After the Message: What Did Jesus Really Say About Salvation

Thank you for joining us for After the Message.

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Hey church, thank you so much for joining us today.

If this is your first time here, we want to welcome you to Celebration Church here in Orlando.

You are catching us uh in the middle of our series, What Did Jesus Really Say?

Uh and today we're actually going to continue the conversation on salvation.

That rhymed, and I'm so proud of that.

So it's in you, baby.

It's in you.

Go ahead, let it go, let it go.

Again, this is such a crucial part of our faith and who we are.

We actually just want to keep talking about it and bring some clarity to a few things.

And this is actually going to uh double as our after the message uh portion of our celebration podcast, which uh uh I will say that is awesome, and you should check it out if you haven't checked out after the message.

Yeah, shameless plug.

We do it every week, so make sure that you tune into that as well.

So let's kind of talk about what we talked about last week and recap that and uh move on with the conversation of part two, salvation.

Yeah, I think um I think it's important because obviously it's such a it's a critical part of our of our belief system and and knowing that we are and knowing that we are safe.

So what I want to do is I just want to recap like the concept of salvation, even though there's it's exhaustive.

Yeah, but I just want to kind of give us a tidbit and you can certainly go back and and and listen to our first message for those who who didn't get a chance to check it out.

But but ultimately, what we've arrived to is recognizing that the fall of man, Genesis, the moment that Adam and Eve decided that they wanted to determine what good and evil was on their own, on our own terms, that created the fallen and broken world.

As a result of that, that meant that mankind needed a savior, they needed to be rescued.

And so what we see instituted from that moment forward is what we call God's redemptive plan, God's way of redeeming all of mankind.

So the illustration that we used uh last week was um I'm a big LeBron James fan.

And so what I did, I made a mistake though, because I said if LeBron James fouls somebody, he doesn't.

He's great.

If LeBron James gets fouled, the other team, there, the entire team is penalized.

Yeah.

And so I like to look at it like this like we all are wearing the uniform of humanity, and because Adam and Eve committed this grave offense, we all are living in the consequence of it.

So the Bible says that the wages of sin is death, but but the gift of God is is is life through Christ.

And so that's kind of where we find ourselves at.

So ultimately, salvation is is needing the rescuing, us being covered, us being um invited into the family of God.

So that's ultimately what it is.

And I think that what I love about the passage, and we looked at John chapter three, uh, the story of uh Nicodemus and this powerful conversation with with him and Jesus is is the vulnerability that took place, the fact that it took place at nighttime, which just kind of just kind of oozes like the secret nature of it, having questions and all those things.

But but what I love about it is like the the origin story version of it.

And we briefly touched on that, but it's like when you look at the sequence of Nicodemus's life, you realize that he was like on this journey of self-discovery that ultimately allowed him to arrive at the conclusion of I want to be associated with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

That's a huge moment.

So, what I think what I want to talk about is I think all of us have an origin story.

And so last week I alluded to you were born saved, Pastor Becca.

You were born saved, and you came forth from the womb.

It's not biblical.

But it just it seemed right in the moment.

Sure.

But but I I want to hear I want to hear your salvation story because I think all of us have a different version of how we were introduced to what does it mean to be a follower of Christ.

Yeah, for me, I got saved when I was four.

I I vividly remember it though.

It was I went to a Christian school and it was right after a PE class, and I went to my teacher and I was like, I want to ask Jesus into my heart.

Like it was a very like real thing.

And she was like complaining that you said that you needed to be a good thing.

No, it was like we were in line on our way, we were in line on our way back to our classroom, and I was like, no, this is my moment.

So as that four-year-old, I have a lot to repent from, you know, stealing crayons.

You know, my heart was evil and wicked.

But really, where I started to, and I grew up in a Christian home, always went to church.

My parents were pastors for many years.

Uh, but I remember the moment where I was like, it's time for me to make my faith my own.

Like I had kind of written on the coattails of my parents' relationship with God for so long.

And so when I was 12, I just remember being like, God, I want a relationship with you.

And so I went downstairs, grabbed one of my dad's books off of the shelf and started reading.

And from that day on, it was like, no, this is like I it went from I knew that Jesus was my savior to I'm going to make him the Lord of my life.

