Our Protestant Identity

Lord, we just worship you, we just thank you for your presence. Father, bring freedom in this room. Lord, if there's any burdens in our minds, God, release the burdens off of us, God. Take our burdens away. Your yoke is easy, your burden is light, Father. I just thank you for your presence. We love you, we worship you, we honor you in Jesus' name. Let us pray, let us love. Let us be faith, let us have faith. And lift up our hearts and say, we worship you and thank you for your presence. Thank you for where we are right now, in Christ Jesus. And we live for Jesus. And worship you and thank you for what you have given us. Let us pray. Let us love, let us be praised for everything you have done for Jesus Christ. Be praised for Jesus. Let us be honor and praise to Jesus Christ. Let us be thankful for what you have done for Jesus Christ. Be thankful for the strong connection that holds us together. Let us be real with one another and be thankful for what he has given us. Let us come together as one, come holy in Jesus name, call out for God's grace.

God we that we be, hoioccanim. Let us sing. ♪ You're still my first love. You're still my only one. ♪ ♪ You're still my first love. You're still my only one. ♪ ♪ Oh, the only one, the only one that I love. ♪ ♪ The only one that I love. ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. ♪ ♪ There's a table just for you and me. ♪ ♪ Break the bread and pour the wine. ♪ ♪ Perfect union, nothing in between. ♪ ♪ I am yours and you are mine. ♪ ♪ You're still my first love. You're still my only one. ♪ ♪ You're still my only one. You're still my first love. ♪ ♪ You're still my only one. Oh, oh, oh. ♪ ♪ You're still my first love. You're still my only one. ♪ ♪ You're still my only one. You're still my first love. ♪ ♪ You're still my only one. Oh, oh, oh. ♪ ♪ You're still my only one. Oh, oh, oh. ♪ ♪ The only one for me is you. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh. ♪ ♪ And I feel my heart beating out of my chest. ♪ ♪ I wanna stay forever like this. ♪ ♪ May the flame of my heart always be lit. ♪ ♪ I wanna burn forever like this. ♪ ♪ And I feel my heart beating out of my chest. ♪ ♪ I wanna stay forever like this. ♪ ♪ May the flame of my heart always be lit. ♪ ♪ And I wanna burn forever like this ♪ ♪ And I feel my heart beating out of my chest ♪ ♪ I wanna burn forever like this ♪ ♪ May the flame of my heart always be lit ♪

♪ I wanna burn forever like this ♪ ♪ And I feel my heart beating out of my chest ♪ ♪ I wanna sleep forever like this ♪ ♪ May the flame of my heart always be lit ♪ ♪ I wanna burn forever like this ♪ ♪ You're still my first love ♪ ♪ You're still my only one, oh ♪ ♪ You're still my first love ♪ ♪ You're still my only one, oh ♪ ♪ I feel my heart and I feel my heart beating out of my chest ♪ ♪ I wanna stay forever like this ♪ ♪ May the flame of my heart always be lit ♪ ♪ I wanna burn forever like this ♪ ♪ And I feel my heart beating out of my chest ♪ ♪ I wanna stay forever like this ♪ ♪ May the flame of my heart always be lit ♪ ♪ I wanna burn ♪ ♪ You're still my first love ♪ ♪ You're still my only one ♪ ♪ You're still my first love ♪ ♪ You're still my only one, sing it out one more time ♪ ♪ You're still my first love ♪ ♪ You're still my only one ♪ ♪ You're still my first love ♪ ♪ You're still my only, you're still my only one ♪ ♪ You're still my first love ♪ ♪ You're still my only one, sing it out one more time ♪ ♪ You're still my first love ♪ ♪ You're still my first love ♪ ♪ I'm not in a hurry when it comes to your spirit ♪

