Relate Community Church
Relate Community Church
Summer in the Forge || Week 3 || Thou Shall Not Murder
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Pastor Susan
God's image is life
* Genesis 1:27
- we have a unique capacity for moral and rational awareness
- Deut 30:19
Col 1:16
- as Gods image bearers we must presence, protect, and promote LIFE!
- presence to maintain, keep current state, remain as is
- protect: to keep, cover and shield them from harm, Guard from destruction
- promote: actively progress something, to support and advance
- all murder is a matter of the heart
* Genesis 4: 2-12
• Gods purpose is life
- Matthew 5.22
raca: a term of reproach vessach or insect, an inferior or stupid person. - Ephesians 4:26
if you can claim it, you can clean it
God's actions prove life
#Col 3:13
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Welcome And The Surprise Commandment
SPEAKER_04All right, summer in the forge. How many of y'all went to a small group this week? And can I just say this 9 a.m. energy is fire this morning? Just look to your neighbor and say, fire. Y'all are good. The worship was good. The attendance looks good. The energy is good. Well, my name is Pastor Susie. How many of y'all know me? I'm gonna bring it a little bit today, but you know, I'm a little nervous because as we go through the summer in the forge, it's a summer of uh expanding us, right? Trying us, like making us better, right? And what better way, Pastor, than to bring us the Ten Commandments, right? We're going old school with it this summer. And I tell you, when Pastor said, Hey, I want you to, I want you to teach this summer on Ten Commandments, and here's the one that I have for you. I was like, I think it's a setup, Pastor. I think it's a setup. But do y'all want to know what I'm preaching on today? What commandment you came here for today? And you know what? I love that the last couple of weeks, Pastor has told you, I'm not gonna tell you what's coming because you're not gonna get to pick which Sunday you fall under conviction for. Amen. Kidding, not kidding. But I was challenged when I heard this and I said, Lord God, it's a setup. What are you doing? He said, No, sister, no, sister, you're gonna learn through the process. Amen. That's what we do. We accept that challenge. So are you ready? On the count of three, I want y'all to say, are you ready? Is everybody paying attention? Thou shalt not. Are you ready? Okay. One, two, three. Now, do you see? I thought it was a setup. He's giving me the one he does not want. But you know what? I thought, you know what? That's okay. That's okay. I know people are already gonna sit back in your chair. You're like, nope, I've already done, nope, nope, I've already decided I'm not ever gonna murder. No, I'm sitting back, I'm gonna start looking at my calendar for the week. Some of you are already scrolling your Facebook, but I'm gonna put you in place today. We're gonna check you, okay? We're gonna check you because it's not about just murdering, taking the actual life, right? But everything starts with the matter of a heart. Okay? Don't sit back, don't get too comfortable. Pastor Susie's up here today. But I'll tell you, as I as I prepare for sermons and messages, I just pray and I say, Lord, I need you to just download in me anything that you want me to give, right? Just download in me. So every time I take out a notepad and I just write everything that comes to mind, everything, right? And for some reason I had this moment of nostalgia. Do I have any 80s babies in the room?
