Greetings from Galatians - Part 3

What can we learn from Paul's letter to the Galatians?

On this episode, Pastor Jon shares more from Galatians 2. Here, Paul talks of a time where Peter was a bit hypocritical. Paul reminds us that Christ's blood is enough for us all.

We pray this message encourages your faith, deepens your prayer life, and helps you gain a greater vision for life in Christ. Share this episode with someone who wants to grow deeper in God’s Word.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

We're gonna be in verse 11. Uh, before we do that, how many of y'all ever um ever start watching a TV series and you're like halfway through and you don't know anything about what's going on? You're like, I wish somebody would stop and explain to me why they're mad at this person, why they're friends with this person, like what is even happening in uh that's called context. That's called need to know a little bit about what's going on, and you're not gonna get the full story unless you get the context. Uh, like if you y'all ever show up someplace, like we live in a can I just get on my soapbox for a little bit? One of my big frustrations with our culture today is that we live in a clip happy society. And what a clip happy society does is we cut the clips and then we leave out the context, and so everyone's assuming that there's like, can I tell you, we all need the context, not just with the clips of our society, but we need the context of what's going on in God's word to get everything out of God's word. Amen. So Galatians is this interesting book. Uh, the apostle Paul is writing uh to us this church in uh Asia Minor, I believe it would be the term. Uh, and he's writing them back because they've been having this uh this issue where they've they they get saved when Paul comes in, they give their lives to Jesus, they start following Jesus, and then these people from this thing called the circumcision party uh or the Judaizers come in and they go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Before you can live your life, before you can follow Jesus, before you can be faithful to him, before you can receive the whole, before you can do all those things, before you do that, you gotta become Jews first. So you gotta follow all these laws, you gotta wash your hands in this way, you gotta follow this ceremony in this way, you gotta, you gotta, y'all, you gotta stop eating bacon. You gotta stop eating shellfish. Y'all get you gotta stop eating crab. Like, yeah, some of y'all are waiting for the crab boil, the July 4th weekend. You can't do none of that. Like, you gotta stop doing all these things. And uh, I want to give a little bit of emotional context because if we're not careful, we'll go in as we'll walk around and go, man, like these were really like difficult people. Why were they so? Can I tell you the reason why they were so um they were so involved with those laws was because those laws weren't just laws that they made up, there were some of them what they did make up, but those were revelation that God gave them about who he was calling them to be. And for hundreds of years, God had come in and said, The I'm calling you to be a people like myself, I'm calling you to be my own people, and these laws had come in to be laws that would set them apart, that would say, These are God's people. Uh, and and uh when Jesus comes in, Jesus breaks down those walls of division. For hundreds of years, I want you to imagine, uh, for hundreds of years they'd had the Philistines had taken them over, the Amalekites had attacked them, the Persians had displaced them, the Babylonians had taken them over, and now they're sitting in the middle of this Roman Empire that's saying, uh, and it's trying to take over their culture, and they're looking back and they're saying, John, well, not John, they're saying Paul, Paul, Paul. Well, there was a John back in the Bible, so that's why. But they're saying these are the this is our culture. And you're you're y'all, y'all ever like go to church. Some of y'all are church people, some of y'all are not church people. Y'all ever be at church and then a whole bunch of new people show up and you're like, listen, I don't know about where you came from, but at this church, this is how we do things. And that's a little bit of an extreme version of what's happening. They're going, hey, hey, all you Gentiles that are getting saved, now that you're in our house, you're gonna do things our way. And Jesus is saying through the apostle Paul, he is not starting a new branch of Israel, he's doing something new called the ecclesia, the gathering of the saints, the people who believe and follow in the way of Jesus. And in the word, Jesus says he has taken away the division between the Jews and the Gentiles, between the slave and the free, between male and female. God has taken away that division by Jesus. And so, as Paul is writing to these Galatians, pleading them, don't let go of the freedom you have in Jesus to take on the bondage of the law. He continues in Galatians chapter 2, verse 11. Everybody ready? Okay, it says this. But when Cephas, that's another name for Peter or Simon Peter, came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face. Can we say drama for a second? Like that is just um, you gotta, again, spiritual and emotional context. Peter's the guy that's been walking around with Jesus for three years. He's the chief apostle, he's the leader, one of the leaders of the church, if not the leader of the church. Paul is the guy that was killing Christians until he got saved. And Paul gets in Peter's face and goes, bro, what you doing? If I was Peter, I would have punched Paul. I've been like, my resume is way better than your resume. Don't you know the thing? I I walked on water. When have you ever walked on water? But that's not what happens. