December 22, 2025 • 48 mins
Sin is strong, but God’s grace is stronger, restoring what was lost, giving more than enough, and bringing us close through Christ.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Hungry Gen podcast, and I just want to
thank you for joining us today here at HG. Our
vision is to see thousands saved locally and millions globally.
We hope you enjoyed this week's message.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
This time of the year is when usually I present
something that I'm going to present today, and that is
the circulating belief that Christmas is a pagan holiday and
anybody who celebrates it participates it in witchcraft. This is
the time usually where god believing, God fearing Christians who
get saved, who sometimes come from anything that has to
(00:34):
do with demonic kingdom, and they come and they feel
a little bit nervous setting up a Christmas tree. They
don't want to bring a demon inside of the house
by setting up a Christmas tree or having pictures with
the Santa or anything.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Of that sort.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
So I want to kind of present the fiction from
the fact. Now, if you are here and you do
not believe in celebrating Christmas, you are totally right to
do that. And not only that, your actually encouraged according
to the Bible to follow your conscience. And from a
pastoral practical point of view, I am envious of you
(01:07):
because you can save money a lot by not buying
Christmas lights and trees and gifts like I as long
as you don't go into Mormonism. At Jehovah's witnessism were cool.
So if you are here also, and you're one of
those people, you started to prepare for Christmas in January
of this year, you already were thinking about a Christmas tree,
(01:30):
You already were setting up those things. You're not a
pagan worshiper. You just love the holiday, You love buying gifts.
You're doing all of this stuff. You are also totally
free to do that.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Onto the glory of God.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Setting up a tree in your house is not idle worship.
Celebrating the birth of Jesus is not a worship of
some kind of a pagan Babylonian deity. Nor is not
celebrating it.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Causes you to do something wrong.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
The Bible doesn't tell us to celebrate Christmas, and the Bible.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Doesn't tell us not to celebrate Christmas.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Okay, But one thing I do want to mention is
this notion that somehow Christmas December twenty fifth was Christians
hijacking a Roman pagan holiday and refurbishing it for the
cause of celebrating Christ. Now, Romans had two main holidays
(02:25):
in December.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
One of them was earlier in.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
December, the some Christians confused it was finished celebrating by
December seventeenth. The other one, which was the God of
the Sun, which was on December twenty fifth. Now what
you must understand is that other one, December twenty fifth,
Roman holiday was actually established some two hundred years after
Jesus's birth. Okay, so sometime three hundred years after jesus birth,
(02:52):
the church made Jesus' birth as the official holiday or
the official date, December twenty fifth.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Christians do this, They're like.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Oh yeah, because Romans had this pagan holiday. Christians came
in put Jesus on the top of that because we
didn't want to compete with a ever demanding pagan holiday,
which you must understand, Roman holiday on the December twenty
fifth was not popular. It wasn't like what Halloween is,
where you know, all the parents are trying to do
(03:23):
some kind of a Christian trick or trying so that,
you know, to really kids their kids happy with the thing.
Roman paganism was unheavy decline by the three hundred AD
because of the spread of Christianity. It was the Romans
that had problems with their religion dying, not Christians. Why
December twenty fifth. Now you might not like the answer,
(03:43):
and you might not even agree, nor do I, but
you must understand why early believers chose December twenty fifth.
It was not to replace Roman holiday. You will never
find in a church early history writings where they were
fighting pagan holiday December twenty five and tried to put
(04:04):
Jesus Birth on it.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
That had nothing to do with it.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It actually had to do with a belief that was
borrowed from Judaism that believed this idea. Jews believed in
that that according to God's sovereignty, God sets times and
seasons and beginning and the end of someone's life. A
great man of God dies under day of his conception.
(04:29):
Now you may not believe that, but that's what some
Jewish people believed. Means this, So if somebody died on
this day, that means some seventy.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Years ago, that was the day that they were actually.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Conceived, because it completes their story in God's purpose, That's
what they believed. They had scriptures to prove that. Early
Church adopted that view.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Now you may say that's not true.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
You may be correct, but you must understand why they
chose December twenty five. They believed, and you can read
the ch Fathers, including Augustine, that Jesus was conceived on
March twenty fifth, and because he died on March twenty fifth,
which was a Jewish holiday, does pass over, that's where
Jesus was died. So their philosophy was, this is the
(05:15):
great Man dies on the day of his conception. So
then they did the math. This March twenty fifth is
when Jesus was born. Nine months later, conceived nine months
later is when Jesus was born. December twenty five, which
so happens to fall on the same day that some
of these pagans celebrated, is something.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Of their own.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Christians didn't choose December twenty fifth to try to pull
people away from celebrating pagan holiday. It had to do
with theology, not with paganism. Okay, now you may not
agree that I don't agree that I don't think Jesus
was born on December twenty fifth. There's a lot of
facts that push against it. But to say that Christmas
is a pagan holiday, Christians redeem in pagan holiday is
(05:53):
actually a bad.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Study of history.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
With that, Why I did Christians out of sudden started
to celebrate Christmas because you know, Jewish people and the
early Church celebrated people's deaths, not their births. So why
suddenly Jesus' birth became a celebration. It was to counterattack
a heresy that said Jesus was not God and only
(06:22):
a human because his birth was human not divine.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
When the heresy.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Started to take rude where Jesus was a great teacher,
he was fully human, but he was not fully divine
because his birth could not have happened supernaturally. The early
Church attacked against that heresy and said, well, the Angel
said he will be conceived by the Holy Spirit, where
the prophecies said the Son of God would be born
and his birth would be supernatural and pure. And so
(06:51):
to emphasize the birth of Jesus, which was miraculous, they
turned that into a celebration to fight a heresy.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
And I'm glad they did because we have Christmas.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So whichever camp you are on today, you are welcome
to Hungry jen. If you're one of those you don't
believe in celebrating Christmas, you're not more righteous than other
people who celebrate Christmas. If you're one of those, your
house is so dacked out they literally it will give
people a blindness because of so much lights that are
on your house. God bless you as well, and your
(07:25):
an electrical bill. And so if you're one of those
people you don't believe in giving people gifts, there is
room for you in our end of the year offering fund.
If you're one of those people, you already bought so
many gifts for everybody, we welcome you as well. But
one thing that is certain is this Christmas is not
a pagan holiday.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
It is the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
So Matthew one twenty one, when the Angel comes to
marry and the Angel comes to Joseph, the words I
want to read today is the words when it was spoken,
and she will give birth.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
She will bring.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Forth a son, and his name will be called Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins. And
now I'm going to jump to romansch five, verse seventeen.
For if by one man's offense, death reigned through the one,
much more those who receive abundance of grace and of
(08:37):
the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the
one Jesus Christ. And in one more portion of scripture,
we will take an Old Testament's story to let it
shine light on the reality that we, as followers of
Jesus experience. And this one comes from Second Samuel nine,
(08:59):
verse thirteen. So myth thiebushev dwelt in Jerusalem, for he
ate continually at the king's table, and he was lame
in both of his feet. Today, I would like to
speak to you, and just one thought that I will
have that I want to share with you, and that
is sin is stronger than you, and grace is stronger
(09:24):
than sin. Said this with me, say sin twenty your
neighbors say is stronger than you. Twenty other neighbor that
was not your first choice and said, and grace.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Is way more stronger than sin.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Jesus in here says, or the God's angel says that
he will save his people from their sins. The fact
that we need savings indicates something stronger than us has
taken hostage of us, has taken residence in us, and
is take in control of us. Had remedy been and
(10:03):
we love therapy and counseling. Medicine is also not only welcome.
Discipline is important, will power is important. Human effort has
its place. But if all of these would have been remedies,
there will be no need or necessity for God to
become men to save us. God could have easily came
(10:23):
and told us, save yourself, try harder. But in here
we see his name will be Jesus, for he will
save his people from their sins.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
That tells me.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
In order to be saved by yours from your sin,
you must understand your sin is stronger than you, and
God's grace is stronger than your sin. The lie that
humanity has believed, and that is this that I can
beat my sin. I can overcome my sin. I am
stronger than my sin. If I try harder, I can
(11:00):
overcome this. But that is a lie, and that is
a form of righteousness that comes from pride. And sooner
or later, every one of us either hits rock bottom
or is in complete delusion and deception.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Because sin is stronger than you, my friend, You.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
May cut few of its manifestations and fruits, but it's
way stronger than you. Otherwise you wouldn't be needing saving.
And when all of us hit rock bottom. Sooner or later,
the enemy comes and gives us another lie.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
And this lie is that your life is over.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
The sinrected adult who destroyed the marriage. Your alcoholism took
away your driver's license, You lost your children.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Your kids will never talk.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
To you, you will never hold a job or the business.
Your life will amount to anything. Your life is a mess.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
It's over.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
You might as well just end it because it is over.
But see, that is a lie, because not only sin
is stronger than you, but the grace is stronger than sin.
