Perspective

All right, I got a word for you.

So let's go ahead.

Let's prepare our minds and hearts.

Lord, we come to you in Jesus' name.

Lord, we open ourselves up to you.

We want to hear from you.

God, I pray that you would help me to uh preach this message the right way.

Help me to do this the best of my ability.

Lord, I pray you would cover my gaps here.

I pray, Lord, that uh you would bring this together in order in our minds that you would speak to us as a collective and certainly as individuals in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said, Amen.

So I had an opportunity recently to do kind of a bucket list type uh thing.

I there was an event that was here recently, a few weeks ago, and it was a global event.

It was pastors, missionaries, and actually uh teenagers all from all across the world, and particularly across the country, that all came here to Columbus, Ohio, and there was a their event was held and hosted at the Columbus Convention Center, and then some of the events were at the nationwide arena, and so it was all week.

And to kick off the whole event, they did a uh a thing where their special speaker was a guy named Mike Singletary.

Uh Mike Singletary, for those of you that are my age or older, you'll remember Mike was an unbelievable linebacker for the Chicago Bears.

The 85 Bears, one of the great defenses in NFL history, if not the greatest, certainly one of the greatest.

And Mike was the captain.

He was a 10-time Pro Bowler, I believe, nine or ten times.

Um, and uh one of the probably top three, top five middle linebackers in NFL history.

He was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1998, okay.

I was born in 80.

So when Mike was in his prime, I was like totally locked in.

I mean, this guy was a legend.

In fact, I used to watch his VHS tapes, okay, of like NFL films of this guy running and hitting people.

And so that's all I just want to be like Mike Singletary.

So they asked me, they asked me, hey, Mike Singletary is gonna be at this event.

We need someone to host him for a few hours.

Would you be willing to be that man?

I said, let me check my schedule.

Yep, I'll do it.

Um, glad to.

So I spent like three hours with Mike Singletary.

Um, when I met him, I wanted to be I wanted to be respectful, and and I didn't want to just sort of fanboy out and like hit him with the grand inquisition, a bunch of questions.

So I kind of lobbed a few questions out there to see if he wanted to talk, and he was feeling chatty apparently.

So we had this unbelievable conversation for three hours.

At one point, okay, what was interesting when I met him is I expected him to be more physically imposing, and he really wasn't.

In fact, he's a little bit shorter than I am.

Uh obviously he's a little bit older, so he's not, you know, playing in the NFL anymore, so you're gonna uh be a little smaller.

But I was kind of surprised.

But you you don't just go to an NFL Hall of Famer go, you know, you're not as big as I thought you were, you know.

It's not a good opener, you know.

So I just kind of like mind my own business with that.

And but then he brought it up.

He actually brought it up.

He's like, you know, I'm not the biggest guy.

I wasn't even the fastest guy, the most talented guy.

Uh he's like, but you know, I was able to do things that very few did.

And so uh I was kind of taken aback by that because I'm looking at him and and you know, I played football uh NAIA uh college football, so much, much smaller scale than what he did.

And this guy played against freaks, okay?

Like I'm talking about the biggest, most athletic human beings in the world.

I mean, this is crazy.

Genetic freaks.

And I remember at the lower level that I played at, I felt intimidated.

I would look across the line and I would see these guys, you know, I don't have real long arms or real big hands, and so, you know, that those are advantages in football.

And I was always visibly aware of my disadvantages, and I had to really, really fight mentally.

I'm just telling you the truth.

I had to fight mentally to not get intimidated.

I had to try to get myself fired up to not get intimidated.

I always felt like I was at a physical disadvantage.

And I'm thinking if I felt that, Mike must have felt it way more than me.

He's going against, you know, some of the great, you know, these huge people.

And so I said, Hey Mike, did you ever, with those sort of genetic disadvantages, did you ever look across the line and feel inferior?

And he goes, he looked at me like that was the dumbest question he had ever heard in his life.

I kind of expect him to go, oh, absolutely, I had to battle that.

He looked, he goes, No.

He goes, I thought they were at a disadvantage.

I was like, excuse me?

He goes, I thought they were at a disadvantage.

I said, why is that?

He goes, you're gonna think I'm making this up.

I'm just telling you God's honest truth.

He goes, When I was eight years old, my mom told me I could do all things through Christ who strengthened me.

