SPEAKER_00: I don't know what you came in with today.
SPEAKER_00: Heavy burdens on your heart, heavy weight on your shoulders, heavy thoughts on your minds.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have addiction chained to your very soul.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you got some hard decisions coming up in the next few weeks and you don't know which way to go, you don't know how to do it, you don't know what to say.
SPEAKER_00: But I tell you this there is a freedom that's a package deal with every believer that once you put your life and your heart and your mind and your soul underneath the blood, death itself will pass your doorway.
SPEAKER_00: There is a protective covering that when you wash, you allow God to wash you fully, not with the leg missing, not with an arm missing.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, don't get this part.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: All of me, Lord, all of me, Lord, and then you put yourself underneath the covering of his blood.
SPEAKER_00: Freedom breaks underneath the weight of his blood.
SPEAKER_00: Addiction breaks, anxiety loosens, depression's grip disappears underneath the weight of the blood.
SPEAKER_00: I was trying my best.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all know I'm a big baby, anyways, singing this song because this is my story.
SPEAKER_00: That if some of you actually knew me, then you probably wouldn't be here now.
SPEAKER_00: Because I was the chief of sinners, disgusting, a broken wretch that lived only for myself every day.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever I could get out of everyone else, I squeezed as much as I could, and then I moved on.
SPEAKER_00: But thank God for his mercy, thank God for his abundance of grace that I could not deserve or manufacture myself to cover me, but yet he said, Come to me, all of you with heavy burden.
SPEAKER_00: And what does he promise?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say that your issues will disappear, he doesn't say that all the things will magically vanish, but he said, I will give you rest.
SPEAKER_00: You can't have peace if you're restless.
SPEAKER_00: You desire peace, but you won't let God put things to rest that should have died long ago.
SPEAKER_00: There's power and rest, there's freedom in rest, there's peace and rest, there's joy in rest.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to invite you today, if you have not, to give God the rest and let Him take care of His business, and you take your hand off of the control.
SPEAKER_00: True rest.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't say sleep, I said rest.
SPEAKER_00: There's a difference.
SPEAKER_00: If you will stand, if you're not already for the reading of God's word, look over in Romans chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: Our key text is going to be verse 29, but that's gonna be in the middle of everything you're reading.
SPEAKER_00: So go over to Romans chapter 2, verse 29, and Paul says this no, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God, and true circumcision.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know what that means, ask your parents, and true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law.
SPEAKER_00: Now you understand, Paul is writing a letter, he's giving them the law of God, and he says, Don't just obey the letter of the law, rather, it is a change of heart preceded by the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You can't receive the spirit if your heart has not fully changed.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all didn't hear me.
SPEAKER_00: You can't receive what God has available for you if you're still holding on to you, and a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not people.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for your mercy and your grace.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord, for a time of worship in your presence.
SPEAKER_00: We ask you, Holy Spirit, to continue to do what you're doing in the hearts of every person under the sound of my voice.
SPEAKER_00: Even the hardest of hearts, Lord, I pray you soften it today so that the seed of the word can be planted.
SPEAKER_00: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So just a warning for next Sunday when you come in here, things will look different.
SPEAKER_00: If you have kids or grandkids, you already probably know the situation.
SPEAKER_00: But next Sunday, we are going to have a Christmas banquet.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what I know to be true.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever you're sitting right now and where you have claimed to sit, you'll probably try to find a spot around a table that's around that area.
SPEAKER_00: It's just the way you are, and I'm gonna laugh at you and point it out as I walk by you on Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Creatures of habit.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna have food, and the kids are gonna put on a Christmas program for us.
SPEAKER_00: They've been working hard.
SPEAKER_00: We even pulled in some other people to build some things because they needed some extra.
SPEAKER_00: So pray for your kids.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for the people over the kids because they may end up being bald when this is all over with all the hair they're pulling out.
SPEAKER_00: So just pray for them and come and enjoy and just sit, relax, and they put on a good Christmas program every single year.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's great.
SPEAKER_00: So we are in week six of the book of Romans.
SPEAKER_00: And the title of today's message is Dangerous Religion.
