Well, you stay standing, stay standing, stay standing, stay
standing. I am so glad to be with you
today. If you're thankful for Jesus,
put your hand up. If you're thankful that you get
to be a church, they put your other hand up.
Check to make sure that you put on deodorant and have a seat.
God bless you, guys. I am so excited to be with you
today. You guys have been so good to me
recently and I'm just so thankful to be a part of this
church. I want to welcome all of you
joining here at our 48th Street location.
Those of you joining from all of our different locations, those
of your part of our inside family, those you were part of
our online family. Something weird has been
happening to our online family. Some of you keep showing up for
church at one of our physical locations and we absolutely love
it. I went to encounter last night
to check on our high school, students met a kid at encounter
who has only ever attended our church online and he was doing
magic tricks. And so I was like I see That
I'll raise you one. I did a magic trick back.
His magic trick was better. Okay, and then before service
started day I met some people from Peoria who have been
watching our church online they decided hey you know what, we
got nothing to do. Let's drive in and hang out
here. So if you're watching online and
you're looking for an opportunity to hang out reach
out to one of our campuses, you can click on my face on the on
the website. And we'll get you connected one
of our campus pastors plan a visit.
We'd love to have, you come hang out and interact with us.
A little bit. Well, this year, the theme for
our church is everyone and we spent the first five weeks
talking about the kind of church that we want to continue to be.
And that we want to be a church that's for everyone, a church
that gives people time. Offers them hope takes
faith-filled risks searches for the loss, binds up the hurting
and proclaims the truth. Well, we also believe that
everyone wants a better family. We want better relationships
with our spouses, we want better relationship with our kids, But
our relationship with our parents better relationship with
grandkids, but a relationship with grandparents, all of us
want to win at home. All of us at some point in
other, though have come to grips with this devastating reality,
that relationships are complicated.
Hard. And sometimes hurtful, if you
agree with that statement, you can go, mmm, okay?
I just want to make sure I had the right group of people
because listen, if you guys are going, know, things are like as
easy as they've. It doesn't get any better than
where I'm at. You know, here's the mic.
Okay? When God made us, he hardwired
us for community. That is and what it is.
One of the primary ways that we were supposed to experience God
and grow in God, and learn about him.
And the greatest expression of this community is supposed to be
the family and it's because of the incredible power of the
family that has always been the target of Satan.
Make no mistake about it, your family has a very real enemy,
Satan wants to get a foothold in your family, so that way he can.
So generational dysfunction, Some of you you have seen sin
issues and challenges, go get passed from one generation to
the next to the next to the next.
Some of you are carrying the weight today, shouldering it on
your back, trying your best, to make sure that the pain you
experience doesn't get passed on.
It's because Satan got ahold of one person and he's so to seed
that reap the generational weed that keeps sprouting up in
generation after generation and without God's help, you'll never
kill that weed. But God, As a plan, he has
tools. He has power.
He has wisdom available to you, and to me, that keep the odds in
our favor because if God is for us, who can be against us and
some of you right now, you might be tempted to take the exit ramp
and go Clayton. Really appreciate the first
couple sermons of the year like jet loved you, but this sermon
is not for us. I don't have a spouse yet.
I don't have kids yet or my kids are out of the house.
So what do you want me to do for the next eight weeks?
Let me tell you something. I want you to show Oh, up keep
your butt in the seat and watch what God does.
Because I believe that there are principles in this series that
are either going to prepare you for when the opportunities come
or they're going to help you realize that you have way more
opportunities in front of you than you originally thought
whether or not we want to admit it admit.
It most of us have a plan for how we want our family to
operate and how we want our family to turn out.
It may not be spoken. It may not be written down but
internally we have a set of Expectations newlyweds figure
this out because they just think that everything is going to be
perfect and then they have to fold the towels and they're
like, oh, dear God. Who did I marry right?
We have like I thought we were always going to fold the towels
this way. What breaks our heart is that
rarely does our experience match our expectations.
