The Church of Eleven22 - In Step with The Spirit: Be Free - Wk 14

Episode Date: July 7, 2024

As Paul closes out his letter to the Galatians, he reiterates the importance of walking in step with the Holy Spirit. But how does these instructions translate to modern day life when it comes to things like pridefulness, envy and comparison? The kingdom of God is going places. God is up to something- are you keeping in step with the Spirit and joining Him in the work? - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

Amen. Amen. God's on the move. Amen, church. It's good to celebrate God's faithfulness to his church. And God is on the move through the Church of 1122. And I'm glad that you're here. We are in the 14th week of a study through the New Testament book of Galatians. And so it's fitting that we celebrated Independence Day as a country this weekend. I hope you had a great time celebrating with family and friends and doing all the things, fireworks and barbecue ribs, whatever it is you do. I hope you did it well. The book of Galatians is historically known. is the Christian's Declaration of Independence. And so it fits that we're finishing it up this weekend. It's my honor to be able to close out the study in Galatians. And so if you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and open those up. If you don't have your Bible, there's one near you and a seat back in front of you or around you. It's blue.

You can take that home. If you don't have a Bible, that's our gift to you. I'm going to pick up here in a few minutes at the end of Chapter 5 of Galatians. But between here and there, I want to give you five verses from Galatians that are like a recap of what we've studied so far in the book. And you can highlight these and keep them close. So when you come back to Galatians, you'll remember kind of the heart and the premise of the book.

And it starts in Galatians chapter 1, verse 10. The apostle Paul writes this. He says, for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I still trying to please man? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond servant or a servant of Christ. Is there anybody here who's ever been through the stage of life where you've lived and you've put your happiness

in someone else's hands, where you've said, hey, my purpose in life is to make other people happy. If I can just please others and others are pleased with me, then I will fully and finally be content. If anybody's ever lived that way for any period of time, you can also give the testimony of how exhausting it is to live like that. That is just soul-sucking exhausting. And the Apostle Paul is going, hey, don't forget that the point of this life is for the audience of one, that there's a God in heaven, and that we're just soul-sucking exhausting.

and that we seek only his approval and that we don't live for the approval of men. He's not just talking about that in terms of our happiness. He's also talking about that in terms of salvation. In the context of the Galatian Church, Paul had gone to Galatia and he had preached the gospel to them, the life, death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the forgiveness of sins that is made available through faith in Jesus Christ. The Galatians placed their faith in Jesus Christ and became Christians. Well, there's these other hyper-religious people in Jerusalem, these Judeanians,

is what they're called. They heard about what was happening in Galatia. They come to Galatia and they begin to say, hey, that's fine. You can believe in Jesus if you want to, but that's not all you have to do to be saved. You also have to be circumcised. You also have to practice these other Jewish practices and festivals. If you do those things, then you'll really be a Christian. And the Apostle Paul says, absolutely not. We don't listen to the spirit of religion. That is not the gospel. The gospel is by grace alone, faith alone and Christ alone for God's glory alone. And anything except that is a false gospel. And so he's encouraging the Galatian church don't listen to these hyper-religious people that are teaching you a false gospel and try to make them happy. You listen to the pure gospel and you

stay surrendered unto it. Am I now leaving to please man or God? That's Galatians 1. And then Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, the Apostle Paul says it like this. He says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Paul is doubling down on the gospel. This is probably the most famous verse from Galatians. What Paul is saying is that when Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of God, climbed up on that Roman cross, what happened that day was a double crucifixion.

Not only was Jesus Christ crucified on the cross, but so was everyone who will believe in him. not only was all the sins of the world laid on him all the sins of the world of everyone who would believe in him were forgiven his blood paid the full price and satisfied the demand of god's law Jesus did exactly what was necessary in order for sins to be forgiven when he was crucified and that we who placed our faith in him were crucified with him but not just crucified with him that when he was buried in the grave we also were buried with him and then praise god by the spirit of god and the power of god on the third day when Jesus Christ bodily resurrected and came walking out of that tomb, so did the future of every person who would believe in Him. And that we are now fully resurrected in Christ and we have been crucified with Him. We no longer live our lives for ourselves.

We live our lives for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. It's a new life. The old has passed. The new has come. Galatians 311 says this. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law. for the righteous shall live by faith. The righteous shall live by faith.

That we are not primarily on a site journey. We are on a faith journey as Christians. There's a lot of things that we can't see coming around the corner, but every step is marked in grace and in faith. The same faith that saved us is the same faith that sustains us. The same grace that grabbed our hearts and opened our eyes to the promises of Jesus Christ is the same grace that sustains us throughout our life. The testimony of Christianity, and you're going to want to write this down, it's important to remember this.