Whether sin abounded, grace abounded even more. As a person
who grew up in church and a person who's been
(12:07):
in ministry, I have had a front row seed in
how damaging sin is in people's lives.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
I have had a.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Chance without I'm not a consular, not a therapist, but
I have had a chance to hear the devastating effects
of abuse, of growing up without a dad, of growing
up with being heart adultery, and what it does to
people's lives, how it devastates and destroys people's lives. But see,
the amazing part of being in church is not only
(12:34):
you get a chance to hear and see and feel
the damaging effects of a blast radius of sin in
people's lives. Is you actually get to hear the other
side as well and being able to day Even in
the lobby as I was interacting with a lady that
was greeting people, and she says, Pastor, I gotta tell
you that next month is going to be four years
(12:55):
when I stepped into this church a strain from my
son and told me all the.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Medicai that she was on.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Medication for this, medication for this, medication for this, for
medication for this.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
He said.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
My dad committed suicide at the early age, and my
husband and I divorced, and I was not in a
good place. I was addicted to alcohol, I was addicted
to men. I was addicted to all those things. And
my son brought me to this church four years ago.
And she says, when I came to the front and
I gave my life to Jesus. She says, from that
point on, and I'm not exaggerating, she says, I stopped
everything called turkey, I had no repercussions, alcoholism was broken,
(13:28):
and now I can sleep without meds.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Now I don't have to chase men.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
And it's been four years, I've been planted in this church,
and my life has been changed. Somebody shout grace. Sin destroys,
but grace is stronger than sin. Sin can wreck families,
but grace can repair things way stronger and better than
(13:52):
sin can destroy them. And as we like to say,
Jesus is better at saving you than you are at sinning.
Jesus is better at redeeming.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
You than sin is at destroying you.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
The story of mephibus Chef is the story of a
human race. Mephibuschev's grandfather was cuckoo, crazy cycle.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
He was not only demon possessed, he was mental. He
was oppressed.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
He would have split personality disorder what we would call
it today.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
He would he would go in rage, killing people.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
He would wipe out cities of priests. He would attack
his own children at a dinner table with the spear.
He was not a good man. God's curse rested upon him.
And that was Mephibuschev's grandfather. Memphibuscht's dad died in a
battle when he was only five years of age. What
a traumatic experience when not only you grow up with
(14:47):
your grandfather being crazy that belonged in an institution, but
you grew up knowing your dad died when you were
five years of age. You didn't grow up playing with him.
He didn't teach you the skills of life. He didn't
mature you to be a man. But to make matters worse.
When the Thiberscheff was only five years of age, someone
(15:08):
whose job was to care for him was in a hurry.
In rushing she dropped him. And kids get dropped. Their
bones are pretty flexible, and don't ask me how I
know how.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
But this drop was different.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
This drop caused both of his feet to be crippled
for the rest of his life. Imagine someone's mistake. Imagine
someone in a hurry that leaves your life permanently, in
a handicapped position. That happens on highways today. Somebody's on
the phone and he leaves somebody else in the morgue.
(15:47):
That happens today when parents and siblings and other people.
We have to understand the world we live, and not
only is sinful because of the sin of Adam, but
we all are within a blast radius of another person sin.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
We all are affected by that.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Everyone's sin is like a suicide west. It's not only
affecting you it's affecting everyone within your radius, and Matthibuschev
got in the radius of someone's mistake. To top it
all off, metphibuschet Is not only has a great grandfather
who's crazy, his dad dies at.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
A young age. He gets dropped at five.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
But Metthhibuschet lives in a place called Lobotar, a place
of no pasture. It's a place kind of electory cities,
not a lot of things to do. But this was
a spiritual place of no posture or no pasture. This
was a spiritual place of a dry place. To top
(16:47):
it all off, his biggest problem wasn't that. His biggest
problem is he's now a target of the king who
became the king. You may say, why would king wipe
out Mattibuishev. In that culture, when you become a king,
one of your first responsibilities is to wipe out all
(17:10):
the descendants of the guy who took the throne before you.
Why because they are a threat to your dynasty. They'll
never rise against you, they will rise against your children.
To secure your children's future, you have to wipe out
(17:31):
the guys before you.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
His descendants.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Methhibushev knew that his Grandpa haunted David.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
He knew that that.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
His grandpa made it difficult for David, and he knew
that he as long as he's breathing, he's a threat
to David. And finally his biggest fear comes to pass
when a messenger sent from David arrives at methibushchev'store everything
mat foiebishitit feared up to this point, is now becoming
(18:03):
a past and me fibishit tells to this messenger, he says,
I'm just a dead dog. I'm nobody. I'm not a threat.
I don't have teeth. I'm not gonna hurt anybody.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Just leave me to be.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I'm a crippled man, traumatized by the falls and mistakes
of other people. My daddy died, my grandpa was crazy.
I pose no threat to anybody. I don't have legs.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Let me be.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
I'm just a dead dog. But this messenger wasn't sent
to take him out. This messenger was sent with the
message of mercy. And that's what the message of Jesus
say is. One sin is worse than you think, stronger
(18:49):
than you are. It will damage more than you realize.
That sin didn't start with you. It started with your grandfather.
It didn't start with your grandpa, started with your great grandfather,
who actually didn't start there. It started with Adam. You
were born already on the wrong side of the tracks.
And then there's the trauma that sin brings. It might
(19:12):
not be direct sin, but it could cause the sin
in this world where accidents, where people make mistakes, people
make mistakes in a hospital, where people make mistakes on
the road, where people make mistakes, in relationships, where people
make things.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
That hurt you so deeply that.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Sometimes you wonder, if there is a God, how could
he allow that to happen. And then there are things
where you live in an environment that doesn't change, an
environment where the climate is so bad, and you're.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Like, I wish I could get out of this place.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I'm constantly surrounded by toxic people. That's sin for you,
A broken world like we were singing today, the world
is broken. Is craving for redemption the top of all off,
you actually have a bigger problem than that. I have
a bigger problem than that. God is holy, and he
puts his bull's eye right at me. His holiness demands
(20:09):
I get taken out because I am an enmity and
enemy against God. My sin is not just oh, a
lot of people hurt me and I have done some
British stupid things. It's that I did those things straight
in rebellion to God, and God's holiness demands that I
get punished, that I get rewarded for what I did.
The Bible says, the wages of sin is death. Now
(20:32):
we gonna skip through that. We're like, yeah, yeah, but
the gift of God will. Before you get to the
gift of God, can I remind you what wages are?
It's a payment. What is wages? It's when you work
eight hours a day and then some of you have
over time and then you get wages. Now on Friday,
some of us get paid on Friday. Imagine you're coming
(20:54):
to your boss and he does not pay you wages
for working hard. Would you say, ah, not a big deal,
he didn't have a good day. Would you call your
boss an honest, a just boss if he doesn't.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Pay you, No, what will make him.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Just is if you get paid every cent and every penny,
especially for the overtime. So the Bible says, when God
sends people to hell, he is a just boss who
lets you pay for what you worked for. Nobody's going
to hell because God hates him.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
They're going to hell because they worked for it.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
The wages of sin is separate, its just from God.
It's separate it and some of us we're not just
like an employee eight hour a day worker. We put
in overtime on the weekends, like let me do some
little extra clubbing this weekend.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Why to put in some overtime.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
You're working yourself into a separation from God. The wages
of sin is death. So not only sin affects me,
not only sin destroys me, but sin separates.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Me from God. In all while, I'm blaming.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
God and everybody else, but in reality, Sin is the blame.
So that's why I want to bring this back to
the Christmas story about the grace, because he will save
his people from their sins. Jesus came and didn't rip
off your paycheck. He paid your paycheck. Jesus took your
place on the cross.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
He died for you.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
God didn't just clear the record and just simply wipe
the books and cleared the numbers.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
No, he had.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Jesus paid the price for that. You were not just
forgiven your debt was paid in full. Now I want
you to see what happens to meth Thiebushet. The messenger
comes and says, listen, you're not being wiped out, You're
not being killed. You're actually being brought in. You're being
restored a few things. I want you to notice that
(22:59):
he he first gives him everything his grandfather owned. Grace
restores what Adam lost. It restores access to God. It
restores sometimes our sanity. It restores our peace, It restores
our joy, It restores hope, it restores righteousness, It restores things.
It's not just removes sin. It restores stacks number two.
(23:24):
I want you to notice that the messenger comes in
and says, not only you will get the land back
that your grandfather had, but he says, we will have
the sons of Zeba and Zebra. Like he was a
man with many, many children. He had a big family.
He says, this Zeba guy is gonna be serving you
and providing you food. Now, what's ironic is that Matthibuschet
will be eating from the king's table.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
He doesn't need Zeba to work for him.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
The king still makes it happen because the grace will
always give you more than you need, so you'll share
it with other people. You will extend it to other people.
God will overflow, abundance of grace will come into But
I want you to notice. The third thing that the
grace does is that not only his land was restored,
not only he would have plenty, but the King brings
(24:12):
him close. He's not staying in Lobo Dar. He's not
staying in tri cities anymore. He's not staying in the
place of no pasture. Now he's being brought near to
the King. See, God is not just turning enemies into
not enemies. He's turning enemies into family. Do you remember
how Kamal shared last Sunday and he says what attracted
(24:34):
him about the God of Christianity is he's a family god.
It's the God of Abraham, It's a God of Isaac
and God of Jacob. I was interviewing a gentleman this
Monday who died, who was in a coma, and an
angel took him from his body and took him to heaven.
And this angel showed him everything in heaven. And the
interview is gonna come out and make sure you watch it.
It's very powerful, especially but the horses that are being
(24:55):
raised in heaven right now.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
For the last battle.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And how those horses are and who will use those
horses after the battle is going to be one amazing insight.
