Beyond Religion: The Urgency of a Living Faith

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
If you've been transformed, there is a 365, 24-hour-a-day awareness of the fact that you belong to him and you're in the family.
[00:00:08] When we become a hearer of the word and a doer of the word, we will not even have to preach Christ.
[00:00:14] We will display Christ and people will say to us, okay, what's with you?
[00:00:19] God is saying, come and walk with me and let your neighbors and your unbelieving friends see how you're walking with me.
[00:00:24] And when they ask you, what in the world is this hope you have?
[00:00:28] You're different.
[00:00:29] Tell them follow me as I follow him because he can be experienced.
[00:00:35] All right brothers and sisters in Jesus not an easy message not one that's going to make you all that comfortable you might want to turn off right now or you might want to sit down and get into this because it will be true but can we handle it God is calling us listen God is calling you and I to the end of our neighborhood our street
[00:00:57] If God called the Apostle Paul to the ends of the earth and he did that.
[00:01:00] We live in the 21st century now and we have scarcely taken the gospel to the end of our street.
[00:01:05] I think we need to step it up.
[00:01:06] We're running out of time.
[00:01:07] And I need to repent and make sure that every one of my neighbors hears the truth.
[00:01:13] I think we need to do this together.
[00:01:15] So if you can handle it, let's get into this Bible study.
[00:01:19] We're back in Romans.
[00:01:20] We're looking at the message, picking it up where we left off last time.
[00:01:23] One family, one and all.
[00:01:25] That we are the family of God.
[00:01:27] And what does that mean?
[00:01:28] And how should we act?
[00:01:30] And so this morning, it's gonna kinda be like,
[00:01:33] Like a parental maybe family talk from the Word of God.
[00:01:37] I believe that God will be speaking to us from His Bible and really challenging us that now's the time for us to truly be living, breathing children of the Most High God and all that that means.
[00:01:50] One family, one in all, Romans 15.
[00:01:51] I'll begin verse 14.
[00:01:53] If you guys will read verse 15 and the odd verses, that would be great.
[00:01:58] You guys ready?
[00:02:00] Okay, he's ready.
[00:02:01] Are you guys ready?
[00:02:02] All right.
[00:02:04] You guys okay, huh?
[00:02:06] Alright, here we go.
[00:02:08] Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Nevertheless, brethren, I pray for all these to you in some ways.

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Verse 16, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
[00:02:47] Therefore, I have received the glory of Christ Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of God.
[00:02:49] For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient.
[00:03:00] It's Illyricum and that's and don't feel bad that is not an easy word and so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel not where Christ was named or that means preached lest I should build on another man's foundation

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
of the Holy See and those who have

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Father, give us understanding of your word.
[00:03:37] Give us the ability to deliver it and to receive it and to put it into practice, we pray in Jesus' name.
[00:03:44] And all God's people said, Amen.
[00:03:46] You may be seated, everyone.
[00:03:47] And it's been weeks.
[00:03:49] Of course, we've had the holidays and the series of teachings regarding Christmas and all, and now we're back into Romans.
[00:03:56] And I know it's hard to believe, but the official ending of the book of Romans is actually two chapters.
[00:04:05] and that is chapters 15 and 16.
[00:04:08] And as Paul begins to double down, chapter 16 is a lot of farewells.
[00:04:14] He'll mention a lot of people by name and those kinds of things we're gonna run through rather quickly.
[00:04:20] But this is his last push for doctrine.
[00:04:24] Doctrine is Bible teaching.
[00:04:27] As a Christian, you ought to be real fond of doctrine.
[00:04:31] Doctrine is by which we know and understand that we are in fact Christians.
[00:04:36] Doctrine is the teaching of God's Word whereby we can discern whether we possess the faith or not.
[00:04:44] I mentioned last week that if we cannot defend what it is we claim to believe in, then how can we actually believe in that if we don't know, if we cannot articulate that?
[00:04:56] When we looked at this study last time together, church, we saw number one.
[00:04:59] The number one argument was found in verses 14, 15, and 16, and that is that the church, and the question is put forth to be or not to be,
[00:05:08] was the question laid out there because when we looked at it, there is so much going on today in what is called the church.
[00:05:18] And for those of you who know or do not know, we need to remember that Jesus said, I will build my church.
[00:05:25] No pastor, no Christian, no committee, no group builds Jesus's church.
[00:05:32] All we can do is cooperate with him.
[00:05:35] He builds it.
[00:05:36] In fact, if you remember in our study together, part one, they were at Caesarea Philippi when Jesus asked them in that pagan area, very pagan,
[00:05:47] with all of the bizarre worship of the various Roman and Greek gods.
[00:05:52] Jesus takes the disciples there on a little break and all of the pagan worshipers would be shouting.
[00:05:59] I mean, it's just kind of pandemonium.
[00:06:01] They're shouting at those various temples.
[00:06:04] The remains, by the way, are there to this day.
[00:06:06] You can see the various remains of the various shrines of these gods and goddesses.
[00:06:15] And so they're shouting, Great is Diana!
[00:06:18] And they're all offering up to Diana.
[00:06:20] Great is Zeus!
[00:06:21] And their offerings are placed before Zeus.
[00:06:24] And Jesus and the disciples, they're watching this.
[00:06:28] Isn't that funny?
[00:06:29] It'd be like you and I taking like a break, like you just heard that the youth are gonna go to the mountains to get alone to be with Jesus.
[00:06:35] That's like me saying, hey, you know what?
[00:06:37] Let's all get together and go to Vegas to get along with Jesus.
[00:06:41] Jesus takes them to like that kind of a thing.
[00:06:44] Isn't that wild?
[00:06:46] I think it's kinda awesome.
[00:06:47] Because he's gonna teach them that what he has to offer is stronger than anything this world can produce.
[00:06:54] And his truth is forever truth.
[00:06:56] And so, they're all hearing these names shouted and Jesus turns to the disciples and he says to them, who do you say that I am?
[00:07:07] And finally, Peter says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.
[00:07:13] and Jesus says, flesh and blood has not revealed that to you Peter but my Father which is in heaven and upon this I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
[00:07:25] And the true church of Jesus Christ today, listen, cannot be defeated.
[00:07:31] When you see churches defeated or churches destroyed, those are churches that in some way, shape or form failed to build upon the foundation of Christ.
[00:07:41] If it's all centered around a man or a group or money or maybe an old reputation of what Jesus used to do there and it falls apart, that was of man.
[00:07:54] Listen, friends, listen.
[00:07:56] Never think, oh, God failed in that community because that church failed.
[00:08:00] Nope.
[00:08:02] That's the fruit of man.
[00:08:03] The Lord's church will never fail.
[00:08:07] And even today in North Africa, there are tremendous amounts of lives being slaughtered, Christian lives being slaughtered.
[00:08:15] And listen, that is not the church failing.
[00:08:18] That is the church faithful even unto martyrdom.
[00:08:22] We need to remember that.
[00:08:24] It's an amazing time.
[00:08:25] The question is for you and I, are we actually living, breathing the gospel of God in our lives today?
[00:08:31] So this is a family talk, and I'll confess that it's direct.
[00:08:36] But I want to put this forward to you.
[00:08:38] The man that we're listening to, as the Holy Spirit got a hold of Paul the Apostle, this is a man who, I'm going to put it to you kind of sarcastically, he had a miserable life.
[00:08:48] Before Christ got a hold of him, his life was miserable.
[00:08:51] And let me explain that to you.
[00:08:53] Actually, let me have him explain it to you.
[00:08:57] Look at Philippians on the screen.
