Speaker 1: 0:14

You all may be seated. You all may be seated. Some of y'all are like what is he doing? Y'all are too kind. What a friend we have in Jesus. We serve a faithful God, a God that is kind, that is just, that is good. Scripture tells us that his goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life. Anybody grateful for Jesus today, anybody grateful for Jesus today? Well, if I haven't had the pleasure to meet you, my name is Aaron Hines. I'm the worship pastor here at Northgate. I'm serving you all in a different capacity today. Wow, I see your pastor, pastor Lawrence, is away. I'm so, so, so excited about this word.

Speaker 1: 1:09

Today, if it's your first time ever coming to Northgate, we do something that is called expository teaching. Say, expository Teaching. What is that? I'm glad you asked. So, basically, yeah, yeah, what is that? So, basically, we go through the scriptures verse by verse each and every single week. We break it down, we don't go Every now and then we'll do topical stuff, but for the most part, we go scripture by scripture, verse by verse, every single week, and we've been in the book of Matthew for a gazillion years at this point I'm joking. It's been like three Same difference, right and we're coming to a close. We'll be out of Matthew mid-year this year and last week we had the pleasure of seeing Pastor Lawrence do this beautiful display in chapter 26 of Matthew showing the establishment of communion. And so all of these things are happening within the last 48 to 72 hours of for when Jesus is crucified. So we're in I want to give you context of the timeline that is happening then. Then, after that, he's arrested, he is crucified and then he rises from the dead, which is why we show up every single Sunday. And so that's where we are right now in Matthew, and I'm really, really excited to get to the next book that we will be studying. Amen, say amen again.

Speaker 1: 2:34

All right, so first off, we're going to start off with reading the scripture. The scripture is going to pop up behind me and as it pops up, we are going to read this together. Y'all with that? Okay, let's do it. So this is Matthew, chapter 26, verses 30 through 33. And it reads here we go, and when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them you will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike, the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter answered him, though they all fall away. Because of you, I will never fall away. Let me pray for us. God, we thank you so much for your word. May you reveal yourself to us through your scripture. Go before us In Jesus' name. We pray Amen, amen, amen.

Speaker 1: 3:34

So it's Valentine's Day weekend, essentially, and I just got a quick question. Who celebrated Valentine's Day this past Friday? Raise your hand for me. Raise your hand for me, slim Pickens, y'all, okay, All right, real quick. Raise your hand again, for real. Don't be shy. Yeah, don't be shy.

Speaker 1: 3:52

I'm not shaming the people who didn't. I do feel a little bad. Everybody, stand up real quick. Let's do something real quick, because y'all making me feel real bad. Everybody, everybody. Come on, stand up, turn to the person closest to you and we go give them some love, say happy Valentine's Day, give them a big hug. Yeah, let's do that real quick. Let's do that real quick. Say happy Valentine's Day to all. Yeah, yeah, let your girl know I didn't take you out, but I love you. I didn't take you out.

Speaker 1: 4:20

It's Lobster Fest at Red Lobster. All right, y'all can sit down. Y'all can sit down. Some of y'all look like y'all needed the love. I saw everybody that didn't raise their hand look mugging, mugging.

Speaker 1: 4:35

Yeah, have you ever noticed this? That Valentine's Day and, honestly, just certain holidays specifically, it kind of turns us into like over-promisers. Have you ever noticed that? Is that just no? Like it almost. Especially if you, like didn't have a person last year, then you got a person and fellas, y'all know what I'm talking about.

Speaker 1: 4:53

You feel the pressure of like I got to make this count. This has to be something. It has to be a big deal. It has to be a big deal, right? So you know what you get excited. January 31st comes around and you're like man. So this year we didn't do much last year because of the kids or whatever the thing is, and you're like this year we got to go big. We got to go big this year. You know what we're going to do this year.

Speaker 1: 5:18

Let's go to Tahoe for Valentine's Day. Tahoe, right, I work at Burger King, but we can figure it out. We can figure it out, right. You know what I mean. Or maybe Tahoe is not your thing. Maybe you don't like snow. I don't like snow, so maybe that's not your thing.

