Better Together

Receive God's Grace | Better Together Episode 1176

July 13, 2026 | S8 E1176 | 50:59

Brokenness does not define your story! God's grace sets us free from sin and empowers us to live God's way in this broken world. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can walk in lasting freedom. | TBN Prayer Line: 714-731-1000

#Brokenness #Suffering #Humility #Sin #Pride #HolySpirit #ProdigalSon #Freedom #Grace #Forgiveness #Redemption #Transformation #Accountability #LoveofGod #Shame #Hope #Healing #LaurieCrouch #SheilaWalsh #JackieHillPerry #ToniCollier #LisaWhittle

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Better Together | Receive God's Grace | Better Together Episode 1176 | July 13, 2026

When we stumble or when we fall, we get to run into god's
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Arms of grace.
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Forgiveness and mercy are already ours.
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Come on.
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Maybe we need to talk about this.
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♪♪
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So this week, we are discussing how to live in a broken world.
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I even think the word broken needs some explanation.
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Yeah. just because i think people can show up in this
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World, assuming that it's not broken, that it is good, that
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It is paradise, that it is ideal
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Uh, until we face the brokenness within ourselves.
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And i think then that begs the
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Question of how did we get here?
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And we got here because of adam.
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You know what i'm saying?
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He wanted to eat some stuff
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God told him not to eat from. he the daddy of everybody
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So everybody born after adam is also broken within this world.
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I was thinking a lot about david when i was thinking about
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This conversation, because me and toni had a conversation
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Yesterday about, uh, nathan coming to david and being like,
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Hey, man, let me tell you this story about this man's sheep
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And all this stuff.
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And david doesn't realize that parable and the story has
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Everything to do with him.
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I think the irony in that is that it took nathan to confront
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David for david to see his sin
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When chapters before that,
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David didn't need to be confronted.
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His conscience was soft.
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And so i guess i want to ask the question of if we're going
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To exist in this broken world,
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There's a sense in which we
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Need to be aware of our own brokenness,
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But how has the lord used people,
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Scriptures, your conscience, dreams to continue to expose
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The brokenness in you so that
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You can actually receive god's grace?
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Yeah. big question.
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When we were talking about this yesterday, a lot of what i've
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Been wrestling with in this season is like, how much are we
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Going to have to suffer?
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Okay. like what?
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Is there a point where we're going to get to go on like
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Suffering vacation? okay.
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I think what i'm wrestling with now is the
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Question like, can i still love the lord in my suffering?
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Can i not question why or how long and still really love him?
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And i honestly think that the
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Thorn in my side with this is pride.
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I think that i believe that i deserve for it to be easier.
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Mhm.
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And, and i think even through my children, like even with my
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Daughter, she is spicy and on fire for the lord as well.
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Both. okay.
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But i don't know where she got that from.
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No. at all. at all. crazy.
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But, um, i think the reason why i love children so
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Much is because they just really don't know.
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Mhm. and my daughter has been asking the question, like, why
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Am i battling with this, mom?
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Why is this so hard?
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And in the next breath, she'll be like, i love my life.
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Yeah. because they're just kids.
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Like, they just kind of-- their attention span is short.
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But i've been learning from her in that she really does take
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Short accounts with herself and her circumstance.
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Wow. and i think i'm learning not to wallow in the sadness
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About the suffering, to take all of the context that i know
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And say, all right, i can be sad for this moment, and i can
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Also hold joy that i'm still alive, that i'm still here,
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That i've got a life that is worth living for the gospel and
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For jesus and getting-- like, ejecting myself out of it,
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But the real thing that i've been wrestling with is, can i
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Be humble enough to say, lord, it doesn't matter how much i
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Suffer, i understand the context that we're in.
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It's broken, it's flawed, it's full of sin,
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And i can be okay saying in one
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Breath, this is really, really hard,
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And the next breath saying,
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No, i gotta, i gotta run towards hope.
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I've got to actually get myself
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Out of this so i can keep living.
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And my daughter has been the example for that.
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We just got to be like kids again.
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Our relationship with christ helps us walk with joy, even in
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Our suffering, because we are
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Reminded that he is always with us.
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His presence gives us joy, gives us that fullness of joy
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Even in times of trouble.
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Uh, it's, it's that thing that keeps us going
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Even though we are in pain.
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We know that we have a savior, that we have an ultimate
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Destination of heaven, and that we live in a temporary space.
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We have, we live in temporary bodies, and we live in a
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Temporary earth that is full of trouble.
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And so the joy that he gives us, the peace that he gives us
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That passes all human understanding, is something
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That the world can't experience,
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But we can, because we've given our lives to christ and the
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Holy spirit dwells within us.
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We have the word of god that he left us to be able to
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Read and glean from.
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And so those are the ways that we can experience that joy as
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We pray, as we seek christ, and as we walk with him, even in
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The midst of our own pain and hurt, heartache and trouble in
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A world that is broken.
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It's interesting you talk about pride, though, because i think
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We come into this preconceived idea of what pride looks like.
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But god exposed it to me in a completely different way.
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And it was when i'd been part
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Of this small group for a while,
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And, you know, we were accountability group.
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We shared everything.
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You know, the tough stuff, the hard stuff, the stuff that
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We're not thrilled about.
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And yet, when we had a lead kind of counselor and we came
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To the last session, he said, okay, i want you all to say
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Something about sheila that you, that you love.
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And i was so uncomfortable in that conversation.
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If somebody could say to me, you seem this or you seem that,
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And i'm like, yeah, you're right.
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Yeah, you're right.
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But suddenly when somebody would say something like, i
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Found you encouraging or whatever, i--
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And he said to me, why is that so hard for you?
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Why? and i realized it's almost like an inverted pride.
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Like, you know, you can tell me everything that i've
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Done that's wrong,
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And i'll agree with you and i'll back it up with scripture.
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But when you begin to see god doing something good--
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Mhm. and strengthening you and
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Giving hope through other people,
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I had to i had to really repent from that, which didn't seem
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Like pride at the time to me, but i think it definitely was.
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I think one of the most insidious things in our life
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That makes it difficult to have a kind of free encounter with
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God is our own pride. and pride is a funny thing.
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You know, you can think, when you say the word pride, you can
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Think, well, that means somebody saying, well, i'm good
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At this and i'm good at that.
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But there's a kind of reversal pride to where you're like, oh
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No, i couldn't do this.
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No, i couldn't do that.
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For me, coming to depend on who jesus is and understanding that
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His grace is enough is what
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Helps me to move forward with him.
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I think for me, growing up in church, i actually didn't
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Realize a lot of the stuff that i was holding when it comes to
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Whether it's sin, repentance, living in a broken world, i
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Didn't even realize the stuff i was struggling with because it
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Didn't look like what i had been told the sins
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To not do looked like.
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Like i was like, i'm a virgin, i'm good, basically.
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Like growing up in, in, in youth group and i'm not
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Doing all of that stuff.
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I'm not partying with my friends, so i'm good.
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But what it did was it like just like, uh, secretly, which
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Is probably the, is the key word there, crept in until i was
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In my first marriage and we had been sent to a marriage retreat
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At a place called on site, and things weren't going well.
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Part of the thing on site was, hey, you're going to stand up
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And tell your life story, kind of creating like a life map of,
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Of your life.
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And then because it was group therapy, everyone is going to
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Create an image and a visual of your life that they've gotten
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From you to help you see it better.
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So basically you tell them your life and they create like,
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Almost like an imagery, which i loved because i was like,
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Back to drama class.
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I love this, i love this for us theater kids. anyone?
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And they're like, no.
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And i was like, okay, cool.
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Um, so i'm telling them about my life.
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And then what they did was they placed me in the middle sitting
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Like crisscross applesauce.
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And then they put a veil--
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They had props, too. put a veil over me.
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And then underneath the veil, they had me hold money.
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They had me hold a trophy.
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They put all of these little things and they said, you have
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All these secrets underneath this veil of beauty.
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Wow. and i about lost it and i felt so we talk about shame a
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Lot, but like embarrassed.
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Yeah. because i think the two go hand in hand.
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And i didn't realize that it had been so long,
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But that was my life.
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And because it didn't-- because on the outside it looked pretty
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And beautiful, because it didn't look broken on the
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Outside, i was able to convince everyone else even though i
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Knew something was off.
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And so that for me, was a huge turning point in realizing my
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Own brokenness,
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But like the brokenness that was staying broken because i
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Was keeping the secrets. does that make sense?
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Covered in beauty. because it was covered in beauty.
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And i was like, it was covered looking pure.
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And i think when we being christians in this broken
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World, i think that that is how i can still show up. because i'm
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Not doing that over there, because i don't have the issues
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That i used to have, i'm good.
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All this fear in ministry, in everyday life, in your
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Community, that as long as i have the same view as the
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People around me, as long as i keep it all looking good,
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Then i'm fine.
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And not realizing the brokenness that's on the inside
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Simply because i'm not naming it.
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And how can god heal something that we won't name?
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I think so often, i don't know if you're like me, but as a
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Church kid, as a pastor's kid, i would always convince myself
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That my sin, specifically my like habitual sin, the stuff
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That just keeps coming back and back, it'd be fine if, if i just
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Tell god. no one else needs to know.
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And look, here's my thing.
00:10:12.768 --> 00:10:15.037
Forgiveness. yes.
00:10:15.037 --> 00:10:17.173
Repentance. yes.
00:10:17.173 --> 00:10:19.742
But you and i both know something powerful happens when
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We bring somebody else into it.
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And so when we look at confessing our sin, talking
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About it with other people, that's where healing
00:10:28.684 --> 00:10:31.587
Starts to take place.
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That's where not only can you gather with people and find out
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That you're not the only one with issues, which the enemy
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Loves to tell us, but also you can have someone that can help
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You come up with a plan,
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Someone that you can call next time you feel tempted, and
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Someone also that can combat the lies of shame that the
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Enemy tries to quickly follow sin with.
00:10:51.307 --> 00:10:54.577
And so yes, when we confess our
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Sin to god, we find forgiveness.
00:10:56.779 --> 00:10:59.882
But when we confess our sins to other people, that's
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Where the magic starts to happen.
00:11:02.818 --> 00:11:04.186
That's where the gold is.
00:11:04.186 --> 00:11:05.287
That is where, that is where healing starts.