He goes, and I thought to myself, my mom wouldn't lie to me.

I'm like, Mike, Philippians 4 13?

Really, Mike?

Those are some genetic freaks over there, Mike.

My mom told me I could do all things through Christ who strengthened me too.

I just didn't believe her like you believed your mom.

I was like, yeah, I know mom meant well, but that's a big dude over there.

I'm like, really?

He goes, absolutely.

He goes, I had a vision for what I really believed God was wanting me to do.

He said, in fact, my mom at first wouldn't let me play football because I wasn't big enough.

So she he said, I wrote Super Bowl champion on my wall in my bedroom.

And I said, Mom, that's what I'm supposed to be.

And she said, Oh, Mike, but you're small.

And he said, I thought I could do all things through Christ who strengthened me.

His mom said, Shot me with my own gun.

Let him play.

And so I'm sitting there with that and I'm thinking, my goodness, okay.

He's talking and he goes, he goes, I'd look across the line, and I thought they're at a disadvantage because they don't know this.

Come on, come on, Donald, come on now.

I'm like, Mike, come on, man.

There's no cameras on here, dude.

No one's listening to us.

Just me.

I'm nobody.

Like, just tell me.

He goes, and he I wish you could have been there.

I should have turned the phone on or something.

It was, he he goes, he starts preaching at me.

He's like, man, you're just like the rest of them, man.

You're obsessed with physics.

You're obsessed with the physical, with the tangible.

Yeah, physics matters, but it doesn't matter more than faith.

He's like, physics matters.

The things you can see matter.

There are laws of physics, and sometimes physics will get the best of you, but that's not the last word.

He's like, I just thought that I could do all things through Christ who strengthened me.

I thought greater is he who's in me than he who's in the world.

So he goes, I thought that if this is what God has for me, I have everything I need to do what I need to do.

I don't need to wait on something from the outside.

It's already in me.

So if I'll give everything I have, God'll close the gap, ultimately I'm gonna get there.

It's like Mike, don't get spiritual on me.

I was like, man.

So I walked away, you know, and it I kind of felt lightweight, convicted.

I started thinking about my life, like, because you know, it's not in every the cards for everybody, it's not God's purpose for everybody that they play in the NFL, but I started to really think about like perspective.

Perspective.

What you see, how you think.

Hebrews 11:1 says, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

The substance that word hypostasis in in the Greek means it's like a it's like a deed to a house.

It's it's it's substantial, it's something that tells me I possess something tangible.

But he faith is the intangible, tangible proof, the evidence.

So that word could also be translated confidence, the confidence of things I I don't see.

And so I started to really think about how does this apply?

Because this young boy at eight years old believed his mom, what his mom said about God, which then affected what he believed about himself.

So he believed something about God, and he believed something about himself, and so it wasn't that he laid there and expected it to happen.

He participated in his future.

He believed this was his destiny, and so what did he do was he realized his potential.

He realized it.

He realized it, and then he did the things to realize it.

And so he put in the work and he got up early and he thought, if I'll give my best, he goes, he goes, Greg, I look across the line, I'm like, they're just humans.

That's what he said.

They're just humans.

They're just humans.

He goes, if I'll he goes, I didn't think anybody's willing to go as hard as long as I was willing to go.

And and and that I have the one who raised Christ from the dead in me because I just thought they may get me down, but it's just not gonna be the end.

I'm gonna come out on top.

He goes, I just believed that.

That's funny.

He goes, I doubted two times and it didn't go well.

Like, just two, Mike?

Just two.

But I really started thinking about this because you you think about your future and the uncertainties of your future.

Let's just forget ball for a minute.

Like, think about like your your spouse comes to you and says, I don't know if I want to be with you anymore.

I I don't know if I want to be married to you, I don't know if I want this marriage anymore.

Or your boss comes to you and says, you know, it's not looking good for you.

It's not gonna work out well for you.

You're in real danger.

And so when you start to think about the future, right?

My life without this person, I never imagined it until now.

And now I'm thinking, what does this mean?

And so is faith, is it just that I believe it hard enough that this person then will start acting right?

But they've got a free will though.

And so what if they don't?

So so where how does faith show up in that situation?

And how does faith show up in my career and and and the things I'm hoping for?

How do how does this work?

Because when you're in that moment, you want something tangible.

I I need some proof.

I need you to, I need something in writing.