That's a little sidetrack. And so as he is there,
he's meeting all these people. He met Apostle Paul, and
he went to this, and he went to that, and
then he's about to walk to the throne of God.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
He sees Jesus and he.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Sees this this light that is so bright, yet it's
so pleasant to look at.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
It's not heavy on your eyes.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
And the angel Boom goes on his face and he
this angel who was taking him, pushes him up and
he says, you walk, And he says, why don't you walk?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
He says, he's my boss to you, that's your father,
he's his only family. Goes there.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
He says, we have to go on our knees, but
you can walk boldly fight through his throne. And when
he said that, that just hit me. See, we are
not just God's employees. We are not just God's servants.
The cross the grace took an enemy and didn't just
removed a target from my head. But it's just no no,
(25:56):
you are welcome, not to visit, you are welcome. You
are being at into the family.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
You are a family. Hallelujah. Grace restores Grace Redeems.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I had the front row seed in the last twenty
years of seeing both things at the same time, the
damaging effects of sin, where sin would take somebody's life,
where sin would take somebody's health, or sin would destroy
your family right in front of your eyes, a person
with potential and more prophetic words than most of us
put together. And yet Sin goes in, and they thought
(26:35):
they were more powerful in their pride.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
They said, oh, I can do.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
This, and only to find themselves at rock bottom. And
then Sin comes in and lies to them and says,
your life is over.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
You can't do this anymore. You should take your life.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
But I also had the privilege of seeing how the
grace of God takes the most broken people people that
when I found what they did, I was like, God,
don't let.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Them into heaven, please. They deserve to burn into lake
of fire.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Make the hell of fire seven times harter just for them.
And then you see them repenting, Then you see the
heart changing, and then you see God taking this rebellious,
this evil heart and softening and then becoming not only
the nicest people, but their family is being restored. Not
only their family is being restored. Everything they lost because
(27:30):
of those sins. God restores them. You see Paul the
terrorist and becomes an evangelist. You see Peter saying Jesus,
I don't know who Jesus is, denies him three times
and then becomes the spokesman. God has this scandalous way
of dealing when people humble themselves, He.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Lets his grace do so much.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Work, way more than sin, everything in that person's life.
Because when sin destroyed them, and they will say ha
ha I got you, and God says, we will watch them.
When people are broken, the grace of God comes and
it shines so beautifully, and you look at the person,
you can't recognize them. You see that, I can't believe
that's that person.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Because of the grace of God.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
When a lesbian becomes the person now that is pure chaste,
When the person who couldn't get out of the jail
cell because of their drinking is now a person that
is no longer bound by alcoholism. When the person that
was pronounced dead four times in one month and odeed
four times and once pronounced dead and today has a
master's degree, has a family, and is walking. You look
(28:35):
at him, you will never recognize this was a walking.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Corpse ten years ago. The grace of God.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
One of the adulterer who struggled with pornography all his
life and has slipped into adultery.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
And it seemed like their life was over.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
And that's it, and God says, no, it's not over,
because grace is more powerful than sin. When a person repents,
when a person humbles themselves, God relief is not just
grace upon this of grace that not only picks them
up from the miriclaim, not only shakes off the guilt
and shame, not only shake offs all the bad stuff
that people have said about them, but actually gives them
(29:14):
hope and give them future in such a way that
the rest of the people will look and say that
is not fair, because it's the grace of God. My
first encounter with that grace came when I met my wife.
And some of you know my story and the New
Year's and this was nineteen ninety nine, December thirty. First
(29:35):
had my first date with my wife, one on one,
and I didn't do what maybe I should have done.
Instead of getting to know her, I just went straight
for very heavy questions like what.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Did you do? Who did you do with?
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And da da da da da? What's your credit score?
And did you ever kiss somebody? Did you ever sleep somebody?
Did you ever drink? Did you ever take drugs? What
kind of drugs? Who did you sleep with? When did
that start? And when did that end? Again, do not
advise anybody to do if you want to get married.
But I did it and so and Lana was very honest,
to the point of painfully honest. And then I shared
(30:09):
my sins, and of course my sins after that, I
compared mine with hers. I was a holy man of
God compared to where she was in retrospect. Most of
you know my wife's testimony. She grew up in the
pastor's home, but she walked away from Christ and she
lived in sin, and she did some things that were
very things that I in my ministry was saving people from.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
But I never saw kind of myself.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Maybe one day getting married to someone like that, and
then there I was. I thought my sins were so
I compared my sins et cetera. So when she told
me all of her past, I broke up with her
that night. So I went out one day and then
my relationship lasted twenty four hours.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
And I was like, girl, like, this is awesome. You're
going to heaven.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
But I yeah, like I yeah, way too much, way
too much stuff. We go on the twenty one day Fast.
In the twenty one day Fast, God started to deal
with my heart about the power of the blood, and
he said, what she told you doesn't exist in my records.
(31:15):
He said, she allowed you to walk into something my
blood took care of.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
He said, I don't see that in her. She doesn't
have that.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
And I said, well, she does, she told me, And
he says in my records she does, and she's a
new creation. And I said, well, but what I do
with that stuff that I just heard? He says, you're
the one that asked her that. He said that was
under the blood, and that was dealt with. And now
I have a problem. Here's a girl I love, I
really like, and there's questions I asked, and the answers.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
I God, Now I'm confused.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
My biggest, honestly fear was well, what if I marry
her and she does those things again?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
You know?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
And the Lord challenged me, and he says, what if
you do them? There's a very high chance pastors do
these things all the time. He says, there's a hyahchenance
you're gonna do those things. I said, Oh Jesus, would
you protect me? He says, the same way, I'll protect her.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
And then there's this peace that came in.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
To be honest with you, after that, when I got
to know my wife and the last you know, fifteen
years that we've been married, my heart toward the lost
people changed. I used to look at people who get
saved from a radical background, and to be honest with you,
in my way, this is how I was.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Looking at them.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, you're gonna go to heaven, but God, and listen,
in this world, you're gonna be paying for a lot
of this stuff. Yeah you're gonna go to heaven, but
your life on the earth, man, you kind of kind
of screwed it up already. And marrying my wife changed
that for me, and I believe it prepared me for
the church that God's gonna let us past her Because
every person that walks to Hungry gen almost every person
(32:51):
comes broken, and I believe there is grace not only
to forgive, to restore, and to make new. The grace
of God does not just clean up the car. It
changes your title. You know, when your car is wrecked,
it could look really clean, but then it has savage
(33:12):
or salvage or rebuild on your title and all of
you know, like when you're buying a car and seep discount, Look,
something is wrong with it. Then you read the title like, yeah,
of course it's been through five accidents. And most of
us think that's exactly what the grace of God does.
It forgives you on the outside, and that's.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
How I viewed it.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
But you know what, you're still rebuilt, you still savage. Yeah,
you're kind of a messed up person. You're an adult
through what You've been married already or you already you
were addicted to pornography, you were a drug addict. Yeah,
good for you, God bless you. I'll see you in heaven.
Bye bye. But I don't trust you. Why because yeah,
you're forgiven. You're gonna relapse, you're gonna fall back. But see,
that's not the great that's power of sin.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
The power of grace is different. It's more powerful than sin.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
And with my eyes in the last fifteen years, I've
seen love types of people.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
There was so much change.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
She will never recognize they were in that person before.
Because Jesus changes people and changes them permanently. That's why
I believe in the power of grace. I believe in
the power that changes a drug addic, that changes an alcoholic,
that changes a selfish rebellion prick into a man of God,
changes a woman that was loose into a woman of God.
(34:27):
I was extended that mercy. You would extended that mercy.
And I remember seeing that right in front of my
eyes when we were in Africa and a terrorist who
was supposed to blow up that place, and the power
of God came upon him. Demons came out, and the
continents of his face changed, his eyes changed. He went
from this dark into the eyes they were full of love.
(34:47):
And he gets on his knees and starts repenting. This
is a guy who's from Bokol H'aram. These people blow
up churches and kill people.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
I'm like, these people.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Deserve like the seventh level of hell. And here's he
is not very far from me where I can see him,
and right in front of my eyes, this man is changing,
and in my mind I'm like, God, do you save
people like that?
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Yes, he does.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
He saves anybody from their sins who will repent. Our
church is not a museum of exotic artifacts. Our church
is not an aquarium of exotic fish. People here have
been broken but restored by the power of Jesus. We
(35:33):
have been humbled by her sin, but it brought us
to our knees, and then the grace of God reached us,
and he'll restore a character.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
It healed us.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
And that's why we have to carry humility about us.
That's why we cannot walk on a high horse and
look down on every person. God had not been for
the grace of God, you've been that person. You would
have been that person. It is the grace and the
mercy of God that not only saves and restores, publydeems
and places people in the family of God.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
To give God some praise right now.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
But where the story ends with Matthibuschev is not only
that he was restored, he was redeemed and he was
brought near. Where the story ends with Metthibuschev is where
we read his story says he was at the king's
table continually. What I find interesting in that portion of
the scripture, it mentions that Metthhibuschev was at the king's
table continuously four times. Why four times? Why does it
(36:35):
mention he was at the king's table. And then we
finished the verse, and it says this, and he was
lame in both of his feet four times it's mentioned
he is at the king's table continually, continually, continually lame
at both of his feet. The grace of God will
redeem you, change you. But the grace of God will
(36:58):
also not leave you when you still need changing, because
the grace of God is not done. Matthibushev had crippled legs.
