October 26, 2025 • 48 mins
If faith ever felt like an act you couldn’t keep up, this conversation is your deep breath. We take a hard look at the spirit of religion—the subtle counterfeit that loves clean cups and ignores messy hearts—and we trade it for a living relationship with Jesus marked by conviction, not condemnation. Grounded in Matthew 23 and 2 Timothy 3:5, we unpack why polished behavior can’t replace spiritual power, and how a genuine move of the Holy Spirit reshapes motives, speech, and habits from the inside out.
We share candid stories from the altar and the parking lot to expose how easy it is to perform holiness while resisting transformation. You’ll hear practical guidance on repentance that sticks, prayer that flourishes in private, and boundaries that protect your walk without shaming others. We wrestle with the urge for revenge, the pain of broken expectations, and the difference between correcting in love and condemning in pride. Along the way, we keep pointing away from self and back to Jesus—the only one who cleans what we cannot.
This episode invites you to tear down the altar of performance and build an altar of relationship. Expect straight talk about motives in ministry, why “fake fire” burns out, and how to “worship in Spirit and in truth” today, not someday. If you’re ready to move from optics to authenticity, from walls to bridges, and from denomination-building to disciple-making, you’ll find both challenge and comfort here. Join us, reflect honestly, and take one obedient step forward. If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review so more people can find a faith that’s real and alive.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:27):
Father, we thank you and we praise you for the move
of the Spirit to rest in thehouse today, Lord.
Right now I am praying forhearts on fire.
Lord, that as your word isspoken, that this body of
believers come alive today,Father God, that we don't sit in
our seats just listening to thewords, Father, but that our
hearts are absorbing thosewords, that we are prepared for
(00:50):
the moves that you are making inour lives.
Father, I cast out all doubt,all fear today, sorrow, shame,
whatever it may be, Father, I ampraying for renewal for the
people of this house.
Lord, bless us as we moveforward with your worship.
(01:12):
Father, just give us all of theunderstanding of your word.
Father, I just pray that today,as we as we preach the gospel,
Father, that as the ears hear,that they hear words directly
from you.
Lord, allow your spirit to flowin the mighty name of Jesus.
And the church says, Amen.
(01:33):
Amen.
We'll let the kids head over toclass.
And as they do that, I didforget to mention something sort
of important this morning.
Um, we've been talking aboutthis uh children's ministry
director position, and I've hada couple of people interested.
And I had two people come to mewho are interested in the
(01:54):
position that had this idea, andit's an idea that we have
desired for a long time.
So we've agreed to let these twogo hog wild with this idea.
This year at the Christmasparty, we are going to have a
children's pageant.
We're gonna nobody's excitedabout this.
(02:15):
We're gonna let the kids tellthe Christmas story.
And so if you are interested inhaving your children involved,
you're gonna see Christy oryou're going to see Jenny sooner
rather than later.
Because we're gonna fill partsand we're gonna start practicing
with the kids every other weekso that we can start getting a
feel for what we're gonna do.
(02:35):
Now, I have read the script, andlet me tell you, this is gonna
be fun.
This is gonna, it's gonna becute.
We're going to love it.
And honestly, we're getting tothe point where there are so
many kids we gotta do somethingwith them, right?
They aren't old enough to mowthe grass yet.
If they were, that's what we'dhave them do, but we're gonna
let them do this instead.
She's got baby Jesus.
(02:58):
Sold.
I was just gonna use a baby dollin case it got dropped, but I
mean, I guess that's not myresponsibility.
I don't know.
All right, church, I've got apassage of scripture I want to
start with this morning.
It's Matthew 23, it's uh verses25 through 28.
And it reads something like thisit says, What sorrow awaits you
(03:20):
teachers of religious law andyou Pharisees, hypocrites?
For you are so careful to cleanthe outside of the cup and the
dish, but inside you are filthy,full of greed and self-indul
indulgence.
Outwardly you look likerighteous people, but inwardly
your hearts are filled withhypocrisy and lawlessness.
(03:41):
That's a tough statement.
Amen?
Jesus is speaking to the leadersof religious law and to the
Pharisees, and he's telling themthat you are so obsessed with
custom and tradition, right?
That you will make sure you washyour hands and you will make
sure that the cup and the dishare clean, but inside you have
(04:05):
no idea what's going on.
Inside, you are lawless and youare hypocrites.
Amen.
I have always preached this andI believe this.
I believe that organic church isa church for the hypocrite.
I believe that we are a churchfor the broken, we are a church
for the lost.
Amen.
So can I tell you that today Iam not preaching to those
(04:28):
people?
Today I want to preach to thepeople who are in this building
who cut so sinners, you're offthe hook today.
Is that fair?
If you're visiting for the firsttime and you're like, I hope
this guy doesn't point me out,trust me, I'm not going to
today.
Right?
We're gonna talk about somethinga little bit different.
I wanna I don't want to talkabout the sinner on the street
corner.
I don't want to talk about theaddict, right?
(04:48):
All of the people that we wantto look down on as Christians,
right?
Listen, you guys can pretendlike you don't, but we all know
we do.
Right?
Okay.
Here's what I want to talk abouttoday.
I want to talk about the thingthat likes to creep into our
church in plain sight, butoftentimes under a shadow of
(05:09):
darkness.
Amen.
I want to talk about a spirit ofreligion.
That thing that oftentimes comesin wearing a suit, carrying a
Bible, and knows all the wordsto every song, but oftentimes
its inside is dirty, and itdoesn't truly know or care about
the word of God.
Amen.
(05:29):
Okay.
Some of you are with me, some ofyou are not, and that is okay.
We're gonna talk about a spiritof religion, a counterfeit to
the true relationship with JesusChrist.
That's what it is, that's what aspirit of religion is.
It is a counterfeit to a truerelationship with Jesus Christ.
Now, I posted on social mediabecause see what happens is the
(05:50):
spirit of religion, it satisfiesman, right?
The spirit of religion on theoutside looks like a holy person
or a person of good standing inrelationship with Jesus, but in
the spirit, they are reallydoing none of those things.
It is all bark, no bite, it isall show, and they have nothing
(06:11):
really going on in arelationship with Jesus.
Amen.
The spirit of religion alwayslooks holy, but it always denies
power.
Right?
All right, 2 Timothy 3 5, itsays, they will act religiously,
but they will reject the powerthat could make them godly.
(06:32):
I want to say that again.
They act religious, but theywill, but they will reject the
power that could make themgodly.
Now, what does that mean?
They they have potential.
Can I tell you that when we talkabout the sinner and the the
drug addict and the atheist,they have potential, right?
(06:54):
They are not losers, they arelost.
Amen.
They have potential.
Can I tell you that they havemore potential than some of us
sitting in this building?
Because they don't know whoJesus is, right?
And when they when they come toknow Jesus and they change their
lives and they repent and theybegin to follow Jesus and to
(07:16):
worship Jesus in spirit and intruth, they surpass the spirit
of religion.
That's crazy, right?
I've been in church my wholelife.
I've been doing this since I wasjust little, and all of a
sudden, this person who knowsnothing about Jesus can surpass
where I'm at.
Yep, that's how it works.
Because the spirit of the spiritof the living God will only
(07:38):
dwell in you so long as youdwell in the spirit of the
living God.
Amen.
So if you show up and sit in aseat and all you do is warm the
seat, you're not in relationshipwith Christ.
You're in fellowship with otherbelievers, but you are not in
relationship with Christ.
See, the spirit of religion, heknows how to act saved.
(07:59):
Amen.
He knows how to act saved, butlikely he isn't saved.
Because he sees what otherpeople do, right?
You know, you ever walked in andeverybody goes one way, so you
go that way?
Like us men, we don't have thisproblem.
But ladies, this is one thingthat I used to experience when I
was out at the theater all thetime.
(08:19):
You would see the ladies comeout of the theater and they
would go straight to thebathroom and they would get in
this long line that would go,but they didn't know that there
was a second bathroom 10 stepsaway that they could have gone
to, right?
Because, see, that's the way theherd went, that's the way they
went.
Amen.
And so the spirit of religionwill copycat whatever the
(08:41):
relationship is doing, right?
So they're gonna look holy,they'll volunteer.
They'll be the first tovolunteer, be the first one to
put their name on the list forwhatever it is that's going on,
because they want to look likethey are engaged and they are
involved.
But can I promise you something?
It is all show, it looks holy,but it is not powerful.
(09:05):
See, they say the right words,but they resist the move of the
Holy Ghost.
This is something that I I lovethis, and I watch it when it
happens.
So when we pray for people andwe have people fall out in the
spirit, one of my favoritethings is when I get to see a
pity fall.
Anyone know what that is?
Pastor Holly and I all talkabout it.
She's like, that was a pityfall, right?
(09:25):
So you're praying for somebodyand they like right?
Come on now.
Come on now.
You ever been slain in thespirit that when you hit the
floor?
Listen, I watched Alona onetime.
Pastor Florence was praying forpeople.
She had a line of people acrossthe sanctuary.
The people who were catchingcould not move fast enough.
I watched Alona literally bounceoff the floor and never moved.
(09:50):
Just now I thought she had aconcussion, right?
Because she hit hard.
She stood back up like it neverhappened.
Right?
That's not a pity fall, right?
Because she was in tune with thespirit, the spirit was moving in
her life, the spirit didsomething to her, and she was
able to bounce back.
Listen, we've seen some wildstuff when we do prayer, right?
(10:10):
People fall.
Dave just the other day wentflying across the room when
Holly was praying for somebodyelse, and he was supposed to be
catching.
That's not how that works,folks.
But sometimes, but when you areopen to what the spirit is
doing, those are the things thatcan happen.
But see, the spirit of religionwill come up for prayer.
They might run to the altar forprayer, right?
(10:32):
And when you lay hands on them,God's like, Yeah, we really
gotta do some work here, right?
We need to inspect their hearts.
We need to really, and then theyjust sit down on the floor
because they don't want anybodyto think that the spirit didn't
move in their life.
Amen.
It's the truth.
That's what happens when we havea spirit of religion.
(10:55):
The spirit of religion oftenbecomes comfortable in the form
of whatever the spirit of arelationship looks like, right?
They do really, really good athaving relationships with people
and doing all of the things andthe volunteering, but they
really can't find the fire.
Do you know what I mean by that?
Because, see, when God gets ahold of me, and a lot of new
(11:17):
Christians are this way, whenGod saves them, they become on
fire, right?
How many of us have ever been onfire?
