.jpg)
The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
The Gospel That Isn't Shared
The gospel we often hear in church isn't always good news—it's frequently based on fear, guilt, and shame rather than God's unconditional love and Christ's finished work. Most Christians struggle to share their faith not because they're lazy or scared, but because they haven't been taught what the true gospel actually is.
• The word "gospel" means "good news"—if what we're sharing isn't genuinely good, it isn't the gospel
• Christ declared "it is finished" on the cross—His work is complete, not waiting for our efforts to make it effective
• Romans 5:8 shows God demonstrated His love while we were still sinners—not after we cleaned up our act
• Most churches refuse to preach the finished work, inclusion, love-driven (not fear-driven) message, and our true identity
• 2 Corinthians 5:19 reveals God has already reconciled the world to Himself, not counting people's sins against them
• Transformation happens from the inside out when we understand our identity—not through external behavior modification
• God's goodness, not fear of punishment, leads people to repentance (changing their mindset)
• We don't need to tell people what they must do to be accepted, but what Christ has already done on their behalf
I want to challenge you to examine what you believe about the gospel and ask yourself: Is it genuinely good news? If what you're sharing creates fear instead of faith, guilt instead of freedom, or shame instead of love, it's not the gospel Jesus taught. Let's commit to sharing the true good news of God's unconditional love and Christ's completely finished work.
Well, it's good to see everybody again this morning. Again, I hate that I'm not somebody who can sit anytime, especially when I'm speaking, it's hard for me to sit. Still, I want to move around, I want to walk and obviously can't do that. So maybe this is better for you, because I'm not moving around, so you can kind of pay attention a little bit more. But I want to share something this morning, that's. I think it's going to be a little different. It's not going to be different from the standpoint of what we're saying, but it's going to be a little different from what you would normally hear. And I'm saying in church overall.
Speaker 1:Kaylee called this morning and told us that they weren't going to be here today because Cooper was sick. I heard her when she was talking to Cindy. I heard her say is Brian preaching on Charlie Kirk this morning? Because there's going to be a lot of messages on Charlie Kirk this morning across the nation. There's no doubt about that. Charlie Kirk had such an awesome movement. Whether you agreed with him or not, whether you agreed with him or not, like the stance or not, he had a movement that was just undeniable and it wasn't just political. I heard somebody the other day and it kind of got me because they said you know, we've got to stop saying this was a political assassination, this was a spiritual, this is spiritual. So no, I'm not got to stop saying this was a political assassination, this was a spiritual, this is spiritual, you know. So, no, I'm not preaching on Charlie Kirk this morning, but I will tell you that just because of what's happened with him and everything like that I want you to see this morning. I hope you're going to be able to see how this relates to what he was about and what we should all be about. That's really what kind of got me going in this direction this morning was, you know, just because of his assassination and what he stood for and what he represented.
Speaker 1:What he wanted to be remembered for this is one of the smartest guys you could ever come in contact with For somebody who was not college educated, for somebody who dropped out of college I think his first or second semester when he was 17 or 18 years old and started Turning Point and he said because I want to start a movement. I mean, that was his words. And when they asked him what he wanted to be remembered for, he was saying remembered for his faith, remembered for his courage, remembered for what he did as far as spiritual, not what he did as far as anything political. And I got to thinking about that because you can't get on Facebook, you can't turn on the news, you can't go anywhere right now without seeing something related to Kirk on the news. You can't go anywhere right now without seeing something related to Kirk People doing in memory of and different things like that. You've got even presidents and leaders from other countries coming on giving their words and giving their memories of him. The guy had an awesome, awesome movement in just a very short amount of time. 13 years is pretty much as long as he was running Turning Point. That's not a long time when you go to looking at what he was able to accomplish during that time.
Speaker 1:So what I'm going to talk about today I hope you'll be able to see where I'm going with this pretty quick. You may be able to tell it by the title itself the Gospel that Isn't Shared. And that's going to be something that I'm going to challenge you a little bit this morning. I hope you're okay with that. I love to challenge people, I love to say things. That's kind of off the wall a little bit, a little bit different. That tries to. You know, my goal is to try to provoke people to think.
Speaker 1:Charlie was on a lot larger scale than, obviously, than I am. But you know, one of the reasons I liked him is because we had the same purpose in what we've done, and one of the things he wanted to do was just get people to think, get people to get out of the same old, same old that you've always been taught, and realize that there's more to it than this world that you're living in. And that's something that we've said from the very beginning of starting this ministry that we want to be different, that we want to provoke people to think. We want to provoke people to think. We want to provoke people to get out of the norm. We want you to know that I don't care how long you've been in church, that you can think beyond the walls of what you've always known and that there's more to it than what you've always been taught. So that's where this is coming from.