SPEAKER_00: Dangerous religion.
SPEAKER_00: You say, well, all religion is bad.
SPEAKER_00: No, I think there's a lot of good things that come out of being religious.
SPEAKER_00: You keep things in order, you have a set thing that you do, and there's a reason why you do it.
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of that we actually look over and dismiss from the word of God that we don't honor the Lord's house like we used to.
SPEAKER_00: We don't honor ourselves in the way that we dress, speak, act, and respond.
SPEAKER_00: There's things that we conveniently overlook because we're saved now, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or some good church people there.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing there is more than just being religious.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus even pointed out the Pharisees as they were doing their thing, their church thing, their their godly thing that was in the law and mandate from the Lord for them to do.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They perverted it, made it all about them, and the things we're really good at.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We can have every gift of the Spirit before the devil, not physically.
SPEAKER_00: Calm down.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying possession, calm down.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm saying is look at read first and second Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: Good church people or church people can be bad.
SPEAKER_00: We can be blessed by the Lord and do stupid things.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: It don't take far, probably across the congregation, where you can find a good example.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: If you can't find one in here, look up here and I'll let you see me.
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes what we want to do is Paul writes later in Romans, sometimes I want to do good things, but the flesh inside of me actually forced me to do bad things.
SPEAKER_00: A saying that my dad buffed out of me quick with the board he had on the seat of application and understanding, is when I would do something wrong, he'd say the devil made me do it.
SPEAKER_00: But if I was smart enough, I could have said, Ah, Dad, my sinful nature made me do it.
SPEAKER_00: And I would have been accurate, and I could have taken the Romans and walked him through that, but I wasn't that smart.
SPEAKER_00: So don't use it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't use it, okay?
SPEAKER_00: What we have to do is fight against thinking that we can earn things in God's eyes.
SPEAKER_00: None of us could die on the cross and be the sacrifice for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: None of us can give us the power and the evidence of speaking in other tongues.
SPEAKER_00: It does not come from us.
SPEAKER_00: If we depend solely on ourselves, we will remain malnourished, weak, and not being able to fight the proper the battle the proper way.
SPEAKER_00: Because what we like to do is bring fleshly weapons to spiritual battles and matters, and it ends up not winning because it's the wrong way to fight.
SPEAKER_00: So you may come to church, you may serve in the church, and we thank you for that.
SPEAKER_00: This could not happen without people serving, but I want you to know you don't get in God's good graces for serving 20 times a month at the church.
SPEAKER_00: You don't get more saved than a minute more in heaven if you end up worshiping on the team or you're working a camera or you're out there greeting people or helping people across the parking lot.
SPEAKER_00: You can help all the old ladies across the street you want.
SPEAKER_00: And even put a God bless you on it.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to really church it up, but it does not earn you righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: You understand what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: So let's dive into this.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be looking at Romans chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: We finished up with 16 last week.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna go into 17 through 29.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here, Paul is talking about the Jews and the law.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul is breaking it down, a he's breaking down a very simple truth that you can know all the right things to say, you can know the right things to wear to look holy.
SPEAKER_00: And some churches think if you don't wear a certain thing a certain way and act a certain way, you know, if you don't look a certain way, you ain't getting into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And they may not have that in the theology, I'm not really sure, but they sure treat other people that way.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what's the point?
SPEAKER_00: You can sing all the good songs.
SPEAKER_00: I love the songs we sing here.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all may wish we did different.
SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
SPEAKER_00: Would y'all expect something else?
SPEAKER_00: You can have the most generous actions, you could be the biggest and best giver of tithes and offerings.
SPEAKER_00: You could go out.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know right now, here's a shameless plug.
SPEAKER_00: We're trying to get a church van.
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to get in the little notes on the envelope or online, you can click other and put van, and it will go towards the purchase of a church van.
SPEAKER_00: You may love the church so much and be a a uh a quiet millionaire that nobody knew about and buy us three church vans.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But buying us church vans or paying off the church for us will not save you.
SPEAKER_00: It might make me like you a little more.
SPEAKER_00: But sorry, that was my flesh.
SPEAKER_00: I apologize.
