How God uses your past.
I don't care if you're a young adult,
or if you think your years are over,
or if you're caught in the middle, God
can use you in a mighty way.
But I want you to find two spots
in your Bible, and there's actually Bibles in
front of you in the pews if you
can, if you need one.
Acts 26, New Testament.
Acts 26 in the New Testament.
And Isaiah 53 in the Old Testament.
Acts 26 and Isaiah 53.
And if you're ever curious, I probably haven't
done a very good job on doing this
and mentioning this, but everything I'm reading here,
a lot of the notes and the scripture
references, everything is actually, the person who does
our website posts it underneath the sermon video
on our website.
So you have all the references, all the
notes that I'm going through.
We won't need those just yet, it's going
to be a while before I get to
those, but in your Bibles you can turn
to Acts 26 and Isaiah 53.
But let's start with Acts 25, you don't
have to turn there because we covered it
a few weeks ago, and I'm just going
to recap.
Paul appeals to Caesar, so Paul gets in
trouble.
What we would not consider trouble is that
he stirred the crowd, focused on Jesus Christ,
they arrested him, and he said, why appeal
to Caesar?
I want to talk to King Caesar.
Then he stands before King Agrippa, and he
was in jail for at least two years,
if you can believe that.
I heard an interesting sermon this week, I
wish I would have wrote down who said
it, it was on the radio, and I
said, that's a very good point.
And he said, do you know your Bible
was written mainly by murderers and adulterers?
No.
Well, the first five books, Moses, might as
well chop those out, David, Psalm, Paul's books,
that's interesting, God can use your past.
God can redeem, what was that lyric, I
want to write that down too, he takes
my chaos and brings it back into order.
That's what God does with our past, but
just for Acts 25, the first point is
this, God can use what we call wasted
time.
So Paul's sitting in prison, can you imagine,
if you're sitting in prison, I write to
prisoners sometimes, and they, man, my life's over,
I'm just sitting here, wasting away, actually, that
can be a very glorious time.
Now, I don't encourage you to go to
prison, but when you're in there, and I
told my friend of mine that I visit
a few times down, he's in RJD, correctional
facility by the Tijuana border, is that you
have something that nobody else has, you have
undivided time with God.
Boy, if I could go back 17 years,
when you could just sit with God for
the whole day, and read, and meditate, and
worship, so there are times like that, and
don't be discouraged, God, whatever we call wasted
time, and I look back on my life
and go, so many wasted years, 17, 18,
19, 20, but looking back, I see how
he was working in that chaos, and even
what he called me to do, what he's
called you to do, how he works in
that area.
So God can use what we call wasted
time, that's the first point, how God uses
your past.
Time on the backside of the desert is
not wasted time.
I hear people all the time, I'm just
stuck in this desert.
Young adults, right, I'm just stuck in this
desert.
Get time with God.
See, all this is not wasted, we can
redirect it.
Somebody named Moses was stuck on the backside
of the desert for 40 years, but God
used that to shape and to mold, so
that is the first point.
There's not wasted time when God, and of
course Romans 8.28 comes to mind all
the time on this, that God will turn
those things that the enemy intended for evil,
he will turn that for good.
Read Romans 8.28 tonight, in that whole
passage.
Those things that we think are bad, that
God, if you're called according to his purpose,
if you know him, he can actually turn
that for his purposes.
This is also where education, or a lack
thereof, plays a role, or affluence, or no
influence.
Right, sometimes people say, well I have no
education.
Well good, D.L. Moody, let me use
you.
I have a tremendous education, Jonathan Edwards, Princeton,
Yale, Harvard, he can use you.
And he uses you, how you're giftings and
where you're at.
I just, I don't know how many of
you heard about the man who lost his
life on Highway 138 recently, his motorcycle crashed.
And the family contacted me Wednesday of last
week and asked if I could do it
on Friday, two days notice, and do the
whole thing.
And it doesn't get more redneck than that.
It was that, but I can relate.
Construction background, I can show up in my
cap boots and a flannel shirt and give
the message and relate to the people.
And to have unbelievers thank me for how
I represented their son and was able to
talk about Psalm 23, the Lord is my
shepherd, do you know him?
How he changed, but see you couldn't just
go in there in a suit and tie.
They told me, do not wear a suit
and tie.
Don't look like a preacher, don't look like
a pastor.
They gave me the heads up, right?
But see, God would use that where you
think, well, I'm just stupid, I'm uneducated, but
he'll use them.
And then you get a person, you ever
follow Ravi Zacharias?
When I get an intellectual person, suit and
tie, a businessman, Harvard education, I'll say, listen
to this guy.
Might not listen to me, but they'll listen
to this guy.
And see how God will use all that.
So, I never got an education.
I'm not influential.
That's good, because God will use that.
God will use whatever and however he created
you, because see, you're the clay.
He's the potter.
Oh, it's a good time to read Isaiah
64.8. Isaiah 64.8, but now, oh
Lord, you are our father, we are the
clay, and you are the potter.
We are just simply the work of your
hands.
See, if you know him, most of us,
I'm assuming this morning, are all believers.
That we sit on a potter's wheel, metaphorically
speaking.
Have you ever seen them make something?
You just have this lump of just wet,
disgusting clay.
And within an hour, it's beautiful, and he
took all these things.
