Transcription
Johnny, do you know what sin is? And are you a sinner? And I'm looking at my body like, "Pastor, come on now. You think I just drew on my body cuz I ran out of paper? We're gang members. Why would you ask me that question? Of course, I'm a sinner."
And he goes, "Why do you say that you're a sinner?" And I'm like, "I say I'm a sinner cuz I did a lot of stuff like evil things and doing bad makes me a sinner." You know what he said? The next few words blew my mind. He said, "Not so."
I said, "What you mean?" I thought if I rob somebody, if I shoot at people, if I do X, Y, and Z, those are sins. And he goes, "That's not true. According to the Bible, Romans 5:12 says that one man, sin entered into the world and brought death. For that reason, all are sinners."
So he said, "Just like you, Johnny, did you choose to be Chinese?" I was like, "No, what kind of question is that?" So if you eat more orange chicken and fried rice, then you're more Chinese, and if you eat less of it, then you're less Chinese. And I was like, "Yo, this guy got jokes." I'm like, "Nah, that's not what it is. I'm Chinese whether I eat chicken and whatever or not." And he goes, "Likewise, Adam's sin passed it down to you and me."
And I said, "Man, that's the first time he broke it down that sin wasn't an action, but it was an identity." So that's why he said, "You're empty." And I'm like, "How did this guy know I was empty?" Cuz I never told him that I was empty. I never told him I was depressed.
He said, "Because you're a person who's imperfect trying to be perfect. You're going to keep failing." He said, "So you probably live happy, sad, happy, sad, happy, sad. When you feel happy, you're on the up. But when you crash, sad, happy, sad, happy, sad until when? Emptiness enters your heart. And that's normal." That's the first time I heard that I was normal.
I don't know about you guys, but a lot of people probably told us, right, you ain't normal. There's something wrong with you. You crazy. I heard that all my life. But the pastor told me, Johnny, you're normal. There's one thing that you got to do. You got to understand that trusting in your thoughts is what's going to lead you to sin because the way you think affects the way you feel and the way you feel behavior. So, if I have angry thoughts, I'm going to have angry feelings and then I'm going to have angry behavior. I never understood it like that. I just would react.
So, he told me, "Johnny, did you know that God has already made you perfect?" I was like, "Perfect? Wait a minute. I'm not perfect? That's what I was thinking." But he showed me a verse that changed my life. Hebrews 10:14, "For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified." One offering, he said, is Jesus Christ. Perfected, if you read it, is in past tense. And then it says forever. So it's already done.
And I'm sitting here and I'm like wait I don't feel like I'm perfect but the word of God is telling you you're perfect. He said who do you think is right? So I was like okay God is right. He's telling me that I'm perfect but my thoughts are telling me no you're not perfect.
Now let me ask you guys something. Every time you guys followed your thoughts overall. How did it work out? Was it good or was it bad? Bad. Amen. Right. I'm going to go rob this dude. I'mma come up. Every time I followed that ended up in prison. I was able to see that my mind was my biggest enemy.