Those are the same people that God is forgiving completely, but the question is this. Is there any place where you have received the forgiveness of the cross, yet when you look at your life, it's simply a dirty Roman sponge being offered back to God? One of the messages of the cross is this: may our life be a sweet-smelling offering in His nostrils. That's what they wanted.
Jesus died at exactly the ninth hour. At the ninth hour of every day, the priest would break incense through the temple, and proclaim: Lord, let our life rise as a sweet-smelling incense in your nostrils. In other words, Jewish people wanted their life to smell right before God. This is an incredible imagery. One of the imageries of the cross is this: let your life smell sweet to Jesus, not like a dirty Roman sponge.
I would challenge you today, to not just receive the benefits of the cross, but actually allow the kingdom of God to be established in you, so that our offering back to Him is sweet, and not a dirty Roman sponge. I bless you today to be a group of people, fully aware that no matter where you are, no matter what suffering you're in - hope is on the way. The water is red.
Listen to me. Bay City Outreach Centre as an organisation - hope is on the way. Your mission is not over. Your mission is simply stepping into something greater and greater and greater. In the next two years you will look back on these moments, and you will see what God was doing all along, was increasing your influence - not just in Hastings but in the world. Water's turning red.
Let me speak to your families. No matter what your situation is in your family, you might have given up. You might be as a husband blaming your wife for everything. You might be as a wife blaming your husband for everything. You might be being critical, you might be looking around and seeing all the problems with everybody else. You might be doing that, and I would say to you: stop! That is cutting off your hope flow. You go find the river of hope. There's a river called Hope flowing somewhere in your situation. You've just got to go get it.
I would also say to you, that when you find the river of hope, may you keep the fire of gratitude lit deep in your heart. Pastor Mike brought up this earlier about Leviticus. It says that the altar in the tabernacle - God gave the fire; but then it says: but the priest had to keep it going. In other words, God is only responsible to give you the fire once; the rest of it is your responsibility to keep it going, by keeping the ash cleaned out. See we don't want to offer back to Jesus a dirty Roman sponge.
Now what I want you to do now is I want us to have about a 60 second moment with God. If you're here today, and you're a believer in Jesus Christ, I want you to take the next 60 seconds, and I want you to do business with God. I want you to get this thing settled inside of yourself. I want you to become aware of blood in the water, and hope & suffering; but I also want you to have a moment where you repent, and renounce any actions or attitudes that is really a dirty Roman sponge.
While they're doing that, if you're here today, and you've not yet made a decision to follow Jesus Christ, I would encourage you to do so. It's not the words of any prayer that will ever save you. It's the response to God in your heart, and right now you could feel God knocking on the door of your heart. You could sense it, and you know: I need to respond to this kind, loving, compassionate, gracious person. While the believers in Jesus Christ are doing their business with God, if you need to respond to that today I'd love to help you. I'm not going to embarrass you in any way, I'm simply going to pray for you, right where you are. Is there anybody that says: Shane, I need to make that decision this morning? If that's you, would you raise your hand? It takes a lot of bravery to raise your hand, even though it's the only decision you'll ever make that everybody will be happy for you - it's still brave. I'm proud of you. This is very serious business - I could feel God just calling me, and inside my heart I need to respond. It's the best decision you'll ever make. It's the start of your journey.