Keith Battle - God's Benefit Package - Part 1

Today, I’m starting a new series. It’s called God’s Benefits Package, and I want you to check out this video to see where we’re going with this series. Good! I’m just giving the latecomers a chance to sit down. I hear the horns. Come on, horns! Only a few more minutes now. I chose to go with an app as the motif, the graphic for this series. We’re considering God’s Benefits Package like an app. You know how you download an app on your laptop, device, tablet, or phone? The reason I’m doing that is that I want God to download this into our souls and spirits in a way that we will never be the same. I pray that you never recover from this stuff He downloads into us because, here’s the thing—when we download an app, how many of you know someone, or are you someone, who has access to technology but has no idea how to maximize what you have in your hand? Is anyone like that? You don’t even know what you have, right? I’m saying a whole lot of us spiritually are just like this—you don’t even know what you have. Wow! You have no idea the benefits that come with being a child of God, and we are living below our privileges. When I was on vacation for two weeks in Florida, I loved it down there. We were at a place called Reunion, and at this resort, there are certain benefits that come with being on the property. They have a golf course, putt-putt golf, a splash park, and they have a gym—a nice, air-conditioned gym with a pool outside of it, complete with ping pong and all this stuff. Every day, because I got there on a Monday and my daughter didn’t arrive until Friday because she coordinates everything, I would walk in that hot Florida sun. I wanted to go into the gym, but I walked past it every day in the heat. You understand what I’m saying? Some of us have access to things that we don’t even know—we just don’t know how to access them and we don’t know who we are or what God has provided for us. But if you’re ready to receive it, say, «I’m ready! I’m ready!» Alright, if you’re ready to stand up on your feet, if you can… Well, you can’t stand on your hands, right? I tell people why we say «stand on your feet.» If you physically can stand, then please do so. There’s no need for you to stand on your hands, but I want you to stand—even if you’re online right now, stand with us. The reason we stand is that we’re honoring God’s word. That’s why we stand. You might say, «Well, I’m not there with you, ” but God is there with you. You won’t stand the rest of this sermon, but I’ll be standing the whole time, so at least you can stand during this part and say, „God, You’re worthy of my attention.“ My clock started already? It did? Okay, alright. Let’s go to Psalm 103. Psalm 103 is where I want to read; that’s where this benefits package is focused. Now, not all of God’s benefits are in Psalm 103, obviously, but there are enough to get us moving in a good direction, along with other scriptures that we’ll use. Verse one from the New International Version says this: „Praise the Lord, oh my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name.“ Everything in me—my lungs, my liver, my heart, my mind, my emotions—let everything praise and bless the Lord. I am so grateful for what He did. Verse two says, „Praise the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits.“ God has benefits; God’s got a benefits package for us, and here’s the one I’m going to focus on today. I’m only going to focus on one today: The first five words of verse three offer benefits package number one—“Who forgives all your sins.» Woo! You may be seated. Woo! He forgives—listen to me, y’all—God forgives all your sins. That’s hard to comprehend. There is no better news in this world than to know that God has forgiven you. How many? All! Do you hear what I just said? Do you understand how this applies to someone in here who’s been living in the guilt and shame of what you did? How you lost your family, lost your job, lost your health, lost an opportunity, and you’re living in the shame of your mistakes? I want you to know something: God has forgiven you of all your sins. You don’t have to live with your head down, feeling shameful and guilty about it. He has forgiven all your sins. There is nothing more important for you to hear in this life than that God has forgiven me of all my sins. In fact, do me a favor—help me preach this at Landover, Fort Washington, and even put it in the chat. Tell the closest person to you these words because it matters: «God has forgiven you of all your sins.»