Sermon Transcript:
I Well, thank you.
I'm excited to be here. You know, when you're out of the pulpit for three weeks, you get rusty, so I hope I'm not rusty. This morning, I
was going to tell you thank you for those of you that didn't know I actually went to go do a funeral up in Arkansas for one of my good friends. And so thank you for your prayers. I know not everybody knew that, but that's why I wasn't here last week, and the week before that, Pastor Derek was one of the candidates that's for the pastoral candidates, preached on the on the 29th and but I watched online, and I felt like Pastor Joe did a great job. It was a good family service, and that was our, my intent to be here. And I got a text on Saturday morning, when I was in the airport in Dallas from the pastor that was going to preach in my place that was sick. And so I had to find another pastor. And so you guys got the experience, Pastor Joe. And then I also asked him, Can you preach on this text? Because that's what everybody was planning on that Deuteronomy chapter six, verses one through nine, text, and so he did, and I thought he did a great job. So you didn't miss me. You had wonderful replacement. So I don't know if you know this, but this is going to be the last sermon in Galatians. If you've been following along, Galatians chapter six, we're going to go through all 18 verses,
and this is called the restoration and grace gospel. Restoration and grace gospel, if you're not aware, but God is in the restoration business, right? He is. He's always restoring people, not because he wants to restore them, but he wants to restore them back to himself. He always is in the restoration business of gathering people back to himself, unless you're willing to be restored in a right relationship with God, you'll never really have peace in your life, because you're going to be trying to restore your own life, we have to rely on God. There's always going to be something missing in your life, emptiness, a shallow sense of being, feeling out of place. All of those things come into play. But listen, if you're here this morning and maybe 2025 with one of your resolutions was, I'm going to get active in church. I'm going to go to church. I'm going to try to listen to God's word as much as I can. God is calling you back into a restorative relationship with him. So lean in this morning and pay attention, and if you need to take notes.
I was a CPR instructor for a lot of years, and we did three things, because we know people learn in different ways. You had to take a test, you had to watch a video, and you actually had to do the reputation one and two. You know, you do it to the Saturday Night Fever beat.
Anyway, that's the way you do it. But we knew that people learn by listening, people learn by watching, and people learn by doing, and so we did all three so that they would be able to hang on to that, because who knew when they were ever going to have to use that.
The same thing can be said about the Word of God. You see, I get asked all the time as a pastor, how do I apply God's word to my word to my life? Pastor, how do I dig deep? A lot of the truths are simple. In the Word of God,
it's when it comes to the application part, we act like we don't know how to do it.
When Jesus said, confess with your mouth that I'm your Lord, that's how you do it. You actually speak it and say, Jesus is my God when He said, come to the cross. There's room you come to the cross when He does that's how we do it. That's what application means. So it's not a mystery on how you apply God's word to your life. He wants to restore you. This morning,
before we can restore we must be able to soar so we can seek more from God. See, and you have been looking for a rapper in the youth group, right? I keep trying to show you guys that I can do it.
There's no other gospel other than the Jesus Gospel. You see, claims are going to be made. It's this way or that way, or here or over there. Don't listen to those. It's only about Jesus and him alone. The true gospel is only available in Christ alone, period. Amen, there is no other gospel you see. Eternal life is the only guarantee that you have when you accept Christ in your life.
He doesn't even guarantee that you're going to have a great life. He doesn't guarantee that no more harm is going to happen in your family. There's no guarantees of that. All he says is, you're going to live with me in paradise. That's it.
You see, the Gospels are not work based. You can't work your way there. You have to place your faith in Christ and receive what he's given you. God's also in the grace business. Oh, but if it weren't for grace,
I just think about my life and I go, if God wasn't so graceful,
he would have put us out the pastor a long time ago. You know what I'm talking about. He's gives us so much grace. You.