I'm going to have him be the ruler of my life.

And just really focusing on him being the guide that I use.

And so, yeah, that was that's my origin story.

Yeah.

So you so you didn't have breaks in those moments where you turn back, you just live that life from the day that you committed.

I didn't, and I think such a big part of it, and I was actually talking to my husband about this yesterday.

My parents did just such a good job of instilling in us uh the importance of relationship with God, and that uh the acts that we did, it wasn't about um being good enough for him.

It was about okay, I really want you to consider like the Holy Spirit is sitting in the room with you.

Is that is that something you want to do?

Like if it will grieve the Holy Spirit, is that something you want to do?

And and really teaching us to look through that filter.

And because I had that relationship with God, I didn't want to grieve the Holy Spirit.

I didn't want to grieve him.

I wanted to place him, and it wasn't about works, it was just about my relationship and not wanting to disappoint him the same way that I wouldn't want to disappoint some, you know, my parents or you know, somebody else and an authority figure over them.

And so that that's what really saved me from experiencing so many of the the heartaches and the hardships that a lot of people do because they don't have that personal relationship.

Gotcha.

That's good.

Yeah, brother Benny.

Yeah, you uh you are with us today.

We're so glad that you're here.

What's uh kind of what's your story and and how has uh salvation played that role in your life?

Well, uh my mom she got saved when I was uh three years old.

And uh, of course, she started taking me to the church with her.

And um when I was 12, I was like, I don't I don't want to do that anymore.

I don't want to go to church just because my parents are taking me to church.

And it was funny because at that time I knew I knew the histories of the Bible, um, I knew the important preachers uh in the world, yeah, I knew the songs, but I had no relationship with Jesus.

So one day I was in my room just checking my nerdy books, and then I just saw this ugly yellow covert uh book that my month put it there years before, uh named Good Morning Holy Spirit.

And then I was like, what is that?

I never I never read that.

Uh so I started reading it.

I did it in one afternoon, and I was like, oh my gosh, if that's real, I wanna I wanna experience that.

Right, and that at the same day I opened up my Bible on Romans, Romans chapter 10, 9 and 10, and then I read that if you confess with your mouth, and then you believe in your heart, you you will be saved.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

And uh on that day, I was like, hey, this is what I need.

I did my I just did the salvation prayer, and I don't know exactly if I found Jesus that day or Jesus found me.

I I'm I'm not sure yet, yeah, but uh that that day just changed my life.

I I understood this concept of uh reciprocity, I think that's the word in English, yeah, right?

Um I cannot be your friend if you don't want to be my friend.

For this to work, I mean, I cannot get married with my wife if she doesn't want to marry me.

Right.

That's good.

So on that day I understood that if Jesus gave his life for me in order for this relationship to work, it was time for me to give my life back.

Uh so that's what I did.

I was like, hey, if this is real, I'm here, take control of my life.

I recognize you not only as savior, but as my Lord.

My life is not mine anymore, it's yours, take control.

So on that day, my life just changed.

Uh, it was not now I wanted to go to church.

Now I was I was the the Bible stories, it was not only in my mind, but it was in my heart as well.

So something changed it that day.

Um yeah, yeah.

So you were able to almost embody what you were hearing or what you were learning through your mind, it's sort of an embodiment, you know what I mean?

And you can you actually live it out.

And I and I think that's the beautiful thing about salvation is yeah, it's not just something that I know or something that I hear, it's something that I actually live.

Yeah, well it goes it goes beyond it, an intellectual ascent.

It's not like just this, okay, cognitively I understand it, but there's this this transformation that takes place.

And and I can't help but recognize, like between the two of you guys, like there's this theme that there wasn't like this this massive moment in the church altar call.

It was like God He He found you where you were.

He met you where you were.

I just think that that's so beautiful.

Where depending on how we engage this whole thing, we can believe like this is the only way.

But the beautiful thing about it is that God knows how to meet us where we are.

And I think that's the thing that that I think about with us.

Yeah, I even for our story, like mine's was kind of different because my mom worked a lot, she was a single mom, so she didn't get to take me to church or anything like that.

Right.

And so my aunt took up that place.

So me and my cousins went to church all the time.

