when it comes to things that really matter in life I think all of us know
that better is a perspective it's very subjective
you know why you think some people's lives are better than yours because you
see the part that they show you they might have a better house but I wonder
what goes on inside and see you don't know which one's better oh if you live
long enough you will find out that some of the people you spent so much of your
time envying were secretly miserable better is a perspective better is not
necessarily something that you can measure from what you can see with your
eyes but we all live in this world like ah you gotta get the iPhone what is it
11 that just came out but I gotta get it I don't even like the text I get
now from people on the old one no it's better it's got a camera I can see
through people I could put x-ray vision
it's better oh I get it it's better you know I sent you this writer of Hebrews
he goes all the way back to get the people to move forward he goes all the
way back to get the people to move forward he knows the only way that
they're gonna move forward in their faith is if they go backwards go
backwards better I thought I'd be better by now you are look where you started
you remember when you weren't even going to church look at you now you got a pen
you're gonna steal it but at least you stole it from a church that's better
touch somebody say I'm doing better I'm doing better if you could see my
bloodline I'm doing better if you could see the thoughts that I didn't act on if
you could see the temptations that I did resist I promise you I'm doing better
see a subjective and this relative better compared to what every time I
preach I know because I am a number one that the sermon could be better
of course I'm speaking on behalf of God the gap between what he knows and what I
say will always be a pretty big one so I understand that it could always be
better and that torments me sometimes truly it does because a lot of times you
know I get used to doing things a certain way remember these people that
the author is writing to so eloquently are not unfamiliar with religion they
came from a religious system not out of a meth lab they're not being tempted to
go back to the world they're being tempted to go back to an old religious
system and to drift away or he says fall away from grace he makes an argument
that you should be further along by now he says it in Chapter five that you
should be teachers by now but you're still dealing with the basics and then
he says that if you fall away from grace that it's impossible to come back when I
read that I got depressed until I realized what he was really saying
is that if you ever really get grace you can't really fall away and what he's
teaching them Jerry is kind of like on tennis he has to teach them to switch
their grip when I first came to get him to teach me the first thing he said to
me was because I had developed my my own unique style of playing tennis I wasn't
good at it or anything but I had this certain way of getting the ball over the
net that worked for me and as long as the person on the other side of the net
was less athletic than me my way worked just fine or even if they were more
athletic than me I would only pick people to play against who I knew had
never played it was good for my ego and my self-esteem but bad for my tennis
skills and when I first came out to Robert Stevens if you want to look him
up on Google get him for a tennis teacher he's pretty good but when I
first went out there this made me mad because he said let me see what I'm
working with show me your serve so I did what I do
you know I had this little thing I put my pointer finger on the racket like
that it's my grip okay it puts the ball over
the net six miles an hour maybe but it gets over the net into the box it works
and when he saw my grip he said okay now you need to hold it like this and he
switched my grip but let me tell you what happened when he switched my grip
when he switched my grip the ball no longer went over the net instead it went
over the fence when he switched my grip my percentage shots that went in the box
went way down and I looked at him like I'm paying you for this crap
you switched my grip but you didn't fix my serve but I didn't understand at the
time that sometimes in order to get to better you have to go backwards y'all
help me preach if you have spiritual ears sometimes in order to get to better
you have to go through bad and I'm preaching this for somebody today who
has been feeling like things have been going backwards for you the thing about
it is when God shows you a new grip called grace for a little while in your
life it's harder for you because you're used to controlling things and
manipulate things and when you get something new have you ever noticed if
you get something new even if it's better at first it gets on your nerves
because you don't know how to use it and the temptation for us is watch this God
will do a new thing in our life and He'll be teaching us to forgive and
He'll be teaching us to get over offenses and He'll be teaching us to
trust Him and He'll be teaching us to find
different ways to connect to joy and they'll be teaching us to not be so fake
and He'll be teaching us not to live by our feelings but then we look at what He
fixed on our grip and we see our shot going so far over the fence and I wonder
if I would actually be better off doing it the old way than the new way so I go
back instead of moving forward into better he said you can't go back you you
have something better better when you get depressed you stop believing that
when you get uncomfortable you stop believing that you start trying to grip
life like you used to
we got to go backwards to get better we got to go all the way back to get better
that means I have to be comfortable in some seasons of my life I'm looking in
the camera cuz I think this is for somebody watching online I have to be
comfortable in my life to accept that sometimes loss is the way to gain
I have to be comfortable enough in my life to know that sometimes the most
painful moments are the most purposeful moments I have to be comfortable in my
life to stop comparing myself so much with people who are not meant to be the
