I know moments that are happening here in this room are happening in Belleview.
They’re happening in Tacoma. They’re happening in Yakama. They’re happening in your living room. Wherever you’re watching today, God is up to something today.
We’re singing this song.
It’s the first time we’ve we’ve done this song as a church. And the part where it said, “This is my story. This is my song.” I’m just like I’m
over here recalling on the faithfulness of God.
And I’m just looking around the room looking at people and watching people worship in this room. And I look back on my life and when I saw the Lord,
he did answer. And where did I find those answers? I found them here in the house.
I found them in God’s word. I found them in God’s presence. I found them around people that were walking in the same direction that I was walking. And I just
want you to be rest assured when you seek God, you will find him.
When you need wisdom, he has it. When you need peace, he will give it. When you need some strength, your heavenly father will give it to you. So I
believe that in this moment at every location, prayers have been being answered. Chains have been being broke. Why? Because we’re seeking God
and we trust in God here at Champion Center.
Amen. Amen. Amen. And why don’t you just turn to like three people and say, “God is up to something. God is up to something.” You can grab your seat wherever you are at whatever location.
[snorts]
Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. I want to honor our our pastors.
First, I want to introduce myself.
Actually, that’d be a good start. That’d be a good start. My name is Jonathan. Um I’ve grown up in this house. I was saved in this house. I was
baptized in this house. Filled the Holy Spirit in this house. I am an OG church kid of Champion Center. And I’m proud to say it. I wouldn’t
change anything about my life, my upbringing, my raising, the church I’ve been planted in. I love this house. And I want to say thank you to Pastor Kevin
and Sheila for building this house, leading this house, making room for the next generation. Yeah. We can clap, we can cheer, we can shout, we can honor.
We got the best pastors on the planet.
And uh I’m excited to bring the word today. And I believe that God’s given me a word uh for today for you. And
my hope is that today you see that God is with you. God is for you and that he wants you to win at life.
God does not want you to walk around broken, defeated, heavy. He wants you to win at life. And my goal is just
to help you see that today a little bit more clear and a little bit better.
We’re so excited. I see some baptism shirts in this room in Tacoma. I know they’re at every location. People are getting water baptized today. And we’ve
already mentioned it once, but if you have if you have not uh been baptized, this is your next move. You don’t got to pray about it. Uh
we just want to help you get in the tank and go public with your faith today. And then uh last thing I’ll say before I jump into the message, we’ve been
talking about leadership. This is the year of the this is the year of the leader and we have a program called Leadex. We partner with
Northwest University. I get the privilege of working with some of our Leadex interns every single week. They come in, they lead, they build,
they’re a part of everything. If you’re looking for what’s next in your life, I would highly encourage you to consider Lead X. If you’re a high school student, if you are a college student
and you’re wandering trying to figure out what’s next, I would really encourage you ask some questions about it. Go talk to your leader. Go
talk to a team member here at the church and we will get you hooked up on all the details of lead X. Amen.
Okay, summer in the Psalms.
Excited to bring the word. Psalms 15, chapter 1. We’re just going to jump right in. says, ‘Lord,
who may abide in your tabernacle, who may dwell in your holy hill, he who walks uprightly and works
righteousness, he who speaks the truth in his heart, he who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor,
nor does he take up a reproach against his friend, and whose eyes a vile person is dis uh sorry, despised. But he honors
those who fear the Lord. He who swears to his own hurt and does not change. He who does not put out his money at usery,
nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.
I want to read it in the message translation because I love the the the wording of it. It says, “God, who gets invited to dinner at your place?
How do we get on your guest list?
Walk straight. Act right. Tell the truth. Don’t hurt your friend. Don’t blame your neighbor. Despise the
despicable. Keep your word even when it costs you. Make an honest living. Never take a bribe. And you’ll never get
blacklisted if you live like this. How many you want that life? Yes.
Title of this message is called Check Your Checker. Check your checker. I love games.
Any games people in the rooms today?
Like you just Good board game, good card game.