And at some point I gave my life to Christ some somewhere in between seven and eight.

And um, because we taught from the King James version, I the only version, right?

I didn't understand, like on the kids' level, I understood what they were talking about.

Um, but as I got older and I started getting into my preteens and stuff, I didn't understand what they were talking about.

And they took away like children's church, so now we were an adult church.

Yeah, and um, we had no idea what they were saying.

We wrote notes in church and stuff like that, and we got in trouble for it, you know.

So it's like we don't understand it, but we're sitting here.

Yeah, and then it wasn't the moment when I started turning 15 and 16.

Me and my sister left the church because there was no youth groups, there was nothing.

We were sitting in church, we didn't learn anything because it wasn't on the level that we could understand.

Um, I still had a belief in God when I left the church, but I was like, man, we don't have anything for us where we can understand it.

And so it wasn't until Keith's cousin passed away and his um his another cousin of his invited me to church, and I was like, she's like, we're having this all-night prayer.

And I was like, um, come to all night prayer.

All night prayer.

And I was like, oh my gosh, this is kind of weird, you know, because I haven't been in church in a while.

And I'm telling you, God wrecked me.

When I say wrecked me that night and and dealt with me in such a special way that I never turned back from like when I recommitted my life, I was like, this is it.

I'm never going back.

I will live my life serving God.

I will live my life going to church, I will do these things.

But those those things in the past, like with having that period of time where I'm like, I don't have a relationship with God right now because it's not on a level that I need it to be on, you know, where I can understand it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's brought back memories.

I I remember that.

And I and I think for for me, like our stories are fairly similar.

So it was the next day when we both when we went to um church that Sunday.

Um, but it it reminds me, like for us, we we grew up in Christian households.

My grandfather was a pastor, and he died when I was fairly young.

Um but but my mom was raising that, and my mom was a and still is as a powerful woman of prayer.

So I just remembered that my my interaction with God was like my mom.

Like I would come in late one night and my mom would like randomly have like the Bible open, sitting on my bed.

Like that was her way of like encouraging slash convicting slash convicting.

Um and you're just like, okay, yeah, it's it's cool.

And you're just kind of living your life, but I felt like I was covered um by my mom's prayers because she's just like she was right on it.

But you know, to Megan's point, when my cousin got killed in a car accident, someone I was really close to, that was the first time I considered my own mortality.

That was the first time I began to think through, like, okay, like if this if this stuff is real, heaven is real, hell is real, God is like, He's he's calling me in.

Like, do I feel like I have a relationship with him?

Do I feel like I've I've lived a life or at least surrendered my life that I could spend eternity with him?

And I think that's what made me vulnerable to respond to the message that God had been sending the entire time.

I I found at least in my life, when I now recognize that when we went to church that Sunday, and there was nothing that could keep us from responding to that altar call.

Um, but when I kind of reverse engineer that moment and now you kind of like take a step back, I recognize that there had been moments leading up to that where God was just beckoning us, had just been calling us, had been covering us, had protected us.

And you can see it now in the rearview mirror, but in real time, and you just you don't realize it.

Um, and that's when I know that like when I began to get that revelation of Emmanuel, God with us, that's when I knew that that God was with me before I was with him, was with him.

Yeah, and that's that's the power of salvation.

It's extended, it's available, it's it's here for us.

We don't have to work for it.

And kind of like what you said, like it's but it requires reciprocity.

Like, I gotta respond, receive it, and embrace it, man.

So that's kind of was that was our journey, but kind of to Megan's point, like it, it was it was one day we're living this way, the next day, yeah, it was a radical shift.

We had to reorient our entire life so much so that we were like we got married in what like 30 days after that.

Like, I mean, it was like yeah, it was quick.

It was it was about 30 days.

Um we got married.

We we got we repented, we got saved, we got baptized, and then we got married.

It was it was rapid succession.

Again, we were still we were still in the in a in a very strict church, so they were like, okay, so first thing, Chief, take the earring out.

Next thing I mean.

I'm glad you repented, but you're talking about literally.

I remember getting baptized, coming out of the water, my uncle walked up to like, man, congratulations, you needed to get rid of that earring.

So there's that.

So yeah.

Well, how did so I think what's so interesting is what started your journey was that like that reality of life after death, you know.

