Messy Thoughts || Inside the Manger Pt.2 || Pastor Diego Mesa

Welcome to the ALSC podcast. Here at ALC, we seek the loss,

teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by

this week's message. Last week, Pastor Adam did a masterful job as he

introduced in the major series, which talking about Jesus having a messy family that

he was born into his heritage, his genealogy, which really gave us hope.

That says, you know what, you may have a messy family and

a messy genealogy full of a lot of mess ups, but that doesn't mean

you have to be a mess up. And it can end with you and

God can produce a new destiny or generation through you, and you can override

your circumstances that could be very, very bad by allowing God to change them.

And so we're going to follow that same line on talking about messiness.

I'm gonna use a word and then there's a tagline that was from the movie

that we're going to see at Christmas time that really spoke to me about what

we're going to talk about. With that in mind, would you stand for

the reading of God's Word? And we're going to extrapulate some words today in

the in the text and talk a little bit about it and Matthew. It

says the birth of Jesus came about this way. I love how the Bibles.

I'm going to tell you how Jesus came into this world. After his

mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph. It was discovered before they came together.

Oh my God, she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit. So her

fiance, Joseph, they hadn't fully consummated the marriage and legally had done it.

Yet, it says, being a righteous man, not wanting to disgrace

her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly. Story goes on. But after

he had considered these things, remember that word, because that's the message.

An angel, the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph,

son of David, don't be afraid. He's Why would the angel say

don't be afraid unless he is absolutely terrified. These are overwhelming circumstances for him,

because what has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She

will give bert to a son, and you, the male man the father,

is to name him Jesus. That doesn't mean a woman can't name the

child, but it's showing leadership. That a man needs to speak over his

children, a man needs to prophesy their future. That's what he's saying,

the power of a man, because he will save his people from their sins.

Now, all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord

through the prophet. See this virgin will become pregnant, give Bert to a

son, and they will name him Emmanuel, which has translated God is with

us. When Joseph woke up, I love this. He did as the

Lord's angel command. He did it. He didn't hesitate, he was not

double minded. He got the job done. He married her, but he

did not have sexual relationships. The Bible's very clear there. They did not

have intimacy and sex even though they were legally married, because God didn't want

his blood mixed the sinful blood of Joseph mixed with his royal blood. But

then I want you to recognize, after she gave birth, they had a

lot of sex, so much so that the Bible said they had five more

children that were step brothers and stepsisters to Jesus. I say that because I

wasn't taught that as a Catholic. They said Mary was a virgin all her

life, and she only gave birth to Jesus. That's not what the Bible

says. And she gave birth to a son and he and his name was

Jesus. You may be seated, you know, if funny thing happened to

me On Tuesday. Every once in a while, I played golf with some

of my pastor friends, and so we were headed on the south side,

far side down the fifteen on Corona. That's what we're gonna play. So

there. I get on the fifteen freeway around seven point thirty, and how

many of you know it's crowded. It's crowded. Everybody says everybody's moving out

of California. I don't know if they're moving out because the freeways are more

crowded when I was a kid. If you remember, you could time when

not to be on the freeway during busy time. Now it's a lottery pit.

Good luck to you. But I'm driving down the fifteen and I have

fast track, so I go into the fast track lane and I'm like Nan

and Nan, I'm passing all that track as I'm booking it down past the

sixty freeway, moving past the ten free on the fast track, going south

on the fifteen. Okay, now I'm about ready to pass up ninety one

Freeway, still going straight. It sun is in my eyes. I have

the visor down. I'm calling somebody. I'm calling somebody on the East Coast,

talking to them on the bluetooth thing and on the speaker, and the

lane begins to switch and I could continue to go straight or it will now

go fast track onto the ninety one. I make a mistake. I go

on the fast track on the ninety one. Well, I want to get

off because I don't want I got a tea time. I want to be

there early. But there are these lane dividers that won't let me get off

the fast track. Because I'm thinking the next exit main Street, I'm gonna

get off and I'm gonna loop around us. It's got plenty of time.

