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Andy Stanley - The Matter with You Part 2 Your Choice in the Matter · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So real quick, I'll tell you a story about a
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: friend of mine. Most of you know we have a
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: church in Buckhead, if you're watching from some other part
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: of the country. Buckhead is a community just north of Atlanta.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: And before we had a property there or a building there,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: we met on Sunday afternoons and rented.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Space in a Baptist church who allowed us to use
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: their space, and we paid them.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: And the other stipulation was you got to clean up
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: what you mess up. So before we would leave on
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Sunday afternoons, we cleaned up everything.
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  Speaker 2: We just wanted to leave it spotless.
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  Speaker 1: So one Sunday afternoon, I was walking around thanking volunteers.
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  Speaker 1: I preached here on Sunday morning and then headed up.
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  Speaker 2: There that afternoon.
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  Speaker 1: And there was a guy literally vacuuming the carpet up
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: in the far left corner of the room.
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  Speaker 2: So I walked up and thanked him.
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  Speaker 1: He looked up and he said, Andy, he said, this
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: church changed my life.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: I'm like, really? He said, yes.
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  Speaker 1: And he told me his story. And then as years
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: went by, I heard him share this story with other
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: people as well. He said, yeah, my story is this.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: He said, I was not a church person. He was
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  Speaker 1: probably in his mid-30s. He was already a very successful
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: real estate developer in the city of Atlanta. He was
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: just a super talented guy, had done well. He said,
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  Speaker 1: I was not a church person. He said, but, you know,
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  Speaker 1: things look good on the outside. Things weren't so good
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: on the inside. And several friends kept saying, you need
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: to go to Alpharetta and go to this church, this
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  Speaker 1: North Point Community Church.
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  Speaker 2: He's like, but I'm not a church person.
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  Speaker 1: He said, so one Sunday I drove up there and
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  Speaker 1: there's all these people. He said, I stood in the
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  Speaker 1: back against the wall the whole time in case I
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  Speaker 1: needed to make a quick exit.
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  Speaker 2: And you laugh.
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  Speaker 1: And I see some of you back there in the
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  Speaker 1: dark on the back rows, you know, in case you
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  Speaker 1: need to make a quick exit. He said, I leaned
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  Speaker 1: against the wall. He said, here's what I thought. I
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  Speaker 1: leaned against the wall with my arms crossed. And I thought,
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  Speaker 1: because all these hundreds of people pouring in. And he said,
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  Speaker 1: I thought these people are so disciplined. They're so disciplined.
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  Speaker 2: I'm I'm just not disciplined enough to be. These were
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  Speaker 2: his words.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not disciplined enough to be like them. I'm not
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  Speaker 1: disciplined enough to be a Christian. Just referencing the life
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  Speaker 1: he was living. He said, but I came back and
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  Speaker 1: I came back and I was standing against the wall
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  Speaker 1: and I would look at all these disciplined people. And
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  Speaker 1: then eventually I sat down and then I moved a
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  Speaker 1: little bit closer to the front.
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  Speaker 2: And then, and these are my words, not his, the
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: tension that built in him was this.
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  Speaker 1: He realized, and he even said this, he said, I
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  Speaker 1: realized I actually believe what you're teaching. I really believe
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  Speaker 1: what you said about God is true, what you said
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  Speaker 1: about Jesus is true. And so he became a believer.
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  Speaker 1: He just wasn't a behavior. And the reason he wasn't
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  Speaker 1: a behavior.
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  Speaker 2: Is he's like, I just don't think I can be
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  Speaker 2: a Christian. I don't think I can do all that stuff.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe you're here today or watching and you can
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  Speaker 1: identify with that.
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  Speaker 2: It's like, yeah, I believe, I just don't behave.
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  Speaker 1: And the thing is, as much as he wanted to
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  Speaker 1: be kind of an insider and, you know.
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  Speaker 2: Really be a follower of Jesus, he's.
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  Speaker 1: Like, I just didn't have the ability to, or his words,
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  Speaker 1: I just didn't have the discipline to do the things
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  Speaker 1: you talked about on Sunday.
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  Speaker 2: So I said, well, but now he's better.
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  Speaker 1: Vacuuming the floor. I'm like, well, what happened? He said,
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  Speaker 1: I just kept coming and I just kept listening. He said,
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  Speaker 1: I even took some notes and And then every Sunday
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  Speaker 1: I would buy the CD.
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  Speaker 2: This is how long ago that was. Do you remember CDs?
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Anyway, he said, I would buy the CD and
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: he said, I would listen to my car. He said,
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  Speaker 1: I would listen all week long trying to get this
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: stuff in my head. And then he told me this
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: funny story, which is awkward because it's about me, but
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I think it's worth sharing.
