September 27, 2025 • 43 mins
Today's episode of Sunday Service by Pray.com features Focus On The Family
Three moms open their hearts about raising children with special needs—the grief, the joy, and the faith that carries them through. In this candid conversation, discover how God’s presence transforms pain into purpose and gives strength for the journey.
Sunday Service is a weekly podcast featuring some of the nation’s most renowned faith leaders. Every Sunday, tune in for inspiration, encouragement, and Bible-based teachings.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. Yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me. From the life which I
now live in the flesh. I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me Galatians two twenty. My sin nature was
(00:21):
crucified on that cross along with you, Lord Jesus. You
took the punishment I deserved. You were sinless and innocent,
and I was the rebel, living in the lusts of
my flesh, selfishness and pride. But it is no longer
me who lives in this earthly body, but you, living
(00:41):
through me by faith. You loved me and sacrificed your
life for me. You came to set me free from
the bondage of sin, an eternal separation from God. You
are my glorious Lord who has proved his love to
me through dying in my liafe and taking my punishment.
(01:03):
Words are inadequate to express my gratitude. I will follow
you forever.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Thank you for listening to today's daily prayer. For more
inspiration and an incredible message from our feature pastor, stay
tuned to pray dot COM's Sunday service.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
So we are kicking off a six week series, and
it's Paul's letter to the church's in Galatian. It's all
about the power of the Gospel. There's lots of questions
about what the gospel is in our culture today and
in the church. So we're gonna be diving into Paul's letter.
(01:51):
We're gonna be talking a lot about the gospel and grace. Galatians,
Chapter one, verse six. Here's what Paul said. Here's what
he said. He says, I am astonished that you are
so quickly deserting whoa right off the bat, deserting the
one who called you to live in the grace. Everybody
said grace. The book of Galatians is about grace. We're
(02:14):
gonna look at what grace is. We're gonna look at
what grace Isn't the grace of Christ. And you're actually turning,
Paul says, you're actually turning to a different gospel. The
word gospel is literally translated from the Greek biblical textas
good news. Everybody say good news. Man. I love good news.
(02:35):
I love when somebody comes up and says, man, I've
got good news. Your spirit's open. It's like, ah, I
can't wait if somebody comes up to you and says, man,
I got some bad news. All of a sudden, you
protect yourself. You're like, WHOA, can you give it to
me later? Nobody wants bad news. I mean I don't
want bad news. I mean just the word bad news.
Everybody say bad news. Man, I don't want to hear
bad news. It's like, ah, email me. It's like I
(02:59):
ain't reading it. I'm on now. But good news, your
spirit it's open. The word gospel is the Greek word
uhon gileon. That's literally and it means good news, good message.
Paul says. The Gospel is good news, not bad news.
It's good news. Everybody say good news. Your spirit's open.
(03:19):
It's like, I'm ready for it. Give it to me.
Good news. Paul says, the Gospel is good news, not
bad news. It's good news. The Gospel encompasses the totality
of what Christ did for us on the cross. How
we were reconciled in our sin, We're reconciled to God,
we're redeemed from our sin. Yes, there is definitions of
(03:43):
the Gospel. I've taught it for years. I've been the
past year. Church of King started twenty six years ago,
and I've given you the definition many times. What is
the gospel. It's it's the virgin birth of Christ. The
Christ is sinless, he lived a sinless life. It's the life,
it's the death. It's the burier and the resurrection of Christ.
The virgin birth, the sinless life of Christ, the death
(04:05):
of Christ and the cross, the burial of Christ, the
resurrection of Christ. Absolutely, that is the definition. Paul writes
and First Corinthians. Here's what he says. For I passed
on to you what was most important that after you've
been after Christ has died for our sins, just as
the scripture said, he was buried, and he was raised
when the dead of the third day, just as the
(04:26):
scripture said. The Gospel of Chrace. That is the technical
definition life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ. But it's
more than that. It's got to go from your head
to your heart. I know a lot of people that
can recite the Gospel, the life, the death, the burial,
and the resurrection of Christ, but it's never transformed their
(04:46):
life because they've never allowed the Gospel to penetrate the
core of who they are. I've shared Christ with people
just like you guys. And I'm in a Christian since
I was in college and shared Jesus with people, and
you get to this moment you're like, you know, you
know what it means to follow Christ And people say, looten,
I want my life to be better. Pastor, does the
(05:07):
Gospel make your life better? Absolutely, But it's more than
just making your life better. It transforms you. The Gospels transformation. Look,
you can go to Dale Carnegie Life and your life
can get better. But how many know it doesn't transform
your heart? Nothing wrong with that. But Jesus transforms everybody
say transforms in other words, like you're going one way,
(05:28):
your boom, you're transformed, you go another way. I love testimonies.
I love we don't have time. When our church was smaller,
you know, we'd have testimony night. You know, people come
up here and you know, and you give them the microphone.
Of course you know they go on and on, so
the pastor, I'd have to get closer and closer to them.
You know what I'm talking about, Precious, sister, precious, Rather
(05:48):
come on, somebody give us somebody else a tend you
know I'm talking. But I love stories of transformation. I
love and one of the stories man. I remember as
a young believer, I heard about Nikki Kur and Nicki
Cruz who was the notorious gang leader for the mau
Maus in New York City. And as a young man,
and then God sent a young preacher, David Wilkerson, who
(06:11):
started Team Challenge. Matter of fact, we've got literally our
whole Team Challenge group over a wests win A campus
and we love those guys. Can we just honor all
the Team Challenge that watches us every week? Come on,
we love you guys at our West's Win eight campus.
And I love that story that God sent a preacher,
a young preacher to reach another young guy who was
hardened in sin. And let me tell you something he
(06:33):
didn't His life didn't just need to get better, it
needed transformation. And as a matter of fact, David Wilkerson
wouldn't give up. How many all grateful that God doesn't
give up on us? And he kept preaching Christ to him,
and keep preaching Christ. He got gloriously born again. Nicki
Cruse got born again. Matter of fact. The Cross and
the Switchblade, it's a powerful book. It sold millions of copies,
(06:54):
it was a movie. And then Nicky's life Run, Baby, Run.
Nicki's still alive, David's gone on to heaven, David Wilkerson
somebody that I've looked up to for years. And Nikki
Christ is still preaching the gospel eighty six years old.
He's preaching over fifty million people. Can I tell you
not just because his life got better, but he was
transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now me how
(07:15):
grateful for that? The power of the gospel. Pastor, I'm
not behind literal physical prison walls. Well, maybe you're not.
We have a lot of people that watch us in
correctional facilities all over Louisiana and Mississippi. We're honored to
have you each week. But maybe you're imprisoned by pain
of your past, trauma, shame, something that happened to you,
(07:37):
something that maybe you did, or something that somebody else
did to you. Maybe it's a prison of addiction, a
prison of something that feels like it's trapping you emotionally, spiritually. Well,
the reality is the gospel here. It is the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. It goes to the court of who
you are. It's not just psychological, it's spiritual. Transform in
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your heart. The reality is the Gospel is not just
about getting us to heaven. Absolutely we received Christ. It's
the message of the good news that Christ died on
the cross in your place, and He was raised from
the dead to give you life so that you don't
have to live in a christless eternity, but you can
be in heaven forever with God if you'll put your
faith in Christ. But it transforms you in the here
(08:20):
and now. The Gospel transforms you in the here and now.
We're gonna talk a lot about the Gospel. We're gonna
talk a lot about grace. Everybody say grace. There's lots
of definitions. Grace the unmerited favor of God. I never
really understood that, so I'm gonna give you the Steve
Robinson version. Here it is. Here's here's grace. Is God
(08:42):
doing for you which you can't do for yourself. You
couldn't save yourself, couldn't heal yourself, couldn't restore yourself, couldn't
redeem yourself. Jesus by his grace, Everybody say grace. The
Bible is all about God's grace. We're gonna learn a
lot about grace. The Book of Galatians, which was a
letter Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia. It's all
(09:02):
about the Gospel, and it's all about grace. What is grace,
pastor God doing for you but you can't do for yourself.
Christianity is not us pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
That's not what it is. It is God doing for
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us what we could not do for our selves. And
here's what's so cool about Christianity that when you're forgiven,
you're wash clean. Here it is. Please don't miss the
other side of the gospel. It's the blood of Christ
washes you. But then you're giving a gift, the gift
of the Holy Spirit, and it's Christ in us. Listen,
(09:43):
I want everybody to hear me, all of our locations.
There's only one person that can live the Christian life,
and it's Jesus. And that's why you can't live the
Christian life in your own strength. You can't. It's not
about your will power. It's about Christ living. Matter of fact,
that them of the whole book of Galatians, we're gonna
be talking about this. I'm gonna be teaching our whole
(10:03):
message on it. Next week. You don't want to miss it.
It's Galatian chapter two, verse twenty. Here's what Paul said.
I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I
that live. But come on, can you say those next
three words with me? But say it, Christ lives in
me pastia. I just know what's it's so hard to
(10:24):
live the Christian life absolutely in your own strength. It is.
I'm not suggesting it's not trials and there's not tribulation.