Well, I went passing Corona, passing Chino, passing Anaheim until I could

get off the fast track. And there's a lot of us that have gotten

on stuff and we want off, but we can't get off. I made

a decision to get on the fast track, but I can't make the decision

to get off. It won't let me out. In the beginning, it

was fun it ain't fun no more. How do I get off this fast

track that I'm on headed in the wrong direction. That's what I want to

talk about. I want to use faster out of his worried with MESSI family.

I want to talk about messy thoughts. And I want to talk about

tough decisions that you and I have to make or are avoiding to make.

And I want to talk about the much contemplation that Joseph had to go through

to concede to the will of God. It wasn't easy, surely was not

popular. It was absolutely unfamiliar to him to do what he's about ready to

do because he had made up his mind. My answer is no. And

God came and interrupted him and asked him would he be willing? And he

turned his no into yes. And some of you have said no to God,

but I pray you turn your no into a yes. And all of

this is around the birth of Jesus Christ. It said the average person makes

about thirty five thousand decisions a day. If you're an executive, you make

upwards of forty four thousand decisions a day. Now. Some of them are

very very easy, but some are very hard. Some are simple and Some

are complex. Some are decisions we celebrate, and some of those decisions we

cry over. You know, we make simple decisions like what underwear should I

wear this morning? Or even should I wear underwear this morning? That's kind

of a no brainer. You get into a market and you're deciding, like

me, which one is the fastest line, and you always make the wrong

decision and said, I should have chose the first one. Gets a little

complex sometimes, but then there's sometimes it gets into who should I date,

what offer of the dating should I take? It gets into a little complex

what you're dealing with. I'm dealing with an aging parent. I have to

make a decision about their healthcare. Do I put them in a convalescent home

or do I come and let let them live with me? And do I

hire somebody? Or what am I going to do in that situation? Gets

a little complex sometimes when we go down this road of decision making. Should

I remain bitter and mad and offended or should I get healed? Let God

heal me in my broken heart? I've experienced failure. Should I stay down

or should I get up? Should I cut off or continue support that I'm

giving someone? I have a family, member that's living with me, But

they don't believe in God and they don't go to church. Should I not

require something of them? Indecision is making a decision, whether you realize it

or not, young purple person, what college should I attend? A young

married person? What city should I live in? Or? For us,

what kind of Christian will I really be? Well, here's the reality in

this Christian film that we're going to see next week. There's a phrase that

was highlighted today where Joseph says, the narrative in my mind is so loud.

There's a narrative in your mind today. I'm gonna ask you, is

there a narrative in your mind that's really really loud? Today? I asked

you to look at this text again, and here's gonna go on the screen

as it breaks down four translations that might bring out this thought that Joseph went

through. In one translation says, but while he was contemplating this step,

have you ever been in a season of contemplation? Should I or shouldn't I?

What if? Or don't die? While he was still debating with himself,

have you ever had to make a tough decision where you were debating with

yourself about that. I love this one. While he was trying to figure

a way out, I'm trying to figure it out. I'm weighing the pros

and I'm weighing the cons and which one is right. And while he thought

on these things, and I'll say this, he thought about it much.

When this opportunity came his way. With that in mind, I want to

break out down this thing. He had to decide between the will of God

or his own will or maybe the will of the enemy. Was I gonna

lean on my own flesh and I want this, I'm gonna do this,

or was I gonna have to give into what God wanted? I want you

to know Joseph in this story faced the unexpected, the unwanted, and absolutely

the unwelcome when he discovers his fiance pregnant. Nothing in this story is easy.

Nothing in this story is not messy, because the reality was is this

young man who was engaged to the love of his life, did not plan

for what's about ready to happen, was not prepared for what's about ready to

happen, did not have place for what was about ready to happen, and

surely may have not had the patience for what was about ready to happen.

Joseph had dreams, Joseph had plans, Joseph had goals, and it was

not to see his fiance pregnant. And you will not be a Christian law

without God coming to interrupt your dreams and your plans and your goals. Now,

whether you give in to that, I don't know. Your life has

to prove that out. But there are a lot of people and there's nothing

wrong with planning, nothing wrong with dreaming, nothing wrong with goal setting.

But God wants in on any aspect of what that is to bring about a

Jesus, or to birth a Jesus, or to fulfill a Jesus within you.

