Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign church. We are thrilled you decided to listen to our teaching on your favorite podcast app. If you made a decision to follow Christ today, would you let us know by visiting? Yes.newlife gillette.com Here is this week's teaching.
[00:00:27] Well, let me say welcome to those of you who are watching online, to the guys over at the prison, to our friends at the jail, and those of you who are here in the room. We are finishing up a series called Anchor. We're talking about the things in our life that tend to hold us back from becoming the people that God created us to be. Often they are temptations, sins, cultural habits that we have. And today we're talking about a sin that I'm going to name. I'm going to name this sin perfectionism.
[00:00:58] How many people here have Instagram?
[00:01:00] You have an Instagram account? Okay. How many people here have a Facebook account?
[00:01:05] Yes. So pretty much everybody here has recognized a trend of where we need to kind of perfect our lives.
[00:01:14] We've got to remove all the negative and just portray all the positive. So even if our lives aren't perfect, we at least have to make them appear to be perfect. Right? And I think this gets us in this habit of trying to perfect every part of our lives. I got to make sure I've removed every piece of pain or everything that's out of order or every broken relationship, or I've got to have enough money or the nice stuff or whatever it is. I've got to try to perfect my life because it sure looks like everybody else's life is perfect.
[00:01:49] And I believe that that takes us to a very unhealthy place in our lives where actually we're putting emphasis on something that Jesus does not want us to put emphasis on and at all.
[00:02:03] It's trying to have enough money or enough power that I can perfect my life so that I don't have to deal with pain anymore.
[00:02:11] And I believe that that is not where God wants us to be. That is not the type of life that God wants us to live. God doesn't want us to have a perfect, self reliant, self sufficient life because God wants our attention on him and on others, on ourself.
[00:02:34] And the pursuit of a perfect life brings too often the attention on myself and off of others and off of God. And ultimately, if I pursue perfection for too long, perfectionism becomes self worship. I become the idol.
[00:02:55] What would your ideal life look like?
[00:03:01] Like if you got everything you wanted it, how much money would you have?
[00:03:07] Where would you live?
[00:03:10] Who would you be Married to or not married to.
[00:03:15] This might sound terrible, but whatever life you're picturing when you ask those questions, I don't think God wants you to have that life.
[00:03:23] I don't think he wants you to have. Here's the whole point of my sermon.
[00:03:27] God doesn't want us to have a perfect life in this world because a perfect life would take focus off of him and put it on us.
[00:03:39] When I was in high school, my twin brother and I used to go to youth group like every teenage Christian does. And we one night at youth group had stayed way too late and we were shutting the church down. Actually, we were just hanging out, having some fun. Well, my mom was in this habit of staying awake until we got home. And so if we stayed out way too late, she would sit in bed worrying what's wrong. We didn't have cell phone back then, and so she couldn't just call us and check on us, so she just had to sit in bed worrying. And it's really the thing that got us home on time most nights because we didn't want mom to have to stay awake and wait on us and worry. And so. But this night, apparently we didn't care about mom and we stayed out really late.
[00:04:26] Well, Mom's sitting in bed and eventually finally she hears the garage door open and she thought, oh, finally they're home. And she like instantly falls asleep. It's the last thing that she remembers from that night until the next morning. She wakes up to somebody pounding on the front door. And mom goes to the front door and there is a cop at the front door.
[00:04:50] And the cop says, ma', am, do you have a young son?
[00:04:55] And she said, Yes, I have two 17 year old sons.
[00:04:58] And he said, ma', am, are they home? And she said, yes, Well, I think they're home. I haven't seen them yet this morning.
[00:05:05] And the cop said, ma', am, would you please check and see if your sons are home? There is a young man around that age lying dead in your front yard.
[00:05:16] And instantly mom panics. Obviously the last thing she remembers is I didn't actually stay awake to make sure they got home. I just heard the garage door open and I assumed they were home.
[00:05:27] And so mom tries to make her way up the stairs to go check and see if we're there or not. But she's like trying not to pass out on her way up the stairs. She gets to my twin brother Steve's room because apparently she loves him more. I don't know, goes to Steve's Room checks. Steve's in his bed. So then she makes her way over to my room and checks.
[00:05:53] Well, I'm obviously not dead. So it wasn't me. And I was in my room.
