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SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, it's uh we've not gathered today to demonstrate who knows the most.
SPEAKER_02: We've gathered today to remind ourselves that it's just a few things we have to know.
SPEAKER_02: A few eternally unchanging, forever true things.
SPEAKER_02: And if we know these things and we dig down deep past all the cultural sand down to the rock and we build and bank our life on those few things, we'll be a different people.
SPEAKER_02: And so we've gathered today to remind and reinforce in ourselves and for ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: For your glory, God, and for our good.
SPEAKER_02: Two things that are not mutually exclusive, but they pair well together.
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit brood over us while the word of God finds us and unwinds us today.
SPEAKER_02: This is our prayer, God, make it our experience, we ask in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone's head.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_02: If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
SPEAKER_02: First Corinthians chapter 6.
SPEAKER_02: I want to talk to you this morning about what our church believes.
SPEAKER_02: What our church believes.
SPEAKER_02: I mentioned it in the prayer, I kind of referenced it.
SPEAKER_02: The task of Christianity is not to be some religious know-it-all that has a take on everything, okay?
SPEAKER_02: But the task of Christianity is to know a few certain, eternally unchanging, always forever right things, and not just know them, but to be set on fire by them.
SPEAKER_02: Your life to be interrupted and altered because of them.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to point out just three things that our church believes.
SPEAKER_02: And if you would believe these three things today, your life would be different.
SPEAKER_02: You would never outgrow these things.
SPEAKER_02: You would never get past these things.
SPEAKER_02: You would never look at your kids on a Sunday morning and they say, We're going to church.
SPEAKER_02: No, we've kind of outgrown all this stuff.
SPEAKER_02: It would always be beyond you and better than you.
SPEAKER_02: And it would always be beckoning you Godward if you would just get your head around these uh three simple things from the text today.
SPEAKER_02: First Corinthians chapter 6, verse 1 says this When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
SPEAKER_02: Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?
SPEAKER_02: And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
SPEAKER_02: Do you not know that we are to judge angels?
SPEAKER_02: How much more then matters pertaining to this life?
SPEAKER_02: So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?
SPEAKER_02: I say this to your shame.
SPEAKER_02: Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers?
SPEAKER_02: But brother goes to law against the brother, and that before unbelievers?
SPEAKER_02: To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you.
SPEAKER_02: Why not rather suffer wrong?
SPEAKER_02: Why not rather be defrauded, but you yourselves wrong and defraud even your own brothers?
SPEAKER_02: Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
SPEAKER_02: Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: And such were some of you.
SPEAKER_02: But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_02: Three things I want to point to in the text that our church believes.
SPEAKER_02: So if you're exploring a new church today, or if you've been here for years, I just want to remind you, we believe these things, okay?
SPEAKER_02: And we believe these things not to indict other people, but we believe these things to invite ourselves into what God is doing in the world.
SPEAKER_02: The first thing that our church believes is simply this that our fundamental problem is not being unwilling, but being unrighteous.
SPEAKER_02: Our fundamental problem in the world today, not in the church, but in the world today, is it's not being unwilling.
SPEAKER_02: It's not that, oh, I'm not willing to do that.
SPEAKER_02: That's not your biggest problem.
SPEAKER_02: Your biggest problem is that you by nature and I by nature are unrighteous people.
SPEAKER_02: To be unrighteous is to be a person who has violated God's standard of justice.
SPEAKER_02: We've fallen short of what God said is right.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says it like this in Romans chapter 3 that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: People say, Well, that's your opinion.
SPEAKER_02: No, it's my understanding that God determines what is right and wrong.
SPEAKER_02: One of the things you should ask yourself today is who determines right and wrong in my family and for my kids?
SPEAKER_02: Who determines does it come from TikTok, what they swipe up and down on all day?
SPEAKER_02: Or does it come from God?
SPEAKER_02: Who determines?
SPEAKER_02: Because just to say our fundamental problem is not that we're unwilling, it's that we by nature are unrighteous.
SPEAKER_02: You say, I don't quite get what you mean.
SPEAKER_02: Let me just read a long section of Romans chapter 3, starting in verse 9, where the Bible lays it out very clearly that, hey, this is what we mean by this.
SPEAKER_02: This is what the Bible says in Romans 3.
SPEAKER_02: What then?
SPEAKER_02: Are we Jews any better off?
SPEAKER_02: No, not at all.
SPEAKER_02: We for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written, none is righteous, no, not one.
SPEAKER_02: No one understands, no one seeks for God.
SPEAKER_02: All have turned aside, together they become worthless.
SPEAKER_02: No one does good, not even one.
SPEAKER_02: Their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive.
SPEAKER_02: The venom of asp is under their lips, their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.
SPEAKER_02: Now, you may be thinking at this point, oh, that's not me.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever known something to not be true, but you just felt it anyway, and you said it?
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, this is what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Their feet are swift to shed blood, and their paths are rooted misery, and the way of peace they have not known.
SPEAKER_02: Underline that phrase in your Bible.
SPEAKER_02: The way of peace they have not known.
SPEAKER_02: We call it anxiety.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible calls it separation.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm not saying if you've got anxiety, you're separated from God.
SPEAKER_02: I'm saying for people that do not have a relationship with God, God lets you feel that.
SPEAKER_02: And it's not hate, it's love.
SPEAKER_02: Because to feel this separation, this lack of peace, it ought to turn your head and your heart towards God.
SPEAKER_02: The way of peace they have not known, and there's no fear of God before their eyes.
