Rules, Rules, Rules

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- Hey, if you join us on live stream,

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thank you for being with us today.

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Are you guys doing good?

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- Yeah.

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- All right, it's a good day to be in the house of the Lord.

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We've got to get on the horse and start riding

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'cause I've got a lot to share today.

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So we're gonna stand together and we're gonna read

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from Acts chapter 15.

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And let's read like you've had your third cup

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of espresso this morning.

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How about that?

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Here we go.

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Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch

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and were teaching the believers,

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unless you are circumcised according to the custom

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taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.

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This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute

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and debate with them.

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So Paul and Barnabas were appointed along with some

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of the other believers to go up to Jerusalem

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to see the apostles and elders about this question.

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The church sent them on their way and as they traveled

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through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles

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had been converted.

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The news made all the believers very glad.

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When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed

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by the church and the apostles and elders

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to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

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Then some of the believers who belonged to the party

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of the Pharisees stood up and said,

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"The Gentiles must be circumcised and required

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"to keep the law of Moses."

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The apostles and elders met to consider this question.

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After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them.

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"Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice

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"among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips

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"the message of the gospel and believe.

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"God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them

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"by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he did to us.

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"He did not discriminate between us and them,

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"for he purified their hearts by faith.

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"Now then, why do you try to test God

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"by putting on the necks of the Gentiles a yoke

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"that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?

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"No, we believe that it is through grace of our Lord Jesus

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"that we are saved just as they are."

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The whole assembly became silent as they listened

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to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs

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and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

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When they finished, James spoke up.

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"Brothers," he said, "listen to me.

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"Simon has described to us how God first intervened

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"to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.

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"The words of the prophets are in agreement with this,

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"as it is written.

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"After this, I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent.

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"Its ruins I will rebuild and I will restore it

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"that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord.

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"Even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord,

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"who does these things, things known from long ago.

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"It is my judgment, therefore,

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"that we should not make it difficult

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"for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

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"Instead, we should write to them,

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"telling them to us, staying from food polluted by idols,

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"from sexual immorality,

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"from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.

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"For the law of Moses has been preached in every city

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"from the earliest times,

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"and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."

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Father, I thank you for your word.

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I thank you that it brings life.

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I thank you that it's true.

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I pray, Lord, as we lean into everything

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that your word says today,

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I pray that my words would fall

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and your words would stand for changing us for eternity.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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You may be seated.

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You get an A in reading, good job.

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He asked, did we get an A in reading?

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A plus, actually.

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We're continuing our series, His Church,

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and we are in Acts 15.

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I hope that you are following with us in the book of Acts

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as it has been rich and it's been transformative,

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and we are continuing to be refined here at Springhouse

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as the Lord is showing us how the Holy Spirit works in us.

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Who here likes rules?

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Dun, dun, dun.

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Usually, usually rules, when you hear the word rules,

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there is a negative connotation tied to it

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because our mind automatically goes to,

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I don't wanna follow that particular rule

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or I don't like rules that bog me down

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or provide boundaries or parameters.

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And quite honestly, many of us

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often just think rules are dumb.

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And so we just decide,

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I'm not gonna follow the ones I don't like

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and I'm just gonna do the things that I do like.

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But today we're gonna talk about rules.

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Aren't you glad you came to Springhouse today?

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Gonna talk a little bit about rules today

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and in the context of scripture

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and what we're talking about here in Acts chapter 15.

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We are a society who looks to break

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as many of rules as we can.

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But when it comes to living for the kingdom,

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what you do and what you say matters.

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What you do and what you say matters.

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We kinda live in this space that we feel like

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we can just do whatever we want.

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After all, we do live in America.

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And because of the ocean of grace

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that I get to experience as a Christian,

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those things that I tend to just lean in and do

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even though I know here I probably shouldn't do 'em,

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God's got it.

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I'm in the ocean of grace, He'd cover it.

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It's fine, it's not consequential.

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Everything's gonna be great.

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And we certainly could succumb to the idea

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but could I tell you that that is a very dangerous mindset.

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It's a very dangerous mindset

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because as we've continued to belabor in this series

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is that our life is not just this red part of the rope.

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It is for all eternity but do you know that the choices,

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listen to this, the choices I make in my life right here

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will affect my grandchildren.

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And their choices will affect their grandchildren.

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Long after I'm gone, if the Lord tarries

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and doesn't come back,

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these small minute choices,

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I remember I was at a Captain D's, who likes Captain D's?

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Captain D's, I was at Captain D's with my dad

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and I was young and I had just turned 11

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and the menu was you get a kid's meal if you're 10 or under

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and so he said I need two kids meals

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and I said but Dad I'm 11.

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He said shut your mouth boy

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'cause he wanted to save a few bucks.

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Was it because he didn't have the money to pay?

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No, he thinks the rule is done.

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He thinks the rule is outlandish

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and so he decides to create his own rule

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because of his opinion of the rule.

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Last week in youth, or this last Thursday,

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I got to speak in youth and I had a youth come up

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and I put a name tag on them and it said Kevin O'Day

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and I put it on the youth and I said just because

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this youth has this name tag on him

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does not mean that he is Kevin O'Day.

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He can wear the name tag all day long.

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He can parade it, he can put it in your face.

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He can try to dress like me.

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He can try to sign his name like me, all this.

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But just because he has the name tag on

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does not mean that he is Kevin O'Day

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and guys just because you have a shirt

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that says Christian does not make you a Christian.

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What you do and what you say, it matters.

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Paul and Barnabas are in dispute

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with these Christian leaders, the leaders of the way

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because they're placing conditions on the Gentiles.

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Now there are Jews and there are Gentiles.

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Jews are God's chosen people and the Gentiles

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are everybody else's not of Jewish descent

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and so the Gentiles are there and Paul and Barnabas

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are in this dispute because the Jews are saying,

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hey, these Gentiles need to succumb to the rules

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and the law that we've had to succumb to

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in order to be followers of the way.

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But Paul and Barnabas are arguing

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because they not only are in relationship with Jesus Christ

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and know the way, truth and the life

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but they also know that God came, Jesus came rather,

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to fulfill the law and in fulfilling the law,

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what they were doing was asking the Gentiles

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to do something that they themselves could not do.

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They themselves could not fulfill the law.

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Now before we get into rules and we get into

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what was required and what they were talking about,

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I wanna make sure to cover this.

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There is no us and them in the kingdom.

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There's only us and him.

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There's no us and them in the kingdom.