He lived with crippled legs. Why does he say he
was at the king's table, Because when you sit at
(37:19):
the table, your legs are covered. When he said with
the king's sons, not only he was like one of
the sons. He was not crippled anymore. That are areas
God will deliver you from. That are things God will
(37:41):
set you free from. And that are going to be
things God will cover, develop and work on as you
sit in His presence every day, in His word, every
day with the Holy Spirit, every week at church, every
week at small proof, Will God remove the sin? Absolutely
(38:01):
will God remove the demons? Absolutely, But there are gonna
be things. They might not be sins, they might not
be addictions, but there could be things that you say,
why is God not removing that yet? I want to
let you know that God is placing you under his teaching,
under his spirit. Whatever God hasn't removed yet, He wants
(38:23):
to empower you to resist. He wants to grow in
you the grace to walk through those areas and grow
out of those areas for His glory and for his purpose.
That's why the Bible tells us entires that the grace
of God appear to all men, teaching us to deny ungodliness.
So the grace of God is not just rescuing me
(38:43):
from hell fire. The grace of God is my teacher.
As I am listening to God's words, as I am
going to church every week, as I am listening to
worship and spend time with the Holy Spirit. The cripple
areas of my life that cannot be you raised, they
are being covered.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
You who received healing from the trauma.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
But the memory the incident that happened, where you came from,
maybe it's not being you raised. Well, you spend time
with the Holy Spirit, spend time with the Holy scriptures,
and those areas are becoming covered. Those areas are becoming changed. Slowly,
but surely God is developing things in you. A gentleman
came after the first service today and who said, I
(39:24):
haven't seen my family for over fifteen years, since I
haven't seen my mom since I got married, And today
is his first time coming back to see his family,
and he watched few sermon videos. So he comes after
the first service and he says something. He asked me
a question, and he answered that question in the way
he asked it. He says, God has done so many
great things.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
He's changed my heart.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
I'm reconciling with my family, but there are a few
things I want to grow in my confidence. I want
to grow in my bulldness, I want to grow in
my faith.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Do I just need to keep.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
On sitting with him so he develops those things or
is there something else? And I said, I think you
just answered your own question. What He delivers you from
is through his grace, and what he develops you in
is also through his grace. It's his grace that's gonna
develop you. It's his grace, So you can be delivered
(40:12):
from spirit of lust. You still need to have a
character of gentleness to be a good husband, and the
grace of God is gonna help you. You gotta sit at
the feet of Jesus every day in his word, take
time to pray, and he will develop. He will cover
the areas of your life that need covering. He will
form areas of your life.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
That need forming.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
That's why you need a good, spirit filled Bible preaching,
worship loving church. You can't just sit in front of
NFL or NBA and you simply that cannot be your
church because that is not a table that will cover
your legs. He will expose your crippleness. Be at a
table that covers your legs. Be in the presence of
the Holy Spirit. That's why you cannot spend your whole
(40:54):
life scrolling all the time. Why because that's not gonna
cover your legs. That's gonna expose your It's gonna expose
your weaknesses. That's why you cannot simply just numb yourself
when you come from work and say, well I am
just too tired, let me just pop in Jack Daniels
and let me just pop in some tequila.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
No no, no, no, no, you gotta churnouce.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
Some worship music and spend some time recalibrating yourself to
the love of God because.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
It covers your legs. Amen.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Sin is stronger than you always. Grace is stronger than sin. Always.
Would you allow the grace of God to come into
your life? Paul said, we received abundance of grace. Some
of us may be received just a little bit, just
enough to get said no, no, no. There's more grace
(41:45):
for you to be changed. Grace for you to be restored,
Grace for you to be married, Grace for you to
have children, Grace for you to get that job, get
that business, Grace for you to finish your degree. Grace
for you to bring your neighbors to Christ, Grace for
you to start that ministry.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
Grace, abundance of grace.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
And then he says, this abundance of grace and gift
of righteousness that we may reign in life. Some people
have received just enough grace to make it to heaven,
but God has grace for you to reign in life.
Some people receive just enough grace to survive in life.
But God says, I have more grace for you to
(42:27):
reign in life. You don't have to just struggle. Will
life be challenging, yes, will life have difficulties, absolutely, in
this world you will have tribulation. But God says, my
grace is sufficient. My grace is enough. Peace I give you,
not like the world gives I give you, But the
peace I give you it will sustain you, It will
guard you, it will guide you, it will keep you
(42:50):
in perfect peace.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Amen, rise, dear.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Fe Have you been forgiven? Have you been redeemed? Have
you been restored? All right, thank you Lord. Well, right
now we want to give an opportunity to those people.
But this is your moment. This is that moment that
(43:17):
that lady shared with me today, This is your day. Well,
right now is that moment. If I can ask everybody's
attention for just a moment unless your need to exit,
they just stay standing.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
Please, thank you.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
In both of our sanctuaries and as well as online.
Let me ask you a question. Have you lived in
the blast radius of sin? You caused it, other people
caused it, and you've seen the devastation of that.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
Your life is broken.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
And maybe you have millions of dollars in your bank
and your influencer online. But my question is not that
what is happening right here? Today's your day, Jesus Love.
You don't need to sin more to be saved. You
don't need to end up in some weird, crazy situation
where you want to pull your brains out for you
to come to the realization you need to be saved,
(44:06):
and Jesus already provided that. Why not today? Why wait
another year? Why wait another month? Why need Why do
you need to have another duy? Why do you need
to have another heartbreak before you realize only He can
heal your heart? Today's the day, Now is the time.
Why do you need to have another suicide attempt to
realize that there is no solution in sale, saving and death.
(44:29):
There's only salvation in Jesus. But perhaps you are here
in the other category. All of this I'm talking about
is not new for you. In fact, you're very familiar
with it. But you drift it, walk away from Christ.
You're backslid. You're not walking with Jesus. And today you're
visiting this church because the family came. It's a Christmas
it's a good time, and honestly, I'm so glad though
I haven't seen you in twelve months, I'm so glad
(44:50):
you're here today.
Speaker 3 (44:52):
You're so welcome.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
If the only time I'll see you is on Christmas
and Easter, You're still welcome every Christmas and every Easter.
Speaker 3 (45:00):
God loves you so much.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
He doesn't want you to slide into church.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
He wants you to grow in church.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Would you make a commitment today to come back to
Jesus and say, Lord, I'll repent on my sins. I
forgive the people to hurt me, and God take away
the trauma, the drama, the craziness that's in my life.
Speaker 3 (45:14):
I need to get right with God. Now.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
It's gonna be challenging because someone you came with your friends,
you came with your ex, or you came.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
With your with your.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
Mom or your papa, and this is gonna get a
little bit awkward. So I'm going to ask you right
now to buy your head and close your eyes. This
is not about your family. You're not gonna go with
the family to heaven. You're going to stand before God
one on one. Salvation is individual. It is your personal
decision today. It doesn't require what people think of it.
(45:40):
You don't need to get anybody's approval of what you
do with your life and whether you give it to God.
When I count to three, and you need to get
right with God or you need to come back to Jesus.
I'm gonna ask you to slip your hand up in
the air, because that's gonna be your way of saying,
I am lost, I need Jesus. I backslid, I need
to I'm the Christ. One two and three. Just slip
(46:05):
that hand high. Thank you, my friend. I see your hand.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
Thank you. Just slip that hand high. You say, Hey,
this is me.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
I'm not coming here just to come to church.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
Thank you. I'm coming here. Thank you. I gotta get
vide with God.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
No matter how young you are, how old you are,
today is the day if you raise your hand or
you wanted to raise your hand in this sanctuary or
in the next sanctuary, and I'm going to ask you
to do a bold step. I'm going to ask you
to quickly come out of the seat and stand here
with me and if ushers can help us from the
second sanctuary, for people to come in as well. In
the second sanctuary, the ashes will guide you into this sanctuary.
(46:38):
So just make your way forward and just do it
really quickly. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (46:42):
Church. Give them an applause. As I've taking the bold step.
Let's go. There's one more person, a few more people
that were doing the God bless you.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Glad you're here. Glad you're here. Amen, God bless you,
God bless you. Thank you, Lord, Glad you're here. Glad
you're here. Him, Glad you're here. And there's more people
coming in. Those of you online, you can go ahead
(47:15):
and just drop that in the chat. I want to
be saved. I want to give my life to Jesus.
Speaker 3 (47:18):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
I want to give my life to the Lord. The
greatest decision you can make any life. This is where
life begins to churn. The grace of God comes.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
Thank you Lord. The rest of us we're going to
pray together with them right now.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
Say Lord Jesus, I believe you are the son of
God who died on the cross for all of my sins.
I will repent of my sins. Would you wash me
with your precious blood.
Speaker 3 (47:47):
I give you my.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Life, the good, the bad, and the broken. Would you
redeem me, heal my heart and fill me with the
Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3 (48:00):
This stay forward.
Speaker 2 (48:01):
I promise to follow you all the days of my life.
Speaker 3 (48:05):
In Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Amen, Amen, Thanks for listening to today's podcast. If you
are blessed by this message, be sure to subscribe and
send it to someone, and don't forget You can always
share it on your social stories. Stay connected with us
on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. For more information on internship,
prayer line conferences, and other resources, go to hungrygen dot com.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
Remember better is not good enough. The best is yet
to come.
