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#14802 - Only One Gospel - Galatians 1:6-9 · 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 with you to
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Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter one.
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I've entitled our Bible study Only one gospel is there is only
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one gospel as we read in the Psalm today.
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The enemy loves to attack foundations.
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He loves to attack the foundation of your faith, the
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foundation of your home, the foundation of your marriage, the
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foundation of your parenting, the foundation of your
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singleness. He loves to go after the
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foundations. It's important that we keep our
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eyes wide open to the schemes and the attacks of the enemy.
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I even think some of you, you have the foundation of your
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sanity being attacked where you're wrestling in the realm of
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mental health and the enemy's just going after you and
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confusing you and causing you to doubt the word of God and to
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believe lies. And you just need to know that
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in Christ, He is your strength and He provides clarity where
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clarity is needed. And He can heal.
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He can heal your body. He can heal your muscles, your
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ligaments. And you know what?
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He can heal your brain as well. It's not good.
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You can just trust the Lord. All those errant thoughts, all
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those thoughts of condemnation, all those thoughts of regret and
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beating yourself up, there is wholeness and clarity and
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forgiveness available to you through the blood of Jesus
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Christ. By faith you can trust Him.
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And today we learn with the Galatians that there's only one
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gospel. There are not 2 gospels or three
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gospels, or 4 gospels. There's only one, or you could
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say it this way. There's only one way for a man
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or a woman to be right with God. Only one way.
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There are not two ways, three ways, five ways, ten ways.
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There is only one way that you and I can be made right with
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God, and that is the gospel, the good news that your sins can be
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forgiven by the blood that was shed by Jesus Christ.
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Jesus said it this way. There are two ways of life.
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There are there is a wide gate, a wide path, and there's a
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narrow path. If you choose the narrow path,
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few he says will go through it, but that is the path of life.
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Whereas most people are on the wide path, doing their own
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thing, following their own theology, their own belief
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system, doing their own thing that will not lead to life, but
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to death and to death eternally. The Galatians have been ripped
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off by false teachers. They received the gospel,
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beginning to live by grace. And then they started believing
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lies and they drifted away and departed from the faith.
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And over the years, many Christians have drifted away
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from the foundations of their relationship with Jesus.
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And it started out so good. I mean, for those of us that got
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saved later in life, I mean, you can remember it started out so
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good. I mean, there, there was a, an
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encounter with God and the Spirit of God and you were born
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again and everything changed. You started reading your Bible,
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you started making wise decisions.
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Addictions were being broken, families were being saved,
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relationships reconciled. And then something happened.
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It's the same for many, it's different for others.
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But somewhere along the way you began to drift and to depart.
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Some back slid and never returned.
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They apostasized. They left the faith.
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Paul here is broken hearted over a man over a church, over many
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in the church that turn their backs on God.
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In Second Timothy chapter 4, he describes a fellow ministry
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partner. He says in verse 10 for Demas
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has forsaken me, having loved this present world and has
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departed for Thessalonica Christens for Galatia, Titus for
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Dalmatia. He looks at a brother and he
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goes you know what I used to serve with this guy.
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I used to to go and we we would do ministry together.
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But you know, Demas has left. He's gone.
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And why? We know what it was for him.
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He loved the world more than he loved God.
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But it wasn't always that way. There was a time in his life
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where he loved God more than the things of this world.
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But something happened and he turned.
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He took a hard turn away from God.
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Drifting that leads to departing has a beginning, you know, it
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just doesn't come out of nowhere.
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Somewhere along the way there's a distraction, a diversion, a
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temptation, and before you know it, he or she is gone.
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They're gone. I was thinking of this, you
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know, when I first taught Galatians, the church wasn't
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more than a year old, year or two old, and I was teaching it.
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And when I was teaching through, I was teaching what I learned.
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I was teaching what I heard, I was teaching what I studied.
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And I still teach that way today.
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However, I have something else to add to you in my teaching,
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besides my studies, besides the spiritual, I have something else
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to add and that is experience. And when I lookout on the church
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today and I see a few empty chairs along the way, it reminds
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me of many that have come through this church that have
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drifted and departed from the faith.
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I mean, I have a photographic memory.
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So I began to think of people and I could see them in my mind
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of men that I served with closely.
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I mean, I remember 1 episode in particular where me and this
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brother were out St. witnessing and the the, the way that God
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used him was unbelievable. And I actually have a picture of
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it to remind me to pray for him because he no longer walks with
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the Lord. He's no longer married.
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He's, I mean, he's remarried, but it's like it, his life just
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was a disaster. But it wasn't always that way.
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And I think of people that were even on staff, they were, they
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were even here taking of the tithes and offerings of this
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church to provide for their family that today they're full
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blown atheists. And you're like, what in the
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world happened? And not while I don't know all
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the, I don't know everything that happened between the in
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their hearts and what they experienced.
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I don't actually don't know. But I do pray for them and I
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pray for myself as well because whatever happened to them, I
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don't want to happen to me. I want to be able to say no,
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Lord, I'm stronger today than I was five years ago.
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I was 10 years ago. Because departing is real.
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And those that you know in your life that have fallen away, you
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need to keep praying for them, praying that God would apprehend
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them, grab them, bring them back.