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There's only us and him and that's important

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because as believers, we tend, man,

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because of denominational barriers or whatever it is,

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we tend to look at other people

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who are professing Christians and say,

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they don't got it, they're not getting in,

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they're not Christians because they either do these things

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or don't do these things.

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But can I tell you guys that the grace of God

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and the pathway to salvation is for everyone equally?

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That the only one that had the ability

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to put criteria to that is Jesus Christ

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and he is the way, the truth and the life.

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The word says that no one comes to the Father

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except through him.

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So in context here, they were talking believers

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to believers but I even believe that we sometimes

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have this idea here when it comes to non-believers.

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When it comes to non-believers.

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We look at non-believers and we get saved

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through an ocean of grace and mercy,

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our profession of faith, we get saved

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and now I'm a Christian, I'm a born again Christian

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and I see some sinners, I see some unbelievers

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and all of a sudden, I start to say,

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well, they better get their life together.

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They need to do X, Y and Z in order to have what I have.

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They need to clean up shop in order to be called a Christian.

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So Peter stands up in this argument and he says this.

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He, God, did not discriminate between us and them

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for he purified their hearts by faith.

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Would you say faith?

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Now then, why do you try to test God?

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That is a sobering question.

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Why do you try to, stop for just a minute and think,

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can you ever thought that your actions

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may be testing the God of the universe?

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Whew, whew, that's sobering.

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By putting on the necks of the Gentiles a yoke

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that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear.

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And then he continues, he says, no,

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we believe it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus

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that we're saved just as they are.

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The gospel is this, friends, all have sinned

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and fallen short of the glory of God.

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They who say that they are without sin,

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the Lord says that he is a liar.

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He or she is a liar.

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We all need Jesus Christ to come in

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and infiltrate our life.

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We need the blood of Christ in our life

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because we have all sinned and fallen short

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of the glory of God.

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This gift of salvation is for everyone.

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No certain creed, color, race, denomination,

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it is for everyone.

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Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

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Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord.

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Over in Romans it says this, God does not show favoritism.

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All who sin apart from the law

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will also perish apart from the law

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and all who sin under law will be judged by the law.

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For it is not those who hear the law

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who are righteous in God's sight, look at this,

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but it is those who obey the law

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who will be declared righteous.

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God has some words to say about rules.

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And I want us to understand that you and I,

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we are no better, listen to this,

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we are no better than unbelievers.

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The only thing that we have going for us

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is our death sentence was traded for life.

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Because the word says that the wages for our sin is death,

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but the gift of God is eternal life.

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But what's more than that, as believers,

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we have been rendered capable of offering this gift

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to other people.

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We've been given the ability to show others Christ Jesus.

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And that should be our goal and our aim,

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to be witnesses for him.

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But we have to go back to understanding

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that what we say and what we do matters.

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Because unbelievers are watching and they're listening.

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Does your testimony line up with what you say

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and what you do?

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Does the God you say you believe in,

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the one you say you love, does your testimony,

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does what you say and do line up

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with who you say you believe in?

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So, what about the rules?

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What about the rules?

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I mean, if we're saved by grace

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and we can swim in an ocean of grace,

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man, who cares about rules?

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Let's just party and do whatever we want to do.

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Let's be honest.

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There are rules we like and there's rules we don't like.

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In fact, there are rules that we just find plain dumb.

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In fact, I've got some dumb rules here.

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You wanna hear 'em?

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Of course you do.

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In Alabama, it's illegal to wear a fake mustache

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that causes laughter in a church.

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These are real laws.

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These are for real.

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I didn't make these up.

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In Alaska, you cannot push a live moose out of a plane.

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In Colorado, it is illegal to keep a couch on your porch.

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In Connecticut, pickles must bounce

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in order to be considered safe for human consumption.

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In Florida, unmarried women who parachute on Sundays

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can be fined or jailed.

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So, you better get married

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if you're gonna parachute on Sunday.

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In Georgia, carrying an ice cream cone in your back pocket

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is illegal.

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In Hawaii, coins are not allowed to be placed in your ears.

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In Idaho, riding a merry-go-round on Sundays is illegal.

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In Illinois, it is illegal to take a nap

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in a cheese factory.

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In Louisiana, mourners at a wake

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may not eat more than three sandwiches.

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One, two, three.

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In Missouri, a single male must be charged an annual tax

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for not being married.

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You better get married quick if you're living in Missouri.

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In Nevada, it's illegal to lay down on a sidewalk.

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In New York, it is illegal to throw a ball

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at somebody's head for fun.

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Better have a reason to throw that ball at their face.

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In Pennsylvania, it's illegal to catch a fish

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with your mouth.

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In Arizona, donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs.

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And in Kansas, hitting a vending machine

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that stole your money is illegal.

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Lots of dumb rules.

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All these laws that are here,

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what are you gonna do with them

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when you're confronted with them?

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You ever hear one of these rules,

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you're like, what made them have to write that rule?

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Somebody had that donkey in that bathtub

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and they were like, we're not doing this again.

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When we disagree with rules, we often redefine them

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or we just obey, just disobey.

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Now, if I could rewrite a rule, this would be all day long,

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I would definitely rewrite this rule all day long.

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This would be like, this would be my favorite rule ever.

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Just right here, you know, I would push it down

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and I would be happy to follow this rule all day long.

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And sometimes I read this, even though it doesn't say this.

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This is what my eyes perceive

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whenever I look at the speed limit sign.

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We are people who have the propensity

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to make up our own things based on our own agendas,

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our own opinions, and what we want

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with no consideration for others.

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The Lord said to me this year at Springhouse Church,

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we are being refined.

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We are being refined.

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And refined means, in the terms with which we're using it,

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is that we're becoming more like Christ Jesus.

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We're becoming more like the God who saved us,

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the Jesus who saved us.

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And when we are less of ourselves,

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we can become more like Him.

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We can sound like Him, we can look like Him,

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we act like Him.

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And this means we're becoming more like Jesus

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and less like us.

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And in this refining process, we look more like Jesus, why?

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So that we can present the gospel.

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We look more like Jesus so that we can present the gospel.

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The word gospel means good news.

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The word gospel is good news.

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And what I'm about to say is gonna shock some of you.

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The gospel does not require obedience.

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Silence.

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The gospel does not require obedience.

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Here's the gospel.

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We couldn't keep up with the rules.

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So Jesus Christ had to die for us.

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We have a propensity to make it about rules

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once we're on this side of salvation.

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And we expect those who don't know Christ

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to follow Him and follow His rules.

