John 5:30-40 - ”The Death of Religion” - Abundant Life (Gospel of John)

Good morning. I have our readings. Our

first Old Testament reading is Psalm 132

11-8.

The Lord swore to David a sure oath from

which he will not turn back. One of the

sons of your body I will set on your

throne. If your sons keep my covenant

and my testimonies that I shall teach

them, their sons also forever shall sit

on your throne. For the Lord has chosen

Zion. He has desired it for his dwelling

place. This is my resting place forever.

Here I will dwell for I have desired it.

I will abundantly bless her provisions.

I will satisfy her poor with bread. Her

priests I will clothe with salvation,

and her saints will shout for joy. There

I will make a horn to sprout for David.

I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.

His enemies I will clothe with shame,

but on him his crown will shine.

And our New Testament reading, we

continue on in John 5:es 30-4.

I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I

judge, and my judgment is just because I

seek not my own will, but the will of

him who sent me. If I alone bear witness

about myself, my testimony is not true.

There is another who bears witness about

me, and I know that the testimony that

he bears about me is true. You sent to

John, and he has borne witness to the

truth. Not that the testimony that I

receive is from man, but I say these

things so that you may be saved. He was

a burning and shining lamp, and you were

willing to rejoice for a while in his

light. But the testimony that I have is

greater than that of John. For the works

that the Father has given me to

accomplish the very works that I am

doing bear witness about me that the

Father has sent me. And the Father who

sent me has himself borne witness about

me. His voice you have never heard. His

form you have never seen. and you do not

have his word abiding in you, for you do

not believe the one whom he has sent.

You search the scriptures because you

think that in them you have eternal

life, and it is they that bear witness

about me, yet you refuse to come to me

that you may have life. This is the word

of the Lord.

>> Thanks be to God.

So, um, I had a friend, he was an elder,

too, and he was, oh, he was long retired

by the time I met him, and he would, and

I would go for lunch once in a while,

and he told me this story at lunch that

I will never forget. He worked for

Woodwards. How many people remember

Woodwards?

Okay, so I know who the old people are.

Okay. Um,

F. Woodwards was a grocery chain that

was quite popular and there was a big

one in downtown Vancouver and he worked

for this one and he was a shipper

receiver for it and he would go around

and he would get to know over the years

his his staff he was a manager pretty

well. One of these staff, one of these

drivers it turned out was a Christian

like he was. So he got invited for

dinner and Milt uh decided, okay, let's

go. So, uh, he and his wife joined his,

uh, this couple for dinner, and

everything seemed normal until it got

time for dinner.

Back then, it was one of those houses

that had a designed dining room, you

know, like a room that was set apart.

You've all remember that. And so, they

walk into this dining room and they look

and there's one table setting,

just one.

And my friend's like, "Oh, this is a

tight group." Um,

and then it was at that point that he

was explained by the man that the his

wife and him would have to sit with his

wife in the kitchen and eat because his

wife was a Plymouth brethren,

but he was what he called an exclusive

brethren.

An exclusive brethren does not eat with

someone who is not also an exclusive

brethren because they're seen as

potentially being unbelievers.

I want you to think about that for a

second.

This man every night ate by himself.

His wife who made the food

was not allowed in the dining room. Now,

I know some guys are thinking that might

be quieter, but

I don't agree.

Just looking at my wife right now. I

don't want to get in trouble.

But joking aside, his wife's not able

to. They sat in this little kitchen and

ate

because this man thought that his

Christianity was so incredible and clean

that not even his wife who he slept

beside

could sit and eat with him.

Do you know what's that that's called?

That's called religion.

That is called a death.

And you know what's sad?

There's still a ton of it everywhere.

>> That's right.

>> And I'm going to tell you something.