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Because even in Hebrews chapter 2, remember we, we, it says in
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verse one. Therefore, we must give the
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earnest heed to the things that we have heard lest we drift
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away. And the Galatians, or many in
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the churches throughout Galatia, hadn't just drifted.
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They actually turned away from the truth.
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They removed themselves from a place of pursuing Christ, which
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is a very dangerous way to live your life.
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Remember, there was a group of false teachers.
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We know them as the Judaizers. Today we may use the label
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legalists. A group of legalists came into
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the church and began to ask, add to the gospel of grace, which
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we'll learn in a moment wasn't actually the gospel at all, but
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they added to it. And what we're drawing back and
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saying you're not saved, that's not right, you're not doing it
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right. What you need to do is believe
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in Jesus and keep the law. And you remember with this
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particular group, what was very important to them.
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Number one on the list was this. You, you need to believe in
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Jesus Christ and adult males be circumcised and you're like,
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whoa, no thank you. I believe in Jesus.
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I don't need to go through the ritual of circumcision because
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Jesus fulfilled the law. But many of them were troubled
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in their hearts and began to follow false teaching, which led
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them away from the truth. Now here at Calvary, if you're
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interested on who we are, where we came from, where we're going,
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on our website, on our app, which we just recently
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redeveloped and changed and updated, you will come to a page
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that will give you all that information.
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It will tell you our doctrinal statement.
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It will tell you the history of our church.
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It will give you our philosophy of ministry, the principles, the
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axioms by which we live by. There's a lot of information
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that define who we are, where we came from, where we're going.
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And at the top of the page there is a little paragraph that I
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brought with me from the church that I came from that he
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received from the church that he came from.
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That was written by a man by the name of Chuck Smith.
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Chuck Smith is the man that God used to begin the Calvary Chapel
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movement of churches of which we are a part of.
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And he wrote this little paragraph.
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He used to put it in his paper bulletin, which is how he
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defined himself when we were like, oh, this is so good.
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I want to read it to you. It's says this, and I quote our
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supreme desire is to know Christ and to be conformed into his
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image by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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We are not a denominational fellowship, nor are we opposed
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to denominations as such, only their overemphasis of the
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doctrinal differences that have led to the division of the body
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of Christ. We believe that the only true
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basis of Christian fellowship is his agape love, which is greater
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than any differences we possess and without which we have no
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right to claim ourselves. Christians.
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End Quote. What a great definition for a
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church. We love the Lord.
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We're going to be conformed to his image.
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There's a lot of differences in the body of Christ, but we're
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not going to over emphasize them.
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There's a lot of secondary issues that people make big
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deals. We're not going to do that.
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We're going to keep the main things, the main things.
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What happens with the Galatians is that this is not a secondary
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issue. It's a primary issue.
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I mean, it is the foundation. It it, it's the question, how is
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a person saved on those matters? We're going to put up a strong
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fight. We're going to make sure that we
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stand for truth and righteousness.
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But you know, all these other things, these secondary things,
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we want to be able to say, hey, in love, we love you.
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We may disagree. We may have a strong position
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biblically, we believe what we believe, but we're not going to
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allow these divisions to weaken the strength of the overall
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church. I love it.
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It brings great comfort to my heart to know that for us as a
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church, we want to keep things simple.
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That's our goal, that as a team, as a team, as a staff, as a
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group here, we work very hard behind the scenes to keep things
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simple so that when you show up to a gathering like this that
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you can enjoy that. That really this room can become
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a sanctuary for you. A sanctuary.
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You know what that word means? It means a place of refuge, that
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in the hustle and bustle of your life and all the things that
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you're going through and all the fights and all the difficulties
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and all the trials and all the tribulation.
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We work behind the scenes very hard, very intentionally to keep
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things simple here so that when you come, you can lift up your
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hands and sing and worship and receive the Word of God.
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Your kiddos can receive the Word of God and that your family can
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be strengthened. Why?
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Because the enemy is really good at disrupting the peace of a
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church. The enemy loves to disrupt peace
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and one of the ways, one of the many ways that he does that is
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by scattering false teaching and false teachers in a group of
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real true believers. That's what's happening with the
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Galatians. They started out so well and the
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false teaching was taking root and ripping people off.
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Notice with me in verse 6 of chapter 1 Paul he writes, I
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marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you
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in the grace of Christ to a different gospel which is not
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another. But there are some who trouble
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you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
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Now if you like to write in your Bibles, you can circle that word
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in verse 6 gospel. You can circle it again in verse
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7 Gospel of Christ. What is the gospel?
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This is so important that we understand we're using this
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word. But what is the gospel?
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What is the good news? Notice with me, turn over to 1st
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Corinthians. So it's backwards from
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Galatians. Turn over to 1st Corinthians
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chapter 15. Let's define our terms so that
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we understand. And the best way to define terms
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is what does the Bible say? And this is a great definition
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of the gospel right here, First Corinthians chapter 15.
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What is the gospel? What is the true, real, only one
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gospel, verse one. Moreover, brethren, I declare to
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you the gospel which is preached to you, which is also you
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received, in which you stand, by which you're also saved if you
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hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you
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believed in vain. Verse 3.
