The Part We Play | Viny Costa

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning, you watching online.

How is everybody doing?

How is everybody doing this morning?

Good?

Good.

Good good.

It is a privilege and an honor for me to be here this morning sharing with you all what I believe God has for us.

God has been good to us.

Don't you agree?

Yes.

Don't you agree?

When I look to our community and everything we have done and everything we have accomplished for God's glory, I come to two conclusions.

One, yes, we have faced challenges and adversities.

And two, God is with us.

And God has been good to us.

My name is Vinicius, but you can call me Vini, as everybody, um, as everybody else here in America.

I am 34 years old.

I am married for life with my lovely wife Juliana, right here.

And we have a daughter, Serena.

She's three and a half years old, probably breaking the museum right now.

I've been serving God in a full-time ministry for 16 years.

And uh three and a half out of those 16 here with Celebration Church.

My prayer this morning is that you receive something fresh and anointed from God.

May God speak to you in a very, very, very personal way.

And I really want God to reveal to you everything He wants to reveal.

This is week four of our Grace to You series, and we have talked about this concept of grace in the book of Romans.

I don't know if you ever had a chance to read Romans, but I definitely recommend you to do so.

Romans is the longest letter that the Apostle Paul wrote, and it is considered by many to be the greatest.

It was written for the church in Rome, I want to say in 55 after Christ.

The book is all about very, very deep theological concepts and doctrines, such as grace, law, justification, righteousness.

So we were talking about 16 very, very complex chapters.

There are many theologians who have dedicated their entire lives just to study the book of Rome, Romans.

Well, I'm not telling you that to scare you out.

That's not my my point here.

It's actually the opposite.

I'm sharing that with you because I want to encourage you to spend time with the book.

I want to encourage you to read it, I want to encourage you to dig deep.

And then if you have questions, we will be here to help and guide you.

Okay?

So a quick summary for us.

On week one, our lead pastor, Pastor Keith, he shared about this amazing concept, grace being the upgrade we all need.

On week two, Pastor Nate chooses Romans chapter five to unpack this idea.

Grace is even greater than sin.

And then last week, Pastor Keith is back, and he preached it on Romans chapter 8, one of the most important chapters in the Bible, and he said that God's grace gives us life.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Today, we're going to spend the majority of our time together in one verse.

Just one.

So I think we can memorize that one together, okay?

It will be just one verse.

So I would love to invite you to open your Bibles in Romans chapter 10, verse 4.

Romans 10:4

Romans chapter 10, verse 4.

Romans 10:4

And it goes like this for Christ is the end of the law.

For righteousness to everyone who believes.

If you are taking notes this morning, and I'm sure you are, I can see you.

The title of our message is The Part We Play.

The Part We Play.

And we're so ready now to receive from you what you have prepared for us.

So we ask you to open up our hearts and open up our ears.

We want to be encouraged by you.

We want to be exhorted by you, by you, and we want you to work in us through your word.

That's our prayer in Jesus' name.

Amen.

In 2008, this American boy he graduated from Bible school and he reached out to our Brazilian church.

He called us and he said, Hey, I just graduated from Bible school and I would love to go to Brazil.

I want to stay three months there.

I want to serve the church, and I also want to learn from you guys.

Would you guys sponsor me?

And then my pastor said, Yes, we'll we will sponsor you.

We will take care of you for the next three months.

And then my pastor called me.

At that time, I was living in this tiny up tiny apartment paid by the church.

And the pastor said, Hey, this American boy reach out.

Would you mind if he stays with you?

I was like, No, I think it's fine, sure.

So two weeks later, the American arrived.

We picked him up at the airport.

Great guy, great guy.

Uh our communication was pretty bad.

Uh my English was very, very rusty, and I he knew probably four or five words in Portuguese, but he was a great guy.

Well, I got scheduled to preach at the young adult service at my church, and then I told him, hey, on Saturday I will be preaching at the church, and he got so excited.

He was like, Yes, man, this is awesome.

I will be there first row to support you.

And then on Saturday, I was there delivering a word full of passion, this word based on Acts 3, and it was all about obedience and following Christ.

That was the point of the message.