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_04Me and Sean. Sean, it's us today. I grew up in the 80s. And when I when this when this thought came down, I was like, oh, do
A Funny Clue To A Serious Topic
SPEAKER_04y'all remember the game Clue? Can we show that picture? I've got, there it is. How many of y'all played this as a kid? Right? We used to spend Friday nights with the family sitting around the table playing Clue. And if you've never played this, and then the movie came out later, hilarious. You got Steve knows, it's hilarious. But if you've never played this game, you sit through the whole game trying to figure out where the murder took place, who did the killing, and what they killed with. And it was stuff like candlesticks, y'all remember that, lead pipes, revolvers. And now I think back, and it was such a fun time, right? But now I'm like, wow, they were really softening the whole topic of murder on us back in the day, right? I'm like, okay, maybe that's not a great example, but I'm gonna kind of reference this today because we all need to get a clue of what murder really is. Amen. Ooh, y'all like, I don't know yet. I don't know, Pastor Susie. But as I'm downloading all this stuff for this message, then I remembered, oh boy. Pastor's been doing that top 10 list. How many of y'all been here for the top tens, right? I was like, Lord, I don't know. The only thing I could come up with, and I don't think it's appropriate, so I decided to skip out on it was top 10 ways to identify a psychopath. I decided to pass. However, there was some really funny ones. Y'all want to hear a few of them? Okay, and I thought, you know what, we might see too much of this, so I didn't want to give you the whole list. But here's here's just a few, just a few. The first one was if you separate your MMs or Skittles by color and then eat them accordingly, you might be a psychopath. I already saw a hand go up. I saved the red ones for last. I'm scared of the red dye. I'll be honest. I'll be honest. The other one was you might be a psychopath if you actually let the microwave beep at one second. Y'all know we will run, we will sprint across the house to stop that thing from beeping because it's not just one beep, it's like beep, beep, beep, beep, right? And then here was the last one, y'all. This is the one that convicted me. This is the one that the Lord said, This is why you got this. This is why you got the topic of murder. You might be a psychopath if you have to turn on the ID channel in order to relax before you go to bed. Do I have any kind of fans in the house? First 48 snapped. Who the bleep did I murder, right? That convicted me. That convicted me. But we're gonna have a good time. Everybody say murder. Here's the thing all seriousness, murder is serious. There's many people in this room today that have been affected by the very act of a taking of life. So we're just gonna start off with fun, but we're gonna really tug at the heart today. And so, does everybody have your notes? Shake them in the air. If you need notes, raise your hand. We'll make sure you get some. Somebody already told me this morning, walked up, and said, when the minute I saw there were line notes, I knew it was you preaching. I don't give you the answers because I want you to download what the Lord gives to you. Amen. Murder is the very absence of life. It is not just a fictitious mansion with Colonel Mustard in the library with a rope, right? It's not even just taking of life when we see murder every day in this day and age on the streets. Because you know what? What started off with like Matlock and Columbo and Angela Lansbury, right? Has now
God’s Image Is Life
SPEAKER_04turned into these very serious, we are watching crimes as they happen live on television. Murder is a real thing. I want to give you three things that we're gonna talk about, three points. So write down the first one today. And I like to jump right in. And if you've never heard me teach before or preach before, I am, I will move around like this a lot. They can never get good pictures of me. I'm sorry if you're watching at home. I may go off camera quite a bit, right? But a lot of it is because I'm so passionate about the word of God. And I want to make sure that we see it in a new light every time we open it. Because I know as a kid the Ten Commandments were up on the wall in my little Baptist church, and I was expected at the age of five to know them by memory and recite them at any time. Can I get an amen? Anyone else here? Okay. But at that point, when you look at them at a young age, they kind of scare you. Like, oh, this is what God said. Don't do this, or I'm gonna burn in hell, right? But as we grow up and we mature in our faith and we mature in our walk and our relationship with God, we really are able to dig into each one of these and see how it applies to our very life today. So maybe you're sitting here today and you say, I've never murdered anybody, I don't ever plan to. I need you to understand everything starts right here. So let's identify it today. So point number one, God's image is life. Genesis 127 says, So God created mankind in his own image. And in his image, he created them, male and female. God is life. He created. The very first thing he did was he created. He gave life. He is a giver of life. And one of those things about being created in the image of God is we should reflect that. Are we giving life today or are we taking life today? Because murder is not just at the physical hands. One meaning of being created in the image of God is that we have this unique capacity, okay? This unique capacity for moral and rational awareness. We know murder is bad. From a very young age, we are raised up to know right from wrong, right? Have y'all ever had uh your kid, your daycare got you got called from the daycare, and they're like, your kid's biting, right? They know that that's wrong. Maybe cheating on a test. We know that that's wrong. We have a capacity to know right from wrong, and that is straight from the Lord because he is good. Amen. Everything he does is good, everything he does is life-giving. In Deuteronomy 30, 19, I'm gonna give you a lot of scripture, so get ready. It says, This day I call to the heavens, I've set before you life and death, blessings and curses. And then it says, Choose life so that you and your children may live. He is the giver of life, all things. He is a creator. Think about it. Just think. It's not just man and woman, it's not just us as humans, it's the sea, it's the fish, right? It's the birds of the air, it's the animals, it's the living, breathing trees, the fruit trees, the vegetables that come from your very garden and your backyard. He is the creator of life. He only gives life. Amen. Colossians 1:16 says, For in him all things were created. Can I get an amen from anybody who has a testimony in this room today? Can I get an amen from anybody who has a testimony in this room today? Amen. He has brought you back to life. It says, when you give your life to Jesus, that you are a what? New creation in Christ. He's constantly giving us life. But there's three things that we have to do that the Lord does for us, and I want you to write these down. Number one is to preserve life. Number two is to protect life. Number three is to promote life and not take it. And I want to give you the definitions of these so we can better understand our role in the image of God. To preserve is to maintain something, to keep its current state, to remain as it is.