00:11:05.287 --> 00:11:09.258
Yeah, i think when i think in terms of like sin and
00:11:09.258 --> 00:11:12.495
Suffering, a lot of times suffering to me feels there's
00:11:12.495 --> 00:11:17.800
This like global suffering, right?
00:11:17.800 --> 00:11:20.202
But then there's also the suffering in my own life a lot
00:11:20.202 --> 00:11:23.405
Of times that has been brought on by me, by my own sin.
00:11:23.405 --> 00:11:27.843
And, you know, there's this like selfishness that has run a
00:11:27.843 --> 00:11:32.848
Thread throughout my whole life that feels hard to expose
00:11:32.848 --> 00:11:37.319
Because there's the pride aspect, right?
00:11:37.319 --> 00:11:41.056
It's like, i've loved jesus since i was six,
00:11:41.056 --> 00:11:44.059
But i've also loved me. mhm.
00:11:44.059 --> 00:11:46.862
And that's been the biggest rub of my entire life.
00:11:46.862 --> 00:11:49.565
Mhm. i remember, the lord--
00:11:49.565 --> 00:11:51.801
We were in this place where selfishness was sort of
00:11:51.801 --> 00:11:56.472
Permeating my life.
00:11:56.472 --> 00:11:58.607
And i had been married for
00:11:58.607 --> 00:12:00.075
About, i don't know, 7 or 8 years.
00:12:00.075 --> 00:12:03.746
And my husband and i are both pretty feisty.
00:12:03.746 --> 00:12:07.383
And so, you know, we've been married for this, you know,
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Fairly short period of time
00:12:12.188 --> 00:12:14.089
And-- now we've been married 30 years
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So that felt short at least, you know.
00:12:15.758 --> 00:12:17.726
Right. i remember the lord had exposed this to me that, you
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Know, i was really dealing with this root of selfishness.
00:12:20.729 --> 00:12:23.365
And it was at a time in my life where it was kind of like
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I was scared to face it,
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But yet at the same time, i
00:12:30.539 --> 00:12:32.141
Felt known by god in that exposure.
00:12:32.141 --> 00:12:36.011
Yeah. i felt even a little loved by god in that. painful,
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But also, i've been walking with god for a long time.
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Wow. and so i remember, uh, the lord and i were dealing with
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That in my bedroom one night and my husband walked in and
00:12:46.422 --> 00:12:52.161
The lord really spoke to my heart and said, i want you to
00:12:52.161 --> 00:12:54.563
Ask your-- i want you to
00:12:54.563 --> 00:12:55.698
Ask scotty if he thinks you're selfish.
00:12:55.698 --> 00:12:58.133
Mhm. i don't want to do it. no.
00:12:58.133 --> 00:13:00.903
And i'm like, god, i do not hear what you're saying to me
00:13:00.903 --> 00:13:03.005
Right now, right.
00:13:03.005 --> 00:13:04.173
But, you know, in that moment, it felt safe to do it,
00:13:04.173 --> 00:13:07.543
Which didn't make a whole lot of sense because at that place
00:13:07.543 --> 00:13:10.346
In our life, we were pretty, um, you know, back and forth
00:13:10.346 --> 00:13:14.817
And like, you know, one upping each other with words.
00:13:14.817 --> 00:13:19.555
Mhm. but i remember, i thought, yeah, that's a good idea.
00:13:19.555 --> 00:13:23.559
It was kind of all happened in these few seconds as he walked
00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:26.028
Into the room and i said to him, do you think i'm selfish?
00:13:26.028 --> 00:13:30.299
Mhm. he's probably praying for that.
00:13:30.299 --> 00:13:31.901
Yeah. right?
00:13:31.901 --> 00:13:32.668
He said-- he hears prayers.
00:13:32.668 --> 00:13:34.370
I'm telling you, it was so it was so the lord, because he
00:13:34.370 --> 00:13:37.539
Looked at me and there was no fear and there was no pride.
00:13:37.539 --> 00:13:42.278
Yeah.
00:13:42.278 --> 00:13:43.279
And he said, yes, i think you're selfish.
00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:46.115
And there was no fight. mhm.
00:13:46.115 --> 00:13:48.684
And i began to weep. but it was, i felt known.
00:13:48.684 --> 00:13:53.589
Yeah. in the sin.
00:13:53.589 --> 00:13:55.424
Yeah. and i thought, he's right.
00:13:55.424 --> 00:13:58.727
God's right.
00:13:58.727 --> 00:14:00.095
And weirdly, weirdly--
00:14:00.095 --> 00:14:02.498
And if you knew me, this would
00:14:02.498 --> 00:14:03.999
Not feel like, oh, she's so spiritual.
00:14:03.999 --> 00:14:05.634
This would feel like this is a miracle.
00:14:05.634 --> 00:14:07.369
Yeah. i felt known.
00:14:07.369 --> 00:14:09.171
Wow. and i thought, this is right.
00:14:09.171 --> 00:14:11.373
This is true.
00:14:11.373 --> 00:14:12.474
And god and i can go somewhere from here, right?
00:14:12.474 --> 00:14:16.545
It is really difficult to get out of sin when you've been
00:14:16.545 --> 00:14:19.381
Doing it for a long time.
00:14:19.381 --> 00:14:20.683
And i think the first step is knowing that you should not be
00:14:20.683 --> 00:14:23.185
Trying to get out of sin by yourself.
00:14:23.185 --> 00:14:25.554
Accountability is what's going to help you to sustain a life
00:14:25.554 --> 00:14:29.458
Away from sin.
00:14:29.458 --> 00:14:30.759
And so i want you to begin to think about and pray about who
00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:33.295
Is the one person in my life that can hold me accountable to
00:14:33.295 --> 00:14:36.198
This, while also really loving me well?
00:14:36.198 --> 00:14:38.467
What can i tell them?
00:14:38.467 --> 00:14:39.702
What systems can i put in place to make sure that they are
00:14:39.702 --> 00:14:41.837
Present and with me as i'm navigating getting out of sin?
00:14:41.837 --> 00:14:46.508
To your question, to the point, i think when we are going
00:14:46.508 --> 00:14:51.313
Somewhere with god in our sin, we realize i'm bringing the
00:14:51.313 --> 00:14:55.751
Suffering on myself. yeah.
00:14:55.751 --> 00:14:58.220
That this pride, that that this place in my life,
00:14:58.220 --> 00:15:03.359
It's costing me a lot.
00:15:03.359 --> 00:15:05.361
And like, i need to expose this.
00:15:05.361 --> 00:15:07.896
So there's the suffering that we face from the corporate
00:15:07.896 --> 00:15:10.265
World of a fallen, broken world.
00:15:10.265 --> 00:15:12.267
Yeah. and there's the
00:15:12.267 --> 00:15:13.102
Brokenness that we cost ourselves.
00:15:13.102 --> 00:15:15.170
That's so good. wow. right?
00:15:15.170 --> 00:15:16.205
Yeah. from, like, pride and from being selfish.
00:15:16.205 --> 00:15:19.742
And honestly, jackie, i didn't
00:15:19.742 --> 00:15:21.176
Want to be selfish a minute longer.
00:15:21.176 --> 00:15:24.279
Now, of course i was. right. right, right.
00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:26.515
And it took time. yeah.
00:15:26.515 --> 00:15:28.550
But, like, that moment marked me.
00:15:28.550 --> 00:15:30.552
Wow.
00:15:30.552 --> 00:15:31.253
And i thought, i'm selfish.
00:15:31.253 --> 00:15:32.755
I got to deal with this.
00:15:32.755 --> 00:15:34.123
This is a root. it's ugly.
00:15:34.123 --> 00:15:36.492
And i felt known by god. i felt loved by god.
00:15:36.492 --> 00:15:38.761
I'll never forget that moment.
00:15:38.761 --> 00:15:39.728
Makes total sense to me.
00:15:39.728 --> 00:15:40.996
I think that's, because i think it's the greatest desire of
00:15:40.996 --> 00:15:43.499
Every human being to be fully known and fully loved.
00:15:43.499 --> 00:15:47.136
Yeah. but we're so afraid if we're fully known, we won't be
00:15:47.136 --> 00:15:49.505
Fully loved that we trade away being known.
00:15:49.505 --> 00:15:52.408
Yeah. i think with suffering that you've brought into your
00:15:52.408 --> 00:15:56.545
Own life, i really think not
00:15:56.545 --> 00:16:00.315
Having a pity party or not being giving in to shame is
00:16:00.315 --> 00:16:04.787
Important because i think shame can keep you in a cycle where
00:16:04.787 --> 00:16:08.223
All you're thinking about is what you should have did and
00:16:08.223 --> 00:16:10.325
Why you didn't do it
00:16:10.325 --> 00:16:11.360
And da da da da da.
00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:12.895
And it keeps you from moving forward.
00:16:12.895 --> 00:16:14.730
It keeps you from learning from things.
00:16:14.730 --> 00:16:17.966
And so i think interrogate the situation, interrogate what you
00:16:17.966 --> 00:16:21.103
Did, and figure out how to gain wisdom from it,
00:16:21.103 --> 00:16:23.272
But i think looking to jesus who despised the shame is also
00:16:23.272 --> 00:16:26.809
Something that you're called to do in that moment.
00:16:26.809 --> 00:16:30.112
We are better together because of you.
00:16:30.112 --> 00:16:32.281
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00:16:32.281 --> 00:16:35.084
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00:16:35.084 --> 00:16:36.085
Friends with women all over the world.
00:16:36.085 --> 00:16:37.753
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00:16:37.753 --> 00:16:41.290
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00:16:52.008 --> 00:16:52.269
I love what you said because i think it challenges all of us.
00:16:55.906 --> 00:17:00.044
It's like i feel kind of called out and i feel so loved by god
00:17:00.044 --> 00:17:05.249
Because of it. yeah.
00:17:05.249 --> 00:17:06.650
Like to get to that place where you're okay with the
00:17:06.650 --> 00:17:10.621
Lord, digging up the nasty, ugly roots and to actually
00:17:10.621 --> 00:17:14.792
Receive it as love
00:17:14.792 --> 00:17:16.627
I think it's really hard for people. for me, for sure.
00:17:16.627 --> 00:17:19.263
Like, i am an achiever.