Speaker 1:This morning is the gospel that oftentimes isn't shared. But let me begin this morning with a hard truth. Most Christians don't share the good news. Let's think in a minute. Most Christians do not share the good news. So here's the question why, if we're taught it every Sunday, we're taught it every Wednesday. We go to church, we grow up, we live in the Bible Belt, we grow up in a place that is filled with spirituality every which way you turn. So why would we not be sharing the gospel, the good news? It's not because people are selfish, or it's not because people are just lazy and don't want to evangelize. It's not because people scared of speaking to people about christ, but because in most places, the reason they don't is because they haven't been taught what the good news really is. But how can you say that? Because I've been in other places. This is not the first church I've ever been in.
Speaker 1:I grew up in different churches and I always say this and I feel like I have to say this because I don't want anybody to take it the wrong way. I'm not bashing other churches. I'm not bashing other pastors because I was one of them Before. I was teaching things that I would not dare sit up here and teach today. Okay, not because it was just God-awful wrong, but because it kept us in a place that I don't believe god wants us to be in. It kept us, uh, stuck in a place, and I believe god wants us to break out of that religious mold and that, that traditional place that we so often get stuck in, and wants us to realize there's more to this life, there's more to it than what you've experienced. We've got too many people I say this often we've got too many people waiting to die and go to heaven. When God's saying I want you to bring heaven to earth, he said thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So we're waiting to do one thing and God's waiting on us to do something completely different.
Speaker 1:We've been to church, most of us. We've been in church probably your entire life. I can remember I was put on the church bus Back before they called it ACOG. They called it 10th Street Church of God. That's where I grew up. Mama put us on the church bus every Sunday morning. Her and Daddy didn't go, but they made sure we was on that bus. They made sure we was on that bus. Okay, they made sure we was in church. So we've all done this church thing for years. We've heard sermon after sermon.
Speaker 1:We's a hard question, a hard reality to try to face and say have I really learned the gospel? We teach it so much in this church that when we say the gospel, we're not just talking about Matthew, mark, luke and John, and a lot of times that's what it gets put into. Yeah, I've learned the gospel. Yeah, my pastor preaches out of Mark all the time. My pastor preaches out of the book of John all the time. So we therefore say we've learned the gospel. But when you really look at what the gospel is and we teach this all the time the gospel is good news by definition. That's what it is good news. So I'm asking you today to ask yourself am I actually learning the gospel? The good news it's not a list of rules, it's not threats to be made toward other people. It's not anything to do with fear.
Speaker 1:Yet so many messages that we hear in the church today tell people how terrible they are. Why? Because you've got to know how bad you are so that you know that you need a God. You've got to realize how tough and how difficult and how bad your life is. So we're told how terrible we are sometimes when we go into church and we're told how we need to pray more, how we need to spend more time in prayer. We got to pray harder, pray through this thing and we're told that we need to change so that we can come to Jesus.
Speaker 1:So many people today and I'm not just talking about worldwide, I'm talking about right here in Bacon County it's not in church today. They're not in talking about worldwide, I'm talking about right here in Bacon County. It's not in church today. They're not in a facility today because they feel like they haven't got stuff cleaned up enough. They're still out there. They're still using some drugs here or there Might be just recreationally, but they're still using. They're still doing something that makes them, on the inside of them, feel like they are not worthy to walk through the doors of a church. They're not qualified and most of the time, the person that told them that was the one in the pulpit and the people in the chairs or the pews, and that's sad.
Speaker 1:Think about it. We tell these people to clean themselves up so they can come to Jesus. But think about this If we actually had the power to clean ourselves up, to fix our brokenness and make ourselves righteous enough to come to God, there'd be no reason for Jesus to have to come. We can't do this on our own. Somebody that's struggling out there cannot do this on their own. But yet every day we I don't mean this literally we kick them out of our buildings, but I'm saying we say things that make them not want to come in, and we push them out and tell them get clean so that you can come. And they're out there like what the crap? How am I supposed to get clean? What am I supposed to do? And they struggle. We are not going to be like that.
Speaker 1:I've said that from the very beginning when we started this ministry. I really believe whosoever will come, I don't care if they just got messed up out here in the parking lot before church. We're going to invite them in here Because it's not by their own will and by their own power that they change. They've got to have Christ to do it. They've got to be around people that's not going to beat them down and look down on them. They've got to be around people that's going to say I don't care about your condition, I love you anyway, in spite of what you're going through.
