Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #14816 - Stand Strong in Grace - Galatians 5:1-7

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#14816 - Stand Strong in Grace - Galatians 5:1-7 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

• 0:03
  Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
• 0:07
  Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
• 0:11
  To learn more about the many resources available through a
• 0:13
  Bounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
• 0:17
  visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
• 0:22
  Calvary Church app. Now.
• 0:24
  Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
• 0:28
  Amen take your Bibles, open them, would you to Galatians
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  chapter 5 as we start a new chapter, Galatians chapter 5,
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  I've entitled our Bible study stand strong in grace.
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  That is the conclusion and that is the word from Paul to the
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  believers in Galatia. After spending four chapters
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  laying the foundation, the theological foundation for the
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  doctrine of grace by displaying to us the great character and
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  nature of God, he now comes to the activities and the
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  responses, or you could say the application of everything that
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  he has taught. And you'll notice that in Paul's
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  letters, when you read Paul's letters, they almost always
• 1:15
  divide in half or close to half. The first part of Paul's letters
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  are always theological. He's teaching you the principle,
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  reviewing it in light of God, in light of who God is, in light of
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  what God has done. And then the second part of his
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  letters will be then now our response or our application.
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  So when you look at the letters, you'll see it, you'll see it in
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  Galatians, you'll see it in Ephesians, Philippians,
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  Colossians. He starts with the, the
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  understanding of who God is. And then he says, now that you
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  know this, this is how I want you to respond, which is a
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  little different than perhaps you were raised in the church
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  that you attended. It's a little different because
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  the, the church today almost moves us to action, do this, do
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  this, do this, do this, never really revealing to us why, Why
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  the activity, why the service? Why, why would we want to?
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  And the answer is, we're always the responders.
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  God is the initiator. It's because of his great work
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  and His great love that we now have the privilege of serving
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  him and being used by him. And so we're starting a new
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  section of the Scriptures and notice it starts with in
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  Galatians chapter 5. It starts with that instruction.
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  Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty and which Christ has
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  made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of
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  bondage. He gives that instruction.
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  Stand fast. Now standing is very important
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  in the Scriptures throughout the Bible.
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  Standing is a great place to be. If you're taking notes, you'll,
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  you'll see Moses standing at the burning Bush in Exodus chapter 3
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  verse 5, it says do not draw near this place.
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  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is
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  holy ground. The tribe of Levis they were
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  ministering to Lord, were standing before the Lord.
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  Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 8. At that time the Lord separated
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  the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of of the
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  Lord, to stand before the Lord, to minister to him, and to bless
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  in his name. To this day the House of House
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  of the righteous is mentioned in the Bible as standing.
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  Proverbs chapter 12, verse 7. The wicked are overthrown and
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  are no more, but the House of the righteous will stand, and
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  then finally Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus is
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  standing at the door. Revelation chapter 3 verse 20.
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  It says, behold, I stand at the door and knock.
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  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into
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  him and dine with him and he with me.
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  A careful study in the Bible. You'll see that 200 / 250 times
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  the word stand is used just in the New Testament alone.
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  And how important it is for us to stand.
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  Learning how to stand strong in adversity.
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  Standing up for our faith. Standing still.
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  This is an important one. Standing still while God works
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  on our behalf, not taking things in our own hands in our lives.
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  There are definitely times to sit and times to walk and times
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  to run, but there are also times to stand, to take your stand.
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  Paul, as he's writing to the believers in the Galatia region,
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  as he battles the legalists, comes to this very practical
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  part in his letter. He turns a corner to exhort the
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  believers to action. In the middle of false gospels
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  and false teachers and heavy-handed rules and
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  regulations, Paul's answer? Stand fast.
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  It's a little counterintuitive, isn't it?
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  I mean, if they're surrounded by false teachers and you're
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  surrounded by all this stuff disrupting the church, you would
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  think that your action would be a little bit more forward, like
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  go after them and take them out and remove them.
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  And all of those things may be necessary at some time or
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  another, but the real response is you stand fast in the grace
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  of God. That is the position and the
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  posture to take. Don't move an inch or a
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  millimeter or any any move any measure of distance.
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  Don't move. Stay strong.
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  Stand fast in the freedom and the liberty and the glorious
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  grace of God. Notice what he says in verse
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  one. Stand fast.
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  The idea is to take your stand. While the legalists were telling
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  you work hard, work hard, work hard, work hard.
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  Paul says stand fast, just don't move at all.
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  Jesus, it says, it says in verse one, Jesus Christ has made us
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  free. You're not to move from that.
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  Stay where you are. Don't let anybody move you away.
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  I mean you. We learned already the Galatians
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  were living life like all of us were living life.
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  They were pagans. No real background in Jewish
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  religion, no background in Judaism.
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  Out of the blue, some guy shows up to town, grabs their
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  attention and shares with them, talks with them and gives them a
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  message. A message of creator.
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  God loves them so much that he sent his Son Jesus Christ to die
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  on their behalf. They believe that message and
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  immediately were set free from all of their past, from all of
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  their bondage. Immediately they were set free
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  and given an eternal hope. And as they were living life in
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  that new freedom, Paul stays a little bit, then he takes off.
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  As they're living in their new freedom, other guys come to town
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  and they say, Oh no, no, no, that's not enough.
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  You need more than just grace, more than just simple faith.
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  They would come like many people do today.
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  I've been teaching, you know, and this.
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  We're in Galatians 5 now, so 15 other Bible studies.
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  They've been already just in 15 weeks.
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  I've been getting emails with people very upset with me
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  teaching about the doctrine of grace.
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  And you know, pretty soon I can't wait for these to go on
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  the radio. So I'll get more e-mail.
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  I'm fine with it to to be upset with the grace of God.
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  You just don't understand the heart of God.
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  You may need to go back to Hebrews.
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  Go back to the beginning of Galatians.
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  Think about what it means to be adopted into a family.
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  When you're adopted into a family, you're just in the
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  family. What else do you need to do?
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  Like what? What?
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  What do you need to do? Work your whole life to be
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  accepted by that family? No, it's done.
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  It's a done deal. Sign on the dotted line.
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  You are my child. As if you, I gave birth to you.
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  That's the and and because of that, you become an heir.