00:17:19.263 --> 00:17:20.231
I want to crush it.
00:17:20.231 --> 00:17:20.998
I want to look the part.
00:17:20.998 --> 00:17:21.999
I want to have the things on.
00:17:21.999 --> 00:17:23.367
I want to walk in the room and be like, she belongs here.
00:17:23.367 --> 00:17:26.036
Yeah. and so i don't want the stuff to be called out.
00:17:26.036 --> 00:17:28.639
Like, i don't want that.
00:17:28.639 --> 00:17:30.007
But i'm learning that in my christian walk that
00:17:30.007 --> 00:17:32.109
That is god's care. yes.
00:17:32.109 --> 00:17:34.378
He is quite literally projecting himself onto us to
00:17:34.378 --> 00:17:37.815
The point where he's like, i got to get that out.
00:17:37.815 --> 00:17:39.817
I got to get that out.
00:17:39.817 --> 00:17:41.018
I have to somehow get you in a place where you can see
00:17:41.018 --> 00:17:43.521
Yourself because i want you to genuinely look like me.
00:17:43.521 --> 00:17:47.658
Like, i want you to experience real freedom and the
00:17:47.658 --> 00:17:50.027
Fruits of the spirit.
00:17:50.027 --> 00:17:51.295
And i just, i love that, and i hope that everyone watching
00:17:51.295 --> 00:17:54.532
Really hears that and accepts that as god's like, loving
00:17:54.532 --> 00:17:58.135
Correction and conviction.
00:17:58.135 --> 00:18:00.237
Um, and i just feel like it strengthens us.
00:18:00.237 --> 00:18:02.206
Like, that's the kind of faith i want where i recognize, oh,
00:18:02.206 --> 00:18:05.075
Man, god's correcting me because he loves me.
00:18:05.075 --> 00:18:08.112
Yeah.
00:18:08.112 --> 00:18:09.413
I think what's important about what you said, and what many of
00:18:09.413 --> 00:18:11.248
You have said, is to just acknowledge the work
00:18:11.248 --> 00:18:14.051
Of the holy spirit
00:18:14.051 --> 00:18:16.086
Um, when it comes to us seeing ourselves and responding to
00:18:16.086 --> 00:18:20.424
That knowledge, um, just because i am always really
00:18:20.424 --> 00:18:23.994
Fascinated by the prevalence, particularly in america, of a
00:18:23.994 --> 00:18:28.999
Form of godliness where we kind of move and act and speak as if
00:18:28.999 --> 00:18:33.804
We have power when there actually is no power.
00:18:33.804 --> 00:18:36.540
Yeah. it's just kind of just a religious orientation
00:18:36.540 --> 00:18:39.743
With no internal root.
00:18:39.743 --> 00:18:42.780
And so i think to see the sin within yourself, to see the
00:18:42.780 --> 00:18:46.016
Selfishness, to see the pride, to see the envy, envy, and
00:18:46.016 --> 00:18:48.819
Covetousness, and to see it in comparison to christ and not to
00:18:48.819 --> 00:18:52.656
See it as something i need to hide from others is the
00:18:52.656 --> 00:18:56.126
Distinction, and only the holy spirit can produce that.
00:18:56.126 --> 00:18:58.529
But not only that, only the holy spirit can then give us a
00:18:58.529 --> 00:19:01.599
Kind of humility that says, okay, god, like, help me out.
00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:06.503
You know what i'm saying?
00:19:06.503 --> 00:19:07.738
Because even pride says, i can fix myself, i can cleanse
00:19:07.738 --> 00:19:10.774
Myself, i can change myself.
00:19:10.774 --> 00:19:12.776
That's the essence of legalism.
00:19:12.776 --> 00:19:14.345
And so i think all of this, we got to glorify the holy spirit
00:19:14.345 --> 00:19:17.348
For because only he is able to really do
00:19:17.348 --> 00:19:19.984
That work in us, truly.
00:19:19.984 --> 00:19:23.053
I have always been an overachiever when it comes to,
00:19:23.053 --> 00:19:27.057
Well, let's be honest, when it comes to anything.
00:19:27.057 --> 00:19:29.627
Performance should have been my middle name.
00:19:29.627 --> 00:19:32.096
If it means anything to you and you like personality quizzes, i
00:19:32.096 --> 00:19:35.132
Am an enneagram three, meaning i just keep going and going and
00:19:35.132 --> 00:19:38.902
Achieving and achieving.
00:19:38.902 --> 00:19:40.170
And i think somewhere along the way, it's because i believed
00:19:40.170 --> 00:19:43.374
This lie that i could earn back
00:19:43.374 --> 00:19:48.545
What i initially received from the sacrifice of jesus.
00:19:48.545 --> 00:19:52.082
Maybe you're like me and you feel like you need to, after
00:19:52.082 --> 00:19:56.520
You get forgiveness, repay the debt,
00:19:56.520 --> 00:20:00.824
But grace is not grace unless we can't earn it.
00:20:00.824 --> 00:20:05.129
Mercy is not mercy
00:20:05.129 --> 00:20:07.131
If we try to pay it back. that's what makes it really
00:20:07.131 --> 00:20:11.669
Hard for you and i, right?
00:20:11.669 --> 00:20:13.937
It's because we can receive the grace, receive the forgiveness.
00:20:13.937 --> 00:20:18.042
But it's like we want to come around on on the other end of
00:20:18.042 --> 00:20:20.778
It and say, now look at how good i'm being for you.
00:20:20.778 --> 00:20:23.314
Look, look, your sacrifice wasn't in vain,
00:20:23.314 --> 00:20:25.683
But that's not why he did it.
00:20:25.683 --> 00:20:29.320
He did it because you and i could never have done it,
00:20:29.320 --> 00:20:31.522
And so i had to realize and honestly have to continuously
00:20:31.522 --> 00:20:36.026
Realize that this daily effort in my own strength to try to do
00:20:36.026 --> 00:20:41.498
More, to be impressive to a god that created me,
00:20:41.498 --> 00:20:48.305
There's nothing i could do anyway.
00:20:48.305 --> 00:20:49.573
There's nothing you could do anyway
00:20:49.573 --> 00:20:52.543
To earn forgiveness.
00:20:52.543 --> 00:20:53.877
He's already given it.
00:20:53.877 --> 00:20:56.580
The hardest thing for you and i to do
00:20:56.580 --> 00:21:00.884
Is just to receive it.
00:21:00.884 --> 00:21:03.620
Okay, look. luke 15, y'all.
00:21:03.620 --> 00:21:05.289
All right, prodigal son. all right.
00:21:05.289 --> 00:21:06.623
The parable.
00:21:06.623 --> 00:21:07.891
I love what you said, jackie, because there-- in verse 17.
00:21:07.891 --> 00:21:10.761
So luke 15, verse 17, it says, but when he came to his senses.
00:21:10.761 --> 00:21:15.666
Mhm.
00:21:15.666 --> 00:21:16.934
That line, yeah, is powerful because he wasn't all the way
00:21:16.934 --> 00:21:20.838
In his senses to begin with.
00:21:20.838 --> 00:21:22.306
Okay. so, you know, the context here is that this prodigal son
00:21:22.306 --> 00:21:25.409
Goes to his dad, asks for his inheritance before his dad even
00:21:25.409 --> 00:21:28.912
Leaves the earth, which is just
00:21:28.912 --> 00:21:30.114
Such a highly disrespectful act.
00:21:30.114 --> 00:21:32.282
The father gives it to him,
00:21:32.282 --> 00:21:33.784
Lets him go party and live it up.
00:21:33.784 --> 00:21:36.687
Okay? and he's in this point of
00:21:36.687 --> 00:21:39.056
Desperation where he's lost everything.
00:21:39.056 --> 00:21:40.858
He's spent everything.
00:21:40.858 --> 00:21:42.593
And in verse 17, it says, but when he came to his senses, and
00:21:42.593 --> 00:21:45.763
I have had so many moments in my life where i am
00:21:45.763 --> 00:21:48.599
Down a trail of sin.
00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:50.200
Yeah. i battled a few years ago.
00:21:50.200 --> 00:21:51.468
I battled with alcohol, not like sloppy drunk all over the
00:21:51.468 --> 00:21:54.304
Place, but i definitely was using it as a form of comfort
00:21:54.304 --> 00:21:57.541
Outside of the holy spirit, outside of the lord.
00:21:57.541 --> 00:21:59.543
Mhm. and i will never forget there was a morning where
00:21:59.543 --> 00:22:03.647
I came to my senses. wow.
00:22:03.647 --> 00:22:05.716
And i think the reason why i came to my senses is because
00:22:05.716 --> 00:22:10.020
I have this relationship with the lord now where it does not
00:22:10.020 --> 00:22:14.024
Matter how deep in the depths of sin and how wrong i am, i
00:22:14.024 --> 00:22:18.128
Still want him, and i still spend time with him.
00:22:18.128 --> 00:22:21.365
And so what that does for me is it brings opportunity for the
00:22:21.365 --> 00:22:24.568
Holy spirit to speak to me while i'm still in sin.
00:22:24.568 --> 00:22:27.304
Mhm. it's no- like i'm not doing it all the way right
00:22:27.304 --> 00:22:30.574
Right now, but i'm gonna get up in the morning and meet with
00:22:30.574 --> 00:22:32.776
You because i want to make sure that even when i'm going down
00:22:32.776 --> 00:22:36.914
The wrong pathway, i have margin, and i've created space
00:22:36.914 --> 00:22:40.217
For the holy spirit to bring me back to my senses.
00:22:40.217 --> 00:22:43.220
And i think that's what we're missing.
00:22:43.220 --> 00:22:44.855
We get so deeply down in our sin and our shame that we stop
00:22:44.855 --> 00:22:48.592
Wanting to be known by god because we start hiding
00:22:48.592 --> 00:22:50.928
Just as adam and eve did,
00:22:50.928 --> 00:22:52.329
And then we miss the holy spirit and the ability to
00:22:52.329 --> 00:22:55.599
Correct us and bring us back home
00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:59.503
Because that's how the story ends.
00:22:59.503 --> 00:23:01.905
I came to my senses, packed up my bag.
00:23:01.905 --> 00:23:04.541
Let me get out of here. i'm over here tripping.