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Here it is, for I delivered to you first of all that which I
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also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the
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Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third
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day according to the Scriptures. That, my friends, is the gospel.
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Jesus Christ died for your sins, and when you believe in Him, you
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are completely forgiven. He died, He was buried, He rose
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again. The summary of the gospel is
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right here. It is the good news.
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You know God. He is the author of the greatest
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true story ever told that you and I, we're forgiven by grace.
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It's a gift of God. We don't earn it, we don't
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deserve it, we don't work for it.
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And when we're saved, listen, when we're saved, we're not
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saved in little degrees where you get a little bit here and a
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little bit there and a little bit there.
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And if you're good the rest of your life, you might get it all.
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No way. When you are saved, you are
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wholly, completely saved from the beginning.
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You're a new creation in Christ. New Hope, new strength, new
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life. That's the good news, that your
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sins can be forgiven and God has a life for you, a full life.
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You know how the Bible speaks of eternal life?
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Eternal is not just a word in the original language that
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speaks of time, although it does, it also speaks of
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substance. When you enjoy eternal life, you
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enjoy an age abiding life, you get the fullness of life.
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Remember what Jesus said, that if you believe in him, that out
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of your, out of the abundance of your heart, rivers of living
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water, that God has an abundant life for you and me.
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Legalism is not good news. It's not good news.
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What the Galatians were brought into is not good news.
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I mean, from God's perspective, you could put it this way.
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You could put it this way. God saying to you in the gospel,
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he's saying to me, the gospel says from God, I accept you, I
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love you, I loved you even when you were in rebellion against
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me. I sent Jesus for you, that if
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you believe in him you'll be in right relationship with me.
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Don't let anyone trouble you or twist up the true gospel because
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the moment someone tells you differently, reject them.
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Reject that false message. The issue before the believers
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in Galatia is very simple. It's of utmost importance.
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How can a person be saved? And you notice in verse 6, Paul
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starts out and typically in his letters he would give the
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typical greeting and then he'd have something encouraging to
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say. He's got nothing encouraging to
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say to the Galatians. Instead, he has a very strong
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rebuke, and he starts out with that word Marvel.
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You might want to mark it. Remember I shared with you guys
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that the book of Galatians, as we get into the epistles or the
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letters, they're very different than the book of Acts, which is
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narrative. When we're going through the
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book of Acts, we go sentence and paragraph before we ever stop at
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a word. But in the epistles, we're going
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to stop at words often because they have great meaning.
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We're not no longer just in narrative, we're actually
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looking at the heart of a for this example, you get the heart
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of a pastor. You get a little bit of insight
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of a pastor. When he says I'm marvel, mark
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that word. It means to be amazed or it
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means to be shocked. It has the idea of astonishment,
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strong rebuke, and even disappointment.
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It's like Paul is saying, what are you guys thinking?
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I can't believe what I've heard about you.
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Are, are you kidding me? Are are you, are you really?
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I can't believe that I haven't been gone that long and you're
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already turning away from the gospel.
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That's what he's saying. It's strong.
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It's it would be the idea if you had a good close friend and you
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just took them by the shoulders and you're just trying to shake
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some some some sense into them. It's like, come on now, listen
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to me. Look me in the eye.
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I can't believe that I'm dealing with this.
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What has happened to you guys? Why have you made these bad
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choices? You could step back and even say
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this. This is a strong rebuke for
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their very foolish decision. And do you know that when you
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make foolish decisions, it is not unusual to receive a strong
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rebuke That that's sometimes what you need.
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You don't need someone to come alongside of you and coddle you.
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And you know it's going to be OK.
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Although there are times for that, there are other times
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where like are you? What are you out of your mind?
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What, what has happened to you? Like, where are you at now?
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And it usually comes through relationship or in a Bible study
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like this. And by the way, in my notes
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today, I knew as we go along that this will be a rather
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challenging Bible study. So around the, around my notes,
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on every page, I put a little :), so that when I'm saying
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something hard that I can come up and say it this way.
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Make sure there's a little bit of smile here for you because
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these are strong things, because I know there are some listening
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to me that will receive today's message as a rebuke.
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Why? Because you've been making some
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foolish decisions. And it's not the type of Bible
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studies. Oh, come on, Everything's going
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to be OK. Sometimes you need to hear.
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It's not going to be OK unless you repent.
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It's not going to get better. It's going to get worse.
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When you choose to sow to the flesh, you're going to reap
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corruption. And Paul writes right in the
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beginning he doesn't have anything good to say to them.
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I can't believe what you guys are doing.
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I'm so disappointed in you. Why would you listen to them?
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I mean, you think about from the church perspective.
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The Galatians had the second best Bible teacher on the planet
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earth, second only to Jesus himself who came and came rolled
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into town and planted the churches and discipled the
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leaders and raised up already A next generation to take the
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church when he leaves to go to the next city.
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God used him in miraculous ways in their lives with healing and
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and life and amazing things and they're still churning away and
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it was hard for him to stomach and they needed to hear that.
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I want you to notice as well in verse six, he says, I marvel
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that you're turning away so soon from him.
