Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #14813 - Worshipping Our Abba - Galatians 4:1-7

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#14813 - Worshipping Our Abba - Galatians 4:1-7 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bibles to Galatians
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chapter 4. So we continue our verse by
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verse study through the book of Galatians.
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We're starting a new chapter, but really carrying over from
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the previous chapter. And I've entitled our Bible
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study Worshipping our ABBA. What a great Hebrew word ABBA
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is, and we'll get to that in a moment.
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The author of the book of Galatians is Paul the Apostle
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and I often find myself thanking God for Paul the apostle.
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He is such a blessing to me and to you and to so many others.
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He's one of those brothers in the Bible that I, I can
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personally relate to. I, I, I see a lot of
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similarities in his life. I, I love to encourage and I
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love to help, But but and which would be more of a Barnabas type
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of ministry, but the Paul ministry just going for the
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Lord, just going for it and being all in seems to be the
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principal personality characteristic that I have.
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And I see that in Paul and I can relate to him.
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I'm grateful for his loyalty and I'm grateful for his commitment
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and I'm grateful for his obedience.
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I'm grateful for his faithfulness.
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One of the things I do when I'm reading the Bible is I'm, I'm
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picturing in my own mind being there.
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If I'm reading about Jesus, then I want to, I want to, in my holy
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imagination, my sanctified imagination, I want to be there.
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I want to be there as if he was telling me what he was telling
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his audience at the time or like we were studying the book of
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Acts and most of the book of Acts was written toward Paul.
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The was given us this perspective of his ministry.
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And so I'm in my mind, I just want to follow him.
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I want to go with him on the trips.
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I I want to sit with him in the pain.
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I want to deal with him and thinking about his thorn and my
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thorn in the flesh and on and on.
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But one of the things I really appreciate on top of all of that
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was Paul's. Commitment to the doctrine of
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grace. He was a champion of grace.
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Why? Because Jesus was a champion of
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grace. Jesus came in grace and truth,
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and Paul was a champion. No matter what it took, he paid
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the price so that grace would be continued to be displayed as it
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was taught by Jesus. He not only was a champion of
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grace, but an advocate of agape of love, a forgiveness, a
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proclaimer of relationship, following in the footsteps of
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Jesus. Paul preached grace.
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Why? Because he knew what legalism
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did to people. He knew the pain that it that it
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caused. He knew the difficulties that
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came when men and women would leave the grace of God and try
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to relate to God in some legalistic way through a list of
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rules and regulations. He knew the power of the message
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of the grace of God, the gospel of grace, and how powerful it
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is, how it edifies and it builds and it strengthens.
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I want you to think back now, just by way of review.
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You, You wake up 1 morning in a city in the area of Galatia.
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You remember Galatia is a region, not a city.
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So when he's writing, he's writing to these various cities
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in the region of Galatia. So you wake up 1 morning a
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Pagan, you're just living life, idolatry, going to work, not
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really caring about the one true God, not caring about Judaism,
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not caring about Christianity. You don't.
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You're just living your life. And this short guy shows up and
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he comes with a message. He, he looks like a rabbi, but
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he's not a rabbi. He he's a man that comes with a
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simple message. It's very simple.
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It's not that complicated. Following Jesus isn't as
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complicated as we've made it to be.
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It's a simple message, a message of grace.
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You have sinned against a holy and a righteous God.
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It's separated you from God. And in that separation you live
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a life of misery. But because of that misery, God
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shows mercy on us. And he sent his only begotten
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Son, Jesus Christ, to die on your behalf.
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And Jesus died according to the Scriptures, and he rose again
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the third day according to the scriptures, that if today you
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confess with your mouth, oh Lord Jesus, and you believe in your
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heart, God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
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Simple message. What happened?
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Many in the region of Galatia believe that message.
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Their life was radically changed instantly generational change.
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They didn't have a Bible. They didn't have scrolls.
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Then you remember they woke up that morning, pagans living a
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Pagan life and in an instant, spiritually they're renewed,
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born again, changed. And then the next day they wake
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up. What do they do?
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Live a simple life of faith the next day.
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Simple life of faith. Simple life of faith.
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I love you God. I want to serve you with my
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life. They started talking to God
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instead of their idols. They started thinking of God
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instead of their their rituals until this group of false
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teachers came and disrupted their simple life.
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You have to your simple life following Jesus has to be
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disrupted by an external source. You you don't just read the
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Bible and complicate Christianity.
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It's a very simple to follow Jesus, but over time it's been
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very complicated. It's been very, it's become
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something that it's not like when you when you think of you
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think of what's happening in Galatia, for example.
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I'm following Jesus, I'm loving him, I'm trusting him, I hear
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from him, I obey him. Simple life.
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And all of a sudden on Friday you were doing just fine, but
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now on Monday you want to keep the law.
