you there's

a lot of reading. It's the whole chapter, 13 verses.

So you're welcome to stand if you'd like to honor the word of the Lord.

If not, there's no judgment if you'd like to sit down.

Hear the word of the Lord from Hebrews chapter 8 this morning.

Hebrews 8 · chapter mention

Now, the main point of what we are saying is this. We do have such a high priest

who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven and who

served in the sanctuary,

the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not a mere human being.

Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices,

and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer.

If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there were already priests

who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.

They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven.

This is why Moses warned when he was about to build the tabernacle,

see to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

But in fact, the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the

covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one.

Since the new covenant is established on better promises.

In verse 7, it says, For if there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant,

no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault in the new covenant.

The people and said, The days are coming, declares the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them

by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful

to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel.

After that time, declares the Lord, I will put my laws in their minds,

and I will write them on their hearts.

I will be their God, and they will be my people.

No longer will they teach their neighbor or say to one another,

know the Lord, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the

greatest, for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

By calling this covenant new, he made the first one obsolete,

and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Heavenly Father, thank you for Hebrews chapter 8, which in it is the quote of

Hebrews 8 · chapter mention

Jeremiah 31 that we read earlier at the outset of our worship gathering today.

Lord, would you take all this and would you apply it to our hearts today?

Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you that there's enough here to chew

on all week, Father, especially in Hebrews 8.

And Lord, we just ask that you would just challenge us today,

Father, with what you'd like to show us.

We love you and we're trusting you with what you're going to do with us today. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you all. You can be seated. I just want to jump in this morning.

There's a problem, there's a promise, and there's a practice that I want to introduce you to today.

First of all, I want to introduce you to the problem with the Old Covenant.

When we look back at verse 7 and 8, it makes it clear to us the problem was

not the law, the law that was given to Moses on the mountain.

That wasn't the problem.

The problem was it was with the heart of the people that were receiving the law.

And if I could just start there, there is a problem with the Old Testament,

with the Old Covenant, I should say. And the Old Covenant.

The law was good, but the problem with it was it was external.

It stayed external. It stayed out.

It was like the chore chart. You knew what you had to do. You could see it,

and you could see you didn't have a smiley face sticker there,

which means you couldn't do it.

You didn't do it. You could not perform the task that was there.

We know the law was written on the tablets of stone, posted outside for everybody to see,

not the actual stones because they were placed in the holy of holies,

But people knew what the Ten Commandments were. They knew what the law said.

And when you get into the law and the laws that were made to understand the

law and the laws that were made to understand the laws that were made to understand

what the Ten Commandments said, you can see how complicated it gets when human

beings get involved, when we try to apply that.

And see, what the law did, it could reveal our sin, but it could not resolve

it. It could not take care of the heart of a human being to get the sin out of a person.

It was good at showing you what you were doing wrong.

Don't you hate people like that sometimes? They could tell you all about what

your problem is and how you're doing it wrong, but they can offer no help.

The only help that the law could offer was to roll the sin forward,

to let somebody else take care of it, kind of like our national debt,

you know, kick the can down the road, let the next generation try to come up with a solution.

The law was good. It was meant to keep people right with God,

but the problem was it was external. It only had a pressure force to people,

kind of like the chore chart.

It could inform them. It could pressure them.

It could remind them, but it could not cause the transformation within the heart of a person.

It could command obedience, but not create the desire to do what you were supposed to do.

Israel's history really proves this point. As you read through the Old Testament,

in verse 9, it says, They did not continue the covenant.

They couldn't do it, in other words. And as you read the Old Testament,

especially Judges, you see this roller coaster, this up and down,

this cycle to where people would be great with God.

Oh, we're worshiping God. We love you. And then their eye would catch a little

gleam of another society, another culture, another city.

And they would say, ooh, that looks interesting.

Look at that shiny idol. What's that all about? And the other culture would

tell them all about how this shiny little statue would bring them wealth and

prosperity. And then they would chase after that.

Even some would add that to their worship of the Lord God.

And then their society would come crashing down, and then they would enter into

a time of judgment. A prophet would come around and say, hey,

you need to repent, you need to turn.

And eventually they would listen when things got bad enough,

and then they would repent and turn to God, and everything would be good again

until over here, oh, look, what's that shiny thing?

Another idea would be presented, and there's just this whole cycle,

this whole roller coaster of ups and downs.

Israel's history proves the point. It's not because they didn't know the rules.

They did, but it was because they didn't have the power to keep them.

