Speaker 1: to be in Galatians 1, and if this is your first time in a long time or you came back from Easter again, I just want to say you picked a great week to be here because we're actually starting a new series entitled Paradigm Shift.
Speaker 1: Paradigm Shift Seeing and experiencing authentic faith in a world of distortions.
Speaker 1: Now, here's what we know.
Speaker 1: We know that it's super important to see things accurately.
Speaker 1: Like, for example, how many of you in the room?
Speaker 1: You guys wear glasses or contacts.
Speaker 1: Do you remember the first time you put on glasses?
Speaker 1: Or the first time you look through the lenses, that lens, for the first time?
Speaker 1: You're like oh, this is how you're supposed to be able to see things.
Speaker 1: Like the world is clear, right, you guys remember that?
Speaker 1: Some of you did.
Speaker 1: The rest of you are sleeping.
Speaker 1: Or how about this?
Speaker 1: You ever gone to a sporting event or a concert and you sat way up high in the nosebleeds?
Speaker 1: You guys done that before.
Speaker 1: Okay, right, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, I feel like I'm up there more than I'm not, right, so you sit way up high.
Speaker 1: When I was a kid, my dad used to take me to a baseball stadium in San Francisco called Candlestick Park.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, candlestick Park.
Speaker 1: So this is.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is back in the dark ages.
Speaker 1: We're talking the 1990s here.
Speaker 1: Now, some of you, some of you weren't even born in the 90s, okay, right, who's born 2000s or later?
Speaker 1: Oh man, I feel so old.
Speaker 1: Multiple hands on the balcony.
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 1: Teens up there sleeping, anyways.
Speaker 1: No, so this is the 1990s and you guys remember this.
Speaker 1: Okay, you remember you went to Candlestick park, just so I know who I'm talking to.
Speaker 1: Who's ever been to candlestick park in their life?
Speaker 1: Okay, so you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: This section over here there's like two people.
Speaker 1: So we're going to talk here, for no, it's a kid, it's a candlestick park.
Speaker 1: When you go there, it's freezing cold.
Speaker 1: She gotta have a blanket and gloves and beanies and like long john underwear or something.
Speaker 1: Like you're going to Tahoe or something you know.
Speaker 1: So then I go and I'm a kid and I go to my dad and we're sitting way up high and I'm like I'm freezing, I'm just freezing, okay, I'm freezing cold.
Speaker 1: I don't know why you guys are laughing.
Speaker 1: That's fine.
Speaker 1: So I'm freezing and I'm like dad, what are we doing here?
Speaker 1: Come on, can I just get some popcorn and some peanuts?
Speaker 1: My dad's like I'm not spending all this money to get a hot dog at home.
Speaker 1: You know whatever, sorry, that was my dad.
Speaker 1: So what he would do he'd take out this bag and he would have big old binoculars, because where we sat, everybody was.
Speaker 1: I mean they were like in ants, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I mean I'm like he said he look at the binoculars.
Speaker 1: He'd say, hey, that part of the field that's called left field and I want you to look at that guy out there.
Speaker 1: Okay, so he's like that's barry bonds, like one of the greatest baseball players to ever live.
Speaker 1: And he would say he would say, okay, second base.
Speaker 1: He's like, look, that guy's name is Jeff Kent.
Speaker 1: Now, by the way, you know you're a real Giants fan.
Speaker 1: If you remember Jeff Kent, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Right, jeff Kent, that's Jeff Kent.
Speaker 1: Then he would say, okay, that's the dugout over there.
Speaker 1: You see that over there, that's where all the players sit at.
Speaker 1: He'd say that's home plate.
Speaker 1: He'd say, you see, there's home plate.
Speaker 1: Now there's the circle over here and the circle over here kind of 20 feet or so away from home plate or whatever he says.
Speaker 1: Before the batters hit, they go to that place and they kind of warm their swing up and then they go to home plate.
Speaker 1: Dad, why do they do that?
Speaker 1: That's just what they do.
Speaker 1: And he's like okay, so that's the pitcher.
Speaker 1: And he's like you see those other guys that they don't look like they belong on the field, they're kind of dressed a little nicer.
Speaker 1: Those are the umpires.
Speaker 1: What's an umpire?
Speaker 1: Those are the guys that call strikes and balls and safe.
Speaker 1: What's an out dad?
