Guilt Game | What’s Your Sign | Pastor Scott Thomas

Welcome to Free Life Chapel, where we

help you discover and live the free life

in Christ. My name is Kayla, and I am so

excited that you decided to tune in with

us today. Why? Because you're in for a

treat with today's message. But first,

go ahead, check out our website at

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see what we're all about here, which is

faith and fun. And because you're

watching this right now, that means

we're family. And here at Free Life

Chapel, we love family. So, if you ever

catch yourself in the Central Florida

area, go ahead, stop by so that way we

can connect with you right here on

campus in person. But like I said,

you're in for a treat with this message.

So, go ahead, sit back, relax, and I

hope today's message encourages you just

like it encourages me. What is your

sign? I'm going to be wrapping this

little series up this week. Uh, we're

talking about where do you get your

identity from? What What is it that you

base your life on? Some people lean

heavy into the horoscopes. They're

checking those out every day. The Wall

Street Journal tells them who they

are. The Lake L ledger going to tell you

how good your week's going to be. I

mean, that's okay. So, you got that.

There's people that run the Zodiac,

right? And they're they're they're

living in that world. There's there's

other folks that choose other things,

other other aspects of of life in order

to give them identity, whether it's an

education, whether it's a career, my

money, uh who am I on Instagram. There's

all kinds of things we reach for. But

what we're talking about in this series

is all those things fall short unless

you get it right with Jesus. Jesus is

the one should that should identify

that. But I want to I want to address

this from another angle that I've never

heard taught in my entire life. And I'm

an old guy. I I'm I've been around for a

minute. I've never in my life heard a

message on what I'm about to share with

you today. I' nor have I ever preached

one on this, but I want to bring it here

today. How many of you have ever

struggled with your confidence?

If the person beside you is not raising

their hand is they're not confident

enough to raise their hand right now. So

they're struggling with confidence right

now. All of us, every single one of us,

this insecurity, insecurity is

crippling. It makes us doubt stuff. It

makes us pause, not get involved, do

some things that we would have enjoyed,

but I'm afraid if I do that. What you

afraid of? I don't know. I'm just

afraid. Okay. Well, it does that. It

makes us quit. We don't even try some

things when I'm insecure. uh just real

skeptical over stuff and it it limits

life. When we live

insecure and I just want you to

understand insecurity is not just

limiting things in your everyday life.

Insecurity is crippling your

relationship with Jesus. And so for that

reason today I want to speak to and I

want to strengthen your spiritual

confidence. You need to see yourself

square them shoulders. Hey, you're doing

better than you think you are. And I

want to show you why that's true. It's

not just my opinion. It's not just me

trying to make you feel good. No, no,

no, no, no. Feeling good doesn't matter

if it's not true. And I need to give you

something that's true that you can say,

"Oh, shucks. I got it going on like

that." All right, we're going to talk

about that. Let's go here. Let's go here

right now. Here's what I need you to

know. What's wrong with you is not

what's wrong with you.

Some of y'all will be discussing that at

lunch. What did he mean by that? What's

wrong with you is not what's wrong with

you. How many you could think of at

least three or four things that you

think are wrong with you? Please raise

your hand. If your neighbor's not

raising their hand, give them a few of

your ideas about what's wrong with them.

Go ahead and help them out so they can

raise their hand. Yes, me too. All of

us. We got stuff. We try to hide it. We

don't want we want to act like we

there's nothing wrong with me. And

people call something out and we go we

go at them like they're fabricating. But

the truth is, you could have points and

subpoints to everything they just said

because, oh no, it's all there. Whoop,

there it is. It's a mess. But what's

wrong with you is not what's wrong with

you. What's wrong is what you and I

believe about Jesus and his love for us.

It's important that you that you

understand that because you got to stop

focusing on your mess and start focusing

on Jesus's love and sacrifice.

Why is that important? Because your life

moves towards your dominant thought.

Whatever you think about is who you

become. Whatever you think about is

where you're going. Whatever you look at

affects your heart. Lamentations chapter

Lamentations 3 · chapter mention

3 says, "My eye affected my heart."

