Foolish or Faithful? | Tyrone P Jones | No Other Gospel | Full Service

Good morning, good morning. How are we doing today, church family? You doing good? If you're not already, go ahead and stand to your feet with me. My name is Leah. It's my honor to get to welcome you into the house today. Hey, if it's your first time, we wanna meet with you. We wanna welcome you into the family. So please stop by the connect table on your way out in the lobby. There's church members there who are just gonna connect with you. And church family, can we say good morning to our online campus? Good morning. If it's your first time online, please fill out that digital connect card. Hey, our church is growing rapidly, which is such a blessing from God, but we wanna make sure every person that comes in gets to experience worship in the word. So if you have space next to you as we go throughout this service, please just scoot in and make room for everyone that's coming in through the doors. Let's read from the word. Matthew 18, 20 says this. For two or three are gathered in my name. There I am among them.

What a promise from our Lord today. You know, there's a quote by Charles Spurgeon that says, when we gather in Jesus name, he's in our midst. And he says, it's not just that he's with the person on the platform or he's with the worship leader, but he's specifically in the midst of every person in the house because we're not just gathering to gather, we're gathering with intention to meet with our Lord, amen? And where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. There's miracles in this house today. Let's pray together. Lord, we honor you. We gather with the intention to seek your face and to meet with you, Lord. We cast off distraction right now, God, and we stir up the faith in each one of our hearts, God, that we can specifically meet with you, God, that you are going to intervene in our situations and in our families, Lord. Open our hearts to hear your word today, God. Let us worship you with an excitement and joy today. We love you and we honor you. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Let's worship together. I searched the world But it couldn't fill me Man's empty praise And treasures of faith Are never enough

I searched the world But it couldn't fill me I searched the world But it couldn't fill me I searched the world But it couldn't fill me But it's never enough And you came along To put me back together Now every desire Is now satisfied And here in your hand Oh, there's nothing Better than you There's nothing Better than you There's nothing Nothing is better than you Now I'm not afraid To show you my weakness My failures and flaws But you see more You still call me friend Cause the God of the mountain Is the God of the valley There's not a place There's not a place Your mercy grace Won't find me Again and again

And nothing Oh, there's nothing Better than you There's nothing Oh, there's nothing Nothing is better than you Oh, there's nothing Better than you There's nothing Better than Jesus There's nothing Nothing is better than you Yeah Come on church! You turn mourning To dancing You give the beauty For ashes You take shame To glory You're the only One who can You're the only one ♪ You turn mourning to dancing ♪ ♪ You can give the right hand ♪ ♪ You turn shame into glory ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You turn graves into gardens ♪ ♪ You turn bones into armies ♪ ♪ You turn cities into highways ♪

♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ No, there's nothing in this world ♪ ♪ No, there's nothing in this world ♪ ♪ No, there's nothing, nothing is better than you ♪ ♪ There's nothing, better than you ♪ ♪ There's nothing, better than Jesus ♪ ♪ There's nothing, nothing is better than you ♪ ♪ You turn graves into gardens ♪ ♪ You turn bones into armies ♪ ♪ You turn cities into highways ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You turn graves into gardens ♪ ♪ You turn bones into armies ♪ ♪ You turn cities into highways ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ Who's happy to be in the house today? Amen. Let's turn our attention to the screen as someone goes public with their faith. My name is Destin. My mother always made sure we knew about Jesus Christ and the sacrifices he made for our sins. She prayed with my sister and I every night before we went to bed when she would tuck us in. If I'm being 100% honest, it was something I used to dread and didn't really get the meaning of.

Up until I was 14, I had no genuine relationship with God. Sure, I'd wear a cross around my neck and tell people Jesus loved them, but I would never read my Bible or take time out of my day for him. Earlier last year, my mother told me about a situation with my biological father and it never left my mind. I felt out of place in my own home and had no idea why or how to fix it. Eventually, I started having thoughts of suicide and dealing with mental health issues I never told anybody about. At the beginning of this year, I picked up my Bible after who knows how long and I began to read. This May, I had dedicated my life to Jesus Christ in the bathroom at home. I prayed to God to forgive me for how many times I left him knowing he never left me. Now I read my Bible every day, even if it's just one verse before bed. I love spreading the gospel to people my age because I know that they can be in similar situations as me. I believe God will always be with me, that he would never reject me, and I want everybody to know that it's never too late to turn to Jesus. No matter what the circumstances are, he will always welcome you with open arms.

