WEBVTT 00:00:03.750 --> 00:00:08.925 Well, if you've been with us for a while now, you know that we're going through a book called the Gospel-Centered Community. 00:00:08.925 --> 00:00:13.265 How many people, by the way, have actually gone through the Gospel-Centered Life book? 00:00:13.265 --> 00:00:14.750 How many of you have been touched by that book? 00:00:14.750 --> 00:00:16.621 We need more people to go through that book. 00:00:16.621 --> 00:00:17.905 That book is wonderful. 00:00:17.905 --> 00:00:26.812 Mark uses that extensively, by the way, when he does his traveling and when he's working with ministry, because what it does is it gets the gospel right. 00:00:27.719 --> 00:00:37.472 And this book that we decided to do this summer, the Gospel-Centered Community, has been really, really good, because it's focusing the gospel on the community and how we live and work together. 00:00:37.472 --> 00:00:46.902 Three weeks ago, neil kicked it off with a message on the gospel, because you've got to get the gospel right before anything else. 00:00:46.902 --> 00:00:47.945 It's got to be the foundation. 00:00:47.945 --> 00:00:55.670 And let me just say this and I've said this from the pulpit before Let me just encourage you again If you missed a sermon, you can see it. 00:00:55.670 --> 00:01:05.317 Just go to YouTube, go to our channel on YouTube, go to our website as you hear Derek say it time and time again tccnoxcom. 00:01:05.317 --> 00:01:09.045 You can go to our Facebook channel and just go there and you can watch it. 00:01:09.045 --> 00:01:21.689 That was such a foundational message and it came from probably the one person that knows the gospel better than anything else and he's a responsible party for why so many of us are so well-rooted in the gospel. 00:01:21.689 --> 00:01:22.471 But it was really good. 00:01:22.471 --> 00:01:24.664 It was a basic understanding of what the gospel was. 00:01:24.664 --> 00:01:35.152 And then John Grainer got up the following week and he talked about how God created us to be in community and be in community with one another. 00:01:35.152 --> 00:01:51.602 And you know, if you think about it, as he pointed out, god is a family, he's a family and he called us to be his children, his adopted children, and so God actually created community from the very beginning, and that's important for us to know and always remember, and I thought that was great. 00:01:52.183 --> 00:02:04.123 And then last week Kelly shared about how community shapes us in the gospel you know how the church community shapes our understanding the gospel and he talked about two things that are in the book. 00:02:04.123 --> 00:02:21.724 He talked about a lot of great stuff, but two things that really stood out to me about having a functional community perspective, which means that's a selfish perspective, everything centers around you but how we should have a formative community perspective and it's all about God and the gospel being the center of everything. 00:02:21.724 --> 00:02:25.955 And it was a really good foundational message and the gospel being the center of everything. 00:02:25.955 --> 00:02:27.158 And it was a really good foundational message. 00:02:27.158 --> 00:02:35.631 But today's lesson does appear to overlap because it's called how the gospel shapes community. 00:02:35.631 --> 00:02:38.838 Okay, how the community shapes the gospel, how the gospel shapes community. 00:02:38.838 --> 00:02:41.881 And I put a graphic together. 00:02:41.881 --> 00:02:46.207 Actually, timothy cleaned my graphic up and made it look good to help us understand the difference, because there's an overlap here and I want to make sure it's clear. 00:02:46.207 --> 00:02:54.320 When he talked about how the gospel shaped or how the community shapes the gospel, he talked about looking at the gospel through the lens of the community. 00:02:54.320 --> 00:03:01.485 Right, as the book states, being in community exposes our sin and pushes us to believe in the gospel even more. 00:03:01.485 --> 00:03:07.082 Okay, my perspective, what I'm going to be doing and what I'm talking about is the reverse of that. 00:03:07.082 --> 00:03:16.753 It's a focus on how we're doing community through the lens of the gospel, meaning how does the gospel shape, how we do community together. 00:03:16.753 --> 00:03:25.122 So that's the difference perspective, but we're really talking about the same thing Two sides of the same coin, if I could use a phrase. 00:03:25.122 --> 00:03:27.788 So that's what our focus is going to be today. 00:03:27.808 --> 00:03:29.920 Let's go before the Lord and ask him to bless our time. 00:03:29.920 --> 00:03:32.545 Father, you are so good. 00:03:32.545 --> 00:03:37.901 I've been so encouraged this morning just to worship you, to be reminded. 00:03:37.901 --> 00:03:53.817 And, kelly, the scriptures Kelly read, and the encouragement that Mark spoke, and the encouragement that Mark spoke, father, no matter how turbulent the times are that we live in, no matter how bad they get, you are always on your throne. 00:03:53.817 --> 00:03:58.066 You don't even feel a ripple. 00:03:58.066 --> 00:04:06.685 You don't even feel a ripple of what happens on this earth, meaning you know what's going on, you're aware of it, but it doesn't shake your throne at all. 00:04:06.685 --> 00:04:31.922 And, father, today, as we talk about how the gospel works within us and how we look at community through the gospel, I pray that you would open our eyes and our hearts, including mine, lord, to be convicted, to be willing to be convicted, to be open to your Holy Spirit, that we would truly be guided, changed by the gospel, and that that change would reflect in our relationships with one another and for those all around us. 00:04:31.922 --> 00:04:37.112 So, father, that's my prayer and we lift it up to you in the name of Jesus, amen. 