And as I am sharing, I can see the church was there with me, you know.

They were doing the what the Pentecostal church did.

They were like, Yes, man, that's good.

Preach.

And they they were doing my favorite thing, which is this one.

So if you want to do that from time to time, that will help me a lot.

So everybody was doing that.

Everybody but one guy.

My American friend, seated on the first row, doing the opposite.

During the entire time as I am unpacking about obedience, he's doing this.

And then I was like, what's wrong?

What's wrong with me?

Is it my outfit?

Am I saying something wrong?

Is the translation bad?

Well, I preached, and then at the end of the night, I decided not to ask.

And he never said anything.

So I was like, okay, it is what it is.

On Wednesday, he told me, hey, Pastor, just call me.

And he asked me to preach next Saturday.

And then I did the same thing as he did.

Bro, that's amazing.

I will be there for you.

I'll be there and I'm going to support you.

And then on Saturday, I was there.

First row.

And he was preaching full of passion a message that was the exact opposite of what I preached the previous week.

The exact opposite.

He was not only preaching full of passion, but he was preaching in a way that it was very confrontative towards me.

To a point that he said, Don't let your leaders and your pastors teach you such and such.

And then he just mentioned everything I said on the previous week.

And then he said, Listen, obedience is not a thing anymore.

He said, Jesus was obedient for you, so don't worry about it.

He said, God is love, and the rest is just the rest.

Yeah, let me just change microphones real quick.

As you can see, Satan is angry.

Can I have this one up?

Is Danny here?

Okay, I'll keep with this one for a second.

He was like, God is love and the rest is just the rest.

He said, God understands your sin, and that doesn't affect your relationship with him.

Yep.

He said, don't worry about your sin or being obedient.

Jesus already paid the price for you.

And I was there just seated on the foot on the first row thinking, bro, this is bad.

So at the end of the night, I decided to have a conversation with him about it, right?

And I was like, bro, hey, listen, what was that?

You did two things really bad.

You preached the opposite of what I preached the previous week, and you also encouraged our congregation to not hear to what we were teaching then every week.

What was that?

You just graduated Bible school, bro.

What's happening?

And then he told me, hey Vinnie, listen, your theology is broken.

You are a bad pastor.

You should read Romans.

That's what he told me.

And he said, specifically Romans chapter 10, verse 4.

Romans 10:4

That's our verse this morning.

I wish he was here.

Romans chapter 10, verse 4, for the end of for Christ is the end of the law.

Romans 10:4

So that was his point.

Bear with me.

Vini, you preached about obedience last week.

But Romans chapter 10, verse 4 says that Christ is the end of the law.

Romans 10:4

Yes, Christ is the end of the law.

You preach it about obedience, but obedience is only required where there is law and commandments.

If Christ is the end of the law, there is no more law.

If there is no more law, why are you still preaching about obedience?

And then I was like, I can't believe you're saying that.

His logic was so easy to understand, but very childish.

For him, what he was trying to say is, okay, through Christ, we are under this new thing called grace.

We're not under the law anymore.

Christ is the end of the law.

If Christ is the end of the law, there is no more law.

If there is no more law, obedience is not a thing anymore.

So why are you talking about obedience?

And then he asked me to read books about it.

He asked me to listen to some preachers, and that's exactly what I did.

I read all the books he asked me to.

I listened to all the preachers he suggested, and they were all teaching the same thing.

The grace of God through Jesus ended the law.

So today we can live our lives in the way we think it's best.

Friends, this doctrine has grown since 2008.

And today is known by hypergrace doctrine.

It is more common than you think.

And it is very, very dangerous.

Although the church has had to deal with bad theology since the beginning, we have never experienced such a great rejections of truths as we do today.

No, no, no, you don't need to go to church.

You can worship God at your place, at your home.

No, no, you don't need to tithe an offer.

That's a thing from the Old Testament.

No, no, you don't need to get married to have sex.

That's no.

Hey, hey, no, you don't need to obey God.

Do whatever you think it's best.

Go after your happiness.

Do whatever it takes for you to be happy.

It's pretty common to see biblical truths being treated as just one more point of view.

