Churches in Naples

“This this emotion, this rejection is going to wear many faces. It will go from indifference to indignation, from avoidance to animosity, but followers of Jesus are going to be persecuted. This it's a pretty heavy message for a Sunday morning. This warning about a spiritual resistance sounds like it comes from another world. We live in a country where there's a great deal of freedom, legal protection, But the language that Jesus uses, it is universal. On some level, we're going to experience this. This is what we're we signed on for. When it comes, we we shouldn't be shocked by that. This this this is just what this means.”

“But I cannot now unsee what I saw when I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I cannot not know what I know. I can't deny after thirty some years almost, I can't deny what I encountered, what I felt, what I experienced, what was put on me and in me and what came through me. I can't and it it doesn't compare to any other spiritual encounter or any other type of encounter or emotion in life that I've ever had in my life. I can't deny it.”

“But if you flip it on its head, everybody, and you start your life off with putting God first, everyone gonna do that this morning, putting God first. Dude, I was so scared that was gonna break right there. This is my mother in law's too, so that wouldn't be bad. Anyway, so if you put God first, you focus on him, you seek after him, you have daily time with him, and you put it first, I'm telling you, your life will be better. And then you'll also start focusing on godly relationships, and your friendships, and your family, and you get in a small group, and you're telling people what's going on, and you prioritize that. It's a big rock. I'm telling you, if you want it, it fits in your life.”

“"Now human beings we're very vulnerable to adding other conditions to the gospel man-made religion has trained us to want to earn favor to earn what we're getting man-made religion is also usually very enmeshed with cultural conditions so for the wrong leaders that were influencing the gospel we're going to need jesus plus something else it was this it was adding jewish cultural requirements and jewish legal requirements yes you need jesus plus you need to become like a jew that nullifies grace it removes the peace now i have to perform it's not the true gospel and grace is such a radical concept it takes some getting used to and it's not the true gospel it's not the true gospel it's not the true gospel wrong leaders they seized on that opportunity to distort the gospel so so paul right here helps them to see clearly this the true gospel also delivers us from sin and evil says jesus gave himself for our sins was it enough was that enough was jesus's death on the cross enough to deliver you from your sins well if it was enough then you don't need to add anything god's grace is his unmerited favor so what do we say god's riches at christ's expense grace if you say you need something more like well you need to follow certain rules you need to conform to a cultural identity then what you're saying is this jesus's death is giving himself for our sins it wasn't enough you need it but you need something more that's not the true gospel and we need to see that very clearly um delivers us from our sins but the gospel also delivers us from evil it says right there in verse four from the present evil age now there's a lot of evil going on in our world today our country is grappling with very real evil and racism in the violence it produces and having the power to deal with it and the power to deal with it in the right lens okay having a biblical worldview reminds us oh we live in a fallen world the only real hope we have to be delivered from this present evil age is the true gospel so if we don't recognize that the root problems in our culture are spiritual then what are we doing we're just mowing down weeds doesn't my yard look nice now i haven't solved any problems when i mow weeds down we're not solving any problems until we get to the root and losing our way from god that's what's resulted in us losing our way from men everybody wants peace but the church needs to be the herald the champion of this truth there is no peace between men until we find peace with god and through the deliverance of the gospel deliverance that only jesus brings period period and we know in the end it also delivers this glory to god verse five it does this forever and ever one day every knee will bow every tongue will confess that jesus christ is lord and then what does paul say there at the end of verse five amen you know in the first five verses he just kind of recalibrates the galatians to right leadership remember the true gospel amen but then he continues and the reason is this in the new normal we need to see clearly the real threat there's a real threat and starting in verse six paul says he's astonished he's stunned he's in disbelief how could this happen you see news had gotten to him that the galatians had fallen prey to some wrong leaders grace takes some getting used to and the galatians had fallen prey to these wrong leaders who preached a different gospel which really was no gospel at all so you know paul lays into them pretty hard starting in verse six now the threats that we may be facing in our world uh maybe you know a little bit different um not exactly the same but but we still need to see clearly that we're vulnerable we're vulnerable to these kinds of threats because here's the first thing you need to know about different gospels they appeal to our flesh look at verse six i am astonished that you're so quickly deserted who called you in the grace of christ and you're turning to a different gospel okay do you understand what you've done you've put yourself under the authority of people who don't have the right to lead you and what's so astonishing to paul is how quickly the church was willing to abandon the true gospel god had called them in grace well they had deserted that and it turned to a different message how does this happen well this happens today and we're more vulnerable than you think because different gospels appeal to our flesh and we'll get into the specifics of this false teaching later in the letter but you see wrong leaders they know where your weak spots are they know where you're vulnerable and grace is such a critical element of the true gospel but here's the problem grace goes against our flesh this it goes against this human desire to say ah i deserve that okay i've earned it somehow our flesh wants to get some credit and wrong leaders are glad to help you out with that and so they add a few requirements that help you and help them feel better about yourself and feel worse about those who don't agree with you see that's what happens with different gospels paul told the corinthian church if you think you're standing firm if you think you're standing careful unless you fall it's a real threat and it's a real threat because wrong leaders use different gospels to do this secondly to distort the truth wrong leaders distort the truth look at verse 7 you've turned to a different gospel not that there is another one but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of christ see wrong leaders they don't come in and just throw away everything you've been taught they add to it they distort it if they came in and said you got it all wrong we'd probably be less vulnerable but that's not what they do they bring trouble by distorting the gospel yes jesus is wonderful but god also wants you to do this or that if you really want to know that you're saved which you do right well then you need to do this or that or not do this or not do that and guess what we can help you with that that's not the true gospel anymore when we do that we're deserting him who called us in the grace of christ so so this particular threat has been around a long time actually from the beginning of the creation uh in fact it's the key strategy of our real enemy satan in genesis 3 in the garden of eden satan tempts eve with the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you remember the story he appeals to the flesh and he distorts the truth let's just look at this passage i'll put it on the screen here genesis 3 verses 1 to 7 okay now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field like a wizard okay it might more than any other beast of the field that the lord god had made and he said to the woman did god actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden you see the distortion already give you some credit here in verse 2 the woman said to the serpent no we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden but god said you shall not eat of the fruit of the garden of the tree that is in the midst of the garden this particular tree neither shall you touch it lest you die good job eve all right okay she's right but the serpent said to the woman you'll not surely die for god knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened you'll be like god knowing good and evil well that sounds good i'd like those things okay so satan's appealing to her flesh so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was a delight to the eyes that is pretty fruit that looks good and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise wisdom's good she took of its fruit and ate she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked they lost their way from god see this this is the problem in our world today as we saw last week there's only one solution to this who's the solution jesus jesus is enough it's not jesus plus i mean paul knows this is serious stuff the the threat is real he sees the crafty scheme going on of the scheme of satan going on behind these wrong leaders and he makes it really clear those who promote it are the ones who are the ones who are the?? behind that but he knows what's good for them and he took the ant ????? playing the part of the serpent's?? against it but hope which came out from the here and you were right said before and i'm gonna say it again right now if the evil in this picture is wrong because anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. Back in Genesis 3, verse 14, God tells Satan, you're cursed for what he had done to lead man astray. God says in the end that one of Eve's offspring, Jesus, that Satan would strike his heel, okay, that's crucifixion, but that Jesus would crush his head. Satan will eventually be destroyed. And anyone who changes the gospel, anyone who distorts it, they put themselves in the same place as Satan. They are cursed. Well, listen, we are all a work in progress. We are going to stumble along the way, but when we put our faith in Jesus, we entered a new normal. And we need to see clearly that in this new normal, we need to make sure that we listen to the right leaders, that we're listening to God's word, that we're staying faithful and true to the true gospel, and that we're standing guard against very real threats. If we didn't need to stand guard, is that because there's no threats? The reason you stand guard is because there's threats. Threats that appeal to our flesh. Threats that sound good, but they're a distortion. Threats do not have God's glory in mind. Threats, these threats do not have our best interests in mind. You see, different gospels are cursed. It's not going to end well for those wrong leaders or for those followers who abandon God's grace and turn to a different gospel. So to thrive in this new normal, we need one another. We need the family of Jesus. We need the local church to remind us we're not crazy. This is the way the world really is. And God has a message for us today in this letter that was written to the churches of Galatia. Grace, it takes some getting used to, doesn't it? But the more you drink in God's grace, through faith in Jesus, the more you drink in God's grace. And the true gospel, you will know it because he will give you peace. I look forward to the rest of this letter, but let's pray. God, thank you for these truths. Thanks for just recalibrating us and reminding us right there at the beginning, grace, grace and peace is what I want you to know."”

