Avenging My Past Disobedience

mistakes that I would see and it was hard to battle this battle in my mind of well, I see this in the pull pit, but I see another thing outside of the pull pit. But I am so thankful that there are men like brother Holmes and his wife who the closer you get to them, the more you realize there are real genuine apostolic Christians. They don't say one thing and do something else. Thank you. Thank you for letting me be here. I love you, Bishop. I love you so much, Sister John. The entire Holmes family, [name redacted] and [name redacted] and [name redacted] and [name redacted]. Love and appreciate this family so much.

I'm thankful to have my pastor here, my oldest brother. I love him so much. I'm so honored that he would be here. I think Benjamin is here somewhere and Deborah, his wife. And my in-laws are here. My father-in-law, my mother-in-law. I have a sister-in-law somewhere here. I got family all over this house. And of course my wife, I give her honor. I love and appreciate her so much. To the young people of FPC, I love you. I'm so honored to get to be preaching to you tonight and I believe God's going to help us. Brother Jennings, I appreciate you. Looking forward to getting to hear you tomorrow night. All these wonderful ministers, these are more than preachers up here. These are my heroes. And I count it such an honor to get to be standing before you today.

2 Corinthians chapter number 7 and verse number 10. 2 Corinthians chapter number 7 and verse number 10. The Bible says, "For godly sorrow workketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world workketh death." So there's two kinds of sorrow and two drastically different results. If you have the right kind of sorrow, you'll repent. But if you have the wrong kind of sorrow, you will die. Verse number 11 says, "For behold this self-same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sword or you had the right kind of sorrow." It was godly sorrow. And I want you to read this verse, the pattern, the order that the Bible says that this godly sorrow produced. What carefulness it wrought in you. Yay, what clearing of yourselves? I love one translation that says, "What vindication of yourselves?" Yay, what indignation? This is all things that godly sorrow produced. What indignation? Yay, what fear? Yay, what vehem desire. Yay, what zeal? And my favorite, what revenge. What revenge. This godly sorrow that led you to repentance. This is what it produced in your life. In all things ye have approved yourself to be clear in this matter. Then I'll take you to chapter number 10 and I'll read one verse. Let you be seated tonight. Chapter number 10. Verse number six. The Bible says, "And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled."

I've heard the term sweet revenge many times in my life and typically when someone uses that it's not in the most Christian sense but I have found that there is a type of revenge that if you get a hold of it is the most sweet rewarding wonderful thing that you'll ever taste of. And I want to talk to you for just a little while on this subject. Avenging my past disobedience. Avenging my past disobedience.

Now, I'm not going to try to pull something on you that you ain't seeing coming. I'm going to go ahead and tell you tonight, I've come to preach hope to a young person in this house tonight. I believe in judgment. I believe in preaching on judgment. But I'm telling you, I felt in the Holy Ghost to come preach hope to somebody in the I don't want to get ahead of myself, but let me go ahead and tell somebody in this house, you are going to make it. I said you are going to make it. You are going to come out of this. Come on. I know you felt defeated. I know you've been down and I've come with a word from the Lord. You're going to come out of this thing. Come on. I said you're I wish somebody would lift up your hands all over this house and go ahead and release your faith and your expectancy. I've come to tell somebody God's going to pull you through. God's going I've come to preach condemnation over you. I've come to preach doubt. God is going to use you. God is going to make something out of this generation. I want you to lift up your hands all over this house from the front to the back. Boy, it feels good in here. Come on. I wish you lift up your hands front to back, side to side. Come on. And would you lift up your voice Holy Ghost in this house? Come on. Somebody's going to shake condemnation over you tonight. Somebody's getting ready to shake down over you tonight. I'm saying it in the Holy Ghost. I want you to give the Lord one more hand clap of praise all over this house. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Be seated tonight. Thank you for standing and helping me.

