The Rock Family Worship Center

THE FEAR OF FINISHED

• Pastor Bryan Taylor

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We dig into why the finished work of Christ can trigger fear and pushback, even among sincere believers who love Scripture and care about holiness. We argue that transformation is real and necessary, but it grows best when we start from union with Christ rather than performance, anxiety, and trying to earn approval. 
• Why “It is finished” can sound threatening when heard through a fear based lens 
• How different backgrounds shape the way we interpret the same Bible verses 
• Common misconceptions about grace meaning passivity or no responsibility 
• Transformation versus behavior modification and why inside change matters most 
• Fruit versus root and why identity drives lasting change 
• Obedience as fruit of relationship rather than the root of relationship 
• John 15 and the difference between producing to belong and producing because you belong 
• How performance mentality fuels spiritual anxiety and exhaustion 
• Fighting the good fight of faith from victory rather than for victory 
• Why we speak up with truth without being rude and why questions matter 
Come Be A Part Of That. I'm Telling You, If You Want To Learn More, Come Be A Part Of That. 


Why “Finished Work” Matters

SPEAKER_01

Did y'all hear when Cynthia got up and started? When she started when she first started what she said. She said she said the title of what she was talking about today, and then she said, from a finished work perspective. Did y'all notice that? I'm saying that because I want to ask y'all a question this morning. Do y'all you know, have y'all ever noticed how often we talk, I talk, and even when other people get up here, how much we talk about the finished work, how many times we say those words, finished work. Uh there's a reason for it. And in a minute you'll see why I'm why I'm asking you this, why I'm saying this. But there's a reason that we do that. There's a reason that we talk so much about it. Uh I always go back to the very, very basic thing that happened on the cross. Uh we talked so much about the cross and the meaning of the cross and what the purpose of the of the uh crucifixion was. But in the very end of it, you know, Jesus pretty much said it is finished. You know. And it's easy to just take that that quote sometimes and say, you know, say, well, he said it was finished, and just kind of go from there with it. But to go a little bit deeper into it and say, what does he mean by that? What does that mean to say it was finished? What does it mean for us to say that that we're a that we preach or I preach from a finished work perspective? Uh I like to say it's from a finished work lens. The lens that I'm looking through when I read a scripture is from the finished work perspective overall. Uh the reason I'm saying this is I've I've said many times that a sermon can come from anywhere. Uh sometimes things will happen. I'll see something, I'll hear something, I'll have a conversation with somebody, and it'll it'll kind of motivate me to start studying, and then all of a sudden a scripture, I mean a uh a sermon will come out of it.

The Fear Of “It Is Finished”

SPEAKER_01

Uh if y'all look on Facebook, I'm you know, I'm I know probably everybody in here is on Facebook. Ronnie will sometimes take about a one-minute clip of one of the sermons, and he'll post a clip online and different things like that. Well, there was one that was posted online, and somebody came on and uh started having we started having a discussion. He he made a comment uh about it, and we started having a discussion. I'm saying this because the discussion that we had, the more I read through it, and the more I looked at what he was, what he was asking, what he was saying, uh, and the more that I responded back to it, it kind of just pushed me into a place of, okay, looking at what I was saying, what he was saying. And then it made me start saying, okay, why is he seeing it like this? Because some of the things that I was saying was very basic scripture. And I thought, you know, this guy is not the only one that sees it like this. If he's seen it like this, if he's taking this perspective, then there's probably other people that's taking the same perspective. So it really started pushing me and ask a question of why does people, why is there such a fear of finished? When we say it's finished, why do why do so many people fear that? And I got to thinking about it, and I got to reading back through the conversation, and this is not the only one. I'm just using this because it was recent and it just kind of sparked some things in me. Um but I always talk about the finished work of Christ, and sometimes it sparks a response in other people that's, you know, you don't understand sometimes. You're like, where is this coming from? This is basic scripture. But I always try to keep in mind that we're all looking at scripture, even the people in this room, you're used to hearing me talk about the finished work of Christ. But I can tell everybody to go to a specific scripture right now, and everybody's gonna read that scripture from a different lens. What is that lens? Whatever your background has been, whatever your experience has been, we're all gonna get something sometimes a little bit different out of that. And that's the thing that most people use a lot of times and say, Well, that's your interpretation. And that's the way to kind of disagree with somebody without being rude about it. Somebody will say, Well, that's your interpretation of it. And that's fine, and that and actually that's correct. I do have an interpretation, and you have an interpretation. But see, that don't really matter. What really matters is what did God really intend when He was, when, when that verse was written? What was Jesus saying in these verses when he was speaking about something? That's what really matters. And that's why we say so often that you have to look at context. You can't just take a verse and try to make it say whatever you want it to say, because there's many verses in the Bible. I could take them and I can make them say whatever I wanted them to say, and I can make them fit into whatever situation I want them to fit into. And that you we can't do that. We have to understand what is Scripture actually saying. So I want to talk today about why the finished work message can feel really difficult for some people to receive. Why is it so often feared in a lot of people? And I don't think it's because they don't love God. Let me go ahead and get this part out of the way. I don't think, I'm not talking about people and saying, well, they fear the finished work message because they never come to church or they don't believe in God, or you know, I'm not talking about that. I believe that the finished work message is coming from people, or the or the fear of it is coming from people who truly love God. They truly love Scripture, they study Scripture, they want to understand Scripture. So it's not because they don't read Scripture, it's not because they don't go to church, and it's not because they don't care about holiness. What I'm saying is the people who a lot of times disagree with it is what we would call good Christian people. We're not talking about just all those other people. We're talking about good Christian people that we would look at and say they're in church all the time, they're doing the right thing, they're just good people. But sometimes there's a little bit of fear that comes in when we talk about the finished work of Christ. So I believe most of the people who struggle with this message are sincere. They're sincere believers who truly want to honor God in all that they do and all that they say. But many times they are hearing the message through a completely different lens. And I think most of us in here could agree with that because when we started teaching a lot of the finished work, uh a lot of the things that we teach on in this church, and I don't mean that, I know it always sounds like I'm doing a comparison us against this or us against that. I mean, I'm not doing that. I just know what's being taught here and what's being taught in other places. And our message is a little bit different. I hope everybody can agree with that. Our message is a little bit different. So many times they're hearing this message through a different lens. And I'm gonna slow down here because I want you to see this, and because I don't think it's just important because of the conversation that me and this guy was having on Facebook. I think it's important because everybody that we speak to is probably gonna ask these same questions that this guy asked. They're probably gonna make some of the same comments that he made. And it began to kind of help me to see the bigger picture of it. And the and that is how do we respond to that? When somebody don't agree, and that's okay, I'm not looking for agreement, but when somebody is accusing, you know, that we're not reading from the Bible, that we're not being biblical, that we're not being scripture, and everything we're reading is straight out of scripture, how do you how do you respond to things like that? It's easy on Facebook, but I mean in person if I'm sitting here talking to somebody. And it just kind of kind of stoked the fire under me a little bit to say, okay, we've got to understand how do we how do we do this? How do we communicate with people if our message seems to be a little bit different? And this is what I think happens.

