What did you say that for?

Steve Brown:
What did you say that for? Good question, that. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Jerry Parries has been teaching us all this week. Jerry serves as pastor at Christian Family Worship Center, House of Grace. And he’s the author of The Making of a Blended Family.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hi Jerry.

Jerry Parries:
Hey, sir. How are you?

Steve Brown:
I love this week. I’ve learned so much good stuff from you, I’m going to be a spiritual giant. And I’ll give you credit when people, actually this has been a great week for all of us because you’ve been talking about the power of confession.

Jerry Parries:
Yes.

Steve Brown:
When you first said that’s what you wanted to talk about, I thought we were going to confess our sins. And I thought, well, you can, I’m not. And then I realized you’re not talking about confessing sins, you’re about, you’re talking about confessing truth.

Jerry Parries:
Yes, yes.

Steve Brown:
The truth of Scripture as it applies to us. You’ve given us two things, you’re going to give us three. Go over the first two so we can start from there on the third thing we need to remember in the power of confession.

Jerry Parries:
Absolutely. Well, the first thing that I wanted to, I talked about in the power of confession is that you have to speak over your life, that I am blessed and highly favored. You’ve just got to know that you are favored by God and, and God loves you. And when you walk, favor follows you. Everything, favor is your friend. You expect to be blessed. You know, I told my wife and my wife knows this tremendously. When I go into a parking lot at a Walmart or a store and I’m looking for a parking space, I say, alright favor I’m here. I expect people to move so that I can be at the front and 9 times out of 10 Steve, as soon as I drive up, somebody moves out of the way and I park right up in the front.

Steve Brown:
You know, one time my wife did that. We were going to a very crowded place and there weren’t any parking places. And I said, I’m going to let you out and I’m going to park in Denver and I’ll come back and get you. And she said, no, I’ll pray for a parking place. As soon as she did the parking place in front of the store, we were going to, somebody pulled out and there it was and I pulled in. And I said, I don’t believe that. And she said, that’s because of your lack of faith.

Jerry Parries:
Oh, I speak favor when I’m flying on the plane. I fly on a plane. Me and my wife was going to Paris one time and I gave my wife my first class seat so she could sit up front and I was sitting in the back. And, but I was just saying that the favor of God is over my life. The pilot came back and said, you gave your wife your first class seat. Come on, I’m going to move you up to first class. And, just favor happens like that for me all the time because I declare it. I speak it out of my mouth that I’m favored by God and it manifests. So, that’s the first thing.

Steve Brown:
Okay. And the second.

Jerry Parries:
The second thing is I say, that God is a hundred percent pleased with me because of Jesus Christ, that I am holy, blameless without a single fault, not because of what I’ve done, it’s because what Christ has done for me, his blood covers me. And when God sees me, he sees the blood of Jesus over my life. So, I am holy, I am blameless, I am without a single fault. It doesn’t mean that I don’t make mistakes. What it means that when I do make mistakes, it is charged to Jesus’ account and not my account because I’m covered under the blood of Jesus. And so, the third one today I want to talk about is that God is able to make all grace abound towards you. Grace can abound towards you. Well, what is grace? Grace is God’s undeserved favor. It is God’s enabling power. It is God’s ability to do for you what you can’t do for yourself.

Steve Brown:
Oh man. We don’t believe that, do we?

Jerry Parries:
No, we don’t believe that. We don’t believe that, but you’ve got to know that God is able to make our grace. The Bible says. When you sow and it’s not only talking about money, it’s talking about goodness, it’s talking about favor on other people, it’s talking about the way you treat other people. Give and it shall be given unto you, good measures, press down, shaking together, running over. It’s that’s talking about love, how you treat your people, and then the Scripture ends with.

And God is able to make all grace abound towards you.

And when you know that God’s grace abound towards you in every area of your life, everything you put your hands to do can prosper.

Steve Brown:
You know, what you’ve done is profound because you’re dealing with the lies we believe them out God.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
I mean we’ve made him into a monster instead of the Father that he is, who loves us without condition, forgives us always, and pours out favor on our lives. You know, if we’d start claiming that, or in your words, confessing that, we’d see a lot of change, wouldn’t we?

Jerry Parries:
We would, we would. We will have, Jesus says.

You shall have whatsoever you say.

And if you speak negative over your life, negativity is what’s going to follow you. You have to declare that you are the righteousness of God. In fact, I like Psalms 1. It says.

As blessed is the man who who walk not in the council of the ungodly.

Now this is Old Testament, but let me tell you what walking in the council of the ungodly is in the new covenant. Walking in the council of the ungodly in the new covenant is believing the lies of what people say that you’re not when God has said what you are. And you’ve got to not walk, when people say that you ain’t that, you’re not this, you can’t walk in that council. You’ve got to walk in the council that God has made me holy, blameless, without a single fault. That’s the console that you need to listen to. And this is not stand in the path of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in the law, he meditates day and night. Here’s what I want to get to Dr. Steve, listen what happens to you when you confess the right thing.

He shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth fruit in its season whose leaves also shall not wither and whatsoever he do shall prosper.

Steve Brown:
Oh, man.

Jerry Parries:
That’s a mindset. That’s an attitude. That’s because you’re walking in the favor of God and God is able to make all grace abound towards you. And David said, I’ve got two buddies that follow me, goodness and mercy

Steve Brown:
all the days of my life

Jerry Parries:
all the days of my life.

Steve Brown:
You know, probably when, you know, when we’re not here Jerry and I or primarily Jerry because this is his message, but we’re not saying that the world is a Disney World and everything’s fine and everything’s going to be good and we’re not ever going to have problems. That’s not what we’re saying.

Jerry Parries:
Not at all.

Steve Brown:

In this world, you will have tribulations.

And Jesus said that, but what you’re saying is what he said.

Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

Jerry Parries:
Yes sir. Yes sir. And that’s exactly what he’s done. And because he’s overcome the world, it’s not that he exempt, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is the greatest story of this. It doesn’t mean that he’s going to stop you from going in the fire. It means that when you go in there, he’s going to be with you. And if he’s with you, you will come out. And that’s the thing. And you come out with the right attitude. You come out with the right blessings. You come out knowing that God has really still covered you in the midst of life. Life be life. And I was telling Cathy, I have a lot of terrible tragedies that have happened over the holiday week-end. You know, my wife’s best friend daughter, who’s a Christian died on Christmas day.

Steve Brown:
Oh man.

Jerry Parries:
You know, my sister, fourth stage cancer, by the time we finish this broadcast, she’s in hospice, may not even be here. You know, and this is all happening, but in the midst of that, I’m still trusting and smiling and loving on God because being saved doesn’t exempt you from trouble, but the attitude behind it is that you know.

All things will work together for the good of them that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.

I don’t know the good in it, but God’s going to work it for my good. He didn’t say it is good, but he will work it out for the good if we trust him and still believe in him. And that’s what confession does for you.

Steve Brown:
Oh man, that is such good stuff. All right, in some practical ways, what can I do to put in a practical way in my own life what you’ve been teaching us this week?

Jerry Parries:
Excellent. First thing you want to do is get up in the morning, look in the mirror, and make a confession over your life, that the favor of God is over my life. You have to speak that, you have to start believing it. Then you need to say to yourself that God is a hundred percent pleased with me and walk in that. And so, when the enemy tells you that God is mad with you, God’s disappointed in you. Disappointment comes from unmet expectations. God is never disappointed in you. Let me say that again. God is never disappointed in you because God always know what you’re going to do before you do it. So he’s not, there’s no expectation that you can give God that he doesn’t already know.

Steve Brown:
So, he doesn’t say I had such high expectations for you.

Jerry Parries:
He already, he knows you’re beginning from the end. So, disappointment comes from unmet expectation. He doesn’t have any because he already knows. So, God has never disappointed with you. So, don’t allow the enemy to tell you those lies. And the third thing is to know, you’ve got to believe within your heart that God is able to make all grace abound towards you.

Steve Brown:
He, that’s a gift from him, isn’t it?

Jerry Parries:
Yes, it is.

Steve Brown:
I mean, faith isn’t something we just stir up. It’s a gift that he gives us.

Jerry Parries:
Amen. Yes, it is. And we all can receive that gift if we believe it and receive it.

Steve Brown:
Oh, Jerry, this has been so good. It’s been so good for the people who listened, but so good for me, the preacher. You know, Martin Luther said.

We’ve got to preach the gospel to each other, lest we become discouraged.

And you do that for me all the time. So, wake up tomorrow morning and confess who you really are. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
God is never disappointed in you. Man, that is a truth worth repeating and hiding in our heart. Thank you Steve. And thank you Jerry Parries. Remember, you can re listen to all of these episodes and share them through our website, keylife.org and join us again tomorrow when another of our Key Life voices, Pete Alwinson, will be here to tackle this question. Is retirement Biblical? Boy, I hope the answer is yes. But you know what, let’s tune in together and find out. Well, you just heard Jerry Parries say it. You heard Steve say it. God is not disappointed in you because our sins don’t disqualify us. And if you need proof, revisit the story of Jacob. We recently spoke about Jacob with Max Lucado and it was such an encouraging conversation. In fact, we’ll send you that entire conversation for free on CD. Just call us now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. Or to mail your request, just go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. You just ask for the free CD featuring Max Lucado. Finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you join us in that work through your financial support? You can charge a gift on your credit card. You can include a gift in your envelope. Or just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950. Key Life is production of Key Life Network.