The testimony of Christianity is that it's not about earning, it is about enjoying. It is not about earning, it is about enjoying. And how do we enjoy God by trusting him over and over and over and over again? That's the invitation of grace. Galatians chapter 4, verses 4 and 5 say this, but when the fullness of time had come at the exact right point in human history is what that means. God sent forth his son, Jesus, born of a woman, born under the law as a Jew, to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoptions as sons. Christianity is a family affair. It's not an institution. It's not an organization. It's a family.

And that we have been received, we have been invited and received, and we've received adoption as sons. Here's what that means is that in heaven, God has this massive table. And that at this table, he has made a chair for me. And then he sent Jesus Christ to earn my right to sit in that chair, and Jesus did it. And he freely gave me this chair in the name of Jesus. And because of the victory of Jesus, I now have a seat at the table of the family of God. He made a chair for me. He earned a chair for me. He saved a chair for me. He gave a chair to me. He did all the work. And by grace, I receive it. And by his grace, I will forever be seated at the table of God and the family of God. And I will feast on his goodness for all of eternity.

So we've been adopted. It is a family affair. Galatians chapter 5 verse 1 says this. For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not again submit to a yoke of slavery. It's not about earning. It's about enjoying the freedom that we have now been given through Jesus Christ, the freedom to live on purpose,

the freedom to live with passion for things beyond ourselves, the free to point our life in the direction of something so much, more significant than I could ever do on my own. He says, don't return again to the yoke of slavery, to the bondage. The best picture of this is in, we see in the Bible is in the last few hours of Jesus's life. Jesus is on trial with a man named Pilot who is the governor of the region and Pilate is hearing the testimony of Jesus and the accusations being made against him and he's saying it just doesn't make any sense why y'all want to kill this guy. And everybody's screaming, crucified Jesus, crucified Jesus. Crucified Jesus.

and Pilots like, I don't know, why would I want to crucify him? What wrong has he done? And everybody's like, crucify him. And Pilots like, okay, fine. Would you rather me release Jesus of Nazareth or release Barabbas? Now, Barabbas was an evil man. He was an insurrectionist. He was in prison. He had been convicted of a capital crime. And so he is on his way to death. And Pilate asked the crowd, he said, would you rather me release Barabbis or release Jesus and everybody goes, give us Barabbas and crucify Jesus. And Pilate asked one more time, he's like, so what would you have me do with Jesus? And people begin to scream at the top of their lungs, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. They go as far as to say, let his blood

be on us and on our children. And Pilate's like, look, I wash my hands of this. Y'all do what you have to do. And they let Barabbas go. Now Barabbas is in prison and he's chained up, probably to the wall. He's shackled to the wall. He is bound. And the Roman guard walks into prison and he gets his keys out and he unlocks Barabbas's shackles. And he says, Brabis, today's your lucky day, man. You get to go free. A man named Jesus is going to take your place. Now, what do you think Barabbas did right there?

You think Barabbas was like, hold on, man. I don't know about this. I mean, y'all should probably at least put me on the work detail so that I can earn some of what's happening right now. Do you think Brabis did that? No way, man. That brother, he gone. He gone. He did not hang around.

Look, and he split. That buddy's chains came off and he busted out the door. And he was completely set free. A man named Jesus took his place and set him free. And the same is true for you and the same is true for me. So why would I want to return again to the yoke of slavery? That's what he's asking. You are free in Jesus Christ.

Why would you submit yourself under the bondage of sin all over again? You're free. You're free. We pick up in verse. 25 and it says this, if we live by the spirit, also let us keep in step with the spirit. The majority of Galatians is theological. We just covered it. So a ton of theology.

The 12 or 13 verses we're going to study today or how this right thinking plays itself out in our life. It is very, very practical. And what Paul is about to do is to give us instructions, commands on how we're supposed to treat each other inside the context of a local church. that this is how Christians are supposed to act toward one another inside the context of a local church. Verse 25, if we live by the spirit,

let us also keep in step with the spirit. Let me encourage you today, my friends, that the kingdom of God is on the move in this earth. The kingdom of God is on the move in the city. We watched testimony video right before I started about all of the unique things that God is doing in and through this church. It's nothing short of miraculous. God does not owe it to us.