[00:08:59] The book of Philippians chapter 3, listen to what he has to say.
[00:09:02] This is after he encounters Christ.
[00:09:05] Beware of dogs is what he says in verse 2.
[00:09:08] He's not a cat man.
[00:09:09] When he's saying beware of dogs, you remember Psalm 22 when the psalmist cries out and says, the dogs have surrounded me.
[00:09:18] It's unbelievers.
[00:09:19] Beware of dogs.
[00:09:21] The Bible puts the unbeliever as a dog.
[00:09:24] Base, animalistic.
[00:09:26] Beware of dogs.
[00:09:27] These were violent dogs.
[00:09:29] These were not like four-footed dogs.
[00:09:31] Those can...
[00:09:32] Be somehow trained or won over by a treat or something.
[00:09:38] No, these are two-legged dogs.
[00:09:41] These are those who are enemies of the gospel.
[00:09:44] He says beware of them, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation.
[00:09:49] I'm not gonna belabor this one, but listen, our salvation, our faith is based upon what Christ has done.
[00:09:55] Can I hear an amen to this?
[00:09:57] It's what Jesus has done, it's not what you do.
[00:10:01] What you do is the fruit of what Christ has done.
[00:10:05] That's God living his gospel out of your life, not you trying to be religious.
[00:10:10] And Paul addresses them.
[00:10:11] He says, beware of the mutilation.
[00:10:14] That means those who were teaching and preaching that no matter what you believe, you've gotta be circumcised to go to heaven.
[00:10:21] Well, that's equal to somebody saying today, you've gotta be baptized to go to heaven.
[00:10:25] Now listen, Christians, should you be baptized?
[00:10:27] You should.
[00:10:28] But what if you're driving, what if you accept Christ and you're driving down to
[00:10:32] Get baptized and you get killed in a car crash.
[00:10:35] Are you gonna go to heaven or hell?
[00:10:37] Heaven!
[00:10:38] She says, yeah, but he didn't get baptized.
[00:10:39] Neither did the thief on the cross.
[00:10:42] Baptism is an act of obedience because we've had a changed heart.
[00:10:47] An internal change is displayed with an external display of water baptism.
[00:10:52] For the Jew, it was circumcision.
[00:10:55] And they were attacking the gospel, and Paul said, why don't, listen, beware of the mutilation.
[00:11:02] They were saying, I hate to say it to you this way, but folks, it's the truth.
[00:11:06] And legalism does this to you.
[00:11:09] No matter what your faith system is, you've got to add to it.
[00:11:13] This is what is one of the definitions of the cults.
[00:11:17] If you are a former member or a member or you know somebody who belongs to a cult, they say, yeah, yeah, yeah, we love Jesus, we believe in everything Jesus did, but you have to do this also.
[00:11:28] Nope.
[00:11:30] It's faith in Christ alone.
[00:11:31] And that transformative power actually supernaturally changes your life.
[00:11:37] But the mutilation taught this, the more flesh you circumcise, the holier you are.
[00:11:46] Sounds pretty graphic?
[00:11:49] It gets even more fantastic.
[00:11:51] Paul the Apostle says in another place, concerning those who trouble you regarding being circumcised, he said, why don't they just go all the way and cut themselves off?
[00:12:06] Because if they said if you do some legalism then you got to do some more and then you got to do some more until you help the blood of Christ out by your good works and into heaven you go.
[00:12:18] My friend the Bible says in the book of Galatians if you do that you are fallen from grace.
[00:12:23] Watch out.
[00:12:24] Legalism kills you and it's very painful.
[00:12:27] For we are the circumcision who worship God in spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
[00:12:35] There you go.
[00:12:35] Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, this is Paul speaking, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so.
[00:12:45] Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
[00:12:52] Concerning the law, Paul was a Pharisee.
[00:12:55] Wow.
[00:12:56] Concerning zeal, persecuting the church.
[00:12:59] Concerning righteousness, which is in the law, blameless.
[00:13:03] But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
[00:13:07] Yet indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.
[00:13:13] Listen, do you know, as you'll see in a moment, do you know in an experiential way Jesus Christ?
[00:13:21] That is the pivotal question of today in this gathering.
[00:13:26] Do you know Christ as He is saying and have you experienced Him?
[00:13:32] Very, very important.
[00:13:35] Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish.
[00:13:41] The word in Greek is manure.
[00:13:43] I'm not kidding.
[00:13:44] That I may gain Christ.
[00:13:46] verse 9 and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed or made into the image of Jesus Christ that is to his death that is by the death of Jesus Christ in his resurrection the power has been given to you and I by the word of God the Holy Spirit will use to transform your life
[00:14:16] And if your life has been transformed, listen, you know nothing about being a Sunday Christian only.
[00:14:25] You see how family this talk's going to be today?
[00:14:29] If you think you're a Christian on Sunday but not on Monday, you're not in the family.
[00:14:33] You're playing games.
[00:14:35] You haven't been transformed.
[00:14:37] Because if you've been transformed, there is a 365, 24-hour-a-day awareness of the fact that you belong to Him.
[00:14:46] And you're in the family.
[00:14:47] And we are all one, the Bible says, in one family.
[00:14:51] Isn't that amazing?
[00:14:51] Think about this family.
[00:14:53] I mean, this is one service.
[00:14:54] This is the second service today.
[00:14:57] And this is one service of services going on around the world on a Sunday.
[00:15:01] Who knows?
[00:15:03] We can only guess.
[00:15:05] Maybe a billion or more true believers in the world.
[00:15:08] I don't know.
[00:15:08] Only God knows, right?
[00:15:10] But the fact of the matter is, are we really, really a transformed people?
[00:15:14] Because I say this, Paul had a horrible life until he came to Christ.
[00:15:20] He was educated.
[00:15:21] I guess I should start at the beginning.
[00:15:25] Paul the Apostle was formerly Saul of Tarsus.
[00:15:29] Famous.
[00:15:30] The most famous convert to Christianity in the last 2,000 years is none other than Saul of Tarsus.
[00:15:38] Brilliant.
[00:15:39] Born a Jew, but born a Roman citizen.
[00:15:42] Very rare.
[00:15:44] He was born brilliant.
[00:15:47] We know from secular history that Gamaliel was his professor and that Gamaliel wrote about Saul of Tarsus that he was so carnivorous of books that he couldn't keep him in books, that he would consume books before he could get Saul or Paul another set of books.
[00:16:04] He was famous.
[00:16:05] His zeal was beyond measure and concerning his
[00:16:10] Disciplines, he persecuted the church.
[00:16:12] He was famous for it.
[00:16:14] In fact, the Jerusalem Council of the scribes and Pharisees committed that task to him to hunt down Christians.
[00:16:23] and to either arrest them, beat them or kill them.
[00:16:26] That's why, by the way, in the book of Acts, the man by the name of Stephen was stoned to death for being a Christian and those who were throwing the stones laid their garments down at the feet of who?
[00:16:37] Saul of Tarsus.
[00:16:39] And I have no doubt that when Stephen was stoned to death, that made an impact on Paul's life or Saul's life.
[00:16:45] And while he was heading up to Damascus, Syria, on the King's Highway, Christ appeared to him
[00:16:53] and he was converted.
[00:16:55] And you might say, well I don't believe that or not.
[00:16:56] It doesn't matter if you believe it or not.
[00:16:58] What happened was, it happened to Paul and his life was changed and that is a matter of secular and biblical history.
[00:17:07] The man was dramatically transformed.
[00:17:10] And he gave his life fully to Christ.
[00:17:11] And we saw this last time about the church.