Whatever you put your eyes on in

culture, it begins to affect you a

certain way. And and and and we have to

be so very careful that that we're

actually moving our life forward. Where

the head goes, your body follows. And

so, we've got to get our headspace

right. You need to understand how loved

you are. You need to understand

everything Jesus did for you is on a

level that we've never fully embraced as

of yet. In fact, not even your most

intensive point of struggle, your worst

of worst day. None of that could even

cancel or even

limit God's plan for your life or his

forgiveness that is extended towards

you. All of it is in still a full

effect. It's still in full effect. But

since your life is following your

dominant thought and you and I can think

some crazy thoughts,

any ever had a crazy thought in the past

24 hours, right? Like past 10 minutes

like you got like I'm trying to worship.

Why am I thinking about that? Like I

it's it's cra like this mind is

nuts. Since that's how we're wired and

what we deal with, we got to deal with

that and the Bible does. Jeremiah

chapter 17:7. If you're looking for a

new tat, this is it right here. I'm

telling you right now, I highly

recommend this one. Jeremiah 17:7. Y'all

Jeremiah 17:7

read it loud. Read it proud. Here we go.

Blessed is the one who trusts in the

Lord, whose confidence is in

him. Whose confidence is in him. Not

confidence in Scott, not in what I

built, not my education, not not

anything that looks good on the outside.

All of that can go away. My confidence

has to be built on something more than

what people can take away. My confidence

has to be built on one who is greater

than all and that is Christ. When I

trust what God said about the power of

his love and salvation towards me, when

I truly have built my trust and my

confidence that everything he said about

me is true, my life

stabilizes. People don't have the

ability to rock my world. I don't live

with drama. You can say what you want.

I've already had an opinion greater than

yours.

I like you and I want us to do some

life, but I'm good. I'm good. I'm good

in this neighborhood. Hey, I got that's

I'm good. I I I I'm I'm bolder. I'm

stronger. I can stand flatfooted and I

can speak some things not based on my

ability, but based on his. I live

different when I believe that he loves

me and believe that he fully died for

me. That's a gamecher, folks. I trust

him. I don't walk around with fear that

God's going to strike me with a

lightning bolt. Living in Lakeland,

Florida, the the lightning capital of

the world. I'm not worried about that

because God's not mad at me. He's mad

about me. And I know that because I

trust what his word said. Confidence in

Jesus and his salvation. When we

actually get that, it begins to produce

joy on the inside. It produces a a

strength that produces a hope on the

inside. In other words, it's possible to

be serving God and not have joy in your

salvation. And I feel like I'm just

white knuckling it and being drugged

through life trying to hold on to Jesus.

Not really sure how people do this and

does it even matter. Can I even do this

thing? David reached that point in his

life. And in Psalm 51, he said, "Lord,

restore unto me the joy of my salvation.

I need the joy back." Why? Because the

joy of the Lord is your your strength.

You don't have joy. You don't have

strength. I need to get that back. So,

I'm living in this confidence. So,

here's what you you have to understand.

Spiritual confidence in all of our lives

takes a hit when we sin. I know very few

of you have ever sinned in your life.

Me, I have done. I've done plenty of it

for all of us. All right? Uh but but but

the truth is, uh all of us have been

there. We take hits when we sin. and and

and we begin to think things like this

after we I I claimed Christ, but I did

something stupid this weekend that we

start to think, does God does God still

love

me? We we we think things like this. Am

I really

saved? Am I really

forgiven? Like like I I I just wonder

like I keep messing up. I keep messing

up. Am I am I still a Christian? Did he

did he bail on me?

And I can answer definitively all of

those. Yes. Yes. And heck to the yes.

All three of those. The answer is yes.

But you and I have got to get our heads

wrapped around this because the Bible

tells us this in 1 John 1:8. It says we

1 John 1:8

all sin.

Yes, we do. Even he does. Even he does.

All right. So you got to like a like

watch this. Turn look just look at the

person beside you. Look just look at

them. Yep. They sin.

Look at the person on the other side.

Look, look at the other one. Go. Mhm.

Yeah. Oh, I know. I know about you. I

know about

you. Okay. Look at both of them and tell

them, "Me, too." Just tell them, "Me,

too." Because Yeah. That's all of

us. We're all jacked up. We all have

these things. We think, thoughts,

motives are wrong. We go off on f like

we do stuff. It's over It's over a

chicken sandwich and you're yelling at

somebody at Chick-fil-A because they got

in front of me. Oh my god.

