Venom In The Vessel - Tim Timberlake

Hey, I'm Tim Timmerlake, and I want to thank you so much for listening to the Celebration Church podcast.

I hope this message encouraged you, strengthened your faith, and gave you something you can carry into your week.

If you'd like to stay connected, I encourage you to join us live every Sunday at 9 a.m.

or 11 a.m.

on YouTube.

We would love to have you there.

And if you're ever in the Jacksonville, Florida area, come see us in person.

We have a seat safe for you.

Thanks again for being with us.

We're so grateful for you.

And see you next time.

Grab your word.

Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Before we read the word of God, you're here for the very first time.

Wave at me so I can acknowledge you.

How are you?

You doing good?

It's good to see you.

All the way up top.

Just curious, anyone drive five hours or more to be here?

Anyone wave at me?

Where did you drive from?

You're new here, okay.

Who drew five hours or more?

Where you drive from?

Maryland.

You drew from Maryland to be here today.

What's your name?

It's a pleasure to meet you.

Thank you for being here.

What an honor and a privilege.

What part of Maryland?

Baltimore?

I couldn't hear you.

Rockville.

Rockville, Maryland.

Thank you for coming down to Jacksonville.

We're honored.

I'm honored.

Every now and again, God raises up voices in the kingdom of God to not just change churches, but to change the body of Christ.

Raise up voices such as Reinhard Banke.

Raise up voices such as Billy Graham.

We have two of those voices in the house today.

And they steward an incredible movement out of Atlanta called Twenty Eight Nineteen Church.

I consider him to be the Billy Graham of our generation.

There is only one, Lady Lena Mitchell.

So can we put our heads together?

Bless God for the incredible gift.

I love you.

We've spent a lot of time killing demons.

And we have committed for the long haul to continue to run to advance the kingdom of God through our churches and through the Street Preachers podcasts.

Amen.

I love y'all.

They surprised me and Jen today.

They owned sabbatical and they popped up the church today.

Could have been anywhere in the world.

And they chose good old Duval.

When they get off sabbatical, would you like to see them come back here to bring the words?

I know a few folks.

I know a few folks.

Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Verse 21, I'll be reading from the ESV translation.

The scripture reads, You have neither part nor lot in this matter.

For your heart is not right before God.

Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.

For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness.

And in the bond of iniquity.

For I see you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.

And I want to utilize these three verses for our subject matter today, entitled Venom in the Vessel.

Let's pray.

Deavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

We ask that you would move in our midst.

We thank you for our family that is joining us via celebration everywhere.

We thank you that all over the world your spirit is where they are.

We ask right now that you would do something supernatural in this gathering today.

We ask that you would get the glory, all of the honor, and all of the praise.

And have your way in us and have your way in this place.

In Jesus' name we pray.

All of those that are glad he's still alive and well, one time real loud, can you shout amen?

Take this in Jesus' name.

Verse 21 again says, You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

I've learned the greatest threat to my calling is not what comes against me, it's what remains in me that God desires to remove out of me.

And as we read this passage, sometimes we have a tendency to look down on the figures that we read about instead of identifying that there is a Simon in each one of us.

You may not practice sorcery or witchcraft, but you still are trying to manipulate outcomes, you're still trying to use God, you still have selfish ambition, pride, and ego on the inside of you.

Therefore, you are more like Simon than you know.

And being like Simon, we need the Holy Spirit to place his finger on issues and situations and circumstances in our soul that only he can change.

For if he does not change them, we will remain like ourselves.

And one of the things that I have begun to pray is, God, let me be better than me.

Because I know me.

I know my selfish ways, I know the ambition that's in my heart, I know the pride that rises up when I don't spend adequate enough time with the Holy Spirit.

I know who I am.

I don't know what you may be wrestling or dealing with, but I know me.

And the closer I get to Jesus, the sicker I become with myself.

The more I can't stand my decisions and my wickedness and my sin, the closer I get to Jesus, the more I ask God, make me more like you and less like me today.

I want to be better than I was yesterday, and I want to be better than I was the day before that, and the day before that, because I know who I am.

And it's a very dangerous person that does not know who they are.

One of the greatest forms of witchcraft is deception to your own self.

To think and believe that you are okay without Jesus, to think and believe that you're a good person, contrary to what the word of God says, to think that you're going to make it in eternity with Jesus Christ, and you know you have hidden sin in your heart and in your life.

You may not have a wand and say, abracadabra.

But you have a hand that's hidden sin.

Continue to push it away.