And but I feel like a lot of times, and we talked about this on Sunday, where salvation is like fire insurance.

Yes.

So how do you how did you get past that?

Like, you know, sometimes people just stay in the it as long as I keep like repenting and you know, kind of like re renewing my insurance, I'm good.

But how did you really have that that life-altering moment?

Like, what was the the depth of it?

Yeah, that's a good question.

I think um that's a good I think what what I the best way I could respond to that is it was probably my brokenness and vulnerability that led me to church.

But once I had an encounter with God, it was no longer fire insurance.

So, so that's what led me there.

Like I was vulnerable and I just didn't know what the future may hold for me because now I was very it was very clear to me that someone that I looked up to, someone that I thought was invulnerable, lost their life.

So I'm like, okay, I need to figure this out for myself.

But once the Holy Spirit got a hold of us, yeah, it was all about love, it was all about acceptance.

It wasn't like this, man, I gotta keep this thing going, I gotta read up this policy.

It was like, man, he he he so like it's the God so loved the world.

Like I really was able to grab a hold of the the so love.

It's like that's that's what helped me with that.

Yeah, and I would say too that um because we received our heavenly language the same day, we knew that God was really real.

Not through somebody else's experience.

Yeah, like we were separate, we were across from the, you know, we weren't even near each other and we both had the same experience on the same day.

We knew God was real, and so we wanted to serve this God that touched us, could have taken anyone else, but he touched us that day.

Yeah, and and I what I'll say, and I because I want to hear your story, Jen, because I think you had something that was really good.

But but uh what I'll tell you with our experience is that it wasn't like we had like this this manufactured goal of okay, we're gonna go to church.

The preacher's gonna do his deal.

At the end, there's gonna be an altar call, we're gonna get up, we're gonna respond to the altar call.

Like at this point, you and I are on separate ends of the church.

And I think we both were like being stirred, but I was standing next to one of my other cousins, and you were like next to my other cousin that was on the other side of the church.

And there was this moment where it was like, I I gotta go.

Like, I I got, I mean, and it was like I gotta go to the altar.

And then I mean, and and and at the time, I mean, you guys know, like I thought my I thought my career path was to be the next Jay-Z.

So I'm literally working in my mind with every step that I'm taking, all the energy, money, resources I invested into a life that I felt like I was gonna have to leave at the altar with each step, but I just remember just being there.

And then once I kind of came out of that that fog, that was the first time I'd heard the voice of God.

And so for us, what God spoke to me when I came out of like this Holy Spirit surrender moment is that I looked across the altar and I saw Megan having the exact same experience.

And when I saw her, that is the first time I heard the voice of God.

And he said to me, This is the woman I'm calling you to, and your responsibility is to steward this relationship.

So it was beautiful that as I was being reconciled to God, that God was also showing me that this is the woman that you're supposed to be with.

And so stewarding this relationship somehow in its odd way, it was like, you're restored to me, now steward this.

And so not only was it an anchor for us, because God knows that there have been seasons where we have highs and we have lows, but I always go back to that alter moment.

And so I think my encouragement for any of us is whenever we're with our faith, we have those moments where we're struggling.

What was that alter moment that altered you?

Because there's gonna be highs and lows, there's gonna be temptation, there's gonna be challenges, but when did God become real to you?

If you can have that as an anchor in your soul, the enemy can't have you go to and fro.

Yeah.

And God gave you a next step right away.

Yeah, you know what I mean?

And that was that's that's powerful because I believe that he tends to do that when he gets a hold of you.

He's like, okay, here's here's your next step.

You know what I mean?

So him telling you, like, this is your wife, and this is the person that you that you need to to love and care for.

I mean, that's powerful.

So you're up.

Okay.

Um really similar to I think Vinny, like I grew up going to church, um, and I think it was really my mom who held us together um in going to church.

Like, she's the one that really pushed us to go to church.

I'm really thankful for that.

But um we had like five people in our youth program, and it eventually just fizzled out because everyone just stopped going.

Um, and the concept of salvation just was never talked about.

It was almost like you would enter and you're already saved.

So why do we even need to talk about it?

So I didn't really even understand salvation until I came to Celebration Church.