[00:17:13] The church, to be or not to be, we touched on these issues.
[00:17:18] That it's to be a real family.
[00:17:19] What is a real family like?
[00:17:22] And all of us in Christ Jesus were related.
[00:17:25] But listen, we're not in heaven yet.
[00:17:28] God is using us to bring more men and women and boys and girls to heaven with us.
[00:17:33] But even though we've been washed of our sins and made clean and the Spirit of God dwells within us, we are imperfect.
[00:17:38] Can I hear an amen?
[00:17:40] We are imperfect, but listen, if we could, we'd get up every morning with the desire to live perfectly.
[00:17:47] But we get sick to our stomach with probably, I don't know, within 10 minutes we could have a bad thought.
[00:17:52] Have you ever stepped on a Lego in the early morning hours?
[00:17:55] Barefoot?
[00:17:56] That'd challenge your Christianity right there.
[00:18:02] But we have this pursuit of God in our hearts.
[00:18:06] One of the marked evidences of being a true believer is that you've got to pursue the things of God.
[00:18:12] The rule of God, the reign of God, the word of God, the will of God for your life.
[00:18:18] It's what you want.
[00:18:20] And you and I well know that if that's what we want, because we've been transformed, that you and I are the ones who get most often in the way of what God wants to do.
[00:18:28] And so the Bible tells us over and over again that we are in this family.
[00:18:32] We are to bring our flesh under the subjection of Christ.
[00:18:36] And that's our daily walk with Jesus.
[00:18:38] But a real family?
[00:18:39] What is it like?
[00:18:40] He says in verse 14, Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren.
[00:18:45] Well, who's he talking about?
[00:18:48] Well, it's the book of Romans.
[00:18:50] He's writing to the Roman believers in Italy who he had never met.
[00:18:56] Church, look at these words.
[00:18:58] Is he exaggerating?
[00:18:59] Is the great apostle lying when he says, now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren?
[00:19:07] How could he be confident in knowing their walk with God when he had never met them?
[00:19:12] He's writing this book that you have open on your lap from Corinth, Greece.
[00:19:17] He's writing to the Romans in Italy.
[00:19:21] And he says, I know about your walk.
[00:19:23] I know about your life.
[00:19:24] I know about your faith.
[00:19:27] Why?
[00:19:28] Because people were talking about the Roman believers.
[00:19:32] Look, church, being a believer in Rome in the first century would be like being a believer in New York City or Hollywood or Vegas or Babylon.
[00:19:45] You're either a believer or you're not.
[00:19:48] It's black and white.
[00:19:49] There's no place to hide.
[00:19:50] And the Roman believers were strong.
[00:19:53] In fact, you're gonna hear in a moment that they were stronger than most.
[00:19:58] I wanna encourage you, in the world that you and I live in right now, let's be honest.
[00:20:02] It seems like every other breaking news issue is some catastrophe, some more lawlessness, insanity.
[00:20:12] What's happening?
[00:20:14] I hope I express your heart when I say when you see all these things happening yes it upsets us because it's horrible and this is the ramifications of sin but it also reminds us that we've got to be on the last lap folks this world cannot continue on much longer unless something happens
[00:20:39] And even in your own world, what about your family?
[00:20:42] The issues of family life?
[00:20:43] It's harder now to be a husband, a wife, a father, a mother, a child, a parent?
[00:20:49] Would you agree?
[00:20:50] More difficult than ever.
[00:20:51] And the temptation to give up on your children seems to be overwhelming.
[00:20:59] that you can't bring any help to them because their world, I mean, our kids and our grandkids, their world has just exploded light years in technology.
[00:21:08] We don't even understand their language.
[00:21:12] Look, I'm an old guy.
[00:21:13] I don't know how long I'll be in this pulpit.
[00:21:15] I could drop dead any day.
[00:21:18] That said, I gotta have people around me and I have to ask them, so what's the latest young people talk?
[00:21:24] So like when I'm doing a podcast, I don't sound like a dinosaur.
[00:21:29] I had to ask that question because there's so many young people that watch.
[00:21:32] The vast majority of our podcasting is received by young people, which we're happy to report.
[00:21:37] But what are they doing?
[00:21:38] I think I'm wondering.
[00:21:39] I think they're watching because they might need a dad.
[00:21:42] Maybe that's it.
[00:21:45] But I also want to be able to relate to them, but I should leave that to the Holy Spirit, right?
[00:21:49] That's the Holy Spirit's job.
[00:21:51] But one of the worst things that we could ever do as a family is that a parent tries to be the best friend of the kid.
[00:21:58] That is a very sad thing in our culture today because the pressures and insecurities of parenting, we try to think, well, if I make my kid happy, then they'll think I'm cool.
[00:22:08] They don't need you to be cool.
[00:22:11] They need you to be the loving authority because, listen, they'll never make it through a job in life.
[00:22:16] They'll never make it through life unless you show them loving authority, unless you teach them and show them the world is tough out there.
[00:22:26] Paul the Apostle is saying, I'm confident in you Roman believers.
[00:22:29] Why?
[00:22:29] Because they had gone through it.
[00:22:31] They are living their Christianity where Nero himself would be residing, the empire.
[00:22:39] Darth Vader was there.
[00:22:42] And they lived for Christ.
[00:22:44] We know also in the book of Acts, the Bible tells us that there were those of Caesar's household that had come to faith in Christ.
[00:22:52] How did that happen?
[00:22:53] An active, verbal, loving,
[00:22:56] Spirit-filled church.
[00:22:59] And that's what I pray and hope that is true in my life and in your life.
[00:23:04] He goes on in verse 14 and says that you also are full of goodness
[00:23:08] filled with all knowledge.
[00:23:11] Two profound words.
[00:23:12] The word goodness, if you remember, we touched on it last time together.
[00:23:15] Two very powerful Greek words.
[00:23:17] Number one, goodness is to be God-like.
[00:23:20] Don't let that trip you up.
[00:23:22] It doesn't mean that you're gonna be a God.
[00:23:24] It means that you are mimicking the God that is your God.
[00:23:28] Listen, if the Lord God of the Bible is your God, you will seek to mimic your God.
[00:23:34] And this is true, by the way, of all things.
[00:23:37] This is true of all things.
[00:23:39] I don't mean to be hard on this, but I'll paint this picture as some sort of reminder.
[00:23:46] People who are into, I mean you picked the topic, seriously, hunting.
[00:23:51] They get hunting stuff.
[00:23:53] They get hunting apparel.
[00:23:56] They buy a duck call.
[00:23:59] They watch Duck Dynasty.
[00:24:01] I don't know.
[00:24:02] They have a rifle rack.
[00:24:04] I don't know, but they intermingle with that culture, and that's fantastic.
[00:24:10] Maybe sports, whatever it might be.
[00:24:12] That's fine.
[00:24:14] As a Christian, that same truth, but in a divine sense, I am to be associated with the things of God.
[00:24:22] In fact, what it means to be God-like in action and word, it means that when I speak, I don't have to quote the Bible
[00:24:29] To be ministering to somebody, I can paraphrase the Bible, I can take biblical truth and say it in a different way in our culture, in our day, and somebody might say, wow, you've got so much wisdom, or I never thought about that before.
[00:24:43] Little do they know, all you and I are doing is regurgitating Bible.
[00:24:47] Are you with me?
[00:24:48] That's being God-like, that's being goodness.
[00:24:52] It's doing the things that Jesus would do.
[00:24:55] When you see something, when you hear something,
[00:24:59] When you get a chance to vote for somebody who loves the Lord in California's 49th district, you do the good thing.
