So What Now?

Amen. You guys glad to be here today?

What an incredible day to sing together.

All nations and tribes and peoples from all over the world.

Right here in one room. That's a cool thing.

We're going to do a responsive reading together, if that's okay.

So let's just focus our hearts now on what we're about to say to our Lord.

Merciful God, we think of the freedom that Paul speaks about.

And too often we accept it as the freedom to do what we like,

rather than being obedient to you and serious about reflecting your character into our world.

We confess with shame that whenever we bite and devour one another,

such things as discord and factions exist, even within our faith communities.

Forgive us when we use our freedom to be self-indulgent instead of serving one another in love.

We confess that we fail miserably when we try on our own to live lives that are shaped by love, joy, and peace,

patience, kindness, and goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Forgive us when we fail to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit,

who enables our lives to produce such freedom, which enrich and enhance our lives,

and through us the lives of those.

So merciful God, we confess also our failure to seek the empowerment of your Holy Spirit

when we're confronted daily with the challenges of following Jesus.

When we look at the cost that Jesus sets on his discipleship,

we confess that so often we fail to meet that cost.

So forgive us when we fail to take Jesus' demands on our lives seriously enough,

forgetting that out of love for us, he has already walked the hard road the way of the cross.

So gracious and loving God, in and through Jesus Christ,

you have given us the freedom and the power to live by your Holy Spirit and be guided by him.

May our acceptance of these gifts be visible as we bear profusely the fruit of the Spirit,

and as we faithfully follow Jesus on the challenging road of discipleship.

This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's be seated together.

Amen.

The scripture reading today comes from Paul's letters to the Galatians, chapters 5 and 6.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Please read along in your bulletin with us.

If we live by the Spirit, let us walk also by the Spirit.

Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual,

restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself,

so that you too will not be tempted.

Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone,

and not in regard to another.

For each one will bear his own load.

The one who has taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.

Do not be deceived.

God is not mocked.

For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.

But the one who sows from the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people,

and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

This is the reading of the word of the Lord.

Let's be seated together.

A lot of cables up here.

How you guys doing?

I get to say that at least one time, right?

I try not to repeat myself.

Hey, we are going on a journey in Galatians.

We're about to finish it today.

And if you were here last week,

during the sermon, we had a very interesting experience.

Often it's kind of one of those experiences where you talk about them later,

as if heaven meets earth,

and our flesh meets God's Spirit.

And when that happens,

we don't know what's going to happen.

So I wanted to,

one of the things, you know,

as a church,

when we started at Watermark,

we said we wanted to be a church family.

And the goal was to make it where we come,

and we discuss things as a family.

Like, we'll talk about what's going on in our life,

and in our world.

Kind of like our dinner table as a family.

And I felt like enough stuff happened

last Sunday.

Maybe we should talk about this a little,

and Q&A,

because we do Q&As.

If this is your first time,

we do Q&As here,

probably once every five or six sermons,

especially if it's a topic that's intense,

or there's a lot of questions.

And so,

just to begin off with it,

Pastor Charles was preaching,

and about 26 minutes into his sermon,

there's,

like I said,

there seemed to be a collision of the physical

and the spiritual world,

and all these dynamics interplaying.

And it just became apparent that God

had something different planned for the church.

than his sermon.

And God kind of took it in a different direction,

and we've seen just people's,

their reactions to that,

and their blessings to that,

and what they've done in their life.

And just so you know,

Pastor Charles,

okay,

he's here today.

He went through the test,

and everything is good.

There's no physical reason,

or mental reason.

There was just,

and so he's healthy,

and so he's great,

and he wants to thank everybody for prayers,

and just for everybody's concern during that time.

And as people started asking questions,

I started writing them out,

and it seemed like the questions came

in a series of four kind of categories.

And so I just want to talk about them really briefly,

just because,

like we've said,

we're on this journey,

and we're kind of laying a foundation

as a church family on this journey,

and what that looks like as we walk with God.

And so the questions seem to be in these categories,

and I'm just going to read them out as I heard them.

I had several friends who were not believers.

They're here,

and we know that there are a lot of people here

who haven't stepped onto their journey as a Christian,

that they're on a spiritual journey,

but they haven't entered into the family of God yet.

And so that's why this church has started,

because we want and believe

in not taking people from other churches,

but reaching people who aren't going to church.

And some of my friends and people ask questions,

and some young Christians ask these same type of questions.

What does it mean when everyone is talking

about spiritual warfare or spiritual battle?

That seemed to be like one of the categories.

And so as we talk about that,

just realizing that the Christian life

is a supernatural life,

that there are spiritual dynamics at work all around us.

One of the founding fathers of the colonies,

if you're British,

America if you're an American,

Thomas Jefferson didn't believe in anything supernatural.

And so he would take his Bible,

and he basically ripped out every passage

that talked about supernatural things.

Miracles, healings, the Red Sea,

all these things.

