Make Heaven Crowded

How are we made right with God? | Make Heaven Crowded Ep. 38

• TeamFBC • Season 1 • Episode 38

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In this episode of Make Heaven Crowded, we dive into one of the most important questions a person can ask: How can we be made righteous with God?

Using Romans 3:21–31 as our guide, we explore Paul's powerful explanation of the gospel and the good news that righteousness is not something we earn—it's something God provides through faith in Jesus Christ.

For centuries, people have tried to earn God's favor through good works, religious rituals, and moral living. But Paul makes it clear: every person has sinned, and our only hope is found in the finished work of Jesus.

We explore questions like:

-  What does it mean to be "righteous" before God?
-  Why can't our good works save us?
- Why legalism is sending people to hell

Whether you're new to Christianity or have been following Jesus for years, Romans 3 reminds us that salvation is not about what we do for God—it's about what Christ has already done for us.

This is the heart of the gospel: sinners made right with a holy God through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

🎙️ Make Heaven Crowded
📖 Scripture: Romans 3:21–31
✝️ Topics: Righteousness, Justification, Grace, Faith, The Gospel
🌐 Learn more at teamfbc.info

SPEAKER_01

Well, welcome to the Make Heaven Crowded Podcast. I'm Pastor Jordan, joined with Pastor Luke and Gabe. And apparently this episode is brought to you by Rhodes Exterminating and Whitetail Trophy Hunt. So uh yeah. That's right. That's all we got. Yeah. So there.

SPEAKER_03

Support local.

SPEAKER_01

Supporting local.

SPEAKER_03

Gabe Mitchell. First Sunday message. Yep. Knocked it out of the park. Nailed it. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04

It was good.

SPEAKER_03

Scale one to ten. How nervous were you?

SPEAKER_04

I I mean, probably way above a 10. Oh, really? Yeah. Like I was leading up to it, I was extremely like sick to my stomach. And just every time I thought about it, I got this like little feeling. I was like, oh man.

SPEAKER_03

So that's how you know you're operating out of faith, because then the only thing you can boast in is God. Yep. Because you're boasting in your weakness. Very true. Very great.

SPEAKER_01

So I'm just curious. You have been preaching to the youth for quite some time now. What made this different?

SPEAKER_04

I'd say just like uh it's just a different feel, like uh a different audience, kind of a different approach because like obviously the things that you would address with youth, you you don't necessarily have to address with adults, or it's different. Um, but also I just feel like it's a little bit more intimidating. Not that adults are more judgmental, but it's almost like, I don't know, like they're like, who is this guy? You know, and and why is he why is he speaking to me, or or what authority does he have? Or I don't know, like there's just so many different things that run through your head, and yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but I think it's like a confidence thing, and that's something obviously I wrestled with as well, being younger and and trying to share. But here's the thing God's word, when you preach it, it's the thing that's unchanging. Yeah, absolutely. And that's what people, when we were getting voted in, they're like, Oh, I mean, Roger and Luke, they're kind of young. And my whole comment back to them was, Well, God's word's been staying for 2,000 years, and as long as I preach this, yeah, that's what it's all about. Yeah, yeah, and that's where the wisdom comes from. And I thought you did a great job sharing his word. And as we talked about before, we're just the instrument. Yeah. Right? And he's the one that's playing and he's the one that's speaking. We're just the messenger. Um, his is the message, and you did a great job doing that, and let him use you. I think it's a testimony to other people, though, too, to step outside their comfort zone. And I think a large reason that people don't share the gospel is they feel like they're not equipped enough to do so, yeah, or they don't know the right words to say, or that it's uncomfortable. And that's where we would talk about Christ calls us to be uncomfortable. And so that's why you're managing your faith well if you're doing things that are making you uncomfortable because you have to rely on him.

SPEAKER_04

Well, I mean, if you go all the way back to like my story, people saw like, I guess, ministry in me, and I was like, absolutely not. Like public speaking is not for me. I'm extremely nervous and shy, and I would never do that. And then God's like, eh, actually, yeah, it's like you thought, but here we are.

SPEAKER_03

So is Moses whenever he told him to leave the people out, and so was Matthew. He's like, I'm just a tax collector, you know, so is Peter. He's like, I'm just a fisherman, and yet God still called them all to do those things. Yeah, right. For sure. Well, you knocked out of the park, you did great. You know, we've been going through the the book of Romans in this all. And so, what did not make it into the message that you did not have time to put in there?

SPEAKER_04

So I don't think really anything. I mean, I've I've cut it short, so I think I kind of got to everything I needed for Yeah, I wasn't sure.

SPEAKER_01

I and I'm I'm assuming they were cheering and applauding your message. Um I didn't know if they were trying to send a message maybe to a particular pastor about the time. Um how they were receiving the fact that they got out of just a standing ovation. Yeah. So um no, it was great, man. But even you don't have to go into what uh more you wanted to talk about, didn't have time, but even just recapping what you spoke about and how you were covering was it Romans 2 and 3 or just three?