[00:25:06] Seriously, you don't sit on that opportunity.
[00:25:09] You do good.
[00:25:10] The word also means to put into practice, to do it, and to do it from the heart.
[00:25:16] Why?
[00:25:16] Because our true faith in Christ is rooted in the heart.
[00:25:20] We are not fans of religion.
[00:25:24] We are fans of a relationship.
[00:25:27] And there's a great difference
[00:25:30] Certainly.
[00:25:32] And then he goes on to use this word, goodness, and he goes on to use the word knowledge.
[00:25:39] This remarkable word knowledge is to have an experiential knowledge.
[00:25:46] A lot of pastors get nervous at this point.
[00:25:48] I understand why.
[00:25:49] Knowledge, the Greek word gnosko means to know by experience.
[00:25:58] Listen, I'm gonna say it.
[00:26:00] And there's a lot of overreaction because, listen, this is Calvary Chapel, which I could care less about the name of this church.
[00:26:06] To be honest, I don't care.
[00:26:09] What I do love and care about is that all of you come from various denominations and walks of life.
[00:26:14] I love that.
[00:26:16] There's all kinds of Catholics and Methodists and Lutherans and Baptists and Assembly God.
[00:26:21] But don't tell the Baptists.
[00:26:22] All the Baptists think they're the only ones here.
[00:26:24] But joke.
[00:26:29] The beautiful thing is this, we never take your pulse to find out what flavor you are.
[00:26:36] We want you to be focused on the Word of God.
[00:26:39] And having said that, there are denominations, there's issues that people have had with certain groups maybe where the experience was bad.
[00:26:51] They went into a church service, and it was crazy weird.
[00:26:54] People speaking in tongues, running around, swinging from the chandeliers, and they're like, what is that?
[00:26:59] That's Christianity?
[00:27:01] I don't want anything to do with it.
[00:27:02] There are people who have come out of very, very bizarre, almost shepherding movement types of churches where you couldn't do anything without asking the pastor.
[00:27:11] That's sick.
[00:27:13] Jesus said, by the way, that's Nicolaitan, and I hate it.
[00:27:18] Did you know that?
[00:27:19] Jesus said that.
[00:27:22] And so when you see the words to know by experience or experiential knowledge, you push back because your experience has been ugly.
[00:27:29] I want you to know that God wants to wash that out of your life and have you experience the Lord Jesus Christ in an actual living, breathing way where you live with him on a continuous basis.
[00:27:41] And friend, it is real.
[00:27:42] It is reality.
[00:27:43] And honestly, I'm glad that you're here, but you don't need Sunday church to experience that.
[00:27:49] This is just a cherry on top of the whipped cream coming together like this.
[00:27:54] It's every day.
[00:27:55] And you experience him.
[00:28:00] And so as a family, I want to ask you.
[00:28:03] And I caught myself.
[00:28:05] That's why I'm going to put it on you.
[00:28:07] I felt horrible about it when God showed me.
[00:28:09] And then so I'm going to turn around.
[00:28:11] I thought, well, I'm going to make them feel horrible too about it.
[00:28:15] But I realized how little, with all the busyness of 2025, I realized that my alone private time with God was eaten up by very, very good things.
[00:28:26] And my private time with God started to shrink because I was doing all these really good things.
[00:28:33] They're good things.
[00:28:36] But are they good things really managed well when they begin to take away private time from God and me alone?
[00:28:43] It's not a good thing.
[00:28:46] The world has its stuff thrown at you.
[00:28:49] I think you can identify it.
[00:28:50] But sometimes I wonder if Satan doesn't wrap stuff up with a really shiny bow on it and try to distract you with it.
[00:29:00] Because God is never into tempting or confusing you or me.
[00:29:05] And that alone time does not a child long.
[00:29:13] to have that quality time with mom or dad.
[00:29:16] Do they not?
[00:29:18] My grandson last week, he loves airplanes.
[00:29:22] Everything, the youngest one loves airplanes.
[00:29:25] It's just over the top.
[00:29:26] I love it.
[00:29:27] That's how I was when I was a kid.
[00:29:29] And I told him, I said, listen, before anybody else wakes up, let's get going.
[00:29:35] Let's get on over to John Wayne Airport.
[00:29:36] We'll watch airplanes take off and land.
[00:29:40] And he said, what, what, what?
[00:29:44] And I said, yeah.
[00:29:45] He goes, just you and I?
[00:29:46] And I exactly, aww.
[00:29:49] It's so cute.
[00:29:50] Just you and I?
[00:29:50] I go, yeah.
[00:29:51] He goes, yeah, okay.
[00:29:54] And he was very excited that we weren't gonna tell anybody.
[00:29:57] Okay, let's go.
[00:29:59] So we had to go through Starbucks.
[00:30:02] He's all set up.
[00:30:03] And he's got his little flight radar app going.
[00:30:07] He's got his camera out.
[00:30:10] Two times he said to me, we're doing this together.
[00:30:14] Isn't that great?
[00:30:15] That's a big ahhh.
[00:30:16] We're doing this together, like he's reminded me.
[00:30:20] But I'm the one that engineered it.
[00:30:23] And then on the way home, fourth and final time, he said, why did you do this with me today?
[00:30:29] I said, because I wanted to.
[00:30:30] Did you like it?
[00:30:31] I loved it!
[00:30:33] If we can do that and experience that, how much more, God, with us?
[00:30:39] When we get alone with him, listen, sometimes we are maybe tempted to be afraid when we get alone with God because he might say something.
[00:30:48] I want to encourage you, you know, I understand that, but after you get to know Jesus for a while, you long for him to say something.
[00:30:55] It's like, Lord, best I can, I'm not leaving until you say something.
[00:31:00] We learned that from Jacob, right?
[00:31:01] We'd grab onto his foot and hang onto it.
[00:31:04] I'm not leaving until you bless me, God.
[00:31:09] And so many times in those moments, God will speak things, listen up carefully, this might reach one person or 100.
[00:31:16] In those times, God will say something to you that you don't understand, you better write it down.
[00:31:23] You seek God alone and he'll tell you secrets.
[00:31:26] There's a great book by A.W.
[00:31:27] Tozer called God Tells the Man Who Cares.
[00:31:32] And the man who cares is the man who takes the time to be alone with God.
[00:31:35] And God will tell you things.
[00:31:37] And sometimes the things will seem crazy.
[00:31:40] Write them down.
[00:31:41] Watch what He does.
[00:31:45] And you'll have confidence.
[00:31:47] And those believers in Rome, they were confident because they had learned how to follow God.
[00:31:51] In James 1, verse 22, the Bible tells us, James 1, 22,
[00:31:57] But be doers of the word and not hearers only.
[00:32:00] Watch what happens, deceiving yourselves.
[00:32:03] Translate, if you're only hearers of the word of God and you don't do it, you're deceiving yourself.
[00:32:09] You know that?
[00:32:11] Before I read verse 23, issue of a warning.
[00:32:13] Remember, this is family talk.
[00:32:15] This is a very direct message today.
[00:32:19] If you don't intend to do God's word, you don't need another sermon.
[00:32:27] How is it that in our culture we think, I'll listen to a sermon today.
[00:32:31] In fact, I might listen to three on the road.
[00:32:34] For what?
[00:32:36] Stop doing that.
[00:32:38] Don't listen to any more sermons if you don't intend to do what the Bible says to do.
[00:32:44] Does that make sense?
[00:32:45] You say, man, that's kinda harsh.
[00:32:47] That's not harsh at all.
[00:32:48] It's basic.