SPEAKER_00: My sinful nature made me say that.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: You may play the lottery every day and finally you win the Powerball.
SPEAKER_00: God will take the devil's money too.
SPEAKER_00: That's all right.
SPEAKER_00: Only half of y'all laugh.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know who plays.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Until you sell your kids' car and home, you probably don't have a problem.
SPEAKER_00: If we do all of the good things that make us sound righteous, make us look holy, make us seem holy, chances are there are places in our hearts that we're hiding and trying to cover up and mask as holy because we don't want anybody to see the ugly.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you read on in this book, and I hope you're studying it and preparing for where we're going because we're going through the whole thing, you can see that Paul very soon starts to tear himself down and say, Listen, I want to do things that are good, but my sinful nature that make me do this, and I want to, I want to do this, but yet I do this, and I I'm I'm I'm the chief of sinners.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the worst of them all.
SPEAKER_00: Church people are really good at thinking that we are the standard for Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: If you want a blunt, honest opinion, just come up and ask me and be ready for what I say, because I will answer you honestly, and you probably won't come back.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just being honest.
SPEAKER_00: Don't ask what you don't want to know.
SPEAKER_00: But if we do all these things and we like like most multiple times, the Pharisees they pray out loud, and oh Lord, thank you for letting me not be poor like them.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, God, for letting me be this, and I'm chosen, and oh my goodness, I'm just doing it right over here.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord, for all the gifts that you've given me.
SPEAKER_00: How good and great I am because of you.
SPEAKER_00: It's all pointing back to self.
SPEAKER_00: This is false humility.
SPEAKER_00: This is a synthetic, and it just becomes noise that doesn't amount to anything.
SPEAKER_00: There's no true substance to it.
SPEAKER_00: I I came up with an analogy once that describes, and this is what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: When you are praying with the Lord, and I hope you do the five, five, and five, and I hope that gets you started.
SPEAKER_00: Five minutes of prayer, five minutes of reading your word, five minutes of praising God every single day, one act of faith and invite one person to church.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, we started with 17.
SPEAKER_00: I got lazy.
SPEAKER_00: It didn't flow off the tongue as well.
SPEAKER_00: Examine me, make this your heart posture.
SPEAKER_00: Examine me, oh God.
SPEAKER_00: Search me, create in me a clean heart.
SPEAKER_00: So I want you to ask yourself this, and it's so weird, you'll remember it probably for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to ask yourself when you're praying to the Lord, am I a cool whip?
SPEAKER_00: You know the tub got the white stuff in it.
SPEAKER_00: That's great on pumpkin pie if anybody has taken notes.
SPEAKER_00: Cool whip.
SPEAKER_00: Am I cool whip?
SPEAKER_00: Now, why should you compare yourself to cool whip?
SPEAKER_00: Am I being a cool whip Christian?
SPEAKER_00: Where it looks like there is substance, it looks like it should be heavier than actually what it is.
SPEAKER_00: The bowl, you can fill a bucket up but still be a lightweight.
SPEAKER_00: Am I a cool whip Christian?
SPEAKER_00: Or is there actual substance to me that bears weight?
SPEAKER_00: Am I looking like a bunch of fluff and there's really no sustenance?
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all, the first of the years coming up, so if you're worried about fluff, get a gym membership now.
SPEAKER_00: Am I just a bunch of fluff?
SPEAKER_00: Am I just a bunch of air?
SPEAKER_00: Or is there something to me?
SPEAKER_00: Am I calling myself a Christian?
SPEAKER_00: Or do I not ever have to say a word and people will know?
SPEAKER_00: Are you a cool whipped Christian?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you might be cool, some of you might even be whipped.
SPEAKER_00: But the question is, are you a cool whipped Christian?
SPEAKER_00: Where there seems to be substance, but in reality, it bears no weight.
SPEAKER_00: When you speak, it bears no weight.
SPEAKER_00: When you pray, it bears no weight.
SPEAKER_00: When you sing praises, it bears no weight because your heart is far from God and you are pretending to be in the Lord's presence when in reality you have no clue who he is.
SPEAKER_00: You okay?