[00:06:00] We had a neighbor who was a little bit older than my brother and I were that. My brother and I grew up completely jealous of.
[00:06:10] He had everything going for him.
[00:06:13] He was tall, he was buff, he had an awesome truck, he had a beautiful girlfriend. I mean, like, we're jealous of this guy trying to keep up with the Joneses. That wasn't his last name, but trying to keep up with this guy, trying to be as cool as this guy.
[00:06:31] And little did we know that he was going through life miserable.
[00:06:37] How could somebody seem to have everything together?
[00:06:41] How could somebody seem like they've got everything going for them, yet inwardly be so miserable that they would take their own life?
[00:06:52] I'll tell you how.
[00:06:53] Because having the perfect life is a miserable goal.
[00:06:59] Looking the way you want to look, having the things you want to have, even having the relationships that you covet would not give you the hope and the peace and the joy that God offers to every single one of us.
[00:07:15] Our Instagram world is obsessed with physical perfection, and it's not going to take us where we want it to take us.
[00:07:27] Who here has ever looked in the mirror and seen perfection? Anyone?
[00:07:33] No.
[00:07:35] We need to hit the gym more.
[00:07:37] More tanning.
[00:07:40] It just gets worse as we get older, right?
[00:07:43] You look in the mirror, you're never going to see perfection.
[00:07:48] How many people here are married? You can raise your hand for this one. That's okay.
[00:07:53] Here's what I say.
[00:07:55] You've already got her. Let yourself go. Right?
[00:08:00] Why are we. No, I'm just kidding. Don't let yourself go.
[00:08:05] At some point, we have to come to terms with the fact that the Hollywood looks, the perfect life, the glamorous life that seems so appealing should not be our primary pursuit.
[00:08:23] Today we're going to reflect on something that the Apostle Paul said to the church in Corinth about trying to have the perfect life.
[00:08:31] He says this.
[00:08:33] If I wanted to boast, I'd be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth.
[00:08:40] Paul, I don't want to. I guess I do need to brag it to you. That is bragging.
[00:08:45] That's not even a humble brag. That's just bragging. If I was bragging, I'd be telling the truth. That's what he just said. But I won't do it. He did do it. But I won't do it because I don't want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message.
[00:09:01] Even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God.
[00:09:05] So to keep me from becoming proud, in other words, I've got it all going for me, except for this one thing.
[00:09:12] So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given. Given God. It was intentional. He's saying I was given a thorn in my flesh.
[00:09:21] This is a metaphorical thorn.
[00:09:23] He didn't have a rose garden that gave him a literal thorn. He's talking about a metaphorical thorn in his flesh. Something that is holding him back, causing him pain.
[00:09:34] What do you think the thorn in Paul's flesh was?
[00:09:38] Some people say that the thorn in his flesh he was referencing was a sin, temptation.
[00:09:44] And that temptation just kept nagging him and nagging him to sin in a certain way.
[00:09:50] Some people say that Paul had some physical ailment or disease that caused him pain.
[00:09:57] Some people guess that maybe it was a relationship issue. Maybe this is why Paul never got married and stayed single.
[00:10:04] I. My personal theory, I don't have any proof for this, but my personal theory is that Paul was angry at God that he was not chosen to be Jesus's 12th apostle after Judas, that they cast lots and picked somebody else. We don't know. We just. We just have to guess. But apparently there was something in Paul's life that made his life difficult.
[00:10:31] We don't know what it was. But here's what we do know.
[00:10:34] We know that the miracle worker did not take the thorn from Paul.
[00:10:41] He let him live with it.
[00:10:45] Is there something in your life that you hate?
[00:10:51] Maybe it's the way you look.
[00:10:53] Maybe it's the family you were born into.
[00:10:56] Maybe it's a disease that you have. Maybe you have cancer.
[00:11:01] Maybe it's who you are attracted to or a sin temptation that you have that you just can't seem to shake.
[00:11:11] Maybe you struggle in school.
[00:11:15] Whatever it is you, you think about it and you recognize you didn't choose that thing. But over time, you've had to learn to live with that thing.
[00:11:24] And at some point you've asked the question, God, why are you allowing this?
[00:11:32] Hear this.
[00:11:34] God is allowing it.
[00:11:36] And God has a purpose for allowing it.
