You Are Known | Part Two

Thank you for listening to the Kelowna Christian Center podcast.

Our desire is that today's message will be fresh and encouraging to you.

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Good morning, 11 a.m.

service.

How are you guys feeling?

Got some extra sleep today?

Well, one person did, so that's awesome.

Thank you for that hand clap.

I'm excited to be with you.

Uh, if you don't know me and if I don't know you, my name is uh Malachi.

I'm part of the pastoral team here.

I I run the young adults and the youth programs.

And uh usually you would see Pastor Brody up here, but he is right now in Ottawa, so he's hanging out.

Uh, if you follow him on Instagram, he was with the prime minister, so that was kind of cool with Justin Trudeau.

So uh that was, I mean, they probably had a good conversation.

He's a he's a pretty awesome guy to talk to, so I'm sure that it was fun for him.

But this morning, um I've been just praying about this message and and and what to bring, and I'm really excited to bring it to you this morning.

And and last week, if you were here with us, uh, or if you're watching online, uh Pastor Burdy spoke a message and it was from a part of uh the Bible called in Luke, it was Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

And uh, and in this in this passage, Jesus was he was approached by this, it says he was approached by a lawyer.

Okay, so this this lawyer he came up to Jesus with his intention to to try and trick Jesus.

And he tried to, he asked him a question in order to kind of throw Jesus off.

And and Jesus, you know, obviously you can't really do that with him because he's he's Jesus.

So uh he asked him this question.

It was an interesting question to ask, uh, and he asks him, How do I inherit the kingdom of heaven?

And and Jesus looks at him and he says, Well, and he's and he responds with a question, of course.

And he says, basically, like, well, hey, you're you're a smart guy, you you know the law.

What does the law say?

What is written?

And uh, and and the lawyer says, Well, it says, Love your love your Lord, God with all your heart, your soul, your strength, and your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And so, and Jesus is like clapping, he's like, Yeah, good job.

Like, perfect, awesome answer.

That's exactly what I was looking for.

Like, now, now go do that.

Go do that, go do that perfectly, go do that without mistakes.

And and the lawyer is kind of frustrated, and he's like, Well, who is my neighbor anyway, right?

Like, who who actually is my neighbor?

And and and Jesus goes into the story about the Good Samaritan and and basically kind of narrows it down to everybody is our neighbor.

Like, we we can't really escape our neighbor.

Everyone looking to your left and looking to your right, that's your neighbor.

The person across the street, the person walking down the road is your neighbor.

And so love your neighbor as yourself.

And and and Brody kind of spoke on this a little bit that Jesus raised the bar, he raised the standard that that we think we're supposed to love people and treat people.

He actually raised it to the next level into a place that we actually can't do it on our own.

We can't love people, we can't love our neighbor as ourself on our own.

And and and and Brody also shared on this way on how we love and and not to give up.

Even when uh you know you've been burned, or maybe you've been hurt by something, or maybe you tried to reach out, you tried to love your neighbor, and your neighbor was mean or a jerk.

And you don't want to be, you don't, or you maybe you you were in a situation where you you had you had been betrayed and you don't want to love that person, but Pastor Brady was talking about that forgiveness that doesn't stop, forgiveness that forgive like you've never been hurt, love like you've never been hurt.

And it's with that love, it's it's it's how we can help people come from the unknown to being known.

Come from a place of feeling worthless or feeling valueless or feeling down, feeling disheartened, feeling like they don't have an identity, feeling like they're they're lost to a place of safety, to a place of security, to a place of being known.

And I want to talk about this this morning, being known.

And uh, and as I was I was researching this and looking into it, I found that, and even in myself, I know this was this was true because it resonated with me, and I don't know if it'll resonate with you, but the greatest human desire, the greatest desire in our humanity, if we if we boil it all down, if we're if we're truly honest with ourselves, our greatest desire is to be known and fully loved.

To have everything out on the table, every secret, every mistake, every every past mistake, every present mistake, everything that, you know, where you came from, every hurt, everything you're ashamed of, ever all the good things, everything out on the table, and to be accepted as a person.

But our greatest, our greatest fear on the other side, there's here's our greatest desire over here is to be fully known and to be to be fully loved.