Misheard Grace And Real Responsibility

SPEAKER_01

When someone hears, you are already accepted in Christ, you are already righteous in him, you are already a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.

SPEAKER_00

And the work of Christ is finished.

SPEAKER_01

Now, if you'll notice in every one of those things I just said, it was past tense, it's done. But when people hear those type of statements, they immediately, I think their mind immediately goes to a certain place. And this is this is from my own experience. I'm not saying everybody does this, but from my own experience, when I say those comments to people, when I look at somebody and say, you know, you're already accepted in Christ, you're already righteous in him, that you're already a new creation, their next response a lot of times is so obedience don't really matter.

SPEAKER_00

That's a response I've had. So repentance isn't really necessary. So we just do whatever we want to do. These are real responses that I've had from people, but that's not it at all.

SPEAKER_01

And I think that's one of the big misconceptions of the finished work, is that we're preaching a passive message that means that we don't have anything else to do because Christ has already finished it. All we need to do is just sit here and wait on him to return. That is the furthest thing from the truth, and it's the furthest thing from what we're teaching, but that's what people perceive a lot of times. But that's not what it means at all. And honestly, I've noticed something interesting in many of my conversations with people. People often spend a lot of time defending things that I already agree with. I noticed this in that conversation me and this gentleman was having. He kept bringing up things and trying to defend things. And the whole time I'm sitting here saying, I totally agree with you. Actually, I told him that in my response several times. I said, Man, I don't think we're as far apart as what you think we are. I totally agree with you in what you're saying. But he kept trying to defend certain things. It's almost like people feel the need to defend obedience, to defend holiness and prayer and denying yourself, following Jesus, uh, fighting the good fight of faith. There's certain quotes in there that we use out of the Bible a lot of times. And if somebody doesn't understand what the finished work is, there's a need that they feel they have to defend this stuff. And again, I'm sitting there a lot of times thinking, I believe all of that too. I am 100% with you on what you're saying. So the issue isn't whether transformation actually matters.

Transformation Versus Behavior Modification

SPEAKER_01

That's not the question. The issue is where does transformation come from? When we talk about that word, and we talk about it so much in this church, what transformation really means? What does it mean for each one of us individually? How do we, the Bible says, do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed? And we talked about this in in detail a couple of weeks ago. Uh that word transformation, we have to understand what it means. It does not just mean that I change my behaviors. I used to drink and I don't drink anymore. I used to cuss and I don't cuss anymore. I used to do this and I don't. That's behavioral change. In the counseling field, we'll call that behavior modification because you've modified a behavior. Behavior modification and transformation is not the same thing. I can modify behavior on the outside, something that I'm doing, and I can stop doing it, and maybe it's a good thing. I'm not I'm not bashing it. I'm just saying, though, that's easy to change a behavior. That's an outward thing. But when we're talking about transformation, we're talking about something changing on the inside. Something that happens on the inside, and then it begins to shift things on the outside as well. So we're not denying that those things on the outside need to be changed. We're just starting in a different place. Because the more, and if you've got kids or grandkids or whatever, or you've been around kids, you know this. The more you tell somebody not to do something, what does it push them to do? They want to do it even more. So it's hard sometimes to change a natural outward behavior. But we're talking about something different. We're talking about transformation here. I've often used the term in here, and I've taught a message on it several times. Uh, I use the term fruit versus root. And I and I won't go through the whole story, but I use the example of a like an apple tree since Cynthia talked about apples a while ago, an apple seed. But I use the example of an apple tree. Uh, you know, if a if a tree is up there and it ain't got no fruit on it, you may not know what type of tree it is. Why? Because a tree is known by its fruit. We know it's an apple tree because it produces apples. We know it's a lemon tree because there's lemons growing on it. You will never, I have never seen an apple tree produce lemons. It just doesn't happen like that. Why? Because a seed was planted, and whatever the DNA is in that seed, you may not know it, but the DNA is already in that seed to tell that thing what to produce. And as long as we water it and fertilize it and do everything that we need to do, that thing is going to produce the fruit that it's supposed to produce. Okay? So that's why I talk about fruit versus root, because a lot of times when we talk about behavior change, we think I'll go out and pick the apple off of this tree. Uh, and I always label it when I'm doing counseling sessions or whatever, I label it and I say, this is anger and this is depression and this is alcoholism and this is whatever. And if you got an alcohol problem, then we send you the rehab. Boom, we pick the apple off the tree. And if you got depression, uh a problem with depression, we'll put you on some medication. Boom, pick the apple off the tree. And we think because we're doing this, when we pick that apple off, that we're fixing the problems. But guess what happens next season? The fruit grows back. So if I because why? We are known by our fruit. Just like a tree is known by its fruit, we are known by our fruit. What are we producing? So if you want to kill the fruit on the tree, you don't just pick it off. You go down to the root of it because the root is bringing water to the tree, it's bringing nutrients to the tree. The roots is the source of life for that tree. So if I want to kill the tree, I cut the root. Sources are cut off. When I cut the root, the tree dies. When the tree dies, the fruit dies. So we're doing the same thing as the person picking the fruit off the tree, but they have to do it every season. Every season they got to go on there and try to fix this behavior. We're going to the root of it, and we're going to say we're going to fix this thing from the inside. We're going to cut the root up, and all of a sudden the whole tree is going to die. So we're going a little bit deeper. That's what finished work is doing. It's not saying that this person or that person that don't believe it is wrong, and I'm right. It ain't nothing to do with right or wrong. It's just saying that we're going to look at it from a little deeper perspective. And we're going to say, what can we do to see what God really meant by this? And you can't do that just by reading scripture. You got to go, you got to dig a little bit sometimes. You got to see what this word and this scripture means. When it says, do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed. What does the word conform mean? If I don't understand the word conformity, then I don't really understand the meaning of that verse, the true meaning of that verse. If I don't understand what transformation means, then I don't, I can't really understand what he means when he says, don't conform, but be transformed by renewing of the mind. Because I'm telling you, I've heard transformation taught in so many different ways. And I'll be honest with you, I've taught it in a bunch of different ways too through the years. The more I learned something, the more I taught it. But then the more you learn, the more you start seeing there's some things you need to let go of and some things you need to embrace. I've let go of a lot of things that I used to teach. Simply because studying scripture and getting into the word a little bit deeper has showed me what the true intent of that scripture is. And I want to teach the true intent, not just the verse that makes you feel good. And that's what we get a lot of times. So again, the issue isn't transformation and whether it matters. The issue is where does transformation come from? So when we look at fruit versus root, this is this is really important. And I believe this is the heart, it is the true heart of the difference. Why can I say something, a finished work of scripture that's straight from the Bible?

