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How To Experience Real Restoration

10/14/2018

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By Pastor Greg Byman
St Joe Community Church
October 14, 2018

​If your life were “restored,” what might that look like? Car aficionados will often not only restore a car to its original level of functionality, but they will lovingly upgrade the engine, interior, paint job, wheels, and more. Jesus Christ came for the broken and humble, and the key to spiritual restoration is beginning in a place of humility in order to receive the restoration care of our heavenly father. In today’s message, Pastor Greg Byman dives into 2 Chronicles 33:10-17 to study how God restores his people for service unto himself. Pastor Byman preached, “How To Experience Real Restoration” at St Joe Community Church on Sunday, October 14, 2018.

Pastor's Notes

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Transcript

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​Let's pray one more time Father God we just give you praise and thanks for who you are and we just we come into this place knowing that you are an amazing God and you have an amazing love for us we thank you that your nature compels you we just are so crazy full that you are compelled to to pursue us and this morning there might be even one person who is far from you one person in this room three people in this room who. Who they just don't feel like they are worthy of your love that in some way they feel like they're excluded when we all talk about the amazing love and what you did for us they just don't they don't sense or believe in their heart of hearts that that's true I prayed this morning that this message that the story that we read in this Old Testament story that that they'll see that no one is beyond your reach that no one is beyond your love. And that we are all no matter who we are whether we're far or close to your We're all trophies of your grace. We are the result of what you've done for us not what we've done for you. And any of us there standing in the grace of view this morning any of us that have even found any inkling of a power to do the right thing in spite of our sinful nature is because A you you're the one that gave us the power and the strength to do that in first place oh God we pray for healing to begin in people's lives this morning spiritually emotionally mentally. And we pray for healing physically for those that are going through the battle of physical illness. We know that you are the healer you're the great Redeemer you're the God of hope you're the God of mercy to guide us now as we listen to what your word says and may I explain it in a way that would honor and glorify your name may Jesus you be the one that people go away saying. Are we serving a great God Not Wow did we hear a great message because it's not about me it's all about you we pray this in Jesus' name amen may be seated we're going to be and a part of the Bible that maybe you don't often turn to I hope you do but. It's not what you think I want to what I can get out a Second Chronicles today. But it is a great Bible book that you want to say yes there are some great things to get out of Second Chronicles and I want you to see what's in here this morning from Chapter thirty three of Second Chronicles if you have your phone you can actually Google Second Chronicles thirty three and it will probably show up a Bible somewhere Bible verse and you can find that on there and if you're doing that this morning I'm going to be reading from the H. C. S. B. With or the C. S. B. Is the is the new or abbreviation of it and that's the Christian Standard Bible that's my version I have but there are several good versions to read from but that's the one I'm going to read from the Smalling want to read this story what chapter thirty three I want to read the story because it's pretty self-explanatory but I also we're going to focus on Chapter ten or thirty three verses ten through seventeen but I want to read the entire chapter kind of as a as a understanding of the background and then we'll get into the meat of what we want to learn today from this that by the way history's a great thing no. Because if we don't know history we don't learn from history we're apt to repeat it is that I've heard that said before now OK we and it's interesting how life is cyclical. Clothing is cyclical you know my kids come out with clothes and I go. Yeah I remember that style. They had no clue. Well they do now because Google tells you but anyway but it's so funny how styles change I mean how many here legwarmers ladies legwarmers you know that's a big deal and then we went that's hilarious. And now they're a big deal again and soon we'll say that's hilarious it's just one of those things well just like clothing style and other things like that lifestyle and the way people live is cyclical. And I hope we can learn from the cycles of people's lives and I hope you learn from my life I learn from your life so that we can try not to repeat the things that we don't want to repeat. So let's read the story by NASA was twelve years old when he became king king of a nation he became king at age twelve this is a book that's set for just a moment Whoa you got a twelve year old house here somebody who's twelve thirteen year old you're older than you should be to be king he last year you became king Alex. Yeah are your grades now. You know what it didn't matter about his grades his dad died Hezekiah died and said you're it Cory I hope you live long and prosper but Alex David. You're up next anyway. Twelve years old he became king of a nation. He reigned fifty five years in Jerusalem again I will do this for every passage but this is one of the longest reigning king in Israel and Jews history. When the longest reigning king. And I think that you'll see in a moment it's a good thing he reigned that long because he was able to recover from his early steps as a king. He reigned fifty five years in Jerusalem verse two he did what was evil in the Lord's sight imitating the detestable practices of the nations but the Lord had disposed