Speaker 1:The whole point of the gospel is that we can't do this on our own. Nobody can do it on their own. Jesus came precisely because we are powerless to bridge that gap between us and God. We could not do it. So Jesus come to establish that connection, to re-establish I should say to re-establish that connection between us and God. Jesus took our sin upon himself and nailed it to the cross once and you got to hear this Once and for all what the Bible says. He did it one time. I don't know no other way. I wish I could come up with another way to explain this, but I've just got to read it the way it reads it One time for all. You mean that one out there struggling? Yes. You mean that one out there that's addicted right now? Yes, you mean that one out there that's addicted right now? Yes. You mean that one out there that's just going through hell in their life? Yes, once for all. There's no other way to look at it. I'm going to read Scripture in context. I'm going to look at it and I'm going to break it down and I'm going to say what does it really mean?
Speaker 1:He didn't climb on that cross and go through what he went through for a select few. I told you last week get the number 144,000 out of your head. He didn't do this for just a few people. He did it one time and he did it for all. I love to say the one time, because that means he's not coming back to do it again. You know why? Because he hung on that cross and he said it is finished, complete, done. I don't have to do anything else. Everything I've done absolutely meets every requirement. It breaks down every wall, it makes you qualified, it takes care of anything that you or any other person thinks would disqualify you. It takes care of it once and for all. Because of what he finished, we are already fully included in God's righteousness. His work is complete. There's nothing left to do. There's nothing left to add to it. Everyone, every single person, has been reconciled and made whole in Him.
Speaker 1:Now, this is where I'm going to slow down, right here, because this is where people start to struggle. Because when we look at that and I'm just going to tell you, the Bible says that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, and we can stop right there and preach on that, but I've got to add the next part. There's a comma and then it says not imputing our sins against us. He was reconciling, he was restoring to relationship and not holding your sins against you. Why? Because if I'm holding your sins against you, then I can't restore you. If I'm looking down on you, I can't restore you to that relationship. So it says I'm restoring you, I'm reconciling you and I'm not imputing or not holding your sins against you. That verse is so misinterpreted and so misunderstood and so many sermons are taught on that verse that just mess people up. It's pretty simple he's reconciling. God was in Christ, reconciling and not imputing our sins against Him.
Speaker 1:Romans 5 and 8. I want you to look at this verse right here, a minute. It's an important one, but God demonstrates His own love for us. Let me just stop right there just a minute. He demonstrates His own love for us in this. While we were yet sinners, while we were still sinners, christ died for us. I'm not pausing because I don't have anything to say. I'm pausing because I want you to take that in just a minute. While we were yet sinners, he died for us.
Speaker 1:This verse right here demonstrates that the gospel is not about us making ourselves acceptable. It's not about what you can do well enough to be qualified. It's not about you being this super Christian so that you meet all the requirements so that God will love you. It has nothing to do with that. This verse right here to me is the beginning of the finished work, because he's telling us, god done this while you were still a sinner, while you still did not know who he was, while you still didn't understand who you were. He did this on your behalf. So it's not about making ourselves acceptable to God, but about God proving His love to you by coming to us in the worst state.
Speaker 1:Think about yourself in the worst state that you've ever been in. Maybe you've always been a super anointed Christian. I don't know, I haven't been. I know some of you. I know you haven't been In the worst state that you can imagine yourself. Think about Him coming and going to the cross and going through what he went through for you in your worst state, and doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Have you ever been in a place and I know we have I'll speak to me. I know I've been in a place before where I knew it was wrong. I knew I was struggling. I knew I was doing things in my life that wasn't positive. It wasn't good for my life, it wasn't moving my life in a positive direction. But for the life of me, I just could not stop it. I always found myself going back to those same things over and over again. But even in the midst of that, he still went to the cross for me to show His love for me. He didn't say show me how much you love me, this is what we've got to see here. He said I'm going show me how much you love me. This is what we got to see here. He said I'm going to show you how much I love you by doing this not in your best time, but in your worst time, while you were yet a sinner. I'm going to do this for you While you were struggling. I'm going to do this for you While you were at your worst. I'm going to do this for you.
Speaker 1:Too often, we hear sermons that produce fear instead of faith. What do I mean by that? Fear of hell, fear of being cursed, fear that if you don't act right or you don't do right, or you don't dress right, or you don't go to the right church, that God won't bless you. You've got to do things a certain way to receive those blessings. And that's fear. Because what if I'm not doing things perfect? I wake up every day and I think, well, god's not going to bless me today. I've got to get things in order before he loves me, before he cares for me.
Speaker 1:The gospel that most churches preach and it's sad to say it's based on fear the gospel I used to preach, and it's sad to say it's based on fear. The gospel I used to preach was based on fear. And then I woke up and I started seeing things a little bit different, because this fear of hell and fear of curses and fear of not being loved, this is not the gospel. This is not the gospel. That is not good news.