Speaker 1: 5:34

Let's do Napa, right, let's get on the wine train. Take out a loan. You can afford it. It's expensive, it's ridiculous, right, it's like a gazillion dollars. But you know, anyways, right, you're like, let's go to Napa. Or maybe you're like, you know, let's go extra big. You know, babe, I love you. It's been a couple years now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look at all the single people yeah right, yeah, right, let's do it Right. And we get excited, right, we get really, really excited. We want to go big, like, babe, I'm going to do this for you, I'm going to do that for you.

Speaker 1: 6:07

Then February 10th comes around, all the ladies looking at their man, like I ain't seen no tickets bought yet. What's going on, right? And then February 12th comes around. You know, work gets a little hectic. And then February 14th arrives and you find yourself in a Chick-fil-A drive-thru or door dashing your favorite food, picking up a rose from the Raley's at Southampton, real quick, or the gas station right there.

Speaker 1: 6:34

What happened? What happened? It's reality, right. What happened was this is life got in the way. Life got in the way. We didn't mean to over-promise and under-deliver, but what happened? Life got in the way. You didn't mean to under-del, had good intentions, which we often do, but life got in the way.

Speaker 1: 7:02

And isn't this true for life? Just on a regular basis, even when it's not a holiday? Quick, quick, quick poll, real quick, right? Um, how many of us at the top of the year said that we were going to work out three to four times a week? Raise your hand, leave. No, come on, come on. Leave your hand up. Leave your hand up. Yeah, all right. Now, leave your hand up. If you've consistently done that, oh God, all right. Raise your hand if you said I'm going to eat healthier January. When you're like I'm going to eat healthier, I'm putting donuts away, I'm putting the ice cream away, right, right, leave your hand up. If you've been consistently Okay, clap it up for those who did. Clap it up for the overachievers. Clap it up for the overachievers, right?

Speaker 1: 7:49

The point that I'm making is that we over-promise and we under-deliver all the time. It's human nature, it's just something that we do, and this is what we see in the text with Peter. Jesus predicts the disciples will abandon him, but Peter steps up and he makes this bold proclamation. He says even if they all fall away. I will never fall away. And it's actually kind of weird because, like Peter's making these bold promises like someone trying to impress their first date, and I'm just like what's really happening, and then we later see how life gets real, as it always does, and Peter doesn't deliver. So I want to take a step back really quick because, if anybody who knows me, let me tell you something.

Speaker 1: 8:36

I love going to the movies, like I'm a big fan. I get the popcorn, I get the nachos yes, I get both. Don't judge me, mind your business. And I sit three rows from the back, right in the middle. I want the IMAX big screen, we doing the whole thing. I love good movies and the thing about a good movie is they do a great job setting the stage and giving context.

Speaker 1: 8:58

So let's talk about the context of what's happening in the text. Right here, it's Holy Week. This is again the night of Jesus's betrayal. He dies tomorrow. Right, it's just after the Last Supper, as we talked about last week when we saw the establishment of communion, and it's right before Jesus's prayer at the Garden of Gethsemane, right, and the next day he's arrested. And where are they? So where they're at is Mount Olive. I'm going to keep going. Who's involved?

Speaker 1: 9:25

So we have Jesus, we have the disciples and, specifically in the text, we have Peter. Who's highlighted Peter? Who is Peter? Peter's like the bold, the brash, he says all the loud things out loud. And most of us have somebody in our life who was like this. It's a family member, a friend, they're inappropriate. They just say whatever comes to their mind. Anybody got somebody like that in their life or family. Yeah, everybody should. If you didn't raise your hand, you're probably the inappropriate person. It's probably you. I hate to break it to you. If you're the one they're always shushing, it's you. It's you. It's you, sis, I'm sorry, it's you right. This is who Peter is and we often see him say the thing out loud, be incorrect, and Jesus is so, so, so gracious with his responses to him.

Speaker 1: 10:13

So what's happening here and I want to pause here for a sec because this is super important the first scripture? In that line it says and they sung a hymn. Now, if we just read that surface level, we think, oh, they sung and they moved on. No, no, no. This is actually really, really important. Last week, pastor Lawrence had a really, really amazing audio of what the Hallel Psalms sounded like. Now they practice Judaism during this time, so it's Passover week and they would sing these psalms.