SPEAKER_00: Look over in verse 17 through 20.
SPEAKER_00: You can tell if you read Paul's writings, he really cares about their feelings.
SPEAKER_00: You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God's law, and you boast about your special relationship with him.
SPEAKER_00: You know what he wants, you know what is right because you have been taught his law.
SPEAKER_00: You are convinced that you are a guide for the blind and a light for people who are lost in the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: He word convinced he's about to land it.
SPEAKER_00: You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God, for you are certain that God's law gives you complete knowledge and truth.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pause for a second.
SPEAKER_00: He's about to hit them hard.
SPEAKER_00: Paul opens up with a piercing word to those who boast in religious behavior but lack in repentant hearts.
SPEAKER_00: He's setting it up.
SPEAKER_00: Everything he just said sounds good to those who are doing it.
SPEAKER_00: So hold on.
SPEAKER_00: The Jewish people have been entrusted with God's word, they are the carriers of when God established with Abram that I'm going to make a multitude of my people through your seed.
SPEAKER_00: And if you know the story, he had no seed and then tried to go around God's plan and tried to jump the gun and do it his way, and it caused nothing but chaos in his house.
SPEAKER_00: If you're having chaos in your house, maybe you need to step back a little bit and see if you're doing it God's way or if you're trying to do it your way to catch up to what you think God's plan is.
SPEAKER_00: These are two massive different things, and the trajectory of both of these can mess you up or bring you into the promise God has for you and bring you into the purpose that God has for you.
SPEAKER_00: The Jewish people were entrusted with God's word and carried a sense of superiority in their calling.
SPEAKER_00: Here's something we as Christians do very well, and Corinthians also speaks on this.
SPEAKER_00: We'll take God's calling and we will boast about it as if we have done it.
SPEAKER_00: We will take salvation and we will boast about it and talk down about other people as if we are the ones that saved ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Paul calls out this pride that can come with religious privilege.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us who have been saved for a very long time, we think other people should know.
SPEAKER_00: Am I wrong?
SPEAKER_00: You get some people who are unchurched, unlearned to come into the church.
SPEAKER_00: Well, they shouldn't be wearing that in here.
SPEAKER_00: I can see their do we give space for God to do the correcting, or do we try to run the show ourselves?
SPEAKER_00: Because everything that God can do, everything the Holy Spirit can do, is a million times better than you could with your hands all over it.
SPEAKER_00: Step back and let God that doesn't neglect discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: You understand what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: Discipleship is necessary for especially a new believer to understand what a believer is.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, quiet this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all okay?
SPEAKER_00: You still full of Thanksgiving food?
SPEAKER_00: You still eating on it?
SPEAKER_00: I think Jesse just finished ours up like this last week, a day or two ago.
SPEAKER_00: So point number one, knowing God's word, listen to me, knowing God's word does not equal living in.
SPEAKER_00: It's possible to be immersed in church culture.
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, we are glad you are here.
SPEAKER_00: But it is possible for you to be inside of the church attending weekly, quoting verses.
SPEAKER_00: You may know our doctrine better than I do, yet remain blind to your own spiritual condition.
SPEAKER_00: This passage speaks to every person who confuses knowledge with righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: You know why I think Paul came after and the disciples were who they were?
SPEAKER_00: Because he wanted people that it didn't quite make sense or fit right to change the world through God.
SPEAKER_00: For God to do that through them.
SPEAKER_00: They weren't well learned, they didn't have, you know, bot seminary degrees.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't, you know, they were.
SPEAKER_00: You ever heard the mouth of a sailor?
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not saying that they were cursing and everything, but read when Peter denied Christ the third time.
SPEAKER_00: So the mouths, maybe their heart was saved, but their mouth wasn't anybody can represent somebody, don't raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not wanna embarrass you.
SPEAKER_00: But knowledge is not righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: The more you know of the word, the more you can quote it out of your mouth does not mean you are more saved.
SPEAKER_00: Now, being saved gives you a desire to want to know the word, to want to study to show yourself approved.
SPEAKER_00: The more I get closer to God, the more I understand how filthy and disgusting I actually am.
