REPLAY 2
At our last INFUSE service at Liquid we talked about this REPLAY button (promo VIDEO)… we’ve
all got one! Everyone has one moment in time they wish they could do over. We
talked about how the LORD is a good Father who gives us 2nd chances
& we specifically talked about a biblical holiday called Rosh HaShanah that
points toward this new, sweet season. Our response & challenge was to practice T’Shuvah, which means to
REPENT, turning from the bitter junk and return to the LORD! Lastly, we briefly
talked about the “It” factor during small group time, which pertains to the
practical A, B, C’s of getting on the right path that leads to a sweet life! A number of students made profound commitments to the LORD! Here
are some of the commitments that several made the other week:
T’Shuvah & Turn from…“My past, people who are holding me back…”
“Pride and anger”
“Selfishness!”
“Bad profanity”
"Fear… I want to not be
afraid to share the gospel!”
“Beating myself up
about a past mistake…”
If there’s anyone who knows how to beat himself up after
past mistakes, it’s THIS GUY! You are reading his blog. For some reason, I’ve
always carried around huge regret & sorrow over past mishaps. Blame it on religion or just good 'ole fashioned southern guilt trips! Truth be
told, Sigmund Freud was right! Much of our current guilt stems back to our childhood. We learn guilt & shame from our early years on this planet. Now, I wasn’t
necessarily a “horrible” kid, so to speak, but I definitely got in my fair share of
trouble over the years. I was more like a “Dennis the Menace.” I had wonderful parents, so I don't know why I was so crazy! I’d go into my
Kindergarten room before class would start and throw all the chairs off the
table… just for fun! I’d step into ant beds when the teacher told me not to,
& I would talk when the teacher was talking. I’d fart during science class
blaming it on the subject of gases. I was the kid who couldn’t sit still. I’d
toilet paper other kids houses in the daylight & get hall passes just to check
out the girls in the other classrooms. Eventually, they had to sit me next to
the teacher’s desk. My fourth grade teacher came out to my mother’s car one day
and said, “Either you get this kid help, or you find him a new school!”
In 1986, Karate Kid 2 came out! All the cool kids wanted to
be Ralph Macchio, including me! So, my mom bought the soundtrack for me, and I
was playing all the great Chicago songs, “I
am a man who will fight for your honor…” Oh yeah! That’s inspiration! I was
kicking around the room one day with a bathrobe and a belt hoping my mom would
notice my sweet kicks so that she could put me in for karate lessons. The next
thing I knew, in the middle of a roundhouse, what happened in a split second seemed like eternity... N O O O O O O!!!!
You know those moments, right? Everything happened so fast, yet in slow motion at the same time. I kicked over my mother's beautiful lamp in the living room. The lamp crashed and fell to the floor. So, I ran upstairs like greased lightning, crying like a baby,
sobbing uncontrollably, hearing my mother in the distance, "Ryan!!! What did you do?" The minute she walked in the room, I rattled off a million words, "Take it out of my college savings... I'll do whatever... I'm so sorry..."... And my all time "GO TO" line, “Just throw me in the trash!”
Over & Over & Over… JUST THROW ME IN THE TRASH!!!
We
laugh about it today, but in the moment. I was dead SERIOUS!
Guilt & shame will do that to ya.
When we make mistakes we get REGRETS. This rapidly equates
to guilt & shame fast like a snowball building up speed down a mountain! Guilt happens when we know we did something we
should or shouldn’t have done, and shame occurs when we start feeling bad about
ourselves due to the ongoing guilt! Someone tell me the obvious, When we are
living in guilt & shame, does that equal a WIN? Absolutely NOT! I believe
some of Satan’s biggest gifts are the impressing of our thoughts of guilt and the endless
supply of shame that is dished upon us due to our past failings! The Enemy uses
the truth of our past, and causes us to sit in it! Let’s say your past regret
is “LYING.” Satan gets us to acknowledge this truth since he’s freakin’
clever!
So, here we are… & if you are like me, you know exactly what I’m
talking about here! You just SIT in this depressing sense of guilt & it’s
replaying the bad junk over & over in your head. We sit in our own miserable trashcans
with our past sins consumed with it until it becomes our identity!!!!
When’s the last time you felt guilty?
When’s the last time you felt shame?
It stinks! Doesn’t it?
So, how do we overcome this destructive pattern in our
lives?
