Perry Noble Confession: I Have a Difficult Time Believing Jesus Loves Me
Former NewSpring Church Pastor Perry Noble says that due to all the "stupid, foolish and sinful" mistakes he's made in the past, he has trouble believing that Jesus loves him.
Noble said in a Facebook video on Sunday titled "One of the Hardest Things for Me to Believe" that despite growing up as a child with the song, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so," and not having any problems believing that Jesus loves other people, he has difficulty seeing himself as loved by Christ.
"I just want to share a confession, and something that God is teaching me. I have no problem, right now, with all of you watching, I have no problem at all believing that Jesus loves you," he said.
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"I read the Bible, and I see 'difficult' people in the Scriptures that Jesus loved: David was a murderer, Peter denied Christ, Thomas doubted Him, and Jesus still loved all these people," Noble continued.
The preacher warned that sometimes in religious circles people start believing that Jesus loves only "good" people, but argued that it's not so.
"Jesus loves difficult people," he reiterated.
But despite taking all that into account, Noble, who has struggled with alcoholism, admitted that he has "a really hard time believing that Jesus loves me."
"The reason I have a difficult time believing that Jesus loves me, is because I know all of the stupid, foolish, sinful things that I have done. Not only that, but I also know the stupid, foolish, sinful things that I have thought about doing, but haven't done," he explained.
Still, he revealed that in the pat 48 hours he has received a number of texts from unrelated people who have told him that God loves him. Noble said that messages have been "rocking my world," and giving him hope.
He shared a message to all those watching who believe they have "gone too far, sinned one too many times," saying: "Jesus loves you, right now, just as you are. If you are living in some sort of sin, He does want you to change, like He wants me to change, but Jesus loves you right now. You don't have to work for His love, you don't have to earn His love."
Noble further explained that God already knows everything that people are going to do, and said that God has never been surprised by anything, no matter how bad, that people have done.
Noble preached last week at Elevation Church in North Carolina, where he shared some details about his time in rehab, which he entered last year to fight his problems with alcohol.
"If you don't know, probably know, back in July I lost my job drinking too much and I got to go to something called rehab. I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands if you've ever been to rehab because it's probably the closest to Hell I've ever been in my life," Noble said before revealing that one night, when he was feeling very low, God spoke to him.
"I never will forget watching the sunset and it's the closest I've ever come to hearing God audibly whisper to me, 'I'm not finished with you yet,'" he attested.
"I don't say that so you can leave tonight thinking that's so great that God spoke to him and told him, 'I'm not finished with you yet.' I'm saying, if God can say this to somebody as messed up like me, surely there is somebody here tonight that walked in this room feeling defeated and maybe God's whispering to you saying, 'I'm not finished with you yet,'" Noble added.