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What about the times when we look at non-believers

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and we make, in our mind, we expect non-believers

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to live a biblical standard,

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though they don't believe in the Bible.

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That doesn't make any sense.

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But the gospel does not, within itself,

Speaker: 00:17:36

the gospel does not require obedience.

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This is what the scripture says.

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If you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord

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and believe in your heart that He's raised Him from the dead,

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you will be saved.

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That's what the scripture tells us.

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So the gospel requires two things.

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It requires repentance and it requires faith.

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That's the requirement for the gospel, not obedience.

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Isn't that the whole crux of the story,

Speaker: 00:18:02

that we tried to work so hard?

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If the gospel required obedience,

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then we would not need Jesus,

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because it would be attainable.

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The only way to be saved is by living,

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deciding in your heart, I'm gonna repent

Speaker: 00:18:17

and believe by faith that Jesus did what He said He did

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and He is who He says He is.

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Somebody asked a pastor once,

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I've shared this before I saw it on a reel.

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He said, "Do I have to stop smoking marijuana

Speaker: 00:18:30

"to be a Christian?"

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And the pastor said, "No."

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He said, "No, no, you don't understand."

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I said, "Do I have to stop smoking like marijuana,

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"like getting high, do be."

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He said, "No."

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He said, "No, no, you don't understand.

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"If I pull out a fatty and I'm a roller,

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"like literally, if I smoke marijuana,

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"do I have to give this up to be a Christian?"

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And the pastor said, "No."

Speaker: 00:18:58

And he said, "I don't understand."

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And he said, "Exactly, you don't understand,

Speaker: 00:19:01

"because you don't clean yourself up

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"and then go take a shower.

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"You go into the shower and then you are rendered clean."

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And when you come to Jesus, you come to him dirty,

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and in that process of meeting the Lord and Savior

Speaker: 00:19:14

of your life, the one who loves you more than anybody else

Speaker: 00:19:16

on the planet, all of a sudden you become motivated

Speaker: 00:19:19

to clean your life up.

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We don't understand it pre-salvation.

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We begin to understand it post-salvation

Speaker: 00:19:26

because we are motivated by Christ.

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We are motivated by Christ.

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Here's the thing, the gospel produces obedience.

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The gospel produces in us a willingness and a desire

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to be obedient, because we are motivated

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by this exchange, death to life.

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If obedience was the requirement,

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then we would attempt to do it without Jesus.

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When you realize that you are loved

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more than you've ever been loved,

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you are motivated to obey.

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Here's what 1 John says,

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"No one who lives in him keeps on sinning."

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Let that marinate for a second.

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If I were to say, show of hands of those

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who are living in him, many of you put your hands up,

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no one who lives in him keeps on sinning.

Speaker: 00:20:20

What I'm talking about is I'm pirating this movie

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proactively, I know I'm pirating it, I'm not paying for it.

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I know that I'm breaking, I'm proactively doing,

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I'm continuously doing things over,

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no one who lives in him keeps on sinning.

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No one who continues to sin has either seen him

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or known him, what else does it say?

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"For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh,

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"the lust of the eyes and the pride of life,"

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are what, are not from the Father, but from the world.

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Look, we are called to live like, look like,

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sound like, and be like Jesus.

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And we don't want anything that is not from Father God.

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We live in America.

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And America has been dubbed as the greatest country

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in the world, the greatest country in the world.

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And many of you would believe that we are

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the greatest country in the world.

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I could understand that and I could get a lot behind

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some of that thought process as well.

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But here's the problem that I have.

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Do you know that America, from its very genesis,

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its foundation was bathed in rebellion?

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Like the reason that we are the greatest country

Speaker: 00:21:38

in the world is we decided we didn't wanna follow rules.

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That's why we're here, okay?

Speaker: 00:21:43

And so we are now the greatest country in the world,

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but here's my problem, we're the greatest country

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in the world.

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I don't belong to the world, I belong to a kingdom

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that's outside of this world.

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So the real question is, is America the greatest country

Speaker: 00:22:01

in the kingdom?

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And guys, unfortunately, I have a lot of things

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I could stand on to say, I don't think so.

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Because the very anthem of America is do what you wanna do

Speaker: 00:22:13

when you wanna do it, no matter who it hurts,

Speaker: 00:22:15

no matter who it is, it's all about you.

Speaker: 00:22:18

So the very genesis of the country we live in

Speaker: 00:22:25

is bathed in, we're not gonna follow rules.

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We're gonna rebel against rules.

Speaker: 00:22:31

So Kevin, is there an expectation to be perfect?

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Like is there an expectation, how many have heard

Speaker: 00:22:39

from Christians, perfection is not the goal?

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Raise your hand.

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Have you heard, perfection's not the goal,

Speaker: 00:22:45

perfection's not the goal.

Speaker: 00:22:46

I beg to differ.

Speaker: 00:22:48

This is what Jesus said, read that first two words.

Speaker: 00:22:51

- Be perfect. - Oh, y'all didn't read it.

Speaker: 00:22:54

Obey what I say, okay?

Speaker: 00:22:56

Read those first two words.

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- Be perfect.

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- I'm not saying this, okay?

Speaker: 00:23:01

This is Jesus Christ.

Speaker: 00:23:02

He says, be perfect, therefore,

Speaker: 00:23:04

as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Speaker: 00:23:06

If Jesus is saying be perfect, it tells me

Speaker: 00:23:09

there's a pathway to get there.

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There's a pathway to get there.

Speaker: 00:23:14

What else does it say?

Speaker: 00:23:16

Jesus says to the rich ruler, the rich guy

Speaker: 00:23:19

who wants to come and follow Jesus,

Speaker: 00:23:20

it says, if you want to be perfect,

Speaker: 00:23:22

well, if Jesus is saying if you want to be perfect,

Speaker: 00:23:24

it tells me there must be a way.

Speaker: 00:23:28

If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions,

Speaker: 00:23:30

give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.

Speaker: 00:23:32

Then it says, then come and follow me.

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Come and follow me.

Speaker: 00:23:38

Okay, let's continue.

Speaker: 00:23:40

But just as he who has called you holy is holy, what?

Speaker: 00:23:44

So be holy in all you do.

Speaker: 00:23:47

Be holy in the things that you agree with.

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Be holy in some of the things.

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No, be holy in all.

Speaker: 00:23:58

Be holy in all the things you do.

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Be holy because I'm holy.

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We are called to look like Jesus and Jesus is perfect.