00:23:04.541 --> 00:23:05.809
I don't know what i'm doing.
00:23:05.809 --> 00:23:07.277
And then i get to experience the loving embrace of a father
00:23:07.277 --> 00:23:10.013
Who actually, when he locks eyes with me, runs after me,
00:23:10.013 --> 00:23:14.117
Comes and gets me.
00:23:14.117 --> 00:23:15.619
And i think it trains us honestly not to want to fall
00:23:15.619 --> 00:23:19.490
Into that sin again.
00:23:19.490 --> 00:23:21.191
You know, it somehow tells us like, man, i just want to stay
00:23:21.191 --> 00:23:24.528
Connected with him.
00:23:24.528 --> 00:23:25.796
I want to lock eyes with him and i want to stay on the path.
00:23:25.796 --> 00:23:27.764
Even when i go stray just a little bit,
00:23:27.764 --> 00:23:29.366
I'm not gonna go too far because i don't want to miss
00:23:29.366 --> 00:23:32.102
This loving father who is so forgiving and so loving.
00:23:32.102 --> 00:23:35.506
Receiving god's forgiveness does not just like,
00:23:35.506 --> 00:23:37.941
Erase what we've done.
00:23:37.941 --> 00:23:39.643
What we see in the bible, especially in john eight, is
00:23:39.643 --> 00:23:41.945
That jesus is all grace, all truth, all the time.
00:23:41.945 --> 00:23:44.681
He told the woman that committed adultery,
00:23:44.681 --> 00:23:46.917
I don't condemn you.
00:23:46.917 --> 00:23:48.385
Now go and leave your life of sin.
00:23:48.385 --> 00:23:50.320
God wants to show us that he loves us, and he also wants us
00:23:50.320 --> 00:23:53.957
To leave our lives of sin so that he can be closer to us.
00:23:53.957 --> 00:23:58.795
It was a few weeks ago that my pastor at church was talking
00:23:58.795 --> 00:24:01.331
About this parable, and he said
00:24:01.331 --> 00:24:03.166
Something that just switched it.
00:24:03.166 --> 00:24:05.068
It just changed the way i saw it.
00:24:05.068 --> 00:24:07.070
And he started scrolling.
00:24:07.070 --> 00:24:08.605
He air played his his phone to the screen at church, and he
00:24:08.605 --> 00:24:12.509
Started scrolling through photos of his kids.
00:24:12.509 --> 00:24:14.244
And he's got four kids.
00:24:14.244 --> 00:24:15.746
And he said, my kids are the joy of my life.
00:24:15.746 --> 00:24:18.115
And he's going through different videos of his kids
00:24:18.115 --> 00:24:20.017
Acting crazy or like with hair sticking up, like cute
00:24:20.017 --> 00:24:22.920
Little kids photos.
00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:24.254
And he said, so many of us don't realize what the father
00:24:24.254 --> 00:24:27.291
Would have been seeing as he
00:24:27.291 --> 00:24:29.092
Waited for his son to come home.
00:24:29.092 --> 00:24:30.928
And the reason so many of you and so many of us don't come
00:24:30.928 --> 00:24:34.364
Home to the father, don't come to our senses and then pack up
00:24:34.364 --> 00:24:37.034
And just go back to the father is because we think he's going
00:24:37.034 --> 00:24:39.937
To be so mad at us.
00:24:39.937 --> 00:24:41.238
And he says, your father isn't remembering all the sin or are
00:24:41.238 --> 00:24:46.043
You asking for your inheritance.
00:24:46.043 --> 00:24:47.844
And he's scrolling and he says, he's seeing you like this.
00:24:47.844 --> 00:24:51.214
He sees you in your childlike state.
00:24:51.214 --> 00:24:55.786
He sees you in these moments
00:24:55.786 --> 00:24:57.955
Not that you think he remembers, not when you
00:24:57.955 --> 00:24:59.723
Woke up that morning.
00:24:59.723 --> 00:25:01.224
He doesn't see me in my depths of sin or in the moments where
00:25:01.224 --> 00:25:04.361
Shame had a straight jacket on me.
00:25:04.361 --> 00:25:08.098
He sees me as the little girl.
00:25:08.098 --> 00:25:10.434
He sees me as his.
00:25:10.434 --> 00:25:11.635
And i think if we can switch and see the father.\--
00:25:11.635 --> 00:25:14.538
Yeah. the way he looks at us, it just becomes
00:25:14.538 --> 00:25:17.374
So much easier to go home.
00:25:17.374 --> 00:25:18.909
And when you see that, it is like, he loves me.
00:25:18.909 --> 00:25:21.745
And i might be out here in my
00:25:21.745 --> 00:25:22.746
Mess, but i know that he loves me,
00:25:22.746 --> 00:25:24.247
And i know that when i come home, he's not at the porch
00:25:24.247 --> 00:25:27.551
Saying like, now earn your spot back, earn your keep back.
00:25:27.551 --> 00:25:30.821
He's already running to to walk the rest of the way with me.
00:25:30.821 --> 00:25:34.992
Just changed the way i saw even that piece of the story.
00:25:34.992 --> 00:25:38.895
I think it's so interesting when you look at the word
00:25:38.895 --> 00:25:41.465
Shame, how it occurs in the old testament and how it shows up
00:25:41.465 --> 00:25:44.534
Again in in the new testament. in the old testament, we read,
00:25:44.534 --> 00:25:47.904
Cursed is he who is hung on a tree.
00:25:47.904 --> 00:25:51.141
Tremendous shame associated with that.
00:25:51.141 --> 00:25:53.777
Um, and then you read in psalm 34 where david is in a cave,
00:25:53.777 --> 00:25:59.416
Having made some very, very poor choices.
00:25:59.416 --> 00:26:01.952
He's in a terrible place in his life,
00:26:01.952 --> 00:26:04.054
And yet even in the midst of the darkness of a cave, he
00:26:04.054 --> 00:26:07.157
Lifts his eyes in his heart upward.
00:26:07.157 --> 00:26:09.593
And he says, those who look to him for help will be
00:26:09.593 --> 00:26:13.330
Radiant with joy.
00:26:13.330 --> 00:26:14.698
No shadow of shame will touch their faces.
00:26:14.698 --> 00:26:17.367
And that's because of what jesus is going to do when you
00:26:17.367 --> 00:26:19.870
Move to the new testament.
00:26:19.870 --> 00:26:21.338
And even though he was willing for anyone going into jerusalem
00:26:21.338 --> 00:26:24.708
That day for passover, they were going in with passover
00:26:24.708 --> 00:26:28.812
Lamb, not realizing the perfect lamb of god was being
00:26:28.812 --> 00:26:31.281
Sacrificed right outside the city walls.
00:26:31.281 --> 00:26:34.084
He became shame so that you and i never have to.
00:26:34.084 --> 00:26:38.121
Luke 15.
00:26:38.121 --> 00:26:39.256
When you talked about that, tony, and to your point,
00:26:39.256 --> 00:26:41.692
Jackie, about the holy spirit.
00:26:41.692 --> 00:26:43.560
If you think about the context of those three stories, the
00:26:43.560 --> 00:26:46.563
First one is the lost sheep.
00:26:46.563 --> 00:26:49.266
Then you have the lost coin and the lost son.
00:26:49.266 --> 00:26:51.902
You know, and the sheep did not find itself.
00:26:51.902 --> 00:26:54.771
The coin did not find itself.
00:26:54.771 --> 00:26:58.141
Even when it says he came to himself, to me, that's
00:26:58.141 --> 00:27:00.777
The goodness of god
00:27:00.777 --> 00:27:02.012
Because at the end of that story, when jesus said, there
00:27:02.012 --> 00:27:05.082
Is greater joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than--
00:27:05.082 --> 00:27:10.053
That was a familiar phrase to people
00:27:10.053 --> 00:27:11.788
But they didn't understand.
00:27:11.788 --> 00:27:13.156
They didn't hear it that way.
00:27:13.156 --> 00:27:14.391
What the religious leaders would say to them, i wrote it
00:27:14.391 --> 00:27:16.893
Down was, um,
00:27:16.893 --> 00:27:18.228
There is great joy in heaven over one sinner who is
00:27:18.228 --> 00:27:20.630
Obliterated from god.
00:27:20.630 --> 00:27:22.532
So that was something they'd
00:27:22.532 --> 00:27:23.667
Been taught by the religious leaders.
00:27:23.667 --> 00:27:25.068
Jesus totally flips the whole thing.
00:27:25.068 --> 00:27:27.337
Yeah. and to me, stories build on stories.
00:27:27.337 --> 00:27:30.807
So to me, it's all about the goodness of god pursuing us,
00:27:30.807 --> 00:27:34.911
Whether we're lost or hiding,
00:27:34.911 --> 00:27:37.280
The coin was hiding, or gone off the rails that
00:27:37.280 --> 00:27:40.517
He will not leave us.
00:27:40.517 --> 00:27:42.018
He will come after us.
00:27:42.018 --> 00:27:44.554
Yeah. i think there's various seasons where god has pursued
00:27:44.554 --> 00:27:48.125
Me in a particular way, related to a pattern or a vice or an
00:27:48.125 --> 00:27:52.395
Addiction or idol that i had.
00:27:52.395 --> 00:27:55.465
And the way he does it, he uses people.
00:27:55.465 --> 00:27:58.401
He uses his word.
00:27:58.401 --> 00:27:59.503
He uses your conscience.
00:27:59.503 --> 00:28:01.338
And i think, uh, if we have a jacob temperament like i have,
00:28:01.338 --> 00:28:05.642
You might, you might have to wrestle the angel a bit, but he
00:28:05.642 --> 00:28:08.578
Will break your hip.
00:28:08.578 --> 00:28:09.846
And so i've realized that god is a good father and a good
00:28:09.846 --> 00:28:12.682
Shepherd, where sometimes he'll just force your hand, um, where
00:28:12.682 --> 00:28:15.986
You realize that the isaac must die
00:28:15.986 --> 00:28:18.955
Uh, if you want to be faithful and upright before him.
00:28:18.955 --> 00:28:21.958
But god is also really kind and really gentle and compassionate
00:28:21.958 --> 00:28:26.263
In the way he does those things.