[00:11:40] You know, the original sin in the garden was self sufficiency. That's where it all started.
[00:11:48] Adam and Eve seemed to have the perfect life, but they didn't want to be dependent on God while having the perfect life.
[00:11:56] They wanted to be self dependent, self sufficient.
[00:12:01] Instead of following God, instead of Trusting God, they wanted to follow self. They wanted to trust themselves.
[00:12:09] Remember how the Satan tempted Eve?
[00:12:13] You won't die. The serpent replied to the woman. If you eat this fruit, God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it and you will be like God.
[00:12:23] Knowing both good and evil, the Satan knew Adam and Eve would be tempted by wanting to be like God.
[00:12:34] But all through history back then and today, God has been trying to teach us that the best life that we can possibly live is a life that is fully reliant on him, fully dependent on him, fully trusting him, trusting him.
[00:12:51] The nation of Israel dealt with this too. Remember when they decided that they didn't want to rely on God anymore, that they wanted to follow a king, they wanted a human king.
[00:13:01] They said, look, they told Samuel, Samuel is this prophet. Back then, the nation of Israel just followed God and God would give them prophets and he would speak to the nation of Israel through these prophets. Well, the prophet that God spoke to at this time was a guy named Samuel. Look, the nation of Israel told Samuel, you are now old and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have. We're jealous.
[00:13:25] Samuel was displeased with the request and went to the Lord for guidance.
[00:13:29] Do everything they say to you. The Lord replied, for they are rejecting me, not you.
[00:13:35] They don't want me to be their king any longer. They don't want to be dependent on God, they want to go their own way.
[00:13:43] If you have a weakness, maybe God is allowing you to have that weakness so that you will more fully rely on Him. But our temptation is to try to be fully self reliant like the Israelites.
[00:14:00] And how did that turn out for the Israelites?
[00:14:04] How did Saul do at being their king? Total chaos. It just led to pain. This is what happens when we go our way instead of God's way. It always leads to chaos.
[00:14:16] God brings order, we bring chaos.
[00:14:21] When you read the Genesis story, the creation narrative, you recognize that the way that God creates the world is actually by bringing order to things that were disordered.
[00:14:33] He brings order to chaos.
[00:14:36] Right in the beginning of the Bible, we open it up and what is, what does it say? Right before the creation began, it says the earth was formless, void, chaos.
[00:14:49] So how did God create?
[00:14:51] He took the things that already existed and he began to separate them, to order them.
[00:14:58] It's what a painter does on a canvas.
[00:15:02] They take the paint that already exists and they arrange it on a canvas to make something beautiful and create A painting.
[00:15:12] It's what God did for you. You know, all the molecules that make up you already existed before you were alive.
[00:15:20] Yet how did God bring life to you?
[00:15:24] He took those molecules. He created DNA.
[00:15:27] The DNA were the instructions that ordered the molecules to come together and change form and become you. And then God breathed his spirit, breathed his breath into you.
[00:15:41] God brings order to chaos. This is what he does. So when we follow God's way, there is goodness, there is beauty, creation.
[00:15:52] And anything outside of his perfect design is disorder, is chaos, is pain.
[00:16:01] This is why Adam and Eve, or this is why God told the Adam and Eve that the consequence of their sin is death.
[00:16:12] Sin disorders things, and disorder causes death.
[00:16:18] If your DNA is not correct, if it's disordered, then you don't have life.
[00:16:27] You can only have life if things are ordered in God's way.
[00:16:31] When we reject God's lordship and we go our own way, we always bring chaos.
[00:16:39] And that is why our world experiences so much pain.
[00:16:43] All the pain around you is a result of sin, all of it.
[00:16:48] Because here's what happens. I make a decision, I go my way. And I could be, I could have all the greatest intentions, but inevitably I make mistakes.
[00:16:57] And my mistakes have consequences, even if it's not directly sin, even if it's just not the best option.
[00:17:04] If I go my way, I cause disorder, I cause chaos, inevitably. That's just the reality of free will.
[00:17:13] Well, that compounds because my decisions have consequences on my kids and then they add their decisions onto that and those have consequences. And then we get things like cancer and then we get pain all over the world because we've made decisions that have certain consequences and pain is introduced into our world. Chaos because of sin. We can't perfectly go God's way. And as long as we are not perfectly going God's way, there will be disorder which leads to death.