SPEAKER_00: No matter how saved I am and how right I do things, the closer I get to his holiness, the more I realize how unholy and how unrighteous I truly am.
SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't make me run from him, it makes me realize how much more I need him.
SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't run from shame and condemnation and conviction.
SPEAKER_00: Conviction.
SPEAKER_00: We should hold on to it.
SPEAKER_00: These are the things that will spur us to change.
SPEAKER_00: These are the things that will want to make us go to God and realize that we need Him.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 64, 6.
SPEAKER_00: It says, we are all infected and impure with sin.
SPEAKER_00: Every person here from the fall of man is infected with sin.
SPEAKER_00: When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.
SPEAKER_00: Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sin sweeps us away like the wind.
SPEAKER_00: Now I chose this scripture not only because it talks about righteousness is just filthy rags, but at the end of here, it even says, swept away, and that our sin sweeps us away like the wind.
SPEAKER_00: You yourself do not have the power to withstand sin.
SPEAKER_00: Your righteousness, your knowledge of scripture, just knowledge, no relationship with God, you will still be swept away with everyone who never knew the words at all.
SPEAKER_00: So if you ever want to depend on knowledge, know that you are not righteous and nothing you can do will make you this way.
SPEAKER_00: If you depend on your knowledge, your experience, your wisdom, pick anything and fill in the blank.
SPEAKER_00: If you depend on that instead of the Lord, instead of Christ and what he has done, you are playing a game that you will lose.
SPEAKER_00: There is no other option.
SPEAKER_00: Romans, let's go back into Romans verse 21 through 24, and it says this.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you understand the kind of slap in the face that is, it let me phrase it up this way for you to understand.
SPEAKER_00: Man, you are so dumb you can't even teach a child.
SPEAKER_00: Did that land a little better?
SPEAKER_00: He didn't put the dumb part in there, but they understood it.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21 Well, then if you teach others, why don't you teach yourself?
SPEAKER_00: Some of the worst plagues inside of the church house is spiritual blindness.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning we can see everyone else's splinter, but we can never see our own plank.
SPEAKER_00: You tell others not to steal, but do you steal?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery?
SPEAKER_00: You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 23, you are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it.
SPEAKER_00: No wonder the scriptures say the Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.
SPEAKER_00: Do people turn away from God because of us?
SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself that.
SPEAKER_00: Are we who we say we are?
SPEAKER_00: Are we inside of what we claim and speak that we are on the outside?
SPEAKER_00: There must be a heart transformation.
SPEAKER_00: Paul flips the mirror around and says that you preach against sin, but you live in it.
SPEAKER_00: Religious hypocrisy drives people away from the actual truth, it drives people away from the Lord, it drives people away from the church, it drives people away from salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we act and talk and speak like those who do not know God, why would they want anything we have?
SPEAKER_00: Imagine for a moment that the church lived what we said we believed.
SPEAKER_00: Oh imagine we actually did what we said.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine if we actually had humble hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine if we actually did love each other and didn't just pretend to get through a service.
SPEAKER_00: Don't look their way, just stay stay forward.
SPEAKER_00: We say love your neighbor, but our first response to someone we don't know or like is disgust or aggravation.
SPEAKER_00: We say we want to teach on the fruit of the spirit, yet we have patience with no one and can't find self-control to keep our mouth shut and opinions to ourselves to save our life.
SPEAKER_00: Did y'all know that was fruit of the spirit?
SPEAKER_00: You do now.
SPEAKER_00: Church-going people that should be so much more spiritually mature than we actually act or display to each other and to them.
SPEAKER_00: And this leads me to point number two.
SPEAKER_00: This is why this is so important to what comes out of your mouth, but align up with the word and who you say you are, because hypocrisy it undermines the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: So you say you want to advance the kingdom, you say you want to get people to heaven, but yet your actions, your disgust, your aggravation, it does the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: So if there's only the choices of heaven and hell, and you ain't pushing them into heaven, can I get real with the scriptures today?
SPEAKER_00: If there's only two options and you're not doing your job for heaven, then you are on the other side.
SPEAKER_00: There's no gray area with this, people.
