SPEAKER_00: This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason and Liz Burns in Access Church in Lakeland and Bartow, Florida.
SPEAKER_00: For more information, visit actus.tv.
SPEAKER_00: All right, for the next eight weeks, we are going to get all up in the book of Galatians.
SPEAKER_00: And to get us started, I almost want to treat it like a school lesson for just a moment because to understand what we're going to talk about, you need to understand the context of what is going on.
SPEAKER_00: Here's some homework for you.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Galatians is six chapters.
SPEAKER_00: And I challenge you this week, starting tomorrow, read one chapter every single day and read it slowly and say, God, would you speak to me through this?
SPEAKER_00: And when you do that, what will happen is you'll come to church every week more prepared to hear from God.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Galatians is this interesting book.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's one of the first books that Paul, the apostle, writes, and Paul writes uh like half of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: So here's some background on it, okay?
SPEAKER_00: The book of Galatians, the author, I just said it, it is the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: If you know Paul's story, he's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: He at one point early in his life, he went by the name Saul.
SPEAKER_00: He was what we would call in the year 2026 a modern-day terrorist.
SPEAKER_00: He terrorized these Christians, these new followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But he had this dramatic encounter with God on the road to a place called Damascus, where God revolutionized and changed his life.
SPEAKER_00: Which, quick side note, this is a bonus for somebody.
SPEAKER_00: If you feel that you are so far away from God that God couldn't possibly love or forgive you, meet Saul.
SPEAKER_00: Saul was literally murdering Christians and God forgave him and redeemed his life.
SPEAKER_00: If he can do that with Saul, what could he do with you?
SPEAKER_00: And and God changes Saul to Paul.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul writes a letter.
SPEAKER_00: Again, this is one of the first ones of his letters that he writes that became a book in the Bible, and he wrote it to a unique audience.
SPEAKER_00: It the audience, the next slide, is the churches of Galatia.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul in his ministry started lots of churches all over what we would call Europe or Asia Minor.
SPEAKER_00: And he started lots and lots of churches, but these churches, here's a map of where they were.
SPEAKER_00: This is modern-day Turkey, and you can see all the places, the churches that he started, that he's writing this to.
SPEAKER_00: The next thing you need to know is what is the theme of this book?
SPEAKER_00: And the theme is what our series title comes from.
SPEAKER_00: The theme is freedom in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean?
SPEAKER_00: It means that you and I were created to be free.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it one more time.
SPEAKER_00: You and I were created by God to be free.
SPEAKER_00: Free from what?
SPEAKER_00: Free from condemnation, free from shame, free from guilt, free from the opinions of others, free to live the life that God has uniquely called us to.
SPEAKER_00: And so for these next eight weeks, we're gonna deal with some tough, tough, tough, tough subjects.
SPEAKER_00: In the book, often Paul uses the language of slavery.
SPEAKER_00: And I need you to have some maturity as we approach these topics because we're not talking about the slavery that that plagued our country.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about being emotionally and spiritually enslaved.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that as a result of these eight weeks, God's gonna set a bunch of people free because you were created to be free.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be really good.
SPEAKER_00: I challenge you, don't miss a single week of this.
SPEAKER_00: Be here.
SPEAKER_00: If you can't be here, be at church online, but do whatever it takes to get here.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the last thing that's interesting to me about the book of Galatians is what is the tone?
SPEAKER_00: And Paul writes this letter very different than any of his other books.
SPEAKER_00: Most of his other books, he's like, My brothers and sisters, grace and peace to you.
SPEAKER_00: I love you so much.
SPEAKER_00: How's your mom?
SPEAKER_00: Tell her I love her.
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's very sweet and kind.
SPEAKER_00: In this one, the tone's very different.
SPEAKER_00: The tone is bruh.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody have a teenager?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone know what this means?
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know what this means, let me explain what this means.
SPEAKER_00: A couple weeks ago, my family and I went to New York City and we went for vacation for four days, and we ate everything and saw everything you can possibly see in New York for four days.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of our trip, we literally had run out of stuff to do.
SPEAKER_00: That's how hard we went, and it was so much fun.
SPEAKER_00: But one evening we had about two hours left, kind of extra hours.
SPEAKER_00: We decided to take the subway, that's a whole experience, and and we go down to the World Trade Center where the 9-11 stuff happened, and it was unbelievable.