Like you're just excited aboutwhat God is doing, and you're
running laps around the buildingduring praise and worship, and
you're wanting to do all of thethings and be invested in all of
the things.
That's fire, right?
But you can tell when the fireis real and when the fire is
(11:40):
fake, right?
I just uh there's a house thathas Halloween decorations up,
and it makes it look like theirhouse is on fire.
Every window has these fakeflames in the window, and they
have this smoke that comes.
It is the wildest thing I'veever seen.
They actually posted on socialmedia don't call the cops, our
house really isn't on fire.
It looks real, it's crazy,right?
You would have a hard timetelling the difference between
(12:01):
that fire and a real fire.
But not when it's a spirit ofreligion.
Because oftentimes that laparound the building or that
volunteer spot also comes withall of the words, did you see
I'm gonna lead this?
Or did you see that I'm gonna,oh, that'll never happen if I
don't do it because nobody elseis gonna do it.
Let me tell you something.
That is a spirit of religion.
(12:23):
That is a spirit of because allyou're doing is trying to puff
up yourself inside of what Jesushas called you to be.
It'll sing, Come, Jesus, come.
That spirit of religion willknow all the words, it'll do all
the things, it'll stand here andpraise and worship and lift its
hands, and you will believe whenyou see it that there is
(12:47):
salvation there.
And then you see him stand upfrom the altar and go and say
something to somebody that isjust wildly inappropriate.
Anybody ever been there?
Anybody ever hit the parking lotwith somebody that says
something to you and you look athim and go, weren't you just at
the altar?
No, listen, I'm not trying tosay any of us are perfect,
right?
I come to the altar and I standup and do stupid stuff.
(13:09):
It happens, right?
We are flesh, we are living inthe world, we are not of the
world, but are in the world,amen.
The problem is, is when you havea spirit of religion, you allow
the world to take over.
Once you walk out of thebuilding, the spirit doesn't
matter.
The world is what matters.
(13:35):
I want to remind you that whenJesus was entering into
Jerusalem, everybody wasstanding there shouting,
Hosanna! Hosanna, glory in thehighest.
Amen.
And then days later they wereshouting, Crucify.
(13:56):
Probably a spirit of religion.
Right?
Now I've preached about this andI want to explain it again that
when they were shouting Hosanna,they were expecting to be set
free.
Some of the people shoutingHosanna thought freedom meant
political freedom, not spiritualfreedom.
And when they realized thatJesus was not intending to set
(14:19):
them politically free, theycouldn't care any less about
him.
Amen.
Can I tell you something?
That it is not Jesus' desire tohave you live in the world, it
is to break the chains ofbondage to sin so that you could
live freely in the spirit.
Right?
(14:40):
Freedom from the world comesbecause of freedom in the
spirit.
Amen.
You don't become free in theworld without becoming free in
the spirit.
So you get bound up in the worldbecause your spirit hasn't truly
been set free.
Because then we talk about thisthing called repentance.
(15:02):
Right?
That's not really fun.
Amen.
See, when you're doing somethingand you know you're doing
something, and then you come tothe altar and you lay it down,
and then you go home and you doit again, we all fall short of
the glory of God.
But grace extends so long as youare in relationship with Christ,
right?
So you step out of thatrelationship with Christ, you
(15:23):
come to the altar.
I'm Jesus, I'm so sorry.
And then you get up and you doit again.
Questions have to be asked ofyour heart.
You have to desire relationshipwith Christ and a true, changed,
and repented heart.
Amen.
Okay.
Whew.
I had to turn the air on, folks.
I'm sorry.
It's hot in here.
(15:44):
It was cold this morning.
It was like 56 degrees in herethis morning, so I turned the
heat on.
I regret that desperately.
The spirit of religion willalways hide behind its
appearance, right?
So it's gonna show up lookinggood, smelling right, doing all
the things, acting a certainway, but it is always going to
simply hide behind thatappearance.
(16:06):
It is never going to form ameaningful relationship with
anybody who is truly living inthe spirit.
Why is that?
Because when they do, theirspirit of religion is revealed,
right?
Through discernment, that spiritof religion is revealed.
And when that spirit of religionbecomes revealed, somebody who
lives in a spirit ofrelationship will reject that
(16:27):
spirit naturally, right?
And we will walk away from it.
And then the problem is this isthe part that I really want to
preach about today.
The problem is, is then you're abad Christian because you broke
a relationship, because youwalked away, right?
You ever felt that?
You ever ever end a relationshipwith somebody because you don't
feel like you're in the sameplace spiritually?
(16:48):
Like, listen, I don't just cometo church, I come to church,
right?
When I get here, I'm excited tobe in the presence of God.
I don't come here to socializewith you guys.
That's a bonus of being in thebody, is the is the fellowship,
right?
I I want to be with like-mindedpeople, but the problem is, is
oftentimes when that spirit ofreligion is hiding behind their
(17:11):
looks and they start to becomeseparated from those who are
living in a spirit of of truthor in a spirit of relationship
with Jesus, they will becomeangry or distant from those who
are living in the spirit.
And what happens is they'llstart to blame Christians.
Right?
Well, you're obviously not avery good Christian if you would
(17:33):
X, Y, or Z.
No, I am a good Christianbecause I am in a relationship
with Christ.
I am not a good fleshly person.
You can feel that way about mebecause I don't want to be your
friend.
Listen, friends love at alltimes.
Pastor Holly keeps reminding methat.
Friends love at all times,friends love at all times, and
you're right.
And sometimes love is notpresenting yourself in that
(17:54):
light any longer, right?
Because sometimes when we'reliving in the spirit and we
become friends with those whoare living, um who are living in
the flesh, who are living in aspirit of religion, we start to
absorb some of the things thatthey are doing.
It is easier for us to walk awaythan it is for them to walk to
(18:15):
Jesus.
In the flesh, it's easier.
In the spirit, it's the exactopposite, right?
Because I'll tell you, the bestchoice I ever made, the easiest
choice I ever made was to followJesus.
I mean, it was kind of ano-brainer, right?
Like, Jesus is like, hey, I'vegot something for you, and I'm
like, oh, that sounds fun.
And then it wasn't fun, so Icould have walked away, but
instead, I embraced what Jesuswas doing in my life, right?
(18:36):
He's breaking off chains, he'staking away things that I enjoy.
I don't like that, right?
I want to still be able toenjoy, but I had to accept that
I couldn't if I wanted to livein true relationship.
I'm gonna tell you the truth,right?
Many years early in my Christianwalk, I probably had a spirit of
(18:56):
religion because I didn't knowany better, right?
I thought that coming to churchon Sunday, listen, there was a
rule.
Some of us will know this.
Margie, Kathy, Alva, you'll knowthis.
If you served with Florence whenthe building was open, you were
here.
It wasn't an option, right?
(19:18):
So I'm talking that's Sundaymorning service, that was
Saturday night prayer, that wasWednesday night Bible study,
that was Tuesday night, whateverelse she decided to do, right?
Tuesday morning prayer.
I'm telling you that when thebuilding was open, you were
here, and it was not negotiable.
I mean, you had to have a realreason.
I'm talking like body parthanging off, real reason to not
(19:41):
show up, right?
And the expectation was that ifyou were serving in ministry,
you should desire.
You're not coming because youwant to or because you have to,
you're coming because you wantto.
Amen.
Because your desire was to seethe building grow, to see the
body grow, to see great andmighty things happen inside of
the kingdom.
And you could not be in oneaccord if you were not standing
(20:04):
in the building together.
For years, my life was consumedby ministry, and it was before I
was ever truly in ministry.
But it's what prepared me forthe season that God has placed
me in.
I told you guys last week, Imean, for like three months I
didn't see my family at all.
They didn't even like they had athey had my face put on a milk
(20:26):
carton, they had a posterhanging at the post office that
said, you know, wanted dead oralive, because at that point
they didn't know.
I'd come home late at night, I'dleave early in the morning, all
they knew, because my phonewould ping at the church or ping
at work.
They knew, oh, he's moved,right?
It's crazy to think that sooften the spirit of religion
(20:51):
will appear in that exact sameway.
It will appear to be dedicatedto ministry, it will appear to
be dedicated to those aroundthem, but oftentimes you find
very quickly that that is notthe case.
Because what happens is whensomething does not go their way
(21:12):
or the spirit of religionbecomes agitated, the spirit of
religion is being agitated thismorning, right?
Because we're talking about it.
There's somebody sitting intheir seat right now going,
well, I know what he's talkingabout.
I know what he's trying to say.
He's probably talking about me.
Probably.
(21:32):
I mean, if you feel that way,chances are, yeah, I am, right?
I probably don't even know it,but yes, if you're feeling that
way, chances are I'm talking toyou.
Here's the point that spirit ofreligion will show up and it
will look like it's dedicated toministry.
But really, as soon as it isagitated, as soon as it is
irritated, it will do everythingin its power, everything in its
(21:54):
power to divide and conquer.
But can I tell you that's nothow Jesus works?
That is not a spirit ofrelationship, that is a spirit
of religion, and we have to knowthe difference because we have
to make sure we follow the rightone.
Amen.
So listen.
(22:14):
Somebody once said to me, Iunderstand that you want to go
on the offense, but you have toremember that vengeance belongs
to God.
No, I want to run them into theground.
Right?
Like my flesh says theyshouldn't be allowed to do that.
(22:38):
But the Spirit of the Lord saysthey're not allowed to do that.
And you need to stop worryingyourself with it.
And I'm like, well, then God doit so I can watch.
Is that fair?
We've all felt it, right?
Amen.
This is not made up.
If I'm the only one feeling it,maybe I should just take a seat
and somebody else should preach.
Because I'm just saying it'strue, it's a feeling, but the
(23:01):
flesh feels it.
But then I have to I have torealign with the spirit, right?
I have to go, okay, flesh, down,boy, down.
And I have to come back over tothe spirit and say, you know,
Lord, if you really, if this isreally you, if Lord, if you want
me to take action, then I needyou to really give me the action
to take.
And oftentimes that actiondoesn't come.
(23:21):
And it sucks, right?
Because man, wouldn't it feelgood to just get some revenge or
just be listen?
Oftentimes we don't even defendourselves anymore.
I don't like that either.
I don't like sitting with mymouth shut, as you can see.
The only thing that I when Irun, it's my mouth, right?
(23:42):
Listen, I want God to know thatmy heart is pure and that I am
for him, but my flesh so oftenwants to take over and it wants,
listen, I'm not lying when Itell you that I had that spirit
of religion for a long time.