So he just,

and so he said,

it just can't be,

I can't believe in a supernatural thing.

But what he realized is when he did that,

his Bible was like that thin.

Because there wasn't really much left in that sense.

And so as we walk on this journey,

we realize that there's a spiritual world,

and there's a spiritual dimension.

And scripture talks about it quite often,

that there is,

there are angels,

and there are demons,

and there's Satan.

And we learn in Ephesians,

as Paul talks,

that our battle isn't against this flesh and blood,

but our battle is against principalities,

and kingdoms,

and forces that we will never see.

And I think that sometimes freaks us out.

We'll see them when we get to heaven,

our final destination.

And it seems like,

you know,

even if I were to say right now,

as I understand scripture,

angels are looking down on us.

There are angels in this room.

And there are forces trying to cause people

to not think and not focus,

and miss what God's word has to teach them

and say today.

And so there's this battle going on all around us.

And I think sometimes we take that too lightly,

and we forget that there is a spiritual realm,

and there's a huge struggle.

Our body isn't just physical,

our body is spiritual.

And whenever we try to separate those two,

like I say,

how are you doing today?

You go,

well,

in my thought life,

I'm doing terrible,

but in my physical life,

I'm doing great.

You know,

Jesus would have never understood that language.

Because in Jesus,

the physical and the spiritual are all intertwined.

They all work together.

They're all,

so when they say,

how are you doing?

We're saying,

how are you doing spiritually?

And physically,

and all that encompasses you,

that's who you are as a person.

So there's a spiritual war going on,

and John 4 says that God is spirit,

and we worship him in spirit and truth.

Another question that kind of came up a couple times

was just the idea of,

well,

if all the things are happening around us,

we talk about these spiritual things,

is everything spiritual?

Losing my job,

is that spiritual?

Is that spiritual?

Bumping my car as I'm driving,

and I get an accident,

is that spiritual?

Dropping my milk at the dinner table,

is that spiritual?

And I think that the scripture says,

it's yes and no.

That if you look at the timeline of creation,

we have this period where God created,

and then we have this period where everything fell,

and it was corrupted.

And then we have this period where Christ came,

and he redeemed everything.

And then we have this period that we're living in now,

it's kind of the in-between times,

it's the shadow lands that C.S. Lewis would talk about,

that it's just here,

but not yet here.

We read scripture,

and we understand it,

but it hasn't yet been fully fulfilled in our lives,

and we wonder what God is doing in that sense.

And as we look at that,

scripture is really clear in Ephesians,

that we struggle against three things.

We struggle against our flesh,

my sinful nature,

who I am,

my selfishness,

all those things that were opposite of what Pastor Troll was talking about yesterday,

greed,

and envy,

and guilt,

and shame,

all these things we struggle against.

We struggle against the fallen world.

The Bible says that when sin came into the world,

it fractured everything.

It fractured creation,

that we have these tsunamis,

we have earthquakes,

we have these things that happen,

and people look at them,

and they just understand what's going on,

and they go,

well,

if God were good,

why would he create a world like this?

And you go back to them,

and he goes,

he didn't.

He created a perfect world.

But we came,

and we made poor choices,

and sin entered in,

and it fractured all these things.

And then we have the spiritual realm,

that is Satan,

and demons,

and Romans talks about that a lot.

And the question is,

how do we discern what's happening in our life,

and in our world?

And my answer to that is,

I don't know.

I mean,

sometimes,

it's really clear,

and sometimes,

there's a combination of everything.

And I realize,

as people,

we're very complicated.

To say,

this is your problem,

is probably taking things too lightly,

in our world.

I mean,

sometimes you know,

right?

I mean,

sometimes you've been around somebody for so long,

like my wife,

I walk past her,

and she looks at me,

and I turn around,

and I go,

you were checking me out,

weren't you?

Well,

I know that,

because we've spent a lot of time with each other,

and we know how each other thinks,

right?

We know how each other thinks,

and that's just,

that's just,

that's a relationship.

Right?

And so,

we know that,

as we spend more time with God,

and we spend more time in His Word,

and we get into this relationship with Him,

we understand when He's speaking to us,

we understand when there's something weird here,

we understand when things don't seem right,

and we know how to pray,

and I think community within this is really important.

That if you're a part of the community of God,

and you're not in the community,

then you're kind of like this sheep,

and you're wandering around,

and you're going to get killed.

But God meant for the family of God to come together,

and be in a community,

and so there's all these dynamics,

our flesh,

the world,

Satan,

and all these things are kind of coming in there,

and we just need to be aware of that.

We don't need to be afraid of that,

but we just need to be aware of that,

and understand what's going on,

and community is very helpful in that time.

Jesus told this parable one time,

we taught on it already probably three months ago,

when he talked about the sower.

I made all the mess when I was throwing the corn everywhere,

and everybody complained about it afterwards,

because it took us two hours to pick it up after everybody left.