There's not trouble, of course there is. But it's Christ
living in you. It's Christ living his life. There's only
one person that can live the Christian life. It's Jesus.
That's why we need Christ in us, living his life
through us. How many all grateful for the power of
(10:44):
the Holy Spirit on the inside of us? Let me
tell you I've seen this bumper stickers for you. Christians
aren't perfect. They're just forgiven. They're more than forgiven. They're
also transformed, and they're given a gift to the Holy Spirit.
That's the power of Christ on the inside of us.
The Gospel gives us a brand new identity. You're no
longer you're no longer a prisoner of your past. You're
(11:07):
no longer a prisoner to rejection, you're no longer a
victim to sin and circumstance, but you're an overcomer. That's
the Christian life. I love what Tim Keller says. Here's
what he says. The Gospel is not just the ABC's
of Christianity, it's actually a to z. Another preacher said,
it's not just the diving board, but it's actually the pool.
And you don't grow, you don't. We don't grow beyond
(11:28):
the Gospel. As Christians. We grow deeper in the Gospel
of what it meant, of what Christ really did for
us on the cross, and who We become a new
person in Christ, a new perspective in Christ. We have
new power in Christ. The problem is is that we drift.
We drift. Paul writes about from the simplicity that's in Christ.
(11:52):
Those of you that went to the beach this summer,
you know, you know exactly how it happens. It's just
you just you get in the water, right, you get
in the water. And those of you maybe that went
to the golf coast and you're like, Okay, there's my hotel,
there's my condo, Okay, there's the flag and you just
kind of hanging out there, maybe by yourself with some
friends or buddies or kids or grandkids, and you don't
realize it. And I'm not talking about getting caught in
(12:13):
a rip current, just the natural currents, just kind of
the normal natural currents, nothing really radical, and you're just
kind of hanging out, having fun out there and you
don't realize it, but you drifted. I'm not talking about
getting pulled under. I'm just talking about you're just allowing
(12:33):
yourself just to kind of go, and you turn around
and you don't realize you actually drifted. Everybody say drift.
You drifted about fifty seventy five or one hundred yards
down the beach. There's a gospel drift that all of
us have to be aware of. Paul was aware of
a gospel drift. The true Gospel has not changed in
(12:58):
two thousand years, and the same challenge that faced Paul's
the same challenge that faces us today. That's actually why
he wrote the letter to the churches in Galatia. Galatia
is now in modern day Turkey. I'm gonna pull a
map up in just a moment. This letter was written
about fifteen or twenty years after Jesus's death and resurrection,
Paul knew all about the importance of not drifting. Paul's
(13:22):
mission initially was to destroy the church before he knew Christ,
and then after he came to Christ, he knew the
Gospel and he knew the grace of God, and he
was really fired up about it. The reality is is
that when Paul wrote this, Paul was concerned. He was
concerned because there was a group that had come into
these churches Galatia. Again, let me show you the map
(13:43):
real quick. If you guys can pull that up for me,
and you'll see Galatia modern day Turkey. It doesn't fill
Turkey today, but it's part of that. It was written
about twenty years after. It's a letter, and Paul was concerned.
Galatia primarily consisted of gentile believers in Jesus, non Jews,
but there was a group of what's called Judaizers and
(14:06):
they had snuck in and they were telling Christians. They
were telling these believers, it's faith in Christ plus circumcision.
It's faith in Christ, but you still have to honor
dietary laws. I mean, in other words, it's faith in Christ,
but you've also got to still honor the Jewish holidays.
In other words, and if you don't do that, guess what,
You're not right with God. In other words, Paul was
(14:29):
concerned about gospel drift. He was concerned, just like all
of us should be concerned today, the simplicity of Christ.
It's really Jesus plus nothing. That's what it means to
know Christ. That it's the blood of Christ, our faith
in Christ, not our faith in circumcision, not our faith
and dietary laws. It's faith in Christ that saves you.
(14:50):
It's Christ plus nothing. Paul was concerned. Paul was concerned
about how they were adding things. Galatian, Chapter one, verse six.
Here's what he said. I am astonished that you were
so quickly deserting the one who called you to live
in the grace of Christ, and you're turning to a
different gospel. Everybody say, different gospel, which is really no
(15:11):
gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion,
and they're trying to pervert the Gospel of Christ. He's
writing to the churches modern day Turkey, but in Galatia
Jewish they were gentile believers. They were being infected by judaizers.
They were saying, you got it's Jesus, but it's plus
some things. He goes, no, no, no, no, no, it's not.
(15:33):
But even if we are an angel from heaven should
preach a gospel other than the one that we preach
to you, let him be under God's curse. We've already
said so. Now I say again, if anybody is preaching
to you a gospel other than what you've accepted, let
them be under God's curse. Strong language, whoa. Paul was
(15:53):
fired up. He's fired up because he knew the danger
of the drift. He knew the danger of what happens
when we start adding things to the gospel. Why is that, Pastor,
by the way, you're gonna see next week, this is
gonna shock you. He actually rebukes Peter because Peter got
caught up in a gospel drift. Yes, Peter, the apostle,
(16:15):
Peter and all of us are subject to that. All
of us can fall prey to that. The reality is
is that we have a hard time accepting grace. We
somehow feel that we have to add to it. Let
me be very very very clear. The gospel is not
about what you do to be acceptable to God. The
Gospel is all about what Christ has done to make
(16:35):
you right before God. It's the finish work of the cross. Pastor.
I mean, I just I thought, you know, I get nervous, Pastor,
I I gotta pray and I gotta no, no, no no.
All of the Christian things that we do for God,
let me just tell them about Christian disciplines and good
works are important, but that's not to make you right
with God. It's because you're right with God. To grow
(16:56):
in your relationship with God and others, it does not
make you right with God. Prayer does not make you
right with God. Feeding the poor, all those things are good.
We're gonna talk about that next week. We're gonna talk
about sanctification next week. We're gonna talk about Christian work
next week. But the reality is that Christ in us
brings transformation. The gospel is not about us doing. The
(17:20):
Gospel is about what Christ has done. Let me give you,
guys for what I would call false gospels, and I'm
gonna highlight this so all you guys can see. This
number one is what I would call the Gospel of religion.
Like Judaizer's, this one says this, You've got to add
to the gospel. People will say that you got to
(17:41):
behave a certain way, dress a certain way. There are
Christian churches in certain denominations that say that you've got
to belong to their church to even go to heaven.
Are you with me? There's literally churches to say, unless
you let me just help everybody. I'm a pastor. I
believe you should be a member of a church. But
going to a particular Christian church does not get you
(18:01):
into heaven. It's your faith in the Blood of Christ
that gets you into heaven. Are you with me? The
reality is is that the Gospel of religion says you've
got to belong to that particular group to be right
with God. No, You've got to belong to Christ to
be right with God. The gospel of religion is a
(18:21):
false gospel. Number two is what I call the hyper
grace gospel. This one says do whatever you want. This
is pervasive in the body of Christ right now. This
one says, do whatever you want, God will forgive you.
There's no repentance, there's no confession of sin, there's no accountability.
Can I help everybody? Grace is never a license to sin.
(18:43):
It's empowerment to overcome sin, very very important. I'm going
to be teaching next week. Do Christians repent after they
get saved? Absolutely? One John one nine is written to
Christians that we confess our sin the seven churches. In
the book around Elation five, Jesus said, repent. Everybody say repent.
(19:05):
The Hypergrace gospel is an over emphasis on one thing,
and it actually, I believe, moves into a false gospel.
It doesn't bring accountability. We're going to talk about that
next week. How many excited about this series? Are y'all
fired up about this? Here's another one what I call
the broad past gospel. This one says there's many ways
to God. Just be a good person, don't hurt anybody,
(19:27):
be true to yourself. Do you where's that in the Bible?
Just do you be true to yourself? Christianity is one
option among many. The problem is Jesus made it really clear.
He says I Am the way. Everybody say the way,
not a way, not a preferred way, but the way.
(19:49):
And so there's big mixture that's called universalism. The Bible
doesn't teach that. The gospel says that Jesus is the
way into relationship with the Father. Let me give you
another one. The Gospel of Works. This one says it's
a false gospel. This is a false gospel. Paul says, beware,
unless you depart, don't desert the true gospel. Don't drift
(20:11):
you're one hundred yards down. This one says this here
it is if I'm good in my life, if the
good in my life outweighs my bad, then I'll be
accepted by God when I die and I stand before
Him one day. In other words, or some people believe that,
are you going to have an I hope. So anybody
that says they hope so does not know the gospel
(20:34):
because you don't hope so, you know, so not based
upon private arrogance. It's in the furnished work of the cross.
In other words, you think you get up. I mean
some people literally believe it's God's got a clipboard? What
you got well? I mean, you know, I I was
mad one day, as mean, one day, I curse somebody
out one day. That wasn't a nice one day. You boy,
(20:56):
you're adding it, but bye, But I fed, I bought
a turkey for somebody who's poor. Okay, that was a positive. Okay,
but come on over here. How many y'all know that
getting into heaven is not doing more good than bad?