SPEAKER_00

And this other person who reads the Bible totally disagrees with me. How can that happen if we're reading the same scripture?

SPEAKER_01

This is one of the reasons. It's not I'm right, he's wrong, he's right, I'm wrong. There's a reason because we're looking at it from different perspectives. Another guy finally came on this post. I don't even know who he is, he's from another state. He finally came on there, and I guess he had been reading, keeping up and reading every time one of us posted, and he finally came on there and he said, All Pastor Brian is saying is looking at ourselves and understanding ourselves from the perspective of our identity in Christ. And once we understand that, the way that we have to understand that is to go deeper and understand who he created. I don't know who the guy is, but he was reading our conversations and he immediately seen and his comment was, you guys are looking at stuff from a different perspective. And that was totally, totally right. We were just looking at it differently. So I believe again, this is the heart of it. So here's a question that that when I thought about that, and I said, if that's the heart of it, how do you how do you help people to understand that? And here's a question that I I thought about is obedience think about this is obedience.

Obedience As Fruit Not Root

SPEAKER_01

I have to understand what obedience is being obedient to what God would have me to do, being obedient to the word of God. So is obedient.

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The root of my relationship with God. I'm going to stop right here just a minute.

SPEAKER_01

I want you to think about it. Is obedience the root of my relationship with God?

SPEAKER_00

Now I see some heads shaking, and that's okay. But I'm going to ask you another question right behind it.

SPEAKER_01

Or is the fruit that grows from that relationship with God? Is obedience the root? Or is obedience the fruit that happens because I have a relationship with God? Let me put it in my own words, make it a little bit simpler.

SPEAKER_00

Do I obey God because I want to get closer to Him?

SPEAKER_01

Or do I obey God because I realize I'm already His? You see the difference in how you look at that? One word, obedience, but we're looking at it from two different perspectives. And whichever perspective you are looking at, it changes the way you think about obedience. I don't obey God because I want to get closer to Him. I obey God because I'm already one with Him. According to His word, according to what Jesus said, He said, I went to the Father, and because I went to the Father, I'm going to send back a comforter. And that comforter is not just flying around in the air somewhere. That comforter has made his home on the inside of each one of us. He lives on the inside of us. We are one with him. So if I'm already one with him, I'm not trying to work my way to him. So being obedient to try to get to him sounds kind of crazy when we're already together. That's all I'm saying. That's why I ask questions like I do. Because I want to ask, I want people just to think about it. How can I get closer to somebody that I'm already one with? Now, that does not mean that I'm always living the Christian life. That doesn't mean I'm always doing everything the right way. But guess what? I could walk out of this church today and go out and do something really crazy, really unchristian-like.

SPEAKER_00

And he still died for me. He's still one with me. He's still going to be on the inside of me.

SPEAKER_01

Why do you know that? Because he said in his word, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. And I'm telling you, years ago, I had to go back and I did a deep dive study on that verse, and it wasn't, it didn't take very long. Because the only thing that I was looking for is to see if there was a comma in there somewhere. When it said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you, comma, unless you do this. And it didn't take very long to figure out that there was not a comma. And even if I did this, he still loves me. He's still with me. He's still one with me. He still died on the cross for me.

SPEAKER_00

I'm still his. Listen, if your child, and I'm sure your child has done some dumb things if you've got children.

SPEAKER_01

If they're little children, then I can promise you they will do some dumb things when they get older. You are not going to disown them because they do something that you don't like. And God is not going to disown me because I do something that's unchristian. I'm not condoning that. I'm not saying go out and do whatever you want to do. And that's the difference. That's what people hear me say. When I make that statement, people say, Well, oh, he's saying go out and live however you want to live. No, I'm not. I'm just saying that if I make a mistake, that he still loves me. Why? Because he's a father and I'm one with him, and he said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you.

SPEAKER_00

And it's hard for people to look at those verses like that.

SPEAKER_01

Many believers have been taught, sometimes without even realizing it, that Christianity is mostly about trying to become what God wants you to be. Think about that. Many times in church, we're taught that the Christianity, that your walk with God, is about you trying to become exactly what God wants you to be. Now, on its face, that don't sound very bad. I mean, we all want to be what God wants me to be. But when you really dissect it and break that apart and look at it, what it creates is this performance mentality. Because I start doing certain things just to try to win God's approval. I start doing things a certain way and acting a certain way just to try to get God to love me.

