The Danger of Conditional Grace: Resembling the Father

• Communion and Unity [00:35:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses the theological significance of communion, emphasizing unity within the church body and discerning the body of Christ, while correcting the ritualistic view by highlighting Paul's intent in 1 Corinthians.
• Sacrifice and Healing [00:39:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > A speaker connects Jesus' physical suffering on the cross to the emotional and physical pain believers experience, encouraging thanksgiving and reliance on His blood for salvation and healing.
• Intercession for the Lost [00:44:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > Prayer is offered for those outside the church and family members who have walked away from faith, asking God to draw them back.
• Church Anniversary and Thanksgiving [00:48:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor reflects on the nine-year anniversary of the church's soft launch, expressing gratitude for God's faithfulness and future hope.
• Identity and Resemblance [00:50:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The sermon begins with a personal anecdote about physical resemblance and behavioral imitation to introduce a question about who the congregation resembles in character and action.
• Resemblance to God [00:51:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the concept of physical and behavioral resemblance to family members as a metaphor for spiritual resemblance to God.
• Love for Enemies [00:53:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor interprets Matthew 5, defining enemies as those who wish harm, and commands believers to love them as a sign of being sons of the Father.
• Imitation of Christ [00:55:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses Jesus' love for Judas and His prayer for forgiveness on the cross as the ultimate example of loving enemies.
• Divine Enablement [01:00:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that loving enemies is possible not by human effort alone, but because the Holy Spirit has poured God's love into the believer's heart.
• Practical Application [01:02:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a story of a man who loved his wife's killer, illustrating that laboring in love can lead to the transformation of enemies.
• The Beatitudes and Discipleship [01:06:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor reviews the eight attitudes of Christ (humility, meekness, mercy, etc.) established in the previous eight weeks of the series, defining them as the character of a true disciple.
• Fulfillment of the Law [01:09:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that Jesus moves beyond the Pharisees' interpretation of the law to its fullness, specifically regarding loving enemies rather than just neighbors.
• Self-Love and Neighbor Love [01:13:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that one must love themselves (as they do despite their flaws) to properly love their neighbor, using self-reflection and personal anecdotes to illustrate this baseline.
• Resembling the Father vs. The Enemy [01:11:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The core dichotomy of the sermon: believers must choose to resemble God's perfect love or the enemy's retaliation/carnality, with justification of sin being a sign of resembling the enemy.
• Divine Perfection through Christ [01:20:56 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor clarifies that 'perfect' does not mean sinless self-effort, but rather allowing God's perfection to be manifest in the believer's life when they cast their cares on Him.
• Church Discipline and Restoration [01:21:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a personal story of being falsely accused, emphasizing that the church's role is to test truth, remove sin, and pursue restoration rather than division, even when the offender remains hard-hearted.
• Surrender and Letting Go of Bitterness [01:24:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The speaker explains that holding onto pain leads to bitterness and destruction, whereas giving the issue to God allows for healing and prevents the speaker from retaliating or speaking words they shouldn't.
• Righteousness Through Christ, Not Self [01:25:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that human righteousness is insufficient and that true perfection is only possible by walking in the Spirit and allowing Christ to live through the believer, rather than relying on one's own upbringing or efforts.
• Self-Love Through Surrender to God [01:31:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The second speaker addresses the difficulty of loving oneself, concluding that one cannot truly love themselves until they surrender their life to Jesus, as spending time with God enables one to love others and recognize their own worth through Him.

• Sermon Illustration [00:50:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a childhood story about growing up on an island with four siblings born in rapid succession ('stair-step babies') and a friend asking if he was adopted because he didn't look like his parents.
• Sermon Illustration [00:52:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a moment with his daughter Ashley, noting that her mother (Rebecca) resembles her own mother, illustrating how actions and traits are passed down and how people 'act just like' their parents.
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his mother having 'stair-step babies' and his daughter resembling her mother, Rebecca, to introduce the theme of resemblance.
• Sermon Illustration [00:55:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes Jesus' relationship with Judas, noting that Jesus loved, fed, and protected him, calling him 'Friend' even during the betrayal in Gethsemane.
• Sermon Illustration [00:57:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the crucifixion, highlighting Jesus' humiliation and pain while praying 'Father, forgive them' for those mocking and crucifying Him.
• Sermon Illustration [01:02:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the true story of a Christian man whose wife was killed by a drunk neighbor; instead of seeking revenge, the man prayed for and showed love to the neighbor until his death, leading the neighbor to eventually accept Christ.
• Sermon Illustration [01:13:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about looking in the mirror and saying 'good morning, handsome' to himself to illustrate self-love, noting that he loves himself despite his shortcomings just as he is called to love his neighbor.
• Sermon Illustration [01:18:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells a story about his two grandchildren (ages seven and four) who quickly justify their actions by blaming each other when corrected, using this to illustrate how adults justify their sin and feelings.
• Sermon Illustration [01:21:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a historical event from his ministry where a man attempted to remove him as pastor by filing seven false charges of misconduct with the elders, which were proven to be lies, leading to a lesson on church discipline and casting cares on God.
• Sermon Illustration [01:21:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about a man who spread rumors of his misconduct to the church elders. The elders investigated, found the charges were lies, and followed church discipline by marking the man to warn the body, while the pastor chose to pray for and show love to the man rather than retaliate.
• Sermon Illustration [01:30:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The second speaker shares a brief personal story of bickering with his wife in the car, admitting fault and realizing that his own issues were the source of the conflict, illustrating the need for self-reflection and surrender.

• Pastoral Charge [00:46:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > Raise hand to acknowledge need for physical healing
• Pastoral Charge [01:03:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray for enemies and actively demonstrate love, acceptance, and forgiveness through good deeds.
• Pastoral Charge [01:05:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > Continue laboring in the name of Christ to love neighbors, trusting that the effort is not in vain.
• Pastoral Charge [01:08:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > Self-examination to identify if one possesses the attitudes of the Beatitudes.
• Pastoral Charge [01:08:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > To live out the internal attitudes of the Christian in external daily behavior.
• Pastoral Charge [01:12:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > To love enemies and pray for persecutors.
• Pastoral Charge [01:20:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > To actively demonstrate love, acceptance, and forgiveness to others.
• Pastoral Charge [01:31:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > Surrender one's life to Jesus Christ
• Pastoral Charge [01:33:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > Raise hand (implied by context of 'raise' and the speaker's gesture/intent to identify those motivated by self-love to surrender)

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:04:14] Join us this morning. Go find your seat and then stand and join us in this time of worship.
[00:04:19] Come on, let's get those hands together.

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:08:07] I couldn't do it, so you did it for me The cross and you broke your body You shed your blood, now the sinner can't see My debt is paid in my record I couldn't do it, so you did it for me
[00:08:26] I couldn't do it, so you did it I couldn't do it, so you did it for me

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:08:32] Come on, this morning we're going to teach you a new song.