♪ When it comes to your presence, when it comes to your voice ♪ ♪ I'm learning to listen just to rest in your nearness ♪ ♪ I'm starting to notice you are speaking ♪ ♪ I'm not in a hurry when it comes to your spirit ♪ ♪ When it comes to your presence, when it comes to your voice ♪ ♪ I'm learning to listen just to rest in your nearness ♪ ♪ I'm starting to notice you are speaking ♪ ♪ I'm not in a hurry when it comes to your spirit ♪ ♪ When it comes to your presence, when it comes to your voice ♪ ♪ I'm learning to listen just to rest in your nearness ♪ ♪ I'm starting to notice you are speaking ♪ ♪ Starting to notice, You are speaking ♪ ♪ I'm not in a hurry when it comes to your spirit ♪ ♪ When it comes to your presence, when it comes to your voice ♪ ♪ I'm learning to listen just to rest in your nearness ♪ ♪ Open our ears to hear You speaking ♪ ♪ We're in no hurry, I'm not in a hurry ♪ ♪ When it comes to Your spirit, when it comes to Your presence ♪ ♪ When it comes to Your voice, I'm learning to listen ♪ ♪ Just to rest in Your nearness, I'm starting to notice You are speaking ♪ ♪ I'm not in a hurry, when it comes to Your spirit, when it comes to Your presence ♪ ♪ When it comes to Your voice, I'm learning to listen ♪ ♪ Just to rest in Your nearness, I'm starting to notice You are speaking ♪ ♪ We're in no hurry, I'm not in a hurry ♪ ♪ When it comes to Your voice, I'm learning to listen ♪ ♪ Just to rest in Your nearness, I'm starting to notice You are speaking ♪ ♪ I'm not in a hurry, when it comes to Your spirit, when it comes to Your presence ♪ ♪ When it comes to Your voice, I'm learning to listen ♪ ♪ Just to rest in Your nearness, I'm starting to notice You are speaking ♪ ♪ I'm not in a hurry, I'm not in a hurry ♪

♪ When it comes to Your spirit, when it comes to Your presence ♪ ♪ When it comes to Your voice, I'm learning to listen ♪ ♪ Just to rest in Your nearness, I'm starting to notice You are speaking ♪ ♪ I'm not in a hurry, I'm not in a hurry ♪ ♪ When it comes to Your voice, I'm learning to listen ♪ ♪ I'm not in a hurry, I'm not in a hurry ♪ ♪ When it comes to Your voice, I'm learning to listen ♪ ♪ I'm not in a hurry, I'm not in a hurry ♪ ♪♪ ♪ You led me out of the desert, brought me into His streams ♪ ♪ River of living water, turned my bitterness to sweet ♪ ♪ All my burdens are lifted to the shackles of my feet ♪ ♪ There's no sound louder than a captive set free ♪ ♪ So let the redeemed of the Lord say so ♪ ♪ Sing of His promises evermore ♪ ♪ Pour out His thankfulness, let it overflow ♪ ♪ Let the redeemed of the Lord say so ♪ ♪♪ I see there's joy in the morning There is joy in the morning Springing up in my soul There is life worth living Cause He calls me His own There's a hallelujah After sweet victory There's no sound louder than a captive set free Oh, there's no sound louder than a captive set free Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Sing of His promises evermore. Pour out of thankfulness, let it overflow.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. If you're not, here's the altar, lay your burdens down this morning. If you come with battles in your mind, in your heart, if you come here with struggles, lay them down at the feet of Jesus because He's ready to free you this morning, right now. Come on, let's sing, you are my deliverer. You are my deliverer my freedom I'm living in. And you are my deliverer You are my promise, Lord. You are my deliverer The freedom I'm living in. You are my deliverer You are my promise, Lord. You are my deliverer This freedom I'm living in. You are my deliverer You are my promise, Lord. You are my, you are my deliverer The freedom I'm living in. You are my deliverer You are my promise, Lord. So let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Seek not His promises evermore. Hold on to thankfulness and let it overflow. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. You are my, you are my deliverer The freedom I'm living in. You are my deliverer You are my promise, Lord. You are my deliverer The freedom I'm living in. You are my deliverer You are my promise, Lord. So let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Seek not His promises evermore. Hold on to thankfulness and let it overflow. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. You are my, you are my deliverer The freedom I'm living in. You are my, you are my deliverer The freedom I'm living in.