And our on the other side, there's attention.

Right?

We walk across to the other side, and there's this fear that holds us back from that, from attaining that.

Right?

And it's and it's to be known is our greatest fear.

To be fully known is is terrifying for us.

Because, you know, if we're if we're honest, we're our own worst enemy.

Right?

Uh I I look in the mirror and I get to see all my faults every day.

I know where I come short, I know where I where I've made a mistake, I know what I don't like about myself.

We're our own worst enemy.

And so that our view of ourselves is often negative.

It's not, I mean, there's some really positive people out there, God bless you, but I think for most of us, like, we maybe we don't admit it to everybody, but sometimes our view of ourselves, we could pick apart our whole character.

Maybe what we look like, maybe self-image, maybe what you have going on in your mind, maybe from your past, maybe just things that that come up, our view is often negative, and we maybe don't see ourselves with much value, maybe we are ashamed of our past.

But uh this this question from from the what the lawyer had said love your neighbor as yourselves.

If you don't even love yourself, if you don't even accept yourself, if you have a hard time dealing with you, how are you supposed to love your your neighbor?

And uh I wanna I wanna talk about this, and I'm gonna jump right in.

And if you have your Bibles, I hope you do.

I hope you uh I love it when I see paper Bibles.

There was there was uh one youth girl that brought her paper Bible, and I was really pumped last youth group, and it just doesn't happen anymore.

Everyone's on their phones.

But if you have your paper Bible, or if you have a Bible on your phone, we're gonna jump to John 8, and uh, and I'm just gonna read it.

We have it on the screen as well.

So if you didn't bring it, you're forgiven.

It's okay.

We'll take care of you.

Jesus is not mad at you.

Uh it's okay.

So we're gonna jump into it in verse 2.

It says, Now, now early in the morning, he, he being Jesus, came into the temple, kind of a setting like this, and he was, and all the people came to him and he sat down and he taught them.

And so it was kind of like a setting like this, like he's teaching and preaching and talking to them about different things.

Um, and then all of a sudden it says, The scribes and the Pharisees brought him a woman caught in adultery, and when they had set her in the midst, they said to him, so they interrupt the meeting, right?

They come barging through the doors and they drag this woman, if she was caught in adultery, and say, and they say to this, they say, Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act.

And then they say this, they say, now Moses in the law commanded us, like Jesus didn't know the law, they had to tell him that you should, that anyone that does this, that's caught in this in this way, should be stoned.

What do you say?

And they said this in order to trick Jesus, once again, trying to trick Jesus, impossible.

But they wanted something to accuse him.

And said, But instead, Jesus does this thing.

He he just completely ignores them.

It's really interesting.

I would get really annoyed if that happened.

But Jesus just completely ignores them and it says he stoops down and he just begins writing in the sand.

No idea what he's writing.

My my creative brain goes to he was just drawing images of maybe unicorns or or maybe writing in a different language just to do whatever, because he was just ignoring them.

He wanted to prove a point.

And so it goes on and they they continued asking him, and so eventually he was like, okay, well, I'm gonna stand up.

So he raised himself up and he said he said this this statement.

He said, He who is without sin among you, let him first throw the first stone.

And so I imagine that it was probably silent after that, and they were all thinking.

Kind of like this room, we're all just thinking and quiet, and you guys can you're gonna get a better preach out of me if you say amen.

Let's try it, amen?

There we go.

I just had to force that one out.

But so there's silence in the room, right?

And and one by one it says they those who heard it being convicted by their conscience went away one by one, beginning with the oldest down to the youngest.

And Jesus was left alone with this woman, and it was super awkward.

Like it says she was caught in the very act of adultery, and so that means she was she was dragged out of the house, probably not wearing anything, if it, if, if maybe just like grabbed a sheet or a blanket with her and took it along and tried to cover herself up, but she was dragged out, and so now Jesus is standing here with this woman, and it's super awkward.

Like she's she went from being in a place where she was about to die to this place of just like, well, what's what's happening?

Like no one's around.

It's just I mean this guy who's acting really weird and just drying in the sand, like what is he doing?

And so there's this this moment, right?