I I need something I can cling to and hold to that's tangible.

All right, pause on on that conversation, that part of the conversation for a minute, and let's go, let's actually talk about tangible.

Tangible.

In the Old Testament, God makes a covenant with the nation of Israel.

We looked last week at Abraham.

Abraham was the father of the nation.

Israel did not exist.

Father Abraham is ultimately the one.

And it was by faith Abraham uh was even able to begin the nation because he was he and his wife were both well beyond childbearing years.

So it looked like they weren't even gonna be able to have children.

Yet they thought, you know what, this is this is God's thing.

This is what we believe God gave us.

We didn't come up with this, and so if it's in God's God's plan, it's in God's hand, we're gonna trust.

And ultimately he ends up uh having children and and uh you know it becomes a nation.

The nation eventually, um Moses gives the God gives the law to Moses who gives it to the nation.

So now they have not only rules for like how they uh uh function in a civic fashion, but also how they should behave in relationship.

And so they have a covenant now with God.

An Old Testament uh vassal suzeraine covenant, it was like a contract.

And so what happens in this covenant, God's saying, I want you to behave this way, I want you to do these things, I want you to obey me.

Okay, and if you do that, I'll bless you.

But what happened is they broke their end of the covenant.

Why?

Because human beings do human things, and so they ended up messing up and breaking uh the covenant, and so God uh ultimately through the law of Moses, they create a way to restore the relationship with God.

Okay, so they come up with this process, and it was the process of sacrifice, it was a tangible process of sacrifice.

It's not just like, hey, I'm sorry, shake hands.

It's a tangible something has to happen.

So they begin to sacrifice animals.

Okay, so you break God's covenant, you sin, you disturb shalom, you you lie, you manipulate, you abuse, you hurt, you don't hold up your end of the bargain, not only with God, but other people, so now you have sinned.

And the wages of sin is death.

What happens when I lie or I manipulate or I abuse is I create death in myself and the people around me.

And it's a big deal.

So, in order to give, really for two reasons, they created death.

This is why God didn't just find them.

It wasn't like, hey, you're gonna have to smash a potato because you you sinned and you know it's gonna cost you money, or you gotta pay some money, pay a fine.

They actually had to sacrifice something with eyes.

This is really uncomfortable.

Have you ever thought about like it's like some there's some of this that doesn't totally sit well?

Because you're like, why does God, like when people sinned, why in the Old Testament, that God, like why would a loving, perfect, powerful God be like, you know, you messed up, and I'm not gonna be happy till you kill an innocent animal.

Like, why why would why would God want that?

Why would that be why would that idea be a good idea?

What's the point?

The point of the sacrifice is that when we sin, we bring death.

And the human tendency when you mess up is to just sweep it under the rug, pretend it didn't happen.

Just didn't even happen.

I might not even want to admit it or think about it, but what happens is eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, hurt people, hurt people.

I hurt you, you hurt me, or I hurt you, you hurt somebody else.

I kick you, you kick them, you hurt mine, I'm gonna hurt yours.

And so we all end up with no eyes, no teeth, we all end up hurting each other, and so sin enters the world, and just like a chain reaction.

Now there's just sin and pain and hurt and all this in the world.

So at some point, to sacrifice something with eyes, okay?

Lambs are emotional, they get afraid, they cry, they bleat, and they have red blood like you and I have, and like our husbands and wives have, and our families have, and our neighbors have, and our enemies have eyes and red blood.

So the first part of the sacrifice, I can't just smash a potato, or I can't just pay some money because those are inanimate objects, is that actually was quite an intense experience to take an innocent lamb, to listen to it cry, to kill it, and watch its blood-soaked wool, and to see that red blood, and to think about the weight of my sin, which isn't all bad.

This is why sometimes things start to come out, you know, and I'm trying to help people in a healthy way walk through their mistakes.

I do think there's value not in getting stuck in your shame, but to sit there for a minute and to feel the weight of it.

No, man, you hurt people.

And you're not in their head, and you don't feel, you don't know what they feel, you don't know what you set into motion.

I I got into it one time with a guy, and I said some things I shouldn't have said, and I was only thinking about what I did to him, but our wives were there, and he said, and my wife said, Greg, the thing you said to him, you said in front of his wife.

And so you didn't, you don't just need to apologize to him, you need to apologize to her.