And I was up here reading, and I was straight up having a panic attack in the middle of leading worship. And I think Pastor Zach could tell, because he kind of stepped in for me. But I was like, God, I just want to run off this stage right now, because I'm just losing my mind. And I was dealing after that with, like, really bad panic attacks. I would wake up in the morning, and my body would just straight go into a panic attack. And it would be like that all day long. And I would be like, I don't know what to do. I'm just like, I feel so stuck. I feel so down. And I'm just like, God, I kept my eyes on him, but at the same time, I'm just like, I just feel like I'm all alone. I know you're here, but I feel so alone. And it went on for months like that. And one morning, I was supposed to go help my husband do something. And I was just like, I can't. Like, I can't leave. I just feel terrible. I feel awful. It affected everything I did. And I went in the room, and I laid in the bed. And I just lifted up my hands to God, and I said, God, I can't do this anymore. Like, it is affecting everything in me. My life, how I lead my family, how I homeschool my kids, how I am as a wife and a mom. Like, it affects everything that I do. And I just kept praying, and I said, God, take this burden. And I love it because so far this morning, everyone's talked about burdens and giving their burdens to God. And it's just so in line with what I'm talking about this morning.

And I tell you not, like, I felt this fog. I don't even know what it was. I felt this thing lift off my brain. That's the only way I can explain it. Like, I felt it lift. And I, my body immediately stopped feeling panicky. And I was like, okay, God, like, I know this is just the beginning of you healing me. And so from then on, I was just concentrating on His word. Every time I felt like my body wanted to do something, I would go to Philippians 4. Do not be anxious, but in everything pray. And I had, like, a laundry list of all these symptoms that I was dealing with in my body. And you know, I was, like, so easily just looking on chat, GPT, and GROK, like, God, what's going on? I've got, like, 200 symptoms. Like, what is happening? And I would, like, call my doctors. I'm like, I need something. I need something. Anyway, I finally got to the point of, like, I can no longer rely on anything but God. God, this is my list of symptoms. This is what I need you to do for me. I cannot carry this burden anymore. And every day, I would wake up in the morning, and I was like, this is what I'm dealing with. And every day, I would just give each symptom to Him, and within six weeks, God had literally healed me from every single symptom that I had been dealing with. So I am just telling you this morning that if you have come in here with a burden, anything, it does not matter. You need to make an altar before the Lord and give it to Him, because we are not meant to carry these burdens. We are not.

God has told us, give it to me. I will make your burden light. And you need to trust Him in that. So this morning, it doesn't matter what it is. You need to make that altar before the Lord. And as we sing this song, I'm going to try not to cry my eyes out, because I can't get through this song, because it just means so much to me, because God saw me where I was. And He loved me through it all, and He walked with me. And so if I can't make it through, and I just have an ugly cry, that's where you guys come in, right? Because we are here to worship together. Oh, before I know that you've even gone to win my war, you come back with the head of my enemy. You come back and you call it my victory. Yeah. I'm gonna go before I know That you've even gone to wait for my home It's my greatest defense It leads me from the dry wilderness And all I did was praise And all I did was worship And all I did was bow down And all I did was stay still And hallelujah, you have saved me So much better your way And hallelujah, great defender So much better your way So much better your way You know before I do That my heart can seek to find your truth You have saved the shade I'm living in You've stolen my faith and hope again And all I did was praise And all I did was worship And all I did was bow down And all I did was stay still And hallelujah, you have saved me So much better your way And hallelujah, great defender So much better your way And hallelujah, you have saved me So much better your way And hallelujah, great defender So much better your way

And hallelujah, we give it all We give it all to you And hallelujah And when I felt I lost you You knew where I'd land You reintroduced me to your love And you picked up all my pieces Pulled me back together You are the defender of my heart And when I felt I lost you You knew where I'd land You reintroduced me to your love And you picked up all my pieces Pulled me back together You are the defender of my heart When I thought I'd lost you, you knew where I'd left you You introduced me to your love Victor, for my pieces, pull me back together You are the victor of my heart When I thought I'd lost you, you knew where I'd left me You introduced me to your love Victor, for my pieces, pull me back together You are the victor of my heart In hallelujah, you have saved me So much better in a way In hallelujah, praise and thank you So much better in a way In hallelujah, you have saved me So much better in a way In hallelujah, praise and thank you So much better in a way So much better Nothing better than you Give your burdens to him Lay them down at his feet You don't have to hold on to your burdens Lay them down, lay them down

