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Nov. 7, 2023

Grace Over Effort: Unpacking the Old and New Covenant

Grace Over Effort: Unpacking the Old and New Covenant
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CityLight NYC Church
This episode will change your perspective on faith, by exploring the essential difference between living under the old covenant, rooted in human effort, versus the new covenant, a grace-filled life where God's approval is already ours. We discuss the dangers of mixing the two covenants and how the old covenant breeds insecurity and a performance mentality, while the new covenant provides freedom to enjoy our relationship with God.
 
Strap yourself in as we dig deeper, examining the implications of living under the old law versus the new covenant, and how grace disrupts our innate human belief that good actions yield good results. We will marvel at the infinite goodness of God, especially when we're at our lowest, and explore the incredible power of grace and God's unwavering love, despite our failings and transgressions. Let's delve into the mystery of the Trinity, its unity, and the profound significance of Jesus' statement that looking at the Father equates to looking at Him. 
 
This episode is packed with profound insights and life-changing revelations - an unforgettable deep dive into the heart of our faith. Don't miss out!
Transcript
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The more time you spend with him and a place of boldness, you'll realize that it doesn't matter at all what other people think.

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You'll realize it doesn't matter.

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The only one you need to live for is the Lord.

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The only one you need to please is the Lord.

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Listen, it is vital in the season that we're moving in as a world, as a country, as a Christian people, at a pivotal time, that the fear of man be broken off of you.

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In Jesus' name.

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Welcome to the City Light Church podcast.

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Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us.

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If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at CityLightNYCcom.

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That's CityLightNYCcom.

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Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds.

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As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by his grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you.

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We're in Galatians, chapter four.

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I believe this is part five because some chapters have been split up into two messages, but we're in Galatians, chapter four.

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We're in the middle of this series called Clash of the Covenants, because it is vital, it is foundational.

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It is absolutely a necessity that we know what covenant, what arrangement we have with God.

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And there is an old covenant, there is a new covenant and you must pick one that you want to live under.

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And you cannot mix the covenants.

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And that's what you find most often in the church A little bit of the old, a little bit of the new.

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Come up with your own non-biblical, confused covenant and then wonder why prayers aren't getting answered, wonder why you feel distant from God, wonder why you feel shame, guilt and condemnation, wonder why you're walking civil war and there's no peace and you never feel at rest in your relationship with the Lord.

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The answer is you haven't fully discovered grace yet.

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You're living under mixture.

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And the whole of Galatians is Paul trying to wake the Galatians up who started off in grace.

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But very quickly the Judaizers came who added to the completed work of Jesus, because the gospel is Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

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Judaizers come in and they bring in mixture and they say well, jesus, plus stuff that you do equals everything.

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Well, you don't have to do anything, he already did it all.

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He cried out it is finished, paid in full as far as your salvation goes.

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You don't have to lift a finger.

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Hallelujah, amen.

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So I used to read Galatians in my late teens, early 20s, before the Lord opened my eyes to Galatians.

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I had a really hard time getting into it.

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The gospel is I got into because Jesus is speaking to you right where you are.

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You can always and the words of Christ in red and I mean it's all the word of God.

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But sometimes as a teenager, and you really say you just want to read those words in red and they're like water to your soul.

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But then I get to Galatians and Paul's talking about these Judaizers and they want him to circumcise people.

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And I'm sorry but I couldn't relate to that problem.

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Feel me, and there's nobody here in 2023 chasing you around, going.

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You got to get circumcised in order to be accepted by Christ and I'm going.

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What's?

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Some guys are cringing at me right now Just the very mention of it.

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I believe he used that example of circumcision not because that was.

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It's a metaphor for mixing of the covenants.

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But that face, that should be the face, a cringe, like what I have to do.

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What now?

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You're telling me?

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Jesus didn't do it all, and so I couldn't relate until I realized the Judaizers are everywhere.

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It wasn't a first century problem, it's an everyday problem.

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A Judaizer could be a person, could be a church, could be a doctrine.

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Oftentimes, most often, it's the voice of our own head.

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A Judaizer tells you that you, you, oh, god, something, and that you have to help out with salvation, that you have to add to the already completed work of the cross, because the whole Old Testament, the whole system of the law there was an emphasis on you, on me, hint.

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That's why it didn't work.

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It always failed because it depended on humans.

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Have you discovered yet that humans tend to fail in trying to please God?

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So the whole old system of the law was based on you working really hard, trying to keep religious, trying to keep holy crossing every T, dotting every I in an attempt to get God's righteousness, in an attempt to be found approved before God.

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Yet you always failed.

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Why?

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Because if you're guilty in breaking the law in one part, you're guilty of breaking the entirety of the law.

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It's a rough system.

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It's like you write a 5,000 word essay it's perfect, it's brilliant, but one comma you put in the wrong place.

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Your points are awesome, your spelling is immaculate, Sentence structure one.

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You put a comma in the wrong place and you get an F on the test.

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That's what it's like to live under the law, Under grace.

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However, living on the right side of the cross, you're not endeavoring to gain God's approval with your own self effort.

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You already have all of God's approval.

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You have all of your sins forgiven.

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You are adopted into the family of God, not based on what you do or can't ever do, but based on what already Jesus has done in the past 2,000 years ago for you Living under the law, living under the old covenant.

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It breeds insecurity.

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It breeds a performance mentality.

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You can never enjoy God, you can never rest.

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You always got to work for him and you're only as good as your last work.

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So you got to constantly impress him, you got to show up.

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It's a torturous relationship.

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This is why people run away from the church, because eventually they just all tuckered out.

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And it's no different from paganism.

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We do missions trip to Guatemala, where they're new Christians.

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They used to be pagans, they used to.

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They're the Mayan and they carry that mentality into their Christianity, where they're constantly trying to and appease an unappeasable deity.

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And it's exhausting, torturous.

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Under the new covenant you have rest, amen.

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Yet, because that is the cross of Jesus and the grace that affords us.

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That's the foundation for all that we do.

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This is why the enemy attacks it so much and this is why Judaizers will come.

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Judaizers are covenant mixers.

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They want you to get up from under grace and assume more responsibility.

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But really it sounds noble, doesn't it?

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But when you do that, you now move away from grace and, according to the very words of Paul, you nullify the grace of God.

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So pick a covenant and decide to live exclusively under that covenant.

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Hint, I would pick the new one, since that's what Jesus came to install and that's what he bled for.

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Amen, hallelujah.

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So let's continue in Galatians.

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We'll start in chapter four.

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That's where we are, and Paul had just finished telling us that we're heirs of God, that we're adopted into the very family of God.

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He explained that the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ.

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Why was the law our tutor to bring us to Christ?

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He said.

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Well, I would not have known sin if it wasn't for the law.

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The law didn't say don't do that, and I then did it.

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I realized I have a sin nature.

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I realized I'm powerless against it.

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And so the law shows you up.

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It's like a giant magnifying glass and an x-ray, and it detects sin in your life.

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What's the point of that?

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For us, as people, to realize that we're powerless.

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We are powerless too.

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Stop sinning.

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We're in and of ourselves.

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We're powerless to change our own lives around, and we're powerless in and of ourselves to receive any kind of forgiveness.

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We're lost, and so you get to the end of yourself.

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You know, to get saved or to get to the end of yourself, the doorway to salvation is one of humility.

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So you got to get to the end of yourself and realize I cannot do what's required of me.

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For many people the gospel doesn't open up until they realize that you have to be perfect to gain entrance into heaven Perfect, sin free.

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Whenever I explain that to someone and they get it, they all have the same look of horror on their face.

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Then quickly they look at me like, well, you're perfect, you know.

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And then I have to explain to them no, experientially, in and of myself, I'm not perfect, but I have been perfectly forgiven.