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Who's arrived?

Speaker: 00:24:09

None of us have arrived.

Speaker: 00:24:14

This is where grace comes in.

Speaker: 00:24:18

Grace is not permission to back out of the continuation

Speaker: 00:24:22

of the sanctification process.

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Grace is there to cover us on the journey

Speaker: 00:24:27

as we trip up and try to work out flesh versus spirit.

Speaker: 00:24:32

Flesh versus spirit.

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I'm gonna choose the flesh today,

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I'm gonna choose the spirit today,

Speaker: 00:24:36

I'm gonna choose the flesh today,

Speaker: 00:24:37

I'm going to choose the spirit today.

Speaker: 00:24:40

And guys, we can't do it by ourselves.

Speaker: 00:24:44

We can't do it on our own.

Speaker: 00:24:46

So what is the motivation, Hannah?

Speaker: 00:24:49

What is the motivation, Justin?

Speaker: 00:24:51

Landon, what is our motivation to get up each morning

Speaker: 00:24:54

and say, I'm going to try and follow Christ

Speaker: 00:24:58

and look like him?

Speaker: 00:24:59

Our motivation so often is, I wanna do the right thing.

Speaker: 00:25:03

Or this is wrong, I don't wanna do the bad things.

Speaker: 00:25:07

That should not be our motivation.

Speaker: 00:25:09

Our motivation to obey is a person.

Speaker: 00:25:12

And that person is Jesus Christ.

Speaker: 00:25:15

He is our motivation to follow the rules, to obey.

Speaker: 00:25:20

If I don't, listen, I'm married to Sherry.

Speaker: 00:25:24

Do you know I have every opportunity

Speaker: 00:25:28

to step out of my marriage and do a whole bunch of stuff?

Speaker: 00:25:31

Every day, I have that choice.

Speaker: 00:25:33

If you're married, you have that choice as well.

Speaker: 00:25:35

Why do I obey the rules of marriage?

Speaker: 00:25:39

Is it because I said something here at the altar?

Speaker: 00:25:42

No.

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Is it because it's written down as a rule

Speaker: 00:25:45

on a piece of paper?

Speaker: 00:25:46

No.

Speaker: 00:25:47

I even think that some of the rules of marriage

Speaker: 00:25:49

might be dumb, but it doesn't matter.

Speaker: 00:25:52

The reason I obey the rules of marriage

Speaker: 00:25:56

is because I love my wife.

Speaker: 00:25:57

Because I love my wife.

Speaker: 00:26:03

Let me ask you something.

Speaker: 00:26:05

Does your lifestyle indicate that you love your savior?

Speaker: 00:26:08

Because here's the thing, I don't have the propensity

Speaker: 00:26:14

to go rob a bank today.

Speaker: 00:26:15

Now John, he's struggling with it.

Speaker: 00:26:17

We're gonna pray with him later.

Speaker: 00:26:18

But I'm not gonna go rob a bank this afternoon.

Speaker: 00:26:22

I actually don't really think I'll kill anybody

Speaker: 00:26:25

in the near future.

Speaker: 00:26:25

I mean, I'm pretty good on some of these things.

Speaker: 00:26:27

Here's the thing, we tend to take these big, bolder sins

Speaker: 00:26:30

and we say, I've got those in check.

Speaker: 00:26:32

But it's not those big things.

Speaker: 00:26:35

Why are we willing to compromise our relationship

Speaker: 00:26:39

and love for Jesus over small things

Speaker: 00:26:41

such as pirating a video?

Speaker: 00:26:44

(audience member speaking faintly)

Speaker: 00:26:48

Or not following in line with whatever, you name it,

Speaker: 00:26:52

there's a variety of things I could say.

Speaker: 00:26:54

Why is it that we are willing to,

Speaker: 00:26:57

because this is what we do.

Speaker: 00:26:59

Think about it in the context of your marriage.

Speaker: 00:27:01

I can hold this other girl's hands, that's not a big deal.

Speaker: 00:27:05

It's a small thing, I'm not doing it.

Speaker: 00:27:06

I'm just holding her hand.

Speaker: 00:27:08

I'm gonna go on a date with this other lady.

Speaker: 00:27:11

I mean, we're just hanging out.

Speaker: 00:27:13

- Absolutely not. - We're just hanging out.

Speaker: 00:27:15

I mean, it's not, you look at me and say,

Speaker: 00:27:17

that's ludicrous, is that correct?

Speaker: 00:27:19

- Absolutely not. - Why?

Speaker: 00:27:21

Why would you say that?

Speaker: 00:27:22

You would say that because your fuel and energy

Speaker: 00:27:26

toward anger toward me isn't having anything to do with me.

Speaker: 00:27:29

It has to do with everything about Sherri.

Speaker: 00:27:31

And the fueled energy that we ought to have

Speaker: 00:27:34

when it comes to us breaking small rules,

Speaker: 00:27:37

things in place should be the energy

Speaker: 00:27:39

of how it affects our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Speaker: 00:27:43

Because supposedly, we love Him more than our spouse.

Speaker: 00:27:47

Supposedly, He is number one in our lives.

Speaker: 00:27:52

Love is the motivator.

Speaker: 00:27:54

Here's what Jesus said, Jesus said,

Speaker: 00:27:57

if you love me, if you love me, keep my commands.

Speaker: 00:28:02

If you love me, keep my commands,

Speaker: 00:28:04

and I will ask the Father, and He will give you

Speaker: 00:28:06

another advocate to help you and be with you forever.

Speaker: 00:28:10

Guys, that last part is so important

Speaker: 00:28:13

because we can't be perfect

Speaker: 00:28:14

without the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:28:17

The Holy Spirit empowers us to do hard things.

Speaker: 00:28:19

I need somebody who's willing to say,

Speaker: 00:28:21

hey, you know, just the other day,

Speaker: 00:28:22

somebody was texting me and they were telling me

Speaker: 00:28:24

kind of an excuse of why they weren't doing something,

Speaker: 00:28:26

and then they followed up with the text of the truth.

Speaker: 00:28:28

And I said, hey, thank you for telling me the truth.

Speaker: 00:28:31

That's hard, it's easier just to justify,

Speaker: 00:28:33

it's easier just to explain away.

Speaker: 00:28:36

I also have another friend who told me recently,

Speaker: 00:28:38

they were like, man, there are some times

Speaker: 00:28:39

when I'm with people, certain people,

Speaker: 00:28:41

and I will act one way 'cause I don't want them

Speaker: 00:28:43

to see me in a bad light, but I'll do the same thing

Speaker: 00:28:46

in front of other people and it doesn't matter to me.