this possessed before the Israelites he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down and reestablish the altars for the bales he made Asherah poles and he worshiped the whole heavenly host and served them he built altars in the Lord's temple where the Lord said Jerusalem is where my name will remain forever he built altars and the whole heavenly hosts. To the whole heavenly host in both courtyards of the Lord's temple he passed his sons through the fire in the Valley of Hinnom some passages this is almost a nice way of saying it that he sacrificed physically killed his sons in worship of these false gods. He practiced witchcraft divination and sorcery and consulted mediums and spiritist So he did a great deal of evil in the Lord's sight provoking the Lord him. And NASA set up a carved image of the idol he had made in God's temple about which God said to David and his son Solomon previous kings I will establish my name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel I will never again remove the feet of the Israelites from upon the land where I stationed your ancestors if only. They will be careful to do all that I have commanded them through Moses all the law. Statutes and judgments so NASA caused Juda and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites verse ten. The Lord spoke to mass and his people but they didn't listen. Did you hear that the Lord spoke to NASA and his people but they didn't listen. So he brought against them the military commanders of the King of Assyria they captured my NASA with hooks bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon and when he was in distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors he prayed to him so that he heard his petition and granted his request and brought him back to Jerusalem in his kingdom so monastic came to know that the Lord is God. And after this he brought the he built the outer wall of the City of David from west of Jihan in the Valley of the entrance of the fish gate and he brought it around the oval and its height and height and it considered three He also placed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Juda he removed the foreign gods and I don't from the Lord's temple along with all the altars he had built on the mountain of the Lord's Temple in Jerusalem and he threw them outside the city he built the altar of the Lord and offered fellowship and thank offerings on it and then he told Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel however the people still sacrificed at the high places but only to the Lord their God. May god add his blessing to the reading of His word let's let's unpack this this morning first of all the haunting passage that we see here and the one that really kicks off this whole message is God spoke. But they didn't listen now the first part of the passage explains that God was getting their attention for a reason you see he the king was leading his nation to rebel against the God who had given them the very nation that he was leading God had established his throne he had been told an ancestor before King David that your throne will last forever King men NASA was living out the promise of God He was living on the promise of God and he was for say King the protection of that promise you see rebellion comes even in spite of upbringing you can live the most godly life as a father and a mother. But each child must choose for themselves whether they will serve the one true god. Now in a handful of weeks the end of October I'm going to start a family series and I believe there are some key things that we can do in our families that will lead to our children to follow the Lord and their old age and their older life that they as an adult can start to learn to know how to unpack spirituality. But we have no guarantee of that which you did. I love to say Christian Christian Christian Christian cross I love everybody drove by Christian Christian Christian Crist I just love for that to get on the property boom you're Christian. Elect a mayor to say we will be a Christian city elected governor to say this is a Christian state elected president to say this is a Christian nation we can't do that it's a choice and every person in this room and every person on the face of the earth has to make a choice whether they will serve God believe in God trust him or not. Upbringing has can you can rebel in spite of of your upbringing you can rebel in spite of your community you can grow up in a warm Fellowship of Christian faith and I can tell you so many people I meet in Fort Wayne and they they just talk about how much they hate the church. And when I've dug down into half a handful of those stories not every story and some churches have really done a harm to the witness of God OK I get that I pray and hope that's not true for us and in fact if you're a part of our fellowship or you're on the fringe of our fellowship and you see something that you think is Adeline with being the fellowship of God or out of line with the Word of God Boy tell us we want to know how to be better for God we're not perfect it's not about us you know it's about him and if we're if we're getting in the way if our of if if your view of God is getting the way of our bad view of how we're living for God we want to know I want to know I want to know if I've offended you because I don't want that offense to cause you to rebel against God alternately It's not about me and you I mean yes I want our friendship to get better but I want your friendship with God to get strong because in the end I'm not standing next to you in heaven going well he's pretty good guys pretty good girl you know I'll talk about you to a funeral I'll find something nice to say don't worry. But you have to stand before holy God and just and defend whether or not you trust in Christ or not me and I want everybody to answer that well and be able to get into heaven through the grace and the forgiveness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. It's not community community can sometimes in spite of community you can rebel someone could be sitting in this room right now and they have lived and