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing, somebody say fear, fearing the circumcision party, and the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw their conduct, was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas, before them all, if you, though a Jew, like live like a Gentile and not live like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? Uh, for this next few minutes on this wonderful Father's Day, I want to talk to you from this subject called What Matters Most. What matters most? Let's pray together. Our Father, who is in heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us, Jesus, not into temptation, but would you deliver us from the evil one? For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Amen and amen. A couple weeks ago, I posted this reel. Uh, I was feeling inspired, and I put out this thing all about uh changing your mind, how important it was to change your mind. That it we live in a culture where it's really difficult to change your mind because people feel like if you change your mind, you've changed sides and all this stuff. And uh, I was trying to be funny and cute, and at the end of it, I posted this one sentence that I figure people would laugh at and kind of leave alone. But uh, I posted this thing, I said, uh, and by the way, pineapple does belong on pizza. And y'all, thank you. Amen. Yes, there are some people who are safe, sanctified, and set free in the house of God. And and and y'all, yeah, like we believe in unity as a as a church, but there was somebody stirring up rebellion in the comment section, coming in and going, Pastor, I don't know, you've been right about a lot of things, but I don't know if I can submit to your leadership after you said this. And this person, man, Cluga in the comment section, he was posting AI-generated pictures of pizza on pineapple. And y'all, I was trying to make this really beautiful point about how we need to change our minds. The whole comment section was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll talk about that later. We believe pineapple belongs on pizza. And then other people be like, no, no, no, no, no. Pineapple definitely does not belong on pizza. People would text me and go, Pastor, I'm not gonna put it in the comment section, but I just want you to know I'm with you, Pastor. Other people were like, Pastor, I just want you to know why you're wasting pineapple on pizza when you could be putting bacon on pizza. I was like, you ain't right about like you're right, you're right, you're right. Can I tell you what what is happening here is not just a dietary issue. It's not a dietary conflict, it's not about whether or not Peter can eat bacon, Peter can eat ham, Peter can eat barbecue, Peter, man, Lord Jesus, I'm hungry already. Praise God. See, the issue is that there was a barrier that was created by the law, the barrier that was created, a distance, not just between us and other people, the barrier was until you fulfill these things, you can't get close to Jesus. But how many of you remember that we follow a God that has broken apart every barrier? We follow a God that hasn't put together another wall between us and him. By the power of his blood, by the power of his death, by the power of his burial, by the power of his resurrection. We don't have to do all these things to get to God. And Peter is sitting with the Judaizers as they show up. Uh, here's a here's you know, how scared would you have to be of people that it could talk you into giving up bacon? That's how scared Peter is. Peter's like, I'm not gonna hang out with these people that like he's looking at the new church, the Gentiles that are doing their thing, and he goes, I'm just gonna be back here and kind of do my thing and kind of hang out, and I'm gonna be with my people, and we're gonna do our thing, and uh, we're gonna worship the way we worship. And the issue for that was uh not just in verse 12, but in verse 13, it says this, and the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him. So everybody's looking at Peter, who's a leader in the church doing all these things, and they go, bro, if he's a leader and he's saying you gotta do these things, I guess I gotta do these things. If he's a leader and saying, I can't eat bacon, I guess I can't eat bacon. Lord Jesus, I don't know if I could go to that church. If he's a leader and he's saying you gotta perform all these ceremonies, if he's a leader and he's saying, Hey, as a man, before you give your life to Jesus, you gotta get circumcised. I guess I got to. And the truth is that God did not create us to live in that environment. But how many of y'all know that whenever we get around other people, there comes a little bit of peer