Speaker 1: And he explained all these things to me.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm like the question asker guy that asks a betrothed questions.
Speaker 1: I started when I was just a kid and he explained all this to me and this is what started happening.
Speaker 1: I started understanding the amazing sport of baseball.
Speaker 1: I know some of you don't think baseball is amazing.
Speaker 1: We're praying for you.
Speaker 1: And I started understanding it.
Speaker 1: And it was a paradigm shift for me.
Speaker 1: I went from the kid that was up there like what are we doing, dad?
Speaker 1: Let's just go home to like, oh, this is kind of interesting.
Speaker 1: Now here is why I say this.
Speaker 1: It's because when you see and experience authentic Christianity like what it is, you see it, you experience it, you understand it without distortions you will find it compelling, life-giving and soul-anchoring.
Speaker 1: When you see and experience authentic Christianity without distortions, you will find it compelling, life-giving and soul-anchoring.
Speaker 1: Now, for some of us, when we think about Christianity, we do not think of those words.
Speaker 1: In fact, we think of like guilt, or we think of judgmental people, and the reason being is because this is what every single one of us bring to this room and every single one of us bring to this table our experiences.
Speaker 1: You have an experience, I have an experience.
Speaker 1: We've experienced different things, we've seen different things and for a lot of us, what's happened is we've seen some Christianity, but kind of a distorted version of it.
Speaker 1: Or we had some Christianity and then we went to this church and it was like I don't know what happened here and like the pastor did that.
Speaker 1: Or you know, it's like we we don't watch a couple videos on TikTok and we're like, oh really, the Bible says that.
Speaker 1: But when you see authentic Christianity, it's compelling and it's life-giving and it's so anchoring which begs the question what is authentic Christianity?
Speaker 1: This really matters.
Speaker 1: Authentic Christianity, in just a nutshell, is this it's trusting in the gospel, the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ for your salvation, for the forgiveness of your sin, and having a growing, vibrant relationship with Jesus.
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 1: That's authentic Christianity.
Speaker 1: You guys got it All right.
Speaker 1: Let's go home.
Speaker 1: No, just kidding.
Speaker 1: This actually takes us into the book of Galatians, which is what we're going to be studying over the next several weeks.
Speaker 1: The book of Galatians was written to some people in a place called Galatia.
Speaker 1: Now, remember, if you're newer to faith, newer to Christianity, the Bible, the scriptures it's not one book, it's actually 66 books.
Speaker 1: Somebody's mind just was blown there 66 books divided up into the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Speaker 1: What separates the Old Testament and the New Testament?
Speaker 1: What is his name?
Speaker 1: His name is Jesus.
Speaker 1: Okay, jesus, matthew, mark, luke and John first four books of the New Testament.
Speaker 1: Okay, their biograph is all about the life of Jesus.
Speaker 1: We have Acts, where the gospel started spreading the message of Jesus.
Speaker 1: We have Romans, and then this guy, paul, started writing letters to all these different churches to show them how do you have a relationship with Jesus?
Speaker 1: What does it look like?
Speaker 1: And he gets to the book of Galatians and these people had started off their faith journey in a very pure, authentic way.
Speaker 1: It's about Jesus, it's about my relationship with him, but it got distorted.
Speaker 1: They started saying we need Jesus plus, we need to do all these other things over here to get God's acceptance and God's love and God's forgiveness.
Speaker 1: We got to start keeping these rules.
Speaker 1: We got to keep the rules.
Speaker 1: Talking about Galatia Now, where's Galatia at?
Speaker 1: Galatia is actually a real place.
Speaker 1: Galatia is located on what we know of as Asia Minor.
Speaker 1: It's called Turkey.
Speaker 1: It's right there in the Middle East area.
Speaker 1: So to the left over there, that is modern day Greece, right.
Speaker 1: So right there.
Speaker 1: You see Galatia, right in the middle part there.
Speaker 1: So the book of Galatians was not written to like one church, like some of the books were.
Speaker 1: The book of Galatia was written to several churches and the gospel first went to Galatia in Acts 13 and Acts 14, when Paul who's actually the guy writing this book when Paul shared the gospel with them and Paul had first given them the gospel and, by the way, it's really interesting how he does it.
Speaker 1: If you want to read some really neat stuff, it's Acts 13 and 14.