And that's what God does, is just the
clay on the wheel being formed and fashioned.
And there are people, it's just a hard
week for me.
I've got so many things.
The young boy that was shot in Mojave,
too.
He's friends of Morgensai, the family.
Was killed in Mojave recently.
We've been talking with them.
And just seeing young adults, too, wanting to
end their life.
Or depressed, because I'm a child now, and
I'm only this age.
And I've got this going on, and God
can't use me now.
But yes, he can.
See, that's the beautiful thing.
He takes that mess, and we say, Do
you know, people, if you've never experienced this,
you don't know.
But if you've been through divorce, you wear
a big, fat D on your forehead.
You wear a D on your forehead.
That's like a scarlet letter.
Remember that old book, I think it was,
something like that?
But you walk around, and you're like, Oh,
God, I'm a failure in this.
And churches will tell you, you can't be
an elder.
They'll tell you, you can never do this,
you can never do this.
I mean, they'll allow murderers and adulterers and
everything else to do things, but if you
had that D on you many years ago,
and so you walk with that guilt and
shame, not realizing that that could be the
greatest strength that you've ever had, because it
broke you.
And God uses that mess, and those problems
in the marriage, and things to focus back
on him.
That's my goal this morning, is to show
you.
I'm just running into so many people who
are just, God can't use me now.
I've ruined it.
And I don't know how he does it.
It's the most amazing thing to me, is
he takes this enormous disappointment, life is over,
my career has ended, and then within a
year, oh my goodness, he gave me an
incredible ministry, I have peace, it surpasses all.
Where did that come from?
Because you trusted in the potter.
To readjust the clay.
You know that clay can be readjusted, right?
Oh, I like this vase.
Oh, now I'm going to make you a
pot.
And it's the same clay, same lump of
clay.
Here's the lies we are fed.
Younger people say, but I don't have a
past.
I don't have a testament, I don't have
anything.
You don't need a testimony.
God is shaping and molding right now.
Make sure you make the right choice.
You guys should be reading everything but what
the secular media promotes.
Get good books, get good information, get good
things, because you are the next generation.
And what you put in now will develop
who you are in the future.
And, of course, the middle group I just
talked about, my group.
God can't use me now.
I saw that, especially at the memorial service.
So many people broken and just around town
and running into people.
And, you know, I'm caught in this bad
situation.
I've messed up.
I'm back on, I must have heard of
two or three people go back into alcohol
and drugs.
And one person we know is six months
sober.
And guess how he decides to celebrate?
Yeah, let's celebrate.
Six months, no, because now you're back hooked
again.
And seeing that devastation, but understanding that you're
not, God can't use you.
Actually, God will use, sometimes He uses those
broken areas to finally get our attention, to
finally wake us up.
And then the older crowd says, my whole
life is behind me.
But let me challenge you, that is not
the case.
We need intercessors.
You can still influence people to a very,
at a very deep level.
And the church, probably the biggest need we
need in the church right now is mentors.
I can tell you, just take one marriage.
Just take one person.
And mentoring, God will use that.
So it's actually not over.
Well, I'm 70, it's over.
I'm 80, it's, no.
God can, until you breathe your last breath,
God uses.
I mean, I just wonder how many of
us are here because of praying parents or
grandparents.
When people, there's people that tell me, Shane,
I can't make church, but I'll be praying
that whole hour.
There's more power in that than attending here.
That's intercession.
God said, I look for a man from
among them who would build a wall and
stand in the gap before me to intercede
for the people, but I found no one.
God hears the intercession.
He hears that grandma that's weeping.
He hears, you ever see War Room?
Good and now, good thought there.
He hears those prayers.
Because we don't know how it works, but
that's the most powerful weapon.
As much as I love worship, as much
as I love preaching, if we leave here
and we fail to grasp the power of
prayer, we have failed.
Because that's where the heart is engaged.
And then Acts 26, what I told you
to turn to, Paul is actually recounting his
conversion.
And I thought of this as well.
I've done this many times.
I'm sure you have as well.
If you don't know, and I get stuck.
People have a hard time believing this.
Sometimes I run into people, I don't, you
know, I don't know what to share.
Like, I'm stuck.
Well, that's what you do, Shane.
I know, but I encounter people that I,
I'm lost here, Lord.
But if you can recount, re-encounter, or
re-emphasize, or emphasize how God changed your
life, that's often enough.
God's not looking for a theological discourse on
the book of Acts when you minister.
He's not looking for you to break down
the Pauline epistles and bring in some hermeneutics
and homiletics while you're at it.
He's just, he's just, just, just share what
God has done.
And that's one of the reasons I offer,
I wanted to do this at the college.
I want to share why there is a
creator.
I don't know if you're catching a lot
of what's going on, but Trump is not
the Savior.
That everybody thought, right?
He just stirred the pot.
Obama wasn't the Savior.
Nobody is the Savior.
And the pot is being stirred.
Our nation is being divided.
The racial tension is being divided.
We need to stand for the truth.
And one of my concerns is for the
churches, especially in America, and they can hold
the ground, is they are not contending.
It's just like, well, okay, whatever.
And we, there, I would, it would blow
your mind if you could see some of
the things that are, that the state of
California and different things are trying to do.
Punish people in nursing homes, that work in
nursing homes, if you don't use the right
gender.