Today, I'm going public with my faith. Desnee, Jesus said every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And because of your confession of faith, today I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for the remission of your sins. And according to scripture, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Come, church, praise God. What a testimony. We serve a God that redeems, that restores, that renews our lives. Thank you, Jesus, for what you did on that cross. We sing with fear for you. Come on, church, let's continue to sing. Come on, church, let's continue to sing. ♪ And pierced by the nails for the sacrifice ♪ ♪ That has torn the veil ♪ ♪ We crown Him, we fall face down ♪ ♪ We worship, we all cry out ♪ ♪ You are worthy God, You are worthy God ♪ ♪ You are worthy God, You are worthy God ♪ ♪ We crown Him, we fall face down ♪ ♪ We worship, we all cry out ♪ ♪ You are worthy God, You are worthy God ♪ ♪ You are worthy God, yes You are, yes You are ♪ ♪ You are worthy God, yes You are, yes You are ♪ ♪ We crown Him, we fall face down ♪ ♪ We worship, we all cry out ♪

♪ You are worthy God, yes You are, yes You are ♪ ♪ You are worthy God, yes You are, yes You are ♪ ♪ We crown Him, we fall face down ♪ ♪ We worship, we all cry out ♪ ♪ We crown Him, we fall face down ♪ ♪ We worship, we all cry out ♪ ♪ You are worthy God, You are worthy God ♪ ♪ You are worthy God, we crown Him, we fall face down ♪ ♪ We worship, we all cry out ♪ ♪ You are worthy God, You are worthy God ♪ ♪ You are worthy God, we crown Him, we fall face down ♪ Come on church, can we make a way for the King this morning? Let's make a path for Him, Lord, we give You the glory. Thank You for Your sacrifice, Lord. ♪ To the one who endured all the shame of the cross ♪ ♪ To the man who was slain as atonement for us ♪ ♪ To the Son who overcame all the power of death we praise ♪ ♪ For the stripes and the wounds and the guilt and the pain ♪ ♪ For the tears and the love and the fear and the pain ♪ ♪ For the mercy and the love to come to us ♪ ♪ To the one who endured all the shame of the cross ♪ ♪ To the man who was slain as atonement for us ♪ ♪ To the Son who overcame all the power of death we praise ♪ ♪ We praise for the stripes, for the wounds, for the people ♪ ♪ For the tears and the blood that was willing to pour ♪ ♪ For the mercy, for the wonder, for the majesty of Your love ♪ ♪ We look around, we fall face down, we worship You Lord ♪ ♪ We worship, we all cry out, You are worthy God ♪ ♪ You are worthy God ♪ ♪ We look around, we fall face down, we worship You Lord ♪

♪ We all cry out, You are worthy God ♪ ♪ You are worthy God ♪ ♪ To the one who endured all the shame of the cross ♪ ♪ To the man who was slain as atonement for us ♪ ♪ To the Son who overcame all the power of death we praise ♪ For the stripes, for the wounds, for the pain you bore For the tears and the blood I was willing to pour For the mercy, for the wonder, for the majesty Your love And we crown Him with all faith still We worship, we all cry out You are worthy God You are worthy God And we crown Him with all faith still We worship, we all cry out You are worthy God You are worthy God And we crown Him with all faith still We worship, we all cry out You are worthy God And we crown Him with all faith still We worship, we all cry out You are worthy God And we crown Him with all faith still We worship, we all cry out You are worthy God And we crown Him with all faith still We worship, we all cry out You are worthy God And we crown Him with all faith still

We worship, we all cry out You are worthy God And we crown Him with all faith still We worship, we all cry out You are worthy God And we crown Him with all faith still We worship, we all cry out You are Alpha and Omega We worship You our Lord You are worthy to be praised Oh You are Alpha and Omega We worship You our Lord You are worthy to be praised We give You all the glory Come on church We worship You our Lord You are worthy to be praised We give You all the glory We give You all the glory We worship You our Lord You are worthy to be praised You are Alpha Oh You are Alpha Oh, you are worthy to be praised We give, we give you all The glory and we worship you, our Lord You are worthy to be praised We give you all the glory We worship you, our Lord And you are worthy to be praised We give you all the glory We worship you, our Lord Oh, you are worthy to be praised We give you all the glory We worship you, our Lord And you are worthy to be praised

We worship you, our Lord And you are worthy to be praised All right, it's so good to be in the house of the Lord and so good for you to be with us. What a wonderful time in worship and just experiencing the presence of God. Let's just give an applause to Jesus just one more time. He is indeed worthy of that and we're thankful. So good to be in the house. We do want to just greet those that are on the online campus, those that are in prison that are watching us, those that are in the Yuma County Jail. I just had a young man that came and visited in my office between services that was in the jail for quite a long time and he said that he started watching our service I think in May because he gave me a kind of a landmark and he said over a period of time there was everyone in his unit, he called it E2, I don't know what that quite means, but he said everybody in there was listening to the service every week and he said that there was a period which we know where there was something going on with the connection there and all they could play was the worship music from the church here and he says for 24 hours that's all you heard until they told him to shut the music down. It's just the worship music from CTC playing every day, every day, touching and impacting people's lives and I'm just so grateful, just so grateful for those of you that are listening and watching and so this was, last week was his first opportunity to be at the church and we're just again thankful for the ministry and what all the Lord is doing there and thank you for being a church that really does have a compassion for those that are disenfranchised. those that are distraught, those that are oppressed, those that are in various places. That's the love of Jesus. I learned something long ago. If you preach the gospel and help people that are lost and you help poor people, the Lord will always help you do what he's called you to do,