Because when the when the Lordwould say, Enter into the house
with joy, I would enter into thehouse with motive.
(24:04):
Right?
Because when I showed up to thehouse, it was to do a job and
get out as fast as I could.
Because not that I didn't wantto be here, but I had other
things I wanted to do, thingsthat the world wanted me to do
and not the spirit.
Amen.
Listen, I shared my testimonywith you guys a couple of weeks
ago.
I feel like I'm just telling onmyself now, right?
(24:25):
At some point, you have tounderstand that pastors don't
rise from a perfect breed,right?
Like we aren't like, there isn'tsome selected group of people
that become pastors like it usedto be in the Old Testament,
right?
It was a bloodline, it wasfamily, it's not how it works
anymore.
God calls us and then hequalifies us.
We are not qualified when we arecalled, most of us.
(24:47):
I mean, I'm just being honestwith you, right?
I don't know that when Godcalled me.
Oh, shut up, Michael.
I don't know if he knew what hewas doing, that's all I'm
saying.
That's all I'm saying.
The Holy Spirit does not anointperformance.
I need you to hear that.
The Holy Spirit does not anointperformance, he anoints
(25:12):
authenticity.
Right?
So when we come to the altar andwe reveal our hearts, if we are
authentic in that, if we come tohim and we say, Lord, change me,
renew me, give me fresh air inmy lungs, right?
That is authentic.
If you come to the the altar andyou say, Lord, I'm up here
because I need everybody to seeme.
(25:34):
I need everybody to think, Lord,that I have changed my ways,
Lord, I need everybody to thinkthat I am perfect and pure.
The Lord is not ever going tobless that religion naturally,
as we read in Matthew 23,condemns.
(25:56):
Right?
Religion will condemn you, butrelationships will convict you.
Thank you, Jesus.
Right?
That's it.
Write it down, folks.
I want you to hang that on yourmirror, okay?
The spirit of religion willcondemn you, but a relationship
(26:18):
with Christ will convict you.
Any of you ever woke up onemorning and you went, I gotta
stop doing that?
That's the Lord convicting you.
Now, here's the thing.
Then you go to work and you tellsomebody at work or you tell
your spouse or whoever, and yousay, I was really praying last
night that the Lord would revealwhat he wants for me.
And uh many of you don't havethese conversations at work
(26:38):
because you're too afraid totalk about Jesus, right?
Is that fair?
I mean, it's true, right?
I had a lady at the bank findout yesterday I was a pastor.
We only worked a half a day.
She couldn't believe it.
I don't know if that's a goodthing or a bad thing.
I would hope that she sees thaton me.
And she started asking mequestions, and she said, I had
(26:59):
no idea.
But she had seen my name and sheknew that she knew me, but she
didn't know why she knew me.
And it was because the churchthat she attends, I preached
that once.
Right?
Isn't that crazy how God will dothose things?
And so then we end up in a45-minute conversation.
I did no work yesterday.
(27:20):
Hopefully, nobody at work islistening to this.
No work yesterday.
We just talked about Jesus,right?
Do you know how good that feelswhen you go into the office and
you can talk about Jesus?
Right?
It scares some people.
Some people are afraid to do it.
I will talk about Jesus anytime,anywhere.
Because when I talk about Jesusand I go and I tell them those
things, I don't get met with thespirit of religion.
(27:42):
Because what happens is I go andtell them God spoke to me last
night and he said, I really haveto stop doing this.
Because the spirit of religionor the flesh would begin to tell
you, Well, I mean, but is itreally that bad?
Like, are you doing it all thetime?
Like, do you really have to giveit up completely?
Right?
Spirit of religion.
When your heart is convicted,when God moves upon you, when
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the Holy Spirit enters into yourmind in your sleep and wakes you
up with a desire to dosomething, can I tell you a
secret?
Do it.
Nike logo, Nike check.
Just do it, right?
Because if the Holy Spirit istelling you, He is taking you to
the next level, He is drivingyou to greater, but you don't
(28:26):
reach greater if youconsistently communicate and
live in relationship with thespirit of religion.
Who?
It's easy to put on a worshipface.
Anybody ever yelled at theirkids in the car?
Like lost their minds in theparking lot.
Like, if you don't get out ofthis car right now, why are your
(28:49):
shoes off?
Where are your socks?
Right?
Right?
I'm okay.
All right.
Sid says that was me thismorning.
Listen.
And then you come in the churchand you're like, good morning,
morning, morning.
Hey, how are ya?
Right?
Been never done that?
That's not good, right?
(29:11):
It is not good.
It is easy to put on a worshipface, but have a hard heart.
Now, I'm not accusing anybody ofever having gone through that
having a hard heart.
I'm a parent, I get it, right?
Lord Jesus, one of them temptedme yesterday.
I thought he was gonna meetJesus.
That's all I'm gonna say.
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He was going home.
It is easy to post a Bible verseon Facebook, on social media.
Your Twitter's just blown upwith all of the I'm sorry, X is
just blown up with all of theBible verses, and your Instagram
is all of the pictures of youwith your Bible, and you still
live in bitterness, right?
Still live with that hard heart.
(29:51):
You still live in all of thosethings that you know that God
does not want for you.
Let me tell you something.
The Spirit will always revealthose things to you, and when he
does, it isn't until then thatyou can heal those things,
right?
The problem is when he revealsthem, you have to step out of
the spirit of religion, into thespirit of relationship, and
(30:13):
allow God to work.
Amen.
All of the things that we'retalking about is the difference
between condemnation.
And conviction.
When the Spirit speaks to you,you feel convicted, and you know
in your heart, you know in yourknower, you know whenever you
(30:34):
get out of bed that this issomething that I am supposed to
be working on in my life.
Amen.
The spirit of condemnationtypically comes from the flesh.
I said, Well, that's the dumbestthing I've ever heard.
You shouldn't be doing that.
Why are you doing that?
Right?
Somebody, you say, hey, you knowwhat?
I'm gonna take, I'm gonna takethe youth kids to camp at my
church, and somebody says, Well,that's dumb.
Right?
(30:54):
My wife is talking about doingthat next summer.
She's gonna take all the younggirls to church camp.
I'm sorry, I shouldn't say that.
I'm sorry.
I should yeah, she's notcommitted to that yet.
But I said to her, I said toher, I now you are.
I said it out loud.
Listen, I said to her, I said,You aren't trying to drag me
into this, are you?
She looked at me and she said,Absolutely not.
(31:16):
Those kids would have no funwith you around.
It's the truth, right?
So the Lord had convicted her,the Lord put it on her heart,
but thankfully the Lord didn'tput it on my heart, right?
Now, here's the thing.
Here's the thing.
What'd you just say?
I know what you just said,because I was getting ready to
say it too.
Here's the thing.
I know what's gonna happen.
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I'm gonna end up going becausethe Lord at some point is gonna
say, Hey, your wife is going,you need to go too.
And here's the deal there betterbe lots of medication because
I'm gonna need it.
I'm gonna need it.
Romans 8:1 says, So there is nocondemnation for those who
(31:59):
belong to Christ Jesus.
Religion says you can't come toGod until you are clean.
Have you ever heard that?
Whoo! Well, I there's no reasonfor me to go to church because
I'm so messed up, God wouldnever receive me.
Can I tell you that that's whenhe wants to receive you?
When you are messed up, when youare dirty, when you are ugly?
Let me promise you something.
When God listen, just the otherday we do a health fair once a
(32:21):
year at work.
And uh I signed up for thehealth fair because they give
you a free PTO day if you showup.
I'm gonna take a day off to goto health, right?
Prick my finger, take a littlebit of blood, they test all the
things, but here's what I wasn'texpecting.
I get there, they prick myfinger, they take my blood, then
they how do they figure out BMIwith this little thing that you
(32:43):
just hold out in front of you?
Anybody ever heard of that?
Craziest thing I've ever heard.
But she allegedly figured out myBMI.
You know what she told me?
I'm overweight.
I'm like, all right, I alreadyhad a complex, but thanks a lot
for that one.
Appreciate you.
Appreciate you.
Listen, sometimes that's whatthe world will do to us, right?
(33:04):
The world will make us think badof ourselves, but when God wants
you to change, he will convictyou through the Holy Spirit.
See, I can still come to Godwhen I am dirty, when I am
broken.
That's when he does his bestwork, right?
When he cleans me up and I thinkthat I have reached the point of
no return, he can't do anythingwith my heart because my heart
(33:25):
is not open to what God is trulydoing.
Amen.
Relationship says, come to Godand He will make you clean.
It has nothing to do with you orwhat you are doing, it has to do
with God making you clean, withGod redeeming your soul.
Religion is man-centered whererelationship is God-centered.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus.
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Listen, I know that oftentimesreligion, and and I'm really
careful about this now.
I didn't used to be, but I amnow.
People will often ask me whenthey find out that I'm a pastor,
where are you a pastor at?
And I always tell them, andthey're like, oh, we might have
to check it out.
And this is the next phrase thatcomes out of my mouth every
time.
We would love to have you, butonly if you don't have a home
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church.
I'm not trying to kill, steal,or destroy another church,
right?
All I want is if somebody islost and broken, I want them to
know that this is a place thatthey can call home.
That they can walk through thedoor and be loved.
I don't want them to feel like,feel like they have to, that
they have to show up whole andalready clean.
(34:31):
So the spirit of religion willoften say, look at me, where the
spirit of God, whenever we're ina spirit of relationship, will
say, look at him, right?
My wife told me after I got myjob at the bank, she said to me,
Um, you're the only person thatI know that can walk into an
industry you have never workedin before, find favor, and get a
promotion in the first fiveweeks.
(34:51):
Right?
And I'm like, that's a goodpoint.
But that is because I neverpoint to me, I always point to
him.
When somebody says, I can'tbelieve you can do that, I said,
I can't.
I have never been able to dothat, but God has always given
me the understanding, right?
Now that sounds silly to some ofus because, like, listen,
today's we're we're gonnacelebrate pastors today.
Do you know how hard it is forlike me to accept appreciation?
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I hate that, right?
I don't want anybody talkinggood about me.
I don't want anybody like youcan talk bad about me all you
want, whatever.
But whenever you say nice thingsto me, I don't know what to do
with it, right?
Like, are you that way, Steph?
Is that why you're shaking yourhead?
Yeah, it's we're wired the sameway a lot, right?
Like we're practically the sameperson, Stephanie and I are.
Like, we don't want hugs, wedon't want, and a lot of that
(35:35):
comes from just not knowing likewhat do I do with my hands,
right?