grown up in this community but in our heart of hearts they're super rebellious against a holy God. And has nothing to do with the community it has everything to do with the individual who's making a choice to turn their back on God. Rebellion inspired a revelation God spoke but they didn't listen you may have read God's word several times you may have had it read to you you may know the Bible Stories From The Sunday school classes that you went to as a child. But at the end of the day you have to decide whether you're going to accept it or reject it rebellion can come in many forms and it has nothing to do with how good or bad your upbringing is good or bad your community is or good or bad. How much you are and how little you heard from God's word. And it just by nature we are prone to not see God and we have to come to grips with that in all of our lives and Christian you may say I get a pass today because I'm not the one that's rebelled against God We can we can be close to God's people and far from the heart of God in the way we live. OK so I had to get checks this week because I was reading through this passage of whether I'm close to God in close to God's people or I'm just a figurehead that's just speaking good things and looking good. It's a pastor you would ever do that well heaven forbid but I gotta do the gut check. And make sure that I am close to God and you know God revealed some things in my life as I got to get closer to him I go spend more time with them I'm going to spend more time listening than telling God in my prayers. Rebellion like this leads to man made worship. Worship whatever you want to worship do whatever you want to do I always tell I had somebody sit next to me and say on the plane one time and they said oh I'm in they I forget what it was I don't think they were an atheist they just said this is something and I said Oh OK Well tell me about that and boy they just went off about all this and this and this listen and I said I got a question to ask by what authority do you hold to these truths I mean where's the bottom line authority over you that tells you whether what you're believing is right or wrong oh I just kind of come up with all my own No I mean like if you were to say this is good enough for everybody in the world to know because that's what you believe but is there there has to be some sort of authority that tells you that what you believe is better than what I believe I mean or somewhere in the line there's a higher authority that explains and defines what you're worshipping right now. And it could come up with that answer so again you know what you want to hear what I believe and I began to explain how there's in all the things that you could ever believe in the world I have to figure out what makes the most sense and I just talked about how I don't know how somebody can look at the Bible and say I absolutely want my own thing want to do my own thing and worship all these other things. With no authority no reference of any kind of of just say I'm just well this is kind of what I and but they don't even want to think about believing in something that actually has solid and I'm going to talk about here there's a this story. Points out the fact that there is a God who gave him the right to reign is king and he said it and you will get beat you will prosper and I will bless you and you can stay there if you keep obeying me but you know what you're going to be punished and you're going to be disciplined if you don't. It's like a kid when your kid chooses to disobey you have a rule that says it's not that we just want you to follow the rules as well and you keep doing the right thing and if you don't do the right thing they'll be consequences. In school it's called detention it's called suspension It's called expulsion in schooling in the great system it's called A B. C. Or D. Or F.. D. Means done for some people see means cheers. But we don't want those flags because flags tell us that we didn't do what we are supposed to do it's discipline. And God set this up and in this history lesson we see that God was good on his word. He didn't listen rebellion leads to devaluation of human life. I have not yet discovered a religion outside of the Christian faith or something derived from the Christian faith that did not in some way talk about that debasing but life most. Pagan religions actually boil down to and go further into depravity of human life style. Sexuality becomes a rampant part of worship outside the bounds of a husband and wife into a perversion beyond God's design for marriage. It begins to devalue human life because think about it if I'm in charge of life of what I believe in and it's all about what I believe then anybody else who doesn't agree with me is in my way and is my massa his children were in his way of getting what he wanted from his false god so he sacrificed them in the fires those America. Serve the almighty dollar as their idol do we think materialism and get all I can get is all that it's about do I think that my sexuality is my choice and I can do whatever I want and I can sleep with whoever I want whenever I want in or out of the bounds of marriage doesn't matter I'm going to go there. And isn't it the sacrifice of unborn babies was being put at that altar a false deities in America breaks my heart it breaks my heart that we have so devalued life. And then when we come to the end of life you think well I'm beyond that I'm born. Well guess what if you get to be about fifty sixty years old in your life isn't really worth a whole lot physically well then society is starting to figure out a way to help you to die sooner how do we help somebody in a dignified way not live into their old age if they have no value to society because again it's all about me and if you were to sit like I get to sit alongside some of these saintly godly people good people who have stories to share. They've been in some cases warehouse into a nursing home some by their own choice they say we need to do this for the dignity and safety of my wife and some people they've been abandoned by their families some people they live beyond their