to help the poor and to help the lost. And I'm so thankful for that. I got a few things I'm supposed to cover before I dive into the word. We have the Women's Conference coming up. That's September 19th and 20th, it's called Poured Into. We have Gay, sorry, Gay K. Woodward from Citizens Church in Albuquerque, seasoned woman of God, you're gonna be blessed. And then we have our own Amanda Mellon that will also be speaking. You're gonna be blessed. It's gonna be a great time. Now, registration is still open. If you have not registered, you need to do so. If it fills up, I do not have the credibility to get you in. Don't have the credibility. You're gonna have to do that. And more than likely, these things usually fill up because we have a tendency to wait till the last minute to do things, don't we? We just do. I don't know if I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go. Then I wanna go, filled up. Pastor, can you help me? No, no, no, all right. I do wanna thank you for your generosity also. It helps us do so much, not only just here locally, but one of the things that I'm so thankful for is I don't know how long we've been doing it.

I think this is the third year we've been doing what's called these Good News Clubs where there's a group from CTC and two or three other churches at least that go into these elementary schools. And in the afternoon, they actually teach them the Bible. These Good News Clubs are wonderful. There's three of them that CTC is doing, OC Johnson, one at Emmanuel Southern Baptist for a classic community conversation, homeschool, and Desert Mesa. These groups, one has 15 students, one has 20 students. One of these, the one at Desert Mesa has 53 students. These are young people that gather at the end of their day. Their parents allow them to hear the gospel. What's it shown over the last two years? By the time the school year is up, 50% of these kids come to Christ. It's an amazing thing. And I'm thankful. I do wanna give a shout out to the ones on the team, Tammy Donahoe, Cheryl Phillips, Seda Alvarez, Danita Alvarado, Sylvester Figueroa, Sissy Todd, Judy Bissette, Missy Labistra, Christina Rooks, Lori Williams, Chrissy Armstrong. I'm thankful for you dear ladies that are committed to doing this every single week. And if you have a desire to be part of it, there's obviously still opportunity for more people to join their team.

There's five other schools also that we haven't got into yet, but there's other clubs there, Carver, McGraw, Palmcroft, Pecan Grove, Roosevelt. I guess I wanted to call these schools off because if your children goes to one of these schools and they're not in one of these good news clubs, it might be a good idea to get them in one of these good news clubs. It's another opportunity for what you're trying to instill in them to be enhanced by those who have a love for them and a real compassion. And so I'm just so grateful for these good news clubs and these young people hearing the message of Christ. I was in Argentina last week, my first time in South America. Church Planner I met last year has a great church. They got four campuses, but was at a place where he knew they needed some help, some coaching, some guidance, was able to go down there and impart in them and to give some direction, some guidance. We'll also be bringing the pastors here to be with us in October, where we'll do some more training and then we'll send a team to Argentina in 2026 to do more training. But I say all that to say, again, it's another part of your generosity.

You know that we are not people just trying to build our own empire, we're kingdom builders. I wanna see the gospel spread throughout the world and wherever the Lord allows us to go, to help, to plant, to encourage, to support, to coach, to give ideas, man, I'm all for it. And so I wanna thank you for, again, helping us to touch more. We got two people that's in a church in Washington this weekend doing some training. Pastor Ty and Pastor Phillip are in Idaho. We love the local church. We wanna see every church grow and I thank you for also being part of that and having that same heart. Also wanna give a shout out for our first Wednesday. on Wednesday night, what a Holy Ghost blowout that was. I mean, it was...the worship was powerful, the prayers was powerful, the church was...I mean, it was packed just like this on Wednesday. I mean, Wednesday night. There might have been...you might have maybe been able to find eight seats in the building if that...testimonies of the Spirit of God working, touching lives, people being healed. I got one testimony from one young lady that said she had been having neck pain. It's been an issue for 20 years. And she just kind of, after everything that couldn't be done by the doctors, just kind of just tried to cope with it the best that she could. Before she even got prayed for during the worship, before the Pastor David even got up to spoke, the Lord spoke to her and said, you know, you can be healed of this right now.

She laid hands on herself, laid hands on herself. She texted me and said, I haven't had a pain since that very moment. I just...I love God. I love what the Lord does, but it was just a great night. And again, first Wednesdays, it's going to be a great occasion. Every first Wednesday of the month, we're going to have a great speaker that's going to come and impart some great truths and just help us grow and learn more about the Holy Spirit and what God wants to do in our life. And so, I'm thankful for that. All right, we're going to pray and then I'm going to dive right on into the word. Father, I want to thank you now for this opportunity to be in your house, to be with your people, and Lord, to worship, to be in community together. I pray that you help us now as I bring forth the message. I do trust you to speak clearly and vividly. Also, pray, Lord, that your words, the words of the Spirit of God and the word of the Bible will speak louder than my words. And yet, I trust that everyone who will hear the message and will apply it to their life and become more and more like you. And Lord, we pray for every church in our county. We want every church to grow. Lord, we want every pastor that's in the pulpit to preach the gospel. We want more people in Yuma County to know Jesus. And so, Lord, I pray for every single church in this county, every leader, every pastor, that they would do the work that God has called them to do, that we may be all better and be more conformed to your image. Father, we love you and we thank you. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, can you stand if you would? Let's go to Galatians chapter 3.