00:28:26.263 --> 00:28:28.265
And so yeah, i'm just learning
00:28:28.265 --> 00:28:29.633
That he really is a gentle father,
00:28:29.633 --> 00:28:32.169
Uh, but also loving lord.
00:28:32.169 --> 00:28:35.872
I'm thinking of the people watching who are like,
00:28:35.872 --> 00:28:40.610
That's so cute.
00:28:40.610 --> 00:28:41.912
Like, this is so, this is so encouraging to me,
00:28:41.912 --> 00:28:44.381
Um, but will continue to function in the same patterns
00:28:44.381 --> 00:28:49.619
That are not useful, that are unhelpful and that are
00:28:49.619 --> 00:28:53.757
Ultimately a hindrance to god getting his glory in your life.
00:28:53.757 --> 00:28:57.561
Yeah. and what came to my mind was john five, when jesus goes
00:28:57.561 --> 00:29:02.699
To the pool and verse six says, when jesus saw the man who had
00:29:02.699 --> 00:29:07.304
Been an invalid for 38 years--
00:29:07.304 --> 00:29:08.672
That's a really long time to be broken.
00:29:08.672 --> 00:29:10.574
When jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already
00:29:10.574 --> 00:29:13.610
Been there a long time, he said
00:29:13.610 --> 00:29:15.579
To him, do you want to be healed?
00:29:15.579 --> 00:29:17.981
The sick man answered him, sir, i have no one to put me into
00:29:17.981 --> 00:29:21.618
The pool.
00:29:21.618 --> 00:29:22.919
And when the water is stirred up and while i'm going, another
00:29:22.919 --> 00:29:24.788
Steps down before me. and i'm like, every time i read this,
00:29:24.788 --> 00:29:27.724
I'm like, jesus.
00:29:27.724 --> 00:29:29.326
Like i didn't say all that.
00:29:29.326 --> 00:29:30.160
I didn't ask you that exactly.
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:31.895
I said, do you want to change?
00:29:31.895 --> 00:29:33.697
Yes.
00:29:33.697 --> 00:29:34.364
Do you want to be healed?
00:29:34.364 --> 00:29:35.799
And so you're giving me all of these reasons.
00:29:35.799 --> 00:29:38.335
Well, you know, i'm traumatized.
00:29:38.335 --> 00:29:40.370
And my daddy left me and i went to therapy, and you're giving
00:29:40.370 --> 00:29:44.074
Me your diagnosis. i didn't ask you that.
00:29:44.074 --> 00:29:45.609
I asked you, do you want to change?
00:29:45.609 --> 00:29:48.178
And i think oftentimes we have to ask ourselves that,
00:29:48.178 --> 00:29:50.914
Do we want to remain broken and continue to walk in all these
00:29:50.914 --> 00:29:54.184
Excuses of why we can't be healed?
00:29:54.184 --> 00:29:56.119
Or do we want to go to the jesus who stands before us and
00:29:56.119 --> 00:29:58.488
Says, get up and walk?
00:29:58.488 --> 00:29:59.890
And i think because christ died and because christ rose,
00:29:59.890 --> 00:30:04.294
Brokenness does not actually have to be our testimony.
00:30:04.294 --> 00:30:07.797
It does not like there will be weakness, but we can actually
00:30:07.797 --> 00:30:11.301
Have strength in it. you know what i'm saying?
00:30:11.301 --> 00:30:13.270
I love that so much.
00:30:13.270 --> 00:30:14.771
And i do think we get caught up in the testimony of brokenness.
00:30:14.771 --> 00:30:18.942
I think that's a powerful thing to bring up.
00:30:18.942 --> 00:30:21.211
So to me, it's a both and.
00:30:21.211 --> 00:30:22.946
It's like, um, acknowledging the brokenness that we may even
00:30:22.946 --> 00:30:28.318
Be in at this very moment.
00:30:28.318 --> 00:30:30.520
Like, that's powerful.
00:30:30.520 --> 00:30:32.122
Yeah. but it is for a purpose.
00:30:32.122 --> 00:30:34.024
It's for the purpose of restoration to the living god
00:30:34.024 --> 00:30:38.295
Who makes all things well.
00:30:38.295 --> 00:30:39.696
Yeah. john five is one of my
00:30:39.696 --> 00:30:41.564
Favorite passages in the entire bible.
00:30:41.564 --> 00:30:44.501
And one of the things that strikes me about this passage
00:30:44.501 --> 00:30:46.970
Is the deflection of the pool
00:30:46.970 --> 00:30:49.673
Even where this man goes into an entire diatribe about like,
00:30:49.673 --> 00:30:54.311
If i could only get into the pool, like if i could just get
00:30:54.311 --> 00:30:57.981
Into the pool.
00:30:57.981 --> 00:30:58.715
And all the while, the healer
00:30:58.715 --> 00:31:01.117
Was standing right in front of him.
00:31:01.117 --> 00:31:02.652
Yeah. the one who really has the powers of life and death
00:31:02.652 --> 00:31:05.555
And healing in his hands.
00:31:05.555 --> 00:31:07.924
And this man is like, but it's the pool.
00:31:07.924 --> 00:31:10.026
And he's like, but it's not. it's me.
00:31:10.026 --> 00:31:12.696
Yeah. and like, it just always strikes me because this is what
00:31:12.696 --> 00:31:17.100
We do all the time.
00:31:17.100 --> 00:31:18.401
If i could only afford therapy. and listen, i love counseling.
00:31:18.401 --> 00:31:22.939
Get therapy. yeah.
00:31:22.939 --> 00:31:23.974
But if i could only-- if i only had a different
00:31:23.974 --> 00:31:26.476
Background, if i was only raised by different parents, if
00:31:26.476 --> 00:31:29.579
I only was married to someone else, if i was only--
00:31:29.579 --> 00:31:32.148
All of these things.
00:31:32.148 --> 00:31:33.149
And listen, i get it.
00:31:33.149 --> 00:31:34.384
We all have these situations that we often need to take a
00:31:34.384 --> 00:31:38.421
Step forward in and get healing. yes.
00:31:38.421 --> 00:31:41.424
And the great god of the universe is the one
00:31:41.424 --> 00:31:45.495
Who makes us well.
00:31:45.495 --> 00:31:47.230
Yeah. no matter what.
00:31:47.230 --> 00:31:48.932
No matter what we're going through, no matter where we
00:31:48.932 --> 00:31:50.934
Are, in our chains, in our
00:31:50.934 --> 00:31:53.436
Brokenness, in our circumstances.
00:31:53.436 --> 00:31:56.573
And that's either true or it's not true.
00:31:56.573 --> 00:31:58.541
And i think we walk in the things that we have the
00:31:58.541 --> 00:32:01.911
Abilities to do.
00:32:01.911 --> 00:32:03.613
We use our brains and we use our, um, our ableness and all
00:32:03.613 --> 00:32:08.051
Of those things to be able to
00:32:08.051 --> 00:32:09.252
Walk forward in health and healing.
00:32:09.252 --> 00:32:11.554
And that's super important. yeah.
00:32:11.554 --> 00:32:13.690
Um, because there's intention there, right,
00:32:13.690 --> 00:32:16.493
Uh, to partner with christ in our healing, but let's not get
00:32:16.493 --> 00:32:20.196
It mixed up here.
00:32:20.196 --> 00:32:22.032
He's the one who makes us well.
00:32:22.032 --> 00:32:23.700
And so i love that you brought
00:32:23.700 --> 00:32:24.734
That passage. that gets me fired up.
00:32:24.734 --> 00:32:26.436
I love this. come on, john.
00:32:26.436 --> 00:32:28.171
I mean, we got a few notes here.
00:32:28.171 --> 00:32:30.507
As recipients of god's grace that we did nothing to earn,
00:32:30.507 --> 00:32:33.777
That we did nothing to deserve,
00:32:33.777 --> 00:32:36.413
First of all, i think we live according--
00:32:36.413 --> 00:32:38.581
Accordingly. we operate as knowing that we are undeserving
00:32:38.581 --> 00:32:42.852
Of his grace.
00:32:42.852 --> 00:32:44.154
That doesn't mean we wallow in shame, that we wallow in guilt,
00:32:44.154 --> 00:32:47.490
Because that wouldn't be living a life on purpose for the
00:32:47.490 --> 00:32:50.226
Kingdom of god,
00:32:50.226 --> 00:32:51.561
But i think it develops in us gratitude for what god
00:32:51.561 --> 00:32:54.330
Has done for us.
00:32:54.330 --> 00:32:55.932
And so we don't squander our life.
00:32:55.932 --> 00:32:58.168
We know i am walking in grace.
00:32:58.168 --> 00:33:00.637
I'm living in this gift that otherwise i couldn't receive.
00:33:00.637 --> 00:33:05.742
And then i think, and it also allows us to give grace to
00:33:05.742 --> 00:33:09.279
Others. as we've been given grace that we didn't deserve,
00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:12.715
We also then give it to other people.
00:33:12.715 --> 00:33:15.885
And so it strengthens our relationships with others.
00:33:15.885 --> 00:33:18.922
And the way we see other people is we're living grace.
00:33:18.922 --> 00:33:22.826
We give grace to others.
00:33:22.826 --> 00:33:25.195
I want to comment on this brokenness thing because i, i
00:33:25.195 --> 00:33:29.532
Had to wrestle with this.
00:33:29.532 --> 00:33:30.400
I have a whole organization
00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:31.901
Called broken crayons still color.
00:33:31.901 --> 00:33:33.203
I'm just like, we're broken, you know, and god is perfect
00:33:33.203 --> 00:33:36.906
And all the things.
00:33:36.906 --> 00:33:38.174
And i really felt convicted about this, but i genuinely had
00:33:38.174 --> 00:33:42.779
To wrestle with brokenness.
00:33:42.779 --> 00:33:44.314
Yeah. um, i started speaking at
00:33:44.314 --> 00:33:46.916
This women's shelter in atlanta.
00:33:46.916 --> 00:33:48.384
Jackie came once, and i love it.
00:33:48.384 --> 00:33:50.220
It's just once a month.
00:33:50.220 --> 00:33:51.121
I'm just there hanging with my girls.
00:33:51.121 --> 00:33:52.755
It's the best.
00:33:52.755 --> 00:33:54.023
And we talk about healing and all these different things.
