Sunday Message - Pastor Dan Flemming (May 24, 2015) | Life Bible Church

I encourage you, listen intently. He has a great

message. Would you welcome Pastor Dan this morning?

I see somebody must have hit this thing pretty

hard. It cracked that. That's really impressive.

Is that Pastor Brad? Is he slamming on this thing?

It kind of happens. I probably won't do that.

But I could, and that would be nice to finish

the job for you guys and get a new one going

for the other one. I want to open up just by

saying thank you to Pastor Jennifer and Pastor

Brad and Pastor Kenny and Pastor Ron. I don't

know if they call you Pastor, but I would. If

I was me, I would call you Pastor Ron, so I will.

I want to thank you for your welcoming that you've

given to me. I tell you, I'm just so excited

for you guys to get to that new building. Can

I hear an amen? For all of you to be together

will be a kick in the pants for you. You'll really

enjoy that. I don't know, what time is your service

going to be when you have it all one service?

All day. All day. That'll be great. All day.

From the rising of the sun to the set going down

of the sand. There's an old song. Hey, I'm really

glad to be here. I had a reasonably good time

the first service because I just panicked in

the middle or right toward the end because I

realized I'm not only going to not get to my

points, I'm not going to get to very many of

them at all. And so I just kind of, I kind of

went toward the end there. So the poor people

there blessed me and they thanked me for preaching.

And it's a good word, and I hope to bring it

to you in a way that you can grasp it and understand

it. I have a word for your church and for you

in particular, some of you, in getting ready

for this service. One of the things that I do

this with our own church, and I know Pastor Brad

does it, but she doesn't really pray about this

service and who's going to be there. And I was

up in my office, and a scripture came to me.

If you'll turn to Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5.

Hebrews 13:5

And I'll turn there also. And most often you

hear it in the context of, you know, when people

converse about this, you know, somebody's died

or they're going through a difficult time and

people say, you know, he'll never leave you nor

forsake you. But I want you to notice this. It

says, make sure your character is free from the

love of money, being content with what you have.

For he himself has said, I will never desert

you. nor will I ever forsake you. And by the

way, I read out of the New American Standard

Bible. I've always found in doing the New American

Standard that people will read some of the version,

and they'll say, now what that's saying is, and

it's what my Bible says. So I like New American

Standard for that. It's very good. I don't have

to look at a parallel version. Anyway, I want

you to notice the context there. It's about money.

And the word for you, and there's some of you

specifically in here, that the Lord wants to

communicate this to you, and you came here, and

this is the one thing for sure you've got to

get. That when Jesus says, I will never leave

you nor forsake you, he means that in your finances.

I want you to understand, if you don't get anything

else today, get that. I want to tell you personally,

I know that from personal experience, that I

had accrued debt. And I was tormented by accruing

the debt, and it was very difficult on me, and

I didn't tell my wife the half of it. And it

was really difficult. I couldn't sleep. I was

like, how am I going to get out of this? And

one day I repented. And I repented of not only

being in debt, but of not telling my wife of

what I had done. Now, I'm a pastor, and I'm just

telling you straight out. It happens to normal

people like you and me. all the time, and it

can happen to pastors. It happens to, because

I'm normal, sort of. But the reason I'm telling

you this is because the Lord wanted to give you

hope that you would come to a place where you

can offload the secrecy and you can upload his

grace. Once I confessed. and repented of this,

and read this scripture in context, and came

to understand it, I began to praise it, not just

pray it. I began to pray this scripture and praise

it. And I began to thank God. And within a short

amount of time, this massive amount of debt was

gone. And I wish I could explain it to you how

it happened. I just know it's kind of like I

was blind, but now I can see and I don't know

how that happened. You understand? It's inexplicable.

I can't tell you how it happened. I could tell

you the phases it happened in, but the debt disappeared

so fast, and I understood, I understand in my

spirit now, and God wants you to understand because

some of you are really afraid and you're tormented

by financial questions and issues. Some of you

have plenty of money. You're worried you won't

have enough in retirement or whatever. I've met

people like that. I'm not one of them. I don't

worry myself about it. It's like he will never

leave me nor forsake me. I know that now. He

will never do that. Don't fret about money. So

that's for you. And I can pray for you right

now if you're not intimidated by me standing

up here and you being there. And it doesn't bother

you to say something. Would you just raise your

hand and say, I would like prayer right now.

All right. Praise God. I went through Financial

Peace University. I will tell you, it's a wonderful,

wonderful experience. Great thing. But the grace

that I got from Jesus to the grace that I want

to tell you, it's the beginning of a new day

for you today. I'm going to pray for you and

a miracle is going to happen. A miracle is happening

right now in the spirit. You're going to sleep.

You're going to have enough. You'll be a giver

again. Repent. Repent today. Repent and God is

going to prove himself to you today. Repent of

your worrying. Repent of your fretting. Repent

of your secrecy. Repent of those things. There's

a miracle happening. Father, in the name of Jesus,

I thank you that for this house, You will never

leave this house nor forsake this house. There

will always be enough. I thank you for the people

in this house who are covered by this house.