And that's the story that you and I get to. The Lord may

be asking you to do something that doesn't make sense. The Lord may ask

you to do something like Joseph that you are not qualified for. And the

Lord may ask you to do something that is absolutely bigger than you. Again,

if he was to ask his parents, do I have your support,

they look at him like he was crazy. If he was to ask his

carpentry buddies, are you in agreement? Should I be doing this? They

would tell him that he was crazy. If he would ask the community,

they'd say, no, he had to make an unpopular call. But I'm

here to tell you God is with you when you have to make an unpopular

call. God is with you when you have to make a difficult call.

God will be with you when you have to make a hard call. If

you will hear God and follow God, obey God, submit to God,

and give God the consent in your life. So here's a few things I

want to recognize. You know what. I've been married December twenty eight December

December eighteenth to Cindy forty years. Well, I've been married forty years,

okay, but I want you to know. I want you to know no,

no matter how beautiful she is and how lovely she is, the reality

was is that there were other women in my life before Cindy. So Cindy

wasn't the only one that I liked. I had a high school sweetheart and

I thought I might have a future with her. We worked at Queen of

the Valley Hospital. But there was another girl that I was aying, and

I think she was eying me when I went off to Bible School. I

wasn't married to her yet. I was engaged to her. And in Bible

School, there are women who hit on you all the time in that ripe

John, Yeah, they want to marry a pastor. Hey, you didn't

know I was gonna call on you, did you? But it's true.

But I made a decision, and I made a choice to choose this woman

in my life. You know what. I went and was going to join

the Marine Corps. I went down to LA to join the sheriff Department.

I had a brief career as an professional triathlete. I had to make a

decision whether I would choose to go into full time ministry rather than go into

the military, Go be a cop, or go be an athlete. That

was a decision I had to make. I was at a former church for

fifteen years, nine years full time. I had to make a choice.

Was this the season? Was this the time? Was God leading me to

leave that church and go start a fledgling church in my house with no guarantees,

no budget, no people come in, nothing to offer people and start

this church. A decision was made. All of those decisions were hard.

All of those decisions I had to contemplate much. And I think that that's

the story. Five points very quickly that I'd like to break down. Now,

the Bible said he decided not to publicly disgrace Mary. I love that

terminology. He made a decision, So that tells me he could have publicly

shamed her, could have publicly embarrassed her. He could have publicly got even

with her. He could have publicly called TMZ, and he could have wrote

a book, made a lot of money. Here's the problem. When you

and I don't like something, we like to go public about it. Don't

act like you don't know what I'm talking about. You know how we go

public. We go on social media anyway. You know another public thing we

do. Christians gossip. Whenever you gossip, you're going public. He does

not take it to the phone. He takes it to the throne. There's

not this vengeful I won't get even woman with you. You're putting me through

a lot of drama. I'm gonna put you through a lot of drama.

You don't know how many marriages where one person has an affair and the other

person goes ahead and has an affair because the first person had an affair don't

make no sense to me. But it's the logic of people, and they're

rationale to make decisions and choices in their lives that they ultimately regret. I

love the story he did not go he did not go public. And here's

the reality. If you looked at Joseph, many people would tell Joseph today.

In our world, you have a right to do whatever you feel you

need to do. And that's the problem with our society. We are so

led by our feelings and our emotions rather than submitting to the will and the

word of God. In your natural emotions and feelings, based upon the circumstances

of life and situations, you may have a right, but as a Christian,

your rights were taken away. That's what Lord needs, master, ruler

and boss of your life. You don't have the right to do anything unless

God gives you the right to do it, unless God tells you to do

it, unless God speaks to you about that that's permissible. You may have

a right to do something, but you don't have permission to do it.

And that's the word that's worth the weight of gold in this message. Right

now, If we would stop doing things that we have a right to do

and make sure I have permission and if I don't know what to do.

Then I need to wait for God to give me the permission, the yay

or nay. But I'm not going to make a decision yet until I hear

from God along that line. The next thing that I recognize is this,

he decided to divorce her. That's what the Bible said. It said he

decided to divorce her. I'm going to draw a conclusion to this. Is

it the fact that he had already made up his mind to do it.