So much better And when I thought I'd lost me, you knew where I'd left me You reintroduced me to your love And you picked up all my pieces, pulled me back together You are the defender of my heart Sing that again And when I thought I'd lost me, you knew where I'd left me You reintroduced me to your love And you picked up all my pieces, pulled me back together You are the defender of my heart It's a camera that we distance ourselves from what God is doing And we hope that that media will help connect us But the truth is, many times that media, it separates us And there's something sacred about coming together as a family About using our talents and our gifts to glorify him But I wonder if it would be hard for us as a church To worship him without the media To remove the middle from between us and God And to say, Lord, I want to find my own song I want to find my own voice I want to cultivate my own connection to you And I want to remove anything and everything from the median in between us And so, Rebecca, I think your vulnerability today Has turned a key for us as a community And so I want to do something Jared, can we just... I want us to take this silence like a canvas and for just a couple minutes, I want us to begin to paint on this canvas the picture of authentic, undivided, unseparated, intimate praise to the Lord. And so without any words on the screen, with no chords, with no pads, with nobody leading

you in song, I want us to remove the middle for just a minute and I want you to find your song of praise or gratitude to the Lord. You can sing if you want to, you can talk if you want to, whisper if that's all that you have, but I want you just for the next few minutes to move everything out of the way between you and God and to come personally, intimately, privately before the Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I see you in all of creation. I see you in all of creation. Keep it all inside. So I open up and I give it all away. Come on, I want to provoke those of you that are uncomfortable. I get it. Press through the discomfort of not knowing where to begin. And ask yourself, is there not gratitude in you? Start with thank you. If you don't know what to say, start with thank you. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for seeing me.

Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for carrying me through those moments that should have destroyed me. God, thank you that you brought me into this moment. Thank you. you that you care for me and I can cast my cares upon you. Thank you for all the prayers that never got answered because I trusted you. Oh, thank you Jesus. Come on Lord, we thank you. That you are good. That your goodness will always exceed our praise. God will spend the rest of eternity giving you our praise and our worship and our adoration and still not come close to scratching the surface of all you deserve. Lord, you are good and your mercy endures forever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. And Father, we thank you for the privilege that it is to be a part of this chorus of praise that has been unbroken since the beginning of creation, erupting from this planet and declaring that you alone are worthy. Thank you God for your healing virtue that is pouring out in this place. Thank you for the testimonies we're going to hear throughout the week of others whose symptoms have disappeared. Thank you Lord for the liberty, the deliverance that you're bringing to souls that are in this place. Even those that are watching online, Lord, thank you that you're freeing us from the bondage of dead religion and you're bringing us into an organic faith that actually brings life where there was death and disorder. Lord, we thank you most of all for your presence in this room. Thank you Lord for the blood of Jesus through whom you've broken down the middle wall of separation and made a way not only for us to come together with each other, but to come together with you, to be united in communion with you. Lord, we love you today because you first loved us.

In Jesus name, amen. Come on. I am supposed to receive the offering. You know, the sound system doesn't work because y'all haven't been tithing enough. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. It works fine. We'll transition to the offering, but first, would you guys just thank our musicians? Thank you guys so much for your ministry today. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Thank you guys for leading us and putting, showing us the path into his presence. What a beautiful morning. Welcome to the altar of fellowship. I promise we're not always this weird, but we're open to it, you know, like where it's, it's cool. We just want to go wherever God is leading and, uh, and we're not going to apologize for it. Is that right? Well, because we're not, we won't apologize for it. Yeah. Um, we are going to receive the offering today. Hold for applause. Yes. It really is a gift given to us to be able to give, uh, into the work of the Lord in this community. And, uh, and so I'm not going to preach it up. My hope is that the spirit has convicted you that you see the value of what God is doing here and that you're willing to, uh, uh, to put your treasure where you claim that your heart really is. And so, um, there's a few ways that you can give, as you know, there's a, yeah, an envelope

in the seat in front of you that you can use to give by cash or check or card, or you can take your phone out, scan that QR code, uh, or if you have the app, you can give directly through the app. I know that you all just sat down, but would you stand with me? And we're gonna pray over this offering. Lord, Father, you are good. You are infinitely worthy, not just of our praise, but of our giving. And so we give to you today out of the abundance of all that you've given to us. Thank you, God, for your extravagant, loving generosity to us. And Father, as we look over our many privileges, our countless privileges and blessings as Americans, we turn today and we give back to you. And we say, Lord, would you let our giving advance your kingdom? God, as we give today, we remember the Thailand team that is gonna be going out this week to carry the gospel. Lord, we thank you that because of our giving that people are able to carry the gospel into unreached nations. Thank you that because of our giving that people are able to carry the gospel into their neighborhoods right here in the Tri-Cities. God, we thank you that because of our giving that as new sons and daughters are brought into your family that they're able to come into a house that is full of life and love and joy