I love games. If I hear there’s a game night happening, I will invite myself over even if I’m not invited because I just love games. We just had a game night at our house on Friday night.
House full of people. We were playing all kinds of games until the midnight hour. And today, I would love to use
this checkers board that I have up here to help me illustrate some of this message because I love games. Is that
okay? Can we do that? Um, checkers, if you’ve played it, it’s one of the easier games that are out there. I mean, there’s strategy games, there’s team
games, there’s one-on-one games, all of that. This is a one-on-one game, and I did some research on checkers. Fun fact.
Um, I looked up the uh the greatest checkers player of all time. Okay, some of you probably aren’t even interested in this, but I’m going to tell you.
Okay, the greatest checkers player of all time, Marion Franklin Tinsley. Okay, that’s the guy’s name. He was the world
champion of checkers from 1955 to 1958, three years running. And then he just took a break, probably living off of his
winnings and all of that. And then he came back to checkers. You make a lot of money playing checkers. Okay. He came back to checkers and he was the world
champion from from 1975 to 1991.
This dude had 20 years of his life being a world champion at checkers, only
losing three times. Two times to a computer and one time when he was drunk.
True story. Okay, I looked it up. So, while we’re all out here debating who the GOAT is, LeBron or Jordan, my man
Marion had 20 rings. Okay? He had one on each finger and one on each toe. Okay?
He’s the goat. He’s the goat. He couldn’t be beaten. I think we would all agree that Marion has something to say about the game of checkers, right? He’s
the guy you want on your team. He he he’s the guy you want helping you out, whispering in your ear what move to make, when to make it, the right timing,
all of that, right? He thinks ahead. He doesn’t just see one move. He sees three moves ahead. Right? If you’ve played checkers, you know that the purpose of
this game is to take out the other opponent. And when you get yourself to the other side and you move the checker
pieces to the other side, what happens is it’s called you get crowned.
And now when you get crowned, you are empowered to do things you could not do before.
When you get crowned, you are now empowered to make moves that you could not make before. Why? Because you’re no longer operating by yourself. You have someone with you that is helping you.
Right? In the game of checkers, you now have the upper hand. You can put the enemy in different positions. When you feel backed in a corner, you can get out
of that situation. Am I right? Right. So this checker’s board in our message today, this represents the life that God has given us.
And in this life, we all know that there is a real enemy that wants us to lose.
There is a real enemy that wants us to fail, that wants to take us out.
Scripture teaches us that when we are in a battle, we have an enemy who wants to defeat us. So the red pieces today are
our enemy and the white pieces today are our moves.
But today I want to remind you that you’re not playing checkers by yourself.
You got Marion Tinsley whispering in your ear what move to make the right time to make it, how you should do it,
what angle you should take. Who’s going to help you? Everyone say my moves. Everyone say I have an enemy.
Only way to win at this game of life is to listen to the one that knows how to play the game the best. Right?
But the problem is sometimes we think we know how to play better than God.
Sometimes we think we know how to play better than God. You ever had a game night and someone comes over and you’re like midame and they start changing the
rules? That’s frustrating. Okay. you are uninvited the next time we have a game night, right? Start adding things. Start
doing different things. They become the expert in the room, right? I’m guilty, I’ll be honest. But start changing stuff.
Imagine how God feels.
He’s trying to lead us. His Holy Spirit is make this move, make that move.
But often times we do our own thing and we make moves in our own timing and we do what we think is best and we
forget that we have the Holy Spirit our helper in our corner ready so that we can win the game of life. But now it becomes it’s on our terms in our way.
But the question is who are you going to listen to? Do you want to win at the game of life? I believe the answer is yes.
We have to take God’s instruction in his leadership.
so that we can win at the game of checkers because your spirit and your flesh are at war right now. Your spirit
wants to align itself with your heavenly father, but your flesh wants to take you out and make you do things that are not going to move you forward in your life.
So the only way you can win is by listening to who designed the game of life.
And what we’re seeing today in our world is everybody wants to win.
Everyone wants to win, but they want to win how they want to win and they’re ignoring what God is saying.