How many know all of our righteousness are as filthy rags.
You better have faith in the blood of Christ to
get you into heaven. It's not your works, it's the
(21:16):
work of Jesus on the cross. Now, let me qualify,
because somebody's gonna take a YouTube clip and misquote me,
So let me qualify. Christian works are important. Christian works
are after you get saved, not in order to get saved.
Works are important. Christian disciplines are important. Bible reading for
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all that's important we're going to talk about. That's all
part of sanctification and doing good. But that does not
make you a Christian. This is really important. It's a
false gospel. It's called the Gospel of works. Again, one
step away from grace, man Paul goes, be careful. Relationis
chapter one, verse six. I'll read it one more time.
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It's honest that you are so quickly deserting the one
who called you to live in the grace of Christ
and you're turning to a different gospel. Maybe that's where
you are right now. Maybe you've been trying to redeem yourself.
Maybe you've been trusting in your own righteousness, hoping that
you get to heaven one day, and God says, you
know what, you are a pretty good guy. You did
more good than bad. Come on in. It's not the gospel.
(22:23):
It's all level at the cross. It's do you trust
Christ as you're savior? Do you believe that He died
in your place? He was burying rose again on the
third day. The reality is is that we have to
trust Christ. What's Paul's life? What does Paul's life teach us?
About the true Gospel? Let me give you three things.
That's going to be a six week study. We're gonna
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be going chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chap and
I believe each week the fire of God's words gonna
burn in your heart. It's gonna put a faith inside
of you. Faith comes by what say it, hearing and
hearing by God's word. What Paul's life teaches us about
the true Gospel? Number one encounter Jesus. Look what Paul said.
I want you to know. I'm gonna go verse by
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verse by the way. I will read just about every verse.
I'm not gonna be able to teach on every verse.
But I'm gonna whet your appetite where you'll be able
to dig like a noble briand go much deeper into
God's word. Paul says, I want you to know, brothers
and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of
human origin. I did not receive it from any man,
(23:24):
nor was I taught it. Rather, I received it by
revelation from Jesus Christ. What was Paul saying. Paul was saying,
I had an encounter with Christ. There's a lot of
people that go to church. They've never had an encounter
with Christ. I mean, they've never been transformed with Christ.
They wanted to add Jesus onto their life, but they
(23:44):
never met Christ. What happened, pastor to Paul, I'll tell
you what. By the way, his name wasn't always Paul.
His name first was Saul. And the Bible actually said
he had letters in his hand. He had letters in
his hand. He was a Jewish zealot, he was a
religious zealate, and he was on the way to Damascus,
Syria modern day Syria, Damascus it's Silicity today. And the
(24:04):
Bible said had letters in his hand to do what
to throw Christians in prison, to torture them and ultimately
to kill. Do you know the Bible says an Act
chapter eight, read Acts chapter eight and Acts chapter nine.
There was a young man named Saul that was superintending
and overseeing the first Christian martyr's death. His name was Stephen,
and the Bible says that the literally Saul, who became Paul,
(24:28):
was on the road to Damascus, and the Bible says
he had an encounter with Christ and he was knocked
to the ground, and the Lord started talking to Saul,
and he realized and he realized, oh my gosh, my
whole life I was living for myself, and now I've
met Christ. What happens is is that when you try
(24:49):
to live the Christian life in your own strength and
you've never truly been born again. One day a religious
leader came to Jesus and he said, he goes, well
must I do to? I mean, how do I get
into this thing? And Jesus goes, you need to be
born again? Born again? What does it mean to be
born again? You're born once from your mother's wom, once
from water, but then you've got to be born from above.
(25:11):
Christianity is not just getting a little bit better. You're
actually born again. Everybody say born again. When you're born again,
you meet Christ the Holy Spirit. Watch this, God takes
out of you the hardest stone and he puts his
spirit on the inside of you. Being born again is
analogous to becoming a follower of Jesus, becoming a Christian.
You're born again, You're born from above. You encounter Christ.
(25:34):
When you encounter Christ, guess what Christianity moves from your
head to your heart. You have an encounter with Christ.
And when you encounter Christ, I'm telling you transformation. Pastor
are you saying the Christians never sinn? Of course we sin,
but we have a new power to fight against sin.
Guess what your heart moves from ought to to want to?
(25:54):
You want to serve God? Why? Because you've been born
Everybody say born again. Paul was born again. He met Christ.
I remember when I gave my heart to Jesus. I
was invited to a Bible study by two girls and
I went to that Bible study. I was nineteen, I
was right turning nineteen. I was a freshman at college
at Tulane University, and these two girls were there, and
(26:14):
the Bible study leader at the end, He goes, is
anybody is this exactly how he said it? He goes,
anybody want to receive Jesus? Man, I'm like, Jesus, man, Jesus,
is that a figure to speak Jesus? He goes, Yeah,
does anybody want to open their heart to Christ? And
I was just like And of course the whole group
was praying for me, because I like a big heathen.
(26:37):
So they're all doing this. Everybody's bound their head, but
they're really going like this. I was in there, you know,
and everybody just I just kind of you know, and
so and boy, the devil's lying to me, the devil saying, oh,
look at you, you've sinned too much. God can't forgive you.
By the way, By the way, if the devil ever
(26:58):
lies to you and says you've sin too much that
God can't forgive you, that is a lie from the
pit of hell. The blood of Christ is stronger than
any sin you've ever committed. How many all grateful for that? Okay,
here's the second lie, here's the second life. Steve, go
home and change first, then come to God. Oh man,
(27:19):
that's a false gospel. You don't let me tell you.
If we could change before we came to God, then
we wouldn't need God. No, you bring all your bad,
all your good. You come to Christ just like you are,
and He transforms your heart. It's Christ. And let me
tell you. I prayed that prayer. I said Jesus. And
you may think this is hokey. Whatever I'm telling you,
it happened. I said, Jesus, if you can take my life,
(27:41):
if you can transform my life. I grew up in church.
I knew all the words. I knew that, but I
wasn't born again. Now, my mom says, you were always
a good boy. That's not what you told me in
high school. I was a sinful person. I was a heathen,
I was a pagan, whatever turn. I was not in Christ.
And I pray to prayer and I opened my heart
to Jesus. And the next day, I'm telling you, this
(28:02):
guy was blue or the grass was greener, and it
was like, this is real. Can I tell you why?
Because when you encounter Christ, your eyes are open. You
meet Jesus. And when you meet Christ, someday it's not
you add religion on your life, you're born again. Question.
I'm asking every location, those that are watching at all
of our correctional facilities. Have you been born, I say,
(28:22):
born again? Have you been born again? Have you trusted
Christ as your savior? Are you just trying to add
a little bit of Jesus onto your life? Born again?
Paul encountered Christ number two. He not only encountered Christ,
he embraced grace. Galatian, Chapter one, verse thirteen. Paul knew
it was the grace of God that transformed him. What
(28:43):
is Gray's pastor we're gonna be doing it each week.
I know unmerited favor. I get all that, but I
like this. It makes sense God doing for me what
I couldn't do for myself and what I can't do
for myself. How many no grace saves us, but grace
also empowers us. Galatian, Chapter one, verse thirteen. Here's what
he said. Paul said, for you have heard of my
(29:04):
previous way of life and Judaism, how intensely I persecuted
the Church of God, and I try to destroy it. Paul,
try to destroy the church. If there's anybody who the
devil could a lie to you, hypocrite, you preacher, try
(29:29):
to destroy the church. He's writing about it right now.
He says, you try to destroy it. I was advancing
in Judaism, Judaism beyond many of my own among my people,
and were extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
But when God, who set me apart from my mother's woman,
call me by his grace, everybody said grace. Paul understood grace.
(29:50):
He understood that grace is God doing for us what
we can't do for ourselves. Hear me with this, you
need a whole baptism of grace. We all need that
God do it well, Pastor are you teaching irresponsibility? No,
we are very response about our lives, but we can't
do the very things that grace only can do. Grace
(30:13):
changes us, Grace saves us by the power of Christ.
Paul recognized that. He says it. He called me by
his grace to reveal his son in me that I
may preach him among the gentiles. My immediate response was
not to consult with any human being. Can I tell
you why Paul was a zealot for religion, throwing Christians
in jail, persecuting the church, he said, he said, I
(30:38):
tried to destroy the church. Then he met Jesus. You
got any God with Christ? Boy, I tell you. If
there's anybody I know, I know I've heard all kind
of voices where the devil's lied to me and said,
what about you? And what about you? And you ever
been there before? If there's anybody, it was Paul. He's praying,
(30:59):
you're the right place of God in Christ. I mean,
he wrote all this stuff right inspired by the Holy Spirit,
and the devil sah, you're a you're a hypocrite. He
had cast that thought down. I am sealed by the
Holy Spirit. I'm righteous in God, not by my works,
but by the blood of Gorid. I mean, if there's
anybody that had to confess the word, I know what
it's like to have those lies about your past. Matter
(31:22):
of fact, first year of the church, I never forget.
A woman called our church and she told my wife.