SPEAKER_00

And it freaks people out when you look at them and say, He already loves you.

Performance Christianity And Anxiety

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You don't, yes, do the right thing.

SPEAKER_01

I'm not saying go out and just live a life of hell. Do the right thing. But do the right thing because it's the right thing to do. Not because you're trying to earn his love, respect, and listen, you don't have to earn it. Jesus already crawled on a cross. And that's why he said it is finished. He said, What I've come here to do, I've completed that part of it.

SPEAKER_00

Now it wasn't totally completed yet.

SPEAKER_01

And this is where the mix-up comes in because people get people can't stand that. They said, Well, if it was finished already, then what am I supposed to do as a Christian? So they automatically say, but if you're saying it's finished, then you are telling me that I don't have to do anything. And I'm like, no, that's not what I'm telling you. That's what you're hearing, but that's not what I'm saying. There's things that we need to do as Christians, but we don't do it to earn God's favor. We do it because I am favored. I don't do it to earn love, I do it because He does love me.

SPEAKER_00

So I'm doing it because of not to earn something. Big difference.

SPEAKER_01

Think about some of the things people work so hard on. And I used to be one of these people. I probably still am in some areas because we're not perfect. Nobody in this room's perfect. We all still got things that we're we're trying to improve on every day.

SPEAKER_00

But think about some of the things people work so hard on. Doing better. Failing less. Improving daily. Staying acceptable. Now listen to these, these things sound awesome. These are all things that we should be doing right. They sound really good, but listen to it. Staying close to God. So, so when when somebody who believes those things, when they hear somebody like me stand up, and I'm not the only one who preaches finished work.

SPEAKER_01

There's people all over the world that preaches the finished word gospel. I'm one of the only ones in this area. And that's why it stands out a little bit. Because we're a small town, wearing the Bible belt. Most people grew up in Baptist churches. Nothing against Baptist churches. I'm just saying most people grew up in this church because granny and granddaddy went here. Man, granddaddy helped build this church with his own two hands. So that's the kind of, there's a lot of tradition here in the South. Nothing wrong with that. But when people hear me say things like this, you are already accepted in Christ.

SPEAKER_00

Man, that sounds dangerous.

SPEAKER_01

Because deep down, what they're really saying is if people stop striving and working, won't they stop growing? It's almost like it's been conditioned in us that we have to wake up every day and earn his love.

SPEAKER_00

We have to get up every day and do the right thing to make sure that I'm acceptable to him. We have to go to the right church.

SPEAKER_01

We have to read the right Bible. Hey, listen, y'all think I'm joking. There's people that believe if you ain't reading the King James Bible, you're going to hell.

SPEAKER_00

I don't care how much you know God, you better be knowing God out of the King James Version. Not no new King James, the King James. And they believe that with everything in them. They really truly believe that.

SPEAKER_01

So when people hear that, their first instinct is, I can't stop striving every day because I'll stop growing if I do. I'll stop getting closer to him. But Jesus never taught that fruit comes from anxiety. And doing some of this stuff every day and thinking that I have to do this every day to earn his love, to earn his respect, to know that I'm in a good place with him, to I have to do this to know that I'm close to him. That can cause anxiety on another level. I mean, really.

SPEAKER_00

And Jesus never taught that fruit comes from anxiety or anxiety-driven thinking. Fruit comes from life. Now think about it. I talked about the tree while ago. Look what it says in John chapter 15,

Abide And Bear Fruit

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verse 5. I am the vine.

SPEAKER_01

Most of y'all know this verse. I am the vine, and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing.

SPEAKER_00

This verse is pretty simple. I am the vine, you are the branches.

SPEAKER_01

A branch does not just sit around straining to become connected to the vine by producing fruit. Has anybody ever I got a tree at the house, and it's like every day there's a limb that's fell out of it. I'm fixing to have it cut down. But I mean it's like every day a branch is falling out of this tree. I pull up and there's a big old limb sitting on the ground. Now that limb laying on the ground is not producing fruit every day, trying to say if I produce enough fruit, I'll get connected again.

SPEAKER_00

That's crazy to believe that, ain't it? Be careful now, because that's what a lot of Christians believe.

SPEAKER_01

That if I keep doing this and producing fruit, then I'll the fruit that I produce will connect me to the vine.

SPEAKER_00

This says he's the vine, you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, then you're going to produce fruit.

SPEAKER_01

You're not producing trying to become part of the vine.

SPEAKER_00

You are producing because you are connected to the vine. Totally different.

SPEAKER_01

And you would be amazed at how many people will stand here and they will argue with you on that. And it's straight out of this verse right here. The fruit happens because it's already connected. Life, remember, I said it comes because of life. It's already connected to the vine, therefore, it's already producing fruit. Because it's connected, and nutrients are brought up through the roots of the tree, and the branch is connected to the tree. Life is flowing through the branch. And because life is flowing through it, it produces fruit. It don't produce fruit to get life, it produces fruit because it's already part of that life. Does that make sense? Or am I really just confusing you? Because what makes sense to me may not make sense to somebody else, as I seen on my Facebook post. And that's again, that's what got me thinking about it is the language that we use a lot of times. So why do people get so defensive? I think a lot of believers hear the finished work and immediately they assume you're preaching a passive message. That you don't have to be responsible for anything. You go out and do whatever you want to do, live the life you want to live, do whatever you want. Because Christ already paid the price and it's finished, and there ain't nothing you can do about it. That's the thought process that a lot of people have. That is not what we're saying. Nowhere even close to what we're saying.

SPEAKER_00

See, they hear Christ finished the work, and they automatically jump so to nothing else matters. So they begin defending things.