Speaker 1: 10:42

And we can actually find these psalms in the book of Psalms, psalms 113 through 118. Are these type of psalms that they're singing? What are these songs about? I'm glad you asked what these songs are about is God's deliverance. What these songs are about is God's deliverance, his steadfast love and his faithfulness His deliverance, his steadfast love and his faithfulness. Why is that important? Well, it's important because, remember, jesus is about to die the next day. So imagine worshiping with your friends, knowing that you're going to die the next day. And we see another beautiful picture in the text of Jesus being a great example. He knows the weight of what he has to do the next day and yet he's singing psalms about God's deliverance, god's faithfulness and God's steadfast love, knowing what he has to face the next day. What if our response to impending suffering was worship? What if, whenever we're going through that circumstance, whatever we're facing in the moment, we decided to make a decision like Jesus and worship? We decided to make a decision like Jesus and worship. On the eve of his betrayal and death, jesus is singing songs about deliverance and peace, knowing what he has to do the next day.

Speaker 1: 12:13

We have two or three points that I want to highlight here. So, again, it's Passover, and for those who don't know what Passover is, it's where they would take the blood of a lamb, put it over the door and they celebrate because of them being delivered from the angel of death. That's Passover. And now. So we had the lamb that was slain, that saved them, saved Israel, and now we have Jesus, the Passover lamb, and the new covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus, who's about to die. So we have old covenant and new covenant being bridged together all in this moment, all in this moment. So, when it says they sung a hymn in the Mount of Olives, this is all that's happening right here.

Speaker 1: 12:54

So everybody take a deep breath, exhale, okay. So everybody take a deep breath, exhale, okay. This moment mirrors our lives. What do you mean by that? Well, we come to church, we worship, give it up for the worship team. Didn't they kill today? Didn't they kill today?

Speaker 1: 13:11

We come to church, we come to church, we sing, we worship, we snot nose, cry. We get in our feelings, we make promises, we say Lord, like I'm going to do the thing, I'm going to say yes, and then we get outside and what happens? Life happens. But here's the thing Jesus knows this about us. Just like he knew Peter's heart, he knows ours. And here's the good news. Jesus made up his mind about Peter way before Peter felt the need to make any bold declarations, just like Jesus made up his mind about you way before you had any interest in this thing that we call the Christian faith. That's good news today. That's good news today. That's good news today.

Speaker 1: 13:56

Real quick, tell your neighbor, say neighbor, come on, say it loud, Neighbor, neighbor, he knows you. Say the real you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Y'all laughing because y'all know the real you too. Yeah. Say he knows you, tell him, tell him he knows you. The real, you right. And say here's the good news it doesn't change how you feel about you, it doesn't change how he feels about you. Somebody give God praise for that. Somebody give God praise for that.

Speaker 1: 14:26

Now, truthfully, as I look at this text, I honestly understand Peter's plight, because we got to think about this. He's been walking with Jesus for three years up to this point. It's been three years. He's seen Jesus do miracle after miracle. He's seen him raise somebody from the dead. He's seen him turn wine into wine, which is probably why he stuck around so long.

Speaker 1: 14:46

Hello, he's seen so many things that Jesus has done and Jesus has given him so many promises. Up until this point it's been like a promise highlight reel, right? So the first time he meets him, he promises purpose. He says follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Then he says he promises rest. He says come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He promises provision. He says seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you. He promised eternal rewards, victory over death, everlasting presence. He says I am with you always, to the end of the age. I am the resurrection and the life. In my Father's house are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you. There's a lot of promises.

Speaker 1: 15:34

If I'm Peter, I'm arrogant too. Why would I go anywhere? Why would I leave? It doesn't make any sense. It's almost like I'm about to make y'all laugh. It's almost like anybody familiar with the game MASH. Let me help you out. Y'all remember this. Y'all remember this. My millennials no so. Does y'all know what MASH stands for? It's an acronym. It stands for mansions, apartments yeah, help me out. Shacks, houses, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 16:03

So it was either this right here or it would be this little origami thing. You just do it, you count the numbers. You'd be like four, five, oh, you're married, holly Berry. Then you go four, oh, you're living in a shack, sorry. And then you go four. You know what I mean and that's essentially what it was right. And if you're lucky, you married to Idris Elba, holly Berry, you know, got a kid living in the mansion. If you're not so lucky, you married to Mrs Trenchbowl, from Matilda, with 12 cats, and y'all don't know who that is. I got you. Let me help you out real quick. So this is Mrs Trench Bull for your reference point.