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Don't miss that word, him. They weren't leaving a set of
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church doctrines. They weren't leaving a
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traditions. They weren't leaving a message.
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They were leaving a person. The gospel is a person.
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Now, of course it's communicated through words and sound doctrine
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and theology, yes, but the gospel is a person.
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Christianity is summed up in a person in a relationship with
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Jesus Christ. He is who we follow.
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It's his words, his teachings, his models, his examples.
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And he says, I can't believe you guys are leaving Jesus.
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Why would you follow these guys? Why would you listen to them
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leaving Jesus along the way? On top of that, he says, hey,
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you're leaving him who called you in the grace of Christ to a
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different gospel, which isn't even another gospel.
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There is no second message or third message.
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There is no little detour that you can take that there's only
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one message. It's found in Christ.
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And he says that there are some in verse seven who trouble you
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and want to pervert the gospel. Now circle the word pervert.
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You might already have a note in your Bibles that means to
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distort or it means to twist it. It's a word that really when
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it's defined it, it's a This word pervert means to take
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something and make it the exact opposite of what it is, which
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means it's no longer what it is. This Greek word was used in Acts
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chapter 2 to describe sun turning to darkness.
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This word was also just used to describe in James chapter 4
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laughter being turned to mourning.
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It's a complete opposite change. And he says, you guys, you're
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following something that's not even the message I gave.
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You're following a false message.
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Not only that, notice on a personal level in verse 7 it
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says there are some who trouble you.
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That word means to make sick or nauseous.
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It's also a word that's used to describe seasickness.
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It made them queasy and uneasy and unstable.
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He says it's a lie. It's not a real gospel.
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It reminds us today, anytime someone, anyone comes and tells
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you that you must be saved by grace and something else, reject
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them. You hear someone say you're
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saved by the finished work of Jesus and you can just reject
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them. They have left the true gospel.
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They're giving you a false message.
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The gospel of grace adds nothing to the words of Jesus.
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Notice what he says in verse 8. But even if you that are
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troubled, you that are following a twisted message, but even if
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we or an Angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you,
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that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
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Let him be accursed. And we've said before, and so
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now say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to
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you, then that which you have received, let him be accursed.
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Man, those are strong words that that word accursed is the Greek
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word anathema. It, it means to the lowest,
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cursed to the lowest. Hell.
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If we were using language today, Paul would be saying like this.
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If anyone, even an Angel, comes and preaches another gospel,
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they can go to hell. They can go to hell.
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That's the strong words. That's what's worthy of
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preaching a false gospel. It's no small thing.
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It's no small thing to come and roll into a church like this
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because you know, people rolling here all the time wanting to
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take advantage of you. They'll hear something and
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they'll hell, you know he's not preaching, right?
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He's not. And they'll just be rolling in.
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You know, false teachers, they don't like going after the loss.
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They only go after the saved to disrupt you, to confuse you, to
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criticize the teaching of God's Word, to try to get you to
24:36
follow them. And here's what Paul says.
24:38
He says, you know what? They can be cursed.
24:41
What they're doing is like the Pharisees of old, the blind
24:46
leading the blind into a ditch. They're not helping you at all.
24:52
They're disrupting your faith. I mean, here you are.
24:54
You're born again, you're loving Jesus, you're living for him.
24:57
Life is changing. And then they've come rolling.
24:59
Oh, you're not doing it good enough.
25:00
No, you're not doing. No, you need to do this and you
25:03
need to do that, and you need to follow this.
25:04
And Paul says, you know what, They're cursed.
25:09
He repeats it twice. Strong language.
25:13
Strong language for a Christian. Yet Paul is speaking the truth
25:16
in love. Jot it down.
25:17
Proverbs chapter 27 and verse 5 says open rebuke is better than
25:22
love. Carefully concealed church.
25:25
You want to have people in your life that will tell you the
25:27
truth. You want people in your life
25:30
that love you enough to tell you the truth about your life.
25:35
You want to be in a church where the pastors tell you the truth
25:38
about your life in love, because today there are churches filled
25:42
with men and even women in the pulpit that will not tell you
25:46
the truth, that will accommodate to culture, cuddle you in your
25:50
sin, pretend things are not as bad.
25:53
I mean, hopefully a pastor's not going to be doing it every week.
25:55
Go to hell, everybody go to hell, everybody go to.
25:57
I hope that's not it. But occasionally you got to
26:00
understand what you're dealing with is serious.
26:03
Don't let anybody RIP you off. I don't care how appealing it
26:08
might be, He even says this verse 8.
26:11
Even if an Angel from heaven comes, not just a man, not just
26:17
a woman, but even if you meet a supernatural being created by
26:23
God and they preach to you a false gospel, do not receive it.
26:29
Reject that Angel, which some of you pause for a moment and
26:34
you're asking a question in your mind that you should be asking.
26:37
And the question is, wait a minute, pastor, would an Angel
26:42
really come and preach a false gospel?
26:47
And the answer to that question is yes, a fallen Angel or what
26:54
we would refer to today as demons.
26:58
Demons are preaching false teachings all the time.
27:01
It's true. Notice with me turn over turn
27:04
over to 2nd Corinthians Chapter 11.