Speaker 1:Somebody that's been struggling with drugs or struggling with addiction, and they've been going through this for a while and then, for whatever reason, they just finally make it their way into a church and they probably sit in the back row when they come in, because God knows they're not going to walk through everybody and the first thing we tell them is they're going to burn in hell. That's not good news to nobody. No wonder they walk out and don't want to come back. The first thing we tell them is how bad they are and how much they're just a sinner. We run them out and we produce this mindset in them that perfection is not possible for me. And we got people out there right now in this community that love God. They truly love God. They know God, maybe before they got on drugs or before they got on alcohol, or before that all happened. They grew up in church. They know who God is, but they're in a place right now where they don't know who they are. Why? Because when they look at themselves, all they see is the addiction. All they see is the bad stuff in their life. This is not the gospel.
Speaker 1:The gospel is freedom, and part of what made me think of this is that's one of the things that Charlie Kirk always wore. He wore a shirt that said freedom. That's what he cared about. That's what he stood for. Freedom, not fear. It's grace, not guilt. It's about love, not manipulation. We don't have to manipulate people into doing what we want them to do. We just love them. We just share with them the truth the gospel.
Speaker 1:In most churches often refuse to preach the gospel. I said that a while ago and I want to break this down. I'm going to slow down right here. I'm going to break this down with you and let you know why I'm saying this. I want you to get this, because the gospel, in a lot of places it's a word that some people would say is too good to be true. You know, y'all heard of that. If it's too good to be true, probably not. That's what we think. Yet this is true Because this is Bible.
Speaker 1:I'm not giving you my opinion this morning. I'm going to give you Scripture this morning and you don't have to agree with it. You don't have to agree with me. You might have been raised totally different and it might take you a little while to say I need to read these verses, I need to study this, I need to go back and listen to what he said again. So I'm not asking for you to agree with me this morning. I'm just asking you to have an open mind, look at the Scripture and follow the Scripture and say what was God really intending? Right, and there's four words that I want you to focus on. I'm going to give you the four words and then we're going to break them down, but if you're taking notes, write these four words down Finished, included. But if you're taking notes, write these four words down Finished, included, loved and identity. Finished, included, loved and identity, because this is the four key areas of the Gospel that a lot of times we don't preach, we're scared to preach it, for whatever reason.
Speaker 1:We refuse to preach a gospel that is absolutely finished. We do because I made it a point to say we're going to preach the finished work. Many pulpits present salvation as unfinished. If you'll just repent a little bit more, if you'll just pray a little bit harder, if you give a little bit more, if you behave well enough, then maybe God will accept you. That's what we say. That's an unfinished salvation. If I've got to do this and this and this and this To be saved, then what he did on the cross is unfinished. But the truth is Jesus declared it is unfinished. But the truth is Jesus declared it is finished. He said it's done, it's complete. See, we don't add to His work. What we do is we awaken to it. We wake up and we say what he did on the cross was absolutely sufficient. There's nothing I can do. There's nothing I can do. There's nothing I can add to it to make it work any better. There's nothing I can add to it to make it any more finished than it already is. It's finished. The other one is included. This is another one we refuse sometimes to preach in the church.
Speaker 1:We refuse to preach this gospel of inclusion. We talk about this all the time and I talked about this in detail last week. That's a word, that inclusion is a word that's so scary to a lot of pastors, and the reason it is is because if everybody's included, then how do we separate the believers from the unbelievers? How do we separate the saved from the unsaved? How do we separate the good people from the old sinners? Don't Just include them all, because what Jesus done on the cross, he said I've done one time for all for the sinner, for the unbeliever, for the one out there hurting, for the one out there who's not believing yet I've done it for all. What he done on the cross is not going to change because of what I do. It's finished. He's already died on the cross, he's already rose again, he's already seated at the right hand of the Father and he said it's finished.
Speaker 1:But we refuse to preach inclusion because it's scary to some people. The good news is not that God might reconcile the world one day. That's not the good news. The good news is that in Christ, god has already reconciled the world, as it says in 2 Corinthians. Some people need verses 2 Corinthians 5 and 19. Read that verse. It says God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing your sins against you.
Speaker 1:But many churches fear preaching this because it disrupts control. You know how I control people. I put some people here and some people here and there's something that I have that divides you and separates you. So we have to preach separation in the church. And God said we're not separated. Actually, we can go to a lot more verses where he says I chose you, every one of you, before the foundation of the world.
Speaker 1:What he done on the cross, he said I've done for all. There is no separation. He didn't say I've done it for the one who knows this Bible verse, I've done it for the one who attends church every Sunday. He said I've done it for the one who knows this Bible verse, I've done it for the one who attends church every Sunday. He said I've done it for all. And that's a hard message for people to teach, because it takes away the control that the church has had for so long. See, what does this mean? What does this inclusion mean? It means that nobody is excluded. Now you've got to hear me here, because don't take this out of context what I'm saying when I'm saying nobody is excluded what Jesus done on the cross. Nobody is excluded from that, nobody. Nobody is second class. Nobody can or needs to work their way into God's love. The cross finished it. It done the work.