And and and Jesus raised himself up again, and he saw that no one was there but the woman, and he says, Woman, where are those accusers of yours?

Has no one stayed to condemn you?

And probably with overwhelming fear in her, she said, Well, no, no one's no one stayed.

It's just me and you.

This is super awkward.

And Jesus says, Well, neither do I.

I don't condemn you.

Go and sin no more.

And uh the title of this message is called Bagged Fee.

And uh I just wanna I just want to pray before we we jump into this next part.

So let's just let's just pray together and bow our heads.

Father God, I just thank you so much for your word.

I thank you so much for this, uh, even this story and this picture of your your grace and your forgiveness and your love, God, that we would just be able to embrace it.

God, I thank you for this uh this church and this time we had this morning.

God, that you would just soften our hearts and and help us to to grow closer to you and to learn more from you and what it is to live like you in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Uh I'd like to ask a question just to kind of help help things get along here and and and kind of get everyone in the boat together.

But have you ever have you ever tried to keep a secret?

Who's like who's good at keeping secrets?

Like you would say that you're great at it.

You yeah, there's a few of you, mostly women, uh, because guys are terrible at this.

We're just really obvious, but uh maybe it was the surprise party your friend told me about, and you you slipped and you know something came out, you're like, oh, and I and I screwed it up, you lost the secret.

Or or maybe it was your spending habits, uh, maybe you buy a little bit too many, like clothing, too much clothing, and you had to hide it from your your your wife or your husband.

I I mean I like to shop, so I it's usually me.

I usually like to go to Valley Village and I and I'm wearing the pants that I bought, and then Rebecca she'll she'll she'll recognize it and be like, Well, these I've had these forever.

I've had these forever.

And it was that day that I bought them.

I I I'm really bad at hiding things, they're pretty obvious.

And and maybe a better example, maybe a better example for you guys.

Uh maybe when you were younger.

Have you ever tried to hide something from your parents?

Hands?

No, no one wants to say it.

It's okay.

We got a few honest people, thank you.

Uh I like I tried this a lot.

Uh, I think I think if we're really honest, we could all say that we tried to hide things from our parents when we were younger.

Uh, but I never I never got away with it.

I never got away with much.

I was really bad at it, like I said.

I was just super obvious and and kind of dull and just not not really good at keeping secrets.

My sister, on the other hand, was really great at it.

She was really crafty.

And I tried to learn from her, but she was just way above me.

And and so I was I was 13 years old.

This was way back when, it feels like an eternity ago.

And I did something so ridiculously stupid, okay?

It was it was something really, really dumb, but it was obviously me.

It was it was so blatantly obvious that it was me that it was no point to hide it, but I st I still tried.

I still tried to hide it.

And uh, and I was with my friend, he was my he's still my best friend, Jeremiah.

He was the best man at my wedding.

We grew up together, and we we we would usually do a lot of dumb things.

And so uh my parents were gone one day, and that was their mistake.

Uh, but I was at this destructive age in my life, and I think I I don't really ever grow, you know, guys don't really ever grow out of the the the age of wanting to like shoot things and hunt and break things and and set things on fire.

But I was a specifically more in my in my stage of like I just didn't think about consequences because I was 13, and and so I had a lot of these stuffed animals.

I I loved collecting stuffed animals.

And uh I had this, I had a few really cool, I still have a few actually at my mom's house.

Uh I have this this one gorilla.

It was really cool.

Uh I can't remember, uh, Harry.

His name was Harry.

And uh it's actually still wearing the overalls I wore as a baby.

Uh because oh all the ladies, thanks.

But uh, I still have that one, but there was there was this other like I had this like I just collected stuffed animals, I loved them, but I was 13 now, I needed to grow up, and so we agreed this day that it was time to become a man, and we decided that it was time for the stuffed animals to go.

And so if you get a picture of this, we had this uh we had a really awesome uh uh place where we lived.

It was a five-acre lot.

We had like a big backyard, and and and and past the backyard was like all this like forest, and so we we would go back hunting and and do all this fun stuff and shoot things and do guy stuff.

And and but but my mom, she really loved our backyard because it was really it was actually really nice.

She did she like made the the grass really nice.