I see people treating foundational components of our faith like relative truths.

Let me ask you something, Pastor Keith, since you're here.

Are you an Eagles fan?

Okay, according to the Are you sure?

Sure.

Are you an Eagles fan?

I'm pretty sure I saw you last week wearing a Bucks jersey.

No?

You're sure?

You are an Eagles fan.

Okay, I can spend the next 10 hours trying to convince him he's not an Eagles fan.

But he is convicted.

So I think my question for us this morning is why are we so sure and convicted about silly things like that?

But when we talk about eternal biblical truths, we tend to relativize it.

Why?

And there is a group of preachers making a mockery of biblical theology by relativizing the importance of obedience.

They are preaching that something so precious as obedience, it's not necessary anymore.

Okay, church, I wanted to show to you, and this morning I want to prove to you that grace has never relativized or suppressed obedience.

Grace makes obedience possible.

So I wanted to ask you to be patient with me because we're going back, we're gonna get back to Romans chapter 10, verse 4 in a second.

Romans 10:4

In a second, but in order for us to unpack this idea, I really want to talk a little bit about the difference between the law and the grace, since Christ is the end of the law, and it and it is it is very important for us to understand grace, and for us to understand grace, we need to understand law.

So we put together a table for you.

Let's let's take a look on this one.

Please take a look on this, take a picture of it, do your thing.

But right here on the left, we see characteristics of the law.

Of course, here we see characteristics of grace.

Let's unpack this for a second.

Keep your eyes on it.

The law, also known as Mosaic Law, can be found in the Old Testament.

It is part of the Old Testament, Old Covenant.

Grace is all about new covenant, new covenant, New Testament.

The law is a pact between God and Israel through Moses.

Grace is a pact between God and the world through Jesus.

Look what the Bible says in John chapter 1, verse 17.

John 1:17

It says, For the law was given through Moses.

Grace and through came through Jesus Christ.

Back to the table.

The law was some type of manual on how to live life in society.

Okay?

It was 613 commandments for that nation.

The grace is all about having Christ as your Lord and follow his steps.

The law was for a specific nation and in a specific time.

God wanted to make Israel his peculiar nation.

That's why he established the law.

Look what the Bible says in Exodus chapter 19, verse 5.

Exodus 19:5

It says, Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples.

God wanted to make Israel a peculiar nation.

Now, grace is eternal.

Grace is for everybody.

It's all about representing Jesus wherever you go.

The law brought to Israel a definition of sin.

Because of those 613 commandments, they know what to obey, what to do, and how to live their lives.

It was all about following the rules.

Now, grace, as Pastor Keith said, is an upgrade.

Grace is all about loving God and following Him as a consequence of your love.

Now, this one is good.

Bear with me.

The law was good.

The Bible says the law was good for that time.

But grace, as Pastor Nate said, is even greater.

The sacrifices of animals in the law was only to cover sin.

Grace is even greater because the sacrifice of Jesus brings forgiveness if you sin and it helps you to overcome sin.

Hey, this is what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

It says, For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true forms of these realities, it can never, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

Jesus brings forgiveness to your sins and gives you strength to not sin anymore.

The law had a priest, Aaron.

The grace has a priest, Jesus.

The law was all about the sacrifice of animals.

The grace is all about the sacrifice of Jesus.

So yes, grace is better, grace is available.

We are all under grace and not under the law.

Grace is the meeting place, a place where all the burdens are spread out on the ground, where everyone who arrives tired, weary, anxious, dirty can rest their hearts.

Grace is explained in a cross.

And when I look to the cross, I realized death was my sentence.

But now look at me.

I am free in Christ Jesus.

Grace, as simple as that.

Forgiveness is accepted, receive it, and that's it.

The end.

Guess what?

Christ paid for me.

There was a great chasm between the fallen race and the God of forgiveness.

But grace closed the gap.

And without hesitation, reach out its hands.

Show us the way back to the Father's house where we will dwell one day.

And give us hope and the certainty that Christ will soon come back for us.

Grace yesterday, grace today, grace tomorrow, it is amazing, grace available for you, available for me.

And yes, Paul was right when he wrote Romans chapter 10, verse 4.