Speaker 1:The other one, the third word, was love. Love, and you might say, well, this was kind of tough now, because I hear people preaching on love all the time. I do too. But I'm talking about a gospel that's love-driven and not fear-driven. We preach a message that's fear-driven. So often, too many sermons use hell and shame and guilt. We preach a message that's fear-driven. So often, too many sermons use hell and shame and guilt as tools of manipulation to try to scare people. And I've said this so many times. It works. That's the sad thing. It works.
Speaker 1:You know how many people are born again today simply because they got scared to the altar? That don't change the fact that they got born again. I'm not questioning nobody's salvation, but I'm just saying that they were pushed to the altar because of fear, because of manipulation. If you've ever been to a tent revival, an evangelistic tent revival, you know you can go to the altar, because lightning's going to strike you when you walk out of that tent if you don't. That's evangelism, and there's some really good evangelists out there Back in the day. We talked a lot about certain ones Back in the day. That was their tool was evangelism. That's what they taught. Their goal was to get people saved at any cost. I don't care how you get to the altar, but I got to get you there. Why? So you don't go to hell? So that was the thing. I'll manipulate you into being born again. I'll manipulate you into salvation so that you don't die and go to hell.
Speaker 1:Sounds good, but you've got to look at the ulterior motive behind it. We teach this a lot of times. Instead of just teaching goodness, instead of teaching love, instead of teaching the goodness of God. Look at Romans 2 and 4. I don't even know if I wrote this verse down, but it says it's the goodness of God that leads people to repentance. It's not the fear of going to hell that leads people to repentance. It's not the fear of going to hell that leads people to repentance. If that's the case, then I think God would have said that. But it's the goodness of God that leads people to repentance.
Speaker 1:What is repentance? It's the change of the mindset, it's changing the way I think. Repentance again and I don't try to oversimplify this, but I want it to be, I want people to understand it repentance does not mean coming to an altar and laying down and just crying my eyes out and saying I'm sorry, that's an apology and there's nothing wrong with that. If you feel the need to do that, this altar is open, but that's not repentance. Repentance means changing the way. I think that's what repentance is and it says the goodness of God, god being good, god being amazing, god's love is what leads people to change their thinking, not hell and brimstone and you're going to burn for eternity. That's not going to draw people.
Speaker 1:The other one, the last one that they refused a lot of times, refused to preach the gospel of identity. That is the number one thing we teach here Understand who you are in Christ. Because if you don't understand who you are and you don't know your true identity in Christ, you'll always try to live like somebody else, you'll always act like somebody, you'll always think like somebody else, you always act like somebody, you always think like somebody else. But when you understand the true nature of who you are, man, everything changes. But the only way you're going to understand the true nature of who you are is to go to the One that you're created after. He says I've created you in my image, after my likeness.
Speaker 1:You can't understand yourself without understanding the Father You've got, and we have been passed down from generation to generation this lie that he's an angry God and he's out to get you. Listen, I said it last week I'm not going to have a good relationship with somebody that I think is out to get me. If I think somebody's out to hurt me and I see you the first thing I'm going to do is not walk up and hug you. There's going to be very little intimacy with a father that I think is angry and upset with me. But when I understand the truth of the gospel, that he loves me, that he sent his son to the cross at the worst of my times and he died for me, to redeem me, to forgive me of my sin, why? Because even when I was in my worst of my worst, he loved me, and when I can see a Father that loves me that much, it changes my relationship with Him. I'm no longer Listen.
Speaker 1:When my dad I knew when I was little and I did something wrong and they called Daddy. I knew when I seen Daddy pulling down the driveway, I knew what I was fixing to get. I had already threw some extra pants and underwear on. I knew what I was fixing to get and when he walked in that door I'd be looking out the window. And when he pulled up and that truck stopped, you know what I'd do I ran. I ran to the bedroom, I ran to the back of the house. Why? Because he was an angry father. And what do you do to an angry father? You run from him. What do you do to an angry father? You run from him. What do you do to a father that is loved? You draw to him. It's a mindset. And this is all we're saying. I'm not looking at any other person, any other denomination, any other pastor and saying you're wrong. I'm just saying let's open up our mind to a good father, let's open up our mind to somebody who loves us, so that we can have a better relationship.