Um, eventually I ended up kind of stepping away from church because it was there was no youth program.

I wasn't really understanding what they were talking about.

And I mean, to be honest, it was just kind of boring for me.

And I just I was just like, I don't need this, I'm just gonna leave.

But I knew the Bible, I knew, you know, like Vinny was saying, like I was very aware of what the Bible said.

Um but I stepped away and I came to celebration.

Well, Nate and I, Nate kind of convinced me to come to celebration over five years ago.

Um, and I was like, sure.

Um, and you know, like we always do at the end of service, we always, you know, give the opportunity for people to decide to do it.

Um and I one day I was like, sure.

Literally because I thought I was like, I'll just raise my hand.

I mean, what's the harm?

Um, so I literally raised my hand, not fully understanding what it truly meant to be saved.

But you know, in my head, I was like, it doesn't hurt, like, let's just try this out and see what happens.

This was my first time actually um getting saved, committing, um, believing in my heart that okay, this is maybe my next step.

So I raised my hand, and for me, like I love to research, I love to learn about things.

So I did my next step was okay, let me learn what this actually means.

Because I raised my hand not really knowing.

Um so I say that to say I think sometimes people are afraid to raise their hands because they are afraid that they don't have it all together, that they don't actually know what this means, um, that they need to be polished in order to raise their hand, they need to have everything in order.

And I'm gonna say, no, I didn't, but you can take those steps after to figure out what does it actually look like.

That would be my biggest thing is you raise your hand, you commit your life, but take the next steps to actually look at what does that really look like?

How do I how do I live my life now being saved?

And that was stuff I needed to learn, and I have learned it.

Um but it it's it's not it's not something that being perfect isn't the the way to salvation.

Like we're all imperfect.

So I want to give people like the breath of fresh air, like don't be nervous to commit if if you feel that way.

Yeah, well, I mean you even look at Jesus and his his ministry at the beginning was like, Hey, come follow me.

So he asked people to follow him before he even asked people to say, Who do you say that I am?

Come on, yeah you know.

So at the end of the day, like Jesus.

Is inviting you to come walk with him.

And he says, you know, see, watch how I work and see my grace in action.

And that is the path to salvation.

And it's not necessarily, it's not like what you said.

Like, instead of doing the research first, which we tend to do with everything else in our lives, let's raise the hand.

Let's walk down forward.

Let's let's let's make the decision.

And then, all right, God, show me what's next.

Like your life was here's your wife.

Your your life was, all right, I'm gonna start reading.

Your life was, did I make the right decision?

Like and again, it's like it's like what Jesus did when he met Nicodemus, like you mentioned in the dark.

You know, he he met him at night, he met him where he was, and and that's that's a powerful part of that.

But I will also say too, like, understanding that, like just because I wasn't I didn't have it all together, and maybe I wasn't walking with God, now I need to figure out what that looks like.

It doesn't excuse now what you know I'm doing now.

Like, we need to there's grace, of course, but let's figure out how we walk in that now after we have yeah, yeah.

Absolutely.

It's funny because just and I think we are a great example of this.

Uh, just because we were friends and we have our coffee friendship, I don't drink coffee, but Nate does.

Yeah, because of Nate and Caleb, I start to drink coffee a little bit.

Um, I'm even considering, I don't know if I want to hear that in the future, but I'm considering trying playing golf because of Nate.

But what I'm trying to say here is um our relationship is changing me and it's changing you because of this relationship.

So it's funny when people think like, well, I'm not ready to surrender my life to Christ because I my life looks weird right now.

Well, when you when you have the relationship, this relationship will change your life from the inside out.

Yeah, yeah.

Uh so I think this is the point here.

Uh don't wait until you'll be perfect.

We will never be perfect.

It's time to start a relationship right now, and the relationship will change you.

Yeah, that's really good.

Yeah, don't wait for a disaster.

You know what I mean?

Like, start it now.

That's really good.

I think unfortunately, uh because I think that you're you're you're so on to something where like we're taking inventory, and and what ends up happening is you realize, like, depending on how you're approaching this whole thing, you're realizing that this is gonna cost me something.

It's a free gift.

It's it's something I don't have to work for, but it's gonna cost me something.

