The Gospel Transforms

church for longer. And at that particular point in my life, I wasn't as humble and godly as I have

become and becoming. And so, you know, I quickly rebuked him and corrected him and explained that

I was at the front, basically, and I had the Bible and, you know, so he needed to listen to me. But

as I've grown and gotten a little bit wiser and a little bit more self-aware,

I recognised that actually it's a really valid question. Why should he listen to me?

What basis was there that the things I was saying was something that he should actually

submit his life to and take as, you know, stuff that's going to shape who he is and how he lives?

You actually need to work out on what basis are you going to listen, not just to me, but to anyone

who's going to speak into you. And that's the situation for Paul with his church in churches

in Galatia. He is the one who planted them. He's the one who spoke the gospel to them. He's the one

who introduced them to Jesus. But what's happened is there's a group of people that have turned up at

these churches in Paul's absence and have basically started questioning his authority,

questioning why the Galatian churches would listen to him and his message. And, you know,

obviously on the side, they had their own message that they wanted to replace it with. But the rhetoric

went something like, why believe Paul? He's not even from Jerusalem, which is where, you know,

the church started. And plus, his gospel sounds too good to be true. He's not even a good Jew anymore.

He's not making you do Jewish things. So you can't trust him. And I guess the question that

we rightfully ask is, how do we know that Paul's gospel is the one true gospel?

I mean, why should the Galatians, as they hear these competing messages, decide to listen to Paul?

Why should we, opening the Bible thousands of years later, with lots of other voices speaking to us,

telling us that this is what your life is about, this is what you should do, why should we listen to

this message from Paul in the Bible and say, this is the one that I'm going to trust? This is the one

I'm going to submit to. I mean, Paul covered pretty clearly last week, if you missed it, there is only

going to be one gospel. There's not multiple ones. So how do we know that this one is the one?

Well, Paul wants to give us two reasons. First one, his gospel is not his. His gospel is

not his. Have a look at verse 11 from what Deborah did out in Galatians 1.

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin.

I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it. Rather, I received it by revelation

from Jesus Christ. Now, this matters. This is what this section is really driving at. Paul wants

the Galatians to know that this message that he's bringing, this message of grace and peace through

Jesus is not something that he just made up. In fact, he wants to go a step further and say,

it's not something that any human made up. Paul didn't receive it from some people who taught it

to him and he's passing it on. He didn't hear it from a preacher. It was actually revealed to him.

He got direct revelation from the risen Jesus Christ. You can read about it. If you're in a community

group this week, spend some time in Acts chapter 9 and Paul is travelling along the road to Damascus

Acts 9 · chapter mention

and all of a sudden he is physically confronted by the risen Jesus. This is after the crucifixion.

Risen Jesus presents himself physically, challenges Paul about what he's been doing and literally turns

Paul's whole life around. It's a dramatic episode. And so these people who have turned up and are trying

to undermine Paul's gospel, trying to undermine the trust in Paul, they thought it would serve

their purpose to point out that Paul doesn't come with the authority of the other apostles.

He didn't come from Jerusalem. He's not from Peter and James and John, you know, the disciples that

hung out with Jesus. He's not from there. And so you shouldn't listen to him. That was their logic.

But Paul flips it. He's like, you're right. I don't come from them. But it's because my gospel isn't from

human sources. I received it directly from Jesus, the one who the gospel is about.

In fact, Paul's going to go on and go out of his way to give us random details about what he did and

didn't do around the time he became a Christian, just to make it really clear that his gospel,

which actually lines up with the one that Peter, James and John are preaching in Jerusalem,

he's going to make it clear that his gospel did not and could not have been taught to him by some

human teacher. It's a divine thing that was revealed to him. Have a look at verse 16.

So this is when he's been called by, he's telling his story, he's been called by grace,

God's revealed the son in him. And verse 16,

my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those

who were apostles before I was, but I went to Arabia. Later, I returned to Damascus. Then after

three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him 15 days. Cephas is

Peter, if you're not sure. I saw none of the other apostles, only James, the Lord's brother.