SPEAKER_00: What is your life doing for the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want you to answer the question.
SPEAKER_00: I want an honest word from the Lord to answer it for you.
SPEAKER_00: Because I know me.
SPEAKER_00: You right there sitting there, you physically cannot see yourself.
SPEAKER_00: It's impossible.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we need good spiritual leaders in our life, healthy, mature, spiritually mature people in our lives and the word of God and a prayer life.
SPEAKER_00: This is why it is so important.
SPEAKER_00: Because someone who says they love you will pacify you and tell you things you want to hear when in reality none of it's true.
SPEAKER_00: No pacify you right into the gates of hell.
SPEAKER_00: It's all right, y'all ain't on the page.
SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying, if we want truth, if we desire truth, then we shouldn't allow things to offend us so much that our truth.
SPEAKER_00: Because if if it's the truth in the word of God, then think about this: the truth being said and offending you, and you're like, Well, I'm not I'm not that way, I'm not this.
SPEAKER_00: As soon as you do that, immediately you're showing that you are, first off.
SPEAKER_00: If it offends you and you're upset about it, then you're upset with the word of the Lord, not me.
SPEAKER_00: Think about where that puts you in your placement in relationship with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay, it could be quiet in here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm okay with silence.
SPEAKER_00: People don't expect Christians to be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: They don't.
SPEAKER_00: I don't either.
SPEAKER_00: I know most of you in here, and you don't expect me to be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do it wrong sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna mess up.
SPEAKER_00: Our heart and our mouths sometimes don't meet.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes our mouths are faster than our hearts or our brains can think, and we end up putting a big old foot in there, and then we have to go back and apologize.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
SPEAKER_00: That's okay because love should cover a multitude of sins.
SPEAKER_00: So if we mess up, we offend somebody, it should be okay.
SPEAKER_00: Get over yourself and submit yourself one to another, and we should be able to get along in the house.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus said, They will know my love by the way you love each other.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us don't know how to actually display that, but they do expect us to be real and they expect us to be honest.
SPEAKER_00: How many scriptures do Pharisees have in the New Testament that are winning people to Christ?
SPEAKER_00: They are bringing people into the Lord, into the church.
SPEAKER_00: Zero.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: They were all about themselves and what they look like and how they did it and all the right procedures and this and that.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul's saying, listen, this will be good for a while, but it does not advance the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: People don't expect us to be perfect, but they do expect us to be real and be honest.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a hang up, you have an issue, don't pretend like you don't.
SPEAKER_00: That also makes you a liar.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: They just want us to be real, they want us to be honest.
SPEAKER_00: What's going to get people to come into this church?
SPEAKER_00: What's going to get people beyond the church?
SPEAKER_00: Forget the church house, come to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's people who say, I understand you're messed up.
SPEAKER_00: I'm messed up too.
SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you about his mercy and his grace that I don't deserve, that I can't create, but yet he loves me freely, anyways.
SPEAKER_00: If you're around me long enough, you can see that I am not perfect, but yet Christ loves me and died for me, anyways.
SPEAKER_00: It's the flaws that will bring people in.
SPEAKER_00: I know it's it feels backwards.
SPEAKER_00: You think that you want to act like to the outside world that we got church figured out, we got this thing figured out, we're all good in here, we're all holy and righteous, and we're better than everybody else, but that will keep the people who need God out.
SPEAKER_00: And that will keep you pacified and tricked into thinking that you might get into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the truth nothing damages the reputation of God more than people who publicly praise him, but they privately rebel.
SPEAKER_00: You can fool the church, you can even fool your pastor, but you cannot fool God.
SPEAKER_00: Religion without relationship is dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 25 through 27.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read this little paragraph.
SPEAKER_00: The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God's law.
SPEAKER_00: But if you don't obey God's law, you are no better off than the uncircumcised Gentile.
SPEAKER_00: And if the Gentiles obey God's law, won't God declare them to be his own people?
SPEAKER_00: In fact, uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God's law will condemn you Jews who are circumcised and possess God's law but don't obey it.
SPEAKER_00: Paul attacks the false security of religious rituals.