It. Why are we reluctant to give grace away to other people? At times? What is it about? We want grace from God. We want restoration from God. But when it comes time to helping somebody else, they may have done something that you don't like, that you're not willing to Grace them. Why
you've been graced by God? So start gracing people. Find favor with those people and say, I forgive you, or don't even say that, because sometimes I go out and do anything to you. What do you? Forgive me, just Grace them and pray for them and love them and just love them with kindness. We call it killing them with kindness. You see, there's this thing of keeping a record of wrongs is not a biblical way of living your life. And I know it's difficult, Pastor, you don't know what they did to me. Oh, I know we all have those people in our lives. You're not alone. You see, there seems to be no room for grace, But praise be to God. He shows us how to do that first Peter five, five through six says this in the same way you, who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders, all of you, clothe yourselves with humility to warn toward one another, because God opposes the proud, but he shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore, therefore under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. That's what grace looks like, that you would humble yourself in His presence. See we are. We are in the work of the humility business. That's what we do as Christians. It's where Grace becomes reality in our lives and will become humble. Humble.
Would you stand with me as we read God's word? Galatians, chapter six, verses, one through 18.
It's great to see a good crowd this morning. I'm very proud of you for making it the church, but don't let this day go by without receiving God's Word into your heart and understanding what he wants for you this morning, brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in sin, you, who live by the Spirit, should restore that person gently, but watch yourselves, or you may also be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one of you should test their own actions, then they can take then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else. For each one of you should carry their own load. Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the world in the word, should share all good things with their instructor. Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction. Whoever sows to please the spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at a proper time, we will reap a harvest if we not, if we do not give up, therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong in the family of believers.
See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand, those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want to be circumcised that they may boast about your Circumcision in the flesh, may I never boast except at the cross of our Lord Jesus, Christ, through which the world has has been crucified. To me and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is the new creation, Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, to the Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body, the marks of Jesus, the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit, brothers and sisters, amen, Father, thank You for Your Word. We receive it this morning. In Your name, I pray amen. You may have a seat.
Just so you know, restoration is a serious thing. That's my first point, restoration is a serious thing. And verse one, Paul tells us, if someone is caught in sin, and it reads so much different than Romans, 323, where it says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, because we realize everybody is a sinner. But in this text, he said, if someone is caught in sin,
we understand, we can relate. We're all sinners, but to be caught in sin is not the same as everybody has sin. It's you doing sin on purpose, especially as a believer. Remember, he's speaking to the churches of an area of Galatia, including Life Church.
When we get caught in sin,
it is.
Indication that we can get out. You've been caught, but you have a way out. The one who's caught has been taken over by a sinful act, overwhelmed, ambushed, and those things can happen. It's easy. We who are spirit, spiritual is also it's a tricky statement when he says that in verse one, because it gives us the idea that we have the standard of spirituality, and we're walking but Paul wants three to be clear, who can restore someone else, who is available to restore someone else, those that are living by the Holy Spirit, those that walk in the Spirit, those who take God seriously, that understand in the restoration business, it's going to take all of us together, as we sang this morning in Unity. You see when it's placed in context, look at it now. We're going to read that
again, brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in sin, you, who live by the Spirit, should restore that person. How gently.
I've seen a lot of restoration, tried like this, brother, I'm
going to tell your wife what you're doing that's not gently or brother, you shouldn't be doing that. What you should be doing is saying, Hey, can I pray with you?
You see a lot of times we try to point out people's sin without actually correcting our own.
That hurts, doesn't it? You've heard the old when you point your finger, you have the other fingers pointing back at you. You see, we're easy to point out other people's faults, but we don't want to recognize our own faults. But Paul's trying to teach us something and say, Hey, listen, if we walk by the Spirit, then we're able to help restore somebody. Gently,
right. Calm down,
easy.
Galatians 522, 23 tells us what it means to live by the Spirit. It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. We know what it looks like. We're just afraid to put it into practice for some reason, if you're following those parameters, then you have the actual medicine. You have the pill. For those that are caught in sin, you have the love you have, the joy you have, the peace you have, the patience, you have the kindness. Gentleness is one of those. And Paul says this restore them gently. Nowhere else does it say you have to have perfected those virtues. It says that you live by them.
None of us are perfect. We fall.
You're in the process of working them out.
Make sure that you're right with God first.
Sometimes we don't have to say anything. We may not feel worthy to say something. If you stick with the Bible, you have something to say. It's so It's really that easy. Instead of trying to make up what you want to say to somebody to restore them, take them back to the Scripture and say, This is what Scripture teaches us about this area, and we can learn from that.