We do not deserve it. There's not like we pray more, magical prayers or special prayers than anybody else, God for his purposes has decided to breathe his breath into the Church of 1122. But it's not only our church, that God is on the move all over the world, that there are people right now who are surrendering their lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and they are being saved from the darkness and they are being set free in the light. Right now, that's happening all over the world. This is good news. God is on the move. The Spirit of God is headed a direction in human history. God is up to something, and you and me,

we can be all about it. This can be the thing that consumes our lives, and that's the invitation of grace. In Matthew chapter 28, Jesus says this. He gives his disciples the Great Commission. He says, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. So now, therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded. And I will be with you even into the end of the age. that making disciples, teaching people to observe the commands of Jesus, to learn what Jesus has done, to believe and receive the gospel, and to walk faithfully according to the good news of Jesus, making disciples that make disciples that make disciples, this is why every Christian is on the planet. This is your purpose. This is what God has for you is for you to make disciples, for you to be about the business of the kingdom of God. Henry Blackaby, a famous pastor and theologian, once said that,

If you want to experience God in your life, all you need to do is look around and see where God's at work and join him in that work. Let me ask you today, where are you at work with the Spirit of God? Where are you joining the Spirit of God and the work that he's doing around you? Pastor Job has got a great line. He says this all the time. He says that if you want to deepen your relationship with Jesus,

get busy helping somebody else discover theirs. If you want to deepen your relationship with Jesus, get busy helping somebody else discover. theirs. If we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit. Verse 26, and he says, as we walk in step with the Spirit, let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. When you join in God's work and you see God doing miracle upon miracle upon miracle, there will be a temptation for Christians to start to take credit for what only God should get credit for. Right? We say things here like beach baptism, 1,14 people profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior

and go public through baptism. What a miracle. What an absolute miracle. But we could be tempted to go, man, aren't we awesome? Aren't we awesome? The testimony of 1,600, of one person, much less more than 1,000 people getting baptized. The testimony of that is simply this. God is good.

God is good. It's not because we've done anything. It is because he is good. when Christians start taking credit for what only God deserves credit for, you better hold on to your decaps because a crash is coming. Pride is the only sin in the Bible where it says that God is actively working in the opposition of those who are prideful. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

I got a real gospel perspective on this some years ago. I was traveling in Africa with some friends of ours that are. church planters and our church has planted hundreds of churches with this organization. And I was over there and we were visiting some of the church plants and I met a little girl named Linda. And at the time Linda was 10, 11 years old and she was born with HIV. She had a younger brother who was born with HIV and epilepsy and she had a younger sister who was born with HIV. Both her parents had died of HIV AIDS. And she at that time was living under the care of her aunt who was a prostitute and really had no means by which to take care of her and her family. And so Linda, 11 years old,

was taking care of her brothers and sisters. And as we are able to move into this community and by God's grace, we're able to plant a church in this community. The pastor of that local church plant adopts Linda and her brother and sister into his family and they begin to care for her and they begin to give her access to medicine in order to sustain her life. And she places her faith in Jesus Christ and she becomes a part of this church. She becomes active and she begins walking with the Lord. And about a year later, after first meeting here, I was back over there. And I was sitting with Linda and I asked Linda this question. I'm like, Linda, of all the people I've ever met in my life, you have more reason than anybody I've ever known to be bitter. You have more reason than

anybody I've ever known to not believe when you hear a preacher say, God loves you. You've got more reason to not believe that anybody ever met. So why is it that you can have so much joy at this point in your life? And why is it that you choose to follow Jesus Christ? And Linda, she kind of looks down at the floor and then she looks up back at me and she goes, pastor, well, it's because he lets me. Yeah, I was a puddle, man. I was on the floor. What a perspective. God doesn't owe me anything. But he loves me. He doesn't owe me anything, but he loves me. And I look back at Linda and I say, Linda, you're right.

He does let us, and what a gift of grace that is, but he doesn't just let us. He wants us. God wants to have a relationship with you. God wants to be near to you. God wants for you to grow in relationship with him. Let us not become conceited. God doesn't owe us anything. Let us not provoke one another, envying one another.

This word envy is a fascinating one. And the definition of envy is this. It is a feeling of discontentment. Anybody ever had one of those? A feeling of discontentment. It is resentfulness aroused by someone else's possessions, position, qualities, or good fortune. It is resentfulness aroused by someone else's possessions,

position, qualities, or good fortune. The 10th commandment is, thou shalt not covet your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, or your neighbor's possessions. Covetousness and envy are like Siamese twins. They work together. And the truth is that we live in an envy-filled world. We live in an envy-filled world.

And the more envy that takes root in the Christian heart, the less joy the Christian will experience in their life. The more envy that we have, the less joy we will have. I've got to be honest with you. I've been on a little bit of an envy journey the last few days. Had some envy. on Thursday I completely trashed my back. I don't know what I did.