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You have been perfectly forgiven.

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You've been given God's right standing.

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You've been justified, pronounced, not guilty.

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All of your sins, past, present and future, have been taken out of the way.

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You have non-imputation of sin.

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You have been imputed the very righteousness of God.

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And so that's how you're heaven bound, because when God looks at you, he cannot find one speck or a Yoda of sin in you.

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It's beautiful, isn't it?

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Hallelujah, it takes the pressure off, yeah.

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And guess what?

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When the pressure comes off, you then live for Christ, when you truly get grace, you know, from the inside out, empowered by the engine of the Holy Spirit, the, the energio in the Greek, the energizing power of the Holy Spirit.

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What a difference that is when you just yield to him and now your spirit led.

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You're not trying to be religious, trying to be a good person, trying really hard to abstain from sin.

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Those people are miserable.

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You know they are.

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I tell you who knows they are.

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You talk to the world.

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They know they are.

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That's what they think of Christians, because they don't meet too many freed ones like you.

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Hallelujah Paul says.

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Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave.

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You have to establish that you are an heir, and this is under Greek and Roman rule.

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In the wealthy family, the young heir would have a tutor.

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I remember the law was our tutor, a tutor or guardian.

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Think of it as private school, but one on one, and this tutor or guardian would really stay close to the young child and train them and develop them and teach them, and oftentimes this child didn't have a lot of freedom.

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That's what he meant by.

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He's no different than a slave.

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He had to go through the process of being tutored.

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As long as he's a child, it's not different at all from a slave, though in reality, he's master of all, but he's under guardians and stewards until the time this is great until the time appointed by the father.

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Today we have this arbitrary age 18, right, it doesn't matter where the kid is in their development at 18.

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Because society says they're old enough, get out the house, right?

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That wasn't so back in that culture.

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It was an appointed time of the father.

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The father said it might be 16 if you're really mature.

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It might be 25 if you're you know.

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It was the appointed time of the father.

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He decided when that child was an adult.

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Verse three even so, when we were children, we were in bondage.

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This is so key here.

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He's saying when we were children.

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When we were children was when we were under the law, under the system of law Remember the system of law you as a hamster on a wheel trying to get God's approval, but always failing, never, ever resting because there was no finished work at the cross.

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He's saying we were in bondage under the elements of the world.

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That is the Greek tastocia to kosmu.

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This is I'm not trying to be fancy and show off my Greek.

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This is so important because when Paul said elements of the world, everybody knew immediately what he was talking about.

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He used this phrase tastocia Stocia is a word that's found all over the Greek language, but especially when Plato was teaching little children the ABCs.

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And tastocia to kosmu is the ABCs of the universe.

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What are the ABCs of the universe?

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Paul says we were in bondage under the ABCs of the universe.

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Tastocia to kosmu that is something that all of his listeners would have immediately understood.

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This is something that Jews believed, greeks believed, romans believed.

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Anyone on any continent, in any culture, innately believes this.

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And that's this you do good, you get good, you do bad, you get bad.

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Most people believe this today.

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Right, if someone totally secular would call it karma.

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Or you break the golden rule, bad things happen and grace flies in the face of this.

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Grace is the exact opposite of this.

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You got to get that.

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This is not how.

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God is, while we were yet sinners, in total rebellion to God, our backs turned to him.

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There is none that seeks after him, there is none that desires.

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Before we came to Jesus, we didn't want him, we didn't love him, we loved our sin.

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But yet, while we were still sinners, christ died for the ungodly.

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When we were at our worst, christ came for us and it's not just at the cross.

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Still he does this over and over again that when you're at your lowest, when you're at your worst, when you've done bad, he'll come and give you good.

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So much so that Paul had to address this several times in the New Testament.

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Because warped people really that's us all.

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People will then look at that and go, wow, god is like so good, so can I do bad that even more good will come.

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So everyone always goes so quiet when I.

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this is a real thing, you know.

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Every single one of you have thought this as you're being immersed in grace.

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I'm preaching it to you straight.

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There is no fine print.

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There is no nuance here.

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God is infinitely good, and God is way better to us than we are to him.

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He's way better to us than we are to ourselves.

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And some of my greatest personal breakthroughs listen, the greatest things that have come to me were not at the end of a 40-day fast, at the end of praying three hours.

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I've done all those things, but the vast majority of things that I will boast about that the Lord did for me.

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They didn't come then.

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They came when I was in the gutter.

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They came after a stupid mistake, after I did something I shouldn't have done, after I made some idiotic, just faux pas and I'm like, oh man, I'm just such a mess up.

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And then God comes and goes.

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I love you and I don't give you bad for bad, I give you good for bad and what that does.

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Then now I'm on the floor in a puddle of my own tears and God is all right, we're going to pick you up, we're going to patch you up and I can watch you a present.

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Look what I have for you.

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I'm like I will serve you forever.

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That is grace.

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That is how God operates and that is completely opposite of to stoichiya, to kosumu, the ABCs of the universe.

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This is why so many people don't get the gospel.

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They don't get Jesus because they're approaching it in the way they've been trained by their parents, by school, by society, and that you mess up.

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Uh oh, the chickens are going to come home to roost now.

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When's the other shoe going to drop?

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That's when the Lord loves, loves to show himself better to you than you are to him.

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And the point isn't then you experience that a few times.

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You'll get that question wow, maybe the Lord doesn't mind sin.

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You know, he's just so awesome to me to yeah, he does, his blood, takes in away.

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His standard is holiness and no, we don't.

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Then sin, the grace should abound.

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Paul said God forbid.

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But what that does, and this is how a relationship with the Lord is built.

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When you meet someone and they're in love with God, you know why they're so in love with God.

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It's not because they live their life so perfectly, it's because they didn't.

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And over and over and over again.

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God still came to them and loved them.

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That is grace and that is what our love for him is founded on.

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And if I have this testimony, you're a better person than me.

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Maybe you don't, maybe your testimony's.

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I got saved and I've just been flawless ever since.

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Awesome.

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But yet you were born in sin and while you were still a sinner, turning your back on God.

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Christ died for the ungodly Amen and you're saved under the ABCs of the universe.

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Can you see how this is totally different than every faith system in the world, totally different than every religious?

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And the reason why people reject the Lord is because they've been given this false version of Christianity that's in line with the ABCs of the universe.

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This is why people will get saved, mess up and then run from church because they feel like they've messed up.

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They can never come back to the Lord again.

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Meanwhile, the Father is there with open arms saying come back to me.

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Who are you going to do to me when I come back?

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Here's what I'm going to do.

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I'm going to love you so much, I'm going to bless you so much that you will never, ever think of turning your back on me again.

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Do you think?

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When that younger brother came back to the Father, do you think he wasted any more of his money?

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I guarantee you the parable of the prodigal son.

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That father had one obedient son after that.

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I'm telling you right now he's overwhelmed with the love of the Father.

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We were in bondage under the L.

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So the law is the ABCs.

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The system of the law is the ABCs of the universe.

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Do bad, get bad, do good, get good.

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Verse five to redeem those.

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Oh, but when the fullness.

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Verse four but when the fullness of the time had come.

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I study this in the Greek out also, and it means at the right time.

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In case you're wondering what the fullness of the time was so much funnier in the first service, you ever ask yourself why did Jesus come when he came?

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Well, here's the biblical answer it was the right time.

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It was the fullness of the time.

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But it also fell in line with Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks, which almost everyone agrees was 490 years.

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So he came at the right time to fulfill biblical prophecy.

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And even if you don't believe any of that, in all of human history there was a never a better time for God to come as man than that time when he came, the Roman Empire had taken control of most of the then known world.