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  Speaker 2: And so he had this convertible Porsche.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: He said, and I would just, I just listened to
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  Speaker 1: you everywhere I went instead of music. He said, so
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  Speaker 1: one weekend or one day I pulled up at an
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  Speaker 1: intersection and two lanes each way and I'm, the guy
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  Speaker 1: next to me was in a convertible and I looked
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  Speaker 1: over and he looked back and he said, are you
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  Speaker 1: listening to Andy?
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  Speaker 2: And he said, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Anyway, so that he was just, and the point was
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  Speaker 1: he just, he wanted this.
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  Speaker 2: He just didn't, he couldn't do it.
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  Speaker 1: He thought if I just keep listening, he just kept
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  Speaker 1: coming anyway. And he said, I would tell God, I
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  Speaker 1: believe I just, I just can't do this stuff, but.
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  Speaker 2: I wanted to.
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  Speaker 1: And I certainly needed to. And I said, well, what happened?
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  Speaker 1: He said, well, I just kept asking God to help me.
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  Speaker 1: And I can't explain it, Andy. I mean, he's standing
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  Speaker 1: there with a vacuum cleaner. He said, I can't explain it.
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  Speaker 1: He said, but I started changing. I started changing on
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  Speaker 1: the inside. And then my desires began to change. Things
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  Speaker 1: that had been so attractive, they sort of lost interest.
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  Speaker 1: Some habits changed. He said, even friends noticed and commented on,
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  Speaker 1: you know, what's going on? He said, I'm a completely
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  Speaker 1: different person than I used to be.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm telling you, Andy, I didn't change me. Years
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  Speaker 2: went by.
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  Speaker 1: He eventually joined our stewardship team. That's the group of
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  Speaker 1: people who oversee all the finances for our whole organization.
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  Speaker 1: And then eventually he became an elder in our church.
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  Speaker 1: He became really my boss. And he met a girl
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  Speaker 1: on our staff.
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  Speaker 2: And married her.
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  Speaker 1: And the point and the reason I tell you that
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: story is this. If you are a believer, but you're
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: not a behavior, I am so glad you're here. And
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I'm so glad you are watching this. So today what
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: we're gonna do, we're gonna pick up where we left
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  Speaker 1: off last weekend. And I know a lot of you
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  Speaker 1: didn't watch because you're not here every week and it's
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: summer and all that stuff. So if you didn't see
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: or hear last week's message, I really want you to
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  Speaker 1: go back.
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  Speaker 2: I don't normally say that.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: You can see it on our, whatever church, whatever campus
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  Speaker 1: you attend on your app.
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  Speaker 2: Hopefully you have your church app or on my YouTube channel.
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  Speaker 2: But a quick review, and I mean super quick. Here's
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: the quick review.
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  Speaker 1: If you've been led to believe, if you've been led
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  Speaker 1: to believe that God's love and acceptance of you is
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  Speaker 1: contingent upon something to do with you, If somehow you've
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  Speaker 1: been led to believe through church or religion or a
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  Speaker 1: different faith tradition that God's love and acceptance of you
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  Speaker 1: is contingent upon something to do with you, you've been misled.
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  Speaker 1: And you were probably misled by somebody who does what
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  Speaker 1: I do. The thing that makes the good news good
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  Speaker 1: is that God's love for.
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  Speaker 2: You, this is important, and we're moving on.
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  Speaker 1: The thing that makes it good news is that God's
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  Speaker 1: love for you is not contingent upon.
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't depend upon.
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  Speaker 1: It is not diminished by.
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  Speaker 2: It is not thwarted by. In fact, it's not even
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  Speaker 2: thwartable by you.
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  Speaker 1: That God's love for you is beyond your control.
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  Speaker 2: That you don't have a say in the matter. Tough.
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  Speaker 2: He just loves you. He decided to love you.
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  Speaker 1: And when that reality, this was last week, when that
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  Speaker 1: reality goes from your head and when it's no longer
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  Speaker 1: just a concept, when that goes from your head to
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  Speaker 1: your heart, it begins to change you. And that's what
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  Speaker 1: changed him. And that's what's changed some of the people
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  Speaker 1: around you. It's not that they're more disciplined than you.
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  Speaker 1: It's just that something has happened on the inside.
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  Speaker 2: Side.
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  Speaker 1: So that was part one. Today's part two, and there's
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  Speaker 1: only two parts. So we started the movie last week.
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  Speaker 1: We're wrapping up this week. And so today I want
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  Speaker 1: to answer the question, so what, and now what? Okay,
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  Speaker 1: so God loves me and I can't do anything about it.
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  Speaker 2: I'm stuck with that.