That the grace is even extended and brought in

in greater portion to you because you're in this

house. And the grace that is upon this house

for prosperity is being, I tell you, that's a

word of the Lord for somebody right now. You

can feel it in your spirit. You can feel it in

your gut right now. That the grace, there's an

actual commodity called grace and it's coming

into your body right now. And you're knowing

that this thing is done, it's over, your prayers

are answered. So Father, in the name of Jesus,

because of this grace, bring it greatly upon

these people and cause them to experience, not

just think about and hope about and theorize

about, but to experience the fact that you'll

never leave us and you'll never forsake us in

our finances. You will always be there and there

will always be enough. You demonstrated that

with the loaves and the fishes. You demonstrated

that with the lepers in the Old Testament, Lord.

You fed thousands. You take care of people. With

you, there is never any lack. And I thank you,

Lord, that you are our provider, Jehovah Jireh,

in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, if you believe that,

would you just raise your hand? Praise God. Let's

clap and praise the Lord for that. My church

is meeting right now, so I'm going to pretend

like you're my church, and I'm just going to

preach like you're my people, because you remind

me of my people, and they're good people. I love

your church, I love your people, and I'm really

grateful for them. I'm grateful for the youth

group that came down and helped our church do

a lot of landscaping and some wainscoting and

painting, and I'm grateful for Pastor Brad for

loving me and really taking me into his family

and caring about me and his staff. I really appreciate

Pastor Jennifer and all the staff. They've been

very, very encouraging to me. So I'm renaming

this. Here's the deal. I couldn't even clap my

hands together. That was just really bad. There

you go. I can do that. But go ahead and bring

up the first slide. I get to see it back here.

You get to see it there. We're going to talk

about authentic Christianity. and what authenticity

is. But I want you to think of it, especially

if you'll just turn to Galatians 3, chapter 1.

We're going to look all the way through Galatians

today. And you're going to get something. Somewhere

in here, there's going to be something you're

going to go, that was for me. Because the book

is replete with wonderful passages. But in chapter

3, I want you to notice how Paul addresses these

people. Verse 1. He says, you foolish Galatians,

who has cast a spell on you? Who has bewitched

you? And I was thinking about it as worship was

going on. And I tell you, it just was such a

wonderful. I love, I just love the worship here.

I just, it's wonderful. I just crave it and enjoy

it. And I enjoy our church also. It's really

neat to come here and be part of this. But in

the middle of worship, I just thought, this is

really a message about that. God saying, I want

you back. I want the real you back. I want the

authentic person that I saved to come back. That's

what this message is all about. And Paul is saying

to these people, he said, somebody cast a spell

on you. It's like a witch came in. in, you know,

bubble, bubble, toil and trouble, you know, and

just kind of wave their little magic wand. And

all of a sudden, the people that used to be one

way are now another way. And they've totally

changed. Do you ever had that experience when

at a family reunion or a family gathering or

a gathering with friends or where at one point,

you know, this friend or that family used to

be this way. And now you go in, it feels kind

of hard. It feels kind of difficult. And they're

not there now. They're not with you. There's

that kind of feeling. the other guy back. You

were more fun that way. My wife said that to

me a few years ago. Seriously, she did. She said,

you know, you used to really laugh a lot. You

don't laugh very much anymore. I want that laughing

one guy. I want him back. And so I brought him

back for an encore. Yeah, baby. He's back. He's

back. Well, the problem that was happening with

the Galatians is that They had some people come

in, and after Paul preached the gospel, in fact,

read this in chapter 1. You just got to see this,

okay? And I'm going to do the best I can to be

expeditious, but you got to see this. Verse 6,

I am amazed. This is a passionate letter Paul

is writing. He uses super words, you know, big

words, or not necessarily big words, but words

that are impactful and passionate. He said, I'm

amazed. I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting

him who called you by the grace of Christ for

a different gospel. And then he goes on, well,

just keep reading here, which in reality is not

another, only there are some who are disturbing

you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should

preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have

preached to you, he is to be accursed. As we

have said before, so I say again now, if any

man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to

what you received, he is to be accursed. And

he's just passionate about this. He says, whoever's

doing this to you, whoever's doing this, I want

them to be under a curse. I want them to be cut

off because they're ruining you. They've taken

you captive and you don't even know it. You're

bewitched. You're under a spell. And that's exactly

the nature of this issue that they're under.

They are caught up in this issue of not knowing

what happened to them. And Paul is trying to

say, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, wake up, wake

up. What's going on with you? You guys are totally

different than you once were. Who did this to

you? They had become just pictures of what they

used to be, but they weren't what they were supposed

to be. They had lost their authenticity. They

had been free, and now they weren't free. They

had been full of love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

and self -control. And now they were full of

two areas. They were full of the law and they

were full of the flesh. And they had deserted

the initial gospel that Paul brought to them.

It's just like if I came here in a month and

worship began to happen and everybody sat in

their seats. And just look like robots. And the

worship team is passionately delivering the best

worship they can. I mean, I would be concerned.

And it's what's happening with Paul. He's like,

what happened to you guys? Who messed with you?