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  You get everything. You're not only a part of my
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  family, but you own everything. And that we own because we are
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  family. And you don't need to work for
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  it. You don't need to, to work hard
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  and to keep it and to stay a son to say it, stay a daughter.
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  You just are. And yet they come along and say,
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  no, you can't be that free. You can't be that free.
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  You, you can't be that free. You can't enjoy that because it
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  has to be harder than that. And what Paul says is because of
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  your freedom and what God has done for you, don't give it up
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  so easily. And I would even say don't give
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  it up at all, but don't give it up so easily.
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  Don't let some weird person come in So with some weird teaching,
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  oh, I didn't know that. I might as well give up my
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  freedom and become in bondage to you.
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  And yet God delivered you from that kind of stuff.
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  The freedom that you have was given to you by Jesus himself.
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  Notice what he says. Don't be entangled again with a
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  yoke of bondage. You have been set free from
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  rules and regulations and religious activity.
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  Remember, because they were Pagan, they lived a very
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  fearful, superstitious life. These Galatians, they were
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  always worried and concerned that their life didn't measure
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  up and that the gods, little G would wipe them out.
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  It's interesting to me how it's interesting to me how many
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  believers live superstitiously today and not just trusting in
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  the Lord. It's like, oh, I don't know, I
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  might have done that wrong. And I, I don't know God just he
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  just is judging me. Well, wait a minute.
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  Didn't Jesus take that judgement upon the cross for you?
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  It's it's not a superstitious way that God wants you to live.
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  He wants you to live in freedom. You don't have to worry about
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  what God is going to do or isn't going to do.
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  There are definitely natural consequences to our sin.
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  There's nothing we can really do about that except not sin.
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  But God loves you. He sent it.
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  He proved that to us. He's not looking and watching
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  your life, just looking at a place for you to fail.
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  He doesn't want you to fail. He wants you to succeed.
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  He's done everything that he possibly can to see you make it
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  and he wants you to make it all the way through.
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  That's what he he promised that what he began in you, he will
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  complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
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  He's for you and not against you in Christ.
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  Don't become entangled. Circle that word entangled.
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  It means trapped. It means to be trapped,
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  ensnared, or you could even say stuck.
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  You can say that don't be trapped by anyone that would
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  want to take you and have dominion over your faith, which
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  is exactly what these folks do. We were having to do a late
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  night Walmart run again this week and it was late at night
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  parking lots pretty empty, except there are the Mormon
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  missionaries are like hanging out in the Walmart parking lot
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  walking up to doors. You know, that was happening in
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  the the car in front of me. We were getting out.
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  They were coming in and they're right there and they're walking
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  right up to him scaring the guy, you know, and he's saying and,
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  and me, I, I looked at Maria and go, I don't, I don't feel like
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  it right now. I don't feel like it.
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  Let's just go in and get what we got to get.
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  It's late, I'm tired. I don't feel like it.
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  But but they're what they're coming to you with is they're
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  coming to you with a message that will bring you under their
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  care. Now, maybe not those kids
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  themselves, but the religious system that takes you away from
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  Jesus Christ and takes you to a man.
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  You don't want to follow a man because that man did not give
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  you freedom. That man did not die for you.
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  That man actually took the doctrines and the truth
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  surrounding Jesus Christ and twisted them into a way that
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  will take you away from the sufficient Jesus is enough.
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  Have you heard that? Have you heard that Jesus is
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  enough? So don't let anybody RIP you
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  off, even if they come up to you and you just want to go in and
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  get a banana in Walmart. That's it, that's it.
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  You just, you're going in for some produce, that's all you're
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  doing and they come up. And can I tell you about another
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  gospel? No, because it's not another
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  gospel. It's not good news.
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  It's bad news. It's bad news that would steal
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  you away from your simple faith. And today you might even answer.
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  But that I don't know much about the Bible.
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  Yeah, but you're learning, aren't you?
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  And I don't know much about what it means to follow Christ.
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  Yeah, but you're learning, aren't you?
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  Like nobody knows all that we need to know, but we're growing
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  and we're learning and we're following and we're obeying and
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  we're repentant. Like our lives are being lived
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  to honor God. And Paul is saying, just stand
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  fast. Don't let anybody move you.
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  And that's a word for the 21st century too.
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  I'm warning you right now. I, I don't want and I've seen it
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  before, but I don't want to see it anymore.
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  Anybody that was worshipping here, hands lifted, loving God,
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  not walking with the Lord anymore because you got ripped
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  off along the way. And the reason you got ripped
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  off along the way, I'm warning you ahead of time is because you
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  didn't choose to stand fast. Stay put or Jesus would put it
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  this way. Abide in me and I in you, no
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  matter what comes your way. It's almost like stand fast.
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  You actually have to kind of think of it.
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  You just don't stand like this. You almost have to brace
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  yourself for when anything comes your way to brace yourself and
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  be ready and be strong against anything that might come while
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  you're worshipping the Lord. That's what he's telling the
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  Galatians, everything I've told you everything I've shared with
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  you all the truth. Here's what I want you to do
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  Stand fast. Verse 2 indeed.
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  I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will
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  profit you nothing. And again, I testify to every
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  man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor.
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  He is a debtor to keep the whole law.
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  You have become estranged from Christ.
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  You who attempt to be justified by the law, you have fallen from
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  grace. A very controversial passage.
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  It doesn't need to be controversial because Paul's
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  making it pretty simple. And it's, I find, I find that in
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  the church world, the simple things people like to argue
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  about the most, this isn't a very complicated passage.
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  He says this. If you think that being
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  circumcised, going back to the law is the way of salvation, you
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  don't know Jesus. That's what he's saying.
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  That's basically what you have become, a strange you, you, you
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  really. It's not that they've lost their
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  salvation and never had it. Like you don't get it.
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  You, you, it. You remember when Jesus talked
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  about the seed that was sown? He says the sower went out to
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  sow seed and he sowed 4 different types of seed.
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  Only one seed took root, only one.
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  The other three were ripped off. There is a group of people in
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  the Galatian region that were ripped off because the next time
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  a new message came, oh, I want to be circumcised.
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  Can you imagine that lining up and going, yeah, circumcise me.
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  That's what I need. That's what I need.