But he says,

you know,

the sower sows the seed,

and the word of God goes out,

and it lands on a hard ground,

and this bird,

the devil comes,

and he takes it away,

so spiritual.

Then the sower sows his seed,

and it lands in the rocky ground,

and the ground full of weeds,

and concerns,

and desires,

and greed come up,

and they choke it out,

physical,

in my body.

So all these things are happening as God's word is so.

Does that make sense?

So to say this is physical,

and that's spiritual,

it's probably a combination of all those things in our world,

and we just need to be aware of that as we think about that.

Another question people said is,

well,

how do I handle this?

What am I supposed to do?

I'm afraid.

And I said,

don't be afraid.

Don't freak out.

Walk with God.

In Job 1,

there's a story of Job is there.

God is there in heaven.

It says,

the sons of God came to heaven,

and Job 1,

and it says,

Satan joined them,

which that passage always just weirds me out.

I don't understand it.

There's a lot of things in Scripture that drive me crazy.

And in that passage,

God starts the whole book of Job by saying,

hey,

have you looked at Job?

He's a great guy.

And the devil goes,

well,

of course he's great,

because you protect him.

You do everything for him.

Let me get into his life,

and he will curse you.

And there's a really interesting passage.

God says to him,

okay,

but you can't take his life.

And what we see there in that dynamic

is that God is in control of everything.

Nothing,

if you're a child of God,

nothing can happen in your life

without God allowing it to happen.

A hair cannot fall from your head.

We're going to study that next week in Luke.

That cannot happen

unless God allows that to happen in your life.

And so we have the confidence of knowing

that no matter what's going on around us,

if we're walking with God,

God is in control.

We don't need to fear.

So what do you do?

Well,

when I was a young Christian,

I was in Colorado.

We were at Colorado Springs.

Mark would appreciate this.

We were out sharing our faith,

and we came on this strip,

and there was this occult bookstore.

And I was like,

okay,

I'm going to go in there

and share the gospel with those people,

and they're going to hear about Christ,

and all the demons are going to flee out of there,

and I'm going to go,

wow,

God is great.

And so I said,

okay,

I'll do that.

And I started walking towards this door,

and I got to this door,

and I couldn't move.

I mean,

literally,

it was like this force field was in front of me.

And I had never experienced anything like that.

And I hesitated for like four or five seconds.

I'm like,

and finally I just turned around.

I said,

okay,

I'm not supposed to go in there.

So don't go looking for demons.

Don't go grab a whole bunch of books about exorcism,

or what do I do,

or how do I speak into that.

Walk with God.

Spend time with Him.

Pray.

Be in community.

God will take care of you.

There's some times in my life

when I feel an incredible spiritual attack.

I just say,

Lord Jesus,

I need you.

Can you repeat that after me?

Lord Jesus,

I need you.

Lord Jesus,

I need you.

Sometimes I'll say,

Jesus,

Son of God,

have mercy on me,

a sinner.

Can you say that?

Jesus,

Son of God,

have mercy on me,

a sinner.

Don't be writing out these long prayers.

You got to pray every word just perfectly,

then demons will flee.

That's just not in the Bible.

We're told in 1 Peter,

that when Peter was,

when Michael,

the archangel,

was arguing over

Moses' body

with Satan,

he just said,

the Lord,

the Lord rebuke you,

then Satan plead.

So don't spend a lot of time

talking to the demons.

Talk to Jesus

because he's our advocate.

He's the one that goes before us.

He's the one that has the power.

He's the one that's going to vanquish

the spiritual things.

Talk to Jesus.

Finally,

the question came up

a couple times,

why do you think this is happening

at Watermark now?

Well,

I don't know.

I think there's a battle.

I think we're in a spiritual battle.

I think there's a battle for our hearts.

There's some of you in here right now

who are wondering,

you know,

is this church really

worth giving all my life to?

Should I hold on to my job

or some things that give me

a little comfort

that I can realize right away

because sometimes the church

doesn't really satisfy me

the way I need to be satisfied?

There's a spiritual battle going on.

We realize that the minute

we plan the church here,

we realize that we're coming

into this area

where Satan doesn't want us to be.

He's not rejoicing

that people are coming to Christ.

He's not rejoicing

that we're doing a baptism out there.

He doesn't want those things

to happen like that.

And so you have to realize

as we walk,

as Mark and I were talking

this last week,

it's kind of like

we're this point of this arrow.

And we're this point of this arrow

and we're penetrating darkness.

And when you're in the point of the arrow,

you're going to feel

a lot of tension

and a lot of friction

and things are going to be difficult.

But you know that it's God

who's pushing that arrow

through those things in our life

and we can trust Him.

We realize that when we built

a church based on the gospel

and community

and reaching out where you live,

Satan doesn't like that.

We realize when we started

to preach last Sunday

on the fruit of the Spirit

and what it looks like

to walk with God,

love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, gentleness, self-control.

Satan doesn't want us

to think about those things.

And so as we move forward,

my desire for us as a church

is just to move forward

with our eyes open,

to be praying.