We have this Unwritten set of rules of how we want our family
to operate. And then when it doesn't operate
that way we get frustrated, we get depressed, we get angry.
And then that frustration in that depression in that anger,
we sin. And we so a generational seed
into our family, this got to be careful here.
This is complicated. This is what most of us kind of
want our family to look like, We have this perfect vision, this
dream or like, Yep, this is what I want it to be.
In fact, we looked through all the different families that were
out there and all the different houses and we picked this one
and we're like, that's exactly what I want it to look like.
And so we go to work, trying to make that happen and every
couple that meets with one of our staff members for premarital
counseling, it's here that they're like, this is what I
want us to look like. And man people who are getting
ready to get married, are some of those funnest people to hang
out with, because they have no. How real marriage actually is
okay. They're like, we're never going
to be like our parents and like your mother.
Okay? Yeah, there's yeah, brother.
Hold on. Okay.
Yeah, they're going we're not even gonna fight.
We love each other. We can't stop holding hands.
My brother. You're going to buy a suburban
and she's gonna ride in back. Okay.
This is this is you got stuff coming your way but everybody
wants. This is what every parent wants
with their kid. Every kid wants with their
parent. We have this ideal dream.
We Looked at her like, yes, this is what we want.
The same is true for grandparents and grandkids.
However, in order to get this life, you have to have three
things, you need a plan, Did you follow?
Okay, you need all the pieces. And you need everybody involved
to follow the same plan. And just so, you know, it's that
simple. the problem is, Some of us.
We started to build this house and we ended up with this house.
Even the dogs dead in this picture, okay?
And one day you're looking at your your marriage, you like I
thought I was gonna get this. This is what it looks like.
The boys are supposed to be on top of the house and you put
them in the front yard honey. How did this happen?
Well, for some of us it's because we didn't follow the
directions. We thought we knew better.
Others of us were like, hold on a second.
There were directions. I got no clue.
Some was, we didn't get all of the pieces.
Your you never had a Godly dad, you didn't have a chance to
learn from somebody and watch, how you're supposed to interact
with your spouse. And so, here, you are trying to
be a dad without ever having one.
Your grandparents died young and so you don't even know how to be
a grandparent because you never got to observe it.
Some of us are houses look like this because not everybody was
willing to follow the plan. You did your part but they
definitely didn't do their part it requires everybody to
participate. Everybody to follow the plan,
but some of the people in your family that had ideas of their
own parents of teenagers. You know what I'm talking about
parents who have adult kids, you know this pain and we thought
everything was going good. But no, it's some of us.
Fear describe your house right now.
This is what you'd say. It's not together.
I don't think all the pieces are there.
But there's potential. Okay, yeah, this is where I
won't point in time. You, you thought you were
building this There's a period of your life where you felt like
your family was headed in the right direction.
You're engaged but then you learn some of their secrets.
And you had to send the invitations out saying the
wedding's been postponed or canceled.
You were married and all of a sudden they changed got caught
up in sin and walked away from God.
Maybe your parents and you thought that getting pregnant
was going to be easy. But it hasn't happened.
Yet you thought your child would be healthy but you're still
reeling from a miscarriage. Your you thought?
Your kid would stay innocent and pure You thought they would keep
talking to you, you thought that you guys were going to be best
friends? And now they look like you, they
sound like you, they talk like you but when they come down the
stairs or when they come back from college or when they visit
you for a long weekend, they look like you.
They sound like you but you don't recognize him anymore.
Maybe you're divorced, you thought you'd be together
forever. You thought you had someone on
your team, and now you're trying to figure out how to do it all
alone. You're married Faithfully for a
number of years. And then out of nowhere, they
passed away. And now you're a widow.
And there's all kinds of things that you didn't expect.
You'd have to navigate, I mean, on top of the grief, there's now
a cold side to the bed. You you haven't even figured out
how to start making the right amount of coffee in the morning
because you keep making enough for them to you go shopping and
you buy too many bananas and you keep just when you're having a
good day you come home and you realize that you didn't make it
through the bananas. Again this week, it's nose and
for years, he got up early and plowed it, and now you're trying
to figure out How many trips outside?