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  I I can't be in a right relationship with God until I go
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  through that. What do you mean?
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  Who, who told you that, that, that you, you have been, as Paul
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  will write into the Romans, he said your heart has been
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  circumcised. You, you have you have been
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  changed from the inside out because of the new covenant.
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  But he says, I'm telling you guys, if that's what you want to
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  do, you've changed your relationship.
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  Did you see that in verse three? You may not have noticed that,
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  but that's what he's saying says, do you think you want to
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  go back to circumcision? You've changed your
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  relationship. We're no longer talking family
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  terms here. We're no longer talking family
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  terms. Now we're talking, oh, now
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  you've become a debtor that that's now you're in debt again.
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  If we use the family language of our homes, you don't sit down
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  and you don't don't do this. If you are get rid of it, but
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  don't do this writing down all how expensive your kids are
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  because they are they're very expensive and it just constantly
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  just love keeps no record or wrong.
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  OK, so you just like just super expensive and you sit your kids
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  down one day. You know what, before you move
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  out, you owe me $250,000. And that's just for your birth
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  years. That was just a hospital bill
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  for your birth. Whatever.
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  No, that that's not the type of relationship you have in your
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  family. I mean that you, you, you've
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  forgotten what family is. Your kids are not debtors to
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  you. They don't owe you anything.
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  You, you brought them into the world in obedience to God.
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  You raised them as under the Lord because that God's desire
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  is for you to be a parent for, for you to have kids.
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  They're not. They don't owe you anything.
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  And when you start using that kind of language, you already
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  know, especially if it's serious.
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  I mean you might joke around ha ha ha.
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  That's fine. But if you, if you really do it
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  seriously, then I can tell you right now you have forgotten
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  your role as a parent. I mean your role as a parent to
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  get 2 jobs. If you need to to take care of
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  your kids, your role as a parent is going to give them a safe
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  place to cover them, protect them, teach them, disciple them,
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  get them to Jesus. It's not to sit them down every
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  week and go, OK, this was a pretty good week.
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  You worked off $5. The next week you sit them down
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  and this was not a good week. You owe me $300,000.
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  You know, like that language is just not family language.
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  I understand that some of you had a very challenging
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  upbringing and that might have been the language of your home,
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  but God is showing you there's a greater way, isn't there?
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  Much greater than perhaps the mistakes our parents made or our
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  grandparents made. There's healing.
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  We, we don't have debtor relationships.
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  My kids don't owe me anything. They, they don't, we're not
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  debtors. I, I think of the church, you
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  know, when you, when you think of freedom, how Jesus has made
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  you free, How, how you experience this newness of life.
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  It's important to recognize that I didn't give you this freedom.
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  A pastor didn't give it to you. A church didn't give it to you.
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  A religious system didn't give it to you.
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  A bookstore didn't give it to you.
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  Christ has made you free. So therefore you don't owe me
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  anything. You don't owe me anything.
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  I didn't give you this freedom. I didn't die for your sins.
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  You don't owe me anything. Your relationship is with Jesus,
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  not with some man or some religion or some church or some
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  movement. Your eyes need to be on the
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  Lord. He's the one that is worthy of
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  your devotion and your commitment.
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  But you know what that also means?
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  I don't owe you anything. You didn't give me this freedom.
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  You didn't save my soul. You didn't rescue me when I was
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  in the depth of sin. And So what it does is it puts
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  our relationship, it puts our connection on the relational
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  scale. We don't live by what you owe me
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  and what I owe you. The Bible says if I'm going to
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  owe anything to anyone, you know what it is love.
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  And I get to serve you and you get to serve me.
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  Not because we have to. That's the debtor.
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  You guys know, you go check your mail.
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  We kind of check our mail once a week so that we don't see it
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  every day. But when we check it, we already
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  know there's going to be letters in there.
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  You know what they're going to say, pay up.
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  And I'm not friends with them. They're not my buddies.
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  Pay up, pay up, pay up every month.
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  Pay up, pay up, pay up. The reality of relationship is
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  not you come here and owe me something or I owe you.
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  I don't come here because I I feel indebted to you.
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  I come here because I love God and I love you.
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  Makes it very easy. We, we speak in relation, I get
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  to exercise my, the spiritual gifts that God has given to me.
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  I get to be who God's made me. I get to grow.
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  We get to grow together. You have gifts, I have gifts.
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  But this idea, if you want to go back to the law, even if you're
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  imposing on yourself, you want to go back to the law, You want
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  to go to a legalistic type of mindset.
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  You want to try to please Ed, you want to try to please your
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  mom and dad. You want to try to please
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  everybody that has some list of rules for you, then you have
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  become a debtor. That's why relationships get
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  broken through this nonsense. Because everything is about what
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  you owe me, what you owe me, what you owe me.
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  Look, you don't owe me anything, just love God with all your
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  heart, soul and mind and then I'll get to enjoy your love or
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  not, that's up to you. It's my heart to serve the Lord
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  and I don't owe you anything except to love you and serve
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  you. Why?
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  Because of all that God has done for us, all that God has done
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  for us motivates and moves us. If you want to go, if you're a
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  legalistic person right now, you have fallen from grace.
• 21:28
  I'm not necessarily saying you've, you know you have,
• 21:32
  you're not saved. I'm not saying that.
• 21:34
  I'm saying that your approach toward living for God has
• 21:39
  morphed into these little things that you think you need to do
• 21:44
  and you're not even thinking about the Lord in it is.
• 21:46
  Imagine how sinister that scheme is, where the enemy gets you
• 21:51
  doing one thing and you think you're actually doing the right
• 21:53
  thing. He actually has you wanting.
• 21:58
  I just want to please God. But now it's become, I want to
• 22:01
  please God this way, this way, this way, this way, instead of
• 22:05
  just being a son or being a daughter.
• 22:08
  The only way to have your sins forgiven and to have a right
• 22:11
  relationship with God is faith. That's it.
• 22:15
  There are not two ways to salvation, not five ways, not
• 22:19
  ten. You know, all of the
• 22:21
  proliferation of false teaching and false religions, even those
• 22:24
  guys coming up to you to try to RIP you off in the Walmart
• 22:28
  parking lot is exactly what they're doing.