One of the worst feelings that I have had that I've experienced many different times in my life is the feeling of letting someone down. It's a disappointing feeling especially when you love the person that you know that you let down. I remember as a young man growing up as a teenager, there were definitely times that I would make my parents angry or upset at me. And that was a bad feeling. But I can tell you that there was not a worse feeling than disappointing them. I would rather them come in and know they was angry than for them to come in and my mom sit down on the edge of my bed and look at me and say, "You let me down. You talk about a miserable feeling. But as but as bad as that feeling is, I can tell you that there is no worse feeling than letting God down. There's not a more miserable feeling than saying, "God, I made a commitment to you and I said that I wasn't going to do it again. And I said I wasn't going to go there again or commit that again, but I'm right back in the same mess that you just got me out of. After knowing you messed up, after knowing you did something you shouldn't have done, to have to go and look yourself in the mirror, eyeball to eyeball, and to realize that as good as God has been to you, that you failed him again. You let him down again.

And I remember as a teenager going to conference after conference and having encounters and having experiences with God. Then I would go home but nothing was really different in my life and nothing had really changed. And after all the services and all the preaching that I had heard, all the teaching that I had heard to be right back in the same mess that I promised God that if he got me out of it, I'd never go back to it again. The problem is that I've watched it and I've come to preach to some young people that this is where you're at. That instead of having a moment of weakness, instead of having a failure, instead of having a moment that you made the choice when you went left when you really should have gone right, I've watched a lot of people I've watched young people that instead of coming back to the altar on a Thursday night and repenting and letting God give them a brand new future, I've watched them unpack their bags, build a house, and live at their failure for the rest of their life.

There are people that are sitting in churches every single Sunday that are condemned by failures that they have in their past. While God is there and the preacher is there trying to pull them into their future, trying to pull them into their calling, they have walked into a prison that they walked in themselves. No one forced them to be there, but they locked the key and they or they locked the door and they threw away the key and they are choosing to stay in a self-prison of doubt for the rest of their lives.

We must understand that the devil is so good at capitalizing on a bad moment. He's not only going to step in when we're at our best, when it's Sunday night and we just got done worshiping and running and dancing and talking in tongues. But I'm going to tell you what. If there's ever a moment that he's going to be there, it's going to be the moment that you fail. It's going to be the moment that you mess up. And what does he say? I tell you what he says. You've done it again. Well, you really think God is going to use you again after you just disappointed him. After you just told him that you'd never go back to what he delivered you from. And now you're right back in it again. You're right back in the same sin. You're right back in the same mess that God just delivered you out of.

I want to tell you that it is the will of God that when you sin, you feel something called sorrow. But just as important as it is that you feel sorrow, it's even that much more important that you feel the right kind of sorrow. One kind of sorrow will lead you to repentance, but the other kind of sorrow will lead you to death. That's why it matters when you fall. It matters what voice you listen to. Come on. Cuz I'm telling you, if when you fall, the voice is saying, "Don't go to the altar," that's the wrong kind of sorrow. If when you mess up, there's a voice saying, "God will never use you again," I'm telling you, that's the wrong kind of sorrow.

So, the way that godly sorrow will produce repentance is through conviction. But the way that the sorrow of the world will produce death in your life is through condemnation. Now you got to understand that there may be moments where conviction and condemnation, they may feel similar. It may feel like the same thing, but I'm telling you, here's what the difference is. It's where it's leading you. Why? Because condemnation will always lead you to death. Condemnation will always lead you down a path of self-destruction. Oh, but when you have the right kind of sorrow, there's something in you that says, "I may have messed up, but I can repent. I may have messed up, but God can still use me.