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They built roads, they built bridges, they established trade systems and commerce so that, when Jesus did come, that's how the gospel and the good news could spread in the most efficient way At that point in history.

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And that's when he came, god and his infinite wisdom, and that's what made it the fullness of the time.

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God sent amen, right.

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God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law.

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Under the law, you were not a son, paul said.

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Under the system of law, you were a slave.

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This is why Paul is going crazy.

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When I say crazy, I mean all emotional.

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It kind of loses it.

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It's the most unhinged.

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You see, paul, because you have these Galatians, who were slaves.

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Then they became set free in Christ, not relying on themselves but receiving the unmerited favor that comes from the Lord through Christ Jesus.

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And then the Judaizers come in and start adding works and mixing the two covenants and they immediately go back to being a slave.

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And Paul is saying what Does this make sense to you?

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Who has hypnotized you?

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I know silly Galatians, right, we do this nonsense all the time we do it all the time.

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You gauging your relationship with the Lord by how you feel.

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You feeling like you always got to perform so that he would love you and approve of you.

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You're mixing the covenants.

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No, you're not running off to get circumcised as an adult, but it's the same thing.

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You now think you have to do something to gain God's approval.

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You don't have to do anything.

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You have to be in Christ To redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons.

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And why this is so important is because they understood that when you were adopted when we get this in America today but it wasn't always the case, but under Roman times, even in the first century, it was the case when you were adopted, you had the same rights and privileges as the natural born heir.

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Yeah, oh yeah, take that to its fullest conclusion.

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You have the same rights as privileges as Jesus.

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That's why in the book of Hebrews it calls Jesus your brother.

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You're all children in the family of God.

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And show me where there's a distinction made.

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Of course, jesus is God and we worship him, but as far as our standing before the Father, we're all in the family of God.

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Can we go back to verse four?

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I wanna make sure I, that's five, four please.

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I wanna make sure I said God said four, but one of a woman under the law.

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We're good To redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

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And because you are sons, god has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out Abba, father, this is key.

23:37.582 --> 23:44.243
It's a key because you will know if you're mixing the covenants, you will know if you're falling into the same trap as the Galatians.

23:44.343 --> 23:52.868
You know what a good metric for it is your level of boldness, your level of boldness before God and then your level of boldness before man.

23:55.003 --> 23:56.460
Alexander Dowie said something.

23:56.641 --> 23:58.027
I learned about it in Bible school.

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I've kept it all these years.

24:00.161 --> 24:04.547
Alexander Dowie is where the original healing rooms that Pastor Mo leads came from.

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It was then from him, john G Lake in South Africa, and to this day healing rooms continue.

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He said this sin makes cowards out of men.

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When you don't know, you're totally forgiven.

24:16.700 --> 24:18.005
You're a coward on the inside.

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You can see it in the way people approach God, like an old worm coming up to the throne.

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There's no passion, there's no boldness.

24:25.860 --> 24:26.462
They're afraid.

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They don't even wanna pray long.

24:28.481 --> 24:32.263
They're afraid if they spend more than 10 seconds in the presence of God, a lightning bolt will come and strike them.

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They come in.

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God, please give me X, y, z and peace out, amen, before anything bad happens.

24:40.541 --> 24:44.107
And then they're always worried about what people think, what they don't have any boldness before man.

24:44.500 --> 24:47.650
But the Bible says the righteous are as bold as a lion.

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When you know who you are, when you know your identity in Jesus, there is a boldness, there is a cry.

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Cry doesn't mean boohoohoo.

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When the Bible talks about boohoohoo it says weep.

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But over and over again, for example, people cried to the Lord, son of David, have mercy on me.

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It means you speak loudly and passionately.

25:13.220 --> 25:21.929
So when you receive the spirit of his son, you're not some timid Mickey Mouse, maybe Pamby Christian, wondering who you are.

25:22.360 --> 25:25.629
Oh, father, you know, if you want, if it be your will.

25:26.460 --> 25:28.688
This is the first thing that shocked me when I got saved.

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I was terrified of praying.

25:30.224 --> 25:38.841
I talked to the creator oh, and my first day saved with the Christians and they're praying and they're talking to him like he's a friend and they're speaking loud and I'm going.

25:40.867 --> 25:43.446
Do you remember the first time, if you weren't raised in Christianity.

25:43.540 --> 25:45.964
The first time you heard Christians pray, my mind was blown.

25:46.620 --> 25:48.346
I was like they talk to God as though he's a friend.

25:49.340 --> 25:51.607
They talk to God with no filter.

25:52.380 --> 25:54.227
They just seem comfortable in his presence.

25:54.700 --> 25:57.507
You know, in religious people, come on, you can't get too familiar, can't get too.

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They always want to create a distance.

25:59.160 --> 26:05.348
No, he's your dad, he's your heavenly father, and you now have the spirit of his son.

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And there is a cry, there is boldness, and it'll manifest in every area of your life.

26:11.780 --> 26:25.984
First, with the Lord, you'll know you can come to him whenever, however, and then you'll realize, the more time you spend with him and a place of boldness, you'll realize that it doesn't matter at all what other people think.

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You'll realize it doesn't matter.

26:28.660 --> 26:30.808
The only one you need to live for is the Lord.

26:31.200 --> 26:33.308
The only one you need to please is the Lord.

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And then the fear of man breaks off.

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Listen, it is vital, in the season that we're moving in, as a world, as a country, as a Christian people, at a pivotal time, that the fear of man be broken off of you, in Jesus' name.

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It is crucial.

26:54.280 --> 27:00.905
Something will happen where the masses will say oh, this is how we should think, this is how we should go.

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And you need to be the person going uh-uh and they'll call you every name in the book and they'll say you're wicked, and they'll say you don't have enough love, you don't have enough compassion, whatever.

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And if you know biblically that's not the way to go, you need to be the one guy saying, mm-mm, I don't care what it costs me, I won't live by lies.

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That is not the truth.

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I'm following my Savior, amen, hallelujah.

27:29.980 --> 27:34.584
As a PS, can we just put a pen and clash of the covenants and grace verse law?

27:35.120 --> 27:36.846
I just, as a PS, just look at that verse.

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It's so beautiful.

27:38.221 --> 27:40.929
He says God has sent forth the spirit of his son.

27:42.240 --> 27:51.082
There was a lot of words, a lot of names for Holy Spirit that Paul uses, that other writers use that, for whatever reason we just don't use too much in the church.

27:51.720 --> 27:59.369
We always call him Holy Spirit, but Paul called him the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of liberty, the spirit of his son.

28:01.540 --> 28:02.484
Why is that important?

28:04.080 --> 28:04.762
It's important.

28:07.028 --> 28:12.988
It's important because too often we separate the Godhead to a fault.

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I understand that God has manifested in three persons.

28:18.600 --> 28:25.208
I believe there is a trinity, but I also believe there is a unity, and sometimes almost bordering on paganism.

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People separated and they've moved away from a monotheistic faith and it's like they have three separate gods and the Holy Spirit is in third place, like he's not that involved.

28:35.560 --> 28:37.367
Yeah, he kind of comes later in the Bible, in Acts.

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He makes people speak in funny languages and he does a few miracles.

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He's been present since Genesis, hovering over the water.

28:45.420 --> 28:48.229
You know, in creation you see the entire Godhead.

28:48.340 --> 28:57.210
You see the Father speak, the word, that's Jesus, while the Holy Spirit is merahepithing in the Hebrew, hovering like a mother hen over her chicks over the water.

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And when the word met the spirit, creation happened.

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You know where else.

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You see him At the crucifixion.

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What do you think the Holy Spirit was doing at the crucifixion?

29:06.940 --> 29:08.567
Kicking back in heaven, waiting for his time.

