Chad & Mikeila

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Read Matthew 11:28-30 ““Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.””

Why I, Averted

First off I want to thank both Chad and Mikeila for sharing their stories!

We are doing this series because our testimonies point to the glory and faithfulness of our God.

Our stories are reminders that God is compassionate , loving, merciful, powerful and active in all of our lives.

Our stories can be used to point others to Christ.

Who Jesus Isn’t:

As i prepped this week I couldn't help but think that many of us have a small, low, or misguided view of who Jesus is and why He came. We may not say we struggle with this, but our lives and the way we handle things in life tell a different story.

And I will be the first to admit that i am guilty of this......

Then We can remind ourselves all to often how broken and hopeless we are or our situations but we can also falsely remind ourselves that i’m “good” and i got it all together no need to worry about me…I can do this on my own (yet if you were bing honest with yourself you feel like your dying on the inside)

Both of these positions can lead us to misunderstand who Jesus is. So lets look real quick at who Jesus isn’t

Jesus Isn’t: (elaborate on each one as led)

Unapproachable, He isn't walking around with this glowing aurora where only perfect people can approach HIm. But many of us act this way. we don’t approach Jesus because we allow our sins, guilt, shame, and self condemnation tell us we cant…we are to dirty.

Distant, He isn't some far off god who doesn't care about what is happening in the lives of His creation

Friendly only to the perfect, because they don’t exist....Only God is perfect.

A wealth and health genie, you cant just say some magic words or do certain things to obtain health and wealth in this world. HE didn't come to make you rich.

Just a teacher, He was so much more than that.

A cheerleader, He isn’t on the side line cheering you on in all your perceived success

A sinner, He was and is perfect

Selfish, Jesus the furthest away from being selfish as one could be. He embodies what it means to be selfless.

A new religion, Jesus didn't come to start another religion, He came to set up a new reality, one where the Kingdom of God is now among His people.

Who Jesus Is:

Now that we have gone over who Jesus isn't.. Lets look and see who He is!

Read Matthew 9:9-13 “As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him. While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus is: (Elaborate as led)

Real!, Jesus was and is very real. The amount of evidence that He existed is undeniable. But he also kept it real with those He encountered.

Fully God, He is the one and only son of God, yet is fully God himself

Fully man, He knows what it like to be human. HE put on flesh and came to dwell with us so He could make a way back to His father where sin had torn us away from HIm. He can fully relate and understand your pain, suffering, and temptations.

Savior, He is the savior of the whole world. He willingly and selflessly laid down His life for all our sins and so that we could have an opportunity for salvation.

The lover of our souls, He loves you deeply. He wants you to draw near to him so that He can heal your should, mind, and heart. He wants to set you free from your captivity.

A life changer, when you give your life to Jesus, it is an every day thing. HE doesn't just change outward things but the heart and mind. You will slowly change and begin to look, act, think, and love like jesus more each day as you die to your ways and live for HIm.

Compassionate, Jesus showed compassion at the grave of Lazarus. When Jesus saw Lazarus' friends weeping, he wept alongside them (John 11:33-35). Over and over, our Lord Jesus Christ felt compassion on people, healing them and comforting them.

Approachable, We can come to jesus with all our brokenness, pain, grief, guilt, shame, anxiety, depression we don’t have to hide any of this from because we are worried he will think less of us or send us away. Quite the opposite He wants you to come to him like this. So you can give it to Him and then walk in the freedom He paid for you with his blood and death.

“Time and again it is the morally disgusting, the socially reviled, the inexcusable and undeserving, who do not simply receive Christ’s mercy but to whom Christ most naturally gravitates. He is by his enemies’ testimony, the friend of sinners” Dan Ortlund

Guilt & Shame:

Chad and Mikaela both brought up guilt and shame. When we experience guilt and shame regardless if it comes from something we have done, or something that was done to us that makes us feel less than and devalued. Guilt and shame can be absolutely paralyzing.

These area of guilt and shame 9/10 are open wounds that have never been healed because we haven’t given them over to Jesus. Because we feel like we cant, or because He wont take them because of how severe or ugly it may be.

Many of us are actively walking around with open wounds. We think we hid them well but when its poked it starts hurting and bleeding all over the place and at that point it is obvious to everyone around you that you haven’t healed despite your every effort to try and hide it.

The most significant work Jesus wants to do in our lives, is that area we are trying to hide and protect the most. HE wants to heal you.....SO let Him.... That wound can eventually become a scar.

The scar no longer hurts or bleeds all over the place and is a testimony of the goodness and faithfulness of God. That scar is a reminder of the hurt that once was but no longer hold the power it once did because it has been healed by Jesus.

I want to leave you with this powerful reminder from Dan Ortlund from his book “Gentle & Lowly:Christ Heart For the Sinner and Sufferer” (we will be doing a Wednesday night study on this in the spring)

-We all tend to have some small pocket of our life where we have difficulty believing the forgiveness of God reaches. We say we are totally forgiven. And we sincerely believe our sins are forgiven. Pretty much, anyway. But there's that one deep, dark part of our lives, even our present lives, that seems so intractable, so ugly, so beyond recovery.

-"To the uttermost" in Hebrews 7:25 means: God's forgiving, redeeming, restoring touch reaches down into the darkest crevices of our souls, those places where we are most ashamed, most defeated. More than this: those crevices of sin are themselves the places where Christ loves us the most. His heart willingly goes there. His heart is most strongly drawn there. He knows us to the uttermost, and he saves us to the uttermost, because his heart is drawn out to us to the uttermost. We cannot sin our way out of his tender care.

-Potentially share story of Prodigal son in Luke 14 and give opportunity for salvation.

Questions:

1.Have you ever had an incorrect view of Jesus? Of some of the things that were shared this morning about who Jesus isn’t, which was most relatable for you?

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2.Of the things that were listed about who Jesus is, what grabbed your attention the most? Why do you love Jesus?

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3.Have you ever wrestled with guilt and shame? How has that impacted you?

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4.Is there anything in your life right now you would consider an open wound? Have you invited Jesus in to help heal it?