Are you going to have to go in 15 minute increments, to be able
to get yourself all the way out of the drive to get to work on
time? In the middle of the heat of
Summer? You're finding yourself, trying
to Google. How do you start a lawn mower?
Because he just always took care of it.
How do you navigate this? Perhaps one of the hardest
things to do on planet Earth is to raise a Godly family.
Maybe we need to recognize that the thing that we think is going
to be easy and perfect, and life-giving is going to take
absolutely everything inside of us to pull off.
It's it's comforting to me that when I read through the pages of
scripture, anytime the Bible goes into detail about anybody
in the Bible, you know what, you'll find every single one of
those families was dysfunctional.
You don't find a really good Godly family to kind of model
your life. After all of them have glaring
sins and leave Devastation in their wake.
And the way we pull ourselves through the pain and the way, we
navigate the sorrow, the way we pick up the pieces is by
clinging to the words of God, everything happens for a reason.
You've probably said this, you've probably heard this.
And we see the beauty of this on the other side of a divorce,
when we find a new person to share the rest of our lives
with, we see it in the marriage that's put together after the
counseling or the relationship we get to have with our
grandkids that we never had with our own kids.
We go through a difficult spell and someone comes up and they
offer us. These kind words, everything
happens for a reason and it's like honey to our lips The
problem. Is that God never said that.
Because if you say those words to the wrong person, you're not
going to comfort them, you're going to anger them.
You're going to push them further away from God because
everything happens for a reason. If God's the one who said that
then that makes God the architect of your pain.
If everything happens for a reason, then your husband
cheated on you, Thank God, instigated it.
It means when you fall down the flight of stairs, you go.
God, thanks for not pushing me down two flights.
Just just one flight. When your child dies, when your
friends turn on you, when your wife won't speak to you, when
your kids move out on you, because they don't want to be
under your home anymore. Everything happens for a reason
God, why would you do this to me?
You say these words to the wrong person and they'll run from God
and they'll be angry at God for something that God never said.
so if you've ever said these words, and if you're clinging to
these words, Stop. And your desire to say something
good and nourishing, to a person who is hurting, you might be
saying the exact wrong thing. Let me give you something better
to say. We need to replace everything
happens for a reason with anything can be redeemed.
Oh, that's better. That means that if God can get
his hand in a situation, he can make it so good that in
hindsight, you'll go. I had no idea that my life would
turn out like this, even though it started out like that, let me
show you what I mean by anything can be redeemed.
Because if you're here today, if you're listening to my voice and
you're going, I would like an aspect of my family redeemed.
Let me tell you why. I personally have hope that
anything can be redeemed. You ready for this?
We're going to go through a bunch of scriptures, you're
going to have to hang on, but trust me, it's all going to make
sense in the end. The reason I believe that God
can redeem anything is because of these verses right here
Romans chapter 8, verse 1 through 4, therefore there is
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Because through Jesus Christ, the law or Christ Jesus, the law
of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin
and death for what the law was powerless to do because It was
weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, to be a sin offering.
And so he condemned sin in the flesh.
In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be
fully met in us who do not live, according to the flesh.
But according to the spirit, I know that God can redeem
anything. Because God redeemed, the worst
thing, he redeemed me, he redeemed you, if you're able at
all of our locations, just this is To sound weird, but trust me,
touch your ankle. I mean, you guys do the, oh
yeah, praise God for the flexibility.
Now, listen, if I know you can touch your ankle, I don't have
to ask you. Can you touch your nose?
Because if you can reach your ankle, you can reach your nose.
If God can redeem your soul from hell, then I have no doubt in my
mind that he can navigate and redeem the nose of your
relationships. I know that God can redeem
anything because he redeemed, the worst thing, he redeemed us
through his son, he took us pay attention this from being
prisoners to sin and set us free in him.