It was like all green and there was like birds flying in the air, and and it was like it was just like beautiful summer day, and and it was like the sun was coming through the clouds, and it was just beautiful.

And then all of a sudden, we just recognized that there was this there was this rock in the middle of the the backyard, and we're like, this is perfect.

This is the perfect place to destroy stuffed animals.

And so on this rock we we we set up our our little stuffed animals and little toys and stuff, and we're sitting on the on the on the porch, which is about from me to like Brian away, so we couldn't miss.

It was perfect.

And I had like a little pellet gun.

My my dad, he would, he would, he bought us uh bow and arrows and he gave us throwing stars and all these things you shouldn't give a 13-year-old boy.

But my dad was my dad, you've heard stories of him, so if you ever meet him, I'm sorry, here's a pretense for him.

But he he loved to you know let us kind of explore being guys, and and so we're sitting on the porch and we're we're like picking off these little stuffed animals and uh or like shooting them with bows and throwing throwing stars at them, and eventually it gets boring, right?

Because you can only you go only go so far with entertainment for guys, they need something more concrete.

And so we decided that um we needed something with a little more gusto, okay?

And so in my dad's in my dad's garage or at his shop, uh he has a bunch of these jerry cans of gas.

And you know, he tried to hide them from me, but I I usually would find them.

And and and so I grabbed a jerry can of gas, and we we were like, this is perfect.

We need to we need to burn these stuffed animals.

This is the only way it can be done.

We need to we need to do something really stupid.

And but so the first toy to be sacrificed, we we we set it up on the top of the rock, and it was this toy that we would hit and it would make a it would talk to you, it would kind of like it kind of I don't I can't remember if it'd lift you off or anything like that, but like it would just make annoying noises.

And I was like, Oh, I gotta do my mom a favor, she hates this toy, so they're gonna burn it.

And uh, so, anyways, we put it on the rock, we pour a little gas down, and there's like a little trail of gas.

And so we're like, okay, we step back, we get our match.

Or right, that's the sound it makes.

And then all of a sudden, like the gas trail gets lit on fire and it goes up and it and it starts to burn this little toy, and we're like kind of dancing around it.

And um, no, we didn't, but we were we were kind of like psycho, but we were looking at this this toy, and I don't know why we did this.

I don't, I don't, I still don't know why.

When I was thinking about this story, like, why did we do this?

We were getting so close to the toy, like the rock is right here, and we just wanted to see it burn.

And I don't know why we needed to get so close.

But what we forgot about this toy, the whole reason why this story is really crazy is there was batteries in the toy.

And if you've ever thrown batteries in the fire, you know what happens.

And so we're we're standing over this toy, and we're just like grinning, and it's the best day ever.

And then all of a sudden, boom! Like it is like it was like exploded right in our face, and there was like hot acid that hit our face, and it actually like left scar marks on my friend's face, and there was hot stuffing everywhere, and so in the chaos of it, we're like screaming and like holding our 13-year-old faces that don't have beards to protect us, and and we I I I I was running this way, and he was running that way, and I actually kicked over the the jerry can.

And and I lit my mom's lawn on fire.

And so this this fire is like spreading, and we're screaming, we're freaking out, and like I ran over and I'm like trying to stomp out this fire, and my my shoe catches on fire, and then I'm screaming more, and then my friend finally click kicks in and he hit he finally comes to himself and he's like, okay, we're gonna and we grabs the hose and he starts hosing it down, and we we calm down and we get the fire out, and we're like, okay, we're good.

And then I another thing clicked.

My parents are coming home in like 20 minutes.

And what are we gonna do about this mess?

Right?

And it's like she's gonna kill us, and so we're like scrambling, we're throwing all of our like the broken toys, the all the ammunition and the burnt toys into this garbage bag, and we're hosing off the rock, it's all like charred and burnt, and then around it is like this like ring of like black, dead, burnt grass.

And we're like, how are we gonna hide this from my parents?

So we did our best.

We were we're panicking, and they get home, and then I'm just sitting there like on the table, like reading a book, doing my homework, you know, just do do do.

And my mom looks out the window and she's like, What?

Like, what happened to our lawn?

Like, I don't I don't know.