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  Speaker 1: But what does that mean? You know, what do I
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  Speaker 1: do with that? How do I respond to that? Where
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  Speaker 1: do we go from there? So here's what I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to do for the next few minutes. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: tell you where we go from there, and then I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to let the Apostle Paul tell you where we
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  Speaker 1: go from there. The Apostle Paul is the perfect person
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  Speaker 1: to ask because he was an amazing Pharisee.
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  Speaker 2: He met Jesus, dropped all that, and moved on.
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  Speaker 1: So he lived in the transition between the Old Covenant
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  Speaker 1: and the New Covenant.
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  Speaker 2: He's the expert, and.
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  Speaker 1: He was amazing at one, abandoned it, and went full
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  Speaker 1: on into the New Covenant that God established through Christ.
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  Speaker 2: With the human race.
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  Speaker 1: And the reason I'm going to go first before I
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  Speaker 1: let you know what Paul said is that Paul dictated
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  Speaker 1: this information in the first century in Greek. And his
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  Speaker 1: explanation isn't always easy to follow.
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  Speaker 2: So here's the backstory.
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  Speaker 1: He went to the Roman province of Galatia in modern-day Turkey.
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  Speaker 1: He plants several little churches, and he leaves them with
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  Speaker 1: his incredible message that God has done something in the
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  Speaker 1: world for the world, and everybody is invited to participate
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  Speaker 1: in it. A little bit later, we don't know how long,
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  Speaker 1: but maybe a year or so later, some Christians from
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem show up to those churches and they say, hey,
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  Speaker 1: we know what Paul told you and we're here to
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  Speaker 1: correct some of that. They showed up and they said
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  Speaker 1: in order to be a Jesus follower or in order
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  Speaker 1: to be a Christian, even though they didn't use that
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  Speaker 1: term yet, you actually have to become Jewish first. You
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: have to embrace Torah first. as part of following Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: And you men, you're going to have to be circumcised
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  Speaker 1: because that's the covenant. That's the sign of the covenant
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  Speaker 1: that you're in covenant with God. And that's the old covenant,
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  Speaker 1: but they didn't call it the old covenant. That's the
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  Speaker 1: original covenant before you then.
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  Speaker 2: Are part of this new covenant.
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  Speaker 1: Their message was basically, it's not as simple as Paul
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  Speaker 1: makes it sound. It's good news, but it's not that good. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Paul found out about this. And he was apoplectic. That's
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  Speaker 1: the only word I can think of.
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  Speaker 2: He was so angry. He's so angry.
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  Speaker 1: He says something in this document that we call the
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  Speaker 1: book of Galatians, because that's the letter he wrote the
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  Speaker 1: church in Galatia in response to these people going in
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  Speaker 1: and kind of diminishing what he had taught. He says
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  Speaker 1: something in that letter that is so crude. I'm not
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  Speaker 1: even sure I would read that verse in church. And yes,
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  Speaker 1: I'm trying to bait you into reading your Bible. So
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  Speaker 1: you need to read the book of Galatians and find that.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it is like.
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  Speaker 1: So crude because he's so angry that this group would
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  Speaker 1: come and pollute and diminish the grace of God with
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  Speaker 1: a version of Christianity.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, these were Jesus followers.
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  Speaker 1: By trying to combine the two covenants. Anyway, so he
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  Speaker 1: writes a letter to these churches in Galatia. We call
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  Speaker 1: it the book of Galatians in our New Testament. And
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  Speaker 1: he's trying to call them back to the good news.
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  Speaker 1: And here's what he says.
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  Speaker 2: This is my version. Then we're going to get to his.
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  Speaker 2: He says, hey, look, God is your father. He's not
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  Speaker 2: an officer of the law. God is your father. He's
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  Speaker 2: not an officer of the law.
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  Speaker 1: Now, if you're an officer of the law, no offense,
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  Speaker 1: but let me just say this. If you're an officer
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  Speaker 1: of the law, if everybody in your community would do
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  Speaker 1: what we're talking about today, your job would be safer
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: and easier. So I'm all for officers of the law.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Paul's point is, look, that's not the role that God
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: is playing. Besides, Paul says, did knowing the difference between
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: right and wrong ensure that you.
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  Speaker 2: Would do what's right? Did knowing the law ensure that
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  Speaker 2: you kept the law? No. Did the fear of God
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  Speaker 2: keep you from doing wrong?
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  Speaker 1: No.
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  Speaker 2: Because rules... don't empower you to keep the rules. They're
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: just the rules. They're just the law. There's no power there,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: to use my friend's word. He would say, you're not
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: disciplined enough. And when you know what to do and
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  Speaker 2: you don't do it, how do you feel? You feel guilty.