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:44.504 Now, before we go into the gospel and how it transforms community, I want to take you down a rabbit hole. 00:04:44.504 --> 00:04:48.026 I normally am a pretty linear teacher. 00:04:48.026 --> 00:04:50.790 I'm going to take you tick, tick, tick, tick all the way through. 00:04:50.790 --> 00:04:55.012 But as I was preparing this message it was really interesting. 00:04:55.012 --> 00:04:56.173 God just got something. 00:04:56.173 --> 00:05:08.920 He just stuck something in my head and I couldn't get it out and it was somewhat triggered by something in the book that I read. 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:13.096 But it was also informed by what John preached about a couple of weeks ago. 00:05:13.096 --> 00:05:26.089 You know, john talked about how God created us for community, and I feel it's important to kind of drive this a little bit deeper, because if we don't believe God made mankind to be in community together, then we will dismiss much of what we're going to be talking about today. 00:05:26.089 --> 00:05:33.892 So I want to expand on that a little bit and specifically I want to focus on one element of community within the Big C Church. 00:05:34.740 --> 00:05:40.528 Let me start by asking you a question why did God send his son to this earth? 00:05:40.528 --> 00:05:44.951 Now you're like okay, scott, that's a fastball straight down the middle. 00:05:44.951 --> 00:05:47.564 I got that one and we don't. 00:05:47.564 --> 00:05:49.449 We know exactly what we did. 00:05:49.449 --> 00:06:06.855 We'd all universally say that he sent his son to come live a perfect life that we couldn't do, to be a perfect sacrifice, to go on the cross and to die for us, and that through the blood of Christ and through repentance we can be redeemed. 00:06:06.855 --> 00:06:08.603 That's the gospel. 00:06:08.603 --> 00:06:11.752 But how many know there was another purpose? 00:06:11.752 --> 00:06:16.130 You might say, oh wait a second, he's straying from the gospel. 00:06:16.130 --> 00:06:16.983 What's the other purpose? 00:06:16.983 --> 00:06:19.370 No, the other purpose is very gospel focused. 00:06:19.370 --> 00:06:23.451 He came to build his church. 00:06:23.451 --> 00:06:26.632 He came to build his church. 00:06:26.632 --> 00:06:27.639 He came to build his church. 00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:37.069 He spent his entire earthly ministry first selecting and then training disciples to build a church that would be a conduit for the gospel to go up. 00:06:37.069 --> 00:06:38.819 We know that right. 00:06:38.819 --> 00:06:46.581 The whole New Testament testifies of this early church and we stand on the shoulders of the apostles and the prophets. 00:06:47.684 --> 00:06:54.564 The apostle Paul writes prolifically about the church, but in Ephesians 2, verse 19 through 22, this is what he says. 00:06:54.564 --> 00:06:58.357 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens. 00:06:58.357 --> 00:06:59.721 Now I'm going to stop there. 00:06:59.721 --> 00:07:00.846 Strangers and aliens. 00:07:00.846 --> 00:07:06.786 If you're a stranger, an alien to a country, a lot of times you can actually be an enemy of that country. 00:07:06.786 --> 00:07:12.185 You don't understand it, you don't understand the culture, you're not a part of that culture, you're not immersed in that culture. 00:07:12.185 --> 00:07:13.745 So you're a stranger and alien. 00:07:13.745 --> 00:07:24.290 He says you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens who with With the saints and members of the household of God. 00:07:24.290 --> 00:07:26.807 You're my brothers and sisters. 00:07:26.807 --> 00:07:29.261 I can. 00:07:30.886 --> 00:07:34.365 Mark does this all the time he goes into these other lands. 00:07:34.365 --> 00:07:35.228 He goes to Poland. 00:07:35.228 --> 00:07:38.728 He meets people he may have never seen laid eyes on them. 00:07:38.728 --> 00:07:41.086 He probably can't even speak the language, which I know. 00:07:41.086 --> 00:07:42.130 He can't speak Polish. 00:07:42.130 --> 00:07:43.435 He's getting there though, but immediately. 00:07:43.435 --> 00:07:43.915 The Holy Spirit, yeah. 00:07:43.915 --> 00:07:44.237 No, speak Polish. 00:07:44.237 --> 00:07:45.139 He's getting there, though, but immediately. 00:07:45.139 --> 00:07:46.201 The Holy Spirit, yeah. 00:07:46.201 --> 00:07:46.382 No. 00:07:46.382 --> 00:07:52.843 Okay, it's a tough one, but immediately he's bonded together by them and with them. 00:07:52.843 --> 00:07:53.264 Why? 00:07:53.264 --> 00:07:54.826 Because of the Holy Spirit. 00:07:54.826 --> 00:07:58.473 So we are made in this household of God. 00:07:58.473 --> 00:07:59.562 That's what we're placed in. 00:08:00.002 --> 00:08:03.692 And look what it says built on the foundations of the apostles we know them. 00:08:03.692 --> 00:08:05.113 The prophets, we know them. 00:08:05.113 --> 00:08:05.891 And then it says built on the foundations of the apostles we know them. 00:08:05.891 --> 00:08:06.031 The prophets, we know them. 00:08:06.031 --> 00:08:14.014 Then it says Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 00:08:14.014 --> 00:08:22.891 That's what the church is, that's what we are, and it's a special, special bond that we have with each other. 