Sorry about that. Galatians 3, and I'm going to look at verses 1 through 9. Galatians 3, 1 through 9, it says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this. 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 by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Just as Abraham believed God, it was counted to him as righteousness. Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. So far, the reading of the word. Can you say amen? You may be seated. I want to, just for these next 32 minutes or so, speak from the topic foolish or faithful, foolish or faithful. We've heard so many good messages in Chapter 2 from Joel dealing with no other gospel, Ryan on living out this gospel without hypocrisy, and Phillip, again, preached a masterpiece last week on justification by faith. And I want to just kind of speak out this big idea in this message of salvation being by faith and the work of the Holy Spirit. I just want you to imagine for a moment, maybe you were a person that was

in the military and you were used to doing PT or your training with a backpack or a pack on your back with whatever, 50 pounds in it, whatever the case may be for your particular training. You've done that for a lot of years. life, but you're now out of the military. But you still like to run, so you become a marathon runner. And as a marathon runner, you bust out of the blocks and you're feeling free, feeling good, feeling liberated, just love the wind on your face, just running and running and got a lot of strength and a lot of confidence. But somewhere during your run, you could be 10 miles in, 13 miles in, somewhere down there, you just decide, I run better with a backpack on. And you go get a pack and put it on your back. And you load it up with pounds of stuff, whether it be bricks or whatever. And you try to keep running the way you did before. You find out that you're slower, you find out that you struggle, at the least that you're restricted. You went from running freely to putting on weight and pack on your back to try to finish the same course you were running when you were running free. That's what the Galatians have done. They were running freely. The Spirit of the Lord has changed their life, transformed their life. They were running with freedom, following after the things of God, hearing the things of the Word,

being blessed by the Holy Spirit, living their life out in faith. But for some reason down the line, they decided that it was better for them to run with a heavy weight of legalism and self-effort. Now, Paul, he wasn't very nice. And I know some of you got sensitive ears, but I'm gonna tell you this, how Paul said this. You can either say I'm saying it in Greek, or you can see, or I may be saying it in Ebonics, but this is how Paul said it. He says, how foolish, Galatians, who has bewitched you? Who cast a spell on you? Basically what Paul is saying, why have you become so stupid? Why have you become so senseless? You're just not that bright. I mean, you're running free. You're on the road, you're on the track, you're following after Jesus, and then you just decide it's better to run with legalism and self-effort on your back. That's not so smart. That's what Paul says. He says, you saw, this is verse number one, for the meaning of Jesus Christ's death was made as clear to you as if you'd seen a picture of his death on the cross. He's basically saying what happened? You saw this, you experienced this with Christ,

and yet you wanna go back to doing things this way? He said it was clearly portrayed. Christ was clearly revealed to you. You were able to see through the preaching of the gospel that Jesus Christ gave his life for you, that he took upon your sins. He took upon your agony, he took upon your shame, your guilt, your humiliation. Jesus took that and put it on himself. He died that horrible death. He was buried and rose again that you may be free from all of that. You saw it with your own eyes. You saw Christ so revealed that you said, I want that. In my life of emptiness, in my life of self-effort, in my life of trying to figure all of this out in spite of all my achievements and success, what I see of Jesus, that's what I need. That fills the void. That's the emptiness that I'm trying to work through. That's where the joy will come from, from my life. That's what you saw. He uses this term clearly portrayed. The meaning of it is actually, I think the best thing for us, it almost would be like a sign on a yard by a realtor that's saying a house is for sale, that when you go by the house, you may be looking at the house, but you can't miss the sign.

He's saying the cross, the crucifixion was so clearly portrayed to you. And all of you looking at life, bingo, what's in front of you? The cross, Christ. And after seeing that, and after experiencing that, you go back to this senseless act and decide to do something on your own that was already provided for you. I can just tell you this, that one of the most frustrating things for me when I'm on the sideline of a YC football game is when play after play, you give the running back the ball. and the linemen do their part, and they open up the hole, and the bat goes through him. He may get five yards this play. Run that play again. This time he may get eight yards. Sometimes he may get 13. Then other times five. But play after play, everybody can see it. The way is clearly open, and he's getting through the hole. But somewhere down the line, the running back decides he can do it better on his own, and so he gets the ball. And once again, you could see that the hole opened, but, oh no, that wasn't good enough for him. He wanted to try to juke around and dodge this and dodge that. I'm going to get a touchdown on my own and get slaughtered by three or four players. What kind of sense does that make? That was a bad night on Friday night, but that's another story. But that's the issue. What happened? What is it that caused you to do that? What got you here? Galatians 3.2 says it. Let me ask you this one question. He said, did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not. You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. Here for the first time in Galatians, Paul brings in the Holy Spirit. Now, we're going to see it quite a bit actually through the rest of the book, and we'll talk quite a bit about the Spirit of God. But he says, it's clear to each of you that you have salvation, and there's an assurance of salvation,