When we don't correct we're actually guilty of sinning ourselves.
So when we just let things pass by and we don't say anything about it. We're actually guilty of sinning ourselves. We've decided I'm not going to intervene in their sin, even though we may be walking by the Spirit. You see, James 417 says this, If anyone, that's me and you then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it. It is sin for them.
Now those are the ones that you go, ouch, Pastor,
I didn't write it. James Jesus's brother wrote it. He had a special relationship with Jesus. He didn't believe he was the Messiah growing up. And he wrote this text, and he says, Look, man, when we just glaze over that sin that's going on and we don't do something about it. Those that are walking with the spirit we are we are honestly sinning as ourselves by not correcting them. In verse one in our text, in Galatians six and the last part balls, Paul says that we should restore with caution, because helping the process of helping people we too can fall into sin.
How many times have you heard a counselor counseling with
maybe somebody of the opposite sex, which they shouldn't do as a pastor, a one on one? But it happens, and they actually fall into sin as they're trying to restore somebody, because they themselves haven't been prayed up, confessed up and walking in the Spirit. Because sometimes we as pastors think, well, we're doing great. I study the the Bible all the time. I'm prepared every Sunday. I'm always doing research, I'm always studying. I'm in school, I listen. You can do all those things and still not be walking by the Spirit. We must be careful. We must be careful. Verse two says to carry each other's burdens, meaning those in need of a help of restoration, help them. How do I help? You might ask pastor. Invite them to church. Is an easy way. You know that if you invite them to Life Church, they're going to hear the gospel of Jesus. They're going to hear the Word of God. They're.
To sing songs praising God. They're going to do we're going to pray. We're going to give an opportunity for somebody to receive Christ. We're going to do all you know that if you invite them into the presence of God, there is an opportunity for them to be restored, amen. That's what you can do. Invite them to Bible study. There's a ton of opportunities to go to a small group Bible study. That is when you get to ask the hard questions. Well, how do we know Paul wrote that? What year was it written? You know, you got those people that sit in class, right?
Well, I don't know. That's just what we've learned from the other theologians. Listen, it's always a fun time when you go to a Bible study. Go have coffee with somebody and see where it leads. Coffee shops all over the place. Let's go have coffee. Just think about having a genuine interest in somebody's spiritual well being. Don't make somebody your project.
You know what I'm talking about, right? Well, I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna restore this person. I'm gonna get them back on track. You're not gonna do anything. God's going to do the work through you, so you can't make somebody your pet project because you want to feel good about yourself. God is going to open your eyes and you're going to see opportunities, to see where he's leading. And verse two, he says, We invest ourselves in the lives of others. We fulfill our calling when we love others. And Jesus was all about calling. He wants to know that he's called you to himself and to his service. He loved people,
and he had no business loving us. Did he no business? Why would Jesus love us so much that he would give us life for us that have sinned against him, that have done all these things against God, and yet he's still with the cross. Five Romans, five. Eight says, while you were still in your sins, God went to the cross. He didn't wait for you to clean up your life. And so I'm amazed that Jesus loves us when he we had no business of being loved.
That's how we should look at the unlovable people in our lives. Look what Jesus did for you. Love them anyway, as much as it hurts, right? How hard it is. You see, people don't want anything to do with God, religion, church, the Messiah
and Jesus loves them anyway.
It's amazing that he does. I believe that there are people here right now contemplating whether they want to have anything to do with God because they've been hurt. Somebody said something bad. They went to the church, and if that person goes there and they said this, then I don't want anything to do with that. Don't listen to them. Listen to what God's Word says.
They claim to love God, but they're too busy to invest their time in anybody. That's what real discipleship looks like. You grab somebody and you walk with them through life.
Restoration is a serious business. In verse three of our text, he says, If anyone thinks they're something when they're not, they deceive themselves. And Paul's going to put the nuts and bolts together and begin to talk about restoration. And you think you're good to go with God, you better think again. Is what he's saying. Make sure you are you have not arrived.
You are not God's gift to this world.