SPEAKER_04

Romans, so Romans 3, looking at verses 21 through 31, where um essentially Paul up until this point, he's addressed like everything that the church has done, or how they have essentially turned away from God, or have kind of hardened their hearts towards um the message. And I mean, we look uh even earlier on, it says like all have turned away, all have become um useless, no one does good, not a single one, no one can be made righteous. And so we kind of come to this realization of like, okay, then what's the purpose? Like, I go to church, I show up, what's the purpose if if I can't be made right, if I'm sinning, if I'm in a constant state of doing wrong, then then what's the solution? And so Paul kind of starts to close the gap at the end of chapter three, saying, like, this is the problem, this is everything that you guys are doing wrong, but now here's the solution. And that's what he opens up with in verse 21 is like, hey, here's the problem, here's what you guys keep falling into, but now here's the solution. And he starts to lay out essentially like what you said when we were kind of going over uh sermon prep and everything else, is like Paul kind of addresses it in a in a simpler way of um preaching the gospel or laying out what the gospel is all about just in these 10 verses. And so I thought it was really good. Um, and it's pretty clear to break down if you look at it, and um, so yeah, I thought it was a great passage to get to speak over.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and so man, we might even throw a chart, I might send you a chart, Jaden, to show all this. Everything leading up to this point. So Paul in Romans chapter one, and he goes through verse 18 or 17 in in chapter one, is him kicking off, introducing his gospel. Yeah, and then when he starts off his gospel from verses 118 through 320, it's him showing, hey, there's two different groups, righteousness and unrighteousness. And so he's tearing down that divide of it's no longer about Jew or Gentile, it's about righteous and unrighteous. And he spends 118 through 320 showing them that this is what the unrighteous group looks like. And he starts off by talking about number one, the rebellious sinners. Those are part of unrighteousness. And he says he would turn them over to God's wrath, those who are rebellious sinners. Well then he does that from 118 to chapter 2, but 21 through 320, he talks about the religious sinners. And so, and there he describes hey, there's no difference between your rebellious sinner and religious sinner. You guys are both in this unrighteous group. Well, now you have the okay, this is what unrighteousness looks like. How do we get over to the righteous group? And what 321 through 31, it's the bridge. Yeah, it it fills the gap from unrighteousness to righteous. How do you go from being in the unrighteous group to the righteous group? And so Paul, what he does in the argument in 321 through uh 32, 31, 31, is he he overloads that gap. He shows this is how we cross that gap. And it's only through Jesus Christ how we're able to do that. So you can't boast in yourself, you can't boast in the law. No, you only are able to boast in Jesus, and he's able to get you there. And then he actually in chapter four gives us examples of what that looks like and how that justifies us. And then from then on in the book of Romans is how we are to live in righteousness and what that looks like, living according to the spirit. He even talks about being a slave to righteousness in in chapter six. And so he moves into that category of now that you guys are here in the righteous group, what does it look like to live that out? But yeah, 321 through 31, it's that bridge of how we get from the unrighteous group to the righteous group, and it's only through Jesus. And so it's like his clear gospel right there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's also interesting. It's pretty easy to understand the unrighteous group with regards to what he starts with in chapter one and the sins and the sexual immorality and all these different things and disobeying your parents, all that kind of stuff. But then as he's talking to the Jew, they thought they were pretty righteous people because they were Jewish and they were descendants of Abraham and they were circumcised. And by those things, that means we are going to be in heaven with Abraham and God, obviously. And he's clarifying that as well, and saying, just because you have the law and you might follow the law, you don't follow it here in your heart, and also these things that are traditional, they mean nothing. Um, and so he's he also starts to set that record straight. And I I think what I like the most about that is we still see that today, yeah, and it's just in a little bit different way. Uh it's um you are saying in your sermon, Oh, I tithe, or I go to church on a regular basis, or I do all these things, but it's it's not the righteousness that God is talking about. Self-seeking righteousness, yes, it's a box checking, and we've talked about this several times, but it's just fascinating how um people just don't change. We always still get it all, it's kind of we it's skewed, it's messed up, and it's we always think that, oh, I gotta do these certain things to be made right with God. And it's like, eh, you're looking at it from the wrong perspective, and yeah, instead of from a heart perspective. So I I always find that interesting, but I also think he gets into this word salad of the law, yeah, and it's just it kind of does this crazy to me.

SPEAKER_04

And you're like, what in the world is he talking about with this the law and of the law, and you know, according to the law and following the law, and well, what's really funny is as I was prepping for this, and I mean, obviously, like as you're reading this, he does talk a lot about the law. And so I had to go back and I'm like, what even what is the law? Like, do I even know what the law is? And so he's referring to like Moses' law that they were following and upholding. And then I kind of started looking into like illustrations of um, because Jesus, of course, came to fulfill the law, and so like, okay, well, what did what did living according to the law look like? And and then, of course, they go on to say, like, yes, the law can expose these things, but it was never meant to save you from these things.

SPEAKER_01

It was so exposed to them, but yeah, there was a a uh judicial law, there was a ceremonial law or sacrificial law, and then there was the moral law. And so there's different segments of the law, and it's it's easy to say, well, Jesus obviously he uh he's uh settled the law with regards to the judicial and probably the sacrificial, right? But then there's still that moral law of like the Ten Commandments of you know, don't steal, murder, adultery, all those different things. That you're like, Well, we still are supposed to follow those. So why is it that Jesus supposed supposedly fulfilled those, but yet we still have to follow them? It's kind of interesting, but yet we don't follow the sacrificial one, and we don't follow the judicial one, and the ceremonial one. It gets kind of confusing.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah, it can for sure.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and so I think it's just testimony to everything points to Jesus. Like that's the Old Testament, and you know, if you've heard people just throw away the Old Testament, we have the new covenant, and it's whatever. It's like, no, you can't. Like, if you want to better understand the work of Jesus and what he did, you have to understand the Old Testament. But now we're reading the Old Testament through the lens of now it's pointing towards Christ. Why? Because we know that's what he fulfilled. Yeah, and so what you even talked about in the law, the crazy part in what Paul talks about here is he never tells the Jews to stop following the law.

unknown

Right?

SPEAKER_03

He never says that's the confusion. Yeah, he's like he's never like, well, you guys need to stop doing that. But what he does tell them to stop doing is stop forcing your convictions of following the law upon the Gentiles who didn't grow up with it. Yeah, yeah. And what he's really getting at them and condoning them for is you no longer trust the law to save you. That's reserved for Jesus alone.

SPEAKER_01

You can follow the law still if that's part of your convictions. Following the law does not make you righteous. Correct. You still need to do that because those are what God has asked us to be whole, to those resemble, those reflect holiness. Right. But those don't get you in heaven because there has to have the savior component first.

SPEAKER_03

And that's what he's getting on to them for, saying, Hey, stop putting your faith in your works of the law. Your faith belongs to Jesus. These works are just evidence of it. Yeah, and so he's just reminding them the where the law goes in its place, and they had elevated it to something that it was not. And I think that's the testimony that it goes to the church today. Yeah. Because how many churches do we see elevate their tradition or their things that they've added to the Bible above what the Bible actually says?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, for sure. I mean, we can easily point out certain belief systems and denominations, but every one of them ha every denomination has these little quirky things. Oh, yeah. Oh, we need to do these things too, you know, and like no. And there's so much of the New Testament letters, especially the the letter to the Galatians, um, and even as he's talking about here, that break down all these added rules that are uh tacked on to what does it mean or what do you have to do to be saved. Yeah. Um, and it's just it is fascinating because I it's kind of weird. I don't I don't know if that's just part of human nature or if that we feel like the this it's too simple of a gift, or it's too there has to be more to it than just trusting and believing in what Jesus did for us and can believing in our heart and confessing that. There's got to be more to it than that because I've done a lot of bad things. There's got to be a lot more to it than just a lot of things.