pressure. There comes a little bit of, I better act this way, I better sound this way, I better say this, I better comment in this direction. Uh, and here's what I know when when pressure comes, we go to what's easy. That's what's happening to Peter right now. Peter experiences this fear of man, Peter experiences this cultural pressure, Peter experiences people's opinions, and he goes, Instead of me speaking the truth, instead of me doing what's right, I'm just gonna do what's easy. I'm gonna go back to my side of the table. And how many of you know God hasn't called us to live in a spirit of fear? God hasn't called us to look at our faith and go, other people are gonna decide how I live my faith. Can I tell you you need to be in a place where you decide God is gonna decide how I live my faith? See, I want to encourage us in this uh that pressure will come to you. And pressure doesn't just come from anywhere, pressure comes from a place of fear. Somebody say fear. You know what fear is? Fear is what are they gonna think about me? Fear is what are they gonna say about me? Fear is what are they gonna post about me? Fear is what can I tell you? You can live in other people's brains of how they're gonna think about you, or you can make a decision to follow God, to be faithful to his word, to be chasing after his presence, to let him change change your heart. Can I tell you there will always be people in the comment section, there will always be people in the critics' zone, there will always be people talking about the change that you're making, saying it's never gonna last, they're never gonna change, they're never gonna make it, or you can make a decision to say, no matter what comes, no matter who comes, I'm gonna stay faithful to the God who saved me. See, Peter should have known this more than anybody because Peter was the original apostle that God gave the revelation to that the that the the Christian movement, the the the Jesus religion was not just coming for the Jews, it was coming for the Gentiles. See, God gave that original revelation to Peter. So if anybody should have known, it should have been Peter. Can I take a second and say, uh I love the Bible because the Bible doesn't just, the Bible is not a highlight reel, the Bible is an honest account of what happened to these guys. You know why I'm grateful for that? It tells me that on the days when I mess up, on the days when I'm weak, on the days when I don't have it put together, on the days when I make mistakes, there's still a place for me in God's story. There's still a place for you in God's story. Some of us feel like our mistakes disqualify us. I want to encourage you that they don't. See, Paul says this elsewhere in Ephesians chapter 2 and 14. He says, for he himself, he's talking about Jesus. Jesus is our peace. Somebody say peace. Who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility? See, the issue wasn't just, it's not just bacon or ham or barbecue. The issue was, where's the line about following Jesus? The issue was, what do I have to do to get to God? And Peter was walking in a way that said, hey, before you get here, here's here was the issue. Peter as a leader was was implying, hey, y'all wait a minute before you say yes to Jesus. How many of you know that sometimes in the church we can make lists for people and we're saying, This is your list before you can say yes to Jesus? Hey, you got a uh one of the ministries that we partner with is called Hits, Hope in the Streets. And they do a lot of street evangelism ministry to uh people that are struggling with finances, people that are struggling with addiction. They also do with uh ministry to some people that are uh homeless. How many of y'all think it'd be weird if they went to a homeless person and go, hey, before you can give your life to Jesus, we need you to go shower first. Some of y'all would be like, that is crazy. Like, no, no, like let them give their lives to Jesus. But what they would never do physically, sometimes we do spiritually. Hey, go clean yourself up and you with your emotional baggage, go clean yourself up of your broken past, go clean yourself up of your addiction, go clean yourself up of that mental health issue. Go once you clean yourself up, then you can come back to Jesus. But how many are grateful that we have a God who washes us by the power of his blood and makes us white as snow? Uh Jesus made, divided, broke down the wall of hostility. Uh and I I I love that. I want to encourage us to recognize that. Uh here, why, John, why does this matter? I I want us to learn from from Paul, who spoke directly from Peter, to directly to Peter, but I also want us to learn from about Peter and recognize something about ourselves. Uh, this past week we had our youth night, it was a great, great time. Uh, but Catherine spoke a really amazing word about the importance of who you're following. And how many of y'all, if you could have parents, be honest, if you could have control of every one of your kids' friends and who they would be, how many of y'all would be like, where's that button? I'm signing up for that membership. Like, if you're like, I can pick all their friends, everybody they're following on Instagram, everyone like you're like, I feel like that'd be a little control freak, but let's