I assure you before God, what I'm writing you is no lie. Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was

personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report. The man who

formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. It was three years after he

received the gospel, three years after he met Jesus, that Paul first made the trip up to meet

some of the apostles. And when he got there, he only met two of them. And he was only with them for

about two weeks. And we know that while he was there, because it says it in Acts, that he spent most of

the time preaching. So he didn't actually go there for gospel classes. He didn't go there to, you know,

learn some stuff and be clear on what the gospel actually was. He already had received that. That's

what he got when he met Jesus on that road on the way to Damascus. Now, it's worth us just slowing down

for a second here and flagging that what happened for Paul is unique. It's a unique experience for Paul

because Paul was a chosen apostle. Apostle just means sent one. And so when we talk about the

apostles in the Bible, we talk about the men that God chose, that God sent as direct eyewitnesses of the

physically resurrected Jesus. So every one of them got to encounter Jesus physically alive after his

death and resurrection. They were chosen so that they would be the baseline by which we measure the

gospel. So they got to meet him in person. They got to encounter him and they delivered a message

that was authoritative, that we don't get to argue with because they have that special position. Now,

for us today, we encounter that message in the Bible. That's why when we read the scripture,

when we come to church, when we do it in our community groups, we approach this as more than

just human words and human stories. This is God speaking to us through those humans because it is

that divine truth that he revealed to them. And so what Paul is doing here is he's not defending

himself. He's saying that this battle is not between the credibility of these new people and me.

This battle is between the credibility of these new people and the God who gave me this message that

I'm giving to you. That's who you've got to decide who you're going to trust. These people have turned up

and saying, look how impressive we are. We're from Jerusalem and the God who's delivering the good

news about how people like us can be forgiven and adopted into his family. The reason you can trust

this gospel, the reason you can know this gospel from Paul is the genuine article is because it comes

from God himself. And the proof of that, the reason you can believe what is a pretty massive claim

is because of the power of this gospel. See, what Paul's doing in this little chunk of Galatians

is essentially giving a mini testimony. And I'm pretty sure I've talked with you guys before about

the testimony insecurity that I have. You know, when Christians talk about testimonies, they're

essentially talking about their story of how they met Jesus, how their life was before and then how

they became a Christian and what changed. And a lot of the famous stories or testimonies involve

dramatic things like drug addictions or prison time or those sorts of things. And they are amazing

stories of God's power to transform the obviously bad people into obviously apparently better people.

And that is amazing. But when I hear those stories, I can't help but feel like I need to spend some

time working on my before I met Jesus story so that my testimony will be more exciting. Go on like,

you know, a year bender as a Christian just to build up some, you know, some serious sin in the

background. Now, you know, I've got serious sin. But you know, like the dramatic ones that you can

include in a story and sound exciting. Anyway, that's a bit of a sidetrack. But you know, when you hear

testimonies, that's sometimes the place we go. We compare their story to our story. But I love this

story that Paul gives because this is a story that everyone can connect with. Like literally,

whether or not you're the recovering drug addict or, you know, this is your first day release from

prison, in this story, you can see that the gospel has power for even you. Or if you're at the other

end of the spectrum and you are nice, you're even-tempered, you're middle class, you're Sunday

school educated, even there you will see in this story that you need the gospel just as much. And not

just that you need it, but the gospel has power to do something with your life here. This is a story

about the gospel power to reach and transform anyone. Paul gives us two halves to his life before he met

Jesus. And they couldn't be more different. Have a look at the first half, the serious bad side from

verse 13. Now, I'm going to read that verse again in just a second. We sometimes go into autopilot when

we read the Bible and we just skip through, we've read that verse, what's the next verse? And we miss

the gravity and the weight of what just got described. So listen carefully and try and visualize

what Paul is saying he did here. You have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely

I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. Those are blood-stained words.