He did that kind of Redemptive work.
Look what else? He did.
Romans five are right. Verse five and six those who
live, according to the flesh, have their minds set on what the
flesh desires. But those who live in accordance
with the spirit, have their minds set on what the spirit
desires, the Mind governed by the flesh is death.
But the Mind governed by the spirit is life and peace.
Leave this up here for just a second, he gives you and me a
new mind that is governed by the spirit.
If you don't have the new mind of Christ in you, it's going to
lead to death. So you're taking a mind that
leads to death into your marriage, into your parenting,
into your grandparenting, into your relationships or Do the
work of Jesus Christ in your life, you can take a mind that
has been governed by the spirit, and this brings life and peace.
If you were to get two wishes today for your family, Two
wishes that when you enter the room to talk to your wife that
when you enter into the room to talk to your kids, if you were
going to Usher some counseling to your grandkids, how many of
you at all of our locations would go?
I want to give Life Giving words and words that give peace to
your family. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. If you didn't raise your hand
pool. Okay.
I tried to set you up for a win there.
Okay, if you want this, you get this through the spirit and the
spirit takes up residence in a guide.
Your mind look, what else it does.
Romans 8:9 you, however, are not in the realm of the flesh for in
the realm of the spirit. If indeed the spirit of God
lives in you, and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ,
they do not belong to Christ. Leave it right here for just s.
Go back one, slide. Yeah, hold on a second.
So, how do I get the mind of Christ?
I get it through the spirit of Christ.
And if you don't have the spirit of Christ, you're not in Christ.
Well, how do you get the spirit? The Bible tells us that when we
are baptized, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We become United with Christ. So when you are baptized into
Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit.
You have your mind. That's governed by the spirit
and it moves you out of the realm of the Flesh and into the
realm of the spirit. Now, let's keep going verse 10.
But if Christ is in you though, even In though, your body is
subject to death because of sin. The spirit gives life because of
righteousness. And if the spirit of him who
raised Jesus from the dead is living in you.
Hold on a second. Okay.
This what this means is that he has the power to redeem, you
from death. So there's going to come a
moment time. When every single one of us are
going to die, our bodies are going to cease to operate.
And when that happens, the holy spirit is going to be a part of
resurrecting us. So that way we become come
Eternal in Christ in heaven forever, if he can redeem a body
from death, That means that he can redeem your marriage if he
can redeem. The biggest thing I can trust
him in the small things, if I can trust him.
With my eternity, I can trust him with my today.
If I can trust him with my salvation, I can trust him with
my parenting. The conversations.
I have to have now. Let's keep going in the text.
See what God does next. Romans 8:12, therefore, brothers
and sisters. We have an obligation but it is
not to the flesh to live according to it for if you live,
according to the flesh, you will die.
But if by the spirit, you put to death the misdeeds of the body,
you will live through the spirit, you have the power to
put to death, the very sins that are Waging War and causing harm
in your family. There is a sin in your marriage,
in your parenting and your grandparenting it exists.
If you don't know what it is, ask them.
They'll tell you. Okay, I need you to know that
the spirit gives you power to put to death, the sin that is
causing harm to the very people you love.
That's how good your God. Is he is coming alongside of you
helping you to have the relationship that you
desperately want to have. He's coming and giving you the
tools to bring death, the things that are causing.
Those you love harm. Look at verse 14, for those who
are led by the spirit of God are the children of God, the spirit
you received, does not make you slaves.
So that we live in fear again, rather the spirit you receive
brought about your adoption to sonship and by him, we cry Abba
Father, this is crazy here we find out that in God's
Redemptive plan. He takes us from being enemies
of God to being children of God. I think I've told this story
before when I was either 11 or 14, my parents adopted my
brother. You can tell he's my brother
because he has blond hair blue eyes, great metabolism and loves
to run, okay? He he'll be sitting on a couch
and go I think I'm just going to go for like a Four Mile Run.
I'm like, okay. It's are you all right?