SPEAKER_02: Now, we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
SPEAKER_02: For by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
SPEAKER_02: Now, that's a thick, dense section of the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: I just want to point out, okay, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_02: Let me just tick off about five or six things that means for all of us.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, religion will not change you.
SPEAKER_02: That's a reference to the Jews.
SPEAKER_02: He talks about the Jews and the Greeks.
SPEAKER_02: Religion will not change you.
SPEAKER_02: I say this a lot, like people say, Well, I'm not very religious, and I say, Well, neither am I.
SPEAKER_02: And they go, Well, aren't you a preacher?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's my job to not be religious.
SPEAKER_02: And then they're really confused.
SPEAKER_02: One person gets it back here.
SPEAKER_02: I was in the med center in an elevator, and the guy said, So you visiting a family or friends?
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Actually, I'm visiting one of my prisoners.
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, Oh boy.
SPEAKER_02: I said, That's right.
SPEAKER_02: You're trapped in an elevator with a preacher.
SPEAKER_02: And then I just reached over and just smashed all the buttons.
SPEAKER_02: Now that I've got your captive attention, he's like, Seriously, bro, are you really a pastor?
SPEAKER_02: I am.
SPEAKER_02: He goes, I'm not very religious.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Neither am I.
SPEAKER_02: My name's Neil.
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, uh, yeah, anyway, uh, yeah, so when I say that religion won't change you, that's the Jews.
SPEAKER_02: The Jews, they kind of appeal to their religious heritage.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you may be thinking, well, my grandpa was a Baptist preacher.
SPEAKER_02: What's that got to do with you?
SPEAKER_02: Nothing.
SPEAKER_02: So religion won't change you.
SPEAKER_02: What changes you is a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_02: Not being religious.
SPEAKER_02: So religion won't change you.
SPEAKER_02: Secondly, intelligence cannot excuse you.
SPEAKER_02: That's the Greeks.
SPEAKER_02: They were like, we're so smart.
SPEAKER_02: This is why Paul, in verse 5, he's really kind of being sarcastic, which I love that the people in the Bible are human.
SPEAKER_02: He said, I say this to your shame.
SPEAKER_02: Can it be that there's no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute?
SPEAKER_02: Because the people here in Corinthians, the Corinthians, they prided themselves on their intellect.
SPEAKER_02: And Paul kind of he kind of kicks the pig like Gus and Lonesome Dove and says, Hey, are you not wise enough to settle disputes?
SPEAKER_02: You people that are smarter than everybody else?
SPEAKER_02: Here's the third thing.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody does their own thing.
SPEAKER_02: He says, We've all turned aside.
SPEAKER_02: Isaiah says the same thing.
SPEAKER_02: Isaiah, I believe chapter 50 said we are 53.
SPEAKER_02: We've all turned aside to our own way.
SPEAKER_02: We've all turned aside.
SPEAKER_02: We've done our own thing.
SPEAKER_02: Because you think your idea for your life is better than God's.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the fourth thing I'd point to.
SPEAKER_02: Our preferred behaviors don't bring us peace.
SPEAKER_02: The way of peace they have not known.
SPEAKER_02: Here's another one.
SPEAKER_02: Because we don't know God, we don't fear God.
SPEAKER_02: If you want to see who really knows God and then just come to church, see if they have a posture towards God that's kind of fearful.
SPEAKER_02: Not out of how I'm afraid, but this fearful is that I don't want to miss out.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, it's not there's two kinds of fear in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: There's servile fear, it's the fear of a servant who thinks if I mess up, I'm gonna get beat.
SPEAKER_02: That's not what the Bible talks about.
SPEAKER_02: It's filial fear.
SPEAKER_02: It's the fear of, hey, my father is so good that if I disobey him, I might miss out on what only my father can do.
SPEAKER_02: This is the kind of fear the Bible calls us to, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Uh here's the next thing.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone has fallen short of God's standard and is that accountable to God.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone has fallen short of God's standard.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone, everyone in this room, everyone in this world has fallen short of God's standard, and therefore you're accountable to God.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the last thing that Romans 3 points out there's nothing you can do to change this reality.
SPEAKER_02: There's nothing you can do to change this reality because the Bible reinforces what God knows to be true.
SPEAKER_02: And so when I start off with this big long kind of uh nerdy-sounding thing to say, our fundamental problem is not being unwilling, but being unrighteous.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible builds this case, not just in Romans 3, but all through the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: So if you're here today, it's not that, man, I made a resolution, I want to get back in church, whatever.
SPEAKER_02: That's great, and I applaud that, but I just want to say to you, your problem, your core issue is not that you're unwilling, it's that you're unrighteous.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the second thing the Bible, our church believes the Bible teaches everybody has a past.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody has a past.
SPEAKER_02: You say, Well, I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_02: I often tell people in counseling, if you would meditate on your past, now when I say everybody has a past, if you know what I mean, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you've got things in your past that you wish to God you would never have to think about again, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: You should be the loudest worshiper in the room.
SPEAKER_02: Because I tell people, people say, Well, I'm just not feeling it this day.
SPEAKER_02: And I say, Have you meditated on your depravity lately?
SPEAKER_02: And they always look at me like, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: Clearly you haven't.
SPEAKER_02: Uh you say, What do you mean everybody has a past?
SPEAKER_02: They've come to realize that they were saved from these behaviors, they're not saved for these behaviors.
SPEAKER_02: Because if you're not careful, you read the list in verses 9 and 10, and you're like, Whew, wow, I've done that, I've done that, that one's got my name on it right there.
SPEAKER_02: What the people in Corinth realize, and he's not like, hey, these are a list of sins that keep you out of heaven.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, that's not what he's saying at all.