It's amazing what little it takes for us

to go there. And when John wrote this

that we all watch this, we all sin.

That's your Bible. He was writing it to

Christians. He wasn't writing to this

culture. Oh, you in the culture are

sinful. He's No, he's talking to the

preacher. He's talking to the deacons or

the demons. He's talking to the people

like all y'all y'all sin. All y'all

sinning and you're good at it.

Sinning. It's what we do. It's in our

nature. We're so selfish. We're so

prideful. Me, me, my. That's who we are.

That's what we do. So, because of that,

and since when we sin, our confidence

takes a spiritual hit. And we begin to

think less, but I can't get rid of sin

because it's I'm going to be sinning all

the way until Jesus comes. I'm never

going to stop sinning. You're never

going to stop. I'm never sinning again.

Well, you just lied. I mean, yeah. Yeah.

So yeah. Yeah. Like it's like it's never

going to stop. So that means I need to

learn how to deal with my sin. I need to

learn how to deal with it because here's

what's happening. Sin is violating your

own conscience.

This is where I want to go. I've never

heard anything preached about the

conscience, the human conscience. But

the Bible is

prolific. Over 30 times it 30 times in

the New Testament alone. The conscience

is mentioned all through the Old

Testament. The idea, the concept of the

conscience and how God deals with it is

all through our Bible. And you and I

need to deal with this. We need to

understand what it is. Y'all know what

that that conscience is? That internal

voice. Y'all got one. Some say, "Mine

sounds like my mama." Well, I don't know

what yours are like a program for. Uh,

you know, you can choose different

voices, but but it's it's that internal

voice, watch this, that distinguishes

for us between right and wrong.

between right and wrong. It and it it

comes out it does a couple different

things. It operates as a guide. It

operates as a chaperone. And it operates

as a

judge. A as a guide it's saying we walk

this way. We do this. It gives me

direction. And then as a chaperone while

I'm doing stuff, have you ever been

doing something wrong and you had this

voice? Your voice. Don't do it. Don't do

it. Don't send that text. Do not send

that text. It's typed. I know you

spellch checked it and you added emojis

to it. Do not send that

text. It's that

chaperon right there with you. And then

it's also our

judge because we do some things that we

know we shouldn't have done. And it

never shuts

up. It goes to bed with you. It wakes up

with you. You got up to use the bath in

the middle of the night. It's still

talking to you like, "Would you please

go to bed?"

It never quits. You're laughing on the

outside and fighting with this voice on

the inside. I'm fighting with this voice

because it's talking to me about my

past. I'm fighting with this voice cuz

it's talking to me about how I'm not

good enough and I'm such a failure and

it never works. And all I see is what's

wrong with life. I can't find what's

right and I'm struggling with all this

on the inside. And what's happening is

your conscience is working to align the

inner values with your outer actions.

that what is right in here that's in the

moral code of who I am that God put

there. Oh, I wish I had time to talk

about moral agency and where it comes

from. That is the greatest proof of God

because that doesn't happen because of a

big bang. All of a sudden, we have a

moral understanding as to what right and

wrong is. That means there must be a

being higher, greater, and outside of us

that imprinted it in us. But we don't

have time to go there today. But this is

the this is who we are. He put it on the

inside of us. And the book of Romans

says that everybody has it, believer or

non-believer. And God works through that

moral agency to lead us and direct us,

convict us. In fact, that's where the

voice of Holy Spirit operates in your

life and my life is working inside of

our conscience to convict and lead our

lead our lives. And when your conscience

is clear, when when you feel like it's

aligned, you feel strong, you're secure,

you're confident, you feel whole. But

the moment that you your your your

conscience is is conflicted, when when

you feel like it's been violated, that's

when insecurity comes in. In other

words, I say I believe one thing, but

I'm living

another. I say that people should do

this, but I did this. Lying is wrong,

but I'm really good at

it. Like, I've got this I've got this

conflict. I've got inner drama. I don't

need any drama out there. I got enough

drama going on inside of me right now

because I've got all of this back and

forth and I can't even rest with me.