Speaker 1: It's fascinating.
Speaker 1: But he's given them the gospel and they've grown in their faith and then something happened.
Speaker 1: Their faith got given them the gospel and they've grown in their faith and then something happened.
Speaker 1: Their faith got distorted, the gospel got distorted, and this is what they're saying.
Speaker 1: They started saying Jesus plus good works equals something.
Speaker 1: Jesus plus good works equals something.
Speaker 1: And Paul steps on there and Paul's like no.
Speaker 1: And Paul steps on there and Paul's like no, guys, jesus plus nothing equals everything.
Speaker 1: Jesus plus nothing equals everything.
Speaker 1: And he spent six chapters telling these people, who he loved dearly, to say you guys got to get this, you guys got to understand this.
Speaker 1: This authentic Christian faith is so beautiful and it's so amazing and it's so compelling and it's so life-giving and it's so anchoring and it's everything that you need.
Speaker 1: But this is it.
Speaker 1: It's a growing relationship with Jesus, and Jesus plus nothing equals everything.
Speaker 1: Listen, jesus plus nothing equals everything.
Speaker 1: And with that, let's dive in to the first 10 verses of Galatians, chapter 1.
Speaker 1: As we, as a church community, begin this journey of seeing what authentic faith looks like in a distorted world, in a world of distortions, if you're ready for the word this morning, would you say amen, amen, balcony, you guys ready up there, let's go.
Speaker 1: Galatians 1, verse number 1.
Speaker 1: If you're happy to be in God's house, would you say amen, let's go.
Speaker 1: Come on.
Speaker 1: Verse number 1, galatians, chapter 1.
Speaker 1: I'm excited for the word this morning.
Speaker 1: It says Paul an apostle.
Speaker 1: Paul an apostle.
Speaker 1: This is what he's doing, he's just describing, he's just saying this is my role, this is my office.
Speaker 1: I'm an apostle.
Speaker 1: I'm not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God, the Father, who raised him from the dead.
Speaker 1: Paul says I'm an apostle.
Speaker 1: Now, the word apostle, all it means is one who is sent.
Speaker 1: That's all it means.
Speaker 1: It means one who is sent.
Speaker 1: It means sent one.
Speaker 1: Now, there's a difference between having in what's called an apostolic calling versus the office of an apostle.
Speaker 1: So, biblically, there are times where God would send out people through his local church Acts 13, it happened.
Speaker 1: He would send out missionaries and pastors and different people that would go out and make Jesus known to people.
Speaker 1: But there's something different between having an apostolic calling versus having the office of an apostle.
Speaker 1: What does that even mean?
Speaker 1: What's it look like?
Speaker 1: Well, scripturally, if somebody has the office of an apostle, there are two qualifications that have to happen.
Speaker 1: One they had to be a witness of Jesus resurrected, so they had to actually see Jesus bodily resurrected.
Speaker 1: Number two they had to have the ability to perform visible signs and wonders.
Speaker 1: Here's why I say this.
Speaker 1: There's some people that will throw around the term and say I have the office of an apostle.
Speaker 1: This is who I am.
Speaker 1: I am an apostle, so listen to me.
Speaker 1: Okay, two questions.
Speaker 1: One have you seen Jesus physically?
Speaker 1: Two can you do miracles and perform signs and wonders?
Speaker 1: You can Wonderful.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Kaiser Vallejo and let's go to some cancer patients and let's work on that, yeah.
Speaker 1: And Paul says hey, paul's like, I am an apostle, like I've seen him, I have done signs and wonders.
Speaker 1: This is who I am.
Speaker 1: I have authority.
Speaker 1: So now I'm speaking to you.
Speaker 1: This is what he says in verse number three.
Speaker 1: Verse number two he says and all the brothers who are with me, to the churches of what's that next word?
Speaker 1: To the churches of Galatia, okay, all churches, all you guys, bigger church, small church, all you guys need to see this authentic faith because there's some distortions happening.
Speaker 1: He says grace to you and peace from God, the Father and our Lord, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ who gave himself.
Speaker 1: Jesus gave himself for our sins.
Speaker 1: To what's that word?
Speaker 1: To rescue.
Speaker 1: Rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.
Speaker 1: You realize the reason why Jesus came to this earth was not just to help people.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just to show people a better way to live.