Like someone chasing you is every, I mean, what do you need?
Yeah, he's a freak now. Check this out.
My parents adopted him. I guess what?
My last name is Hensel. Guess what?
His last name is. Hensel.
When my dad dies, guess how much of whatever my dad has is mine.
Well, there's four of us. I get 25%.
Guess how much my brother gets? 25%.
That's a pile of stink right there.
He's not even one of us. Oh, hold on a second.
God's the one who adopted adopted us?
My dad chose to make my brother one of us and I wouldn't have it
any other way. I was just joking about, I can't
believe it. He gets the same amount because
when he got brought in, he got full Airship of being a pencil
and that makes sense to all of you, right?
That of course if my parents are going to adopt him, he shouldn't
be treated as a second class citizen.
Look at how good your God. Is he adopted us?
He put his name in us and he makes us here's heirs with who
with Jesus. Are you kidding me?
That's how good he is. If he can take you, from being
his enemy to being his son, what could he do with your parenting?
What could he do in your marriage if he has?
That kind of power is anything off limits?
Now, this is not going to be easy, it's going to be hard, it
may be a challenge today and the love loving your family.
Well and leading them, well will be costly and heavy but one day
it will be made perfect. If we don't give up, look what
it says in Romans. 8:18, I consider that our present
sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that
will be revealed in US. When Paul writes this, he's
writing to people who are carrying a heavy burden for
their faith to bring about Godly redemption in a community, and
it's hard and it hurts, but he's saying don't give up.
Because one day there will be some beauty in this.
Some of us, we want a better family, we just don't want it to
hurt. We want to have a better family
but we don't want to take the high road because the high road
always seems uphill and let's be honest, it's hard for us to take
the high road. When we see everybody else
taking the low road and then we write ourselves a permission
slip before God gets it is able to do the Redemptive work, we
walk it for a little while, like some of you today you're going
to be like you know what, I'm going to go home.
I'm just going to do a really awesome job in front of my
spouse. And you're going to last like 15
minutes. And I'm like, okay.
All right, I guess this is how it is.
Then No lie. You know.
I'm right. You like Clayton.
Quit. You know how I know because I
I've seen what Jennifer goes through.
Okay, I've seen it. Yeah, we were like all energized
to go home and make a difference and bring about a change.
In we go. Hey, I just want to talk to you,
son. I know things haven't been like
I am busy now, car, I find it. Then then then then, then then
then then, then no, no. It was God's patience.
And his kindness that brought us to Redemption.
Oh, that we should be patient with the people.
We're trying to turn things around.
Do you want a better marriage? Better parenting, but a
relationship with your kids. What if it's going to take
longer than you thought? Do you think that God could
Supply you with the strength and the patience and the kindness to
endure? The present hardship for future?
Glory in your marriage? Look at Romans 8:18, or and last
one in the same way the spirit helps us in our weakness.
We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the spirit himself
intercedes for us through wordless, Roans.
And he who searches our heart knows, the mind of the spirit.
Because the spirit intercedes for God's people, these are the
people he's adopted. This is you and me, once we
start an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ
in accordance with the will of God, no matter how hard it gets,
no matter how heavy the load is, no matter how dark the
situation, no matter how anguishing the moments, you need
to know this, you have constant access to God In Prayer All I
need you to hear the truth of this.
It is in that constant access to God In Prayer that he will give
you the gifts and the strength that you need to carry the heavy
load that you're carrying to give you the patient's to
navigate the situation, and sometimes you're going to go.
But Clayton, I don't even know what to pray for.
Yeah, I've been there too. You don't even know where to
start. I've been there too and it's in
those moments when you don't even know what to pray for and
you don't even know where to start that I need you to know
that the Holy Spirit who is in. You is interceding on your
behalf to the father who knows exactly what the situation calls
for. I'm a super simple guy.
There's all kinds of things that I want for my kids and for my
family like a long long list. And if you try and figure out
what are you not going to pray for?
It gets really that gets like, you're like, oh my goodness.