There's a passage right after

Jesus comes out of the wilderness,

which I think is really interesting.

Satan tempted Him.

And after Jesus said,

it is written,

it is written,

it is written,

which is a great way

to realize how we fight

spiritual battle.

We just go to God's Word.

It says that Satan

removed himself

and waited for an opportune time

to come back.

I think we as a church

have to realize

that as we penetrate darkness,

as we go into places

where the spiritual realm

and there are serious battles there,

that there's always going to be

tension and fighting

and struggles.

If I brought the 30 people up here

who were part of the launch team

for Watermark,

every one of them

would testify

to incredible amount of pressure,

bad things happening in their life,

things going on,

like inordinate amount,

dreams, sleepless nights.

For a year and a half,

people have been going

through those things.

And we've said,

that's great

because it means

that we're doing

what God wants us to do

and what Satan

doesn't want us to do.

So as you walk forward,

walk forward in confidence

knowing that you're

a child of God

and there's nothing to fear.

Now, hopefully I've covered

all the categories.

If there's a question there

that I didn't ask,

please feel free

to come up and ask me later.

We can address those things.

But I just felt like

it was a great teaching moment

and we needed to talk about it

and we needed to say,

hey, this is what we feel

like is going on.

This is what God's word says.

And we need to be aware of that.

Is that okay?

Okay.

So we're looking at

Galatians 5 and 6.

We're bringing six years of,

six Sundays,

it might have seemed

like six years.

Six Sundays of teaching

coming together

and crashing at the head.

And as we look at Galatians,

we're reminded of a couple things.

Galatians is about the gospel message.

That Paul writes the gospel message

in Galatians

and he's telling them and us

the core,

the essence of the gospel.

And he says,

the essence of the gospel is this.

The essence,

the core is Jesus.

Jesus saves people.

Jesus rescues people.

He rescues them from slavery,

idols, and death.

We've talked about it

over and over again.

Jesus jumps out of the lifeboat.

He takes our dead body

in the water.

He pushes us into the lifeboat.

And as he does that,

he dies.

He dies bringing us life.

That's the gospel.

Do I need to share it again?

We're drowning.

We're dead.

We're in the water.

We have no hope.

And it's not like when Jesus jumps in

and we go,

okay, thanks,

give me a boost.

And he pushes us into the boat.

No, we're dead.

And he takes our body

and he pushes us into the lifeboat

and we come back to life.

And as we come back to life,

he dies.

That's the gospel.

Now, the church was struggling with that.

The Galatians, as Christians,

they came in and they were adding

something to the gospel.

They said,

Jesus plus ceremony equals life.

Or Jesus plus good works equals life.

Or Jesus plus tithing to the temple

equals life.

And Paul says,

no, Jesus plus anything equals death.

Jesus plus anything equals death.

The gospel is that Jesus saves us

and pushes us up.

And when we look at Galatians,

we're reminded that Galatians

is being written to Christians.

And so the first thing you should realize

is that even Christians

need to be reminded often

of the gospel.

That the gospel isn't just something

that gets us into heaven,

out of hell.

But the gospel is something

that allows us to work

and live every day

and it changes us.

Now, sometimes we just say,

well, I've had the gospel,

so what's next?

Teach me Greek,

teach me Hebrew,

teach me all the points.

And Jesus and Paul are saying,

no, guys.

The gospel is it.

And the struggle,

the journey that we go on in life

is taking this Jesus plus nothing

and applying it

to every area of our life.

Every area.

And so Paul is speaking

to the church of Galatians

and he's saying,

when the gospel comes in,

it changes us,

it transforms us,

and we gotta help each other.

We gotta help each other understand that.

We gotta help each other focus on that.

And we can't lose that point.

Last week, Paul talked about that.

My wife and Carolyn so

always accuse me of making up words

as I preach.

So I've heard that there's this list

of words, Tobinisms,

that Tobin has made.

But if I could make up one word,

I would say the word is gospeling.

Gospeling.

Paul says that every day

we have to be gospeling

the gospel to each other.

We gotta be speaking it to each other.

When we're down

and we're upset

or something's happened,

we share about what Christ has done.

When things are going really good

and we're on top of the world,

we share about what Christ has done.

And we need each other

gospeling each other

so that we understand that.

And last week,

as we got to this passage,

Paul says that when

the gospel comes into you,

it changes you.

And it makes you loving

and joyful and peaceful

and patient

and kindness

and gentleness

and self-control.

And he says,

these aren't just mystical things.

But these are concrete things.

You don't say,

I feel more loving today.

But what Paul is saying

to the church is,

look at your actions

and look at your deeds.

Are they more loving?

If you're married in here,

all I need to do

is go to your spouse

and ask them,

how are they doing?

Are they more gentle to you today

than they were last week?

Are they more kinder to you today

than they were last year?

And Paul says in the Galatians

that the answer to that

would be yes

because as we live out the Spirit,

all these things are concrete.