00:08:22.891 --> 00:08:30.370 And then he says this in him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for the God, the Spirit. 00:08:30.370 --> 00:08:35.585 He didn't say you are being built together with yourself, he said. 00:08:35.585 --> 00:08:44.005 You are being built together with the other believers in this special, special bond which, by the way, it's not just some club. 00:08:44.005 --> 00:08:46.568 It's not some club. 00:08:46.568 --> 00:08:48.370 I'm part of a motorcycle club. 00:08:48.370 --> 00:08:49.332 We ride motorcycles. 00:08:49.332 --> 00:09:01.413 It's very, very, very different, because this is a spiritual thing and there are many, many scriptures that talk about the children of God and living in community with one another. 00:09:01.413 --> 00:09:05.924 I don't have time to go through all those, but it's important that we understand that community is not optional, brothers. 00:09:05.924 --> 00:09:09.490 It's not optional. 00:09:10.611 --> 00:09:16.732 It was how God designed the church from the beginning and how he designed it to function. 00:09:16.732 --> 00:09:35.576 Now, if that's the beautiful picture of the church which, by the way, obviously you could go into so many more elements of what the church is but if that's it and I'm the enemy Satan, what am I going to try to do about that Exactly? 00:09:35.576 --> 00:09:56.210 And from the very beginning, Satan has set his heart to destroy the church, and he first started with Adam and Eve by telling them hey, all that stuff, god told you it's a lie, you shall not surely die, and he began to drive a wedge between God and his people. 00:09:56.210 --> 00:10:01.884 Then God sent his son to the world, and what did Satan do? 00:10:01.884 --> 00:10:14.634 He immediately came after Jesus, and he was trying to thwart the actual primary purpose of Christ's coming, that he would live that perfect life and die on that cross for us. 00:10:14.634 --> 00:10:19.001 He was trying to do that. 00:10:19.001 --> 00:10:28.091 He attacked Satan in the wilderness, and I thought that it's so amazing that that was recorded for us, because we see Jesus and Satan going head to head. 00:10:29.760 --> 00:10:37.500 It's not really fair, because he failed and we knew he was going to fail From the foundations of the earth. 00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:42.932 It was determined he was going to fail, because we read about that prophecy in Genesis. 00:10:42.932 --> 00:10:48.982 He was unsuccessful at thwarting the very first part of God's plan, the redemption of mankind. 00:10:48.982 --> 00:10:57.706 So, having failed that, he attacked his church, and he's been attacking the church from the very beginning. 00:10:57.706 --> 00:11:02.004 I just want to say, though, that we know he's ultimately going to fail in that one too. 00:11:02.004 --> 00:11:04.009 You want to know why? 00:11:04.009 --> 00:11:08.864 Because Jesus told us that, matthew 16, 18. 00:11:08.864 --> 00:11:21.543 And I tell you, peter, this is Jesus talking to Peter right, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, hallelujah. 00:11:23.066 --> 00:11:25.590 You know, satan just must be really dumb. 00:11:25.590 --> 00:11:32.749 I know he's not, because he's cunning and he's messed with all of us before and we've fallen into his trap. 00:11:32.749 --> 00:11:39.572 But he's desperate and he's coming after the church and he's going to do everything to divide the church that he can. 00:11:39.572 --> 00:11:49.929 He hates the church because it symbolizes the relationship with God, the relationship between God, the Father, and Jesus Christ. 00:11:49.929 --> 00:11:52.729 It's that mystery that's talked about in Ephesians 6. 00:11:52.729 --> 00:11:57.307 He hates the church, he hates you and he hates the church. 00:11:58.301 --> 00:12:09.361 And he also knows that one of the most effective ways to get after the church is not necessarily from the outside, because what happened in the early church? 00:12:09.361 --> 00:12:13.115 What happened in the early church when persecution came upon the church? 00:12:13.115 --> 00:12:17.206 Remember, we just read, we just went through 2 Peter. 00:12:17.206 --> 00:12:19.291 Right, what happened? 00:12:19.291 --> 00:12:27.121 The church grew, the church grew and, under persecution, right now the church across this whole world is growing. 00:12:27.121 --> 00:12:31.394 Look at the growth that's happening in China, in Iraq, in Iran. 00:12:31.394 --> 00:12:33.541 The church continues to grow. 00:12:33.541 --> 00:12:35.004 We just don't see it. 00:12:35.004 --> 00:12:38.750 It's not going to be on CNN or Fox, but it's happening. 00:12:38.750 --> 00:12:40.735 It's happening. 00:12:40.735 --> 00:12:48.086 But he knows that if he can't get it from the outside, he's going to come after it from the inside. 00:12:52.461 --> 00:13:07.466 You know, think about all the papyrus that was used by the writers of the New Testament to talk about unity in the body of Christ to talk about and warn against false teachers, people that are twisting the gospel. 00:13:07.466 --> 00:13:15.370 And you know, every week as we go through the Bible reading plan, it's like you cannot, it's like every week there's something in there. 00:13:15.370 --> 00:13:18.729 One of those scriptures we're reading is talking about that. 00:13:18.729 --> 00:13:25.628 It's one of the apostles, encouraging us to stay unified, to be humble, to love one another. 00:13:25.628 --> 00:13:31.990 Satan knows that when we're in community we're stronger than when we're alone. 