SPEAKER_00: If you haven't been there, it is worth the trip to go and see.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see the the pools where the towers used to stand, and that is harrowing.
SPEAKER_00: And then we decided because we had a little bit of time to go into the museum, and the museum is unbelievable because it's it's 25 years this year, and so there's jewelry and credit cards and phones and cars that were crushed.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's all kinds of stuff, and it's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: But we started outside and we're at the pools, and Liz is emotional.
SPEAKER_00: She she knew people who had worked in the World Trade Centers, and so she was emotional as we were there, and then I'm like, what do you think about going into the museum?
SPEAKER_00: She goes, Okay.
SPEAKER_00: And it was late.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think the museum was only open for like 40 minutes, and we were like, let's speed run this thing, let's see it.
SPEAKER_00: And so we go and there's nobody in line because there's only 40 minutes left before it closes, and right before we walk inside, there is a little bird.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what kind of birds they are, but it was little and it was yellow, and it was laying on the ground, not sitting on the ground, it was laying on the ground, and it was flapping its wings and it was just spinning in a circle.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's what you need to know about me.
SPEAKER_00: My wife is really, really, really sensitive to animals.
SPEAKER_00: Like, really sensitive.
SPEAKER_00: Like if we see a dead animal on the side of the road, I'm like, oh look, someone threw their stuffed animal outside because she will cry about an animal she's never met before.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see this, and I'm trying to make an excuse for why this bird is on the ground like this, and I'm like, oh look, it's a break dancer.
SPEAKER_00: New York birds are crazy.
SPEAKER_00: And there is the nerdiest guy I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_00: He works there at the World Trade Center Museum, and he's standing back and he goes, nope, its leg is broken.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Bruh, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Go back, go back one, go back.
SPEAKER_00: I said, bruh.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another example of bruh.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm a dad.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a I'm a my oldest son is almost 19 years old.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a professional dad at this point.
SPEAKER_00: And at this point in my life, when you're 19 years into being a dad, you got the best dad jokes.
SPEAKER_00: Like you knew dads, just wait, it gets better and better.
SPEAKER_00: I say the dumbest jokes all the time as dad jokes.
SPEAKER_00: And I know they're dumb when I say them, but I just say them.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is sometimes I say them not around my kids, sometimes I say them around adults.
SPEAKER_00: And um, Pastor Ryan can be kind of a jerk sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: And he he says this when I make a dumb joke.
SPEAKER_00: He'll say, You're better than this, Burns.
SPEAKER_00: And I think, bruh, okay, are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: Like, like this is the tone of the letter.
SPEAKER_00: Paul comes out and he pulls no punch, he's like, What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: All of his other letters are sweet and kind and fun.
SPEAKER_00: This one, he's like, I'm gonna take you behind behind the shed and I'm gonna whoop you a little bit because you're messing up.
SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: Here's how it starts Galatians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna read 10 straight verses.
SPEAKER_00: He says this.
SPEAKER_00: He introduces himself.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, an apostle, sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead, and all the brothers and sisters with me to all the churches in Galatia.
SPEAKER_00: We just saw all the places he was writing.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes on and he says, This grace and peace to you from our from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself up for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And it sounds sweet and kind, and then it's like he pulls out a paddle because he's about to spank these people for what they were doing.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: The tone switched very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, bruh.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here he goes.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am astonished.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a good word.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word is animathea.
SPEAKER_00: It literally means ticked off, angry, frustrated.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.
SPEAKER_00: We'll come back to that phrase.
SPEAKER_00: And a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion or trying to, look at this word, pervert the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Because, but but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let them be under God's curse.
SPEAKER_00: Other other translations of the Bible use the phrase a curse, let them be a curse.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes on, he says, and now am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God?
SPEAKER_00: Or am I trying to please people?
SPEAKER_00: If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot to unpack here, so let's get after it.
SPEAKER_00: First thing you need to know is what Paul is addressing is that these churches in Galatia, modern-day Turkey, they're all struggling to know what is true because they had heard the truth from Paul and others, but then there's some other teachers who are coming along and they're messing up, they're diluting or polluting what the message of the gospel is.
SPEAKER_00: And I need you to understand this the word that he uses is an important word.
SPEAKER_00: It's the word gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not a word that we necessarily use in our normal life at home or at work.
SPEAKER_00: We some of us don't even have a good definition of it.
SPEAKER_00: We we think of gospel as in like the phrase the gospel truth.