SPEAKER_02: They they've come to realize that they were saved from these behaviors, they were not saved for them.
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: Coming to faith doesn't ensure forgiveness for the things you want to keep doing.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_02: Coming to faith does not guarantee forgiveness for the things that you just know you're never gonna stop doing.
SPEAKER_02: I've had countless people say to me over the years, Well, I'm probably not gonna stop.
SPEAKER_02: And I say, that's probably an indication that you don't really have a conversion experience.
SPEAKER_02: And then they say back to me, Well, how can you be judged?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, God should judge me.
SPEAKER_02: He can and he will.
SPEAKER_02: Because here's the thing salvation is not the guarantee of forgiveness.
SPEAKER_02: Salvation is the guarantee that this person has been changed, and I'm not saved for these things.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm not saved so I can just keep doing these things I want to keep doing.
SPEAKER_02: No, I'm saved from these things.
SPEAKER_02: These things do not have power over me anymore.
SPEAKER_02: He says, look at verse 9 and 10.
SPEAKER_02: Uh spells it out.
SPEAKER_02: He says, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
SPEAKER_02: Do not be deceived.
SPEAKER_02: That's the key phrase.
SPEAKER_02: Don't hear, oh, the unrighteous not here inherit the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: Here, do not be deceived.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because to be deceived is to basically step away, like, hey, I know this is the truth, and I'm gonna kind of step a little bit to the right or the left of that.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna deviate off course a little bit.
SPEAKER_02: In the Old Testament, the way it describes it is like this it says that we've moved the ancient boundary stone.
SPEAKER_02: They used to mark their property, like if you look at a map of the United States, you look at the East Coast, you ever notice the state lines are kind of squiggly?
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of all over the place.
SPEAKER_02: But as you move west, it's like New Mexico, very, you know, it's it's it's Colorado, very, because they developed surveying tools.
SPEAKER_02: But like in the Bible, they did not have surveying tools.
SPEAKER_02: They couldn't shoot a line and say, hey, here's your property line right here.
SPEAKER_02: Uh but what they would do is they'd have stones, they'd mark their property with these bounds, they were called boundary stones or boundary markers.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible says in Proverbs, do not move the ancient boundary marker of ancient boundary stone.
SPEAKER_02: We have, as a culture, have picked it up and not just moved it.
SPEAKER_02: We've kind of thrown off a cliff and said, hey, we'll draw the lines where we see fit.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible comes along and says, Well, it doesn't change anything.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Do not be deceived.
SPEAKER_02: Don't not be led away, okay?
SPEAKER_02: These behaviors characterize their life before they came to faith in Christ, all right?
SPEAKER_02: And once they came to faith in Christ, they gave up these behaviors.
SPEAKER_02: Now, when I say everybody has a past, that is not a wink wink, who am I to judge you?
SPEAKER_02: Uh, this may or may not surprise you, but I don't get up.
SPEAKER_02: I've never gotten up a day in my life and thought, who can I judge today?
SPEAKER_02: It's never crossed my mind.
SPEAKER_02: But see, when we say everybody has a past, you some, it's easy to think, well, see, who am I to because the Bible teaches at all.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what the Bible teaches that two things about people of the past.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, they're very loving.
SPEAKER_02: They're very loving people.
SPEAKER_02: When I say you have a past, not that you have a past, but Christ has dealt with your past in a way that only the Bible says God can.
SPEAKER_02: Because, see, if you have a problem loving people and forgiving people, you're probably morally self-righteous.
SPEAKER_02: You feel that?
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are like, uh, I just these can some of you are like, we're visiting today, we'll be at Houston's First Baptist next Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: Uh people of the past that's been dealt with by God, uh, they're they're very loving.
SPEAKER_02: You say, I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, don't turn over, just write down Luke chapter 7.
SPEAKER_02: Luke chapter 7 tells a story of Jesus and a sinful woman.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus is at the house of a Pharisee named Simon, and this woman comes in, and she behind Jesus, she just starts wiping his feet and washing his feet and wiping his feet with her hair.
SPEAKER_02: That's a little creepy right there.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus is looking, and the people are thinking to themselves.
SPEAKER_02: You can read later the Bible says, and they're thinking to themselves, if this guy was a prophet, he would know what kind of woman this is, because good there's a good chance she was a woman who engaged in the world's oldest profession.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: Say amen.
SPEAKER_02: There you go.
SPEAKER_02: And so she's wiping his feet, which is creepy with her hair, and all the righteous people, I'm excuse me, all the religious people are like, Well, if Jesus was really a prophet, and Jesus looks at one of the ringleaders, got him Simon, he says, Simon, I have a story to tell you.
SPEAKER_02: And Simon's like, Yes, Lord, do tell.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus says, Hey, a guy basically owned 50,000 bucks.
SPEAKER_02: And the guy he owed the money to, he forgave him.
SPEAKER_02: And then another guy owed 50 bucks.
SPEAKER_02: And the guy that owed 50 bucks got forgiven.
SPEAKER_02: Which one of them is more grateful?
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Well, the guy that owed 50 grand, come on.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus, only then, and Jesus kind of gestures and says, Hey, that explains this woman's behavior.
SPEAKER_02: She's been forgiven much, and so she loves much.
SPEAKER_02: So when I say you're not very loving and you're morally self-righteous, it's probably because you've never really pondered all that you've been forgiven for.
SPEAKER_02: You got your act together, you did Dave Ramsey, you married a good Republican girl who watches Fox News.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, and there are my Democrats.
SPEAKER_02: Or you married a good Democrat that watches CNN.
SPEAKER_02: I don't care.