We got to understand that conviction always comes from God and condemnation always comes from the devil. Here's the voice of condemnation. I can't believe I did that and now God will never use me again. Here's the voice of conviction. I can't believe I did that. But there's got to be a way back. Here's what condemnation does. Condemnation makes you run away from God. But when you have conviction, it makes you run to God. Condemnation says you failed and you'll never recover from this one. But let me tell you what conviction says. You failed. Now repent. Get up and go back to what you was doing before. Here's what condemnation says. You messed up. And that's all you'll ever be is a failure. But I tell you what conviction says. You messed up. But you're not a failure. You're not a mistake. You're not a throwaway. Come on. It matters what you listen to. It matters what you're thinking about.

See, if the devil cannot destroy me with my failure, he will destroy me with condemnation after my failure. I said if he can't destroy me with the failure, he's going to get in my head so strong and in such a wrong way that I don't believe God will ever make anything out of me. And I don't believe God will ever use me again. I just want to preach to you tonight. I believe there are near about more people that are bound today and that don't pray through because of condemnation more than just about anything you could think of. There's even young people that are in this room tonight and you have felt the call of God and you have heard the voice of God. But what keeps you in the same place that you've always been in is that little voice of condemnation saying, "God will never make something out of you." Come on. I've come to preach to somebody in this house. I believe before this service is over, come on. I believe the script is going to be flipped in your life. It's time for you to quit walking around in self-doubt saying, "God will never use me. God will never me." You've got to flip it around. God can use me. God can make something out of me. God can anoint me. Come on. I wish you to lift up your hands all over this house for just a moment. Come on. Would you help me? Come on. Would you lift up your hands all over this house right now? Help me, Jesus. Hallelujah.

I remember as a teenager I grew up in the church and I remember as a young man trying so hard to live for God during many seasons. I mean I feel like I was doing a good job. I was praying. I was fasting. I was reading my Bible. I was living right. I was living clean. And I had this thought process and it's really what I want to address in this house tonight because there's some young people that this has been your problem. Here was my thought process. If I had one moment where I did not do exactly what I should have done, I could have a year of living right up to that point. But if I had one moment where I lived be below the level which God was calling me to live at. It was in my mind it was as if God took that one year of living right, of being disciplined, of praying, of studying, of being consecrated, and he took a big old red Sharpie and he put an X right over everything I had done up to that point. And I felt like now I've got to restart from where I was last year. I've got to restart all the way from ground zero again.

Thought about it's kind of like how I have treated dieting and brother Holmes, you've watched me do this so many times. But here's how I am. I'm always on a diet near about every day of my life. And I'm always trying something. Here's been my perspective of dieting, of eating. If I can't do it 100%. See, I've had it. I cannot tell you the times months will go by. I'm eating nothing but chicken and broccoli and I'm doing so good and then I have one little slip up just one little mistake and I look now I said you know man I done messed up I may as well enjoy it. I had some maybe it was you brother Ben somebody somebody today said hey something there I said take one bite I'm telling you I don't do one bite huh if I do one bite next thing I know it's gone and that's been my outlook that's my perspect well if I can be 100% perfect at all times I may as well not even do it now that's not a good way to live physically it's probably not the healthiest for me but I'm telling you, it is infinitely times worse when that's the way that we are spiritually. When we say, "Well, I messed up. I may as well stay down for a while. Well, I had a little slip up. I may as well stay down for a week and go ahead and jump." No. I'm telling you, you believe the lie from the enemy. If when you fall, you believe you ought to stay down. No. I've come to preach to somebody. You know what you do when you fall? Get back to your feet. I said get back to your feet. Come on. I know you're not perfect, but you just keep on worshiping. I know you're not perfect, but you just keep on praising.