Jesus warns

damnation more on religious people

>> than he ever does the other guys.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your

blessing to us. We thank you for these

living words that you give us that help

us to understand who you were. We pray

that you breathe on these texts that uh

you breathe through me

um and that and that the words of my

mouth and the meditation of my heart

will be pleasing unto you in Jesus'

name. Amen.

Well, Jesus lived in a time of religion

and a lot of people didn't eat together.

And there's one group that didn't eat

with anybody but their kind. And they

were the exclusive brethrens of the

first century. And they, of course, we

all know as the Pharisees.

The Pharisee, the literal word of the

Pharisee means separate one. In other

words, you're separate from everyone

else. You're special. And these guys

were the ones who kept they were like

the religious police. They walked around

Israel. They taught and then they made

sure people followed the rules because

they believed in following the rules God

would forgive the nation and send his

Messiah who would wipe out the Romans.

That was their job. They were religious

hall monitors.

I know. I hated hall monitors too. Did

anybody Why would you be a hall monitor

anyways? But anyways,

into this world. We have Jesus and he

comes in and he's already they don't

know what to do with him. And it's

already now since he healed the man on

the Sabbath, which is against the hall

monitor's rules.

Now they want to take him out. They

already have had enough of him. And so

they begin to question him. They are his

judge. He is

the one defendant in the docket. or so

they think. And how does he respond to

it? Well, if you go to last week's

sermon, he basically says through about

four or five images, I that the life is

in me. You remember all of that? That I

am God. That's what he says, which is

the one thing you can't do. I can

imagine him looking at their faces as

they're saying that and he's tripled

down, quadrupled down on this thing that

basically what you see right now is God.

So now we get to the point where Jesus

does something interesting. He

recognizes he's first in the docket. And

so he talks about needing a witness. In

the ancient world, when you went to

court, you needed a witness, at least

one to you what you did. Otherwise, it

wasn't seen as legitimate. The witnesses

had to be in two. So here goes Jesus

back to them. I can do nothing on my

own. As I hear, I what?

>> Remember what I just said? They think

they're judging him. What does he just

say? Actually, I'm the judge. You see

that?

And my judgment is just

because I seek not my own will, but the

will of him who sent me. He's been

saying this again and again. If I alone

bear witness about myself, my testimony

is not true. I just said that's the

rules. Remember, you can't have your

testimony about yourself. It's not

saying Jesus would lie. He's saying,

"But if it was just me, then rightfully

so, you would say you're breaking the

rules."

But he says, "There is another."

Who do you think he's talking about

there?

The Father, the Holy Spirit, something

to do with God. I think it's the Father

who bears witness about me. And I know

that the testimony that he bears about

me is true.

You sent John. Now he goes back to John

the Baptist, but he doesn't he's

obviously not referring to John.

You sent John the Baptist, who by the

way, when he came, he was super popular.

Josephus says they were so excited to

have him.

He had borne witness to the truth. Not

Jesus not says that the testimony that I

receive is from man. What does he

already said about man earlier in John?

He knows what's in the hearts of man.

Even John, by the way, is far from com

complete. He was not divine and he had

his own problems.

But I say these things so that you may

be saved. I'm using these human

analogies so you might start to

understand that I'm testifying to the

truth and you'll come to me. Do you see

that? Note this that Jesus' end goal to

these awful Pharisees who are going to

put him on the cross is that they be

saved.

Jesus never stops being Jesus.

At one time it says he looks at the

Pharisees after some stupid thing they

did and he grieved and he loved them.

The text says

he was a burning and shining lamp. He

says of John. He just quoted that psalm

we read. Why did he call him a burning

and shining lamp? Because in that psalm,

the burning and shining lamp is the one

who bears witness to the one that's

going to fill David's temple and

kingship. And Jesus is going to be that.

So that's why he's pointing to that. So

Jesus is the Davidic king. And you were

willing to res rejoice for a while in

that his light.

Fair enough. The same word rejoice is

what Josephus says. They enjoyed him.

But they don't enjoy Jesus.