She goes, if that church knew about your husband and
what he was like before he was a Christian, they
wouldn't come. She goes. He tells him every week. So
(31:43):
let me go, let me go on record, Let me
go on record. I was smoking pot, on drugs, and
my parents don't agree with this, but it's true. I
was messed up, immoral, fill with her, fill with hate.
But Christ got a hold of my life, transform me,
and I don't live in con the nation anymore. Bye.
(32:04):
By the way, By the way, somebody told me when
I gave my heart to crist said, well, you know what,
let's see if it sticks. It stuck. It stuck. So
I was a horrible person. I know some guests going,
we're not coming back. Sorry. I was transformed by God's grace.
If you're looking for a little meat, proper pastor that
never had a pass. Sorry, But I know one thing.
(32:27):
I know the grace of Jesus. I know what it's
like to be lost and now found. I know what
it's lost. I know what it's like. It's grace. If
I said grace. I love the story of John Newton.
You may not recognize his name, but you know the
(32:48):
hem he wrote, amazing grace. Okay. Newton lived a rough,
rebellious life working on slave ships. The guy was foul.
But one night, in the middle of a violent storm.
How you know, God can get your attention. Come on, Jonah,
(33:08):
God will get your attention. God will allow things to
tribulate around you a little bit. God, God has attention.
He was gloriously born again, became a great hymn writer,
a Christian, powerful preacher and abolitionist. His life was changed.
He was once lost, then he became found in Christ.
He was once blind. Now he could see. You have
(33:29):
to encounter Christ. You have to realize it's the grace
of Jesus. And I said, the grace of Jesus. Go
trying to transform yourself and surrender to God. It's God
who transformed. It's Jesus. He'll save you. Let me give
you the third and final thing. After we encounter Christ,
we embrace grace. And every day it's a grace journey. Yes,
we live by grace, by the power of grace. The
(33:51):
grace of God is God doing for us what we
can't do for ourselves. Grace not only saves us, but
grace empowers us and sustains us. It's God helping us. Yes,
every day, let me give a third and final thing.
Engage in community. Look at this Galatian Chapter one, verse eighteen.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem. This
is Paul. He got born again. Here it is he's
(34:14):
in on his way to Damascus. From Israel, up to Damascus,
which is Syria. He gets born again, and for three
years he goes into what's called the Arabian desert. Watch this,
Watch this my last point, and we're done. We'll pick
it up here next week. Then, after three years, I
went to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephis, that's Peter,
and I stayed with him fifteen days. They only heard
(34:38):
the report the man who formally persecuted us is now
preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. And they
praised God because of me. They did him praise me,
he said, But they praise God because of me. In
other words, they saw the work of grace in Paul's heart.
How did Paul get to Jerusalem? How did he do it?
(34:59):
I'll tell you Acts chapter nine, verse twenty seven. But Barnabas,
I say, Barnabas, you need a Barnabas in your life.
But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles,
and he told him how Saul, on his journey had
seen the Lord, and that the Lord had spoken to him,
and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the
(35:19):
name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved
about freely and Jerusalem, speaking boldly. Can I tell you
something here's what happened. Paul Saul who became Paul, got
born again. He goes into the Arabian desert. He's preaching
for three years. But guess what. God loved Paul so
much he didn't let him live isolated. You know what
(35:41):
he did, he said Barnabas. Barnabas comes and shows up.
He says, hey, hey, I heard you, the guy that
got transformed. You were the zealot who was trying to
destroy the church. You got born again. That's you. He goes, yeah,
remember Barnabas's name is son of Encouragement. Hey, you know
we need some Barnabases in our lives. And he goes
and listen, listen, He goes, Paul, Paul, listen, I'm gonna
(36:03):
bring you a jerusale. Paul goes, I'm not going there.
They don't like me there, Paul, I got your back.
How many'all know we need some I got your back, friends,
how many'll know we need some people like that. God
loved Paul so much that he wasn't gonna let him
(36:24):
live in the desert by himself forever, because you get
weird by yourself. That was funny. We all get weird
He's not gonna let Paul just be in a coffee
shop by himself, forever, reading the Bible by himself. You
get weird, weird, weird, weird, weird. We all get weird.
(36:46):
Barnabas goes, come on, he goes, I don't want to
do it now, No follow me. Come on. He goes,
all right, I'm gonna go up there, and the Bible
says Barnabas. Barnabas brought Paul, and he presented him to
the Jerusalem. He brought him there years, three years, and
he says, you need some fellowship, You need some community.
Everybody say community, you need some friends. I've heard people
say this. I'm so sick of people hating on the
(37:08):
body of Christ. The body of Christ. Is this The
body of Christ got problems? Of course, the body of
Christ has problems. So does your natural family. We're imperfect
people washed by the blood of Christ. Of course, the
body of Christ. But it's the only thing God's got
on the earth called his family. Be careful mocking God's family,
Be careful mocking God's family. We're gonna bring you to
(37:32):
the church. Come on, Paul, come on, come on, come on,
come on, And he connects him. I thank God for
men that did that with me. Y'all heard about Pastor
Doug arm and Mike Cutchie, different guys that I knew.
Back then. My life was a disaster. It was terrible.
I had so much stuff going on in my life.
And I thank God for Brother Doug. Everybody say Brother Doug.
(37:54):
They called him brother. Brother Doug brought me. He says,
we're gonna preack you up for small girl said, don't
do that. All that suff because y'all know, I got saved.
For the first three months, I just kept going backslide
and backslide. I go get loaded, backslide, go get loaded, backslid,
backslie until Brother Doug. Ever, I say, Brother Doug, how
many know you need a brother Doug. You need a Barnabas.
(38:15):
You need a Barnabas in your life. You need somebody
that's gonna hold you and bring you to that group.
You need somebody. By the way, I love that one
guy left this small group. He's mad. He goes, I'm
walking away from God. In his small group, there's a
group of men. They all set up chairs on Tuesday
night in his yard, and they had one empty chair
(38:36):
and they said, and finally, after like six weeks, he
came out crying, how many know God fights for us,
but we need some people to fight for us and
stand with us. Come on, we need some people to
stand with us. Encounter Christ. Have you been born again?
Have you truly been born again? Have you trusted Jesus
(38:57):
as your savior? Or you're still trying to trust in
your own righteousness? Number two, you gotta embrace grace. It's
the grace of Jesus that saves you. Then it's the
grace of Jesus, watch Us that sustained you. It's God
doing for you what you can't do for yourself. The
number three, you got engage in community. By the way,
that's what I love small groups around church the King
this is a small group sign up weekend. All of
(39:17):
our locations and campuses online as well. You need community.
The Christian life was never designed to be lived alone.
So where are you with God? Are you ready to
stand before God? Or are you hoping that when you
get up there you've done more good than bad that
won't get you to heaven. I'm going to ask ever
about it to bow their heads. All of our locations,
(39:39):
those that are watching online, those that are all of
our correctional facilities right now as well. God loves you.
God's not mad at you. But this is a moment
if you say, pastor, well, how do I become a Christian?
What do I do to become a Christian? Number one,
you got to recognize all of sin Romans three twenty three.
All of us have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. We've sinned, we've blown it. We've got
(40:03):
to recognize that unless you recognize you're a sinner, you
won't see your need for a savior. Number one, you
got to recognize I've sinned, I have. We all have
fallen short. We can't save ourselves. Number two, you got
to trust Jesus as your savior. The wages of sin
is death Romans six twenty three. But the gift of
God is Christ. Jesus our Lord. He is the one
(40:23):
that died in your place and my place and the cross.
And then number three, you personally have to confess. I
can pray with you, but I can't pray for you.
You have to confess Jesus. I need you, wash with
your blood, give me a new heart and new life.
I sense the Holy Spirit right now, God is moving
in this place. Do you know, Christ, are you ready
to stand before God? Maybe you once had a relationship,
(40:44):
but you've walked away. You've lost that place with God.
That's sweet place with Christ. And this is your moment
to say, I want to resubmit my heart to Christ.
Wherever you are, this is a moment, Pastor, pray for me.
If that's you at the counter three, I'm gonna ask
for a show of hands, Pastor. I need Christ where
I need to be with God. I'm not sure if
I die today that I'm ready to stay before God.
If that's you, all of our locations, I'm gonna ask
(41:05):
you at the counter three just to hold your hand
up high so I can see it, and we're going
to pray. One, two, three, quickly hold your hand up.
God bless you right there. God bless you. God bless you.
God bless you. God bless you every soing. God bless
you and you as well up top. God bless you, sir,
God bless you. God bless you. God bless you, sir.
Anybody else, Pastor pray for me. God bless you and
you as well. God bless you, ma'am Jesus loves you.
(41:27):
He died for you. He brought you here today to
let you know that. Anybody else, all of our locations,
God bless you, Son right here, anybody else, pastor pray
for me. I need Christ Church family. Can we pray
with those that are trusting God bless you, ma'am. God
loves you, He cares about you. He brought you here
just so you could hear that today. Church, Let's pray
(41:47):
with those that are trusting Christ right now? Can we
do that? Say Dear Jesus. Come on everyone, Dear Jesus.