29:08.620 --> 29:16.705
On the day of Pentecost the Bible says that Jesus offered himself up through the uses another title for him the eternal spirit.

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The Holy Spirit was right there and the sacrifice of Jesus was received by the Father because it was offered through the eternal spirit.

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And here the Holy Spirit is called the spirit of his son and the Holy Spirit is in another place called the spirit of the Lord, is it possible that Jesus is the Holy Spirit?

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Yes, are they separate?

29:40.600 --> 29:40.761
Yes.

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Does this make sense to your carnal mind?

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No, welcome to my world.

29:48.826 --> 29:58.286
No, I want to say this to you because I used to be able to beautifully describe the Trinity when I was 25 years old and fresh out of Bible college Really new.

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And then, the older I get, the more I pour into the scripture and the more I meet God, the quieter I am.

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I just go, lord.

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There's some things I mean I get it, but I don't get it.

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And there's some things.

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There's some things that I'm only really gonna get when I stand before you.

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Amen.

30:18.260 --> 30:25.271
But I am convinced too many people separate them out, and when, to the detriment.

30:25.914 --> 30:30.906
When the apostle John appeared in the book of Revelation, he said I saw the one sitting on the throne.

30:31.721 --> 30:40.311
To some people they would say I saw the three sitting on the throne, I saw the one one, god manifested in three persons.

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Focus also on the unity as much as you do the Trinity.

30:45.525 --> 30:46.408
Why is that important?

30:46.520 --> 30:59.250
It's important because when you ask for the Holy Spirit to come, it's not some other guy, it's the spirit of Jesus, it's his spirit, it's Jesus, the spirit of the Lord.

30:59.740 --> 31:03.908
When you talk to the Father, you're not talking to the stern, disciplinarian part of God.

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Jesus said you see the Father, you see me, you see me.

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You see the Father, we're one.

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This will help you.

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Amen, hallelujah.

31:15.600 --> 31:16.444
Let's go to verse seven.

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Therefore, you are no longer a slave.

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What does being a slave mean Under the system of law?

31:24.280 --> 31:25.325
But now you're a son.

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When are you a son?

31:26.720 --> 31:28.145
When you're completely under grace.

31:29.080 --> 31:30.105
Wow, this sounds important.

31:30.160 --> 31:32.048
I should do a whole series on Galatians.

31:32.120 --> 31:33.905
So people are no longer slaves, but sons.

31:34.969 --> 31:35.290
Amen.

31:36.881 --> 31:38.046
Then and ere.

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Oh, this is so.

31:39.804 --> 31:48.044
Why are you all so in such a hurry back there, always in a hurry, I'm not blown through this.

31:48.980 --> 31:50.426
Then and ere of God.

31:53.840 --> 31:54.584
Brian, was it like that?

31:54.624 --> 31:56.990
In college the professor had the little clicker in his?

31:57.010 --> 31:57.734
Remember that guy?

31:57.774 --> 32:01.809
He had the little and then he would be like next slide, I'm gonna get one of those little clickers for the verses.

32:04.760 --> 32:09.948
I'm just I wouldn't trade my media team blessings for anything.

32:12.220 --> 32:13.044
No clicker here.

32:17.300 --> 32:19.724
The Bible calls you heirs, right, listen, listen, listen.

32:20.300 --> 32:25.687
A good question, right, if the Bible says you're in there, a good question asked is what am I in ere of?

32:26.960 --> 32:27.884
What did I inherit?

32:29.800 --> 32:31.987
Testament is like last will and testimony.

32:32.700 --> 32:35.429
The new Testament shows you what you're in ere of.

32:37.024 --> 32:38.249
We never really talk about that.

32:38.702 --> 32:39.706
What did you inherit?

32:41.220 --> 32:43.468
He said well, I guess, forgiveness of sins, yeah.

32:45.420 --> 32:53.107
Healing in my body, yes, friendship with God, yes, prosperity financial, to be clear.

32:53.287 --> 32:55.486
So when I say prosperity, you don't think like soul prosperity.

32:55.780 --> 32:58.586
Yes, soul prosperity, pocketbook prosperity.

33:00.771 --> 33:13.588
When I talk about money, I try to say it in the most offensive way possible, to ruffle feathers yes, financial prosperity, but really that's just the fruit.

33:13.668 --> 33:14.250
What's the root?

33:14.840 --> 33:15.462
It's right there.

33:16.245 --> 33:17.048
What did you inherit?

33:17.380 --> 33:20.386
It's not what did you inherit, it's whom did you inherit?

33:21.120 --> 33:23.027
You're an heir of God.

33:23.820 --> 33:27.290
Your inheritance is God himself.

33:28.060 --> 33:29.606
He's given himself to you.

33:30.500 --> 33:32.527
How did you get such an inheritance?

33:33.040 --> 33:37.550
Jesus' blood paid for you to be an heir.

33:38.740 --> 33:40.506
Your portion is God.

33:42.100 --> 33:43.184
You belong to him.

33:44.700 --> 33:45.986
But he says I now belong to you.

33:46.140 --> 33:48.147
Do you understand the depth and beauty of this covenant?

33:48.540 --> 33:56.443
This is why, in the song of Solomon, the bride to be cries out I am my beloved and my beloved is mine, woo.

33:56.544 --> 33:57.807
I felt the anointing on that.

33:59.621 --> 34:04.910
I belong to God, but because of the covenant, he belongs to me.

34:05.180 --> 34:06.565
He's my portion forever.

34:07.460 --> 34:08.344
He's my inheritance.

34:09.500 --> 34:11.947
You're an heir of God through Christ, verse 8.

34:13.700 --> 34:23.922
But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which, by nature, idols, pagan, false gods.

34:24.022 --> 34:27.090
You served those which by nature, are not gods.

34:28.480 --> 34:31.588
But now, after you have known God, verse 9.

34:33.000 --> 34:37.009
And then he corrects himself or rather, are known by God.

34:37.571 --> 34:38.272
Catch that, please.

34:38.740 --> 34:41.460
Just take a moment and read that.

34:41.460 --> 34:54.331
But now, after you have known God and Paul is dictating this, by the way, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, someone else is scribing it he says after you have known God, or rather are known by God.

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Why?

34:55.361 --> 34:58.670
Because it's actually much more important that God know you than you know him.

34:59.500 --> 35:05.949
Both are important, but first he has to know you, and we're in the process of knowing him.

35:06.740 --> 35:08.784
It's a journey, it's a lifelong journey.

35:09.380 --> 35:16.169
Paul said my determined purpose is to know him, but you won't really fully know him until you get there.

35:16.740 --> 35:18.206
And then it's just something so beautiful.

35:19.060 --> 35:28.412
In first or second John I forget which John but the epistles he says you will know him the same way you are known by him.

35:28.860 --> 35:29.643
Isn't that amazing?

35:30.600 --> 35:31.703
How are you known by God?

35:31.783 --> 35:35.191
Completely, thoroughly, fully and intimately?

35:35.211 --> 35:35.852
He knows everything.

35:36.220 --> 35:43.610
He knows what every cell in your body is doing right now and every thought you've ever had it says that when you stand before him you will know him, even as he knows you.

35:43.900 --> 35:44.604
Isn't that so awesome?

35:45.380 --> 35:51.248
But until then, we're just trying to bridge the gap, know him more and more so we're not totally shocked when we get to heaven.

35:52.020 --> 35:53.547
Some Christians are going to be so shocked.

35:53.660 --> 36:01.068
They'll get to heaven with the very basic faith in the blood of Jesus, but they have all these other preconceived ideas and notions of what God is like.

36:01.088 --> 36:01.911
They're going to get to heaven.

36:02.140 --> 36:03.807
It's going to be a giant jubilant party.