Romans 10:4

Christ is the end of the law.

But unlike my American friend said, Bible told us that Christ is the end of one.

Specific law.

The Bible was saying Christ is the end of the law.

The Mosaic law.

The law we just saw.

Christ is not the end of every kind of law.

Grace has not come to establish a gospel energy.

But I believe only five is enough.

I was not trying to initiate a war between Brazil and America.

That was not my point.

I was just trying to show him biblical truths.

So can I prove to you in five little arguments that obedience is for today?

Okay, argument one.

As simple as that, the same Paul who wrote Romans chapter 10, verse 4, for Christ is the end of the law, the same guy who wrote this one, in all his other letters, he encourages people to obey God.

Romans 10:4

So do we think that Paul, understanding that there is no more law, as my American friend suggested, would teach so much about obedience?

He would be contradicting his own theology.

Yes, Christ is the end of the Mosaic law, and now through this new covenant grace, he has so much more to offer.

Argument number two.

This one is good.

Bear with me.

It's in the Bible.

First Corinthians chapter 9, verse 20.

1 Corinthians 9:20

This is what Paul says.

To the Jews, I became like a Jew to wing the Jew.

To those under the law, he's talking about the mosaic law right here.

To those under the law, I became like one under the law.

Though I am myself am not under the law, so let us to wing those under the law.

To those not having the law, I became like one having the law, though I am under Chromasist.

What is he saying here?

Yeah, Crimeist is the end of the law, the Mosaic law.

But we still have a law to obey.

He is not saying there is no law for me.

He's saying yes, I'm under Crime's law.

So if there is law, there is also obedience.

Argument number three.

If there is no law under grace, why Paul in Romans chapter 13 encouraged us to obey civil authorities?

Romans 13 · chapter mention

Argument number four.

We saw in our table minutes ago that Aaron was the priest of the law and Jesus is the priest of grace.

Are you guys here with me?

Now the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 7, for when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

So if Aaron was the priest of law, and now Jesus is the priest of grace, we have a new priest.

If the priest changed, the law must change.

The law must change, not disappear.

So now, in his eternal new covenant, full of grace of Jesus, and Jesus being the priest, there is a new law for us, and that's the one I will obey, and that's the one you will obey.

Argument number five.

On the Sermon of the Mountain, at least six times, Jesus says, You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, and then he quoted the law.

So, for example, he said, You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, love your enemies, love your friends, hate your enemies.

He's quoting the law, and then Jesus goes, But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for them.

If there is no law, why Jesus is quoting the law and now saying, Hey, you heard this, but now I'm telling you this, I'm giving you the upgrade.

He's establishing a new covenant, he's establishing grace, he's establishing his law, and his law requires obedience.

Come on.

Let me take you back to church for a second.

During worship, you guys sounded amazing.

So, since we're talking about grace, I think we need to sing about grace for a second, all of us.

And uh, you know what I'm expecting from you, right?

Parts, harmonies, and we can sing amazing grace how sweet the me.

So let me tell you this.

I believe in a superabundant grace, I believe he already paid for my sins, I believe he's available, I believe he loves, I believe he cares, I believe his grace is bigger than all of our sins, but I also believe we have a part to play.

Every time we sing about amazing grace, all the songs, every time we read about it, it's all about what Jesus did for us, and grace is all about that, but we cannot ignore we have a part to play.

I was telling uh my friends at Team Raleigh that one of my favorite words in English is reciprocity.

What a great word! Reciprocity, and I really believe that reciprocity is the base of every healthy relationship.

If I want to be friends with Nate and Nate doesn't want to be my friend, we won't be friends because there's only friendship here if there is reciprocity.

So if we're saying Jesus is the priest of this amazing grace, if we are saying that he gave his life for us, maybe it's time for us to give our lives back to him.

Maybe it is time for us to understand that there is a law for us to for us to obey, and it is Christ's law.

And then I only have six minutes, I will be able to do this, guys.

Bear with me.

So maybe this morning you were like this, hey Vinnie, yes, I got it.

That American friend of yours, crazy.

Yes, Jesus is the end of the Mosaic Law.

