I want to make a quick video and to help me make this quick, I, I just got done working out, I'm outside, it was really cold. Um But I'm in a tank top so that will facilitate it. And I'm coming to you not so live from this controversial bench which has stirred up so much strife amongst the otherwise
stalwart people. And yes, I'm mocking you a bit, but that's all right. Um So I wanna talk about sin and here's the thing. Um Not too long ago in the scope of weeks, not months. I got an email from a dude and he's a dude that I've corresponded with somewhat over the years. And uh I was kind of surprised
because he was the first person to say something about this. I was really expecting more people to say something. So they didn't. And he said, why, why are you so harsh on fat people? And uh so I replied to that and I took some time to write it out. Um So it, it, my reply hopefully was more well organized
than what I'm about to say. Um But I want to zoom out from that a little bit because that's just one example of a general principle. So when we think about sin and gluttony is a sin, whether you like it or not, it's in the book, um gluttony is a sin. And when we think about sin, we tend to think about
it like heads on hydra and people will talk about repenting from a sin. Well, there's no such thing as repenting from a sin. Whenever you're really repenting, you're forsaking sin singular, meaning all sin, meaning every single way you live your life, that deviates from how you sincerely believe God
would live in your place. And so um when we tried to attack sin, like uh attacking individual heads on hydra, um not surprisingly, people don't have success, they really struggle or maybe it'll go OK for a little while and then they'll, you know, quote unquote, relapse into sin. Now I take uh I, I don't
like the, the words we use to describe these things because they're choices. There's no such thing as relapse into sin. There's a such thing as making a choice and one of the most glorious things about encounters with the Lord, uh which can take on a lot of different flavors uh in terms of what they
consist of. But one thing that's been consistent in my interactions with the Lord is this overflowing feeling that everything in the future is not chained to everything in the past. In other words, when, when he comes and um uh the encounter is the right kind of encounter. I say that because there, there
are uh situations where he can, he can appear to you. And it's a, it's a very, very um terrible in the classical sense of the word experience where, where uh it could be overwhelming with the, with the glory. Um If your heart's not in the right place and you're not living fully reconciled to God, then
that's not, that's not an encounter you wanna have before being prepared for it by repenting. And uh when you repent though, it's just this beautiful. You, it, it there's no, there are no words to describe how wonderful it is. It is the pinnacle of experience. So when he shows up in that, in that spirit
, there is an absolute difference between everything, future and everything past and he is the nexus. His forgiveness is an absolute break from the past and it becomes our choice. We are made free through Jesus, free to choose how much like Him we want to be. And that is his greatest gift to us. Forgiveness
is not his greatest gift. It's a part of what I just said and, and that's where it gets its value from, but it's not the whole gift. If, if all you accept is instantaneous, forgiveness for sins past, you're letting go of the greater part because whatever has gone under the bridge as far as the water
of your life, the eternal water is never ending. And that proportion can't be compared what lies ahead of you is infinitely greater in, in the realest sense of the word compared to what you know of what's past meaning, what has occurred in your life so far, it doesn't matter how old or young you are
or what you've been through. That's still true. If you're still alive, you're still kicking what lies ahead is infinitely greater if you choose to follow him today fully than anything that's come before. So when we think about repenting, we have to think about it holistically, meaning you have to focus
on the body of the hydra or the dragon and not the heads, the heads are a distraction. The heads are useful for identifying sin in yourself and in others. But that's where the usefulness ends. You have to ask yourself why you're making the choice, whatever the specifics are, the choice is always the
same. It's the choice to willingly do differently than God would do in your place. And you have to say why? And then you'll come up with a reason. You should say why again, do this a couple layers deep until you get to the bottom of it. And the thing is is that every sin converges in terms of the why
the why always comes down to things like you think, you know, better than God does. You, you don't really believe Him when he says, I will lead you to all good things when he says what I have in store for you is better than you can even imagine. Therefore anything you're intentionally choosing instead
of him is necessarily worse than what he would give you if you would just let him. So you have to get down to the bottom of it and it doesn't matter what you're struggling with, it could be anything and most sins, uh, are not external. The worst ones are not on the outside. But uh those outer ones count
too and anything that in, in, in which you deviate from God, any of that is going to prevent the fullness of his love. Uh Not from flowing to you but, but he, he always stands ready to give it. But, but your recep your reception of it, you're blocking it with your choice. You just need to get out of
the way and let him do his thing because whatever his thing is, which I promise you, you don't, you don't see the full picture because it's all wrapped up. We, we can't come to see more of it until we become more like he is. And even then there's so much more ahead than there is behind and we have so
much further to go than where we are. But it's a, it's a beautiful journey. It's a, it's a process that, that never ends. It's a flow. Sorry, I think my arms shaking here too many sets. Um So I guess that's what I wanna say. If you're, if you're struggling with something, take courage, be, be of good
cheer, be strong in the Lord. Because if you look towards him and you really just, you focus everything about yourself on him. He will prove to you every day, every minute of every day, he will prove to you how much he loves you. You just have to let him when you choose things that are less than Him
, you, you narrow the window through which He can interact with you in ways that you can perceive that that was a little technical and complicated. But every barrier you install between yourself and God will make it harder for you to see his love for you. It doesn't change his love for you. It, it changes
his sadness for you, but it doesn't decrease his love. It just increases his sadness. But if you get out of his way, you obliterate those barriers and you just turn to Him in a rawness of desire and say, Lord, whatever you've got, it's what I want and I want that more than anything, then you kick off
a process and it's just the start. It's just the gateway because even as big as that decision might seem to you, it's just the start and more wonderful things are to come. And that, that process is, is a, is a long path where he comes to you and shows you what you're still holding back that you didn't
realize and you, you gotta keep going through that. And then finally, finally you'll, you'll be free of all those barriers and your life will just be an unending flow of love. And that's where we need to be because the world needs his love, the world needs his love and we need his love. We need it now
and we really need it for what's coming. These things are going to overwhelm you. That's the most pleasant part or way I can say it and you, we need him and the world needs him. So until, until we get out of his way in our own lives, we'll be extremely limited in how we can help others. So we need to
get on that. If there's anything in your life right now, that's a barrier between you and God. I encourage you with, with every ounce of my being to obliterate that barrier, remove it. I promise you that you won't have to do that for very long before you see that it was worth it. And you'll wonder how
it is that you could have struggled with it so much for so long. But faith has to come first and his power comes after you show faith. And that's, that's just another wonderful loving blessing he gives us because if he jumped in and did it for us or too quickly, he would take away from us this, this