be honest, like, I I'll be signing up for that right now. I'd be like, I want my kids are uh we talked about who they're following, but sometimes we talk so much about who we are following that we don't talk enough about who is following us. And there's gotta be a recognition in all of our souls. How many of you know there are people that are following you? Like John, I'm not I'm not a leader, like I'm not, I don't have a microphone, I'm not running for political office, I'm not in the military. Like, I ain't nobody following me. Can I tell you today? Uh if you got co-workers, they're following you. No, no, no, those guys are crazy. Yeah, but you might be the only Christian they know. And so when the jobs change is happening, when there's gossip, when you're the one that goes, I'm not gonna gossip even though everybody else gossips, I'm not gonna cuss them out, even though everybody else cusses them out, I'm gonna pray before my meal, I'm gonna do they're looking at you, and you may feel like what you're doing is nothing, but they're looking at you going, there's a hope inside of them that I need, there's a healing inside their soul that I need, there's a power inside of them that I need. How many of you know it's not just your co-workers, it's your family, y'all. Some of y'all are like, that for sure is not true. Because I got kids, and them jokers are not listening to me. But they may not be listening to every direction you give, but how many of you realize they're watching everything you do? Man, and there's I don't want this to come off like a judgy judgy, you all better act right. I want to inspire you to think, man, they may not always be listening to every word that comes out of my mouth, but if I remain faithful to Jesus, if I follow in the way of Christ, there's something about my example that is gonna be a seed in their soul to change their direction. Some of us are gonna start seeing family members at cookouts and barbecues, and I want to tell you if you will just stay faithful to Jesus and who you are and how you walk and how you love and how you speak, that alone will be a miracle for them, and they'll see in you a love that they need. We need to recognize that Jesus shows up when we lead our coworkers. Jesus shows up when we lead our family. Jesus shows up even when how we lead in the church together. Some of us are going, John, I'm I'm not leading nobody. Can I tell you if you've been here for if this is your second Sunday, you know more about this church than somebody else that this is their first Sunday. If you've been here six months, you know more about them than somebody that's been here three months. If you've been following Jesus for a decade, and and there's something, the reason why we come together is twofold. One uh is so that we can be encouraged by the faith we have with each other. But the other part is so that we can share the testimony of how we've walked through the valley together. See, some of us need to look around and go, John, we're not doing much. And I want to tell you, you have a marriage that's been restored to Jesus, and you think that's not a big deal, but the couple two seats down from you, they're struggling and they think they're not gonna make it another Sunday. And just by you walking into church, you will be an example of what God can do. Some of you are single, you're trying to figure out how to date and how to do those things. And just you being single to God and your being faithful to God in your singleness is an example, not just to other singles in our church, but even to some of the students in our church that need to calm down. Uh, one of the saddest stories I ever saw in church uh was at a youth event I was at, um, this was a long, long time ago. This kid's probably got kids of his own now, but I walked into the back of an auditorium. It was a youth event. Uh, there's a bunch of teenagers, and um, there were teenagers up front worshiping God, going after it, and uh lifting their hands. And uh, how many of y'all believe that someday we're gonna see even an auditorium like this with our students from our community worshiping God, going after his presence together? And uh and I walked in and there was a row of students in the very, very back, and it was a bunch of teenage boys, and um, there was one of them who was especially younger than the rest. It was it was five of them, and worship was going on, and I saw this young man, uh, and he was looking above the crowd at the at the stage, and you could tell that like he started doing one of these, like bouncing around a little bit and like looking around, and uh and I could tell what he was doing because as the music was progressing, he put his hands out of his pocket. Uh and I could tell that the Lord was doing something in his life, and he started like lifting his hands as if he was gonna go to worship. Like he was gonna start lifting his hands to the Lord. He was gonna uh and I I it was the saddest thing I saw because as as his hands were starting to lift up and he started engaging, right as his hands got to the halfway point, he did one of these and looked down at all his friends. And all his friends were sitting there with their hands in their pockets and kind of like not really super engaged, and and it was the saddest thing