Wesus has placed his finger on it and says, Give that to me, and you say, Well, no, God, I want to play with that a little bit more.

And you pray half-hearted prayers, knowing you don't want him to heal you of the things that you need to be healed from, because if he heals you from those things, you lose a piece of who you thought that you are.

And everyone wants God to use them, but very few people ask God to search them.

Everyone wants God to give them something, but very few people ask God to make them into becoming someone.

And if we're not careful, we'll look in his hands more than we look to his heart.

And we'll know his provision, but we won't know his presence.

One of the things that I'm very concerned about in this generation is that we live in an entertainment Christianity where we believe we've had church when we feel entertained.

When in fact, maybe the Bible does not want you to be entertained.

Maybe the Bible wants you to feel so convicted that you no longer resemble hell and you now resemble your heavenly father.

But you won't ever come to the realization if you don't ever come to the realization that there is venom in your vessel.

And it's killing you slowly, it's choking the purpose of God out of your life.

And you continue to blame others for your own decisions.

And in fact, no one is making you make the decisions that you are making except for your inability to realize that there is a Savior that is stronger, more powerful, mightier, holier, and more righteous than you are.

And you, you cannot make it unless you surrender and you submit your life into his hands.

You fail to realize before God and trust you with his hand.

He will always examine your heart.

He will not just look at what your hands produce, he will look at what your heart is manufacturing.

And Peter, he's telling Simon what no one has told Simon up until this point.

Your heart is evil and separate from Jesus.

He's a follower of Jesus.

Hear me.

He's been baptized, he's following the teachings of the apostles, but yet, and still his heart is still not submitted and surrendered to Jesus, which teaches us a valuable lesson.

Proximity to Jesus does not mean you are surrendered to him.

And you can be in an environment of transformational power and still leave the same way because you hear the word and you don't apply it.

And if you're not careful, you think to yourself this message is for the person sitting beside me.

I hope they're listening.

And fail to realize this message is for you.

You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

Peter has finally arrived at the real issue.

Not Simon's money, not Simon's words, not Simon's requests, it is his heart.

And everything Peter has said since verse 19 has been leading us to this point.

The wrong desires, the wrong values, the wrong motives, they all reveal one thing: his heart is not in the hands of Jesus.

And you can say the right words and still have a wrong heart, and it produced bad fruit.

Let's walk through the text.

The Greek word translated for right is a Greek word named Uthea, meaning straight, level, aligned.

Peter isn't saying Simon's heart is evil beyond hope.

He's saying it is crooked and in needs of alignment with Jesus Christ.

And when I say that I am broken, I'm not talking about a spiritual, broken arm.

I'm talking about when I look over the course of my life, my life is a mosaic of sin.

It is a mosaic of pain.

It is a mosaic of trials, it is a mosaic of tribulations, and I desperately need Jesus every single day of my life to fix me and put me back together again.

And after he puts me back together again, I need him to cleanse me and change me and transform me.

I am not above understanding my dire need for Jesus.

And oftentimes, what you receive from pastors is pastors think they stand beside Jesus and they preach down to you when in fact your pastor is supposed to be the first one at the feet of Jesus, repenting for the sins and saying to all of us, go with me to my father's house so that he can clean you.

And how long will you allow poison to set root in your soul because of what you expected not to happen to you?

It happened.

So what are you gonna do with it from this point forward?

The trial, the trauma, the tribulation, it happened.

You can't change yesterday, but you can't allow yesterday to ruin today when you continue to live in the past and not present God with the broken pieces so that He can put you back together again.

Simon's heart is misaligned, and the word of God says that he is in the goal of bitterness.

His heart is not aligned, and God is more interested in your alignment than he is your achievement.

And some of you are achieving great things in culture and society's eyes, but you are failing in the eyes of God because you think that your achievements give you access.

It is not your achievements that give you access, it is your alignment with the heart of God that gives you access to the presence of the Father.

It is not what you do for him, it is what you are becoming for him.

And if you're not becoming, then you're staying the same.

And when you stay the same, you never stay the same.

You take on the identity of Satan because there is no neutrality in the kingdom of God.

You're either becoming more like him or you're becoming more like the enemy.

You're not staying put where you are, you are changing and being transformed by someone.

One of the greatest misconceptions in the body of Christ is that God is the only one that opens doors for you.

Maybe some of you are in the position that you're in, not because God opened the door.

Maybe the enemy opened the door and you bit the bait.

And now you're bitter because in your mind you thought, how could God let this happen to me when God gave you warning after warning, sign after sign, word after word, prophetic declaration after declaration, and you still chose disobedience and your decisions over following the word of God because you love your flesh.