It'd be one thing if I could say good

night and send somebody to another

house, but I I'm I'm stuck with me. I'm

dealing with me. These thoughts are

owning me. And when this conscience hit,

now I feel now I feel insecure and now

I've got guilt running. Now it goes into

shame in my life. All these things are

owning me. In fact, 1st Samuel chapter

24, David put it this way. David did

something wrong and he said, "I'm

conscience stricken. My conscience has

been so hit that it's owning me." And

David can't get rest. Has anybody ever

been bothered so bad that you had a hard

time sleeping? Like it just I can't just

I can't find any peace. Like you

actually it was so real you had to go

apologize to somebody. How many know

that's got to be real right there?

That's got to be real right like to get

me to go say I'm sorry. That's that's

this is what happens in the conscience.

But here's what I need us to understand.

The sense of our own sinfulness is a

gift. The fact that you feel that

something was wrong is a gift to

you. Feeling guilt in your conscience is

not the

problem. Feeling guilt in your

conscience is proof that there is a

problem.

When you feel pain in your body, pain is

not your

enemy. Pain is proof that something is

wrong in your body. It's an alarm that

goes off to tell you to go get something

checked. There's a condition where some

people feel no

pain and they don't know if they've been

cut, broken a bone. They don't know if

they're dying because they feel nothing.

And a lot of us say, "I would love to

live with no pain." No, you would not.

Pain is a gift in those situations and a

conscience that is aware of sin where I

have violated God is a gift in my life

and Holy Spirit does that and pulls on

it and I feel that that's called

conviction. Conviction is when God is

trying to pull me back into a solid

relationship with him. Guilt is when

it's owning me and it makes me want to

push back on God and run because guilt

turns into shame. undelt with guilt

becomes shame. And that's where guilt is

what I did. Shame is who I am.

I now am so identifying with my guilt

that I call it me. And now it's my

identity. It's who I am. It's how I

live. It's what I deserve. And it begins

to own our world. It becomes a cancer to

your soul. And we have to deal with this

because God's word deals with this. And

and we try a lot of things in order to

just clear our own consciences instead

of coming to Jesus. We we we try a lot

of things. Well, well, I'm going to do

charity work. Yes, I am. I'm going to be

a good person. So, we trade righteous

living for good living. We try to be

good, moral people, whatever that is. We

try to be good people. And then and then

we try to change morality. Our culture

today is fighting against the conscience

of God inside of us so much that culture

is trying to shift a morality so that

things that would bother us 10 years ago

doesn't bother us anymore.

Because your conscience can be

reprogrammed. It can be shifted. And you

and I have got to be so very careful

that I don't just let every ideology

into me and people begin to shift what's

right and what's wrong. I've got to go

back and I got to find what God's code

is for my life and let this become the

standard that I live my life by.

And then when the conscience, even

though we're trying to find a way to

clear our own conscience with our own

our own works, our own righteousness,

well, then it just it gets really crazy

because the conscience when it refuses

to be satisfied because we can try

everything, but the conscious is never

satisfied even with all that. Then we

just try to drown its voice out with all

kinds of stuff. A party, a pill, a

person, another vacation. I'm going to

dive into social media. I'm just going

to I'm just going to be true to me. I'm

just going to do me, dog.

We quit church because there's too much

conviction in church. I go to church, it

makes me feel worse. No, it doesn't make

you feel worse. It's God's voice pulling

you back in. That's not guilt. That's

conviction. That's good. That's healthy.

We all need that. Again, the twinge of

pain inside your conscience when God is

pulling on you is a blessing. It's not a

cursing. We got to start identifying it

as such. There's people that call it

church hurt and run. It wasn't church

hurt. It was conviction, baby. God was

dealing with your heart and saying, "I

love you enough to tell you the truth

about a

situation." So, we try a little bit of

everything. Let me just more sin. I'm

I'm just people go violent. Okay. Quit

church or or or we become watch this or

become religious where instead of

repenting and getting our life right, we

just shift our direction and our

attention to other people. Well, at

least I'm not like them. At least I live

better than they do. So now I have set

my moral code as long as I can stay

above them and above them. Well, guess

what? You always will because you'll

always find something to downgrade them

over to make sure you're higher and

better than they are. This is how your

conscience, this is how twisted we are.

