Churches in Wenatchee

“But what I want us to see this morning is that our greatest trust issues aren't necessarily with other people. What if our greatest trust issues are actually with God? And before we object too much to that, consider how often we see or we say that we trust God, but then we live as though everything depends on us. We we say we that that God is in control. We say that God is in control, but then we panic when circumstances change. We we say, God will provide, but then we obsess over money. We we say God is enough, but then we spend our life chasing the approval of others. We we say we trust him, but our lives often tell a different story.”

“The Father knows you need these things. Stop and think about that. He says, your Father knows your needs. That means, before you pray, before you ask, before you worry or panic about any of it, God already knows that you need those things. If he has your eternity secured, he says he's promised you a kingdom, do you really think he's gonna forget your sustenance? If he's secured your eternity, do you think he's gonna neglect your necessities?”

“In other words, there's a great difference between making a living and making a life. Worry, it gets so focused on the means that we forget the end. We become consumed with maintaining life, while forgetting what actually, what life is actually for. To to glorify God, to know God, to serve God, and to enjoy God, that's what life is actually for. And, when we're constantly worrying, we worry about how we're going to make a living here, when we forget that life is meant to enjoy the presence of God.”

“And far too many people are living trapped by the opinions of others. And every decision becomes filtered through, will this upset them? What will they think? Will they approve? Will they like me? Will this cost me? And and before long, people become the functional god of your life because whoever you fear most ultimately controls you and your actions.”

“"How do we come against these types of things and defend the doctrine of grace or contend for a culture of grace? What's the most effective way to do that? Well, point number three is this. Live a life of grace. What's the most effective way to do this? Live a life of grace. Live a life of grace. Now, first of all, we see this being true because, as I noted at the beginning of the message, This passage flows from the truths of the previous thoughts we covered last week. So Paul says this, one of the ways, one of the reasons that it's so important to have these characteristics, a grace -driven life, the reason it's so important to have a life of grace in all of these character traits in your life, these qualities, is because this is going to take place and you can't effectively defend and rebuke against these things if you're not living a life that pictures the gospel." (”

“"Therefore, I am perfectly willing and able to accept you based upon God's grace and Jesus' finished work on the cross. That's a culture of grace, that we accept and we love and we treat others within the church with the dignity that they are worth by being creations of God and being children of God because we are basing our partnership, our fellowship, and our treatment of them, our acceptance of them, not upon what they do, but upon what Jesus has done. That's a gospel culture. That's a culture of grace in the church. If you profess, if you profess to know Christ, if you are a child of God, then I'm with you and I'm for you. That's a culture of grace. I'm not here to compete against other Christians. I'm not here to compare myself to other people in the church. In fact, the Bible expressly forbids us to compete and compare ourselves among ourselves in that way." (”

“"Is it okay to have a preference on what kinds of songs to sing and what kind of instruments to use? Yes. Is it okay to have a strong opinion on the political candidates and platforms and such? Of course it is. It's absolutely acceptable to have opinions on these areas. Everyone should have opinions. They shouldn't just let one person think for them. Everyone should have opinions. That's how I, you know, if you're actually thinking for yourself often is if you agree with one person 100 % of the time, you're not doing any thinking. They're doing the thinking for you, okay? We're all going to disagree on something. It's good to have opinions. It's even good to have standards, to have certain standards. I think that some people who struggle with a specific vice of some kind should put protections in place in their life to keep them away. To keep them away from that sin. They should. That should be a good thing in their life. The problem comes when those standards or those preferences become institutionalized and become a culture of the church or a metric by which we used to make sure that we're going to partner and fellowship and be nice to and accept other Christians based upon these kinds of things. That's when it becomes a problem. It's okay to have standards and opinions and preferences, but what's not okay is to base your acceptance, your treatment, your attitude, or your fellowship with other Christians upon these things. Paul says here in verse number 14, no, no, no, no, no. Don't allow yourself to take heed to Jewish fables or to commandments of men." (”

“"And so, and we talked a little bit about this in our study in Leviticus, much of what they did ceremonially or what they did civilly became an area of preference. Once Jesus fulfilled all of it and did his finished work on the cross, all of these things that they were practicing in ceremony and in ritual became areas of preferences. And Paul deals with that in Romans chapter 14 and 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10. If you want to just eat certain kinds of meat, he says, then do it. Follow your conscience. But don't you dare impose your conscience on somebody else with something that isn't a clear biblical matter. That's what he was teaching them in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10. He says, don't take things that are preferential or cultural and preach them as if they're ways to be holy." (”

“"Paul doesn't just say that we need to beware of those who might teach legalism, but he also warns us of people who would be legalistic, or as it's worded in our second point, this, we must contend for our culture of grace. So first he says we must defend the doctrine of grace. But second, he says, we must contend for a culture of grace. You might be asking, Michael, what did you mean when you said there's a difference between teaching legalism and being legalistic? Well, here's the difference. Legalism teaches that God accepts you by your works. That's unbiblical. But being legalistic says this, God accepts you by grace, but I accept you by your works. That's being legalistic. So legalism says God accepts you by your works. That's unbiblical. Being legalistic says God accepts you by grace, but I accept you by works. And that's unethical." (”

“"And here's the problem with that. The Bible teaches very clearly that salvation comes by grace, through faith, and it's not of any works that we could do. Anything that requires doing something to be saved is called legalism. That's what it's called, legalism. And anything that requires doing something for salvation is legalism. And in their day, they saw people coming and teaching, again, they had to be circumcised, or you had to stop eating certain meats, or you had to follow the sacrificial system, or you had to ceremonially cleanse your hands or yourself in some way before eating food, that you had to do all of these things to be saved. But even in our day, there are some who try to teach a form of legalism. They say you must get baptized to be saved. If you don't get baptized, it's believe in Jesus, but it's also get baptized. You have to do this in order to be saved. Some of them would add you have to speak in tongues in order to be saved. You have to experience holy laughter in order to be saved, or that you have to take communion to receive God's grace, that you have to go to confession, that you have to say certain prayers, that you have to attend church, that you believe in Jesus, yes, but you also have all these things you have to do to keep your salvation and to be saved. That's what many, we have this taking place even in modern Christianity in America, that people would teach these things. But all of those who teach these things are teaching that you have to do something in order to be saved. And God tells us there is nothing we can do to be saved, nothing that we can do in and of ourselves. God tells us the work has already been done by Jesus." (”