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  Speaker 1: And ultimately, if you continue to do what you know
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  Speaker 1: you shouldn't do, you feel condemned. And at some point,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: you just give up and you say, why even try?
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  Speaker 2: Then Paul goes on to say this. The way of Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: the way of.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is a completely different way. It is a completely
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: different orientation toward life. It is a reorientation toward God,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: a reorientation from sin. I promise to I surrender from
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: obedience to dependence, from I will to I can't, but
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: you can through me. That Paul, as we're going to see,
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  Speaker 1: he insists that the Christian life is actually the life
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: of Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: Lived not by us, but lived Through us.
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  Speaker 1: Because my friend was absolutely correct. You're not disciplined enough.
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  Speaker 2: You can't.
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  Speaker 1: I can't. But if we allow him to. He can
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: and he will. And here's the promise. When we embrace
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  Speaker 1: this new orientation toward God. When we embrace the way
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: As Paul is going to spell it out. That Jesus
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: talked about as well.
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  Speaker 1: When we embrace this approach slowly. At times imperceptibly.
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  Speaker 2: Christ will produce his fruit. As Paul talks about it.
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  Speaker 1: Or his life through you, through your personality, through your temperament. Now,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: that's my version. Here's Paul's kind of clunky version. It's
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  Speaker 1: not his fault. He's writing in a different language in
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: a different time, but here's what he says, and it
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: is amazing. In fact, let me tell you how amazing
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: it is. It's so amazing that there's a verse, we're
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: gonna get to a minute, that if I were to
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  Speaker 1: just post it online without any reference to it being
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: in the Bible, I would just be annihilated.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: You'd be annihilated by Christians. It is so extreme. That's
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: how good the good news is.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: And that's why there's always the temptation to tap it down,
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  Speaker 1: to undermine it, to try to contextualize it or recontextualize
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: it and take away some of the goodness in the good.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Here's what he writes to this group in Galatia.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: He says, look, it was for freedom that Christ has
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  Speaker 1: set us free. In other words, if your version of
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Christianity doesn't feel like freedom, it's the wrong version.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: If the version of Christianity you grew.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Up with didn't feel like more freedom, then it's not
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the right version. It was for freedom that Christ has
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: set us free. And he says, so come on. You
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: remember what I told you when I was with you?
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Stand firm. Stand firm and.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Don't let yourselves be burdened or re-burdened again. Don't let
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: He said, approaching God in terms of.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Keeping rules and keeping law, of course that feels heavy.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: It's like a yoke on you. It's like slavery.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: And so he contrasts the freedom in following Jesus versus
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: the slavery or versus trying.
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  Speaker 2: To keep a list of rules or keep the law.
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  Speaker 1: He compares that to some sort of yoke of slavery.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, it's an approach to faith oriented around
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  Speaker 1: rule keeping.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: What does God want? What does God expect? Oh, there
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  Speaker 2: I go again. I did pretty good today. I didn't
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: do so good yesterday. I hope I do better tomorrow.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: And then this, he says, you, talking to this, because
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: he loves them, but he's so frustrated.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: There's so much energy in this letter. He says, you
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  Speaker 2: who are trying.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: To be justified, and this is just a fancy Bible
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: word for be in right relationship with.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: That's what it means, to be justified.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: That is to do something in order to be right
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: with God so God is pleased with me. He says,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: those of you who are trying to find God's acceptance
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and find God's love by keeping the law, by keeping Torah,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: You've been, this is amazing, you've actually been alienated from
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: the Jesus, from the Christ that you say you worship.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: You've actually fallen away from grace. In other words, in
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: your attempt to please God, you're moving away from God.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: In your attempt to have a right standing with God,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: you're moving in the opposite direction.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: You are undermining the very thing you're attempting to do.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Evaluating where you stand with God based on your behavior
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: amounts to resisting God because he doesn't operate Like that.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: It's a little bit, this isn't a great example. It's
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: a little bit like a workaholic who says I'm doing
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: this for my family. when in fact he or she
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: is doing something to their family. I'm doing this for
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: my family, but in doing something for my family, I'm
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: actually alienating my children and undermining the integrity and the
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: intimacy of my marriage.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: It's the same idea.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: He's like, your motives are good, but you're doing it wrong.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, you're moving away from,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: not toward the very thing you say you are so
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: interested in. You're alienating yourself from God.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: For, then he says this, for in Christ, and in Christ.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: This is an important phrase in the New Testament when
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Paul's teaching. In Christ means in relationship or in covenant
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: relationship with Christ, that you've accepted Christ as your Messiah,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: your King, and you're attempting to follow. He says, in Christ,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: this was so extreme for this culture. In Christ, Jesus, neither.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: And the Judean people who read this, or we would
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: say the Jewish people who read this letter, this is.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Like so offensive. He's like, look, if you're circumcised, fine.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: If you're not circumcised, fine.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: It is irrelevant.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Now, believe it or not, and hopefully you'll believe it
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: or you can read it for yourself. In this verse,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: the term circumcision actually reflects, this is sort of a
