Trusting our Emotions or Trusting God – 4

Trusting our Emotions or Trusting God – 4

Subject – Battling our Emotions When a Test Comes

by Rick Welborne

Genesis 4:1-8 (NKJV)
¹  Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the LORD."
²  Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
³  And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.
⁴  Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering,
⁵  but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
⁶  So the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
⁷  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
⁸  Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 

--Last week we looked at guilt and sorrow and how God desires for us to be free from our past and from our sin. We can’t live here and now if our emotions are tied to something or someone back then.

--If you are human at all, you have done things, said things, caused things in your past that you are so sorry for, but you must trust that God has the power to set you free and to forgive you.

1 John 1:4-9 (NKJV)
⁴  And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
⁵  This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
⁶  If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
⁷  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
⁸  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
⁹  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

--What’s your point, Pastor Rick? No matter what you did back then (I did some stuff) we must know that if we have received Christ and are attempting to love and serve Him…His blood is enough to take care of our guilt.

Ephesians 1:3-7 (NKJV)
³  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
⁴  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
⁵  having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
⁶  to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.
⁷  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace…

--I have been redeemed by His blood and I am forgiven of all sin and guilt according to His wonderful grace.

--Today, as we continue this series on Trusting our Emotions or Trusting God, I want us to look at the power of desire. Listen to what God told Cain in our text.

Genesis 4:7 (NKJV)

⁷  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." 

--Sin lies at the door and sin’s desire is for you, but you should rule over it. NIV – you must master it. NLT – You must subdue it and be its master. How is that even possible?

--How many of you know that we are bombarded every day with information that has been created to appeal to our sinful nature and to cause desire. Why is that a dangerous thing?

James 1:12-16 (NIV)
¹²  Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
¹³  When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
¹⁴  but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
¹⁵  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
¹⁶  Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 

--I see two people in these verses…the person who perseveres under the test and the one who is tempted, enticed, and drug away by his own evil desire.

--Through phones, social media, Netflixs, cable, satellite, computer (whatever the means) this world, this Cosmos has done such a good job of placing sin at the door…not only do we not resist it…we seek it out. 

--So today can we look at what the Lord told Cain and what I truly believe He is telling all of us…Sin lies at the door and sin’s desire is for you, but you should rule over it.

--Today let’s look at three ways to rule over, to master, to subdue these desires, feelings, and emotions. We know these answers but will we find the strength to put them into practice?

1. Stop feeding the beast!

--Why do you call this desire a beast? The Word says that when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. The goal of the beast for you is death…physical and spiritual.

John 10:10 (NKJV)
¹⁰  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

--Desire is hungry and desire will not stop until you are enticed into the trap and you are destroyed.

1 Peter 5:8-9 (NLT2)
⁸  Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
⁹  Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.

--It did not take long after I was saved to realize that this Christian life was going to be a battle. Sadly, there were many who were in church already who had surrendered to the enemy. God understands my feelings!

--Someone told me…what you starve dies and what you feed grows and gets stronger. They told me a present day parable about a man who had a vicious dog (our sin nature) and a weak dove (our spiritual man).

--His dog was strong because he had fed it and nurtured it for years. He spent hours every day with this dog. This dog received attention from the man to the point he was neglecting everything else. 

--The dove was weak to the point of death…he had not been feeding it or giving water to it. He spent no time with it. One day the man’s eyes were opened to what was happening.

--The man was so afraid that his dog was eventually going to get strong enough to kill him and his dove…what am I to do? It came to him like a revelation. Stop feeding the dog (isolate him) and start nurturing the dove. 

--The dog became extremely violent, began to rebel and fight, but started getting weaker. The man began to feed the dove and carried him everywhere he went on his finger…the dove got strong and beautiful.

--The dog finally got so weak he died and the dove flourished and lived. Now I would like to tell you the flesh will eventually die but that is not true…he will always want to revive and thrive. 

--What you starve dies and what you feed grows and gets stronger…feed your spiritual man. Pastor Rick, I have no control over these desires. Really? I think the Word says something different: Stop feeding the beast!

Galatians 5:22-25 (NKJV)
²²  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
²³  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
²⁴  And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
²⁵  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

--God has given us the power to stop feeding the beast…He has given us Holy Spirit and he who has Holy Spirit power has self-control available to them…we must choose to crucify (to kill) our flesh.