Oh, I do know what I did. And I know this, it hurt real bad, man. Like, I'm walking with a cane on Friday. Like, not good. Pastor Jobi says, people, God heals people through prayers and pills. Well, I got a lot of both of them going on right now. You know what I mean?

And completely trashed my back. Hurt so bad. Here's the thing. When you're in this, that kind of pain, there's only two categories of people in the world. There's me with my hurt back and you with your healthy back. That's all I can see. I'm envious, man. I'm envious of all you healthy back people. You know, I don't know what it is. I get envy. I want what you have. Envy is a real thing. Here's the point. One, yeah, please pray for my back. That'd be great. Here's the point.

When you're hurting, it is hard to see people through any other lens, so we need help to see rightly. When you're hurting, it's hard to see clearly. And that's why we need other people to help us see clearly. This is much of the role of the local church. It's to help us see what we don't see. Whenever somebody has a habit, habitual behavior that's on a downward spiral, wherever there's an addiction, whenever there's patterns of self-abuse,

almost always there is a thing behind the thing. There is a hurt behind the habit. And the Holy Spirit of God today does not want to, stop at your habit. He wants to dig way beneath the surface and I promise that if you will let him get down, way down in your guts and you will let the Holy Spirit get deep beneath the surface where

the hurts are, that he will do surgery and the surgery is worth it. The surgery is worth it. Galatians chapter 6, verse 1, it says this, brothers, if anyone is caught in a transgression, what he means is when these things like pride and envy and covetousness

and conceit take root in our heart, what inevitably will happen is it will begin to manifest in our behaviors. Things that take root in our soul will begin to play out in our lives and our behaviors. And so, brothers, if anyone is caught into transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you to be tempted. Verse two, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. The first word you want to circle is the word caught. This could have two meanings. One is when we have a friend or a loved one or a brother or sister in Christ who is caught up in a pattern of transgression. Or we have someone who has been blatantly caught walking out of step with the spirit, walking in a pattern of sin.

He's saying when we see this happen, when we have these relationships, we should restore these people in a spirit of gentleness. What happens when a Christian gets caught in a pattern of sinful behavior? Well, a great way to think about it is like a solar eclipse. We had one of those earlier this year and sitting in a few days before it, everybody's talking about it and talking about getting the glasses and all the thing. And Pastor Jobi, we were in a meeting, Pastor Jobi was like, look, man, I think every time an eclipse comes around, everybody's like, this is once in a lifetime, but somehow it's happening multiple times a year.

Can somebody please explain this to me? And I was like, that's actually a pretty good point. And so I did some research. There will be 224 solar eclipses in the 21st century. What happens in a solar eclipse? Well, the moon moves in front of the sun. And so the sun gets hidden behind the moon. Well, this is what it's like when a Christian chooses to find themselves in a repeated habit of sinful behavior.

The sun is representative of God's love. And that when we choose to sin, what it feels like from our experience is that there's something coming between us and the experience that we're meant to have with God's love. It's like there's something that's blocking our vision. There's something that's blocking our understanding. It's like a strong hold grabs hold of our mind and our thinking and our heart. And we begin to lose sight of how much God loves us. And it begins to get really dark and really dim. And it begins to get really narrow and focused on us just trying to feel better

instead of us trying to live on purpose in line with the gospel. And so just like the moon moves in front of the sun. But here's the thing when a solar eclipse happens. It's not like when the moon moves in front of the sun. sun, that the sun is shining any less bright. The sun is still shining as bright as it ever was. We just don't see it as clearly as we could. And in the same way, just because Christians can fall into patterns of sinful behavior,

it does not mean that God loves you any less. Even though sin's trying to lie to you and sins trying to tell you that you need to do these other things to be happy, rest assured today that God loves you as much as he ever has. He loves you. He loves you. So Paul's not just talking about you and me on an individual level here. He's actually talking about how we help each other walk this out in our life. So he's saying that we're responsible for one another and we are supposed to help each other,

take steps of obedience and restoration where necessary. And so when you have a loved one or a friend or a co-laborer in the gospel that is caught in a transgression, let me give you three words quickly to help you discern kind of where you are in the process, and maybe give you some help in regards to helping them. The first word is this, consequences. Actions have consequences. Sin have consequences. We hate consequences, but we need them and they're a gift from God.