I come to you today, a sinner in need of
a savior. Say Jesus, truth your blood, give me a
new heart, a new life, a new reason to live.
I want you to say this, say Jesus, I turn
(42:08):
to you, I turn to the cross. I want you
to say this, say Jesus, I take my life and
I put in your hands. Let me pray for you. Father.
I thank of you the ceiling work of the Holy
Spirit and the word of the Living God. Taking deep
in the hearts of your people in Jesus name, you
(42:33):
will be like God human unity. God was severed and
through it all God's promise remain true.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Follow me Apron and I would make it great.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
This is the chosen people. Listen to the chosen people
at the chosen.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
People dot com.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
That's the Chosen People dot come h
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. Yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me. From the life which I
now live in the flesh. I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me Galatians two twenty. My sin nature was
(00:21):
crucified on that cross along with you, Lord Jesus. You
took the punishment I deserved. You were sinless and innocent,
and I was the rebel, living in the lusts of
my flesh, selfishness and pride. But it is no longer
me who lives in this earthly body, but you, living
(00:41):
through me by faith. You loved me and sacrificed your
life for me. You came to set me free from
the bondage of sin, an eternal separation from God. You
are my glorious Lord who has proved his love to
me through dying in my liafe and taking my punishment.
(01:03):
Words are inadequate to express my gratitude. I will follow
you forever.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Thank you for listening to today's daily prayer. For more
inspiration and an incredible message from our feature pastor, stay
tuned to pray dot COM's Sunday service.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
So we are kicking off a six week series, and
it's Paul's letter to the church's in Galatian. It's all
about the power of the Gospel. There's lots of questions
about what the gospel is in our culture today and
in the church. So we're gonna be diving into Paul's letter.
(01:51):
We're gonna be talking a lot about the gospel and grace. Galatians,
Chapter one, verse six. Here's what Paul said. Here's what
he said. He says, I am astonished that you are
so quickly deserting whoa right off the bat, deserting the
one who called you to live in the grace. Everybody
said grace. The book of Galatians is about grace. We're
(02:14):
gonna look at what grace is. We're gonna look at
what grace Isn't the grace of Christ. And you're actually turning,
Paul says, you're actually turning to a different gospel. The
word gospel is literally translated from the Greek biblical textas
good news. Everybody say good news. Man. I love good news.
(02:35):
I love when somebody comes up and says, man, I've
got good news. Your spirit's open. It's like, ah, I
can't wait if somebody comes up to you and says, man,
I got some bad news. All of a sudden, you
protect yourself. You're like, WHOA, can you give it to
me later? Nobody wants bad news. I mean I don't
want bad news. I mean just the word bad news.
Everybody say bad news. Man, I don't want to hear
bad news. It's like, ah, email me. It's like I
(02:59):
ain't reading it. I'm on now. But good news, your
spirit it's open. The word gospel is the Greek word
uhon gileon. That's literally and it means good news, good message.
Paul says. The Gospel is good news, not bad news.
It's good news. Everybody say good news. Your spirit's open.
(03:19):
It's like, I'm ready for it. Give it to me.
Good news. Paul says, the Gospel is good news, not
bad news. It's good news. The Gospel encompasses the totality
of what Christ did for us on the cross. How
we were reconciled in our sin, We're reconciled to God,
we're redeemed from our sin. Yes, there is definitions of
(03:43):
the Gospel. I've taught it for years. I've been the
past year. Church of King started twenty six years ago,
and I've given you the definition many times. What is
the gospel. It's it's the virgin birth of Christ. The
Christ is sinless, he lived a sinless life. It's the life,
it's the death. It's the burier and the resurrection of Christ.
The virgin birth, the sinless life of Christ, the death
(04:05):
of Christ and the cross, the burial of Christ, the
resurrection of Christ. Absolutely, that is the definition. Paul writes
and First Corinthians. Here's what he says. For I passed
on to you what was most important that after you've
been after Christ has died for our sins, just as
the scripture said, he was buried, and he was raised
when the dead of the third day, just as the
(04:26):
scripture said. The Gospel of Chrace. That is the technical
definition life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ. But it's
more than that. It's got to go from your head
to your heart. I know a lot of people that
can recite the Gospel, the life, the death, the burial,
and the resurrection of Christ, but it's never transformed their
(04:46):
life because they've never allowed the Gospel to penetrate the
core of who they are. I've shared Christ with people
just like you guys. And I'm in a Christian since
I was in college and shared Jesus with people, and
you get to this moment you're like, you know, you
know what it means to follow Christ And people say, looten,
I want my life to be better. Pastor, does the
(05:07):
Gospel make your life better? Absolutely, But it's more than
just making your life better. It transforms you. The Gospels transformation. Look,
you can go to Dale Carnegie Life and your life
can get better. But how many know it doesn't transform
your heart? Nothing wrong with that. But Jesus transforms everybody
say transforms in other words, like you're going one way,
(05:28):
your boom, you're transformed, you go another way. I love testimonies.
I love we don't have time. When our church was smaller,
you know, we'd have testimony night. You know, people come
up here and you know, and you give them the microphone.
Of course you know they go on and on, so
the pastor, I'd have to get closer and closer to them.
You know what I'm talking about, Precious, sister, precious, Rather
(05:48):
come on, somebody give us somebody else a tend you
know I'm talking. But I love stories of transformation. I
love and one of the stories man. I remember as
a young believer, I heard about Nikki Kur and Nicki
Cruz who was the notorious gang leader for the mau
Maus in New York City. And as a young man,
and then God sent a young preacher, David Wilkerson, who
(06:11):
started Team Challenge. Matter of fact, we've got literally our
whole Team Challenge group over a wests win A campus
and we love those guys. Can we just honor all
the Team Challenge that watches us every week? Come on,
we love you guys at our West's Win eight campus.
And I love that story that God sent a preacher,
a young preacher to reach another young guy who was
hardened in sin. And let me tell you something he
(06:33):
didn't His life didn't just need to get better, it
needed transformation. And as a matter of fact, David Wilkerson
wouldn't give up. How many all grateful that God doesn't
give up on us? And he kept preaching Christ to him,
and keep preaching Christ. He got gloriously born again. Nicki
Cruse got born again. Matter of fact. The Cross and
the Switchblade, it's a powerful book. It sold millions of copies,
(06:54):
it was a movie. And then Nicky's life Run, Baby, Run.
Nicki's still alive, David's gone on to heaven, David Wilkerson
somebody that I've looked up to for years. And Nikki
Christ is still preaching the gospel eighty six years old.
He's preaching over fifty million people. Can I tell you
not just because his life got better, but he was
transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now me how
(07:15):
grateful for that? The power of the gospel. Pastor, I'm
not behind literal physical prison walls. Well, maybe you're not.
We have a lot of people that watch us in
correctional facilities all over Louisiana and Mississippi. We're honored to
have you each week. But maybe you're imprisoned by pain
of your past, trauma, shame, something that happened to you,
(07:37):
something that maybe you did, or something that somebody else
did to you. Maybe it's a prison of addiction, a
prison of something that feels like it's trapping you emotionally, spiritually. Well,
the reality is the gospel here. It is the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. It goes to the court of who
you are. It's not just psychological, it's spiritual. Transform in
(08:00):
your heart. The reality is the Gospel is not just
about getting us to heaven. Absolutely we received Christ. It's
the message of the good news that Christ died on
the cross in your place, and He was raised from
the dead to give you life so that you don't
have to live in a christless eternity, but you can
be in heaven forever with God if you'll put your
faith in Christ. But it transforms you in the here
(08:20):
and now. The Gospel transforms you in the here and now.
We're gonna talk a lot about the Gospel. We're gonna
talk a lot about grace. Everybody say grace. There's lots
of definitions. Grace the unmerited favor of God. I never
really understood that, so I'm gonna give you the Steve
Robinson version. Here it is. Here's here's grace. Is God
(08:42):
doing for you which you can't do for yourself. You
couldn't save yourself, couldn't heal yourself, couldn't restore yourself, couldn't
redeem yourself. Jesus by his grace, Everybody say grace. The
Bible is all about God's grace. We're gonna learn a
lot about grace. The Book of Galatians, which was a
letter Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia. It's all
(09:02):
about the Gospel, and it's all about grace. What is grace,
pastor God doing for you but you can't do for yourself.
Christianity is not us pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
That's not what it is. It is God doing for
(09:22):
us what we could not do for our selves. And
here's what's so cool about Christianity that when you're forgiven,
you're wash clean. Here it is. Please don't miss the
other side of the gospel. It's the blood of Christ
washes you. But then you're giving a gift, the gift
of the Holy Spirit, and it's Christ in us. Listen,
(09:43):
I want everybody to hear me, all of our locations.
There's only one person that can live the Christian life,
and it's Jesus. And that's why you can't live the
Christian life in your own strength. You can't. It's not
about your will power. It's about Christ living. Matter of fact,
that them of the whole book of Galatians, we're gonna
be talking about this. I'm gonna be teaching our whole
(10:03):
message on it. Next week. You don't want to miss it.
It's Galatian chapter two, verse twenty. Here's what Paul said.