So remember, you have the enemy and you have
your moves lined up with God’s word. And the white checker is this leads to God’s
life. When you listen to the Holy Spirit and you make the moves that are lined up with God’s word, it leads to God’s life.
It leads to God’s blessing. It leads to the promise of God, the presence of God, the favor of God.
But when we don’t listen to what God is telling us to do,
we change the rules of the game. Like we want godly relationships, but we want them on our terms,
right? We want God’s blessing unless it’s going to cost me.
We want God’s promise, but as long as I can stay comfortable.
We want God’s life as long as I can keep mine and do what I want.
But the problem is, who becomes the master checker player when you live life this way? I do. And I no longer listen
to the voice of God that is telling me how to play the game of checkers. and I do what benefits me in that moment, in that situation.
How many you guys want to win at life?
You have a heavenly father that wants to help you, that wants to lead you, that wants to guide you and help you make the wrong or sorry, the right moves.
When we live life this way, when we live life by our terms, when we
live life by our moves, we find oursel in places and spaces that we do not want to be.
And can we be honest? It’s a false sense of security. It’s a false sense of identity. It’s a false sense of progress
and will leave you feeling more confused and anxious about the game of life when you do it your way. Our designer has a way of playing the game and when we try
to alter the way that God designed it, it does not work.
There’s a narrative right now in our culture and it’s confusing a generation.
It says that if you don’t agree with my way of living, if you don’t agree with my ideas, then you hate me.
Let’s break this down. my three-year-old Jax, okay? Three-year-old son, his name is Jax. If he walks in, if he walks into
our house after a long day of daycare, okay, and he walks in
and he walks in cussing like a sailor, he’s got drugs in his pocket. He’s smoking cocaine.
He’s got a bag full of merchandise that he just stole from H&M, right? and he walks in. As a good
parent, I would look at my son and say, “What do you think you’re doing?
That does not belong in this house.” Son, we’re actually going to go back to H&M right now and we’re going to have the manager of H&M come face to face
with you and you’re going to hand everything back that you stole one by one because we don’t steal.
We don’t we don’t do that. And I’m going to call officer Dan who’s over in DuPont right now. And then you’re going to look at him in the eye and he’s going to tell you if you do it again what the
consequences are going to be because I believe the officer Dan, thank you officer Dan would have some grace for him in this moment and not arrest my three-year-old.
Right?
But I would say, “Son, this is this is not how we play the game of life. This is not how we honor God.” And the world takes things like that and says, “You
hate me because you don’t agree with the lifestyle that I’m living.
For example, so when you hear another believer say, “I believe that marriage outside of what scripture teaches, which is between a man and a woman, is not
God’s plan for your life.” We believe that God is the giver of life, and we do not have the right to take life. Culture takes things like that and says, “I
can’t believe you said that. You hate me.” But notice, I said nothing about hating
a person. I said nothing about them not being even welcome here in the house. I said nothing about not wanting them here
and telling them to leave or not loving them or even wanting to help them.
We live in a day where ideas and personhood have become one. We have to be able to to distinguish the difference
between an idea and a person. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10, it tells us that we demolish arguments in every
pretension that sets itself up against the word of God. We demolish arguments, different ways of doing things in
playing the game. We do not demolish people. So when God’s word says something, as a follower of him, we take
it to the bank because he knows the best way to play the game. God’s word is our way. What God says is our next move. How
he says to move is when we move. When he says to do it is when we do it.
As a follower of Jesus, I must first understand that I am his and this is his life.
I am his. He owns the game of life. He owns my life and what he says I’m going to do. Notice that the first thing that
David did was he asked God in Psalms 15. He didn’t start it off with, “Okay, God, here’s here’s how this
is going to work. Okay, like listen up, buttercup, okay? Like, here’s how this is going to go. Here’s my thoughts on how we’re going to play this game.
Here’s my thoughts about how I think is the best way to do this.” No, he asked God. He said, “God, who can be in your
tabernacle? God, who can dwell in your presence? God, who’s the one that can walk in your plan?”