You know, I've been around only a few. But I've

been around some situations where people have

been abused. I've been around them before they

were abused, and I was around them after they

got abused. And I didn't know that it had happened,

but I knew something had happened. They were

totally different. They were totally changed.

And that's what's happening with Paul. He says,

somebody changed you. Somebody messed with you.

And I'm really upset about it. Because you used

to be happy. You're not happy anymore. You used

to have joy. There's no joy anymore. He used

to have peace, and look at you now. Look at you.

He said, if I get a hold of them, and he, listen,

in no uncertain language, later on in this epistle,

he says, he said, I wish that they would be mutilated

themselves. Because that's what he's saying.

He's saying, I am sick of these people doing

this to you. And here's what he did to them.

Look at this. They lost their authenticity. And

it's like he said, come back! Come back! The

first thing they lost, if you look at chapter

2, verse 12. I'll start with verse 11. But when

Cephas, or Peter, came to Antioch, I opposed

him to his face because he stood condemned. This

is Peter. Peter's problems didn't stop after

Jesus rose from the dead. You understand? Peter

was still Peter. You are still you. You're going

to have problems. It doesn't mean as soon as

you get saved, it's like Pastor Frank Damasio

said many years ago, he said it would be really

nice if we could just take people, get them saved,

bring them to a baptismal, put them underwater

and shoot them in the head and send them to heaven

because then you wouldn't have to deal with them

anymore. Wouldn't it be nice to not ever sin

again? Wouldn't it be nice to not go in debt?

Wouldn't it be nice to not be immoral? Wouldn't

it be nice to not have had that divorce? Wouldn't

it be nice to live a life clean and free and

pure? And well, Peter had trouble too, just like

you. And basically Paul's saying, Peter, man,

I want you back. Look at what he says. He says,

when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to

his face because he stood condemned. For prior

to the coming of certain men from James, he used

to eat with the Gentiles. But when they came,

he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof,

fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest

of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, with

the result, see, hypocrisy as being less than

what you say you are. Hypo, less, cooler, colder,

out underneath, less. He was less than what he

said. He was a hypocrite. You know what I'm talking

about. It only took two days to take the 20 children

TV show off the air. And the number one word

was hypocrite. And Paul is saying, you're a hypocrite,

man. But he didn't do it in private. He did it

right in front of God and everybody. Here's what

happens. He began to withdraw and hold himself

aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision.

The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy

with the result that even Barnabas was carried

away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that

they were not straightforward about the truth

of the gospel, I said to Peter, or Cephas, in

the presence of all, if you, being a Jew, live

like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how

is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like

Jews? I want to... Here's what happened. Group

of people come. Paul and Peter are together.

And as soon as these people come, Peter leaves

Paul and goes and hangs out with these people.

Because he's intimidated. Peter is intimidated.

You think it can't happen to you? Well, I'll

tell you this. You know that you're not authentic

when somebody else owns you. It's one of the

main themes of Galatians. He says it was for

freedom that Christ set you free. You are not

free when you are living your life and the first

thing as you make your decisions or get up to

do something in your life, the first thing that

goes through your mind in your life is what will

they think? I should go check with them first

before I do this. And there's nothing wrong with

going and getting some wisdom and stuff like

that. But if... There is a control situation

here where you're living your life in intimidation.

Now, listen, when you're owned by somebody, it's

like in basketball. It used to be it is a bad

term if you're the guy that's being referenced.

But in basketball, if somebody says about you

that Michael Jordan owns you, that's really bad.

That means whenever you guard him, he knows he

can take you anytime. Stephen Curry, it's the

same idea. And they say it about him. He owns

people. Well, I want to tell you, in this realm,

when you're owned by people, it's really bad.

Because they have your number, and they can dial

at any time and take you off track. And here

is a guy who is the head of the church, and he

is intimidated by these people. But you know

what? Many people are just like that. That's

what the whole big bullying thing is about. Because

kids take a different route to school to not

get bullied for their money on the way to school.

Or they get down to a hallway and they go down

a different hallway because there's that kid

there, that lady there, that girl there, that

teacher there, whatever. And they don't want

to be intimidated. It's on their mind. They are

owned. They're slaves to their intimidation and

their fear. There's people who are in here right

now that you are enslaved to unforgiveness. Somebody

else owns you. You're fine until they come in

the room. You're fine until you think, no, I'm

not going to go there. I can't go to their house

because, no, no, don't want to say anything.

They own you. They're living in your mind. They're

taking rent or they're taking a place and not

paying any rent. They own you. And that is a

bad thing. Now, some of you know exactly what

I'm talking about. I know the Lord's speaking

to some people. He spoke to me when I read this.

He said, this is you, my friend. And outwardly,

like Peter, you're the head. You're the guy.