Well, I thought it was a guy.
She wants to be called a woman?
And if I call her a guy, I'm
in trouble?
It's coming.
So, see, the church, though, needs to say,
no, that's not right.
Here's what God's Word says, in the boldness
and power of the Holy Spirit.
That's the light.
When we come in, we shine the darkness,
not with arrogance, not with anger.
But we say, no, that's not right.
That's not right.
And that's why one of the reasons I
want to go to college and say, that's
not right.
For evolution to be taught as fact is
not right.
That's wrong.
There is a creator.
There's evidence everywhere.
Cause and effect.
Morally.
All these things we have.
There is evidence.
So, Acts 26, verse 12.
As I journey to Damascus.
Paul's talking there.
He's saying, he's re-accounting his conversion.
He's before the King Agrippa.
He's before one of the governors.
His name will come up in a minute.
He's before these men.
And he's saying, as I journey to Damascus
with authority and commission from the chief priests.
So, Paul's not a believer.
Paul's actually a Pharisee.
He persecuted the church.
So, he was commissioned to go.
By the religious leaders to go and throw
Christians into jail.
And to possibly kill them.
But he said, O King, at the midday
along the road.
The Damascus road.
I saw a light.
A light from heaven.
Brighter than the sun.
Shining around me.
And those who journeyed with me.
They saw this wonderful light.
And when we had fallen to the ground.
See, that's what happens when you truly experience
God.
You will fall to the ground.
You won't say, oh, I wonder what that
is.
Sit and ponder.
When that glorious holiness hits.
And you know you're in the presence of
God.
There's nothing you can do except fall down.
Verse 14, Acts 26.
And when we had all fallen to the
ground.
I heard a voice speaking to me and
saying, in the Hebrew language.
Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
It's hard for you to kick against the
goads.
Today we say, what is he talking about?
Back then they knew exactly what he was
talking about.
Let's talk about that for a minute.
Kicking against the goads is painful.
I was looking for one, but I couldn't
find one.
But a goad is pretty high.
Maybe six, seven, eight foot tall.
It's a staff.
It's got maybe some bone on the end
or some metal or something.
And you hit the oxen with it.
You direct it.
A little prodding.
A little prodding never hurts, right?
Oh, I better move.
A little prodding never hurts.
So he's prodding.
But Paul, just like an oxen, would actually
kick against those goads.
And fight against the goads.
So a prodding became a painful, intense hurt.
Where that prodding, the spikes on the prod
would go into the skin a little bit.
You're kicking against the goad.
You're kicking against my will.
And I thought today, how long will many
of us continue to kick against God's will?
God's prompting.
He's leading.
And we kick against it.
And that's painful.
It's painful.
It's much better just to go along with
the prodding.
Okay, that hurt a little bit.
That hurt a little bit.
And God guides us along.
But when we fight, and Scripture came to
mind all week.
Hard is the way of the transgressor.
I didn't take time to look it up.
But all week, hard is the way of
the transgressor.
That person caught in that transgression.
Their way is hard.
It's difficult.
When we kick against God's prodding, it hurts.
So this leads me to the next point.
God can use our kicking, our rebellion, if
we learn from it.
Don't stay stuck in the rebellion.
God says, learn from your rebellion.
Acknowledge it and come back to me.
So if something's painful right now, here's the
problem.
Something's painful.
God has done this to me, or whatever's
happening.
In my rebellion, instead of saying, God, I'm
sorry, I repent, what do we do?
We kick even harder.
We fight even more.
We get upset.
And God says, no, I want to use
this kicking, this rebellion.
Turn it.
Because sometimes the hardest kickers are the best
for God.
Those who are the most rebellious, who have
been forgiven much, end up loving much.
You see people, you go, I can't believe
their testimony.
I can't even believe it's the same person.
Right, because that heart of rebellion was finally
changed to a heart of God.
Romans 8, 28, here it is.
And we know that all things work together
for good to those who love God, to
those who are called according to his purpose.
Then verse 15.
So Paul said, when he saw this light,
and the light said, why are you kicking
against a goad?
He said, who are you, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus whom you
are persecuting.
Now I just want to stop there with
number three.
God will answer if you ask.
God will answer.
This is how God uses your past.
God will answer if you ask.
Lord, what do you want me to do?
God, what do you want me to do?
Show me who you are.
Show me who I am.
Show me what you created me to do.
And I don't think people grasp this about
God, but he's not, this is not the
lottery.
This is not God will get to it
if he thinks about it.
You might have a good chance.
This is God saying, ask, and you will
receive.
Knock, and I'll open.
But what we do is, oh, the door
didn't open, forget it.
But it's an attitude of continual knocking and
seeking.
And I mean, there's prayer things I'm still
praying for.
A year or two later, God, what are
you doing here?
What do you want to do here?
Knocking, asking, seeking.
And I know a lot of it has
to do with timing.
Yes, no, or maybe.
So when it comes to your past, when
it comes to God using you, ask.
And we hear it a lot here, I
don't know what my gift is.
I don't know what God's called me to
do.
Have you asked?
Yeah, but he just, all that comes to
mind is he wants me to clean the
church.
Maybe that's what he wants you to do
for a season.
It's in that humility and doing whatever.
And here's the funny thing.