• 22:31
  Those guys are proof. They're they're proof that there
• 22:36
  is a one true God. They stopping you short to a man
• 22:40
  in a religion that was just invented a couple 100 years ago.
• 22:42
  If that it's not even taking you all the way to Jesus.
• 22:46
  You got to go the long way. And the thing about the long way
• 22:50
  is you never get to him. You never get to Jesus.
• 22:54
  You get to a form and you get to it's just like coming back.
• 22:57
  Hey, you guys want to be safe. Sure, OK, I've got a new
• 22:59
  doctrine for you guys. I've been reading and studying
• 23:02
  and now I know you guys need to be circumcised and we are having
• 23:06
  a circumcision service downstairs at 1:00 in the Agape
• 23:12
  room. We've, we've invited doctors and
• 23:15
  it's all going to be antiseptic. But you know what, this is the
• 23:18
  way to go. Now some of you in the sincerity
• 23:21
  of your heart might have a little thought about that.
• 23:23
  I mean, I don't think anybody's going to show up, but because
• 23:28
  you want to worship God, that's in you to go.
• 23:30
  If I'm wrong, I want to be right.
• 23:32
  And here's the answer. When if you're, if you're wrong
• 23:35
  and you want to be right, then you need to know the word of God
• 23:38
  because the word of God will show you the way to be right.
• 23:42
  It reminds you of relationship. It'll remind you of what God has
• 23:46
  done for you, that the uncircumcised physically can be
• 23:51
  saved. This whole this whole thing was
• 23:52
  settled. You can jot it down in Acts
• 23:54
  chapter 15. When we were studying through
• 23:58
  the book of Acts, we went to that first church council and
• 24:01
  this was the issue. Turn over there with me.
• 24:03
  I want you to see it real quick. Turn over to Acts.
• 24:06
  That's going to be to the left. Acts chapter 15.
• 24:10
  They gather together and you can see this is almost like a sneak
• 24:14
  preview of what's going to happen in Galatia.
• 24:17
  So when you get to Acts 15, pick up there in verse one, Acts 15
• 24:22
  verse one, it says and certain men came down from Judea and
• 24:26
  taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the
• 24:30
  custom of Moses, look at the phrase you cannot be saved, to
• 24:35
  which the church says nonsense. You should be able to put that
• 24:39
  word. You develop this word in your
• 24:41
  vocabulary. When somebody comes with
• 24:43
  something that is not true, you can just say nonsense.
• 24:47
  This is nonsense. You can't be saved unless you're
• 24:50
  circumcised. So who are you talking to?
• 24:52
  He's talking to people. They're already talking to
• 24:54
  people that are already saved. Irrefutable.
• 24:58
  Their life is completely changed from paganism to following the
• 25:03
  one true God. And then they come and go, Oh
• 25:05
  no, no, that's not possible. And then notice Paul and
• 25:08
  Barnabas in verse 2. They have a no small dissension,
• 25:12
  which means they had a big they stood strong on the gospel and
• 25:16
  disputed with them. And then it was determined that
• 25:19
  Paul and Barnabas and others would go to Jerusalem, to the
• 25:22
  apostles and the elders about this question.
• 25:24
  Then they hashed it out. Notice what Peter has to say
• 25:27
  about it. Peter mentions in verse 10.
• 25:31
  He says Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke
• 25:35
  on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we
• 25:39
  were able to bear? Why would you put some heavy
• 25:42
  trip on believers? Nobody can carry the rules that
• 25:46
  you guys are laying on people and nobody can do it.
• 25:49
  You guys can't even do it. Jesus would rebuke them as well.
• 25:52
  Verse 11 But we believe that through the What does your Bible
• 25:56
  say through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be
• 26:00
  saved in the same manner as they This was already settled and you
• 26:06
  can read it. We studied it in depth If you
• 26:08
  want to go back to the studies. This has already been settled.
• 26:11
  It's the grace of God and what yoke did Jesus wear exactly a
• 26:16
  yoke. You know that's a hard some of
• 26:18
  you are thinking eggs right now. You're new to the Bible and you
• 26:21
  think we're talking about eggs a yoke, No, not a yoke, but a
• 26:24
  yoke. Doesn't it sound Y OK?
• 26:27
  EA yoke in the 1st century was a wooden contraption that had two
• 26:32
  holes in it. You would put it on the necks of
• 26:35
  animals and it would help you harness their power together.
• 26:39
  So the idea is to oxen and you put their heads into the holes
• 26:43
  of the yoke and the yoke would be kind of like this.
• 26:46
  And you put the whole, you'd put the heads of the animals and
• 26:49
  they would be able to work together and plowing the fields,
• 26:52
  you would put two oxen of the same general size, same general
• 26:56
  string. You wouldn't put an ox on one
• 26:59
  side and a donkey in the other. There's a Bible word for that.
• 27:03
  It's called unequally yoked, where you have two animals that
• 27:08
  are not equal in size and 1 is going to fight against the other
• 27:11
  and they're not going to be able to do what they're supposed to
• 27:13
  be doing. And so when Jesus speaks of a
• 27:16
  yoke, I want you to hear this. What yoke did he carry?
• 27:21
  This is what he said in Matthew 1128.
• 27:24
  Jesus says to you and to me. He says, Come to me, all you who
• 27:29
  labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
• 27:34
  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and
• 27:42
  lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
• 27:46
  My yoke, Jesus says, is easy, and my burden is light.
• 27:55
  What yoke did Jesus wear? What burden did He carry?
• 27:59
  Truly, He walked through the city of Jerusalem with a cross
• 28:02
  on His shoulders and a crown of thorns upon His head.
• 28:07
  The yoke that He carried is the cross of Calvary.
• 28:10
  Nothing can be added to the finished work of the cross.
• 28:14
  IF someone listening to me right now thinks that they can add,
• 28:18
  let me just ask the question, what do you possibly think?
• 28:21
  Do you really, really believe? And I'm serious here, do you
• 28:25
  really believe you can add anything to the finished work of
• 28:29
  Jesus Christ? You can do?
• 28:31
  Do you really believe you can do more than dying on the cross?
• 28:35
  Do you really believe you can do more than shedding innocent
• 28:38
  blood? Do you really believe you can do
• 28:40
  more than rising from the dead in order for you to have a peace
• 28:47
  in your heart that you're right with God?