and to be received with open arms. And so Father, as we give today, we give full of faith and expectation of all that you can do with our little gift. We give to you today with joyful hearts in Jesus name. Amen. All right, whenever you're ready, we'll be receiving it here at the front. Thanks so much. And I am really excited to transition. We, this Thursday, the Thailand missions team, we're heading off to Thailand. So we'll be going there. So if we can have all of the participants, those who are going, if you guys can come down to the front here, we're gonna invite Pastor Matty to come up and just commission the team and pray for us. We ask you guys to be praying. We'll be gone the next two weeks. So we'll have the opportunity to share the gospel with about 2000 people. And Thailand is one of the least reached planets, well, nations. We're not going to, we're not going with Elon Musk. We are going to a nation that is one of the least reached nations on the planet. 1% Christian out of 72 million people. So it's 99% unreached. We'll spend a few days up in a Northern village,

which is 0.0046% reached with the gospel of Jesus. And we get to tell them all about Jesus. We're gonna get to pour into about a half dozen local churches and equip the body. And through your giving and your faithfulness, we have hundreds of helmets to place on the heads of those who are riding motorcycles so they don't die if they crash their motorcycle. And we have thousands of Bibles in Thai to place in the hands so that God's word will continue speaking long after we leave. So Pastor Mario, I'll just hand it to you. We're excited. Amen. I got my own. Yeah, I got one. We are, we are, when we were standing up here and I exhorted y'all to consider this, that whatever praise we conjure up for the Lord could universally just start with the phrase, thank you. If you don't know what to say to God, just start with thank you. I can't think of anything better than that. And you know, when I'm thinking about this group, I think like about the people that loved me enough, that love Christ enough to bring the gospel to me when I hated God,

when I didn't want anything to do with Him. I think about the poor youth pastor of the church my mom made me go to. Like I put that guy through hell, you know. I probably looked like, you know, rocky, dry, rocky soil. And I think he thought there's no way any of this is gonna take root. And then one day God breathed on me and my life is today what it is because people love me enough to tell me the truth of the gospel. And I think there are people in Thailand that are looking at their lives and thinking there's gotta be more to it than this. I think there are people in Thailand that have this cry somewhere in their soul that they wanna find a truth to build their life on. They wanna find some light, some illumination in the darkness of their world and their generation. And God said, I have just the group. I've got just, I've hand chosen a group of people that I'm gonna send to come and bring you my good news. And so five, 10, 20 years from today, generations from today, there'll be people that are able to turn their eyes to the throne of heaven and say, thank you that you sent Marshall and Ian to Thailand and my grandmother came to salvation

through their testimony. Thank you, Lord, that you saw Josh and Rebecca and that you sent them to the other side of planet earth to carry the best. news ever into my life. What an amazing privilege it is that we get to be a part of sending seed from the hand of the master gardener himself into a land that so is so desperately crying out for it. So one of the things that we really believe here at the altar is that when you go you never just go but you are sent, right? And so can I get you to stand with me and if you're comfortable just stretching your hands out toward them and we're just gonna cover them in prayer and bless them as they go on this journey. Lord we thank you for this group that you have truly hand-selected for this assignment. God your word says that the steps of righteous men are ordered of the Lord and so we thank you father that that long before they ever dreamed the dream of carrying your gospel to Thailand that you you dreamed this dream for them that you knew these good works they would do when you knit them together in their mother's womb you prepared these good works in advance for them to do and so father we thank you that hearts are being softened in Thailand right now we thank you God that people are becoming curious about eternal things or divine things in Thailand right now father we thank you that that people are dreaming dreams in Thailand right now of you know some white guy showing up and sharing the best news ever the greatest gift of all time with them Lord we thank you for your kindness and your generosity to send people from Northeast Tennessee all the way to Thailand to carry your gospel we declare over this group that they are anointed for the task at hand that they're not just going on man's wisdom or man's strength but that they go with a divine commission to be able to carry your grace into a land that desperately needs it father I pray that you would anoint the proclaiming of the gospel through them I pray that you would clear their minds purify their hearts let the work of their hands be pleasing and productive for your sake father I pray that you would guard them that you'd