Because that at the end of the day, the gospel is an invitation to lay your life down and to follow Jesus.

It requires faith, and this we're on this lifelong journey.

But I do think that sometimes we are so, I want to use this word, entangled with with things that um that we're used to that we realize like it's gonna require me to get unentangled, it's gonna require me to make some adjustments in my life.

And so cognitively, that could be the barrier that keeps someone from raising their hand or responding.

However, once you begin to engage this conversation, I remember hearing somebody say this once, and it was so freeing for me.

He said it's not so much that that you don't have a desire for the things that you used to have a desire for, you just have a more desire for God.

And what happens is I prefer God more, I desire God more, and now the relationship gets strengthened into the point where those things just fill into the background and and and the stronghold isn't there as much.

But I think when we're trying to process through the things that we have to get unentangled from without having the power of the Holy Spirit to lead us from it, that could be a barrier that can limit folks from moving forward.

Yeah, for sure.

I think we have to remember that salvation in that process, it requires growth.

And so there's gonna be growth over a period of time.

But I feel like uh a lot of times as Christians, we'll look at somebody else's growth and think that we have to be at their level.

And unfortunately, it caused people to miss the mark where they just bow out altogether or they just constantly struggle with I am a failure, and that's not who you know God has called us to be.

He's like he loves us enough.

We are a daughter, we are a son, we are valuable.

But a lot of times, like when we're missing that mark and we're not allowing ourselves to to grow at the pace that God has for us, uh, it can cause us to fail.

Yeah.

Which, which, which is why I think when you talked about how when you were in church, you didn't have like the youth group, you didn't understand it.

You know what's missing, community.

Yeah.

Kind of to your point, you you're missing community, and I think that's why Signus plug, there's a family groups.

Um that's why it's so important to have community that that that can help us process this journey together.

Because when you're in isolation, you don't understand the guy, like it just it leaves you to a place where I can't do this, I'm gonna get disconnected.

Because I think even though we didn't have like formal groups in our original church that we grew up in, um we had strong community.

Yeah.

And so you just there was like this this shared accountability, the shared responsibility, like this this strong community feel.

And I think that's the powerful thing about this whole concept of salvation.

Um, it's not meant to be so individualistic that we lose sight of the fact that you're invited to be a part of a bigger community with a shared responsibility together of growth and accountability and and and being in this together.

When you're low, I'm gonna do my best to pull you up and vice versa.

Like we can't do this on our own.

Yeah.

And I think that goes back to that when we were saved, we weren't just saved from something.

We were saved from sin, but also for something.

We were saved for a relationship for being part of the kingdom of God.

And part of being the king in the kingdom is being part of a family.

And like, you know, the people sitting around here, like y'all are part of the family, and I know that any of you guys can come to me and say, like, hey, let's pursue God in this way together.

Like that there, hey, I feel like this is something that might be a blind spot for you, you know, helping each other move forward.

But I think it's being part of the family of God, like that is like a bonus gift, yeah, you know, of salvation, you know, that we're saved for eternity and not just you know, in this moment.

So you can't love your neighbor as yourself if you don't have any neighbors.

You gotta have community around you.

One one thing I do kind of want to expand on a little bit is it can get muddy with what you were talking about with comparison, but also having that community, like that's something for me is I can look at someone who's been walking with the Lord for a lot longer and I can compare my journey and get uh and get a little bit frustrated at myself or discouraged.

Like, how do we how do we do walk with others in a healthy way?

Does that make sense?

Yeah, and has anybody else experienced that or is it just me, you know?

I think a big part of that is recognizing it as a journey and not a destination.

I think a lot of times we look at it as a destination, and so then we look at these people that are like the destination because they've been walking with God for longer instead of looking at them as wells that we can draw from.

That's right.

Instead of being like, oh man, I'm not as good as them, being like, Hey, can I take you to coffee and just like ask you a couple of questions?

And I love doing that.

Like, there's so much wisdom in people who are older than us and who have been walking with God longer than us, and saying, Hey, what does like practicing the presence of God look like in your your life every day?

And so instead of looking at it as man, I'll never get there, look at it as because we're family, I can draw from that well and learn and be able to sharpen myself.

Yeah, so true for sure.