Speaker 1: 16:45

But up until this point, what's happening here is they've been living in a highlight reel of promises. It's been promise after promise. So it makes sense for him to be a little confident in what's going on. It makes absolute sense. But Jesus says this. He says Jesus predicts his betrayal and the scattering of his disciples. What is he actually saying? He's actually quoting a prophecy from the book of Zechariah. Zechariah 13, 7 says this let's read this together. Here we go I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. Exactly, who is he referring to? He's referring to himself. Jesus is the good shepherd we see that in John 10 and 11, and his death fulfills this prophecy. So he says I will strike the shepherd. That refers to God allowing Jesus' crucifixion for our redemption, for humanity's redemption. And what's the next part? He says the sheep will be scattered signifies the disciples fleeing after his arrest. Why is that significant? Well, peter, he can't handle the truth. He hears that and, like many of us, he declares not me, lord, maybe these other guys, but I'm built different. They may fall away, but I'm sticking right beside you. I'm loyal. I'm loyal. Jesus has given them the truth they don't want to hear. Let me tell you something the breakthrough, the victory and the freedom that most of us are longing for is on the other side of the truth you don't want to hear. There's a truth that maybe has been trying to come your way and you've rejected it. There's a truth that the Lord has been trying to put certain people around you to hear, and you've rejected it. And then what do we do? We go home. Lord, help, I need you. What's happening? What's happening? You have to accept the truth that he's offering, because victory and freedom and breakthrough is on the other side of that. I'd be willing to bet that, after witnessing all that Jesus had done up to this point and every promise they had heard, it never registered this right here that the path to the promise always runs straight through the valley of failure. The path to the promise, to the destination, to what God has for you, is going to go through some hiccups, some bumps, some bruises. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. But let me tell you this too happen, it's going to happen. But let me tell you this too Nobody has ever got to greatness being comfortable.

Speaker 1: 19:21

Your promise, your destination is on the other side of your discomfort. Why did he reject the truth? Because the truth is uncomfortable sometimes. The truth is uncomfortable sometimes. Nobody has ever been great in comfort. Michael Jordan he got let go from the JV team and now some people consider him to go. I think LeBron James is the GOAT. We'll argue about that later. But greatness is on the other side of your discomfort. It's on the other side of your discomfort. Repeat after me Say greatness is on the other side of your discomfort. It's on the other side of your discomfort. Repeat after me. Say greatness is on the other side of my you don't even want to say it. It's on the other side of my discomfort. Say it again Greatness is on the other side of my discomfort. Yeah, you said it. So now you're about to be held accountable for it. You said it Tricked, you Got you.

Speaker 1: 20:14

I'm going to show you guys a couple pictures. I'm going to show you guys a couple pictures. This is about 30 years ago. That sweater fresh, isn't it Right? That sweater fresh. Yeah, yeah, I need to find an adult version. I'm going to wear it on Sunday. This is me. I was about two or three. I'm in this picture, this one too, I think so, and I'm showing this picture.

Speaker 1: 20:44

This is around the time where I got interested in music. It was around the time where I remember my mom took me to this little small church I don't remember the name of it at the time, but it was in Fort Walton Beach, florida and I remember seeing the drummer for the first time vividly, and I remember just immediately being obsessed with that, and so obviously, like most kids, when you see somebody banging on stuff, I want to bang on stuff too. So I got home, I remember taking a phone book. For those who don't know what a phone book is, it's a big yellow book. It's got numbers and addresses in it and then they deliver it to your front door. That's what a phone book is. But phone book plastic bag I would take that.