Must have been lightning or something.

Freak storm just like came up and you know, but it was so obvious that it was me, right?

Like my parents raised me, they know that I wasn't the brightest and that I like to destroy things, okay?

Like my dad taught me how gasoline works.

It was his fault technically, but but and the law, the lawn, like there was evidence, right?

Like you couldn't hide the big the big black circle of like death that we created, right?

But I I still tried to cover it up.

I still tried to hide it.

Hopefully I got smarter today, but um I think we can relate.

Uh maybe some of you are like, well, how?

Let me explain.

We have this, like I said before, we have this burning desire in our hearts to be known, to live a life out in the open, to not have to hold secrets, to not have to hide, to be ashamed.

We wanna we want to live vulnerable, we want to live open, we wanna we want to live fully known by everybody so they know who we really are.

But at the same time, we're driven by this fear to hide.

It's terrifying, right?

So there's that tension.

And it's like this, I have a better analogy here.

Um it's like we walk around in our lives, maybe pre-Christian, maybe you've been a Christian for a long time, and we walk around with this bag of stuff, and it's completely unnecessary stuff.

Like in here, I have some old Christmas like crackers that you crack at the at New Year's or New at uh Christmas time.

I have a volleyball.

Like, this is just random stuff I grab from home just to help the analogy, but it's it's just a bag of unnecessary things, right?

But the point is, is it's it's heavy.

And we We carry this bag around with us and it's maybe it's maybe it's stuff that we can't forgive ourselves about.

Maybe it's it's it's past sin that we feel like Jesus never actually forgave us for, or we feel like we can't give it to God, or we feel like it's too big for Jesus.

Maybe it's pride, maybe it's guilt, maybe it's our shame, and maybe it's maybe it's something deeper than that, maybe it's our insecurity.

And we just stuff our stuff in there and we hold on to it, and we're like, no one can touch this bag, no one can open this bag, only I know the contents.

And maybe it's maybe it's a bag you've been given.

Maybe it's a bag that was forced upon you.

Maybe this bag wasn't your fault.

Maybe it's past hurts, past disappointments, maybe it's unforgiveness.

There's a multitude of things it could be, but maybe it's a bag of labels.

Labels that you were given.

That's not truly who you are, but it's on me, so I I guess it's me.

I guess I'll just hold on.

I don't know how to get rid of it.

Let's just hold on to it, I guess.

And and I think whether big or small, this is the point I want to make here.

Whether big or small, I think we all carry something.

If we're really truly honest with ourselves, like whether it's a it's a it's a suitcase, like my wife likes to bring on on trips, like four or five suitcases.

I'm just kidding.

She packs lighter than me.

I'm the worst.

But maybe it's maybe it's just a little bag, maybe it's a little plastic bag that you carry around with you.

Or maybe it's like this big.

We all carry something.

You just have to be honest with yourself.

And and but when we we see it, right?

When we when we look in the mirror, we're our own worst enemy.

We catch a glimpse of it.

Might be when you're when you have quiet time or you're going down to sleep and or or the room is silent and you have time to your thoughts.

Maybe it tries to creep back in there.

It's condemnation.

Regardless of what it is, we don't want anyone to open it though.

We don't want anyone to touch it.

It's terrifying.

Why?

We fear rejection, we fear judgment.

Like rightfully so.

We feel we fear betrayal.

We fear like we can't trust people with this stuff.

This is this is information that is very close to my heart.

What would they think if they opened this bag?

Would they think differently differently of me?

Would they still love me?

I don't know.

And so to be loved and not known, it's comforting.

Right?

So I I live my life and I and I've you know I'm popular, I'm loved.

I'm loved by people.

People tell me they love me, they like me, I'm fun to be around, but they don't know about this.

They don't know about the bag, but I'm you know what I'm okay with that.

I can live like that.

I'll just hold them under the bag.

No one will ever really know who I truly am, but I'll be I'll be someone for them.

I'll be someone.

I'm I'll make something up, I'll I'll put them on a face, I'm happy, I'm a great guy, I'm really fun, but they don't know what's going on inside.

And it and it's comforting, but it's superficial, it's not real.

You're living a lie.