He goes on, "For the works that the

father has given me to accomplish, the

very works that I'm doing, these are

what is bearing witness." This is what

the witness is. What are those works?

Well, right now, we've seen water turned

into wine. We've seen a man healed,

haven't we? One thing John the Baptist

never does. There's no evidence of any

healing. He never does. Jesus is coming

around and setting everything to rights.

And he's saying, "The father is my

witness in this courtroom because that's

the only way I can be doing the things

that I did." It notice Nicodemus said

this when he first met him. No man can

do this without God.

This is the witness

for the first for the works that I that

the father has given me to accomplish.

The very works that I am doing bear

witness about me. That witness is

witness in a court about me that the

father has sent me. And the father who

has sent me self borne witness about me.

What does he mean there?

Well, is it the signs? Could it be the

baptism? Do you remember? This is my son

who I'm well pleased. They all heard

that, right?

Whatever it is, the witness that's the

important point is God himself,

not human.

his and then he flips it and this is

such a beautiful move. He's sitting in

the defense table defending why he

should be able to be believed and then

he sneaks over to the prosecution.

And when he sees to the pro sneaks over

to the prosecution, boy does he punch

him with both fists. I'm telling you

guys, when he says what he's about to

say, you're not going to doubt why they

killed him. Remember, these are very

religious people. These are people that

study their scriptures 247.

They memorize the Old Testament. These

are the Pharisee.

He says this,

"His voice you have never heard. His

form you have never seen."

Now you have to understand they lived in

their Old Testament. Who did these

people think they were? They were true

Israelites. They were the followers of

Moses. They kept Torah, right? They were

the ones who were following David,

Joshua.

When he says his voice you have never

heard, he is pointing to the fact number

one, they are not the children of Moses.

Because what did God say to Moses? And

thus the Lord used to speak to Moses

face to face as a man speaks to his

friends. He just said, "You've never

heard his voice yet. Moses heard his

voice. You're not like Moses. You're not

even in that. You love Torah. You don't

even understand it." Why does that

matter? Because faith is not about

getting it right. It's about knowing

God.

Do you see that?

What about this? Your form I've never

heard. Well, Jacob, do you remember that

story? He wrestles with God. And then he

said, "Your name shall no longer be

called Jacob, but Israel, God said after

the is after the match, for you have

striven with God with men and have

prevailed."

And then after that, Jacob says, "I have

seen the Lord his form and heard his

voice." So what does that mean? You've

never heard his voice. You're not like

Moses.

and you've never seen his form. You're

not like even Israel.

Do you know what he's actually saying

right now?

You're a bunch of pagans.

I mean, I want you to understand how

shocking. And they would have heard it

cuz they knew the text.

Oh, but Jesus gets nicer, right?

He goes on, "And you do not have his

word abiding in you." Oh,

these guys study the scripture every

moment. They study it. They study it and

they don't know the word.

Well, who are they not like then? Well,

who wrote the Psalms? At least they

believed

who? David. Agreed. So, they're going to

follow David, right? Oh, except Psalm

119 says, "I have stored up your word in

my heart

that I might not sin against you." He's

just said, "You don't have the word in

you." He's just saying, "Guess what?

You're not like David.

Moses, Israel, David." Isn't that nice?

This guy is the meanest prosecutor.

You're going to want to take him out

back after.

And then they dreamed of this time of

the new Exodus in the promised land. Who

led Israel into the promised land? It

wasn't Moses. It was Joshua. Right? And

what about Joshua? Well, they're not

like him either. The book of law shall

not depart from your mouth, but you

shall meditate it on day and night so

that you may be careful to do that all

is written in it. Joshua had the word in

him.

You do not have the word dwelling in

you. He has just

not like Moses,

not like Israel. You're not Israel.

You're not like David. And you're not

like Joshua.