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Where did that come from? It came from someone else.
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Someone had to teach you that. I think of all the weird
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doctrines and all the false teachings Today somebody brings
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me some weird thing and I'm listening to it.
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I'm like, where did you get that?
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Well, pastor, I was just reading my Bible where?
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Well, I actually saw it on TikTok and it caught my ear and
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it sounds good and I'm like no, a simple reading of the Bible
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would refute that TikTok video. You know that TikTok video was
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90 seconds. I can refute it in 30.
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This one verse whether it's TikTok or it's YouTube or it's
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your neighbor or your Co worker you have.
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To protect the simplicity of your relationship with God,
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Jesus would even say, Jesus would even say to the church in
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Ephesus, we'll get to the book of Ephesians eventually.
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So strong, so spiritual, so overwhelmed with the power of
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God. But later, 30 years or so later,
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Jesus writes them a little note and says, what's happened to you
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guys? You loved your first love.
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And what does he tell them to do?
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Go back to simplicity. It's basically remember from
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where you have fallen, repent, and go back and do the first
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works. Anytime I go back to California,
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especially where I grew up, it always reminds me, or at least
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it's kind of, it kind of reminds me.
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But when I go back, I think of simpler days.
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It wasn't my new believer days, simpler days.
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They really weren't that. They really weren't that much
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simpler. They were just harder in
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different ways, but my walk with the Lord was simpler.
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Like I hey, I don't have a Bible.
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I should go buy a Bible. Oh, I bought the wrong Bible,
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throw that one away. I need to get the right Bible.
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Like you don't even you're such a knucklehead as a new believer.
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You don't even know how to buy a Bible.
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Ed I know, but I love God. I have hope for my marriage.
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I believe he died for me. Simple.
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And when you start making mistakes, the Bible says though
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a man fall 7 times he rise again.
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You don't make excuses for your mistakes as new believer, you
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go, you know, that's just me and I just no, you don't do that.
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You acknowledge it and you go, oh Lord, I'm so sorry.
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I've hurt you and I've hurt others.
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It makes you a better employee that on Friday you were making
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excuses. On Monday you're trying to be a
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better employee. Why?
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Because you have a simple faith. You believe God and when you
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believe God, you live in the power of his Holy Spirit and not
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in your flesh. You walk in the spirit, not
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fulfilling the lust of your flesh.
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You see the Galatians, they got ripped off by legalism and Paul
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now is writing to them to correct this, to remind them of
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simplicity. So in Galatians chapter 4, let
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me just say that chapter breaks sometimes are unfortunate.
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You know, chapter breaks and verses were added many years
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later after the Bible was written just to help you and me
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find things. But in the Greek, in the
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original manuscripts, this would just read straight through.
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And most of the time chapter breaks are great.
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This one's kind of unfortunate because it breaks up a thought.
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So let's go back to Galatians chapter 3 now and notice with me
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in verse 26. Now, if you're, if you have a
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new King James Bible in your hand, which is what I use, I
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want you to notice. And most of them you'll be able
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to see this. It depends on how they printed
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it, but most of them you'll be able to see.
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Look at the number 26 in your Bible.
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Do you see the number 26? Is it emboldened?
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Is it bold letters? So that, that, that's mine.
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It's in mine as well. It's bold 25's not bold, 27's
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not bold. Why?
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The bold letters are pointing out to you.
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The translators put these in for you and me to see that it's the
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beginning of a paragraph. And you know in English we write
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and think in paragraph form. It's a full thought.
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When you have a paragraph, it's a full thought.
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So the beginning of the thought is actually verse 26 and we'll
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read straight through. So notice with me in chapter 3,
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verse 26. For you are all sons of God
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through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were
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baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
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There's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free,
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there's neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ
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Jesus, and if you're Christ, then you're Abraham's seed.
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And heirs. That's what we're going to focus
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on today. And heirs according to the
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promise. Now I say that the heir, as long
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as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave,
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though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards
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until the time appointed by the father an heir.
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He goes on. We've already learned, he
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describes grace and the law as a schoolmaster.
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He says the law is a schoolmaster.
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Remember with tutor. And we learned that that's a
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Roman illustration. We, we learned that tutors were
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given to young to young children until they came to the right
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age. They were disciplinarians and
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they were overseeing them until they came of age and then they
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didn't need a tutor anymore. You guys remember that study?
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So he compared, he says, look, the law was a tutor, but when
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grace came, you don't need the tutor anymore.
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When Christ came, you're done. Now he uses another illustration
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to make the same point. And that's what I one of the
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things I love about the Bible, the Bible is extremely relevant,
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giving us pictures and ideas that translate thousands of
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years for us to understand. So we get the idea, hey, when
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we're young, we need someone to teach us and help us.