Not just the desire, but the power to keep those simple little Ten Commandments.

I got to tell you today that there's many Christians who act like they are under the old covenant.

They try harder and they don't succeed.

And then they feel guilty and they make promises they can't keep.

And they keep wondering why nothing changes. And they live in that Old Testament

cycle of, hey, I'm okay with God. Ooh, what's this shiny thing over here?

Oh no, now I'm far away from God. Now I feel guilt. Now I feel shame.

God, if you only deliver me from this, then I'll do X. I'll go to Honduras. I'll go to Africa.

Man, I'll even go to Boise if you call me there, God.

And so we get in this cycle and we just think like we're under the old covenant

still, still making the same mistake of the people of God in the Old Testament.

That's the problem with the old covenant. It shows you where you're wrong,

but it doesn't give you the remedy to fix it.

God's answer today to those of you stuck in that kind of cycle is not just to try harder.

God is saying to you today, let me change you from the inside out.

And so that comes with the promise, the promise of the new covenant.

In verse 10 to 12, we see how God outlines that.

He moves from the law written on the wall, on the stone, to the law that will be written on the heart.

The scripture says, I will put my laws into their mind and write them on their hearts.

The new deal, the new covenant doesn't come from an external pressure saying,

you better do this or else.

It comes from inside, a motivation.

You might even say a love that God puts in your heart to love what is right,

to love what is true, to love righteousness, doing those right things.

And it's that internal transformation that happens, not from an external source,

but from the power of God, putting this life within you.

He goes on to say, well, in a.

I guess in a sense, God kind of becomes the author of your new desires.

You know, it's going to be in about 33 minutes, 12 o'clock, and many of you

are used to eating at 12 noon straight up.

And so if I keep going about 1145, your tummy's going to start rumbling.

And if it gets about 5 to 12 and you're still not out of here,

you know, it's really going to be rolling and rumbling.

You can't wait to get down to the pizza buffet or get to the parents and youth

meeting down there to get a sandwich or get home to your pot roast.

There's these internal desires that we have that kind of rule us.

If we're hungry, we get like cavemen.

Feed me, I hungry.

If I'm thirsty, I need drink. I mean, we kind of let these basal desires rule our lives.

But when it comes to the New Deal, the New Covenant, God becomes the author

of those desires because he places it in your heart, that seat of emotion,

that seat of motivation.

And so when he says to love your neighbor, which is very, very hard,

he puts in the desire in your heart to do that, to really seek,

to reach out to them, to seek, to find bridges, to find ways that you can share

the good news with them, just to seek to live life together.

Holiness becomes something that you want to do, not something that you fear.

And you've got to think about the old covenant. There was some fear going on

there because it was external. do this or else.

And they saw prime examples of that. No wonder they had this fear.

When God said, I want you to go in and conquer these people,

there's no hope for them, so wipe them all out.

And they would see the evidence of a holy God and what he was doing.

And they'd be like, whoa.

So there was fear with regard to holiness. There were stories of men that would

touch the Ark of the Covenant even by accident while it was being transported

from one place to another, and they would instantly die.

And this was supposed to be the holy, represent the holiness of God. And so fear was there.

Well, the thing that the new covenant does when Jesus, or when the scripture

says, I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts,

becomes something that you want to do. I want to live holy.

I want to live a life that's without sin.

That's above getting all the messiness of sin involved with it.

And so that's why the second thing is said here in this promise,

I will be their God and they will be my people.

Talks about this covenant being more of a relational kind of deal, not behavioral.

The behavior will follow the

relationship, but there's got to be that relationship established first.

God just doesn't give commands, do this, be holy as I am holy,

which the scripture says. What does he say?

He says, I'm going to give you the power to do that.

You don't have to try to figure out holiness all by yourself and how to live

that way. Men and women, boys and girls have tried...

Since Adam and Eve, to live holy, since the fall of human beings.

Look at how many different religions there are in the world.

Those are people trying to make a connection with God and getting the idea of

who God is even wrong, misguided.

God comes along, and we see in the story of God in the Scripture that God himself

becomes flesh, walks among us,

shows us how we are to live this life, and then pays the ultimate price for

being a holy person, that is, to die on a cross, to give himself up for you and for me.

To the blood that was poured out, the sinless man's blood blots out.

It covers all of our sin, all of those who will say, I accept what Jesus did on my behalf.

That's the power, the power of the new deal, the new covenant.

I will be their God, God says.

They will be my people. this relationship is going to be restored.

