Time to Seek the Lord

So when I was born, I was a uh I was born with asberers. Um and uh I guess they didn't know what that was back then. Um I also was kind of manic according to my mom who's probably listening. I would I would sleep at most one hour a night and the rest of the time I'm screaming.

She'd take me to doctor after doctor after doctor and uh they could never figure it out. They were going to try this experimental drug at the time called Rolin. She she wouldn't let him do that thankfully. But um she she you know when I was like seven I was still stuttering and and I went to her and I'm like what's wrong with me?

And she um said you just have to figure out how your mind works. Your mind just works differently than other people. This probably explains a lot for you, Todd, about you know me. But uh but uh the um but then it gets better because I was also really small.

Um by the time I was a freshman in high school, I was uh 91 pounds and 4 feet 11. So I was like a little bitty kid and I had braces and glasses. So all of that combined into a guy who um really didn't think he was much of anything. Okay.

Very insignificant. Very deep down in my heart. I felt very insignificant. And uh we moved down to Florida and and I grew five inches that summer and lost the contacts.

Got I mean lost the braces, got contacts, and all of a sudden girls are paying me some attention. And um so I was trying to fill that hole with that. And then and then you know back when I was up in New Jersey when I was little and I had no friends. I would come home from school and I would just read.

Okay. I would read Lord of the Rings. I I'd get some apple juice and some cheese. You know, now I like wine and whatever, right?

But apple juice and cheese and and I'd throw on used to have final. I' throw on, you know, the cars album or their first album. This is how old I am. and uh I would just be reading like Lord of the Rings fantasy and stuff like that.

On once I got down to Florida, I started trying to fill that hole with success and with women and and um and so I started reading success books and my goal was to be a millionaire by 30. And and by the time I was 29, I was um I had my own company and I was on my way, but there was still that deep insecurity. None of that filled it. Okay.

Having a having a having a woman at the time um who eventually got I married but um having success in my field. None of that helped the deep hurt. And uh around that time I started going to a secret friendly church which worked good for me because it was um sermons that were success seminars almost you know and and which you see a lot of now but back then that worked for me because I was all into success and and all this. And uh remember my buddy Nick and I would would uh we were psychotic.

We were into it, man. We wanted to get, you know, well, so we would we'd get up at 6, we'd work six to well, we'd be at work by 6, we'd work 6:00 to 12, then we'd go work out together, and then we'd be working like 2 to 8. So we were just busting it, right? And uh and I got saved at 30.

And what blew me away about God, what I finally saw was that he loved me just as I was, you know, and and he loves you just as you are. It doesn't matter where you come from. And I I didn't embrace it as fully as I should have because it took time for me to understand. I was still trying to validate myself.

Um, some of you may be able to to relate to that. Okay. Once you accept Jesus into your life, he loves you as you are. There's no more validation that's needed.

You're validated. You're validated because you're his child. Okay? He loves you.

He We were singing about his love and and um if you really understand, I mean, he's jealous for you. He's he's you're his bride. He loves you, man. And uh it's only been the last four or five years that I've really allowed God to love me the way he wants to love me and get rid of that hole that I had for so many years.

And I think the reason why we attract so many people in this church that have um holes or things that have happened in their life recently that have hurt them and everything is because like attracts like. Okay? So, broken, humble people attract broken, humble people, and that's why you guys are here. Um, I'm not a uh, you know, God's love is is um he we're precious to him, okay?

We're safe in his hands. Um, we're loved. When I hear Amazing Grace, the original version, not the newer one you guys just did, but the original one where it comes to that place where it says that saved a wretch like me, I always a tear in my eye because for so long I thought that I was that wretch, you know, and um and I was. But then when Jesus came into my life, I was no longer a wretch.

I was no longer a sinner saved by grace. I was now a saint who sometimes sins. And uh you think once you get saved, you never have a problem again. It's just not like that.

Okay. Um we live in a fallen world with an enemy that tries to convince us that he's so big and bad and there's we can't fix it and and God's not strong enough to fix these things. Um and we come with these flesh patterns, these habits that have formed, you know. Um, speaking of like attracts like, when I moved to New Jersey, um, I mean to Florida, I created there was a friend group that that are still my friends to this day.