This church knows me. And I don't want to spend too much time prefacing. If you know me, you just got to know. You just got to believe. I want you to listen to what I'm saying. Don't read into what I'm not preaching to you tonight. But I'm telling you, I know there's a lot of people in the church that they've done their power to convince young people that if they struggle, then they must not really have the Holy Ghost. That if they fight temptation, then they must not really have the call of God on their life. I've got to preach to a young person. We don't glorify the struggle. We're not proud of our failures. But I want to preach to you. The only people who do not fight are people who are not in the race. I said the only people that don't fight are the ones that have quit. Come on. You know why you're here tonight? Cuz you're still trying. Cuz you're still fighting. Cuz you haven't lame. I wish I had somebody that would throw your hands in the air and say, "I'm not quitting. I'm not quitting. I'm still in the fight. It was Paul that would write and say, "I die daily." Now, here's something I've learned about dying. It really never gets no easier. When I get up tomorrow and I know bishop it's time to die. Just because I did it today really don't mean it's going to be easier tomorrow. Hey, just because somebody consistently does something, that doesn't mean it's easy for him.

I remember I met a man not long ago. He's a runner and he can run 10 12 miles at a time. And I asked him, I said, "Hey, when did it get easier for you to just lace up your shoes and start running?" And he started laughing. And I was confused like, "Huh?" He said, "It's as hard for me today to make myself go do it as it was on the first day. I just learned to do it anyway.

I want to preach to somebody in this house today. It don't never get easier to die." But guess what? That don't mean you don't need to do it. I tell you what Paul compared this to. He compared it to a race. I got the revelation. I'm not out of the race because I fell. I'm not out of the race because I stumbled. The only way I'm out of the race is if I fall and don't get back up. I said the only way I'm out of the raceh is if when I fall, I stay down. Come on. But I'm preaching to some people. I know you fought it, but you got back up. I know you hadn't been perfect, but look at where you are. I wish somebody would lift up your hands and give them some praise in this house right now. Come on. I wish somebody would lift up your hands with me for just a moment in this house.

I'm going preach I'mma preach to you that one of the favorite tricks of the enemy is to get you to fall and wallow in your sin. Telling you, one of the worst things you'll ever do when you fall is fall and think you can't get back up. If you will allow your failure to do in you what God is trying to get it to do, it will pull something out of you that nothing else can. I tell you, I've learned every once in a while, boy, we're all flesh. We all fat carnality. And it's something about living for God that a little bit of time goes by and you know what we start thinking, I got this thing figured out. I can do it with prayer or I can do it without prayer. I can do it with this or I can do it. I'm telling you. And that's I'm telling you, every once in a while, it's good for you to look at yourself in the mirror and say, "If it had not been for the Lord who was on my side, every once in a while, it's good for you to realize, I still ain't nothing without God. I still can't make it without his grace. I still Come on. I need some adults to help me in this." You ought to thank God. God sent me to preach mercy to your kids. You ought to thank God. God sent me with a word of encouragement. Come on. I've got to preach mercy to you. I'm telling you, you can make it. I need somebody to lift up your voice right now as loud as you can. I can make it. I can make it. I can I'm still in the fight. I'm still in the fight.

You know what I've come to tell the devil tonight? Rejoice not against me, oh mine enemy. When I fall, I shall rise. I've come to tell these young people, if the devil can rejoice that I fell, surely I can rejoice that you got back up. Come on, parents. If the devil will rejoice that your son fell, I wish you'd stand to your feet and give them some praise that they're back again and they're worshiping again and they're running again and they're giving. They could be on a bar stool. Come on. They could be laid up in a bed with somebody. They could be in a ball game. Look at what they're doing. Look at where they're at.

Hey, don't tell me this generation don't love preaching. Listen. He said, he said, "When I fall, hey, when he says when I fall," you know what that tells me? It's going to happen. I don't want it to. I wish it wouldn't. I wish there way there was a way around it. I wish I had divine flesh and I didn't struggle. I didn't I never I never had a temptation. I never had a battle. But he didn't say that. He said, "When I fall, I'm confident that I'm going to fall." But here's what he followed up with. I shall arise. As confident as I am that I'm going to fall, I'm that much more confident that I'm getting back up again. I said that I'm gay that I'm getting back up. I'm getting back up. Come on. I wish somebody would give him a get up praise in this house. I wish somebody would give him a praise that says, "I've been through it, but I'm back again.