It's how good we are at self-qualifying

and fighting to stop from responding to

God the way we need to. We got to drop

the excuses and deal with a guilty

conscience. There's one of three ways

that it happens. Number one, we either

quit. Judas did that. Y'all remember

Judas in the Bible? Judas who betrayed

Jesus. Judas after he betrayed Jesus

realize what he did. The Bible says he

went out and hung himself. His

conscience hit him so bad he was so

grieved he went and hung himself. In

other words, his his conscience was

grieved and therefore he quit. He just

quit everything. And then there was a

guy named Peter. Uh Peter, he also

denied Jesus three times. He he blew it.

He messed everything up. But whenever

his conscience was hit, he went into

repentance and came back and got it

healed. Same awareness in their

conscience that they were wrong. One

quit in life. The other repented and

came back. But there's this other couple

called Adam and Eve. And in the very

beginning, they showed us the battle of

what the conscience is. And they did

what most of us are doing in our life

today. When Adam and Eve were told,

don't do this and do this. And they

violated that. They all of a sudden ran

and they were hiding from God. And God,

the Bible says, came walking through the

garden looking for them. How many you

know when God calls your name, where are

you? How many you know God, you're not

lost. God knows exactly where you are.

He just wants to know, do you know where

you are? That's good. Adam and Eve were

hiding from God. They were MIA. And I'm

here to tell you, I believe most

believers today are hiding from God.

I'm running from God because I don't

know how he's going to handle me in this

situation. Can he really handle my

issues? And I've got good news for you

today. Although this sin attacks our

confidence in Christ and we make it

questions our relationship with God,

there's answers that God's word gives

us. And this all that was foundational

to get us to this right here. Hebrews

chapter 9:9. Check this out. This is an

illustration pointing to the present

time. For the gifts and sacrifices that

the priests offer are not able to

cleanse the consciences of the people

who bring them. Watch this. The verse

starts off. This is an illustration.

What's an illustration? The previous

eight verses of this chapter, verses 1-8

tell us this. It's a reference back to

the writer in the book of Hebrews is

referencing back to the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, once a year, a

lamb was killed. A ram was killed on the

day of Yam Kapour, the day of atonement,

one day a year. And the blood of that

ram was taken into the Holy of Holies in

the tabernacle. Blood was scattered,

splattered on the mercy seat and the

sins of the entire nation for one more

year were covered. They were removed.

Watch this. One time a

year. One time a year. And that meant

the next year they had to do it all over

again. And the next year do it all over

again. Because the blood of that ram had

no way to remove sin. It could only

cover sin.

So once a year, do it again. How many

you know if you have to do something

every year, you are reminded of that

situation for the rest of your entire

life. I'm reminded of my sin all the

time. I'm always reminded where I blew

it. I'm always reminded how bad I am.

I'm always over and over and over.

That's what the writer is talking about.

He that that it wasn't able this blood

was not able to cleanse your conscience.

It was able to cover your sin and it

made you, it gave you standing with God,

but you were still battling with

thoughts and your emotions inside were

raging because you knew how twisted and

damaged and crazy you were on the

inside. And you were left to wrestle

with that in the Old Testament. But look

what it says. Drop down five more verses

down to Hebrews chapter 9:14. And look

what the what the writer goes on to

write. Here's what he says. Read it with

me. Just think how much more the blood

of Christ will purify our consciences

from sinful deeds so that we can worship

the living God. For by the power of the

eternal spirit, Christ offered himself

to God as a perfect sacrifice for our

sins. In other words, what he's saying

is everything in the Old Testament, it

only covered, but it never dealt with

the conscience. You were left to wrestle

and battle with that. And this and the

blood that was shed only covered it did

not remove. But when Jesus came,

it was all just a picture that was a

type and shadow for what Jesus would be.

So when he came as our sacrifice and his

blood was shed on the cross and he died

for us, he didn't just cover sins. His

blood removed sins. There's no evidence.

There's no receipt. It's gone. It's

over. There's no proof that you ever

sinned one day in your life. It is gone,

folks. That's your Bible. But it goes on

to say this. Not only did he forgive and

take away your sins because he's the

perfect sacrifice, he dealt with

clearing, cleansing your conscience.

I've never heard this preached before.