But what attracted us all was we all came from broken, messed up homes. Okay? And how we dealt with it back then was drinking and partying and and that is how we dealt with it. Um, and so if you're not careful, those flesh patterns can come back and haunt you because you can slip back into that when things get tough.

Okay? And slip back in instead of doing what God says, which is moving towards him. All right? That's what we have to do.

Um, and I know you can relate. Every once in a while, life just gets overwhelming, doesn't it? like there's just and you look out and you see some of the stuff going on in the world and you're like, you know, it's just so bad. Uh but when that happens, we have to draw near to God.

James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you." The tendency is to pull back to the things we did in the past. But what we have to do is draw near to God. we have to chase after him.

Um, in Jeremiah 33:3, God says, "Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things you do not know." All right? And the key is to get into simple disciplines that are done every day. That's the key to staying focused on the Lord.

from the time I got saved um to now it's just I've never had a I've never backslid. I've never slid back for a couple months fall back into my old way or anything like that. I just slowly kept going up. Okay, that's because I early on my mentor told me this.

We're I had asked him to be a mentor. He was my Sunday school teacher and I asked him to be my mentor and he said um 7 o'clock at potluck cafe or whatever it was and you know if you're one minute late you're useless and I'm not going to mentor you. And so I showed up of course on time and he goes Brian he goes every saint I've ever known had a morning quiet time. If you don't have a morning quiet time you'll never be the man God wants you to be.

That's what he told me. I'm like yes sir. You know, and so I started a morning quiet time. And that is why I never backslid because every morning I go to the God, I go to the Bible.

Every morning I get on my knees and pray. And what happens is if I have a bad day, it's contained to one day because joy comes in the morning. And the next morning when I'm in my quiet time, I'm I'm re-calibrating myself and getting back in. So that one bad day never becomes two bad days.

and then three bad days and then soon you're lost for a few months backsliding. Okay. Um the devil tried to convince you that following God is hard. Okay.

That it's just easier to go back to the way things were. And the trouble is you can almost get comfortable in that past. I know people that refuse to move forward because they're just comfortable in this place, okay? Because it's what's comfortable.

They grew up with a struggling single mom, so now they fought to have a struggling single mom life. And you think, no, they want good things for themselves. You would think they do, but the habits that we have can fall back. We can fall back into them.

And I and I'm I'm begging everyone in this place not to do that. Get out of that default place. We must break these habits. Lay down new disciplines, new patterns of handling stress, disappointment, and heartbreak.

Instead of retreating into yourself, reach out to God. Okay? Move towards God. How do you do that?

You read this thing. You get on your knees and you pray to him. He's He loves you. He wants to take that hurt and he wants to take care of it for you, man.

He loves you. You You got to lay it down. You just have to lay it down. You're not that old person.

Stop believing that you are, okay? You've got to move past it. The Bible, prayer, throw on Christian songs, okay? Instead of instead of that song from the 70s that makes you think of that old girlfriend that makes you then want to go drink and then makes you and you're off and you're down the road and done.

Okay. Um create different friends by going to church. You guys are here on a Labor Day weekend. I'm so thankful for you.

Get into a small group. Okay. create new friends that are moving in the same direction that can help lift you up that have also been there and can help you on your journey. Right?

You guys up here, you know, Todd and Joshua and all that, you guys are just this little group and it's it's you're so delightful, man, watching the way you rip into it. They they tease each other, not rip into each other. OMG, it's so funny. Um, so flood yourself with positive.

Stay consistent. I have bad days. I have days where it just seems so hard. But, but I draw near to God.

There are times where I'm overwhelmed at work and I just walk outside, walk around the building, reconnect, take some breaths, reconnect, get back in there, get on the phone again, make my calls because I have to family to feed. Um, draw near to God. stop withdrawing into you your habits and sins and draw near to God his freedom and love. And uh it's okay to cry sometimes.

Okay, it's okay to cry. Um Psalm 147:3 says, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." When uh my first wife left me, my business had also gone into the toilet bowl. So, I had no money.

I got American Express. They're mean, man. American Express is mean. They're just mean.

When you own money, they're mean. And and I got them hammering me. And then I got to get all upbeat to to sell. And and then and I got four kids at home.