You come up and you say, Hey,high five, good job, Pastor
Michael.
My answer is always the same.
That wasn't me, that was theHoly Spirit, right?
That's what I say because Idon't.
Thank you.
Doesn't seem appropriate becauseit wasn't me.
So I'm always leaning back, I'malways pointing back to Jesus.
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The Pharisees love to pray outloud in the streets, but that
was because they wanted to beseen by man, amen.
They wanted man to see them sothat they could appear righteous
and holy.
Amen.
I bet so many of us, so many ofus pray to ourselves through the
day, and we never pray inpublic.
(36:18):
We don't pray for people.
Listen, one of the things thatwe haven't had here for a little
while, and Pastor Holly and Ihave been praying about this and
talking about this, you don'tsee a lot of ministry time
happening in our building rightnow, right?
And some people are like, well,that's weird, why did that stop?
We don't know, but we allow thespirit to move and tell us when
that is appropriate, right?
(36:39):
Because if we force it, allwe're doing is operating in our
own flesh.
We're not allowing the spirit.
So if you come up to me rightnow and you say, Listen, this is
why I don't I don't lay hands onyou guys, it's the truth.
That is not my gifting, and sothen I get in my head and I'm
thinking about all the rightthings to say to you, and all of
(37:00):
the right things to pray about,and all of the right things that
that God would have me say, andthen the next thing I know, I'm
praying that your waffle makerworks again.
Right?
Like, what?
It's just not what I'm good at,it's not what God has gifted me
with.
I'm a problem solver by nature,that's what God has gifted me
with.
That's why I have somebody sostrong like Pastor Holly that'll
lay you out on the floor andknow what know what God wants
(37:22):
for you before you knew what Godwanted for you, right?
That's a gifting.
That is the beauty of what we doin this building, right?
The problem is, is oftentimespeople become offended because
I'm not praying.
I pray for you every day.
Each and every one of you, but Idon't do it in public because
it's not what I'm good at,right?
I pray for you behind closeddoors.
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My ride to work is nothing butprayers for you.
Now, I'm not gonna lie, I misssome of you sometimes, and I try
to get through the list, and I'mlike, and then I'll just say,
Lord, if I missed anybody, touchtheir hearts today and let them
know I'm thinking about them.
Just allow them to know that Iam I am praying for them and
Lord that I just wish that youwould move mightily in their
lives.
And I don't know if any of youhave ever felt that.
(38:03):
I hope that you have, because Ibelieve that when I say that to
God, God says, You got it,right?
You got it, dude.
Some of us.
Some of us.
The Holy Spirit will draw usinto that secret place of
prayer.
Amen.
We talk about that prayercloset.
We talk about that secret placeof prayer.
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Whenever I begin to pray, Idon't need to pray in public.
I don't need to be out on thestreets praying for people.
And I'm not saying there'sanything wrong with it.
I'm saying that when I do it, Iam doing it so that God will
hear my prayers and that mandoesn't need to hear those
prayers, right?
And listen, when I go to when Igo to my private place of
prayer, I pray for myself justas much.
(38:45):
Lord, whatever it is that'shappening in my life, Lord,
whatever it is that's going onthat is not of you, take it away
today.
That is a big bold prayer topray.
Because then when God takes itaway and you're like, why am I
not doing that anymore?
It's because you asked him totake it away, right?
And you ask for things like,Lord, take away my worry.
Lord, the anxiety that I feeltoday, take it away.
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And then all of a sudden you'reremoved from friend groups, or
all of a sudden you're removedfrom relationships, or you're
removed from a job or a positionor whatever, and you can't
figure out why.
It's because you asked God toremove those things from you,
and little did you know that'swhat was creating those things,
right?
So my last day out of the hotelwas technically just a couple of
(39:29):
weeks ago because they gave me aseverance package, right?
So it was just a couple of weeksago.
And um, I'm gonna be honest withyou, my heart was still very
bitter towards that situationand just trying to figure out
why it happened and whatnot.
And I said to myself one night,I said, you know what?
One of the things that we alwaysdid as a celebration when
somebody retired or left afterthey had been there for a long
time, there was always a poemwritten about that person.
(39:51):
And I said to myself, they werealways funny and lighthearted
and whatever.
And I said to myself, I'm gonnasit down and I'm gonna write one
and I'm gonna email it to themon my final day.
Because there's a part of thattradition that I will miss
desperately.
Amen.
And when I sat down and startedworking on that, it was all I
needed to release thathard-heartedness towards that
(40:12):
situation, right?
So God had given me a creativeway to step out of that hurt and
that anger and that frustration.
It was the strangest thing I'veever done in my life.
I sent it and immediately I geta response that they thought it
was funny.
I only sent it to one owner.
And a couple of hours later, Iget a second response from one
of the other owners that wasjust absolutely shocked that I
(40:35):
first of all sent it and did it,and that it was incredibly funny
because there were a lot ofinside jokes, right?
In seven years of being employedthere, we had a lot of inside
jokes.
And so we were able to, I wasable to mend and heal through
something creative that God hadset me to do.
I didn't have to be bitter, Ididn't have to hold on to that
frustration.
Now, I'm not saying that if Isaw them in public, my heart
(40:56):
wouldn't sink, right?
Because I still think that thereis some of that that that rests
inside of me, but I know thatGod would not want me to live
that way because if I continueto operate in that spirit of
religion where you are goodChristian people, how could you
do that to somebody?
Because that is a spirit ofreligion, right?
As a Christian, you're blamingChristians for doing things that
(41:16):
are not great, but here you arefalling short of the glory of
God.
Amen.
I know that God is always goingto show up and fix those things.
He is going to build bridges andnot walls.
Amen.
Amen.
Walls, easy to build, right?
You put them up, reinforced.
Nobody's knocking these bad boysdown, but I will tell you that a
(41:38):
spirit of relationship willalways build bridges.
Anytime that spirit, a spirittells you that you are not
worthy, that you know, why areyou doing that?
They don't even appreciate that.
That is a spirit of religion.
A spirit of relationship willalways build bridges.
They will tell you, you arealways welcome here.
Come to the table, join us,fellowship with us.
(42:00):
Religion separates, but thespirit unites.
Religion builds denominations,but spirit builds disciples.
Write that one down, right?
Religion will build adenomination because you have
rules that you have to follow,things that you have to do,
right?
But when you're in relationshipwith Christ, that's not how that
(42:21):
works.
Christ never called us to be ina building every week, he called
us to be the body.
We come here to get refilled sothat we can go out and pour into
the world.
Amen.
The Spirit will build disciples.
John 4, 23 and 24.
It says, But the time is coming,indeed, it's here now when true
(42:43):
worshipers will worship theFather in spirit and in truth.
Can I tell you that it is ourresponsibility?
Because I want to read thatagain.
It says, indeed, it's here now.
Right?
Heaven here, heaven now.
Right?
That means that it is ourresponsibility to invite the
(43:04):
kingdom of heaven into thisplace.
Somebody smells good.
What was that?
Is that you?
You smell like chili?
Is that it?
This dale.
I just got a whiff of it,whatever it was.
What?
Oh, it's hand sanitizer.
That's exactly what it was.
I drank that stuff.
It smells so good.
Love it.
(43:24):
But I'm sorry, I got off track.
I gotta go back to my notes.
Who?
Oh, it is our responsibility tobring heaven here now, right?
Listen, we can get into heavenwhenever we decide to go home,
whenever Jesus decides to takeus, or we can live in that place
today, right?
We can invite heaven here byworshiping in spirit and in
(43:47):
truth, by living in relationshipwith Christ and behaving
Christ-like.
See, we will not invite heavenhere if we operate in a spirit
of religion, right?
That's not how it's gonna workbecause the Holy Spirit is going
to reject all of those things.
See, it is not performance androutine, it is not ritual and
repent repentance.
(44:08):
It is about truth and genuinerepentance.
Amen.
It's not just ritual.
You can't come up here when weopen the altar just to say, I
went to the altar.
When you come to the altar, ithas to be that place of
exchange.
You have to lay it down forJesus.
You have to lay it at the footof the cross and pick up
whatever it is that God wouldhave you know in your life.
(44:29):
Hallelujah.
What time is it?
I gotta, I gotta hurry outbecause we're gonna be, nobody's
gonna get to eat if I don'tfinish up.
Whoo! There's a bug.
It's time that we start to teardown that altar of religion and
build an altar of relationship.
(44:49):
Amen.
As Christians, we have got tostop expecting other Christians
to be perfect.
We can't look at them and say,Well, don't you go to church?
Right?
Because each and every one of uswill fall short of the glory of
God every single day.
Iron sharpens iron.
It is our responsibility to holdpeople accountable.
(45:10):
But when you say to somebody inprivate, hey, I heard you do
that.
And I'm not sure if that's theif that's the person that I
know.
You know, Doug, I heard you saythat the other day, and I don't
know if that's the Doug that Iknow.
Right, Mel?
I don't think that that was a agodly thing to say.
(45:32):
I don't think that the spirit ofthe living God would want you to
talk that way about somebody orsay that thing about somebody.
Amen.
There's a difference betweencondemnation and correction in
love.
Amen.
And we just have to learn how todo it.
(45:53):
It is our responsibility as thechurch to continue to support
one another, but we support oneanother in love, not in
condemnation.
We support one another throughconviction, right?
Of the spirit, not condemnationof the flesh.
Amen.
Church, today it's about us, notabout the sinner.
Okay?
It's not about the atheists,it's not about all of the people
(46:15):
who are living outside of thebuilding.
It's about those of us who comein here every single week and
forget what it is to live intrue relationship with Christ
because we are so wrapped up inall of the laws and all of the
rules.
Amen.
Let's pray together.
Father, I thank you and I praiseyou for a move of the Spirit in
this house today.
Lord, I am praying for repentanthearts as we're sitting in our
(46:36):
seats and this prayer is beingprayed.
Father, I pray that you're justgiving them guidance and
direction.
Father, that they're examiningthemselves and finding all of
the things that are nothappening the way that they
should be happening in theirlife.
And Lord, that you are givingthem direction.
Father, that you are bringingconviction into their lives,
Father, and that they understandthat it is not condemnation,
(46:56):
that you are not rejecting them,Father, but that you are calling
them to greater in the mightyname of Jesus.
Father, that you are continuingto lift them up.
You believe in them, Father, andyou know that through the blood
of Jesus Christ, that they areredeemed, that they are set
apart from the flesh of thisworld.