We want to be the Billy Graham, but
we don't want to be the guy who's
cleaning the toilets.
I know you've called me to do that,
but I don't want to start here.
But see, it's starting here that eventually opens
that door to where God, because he's in
that cleaning the toilet, in that picking up
trash, in that diapers, and in all of
that, that's when God's breaking and breaking and
shaping so you can be that.
So don't try to rush the process or
you'll fall flat on your face.
And I'm assuming Paul experienced a tremendous amount
of pain and shame.
Can you imagine?
Can you imagine that you meet the Lord
and Savior who you thought you knew and
who you thought you were doing his work?
And that's the next point.
God uses our pain and brokenness to humble
us.
Psalm 25.9, he teaches sinners in the
way he humbles.
The humble he guides in justice and the
humble he teaches his way.
Now I talk about this often, of course,
but I want to just tell you why
for a minute this is so important.
Without humility, you won't know the heart of
God.
You won't have compassion.
You won't be gentle.
You won't be understanding.
You won't have that tender heart towards.
He can't use a rigid person very well.
He can't use an argumentative person or somebody
who can't relate.
And that's one of the things I'm concerned
really too about our nation is the conscience
of our nation has been seared with a
hot iron.
You can murder, you can kill, you can
take, you can do whatever you want.
You can rape, you can pillage, you can
plunder and it doesn't even affect me.
Our conscience has been seared.
Now parallel that to us and there's not
a heart of compassion.
We don't weep for those who are lost.
We don't care too much, oh they lost
a loved one, I don't care.
It doesn't affect me.
So many people think they have humility but
they don't.
That's why God isn't using you.
A.W. Tozer said, it's doubtful whether God
can use a man greatly until he has
hurt him deeply.
This is how you can sit with a
mom who's lost her child and weep with
her because you've been humbled.
You've been broken.
Or a marriage that's falling apart.
Most of us could care less.
If you knew the devastation that was happening
just within this church and marriages it would
break your heart.
It should.
But see it doesn't.
Why is that?
Why do we have hurricanes?
Have you seen photos from Texas?
You know what's hitting Florida right now?
And there's four people at the prayer meeting.
And I prayed, Lord please don't let me
get frustrated.
But I'm just trying to show you.
It's not to beat up.
It's just like, where's the heart?
Are we even praying for Florida?
It's like, oh well.
But see that's what we're missing.
The heart of humility and brokenness and compassion.
Because from that God will work in your
life.
So if you're saying, God give me this
position.
I want to do this, I want to
do this.
If you're not broken and humble I can't
use you.
Because you'll be too arrogant, too proud.
So humility is everything.
I have to work on that daily.
It's going to be a struggle until the
day we leave here, isn't it?
But there's a difference between a struggle and
a lifestyle.
One thing I've noticed in the church across
America, at least when I've spoken and obviously
in my own life, is we think we
are humble because we measure humility by our
own definition.
I serve.
Really, humility, all humility, it's an issue of
the heart.
And I'll talk to people who are in
the underground church in China, and it's like,
Christian, New Testament Christian.
And then we look at a lot of
us and it's like, we have no heart
of compassion, no humility.
I mean, I'm just embarrassed when they're, four
hour prayer meetings they're at in China, praying
for America, that God would break us and
mold us.
Too much arrogance, too much wealth, it's your
curse.
I don't know about you, but that hurts.
But as you draw closer to God, as
you open your heart, as you worship God,
because it just doesn't come.
I can't go, oh, give me that broken
heart, it's going to come pretty soon.
It's the heart rending and breaking and being
afflicted, and God, show me who you are,
show me your glory, show me your compassion.
You have to pray, give me a heart
like yours.
And then you go and you do things,
you serve and you see the brokenness.
And sometimes we like to live in our
bubble because it's comfortable, isn't it?
I don't like to get outside that bubble
because it's uncomfortable.
And then verse 16, I could stay there
a while, but I won't.
Verse 16, Acts 26, 16.
But rise and stand on your feet.
So Jesus is saying, Paul, rise and stand
on your feet, for I have appeared to
you for this purpose.
Here's why I'm here.
To make you a minister and a witness
both of the things which you have seen
and of the things which I will reveal
to you.
Now, this is an interesting scripture because Paul
didn't really have a choice in this.
Jesus showed up, said, Paul, I've called you
to go preach.
Get up, go and preach.
I will deliver you from the Jewish people.
I will deliver you from the Gentiles to
whom I now send you to open their
eyes in order to turn them from darkness
to light and from the power of Satan
to God that they may receive forgiveness of
sins and inheritance among those who are sanctified
by faith in me.
So God's saying, I'm sending you to fight
the powers of darkness, to open the eyes
of these people.
So the fourth point, your path is about
helping others.
Get this straight.
If you're going to determine what does God
want you to do, Lord, it's always others
focused.
Now, the reason I say this is because
we do this.
This is a big issue for Christians.
We ask, how can I get ahead?
How can I get my name on this?
Or how can I make some money on
this?
How can I pay the bills?
When God calls us to do something, it's
all about others.
Those things come, seek ye first the kingdom
of heaven.
These other things will be added later.
But when we make those the focal point,
when we make those the focal point, then
it becomes what I just said here.
It's not about helping others.
It's about I'm doing it for ulterior motives.