00:13:33.280 --> 00:13:44.428 Now the book lists some things that are basically obstacles for people to get into a deeper community relationship, and I mean he says things like busyness. 00:13:44.428 --> 00:13:47.514 By the way, satan keeps us busy. 00:13:47.514 --> 00:13:54.182 He keeps us away from the body by just keeping us busy the wrong kind of contentment, the fear of being known. 00:13:54.182 --> 00:13:55.907 I don't want to be fully known by anybody. 00:13:55.907 --> 00:14:06.734 They won't love me, they might hurt me, and all these reasons are for one purpose, and that is to keep us separated. 00:14:06.734 --> 00:14:22.888 However, I believe there's one part of Satan's plan that is maybe we don't think about a lot, and that's what I want to focus on and that is how he has caused Christians to be divided as to what a church should look like and how it should function. 00:14:22.888 --> 00:14:36.466 See, I can talk to all of us here about the body of Christ and I could talk to you how you know how Michael and I get along and how we work out problems and how we deal with things. 00:14:36.466 --> 00:14:42.524 I can talk about that and that's all good and that's important, and you get a lot of that from this pulpit. 00:14:42.563 --> 00:14:54.017 But we don't always talk about how we as a church, as Trinity Community Church, should interact and love the other churches in our community. 00:14:54.017 --> 00:15:04.302 You see, some Christians say that church must only be a building with a pastor and a staff. 00:15:04.302 --> 00:15:16.379 Some people say that church must only be structured with a centralized headquarters and then different churches that are set, but all reporting to that structure. 00:15:16.379 --> 00:15:24.619 We've seen that Some say that a church should only be a house church because after all, that's the way the early church was set up. 00:15:24.619 --> 00:15:33.615 Some people say that all megachurches are harmful and all of them are wrong. 00:15:33.615 --> 00:15:36.692 That's not what God designed. 00:15:36.692 --> 00:15:41.955 Guilty of any of that, don't put your hand up. 00:15:41.955 --> 00:15:47.466 Guilty of any of that? 00:15:47.466 --> 00:15:48.509 Don't put your hand up. 00:15:50.269 --> 00:15:52.333 And, to be honest, most of us gravitate towards one of these models or beliefs more than the other one. 00:15:52.333 --> 00:15:55.580 And in fact, to be transparent, I will tell you this right. 00:15:55.580 --> 00:15:56.763 Here is the model I love. 00:15:56.763 --> 00:16:03.073 I love a small church. 00:16:03.073 --> 00:16:05.869 I love the fact I get to know everybody here, or most everybody, those that want to get to know me. 00:16:05.869 --> 00:16:07.914 I love that. 00:16:07.914 --> 00:16:09.580 I love the fact we get to know each other. 00:16:09.580 --> 00:16:23.216 And I've been guilty of standing on my boat my boat being Trinity Community Church and finding a select rock and going there's a megachurch down the street. 00:16:23.216 --> 00:16:32.635 Throw that stone at that megachurch Because they're not like me, they're not doing it right. 00:16:36.071 --> 00:16:39.961 The fact of the matter is, brethren, what is important? 00:16:39.961 --> 00:16:43.235 Is it important how a church is structured? 00:16:43.235 --> 00:16:54.091 I'm not saying it's not important, don't get me wrong. 00:16:54.091 --> 00:16:54.490 I'm not saying that. 00:16:54.490 --> 00:17:00.701 But what I am saying is what's most important about that mega church down the street or that church of 40 out in the country somewhere is do they get the gospel right? 00:17:00.701 --> 00:17:10.281 Are they preaching the gospel to their people every morning and then teaching people to go out and do the same with others? 00:17:10.281 --> 00:17:12.636 See, that's what's most important. 00:17:13.250 --> 00:17:18.917 Regardless of how big a church or small a church or how it's structured, we need to be focused on the gospel. 00:17:18.917 --> 00:17:28.182 You see, if Satan can get us judging one another about how we do the church, he can cause divisions in the body that begin to destroy the church. 00:17:28.182 --> 00:17:36.031 And again, we're so focused about divisions and unity within the body and I get that as an elder I'm really I'm a protector of that unity. 00:17:36.031 --> 00:17:47.630 But we also have to realize we're responsible for unity in the big C church as well, also have to realize we're responsible for unity in the big C church as well. 00:17:47.630 --> 00:17:54.239 And when people on the outside of the Christian faith see the infighting among us, they may begin to question if the gospel of Jesus Christ is really the answer. 00:17:54.239 --> 00:17:56.963 Is it really the answer? 00:17:56.963 --> 00:18:02.990 You know, in our prayer time before Brian Durfee said you know, it's like the Navy. 00:18:02.990 --> 00:18:04.771 You know, in our prayer time before Brian Durfee said you know, it's like the Navy. 00:18:04.771 --> 00:18:14.681 The Navy doesn't just consist of destroyers, it doesn't just consist of aircraft carriers, it consists of all types of craft. 00:18:14.681 --> 00:18:17.763 But the only one purpose in that is to win the war. 00:18:18.724 --> 00:18:19.885 We're going to look a little different. 00:18:19.885 --> 00:18:23.691 We're going to worship a little different. 00:18:23.691 --> 00:18:24.592 We're going to worship a little different. 00:18:24.592 --> 00:18:26.653 What's most important, do we get the gospel right? 00:18:26.653 --> 00:18:28.375 And I think it's really amazing. 00:18:28.375 --> 00:18:29.656 You know this Unite Knoxville. 00:18:29.656 --> 00:18:31.798 We've got people of all kinds of faiths. 