This is Hungry Gen podcast, and I just want to
thank you for joining us today here at HG. Our
vision is to see thousands saved locally and millions globally.
We hope you enjoyed this week's message.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
This time of the year is when usually I present
something that I'm going to present today, and that is
the circulating belief that Christmas is a pagan holiday and
anybody who celebrates it participates it in witchcraft. This is
the time usually where god believing, God fearing Christians who
get saved, who sometimes come from anything that has to
(00:34):
do with demonic kingdom, and they come and they feel
a little bit nervous setting up a Christmas tree. They
don't want to bring a demon inside of the house
by setting up a Christmas tree or having pictures with
the Santa or anything.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Of that sort.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
So I want to kind of present the fiction from
the fact. Now, if you are here and you do
not believe in celebrating Christmas, you are totally right to
do that. And not only that, your actually encouraged according
to the Bible to follow your conscience. And from a
pastoral practical point of view, I am envious of you
(01:07):
because you can save money a lot by not buying
Christmas lights and trees and gifts like I as long
as you don't go into Mormonism. At Jehovah's witnessism were cool.
So if you are here also, and you're one of
those people, you started to prepare for Christmas in January
of this year, you already were thinking about a Christmas tree,
(01:30):
You already were setting up those things. You're not a
pagan worshiper. You just love the holiday, You love buying gifts.
You're doing all of this stuff. You are also totally
free to do that.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Onto the glory of God.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Setting up a tree in your house is not idle worship.
Celebrating the birth of Jesus is not a worship of
some kind of a pagan Babylonian deity. Nor is not
celebrating it.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Causes you to do something wrong.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
The Bible doesn't tell us to celebrate Christmas, and the Bible.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Doesn't tell us not to celebrate Christmas.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Okay, But one thing I do want to mention is
this notion that somehow Christmas December twenty fifth was Christians
hijacking a Roman pagan holiday and refurbishing it for the
cause of celebrating Christ. Now, Romans had two main holidays
(02:25):
in December.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
One of them was earlier in.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
December, the some Christians confused it was finished celebrating by
December seventeenth. The other one, which was the God of
the Sun, which was on December twenty fifth. Now what
you must understand is that other one, December twenty fifth,
Roman holiday was actually established some two hundred years after
Jesus's birth. Okay, so sometime three hundred years after jesus birth,
(02:52):
the church made Jesus' birth as the official holiday or
the official date, December twenty fifth.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Christians do this, They're like.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Oh yeah, because Romans had this pagan holiday. Christians came
in put Jesus on the top of that because we
didn't want to compete with a ever demanding pagan holiday,
which you must understand, Roman holiday on the December twenty
fifth was not popular. It wasn't like what Halloween is,
where you know, all the parents are trying to do
(03:23):
some kind of a Christian trick or trying so that,
you know, to really kids their kids happy with the thing.
Roman paganism was unheavy decline by the three hundred AD
because of the spread of Christianity. It was the Romans
that had problems with their religion dying, not Christians. Why
December twenty fifth. Now you might not like the answer,
(03:43):
and you might not even agree, nor do I, but
you must understand why early believers chose December twenty fifth.
It was not to replace Roman holiday. You will never
find in a church early history writings where they were
fighting pagan holiday December twenty five and tried to put
(04:04):
Jesus Birth on it.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
That had nothing to do with it.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It actually had to do with a belief that was
borrowed from Judaism that believed this idea. Jews believed in
that that according to God's sovereignty, God sets times and
seasons and beginning and the end of someone's life. A
great man of God dies under day of his conception.
(04:29):
Now you may not believe that, but that's what some
Jewish people believed. Means this, So if somebody died on
this day, that means some seventy.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Years ago, that was the day that they were actually.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Conceived, because it completes their story in God's purpose, That's
what they believed. They had scriptures to prove that. Early
Church adopted that view.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Now you may say that's not true.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
You may be correct, but you must understand why they
chose December twenty five. They believed, and you can read
the ch Fathers, including Augustine, that Jesus was conceived on
March twenty fifth, and because he died on March twenty fifth,
which was a Jewish holiday, does pass over, that's where
Jesus was died. So their philosophy was, this is the
(05:15):
great Man dies on the day of his conception. So
then they did the math. This March twenty fifth is
when Jesus was born. Nine months later, conceived nine months
later is when Jesus was born. December twenty five, which
so happens to fall on the same day that some
of these pagans celebrated, is something.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Of their own.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Christians didn't choose December twenty fifth to try to pull
people away from celebrating pagan holiday. It had to do
with theology, not with paganism. Okay, now you may not
agree that I don't agree that I don't think Jesus
was born on December twenty fifth. There's a lot of
facts that push against it. But to say that Christmas
is a pagan holiday, Christians redeem in pagan holiday is
(05:53):
actually a bad.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Study of history.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
With that, Why I did Christians out of sudden started
to celebrate Christmas because you know, Jewish people and the
early Church celebrated people's deaths, not their births. So why
suddenly Jesus' birth became a celebration. It was to counterattack
a heresy that said Jesus was not God and only
(06:22):
a human because his birth was human not divine.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
When the heresy.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Started to take rude where Jesus was a great teacher,
he was fully human, but he was not fully divine
because his birth could not have happened supernaturally. The early
Church attacked against that heresy and said, well, the Angel
said he will be conceived by the Holy Spirit, where
the prophecies said the Son of God would be born
and his birth would be supernatural and pure. And so
(06:51):
to emphasize the birth of Jesus, which was miraculous, they
turned that into a celebration to fight a heresy.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
And I'm glad they did because we have Christmas.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So whichever camp you are on today, you are welcome
to Hungry jen. If you're one of those you don't
believe in celebrating Christmas, you're not more righteous than other
people who celebrate Christmas. If you're one of those, your
house is so dacked out they literally it will give
people a blindness because of so much lights that are
on your house. God bless you as well, and your
(07:25):
an electrical bill. And so if you're one of those
people you don't believe in giving people gifts, there is
room for you in our end of the year offering fund.
If you're one of those people, you already bought so
many gifts for everybody, we welcome you as well. But
one thing that is certain is this Christmas is not
a pagan holiday.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
It is the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
So Matthew one twenty one, when the Angel comes to
marry and the Angel comes to Joseph, the words I
want to read today is the words when it was spoken,
and she will give birth.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
She will bring.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Forth a son, and his name will be called Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins. And
now I'm going to jump to romansch five, verse seventeen.
For if by one man's offense, death reigned through the one,
much more those who receive abundance of grace and of
(08:37):
the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the
one Jesus Christ. And in one more portion of scripture,
we will take an Old Testament's story to let it
shine light on the reality that we, as followers of
Jesus experience. And this one comes from Second Samuel nine,
(08:59):
verse thirteen. So myth thiebushev dwelt in Jerusalem, for he
ate continually at the king's table, and he was lame
in both of his feet. Today, I would like to
speak to you, and just one thought that I will
have that I want to share with you, and that
is sin is stronger than you, and grace is stronger
(09:24):
than sin. Said this with me, say sin twenty your
neighbors say is stronger than you. Twenty other neighbor that
was not your first choice and said, and grace.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Is way more stronger than sin.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Jesus in here says, or the God's angel says that
he will save his people from their sins. The fact
that we need savings indicates something stronger than us has
taken hostage of us, has taken residence in us, and
is take in control of us. Had remedy been and
(10:03):
we love therapy and counseling. Medicine is also not only welcome.
Discipline is important, will power is important. Human effort has
its place. But if all of these would have been remedies,
there will be no need or necessity for God to
become men to save us. God could have easily came
(10:23):
and told us, save yourself, try harder. But in here
we see his name will be Jesus, for he will
save his people from their sins.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
That tells me.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
In order to be saved by yours from your sin,
you must understand your sin is stronger than you, and
God's grace is stronger than your sin. The lie that
humanity has believed, and that is this that I can
beat my sin. I can overcome my sin. I am
stronger than my sin. If I try harder, I can
(11:00):
overcome this. But that is a lie, and that is
a form of righteousness that comes from pride. And sooner
or later, every one of us either hits rock bottom
or is in complete delusion and deception.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Because sin is stronger than you, my friend, You.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
May cut few of its manifestations and fruits, but it's
way stronger than you. Otherwise you wouldn't be needing saving.
And when all of us hit rock bottom. Sooner or later,
the enemy comes and gives us another lie.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
And this lie is that your life is over.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
The sinrected adult who destroyed the marriage. Your alcoholism took
away your driver's license, You lost your children.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Your kids will never talk.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
To you, you will never hold a job or the business.
Your life will amount to anything. Your life is a mess.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
It's over.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
You might as well just end it because it is over.
But see, that is a lie, because not only sin
is stronger than you, but the grace is stronger than sin.