Preserve Protect Promote People
SPEAKER_04Does anybody in here collect something? You've got something on a shelf or you've got something in a curio cabinet that nobody's allowed to touch. Yes, hands going up, right? You want to preserve the value of that, right? So you don't want the grandkids playing with it. You don't want it to come out of the of the area that you have it. But that's the way the Lord is with us. Did you know he preserves us and puts us to the side because we have a future? That we have such great value that he needs to preserve us. We need to foster that same attitude. We must preserve people. We must protect. And to protect means to keep, to cover, to shield. How many of y'all would take a bullet for your kids? Oh, we're going to protect them, right? How many of y'all would run out into a car and block your child, your child, or someone, your family member from being hit by a car? You would take that, right? Because we want to protect because they're valuable, because life is valuable. You understand me today? We are in the image. God's image is life. And then the third one is to promote, to actively progress something, to support, to advance it, to grow it. If the Lord advances us and we are made in his image, it is our job to promote others. Amen? To lift them up, to build them up, to encourage them. Can I get an amen today? Y'all are like, man, she came for real on this murder. She came for real. This part right here, my if it rubs you wrong, I'm sorry. I I can only tell the truth, right? Every opportunity that I get up here and teach, I say, Lord, give me the words. Bind your tongue with mine, Lord. Give me the words that are gonna pierce hearts today. And here's how we're gonna preserve, here's how you're gonna protect, and here's how you're gonna promote life. Did you know it's at any age? You should preserve. You should promote, you should protect at any age. You know, it's easy to take care of a little one, right? Because we don't think they know any better. But when it comes to the adults, sometimes we're like, well, they should know better. How many of y'all said that? Well, they should know better. No, what if the Lord said that to us? No, no, no, no, no. I'm not gonna protect you because Lisa, you should know better.
unknownThink about it.
SPEAKER_04We are built in his image, his image is life. We must mirror that. Maybe it's the stage of life, maybe it's uh an empty nester, maybe it's a college age. At any stage, we must preserve life. We must promote it, we must protect it. And here's the other thing how about race? Oh, we must preserve, we must protect, we must promote. And you know what? The last thing I remember in Sunday school was red, yellow, black, and white. They are all precious in his sight. Can I get an amen? Y'all remember that? We must preserve. We must protect, we must promote. How about the social status? Maybe you don't have a lot of money, maybe you have a lot. How about your political status? Everybody say, oh, or go dun dun dun. You know, that's when the music should have gone. We get so high on our horse that we forget that these are actual humans with actual opinions, and we can get behind that keyboard real quick and destroy somebody. We have to preserve, we have to protect, we have to promote. How about the born or the unborn? Can I get an amen? We must preserve, we must protect, we must promote. Everyone has a purpose. Murder itself is the very taking of life, but you know, there's also killing. Did you know there are two different things? Okay, all murder is killing, but not all killing is murder. Because I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm gonna kill that cockroach. La coca roacha, you dead a roacha, okay? Or maybe for you it's not the cockroach, maybe it's the spider, okay? Yes, and can y'all just explain why is it every time we see one of those, my husband goes and gets one of my shoes?