One of them's just barely out of diapers. And I was just overwhelmed. And I still did my morning quiet time, but all I could muster was reading one proverb. You know, there's 31 proverbs 31 days, right?

You can wear read one proverb a day. Just read one proverb for that day. And then I'd get on my knees and just cry and beg God to help me get through this day. It was so hard and so bad.

And so and then and then I'd get it out and then I'd wake up and then I'd get in there and I'd be the man that I had to be for everyone involved. Right? You cry in private so you can be strong in public. All right.

That's a Brian Pier quote. I came up with that this week. Cry in private. Sign me strong in public.

All right. And then repent. Be deeply apologetic about how you have sinned against God. Your father who loves you so much.

You're the apple of his eye. So when you make a promise under God till death be depart or whatever, you know, and and and then you leave that situation. All right, that's something to don't you can apologize to everyone else involved, but it's against God and and God alone who you sinned. Okay, David says that in Psalm 51.

What this country needs is repentance. That's the only way revival is going to break out is repentance. That's where you get down on your knees and you say, "God man I hurt you. I hurt you and you've done nothing but good for me and I've hurt you and I'm so so sorry."

And let that let that emanate right there for a little bit. Okay? And then you lay it down and you ask him to forgive you. You know what he's going to do?

He's gonna forgive you. But you have to lay it down. If he's forgiven you, you're free. Don't pick it back up and carry it with you again.

Okay? Lay it down. Leave it down. There's so many.

America was such a great country and it started on such Christian ideals, but we've really become a nation of idols. Okay? Whether it's college football, whether it's money, whether it's fame, whether it's uh whatever it is, it's a nation of idols. God's a jealous God, man.

He is not happy that we worship idols. He's not not been guilty of it in the past. Um, that's a thing to repent of, to ask him to forgive. This nation needs to repent and turn and then God can hear and heal our land.

But if we don't, man, stuff's coming. Um, but you lay it down, you believe it, you lay it down, and it stays in the past. and you rise up again and you focus on the Lord and you get back into the world. Um, Proverbs 24:16 says, "For a righteous man may fall seven times, but he'll rise again and rise again."

Just get up. Don't stay there. Just get up. Hosea 10 verse 12 is a super cool verse.

Um, it starts off saying, "Sow for yourselves righteousness. Seow for yourselves righteousness." Seowing is the work you're doing, right? So, what is that?

That's that's the Bible every day. That's praying every day. That's um repenting every day. All right.

That's forgiving people who've hurt you. If you don't forgive someone, they're not the ones who hurt. you're the one who's hurt. Okay?

And and that unforgiveness can morph into so much damage in your life. All right? I I've seen it. I've seen it so many times, man.

There's there's so many broken people all around me. And they're just there's just a couple things they need to do. They need to start reaching out for the Lord, not falling back into their habits. They need to start reading this book a little bit.

Okay? They need to forgive people. Um, Matthew 6, Jesus. Got to quote some Jesus in here.

Uh, Matthew 6:14. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your sins, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Man, that's harsh.

Jesus laid it down. We've got to forgive people. Yeah, they hurt you. Yeah, it was wrong.

They shouldn't have done it. But we got to lay it down. You got to lay it down. You're not helping.

You're not hurting them. You're hurting you. and you're hurting your your your your relationship with Jesus because he he says you got to forgive these people so I can forgive you. Back to Hosea 10:12.

Sorry, honey. Go back there. How about little Kerianne up there doing everything? We had some stress this morning, but we're we're working through it.

So, um it says, "So for your self-righteousness, reap in mercy." We must have mercy. Okay? We need God's mercy on us and we need to have mercy for other people.

Okay? We have to have it. Then it says, "Break up yourow ground." Okay?

That hard ground. Break it up. If you're going to plant something, you got to break up that ground. This is your sins, your past sins.

You've asked him to forgive you. Put it away. Break put it away. This is breaking up your old flesh patterns.

Okay, this happens and I always retreat. I always go back to this. I always do that. No, no, no.

Not anymore. Not anymore. Start new patterns. You've got to break up the fow ground.

New patterns of repentance, forgiveness, seeking the Lord, studying this book. Ah, it sounds great. Till and then it says till he comes and reigns. righteousness on you till he comes and reigns righteousness on you.