Genesis 4:7 (NKJV)

⁷  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."  NIV – you must master it. NLT – You must subdue it and be its master. 

2. Start feeding your spiritual man every day.

Psalm 37:1-5 (NKJV)
¹  Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
²  For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.
³  Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
⁴  Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
⁵  Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. 

--Verse 4 is probably one of the most quoted scriptures in the Bible and many times it is quoted out of its context. Many believe that God is obligated to give us the desires of our hearts no matter what those desires are.

--What is David saying here? Don’t worry about evildoers and don’t desire the things they crave. We want so much to be like the world…we want to be accepted by unbelievers…we want to be cool.

--David says to feed our spiritual man:

1. We must trust in the Lord and do good. 

2. Live your life and as you do, feed on His faithfulness (His truth). Feed on His truth, His Word, on Him…eat My flesh and drink My blood! Have communion with Him!

--Here’s what is usually left out when we quote this verse…Delight yourself also in the Lord. To delight yourself in the Lord is to find a high degree of gratification in Him and Him alone.

--When I feed my spiritual man by worshiping Jesus, by singing songs of exaltation to Him, when I thank Him for all He is and all He does, when I magnify Him over my mess…I find myself delighting in Him.

Psalm 69:30 (NKJV)
³⁰  I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify Him with thanksgiving. 

--This summer when it seemed like my world was spinning way to fast, and to a great degree, out of control, in the middle of my worship one day I said to the Lord…speak to me what You feel I need to hear the most.

--I felt that the Lord spoke to me this…Rick, I want you to know that I am more than enough in your life.

3. Don’t open the door.

Ephesians 4:27 (NIV) ²⁷ ...do not give the devil a foothold. (NCV) ²⁷  Do not give the devil a way to defeat you.

--Don’t open the door to the devil but daily open the door to Jesus and Holy Spirit.

Revelation 3:20 (NKJV)
²⁰  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

So You Want to Lead – 4

So You Want to Lead – 4

Subject: Developing Leaders in the Church

by Rick Welborne

John 13:13-17 (NKJV)
¹³  You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.
¹⁴  If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
¹⁵  For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.
¹⁶  Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.
¹⁷  If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

I.  Introduction - John Maxwell’s Law of Influence

Maxwell - “The true measure of leadership is influence—nothing more, nothing less.”

II. Let’s Look at Ingredients to building Leadership Credibility or Influence

A. Character

B. Competence

--Malphur says that competence is the leader’s capability to perform well in a specific context, having the expertise and ability to get things done.

C. Clarity of Direction 

Kouzes and Posner in their book Credibility says, “We expect our leaders to have a sense of direction and a concern for the future of the organization.  Leaders must know where they are going. They must have a destination in mind when asking us to join them on a journey into the unknown.”

--I often tell new people to come and talk to me about the direction of our church because I tell them that I would not get on a bus unless I knew where it was going. We have a destination in mind.

Prov 3:56 (NKJV)

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. 

--It answers the question: What will it look like around here when our people become passionate about the Great Commission and making disciples.

D. An Ingredient to building Leadership Credibility or Influence is Communication.

–It is imperative that leaders keep their people regularly informed about what is taking place in their church, business, or family. 

–There are so many ways of getting information to people...video announcements, bulletins, e-mail, web-sites...the idea is to over inform so that your credibility is high.

–My professors over emphasized that too much information is better than too little...I wholeheartedly agree.  

E. An Ingredient to building Leadership Credibility or Influence is Conviction.

–One of the apparent needs in the church and other institutions is leadership with conviction.

Steven Bornstein and Anthony Smith - conviction is the passion and commitment a person demonstrates toward his or her vision. Thus, conviction consists of two key ingredients - passion and commitment.

–Conviction is not a list of the things we abstain from but it is a passion, a commitment to be pro-active for what is important to the Lord, His will.

–Passion is all about how deeply we care or how strongly we feel about our life or the vision God has given us.  

–The other side of conviction is commitment. Passion affects the emotions, whereas, commitment tends to be more rational. 

–It involves the leader’s conscious intentional investment of time and effort to be sure that a vision or cause is realized. The leader’s commitment signals what is important to that leader and what ultimately will get done.