You're the leader. You're doing everything. But

inwardly, you're afraid. Everybody else thinks

you're great. But you're intimidated. And the

only way to rescue this guy, this is Paul saying

to Peter, Peter, I want you back. He says, you're

standing condemned right now in the position

that you are in. You are condemned and don't

you know it. That's exactly how he was. He was

condemned in the position that he was. So I want

to encourage you, if you want to become authentic,

offload that. Father, in the name of Jesus, right

now I pray. I just feel your Holy Spirit here

right now. I thank you that you're moving on

people and you're encouraging us, Lord. We want

to be free. We want to wake up happy. We want

to wake up without other people's faces on our

minds. You know, my God, how am I going to handle

that? Lord, in the name of Jesus, I just breathe

a breath of fresh air to these people right now

in the name of Jesus. Freedom. It was for freedom

that Christ set you free. Don't subject yourself

to a yoke of bondage again. In the name of Jesus,

you are free! In the name of Jesus. Hallelujah.

Forgive. If you are in unforgiveness, and listen,

some people are just in bondage to their stupid

mistakes. You did something stupid and you won't

try something again because you're a slave to

that mistake. That mistake owns you. And you're

afraid to step out and do anything adventurous

again or anything by faith again because you

just did something. You said something, you did

something stupid, went someplace stupid. Listen,

it's over. It's over. You can't live in the past,

so why let it own you? You know that you're not

authentic when you try to rebuild what you once

destroyed. When you become a Christian, you leave

things behind. Now, I'm going to tell you my

story real quickly. When I became a Christian,

I had a whole bunch of albums, and not nearly

as many as probably many of you, but for you

young people, albums were these big things that

they ran at 33 RPM on your turntable. You tried

to get a Bose turntable and cut the hissing and

the crackling and all that stuff. Those were

really cool. I liked my albums. I was, I know

this is like totally weird, but I was a Grand

Funk Railroad fan. Three Dog Night. Come on,

a Creedence Fairwater Revolve. You know what

I'm talking about. Hey, I want to tell you something.

The other day I was just, I was YouTubing some

stuff from T .D. Jakes and just watching him.

And off to the right I saw this picture of a

Three Dog Night singer. I went, I wonder whatever

happened to him. So I Wikipedia'd him. And I

didn't even know his name. There were three singers

for Three Dog Night. I didn't even know that.

Anyway, this guy got hooked on heroin in 1971.

He was still part of the band until 75. His last

name was Negros, I think. And he went into rehab

30 times. You want to talk about slavery. Heroin

is a mean master. Drugs are a mean master. They

treat you nice for a minute. And then they bring

you into pain the rest of the time. And 30 times

he went into rehab. Never got free until he gave

his life to Christ. And he never went back to

drugs again. That's what that says. I hope it's

up to date and it's current. I hope he's doing

well. But I used to have all those albums. And

when I became a Christian, I know this is extreme

for some of you, but I took all my albums and

I burnt them. I just, and it wasn't, listen,

I had carpenters and I burnt them too. I had

101 strings. I just offloaded my stuff, man.

And here's why. Jesus got a hold of my heart.

And I knew that if I had that stuff around, I

would be pulled into the emotion of that music,

be pulled into the words of the music, and that

stuff would start going through my mind again.

And I know that it would re -engage me. And I

didn't want to rebuild what I had just destroyed.

Now, for you it may be something different. But

for me, I had to get rid of that. Because I come

from a family of rock and roll people. And my

brothers were drummers in rock and roll bands.

And didn't have a lot around the house. We had

drugs around the house with my older brother

and stuff like that. I never personally ever

did drugs. I did alcohol and I repented of that

and got out of that. But step back. Okay. So

I had to offload that. But I want to tell you,

it always tries to creep back in. And it's like

kryptonite to me. I know, wow, three dog night

and kryptonite in one sermon. This is just amazing.

But what happens is that when it gets in there,

it makes me take a trip down memory lane. And

I start thinking of, I remember that girl. She

was really a nice girl. I went out with her for

a little while. And pretty soon I'm just done.

And it's like I'm rebuilding something I destroyed.

Why would I do that? My life belongs to Jesus

Christ. It belongs to him, and he's my boss.

And I couldn't... Listen, some of you, this is

the message. This is the part of it. You want

to serve Christ, but you want to have your other

stuff. You can't do both. It just does not work.

It's like straddling a fence. You really get

hurt. You don't... rebuild what you destroyed.

That's what Paul is saying. Why would I rebuild?

Why would I go back to Judaism and rebuild all

that stuff? I belong to Christ now. And he was

one of the great Jewish thinkers of his time.

Amazing guy. Thank you, Jesus. Father, I just

pray for people right now in this room. who are

struggling with old habits and old things that

have come back and knocked on their door and

said, I want in again. Old ways of thinking,

old bad habits, old things that brought them

down and caused them to go down paths that they

just even probably don't want to remember. But

I pray right now in the name of Jesus. Lord,

I can just hear Paul's voice in my own heart

saying, I want you back. Who bewitched you? Please,

don't go down that road. Lord, I just ask in

Jesus' name that that voice of the Holy Spirit

would speak deep in people's hearts who have

been tempted now to leave their life with Christ

and go back. Go back to old things. In Jesus'

name, amen. Now, you know you're not authentic

if you'll look at chapter 3, verse 3. We'll start

with verse 1. It says, You foolish Galatians,

who has bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus

Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This

is the only thing I want to find out from you.

Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law

or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish,

having begun by the Spirit, are you now being

perfected in the flesh? Now, the application

is, as many people as there are in here, there's

an application for you. But I just want to tell

you a quick thing about my application. I would

get a revelation of a certain thing from the

Lord, and I just had this tendency, I just call

it running ahead. I'd have this tendency of telling

the Lord how it should happen. And how this thing

should take place. And I would manufacture and

I would think my way through. And there's nothing

wrong with thinking. Hello. Please, please agree

with me. Oh, we don't think here. Oh, we don't.

You can do the thinking. We don't do the thinking.

You do that. Golly, we don't do that here. Please,

think. Think with me. I know. I'm not making

fun of you. I'm making fun of me. You scared

me there for a minute. Stop it. I want you back.

That's Paul. But I would try to make things happen

the way that I thought that the Lord was saying

for them to happen. And it frustrated my wife

to no end. She'd agree with the premise of...

What I thought I was supposed to do. She would

agree with that. But she would say, listen, can

we talk about this? I said, no, I know what I'm

going to do. Here I have this thing figured out

and this and that. And I would run with all my

energy as fast as I could, as hard as I could

in that direction. And pretty soon it's... And

I just found out I was running by myself. As

I started, I got something from the Lord. But...

I ran with my ideas. I want to tell you something

about Kenny Smith, and I won't say too much in

the sense of I don't want to expand on this too

far, but I want to say one of the things that

I've learned in my life, and you are blessed

to have him here. Kenny is a guy who wants one

thing only. He wants what God wants. And he's

willing to wait for it. And he's willing to stop.

He doesn't do the Saul thing of trying to make

something happen. He doesn't start in the spirit

and then be completed in the flesh. Kenny has

a heart for the spirit. And he wants to be completed

in the spirit. He wants the whole thing. So who

gets the glory then? God gets all the glory.

Not you because you finished in the flesh and

all of a sudden it became about you. This is

all about Him. So having started in the Spirit,

let's finish in the Spirit. Let's keep our attitudes

right. Let's let the Holy Spirit speak to us

during the process. Can I hear an amen? Some

people get going, they just radically go down

a thing and it's like they never stop to listen

to say if God has something to say about that

next step. You started well, you're not finishing

well. And Paul is saying, please. You started

in the Spirit, but now you're just like, I'm

waving my hand in front of your face and you're

not there. The light's on, but nobody's home.

What happened to you guys? You used to want the

Holy Spirit and now you don't. Now you've got

it figured out. Thank you, Jesus. Would you turn

to chapter 4, verses 9 and 10? Because it's such

a passionate gospel, and I really have always

loved the Apostle Paul, I cut my teeth on Watchman

Nee. How many ever read Watchman Nee's stuff?

I cut my teeth on his stuff, and I'm telling

you, he's a Pauline passage guy, and I just love

Watchman Nee. Watchman Nee was a great evangelist

and teacher from China. And he was eventually

subdued by the Chinese. But he kept writing books

and getting books out. And people would remember

his stuff or have recorded his stuff. And they

finally cut his tongue out because they found

out he was relaying messages from prison to people.

They cut his tongue out and eventually killed

him in 1973. But he was just a profound guy.

And his passion for, for instance, the Book of

Romans. It has just lit a fire in me. I just

love. And it made me love the Apostle Paul. But

you know what it made me do more than that? Or

along with that, it made me love the passion

of the Apostle Paul. You have that passion in

this church. You have passion of leaders who

will come to you if you're not all there. You

have the passion of people who care enough to

stand up to you in public. Just like Paul did

to Peter and say, listen, you're not authentic.

You are being phony right now. And praise God

for that. You have people that care about you

enough to stop and say, listen, come back. We

want you back. Thank you, Jesus. But now that

you have come to know God, don't you love this?

Look at this verse. I mean, this is like so wonderful.

Verse 9. But now that you have come to know God,

and Paul, it's like he goes, oh, just a minute,

or rather to be known by him. Isn't that beautiful?

I just love that. How is it that you turn back

to the weak and worthless elemental things in

which you desire to be enslaved all over again?

You observe days and months and seasons and years.

I am afraid for you that perhaps I have labored

over you in vain. Now, I took that and I said,

how can that just be brought in today? I just,

you know, these people are specifically speaking

about new moons and Sabbaths and everything else

like that. But in our Christian vernacular or

our Christian experience, it's very comparable.

to the idea that we succumb so much to calendars

and to meetings and to writing things out and

getting them all set. It's the same thing as

starting in the spirit and finishing in the flesh.

It's like we're going to, you know, it's what

James says. Why do you say you're going to go

such and such a place tomorrow? Why don't you

say if it's God's will, we'll go to this place

tomorrow. But we're just like arrogant people.

We're going to tell God we're going to do all

this. We're going to do all that. And the Bible

says man makes his plans. But a lot of times

they don't finish the verse. But the Lord directs

his steps. Here we are, a bunch of people who

are consumed by our days and our months. And

we get our calendar, our annual, sometimes three

-year or five -year calendar out. And we mark

it all off. This is what we're going to do. And

by this time, this is going to be done. And all

that stuff happens. And it's like God is saying,

please stop. I want you back. I didn't set all

those plans up. You did. Would you listen to

me? And there's nothing wrong with planning,

but if you don't listen to the Lord in the midst

of your planning, you are saying, we know what

God wants in our future, and we're not going

to ask him anymore after we set this calendar.