All right? You got to seek the Lord. You got to pray and you you got to lay it down. There's so many people in this world that are hurting because they're just not forgiving themselves.

You got to forgive yourself, okay? Too. I don't care what you did in your past. If Jesus forgave you, it's done.

It's done. Don't Don't come at me. I'm done. You know, someone might try to rope you back into it.

Don't Don't come at me. I'm done. Get behind me, Satan. That's what Jesus did.

He'd say, "Get behind me, Satan." If someone came at and tried to bring up your past, you're done. Okay? Until he comes and reigns in righteousness, he's coming again.

And uh when he does, he's going to set up after he defeats the devil, he's going to set up a millennial reign. And I and I'm going to I want to touch on that. Um there's only six verses that talk about this millennial reign is in Revelation 20 verses 1-6. So it's interesting that a thousand years of history or what's going to be history that you know a thousand years is just into six verses.

So it does leave for us to to try to knowing the heart of God to try to figure out some of what this is going to look like. Okay. So let me read for you what we know for sure is the devil gets locked up. Read this.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven. This is uh Revelation 20:1. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

And they cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a while. So the devil gets locked up. If you ever feel like, oh, they used to say on TV show, the devil made me do it.

Um, the adversary, our adversary, okay, is going to be locked up. What a time when there's no one whispering in your ear, telling you you're useless, telling you you're this. You know, there's no one trying to deceive and destroy people. Okay, he's locked up.

That's fun. Um, then verse four, and I saw thrones and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness to Jesus and for the word of God who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. Explain that. So the rapture happens. The dead in Christ rise.

Those who are alive at that time rise. That's right near the end. And they have the wedding supper of the lamb. Jesus comes.

But but the rest of the dead were still asleep. Okay? Because he says here um the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years are finished. Does that mean every single person who's ever died is sleeping right now and isn't in heaven?

That's not true because there have been examples like the thief on the cross. Okay, Jesus said, "Today you'll be with me in paradise." Right? Enoch got rushed up to heaven because he lived 300 and some odd years living for God.

Okay? Elijah. And so there are people up there. Who's up there?

Who's not? I don't know. Doesn't really matter. Even if they're sleeping, they're they're not in harm's way.

It's easier than here, right? And it probably is a sleep that goes with an like that. But all the people that are alive at that time, which could just be eight years away, all right, that didn't die from the the tribulation period, all the people who ever were martyed, okay? Um, all the people who were in Christ are alive, too.

So, your grandma who, you know, lived a good Christian life and then died, she wasn't a martyr. So, she's not going to reign with Christ. Okay? The martyrs will reign with Christ, but she's still going to be alive because the dead because the dead in Christ rose at the rapture.

Okay? So, that's who's going to be around. We're going to be around with these people. You might see your grandma again, you know.

Um, since most of these people that are going to be living on this planet with Jesus are dead, that means God must have given them new bodies, right? And if God's given them new bodies, then I would think he'd also regenerate this world because he could just say this and all those forests that are burnt down can be redone. Okay? He spoke the whole world in existence.

He could speak it back. Okay? So you're talking about a time and it's a thousand years, you know, back in the day they were living a thousand years before the flood, right? All the all the ancient guys.

So what it appears to me as we're reading this is this. God hits the reset button on this deal. Okay? And Jesus is the ruler.

Not Putin, not Trump, not she. They're gone. Jesus is the ruler. Peter is the Minister of Defense.

Paul is the secretary of state, okay? You got you got these these these players, okay? And they're the ones who are ruling. And then there's the rest of us.

And and you know, you think, well, gosh, the beach is nice. Maybe you you get to have a beach little area. You know, Jesus said there's no um marriage in in in uh heaven, but this is not heaven yet. Okay.

After this thousand years, the devil gets released again, convinces a few people to join him. He gets defeated again. This time thrown into hell forever. And then a new heaven and a new earth come down.

That's kind of the how how it how it rolls if you just read through Revelation. Okay, so this time is a great time. Christ is the ruler. The devil's locked up.

Restored body, a restored world. Okay. And what blows me away about that is this. You know, in the beginning, God walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam, with Eve.

Remember, he would walk with them. He was He just wants to be with us. He just wants to hang out with us man. And he's going to be on this planet again.