SPEAKER_02: Now I've been to both sides of the aisle, have I not?
SPEAKER_02: Look at me.
SPEAKER_02: To what do you attribute the well-being of your life?
SPEAKER_02: This is the question you should ask yourself over lunch today.
SPEAKER_02: Because if you're thinking, well, I got the right sorority, I got the right fraternity, and my fraternity brother gave me a lead on a job, and I'm working my way up to being a partner, you don't understand.
SPEAKER_02: See, people that have a past that's been forgiven by God, they're very loving.
SPEAKER_02: They've been forgiven much, and because of that, they love much.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the second thing about them: they're very worshipful.
SPEAKER_02: Notice the sentence, and such were some of you.
SPEAKER_02: And such were some of you.
SPEAKER_02: Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
SPEAKER_02: Do not be deceived, and then listen to this list of uh of great sins and sinners.
SPEAKER_02: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, no men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy.
SPEAKER_02: Have you heard any sermons about being greedy lately?
SPEAKER_02: We talk a lot about homosexuality in the church.
SPEAKER_02: We never talk about greedy people.
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot more greedy people than there are gay people in the church.
SPEAKER_02: You know that, right?
SPEAKER_02: So many more.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody said so many more.
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: But you never hear sermons about greed.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all are like, and get back to talking about the gays.
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: The greedy, nor the drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers.
SPEAKER_02: You ever charge anybody more than you know it costs?
SPEAKER_02: You swindled somebody.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible's very clear.
SPEAKER_02: You're in the same category with the homosexuals.
SPEAKER_02: Happy New Year, kids.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you've got guests with you right now, you're leaning over and going, he's in a bad mood.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just reading what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_02: Swindlers.
SPEAKER_02: Have you heard a sermon lately about people who swindle?
SPEAKER_02: Who love money so much that you'll lie to get more?
SPEAKER_02: That's what a swindler is.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not making eye contact.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, the people who practice homosexuality and the swindler, neither one will inherit the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: Now look at verse 11.
SPEAKER_02: Underline these next six words.
SPEAKER_02: And such were some of you.
SPEAKER_02: Don't you want to be a part of a church that's full of swindlers who got forgiven?
SPEAKER_02: Don't you want to be a part of a church that has this greedy people?
SPEAKER_02: They're like, I used to love money more than anything, but I just I don't feel that way about it anymore.
SPEAKER_02: Don't you want to be a part of churches like men and women are like, and listen, I used to live in a homosexual lifestyle.
SPEAKER_02: I wasn't gay, I struggled with same-sex attraction, but God delivered me out of that.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't He didn't save me for this, He saved me from this.
SPEAKER_02: See, people that are with a past, they're very loving, and secondly, they're very worshipful.
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: I wonder how these people worship once they got free of sexual immorality.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, he says sexual immorality, those who practice uh homosexuality.
SPEAKER_02: If your children are involved in immoral behavior with their boyfriend or girlfriend, they're in the same category with the homosexual.
SPEAKER_02: That's a pregnant pause.
SPEAKER_02: If your children live together, they're in the same category.
SPEAKER_02: You see, when you say things like the Bible actually says them, then it gets real up in here.
SPEAKER_02: And you go, uh, go back to beating upon the gays.
SPEAKER_02: The church doesn't exist to beat upon the gays.
SPEAKER_02: At least this church doesn't.
SPEAKER_02: God's against sin in all its manifestations.
SPEAKER_02: And I talk to people that struggle with same-sex attraction, they say, What is the Bible?
SPEAKER_02: What do Christians say?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, the Bible's against sin in all its forms.
SPEAKER_02: And I quote this passage the sexual moral, the greedy, the swindlers, and people go, Oh, what's that?
SPEAKER_02: Revilers?
SPEAKER_02: Revilers are people who talk too much.
SPEAKER_02: Like preachers.
SPEAKER_02: That's the guy said to me, like preachers, I said, Yeah, that can be the case.
SPEAKER_02: But but they're very worshipful.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you ever here's the question I'm trying to get at.
SPEAKER_02: You ever wonder that we don't want because one of the things I pray for our church is that we get more free in worship?
SPEAKER_02: Because we're not very free in worship.
SPEAKER_02: I consistently, if I have to go out and get a glass of water, I consistently see countless people in the lobby, three songs in, just talking and piston.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, let's get together, let's have a play down.
SPEAKER_02: And I just wonder if we don't worship with gusto and gravity and gladness because we aren't free or we don't understand all we've been forgiven for.
SPEAKER_02: That's just a curiosity of mine.
SPEAKER_02: Worship starts, and 10 minutes in, people are still coming in.
SPEAKER_02: No one gets here early except Jack Lee, who drives some Seeley.
SPEAKER_02: And he gets here, but a few people get here early that are kind of like, and I was in college, I went to a kind of a kooky, crazy church, and there was a guy that would get there early all the time, and he would sit with his elbows on his and his knees and his head in his hands, and finally I just said, Sir, are you okay?
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Yeah, I just I can't wait to just express back to God my gratitude for all he's forgiven me for.
SPEAKER_02: And I realized in that moment you think differently about church than I do because I'm scanning the room going, is my wife in here?
SPEAKER_02: Is the hot girl from computer class in here?
SPEAKER_02: You see, when I say everybody has a past, this is what I mean.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the third thing I want to say that the text says that our church believe God's power is bigger than your past.
SPEAKER_02: It's verse 11.
SPEAKER_02: And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
SPEAKER_02: Now, our culture says this.
SPEAKER_02: Our culture says, hey, why don't the church just accept people for how they are and love them?