SPEAKER_00: So it must mean the absolute truth.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not what it means.
SPEAKER_00: The word gospel is not even really a Bible word, it literally means good news.
SPEAKER_00: This was a military word, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And the reason I say that was in the ancient world, military warfare was a very common thing.
SPEAKER_00: And so what kings would do is they would have someone on their team, go to this next slide.
SPEAKER_00: They were called a Yuangeleon.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Greek word for the word gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And a Yuangeleon, their job was when the king declared victory in the battle, the Yuangelion was often the loudest and the fastest person, and he would run back to the city of the people that he represented, and he would say, I've got good news.
SPEAKER_00: The good news is we won the war.
SPEAKER_00: It's good news for everyone.
SPEAKER_00: And I need you to understand this.
SPEAKER_00: The good news that we celebrate the gospel message of Jesus is who Jesus is and what he did for us.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to hear this.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel message of Jesus is that God created the world and he set humanity in it.
SPEAKER_00: Humanity sinned and turned our back on God, which broke and fractured the relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: But God, in his infinite love towards humanity, did the unimaginable, sent his perfect son Jesus into the world.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 1 says Jesus, God put on flesh and blood and he moved into our neighborhood.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus lived a perfect life and died.
SPEAKER_00: Because according to Scripture, you and I should have had to pay the price for our own sins, which is death.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gave his life for us, but he didn't stay dead.
SPEAKER_00: He rose again on the third day, and because he lives, we can find life, new life in him.
SPEAKER_00: Now I need you to get this.
SPEAKER_00: This is a really big deal.
SPEAKER_00: It is good news, and I need you to understand this that the gospel is good news, not good advice.
SPEAKER_00: It's good news to us that you don't have to do more to earn God's forgiveness and salvation.
SPEAKER_00: It's a free gift that is given to us.
SPEAKER_00: It is good news for us, not just good advice.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to understand the farther you get away from the moment God saved you, the easier it is to forget what it was like to be lost and to be found, and the easier it is to become kind of like the Galatian churches.
SPEAKER_00: When I was in college, I waited tables at the Olive Garden, the OG, as I called it.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I remember that every time someone had a birthday, we would come out and get a lot of waiters and we'd clap and sing this birthday song to them, and it was fun, and everybody would sing really loud, and I'm God did not give me the gift of singing, and so I would just sing it as loud and proud as I could, but it was bad.
SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, the person didn't care because they got a free dessert out of the deal, right?
SPEAKER_00: And and when I worked there, I remember there was this girl about my same age, but she wasn't allowed to sing the birthday song.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, well, that's weird, like why?
SPEAKER_00: So I started asking questions and I accidentally tripped over a religious reason.
SPEAKER_00: She was born and raised as a Jehovah's Witness.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you know anything about this, but I was so curious, like, why in the world would she not be allowed to just sing a happy birthday song?
SPEAKER_00: It's just fun, it's not religious or anti-religious in any way.
SPEAKER_00: Why would she not be able to sing it?
SPEAKER_00: So I did some reading and I did some digging into what Jehovah's Witnesses are.
SPEAKER_00: It was founded in the 1870s by a man named Charles Russell who was raised in the very liturgical style church, and he believed some of the Bible, but there was other parts of it that he personally rejected.
SPEAKER_00: So he essentially took the Bible and rewrote it, leaving out the stuff he didn't like and adding stuff he did.
SPEAKER_00: One of the great problems with what he did to the Bible was he took out the part that declares what the gospel is, which is that we are saved, not by our own efforts, not by trying harder or doing more, but we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Period.
SPEAKER_00: End of sentence.
SPEAKER_00: He took the gospel, which is good news, and he watered it down into something that it was never intended to be.
SPEAKER_00: And by watered it down, here's what I mean.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I love sweet tea.
SPEAKER_00: Like, love sweet tea so much.
SPEAKER_00: And um, I can't drink it right now because it goes straight to my gut.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: Like I smell sweet tea and I gained three pounds.
SPEAKER_00: But um, so right now I'm on a drink no calories.
SPEAKER_00: That's one of the things I'm trying to do to drop a few pounds.
SPEAKER_00: A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to lunch somewhere, and we went, it was Chick-fil-A, and we we got she got a half sweet, half unsweet tea, which is so good.
SPEAKER_00: And I got an unsweet tea, and I was gonna put sweetener in it.