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Even though we're not living in the 1st century Rome, we get it
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when we come to an age, we don't need a tutor anymore.
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Now an heir, he says an heir, as long as they're a child, they're
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just like a servant. They're just like a servant.
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Now, Paul's using another Roman example here.
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He uses an example from Roman law and customs.
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In the ancient times, the coming of age of a son carried
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tremendous significance. This didn't occur at a specific
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age, such as 12 or 13, as it did among the Jews and Greeks.
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Rather, the coming of age for Rome, for a Roman was determined
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by the dad. So the dad would determine he's
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ready, he's of age and declare that in Rome this event was
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usually marked on March 17th by a family celebration known as
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Labrelia. During this event, the father
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formally acknowledged the son and heir.
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The son received a new grown up toga and entered into the adult
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responsibilities. There was a change, a
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declaration of the father that he's no longer a child, he's of
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age. And we understand this as we
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bring it into modern days. I think of my own family, Marie
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and I, Marie and I, we have an estate.
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Not much, but it is what we've accumulated over 30 plus years
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of marriage. Everything Marie and I own in
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this moment, everything Marie and I own, my kids own.
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It belongs to our kids. They will receive an
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inheritance. They will receive an
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inheritance. They can expect it, but at this
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time in their life, can't do anything with it.
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Don't touch it, don't even think about it.
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It's not yours. It's yours, but it's not yours.
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They're no different than anyone else.
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My kids right now are just like you.
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You're getting nothing right now, and neither are they
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because something has to happen. Something has to happen in order
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for my kids to enjoy my inheritance now.
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It could be one of two things, actually.
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I could give it to them while I'm alive.
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I can sign it right over to them and say here, take it, kick us
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out of the house, it's all yours or death at death.
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Our estate will Passover. There's an event that takes
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place, and once that event takes place, things change.
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That's the illustration. And as we've learned already, we
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have the event that's taken place.
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Paul uses this air and inheritance as an example.
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He's comparing it to the law and grace.
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And when we say law and grace, remember grace arrived in the
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person of Jesus Christ and they we have nothing under the law,
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but the fullness of the law has been given to us through Jesus
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Christ by grace. Now verse 4, or excuse me, verse
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3, Even so, we when we were children were in bondage under
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the elements. Of the world.
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So now with the example of air and inheritance, he's OK.
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I want you guys to think about this.
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We were all kids when we were younger.
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We were all kids. But now he's using a spiritual
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illustration. He goes as children, we were in
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bondage under the elements of the world.
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Now there's a lot of debate on the elements of the world.
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You can read commentaries and they're like elements of the
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world are like the ABC's of the world or or the basic things of
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the world. But that's not how Paul's using
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this. You can jot it down in
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Colossians chapter 2, verse 20 verses through 23 that the same
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phrases used to describe the law, but also in context.
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Because remember, whenever you're coming up with a
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difficulty in the Bible, you have to remember the Bible is
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always its best commentary. Before you look to a man, before
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you look to a Bible study, before you look to a commentary,
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you've got to look in the Bible 1st.
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And the best commentary of any verse, the best first place to
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look is the context, the context.
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And we see from the context in verse four, he uses the phrase
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born under the law. So he's tying it all together,
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born under the law. You go back into verse 3 talking
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about kids. We're bondage under the elements
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of the world. So I believe the elements of the
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world here is referring in illustration purposes of the
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law. He's saying we were kids, we
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were in bondage to the law. But there's a serious problem
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with the law. The law can tell us what to do,
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but it can't give us the power to do it.
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The law will declare to us what's required, leaving to us a
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choice, but it can't empower us. The law is powerless, doesn't
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give us the needed power to follow through.
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It simply points you in the right direction and points me in
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the right direction, but really can't help us do anything.
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That's why a relationship with Jesus is so refreshing and
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powerful. Not only does he enter your
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life, but He imparts to you the supernatural power to accomplish
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anything and everything He gives you to do.
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It's not in your own efforts anymore.
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It's not in your own strength. You're not trying to please a
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pastor. You're not trying to please a
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church. You're not trying to please your
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parents. You are living in relationship
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with Jesus and that is where your heart and where your mind
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is. You desire to please the Lord.
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You're looking to him. It's such a, it's such a state
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of freedom. It's an amazing place of
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freedom. You see, the law dictates,
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legalism dictates. This is what this is what
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legalism does. It's a very dangerous thing,
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Legalism, it imposes so much restraint.
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At first. It starts with us.
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Almost always legalist start internally, almost always you,
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you just and, and, and sometimes it's really good motives.
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Really actually, you want to be a good believer.
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You want to honor God, you want to please God.
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It actually starts out pretty well, but it only leads to
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frustration because let's just say you start out and go out.
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These two things I want to do the rest of my life.
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I'm going to read my Bible and pray every day.