It is a good thing that when I touch the stove and it's hot that I immediately feel the burn and I pull my hand away, that's a gift from God. For me to be able to experience that consequence, when helping someone be restored into the faith and into the faith family, the question to ask is this, is this person resisting the consequences of their actions? If so, the next step of restoration is to encourage them to learn the lessons pain is trying to teach them. And not everybody learns at the same speed and at the same level. Consequences are there to teach us something. There's a, when you work with people who are, have addictions and that are manifest blatant addictions. And one of the things, there's a philosophy in it that it's not always true because

sometimes divine intervention can happen and God can just think people just change sometimes. But there's a philosophy which is pain versus pain. And I found it to be generally true over the last 20 years of pastoring. And pain versus pain says this. And until the pain of our choices exceeds the pain to change, we probably never will. Until the pain of our choices exceed the pain to change, we probably never will. And that's a pain of our choices exceed the pain to change, we probably never will. And is why consequences are a gift is because they're revealing to us that something needs to change that something needs to be different. Paul says this, keep watch on yourself, you've got to have boundaries and bear one another's burdens. What he's saying is that I am not responsible to carry

your consequences, but I do have the opportunity to walk alongside you as you carry them so that you know you're not alone. So much of the local church is us being reminded that we are not alone in this journey with God. He says, when we bear one another's burdens, we do this and we fulfill the law of Christ. Well, what's he talking about? The entire book of Galatians is you're set free from the law, you're set free from the law, and he's talking about the mosaic law. And now he introduces this idea of the law of Christ. Will it understand this? You've got to go to Mark 12. A scribe comes up to Jesus in Mark 12. We've studied this as a church like a hundred times. A scribe walks up to Jesus and says, Jesus, what's the most important commandment that God ever gave? Of all,

the words that God's spoken, what are the most important ones? And Jesus responds and he says this. He says, here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And Jesus means this. The most important thing is that you see God rightly and that you see God as first. You see as Christians, we don't put God first. He is first. And we align our lives around him as first or our lives are out of order. That's what it means when he says, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. That he is first. He is preeminent. He is before all things. He says, and you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your might, and you should love your neighbor as yourself. What is the law of Christ that you love God?

How do you love God by receiving His love for you? You love God and you love your neighbor as yourself. As serious as I am about carrying my burdens, I'm that serious about helping you carry yours. That we are meant for each other, and this fulfills the law of Christ. So the first word is consequences. The second word is conviction. Conviction. Conviction is an invitation for the Christian to return to God's best for you. It is an invitation to return to God's best for you. So the question you would ask when you see someone under conviction, you say, are they being sensitive to the conviction from the spirit of God? In John chapter 16, Jesus tells his disciples, I'm going away. And it's a good thing that I'm going away because I'm going to send you a helper,

the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is going to convict you in three different ways. Number one, he's going to convict us of sin. Primarily, this is of our unbelief. This is what leads us unto salvation, that the Holy Spirit is at work right now making known to people that they are a sinner and that they need a Savior, that there is something wrong and that that's something that's wrong is inside of them and is working itself out and that we can't fix this in and of ourselves, that we need someone to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. And this is the message of the gospel that Jesus, has done everything necessary in order for us to be forgiven and restored into right relationship with God. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that someone can hear that, understand it,

and believe it. He is at work convicting the world of that. He's also convicting Christians of sin every time that we're walking in step with the Spirit and then we choose to satisfy the desires of the flesh and we step out of the line, the Holy Spirit's going, no, you got to get back in step with the Spirit. You got to come back over here. You want God's best for you. I want what God's best for you. is convicting us and asking and reminding us to return to God's best for us. So he convicts us of sin. How does this play out? Well, let's think about it in terms of my marriage. Well, my wife and I, we've never actually had an argument. So, but let's just imagine. Let's just imagine. We only sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs at our house, right? We just rub each other down with spiritual

affirmation cream all the time. It's great, okay? But let's just imagine that we did have a spat. And let's say that I said some things that were conceded, that were provoking. that I stirred up envy in my wife. And let's just say maybe she did the same. And it didn't go well. And I acted pridefully. And then we took some space and the oxygen got in between us. And then all of a sudden the Holy Spirit starts to like that gentle nudge.

That's still small, quiet voice inside. Ryan, don't let the sun go down on your anger. Ryan, love your wife as Christ's love the church. Ryan, Philippians 2 says you're supposed to treat others as more significant than you. Are you treating her as more significant than yourself right now? Ryan, you need to go first. You need to say, I'm sorry. Would I think of this with my own?

No way, man. No way. I would double down on me every single time. I would be defensive. I would try to protect. I would try to be right. And the Holy Spirit is saying, Ryan, do you want to be right? Or do you want to be in a God-honoring relationship?

The question is, when? the Holy Spirit convicts, do you listen? When the Holy Spirit says you're walking out a step with what God has for you, will you listen? Consequences, conviction. And the third word is this. Condemnation. Condemnation. And this is Satan's language.

This is something we bind up and cast out in Jesus' name. Romans chapter 8, verse 1 says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8 continues on and says, What can separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus? The answer is nothing. There is no height. There is no depth. There is no famine.