I want you to hear this simple revelation tonight. Okay, this is so simple. But when I look back at my teenage years and I look at some of my friends that I was closest to that are backslid today and they're not serving God today. If I was to take 15year-old Clark and 15year-old that person, I can't tell you that I was just 10 times more spiritual or I just did so many things better than them. But I can tell you what I didn't do. I didn't quit. I hope you didn't come for a deep word because here's all I've come to tell somebody tonight. Don't quit. I said just don't quit. Hey, I may have been a lot of things, but I tell you what, I've never been a quitter. I've been discouraged, but I've never quit. I've been knocked down, but I've never quit. I've been talked about, but I'll never quit. Come on. I messed up, but I never quit.

Solomon would write and he would say, "Hey, there's a time and there's a purpose for everything. There's a time to plant. There's a time to sew. There's a time to be born. There's a time to die. A time to laugh. A time everything you can think of, there's a time for. But one thing he never said there was a time for was a time to quit. You know what he was saying? You can be discouraged, but keep coming to church. You can be let down. Keep coming to church. You can be bloodied. Keep coming to church. I'm preaching to a young man. You better get this revelation. Just keep coming. Just keep trying. Don't throw in the I wish somebody would lift up your voice. Come on right now. All over this house. All over this house. Come on. All over this house. Come on, lift up your hands. Help me pray right now for just a moment.

See, sometimes we want some deep revelation. I've just come to tell somebody tonight, don't quit, man. I'll never forget I heard brother Mark say this one time and I made this my motto for a long time in my life. It's not that spiritually I'm either up or down. I'm either up or I'm on my way back up. I don't have a down. I just have a on my way back up again option. See, it's important that we understand that we do not lose our status with God as a son over a little mistake. Okay? Can I say this again? Please don't read into what I'm not saying. Listen to what I'm preaching to you.

One of the most dangerous things that happens and I'm preaching to young people tonight. This happened to me so many times. I'd fall and here's what I would start thinking. Was I ever sincere in the first place? Did I actually ever even pray through? Did I actually even receive the Holy Ghost? Was it nothing but just emotionalism? I remember as a young man struggling with this verse. The Bible says in 1 John chapter 3 and verse number eight, he that committh sin is of the devil. So, as a young man, you want to hear my interpretation of that verse? I'm living for God. Here I am. I'm living for God. I'm prayed through. I'm doing right. I'm a child of God. I make a mistake and all of a sudden I lose my sunship and now instead of being a child of God, I'm a child of the devil. But if you were to look this verse up and the original, it uses two present tense verbs suggesting or really rather proving that this is not just talking about an instance, it's talking about a pattern. So the ESV would say it like this. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, but whoever not just sins one time, but whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. In other words, what you continually practice is what you're going to become. There is a difference who is walking on the pathway of righteousness and stumbles and falls and gets back up. There's a difference in that in somebody that's just walking on the road of unrighteousness. I'm not preaching to you that sin doesn't matter. I'm not preaching to you that you can live however. But what I am preaching to you is that there is a birth.

The same man, the same man that would write and say, "He that committh sin, who that does it continually, he's of his father, the devil." One chapter earlier, here's what he said. "But these things I write unto you, that ye sin not." Everybody say, "That's the goal." That's the goal. Now, that's why I'm here on Thursday night. That's why I keep coming to church cuz my goal, my ideal that I'm pursuing is to sin not. It's to get But I'm telling you here, here's how I imagine. I imagine that as John was sitting down and he was writing this epistle, when he got to the place that he said, "I'm writing unto you that you sin not," I just believe he started thinking about himself. I believe he started thinking about the people he was writing to. And here's what he followed up with. But if thou sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus. Jesus Christ the righteous. John was not giving me an excuse to sin. But he was telling me if I sin, there is mercy. There is grace. There is forgiveness for sin.