I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I
that live. But come on, can you say those next
three words with me? But say it, Christ lives in
me pastia. I just know what's it's so hard to
(10:24):
live the Christian life absolutely in your own strength. It is.
I'm not suggesting it's not trials and there's not tribulation.
There's not trouble, of course there is. But it's Christ
living in you. It's Christ living his life. There's only
one person that can live the Christian life. It's Jesus.
That's why we need Christ in us, living his life
through us. How many all grateful for the power of
(10:44):
the Holy Spirit on the inside of us? Let me
tell you I've seen this bumper stickers for you. Christians
aren't perfect. They're just forgiven. They're more than forgiven. They're
also transformed, and they're given a gift to the Holy Spirit.
That's the power of Christ on the inside of us.
The Gospel gives us a brand new identity. You're no
longer you're no longer a prisoner of your past. You're
(11:07):
no longer a prisoner to rejection, you're no longer a
victim to sin and circumstance, but you're an overcomer. That's
the Christian life. I love what Tim Keller says. Here's
what he says. The Gospel is not just the ABC's
of Christianity, it's actually a to z. Another preacher said,
it's not just the diving board, but it's actually the pool.
And you don't grow, you don't. We don't grow beyond
(11:28):
the Gospel. As Christians. We grow deeper in the Gospel
of what it meant, of what Christ really did for
us on the cross, and who We become a new
person in Christ, a new perspective in Christ. We have
new power in Christ. The problem is is that we drift.
We drift. Paul writes about from the simplicity that's in Christ.
(11:52):
Those of you that went to the beach this summer,
you know, you know exactly how it happens. It's just
you just you get in the water, right, you get
in the water. And those of you maybe that went
to the golf coast and you're like, Okay, there's my hotel,
there's my condo, Okay, there's the flag and you just
kind of hanging out there, maybe by yourself with some
friends or buddies or kids or grandkids, and you don't
realize it. And I'm not talking about getting caught in
(12:13):
a rip current, just the natural currents, just kind of
the normal natural currents, nothing really radical, and you're just
kind of hanging out, having fun out there and you
don't realize it, but you drifted. I'm not talking about
getting pulled under. I'm just talking about you're just allowing
(12:33):
yourself just to kind of go, and you turn around
and you don't realize you actually drifted. Everybody say drift.
You drifted about fifty seventy five or one hundred yards
down the beach. There's a gospel drift that all of
us have to be aware of. Paul was aware of
a gospel drift. The true Gospel has not changed in
(12:58):
two thousand years, and the same challenge that faced Paul's
the same challenge that faces us today. That's actually why
he wrote the letter to the churches in Galatia. Galatia
is now in modern day Turkey. I'm gonna pull a
map up in just a moment. This letter was written
about fifteen or twenty years after Jesus's death and resurrection,
Paul knew all about the importance of not drifting. Paul's
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mission initially was to destroy the church before he knew Christ,
and then after he came to Christ, he knew the
Gospel and he knew the grace of God, and he
was really fired up about it. The reality is is
that when Paul wrote this, Paul was concerned. He was
concerned because there was a group that had come into
these churches Galatia. Again, let me show you the map
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real quick. If you guys can pull that up for me,
and you'll see Galatia modern day Turkey. It doesn't fill
Turkey today, but it's part of that. It was written
about twenty years after. It's a letter, and Paul was concerned.
Galatia primarily consisted of gentile believers in Jesus, non Jews,
but there was a group of what's called Judaizers and
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they had snuck in and they were telling Christians. They
were telling these believers, it's faith in Christ plus circumcision.
It's faith in Christ, but you still have to honor
dietary laws. I mean, in other words, it's faith in Christ,
but you've also got to still honor the Jewish holidays.
In other words, and if you don't do that, guess what,
You're not right with God. In other words, Paul was
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concerned about gospel drift. He was concerned, just like all
of us should be concerned today, the simplicity of Christ.
It's really Jesus plus nothing. That's what it means to
know Christ. That it's the blood of Christ, our faith
in Christ, not our faith in circumcision, not our faith
and dietary laws. It's faith in Christ that saves you.
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It's Christ plus nothing. Paul was concerned. Paul was concerned
about how they were adding things. Galatian, Chapter one, verse six.
Here's what he said. I am astonished that you were
so quickly deserting the one who called you to live
in the grace of Christ, and you're turning to a
different gospel. Everybody say, different gospel, which is really no
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gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion,
and they're trying to pervert the Gospel of Christ. He's
writing to the churches modern day Turkey, but in Galatia
Jewish they were gentile believers. They were being infected by judaizers.
They were saying, you got it's Jesus, but it's plus
some things. He goes, no, no, no, no, no, it's not.
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But even if we are an angel from heaven should
preach a gospel other than the one that we preach
to you, let him be under God's curse. We've already
said so. Now I say again, if anybody is preaching
to you a gospel other than what you've accepted, let
them be under God's curse. Strong language, whoa. Paul was
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fired up. He's fired up because he knew the danger
of the drift. He knew the danger of what happens
when we start adding things to the gospel. Why is that, Pastor,
by the way, you're gonna see next week, this is
gonna shock you. He actually rebukes Peter because Peter got
caught up in a gospel drift. Yes, Peter, the apostle,
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Peter and all of us are subject to that. All
of us can fall prey to that. The reality is
is that we have a hard time accepting grace. We
somehow feel that we have to add to it. Let
me be very very very clear. The gospel is not
about what you do to be acceptable to God. The
Gospel is all about what Christ has done to make
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you right before God. It's the finish work of the cross. Pastor.
I mean, I just I thought, you know, I get nervous, Pastor,
I I gotta pray and I gotta no, no, no no.
All of the Christian things that we do for God,
let me just tell them about Christian disciplines and good
works are important, but that's not to make you right
with God. It's because you're right with God. To grow
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in your relationship with God and others, it does not
make you right with God. Prayer does not make you
right with God. Feeding the poor, all those things are good.
We're gonna talk about that next week. We're gonna talk
about sanctification next week. We're gonna talk about Christian work
next week. But the reality is that Christ in us
brings transformation. The gospel is not about us doing. The
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Gospel is about what Christ has done. Let me give you,
guys for what I would call false gospels, and I'm
gonna highlight this so all you guys can see. This
number one is what I would call the Gospel of religion.
Like Judaizer's, this one says this, You've got to add
to the gospel. People will say that you got to
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behave a certain way, dress a certain way. There are
Christian churches in certain denominations that say that you've got
to belong to their church to even go to heaven.
Are you with me? There's literally churches to say, unless
you let me just help everybody. I'm a pastor. I
believe you should be a member of a church. But
going to a particular Christian church does not get you
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into heaven. It's your faith in the Blood of Christ
that gets you into heaven. Are you with me? The
reality is is that the Gospel of religion says you've
got to belong to that particular group to be right
with God. No, You've got to belong to Christ to
be right with God. The gospel of religion is a
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false gospel. Number two is what I call the hyper
grace gospel. This one says do whatever you want. This
is pervasive in the body of Christ right now. This
one says, do whatever you want, God will forgive you.
There's no repentance, there's no confession of sin, there's no accountability.
Can I help everybody? Grace is never a license to sin.
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It's empowerment to overcome sin, very very important. I'm going
to be teaching next week. Do Christians repent after they
get saved? Absolutely? One John one nine is written to
Christians that we confess our sin the seven churches. In
the book around Elation five, Jesus said, repent. Everybody say repent.
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The Hypergrace gospel is an over emphasis on one thing,
and it actually, I believe, moves into a false gospel.
It doesn't bring accountability. We're going to talk about that
next week. How many excited about this series? Are y'all
fired up about this? Here's another one what I call
the broad past gospel. This one says there's many ways
to God. Just be a good person, don't hurt anybody,
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be true to yourself. Do you where's that in the Bible?
Just do you be true to yourself? Christianity is one
option among many. The problem is Jesus made it really clear.
He says I Am the way. Everybody say the way,
not a way, not a preferred way, but the way.
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And so there's big mixture that's called universalism. The Bible
doesn't teach that. The gospel says that Jesus is the
way into relationship with the Father. Let me give you
another one. The Gospel of Works. This one says it's
a false gospel. This is a false gospel. Paul says, beware,
unless you depart, don't desert the true gospel. Don't drift
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you're one hundred yards down. This one says this here
it is if I'm good in my life, if the
good in my life outweighs my bad, then I'll be
accepted by God when I die and I stand before
Him one day. In other words, or some people believe that,
are you going to have an I hope. So anybody
that says they hope so does not know the gospel
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because you don't hope so, you know, so not based
upon private arrogance. It's in the furnished work of the cross.
In other words, you think you get up. I mean
some people literally believe it's God's got a clipboard? What
you got well? I mean, you know, I I was
mad one day, as mean, one day, I curse somebody
out one day. That wasn't a nice one day. You boy,
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you're adding it, but bye, But I fed, I bought
a turkey for somebody who's poor. Okay, that was a positive. Okay,
but come on over here. How many y'all know that
getting into heaven is not doing more good than bad?
How many know all of our righteousness are as filthy rags.