Father, we are not seeking gloryfor ourselves, but glory for the
(47:21):
kingdom of God.
Father, we are desiring a moveof the Spirit so great that when
it happens, the world cannotreject it as coincidence.
We know that every knee shallbow at the mighty name of Jesus.
And Father, I pray that when youreturn, every person in this
(47:46):
room knows your voice.
Father, I thank you and I praiseyou for continuing to guide us
and direct us.
Father, for all of the wonderfulthings that you do.
We give you praise, honor, andglory in the mighty name of
Jesus.
And the church says, Amen.
(48:07):
Love you guys.
We'll see you across the hall.
Father, we thank you and we praise you for the move
of the Spirit to rest in thehouse today, Lord.
Right now I am praying forhearts on fire.
Lord, that as your word isspoken, that this body of
believers come alive today,Father God, that we don't sit in
our seats just listening to thewords, Father, but that our
hearts are absorbing thosewords, that we are prepared for
(00:50):
the moves that you are making inour lives.
Father, I cast out all doubt,all fear today, sorrow, shame,
whatever it may be, Father, I ampraying for renewal for the
people of this house.
Lord, bless us as we moveforward with your worship.
(01:12):
Father, just give us all of theunderstanding of your word.
Father, I just pray that today,as we as we preach the gospel,
Father, that as the ears hear,that they hear words directly
from you.
Lord, allow your spirit to flowin the mighty name of Jesus.
And the church says, Amen.
(01:33):
Amen.
We'll let the kids head over toclass.
And as they do that, I didforget to mention something sort
of important this morning.
Um, we've been talking aboutthis uh children's ministry
director position, and I've hada couple of people interested.
And I had two people come to mewho are interested in the
(01:54):
position that had this idea, andit's an idea that we have
desired for a long time.
So we've agreed to let these twogo hog wild with this idea.
This year at the Christmasparty, we are going to have a
children's pageant.
We're gonna nobody's excitedabout this.
(02:15):
We're gonna let the kids tellthe Christmas story.
And so if you are interested inhaving your children involved,
you're gonna see Christy oryou're going to see Jenny sooner
rather than later.
Because we're gonna fill partsand we're gonna start practicing
with the kids every other weekso that we can start getting a
feel for what we're gonna do.
(02:35):
Now, I have read the script, andlet me tell you, this is gonna
be fun.
This is gonna, it's gonna becute.
We're going to love it.
And honestly, we're getting tothe point where there are so
many kids we gotta do somethingwith them, right?
They aren't old enough to mowthe grass yet.
If they were, that's what we'dhave them do, but we're gonna
let them do this instead.
She's got baby Jesus.
(02:58):
Sold.
I was just gonna use a baby dollin case it got dropped, but I
mean, I guess that's not myresponsibility.
I don't know.
All right, church, I've got apassage of scripture I want to
start with this morning.
It's Matthew 23, it's uh verses25 through 28.
And it reads something like thisit says, What sorrow awaits you
(03:20):
teachers of religious law andyou Pharisees, hypocrites?
For you are so careful to cleanthe outside of the cup and the
dish, but inside you are filthy,full of greed and self-indul
indulgence.
Outwardly you look likerighteous people, but inwardly
your hearts are filled withhypocrisy and lawlessness.
(03:41):
That's a tough statement.
Amen?
Jesus is speaking to the leadersof religious law and to the
Pharisees, and he's telling themthat you are so obsessed with
custom and tradition, right?
That you will make sure you washyour hands and you will make
sure that the cup and the dishare clean, but inside you have
(04:05):
no idea what's going on.
Inside, you are lawless and youare hypocrites.
Amen.
I have always preached this andI believe this.
I believe that organic church isa church for the hypocrite.
I believe that we are a churchfor the broken, we are a church
for the lost.
Amen.
So can I tell you that today Iam not preaching to those
(04:28):
people?
Today I want to preach to thepeople who are in this building
who cut so sinners, you're offthe hook today.
Is that fair?
If you're visiting for the firsttime and you're like, I hope
this guy doesn't point me out,trust me, I'm not going to
today.
Right?
We're gonna talk about somethinga little bit different.
I wanna I don't want to talkabout the sinner on the street
corner.
I don't want to talk about theaddict, right?
(04:48):
All of the people that we wantto look down on as Christians,
right?
Listen, you guys can pretendlike you don't, but we all know
we do.
Right?
Okay.
Here's what I want to talk abouttoday.
I want to talk about the thingthat likes to creep into our
church in plain sight, butoftentimes under a shadow of
(05:09):
darkness.
Amen.
I want to talk about a spirit ofreligion.
That thing that oftentimes comesin wearing a suit, carrying a
Bible, and knows all the wordsto every song, but oftentimes
its inside is dirty, and itdoesn't truly know or care about
the word of God.
Amen.
(05:29):
Okay.
Some of you are with me, some ofyou are not, and that is okay.
We're gonna talk about a spiritof religion, a counterfeit to
the true relationship with JesusChrist.
That's what it is, that's what aspirit of religion is.
It is a counterfeit to a truerelationship with Jesus Christ.
Now, I posted on social mediabecause see what happens is the
(05:50):
spirit of religion, it satisfiesman, right?
The spirit of religion on theoutside looks like a holy person
or a person of good standing inrelationship with Jesus, but in
the spirit, they are reallydoing none of those things.
It is all bark, no bite, it isall show, and they have nothing
(06:11):
really going on in arelationship with Jesus.
Amen.
The spirit of religion alwayslooks holy, but it always denies
power.
Right?
All right, 2 Timothy 3 5, itsays, they will act religiously,
but they will reject the powerthat could make them godly.
(06:32):
I want to say that again.
They act religious, but theywill, but they will reject the
power that could make themgodly.
Now, what does that mean?
They they have potential.
Can I tell you that when we talkabout the sinner and the the
drug addict and the atheist,they have potential, right?
(06:54):
They are not losers, they arelost.
Amen.
They have potential.
Can I tell you that they havemore potential than some of us
sitting in this building?
Because they don't know whoJesus is, right?
And when they when they come toknow Jesus and they change their
lives and they repent and theybegin to follow Jesus and to
(07:16):
worship Jesus in spirit and intruth, they surpass the spirit
of religion.
That's crazy, right?
I've been in church my wholelife.
I've been doing this since I wasjust little, and all of a
sudden, this person who knowsnothing about Jesus can surpass
where I'm at.
Yep, that's how it works.
Because the spirit of the spiritof the living God will only
(07:38):
dwell in you so long as youdwell in the spirit of the
living God.
Amen.
So if you show up and sit in aseat and all you do is warm the
seat, you're not in relationshipwith Christ.
You're in fellowship with otherbelievers, but you are not in
relationship with Christ.
See, the spirit of religion, heknows how to act saved.
(07:59):
Amen.
He knows how to act saved, butlikely he isn't saved.
Because he sees what otherpeople do, right?
You know, you ever walked in andeverybody goes one way, so you
go that way?
Like us men, we don't have thisproblem.
But ladies, this is one thingthat I used to experience when I
was out at the theater all thetime.
(08:19):
You would see the ladies comeout of the theater and they
would go straight to thebathroom and they would get in
this long line that would go,but they didn't know that there
was a second bathroom 10 stepsaway that they could have gone
to, right?
Because, see, that's the way theherd went, that's the way they
went.
Amen.
And so the spirit of religionwill copycat whatever the
(08:41):
relationship is doing, right?
So they're gonna look holy,they'll volunteer.
They'll be the first tovolunteer, be the first one to
put their name on the list forwhatever it is that's going on,
because they want to look likethey are engaged and they are
involved.
But can I promise you something?
It is all show, it looks holy,but it is not powerful.
(09:05):
See, they say the right words,but they resist the move of the
Holy Ghost.
This is something that I I lovethis, and I watch it when it
happens.
So when we pray for people andwe have people fall out in the
spirit, one of my favoritethings is when I get to see a
pity fall.
Anyone know what that is?
Pastor Holly and I all talkabout it.
She's like, that was a pityfall, right?
(09:25):
So you're praying for somebodyand they like right?
Come on now.
Come on now.
You ever been slain in thespirit that when you hit the
floor?
Listen, I watched Alona onetime.
Pastor Florence was praying forpeople.
She had a line of people acrossthe sanctuary.
The people who were catchingcould not move fast enough.
I watched Alona literally bounceoff the floor and never moved.
(09:50):
Just now I thought she had aconcussion, right?
Because she hit hard.
She stood back up like it neverhappened.
Right?
That's not a pity fall, right?
Because she was in tune with thespirit, the spirit was moving in
her life, the spirit didsomething to her, and she was
able to bounce back.
Listen, we've seen some wildstuff when we do prayer, right?
(10:10):
People fall.
Dave just the other day wentflying across the room when
Holly was praying for somebodyelse, and he was supposed to be
catching.
That's not how that works,folks.
But sometimes, but when you areopen to what the spirit is
doing, those are the things thatcan happen.
But see, the spirit of religionwill come up for prayer.
They might run to the altar forprayer, right?
(10:32):
And when you lay hands on them,God's like, Yeah, we really
gotta do some work here, right?
We need to inspect their hearts.
We need to really, and then theyjust sit down on the floor
because they don't want anybodyto think that the spirit didn't
move in their life.
Amen.
It's the truth.
That's what happens when we havea spirit of religion.
(10:55):
The spirit of religion oftenbecomes comfortable in the form
of whatever the spirit of arelationship looks like, right?
They do really, really good athaving relationships with people
and doing all of the things andthe volunteering, but they
really can't find the fire.
Do you know what I mean by that?
Because, see, when God gets ahold of me, and a lot of new
(11:17):
Christians are this way, whenGod saves them, they become on
fire, right?
How many of us have ever been onfire?
Like you're just excited aboutwhat God is doing, and you're
running laps around the buildingduring praise and worship, and
you're wanting to do all of thethings and be invested in all of
the things.
That's fire, right?
But you can tell when the fireis real and when the fire is
(11:40):
fake, right?
I just uh there's a house thathas Halloween decorations up,
and it makes it look like theirhouse is on fire.
Every window has these fakeflames in the window, and they
have this smoke that comes.
It is the wildest thing I'veever seen.
They actually posted on socialmedia don't call the cops, our
house really isn't on fire.
It looks real, it's crazy,right?
You would have a hard timetelling the difference between
(12:01):
that fire and a real fire.
But not when it's a spirit ofreligion.
Because oftentimes that laparound the building or that
volunteer spot also comes withall of the words, did you see
I'm gonna lead this?