protect them that if there would be anything that would threaten them Lord that you would go before them and clear the way and father I pray that their gospel preaching would be shockingly effective I pray that people would be so desperate to come to salvation through their ministry that they would be a little bit suspicious of it Lord I pray that you know fish would be jumping in the boat as they're fishing for men over these next weeks Lord we bless them not Lord just with your presence Lord we bless them with our faith and and we join our faith with theirs and we say Lord let your kingdom come and your will be done in Thailand as it is in heaven we say over this group that they are sent and covered with our faith and our full agreement and expectation in Jesus mighty name everybody said amen amen amen awesome you guys are gonna do amazing I cannot wait to hear all about it can't wait to hear all about it it's gonna be it's gonna be great Kai could I get some water there buddy I am gonna need it today okay I you should know this about my situation I have so much to say to you this is a topic I've been studying really for years really intensely for months for this message I suppose and I also don't have a timer the back screen broke so there's no telling there is no telling how long I may speak today it'll be fine for you second-service people may have a hard time finding a place to park when they show up but that'll be fine that'll be fine you know there was a moment last year I suppose maybe two years ago when I had to stand at this pulpit and give a cautionary warning to the church about a ministry that had sprung up in town that I knew was some some members of which were encouraging people to leave the altar fellowship and to come and join their their movement and it's it's that is hard for me I'm not really naturally disposed to confrontation it's not something that I'd love to do but I recognize that as a shepherd here in this house I'm responsible to the shepherd for the way that I keep and guard the members of this community from deception or from division and and I feel like I today need to do something similar only now it's not some new church plant here in the Tri-Cities Now it's the Roman Catholic Church.

I feel I have to warn you against entertaining. And here's why. I want you to know where this is coming from. And I've found over these last years of ministry, such a comforting kinship with the Apostle Paul. It's an amazing thing, the way that in the scriptures, he shares his heart and his vulnerability, even his fears and his insecurities in a lot of his writing and speaking. And I'll start here in Acts chapter 20. And in this interaction, Paul is talking to the elders of the church in Ephesus, a church that he helped plant. And he's saying goodbye to them, knowing he's never going to see them again on earth. And this is what he says to them, his last words to them. He says, indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also, from among yourselves, men will rise up, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves.

Therefore, watch and remember that for three years, I did not cease to warn everyone day and night with tears. And so I need you to hear me today, because we have to have a vital family conversation. There is a shadow of deception that is creeping into the minds of my generation in a way that is unique in my lifetime. And this shadow of deception, this is the seed that grows into a religious deception that has drawn countless millions of my contemporaries into, I should say, away from the foundation of the gospel of grace. And this is the idea, it's this. It can't be that simple, it can't be that simple. Confess the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. All who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It can't be that simple, that's the thought. And it seems innocent enough, well, what more is there? You know, there's, let me look at church history, let me begin to study doctrine. And you hear these extravagant claims from people that say things like the Catholic Church is the one true church established by Jesus Christ, and we have 2,000 years of unbroken apostolic succession that we stand on, and so this is the way the church has always been historically, it's the way that God designed the church to be. And if we had hundreds of hours, maybe I could begin to scratch the surface of all the reasons that is not true.

But here's the reality, we're gonna get into some of it today, but I need to, as one, the Bible would say, the one that watches over your soul, I'm accountable before God to caution you to say there is an institution that presents itself as the one true church that is inviting you to come and join the one true church, and it can be really appealing because it feels old, and you think, just because it's old, it must be right. But you should know that much of Catholic tradition is just Roman paganism that has been wrapped in Christian language. And if we are not careful, we will be drawn into a pagan religion that has the name of Jesus and other biblical characters slapped upon it. Here's the truth, and this is just me being vulnerable here, I had some people in our church, I don't know, a year or more ago come to me and say, hey, you know, I'm just interested in finding more out about church history I thought I might start go visiting the you know I might go visit the Catholic Church in town what do you think and and here's what went through my mind this is again vulnerable disclosure here I thought well I don't want to seem insecure or controlling I want to be the cool dad you know so oh sure go for it man it's totally fine it turns out like any of you who've raised kids you know this sometimes your kids don't need you to be cool and agreeable they need you to protect them from things that could be dangerous and and here's where I was wrong I thought you know we have a style here at the altar where maybe you might see a conga line you know break out from time to time we may do we may do fire tumbles the kids may jump up on the stage and dance around for an hour like