Speaker 1: 21:24

It used to be a little rocking chair with a cushion in it that I would use as my little floor tum. It had the base. It had that that I needed at that age. And also sometimes I would even take some of the pots and pans from out of the kitchen and bang on that. And whenever you go to the Chinese restaurant I would take home the chopsticks. Yeah, I need those, because now they're my drumsticks and it's some leftover sesame sauce so I can eat that as a snack when I get tired from playing. I'm joking, that's gross, but I did use the chopsticks for real to play, and my mom and my sister probably did.

Speaker 1: 21:59

What most parents would do in that scenario is they tried to hide every single thing that resembled a drum that I was banking on. Well, that's partially true. Got rid of that stuff, and what she actually did was get me a blue and yellow Fisher-Price drum, and then also I ended up getting my first pair of drumsticks soon after Soon. After what happened there? Well, I can imagine my parents, older sibling, what really took place is they saw something inside of me. They saw something inside of me and I can imagine looking back. I don't really know how I felt. It was so long ago, but I can imagine kind of being used to the setup that I created. I liked how the plastic bag sounded and the phone book sounded, and so there was a part of me that wanted to cling on to the thing that I created, even though what was best for my purpose was a thing that was trying to be given to me.

Speaker 1: 22:55

And how often do we treat God like that? He's trying to give us exactly what we need. He knows exactly what we need. How do you know? Well, he says I will supply all your needs according to my riches and glory. He tells us he's going to give us exactly what we need. And what do we do? We like to hold on to what we've created. But here's the thing about what you create. What you create, you must sustain, but what the Lord gives to you, he will sustain for you. Repeat after me Say God will sustain. God will sustain.

Speaker 1: 23:29

Just like my parents knew my weaknesses, jesus knows our weaknesses, and what I see in the text here is is Peter thought he could hide his vulnerability behind bold words, but Jesus saw right through him. Jesus knows every part of us, the good, the bad, the broken. And what does he do? What is his response? He loves us anyway. He loves us anyway. Jesus is not surprised by our failures. He doesn't sugarcoat the truth for the disciples, just like he's not sugarcoating the truth from us. When we read the scriptures, he says you will all fall away, but guess what? He doesn't stop there. That's the thing he doesn't stop. He says after I'm raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Jesus had a plan for their comeback before they even messed up. That's good news today.

Speaker 1: 24:20

Restoration is on the other side of your shortcoming. If you allow God to restore, repeat after me Say restoration is on the other side of my failure. If I allow him to restore, god wants to restore. You're thinking your life is too messed up. You're thinking you've fallen too far. Aaron, you don't know what I've done. No, you don't know what I've done. But let me tell you, god wants to restore you today. God wants to restore you today. God wants to restore you today. God wants to restore you today. He wants to restore you today. Back to Peter.

Speaker 1: 25:08

One thing I realized is this right here, peter's heart was in the right place, but, like most of us, his confidence was misplaced. He thought his loyalty to Jesus depended on his own strength. He thought he could be strong enough, good enough, smart enough, fill in the blank enough. But let me tell you something no matter how many New Year's resolutions, dreams, aspirations, ambitions, you can't do this thing called life, this Christian life, without Christ. It doesn't work. Without him, your loyalty to Jesus, your sheer willpower to do good, is not enough, and it was never supposed to be. It actually never was supposed to be. It's not about our strength, it's about his strength. It's not about our strength, it's about his strength. We find freedom when we stop relying on our strength and start relying on his strength. Repeat after me it's not about our strength, it's about his strength. Let me prove it to you.

Speaker 1: 26:22

2 Corinthians 12 and 9 says this. Come on, let's read together. But he said to me my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Jesus isn't looking for perfect people and perfect promises. He's looking for surrendered hearts. He's not looking for the way that you present. He's not looking for the buttoned up version of you. He's not looking for the conserved, restrained version of you. No, no, no. He wants a surrendered heart.

Speaker 1: 27:04

The issue with this? I love that scripture that we just read, but the issue that we see there is we don't like to look weak. We don't like to look weak. Why? Because it's vulnerable. It's vulnerable, but, as we just read, god's strength is made perfect in our weakness, perfect in our weakness. The beauty in this story isn't Peter's boldness or promise. It's in Jesus' faithfulness. Jesus is faithful. How do I know that? Because later, peter denies Jesus three times and what happens? Jesus restores three times. Okay, god specializes in turning a mess into a masterpiece. Your failure is not final. It's not a period, it's a comma. Your failure is not final. It's not a period, it's a comma.