You have to be honest with the whole passage.

If you go through Galatians and you skip ones

that you don't like, I don't like that part.

That's what they're doing now. It's like I talked

to a pastor in our area and he said, yeah, we're

getting rid of the Pauline epistles out of the

Bible. I said, what? Are you serious? Oh, yeah.

They're written by a man. I was like, we don't

like those parts. So I want to encourage you.

You guys have so much going on. And I say this,

Pastor Brad's going to listen to the message.

And I just want to encourage you, Pastor Brad

and Pastor Jennifer, everybody else, you know

this. It's because you are spirit -led. But each,

you know, every day is a gift from God. Amen?

And we want to treat it like that, that it's

something special. And honor the Lord by seeking

him continually. And I don't think that's an

offense to our Christian calendars. I just think

we have to have the Spirit in our calendars.

Amen? I say that to myself, too. I'm not just

preaching to you. I'm speaking to the choir member

here. All right. Go ahead and bring up the next.

Thank you very much. You know you're not authentic

when men own you, part two. I want you to look

at chapter four, verse 17, would you? We're going

to look at just a couple more of these, and then

I'm going to finish up here. It says, they eagerly

seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut

you out so that you will seek them. I want you

to remember this verse. When people come and

your mind is consumed by what they think in terms

of you can't move without them and they own you,

then it's time to stop. They may not even intend

it that way. But in this instance, these people

were seeking to take these people, to shut them

out from the freedom that they had, and make

them seek them as their fathers in the Lord.

And Paul would have none of it. They're after

you, but they want you so that you will go after

them, that you'll seek their advice. And Paul

is upset. Now listen, he's writing this letter

from a distance. He's not there anymore. So he's

not that kind of guy. He's not the kind of guy

that is sitting there minutely watching every

single step that they make and trying to make

sure they do everything right and micromanaging

their lives and telling them this. Paul is not

that kind of guy. He set up the church in Galatia

and then he released it. To the people who were

in charge in Galatia. He was totally free and

he left them free. And then to see their leaders

and their people become slaves was too much for

him. He's like, man, what happened to you people?

I want you back. Now, whenever these people come

in the room, your head's all turning. You're

looking at them. You're not looking at me. I

say something to you, you turn around and look

at them. Like, shall we listen to Paul? And he

even says in Galatians, he says, have I become

your enemy? Basically, he said, I brought you

to the Lord. Why are you treating me this way?

I am not your enemy. And listen, there are people

in here who want you to succeed in Jesus Christ.

They're not your enemy. These people wanted people's

attention to go to them. It wasn't a good thing.

And look at chapter 6, I believe. Verse 13. This

is when people own you. Part three. For those

who are circumcised do not even keep the law

themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised

so that they may boast in your flesh. They don't

really care about you. They just want a notch

on their belt. They want to celebrate that you're

part of their group. Remember what it said about

the Pharisees and the Sadducees? It says, you'll

go over land and sea. You'll go mile after mile

after mile to get one convert. And then when

you turn around, you make him twice as son of

hell as you are. For the Pharisees and the Sadducees,

it wasn't about reaching people for God. It was

about getting someone to sign up to their side.

It had nothing to do with God. It had something

to do with getting people to be with them. And

that is not God. It's not the Lord. And you know

you're not authentic when you're trying to serve

people that only want you for what you can do

for them. That's abusive. It's wrong. John F.

Kennedy had it right, didn't he? Ask not what

your country could do for you. but rather what

you can do for your country. That's basically

Paul's thing. I'm not after you for me. I'm after

you for the kingdom of God so that you would

honor the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. You can look

up... These other verses, they're very wonderful.

Chapter 5, verse 4. Chapter 5, verse 15. Chapter

5, verse 15 is, to me, the ultimate verse that

tells you what happens when you become a slave

of somebody else and when you live under the

law and legalism. When you become a legalistic

person, you become a mean person. And you begin

to bite and devour one another and you cause

other people to live in misery. All you want

is not shared life. You want shared misery when

you're in legalism. That's all you want. You

want somebody to sit with you and share the pain.

And that's not right. How would you like to live

with a legalistic person? Well, that bed's not

made exactly right. Now, did you put the cup

back on the back of the sink or to the right

of the sink? Now, where did I tell you to put

it? Honey, your belt's not cinched up that one

more loop. I mean, how would you like to live

with that? I mean, it just would be miserable.

And these people were biting and devouring one

another. He says, hey, be careful. Hello. If

you're biting and devouring each other, you might

also eat each other. So why don't you just stop

that? That's not helping you. Churches that become

legalistic are really mean churches. And it's

nothing against the people who are in them. It's

just that they need to get rid of that spirit.

When people in the world think you hate them,

you might take a look in the mirror and find

out why they're thinking that. How did you get

saved? You didn't get saved by somebody pointing

the finger at you and telling you what a screwed

up person you were and what a worthless loser

you were. I would imagine most everybody, am

I right? Did most people come to Christ because

somebody loved you and cared about you and encouraged

you and tried to show you who Jesus was? Am I

right? Most people know they're sinners. It's

not a mystery to anybody. You're mostly sinners.