Speaker 1: He came because we were sinners in need of a Savior and he came to rescue us.
Speaker 1: You know, the gospel is actually a pretty offensive message, because the gospel says that we have sinned and there's nothing that we can do apart from Jesus to save ourselves, and we're hopeless.
Speaker 1: We can't do it on our own.
Speaker 1: But the good news of the gospel is that God sent his son, jesus, to do that, to save us, to rescue us, and the moment we come to him in faith, we are forgiven.
Speaker 1: It's awesome.
Speaker 1: Paul says he gave himself.
Speaker 1: Jesus gave himself to rescue us and because of this message that we've been rescued, look what Paul says in verse 5.
Speaker 1: He says to him be the glory forever and ever.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: Paul's like give him glory because he rescued us.
Speaker 1: You know when you realize how much God has rescued you and what God has rescued you from, you know what a natural outgrowth of that is.
Speaker 1: It's like wow, god, I want to give you glory.
Speaker 1: Wow, god, I want to honor you, I want to worship you.
Speaker 1: This is why, like music during the music time, it's not like let's just stand here and let's just be entertained by the band or whatever.
Speaker 1: No, it's like man, let's pour our hearts out and worship to God because of all he's done for us.
Speaker 1: In adoration to him, paul's like man.
Speaker 1: I give glory to him forever and ever.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: And before we get to the next verse verse 6, I got to warn you guys, paul, he's about to get a little spicy here, like the rest of the chapter.
Speaker 1: Paul is not going to be very nice.
Speaker 1: He's going to start calling things out and calling people out like with no apologies, right.
Speaker 1: So it's like buckle your seatbelt.
Speaker 1: It's coming and Paul actually loves these people enough to tell them the truth and he has a relationship with these people, so he's going to speak to them on what they need to hear, and he's going to speak to them exactly what they need.
Speaker 1: Now it's interesting.
Speaker 1: I would sometimes I hear from just what I would respectfully call nominal Christ followers.
Speaker 1: They would say something like I want a church that never makes me uncomfortable, that always makes me happy, that's always positive all the time.
Speaker 1: That's just like good vibes.
Speaker 1: Good vibes, right.
Speaker 1: That's what I want.
Speaker 1: And I would respectfully, very respectfully, say to that a couple things.
Speaker 1: One, you don't actually want a New Testament church.
Speaker 1: You want a social club that will entertain you.
Speaker 1: Just call it like it is.
Speaker 1: And then number two man, it's kind of getting quiet in here, okay.
Speaker 1: And then number two you wouldn't go to a doctor that wouldn't tell you the truth.
Speaker 1: Imagine this you get your yearly physical.
Speaker 1: Any of you, like me, you avoid your yearly physical like the plague Anybody.
Speaker 1: Okay, right, I haven't had a physical, I'm not even going to tell you, because then a bunch of y'all are going to come up to me afterwards and be like you haven't had a physical.
Speaker 1: Sorry, you're not my mom, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: I don't like them, I just want to even get started on them.
Speaker 1: Let's say you get your yearly physical and they run some scans, you know, and they touch in places they have no business touching.
Speaker 1: And they get the scans back and the doctor goes to his assistant and he's like hey, we were looking at this scan.
Speaker 1: I think they have cancer, but we're not going to tell them.
Speaker 1: I mean, it might make them a little bit uncomfortable and they might not want to come back, like they might go from Kaiser to Sutter and we don't want to do that, you know.
Speaker 1: Or I don't know if, like, it's not good news that they have cancer.
Speaker 1: Now, yes, I know that we can heal them and I know there's some treatment options, but we can't tell them the truth about what's actually happening.
Speaker 1: This is what you would say Is that a good doctor or a bad doctor?
Speaker 1: That is a bad doctor.
Speaker 1: Now watch this.
Speaker 1: This is what Paul does.
Speaker 1: Paul's about to tell them hey guys, you have cancer growing in your faith and I'm just going to tell you the truth about it.
Speaker 1: He's done life with these people.
Speaker 1: He's loved these people, he's prayed for these people, he's walked with these people and now they're kind of drifting and he's saying hey guys, what is going on?
Speaker 1: So, church, you guys have been warned.
Speaker 1: Watch, watch what Paul says in verse number six.
Speaker 1: You ready for it?
Speaker 1: He says I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ, and are turning to a different gospel.