I don't care how many people put you up on a pedestal. I don't care if you're you own your own business, and people bow down to you and like that. You're their boss and all of that. It doesn't matter. You have to get right with God. You don't know everything. I don't care how many times you've heard scripture. Ask God to reveal it to you in a new way, and he will just be careful not to be too conceited in your faith. In verses four and five, it says this
Galatians six, four and five, each one of us should test their own actions, then they can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to someone else. For each one of you should carry their own load. In order to test your actions, you have to turn to the Bible
and make notes of how you're doing. You ever done that
make notes of how you're doing in your spiritual life. Are you doing the things that God has required of you
when you're not measured up?
Figure out how to make it right.
It's easy. You just go back to it and ask God. Reveal it to me. Spirit. Speak to me. Holy Spirit. I need to understand the illumination of this word. Don't compare yourself to anyone? Well, at least you're not as bad as so and so. Whoopie do. Who cares? The only person you should be care be comparing yourself to is Jesus, the Messiah, not other people. When you're able to handle your own burdens, then you can help others. Doesn't that make sense? Like Thank you, Paul for writing that to us right.
Are you serious about your restoration? To God? If
not, when you're going to get serious about it? How long is it going to take? We're in our second Sunday in 2025
When will you start restoration? Our second point is, restoration is an eternal thing, verses six through eight.
Verse in verse six, Paul addresses something here that
always tougher pastor to speak about. Look at that verse. Paul's conveying in light of the first five verses, Galatians six says, As receivers of the word that's you, you are to support the teaching of the Word.
That means giving.
That means giving of your time, giving of your talents, whatever God has gifted you with, and of your treasures, however much God has given you, if he gives you $10,000 a month,
tithing is $1,000 that goes to God. Now I didn't write the rules. God did. If you don't believe in tithing, then you don't believe what God's Word teaches about it. If you say, Well, I can't do that, Pastor, because I'm in so much debt, then get out of debt and get right with God. I can't do that. Yes you can. I'm a testimony to say, Yes you can. You can do it. Listen,
if you're going to be blessed every week by the word of God and you don't give back to that, how does that equate with you what God's Word says? And I know Paul doesn't like to talk about that. I don't like to talk about it. Listen,
this context is talking about giving when we're fed on a regular basis the eternal food of God's Word.
Those delivering it are to be compensated and received by it. And
I didn't get an amen one bit on that one
generosity is weaving all through the faith and the life and the maturity of a believer. That's who we are. They aren't afraid that the pastor's making too much money. They're not a they're happy to give to the Word of God.
This pastor here, I've always taken positions that have paid me less than the position I left.
So I've never done it for the money.
I've done it for free, and I've done it for I'm like Paul, you know, I get paid well where I'm at now, it's the first position that I went to that I actually received a raise at the age of 55
and so it is not about the money, but it is about your heart. It is about who do you think you are in Christ is, is your finances part of the eternal kingdom of God? We spend so much money on things that don't matter that are never going to make it to the kingdom. There will not be a Starbucks and Kingdom. In the kingdom,
I hope there's coffee, but it ain't going to be Starbucks. Okay? They're rich. They got plenty of your money. Let's start rethinking how we give to God. What is it for? And I love what my brother said this morning. We're not giving to Life Church. We're giving to the kingdom of God. People's lives are changed. The Eternity lies in the balance. Every time we proclaim the Word, there are people struggling. Do I believe Jesus? Do I not believe Jesus? Am I this? Am I that every week is an opportunity for you to come to Christ, for you to get right with God, to reconnect with God. How much is that worth?
Forever is worth? What to you Jesus paid it all with his life. How can we say we can't give
this? This verse is not about me, it's about your heart and your generosity. So I ask you to pray to make sure that you're in line with what God wants you to give.
Receive the Holy Word this morning. Verse seven, don't kid yourself. He says you can't fool God. You can't make fun of God. You can't get one over on God. It isn't going to happen. He's way smarter than you, right?
You guys believe that, right?
If you don't write this verse down, if you're taking notes, he's Isaiah 55, verses eight and nine, he will let you know my ways are higher than your ways. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts. You are not above God. You're below God. He loves you so much, but he wants you to know he's in charge. He's smarter than you.