And and then on the other side, on the other side is to be to be known, and like we said before, to be known and not loved is our greatest fear.

To be to have this and you put it in front of someone, you say, That's that's all my stuff.

And have them walk away from you would be detrimental.

So we don't.

We it's too scary.

It's too scary.

I'm not doing it, I'm holding on to it.

And a lot of the times, you know, our interactions, our interactions with people, and maybe maybe you felt like you've been burnt, like Pastor Brody said last week, a lot of us have been hurt.

We've been hurt.

Like there's been times in my life I've been hurt, I don't want to be hurt again.

I know that probably most of you have been hurt in some way, right?

But we don't want to be hurt again, and so a lot of times, if we're not careful, our interactions uh with people or our life experience with bad situations or past mistakes or past hurts can shape our view of God.

And they they shape our our view of God, and they also shape our view of how we think that God sees us.

So it's not only our own view of God, we think, we think for God.

Right?

And our view of our Heavenly Father is not a good dad, it's a bad dad, it's a scary dad.

He wants to punish me.

If he ever finds out about my stuff, oh he's gonna be disappointed, he'll be mad at me.

I don't I don't want to give him this stuff, and and he's not gonna get it.

And that's that's our view becomes twisted.

Maybe that that's not that's extreme, but I think a part of every one of us, we have we get a little bit like timid with God.

And if you've had a lot of bad things happen to you, your view of God is not gonna be good because that's what you think.

Well, if if it's that if that's how life is, how is God ever gonna treat me nice?

How is God's never done anything for me?

And our view becomes twisted and we we just hold on to it.

But then there's there's these moments and we have encounters with God.

We have this this encounter with a guy named Jesus, right?

And his love kind of cuts through all the stuff, and we experience him, and it's amazing, and we get forgiven, and we we we come into this place where we're we feel love for the first time by God, and then and then Jesus comes up to us and he says, Hey, I want that bag.

And we're like, You sure?

Yeah, I won't give me your just give it here.

I just want to I just want to show you something.

And we we give him our bag, and he takes it, and he's like, All right, looks like it's all there.

And he just like throws it.

I won't throw my bag because I have some stuff in there, but he just throws the bag as far as like be further than you can see, and then he zaps it with lightning, right?

I'm just kidding.

But he gets rid of it, and he says, Hey, you don't have to worry about it anymore.

I've forgiven you.

And it's and it's amazing.

Like we like I already feel it.

Like my shoulder, it's a little sore, but I can I know it was there.

I know the weight was there, but now it's not.

And it's and that's the experience we we we experience in Christ.

We experience freedom.

That's what it's like, whoa.

I can like run, I could do a little dance.

I won't, I don't want to embarrass myself or my wife.

But day one happens, right?

Day one as a Christian, day 365 as a Christian, day 100,000 as a Christian.

I don't know if we can live that long, but we screw up, we mess up, we slip, we fall, we say something stupid, we think something, we do something, we act out in habit.

And then what do we do?

We go to the store and we buy a new bag and we start packing it.

Man, I I can't believe I I did that again.

I can't I can't get over this.

I feel like I just need to I just need to pick up my bag again.

It's okay, God.

I it's okay, I I got this, I don't want to bother you anymore.

I'm just gonna I don't think I can beat this.

So I'm just gonna carry.

We immediately start packing our bags again.

And it doesn't matter how long you've been a Christian, day one.

Some of you have done this, I've done it.

I've been a Christian for a long time, and I've I've done this.

I began packing my bag again.

When will I ever learn?

And if if we jump back to this story in John, Jesus is he's in the middle of teaching, he's he's in a sermon, he's speaking to these people, and this woman's dragged in.

She's exposed, it's embarrassing, it's terrifying, she knows what's coming.

And maybe she managed to grab something to cover herself just to bear the crowd, but she's caught regardless of what's going on.

She's caught, unable to hide, can't go back.

Everyone was there, everyone knew.

Her bag was out in front for everybody to see, open, spewed across the floor.

Everyone knew, everyone saw it.

There's nothing she could do.

She couldn't just hide behind Instagram and say everything's good and just take a selfie and you know.

Hashtag living life.

Right?