Tabernacle, that word means the dwelling place. Everyone say dwelling place. That is the place where God’s presence
rested. That is the place where God’s power rested. That is the place where you become king and you get empowered to live the life that God has called you to live.
And David said, “God, how how do I get there? Because that’s where I want to live. That’s where I want to be. That’s where I want to dwell.” And he said, “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to
get in your presence.” David was leaning over to the master of life, saying, “What’s the right move, God?
You created me. You know what’s best for me. You wrote the playbook. You can call the play.” Because God has a way. And
this was David’s life throughout the Psalms. He inquired of God. He asked God, “God, what do you think about this?
What should I do now? God, this is what I’m feeling. Is this even right?” He wanted his life to line up with God’s life because God has a way.
God’s life has a way. We don’t get to show up to the game night and change things. We don’t get to show up to the
game night and start changing the rules of how God has set up this life. God is the creator. He has a way to play the game. And if we play his way, we get to experience the life that he has.
Our mission statement at Champion Center, if you know it, you can say it with me. With Christ at the center, we move life forward towards God’s best
relationally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Can I remind you today that God has a best for your life? He
has a best for your marriage. He has a best for your business. He has a best relationship with him. He has a best for
your high school experience. He has a best for your college experience. He has a best for you.
He has a best.
God’s life has a way. And God says, “You want to be close to me? You want to walk with me?
You want to be in my presence? You want to walk in my plan?” Psalms 15 verse two. Okay, here’s your answer. He who
walks uprightly. He who works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart. Summarized in the message translation.
Walk straight. Act right. Tell the truth.
Walk straight. Act right. Tell the truth. Walk straight. Don’t look to the right or the left. Your flesh and the
enemy are going to try to pull you every single which way. Let his word be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. Don’t go off doing your own thing.
Don’t give the enemy a foothold. Walk like a leader. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Know your friends. I know your friends are trying to pull you this way and get you to come here and get you to go there. And there’s peer pressure all around. Walk with some conviction. Walk
with some confidence. Walk with people who are walking where you want to walk.
Everyone say, “Walk straight.” Walk straight. And for some of you, this is it. If you could get this, this is it
for you because you’re walking with anyone that will just show you attention right now in your life.
You’re walking with people that and because you’re walking with people then you’re sitting with people and because you’re sitting with people you’re participating with people and you’re
finding yourself at tables and you’re finding yourself at environments where you don’t even want to be.
God says you want my plan. You want my presence. You want my power in your life. Walk straight. How you walk matters to God. Number two act right.
[clears throat]
Decisions that you make matter.
How you act towards yourself, how you act towards your family, how you act towards your church, how you act towards your God, how you act towards your spouse, how you act when you are in the
car and somebody cuts you off. How you act matters to God.
What is God calling us to right here? He’s calling us to righteousness.
He’s calling us to right living. Hear me. The Christian life should look more like Jesus every single day. Your life
should look more like the character of Christ every single day, doing what he did, acting like he acted, talked like he talked, walking like he walked.
And you can’t only tell who someone is and what they believe by what they do.
You can also tell by what they don’t do and what they decline and what they dismiss from their life.
So acting right sometimes is walking away from that conversation that’s full of gossip.
Acting right sometimes is not participating in that thing that you feel conviction about but everyone’s doing it.
Sometime acting right is walking away.
Sometime acting right is saying I’m not going to be a part of this. Sometime acting right is living in purity. Like God is just calling us to a life of righteousness. You want his plan. You want his presence. You want his power.
You want to make the right moves in life.
Something we tell our students here at Champion Center pretty often. It’s a leading second thing.
But God is not God has not called us to be better than anyone. We’re not better than, but he has called us to be different from.
We’re not better than anyone. And we don’t puff our chest out and say, “Look at me. Look what I’m doing. Look who I am. Look like no, we’re not arrogant in our faith.” But we are different from We
live from a different lens. We live from the word of God. God, what are you saying? Cuz that’s where I’m going to move. God, what are you doing? Cuz that’s where I’m going to move. God, where are you going to send me? That’s what I’m going to do.