F. An Ingredient to building Leadership Credibility or Influence is Courage.

–Courage supplies the strength to lead in these difficult circumstances, meaning that courageous leaders are strong and unlikely to quit. 

–Courage displays itself in leaders when they are willing to stand up for their beliefs in difficult situations, confront others, admit mistakes (be vulnerable), change their view when wrong, and not quit.

–The payoff is exceptional credibility and influence, because followers like what they see in courageous leaders.

G. An Ingredient to building Leadership Credibility or Influence is Care.

–Everybody wants to know that someone cares about them and have their best interest in mind. When people sense that someone cares, they tend to trust that person.

Acts 20:28-29 (NKJV)
²⁸  Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
²⁹  For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

–In the same way, congregations and employees trust leaders who demonstrate their care.

Theodore Roosevelt:   People really don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

–Care is the leader’s demonstration of concern for the well-being of his or her followers that flows from love for them. God cares for His people and He wants us to care for them too.

Ex 4:31 (NLT)

31 The leaders were soon convinced that the LORD had sent Moses and Aaron. And when they realized that the LORD had seen their misery and was deeply concerned for them, they all bowed their heads and worshiped.  

John 21:16 (NLT)

16 Jesus repeated the question: "Simon son of John, do you love me?" "Yes, Lord," Peter said, "you know I love you." "Then take care of my sheep," Jesus said. 

–In 1Peter 5:2 Peter points out that our followers are under our care. Care involves respecting them and having their best interest at heart.

–We need to try to be aware of people’s needs, hurts, and fears and be willing to help them deal Scripturally with these matters.

–When we do, we shouldn’t be surprised that these people trust our leadership and grant us the credibility (influence) that we need to lead them on behalf of our Savior.

H. An Ingredient to building Leadership Credibility or Influence is Composure.

–Unfortunately most Christian leaders (except for some Christian counselors) have largely ignored the emotional dimension of leadership in ministry.

–Because of our John Wayne culture - ‘don’t let-em see ya cry’ - mentality we have cultivated men that are not in touch with their emotions.

–Satan has convinced the average male in America that masculinity is all about being emotionally tough...men are not supposed to show much emotion except for anger. Our culture is shifting…feminizing our men.

–So what’s the big deal?  This mentality can have a devastating effect on a congregation or a family.

–Because the way leaders handle their emotions creates a culture that sets the mood or climate for a ministry, business, or the home.

Malphur: A healthy composure creates a climate where information is shared, leaders are trusted, learning flourishes, and risks are taken.  An unhealthy emotional composure creates a setting swarming with fear and anxiety.

–Composure is the leader’s consistent display of appropriate emotional health or maturity that sets a positive ministry mood, especially in difficult or crisis situations.

–In light of our discussion, strong, healthy composure builds leadership credibility, while poor composure, or the expression of inappropriate emotions, is the silent killer of credibility...Be angry and sin not!

–To have a composure that leads to ministry credibility and influence, a leader must develop emotional well-being that fosters a positive, healthy ministry culture. One of the most powerful scriptures in the Bible:

John 11:35 (NKJV) 

35 Jesus wept. 

III. Leadership willing to be the Change They Want to See

2 Kings 7:3 (NLT)
³  Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other.

--Be the change you want to see…like these lepers in this story I want us to realize that we bear responsibility in changing whatever we consider to be out of whack in our home, church, or business.

--They were starving, their city was starving, and everything seemed hopeless until they made the decision to do something…Why should we sit here waiting to die…why sit here until we die?

--Now you can make a decision to stay where you are, and if you do, there is not too much I can do to help you but if you are ready for change…get ready for insight that will help you.

A. To be the change you want to see; attitude will be everything.

Rob Ketterling: Attitude is everything. Your posture will send a message that you’re all in or always looking for the next reason to opt out. If, however, you accept the challenge to invest personally, emotionally, and spiritually in accomplishing a shared vision, you can help create movement and achieve extraordinary change.

--In any institution it is easy to sit in the back ground and criticize the decisions and actions of those who are leading. It is not easy to become the change you want to see take place.

--This attitude…this decision is precisely what defines both those who hold organizations back and those who propel them forward.