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:09:21] Come on, put your hands together.
[00:09:22] Lift up banner, oh lift up his name Come on, put your hands together.
[00:09:33] Jesus the Savior is here in this place Of eternity praise will resound Don't have to wait, no, I'll sing it right now Come on, sing it out with us.
[00:09:55] He shall be praised, He shall be praised In heaven and earth the same He shall be praised, He shall be praised Sing it for me.
[00:11:42] To the partner right here.
[00:11:44] Everybody move your feet.
[00:11:51] Praise Him with all you have.
[00:12:00] isn't he worthy he shall be he shall be praised he shall be you worship the king of kings and the

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:13:42] lord of lords this morning come on his word says that if we don't praise him he will cause the rocks to cry out and give him praise has god been good to you can you give him the the praise that
[00:13:54] is due his name come on amen amen amen hey i just want to say this up front man because we get into these settings and i feel like we get into these settings and man we got to act a
[00:14:11] certain way we got to put on a certain face we got to be a certain person can i just tell you something there's an authentic praise that comes out of people who've actually experienced god's
[00:14:20] goodness in that song in that song it says that whether the mountain high or the valley low you still deserve the praise can i tell you something personal testimony not going to give details but i have personally seen in valley moments of my life god come through and i have
[00:14:40] also seen the situation not change and god still be good so i praise god because of who he is not how i feel and i have hope everyone say hope i have hope that he will remain the same because
[00:14:56] he's shown me his character to be steadfast so i give him praise to them come on one more time If you love Jesus, can you give him praise in the room?
[00:15:04] Amen, amen.
[00:15:05] You guys can be seated.
[00:15:06] Turn to somebody next to you and say good morning.
[00:15:09] Man, it's going to be a great day in the house of the Lord today.
[00:15:12] Hey, my name is Trevor.
[00:15:13] I'm one of the pastors here at Multiplied Church, and I just want to welcome all of our first-time guests.
[00:15:17] If this is your first time here or your first time in a long time, we just want to say welcome to Multiplied Church.
[00:15:23] Church family, can we greet all of our first-time guests in the room today?
[00:15:29] Amen.
[00:15:29] Hey, if this is your first time, we have a little bit of a directive for you.
[00:15:32] There's a card in the seat back pocket in front of you.
[00:15:35] We call it a you card because we want to get to know a little bit about you.
[00:15:39] So at any point in the service, you can grab that card.
[00:15:42] You can fill out the information.
[00:15:43] Then after service, you go right to the back of our auditorium and you can give that card to them for a free gift.
[00:15:49] Just a token of appreciation for us saying thank you for being here with us today.
[00:15:53] Church family, one more time for everyone joining us for the first time today.
[00:15:57] Amen.
[00:15:59] Well, hey, who's ready to give unto the Lord with our tithes and our offerings?
[00:16:02] Can we get excited about giving our increase, our wealth to the Lord?
[00:16:08] Yeah, we can praise God for that.
[00:16:11] Listen, he says he loves a cheerful giver.
[00:16:14] He loves a cheerful giver.
[00:16:16] That's not an obligatory thing.
[00:16:18] That is a heart posture.
[00:16:20] And so, man, God, thank you that you've blessed me and able to go out and make a living.
[00:16:25] God, thank you that you've blessed me with increase in things.
[00:16:28] That is your grace upon my life to be able to go and do that.
[00:16:31] But God, now my proper response to you is, Lord, let me put it in your hands.
[00:16:36] We do ministry because souls need to be saved.
[00:16:40] And we have to be able to have the ability to do that ministry.
[00:16:45] And so it's not just, hey, I go to church on Sunday.
[00:16:48] No, it's, hey, when I partner with the church and my tithes and offerings, I have some skin in the game.
[00:16:54] I have a role to play when souls are saved for the kingdom of God.
[00:16:59] We just had about 12 students go to youth camp, and can I tell you, all 12 of them, all 12 of them have come to youth group every single Wednesday after that.
[00:17:08] And here's why.
[00:17:09] Yeah, it's because people like you invested into the next generation, and now, look, I'm a youth pastor.
[00:17:17] Parents, you might say, yeah, I want my kid to be saved.
[00:17:20] Can I tell you a little secret?
[00:17:22] You just want them to be in the right environment.
[00:17:24] Can we just take that step first?
[00:17:26] So I praise God for that they're just here.
[00:17:29] And they get to experience and be around the environment where godly talk and godly environments are happening around them.
[00:17:35] And then what happens?
[00:17:36] You become who you hang around the most.
[00:17:39] So that's how it happens.
[00:17:40] And so I just want to say thank you, church, for being a generous church.
[00:17:44] If you are giving this morning, there's three ways you can give.
[00:17:47] You can go ahead and scan that QR code.
[00:17:49] You can text the word Multiply Lake Norman to the number 77977.
[00:17:54] Whereas when we go back into this next worship song and the ushers pass you by, you can give that way as well.
[00:17:59] and drop your tithes and offerings in the buckets.
[00:18:01] Let's stand together all across the room.
[00:18:05] Let's pray.
[00:18:08] Let's pray that the Lord would bring souls to his kingdom.
[00:18:15] Through the efforts and our increase and our ability, Lord, let your grace be upon us even more so to be able to go out and make an impact in this community.
[00:18:29] Lord, we're not naive enough to think that everybody in this area is serving you.
[00:18:33] Everyone around this building is serving you, Lord God.
[00:18:36] There's crossroads and cross streets full of houses.
[00:18:41] Lord, that your word says that you desire none should perish, Lord God, but you desire that everyone would come to know who you are and the love that you've shown on the cross, Lord.
[00:18:50] Today, Lord, we say, use what we have in our hands.
[00:18:55] Lord, to be able to go out and make a impact in this community, Lord, but not just an impact to say our brand in our name, Lord God, but your name and your brand, Lord God,
[00:19:07] that people would come to know the name of Jesus Christ.
[00:19:12] Lord God, that they would be saved forevermore.
[00:19:16] Lord, I pray that those that are giving this morning, you would bless the work of their hands.
[00:19:20] Give them strength when they feel weary.
[00:19:22] Lord God, lift up their heads when they feel down.
[00:19:25] Lord God, give them a peace that transcends all understanding, God.
[00:19:30] we pray this in the matchless mighty name of jesus christ and the church agrees and says

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:19:38] amen amen as the buckets are being passed we just invite you to enter back to this time of worship

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:19:51] majesty and strength by this song righteous and mighty we praise you up we magnify we glorify We exalt you, we extol you, we adore you, hallelujah Extol you, extol you, of all, there is only one
[00:25:53] I declare that this morning And glory to the one that slain, glory to the king Let's get out Of all, there is, there is only one Who saves, there is only one let's just remain in this moment this posture this time we're going to transition into our