36:04.360 --> 36:08.871
God is going to have a big smile on his face and they'll go who is this A freak out?

36:09.582 --> 36:10.485
And then they'll get to know him.

36:11.300 --> 36:15.711
And then they'll be like I think that's the space of half an hour where there's total silence.

36:16.501 --> 36:23.225
You're going to be like you know, that stupid theology professor totally messed me up, told me all this stuff about God.

36:23.340 --> 36:24.347
He's nothing like this.

36:24.911 --> 36:26.080
Everybody will be quiet for half an hour.

36:26.160 --> 36:29.103
They'll be like well, glad that's done with, let's move on now for eternity.

36:33.960 --> 36:35.487
I mean, it's much more important that he know you.

36:35.660 --> 36:37.788
What you don't want to hear is depart from me.

36:37.880 --> 36:40.022
I never knew you and he knows you.

36:40.063 --> 36:43.016
When you say Jesus, I give you my life, jesus, come in.

36:43.558 --> 36:45.064
And then we go on the journey of knowing him.

36:46.100 --> 36:56.030
But now, after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements?

36:59.507 --> 37:05.000
The ABCs of the universe, the system of the law do good, get good, do bad, get bad.

37:05.301 --> 37:06.425
That's the system of the law.

37:07.080 --> 37:12.468
It flies in the face of grace, it's mixing the covenants.

37:13.450 --> 37:17.080
And Paul says how, after you've known the truth, you're now going backwards.

37:18.084 --> 37:19.188
You want to be in bondage.

37:19.420 --> 37:27.211
I know right, silly Galatians.

37:27.671 --> 37:28.693
How could they do such a thing?

37:29.620 --> 37:31.346
This is what we tend to do every single day.

37:32.780 --> 37:34.265
You take your eyes off of Jesus and who do?

37:34.285 --> 37:37.467
You put them on yourself and very quickly you'll find you don't measure up.

37:38.000 --> 37:44.563
And then in comes guilt, in comes shame, in comes condemnation, which brings that separation, and you're wracking your brain.

37:44.804 --> 37:46.289
Okay, I know what I have to do.

37:47.262 --> 37:48.065
Don't do anything.

37:48.680 --> 37:49.685
I need to go back to church.

37:49.900 --> 37:51.626
Yes, you do, but stop before you do that.

37:52.820 --> 37:53.562
That's not what you need to do.

37:53.602 --> 37:55.949
To get your right standing before God.

37:56.500 --> 38:09.685
You need to look to Jesus, confess Him as your Lord, talk to Him and then all that other stuff, but not to gain God's approval, but because you already have it and so much of Christianity is set up with.

38:09.826 --> 38:11.029
If this, then that.

38:12.221 --> 38:14.008
Like, if you do this, then God will do that.

38:14.180 --> 38:21.794
Like he's this easily manipulable person who you have to do, then he does something.

38:22.020 --> 38:22.984
No, it doesn't work that way.

38:25.082 --> 38:25.864
It doesn't work that way.

38:30.660 --> 38:41.581
All the stuff I've ever received, and God has been so good to me, none of it I deserved Almost always came at a time that I expected, not Hallelujah.

38:44.469 --> 38:48.749
And then there's times, right, long seasons of years praying hours a day.

38:48.960 --> 38:50.263
I mean living in the glory.

38:51.346 --> 38:52.770
I'm like nothing in the naturalist.

38:52.830 --> 38:53.371
Am I happy?

38:53.860 --> 38:57.249
Yeah, I have joy and speak, but nothing in my life is like really changing.

38:58.700 --> 38:59.182
Finance is the same.

38:59.202 --> 39:12.026
Living in the same place, emily, less broke, busted, disgusted, waiting for my Emily, and I'm like Lord, I'm doing all this stuff for you.

39:13.140 --> 39:13.884
That is my reward.

39:16.196 --> 39:21.560
And then he goes well, that is the reward you serving me enjoy.

39:22.061 --> 39:22.422
That is it.

39:24.977 --> 39:25.318
What is this?

39:25.378 --> 39:26.061
A transaction?

39:26.215 --> 39:40.881
I'm gonna pay you now for being and you go, oh, okay, and you mess up royally and you think now I'm definitely gonna lose and nothing good's gonna ever happen.

39:41.155 --> 39:48.685
And then God says to the angels all right, boys, back up the truck now, the truck of blessings and just dump it on him.

39:49.515 --> 39:50.098
And I'm like huh.

39:51.635 --> 39:53.261
Lord, you're really messing me up here.

39:53.715 --> 39:54.599
He goes that's what I do.

39:56.075 --> 40:01.500
I'm not like you and I'm not like people and I'm not like the ABCs of the universe and every other religious system.

40:02.215 --> 40:05.360
And now I'm sitting there under a mountain of blessings and what do you think?

40:05.380 --> 40:05.866
I'm thinking?

40:06.615 --> 40:16.424
I'm thinking, lord, you are so good, by your grace, I will serve you forever because you are so good, far better to me than I am to you.

40:17.066 --> 40:17.387
Amen.

40:20.475 --> 40:24.106
But they wanna go back to the weak and beggarly elements, to be in bondage.

40:24.175 --> 40:28.782
You observe days and months and seasons and years, so circumcision was just one of the things.

40:28.895 --> 40:30.741
They were trying to get them to keep the Sabbath.

40:32.035 --> 40:34.783
You know, certain holidays are exalted over other holidays.

40:36.175 --> 40:37.781
That's all a system of the law.

40:39.618 --> 40:50.881
Verse 12, brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you.

40:51.035 --> 40:53.363
And then he says you have not injured me at all.

40:54.115 --> 40:55.400
What is Paul saying here?

41:00.677 --> 41:06.194
He's saying, hey, when you're not injured, you're not injured, you're not injured.

41:06.355 --> 41:07.379
Paul is just saying this.

41:07.460 --> 41:09.741
He's saying, hey, we're gonna take a trip down memory lane.

41:10.015 --> 41:17.362
Look, you've seen Paul the apostle, paul the rebuke, and Paul has been very, very stern here, the sternest you'll ever see him in the scriptures.

41:18.195 --> 41:21.842
And now it's like he's like okay, let me just make a few things clear.

41:22.355 --> 41:23.501
You haven't injured me at all.

41:23.575 --> 41:29.185
In other words, I'm not writing you so sternly and rebuking you so harshly because you offended me.

41:30.555 --> 41:42.099
It's not like hey, by the way, I led you all to Jesus and then I left, and now you start listening to some other group adding to the finished work, adding to the gospel that I presented to you and I'm now jealous.

41:42.955 --> 41:44.681
So I'm really smacking you.

41:44.701 --> 41:54.700
Through this epistle he's not saying hey, let's just, let's go back down, let's go back, take a stroll down memory lane, review our relationship and let me just say you haven't injured me at all.

41:55.255 --> 42:02.121
Next verse you know that because of I don't even know where we are right now.

42:02.415 --> 42:04.242
Is that the right verse 13?

42:07.295 --> 42:13.343
Okay, you know that because of physical infirmity, I preached the gospel to you at first.

42:14.315 --> 42:20.725
Uh-oh, physical infirmity and my trial, which was in my flesh.

42:20.895 --> 42:22.642
You did not despise or reject.

42:22.755 --> 42:25.202
So Paul had this trial in his flesh.

42:26.595 --> 42:31.820
You did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

42:31.915 --> 42:36.480
He's reminding them of how tight they used to be, of how close they used to be.

42:37.235 --> 42:38.595
Remember, he's just, he's letting them know.

42:38.635 --> 42:42.183
Hey look, I know I've been harsh to you, but remember, we actually have a good relationship.

42:42.735 --> 42:48.917
I had this thing in my flesh you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus, verse 15,.