I'd only thought about what I said to him, but I hadn't thought about what it would be like to her to listen to me say that to him.

Come on now, come on now.

You you're causing, dude, you're hurting people, and to just make an excuse and sweep it under the rug's a big problem.

So he said, You're gonna look at something with eyes and you're gonna see the blood, and I want you to feel the weight of that.

But here's the second thing with a sacrificed lamb, what you have now is the the wages of sin, is that I've paid for it.

I've paid for it.

And so, in a sense, it gives you tangible evidence that you didn't sweep it under the rug, that you did pay for it.

So while it's designed to help you feel the weight of your sin, it's also designed to give you proof that you've dealt with your sin so you don't stay in your sin.

So I could take if I sinned on August 25th, I could take August 25th and and write it on this lamb and go, see, I paid for everything on August 24th, 25th, and before.

It's all it's I I did, I took care of it.

So if you try to make me feel bad about it, look, I I I I repented.

It's dealt with.

And so everything August 25th and before, I have tangible proof.

The only problem is August 26th.

So so here's what happens in the Old Testament it's just lots and lots of dead lambs and bulls and goats.

Because ultimately, human beings are still short-sighted, we still have flesh, we still find ourselves tempted, we still sin, we still break the shalom and the peace of the people around us.

And we and so ultimately, God's like, you know, these animals are gonna go extinct.

We're gonna mess up the whole ecosystem.

We're gonna have no bulls, no sheep, no goats, because people are growing in population and they're sinning like crazy, and this isn't working.

This is why, by the way, when Jesus shows up on the scene, John the Baptist in John chapter 1 says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

John 1 · chapter mention

Look what the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 10:1.

Hebrews 10:1

He said, The old system uh under the law of Moses was only a shadow.

The old system was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves.

Look at this.

The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.

If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped.

In other words, if a dead lamb, okay, and the blood and the bloody wool caused me to look at the animal and go, whoa, my sin brings death, but I have my payment, then it would cause me to feel the adequate amount of weight, but to make the proper changes.

He said, if that's the case, then the you know, the the body of, you know, the the all the dead lambs would have done their job, but he said, Hey, that didn't work.

So the worshippers would have been purified once for all time, their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.

But here's what happened.

Look at this, verse three.

Instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year.

In other words, instead of feeling the weight of the sin and then having the proof of the payment, it didn't work like that.

All they felt was the weight of the sin.

And more shame creates more pressure, which makes me vulnerable to more sin.

That's a word for somebody.

One of the ways you would find yourself less tempted is if you would allow Jesus to deal with your shame.

Because the shame's creating pressure you want relief from, and so you're going after means to relieve the pressure that lead to more shame.

That's a word.

So he said the sacrifices just kept reminding them of that sin.

For look at this, verse 4.

It is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

This is why Christ came into the world.

He said to God, You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings, but you have given me a body to offer.

You were pleased, you were not pleased with burnt offerings or other sin offerings.

Verse 9, look at this.

Then he said, Look, I have come to do your will.

I have come to do your will.

This is Jesus.

He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect.

For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Christ once and for all time.

So God said, I'm tired of looking at these dead animals.

Enough with the dead animals.

And so he sends Jesus to do the two things.

One, to pay the penalty of the sin, but two, to give us proof.

To give us proof of the payment.

And the actual tangible animal wasn't doing it.

And so what the lamb did, what the lamb did was was the lamb made me feel worse because when I looked at the lamb, I was reminded of what I did.

But Hebrews 10 says, God sent Jesus as a lamb so that I would be reminded of what he did.

Amen.

The dead lamb made me think about what I did.

And and the writer of Hebrews is trying to help us understand what Jesus did.

Look what it says.

He said in verse uh 11, Hebrews 10 11 under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers day after day.

This poor priest, day after day, offering.

Sacrifices again and again, seeing all these dead animals trying to get something tangible so that you can let go of your shame.

He said, but it never takes away sin.

Verse 12 Our High Priest offered Himself as a single sacrifice for our sins, good for all time.

Verse 15, and the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so.

Okay, now this is where we get into the tangible.

This is faith.

This is the Holy Spirit testifies.

So there's something in me that testifies that this new covenant I'll make with my people on that day, says the Lord.

I'll put my law on their hearts and I'll write them on their minds.

And then he says, I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.