[00:35:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:35:18] communion time so if you have the elements you can go ahead and grab those if you do not have them you can raise your hand the ushers will come by and give you one all rights to the corinthians
[00:35:42] in his first letter to them in chapter 11 he says to them he says don't you have homes to eat and drink in or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing what shall I
[00:36:00] say to you shall I praise you certainly not in this matter then he goes on to say for I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread
[00:36:17] when he had given thanks he broke it and he said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way after supper he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant
[00:36:35] in my blood do this whenever you drink it drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he returns so then whoever eats the
[00:36:52] bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink
[00:37:03] from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ, eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have
[00:37:16] even fallen asleep. But if you were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under judgment nevertheless when we are judged in this way by the lord we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned to the world i want to give some
[00:37:37] context behind this because a lot of times we just add this into our liturgy and it becomes ritualistic and i think it's fitting for it to be part of a church service however a lot of us we
[00:37:52] don't really even understand what Paul is saying here. Context matters. And so what Paul is writing to the church of Corinth, he's writing to a group of believers that have used this, this meal as a
[00:38:08] way to outcast people that are in different classes than they are. And so he brings it back to communion, the last supper, the last meal that Jesus ate with his disciples before he was crucified and he brings it back to that to correlate the fact that this meal that we partake
[00:38:32] of this sacred moment this is about unity in the house of god this is about discerning he says discern the body he's talking about the body the church of jesus christ so today this is twofold
[00:38:54] this is yes a remembrance but it's also a proclamation that we as body of believers the church of jesus christ will remain in unity and that every time we gather we don't gather to lift up a church name or a church brand but we gather to lift up this name the name of jesus
[00:39:16] christ the only one that bled and died for each and every single one of us in this room and so this morning we're going to receive of the bread this morning you can go ahead and get that open

[00:39:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:39:30] marianne's going to pray for the bread for us this morning when the body of our precious lord

[00:39:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:39:45] is broken we need to remember that he took a lot of hits going to the cross he took a great beating upon his body he had to endure the emotional impact as well and what the holy spirit
[00:40:09] showed me in reading this passage is that we too get a lot of hits in life we too get the impact of emotional pain and sorrow and we get the impact sometimes even in a physical sense with things
[00:40:29] that happened to us physically like I went through cancer but I'm here to encourage the body of Christ as Trevor mentioned that he took all those hits upon his body on our behalf so that we can
[00:40:47] continue this journey called life because it's hard it's tough and I like what he says that and when he had given thanks he says that first before he breaks the bread and we need to get
[00:41:07] into a spiritual habit to give thanks first before God in our circumstances through our breaking through our tears through our sorrows through our people can violate you emotionally they can do so many things i don't know how many times ask pastor bill i have practiced quitting because
[00:41:31] sometimes you can't take it but the body of christ took it for you in jesus name so let us take this bread symbolizing all that he has taken all that he is taking and all that he will continue
[00:41:50] you taking until we, it's our last breath, or we are caught up in the air. In the name of Jesus,

[00:41:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:41:58] let's take the breath. This little cup, it's neat, isn't it? It's like a goblet or chalice of some sort. But in this cup, you see some red juice in there. That symbolizes the blood of Jesus.
[00:42:36] The blood of Jesus has the ability to save anyone. So that's what I want to just say to you this morning. Maybe there's someone in the room that feels like they're not, they're not savable.
[00:42:49] They've gone too far.
[00:42:51] They've gone too low.
[00:42:53] They've been too long in the mud.
[00:42:57] You know, we say things like, you'll never understand what I've done.
[00:43:02] But this blood is much more powerful than that.
[00:43:09] Do you think that he'd be worth worshiping if this blood couldn't save you from sin?
[00:43:16] Do you believe that this blood has power?
[00:43:18] That this is a symbol to remember all that Jesus did for us?
[00:43:23] So as you guys open that little top up, I want to pray.
[00:43:26] i want to pray specifically for our loved ones i want to pray specifically for people that are literally going to walk by this property this week there's power in prayer but this blood is more powerful than even that so father we pray this morning we come to you humbly we thank you
[00:44:00] lord god that you have given us what everything we need lord to fulfill this life to live a righteous life and or today we we understand that this is the moment where we remember you lord god
[00:44:13] we remember your sacrifice and we are humbled this morning we are not proud we don't write up a list of tasks that would make us feel self-righteous lord but our righteousness is filthy rags before
[00:44:29] you lord god and so today we cling to you holy spirit i pray that you would draw all men unto you, that you would draw all men to your son, Jesus Christ, that people that walk by this
[00:44:45] building, Lord God, would feel something different, different in their only way that they could understand something was drawing them to this place. Lord, we know that's your presence, that's your love, and that's your spirit. Lord, today I pray for those in this room, Lord God, that have
[00:45:02] lost loved ones, Lord God. I pray, Lord God, for their souls. Lord, I pray, Lord God, and contend and stand in the gap for their souls, that they would come to know you.
[00:45:14] Lord, I specifically pray for those of our loved ones that have known you, Lord God, but they've walked away from you.
[00:45:24] Lord, it's not that you haven't saved them, Lord God, but it's that they have chosen to not surrender their full life to you, Lord.
[00:45:30] So today I pray by means of people, by means of whatever your will would require, Lord God, would you draw our family members back to you, Jesus. We pray all that and rejoice and give thanks because you did this for us
[00:45:51] and for your church. We love you, Jesus. We can partake.

[00:46:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:46:41] Father, I feel like I'm supposed to pray a prayer of healing.