I need to be praying for way more things.
And so, then I was like, God, I'm just going to pray for like
two things, so that way you don't forget, and I don't
forget, okay? And I mean this, if you were to
hop in the car, with me, on Tuesday, when I take my kids to
school, I pray the same prayer. I prayed the same.
Prayer for Kennedy, when I was taking her to school.
And there's a little, there's a tanning salon place that we used
to where we turned the right to go to her school.
And I would start praying that prayer until she was in high
school. And I, when we got to a stop
sign on Ward Street that are on Grant Street, I'd start praying
for her there and here when we get to 15th Street, I start
praying for my boys. I'm just going to tell you what
my super spiritual prayer is you ready?
It's just scripture. God help.
My kids to grow up to love you with all their heart, mind,
soul, and strength, and help them to embrace, the Great
Commission to make disciples of all Nations.
And God help them to find a spouse who loves you and will
love them. Well if God just answers that
prayer, I'm good. Do you want your kids to be
wealthy? Nope, I want them to love the
Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength,
and breaks, the Great Commission, and Make Disciples
of all Nations, and help them to find a spouse who loves them and
loves them. Well, because it doesn't matter
how much money they have if there's not loving their home
and there's not the love of Jesus in the heart, it had mean
a hill of beans will do you want him to have a job?
Really. Don't care about that either,
because I just really if I could pick between my kids being
gainfully, Floyd and having an intimate personal relationship
with Jesus. I I know which one.
I'll figure the rest out. Okay, I'll save harder.
I just want my kids to know Jesus and to be United with
somebody who knows and loves Jesus.
And when I don't know what to pray about situations, sometimes
I just know, God, you're covering for me.
This week at ever seen one of our locations, you're going to
have an opportunity to pray over the relationships that you have
and we've got cards at all of our locations.
Most of your campus pastors will be talking to you about this
during the plane landing. Some might be doing it during
the announcements and what we want you to do is we want you to
start praying over your family and some of you are going, I
already pray over my family, cool, man.
All right, careful. Okay.
We're not saying you have to stop, okay, but for those but we
want to give you like maybe an area to just to kind of Gaston
for the next week and see what God does.
Because here's one of the things that I've noticed we can't
expect Godly wins without pursuing Godly ways.
That I can't expect God to take the ground in my life that I'm
not yielding to him in prayer. Sometimes God uses prayer to
open up my eyes to the work that he's already doing.
That when the things I'm praying about, I start to be more
sensitive to it when I'm not praying and I see it represented
in other, people's lives. Romans 8:28, this where we're
going to finish up. And we know that in all things,
God works for the good of those who love him, who have been
called, according to his purpose.
Let me give you some hope. Not only did God redeem you, but
God is working for your good. If you are in a relationship
with him, he is working for your good.
That means that you and God are on the same team when it comes
to your marriage. He wants a Godly marriage for
you. God is on your team when you
want a better relationship with your kids, or your grandkids, or
your parents. He wants that too.
God. Will you want a family that
loves well and represents Christ and cares for the world around
them? God wants that to you want a
family that prays and gives and connects and lives for a greater
purpose. I want you to know that God
wants that to you. Want your kids to grow up to
love the Lord and to find a spouse that loves the Lord and
race kids. That love the Lord showed us God
and he is working for For this good, not only is God working
for are good, but he is giving us good things.
He is working to rescue us and forgive our sins and remove our
shame rescue your heart redeem, your past.
Nothing is too big for him. If you can touch your ankle, you
can touch your nose. If he can redeem your life, he
can redeem your relationships. Cole Miller, who's a part of our
Pike County location. Help me with this sermon, and he
told me about can Suki. And some of you guys are way
more What I am. But I had never heard of this
and I am, like, all the way in now.
Consider you just means golden joinery.
Okay? And what it is, is when someone
breaks a bowl, they put it back together.
Here's a picture of what it looks like.
That the fractures on a ceramic Bowl, don't represent the end of
that objects life, but simply an essential moment in its history.