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: term that reflects the entire Torah, including the Ten Commandments.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: What he's saying, in fact, he's going to say it
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: overtly in just a minute, that.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: The law, if you're a Jesus follower, Torah... The Ten Commandments, circumcision,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: a sign of the fact that you're actually in this covenant,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: is completely irrelevant. It doesn't matter anymore. This is so extreme.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: It has no value. Those days are over.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: There's a new sheriff in town. There's a king in town.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: The old covenant has been wrapped up and put away.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: It was a means to an end. The end is
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: here because Jesus is here. The king has come. Everything
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: that came before was a shadow. We're putting that behind us.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: And he would say, and I should know. I was
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: a Pharisee. Nobody loved the law more than me.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: But those days are over.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Through Jesus, a brand new approach to life and a
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: brand new approach to God has been introduced to the world.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: And then here's the statement that is so extreme. He says, look,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: let me just say it plainly. The only thing that counts.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: The only thing that counts. Discount the law. Discount Torah.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, he says, the only thing that counts
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: is faith. And last week we unpacked what faith meant.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Faith isn't doing something to make something true. Faith is
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: simply accepting what's already true. Faith is recognizing that, oh,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: I see now what I didn't see before. And in
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: this context, faith is resting in what's true about God's
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: love for you and God's acceptance of you, God's unconditional
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: acceptance of you. He says, let me tell you, if
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: you wanna follow Jesus, the only thing that counts, the
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: only thing that pleases God is faith expressing itself. In
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: other words, there's gonna be an overflow from this. In fact,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: my friend's story, the change that began to happen in
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: him and through him, it was his faith expressing itself.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: And then here's the kicker. Faith expressing itself through law-keeping,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: through obedience, through commitment, through more discipline. Paul's like, no.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: No. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: through love.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: Now, again, read the whole thing, read Paul's other literature.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: When Paul talks about love, he's not just talking about
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: just love everybody.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: He's talking about the.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Love of God as experienced and expressed and demonstrated through
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: the life of Jesus. The love of God as demonstrated
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: through the life of Jesus. In other words, you follow
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Jesus through the gospels and you see love in action.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: And sometimes it's tough love and sometimes.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: It's just gracious love.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: He says, the only thing that counts is that once
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: you are locked in on God's extraordinary love for you,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: that that should express itself in your love for others.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: People. Jesus' new covenant command.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: When he gathered with the disciples, he said, forget the 613.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: We got a new command, and there's just one because
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: there's no loopholes in love. You are to love one another,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: not generally. You are to love one another the way
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: that I have loved you. You've watched me in action.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Now do for others what I have done for you.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: It's not the golden rule. It's the platinum rule. It's
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: a brand new standard to.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Which rightfully we should respond, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: And this is why the Judaizers, they called them, showed
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: up in Galatia to dismiss what Paul had taught.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: It's like, wait, okay, Paul, look, that's just so open-ended.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's just so dangerous. There's no laws.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: There's no rules. We just love people like Christ loved us.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: And Paul is like, exactly. If that's what you took
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: from what I just said, then you've got it. And
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: he goes on to say, when you get this right,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: When that is what you surrender to, God, I want
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: you to live. I want Christ's love to be expressed
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: through me. because I have faith that Christ did for
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: me what Christ claimed to have done for me. As
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: that is expressed through your life, then let me tell
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: you what you won't do.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: You won't abuse that freedom.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: You won't abuse this dangerous idea that you are free
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: from the law.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: He says, you will not.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Use your freedom to indulge your flesh. Rather, you will
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: serve one another humbly in love.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Because that's what your king did for you. This isn't
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: the freedom to get away with. This is the freedom
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: to submit to and to follow your king as your
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: king expresses his love for others, just like he expressed
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: it for you.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: That's why.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: What happened at the cross and God's sacrificial love for
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: you is to be the driving force in our lives
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: every single day.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: It is to be the impetus behind how we live,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: how we act, and how.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: We react to others, that we are to do for
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: others what God through Christ has done for us. He says,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: and when that's your focus, you don't need to fear
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: not having a whole bunch of rules to live by
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: because the one command to love as God through Christ
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: has loved you is enough for every single day. occasion
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: that we don't use your freedom. In other words, this
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: isn't an excuse to get by you. We don't, we
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: won't use our freedom to indulge our appetites, but we'll
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: serve one another.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Okay. And we're like, okay, Paul.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: But before we move forward, Paul, come on.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: If we don't have any rules, I mean, he just
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: took the whole 10 commandments. Even if we don't have
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: any laws to live by, how do we know what
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: to do?