SPEAKER_00: But when the person brought our drinks out, they they mixed them up and I didn't know.
SPEAKER_00: And so I put sweetener in an already sweet tea, and I took a sip, and I felt like my face was gonna melt off.
SPEAKER_00: That's how sweet it was.
SPEAKER_00: I took something that was good and I added something to it, and it messed it up.
SPEAKER_00: It ruined this thing.
SPEAKER_00: You you understand this, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's what Christians have a tendency of doing to the gospel message of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what's happening in Galatia.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul hears about this, and he writes this church that he started, and he says, I am astonished, ticked off.
SPEAKER_00: See, there was this group of people that were there that they were Jewish by birth, but there were these people that were not Jewish who were becoming followers of Jesus, and and these Gentiles, these non-Jewish people, they're coming in, and there were these Jewish people, they were called Judaizers.
SPEAKER_00: And they were coming up with ways to tell the Gentiles how to become Jewish, but they they took the gospel of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus died and rose again, and if you just confess that Jesus is Lord and believe it in your heart, you'll be saved.
SPEAKER_00: They took that message and they they added to it.
SPEAKER_00: They said that if you're a Gentile and you want to be a follower of Jesus, if you want to be one of these Christians, we've got to add some stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And it was really two things.
SPEAKER_00: It was some dietary, Jewish dietary restrictions, and they said that you all the dudes have to be circumcised.
SPEAKER_00: All right, imagine this with me, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Imagine you come to access and you go to our next steps class.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, just change your diet, and it's a little surgery, like, no big deal.
SPEAKER_00: You'd probably just join us for church online, right?
SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't be coming, right?
SPEAKER_00: And here's what was happening they were adding to the gospel, and unintentionally, what they were doing, and this is Paul's words, is they were perverting the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: How?
SPEAKER_00: By adding regulations and adding requirements to the gospel, and they messed it up all together.
SPEAKER_00: There's this verse in the book of Isaiah, written some 750 years before Jesus, and he he gives us this really um grotesque kind of picture of what it looks like to God when we pervert the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah chapter 64, he says, All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.
SPEAKER_00: This is this filthy rags phrase.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive my vulgarness, but it's like a used women's menstrual rag.
SPEAKER_00: And what he's saying is, you can do an act that seems righteous, that seems godly, but God cannot receive it in that way.
SPEAKER_00: You ever notice that two people can do the exact same thing and the result's entirely different?
SPEAKER_00: Like, like let me give you an example, okay?
SPEAKER_00: There are people in our church who respond to the message of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They respond to the gospel that that no matter how far away they had gotten from God, because of what Jesus did, He He saved them, brought them back into right standing with Him, and as a result of God's graciousness to them, they give extravagantly, they give generously.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe God has blessed you recently, and the results of God's grace to you is you just say, God, you bless me so much.
SPEAKER_00: Of course I want to live open-handed and generously, and I want to give to bless what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: But there are some people who might be in a different situation, and it's like they're in need.
SPEAKER_00: They've got a job interview coming up, they've got an opportunity that they're investing in, and and and they come to church and they feel like God is a cosmic slot machine that I'm gonna give an extravagant offering and pull the lever because I believe that if I do this, it manipulates God to give me what I want.
SPEAKER_00: Both are doing the same act of extravagant generosity, but one is received as a blessing to God.
SPEAKER_00: He receives the act of worship when there's no strings attached.
SPEAKER_00: But according to what Isaiah said, you can also do the exact same thing with the wrong heart, and God sees it as like a disgusting, filthy rag.
SPEAKER_00: And the funny thing is we do this.
SPEAKER_00: We do.
SPEAKER_00: And the farther away you get from the moment of salvation, the easier it is to slip into this mentality.
SPEAKER_00: You come to church and you see people who don't look like you or think like you or vote like you, and you think to yourselves, why are they here?
SPEAKER_00: Some years ago, I didn't see this person, but I was told that a woman showed up to church here and she looked like she, forgive my language, she looked like she was a stripper.
SPEAKER_00: They said that she was wearing the shortest dress, it was unimaginably short, unimaginably revealing, and she had these huge heels on.
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't see this person, I didn't talk to this person, but I heard about it on Monday, and my wife and a group of people were telling me about this person who was there because I guess it caused a little disturbance, and they said it, and I said, Good, I'm glad she was here.
SPEAKER_00: And Liz slapped me.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I didn't mean it like that.