Failing to realize that before God enlarges your assignment, he always straightens your heart.

And just because you have seen a new day does not mean that God has finished dealing with you.

Venom in the vessel.

I want you to write this down because I believe it's important for you to carry home.

Private motives eventually become public fruit.

Peter saw in Simon what everyone else missed.

The crowd saw Simon, they saw his influence, they saw his affluence, they saw his abilities, but Simon saw his heart.

And pure actions with a polluted motive is still a polluted offering.

If your actions are not pure, and if your motives are not pure, it still produces unpure fruit.

And some of you are shouting over rotten fruit.

You're happy over rotten fruit.

And you really think that God is going to bless your foolishness.

And you have an expectation while living in sin that God is going to prosper you and He's going to bless you.

And you get excited when you hear your favorite YouTube pastor promise you that God is going to open up the windows of heaven and pour out blessings so much so that you can't receive them by yourself all while you're living and sleeping with your girlfriend and your boyfriend.

That is foolishness, and God will not bless it.

Venom in the vessel.

And the danger of venom is it doesn't kill you quickly, it kills you slowly, and it allows you to stay alive long enough to believe you're okay with it coursing through your veins.

And the reality is you are being choked out from the inside, and you don't even realize you're separate from God until you meet him and he says, Depart from me.

We're so focused living for the well done of people here on earth and neglecting the well done in eternity.

We're numb because we have venom in our vessel.

Private motives eventually become public fruit.

And what nobody sees today eventually becomes what everybody sees tomorrow.

Character always catches up to charisma.

And if you are charismatic without character, you are leading people towards the enemy.

And the word of God says it is better to put a millstone around your neck and jump into the sea.

In a generation where we feel celebrated because people clap.

And we feel like we're closer to God because people pat us on the back.

And we live for the hoorah of people.

But have absolute silence from God.

Because we seek affirmation from people more than we seek his word for what he says.

You can polish an image while at the same time neglecting a soul.

And if this text teaches us nothing, it teaches us God only entrust what has first been surrendered and submitted to Him.

Influence isn't earned by talent, it's entrusted through faithfulness.

And some of you are asking God for more, but you're not stewarding what He's entrusted to you in this season.

So instead of asking God to bless you, instead of asking God to open doors for you, why don't you start by saying, God, thank you for today?

For this is the day that you have made.

I choose to rejoice.

Not having all that I want.

I choose to rejoice.

When my body aching in pain, I choose to rejoice.

Not having spoken to my family in years, I choose to rejoice.

Not knowing what tomorrow looks like, I choose to rejoice.

Being made glad in it.

Before you ask him for another thing, why don't you thank him for keeping you from who the enemy wanted you to become?

God doesn't hand authority to hearts he cannot trust.

What we often miss is that the safest place to carry influence is on surrendered shoulders, bowing at the feet of Jesus.

Understanding if he does not do it, it will not get done.

Understanding separate from him, some things are possible, but with him, all things are possible to those that believe.

Even the ability for you to change.

Again.

Twenty-two years of serving, and here we are again.

God change me.

Know when I really don't mean it.

Knowing a part of me likes the applause.

But if I live for the applause, I'll die when I don't get it.

Knowing that there's a part of me that wants to be close enough to receive the benefits while maintaining control.

And I don't need to preach to you.

I'm preaching to me.

Because if we don't change, we all lose.

Peter is teaching Simon a valuable lesson.

Your hands could steward blessing while your heart is dying from bitterness.

Verse 22 says, Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven.

Peter doesn't tell Simon to try harder, he tells him to repent.

Notice Peter doesn't merely confront Simon's actions, he confronts the intent of his heart.

God doesn't simply judge your behavior, he also examines your motives.

He looks beneath the surface, he sees deeper than what people see.

He not only sees what you do, he also sees why you do it.

And so you can be in an environment like this, and you can have your hands lifted, and that praise and worship still not go to him because you're seeking attention.

So he's not just looking at what you do, he's also searching why you do it.

You can be praying and you can be seeking him and still not seeking him for him.

You can be seeking him for you, and he's looking not at just what you do, he's looking at why you are doing it.

This Greek word intent only appears once in the New Testament.

It is the word a penor, and it appears to say an inward scheme, a settled imagination, the hidden plans of the heart, poison and venom that is rooted within us.

And Peter isn't confronting one bad decision, he's confronting a pattern of thinking because of Simon's heart.