We can't, she couldn't hide behind something.

There was literally nothing she could hide behind.

And she's in this almost mob mentality of people, even the people that Jesus was teaching, they probably got up and said, Hey, isn't this the law, Jesus?

We need to stone this woman.

You're talking to us about righteousness, you're talking to us about right living, and this woman's caught in a dog.

Hey, we what do you say, Jesus?

And and the Pharisees, they it was rightly so that they demanded death, right?

It was it was the law, it was the law at this time.

And if you were caught sinning, there was punishment.

And so it was this fear-based mentality, this fear-based culture.

And if you can imagine, if you put yourself in this woman's shoes, it's it's it's completely terrifying.

She's gonna die.

It's the end.

I'm done.

And I and I can't go back, I don't have a second chance.

This is what she's thinking.

What does Jesus do?

He ignores the crowd, right?

Starts writing in the sand.

This woman's like, what is happening?

What is this guy doing?

And it's this odd moment, right?

And he ignores the crowd for long enough.

And he says this, he was without sin.

If you're here, if you're in this crowd, if you're perfect, you've never sinned, never made a mistake, you can throw the first stone.

And silence hits the room.

Everyone's thinking one by one, they begin to walk away.

Until it's just this woman in her bag of mistakes.

And Jesus.

And she knows he knows.

And she's probably scared to death.

But he looks at this woman, he stands to his feet, and looks at this woman not with disgust, not with anger, not with disappointment.

Maybe there's pain in his eyes.

But ultimately it's love.

Where are your accusers?

Where are they?

They're not here.

It's just you.

Are you gonna kill me?

No.

And I'm gonna take this with me.

You don't have to worry about it anymore.

And don't repack.

And he takes it, he throws it, and he zaps it with lighting.

And it's gone.

But Jesus, this is such an insane story.

Like, it's scandalous.

It doesn't make sense.

But that's what his love is.

It doesn't make sense.

His grace doesn't compute with my human brain.

But it doesn't matter.

He shows his perfect love to this lady, and it's not fear-based, it's not condemnation-based, it's not performance-based.

He didn't, she didn't do anything to gain this love.

She literally was caught making a mistake.

This love says that it drives out fear.

Perfect love drives out fear.

And what is it that holds us back?

It's fear.

Right?

Being loved, being accepted.

Everyone loves me, but I'm not actually known.

No one actually knows my story.

No one actually knows what I went through.

No one knows the pain I'm going through, but I'm putting on a smile, but I'm scared to tell them.

It's fear.

Being known and rejected.

I'm not even going to go there.

It's fear.

But his love causes fear to be driven away.

He didn't accept the sin.

He says, go and sin no more.

He didn't accept the sin.

He actually didn't just accept it, but he took care of it.

He didn't say that, well, this is okay.

Here, it's fine.

You can, it's fine.

No, he took it.

I'm going to take care of this, but you don't need to worry about it.

He didn't accept the sin.

He took care of it.

And he accepted her.

And there's this verse in Psalms, and it's written by David.

And uh, if you've ever heard the story of King David when he when he's really screwed up, he tried to hide it.

And he knew what it was like to feel the pressure.

He felt pressure to hide it, and he was scared.

But in this in this psalm, it's like he's he realizes something.

He realizes there's a truth.

And I'll read it to you.

He says, You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

When I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down.

You are familiar with all my ways, not just my good ways, my really bad ways.

You're familiar with it.

You know it.

Before a word can even leave my tongue, oh Lord, you know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go?

From your spirit.

Where can I flee?

From your presence.

If I go up into the heavens, you're there.

If I go to the depths, you're there too.

If I rise on the wings of dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, if I run as far as I can from God, he's there.

If I draw close, he draws closer.

Your right hand will hold me fast, your hand will guide me.

If I say, surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night all around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you.

The night will shine like the day, for darkness is as of light to you.

For you created my inmost being.

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.

Your works are wonderful.

I know that.

God knows every part of you.

He knows where you've been.

He knows what's happened to you.

He knows the pain because he's gone through the pain.

He knows every ache, every irritation in your body.

He knows every hard day you've had.

He cried with you when you lost that loved one.

He knows the doctor's appointments you've been going to.

