Encounter Story | Week 3

Pastor Brent Sparks

“Until Jesus entered my life, I didn't know how led astray I was.” DJ experienced some hard times that are difficult and unfair. This led to him being “led astray” and numbing the pain with drugs and alcohol and slowing becoming an angry suicidal man. This is where many of us get in our lives. We are led astray in a few ways:  We think I can numb this and pretend it never happened  Dj was controlled by the pain of his past and the bad things that had been done to him. Why? Because he never dealt with the pain of his past. We all have experienced something… maybe not rape or being sold to the neighbor for drug money. But, we all have pain from our past. Pain leads us to a crossroads: Turn to Jesus for healing or try to handle it on our own.  Psalm 13:1-2, 5-6  O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand? But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me. DJ tried to handle it on his own… was agnostic and didn't believe in God. Led him to drugs and partying… problem: we can never get drunk or high enough to remove the pain and heal the wounds of the past.  You can numb the pain alone, but only Jesus can heal the pain.  Psalm 34:17-19 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time. We think that how we live now wont impact our future  DJ chose to handle things on his own and began to make decisions that held him captive and impacted every part of his life. Drugs and partying became the norm and instead of finding freedom, DJ is living in anger and contimplating suicide. Our decisions now will impact our lives tomorrow.  The choices we make now can impact our future for either Good or Bad. I will prove it to you.  Let's call it the Esau syndrome:  Hebrews 12:16 (MSG)  Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God’s lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite.  A Little Context: Esau, grandson of Abraham... who is one of most famous people in scripture. God makes a promise: You are going to have so many descendants--more than the stars and become a great nation, and through that nation a Messiah would be born. That promise would be passed down through the family generations This promise also came with a double portion of the financial inheritance, a spiritual priestly role within the family, and the ability to just basically be the leader if any disputes arose in the family business.  Abraham to Isaac, Isaac has twins Jacob and Esau (the hairy one) Esau is the oldest and the first in line to receive all that, through the Birthright  Esau Gets all that until one day his younger brother offered him soup for it:   Genesis 25:29-34 (NLT)  One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!” “All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.” “Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?” But Jacob said, “First you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal, then got up and left. He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn.   Because Esau gave up his right of firstborn… it was a refusal on all of those promises that God had put on his life. He gave them all away to his baby brother.  He gave them all away to Jacob, willingly.  If he wouldn't have given it to him, no one could have ever taken them from him.  The calling God has on your life can be silenced by the desire to feel good in the moment.  Sex can cause you to look at porn or have an affair that will wreck your home, make your kids hate you, and ruin your family. Success in business can cause you to cut corners and make unethical decisions, give people a bad impression of Jesus-followers, and possibly cost you your job or put you in prison.  You can end up trading what God wants to give you for a bowl of stew.  The ultimate for the instant.  Forever can be eclipsed by for a moment. The INSTANT wants to steal from you: what God has destined for our marriage the home our kids are supposed to grow up in, the things that God wants to do through our businesses the souls we are meant to reach It can all be compromised because of our desire to feel good in the moment. Genesis 25:32 (NLT)  Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now? Now Yells LOUDER, but Later Lasts LONGER Esau’s Life changed forever in one moment  For either good or bad / positive or negative The choice is ours If you hear this and are heart broken. I want to tell you something--God’s not done with you yet. We think that God did all the bad things in my life.  God is never your problem. He is always your answer.  DJ: Comes to church because a friend invited him to come to his baptism  Comes hungover but is loved and accepted  Can feel something as worship starts… never felt before   Gives his life to Jesus that day … with his wife and daughter  Got baptized  “Now I am a completely different person… He has changed my life!” Jesus changes everything!!! DJ is hungover at church and still senses God's presence. It doesn't matter what you've done or how you got here.  Jesus loves you and died to save you and wants you to give up control and give him your life today.