Killing Versus Murder Clarified
SPEAKER_04I'm like, what? Yes, exactly. Any age, any stage, murder is the end of life. But then there are things like self-defense, which is killing. There are things like war. How about accidental? Okay, but not all of it is murder. But here's what I want to do. I want to take you into a story in the Bible. I love to dig into God's word and I love to bring the stories to life. Can I get an amen? Y'all want to hear a y'all wanna hear a story brought to life? Open up your Bibles today, and we're gonna turn to Genesis 4, and we're gonna see the first record, the first account of murder, Cain and Abel. You know, a lot of times when I talk to people about this story, everybody knows real quick what happened. Cain killed Abel, right? But a lot of times people do not know the context. They don't know what has happened before and transpired, they don't know what's happening in the middle, and they sure do not know what happened after that. Can I can y'all can you agree with me on that? There's a lot of things that we don't know when we dig into the story, but we're gonna find out today. We are gonna find out where why Cain killed Abel and how it became
Cain And Abel Plus The Heart Seed
SPEAKER_04first, even though it was an actual murder, it was an actual act, it was an actual taking of life, it started where? Right here in the heart. So I'm gonna read with you Genesis 4, 2 through 8. It says, later she gave birth to his brother Abel. We're gonna start there because we know mom and dad was who? Adam and Eve. Thanks a lot. Okay. Thanks. You already jacked things up for us. Now you're gonna bring murder into the picture. But I but I when I read into this, later she gave birth to his brother Abel, so we know Cain was first. Cain was the older brother, so Abel was the younger brother. Just let that sit right now. I want you to write that on your notes. He was the little brother. And it says, now Abel kept flocks and Cain worked the soil. So we know here that Abel took care of the sheep, he took care of the animals, he took care of the herd, and Cain took care of the crops. So everything that was growing, making sure that the vegetables were pulled and that this the soil was, whatever you do to soil. What do you do? Somebody does stuff to soil. That there was different answers everywhere. Proud of you all. But it says, in the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. I want you to underline, I want you to highlight, or I want you to circle that word some. We're gonna come back to that for in just a second. It says he brought some of them. But then we see here it says, and Abel also brought an offering. He brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. Now, this is very significant because the first thing we notice from his the first of his flock. What does God want from us? Our first, right? So he's already ch-ching, checkbox gut points there, right? But then it says here, fat portions from some of the firstborn. See, back in the day, the animals were very lean, y'all. They just ate the grass of the field, maybe some grain here or there. So when you got a fattened calf or a fattened lamb, it was considered abundance. It was considered wealth. Because back then they didn't inject their animals with hormones like they do today. Have y'all seen those chicken breast videos? It goes from this big to this big. Just saying. So this was very significant, the fat portions, because they could be sold, they could be used, they were worth something. So I'm gonna stop right here. All ye with a little extra fat, the Lord says that you're a rarity, you are abundance. Look to your neighbor and say, I am precious. It says it right here. It says it's precious, it's precious. I am precious. Fat was precious. But the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering, he did not look for look with favor. So here we go. Are you ready? Here's the heart condition starting. This is how it starts. Something so simple. Have you ever been uh in a place where maybe you and somebody else did the same thing but they got credit? And you're like, I trained them. I said that. They're only that good because I trained them, right? But it starts right there, that moment of jealousy, that moment of discontent. And remember, Abel is the little brother. So I'm sure at this point, Danielle, Cain's like, I taught him everything he knows. I'm the big brother. But right then the Lord looked with favor on Abel. Cain was angry and his face was downcast. The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why does your face look downcast? The Lord comes to Cain. And let me ask you: has anybody ever told you, check your face? Check your face. This is exactly what the Lord said to him. He says, Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, you're looking kind of angry. Why does your face look like that, Cain? But see, this is a prime example of how God is life. Everything about him is life. He's constantly chasing us and running us down and saying, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up. Let's not go there. Let's not do this. Let's not let it become a matter of the heart. But he looks on him and says, Why are you so angry? Why is your face downcast? And then he says, This if you do what is right, will you not be accepted? Have you ever got yourself in a tiffy? And it's because you hurt your own feelings? Right? You started imagining things, you started making up parts of the conversation before you know you were so upset at somebody, and they didn't even say nothing. That was all you He says, if you do what is right, you know that I honor the first of everything. Let's go back to that word some for just a second. It says, but Cain gathered some. It didn't say the first. It didn't say the best. It didn't say the most wealthiest or the most rarest or the most precious, right? It just said some. Some. Amen. She got it. She got it. They just brought some. But then the Lord continues and says, Will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, here's the forewarning. If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door and it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. So here's what's happened, right? Cain's all upset. He's mad. Here's what the Lord does. He's running after him, right? Have you ever seen somebody get up and get huffy and puffy and storm out the room? Right? And you go chasing after them. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What's wrong? Have you ever done that before? Hey, what's wrong? Why are you upset? Well, so-and-so this, so-and-so that. Well, if you would have just done what was right and let it go, if you would have just done what was right and give it to God, if you would have just done what was right and promote life because that's who in the image we live, amen. But here's what happens when we don't do that and these things start to fester in our house, in our heart, sin is right here. God said, Cain, sin. He's crouching. It's crouching right there. It's waiting for you to choose it over life. And he gave him the warning. Do any of y'all ever feel like God runs after you? You know, you get that heart check, right? When we become believers and we accept Jesus in our heart, something called sanctification starts to happen, right? It's the turning of us, right? We begin to drop those little old habits that aren't of him. We begin to drop those things that are not like him. And in the process, we start getting that Holy Spirit gut check. Amen. Can I say thank you for the Holy Spirit gut check? Because if I hadn't have gotten that, there is probably many a times I might be on the other end of this murder. Has anybody ever been saved before? You've been in a place and a time in your life that maybe you may, you probably shouldn't have made it out alive. But the Lord came running after you because he said, Nope, I'm gonna preserve this one because this one has got value. I'm gonna protect this one because this one has great purpose as I promote this one to later in life to use that testimony for my good. Can I get an amen? Verse eight. This one breaks my heart, and I hope that you feel the gut wrench in this. This this verse, it says, Now Cain said to his brother Abel, let me rephrase it for a second. Now Cain said to his little brother Abel, his little kid brother. He says, Let's go out to the field. Does that just break your heart when you read that now? It just breaks your heart over something so silly. He's now upset. And you know, there's different types of murder. There's first degree murder, and there's second degree murder. First degree means there was intent, there was a plan, it was executed, the steps were followed, right? And second degree means maybe there wasn't a plan, but I knew what I was doing when I took that life. And here we really don't know. The Lord does not give us the truth behind it. But when I read it and it says, Come, let's go out to the field, it just tears my heart apart. I feel like there's a plan there. And it says, while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. It all started with a matter of the heart. A little bit of bitterness, if you're sitting with bitterness today, maybe a little bit of jealousy, maybe some offense, just a small, maybe it's just simply miscommunication. Do you know how many times that we will ruin relationships because something was miscommunicated? It was a simple misunderstanding. Can I get an amen? Have y'all ever been on the tail end of that or the giver of that? But then God asks, Where is your brother? Here's what Cain says, Am I his keeper? So he has already dismissed the act that has happened. And I think so many times we get that way. We just let it set and we let's what's the old commercial? Set it and forget it, right? Y'all remember that? That's what we do in our sin. We just set it and we forget it. And that's exactly what he did here. But then he says, Your brother's blood cries out from the ground. No longer will you yield crops here. Your blessings will be gone in that field. You will be restless. Has anybody felt restless about a decision you made in a relationship? Or okay, come on, I see a few. You don't have peace about it. I know some of you right now, I want you to write down on your paper, write down that misunderstanding, write down that person's name, write down that act, whatever it was that right now you do not have peace about it. You are restless. Because here's the thing the Lord says, if you will do the right thing, just like he told Cain, if you will do the right thing, if you will give it to me, if you will turn it over to me, if you will rule over it, but if not, I can't bless the ground on which you walk. Have you ever had like an issue at work? And then you just felt uncomfortable all the time, right? Nothing's ever going right. You and your boss are now getting into it. You're not getting uh along with your co-workers, everything, because now the blood is in the ground. He cannot bless the blood, the ground in which you walk. He says you will be restless. And see, kind of that's our first clue here is where does murder happen? In the game of clue, where does it happen? It's happening everywhere. It's happening in your home, it's happening in your job, it's happening in your small group. We're having little matters of the heart that we're letting that seed plant and we're letting it grow. Number two, God's purpose is life. You know, we have heard about the Old Testament commands now. He says, Thou shalt not murder, but now let's kind of talk about some New Testament bombs. Let's hear what Jesus has got to say. Everybody say, Jesus, y'all are awake. Okay. God's purpose is life. Matthew 5, 21 and through 26. Jesus says, You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, you shall not murder. And