SPEAKER_04

Well, and and sometimes like even when you read in scripture, you know, like you always hear like, oh, you just have to believe and accept in faith that Jesus is the Lord of your life and that what he did on the cross is the one way into heaven. And it's like, okay, great. But then you read in like scripture the way that you're supposed to live life and the way that you're supposed to follow his word and stuff like that. And it's like, wait, but I thought, you know, it's through my faith and faith alone that it's how I get into heaven. Yes, but like as a Christian, you are still expected to live a life that's honoring and pleasing to Christ. Yeah, and I mean I love what Paul said at the end of the year. Yeah, absolutely. And I love what Paul said apart. Yeah, yeah, at the end of 31, where he says, when only when you have faith is do it was when you fully like fulfill the law or do you fully live according to the law. And it's through that faith of, hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna obey Jesus, I'm gonna do my best to live according to his word and his holiness. I'm gonna stumble along the way, but if he can do this for me, then I should go my entire life trying to please him by helping lead others to Christ. Not because that's how I get into heaven, but that's what that's what I should strive for to do.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and that's a there's a crazy, I don't know what else to explain it, but gray area that you kind of live in and bounce in, hoping to get better and better as you grow older and you're that sanctification process of getting, you know, okay, I've kind of put these things behind that I know that weren't right. And now I'm kind of moving on to the next level or the next level. But I don't think we realize just how unset apart from the world we still live. Oh, yeah. Um, that when you really think about what God is calling us to do and how He's calling us to be and live and act and love, man, we've got a long ways to go. Golly. Yeah. We get so caught up into worldly things that we're so immersed in it that we have no idea how much we still live by the world. Even when we try to do better, like I'm not saying, I'm not cussing anymore. Or uh I stopped drinking. Yeah, those are good things, but they're just all every day, day-to-day life, there we are just absolutely immersed in this sinful world. And yeah, it's and and I think that's the beauty of the gospel is that God understands that, yeah, and He knows you're never gonna get it. Right. And you have to have this savior to get through it. And that's the only way you're gonna make it. Yeah, but it's just fascinating how uh we just don't get all of it, we don't understand the fullness of what God's calling us to do.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so anyways, yeah, and I thought you worded it well when you were explaining it yesterday, you know, talking about how you know we we don't do these things because we have to, we do these things out of the overflow because we get to. Yeah, you know, we're not doing these things because we're trying to earn our salvation. Right. No, we're doing these things because we have salvation. Yeah, and that should change how you live. Yeah. And but I think the hard part for us is we just don't understand the magnitude of that love and salvation. And when we and I think that's why Paul he goes so deep into it, because he wants them to understand everything that Jesus did for them. And I think that's why he starts off talking about unrighteousness. Because when you understand what you've been saved from and how we are dark-hearted sinners, and we understand that that's where we were at. But God loved me so much, and we understand the magnitude of how much he loved us and sending his only son and what he took upon us. Now, who are we to try to boast that we could earn a salvation? Yeah, that would even pale in comparison to that. Like, who are we to say that us doing X, Y, and Z could earn us the love of God whenever He showed us the most loving act even possible? And I think as Christians, the biggest thing is we lose sight and we don't grasp how much he loved us and what he paid so that we could have that eternal life. And I think that's why Paul is so adamant in presenting to them, hey, this is the sin problem. Right. And there's nothing you could do to earn your way out of it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. You know, in my mind though, I I sit there and I think, because I've I've even had I've heard people talk about this with regards to when you choose to follow Christ, you have to do away with all the fun things in life. And it's just kind of like, well, what do you consider fun, I guess? Um but yet it's real. I mean, there's when you think of all the things of the world, I mean, they're very enticing. Um and and and that's where it gets difficult to understand what's good and what's bad, maybe. And maybe that's where I'm trying to help up to understand.

SPEAKER_03

I look at Evan and be like, Evan, are you having more fun now or before?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And he'd probably say, I'm having a blast right now.

SPEAKER_01

When he might say, I feel free. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03

Freed from these things that I knew weren't right. That free from that bondage of things that like, ooh, I feel like I have to. I feel like I have to do this to fit in. I feel like I have to go to this party, I feel like I have to be with this person, I have to do these things. It's almost exhausting. It is, but you're like, if that's the only way I can have fun, that's what I'm doing. And it's a false sense of fun. For to be accepted. Right. And it's a false sense, and that's why it's so temporary. Because then you're always just what searching for the next thing. Yep. And that's why when you put your faith in Christ, you your purpose just shifts. Yeah. And you're able to have fun because you are free. Yeah. And and you embrace like what he has done for you. And so you're still going to live, you're still going to do different things. And yes, it may it's not going to be the things of the world or sinful things that it might be, but that's because you have a new purpose. But in that, you you're you had the freedom to live that way.

SPEAKER_01

Or you have a clearer image, even uh, or adding to what you're saying is you have a clearer image of what certain things of this world lead to destruction and that have more of a hold of you than you realize, maybe. Yeah. Um it's but it's there's a lot to think about in all that when you think about just all the things of life, all the things of the world that we get so easily caught up in. And we've used you used the example at the kickoff of the sermon or the series, I think, when you're talking about football. Yeah. How we just get so wrapped up into just sports, and how we know every single thing about players and the teams and the drafts and what are they gonna look like this year, how are they gonna play, and all these different things, and how that be quickly becomes an idol and a distraction. And yet they're like, but I can't have fun and enjoy my football. Is that what you're telling me? And so, how do you answer that question to them? No, no, you can. Yeah, it's just don't make that the love of your life, I guess, you know. Yeah. I I just don't know how else to explain it, you know.

SPEAKER_03

But in the context, the context I was even talking about that is was Romans 1, 16, 17. Okay, you can rush to defend the Chiefs when somebody talks about about Patrick Mahomes. Are you that quick to rush to defend the gospel?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, when someone drops the J C in from you, and you just kind of like, hey, don't say that right now. You know, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Like, or are do you take it that personally? Like if a Raiders fan comes up and starts talking about how they're gonna beat the Chiefs and you get all defensive now about the Chiefs, like, are are you that defensive about the gospel of Jesus? Yeah, yeah, are you willing to hopefully more defensive. Exactly. And so, but like that's the question. Are you willing to stand firm on the Kansas City Chiefs? Are you willing to stay on the gospel more than you're willing to stand on firm?