You better have faith in the blood of Christ to
get you into heaven. It's not your works, it's the
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work of Jesus on the cross. Now, let me qualify,
because somebody's gonna take a YouTube clip and misquote me,
So let me qualify. Christian works are important. Christian works
are after you get saved, not in order to get saved.
Works are important. Christian disciplines are important. Bible reading for
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all that's important we're going to talk about. That's all
part of sanctification and doing good. But that does not
make you a Christian. This is really important. It's a
false gospel. It's called the Gospel of works. Again, one
step away from grace, man Paul goes, be careful. Relationis
chapter one, verse six. I'll read it one more time.
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It's honest that you are so quickly deserting the one
who called you to live in the grace of Christ
and you're turning to a different gospel. Maybe that's where
you are right now. Maybe you've been trying to redeem yourself.
Maybe you've been trusting in your own righteousness, hoping that
you get to heaven one day, and God says, you
know what, you are a pretty good guy. You did
more good than bad. Come on in. It's not the gospel.
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It's all level at the cross. It's do you trust
Christ as you're savior? Do you believe that He died
in your place? He was burying rose again on the
third day. The reality is is that we have to
trust Christ. What's Paul's life? What does Paul's life teach us?
About the true Gospel? Let me give you three things.
That's going to be a six week study. We're gonna
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be going chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chap and
I believe each week the fire of God's words gonna
burn in your heart. It's gonna put a faith inside
of you. Faith comes by what say it, hearing and
hearing by God's word. What Paul's life teaches us about
the true Gospel? Number one encounter Jesus. Look what Paul said.
I want you to know. I'm gonna go verse by
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verse by the way. I will read just about every verse.
I'm not gonna be able to teach on every verse.
But I'm gonna whet your appetite where you'll be able
to dig like a noble briand go much deeper into
God's word. Paul says, I want you to know, brothers
and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of
human origin. I did not receive it from any man,
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nor was I taught it. Rather, I received it by
revelation from Jesus Christ. What was Paul saying. Paul was saying,
I had an encounter with Christ. There's a lot of
people that go to church. They've never had an encounter
with Christ. I mean, they've never been transformed with Christ.
They wanted to add Jesus onto their life, but they
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never met Christ. What happened, pastor to Paul, I'll tell
you what. By the way, his name wasn't always Paul.
His name first was Saul. And the Bible actually said
he had letters in his hand. He had letters in
his hand. He was a Jewish zealot, he was a
religious zealate, and he was on the way to Damascus,
Syria modern day Syria, Damascus it's Silicity today. And the
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Bible said had letters in his hand to do what
to throw Christians in prison, to torture them and ultimately
to kill. Do you know the Bible says an Act
chapter eight, read Acts chapter eight and Acts chapter nine.
There was a young man named Saul that was superintending
and overseeing the first Christian martyr's death. His name was Stephen,
and the Bible says that the literally Saul, who became Paul,
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was on the road to Damascus, and the Bible says
he had an encounter with Christ and he was knocked
to the ground, and the Lord started talking to Saul,
and he realized and he realized, oh my gosh, my
whole life I was living for myself, and now I've
met Christ. What happens is is that when you try
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to live the Christian life in your own strength and
you've never truly been born again. One day a religious
leader came to Jesus and he said, he goes, well
must I do to? I mean, how do I get
into this thing? And Jesus goes, you need to be
born again? Born again? What does it mean to be
born again? You're born once from your mother's wom, once
from water, but then you've got to be born from above.
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Christianity is not just getting a little bit better. You're
actually born again. Everybody say born again. When you're born again,
you meet Christ the Holy Spirit. Watch this, God takes
out of you the hardest stone and he puts his
spirit on the inside of you. Being born again is
analogous to becoming a follower of Jesus, becoming a Christian.
You're born again, You're born from above. You encounter Christ.
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When you encounter Christ, guess what Christianity moves from your
head to your heart. You have an encounter with Christ.
And when you encounter Christ, I'm telling you transformation. Pastor
are you saying the Christians never sinn? Of course we sin,
but we have a new power to fight against sin.
Guess what your heart moves from ought to to want to?
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You want to serve God? Why? Because you've been born
Everybody say born again. Paul was born again. He met Christ.
I remember when I gave my heart to Jesus. I
was invited to a Bible study by two girls and
I went to that Bible study. I was nineteen, I
was right turning nineteen. I was a freshman at college
at Tulane University, and these two girls were there, and
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the Bible study leader at the end, He goes, is
anybody is this exactly how he said it? He goes,
anybody want to receive Jesus? Man, I'm like, Jesus, man, Jesus,
is that a figure to speak Jesus? He goes, Yeah,
does anybody want to open their heart to Christ? And
I was just like And of course the whole group
was praying for me, because I like a big heathen.
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So they're all doing this. Everybody's bound their head, but
they're really going like this. I was in there, you know,
and everybody just I just kind of you know, and
so and boy, the devil's lying to me, the devil saying, oh,
look at you, you've sinned too much. God can't forgive you.
By the way, By the way, if the devil ever
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lies to you and says you've sin too much that
God can't forgive you, that is a lie from the
pit of hell. The blood of Christ is stronger than
any sin you've ever committed. How many all grateful for that? Okay,
here's the second lie, here's the second life. Steve, go
home and change first, then come to God. Oh man,
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that's a false gospel. You don't let me tell you.
If we could change before we came to God, then
we wouldn't need God. No, you bring all your bad,
all your good. You come to Christ just like you are,
and He transforms your heart. It's Christ. And let me
tell you. I prayed that prayer. I said Jesus. And
you may think this is hokey. Whatever I'm telling you,
it happened. I said, Jesus, if you can take my life,
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if you can transform my life. I grew up in church.
I knew all the words. I knew that, but I
wasn't born again. Now, my mom says, you were always
a good boy. That's not what you told me in
high school. I was a sinful person. I was a heathen,
I was a pagan, whatever turn. I was not in Christ.
And I pray to prayer and I opened my heart
to Jesus. And the next day, I'm telling you, this
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guy was blue or the grass was greener, and it
was like, this is real. Can I tell you why?
Because when you encounter Christ, your eyes are open. You
meet Jesus. And when you meet Christ, someday it's not
you add religion on your life, you're born again. Question.
I'm asking every location, those that are watching at all
of our correctional facilities. Have you been born, I say,
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born again? Have you been born again? Have you trusted
Christ as your savior? Are you just trying to add
a little bit of Jesus onto your life? Born again?
Paul encountered Christ number two. He not only encountered Christ,
he embraced grace. Galatian, Chapter one, verse thirteen. Paul knew
it was the grace of God that transformed him. What
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is Gray's pastor we're gonna be doing it each week.
I know unmerited favor. I get all that, but I
like this. It makes sense God doing for me what
I couldn't do for myself and what I can't do
for myself. How many no grace saves us, but grace
also empowers us. Galatian, Chapter one, verse thirteen. Here's what
he said. Paul said, for you have heard of my
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previous way of life and Judaism, how intensely I persecuted
the Church of God, and I try to destroy it. Paul,
try to destroy the church. If there's anybody who the
devil could a lie to you, hypocrite, you preacher, try
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to destroy the church. He's writing about it right now.
He says, you try to destroy it. I was advancing
in Judaism, Judaism beyond many of my own among my people,
and were extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
But when God, who set me apart from my mother's woman,
call me by his grace, everybody said grace. Paul understood grace.
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He understood that grace is God doing for us what
we can't do for ourselves. Hear me with this, you
need a whole baptism of grace. We all need that
God do it well, Pastor are you teaching irresponsibility? No,
we are very response about our lives, but we can't
do the very things that grace only can do. Grace
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changes us, Grace saves us by the power of Christ.
Paul recognized that. He says it. He called me by
his grace to reveal his son in me that I
may preach him among the gentiles. My immediate response was
not to consult with any human being. Can I tell
you why Paul was a zealot for religion, throwing Christians
in jail, persecuting the church, he said, he said, I
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tried to destroy the church. Then he met Jesus. You
got any God with Christ? Boy, I tell you. If
there's anybody I know, I know I've heard all kind
of voices where the devil's lied to me and said,
what about you? And what about you? And you ever
been there before? If there's anybody, it was Paul. He's praying,
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you're the right place of God in Christ. I mean,
he wrote all this stuff right inspired by the Holy Spirit,
and the devil sah, you're a you're a hypocrite. He
had cast that thought down. I am sealed by the
Holy Spirit. I'm righteous in God, not by my works,
but by the blood of Gorid. I mean, if there's
anybody that had to confess the word, I know what
it's like to have those lies about your past. Matter
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of fact, first year of the church, I never forget.
A woman called our church and she told my wife.
She goes, if that church knew about your husband and
what he was like before he was a Christian, they
wouldn't come. She goes. He tells him every week. So
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let me go, let me go on record, Let me
go on record. I was smoking pot, on drugs, and
my parents don't agree with this, but it's true. I
was messed up, immoral, fill with her, fill with hate.
But Christ got a hold of my life, transform me,
and I don't live in con the nation anymore. Bye.