It is restored through Jesus if you trust him. And I got to ask,

are you trusting him today?

It's a relational kind of covenant, a relational kind of deal.

You know, kind of like the old days when a farmer would go sell his 360 acres

and they would do it on a handshake.

There wasn't no lawyers involved.

The government wasn't really involved, it was just, put her there,

buddy, and let's make the deal, a relational covenant that was honored.

God made a greater deal than a spit in a handshake when he gave his only son,

Jesus, to take our place in that punishment.

And if we claim what Jesus has done for us, we have entry into this new deal,

this new covenant, this new promise that we have.

And see, the promise is the C point in your outline. I will be merciful.

I will remember their sins no more. Boy, the beauty of this is that transformation

grows from the soil of mercy, not shame.

God grants us mercy. I know you're a dirty, rotten sinner because I'm one too.

However, God showed his grace toward us, granted us mercy.

So now instead of sinners, he calls us his children. When we have that covenant

relationship with Jesus, isn't that awesome?

He could have said, okay, if you want to be saved, then when we get our new

screens up here, which are in progress, in process, we got to show all the sins

you ever committed up there for everybody to see, to bring the shame that comes with that.

He could have done that, but yet he grants us mercy.

Instead of giving us what we deserve, we get what we don't deserve.

And that's because of what Jesus Christ has done.

I will be merciful, God says.

I will remember their sins no more.

Sit with that for a minute.

God's forgetfulness of sin is the foundation of a new heart.

We're talking the God of the universe who created everything just by speaking,

who even as the scripture says knows how many hairs you have or don't have on

the top of your head and yet he forgets that time you stole the cookies from

the cookie jar when mama said don't that sticker came off the chore chart.

The time you did what you did that was much more serious, that caused a lot

of hurt and anguish, pain.

God chooses to forget that.

Now, man, we're masters of remembering all that stuff. Not only that,

we've got an adversary who likes to say, I remember what you did on June 8,

2020, and likes to bring it up when we're on our spiritual high with Jesus.

Well, if God isn't worried about it, why are we worried about it?

If it's been covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, if it's been forgiven,

if God says, their sins, I will remember no more.

Why can't he remember them? They've been blotted out by the blood of Jesus.

No longer to be remembered. Church, you've got to get excited about that.

It's an exciting thing that the author of Hebrews tells us.

I will be merciful. I will remember their sins no more.

Well, if this is what God promised, this new covenant, this new deal,

this new way of relating to human beings, how does it actually happen in your life?

I want to offer you four ways when I talk about the practice of heart writing,

how God writes on your heart.

You see, the Holy Spirit of God does internally what the law could not do from the outside.

It's from the base of this new heart that's based on God's mercy,

His love for you, that He puts within you, that He cleans you up,

and He says, now I want to teach you how to live the life that you were meant to live.

And the first way that our heart gets written on, by the Holy Spirit,

God writes in the heart through the indwelling Spirit of God.

And Galatians 5.16 says, So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify

the desires of the flesh.

If you go down in chapter 6 a little bit more, it talks about the fruit of the Spirit.

And when do you get fruit? It's after you plant the tree, you cultivate it,

and then the fruit begins to grow.

After it's healthy and is growing, you see what kind of tree it is.

Well, the kind of tree that the Spirit produces in our life yields the fruit

of love, of joy, of peace, of patience, of kindness, of gentleness, of self-control.

I mean, we see all this produced by the Holy Spirit of God working within our

heart, working within our life, motivating us to do those things.

And I say this today because I want you to know that holiness is not a burden.

And man, we've got some great church forefathers and foremothers that have gone before.

They were great Christians, but they made holiness seem so drab and ugly,

and why do I want to even do that?

They weren't a very great advertisement for Christianity and living the abundant

life that God wanted them to live.

Do I believe they were holy people? Absolutely.

But they didn't make Christianity look very fun. They didn't make holiness look

very fun. And so the world kept tempting.

The world kept looking better. But I say, what's better than living without

sin in your life? And what's better than living without regrets?

Without having to wonder if you've treated someone well or not.

When we think about the holiness of God, it's the natural fruit of a Spirit-shaped heart.

It's God shaping you and working you. When you think about the fruit of the

Spirit, do you have more love in your life since you met Jesus?

If you do, that shows the Spirit's working in your heart. How about more peace? How about more joy?

I mean, go down the list. Do you have more of that in your life since you met Christ?

If not, are you letting God's Spirit at work on you or are you stopping him?