00:18:31.798 --> 00:18:35.903 You ever been to a Christian concert and you're seeing all these people. 00:18:35.903 --> 00:18:39.026 They all come from different churches, but what are they doing? 00:18:39.026 --> 00:18:42.073 They're worshiping God together. 00:18:42.073 --> 00:18:48.760 Do you know that our youth right now, the camp they're at, has three other different churches that are there together? 00:18:48.760 --> 00:18:54.195 And you know those churches don't look exactly like ours, but they got the gospel right. 00:18:54.195 --> 00:18:57.415 They got the gospel right. 00:18:58.491 --> 00:19:04.759 I believe the church that Jesus Christ builds should not be identified primarily about how it's constructed or organized. 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:07.740 Rather, it should be known for what it believes, and that's the true gospel. 00:19:07.740 --> 00:19:12.278 Now, the true gospel is non-negotiable. 00:19:12.278 --> 00:19:17.261 How we do church, brethren, is important, but it's secondary. 00:19:17.261 --> 00:19:22.950 And you know, at Trinity Community Church, the way we are structured, with an elder plurality. 00:19:22.950 --> 00:19:25.459 We believe that's scriptural and we follow that. 00:19:25.459 --> 00:19:27.275 That's what we follow. 00:19:27.275 --> 00:19:30.076 But does that mean I look at the church down the road? 00:19:30.076 --> 00:19:32.082 That is more pastor focused? 00:19:32.082 --> 00:19:34.656 Does that mean I throw rocks at them? 00:19:34.656 --> 00:19:37.237 No, we got to throw the rocks down. 00:19:37.237 --> 00:19:42.895 We got to put the rocks down Because there is a time, brethren, that's coming. 00:19:42.895 --> 00:19:53.819 It's coming when we're going to be unified because of persecution and we're going to be unified because of what's happening in this world. 00:19:53.819 --> 00:19:58.376 So, when it comes to applying the gospel to community, like we're going to be talking about today. 00:19:58.450 --> 00:20:02.481 I want to encourage you to begin as I take all this and I talk about. 00:20:02.481 --> 00:20:07.001 I talk about the relationship of the gospel with each of us as we deal with each other. 00:20:07.001 --> 00:20:21.217 I want you to expand that and think about that beyond the walls of this church, and I want to ask you to challenge your beliefs that all those churches are wrong, or all that churches are wrong, and we need to start finding the center. 00:20:21.217 --> 00:20:24.474 And please, I want to make sure that everybody understands me. 00:20:24.474 --> 00:20:31.258 I'm not saying that we shouldn't be careful to discern what other churches believe, especially if we're going to partner with them. 00:20:31.258 --> 00:20:32.080 I'm not saying that. 00:20:32.080 --> 00:20:37.050 Don't think I'm trying to get up here and give some homogenous oh, we're just love, we're just going to love. 00:20:37.050 --> 00:20:38.933 No, we're going to use discernment. 00:20:38.933 --> 00:20:51.124 We have to use discernment, but we can't fall into the trap that Jesus said was going to come, as Satan tries to plan for us Divide the body of Christ. 00:20:52.468 --> 00:20:57.101 Sometimes I wonder if we should just all show up at another church and just go in there and just pray for everybody. 00:20:57.101 --> 00:21:00.355 Wouldn't that blow their minds? 00:21:00.355 --> 00:21:03.630 Just to show up, worship with them, hug them, pray for them. 00:21:03.630 --> 00:21:03.971 They're going. 00:21:03.971 --> 00:21:04.392 What the hell? 00:21:04.392 --> 00:21:07.981 Where are you guys from oh, we're from Trinity Community Church. 00:21:07.981 --> 00:21:10.055 We just wanted to come worship with you guys. 00:21:10.055 --> 00:21:13.682 Don't you guys believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit? 00:21:13.682 --> 00:21:14.550 Yes, we do. 00:21:14.550 --> 00:21:16.236 In fact, I don't teach how to pray in tongues. 00:21:16.236 --> 00:21:27.884 No, that might not go over very well, but you see, that's what we have to do. 00:21:27.884 --> 00:21:29.210 We have to be careful about that, brethren. 00:21:29.210 --> 00:21:33.476 So rabbit hole is officially closed. 00:21:33.516 --> 00:21:36.086 Let's talk about what I said I was going to talk about. 00:21:36.086 --> 00:21:44.780 You know, I've always tried to be transparent with you up on this stage about who I am and my journey, and a lot of you have heard you know I've given sermons before talking about my journey and my journey, and a lot of you have heard you know I've given sermons before talking about my journey. 00:21:44.780 --> 00:21:54.700 And I just want to say when I first came into the church, the church, the big C church at age 12, I came into a very legalistic belief system, all right. 00:21:54.700 --> 00:21:57.310 So I tried to goose step my way to the kingdom. 00:21:57.310 --> 00:21:59.154 Okay, I was taught that. 00:21:59.154 --> 00:22:08.678 Now, when I left the church after God broke that down with grace, I left the church because I was hurt by the way, you can put your hands up. 00:22:08.678 --> 00:22:16.484 Anybody here ever been hurt in a church before I'm going to put my hand up until everybody puts their hand up, just kidding. 00:22:17.510 --> 00:22:30.200 But you know, about 20 years ago God called my wife and I back and he brought us back into a church that understood grace, and they understood the gospel fairly well and I began to. 00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:37.690 God began to strip away all the legalism from me and replace that with grace, and it was the most beautiful thing For the long time. 00:22:37.690 --> 00:22:44.335 In my Facebook page you can put kind of a little you know when I believe type thing and I put down I've learned to look through the gospel. 