This all starts with our recent holiday, Rosh HaShanah. The main point of the holiday was to awaken our
soul. The key ingredient & discipline to this season was in the act of
repentance/ T’Shuvah. Many times, guilt remains because we are not truly repentant. We say, "I'm sorry!" But we don't really do anyhing different with our lives. So, we really aren't sorry, are we? I know people like this in my life. They say, "I'm sorry!" all the time, but they never really change their pattern. Therefore, if we are really serious about ridding guilt, we can't pass up the first step of T'Shuvah! This yearly holiday leads us to lots of soul stirring. When the trumpets are blown, our souls are awakened. And, on this specific day the start of what is known as the 10
days of awe begins!
What goes on during these days? Fasting, praying, denying
self & setting things right! You will find people wrestling with sin,
guilt, shame & really doing a lot of soul searching …all of this gets them
ready for the holiest day of the year…
Check out this video HERE to see where this is headed...
How amazing is this truth? Jesus, is our SCAPEGOAT! Jesus takes ALL
of the sin, condemnation, guilt & the shame upon himself!
Now, what about this high priest fellow? He's the most important figure on the holiest day of the year. Remember, this was
an intense job for him. He’s a busy guy. Every single year he had to go through
these sacred acts. All day long he had to stand & do his work! That’s a lot
of confessing, and that’s a lot of blood. I can't possibly imagine what that job was like! No sitting on the job... that's for sure!
Well, we are told that Jesus is not only
our scapegoat, but he’s also our perfect High Priest! Listen to the author of Hebrews…
Hebrews 10:11-12 “Day after day every priest stands and
performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for
all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”
Jesus IS our perfect, most holy High Priest. Listen up…THE High Priest has sat down for good! One goat has been slaughtered, the other one has left the building… and now … The
High Priest is seated at the right hand of our heavenly Father!
No more standing!!!
What does this mean for us?
FREEDOM, BABY! NO MORE GUILT & NO MORE SHAME! No longer
should we sit in our guilt ridden trash cans. We now sit with our High Priest, Jesus, who has given
us clean access to the Father.
It’s time to stop sitting in our nasty trashcans!
Bottom line: There needs to be no
more goats running back and forth from our community. It's time to get the goat out of our heads. I can't emphasize this enough... NO more GUILT! The goat
has left! The high priest is seated.
Jesus has completed this work once and for all!
It’s one thing to feel convicted over some wrong you
committed. That feeling and the thoughts that are carried with it allow us to
repent & seek reconciliation. But the feelings of ongoing guilt & shame
are not from the LORD!
Sometimes, guilt creeps in because we don’t truly receive
Christ’s forgiveness & His acts of love on our behalf. Or, we might
theoretically accept it in our heads, but it never computes deep within our
hearts. When we can’t forgive ourselves for the things we’ve done, what does
this say about Christ’s sacrifice for us?
Each & every one of us are now totally free from
sin, guilt & shame. It's our choice to move into that freedom & accept that gift! We are free people who don’t have to live in shame
anymore. You can raise your head up high! QUIT pressing the REPLAY button over
and over and over again… beating yourself up is not Christ’s goal for your
life. His intention for you was salvation, experiencing His renewed love! Christ
intended for us to live as free, open and exposed people who show the world the
true beauty of what it means to live.
Say this out loud wherever you are, “The goat is GONE! The High Priest is seated!” Say this to your friend/neighbor who is sitting in the room with you, “Get out of the trash can, dude!”
The only thing that belongs in
that trashcan is the sin. Quit digging in the trash cans, looking through your past garbage. You will be consumed
with what you did if you continue to dumpster dive! Whatever makes you feel guilty is burned, smashed & gone! Your sin is gone as far as east is from west!
It’s our sweet new year as the Father's precious children to live into our inheritance as beloved sons & daughters who fall into the hands of a forgiving daddy. Let this be a time of year when we can celebrate as one body. So, don’t waste
this year God has blessed us with, and do not be consumed with the “goat” who sniffs in trashcans. Live
a free life possibly for the 1st time ever! Start today!
Matthew West – ONLY GRACE…
There is no
guilt here
There is no
shame
No pointing
fingers
There is no
blame
What happened
yesterday…has disappeared
The dirt has washed
away
And now it's
clear
There's only
grace
There's only
love
There's only
mercy and believe me it's enough
Your sins are
gone
Without a
trace
And there's
nothing left now
There's only
grace
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