These are their heroes, you guys. These

are like their Wayne Gretzkies back

then. I don't know if that guy even if

anyone's hero anymore. I should shut up

because there's politics nowadays.

um he's a hero

>> and he just said, "You're not like any

of them."

How odd. No one would talk to them like

that. And then he gives them the reason.

And the reason should shock religious

people.

Read this closely. You and this word in

Greek says, and this is where sometimes

I don't like the my favorite translation

is this one, but it should have this in.

It says, "You diligently with intents

search the scriptures

because you think that in them you have

eternal life.

And it is they that bear witness about

me. Yet you refuse to come to me that

you may have life."

They made a fateful error that happens

again and again. They worshiped

scripture,

not the what scripture was pointing to.

A famous theologian once said, "The

Bible is not the fourth member of the

quadilateral.

It is not divine.

It is breathed on and God uses it, but

it's always there to point a way to

Jesus Christ, to a relationship. It's

not a book to get right.

So today

we have a lot of religion

and it's turning people off.

And I can see how it happened

for a long time. We've had what I call

bad religion.

Bad religion has simply been this.

People have come out too smart for their

own good. And they've come up with these

ideas that we couldn't trust scripture

because it wasn't historical in certain

ways or we couldn't trust Paul because

he was he was anti-women or we couldn't

trust this to be said and all of this

and you started having churches where

your belief became in just kind of a

feeling that you had when you went to

church because scripture was attacked

and then all of a sudden debates were

can we trust scripture or not trust

scripture? Does anybody remember those

days?

Those days are gone. And it's got even

sillier. Now, of course, in our new

postmodern age, this bad religion has

gotten worse. It's gotten sillier.

Now, people don't even care about

scripture. It's all your inner feelings.

And so, we have churches that pander to

your inner feelings. And there is

churches with rainbow flags and all

things about sexuality and gender and

all kinds of things that the Bible would

be horrified by.

And people are reacting.

People are reacting hard to this

because this stuff's out there. And by

the way, it's not that threatening.

There isn't that much out there. But

there is out there. And people are like,

"Oh, we're going to lose our way if the

church keeps going this way." And

there's been a group that I've run into,

a group out of that bad religion

who basically

made it their business to make sure and

they do it online cuz that's where you

sell now to make a point that really

Christianity is just a feeling you have

inside

that nothing else matters.

Neber used to said it like this. They

ended up with a God without wrath

brought human beings without sin into a

kingdom without judgment through the

ministrations of a Christ without a

cross.

There was just nothing there.

And so people got angrier and angrier.

But here's the problem. And I'm not

preaching against this silliness

religion. This stuff's easy.

There's something that blinds us, you

guys, that's much worse than even that.

It's the overreaction.

It's the angry religion.

It's the religion that has it so right

it's evil.

That has Jesus so nailed down that if he

came they'd nail him down again.

This is the religion that make people

think I've got it figured out. Let me

give you an example of this religion.

I was sitting in a coffee house and I

was studying for a sermon. So I had my

books laid out and a gentleman walked in

and I had a book by Carl Bart sitting

there. Most people don't come up to you

in a coffee house that are sane.

But he made a point of walking up and he

said, "Why are you reading that?"

That caught me off guard. I said, "Well,

because I'm kind of study him at school

and I'm right now first year in school

and I'm going to use him in a sermon."

And he said, 'Well, you know he's a

universalist.

I said, 'Oh, Daisy, I've read almost all

his works. What have you read? I didn't

read anything. I heard it.

So, I sat there with him and I realized

that this was a very passionate young

man. He was a youth leader in the local

church. You won't know him. He's in

Siri.

And he began to sit there and try and

argue with me about everything that I

was wrong because I happened to read

Carl Bart. You see, because he was

right.

I asked him finally what he was, and it

turns out he's what's called a Neo

Calvinist.

Stay away.

Their whole thing is to get it right and

help people get it right.

Then his poor little wife walks over. I

swear this happened. And he looks and he

goes,"What do you like with your wife?"