Whether sin abounded, grace abounded even more. As a person
who grew up in church and a person who's been
(12:07):
in ministry, I have had a front row seed in
how damaging sin is in people's lives.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
I have had a.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Chance without I'm not a consular, not a therapist, but
I have had a chance to hear the devastating effects
of abuse, of growing up without a dad, of growing
up with being heart adultery, and what it does to
people's lives, how it devastates and destroys people's lives. But see,
the amazing part of being in church is not only
(12:34):
you get a chance to hear and see and feel
the damaging effects of a blast radius of sin in
people's lives. Is you actually get to hear the other
side as well and being able to day Even in
the lobby as I was interacting with a lady that
was greeting people, and she says, Pastor, I gotta tell
you that next month is going to be four years
(12:55):
when I stepped into this church a strain from my
son and told me all the.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Medicai that she was on.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Medication for this, medication for this, medication for this, for
medication for this.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
He said.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
My dad committed suicide at the early age, and my
husband and I divorced, and I was not in a
good place. I was addicted to alcohol, I was addicted
to men. I was addicted to all those things. And
my son brought me to this church four years ago.
And she says, when I came to the front and
I gave my life to Jesus. She says, from that
point on, and I'm not exaggerating, she says, I stopped
everything called turkey, I had no repercussions, alcoholism was broken,
(13:28):
and now I can sleep without meds.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Now I don't have to chase men.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
And it's been four years, I've been planted in this church,
and my life has been changed. Somebody shout grace. Sin destroys,
but grace is stronger than sin. Sin can wreck families,
but grace can repair things way stronger and better than
(13:52):
sin can destroy them. And as we like to say,
Jesus is better at saving you than you are at sinning.
Jesus is better at redeeming.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
You than sin is at destroying you.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
The story of mephibus Chef is the story of a
human race. Mephibuschev's grandfather was cuckoo, crazy cycle.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
He was not only demon possessed, he was mental. He
was oppressed.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
He would have split personality disorder what we would call
it today.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
He would he would go in rage, killing people.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
He would wipe out cities of priests. He would attack
his own children at a dinner table with the spear.
He was not a good man. God's curse rested upon him.
And that was Mephibuschev's grandfather. Memphibuscht's dad died in a
battle when he was only five years of age. What
a traumatic experience when not only you grow up with
(14:47):
your grandfather being crazy that belonged in an institution, but
you grew up knowing your dad died when you were
five years of age. You didn't grow up playing with him.
He didn't teach you the skills of life. He didn't
mature you to be a man. But to make matters worse.
When the Thiberscheff was only five years of age, someone
(15:08):
whose job was to care for him was in a hurry.
In rushing she dropped him. And kids get dropped. Their
bones are pretty flexible, and don't ask me how I
know how.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
But this drop was different.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
This drop caused both of his feet to be crippled
for the rest of his life. Imagine someone's mistake. Imagine
someone in a hurry that leaves your life permanently, in
a handicapped position. That happens on highways today. Somebody's on
the phone and he leaves somebody else in the morgue.
(15:47):
That happens today when parents and siblings and other people.
We have to understand the world we live, and not
only is sinful because of the sin of Adam, but
we all are within a blast radius of another person sin.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
We all are affected by that.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Everyone's sin is like a suicide west. It's not only
affecting you it's affecting everyone within your radius, and Matthibuschev
got in the radius of someone's mistake. To top it
all off, metphibuschet Is not only has a great grandfather
who's crazy, his dad dies at.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
A young age. He gets dropped at five.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
But Metthhibuschet lives in a place called Lobotar, a place
of no pasture. It's a place kind of electory cities,
not a lot of things to do. But this was
a spiritual place of no posture or no pasture. This
was a spiritual place of a dry place. To top
(16:47):
it all off, his biggest problem wasn't that. His biggest
problem is he's now a target of the king who
became the king. You may say, why would king wipe
out Mattibuishev. In that culture, when you become a king,
one of your first responsibilities is to wipe out all
(17:10):
the descendants of the guy who took the throne before you.
Why because they are a threat to your dynasty. They'll
never rise against you, they will rise against your children.
To secure your children's future, you have to wipe out
(17:31):
the guys before you.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
His descendants.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Methhibushev knew that his Grandpa haunted David.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
He knew that that.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
His grandpa made it difficult for David, and he knew
that he as long as he's breathing, he's a threat
to David. And finally his biggest fear comes to pass
when a messenger sent from David arrives at methibushchev'store everything
mat foiebishitit feared up to this point, is now becoming
(18:03):
a past and me fibishit tells to this messenger, he says,
I'm just a dead dog. I'm nobody. I'm not a threat.
I don't have teeth. I'm not gonna hurt anybody.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Just leave me to be.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I'm a crippled man, traumatized by the falls and mistakes
of other people. My daddy died, my grandpa was crazy.
I pose no threat to anybody. I don't have legs.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Let me be.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
I'm just a dead dog. But this messenger wasn't sent
to take him out. This messenger was sent with the
message of mercy. And that's what the message of Jesus
say is. One sin is worse than you think, stronger
(18:49):
than you are. It will damage more than you realize.
That sin didn't start with you. It started with your grandfather.
It didn't start with your grandpa, started with your great grandfather,
who actually didn't start there. It started with Adam. You
were born already on the wrong side of the tracks.
And then there's the trauma that sin brings. It might
(19:12):
not be direct sin, but it could cause the sin
in this world where accidents, where people make mistakes, people
make mistakes in a hospital, where people make mistakes on
the road, where people make mistakes, in relationships, where people
make things.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
That hurt you so deeply that.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Sometimes you wonder, if there is a God, how could
he allow that to happen. And then there are things
where you live in an environment that doesn't change, an
environment where the climate is so bad, and you're.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Like, I wish I could get out of this place.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I'm constantly surrounded by toxic people. That's sin for you,
A broken world like we were singing today, the world
is broken. Is craving for redemption the top of all off,
you actually have a bigger problem than that. I have
a bigger problem than that. God is holy, and he
puts his bull's eye right at me. His holiness demands
(20:09):
I get taken out because I am an enmity and
enemy against God. My sin is not just oh, a
lot of people hurt me and I have done some
British stupid things. It's that I did those things straight
in rebellion to God, and God's holiness demands that I
get punished, that I get rewarded for what I did.
The Bible says, the wages of sin is death. Now
(20:32):
we gonna skip through that. We're like, yeah, yeah, but
the gift of God will. Before you get to the
gift of God, can I remind you what wages are?
It's a payment. What is wages? It's when you work
eight hours a day and then some of you have
over time and then you get wages. Now on Friday,
some of us get paid on Friday. Imagine you're coming
(20:54):
to your boss and he does not pay you wages
for working hard. Would you say, ah, not a big deal,
he didn't have a good day. Would you call your
boss an honest, a just boss if he doesn't.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Pay you, No, what will make him.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Just is if you get paid every cent and every penny,
especially for the overtime. So the Bible says, when God
sends people to hell, he is a just boss who
lets you pay for what you worked for. Nobody's going
to hell because God hates him.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
They're going to hell because they worked for it.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
The wages of sin is separate, its just from God.
It's separate it and some of us we're not just
like an employee eight hour a day worker. We put
in overtime on the weekends, like let me do some
little extra clubbing this weekend.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Why to put in some overtime.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
You're working yourself into a separation from God. The wages
of sin is death. So not only sin affects me,
not only sin destroys me, but sin separates.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Me from God. In all while, I'm blaming.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
God and everybody else, but in reality, Sin is the blame.
So that's why I want to bring this back to
the Christmas story about the grace, because he will save
his people from their sins. Jesus came and didn't rip
off your paycheck. He paid your paycheck. Jesus took your
place on the cross.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
He died for you.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
God didn't just clear the record and just simply wipe
the books and cleared the numbers.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
No, he had.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Jesus paid the price for that. You were not just
forgiven your debt was paid in full. Now I want
you to see what happens to meth Thiebushet. The messenger
comes and says, listen, you're not being wiped out, You're
not being killed. You're actually being brought in. You're being
restored a few things. I want you to notice that
(22:59):
he he first gives him everything his grandfather owned. Grace
restores what Adam lost. It restores access to God. It
restores sometimes our sanity. It restores our peace, It restores
our joy, It restores hope, it restores righteousness, It restores things.
It's not just removes sin. It restores stacks number two.
(23:24):
I want you to notice that the messenger comes in
and says, not only you will get the land back
that your grandfather had, but he says, we will have
the sons of Zeba and Zebra. Like he was a
man with many, many children. He had a big family.
He says, this Zeba guy is gonna be serving you
and providing you food. Now, what's ironic is that Matthibuschet
will be eating from the king's table.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
He doesn't need Zeba to work for him.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
The king still makes it happen because the grace will
always give you more than you need, so you'll share
it with other people. You will extend it to other people.
God will overflow, abundance of grace will come into But
I want you to notice. The third thing that the
grace does is that not only his land was restored,
not only he would have plenty, but the King brings
(24:12):
him close. He's not staying in Lobo Dar. He's not
staying in tri cities anymore. He's not staying in the
place of no pasture. Now he's being brought near to
the King. See, God is not just turning enemies into
not enemies. He's turning enemies into family. Do you remember
how Kamal shared last Sunday and he says what attracted
(24:34):
him about the God of Christianity is he's a family god.
It's the God of Abraham, It's a God of Isaac
and God of Jacob. I was interviewing a gentleman this
Monday who died, who was in a coma, and an
angel took him from his body and took him to heaven.
And this angel showed him everything in heaven. And the
interview is gonna come out and make sure you watch it.
It's very powerful, especially but the horses that are being
(24:55):
raised in heaven right now.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
For the last battle.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And how those horses are and who will use those
horses after the battle is going to be one amazing insight.