How many of you have a chipped plate at home and you haven't
thrown it away, you just keep it there and it's chipped.
How many of you've pulled out a coffee mug and you've dropped it
on the ground and it shattered and you up got upset because
someone gave it to you and you end up having to throw it away
and can sue you, you don't throw it away, you put it back
together. And the way you put it back
together, as you put gold in all of the broken places.
This is probably the best description of what our
relationships could look like if we were to let God in the middle
of them, that the broken pieces of your relationship aren't
something to be thrown away, but there a place for God to come in
and fix it. They don't represent the end of
that objects life but an essential moment in its history.
It the flaws of its shape are not hidden from inspection but
in blazoned with golden significance, how many of us
we've tried to hide Broken pieces of our life, instead of
Allowing God to put his golden finger in and restore it and
then show it off for the world to see.
Look at what my God redeemed. It was Hemingway's famous line
from A Farewell to Arms where he says the world breaks everyone
and afterward. 'S many are stronger in the
broken places. This repair requires
transformation and the good news is that the God we serve
specializes in transformation the pottery didn't crack for a
good reason. You don't take your marriage and
dash It On The Ground just so God can put it back together.
No, that's not what it's about. It's about when life happens and
things break that we believe that God can redeem them when we
put the situation and we put the sin in his hands and he takes
his golden finger and he Something beautiful out of it.
This is why people say everything happens for a reason
because you can't help but look at this and go if it hadn't
broken, I never would have had something so beautiful.
But what we're focusing on is God's Redemptive work, not his
intended work. God intended for your marriage,
to be happy and whole and forever.
But when it breaks, when it shatters, I need you to know
that God can redeem it and then when you share your testimony
you allow other people to see the part where God worked his
greatest work inside of each and every single.
One of you, the interesting thing.
But I love about Lego pieces is even though you can break the
house down, you can never destroy the power of a single
piece. The little knobs on the top and
little spaces on the bottom are like the most indestructible
part of a Lego. I mean, sure, you can pull them
apart and you can make them all a bunch of just singular pieces.
And so while the house, may not exist, the building blocks for
the house never disappear. God hardwired into your DNA, an
undestructible Force this that you were designed for ever
designed to be connected to God and connect it to the people
around you. No matter how bad the situation
has been, no matter how bad you were hurt, no matter how many
heartaches you have had to endure.
There is an Okay? And part of you that was put in
there by God, that is uncrushable, and it is the
ability to always be rebuilt, one relationship at a time.
It is deep in the DNA of us. That's maybe why it says, in
First Peter 5:10 and the God of all Grace.
Whoo. Okay, let's do this together and
the God of all Grace, who called you to his eternal glory in
Christ. After you have suffered a little
while. Will him will himself restore
you and make you. Look at these words, strong firm
and steadfast. Who called you to his eternal
glory, after you have suffered a little while, keep suffering,
folks, you're trying to fix that marriage.
Keep suffering, you're trying to endure the heartache of your
kids keep suffering, keep suffering because he himself,
will restore you, and make you strong firm, and steadfast.
And when he does that, there's only going to be one thing to do
to say these words to him. Be the power forever and ever.
Amen! God bless you!
We're moving to a time of decision.
Real quick. Those of you who are single.
I got to clear something up. I didn't clear it up in the
sermon. I didn't have time and I'm
already running late. If you don't ever get married, I
want you to know. You're just fine.
If you don't ever find that someone you're good, if you
already found a someone and that someone didn't work out and
you're going I feel like I have to find someone again.
You don't you don't, you are not a better Christian when you get
married. You're not more, holy more
useful, more Godly because you're married, because marriage
isn't what gets you into heaven? Oh, we'll get you into heaven is
actually a single guy who never married.
His name was Jesus and if being married is what makes you were
usable and worthwhile boy, Jesus would be a gigantic, that's
weird. How about this one a most of
your new testament? was written by a man named Paul,
you know, an interesting thing about Paul He never got married.