Speaker 1:And the more intimate I am with him again remember some of y'all wasn't here, but I told them the word intimacy. Intimacy is not sex, intimacy is knowledge the more intimate I am with you, the more information I share with you. If I'm close to you, I tell you things I don't tell everybody else. We know each other in a way that we don't know other people. Why? Because we're intimate. So the more intimate I am with the Father, the more I share things and the more he shares things with me, father, the more I share things and the more he shares things with me and the more I get to know Him. Why? Because where do we improve relationship through communication If I'm not talking to the Father because I think he's mad at me? There's no communication, relationship. You know the number one reason people get divorced? Well, they tell you, it is lack of communication. Let's communicate, and that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:That's what Charlie Kirk stood for. He said I'm going to go out here in the midst of all these people that hate me and don't agree with me, and I'm going to set up a little tent and I'm going to put a sign on the front that says prove me wrong. Why? Because that started the communication. He knew most people wasn't going to agree with him, but all he wanted to do was communicate. That's it, he said. When the communication stops, that's where violence begins.
Speaker 1:What are we saying? We just want to communicate with people. I just want to talk with people and say I understand where you're coming from. I see where that come from. But let me share something a little different with you. Let me share the love of God. Let me tell you that God loves you. Let me share the love of God. Let me tell you that God loves you. Let me tell you that you don't have to worry about all that stuff, that God has forgiven you, that you are redeemed and that he loves you. That changes people. This is the real good news, because it's really good. Y'all hear me say this all the time there is no bad news in the good news. There can't be. It's got to be good. And until we, as Christians I'm not talking to people not born again, I'm not talking to unbelievers, I'm talking to the church, I'm talking to you today as Christians Until we understand this, we're not going to share the gospel.
Speaker 1:We're going to keep sharing guilt and shame and fear and we're going to keep running people out. We're going to keep putting people in a place of confusion and being scared. And all I'm saying, all we're teaching here I can't tell you, go online and look. There are so many people to look down on what we're teaching and it's sad Because all we're saying is just tell people God loves you. Just tell people what Christ done on the cross is good enough. You don't have to work for it. There's nothing you can do in your flesh to make it any better. It's all about what he done. Now, yes, we have to come awakened to that, we have to come to a knowledge and an understanding of that. But if we do that, man, the life we live here is so amazing. The ability that we can have, the impact and the influence that we can have on other people is amazing. So, again, this is the real good news and we've got, as Christians, we've got to say we're going to be willing to teach the good news. So let me just add this one part in right here before I get ready to close.
Speaker 1:What is the gospel that we need to share? I just gave you a little bit of it, but I'm going to go into a little bit of detail here. What is the gospel that we need to share? The gospel's about what God has done, and it has nothing to do with what you've done. See, this is where people want to kind of run away from what we're saying and try to turn it around and contradict it and say it's not biblical and it's not this, and that we had a lady yesterday we talked to on Facebook who said it's a false doctrine and I'm thinking about what is false about the love of God. And the only reason she said that is because she don't understand what we're saying, because the more she spoke, the more you start to see fear and guilt. And she had to work for this and she had to earn this. So the gospel in a nutshell the gospel is about what God's done and not you. It has nothing to do with anything we've done. Is about what God's done and not you. It has nothing to do with anything we've done.
Speaker 1:It's the story of a God who came to save, who came not to condemn but to love, not to shame but to restore and not to punish. He didn't come to punish. He didn't come to punish us. He come to love us. God loves you. Somebody needs to hear this. God loves you. You are forgiven. You are righteous in Christ. Your life can be transformed right now, today, because Christ lives on the inside of you, not because you do something supernatural, but simply because you acknowledge the fact that Christ lives on the inside of you.
Speaker 1:Again, the reason most Christians aren't sharing the Gospel isn't laziness, it's misunderstanding the Gospel itself. They see it different, and I say this I'm kind of if you can call on this, yet I'm sort of making a play on words here Because they do share what they think is the gospel. The hell, fire, brimstone, fear, guilt, shame that's not gospel and that's not my opinion. That's the Bible, that is not the gospel. That is not good news. So, yes, they are sharing, but it's not the Bible. That is not the gospel, that is not good news. So, yes, they are sharing, but it's not the gospel. I want us to share the gospel, the good news. So let's stop preaching fear, let's stop teaching shame and guilt. Let's embrace the good news.
Speaker 1:Christ has done it all. He has reconciled the world, he has made us righteous, he has given us abundant life today. Now, I know some people are probably taught that you're going to get these things one day when you get to heaven. But I'm telling you, you have access to them right now. Today you have access to this. You have access to live an abundant life. Today you have access to be loving to people today, to be nice to people. Today You're forgiven. Today, you're redeemed today, not one day. Why? Because he finished it and that's what he died for. So go and tell the world, not because they have to earn it and there's some work they've got to do, but because they need to know the good news. Charlie Kirk had these events that he had. Why? Because he just wanted people to know the truth. He knew 90% of the people was not going to agree with him. He knew 90% of the people was not going to agree with him, but he'd done it anyway. Why? Because he planted a seed.