Had he set and fixed and settled in his mind. Did he say,

it's as good as done. I'm over her, I'm moved on from her,

I'm headed in another direction. Did he go see Cohen and Cohen divorce

attorneys in Jerusalem? Had he already filed papers? Had he served those papers?

When God comes and interrupts his life, he had made a decision,

and now the Lord was asking him to change his mind. The Lord was

asking him to alter what decision he was to make. The Lord is going

to interrupt and he's going to completely interfere with the plans and the goals and

the ideas that Joseph had when I went off to Bible school in nineteen eighty

three. Again, I was engaged to Cindy, and on Christmas break of

my first year, we went back to Tulsa, Oklahoma. We were a

young couple. I was twenty two years old and she was twenty three years

old, and we tried. We had some plans, We had some dreams

as a young couple. One of the first plans was is that we were

going to wait until I finished my schooling in education before we started a family.

We would wait until a church would hire me, or I knew where

I was going to go in ministry. I'd wait until we had a home

that I could really raise my family in. We had decided that maybe to

take advantage of the season, Cindy, you go to school with me.

And so she went ahead and got accepted in my second year to be her

first year to go to school. She went ahead and changed careers. She

was on her way to becoming a stewart, a stewardess, and so she

said, I won't be a steward right, you know, I want to

be a steward stewardess. And so I'm trying to tell you all those things

change because Nathan came. Nathan came unexpectedly. Now not really because when you

do it, that's that's what happens sometimes. But you know what I'm talking

about. We didn't plan for this little boy, that first born. It's

messing up our plans, but we're gonna have to now give into this.

And he turned out to be the joy of our lives. And in all

our our fears and all our concerns, God figured it out. We figured

out how to make ends me, We figured out how to travel with him,

We figured out everything that we were concerned with because we submitted and we

were righteous like Joseph was, and we were honorable, and we were living

for God, and God protected us and he provided for us, and that's

why we had two more without being settled really quickly. The reality is is

God sometimes interrupts your life. And as you do a ninety degree turner a

one eighty, the next thing I recognize was this that Joseph was a righteous

man and a just man and a godly man. And that's key because that's

how he's able to make this tough decision. Should I or shouldn't I?

Should I divorce her and move on and just get another woman in my live?

Or should I give into this? How do you. Let me ask

you, how do you make your tough decisions today? How many have you

ever seen somebody? Uh, let's just say you're in you're in in and

out. Let's just say you're an in and out and you're in line,

because there's always a lot of people and you always see somebody at the register

looking at the in and out menu undecided on what to get. You say,

you got to be crazy. You see all these long line You can

only get a hamburger, a double double fries, a drink, and a

shape. What's the problem? What do you want? What do you want?

Yeah, you're gonna what? And you're behind him saying, come on,

I gotta get back to work here. How do you deal with making

your tough decisions? Do you go like this? Okay? All these three

girls asked me on a date. They propose eeny meany miney mode catch?

How do you make your decision? Oh? The first one that calls me

in the morning, I'll know that that's the one the lord wants. Do

you have a magic eight ball? Lord? Which one should I choose?

Do you call one eight hundred? Chloe? Hey, miss Kloe, Chloe?

See sim you don't even know who Miss Chloe is anymore? How do

you make your tough decisions? Joseph's gonna tell you how he made this tough

decision, because the Bible tells us he's a righteous man, and he's a

just man, and he's an honorable man. So he's gonna take his decision

into this process. Number One, He's not gonna make a decision based upon

his flesh, or his emotions, or his feeling, because that convectacillate from

how he from day to day. He's not gonna base his decision based upon

how something looks, sounds, or feels. These are how we make bad

decisions. We make decisions major decisions when we're in a valley, and that's

not a good time to be making a decision in the valley. You need

to make a decision on the mountaintop. You need to sleep on it.

You're not competent right now. You're not the right frame of mind to be

making a major decision. Wait for another day. He's not gonna make his

decision based on it looks good, it's attractive, it's appealing, it smells

good, tastes good, sounds good. That's the story of Abraham and lott

Lot shows the land of Sodom and Gomorrah because on the outside it looked good,

but on the inside it was corrupt. The Bible tells me, and

you trust in the Lord with all our heart, and don't lean on your

own understanding, your own wisdom, your own rationale, your own experience,

your own launching, because it could fool you. Sometimes God knows the complete

story. He knows behind the scene or the curtain, what's really going on.