Or did you see that I'm gonna,oh, that'll never happen if I
don't do it because nobody elseis gonna do it.
Let me tell you something.
That is a spirit of religion.
(12:23):
That is a spirit of because allyou're doing is trying to puff
up yourself inside of what Jesushas called you to be.
It'll sing, Come, Jesus, come.
That spirit of religion willknow all the words, it'll do all
the things, it'll stand here andpraise and worship and lift its
hands, and you will believe whenyou see it that there is
(12:47):
salvation there.
And then you see him stand upfrom the altar and go and say
something to somebody that isjust wildly inappropriate.
Anybody ever been there?
Anybody ever hit the parking lotwith somebody that says
something to you and you look athim and go, weren't you just at
the altar?
No, listen, I'm not trying tosay any of us are perfect,
right?
I come to the altar and I standup and do stupid stuff.
(13:09):
It happens, right?
We are flesh, we are living inthe world, we are not of the
world, but are in the world,amen.
The problem is, is when you havea spirit of religion, you allow
the world to take over.
Once you walk out of thebuilding, the spirit doesn't
matter.
The world is what matters.
(13:35):
I want to remind you that whenJesus was entering into
Jerusalem, everybody wasstanding there shouting,
Hosanna! Hosanna, glory in thehighest.
Amen.
And then days later they wereshouting, Crucify.
(13:56):
Probably a spirit of religion.
Right?
Now I've preached about this andI want to explain it again that
when they were shouting Hosanna,they were expecting to be set
free.
Some of the people shoutingHosanna thought freedom meant
political freedom, not spiritualfreedom.
And when they realized thatJesus was not intending to set
(14:19):
them politically free, theycouldn't care any less about
him.
Amen.
Can I tell you something?
That it is not Jesus' desire tohave you live in the world, it
is to break the chains ofbondage to sin so that you could
live freely in the spirit.
Right?
(14:40):
Freedom from the world comesbecause of freedom in the
spirit.
Amen.
You don't become free in theworld without becoming free in
the spirit.
So you get bound up in the worldbecause your spirit hasn't truly
been set free.
Because then we talk about thisthing called repentance.
(15:02):
Right?
That's not really fun.
Amen.
See, when you're doing somethingand you know you're doing
something, and then you come tothe altar and you lay it down,
and then you go home and you doit again, we all fall short of
the glory of God.
But grace extends so long as youare in relationship with Christ,
right?
So you step out of thatrelationship with Christ, you
(15:23):
come to the altar.
I'm Jesus, I'm so sorry.
And then you get up and you doit again.
Questions have to be asked ofyour heart.
You have to desire relationshipwith Christ and a true, changed,
and repented heart.
Amen.
Okay.
Whew.
I had to turn the air on, folks.
I'm sorry.
It's hot in here.
(15:44):
It was cold this morning.
It was like 56 degrees in herethis morning, so I turned the
heat on.
I regret that desperately.
The spirit of religion willalways hide behind its
appearance, right?
So it's gonna show up lookinggood, smelling right, doing all
the things, acting a certainway, but it is always going to
simply hide behind thatappearance.
(16:06):
It is never going to form ameaningful relationship with
anybody who is truly living inthe spirit.
Why is that?
Because when they do, theirspirit of religion is revealed,
right?
Through discernment, that spiritof religion is revealed.
And when that spirit of religionbecomes revealed, somebody who
lives in a spirit ofrelationship will reject that
(16:27):
spirit naturally, right?
And we will walk away from it.
And then the problem is this isthe part that I really want to
preach about today.
The problem is, is then you're abad Christian because you broke
a relationship, because youwalked away, right?
You ever felt that?
You ever ever end a relationshipwith somebody because you don't
feel like you're in the sameplace spiritually?
(16:48):
Like, listen, I don't just cometo church, I come to church,
right?
When I get here, I'm excited tobe in the presence of God.
I don't come here to socializewith you guys.
That's a bonus of being in thebody, is the is the fellowship,
right?
I I want to be with like-mindedpeople, but the problem is, is
oftentimes when that spirit ofreligion is hiding behind their
(17:11):
looks and they start to becomeseparated from those who are
living in a spirit of of truthor in a spirit of relationship
with Jesus, they will becomeangry or distant from those who
are living in the spirit.
And what happens is they'llstart to blame Christians.
Right?
Well, you're obviously not avery good Christian if you would
(17:33):
X, Y, or Z.
No, I am a good Christianbecause I am in a relationship
with Christ.
I am not a good fleshly person.
You can feel that way about mebecause I don't want to be your
friend.
Listen, friends love at alltimes.
Pastor Holly keeps reminding methat.
Friends love at all times,friends love at all times, and
you're right.
And sometimes love is notpresenting yourself in that
(17:54):
light any longer, right?
Because sometimes when we'reliving in the spirit and we
become friends with those whoare living, um who are living in
the flesh, who are living in aspirit of religion, we start to
absorb some of the things thatthey are doing.
It is easier for us to walk awaythan it is for them to walk to
(18:15):
Jesus.
In the flesh, it's easier.
In the spirit, it's the exactopposite, right?
Because I'll tell you, the bestchoice I ever made, the easiest
choice I ever made was to followJesus.
I mean, it was kind of ano-brainer, right?
Like, Jesus is like, hey, I'vegot something for you, and I'm
like, oh, that sounds fun.
And then it wasn't fun, so Icould have walked away, but
instead, I embraced what Jesuswas doing in my life, right?
(18:36):
He's breaking off chains, he'staking away things that I enjoy.
I don't like that, right?
I want to still be able toenjoy, but I had to accept that
I couldn't if I wanted to livein true relationship.
I'm gonna tell you the truth,right?
Many years early in my Christianwalk, I probably had a spirit of
(18:56):
religion because I didn't knowany better, right?
I thought that coming to churchon Sunday, listen, there was a
rule.
Some of us will know this.
Margie, Kathy, Alva, you'll knowthis.
If you served with Florence whenthe building was open, you were
here.
It wasn't an option, right?
(19:18):
So I'm talking that's Sundaymorning service, that was
Saturday night prayer, that wasWednesday night Bible study,
that was Tuesday night, whateverelse she decided to do, right?
Tuesday morning prayer.
I'm telling you that when thebuilding was open, you were
here, and it was not negotiable.
I mean, you had to have a realreason.
I'm talking like body parthanging off, real reason to not
(19:41):
show up, right?
And the expectation was that ifyou were serving in ministry,
you should desire.
You're not coming because youwant to or because you have to,
you're coming because you wantto.
Amen.
Because your desire was to seethe building grow, to see the
body grow, to see great andmighty things happen inside of
the kingdom.
And you could not be in oneaccord if you were not standing
(20:04):
in the building together.
For years, my life was consumedby ministry, and it was before I
was ever truly in ministry.
But it's what prepared me forthe season that God has placed
me in.
I told you guys last week, Imean, for like three months I
didn't see my family at all.
They didn't even like they had athey had my face put on a milk
(20:26):
carton, they had a posterhanging at the post office that
said, you know, wanted dead oralive, because at that point
they didn't know.
I'd come home late at night, I'dleave early in the morning, all
they knew, because my phonewould ping at the church or ping
at work.
They knew, oh, he's moved,right?
It's crazy to think that sooften the spirit of religion
(20:51):
will appear in that exact sameway.
It will appear to be dedicatedto ministry, it will appear to
be dedicated to those aroundthem, but oftentimes you find
very quickly that that is notthe case.
Because what happens is whensomething does not go their way
(21:12):
or the spirit of religionbecomes agitated, the spirit of
religion is being agitated thismorning, right?
Because we're talking about it.
There's somebody sitting intheir seat right now going,
well, I know what he's talkingabout.
I know what he's trying to say.
He's probably talking about me.
Probably.
(21:32):
I mean, if you feel that way,chances are, yeah, I am, right?
I probably don't even know it,but yes, if you're feeling that
way, chances are I'm talking toyou.
Here's the point that spirit ofreligion will show up and it
will look like it's dedicated toministry.
But really, as soon as it isagitated, as soon as it is
irritated, it will do everythingin its power, everything in its
(21:54):
power to divide and conquer.
But can I tell you that's nothow Jesus works?
That is not a spirit ofrelationship, that is a spirit
of religion, and we have to knowthe difference because we have
to make sure we follow the rightone.
Amen.
So listen.
(22:14):
Somebody once said to me, Iunderstand that you want to go
on the offense, but you have toremember that vengeance belongs
to God.
No, I want to run them into theground.
Right?
Like my flesh says theyshouldn't be allowed to do that.
(22:38):
But the Spirit of the Lord saysthey're not allowed to do that.
And you need to stop worryingyourself with it.
And I'm like, well, then God doit so I can watch.
Is that fair?
We've all felt it, right?
Amen.
This is not made up.
If I'm the only one feeling it,maybe I should just take a seat
and somebody else should preach.
Because I'm just saying it'strue, it's a feeling, but the
(23:01):
flesh feels it.
But then I have to I have torealign with the spirit, right?
I have to go, okay, flesh, down,boy, down.
And I have to come back over tothe spirit and say, you know,
Lord, if you really, if this isreally you, if Lord, if you want
me to take action, then I needyou to really give me the action
to take.
And oftentimes that actiondoesn't come.
(23:21):
And it sucks, right?
Because man, wouldn't it feelgood to just get some revenge or
just be listen?
Oftentimes we don't even defendourselves anymore.
I don't like that either.
I don't like sitting with mymouth shut, as you can see.
The only thing that I when Irun, it's my mouth, right?
(23:42):
Listen, I want God to know thatmy heart is pure and that I am
for him, but my flesh so oftenwants to take over and it wants,
listen, I'm not lying when Itell you that I had that spirit
of religion for a long time.
Because when the when the Lordwould say, Enter into the house
with joy, I would enter into thehouse with motive.
(24:04):
Right?
Because when I showed up to thehouse, it was to do a job and
get out as fast as I could.
Because not that I didn't wantto be here, but I had other
things I wanted to do, thingsthat the world wanted me to do
and not the spirit.
Amen.
Listen, I shared my testimonywith you guys a couple of weeks
ago.
I feel like I'm just telling onmyself now, right?
(24:25):
At some point, you have tounderstand that pastors don't
rise from a perfect breed,right?
Like we aren't like, there isn'tsome selected group of people
that become pastors like it usedto be in the Old Testament,
right?
It was a bloodline, it wasfamily, it's not how it works
anymore.