not because of your works, not because of your efforts, not because of the things that you've done, but because you've been given the Spirit. The Spirit is the difference. The Spirit of the Lord is in you. You've been given the Spirit. Just like you're not the one that causes yourself to be born, it's accomplished. So it is with the Holy Spirit. So it is with our salvation. We have salvation because it's something that's been accomplished by the Spirit of Christ. We have the new birth. We receive the Spirit of the Lord. Salvation occurs because of what the Spirit of the Lord has done in our life. So he's saying, he's saying, so how did all this begin? Did it not begin by the Holy Spirit? The answer is yes. As a matter of fact, church, that is what distinguishes us as Christians from anybody else that's not a Christ follower. Now, of course, with us as Christians and people that are not Christ followers, there should be differences in morals and values and principles and even worldview, how they make decisions, how they do life, how they act out, how they speak. Those things should be true. But the real distinction is we have the Spirit of God and they don't. That really is the difference. You have the Holy Spirit if you have confessed Christ as your Lord and Savior. And anybody that you look in the eyes of who does not have Christ does not have the Holy Spirit. And Romans chapter 8 and 9 says, if you do not have the Spirit of Christ, then you're none of his. So that's what distinguishes us. People can talk about being spiritual all they want. I'm tired of talking to people about their relationship with the Lord and do you know Jesus? Are you a Christ follower? And they say, well, no, I don't. I mean, I don't follow that stuff. I don't follow the Bible. I'm not one of those ones that worship the Lord, but I'm spiritual. I want to say bullhockey or whatever that word you thought of. That's the word. You cannot be spiritual without the Spirit of the Lord, and you cannot belong to him without the Spirit of Christ. Are y'all following me? And so he asked him, then how did you receive the Spirit? Was it because of something that you did? No. He said, no, it wasn't. It was because you believe the Word of Christ. What you have is faith in Christ. You receive the Spirit by hearing the Word. The Word brought about faith, and the faith is what brought you in. Faith brought you into the kingdom, and it's faith that keeps you in the kingdom. Romans 3, 28 says, for we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Justified, meaning you've been made right with God. You've been made right with God as if you never have sinned. Galatians 2, 16 says it better, says it good, sorry, clear. You know that a person is made right with God

by faith in Jesus Christ, not obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we've obeyed the law, for no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. And so it's faith in Christ that has brought us into the kingdom and it keeps us in the kingdom because we've heard the message of Christ. What you believed was the message of Jesus. You heard the message of Christ. You heard what Jesus has done and it's quickened you, it's made you alive. It's the very thing that has caused you to have this desire to even pursue him in all of your pursuits in life and all of the things that you have experienced and even achieved and accomplished. You know by now, I think, if you don't know, you will know that no matter what you have, tangible no matter what you obtain, no matter what you've achieved, no matter what you've accomplished, you still end up empty because it's none of those external things that really get to the heart of the matter and that's the separation we have from God. It's being out of alignment with our creator.

The only way to be in alignment with the creator and to live according to the plans and the purpose that he's established for your life, which by the way, he has the right to tell you that since he's the one that created you, he absolutely has the sovereign authority over the planet that even includes you and the sovereign God has put forth what it means to live a life in relationship with him. And when we hear that message of Jesus and what Jesus has done to make that possible, something within us comes alive and we wanna embrace this Christ. Jesus said it like this in John 5, 24, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. I'm gonna say that again. Whoever hears my word and believes him, this is Jesus talking, believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but is passed from death to life. That's the assurance. That's the assurance that we that know Jesus Christ that have had our sins forgiven, washed by the blood, we do not go into judgment for our sins. Now, there is a judgment seat of Christ where we get judged on how we've lived this life since we've accepted him but not my sins.