And what he's going to share

in this passage

is basically,

as we walk with God,

we're going to see

three relationships

very differently.

We're going to see

our relationship with God

very differently.

We're going to see

our relationship

with each other

very differently.

And we're going to see

our relationship with money

very differently.

As we walk with God,

the Spirit comes into us,

the Spirit indwells us,

we walk in the power

of the Holy Spirit,

we comprehend

and we understand the gospel,

it changes us,

and as it changes us,

our relationships

with each other,

with God,

and with money

and material things

are going to be

radically different.

And that's what he's

sharing to the church.

He's saying,

this is how you know

you're walking with me

because these things

are different.

And so in verses 25,

26, 3, and 4,

he says that as you walk

with me,

the gospel changes

the way you look at God.

I mean,

if I live by the Spirit,

I see myself differently.

If we live by the Spirit,

let us walk by the Spirit.

Let us not become boastful,

challenging one another,

envying one another.

Verse 3,

for if anyone thinks

he is something

when he is nothing,

and in Greek,

the word means nothing.

If anyone thinks

he is something

when he is nothing,

he deceives himself.

But each one must examine

his own work

and when he will have

reason for boasting

in regard to himself alone

and not in regard

to each other.

And what Paul says here

is that the minute

we forget the gospel

in our life,

we become boastful

and we become envying.

And we look at people

around us and we go,

oh, I wish I had those things.

I wish I could do those things.

I wish I had that name card.

And he would say,

you've lost the gospel.

But when the gospel comes in,

as we see in this church

and in our lives,

it creates a new image in us.

It creates us a new self-image.

It creates this new relationship

that we have with God

that I probably should say

that it restores

the original relationship.

Before we found our self-worth

in what people thought about us.

Before we found our self-worth

and what people said about us.

Before we found our self-worth

and how people interacted with us

and what they did with us

and our accomplishments

and what Paul says

in his passages,

if you do that still,

you're adding something

to the gospel.

And you're trying to work

for your salvation.

Don't do that.

Because when the gospel comes in,

you see things differently.

You see God differently.

And what he says is

the gospel creates

a new image in us.

And it's not only a new image,

but it changes how we evaluate

how we're doing.

So as Christians,

we no longer look at Mark

or Kyle or David

and we compare ourselves

to what they're doing

and how we think of ourselves.

But it says we compare ourselves

to God.

How would you like to do that?

We compare ourselves to God

in the standard he's put up there.

And in verse three,

he says,

when we do that,

we're nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

I mean,

that's kind of encouraging,

isn't it?

I'm nothing.

But there's a counterbalance

to that in the gospel.

And what he says is

as we understand

that we're nothing

and we come to Christ

and we submit our lives

to Christ,

we become everything.

That the moment we realize

that we're nothing,

that we've been trying

to work in our own way,

we've been trying

to earn our salvation,

the minute we say,

God,

please forgive me

for doing that.

I cannot do that.

Only your son can do that.

And the minute we submit

our lives to Christ,

Christ comes in

and he takes

all of his righteousness,

all of the things he did,

he takes all of those things

on the cross

and he puts them

right on top of you.

And so now,

you're not only nothing,

but you're everything.

Does that make sense?

So it's the reason

Paul could say,

I am the least

of these servants.

I'm the chief of sinners.

I'm the worst disciple.

But in the same sentence,

he could say,

follow me

as I walk with God.

He could say,

I'm terrible.

I'm having a hard time.

I'm nothing compared to God.

But look at my life

and emulate what I do

as I walk with God.

And what Paul is telling them

and he's telling us

is that as we walk with God,

the gospel comes in

and it changes our identity.

It changes who we are.

It changes how we come

about that identity.

And we no longer look

at people or circumstances

or things around us,

but we look at Jesus Christ.

And the Bible says

that he's done everything.

You guys are really quiet.

So the way this works out

in our world

maybe is something like this.

The gospel humbles us

and it makes us nothing,

but it strengthens us

by saying that the only person

who really matters

what they think about us,

God,

when God looks at us,

he goes,

amazing.

Amazing.

So I go into work

and I walk into Citibank.

I'll pick on Christine.

Someone hands me

their business card

and I look at it

and I see all these

global manager,

da-da-da-da-da-da-da,

all these incredible titles there.

Maybe I go,

wow,

I need to work harder.

I need to be where she is.

I need to get all those titles

behind my name.

Man,

I really envy her.

And as a Christian,

the minute I do that,

I de-gospel myself.

I don't know if that makes sense.

I mean,

I still have my salvation,

but I'm like this train.

I'm hooked to the engine.

And the minute I say,

man,

I wish I could do that,

boop!

And I've lost the power

of the Holy Spirit.

I've lost the power

of the gospel.

I mean,

I've de-gospeled myself.

And so I need people around me

to come alongside of me

and say,

dude,

you've got to come back

to what Christ says about you

is true

and don't get down on that

because you're a child of God.