words. Paul's not being dramatic here saying, you know what, I really didn't like church and I've

been just ragging on church on Facebook statuses for the whole time I've been on Facebook. He means

persecute when he says it. He was pouring his life out to destroy the church of God through whatever

means possible. He was literally traveling from town to town to try and find secret churches and get

Christians arrested and even killed. He was the kind of person who would have delighted in the suffering

happening to Christians around the world that we see today. In fact, in Acts chapter 8, which is just

Acts 8 · chapter mention

before we see him meet Jesus, there's this episode where we see Paul standing, looking on approvingly

as Stephen is stoned to death for following Jesus. This is a guy who had a deep hatred for God, a deep

hatred for Jesus especially and followers of Jesus and yet the gospel of grace somehow grabbed hold of him.

I can understand why some people sometimes feel unworthy of Jesus. I can understand why, you know, people use

words like God couldn't love me. You don't know what I've done. I get the sentiment. It makes sense and on

one level it's correct. You don't deserve to have God love you. But that's the power of the gospel.

That's the power of God's grace that even those who seem the most unlikely, who seem impossible,

who you would think they could never follow Jesus,

even they can be reached by grace.

Paul wasn't looking for Jesus when he became a Christian.

He was literally traveling to a new town so that he could arrest and kill more Christians.

That was his agenda for that week. He was actively trying to destroy the church and that's not an

exaggeration. He wanted the church done and finished and removed from existence so that he could be part

of the Jewish synagogue system, so that he could have more power there. He had nothing but hatred for

Jesus and anyone who followed him and yet the gospel grabbed him. The message of Jesus still managed

to grab him while he was running in the opposite direction. Jesus grabbed him and completely transformed

him. If you're somebody who feels beyond God's love, if there are things in your life that you think

there's no way God could love that about me and no one else knows it, you need to listen to this.

The gospel, God's grace is powerful enough for you and for anything that you've done.

But the crazy thing is that's not even Paul's whole story. That's one half of his before life.

Let's look at the other half. He was also one of those really religious people who didn't think

they needed a gospel. Have a look at verse 14. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age

among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. See, Paul was an

impressive Jew. He was in the Jewish synagogue. He was getting promotions. He was been giving

opportunities to lead and to teach. He had Bible knowledge. He would have memorized huge chunks of the

Old Testament and not just the catchy bits that fit well to a rap. Like he spent time memorizing,

you know, the books that you skip over in your quiet time, you know, you get to Numbers and

Leviticus and Deuteronomy and it's just like law after law and you, you know, survive chapter one,

chapter two, and then you go back to like Matthew or, you know, one Thessalonians somewhere, you know,

it's a little bit easier, easier going. He's memorized these whole books. He's invested time. I mean,

he is seriously zealous about being a Jew. He's putting hard work in and even his life, he's trying

hard to obey the laws of the synagogue. Now, obviously, something's got twisted in there because he was

killing Christians, but he's trying very hard and to the point where he's excelling above the people

around him. And so when Paul looks at himself and even when the people around him look at him,

they don't think he needs a gospel. He's going, I'm good. I'm better than most people. I'm putting

effort in and gospels, good news is for people who need help, people who need rescuing. And according

to Paul, that's not him. See, simultaneously, Paul was too bad and thought he was too good.

He's put up a double wall against the gospel. And yet when he finally encounters Jesus, the gospel

is powerful enough to show him the depth of his sin and his need for Jesus and to show him the

sufficiency of God's grace to love even somebody as evil as him. The gospel is powerful.

I mean, ironically, this second bit of being really zealous for religion, trying really hard to be

holy, is what these new people who turned up in front of the Galatians were saying they should be

doing. They're going, Jesus is great, but put effort in. And Paul's like, I've done it. It doesn't work.

What you need, the only thing that can make a difference is the only true gospel. And that is

the fact that Jesus has died for you and is risen. The power of the gospel means no one is beyond grace.

No one is too far gone, too bad that they can't be reached and loved and forgiven. And the power of

the gospel means that no one is above grace. Whether people know they need Jesus or not, whether they're

looking for him or not, the gospel is powerful enough to reach them, to confront them, to get their

attention. And here's why it's powerful. Because when it grabs them wherever they are, it shows them

Jesus. Have a look at verse 15.