[00:32:50] It's family talk.
[00:32:52] This is us.
[00:32:56] We're not of this world.
[00:32:59] What if we listened to one sermon and determined to do what we learned?
[00:33:05] Wow.
[00:33:09] Verse 23, for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.
[00:33:16] Natural face, do you know what that word natural face is?
[00:33:19] Unkept face.
[00:33:21] Natural, not supernatural, natural face.
[00:33:23] You know your natural face?
[00:33:25] Have you seen your natural face lately?
[00:33:28] During Christmas time we were walking in some mall.
[00:33:31] I forget what mall it is.
[00:33:32] We're all together and we're all whatever we're doing.
[00:33:37] And some store had a very bad marketing idea.
[00:33:41] I'm telling you right now, in fact, this was so overwhelming, I can't even tell you what store it was.
[00:33:45] They had in the front of the window, they're trying to sell stuff, in the front of the window, it's huge, they had a massive magnifying mirror.
[00:33:55] You know the ones, you know the ones where you look at and like you could see like, I don't know, like 25 pores on the end of your nose and it's like, oh my gosh.
[00:34:08] It's terrifying.
[00:34:10] and I mean that's torture.
[00:34:13] So many women suffer with insecurity issues because they own those mirrors.
[00:34:23] Newsflash, us guys, we don't own those mirrors.
[00:34:28] So you look at yourself, you can be as cute as a button and you look at this and then it's like, oh my gosh, I look horrible at that magnification.
[00:34:38] Everybody looks horrible.
[00:34:42] but you're looking too hard.
[00:34:46] James is warning about the man who looks in the mirror and instead of him saying, wow, that's revealing, I gotta get that fixed, I gotta brush those more often or I gotta shave my nose.
[00:35:01] The guy looks in the mirror and goes, whoa, what a mutt and then walks away and acts like he's not.
[00:35:10] The Bible says, listen, look into me, look into this book, and I'll show you who you really are, and I'm not gonna condemn you, and I'm not gonna leave you ugly, spiritually speaking.
[00:35:22] I'm gonna make you brand new.
[00:35:24] I'm gonna make you new all over from top to bottom, from side to side, from the spirit inside outward.
[00:35:30] I'm gonna make you beautiful in my sight.
[00:35:33] God will do that.
[00:35:34] And James warns about the man who's only a hearer of the word.
[00:35:38] Verse 24, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
[00:35:45] That's a religious man.
[00:35:48] And we don't wanna be like that.
[00:35:50] We want a heart change.
[00:35:51] That word doer, look at this.
[00:35:53] I have to show you the Greek meaning of this word.
[00:35:56] By the way, it's the root word to poem.
[00:35:59] So the Bible says, are you guys awake?
[00:36:01] So the Bible says that we are his creation created in Christ Jesus for good works.
[00:36:06] The word means workmanship.
[00:36:08] We are his poema.
[00:36:10] It means that God has made us to be his poem.
[00:36:16] That's the meaning of the word.
[00:36:17] I mean, I don't understand it, but that's what he says.
[00:36:22] Okay, this root word here is to be a maker, an author, one to accomplish, rehearse, act out, carry, compose, to bring the word of God forward, to show it, to live your life in such a way that people detect that you're a Christian by how you live your life.
[00:36:43] Can I say that again before you leave the building?
[00:36:46] This is hard stuff, but this is reality, folks.
[00:36:50] That when we become a hearer of the word and a doer of the word, we will not even have to preach Christ.
[00:36:57] We will display Christ.
[00:36:59] And people will say to us, okay, what's with you?
[00:37:04] And we're living in a world that is dangerous, scary, and getting more crazy by the hour.
[00:37:08] It's an opportunity.
[00:37:12] Because you and I are not having a meltdown.
[00:37:15] We're not biting our fingernails.
[00:37:17] We're not having to take stuff to calm our stomach because we're worrying.
[00:37:21] We're not!
[00:37:23] We tell people, listen, this is the horrible stuff that's happening in the world around us.
[00:37:28] Jesus said there'd be days like this.
[00:37:31] And the Bible speaks about days like this.
[00:37:34] And you need to trust Him.
[00:37:38] Today people are in need of having their heart changed.
[00:37:45] I'm not gonna reveal what entity asked me this, but I was completely dumbfounded.
[00:37:51] I'll tell you later if I get permission to do this, but I was, on Thursday night, I was taken into somebody's office and a couple of my friends were there and they were like, oh my gosh, you don't go in there, you must be in trouble.
[00:38:04] And I didn't know, this guy says, can I talk to you for a minute?
[00:38:07] I didn't know, I was supposed to get nervous.
[00:38:10] So I walked in and I said, what's up?
[00:38:14] And long story short, I'll just say, the individual said, we want to have more faith brought into this secular arena.
[00:38:24] Because I was at a meeting in the world.
[00:38:27] It was a worldly, you know what I mean by a worldly meeting?
[00:38:30] It was not ministry, it was media business.
[00:38:36] People are searching.
[00:38:37] And by the way, the question was asked of me, are we doing our young people
[00:38:44] A disservice.
[00:38:45] And I said, I believe we are.
[00:38:46] It goes back to what I said earlier.
[00:38:50] Our culture, listen, the young people today, they need a commitment.
[00:38:54] They need a challenge.
[00:38:55] They need difficult.
[00:38:57] Did you know that?
[00:38:58] So now I got to protect my kid so that they don't experience difficulty.
[00:39:01] No, no, no, wrong answer.
[00:39:03] Your kid needs to know that they can make it through difficulties.
[00:39:07] Our kids need to be taught they can roll up the sleeves, power through that.
[00:39:11] You'll make it through that.
[00:39:12] Yes, there's a thousand obstacles against you.
[00:39:15] Just keep fighting.
[00:39:16] Don't give up.
[00:39:16] You can't quit.
[00:39:17] It's not even on the docket to quit.
[00:39:19] You can't do it.
[00:39:20] Son, you gotta keep going.
[00:39:21] Daughter, don't look back.
[00:39:23] Keep going.
[00:39:25] Listen, our young people today are getting ripped off because we, the parents or grandparents, we have coddled the culture.
[00:39:31] into painting them a false world.
[00:39:33] That world is out there.
[00:39:34] The world's got sharper teeth than it ever has, and it's waiting to devour our Christian kids because we've padded their crib.
[00:39:45] I believe that they know better, and kids today, they want a challenge.
[00:39:52] But you'd have to be transformed.
[00:39:54] I am not talking about doing religion.
[00:39:57] You're in the wrong church if that's what you're here for.
[00:40:00] Jesus Christ and faith in him alone, he did it.
[00:40:04] Christ died on the cross for your sins and mine and he rose again from the dead and left an empty tomb in Jerusalem.
[00:40:09] He ascended back to heaven and he's coming back.
[00:40:13] And I hope it's now.
[00:40:16] Or now.
[00:40:19] Maybe even now.
[00:40:22] Ezekiel chapter 36.
[00:40:24] Yes, look, Ezekiel, I know this is written to the Jewish people.
[00:40:27] But I want you to pay close attention to this everybody.
[00:40:29] Before I start reading these verses, get ready to write them down.
[00:40:34] How was Nicodemus to go to heaven?
[00:40:42] What was to happen to Nicodemus for him to go to heaven?
[00:40:45] I'm sorry, say it again.
[00:40:47] Born again.
[00:40:47] One more time louder.
[00:40:49] Born again.
[00:40:49] Born again.
[00:40:50] The word means born from above, born of the Spirit.
[00:40:55] Jesus said that to Nicodemus.