SPEAKER_02: It is not love to allow people uh to live in unrighteousness when the scripture is very clear that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: You have to be a people who not only knows it understands the kingdom, but enjoys life in the kingdom because then you do not want people, it is not love to let people that you love miss out on life in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: It's not about, oh, you're gonna go to hell when you die.
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: What's really tragic is you're never gonna know life in the kingdom in this world.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're a kingdom person, that should bother you.
SPEAKER_02: I want to draw your attention to three words.
SPEAKER_02: Now, when I say, hey, that God's power is bigger than your past, uh, there's three words in the English translation, it it doesn't do it justice because he says, and such were some of you.
SPEAKER_02: But you were washed, comma.
SPEAKER_02: You were sanctified, comma, you were justified.
SPEAKER_02: In the Greek, it's got that but.
SPEAKER_02: It's the adversative particle in the Greek.
SPEAKER_02: Write that down.
SPEAKER_02: I got a master's degree to learn that.
SPEAKER_02: Now, the adversive particle is basically it's the word but it's in the Greek, it's Allah.
SPEAKER_02: It's not like the Muslim or whatever reference to God.
SPEAKER_02: Allah is the word but.
SPEAKER_02: And in the Greek translation of the Bible, why do you talk about the Greek?
SPEAKER_02: The Bible's originally written in Greek.
SPEAKER_02: It says, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified.
SPEAKER_02: Like when my children were little, especially my youngest, who's in the room today, on Sundays, she would say, not every Sunday, but pretty consistently would say, What do you want to do for?
SPEAKER_02: I want to go to Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_02: I want to go to Chick-fil-A too, but it's closed.
SPEAKER_02: Woo! Call truett Kathy and lodger to complaints with him.
SPEAKER_02: Why is Chick-fil-A not open on Sunday?
SPEAKER_02: Because they're Christians and they want their employees to go to church.
SPEAKER_02: And then my thinking four-year-old would say, Why are other places open?
SPEAKER_02: That's a great question, Sophie.
SPEAKER_02: I'll get back to you on that.
SPEAKER_02: All I know is that Chick-fil-A is closed on Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to eat then.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: I would like to go to Chick-fil-A, Adverse of the Particle, but it is closed.
SPEAKER_02: Translation, that is not a possibility.
SPEAKER_02: Take it off the list.
SPEAKER_02: And what the Bible is saying to us is but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified.
SPEAKER_02: Because of these realities, some things are no longer on the list that used to be on the list of options.
SPEAKER_02: He says, first of all, uh, let me just point to three things what we've done this morning.
SPEAKER_02: But you were washed.
SPEAKER_02: This doesn't mean washed off.
SPEAKER_02: This means washed away.
SPEAKER_02: God didn't just wash you off like you got clean, and then when I get dirty, I'm going to come back to God.
SPEAKER_02: No, no.
SPEAKER_02: You your sin and your sin nature was washed away.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you want to get a picture in your mind, if you watch the news when the hurricanes and the floods came through North Carolina, do you see houses getting washed off their foundation, just going down the river, whole houses, erosion would happen, the banks would crumble, and houses would fall in, okay?
SPEAKER_02: This is what the Bible has in mind.
SPEAKER_02: Now, now I remember I saw people that were like, hey, our house to get washed away.
SPEAKER_02: The hurricane came and then floodwaters came, and it just, there's nothing here but the slab.
SPEAKER_02: And now, if you want to understand what it means that not be washed off, but your sins to be washed away and your sin nature to be washed away.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine telling those people two weeks after the hurricane and the floods came through, hey, now go find your house and put it back together.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, dude, here's the problem with some of you in this room.
SPEAKER_02: Your idea of Christianity is trying to find all the pieces from your past and put them back together.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible comes along and says, no, no, that was washed away.
SPEAKER_02: But you were washed.
SPEAKER_02: You were washed.
SPEAKER_02: Secondly, but you were sanctified.
SPEAKER_02: To be sanctified is to be free from guilt of sin and set aside for God.
SPEAKER_02: You're made holy inwardly.
SPEAKER_02: And so, because of that, you live holy outwardly.
SPEAKER_02: To be sanctified is to be set apart, put aside.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, this one belongs to me.
SPEAKER_02: This one is no longer available to anybody else.
SPEAKER_02: This seat is taken.
SPEAKER_02: Like at the Christmas Eve service, if you were here, I love you people.
SPEAKER_02: Some of y'all people asking staff meet on Monday, do people get her early?
SPEAKER_02: About 45 minutes early, and save a whole row.
SPEAKER_02: Mom sits on this end, dad sits on this end, and here's why.
SPEAKER_02: Their adult children are coming with the grandbabies, and nobody, I dare you to try to sit in that row.
SPEAKER_02: I saw some woman kind of sit and go, excuse me.
SPEAKER_02: And the guy's like, Yeah, are those seats available?
SPEAKER_02: No, they're not.
SPEAKER_02: And this is like five minutes before the service started.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody's adult children are running late.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm kind of looking at the guy, going, save yourself, bro.
SPEAKER_02: I know that lady.
SPEAKER_02: She's a nice person.
SPEAKER_02: She's looking in her purse, not to like give you a mint or a tissue.
SPEAKER_02: She's working, where's my fingernail file so I can shank a fool right here?
SPEAKER_02: Before we light the Christ candle.
SPEAKER_02: And she stood up and just blocked the aisle and she said, My children are on their way.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Hey, uh, you can have my seat.
SPEAKER_02: Dude, come on down here in the front.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, Dang, what's her deal?
SPEAKER_02: She got kids and they're coming to church.