00:33:54.023 --> 00:33:55.592
And i'd been talking a lot about like just, hey, like, we
00:33:55.592 --> 00:33:58.962
Have to accept that we're broken and all these things.
00:33:58.962 --> 00:34:01.264
And i got so all out convicted that i was enabling.
00:34:01.264 --> 00:34:06.736
Mhm. i was enabling these women.
00:34:06.736 --> 00:34:08.805
Oh, it makes me so sad.
00:34:08.805 --> 00:34:10.106
I was enabling these women to stay in their brokenness to the
00:34:10.106 --> 00:34:13.810
Point where they weren't experiencing real freedom.
00:34:13.810 --> 00:34:16.446
And i have been walking with them for two years, and we got
00:34:16.446 --> 00:34:19.549
Real good at naming the brokenness.
00:34:19.549 --> 00:34:21.384
Wow. and there was no deliverance.
00:34:21.384 --> 00:34:24.554
Wow. because we sat in it.
00:34:24.554 --> 00:34:26.456
We just sat in the broken.
00:34:26.456 --> 00:34:27.690
And i have this, this motto now, like, we'll meet you in
00:34:27.690 --> 00:34:30.293
The valleys, but we're not going to stay there.
00:34:30.293 --> 00:34:32.262
And i had gotten real comfortable with brokenness to
00:34:32.262 --> 00:34:34.531
The point again, where it became just this idol and it
00:34:34.531 --> 00:34:36.733
Stunted healing for, i think, the people around me
00:34:36.733 --> 00:34:39.135
And even for myself.
00:34:39.135 --> 00:34:40.837
And here's where the lord brought me.
00:34:40.837 --> 00:34:43.206
He really, like, showed me not only the beginning of time,
00:34:43.206 --> 00:34:47.043
What he created.
00:34:47.043 --> 00:34:48.144
So that was like the first
00:34:48.144 --> 00:34:49.279
Layer, i think of my understanding.
00:34:49.279 --> 00:34:50.780
And it was god's design was not what we're living in today.
00:34:50.780 --> 00:34:56.152
That's good.
00:34:56.152 --> 00:34:57.453
God's design was for us to be bopping around with no shame,
00:34:57.453 --> 00:35:04.093
To the point where we didn't even know we was bopping around
00:35:04.093 --> 00:35:08.998
Without covering, okay.
00:35:08.998 --> 00:35:11.334
Without clothes.
00:35:11.334 --> 00:35:12.435
That was the design, that we would be so free--
00:35:12.435 --> 00:35:14.904
Yeah. that we wouldn't even be ashamed of our good bodies.
00:35:14.904 --> 00:35:17.640
That's great.
00:35:17.640 --> 00:35:18.174
That's the design.
00:35:18.174 --> 00:35:19.309
Yeah. brokenness, snuck into the design, didn't win,
00:35:19.309 --> 00:35:23.479
But threatened it.
00:35:23.479 --> 00:35:26.182
And this is the part where i wrestled.
00:35:26.182 --> 00:35:28.518
Mhm. okay, but we're broken.
00:35:28.518 --> 00:35:30.386
Okay. but we live--
00:35:30.386 --> 00:35:31.621
No no no no no.
00:35:31.621 --> 00:35:32.822
Brokenness threatened the design.
00:35:32.822 --> 00:35:35.625
My design is still good. yeah.
00:35:35.625 --> 00:35:38.261
So much so that god course corrected the design
00:35:38.261 --> 00:35:42.832
Against the brokenness, defended the design through the
00:35:42.832 --> 00:35:48.404
Life, death, and resurrection of jesus.
00:35:48.404 --> 00:35:51.541
That's right.
00:35:51.541 --> 00:35:52.642
And i think i was stuck in old testament mentality.
00:35:52.642 --> 00:35:56.145
And lately i've tried my best to like, it's just it's taken
00:35:56.145 --> 00:36:00.149
Me a while to get there, okay,
00:36:00.149 --> 00:36:01.517
Because it feels prideful in my body, not because it is
00:36:01.517 --> 00:36:04.587
Prideful to bask in freedom, but because it's more
00:36:04.587 --> 00:36:08.891
Comfortable for some of us to stay in the brokenness.
00:36:08.891 --> 00:36:11.594
Yeah. to woe is me,
00:36:11.594 --> 00:36:13.162
I always want to be rescued.
00:36:13.162 --> 00:36:14.530
It's actually a victim mentality.
00:36:14.530 --> 00:36:16.499
Yeah.
00:36:16.499 --> 00:36:17.767
And i have had to grow up in my faith to the point where i
00:36:17.767 --> 00:36:19.902
Believe, yes, that happened to me.
00:36:19.902 --> 00:36:22.171
Yeah. and for those of you watching, whether it was the
00:36:22.171 --> 00:36:24.274
Trauma, the sexual abuse,
00:36:24.274 --> 00:36:25.908
Anything that the enemy has used,
00:36:25.908 --> 00:36:27.877
Darkness came against you in your story.
00:36:27.877 --> 00:36:30.179
And we have access to freedom, and we have the power through
00:36:30.179 --> 00:36:33.916
The holy spirit to actually be made new again.
00:36:33.916 --> 00:36:38.054
Yeah. and i just i want to offer that up because i think
00:36:38.054 --> 00:36:42.292
It's easy for us to be prideful.
00:36:42.292 --> 00:36:43.926
And it's also easy for us to just swing the other way and
00:36:43.926 --> 00:36:47.397
Sit in our brokenness and think, this is it.
00:36:47.397 --> 00:36:49.932
This is all that's going to happen here on this earth.
00:36:49.932 --> 00:36:51.901
I'll just have to wait until heaven, when i just think the
00:36:51.901 --> 00:36:54.304
Lord is sending down the remnants of heaven and eden to
00:36:54.304 --> 00:36:57.840
Rescue us and show us, oh no, there's a coming king and
00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:00.443
There's eternity on the way.
00:37:00.443 --> 00:37:01.944
But you can have it now, too. yes.
00:37:01.944 --> 00:37:04.514
You can have freedom now in this lifetime.
00:37:04.514 --> 00:37:08.084
It took me a long time to come to the place of accepting the
00:37:08.084 --> 00:37:11.454
Fact that i was broken.
00:37:11.454 --> 00:37:14.090
But one of the greatest realizations was, as i walked
00:37:14.090 --> 00:37:16.859
That journey out with the lord, i realized that's not how he
00:37:16.859 --> 00:37:19.729
Wanted me to stay.
00:37:19.729 --> 00:37:21.531
God does something beautiful with a broken life. when you
00:37:21.531 --> 00:37:24.600
Give him all the pieces, he puts you back together in a way
00:37:24.600 --> 00:37:28.471
That lets his light shine through to other people.
00:37:28.471 --> 00:37:31.908
Grace and accountability really aren't in conflict.
00:37:31.908 --> 00:37:34.911
They should live together. because god's given us grace,
00:37:34.911 --> 00:37:39.282
Learning to give ourselves grace is really important even
00:37:39.282 --> 00:37:42.085
As we give grace to others.
00:37:42.085 --> 00:37:43.820
It's just an important sort of trickle down effect,
00:37:43.820 --> 00:37:47.290
God's grace, us giving ourselves grace
00:37:47.290 --> 00:37:49.192
And giving others grace. at the same time,
00:37:49.192 --> 00:37:52.562
Accountability for ourselves is critical.
00:37:52.562 --> 00:37:55.131
It's a part of the christian life.
00:37:55.131 --> 00:37:56.566
We have to be accountable for
00:37:56.566 --> 00:37:59.035
Our sin and in our relationships.
00:37:59.035 --> 00:38:01.838
And so grace and accountability are a hand-in-hand part of our
00:38:01.838 --> 00:38:06.609
Faith. really important that we don't negate one, focus on one
00:38:06.609 --> 00:38:12.315
Over the other,
00:38:12.315 --> 00:38:13.616
But it's really a part of that process in growing in christ.
00:38:13.616 --> 00:38:19.722
Let's keep the conversation going.
00:38:19.722 --> 00:38:22.058
You can find the better together podcast on your
00:38:22.058 --> 00:38:24.460
Favorite listening platform.
00:38:24.460 --> 00:38:26.262
Subscribe today.
00:38:26.262 --> 00:38:31.001
Subscribe today.
00:38:31.001 --> 00:38:33.837
Yes. purity is, i mean, almost always, universally a heart
00:38:37.441 --> 00:38:43.280
Issue before it is ever an external issue.
00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:47.251
Right. and so out of the abundance of the heart, the
00:38:47.251 --> 00:38:50.387
Mouth speaks.
00:38:50.387 --> 00:38:51.588
So you can, you can try to monitor your speech and you
00:38:51.588 --> 00:38:53.824
Should be mindful of your speech, but you also need to do
00:38:53.824 --> 00:38:56.293
The work of why is my heart so predisposed to be disrespectful
00:38:56.293 --> 00:39:02.032
Or to be critical or to be dishonorable?
00:39:02.032 --> 00:39:05.936
Um, you can guard your mind and your ears with what you watch
00:39:05.936 --> 00:39:09.973
And what you listen to, but you also need to work backwards and
00:39:09.973 --> 00:39:13.043
Do the due diligence of why is that entertaining to me?
00:39:13.043 --> 00:39:15.779
Why is it pleasurable to me?
00:39:15.779 --> 00:39:17.147
What does it produce in me?
00:39:17.147 --> 00:39:18.782
And it's that kind of hard work that then shows itself up in a
00:39:18.782 --> 00:39:23.120
Kind of morality that's rooted in faith and rooted
00:39:23.120 --> 00:39:25.522
In authentic repentance
00:39:25.522 --> 00:39:27.090
And, i think, a morality that's actually long lasting.
00:39:27.090 --> 00:39:31.094
When god exposes something in our life, brokenness, the
00:39:34.631 --> 00:39:37.734
Healing is not just for us.
00:39:37.734 --> 00:39:40.003
Thornton wilder wrote this great play called the angel who
00:39:40.003 --> 00:39:42.739
Troubled the water.
00:39:42.739 --> 00:39:43.474
And it's all about john five.
00:39:43.474 --> 00:39:45.542
And he talks about this doctor who shows up and wants to be
00:39:45.542 --> 00:39:48.645
The first one in the pool.