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: Paul's like, good question. You're following me.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Instead of measuring yourself against a list of rules, against
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: the laws, here's what I want you to do. It's
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: a new operating system. It's a whole new approach to life.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Here's what you do. He writes to them.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: I want you to walk by the Spirit.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: We'll talk about that in a minute.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: If you walk by the Spirit, in other words, if
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: you are led by the Spirit, if you have surrendered
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: yourself to the internal still small voice of God and
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Jesus in you, if you walk by the Spirit, you
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: don't need to worry about not having a bunch of
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: laws because you will not.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: Gratify the desires of the flesh. In other words, you.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Won't be selfish because the Holy Spirit and Christ in
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: you will lead you to be selfless and You already know.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: The happiest people you know, the most fulfilled people you know,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: are the most selfless people you've ever met. Because God
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: loves you. And God isn't leading you to be unhappy.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: He is leading you to be fulfilled. You won't be
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: led or controlled or governed by your appetites. And you know,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: come on, all right, whether you're Christian or not, different
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: faith tradition, let's just all be super honest and transparent
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: for a minute. We all know what happens when we
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: are led by our appetites. So of course the spirit
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: of God inside of us would not allow us to
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: be led by our appetites.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: In fact, Paul says, you know what that leads to,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: don't you? And we're all like.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I can stand up and tell you a story
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: about last week or maybe this morning. And when I
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: give into my appetites, it only leads to regret. It
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: only divides. It only hurts my marriage. It only hurts
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: my relationships. It undermines my budget. I mean, yeah, when
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: I give into my, he says, well, Paul says, okay,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: even though it's obvious, let me make sure that we're
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: all on the same page.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: So let me, he gives us a list. He says,
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: the acts of the flesh, in case you need a reminder,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: look kind of like this.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: He says, the acts of the flesh are obvious. In
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: other words, I don't even need to tell you but
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: I'm going to anyway. Sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery. I hope
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: you didn't debauch. Anyway, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: and the like. In other words, this isn't a complete
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: list because he's.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Saying, come on, you know. And what are these things?
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: These are the things that create regret. These are the things,
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: these are the stories you hope people don't find out about.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: These are the.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Things that when you're engaged, you are tempted to lie
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: about in your past. These are the things that destroy marriages.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: These are the things that, again, he's like, is that
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: what you want?
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Haven't you lived long enough to know that chasing your
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: appetites and being controlled by your appetites, that is not
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: a win.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: There's no joy in that.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Anything associated, he says, anything associated with a regret, of
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: course it's off limits. Anything that If it harms another person,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: of course it's off limits. Anything that comes prepackaged with
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: a consequence, of course the Spirit of God isn't going
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: to lead you there because God loves you.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: See, one of the biggest challenges.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: For modern Christians, and it's so evident in the New Testament,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: I don't know why this is so confusing, but the
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Pharisees were the ones that held a specific list of
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: rules over people and condemned them. Jesus came along and said,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: forget the list.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: It's simple. If it's not good.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: For him, it's a sin. If it's not good for her,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: it's a sin. If it's not good for you, no
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: can do. If it's not good for them, in other words,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: God loves you. And like a good parent, how does
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: a parent determine the rules of a household? A good parent,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: they're not trying to keep their kids from something good.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: They're trying to rescue and keep their kids from something
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: evil and harmful, regret. And the same is true with
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: your heavenly father. That's why he's not a law enforcement officer.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: He is a good father.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: And this is why we say all the time around here,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: following Jesus, will make your life better.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: And let me just double down on that.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: If you're not a person of faith, there may be
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: a different faith tradition, and we've never met, so I
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: don't know your story, but here's my hunch. Your greatest
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: regret would have been avoided if you had been following
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Jesus in that season of your life. And then he
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: says something that needs a little explanation. He says, I
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: warn you, this is in his letter, I warn you
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: as I did before when I was.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: With you physically, because again, he was with them. Now
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: he's writing this letter.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: I warn you as I did before that those who
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: live like this, talking about everything on that list, the
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: people who indulge in those things as kind of a lifestyle,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: that's sort of the habit of their life. He says,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: they're not going to inherit the kingdom of God. Now
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: this deserves a whole sermon, but I just want to
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: make a couple of comments. If you grew up in church,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: this always gets equated with go to heaven when you die.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: That is not what Paul is talking about. If he
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: meant if you do these things, you won't go to
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: heaven when you die, he would have said that.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: This is so important.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: He says, if you live like that, you are not
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: participating in the kingdom of God now. And you aren't
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: going to inherit or experience, ready for this, you're not
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: going to experience the benefits of participating in the kingdom
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: of God. Now, this isn't about where you spend eternity.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: And the reason we know that is this word right.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: Here, inherit. If I were to walk up to you after.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: The service and say, hey, before you go, I need
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: to let you know something.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: You are not in my will.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: You'd be like, I assumed that because I'm not in
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: your family either, right? Or if you walked up to
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: me and said, Andy, I tell you what, you're not
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: gonna inherit a thing from me. I'd be like, I
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: didn't expect to. I'm not in your family. This is
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: a family term. This is, you're already in, but there
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: is a consequence for not participating. And the best way
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: to understand what Paul talks about with the kingdom of God,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: the kingdom.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Of God is the reign and rule of God.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: And when we step out from underneath the reign and
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: rule of God, we're not participating in the kingdom of God.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: The other way to understand it is to think of
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: the story of the prodigal sons. Remember the young son left?