--Many of us will say we want to see change and change is really what it is all about. Change doesn’t begin out there somewhere…it begins with us individually. We must have the attitude of Jesus.

Philippians 2:5-8 (NLT)
⁵  You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
⁶  Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
⁷  Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,
⁸  he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

B. The worst thing about those who stay in the background instead of stepping up is that they have so much to offer their families, their churches, or their organizations.

--Let me clarify that we have all been a part of a job, a family, or even a church that we have seen things that needed to be changed…how we react to that is the key…we either help or we hurt the situation.

Galatians 6:1-3 (NLT)
¹  Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.
²  Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
³  If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.

C. The danger in you not being the change you want to see is that you become the creator of disunity. 

--Critics have the ability to stir up trouble but if they would use the same energy for the good of the organization what a difference they could make.

--Think about this…when you complain, undermine, and find an audience to listen to all that you are upset with, you risk causing disunity…this is something that needs to be given much thought especially in the church.

John 17:20-23 (NIV)
²⁰  "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
²¹  that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
²²  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:
²³  I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 

--If we selfishly have to prove our point we usually create wreckage for the entirety of those who are involved.

When we think we have to win to win, it usually ends up with division. Don’t try to be right, be righteous!

Trusting Our Emotions or Trusting God - 3

Trusting Our Emotions or Trusting God - 3

Subject: Battling Our Emotions When a Test Comes

by Rick Welborne

Psalm 51:1-14 (NKJV)
¹  Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
²  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
³  For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.
⁴  Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight-- That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.
⁵  Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
⁶  Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
⁷  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸  Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
⁹  Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.
¹⁰  Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹  Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
¹²  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
¹³  Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
¹⁴  Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. 

1. Miriam-Webster – Guilt - the fact of having committed a breach of conduct especially violating law and involving a penalty. 

2. the state of one who has committed an offense especially consciously. His guilt was written in his face. Feelings of deserving blame especially for imagined offenses or from a sense of inadequacy. 

3. a feeling of deserving blame for offenses.

--Whenever God leads me to preach something (Trusting our Emotions or Trusting God) He always deals with me personally (like about my fear of cancer) or leads me to someone who is fighting guilt.

--Today we are looking at this emotion of guilt. David had to deal with his guilt after being confronted by the prophet Nathan and was told…You are the man…David, you are the guilty person. 

--I was speaking to someone the other day and we were just having a normal conversation and I thought we were done…this person asked…can I please talk to you about something? Of course!

--Before I knew it, this person was confessing guilt and condemnation about things that had happened in their life probably more than thirty years ago. Their pain and guilt were very real to them.

--We expressed from the first sermon of this series that there is an “Accuser of the brethren” who attacks God’s children night and day…he had not let up on this person for thirty years.

--Now, we could take a survey this morning and probably find out that there are a great number of God’s children who are living in constant guilt and condemnation. Satan harassing you.

--Unfortunately, Satan is good at what he does because the person I was talking to, as I shared several scriptures, said, I know what the Bible says but I still feel guilty and ashamed.

Romans 8:1-2 (NKJV)
¹  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
²  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 

--The Word of God says there is no condemnation and that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free. Sadly, we live in condemnation and we are not free. 

--King David evidently was not bothered by his conscience after committing adultery and having a man killed to cover his sin…it took Nathan showing up. What’s your point, Pastor Rick? 

--We cannot always trust our consciences to lead us into all truth because our consciences can be affected by how will live and what we think.

1 Corinthians 8:7 (NLT2)
⁷  However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated.

Titus 1:15 (NLT2)
¹⁵  Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted.

1 Timothy 4:1-2 (NKJV)
¹  Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
²  speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 

--Our consciences can be weak, our consciences can be violated, and our consciences can be corrupted and seared…in other words our consciences can even die. I think we all have met people like this.

--A poll was taken among children ages 5 thru 9 on the question, “What is conscience?” One 6-year-old girl said a conscience is the spot inside that “burns if you’re not good.”

--A 6-year-old boy said he didn’t know, but it had something to do with feeling bad when you kicked little dogs and girls. A nine-year-old girl explained it as the voice inside you that said “no” when you want to do something like beat up your little brother. Her conscience had saved him many times. 