SPEAKER_00: I meant it like, where else would we want her to be?
SPEAKER_00: Like, no matter how far people are away from God, if they don't think like you or vote like you or love like you, let's let them in this place.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because when they encounter Jesus, Jesus changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: That's the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to hear this.
SPEAKER_00: We sometimes settle, look at this, for what I'm calling a Jesus plus kind of life.
SPEAKER_00: We settle for a Jesus plus, and we want to add things to the gospel message of Jesus, but in doing so, I want you to hear this.
SPEAKER_00: We're perverting the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: We're messing the whole thing up.
SPEAKER_00: Now I was trying to think, how can I show this to you?
SPEAKER_00: Because I want you to see this before you leave today, and I need you to know this about me.
SPEAKER_00: Your boy, I'm good at like one thing, talking in front of people and nothing else.
SPEAKER_00: If you need something fixed, I'm not your guy.
SPEAKER_00: If you need me to move something, don't call me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not good at yard work, I'm not good at anything else, but because I love you, I want you to see this.
SPEAKER_00: Yesterday, I worked on something, and you're gonna be tempted to like lose your mind and cheer over this when you see this, but I need you to know I did it all by myself.
SPEAKER_00: Can you bring this out for me?
SPEAKER_00: I made this.
SPEAKER_00: Calm down.
SPEAKER_00: Calm down in my garage.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, brother.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to see this.
SPEAKER_00: I made this, alright.
SPEAKER_00: Calm down.
SPEAKER_00: But for more DIY tips, follow me at I am Jason Burns.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: I want this to represent a plus sign.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're not careful, all of us will carry one of these around everywhere we go.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, a lot of churches take the gospel message of Jesus and they add a plus sign to it.
SPEAKER_00: They'll say things like it's faith plus baptism.
SPEAKER_00: In order to be saved, it's faith in Jesus plus baptism.
SPEAKER_00: And go back one for me.
SPEAKER_00: The the problem with this is faith plus baptism.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what do you do to the story where Jesus is on the cross between two thieves and Jesus says to one, hey, today you'll be with me in paradise.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't he wasn't baptized.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's not faith plus baptism to get you into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: It's just it's just faith by, it's grace by faith.
SPEAKER_00: That's all that's all it is.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you maybe grew up in churches or denominations where it was religious activity plus faith.
SPEAKER_00: So what that means is churches would keep you really, really busy doing really good, wonderful Christian things, but it kept you disconnected from the world around you, and and you think that that's how you're saved, is by doing things.
SPEAKER_00: It's by if I if I just serve, if I just give, if I just do the things that my church does, then I'll be saved.
SPEAKER_00: So it's Jesus plus religious activities, and that's not it.
SPEAKER_00: Some will teach you it's Jesus plus knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: And knowledge is good.
SPEAKER_00: I believe in knowledge, I believe in education.
SPEAKER_00: I did all the school, I got a doctorate, I am done.
SPEAKER_00: I will never go back to school ever again, ever.
SPEAKER_00: But knowledge only has this way of puffing you up, not really.
SPEAKER_00: Making you more and more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's not Jesus plus knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing wrong with knowledge is just not what saves you.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another one.
SPEAKER_00: If you grew up in a very charismatic church, charismatic churches will teach you it's Jesus plus gifts.
SPEAKER_00: And let me be very clear.
SPEAKER_00: I and we believe in all the gifts of Scripture, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We believe in prophecy and the gifts of healing.
SPEAKER_00: We believe in the gift of speaking in tongues.
SPEAKER_00: We believe in all of those gifts, but those gifts won't save you.
SPEAKER_00: It's not Jesus plus gifts.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another one.
SPEAKER_00: Some people think it's Jesus plus tradition.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus plus tradition is what will save you.
SPEAKER_00: But you go to Europe and you'll tour these magnificent cathedrals full of all kinds of tradition and missing the life of a body full of believers.
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, we've kind of swung the other way in some churches and we've reduced church and preaching to Jesus plus helpful tips.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a TED talk with some Jesus and some Bible verses sprinkled on it.
SPEAKER_00: Three ways to a better relationship and two ways.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like we miss it all together.
SPEAKER_00: It's not Jesus plus helpful tips.
SPEAKER_00: I've got one more for you.
SPEAKER_00: Just admire this.
SPEAKER_00: One more second, isn't this?
SPEAKER_00: Look.