We’re not better than. We’re different from the actions and the decisions that you make matter to God. Number three, he says, “Tell the truth.
Tell the truth when it’s hard.
Tell the truth when you’re the only one telling the truth. Don’t deceive yourself. Don’t deceive other people.
Tell the truth when it doesn’t even benefit you.
You’ve been fighting for a position at work. You’ve been fighting for a position on the team, but you know there’s someone on the team that’s been working harder than you. Go to your
coach. Go to your leader and say, “Hey, so and so’s been working their tail off, and they deserve this position.” Watch how God will honor you telling the
truth. Don’t try to wiggle your way into things and deceive and manipulate situations. Tell the truth.
Tell the truth using wisdom. Tell the truth using love and grace. Tell the truth in the right timing.
Because when we use the truth as a tool that God has given us, it sets us free and it sets other people free.
tell the truth.
So, we first understand that this is God’s life and it has a way. But then as we listen to God and we do what he says
and we obey the way he says that we should do things, we start to see that God’s God’s way leads to God’s life.
You want God’s life. I mean, you got to walk in God’s way. Walking God’s way is where we experience more of him. Walking
God’s way is where we experience more of his plan for our life. Psalm 15:1, “Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in your holy hill?” Can we break down the tabernacle means dwelling place?
Tabernacle in the Old Testament was a physical tent that literally carried the manifest presence of God.
God’s presence was placed at the center of the tent. And this is now a picture of us as New Testament that God’s presence is now the center of our life.
And in the Old Testament, you had to go to the tabernacle to be in God’s presence. But now that we are New Testament,
God’s presence has come to us because of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. How many are thankful for the Holy Spirit today in your life?
He’s trying to lead you. He’s trying to lead you. He’s trying to lead you.
God’s presence is now always present wherever we go. But just because God’s presence is always present doesn’t mean
that you and I are always present to God.
In Ezekiel, book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament, I think it it paints this picture so well for us. In Ezekiel 44, God is talking to
two different groups of people. He gave them specific instruction how to lead, how to live, basically, walk straight, act right, tell the truth.
They all got the same message. Both both groups of people got the same message, but they got different results. Group one
said, “We know what we’re doing. We’ll play the game how we want to play. And this is the priest of Eli. Group number two, this is the sons of Zadok.
Zadok, Zadok, one of those.
This group said, “God, we want to do it your way. God, we want to honor you.” So the first group, priest of Eli, the
Bible talks about how this group became very undisiplined. They were led by their flesh.
They were led by what they wanted to do, when they wanted to do it, how they wanted to do it. The Bible talks about how they got lazy in their leadership.
Lazy in how they conducted their life.
Uh they weren’t they weren’t leading how God had asked them to. There was compromise. Bible talks about how there was some sin. The Bible also talked
about how Eli would not discipline his sons and
he wouldn’t discipline his sons and they were living how they wanted to live, doing what they wanted to do and living reckless and satisfying the desires of
the flesh. And Eli’s decision to be lazy in leading his family did not only affect him, but it also affected his kids.
Church family, how we raise our kids now will determine how they live and lead later.
Every decision you make is bigger than just you. How you live your life right now is bigger than just you. How you talk right now affects not just you.
How you walk right now, how you act right now, the truth that you tell right now does not just affect you. It is generational.
For Eli, it was once handled with the highest honor to lead in God’s house with the utmost respect. But it turned casual, familiar, and common in his life.
God allowed them.
I thought it was interesting. God allowed them to still be in the temple, but God has some specific language in Ezekiel 44. They may serve in my
sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it. They may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them.
Everyone say, “Serve them.” But they are not to come near to me.
serve me as priests or come near to me as my holy offerings or my most holy offerings.
They still served others and they were still doing God things but their life remained at a distance from God.
Because that’s what sin will do in our life. It’ll separate you from God. It distorts your communication with
God. hinders you from hearing him clearly. Sin will cause God to feel far away and at a distance.
It’s not your gift that gets you into God’s presence. It’s not how blessed you are that gets you into God’s presence.