SPEAKER_01

And this is what happened, this is what initiated this sermon. They begin defending things when I believe that you are saying nothing else matters, that you don't have to do anything, I then feel the need to defend certain things. And he started defending obedience, he started defending repentance, sacrifice, holiness. But the finished work is not attacking any of those things. Let's be clear. As a pastor who preaches a finished work message, and I preach through a finished work lens.

SPEAKER_00

That's who I am. Some people don't like that, and those people are not here anymore. Okay?

SPEAKER_01

I understand that. I'm

Identity In Christ Drives Change

SPEAKER_01

not angry about that. But that's who I am, that's what I teach, that's the lens that I look through when I teach. And because of that, let me just clear a couple of things up in case anybody in here has a misunderstanding. I fully believe that grace transforms lives. I believe following Jesus will cost you something. I really do. I believe that we have to deny ourselves daily.

SPEAKER_00

Not just one time at an altar, but every single day. I believe that we have to grow spiritually. I believe that we have to mature spiritually. But y'all knew that was coming at me. The difference is this. I don't believe those things produce union with God. Let that hang right here just a minute.

SPEAKER_01

So you don't forget what I said. I believe in transformation. I believe our lives need to be transformed. I believe that we need to follow Christ, and it will cost us something to follow Christ. I believe we need to deny ourselves daily. I believe we need to grow. I believe we need to mature. But I do not believe that doing those things produces a oneness with God.

SPEAKER_00

I believe those things flow because I'm already one with God. Simple little difference. But it's a huge difference. That's a completely different foundation that I'm starting with.

SPEAKER_01

If I believe I have to do those things to be one with him, and then you got me over here saying, no, you don't have to do those things to be one with him. You do those things because you already are one with him. I try to transform my life daily. I want my life to transform daily because I get to know him more. I see who he is as a father. I see myself as being in union with him.

SPEAKER_00

I see my true identity in Christ. And things naturally change. I don't change to get approval. I don't change and say, well, if I do this better, me and God's going to connect. Me and God's already connected. You and God have already connected. He said, before the foundation of the world. There's so many things that we could go into to prove that point, but I don't think I need to defend God's word.

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I think his word defends itself. But it has to be understood. We have to look at it, and we can't be afraid.

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This is the point I'm at in my walk. I don't have to defend his word, but people need to hear his word.

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And if somebody is totally misinterpreting his word, it's okay for me to come in and say, let me offer you another example. Let me offer what this word really says in context. And I think that's okay. Everybody should do that. Well, you're a pastor. No, no. Every one of you are ministers. Every single one of us are ministers of the gospel. And if somebody is misinterpreting the word, what does it matter if they're misinterpreting the word? Because they're misinterpreting the Father. If they're misinterpreting the Father, then they misinterpret who they are.

SPEAKER_00

Well, why don't you just let somebody believe what they want to believe and you believe what you want to believe? I could. But why didn't Jesus just walk and leave everybody alone?

SPEAKER_01

Why did he always have to insert himself into everybody's conversation? Because he was bringing truth. He was hearing people say something over here, and he was saying, wait a minute, that ain't even that ain't my father they're talking about. Let me go over there, insert myself in the conversation, and introduce them to my father. Father. Why? Because if you see me, you see the Father. And it's just so funny that in this Bible, you know what he said? He said, I have created you in the image and the likeness.

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So when people look at you, they should see the Father.

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So why would I stand off and not insert myself into a conversation? Now, granted, we can do it the right way. We don't have to be buttholes about it. We don't have to be rude. We don't have to be disrespectful. We can do it in the right kind of way. And I'll be honest, I'm still learning that. Okay?

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I am still learning how to do that. But I think we need to.

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I think that's what we're called to do. I think when God puts us in a place and puts us on a certain path and gives us certain information. What good does it do to get certain information and to understand what it means to be to know my identity in Christ and not share that with other people?

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I think that's my purpose. I think that's why the rock was created. I really do.

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I'm not saying that arrogantly, I'm saying that as I've always said that every church has a purpose.

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And every purpose, the process is not the same.

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Our purpose here at this church has always been to help people find their identity in Christ.

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And we're going to continue to do that. But I can't do that by keeping my mouth shut. I have to communicate with people.

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I mean, it would have been real easy when that guy came on there, and there was even a part in there where he said, Well, true believers, what he was really saying is you're not a true believer because of what you're saying. I'd left it alone. I didn't, I man, the old me would have attacked the crap out of him with the Bible. Well, because that's what we're taught to do. But that's what I would have done. But I didn't. I asked questions. I posed questions to him, and I really, I told Ronnie yesterday, I said, old boy hadn't responded back. I said, I don't know if he just got mad or if he got enlightened. I mean, he might have really started reading through some of this and said, okay, that makes sense. You know, I don't know. But I could have, when he first responded, I could have just said, oh, no, no, I don't want to say nothing because I might offend him. Guess what? I knew I was going to offend him. No, no, no, no, no, no, mean that mean I wasn't purposely trying to be offensive, but I know when I see something one way and you see something a different way, and I come against what you're saying, that's probably going to offend you.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. We have to be okay with that. Well, that don't seem very Jesus-like.

SPEAKER_01

Do you realize Jesus was the rock of offense? That's scripture now. That's not my opinion. I'm not trying to justify my behavior by saying that. Jesus said he was the rock of offense. What does that mean? Every time Jesus opened his mouth, somebody got offended. Why? Because what he was saying did not line up with what they were saying. You had a bunch of Pharisees and Sadducees over here spitting all kinds of stuff out. And Jesus was like, no, buddy, that is a lie. That is not true. That is not my father. Let me tell you the truth. And as soon as he opened his mouth, guess who got offended? The Bible scholars. Because that's who they were. They were the scholars of the day. They were supposed to know everything about the Bible. I mean, about the scripture. Well, no Bible, but the scripture.

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And he offended them. Anyway, let me get back on this. So, anyway, that's that's the difference there.

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How we look at it, the perspective we look at it from. I don't believe those things produce union. I believe that they happen because

Tradition, Fear, And Sharing The Message

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we are in union with Him already. So here's what I think has to has happened to many believers.