That's a little sidetrack. And so as he is there,
he's meeting all these people. He met Apostle Paul, and
he went to this, and he went to that, and
then he's about to walk to the throne of God.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
He sees Jesus and he.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Sees this this light that is so bright, yet it's
so pleasant to look at.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
It's not heavy on your eyes.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
And the angel Boom goes on his face and he
this angel who was taking him, pushes him up and
he says, you walk, And he says, why don't you walk?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
He says, he's my boss to you, that's your father,
he's his only family. Goes there.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
He says, we have to go on our knees, but
you can walk boldly fight through his throne. And when
he said that, that just hit me. See, we are
not just God's employees. We are not just God's servants.
The cross the grace took an enemy and didn't just
removed a target from my head. But it's just no no,
(25:56):
you are welcome, not to visit, you are welcome. You
are being at into the family.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
You are a family. Hallelujah. Grace restores Grace Redeems.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I had the front row seed in the last twenty
years of seeing both things at the same time, the
damaging effects of sin, where sin would take somebody's life,
where sin would take somebody's health, or sin would destroy
your family right in front of your eyes, a person
with potential and more prophetic words than most of us
put together. And yet Sin goes in, and they thought
(26:35):
they were more powerful in their pride.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
They said, oh, I can do.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
This, and only to find themselves at rock bottom. And
then Sin comes in and lies to them and says,
your life is over.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
You can't do this anymore. You should take your life.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
But I also had the privilege of seeing how the
grace of God takes the most broken people people that
when I found what they did, I was like, God,
don't let.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Them into heaven, please. They deserve to burn into lake
of fire.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Make the hell of fire seven times harter just for them.
And then you see them repenting, Then you see the
heart changing, and then you see God taking this rebellious,
this evil heart and softening and then becoming not only
the nicest people, but their family is being restored. Not
only their family is being restored. Everything they lost because
(27:30):
of those sins. God restores them. You see Paul the
terrorist and becomes an evangelist. You see Peter saying Jesus,
I don't know who Jesus is, denies him three times
and then becomes the spokesman. God has this scandalous way
of dealing when people humble themselves, He.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Lets his grace do so much.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Work, way more than sin, everything in that person's life.
Because when sin destroyed them, and they will say ha
ha I got you, and God says, we will watch them.
When people are broken, the grace of God comes and
it shines so beautifully, and you look at the person,
you can't recognize them. You see that, I can't believe
that's that person.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Because of the grace of God.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
When a lesbian becomes the person now that is pure chaste,
When the person who couldn't get out of the jail
cell because of their drinking is now a person that
is no longer bound by alcoholism. When the person that
was pronounced dead four times in one month and odeed
four times and once pronounced dead and today has a
master's degree, has a family, and is walking. You look
(28:35):
at him, you will never recognize this was a walking.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Corpse ten years ago. The grace of God.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
One of the adulterer who struggled with pornography all his
life and has slipped into adultery.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
And it seemed like their life was over.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
And that's it, and God says, no, it's not over,
because grace is more powerful than sin. When a person repents,
when a person humbles themselves, God relief is not just
grace upon this of grace that not only picks them
up from the miriclaim, not only shakes off the guilt
and shame, not only shake offs all the bad stuff
that people have said about them, but actually gives them
(29:14):
hope and give them future in such a way that
the rest of the people will look and say that
is not fair, because it's the grace of God. My
first encounter with that grace came when I met my wife.
And some of you know my story and the New
Year's and this was nineteen ninety nine, December thirty. First
(29:35):
had my first date with my wife, one on one,
and I didn't do what maybe I should have done.
Instead of getting to know her, I just went straight
for very heavy questions like what.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Did you do? Who did you do with?
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And da da da da da? What's your credit score?
And did you ever kiss somebody? Did you ever sleep somebody?
Did you ever drink? Did you ever take drugs? What
kind of drugs? Who did you sleep with? When did
that start? And when did that end? Again, do not
advise anybody to do if you want to get married.
But I did it and so and Lana was very honest,
to the point of painfully honest. And then I shared
(30:09):
my sins, and of course my sins after that, I
compared mine with hers. I was a holy man of
God compared to where she was in retrospect. Most of
you know my wife's testimony. She grew up in the
pastor's home, but she walked away from Christ and she
lived in sin, and she did some things that were
very things that I in my ministry was saving people from.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
But I never saw kind of myself.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Maybe one day getting married to someone like that, and
then there I was. I thought my sins were so
I compared my sins et cetera. So when she told
me all of her past, I broke up with her
that night. So I went out one day and then
my relationship lasted twenty four hours.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
And I was like, girl, like, this is awesome. You're
going to heaven.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
But I yeah, like I yeah, way too much, way
too much stuff. We go on the twenty one day Fast.
In the twenty one day Fast, God started to deal
with my heart about the power of the blood, and
he said, what she told you doesn't exist in my records.
(31:15):
He said, she allowed you to walk into something my
blood took care of.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
He said, I don't see that in her. She doesn't
have that.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
And I said, well, she does, she told me, And
he says in my records she does, and she's a
new creation. And I said, well, but what I do
with that stuff that I just heard? He says, you're
the one that asked her that. He said that was
under the blood, and that was dealt with. And now
I have a problem. Here's a girl I love, I
really like, and there's questions I asked, and the answers.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
I God, Now I'm confused.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
My biggest, honestly fear was well, what if I marry
her and she does those things again?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
You know?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
And the Lord challenged me, and he says, what if
you do them? There's a very high chance pastors do
these things all the time. He says, there's a hyahchenance
you're gonna do those things. I said, Oh Jesus, would
you protect me? He says, the same way, I'll protect her.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
And then there's this peace that came in.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
To be honest with you, after that, when I got
to know my wife and the last you know, fifteen
years that we've been married, my heart toward the lost
people changed. I used to look at people who get
saved from a radical background, and to be honest with you,
in my way, this is how I was.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Looking at them.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, you're gonna go to heaven, but God, and listen,
in this world, you're gonna be paying for a lot
of this stuff. Yeah you're gonna go to heaven, but
your life on the earth, man, you kind of kind
of screwed it up already. And marrying my wife changed
that for me, and I believe it prepared me for
the church that God's gonna let us past her Because
every person that walks to Hungry gen almost every person
(32:51):
comes broken, and I believe there is grace not only
to forgive, to restore, and to make new. The grace
of God does not just clean up the car. It
changes your title. You know, when your car is wrecked,
it could look really clean, but then it has savage
(33:12):
or salvage or rebuild on your title and all of
you know, like when you're buying a car and seep discount, Look,
something is wrong with it. Then you read the title like, yeah,
of course it's been through five accidents. And most of
us think that's exactly what the grace of God does.
It forgives you on the outside, and that's.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
How I viewed it.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
But you know what, you're still rebuilt, you still savage. Yeah,
you're kind of a messed up person. You're an adult
through what You've been married already or you already you
were addicted to pornography, you were a drug addict. Yeah,
good for you, God bless you. I'll see you in heaven.
Bye bye. But I don't trust you. Why because yeah,
you're forgiven. You're gonna relapse, you're gonna fall back. But see,
that's not the great that's power of sin.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
The power of grace is different. It's more powerful than sin.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
And with my eyes in the last fifteen years, I've
seen love types of people.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
There was so much change.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
She will never recognize they were in that person before.
Because Jesus changes people and changes them permanently. That's why
I believe in the power of grace. I believe in
the power that changes a drug addic, that changes an alcoholic,
that changes a selfish rebellion prick into a man of God,
changes a woman that was loose into a woman of God.
(34:27):
I was extended that mercy. You would extended that mercy.
And I remember seeing that right in front of my
eyes when we were in Africa and a terrorist who
was supposed to blow up that place, and the power
of God came upon him. Demons came out, and the
continents of his face changed, his eyes changed. He went
from this dark into the eyes they were full of love.
(34:47):
And he gets on his knees and starts repenting. This
is a guy who's from Bokol H'aram. These people blow
up churches and kill people.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
I'm like, these people.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Deserve like the seventh level of hell. And here's he
is not very far from me where I can see him,
and right in front of my eyes, this man is changing,
and in my mind I'm like, God, do you save
people like that?
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Yes, he does.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
He saves anybody from their sins who will repent. Our
church is not a museum of exotic artifacts. Our church
is not an aquarium of exotic fish. People here have
been broken but restored by the power of Jesus. We
(35:33):
have been humbled by her sin, but it brought us
to our knees, and then the grace of God reached us,
and he'll restore a character.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
It healed us.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
And that's why we have to carry humility about us.
That's why we cannot walk on a high horse and
look down on every person. God had not been for
the grace of God, you've been that person. You would
have been that person. It is the grace and the
mercy of God that not only saves and restores, publydeems
and places people in the family of God.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
To give God some praise right now.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
But where the story ends with Matthibuschev is not only
that he was restored, he was redeemed and he was
brought near. Where the story ends with Metthibuschev is where
we read his story says he was at the king's
table continually. What I find interesting in that portion of
the scripture, it mentions that Metthhibuschev was at the king's
table continuously four times. Why four times? Why does it
(36:35):
mention he was at the king's table. And then we
finished the verse, and it says this, and he was
lame in both of his feet four times it's mentioned
he is at the king's table continually, continually, continually lame
at both of his feet. The grace of God will
redeem you, change you. But the grace of God will
(36:58):
also not leave you when you still need changing, because
the grace of God is not done. Matthibushev had crippled legs.