It’s not how long you’ve been a Christian or attending church that gets you into God’s presence. God told them, “You can serve them.
You can still I love my people enough that you can still operate in your gift, but you cannot come to me.
It’s possible to live a life that looks Christian on the outside, but still far from God.
But there’s a second group, sons of Zadok.
In this second group, they did what God asked. They lived in a manner that honored God. They took their role, their leadership, and their life seriously.
And this is what God told them. But the Levitical priests who are descendants of Zadok, who guarded my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to
come near and minister before me, says God. They are to stand before me, to offer sacrifices of fat and blood,
declares the sovereign Lord. They alone are to enter my sanctuary. They alone are to come near my table to
minister before me and serve me as my guards.
The second group experienced the fullness of God’s presence. They walked in God’s plan. Their children grew up
loving, worshiping, and honoring the house of God. Man, what a testimony that would be about your life.
What a testimony that would be that you and I live in such a way that the next generation would know what it
looks like to be devoted to Jesus. That they would know what it looks like to build this church. that they would know what it looks like to be a student of the word and leading in society.
Why did they get to do that? Because they did things God’s way. Because when they were playing the game, when they were playing the game, God was
whispering. They were responding. They were being obedient. They They weren’t perfect.
That’s kind of where we’ll land the plane today. It’s not about perfection. It’s about posture.
David wasn’t perfect. The priests of Eli were not perfect. I’m not perfect. You’re not perfect. None of us
are perfect. And God knew that. And God knows that. Jesus took care of that on the cross so that we again could
have access to God’s plan, his promise, his presence, and his power in our life.
He isn’t looking for perfection.
He’s just looking for a posture towards him. He’s looking for a posture of honor towards him, a posture of allegiance
towards him, a posture of love and adoration towards him, a posture of obedience towards him, a posture of worship towards him. God, what you
say, I do. Where you say to go, I go. When you say to do it, I’m going to do it.
It’s not about perfection. It’s about posture. Very simply today, I just felt impressed to remind you today.
Some of you maybe it’s a reminder to tell some of you maybe for a reminder again or maybe for the first time. I
just wanted to remind you today that we experience God’s best when we do things God’s way. You experience his plan when you do things God’s way. You experience his presence when you do
things God way. You experience his power when you do things God’s way. Here’s the deal. You can have surface or you can have depth. That’s up to you.
You can dwell in the presence of God or you can dwell about the problems of life. That’s up to you.
You can have it all or you can have some. That’s up to you.
And here’s the good news.
It’s never too late to do things God’s way. It’s never too late.
You’re never too far off. You’re never too far in your mess.
You’re never too deep in your sin that God cannot pick you up, shake you off, set you on a new path, set you on a new direction. God has more
for you, more of himself that he wants to show you and reveal to you. He has more strength for you. He has more grace for you. He has more power for you. He
wants to empower you to live the life that he wants you to live. He’s saying, “Let me be the king and take yourself and take the enemy’s
voice that’s trying to whisper you. Take that off as king and make yourself make me king of your life.
Make me king of your life.” Because God’s way leads to God’s life. God’s way leads to God’s life.
Come on, church. God has another side of addiction and it is called freedom.
Don’t get stuck. God has another side of brokenness and it is called healing. Don’t get stuck.
God has another side of depression and it is called joy. Don’t get stuck. God has another side of anxiety and it is called the peace of God. Don’t get stuck.
Come on. When you seek your heavenly father, when you invite him into your life, he begins to move. He begins to tell you what to do next. Can we honor him right now? God, we seek you.
God, we seek you today. I saw the Lord. God, when we seek, we will find.
We trust you. We trust your word. We trust your leadership, dear. We trust you, Holy Spirit. And he heard and
he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered.
That’s my trust in That’s my trust in God. My savior,
the one who will never fail. He doesn’t fail.
He will never fail. God’s way leads to God’s life.
Students, God is calling you hider. He’s calling you higher. Don’t get sucked into all the lies that are confusing your generation. God’s way leads
to God’s life. Young adults, drop those friends. They’re pulling you away. No more compromising. Walk straight. Act right. Tell the truth.