families and you go there and you see richness all over the place. And I'm thinking how can we keep these people to live longer and I don't mean in a way unnaturally But I mean in a way that how can we help give them the privilege of giving back to us their knowledge and their understanding of how to and yet our society just continues to not want to deal with that. And they put it away. Out of their minds. Devaluation of human life. And rebellion ultimately leads to humiliating bondage. Sometimes that bondage is incarceration you do the wrong thing long enough and the law will catch up with you I was at a we had training event for people who are interested in carrying firearms in our church and by the way we're going to do that again we're out of a safety thing about that but talking to the police officers that were leading it for us and the. And if you didn't get an invite That's know that we're trying to do a test run of some guys and now we're going to do it a little more public one later after we figured out how that class went because it was the first time we did it so don't feel like you were left out will include you later if you want to be involved in that and that training but. I was talking with the police officers and he said his. State trooper pulled over a lady and she pulled out a bag so I'm a chaplain she was on ninety five miles an hour down the highway. And. Thinking maybe she'd get out of it and I said and I told him I said well I said I don't keep it far from my reach in my car let's just say that but if I deserve a ticket I'm not going to try to talk myself out of it OK to talk him out of it but or her and she's And he said so he said Give me that badge back I need that badge back I don't. First of all she had never commune a kid it communicated with them that she was a chaplain because it was like several years that she got the badge and she wasn't acting like a chaplaincy one hanging around them at all and so you know want to bring it back bring it back you know when you have a privilege and you abuse the privilege you lose the privilege. When NASA abuse the privilege of being king. And he paid for it. And God was good on his word says if you continue to worship me great if you don't I'm going to punish you. Really I mean it no I really mean it I'm going to and God continue to call on him to repent but it chose not to and it says. They captured him and asked So with hooks bound in with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon the king it be like somebody writing Washington D.C. taking our king art president whether it's the one you like of the one you don't like or the one before the one now I don't care you pick the best president you ever thought ever lived in the face of our country and you think you picture that man in shackles possibly a hook at his nose. Leading him like a common caramel. To a land far far away and he is bound and suddenly the head of your state is gone and he has been led away in a humiliating fashion because he dishonored the God who had established the nation he was leading this really happened this isn't a myth this isn't some folklore this actually happened humiliating bondage. And this is true for all of us we get into a habit that we can't get out of. We start viewing things we shouldn't view we start drinking or we start putting pills we start doing things that have been turns into a habit that turns into losing relationships losing resources and losing our dignity and then sometimes losing our freedom. That's what rebellion leads to and sometimes we need a little bit of incarceration hopefully not legally. To actually get back on the right track say well this is a depressing story. So here comes the good part you see one look at the balance of his life. And I want to talk about that consequences. Can actually lead to real restoration. When you turn back to God in the middle of your consequences here's what can happen real quick we start listening to God we become humble and study humiliated we turn from the very thing that we're destroying our lives in the first place. And here's the best news of all got answers are prayers you said why don't deserve God's answers you're right you don't. And God knows that about every single person in this room including me I do not deserve for God to answer my prayers. And was praying on the way here with my daughter. And praying for her praying for me and I said God I don't deserve to be the pastor I don't I didn't earn the spot of preaching this morning I didn't earn the spot of leading this congregation and helping it to start fifteen sixteen years ago sixteen years ago this month we started launching out in and prayer meetings on Wednesday nights and then we settled in in November of the sixteen years ago coming up in November we started worshipping privately inviting anybody to come but we were still organizing ourselves and worshipping in a garage in New Haven and then we lost our services and you know what I go back and look at that whole story and I think God you're the one that let me do this it was nothing I did that deserves to be in the middle of this situation I went to a convention of a bunch of four hundred plus churches this week down in Martin's Ville Indiana in our high lakes Baptist campground and I just got together with about one hundred fifty two hundred people well about one hundred fifty people there about three hundred total but one hundred fifty people that represented the churches and and I heard some pretty bad stories of what God's doing in other places and for what people are doing in spite of what in other places and the difficulty pastors have in discouragement and man I think and I'm encouraged I gotta we've got a great group of people I mean we're not perfect but we got some good stuff going on god's up to something cool in our church and we've got something stirring and I listen to the band up there and I've gone to there before and I go away and I wish that band would come and be my band and now I go No I think our band could be there they could be at the at the convention lead because we guys have we got some good music going on and