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They know the language of grace, but emotionally, they still live, they still live a life of performance.

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They know what grace is, but every day they wake up and still feel like they have to work for love and work for acceptance. There's so many Christians every day that wake up and say, I'm righteous in Christ. But inwardly, they still feel like every day they need to improve to be accepted.

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You know what the word righteous means? Right standing. If I'm in right standing, what do I need to improve? Just a question.

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Now we're talking spiritually here. We're not talking about in our life. We all got things we can improve in our life. And just behaviorally, and just things like that, because none of us are perfect. I'm talking spiritual things here.

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He said, You are the righteousness of Christ. You are in right standing. They confess, many Christians confess every day. They wake up and they say, I am a new creation. But then they look in the mirror, and the first thing that comes up is all the things wrong with them. And that's what they focus on. So the Christian life becomes exhausting for a lot of people. Always striving to try to measure up. Always wondering, am I doing enough? Am I am I close enough to him? Am I spiritual enough? Am I reading my Bible enough?

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But the gospel, the true gospel, announces something really different. It says Christ did not simply make salvation possible. Listen to this, because this this this is where it messes with people at. And I love to mess with people. Why? Because it provokes thinking.

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What Jesus did did not just make salvation possible, He accomplished something, He completed something, it was done.

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The problem isn't about transformation. Now I want to be very clear. The finished work message is not against transformation. If anybody thinks that the finished work that I preach is against transformation, you've never, you just admitted you've never listened to one of my sermons. Because I use the word transformation probably in every sermon I teach, in some way or another.

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My counseling practice is transformation counseling. Because I believe in transformation.

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So the finished work is not against transformation, it's actually the very opposite. I believe true transformation happens when people awaken to who they really are in Christ. When I see myself for who God really created me to be, that's when I begin to shift on the inside. Now keep in mind, I ain't got time, I don't want to go back into this, but if you don't understand transformation, that don't what I just said don't make any sense to you.

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Transformation is not behavior modification, transformation happens on the inside. Okay? It's a process that happens.

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I used the example the other day. I said, you know, when you think about the transformation of a of a caterpillar to a butterfly, everything that caterpillar needed to be a butterfly was already there. Have y'all ever watched that that show on TV that talk that shows how the butterfly turns back into a caterpillar? No, nobody has because it don't happen. That caterpillar changes not just outwardly. Anybody can change outwardly. Listen, it don't matter what you look like, somebody can make you look better. There's always something we can do on the outside. But when it changes on, I wasn't gonna say that because it sounds mean, but I'm gonna say it anyway. See, I don't care how much money you spend to change that on the outside, someday it's gonna change back as we get older.

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But when I change something on the inside, that's different. That's transformation.

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Big difference between that. So we believe in transformation, but we believe that transformation happens better and quicker when I understand my identity in Christ. If I don't know who I am, it's hard to transform. Why? Because even though I read the word and I say I'm righteous and I read the word and I say that I'm redeemed and I read the word and I say that I'm a new creation, every day I wake up and all I do is beat myself up about every bad thing I've ever done.

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But when I truly begin to transform, I don't beat myself up. I know the things I've done. And guess what? That ain't who I am anymore.

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And when somebody reminds me of who I used to be, I say, well, thank you for the reminder, but that ain't who I am anymore. I don't sit there and cry, get depressed, and get down because somebody brought up something really stupid that I done 25 years ago or yesterday, either one. That ain't who I am anymore. If I do something, if I walk out here today and I and I slip and I do something crazy, I'm gonna get up, wipe off, and say, Brian, that ain't you. Get back to who you are. You made a mistake, but get back. That's not excusing it. It just means I'm not gonna live in that place. I'm not gonna keep looking at myself as that person. I know who I am, and according to the word, I'm gonna confess the word. Homiligao, say the same thing he said. So I'm gonna come back to this word and I'm gonna say, I am a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. And then somebody's gonna say, Yeah, but you remember when you, behold, all things have become new. You say, I can remember some stuff, but not live in it.

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I remember every dumb thing I've ever done.

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Well, I I probably don't remember all of it because some of the dumb things cause my memory to lapse a little bit. Anyone else been there? Okay. So, but I don't have to go back and live in that. I don't have to take on that as my identity. My identity is in Christ, my identity is not in my past. It don't erase my past, it just causes me not to live there anymore. So I'm not gonna keep looking back. So I believe true transformation happens when I truly begin to see my identity in Christ. Why do you preach so much on identity in Christ? Boom, right there. Because I want transformation to happen in people's lives, and I know it's gonna happen better and quicker when they understand who they are. So we teach, yeah, but why don't you preach on transformation? Because the identity in Christ is the root of transformation. So let's go down here and let's let's feed this root. Let's do, let's deal with this down here. And as I get this inside me, I don't have to worry about stuff anymore. I know who I am now. I I speak differently, I walk differently, I act differently, I think differently. Well, you still make mistakes. Yes, I do, but I make mistakes differently now, too. I mean, really, I do. When I make a mistake, I don't dwell on it for weeks and months at a time. And I don't keep. Listen, you might know more people have relapsed because of a simple mistake. Now, I'm not saying I'm telling you this as an addiction counselor. More people have relapsed over a simple mistake that they could not let go of, and it kept leading them and leading them and leading them, and then all of a sudden, boom.

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They relapsed. That's not who I am anymore.

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I will not be defined by my past. You do not need to be defined by your past. See, fear can modify behavior temporarily, but identity transforms people on a deeper level.

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A lot of religion teaches fear. You don't agree with me?

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Go online today and just pick out five random sermons of people that you don't even know. And listen, I guarantee you, there'll be something about fear. If you want, I didn't even tell you where to go to. Go to the last five minutes of the sermon when they're doing an altar call. And they're gonna be telling people how they're gonna burn in hell if they leave this building and you don't know that you know that you know that he's your Lord and Savior.