that stuff we do that's our style and I thought well Catholics they have their style you know they have pictures of Saints and stained glass and it's like it's just a different style and and and the reality is I was wrong because while we have a style that we acknowledge is a style the Catholic Church has stood on a foundation of sort of self-proclaimed infallibility in saying everything that is our style is actually God's will for all people and if you don't agree with it you're not welcome in the church and if you aren't welcome in the church you can't find salvation and so there's a dogmatization that has happened for many many generations now in the Catholic Church where they say essentially if if our style doesn't become your style then you are anathema you're let you you know you can be accursed or condemned and you are removed from fellowship and so I want you to hear what I'm saying what I'm not saying is that all Catholics are you know evil terrible people and we hate them we have much in common with many Catholics in the same way that I have much in common with many Mormons many Jews many Muslims but the reality is the Roman institution has departed from the gospel of grace and they have institutionalized they've canonized their departure in such a degree that it would take a historic level of repentance and restoration to rectify it some Catholic leaders have attempted that we call those the reformers they tried it in the 1500s and and and we are still trying it today understand I haven't given up on the Roman Catholic institution but I am saying if we if we can we're gonna have to return to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to the authority of the scriptures if we are ever to have true fellowship and to be able to build together on a foundation of the true gospel and so today I want to point out a couple things that I think I need us to be aware of if we're gonna navigate this season in Western in the history of Western civilization all right are you good nobody's got enough to run out of the doors yet okay so far so good so let's start first with the pagan practice of praying to the dead I told our volunteers today I said there's a high probability I'm gonna lose you some friends today so it's all right we'll figure it out together here's here's the problem the Catholic

argument would be well the Saints aren't dead you know they're alive we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses the problem is that where we when we pray to when I pray if I pray to Mary and you pray to Mary and she's praying to Mary and we all get together and we're all praying to Mary we're ascribing to Mary two of God's incommunicable attributes those are attributes that belong to God alone that aren't shared with other people those two attributes are omnipresence and omniscience omnipresence is the idea that God is everywhere all of the time omniscience is that God knows everything and so the thought that Mary or any other Saint is somehow everywhere after their death is is an attribution to them of an attribute of God that does not belong to any person like I we don't like we you know people might point to like the transfiguration on the Mount where Jesus is seen with with Elijah and Moses and they would say well see the Saints they can interact with us and I would say okay I don't think that Elijah and Moses hear everything that is ever said about them all the time, right? And in fact, there's no biblical framework for the idea that somehow a saint who has passed away becomes omnipresent or omniscient. They don't see everything, they don't exist everywhere, they don't, I'm not saying that God couldn't allow them to see something that's happening on earth or that they wouldn't be able to see something that's happening on earth, but the idea that they could see everything that's happening on earth is a deification of the saints. We're promoting the saints to God's level in a way that Roman paganism, which precedes the earthly ministry of Jesus. So before the Christian church was established for 700 or 800 years, there was Roman paganism

where there were many gods, they were very strict about keeping traditions, including holidays and sacrifices and things like that to those many gods and goddesses. I feel like I should incorporate that because we're gonna talk about Mary here in a minute. Many gods and goddesses that they would worship and also the Roman paganism is where we get the idea of like praying to dead ancestors or worshiping dead ancestors. And so this is what this is, is paganism that has sort of adopted Christian characters and fit them into pagan practices. So far so good? Yes. So I wanna look first at the scriptures, okay? Let's get a framework for who Christ is and then we'll look for just a minute at what the Roman Catholic abomination says Christ is. I don't want there to be any, I am more Protestant today than I've ever been in my entire life. I'm gonna get John Calvin's face tattooed on the other side of my neck. Like, I don't care. I will nail theses to everybody's door. Let's look at Hebrews chapter seven. I'm gonna read this in the New Living Translation just because it's a little bit easier to understand. It says there were many priests under the old system

for death prevented them from remaining in office. This is talking about the old religious system. There were many priests under the old system for death prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. Therefore he is able once and forever to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on our behalf or on their behalf. He is able once and forever to save those who come to God through him. That is the truth we live and die on. That's the truth we build the gospel, our understanding of the gospel upon. That's the truth the church has to stand on. However, that is not the doctrine that the Catholic Church today or throughout history has taught. Not that Jesus as our great high priest is able once and forever to save those who come to God through him. In fact, the Catholic position is that Jesus is able to sort of save us, but that we can lose that salvation actually again and again. And it's not like the blood of Jesus is like partially or temporarily efficacious or effective for us, but that we also need some other righteousness,