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And when I read my Bible and pray every day, I feel good.
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And when I don't, I feel bad. Exactly because you've imposed a
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rule on yourself in order to feel good.
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I'm going to read my Bible and it, you know, feeling good is
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one thing, but then you take it a step further.
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You go, It's not just feeling good.
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In order to be right with God, I need to read my Bible and pray
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every day. And what happens when you do?
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You feel good. What happens when you don't?
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You feel bad. Actually, you're frustrated.
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It's a very frustrating thing. You get into a problem at noon,
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you yell at your boss, and then you go, Oh man, what a horrible
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person I am. I didn't read my Bible today, so
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now I yelled at my boss. Actually, you're a horrible
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person to begin with. It doesn't matter what happens
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with your Bible. You need the power of the Holy
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Spirit so you can respond in the Spirit to your boss, not the
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flesh. It had nothing to do with
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reading your Bible. That's a rule you set up.
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You created that rule. You don't have to read your
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Bible. Don't ever read your Bible ever
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again. You go pastor, Are you serious?
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I am serious. You don't have to read your
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Bible ever again. But you get to.
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And if you get to read your Bible, don't you want to?
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And if you want to read your Bible, doesn't it impart to you
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the joy and the strength and the direction and the instruction
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of? Course it does.
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So now you don't wake up every morning with some imposed law I
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have. To you get up in the morning and
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go, I can't wait to I want to. It's a very different way of
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living life. So then you add again over now
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it's reading your Bible and then it's praying, then it's church
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attendance. Then I got to feed the poor and
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then I got all these rules and before you know it, you can't
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keep them and you're frustrated and even self condemning.
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You beat yourself up. I'm a horrible person.
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I'm a horrible person. I can't do anything.
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No, no, actually you, you are a horrible person redeemed by the
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Lord save a son or daughter of the king.
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That that when you set up these rules, you could never keep your
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rules. You got to understand you can
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never keep your rules. So you know what happens to
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legalists? This is what happens.
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You ready? And some of you are like, oh
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man, how did he know my life? I know.
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That's why I know this is what happens.
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Because you beat yourself up and frustrated and condemn yourself
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so much you get tired of that. You're like, it's enough is
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enough. And a legalist begins to impose
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his or her rules on others and they become sin.
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Sniffers smells sin over here. I can actually see it brighter
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over here. Like you guys, you're much
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brighter now, I can see. You're just starting to now.
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All you're looking for is failure, difficulty.
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All you're looking for is is, hey, you didn't read your Bible.
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No, I'm sorry. Well, what a horrible Christian
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you are. No, no, no, we don't.
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We don't actually know what the issue is yet with not reading
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your Bible. All we know is you didn't.
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And that's how legalism breeds. And then churches become that
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way. It's a very manipulative, nasty
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thing. The best place to be is to be
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led by the Lord, to be obedient to the Holy Spirit.
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And you see the law and your rules can impart the power.
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It's impossible to keep the law of God perfectly but by faith in
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Jesus Christ. The Bible says this.
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Jesus said it, Matthew chapter 19.
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He said in verse 26, with men this is impossible, but with God
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all things are possible. And basically the message of
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Galatians is this, you guys started out with such a simple
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gospel, why in the world would you go back or for them?
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They didn't go back. They're just Gentiles.
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Somebody had to teach them this. They're just Gentiles.
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They didn't know they had to keep the law.
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They were introduced to Jesus, his death and resurrection, and
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Paul is amazed what? Who has bewitched you as we've
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already learned what is wrong with you guys?
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And there's a lot of answers to that.
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But the way out is repentance and humility.
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Legalism has a way of always trapping you in a cycle of
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failure that leaves you frustrated and defeated.
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And verse 4 says, But when the fullness of time had come, God
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sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to
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redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive
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adoption as sons. 4000 years. God had promised Messiah to
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come. 4000 years would be a long time to wait.
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Don't you think? 4000 years?
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How about 4000 seconds or minutes?
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But 4000 years with each sacrifice, which each animal
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given, with each offering. It was as we're learning in our
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midweek about the Tabernacle. Every time they would walk by
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the Tabernacle, every time they'd walk by the temple, they
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would be reminded. God promised.
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God promised. But when the fullness of time
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had come, God sent forth his Son.
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It was God's appointed time. He was born of a woman, a virgin
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named Mary. He was born a Jewish savior.
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Jesus Christ is a Jewish man. He came to fulfill a Jewish law.
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And again, it's another thing that gets twisted where you
24:21
think because God chose the children of Israel to be the
24:25
apple of his eye. Remember, we know in the Bible,
24:28
the Bible tells us that God didn't choose them because they
24:30
were anything special. God chose them because God chose
24:34
them. And a part of the rule or part
24:36
of the law, part of the promises that Messiah would come through
24:40
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, eventually through the line of
24:46
David. Of course, Jesus is a Jewish
24:49
savior, but not simply to reach the Jews.