[00:40:59] One Jew, who happened to be God, speaking to another Jew, who happened to be the teacher of all Israel, said, unless you're born again, you will never see the kingdom of heaven.
[00:41:11] Nicodemus' head popped.
[00:41:14] I mean, you know what I mean.
[00:41:16] His yarmulke went, because that's like, what?
[00:41:20] He even said, I'm old, how could I get back in my mother's womb?
[00:41:24] What do you mean?
[00:41:25] Jesus says, what do you mean what I mean?
[00:41:27] You should know these things.
[00:41:28] You're the teacher of Israel.
[00:41:30] You were born once of the flesh and you've got to be born a second time of the spirit.
[00:41:36] He said you should know this.
[00:41:38] Why should Nicodemus have known that right here?
[00:41:43] Are you guys liking this?
[00:41:44] I hope you are.
[00:41:45] This is cool stuff because the Gentile and the Jew is saved the same way.
[00:41:50] They're saved the same exact way, not some other way.
[00:41:55] A Jew and a Gentile must be saved the same way.
[00:41:59] And here it is.
[00:42:00] God says here, Ezekiel 36, 26, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
[00:42:07] I will take the heart of stone out of the flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
[00:42:12] I will put my spirit within you.
[00:42:17] Think of that for a moment.
[00:42:19] The very glory that resided over the Ark of the Covenant, God is saying, I'm gonna put my spirit in you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them.
[00:42:34] How does that happen?
[00:42:35] God does it.
[00:42:37] You and I cannot do it.
[00:42:38] We can't do it.
[00:42:40] He'll do it through you.
[00:42:43] Next verse, notice, from Ezekiel to John, or Yohanim.
[00:42:48] Chapter 14, verse 16, And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him.
[00:43:04] But you know him, for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.
[00:43:09] I will not leave you comfortless.
[00:43:11] That's what Jesus said.
[00:43:13] Next verse, back to the Old Testament.
[00:43:16] Psalm 51, verse 10.
[00:43:18] Created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
[00:43:25] Did you get that?
[00:43:28] Next verse, back to the New Testament.
[00:43:31] Then the same day at evening,
[00:43:34] Being the first day of the week, Sunday, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, that is the Jewish religious leadership, they were out hunting Christians.
[00:43:45] Jesus came and stood in the midst the word means suddenly appeared and said to them peace be with you verse 20 and when he had said this he showed them his hands and his side obviously the scars then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord notice this remarkable next verse Jeremiah back to the Old Testament
[00:44:08] But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord.
[00:44:12] I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
[00:44:20] Back to the New Testament.
[00:44:23] Next verse, John 20.
[00:44:26] So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you, as the Father has sent me, listen, I also send you.
[00:44:33] And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.
[00:44:38] Do you know what that, right there, if someone ever asks you, where was the first account of anyone being born again in the Bible?
[00:44:46] If being born again is such a big deal, where's the first event of it happening in the Bible?
[00:44:52] John chapter 20, verse 22, right there.
[00:44:54] He breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
[00:44:58] The day of Pentecost will not come here in this scripture to the book of Acts much later.
[00:45:03] Very interesting.
[00:45:04] He came to indwell, and he empowers you that way.
[00:45:09] Remarkable and awesome.
[00:45:13] We also know this, that God's desire to be so intimate with you that he even says in Revelation 3, verse 20, Jesus says that, behold, I stand at the door and knock.
[00:45:25] Listen how this goes, everybody.
[00:45:27] What door?
[00:45:27] You might say, what door is he knocking on?
[00:45:29] Well, he's gonna answer that.
[00:45:31] Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
[00:45:33] If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him.
[00:45:38] The door of your heart.
[00:45:43] To come in and dwell there.
[00:45:49] And then if you look at this, the relationship and the reality of a family.
[00:45:56] You can't help but think of Galatians 5.22, which is the famous passage of the fruit of the Spirit.
[00:46:05] Galatians 5.22 is literally impossible to have happened in your life and my life without the Holy Spirit doing it.
[00:46:12] You can't do it.
[00:46:14] Friends, listen, I can ask you as a New Year's resolution, go out and do that.
[00:46:22] You can't, it's impossible.
[00:46:25] So why does God tell us to do this?
[00:46:28] Because God is saying, will you just relax?
[00:46:33] After having received me as your Lord and Savior, will you just let me live my life through you?
[00:46:38] Follow me?
[00:46:42] There's gonna come a shock to a lot of men today.
[00:46:44] Jesus never said, I'll follow you.
[00:46:46] Now, I heard women laugh.
[00:46:52] I didn't hear a man laugh.
[00:46:57] because we're fixers.
[00:47:01] What's wrong?
[00:47:02] This is wrong.
[00:47:02] I'll take care of that.
[00:47:05] Look, I've been married a long time and I still haven't gotten this down.
[00:47:11] And it's hard for us guys.
[00:47:12] It's not easy.
[00:47:18] But as a husband, when our wives tell us, you know what went wrong today?
[00:47:24] What went wrong?
[00:47:27] The car, the car what?
[00:47:28] What happened?
[00:47:29] What?
[00:47:29] Wait, give me the keys.
[00:47:33] We're looking for a check engine light.
[00:47:34] We're looking, we're crawling under it.
[00:47:36] Is it leaking?
[00:47:37] Is there, she didn't, she doesn't care about that getting it fixed.
[00:47:40] She wants to talk about what happened.
[00:47:44] And we're like, for what reason?
[00:47:47] Let's fix the car.
[00:47:49] She wants to communicate.
[00:47:51] We want to fix.
[00:47:54] And we need to change that.
[00:47:56] You say, Pastor, I've tried all my life.
[00:47:57] I've tried all my life.
[00:47:59] It doesn't work.
[00:48:01] The Holy Spirit's got to do this in us.
[00:48:06] To make it worse, Peter says to the husbands, Husbands, dwell with your wife with understanding.
[00:48:15] Peter, shoot me now.
[00:48:18] You know what Peter was saying?
[00:48:19] Dwell with your wife with understanding, and that ain't possible apart from the Holy Spirit.
[00:48:27] God will help you.
[00:48:29] God will do that work in you, but there's a beautiful thing here.
[00:48:34] Regarding what God wants to do by the power of His Spirit, He does this.
[00:48:38] But looking at those things, you look at those beautiful, what is known as the fruit, singular, it's not plural, it's not the fruits of the Spirit, it's the fruit of the Spirit is love, by the way.
[00:48:50] The fruit of the Spirit is love.
[00:48:51] Watch this.
[00:48:52] What comes out of love?
[00:48:54] Joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.
[00:48:58] Now as a family, we should have this all over our house.
[00:49:03] We should have it maybe tattooed on each other's forehead.
[00:49:06] So when we read it, when we meet them, it's on there on display.
[00:49:10] But I would add something to that.
[00:49:12] I would add this to that.
[00:49:14] I would also add care.
[00:49:15] The Roman believers were well known for the fruit of the Spirit.
[00:49:21] How did they express those things?
[00:49:22] Through care, tenderness.
[00:49:26] We think of God's parental authority they were willing to yield to.
[00:49:28] Unity.
[00:49:31] And I would add vision.
[00:49:32] You know, a family has to have a vision.
[00:49:35] I'm not talking about vision like seeing Jesus in a tortilla shell.
[00:49:38] I'm not saying that kind of stuff.
[00:49:41] I'm talking about a vision meaning the purpose.
[00:49:44] This family's purpose is this.
[00:49:46] A vision.
[00:49:48] Determination, right?
[00:49:49] Expectation.
[00:49:52] Accomplishments.