[00:46:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:46:50] There's someone here that needs healing in your physical body today.
[00:46:54] Would you raise your hand and just hold it up towards the Lord?
[00:46:57] Not for any other reason than just, God, here I am.
[00:47:02] Here's my acknowledgement of reaching out like the woman with the issue of blood reached out, like the one who went, God, reached out.
[00:47:10] Here is my step of reaching out, Lord, asking of you.
[00:47:13] God in the name of Jesus according to your word we pray the prayer of faith two or three of us agreeing together God asking it of the Father and it shall be done that the Father
[00:47:25] is glorified by the work of the Son we agree today hallelujah that our God is a healing God for his name is Jehovah Rapha hallelujah he is the God who healeth thee and Lord I
[00:47:39] speak healing God into those who need physical healing, God, that you would set their bodies free of sickness and disease, God. Set their body free of the iniquity, God, of the trouble that the body is having,
[00:47:54] Father. Restore them unto wholeness, and Father, be glorified by the work of your Son, for by his stripes we are healed in Jesus' name. And if you believe that, say amen this morning.
[00:48:08] Amen. Give the Lord a clap, offering of praise. Hallelujah. You may be seated. Let me first say thank you to Angie and to her leadership team for the women's retreat this weekend that they had,
[00:48:32] and it was a wonderful time. I've spoken to several women who have said to me, oh, wow, it was so amazing, so amazing. So thank you for that leadership. And ladies who miss it, you'll need to definitely plan to be a part of that in the future. Many of you may not know this,
[00:48:50] but it was actually this weekend, nine years ago, was the first service or meeting of Multiply Lake Norman. The meeting took place in a theater in Davidson, and it was the soft launch Sunday.
[00:49:06] It was not their actual really big launch, but it was their soft launch Sunday, and it was actually nine years ago today. I think because of what God has done thus far, we can thank him.
[00:49:20] I thank him for what God is doing today. Amen. But I have greater amazing hope and faith that what he's going to do in the future is going to blow our socks off. Amen. Praise the Lord. I want
[00:49:34] my socks blown off. I don't know about you. Father, we thank you for all you've done here at Lake Norman. Our prayer is a prayer of thanksgiving. We thank you for your faithfulness. We thank you
[00:49:50] for your many blessings. We thank you that this is your church, and you said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Thank you, God, for building this
[00:50:02] church. Thank you, Lord, that you are the one who presides, resides, you, God, ordain and foreordain every step that is to be taken, that your kingdom would come, and your will would be done on earth
[00:50:18] as it is in heaven, in Jesus' name. And everyone said, amen. We continue our Heart of Stones series.
[00:50:28] I ask you a question this morning. Who do you resemble? In other words, some of you may be some days, you find yourself looking in the mirror, and you go, who do I look like? Who do I
[00:50:46] resemble? When I was a kid growing up, I had a friend that she would say to me, you know, you don't look like your mom. You don't look like your dad. Do you ever think you're adopted? And I'd
[00:51:00] look at her, and I'd go, well, no, I never thought about that. You see, I'm the fourth out of five, and the first four kids were born, one right after another, almost every year. My mom had
[00:51:12] stair-step babies. By the time she was 21, she had me and I was her fourth. She had her first at 17.
[00:51:21] You know, when you live out on the islands, you got married early and there was, you know, what you do, you raise the family, you build a house. And so, growing up on an island was an amazing
[00:51:31] life. But I sometimes do look in the mirror and go, who do I look like? Who do I look like? And I'm sure you have done the same thing, wondering who it is that you resemble. Do you look like your
[00:51:46] dad? Do you look like your mom? Maybe a grandparent? Maybe an uncle? Maybe an aunt? But who is it that you look like? And maybe it's not even the looks we're talking about. Maybe what we're talking
[00:51:59] about is the actions. Who do you act like? I said to my, I said to my daughter, my daughter's here from Montana. Our daughter's here from Montana. I'll let her claim her too. Our daughter, our
[00:52:18] daughter's here from Montana with her two kids. And I said to her the other day when my wife did something, I looked at her and I said, and Mary Ann's mother's name was Rebecca. And I said to
[00:52:29] Ashley. I said, Ashley, Rebecca will never die as long as your mother is alive. Sometimes it's our actions. It's what we do. Maybe you've said it to your spouse. Maybe you've said it to one of
[00:52:47] your kids. Maybe somebody said it to you. You act just like. Who is it they said you act like?
[00:52:56] Or maybe it's you sound just like.
[00:53:01] Well, I believe that Jesus was dealing with who do we resemble in the scripture we're looking at.
[00:53:08] In Matthew chapter 5, verse 43 through 48.
[00:53:12] You've heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
[00:53:20] But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
[00:53:26] so that you may be sons of the Father who is in heaven.
[00:53:32] For He makes His Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and He sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
[00:53:40] For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?
[00:53:46] Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
[00:53:48] And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?
[00:53:55] Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
[00:54:00] You, therefore, and here's the crux, you, therefore, must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
[00:54:19] What a powerful command.
[00:54:22] What a high goal to set.
[00:54:28] But God would never set a goal that is unobtainable, that is not to be understood and embraced.
[00:54:38] Love your enemies.
[00:54:41] An enemy is not just a person who you don't like.
[00:54:45] It isn't just someone who annoys you or is mean to you all the time.
[00:54:52] An enemy is a person who really wants to do you harm.
[00:54:57] Jesus says in that verse that he is talking about those who curse and hate and misuse and persecute you, Make fun of you.
[00:55:07] Put you down.
[00:55:09] Maybe you go through peer pressure at work or at school or don't find yourself feeling accepted because of the way other people treat you.
[00:55:20] Usually these people have some sort of malice in their hearts towards you.
[00:55:27] You're called to the highest level of love, to love those who hurt you.
[00:55:33] And if we look at the story of Jesus, it shows us what an amazing, shocking command this is.
[00:55:42] It encourages us that it is not impossible to do so.
[00:55:48] This morning I want you to look at Jesus and just think about how much Jesus loved Judas.
[00:55:56] Maybe you've had a Judas in your life.
[00:56:03] Maybe you have a business and you've had a Judas in your business.
[00:56:08] Maybe you've had a Judas in a sense of a group of friends.
[00:56:16] He knew that this man was going to betray him someday.
[00:56:21] Yet he acted as a blessing to him.
[00:56:26] And all the time that Judas walked with Jesus, Jesus loved him, prayed for him, protected him, and fed him.
[00:56:36] And even gave him trust by allowing him to be the keeper of the finances.
[00:56:45] Even in that last moment in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Judas came and would kiss Jesus on the face, what did he call him?
[00:56:54] He said to him, Friend, you would betray me with a kiss?
[00:56:59] He called him, he qualified him as a friend from his standpoint, from his heart, from his love, from how he saw him, from who he was toward him.
[00:57:11] Jesus was, even in that last moment, offering him restoration.
[00:57:19] Restoration to one who would set him up for a horrible death on the cross.
[00:57:25] Jesus was on the cross in all the pain and we celebrated that today.
[00:57:29] In all the pain and all the humiliation that he would go through.
[00:57:34] He was showing love for his enemies.
[00:57:36] Luke 23, 24.
[00:57:38] Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do and they divided the garments and cast lots.
[00:57:46] Jesus was on the cross.
[00:57:48] Blood was pouring off of His body from the marks left by the scourging and the nails that were in His hands and nails that were in His feet having to push Himself up just to be able to breathe