Verse eight, if you plan on living for life on here on this earth, the end result is destruction. The flesh leads to destruction. There's no Plan B, your ways, your foolish ways, will end the destruction. Living for you results in a human outcome. Living for Jesus results in a spiritual outcome. Eternity with Him. You see, the eternal life can lull us to sleep if we aren't careful. Oh, we're good. Have you ever done me and God, we're good.
I'm always afraid when somebody says that, because that tells me they're not really working hard at their spiritual life, because we're going to sit before a holy God one day and give an account for the life that we've lived. I am not good. I dread that day because I do want to hear him, well done and faithful servant, good and faithful servant. He will say that, but he.
Still going to give, I'm still going to give an account for the life that I lived. I have a lot of things that I need to make right before I leave this earth. So you're not good with God. You gotta be great with God. Get in contact with him. You see, eternity for the believer, begins immediately.
You see, we think eternity happens when we pass from this life to the next. That's paradise for the believer. Eternity begins the day you receive Christ into your life. You are forever his child. Eternity starts then we live in his grip. When you view this restoration process as an eternal process, will you begin to allow the Holy Spirit of God to lead you? Will you let Him lead you? If you're not doing that, then why not? When will you start? 2026
it's just another day on the calendar. Why not today? Why not say, Pastor, imma start today. I missed it January 1. Already left. We're on January 12. Good. What will it take you to surrender? My third point is, restoration is a good thing. Verses nine and 10, I've
already talked about the application process. I want to be
I become somewhat perplexed when people ask me about that for real, because the scripture I get is self applicable someone. It's like if somebody asks you, how you how do you lose weight?
Well, I don't know, stop eating junk food, exercise. Eat better, better. You know, stop being all stressed out. That's how you it's the same thing. How do you apply the Word of God? You get in the Word of God, you pray, you study, you read, you listen, you worship, and all of that. And all of a sudden, the word of God becomes who you are. That's what you do. You see, I wish I could do that for you, but you're the only one that can do it for yourself. I can't do it for you. You have to actually dig in and do it for yourself. You see, biblical application is a little complicated, but in some ways, it's just not you wanting to follow instructions.
Ouch, again, right? I don't want to be told what to do, just as like you don't want to be told what to do, right? That's how we were raised. You can do whatever you want. You're American. Pull your bootstraps out, you know, get in there. You can be anything you want.
Then God comes along and says, I want you this for your life. But my mama said I could be this, your mama is not God,
and your daddy is not God, and your Grammy is not God, and your auntie is not God. He tells us what to do. We have to get ready and receive what it is he has for us. You see,
there are another form of application. When it comes to biblical application, of course, there is relying on the Holy Spirit to drive your life. Relying on the Holy Spirit, it's hard, man. Is it hard? Nasty. The cross is bloody.
Jesus's blood was all over that cross. You think it was easy for him to go to the cross
when He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, he asked his father if there's another way would you allow this cup to pass?
Because he knew what was in store. He knew exactly what his purpose was on this earth,
and He allowed them to nail big old steak nails into his arms and his legs and put a crown of thorns on his head, and he bled there. For you and for me, being a Christian is hard. It's nasty, it's bloody.
It's never been easy. It was never meant to be easy. So if you're looking for an easy way out, you're not going to find it in the Gospel, it doesn't exist,
but the good news is always available.
Verse nine, don't give up, don't quit. Don't get tired, don't get too busy, and don't stop.
You see, in God's timing, you're going to reap a harvest. You got to be patient.
You got to be patient.
Lucy and I were the first ones on both sides of our families to give our lives to Jesus, and since then, we've had many of our family members on both sides come to Christ and give their life to Christ, and it's been an amazing thing to do, but it wasn't overnight.
We had to, we had to see this verse for what it is. He says, Don't give up, don't quit, don't stop, because in due time, you're going to reap a harvest. It's going to be amazing, especially those that are body, that part of the body of Christ. Listen, there's nothing worse than friendly fire. And you in the military understand what I'm talking about. It's one thing to get shot by the enemy, but when you get shot by your own people, and it happens all the time in church,
we fire away at our friends and our family in the gospel because we don't like what they said or how they walk or who they hanging out with, or who what they doing. Friendly fire is difficult. You.