[00:49:54] A family has accomplishments.
[00:49:56] And then a little bit on this word, acknowledgements.
[00:50:00] If a family begins to speak to other members of the family in a way that we acknowledge one another, when we acknowledge one another, we're verifying each other's existence.
[00:50:11] And we're saying to them that, I love you and I'm in the family with you.
[00:50:16] And I don't know if you know this or not, but this group, I know this is a big group, but this is a small group compared to the world that's outside these walls.
[00:50:26] The people around you, if they're truly,
[00:50:29] Lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ, they're going to be lovers of you.
[00:50:32] You know that?
[00:50:35] You say, I don't know, I'm kind of a weird person.
[00:50:38] That's where God's grace comes in.
[00:50:40] God will give a supernatural love for you.
[00:50:43] You say, nobody loves me.
[00:50:44] That may be true, but here we are to love you.
[00:50:48] Have you noticed that in your life, if you're a true believer, have you noticed that God has brought someone into your Christian life that's hard to love?
[00:50:58] and we lie to God all the time about it.
[00:51:00] Dear Lord, you know that I don't love them as much as I should.
[00:51:02] Help me.
[00:51:03] And the Lord says, excuse me, you don't even like them.
[00:51:06] Don't lie to me like this.
[00:51:08] Ask me for help, Jack.
[00:51:10] Ask me for help.
[00:51:12] But God brings people into our lives who are brothers and sisters that are hard to get along with.
[00:51:17] Why does he do that?
[00:51:18] He's getting us ready for heaven.
[00:51:22] And we sharpen one another as the Bible would have it.
[00:51:27] And we admonish one another in verse 14 by speaking truth to each other.
[00:51:34] Quite remarkable.
[00:51:38] The Bible goes on to tell us in verse 15 that what a real family will do is that nevertheless brethren, verse 15, I have written more boldly to you
[00:51:50] On some points, watch this, as reminding you because of the grace given to me by God.
[00:51:57] Just a quick second on this.
[00:51:58] Paul is saying to them, you know what, you guys in Rome, I've heard about your faith.
[00:52:02] Everywhere I go, people tell me, have you heard about the believers in Rome?
[00:52:05] Oh my goodness, they're like, wow, wow.
[00:52:08] And so Paul said, I have written these 15 chapters to you.
[00:52:13] I've been pretty hard on you guys, pretty direct.
[00:52:17] The reason why I was is because you can handle it.
[00:52:22] When you grow, what does Jesus say?
[00:52:24] When you grow, I'm gonna come into your life and I'm gonna do what?
[00:52:28] I'm gonna prune you.
[00:52:29] Right?
[00:52:31] You guys know when something's, you see your neighbors got better looking roses than you do?
[00:52:36] You wanna know why?
[00:52:37] Because they're not afraid to prune their roses.
[00:52:40] They cut them back in the winter because, and they look horrible.
[00:52:44] They look terrible, but in the springtime, their house looks way better than yours.
[00:52:48] Why?
[00:52:48] Because everybody's looking at the roses that look spectacular.
[00:52:52] What happened?
[00:52:52] The roses had to be cut back before they could grow even better.
[00:52:56] Did you know that God will trim your life and my life and cut things off of our lives so that we might bloom more brilliantly in the spring, as it were, of our faith?
[00:53:07] God will do that.
[00:53:08] And he'll do it in this family.
[00:53:10] And he's talking to the Roman believers who were strong and had grown.
[00:53:14] In fact, in Romans chapter 1 verse 7 and 8, in Romans 1 verses 7 and 8, the scripture says to all who are in Rome, remember this is him writing from Greece, Beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:53:31] Look at verse 8.
[00:53:32] First, I want to thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
[00:53:41] Isn't that amazing?
[00:53:42] The whole known world.
[00:53:44] talked about the Roman believers.
[00:53:46] This wasn't one church, by the way.
[00:53:48] These were the believers in Italy.
[00:53:51] Wow, right in the heart of such a difficult place.
[00:53:56] The next thing is this, is that what a real family is for.
[00:53:59] What's the purpose of this real family?
[00:54:01] And Paul says in verse 16 that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ, watch this, to the Gentiles, the non-Jew.
[00:54:08] This is amazing to me.
[00:54:09] Ministering the gospel of God that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
[00:54:18] This is beautiful.
[00:54:19] Paul, remember this, Paul was the Jew
[00:54:25] Top shelf.
[00:54:29] In Judaism, they believe that Gentiles were created for hell.
[00:54:36] The Bible doesn't teach that.
[00:54:38] God didn't say that about the Gentiles in the Old Testament.
[00:54:43] God says clearly in the Old Testament, Gentiles will be saved by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, everybody.
[00:54:52] But man's tradition said,
[00:54:56] They're all going to hell.
[00:54:57] In fact, they fuel the flames of hell.
[00:55:01] Wow.
[00:55:03] And then what happens?
[00:55:05] God saves Saul of Tarsus.
[00:55:07] This is actually kind of funny.
[00:55:09] and sends him to the Gentiles.
[00:55:11] Say what?
[00:55:12] He gets the mission from God.
[00:55:14] Okay, here's the deal.
[00:55:15] I've saved you and I want you to report for duty.
[00:55:19] Yes, Lord, what would you have me to do?
[00:55:20] I want you to go, you're gonna go speak the gospel before Gentile nations and before kings and rulers.
[00:55:27] Say what?
[00:55:29] Gentiles, you're gonna be the apostle to the Gentiles.
[00:55:33] You mean the pig eaters?
[00:55:39] You mean pork chop?
[00:55:46] How much did God save Saul of Tarsus and make him Paul the Apostle?
[00:55:50] So much that he fell in love with the Gentile world.
[00:55:55] Can you imagine?
[00:55:56] He shows up.
[00:55:57] He gets to Galatia or Colossae.
[00:55:59] He's up in various regions of Gentile land.
[00:56:02] That's where God has sent him.
[00:56:04] Can you imagine?
[00:56:04] He's preaching the gospel in the Bible.
[00:56:06] Wherever you went, people got saved.
[00:56:08] Gentiles got saved.
[00:56:09] They're thinking, they got Diana.
[00:56:10] Listen, they're holding a statue of Diana and nothing's happened in their life.
[00:56:15] And they're like, Diana, what has she done for me lately?
[00:56:19] And they hear about this invisible God who's alive and you can experience, though he's invisible, you can experience him internally.
[00:56:26] And they started burning their idols.
[00:56:31] They started throwing their statues of Zeus away and Atlas and Athena.
[00:56:36] They're no good, they're just dumb idols.
[00:56:41] We've turned to serve the living God, the real God.
[00:56:43] And Paul fell in love with them because it was a move of the Spirit.
[00:56:49] You gotta wonder sometimes, I mean, Paul knew about the grace of God and it's just remarkable.
[00:56:55] I think we'll talk to Paul in heaven.
[00:56:57] You know, you're dying to ask Paul this question.
[00:57:00] During your ministry years, being the most amazing Jew that has ever been, ministering to the Gentiles the gospel of God, did you ever eat pulled pork or bacon for breakfast?
[00:57:12] I wouldn't be surprised if said everything God made to consume is good.
[00:57:18] And I tell you, in the area of Asia Minor, they got the best BLT you've ever tasted in your life.
[00:57:27] I wouldn't be surprised.
[00:57:30] Remember what Jesus said, it's not what goes into a man that defiles him, it's what comes out of his mouth.
[00:57:36] Wow.
[00:57:38] And then finally this, because I have to make this work.
[00:57:41] This has got to happen.