[00:58:00] because He was hanging there on the cross.
[00:58:03] He was hanging completely naked in front of everyone.
[00:58:06] What a humiliation!
[00:58:08] Even in front of His own mother.
[00:58:10] And from all sides, what was it?
[00:58:12] that he was hearing?
[00:58:14] He was hearing blasphemies.
[00:58:16] He was hearing hatred.
[00:58:18] He was hearing ridicule.
[00:58:21] People were mocking him saying, call out to your father now and see if he can take you down from this cross.
[00:58:28] See if he will hear you.
[00:58:30] He was in such terrible suffering as he was bearing the sin and the sickness of every single one of us here today and everyone there.
[00:58:40] and yet they were ignoring Him.
[00:58:44] They were ridiculing Him.
[00:58:46] In the middle of it all, Jesus fulfilled His own sermon by how He lived.
[00:58:55] By asking God to forgive them and qualifying the fact they really don't know what they're doing, God.
[00:59:01] They really don't know what they're doing, Father.
[00:59:04] Please forgive them.
[00:59:07] We are commanded to resemble this love, the love of the Father.
[00:59:14] You might be stopped to take the opportunity so you can qualify your own thinking.
[00:59:20] How many times in your own relationships, in your own home, how many times with a brother or a sister or a friend or somebody you really don't even know that well, how many times with a spouse have you gotten yourself so angry and upset
[00:59:34] that instead of choosing to walk it out in love, you walked it out in the anger that you felt.
[00:59:39] You walked it out in ridicule.
[00:59:41] You said things that you wish you could take back.
[00:59:43] you wish you could bring them back in.
[00:59:45] And don't we even find ourselves representing those who are at the foot of the cross, ridiculing and making fun of and saying hurtful things?
[01:00:00] Maybe this morning you say, Pastor, you're calling us to be perfect as Jesus is perfect, as the Father is perfect.
[01:00:05] Don't you think that's a little bit difficult?
[01:00:08] I mean, come on.
[01:00:09] This was Jesus.
[01:00:10] He was sinless.
[01:00:11] I don't think I can do that.
[01:00:15] Yet the Word of God shows us we have been given this love and it is possible.
[01:00:21] In the book of Romans, the fifth chapter, the fifth verse.
[01:00:26] Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
[01:00:45] Let me say that again so you understand something.
[01:00:48] If you know Jesus Christ today, If Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, you need to understand something.
[01:00:56] That the love of God has been poured out into your heart by the Holy Spirit who has been given to you.
[01:01:08] Your heart is filled with the love of Jesus Christ.
[01:01:10] It's filled with the love of God.
[01:01:13] Jesus came into your heart.
[01:01:15] You were born again.
[01:01:16] The love of God, the very same love that raised Christ Jesus from the dead.
[01:01:21] that Jesus used to love Judas and to forgive the crowd who mocked him on the cross was poured out and it was poured out into your heart.
[01:01:30] I want you to take a moment and look into the depth of your heart.
[01:01:34] I want you to understand this morning that you can look into the depth of your heart and what I want you to see there is the love of God.
[01:01:43] What I want you to see is that the Holy Spirit has filled your heart with the love of God.
[01:01:51] It's not love for those who are easy to love.
[01:01:55] It isn't just a romantic love or a platonic love.
[01:01:59] It's the agape love of God that God has placed deep within your heart.
[01:02:04] And it's for those that hate you.
[01:02:06] It's for those that misuse you.
[01:02:08] It's for those that would ridicule you.
[01:02:10] It's for those, Jesus said, love your enemies.
[01:02:15] Love your enemies.
[01:02:20] There was a Christian man, and I'm going to use the word Christian man so I don't have to use his name because it's a true story who was married to his wife for over 40 years
[01:02:29] he loved her so much and they were so happy in their marriage one day something horrible happened they had a neighbor that lived right down the street the neighbor had an alcohol problem the neighbor quite often
[01:02:43] was drunk the neighbor was driving around drunk and in that state he ended up hitting this Christian man's beloved wife and he killed her.
[01:02:57] So heartbroken.
[01:03:00] Maybe you've lost people.
[01:03:02] Maybe you've had to walk through something like that.
[01:03:05] People that you have loved that were taken without their own cause.
[01:03:11] And it can be so easy to look for blame when we go through pain like that.
[01:03:17] Sometimes it is really as someone else's fault that you're going through what you're going through that you're having to deal with.
[01:03:25] the pain and the hurt and the bitterness maybe that would like to set itself up within you.
[01:03:32] When this Christian man learned who was responsible for his wife's death, instead of getting angry, instead of deciding to give out hate, he began to pray for that neighbor of his.
[01:03:49] He called on God on behalf of the neighbor's need.
[01:03:54] And all of a sudden, he knew that that was not enough.
[01:03:56] He needed to start demonstrating the love of God.
[01:03:59] So he started doing good things for the neighbor.
[01:04:05] Showing the neighbor love, acceptance, forgiveness.
[01:04:12] The neighbor was so filled with shame that he started lashing out at the godly man with hatred and resentment, trying to push him away.
[01:04:25] He was so horrible.
[01:04:27] But even that didn't stop this man whose wife had been killed.
[01:04:32] He just kept praying and loving his neighbor in word and in demonstration all the way until the Christian man took his last breath.
[01:04:41] He demonstrated Christ.
[01:04:44] That might seem like a lot of work for a long time.
[01:04:49] And is it really worth it?
[01:04:51] But I need to tell you that at the funeral of this Christian man, this man who had killed his wife, and this man who had treated him so poorly came to the funeral.
[01:05:06] This man who spent so much time resisting that love finally broke at the funeral.
[01:05:16] And the hard heart and the barriers and the walls came down in his heart.
[01:05:21] And it was at the funeral that he received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
[01:05:27] When we labor, we do not labor in vain.
[01:05:30] When we labor for the kingdom, when we labor in the name of Christ, Leviticus 19.18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
[01:05:45] I am the Lord.
[01:05:47] Matthew 19.19 Honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
[01:05:59] So what does the command that Jesus gives as we demonstrate Christ look like for us?
[01:06:05] If you remember, we started this series that we're in right now approximately nine weeks ago.
[01:06:13] The first eight weeks we spent on the attitudes Christ called us to.
[01:06:19] It's the one who you are becoming or who we are called to become.
[01:06:25] It is a continual process for you this morning.
[01:06:28] It is a continual process for me.
[01:06:30] It is our working out our own salvation daily, moment by moment by moment by moment.
[01:06:36] It is daily dying to self so that I might live Christ.
[01:06:44] The humble, the poor in spirit, those who mourn.
[01:06:48] We are to be broken over our sin and the sin of the world.
[01:06:52] The meek, strength under control, hungry and thirsty, seeking out righteousness.
[01:07:00] The merciful, so that we too might receive the mercy that were needed.
[01:07:05] How many of you are thankful for your mercy this morning?
[01:07:08] Amen.
[01:07:09] I thank God for mercy and long-suffering.
[01:07:15] Not that I have to suffer long, but He suffers long for me and with me.
[01:07:21] The pure in heart, no longer a divided heart, but a heart that desires God.
[01:07:27] Peacemakers.
[01:07:30] Peacemakers carrying the label of God.
[01:07:35] Persecuted for righteousness.
[01:07:37] You and I become the refined under pressure.
[01:07:41] then Jesus moves in his teaching where he takes you from the understanding the heart you should have I hope you've understood through this series that what Jesus does in the Sermon on the Mount is he is teaching the people who are hearing him
[01:07:57] he's teaching the disciples who are listening he's teaching all those that are hearing him he's saying this is what a disciple of Jesus Christ looks like this is what a child of God looks like