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And they're gonna scare people and cause fear to be in people that I gotta get to that altar. It's worked.

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That's why people still do it today because it works. Fear motivates people, it really does, but it's temporary. Fear does not work as well as transformation, it's not as long-lasting as transformation. Why? Fear transforms on the outside, it modifies out here. Transformation modifies in here on the inside. When a person believes I am loved, I belong, Christ lives in me, I am accepted, I am already his. See, when I believe those things, holiness stops becoming a desperate attempt to earn approval.

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Now it becomes the natural fruit of a shared life with Christ. Two different things. Let me get ready to end right here. People love quoting Paul in an effort to come against the finished work.

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They quote 1 Timothy 6 and 12. Look at this verse with me. This is the only other verse I got right here, but I want you to see this. Most of you know it. Fight the good fight of faith. This is the number one quoted verse to try to come against finished work. Why? Because if you think the finished work says you don't have to do anything, I'm gonna show you what Paul says we gotta fight.

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So right there, I have just rebuked you. That's that's the thinking behind it. But there's only one problem with that. I agree with it. But our definition of fight's a little bit different. I believe we also have to ask, what are we fighting for?

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What's the fight really about? We're not fighting to become sons, we're not fighting to become accepted, we're not fighting to get closer to God. We fight from the place of victory, not for victory.

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Totally different. Even Israel is a picture of this. God told Israel, he says, I have given you a land flowing with milk and honey.

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I mean, just a place that you can't even you can't even understand what this place is.

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I've given it to you.

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And in this uh conversation that I had, this person used this example of Israel to push the point that it can't be finished because Israel still had to fight the battles.

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The only problem with that, the promise that God gave them came before the battles. He says, I'm giving you this before they ever went into a battle. So they didn't earn that because of the battle.

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He gave it to them prior to going into battle. He said, I'm gonna give you this. They didn't fight to become God's people. You gotta understand. Why were they getting the land? Because they were God's people. Right? They didn't get the land, they didn't become God's people because they won the battles. They become God's people before the battle started.

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Why did they win the battle? Because I think they were God's people.

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It's simply a different way of looking at that verse and looking at the context of it. That's the lens that I'm talking about. That's the lens the finished work looks through. So why does grace feel so dangerous to some people? I think it feels dangerous to people who have only known fear-based teaching and fear-based spirituality. Many people secretly believe fear is what keeps Christians serious. I have, I've I seriously have studied this out. And I've looked at different pastors and I've talked with some different pastors, and and and I really truly had that question is why do people, if I tell you that God loves you, and that even through all your mistakes and through everything you've been through, that He chose you. He sent His Son to the cross to die for you, He redeemed you, He loves you.

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And it's always amazed me why that what I just said is so difficult to just believe. You might say, well, people believe that.

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What are you talking about? No, people believe that with a comma.

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If you go to the right church, if you stay on track, if you never sin again, if there's always an if on there. Jesus didn't put an if on it. He says, I love you regardless. I'm dying for you. He reconciled us.

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It says God was in Christ reconciling the world, bringing back into the original.

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He was in Christ reconciling the world. While he was on the cross. So when someone says you are already accepted, it almost sounds irresponsible to them.

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I mean, if I look at them and say, and they're telling me their sob story, maybe they're giving me their testimony and they're telling me everything that they've ever been through, and I say, Don't worry, brother, you accept that God loves you. He died for you, he reconciled you. You are already one with him.

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It's almost unbelievable.

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Especially if they see themselves as just a no-good, you don't know what I've been through. And that's why I say this all the time, and I sincerely mean it. I don't care what you've been through.

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It makes no difference. We don't have to get up here and compare who's had the worst situation. Who fell the hardest? It don't matter.

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The one that fell the hardest, and the one that's been in church their entire life and never made a mistake, he loves you the same and he lives in both of you. And it it just it puzzles me why that is so difficult for people to grab onto. Why would you not want to hear that? And I think that's the answer is it's it's dangerous to some people because some people feel like we have to have fear to keep people on track. You have to know, it's like a speed limit sign. If there wasn't a speed limit sign out here that says 55, how fast would you go? The fear of getting a ticket keeps you within five to ten miles an hour of the speed limit.

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But if there was no sign and there was no speed limit, would you go a normal speed because you don't want to die? Or would you just do whatever you want to do? Fear kicks in.

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Many people secretly believe fear is what keeps Christians serious about God.

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Fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of drifting away from Him, falling away, backsliding, fear of disappointing God.

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So when someone says you're already accepted in Christ, like I was saying a while ago, or you're already loved, or you're already redeemed, you're already reconciled, that seems irresponsible.

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Because if I if if I'm already all of those things, then what am I supposed to do?

Invitation To Real Talk And Closing Prayer

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Rest. What the Bible says. Rest. That's when we can rest. Because I already know these things.

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So the new covenant gives us a different motivation, not fear, but union. When I say union, I mean togetherness, I mean oneness, not distance, but a life already with him. That's why I can't stand to hear somebody preach. And I was talking about a while ago, sometimes we need to intervene. When I hear somebody teaching distance and teaching separation from God, and that, oh, because I heard that you sinned last week, so you are separated from God. I will intervene in a second. Because we are not about separation. We are not separated from Christ. How can I be separated if he's living in me? I mean, that don't even make sense to me. And that's all I want to do. I'm not trying to become no, I'm not getting some big Bible debate with you. If you say that, all I'm simply gonna say is if he does he live on the inside of you, are you born again? Does he live on the inside of you? If they say yes, do you believe God's a liar? No. He said he would never leave you nor forsake you, right? Yes. So if you fall and you sin tomorrow, is he gonna exit your body? No. Okay, thanks. I'm glad we agree. I mean, really, it does get that simple. He's not leaving me every time I make a mistake. You don't have to scare me into doing right. I don't need the fear anymore. Used to, I did. I needed that fear to stay on the right path. I don't need that fear anymore. Because I know who I am in Christ. The finished work, this is it. I'm closing. This is final thought. The finished work message is difficult for some people to grasp because it shifts the center of the Christian life away from human striving and working back onto Christ. It doesn't remove obedience, it changes the source of obedience. It doesn't remove holiness, it changes what produces holiness. It doesn't remove transformation, it reveals where transformation actually comes from. Not fear, not insecurity, not endless striving. Only Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's what it comes down to. The Christian life is not waking up every day asking, what do I need to do to get God to accept me? It's waking up realizing in Christ I'm already accepted. And now we simply learn to live from that reality. That's what we that's what we talk about. That's what we teach. That's what our, I believe our purpose and our goal is, is to help people get away from fear, get away from that non or from that judgmental attitude that they have, that they've always got to judge people. I've always got to look down on people because of what they've been through. You know, if I still believed in the traditional way that church was done back when I first got born again, I fully believed that I would probably be saved about 555 times by now. Because I felt like I had to get saved every time I messed up. And what would I do? I'd go out and do something stupid Friday or Saturday, and I'd run to the altar Sunday morning. Why? Because I felt like that I lost what I had. And if we're teaching people that they're losing Christ, separated from Christ because they made a mistake, we're giving them the wrong mindset. Number one, we're teaching them about a father that does not exist.