Nobody told me that he was so concerned

with how I think about me that the

sacrifice on the cross not only took my

sin away, but it gave me a reason to

live at peace in my heart because all of

that is over. Turn to someone, tell them

it's over. It's

over. You see that word, watch this,

what Jesus did is called atonement. It's

not like a really big spiritual word.

It's a theological word that connects

with your life. Don't be afraid of it

because atonement means at

onement with God again. I'm at one with

him. I'm not separated from God. God and

I are together. We're in relationship.

Like we we're doing some life. He's my

boo. Like like we got it going on like

this. We're we're living this out. I

love him. He loves me. Oh, it don't mean

that I don't have any issues. I still

got some challenges. I could think some

crazy thoughts and do some nuts. You got

to be kidding me stuff. But he never

throws me away. He doesn't say that's

it. and kicks me out. When Jesus died

for your sin and my sin and you said,

"Jesus, come into my heart." He didn't

just forgive your sin today. He forgave

your sin in the past. He forgave your

sin today. And he forgave your sin

tomorrow. It is done once and for all.

Here's the issue. You're going to have

to deal with

that. No, you're going to have to accept

it. Cuz if you don't accept it, you're

going to trip for the rest of your life

trying to be good enough to deserve it.

trying to make sure that I I I did my

part. I You can add nothing to it. You

can't take anything away from it. You

are forgiven. Deal with it.

What do you do when the debt is gone?

You're still trying to pay a bill at the

restaurant and they're telling you there

is no

bill. You're arguing with people trying

to give something away and pay

something. When it's not owed, it's

over. You got to drop it. the guilt, the

condemnation, the shame that is running

in your head. You're so consumed with

the past, you can't even enjoy the

sacrifice and the price that Jesus paid

for you. And he said, "I didn't just pay

to get sin off your life. I paid to get

you off of your life.

You're going to kill yourself. If you

don't allow me to clear that," you see,

redemption gets sin out of your way, and

a clear conscience gets you out of your

way. What did the verse say? All this

has to be done so you can worship God.

It tells me that until I accept fully

what Jesus did for me. I'm not going to

love and serve him

properly. I'm serving him because he

might strike me. I'm serving him because

well, it just happened to be this. And

I'm so consumed with me, I can't even

focus on him. Wow. He says, "You can't

even love me properly. I can't even tell

you. I can't share my promises with you.

We We're not even in full relationship

like we could be until you deal with

that conscience. I got more for you. How

many you want everything God has for

you? Y'all want everything. You want God

to download in your house. Me, if you

didn't raise your hand, I'm taking your

part, too. I want yours and mine. I'm

going to take everything he's got. And

this is how we

live. My mom right now is on my

nerves. My mama. Mhm. Oh, I love her,

but she's on my nerves. No, she is.

She's straight up on my nerves. Oh, I

love the lady from to heaven and back. I

I love her. But my mama, so she's got

this iPhone that I'm pretty sure is

probably version one or two. I'm I'm I'm

pretty sure it's like that. Like it's

it's like way back there. So it's so old

that I cannot when I'm with Malachi and

Tia. I'm with my grandkids and I want

her to see her great grandkids. I can't

even FaceTime her because her processor

in her phone does not accept FaceTime.

Like what in the are you? So, I got to

call my dad, FaceTime with my dad, wake

him up so that my Cuz see, my dad, even

though he's in his 80s, he's a man

that's got to have the top technology

and everything going on. He's that kind

of guy. But my mama, she could care

less. As long as she can play Soduku on

her phone, she is a happy camper. Like,

mom, that's a phone also. It's not just

a game. You understand? And she is

happy. She's happy. But, but watch this.

The processor so slow, she can't receive

FaceTime. I need you to understand.

Jesus died not just so you can have

communication to heaven. He also wants

to FaceTime you. And you're going to

have to upgrade your processing of

faith. Get a new version. The Old

Testament faith is over. It's a New

Testament experience with everything

Jesus did so you can facetime with him

and talk to him and experience him for

yourself. Hebrews 10 22 solidifies this.

Watch this. Here's what it says. Let us

come near to God with a sincere heart

and a sure faith with hearts that have

been purified from a guilty conscience

and with bodies washed with clean water.