SPEAKER_00: They thought they were good because they were circumcised and they practiced the law.
SPEAKER_00: But if their hearts were far from God, they will not enter the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Circumcision was an outward sign of God's covenant, but without obedience, it meant nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham was circumcised because he was a man of God.
SPEAKER_00: He did not become circumcised and then became a man of God.
SPEAKER_00: There is a difference.
SPEAKER_00: We get this backwards.
SPEAKER_00: We think that we can work and do more the more we do.
SPEAKER_00: God's going to bless more.
SPEAKER_00: He is not a slot machine so that you can put in your corner and pull the lever and he's going to pour out blessings because you did some things right.
SPEAKER_00: If he thinks you should be poor the rest of your life, be content and shut up.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to have money to live in blessings of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And if you think you do, you don't understand God.
SPEAKER_00: This is vital to understand that every believer should know that without obedience, the circumcision means nothing.
SPEAKER_00: What you do does not make you who you are, but who you are, your heart, produces out of you things you do.
SPEAKER_00: This is why doing churchy things and following the law cannot produce salvation, because the source of salvation, the source of the fruit of the spirit, cannot come from you.
SPEAKER_00: It cannot come from me.
SPEAKER_00: It is not a manly possession to be bestowed upon us, it is a godly spiritual possession that is given to us, fruit of the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Anything posing as these things, but are rooted in flesh can only produce fruit of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: No matter how you paint it up, the seed planted can only produce what it is.
SPEAKER_00: Are you understanding what I'm saying this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Bananas can only produce bananas, bananas, apples can only produce an apple.
SPEAKER_00: Flesh can only produce more flesh.
SPEAKER_00: So ask the Lord Am I planting seed that is of the spirit or of the flesh?
SPEAKER_00: Point number three, religious symbols are powerless without obedience.
SPEAKER_00: So we modernize this, we twist this up by saying church membership.
SPEAKER_00: Some even go as far as saying baptism, communion.
SPEAKER_00: None of these save your heart.
SPEAKER_00: None of these earn you salvation if your heart remains unchanged.
SPEAKER_00: Outward signs must match inward surrender.
SPEAKER_00: The things you do on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: This is why I guess the uh the position of fruit examiners exist.
SPEAKER_00: Because people don't have to go dig it in your soil to see the fruit that's hanging from the tree.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't take long to see the fruit that is there, whether it is of God or whether it is not.
SPEAKER_00: It's not hard to spot somebody that's prideful.
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, they usually will tell you they're humble.
SPEAKER_00: Fleshly fruit tries to paint itself up as spiritual fruit, and it's deception.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 28, 29.
SPEAKER_00: For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents, or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision.
SPEAKER_00: No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God.
SPEAKER_00: A true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law, rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not people.
SPEAKER_00: If you find validation in people, check your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Now understand this going from a lifestyle and a mindset of finding validation in people's praises is going to take time to buff out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna sit here and sell it as like, hey, it's all right, just lift your hands, it disappear.
SPEAKER_00: Because you spend a lifetime earning the right to be selfish, earning pride, earning selfish ambition, and doing things your way.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we begin to give ourselves to Christ fully, it takes a process, it takes discipleship, it takes counseling, it takes prayer, it takes scripture, memorize scripture so that when the enemy tries to come in like a flood, you have the standard and prepared for the battle that is at your hand.
SPEAKER_00: Paul closes with this clarifying statement: God looks at the heart, not the heritage.
SPEAKER_00: My dad said this my entire life.
SPEAKER_00: He says, son, it does not matter if I'm a minister of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter if I'm a preacher of a church, it doesn't matter how long I have done it.
SPEAKER_00: You have to come to God yourself and give him all of you yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Every person has to come to the salvation of Jesus Christ on their own.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us would like to take the person who won't submit by the throat and just say, Why don't you just listen?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, if life would be easier and they would just listen, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But as a parent of a teenager, I have to, and a little girl that's learning new things too, I have to make myself step back and let the mistakes happen so that there can be wisdom formed.