“And when there's pushback, we realize that what we've shared has been effective. The message has been understood. Someone has identified us with the person of Jesus with his mission to make disciples, and that's a good thing. At one point, the apostles just face open persecution for their faith, and we're told that they actually rejoice because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus. They had been so clearly identified with Jesus, and that's why they were experiencing this persecution. And then now they could step back, and it actually gave them a kind of joy to realize that people saw Jesus and seen Jesus in them.”

“We don't need to be afraid. This is Paul to his associate Timothy. God has not given us a spirit for fear, but a spirit of power and love and a sound mind. And so we allow the spirit just to fill our own lives with his love and joy and peace. We don't draw back. We don't you know, we're not afraid. We're not gonna draw back from sharing our faith. And one of the most effective ways to do this is simply by telling our story. And we look for some point of commonality, and then we just share what God has done in our own lives. That's it's a very powerful way.”

“as I shared with the woman, I just couldn't help, remember a conversation with a woman, and I made the point that it's we don't come to God through our relative goodness. That's not how we enter heaven. God is holy. To to enter heaven, we have to be 100% holy ourselves. We would have to be perfect, and no one is. And so we can only come to God through the forgiveness that we have in Jesus.”

“That word power, it it it's it's referring to divine ability, supernatural strength. It is heaven's empowerment over our earthly assignment. That's what this power is. Early churches did not transform their communities and their cities and the nation because of political influence. They didn't have any. They didn't have wealth. They didn't have popularity. They certainly didn't have any cultural acceptance. They lived in a very hostile environment.”

“Because here's here's the thing. This is what I believe that the lord understood was gonna happen if the church did not walk in the fullness of his power. They would understand that they're called to fulfill a great commission, but they would try to do it in their own strength, and we would fail. In fact, anytime we do try to do the work of the ministry in these days, we fail if we attempt to do it in our own strength.”

“But more importantly, we can't do it if we don't have the power of the holy spirit. We have nothing to say if we don't have the spirit of god. Our lamps cannot burn if we don't have the oil, and the oil is a symbol of the holy spirit. We cannot be a light to the world if we don't have a flame. And if we don't have the oil, we don't have the flame.”