SPEAKER_02: Like I saw a friend of mine who was sitting around the section over here, he was dressed in a nice suit.
SPEAKER_02: His wife had a dress on.
SPEAKER_02: His kids were dressed up, and I said, You're gonna get a family portrait later, aren't you?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: You're sanctified.
SPEAKER_02: You're set apart.
SPEAKER_02: When this woman stands, and her husband on one end, she said, Hey, this whole row is set apart for my family and my kids and my grandkids.
SPEAKER_02: And they're gonna be here.
SPEAKER_02: And sure enough, about a minute before the service started, they come hustling in and they filled up the row.
SPEAKER_02: And I just said, Yeah, that row is sanctified.
SPEAKER_02: It is set apart for this person.
SPEAKER_02: It's not trying to be sanctified.
SPEAKER_02: It's not, God's not saying, I want you to live up this impossible standard.
SPEAKER_02: He's basically saying, I want you to express what you've experienced.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_02: And does saying, huh?
SPEAKER_02: Well, here's this external standard, and you better do your best to live up to this, otherwise, there's gonna be trouble.
SPEAKER_02: No, God says, I want you to express outwardly what you've experienced inwardly.
SPEAKER_02: Now look at me.
SPEAKER_02: This is the problem for some of you in this room because you've not experienced it inwardly, you you don't you don't have the capacity to express it outwardly.
SPEAKER_02: See, you come to church, but you've never come to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Sanctification has never happened for you.
SPEAKER_02: He says you were what, but you were washed, you were sanct, but you were sanctified, but you were justified.
SPEAKER_02: This means surrender or declare someone is righteous.
SPEAKER_02: In justifying you, God made you righteous, not just in a moment, but for a lifetime.
SPEAKER_02: You will never, the Christian will never be unrighteous ever again.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, we started this morning that long passage back in Romans about unrighteousness.
SPEAKER_02: Here's why.
SPEAKER_02: Because Jesus came to deal with your fundamental problem, which is not unwillingness.
SPEAKER_02: It's not a lack of desire.
SPEAKER_02: It's not just, oh, you know, I got a car and student ministry doesn't interest me anymore.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: You by nature are not unwilling, you're unrighteous.
SPEAKER_02: And so people can't create desire for you.
SPEAKER_02: It's not Ian and Annie's job to create spiritual interest for your kids.
SPEAKER_02: You should ask yourself today, why are our kids not interested in spiritual things?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's because they've never been justified, they've never been sanctified, they've never been washed.
SPEAKER_02: Because when someone comes along and pays your debt, you tend to remember that person and you posture yourself around that person.
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: Again, it's just a fundamental problem.
SPEAKER_02: And notice the last phrase in verse 11.
SPEAKER_02: I'll be done this morning.
SPEAKER_02: He says, uh, very clearly, he says, You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_02: It's very important you understand this.
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_02: Salvation by nature is Trinitarian.
SPEAKER_02: It involves all three persons of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: We are by nature unrighteous, and only in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God are we made righteous.
SPEAKER_02: You didn't do it because you can't do it.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't do it because I can't do it.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody said, I referred to my wife not long ago.
SPEAKER_02: I said, that's the best decision I've ever made.
SPEAKER_02: And somebody sat in there and said, Well, besides, you know, accepting Jesus, I said, I didn't decide to accept Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He decided to accept me.
SPEAKER_02: And they looked at me like, what are you saying?
SPEAKER_02: I by nature am spiritually dead.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't regenerate myself and choose Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't open the door and let Jesus in.
SPEAKER_02: That's not written to lost people, that's written to the church.
SPEAKER_02: And the guy's like, Well, you're being kind of particular, aren't you?
SPEAKER_02: I said, or biblical.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, I'm just saying my wife's the best decision I've ever made.
SPEAKER_02: Next week's our 32-year anniversary, and I'm taking her to the Waffle House for dinner.
SPEAKER_02: And you're laughing because you think I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not.
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_02: You didn't do it because you couldn't.
SPEAKER_02: We are incapable of changing ourselves spiritually.
SPEAKER_02: But what you couldn't do, hear this part and we'll be done.
SPEAKER_02: What you couldn't do, God was glad to do.
SPEAKER_02: And what you can't do today, God is willing to do.
SPEAKER_02: Let me give you, I'll close by giving three things about convert about conversion, three takeaways concerning conversion.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, true conversion equips us for what the Bible requires of us.
SPEAKER_02: True conversion, it equips us for what the Bible requires of us.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible never asks a Christian to do something you don't have the capacity to do.
SPEAKER_02: Like if you find the Bible offensive or impossible, you should go back and question your salvation experience.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the second thing I want you to take away.
SPEAKER_02: The expression of grace comes from the experience of grace.
SPEAKER_02: In counseling recently, I was talking to somebody and they said, Do I have to forgive?
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, what do you understand the gospel to say about this?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, I know it says uh don't forgive seven times 70 or whatever.
SPEAKER_02: And I would take you to Ephesians, uh, about chapter 4, about verse 32.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Be kind, tenderhearted towards one another, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven you.
SPEAKER_02: And the person looked at me and said, What's that got to do with me forgiving?
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Even as God in Christ has forgiven you.
SPEAKER_02: The issue is not, does this person deserve forgiveness?
SPEAKER_02: The issue is, did you forgive forgiveness?
SPEAKER_02: Did you deserve forgiveness?
SPEAKER_02: And they looked at me and said, What's my forgiveness got to do with this?
SPEAKER_02: Even as God in Christ has forgiven you.
SPEAKER_02: If you find it difficult to forgive somebody, you should not meditate upon their sin.