Stretch your hands towards heaven in this house right now. Come on. I wish I had a mama in the risers that would lift up her voice right now. You know what I'd love to see preached out of every youth group that's in this building today? You know what I'd love to see run out of every youth group in every church that is present in this house today? It's that spirit, that nasty spirit of the older brother. That spirit that says, "Well, they messed up. They don't have a right to come back to church. You better be careful when you want your pastor to kick." I wondered if I felt that spirit. I'm starting to feel it just a little bit. I'm telling you, God forbid that any apostolic that's filled with the Holy Ghost wants to withhold mercy. I'm going to tell you what you're doing here. Here's what he said. He said when you sin, if you sin, you've got an advocate with the father. That's Jesus Christ. Now, you're braver than me to stand on the other side of that courtroom and try to speak condemnation over the same person that Jesus is speaking mercy over. Come on. If you want to fight against that, you can. But I'm telling you, I'd rather heir on the side of mercy 10 out of 10 times than air on the side of judgment. I want to preach to somebody in this house. You're still in the church. Can we love them in this house for just a moment? Come on. Oh, hallelujah. Come on. Just for a moment. Woo. Come on. I want you to help me pray right now. I've come to tell somebody, you're not beyond the anointing of God. You're not beyond the call of God in your life. God can still use you. It was David that would say, "I'm weak today, but I'm still anointed. I'm struggling, but I'm still anointed. Hallelujah.

Devil wants you to spend your time looking at the past chapters of your life. You continue playing, helping me. I'm closer to being done than you think, man. He wants you to sit there and look at your failures. Anybody ever laid your head on the pillow at night, thought I wish to God I hadn't done that. Wish to God I'd have never said that. Wish I wouldn't have done that, man. God, I'd give anything to go back and undo what happened. If you're not careful, the enemy is going to trap you there. He wants you to spend all your time looking at past failures, past mistakes, past flaws, rather than turning and saying, "If I've still got breath, that means I can still do something for God.

I don't know about you, I know what it is to look and say, "How do I write my wrongs? How do I write all the times that I let God down? Can God let me go back somehow in the past and undo what I did?" First step, you've got to do this. You've got to accept what happened. It can be a hard thing to just accept what you did. You got to accept what happened. And then you've got to realize there's nothing I can do to change it. But here's what I can do. I can do what Paul wrote about. I can learn to avenge the man that I used to be. How do I take vengeance? He said, when you really had this godly sorrow, it produced revenge in you. I tell you what I believe that was, it was a burning desire that said, "I live that way, but I'm changed."

I remember as a young man, I remember an evangelist coming through, brother Daniel Ballinger, and I remember him preaching. He grew up in the world. He grew up playing at every guitar, every club, every bar. He played concerts all over this world. He did every drug you could imagine. But I'm telling you, he finally came to church one day, repented of his sins, and God filled him with the gift of the Holy Ghost. And I'll never forget, I'll never forget as a teenager, Pastor Holmes him preaching. He's probably, you probably heard him said it, but here's what he would say. He would say this. When I was in the world, I was one of the devil's best sinners. He didn't. That devil couldn't find a better sinner than me. He said, "But I made up in my mind when I got in the church, I'm going to be the greatest saint. I gave a lot of my years to the devil. I gave a lot of my energy to the devil. Come on. But I'm telling you, as much as I gave him, God being my helper, I'm going to give God the rest of my life, I'm going to get Come on. Some of you are young and you believe your life is over. I'm telling you, the devil is a liar. You still got time to change. You still got time to become something for God. Hallelujah.