[01:08:07] these are the things that you should be able to look into your life and see. You should be able to see yourself humble. You should be able to see yourself a mourner. You should be able to see yourself meek. And I could go back through them all again. That's who you
[01:08:21] should be able to see yourself. And he says, now I want you to take who you are and who I've made you to be and who I've called you to be in these eight attitudes. And I want you to take it in how
[01:08:32] you live. I want you to take it out there in how you live. And then he begins to deal with how we live. And today, the one that we're going to look at is found in the book of Matthew. Yes,
[01:08:44] it's found in verse, the thing we're going to focus on is in verse 48. And I'll get there in just a moment. Jesus is moving this teaching in such a way that you have an understanding of your
[01:08:58] heart, but you also have an understanding that your heart is no longer stony, but your heart is fleshy. God has given you a fleshy heart that He may mold it and make it pliable to be the heart
[01:09:13] of God for the goodness of God and the love of God and the Spirit of God and power and majesty and might and authority and everything that He has given us to reside in that heart of yours that
[01:09:26] you might do the work of God. That you might be Jesus to many people around you. Calls you to an understanding of how you should live. To do so, he steps in to bring in an understanding of the law
[01:09:45] and as a fulfillment of the law, because he says he doesn't come to abolish the law, but I come to what? Fulfill the law. But as he looks at the law, when he's teaching, he takes the people of God
[01:10:02] beyond their interpretation of the law to the fullness of the law, to the teaching of the law.
[01:10:09] That's why when he says, maybe you've been told to love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but let me tell you the truth.
[01:10:19] Let me tell you the truth.
[01:10:21] I'm going to take you away from that false teaching and I'm going to take you to a full understanding.
[01:10:26] You don't just love your neighbor, you love your enemies.
[01:10:37] What begins in Matthew 5, 13, takes you all the way through chapter 7.
[01:10:42] as Jesus teaches us how we are to live.
[01:10:45] Today, in looking at Matthew 43-48, Love Your Enemies, I want to focus on verse 48 in closing this.
[01:10:55] Matthew 5, verse 48, You must therefore be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
[01:11:03] What a command.
[01:11:05] Makes you want to give up, huh?
[01:11:07] Unless you're a perfectionist.
[01:11:09] If you're a perfectionist, you love the challenge.
[01:11:13] You love what it means to move forward.
[01:11:15] I'm going to become perfect.
[01:11:18] It justifies your mentality and how you think.
[01:11:22] For others, it causes you to ask, does He really mean perfect?
[01:11:27] This morning, there are three points.
[01:11:32] You will resemble your Father, or you will resemble your enemy.
[01:11:39] But we can only become perfect through the righteousness of Christ.
[01:11:45] Resembling the Father, Jesus begins this whole section with setting the record straight.
[01:11:51] He says, you've been told, but I say.
[01:11:58] There are several times Jesus uses this phrase, and no one like, none of the Pharisees and Sadducees like that.
[01:12:09] Because what Jesus was saying is, they have told you one thing, now let me tell you the truth.
[01:12:15] You've been told, love your neighbor, hate your enemies.
[01:12:18] Now here comes the truth.
[01:12:21] I want to bring a switch in how you think.
[01:12:24] Because if I can change how you think, If I can change your heart and what you believe, then I can change your actions.
[01:12:33] I can change your actions.
[01:12:36] If you're going to resemble the Father, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you or use you.
[01:12:46] You see, the very first commandment that Jesus gave was to love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and all your strength.
[01:12:53] And love your neighbor as yourself.
[01:12:57] How should you love your neighbor?
[01:13:01] You should love your neighbor as yourself.
[01:13:03] Maybe some of our problems is do you love yourself?
[01:13:08] And you have to start there.
[01:13:11] Do you love you?
[01:13:13] When you look at the mirror, do you love you?
[01:13:16] Some of you may think I'm crazy, but I look in the mirror in the morning.
[01:13:20] And when Mary is not in the bathroom, I say, good morning, handsome.
[01:13:27] She may not say it, but I don't have any problem saying it.
[01:13:31] Or I may say, good morning, you're a good man because of Christ in you.
[01:13:39] You see, some of us don't believe because we don't feed.
[01:13:46] Some of us don't believe because we don't feed the mind.
[01:13:49] We don't feed the heart.
[01:13:51] We don't feed the spirit.
[01:13:54] We let the world do the feeding, and it separates us from truly loving ourselves as Christ loves us.
[01:14:04] It's hard to love your neighbor as yourself if you don't love yourself.
[01:14:09] But all the way that you love yourself through your own sin, you still love yourself.
[01:14:15] Through your own shortcomings you still love yourself.
[01:14:20] Through not giving up when maybe you feel like you should give up, you continue to love yourself.
[01:14:26] When you walk through all the things you walk through in life, all the hardships you walk through and you look back at how you reacted, how you acted.
[01:14:37] Maybe you don't really love the way you did what you did but you continue to love yourself.
[01:14:45] Jesus is saying in that way we should still love our neighbors.
[01:14:49] It's not discretionary.
[01:14:51] It's not pick and choose.
[01:14:54] It's all you have a relationship with, minor or major, surface or deep, once in a while or a daily relationship.
[01:15:05] With everybody you have a relationship, we are called to resemble the Father.
[01:15:10] It's love in word.
[01:15:12] It's love in deed.
[01:15:14] It's what you say.
[01:15:15] It's what you demonstrate.
[01:15:18] We all have people that annoy us.
[01:15:20] Anybody have anybody that annoy you?
[01:15:24] Well, I'll raise hands for all of you.
[01:15:29] Sure we do.
[01:15:31] Sometimes there's people right in your house.
[01:15:36] We all have people that annoy us.
[01:15:38] But that many times is not their problem.
[01:15:45] Many times it's your problem.
[01:15:50] It's where you need to change.
[01:15:53] But no matter how great the enemy's persecutions, we're called to demonstrate love and to pray for them.
[01:16:03] This brings us to the second thing.
[01:16:06] Do you resemble the enemy?
[01:16:12] Can people tell the difference between you and the enemy?
[01:16:15] When they see the enemy and they see unrighteous behavior, or instead of Christ being walked out, when they look at you, do they see something totally different?
[01:16:28] Or do you resemble the enemy?
[01:16:31] If you take vengeance into your own hand, you resemble the enemy.
[01:16:37] If you retaliate, you resemble the enemy.
[01:16:42] If you handle things out of the character of your flesh, you resemble the enemy.
[01:16:50] And the truth is we're called to literally walk in the Spirit, to literally walk out the steps of Christ in how we handle things.
[01:17:03] Jesus says, for if you love those who love you, What reward do you have?
[01:17:08] In other words, that's easy.
[01:17:11] It's easy to love somebody that demonstrates love to you all the time.
[01:17:15] Do not even the tax collectors do that?
[01:17:18] And if you greet only your brothers, people you're comfortable with, people you have a great relationship with, what more are you doing than anyone else?
[01:17:28] Do not even the Gentiles do that?
[01:17:31] You see, if our love does not resemble our Father, Jesus is saying our hatred will instead resemble our enemy.
[01:17:39] You will walk in carnality.
[01:17:45] You'll walk according to the flesh in mind and in demonstration.
[01:17:48] Instead of walking in the spirit, you will find yourself justifying your thinking.
[01:17:53] You'll find yourself.
[01:17:55] Anybody here justify?
[01:17:59] You do something wrong or you do something and you say, well, I would have never done that.
[01:18:03] But, well, you know, you did this first.
[01:18:07] Anybody have any kids that did that?
[01:18:13] Tried to get out of trouble and blame it on the other one?
[01:18:18] My two grandkids have been staying with us, seven and four.
[01:18:28] And the four-year-old, she's sitting right up here.
[01:18:30] She's such a pretty little blonde.
[01:18:34] But let me tell you something, that girl can rule the roost.
[01:18:40] And if her brother doesn't do what she wants him to do, she knows how to attack.