God calls us and then hequalifies us.
We are not qualified when we arecalled, most of us.
(24:47):
I mean, I'm just being honestwith you, right?
I don't know that when Godcalled me.
Oh, shut up, Michael.
I don't know if he knew what hewas doing, that's all I'm
saying.
That's all I'm saying.
The Holy Spirit does not anointperformance.
I need you to hear that.
The Holy Spirit does not anointperformance, he anoints
(25:12):
authenticity.
Right?
So when we come to the altar andwe reveal our hearts, if we are
authentic in that, if we come tohim and we say, Lord, change me,
renew me, give me fresh air inmy lungs, right?
That is authentic.
If you come to the the altar andyou say, Lord, I'm up here
because I need everybody to seeme.
(25:34):
I need everybody to think, Lord,that I have changed my ways,
Lord, I need everybody to thinkthat I am perfect and pure.
The Lord is not ever going tobless that religion naturally,
as we read in Matthew 23,condemns.
(25:56):
Right?
Religion will condemn you, butrelationships will convict you.
Thank you, Jesus.
Right?
That's it.
Write it down, folks.
I want you to hang that on yourmirror, okay?
The spirit of religion willcondemn you, but a relationship
(26:18):
with Christ will convict you.
Any of you ever woke up onemorning and you went, I gotta
stop doing that?
That's the Lord convicting you.
Now, here's the thing.
Then you go to work and you tellsomebody at work or you tell
your spouse or whoever, and yousay, I was really praying last
night that the Lord would revealwhat he wants for me.
And uh many of you don't havethese conversations at work
(26:38):
because you're too afraid totalk about Jesus, right?
Is that fair?
I mean, it's true, right?
I had a lady at the bank findout yesterday I was a pastor.
We only worked a half a day.
She couldn't believe it.
I don't know if that's a goodthing or a bad thing.
I would hope that she sees thaton me.
And she started asking mequestions, and she said, I had
(26:59):
no idea.
But she had seen my name and sheknew that she knew me, but she
didn't know why she knew me.
And it was because the churchthat she attends, I preached
that once.
Right?
Isn't that crazy how God will dothose things?
And so then we end up in a45-minute conversation.
I did no work yesterday.
(27:20):
Hopefully, nobody at work islistening to this.
No work yesterday.
We just talked about Jesus,right?
Do you know how good that feelswhen you go into the office and
you can talk about Jesus?
Right?
It scares some people.
Some people are afraid to do it.
I will talk about Jesus anytime,anywhere.
Because when I talk about Jesusand I go and I tell them those
things, I don't get met with thespirit of religion.
(27:42):
Because what happens is I go andtell them God spoke to me last
night and he said, I really haveto stop doing this.
Because the spirit of religionor the flesh would begin to tell
you, Well, I mean, but is itreally that bad?
Like, are you doing it all thetime?
Like, do you really have to giveit up completely?
Right?
Spirit of religion.
When your heart is convicted,when God moves upon you, when
(28:06):
the Holy Spirit enters into yourmind in your sleep and wakes you
up with a desire to dosomething, can I tell you a
secret?
Do it.
Nike logo, Nike check.
Just do it, right?
Because if the Holy Spirit istelling you, He is taking you to
the next level, He is drivingyou to greater, but you don't
(28:26):
reach greater if youconsistently communicate and
live in relationship with thespirit of religion.
Who?
It's easy to put on a worshipface.
Anybody ever yelled at theirkids in the car?
Like lost their minds in theparking lot.
Like, if you don't get out ofthis car right now, why are your
(28:49):
shoes off?
Where are your socks?
Right?
Right?
I'm okay.
All right.
Sid says that was me thismorning.
Listen.
And then you come in the churchand you're like, good morning,
morning, morning.
Hey, how are ya?
Right?
Been never done that?
That's not good, right?
(29:11):
It is not good.
It is easy to put on a worshipface, but have a hard heart.
Now, I'm not accusing anybody ofever having gone through that
having a hard heart.
I'm a parent, I get it, right?
Lord Jesus, one of them temptedme yesterday.
I thought he was gonna meetJesus.
That's all I'm gonna say.
(29:31):
He was going home.
It is easy to post a Bible verseon Facebook, on social media.
Your Twitter's just blown upwith all of the I'm sorry, X is
just blown up with all of theBible verses, and your Instagram
is all of the pictures of youwith your Bible, and you still
live in bitterness, right?
Still live with that hard heart.
(29:51):
You still live in all of thosethings that you know that God
does not want for you.
Let me tell you something.
The Spirit will always revealthose things to you, and when he
does, it isn't until then thatyou can heal those things,
right?
The problem is when he revealsthem, you have to step out of
the spirit of religion, into thespirit of relationship, and
(30:13):
allow God to work.
Amen.
All of the things that we'retalking about is the difference
between condemnation.
And conviction.
When the Spirit speaks to you,you feel convicted, and you know
in your heart, you know in yourknower, you know whenever you
(30:34):
get out of bed that this issomething that I am supposed to
be working on in my life.
Amen.
The spirit of condemnationtypically comes from the flesh.
I said, Well, that's the dumbestthing I've ever heard.
You shouldn't be doing that.
Why are you doing that?
Right?
Somebody, you say, hey, you knowwhat?
I'm gonna take, I'm gonna takethe youth kids to camp at my
church, and somebody says, Well,that's dumb.
Right?
(30:54):
My wife is talking about doingthat next summer.
She's gonna take all the younggirls to church camp.
I'm sorry, I shouldn't say that.
I'm sorry.
I should yeah, she's notcommitted to that yet.
But I said to her, I said toher, I now you are.
I said it out loud.
Listen, I said to her, I said,You aren't trying to drag me
into this, are you?
She looked at me and she said,Absolutely not.
(31:16):
Those kids would have no funwith you around.
It's the truth, right?
So the Lord had convicted her,the Lord put it on her heart,
but thankfully the Lord didn'tput it on my heart, right?
Now, here's the thing.
Here's the thing.
What'd you just say?
I know what you just said,because I was getting ready to
say it too.
Here's the thing.
I know what's gonna happen.
(31:37):
I'm gonna end up going becausethe Lord at some point is gonna
say, Hey, your wife is going,you need to go too.
And here's the deal there betterbe lots of medication because
I'm gonna need it.
I'm gonna need it.
Romans 8:1 says, So there is nocondemnation for those who
(31:59):
belong to Christ Jesus.
Religion says you can't come toGod until you are clean.
Have you ever heard that?
Whoo! Well, I there's no reasonfor me to go to church because
I'm so messed up, God wouldnever receive me.
Can I tell you that that's whenhe wants to receive you?
When you are messed up, when youare dirty, when you are ugly?
Let me promise you something.
When God listen, just the otherday we do a health fair once a
(32:21):
year at work.
And uh I signed up for thehealth fair because they give
you a free PTO day if you showup.
I'm gonna take a day off to goto health, right?
Prick my finger, take a littlebit of blood, they test all the
things, but here's what I wasn'texpecting.
I get there, they prick myfinger, they take my blood, then
they how do they figure out BMIwith this little thing that you
(32:43):
just hold out in front of you?
Anybody ever heard of that?
Craziest thing I've ever heard.
But she allegedly figured out myBMI.
You know what she told me?
I'm overweight.
I'm like, all right, I alreadyhad a complex, but thanks a lot
for that one.
Appreciate you.
Appreciate you.
Listen, sometimes that's whatthe world will do to us, right?
(33:04):
The world will make us think badof ourselves, but when God wants
you to change, he will convictyou through the Holy Spirit.
See, I can still come to Godwhen I am dirty, when I am
broken.
That's when he does his bestwork, right?
When he cleans me up and I thinkthat I have reached the point of
no return, he can't do anythingwith my heart because my heart
(33:25):
is not open to what God is trulydoing.
Amen.
Relationship says, come to Godand He will make you clean.
It has nothing to do with you orwhat you are doing, it has to do
with God making you clean, withGod redeeming your soul.
Religion is man-centered whererelationship is God-centered.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus.
(33:46):
Listen, I know that oftentimesreligion, and and I'm really
careful about this now.
I didn't used to be, but I amnow.
People will often ask me whenthey find out that I'm a pastor,
where are you a pastor at?
And I always tell them, andthey're like, oh, we might have
to check it out.
And this is the next phrase thatcomes out of my mouth every
time.
We would love to have you, butonly if you don't have a home
(34:08):
church.
I'm not trying to kill, steal,or destroy another church,
right?
All I want is if somebody islost and broken, I want them to
know that this is a place thatthey can call home.
That they can walk through thedoor and be loved.
I don't want them to feel like,feel like they have to, that
they have to show up whole andalready clean.
(34:31):
So the spirit of religion willoften say, look at me, where the
spirit of God, whenever we're ina spirit of relationship, will
say, look at him, right?
My wife told me after I got myjob at the bank, she said to me,
Um, you're the only person thatI know that can walk into an
industry you have never workedin before, find favor, and get a
promotion in the first fiveweeks.
(34:51):
Right?
And I'm like, that's a goodpoint.
But that is because I neverpoint to me, I always point to
him.
When somebody says, I can'tbelieve you can do that, I said,
I can't.
I have never been able to dothat, but God has always given
me the understanding, right?
Now that sounds silly to some ofus because, like, listen,
today's we're we're gonnacelebrate pastors today.
Do you know how hard it is forlike me to accept appreciation?
(35:14):
I hate that, right?
I don't want anybody talkinggood about me.
I don't want anybody like youcan talk bad about me all you
want, whatever.
But whenever you say nice thingsto me, I don't know what to do
with it, right?
Like, are you that way, Steph?
Is that why you're shaking yourhead?
Yeah, it's we're wired the sameway a lot, right?
Like we're practically the sameperson, Stephanie and I are.
Like, we don't want hugs, wedon't want, and a lot of that
(35:35):
comes from just not knowing likewhat do I do with my hands,
right?
You come up and you say, Hey,high five, good job, Pastor
Michael.
My answer is always the same.
That wasn't me, that was theHoly Spirit, right?
That's what I say because Idon't.
Thank you.
Doesn't seem appropriate becauseit wasn't me.
So I'm always leaning back, I'malways pointing back to Jesus.
(35:57):
The Pharisees love to pray outloud in the streets, but that
was because they wanted to beseen by man, amen.
They wanted man to see them sothat they could appear righteous
and holy.
Amen.
I bet so many of us, so many ofus pray to ourselves through the
day, and we never pray inpublic.
(36:18):
We don't pray for people.