And God has to challenge people in this
area.
We know if we're doing this with the
wrong heart.
Would you do something if nobody knew?
Would you go to the hospital homes if
nobody knew?
Would you sing on the worship team if
nobody could hear you?
What about the worship team singing in that
room?
Behind that closed window?
Who is that?
I don't know who it is.
Would you do it without the notary?
Notoriety, being recognized.
See, these are heart issues.
We have to check our heart.
Do we do things for the wrong reasons?
And the reason this is important also is
because this will remove, if you're dealing with
anxiety and fear and confusion, oftentimes it's because
we're self-focused.
And when I'm self-focused, things aren't going
my way.
It's not working out, the money, the finances.
But when your others focus and trusting in
God, a lot of those things don't work.
Lord, it's you.
It's all yours.
And you begin to remove those things, those
struggles.
Verse 19, therefore, King Agrippa, he's telling the
king, standing in front of a king, it
would be like standing in front of our
president, I was not disobedient to the heavenly
vision.
So it tells me he could have been
disobedient.
So maybe Paul did have a choice, something
to think about.
He goes, I heard what Jesus said and
I was not disobedient to it.
I obeyed it.
But declared first to those in Damascus and
Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea
and then to the Gentiles that they should
repent, turn to God, and do works befitting
repentance.
So Paul said, I was not disobedient.
Jesus called me, I went everywhere, and I
preached that people need to repent and turn
to God.
See, that's a very healthy concept.
This word that everybody's afraid of now, except
here, right, and many other churches, we talk
about repentance.
And that's why, because it's so important.
That's how the eyes are opened.
You have to go, listen, you're living wrong.
You're a sinner.
You're outside of God's grace and mercy and
forgiveness.
You need to repent.
Turn the way you think about sin and
turn towards God.
Now within that, of course, is a whole
debate of can a man do that or
does God have to do it?
Let's just say what the Scripture says.
They should repent.
Now I don't believe without the working of
the Holy Spirit anybody can repent.
It's not going to happen.
That's why we're so hard.
God has to be working in the heart
and drawing and convicting, just like he did
here with Paul.
Paul preached repentance, turning to God and doing
works befitting repentance.
Now it's interesting, point five, God directs us
based on obedience rather than good intentions.
Now I talked about this a few weeks
ago, so I won't again, but it is
important here because Paul says, I was not
disobedient, I obeyed, and God called me.
So God is looking at your obedience.
Will you obey?
And then from obedience we find out what
God wants us to do.
Now this applies to unbelievers in this context.
You should repent, turn to God, and do
works befitting repentance.
That word befitting is interesting.
Have you ever said this doesn't fit?
You take a round thing, like you see
your kids do this, take a round thing
and put it in a square hole and
it's not fitting.
So our works, if you look at somebody
and go, your works, your lifestyle is not
befitting, it doesn't fit with repentance.
And that's why this is sometimes a controversial
subject because, well let me just read a
popular survey that came out from the Pew,
it's a Pew survey is what they call
it.
Half of Protestants agree with Catholics that good
deeds and faith are needed for salvation.
So this is something that's important, I guess,
and we need to talk about.
And the reason it's confusing is, maybe it's
how the question was framed, I'm not really
sure, but if a person doesn't have works
befitting repentance, if their lifestyle, there's just no
fruit, there's nothing.
Well, I said a prayer 10 years ago.
Okay, but there's no apples growing on the
apple tree.
Actually, it's not even an apple tree, it's
a prune.
Is there prunes on a tree?
Let's see, it's a lemon tree.
There's lemons, I've seen those.
Palm Springs, they're big.
And there's just no fruit.
So you have, is your faith really saving
faith?
Because it's probably not, because saving faith changes
you.
It's changing faith.
So if there's no fruit befitting repentance, you
have to look, have I really been converted?
Do I really know God?
So I think that's why people get confused.
They say, well, they don't look like a
Christian, so I guess good works and faith
have to go together.
Well, it's actually, it's circular reasoning, because when
a person is truly saved, though they struggle,
though they fall sometimes, though they might not
look like it all the time, there is
fruit trying to grow and trying to flourish
and trying to grow on the vine.
The fruit is there.
So salvation, once a person is saved, the
fruit is a byproduct.
But you can't put the cart before the
horse and say, okay, I did a good
thing.
I went and gave money to a missionary
organization.
Now I'm saved.
No, see, that will come from being saved.
It doesn't save you.
It comes from being saved.
And people, I get bad emails on this
one, from when I talk about the differences
between Roman Catholicism and Protestants.
They say, well, it's just greasy grace then,
Shane.
You're just letting people do whatever they want.
You're not saying that works matter.
I'm saying, no, works, actually, I believe it
was James, that show me your faith by
your works, that your works will reflect.
But we can't say that Jesus Christ on
the cross, okay, did some of it.
Thank you, Jesus.
But now I need to go and give
to the poor or now I need to
go and do something good.
I need to add my works to your
finished work on the cross.
Now I have salvation.
To me, that's blasphemy.
That is just, that is, that's, that theology,
that's a better word.
How's that?
It's not true.
But that's why people get caught in it.
Because, well, there's no works here.
And they say they're saved, so don't you
have to have both?
Well, you'll know them by their fruit.