How about you? You need to be restored to God today. Maybe there's a relationship that you've messed up that you need to restore in your life today, not tomorrow, but today. You need to get restored back with God, and then you can restore your life with them. Number four, give grace to all verses 11 through 13. Paul tells us that he has eyesight so bad, the only way he could even begin to write this, he had to write with large letters, he said.
And I think, why would Paul go through all that trouble if he couldn't see well to write it himself?
Because he knew how important it was that he was going to be the messenger to the church in Galatia, which are many churches, and to us receiving it today, he says, I want you to know as difficult as this letter has been to write, I've had to write it because my eyes are horrible and I can't see, and yet, I wanted to do it
for you.
Some of us have large fonts on our cell phones, and even then, we still use readers, right? We're blind, can't see. We're blessed to live in the day that we can enlarge everything now, you know, I do like 200 on my Word documents. You know, just it happens you get older and you just can't see.
But it's worth it. That's what Paul's trying to say. You see, I did it with my own hands. He said it was an important letter to this group of churches who needed it to know that the real gospel of Jesus, that's full of grace.
In verse 12, he says,
Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel them and compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. You see, they were looking for anything to get out of actually standing up for Jesus, because that back then, that meant you might die for your faith. Today, we can stand up for Christ, and somebody just causes a naked poop, and we don't have to, you know, we're not going to die. Now, there are people dying all over the world, but not here. We may be made fun of. People may unfriend you, unfollow you. Who gives a rip.
You can take a stand for Christ freely where we live today.
Stop looking for the easy way out.
Stop trying to wear a cross and tattoo a cross or whatever. No, you have to be the messenger of Christ, not all the stuff you're trying to do to yourself that makes sense.
Sometimes even followers of Jesus want to have earthly rewards for their service.
You see, Paul says, here to impress so much
on earthly results, will result result in earthly results. And he says, so whenever somebody says, hey, pastor that was, I always try to go, Hey, all glory to God.
It's only through Christ that I can do this, and that should be your life as well, man. I can see the change in you. Somebody says, and you say, Oh yeah, thank you. I'm doing. I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm really trying. No, say it's only because of Christ.
Christ has got a hold of my heart.
I believe in baptism, I really do. But baptism doesn't save you. Jesus saved you on the cross. Baptism is a representation of your salvation. You die to the old self, you live to the new you. That's what it's for. So sometimes people put their faith in the baptism. What happened? When did you come to Christ? And they go, Well, I was baptized. No, no. When did you come to Christ? Before baptism, you're baptized because of what Jesus did for you.
You see, baptism is meant to be a humbling experience. February the 12th, we're going to have baptisms.
So if you've received Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, start remembering, in a in a month, we're going to have baptisms. But I want to be, I want to be bold and honest with you. It's not going to save you. Only Jesus can do that when he enters into your life, it's going to represent what Jesus has done. It's an outward expression of your inward self. I know there are many people have been truly baptized and protected because they really believe in that. Believe in Jesus today,
salvation is a personal relationship with Jesus. Paul's explaining the fact we have to be careful because of the things that we do for temporary relief. Paul says there's so many of us that want earthly rewards because we want we don't want to face the persecution of being a Christian. No one wants to be persecuted, I don't.
I really don't. I've got a Facebook page. I post all the time.
I get unfriended a lot. It's okay. I get followed a lot too. People really want to know about Christ.
We avoid.
Certain situation, just so we can avoid conflict.
Let me read some of the Beatitudes of Matthew chapter five, verses 10 and 11. Matthew chapter five, verses 10 and 11, blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say things of evil against you because of me, Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven for the same way they persecuted the prophets way before you, so even the prophets before were persecuted for their faith in Christ. I know it's hard for some, but Christianity is a tough business to be in. Can we just get that straight?
It's hard. It's the most hated religion in the world.