Speaker 1: He doesn't say I see you guys are kind of struggling a little bit in your faith.
Speaker 1: I can see you guys are kind of having a hard time.
Speaker 1: He says I'm amazed that this is where you are Verse 7 he says, not that there's another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
Speaker 1: You guys see what Paul just did here.
Speaker 1: He just he called out false teaching.
Speaker 1: He says there are some that are teaching you, that are giving you a false gospel.
Speaker 1: He just calls it out.
Speaker 1: That's what Paul does In verse 8, he says but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, this is the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus.
Speaker 1: That Jesus plus nothing equals everything.
Speaker 1: You have a relationship with God simply based on what he's done.
Speaker 1: He says at the end of verse 8, a curse be on him.
Speaker 1: That is super strong.
Speaker 1: As you have said before.
Speaker 1: I now say it again If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you have received, a curse be on him.
Speaker 1: Just in case they didn't hear it in verse number eight, I'm just going to tell them again Guys, this is so strong.
Speaker 1: Now, before we read verse 10, which is going to be the last verse in the section we're going to read, I want us to camp out on something that Paul is trying to drill into these people, and he's going to do it.
Speaker 1: The rest of this book it's this number one is that there is only one gospel.
Speaker 1: There is only one gospel.
Speaker 1: This is it.
Speaker 1: It's the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus.
Speaker 1: What these teachers were saying here is they were saying Jesus plus works equals something.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, you need Jesus.
Speaker 1: Of course you do.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's Jesus, he died on the cross.
Speaker 1: Of course, yeah, he's important, but you also you need to keep these rules over here.
Speaker 1: But you also you need to keep these rules over here.
Speaker 1: That equals something.
Speaker 1: And well, the main rule that they were really talking about is circumcision.
Speaker 1: You might say, pastor Nate, what exactly is circumcision?
Speaker 1: Well, look at the time, we really don't have time to get into it right now, but after the service, pastor Cody and Dan Dowell and Edgar, they would love to talk to you about it.
Speaker 1: They even have charts and diagrams to really help you understand.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, that's it.
Speaker 1: These guys were saying these teachers, these false teachers, were saying hey, you guys got to keep the law, you guys got to be circumcised, you guys got to do all these things.
Speaker 1: They were adding to the gospel.
Speaker 1: In other words, if you want God's acceptance, if you want God's love, you have to do this.
Speaker 1: Now, a lot of us I don't know of any of us, maybe there's somebody here but most of us aren't hung up on circumcision or the Jewish law for our salvation, for relationship with Christ.
Speaker 1: But a lot of times we can get hung up on other things.
Speaker 1: We can think that we need to do this over here to get God's acceptance.
Speaker 1: We need to keep this rule over here to get God's acceptance.
Speaker 1: And Paul says if you think that your rule following is making you any more right with God or is the secret to having the power of God in your life, that's a distorted gospel.
Speaker 1: That is not the, that's not authentic faith.
Speaker 1: Now, what's interesting here is that there's nothing wrong with the Jewish law, there's nothing wrong with circumcision.
Speaker 1: That's not the problem.
Speaker 1: The problem was is they were taking this thing over here, this law and this circumcision, and they were making it a primary thing and putting it at the same level as the gospel.
Speaker 1: And they were saying that this is actually a part of the gospel.
Speaker 1: And what can happen is we, as Jesus followers, we can commit the same error as the Galatians, not by believing bad things, but by making a good thing a primary thing.
Speaker 1: So what they did, what the Galatians did, is.
Speaker 1: They said, okay, this thing over here, this Jewish law which nothing wrong with Jewish law, it's good they made that a primary thing Like this is so important.
Speaker 1: You gotta do these things and, if I'm honest, this is really how a lot of my faith journey and my Christian upbringing began.
Speaker 1: You gotta do all these things.
Speaker 1: If you've ever been in an environment like that, you know what it's like.
Speaker 1: You got to keep all these rules.
Speaker 1: If you don't do this, then God's mad at you and you better do this.
Speaker 1: If you don't do this, then you should feel guilty and you should feel ashamed.
Speaker 1: So well, I want to follow Jesus and I love Jesus.
Speaker 1: So what I did, I said God, start keeping the rules.
Speaker 1: That's what I started doing and I had the rules.
Speaker 1: I haven't had them written down.