[00:57:43] The second argument is in verses 17 to 19, and we'll do this in minutes.
[00:57:47] And that is the church, authentic or generic?
[00:57:50] I don't know about you.
[00:57:51] Listen, point to the church.
[00:57:53] Authentic or generic?
[00:57:56] Authentic.
[00:57:57] Authentic.
[00:57:58] Real.
[00:57:59] Alive.
[00:58:00] Original.
[00:58:02] Generic.
[00:58:03] You know what generic means.
[00:58:06] It's a knockoff.
[00:58:08] Generic is something like the original.
[00:58:13] I tell you what, do you want to be an authentic Christian or a generic Christian?
[00:58:18] If you want to be an authentic Christian, then you want to take God's word seriously.
[00:58:23] And you want to be, listen, all in the family.
[00:58:27] And all in, in the family, which means,
[00:58:36] We must get to know one another.
[00:58:37] How many times have we been saying this?
[00:58:39] And I'm not saying you don't.
[00:58:41] You guys are amazing, and I mean that.
[00:58:42] I'm not just saying you guys are.
[00:58:44] But every week there's new people.
[00:58:47] You see somebody new?
[00:58:48] Hey, I think those people are new.
[00:58:49] I didn't see them before.
[00:58:51] You know what that means?
[00:58:52] Translation.
[00:58:53] Attack, attack, attack.
[00:58:55] With what?
[00:58:56] Love.
[00:58:57] Get over there, greet them, find out their names, ask them.
[00:59:02] You know what, last Sunday there was a family here, a whole slew, I think there were nine members in this family that came to church from Tennessee.
[00:59:10] And their dad, the husband, the son,
[00:59:15] is at UCI.
[00:59:17] They came to church here.
[00:59:18] They watch online back there in the east.
[00:59:21] And they came to church and then he went in for months long of treatment at UCI for issues in the brain.
[00:59:36] The family went back home and gave him a teary-eyed farewell.
[00:59:43] But before he was to check into the hospital, they were here last Sunday, and I don't remember what service it was, maybe it was this one, but you guys started, you guys turned and greet one another, and you guys heard their accent, they're all, we're visiting Calvary, and you picked up on that, and you were saying hi, and you started loving, and you exchanged numbers, and you said, I'm putting you on my prayer request chain, and this and that, and reaching out, and was loved on, and I got a note from them.
[01:00:13] And they said, we didn't know what to expect at such a big church, but we've never been loved on so much.
[01:00:20] You need to know that, Pastor.
[01:00:21] Yeah, thank you.
[01:00:23] Glory to God.
[01:00:26] Well done.
[01:00:28] Beautiful.
[01:00:30] And that's a church authentic.
[01:00:33] Generic, who cares?
[01:00:35] You go to a generic church, I'd leave.
[01:00:38] Unless you're the change agent that's gonna make it authentic, then stay.
[01:00:44] But an authentic church will glorify God.
[01:00:47] We see that in verse 17.
[01:00:49] Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus.
[01:00:53] They were the reason in the things which pertain to God.
[01:00:56] They were the reason.
[01:00:58] God had worked in their lives and Paul's giving God glory.
[01:01:02] God wants to work in your life and so others will give God glory.
[01:01:05] Is that okay with you?
[01:01:06] I hope it's okay with you.
[01:01:07] Also this, a church in reality.
[01:01:11] We need to be a real church.
[01:01:13] and this is a real church.
[01:01:15] When there's a need, this church responds.
[01:01:20] Remarkable.
[01:01:21] But an authentic church is a church in reality.
[01:01:25] For I will not dare, Paul says, I love this, to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me
[01:01:32] and Word and Deed to make the Gentiles obedient.
[01:01:35] Gentiles, follow me, I'm following Jesus.
[01:01:39] Everything that I'm telling you about, Jesus has worked in my life.
[01:01:43] You wanna watch what God's doing?
[01:01:45] Just keep an eye on me, Paul is saying.
[01:01:47] I'm following Jesus.
[01:01:48] You'll know how to walk if you watch me walk as I walk with him.
[01:01:52] Listen, every single one of us, God is saying to you and I right now, to your family that's not a believer, your neighbors who are not believers,
[01:02:01] Come and walk with me.
[01:02:03] God is saying, come and walk with me and let your neighbors and your unbelieving friends see how you're walking with me.
[01:02:09] And when they ask you, what in the world is this hope you have?
[01:02:12] What's this purpose and vision you have in life?
[01:02:14] You're different.
[01:02:16] Tell them, follow me.
[01:02:17] Follow me as I follow him.
[01:02:21] Because he can be experienced.
[01:02:28] And finally in verse 19, an authentic church is a global church.
[01:02:33] Global.
[01:02:35] A global church, it says in verse 19, in mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God.
[01:02:43] So from Jerusalem and around about to Lycaeum, I have fully preached, fully preached, the gospel of Christ.
[01:02:57] It's amazing what Paul accomplished by not having social media.
[01:03:05] I'm gonna show you this.
[01:03:07] You guys can stand by the way, we're done.
[01:03:11] This is, see this, look at this.
[01:03:14] Jerusalem, Illyricum, see that?
[01:03:19] It's Albania today.
[01:03:23] Listen, Paul took this trip
[01:03:30] Paul also sailed this trip.
[01:03:35] This man covered the known world on foot, donkey, camel, or horse 2,000 years ago.
[01:03:47] Wherever he went, he gave the full counsel of God.
[01:03:51] Heaven is awesome, hell is hot.
[01:03:53] We're sinners and Christ is savior.
[01:03:56] He died on the cross for us, rose again from the grave.
[01:03:59] You must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven.
[01:04:01] Any religious affiliation will do you zero.
[01:04:04] You can't get into heaven unless you have a pass.
[01:04:11] And the pass is the indwelling person of the Holy Spirit.
[01:04:15] And that man took this gospel a thousand miles as the crow flies
[01:04:22] Thousands of miles by foot in his lifetime.
[01:04:28] When I talk about the church being global, I don't care if you sign up to go to Mali or Illyricum or Zimbabwe.
[01:04:42] God may not be calling you there, but I do know this, God is calling you to the
[01:04:50] End of your street where you live.
[01:04:56] If this man can cover this ground in 2,000 years, then I can't make it to the end of my street, sharing the gospel door to door with people.
[01:05:05] Makes me wonder if I believe in what I claim to believe.
[01:05:13] When you fall in love, the world changes.
[01:05:21] Everything changes.
[01:05:22] You see things different.
[01:05:25] And let's be honest, the person that you fall in love with, they could be very unattractive looking to the rest of the world.
[01:05:34] Do you understand the rest of the world doesn't matter?
[01:05:35] They're not even part of the equation.
[01:05:42] That when you fall in love with that person, if somebody says this or that, it doesn't matter.
[01:05:54] If there's restrictions, it doesn't matter.
[01:05:57] Look at Jacob.
[01:06:00] Jacob loved and endured.
[01:06:03] If you and I love Jesus, if I love him, I'll just lay it on me, if I love him, then why haven't I knocked on every door of every house on my street?
[01:06:17] And because the Bible says teachers of the Bible will be judged double,
[01:06:23] to those who hear.
[01:06:25] You know, the Bible says this.
[01:06:27] God put me on the corner of two streets just to make this message sting me more.
[01:06:36] I've got to go all the way up that street and I got to go all the way down the other because my house sits like this at the end of two streets for God to look down upon me and say, practice what you preach
[01:06:49] If you love me, then you'll tell them about my love for you.
[01:06:53] And all God's people said, Amen.
[01:06:55] God bless you.