SPEAKER_04

But you know what their answer probably is no because they don't know the facts about Jesus like they do their sports teams.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. So why is that? Because one feels more fun than the other. Right. And so how, and I'm not sitting there trying to say, well, how do we make Jesus fun? You know, I mean, I just it's tough. It is a the the things of the world are so enticing and they seem so much more entertaining. Uh it is really it is a battle. Um and you there are I just be honest, you have to force yourself to really choose what am I gonna do here? And I've got to force myself into this a bit because I don't think it comes naturally for us at all. Uh-uh. Even with with a changed life, yeah. And more and again, it is a you have to force it, I think.

SPEAKER_04

So I think and I think the reason like Evan's story in particular is so powerful is because the biggest thing that he said in his testimony video was he didn't do it alone.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And so, like, from the get-go, he understood through you know, Tori, myself, through other people, like, hey, you want a successful relationship with Christ? Don't do it alone, especially right out the gate. Yeah. And he's upheld that standard of like, hey, if I want a successful relationship with Christ, I can't do it alone. And so he does Bible studies with other people. He does uh Bible studies with his girlfriend. They are constantly like in the word. He shows up, he's plugged in with other believers, but he also has that discipline from those studies, from being encouraged of like, hey, if I can do this with other people, I can do it by myself. And like he's constantly now being challenged with the friend groups that he was in, the popular circles that he was in, the people are still living that lifestyle, and he's outside of that lifestyle. And those people are coming to him with questions of like, okay, well, if you say Christianity is so great, if you if you say that Jesus Christ is so great and that you live this life of peace and fulfillment, then how do I get that? Or they're coming to him with questions that he's like, oh man, I gotta study this so I can be ready to battle back.

SPEAKER_01

It feels like he's and a lot of obviously a lot of Christians have pushed through. Through those things that have pulled them in the past into the worldly things. They've pushed through and then they start to find the treasure that's in the Bible.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And they start to unlock and they dig into these. Oh wow. I guess I never saw it that way. And that is a really neat thing. I want to learn more about that. Yeah. Because that's fascinating to me now. And then it's just this endless treasure trove of stuff in a Bible that you can continue to dig and dig, and you see this revelation of God that and how He has worked all throughout history. And it starts to become pretty fun. Yeah. And then it starts to captivate you. Like it sounds like it has for Evan. Evan. And so that's when things start to change, I think. And the you start to turn a corner. Right. And if you keep that rolling, you're good. Yeah. You can keep it going. Obviously. But it takes some time though to finally for this to get interesting and to start to understand it. And that and I think that's probably part of the problem is you just like this doesn't make any sense to me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, anyways, it's a it's a battle. Uh it is a well, it's gonna be a lifelong kind of fight to keep going.

SPEAKER_00

So anyways.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and and kind of circling it back to 321 through 31 and what he's getting at here is he shows us this picture of getting from unrighteousness to righteousness. And what he's showing us, the only way to cross that gap is for us to hop on Jesus' back and let him carry us. Yeah. And the issue is with that is the Jews that he's speaking to and what they're trying to force upon the Gentiles is the way to get from unrighteous to righteousness is doing hey, you guys need to be circumcised, hey, you need to fast, hey, you need to pray this amount of times, hey, you need to go to the temple this amount. And they're making it where it's a step-by-step process to go from unrighteousness to righteousness, where what Paul is showing them, no, it is just you hopping on Jesus' back and care.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Now going to the temple or church to help understand what scripture is teaching you, yeah, and to pray and say, You need to help me understand this. I am not getting this, or this is still not fun to me. I please help me make it fun. Yeah, yeah. Um, I mean, I even remember several years, I mean decades ago, I I prayed a prayer, and I literally the prayer was, I want to know the Bible like my dad does. Because I always felt my dad had a really good solid, I always still I still do. Um, and I was like, I want to I want to know the Bible like he does. And when you are sincere in a prayer like that, the Holy Spirit will respond. And I feel like wow, I think I've surpassed. Yeah, I've come a long way over the years. But that those kinds of prayers I do, whether you realize it or not, you may it'll be a slow, steady, gradual thing. But you do need to pray though. Yeah, yeah. It's not that it's a requirement, yeah, but it helps.

SPEAKER_03

But I'd say that's the fruit of righteousness, not what gets you to righteousness. And that's what Paul's getting at.

SPEAKER_01

And that's the nuancing of what it's on from one side or the other.

SPEAKER_03

But that's a connection point to the earlier part of Romans and what he's talking about. And I know we don't really have a hot button topic, but if we did, mine today would be calling out legalism. Let's make it the hot button. And so like that, you see, legalism hurts so many people. Yeah. It makes them leave church. It literally forces them out of church. And I heard a quote in a paraphrase paraphrase of John Piper. And he said, essentially, legalism has kept more people out of heaven than alcoholism.

SPEAKER_01

I believe it.

SPEAKER_03

And what are you saying? Isn't that horrible? Because that's coming from Christians. Yes. But that's a summary of that first part of Romans of, oh, they see they're an alcoholic. I can condemn you because I can see the action. No way you have a you're a follower of Christ if you still have that sin and that problem of your in your life. But the people, the person who's addicted to alcohol can easily more easily put their faith into Jesus to cover all their sins than the person who's relying on X, Y, and Z to get them into heaven. Yeah. And it's like, okay, well, how do I know if I'm a product of legalism? How do I know if I'm a product of that and what he's talking about here? And it's if if I ask you the question, why are you going to heaven and you follow it up with anything but Jesus? Oh, yeah. It's you are putting your faith in the law or legalism instead of Christ alone.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah. It's that simple.

SPEAKER_03

It's that simple.

SPEAKER_01

But again, I think it's so simple. It trips people up. They think there's got to be more to it than this.

SPEAKER_03

Or if you feel like you did something bad, okay, so oh, I did something bad. I gotta make it up. I gotta even out the scale. Uh I'm gonna go to church, I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna actually read my Bible, I'm gonna pray tomorrow, and somehow that's gonna overcome the sin that I did last night. I'm gonna try to eagle out the cell scale. I'd say you're a product of legalism, you're a product of putting your faith in your own works or the law instead of Christ alone.

SPEAKER_01

But I've even been a victim of my own legalism. Nobody was being legalism to me. I was being legalism to myself.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that's I that's kind of where I was at really not that long ago. And uh listening to a podcast, and Bryce Crawford kind of addressed that like no one will enter the gates of heaven with the mindset of, well, look at all that I did. Um He was actually doing a podcast with a retired Navy SEAL, Sean Ryan podcast, yeah. And um he goes on to say that he's like, you know, scripture says that you know, people will prophesy, people will cast out demons in Jesus' name and they won't enter heaven. He's like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah, what and that and so he goes to explain, it's like, yeah, nobody enters the kingdom of heaven with the mindset of, well, Jesus, well, God, look at all that I did in your name. And it's like that hit me, and I'm like, oh man, you know, like because it comes back to that faith aspect, putting it, trusting in it through him. And I was like, man, so I just had to like really think about that.