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: And remember if you grew up in church, he left
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: and he wasted his entire what?
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: Inheritance. And when he came back, his.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Father welcomed him back because he's still a son. And
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: he celebrated that he was back. But he didn't have
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: any inheritance because he had participated outside the umbrella of.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: Of the family.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Now, again, there's so much more I could say about this,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: but this is very, very important when you're reading the
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: New Testament. He's saying, look, if you participate in those things,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're going to pay the price. The other
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: way Jesus talked about it, you're going to be on
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: the outside looking in, weeping and gnashing your teeth. Not
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: because you're in pain, but because it's like, ah, if
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: only I could go back. If only I could go
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: back to that season of life, to that relationship, to
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: that decision. Ah, if only I could go back. But
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: I was standing, like my friend in the back of
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: the room, standing outside looking in, not experiencing the benefits.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: Okay, back to the alternative. We've got to keep moving.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: So he says this. So I say walk... By the Spirit.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: That is, live according to the internal nudges of God's Spirit,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: the internal nudges of His promptings through your conscience as
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: you renew your mind. My friend, he just doubled and
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: tripled down on listening to messages over and over and
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: over to renew his mind and to inform his conscience.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: And that was part of the process, as the Apostle
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Paul talks about, so that he could begin participating in
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: the kingdom of God. Now, the question then is, well,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: how do we know what are the prompts of the
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit?
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: Paul's like, oh, I'm so glad you asked. Here's what
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: they are.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: But the fruit of the Spirit, the thing that God
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: wants to produce through you because the life of Christ
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: is in you, but the fruit of the Spirit, not
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: the commitment of your will, the fruit of the Spirit,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: what the Spirit will produce through you when invited.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Is love and joy. and peace. The world's falling apart
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: around you, but God's in control. Patience.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: How can you be so patient with him? Let me
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: tell you how patient God has been with me. The
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: least I can do is to be patient with her,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: patient with him.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Kindness. Do you know what this is?
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: This is loaning someone your strength rather than reminding them
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: of their weakness.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: Listen to this, listen to this. I didn't tell the
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: first service this.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: When the prodigal son comes back, he starts rehearsing everything
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: he'd done wrong.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: And his father loans him his strength. Son, forget all that.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: Here's a coat. Here's a ring. You're back. That's all
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: that matters.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: That's what we're called to do for other people because
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: God through Christ did it for us.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Goodness, faithfulness, gentleness. You know what this is? Let me
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: tell you what this is.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: This is who you want your children to marry. If
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: you're single, this is who you want to marry. This
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: is what we expect of the people who work for
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: us and who we work for.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: This isn't rocket science.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: This is Jesus in action and you can't pull it
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: off and you are invited to invite him to pull
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: it off through you. Next is this brilliant observation. I
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: love this statement. He totally shifts the paradigm. Listen to
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: what Paul says. He says, look, against such things, this
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: is amazing, against such things, what things?
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: All these things. Against such things, ready? There is no law.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: He says all this stuff on the bad list, there's
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: laws against those things. I mean, there are actual civil
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: laws against some of the things on those lists. He's like,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: this is why it's such a completely different.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Way of living.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: It's a completely liberating way of living. There's no law
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: against any of this. You can't be too patient. Hey,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: you wanna knock off the patience? You're taking patience a
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: little bit?
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: No.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: No. Too much self-control over there. Okay, honey, too much self-control.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: I think our kids are exhibiting too much self-control. We
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: need to have a talk with the kids, right?