00:22:44.335 --> 00:22:53.582 I look at life through the lens of grace and it's beautiful because that's what I was seeing for the first time and it was a beautiful thing. 00:22:53.582 --> 00:23:10.319 However, when Hedy and I came here almost well, actually over eight years ago now my wife and I came to begin to understand a fuller meaning of the gospel, a fuller meaning of the gospel, and we didn't understand it overnight. 00:23:11.490 --> 00:23:13.758 It took a long time to teach us this. 00:23:13.758 --> 00:23:36.980 We began to understand that the gospel is not just a doorway for sinners, but something that every Christian should live out every day of their life, and Neil Silverberg was a big part of that, you know, when I was made an elder, I would sit in the elders meetings and it was funny because I would sit there and they'd be talking, and someone would be talking about counseling and I'd hear Mark say you know, we just have to apply the gospel to this situation. 00:23:36.980 --> 00:23:39.477 I'm going apply the gospel. 00:23:39.477 --> 00:23:40.961 Aren't these people saved? 00:23:40.961 --> 00:23:51.275 And then Neil would say something about well, you know, as long as we just got to keep the gospel at the forefront of this, and I kept scratching my head, well, I thought we already did that. 00:23:51.275 --> 00:23:56.016 That was a box we checked a long time ago, but it wasn't true. 00:23:56.016 --> 00:23:57.038 I didn't understand it. 00:23:57.038 --> 00:23:58.102 And then. 00:23:58.162 --> 00:24:05.721 So what happened is, um, after I was made an elder, about maybe a year or two into it, I was given an assignment of a sermon. 00:24:05.721 --> 00:24:10.234 It was probably my second or third sermon here and the sermon series. 00:24:10.234 --> 00:24:12.700 It was really cool because the sermon series was called. 00:24:12.700 --> 00:24:22.089 It's called Authentic and I'm not going to ask you if you remember the sermon series right, but it was called Authentic and it was about making authentic disciples. 00:24:22.089 --> 00:24:34.244 But it was called Authentic and it was about making authentic disciples and my title was what is a True Disciple? 00:24:34.244 --> 00:24:35.167 Is the Gospel Transforming Me? 00:24:35.167 --> 00:24:36.490 And I was like I already did that. 00:24:36.490 --> 00:24:37.332 Didn't I tell you that? 00:24:37.332 --> 00:24:39.354 How is the gospel transforming me? 00:24:39.354 --> 00:24:40.954 And I got to tell you. 00:24:40.954 --> 00:24:52.747 I now know that God sovereignly assigned me that message because it forced me to really dig in and ask myself how is the gospel transforming me? 00:24:52.747 --> 00:24:58.931 What does that look like? 00:24:58.931 --> 00:25:00.374 And I had to ask the tougher question how does the gospel transform? 00:25:00.374 --> 00:25:04.222 Scott Weems on a daily basis, and that got me praying and studying the gospel. 00:25:05.530 --> 00:25:18.511 So in my preparation, as I was working on this, I'm a visual learner and I have to sometimes take concepts and put them in a visual way, a graphic way, and so I came up with this concept called the gospel wheel. 00:25:18.511 --> 00:25:27.104 And as I dug into that, I began to say, yeah, this makes sense. 00:25:27.104 --> 00:25:29.692 So what I basically did you can see the gospel wheel up there. 00:25:29.692 --> 00:25:42.980 Basically, what I did is I did this wheel, and the wheel at the center is the gospel, and coming out from the hub, which is the gospel, is all the different elements and principles and the parts of the gospel itself. 00:25:42.980 --> 00:25:54.358 Okay, so if you look at that like, for instance and, by the way, this is not an exhaustive list you could put a lot of spokes on this wheel right, because everything flows out of the gospel. 00:25:54.358 --> 00:25:58.441 But I had to stop somewhere because I ran out of room on my chart. 00:25:58.441 --> 00:26:04.474 Let's walk through a few of these and explain this. 00:26:05.597 --> 00:26:12.964 So, grace and faith Well, their core, their core elements of the gospel Ephesians 2.8,. 00:26:12.964 --> 00:26:14.770 By grace, you've been saved, through faith. 00:26:14.770 --> 00:26:17.137 They walk hand in hand together. 00:26:17.137 --> 00:26:18.520 Grace is undeserved. 00:26:18.520 --> 00:26:23.095 It's unearned Smash that automatically broke anything. 00:26:23.095 --> 00:26:23.214 I had. 00:26:23.214 --> 00:26:26.693 Last vestiges of legalism okay, I knew that. 00:26:26.693 --> 00:26:27.836 Now I really know it. 00:26:27.836 --> 00:26:28.217 Right. 00:26:28.217 --> 00:26:30.300 And faith to believe. 00:26:30.300 --> 00:26:32.490 Even that faith is a gift from god. 00:26:32.490 --> 00:26:33.090 Right? 00:26:33.090 --> 00:26:34.874 How about justice? 00:26:34.874 --> 00:26:36.875 God is just. 00:26:36.875 --> 00:26:40.741 We know that all sin holds a penalty. 00:26:40.741 --> 00:26:45.548 All sin holds a penalty Eternal punishment. 00:26:45.548 --> 00:26:53.131 Scripture also tells us that God will ultimately judge and punish every sin that's ever committed, every sin, every sin. 00:26:53.131 --> 00:27:00.291 And for believers, we take comfort in the fact that that justice was satisfied on the cross with Jesus. 00:27:00.291 --> 00:27:02.616 It's a part of the gospel. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:11.413 Repentance Repentance is one of the cornerstone truths of the gospel. 