Speaker: 00:28:48

That conveys the level of love and respect

Speaker: 00:28:52

that you have for each of those parties.

Speaker: 00:28:55

And it also tells me that there's probably

Speaker: 00:28:58

one side of that faction that's not making you

Speaker: 00:29:00

look like Christ, and you might wanna evaluate

Speaker: 00:29:02

that relationship, those relationships.

Speaker: 00:29:06

Isn't this fun?

Speaker: 00:29:07

Okay.

Speaker: 00:29:09

We have the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:29:11

We do not have to understand everything to obey.

Speaker: 00:29:18

I think the rule is dumb, so what?

Speaker: 00:29:22

Understanding is not the prerequisite to obedience,

Speaker: 00:29:27

trust is.

Speaker: 00:29:29

Trust, trust is the prerequisite to obedience.

Speaker: 00:29:34

Dustin Minchi got up here a few weeks ago

Speaker: 00:29:35

and he shared during the offering time,

Speaker: 00:29:39

he said, man, I heard a message several weeks prior,

Speaker: 00:29:42

and he said, man, I used to go to the Dollar Tree

Speaker: 00:29:44

and we would buy candy and stuff it in our bags

Speaker: 00:29:46

and then go to the movie, and he's like, man,

Speaker: 00:29:48

I just, I felt convicted, so I went and spent

Speaker: 00:29:50

more money on candy than I'd ever spent on candy

Speaker: 00:29:53

at the movie theater.

Speaker: 00:29:55

And guys, how many think, well, don't raise your hand,

Speaker: 00:29:57

who thinks it's highway robbery paying those prices

Speaker: 00:29:58

for the same nope-dugs that you can get down the road?

Speaker: 00:30:01

You know, it's kind of, it seems to be a silly dumb rule.

Speaker: 00:30:04

Okay, yes, it certainly is.

Speaker: 00:30:06

But here's the thing, the justification in that

Speaker: 00:30:10

is, man, I don't wanna pay that much money,

Speaker: 00:30:13

or I don't have, listen, I don't have 45, $50

Speaker: 00:30:17

to lay out on candy, so I'm gonna go and try

Speaker: 00:30:19

to figure out another way.

Speaker: 00:30:20

Might I reframe your mind?

Speaker: 00:30:23

As opposed to breaking the rule and breaking the law,

Speaker: 00:30:27

and I'm just gonna call it what it is,

Speaker: 00:30:28

instead of sinning, what if you reframed your mind

Speaker: 00:30:32

and said, God, increase my trust that you will actually

Speaker: 00:30:35

provide the funds to pay what they're asking for the candy?

Speaker: 00:30:38

Because so many of us are actually relying

Speaker: 00:30:44

on a large bank account rather than the God

Speaker: 00:30:47

who owns the cattle on the hill.

Speaker: 00:30:49

And in justification for not spending the money

Speaker: 00:30:53

is to build the large bank account,

Speaker: 00:30:55

because our security isn't in Jesus Christ.

Speaker: 00:30:57

It's in what we can do with our hands

Speaker: 00:30:59

and how much we can earn, and how silly it is.

Speaker: 00:31:01

Jesus said, give Caesar what is Caesar's.

Speaker: 00:31:05

In other words, obey the rule, obey the law.

Speaker: 00:31:10

And there's a myriad of things under that umbrella

Speaker: 00:31:14

that he asked us to do, so is it that you just don't want

Speaker: 00:31:19

to do that, or is it that you don't really trust the Lord?

Speaker: 00:31:24

You don't really trust him with your life.

Speaker: 00:31:27

You know, as long as I got this big bank account,

Speaker: 00:31:28

it doesn't really matter.

Speaker: 00:31:30

Or if I don't have any money, I have a God

Speaker: 00:31:35

who can supply all my needs.

Speaker: 00:31:38

Maybe, maybe the Lord is saying, Kevin,

Speaker: 00:31:40

you don't need to buy another pair of shoes.

Speaker: 00:31:43

That's why you don't have money to buy the candy

Speaker: 00:31:45

at the movie theater, right?

Speaker: 00:31:49

He actually cares about all of the finite details, why?

Speaker: 00:31:53

Because as he works out those finite details,

Speaker: 00:31:57

I become more like Christ.

Speaker: 00:31:58

Well, why do I want to become more like Christ?

Speaker: 00:32:01

Because there's a dying world out there

Speaker: 00:32:03

who needs to see Jesus Christ.

Speaker: 00:32:05

11 years old, I'm 42, I remember my dad saying,

Speaker: 00:32:09

shut your mouth.

Speaker: 00:32:10

So the decisions we make, the small ones

Speaker: 00:32:14

when we're laying on our couch at home,

Speaker: 00:32:16

the small in our house, in the intimate setting

Speaker: 00:32:18

with the people closest to us, we're oblivious

Speaker: 00:32:21

to the things, we're not really oblivious,

Speaker: 00:32:23

but we're just moving forward, it's not a big deal.

Speaker: 00:32:28

We're gonna have ramifications well into the future.

Speaker: 00:32:30

Do you look like Christ?

Speaker: 00:32:31

And the enemy's just laughing, 'cause no,

Speaker: 00:32:34

you're not gonna go murder anybody,

Speaker: 00:32:36

you're gonna go rob a bank, but boy,

Speaker: 00:32:37

you sure do have a lot of small things.

Speaker: 00:32:39

Do you trust them?

Speaker: 00:32:42

These are my kids, and I won't tell you which one,

Speaker: 00:32:49

'cause I don't want to out her, but the other day,

Speaker: 00:32:52

we were walking down the road, and I said, get up here,

Speaker: 00:32:55

and the cars were coming down the road,

Speaker: 00:32:57

and she chose not to listen, and I said,

Speaker: 00:32:59

get up here with us right now, we need to hold hands,

Speaker: 00:33:01

and she chose not to listen, and so I said,

Speaker: 00:33:04

I'm gonna count to five, now, this is very abnormal to me,

Speaker: 00:33:07

'cause I'm usually a once, I said it, it's done,

Speaker: 00:33:09

but third time, I'm gonna count to five,

Speaker: 00:33:11

get up here, count to five, she didn't come,

Speaker: 00:33:14

and I said, on the count of five, I'm gonna spank you

Speaker: 00:33:16

if you don't get up here, well, guess what I did,

Speaker: 00:33:17

right there in the middle of the road, I spanked her.