And I went, "I'm scared of her." He

didn't laugh.

And he goes, "Oh, you're one of them. My

wife submits." And he points to her

and he goes, "I'll tell you how much she

submits." This is the idiocy of youth. I

can get it whenever I want. I'm like,

whoa, maybe I need to join yours now.

The truth is his wife looked beat down.

Horrible.

And so then Emry became Emory and the

flesh came out cuz I knew a lot more

than he did. And I started to argue.

Well, he got so mad he threw a salt

shaker at me because he couldn't win the

argument.

There was so much argument and anger in

this man because he had scripture and he

had studied it not well

and he thought that in it he had eternal

life and he thought he had to convince

people around even people he didn't know

at coffee shops. What he didn't realize

is he picked a fight with the wrong guy

because I'm from Prince George and you

want to fight? Let's go. All right.

But you realize something very quickly

that religion has some very angry people

in it. And people who call themselves

the Bible believers. Did you know that?

People who are going to police that make

sure we get it all right. And they're

bad. They don't treat people well.

They're not very happy. I love what CS

Lewis said. Of all bad men, religious

bad men are the worst. You know why

they're the worst? Because they think

they have God backing them.

When he sat down on that table beside me

with his meek little wife, he thought he

was doing the Lord's work.

And as he left, he looked at me and he

said, "You have the tongue of the

serpent

because you lost the argument." Oh well,

I guess I'm smarter than your God. I'm

sorry.

The truth is what he forgot.

He forgot this is that the Bible isn't

the thing we get right

so we get to heaven. Did you know that?

You're saying, Emry, you preach the

Bible. I love scripture and promise me

you got to stay till the end. But the

Bible is not something we get right so

that one day we get to heaven. And it

certainly isn't up to us to get them to

get it right.

Robert Farer Copon.

We are not saved by what Jesus taught.

And we are certainly not saved by what

we understand Jesus to have taught.

We are saved by Jesus himself.

Dead and risen.

That is in scripture.

If you or I are sitting here saved

today, it's because Jesus Christ died

for our sins when we could not and rose

from the dead.

And all the scriptures do, oh those

beloved scriptures, those God breathed

scriptures which I love, point to that

truth and point to him.

What does Jesus say to them? All

scripture points to me.

Right?

It is not a science book to get correct.

And when we use it that to disprove

other people, we become like those

Pharisees and we start to dehumanize

people, fellow Christians who don't

agree with us.

I like this

guy's up in heaven. It's not good

theology, by the way. Talking to Peter

and he says, "You were a believer. Yes,

but you skipped the not being a jerk

about it part.

You know, I know this isn't one I'm just

letting you guys know this is a real

thing. I have a friend in this town who

had a pastor that walked up to him,

invited him for lunch, and he spent the

whole lunch instead of how getting to

know you. How are your kids with the

Bible out going verse to verse of where

he was wrong?

100% true.

Here's the truth that no one ever thinks

about. It does say in the Bible we are

going to be judged. Agreed? Does say

that? We all agree with that. And Jesus

came and is right now a judge. Would you

agree with that? Who did Jesus judge

when he first came?

Who did he judge?

Tax collectors?

Healed them?

Prostitutes?

Sinners?

Oh, those awful Romans. Go back and read

how little he judges them. Who does he

judge? Who's the one that he says you go

halfway around the world to make a

convert and you make them twice the son

of hell than you are?

Who's the one that when he says

something bad and the the disciples

being morons as they always are say,

"Oh, watch out. You might have offended

the Pharisees." Who's the one he says,

"Oh, you tell those sons of Satan?"

Pharisees.

Who is the one that he constantly warns

that they will be thrown in the lake of

fire, Gehana, if they do not follow him?

Pharisees,

the ones that diligently study the

scripture in his first time are the one

he's saying are out. He just said,

"You're not Moses. You're not walking in

these guys' way."