[01:18:46] It's funny, when their mother or myself or Marianne goes to correct them, they are quick to justify their action by blaming it on the other one.
[01:19:05] But how many of us do the same thing, even if we only justify in our thinking, even if we only justify in our heart?
[01:19:17] We try to qualify our sin by justifying our feelings and our actions.
[01:19:25] Some wounds will be so deep that you get lost in the pain of the wound instead of the healing of Jesus.
[01:19:35] When somebody does something to you, that pain is so deep that you literally find yourself retracting into that pain instead of literally allowing the healing of Jesus to cause you to demonstrate love, to demonstrate the goodness of God.
[01:19:52] Jesus calls us to the accountability that we are to be different.
[01:19:57] You can't just love those who love you.
[01:20:00] Not like the tax collector, you can't just greet brothers.
[01:20:04] That is the norm.
[01:20:04] You have to demonstrate love and acceptance and forgiveness.
[01:20:10] I have many stories I could tell after 47 years of ministry.
[01:20:15] I can tell you stories of false accusations, people trying to destroy my character, tale bearers, even mistreatment by authority.
[01:20:26] But there's one thing I've always known, that the best way to handle discord in my life or that which is done to me, the attacks that come at me, is to cast all my cares on God
[01:20:40] because He cares for me.
[01:20:42] When I leave it in the hands of God, I have left it in the hands of righteousness.
[01:20:47] I have left it in the hands of truth.
[01:20:49] I have left it in the hands who will handle it according to perfect love. Amen?
[01:20:56] And that's where I find myself living in perfection.
[01:20:59] that I give it to God and let God's perfection be manifest in my life.
[01:21:04] It's not my perfection, it's His perfection.
[01:21:08] That's what's being manifest.
[01:21:10] That's what's coming about.
[01:21:14] Some years ago, a gentleman started a rumor that I took a list of seven accounts of what he called misconduct and he took it to the elders and the board of a church.
[01:21:29] It was his attempt to get rid of me as a pastor.
[01:21:32] The board looked at me and the elders and said, what do we do? I said, it's in your hands. You have to qualify it. I said, take a week, qualify these seven things. We'll meet in a week. We met in a week. And I said, gentlemen,
[01:21:49] ladies and gentlemen, I said, why did you find how many of these charges against me are founded and how many of them are just lies? The person who was leading the elders spoke up and said,
[01:22:05] they're all lies. And I said, well, so then what are you going to do? And they said, what should we do? And I said, well, then now we got to go to scripture and someone's trying to cause division
[01:22:18] in the church. Someone's trying to bring a, so there's a church discipline you've got to follow.
[01:22:25] So I took them through church discipline and they called the brother in and actually they had me call the brother in. And I had the superintendent of the Assemblies of God from Montana to come and sit with me in the meeting because he's my pastor. It was my pastor at the time.
[01:22:43] And so we sit through the process of confrontation, but without, but not without reconciliation. You see, here's the problem. Sometimes you can cast blame and walk away blaming. That's not what I'm into. That's not what Christ is into. What Christ is into is
[01:23:04] restoration. What he's into is healing. What he's into is the removal of the sin and the building up in righteousness. That's what he's into. And so that's what we offered to the man. But the man
[01:23:19] was so hard in his heart that he walked away and went door to door trying to take 25 families with him. Somebody said, well, didn't you go to those houses and tell those people? I said, nope,
[01:23:32] Sure didn't.
[01:23:34] But what we did do is mark the man because that's what Scripture said.
[01:23:39] When he was trying to cause division, we let the body know there's one trying to cause division.
[01:23:45] That it's been tested and it's not truth that he's sharing.
[01:23:48] And you need to understand that.
[01:23:53] God always restores those that left left and God brought more and more and more into the church.
[01:23:58] Because that's how God is.
[01:24:00] Pastor, how did you get over it?
[01:24:02] How did I get over it?
[01:24:03] It didn't belong to me.
[01:24:05] I gave it to God and it belonged to Him.
[01:24:09] It didn't belong to me.
[01:24:11] You see, if I had held on to it, it would have been my pain.
[01:24:15] If I had held on to it, I probably would have resigned and left and come back to North Carolina from Montana sooner than I did.
[01:24:22] If I had held on to it, I probably would have bitterness in my heart today that would be actually destroying my bones because that's what the Bible says that it will do to you.
[01:24:34] But the fact of the matter is, there's no need in holding on to it.
[01:24:40] I had to make a choice.
[01:24:42] I had to make a choice not to retaliate.
[01:24:44] I had to make a choice not to have vengeance in my heart.
[01:24:47] I had to make a choice not to have actions of speaking words that I should not speak.
[01:24:53] Rather, what I did was I moved in the demonstration of praying for him.
[01:24:58] And every time I saw him, I spoke to him and smiled and asked him how he was.
[01:25:03] And whenever I ran into him, I made sure that I showed the love and the acceptance of Jesus Christ.
[01:25:10] Because our righteousness is not of our own.
[01:25:14] My righteousness is not of me.
[01:25:17] My righteousness is not even of my upbringing.
[01:25:20] My righteousness is of Christ.
[01:25:26] It is impossible to walk in perfection without walking in the Spirit.
[01:25:30] It's impossible to walk in perfection without walking in Christ.
[01:25:35] Our aim, our goal, and everything Jesus is pointing out.
[01:25:40] Choose Christ.
[01:25:43] It would be easy to justify through legalism.
[01:25:46] It would be easy for us to stand on the side of legalism and justify everything we do.
[01:25:54] But this morning, can I tell you, it will get you nowhere.
[01:25:59] It will get you absolutely nowhere.
[01:26:03] The perfection is not attainable through justification.
[01:26:08] is not obtainable through legalism.
[01:26:12] For all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and that's one of the things that we have to understand.
[01:26:20] But God the Father doesn't see me in my sin.
[01:26:23] He sees me through Jesus Christ and the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.
[01:26:28] Are you thankful for that today?
[01:26:29] Say amen.
[01:26:36] I decided a long time ago it's no longer I that liveth, but it's Christ that lives in me.
[01:26:44] The dying to self, to allow the love that entered into your heart, that entered into your life, that was poured into your heart when Jesus Christ came into your life, to allow it to live in you,
[01:27:03] to allow it to rule in you, to allow it to be the choice maker in your life.
[01:27:12] This morning there may be someone here who needs the love of Christ to pour into your heart because you have yet to make that decision to serve Jesus Christ.
[01:27:23] Then there are those under my voice and the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me so strongly in my office this morning that there will be those there that will be carrying buried bitterness, buried pain,
[01:27:42] and it has separated you out of relationships that you have allowed yourself to grow accustomed to and make them the norm, but that is not Christ. That is not God, because even if it was an enemy,
[01:28:04] God calls us to love our enemies and to pray for them. There's healing. There's freedom from that thing. You go, but pastor, I don't want to unbury that thing and bring it up and have to deal with
[01:28:18] it. Can I tell you, unburying that thing and bringing it up and deal with it doesn't mean you go to a person but rather it means that you take it to God and you give it to him once and
[01:28:27] for all and you begin to walk in the love and you begin to walk in the forgiveness and you begin to walk in the acceptance and not only do you love them you demonstrate love to them and you pray
[01:28:39] for them that's what it's all about let this church be a church where enemies are loved into the kingdom amen let this be a church where people are prayed into the kingdom choose love for your enemies instead of hate or hard feelings or some kind of lack
[01:29:05] demonstrate love pray pray pray for them i ask you this morning what is god choosing for you