Peter, the guy just read from he only wrote two books in the
Bible. He was married thinking what he
could have done. Hear me.
Some of you are carrying around this weight.
You're going to Clayton, you just prayed for your kids to get
married. Yeah, I'd like my kids to get
married, but listen. You don't need to get married to
be used by God to be a powerful force to be leveraged, for the
advancement of the Gospel. You don't have to get married
for God to love you anymore. Listen, if you get married, he's
gonna love you. The exact same amount he did
before you got married. So, if you're carrying around
some spiritual, wake that you have to get married, not here.
Not at this church, not in the Bible because two of the most
famous people in Scripture. Did it without a spouse.
Just be faithful. Just follow.
After God, if it's the desire of your heart if you want it, keep
praying for. But listen I don't want you
thinking that this church is just for married folk because
listen married folk have all kinds of problems.
We need some people that don't have marriage problems, coming
to our church. And the best way to do that is
more single people, okay? Okay, you're my heart in this
second thing. If you don't have a relationship
with Jesus Christ, You just don't you just don't stand a
chance. You can't fix your marriage,
your parenting, your grandparenting, on your own
power on your own strength. It only comes through him.
And it's only after he comes in and with his Spirit starts, to
put the to death, the Deeds of your life that you'll never be
able to live the life that you were designed for known as I was
going through. Romans 8, I'm hoping that maybe
you are going. I want what they're talking
about. I want a new mind and a new
spirit, I want life and I want peace.
I want to live a life where there's no condemnation where
I've been rescued and made a son and I get to cry out Abba
Father. What the Bible is telling us
there is you get to call god, dad, when my kids get hurt in
the house when they fall and trip or you know, something bad
happens, they don't go past the Clayton.
Pastor Clayton. I beseech, thee.
Come to thy Aid. No, they don't let him go.
Elder, Clayton, that they don't do that.
If I was a doctor, they wouldn't go.
Ah, doctor Hensel, you know, my kids cry out, dad, dad.
What? What I make a horrible God,
okay, that's why it's better him than me and better him than you
trust me. Do you?
Yeah. Well, hold on a second.
Clicking. What are you saying?
Yeah you get to call god, dad. When you come into intimate
personal relationship with him. He is your father always he
Jehovah Jireh Jehovah Rapha. It was he all kinds of things as
he e Lo Keem? Is he a man?
You, well, yeah, but you don't have to remember any of those
words, because you get all of those words when you cry out
Daddy and that could be true for you.
Today, you could find your heavenly father if you have
questions about that, there's a new somebody right over by the
baffle. Sure he would love to talk to
you about it. For the rest of y'all.
In here, up here at the steps in different spots, we have these
little prayer cards. We have one for single people,
we have one for married people, we have 14 people with kids and
we have ones for grandparents. You might be going with Clayton.
I'm, I'm married. And I've got kids and I've got
grandkids fine. I mean, overachiever pick up
three cards, okay, what I want you guys to do this week, just
just think with me for a second. What if you and all the people
in your row where to start praying to God in a singular
Direction? What do you think could happen
to our marriages? Well, what do you think could
happen in our homes? I don't know.
Let's find out. Would you stand with me, man?
God, I love this church. All of the time that we get to
spend together and grow together and I pray that you would use
this time right now, to bring about a change in every heart,
both in this room and to those watching online, the God, you
would help us to take steps. I know there's some people in
here that maybe in their pride their going, my marriage is
good, my parenting is gold. God, I pray that they realize
that they ain't seen nothing yet that when they turn over pieces
of Life to you. You can make broken things
brand-new. Yeah, I know there's people in
here right now that believe that their marriage is beyond saving
that their kids are Beyond reaching, but God, nothing,
nobody ever is beyond the reach and the power of your love.
And so God were claiming that truth today.
And as we come up here and get down on our knees and pray, as
we pick up these prayer cards, I'm asking you to meet us here,
inject. Our hearts full of hope your
name, I pray. Amen.