[00:17:45] And this is why I believe we should rejoice in our weaknesses.
[00:17:50] Because our weaknesses have a chance of causing us to realize that we should stop going our way and start going God's way.
[00:18:01] That if I trust myself, if I trust my plan, then I just lead to chaos.
[00:18:08] But our weaknesses remind us that we need to rely on God, not on our weak selves and not on the weak people around us, but only on him.
[00:18:19] So back to Paul, he says, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming self reliant, self sufficient, proud.
[00:18:33] I think one fun implication of this passage is that God uses the Satan to accomplish his will.
[00:18:39] I bet that just really ticks Satan off.
[00:18:41] It's like in the story of Job, God uses Satan. Like the Satan thinks he's winning. And the whole way through, God is like using it all to bring glory to himself and to bring order to chaos.
[00:18:55] Why does God allow the Satan to continue to exist? He doesn't have to. He's already beat the Satan.
[00:19:03] The Satan has no power outside of God, allowing him to do things.
[00:19:08] God could end it today, but he doesn't. Why?
[00:19:11] Because the Satan brings some chaos that makes us realize that we need God.
[00:19:21] Our thorns remind us we need Jesus.
[00:19:26] If your life was perfect, then you would be God and we should all just worship you.
[00:19:34] If you somehow figured out a way to put together the perfect life, if somebody somewhere created the perfect life, then all attention would be on that person. We would all try to be like that person. We would all follow that person.
[00:19:50] So it would be terrible if you had a perfect life. That would be the worst thing that could possibly happen to you because it would take your attention off of God.
[00:20:03] Our world complains how broken and chaotic and painful our world is. But that's because we don't see the full picture. We don't see how God is using the pain to bring us into a greater, deeper relationship with him.
[00:20:18] And then Paul says this three different times. I begged the Lord to take this thorn away from me.
[00:20:26] Each time, God said, my grace is all you need.
[00:20:32] How many times did Paul ask God to take the thorn away?
[00:20:37] You're shy, but it says it right there.
[00:20:39] Three.
[00:20:41] Three different times. Does that sound like a lot to you?
[00:20:46] That does not sound like a lot to me.
[00:20:48] When there's something in my life that I want to change, when I'm upset about it, when it's like front of mind, I'm like, God, what's wrong with you? What are you doing? Fix this, change this, solve this.
[00:21:01] Over and over, all day, every day.
[00:21:04] And I don't think it's because Paul didn't pray very often.
[00:21:08] I think it's because Paul got the point.
[00:21:13] My grace is sufficient. Jesus says, you don't need the thorn to be gone.
[00:21:17] What you need is more of my grace.
[00:21:19] And I think Paul had gotten to the spiritual maturity where he was able to say, okay, God, if this thorn is here for a reason, then I'll focus more on your grace.
[00:21:33] I think God's grace really was enough for Paul.
[00:21:38] Remember a few verses earlier, we read this a couple weeks ago. Paul says this five different times. The Jewish leaders gave me 39 lashes three times I was beaten with rods once, I was stoned three times, I was shipwrecked. One time I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.
[00:21:57] Can you imagine that life?
[00:22:00] Let's just focus on whipped. Whipped 39 times. They believed if you whipped somebody 40 times, they'd die. So. So they whip you 39 times. So you'd be like right within an inch of your life five times.
[00:22:13] That's a lifestyle for Paul because you get whipped 39 times, it's going to take you a year to heal.
[00:22:20] So for Paul it's like, get whipped, heal for a year. Get whipped, heal for a year. Get whipped, heal for a year. Well, it's time for your annual whipping.
[00:22:32] Terrible life. How is Paul able to do this?
[00:22:36] He was able to do it because he was focused on God and on the mission and he recognized that this life is so short.
[00:22:46] So how do we respond when God tells us no?
[00:22:50] When we ask God for something and he tells us no? You know, I grew up around churches that would say if you just believe hard enough, if you just have enough faith, you can get God to do for you anything you want him to do.
[00:23:06] Prosperity gospel or whatever you call it, name it, claim it, all that stuff.
[00:23:10] I look at Paul's life, I'm like, that doesn't look like the prosperity gospel life.
[00:23:16] I look at the life of Jesus followers and they were not living this health and wealth life.