[01:29:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:29:22] man can we stand together all across the room come on can we just thank pastor bill for that amazing message this morning. You know what I love? You know what I love about this series that
[01:29:41] we're doing? I love it because Jesus is calling our bluff, literally. He says, hey, you act a way, but now act this way. I'm going to show you that the way that you've gone, the way that you've
[01:30:00] been thinking, I need you to change it. He's calling our bluff. But Pastor Bill said something, And I want to direct this to, I believe, a couple of people in this room.
[01:30:11] The Lord knows I don't.
[01:30:15] He says, he said, Pastor Bill said, that God, he commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves.
[01:30:26] But some of us, we don't love ourselves.
[01:30:30] The other day, me and my wife, we were in the car, we're driving.
[01:30:33] And man, we got into this bickerman.
[01:30:36] And it was my fault.
[01:30:38] And toward the end of it, I said, you know what?
[01:30:40] Maybe it's just me.
[01:30:43] I'm sorry.
[01:30:44] It's just my problem.
[01:30:46] It's my problem.
[01:30:48] And then Pastor Bill said something like, when we feed ourselves the world, that's what makes us not love ourselves.
[01:31:02] Those of you that don't, you look in the mirror and say, I don't like the way I act.
[01:31:09] I don't like my heart.
[01:31:10] Because God has placed his love in your heart.
[01:31:15] you recognize when you're not doing it acting like it becoming it you recognize and so you look at the mirror man i don't like myself i don't like my heart i don't like the way i've been talking
[01:31:24] i don't like the way i've been acting i don't like what i've been showing people i don't like myself god what's going on can i tell you if you want to love your neighbor as yourself you first
[01:31:36] have to love yourself like pastor bill says but how do i get to the point i don't know how to love myself pastor pastor trevor pastor but i don't know how to love myself surrender your life to
[01:31:45] Jesus. Surrender your life to Jesus. I need to get it in your heads. There's a difference between salvation and your surrender. We like to couple those things together. Jesus Christ died on a cross for you to be saved. You cannot do anything about that. However, it is a free gift that you
[01:32:07] can reject by not surrendering to it. So God, you call me to love my neighbor, but I don't even love myself spend time with the one who is love himself. The scripture said, God is love. When I spend time
[01:32:28] with God, literally, practically, after I just got done spending time with the Lord, intentional time with him, I recognize I love my wife 10 times better, 10 times more effective. I want to do things for her I want to go out of my way I want to serve I want to put myself last and I love that
[01:32:49] and those are the moments where I love myself and it's not that I even love myself I love the God that's coming out of me and so maybe you're in this room with every head bowed every eye closed
[01:33:03] and you say man nothing else has motivated me but maybe I'll motivate myself maybe me loving myself more would motivate my heart to surrender to God if you're in that place I just want you to raise
[01:33:20] your hand so i can pray with you if you want to surrender your life to jesus so that you can actually walk this thing out like he's called you to walk it out so that you can look in the mirror
[01:33:32] and your heart can be relieved of all the chains and baggage and stress and anxiety it can literally fall off of you when you surrender i just want you to raise your hand no one's looking around
[01:33:44] i see that hand i see that hand thank you jesus thank you lord thank you jesus all right that's what i want to do i just want us to pray father we love you holy spirit even now i pray that you
[01:34:11] would silence the voice of the enemy but i pray that you would silence the voice of the enemy that says that you don't mean this you're just gonna do it again no i break that in the name
[01:34:23] of jesus christ and the authority of your presence lord god but i pray for those lord god that just want freedom they just want freedom lord god i pray this morning that every bit of anxiety
[01:34:37] depression even my own mistakes lord god that it would fall off of us today and we would run to you a great and loving god who reaches out with arms wide open and that that shame and condemnation
[01:34:51] would be broken this morning in the name of jesus christ but i pray that the surrender would be sealed but i even pray that people's countenance the way that they look or god would change that
[01:35:04] their face would become brighter or than that that darkness that heaviness or would fall off with him in the name of Jesus Christ. And I thank you. I thank you in advance, Lord, for the people
[01:35:16] that these people are going to run into to be able to share the great testimony of victory that only you can provide. Father, we rejoice this morning because you are victorious. We love you. And all
[01:35:32] God's people said, amen. Come on. Can we give a shout of praise to the Lord this morning? Amen.
[01:35:40] Hey, if you did raise your hand today, we just want to put some resources in your hand.
[01:35:44] We want to get some people next to you.
[01:35:46] We want to get some people in your life, some accountability, some community.
[01:35:51] God understands the work that that does.
[01:35:54] Before we go, three announcements really quickly.
[01:35:56] Just I'm going to run through these.
[01:35:57] Group launch September 13th, okay?
[01:35:59] You guys want to stick around.
[01:36:01] We're going to be having some group tables out there, some signups.
[01:36:03] This year, guys, we are doing a men's group, a women's group, a young adults group, and a seniors group, okay?
[01:36:09] So we're going to kind of systematize and make it a little bit more fluid for us.
[01:36:15] So you'll get to know about those a little bit more as the date comes.
[01:36:18] But September 13th, stick around.
[01:36:19] We're going to have food.
[01:36:19] We're going to have fun for the family.
[01:36:21] And you can sign up for groups.
[01:36:22] Also, also, August 16th, all my teachers, it's Back to School Sunday.
[01:36:27] Students, some of you are already going back to school, going back to work.
[01:36:31] Man, August 16th, we just want to bless our teachers and bless our students.
[01:36:34] We want to pray over you and send you guys off to have an amazing, an amazing school year.
[01:36:39] And then next week, everyone say next week.
[01:36:41] Next week is something different we're doing.
[01:36:44] We're calling it Party with the Pastors.
[01:36:46] All this is is, hey, if you've been coming to the church, you're new, you've been new for the past couple months, and you haven't had a conversation with a pastor or a leader, and you want to get some questions answered,
[01:36:55] you want to hear about the vision of the church, this is going to be happening next week in the VHQ right over there across the courtyard.
[01:37:01] And you'll get to be able to meet some people, some leaders, and we'll get to know you a little bit.
[01:37:06] And then if you want, you can take that next step into joining a serve team for the very next week.
[01:37:11] So, hey, God is doing things in this church, and I'm so grateful that we're a family here.
[01:37:16] Hey, next week, same time, same place, continue to love Jesus and change the world.
[01:37:21] We'll see you guys later.

[01:39:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:39:27] If I wake up alive, there's everything I'll ever need

[01:39:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:39:40] Down the stairs is your name