There is no feast. There is no angel. There is no demon. There is nothing in my past. There is nothing in my present. And there is nothing in my future that can separate me from the love of God that is mine in Christ Jesus. The question is not, does God love me. Of course he does.

The question is, will I trust his love over my immediate circumstance? Will I believe that he loves me? and trust him. The enemy whispers lies of condemnation and he'll say God doesn't actually love you. Is God's word actually true? Do you really need them? Do you really need him? You can do better on

your own. He begins to whisper these lies. You can't be forgiven of that. You can't be restored because of this. You've gone too far. You've done too much. That is a lie from the pit of hell. And it is not the language of the Father. And let me just encourage you today. My friends, I don't care where you've been. I don't care

what you've been through. If you have breath in your lungs. God's not done with you yet. God loves you and God has a purpose for your life and his plans for you to prosper you. His plans are to grow you. His plans are to set you on a path of freedom and life. God has a good plan for us. We reject the lives of condemnation in Jesus' name. Chapter of verse 3 says this, for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. I should probably get that tattoo to my face. What a verse. If for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. The apostle

Paul is warning of pride in the process of helping people pursue restoration in their relationship with God. Verse four, he says, let each one test his own work. What he's saying is don't get puffed up. You can hang around church long enough and you can start doing some, some of the, some things that are good, godly things, and you can start getting some notches on your church belt, and all of a sudden you can start thinking you're something. All the sudden, you can just start thinking that you got it figured out and you start using words like they and them. You start creating they, they're saying, well, they over there, and them over there, and you

start making up categories of people of which you're not one. May God grant us the grace is the church to never, ever, ever forget what it was like to be lost. May God grant us the grace as a church to not ever be people who think we're something when in fact we're nothing. I hope when you look around the Church of 1122, what you see is broken people being healed by a good God. I hope what you see is people who realize that they are sinners, but they have received

forgiveness by the grace of God. There are no perfect people here. There are only people who have been saved and forgiven and being restored into the relationship with God. And I hope you're one of them. And as a part of this church family, I hope what you see is truly a movement. for all people. And what we're trying to do here is to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. May we never become conceited or puffed up. Verse five, he says,

for each will have to bear his own load. He says, we don't compare ourselves to each other to try to lighten our load. Comparison is the killer of joy. Comparison is the killer of joy. That's true for Christians too. Verse six, he says, let the one who has taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. If you have a disciple group leader in your life, you have a You have a pastor who's done something and meant something significant to you. You have a leader, somebody who's invested and helped you grow in your relationship with Jesus. This week, I want to encourage you to thank them. Send them a note, send them a letter, send them a text message or an email, and let them know what God's up to in your life.

Share all good things with the ones who teach. We're to encourage one another. Verse 7, do not be deceived. God is not mocked. for whatever one sows that will he also reap. He is talking about how we participate in the local church. And this is probably the hardest hitting verse in the New Testament. Do not be deceived.

God is not mocked for whatever one soes that he will also reap. You know this to be true and I know this to be true. You can lie to me. You can lie to your friends. You can lie to your family. You can lie to your coworkers. We can even lie to ourselves. But we cannot lie to God.

He will not be mocked. whatever one sows he will reap for the one who sows to his own flesh verse eight will from the flesh reap corruption but the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life let me ask you this christian what are you sowing right now into this community of faith is this a place that you attend or is this a people that you belong to is this a place that you just show up or is this a people that you are pouring your life out into and for. If it's not this church, what church is it? What are you sowing right now into this community of faith? Pastor Jobi says all the time that when we think about faithfulness, oftentimes we just think of it in terms of right and wrong, and that's kind of the most

bottom shelf way to think about it, but it's much more than that, that Christian faithfulness and walking in tune with the Spirit of God is much more about life and death as a better way to think about it than right and wrong. It's not just a simple idea of morality. It's not just a simple idea of morality that it's about breathing and bringing life into things. And so we are either sowing life in the spirit or we are sowing death and corruption in the flesh. Those are the two choices that the New Testament give us. So the question we ask ourselves is, what are we sewing? Dr. Henry Cloud in one of his books called Necessary Endings, he says that there's three types of people in the world and in the church. There are wise people, there are foolish people

and they're evil people. Wise, foolish, and evil. This is a pretty brilliant advice. You say, okay, well, who is wise? Let's read this together quickly, James III. Who is wise in understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in humility that come from wisdom.

But if you have bitter jealousy, selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but it's earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. for where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there will be disorder in every vile practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is, first of all, pure, then peace-loving. Who is wise?