I actually have that scripture written down, Matthew
3, 8.
Let's paraphrase it.
Prove by the way you live that you
have repented of your sin and turned to
God.
So people tell me, you can't judge me.
No, I cannot judge you.
But I'm a fruit inspector.
You're passing in from the Mexican to the
American border.
You're passing in from darkness to light.
I'm inspecting, I see no fruit.
There's zero fruit.
You look just like the world.
There's not a difference at all.
Well, I go to church.
Okay, that's going to church.
There's no fruit.
Now, I don't go around being a fruit
inspector.
Don't worry about that.
But we can see from somebody, and don't
give up on people too early too, right?
Many times, I know there's people who have
been a Christian a year.
And they're like, yeah, but Shane, they drinking
last night.
Okay, are they sorry this morning?
And pleading to God to please help them
and wanting to get back on track.
See, that's not a lifestyle.
That's a struggle.
And often, we rate people on the struggle.
It's often how they handle the sin.
I mean, I run to people.
I don't care.
I'm going to do this until the day
I die.
See, there's no conviction.
But the person who stumbles and fumbles, and
then I'll get emails on this too because
I'm encouraging sin.
No, but I am encouraging falling forward.
And any of you that can walk the
perfect path, talk to me afterwards.
I'd love to see that.
Because I'll do something like, oh, I shouldn't
have got upset in traffic.
Or I shouldn't.
See, there's this.
But what do you do with the sin
you're involved in?
Do you enjoy it?
And is it no big deal?
Or is it truly hurting and convicting you,
and you want to change?
That's the difference.
Then verse 21, Paul says, For this reason,
I just preach repentance.
That's all I did.
I said, you need to turn from the
darkness to the light.
And for this reason, the Jews seized me
in the temple and tried to kill me.
Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this
day I stand before you, O King, witnessing
both to the small and the great, saying
no other things than those which the prophets
and Moses said would come.
That is great advice.
Paul said, I'm saying, all I'm saying is
what the Bible already says.
And that's actually one of my goals when
preaching.
I'm saying what the Bible already says.
So when you say, you just talked about
that a month ago.
Yep, it's going to keep coming back.
It's going to keep coming back.
I remember a lady talked to Spurgeon after
Charles Spurgeon, 1800s, after one of his sermons.
Mr. Spurgeon, when are you going to stop
preaching on repentance?
And he said, when you do.
Isn't that true?
It's a constant theme throughout the Bible.
I can show you repentance in Genesis.
Cain killed his brother.
God said, why are you looking like that?
If you do well, will I not forgive
you?
But if you do evil, be careful, because
just like a lion waiting at the door,
it's waiting to devour you.
Repent.
You can go to Revelation.
Men crying out to God, just come back.
Turn back to me.
Repent.
It's everywhere throughout the Bible, and that's what
Paul got in trouble for.
Because he changed it.
He said, not God, it's now Jesus.
Your Messiah is here, and you've rejected him.
Oh, those are fighting words.
Those are killing words.
So they seized Paul.
That's why he's in jail, and he's telling
the king, I'm just talking about what the
prophets said, that Christ would suffer, that he
would be the first to rise from the
dead, and that he would proclaim light to
the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.
Paul is only saying what they already read
700 years ago in Isaiah.
Jeremiah.
It finally came to fruition.
It's finally here.
But when he comes, they say, no, this
is just a carpenter, son.
This isn't Jesus.
We're expecting the knight shining on a white
horse.
Just what women are waiting for, too, right?
This knight on this white horse to conquer
Rome, our soon-coming conquering king.
And it's funny.
2,000 years ago, the Jews were looking
for a lion.
They got a lamb.
Today everybody's looking for a lamb, and they're
going to get a lion.
That's a good amen spot right there.
And the congregation said amen.
Also, six point, ask for God's help.
Ask for God's help.
That's what Paul did, ask for God's help.
But what do we do?
I got this.
That's why we don't pray as much as
we should.
Because I got this.
I tell my wife that sometimes.
I got this.
It just happened this week.
You want me to go to the funeral
with you and support you?
No, I got this.
And our little two-year-old, Aubrey, when
she was two, was like, Aubrey, do.
Aubrey, do.
Like, I'll do it.
Aubrey, do.
I'll do it.
Aubrey, do.
Okay, Aubrey, do.
But we take that as we grow up.
I'll do.
I'll handle this, God.
And that's a bad spot to be.
That's a bad spot to be.
And then, of course, what we can glean
from this, point seven, know your Bible.
The more you know, the more he can
use you.
And this is where people get tongue-tied.
They get twisted.
I don't know.
I don't want to go on a long
rabbit trail.
But I meet a lot of spirit-filled
believers.
You know what that is?
It's a good term.
They're filled with the Spirit, not of the
world.
They're worshipers.
They're praying.
They're spirit-filled, but they have no grounding.
They have no foundation.
So they're tossed away by, is that the
Spirit?
Is that the Spirit?
It's just they don't know the Bible.
It's hard to minister to others.
And people come with good questions.
You know, well, if a loving God is
this, and they'll say, well, I don't know.
It's the old song.
Jesus said it's, you know, the Bible says
it's so, so I believe it.
I mean, that's okay.
But apologetics is when you get, the Bible
talks about being ready to give every man
an answer for the hope that is within
you.