And when the sins have been forgiven, there's no need to offer any more sacrifices.

So faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, the confidence.

And so when it comes to my sin or the mistakes that I've made, it's funny because I think in some ways people would almost rather have a lamb because they want something tangible.

You know?

I want to be able to say, look, see, I paid for it.

And this is why, within the new covenant, if you don't understand it all the way and you don't understand the proof that you have through the power of the Holy Spirit, what you'll end up doing is continuing to feel the shame and guilt, and you don't feel like you have any proof.

The difference is in the old covenant, it took me sacrificing the lamb to make it right.

In the new covenant, though, all of the symbols, all of the tangible things, things like communion, things like a cross, right?

You have a cross around your neck, or you have a cross on a wall, or anything tangible that you have to remind you.

It doesn't, that thing doesn't participate in my healing.

That thing is a symbol of my forgiveness.

That thing is a symbol of what Jesus did.

I don't have to do it to get it.

It's already been done.

It reminds me that it's of what the Lamb did.

Behold the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

And so now the tangible examples are simply symbols that then trigger me to remember, and the Holy Spirit uses to remind me inside that I've been forgiven.

And this is where that was Hebrews 10, Hebrews 11.

His follow-up to that is now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

What does this have to do with Mike Singletary?

Mike Singletary believed something by faith.

He had a belief inside of him.

He had a belief about the future.

He had a belief about who God was, which meant he had a belief about who he was.

I believe something about God, I believe something about myself.

And he brought a truth about God and Himself into his mind in the present that made him think something different about the future.

So think of it like this.

Faith gives me a perspective of the future that gives me confidence right now.

Faith gives me persp a perspective of the future, a perspective of the future that gives me confidence right now.

Because Mike Singletary looked and saw that he was genetically inferior, but he didn't get intimidated, was because he believed that greater is he who is in him, that he could do all things through Christ.

And so because of that, it caused him to work a certain kind of way, it caused him to give a certain kind of effort, but his belief was this is what God has for me to do, this is mine to do, and I have everything I need.

When I feel feelings of shame and guilt about the things I've done, and I keep trying to pay for this myself, or you keep trying to do this.

I was thinking about this when I was preparing this message.

I I've heard so many times, and I've seen so many people that they think they have a warped view of God, and they think that all the bad things that are happening to them in their life is God trying to get even with them for their sin.

That might be you.

That you did something that you knew was wrong, and then things started not working out.

Now, the reality is if you bring death into relationship and you introduce sin into relationship, it often does create a chaos that then you have to live with.

It complicates your life.

You understand that.

But I think what people think about God, this warp view of God, is that because you messed up, God is now, your sinner is in the hands of an angry God, and that God is up there and he's messing stuff up trying to get even with you.

He's blowing stuff up trying to get even with you to try to do that.

Is not true.

Read Hebrews 10.

The Lamb went once and for all and dealt with the consequences of your sin.

And so you need to, every time you see this, it doesn't lead you into further guilt, it leads you into a relief of shame because this is the tangible proof.

It reminds them the Holy Spirit provokes something inside of me.

So my perspective of faith thinks something about the future that gives me confidence in the present.

Let's go back to our earlier example.

What if what if your spouse comes to you and says, I don't know if I want, I don't think I want to be married to you anymore, or worse, I don't want to be married to you anymore.

So here I am in the present.

What good is faith right now?

How is that gonna help me right now?

I don't know what's gonna happen.

Here's exactly how it shows up.

This is what this is what happens in your mind.

You sit there and you think, and maybe for maybe you're hit with the trauma of like, I hadn't really thought about this, but now I really have to think about it and what's gonna happen.

And so you play out the scenarios, and the first way you go, well, maybe they don't leave.

Maybe they don't leave.

Maybe maybe this is a horrible bump in the road, maybe this is a red flag that we have a bad relationship and something's broken.

And so maybe we're gonna go get help, and and and the Holy Spirit will help us if we have two willing parties, two, not 500, two willing parties that will go and we'll work it through and we'll say the things and hear the things and work through the things, and God will bring healing.

And so we were in a low place and we were ready to walk away, or one of us was ready to walk away.

But if we have two, maybe they'll come back and be a willing party, and the two of us will find a healing so profound, we'll end up with a much better marriage than we had on the front end.

We'll be in that company of people that found God's faithfulness as we were willing to restore the relationship.