SPEAKER_01

Well, and it's not that you can't say, Hey, look at all the amazing things I was able to accomplish with Christ, correct, helping me do these things, or for Christ. I think you know, it's like we've even, as a staff, have talked about man, we had a great win this Easter. Yeah, but we're boasting in what Christ did in our church, not anything easy. Yeah, it's just like, man, how cool was that? And then look how many people we got to share the gospel with, you know, of our town. There is a difference there. Yes, uh, obviously, that hey, I I wanted to do these things because I knew it was right for the kingdom. Yeah, and man, did the Holy Spirit not show up? How cool was that that of what we were able to do together. Right. Yeah, I don't think that's wrong. Um, you're not boasting in that you did this amazing thing all on your own. You knew you couldn't do it without the Holy Spirit. Uh so there is a difference, I think. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I had my own, I was legalistic against myself. I in my mind, I thought that I to be a good Christian, I needed to go to church on a regular basis. And I had to read my Bible to that, even though I didn't want to read my Bible, it didn't sound interesting at the time, I had to force myself in order. And if I thought I was a good Christian, it's because I was I was plowing through my Bible reading plan, whether I was retaining it or not, I was still checking those boxes. I I did my Bible reading plan, but then all of a sudden you're like, oh, I didn't today, and I didn't the next day, and I and I'm like, oh man, I'm way behind now. I'm not a very good Christian. But I and that was all on myself, right?

SPEAKER_03

But and that's where I would say, you know, how again, how can you tell you're doing it in the name of being a good Christian and not doing it in order to grow in a relationship? It's your heart, it's your heart posture. Absolutely, right? And that's where I obviously what Paul is getting at here is what's your heart posture, where it becomes extremely dangerous in the church. And I think what you're seeing, not I would say not just now, I'd say this is a 2,000-year problem if Paul's writing about it to the Jews. Is that the issue is you have these churches that are trying to force these traditions and things that are above uh or they're trying they're trying to force it just as equal to what the Bible is saying, if not more. So they're adding on to the gospel. Yeah, and that's where Paul over and over tries to tear it down. It's like, no, the gospel's simple. Yeah, it's by grace alone. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That's what gets you to righteousness. Yeah, go back to Acts 15 and then Galatians. That's the whole big hubbub of you know the adding on and these Judaizers, and they kind of convince Peter, and it's got to be a little bit of a uproar. Right.

SPEAKER_03

And that's what like it really is actually a funnel, you know, of how we should uh follow it. You know, the the base is Jesus in the Bible, because we know when why should you read your Bible? Because if you want to grow closer to Jesus, like He is the Word. Right. And so if you want to grow closer and be in the Word. So you have Jesus in the Bible, like they're the foundation, right? They're they're the the bottom of it all. Then on top of that, we would say you probably have your tradition. Okay. And then on top of that, you have your experience. The issue is what you get is you got people that are flipping that, right? You they're saying, hey, the most important thing, oh, I've had this experience. Yeah. Oh, and then yeah, it backs up that tradition. Oh, but then it backs up the Bible. Well, no, like it it should start off with where the Bible is at. And that should be the funnel in which everything goes through. And if the trition tradition does not back up what's in scripture, throw it out. Yeah. And it and especially if the experience is counter to what you see in scripture, throw it out. Right. And so that's the funnel that we have to start like imagining. And the issue is in what we're doing, what we have seen, is people are adding to and putting things equal weight as the Bible. They're saying, Yes, here's the Bible, but here's also these traditions that you have to follow. Or these gifts. Or these gifts that you have to have.

SPEAKER_01

You gotta be able to speak in tongues in order to be saved.

SPEAKER_03

You gotta elevate that, right? Or you have to you have to look a certain way. Your hair has to be a certain length, you have to act a certain thing, you have to do wear certain clothes, you have to do communion this many times, or you have to go to confession, you have to do all these things, and if you don't do all these different things, yeah, we don't know if you're saved or not. Well, what you're doing in that moment and what you're forcing upon people is hey, it's not the gospel's not good enough, the Bible's not good enough. You have to add on top of it. And so traditions are important, teachings are important, your experiences are important, but it all has to be go through the lens of what the Bible and what scripture says. Yeah, for sure. And it has to be the top.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that brings me back to First Corinthians chapter three, where Paul starts to talk about like, hey, what you build your foundation upon will be revealed through fire. So like if you're building your foundation on the straw and the hay and and that sort of deal, instead of like, um, oh, I think he uses uh like uh gold and jewelry and all these all these other things. Yeah, yeah. And he's like, hey, what you build your foundation on on Christ, when there'll become a a time where it's it's revealed. And so like it's important what you put your faith in, what you build your your foundation on, because in the end it's going to be revealed. And I think that's just so important that as Christians, it's whether it's you know, putting things like our our um oh our time, our investments in sports, um, are we are we making that the priority, or are we overall letting Christ triumph and that's what we invest more of our time in? And I think that's where the fine line comes in. Like, it's okay to have fun, like you can still be invested in sports, but like are you putting that over Christ? And I think that's a good reminder in scripture of like, hey, what what you put more of your time and effort in in the end is gonna be revealed. And so ultimately make sure it's in Christ.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

But that's reminds me of going back to the quote of John Piper, that paraphrase. Why does legalism kill keep more people out of heaven than alcoholism? Because nobody's gonna put their faith in alcohol to get to heaven. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But people do put their faith in legalism to get them to heaven. For sure. Yeah, they they put their faith in their works and their different things, and that's why they think. And those are people that are harder to reach than the person who is an alcoholic. Why? Because you have to tell them, hey, those things that you're doing, though none of those are good enough to get you to heaven. Yeah, yeah. It's only by the grace of Jesus. And that's really hard for us to do that.

SPEAKER_01

And when someone's constantly telling that's not good enough, that's not good enough, you just like I I give up. Yeah, I I then I'm never gonna be good enough.