standard anyway Jesus is better I know some of you are intimidated because you
don't know if you're as good of a Christian as some of the other people in
the room but let me tell you something about being a better Christian you know
well they're a better Christian than me look they've memorized all this
scripture they're not better at Christians they're better at memory they
just got a better memory that doesn't make them a better Christian the
religious people that crucified Jesus had a good memory they could quote all
600 plus laws they're not better than you I wish you would tell the person next to
you you're not better than me not when it comes to my purpose see
better is relative to purpose can I preach this so I walked into Guitar
Center and I asked Jamie behind the counter which one is better
I was buying software for Elijah to make beats which one is better
he said that depends what you want to use it for that depends how you intend
to utilize the software better is relative to purpose some of you think
that everybody else is better smarter taller maybe God needed somebody short
enough to fit through that door have you ever thought about that maybe God needed
somebody ignorant enough to display His wisdom maybe God may needed somebody
hopeful enough to know that it is not i but Christ in me
and besides if Jesus Christ walks in this room none of us are gonna have any
fashion show to put on none of us are gonna roll out our
righteous deeds we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and
grace is a way of life because you need Him like I need Him and His blood that
was enough for you was enough for me if it cleansed Billy Graham it can hit me
too
because He's better because He's better and the fact that He's better doesn't
mean that sometimes life won't get worse so we need a new definition of better
what if better is not always higher what if better sometimes is deeper
what if better is not always a feeling what if it's more like a foundation what
if better is not always what God is doing for you but sometimes it's what
He's doing through you they couldn't recognize Jesus when He came in the form
of a baby because they were waiting for something better
they couldn't recognize Jesus when He was led away silently and didn't say a
word before His accusers because if He's really the Son of God he should say
something and come down they expected better and is it possible that better is
right in front of us and we don't even recognize it so we don't receive it you
know what some of us are so used to bad that we reject better when it comes
sometimes backwards feels better feels familiar sometimes we'll go back to bad
relationships because they feel better oh I'm preaching now it got quiet when
when backwards I called the sermon when better feels backwards but what about
when backwards feels better but I think I'll just go back to this I think I'll
just go back to that I think I'll just quit trying at this I think I'll use my
old grip I'm tired of waiting on that's what
happened to Abraham by the way God told him he was gonna do it a certain way but
he thought he knew better so instead of waiting he went in and slept with the
servant of his wife Sarai her name became Sarah but Abraham went in and
made a baby with her because God had a promise and a timetable for the promise
but Abraham I know you never did this before but he thought he knew better
than God and the Bible even uses this illustration of Abraham in Hebrews 6 he
reaches backward to show them how much better it is to wait for the promise of
God he reaches all the way back to Abraham that was like the progenitor or
the father of the faith of the whole nation this is what they came from and
now as they're tempted to go back away from what they're walking into
as their lives get worse as their situation seems to decrease and diminish
he reaches back to Abraham and he talks about how he patiently waited for the
promise of God but that's not the whole story see before Abraham patiently
waited for Isaac the child of promise to be born through Sarah he got the word
from God and then he went in did something that he thought was better
because he got tired of waiting he had the right word but the wrong womb
and so he went in now I know why he did this because Abraham was from a place
called Ur of the Chaldeans and so are we not geographically and is spelled
differently he was from Ur u - r - but ours is spelled ER because anything that God
does in our life all we have to do is go on our phones and find somebody who is
earth than us bet-er rich-er strong-er happy-er thin-er ripped earth cute
this the one that will break your heart you think your kids are smart and then
you get around some other kids and you realize that your kids by product of
comparison we're better than their three-year-old brother but around the
same age kids it's always this temptation you don't have to do anything
but flip on a commercial and they will be pulling you back to the land of ur
it's better it's better and there are things in your life right now that
you're like it'd be so much better if would it really are you sure yeah yeah
if I was famous that would be amazing I would be significant if people knew my
name oh really that would be better you never saw celebrity commit suicide
are you sure it would be better is that what better really is well if I had this
amount of money I wouldn't have any problems are you sure about that you've
never met a miserable rich person I can introduce you to a few it's it's not
it's not like this is new it's not like it's only for the church here in Rome
that is being persecuted for their faith we are all drawn back to the land of
Ur of looking around and never feeling really enough and comparing
ourselves to things that were never meant to be our standard the only
standard worthy of of your comparison is the full
potential of Christ in you the hope of glory and I want to declare over some of
our lives today we don't even realize how good it already is we are forgiven
set free redeemed breathing clapping walking talking examples of the
miracle working power of God I release this over your life it's already better
you can already rejoice you can give thanks right now for His goodness hey
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