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By the way, By the way, somebody told me when
I gave my heart to crist said, well, you know what,
let's see if it sticks. It stuck. It stuck. So
I was a horrible person. I know some guests going,
we're not coming back. Sorry. I was transformed by God's grace.
If you're looking for a little meat, proper pastor that
never had a pass. Sorry, But I know one thing.
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I know the grace of Jesus. I know what it's
like to be lost and now found. I know what
it's lost. I know what it's like. It's grace. If
I said grace. I love the story of John Newton.
You may not recognize his name, but you know the
(32:48):
hem he wrote, amazing grace. Okay. Newton lived a rough,
rebellious life working on slave ships. The guy was foul.
But one night, in the middle of a violent storm.
How you know, God can get your attention. Come on, Jonah,
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God will get your attention. God will allow things to
tribulate around you a little bit. God, God has attention.
He was gloriously born again, became a great hymn writer,
a Christian, powerful preacher and abolitionist. His life was changed.
He was once lost, then he became found in Christ.
He was once blind. Now he could see. You have
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to encounter Christ. You have to realize it's the grace
of Jesus. And I said, the grace of Jesus. Go
trying to transform yourself and surrender to God. It's God
who transformed. It's Jesus. He'll save you. Let me give
you the third and final thing. After we encounter Christ,
we embrace grace. And every day it's a grace journey. Yes,
we live by grace, by the power of grace. The
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grace of God is God doing for us what we
can't do for ourselves. Grace not only saves us, but
grace empowers us and sustains us. It's God helping us. Yes,
every day, let me give a third and final thing.
Engage in community. Look at this Galatian Chapter one, verse eighteen.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem. This
is Paul. He got born again. Here it is he's
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in on his way to Damascus. From Israel, up to Damascus,
which is Syria. He gets born again, and for three
years he goes into what's called the Arabian desert. Watch this,
Watch this my last point, and we're done. We'll pick
it up here next week. Then, after three years, I
went to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephis, that's Peter,
and I stayed with him fifteen days. They only heard
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the report the man who formally persecuted us is now
preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. And they
praised God because of me. They did him praise me,
he said, But they praise God because of me. In
other words, they saw the work of grace in Paul's heart.
How did Paul get to Jerusalem? How did he do it?
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I'll tell you Acts chapter nine, verse twenty seven. But Barnabas,
I say, Barnabas, you need a Barnabas in your life.
But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles,
and he told him how Saul, on his journey had
seen the Lord, and that the Lord had spoken to him,
and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the
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name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved
about freely and Jerusalem, speaking boldly. Can I tell you
something here's what happened. Paul Saul who became Paul, got
born again. He goes into the Arabian desert. He's preaching
for three years. But guess what. God loved Paul so
much he didn't let him live isolated. You know what
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he did, he said Barnabas. Barnabas comes and shows up.
He says, hey, hey, I heard you, the guy that
got transformed. You were the zealot who was trying to
destroy the church. You got born again. That's you. He goes, yeah,
remember Barnabas's name is son of Encouragement. Hey, you know
we need some Barnabases in our lives. And he goes
and listen, listen, He goes, Paul, Paul, listen, I'm gonna
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bring you a jerusale. Paul goes, I'm not going there.
They don't like me there, Paul, I got your back.
How many'all know we need some I got your back, friends,
how many'll know we need some people like that. God
loved Paul so much that he wasn't gonna let him
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live in the desert by himself forever, because you get
weird by yourself. That was funny. We all get weird
He's not gonna let Paul just be in a coffee
shop by himself, forever, reading the Bible by himself. You
get weird, weird, weird, weird, weird. We all get weird.
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Barnabas goes, come on, he goes, I don't want to
do it now, No follow me. Come on. He goes,
all right, I'm gonna go up there, and the Bible
says Barnabas. Barnabas brought Paul, and he presented him to
the Jerusalem. He brought him there years, three years, and
he says, you need some fellowship, You need some community.
Everybody say community, you need some friends. I've heard people
say this. I'm so sick of people hating on the
(37:08):
body of Christ. The body of Christ. Is this The
body of Christ got problems? Of course, the body of
Christ has problems. So does your natural family. We're imperfect
people washed by the blood of Christ. Of course, the
body of Christ. But it's the only thing God's got
on the earth called his family. Be careful mocking God's family,
Be careful mocking God's family. We're gonna bring you to
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the church. Come on, Paul, come on, come on, come on,
come on, And he connects him. I thank God for
men that did that with me. Y'all heard about Pastor
Doug arm and Mike Cutchie, different guys that I knew.
Back then. My life was a disaster. It was terrible.
I had so much stuff going on in my life.
And I thank God for Brother Doug. Everybody say Brother Doug.
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They called him brother. Brother Doug brought me. He says,
we're gonna preack you up for small girl said, don't
do that. All that suff because y'all know, I got saved.
For the first three months, I just kept going backslide
and backslide. I go get loaded, backslide, go get loaded, backslid,
backslie until Brother Doug. Ever, I say, Brother Doug, how
many know you need a brother Doug. You need a Barnabas.
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You need a Barnabas in your life. You need somebody
that's gonna hold you and bring you to that group.
You need somebody. By the way, I love that one
guy left this small group. He's mad. He goes, I'm
walking away from God. In his small group, there's a
group of men. They all set up chairs on Tuesday
night in his yard, and they had one empty chair
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and they said, and finally, after like six weeks, he
came out crying, how many know God fights for us,
but we need some people to fight for us and
stand with us. Come on, we need some people to
stand with us. Encounter Christ. Have you been born again?
Have you truly been born again? Have you trusted Jesus
(38:57):
as your savior? Or you're still trying to trust in
your own righteousness? Number two, you gotta embrace grace. It's
the grace of Jesus that saves you. Then it's the
grace of Jesus, watch Us that sustained you. It's God
doing for you what you can't do for yourself. The
number three, you got engage in community. By the way,
that's what I love small groups around church the King
this is a small group sign up weekend. All of
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our locations and campuses online as well. You need community.
The Christian life was never designed to be lived alone.
So where are you with God? Are you ready to
stand before God? Or are you hoping that when you
get up there you've done more good than bad that
won't get you to heaven. I'm going to ask ever
about it to bow their heads. All of our locations,
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those that are watching online, those that are all of
our correctional facilities right now as well. God loves you.
God's not mad at you. But this is a moment
if you say, pastor, well, how do I become a Christian?
What do I do to become a Christian? Number one,
you got to recognize all of sin Romans three twenty three.
All of us have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. We've sinned, we've blown it. We've got
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to recognize that unless you recognize you're a sinner, you
won't see your need for a savior. Number one, you
got to recognize I've sinned, I have. We all have
fallen short. We can't save ourselves. Number two, you got
to trust Jesus as your savior. The wages of sin
is death Romans six twenty three. But the gift of
God is Christ. Jesus our Lord. He is the one
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that died in your place and my place and the cross.
And then number three, you personally have to confess. I
can pray with you, but I can't pray for you.
You have to confess Jesus. I need you, wash with
your blood, give me a new heart and new life.
I sense the Holy Spirit right now, God is moving
in this place. Do you know, Christ, are you ready
to stand before God? Maybe you once had a relationship,
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but you've walked away. You've lost that place with God.
That's sweet place with Christ. And this is your moment
to say, I want to resubmit my heart to Christ.
Wherever you are, this is a moment, Pastor, pray for me.
If that's you at the counter three, I'm gonna ask
for a show of hands, Pastor. I need Christ where
I need to be with God. I'm not sure if
I die today that I'm ready to stay before God.
If that's you, all of our locations, I'm gonna ask
(41:05):
you at the counter three just to hold your hand
up high so I can see it, and we're going
to pray. One, two, three, quickly hold your hand up.
God bless you right there. God bless you. God bless you.
God bless you. God bless you every soing. God bless
you and you as well up top. God bless you, sir,
God bless you. God bless you. God bless you, sir.
Anybody else, Pastor pray for me. God bless you and
you as well. God bless you, ma'am Jesus loves you.
(41:27):
He died for you. He brought you here today to
let you know that. Anybody else, all of our locations,
God bless you, Son right here, anybody else, pastor pray
for me. I need Christ Church family. Can we pray
with those that are trusting God bless you, ma'am. God
loves you, He cares about you. He brought you here
just so you could hear that today. Church, Let's pray
(41:47):
with those that are trusting Christ right now? Can we
do that? Say Dear Jesus. Come on everyone, Dear Jesus.
I come to you today, a sinner in need of
a savior. Say Jesus, truth your blood, give me a
new heart, a new life, a new reason to live.
I want you to say this, say Jesus, I turn
(42:08):
to you, I turn to the cross. I want you
to say this, say Jesus, I take my life and
I put in your hands. Let me pray for you. Father.
I thank of you the ceiling work of the Holy
Spirit and the word of the Living God. Taking deep
in the hearts of your people in Jesus name, you
(42:33):
will be like God human unity. God was severed and
through it all God's promise remain true.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Follow me Apron and I would make it great.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
This is the chosen people. Listen to the chosen people
at the chosen.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
People dot com.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
That's the Chosen People dot come h
Host
Matthew Potter
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