27:07
We looked at this briefly last time when we were learning about
27:11
true apostles capital A false apostles little AI mean for for
27:16
some of us, you know, we're all apostles in the sense that we've
27:19
been sent out. But remember we learned last
27:21
time apostles capital a refer to 13 people.
27:25
There are not apostles today as they were in the 1st century,
27:29
but that has been conveyed to all of us as those that are sent
27:33
out and we came to this passage. But I want to read a little bit
27:36
more to you in Second Corinthians Chapter 11.
27:39
So you can see they were already dealing with this in the 1st
27:42
century. Notice with me verse 11, Paul
27:45
writing Second Corinthians 11. He says why?
27:49
Because I do not love you. God knows what, but what I do, I
27:55
will also continue to do that I may cut off the opportunity from
27:59
those who desire and opportunity to be regarded just as we are in
28:04
the things of which they boast a bunch of fakers and false
28:07
people. He says in verse 13.
28:10
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers transforming
28:16
themselves into apostles of Christ, or taking it upon
28:20
themselves, taking the title upon themselves, creating a new
28:23
position. All of that.
28:25
But then he says verse 14, and no wonder for Satan himself.
28:33
And if you just need to be reminded, Satan the devil is the
28:36
chief fallen Angel. He is the number one head honcho
28:41
demon in the demonic realm. For Satan himself transforms
28:46
himself into an Angel of light. He camouflages himself, he lies,
28:53
he brings about this false front and Paul says even if an Angel
28:58
comes and preaches to you, it doesn't matter what they look
29:01
like, what they say, if they preach a false gospel, you must
29:06
reject them. Which tells us every true Angel
29:09
of God will agree with God's word.
29:12
Every single anyone that disagrees with God's word is not
29:15
going to be sent from God. And he says no matter what an
29:19
Angel might say, what a prophet might speak, what a teacher
29:23
might teach, if it doesn't line up with what you know the word
29:26
says, reject it and reject them wholeheartedly, unashamedly.
29:34
As a pastor, it's very discouraging.
29:36
I can say very discouraged for me personally, very troubling
29:40
for me to watch the body of Christ so quickly follow the
29:45
latest fad, the latest trend, the latest flavor of
29:49
Christianity. What's what's been trending,
29:51
what what's gone viral, What new YouTube guy or guy was out
29:56
there? What social media gets the
29:58
church's attend attention and then they wander off very, very
30:02
quickly and and suffer as a result and their family suffers.
30:07
It's just as big or bigger problem today as it was in the
30:11
1st century. Over the years, there've been so
30:14
many goofy and false things that have entered the church in the
30:18
name of truth. I remember the season when it
30:20
was real popular to bark like a dog.
30:22
That was evidence that you were filled with the spirit that you
30:25
were roaring like lions and barking like dogs and laughing
30:29
in the spirit. You know, it's come and gone,
30:31
although it's a little bit, it's, it's, it's there a little
30:34
bit in different circles of the church today.
30:36
People walking around barking and roaring and laughing in the
30:39
Spirit. It's all nonsense, but it
30:42
catches people's attention, traditions and customs that are
30:46
suggested in churches today that maybe sound good, it maybe even
30:49
feel good, but but it's not good because it's not in the
30:52
Scriptures. So many false gospels.
30:55
I mean, there's the prosperity gospel that's pretty popular
30:58
today. It's not a gospel.
30:59
It's neither prosperity or gospel except for the people
31:03
teaching that false teaching. It's only good news for them.
31:07
It's only prosperous for them, not for anyone else.
31:10
I think of the political gospel today that you need to vote a
31:14
certain way or do a certain thing in order to be saved.
31:17
That's to be rejected. I think of the apparitions that
31:21
are around the world today that take away, you know, somebody
31:24
will see the Virgin Mary in a piece of toast and everybody
31:27
follows them. Have you heard?
31:29
Do you know they have found this piece of toast?
31:31
And Mary visit us And what? Stop it?
31:34
Reject that nonsense. It doesn't matter what you've
31:37
been taught. That is not true, not to be
31:40
followed. It is a false gospel to be
31:43
rejected. There's just no other option.
31:46
You don't take it even partially.
31:48
What do you mean, Ed? You don't think Mary can throw
31:49
up in toast? No.
31:52
Or tortillas. Or soup.
31:57
You're to look to Jesus Christ. You are looking to Him, the
32:01
author and finisher of your faith.
32:02
No one else takes his place. We have one mediator between God
32:07
and man, the man Christ Jesus. No priest, no pastor, no man, no
32:12
woman, no YouTube, no radio, no TV.
32:15
Only Jesus is worthy of your worship.
32:18
He alone shed His blood to save you.
32:20
No one else. This Angel, you're like I said,
32:23
do you really believe that angels show up and preach false
32:26
teachings? Yes, there is a multi billion
32:30
dollar cult that exists today because a man by the name of
32:34
Joseph Smith said he was visited by an Angel named Moroni who
32:40
gave him a complete false teaching that millions of people
32:44
follow today. It's known as Mormonism and it
32:49
was false. And before Joseph Smith was ever
32:52
born, the Bible told him reject that demon, reject him.