SPEAKER_00: I did it all by myself.
SPEAKER_00: Calm down.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: This one is sobering, ready?
SPEAKER_00: It's also not Jesus plus.
SPEAKER_00: And I love our church.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope it helps you.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you grow in your faith here.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It was our church or any church.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the equation.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus plus anything.
SPEAKER_00: It ruins everything.
SPEAKER_00: If you add anything to it, it's like having a sweet tea and not adding more sugar, but adding a scoop of dirt into it.
SPEAKER_00: It ruins it and perverts it.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what Paul wants you to get from Galatians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus plus nothing is everything.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus plus nothing is the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus plus nothing else is what saves us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus plus nothing else is the story.
SPEAKER_00: It is the formula to save us.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope you get this today.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: If that's that's not the end of the story.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus does save us, and it's not based on what we do.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show it to you from one other of Paul's letters.
SPEAKER_00: This is the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says it like this Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9.
SPEAKER_00: It is by grace that you have been saved through faith.
SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: And he makes it clear: this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.
SPEAKER_00: Like if you could earn your salvation, you would take credit for it, but it's not about you.
SPEAKER_00: Then he goes on and he says this for we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
SPEAKER_00: So let me get clear about this.
SPEAKER_00: Good works don't save us.
SPEAKER_00: Good works show that we are saved.
SPEAKER_00: Good works don't save us.
SPEAKER_00: You can't do something to earn it.
SPEAKER_00: But you need to understand that you are saved to do some good stuff.
SPEAKER_00: That when Jesus saves you, it's so that you can leverage your life in a way that makes a difference for him.
SPEAKER_00: I think for a lot of us, we we approach God with the wrong picture.
SPEAKER_00: Several months ago, I got invited to hang out for two days with a hero of mine, a man named Dr.
SPEAKER_00: John Maxwell.
SPEAKER_00: And John Maxwell is one of the premier leadership teachers and speakers in the world.
SPEAKER_00: He's written like a million books and he's brilliant.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things he does that's awesome is that of all of his leadership talks, when he's done, he'll say, I'm done.
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to leave, you're free to go.
SPEAKER_00: But if you want to hear about the one thing that most changed my life, it's my faith, stick around for a few minutes.
SPEAKER_00: And they say, like 90% of the people stay, and he shares his faith, and hundreds of people make the decision to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And John says this, he says, A lot of us we we have a wrong picture of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say this to you.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of us have a wrong picture of the gospel message of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us, when we think about God and what the gospel message is, the picture we think of is a it's a locked gate.
SPEAKER_00: And the view of God we get from this is that God can't be reached.
SPEAKER_00: We we just can't get to Him.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us, when we think of God, the picture that comes to our mind is a garbage can.
SPEAKER_00: And the story of a garbage can, the view is God doesn't want me.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us, the picture we have when we think of God is that God is nothing but an endless ladder.
SPEAKER_00: And the view is that God requires a lot from me, but it's like I'll never really get there.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a right view of God that I want you to get that salvation, grace, the gospel message is a free gift.
SPEAKER_00: Can't earn it, can't do more to deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: All you can do is receive it.
SPEAKER_00: It comes brings back a story to mind, and I'll close with this.
SPEAKER_00: A long time ago, my wife and I were at a wedding, and I officiated the wedding, and then we stuck around for the reception, and it was it was fun.
SPEAKER_00: Food was great, and then we we were dancing together, and um earlier I said this about me.
SPEAKER_00: I said, I'm I'm not good at anything.
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm I'm not.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm good at talking in front of people, and then I just sit down, I get out of the way.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not good at fixing things, and uh one of the things about me is I just have no rhythm at all.
SPEAKER_00: Like I had to learn that a few weeks ago, right before church, you know, the countdown videos playing, people start clapping.
SPEAKER_00: And Liz goes, you're not clapping on beat.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yes, I am.
SPEAKER_00: Dad gum it, no, I'm not.
SPEAKER_00: So you know, I'm I have no rhythm at all.
SPEAKER_00: And um, so we're at a wedding and we're just dancing, and I can't dance.
SPEAKER_00: And I have, if you can't dance, like the scariest moment ever is the DJ comes over the microphone and he goes, All right, we're gonna have a dance contest.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I'm out, let's go.
SPEAKER_00: And Liz goes, No, no, we have we can win this thing.
SPEAKER_00: Like, let's do this, okay.