Or maybe I look at my name tag

and I pass it to somebody

and I'm like a billion titles

and I pass it to Christine now

and I look at it and go,

hey,

deal with that.

Well,

I brought in pride,

right?

Verse 26,

first one was envy,

now it's pride.

And the minute I get proudful,

I de-gospel myself.

And someone needs to come

alongside me and say,

dude,

you're getting really prideful

about that,

but that's not who you are.

When you pull out that name tag,

the only title

that really means anything

in God's world

is a child of God.

Tobin,

a child of God.

John,

a child of God.

Christine,

a child of God.

That's the only title

that means anything.

And if we rely on

any other title,

we de-gospel ourself

and I'm going to get in trouble

when I say it,

but we just,

we de-gospel ourself.

You come home today

and your kids get this letter

and Harvard University says,

we think your kids are amazing

and we're going to give up

half of our endowment

to get them into our school.

Incredible.

And you're like,

but my kids are only eight years old.

Who cares?

We want them.

You've done such a great job

in educating your kids.

You should be really proud

of yourself.

But the minute you do that,

what happens?

You've taken your thoughts

and ideas off of Christ

and say,

this is who defines me.

This is what I look at.

This is who I am.

And we put it on our kids' education.

There are a lot of us in here

who are de-gospeling ourselves

on our kids' education, guys.

But that doesn't define us.

And in the same way,

you might have one of my kids

and they're getting rejection letters,

you know,

hey, we know your kid's eight years old,

but don't even think about it.

Maybe a football scholarship,

but that's about it.

And I get all sad and depressed

and I walk around

and I just feel terrible.

What a terrible parent I am.

My kid didn't get into Harvard

and they should have got in by now

because they're almost nine.

But the minute I do that,

I de-gospel myself.

And I take my focus off of Jesus

and I put my focus on my kids

and the education.

And all these things

that the world says is important.

The question we have to ask ourselves

is what are we de-gospeling ourselves with?

What is it that draws our attention away from Jesus

and says that's more important?

Paul goes on and he says,

if you're walking in the Spirit

and God's power is in you

and the Holy Spirit is with you

and you understand what's going on,

that's gonna change how you see relationships

with other people.

Verses one and two,

he says that,

he says,

brethren,

if anyone is caught in a trespass,

you who are spiritual,

which means you're walking with God,

not that you're incredibly mature,

but you're walking with God,

restore,

it's a Greek word,

it means to set a bone.

You have a dislocated ankle

or arm

or a broken bone.

He says,

restore them,

bring them back together.

And as you do that,

be careful,

be gentle,

look to yourself

because you might be tempted one day

and do the same thing.

We can go on and on about this passage,

but he's saying

that as we understand the gospel

and as we walk with God,

it changes the way

we look at relationships.

And when we see people sinning,

we don't just look at them

and go,

I knew they would do that.

I mean,

they talk about those things

all the time,

but I knew they were gonna,

I knew they were fake.

And the minute you do that,

you've de-gospeled yourself

and instead of focusing on Jesus,

you're focusing on that person

and their failure.

And Paul says,

no,

the way we change

when we walk with God

is we look at people

and they're failing

and we come alongside of them

and say,

dude,

do you know what you're doing?

Stop doing that.

You're sacrificing your family

for your job.

I mean,

you say it's all about yourself,

but you're really,

it's really not

because it's about your ego.

You're de-gospeling yourself.

But you do it gently.

It doesn't say

go to non-believers

and say,

you're going to hell.

That's probably not

the best way

to talk to people

who don't know Christ.

But he's talking about

people in the family of God

and when you're in

the family of God

like this,

you come alongside each other,

you encourage each other,

you gently restore each other.

He goes on and he says,

if you're in the family of God,

another thing that changes

your relationship

is that you bear

each other's burdens.

And the word here,

and the word picture

is very powerful,

it's very unique,

and it basically means

you come alongside

of that person,

they have this borrows,

they have this huge burden

on them that's killing them.

It might be economic,

it might be social,

it might be sin,

it might be something

going on in their family,

it could be health issues,

it could be a million things.

But he says,

to have compassion,

to help them,

to de-burden them,

you have to come

right beside them.

And you have to get

underneath that load.

And you have to know

what's going on

in their life.

And sometimes,

I confess as Christians,

we just,

I don't do that, right?

I say,

I'll pray for you, dude.

But I don't take the time

to get into their world

and understand

what's happening

in their life.

And Paul says,

we have to do that,

we do that.

That's the action

of us becoming Christians.

Because that's what

Christians do.

Christians come alongside

each other

and they help each other

and they pick each other up.

And be careful

when you do that

and be gentle

when you do that.

But you need to do that.

And if you don't do that,

you de-gospel yourself

and you start looking at them

and you don't look at Jesus.

But he's saying,

we're a family,

we do it together,

we need each other,

we gotta help each other.

And Paul says,

if you're walking

in this,

community is messy.