When God, who set me apart from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal

his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. But when? This is the God intervention

moment in Paul's life. He wasn't just sitting around waiting, looking for something to do. God

intervened dramatically for him. And look at the power of God's grace at work in his life as he

kind of stepped through these couple of things. First thing, he set me apart from my mother's womb.

God chose Paul before he was born. Before he'd even had a breath, God had already decided Paul would

belong to him. Paul would be used to take the gospel out to the Gentiles. In spite of everything

that Paul was going to do and be in his life, God had already decided, I'm going to use him.

God had already chosen him. God even uses the fierceness and the evil that is there in his life

before to become the backdrop so that we can see how dramatically powerful the gospel is to change

somebody. It doesn't make it less evil, but God is powerful enough. His grace is powerful enough to

take that evil and turn it and use it for good. What that means for you and me is that the stuff in

your life right now that might make you question whether or not the gospel offer of forgiveness is

an offer for you is actually the kind of stuff that God loves to take and use. So it shows just how

powerful he is, just how gracious he can be. It could be something that causes you shame, something you

try and hide, something you try and pretend never happened. That stuff can be used by God to display

Jesus. That's what he did for Paul. Having set Paul apart and having patiently waited as Paul spent his

life and his days trying to destroy the church, then God called him, called him by grace.

Now just sit in that for a second. Again, this is one of those moments where we can go into autopilot

when we're reading the Bible and not understand how drastic this is. Remember who we're talking about.

Remember who this is that God just called by grace. Remember his former way of life, bent on destroying

God's church, overflowing with hatred towards God, killing God's people. And yet God calls him by grace

to be forgiven, to be loved, to be brought into the family, to become a messenger of that same hope that

he's just discovered. The gospel is powerful enough to dramatically punch through that wall of hatred that

Paul is putting up. He's not looking for Jesus at this point. Paul's not a seeker. He's not visiting

church because he's not in church because he's not in church because his wife or his girlfriend or his

housemate or his parents dragged him along. If Paul's in church, he's there looking for people to kill,

people to arrest. And yet God calls him.

So powerfully that all of that hatred and anger and rejection of God subsides and is overwhelmed in an instant.

But there's not even a progressive journey that's talked about here.

See, there is no human argument that is that powerful.

There is no story that a human could make up, no human gospel powerful enough to change someone like that.

There wasn't even time for Paul to take little progressive steps, you know, to go from,

I hate God to maybe he's okay. I guess I could check stuff out.

I'll just dip my toe in and try and trust him a little bit. And you know what? He's really good.

I'm going to follow him. And in fact, I'm going to be a missionary and I'm going to tell other people about him.

There's no timeline like that. He is traveling to kill Christians and he meets Jesus and it all changes in an instant.

That is the power of the gospel.

That is the power of encountering Jesus as a risen Savior.

If you're in this room right now and you're here under coercion,

you've been dragged along by that special someone in your life or mom or dad or brother or sister or whoever it is,

I want to say that's okay. I get it. I've been there.

But what you need to understand is that if God has chosen you,

and he does that before you're born,

if God has chosen you, there's no point running.

His grace and his gospel is so powerful that when he calls, you're going to answer.

You might not even know that he's getting ready to call you,

but when he does, when he shows you just how good he is,

when he gives you a chance to see how incredible he is,

you're in.

Paul wasn't looking for Jesus,

but the gospel call was irresistible.

You might be thinking, well, maybe he didn't choose me,

and so maybe I can just mind my own business and keep doing my own thing,

and look, you could be right.

But you're here today on a day when we're preaching the gospel.

So maybe today is your day.

Maybe today is the moment when God is getting ready to call you,

getting ready to invite you in to be part of his family.

Finally, the gospel call is irresistible.

It was irresistible for Paul.

And the reason it's irresistible is because what the gospel does is show you Jesus.