Speaker 1: 28:02

I want to take a pause. Do we have any people who bake in here? Anybody who's bakers? You're like, I'm not going to ask you to cook. I promise I'm not going to invite you on stage. I don't know you like that. I'm not going to be like, make me something. No, raise your hand again real quick if you bake. Oh, a lot more people raised their hand when I said I wasn't going to ask, got it? So I'm not a baker. I like to cook a little bit, but I'm not a good baker at all. But from what I understand and correct me if I'm wrong from what I understand, the ingredients in terms of baking the cake seem pretty random.

Speaker 1: 28:35

You got some eggs. If you can find them, you can probably take out a loan to be able to buy them, because it's expensive right now. You got some eggs. You got some salt, some sugar, some baking powder. Am I on track? What else? What else am I missing? Vanilla extract flour? See, I told you I don't bake what else? What else am I missing? Butter what else? Water, really, okay, I didn't know that. What did you say? Nuts? I can tell you who's not baking a cake for me. No, thank you. So who's not baking a cake for me?

Speaker 1: 29:17

But anyways, my point is there's a lot of ingredients that seem pretty random and even as you start mixing them together, it's messy, it's a sticky process and even as the batter gets how it's supposed to be, it still doesn't look anything like the final product. It's only when you take all of these messy ingredients and put them through the heat that you end up with something delicious, full of calories and just everything that you need it to be. And I want to be clear I'm not trying to oversimplify this analogy with the cake, but I believe that's how God works in our lives. I believe that he takes all the seemingly random, messy and even painful pieces of our lives the good, the bad, the ugly and he uses them to shape us into who he's called us to be. That's good news. Somebody should be excited about that. He's taking all the messiness, mixing it together and shaping it.

Speaker 1: 30:14

I want to read this scripture. Let's read this together right here. Romans 8, 28 says this and we know, let's read together 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. What does that mean? It's not done till it's good. It's not done till it's good. God is working on something special for you. He's working on something special for you, but what has to happen? First? We have to learn to depend on God, not ourselves. We have to learn how to depend on God, not ourselves.

Speaker 1: 30:53

The reality is this your strength, my strength, will fail, but his grace is sufficient, and in full transparency. I'm not good at this. I'm not good at this. I question everything. Sometimes I struggle with consistency. Sometimes I think that I'm charismatic enough, I can just get away with some stuff. And in the midst of my insecurities, in the midst of my self-consciousness, in the midst of me being nervous or in the midst of my idiosyncrasies, god is gracious and he says that my grace is sufficient for you. My grace is sufficient for you. He says his grace is sufficient and there is no expectation for us to be good enough. The expectation is for us to surrender and to depend on him. That's the expectation.

Speaker 1: 31:42

I don't know who told you to lie that you got to be perfect to be a believer. I don't know who told you to lie that you got to be perfect to be a believer. I don't know who told you to lie that you had to have it all together before you came to Jesus. But let me tell you, the only thing that God is waiting for is for you to say yes today. That's the only thing he's waiting for. He's not waiting for you to have it together. Matter of fact, some of the craziest people would be the Christians. It'd be us. Why do I say that? Because we finally realize oh, I'm terrible, let me find something that can help me out. And God is waiting on us to surrender. He's waiting on it. Here's the next thing, and this is going to be hard, but I know that we can do it. We have to open our heart to restoration. Open our heart to restoration.

Speaker 1: 32:25

What I see in the text here is that Peter was so distraught with what Jesus told him, even though it was truth, but he completely ignored the fact that Jesus laid out the restoration plan. He says I will go before you to Galilee. He's letting them know hey, I'm going to die, but I'm going to rise up and go before you to Galilee. What if I told you that maybe we need to stop being hung up on the failure and focus on the restoration plan that God has for our lives? What if I told you that God is waiting for you to not cling on to the failure, but to focus on the restoration plan?

