Paul
Revelation Song
How Great Is Our God
Nothing But The Blood
One Thing Remains
Paul
We are doing a church plant (probably in the fall)
We are a church plant
I had the opportunity to preach at Rolling Hills Covenant Church
Pastor Moses and Pastor Eddie Espinoza
June 5th is a joint service with all the churches supporting this church plant in Buena Park
No regular service that night (hence the half-hour buffer)
We want a proper
Walter Contreras (head of the Hispanic church plant community in the Pacific South Western Conference) will be doing communion
James 5:16-20
Why would James exhort us to confess our sins to one another?
Address the why and the how
What’s the proper way to confess to others?
Talks about how confessions heals soul
How we can bring a person back into the fold
How God calls us to partner with people in the process of confession
The what of confession
Ratify or confirm
You bring something to my attention
I either stand in confession where there’s healing or deflect and ignore you
I have a decision to make
Implication is that someone has brought something to your attention
Hebrews 3:13
Both writers are under the impression that we want to do life together
Keep each other on your toes and hone your reflexes
What keeps me sharp?
My wife calls things to my attention
My kids
My church community
Because I’ve chosen to do life with you
People that don’t want to change, that don’t want to grow up find it very hard to do relationships
C. S. Lewis wrote a book called The Great Divorce
A group of people take a bus trip from hell to heaven
Scattered more and more in hell, can’t do relationships
Two characters in hell go on this journey to Napoleon’s house
Napoleon never rested, blaming others for his failures
Inner dialogue of it being difficult to do relationships
Isolating ourselves
Jesus called us and challenged us that if we wanted to step into life, it’s not just you and God, you’re stepping into a community
I don’t think it’s possible to become more like Jesus alone
If Heaven weren’t part of the equation, would I still follow Jesus?
I have reached a point in my life where I would still follow Jesus because of how He treated people
He empowered people and made them feel like human beings
I don’t want you to drop by my mansion in the sky while you’re walking down the streets of gold
Friendships are hard
Some relationships are toxic and need to be walked away from
As painful as it is, we want to walk through it together
Is what this person is saying true? Is it possible?
Can we still come together in relationship?
James is operating under the belief that we are trying to ???
I want to keep everything in balance
People keep me in balance
We are called to spur one another on
Are we becoming the kind of people who can handle healthy criticism?
I want you to change, to grow, to be better
Is that person worth enough to you?
Have you ever asked people in your life whether they can talk to you about things in your life?
Example
Shannon and I have a good friend Heather Buchta
We’ve known each other for 17 years
A little over a year after Heather was an intern, when the mullet was on its way out, we were sitting with a good friend and I said something that should have only been said to Heather
It got back to her and she brought it to me
I confessed because I cannot afford to let my reflexes get dull
Ask God how you can bring healing into this relationship while addressing this issue
I want to stand in agreement with people
So why confess
So that the relationship can grow
Matthew 5:23-24
Doesn’t matter when it happens – reconcile now in the moment so you can experience the right flow of God
Greatest commandment – love God, love your neighbors, love yourself
My friend Hamid said ???
My flow is all connected
James and Jesus are working under the assumption that we’re all mature enough to talk to each other
God give me the strength to not hurt this person because I cherish this relationship
But when Heather comes to me as a friend and says “What you did hurt me”, I needed to hear that and confess
Trust was reestablished and I know this because Heather tells me secrets
Also Heather and I can be in the same room and sing God songs
We can send random emails to each other, we can pray for one another
If that flow wasn’t repaired, ???
I wanna grow up so we can be a mature body of people
We want flow, we want to sing songs with each other
In danger of losing our reflexes
The how of confession
Luke 15
3 stories
Talks about the character of God
Shepherd searching for one lost sheep, woman searching for one lost coin, father welcoming back lost son
James is speaking off of the words of Jesus
Luke 15:15-16,18-20
The prodigal acknowledges that he has sinned against Heaven and God, then he realizes that he has sinned against his father
That’s the first offense – sin against the heavenly father
Second thing is the broken relationship with his earthly father
Third thing is that he’s willing to work at fixing everything
He’s trying to take ownership
James says we’re trying to be a people that embraces humility
Jesus is the only one who can truly cover people’s sins, but James says we get to partner with God
The 99 are left behind! Sheep are really stupid! Did you know that shepherds have under-shepherds?
That’s the heart of the Father, to go off after the one lost sheep, but He tells the under-shepherds to watch over the 99
Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him – If you really love me then take care of people because they have a tendency to wander off
Celebrate! Welcome home! We love you! You are our son! You are our daughter!
The elder brother bristles at the party and doesn’t want to celebrate
They have confessed and are remorseful, can we not just celebrate and welcome them back?
Paul
Paul
Jon
22 year old talked to me this morning after my message
She just got out of rehab, battling addiction with cocaine
Matthew was there, he went through this too
You are not a disappointment to God
You’ve got some work to do, sure – but He loves you