James Dobson – Adults have also found the conscience difficult to define. I tend to believe that a sense of guilt occurs when we violate our inner code of conduct. Guilt is a message of disapproval from the conscience which says, in effect, “You should be ashamed of yourself!”

--In over forty years of ministry I have found that there is no lack of believers who struggle with guilt, shame, and sorrow. Satan makes sure you never forget what you did way back then.

1. There is an answer for this kind of guilt.

Romans 7:18-24 (NIV)
¹⁸  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
¹⁹  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.
²⁰  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
²¹  So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
²²  For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 

²³  but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 

²⁴  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 

--J. Vernon McGee says this is not an unbeliever struggling with sin and guilt but a believer who is in a major battle between his old nature and his new nature…let’s face it, we have all been there. 

--When we fight against sin and lose the battled…we feel guilty. When we want to do what is right and we don’t, we feel guilt and shame. When we try to move on from our past & we can’t, we feel guilt-condemnation.

--Many say and I have probably said…this body of death was a practice of barbarians who were extremely brutal in their punishment: I agree with Barnes’s Notes on the NT.  

Barnes’s Notes: Some have supposed that he refers to a custom practiced by ancient tyrants, of binding a dead body to a captive as a punishment, and compelling him to drag the cumbersome and offensive burden with him wherever he went. I do not see any evidence that the apostle had this in view.

--The truth is we cannot speculate exactly what Paul was thinking but Barnes goes on to say that this is probably the best illustration that could be given about what Paul was going through.

--The friend I mentioned earlier was crying out to me basically, who is going to deliver me from this body of death…this thing that has attached itself to me for over thirty years. 

--What a wretched man I am! I can’t believe I did that to that person or those people. I can’t believe I sinned against God by doing this! I feel so much guilt, shame, and sorrow for my sin. This person is in torment.

--The sad thing is this…this person and probably every other person in this situation have asked God at least a thousand times for forgiveness and have truly repented. Satan is unrelenting. I am wretched!

Thru The Bible with J. Vernon McGee - This is not an unsaved man who is crying, "O wretched man that I am"; this is a saved man. The word wretched carries with it the note of exhaustion because of the struggle. "Who is going to deliver me?" He is helpless. His shoulders are pinned to the floor -- he has been wrestled down. Like old Jacob, he has been crippled. He is calling for help from the outside.

--So Who can deliver us from this guilt and condemnation of the enemy who accuses us night and day?

Romans 7:25 (NIV)
²⁵  Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

Romans 8:1-4 (NKJV)
¹  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
²  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
³  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,

⁴  that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but 

according to the Spirit. 

2. There is help in the Word of God for those who feel guilt about children who are not serving God.

--One of the tools the enemy likes to use against us is condemnation and guilt about kids who have chosen a different path. You messed up…you got angry in front of them…you sinned in front of them…you argued!

--Let me establish here, if the only children who grew up to serve God were the ones who had parents who did everything right, and who were never bad examples, or who never sinned, wouldn’t be any kids living right!

Romans 3:23 (NKJV)
²³  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

--The Book of Romans tells us later that each one of us will bow our knees and confess with our tongues Jesus is Lord and we will give account of ourselves before God. Rom. 14:11-12 We all have a choice!

Ezekiel 18:19-22&30-32 (NLT2)
¹⁹  “‘What?’ you ask. ‘Doesn’t the child pay for the parent’s sins?’ No! For if the child does what is just and right and keeps my decrees, that child will surely live.
²⁰  The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness.
²¹  But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die.
²²  All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous things they have done.
³⁰  “Therefore, I will judge each of you, O people of Israel, according to your actions, says the Sovereign LORD. Repent, and turn from your sins. Don’t let them destroy you!
³¹  Put all your rebellion behind you, and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O people of Israel?
³²  I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign LORD. Turn back and live! 

3. Guilt or sorrow that is good.

--I believe we have the opportunity to turn these feelings and emotions of guilt around for good. Listen to what Paul said to the people about a tough letter he had written to them:

2 Corinthians 7:9-11 (NKJV)
⁹  Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.
¹⁰  For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
¹¹  For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

--Godly sorrow or guilt that drives us to our knees and to repentance is good. It can lead us into a right relationship with God and with each other (our families and our church).

2 Corinthians 7:11 (NLT2)
¹¹  Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.