And before behavior becomes visible, it is first conceived in the heart.

And you can stop doing wrong without ever stop wanting to do wrong.

And some of you are not with them anymore, you're married, but you still think about them.

You crawl into your bed with your spouse every single night, thinking about the relationship you were in 15 years ago.

And you think to yourself, it's not that bad because I haven't texted them.

It's not that bad because I haven't direct messaged them, it's not that bad because I haven't checked their Facebook status, but the word of God says, as a man, a woman thinketh in their heart.

So you can touch someone with your heart and never touch them with your hand.

You can touch a possession with your heart and never touch it with your hand, and as a man or woman thinketh in their heart, so they become.

So you never have to possess it for it to already be changing you.

And Peter tells Simon, you need to repent.

And for me, repentance starts where my excuses end.

What are you still making excuses for?

Who are you still making excuses for?

What season of your life do you think is not that bad and you continue to make excuses for it?

What sin are you still living in that you think to yourself it's not that bad, and you continue to make excuses for it?

Peter says, repent.

This isn't light language.

Because God isn't managing your behavior, He desires to make a new heart.

The second thing that I want you to write down is the greatest acts of God's mercy often sounds like correction.

Peter's rebuke feels harsh, but it's actually grace.

Because exposed hearts can still be healed, hidden hearts cannot.

Did you hear what I said?

Exposed hearts can still be healed, hidden hearts cannot.

And some of you are saying, God heal me, God fix me, God deliver me while holding on to your own heart instead of presenting it to him as a living sacrifice, understanding and knowing that if you had the power to heal your heart and to change your own life, you would have done so years ago, but you're not that powerful.

So, what sounds like correction and harsh words is actually the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.

And conviction is proof that grace is still speaking beyond the pain that is trying to preach to me.

And you think to yourself, why is he talking to me like this?

Because he loves you.

Why does he continue to put his finger on this enemy of my life?

Because he loves you.

And anytime you feel a conviction in your soul, it is the grace and mercy of Jesus telling you, hey, there's more I have for you.

You don't have to stay stuck in that sin, you don't have to wallow in that season.

You're not a victim of what happened to you.

You are victorious through Jesus Christ.

And so I present you with the gift of conviction so that you know the plans and the purpose I have for you are bigger than the sin you are currently living in.

And you think to yourself, why is God so hard on me?

You should be asking yourself the question why has sin remained hidden in me?

Because conviction is proof that the Father still loves you, He still cares for you.

And exposure is often the first step towards freedom.

And so God will absolutely wound your pride to rescue his people.

You think you can make it a day without prayer.

You think you can make it a day without his word.

A day without prayer is prophesying, God, I don't need you.

A week without prayer is declaring I am my own God this week.

A month without spending time in his presence is you saying to God, I am better than you.

I have the answers, I know which way I'm leading my life, and I have the authority and I have the power to bust open the gates of heaven and demand a place there, and you do not.

You don't even realize it because there's venom in your vessel.

And God corrects who he intends to use.

The most dangerous place to be in your life is to no longer feel the correction of God.

To no longer feel convicted when you sin.

To no longer be sick of your flesh and your selfish desires and your sinful nature, and to think to yourself, I'm good.

No longer feel dirty after you sin.

When you can pick up like nothing happened, knowing the decisions that you made have separated you from God, you are in a dangerous place.

And we get upset when we hear messages like this because these messages don't affirm our sin.

And we'll church hop until we find a church that makes us feel comfortable in our sin.

And we'll use church language like my season here is up.

Your season here is not up.

But neither is your sex life.

So you want to go to where you can find affirmation from somebody that tells you, you're a good person, you're doing great, everything's gonna be alright.

God has a plan for your life, it doesn't matter how you live, and the reality is the venom in your vessel is slowly killing you, and you don't realize it because it is infused and ingrained so deep in your lifestyle.

Failing to realize every rebuke from God is an invitation back to God because God corrects who He still intends to use, and what you refuse to surrender will eventually master you.

And some of you are being led by the hand by your sin right into the very gates of hell.

And think to yourself, I am going to be okay because my heart is okay, and your heart is evil and deceitful, and it's leading you down the path of death.

What you refuse to repent from will eventually rule you.

And sin always promises control before demanding it.

If you do inventory of your life, it never starts with large compromises, it always starts with small compromises.

Taking a day off from prayer, small compromise.

Not being in your word today, small compromise.

Hearing the word but not applying it, small compromise.

We think all distance from God starts with major compromise, major moral failure, when in fact it starts with small compromise.