Speaker 1: 33:00

Where does the restoration plan start? It starts by us saying yes, restoration plan. Where does the restoration plan start? It starts by us saying yes. It starts by us saying yes, and I'm not promising an easy journey. Maybe there are some consequences for the decision, but there is restoration for you. Say this. Say there is restoration for me. Come on, say it again there is restoration for me. One more time Say there is restoration for me, and maybe your restoration begins with forgiveness of that person that hurt you. Maybe your restoration begins with forgiving that person that lied to you, that abused you, that person that took your innocence, that person that hurt your loved one. Maybe that's where restoration starts.

Speaker 1: 33:55

I know some of us, we hear that and we immediately feel the anxiousness, the anxiety try to come into our body. But let me tell you there's no expectation for you to do it by yourself. God is saying let me restore you. God is saying let me restore you. I see the hurt, I see the pain. Let me restore you. I want to restore you. Let me do it. You can't do it by yourself. Let me restore you. God is begging us. Say let me. I want to restore you. Aren't you tired of the sleepless nights? Aren't you tired of the anxiety? Aren't you tired of being worried that you can't do what you know you need to do because of the brokenness that you feel. Aren't you tired of being scared, to be vulnerable? God wants to make you whole. God wants to make you whole. Right now, god, I feel the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 1: 34:45

We all over-promise and under-deliver. We all have moments where our confidence in ourselves crumble. It crumbles under the weight of life's challenges. But the good news, the best news, is this Jesus doesn't love us based on our performances. He's not caught off guard by our failures. He's not disillusioned by our shortcomings, but he's the God who sees the whole picture. He sees the whole picture. He knew every stumble we'd make before we ever took our first step, and yet he still chose you and you and you and you and me, and he still went to the cross for us.

Speaker 1: 35:41

Today, you might be sitting here feeling the weight of your overpromises. You may feel the weight of your over promises that you made to yourself, to your kids, to your spouse and to God. But what a blessing that God is waiting to restore us all. Maybe you've fallen short or maybe, like I said earlier, you're stuck in the drive-thru wondering how you got there. But the reality is this Jesus isn't waiting on you to prove your worth. He's already proven his love for you. His grace has already gone ahead, making a way for your restoration. So let's step into his promises, not because we're perfect, but because his love is. Let's surrender our weakness, our overconfidence and our failures at his feet today, and our failures at his feet today, trusting that he is faithful and able to redeem every part of our story. And as we leave here today, let's not just hold on to that love for ourselves, but let's be intentional about extending that real love in tangible ways. Let's be living examples of the love that doesn't overpromise, but let's be living examples of the love that doesn't over-promise. But let's be living examples of the love that over-delivers Like Peter, like myself.

Speaker 1: 37:34

We might feel like we're not good enough or that we might mess up, but is anybody glad that God doesn't lock us away for our failures? Instead, he gives us what we need to grow. And it might be hard to hear, it might be hard to see, but what's on the other side of that hard truth? That next step is grace, it's goodness, it's mercy, it's the purpose that you've been waiting on.

Speaker 1: 38:08

Some of you have been asking God what's next? It's crazy right now. What's next? What do I do? It's so much craziness and chaos. God, I'm scared, god, I'm scared, god, I'm scared, god, I'm scared. It feels like my world is crumbling right in front of me and God is simply saying surrender it all to me right now. Do me a favor. Everybody, stand up real quick. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. Do me a favor. Can everybody stretch their hands just? And I want you to close your eyes and you can say it out loud, or you can say it in your head, but just begin to ask the Lord to restore you.

Speaker 1: 39:04

God, restore your people right now, god, some of us are ready to give up, tired of the anxiety, the sleepless nights. Somebody's been contemplating taking their life. Somebody's been contemplating looking to drugs, to alcohol, to numb the pain. Jesus, restore your people. We're crying out right now, every hand that is raised, lord, we ask that your presence would overwhelm us in this moment, that you would begin to heal what is broken, that you would begin to transform what is broken, that you would begin to transform Right now, in this moment. God, we need you. We ask in Jesus' name, we pray, everybody say amen and amen. Come on, let's respond in worship today. Amen, amen, amen, amen.