Yet, every sermon I hear about religion

and judgment, it's always against the

guy at the bar.

Have you ever thought that maybe

we need to have our eyes open?

Oh my friends,

we must at least give some credence to

the fact that judgment may not be what

we think it is.

that maybe some of those who crossed

that

Rubicon on that day

are not are going to be surprised that

they never knew him.

They studied the scriptures all for to

get eternal life but they didn't come to

him.

The gatekeepers who celebrate keeping

people out. the ones who Jesus says pour

more on people without once trying to

help take it off.

I would argue that that is a much more

dangerous warning in the New Testament

than the other kind of judgment we hear

every other time.

So, it seems to me we better

watch out for religious symptoms

because there are some I've seen it over

25 years of ministry. I've seen it and

these are the things I've been tempted

to. Okay? So, I admit that all of us can

be tempted into this. By the way, there

is a Pharisee in me and there's a

Pharisee in you.

And by the way, it's not

denominationally.

You can be reformed, charismatic, you

can be Menanite, you can be I don't know

what else there is out there, Catholic,

and you can believe that you are it.

So my number one symptom

is that your church is the right church.

That's a huge one.

If you're under any illusion that your

church has arrived, let me put all your

thoughts to bed about Mountain View.

We're Presbyterian. And if you know what

that means, we don't have a hope to be

the right one.

I love this church. I love worshiping

with people here. But I assure you, we

do not have it

exclusively.

I had a guy walk up, another minister in

town, and he surprised me because he

said, "Emmyry,

my church and your church and one other

are the only Bible preaching churches in

town."

What a bunch of boine feces.

It's not a swear word. I checked.

But why does that feed us? And why do

people go to these churches? Because

they grow. By the way, they're the

fastest growing churches sometimes.

Because it feeds our ego. When we've got

the right one, then you're not.

Then we're better than you.

If you believe you are at the right

church or you have someone who's telling

you you are at the right church,

immediately you're going to be a

hierarchial system and you're going to

look down at those poor old

Presbyterians. And I know cuz we're way

down.

Number two,

you abandon people because they don't

agree with you.

This is what cults do. By the way, if

you try and leave the Jehovah Witness

faith, I know because I had a friend,

you're not talked to anymore by any of

them

because it's the right way. I'd like to

think it's just Jehovah Witness, but

I've seen it in churches. I've seen

people stop talking to each other

because of the man who shall not be

named who has orange hair,

let alone our theology.

I know people who will not worship to

each other because we wouldn't worship

here because we baptized a child. I know

others who wouldn't worship at an adult

Baptist place. And guess what? Get over

yourself. I've read it. You can't

guarantee you got that one right. I can

tell you there's two ways to read that

one.

I know people who will not sit with

people who don't speak in tongues. Are

you nuts? Cuz I saw that somewhere in

like Hezekiah 10. There's no Hezekiah.

When you look at someone and you think

they go here or there and they aren't my

brother or they're less than a brother

because they don't get it right.

Welcome to the Pharisees.

Cuz what were their names? Do you

remember their names?

It meant separate ones.

And by the way, fewer longer you stay in

that, fewer and fewer friends you have

because there's fewer and fewer people

who can live up to your great

spirituality.

Number three, and this is a big one, you

know people standing with God.

You can say, "I'm in and that person's

out." And as soon as you do that, you're

breaking the one thing they said not to

do.

Do not judge it. Do not judge does not

mean do not judge the behavior. That's

not what it means. It means discern and

do what's right in the church.

What it means when he says do not judge.

You can't call whether that person's

right with God or not.

Right?

I mean, how many people around David,

the man of the heart of God, would have

looked at him after he cheated with

Basha and then had hubby die and would

have said, "He's not with God." If that

happened today, everyone.

He'd be blacklisted.

Who was with God? David. Cuz guess what?

God's different than us.