SPEAKER_03

But when I heard that quote, it not only like the people that struggle with it that are living in it and putting their faith in their works, thinking that's what it's all about, but how many people are they also forcing away from the gospel and forcing away from the church? That's keeping them from getting to heaven because they have felt the pressure or forced out of their church because they had to do X, Y, and Z. Or they thought they had to do X, Y, and Z. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. It's too bad. And it causes people to not just leave a church but walk away from faith completely. Yeah. Yeah. It's too bad. We were all looking at Jaden for some reason. Did something happen? Oh. I knew he was gonna get on. Yeah. It's tough. It is mics are rough. Well, it's fascinating stuff, but now I think what we're gonna get into with next sermon is what does it look like? Yeah. What does faith look like? Uh, how does that lead to righteousness? And and it's gonna be a fascinating conversation because uh it's because the next part is for starting in chapter four. Uh Paul uses Abraham as an example. And I don't want to give too much because that's gonna be the next podcast, but it's fascinating, and I love these examples that Paul gives. And you can even well, let's skip forward to Hebrews chapter 11, the Hall of Faith. Yeah. Um, you go through all those characters that he highlights in the Hall of Faith, and every single one of them messed up horribly in so many different ways, several maybe Enoch. Uh, because uh I don't it never says anything Enoch did wrong. He walked with God, God took him. It's literally one verse, and Enoch never died. Yeah uh but it's fascinating when you dig into all the different characters, and maybe uh Abel is one that's you don't ever know if that he did you know anything bad. Yeah, uh, but all these characters of the hall of faith, um, there are things in their lives, like he'll throw in a Gideon, he'll throw in other characters, even in Abraham, who is the godfather, a Moses, they messed up royally. Yeah, and so you have to then kind of work through the understanding of well, then what is it that God sees as righteousness that you're doing that leads to righteousness? And it surprises you. Kind of just like, oh, that's it? Yeah, I mean, that's what it took. Okay. Well, again, it comes down, well, that I thought it'd be much more harder than that, you know. And even in the midst of, as he's gonna use Abraham as the example here, what the per the part that he uses, the situation is where God comes to Abraham and Sarah when Abraham is basically a hundred, she's 90, I think it's 99 and uh 91, and says, You're gonna have a child next year. And she laughs, yeah, and he's like, Why are you laughing? Yeah, is anything too difficult for God? And it's just like, ooh, and then it is that moment that uh Paul is using that their faith led to righteousness, yeah. And it's like, but wait a minute, Sarah laughed, and she didn't really like, she's like, I'm sorry, I'm 91. How is this even possible? And it's just like how God sees faith, and the the idea is that they still believe God was gonna do it. Yeah, they're just kind of like, I'm 91 and I'm 99. Yeah, how in the world is this gonna even be possible to the point it's kind of a joke, you know? But they still believe God was gonna do it. Um, that's where it gets kind of fascinating as to how God sees it. And we uh I just it's so funny how we see it versus how God sees it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and and we think it's like the extravagant, oh, I gotta slay Goliath. Oh, yeah. Like that's the things our good mind. But it's the little things like, hey, you you scared, you nervous to go up on stage and preach in front of a thousand adults, but you said yes anyway.

SPEAKER_01

There you go. That's your faith. Yeah, that's faith. You're like, Lord, I trust you're gonna see me through this. Right. I'm scared to death, but you're I I just trust I may bomb. And that's usually how it goes is and I don't know how many times you know Pastor Matt would think he did an awesome sermon and he would do the uh salvation at the end and kind of a not an altar call, but raise your hand and nobody raised their hand. Well, then he would do what he thought was a terrible sermon, and six people raised their hand. He's like, I don't understand. Yes, it's not up to you. Yeah, exactly. And and and that's exactly it's the little thing. You can bomb on a sermon, and the Holy Spirit may have still spoke to somebody's heart, and they're like, I'm in. Yeah. It's just so it's you're you're just turning it over.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, no doubt. And that's where I was gonna save it for next week, but I'll just say it this week. You know, I heard a quote this past week where Christians only get half the gospel. And the gospel that we always grab a hold on to is it's by grace alone, through faith alone, and following Jesus. I gotta remember to use that then. That's the that's the first, that's the that but that's only half the half the gospel. Right. Because the back half is like, okay, now go live righteously. Yeah. The back half is no, he made you righteous. Right. And that's what causes us to live righteous. So yes, we we're all about the first half. We get the grace, we get the Jesus. Well, now in that he made you righteous. Yeah. And it's a done deal. It's a done deal. You don't have to go do anything to become it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

By your faith, you are righteous.

SPEAKER_03

And I think the hard part for us though is we still see when we look in the mirror, our unrighteous person.

SPEAKER_01

Right. Yeah. And and I'm still doing these bad things.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and the the greatest example I have is the prodigal son. Right? But it's a part of the story of the prodigal son, we kind of just read over, and that is when the father ran down and put his tunic over his son. And it's like, okay, why did he put his tunic over his son? Because when he was taking him up to the party, guess what? He wanted everybody to see. He didn't want people to see the dirt. They didn't want to see him. He did they he didn't want them to see his son with pig poop all over him.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

They didn't want he didn't want to see their their his son with torn clothes with holes in it. No, he wanted to see them in that beautiful tunic. Yeah. And in the same way, even though that son, maybe when he looked in the mirror, he still saw the dirt on his face. Yet he was clothed in that beautiful tunic. In the same way, God, he wraps us in that beautiful tunic, and we have been made righteous in that. We got we got I probably got more than pig poop all over me, you know. And so, but the key is he's wrapped us in that righteousness. Yeah. He doesn't see the pig poop anymore. He doesn't see the pig poop anymore. Yeah. Because it's been removed, it's been covered. And now we go live that way.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Because of we have this overwhelming sense of gr gratitude. Right. It's not out of, well, I gotta go do this now, because it's just like a it's a wow, how about that? Well, you know what? Well, this is what I want to go do now. Yeah, and it's just again, it's a changed heart. I think the if you don't have that feeling, yeah, that's where you need to be praying. That's right. Um, to be like, okay, I need to have that feeling. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyways, I I had the uh Top Gun, lost that love and feeling song bursting in my head. You need to get that love and feeling, so you need to pray. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Yeah. Man, it's but I man, and there's so many good examples going on right now, and we might get into those, like of some of those that are going on right now, because MLB baseball, you know, they've got some guys that have stepped up, you know, in in the effort of you know, Pride Month. Month is going on right now, and they're putting scripture on their hats. Hats and different things. You know, those are like the little things of hey, they're standing firm in their righteousness. They're not doing anything to tear down any community or anything, right? But but they're just standing firm in truth, in truth, and what they believe in. And if you watch their interviews in a graceful and loving way, why? Because they know that they have been made right. And and so we'll have some of those conversations as we get into next week and and what that righteousness looks like. Uh, but yeah, Gabe, anything else you want to add from Romans 3?