Joseph did not make things based upon retaliation. Some people make their decision

based upon retaliation or pressure, or pleasure, or lust or anger or loneliness.

Here's an article that I just read and I'll put it on the screen

and it goes like this. Thirty percent of kids say they want to be

YouTubers when they grow up, which makes it the number one career choice for

kids these days. So now might be a great time to launch a YouTuber.

Summer camp has more than one company has already done. And it's not

just the little kids. Fifty four percent of those thirteen through thirty four said

their top career choice was being a social media influence. This is the world

we're living in, Okay, People don't want to work today. They see

these few people that make millions of dollars being social media influencers, and they

think that they could do it. So people today don't want to go into

the military, they don't want to go to trade school, they don't want

to go to college. They don't want to work at basement jobs and earn

their way up corporate ladder. They want instant success. And people are making

choices along those lines. So I want you to recognize the reality would look

like this. Make your choice based upon the word of God. Do I

have scriptural backing to back up with the Bible? What this decision I'm going

to make. Make your decisions based upon your value system and your ethics.

Do not violate your values, your integrity, and your ethics. Make your

decision based upon authority figures in your life, their wisdom and their counsel and

their direction. Make your decision based upon your priorities, your obligations, and

your responsibilities that you have already committed to. Make your decision based upon legacy

and inheritances. Who is going to have to inherit my decision? Is this

the kind of information that I want passed on to my grandchildren. Make your

decision based upon am I still going to be able to be able to witness?

And is my witness for Christ still intact? All these things will help

us make our decision. Now, let me give you a quote here,

and the quote goes like this, and predetermined decisions. If you make a

predetermined decision than moments of trial which we all have, moments of temptation which

we all have, moment of tiredness which we all have, will be less

effective in making a bad decision. Make up your mind ahead of time.

If I am in this scenario, how would I react to it? You

are less likely to fall victim to a bad decision if you make a predetermined

decision, because all of us were filled temptations and trials and tiredness, and

that isn't always a good time to be making a righteous decision or just decision.

Make it up ahead of time what you're going to do, so it

may look like this. If you make a predetermined decision, you know what,

I get a bone. Somebody says I don't personally, and I really

don't. But somebody says I might get a Christmas bonus. I might get

a Christmas bonus. So when I get that Christmas bonus, I'm gonna buy

an new Rolex watch. I'm not gonna pay off my card debt. These

are the decisions people make all the time. I'm gonna eat at KA to

eat out at KFC every night instead of you know what, making a nice

salad and healthy dinner efficient at I'm not gonna do that. When I retire,

I'm gonna travel the world and spend all my money so my kids don't

get a dime rather than maybe having a college fund for the kids. Oh,

I won't date a guy that's five to eight Christian and got a solid

job. I'm holding out for the six foot four, exotic looking man.

How's that working out for you? I'm serious. I could just say shut

your Bible and let's go home, because I could talk about man after man,

woman after woman that says I'm looking, and I ask them where they're

looking. They're looking in the wrong play. They don't even know how to

look. Have you had any offers? Yes, but they're not my type.

Tell me what you mean when you say they're not your type or too

short? Listen, I'm five eight and three quarters. I'm not five to

nine. I would never make the six foot four calendar. But this girl,

she lucked out and was blessed when she married this kid. And if

she would have held out for a certain hair color, certain skin color,

certain eye color, how many of you know what I'm talking about, she

would have missed out on the kid. And there's some silly people. Now.

I want you to be attractive to the person, That's no question about

that. But you know what looks fade away? And I care more about

your character of your life, your faithful of your loyalty of your life,

your faith of your life, then holding out for the exotic. I think

a lot of people are gonna change their values today and you're gonna be more

available, and you're gonna be looking home of your head. I'm talking about,

Well, what if my kids could turn out short? Who gives a

care of your kids turn out short? Well, I want my kids to

have colored eye What are you wait for? Artificial intelligences down the road.

It'll come out soon. Should I stay working and start my side hustle and

business? Or should I quit my job and live off of my savings?