24:52
He came to the Jew 1st and then to the Greek.
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Aren't you glad? Because most of us are the
24:59
second part. But God's heart's always been
25:01
for the Gentile. Always, always, always.
25:05
Again, when men get involved, they have a tendency to corrupt
25:08
things. But I love this.
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Fullness of time. You don't always love it.
25:12
I don't actually always love this phrase.
25:14
The fullness of time. You know, for example, you don't
25:17
like the fullness of time when you're waiting because that
25:22
means the fullness of time hasn't come yet.
25:25
And nobody, I mean rarely do we like to wait.
25:30
Waiting a day, a year, 10 years, very, very hard.
25:35
But the Bible says that waiting on the Lord brings strength,
25:38
fullness of time. We don't really like the
25:41
fullness of time when it when it comes to the significance of the
25:45
coming of the Lord. We want him to come now, but
25:48
there's a fullness of time, just like there was a fullness of
25:51
time for him coming. We love this phrase when it is
25:54
the fullness of time for whatever we were praying for,
25:57
whatever we were going. Now we love this one in verse 4
26:00
because it was the coming of Messiah as God promised and we
26:06
need to pause again and be encouraged that God keeps his
26:11
promises. You can trust God, He keeps his
26:15
promises. Jot this down first Kings
26:18
chapter 8 verse 56. It says blessed be the Lord who
26:23
has given rest to his people, Israel according to all that he
26:27
promised. And I love this phrase.
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This is a verse you can memorize this week.
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Though there has not failed one word of all, His good promise,
26:38
which He promised through His servant Moses.
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So there are two types of promises that God gives #1 He
26:45
gives a promise that he's already kept or two, he gives a
26:49
promise that he's going to keep, but he keeps all his promises.
26:53
You can hold on to the scriptures yesterday before
26:56
service. Actually last night I hadn't
26:59
read my Proverbs until I came in just to to the building
27:01
yesterday. So I didn't get him in the
27:03
morning, but I was in my office reviewing my notes, pull my
27:06
Bible out. I started read the Proverbs
27:08
because I like to read a chapter of Proverbs every day.
27:11
So I pulled out. I did chapter 28 because
27:14
yesterday was the 28th reading through and one of the Proverbs
27:17
jumped off the page and got impressed upon my heart.
27:20
You should sent, take a picture, send this to a brother that this
27:23
applies to. And it's a great, it's a great
27:25
scripture. It says something along the
27:27
lines of you won't prosper if you hide your sin.
27:31
So that may be a word for someone.
27:32
You're not going to prosper thinking you're hiding your sin,
27:35
but when you confess and forsake it, there's mercy.
27:37
That's what it says. I'm like this brother just
27:40
needed to be reminded that there's mercy.
27:42
There's mercy because he has confessed and, and forsaken his
27:45
sin. And while he's living in the
27:48
delay time of discouragement right now, it's also a time of
27:51
God's mercy. And that's what, what are we
27:54
going to choose? Are we going to choose to look
27:55
at discouragement, choose to look at mercy?
27:57
So I sent it off to him. That's a promise.
28:00
That is a promise in the Bible. What's the promise, Ed?
28:03
Here it is. It's two actually 2 promises,
28:05
one verse. You get a bonus promise in that
28:08
verse. The first promise is this.
28:10
If you're listening to my voice right now and you are hiding sin
28:14
or you think you're hiding it, you will not prosper.
28:18
That's a promise. It is not going to happen.
28:22
Even to those of you that might be fighting me right here.
28:24
Whoa, Pastor Ed, look at me. Nobody knows.
28:26
And look what? No, no, no.
28:27
That's not prosperity. That's deceit.
28:30
You deceived yourself. That's promise number one.
28:34
But promise number 2 is even by before you leave here today.
28:37
Promise number 2 is this. If you confess and forsake it,
28:41
you'll have mercy. And what is mercy?
28:43
We've defined mercy. Grace, not getting what you are
28:46
getting what you don't deserve, judgment, getting what you
28:49
deserve, mercy, not getting what you deserve.
28:52
And you cry out for mercy. And God will be very merciful
28:56
and gracious. God has promised us so much.
29:00
As we read through. The pages of scripture just a
29:02
simple reading. See, when you're, when you're
29:05
reading the Bible that way, not academically, not trying to be a
29:09
theologian, not trying to parse all the words and all the Greek,
29:13
there's a time and place for that.
29:15
But when you're reading your Bible, you're reading about
29:18
God's nature and character and his promises.
29:23
I mean, that's a pretty powerful promise that if I confess my
29:27
sin, there's mercy, which reminds me of another verse.
29:32
First, John 19, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
29:37
just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all
29:41
unrighteousness. You know what?