I mean,

community is hard,

it's difficult,

it's messy.

When we said

Watermark Community Church,

we realized

everyone needs community,

everyone needs to be known,

but people don't embrace

it very well

because it's messy

and it's difficult

and it's hard.

But Paul says,

if you're walking

in the Spirit,

if you're a child of God,

if you're mine,

then you are going

to be a part

of a community

and you're gonna come

alongside people,

you're gonna help them

when they sin,

you're gonna help them

when they're under burdens

and you're gonna carry

those things for them.

In fact,

he said there's only

one burden

you can't carry

and that burden

is your salvation.

your salvation

because Jesus carried it

for you at the cross

but everything else

you can't

because I've already

carried everything

and because I did,

you can.

Christ was crushed

carrying our burdens

so that we can

help each other.

The minute we forget

about that,

Paul says,

you've allowed

the Judaizers

to come in

and the Judaizers

come in

and they say,

you're a sinful person,

bad,

get out of here.

You're a broken person,

you have this burden here,

let me give you more.

Tithe more,

read your Bible more,

do these things more.

And you say,

are you gonna do that?

No, I'm not doing it

but I'm giving you to do it.

Paul says,

no.

The gospel brings freedom

and it brings change

in our lives.

Finally,

Paul says in this passage

five through ten

and we're just flying

through this guys

because I wanna come back

to this at a later date

because I don't wanna keep you

past two o'clock.

Paul says

if you understand the gospel

and if the fruit of the spirit

is living out in your life

and if the Holy Spirit

is changing you

and if you're walking with him

then you're gonna view money

very differently.

Five through ten,

he says you're gonna view money

and there's nothing

that talks about a person's heart

more and quicker

than their view of money.

Jesus talked about it

45% of the time he preached.

And for some reason

as pastors

and as churches

we are really afraid

to talk about it

and I think that's just

really terrible

because it puts these burdens

on people

and we don't ever discuss it

in church

but Jesus says

and Paul says

that when you become

a Christian

you look at money

differently.

He says in his passage

that you're generous

that you sow money

and it means

this idea

is throwing it out there.

You throw your money

to your teachers.

You throw your money

to the church.

You throw your money

to spiritual things.

You throw your money

to those in need.

You think of your relationship

with money differently

because God has given you

everything

and you realize

it's his

and he wants you

to be a good steward

of that.

And so as we walk

with God

one of the ways

we know that we're

walking with him

and he's changing us

is we think of money

differently.

We use it as a tool

to increase his kingdom.

He gives us

two warnings there

two very powerful warnings.

The first warning is

you reap what you sow.

He says every one of us

is planting seeds

with our money

and with our time

and with our gifting.

Every one of us

are planting seeds

and he's saying

be careful

what kind of seeds

you're planting

because if you're planting

a fleshly seed

it's going to reap

to your flesh.

Plant spiritual seeds.

He gives a second warning.

The second warning

basically is this.

Sometimes planting

spiritual seeds

takes a long time.

Sometimes you plant

a church

and you don't see

hardly anything

going on there

and you keep

preaching the gospel

and you keep

preaching the gospel

and you keep

loving people

and you keep

sharing with people

and you don't see

any change at all

in people's lives.

You don't see people

coming.

You don't see growth.

You don't see all

these things that you

think maybe they

should happen

and Paul says

be careful

and be gentle

and be patient

because if you plant

my word

if you plant

the money

if you plant

the seed

I promise you

that it will grow.

you can trust me

because I'm in on this.

Don't get discouraged

when things don't happen

the way that you think

they're going to happen

because he says

the harvest is sure

and it will happen

and God's timing

is perfect.

Paul

he's encouraging

all of us

he's encouraging

all of us

he's saying

just because you're

free of the law

just because

you walk in grace

it doesn't mean

you don't have

responsibility.

you have a responsibility

to the people

around you.