Sins have been washed away if you trust Jesus. Sins have been done away with. That's why as believers, we don't live with regrets. We don't live with shame. We don't live with humiliation. Now, I know folks who wanna bring it on and we'll wanna bring it on ourselves but you gotta remember what the Lord said. He took your sins. Not only did the blood wash them but the scripture tells me two or three times he took your sins and threw them in the sea of forgetfulness. And then he hung a sign that says no fishing. Don't go get it out. Don't go get it out. And don't let folks go fishing for you and say, look what I found. Man, you better put that mess back. Shoot, that carp ain't no good eating, no way. So put that thing back. So listen, the scripture is real clear to us. Since we've heard his word and believe him, we have eternal life and no judgment. We go from this life to a greater life in Christ Jesus. And so as we continue to put forth faith in the finished work of Christ, it's the Holy Spirit that's released in us and the ongoing power of the Spirit of God is released in us and the Holy Spirit

renews our faith and understanding in the gospel. So he says in verse number three, how foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Why? When the Spirit has done this, why are you trying to do the rest of this work in Christ Jesus with human effort and to get things right by your own works and your own self-proclaimed abilities? When you believe what Christ has done and you accept that and then somewhere down the line, you figure out that you think you can complete this yourself, you go from grace to human effort. And do you know that? That really is one of Satan's missions. Can I just tell you this? This is the one thing the devil knows. The devil knows he cannot undo your eternal life. He had nothing to do with it. You were saved eternally by Christ Jesus. Satan had nothing to do with it. Don't be fooled. Satan can't undo anything the Lord has done for you. He can't undo it. His mission is not to undo your eternal life. His mission is to get you to think that what Christ has done is not enough. Because if he can get you to think

that what Christ has done is not enough, then when you slip up and have a bad day, your head starts to think, man, I'm just not doing very good. And then the next time you have a slip up, man, I'm just not a good Christian at all. And the next time you have a slip up, you're thinking, maybe I'm not even a Christian. And that's when the devil comes in and said, that's right, that's right. You're not even a Christian. That, and so then what do you do? You start doing a whole bunch of human effort to get this thing back right. Because your conscience is messed up, your head is messed up, your heart is messed up, your emotions is messed up, and you think, I gotta get it back right. You went from grace to human effort. And the spirit is doing the work all alone. Now listen, I fly a lot. I'm on planes every month. I'm on a plane sometimes twice a month, sometimes three times a month. Get on that plane. When I sit down, buckle up, that plane takes off. We hit the air. Usually, when we get to a certain spot, we may be 20 minutes in, I don't know, 25 minutes in. You hear the pilot say, listen, this is Captain so-and-so.

We're headed to wherever, Philadelphia. Thank you for being with us on American. We're 35,000 feet in the air. We gonna be here at this spot for quite a while. We might hit some turbulence along the way. I already see that, I got that. Don't worry about it. I may have to tell you to stay seated for a minute. But we gonna get to where I'm going. We're gonna get to the destination. I just need you to kick back, sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight. That's what he says. It would be absolutely crazy if I unbuckle my seatbelt and walk up there to the front and knock on the cockpit and say, I wanna talk to the pilot. Pilot, what do you want, sir? Mr. Jones, I know who you are. You fly a lot of miles with American. It's good to see you again. Thank you for being with us. What can I do for you? You know, Captain, you've done a good job, but you need to let me take it from here. How foolish would that be? How crazy would that be? But that's what we do to the Lord. The Lord has said, man, the Spirit of the Lord got you. Jesus' blood has covered you, washed you, cleansed you.

You on the right road. You have already been seated in heavenly places. The Holy Spirit is doing the work. All I need you to do is kick back and let me get you to where we're going for eternity. Just kick back. And then we wanna stand up and say, well, no, no, no, Lord, I need you to let me take it from here. Do you know why Paul, can you see why Paul said, how foolish are you? Y'all doing all right? He said, you didn't get to where you are because of the law. You got there because there was a life change. The Spirit of the Lord came in you, transformed you and changed you. Listen to what it says in Ezekiel 36, 26, and 27. I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. The Spirit of the Lord comes in and changes us and gives us a desire to follow him and to trust him. Not so much that we're paying attention to the law, but we're paying attention to the work of the Spirit in our lives that's cultivated such a desire to obey him.

Second Corinthians 3, 18 says, and the Lord who is the Spirit makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious presence. Think about that for a moment. Listen to what the Lord is saying. Listen to the journey that you're on. He's changing you into a glorious image of Christ. He's saying, just kick back, man. I'm changing you. Just kick back. I'm doing this. I'm changing you. Have you ever take time to think about how you were and how you are now? I know you do it all the time. How you were and how you are now. Have you ever taken the time to think about that you are a different? Sometimes we do it when somebody jump up in front of us and unfortunately. Fourth Avenue, boy, if I wasn't the person I was. That's when we think about it sometimes, huh? Or somebody say something to you that disrespects, boy, you better be glad I'm a Christian. Probably more than I should, huh, baby? I know, but I'm just saying. But have you ever, have you just, have you thought about what Christ has done? It's a great change in your life.

That wasn't because of your own effort, you couldn't. You couldn't, but you trusted Jesus, you heard the message, and you let him do it, and now the journey you're on is becoming more in a glorious image of Christ Jesus. Just think about that. You're becoming more like Christ. You may not think it's not so, but it's true. You're becoming more like him. You're becoming better because the Spirit, and this is what verse number five says, he supplies us the Spirit, the same Spirit that does miracles. It's the same Spirit that he supplies us, he supplies us with, that word is like furnishing. He furnishes you with the Spirit of God. The word dunamis there is a word that's used in Galatians 3, five, it's the same word we see in Acts chapter one, verse number eight, which means dynamite, which means power. He says, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem. You shall receive dunamis, the power of God, to walk differently and to live differently because of what Christ has done. And so he says, if you're trying to work this thing out in your own effort and your own power, if you think that you're just not good enough or holy enough, then you're missing the whole point.