He lived with crippled legs. Why does he say he
was at the king's table, Because when you sit at
(37:19):
the table, your legs are covered. When he said with
the king's sons, not only he was like one of
the sons. He was not crippled anymore. That are areas
God will deliver you from. That are things God will
(37:41):
set you free from. And that are going to be
things God will cover, develop and work on as you
sit in His presence every day, in His word, every
day with the Holy Spirit, every week at church, every
week at small proof, Will God remove the sin? Absolutely
(38:01):
will God remove the demons? Absolutely, But there are gonna
be things. They might not be sins, they might not
be addictions, but there could be things that you say,
why is God not removing that yet? I want to
let you know that God is placing you under his teaching,
under his spirit. Whatever God hasn't removed yet, He wants
(38:23):
to empower you to resist. He wants to grow in
you the grace to walk through those areas and grow
out of those areas for His glory and for his purpose.
That's why the Bible tells us entires that the grace
of God appear to all men, teaching us to deny ungodliness.
So the grace of God is not just rescuing me
(38:43):
from hell fire. The grace of God is my teacher.
As I am listening to God's words, as I am
going to church every week, as I am listening to
worship and spend time with the Holy Spirit. The cripple
areas of my life that cannot be you raised, they
are being covered.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
You who received healing from the trauma.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
But the memory the incident that happened, where you came from,
maybe it's not being you raised. Well, you spend time
with the Holy Spirit, spend time with the Holy scriptures,
and those areas are becoming covered. Those areas are becoming changed. Slowly,
but surely God is developing things in you. A gentleman
came after the first service today and who said, I
(39:24):
haven't seen my family for over fifteen years, since I
haven't seen my mom since I got married, And today
is his first time coming back to see his family,
and he watched few sermon videos. So he comes after
the first service and he says something. He asked me
a question, and he answered that question in the way
he asked it. He says, God has done so many
great things.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
He's changed my heart.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
I'm reconciling with my family, but there are a few
things I want to grow in my confidence. I want
to grow in my bulldness, I want to grow in
my faith.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Do I just need to keep.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
On sitting with him so he develops those things or
is there something else? And I said, I think you
just answered your own question. What He delivers you from
is through his grace, and what he develops you in
is also through his grace. It's his grace that's gonna
develop you. It's his grace, So you can be delivered
(40:12):
from spirit of lust. You still need to have a
character of gentleness to be a good husband, and the
grace of God is gonna help you. You gotta sit at
the feet of Jesus every day in his word, take
time to pray, and he will develop. He will cover
the areas of your life that need covering. He will
form areas of your life.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
That need forming.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
That's why you need a good, spirit filled Bible preaching,
worship loving church. You can't just sit in front of
NFL or NBA and you simply that cannot be your
church because that is not a table that will cover
your legs. He will expose your crippleness. Be at a
table that covers your legs. Be in the presence of
the Holy Spirit. That's why you cannot spend your whole
(40:54):
life scrolling all the time. Why because that's not gonna
cover your legs. That's gonna expose your It's gonna expose
your weaknesses. That's why you cannot simply just numb yourself
when you come from work and say, well I am
just too tired, let me just pop in Jack Daniels
and let me just pop in some tequila.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
No no, no, no, no, you gotta churnouce.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
Some worship music and spend some time recalibrating yourself to
the love of God because.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
It covers your legs. Amen.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Sin is stronger than you always. Grace is stronger than sin. Always.
Would you allow the grace of God to come into
your life? Paul said, we received abundance of grace. Some
of us may be received just a little bit, just
enough to get said no, no, no. There's more grace
(41:45):
for you to be changed. Grace for you to be restored,
Grace for you to be married, Grace for you to
have children, Grace for you to get that job, get
that business, Grace for you to finish your degree. Grace
for you to bring your neighbors to Christ, Grace for
you to start that ministry.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
Grace, abundance of grace.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
And then he says, this abundance of grace and gift
of righteousness that we may reign in life. Some people
have received just enough grace to make it to heaven,
but God has grace for you to reign in life.
Some people receive just enough grace to survive in life.
But God says, I have more grace for you to
(42:27):
reign in life. You don't have to just struggle. Will
life be challenging, yes, will life have difficulties, absolutely, in
this world you will have tribulation. But God says, my
grace is sufficient. My grace is enough. Peace I give you,
not like the world gives I give you, But the
peace I give you it will sustain you, It will
guard you, it will guide you, it will keep you
(42:50):
in perfect peace.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Amen, rise, dear.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Fe Have you been forgiven? Have you been redeemed? Have
you been restored? All right, thank you Lord. Well, right
now we want to give an opportunity to those people.
But this is your moment. This is that moment that
(43:17):
that lady shared with me today, This is your day. Well,
right now is that moment. If I can ask everybody's
attention for just a moment unless your need to exit,
they just stay standing.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
Please, thank you.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
In both of our sanctuaries and as well as online.
Let me ask you a question. Have you lived in
the blast radius of sin? You caused it, other people
caused it, and you've seen the devastation of that.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
Your life is broken.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
And maybe you have millions of dollars in your bank
and your influencer online. But my question is not that
what is happening right here? Today's your day, Jesus Love.
You don't need to sin more to be saved. You
don't need to end up in some weird, crazy situation
where you want to pull your brains out for you
to come to the realization you need to be saved,
(44:06):
and Jesus already provided that. Why not today? Why wait
another year? Why wait another month? Why need Why do
you need to have another duy? Why do you need
to have another heartbreak before you realize only He can
heal your heart? Today's the day, Now is the time.
Why do you need to have another suicide attempt to
realize that there is no solution in sale, saving and death.
(44:29):
There's only salvation in Jesus. But perhaps you are here
in the other category. All of this I'm talking about
is not new for you. In fact, you're very familiar
with it. But you drift it, walk away from Christ.
You're backslid. You're not walking with Jesus. And today you're
visiting this church because the family came. It's a Christmas
it's a good time, and honestly, I'm so glad though
I haven't seen you in twelve months, I'm so glad
(44:50):
you're here today.
Speaker 3 (44:52):
You're so welcome.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
If the only time I'll see you is on Christmas
and Easter, You're still welcome every Christmas and every Easter.
Speaker 3 (45:00):
God loves you so much.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
He doesn't want you to slide into church.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
He wants you to grow in church.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Would you make a commitment today to come back to
Jesus and say, Lord, I'll repent on my sins. I
forgive the people to hurt me, and God take away
the trauma, the drama, the craziness that's in my life.
Speaker 3 (45:14):
I need to get right with God. Now.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
It's gonna be challenging because someone you came with your friends,
you came with your ex, or you came.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
With your with your.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
Mom or your papa, and this is gonna get a
little bit awkward. So I'm going to ask you right
now to buy your head and close your eyes. This
is not about your family. You're not gonna go with
the family to heaven. You're going to stand before God
one on one. Salvation is individual. It is your personal
decision today. It doesn't require what people think of it.
(45:40):
You don't need to get anybody's approval of what you
do with your life and whether you give it to God.
When I count to three, and you need to get
right with God or you need to come back to Jesus.
I'm gonna ask you to slip your hand up in
the air, because that's gonna be your way of saying,
I am lost, I need Jesus. I backslid, I need
to I'm the Christ. One two and three. Just slip
(46:05):
that hand high. Thank you, my friend. I see your hand.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
Thank you. Just slip that hand high. You say, Hey,
this is me.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
I'm not coming here just to come to church.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
Thank you. I'm coming here. Thank you. I gotta get
vide with God.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
No matter how young you are, how old you are,
today is the day if you raise your hand or
you wanted to raise your hand in this sanctuary or
in the next sanctuary, and I'm going to ask you
to do a bold step. I'm going to ask you
to quickly come out of the seat and stand here
with me and if ushers can help us from the
second sanctuary, for people to come in as well. In
the second sanctuary, the ashes will guide you into this sanctuary.
(46:38):
So just make your way forward and just do it
really quickly. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (46:42):
Church. Give them an applause. As I've taking the bold step.
Let's go. There's one more person, a few more people
that were doing the God bless you.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Glad you're here. Glad you're here. Amen, God bless you,
God bless you. Thank you, Lord, Glad you're here. Glad
you're here. Him, Glad you're here. And there's more people
coming in. Those of you online, you can go ahead
(47:15):
and just drop that in the chat. I want to
be saved. I want to give my life to Jesus.
Speaker 3 (47:18):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
I want to give my life to the Lord. The
greatest decision you can make any life. This is where
life begins to churn. The grace of God comes.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
Thank you Lord. The rest of us we're going to
pray together with them right now.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
Say Lord Jesus, I believe you are the son of
God who died on the cross for all of my sins.
I will repent of my sins. Would you wash me
with your precious blood.
Speaker 3 (47:47):
I give you my.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Life, the good, the bad, and the broken. Would you
redeem me, heal my heart and fill me with the
Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3 (48:00):
This stay forward.
Speaker 2 (48:01):
I promise to follow you all the days of my life.
Speaker 3 (48:05):
In Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Amen, Amen, Thanks for listening to today's podcast. If you
are blessed by this message, be sure to subscribe and
send it to someone, and don't forget You can always
share it on your social stories. Stay connected with us
on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. For more information on internship,
prayer line conferences, and other resources, go to hungrygen dot com.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
Remember better is not good enough. The best is yet
to come.
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