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That father is not the father. He says we're one, we're in unity, we're we're joined together. It's a lot easier living life than understanding who I am. And some people might say, Well, he's bragging.

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I guess I am bragging about that. It is amazing to live life with an understanding of your identity in Christ. Now, did I say I'm perfect? Absolutely. Nope. I just said it's easier to live life when I know who I am in Christ.

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I don't fear God anymore.

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I don't fear questions, people asking questions. I don't fear debate.

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I know who he is. And because I know who he is, I know who I am. And that changes things.

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And it's really just, I mean, it's it's it's motivated me to say, man, I want other people to see what we see. Now there's some people, I'm honest enough to say this, I know there's some people that's been in the in whatever church for the last 55 years, and you ain't gonna change their mind if Jesus came back and told them. What they believe is what they believe. That's fine. But you know, there's a group of people out there, there's a handful of people out there, and I'm saying it right here in this community, that are lost, that are struggling. There's a group of people out there that need to hear about the Jesus that we're telling people about. That need to hear Jesus loves you no matter how bad your mistake was. Jesus is with you. He loved you before the foundation of the world. He he gave his life for you, and it don't matter what you've been through or what you've experienced, he is with you. He loves you, and he's on the inside of you. And all we're trying to do, in a nutshell, the the purpose of this ministry is to wake people up to that reality. That's it.

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Wake people up to the fact of what was accomplished on the cross. That's it. And I never realized it was gonna be as hard as it is because it's hard. But it's hard because it butts heads against tradition. And let's be honest, tradition is powerful. Very, very powerful. But tradition also keeps people locked into a mindset of fear. But we have the just like it says in the Bible, we have the key.

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The key to the kingdom, the key to freedom, the key to breakthrough, the key to let people set people free from bondage.

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And we gotta use it.

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That was not even what I was gonna even talk about, David, but that that is we gotta use it. I mean, if somebody you loved was in jail and you found the key and you just walked by and you had the key, right? Would you open it up or not? Come on now, don't be all religious. You would.

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You would open it up and say, I don't know, they just got out. We have the key to free people. And I believe we're not doing what we're called to do if we don't do it.

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If we're not willing to speak up. That's why we ask so many questions. That's why we we come here on Wednesday night and we call it real talk because I want people, I want people to ask questions. Well, you the pastor, we're not gonna question you. No question me. If I say something you don't agree with, say, hey, dude, I don't agree with that. It's okay. If I say something you say, I really don't have any idea what you was talking about. Can you say that another way? Absolutely. That's what Wednesday night's for. And I'm telling you, the people that come on Wednesday night, there's a different, I don't mean this in no kind of mean way. There's a different understanding. Because they get the ability to ask questions and talk and have dialogue. This is monologue. This is one person talking. Dialogue means we're sitting in a circle and we're communicating and we're asking questions. And it don't have to come from me. Ronnie probably talks more than answers more questions than I do on Wednesday nights. And Tim and Kim and everybody's here. We ask questions and we talk. That's it. Come be a part of that. I'm telling you, if you want to learn more, come be a part of that. Because it will it will absolutely cause you, provoke you, motivate you to think beyond the norm. And that's all we're that's all we're saying.

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Think beyond where you've always been at. If you've if you're listening, what's the date today? The 6th, 7th, July 7th?

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I mean June 7th. Good Lord, Lord help me. June 7th, 2026, is that right? Okay. Next June 7th of July of 2027. If you are still in the same place spiritually, I have failed you. Because my goal is to push you into a different place, to help you get to a different place. I said a year, but even really a week or two. You should be in a different place in two weeks.

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But it ain't gonna come from me.

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My what I know ain't gonna help you, what you know ain't gonna help me. You're gonna have to get in your word. You're gonna have to dig, you're gonna have to study, you're gonna have to ask questions. Okay, let me close it down because I'm gonna keep talking. This has motivated me. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you. I thank you for your word. I thank you for what you're doing in us, every single person in this room, Father. We thank you for the place that you have us in, the the uh information that you're giving to us, Father, just the revelation that's coming for the purpose and the goal that you've given this ministry here at The Rock. Father, I pray that doors open up in this community, that that people's ears open up in this community, Father. I know there's people out there that can use what we have, and we've got to be willing to go into the community. We've got to be willing to do whatever it takes to free people and loose people from the bondage that's got so many people held down and held back. So, Father, I thank you for everything that you're doing in us. We pray, Father, for every person here that's within the sound of my voice. We just ask you to bless them, their homes, their finances, Father, their families. Everything they put their hands to, everything they put their words to, Father. We call it blessed in the mighty name of Jesus. And again, Father, we'll continue to give you the uh everything that we have, and everything that we are, Father, we'll continue to bless you. We'll continue to speak your name, we'll continue to just show you in this community to be a demonstration of your power and your anointing in this community. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.