Continue to believe in the Christ that you believed in and watch what the Spirit of the Lord continues to do. Not only that was an issue, but the fact that they tried to impose back up on them the Acts of Abraham, which I think we defined it in the first few messages. I know Joel and Ryan and Phillip all probably touched on it about circumcision, because that was the sign of the covenant for Abraham. Once Abraham believed God, then the Lord says, okay, I wanna make a covenant relationship with you and a sign that we have a covenant and the people who follow after you, the people of the Jews, is circumcision. That's the sign of the covenant that I'm making with your people. And so circumcision was the old sign of the covenant. See it in Genesis chapter 17, 10 and 11. It was a visible, physical sign that represented belonging to God, that they had a covenant relationship with God, that they were not separated from God, that they were marked by God as his people. But the Holy Spirit is the new covenant sign. It's not circumcision that marks us in covenant relationship with the Lord, it's the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1, 13 through 14, it's clear that the seal of the covenant for us is the Spirit of the Lord. We're sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which guarantees us the inheritance.

It's the guarantee. Romans 2, 28 and 29, it says, unlike circumcision, which was external, the Spirit transformed the heart. So there's an inward work that's the sign and the seal that we're the covenant people of God. Jeremiah 31 through 34 says, I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts by the Holy Spirit. I will be their God and they will be my people. Second Corinthians 1, 21 and 22 says, it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, who also put his seal on us and gave us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. It's the Holy Spirit that has done this. The Holy Spirit that he's supplying us. It's the Holy Spirit that continues work in our life. So that means all the blessings of Abraham, that Abraham received, the promises, the blessings, eternal life for him and his family that he made the evidence of through the circumcision, the Lord says, I'm making that evidence with you by the Holy Spirit in your heart. And Abraham actually did that act after he believed. So it was actually him believing before the act that already had counted him unto righteous. You see that in Genesis 15, six, he believed the Lord and the Lord counted it as righteousness. James 2, 23 says, Abraham believed God and was counted him as righteousness

and he was called a friend of God. And so shall it be with us. The Lord looked forward to this day. The Spirit of Christ proclaimed and prophesied that. there would be a time that not just the Jewish people can have this mark upon them to be God's people, but all of us who are Gentiles. And if you're not Jewish, then you're Gentile. I don't care if you come from Ethiopia, Mexico, Russia, I don't, Japan, I don't care where you came from. If you're not Jewish, you're Gentile. And there was a day when the scriptures proclaimed over and over again, yes, right now, it's the Jewish people that I'm concerned about. It's them being circumcised. It's them being in covenant relationship with me. It's through them that I'm gonna teach how I am with a group of people. They're gonna learn my ways. They're gonna learn my will. They're gonna learn my word. And it's through them that you also will see the ways of the Lord, and even Gentiles can be saved. Can you say amen? Amen. And so that's why we seek the Lord. As Isaiah 45, 22 says, "'Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, "'for I am God and there is no other.'"

People from all parts of the world, all the ends of the earth, can turn to the Lord and worship him. "'From the rising of the sun,' the scripture says, "'and the setting down of my name, "'great among the nations I will be, "'and all people will worship me "'because of the work of the Spirit of God.'" By faith, we come into this relationship, we come into this kingdom, and we continue by the work of the Holy Spirit. Let me just give you some application points as the team comes and I wrap this thing up. Because the Galatians, as you can probably hear, they were threatening to go back into this life of self-effort. I just wanna share this with you. Don't go back to, don't drift back into trusting yourself and your performance. Don't go back into that. The Christian life begins with faith and it's gotta continue in faith. Don't go back when you have failures and slip-ups. Don't go back to thinking, I'm the one that's gotta fix this. I'm the one that's gotta get myself back on track. I'm the one that's gotta get this. No, no, don't drift back into human effort. It's not gonna work. The second thing is, stay plugged into your power source.

That's the Holy Spirit. Stay plugged in. That's the power that we need in every arena of our life, is the Spirit of God. We gotta stay plugged into it. We need the presence of the Lord. We need the Spirit of God. Our heart's desire is to be consumed by His Spirit. Fill with the Spirit through and through, living this life out, knowing that the Spirit of the Lord is with us. It's an interesting thing in Psalm 51 about King David. This was when King David was at the height of his kingship. The nation of Israel, the people of Israel were known all over the land. David was at the top of his game. The nation, the nations was all under his control, under his authority. And David was well known. He was renowned. Unfortunately, Psalm 51 is a prayer of David after he fell in this sin with Bathsheba. And he fell into that sin, and the Lord sent the prophet to let him know, I know what you've done. He told David some things that was gonna take place. It was gonna be a change in the kingdom. Wasn't gonna have the place of authority that he had had. There was gonna be some trouble in his family based on what's taken place.