Three things, three things get you near

to God in this. Number one, a sincere

heart. God says, "If you're going to

come to me, don't play. You be real with

me. Don't don't come in." Well, yeah.

No, no, no, no, no. You either come in

and surrender or you're not ready for

me.

I I'm I'm not here just to hang out. I'm

here to take over. So, if we're going to

do this, let's do this. Be sincere.

Number one. Number two, I need you to

have a sure faith. In other words, I

need you to trust what I said about you.

I need you to believe my word on your

life. Don't play with it. Learn it. Know

it. Unless you read it, you don't have a

clue what I said about you and what you

can have. You have no promise that you

can claim, lay hold of, push back on,

pray about. If you don't know what I

said, you need a sure faith. And number

three, you need to be purified from a

guilty conscience. I need you to get off

your back. You are in my way for

blessing your life. This is God's word

right here. And he says, you do it by

the washing of the water. What does that

mean? The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5,

the washing of the water is the word.

It's the word of God. In other words,

the more of this word I see, learn,

understand, the more of his mind I take

on and the less of my mind I deal with.

Romans 12, the renewing of your mind is

the reprogramming of your

conscience. You've got wrong things

programmed and you're expecting some

things and it's not satisfying. You're

living with this drama and this turmoil,

this conflict inside. And God says,

"Until you do it my way, it's you're

always going to be tripping. Get over

it. Let it go. do it my

way. That changes

everything. I don't think you really

understand how how loved you are and how

strong you are and why I say you're

doing better than you think you are. I

saw this illustration the other day on

social media, so I'm ripping it

off. God gave you eyes, plagiarized. So,

I'm just saying no. No, no, it No, don't

do No, I'm playing. No, don't. We're at

the end of school. I'm glad it's almost

over. Like, no. Don't do that.

you.

That's you right

there. Look at you sitting here all

see-through and everything. Good for

you. And then there is no I get it in a

minute.

Got Holy Spirit.

The Bible tells me that when you said

yes to Jesus, you became a new creature.

Old things are passed

away. All things become new. The Bible

says in Ezekiel that then God put his

spirit inside of

us and his

spirit has sealed us until the day of

redemption.

Oh, and but if you thought that was

good.

Yeah, we got Jesus in the

mix because your

life is now hidden in Jesus. according

to the book of

Colossians. And and guess where Jesus is

according to Colossians 3?

Y'all doing better than you think you

are. If you love Jesus, if you've

invited him into your life, that's you

right there. Don't you tell me you're

exposed and by yourself and struggling.

I can't do this. He's in you. He's

outside of you. He's surrounding you.

You are wrapped up, tied up, tangled all

up in him. You're good. You're going to

be

fine. You just need to some Yeah. Some

of y'all need to get your camera out and

take a picture of you right now. You You

need to see where you are in that.

That's why greater is he that is in me

than the stuff that's around

me. I'm layers deep in

heaven. Promises are mine.

But if you and I don't deal with this

conscience, we can be here and pushing

back on everything heaven has for you

and me. Life is supposed to be good. Not

easy, but good. And let me show you the

impact of this. In

closing, the power, watch, of having

your

conscience atoned at one with

God. Again, I I was never taught that

when Jesus went to the cross, it did two

things. I was always taught he forgave

me for my sins. Yay. He That's true. He

redeemed me. He bought me back. But

Hebrews says, "And also cleaned my

conscience." Both are

important. Not just salvation, but a

cleared conscience that I can live this

life that he has for me. That's why

first John 3:es 20- 22. This is going to

this going to sucker punch you. Going to

be a throat punt. This is good right

here. Check this.

Whenever our conscience condemns us, we

will be reassured that God is greater

than our conscience and knows

everything. Dear friends, if our

conscience doesn't condemn us, we can

boldly look to God and receive from him.

Anything we ask, we receive it because

we obey his commands and do what pleases

him. Here's what the passage is saying.

If you love Jesus on your way to heaven

and you got a conscience that is chewing

you up and spitting you out, you're

guilty, you're wrong, you're trash, you

can't live this life, all that going on

and you're battling that

inside. God says your conscience is

condemning

you, but I'm greater than your

conscience. And I'm faithful when you're

not. You can chew you up, but I will not

chew you up. And you can throw elbows

and you can call out your guilt, but

I've forgotten it. Your sin is gone as

far as the east is from the west. I have

no record of it. So you can keep living

that life if you want to. I'm greater.