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: You can't be too good. You can't be too faithful.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: You can't be too any of those things. He says,
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: Paul says, think of it.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: There's no law against any of these things. There is
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: no law necessary. And this is the life your Savior
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: wants to exhibit through you.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: And it is possible. It is not instant. It is
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: not overnight. It's a process. but it can happen and
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: you will change. Then he says this, since, he says.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: Come on, Galatians, since we live by the spirit, let's
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: just keep in step with the spirit. In other words,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: since God's spirit is the source of eternal life, then
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: why wouldn't you allow his spirit to direct the course
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: of your life? And then he Doubles down, as if
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: there's any question about what he's saying.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: This is amazing. Again, not so much to us, but
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: to that first century audience, this was mind-blowing. If you
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: choose to walk by the Spirit, instead of, I'm going
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: to try to keep a bunch of rules.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: If you are led by the Spirit, look at this.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: You are not under the law.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Now, I want you to see the contrast between these words.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: This is everything.
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: Led is relational. Led is an invitation. Under is a weight,
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: and under is a burden.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: It's a complete reorientation. From I promise to God, I can't,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: I surrender. From obedience, I'm gonna, no, who am I kidding?
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: I'm dependent. From I will to I can't, but you
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: can through me.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: The Christian life, Christian life is the life of Christ
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: lived through us, not by us.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: You're not that disciplined.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Now, the problem is, and I'll wrap this up, from
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: the days of Paul until now, there's always a brand
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: of Christianity. There's always a brand or brands of Christianity
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: that want to reinsert some form of law into the equation.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: And I'll tell you why. It's motivated by fear. You
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: know what the fear is?
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: If we don't have rules and if we don't have
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: laws and if we're not coming down on people in church,
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: if there's not any of that, people are just going
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: to run wild.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: Newsflash. Look up here. People who know the rules run
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: wild in spite of the rules.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, just look around. And don't even look around.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: Look in the mirror. The worst thing you've ever done,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: you knew what you were doing and you did it. Anyway,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: because the law restricts, it does not empower.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: But won't people take advantage of this? Yes.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: People will take advantage of this gift of grace and
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: God will not take it back. That's what makes it amazing.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: But when you come to terms and you come to
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: grips and you allow it to go from here to here,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: when you come to terms with God's extraordinary love for you,
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: In those moments, what else can you do but surrender
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: and follow and worship?
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: Earlier, Paul said it this way.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: This is a verse every Christian should memorize in addition
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: to whatever else you've already memorized. He said, this is
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: his personal application. He said, here's the way I see
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: it for me. It's like when Jesus was crucified, I
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: was on the cross with him.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: I had been crucified with Christ. So I died. All
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: my efforts, all my good intentions, they just died. They're
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: of no value. And I no longer live, but Christ
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: lives in me.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: If you have received Jesus as your savior, Christ lives
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: in you.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: Why not invite him to live through you? Look up
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: here and we're done. Every morning.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: Before every meeting before every conflict resolution, on the way
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: home when you're planning what you got to say and
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: you're all, you know, amped up and you're going to,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: you know, why not.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: Allow him and invite him to live through you in
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: the midst of fear? Men, look up here, men.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Every time your ego starts talking, my friend Billy Phoenix,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: the pastor at Decatur City.
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: Church, he says, your ego is not your amigo anymore.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Men, when has submitting to and surrendering to your ego
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: ever led to something good? But the Holy Spirit that
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: lives in you if you're a Jesus follower will guide
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: you and direct you and prompt you in the direction
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: that brings hope and healing. It's the best life. It
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: makes your life better. It'll make you better at life.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: And if you don't think you have what it takes
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: to live a Christian life, you are absolutely correct.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: And that's okay. None of us do. And acknowledging our inability.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: Acknowledging our inability to pull this off means that you,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: if you're willing to acknowledge that, I can't, you can't,
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: I can't.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: It means you are standing on the threshold of the
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: kingdom of God.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: You're saying, God, I want to live under your rule
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: and your reign and I can't do it on my own.
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: And it's your.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: Invitation to invite your king to lead you, to fill you,
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: to empower you and to change you from the inside out.
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: To make the lyrics of this song that we're going
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: to sing in just a minute.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: Your prayer. It says this. We've sung it so many times. Lord,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: I come. And I confess, bowing here, that's the humility,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: bowing here, I find my rest. Without you, come on,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: without you, I fall apart. You're the one that I
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: need to guide my heart. Look at this.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: Where sin runs deep, your grace is more.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: I've been controlled by sin, but I believe your grace
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: can empower me to move forward.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: Where grace is found, that's where you are.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: And where you are, Lord, I am free because holiness
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: is Christ in me.
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: Lord, I need you. Oh, I need you. Ready for this?
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: When we sing it, I want this to just... Lord,
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: I need you. Oh, I need you every hour. Every hour,
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: I need you. My one defense, my righteousness. You're the
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: one who gives me a right standing with God. Oh, God,
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: how I need you.