SPEAKER_00: So he starts playing music, and Liz looks like she was looking in the eyes.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Okay, she goes, do this.
SPEAKER_00: So I start doing this.
SPEAKER_00: And the DJ's eliminating couples, and I'm just doing this.
SPEAKER_00: That's all I'm doing.
SPEAKER_00: And Liz is dancing circles around me.
SPEAKER_00: She's dancing around me, all up on me.
SPEAKER_00: She is dancing, dancing, and all I do is this.
SPEAKER_00: At one point, I even tried to do something like this, and she goes, No, no, no, no, just do this.
SPEAKER_00: That's all I did.
SPEAKER_00: Stay right here.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see this.
SPEAKER_00: We won the dance contest.
SPEAKER_00: Just give God all the glory for it, alright?
SPEAKER_00: And that's my story.
SPEAKER_00: Like, if I'm at a party and they're like, tell us something interesting about you, I'm like, you're not gonna believe this.
SPEAKER_00: I won a dance contest one time.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing my best efforts weren't even used, they didn't win it for me.
SPEAKER_00: But also, my inability didn't keep me from winning.
SPEAKER_00: Winning had nothing to do with me.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, that's the gospel message.
SPEAKER_00: That your salvation, not earned by you, your best efforts, all the good works you've done, all those things are wonderful, but that's not what saved you.
SPEAKER_00: What saved you is that God sent his son for you.
SPEAKER_00: So all of your best moments and all of your failures, all of your highlight reels, and all of those moments that you hope never see the light of day, all of the greatest moments in your life and all of the worst atrocities you've committed.
SPEAKER_00: None of those things are what save you.
SPEAKER_00: It is by grace you are saved through faith.
SPEAKER_00: So look at me.
SPEAKER_00: So don't you dare settle for a Jesus plus kind of relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you dare add things to the gospel because all it does is pervert the beauty of what it is.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be a very practical preacher.
SPEAKER_00: So here's my homework for you.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to go home and ask yourself, where have I settled for a perverted gospel?
SPEAKER_00: Where have I gone in and thought to myself, well, I've achieved this status in the kingdom of God and people that aren't like me are good enough?
SPEAKER_00: Get all of that away.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are saved, not by our efforts, not by our works, but we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If you believe it, would you stand with me at all of our locations?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, let's stand up and let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: So, God, thank you that we can't earn it, we can't do more to deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that you give grace to us so freely.
SPEAKER_00: We turn our hearts back to you in worship and we say thank you, thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: May we never become the kind of church that thinks that we've somehow attained a certain level of Christianity and we become unintentionally like those Judaizers.
SPEAKER_00: But may we realize that we were once lost, but now we're found.
SPEAKER_00: We were blind, but now we see.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your grace, so amazing, so undeserving.
SPEAKER_00: We love you and we thank you for it.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: With your head bowed and eyes closed, I want to give you a moment at all of our locations to make the decision to let Jesus be the Lord of your life.
SPEAKER_00: For the gospel to move from good news to your good news, the news that saves you and changes you.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture says the book of Romans 3:20 says we've all sinned, fallen short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: That means we we haven't lived up to God's standard.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 5 8 says, But while we were sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_00: He gave himself for us.
SPEAKER_00: That gift, that gospel, that message of Jesus is the gift for us.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're here and you've never made the decision to follow Jesus, but today that's you, or maybe you're like another audience of people who at one point you did, but you just feel like you've walked so far away.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe today's the day that you receive the gift for sure, and you say, This from this point on, Jesus, I follow you.
SPEAKER_00: If that's you, and you need to start or restart following Jesus, throw your hand up high if that's you right now.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: So cool, thank you, thank you in the back, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: So many people, if this is you in all of our locations, raise your hand and I want you to pray this prayer with me.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me, church.
SPEAKER_00: Praying a prayer changes everything when you mean it.
SPEAKER_00: And I wanted you to pray this with all of your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Pray it out loud in our church family, everyone who's around you, we're gonna pray it out loud as we support them.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, I want everyone to say this like you mean it.
SPEAKER_00: Say, Jesus, thank you for loving me.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for giving your life for me.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that you're the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: I believe you rose again from the dead, and so today I choose to make you my savior.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, today, forgive my sins, and from this day on, I choose to follow you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, I love you.
SPEAKER_00: I give you my life for the rest of my life in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, let's celebrate like we believe in everybody.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.