32:58
I don't care what he says. Don't listen to him because it's
33:01
not true. And so that the Bible written is
33:04
filled with truths and church. I sense with the heart of with
33:09
the heart of Paul here. Like I don't want to be in a
33:12
position. I can't believe you guys.
33:13
Why would you listen to that? I mean, even in the last few
33:17
years, with all the challenges and things that we face through
33:21
the pandemic and all, I watched people just drift away from the
33:25
truth and still haven't returned.
33:28
They caught somebody, caught their ear that agreed with them,
33:33
and that's who they follow now. And they're not growing in
33:36
Christ. They're not spreading the
33:38
gospel. They're not doing the work of
33:40
the ministry. Even though they're very, very
33:43
active, they're not active in the things of God.
33:46
You know what the Bible says? The Bible says Jesus did.
33:49
He taught us, He said, but seek ye first the Kingdom of God and
33:55
his righteousness, and all these things will be added.
33:57
It's a matter of priorities. You get caught up in things that
34:01
while they may be good in and of themselves, a good cause, a good
34:07
thought, a good philosophy, if it's not the gospel, it needs to
34:12
be rejected or taking the position secondarily to the
34:17
gospel so that you're led by the Holy Spirit.
34:20
The poor churches in Galatia were confused.
34:23
They were troubled, they were queasy, they were sick to their
34:27
stomach, they were ready to vomit because it was so hard and
34:32
so difficult. These teachers came in and
34:35
really messed with them. And that's what false teaching
34:37
does. You know, false teaching goes
34:39
after the believers and tries to just one little thing is they
34:43
can get you talking, 1 little thing they can hook into and use
34:47
that something you might be trying to learn or something you
34:50
don't quite understand. And they hook into that confuse
34:54
you so that they become the source of every single answer,
34:58
thereby going forward. And Paul would say is the Holy
35:02
Spirit speaking through him. Hey, don't let people trouble
35:05
you. Don't let people twist the
35:07
gospel, reject them. You have a responsibility.
35:10
You know, we can't just lay it all on the false teachers, you
35:13
and I, we have a responsibility to tune our ears, to hear the
35:17
voice of the Lord, to tune our ears and to train ourselves and
35:21
our lives. We're tuning our ears, but we're
35:23
also training our life not to follow men or to follow women.
35:29
More importantly than following the Lord like it, it is not OK
35:33
for you to follow man more than you follow the Lord.
35:36
Like like I, I think of in my relationship with you, the
35:38
privilege I have to serve you. My words are not more important
35:43
than the words of the Bible, my teachings not more important
35:47
than the teachings of Jesus, so that anything that I teach you,
35:50
like the Bereans in the book of Acts, you need to take what's
35:54
taught to you and bring it back to the Word of God.
35:57
Even the newest of new believers can open up the Bible and ask
36:01
God to give clarity on anything they've ever heard.
36:03
You don't need to be seminary trained in order to do that.
36:06
You don't need to have gone to Bible college or have a degree.
36:09
You have the Holy Spirit in you and the Holy Spirit was your
36:14
teacher. It wasn't too long ago I
36:17
received an e-mail from someone very upset with me about
36:22
something that I said, which I almost always ask the question,
36:26
what did I say? What did I say that so upset
36:29
you? Well, I called out a false
36:31
teacher and false teaching on the radio and it flipped this
36:34
person out very upset. And so when they wrote this long
36:37
e-mail, before I even answered it, I gave a quick answer and I
36:41
wanted to clarify, to make sure we're on the same page.
36:44
And I asked, in response to that long e-mail, I said, are you
36:47
saying to me with your e-mail, I just want to make sure.
36:50
Are you saying it was wrong for me to call out false teaching
36:54
and the false teacher that it comes from?
36:57
To which the response was kind of the same as the first e-mail.
37:00
And then I responded again with all the facts, all the
37:04
information to which brought another response.
37:06
Well, well, you know, you shouldn't do that.
37:08
You can't do that. And here's what happened.
37:10
Here's what's being conveyed from this person.
37:14
Somehow this person was used in a vulnerable time in their lives
37:17
to help them, so they became attached to the person.
37:21
When you become attached to the person more than you're attached
37:24
to Christ, you're going to start believing false things.
37:26
If the person you attach yourself to teaches you false
37:29
things, does that make sense? If that, if that, like obviously
37:33
you're in a vulnerable place and somebody's using your life,
37:35
that's great. All glory to God for you getting
37:38
some kind of comfort. But don't give credit to a false
37:40
teacher for the false teaching as where your comfort came from.
37:44
God is the God of all comfort. And let me just answer the
37:47
question for you. Is it OK for me to call out
37:50
false teaching and false teachers?
37:52
Yes, yes, yes. And another time, yes, it's
38:00
true. It's true because if not, I
38:05
wouldn't be a faithful pastor, a faithful leader, a faithful
38:08
brother in the Lord. And I don't want to write what
38:12
Paul wrote. I don't want.
38:13
I know, I know it'll happen percentage wise in a church this
38:17
size. I know what happened.
38:18
It has happened, but it's always discouraging.