you know I just caught up to some cool stuff and it has nothing to do with me. So don't you ever think God is not going to answer me because I've been and you just fill in the blank where you've been. BELLONI that's a Greek word for baloney that's not true. God loves you right where you are and always asking you to do is to listen become humble turn and he'll answer now let's take steps to restoration and let's unpack this for the last few minutes that we're here together here's what Minister did when God answered Him So God came to know so Massa came to know that the Lord is God and in verse fourteen we see the continual story after this he built the outer wall the City of David you know he did he got safe. You know when you start time and back to God you need to get safe you need to start and get somewhere and build protective walls in your life you need to run from over whoever was helping you rebel. You've got to get away from those people you've got to get away from the people who are whispering your ears I don't know if you should do that or not oh it's OK if it feels good do it the rest of the world's doing it it's politically correct to do that no worry about it those people are old fashioned you know the results of that lifestyle you know what's going on in your life you know that you shouldn't be doing it and you need to get away from the people that are telling you differently. You need to get away from selfish people that have their own agenda in mind because you know what when you start going towards God you start revealing people who are not going towards God and they don't like it you know wherever I've been in secular environments I have been mocked by certain people in those environments because they don't want to admit that they do not want me to reveal that they are just that they are mocking God so they mock me in the trying to knock me down oh you don't really believe that do you know you don't want to live that way do you college students as there are the guys who are up. How do you say that politely googling the girls down low the volleyball team and a man and then they're looking to see what's up because I'm naive Not really but kind and I said Oh there's some good looking girls down there as soon as I know. What you want to look. That had nothing to do with it by the way. OK because they were good looking. Being honest and I said I said No I'm a satisfied. Customer I'm very satisfied I got a wonderful wife and her beauty is all I need and in the guy said to me I'm a pastor he says. When you buy a new car don't you still look at car lots. Are you can't let this sink in a minute. And I said why would I do that be dissatisfied with the car I'm driving because it's easy to get this satisfied with what you've got. And find that out with computers cars. And relationships. What they were saying was we really don't like the fact that you're making us uncomfortable about googling these girls down here that we want to lust after would really prefer that you join us and they were being they were pressuring me they were pushing me but they were inviting me to join them. Now they were all single and they maybe they were looking for their one true mate down there I don't know I. Again I'm a little naive sometimes. But the reality is. The world is going to tell you quit doing this quit doing that and you've got to run from that you've got to put walls of protection in your life you need to get safe you need to surround yourself with godly people he put military commanders in charge of the corners of the of the of the walls mass of station military men around his walls we all need people to protect us spiritually. Who are the spiritual men and women in your life if you're a woman who are the women Man Who are the men. Who are the guys that you can turn to who's the guy you can call at one am in the morning by the way my number is two six zero four zero three five two five five my cell phones out there if I'm busy Alamance or there is actually a voicemail for that very reason might be busy sleeping I don't know but I will do the best I can to answer you if you have a problem or need I'm not saying that I'm the only one you have to talk to in fact I may not be the one you want to talk to but you better have somebody's cell phone in your phone that you can call in dire straits. Hopefully before you get into the trouble you say I am but Ray do some stupid call and say I'm about do some stupid you don't have to say that say I just thought we call and talk great let's talk you not to tell me that you're going to some stupid Oh you say that SAME AS want to hear me and what's going on so I don't know it's two in the morning what's going on with you. Know maybe during the week let's talk about oh you know it's fine I don't care when the idea is you need people in your life who's the TO HIM guy the guys heard that at the church camp at their men's retreat because the two AM guy that you'll call when you're in trouble. If you don't have one you know one. You need one. Ladies if you don't have a woman to talk to when you're at your wits end. Before you kill your husband. Call somebody asking if it's OK preferably one of us and we'll say no it's not OK. Just say they'll ask you guys and I was kind of a jerk in my own no don't do that don't do that call the right person all kidding aside you need people in your life to help you you cannot be a lone ranger. Tonto was a great friend but the Lone Ranger needed a few more people in his life that's a little weird OK. You know but who's the Lone Ranger nobody knows that game or. You need to remove every temptation in your life the king tore down all the idols and he threw them out of the city he threw down and he got rid of all the wicked places of worship anything we've got to purge from our lives whatever we worshiped before we turn to God we got a perch room or a lives the things that we worship I don't sit well I worship money I got to get rid of all my money you need to be more generous with your money you know generosity actually breaks. Materialism but generosity breaks materialism. You need to be more generous you need to