• 28:50
  Because if you really believe that you believe wrong.
• 28:56
  And that really is the place of the battle, isn't it?
• 29:00
  When we talk about spiritual warfare and things, it's always
• 29:02
  a battle of the mind. Did you know that your loyalty,
• 29:06
  loyalty is very important and your loyalty is a decision you
• 29:10
  make. It's a decision, and we've
• 29:13
  learned over the years that what you believe will dictate how you
• 29:18
  behave and the constant attack of your mind.
• 29:22
  You're on the enemy of you and me is for what we believe in.
• 29:26
  Because if we believe wrong, we'll act wrong.
• 29:29
  I mean, if we believe wrong, it can affect our whole eternity.
• 29:32
  But if we believe wrong, it'll affect our kids, it'll affect
• 29:35
  our neighbors, it'll affect our Co workers, it'll affect every
• 29:38
  part of our lives. It will skew our singleness.
• 29:40
  And so the enemy's always going after what you think, what you
• 29:43
  think, what you believe. You know, I see it happening on
• 29:46
  so many different fronts. Like we're living in a time
• 29:50
  where we hear about every disaster that goes on all around
• 29:53
  the world. And I don't know if you've
• 29:55
  noticed lately, but we can't handle it.
• 29:57
  It's too much like it's so much information.
• 30:01
  Like if you think about it on your social media, how many
• 30:03
  times you're praying for this, praying for this.
• 30:05
  Like if we prayed, if we put something on social media, every
• 30:07
  time there was a disaster, it would just be a disaster feed.
• 30:11
  That was just because something happened here and something
• 30:13
  happened here and something happened here and something
• 30:14
  happened here. He's like, I can't keep up with
• 30:16
  it all. It's things that we were not
• 30:18
  made to carry the burdens of the world.
• 30:21
  You were not made to carry everyone's burden.
• 30:24
  Did you know that you, you aren't capable of it?
• 30:28
  And so there's this battle for your mind.
• 30:30
  It's like, well, I want to help. I want to help.
• 30:32
  I know we've got to really zero in the it's very clear that we
• 30:35
  can't do everything. We just need to choose to do
• 30:38
  something. And it starts with a focused,
• 30:40
  disciplined mind. And not only are we seeing and
• 30:44
  hearing all these other things, but we're living in a time like
• 30:47
  I've never seen before. I'm not saying it's brand new,
• 30:50
  but it's more than ever this proliferation of all these
• 30:53
  conspiracy theories. Now, again, let's set aside
• 30:56
  whether you think it's right or wrong or whatever, that that
• 30:58
  even, not even the issue. Here's the issue.
• 31:00
  You ready? You get so caught up in this
• 31:02
  stuff, you start thinking about this and you go here and you're
• 31:05
  thinking this and you're finding this, that you are no longer
• 31:08
  useful for the gospel. You think that's more important
• 31:11
  than the gospel. Well, you don't understand Ed.
• 31:13
  Already right now you're telling me that you don't understand Ed.
• 31:16
  I was just reading this and I just dove in, man.
• 31:18
  I dove in and I was in that rabbit hole.
• 31:21
  I've learned that last night I forgot with rabbit hole chasing
• 31:24
  rabbits. I got rabbits all over my
• 31:26
  neighborhood. I never jump into their hole.
• 31:28
  Not interested. I just want them out of here and
• 31:30
  leave my wife's flowers alone. That's it.
• 31:34
  But you get involved, you go, but you don't understand.
• 31:36
  The girl is doing this and there's doing this.
• 31:37
  And if you just knew and you just listen, listen, this is
• 31:41
  what I know. I want to live in the realm of
• 31:43
  truth. That's what I want.
• 31:45
  That's what's going to make me most effective.
• 31:47
  And there's always weird stuff going on in the world.
• 31:49
  And there's always stuff. There's always stuff.
• 31:52
  But you know what? I live for a Kingdom that's not
• 31:55
  of this world. And I want to teach you how to
• 31:58
  do the same thing. And here's what's happening.
• 32:00
  Your mind is being taken away from the truth.
• 32:04
  You think it's the truth and you might have found some truth and
• 32:07
  you're getting now involved, all involved in reading this and
• 32:09
  jumping this. And now you're no longer living
• 32:12
  life outside of the rabbit hole. I mean, you may even be, you
• 32:17
  might even take a break from it. Came to church today.
• 32:20
  Soon as you leave church, you can go right back because you
• 32:22
  got to find out what's new, what's new, what's new, what's
• 32:24
  new. Wait a minute.
• 32:28
  There's a battle for your mind. There's a battle going on for
• 32:33
  your mind, and you can go through all life going through
• 32:36
  all these different theories and all this different stuff and all
• 32:38
  the bad stuff that's happening in the world, because there
• 32:40
  certainly is. You can live your whole life
• 32:42
  like that, but at the end, what do you have?
• 32:46
  What's eternal? How many lives have been
• 32:49
  affected for the gospel? You see the enemy's after your
• 32:54
  mind. He wants you distracted, taken
• 32:58
  away. That that's just one example.
• 33:00
  We could go on and on and on with example after example where
• 33:04
  the enemy's coming after us so that our thinking is not on the
• 33:08
  Lord, so that we're not. There's even a scripture.
• 33:12
  You can jot it down. Brother shared with me last
• 33:15
  night. In Isaiah chapter 8, verse 12,
• 33:19
  it says this. Do not say a conspiracy
• 33:23
  concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, nor be afraid
• 33:27
  of their threats, nor be troubled, which is another way
• 33:32
  of just saying rest in the Lord. He'll take care of it.
• 33:35
  He'll take care of your life, He'll take care of your home,
• 33:39
  He'll take care of your finances.
• 33:41
  He'll take care of your future. He'll take care of what's going
• 33:44
  on in the world. And what's the worst that man
• 33:46
  can do to us anyway? They can just take and just kill
• 33:49
  the body, but they can't touch the soul.
• 33:53
  They can't touch the eternal, and as you stand fast in the
• 33:57
  grace of God, you're not tripped up or entangled in things that
• 34:01
  might be a false gospel, but also not a gospel at all.