because this young man who was about to have this encounter with Jesus looks at his friends, oh, and sticks his hand back in his pocket. Oh, it's I guess it's not cool for me to do that. Can I tell you, some of you, your faithful following of Jesus, is not just an encouragement for your co-workers, not just an encouragement for your family. Some of you, by your praise, by your worship, by your obedience, will give somebody else permission to go a little further with God, to pray prayers they've never prayed before, to sing songs like they've never sung, to worship in a way. Can I tell you, you will be somebody's permission to get their breakthrough with God, to get their healing with God, to get their hope with God, to get their transformation with God, because they'll look at you and say, God, if my worship could look like that, if they can do it, maybe I can do it. If they can pray, maybe I can pray. If they can sing, maybe I can sing. If they can serve, maybe I can serve. If they can be free of their addiction, maybe I can be free of my addiction. If they can walk in broken, hurting, and walk out whole, maybe I can walk in broken and hurting and walk out whole. And Peter isn't really paying attention to the example that he's giving, and that's the thing that us that Paul calls him out on. Because we're not supposed to just be an example to our co-workers or our family or just the church, but we're also to be an example to our community. See, here's what I love about this passage. Peter calls him out to his face because Peter knows there are people watching that you will make it harder to connect to Jesus, and so we got to get this right. This ain't about just bacon, this is about eternity with Jesus. See, here's what I want to tell you today. And this was true of Peter, and I wish he would have known it. You may be the only Bible that some people ever read. We used to talk about this back in the day. We used to call it my witness, my testimony. My and I here's what I don't want your witnesses to be as your pastor. I don't want you to walk around pretending like you have it going on when you don't have it going on. This isn't about let's put on more Christianese and let's pretend. Can I tell you the witness of the believer is not, I've I've got it all figured out. It's when I when I mess up, I know exactly who to go to. When I'm broken down, I know exactly who's gonna fix me up. When I'm hurting, I know exactly who's gonna heal me. You know what the difference is between religion and the gospel? Religion says this I'm in trouble, I better never tell my dad. I hope he never knows, I hope he never finds out. I hope nobody tells him. The religion says, prove yourself before you come in. The gospel says, I'm in trouble, I'm hurting, I'm broken, I better tell my dad, I better run to the Father, I better walk into his presence, I better lean on his hope. That's what the gospel does. The gospel and Peter was without being aware of it, he was conveying this message as don't tell dad. And Paul gets in his face and says, You need to let them tell dad they don't have it going on. You need to let them tell the father that they're broken. Now, before you do what I'm personally a little afraid of, and I know God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, so y'all pray for me. I'm a work in progress too. Um, because I don't want us to go out and go like, let me get in the comment section and just start calling people out. I want to do a little bit of education for us as believers about some things that I think um because how many of y'all recognize that in this day and age, Christians fight about everything? Everything. And some things we should be fighting about. But I'll say this if we ever get to the point where we're fighting with people that we should be fighting for, I think we've missed the heart of God. What are some things? I want to give us some quick basic theology before I wrap up the sermon. I've been teaching up to this point. I'm gonna preach in a little bit. Uh some things when we approach the gospel are core. Somebody say core. Core means it's central to the gospel of Jesus. Core is all about Jesus. We serve the triune God of the Bible. He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Core is we are following the Holy Bible. That is our book that we are. Core is uh my I'm saved not because of what I do or because of who I know or because of how I give or what I'm saved because I've put my faith and trust in Jesus. I'm saved by faith through grace alone. Can I tell you those things are core? And here's why I want to be careful about that. There are a lot of groups nowadays that are slapping Jesus on their theology, but they don't believe anything in our core. There are some groups that are walking in saying, Hey, we got Jesus in our name, but they don't have Jesus in their hearts. And I want to encourage us to really make sure that we have the core of who we are as believers, that we are identifying this is who we are, that we are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus alone. He is the way, the truth, and life. Those are the core things. And out of the core, we get these things called commandments. Somebody say commandments. Because we follow Jesus, there are things that Jesus commands us to do. How