Hey, oh no, God, spirit, stay away from that closet. You probably don't want to open that.

Well, why not? I might be hiding some stuff in there. You don't want to see.

Well, do you remember what the scripture says?

God remembers your sins no more. Hey, let me clean out that closet.

Why are you hanging on to it?

Get rid of it. That's gone. Well, there's shameful things in there.

What greater shame was than our Savior being hung on a cross as a public spectacle dying for us.

Jesus took on our shame. He took on our guilt.

The Spirit reshapes our desires, not just our behaviors.

Holiness becomes a Spirit-produced appetite. We want it.

We want to live as God wants us to live. And it starts from in here.

Think of the best church day you ever had. I mean, the time when you felt most

spiritual together with other believers.

Well, and you amplify that by a million fold, and it's just not even accurate

as to what our first day in heaven together will be like.

But even now, right here, we can have these holy moments together.

And it's God that works in us and through us to make this happen.

Well, secondly, when you talk about the practice of heart writing,

how does God write on the heart? Well, he writes through a new identity in Christ.

It was said earlier, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

the new creation has come, the old is gone, and the new is here.

You aren't who you used to be.

Christians, stop calling yourself sinners because guess what?

You're not anymore. Did you used to be? Oh, yeah.

Each and every one of us used to be. But now we are children of the living God,

sons and daughters. We are royalty.

Princes and princesses. Zzzz, zzzz.

Think I covered everybody. You obey God not to become God's people,

but because you are God's people.

How should royalty act? I don't know.

How should a child of God act? Well, I kind of know that because we get the

hints from Scripture on how that should be.

See, it's our identity, knowing who we are in Christ Jesus that fuels our obedience.

It's knowing who you are so that when someone comes to you and tells you that

you're not that, you can say, baloney, I know what the scripture says,

what God says, who I am in Christ.

Well, you're just a sinner. You just can't help but sin. Baloney,

the scripture says that I don't have to be chained again to a yoke of slavery,

a yoke of sin that keeps me in bondage.

And it's the enemy that comes at us that just likes to nitpick our brain,

remind us of all the garbage we did when that's already been forgiven and taken care of.

And God wants us not to look to the past, but to look to the future and to follow

his steps, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit of God.

The church, I've got to tell you, it has to be a place where hearts can heal.

Because a lot of you have been through some shameful things.

You've been through some hurtful things.

I don't pretend to know them all, but it's not just a place where you come in

and there's 250 rules you have to follow. Hey, rules are.

Glad the kids are in children's church because then they can't use this against

me later. Pastor Mike said, there's no rules. Rules aren't good. No, rules are good.

When it comes to holiness, comes to holy living, we trust the Spirit of God. Why?

Because I can tell you the same Spirit that's in me is the same Spirit that's in Eldon.

And so if it's the same Spirit, guess what? There's going to be some similarity

of how we grow up into Jesus.

The same Spirit that indwells my heart is going to be the same spirit that indwells

Barbie's heart, that indwells Dan's heart. I mean, I could go down to each one of you.

And so there's a commonality of what God is working out in us.

Now, it's going to be like a farmer's field of corn.

There's going to be some corn that shoots up, and there's going to be some that

are lagging behind, taking their time.

That's just because of our hearts. We're people.

Some of us do things faster, and some of us do things slower.

But God, as long as we're letting him work and letting him have his way and

his will within our hearts.

You see, it's got to be a place where grace is practiced.

Hey, we're going to have rules. We have procedures. We have the way that we

operate as the church. They're important. They're protecting this body.

But there's grace that has to be expressed for those that come here that are hurting.

And Christian, if you're hurting, this should be a safe place where you express those hurts.

If someone else has hurt you in the church, there's a way that we can deal with

that together and find grace together and find a way to move forward.

And that brings me to the third point here of the practice of heart writing.

God writes on our heart through a community of grace.

Colossians 3, 12 through 14, listen to this.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with

compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you has a grievance against someone,

forgive as the Lord forgave you, and over all these virtues put on love,

which binds them together, all together in perfect unity.

New covenant people do these things.

They encourage, they restore, they remind each other of the mercy of God that each one has received.

Shame has no place in the new covenant. it.

Can't be shaming each other, trying to shame each other into the kingdom of God, into compliance.

God's kingdom doesn't work like that. When God says, I will remember their sins

no more, that's the end of spiritual self-condemnation, first of all.

Sometimes we're our own worst critic. And I've heard some pretty scathing remarks

on my preaching before, and it doesn't even face me. You know why?