It's the most followed religion in the world. There are more Christians than anything on this planet. We
can't always hide from our critics. They're going to be everywhere. That's why God gives us grace. He's graced us so that others can be graced for from us. In verse 13, not even those who are circumcised keep the law. So you can do all those things to yourself and say you're going to stand for Christ because you want him to represent but not even them know that Jesus is really real. We're
supposed to do the right thing. We're supposed to be people of the good book, amen. That's who we are. We're supposed to do that. We're not supposed to get caught up in boasting about our accomplishments, even though they may be good and they may be for God. We don't boast about them. We let Jesus do that for us. And if somebody says something about you and they like what you're doing, you tell them all glory to God. Christ has done it all. I haven't done it. When God works in our lives, it's right to give him all the credit, amen. So don't be afraid when someone says you're this and that. Tell them it's because of Jesus.
They may get sick of hearing you say that, but it's true.
Ephesians two, eight through 10 says this For it's by grace. You've been saved
through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It's a gift of God, not by works, so that no one may boast, For we are God's handiwork, or your version may say, Masterpiece created in Christ, Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do? You see,
we like verses eight and nine. We're saved by grace, so that we can't humble, but we always forget verse 10 because we're saved. We're going to do good works. We don't earn our way because of good works, but we're saved, and then we do those things that count for Christ. Do you want grace? Have you received it today? Ask God to give you grace so you can give it away. My next point is voice boast in the grace of Jesus. Verses 14 through 16. Paul wants us to have Jesus stories to talk about in verse 14. This is what it means to boast. We're not going to be shouting, I love Jesus. Yes, I do. I love Jesus. How about you? I'm not talking about that. We have a testimony to boast about what Jesus has done for us, how he has lived through us, even though I've been saved for 35 years,
January the 14th,
in two days, it'll be 35 years since I gave my life to Jesus.
It's still amazing to talk about.
It's still amazing to think, it's still fresh in my mind, to think I remember that day, and I hope it's the same for you, that when Jesus came into your life, that it means something still today, you see, there's a lot of Christians that once they're saved, they don't really, ever really work or walk or live for Christ, because they just know they got their insurance. You know what? I mean, they paid their Jesus paid the insurance policy for us, the fire insurance, right? We're not going to go to hell. We get to go to heaven.
I've had a we've had a conversation a couple weeks ago with our son, and he was talking about a sermon at a church that he goes to and and he was talking about First Corinthians, chapter three. Well, if you read that text, it talks about how you're building your godly building, but at the end, it talks about, if it weren't for grace, they're
going to be people that just barely escape the flames of hell as they enter into heaven. Now we say that they're going to be smacking them on the butt on the way in.
Do you want that life where yes, because of his grace, but you're going to know what you escape from as you enter in. You're going to smell like smoke when you get into the presence of God. Why wouldn't you want to stand before him a holy God, and give a holy testimony for what God has done. In verse 15, Paul wants every to know, everyone to know, no matter what you do, do it for Jesus. Don't do things so that you can earn credit, so that but so that he can you see you have all the credit you'll ever need when you have Jesus in your life, in your heart, that's all you need. Jesus made.
Makes you a new creation. Second, Corinthians, 517, says that there any for anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone, and the new is here. That's something to boast about in 2025, amen, verse 16, beautiful verse, when we follow Jesus, He gives us peace and mercy. We're a we are in a battle, and we can still have peace and mercy.
And I want to just say this real quickly,
if you're not in a battle right now, it's coming.
I just did two funerals for two good friends of mine, one on december 28 and one just this last Tuesday.
One was not that expected, and one was we didn't know when it was going to happen. The spiritual battle, the heaviness and the weightiness is real,
not because I wasn't happy. They're with the king. They're both believers. One was a pastor, the other one was a good friend of mine, a great believer in Christ, but listen, the battles are coming, and you have to be able to have peace and grace through those battles. Every time I hear somebody passing for a family, I just got another text this morning from Pastor. His dad just passed away,
and all I do is say I'm going to pray for peace,
because we need peace during those times. God's the only one that can give it to us. Lastly, the gospel of grace in verses 17 and 18. This is the way he closes out the letter of Galatians. From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus, the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen, that's my prayer for you. Paul closes out. He says, I've suffered much. I have the scars to prove it, but even so, Paul says grace to you in Jesus name. I'm
going to close with this. These verses, second, Corinthians, chapter 1122, through 30.