So you have to know what it says.
I mean, I've stopped hundreds of arguments, hundreds,
by just knowing that somebody said something and
said, it's not in the Bible.
I had lunch with an atheist at Sharkey's
six months ago.
I said, that's nowhere in the Bible.
Oh, yeah, well, show me.
Get on your phone and show me where
it's in the Bible.
It's not in your Bible.
Oh, yeah, well, God promoted slavery.
Where?
Show me.
Okay, let's talk about these passages in context.
Do you know the difference between a slave
and an indentured servant?
And how the monetary system works?
Let's talk about these things, and you'll be
able to diffuse a lot of things and
make people think.
But it's interesting.
Paul was saying no other thing than what
was written.
So let's put that Isaiah 53 up on
the screen now, if we have it, because
I want you to see this.
This is all Paul is saying.
So Isaiah.
Now, Isaiah was written 700 years ago.
It was a prophet that God called to
call the nation back to God.
That's what many of the prophets would do.
They would call the nation, thus saith the
Lord.
So Isaiah, 700 years ago, the Jews had
been following Isaiah this whole time.
Actually, when Jesus went to the temple to
preach, he opened up the scroll of Isaiah
and read from it, The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me.
He has anointed me to preach the gospel.
So see, they got this stuff.
This isn't new.
I bet people in there could memorize it.
They knew exactly where to find this scripture.
Actually, they didn't have the chapter and verse
back then.
It was added about 500 years ago, part
of the Reformation idea there to get people
back into the Word.
But Paul was just saying this.
Who has believed our report?
So this is Isaiah, God speaking through Isaiah,
700 years before Paul and Jesus.
I better double check that because I'm just
going off memory from a few years ago
studying the historical timeline of that.
But I believe it was about 700 years
when Judah and Israel were divided in southern
and northern kingdoms.
Isaiah is calling the people out of their
riches and their wealth.
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the
Lord been revealed?
For he shall grow up, Jesus, before him
as a tender plant and as a root
out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness.
Meaning Jesus looked average.
It wasn't the night coming on a white
horse.
He just looked like the average person.
And when we see him, there is no
beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected by men.
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him.
And he was despised and we did not
esteem him.
So Paul is just saying, see, here he
is.
You rejected him.
Right here, Isaiah is coming to fulfillment.
Even now, though, many do not believe.
Jesus came as a humble servant, just like
Isaiah said he would.
And that's why Paul said, we'll read in
27, King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets?
King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets?
I know that you believe.
I know that you believe the prophets.
I'm just saying what the prophets said.
This is not some wind of doctrine.
This is not some new theology.
This isn't Greek mythology.
This is historical, biblical Christianity.
What we grew up in.
And then Isaiah 53, 4.
Surely he has borne our griefs.
This should bring tears to your eyes.
Jesus, coming in the likeness of man.
Can you imagine stepping down from heaven?
And I've heard this analogy many years ago.
It's like you stepping into a septic tank.
Coming out with everything on you and saying,
now I'm ready to minister.
He stepped down from that.
Let this mind be in you which was
also in Christ Jesus, who being in the
form of God, did not consider robbery to
be equal with God.
But he made himself of no reputation, taking
on the form of a man.
And he humbled himself.
He has borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by
God and afflicted.
Meaning we didn't esteem him, we didn't care.
We had that calloused, hard heart.
And this really penetrated my heart this week,
because that's how many of us come into
worship.
I mean, I've thought many times, I'd just
love to put on this screen a scene
from the Passion of the Christ, when the
King is on the cross, and that's who
you're worshiping.
That's why we're here.
Would that change worship?
I think so, because that should be me.
That should be me.
But he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement for our peace was upon him,
and by his stripes we are healed.
Now, theologians are debating on why he was
beaten, bruised, but it does fulfill prophecy.
The beating, the wrath, and the bruising, his
creation killing him.
And then by his stripes we are healed.
Obviously, this is spiritually speaking.
We are healed spiritually.
But it does have overarching physical ramifications for
us, because I do believe by his stripes
we are healed.
I believe that the blood of Christ is
so strong that we can get healing in
that prayer room.
We can get healing when we pray for
people.
That's biblical.
By his stripes we are healed.
Disease is not God's design.
It's the work of the enemy.
The chastisement for our peace.
That's an interesting phrase.
The chastisement for our peace.
Somebody was chastised in order for me to
have peace.
Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?
Somebody was beaten up and killed and slaughtered
in order for me to have peace.
Would we think about what has to happen?
So see, that's why there's some passion and
some pulpits.
Because we see that your peace and my
peace had a price.
How dare we walk into a church flippantly?
How dare we worship as if it doesn't
matter and we're doing God a favor?
That chastisement that he went through was because
of the peace I experienced.
And by his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way
and the Lord has laid upon him the
iniquity of us all.
I'm only halfway through.
All right, well, I probably should have told
you that.
I should have just acted like I was
done.
But let me just hit some strong points
and we'll pick up maybe next week, too.
This is a hard concept.
He's born, he's carried.
He's born our grieces, he's carried our griefs.
He's carried our sorrows.
He's carried, and somebody made a good point
recently.
I shared that and they said, yeah, but
I still feel it.
So it doesn't make sense.
I still feel it.
But then I thought, yeah, but now you
have somebody to take it to.