Are you guys tracking with me here? I'm going

to do two more things. I'm going to look at chapter

6 verse 12 and it says those who desire to make

a good showing in the flesh try to compel you

to be circumcised simply so that they will not

be persecuted for the cross of Christ. It's the

Galatian At the beginning, Paul says, I have

been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I

who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life

that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith

in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself

up for me. He's all about the cross. Paul is

all about the cross, about Jesus dying on the

cross, about living by the grace that was dispensed

by the cross. He's all about the freedom that

the cross bought and all that stuff. And now

he's saying, these people, here's what's happening.

You're getting circumcised. so that you guys

won't get persecuted for the cross. That's what's

happening. They are circumventing the cross and

making it easier so that you don't have to abide

or at least acknowledge that you're a Christian

and that it was the cross. That's all they want

from you. They don't want it. They're tired of

being persecuted. How many of you know Paul was

persecuted? Everywhere he went, they tried to

stone him to death. They tried lashes. He was

shipwrecked. He was beaten with rods a number

of times. It just goes on. The list is incredible

what he went through for you and me. But they

didn't want that. It's like, we saw what happened

to Paul, so let's kind of get the cross out of

there. And that's the same thing that's happening

in today's Christianity, is they're offloading

the cross. And that's not a straw man argument.

There are people who have made the cross as of

no importance. And it's not right. If you're

going to serve Jesus Christ, one of the greatest

things you can do is embrace the cross. All right,

I'm going to finish with this. These are just

some personal words to me as I, or to you from

my heart. I want you to go back to chapter four.

I want to tell you about your church. We read

this before, but I just want you to see it. Galatians

is such a beautiful letter, and he's just trying

to say, and I want to say to you here, I think

there's some people who've been living intimidated

lives, used to have joy, peace, and you're not

there. You're just not free anymore. I mean,

you used to come up and worship. Now somebody

almost would have to drag you up there and flap

your arms around for you to... You understand

what I'm saying? And it's like, and I don't mean

to denigrate you, but I think there's a couple

here at least. You are feeling dead inside. I

hope it's not true, but I just feel that's a

word of the Lord that you're saying. My Christianity

is not alive. I am not free. He says here, verse

15, he says, where then is that sense of blessing

you had? For I bear you witness. Paul was having

trouble with his eyes. That's what the indication

is anyway. I bear you witness that if possible

you would have plucked out your eyes and given

them to me. Where is that sense of blessing you

had? What happened? I want that church back.

I want the church that's passionate. I want the

church that loves people. I want that church

back. Said about the little girl in the lunchroom,

very poignant, very true. So he says, so have

I become your enemy by telling you the truth?

They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they

wish to shut you out so that you will seek them.

You remember what Jesus said? He talked to the

lawyers one time and he said, you know, You have

the key to the door of knowledge. You don't go

in and you don't open it for anybody else. And

he was brutal to those people. The only thing

they could understand was that brutality to their

minds and their souls. And Paul is saying, these

people want to shut you out. These people want

to keep you from your freedom. They want to keep

you from the joy of the Lord. Love, joy, peace,

patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness,

self -control. They want to keep you from that

fruit. They want to keep you from the Spirit.

And I'm trying to bring this back. It's like

they lost all attachment to the Holy Spirit.

And he said, these people are trying to shut

you out. But I want to tell you, you have a church

that's trying to let you in. You have people

that, listen, Frank DiMaggio let me in. I'll

be there in just a second. Pastor Brad, let me

in. The church doesn't need more people trying

to keep people out. We don't need more people

trying to shut off, cut off relationships and

hurt people. We don't need more people captive

in bondage and in slavery to other people's opinions.

We need freedom. It's kind of like that blue

-faced Mel Gibson. Freedom! Amen! That's what

I want. You know what? I appreciate that movie

for a number of reasons. One of the things, he

was free to die. He was free to give his life.

And there's so many Christians that aren't even

free to live, much less die for Christ. They're

so caught up in their own bondages and slaveries.

And Paul said it was for freedom. It's like he's

looking at me and says, man, it was for freedom.

You were set free. What happened to you? You're

not free anymore. And you have people in here

that are opening wide the door. We need people

who will open the doors. And this is a good way

to start, is put your arms out like this the

next time you are struggling with somebody, and

it means I really want to hug you. And they have

a choice. Amen? The church needs freedom. You

have it here. You have people that are opening

the doors, but you also have people that are

burying things. I want you to finish up with

this. Chapter 6. Brethren, I need a Kleenex.

Oh, here it is. I got it. Whoops. It's not free.

I'm so proud to know the people here and everything

that they've done. But let's finish this up here.

If anyone is caught in a trespass, you who are

spiritual, condemn the hell out of them. Point

your finger at them. Make them feel miserable.

Absolutely obliterate them with your words. Tear

them up. And then when they're down, kick them.

Don't just kick them. Kick them in the head.

Don't just kick them in the head. Make them bleed.

Shut their eyes. Make them miserable. Make them

want to come to church next Sunday. Restore.