These are Paul's letter to the church of Corinth. He says, Are they Hebrews? So am I? Are they Israelites? So am I? Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I? Are they servants of Christ? I'm out of my mind to talk like this. I am more I've worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged, more seriously, been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews 40 lashes, minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was pelted with stones. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent night and day in the open sea. I have been constantly on the move. I've been in danger from rivers, dangers from bandits, dangers from fellow Jews, dangers from Gentile danger in the city, danger in the country, danger at sea, danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have oft gone without sleep. Sleep. Excuse me,
I have known hunger and thirst and often gone without food. I've been cold and naked, besides everything else I face daily, the pressures of my concern for all the churches who is weak,
and I do not feel weak, who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn for if I may boast, if I must boast, I will boast of all the things that show my weaknesses.
That's the Paul that wrote 13 of the letters in the New Testament. He said, listen,
being a Christian is not for wimps.
He knew firsthand what it meant to be a follower of Christ. He knew that it was hard. He knew that he was going to go through some stuff, and yet he dredged forward. He kept on going, and he wrote these letters for us to have today, and we have the gospel, the true gospel, the only gospel of Jesus the Christ, because of men like Paul who said, I'll do it. I will follow. I don't care what it takes, but I'll go
you. See, you may be here today, and you have never taken that first step forward to say, I want Jesus to be the Lord of my life. I may never be like Paul,
but I sure want to try to live my life for Christ.
You see, God could be calling you into something that you could have never imagined, but you're too busy in your career path what you think you want to do, and God's asking you to do something else. It could be that God's calling you to ministry.
I want to tell you, in the year 2030 there's going to be a hard reality for churches. There will be pastors dying and and retiring from the ministry and getting out of ministry, we won't have enough pastors to fill our pulpits
that day. That day is five years away. We need people to come to Christ, to surrender to God's ministry and to follow Him and serve Him 50.
1000 churches this year alone are not going to be able to pay a pastor full time, and
it's going to go down and down. It's going to be co vocational pastors are going to be pastors and have other jobs, and that's okay, because the gospel is still going to go forward.
Listen to me,
the harvest is going to come from the people.
The harvest just isn't about souls coming to Christ. It's also about those Christians that are going to surrender to the call of God in their life. You see, we don't ask people to come for that anymore, and I don't know why that ever stopped when I gave my life to ministry, it was during a public invitation, and I came and said, I'm finally wanted to surrender my life to Christ. Now that other people might have known or not to Christ, but to the ministry, other people knew that I was going in that route, but it wasn't until the day that I finally said, this is, this is what God's called me to do. And look at where God has put me now
you see that could be you.
We have friends that serve across this globe in the mission field, to people they have no clue who they are, but God called them to go.
Stop worrying about what other people will think. Stop worrying about how hard it is, and start worrying about, am I going to do God's will in my life. Now
we have an invitation this morning. First and foremost, if you're here this morning and you've never experienced a true, repentant heart and the Gospel, invitation to come to Christ. This is your time. You come and you say, I need Jesus to be the Lord of my life. Romans 10 Nine says, If you'll confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. He says, you will be saved. There's not a chance. Might be. Could be. It should be. He says you will be saved.
And if you're here this morning and you've been saved, but you haven't been following God today, God says, I'm in the restoration business. I want to polish your hubcaps. I want to shine your paint. I want to bring back the life that you used to have in Christ. Today, you can be restored to God. If you're here and you have a relationship that needs to be mended, would you come to this altar and pray, grab the hand of that person and say, Forgive me,
let's get reconciled to each other so we can do right for the kingdom of God.
Listen, there's a lot of things that God wants to do in the life of life, church and El Paso and around this globe, but he's but it starts with us. It starts with you.
Maybe God is asking to do something extraordinary, great. He uses ordinary people for that. But the first thing you gotta get right is, do you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? Today, you can do that. Would you stand with me? I'm going to pray for you.
God, we're grateful for this opportunity that we have to come.
And so this morning, God, as we come to this altar. We come with clean hearts and open hands, speak to us this this morning, in Christ's name, I pray. Amen. Amen.