Listen, one of the things thatwe haven't had here for a little
while, and Pastor Holly and Ihave been praying about this and
talking about this, you don'tsee a lot of ministry time
happening in our building rightnow, right?
And some people are like, well,that's weird, why did that stop?
We don't know, but we allow thespirit to move and tell us when
that is appropriate, right?
(36:39):
Because if we force it, allwe're doing is operating in our
own flesh.
We're not allowing the spirit.
So if you come up to me rightnow and you say, Listen, this is
why I don't I don't lay hands onyou guys, it's the truth.
That is not my gifting, and sothen I get in my head and I'm
thinking about all the rightthings to say to you, and all of
(37:00):
the right things to pray about,and all of the right things that
that God would have me say, andthen the next thing I know, I'm
praying that your waffle makerworks again.
Right?
Like, what?
It's just not what I'm good at,it's not what God has gifted me
with.
I'm a problem solver by nature,that's what God has gifted me
with.
That's why I have somebody sostrong like Pastor Holly that'll
lay you out on the floor andknow what know what God wants
(37:22):
for you before you knew what Godwanted for you, right?
That's a gifting.
That is the beauty of what we doin this building, right?
The problem is, is oftentimespeople become offended because
I'm not praying.
I pray for you every day.
Each and every one of you, but Idon't do it in public because
it's not what I'm good at,right?
I pray for you behind closeddoors.
(37:43):
My ride to work is nothing butprayers for you.
Now, I'm not gonna lie, I misssome of you sometimes, and I try
to get through the list, and I'mlike, and then I'll just say,
Lord, if I missed anybody, touchtheir hearts today and let them
know I'm thinking about them.
Just allow them to know that Iam I am praying for them and
Lord that I just wish that youwould move mightily in their
lives.
And I don't know if any of youhave ever felt that.
(38:03):
I hope that you have, because Ibelieve that when I say that to
God, God says, You got it,right?
You got it, dude.
Some of us.
Some of us.
The Holy Spirit will draw usinto that secret place of
prayer.
Amen.
We talk about that prayercloset.
We talk about that secret placeof prayer.
(38:24):
Whenever I begin to pray, Idon't need to pray in public.
I don't need to be out on thestreets praying for people.
And I'm not saying there'sanything wrong with it.
I'm saying that when I do it, Iam doing it so that God will
hear my prayers and that mandoesn't need to hear those
prayers, right?
And listen, when I go to when Igo to my private place of
prayer, I pray for myself justas much.
(38:45):
Lord, whatever it is that'shappening in my life, Lord,
whatever it is that's going onthat is not of you, take it away
today.
That is a big bold prayer topray.
Because then when God takes itaway and you're like, why am I
not doing that anymore?
It's because you asked him totake it away, right?
And you ask for things like,Lord, take away my worry.
Lord, the anxiety that I feeltoday, take it away.
(39:06):
And then all of a sudden you'reremoved from friend groups, or
all of a sudden you're removedfrom relationships, or you're
removed from a job or a positionor whatever, and you can't
figure out why.
It's because you asked God toremove those things from you,
and little did you know that'swhat was creating those things,
right?
So my last day out of the hotelwas technically just a couple of
(39:29):
weeks ago because they gave me aseverance package, right?
So it was just a couple of weeksago.
And um, I'm gonna be honest withyou, my heart was still very
bitter towards that situationand just trying to figure out
why it happened and whatnot.
And I said to myself one night,I said, you know what?
One of the things that we alwaysdid as a celebration when
somebody retired or left afterthey had been there for a long
time, there was always a poemwritten about that person.
(39:51):
And I said to myself, they werealways funny and lighthearted
and whatever.
And I said to myself, I'm gonnasit down and I'm gonna write one
and I'm gonna email it to themon my final day.
Because there's a part of thattradition that I will miss
desperately.
Amen.
And when I sat down and startedworking on that, it was all I
needed to release thathard-heartedness towards that
(40:12):
situation, right?
So God had given me a creativeway to step out of that hurt and
that anger and that frustration.
It was the strangest thing I'veever done in my life.
I sent it and immediately I geta response that they thought it
was funny.
I only sent it to one owner.
And a couple of hours later, Iget a second response from one
of the other owners that wasjust absolutely shocked that I
(40:35):
first of all sent it and did it,and that it was incredibly funny
because there were a lot ofinside jokes, right?
In seven years of being employedthere, we had a lot of inside
jokes.
And so we were able to, I wasable to mend and heal through
something creative that God hadset me to do.
I didn't have to be bitter, Ididn't have to hold on to that
frustration.
Now, I'm not saying that if Isaw them in public, my heart
(40:56):
wouldn't sink, right?
Because I still think that thereis some of that that that rests
inside of me, but I know thatGod would not want me to live
that way because if I continueto operate in that spirit of
religion where you are goodChristian people, how could you
do that to somebody?
Because that is a spirit ofreligion, right?
As a Christian, you're blamingChristians for doing things that
(41:16):
are not great, but here you arefalling short of the glory of
God.
Amen.
I know that God is always goingto show up and fix those things.
He is going to build bridges andnot walls.
Amen.
Amen.
Walls, easy to build, right?
You put them up, reinforced.
Nobody's knocking these bad boysdown, but I will tell you that a
(41:38):
spirit of relationship willalways build bridges.
Anytime that spirit, a spirittells you that you are not
worthy, that you know, why areyou doing that?
They don't even appreciate that.
That is a spirit of religion.
A spirit of relationship willalways build bridges.
They will tell you, you arealways welcome here.
Come to the table, join us,fellowship with us.
(42:00):
Religion separates, but thespirit unites.
Religion builds denominations,but spirit builds disciples.
Write that one down, right?
Religion will build adenomination because you have
rules that you have to follow,things that you have to do,
right?
But when you're in relationshipwith Christ, that's not how that
(42:21):
works.
Christ never called us to be ina building every week, he called
us to be the body.
We come here to get refilled sothat we can go out and pour into
the world.
Amen.
The Spirit will build disciples.
John 4, 23 and 24.
It says, But the time is coming,indeed, it's here now when true
(42:43):
worshipers will worship theFather in spirit and in truth.
Can I tell you that it is ourresponsibility?
Because I want to read thatagain.
It says, indeed, it's here now.
Right?
Heaven here, heaven now.
Right?
That means that it is ourresponsibility to invite the
(43:04):
kingdom of heaven into thisplace.
Somebody smells good.
What was that?
Is that you?
You smell like chili?
Is that it?
This dale.
I just got a whiff of it,whatever it was.
What?
Oh, it's hand sanitizer.
That's exactly what it was.
I drank that stuff.
It smells so good.
Love it.
(43:24):
But I'm sorry, I got off track.
I gotta go back to my notes.
Who?
Oh, it is our responsibility tobring heaven here now, right?
Listen, we can get into heavenwhenever we decide to go home,
whenever Jesus decides to takeus, or we can live in that place
today, right?
We can invite heaven here byworshiping in spirit and in
(43:47):
truth, by living in relationshipwith Christ and behaving
Christ-like.
See, we will not invite heavenhere if we operate in a spirit
of religion, right?
That's not how it's gonna workbecause the Holy Spirit is going
to reject all of those things.
See, it is not performance androutine, it is not ritual and
repent repentance.
(44:08):
It is about truth and genuinerepentance.
Amen.
It's not just ritual.
You can't come up here when weopen the altar just to say, I
went to the altar.
When you come to the altar, ithas to be that place of
exchange.
You have to lay it down forJesus.
You have to lay it at the footof the cross and pick up
whatever it is that God wouldhave you know in your life.
(44:29):
Hallelujah.
What time is it?
I gotta, I gotta hurry outbecause we're gonna be, nobody's
gonna get to eat if I don'tfinish up.
Whoo! There's a bug.
It's time that we start to teardown that altar of religion and
build an altar of relationship.
(44:49):
Amen.
As Christians, we have got tostop expecting other Christians
to be perfect.
We can't look at them and say,Well, don't you go to church?
Right?
Because each and every one of uswill fall short of the glory of
God every single day.
Iron sharpens iron.
It is our responsibility to holdpeople accountable.
(45:10):
But when you say to somebody inprivate, hey, I heard you do
that.
And I'm not sure if that's theif that's the person that I
know.
You know, Doug, I heard you saythat the other day, and I don't
know if that's the Doug that Iknow.
Right, Mel?
I don't think that that was a agodly thing to say.
(45:32):
I don't think that the spirit ofthe living God would want you to
talk that way about somebody orsay that thing about somebody.
Amen.
There's a difference betweencondemnation and correction in
love.
Amen.
And we just have to learn how todo it.
(45:53):
It is our responsibility as thechurch to continue to support
one another, but we support oneanother in love, not in
condemnation.
We support one another throughconviction, right?
Of the spirit, not condemnationof the flesh.
Amen.
Church, today it's about us, notabout the sinner.
Okay?
It's not about the atheists,it's not about all of the people
(46:15):
who are living outside of thebuilding.
It's about those of us who comein here every single week and
forget what it is to live intrue relationship with Christ
because we are so wrapped up inall of the laws and all of the
rules.
Amen.
Let's pray together.
Father, I thank you and I praiseyou for a move of the Spirit in
this house today.
Lord, I am praying for repentanthearts as we're sitting in our
(46:36):
seats and this prayer is beingprayed.
Father, I pray that you're justgiving them guidance and
direction.
Father, that they're examiningthemselves and finding all of
the things that are nothappening the way that they
should be happening in theirlife.
And Lord, that you are givingthem direction.
Father, that you are bringingconviction into their lives,
Father, and that they understandthat it is not condemnation,
(46:56):
that you are not rejecting them,Father, but that you are calling
them to greater in the mightyname of Jesus.
Father, that you are continuingto lift them up.
You believe in them, Father, andyou know that through the blood
of Jesus Christ, that they areredeemed, that they are set
apart from the flesh of thisworld.
Father, we are not seeking gloryfor ourselves, but glory for the
(47:21):
kingdom of God.
Father, we are desiring a moveof the Spirit so great that when
it happens, the world cannotreject it as coincidence.
We know that every knee shallbow at the mighty name of Jesus.
And Father, I pray that when youreturn, every person in this
(47:46):
room knows your voice.
Father, I thank you and I praiseyou for continuing to guide us
and direct us.
Father, for all of the wonderfulthings that you do.
We give you praise, honor, andglory in the mighty name of
Jesus.
And the church says, Amen.
(48:07):
Love you guys.
We'll see you across the hall.
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