I think we do have to step outside of ourselves and and realize that um take the fear out of it and and people judging you because you don't have all the answers and all that figured out.

And I think uh at one in one of our staff meetings, they spoke of you that you're always asking other people about like, hey, how do you do this?

And how can I get better in that?

And I think that's just a way of growing and developing and who God is calling you to be.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, putting yourself in a position to grow and to learn.

But I also think the other side of the coin with comparison is competition.

Yeah, yeah, because I can tell you, like, while we compare and see, okay, I'm not where someone else is, the other part of that could be you're competing with someone.

And I can tell you in our spiritual upbringing, in the church we came up in, it was like it was like war games.

Like it was like a god, like, okay, who's gonna be on stage this week?

Who's gonna speak this time?

Like it was like, and you just and you felt like your preparation was like battling against one another instead of it truly being up against Rebecca.

Yeah, so it's just so that's one of the things like comparison, but making sure that it doesn't turn into competition.

Yeah, and God knows we can we can look at social media and we can see who has the most spiritual post, who has like, I'm gonna stop there.

Um one last question I wanted to ask is what what over your time over your time walking with Jesus, maybe what's some perspective that has changed since your perspective on salvation that has changed and what's been the most impactful for you?

Because I know kind of like what you were saying is like at the beginning, you almost didn't have a perspective or a foundation to stand on.

Yeah.

So I'm sure now it looks a lot different than what it did day one.

You know what I mean?

So what for you guys has has really changed and actually helped you and and freed you up and given you given you that grace to walk through.

I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is I talked about it last Sunday was it works for me because immediately when I got saved, I'm like, okay, what do I need to do?

And understanding that it wasn't about that.

That was so freeing for me as just my personality type, and knowing that, like um, I think Pastor Heather Vinnie, you said that as you grow closer to God, you want to do the things of God.

Um and looking at Jesus as my example of like, man, what did Jesus do in the Bible um with his disciples, with the people around him, loving people that um just look differently than him.

And for me, that's kind of where my foundation has been is um I'm going to, I don't need to work for my salvation, but I still need to do things out of love for people.

Um it's not something to check off the box, but for me, it's I'm I need to do what God and Jesus are doing.

I think to help better frame the question, I can give my own experience is I thought, okay, because I my dad was a pastor, I grew up in the church kind of like some of us here.

And so at the beginning, it was like that's the only route, you know what I mean?

But fast forward down I was in the marketplace for years, but I was able to walk out my faith and live out my faith publicly in that way before ever coming on to a church staff.

So I I don't want people to feel discouraged, like, well, does this mean that like now I have to be a missionary or start a nonprofit that maybe I'm not even like passionate about?

Like, no, you can live out your faith in your home.

So true.

And you can you can to use a churchy word, testify to what God has done in your life at your job, you know?

And that's what that's the light that that people are drawn to.

Like, hey, what's different about that guy?

What's different about her, you know?

So that's kind of what I was going for.

I like that, man.

I think for me is is that man, we can we can complicate the cross so so much.

And so I think as the the more I walk with God and the more that I've grown and the more that I've learned, is that we we have to we have to uncomplicate the cross.

I've I've seen, and it's kind of like a little bit of the work stuff that you're talking about and all these other things, but we just we just we just make it so difficult sometimes, and sometimes it's in our own mind, sometimes it's culture, sometimes it's religion, like you know, and I say that in air quotes, like those things can complicate the cross.

So even though we had an we had an aggressive encounter with the love and the presence of God, the cross got very complicated in our spiritual upbringing to the point that man, if I miss Sunday, I I my my name may have been removed from the Lamb's Book of Life.

Like, I mean, it was literally like like okay, like we just complicated so much.

It's like the cross plus this.

Yeah, we have to uncomplicate the cross.

So that would probably be the biggest thing that I've learned is that let's stop adding things to the cross.

It is what it is.

Now, from there, let's talk about maturity.

From there, let's talk about growth.

But please let's stop complicating the cross.

I think too for myself, um, when we were going to church, because it was a holiness church, is what they would call it.

Um, one of the things it was like if you sinned, you really felt condemned.

Like you felt condemned uh if you sinned.

And the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And so you didn't have that grace component as much when we were growing up.

And I learned that over time.