David recognized that. He went before the Lord. Psalm 51 is a great prayer. He went before the Lord, and he asked the Lord to forgive him. He asked the Lord to wash him. He asked the Lord to cleanse him. Even though he had sinned against other people, he said, ultimately, I know what I've done is I've sinned against you. I've sinned against you, and he asked God to forgive him and wash him, et cetera. But verse 10 through 12 stands out to me out of that whole prayer. He says, create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a loyal spirit within me. Because this is what David knew. David knew he had allowed some stuff to get in his heart that caused him to do the things that he did. But he recognized the biggest offense was losing his loyalty and his commitment and his devotion to the Lord. He says, Lord, I need you to clean this stuff up in my heart, but I need my loyalty to you to be renewed, my commitment to you to be renewed, my devotion to you to be renewed. I need that to be renewed in first place. Can you cleanse up this mess out of my heart and just renew that spirit within me that I love you first and love you above all else?

And then verse number 11. Do not banish me from your presence and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Listen, he knew that there was a threat to the kingdom. He knew there was a threat upon his family, but he didn't say, Lord, don't take the kingdom from me. He didn't say, Lord, don't let my family go through this. Now, those things was important, but it wasn't the most important thing. The most important thing David is saying, listen, I may lose the kingdom, but I can't lose your spirit. My family may get jacked up, that's gonna hurt me, but Lord, I need your spirit. Out of all the things that you can take away, don't take that one. Don't take that one. I need your presence. I need your spirit. If you restore that to me, then the joy of your salvation will make me willing to obey you. There's the fix. There's the fix. Can I just say that we got counselors, we got people that'll help you in your marriage, and believe me, they'll do a good job, but the fix for your marriage is the spirit of the Lord. That's the fix, is embracing the spirit of God and letting the spirit of the Lord lead you

and empower you. That's the fix to overcome temptations. It's the spirit of the Lord to draw closer. That's the fix if you're struggling as a parent. Sure, there's how-to books and steps that we can share with you and tell you, but the fix is embracing the spirit of God and his wisdom and his direction, and if your children are struggling with doing what you want them to do and obeying them, I get it, you want them to do the right things, but the law ain't work for you. What they need is a baptism of the Holy Spirit. That's what they need. That's what, the Holy Spirit is the fix. David said, don't take that. I don't have a chance if you take that, and here's the last thing. When you struggle with sin, and you've fallen again, by faith and the power of the Spirit, you can get up. Notice I didn't say if you struggle with sin. Don't even lie with me with your eyes. I didn't say if you struggle with sin and if you've fallen. When you struggle with sin and you've fallen again, by faith and the power of the Spirit, you can get up. It's the Spirit of the Lord that helps us. It's faith in God. It's the Spirit that supplies us the power that we need. Proverbs 24, 16 says,

though a righteous person falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin. It's only if you don't have the Spirit of God that you'll keep, I told you many times, my grandfather used to tell me, your problem is, it ain't that you fall, people fall, but you fall in a mud puddle and you wanna roll all in it. Get yourself up by faith and let the Spirit of the Lord supply everything that you need, that you continue to believe in the gospel and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has accepted you not because of how you live and because of your effort, but because of your faith in him and the power of the Spirit. Everybody stand, if you would. Prayer team, you can come. Is foolish or faithful? Foolish or faithful? It's up to you. You can continue to live foolishly or you can live faithfully. And if you haven't began to live faithfully in Christ Jesus, I know this is a church and it's supposed to be a good news, but you're already living foolish. If you haven't trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you're already living foolish. Today's the day you can start a new life in faith in Jesus Christ

and the Spirit of the Most High God that can help you in all things. Let's pray. Altars will be open. Father, I wanna thank you for this opportunity to share your word. I thank you for your goodness and your grace. Lord, let us be reminded that we can't do nothing without you. It's by faith in your name that's brought us into the kingdom of God. It's the Spirit of the Lord that supplies everything that we need. Father, let us embrace that and live according to that and not live foolishly, but live faithfully. In Christ's name we pray, amen. God bless you. Have a great day. Amen. Such an incredible message. Thank you, Pastor. Hey, if you wanna take your next step, don't wait. Please stop by the Connect table in the lobby. There's people there that'll help you on your journey in this family. And if you're online, please fill out that card to take your next step as well. And real quick, Pastor's book is still available, Grip by Hope. Please make sure to pick it up.

If you're looking for encouragement in your life, you need it, get this book. It's also being sold out in the lobby. And we love you so much. Let's worship together. Praise God from whom all blessings flow Praise Him, all creatures, here below Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost Praise God from whom all blessings flow Praise Him, all creatures, here below Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost All right Church, we love you, see you next Sunday