38:23
It's been said that Judaism was the cradle of Christianity, and
38:27
it was, but also that it almost became the grave of
38:31
Christianity. You see, Christianity was a
38:34
fulfillment of the law, not a continuation.
38:37
It fulfilled it. It's a new covenant, which we'll
38:42
celebrate very shortly here. False teachers were coming in
38:46
saying you had to go backwards, you had to go back to the law.
38:50
You have to be circumcised. You need to follow the rules.
38:54
I mean you have to understand as you see it in your own life,
38:57
legalism following a set of rules and regulations to make
39:01
yourself feel good about your walk with God.
39:05
Legalism at its core and in its essence seeks to please man by
39:10
following man made rules. I'll give you an example if
39:14
indeed you have reduced your relationship to Jesus with a
39:19
list. Let's say you have 5 things on
39:21
your list, five things, or you would want the church to give
39:23
you a list of five things. This is how you would remain
39:26
right with God. You know, get up in the morning,
39:28
take a shower, brush your teeth, comb your hair.
39:30
You're like, this is how you present yourself at work.
39:33
If we had a list like that, OK, get up in the morning, read an
39:35
hour a day. On Tuesdays, read two hours on
39:38
Wednesdays, read 3 hours. You know, make sure you go to
39:40
church 10 times a week and you just kind of go through.
39:42
If you chose to live by a list, here's what you would do.
39:46
You'd wake up in the morning and your first thought would be the
39:50
list. You'd start working the list.
39:53
I mean, very sincerely and genuinely.
39:55
I'm not saying that you can't do that sincerely, of course you
39:58
can. But you would just be living
40:00
your life to check boxes. Did this, did this, did this.
40:06
And when you go to bed in the evening, the last thing on your
40:10
mind would be, did I finish the list?
40:13
Oh no, I forgot. Let me do this really quick so I
40:15
can check the box. Legalism.
40:18
It appeals to the flesh. If you can, if you can check the
40:22
five boxes, you feel good. It doesn't matter if you're
40:26
connected to God or not. It doesn't matter if you heard
40:29
from him. It doesn't matter if you were
40:30
following his leading. You checked the boxes.
40:35
Now you have to understand with legalism there's a deeper issue,
40:38
and that is in for yourself. A legalist for themselves have a
40:43
lot of rules for everyone else, but you know what they do for
40:46
themselves? They show themselves grace and
40:49
they give everyone else the law. So what that means is your list
40:53
might be 5 for yourself, but for your wife it's 10 because you
40:57
know she needs 10 or vice versa for your husband, he's got 10,
41:03
so you get the five. But if he's going to be right
41:06
with God, he's got to do 10 or 11, all right.
41:10
And so that's how you measure it.
41:12
I did my 5. Did you do your 10?
41:14
I'm sorry babe, I only did 6-1 more than you by the way, but I
41:17
only did my 6, you know? And you can see it's just like
41:20
you. You're, you're giving law that
41:22
nobody can ever live up to your standards except you.
41:26
Because you give yourself grace and you become a critic and you
41:32
become a sin sniffer, sniffing out the sin of everyone that
41:36
didn't check the boxes. You didn't do this and you
41:38
didn't do this and you didn't do this.
41:40
Bro, if you just spent that much time on your own life, how
41:44
powerful of a life you would have.
41:47
The legalist has to be very, very careful.
41:50
You must follow the law. Yeah, but Peter, remember, he
41:53
said you're not even able. Jesus said to the to the
41:57
religious rulers, he goes, you guys aren't.
41:59
You're laying heavy burdens on people that you yourself won't
42:02
even carry. That's the legalist.
42:05
You have the air, you have the outward.
42:09
It's an appeal to the flesh, not only your own flesh, but other
42:11
people. Oh, look at you.
42:12
You are such a great believer. Oh, look at you.
42:15
You have one day I want to be like you.
42:17
I want my list of 10 to become a list of five so I can give other
42:21
people. It's, it's all a mess.
42:24
God is calling them back to a place, not to the natural man,
42:27
but to the spiritual man and the spiritual woman who loves God,
42:31
loves you. He cares for you and if you
42:36
don't change your ways, you're going to suffer greatly.
42:41
If you don't yield yourself back to the Lord, you're going to
42:45
hurt even worse than you are right now.
42:48
You will walk away from the world.
42:50
You know, the one of the things that is kind of worse than
42:53
someone walking away from the Lord is somebody still sitting
42:56
in the chairs that have walked away from the Lord and
42:59
pretending for everybody. When you have to understand
43:03
you're pretending, it catches up to you.
43:05
Most of the people already know that you're pretending.
43:10
Most of the people already know. But even if people didn't know,
43:13
what difference does it make? God knows.
43:16
He knows the reality of your life.
43:19
So Paul opens up very, very strong.
43:24
Very, very strong. Can't believe it.
43:26
What are you guys doing? You're following something
43:28
that's not even the gospel. There's no good news on what
43:33
they have to offer. And, you know, backsliding,
43:36
turning away from the Lord. It's not a sudden thing.
43:39
It's a slow leak. Over time, it slowly creeps in.