SPEAKER_04

No, I thought it was just it's it's a good chapter. I love Romans, so getting to do Romans 3 was was awesome.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, Romans is just complicated if you you need a commentary to or a really good study Bible to plow through it. Yeah. There's these little just you can read into it incorrectly of what Paul is talking about or trying to say, and you need to get some help to get through it. Because it's it's I I say it every time, you need a decoder ring to understand Paul and a lot of his letters to Romans probably being the hardest. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

The one thing that I love that he makes very clear in this section is like he's talking about how to be made right with God, and that it's through the grace of the cross and it's been displayed and everything else. And so um, and I kind of said this yesterday is that people in this moment be like, okay, so it's when I accept God through faith and believe it, I'm good. And so like I don't have to live to the requirements of the law anymore. He's like, hold on. No, you do, and only when you have that faith is when you fully fulfill and step into fulfilling the requirements of the law. And I love how he like displays that of like, yes, it is through faith, but only through that faith do you fulfill the requirements of the law and live accordingly.

SPEAKER_01

Should I sin more? No, all of a sudden. He says that over and over again. Oh, yeah, he threw out all of Romans.

SPEAKER_03

He said it earlier in Romans. He said it again right here. He's gonna say it again in Romans 6. And he says, for God. No, absolutely not. And but that part that he's getting at, too, and as he's leading up to that, he says, Isn't God of the Jews the same God of the Gentiles? Okay, so the God that saves the circumcised through faith, yeah, he also saves the uncircumcised through what? That same faith. Yeah. And he's this is where he makes a great argument, and he would have made a great lawyer, is he already knows the question the Jews are going to ask. Yeah. Oh, okay, so if it's by that same faith, whether we're circumcised or uncircumcised, does that mean that we no longer have to follow the law? That that puts an end to it? And he says, not at all. Yeah. But it fulfills it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, a lot of when we went through this in my class, um, just digging into it and reading the different commentaries, there was a lot of um scholars that thought is Paul these these questions he asks. Yeah, he's basically bringing up the argument that the prosecution or the defense or whoever, what side he's ever playing, the opposite would bring up. Um, and a lot of people think that, and they called it a diatribe. This is what he's kind of going through here is that a lot of this is some the questions that he got over time, yeah. Whether in his debates or Or in conversations with people, and he's kind of throwing them all in here together in Romans as to here, I know the question you're gonna ask because I've been asked a thousand times. Yeah. And here's the answer. Yeah. And now as I progress into this, I know the question you're going to ask, and here's the answer. He already knew it so much, and it again, he was so good at this, he already knew what they're gonna ask, and he already knew how to explain it.

SPEAKER_03

But that's what makes Romans so special is because normally he's responding to a group of people on the problems down. Right. And he's just responding to that church. But this he's getting to share within their full gospel. And so it's like he's putting all of these questions that he's had together and doing so in a way that's presenting his gospel.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's cool. And so it's a peek into everything he would have taught a church that never was written down and finally was.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and so this is that gap from unrighteousness to righteous, but in that too, he's still pointing towards the end of the book because like the back half of the book is him essentially telling the Jews and the Gentiles, saying, Hey, Jews, just because your convictions are to still follow the law as you have faith in Jesus, do not force those convictions upon the Gentiles. And hey, Gentiles, just because you don't have that conviction to follow step by step by the law, but you're relying on that faith and the good Christian works that come from it, you should not force that upon the Jews to follow. That this is already he's loading up that argument that he's about to get to.

SPEAKER_01

Now I just need him to say, hey, you that put your own rules on top of what you need to do, you need to stop. Yeah, that's the part I needed as well. So yeah, lay those out.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, no, good stuff. So uh Pastor Jordan, I'm excited for you on Sunday to be able to hammer that out and knock that out. So it's we'll see how this goes.

SPEAKER_01

The example of how do we live by faith, and then we'll go dig into Abraham. Just look at me. Just look at me. That's how I'm gonna get him. Yeah, collie, could you imagine?

SPEAKER_04

Just look at me. Let's pray. Yeah. And they'll love you. You've done like five minutes.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, 30 minutes earlier.

SPEAKER_01

You're a total idiot for saying that thing.

SPEAKER_03

I think he's saying it's as an old joke. Oh, thank you because of Abraham? Yeah. Old and you're the old guy. I'm the old guy. Yeah, that's what I was like.

SPEAKER_01

About halfway there. You're almost there, my friend. Well, I am halfway to where he was. That's great. Almost. I am there. Man. No. Well, anything else? Gay? Nope. Got nothing. That's good. You got it under your belt now? I I guess. So you can do it no problem now. Well, I don't know about that, but no, actually, what I wanted to do when you were talking about what why were you? I was asking you why you were so nervous. I know uh for me it was like a I felt like I needed to re meet a certain expectation of of quality that you know there was a bar that was set with regards to no notes. Um I mean, you just had your Bible, uh, and that was it. And your whole 25-30 minute or 35-minute sermon is all here. Yeah. And it was just kind of like, I don't have a very good memory. Uh there's no way I can do that. But as I told you coming out of the band room that yesterday morning, hey, if it's right here, yeah, you don't have to worry about it. Yeah, it's just gonna come right on out. The Holy Spirit is the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_04

Especially when you said that, that I try to remember it's like, look, it doesn't matter how much you prepare, it doesn't how matter how what you know notes you have or that you want to say. It's like you always have to speak from the heart. And I caught myself a lot, you know, that Saturday leading into a super busy day, and I kept thinking about like the outline. I kept thinking about, okay, this is how I got to flow into this next section, or but okay, well, I don't remember. Well, let me just run through the whole thing. Well, and so I'm like in the middle of doing just daily tasks, trying to run through my sermon, and I had to stop and I was like, you know what? That's the enemy saying you don't know what's coming next. You don't know your outline, you don't know where you're flowing into next. You have to run through it again. And I literally had to stop myself, be like, you know what, it's out of my control. Yeah, whatever is said from that stage, whatever is said from that platform is what God wanted me to say, not my own self. However long it was or how short it was, that's what he wanted to say.