Jesus On Anger And Character Murder
SPEAKER_04anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. Okay. Old Testament. Here we go. But I tell you, Jesus says, I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister, let me read that again. Jesus says, anyone who is angry with a brother or sister, and I want y'all to say it with me now. Anyone who is angry, no, no, no. You're angry. You're angry. Say it with me. Anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, Raka, is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, You fool, will be in danger of the fires of hell. So we got old testament commands, we got new testament commands, and they're both saying the same thing, but two different acts. We've got the physical taking of life, and then we've got the heart taking of life. And to say Raqqa back in the day was to call somebody foolish or stupid or no good. And did you know it was punishable in the courts? They would take you up by the law and convict you just for slandering somebody's name. Woo! How far we have come. We will slander somebody's name right now, and we set it and we forget it. Rockah, empty, worthless, no good. Did you know that you could even murder someone's character? Let me just throw some things out to you. And if you pick one up, write it down. If the Lord works on you, write it down. Did you know that you could not only assassinate someone's character, but you could kill their calling? You could kill their dreams, you could kill the purpose that the Lord has over them. You could deter them from it, right? Their blood can be on your hands. How about these? How about the giving somebody the silent treatment? That's a heart check. How about saying harsh words against them? That's a heart issue. How about gossiping about somebody? Woo! See, y'all thought just because you ain't never killed nobody, you were okay this week. Some of y'all were gossiping on the way to church in the car. I just saw an elbow. I just saw an elbow, y'all. Maybe it's things like cheering when someone else fails. Or jealousy, right? Maybe you've said things like this, and I really want you to think about it. If you've said this, write it down. They are dead to me. Is that giving life? Is that reflecting God's image? What if God said that to us? You are dead to me, Lonnie. Heartbreaking. Why isn't it the same when we say it to someone else? How about I am done with them? Maybe this has been said to you. If it has, write it down. Because we want to clear our heart of all this darkness. Maybe you've said they are not worth my time. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand. I'm raising my hand for all of you today. We have murdered them mentally. We have murdered them verbally. We have murdered them emotionally. And if it destroys a person in God's image, it is murder. That's not Pastor Susie's words. That's God's words. That's the words of Jesus Christ. Can I get an amen today? Ephesians 4 26 says, In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. Do not let the enemy have a foothold. And see, this is kind of the same verse as we read in the Old Testament already. When God says, Hey, do what is right, or sin is crouching, sin is ready. It's the same thing right here. Do not go to bed angry. Do not let the devil have an opportunity, Ed, to put his foot right there and leave the door cracked open so he can go in and cause chaos in your life. It's a heart check. Everybody say heart check. The longer it stays, the more it settles. And then we begin to sound like Cain when he said, What do you mean? What about my brother? What murder? Who's doing the murdering? Us. Even though you may not have physically taken someone's life, we're taking it through our speech and through our heart. But if you can claim that, you can clean it. Amen. Did you know God says if you do what is right, if you rule over it, I will clean it. I will take care of it. I will always run after you because that's what he does. The goodness of God will always run after you. Can I get an amen? I'm telling you, I am here by some prayers of my mama and my grandma. Can I get an amen for that today? Some of you guys are sitting here because somebody got on their knees and called out to your name to the God, the creator of all life, and said, spare them. And you know what God said? Amen, because I'm here to preserve them. I I've set them aside for a purpose. Some of you, maybe it took years for God to open up your eyes. Maybe some of you were in situations of abuse. Maybe you have a direct effect of somebody in your life who was murdered, and you're saying, No, I cannot forgive that. But do you know that person was still created by the God of creation? God's image is life, God's purpose is life. The last one. God's actions approve life. I'm gonna invite, go ahead and invite the band and the worship team up. But I, you know, I'm gonna run through this one pretty quickly, but I want to do something today. Colossians 3 13 says, bear with each other and forgive one another. Do we live by the word of God, guys? Do we live by the word of God? Guess what it says? It says, bear with each other
Forgiveness That Frees The Wound