Look at the life of Simon.

He was a follower of Jesus, he was baptized by the apostles, he followed the teachings of the apostles, yet and still he has not surrendered his heart to Jesus, which should tell you something so important.

You can hear the words of Jesus and think to yourself, that teaching is great, but not identify him as Lord and Master.

And when he is not your Lord and Master, you betray him every single day of your life.

Verse 23 says, For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

Now Peter is no longer speaking about Simon's actions, he's speaking about Simon's condition.

You are in.

This word gall throughout the Old Testament, it symbolizes poison, corruption, spiritual bitterness, and venom.

And when he says this bond of iniquity, he's literally painting a picture of chains that is in shackling Simon.

And he thought to himself, I can purchase the spiritual authority.

And Peter reveals to him, you've actually become enslaved.

And the same man that's chasing power has become the same man that has been ruled by it.

He's bitter because something he desires he sees at work in someone else.

Have you ever been there where you've prayed, God, give me what they have?

Not knowing what it took for them to steward what they have.

I've been there.

I've seen pastors I know are not living right, and I say, God, you bless them with that.

He's not faithful to his wife.

He you you you gave him that, and I've been faithful.

Why is it that he or she has that and I'm still in need of that?

And the reason is because God says their heart is already corrupted.

I don't want yours to get corrupted.

So he will withhold things from you that will bring separation between you and him until you grow up enough and mature enough to steward the things that he desires for you to steward so that you don't become like what we are reading, chasing power, chasing platforms, chasing performance, and not chasing his presence.

Not realizing that unrepentant sin always becomes chains that are too powerful enough for you to break.

Not realizing that every prison first starts as a preference, and your preference may be lust, and you invite lust in, failing to realize that when you invite lust in, you can't control what lust invites in.

And now you're fighting homosexuality.

Because lust doesn't have a sex, and it invites other spirits to come and control you, and you're wondering why you feel the way that you feel is because you've entertained lust for all these years, not revealing it and submitting it to the feet of Jesus, and you like this sin, but you don't like that sin.

And because you entertain this sin, this sin is taking advantage of you and controlling you and dictating what you do and where you do it and who you're becoming, not realizing this sin was invited by this sin, and because you entertained this sin, now you got this sin at work in your life.

And what starts is curiosity often ends is captivity.

And you were captive, and you were imprisoned, and you were enchained, and you have yokes on you, and you're you're under control of the bondage, and you're asking God, why am I going through this?

And it's because you have hidden sin in your heart that you're trying to hide from him, not understanding he sees the sin and he's waiting on you to present it to him so that he can remove it from your life and present you with a life worth living.

You don't understand, sin never stays in the same place we invited into our lives.

Point in case you started sinning when you were young.

And it was cute, it was a little bitty monkey.

Of sin, and you entertain it.

That little monkey sat on the on the shelf, and you would visit that monkey of sin.

You say, Man, you're cute today.

And you stroke that little sin, and he looks good.

And he's not controlling you yet.

And now 10 years have gone by.

And you're staring in the face of a silverback gorilla.

That you no longer have control over.

It's dictating what you do, it's dictating where you go, it's dictating how you speak, it's dictating how you walk, it's dictating who you're in a relationship with, it's dictating how you feel about yourself.

And here's the reality: if you see yourself differently than how God sees you, you'll always live a life under the bar of what he desires for you to live.

And it is not until you surrender and submit all of you to him that you begin to have a perspective of how he sees you.

And I'm so glad that God does not see me the way that I see me.

He sees me the way he sees me.

And when I see myself the way he sees me, my life is better because of it.

Have you ever heard how you talk to yourself?

Have you ever heard how you speak to yourself when no one else is around?

And you are just stuck with you?

You speak like there's been course into your veins.

You speak like God did not create you and make you and form you and mold you into the very person in creation he desires for you to be.

And you talk down on God's creation.

When you talk down on God's creation, you come into agreement with the enemy.

No wonder you don't like this easy.

No wonder you don't feel his hand.

No wonder you don't hear his voice.

He wants that part of you.

Whatever you feel eventually feeds on you.

I just feel led by the Holy Spirit to do this.

Right here, before I end the message, if you know that there is venom in your vessel, and you need him to work out of you what you cannot work out of yourself, just get to this altar right now.

And as you come, if you can make it on your knees, you make it on your knees.

I don't care if you have to bow in the owls, I don't care if you have to bow on the top deck.

I don't care if you have to bow in the overflow.

You cannot stand in the presence of the Holy One while still standing in sin.