SPEAKER_03

But I do think there's like there is a power in preparing. Oh, yeah, yeah. And you know, putting our best foot forward. But I think where I I used to struggle a lot, and I had kind of a turning point over the past year, was I was became more focused on I think, or more worried about what people thought instead of the message I was preaching. Right. And I had to have a mindset shift. And now I have notes on my like where I prepare my sermon that remind me about my mindset of this is why I'm doing it, yeah, and how to focus on the message instead of what people might think. Yeah. And because when we preach the Bible and we're just a messenger of his word, they get mad, they're not mad at me. Yeah, they're mad at the word, they're mad at God, take that up with God. Yeah, right? And so like, and when I started putting a more emphasis on that, and you know, maybe not even trying to find the perfect illustration or anything like that, I started seeing those illustrations come out more freely. Freely, you know, and th those things start happening because I was focused on that. And I use that as an example because people listening, they may not be stepping up to preach a message or whatever, but don't we do the same thing when we're sharing the gospel with somebody? Why do we not do it? Because we're scared we're gonna say the wrong thing. Yeah, yeah, but we're more scared how we are gonna come across or what people are gonna think of us instead of just sharing the good news. Yeah, and and sticking up. We're not ashamed of the gospel, exactly. It all goes back to Rome. It's like yeah, instead of just going back to what we know and going back to, hey man, I don't have all the answers, but this is what Jesus did in my life. That's right. That that this is all I got. And when you fall back on that, your testimony. It's the most powerful tool you got. I'm telling you, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

So I had a cool experience this the week before, not this last Sunday, but Sunday before last when I was in Panama, I got to preach. Yeah. And even it was uh as Pastor Todd said, Hey, you can pick any psalm you want. And I was like, Well, there's 150 psalms. Can you narrow that down by? It's like, and then I so I even went back and well, what are you gonna have preached on already? And what ones are you wanting to? And so I got narrowed down to 145 songs. Oh, there we go. And so it was super easy to pick one. Well, I ended up finally, you know, just praying about it and got down to I did Psalm 8. Um, and you can even, I don't know if you know the hymn, how great they'll are, but you can tell that that's where that song or that song or hymn came from. But anyways, um, you know, preparing for that sermon, he even threw me another curveball. It's like, hey, you don't have an interpreter up there this time. The interpreters now sit in the back and people wear headphones, who whether they need it in English or Spanish. So he goes, I just get up. Yeah, and because I had structured my sermon in very short little statements, and I was also saying, Hey, I can just peek at what I want to say next, right? And then that I can just I can peek while the interpreter is interpreting, I can just peek down. Okay, yep, that's next. Well, he goes, Oh no, you can just preach it normally. And I'm like, Oh no, I've got to start over. And so I had to take the Saturday and I didn't go with the rest of the crew, and I stayed back and I literally redid my entire sermon all over. But and again, and then I just every time I stop, I pray, I'm like, Holy Spirit, I want your words, not mine, man. I need you to speak to this. And then I pray that in the name of Christ Jesus, and sure enough, man, the floodgates will open. And I'll just start typing, and I'm just going, and I'm going, I'm going. And I'll feel like, hey, I feel good about this because I've I've typed out my as if I were to say it.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And then I'll just like, okay, I just need to read over that over and over again. Well, I start doing that, and then every time I'd read through it, I'm like, oh, I forgot I was gonna say that. Yeah, that comes next. Oh, yeah, that's what I said next. And then after a couple times, I'm like, no, Holy Spirit, I uh you already gave me these thoughts. Yeah, yeah. I just I know this. Yeah, let's just do this. And so then all I took, all I had up there, I took my iPad and it had everything in there, but the only page I left up was the psalm and a couple of other scriptures I wanted to read because I knew I wouldn't have them memorized, that related to certain things. So you know, you get into Psalm 8 verse 2, it takes you to um uh Matthew 20 or 21 verse 16, where Jesus is the triumphal entry. Right. Uh in it's so Palm Sunday, and then he makes his way to the temple, and there's the little kids, you know, shout out Hosanna to the son of David, and the Pharisees like, You gonna tell them to shut up? And he's like, No, out of the children, out of the mouths of children and infants will my praise silence my enemy. And he's quoting Psalm 8, verse 2, which then, if Jesus is quoting that, but that puts him into that psalm. He is the Lord that David is praising. So I just want to make sure I had I wanted to quote it all correctly, I got the right verses, but that is all I had, and I literally I preached a 40-minute sermon with just the verses because I knew the Holy Spirit already gave it to me. That's right. I just needed to just get up there and let it rip, you know? Yeah, yeah, and now I'm telling myself the same thing for Sunday. I just gotta get up there and let it rip, you know. I already know this, I just gotta let it go.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's exactly right. But you mentioned a good thing, you wrote it out as well.

SPEAKER_01

But my thoughts on paper really helped me get it together.

SPEAKER_03

But I think again, as we're relating this to people sharing the gospel, I think it's the same thing. If you've never written out your story, yeah. You need to. You need to. Absolutely. And then once you do it one time, now it's gonna be so much easier to share. Yep. Because you've already worked through it in your mind. And if you're wondering where to start, Paul lays it out perfectly in this first part of Romans. Where were you at in your unrighteousness? What was your what was your life like before Christ? Yep. Like, what was that? Now, how do you hop on Jesus' back? You let him carry you do righteousness. Like, what was that point where you hopped on his back and said, Jesus, I just need you. What led you to that? And what led you to that? Yeah, and how that happened, and now how it's changed your life. Yeah. It's that simple. It is. Don't overcomplicate it. There's the template for us right there.

SPEAKER_01

Keep it to two minutes. That's the that's what we tell people. When we go to Panama, that's one of the assignments is okay, your assignment for the first training is to go write out your testimony, put it all on paper, read through it. How long did it take you to read through that or say it? Yeah. Now get it to two minutes. Because obviously people don't need a 30-minute life story.

SPEAKER_03

Now you mentioned imagine being at the barber shop and oh yeah. This joke for an hour. It's like exactly right. Yeah. That might be worse than legalism.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's great. Yeah. So keep it take it down to two minutes. And it is the absolute best tool you have. Yeah. And your testimony, shockingly, it will relate to people more than you realize. And God, the Holy Spirit will align you or have these, we call them divine appointments. Yeah. Connect you with people that will relate to your testimony. And it's the craziest thing where I mean, talking to people all the way halfway around the world, they're like, I completely relate to that. Yeah. It's just the wildest thing. So do it. It's good, man.

SPEAKER_03

And have it in your heart. But that's how we make Kevin Crowder. That's right. Yeah, share that. It's good. Well, thank you guys so much for joining us for this week. Gabe, thanks for jumping on again. Great job. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_04

It's an honor.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Thank you, man. Excited about this upcoming Sunday. Thanks for listening. Until next week, go make Kevin Crowder.