What it does is just like it did for Paul,

where he was confronted physically with Jesus,

when we look at the gospel message,

when we look at what God has done in Jesus,

we are confronted with a God who is loving and gracious and forgiving and patient and holy and just

and majestic and yet chooses to invite people like us into his family.

So having set Paul apart in his mother's womb,

having called him by grace,

he reveals his son in him.

Paul meets Jesus on the road.

Paul knows about Jesus.

He's heard the stories.

I mean, he's traveling around killing the people who follow Jesus.

He knows for a fact that Jesus was crucified.

I mean, you know, that was common knowledge at this point.

And then when he sees him alive on the road in front of him,

suddenly all these things that he's heard,

all these bits and pieces fall into place.

I mean, if Jesus is alive and he was killed,

then his claim to be the Son of God is genuine.

If Jesus is alive and he's still here,

then him saying that he was going to die for sins

and his offer of forgiveness is genuine.

Because Jesus is alive,

his claim to be the rightful king over all creation

and over every human life is legitimate.

Paul's life is redefined at this moment.

He becomes a completely different person

because he is transformed by the truth

that he can no longer unsee.

Jesus is alive.

That is the gospel message.

The one who died to offer us forgiveness

is now alive and sits on the throne.

The truth of the gospel transformed Paul.

The truth that by grace,

God sent his son to die

so that sinful people could be rescued.

The truth that Jesus offers hope beyond death

transformed Paul

from being one of the church's fiercest opponents

to one of the greatest evangelists

that the world has ever seen.

He went from being a persecutor

to the one being persecuted

all because he met Jesus.

The gospel is powerful enough

to reach and transform anyone.

The measure of the genuine gospel

is its power to transform.

And so you've got to ask the question,

what is it that's being transformed here?

Because there's a risk for us

when we hear a dramatic story

like we did for Paul

that we focus on the details.

So what's changed is

before he was doing persecuting people

and afterwards he's doing preaching.

And that's real.

That's a genuine shift.

But we've got to look deeper than that.

We've got to ask the question,

what shifted to make him

want to stop this

and start this?

What made him willing to go

from somebody who's exerting force on people

to somebody who would choose to suffer?

It's not just a,

I'm going to do something else.

Something deeper has changed for him.

And the clue

is there for us in the passage.

It's at the beginning and the end.

Have a look at verse 10.

Am I now trying to win the approval

of human beings or of God?

Or am I trying to please people?

If I was still trying to please people,

I would not be a servant of Christ.

See, before Paul met Jesus,

his life was driven by a desire

to please people.

I mean, he says it explicitly just there.

He says if he was still trying to please people,

meaning that's what he was doing before.

So his religious zeal,

his effort to be a great Jew,

even his persecution of the church

was driven by a self-serving desire

to please people.

He wanted to please people

not because, you know,

he loved them and he wanted to serve them.

He wanted to please them

so that in pleasing them,

he would get back

the significance that he craved.

Because the reality is,

without Jesus,

who makes it possible for us

to bring praise to God

and find the significance

of being in his family,

the only option we have

when searching for significance

and identity

is the accolade that we can get

from the people around us,

from the achievements that we do,

from the presence that we are in their life,

from the way people talk about us

and need us.

That's where we will go searching

for our significance in life.

But Paul's heart shifts from that place.

It shifts in response

to being loved by grace,

to the grace that God shows him in Jesus.

And it shifts so far

that his deepest desire is now

there in verse 24.

The end of his big story

about his transformation

is,

and they praised God because of me.

It's all about God now.

Paul will now be somebody

who will choose to bear

a huge cost to himself

and he'll do it

because his heart's deepest desire

is now that God be pleased with him,

that God get praise.

Instead of being someone

who is seeking his own identity,

looking after number one,

he'll be somebody who denies himself.

He'll end up in prison.

There's this whole catalogue of stuff

that Paul ends up going through

as a follower of Jesus.

And the only reason he can do that

is because his heart is motivated

by a desire for God to get credit,

not him.

His life agenda has shifted.