I'm my own worst critic because I know what I wanted to say and I know what I didn't say.

I know when I messed up an illustration and when my wife is sitting in front,

I know when I told something I shouldn't have said.

And yes, I do hear about it sometimes on the way home.

Thankfully, my children are old enough not to always be in sanctuary because

they're out ministering to other

churches and other places, but they would say, Dad, you blew it today.

Or why'd you say that story? And you embarrassed me in front of everybody.

I said, oh, there's no shame in the kingdom of God.

You know what happens is that shame isolates us, but it's grace that transforms us.

We've got to be a people of grace. I'm not saying this because I know about

anyone's little situation or gossip or what's going on.

I'm just saying it as a reminder that when people come in here,

we've got to remember this is a sanctuary.

It's a safe place. It's also a hospital ER, spiritually speaking.

I know some of you hurt deeply. I also know that God wants to heal you deeply,

not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually.

There's got to be a place where you can encounter God in that way.

Last but not least, the practice of heart writing. God writes in our hearts

through daily surrender.

Contrary to popular belief, it's not just a one-time thing.

Luke 9.23, Jesus says to his followers, to all of them, Whoever wants to be

my disciples, my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet forfeit or lose

their very self or their very soul?

Christianity is not about behavior modification. renovation.

That said, behaviors will change when you let the Spirit of God start moving in your heart.

God will do a new thing within you. Really, what it's about is heart renovation.

Don't you love those home improvement shows? Some of you, one of you, maybe.

My wife's not here, so I can't pick on her. She went to get some lunch stuff ready.

But I love it when they get to this, man, it's a roach-infested place,

and there's water damage.

The ceilings have fallen down because someone left the bathtub overflowing.

And you just wonder, what in the world are they going to do with this dump?

And yet, at the end of the show, fast forward, spoiler alerts,

everything's fixed up nice, beautiful, and they get a million dollars for a $50,000 house.

I don't know if that's true or not, but you just wonder how in the world?

Well, it was renovated. That's what God wants to do in our hearts is renovate us.

No matter how good you are, there's always room for renovation because God has

got more things that he has in store for your life than you can even a think, dream, or imagine.

God writes on hearts that are open, on hearts that are soft,

and hearts that are yielded.

And God wants us to yield daily to His will.

Transformation is not instant, but I got to tell you, transformation is inevitable

when the heart is surrendered to God.

So practically, how do you do this? If as a Christian, you make a mistake.

If as a Christian, you find yourself in a fallen away state from God because

of choices that you made, maybe because of reactions to choices other people

have made, well, first of all, you've got to acknowledge the failure.

Say, God, you wanted me here, but I'm so far out of where you wanted me.

You've got to acknowledge that. You don't make excuses for it.

Well, it's her fault. She's the one that made me get here.

Or, you know, it was circumstances. I just couldn't help control it, and now I'm over here.

It's none of that. We acknowledge. What do we do when we acknowledge?

We talked about it last week, right?

We acknowledge God, you are God. I'm not in the place you want me to be.

Help me to get over here where you wanted me to be present.

We've got to acknowledge the failure. That's why I love in 1 John 1.9,

where John the Beloved writes to Christians and he says,

if you confess your sin, he is faithful and just and will forgive you of your

sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

It means if Christians mess up, there's still a remedy for it,

a remedy to acknowledge and to change.

Got to make sure we do is to refuse that shame after we've asked God to forgive us. It's gone.

It's history. We messed up. We put a sign there that says, do not come here

again. This is not God's will, and we don't go back there.

We don't even flirt with trying to go back there.

No, we go to where God wants us to be.

Wherever that is in our life, spiritually, emotionally, relationally,

we've got to make sure that our heart is soft and yielded to God and following God's ways.

And we returned to the posture of saying, God, here I am.

Hands down, my life is yours. I'm not trying to hang on to anything.

Take me and use me as you would.

Remember the chore chart. It does not create the desire to do those chores,

even for the stupid little smiley face sticker.

Even as a kid, you know, what else is in it for me?

Well, God does what no chore chart, no rule could ever do.

He wants to write his life on your heart. He wants you to be an open letter

for all the world to see what a loving God can do for a broken, fallen person.

And so my question to you today is this, where do you need God to write something new on your heart today?

Is there something you've been holding back? Is there an area of life that,

boy, it's just not where it should be?

Why don't you let God write that on your heart today?

Let God remove your shame if you've been holding on to it. You don't need to.