42:49.860 --> 42:51.705
What, then, was the blessing you enjoyed?

42:52.275 --> 42:58.079
For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.

42:58.475 --> 43:07.303
Now, this is awesome, because only an egghead theologian can mess up this particular passage.

43:08.435 --> 43:09.980
Listen, they'll come.

43:10.000 --> 43:11.365
There's whole pockets in Christianity.

43:11.455 --> 43:14.483
They'll tell you Paul had a terrible sickness.

43:15.695 --> 43:17.301
There's some people that just wanna stay sick.

43:18.115 --> 43:21.861
Or if they're sick and they haven't received their healing, they don't know how to process that.

43:22.195 --> 43:24.303
So then they tell themselves God is doing this.

43:24.695 --> 43:28.001
Doesn't matter that everywhere Jesus went, he healed them over and over again.

43:28.095 --> 43:31.345
He says everyone, everyone, he healed them all.

43:31.635 --> 43:34.819
Doesn't matter that Jesus never, ever turned away somebody from healing.

43:35.295 --> 43:44.523
Doesn't matter that Jesus has already past tense, healed us physically, because when they whipped Him, our sicknesses, our diseases fell upon Him.

43:45.355 --> 43:46.761
By His stripes we were healed.

43:47.275 --> 43:51.581
Doesn't matter when you're sick, because pain is a very loud speaker.

43:51.655 --> 43:59.603
I've never seen people change their theology quicker than when they're sick and then they wanna justify sickness and pretend that God gave it to them.

43:59.715 --> 44:03.740
No, if you're sick, if you're hurting, my compassion goes out to you.

44:03.860 --> 44:04.763
You're not to blame.

44:05.315 --> 44:08.800
I'm not saying you have secret or hidden sin in your life, but please don't put it on God.

44:09.515 --> 44:20.320
Please don't tell me that the one who has healed sickness when he was here in the flesh now has some spare in a spare pocket and just kinda arbitrarily doles it out to humanity.

44:21.875 --> 44:22.719
So what's going on here?

44:23.015 --> 44:24.080
Listen, this is so crazy.

44:24.735 --> 44:25.599
They'll take this apart.

44:25.639 --> 44:32.638
About Paul saying I had a trial in my flesh, and take the part where he says you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me.

44:33.335 --> 44:37.104
And then in the end of Galatians he says see with what large letters I have written you.

44:37.455 --> 44:39.582
And they say aha, he had an eye disease.

44:40.615 --> 44:41.980
He had a terrible, disgusting.

44:42.000 --> 44:42.843
They even have a name for it.

44:42.895 --> 44:45.043
He was oozing, pussing out and that.

44:45.475 --> 44:46.800
Now a couple of problems with that.

44:47.635 --> 44:51.482
It is hard for a doctor today standing across from you to diagnose you correctly.

44:51.895 --> 44:55.301
They're trying to diagnose Paul, who's been physically dead for 1900 years.

44:56.715 --> 45:00.617
Second, that part about see with what large letters I've written you.

45:01.379 --> 45:07.286
It doesn't mean that Paul literally used 72 point font in his email as opposed to the standard 10 to 12.

45:08.595 --> 45:12.665
Dear Galatians, see with what large letters I'm writing you.

45:13.735 --> 45:17.103
It just means that he, first of all, he didn't write his epistles, he dictated them.

45:17.255 --> 45:19.463
He'll often thank the person who did the actual writing.

45:22.120 --> 45:24.446
It just means he wrote a long letter, amen.

45:25.036 --> 45:32.102
And then, for the complete trifecta, they'll add the third part from Corinthians, the infamous Paul's thorn in the flesh.

45:32.795 --> 45:35.921
And they'll say see, his thorn in the flesh was his disgusting pussy eye.

45:36.015 --> 45:42.543
He was so ugly and he thanks the Galatians for hearing the gospel from him because he was so hideous just to even look at.

45:45.196 --> 45:46.221
I get a kick out of this.

45:48.480 --> 45:50.165
Paul's thorn in the flesh is not a sickness.

45:51.035 --> 45:53.023
Paul's thorn in the flesh is not disease.

45:53.115 --> 45:53.819
How do we know that?

45:54.195 --> 45:59.060
Because he defines so many of our problems would go away if we just continued reading.

45:59.615 --> 46:01.543
He defines what the thorn is.

46:01.955 --> 46:06.098
He says the persecutions, the persecute.

46:06.378 --> 46:08.044
He had the gift of persecution.

46:08.135 --> 46:14.725
He calls the thorn in the flesh a heavenly messenger, an angelos, not a heavenly messenger of Satan, excuse me.

46:15.175 --> 46:17.864
An angelos, a messenger sent to buffet him.

46:18.495 --> 46:19.600
How was Paul buffeted?

46:20.115 --> 46:26.026
You see it, from as soon as he saved, he had this unique gift to get persecuted everywhere he went.

46:28.075 --> 46:29.099
No, it was a gift.

46:29.795 --> 46:30.958
Listen, in one place.

46:31.018 --> 46:37.002
No, I mean it was on the gift level because he would come into town, listen.

46:37.335 --> 46:41.999
He would deliver a sermon so anointed, so full of the fire of God.

46:42.039 --> 46:43.083
All the heathen that heard him.

46:43.915 --> 46:47.461
They said the gods have come down in the form of men to speak to us.

46:47.795 --> 46:51.684
That's on Tuesday, on Wednesday, to the same crowd, in the same place.

46:51.695 --> 46:52.238
This is an ax.

46:52.915 --> 46:56.605
He preaches again and they all pick up stones to stone him.

46:57.175 --> 46:57.737
What happened?

46:57.978 --> 46:59.102
In less than 24 hours?

46:59.835 --> 47:01.923
An angelos of Satan, the gift of persecution.

47:03.375 --> 47:04.479
That's his thorn in the flesh.

47:05.595 --> 47:09.681
And to anybody who serves Jesus Christ fully, you're gonna notice persecution.

47:10.815 --> 47:18.757
Jesus even said no one has left mothers or fathers or houses that you want in this life and the next.

47:18.838 --> 47:19.701
Reap a hundred fold.

47:19.935 --> 47:23.245
He said that, reap a hundred fold in this life and the next.

47:23.355 --> 47:25.301
And then he said, with persecution.

47:25.782 --> 47:37.777
He added that part Par for the chorus, baby Hallelujah, the servant is not above his master, and this whole part about you would have plucked out my own eyes.

47:38.660 --> 47:43.840
Nobody here in the first service, but maybe in the second, anybody here from Greece or Montenegro there's my.

47:43.860 --> 47:50.303
Montenegro Back me up on this one Anybody from the Balkans or Greece.

47:52.855 --> 47:58.343
So they say Paul had this bad eye and he's saying to the Galatians you would have plucked out your eye and given it to me.

47:58.395 --> 47:59.620
That's why Paul had a bad eye.

48:01.815 --> 48:04.197
Now you got two people with bad eyes you plucked out.

48:04.217 --> 48:05.200
That doesn't solve the problem.

48:06.795 --> 48:09.424
This when he said this to everybody back then.

48:09.484 --> 48:11.381
You, everybody in our region, knows.

48:11.595 --> 48:13.142
Have you ever heard this expression before?

48:13.495 --> 48:19.978
My grandmother used to say this because we're a weird emotional people, we wax poetic.

48:20.038 --> 48:26.262
My grandma couldn't say I love you, but she would say oh, child, I would pluck my eye out and give it to you.

48:26.575 --> 48:26.776
What?

48:27.895 --> 48:33.399
Like get me a chocolate bar, tell me you love me, but we say this weird.

48:33.419 --> 48:40.325
This is where we're from, macedonia, which is all over the Bible and that was a part of former Yugoslavia.