Show your generation and the one after you how to follow Jesus.
Husbands, he’s reminding you today that you are a priest and you serve God. And then you turn around and you serve your family and you serve your wife
and you serve other people. How God has asked you to serve them. God’s way leads to God’s life. Church family, God just wanted to remind us today to
walk straight, to act right, and to tell the truth.
And when we do things God’s way, our lives are empowered to live in a way otherwise they would not be.
by his presence, by his power, by his leading.
And the promise is this. Psalms 15:5, “He who does these things shall never be moved.”
Come on. He who does these things shall never be moved. Another translation says, “He will not
be shaken.” man, at the end of your life, how cool
would that be? You walked with God.
Just you walked with him. You acted right. You were empowered by his Holy Spirit to live a bold life that he’s called you to live. And you
fulfilled God’s plan for your life. Why? Because you have Marian Tinsley whispering in your ear, “Go right. Go left.
Make this move. Make that move. And you’re being obedient to the voice of God in your life.
When it came to the tabernacle, God told them a few things before you come in.
He told them, “When you come into my presence, if you were to continue to read Ezekiel 44, you would see it was very specific some
things that they had to do.” But their spiritual application for us today is New Testament.
God told them when you come in to my presence, you need to change your undergarments.
They can’t be wool and you cannot have any sweat on any of your clothing when you come in because you must be clean.
Because our God is holy. He is set apart. He cannot dwell where there is unclean.
You come in, you got to be clean.
doing research on this. Like one of the things that said like thing about undergarments and underwear is no one else can see them.
No one even knows if you’re wearing any, right?
But you know, and God knows.
And there’s no shame in what’s not clean in your life. And there’s no condemnation of what’s dirty in your life.
There’s no embarrassment about what you feel embarrassed about with your heavenly father. And the application for us
to be in relationship with God, we have to be clean from sin.
And the only way that we can be clean from sin is to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior because he is a perfect sacrifice. He is clean. He is
without blemish. He is spotless. And he can make you clean and he can set you on a new path. So I just want to tell you, you don’t have to hide. God can clean up the dirtiest of messes.
I just got together with a friend the other day. Haven’t seen him in a while. It was about a month and a half ago.
We grew up at this house. We served in this house. Probably sat in every single chair that is in the room here in Tacoma. About 14 years old, he
started making some other decisions, living his life in a different way. He was not listening to Marion Tinsley in
his life. And I watched him suffer. I watched him walk through hard things. I watched him get addicted to every single drug. I
watched him I drove by him on the side of the road downtown Puallup here on the west side of the state holding a sign saying anything helps. I watched him go to jail. I watched him get out of jail.
I watched I watched him walk away from God. But you know the cool thing, a month and a half ago, I got together with him. He found Jesus again. And Jesus has
cleaned his life and he’s he’s accepted him as
his leader and his Lord and he’s invited him back into his life and he’s helped him and he’s strengthen him and he’s three years sober and he’s on staff
at a church as a media director and God’s using his life. And I’m just saying you’re not too far gone.
Parents, your kids that might be far from God, you continue to pray. They are not too far gone. They are not too far broken. And I’m just saying God can clean up the dirtiest of messes. If
you need Jesus today, every head bowed, every eye closed, whatever location that you are at, if you need Jesus today, on the count of three, I
just want you to lift your hands. You need grace, you need you need to be cleaned, you need to be set free, just lift your hand. One, two, three in Jesus name. 1, two, three. Hands. Hands. I believe
hands are going up at other locations. I believe God is moving right now.
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. God, we’re coming back to you today. coming back to you today. The Bible says when you confess with your mouth
and believe in your heart, then you will be saved. So I want you to repeat after me and mean these words with all of your heart. Say, “Lord Jesus, I ask you
today, come into my life. Come into my heart. Forgive me of all my sin.
Clean anything that is not of you. Today I choose you. I choose your
plan for my life in Jesus mighty name. Everyone said, “Amen.” Amen. Come
on. Can we thank God for what he’s doing in people’s lives today? Amen.