29:42
That is another promise. God keeps His promises.
29:49
The appointed time, the fullness of time.
29:51
God sent forth His Son. Now the appointing of the time
29:56
of God. He knows all things.
29:57
He knew the exact time that Messiah needed to come.
30:03
God knows what He's doing with your life.
30:06
He knows why you are where you are.
30:08
He knows why you're experiencing what you're experiencing.
30:10
If you'll just look to Him, there's a lot of spiritual
30:13
growth that's available. You look to yourself, you look
30:15
to others. You're going to be frustrated
30:17
and upset all the time, but when you look to Him, there is help
30:20
for you. But there was also practical
30:22
things happening in the 1st century.
30:24
I don't want to get too much into it, but I wanted you to
30:26
consider there were things happening that God could see
30:29
that maybe other people couldn't see.
30:31
That was perfect timing for Messiah.
30:33
So if you're taking notes #1 in this time, the appointed time,
30:37
the Romans had built roads all throughout the world.
30:43
The Roman Rd. system was amazing.
30:46
They had connected first class roads throughout their entire
30:50
empire and you know where all roads led to Rome.
30:54
They're still there today. We just got back from our
30:56
footsteps of Paul trip that they have replanted their culture and
31:01
there's the Romans all throughout the world.
31:03
It's the same anywhere you go. If you go to us, to Israel and
31:06
you go to Beth Shan, it is a, a well preserved set of ruins from
31:12
the Roman time. And all the roads are there.
31:15
You can walk on these Roman roads.
31:16
They still exist. I'm driving down Parker Road.
31:20
I wish the Romans would build that, but they didn't.
31:27
You know what I mean? You getting what I'm saying?
31:31
Just want to make sure you're still with me.
31:33
It's kind of a another theological Bible study, but I
31:35
want you to stick with me. The Roman roads #2 there was
31:39
almost at this time, this appointed time, the fullness of
31:42
time. There was almost a universal
31:45
language. Not only the roads connecting
31:47
the world, but there was also a almost most of the world spoke
31:51
Greek, some of the world spoke Latin.
31:54
So 2 primary languages. And then thirdly, this appointed
31:58
time, the perfect time for Jesus to come.
32:01
The perfect time. For the gospel to explode, the
32:05
gospel of grace, the fullness of time.
32:08
Thirdly, the Jewish religion. The Jews were stuck in a cold
32:12
dead religion and this was the right time for Jesus to come.
32:20
Why was he sent verse 5 to redeem.
32:24
If you like to write in your Bible, circle out word redeem.
32:26
It means to purchase back a slave and give them their
32:31
freedoms. You can just say purchase back
32:32
to buy back. In the Roman world, this word
32:36
was this Greek word was used to describe the purchase of a price
32:41
for a slave so they could have their freedom.
32:44
Why is that important? In Rome there were 60 million
32:47
slaves. Someone had to build those roads
32:50
and build those cities, and many people were taken advantage of.
32:53
But you could redeem them and buy back their freedom.
32:57
How much more for you and me being slaves to sin that Jesus
33:01
came to buy us back from the power of sin.
33:04
Sin's very powerful, you know, ruins lives, takes root in
33:08
people's hearts. I think of how many are dealing
33:10
with bitterness today and you're just, you're in prison.
33:14
But God, the Bible says that God has come to set you free, that
33:19
he has set you free. Not only that, but notice it
33:22
says in verse 5, we were redeemed.
33:24
Why? Because we were stuck under the
33:26
law that we might receive the adoptions as sons.
33:32
So now the new relationship you have with your, with your God,
33:38
with God in heaven is as a father, a father.
33:43
You and I are redeemed to be a son or a daughter to be adopted.
33:49
I was adopted. So I always like to look that I
33:51
was adopted twice. I was adopted into a physical
33:55
family, but I was also adopted into a spiritual family.
33:57
And that's why the kiddos around the church, the foster care
34:00
kids, the kids that were adopted, I always like to share
34:04
when I hear that, that I was adopted too, and that there's a
34:07
beautiful opportunity, if they're not saved already, to be
34:11
adopted into the family of God. And that means you receive the
34:14
full rights, full rights. I get to at times get to attend
34:21
these adoption ceremonies when I can make it.
34:24
And I hear the judge, it's a very, you know, the judge does
34:27
it all day. But we know you're just walking
34:28
in for one time and you hear the judge say the full rights and
34:33
heir and then the parents say, yes, yes.
34:39
And that's what God gives to you.
34:42
You are a son and daughter of the king.
34:44
Why? Because of the Jesus, it's the
34:48
grace of God. You can't earn this, you can't
34:53
deserve it, you can't keep it. It's yours by God's decree
35:00
through the blood of Jesus Christ.