You are a vessel he desires to use, but he cannot use you the way he desires to use you if you still allow venom to course through your veins.

Peter wants Simon, repent.

Change, turn away.

Give Jesus your whole heart.

Scripture says that He remains in the gall of bitterness.

He's so familiar with pain.

He's so familiar with the decisions that he's made and unfamiliar with the presence of Jesus.

And maybe that's where you find yourself today.

You would rather stay familiar with sin than unfamiliar with this presence.

But I bind that right now in the name of Jesus.

We break that spirit right now in the name of Jesus.

That sin, we break that spirit of sin right now in the name of Jesus.

That that thought, that ideation that you can continue to do what you are doing and not suffer the consequences when you meet Jesus.

We break that right now and we declare the devil is a liar.

So on the count of three, corporate confession.

Whatever you've been feeding on that you know has now begin to feed on you.

On the count of three, I want you to confess it.

I want you to cast it.

I want you to throw it at the feet of Jesus.

One, two, three.

Shout it.

Shout it.

Shout it.

No more venom in these vessels.

And instead of praying, God give us.

Yeah.

Get free.

Get free.

Get free.

Get free.

Get free.

Get free.

Get free.

Freedom is available.

And right now we cast down the spirit of bitterness.

The spirit of unforgiveness.

Yeah, I know what they did to you is wrong, but you still gotta forgive them.

I know they assaulted you, but you allow them to assault you over and over again.

When you operate in unforgiveness, get free.

You do not have to leave the same way that you came.

Freedom is available for you right now.

Get free.

Because this is the reality for some of you.

You can hold revival in one hand while also holding on to resentment.

And it is not until you repent that you experience the fullness of joy.

I want you to pray the most dangerous prayer you can possibly play.

That prayer is search me.

Search my heart.

Search this earthen vessel.

Search this cracked and broken vessel.

And remove anything in me that is not like you.

Extract out of me anything that is not like you.

Break me of becoming more like me.

And moan me to become more like you.

Search me, O God.

Renew in me the right spirit of the Lord.

Take this heart of stone and turn it into a heart of flesh again, God.

I don't want to be hardened, my hurt.

I want to be humble that you can trust me with it.

Search me.

Mold me, make me.

Search me.

Place your finger on that area in my life that I've been hiding.

Put your finger on that area of my life that I have not revealed.

Put your finger on that area that I've been trying to control.

The outcome of put your finger on that area in my life that I've tried to manipulate.

Put your finger on that area in my life that I have kept covered.

Put your finger on it, God, and reveal to me what areas of me are not like you and remove them out of me so that I can be more like you in Jesus' name.

Somebody show search me!

Search me if there's pride.

Search me if there's hidden motives, search me if there's hidden ambitions, search me if there's ego, search me, if there's entitlement, search me if there's bitterness, search me if there's unforgiveness, search me, search me, search me, search me, search me.

Until you reveal everything that is not like you.

I want to be like you.

I want to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Try me and know my thoughts.

And see if there is any grievous way in me, and lead me into the way of everlasting.

I'm tired of leading myself.

I'm tired of following my plans.

I'm tired of doing my thing.

And I desperately need you to change me.

Change my mind.

Change my soul.

Change this flesh.

Oh, what a wretched man I am.

Who can deliver me?

You can.

And so today we repent.

And we turn away from our sin and our wickedness.

And we declare only you can save us.

Only you can heal us.

Only you can redeem us.

He reminds me that I am his very own.

And when he reminds me that I am his very own.

And when I feel his present, I like to sing songs.

I feel Jesus.

I feel Jesus.

Burn with the There's an annoying thing here today.

To break the yoke of bond.

To lift burdens off of your shoulders.

To break the chains that have been holding you hostage.

And most importantly, to get the venom out of your vessel.

How many of you are glad he's still able?

He's still willing, he's still mighty to save, mighty to deliver, mighty to set the captives free, mighty to redeem, mighty to renew, mighty to revive.

How many of you are grateful that he's still able?

Repeat this after me, Lord.

I repent and turn from my sins.

I ask for forgiveness.

Lead me.

Guide me.

Create in me a new heart.

So that I may be like you.

I confess that I am a sinner in dire need of grace.

Thank you for your love and your mercy that it's kept me and covered me.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Put your hands together.

Come on now, celebrate like he's redeemed you.

I said celebrate like he's redeemed you.

Open up your mouth and give God all of the praise.

Come on, has he been good to you?

Has he been faithful?

Has he been loyal?

Is he righteous?

Is he holy?