[00:23:24] It wasn't because they didn't have enough faith.
[00:23:27] Their faith allowed them to do what God created them to do.
[00:23:33] They were being sanctified.
[00:23:35] Now don't get me wrong, I believe prayer is powerful. I believe in miracles.
[00:23:40] I believe God does say yes and God can say yes and God can do anything that you ask him for.
[00:23:48] He is able to do more than we could ever dream for us.
[00:23:53] But sometimes saying yes to us will actually cause us more pain.
[00:23:58] If you're asking God for something that will make you more self reliant rather than reliant on him, he will say no every time because he loves you too much to give you something that will lead you away from Him.
[00:24:12] Thank you Lord.
[00:24:15] Thank you God for telling me no when I ask you for things that will lead me away from you.
[00:24:22] Because getting things from God should never be our goal in prayer.
[00:24:28] Building a relationship with God is our goal in prayer.
[00:24:33] That requires trust.
[00:24:36] God answers every faithful request.
[00:24:40] But sometimes the answer is no.
[00:24:45] Paul is one of the most godly men in history.
[00:24:48] He had incredible faith, but God told him no.
[00:24:52] When Paul asked God to remove the thorn.
[00:24:56] When I ask God for things, I should come to God and I should say, God, here's what I think is best.
[00:25:03] God, here's what I want.
[00:25:05] But if that is not best, please don't give it to me.
[00:25:10] Please tell me no.
[00:25:12] I trust your way more than I trust my way. I trust your wisdom over my knowledge.
[00:25:19] And it takes faith to pray that kind of prayer.
[00:25:22] Because sometimes that means we gotta live with the thorn.
[00:25:27] God says this.
[00:25:29] My power works best when we're weak.
[00:25:34] God's power works best in our weakness.
[00:25:38] So now I am glad to boast about my weakness. Paul says, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
[00:25:46] That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses and in the insults and hardships, persecution and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
[00:25:56] Paul wants the power of Christ to work through him.
[00:26:01] That will make him more powerful than he could ever be in and of himself.
[00:26:06] Reliance on God is better than self sufficiency, self reliance.
[00:26:11] Because reliance on God gives us strength that we could never have in ourselves.
[00:26:16] And Paul doesn't end by saying so. God is strong. Paul ends by saying, because God is strong, I am strong. Why? Because he is one with Christ and the Spirit of God lives in him. So because the Spirit of God is in him, he is strong. He's able to endure the beatings, he's able to endure pain in this life because the strength of God is in him.
[00:26:40] The power of God is in him. We would call that divine power. Do you have divine power in your life?
[00:26:50] Is God's divine power in you?
[00:26:56] We don't work to become more self sufficient, stronger, more powerful, more wealthy. We work to get more and more of God's divine power in us so that we can do through him what we could never do on our own.
[00:27:12] Adam and Eve had perfect lives.
[00:27:16] They had the life that this world wants so desperately.
[00:27:21] They had everything, no problems. And they threw it all away because that won't give us what we want.
[00:27:31] Adam and Eve threw away paradise because they want wanted to worship themselves rather than God.
[00:27:41] And so do we.
[00:27:43] So does our flesh.
[00:27:46] How many paradises are we willing to throw away for our sin?
[00:27:53] We're human.
[00:27:54] That means we are descendants of Adam and Eve.
[00:27:58] And we throw paradises away every time we choose our way rather than God's way. Every time we choose choose to sin, we throw away what God wants for us.
[00:28:11] When we look at porn, we throw away the paradise of a healthy marriage.
[00:28:18] When we get drunk and Yell at our kids.
[00:28:21] We throw away the paradise of a healthy relationship with our children when we just keep buying things even though we're in debt and we can't afford it. We throw away the paradise of financial freedom. Freedom when we refuse to tithe.
[00:28:35] We throw away the paradise of a life of reliance on God, a healthy relationship with Him.
[00:28:44] When we choose our way instead of going God's way, we reject what he wants for us, what he created us for, what he has for us.
[00:28:54] And then because of that, we cannot. That keeps us from stepping into the calling that he has created us for.
[00:29:02] Each of us can be like Paul.
[00:29:05] Each of us can be so reliant on him that his power is working through us, that we can accomplish great things in this world for him if we go his way instead of our way.
[00:29:17] John Piper famously said, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
[00:29:24] God gets glorified when the world sees his power working in us.