SPEAKER_02: You should meditate upon your sin.
SPEAKER_02: Even as God in Christ has forgiven you.
SPEAKER_02: The motivation to forgive does not come by sizing up people and go, are they going to do this again?
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: The motivation to forgive comes from a good theological understanding of, oh my gosh, how has Christ forgiven me and what is he forgiven me for?
SPEAKER_02: The expression of grace comes from the experience of grace.
SPEAKER_02: If you've not experienced grace, it's hard to express that, to give it to somebody else.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the last thing I would say this morning salvation is not a transaction but a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: It's not a transaction, it's a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_02: It's not something you did when you were 14.
SPEAKER_02: It it does it does involve a moment, but that moment affects you for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: Like, I will never not be married.
SPEAKER_02: I will never not be married.
SPEAKER_02: Every once in a while, my wife says, Well, if I died, would you remarry?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh gosh.
SPEAKER_02: I don't do well with hypothetical questions, by the way.
SPEAKER_02: Don't ask me hypotheticals.
SPEAKER_02: I don't live in a hypothetical house, I live in a real house.
SPEAKER_02: But my wife is kind of cray crazy.
SPEAKER_02: She's always like, Well, if I died, would you remarry?
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I'd remarry a mute who couldn't talk.
SPEAKER_02: And likes to clean house.
SPEAKER_02: And she's like, Oh, you're real funny.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, I don't know if I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, they say that if you really enjoyed marriage, you'll get married again.
SPEAKER_02: So if you don't get remarried, that means you didn't enjoy.
SPEAKER_02: Here we are in hypothetical hell, as I call it.
SPEAKER_02: I don't live in that world.
SPEAKER_02: I never get up and think, I'm not married today.
SPEAKER_02: So let me talk to some woman at Home Depot and flirt with her.
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: I don't get that.
SPEAKER_02: I'm never not married.
SPEAKER_02: That's just who I am.
SPEAKER_02: I get up married, I go to sleep married, I go to work married, I go to play golf married, I go to eat lunch married, I'm always married.
SPEAKER_02: Always.
SPEAKER_02: It's just you say, well, why are you telling us that?
SPEAKER_02: Marriage was not a ceremony.
SPEAKER_02: On January the 9th, 1993, at the first Baptist Church of Pensacola.
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't a transaction.
SPEAKER_02: I gave her a ring, she gave me a ring.
SPEAKER_02: Marriage is not jewelry, it's responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: You're welcome.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody asked me to stand right over there and I'll go, hey, I'm dating my girlfriend.
SPEAKER_02: We're kind of getting serious and trying to save money to get married.
SPEAKER_02: You should get married tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02: Well, what's that?
SPEAKER_02: You never have enough money.
SPEAKER_02: He looked at me, he goes, Well, I mean, I'm trying to say I said, you know how you he's like 25.
SPEAKER_02: He's a good guy.
SPEAKER_02: He may be here today.
SPEAKER_02: Uh he's I said, you know how you're ready to get married as a man?
SPEAKER_02: He goes, No, tell me.
SPEAKER_02: I said, when you're ready, spend about 96% of your money on other people.
SPEAKER_02: And the guy, and the guy walking by said, It's higher than that.
SPEAKER_02: I just looked at him and I said, I ain't kidding.
SPEAKER_02: I said, and here's the thing you're glad to do it.
SPEAKER_02: You buy your wife a new car and you drive the old truck.
SPEAKER_02: And the colors just draining from his face.
SPEAKER_02: And then your kids come along and you give them stuff and you do without.
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Yeah, okay, I gotta go.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: By the same token, salvation is not a transaction, it's a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: Now look at me.
SPEAKER_02: If you're not married, I highly recommend being married to the right person.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody asked me this way, he said, and your anniversary?
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: How long?
SPEAKER_02: 32 years.
SPEAKER_02: And they said, Hard to be married.
SPEAKER_02: She's easy to be married to.
SPEAKER_02: And I went the extra mile.
SPEAKER_02: I said, the only other person that's easier to be in relationship with is Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And they looked at me like, this just took a turn I wasn't expecting.
SPEAKER_02: It's not hard.
SPEAKER_02: Here's why it's not hard, and I'm done.
SPEAKER_02: It's not a transaction.
SPEAKER_02: See there?
SPEAKER_02: Amen, kid.
SPEAKER_02: It's not a transaction, it's a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: So if you're here today and you're new to Christianity or you're just exploring Christianity, all I want to say to you is it is not a transaction.
SPEAKER_02: I came to faith on July 5th, 1982, about 9:35 at night.
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't a transaction, it was a moment that it changed my life for the rest of my life.
SPEAKER_02: And I began a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the great thing I want you to understand.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want you to get lost in all the big words, like, oh, what do you mean God's power is bigger than your past?
SPEAKER_02: I mean that you haven't done anything that God looks down on you and says, Nope, not you.
SPEAKER_02: This applies to all the other people in the room, but not you.
SPEAKER_02: God's power is bigger than your past.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody has a past.
SPEAKER_02: And your core problem is not that you're unwilling, it's that you by nature are unrighteous.
SPEAKER_02: I by nature and I'm righteous.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not unwilling, I'm just unrighteous.
SPEAKER_02: But when you come to faith, you are made right with God by God, and you can never be out of sorts with God ever again.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guests, just relax.
SPEAKER_02: We like to teach the Bible, then we'll give you some space to think about it.
SPEAKER_02: Some questions come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_02: That's for you and I to ponder.
SPEAKER_02: To ask ourselves, hey, what does that mean for me?