SPEAKER_04and forgive one another, even if it's the deepest hurt, it's a deep abuse, it's murder, it's the assassination of who you truly are, it is the killing of relationship. He says, bear, and if any of you have a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord gave you, because guess what? The Lord forgives us over and over and over. He never stops running after us. His mercies are new every single day, over and over. So today, what I'm gonna invite you to do, I want just everybody just stand up for me. I just want you to stand up for just a second. Y'all go ahead and come up. And I just want I want y'all to just listen as I go through this last point. Okay, because I know some of you are sitting here today saying, you know what? I know it's a matter of the heart, but I'm gonna hold on to this. I'm not gonna let go of it because they don't deserve it. There's those words again. We're assassinating with our words. But it says, forgive as the Lord forgave you. Forgiveness does not release the wrong. Whatever was done to you, okay. Maybe you're in a position where you know you have wronged someone else, asking for their forgiveness. It doesn't forgive the wrong, okay? It doesn't release that, but what it does is it releases the wound. Some of us are hurting today, some of us are in this place where our heart is just dark. There's a whole section of our heart that is dark, and the Lord says, I want to come on, I want to come inside and clean it up, and I want to give you that peace. I don't want you to be restless anymore. I want to bless the ground in which you walk. I want to bless the field in which I have given you purpose over your life. I have preserved you for this moment, I have protected you when you should have never been protected. And I will tell you today, guys, I was in places I should never be. There was a season of my life I don't know how I came out of those spots alive. I don't. I was running with the wrong folks, doing the wrong things. But you know what? The Lord preserved me. He said, Nope, this one has value, Caden. This one has value. I'm gonna put her over here for just a little bit, right? She needs to learn to clear her heart of these things, but when she does and she learns, woo, I'm gonna promote her. Her words will fall fresh on hearts, her words will speak and and and just bring people to their knees to know that I am a God, I am a creator, I give life, and you don't need to carry this stuff. Psalms 147, 3 says, He heals the brokenhearted and he binds up their wounds. We have to choose life over death. We have to pay attention to the words that come out of our mouth, the actions that we give to others. We have to do the heart check because all murder starts where? In the heart. Can I call down the prayer partners? Let's go ahead. I want to just start singing because you know, I feel like I I've I feel like there's a lot of heaviness in this room right now today. I don't think it's by accident that we got a full house at 9 a.m. I think the Lord was already promoting you to get here today. The Lord has has protected you in a way that He says, you know what? I need to put this one off to the side until this one can start to clear their heart. They feel like they have been wronged. Maybe they know that they have done wrong. But today I want you to give them an opportunity. So today I'm gonna challenge you. We're gonna sing, we're gonna worship right now, we're gonna talk about the goodness of God. Somebody say amen. You guys are full of testimonies in this room, amen. You the Lord has brought you out, he has lifted you up, he has brought you to this moment to drop everything at his feet. He says, if you will do what is right, I can bless you. So here's
Prayer Invitation To Clear The Heart
SPEAKER_04what I'm gonna ask you today. We've got full prayer partners. I want you to come forward during this song, lay it at the Lord's feet, let him take from you, right? Let him clear up that heart, let him clear out all the that assassination that has taken and been and been ruining your life and not giving you peace. Because that is not who God is. He's a God of peace, amen. He's a God of order, amen. He's a God of life, amen. Let him promote you today. Come down here as we worship, give it to God, and watch the goodness, watch the mercy as he follows you and chases you and runs after you every single day. After we worship, we're gonna come back and I'm gonna give you a chance to say yes to Jesus. But right now, this is your time. Let's clear our hearts of this murder that's been taking place in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. And I just I want to give everybody an opportunity. I can't let you leave here without giving the opportunity to say yes to Jesus today. Maybe you need to say yes again to Jesus today. Can I get an amen for that? Man, we never want you to leave and walk out this door without knowing that you have a God who loves you, a God who wants to promote you, a God who has such great
Salvation Prayer And Closing Blessing
SPEAKER_04plans over your life, but you gotta let him in first, amen. So here's what we're gonna do is I'm gonna I'm gonna say the salvation prayer, but I want you to repeat after me, and I want the whole room to repeat so that no one feels singled out or alone. Can you do that for me today? Let's bow our heads. Lord God, repeat after me. Lord God, today I give you my life. Today I ask you to clean my heart. Today I ask for forgiveness of my sins. Today I commit to you that I will live my life for you. Thank you, Jesus, for saving my life. In Jesus' mighty name. Everybody say amen. Can y'all give a hand clap? There's some people that said yes today. There's some people that said yes. I want to thank you for coming in and hearing the message today. May you be blessed as you leave. You are welcome to stay in worship. You are welcome to come up and pray with the prayer team.