Maybe that'll happen.

But my spouse has a free will, maybe it won't.

Maybe they'll walk away, maybe they'll leave me for somebody else, and I'll be devastated and hurt.

How does faith help me then?

Faith helps me then because in that moment.

This is horrible.

You feel the despair.

But I believe God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love me or called according to his purpose.

I don't prefer this.

My heart is broken.

I feel really dark right now.

I want to vomit right now.

I thought they were my provider.

I thought they were my identity.

I thought they were my future.

I thought it was gonna be us against the world.

I thought of all the things I couldn't count on, I could count on that, and now I realize that wasn't true.

But you are not my provider, sir.

Ma'am, you are not my identity.

You are not the one that sustains me.

I hadn't imagined life without you.

But I believe that God will get me through this dark valley.

Yes, sir.

I believe God's gonna get me all the way out of this.

God's gonna help me to heal every step of the way.

God's gonna bring the right people in my life to support me, and if it's God's will, he's gonna bring somebody into my life that's better than you anyway.

What does faith look like in the present?

First, I was afraid.

I was petrified.

I was thinking I could never live without you by my side.

But then you left, and I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong.

Weeping may endure for a night.

Joy comes in the morning.

I grew strong.

I learned how to get along.

Somewhere between Gloria Gaynor and the Apostle Paul, I found some faith.

I'm not gonna die here.

You are not my all in all.

And God will bring me through.

The righteous may fall seven times, but take it up.

Take it up.

Greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world.

This is not my last chapter.

You might have got this round, physics might have won this round, faith will win the next round.

That's good.

That's good.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Turns out the only difference between a Hall of Famer and a dusty preacher was he believed Philippians 4 13.

He believed it.

He believed it.

He believed it.

Do you believe it?

What is your perspective?

You think your livelihood is in the hands of your employer?

Oh come on.

Come on.

God was making it rain and bringing crops up out of the earth before that company ever existed.

That business was God's idea.

It was him doing it the whole time.

Faith gives me a perspective of my future that gives me confidence in my present.

So either or he will be there.

If you leave, he'll be there.

If you stay, he'll be there.

So figure out what you're gonna do.

Because I know what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna walk by faith and not by sight.

That's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna walk by faith and not by sight.

And I'm gonna take God at His Word, and I'm going to day in and day out be steadfast.

And you know what that does?

It takes a belief about the future.

You don't think that affects how you feel in the present?

I'm not saying your heart's not broken.

I'm not saying that you're not angry.

I'm saying that you're not in despair.

I'm pressed but not crushed.

I'm persecuted, I'm not abandoned, I'm not destroyed.

Yeah, this stinks.

I don't like it, but I'm I'm not going anywhere.

I'm staying.

I I've got God is by my side.

You can stay or go, He's gonna be with me either way.

You take this job, what are you talking about?

There's so many jobs there.

You know how many people have melted in the in the in the the despair of the moment, only to end up in a better job anyway.

End up in a better situation anyway.

It's all about perspective.

Do you believe the stuff you sing?

Do you believe the stuff you say?

That's good, that's good.

And so today, I just want to encourage you to walk by faith, to have a perspective of the future.

That God is there, He's with you, and He will bring you through.

He'll give you what you need when you need it.

I'm gonna invite you to stand up on your feet.

I want to pray for you because I know there are some today, maybe as I was talking about the guilt and shame, and you're like, you know, I know Greg, I know Jesus paid it all, and all to him I owe, and all this, but I just feel like I just keep feeling like he wants to squash me.

I keep feeling like all these bad things are my fault.

I keep thinking like God, like I know humans do human things, I get that, but I I just I I've been confused about God.

God, maybe I brought you here today to clear all that up.

Jesus paid the penalty.

Put the sin of all man for all mankind upon Jesus.

And so you have to understand.

Look at the lamb, look at the lamb, look at the lamb.

Don't look at the lamb and think about what you did.

Look at the lamb and think about what Jesus did.

Look at the lamb.

And for some of you, you have a future, you don't know what it holds, and yet today you know who holds it.

You know who's gonna be there.

Well, it could be this or that, either or he'll be there.

And so I'm gonna let that affect my mood.

I'm gonna let it affect my mental health.

I'm gonna let it affect my emotional health, I'm gonna let it affect what comes out of my mouth.