• 34:06
  Just a bunch of stuff to keep you busy, a bunch of stuff to
• 34:09
  keep you away. You come to the place in verse 4
• 34:13
  that you fall away from grace, and I don't know that anyone
• 34:16
  wants to describe their life that way.
• 34:19
  You can't earn God's favor. You can't work for God's favor.
• 34:23
  You, you, all you need to do is trust him and receive from him.
• 34:28
  Turn over to John chapter 6. As we wind down here, just a few
• 34:31
  more things. John chapter 6, Jesus was there
• 34:37
  on the Sea of Galilee, and I can't wait to take you guys
• 34:40
  back. Many of you will go with us, Go
• 34:43
  back to the Sea of Galilee. We'll do a tour of Israel.
• 34:47
  We're getting one planned for next year.
• 34:49
  Going to be great. It's going to be good.
• 34:51
  I can't wait to take you. We will be here.
• 34:53
  You can put your feet in the Sea of Galilee.
• 34:55
  We'll go on a boat on the Sea of Galilee.
• 34:57
  Jesus was in this region. And in John chapter 6, you have
• 35:01
  a group of people here that are wanting more signs and more free
• 35:05
  food and they want to experience more healings.
• 35:08
  And notice what Jesus says here. John chapter 6, verse 25.
• 35:13
  John chapter 6, verse 25, it says.
• 35:18
  And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said
• 35:21
  to him, Rabbi, when did you come here?
• 35:24
  And Jesus answered and said, most assuredly, I say to you,
• 35:27
  you seek me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate
• 35:31
  of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which
• 35:36
  perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life,
• 35:40
  which the Son of Man will give you because God the Father has
• 35:44
  set His seal on Him. A real quick affirmation of what
• 35:49
  I just shared with you. There's a lot of things to eat,
• 35:52
  but not everything's eternal. There's a lot of things to
• 35:55
  consume, but not everything is going to be eternal.
• 35:58
  And you can labor for this stuff, but also waste your life
• 36:02
  along the way. But then he asked the question,
• 36:03
  verse 28. Then they said to him, what
• 36:06
  shall we do that we may work the works of God?
• 36:10
  That's a great question to ask. What do I need to do?
• 36:14
  Christians ask that all the time.
• 36:15
  What do I need to do? I want to do what's right.
• 36:19
  I want to make the right decision.
• 36:20
  What works do I need to do? Just tell me what they are.
• 36:22
  Pastor, here's what Jesus says. You ready?
• 36:25
  Verse 29. This is the work of God that you
• 36:29
  believe in him whom he sent. That's the work.
• 36:34
  It's not works plural, it's work singular.
• 36:38
  And what is that work? Belief.
• 36:42
  Be careful with your minds, please.
• 36:45
  There's so much going on that it would be easy to get off, taken
• 36:49
  off guard, easy to be distracted, easy to get caught
• 36:53
  up in things and labor for things that aren't eternal.
• 36:56
  Here's the work. This is the singular work.
• 36:59
  Believe God. Believe God and what He said.
• 37:04
  Believe Him and what He's doing in your life.
• 37:06
  Notice coming back now to Galatians.
• 37:10
  I love that sometimes I need things simplified for me.
• 37:13
  Do you, do you need things simplified?
• 37:15
  It's like, what am I supposed to do?
• 37:16
  And Jesus said just believe. Are you sure?
• 37:20
  There's got to be things to do, you know, just believe.
• 37:22
  I'll take care of it. I'll lead you and guide you.
• 37:25
  Monday will be different. Tuesday will be different.
• 37:28
  Wednesday will be different. I'll take you to Walmart late at
• 37:30
  night so you can have an illustration for Sunday.
• 37:36
  I'm telling you, every single time they just like camping out
• 37:38
  there. I think they have a tent or
• 37:39
  something there and just ripping people off there.
• 37:42
  Don't go inside anymore. Maybe I'll show up.
• 37:45
  Maybe I will make a trip. It will be a date with Marie.
• 37:51
  When I'm feeling good about it. There's a little crumble cookie
• 37:54
  place there next door too. When I'm feeling strong enough,
• 37:57
  while I'll engage them and go, guys, what are you doing?
• 38:02
  What are you doing? What has happened, you obviously
• 38:06
  have a sincerity to worship the run true God, but you're
• 38:09
  stopping so short. You're stopping so short and
• 38:15
  then ripping other people off along the way instead of taking
• 38:19
  them all the way to the one who has set you free completely
• 38:24
  through the finished work of the cross, he says in verse 5.
• 38:29
  Now for we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of
• 38:33
  righteousness by faith. For in Christ neither
• 38:37
  circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith
• 38:43
  working through love. That's his conclusion of the
• 38:47
  paragraph. In Jesus, the externals of life
• 38:50
  are not the essence of salvation.
• 38:52
  It doesn't matter if you choose to eat steaks or Brussels
• 38:56
  sprouts. Actually, it does matter if you
• 38:58
  choose. See Brussels sprouts.
• 39:00
  Those are disgusting. But if you want to, it doesn't
• 39:03
  matter. That doesn't make you a better
• 39:04
  Christian. You know I eat this, but I don't
• 39:07
  eat that. It doesn't make you a better
• 39:08
  Christian. The externals doesn't matter.
• 39:10
  It doesn't matter if you worship on Saturday.
• 39:13
  It doesn't matter if you worship on Sunday.
• 39:15
  It doesn't matter if you worship on Tuesday at 2:00 in the
• 39:17
  afternoon. The way and day you choose to
• 39:20
  worship doesn't matter. It doesn't matter your outward
• 39:24
  appearance. These things are not where
• 39:26
  important to God. It doesn't matter how many times
• 39:28
  you read your Bible, or your perfect church attendance, or
• 39:32
  the length of your hair, or the number of things.
• 39:34
  What matters is this. Are you in the family by faith
• 39:39
  in Jesus Christ? Because if you're in the family
• 39:42
  you're in, you're accepted. You come as you are.
• 39:48
  And here's the thing about God. Everyone is welcome.
• 39:51
  You come as you are, but God loves you so much that he's not
• 39:54
  going to let you stay there. There will be change.
• 39:59
  You will become new in your faith, this faith working
• 40:03
  through love. It's not circumcision.