48:40.355 --> 48:45.884
This is that same mentality, that same region across the Adriatic Sea going down into Greece.

48:46.295 --> 48:49.602
They all knew what he was talking about, but it took American theologians to go.

48:49.675 --> 48:51.241
You know, I think Paul had an eye disease.

48:53.621 --> 48:54.764
It's an expression.

48:56.515 --> 48:57.157
Who said it is?

48:58.381 --> 49:04.797
You know what I'm talking about, stella, stella Right.

49:06.095 --> 49:09.563
All sorts of things, even like oh, you know, I would cut my arms.

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No, keep your arms.

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Give me a chocolate, grandma.

49:12.935 --> 49:14.722
Put a chocolate right down in the corner store.

49:17.735 --> 49:19.320
All right, verse 16.

49:21.216 --> 49:24.600
Have, oh, this verse If you ever want to get me a gift.

49:26.275 --> 49:27.240
Have I ever asked for a gift?

49:27.375 --> 49:33.538
But somebody's going to get this for me one day A plaque with this verse on it for my desk where I do counseling.

49:35.115 --> 49:37.083
Have I therefore become your enemy?

49:37.215 --> 49:38.640
Because I tell you the truth.

49:40.075 --> 49:41.620
I need this on my desk.

49:43.616 --> 49:45.644
I I'll do counseling with anyone.

49:45.795 --> 49:47.280
I'll meet with anyone in our church.

49:48.435 --> 49:49.299
I actually enjoy it.

49:49.775 --> 49:53.500
The only part I don't enjoy is that it is the biggest impediment to church growth.

49:53.575 --> 49:54.860
Is me actually meeting with people?

49:55.815 --> 49:56.860
I lose more people.

49:56.975 --> 49:59.438
You think his pastor just meant more people, the church would grow.

49:59.835 --> 50:00.678
It's the opposite.

50:02.315 --> 50:04.562
Whenever I withdraw a little bit, the church grows.

50:05.775 --> 50:06.860
Then people want to meet with me.

50:07.295 --> 50:09.196
Then I have to tell them the truth and now I'm.

50:10.721 --> 50:11.804
I'm not that guy anymore.

50:12.395 --> 50:13.741
Before that I was that guy.

50:14.195 --> 50:18.702
Pastor Boyan, the way you share the gospel I'd never I didn't even know grace.

50:19.075 --> 50:20.260
I'm so grateful for you.

50:20.635 --> 50:21.419
I'm so glad.

50:21.775 --> 50:23.542
The way you deliver, you're all the compliments.

50:23.975 --> 50:27.541
Then we have a counseling session and I try to be so gentle.

50:27.655 --> 50:30.036
So, but I got to speak the truth in love the moment.

50:30.056 --> 50:32.223
The truth oh, you're not like how I thought.

50:34.841 --> 50:36.486
Ah, oh, you're different.

50:39.835 --> 50:43.185
Listen, this is in your relationships too.

50:43.595 --> 50:47.742
Everybody's going to always like you, as long as they agree with everything you're saying.

50:48.595 --> 50:52.440
It's when you tell them the opposite of what they want to hear that you actually meet the person.

50:53.383 --> 50:56.720
Amen, and so you don't know.

50:56.980 --> 51:05.997
My greatest fans I hate to use the word fans, but I'm talking about loyal city lighters, who, who not only love the church but genuinely, I knew, loved me.

51:06.398 --> 51:18.643
They were supporting me, but when the COVID thing went down, all of a sudden I was enemy number one Because I wasn't walking around with a mask and you know hugging people with an air hug from six feet away.

51:19.635 --> 51:27.700
Because I kept the church open and to those who didn't want to be vaccinated, we provided religious exemptions, because we don't believe the government should tell you what you should stick in your body.

51:27.815 --> 51:29.678
Amen, hallelujah.

51:30.335 --> 51:36.119
But then I became an enemy Now, so many people that God jabbed up many of you, thankfully.

51:36.139 --> 51:41.198
If you had to, let me let me not say that you didn't have to, but you did it you can say you had to.

51:41.238 --> 51:41.821
We've had people.

51:42.275 --> 51:48.161
You know who the biggest resistors of the vaccine were, where people in the medical community city light has a bunch of people in the medical.

51:48.182 --> 51:48.723
They didn't get it.

51:50.935 --> 51:59.562
And those of you who did get it, you trust the blood of Jesus to purge you, to cleanse you and, for the love of God, do not be 3X, 4x, 5x boosted, please.

52:00.926 --> 52:05.703
Please, let them use a pin cushion of their own design, not you.

52:06.164 --> 52:06.405
Amen.

52:08.235 --> 52:09.580
But people thought I lost my mind.

52:10.535 --> 52:11.439
Now the truth is out.

52:11.795 --> 52:13.621
I notice nobody has come back to apologize.

52:14.915 --> 52:16.781
Nobody, zero.

52:16.821 --> 52:24.284
People have come back and said you know, I left the church because I was, I was scared to be associated with you.

52:26.423 --> 52:30.644
And now no one came back and said hey, you know you sounded crazy back then.

52:30.675 --> 52:33.323
Do you ever notice these supposed conspiracy theorists?

52:35.856 --> 52:37.575
It's just a matter of 12 to 18 months.

52:37.675 --> 52:39.342
And then it turns out they were right all along.

52:40.297 --> 52:41.121
Ha ha ha ha.

52:46.316 --> 52:49.029
Random, pitter-patter of claps.

52:49.712 --> 52:55.618
Ha ha ha, random, but still is it safe to Hallelujah?

52:56.860 --> 52:57.404
Ha ha ha.

52:58.497 --> 52:59.883
All right, I think we should move on from that.

53:00.757 --> 53:03.866
I could camp around that verse for the rest of our time together.

53:05.681 --> 53:09.921
Ha ha ha, they zealously court you.

53:11.935 --> 53:14.244
You know cults have that term love bombing.

53:15.375 --> 53:17.082
That's how they get you and it's an actual term.

53:17.755 --> 53:20.403
Church of Scientology has that term love bombing.

53:21.195 --> 53:22.500
They zealously court you.

53:23.475 --> 53:24.901
They make you the center of their world.

53:25.036 --> 53:26.275
They put all their attention on you.

53:26.315 --> 53:31.018
You've never been so loved and then you do whatever the cult says to do they zealously.

53:31.058 --> 53:36.243
The Judaizers, the covenant mixers In case you I've gone off on too many rabbit trails.

53:36.635 --> 53:40.479
The theme here is do not mix covenants, stay under grace.

53:41.656 --> 53:44.858
Covenant mixers will zealously court you, but for no good.

53:44.898 --> 53:47.356
Yes, they want to exclude you that.

53:47.396 --> 53:55.602
You may be zealous for them, but it is good to be zealous in a good thing, always, and not only when I am present with you.

53:56.235 --> 53:57.396
Now here's Pastor Paul.

53:57.397 --> 53:58.741
He's been rebuking him up and down.

53:58.802 --> 53:59.544
He shows his heart.

53:59.555 --> 54:01.782
He says my little children, I love you.

54:01.822 --> 54:04.099
Galatians, you're acting silly.

54:05.375 --> 54:06.338
You were being set free.

54:06.378 --> 54:07.903
Now you're going back into slavery.

54:08.855 --> 54:11.264
You got grace and now you're going back into bondage.

54:11.355 --> 54:14.499
You're nuts, but I love you, my little children.

54:15.375 --> 54:21.365
But there's a key here in this verse he says for whom I labor in birth again?

54:22.775 --> 54:27.463
If he's laboring in birth again, that means he labored in birth once before.