SPEAKER_00: As we close, point number four is this true religion is heart transformation by the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Salvation is not behavior modification, it is a heart transformation, it's not a behavior modification, it is a heart transformation, and transformation cannot happen without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: God is not looking for people who perform well, He's not gonna grade you on your performance, He's not gonna grade you on your performance, He's looking for hearts that have been reborn.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, You must be born again.
SPEAKER_00: Not only born again, but you must daily pick up your cross and follow him, follow in his footsteps.
SPEAKER_00: It is not on your own power you can do this.
SPEAKER_00: The old you, all of you, it should not be a partial death.
SPEAKER_00: All of you.
SPEAKER_00: So as we finish this out today, I want you to say, Lord, what is it in me that I am still holding on to?
SPEAKER_00: What is it in me that I have not given up?
SPEAKER_00: Is it validation in people?
SPEAKER_00: Is it my pride?
SPEAKER_00: What is it in me that I am still holding on to that has become my crutch so that I can live my life according to how I want to live it?
SPEAKER_00: Transformation cannot happen without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Every person who claims Christ must be reborn.
SPEAKER_00: The old has died and the new has come.
SPEAKER_00: You can sing like a saint and live like a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: But when the Holy Spirit changes your heart, people don't just hear the gospel from your mouth, they see it pouring out of you.
SPEAKER_00: I thought of this the other day, and if you if you've heard this before, maybe you have, maybe you haven't, but people that are pastors, they're they're labeled ministers of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's a very common phrase, very very well known.
SPEAKER_00: But I was thinking about this and I was I was praying, I was, I was going over to Tyler, and I was like, Lord, I think we have put you in a box because every believer that says yes to Christ now should be a minister of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means that you shouldn't come here to be fed as a mature believer.
SPEAKER_00: You're gathering together and lifting up the name, and we're joining together, but you should what I am doing here, preaching the gospel, discipling you, some of you from close, some of you from a distance, but you should be doing the same out there.
SPEAKER_00: This is how Jesus set up the 12 disciples to multiply the gospel so that the the message of the cross should go beyond the walls of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: It even says to the ends of the earth, which means you'd be surprised how many people, even in this small town and surrounding areas, have never actually really heard the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: They have no clue what it is, or they have something they heard when they were young and they just make it up in their head and they think, Oh, yeah, me and God are good, but they have no clue who He is.
SPEAKER_00: You should go beyond, you should desire to go beyond a religious status of church goer and church member, and realize that every single person in here is called.
SPEAKER_00: If you said yes to Jesus, now you bear that name, and picking up that cross, now you are called to be the messenger for Christ, a messenger of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: This is why I think sometimes in the church we take Christianity, we take salvation to light.
SPEAKER_00: We don't realize that when you say yes to Christ, your life should now be an open book that reflects this book.
SPEAKER_00: Now, like I said, you're not gonna get everything right, you're not gonna do it right every day.
SPEAKER_00: Your mouth sometimes will betray you, sinful nature will creep in, and you'll say things and do things that you may be ashamed of.
SPEAKER_00: But if Paul that wrote the majority of the New Testament to get the gospel out, calls himself the chief and the worst, and I am all these things, and I'm disgusting, and I am a sinner, I think that puts us all in the same category that we shouldn't shy away from sharing the gospel, but we should lean into our calling.
SPEAKER_00: And every person that says yes to Jesus, a part of your purpose and a part of your calling is now to duplicate and replicate what God is doing in you to be able to lay hands on the sick and watch them recover.
SPEAKER_00: These principles in the Bible that is laid out for the believer is not made for the four walls of the church.
SPEAKER_00: We practice them here, but I think we're putting God in a box called the Connect Church Building to where if it doesn't happen here, we do it here, we like it here, but out there I might be a weirdo.
SPEAKER_00: In here, it's okay, but out there, how many times did Jesus outside of the church?
SPEAKER_00: How was the gospel spread through the Holy Spirit and through signs and wonders and miracles?
SPEAKER_00: So, how can we spread the gospel that we are charged to spread to the ends of the earth if we never practice anything outside of the walls?
SPEAKER_00: We are called to be the bearers of the good news.
SPEAKER_00: I think we've had enough time being the bearers of bad news.
SPEAKER_00: If everybody