That's the difference.
People without God are lost.
They have to carry that burden.
They have to carry that sorrow to their
grave on their own.
Dealing with depression, unlike anything most of us
have ever known.
Dealing with anxiety.
Nothing, I have nothing to take this to.
But now God says, just take it to
me.
See, he bore it already.
He says, my yoke's easy.
My burden's light.
Cast all your cares upon me.
See, it's a constant casting.
I didn't just do this 17 years ago
and now I'm good.
It's just, God, my children.
One of my children is sick.
Hypothetically now, they're not, so don't worry.
I don't know, I've just been diagnosed with
something.
I remember even recently, my wife will tell
you, my foot was falling asleep.
My toe, my eyesight's going.
Oh, I've got muscle sclerosis.
I'm in my 40s, and come to find
out my shoe is too tight.
And that comes with age.
But it's like every day, the Lord just,
you know, casting my cares upon you.
Lord, difficulty.
Have you ever had one child, you know
the child, and they just, they're hell-bent
on just making your life difficult.
And it's just hard.
And you feel like giving up.
I'm a Christian, I should be able to
father better than this, or parent better than
this.
I'm casting it on you.
See, I have it, I feel it, but
then I have, I cast it, and I
feel better.
Have you ever been in a financial bind?
I told this story a while back, but
when I was back, way back in construction,
the market went like this.
And we had like literally a month left
of income.
And I was just, every morning, that was,
that'll make you pray.
If you need help praying, well, don't pray,
but God will use sometimes these hard things.
And every morning, I was just casting my
cares.
And an hour later, I was fine.
A couple days come again, casting the cares.
Lord, my mind, I'm losing my mind, mentally,
my memory, or I'm getting older, and I
can't cast those cares upon the Good Shepherd.
That's what it is.
It's this constant attitude of casting our cares
upon Him.
I'll just get to the closing point.
Some of you might say, I know this
isn't for everybody, it definitely was for me.
I just cried tears for days when I
came back to the Lord, saying, God, my
life is shipwrecked.
I'm done, I've shipwrecked my life.
And then I stumbled into Paul, Acts 28,
where he was shipwrecked on the island of
Malta.
And through that shipwreck, God used it as
ministry.
And I was encouraged, because God can take
a shipwreck, that would've been a good title,
shipwreck ministry.
Right, He'll take that shipwreck.
And if you once again focus on Him,
that's why many of you cried during the
sermon.
Because you know, I can see that you're,
you know He wants to take that shipwrecked
life back to Him.
Just, come on, yep, yep, yep, you're floating
on wood out there in the ocean.
Bring it to me, let me rebuild.
And often, He redirects through the shipwreck.
He redirects through the bad choices.
Now I have no income, now I've ruined
my life.
Now, Lord, I'll listen.
Now I'll listen, direct me.
And so it's through that pain, through all
those things that God will redirect.
Philippians 3.8, memorize this, if you can.
Indeed, I count all things for loss for
the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord.
So if you lose something because of Jesus,
count it as wonderful.
For whom I have suffered the loss of
all things, this is Paul speaking later on.
And I count them as rubbish, that I
may gain Christ and be found in Him.
I've talked to people who've lost millions of
dollars.
They've lost family, they've lost friends.
It's hard for me to read even biographies
of missionaries on the field back in the
1800s or 1900s.
They would bury their children on the mission
field.
I count it all for Christ's sake.
Nothing is rubbish, nothing is wasted.
I count it all because of what Christ
done in me and I found in Him.
So here's the advice, here's the advice.
Philippians 3.13, brethren, I do not count
myself to have apprehended.
I haven't caught it, I don't got it,
I don't know everything.
But one thing I do, one thing I
do, forgetting those things which are behind and
reaching forward towards those things which are ahead.
I press towards the goal for the prize
of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus.
I can't change my past, but I can
propel my future.
I can't change where I've been, but I
can change where I'm going.
I'm sounding like a motivational speaker now.
Good on Sunday morning TV.
But it's true, He can use those things.
But it's a constant, I've messed up.
What are you going to do now?
And get back on track, forgetting what lies
behind and looking forward to what lies ahead.
So here's how God uses your past.
He takes the pain, the disappointments, the shame,
the regret, the hurt, and reshapes your life
on the potter's wheel.
See, all of that stuff is part of
the clay.
We forget, we want to remove it, but
then you remove the clay, you remove who
you are.
And I want to be careful here, but
I guarantee, I don't want to use the
word guarantee, but I thank God for the
most difficult seasons in my life because I
wouldn't be here today had He not allowed
that.
Those years of regret, that I was just
year after year of regretting, because of that,
I'm here today.
Though the road ahead may be uncertain at
times, the solid, though the road ahead may
be uncertain at times, the solid ground beneath
will never shift.
It's all about who you know.
And before we go into a time of
prayer, I'm going to leave you with a
quote from Leonard Ravenhill.
God doesn't answer prayer, He answers desperate prayer.
And people might not agree with that, but
basically what he's saying is the three-minute
prayer of, okay, Lord, get me safe to
work, let me make a lot of money
and keep us healthy.
God's looking for desperate prayer.
When the heart cries out, when the heart
cries out, Lord, help me, save me, deliver
my children, God answers the desperate prayer.