He knows every trial you've been facing.

He knows the pain.

And he knows every bad day.

Jesus is aware of every bad day you've had, every mistake that you've had in your bag.

He knows about it.

But he doesn't go, oh man, like you did it again?

Seriously?

Like, what's wrong?

He doesn't say that.

He just takes care of it.

We don't have to fear.

And it may it may seem like you're that woman that where your shame and your guilt and your pain tried to take you on trial and it tried to stick you in front of Jesus and said, Well, look at.

Look at he did it again.

Are you gonna accept him, Jesus?

Jesus whisps him away.

He just looks at you with love.

We understand this.

When we understand this, like David, when David understands this, it freed him from something.

It liberated him from a pretense.

An idea of God that God was a bad dad.

It liberated him from having to perform.

It liberated him from this idea that I need to attain, I need to do something to attain God's love.

And it also humbles us out of our self-righteousness.

And it fortifies our life for anything difficult.

Because I'm secured.

When you understand that God knows you, you don't have to hide anything from Him.

That's the first step.

And then when we start to live like that, what would life look like?

What would life look like if we stopped looking in the mirror and saying, I can't stand you?

Instead saying, You're a child of God.

And you're called to do something great.

And we we instead of looking at ourselves and looking at our bag and being guilty of something that we're not even supposed to be guilty about.

And helped others unpack their bags.

Because what God took you through, he's gonna help you take someone through.

Whatever pain you experienced was for a reason.

Because he knew you could take it.

Because he's gonna send someone your way.

That's gonna need your help too.

And that's what church is all about.

That's what we're here to do.

We're not supposed to judge what's in the bag.

We see someone coming in, say, hey.

We get to know them, we ask their name first, don't be weird.

But say I used to carry around this bag.

And it was full of garbage.

I realized it was garbage now, but it was full of pain.

And you tell your story, and then you say, hey, well, Jesus actually freed me of that bag.

The baggage is no longer, and I see that you're carrying something similar.

Can I help you with that?

And we begin to point people to the one that can take care of it.

That's our purpose.

Not to judge, not to condemn, but to love.

But our first step is realizing this truth.

Our first step is to go to Him.

And then He'll show us who to go to.

Would you bow your heads with me?

And I don't know if you're here, but we always want to give this opportunity to know God, to ask Jesus into your heart.

And if you've never experienced His love and His forgiveness, He's crazy about you.

His love is relentless for you.

And if you've never experienced that love, we want to give an opportunity for you to be able to ask Him into your heart.

And it says in the Bible, if you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth, you will be saved.

It's not just words.

These words have the power to change your life and free you of that baggage.

And so I'm gonna ask for the privacy of, and I'm not gonna embarrass you, I'm not gonna make you stand up, but if the congregation would just pray this prayer with me, this is your first time, and you want to know God and you want him into your heart, and maybe maybe it's your fifth time praying this prayer, but you want to make a stand this morning, you want to make a declaration to rid yourself of this baggage and to give it to him.

And don't repack.

You don't need any bags where you're going.

So would you pray this prayer with me, Church, Lord Jesus?

Come into my heart.

Welcome to my world.

I receive your free gift of forgiveness from my shame, from my pain, from my sin, from my anguish, from anything this world can throw at me.

And I receive your grace, and I receive your love.

Help me to never look behind and to always move forward.

God forgive me of this baggage that I held, and I release it to you now.

In Jesus' name.

Everyone said, just in this moment, just keep your heads bowed, just for the privacy of those.

I just want to I just want to know if you're here.

If that was your first time, you prayed that prayer for your first time.

Or maybe you just wanted to rededicate your life to Jesus this morning.

I just want to give you a moment.

We just want to know if you're there because we want to celebrate with you.

Just be so brave, just to lift your hand.

That's here.

I just want to give you a moment, just a moment.

Why don't you stand with me, Church?

And we're just gonna celebrate what God has done in our lives.

And if if you prayed that prayer and you you believed in your heart that he released you that baggage today, come on, church.

That is that is what we're here.

We don't want to hold back anymore.

And so we're just gonna sing, we're just gonna celebrate what God has done in our life.

Amen.

Amen.