Speaker 1: I need to share my faith with people.
Speaker 1: I need to make sure I don't cuss, don't listen to secular music, be nice to people, go to as many church events as possible, always wear a tie.
Speaker 1: That's kind of how we rolled back in the day where I was from.
Speaker 1: Now, do all these things.
Speaker 1: You know you walk into a church building and you're a dude and you don't have a tie.
Speaker 1: It's like there's something wrong with you.
Speaker 1: You need to grow up spiritually, whatever.
Speaker 1: It's crazy.
Speaker 1: I could talk on and on and on about this and these things they weren't bad things Like.
Speaker 1: And these things they weren't bad things like.
Speaker 1: There are good things like, there's nothing wrong with them.
Speaker 1: But the problem was was they were primary things in my life and they were on the same level to me as jesus.
Speaker 1: And how I functionally live my life was this way is jesus plus my effort equaled God's acceptance and love?
Speaker 1: So this is how I functionally live my life that if I shared my faith with three people this week, that God accepted me more than if I didn't share my faith with anybody.
Speaker 1: And if I didn't share my faith with anybody, then God was ultra disappointed in me and he probably was even mad at me.
Speaker 1: I thought that God's acceptance was dependent on my behavior and when I could keep the rules, it made me feel proud and self-righteous because I kept them.
Speaker 1: Did you keep them?
Speaker 1: But when I didn't keep the rules, what happened is it kept me riddled with shame and guilt and like, oh, I can't measure up.
Speaker 1: And then those people over there, they kept all the rules, so they're like looking down at me.
Speaker 1: That's how I felt.
Speaker 1: Maybe not I really felt this.
Speaker 1: And what Paul is saying?
Speaker 1: This is where the Galatians, where they were in the same thing, paul's saying this he's like guys, no, no, jesus plus nothing equals all of God's acceptance and love.
Speaker 1: This is a massive difference.
Speaker 1: Jesus plus nothing equals all of God's acceptance and love.
Speaker 1: So the moment you come to Jesus Christ by faith, you turn from your sin, you put your faith in Christ.
Speaker 1: You have all of God's acceptance and you have all of God's love.
Speaker 1: Put your faith in Christ, you have all of God's acceptance and you have all of God's love.
Speaker 1: The last words of Jesus on the cross were not I got it started and now get to work.
Speaker 1: They were it is finished.
Speaker 1: Jesus says I've done everything for you.
Speaker 1: When you come to him in faith, you have all of God's acceptance, you have all of God's love.
Speaker 1: You have all of God's mercy.
Speaker 1: You have all of God's grace.
Speaker 1: He accepts you as you are.
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm talking to you and your baggage.
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm talking to you and your trauma.
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm talking to you and your addiction.
Speaker 1: Jesus accepts you.
Speaker 1: He has done all the work.
Speaker 1: Now here's what's so hard is that's not.
Speaker 1: That's not the world we live in.
Speaker 1: In America, like you want something, you got to go work for it.
Speaker 1: There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Speaker 1: Like you're, you want to pay your rent or mortgage.
Speaker 1: You better work for that, right?
Speaker 1: Like PG&E, bro, they turn, they turn your lights out if you don't pay for them.
Speaker 1: Right, stinking pg&e, those rascals.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: The world we live in is everything is about your performance to some degree.
Speaker 1: Do a, do a bad job at work, just just have bad performance for weeks and weeks.
Speaker 1: Something.
Speaker 1: Guess what's going to happen, deuces, see you later.
Speaker 1: Like we could put this in so many different contexts.
Speaker 1: So now, when we read that the gospel is based on what Christ has done alone, it's not based on our efforts, it's not based on our works and we have all of God's acceptance and mercy and grace, we're like there's no way.
Speaker 1: This is so foreign to us, because this is not the America that we live in, this is not the world that we live in, and this is what makes the gospel so beautiful.
Speaker 1: This is what makes the gospel so freeing, this is what makes the gospel so liberating, this is what makes the gospel so just captivating of my soul, because it's so different than the world that we live in, it's so different than this religious Christian distortion that I grew up in.
Speaker 1: It's like no, no, no.
Speaker 1: There's nothing you can do that'll make God love you more.
Speaker 1: There's nothing you can do that will make God love you less.
Speaker 1: This is why Jesus says come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened.