Speaker: 00:33:20

You know that God spanks you?

Speaker: 00:33:25

Do you know he's not afraid to spank you?

Speaker: 00:33:27

Why did I spank my daughter?

Speaker: 00:33:30

Because I don't like her, 'cause I think that she's awful,

Speaker: 00:33:33

'cause I don't think that she's capable of, no.

Speaker: 00:33:36

I spanked her so that she remembers the pain in that moment

Speaker: 00:33:39

will far supersede a car hitting her in the face

Speaker: 00:33:42

whenever I tell her to come up to me,

Speaker: 00:33:43

I need her to listen to me,

Speaker: 00:33:44

because I know it's in her best interest,

Speaker: 00:33:46

and God Almighty knows what's in your best interest,

Speaker: 00:33:49

even when you don't understand, even when you're like,

Speaker: 00:33:52

God, I don't understand, this makes no,

Speaker: 00:33:54

this is meaningless, this has nothing to do with anybody

Speaker: 00:33:57

as he's watching the little kid watch you

Speaker: 00:34:00

make the decision you're making.

Speaker: 00:34:02

God's care is so much larger, expansive,

Speaker: 00:34:05

than anything we can imagine, he does care.

Speaker: 00:34:07

He wants you to look like his son.

Speaker: 00:34:10

He wants us to look like his kid.

Speaker: 00:34:13

So I asked you the question today, do you trust the Lord?

Speaker: 00:34:16

And don't be quick to answer the question, think about it.

Speaker: 00:34:21

Do you actually trust the Lord?

Speaker: 00:34:23

Which areas are you struggling and trusting him?

Speaker: 00:34:26

That's part of the journey.

Speaker: 00:34:27

Guys, you didn't wake up with holy amnesia

Speaker: 00:34:30

the day you got saved, and now all of a sudden

Speaker: 00:34:31

everything's gone, you're just perfect and completed.

Speaker: 00:34:34

No, guess what?

Speaker: 00:34:35

You're set free from those chains of bondage

Speaker: 00:34:37

so that you can begin living an abundant life

Speaker: 00:34:40

that looks like Christ Jesus.

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But a part of that evolution and that story,

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until the day he comes or the day he takes you out,

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is do you trust him?

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And honestly, the barometer is are you following the rules?

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Are you following, are you doing what he's telling you to do?

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I don't feel convicted about that, Kev.

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Your feelings are fickle.

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What you feel about something, the person next to you

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doesn't feel the same thing.

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And let me speak for just a moment

Speaker: 00:35:17

for those self-righteous people who follow all the rules.

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Your job is not to put a big glaring spotlight

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on everybody who's not doing the right thing

Speaker: 00:35:26

to make sure they know they're not doing the right thing.

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Your job is to continue to walk in righteousness

Speaker: 00:35:31

so those people can see the blessing on your life

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and God can love them up to the place that they need to be.

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Do you trust the Lord?

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I don't like what I'm being told to do,

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but my love for Jesus supersedes what I think

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and what I feel, so I'm going to make a choice,

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my choice today is to obey.

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Love the Lord God with all your heart

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and all your soul and all your mind.

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This is the first and greatest commandment

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and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.

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I would say do you love the Lord

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and hands would fly up all over the place here.

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I love the Lord because we have so perverted

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the word love here that it's all about,

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I feel like I love the Lord.

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I felt that goose bump this morning

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after my third cup of coffee,

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I really felt the love of the Lord, it was great.

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It was fantastic.

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Love is a choice.

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Love is a choice.

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Paul says that we should be all things to all people.

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You know what that tells me?

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That tells me if Kurt comes into my life

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and I'm sitting here and I'm doing something

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that he considers a stumbling block,

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that he considers sin and I learn about it,

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I don't get the privilege of looking and saying,

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Kurt, it's no big deal or get over yourself

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or I'm just gonna continue doing it.

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Because I say I love him, love your neighbor as yourself,

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I now have to make a choice to love him

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to change my behavior even if it's none of his business.

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And I wanna do that because my love neighbor,

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love your neighbor is fueled by love the Lord your God.

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Love the Lord your God is if you love me, follow my commands.

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Follow my commands is love your Lord God,

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love your neighbor, pray for the authorities over you.

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God, I don't understand, my boss is telling me to do stuff

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and I just wanna punch him in the face, God.

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My boss is telling me to do stuff and I can't stand it.

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But because I love you, God, I'm going to submit joyfully

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because I don't wanna taint my witness for you, God.

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And I'm gonna trust that if there's anything going on here

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that you wanna fix, God, then you're gonna do it.

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But more than that, here's my prayer, God,

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give me eyes to see the situation the way you do.

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Because my opinion really doesn't matter in this,

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I wanna become like you, Christ.

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But it's not fair, God, that they get to do this

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or they got that promotion or they got that razor,

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I'm overlooked and God says,

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will you continue to be faithful?

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Will you continue to, will you trust me enough

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to know that I've got you in the end?

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That I've got you in the predicament

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or in the situation for a reason.

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Do you trust the Lord?

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Obedience is motivated by love.

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This is my friend Vonda, many of you know Vonda Coble.

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And she didn't come to church today,

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so I'm gonna talk about her.

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We went to, we take the students at the school

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to New York every now and then.

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And there was a trip that we took them to New York.

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And we got to New York and we're going to a Broadway show.

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And we took about 20 students to this Broadway show.

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And we got there and there were only 18 tickets

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and there were 20 of us.

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And they made a mistake.

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And so I'm over at the box office

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getting it all straightened out.

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Well, they give us two, obviously they give us

Speaker: 00:38:51

the two tickets that we need to get in.

Speaker: 00:38:53

And so we get there and they've got all of the 18 tickets

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are on that second tier and there are two tickets

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that are in the very front row, front two seats,

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dead center where you're looking at the stage like this.

Speaker: 00:39:05

Well, guess who took the two tickets?

Speaker: 00:39:07

Vonda and Kevin, right?

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Okay, so the kids are up there and Vonda and Kevin

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are going to come down here.

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Well, I like to get concessions.

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I like to, I don't like to pay $10 for peanut M&M's,

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but I did.

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I got the M&M's and they had these pink slushies

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and we both wanted a pink slushie and we wanted M&M's.

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So I got M&M's and pink slushie, Vonda went to the restroom.

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So I'm paying for the food or whatnot.

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We're getting the kids settled and we're making sure

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that they're where they're supposed to be.