The peace-loving? Considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, good fruit, impartial and sincere, peacemakers who sow in peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. I want that to be on my tombstone one day by the grace of God. Here lies Ryan Britt. He was a peacemaker who sowed in peace and reaped a harvest of righteousness. The book of Proverbs is dedicated to this idea of the wise, the fool, and the evil. Who is the wise person? If you take James and Proverbs and mash them together, the wise person is this, is someone who is open to corrective feedback from the Holy Spirit of God and from Christians around them.

The wise person is open to corrective feedback, always learning and growing and humble submission. Who's the fool? Well, it's the opposite. It's the person who's not open to corrective feedback. The person who is always defensive, who resists help, even from those who love them most. And they actually see that help as offensive. They explain why it's never their fault and why it's always someone else's responsibility and not theirs. The Bible calls that person a fool.

And who's the evil person? The evil person is the person who wants to hurt others. So inside the local church, as we're pursuing, restoring one another into relationships, with God through the spirit of gentle, the wise people, we want to talk to them as often as we can. We want to listen to them. We want to be surrounded with Christian wisdom. The fool, we talk to them. We talk about consequences.

We want them to learn the lessons that pain in their life is trying to teach them. We pray for them. We walk alongside and try to help bury some burdens, but we don't get sucked in. We keep watch on ourselves. We talk to them about consequences, hoping that they'll learn the lessons God's trying to teach. And the evil people, we stay away from them. of course we pray for our enemies, but anybody who would try to hurt the church at the advancement of the kingdom of God, we either stay away from them or we stand up to him in Jesus' name.

Wise, the foolish, and the evil. Verse 9, it says this, and I'll close with this. It says, and let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are the household of faith. verse nine, don't grow weary, don't give up. Maybe you're here today and you walk in with a little spiritual fatigue. You've got one more, somebody that you've been praying for for a long time. And you're just not seeing anything happen. They haven't surrendered their life to Jesus yet. And you're asking, you're seeking, and you're knocking. And you're just a little spiritually

fatigued. You're just a little tired. Let me encourage you today, my friend. Do not grow weary and doing good. Do not give up. For in due season, we will reap. Maybe you're here and you're one of our serve staff. We have incredible serve teams all over our church, thousands and thousands of people who do what the Apostle Paul says in verse 10. They prioritize, it says, let us do good to everyone as we have opportunity, especially to those who are the household of faith. So we have thousands of people that serve in this local church every weekend. Maybe you're one of them. Maybe you've been serving with one more generation, our kids and our student ministry, and you've been pouring your life into them and trying to disciple them in the gospel. And you're not seeing the sanctification needle move

quite as fast as you would like. You're not seeing the fruit of the spirit grow quite as quickly as you would want to. And you're a little frustrated. Let me remind you. Let me encourage you. Do not grow weary of doing good. For in due season, we will reap if we do not give up. Maybe you're here and showing up is just hard. I'm glad you're here. Maybe you're a caretaker. You've got an aging parent or there's sickness in your house and your entire life is probably poured out in the most selfless way imaginable.

And you're tired, you're burned out, you're frustrated. You're kind of at, you're at wits' end. Let me just encourage you today, brother. Let me encourage you, sister, with this, do not grow weary of doing good. For in due season, we will reap if we do not give us. Maybe you're a marketplace leader. You work in a position of influence, and you've been holding it down for Christian integrity, and you've been holding it down for Christian values, and you've been standing up against evil people

that would seek to harm others, and you're tired, and you're burned out, and you're thinking, I just need to do something different. I just need to walk away. And when you would be walking away from is all this influence and all this credibility that you've built over years and years and years. let me encourage you today, do not grow weary of doing good. For in due season, we will reap if we do not give up. Verse 10, so then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

This is not an encouragement, it's a command. He says, as we have opportunity, and you and I, we have opportunity today. There is an opportunity for you to walk in line with the spirit of God, to live on purpose, to walk out being a disciple-making disciple, to pour your life out for the sake of others, to advance God's kingdom through the local church, through this local church. And maybe you're here,

and today the next step for you would be for you to sign up and start serving others in Jesus' name. Maybe it's join a group and start showing up and investing in relationships and helping bear one another's burdens. Maybe it's signing up to serve

in our one more generation, our kids and our student ministry. Maybe it's becoming a part of our care team. one of the things that that fills my heart the most about the church of 1122 is that we have an incredible serve team called our care team and we have like 40 or 50 pastors and we have 10 tens of thousands of people who call 1122 home so there's just no way 40 or 50 pastors can care for all the people that we in the way that we would want to and so we've got people in our church who have stepped up and said I want to help care for others I want to bear one another's burdens I want to learn how to listen well I want to learn how to actually help people without hurt them and they've gone through a process and now they're a part of what our care team is. They have blue badges all around and maybe today that's the call that God has on your life is for you to step in and become one of our care team members to start caring for others and bearing burdens with other people in this household of faith.