Somewhere Paul understood can't do nothing about my past. It's done is done. I wish I could go back to that day when they took the first martyr of the church. They took a man by the name of Stephen and he's laying on the ground and as the men were taking stones and throwing them at him, here I am holding the coats of them that were stoning him. I wish I could go back and change that. But I can't. I wish I could go back to when I was taking men and women and casting them into prison for believing on Jesus. I wish I could go back and undo that, but I can't. But here's what I can do. My current obedience becomes vengeance against the man that I used to be. You know what I believe? The way that Paul lived his life, I can't go back and change what I did, but here's what I can do. I can write another epistle. I can't go back and undo what I did. But here's what I can do. I can plant another church. I can sing another song. I can teach another Bible study. There's nothing I can do to go back and change it. But I tell you what I can do. I can be obedient today. I can be submitted today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Moses had murdered a man. To make matters worse, everybody knew it. I got a stuttering problem. I got a speech problem. But there's nothing I can do to go back and change anything that I've done. But here's what I can do. I can avenge the man that I was by becoming the best leader that Israel has ever had. Rahab could not go back and change the choices that led her to being a prostitute. But I tell you what she could do on the day in which there was an opportunity given to her where she could either keep being obedient or disobedient or she could turn and be obedient to the word of God. She said, "I can't change this, but I'm going to turn and be obedient." And you know what she realized? My current obedience is revenge on my past disobedience. I've come to preach to you. My revenge on the old Clark Copelan is the new Clark Copenh. My revenge on my old man. It's my new man. It's who I can become. I've come to preach to you. I know you haven't had an, but you're going to get an anointing. God's got his hand on you. God's going to use you. God's going to elevate you. Come on, let's love him all over this house. Come on, lift up your hands. I'm almost done. Would you help me pray right now for just a moment? Hallelujah.

I want to preach to you something and I want you to try your best to remember this and next time you fall. I said I feel that I'm not preaching that a pattern of sin is okay. Okay? If you think that's what I'm preaching, you ain't been listening to what I've been saying. I want to preach to you a beautiful four-step process of what you need to do the next time you fall. Okay? And this is what I'm going to close with.

David had messed up. He hadn't just messed up a little bit. That goes back to what I'm talking about. How could a man that committed adultery and murdered a man be a man after God's own heart? Because he had an advocate. Well, you know what I'm saying? It wasn't a pattern. It was an instance. And that's how because he was living he was walking down the road of righteousness and on that road he stumbled. He didn't get off on the road of unrighteousness and say, "I'm walking this way the rest of my life." But on the day that happened, and I'm hurrying, but he's committed adultery with Bath Sheba. Okay? He's had her husband murdered in the battle. The man of God comes to him, tells the story, and he sticks his finger in his face and said, "You're the man." Not only this, but the child is going to die. He goes and he begins to weep and he begins to fast and he begins to plead and beg God that God would spare the life of the child. Here he is. I mean, he's down and out. He's all messed up, begging God, pleading with God to do it. And guess what happened? The child died. The servants were standing there and they said, "If it was this bad when the child was alive, what's he going to do now?" See, but David had a revelation that they didn't have. He understood there's life after failure.

So listen, here was step number one. First thing he did was he got up. I said he got up. You can't live for God laying flat on your back. You can't live for God doing what I've been told and that's laying on your face, wallowing in your sin. And what the first thing you got to do is get to your feet. The next thing he did and I don't know what step we're going to be in tonight, but the next thing he did was he washed himself. He cleansed himself from his sin. He wasn't just looking for a little band-aid. He was looking to get cleansed from the sin. You know what that is? That is a type of repentance. So he gets up, he washes himself. Step number three was he changed his clothes. You know what that signifies to me? That signifies he came to church one way, but he left changed. He came to church messed up, but he left free. He came to church depressed. He came to church believing God would never use him again. But something changed. Something was different. And step number four was he went back to the house of God and he worshiped.