Was like, no, there is grace involved when you there is grace involved.

Um, and so I had to learn, hey, when you you sin, go ahead and repent, turn away from as much as you can.

It doesn't mean that when that comes back again, you may not fail, but that doesn't condemn you.

Like, that's not gonna condemn your soul.

That's not you're not going to hell if you just sinned that one time, or you know, whatever that looks like for you, that grace covers it all.

Yeah, you know, and so that's what I had to learn.

We have to say, like, how weak is the blood of Jesus if it undoes his power if I make one mistake.

Yeah.

I think sometimes we don't realize that our theology could actually be minimizing the power who God is.

Yeah.

Well, for me, I think it's um well when I when I got saved, uh, I understo I understood salvation as a blessing, and of course it is, 100%.

But with time, I realized that it's it is a blessing, but it's always a responsibility.

Um, even in this conversation, we talk about my mom putting the yellow cover book on my on my room, your parents being responsible for you going to church, your mom praying for you and putting the Bible in your bed, your parents take you know taking you to church.

So I want to be for someone else, what my mom was for me, and what your parents uh for you guys.

So it's funny, I get so excited when I talk about a Netflix show that I'm watching right now, and I'm trying to communicate to my friends, hey, this is awesome.

You guys should watch this.

Um, but sometimes I just don't talk about what God is doing in my life, this help, this salvation that has found me.

Uh, so of course it is a blessing, but it's also our responsibility.

I want to talk about this uh for other people.

Yeah, and just like Ephesians 2 says, it says, uh, we have been saved by grace, you know, through faith, not by works.

But then in verse 10 it says, but we've been created for good works.

So we're not saved by the works that we do, but we were saved for things that God has for us.

And so I think that is such a great example of how that plays out of yeah, once we're saved, we're we're activated, you know, like just the way that God automatically said, now that I have your attention, here's your next assignment.

I think it's that we're created for good works.

What is that next step for you?

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Um, I mean, this is after the message, and this isn't a normal part of the show, but uh I do want to give people a next step.

And I do want to, since we are talking about salvation, I do want to give them the opportunity to respond.

So, Pastor Keith, how how can someone respond to this?

Well, I I think it's um as we as we said, like you know, salvation is really understanding that that we're in need of rescuing, we're in need of being um the recipients of this incredible gift um that God has given us, and and understanding that we all have fallen short, in spite of whatever good is in us, in spite of whatever our disposition is, the truth of the matter is we all are sinners who are in need of a savior.

And so Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

He is the way that we can experience that.

So I believe in these moments, regardless of wherever you're watching this from, whether it be five months from now, a year from now, but I believe that you know we realize that the Holy Spirit is the one who draws us to Christ.

Yeah.

And even in this moment right now, there may be somebody that's feeling this stirring, like, okay, what is my next step?

I believe as we alluded to, uh Romans 10 just tells us that if we confess with our mouths and believe with our hearts that that Jesus was was born, that He that He died on the cross, that He was raised, risen from the dead, that we shall be saved.

And so we just want to create space for you to do that.

So we believe that it's not words that do it, but we believe that those words are just in agreement and come into an alignment with what the Holy Spirit is already doing in your heart.

And so what I want to do is I just want to kind of lead us in a prayer.

Again, the words aren't the thing that does it, but it's just us kind of coming into agreement with what the Bible says, and then we're gonna give you some next steps on what that can look like.

So if that's you out there and you're you're watching, you're listening, um, you can repeat this prayer after me, and it's super simple.

Um, Lord Jesus, um I repent of my sins.

I believe that you died on the cross and that you rose from the dead.

And your word declares, because of that belief, I am now saved.

Your word also says that you will fill me with your spirit.

So fill me with your spirit and order my steps in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

If you did uh pray that prayer uh today and and ask Jesus to come into your life, here's what we want you to do.

We want you to text the word decide to 25101.

And that's not so that we can take salvation stats, that's so that we can put resources in your hand to help you walk out this journey with Jesus.

We love you guys.

Thank you so much for joining us today, and we'll talk to you next week.

Thank you for joining us for After the Message.

To learn more about Celebration Church here in Orlando, you can follow us on social media under the handle at Celebration ORL or visit our website at celebrationorl.org.