In Jesus, he offers grace and mercy and forgiveness.

And today we talked about how the old covenant law could put God's law on the wall.

We have Ten Commandments in the courtroom. We've got Ten Commandments all over the place.

But yet, the human situation is still deteriorating in many ways in our court system as well.

The new covenant of God that's written on your heart. And maybe as you listen,

something stirred inside of you and maybe something whispered, man, that's what I need.

I need to get out of this old covenant cycle of doing good and then being lured

away and then falling and then crying back to God and I'm just stuck in this

cycle that I don't need to be stuck in.

You're tired of making promises you can't keep and you're tired of not feeling

that you can do what God calls you to do.

You're tired of wanting to do what's right, knowing what's right,

but not being able to do it. If that's you, then I want you to hear this very carefully.

Christianity is not about you writing a better story for God.

It's about letting God write a new story in your life.

You've heard the cliche, and yes, I'm going to say it, let go and let God.

Quit trying to write your own story and let God do it. Follow the lead of the

Holy Spirit as he moves you.

Hebrews 8, remember it says, I will put my laws into their minds and write them

on their hearts. I will be merciful and I will remember their sins no more.

Boy, that's the gospel in one phrasing there. And it goes all the way back to Jeremiah.

Doesn't start with your performance. He wants to start with his mercy towards you.

So will you receive that mercy today?

Will you receive what God has forgive you? He wants to offer you forgiveness.

He's not asking you to fix your heart up and then come to him.

He's saying, come to me and let me fix you up.

Come to me. Cast your cares upon me. I'm going to give you a new heart, a new motivation.

Some of you have been living under the old system long enough. Quit trying harder.

Quit trying to do better.

Hoping the high priest, God, Jesus, will take care of you. He will,

but you got to realize he's come to you.

He's offering himself to you, for you. And he invites you into that relationship.

So there's three simple steps today. For those of you that are in Christ already,

and for those of you that you're not sure about Jesus yet, and you're still

trying to figure this out, It's just three simple things to remember. First is surrender.

Surrender yourself to God. Christians, maybe it's surrendering,

giving up that shame that you've

carried that's not yours to carry because Jesus already took the load.

Surrender the pathway in life. Maybe you know God wants you to go in a direction

that you don't want to go in, but you know it's the right direction.

Surrender and let Jesus take you that way.

Second is trust. Have the faith to trust God.

That he's got your best interest in mind and that he's going to take care of you.

And then I would just ask the third thing, surrender trust and then receive trust.

Receive God's forgiveness, receive the Holy Spirit, and receive the guidance

that he wants to offer you today.

If you're here today and you haven't said, Jesus, I need your forgiveness.

I want you in me. Today is that day, not because you're ready,

but because Jesus is willing to offer you that today. Don't wait is what I'm saying.

None of us have been promised tomorrow, have we? If you have,

I want to know how you received that.

But none of us are. So while it's still called today, let's take care of those

important issues with God.

Surrender what you need to surrender and receive what you need to receive from the Lord.

Again, the invitation is let God write something new on your heart.

If you're ready to take a step today of surrender, if you're ready to take a

step of trust today, and if you're ready to receive what God has for you,

I just invite you to say this prayer with me. It's a simple prayer.

It's a prayer that, you know, it's not magic words.

You just need to be honest. Is this really what you want God to do in your life?

And so the words are on the screen. I'm not going to ask you to bow your head

and close your eyes, especially if you want to say this with me.

But let's just say this together. are those of you that want you.

I want God to do something new within you.

Jesus, I need you. I can't change myself.

I believe you died for my sins and rose again.

I receive your forgiveness. I surrender my life to you.

Write your life on my heart. Make me new. I trust you today. Amen. man.

It's not just a prayer for a new believer.

Boy, you old Christian, guess what? There's times we need to say this and we

need to be reminded of it.

And so if you prayed that today, you meant it, whether you said it out loud

or you were saying in your heart and your mind, you want to talk more,

man. I'll be around sometime this week.

I'll be around today for a while. I'd love to talk to you. Christian,

if you're struggling, you need some accountability.

Hey, I'm not bringing shame to you, but I want to help you get to the next step

of your Christian life, of your growth in Christ.

Remember the little corn. If you're the little corn wanting to be like the big

corn, I could show you how as a little corn to grow up.

Now, not real corn. You need to talk to Les Laux about that.

But spiritually speaking, if you feel like you need to grow more in Jesus, I can help you.

You've got to be willing. You've got to want that.