• 40:05
  I think of how many live this unbelievably godless life and
• 40:10
  then at the end of the day, go. But I go to church.
• 40:13
  Yeah, but for what? Why do you go to church?
• 40:16
  And I'll tell you, most people that live a godless life and
• 40:18
  come to church, they do it because they have an uneasy
• 40:20
  conscience and they want, they have the outward appearance of
• 40:24
  righteousness and outward appearance that things are
• 40:26
  right. But inside they know.
• 40:28
  I know that's a hard word because some of you are here for
• 40:31
  that reason. And I'm not saying you shouldn't
• 40:33
  be here. I think you should.
• 40:34
  I just want you here for the right reasons.
• 40:37
  Why play a game? Why play a game?
• 40:40
  Nobody's nobody's picking up with that game.
• 40:42
  You're not even. You even know you even know that
• 40:45
  it's not real. And it's just a miserable way to
• 40:48
  live. When there's freedom.
• 40:49
  You're in bondage to the game you're playing.
• 40:51
  You're a game player, and you're in bondage to it.
• 40:54
  You're ensnared. You're trapped.
• 40:57
  You're not even enjoying God. You're not even enjoying you
• 40:59
  just playing your game. Look at me.
• 41:01
  I'm here. Yeah, well, you're here.
• 41:04
  That's good. But how's your life with the
• 41:05
  Lord when you're not here? Is this only like an hour and a
• 41:08
  half? You're here 90 minutes of the
• 41:10
  whole week, but what's your life like out outside?
• 41:13
  What's your life like at home? What's your life like in your
• 41:16
  marriage with your kids and your singleness?
• 41:19
  Stand fast is the word stand fast in the liberty of Jesus
• 41:24
  Christ, in his grace. He says, he says here just no,
• 41:29
  it's not whether you're circumcised or not circumcised.
• 41:32
  What really matters here today is your faith is your faith in
• 41:36
  the finished work of Jesus Christ.
• 41:38
  It's really a after four chapters of all these heavy
• 41:41
  doctrines, Paul gets very, very simple.
• 41:43
  This is it. This is the bottom line.
• 41:45
  It's your faith. I want to show you where all
• 41:47
  these guys are wrong, but the bottom line is it's your faith.
• 41:51
  Just like when I told you when I first came, I didn't give you
• 41:53
  this whole Old Testament Bible study trying to explain every
• 41:56
  single thing in the Old Testament proving to you that
• 41:59
  you need to be saved. I just told you about Jesus, him
• 42:01
  crucified, rose again from the dead.
• 42:03
  Place your faith in him and your sins will be forgiven you as
• 42:06
  yes, I need that. I want that I need to be right
• 42:10
  with God and he says, hey, that's it.
• 42:12
  Just faith through love. Faith through love.
• 42:15
  Legalism is striving, arguing contentions.
• 42:19
  It's always tension when there's when you're dealing with a
• 42:22
  legalist, they'll come up to you and go why aren't you?
• 42:25
  So why aren't I what? I don't even I don't know.
• 42:27
  I was supposed to do that. Where would it?
• 42:29
  What is that? Well, you know, you're not a
• 42:31
  good Christian if you I didn't know.
• 42:33
  I wasn't about, I didn't know I was a bad Christian until you
• 42:35
  told me I didn't know. Like there's a much better way
• 42:40
  to to talk to people about their walk.
• 42:42
  And it's not sniffing out the sin and being all the ones a
• 42:45
  person is like finding every wrong in the church.
• 42:47
  But rather if God's given you eyes to see things that need to
• 42:50
  be improved and you just put your arm around a brother or
• 42:52
  sister and say, Hey, let's learn what the Bible has to say about
• 42:55
  that. Let's just learn God has more
• 42:57
  for you. You don't have to live that way
• 43:00
  anymore. I know it's how you were raised.
• 43:02
  I know it's how you, but you don't have to live that way
• 43:04
  anymore. I got to set you free.
• 43:08
  I was speaking to someone last night after service.
• 43:10
  The Holy Spirit really ministered to them and they were
• 43:12
  up here after a service and they actually just came up to worship
• 43:15
  with us with the song. And then as they were walking
• 43:18
  away, they didn't want any prayer.
• 43:19
  I go, you guys OK? And they started walking away
• 43:21
  and then they came back. Walk away and say, no, actually
• 43:23
  we're not OK. I said, well, come over here,
• 43:25
  let's talk about it. And there's some things going on
• 43:27
  in their life and things going on in their marriage.
• 43:29
  And, and it was an old bondage came back into their marriage
• 43:34
  and we were talking about it. And I, I was just able to say, I
• 43:37
  didn't say, I can't believe you did that.
• 43:38
  What's your problem? What kind of person are you?
• 43:41
  You know, we was it. I didn't have that heart at all.
• 43:44
  I said, you know what? That's just not for you.
• 43:47
  You know it's not for you. I know it's not for you.
• 43:50
  How long you been sober? She said two weeks.
• 43:53
  I said, yes, yes, that's God's will for you. 2 weeks of
• 43:57
  freedom, 3 weeks, 4 weeks it is not kind of looking around and
• 44:03
  go, I can't believe you're a horrible Christian.
• 44:04
  Don't come up here and worship until you get rid of that
• 44:06
  problem. Oh no, you come up in worship,
• 44:10
  you sing your heart out, you cry out to the Lord with all that
• 44:13
  you are because he loves you and he wants to work on your behalf.
• 44:18
  Look, legalism will destroy you and it will destroy your family
• 44:24
  because now you're not in relationship.
• 44:26
  You're now talking about what is owed and that's never fun.
• 44:31
  It's never fun to always find out how much you owe.
• 44:34
  It is fun to make the last payment on your car though,
• 44:37
  isn't it? It's like, that's it.
• 44:39
  You used to be able to remember in the back in the day for some
• 44:42
  of us that are old, you got the little booklet with all and it
• 44:45
  was, it was so super thick and it was like being the and then
• 44:49
  every month you ride it, ride it right until you find it.
• 44:52
  This is the lot. No more coupons, man.
• 44:55
  We're paying this baby off every last penny and then sometimes
• 44:59
  we, we had even paid a car off and they sent us a check back
• 45:02
  because we paid too much. Take that bank.