00:39:48.645 --> 00:39:50.380
And because he's able bodied, you can't tell on the outside
00:39:50.380 --> 00:39:53.650
There's anything wrong with him,
00:39:53.650 --> 00:39:55.185
He reckons he's going to make it, so
00:39:55.185 --> 00:39:57.187
But the minute the angel appears, he tells the man to
00:39:57.187 --> 00:40:00.190
Step back and he's like, why?
00:40:00.190 --> 00:40:03.427
You know, i'm in as much pain.
00:40:03.427 --> 00:40:05.095
He said, what?
00:40:05.095 --> 00:40:06.396
You don't realize it's the very brokenness that you've walked
00:40:06.396 --> 00:40:08.565
Through that makes the people come to you and say,
00:40:08.565 --> 00:40:11.301
Will you help me?
00:40:11.301 --> 00:40:12.202
Will you pray for me?
00:40:12.202 --> 00:40:13.303
Will you be--
00:40:13.303 --> 00:40:14.571
But i think that's the beauty of how god's kingdom upends
00:40:14.571 --> 00:40:19.076
What the enemy intended, because it's like we're not
00:40:19.076 --> 00:40:22.145
Just healed so that we can be healed.
00:40:22.145 --> 00:40:24.781
But we're then go on and and you realize that's where
00:40:24.781 --> 00:40:29.419
The light shines through.
00:40:29.419 --> 00:40:30.721
It's through all those cracks and broken places.
00:40:30.721 --> 00:40:33.757
That's where the light gets in.
00:40:33.757 --> 00:40:35.225
Yes. that actually reminds me of, um, jacob wrestling with
00:40:35.225 --> 00:40:40.330
God or wrestling with the man with the capital m, and he's
00:40:40.330 --> 00:40:44.234
Wrestling and has all this stuff in his past, right?
00:40:44.234 --> 00:40:47.771
But he's just like, well, i had to do it.
00:40:47.771 --> 00:40:49.172
Or it makes excuses or just ignores it because we, how
00:40:49.172 --> 00:40:51.808
Often do we get saved and then just ignore that stuff and
00:40:51.808 --> 00:40:54.411
Pretend it never happened?
00:40:54.411 --> 00:40:55.546
And, um, and he's wrestling and then he gets asked,
00:40:55.546 --> 00:40:59.616
What is your name?
00:40:59.616 --> 00:41:01.552
And it's like, almost like these moments where we're
00:41:01.552 --> 00:41:04.555
Forced to face the things we've been denying, which kind of
00:41:04.555 --> 00:41:08.659
Goes like the nathan with david having to come in and be like,
00:41:08.659 --> 00:41:12.529
Dude, i'm talking about you.
00:41:12.529 --> 00:41:13.764
Like, how are you not seeing it?
00:41:13.764 --> 00:41:15.299
Which i just think is often a problem in our world as
00:41:15.299 --> 00:41:18.769
Christians, as believers, that we don't realize we are the
00:41:18.769 --> 00:41:21.104
Problem often, that we can't even see our own brokenness
00:41:21.104 --> 00:41:24.408
Because we're so busy pointing at somebody else's. right.
00:41:24.408 --> 00:41:27.044
And then jacob finally sees what's happening and realizes
00:41:27.044 --> 00:41:30.280
He has to admit that he is the
00:41:30.280 --> 00:41:31.582
Deceiver, and god gives him the limp.
00:41:31.582 --> 00:41:35.152
But then, i've had so many seasons in my life where i have
00:41:35.152 --> 00:41:37.754
Thought that that limp means i can't walk anywhere anymore.
00:41:37.754 --> 00:41:41.325
Not that god can take that limp and show people this is what i
00:41:41.325 --> 00:41:45.963
Can do.
00:41:45.963 --> 00:41:46.797
Like you can do a lot with a limp.
00:41:46.797 --> 00:41:48.332
And so having that moment of, um, exposure to bring about
00:41:48.332 --> 00:41:53.170
Healing, that then shows what someone can do with a limp.
00:41:53.170 --> 00:41:57.407
Yeah. it's important for god to, or for us to allow god to
00:41:57.407 --> 00:42:00.811
Expose our hearts and our sin, because the wages of sin
00:42:00.811 --> 00:42:03.747
Is death, right?
00:42:03.747 --> 00:42:05.048
And so i want to be made aware of the things that could kill
00:42:05.048 --> 00:42:08.118
Me, that could destroy me, that could be a deterrent to me.
00:42:08.118 --> 00:42:11.488
And not only me, but others.
00:42:11.488 --> 00:42:13.123
You know, sin is very much relational in nature.
00:42:13.123 --> 00:42:17.294
And so i think for god to reveal things as much as it
00:42:17.294 --> 00:42:21.198
Hurts and as embarrassing as it is, it actually is our freedom.
00:42:21.198 --> 00:42:25.469
And i think it takes faith to trust that.
00:42:25.469 --> 00:42:28.739
I had this question when you were even just talking about
00:42:28.739 --> 00:42:30.741
That, because i bet you there are people watching and they're
00:42:30.741 --> 00:42:32.943
Like, well, that's great, but i don't have any brokenness,
00:42:32.943 --> 00:42:37.748
Which maybe if that is the, that is the thought, then like,
00:42:37.748 --> 00:42:41.852
Hey, we all have some, right? yeah.
00:42:41.852 --> 00:42:44.588
Well, you got some, you got something.
00:42:44.588 --> 00:42:46.056
But like, how did, how did you realize that? was it,
00:42:46.056 --> 00:42:49.860
Was it like the holy spirit?
00:42:49.860 --> 00:42:51.328
Was it this community, whether it was like a wrestling or a
00:42:51.328 --> 00:42:54.431
Nathan or a community moment?
00:42:54.431 --> 00:42:55.866
Because i think we all have this in our life.
00:42:55.866 --> 00:42:58.235
Yeah. but you don't know
00:42:58.235 --> 00:42:59.870
You're deceived when you're
00:42:59.870 --> 00:43:00.637
Deceived because you're deceived.
00:43:00.637 --> 00:43:03.173
How do we expose that?
00:43:03.173 --> 00:43:05.442
Like, how did that happen for you?
00:43:05.442 --> 00:43:07.077
It's people. yeah.
00:43:07.077 --> 00:43:08.245
It's the people around you and it's the people around
00:43:08.245 --> 00:43:11.281
You, um, who get to a point where they're like, how many
00:43:11.281 --> 00:43:14.818
Times are we gonna have to encourage you through this?
00:43:14.818 --> 00:43:16.720
Oh yeah, i got friends like that.
00:43:16.720 --> 00:43:18.288
Like, now wait a minute. yeah.
00:43:18.288 --> 00:43:20.490
Are we really still complaining about the thing that we all
00:43:20.490 --> 00:43:25.128
Believed god saved you from?
00:43:25.128 --> 00:43:27.764
And it's not in this condemning way, but i just i
00:43:27.764 --> 00:43:32.569
Had a friend that was like, no, toni,
00:43:32.569 --> 00:43:36.773
I know that you're the broken crayons girl.
00:43:36.773 --> 00:43:40.377
Like, i know that you deeply believe in letting those who
00:43:40.377 --> 00:43:44.848
Have experienced brokenness and weakness and trauma and so much
00:43:44.848 --> 00:43:48.418
Pain know that they can still color, but when are you going
00:43:48.418 --> 00:43:50.787
To let them color? mhm. wow.
00:43:50.787 --> 00:43:54.224
Long story short, i invited a friend to another shelter that
00:43:54.224 --> 00:43:56.793
I went to, and i was in like a dark season, a little bit. like,
00:43:56.793 --> 00:44:03.967
And i'm still, and i'm hesitant a little bit because i'm still
00:44:03.967 --> 00:44:07.237
In this season a little bit.
00:44:07.237 --> 00:44:08.472
We talked about this last night, jackie and i, i am still
00:44:08.472 --> 00:44:10.907
Wrestling with the idea.
00:44:10.907 --> 00:44:13.110
It's like, do i really have to be hopeful?
00:44:13.110 --> 00:44:15.278
Like, can i just be a soldier in the army of the lord and be
00:44:15.278 --> 00:44:19.282
Like, this is my lot in life and this is it.
00:44:19.282 --> 00:44:22.119
Like, and hope deferred--
00:44:22.119 --> 00:44:25.889
Makes a heart sick. makes the heart sick.
00:44:25.889 --> 00:44:28.725
And whether i like it or not, or i think about like being a
00:44:28.725 --> 00:44:33.563
Soldier and i've just got to suffer,
00:44:33.563 --> 00:44:35.298
Like what?
00:44:35.298 --> 00:44:36.099
That's not noble
00:44:36.099 --> 00:44:37.768
When jesus came to die for freedom.
00:44:37.768 --> 00:44:39.936
Yeah. that's not noble.
00:44:39.936 --> 00:44:41.571
And i went into another shelter and i brought a friend with me,
00:44:41.571 --> 00:44:45.776
And i just was telling these girls, i was like, you may not
00:44:45.776 --> 00:44:49.412
Get out of this homeless shelter, okay?
00:44:49.412 --> 00:44:51.648
The lord may never do it for you.
00:44:51.648 --> 00:44:53.150
Jeez. are you going to serve him anyway?
00:44:53.150 --> 00:44:56.386
Like y'all,
00:44:56.386 --> 00:44:57.053
That's where i was, okay?
00:44:57.053 --> 00:44:58.688
I was john 11.
00:44:58.688 --> 00:44:59.790
I was like, are you a martha or are you a mary?
00:44:59.790 --> 00:45:02.325
You're gonna be on the ground crying all the time.
00:45:02.325 --> 00:45:05.428
Are you gonna say, even if you don't raise my brother from the
00:45:05.428 --> 00:45:08.532
Dead, like i will serve you. and my friend, there was no--
00:45:08.532 --> 00:45:14.070
Okay. there was no hope.
00:45:14.070 --> 00:45:16.006
You never get out of here. it hurts.
00:45:16.006 --> 00:45:17.407
This may never, ever happen for you.
00:45:17.407 --> 00:45:18.875
Okay? they they're over here promising you a hope in the
00:45:18.875 --> 00:45:21.278
Future, and maybe that isn't going to happen.
00:45:21.278 --> 00:45:22.813
Did you get invited back?
00:45:22.813 --> 00:45:23.880
No. um-- she said, let's pray.