Should I file bankruptcy and get out from all my dad affecting my credit rate?

Or should I work hard to pay off the debt? Should I work

seven days of week and achieve all the worldly success I can while losing my

marriage, my health, and the respect of my children. Should I attend

church weekly or should I attend church whenever. All of these things are decisions

that you and I have to make. Here's the final one in this situation.

Here, when I look at Joseph's life, Joseph will take He will

have the courage to submit to what God has. He will have the commitment

to own the decision and finish it. And Joseph will have the conviction of

what he must do and what he has to do, and options and alternatives

don't come into his mind. He has the courage. He has the courage

to follow the Lord. I don't know everything that's gonna happen. Joseph's going

to say, I hear that down the road, hero's gonna come looking for

my kid, and then I'm gonna have to flee to a place called Egypt.

I've never been there. I'm just a teenager myself. I don't know

how I'm gonna make a living there. I don't know how I'm gonna live

there. I don't know when I'm gonna be able to go back and see

my family again, or where I'm gonna relocate, but you know what,

I'm gonna have the courage to follow the Lord, and God will take care

of me. And God took care of him and told him all that he

needed to know about his future, and he owned him. He didn't treat

him like an orphan kid, because I told you he'll have five more of

his own children. A real man will raise another man's son like he's his

own. Should I repeat it? Should I say it again? Because you

were like, this is not Joseph's boy. Even though Pastor Adam gave us

a very great historical context last week and talking about adoption and how that would

have looked in the Jewish culture, the reality is he had five of his

own blood. Through those five children, Jesus could have turned out to be

the anti Christ based on how Joseph treated him. It's a joke. It

went over your head, but he owned it, and you need to start

owning your decision. Joseph discovered that this was the why in which I exist.

This is a hot word right now. It's a hot word. Everybody

says, I want to know the why. Why am I alive? Why

do I have the friends I have? Why do have the personality? Why

do I have the influence eye? Why do have the opportunities I have?

Why do I have the talent I have? Why did I survive this car

accident? Why? Why people are living? And I'm talking Christians, they

don't know their why? Why did God save you? Well, God save

me so I could go to heaven. Then tell him to kill you so

you could go to heaven. What are you on this planet for? At

this moment, Joseph knew. I thought I was here to be a carpenter,

but that's not really why I'm here, even though there's nothing wrong with

that. I thought I was here to marry Mary, even though there's nothing

wrong with that. But the real reason why I'm here is to be a

father to this the Son of God, which is Jesus Christ. My fulfillment,

my purpose and why of life is connected to Jesus. And I just

gave you your answer. Your why of life is connected to Jesus, not

outside of Jesus. And if you're not walking with him, living with him,

committed to him, sacrifice me for survey and giving to him. You

are not living out your why. You're living out your career. You're living

out your interests. You're living out there's your pleasure. He discovered his why.

I'm here for Jesus. God chose me for Jesus. God protestined me

for Je. God called me for Je. God ordained me for Jesus.

God prepared me for Jesus. He was not hasty, He did not procrastinate.

He did not make Jesus wait. It was not double minded. He

did not doubt with disbelief or unbelief. He made the decision. Paul said,

woe is me if I don't preach the gospel? What is the woe

for your life? Woe was me if I don't you fill in the blank.

My last point in conclusion is this, as zeroed out the time clock

Colossians three point fifteen reads this way, and let the peace, soul,

harmony which comes from Christ's rule act as an umpire, very key word continually

in your hearts. That peace, which can be an umpire, will help

you decide and settle with finality all your questions that arise in your minds in

that peaceful state, to which as members of Christ one body. You were

called to live and be thankful and appreciative, giving praise to God always.

I end with this that God was gracious enough to understand the complexity of this

decision, and he came alongside Joseph and gave him confirmation that this was the

will of God. And sometimes you have to make a difficult decision and you

need to listen and watch out for the confirmations of God. He sent an

angel to him to tell him he brought prophecy back to him or the word

of God, to say, this is what your fa He gave him the

name of what to call him. So listen to the confirmation of the will

of God. Or maybe you're not getting confirmation. It goes like this again,

do you have scriptural confirmation? Is there maybe a prophecy was given to

you to share. A confirm doesn't give direction, It only confirms what God

has spoken to you. Are random people coming up to you telling you something

that's a confirmation and they don't even know what's going on in your life?

