This past weekend was our first weekend as Canvas Church and WOW what an amazing weekend it was. The place was packed, the presence of God was strong and many responded to receive Jesus Christ. If you missed it you can catch the service here by Tuesday afternoon.
The message this past weekend was part 2 of the new series “Canvas” in which we have been discussing how our life can paint a better picture. Throughout this series we are studying the Ephesians 2:10 that says, “For you are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago”.
We are God’s masterpiece and He has a wonderful picture He is painting in each and everyone of us (Psalm 139:13-16) yet in the process of Him painting that beautiful masterpiece things happen that come and mess the picture up and therefore Jesus comes and creates us anew. Two things we discussed this past weekend that mess up our picture is Sin and Emotional scars in our life. Sin being the things we do that mess up the picture. When we sin we resist the work of God in our life because a Holy God cannot dwell where there is sin. We in essence take the paint brush out of His hand and attempt to paint our own picture. Emotional scars in our life are those hurts and offenses that have happened that are outside of our control. For example a dad left you or someone lied about you and your character etc. This is where someone else has splattered some paint on the masterpiece that God is creating.
Sin and Emotional scars both happen and can momentarily cause the painting to look jacked up yet even through this the master painter is still in control and can turn all of it into a beautiful work of art. We just need to learn through these situations how our life can paint a better picture.
So how can our life paint a better picture in light of Sin and Emotional Scars? It comes down to one word, “Forgiveness”. Forgiveness is the key to having Sin erased from the picture and it is the key to having Emotional scars turned in to nothing more then colorful splatters of paint on life’s canvas. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. When we confess our sins to Jesus all of the mess we have created in the masterpiece is created anew. He comes in with his brushes and keeps the masterpiece going!
In the same way Jesus’ work of forgiveness creates us anew, when we forgive others for what they have done to us it turns those emotional scars into something that creates depth and texture in our life. Something we must understand is that to the degree we forgive others is the degree which God forgives us. Matthew 6:14-15 says, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”. Forgiveness truly does bring healing to those emotional scars in our life.
Dream Big
Ben Brinkman – Lead Pastor
Challenge questions from this past week’s message:
1) If someone was to look at your life right now what would the picture look like to them, what story does your life tell or what picture does it paint?
2) What worries do you have in your life right now? What are you having a hard time trusting God with?
3) Can you identify some areas or a season in your life where you were the one painting rather then God? Have those areas or seasons been redeemed by His grace?