>> You have no right to look at anyone in

this world and say, "I know they're

damned.

You know why? Ready for this?

You're not God.

That's the number one thing I see in

religious groups is they know who's in

and they know who's out.

I'm going to tell you right now that'll

kill us.

I have some good news.

There is an antidote.

grace.

I want you to think about the people

in John's story that end up with Jesus.

Do any of them carry the cross with

Jesus?

Do any of them admit, "Oh, that's my

Messiah right till the end."

Do any of them walk purely and holy

through the whole thing?

Who's with them? Peter

denies him three times. The disciples

running away. He's got a woman at the ca

at the at the cave at the tomb.

Demonized seven times.

He's his lady.

He's got prostitutes. He's got people

that and and again and again. Who is the

ones around him? It's always the people

that are out.

And he says they're in why

grace.

Think of Paul. He wrote all of those

wonderful

letters. Who was this guy?

He was the Pharisee, a Pharisee. He was

the Jew of Jews. He was it. And he says,

"Oh, by the way, everything about that

is I can't say the word feces."

But the bad word

that you throw out the window, he says

to the Philippians,

all of it.

The guy that Jesus runs into on that

road is a man who's out to kill people,

right? He's murderous. He's angry.

And when does he get in? Because of

Jesus Christ opening his eyes.

I'm going to tell you something right

now. When we end up on that day, and we

will, it will not be, "Please respond

and on your memorization texts."

It will not be, "Okay, did you get

justification just correctly? Come on

now. I mean, I taught it. It's in the

Bible."

Do you know what'll happen on that day

when he says, "Well done, good and

faithful servant." It's because you are

carrying his goodness because he's

implanted it upon you. He died for your

sins so his righteousness could be in

you.

If any of us are going to be eternal

life, resurrected people, it's because

of his love and grace alone.

Now, let's say we believed that.

then there's no way we can believe that

we're the only church, right? Cuz it's

grace alone.

There's no way we can remove someone

that we don't agree with out of our

lives cuz it's by grace alone.

And there's no way you can ever ever say

who's right with God because it's grace

alone.

Brendan Manning. We should be astonished

at the goodness of God, stunned that he

should bother to call us by name, our

mouths wide open at his love, bewildered

that at this very moment we are standing

on holy ground.

If you believe that, you know Jesus.

I don't want to say that I don't love

scripture and I think scripture is

wonderful and we should have the word in

us, but let's seek it for Jesus Christ

and grace, not rules

and a hammer. Oh, and you're worried

about the weird silly churches that I

mentioned in the beginning. Guess what?

God has released his spirit. Pentecost

has happened. He will convict them over

time.

Our job is to be faithful to the Jesus

who loves us.

I'm going to end with Bart.

Bart lived in a world of extreme

um extreme religion who ended up with

the Nazis. And they used to talk about

how they were who was holier by then

than who had done more of the right acts

that week.

and he realized that the church was the

most divided church he'd ever seen.

So he came up with this saying,

"When we speak of our virtues, we are

competitors.

When we confess our sins, we become

brothers."

My dear friends, you are loved by Jesus

Christ

because he died for your sins. He rose

from the dead and he has poured his

spirit upon you. Seek him. He's life. Go

to your scriptures and find him.

And then you'll be a witness to people

around you.

Truly,

many people stay away from Jesus because

of religion

who would otherwise love Jesus Christ.

Let's be that witness. Let's have grace

and then let's with joy celebrate

the fact that we are alive because of

him.

Amen.

>> Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, you are so good.

We invite you to please transform our

hearts. We recognize we're given to this

ourselves

and let's celebrate every Sunday. Let us

be shocked as we come in here that our

God loves us enough.

And when we meet those people we don't

agree with.

Let's embrace them and pray for them.

When we see another church, let's

celebrate that you are alive just as

much as here.

and let us leave judgment to you with

the trust that if you could save us, you

can save anybody.

Amen.

Feel

free