many of y'all know murder was wrong 2,000 years ago? Some of y'all are like, I'm not so sure about that. It was wrong 2,000 years ago. Murder was wrong when? A thousand years ago. How many of y'all know murder is still wrong today? If I follow God and I see that there's value, can I tell you murder is still wrong? How many of y'all know uh stealing was wrong 2,000 years ago? Stealing is wrong a thousand years ago? Stealing is wrong today. How many of y'all know lying was wrong 2,000 years ago? Will somebody please tell my children that lying was wrong? They're in this stage right now, they're super cute, where they're like, mommy told me, and I'm like, your mom isn't even home for you to ask her. We have the core, we have the commandments. I want to talk about this and these links too. Uh you also have your biblical context. Somebody say context. Romans 14 and 15 says this if your brother is being hurt by what you eat, your conduct is no longer in accord with love. Do not, because of your food, destroy him for whom Christ died. What is what's this passage saying? This passage is saying there are some things you gotta be aware of. You gotta you gotta recognize who's around you and what they can't handle. You gotta recognize, like, hey, I'm not doing this just to pretend for everybody, but Peter needed to be aware of his context. There's people trying to figure out who Jesus is, and Peter needed to act right. Can I tell you? We need to remember that we have a context. We have people that are looking, and we need to be aware of that. And then the last one is this conviction. Romans 14, 5 and 6 says this one person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one, somebody say each one, should be fully convinced in his own mind. There are some things that aren't about context, there are some things that are about your life and Jesus. What's a conviction? A conviction is a place that isn't necessarily a commandment for all believers, but it's something that God may be asking you to do to change you for the sake of you, your family, your legacy, your future. Can I give you an example? Sometimes God might put it on you to go, hey, I know all your friends can watch NFL, but you can't watch the NFL anymore. Some of y'all are like, Pastor, I rebuke that word from the Lord. That is the word from the enemy. There is no way God would ever speak that to me. And through you, and for you, by that conviction that would change you. Some of us, uh, there's a season of my life where the Lord gave me a call, I would say, and uh for a period of 13 months I gave up uh secular music. So if you for those of you that are new to church, secular music is essentially anything that's not Christian music. So, like your favorite country album, gone. Your favorite rap album, gone. Your favorite hip hop album? Gone. Your favorite uh your Hamilton soundtrack? Gone. Like your Disney musical that you love so much? Gone. Now, I didn't here's what here's the here's the power of a conviction. I didn't walk around going, Debbie, the Lord told me only only Christian music for 13 months. Why are you listening to the Lion King soundtrack? Because God didn't give Debbie that conviction, God gave me that conviction so that I could focus. And when I look back that period of 13 months, can I tell you sometimes it's not about we're so busy talking about what we give up, we don't realize what we get. Man, I gotta I gotta fast, Pastor. Like, okay, that's so sad. I'm so sad about fasting. You get the full presence and attention of the heavenly host, of the father, spirit, and son, eagerly waiting to hear your prayers. But I can't have hamburgers. Hamburgers be good though. I'm not gonna lie to that. See, Peter was so focused on the do-nots that he lost sight of the get-to's. You get to step into the presence of God, you get to walk in healing and wholeness, you get to live out his hope and his purpose for your life, you get to walk in every single day, knowing, man, I really hope I have a good day, but I'm so grateful that I know if I have the worst day, if I mess up, screw up, fall down. I have a God who is faithful because my salvation isn't on my works, my salvation is his works. I'm not giving you permission to sin, I'm giving you permission to repent of your sin that you're looking at your life and going, it's not about where I've been or what I've done, it's about the one who's in front of me, the one I'm chasing. His name is Jesus. He's got hope for me. Here's how I want to close out the sermon today. Uh, some of this is it's Father's Day. Uh we've been in this series and we design it to really be a little more teachy. Um because how many of y'all know sometimes we need vegetables in our diet? Everybody's going, no, we don't pastor. Like that's y'all are like, we don't know what vegetables, we don't want ice cream and candy. Can I tell y'all? Um here's the here's the vegetable, here's the core of this message. God saved you so that He can use you to help somebody else get saved. And if you're not careful, the prices you paid, you'll make them hurdles for the other person to get saved. And can I tell you, last time I checked, salvation was freely given to me. So as a Christian, I don't get to walk around and go and oh bro, you've been messing up for 20 years. Too late for