His first question now

as he negotiates life

is,

how do I please God

with this decision?

How do I put God first?

He finally recognises

where he fits

that his God-given

created purpose

was to point

to the one

who called him

to live in grace,

was to point

to the one

who forgave him,

to point to the one

who satisfies him

more than all the other things

that he had in his life before,

to point to the one

who loves him

in spite of all that he is

and all that he's done.

And so the last question

we've got to ask is,

if you're following Jesus

or if you're trying to decide

whether or not you want

to follow Jesus,

the question is,

how can you be sure

or how can I be sure

that we are trusting

the only actual gospel,

the one that comes

from God,

the one that has power,

the way you'll know

is to ask yourself

the question,

is my heart

being transformed by it?

Is my heart

shifting from being

that people-pleasing,

self-serving person

to being the self-denying,

God-pleasing person?

If the answer is no,

it's possible

that you've fallen

for a perversion

of the gospel.

It's possible

that whatever it is

that you're trusting

or following

is enough to make you

do religious things.

I mean,

you're in the room,

you're at church,

you may be even serving

and doing other things,

but maybe it's not

powerful enough

to actually change

your heart.

And if that's the case,

you need to hear

the gospel tonight.

You need to hear

the message

that God invites you

to receive grace

from Him,

to be loved

even though you

don't deserve it,

even though your

heart's inclination

is to love yourself

first.

You need to hear

the invitation

that because Jesus

died and rose again,

God offers to love

you anyway

and to begin

the work

of transforming

you to be

who you were

made to be.

As I was writing

this message,

I was chatting

with Sal about it

last night

and saying

that feels like

a really sharp

place to stop.

It feels almost

a little bit offensive.

And so I was trying

to think of a second

option.

You know,

if you're not being

transformed to say

maybe you don't

have the gospel,

maybe there's

another softer version.

And as I was

thinking that

through and

processing that,

I realised two

things.

The first thing

was that there

is no other

option.

The gospel

transforms hearts.

It's what it

does.

And so if our

hearts are not

being transformed

so that we care

more about

pleasing God

than we do

about pleasing

people,

we have to

seriously ask

the question,

do we know

Jesus?

Have we met

him?

Do we know

his majesty

and his love

and his

worthiness?

But the

second thing

I realised

was that

my desire

to soften

this point

was ultimately

a people

pleasing desire.

I want to

be,

you know,

I want you

to come and

let me know

afterwards how

encouraging the

sermon was.

I want to

be known

as the

good

preacher.

But that

doesn't change

anything about

that first

reflection.

It doesn't

change the

fact that the

gospel changes

hearts.

But what it

did do is

remind me

that maybe I

need to keep

hearing the

gospel.

Reminded me

that maybe I'm

not a finished

product yet

in that

journey from

people pleasing

to God

pleasing.

I'm sure

that many of

you guys are

aware that I'm

in the process

of training for

a half marathon.

You're probably

aware because I'm

always telling you

how fast or

slow I'm running

or I'm limping

as I try and get

up on the

platform on a

Sunday.

It was a whim,

it was a silly

decision.

I was on

holidays a little

over ten weeks

ago and my

brother-in-law,

he's an

indigenous marathon

runner.

He has a

slightly different

body type to

me and he's

been doing

marathon running

for a while and

he managed to

talk me into

why don't you

just have a go,

just run a

half marathon.

Why don't I?

Because I'm

nearly 35 and

I've never done

it before is why.

But I wasn't

thinking logically

on holidays so I

committed and

said yep let's

do it, have a go.

I signed up, I

registered for the

half marathon and

I started training

and it was fun for

about a week and

then now I'm about

ten weeks in.

And it's

interesting to

watch how it

goes.

I have, I'm

trying to think

how you're

reading left to

right, yeah.

So if this is my

journey of training,

I have some weeks

where I'm running

really fast and

stuff's good and

other weeks where

it's slow.

But my slow

weeks ten weeks

into the journey

are much quicker

than my slow

weeks week one.