And be gentle about it. Look to yourself. You

struggle too. Bear, look at this, bear one another's

burdens. You think Paul's mean to these people?

I don't think so at all. He's trying to pull

them back to who they are. This is who you were.

You loved each other. Bear one another's burdens.

And thus fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone

thinks he is something when he is nothing, he

is deceived. But each one must examine his own

work. Now look at this. And first you're going

to bear one another's burdens. But I want you

to know, that's how you must help other people

to get to Christ. You must do that. It's a gospel

imperative. We're not to shut them out. We're

to open the doors for them. And we're to bear.

And it says right here, it says, and then, let's

see, 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 your own load. You can

get as much help as you can, but I want to tell

you, Please don't be a slave to blaming other

people for your situation. That's one of the

worst situations of not being authentic, is blaming

everybody else. And Paul says that. He says,

no matter what you think, in the end, you're

not going to be able to blame that bully. You're

not going to be able to blame that husband or

their wife or that boss or that co -laborer.

You're not going to be able to blame that guy

that was driving the car. You're going to bear

your own load. But while we can, we can help

each other. And look at this. The last verse.

He says, this is Paul. He says, from now on,

let no one cause trouble for me. For I bear on

my body the brand marks of Jesus. I want you

to notice he does not, every other place in the

gospels or the epistles, he says, Lord Jesus

Christ, Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ. This is,

I think, one of the only places where he says

only the name Jesus. And he's referring, in my

opinion, he's referring to the welts, the peeled

back, the hands, the head. Paul is saying, don't

pick on me. I bear on my body the very same things

that Jesus went through. I know what I'm talking

about. I want to ask you, as we close, are you

willing to offload hypocrisy and inauthenticity

and really Serve Jesus. And take the risk. Because

you guys are risk takers. This church is a risk

taking church. And that's the Lord saying that

to you. That's who you are. You're a risk taking

church. Are you willing to risk it all? And have

the possibility that you would bear on your bodies.

The brand marks of Jesus. I want to. I want to

serve Jesus. I want to love you. I want this

to be a joyous place. And there are some in this

room Jesus is saying to you, I want you back.

And you can come back. Would you stand with me?

I always ask my wife to please pray for me that

I won't cry. Gee, I didn't ask her that today.

But I feel the love of Jesus here. And if you're...

There's an old song that Andre Crouch... wrote

many years ago. He said, I'm coming home, dear

Lord. I'm coming home, dear Lord. I'm sorry I

wandered away so far. And if you are, if this

message spoke to you and you're saying, you know

what? That's me, doggone it. There's some young

men in here, the Lord has called you and you

just kind of turn it sideways to that call now

because you don't necessarily, you might want

to hear it with one ear, but you don't want to

hear it with both ears. And you're not authentic.

Why would you turn your back on Jesus? There's

others who have been intimidated. And it's just

time to be done with that, man. Let's let it

go, man. Let those people be those people. But

you be you. I like you. Nobody can be you but

you. So if you would like prayer, I know that

many of these people will be up here and they'll

pray with me. But I'll stay until the praying

is done. But this is a wonderful, wonderful church.

And you should keep it that way. Don't muck it

up. Stay in grace. Stay in faith and walk in

the Spirit. Father, in Jesus' name, Lord, as

people come forward this morning. I thank you

for your love. Thank you for your cross. I am

not ashamed of the cross. Lord, we pray in Jesus'

name that you would help us maintain authenticity,

that you would help us to be real. to people

out in the world. People who have no clue. I

just pray for that. And I pray for Life Bible

Fellowship, Lord, right now in Jesus' name. That,

Lord, the anointing that you've placed on this

place would only expand. That it would embrace

a community. It would embrace a county. It would

embrace a state. It would embrace our nation.

We love you, Jesus. We just choose to be real,

and we just thank you for helping us today. In

Jesus' name, amen. If you would like prayer,

I would love to pray for you. Please come forward.

We'll do it. Wasn't that a great word from Pastor

Dan? As you're coming forward, I'm going to just

pray a blessing over you guys. I'll let you know

there is, I got to serve under Pastor Dan for,

oh, the last 12 or 13 years before he released

me to come here. And if there was ever an authentic

man with an authentic anointing, it's Pastor

Dan. So why don't you extend your hand towards

him. We're going to pray a blessing and then

we'll release you. Father, in Jesus' name. Lord,

we just praise you for the timely word, Lord,

the word from your heart to this body. Lord,

we receive it, Lord. And I just pray a blessing

over Pastor Dan, over his wife Patty, over his

church in Azalea, Lord, in Jesus' name. Lord,

I pray a refreshing, a renewing as he leaves.

Lord, send him home with even a fresh word, fresh

vision stirring. Father, we thank you for the

28 years he's put in that place, Lord. And we

declare that these... This next season will be

the best. Father, in Jesus' name, and Lord, I

pray now over this body, Lord, I pray that you

would help us to go and be a light and share

life everywhere we go. In Jesus' name, amen.

You guys be blessed. Have a great rest of your

holiday weekend. go to www .lifebiblechurch .org

or call us at 541 -995 -8282.