43:43
It's involving a series of deliberate, even though
43:47
insignificantly small decisions that when they add up, take you
43:51
away from Jesus. And maybe today you look back on
43:54
a time in your life where you were more passionate for the
43:56
things of God, more obedient, more submissive, more abiding,
44:01
more. You remember what Jesus told the
44:03
church in Ephesus. He said in Revelation that you
44:06
have left your first love. So remember from where you have
44:09
fallen and repent and then repeat and go back and do the
44:14
1st works. Maybe that's you.
44:17
The significance of coming back to a place, you know, when you
44:21
were born again. I I, I just think of all the
44:24
decisions you made over and over again.
44:26
Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.
44:27
Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.
44:28
That doesn't matter. The cost.
44:29
Yes, yes, yes. Then over time, it's yes.
44:32
And maybe, yes, maybe. Yeah.
44:35
I don't know. And then you learn all the
44:37
Christian lingo. And you know the the Christian
44:40
lingo, often times when you don't want to do something.
44:44
Is this you ready? Let me pray about it.
44:48
Let me let you pray about it. It's pretty clear.
44:50
Why don't you do it? You know, I I'm not so quick to
44:53
obey anymore. You can say that I'm not so
44:56
quick to offer myself to God a living sacrifice anymore.
44:59
I need to pray about it. Yeah, but it's pretty clear.
45:03
Read your Bible. Let me pray about that.
45:08
Love your neighbor. Let me pray about that.
45:11
It's usually the phrase. Not always exclusively, of
45:14
course, but it's usually a phrase that's used to either
45:17
delay or subvert obedience in your life.
45:21
If that's you, you need to repent.
45:24
The days in which we live or these are not days to be messing
45:26
around, not days to be happy with a lackadaisical, lukewarm
45:32
life. Not God has so much, so much
45:36
higher for you. The gospel, the good news.
45:38
He wants you to live in the life of good news.
45:40
He wants you to live the life of enjoying everything that He has
45:43
for you, that that you would take it all, enjoy it all, live
45:47
it all, go for it all in a day and age, in a darkness that
45:50
needs the light of the gospel that you wouldn't follow a false
45:53
gospel that you wouldn't identify by all this nonsense
45:56
that's there, that has nothing at all to do with the gospel at
46:00
all. The gospel always goes to the
46:02
heart of the matter and the soul of a person.
46:05
Everything else is the flesh, and we don't want the flesh, we
46:10
want the Spirit. Amen.
46:12
Lord, we prepare our hearts for communion today and we know it's
46:18
strong words that come from Paul, strong words that perhaps
46:23
come from me and we receive them, Lord, as oracles from God,
46:28
that we might come to you with our lives and just forgive us.
46:33
God, I think we all have a little bit of a sense of lists
46:36
and things, you know, trying to even that phrase like trying to
46:41
please you when in Christ, if we just stand still, we are
46:44
pleasing to you. We just rest in you, trust you,
46:51
follow your leading, You're a Good Shepherd.
46:55
You take good care of your sheep.
46:58
We don't need lists or rules and regulations as much as we need
47:03
to abide in you following the grace of God and not the law of
47:08
man. And today, if you're here and
47:11
you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, I want to invite
47:15
you to do that. We talked about the gospel,
47:18
didn't we? The good news that Jesus Christ
47:20
died for your sins, that he was buried in.
47:24
Three days later, he rose again from the dead.
47:27
And the people that was being written to that it says that
47:30
they believed. We may communicate to you today
47:35
that you need to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and
47:38
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.
47:42
You will be saved. So before we come to the
47:46
communion table, we want to invite you to the table with us
47:49
to receive the forgiveness of your sins.
47:52
If you've never done that, for the very first time, I'm going
47:54
to invite you right where you are.
47:55
Would you just stand to your feet?
47:57
I want to help you. I want to help you follow Christ
48:01
with your life. God bless you.
48:02
Who else would say that's me? Today is the day, and God bless
48:06
you in the back, you 2 as well, that today would be the day.
48:14
Like you realize that I've sinned and fallen short of the
48:17
glory of God. I mean, that's just an admission
48:21
of the reality of our lives so broken, so busted up.
48:26
We've made that decision, but God has made the decision to
48:31
forgive and to rescue of all of our sins.
48:37
Who else would say that's me. I want I want to give a little
48:40
bit of space for you to respond that today would be it in this
48:46
moment, you guys online or on the radio join us downstairs.
48:54
The Lord is with you. He loves you even while we were
48:59
dead in our trespasses and sins, Christ died for us.
49:04
And so let me help you with this confessing of the mouth.
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When you talk to God, we call that prayer.
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So I want to help you pray to God.
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You ready? You could say, God, admit, I
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admit that I've sinned against you, and I believe you sent
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Jesus Christ to die for my sins. I believe he was buried and that
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he rose again from the dead. And I choose to follow Him
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today, help me to turn away from my sins and live in victory by
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faith, serving you all the days of my life.
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And Father, I know anyone that comes to you, anyone that cries
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out to you, anyone that admits to you, anyone that yields to
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you, you will no way cast them out.
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So bless the men, the women, the boys and girls that turn their
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life towards you. May they be born again of the
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Spirit. I pray that's the reality of the
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moment. In Jesus name, Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.