I got it, and because of his, and because of him, and because today we are under grace, I want to obey Christ's law, his commandments, and follow his step, his steps.

And maybe you want to ask me, Vinny, what does God expect from me?

What does he want from me?

If we're under Christ's law, if we have a part to play, what is he expecting from me?

Let me tell you, God expects you to pray as Jesus taught us how.

Great job summarizing it in Mark chapter 12, verse 28.

Mark 12:28

It says, Of all the commandments, Jesus, which one is the most important?

The most important one, answered Jesus, is this hear, O Israel, hear, O celebration.

The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.

And the second one is this love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no commandment greater than this.

Love God, love others, love God, and love others.

Do you want to obey Christ's law?

Love God, love the others.

Love is not a feeling, friends.

Love is an attitude.

I know what I need to do to show my wife I love her.

It's just wake up early and tell her, let's go to premium outlet and then IKEA.

She will be like, This boy loves me so much.

Love is an attitude, you see.

It takes it takes time, money, strength to go to IKEA.

Love God and love the others.

Do you know how you show your love to God?

Isn't it amazing that the Bible tells us how?

The Bible tells us how.

John chapter 14, 21.

John 14 · chapter mention

Whoever has my commands and keeps them.

Other versions say, Whoever has my commands and obey them is the one who loves me.

American friend, what are you talking about?

There's no obedience.

Jesus is saying, If you want to show you love me, obey me.

Obey me.

Loving God means to obey God.

Loving God means to obey God.

Loving God means to obey God.

Loving God means to obey God.

So let me ask you this: what are the things you need to stop doing today because you love God?

What are the things you need to start doing today because you love God?

Who do you need to call today because you love God?

What is that secret scene you need to abandon, confess today, and move on because you love God?

We have an opportunity today.

Now loving the others means being honest.

And let me be very honest with you.

I'm just being honest because I love you.

Sometimes in your culture, I think it's so hard to do this.

It's okay.

Interesting the way you think.

That's interesting.

But loving the others means sometimes do I'm sorry, but you were wrong.

I'm sorry, but that's not what the Bible says.

And because I love you, I'm telling you that.

You know, couple, this is not on my script, but God will help me here.

Couple months ago, it was a Sunday morning like this one, and I was playing the keyboard right here, and during the rehearsal, I was very rude with a team member.

Very rude.

I said something very inappropriate.

And then my friend Caleb right here.

Because he loves me.

He said, Vinny, can I have a can I talk with you for a second?

I was like, sure.

And I was like, Well, maybe he would be talking about you know a question about a song or so.

And he said, Do you know what you did was very inappropriate?

And you know you need to go right there and apologize.

That was not good, and you know what I realized on that moment?

Caleb loves me because the great commitment I can have with you is always speaking the truth in love for you.

We have a part to play, folks.

Loving God means to obey God, loving the others means to be honest.

Christ, and I'm gonna end like this Christ is the end of the law, but not every law, he's the end of the mosaic law.

Now we are under grace, and we are all under Christ's law, and it requires obedience.

Loving your God and understand that loving God means to obey Him.

Love your the others and be honest with your neighbor.

Yes, the amazing grace is available, but don't forget you have a part to play.

Would you bow your head your heads with me?

I would love to pray with you.

God, we're so so thankful.

We're thankful because we are under grace.

We're thankful because you are the new priest.

We're thankful, Christ, because according to Romans chapter 10, Christ is the end of the law, and now I'm not under the law anymore.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

I am under grace, but I still need to obey the Christ's commandments.

I'm under Christ's law, and I want to obey you, Jesus.

This morning, I pray, please help us.

We want to demonstrate we love you by obeying you.

We want to listen to your voice and obey.

And we want to be brave enough to do so in a world so corrupted.

Love is an attitude, God.

And we understand that today.

Help us to be obedient to you.

We want to love the others.

And loving the others means to be honest.

So help us to be a light in this society.

Help us to carry your truths.

Help us because we can call our friends and we can say, hey, this is not cool, but we can do that in a very lovable way.

Teach us how.

Teach us how.

Thank you for this amazing grace.

Help me because I want to play my part.

Thanks again for listening.

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