00:27:11.413 --> 00:27:28.869 Scripture tells us, in order to be saved, we must repent, and again you've heard that repent means I'm going this way and I now turn and go that way, meaning that when you give yourself to Christ and he comes into your life, you will not look the same. 00:27:28.869 --> 00:27:31.674 You will not look the same. 00:27:31.674 --> 00:27:35.022 You're saved by grace alone, but not grace that remains alone. 00:27:35.022 --> 00:27:47.218 One of my favorite quotes it can't remain alone Because if you're changed, your life's going to reflect that, and repentance, that gift from God, is a big part of it. 00:27:47.218 --> 00:28:03.414 There's no salvation without that genuine repentance, even though, by the way, unfortunately some church like to put another mark because someone came forward and said a prayer, but then their life doesn't change, and we don't want that. 00:28:03.414 --> 00:28:04.511 That's not true gospel. 00:28:05.192 --> 00:28:05.953 How about obedience? 00:28:05.953 --> 00:28:10.743 A true sign of repentance is when we begin to obey Christ. 00:28:10.743 --> 00:28:15.819 We begin to obey him, we literally begin to do what he said. 00:28:15.819 --> 00:28:23.922 Our hearts have changed so that we want to obey Doesn't mean we don't sin anymore, but we're grieved by sin. 00:28:23.922 --> 00:28:27.335 1 John, 2, 4,. 00:28:27.335 --> 00:28:32.840 John says Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. 00:28:32.840 --> 00:28:35.357 So you get the idea here. 00:28:35.357 --> 00:28:36.654 This is the gospel wheel. 00:28:37.310 --> 00:28:42.122 And as I began to formulate this, I said, okay, now how does this gospel wheel transform me? 00:28:42.122 --> 00:28:56.056 And for the purposes of this sermon, I want to take the gospel wheel and apply it to circumstances and situations, scenarios that you might come across as you walk with somebody in the Lord, as we walk together. 00:28:56.056 --> 00:28:59.077 Okay, so this is going to be a very pragmatic sermon. 00:28:59.077 --> 00:29:00.878 I love saying that name. 00:29:00.878 --> 00:29:02.410 I don't know what that word means. 00:29:02.410 --> 00:29:05.993 It just sounds good, it's practical. 00:29:05.993 --> 00:29:16.303 Okay, let's talk about scenario one and, by the way, any of these scenarios, if they resonate with you I have nobody in mind when I wrote these scenarios up. 00:29:16.303 --> 00:29:18.413 Okay, these were just shooting from the hip. 00:29:18.413 --> 00:29:23.477 Okay, if you represent this, then that's something you deal with God about. 00:29:24.703 --> 00:29:25.750 So the first one is the gossip. 00:29:25.750 --> 00:29:29.117 Let's just say someone in church comes to your attention. 00:29:29.117 --> 00:29:35.797 That someone in church gossiped about you Never happened in the church, of course, it's totally hypothetical. 00:29:35.797 --> 00:29:44.041 Maybe they talked behind our back, maybe they said something to someone that really disparaged you and was untrue. 00:29:44.041 --> 00:29:51.096 It hurt a little bit more if it was true, but let's say it was untrue, right, it harmed your reputation. 00:29:51.650 --> 00:29:54.881 Now, how does the gospel apply to this situation? 00:29:54.881 --> 00:29:57.897 Well, let's take the gospel wheel and let's take a look. 00:29:57.897 --> 00:30:04.069 So the first one when I think about this, the first thing I point out is our fallen nature. 00:30:04.069 --> 00:30:09.450 One when I think about this, the first thing I point out is our fallen nature. 00:30:09.450 --> 00:30:29.732 Now, the gospel is clear that all men have sinned and just because you received the Holy Spirit and you are now made new, a new creation, as we read in the gospel, and we read in 1 Corinthians 5.17, I think it is we're made a new creation, but we still struggle with sin. 00:30:29.732 --> 00:30:30.615 What's your struggle? 00:30:30.615 --> 00:30:37.326 I could hand out a post-it note and say write down your biggest struggle, your biggest sin that you struggle with, and go stick it on the wall. 00:30:37.326 --> 00:30:46.157 It would be full, because we all have those things that we carry with us, that we're fighting against, and God's cleansing us and changing us. 00:30:46.157 --> 00:30:47.915 We're dealing with that. 00:30:48.410 --> 00:30:54.002 Maybe this person, one of the things they're dealing with is gossip. 00:30:54.002 --> 00:30:57.336 My brother-in-law I'll tell you a story. 00:30:57.336 --> 00:31:07.270 My brother-in-law one time I came from rural Saskatchewan, canada, and he was at a little diner in our little town and he was sitting. 00:31:07.270 --> 00:31:14.759 There was a small diner and there was three women over here just gossiping away about everything and he's sitting there eating and he's just smiling to himself. 00:31:14.759 --> 00:31:15.750 It's just like, oh. 00:31:15.750 --> 00:31:20.277 And finally this one woman said you know what? 00:31:20.277 --> 00:31:33.932 I better stop right there because I've already said more than I know and he was just like that's the most honest thing I've ever heard. 00:31:33.932 --> 00:31:37.255 But maybe that's that person's besetting sin that they're struggling with. 00:31:38.236 --> 00:31:39.778 Why is the gospel important? 00:31:39.778 --> 00:31:44.622 It's important because you've got to realize that just like they struggle with that, you might struggle with something else. 00:31:44.622 --> 00:31:48.265 Maybe you can't keep your mind clear from that phone. 