Speaker 1: He says hey, and I will give you rest for your souls.
Speaker 1: This is why Paul writes for freedom.
Speaker 1: You have been set free.
Speaker 1: This is why Paul talks about that.
Speaker 1: The gospel is good news.
Speaker 1: It's not just good advice and friend yeah, it is.
Speaker 1: And friend, you're standing with God.
Speaker 1: It's not based on what you do, but what Christ has done for you.
Speaker 1: Like y'all, think about that, guys.
Speaker 1: Man, I know you guys are people, like you guys are normal.
Speaker 1: Like I know the world you live in.
Speaker 1: You guys carry stuff and you guys have burdens and you guys have challenges and life can be so heavy for so many of us at times.
Speaker 1: You have so much pressure on you and, like, my heart as a pastor is to free you, it's to let you know like the gospel frees you.
Speaker 1: The gospel says stop your performance, stop your trying, trying out for god.
Speaker 1: Stop your like fake prayers, trying to act like you're spiritual in your prayers when really you're like mad at god right now.
Speaker 1: Like just be real and god accepts us when we come to him and when we came to him in simple faith.
Speaker 1: And this is what we need to be doing.
Speaker 1: We need to be people that are sharing this good news with other people, that are making Jesus known to others, people that are broken and hurting and down and out that we can say there is an answer and his name is Jesus.
Speaker 1: One thing that's been like super cool for me is we got that ping pong ball display in the lobby and like it keeps filling up and what happens is you guys are talking to people, have a gospel conversation, you drop that in there and it shows that we are making Jesus known to people.
Speaker 1: Man, and like that is what it's all about.
Speaker 1: Is that we do this?
Speaker 1: I want to read verse 10, but also I just I also want to caution us as a church about something Is sometimes in churches, what can happen is the primary thing, which is the gospel, can be supplemented by a good thing, tragically.
Speaker 1: So, for example, a church can say man, we have really great groups.
Speaker 1: We have really great youth ministry.
Speaker 1: We have really great kids ministry.
Speaker 1: We have really great groups.
Speaker 1: We have really great youth ministry.
Speaker 1: We have really great kids ministry.
Speaker 1: We have really great worship.
Speaker 1: We have whatever right.
Speaker 1: And what can happen is we can be really passionate about student ministry or kids ministry or growth groups, community groups or whatever it is over here Worship and, unknowingly, it's sneaky, it's sneaky, it's sneaky.
Speaker 1: What can happen is we can put these things on the same level as the gospel and as a church, we can be so passionate about this.
Speaker 1: We can be like, hey, guys, our church is exploding right now.
Speaker 1: All these new people are coming, it's awesome.
Speaker 1: All these new groups, all these, it's awesome.
Speaker 1: And we can be so passionate about this that we lose sight that what this is really about is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: And, guys, we got to be committed, like we got to be committed to say, hey, this is going to be a gospel place, this is going to be a Jesus place.
Speaker 1: This is not going to be a place that, like, we're going to be passionate about.
Speaker 1: I don't know even outreach stuff.
Speaker 1: Outreach is good, but the purpose of outreach is to bring people to Jesus right, like this is going to be the main thing.
Speaker 1: And, guys, when Jesus is lifted up and Jesus is exalted and the gospel is preached, it frees people, it liberates people, it anchors people, it gives people confidence, and let's be people that keep the main thing, the main thing.
Speaker 1: All right, let me read verse number 10.
Speaker 1: And I got one last thought and we'll wrap this up okay.
Speaker 1: Verse 10 says this I'm a little excited about this.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys saw that.
Speaker 1: He says, as Paul says in verse 10, for am I now trying to persuade people or God, or am I striving to?
Speaker 1: What are those next two words?
Speaker 1: Or am I striving to?
Speaker 1: Have you ever strived to please people?
Speaker 1: It's tough, huh?
Speaker 1: Any of us honest enough to say sometimes we struggle with pleasing people.
Speaker 1: Right, come on, it's most of us.
Speaker 1: Paul says am I striving to please people?
Speaker 1: He says if I were trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Speaker 1: Paul says hey, I can please people, I can please God, but I can't do both.
Speaker 1: If I were striving to please people, I wouldn't be a servant of Christ.