Do you have peace about this decision? Because peace is like an umpire.

It calls something in and it calls something out. Do you have peace about

this decision. If you don't have peace, then don't make the decision.

Can you see the providential hand of God in how he set this thing up,

how He orchestrated puts you in this situation? Or somebody? Can you

see the providential hand of God in your life? Is God changing your desires

and the grace of your life to recognize a new season is coming and you're

going to make a decision. Is there clarity about a path or a direction

that says, I know that I know that I should be doing this.

There's just such clarity that I have about it. And last of all,

do you feel the urges or the impulses or the Holy Spirit persuading you?

Because this is what the Holy Spirit. Let's say Passekenni is going to make

a decision, and that decision is to go this way. Once Paskenni has

made his decision, he begins to move this way, and the Holy Spirit

may come along him gently and go like this. That's called a check.

Holy Spirit is not going to go like this. Don't go there's way most

of us go like this. He Pascnni goes here and you walk all over

the Holy Spirit bulldoze him. So if you want to understand the Holy Spirit,

because if you're saving, you have the Holy Spirit. When you're making

a decision that is outside of his will, he'll just come along and he'll

go like this, He'll check you. He's just going to check you.

He said, thank you boy. Why do I feel uncomfortable now? Why

do I feel hesitant? Now? Why do I feel like I shouldn't be

doing this? And that's the gentle way the Holy Spirit checks you. I

like to end with the last couple of years that's been going on in the

life of our church, as decisions have been made, tough decisions and contemplations

that I've had to deal with. I have three sons, Nathan, Caleb,

and Adam. You ask me why and how did you choose Adam?

Why didn't you choose Nathan as a successor the lead pastor came with much contemplation.

I gave you my answer by sharing the sermon with you today. It's

about peace in my life. It's about pros and cons that I had to

weigh. I didn't do it impulsively. I didn't base it on how something

looked or felt or sound. I've had to make I had to make a

decision, a major decision that would affect the life of abundant living in its

future. Which son is the next lead pastor number two? In this decision?

When will I know that Adam is ready? When will I know that

Adam is ready? I've seen too many horror stories of transition, and so

I said, when will I know that he's ready? I know intellectually he's

ready. I know through gifting he's ready. I know through experience he's ready.

I know through through cross me spending time he's ready. But Lord,

when will I know that he's ready? We have baptisms here a few times,

three or four times a year, and we had a baptism early in

the year. It was early in the year, maybe even last year.

I can't even remember, but the pastors were in there baptizing and my I,

all of a sudden just focused on Adam. That's why I was focused

on him. And I saw a person come up to him and was crying

in front of him, and I saw Adam hug that person and just pray

for them. Then the baptism took place, and so I felt like God

said, he's ready. He's a pastor now he's not a preacher. He's

not a preacher. He's already been a preacher. He's now a pastor.

And my concerning this, my contemplation, he went and went away. The

last contemplation I had to make When am I ready? Because I got a

lot of fire in my bones, I can still throw down when When?

When am When am I? When am I ready? I don't know,

but that that was. That's a contemplation because I've seen people in my position.

They waited too long and the church died and shriveled up and got old.

I've seen guys hold on too long that didn't pre predetermined and pre plan

what they'll do. I've seen guys that weren't financially stable so they needed the

income. So I said, when will I When I will be ready?

And over this year, I've seen the mantle come off of me. It's

coming off. It's coming off. And I've walked and carried this mantle for

thirty years. So it's it's like I don't have the grace anymore. Before

i'd walk into a meeting and I'd say you're fired and look at you and

say God bless you. I don't want to do that anymore. I don't

have the grace for that anymore. I don't want to have meeting after meeting

after meeting. I don't have the grace for that anymore. I don't have

the grace for any of those things anymore. So I've recognized I'm now ready

so that I don't have to carry the weight of the ministry. And now

God will say, now I just need you to work in the ministry.