give. You need to give sacrificially. In other words give till it hurts this isn't a story about getting a building fund I mean you need to break the cycle of materialism by giving sacrificially beyond yourself you need to give you time you need to give your money you need to give yourself and you need to be present where your feet are when you're with somebody in a relationship instead of thinking about how you're going to manipulate them to meet your need tomorrow. We've got to get rid of all those temptations. We've got to get him out of our life says well I know somebody he can no longer go to a restaurant that has a bar next to it because he goes straight to the bar even though they've got a great mentality and food and I never thought about this before and I go to restaurants all the time it's not a problem for me and I'm not a prude about legalism is saying I can't go somewhere that you know I shop at a grocery store that sells beer so if I'm going to go to a restaurant that serves B. I mean where do you draw the line some people do and I'm not saying that's wrong but what I'm telling you and never it never occurs to me to go over to the bar and get drunk that's just not one of my things I still have that problem. But if I'm with somebody and I say I can't eat there so we go to Cracker Barrel. I can eat real good there too I can get a lot of places I don't need to put you in a situation where you're tempted to do something you should do. Even if they have great wings OK with me here this is a rough one today. We've got to worship God It means we've got to do it privately publicly. A small group time we got to get to God alone but to get to God with God's people on Sunday morning and we get to God together in and connection groups places where we can become friends together in the Lord we need to start worshipping God instead of what it was and Father words whenever you start to think about going the direction you were you were going that you know caused the problems in the first place God. He's there. You about ready to do something God And when you do he offered fellowship and thank offerings to the Lord These were the fellowship offerings the fellowship with God offerings not fellowship of the people offerings don't don't miss that in the in the text he was worshipping God he wanted God to be as God He wanted to worship the One True God. And then finally let's we kind of bring people with us lead others to follow that example let others know that you are following God and invite them to join you now in this passage it says though some of them continued to sacrifice at the high places but they did it only to the Lord their God So they kind of have hardly They still had some pagan practices but they were still kind of trying to do the right thing by worshipping the One True God Not everybody got the bad out of their system and let me just say this if you have lived in rebellion long enough that the people that you influence in your life are now living in rebellion with you and joining you in your sinful nature situation it might take a while for them to get with the program to say that you've changed they may not accept the fact that you've changed right away they may be going you know we're going to watch for a while to see if maybe you are following God or not because this might be the a phase in your life I don't know what to see. And you you might think of somebody withdrawing from you as you're pursuing God as that they are rejecting God they're actually trying to test whether or not what you're doing is for real or not. I don't know you seem to be this roller coaster that I just can't really figure out when to get on in and it's I don't know that as this is just one more face for you Are you really true following God but you do need to influence the people in your life to follow God If you have a. Home where you've brought kids in and you've brought kids in and you're coming together and you have this blended family don't expect that all the kids that you're now using We're going to have a godly marriage and we're going to serve God Now we're going to pray at the dinner table will pray at the dinner table be real in your relationship with God in front of the kids that you're serving but don't expect them to come lock stock and barrel toe to toe right in exactly what you're doing it might take a little while to figure out I hope they get it fixed quickly that they want to follow God but it might take a while because you've given patterns that show them differently and they're not sure what to do with what they're doing what they're saying and let the witness of God working in your life in changing you and the genuine love that you have for one another and your love for them and their love for the guy for God and the way that you apply the word of God to your relationships in the church in the home in spite of whether everybody believes that or not let the kids see that. As they move forward may your testimony draw all of them to God but don't stop leading them to follow God. Just as God showed great mercy and love to NASA. Don't you think that he also then was heartbroken over what he did to destroy the lives of siblings. In the fires of most of that so in the fires to the false gods. That he was actually he actually sacrificed my brother Dad I'm not sure dad last time you came in the house you picked one of our kids up and they didn't come back and now you want me to go to worship God in the temple is the there's your one true God Now do the same thing I mean you imagine there's got to be someone or there and you think it broke his heart to say I did this I destroyed my family well God forgive me and when their kids rebel It's not that you don't discipline your children but you offer unconditional love and forgiveness to them and you model what God did for you you model that in the relationships around you and you break the cycle. They do your starter or maybe somebody else started in your family long ago you can influence many people. Let your testimony inspire them to want God's love and forgiveness.
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