And we'll be able to touch him, feel him, you know, again live. That's going to be an amazing time. And then after that, the new heaven and new earth. So then we get heaven and that's that's paradise.

So we there's so much good coming down the road for us believers. All right? There might be some tough times in between now and then, but that's okay. What do you do?

Go back to Jesus. Okay? Don't let your current circumstances, your fears, the stuff that's happening, your pains distract you from the great future that we have. Get back to the simple things of God.

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Okay? Get into this word, this this beautiful word, man. Just just get into it.

Okay? Read it a little bit every day. Prayer and obedience. Jesus says, "If you love me, obey me."

Simple. I think most parents would probably say that. If you love me, just do what I say. Come on.

You know, um but but unlike earthly parents, Jesus knows he's perfect parent, right? So if he tells you to do something, it's for your your benefit. The wisest thing to do is be for his scum and just say, "Yes, sir, drill sergeant." you know, and just and just do that.

So, stop focusing on you. Focus on loving others. It's the great commandment which is love God and then love others is incredibly powerful. It's incredibly powerful.

If you focus on him and then focus on others, you can't be depressed. I I would always say you can't be depressed serving in a soup kitchen. Okay? You can't once you're starting to push out food to those people that are so distraught and you're seeing the what they're dealing with, you know, you can't be depressed.

Depression is when you're sitting there worrying about how everything affects me, me, me, me, me. It's a focus on me. All right? But loving God and loving others takes depression out of the equation.

All right? There's a reason why Jesus said that everything he tells us to do is smart for us to do. You We're We've got a very hurting world out there right now, guys. It's a mess.

It really is a mess. I mean, there's stuff happening. I can't even believe this this case that's up there with the woman who killed her kids and and uh you know, we think that the Epstein thing is a is an individual thing, but but it's just a subfunction of where the culture is going. We're going towards that stuff, okay?

We're going away from the things of God. And God won't put up with it forever. He won't put up with it forever. He will come back at some point.

Yes, he's longsuffering. And yes, he's been uber patient. All right? But it's going to happen.

He's going to come. And so, as the band comes up, I want to just It's a simple message today. All right? And I hope I hope that the uh the simpleness of it doesn't doesn't um miss the mark here.

All right? Because it's time for us to do business with the Lord. Where are you struggling right now in your life? What area are you struggling in?

Who have you not forgiven? What have you what are you um where is your deep hurt? Where is it? Okay.

What is that thing that's deep hurting you? You got to lay it down. We got to lay it down. Okay.

We got to lay it down. Don't let that hurt go on any longer. Okay. Where have you not forgiven yourself?

Where have you not forgiven yourself? It's time to lay it down. We can we can clean up today on the authority of Jesus Christ. I tell you, you can clean up today.

You can put this stuff away today, and you never have to pick it up. All right? You didn't have to pick it up before, but I'm telling you again, you don't have to pick it up. All right?

Jesus says it's done. As far as the east is from the west, you you are clean, but you have to embrace that forgiveness. Okay? You got to lay it down.

What flesh patterns do are you still clinging to? Okay, lay it down. Lay it down. Lay it down today.

What sins are you hiding? You know, it says that Bara did a survey and over almost 60% of all practicing Christians um look at porn. That's just not good. Okay.

Whatever sins you're hiding, you think they're doing in a thing, lay it down. You got to lay it down. And so as we go into this song, I'm going to pray and I'm just asking you to search your hearts. Search your hearts and and just bring that thing to this altar and lay it down, man, and be free.

Rise up and be free. Jesus came to set you free. Stop staying locked up because you refused to forgive yourself for what you did. Just lay it down, man.

You're not that little insecure boy anymore. You're not that person. You're you're you're a new creation in Christ. And it's time for us to walk out of this thing loving God, loving others, and making disciples because we're we're so in love with Jesus.

And so, heavenly father, I just pray right now that that you will move in this place, that you will you will reach down deep into the hearts of these people, Lord, and they that they will lay it down and and put it down and keep it there and and walk away and walk up free, Lord. You know what business has to be done today, Lord. And I just pray that you move in each heart in the way only you know. And Lord, I just pray that you will touch them and love them and heal them this day in Jesus name.

Amen.