And when you finally get your feet under

you and learn to trust me, I'll take you

places you've never been before. So I'm

greater than your situation and your

conscience. But he says, "But if your

conscience doesn't condemn you, if you

ever get your mind renewed and you align

and you get your conscience cleared, and

I really believe that I'm forgiven all

the way, and I really believed I'm loved

like crazy, and I really believe that

he's not out to get me, but he's here

for me. That he's not taking my name

away and throwing me around and

aggravated and embarrassed and

frustrated with me. He's he's not he's

crazy about me. He sees me as the

righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

I'm free. I'm cleared. If I take that

mindset on his word, we just read, then

ask what you want and you'll get

it. So, let me ask you

something. How

much How much is a guilty conscience

costing

you? Where should I be? Because I'm not

because I'm not embracing. How do I get

that,

pastor? Your conscience is

programmed. Some of us, our families

programmed our conscience, and it was

jacked

up. They taught us some things were

right, some things were wrong. Culture

today is telling you what's right and

what's wrong. Is trying to program your

conscience. And it's all violating the

reality of who Christ is in here. And

until I get a mindful of this and let

this begin to rescript and I align

myself with this word, it's when I align

with his word that things begin to

change. That's why I have the right

voices and friends around me. That's why

I love to serve in church. That's why

life groups are here. All of it is about

renewing the mind, getting your

conscience right, so you can live in the

freedom and the power and the promises

that Jesus died to give us. You're too

valuable to live jacked up for the rest

of your life. Going to heaven but living

like hell. That's not God's plan. He

wants to bless you and get you off your

back so his best can hit your life.

Would you please stand to your

feet? Ladies and

gentlemen, there'll always be an enemy

whispering in your ear because a guilty

conscience will hold you

hostage if you keep playing the game.

You're going to have to learn what God's

word says and push back on it. I will

not let you identify me. I will not let

you script my life. This is what God's

word says. Oh, I did all that that

you're talking about, but it's gone.

It's been forgiven. I'm free in him.

See, here's the bottom line. Please

don't miss this. at this point seals

it. Since all my sin is against

God, David said, "Against you and you

only have I sinned, oh God." Since all

my sin is against God, then that means

God is the only one who can redeem my

life and who can clear my conscience.

He's the only one. Culture can't do it.

Your family can't do it. Psychology

can't do it. The DSM6 can't do it. I

don't care how much you watch self-help.

It's all good. It will never do what?

Because only God can do that. Since the

infraction was against him, he's the one

who holds the leverage to release the

answer. And he does. And God loves you

so much that he refused for you to be

right with him, but at conflict with

yourself. So, I'll forgive you, but now

I want to cleanse your mind so you can

get off your back and stop being your

enemy and accept the love and the peace

that I have for

you. Jesus, thank you for doing all that

for

us. Stepping into the inner parts of who

we are, our makeup, our being, how we

think, how we process life, our

relationships, all of that. It all the

intersection of our life is our

conscience. And we need to know that

you're there guiding and directing and

leading all of it.

And when we feel bad about things that

we shouldn't have done, let us take it

as conviction that prompts us to heal

the relationship, repent to you, but

keep moving, not to stop, quit, derail,

and fall away. No, we will not live in

shame. Shame died on the cross. Today,

we live with a with a hope and a

strength in you. Because not only have

we been saved, and our sin has been

wiped away forever. no remembrance of

it. Our consciences have been cleansed

so that we can worship you and know you

fully. Today, it's time for us to pray

bold prayers, to stand on strong ground

and declare your word, but we can only

do it when our conscience is not

condemning us. There's a lot of life

ahead of us. So, we thank you for your

truth. We thank you for your word and

your promises today. God, we look to you

for all of this, healing our hearts,

moving us forward, showing us what

matters. And as we lean in you, I thank

you that your promises are yes and amen.

We will have them in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. If you receive that today, would

you put those hands

together? I hope today's message

encouraged you just like it encouraged

me. For more encouraging messages, check

out our website at freelife.org. Until

then, I hope you have an amazing day.