54:28.655 --> 54:37.862
There's a key to seeing our family members saved our unbelieving spouses, that pig-headed co-worker that you love, that you've been friends with for years.

54:38.555 --> 54:45.045
There has to be a labor in the spirit, like a woman with child in labor.

54:46.255 --> 54:48.963
They're not going to get saved until something breaks in you.

54:49.795 --> 54:51.481
They're not going to be saved until you.

54:52.395 --> 54:53.741
You know what we all have in common.

54:54.576 --> 54:57.083
Somebody labored for us in prayer to be here.

54:58.095 --> 54:59.361
We all have that in common.

54:59.836 --> 55:01.883
Somebody prayed, and by labor.

55:02.456 --> 55:05.681
It wasn't just the end, lord, please bless so and so and let them get saved.

55:05.755 --> 55:06.518
No, there was a.

55:06.559 --> 55:18.084
It could have been two minutes, it could have been 20 weeks, 20 months, 20, but somebody took you and presented you to God and said, ah, like a woman in labor.

55:19.259 --> 55:27.675
Ah, god, open their eyes, soften their heart, let the truth pierce, let them come into your marvelous light.

55:28.297 --> 55:30.063
Somebody pray that for every single one of us.

55:31.040 --> 55:32.995
And now we need to labor in prayer.

55:33.659 --> 55:41.744
Paul did it twice once to see them get saved, the second time to see them mature in Christ until Christ is formed in them.

55:43.060 --> 55:43.644
Verse 20,.

55:43.664 --> 55:48.766
We should have at least one person that we're targeting with our prayers, at least one.

55:49.400 --> 55:50.395
I mean start with your family.

55:50.981 --> 55:52.435
You've been promised household salvation.

55:53.258 --> 55:57.204
That's in the Bible and that's supposed to get to heaven and wonder where's the crew.

55:59.348 --> 56:00.435
No, his whole house got saved.

56:01.618 --> 56:05.107
The Philippian jailer he was saved, and his whole house.

56:06.041 --> 56:09.435
When Paul talked about who he baptized, it was the house of Stefanus.

56:10.538 --> 56:11.922
He mentions whole households.

56:13.005 --> 56:18.405
Oh hallelujah, I would like to be worshiped in coming up.

56:18.495 --> 56:25.466
I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I have doubts about you.

56:28.733 --> 56:29.435
Let's stop here.

56:30.099 --> 56:36.415
We're going to continue with Galatians 4, because this second part of Galatians 4 is awesome.

56:37.182 --> 56:38.435
Please read Galatians 4.

56:39.277 --> 56:41.123
Read it in its entirety, read it every day.

56:41.163 --> 56:46.395
It's one chapter and we'll conclude next week, but I'll just close with this.

56:47.197 --> 56:48.982
Paul said that he has his doubts about him.

56:50.778 --> 56:54.462
Isn't it wild how the Corinthian church was an infamously carnal church.

56:56.238 --> 56:58.779
They were nuts Like.

57:01.589 --> 57:05.435
Corinth back then was an urban center and it was totally heathen and pagan.

57:05.879 --> 57:07.435
Does that remind you of any other urban center?

57:09.686 --> 57:18.286
And a bunch of people get radically saved and they all end up in the same life groups together Like two weeks old in the Lord.

57:18.447 --> 57:20.435
Guess what that produced Craziness.

57:21.748 --> 57:25.184
Paul had to write and be like hey, you want to stop getting drunk when you're taking communion.

57:25.879 --> 57:27.435
Hey, you want to stop sleeping with each other.

57:28.384 --> 57:38.395
And by the way, when he corrected people when they were in total sin, like fornication, adultery, he never said you nasty, disgusting thing, eh, repent.

57:39.539 --> 57:41.405
He would always remind them of who they are.

57:41.778 --> 57:43.435
He would always call them to a higher purpose.

57:43.837 --> 57:45.485
What Don't you know?

57:45.787 --> 57:47.435
Your body is the temple of the living God.

57:48.298 --> 57:49.122
What?

57:49.262 --> 57:50.708
That's not who you really are.

57:50.909 --> 57:51.873
You must have forgotten.

57:51.893 --> 57:54.222
You've been cleansed, you've been made perfect.

57:54.556 --> 57:55.162
Remember who.

57:55.384 --> 57:56.435
Go back to who you really are.

58:04.648 --> 58:06.410
He was encouraging and uplifting.

58:06.877 --> 58:08.102
You never see him lose it.

58:08.515 --> 58:13.862
But with the Galatian he never says to the Corinthians you guys are so nuts I have my doubts about you.

58:15.896 --> 58:20.820
But to the Galatians he says that I got to let the cat out of the bag.

58:21.435 --> 58:24.385
He actually he gets so upset.

58:24.455 --> 58:24.917
We'll read it.

58:25.017 --> 58:25.600
It's in the Bible.

58:26.455 --> 58:29.603
He tells the Judaizers he says I wish they would cut themselves off.

58:31.918 --> 58:33.328
You say is he talking about?

58:34.314 --> 58:35.620
Yeah, yeah, that's what he's talking about.

58:36.756 --> 58:39.704
He actually says I wish they would emasculate themselves.

58:40.656 --> 58:42.021
I don't know they're not getting what I'm saying.

58:42.776 --> 58:45.783
He says I wish that they would all put a Lorraine Bobbit on themselves.

58:48.199 --> 58:49.103
This is in the Bible.

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He's talking about that.

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He's like oh, they like to cut so much.

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I wish they'd cut themselves off.

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The holy impossible.

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Did you know that was in the Bible?

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It's in there.

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Get a plaque of that and put it in your front door.

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To all covenant mixers Cut yourself off before you enter my house.

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I'm not bending the word, it's right there.

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This is an agreed upon thing.

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This isn't like some fringe belief.

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He says it very plainly.

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What would cause Paul to say that and to say Galatians, I'm concerned for you.

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Mixture.

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You cannot tolerate mixture.

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Jesus.

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Plus, nothing equals everything.

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The moment you put yourself in the picture, you're mixing, and that's dangerous territory.

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Let's all stand to our feet, lift your hands up.

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Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

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Thank you, jesus.

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Thank you, jesus.

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Thank you Jesus, hallelujah, hallelujah.

01:00:03.435 --> 01:00:05.721
Thank you, lord, for your grace.

01:00:07.977 --> 01:00:09.001
Thank you, jesus.

01:00:09.475 --> 01:00:13.482
Say this out loud Lord Jesus, thank you for your grace.

01:00:14.595 --> 01:00:18.786
I am saved by grace, through faith.

01:00:19.836 --> 01:00:22.724
I am approved by the blood of Jesus.

01:00:23.696 --> 01:00:35.201
I am accepted, I have been made perfect, I'm a child of God, I'm heaven bound, I'm sealed with the Holy Spirit.

01:00:36.555 --> 01:00:46.349
Good things belong to me because the blood of Jesus has qualified me and made me worthy.

01:00:47.595 --> 01:00:50.664
A fiery, intimate relationship with God.

01:00:51.595 --> 01:00:53.863
Yeah, that's my portion.

01:00:54.756 --> 01:00:57.184
Prosperity is my portion.

01:00:57.876 --> 01:00:59.903
Healing is my portion.

01:01:00.977 --> 01:01:03.624
Victory is my portion.

01:01:05.078 --> 01:01:05.861
Thank you, lord.

01:01:07.258 --> 01:01:11.301
The cross makes it possible, amen.

01:01:13.356 --> 01:01:15.518
This is the City Light Church Podcast.

01:01:28.717 --> 01:01:31.334
Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime.

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We would love to connect with you.

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We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace.

01:01:43.078 --> 01:01:43.961
Thank you for listening.

01:01:44.495 --> 01:01:50.000
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