35:02
It's your faith, God's power. Not only that, verse 6, and
35:09
that's another word. And not only that, it's kind of
35:12
like an infomer. Not only that, but because
35:15
you're sons, God has sent forth his spirit, the spirit of his
35:20
son into your hearts. Crying out, ABBA father, ABBA,
35:26
daddy is really you go around Israel, you'll hear this all the
35:30
time. You'll hear little kids, ABBA,
35:32
ABBA, ABBA, ABBA. It's an affectionate term toward
35:35
their dad or their grandfather. ABBA, this is this is miraculous
35:39
stuff. No longer are you worried about
35:42
God condemning you and coming down hard on you and and just
35:46
erasing you from the planet, but now as a son or daughter that's
35:50
adopted, you call him Dad. Sometimes when we're in our
35:53
prayer meetings on Wednesday, we'll be with somebody and
35:55
that's how they address God. They go, oh, you can't address
35:58
God. No, no, no.
35:59
That's a very intimate, close way ABBA.
36:06
Not everybody relates to God that way.
36:08
You know, I, I meet people from time to time, they don't see God
36:11
as ABBA. They well, you know, I have a
36:12
I'm OK. You're a Christian.
36:14
You're a pastor. Yeah, I'm OK with the man
36:17
upstairs. Like what?
36:18
Bro? You live in an apartment.
36:19
Like you got a guy upstairs. What are you talking about?
36:22
He's not the man upstairs. He's God almighty, holy,
36:25
righteous, who at the fullness of time sent his son to save
36:29
your soul. He's not the man upstairs.
36:31
You're not even the man upstairs.
36:38
The point Paul's making to the these, these Gentile believers
36:45
is you have it all by faith. Why would you choose to go back
36:54
or choose the law? Why are you wanting to go back
36:57
to bondage? Don't go back.
37:02
Enjoy all that is yours by adoption.
37:08
If my parents would have never told me about my adoption, I
37:12
wouldn't have known the difference.
37:15
They were my parents, they raised me, they dealt with all
37:18
my problems. I used to joke my mom would be
37:22
upset with me, but I used to joke that I would get in trouble
37:25
so much that my mom would pull out all the adoption paperwork
37:28
and pull out that receipt like CVS and turn it on to the back
37:32
and find out what the return policy was.
37:34
I said I never said that. I said mom, I'm joking.
37:38
I know it's my way of saying it was very hard on them for it to
37:43
adopt me. I made life miserable for them
37:46
for a lot of my growing up. And you know God, he doesn't get
37:52
such a great bargain with you either.
37:57
We have all our baggage and our spiritual growth and our
38:00
problems. Even thinking about, even
38:03
thinking about God as a father is hard for some of you because
38:06
of the way you were raised. I'm sorry.
38:09
I'm sorry that there's that, that barrier that's between you
38:13
and God because you had a bad dad or an absent dad or an
38:19
abusive dad or a dad that abandoned you.
38:26
That's not God. That was a poor representation
38:30
in your life that you can trust God and you can grow in trusting
38:35
him. He is trustworthy at the right
38:40
time. He sent his own son, God a
38:44
giver, God a lover, caring for you and for me.
38:52
And so no longer are we slaves of religion.
38:55
We're now sons and daughters of relationship.
38:59
Don't trade it for anything. Don't let a man do that.
39:02
Don't let a church do that. Don't let a religion do that.
39:06
To steal you away from the simplicity of your personal walk
39:09
with Jesus and enjoying what Jesus said.
39:16
He came not to condemn, but to set us free.
39:19
That's his own lips now in our relationship with God.
39:25
If you're taking notes, I want to give you 9 things that you
39:29
can enjoy. The I mean, we could probably do
39:31
900, but I picked out nine. That's consistent with this
39:34
Bible study. If I talk too fast, as some have
39:37
said, e-mail me. I'll send it to you.
39:43
People did last night, but it's better for you to write it down.
39:47
But just consider here are some things that are yours right now
39:50
as an adopted son or daughter of the king.
39:53
You ready? Number one, you have new life.
39:55
Galatians chapter 2, verse 20 #2 You are no longer under a curse.
40:00
Galatians chapter 3, verse 13 #3 You have a new family, Galatians
40:06
chapter 4, verse 15 #4 you and I, we have access, direct access
40:12
to the father. Romans, chapter 8, verse 15.
40:16
We are heirs and joint heirs with Christ.
40:19
We learned not today, but also Romans chapter 8 verse 17.
40:22
We have the Holy Spirit learn not today.
40:25
Romans chapter 8 verse 16. Excuse me, we are free from
40:28
condemnation. Romans chapter 8 verse one
40:31
listen with if you live a life of always beating yourself up,
40:35
then you just know you're not living in grace in that moment.
40:38
There's no condemnation in Christ.