you. You're gonna have to do a lot of good stuff. I don't get to do that. I get to walk in and go, freely I've received, freely He gives. Receive His salvation. Hey, I want to give you this last encouragement. Would you stand to your feet? I want to give you this encouragement. I want to be very clear how I say this. I don't want you to walk out of today's message with a mindset of, okay, people are watching, so I need to start pretending. That's not the message. The message is even when people are watching, I need to be real. See, the issue with the Paul and Peter thing is at that point the law was ineffective for their salvation. So this all this stuff was all about them pretending to be better, so I could look around and be like, Look how much better I am than these other people. And Paul points to them and says, No, like you freely received. Here's my encouragement for you: God has given you a seed, and you need to do two things with that seed. The seed of salvation, you need to let it grow in you. You need to get to a place where you walk around and go, I'm saved by grace. There needs to be a confidence that rises up in you where you go, I know I don't have to do a single more thing to get the love of God, to receive the hope of God, to walk in the peace of God. It's not about what offering, can I tell you when the pastor is telling you it's not about the offering you give, it's not about the service you give, it's not your salvation is from Jesus alone. And to live in such a way that you're going around going, dude, I used to be addicted, but Jesus set me free. I used to be lonely, but now God is always with me. I used to be broken, but he redeemed me. I used to be on my way, but he rescued me. That's the gospel. I tell you this every once in a while, I'm reminding you of it. The man on behind this pulpit holding this microphone is a sinner just like you. I'm not talking to you because I'm holier than you. I'm talking to you because God called me to this place. Here's my question for you. Who is God calling you to impact? And I'm not asking you to pretend. Don't walk into work tomorrow and be like, some sorry, I should have had you sit down before I went on my 17th point. This isn't a message, I just want to clarify super clear. This isn't a message about walking to work tomorrow with a three-piece suit, telling everybody about how they need to come to the house of God. This is a message about walking into work tomorrow and saying, Hey, what'd you do this weekend? Dude, I was struggling. It was tough. My kids were misbehaving. I was worried about my finances, but then I got in the presence of God and something shifted in the inside of me. I don't know how, I don't know how you make it without Jesus, but I'm just letting you know the same God who picked me up, he'll pick you up too. That's the gospel. The gospel is when our kids and our family members walk up to us and they go, Man, about this economy, man about this life, man about, and you just go, Man, I'm I don't know about you, but I need the peace of God. I'm dealing with the same problems, but I have the hope of God. I'm dealing with the same issues, but I have the presence of God on the inside of me. I know that as you step into that place, God is gonna change the deal. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna invite the prayer team to come to the front. And uh I'm gonna pray a prayer of blessing over you. We're gonna dismiss you. Uh, I want to give an invitation to two groups of people to come and receive prayer, and then we're gonna tear down. Um first group is this is if today's message, you need to ask the Lord, Lord, give me give me a revelation of what kind of impact you want to make through me. How do you want me to call? How do you want me to impact my co-workers, my feeling feeling merch? God, how do you want me to impact this church? Uh you need to come up and receive prayer that God will give you a fresh calling. And I also want to give permission for those of you who we prayed for you already, but if you're saying, man, this Father's Day is a tough day for me. If today's a great day and dad's with you, man, go to the photo booth, hang out, take pictures. But if you're saying this is a tough day, you might be like, no, I'm I'm supposed to pretend, I'm supposed to have it all together. I'm supposed to Can I tell y'all, ain't nobody in this entire place got it all together. We just all take turns at the altar in this church. So I want to invite you, if you have a need, I'm not forcing it to you, but if you have a need to even come up and receive some prayer today. Can I pray for you before you go enjoy the rest of your day? Uh Father, we love you. We thank you so much for today. I thank you, God, for the opportunity to speak to your people from your word. Father, I pray that you would comfort those who are hurting, that you would celebrate with those who are celebrating, God, that you would you would be our peace when we're going through times of trouble. Father, I pray that we would not pretend, but that we would be honest about our calling in you. That we are the redeemed of the Lord. We don't have it because of our resume, we have it because of your blood. So would you change us? Transform us renewed us. In Jesus' name, God save us that. Amen.