[00:29:29] At some point in your sanctification journey, as you become the person God created you to be, you will be able to say, just like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, God, not my will, but your will be done.
[00:29:41] And when you pray that prayer, you should just know it's probably going to lead you to pain.
[00:29:47] It's probably going to hurt temporarily.
[00:29:52] That's why it takes so much faith, I believe, to pray that kind of prayer more than the other kind of prayer.
[00:29:58] It doesn't take much faith to say, God, make my life more comfortable, make my life more easy, make things better for me.
[00:30:05] It takes faith to pray, God, wherever you lead me, I'll follow.
[00:30:12] Jesus said this.
[00:30:14] Jesus said, this is my body which is given for you. Surrendered, sacrificed.
[00:30:22] The world says, my body, my choice.
[00:30:26] I do what I want.
[00:30:27] I do what feels comfortable. I feel like I'm gonna do what makes me feel better about myself, what makes me more comfortable.
[00:30:36] Jesus message is the exact opposite.
[00:30:39] I'll lay it all down. I'll sacrifice it all because I love you that much.
[00:30:46] So here's what I wanna ask you to do.
[00:30:49] Identify the area of your life where you are most tempted to seek perfection.
[00:30:57] Is there an insecurity that you focus too much on?
[00:31:02] Do you struggle to be content with what God has given you?
[00:31:09] And if yes, and the answer is yes for all of us, then I want to give you a piece of homework.
[00:31:15] Actually, two pieces of homework. Number one, start with awe, not anxiety.
[00:31:22] Every morning, if you're like me, you wake up and you start thinking of the to do list. You start thinking of the problems that you got to solve, you start thinking about the jobs you got to do.
[00:31:33] And just kind of creates anxiety in our lives. This is the epidemic of anxiety we're in. I gotta perfect my life. I could do everything right.
[00:31:44] So what if before you get dressed, before you look at your phone, before you look in the mirror and start getting insecure, what if you started with a conversation with God, with a prayer?
[00:31:59] What if you started listening to some worship music first thing in the morning?
[00:32:03] Read a couple verses in the Bible.
[00:32:06] Start by getting your mind focused on God and his grace instead of focusing on yourself.
[00:32:13] Why? Because his grace is all you need.
[00:32:18] His grace, that's what we need. Because his grace, that's more than just forgiveness.
[00:32:24] His grace strengthens us. He gives us power. His grace gives us direction.
[00:32:31] And the second thing is this.
[00:32:33] Serve someone.
[00:32:34] You'll notice the first one is about focusing on God. The second one is about focusing on others.
[00:32:40] Get your focus off of yourself onto God and onto others. We have to find ways to get our attention off of ourself.
[00:32:47] And usually we do that by serving. If you do not have a habit of regularly, like very regularly, I'm not just saying once a quarter, I do this thing. No, very regularly, volunteering somewhere or serving someone, it is time to start.
[00:33:05] Because anything else just leads to depression.
[00:33:09] You know when Jesus said, whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me.
[00:33:13] Maybe it's time to start doing for the least of these.
[00:33:17] Start serving.
[00:33:18] Create a habit of serving.
[00:33:21] It will be better for you than it will be for the people you are serving.
[00:33:27] I believe this is how we become the people God created us to be.
[00:33:32] Not by perfecting ourselves, not by trying to get everything in order and perfect in our lives, but by focusing on him and by focusing on others and becoming the person that God created us to be.
[00:33:43] God, I pray for everybody here today who is suffering with a deep wound, an insecurity, anxiety or fear.
[00:33:55] God, I pray that your Holy Spirit now will give comfort, peace that passes understanding.
[00:34:03] God, I pray that you will wrap your loving arms around hurting people today.
[00:34:09] God, we know that your love is unconditional.
[00:34:14] God, I pray for anybody here today who might be struggling with feelings of guilt.
[00:34:28] Anybody here today who might be dealing with insecurity or doubt would be reminded of the beauty of a relationship with the Creator of the universe.
[00:34:41] God, show them your unconditional love. Let your Holy Spirit speak right now.
[00:34:51] God, I thank you that you created each of us on purpose, with a purpose give us the courage to more fully step in to that calling.
[00:35:02] We love you and we thank you. In Jesus name, amen.