Brother Tuttle, I don't believe that when he was worshiping, the whole time he was worshiping thinking to himself, "You're such an idiot. I still can't believe you did that. I still can't believe after everything God's done to you, done for you, that you turned your back on. I tell you what I believe he did. I believe as he worship, he thought about the greatness of God, the mercy of God, the splendor. I'll tell you what I believe he did. I believe he worshiped like it never even happened. I've come to preach them in America. There comes a day when you can worship like the sin never even happened. There comes a day when you I said there comes a day when you can worship like you never even did like it. I want to preach to somebody today and ask you if God said when you repent I will not remember your sin. Why do you remember your sin? If God don't remember it, why should you? I want to preach to somebody. It's time you lift up your hands and you do it believing. I said believing that God has really forgiven you. I want you to lift up your hands all over this house right now. Come on. Lift up your hands. Come on, singers. Come on. Lift up your hands all over this house.

I may be taking a risk here, but I feel like this is right. I want all the young people all over this house, make your way to this front right now. Come on. Come on. Come on, young people. Flood this altar. Come on. Come fast. Come fast. If this is okay, I know this is maybe going to be different, but I would love for us to follow the pattern that David followed. Okay, raise your hand if you're in this house today and you've ever committed a sin. That ought to be everybody's hand. Okay, now here's something I've learned. We love repentance for sinners, but for some reason, we think it's not for us anymore. So, I don't know how this is going to go, but I want us to do this altar call in a couple different phases. Phase number one is what I've been trying to preach to you for a while, and that's get up. Anybody feel like you're spiritually you spiritually got up in this house? Does anybody believe what I'm preaching to you today? Do I have some parents that would lift up your voice and let these kids know there's a generation before you that believes in you? Hey, I'm barely old, but I believe in this generation. I ought to have every parent helping me, right? I said, I believe in this generation. I believe God's going to use these young men. I believe God's going to use these young ladies. You got to believe what I'm preaching to you.

Next thing he did was he started washing himself. Now, for just a few minutes, I want everybody all over this house to lift up your hands. Come on. Here's what I want us to do. You repenting is not saying that you've been living some wicked, awful life. It's just admitting that you're flesh and you still need them. Come on. I want everybody all over this house to lift up your hands and lift up your voice. Let's take just a few moments here and repent all over this house. Come on. Come on. He washed himself. Would you let the preaching of the word wash you right now? Come on. I wish you'd really lift up your hands for just a couple minutes. Come on. All over this house. We'll move when it feels right. But I feel like we need to take just a few minutes here. Come on. It's still the will of God that we learn how to weep between the porch and the altar. Come on. I wish you'd help me pray. I wish you lift up your voice. Come on. I want God to have his way. Come on. Let's be sensitive right now. Lift up your voice. Let's be sensitive right now. Does anybody feel that you're being changed right now? Come on. He washed himself and he changed his garments. I want you to do it right now. Come on. Let yourself be changed. Let's take 30 more seconds and repent. Come on. 30 more seconds and repent. H yeah. Oh, Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

I remember a couple times I'd go through these things as a teenager where I'd try to really get in shape and I thought for some reason I would learn to dunk one day. One of the things they said to do was get extra weight on you. And as you start moving around and jumping around with that weight when you take it off, it frees you because you got used to being weighed down. And it sounds crazy, but you know, if you had put on a 15lb vest, whatever it was, if you wore it for long enough, you could near about forget you was wearing it. You could get used to just carrying stuff around. But I'm going to tell you when you really know that you was wearing it is when you get it off. It's when you that you really realize the way you was living before.

I've come to tell somebody in this house, there's some young people in this building, you have learned to come to church so long with condemnation, you forgot what it feels like to pray without it. You've learned how to come to church so long, come on, weigh down with self-doubt, weigh down with fear, weigh down with past failures that you forgot what it was like. I'm telling you, my favorite part of it was he went back to church and he worshiped the Lord. I'm telling you, for the first time in a long time, I believe there's some young people, you're getting ready to pray like the mistake never even happened. It's time you get rid of your doubt. Come on, join up with somebody. Lift up your voice all over this house. All over this house. Come on. It's time condemnation gets off you. You better hear me tonight. The devil's keeping you bound by keeping you