Speaker 1:We're going to continue preaching the finished work of Christ and inclusion, no matter what anybody says. I mean we're going to Because that's the good news of the Gospel, no matter what anybody says. I mean we're going to Because that's the good news of the gospel and we're going to preach it. And we're going to love on people and we're going to accept people, no matter what condition they're in, no matter what they're battling or what they're going through. We're going to love on them and when they come in, I don't care if it's the worst state that they've ever been in. We're not going to kick them, we're not going to beat them while they're down. We're going to come to the altar if they choose to come here, and I've said this so many times, we're going to lean over them and cover them. Why? Because love covers Love. Don't beat Love, don't kick Love, don't tell you to get up and go get clean. Love covers and we're going to cover them while they heal. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 1:If you want to call that message a false doctrine, go for it, because you have no biblical evidence to back up what you're saying. And I don't mean that to be, you know, trying to debate on, but it's just the truth. We've got biblical evidence to support what we're saying, because everything we teach I want to be biblical. The world doesn't need another sermon about how bad it is and how this world is coming to an end. Listen, we've heard so many of those sermons.
Speaker 1:What's the date today? Anybody know 13th, 14th. Y'all know we ain't got nine more days until the world comes to an end, right September 23rd. The world is ending. I mean, it's already supposed to end, like a hundred different times.
Speaker 1:But you know I'm telling you what I'm saying is there's things out there that you can go down a rabbit hole and you can start reading and researching this stuff and it will scare. Maybe it's good, because it'll scare the hell out of you. Okay, it will. We don't want to get caught up in all that junk. The world ain't coming to an end on the 23rd of this month, but it's out there and I mean there's, like I'm saying, very popular people teaching this. It's not just some dude in a basement saying this, there's really popular theologian people teaching this. We can get caught up in that if we want to, or we can just believe what the Word says.
Speaker 1:The Word doesn't need sermons that tell us about doom and gloom. The Gospel shows people who they are and who they need to go to See. Fear tells people what they must run from, but the gospel tells them who they need to run to. There's a difference. Shame tells somebody they're not enough, but grace declares that Christ is more than enough, he's sufficient. So let's stop echoing this religious accusation, as I call it, and start amplifying heaven's announcement. What is heaven's announcement? It is finished. You are loved. You are loved, you are chosen, you are redeemed, you are forgiven.
Speaker 1:Now wake up. Wake up and realize that, because I'm telling you when you wake up, when you open your eyes and you realize this, and it gets on the inside telling you. When you wake up, when you open your eyes and you realize this, and it gets on the inside of you and I turn to that mirror. I don't see what I used to see. I see somebody different. When I walk out into a crowd, into other people, they don't see the same person anymore. They see somebody different. When you start believing this and you grab on, your eyes are open and you're awakened. You start to look different, walk different, think different, speak different. And the conversation I had with the lady last night she was all caught up in the Lord's, in the salvation had with the lady last night. She was all caught up in the Lord's, in the salvation, the prayer of salvation. I didn't take that away from her.
Speaker 1:Listen, if you need to come to the altar and let somebody pray with you, come. All we're saying is what happened on the cross is not activated by your words. It's already happened. It's not being kick-started because you say a salvation prayer. That's not what's starting it. It's already started and it's already finished. All we have to do is wake up to it. So go and share with people, but don't tell them what they must do. Tell them what's already been done. Tell them who they are. Share with them their identity in Christ.
Speaker 1:You might say, well, they don't understand who they are, but we do. I know who somebody is before they do. Listen, god, who knew who I was before I did. And one day I woke up and I said now I see it. Now I see what God has always seen. You know, we used to use that phrase. Let's see through the eyes of God and not through our own eyes. That's what God has always seen. You know, we used to use that phrase. Let's see through the eyes of God and not through our own eyes. That's what the waking up is. It's seeing myself through the eyes of God, and I no longer look and see myself as just an old sinner saved by grace. I see myself as a child of God, chosen and made and created in the likeness and image of Him. I see myself as somebody who's forgiven, who's been transformed, who is loved, who is an ambassador of Christ, who's been chosen to be who I am. And when I start seeing myself that way, it's a new ball game. It really is. So go and share with people who they are.
Speaker 1:I believe when people see the truth, they won't just try to change. I believe they will actually be transformed, and there's a difference in that. I won't get into this, but let me say it real quick there's a difference in changing and transforming. Change is on the outside. We can change this. I can ask you to get up right now and everybody turn your chairs and face the other direction and we just change this. I could ask you to get up right now and everybody turn your chairs and face the other direction and we just change this room.