40:40
There's correction, there's instruction, there's conviction,
40:44
but there is not. There is not, There is not
40:48
condemnation #8 we have spiritual authority and victory.
40:55
Luke chapter 10 verse 19, a victory like I was just thinking
41:00
this morning, I was meditating on this, this one number 8
41:04
Victoria this the the false identity of victimhood has
41:09
ripped so many people off from what God has for you.
41:14
And that's just something that you need to consider because if
41:18
you're walking around always the victim, always the victim,
41:21
always the martyr, then you're missing out.
41:25
Let the Lord give you victory. #9 we all have a future that's
41:30
secure in Jesus. First John chapter 3, verse 2.
41:34
Amen. Amen.
41:36
Lord, thank you for your word today.
41:37
It's very good, very encouraging, very powerful and
41:41
reminding that we aren't slaves to religion, but we're free as
41:46
men and women living in relationship.
41:48
Simple as that. But I know that that opens up a
41:51
lot of. You know a lot of bad memories.
41:55
It opens up a lot of frustration and like as you're growing your
41:58
church Lord, let us learn by your grace the beauty of of the
42:04
beauty of surrender, the beauty of submission, the beauty of
42:11
trust that some God, I just pray right now would begin to trust
42:15
you again. They would begin to trust you
42:20
again. They would begin to see either
42:25
worthiness of our trust in you. You're worth.
42:28
You're not only trustworthy God, but you're worthy of trust that
42:32
some God would just begin to read their Bible for the
42:34
promises they just see. These are these are not just a
42:37
bunch of fingers pointing, but rather promises, promises
42:41
showing us the way of life, revealing your character and
42:45
your nature to us and still others today.
42:49
This is the day of life where you draw a person out of the
42:54
world and adopt them as your own daughter, as your own son.
42:58
And I want to invite you today as we head out.
43:01
I don't want you to leave without understanding the
43:05
gospel, the good news that your sins can be forgiven.
43:11
We had a chuckle about it, about our own lives, But the Bible is
43:14
true. We have all sinned and fallen
43:17
short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death,
43:22
difficulty, destruction, but the gift of God is eternal life
43:26
through Christ Jesus our Lord. The forgiveness of sins that
43:30
today if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe
43:33
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
43:36
saved. Why?
43:40
Because of the finished work of Christ.
43:42
And why did Christ come at the appointed time?
43:45
Because God loves you and me. And so today before we leave, if
43:51
you're here and you would say, Ed, I need my sins forgiven.
43:55
I want to follow Jesus with my life.
43:57
Would you just stand to your feet right now?
43:59
I want to pray for you. I want to help you pray to God
44:03
for the forgiveness of your sins.
44:05
God bless you over here. I'm going to need a little help
44:07
over here and it's a little better today.
44:09
But you guys, God bless you in the back and somebody's going to
44:14
come up and stand alongside of you.
44:16
So just let the Lord know. I mean, just know that we do
44:20
that. That's kind of follow up.
44:21
So, you know, you're not alone. So we need someone in the back
44:26
over here, over here around the corner.
44:33
God bless you right here. And you guys, you Christian,
44:36
see, just be in prayer. And maybe you're praying for the
44:39
person responding or right now it reminds you to pray for your
44:41
dad or your uncle, your boss. God bless you up up here up
44:49
front that the Lord would do a great work.
44:56
Who else would say that's me? It's a very high and holy
45:00
moment. God bless you right here.
45:05
The Lord is doing a great work, just really revealing himself in
45:10
the depths of his hearts and minds that today would be the
45:15
day. Thank you guys.
45:18
So let's do this what the Bible says, confess with your mouth
45:21
and I acknowledge you online right now and and listening on
45:24
the radio. You're listening live right now.
45:26
God is speaking to you live on the radio.
45:28
Imagine that it's how much he loves you or downstairs, there's
45:36
quite a few moving. So there's another one over
45:38
here. If you guys can move around,
45:40
there's one over here guys. Let's make sure no one gets
45:45
missed. Just ask God right now You could
45:49
say God forgive me of my sins. I believe you sent Jesus to die
45:58
for me, and I believe he rose again from the dead for me.
46:08
And I choose to turn away from my sinful past and follow you
46:17
and God in this room right now and, and, and all around.
46:20
I pray for those that are crying out to you, that are truly in a
46:24
place where they need and want you as a son and as a daughter,
46:32
not a churchgoer, not a religious person, but for you as
46:38
ABBA Father. And so God pour your spirit out
46:43
in them and upon them, and may they, may they have a
46:48
fruitfulness in their simple life beginning today, just
46:52
living by faith, trusting you, obeying you, enjoying you in
46:59
Jesus name. We pray that you've been
47:02
encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from the
47:04
sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
47:10
Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
47:18
integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
47:22
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
47:27
Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
47:30
this week.