Speaker: 00:39:31

Vonda comes out of the bathroom.

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I give her her slushie and her M&M's.

Speaker: 00:39:34

I take mine and we're walking down the side of the aisle

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and we notice there are no other seats sold

Speaker: 00:39:40

in the front two rows except for Vonda and me.

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So we're walking here and all of a sudden I look up

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and the people in the third and fourth row,

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they all have their cameras out like this.

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And they're, because Vonda tends to dress like Janet Jackson

Speaker: 00:39:53

like she's like famous, you know?

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So, and I just was her wody, you know?

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I've just got them all kind of with her.

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I'm like, they are taping us right now, you know?

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So we sit down and we're in the front

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and the show hasn't started and Vonda takes a big old drink

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of this slushie.

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Big old gulp.

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And her eyes flare open just as big as they can get.

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Now Vonda is, you know, she's just wired

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that she's gonna take you down with her if she goes down,

Speaker: 00:40:19

okay?

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So she looked at me, she said,

Speaker: 00:40:21

"Kevin O'Day, take a drink of your slushie."

Speaker: 00:40:23

She said, "Kevin O'Day, take a drink

Speaker: 00:40:24

"of your slushie right now."

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And so I was like, what, is it good?

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Oh, it must be good.

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So I took a big swig, it was alcoholic.

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100% alcohol.

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And so we're there in the front and we have these things.

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Now I want you to understand the setting.

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We are front and center.

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We are being taped by people we do not know.

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And we have 18 students looking down at us right now.

Speaker: 00:40:48

Vonda looked at me and we looked at each other and said,

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"We're gonna set these on the floor.

Speaker: 00:40:55

"We're not gonna finish this drink.

Speaker: 00:40:57

"We're gonna wait till the show's over

Speaker: 00:40:58

"and in front of the students,

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"we're gonna pour this out in front of them

Speaker: 00:41:01

"and tell them what happened."

Speaker: 00:41:02

Okay?

Speaker: 00:41:03

Now, many of you would have just said,

Speaker: 00:41:07

"Well, it's a drink, it's one drink, it's not a big deal."

Speaker: 00:41:10

Okay?

Speaker: 00:41:11

Many of you would have been like,

Speaker: 00:41:12

"Hey, especially you paid 20 bucks

Speaker: 00:41:14

"or whatever it was for the drink,

Speaker: 00:41:15

"you're gonna, I'm licking the cup."

Speaker: 00:41:17

You know what I mean?

Speaker: 00:41:18

It's like, it's that, it's gonna happen.

Speaker: 00:41:20

Do you know that during the entire play,

Speaker: 00:41:23

the kids were talking about the fact

Speaker: 00:41:25

that we were drinking alcohol?

Speaker: 00:41:26

We didn't know about it until afterward.

Speaker: 00:41:30

Do you know how important it was that we showed them

Speaker: 00:41:32

and told them the mistake and poured it out in front of them?

Speaker: 00:41:35

'Cause we don't wanna ruin our witness.

Speaker: 00:41:38

We don't want, it doesn't matter if it was dumb

Speaker: 00:41:41

that we didn't drink the drink,

Speaker: 00:41:42

it doesn't matter what our opinion was.

Speaker: 00:41:43

Oh, but if you only drink one drink,

Speaker: 00:41:45

you won't get drunk, it's fine.

Speaker: 00:41:46

You can justify yourself out of a paper bag.

Speaker: 00:41:49

There are people watching you that you do not know

Speaker: 00:41:52

and there are people watching you who you do know.

Speaker: 00:41:54

And your witness is always, always, always

Speaker: 00:42:00

right there front and center.

Speaker: 00:42:02

And so we poured it out in front of them

Speaker: 00:42:04

and we were so glad because they came out

Speaker: 00:42:07

before we could even show them.

Speaker: 00:42:08

Oh, Miss Coble, you getting twisted,

Speaker: 00:42:10

you getting turnt up.

Speaker: 00:42:11

It's literally what they're saying.

Speaker: 00:42:14

Thankfully, we were able to tell them what happened

Speaker: 00:42:18

because we didn't want our witness destroyed.

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Do you believe what you say you believe?

Speaker: 00:42:26

This is the cornerstone of the chapters

Speaker: 00:42:29

we've been reading.

Speaker: 00:42:30

Washington, you can come on back.

Speaker: 00:42:31

This has been the cornerstone of the chapters

Speaker: 00:42:33

we've been reading.

Speaker: 00:42:34

Guys, do you really believe what you say you believe?

Speaker: 00:42:39

Is Jesus Christ the lover of your soul

Speaker: 00:42:44

and do you love him back?

Speaker: 00:42:45

Because he is with us.

Speaker: 00:42:51

The bridegroom is with us.

Speaker: 00:42:53

I've asked Cole Burkett to come and share

Speaker: 00:42:55

a little bit of his testimony as it relates

Speaker: 00:43:00

to where he's right now because it relates

Speaker: 00:43:03

and connects so clearly to what we've been talking

Speaker: 00:43:05

about today.

Speaker: 00:43:06

Would you guys listen to Cole?

Speaker: 00:43:08

- I just wanna first say I've been in a certainly

Speaker: 00:43:12

a tough season in my life and it took me so long

Speaker: 00:43:16

to surrender in a lot of ways.

Speaker: 00:43:18

And because of the surrender that I finally kinda came to,

Speaker: 00:43:22

I'm like, all right, Lord, only you can work this out.

Speaker: 00:43:26

I'm now being, things are being revealed to me

Speaker: 00:43:30

and one of those things is what I'm gonna talk

Speaker: 00:43:31

about this morning.

Speaker: 00:43:32

I just wanna say that first that you gotta surrender

Speaker: 00:43:36

sometimes for the Lord to reveal things in your life

Speaker: 00:43:39

that you would be so blind to unless you had surrendered.

Speaker: 00:43:44

That thing is this, me and my wife have been married

Speaker: 00:43:49

for a year and three months, four months now

Speaker: 00:43:54

and there are things that I did prior to being married

Speaker: 00:43:59

with my wife that I had no idea would hurt her

Speaker: 00:44:04

the way that it has hurt her.

Speaker: 00:44:06

And the question that I have been pondering

Speaker: 00:44:12

is would I have done those things if she had been there

Speaker: 00:44:16

right with me?

Speaker: 00:44:17

If I had been in relationship with her knowing

Speaker: 00:44:24

that one day she'd be my wife.

Speaker: 00:44:28

No, I wouldn't have done those things.