I say, oh, I'll never stop working for you, God, I'll

still do whatever you want me to do, but I don't have to carry

the weight. Father. I pray for people that have to make hard decisions,

and sometimes they're messy God, and there's a lot of contemplation. Life

is about decisions. God, when should I retire or if I should retire?

Father, all kinds of things, financial decisions, medical conditions, all

kinds of issues. Daily, I pray that you give people overwhelming clarity,

overwhelming wisdom, overwhelming confirmation, O God, overwhelming peace. May people step

out and allow you to interrupt their plans, their dreams, their goals,

and maybe birth something that's Jesus within them. Oh God, I pray today,

God, would you be so kind Holy Spirit to come alongside and speak

again to us, or where maybe we have turned down the volume or have

ignored you God, to tell us again what you wanted. I asked that

we release everybody to understand the why of their life today in Jesus's mighty name.

Amen, I asked you to keep your place in and walk out of

this room together in a matter of moments. Today. But I want to

talk a little bit about a word called forgiveness. Forgiveness is to be pardoned

of a debt that you had. Forgiveness is to lift off a weight of

guilt or remorse that you're carrying. Forgiveness of God is to remove the penalty

and the outcome of your wrongness, and forgiveness is to free you from your

passes. Nicodemus a righteous, moral, religious man. Jesus Christ gave him

forgiveness because though he was humanitarian right, he needed to be born again,

and Jesus forgave him. The woman at the well had five husbands and she

was sleeping with a sixth man, and Jesus forgave her. The woman that

was a prostitute that broke the alabaster box received forgiveness. The woman caught an

adultery, receive forgiveness. Paul, who was a murderer a terrorist, received

forgiveness. Peter, who had ashamed and denied of the Lord, was forgiven.

And today you might be in a place where you need to be forgiven.

Jesus said, when you ask forgiveness, as far as the east is

from the west, oh, no longer remember your iniquity. First John one

nine says, if you confess your sins to God, he is faithful and

just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. What

got to me, tugged at my heart and made me give my heart to

Jesus was forgiveness. I forgive you. I forgive you. I've shared my

testimony in detail with I don't do it publicly, but I've done it.

I do it privately when I sense like you, I need a minister to

somebody. I need to share my story with someone. But the reality is

is there's one thing I've done that I've never shared with a human being because

it's so repulsive and detestable what I did. But I shared that and Jesus

knows that. And that's what ministered to me. When I accepted the Lord

that even in that most horrific thing that I did, Jesus said, I

forgive you. My blood is enough to cleanse you and to wash you as

though you never committed that sin. Diego, And that's what made me wept

and say, forgive me. You have something in your life. You have

a debt, you have a weight, you have a grievance, you have

a guilt in your life, a shame? Would you give that to the

Lord today? You don't want to have to pay for your sins. That's

why God sent his son to die across to become a sinner for you,

so that you don't have to pay for those sins. He took your sins

upon him. If you say I'm ready, I'm ready to receive Jesus's forgiveness

for my life, or I have but I baxelin again, I'm participating in

my sinful old ways or new ways, then you're gonna rededicate your life to

the Lord. When I count to three, I want you to raise your

hand just like this that you want to receive Jesus forgiveness. No more trying

to drink it away, drug it away, sex it away. I'm giving

it to Jesus Today, no more regrets, no more remote no more haunting

dreams, no more haunting memories. Things I can't forget. Give them that

you He'll heal you. One two, one two three. Raise your hand

wherever you are all across this auditorrent, do one more thing for me.

Stand on your feet. If you're raising your hand, have the courage to

stand up for him as he stood up for you on a cross. For

Jesus, say this simple prayer with me. Say, Dear Jesus, say

this prayer. Dear Jesus. I come to you just as I am a

sinner who's broken, empty and lost. There's nothing I can do that can

ask that can change my life. There's nothing I can do to resolve my

sin. I recognize you are the only one that can remove the penalty of

my sin. So I ask you to come into my heart and be my

Lord and savior. And I receive your forgiveness for everything and anything that I've

done. And today, because Jesus forgave me, I forgive myself. Amen,

come on, let's give the Lord a clap offering. We really hope

you enjoyed the message. And if you said yes to Jesus. We just

want to say congratulations and give you a free devotional to help you walk out

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