Set List 03.07.10
I love to fact that as you read the gospels you will never find one instance where Jesus leveraged guilt towards anybody! I’m so thankful no where in Jesus’ life do you find Him ever manipulating, controlling or leveraging anyone’s past against them. Paul clarifies this in Romans 2:4 (NLT) 4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that His kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? God’s love, patience & kindness are the attributes that causes us to repent and turn our lives over to God. NOT GUILT!
Guilt straps us with these three letters—IOU!
All of us carry these bricks of guilt in our backpacks because of the stuff in our past! It’s heavy. Some of us have been carrying unnecessary guilt for way too long! Guilt leads to shame. “A pervasive sense of shame is the ongoing premise that one is fundamentally bad, inadequate, defective, unworthy, or not fully valid as a human being.”—Merle Fossum Then enemy loves to try and accuse us and condemn us from our past!
We have two options with guilt:
#1 Repay the debt. Most of the time we can’t repay much of the stuff that happened.
#2 Confession.
Confession breaks the power of guilt.
Confession happens in 3 different relationships:
1. Take it to God.
1 John 1:9 (NIV) 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Talk to God and unpack the backpack. Own it, confess it, call it what is it! God is enough and He promises to forgives us and to purify our hearts!
The Bible says more about confessing to other people than to God.
2. Confess to someone you trust.
James 5:16 (NIV) 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
Find someone...your spouse, a friend, someone in your Life Group, someone that you can trust to talk with about the stuff in your life.
3. Confess to the Person you Owe.
If you want to clean out your heart it always moves us to do something courageous—go to the person that we offended and ask them to cancel the debt!
Check out Luke 19:8-10
The goal of confession is not a clear conscience—it’s a changed heart.
The result of confession:
Psalm 32:1-5 (NLT) 1 Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! 2 Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! 3 When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. 4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. 5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
Here’s what you do today…
• Make a list of what and who you owe.
• Take it to God.
• Take it to someone else.
• Take it to that person.
We’ll be different people if we practice the discipline of confession!
Memory Verse: Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
See you this Sunday as we talk about jealousy.
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