Speaker: 00:44:30

I wouldn't have willingly hurt her.

Speaker: 00:44:32

And in the same way, let me ask you this,

Speaker: 00:44:37

maybe you've heard this prayer or maybe this hurt

Speaker: 00:44:41

or heard in a singing of a song.

Speaker: 00:44:43

Jesus, break my heart for what breaks yours.

Speaker: 00:44:47

Break my heart, Lord, for what breaks yours.

Speaker: 00:44:51

It's through that mechanism that you grow

Speaker: 00:44:55

in a deeper relationship with Christ and in the same way

Speaker: 00:44:59

with my wife, my relationship with her has deepened

Speaker: 00:45:04

and it's not been through how well I follow the rules

Speaker: 00:45:08

with her.

Speaker: 00:45:10

The mechanism has been I want to love her

Speaker: 00:45:14

and through that now I'm following rules that I didn't

Speaker: 00:45:19

when before I had known her.

Speaker: 00:45:23

So in my life, in my relationship with Christ,

Speaker: 00:45:28

I want to love Jesus first and through that mechanism

Speaker: 00:45:35

of loving him, he's making me perfect.

Speaker: 00:45:38

It's through that that he's making me in right standing

Speaker: 00:45:42

with him.

Speaker: 00:45:42

And so in my marriage with my wife, it's showing me

Speaker: 00:45:49

that Jesus might not be physically here in this moment

Speaker: 00:45:53

but this is preparing me on how to love Jesus right now

Speaker: 00:45:59

through the privilege of loving my wife

Speaker: 00:46:01

and laying my life down for her, laying my destiny down

Speaker: 00:46:05

for her and it's a beautiful thing.

Speaker: 00:46:10

But man, it humbles you and it breaks your heart

Speaker: 00:46:16

for what breaks hers but it breaks my heart

Speaker: 00:46:20

for what breaks Jesus's.

Speaker: 00:46:21

And so that's the question that I want to ask you guys

Speaker: 00:46:27

this morning at Springhouse.

Speaker: 00:46:29

Jesus break my heart for what breaks yours.

Speaker: 00:46:34

- And Kaylin has certainly forgiven Cole,

Speaker: 00:46:41

she's not forgotten.

Speaker: 00:46:42

She's not forgotten.

Speaker: 00:46:46

Guys, our choices and our actions have consequences

Speaker: 00:46:49

whether we like it or not, sometimes they're small,

Speaker: 00:46:54

sometimes they're pretty big.

Speaker: 00:46:56

And when we grapple through the consequences,

Speaker: 00:46:59

we learn, right, we learn but man,

Speaker: 00:47:04

why not lean into Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit

Speaker: 00:47:08

and grapple with the positive consequences

Speaker: 00:47:10

of living for a kingdom that's which you belong to.

Speaker: 00:47:14

And that's his desire for us, that's his desire.

Speaker: 00:47:18

So Gentiles need to be circumcised, no, no.

Speaker: 00:47:23

You need to do X, Y and Z to earn,

Speaker: 00:47:24

no, you don't need to earn your salvation,

Speaker: 00:47:27

your salvation is free, cost him something, it's free to you

Speaker: 00:47:31

but beyond that, becoming like Christ Jesus,

Speaker: 00:47:36

it's gonna cost you everything.

Speaker: 00:47:38

Cost you your pride, your arrogance,

Speaker: 00:47:42

it's gonna cost you the willingness to say,

Speaker: 00:47:45

yeah, I do think that that rule is dumb

Speaker: 00:47:47

but I'm gonna submit to it

Speaker: 00:47:48

and I'm not gonna make a big stink about it,

Speaker: 00:47:49

I'm not gonna say, look at me, I'm following this dumb rule,

Speaker: 00:47:52

I'm just gonna do it.

Speaker: 00:47:53

Because at the end of the day,

Speaker: 00:47:56

I want no one to have a reason to look at me and say,

Speaker: 00:47:58

I don't look like Christ Jesus.

Speaker: 00:48:01

Jess, stand with me this morning.

Speaker: 00:48:02

You know, the call this morning, this is a heavy word

Speaker: 00:48:07

but the call this morning really is one to say this,

Speaker: 00:48:12

Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours.

Speaker: 00:48:15

And maybe as a step of faith,

Speaker: 00:48:18

some of you may need to come to the altar and say,

Speaker: 00:48:19

God, I need you to break my heart for what breaks you,

Speaker: 00:48:22

I've been serving myself way too long in small things

Speaker: 00:48:27

and what an amazing way to chip out pride

Speaker: 00:48:31

for those of you who are too proud to admit

Speaker: 00:48:33

that there are small things,

Speaker: 00:48:35

'cause man, everybody looks at me,

Speaker: 00:48:36

if I go forward, man, they're gonna think that I do X, Y and Z

Speaker: 00:48:39

it doesn't matter because you do X, Y and Z.

Speaker: 00:48:42

And the one you say you love most knows it.

Speaker: 00:48:46

So what would it look like to break down the barriers

Speaker: 00:48:50

and walls of pride and say, man,

Speaker: 00:48:52

God, I need you to break my heart for what breaks yours,

Speaker: 00:48:55

help me Lord in these small areas where I'm giving in

Speaker: 00:48:58

and I'm compromising my love for you,

Speaker: 00:49:00

I need you to help me, I need you to infiltrate my heart

Speaker: 00:49:03

'cause I wanna be like you, Lord.

Speaker: 00:49:05

That's the call this morning

Speaker: 00:49:06

and with those who are gonna minister, come on up

Speaker: 00:49:08

and we can agree with people,

Speaker: 00:49:10

maybe you just wanna come and get my altar space,

Speaker: 00:49:12

that's totally fine too,

Speaker: 00:49:13

we're just gonna worship for a few moments here.

Speaker: 00:49:15

If you have a prayer need,

Speaker: 00:49:16

you can come and join with someone

Speaker: 00:49:17

and if you're a leader,

Speaker: 00:49:19

because here's the thing, we're authentic here,

Speaker: 00:49:21

if you're a leader, I'm talking to you guys

Speaker: 00:49:23

that are gonna pray for people.

Speaker: 00:49:24

If you're a leader and you need to bow your knee

Speaker: 00:49:27

and not being prayed today,

Speaker: 00:49:28

you absolutely have the freedom to do that

Speaker: 00:49:31

because nobody's exempt, right?

Speaker: 00:49:34

It's not us and them, it's us and Him.

Speaker: 00:49:38

Let's worship.