The level of pain

I'm experiencing

in week ten,

even on the

painful days,

is much lower

than the pain I

was experiencing

in week one.

I'm moving

in a direction.

It's not a clean

line of progress

when it comes to

my fitness and

my strength and

how fast I am.

It's like this,

but it's all

moving up in the

right direction.

It's the same

when it comes to

the transformation

that God is

working in us.

There are weeks

where we will be

way more selfish

than we wish we

were.

There will be weeks

where God in His

grace empowers us

to lovingly put

Him first and

serve people and

seek His glory

way more than

we do at other

times.

The issue is not

are you seeking

to please God

more today than

you did yesterday?

Because we do

this.

We've got to

step back and

have a bigger

look.

We've got to

ask ourselves

the question,

am I seeking

to please God

more now than

I was a year

ago?

Am I thinking

of God first

in my big life

decisions more

now than I

would have when

I started

following Him?

As I think

about what

job I might

take or

offers that

are on the

table,

decisions I've

got to make,

is my first

inclination,

what does God

want me to do

here?

More so than

it would have

been before.

As I think

about being

generous,

is my first

inclination,

what does God

want from me

here?

A year or

four years ago

it might have

been, does God

want me to be

generous?

The answer is

yes, just to

clarify.

But as

you've grown

slowly, as

God's done

work in you,

now it might

be, how

much more

does God

want me to

push in my

generosity?

See, it's a

progressive thing,

but we've got to

be willing to

still ask the

question.

We can't just

hide from the

reality because

our lives

sometimes do

this, because

the message

here is that

the gospel

transforms us.

And so if

there's no

transformation, and

Deb was sharing

this morning, and

I was outside

putting Huddy in,

I don't know if

you shared it

tonight, but

Deb met

Jesus after

serving on a

Sunday school

team for

years.

And so it

could be that

you've been

sitting in

church, maybe

even your

whole life, but

you've never

met Jesus.

And maybe

tonight God

is holding up

this mirror to

say, here's

how you'll

know.

If there's

been no shift

in your heart

in that journey,

then you need

to meet him.

But the

good news

is that the

gospel invitation

is still open

to you.

That if you're

sitting here

feeling uncomfortable,

feeling convicted

that there isn't

any shift in

your life,

that God is

inviting you to

meet Jesus

right now.

That the

gospel is

powerful enough

to grab you,

even if you

came here to

make someone

else happy.

The gospel is

powerful enough

to right now,

in this moment,

introduce you

to Jesus and

start you on

the journey of

getting to

know the

greatest love

that has ever

been expressed.

Getting to

know the God

who made you.

It's an open

invitation.

Tonight could

be the night

that God wants

to show you

Jesus and

begin the work

of transforming

you for his

glory.

God, if

you've never

done that

before, if

you're sitting

there going,

I need to

do that, I

need to take

the step, then

just now I'm

going to pray.

And if you

need to, I

want you to

make this

prayer your

prayer.

Just in your

own head, just

you can repeat

the words as I

go.

Say amen in

your head at

the end, whatever

you need to do

to say, God,

this is my

prayer.

And in

the Bible, God

makes it clear.

When we come

to him and we

ask for forgiveness,

when we come

to him and ask

him to help us

make Jesus the

king that he's

supposed to be,

the answer will

be yes.

So let's pray

right now and

maybe tonight is

your night to

begin this

journey.

Father God,

we're sorry

for caring more

about ourselves

and for seeking

to please people

rather than

living for you.

We're sorry

for going

through the

motions sometimes

of church and

religion without

having hearts

that love you.

We're sorry

for replacing

your gospel

of free grace

with effort

that can

never do

the job.

Please

forgive us

and by your

grace,

transform us

to be the

kind of people

who live every

minute of every

day for you.

Thank you

for sending

Jesus to die

in our place.

Thank you

for being

patient with

us as we

fail and we

struggle on

this journey.

please reveal

your son

in us

so that

others might

come to

know this

powerful,

grace-filled

gospel.

For your

sake.

Amen.