You have a responsibility

to love

to be patient

to be joyful

to be in community

to use your money wisely

for the kingdom of God

to care for people

that are struggling

don't think

just because I'm free

I'm free

I'm free

I can do anything

no Paul says no

your freedom

has this amazing

responsibility

that I've given you

and you need to look

at these things differently

because if you don't

then maybe God's spirit

isn't inside of you

and I don't want you

to fool yourselves

in the thinking

that you're in the family

of God

but the fruit

that you're producing

is not love

joy

peace

patience

kindness

gentleness

self-control

where do we go from here

so what now

maybe this week

we should ask ourselves

some questions

maybe we should ask ourselves

the question

where do I find my self-worth

do I find it in how people

think of me

and what they say about me

do I find it in my bank account

do I find it in the watch I wear

or the car I drive

or my family

and the kids

and the schools

my family gets into

is that where I find my self-worth

Paul says the minute you do that

you've de-gospeled yourself

and you've missed the power

of God's word

what would you do

this week

if you came into your office

and you were fired

in the most embarrassing way possible

they stopped you at the door

took your phone

and just smashed it

took out your credit cards

and your access cards

just cut them in half

so get out of here

how would you react

how you react

shares where your heart is

and what you're holding on to

besides the gospel

now I'm sure

it's good to be disappointed

because that would be terrible

but that's not my identity

if one day I were up here

and I could no longer preach

that wouldn't be my identity

or I could no longer speak

or I could no longer do something

that's not who I am in Christ

and in Christ

I'm evaluated truly and fully

and that's the only person

that's important for me

to be evaluated by

how do I react

when I see my brother in sin

when you see someone

in blatant sin

they're cheating on their books

they're doing something unethical

they're a Christian

and you know

dude this is going to destroy

your company

it's going to destroy

what people think of you

it's going to destroy

your reputation

what do you do

do you just look at them

and kind of wink

and walk away

because you're afraid

one day it might happen to you

or do you come alongside them

and say dude this is not good

and not only are you hurting

your reputation

and your company's reputation

but you're hurting

Jesus' reputation

how do you react

when people

are in sin around you

my experience is

most of the time

in the church

we ignore it

and we just think

it will go away

how do I react

when a needy person

is coming walking

towards me

you're walking down

the street

and this guy

you know

he's emotional

he has a lot of baggage

he's just going to talk

for 25-30 minutes

about himself

and your first response

is just to run away

how do you react

how do you react

when you get that phone call

and you know

someone needs money

and you know

exactly that's what

they're going to ask you for

and they're a brother in Christ

what do you do

Paul says to the church

of Galatians

that as we walk

with him

we change

and we look at

all these relationships

differently

love

joy

peace

patience

kindness

maybe we should ask

the question

when was the last time

I gave away money

that I was going to use

to buy something cool

or a trip

when was the last time

I gave it away

to the church

or a worthy cause

or a needy person

because Paul says

into the church

that if we're walking

with him

and the fruit

is being manifested

in our life

we're going to be free

and generous

with our money

and we're going to

give those things away

and we're going to

help people in need

and we're going to

even sacrifice

and the scary thing

about serving

and coming underneath

people

that's humiliating

sometimes

and it's scary

and it's unknown

and Paul says

well how are you

going to do that

and what are you

going to do

with your money

what kind of seeds

are we planting

in our life

right now

as I pray

through this sermon

I realize

there's two different

types of people

in this church

right now

there's some people

who are on this journey

and they're just

kind of asking questions

they're not followers

of Christ yet

somebody's brought you here

maybe your wife

has dragged you here

or your kids

have dragged you here

and my prayer

for you guys

is that you would

realize that

there's a God

who is crazy

about you

he sacrificed

everything

to bring you

into the family

that he's the only way

that you're going to

find self worth

and satisfaction

in your life

and you're going to

try and your money

and your finances

and your titles

and your family

and all those things

you're going to look for

but the scripture says

that all those things

will eventually fail you

and my prayer for you

is that you would

realize that

that you would

come to Christ

that you would

come ask us questions

ask the people

who brought you questions

engage in those things

and realize that

the only relationship

worthy of anything

is a relationship

with God

but he's the only one

you can be truly

measured by

and if you measure

yourself by anything

else you're going to

fail

and it's going to

disappoint you

and it cannot

sustain the weight

of your soul

it cannot sustain

the weight

of your soul

and I realize

that there's some

of us in here

we're Christ followers

and we're walking

with God

and for me

I just want us

to realize

as we leave here

that the gospel

is as deep as it gets

it's not learning

Greek or Hebrew

or how to construct

all these things

but it's taking

that gospel message

putting it into my life

and allowing it

to live through me

every day

that when I go

into hard situations

I go patience

Lord Jesus

I need you

when I walk around

people that are

unloving

or unlovable

or hard to love

I go Lord Jesus

I need you

help me love this person

when I'm seeing

a need financially

but I'm looking

at my pocket

and say well

if I really do this

it might put me tight

I might not be able

to go buy that Rolex

I want to buy

I just don't know

if I should do that

Lord Jesus

this is your money

what do you want me

to do with it

my prayer

as a church

as we go on this journey

is that we would

take the gospel

and we would

push it

deep into the foundation

of our life

and on the road

that we walk on

and every day

we walk

we gospelize

each other

and talk about

how amazing God is

and how great he is

and the minute

we see somebody

de-gospelize

as a de-couple

we say

hey remember

what Christ

has done for you

he loves you

don't evaluate yourself

over your job

or your title

or even how your marriage

or your kids

are doing

because the only person

that really matters

is Jesus

and he loves you

and he's given

everything for you

he's taken you

out of the water

pushed you in a boat

and he died

doing it

and that's how

Paul ends Galatians

as we're on a journey

we walk

and it's not just

this thing we write down

love, joy, peace

but it's something

that's lived out

every moment

of our life

and we change

we do that

in community

Father we thank you

for this day

we thank you

for your goodness

I just thank you

for my brothers

and sisters here