• 45:07
  But that coupon book just kept reminding me I'm in debt.
• 45:11
  That's my relationship with the bank.
• 45:13
  I'm in debt, I'm in debt, I'm in debt.
• 45:16
  But when it comes to the things of God, Jesus has paid the price
• 45:21
  for your sin, and the only debt you owe is love.
• 45:28
  That is freedom, is it not? Yes, Lord, thank you for Your
• 45:32
  word that You might have your way with us.
• 45:34
  Lord, we desire to walk in grace today to know You this.
• 45:40
  Forgive us, Lord, because we get caught up in so many externals
• 45:44
  and so many things, our minds tied up and we're not even
• 45:48
  worshipping you anymore. We're not even enjoying you
• 45:51
  anymore. We're not even in a place where
• 45:53
  life is fun, even in a very hard, hard life.
• 45:58
  We've lost all hope and all strength because we have fallen
• 46:02
  from grace. And I just pray over our church
• 46:05
  family for those that have fallen.
• 46:07
  And of course it's not nobody's gotten circumcised falling from
• 46:10
  grace, but they fall in so many other ways.
• 46:13
  And it could be because they gave their devotion to a man or
• 46:16
  to a movement or to a priest or a pastor or a family.
• 46:23
  And they have not, They have not given their full devotion to
• 46:27
  you. As I just pray that over our
• 46:30
  church family, I know none of us are going to hit this perfectly.
• 46:34
  And we have a tendency to beat ourselves up and and impose all
• 46:38
  this stuff on ourselves. But I just pray you free us from
• 46:40
  it, Lord, that we might enjoy you and the fullness of your
• 46:44
  grace. And for some God, they've never
• 46:46
  today ever received you as their Savior.
• 46:49
  They've never turned away from their sins.
• 46:52
  And I'm speaking to you, those of you that need to be in a
• 46:55
  right relationship with God. It's time to come to the Lord
• 47:00
  and say that I'm tired of living life my way.
• 47:04
  It's time to come to the Lord and acknowledge that He has a
• 47:09
  plan for your life, that He is the only way to salvation.
• 47:14
  It's time for you to come and say I'm sick and tired of the
• 47:18
  condition of my life as I live it.
• 47:21
  If you were the only person on earth, Jesus would die for you
• 47:25
  if you were the if. But you, you aren't the only
• 47:27
  person on earth. His blood is sufficient for all
• 47:32
  those who call upon his name. And so before we leave today, I
• 47:37
  want you, those of you that need to be in a right relationship
• 47:40
  with him, I want to give you that chance.
• 47:43
  And so today, if you're here or out online or on the radio or
• 47:47
  downstairs, you're in the vicinity of my voice.
• 47:53
  I want to invite you to follow Jesus today and I mean that very
• 47:58
  precise with my words. I'm not asking you to follow a
• 48:02
  church to come to some church membership class.
• 48:06
  I'm not inviting you to get your life all straight and then maybe
• 48:09
  God will accept you. Jesus says today come to me all
• 48:14
  you are weary and heavy lane, I'll give you rest, I'll forgive
• 48:16
  you of your sins. My yoke is easy.
• 48:18
  My burden is light and so today is that day for you to receive
• 48:23
  the Lord Jesus into your life. And so if that's you, would you
• 48:26
  just stand to your feet and say, Ed, I want to follow Jesus.
• 48:30
  I want my sins forgiven. I want to receive the
• 48:34
  forgiveness of my sins right here in the room that today
• 48:40
  would be the day and now would be the time.
• 48:43
  God bless you right here. Who else would say that's me?
• 48:47
  There are many. It's like a like a holy moment
• 48:51
  right now battling and God bless you in the back and wrestling
• 48:55
  with what a man said. But see what's happening is it's
• 48:58
  not just a man saying where I am, God bless you where I am,
• 49:03
  right? I'm speaking on behalf of God
• 49:06
  from his word. That's where the power is.
• 49:08
  The power is not in me or my ability to speak.
• 49:13
  The power is in the word of God. That is where strength lies.
• 49:18
  Who else would say that's me and you have somebody coming up next
• 49:21
  to you? Don't be surprised by that.
• 49:23
  This is our way to stand with you, to follow up with you, to
• 49:27
  let you know you're not alone in a large church like this.
• 49:30
  You are not alone. God bless you right here.
• 49:34
  Today is the day and now is the time.
• 49:37
  Acknowledging you guys online and on the radio.
• 49:40
  God is pouring out His Spirit right now in your life and
• 49:44
  you're just asking Him to forgive.
• 49:45
  Now. The Bible says that if we
• 49:47
  confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart
• 49:50
  that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
• 49:54
  So I want to help you with the confession.
• 49:57
  The Bible word for that is prayer.
• 49:59
  I'm going to help you pray to God.
• 50:00
  And you could say something like this.
• 50:01
  Say it after me, OK? You can say, God, forgive me of
• 50:05
  my sins because I believe in you.
• 50:10
  Your life, your death, your resurrection.
• 50:17
  I believe you died for me and I choose to turn away from my
• 50:23
  sinful past and I choose today to follow you and I receive the
• 50:30
  gift. God, I pray for anyone that
• 50:37
  would call upon you. I know some of them, they don't
• 50:39
  even fully understand the whole dynamic of God in them.
• 50:44
  They don't understand the reality of the whole Bible and
• 50:47
  what the Old Testament, New Testament, Some of them don't
• 50:49
  even own a Bible. But I'm grateful the Lord.
• 50:53
  All that's required is to believe through love in the
• 51:00
  finished work of the cross and you'll help with the rest.
• 51:04
  So I just pray that you would take away that nervousness.
• 51:07
  I just sense that one or two today are just very nervous
• 51:11
  about what they know and that they don't know and you can just
• 51:13
  calm their hearts. They know you and the rest will
• 51:18
  follow. They know you, but the rest will
• 51:20
  follow and just comfort us Lord, as we celebrate with the newness
• 51:24
  of life today in Jesus name, Amen.
• 51:28
  We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
• 51:31
  delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
• 51:34
  prayer. Call us at 87730 grace that's
• 51:39
  877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
• 51:45
  integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
• 51:49
  online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
• 51:54
  Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
• 51:57
  this week.