Speaker 1:But the problem with change is, after you leave, I'm going to hop around and change them all back, okay, but transformation occurs from the inside out. What happens is something on the inside of me shifts here and here, and when that thing shifts on the inside of me, I don't have to worry about this, because when this changes, this will take care of itself. I don't have to worry about trying to stop doing this. Hey, what does the church do? Stop doing that, stop doing that, stop doing that. But when we change this, that stuff will fall away automatically. So the goal is transformation, not change.
Speaker 1:I don't want to change you is transformation, not change. I don't want to change you. I want to give you information that will transform your life from the inside out. That's where it's going to happen at. That's why we don't focus on behavior. That's why I don't care what you've done before you come here. Not that I don't care, I don done before you come here. Not that I don't care. I mean I don't want people to take that the wrong way.
Speaker 1:But when somebody starts to church here and they say we want to start coming here, I don't say I need to have a meeting with you and I need to find out all your bad stuff. I don't care about what you've been going through. If you want to come share it, that's fine, but I don't need to know it. You know why? Because I see you as through the eyes of God. I don't care what you're doing, I see you the way God sees you, and that's all we're doing with the finished work. It's saying I'm going to see you the way that God does, because if we look through these eyes, we're always going to look for the negative, always. It's human nature and that's what it is. It's natural eyes and it's human nature to always see the bad. But see, he says we're born into a new nature. We're not. When we understand who we are and we're awakened to it, the old nature is gone, it's passed away and it's a new nature now that arises.
Speaker 1:So now, when I look at people, I don't see the crap that they got going on in their life and they may have it. I see the person they are on the inside. I see who God created them to be. Maybe they don't even see it yet. That's why we prophesy to people. I'm telling you, I've told this story so many times.
Speaker 1:That's why I sit in a bar one night when I was going through something and I was sitting there and I was prophesying to somebody in a bar. Why? Because even though we were in a bar, I still seen what was in that guy and I still knew what was on the inside of me. I'm not proud of that story, but I use it as an example because it's who we are. That's why I share it, because in the midst of the behavioral stuff I was doing, the behavior never changed my true identity. It never changed it. I was still who God created me to be, y'all can stand Ready to get out of here. I say this all the time. I want to continue to say it If you have questions actually we used to have this in the back until I had surgery this is in the back and it says here any questions about the message, put them here.
Speaker 1:There's a box back there. Why do we do that? Because I'm not going to be offended at any question that somebody has. It doesn't have to be a question, it can be a statement. Maybe you wrote on the paper I did not agree with this. Okay, great, we're okay with that, because we're not seeking agreement, we're seeking cause people to think If you do have a question, comment, put it back there, call me, text me, let's talk about it. Because if you're sitting over here and you're just disagreeing but there's no communication, where are we going to get? Let's talk about it, because I want you to understand this. I'm telling you because when you step into this and you step into understanding the true good news gospel, it's life changing. It really is, and that's what we want. Let's pray.
Speaker 1:Father, god, I thank you for every single person that's in this room right now. I thank you for what you've done in them. Father, I thank you for what your word says, that you chose each one of us, every single person here right now, that you chose us before the foundation of the world. We often use the phrase and say we found Jesus, but the fact is, you found us, you chose us and, father, I thank you that every person here is forgiven and every person here, father, is because of what happened on the cross. We don't have to walk in shame and guilt. We don't have to walk with confusion. We don't have to work and strive to try to get good enough so that You'll love us and accept us. You've already accepted us. We just need to wake up to that fact. So, father, I pray for every person that's in this room today that their eyes are opened, that they just awaken to the fact that the work is finished, that they're already included in everything that You've done.
Speaker 1:And, father, we know we've said so many times that there's so many things in the Bible that is true of us, but it's not always true to us. Father, let this Word today, the Gospel, the Good News, be true to us. Let it just awaken us. Let us just come in and just change the way we think, change the way we walk and speak. Father, you've done so much in each one of us. Your Son's given His life for every one of us, but not just so we can get to heaven, but so we can live life here on earth, so that we can live an abundant life, so that we can live a good life. But, father, we thank you for that, we thank you for the sacrifice that was made. And, father, we'll just continue to give you the praise, the honor for everything. Father we pray, just continue to give you the praise, the honor for everything.
Speaker 1:Father, we pray over this ministry. We thank you for allowing us and giving us the boldness to speak, even in the face of adversity, even in the face of people not agreeing and people calling us this and calling us that. We're going to continue to speak the truth of the good news, of the Gospel. We're not going to stop because somebody don't the gospel. We're not going to stop because somebody don't like it. We're not going to stop because somebody else don't agree with it. We're going to continue to be bold in coming forth with the Word of God. And we thank you, father, for even the new facility that's coming. Father, we've bought the property and we're praying for the new facility to be built. We thank you for the provision that's going to be coming, father, on the financing to build this facility. We thank you that it's going to open up doors of opportunity that we currently don't have. So we thank you for everything in advance, father, and we call it done in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.