00:45:23.880 --> 00:45:25.749
I did, and and my friend, we walk outside
00:45:25.749 --> 00:45:27.984
And she was like, no.
00:45:27.984 --> 00:45:31.254
What was that like?
00:45:31.254 --> 00:45:32.656
It started good.
00:45:32.656 --> 00:45:35.125
She was like, but i think you may be leaking a little bit.
00:45:35.125 --> 00:45:37.828
I don't think you need to go back to the shelter
00:45:37.828 --> 00:45:39.029
For a couple months.
00:45:39.029 --> 00:45:40.030
I think you need to give it a little break.
00:45:40.030 --> 00:45:41.731
It broke my heart
00:45:41.731 --> 00:45:45.302
Because
00:45:45.302 --> 00:45:47.771
Jesus did not allow me to go through all of the things that
00:45:47.771 --> 00:45:53.210
I have gone through,
00:45:53.210 --> 00:45:55.745
Um,
00:45:55.745 --> 00:45:57.581
To leave out hope. he didn't do that, and i just didn't see it.
00:45:57.581 --> 00:46:02.419
You know, i think i, i don't even know what the deeply
00:46:02.419 --> 00:46:04.888
Rooted thing is in me
00:46:04.888 --> 00:46:06.456
That's like, i need to suffer and that's okay,
00:46:06.456 --> 00:46:08.258
And i'm just going to suffer forever.
00:46:08.258 --> 00:46:09.759
I, i honestly think i was giving up on hope.
00:46:09.759 --> 00:46:12.062
Mhm. because i didn't want to expect good things anymore
00:46:12.062 --> 00:46:15.632
Because i didn't want to be disappointed in god anymore.
00:46:15.632 --> 00:46:18.134
For sure. yeah.
00:46:18.134 --> 00:46:18.902
And, um, i think i'm just
00:46:18.902 --> 00:46:20.871
Clawing my way back to hoping again.
00:46:20.871 --> 00:46:24.174
Mhm. and i want to give that.
00:46:24.174 --> 00:46:27.177
I don't, i don't want people to feel that way.
00:46:27.177 --> 00:46:29.012
I don't want them to expect pain and sorrow.
00:46:29.012 --> 00:46:33.283
I really deeply want hope for others.
00:46:33.283 --> 00:46:35.285
And so if i want that, and i want the lord to use me in
00:46:35.285 --> 00:46:39.789
That, then i better have it in me.
00:46:39.789 --> 00:46:41.725
I think a lot has been said.
00:46:41.725 --> 00:46:44.561
You definitely just said a lot.
00:46:44.561 --> 00:46:46.363
Yeah. and i think a lot of things can be preached even
00:46:46.363 --> 00:46:49.366
From that perspective, which is there's a sense in which how
00:46:49.366 --> 00:46:54.571
You are influences how you minister.
00:46:54.571 --> 00:46:57.474
And so being--
00:46:57.474 --> 00:46:58.975
Yeah.
00:46:58.975 --> 00:47:00.143
It's not that you don't experience weakness, but it's
00:47:00.143 --> 00:47:03.146
That intimacy ain't right,
00:47:03.146 --> 00:47:04.714
Or if things are off, it will flow over into how you parent,
00:47:04.714 --> 00:47:08.952
How you become a friend.
00:47:08.952 --> 00:47:10.153
The captions that you write, et cetera. et cetera.
00:47:10.153 --> 00:47:12.589
But second, i think it's helpful to know that there is
00:47:12.589 --> 00:47:16.359
Some healing that comes through obedience.
00:47:16.359 --> 00:47:18.862
And what i found to be really useful in helping me deal with
00:47:18.862 --> 00:47:24.000
The different broken parts of me, is tracing the lies
00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:27.704
Underneath that developed from the broken place, right?
00:47:27.704 --> 00:47:31.274
So if that's molestation, if that's fatherlessness, if i was
00:47:31.274 --> 00:47:35.178
Even telling my husband the other day, i said, we need
00:47:35.178 --> 00:47:37.681
Therapy, not even because of old traumas, but new traumas.
00:47:37.681 --> 00:47:40.250
Yeah. so because of these new traumas, there are different
00:47:40.250 --> 00:47:42.752
Lies that i have to wrestle through.
00:47:42.752 --> 00:47:44.921
And i think when you when you deal with the lie and then
00:47:44.921 --> 00:47:48.391
Exchange that life for the
00:47:48.391 --> 00:47:49.926
Truth, you're not broken anymore.
00:47:49.926 --> 00:47:52.562
Now the brokenness becomes a conduit of holiness, not just
00:47:52.562 --> 00:47:55.765
Healing, but holiness and intimacy.
00:47:55.765 --> 00:47:58.134
And so i just think that's a really pragmatic way for people
00:47:58.134 --> 00:48:00.670
To just start that work.
00:48:00.670 --> 00:48:02.038
Like, what lies do you believe because of the broken
00:48:02.038 --> 00:48:04.507
Parts of your story?
00:48:04.507 --> 00:48:05.842
Very good.
00:48:05.842 --> 00:48:06.977
What, where in the scripture contradicts that lie?
00:48:06.977 --> 00:48:09.045
We don't want to be listening to the devil.
00:48:09.045 --> 00:48:10.680
We want to get in the text and say, no, he's good.
00:48:10.680 --> 00:48:12.849
He's faithful, he's lord, he's friend, he's all the things.
00:48:12.849 --> 00:48:16.152
And tell the lord, i actually don't trust you here.
00:48:16.152 --> 00:48:18.855
I actually don't feel safe here.
00:48:18.855 --> 00:48:20.724
And that is where he wants you.
00:48:20.724 --> 00:48:22.258
And that might be why he let you be broken.
00:48:22.258 --> 00:48:24.728
I think that you're balancing the god is our source and he's
00:48:24.728 --> 00:48:28.465
Given us access to resources. yes.
00:48:28.465 --> 00:48:31.334
For someone that's maybe watching this and you just feel
00:48:31.334 --> 00:48:33.503
Like, hey, i'm too broken,
00:48:33.503 --> 00:48:34.738
I'm way too far gone.
00:48:34.738 --> 00:48:36.740
And the truth is, you're just not.
00:48:36.740 --> 00:48:39.042
In matthew 18, it talks about how quite literally our god
00:48:39.042 --> 00:48:42.445
Jesus leaves the 99 who's doing all right for the one that's
00:48:42.445 --> 00:48:45.749
Broken, lost, and too far gone.
00:48:45.749 --> 00:48:48.485
And so i just want you to remember that the truth that is
00:48:48.485 --> 00:48:51.287
Found in scripture, which is all grace and all truth, is
00:48:51.287 --> 00:48:55.525
That god's coming after you, that he is quite literally
00:48:55.525 --> 00:48:57.927
Leaving everyone else just to come after you.
00:48:57.927 --> 00:49:01.598
That's good news.
00:49:01.598 --> 00:49:03.700
I'd love to pray. yeah.
00:49:03.700 --> 00:49:05.101
Father god, i just thank you so much that you are the
00:49:05.101 --> 00:49:09.139
Great healer.
00:49:09.139 --> 00:49:10.206
Yes.
00:49:10.206 --> 00:49:11.341
God, you see, everything that happens to us. you know
00:49:11.341 --> 00:49:15.245
Intimately all of our life.
00:49:15.245 --> 00:49:18.048
And we are known by you.
00:49:18.048 --> 00:49:19.983
Father, i thank you that that
00:49:19.983 --> 00:49:22.719
Means much more than we even know.
00:49:22.719 --> 00:49:24.954
Yes, lord.
00:49:24.954 --> 00:49:25.789
God, you knew us before.
00:49:25.789 --> 00:49:27.624
You know us now, and you'll know us forever.
00:49:27.624 --> 00:49:30.527
And i thank you that there is nothing in our life that breaks
00:49:30.527 --> 00:49:33.596
Us to the point that you won't
00:49:33.596 --> 00:49:35.165
Love us and that you can't heal us.
00:49:35.165 --> 00:49:38.101
I thank you for becoming the incarnate christ so that you
00:49:38.101 --> 00:49:41.271
Could redeem all things on this earth, including our own selves
00:49:41.271 --> 00:49:45.708
That have been broken.
00:49:45.708 --> 00:49:47.277
We love you.
00:49:47.277 --> 00:49:48.178
In jesus' name i pray. amen.
00:49:48.178 --> 00:49:51.881
Connect with us on social media and let us know how our team
00:49:51.881 --> 00:49:54.717
Can pray for you.
00:49:54.717 --> 00:49:58.655
I think there's a huge difference between knowing
00:50:02.092 --> 00:50:05.095
About grace.
00:50:05.095 --> 00:50:05.962
I mean, we sing about it in church.
00:50:05.962 --> 00:50:07.297
We sing amazing grace.
00:50:07.297 --> 00:50:08.565
I mean, the term we're familiar with,
00:50:08.565 --> 00:50:11.201
But i don't think it's until something has happened in your
00:50:11.201 --> 00:50:13.903
Life and you realize how desperately you need it, that
00:50:13.903 --> 00:50:17.474
You understand the weight of grace.
00:50:17.474 --> 00:50:20.210
I have my mom's bible that she was given when she was 12 years
00:50:20.210 --> 00:50:23.146
Old, and i love at the back of it.
00:50:23.146 --> 00:50:25.148
She's written in her young handwriting,
00:50:25.148 --> 00:50:27.550
Grace is unmerited favor.
00:50:27.550 --> 00:50:29.686
It is love stooping.
00:50:29.686 --> 00:50:31.488
And i think love stoops down
00:50:31.488 --> 00:50:33.156
When we need to understand grace most.
00:50:33.156 --> 00:50:36.392
Watch better together on the go.
00:50:36.392 --> 00:50:38.428
Download the free tbn+ app
00:50:38.428 --> 00:50:40.797
To stream all of your favorite conversations.
00:50:40.797 --> 00:50:44.434
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00:50:44.434 --> 00:50:48.171
Go to bettertogether.tv to
00:50:48.171 --> 00:50:50.240
Stream all of our latest conversations.
00:50:50.240 --> 00:50:50.240

Receive God's Grace | Better Together Episode 1176

July 13, 2026 | S8 E1176 | 50:59

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