Speaker 1: Paul says I'm secure enough in my identity in Christ that I don't need your approval or your validation for my existence, which is why I'm comfortable and secure enough to tell you hard truth, even though you may not receive it.
Speaker 1: Well, and not everybody did and this is what we see here.
Speaker 1: Number two and it's going to be a short one is that the gospel frees you to live your life for Christ alone.
Speaker 1: Okay, so the gospel actually gives you the freedom so you can actually live your life for Jesus.
Speaker 1: Paul here says this is what I'm trying to do be a servant of Christ.
Speaker 1: I'm living my life for an audience of one.
Speaker 1: And when Paul understood the gospel, everything that God had done for him, he says this is what I'm going to do.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to live my life to try to please people.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to live my life to get some likes on my Instagram posts.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to spend my life to try to get more money.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to spend my life to try to get famous.
Speaker 1: He says I have one purpose I want to live for Christ.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to do.
Speaker 1: I have one pursuit and when you understand all that Jesus has done for you, it's only rational to live your life for Him.
Speaker 1: When you understand all that God has done for you, it's only rational to center your life on Him.
Speaker 1: Your standing with God is secure.
Speaker 1: You're forgiven, you're accepted.
Speaker 1: When you've come to Christ by faith.
Speaker 1: If you're a follower of Jesus, you are a masterpiece.
Speaker 1: That's what Ephesians 2 says.
Speaker 1: God's forming a masterpiece in you.
Speaker 1: Now the challenge in our lives is a lot of us are looking for confidence.
Speaker 1: Now, some of us have a little too much confidence.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, right?
Speaker 1: A little pride, right.
Speaker 1: A lot of us are looking for confidence in life.
Speaker 1: A lot of us are looking for security in life, especially in this world.
Speaker 1: That's like crazy, right?
Speaker 1: This world's just gone berserk and we haven't even really gotten into the heat of election season yet.
Speaker 1: That's when it's really going to get berserk, right, and naturally in our lives.
Speaker 1: We were created to be people that need confidence.
Speaker 1: We were created to be people that need security, and what the world tells you is the way you find those things is either by looking within, but don't look within too much, like if you just think about it, because you're right, the Lord says just look within and find it within yourself.
Speaker 1: Or look at your performance and all that you've done, and then you can have, then you can have security and then you can have confidence.
Speaker 1: But here's the reality Is, you will have confidence and security to live for Christ and you'll have confidence and security in your life when you know who you are in Christ.
Speaker 1: That's where it comes from, guys.
Speaker 1: You'll have confidence and security in life and to live for Christ when you know who you are in Christ.
Speaker 1: And Paul's trying to show these people, paul's trying to tell these people, guys, this is the gospel, it's Jesus.
Speaker 1: Plus nothing equals everything.
Speaker 1: I don't want us to leave this morning with a 30-minute talk for me or whatever.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you three questions and I want you to think about them.
Speaker 1: I want you to take them home with you and they're real.
Speaker 1: And I take this first 10 verses of Galatians home with us.
Speaker 1: Here's my first question is this have you ever trusted in Christ alone, the gospel for your salvation?
Speaker 1: Have you come to a place in your life where you're like I surrender my life to Jesus, I'm putting my faith and trust in him, turning from my sin, I'm putting my faith in him and following him?
Speaker 1: Have you done that?
Speaker 1: Number two are you living your life for Christ alone, like right now.
Speaker 1: What is the pursuit of your life?
Speaker 1: Paul says if I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Speaker 1: Are you living your life for Christ alone?
Speaker 1: Are you living your life to pursue money and relationships and I don't even know Could be a whole million things?
Speaker 1: Are you living your life for Christ alone?
Speaker 1: And number three is your Christian life more about what you need to do for God or what God has done for you?
Speaker 1: About what you need to do for God or what God has done for you?
Speaker 1: When you think of your faith In Christ, do you think, alright, I got to keep these rules.
Speaker 1: I got to have a good week Because I kept nine of the ten, or had a bad week Because I broke five of the ten?
Speaker 1: Do you think Everything you need to do for Christ, or is your Christian life more about what he's done for you in the gospel and your identity in him and who he is?
Speaker 1: I want us to take a moment and pray and just reflect and respond on these questions and respond as God speaks to our hearts.
Speaker 1: Let's all just bow our heads and close our eyes.
Speaker 1: Let's have a moment.