Maybe you're here today and you're like, I'm just, I'm just not in that place, but I am in a place where I'm hurting. I'm in a place where I'm tired. I'm in a place where I feel beat up and I need somebody to help me carry my burdens. If that's you, you can get your phone out right now and you can text the word care to 4411 and 22, and one of our care team members will reach out to you, and they will be a friend to you in the name of Jesus and help you take next steps. So what's your next step? If God's purpose in our life is for us to make disciples and to sow into this community of faith, to bear one another's

burdens, to restore people unto a relationship with God and the spirit of gentleness and the context of the local church as we have opportunity, what's the opportunity God put in front of you today? If you want to learn more about serving here and you want to learn more about investing your life as a part of this church, you can text the word served to 44, 11, 22, and it's got all the information you would ever want to know. I'm going to close with this. In the Bible, there's a metaphor. We first run into it in Ecclesiastes chapter 1. In Ecclesiastes chapter 1, the King Solomon, who at this point in time was the wealthiest person that had ever lived.

He was the wisest man that ever lived on the earth. And he writes the book of Ecclesiastes. the first chapter, he says this, he says, I've done it all. I've seen it all. I've been all the places. I've done all the things. I've built all the houses. I got more money than anybody in the history of the world. He said, there's not one desire of the flesh that I have denied myself. This brother had a thousand women, 300 wives and 700 concubines. There's not one ounce of the flesh that he is not satisfied. He says, I've done it all. And here's what I've learned in my life is that I've gotten to the end of having all of these possessions of me

satisfying the flesh. And here's what I've learned is that it's the vanity of vanities is what he says. He says, it's like I'm chasing the wind. There's got to be more than this. And then Jesus talks about a different wind. Not the wind of the currents of our world that are me, mine, and more. It's a different wind. Nicodemus comes to Jesus in John chapter three and Nicodemus is a Pharisee and he comes to Jesus at night and He says, Jesus, how can a man inherit eternal life? And Jesus looks back at him and says, if you want to inherit eternal life, you have to be born again. And Nicodemus goes, that doesn't make any sense.

I can't climb back up in my mother's womb. That's weird. What are you talking about? And Jesus says, a man must be born of water and of spirit if they want to inherit eternal life. And Nicodemus is like, I don't understand what you're saying. And Jesus says this. He says, Nicodemus, the wind blows where it wishes.

nobody knows where it's coming from and nobody knows where it's going and so it is with the kingdom of God there is a fresh wind blowing on the earth it is the wind of repentance it is the wind of the wind of surrender it is the wind of grace and of life and of purpose it is the wind of joy and of gentleness and of faithfulness it is the wind of the peace of the kingdom of God the kingdom of God the Spirit of God is at work on the earth. The question that we ask ourselves today is, which wind are we chasing? Are we chasing the winds of this world, or are we chasing the wind of the kingdom of God? The invitation of grace has made known to us that God wants for us to stay in line with the spirit, to trust him every step of the way, and to do what he says. Let me pray for us. Father, we love you.

We thank you for your kindness in our lives. We thank you that you have given us opportunity and I pray that my friends here today would seize that opportunity to bear one another's burdens to care for others as a part of this household of faith. Father, I pray that you would help us. Maybe somebody's here

and they're trapped in a habitual pattern of sin and on a downward spiral. God, would you convict their hearts today and would right now be the moment that they would step away from that, lay it down at the feet of Jesus in return, to your best for their life.

They would return to the plan that you have for them and be reminded of the love that you have for them. God, whatever Holy Spirit it is you want us to do, we ask that you would give us the faith, the clarity, and the conviction to do it. And as we respond to the good news of the gospel, Father, we pray that you would do such a work in us that we would be different than when we came.

And that as we sing and as we bring and as we pray, Father, we pray that you would be glorified and that you get all the credit for the good that happens in this place. We love you more than anything in the world. We pray all these things in the name of Jesus and all God's people said. Amen. Amen. We're going to respond like we always do.

We're going to sing. We're going to say true things about God. We're going to bring our first and best through ties and offerings because Jesus is God's first and best given to us and then we're going to pray. We'd invite you to come to the altars. Pray maybe today is the day where you lay it down and you are reminded of God's love. Maybe you're here to pray for someone else. We're going to sing, we're going to bring, we're going to pray.

We invite you to come as we respond. Would you stand with me? Let's respond.