SPEAKER_02: We don't think Christianity is an emotion you try to sustain.
SPEAKER_02: It's a reality that the more you understand it, the better it gets.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the reality.
SPEAKER_02: I sense this in my spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you, your marriage is hard right now.
SPEAKER_02: Just stay at it.
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't mean that you married the wrong person.
SPEAKER_02: That means you gotta change, you gotta grow, you gotta, you gotta adapt, you gotta compromise and communicate.
SPEAKER_02: It's not hard to be married to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: What a transaction.
SPEAKER_02: It was a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: And that relationship was intended by God to govern every aspect of your life.
SPEAKER_02: Let's think about these things for just a moment.
SPEAKER_02: God, the Bible says that not only have we been set free, but it goes on to say that it was for freedom that Christ set us free.
SPEAKER_02: Our problem is not that we're too free.
SPEAKER_02: Our problem is that we're not free enough.
SPEAKER_02: You didn't just wash our sins off, you washed them away.
SPEAKER_02: It no longer has power over us.
SPEAKER_02: Our nature has been changed.
SPEAKER_02: So sin and our sin nature got washed away by the flood of God's grace.
SPEAKER_02: Because of that, we're different people.
SPEAKER_02: God, I pray for anyone in this room that's never had that experience.
SPEAKER_02: Holy Spirit, if you're bringing them to the end of themselves today, I pray that today would be that day for them.
SPEAKER_02: Open up the eyes of their heart and their mind to see the beauty of Christianity.
SPEAKER_02: It's not a problem to be solved, it's a person to be experienced.
SPEAKER_02: And once we experience that, no one has to create desire for us ever again.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have to go to the deer hunters in my church and say, deer season's a month away, get ready.
SPEAKER_02: They have desire naturally rising in them and they sacrifice vacation days for it.
SPEAKER_02: The church does not exist to create desire for unconverted people.
SPEAKER_02: And we're not gonna do that in this new year, God.
SPEAKER_02: We're just gonna say, This is what we believe.
SPEAKER_02: We believe our problem is not that we're unwilling, that we're unrighteous by nature.
SPEAKER_02: We believe everybody has a past.
SPEAKER_02: We also believe that God's power is bigger than your past.
SPEAKER_02: And so, God, it's unrighteous for Christians to take each other to court, just like it's unrighteous for Christians to live in immorality or homosexuality or greed or reviling.
SPEAKER_02: All of that is just unnecessary.
SPEAKER_02: All that got washed away.
SPEAKER_02: We're grateful for that.
SPEAKER_02: And so the next time we gather for worship, we want to we want to engage differently because of all we've experienced.
SPEAKER_02: This is our understanding.
SPEAKER_02: And we say thank you in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And all God's people said.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guest today, let me say thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions about anything you saw or heard this morning, some of our pastors will be down front.
SPEAKER_02: We'd love to answer any question you have, pray with you if you're kind of walking through something.
SPEAKER_02: But that that is our privilege, and we don't take it lightly, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So please come find one of us and just say, hey, here's what I got going on, or I got a question.
SPEAKER_02: What about this?
SPEAKER_02: Or how do I do whatever?
SPEAKER_02: We are glad to help you with that, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we always got things going on in the life of our church.
SPEAKER_02: We make you aware of those by way of our video announcements.
SPEAKER_02: So check out the screens this morning to see what's going on.
SPEAKER_03: Here's what's happening at Graham Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta find your people, the ones that make you feel all right, but can you wanna stay up with all night?
SPEAKER_01: You gotta find your people, the ones that make you feel whole.
SPEAKER_01: They won't leave your side when you lose control.
SPEAKER_03: As mentioned in the video, you can contact our equipping pastor, Blake Hardcastle, at Blake at Grandparkway.org to connect with a community group or browse our available groups on our website.
SPEAKER_03: The next meeting is scheduled for January 19th.
SPEAKER_03: Starting point is soon.
SPEAKER_03: Come and learn why church membership matters and how you can get connected at Grand Parkway Baptist Church on January 12th and 19th during Second Service in room 204.
SPEAKER_03: The men's ministry is having its first regeneration meeting on January 13th.
SPEAKER_03: Regeneration is a biblically based discipleship program that offers healing, recovery, and freedom from any type of struggle.
SPEAKER_03: If this resonates with you, or if you know someone who could benefit from this program, please contact our connections pastor, Travis Dunham, at Travis at Grimparkoy.org.
SPEAKER_03: Spring midweeks are just around the corner.
SPEAKER_03: Join us starting January 14th for our women's only study or January 15th for classes open to everyone.
SPEAKER_03: Explore our website to find the class that's perfect for you, and don't forget to sign up for the midweek meal.
SPEAKER_03: We can't wait to see you there.
SPEAKER_03: Finally, calling all adults 60 and over.
SPEAKER_03: Join us on January 23rd at 10:30 a.m.
SPEAKER_03: for a delicious lunch and meaningful connections.
SPEAKER_03: At Grand Parkway, we celebrate your wisdom and experience because you're still in the game and making an impact.
SPEAKER_03: So come and bring your friends for a day full of fun, fellowship, and inspiration.
SPEAKER_03: For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_03: If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_02: We'd like to include our service with a spoken blessing.
SPEAKER_02: So if you would stand to your feet, hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_02: It's not for the smart people.
SPEAKER_02: C's get degrees.
SPEAKER_02: And in the kingdom, everyone's welcome.
SPEAKER_02: Your past does not disqualify you because the power of God is greater than your past.
SPEAKER_02: Depart now.
SPEAKER_02: Live in this truth and share this truth.
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Bless you.