00:31:48.265 --> 00:31:51.406 Maybe you get tempted by that phone going to places you shouldn't. 00:31:51.406 --> 00:31:54.938 Maybe yours is anger. 00:31:54.938 --> 00:31:59.280 Maybe you get behind the wheel and you turn into the Hulk. 00:31:59.280 --> 00:32:02.932 You didn't signal, you know. 00:32:02.932 --> 00:32:05.759 By the way, I hate when people don't signal. 00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:07.122 This is true confession up here. 00:32:07.122 --> 00:32:09.332 I hate that. 00:32:09.332 --> 00:32:11.776 What's your sin? 00:32:11.776 --> 00:32:16.122 You see, understanding that maybe that person's struggling with that and that's your stronghold. 00:32:16.122 --> 00:32:17.744 It helps soften your heart towards them. 00:32:17.744 --> 00:32:30.195 It doesn't justify what they're doing, but it makes you understand that you know what they're struggling with something, just like I'm struggling with something, and I then need to extend them grace for that right. 00:32:30.195 --> 00:32:33.522 How about forgiveness? 00:32:33.522 --> 00:32:35.792 Do you know? 00:32:35.874 --> 00:32:40.640 One of the hardest concepts for Christians to understand is that you have to forgive, even if the other person is not repentant. 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:52.443 Maybe you go to that person and you say if the other person is not repentant, maybe you go to that person and you say you know, kelly, pick on Kelly. 00:32:52.443 --> 00:33:03.869 You know what I heard, what you said to Mark about my sermon and it really hurt my feelings. 00:33:03.869 --> 00:33:04.655 You know where I'm going from. 00:33:04.655 --> 00:33:11.569 If you talk to them and you say that, and maybe their response back to you is oh, I didn't say that, oh, no, well, no, that was misconstrued, or whatever. 00:33:11.569 --> 00:33:15.459 Maybe they're not really repentant about it Now. 00:33:15.459 --> 00:33:21.277 We would love for them to go oh man, you're right, I'm sorry, we'd love to have that, which, by the way, is another element of the gospel we'll talk about. 00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:25.565 But even if they don't, you have to forgive them. 00:33:25.565 --> 00:33:28.131 Why? 00:33:28.131 --> 00:33:29.554 Why do you have to forgive them? 00:33:29.554 --> 00:33:32.099 Because Jesus forgave you. 00:33:32.099 --> 00:33:41.480 It's as simple as that, and if you've ever watched somebody that's beset with unforgiveness, you can see it's destroying them from the inside. 00:33:41.480 --> 00:33:44.753 You have to forgive. 00:33:44.834 --> 00:33:47.951 The gospel informs us that we have to forgive. 00:33:47.951 --> 00:33:50.855 How about justice? 00:33:50.855 --> 00:33:54.480 We want to pay that person back, don't we? 00:33:54.480 --> 00:33:57.005 Sometimes it's our first. 00:33:57.005 --> 00:34:08.403 Well, I know some things about them I'm going to talk to somebody about, or maybe we're telling somebody else about the offense and by doing that, we're painting a bad picture of that person as we talk to them about it. 00:34:08.403 --> 00:34:10.793 Right, you see how that can. 00:34:10.793 --> 00:34:12.358 It's like our way of payback. 00:34:12.358 --> 00:34:14.775 You hurt me, I'm going to hurt you. 00:34:14.775 --> 00:34:22.798 Welcome to America, unfortunately, our American society, that independence and that I'm my own man type thing. 00:34:22.798 --> 00:34:27.114 It bleeds into our Christian lives sometimes it really does. 00:34:27.114 --> 00:34:35.384 But we know the only person that can yield the sword of justice is Jesus. 00:34:35.384 --> 00:34:41.675 Romans 12, 19 says we should never take vengeance and it quotes scripture. 00:34:41.675 --> 00:34:43.655 It says vengeance is mine, says the Lord. 00:34:43.655 --> 00:34:49.021 Are you beginning to see how the gospel can apply to these scenarios? 00:34:49.021 --> 00:34:50.976 Let's do the next scenario. 00:34:50.976 --> 00:34:52.614 I call this one. 00:34:52.635 --> 00:34:57.157 Mr Do-Right, you're friends with somebody in the church. 00:34:57.157 --> 00:35:02.061 There's somebody you know that they are a servant of God, they serve. 00:35:02.061 --> 00:35:03.677 They're here every time the church is open. 00:35:03.677 --> 00:35:06.445 They're volunteering for all the things they're serving God. 00:35:06.445 --> 00:35:08.012 They're doing just wonderful. 00:35:08.012 --> 00:35:11.302 But they like to tell people about what they're doing. 00:35:11.302 --> 00:35:19.300 I mean, they're always kind of bragging about stuff, even though they'll do it subtly, but they're bragging about it. 00:35:19.300 --> 00:35:25.239 Say oh yeah, I helped Widow Smith last week and it was good. 00:35:25.239 --> 00:35:28.199 She really needed the help and I was glad to fix her freezer, it was good. 00:35:28.199 --> 00:35:34.541 Oh yeah, I went over and I visited Mr Jones and he really needed a visit. 00:35:41.269 --> 00:35:45.461 Well, what's happening is people don't want to be around people like that anymore, do they? 00:35:45.461 --> 00:35:55.402 And you're seeing that he's this pride that's coming out, or maybe just a need for affirmation is coming out of him and it's destructive. 00:35:55.402 --> 00:36:03.038 Now, if you love him and, by the way, this is the biggest test how many times do you run into this situation? 00:36:03.038 --> 00:36:08.673 How many times do I run into situations like that where I'm just like, oh man, I'm going to go over here. 00:36:08.673 --> 00:36:14.159 If you really love that person, maybe you're going to sit down with them and say, hey, can we get coffee sometimes? 00:36:14.159 --> 00:36:22.960