either from ourselves or from someone else to be credited to our account. You can see this maybe most clearly in history when in the 1500s. This is maybe what led to the Protestant Reformation. This is what drove Martin Luther actually insane. Is Pope Leo X, it's interesting, we have another Pope Leo right now. Pope Leo X was building St. Peter's Basilica. Has anybody here ever been there? It's unbelievable. Imagine trying to build that period. Imagine trying to build it in the early 1500s. Difficult, right? And the amount of money that that would take is astronomical. And so if you're the Pope, you gotta come up with a way to raise funds, to get people to give more so that you can build this incredible monument to your historically successful papacy. Like he's, it's the same human impulse that drove the pharaohs to enslave entire nations of people so that they could build pyramids so they could be remembered, right, for their reign, their dynasty. You have Pope Leo X, he's building St. Peter's Basilica, one of the most unbelievable buildings I have ever laid eyes, certainly, without question,

the most unbelievable building I've ever laid my eyes on. So they come up with this idea. Here's what we'll do. We will sell indulgences. We gotta raise funds for St. Peter's Basilica, so what we'll do is we'll sell forgiveness for sins. And so, people believe that after they die, then they'll go to purgatory for a really long time, and so we will sell them, you know, the ability to lessen the amount of time they have to spend in purgatory. And so, an indulgence, this is actually so funny, it's something I learned just recently, had a specific amount of time that you could max out. If you paid all the money, you could reduce your time in purgatory by up to, but not exceeding, 1,902,202 years and 270 days. That's a lot, you know, that's a lot of sins that I can just get rid of by buying this indulgence. An indulgence, as Matthew Barrett says in his book, God's Word Alone, The Authority of Scripture, what the reformers taught and why it still matters. He writes, an indulgence was the full or partial remission of temporal punishment for sins. It was said to be drawn from the treasury of merit, which is another nonsense pagan imagination. It was said to be drawn from the treasury of merit, a storehouse of grace, which was accumulated by the meritorious, righteous works of Christ, and also by the super abundant merit of the saints.

What does that mean? It means that, let's say Peter, who did so many righteous acts, you know, if he needed to do 1,000 righteous acts to get himself into heaven, he did 2,000 righteous acts, and so his extra credit, he got into heaven, but then his extra credit was stored in the treasury of merit, and that if I pray to Peter or if I give to the church, then Peter's righteousness can be credited to my account, and it can actually lessen my time in purgatory so that way I can get to heaven quicker. I wish I was joking. This is what Scripture actually tells us. You know, in Luke chapter 23, we read the story of the thief on the cross, who I feel like, it's an interesting thing to think about the Scriptures because they're not just doctrinal, and they're not just historical. It's like the God who wanted to communicate doctrine is the God that also orchestrated history, and so I feel like God allowed the thief on the cross story to occur to blow all of our religious impulses out of the water before we even had a chance to act on them. You have this one, he was never baptized, he never gave alms, you know, he was never catechized, he never preached the gospel to anybody, he never went on a missions trip, he never joined a church, like all this stuff

that we try to say is necessary for salvation, this man didn't do any of it. The thief on the cross in Luke 23, I wanna just read this to you, Luke 23, starting in verse 39, it says, "'Then one of the criminals who were hanged "'blasphemed him, saying, if you are the Christ, "'save yourself and us.'" The next verse, "'But the other answering "'rebuked him, saying, do you not even fear God, "'seeing you are under the same condemnation? "'And we indeed justly, for we receive "'the due reward of our deeds.'" And so he, just like the Pharisee that I preached about a couple, or the tax collector, excuse me, that I preached about a couple weeks ago, this man recognizes that he is a sinner. And he's not asking for some sort of special reward for the good he's done, he's asking for mercy to cover the fact that he is, he's a sinner. So he says, "'We indeed justly, for we receive "'the due reward of our deeds, "'but this man has done no wrong.'" Verse 42, "'He then said to Jesus, "'Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.' "'And then, and Jesus said to him, "'Assuredly, I say to you, in 1,902,202 years "'and 270 days, you'll be with me in paradise.'" Oh, that's not what it says, that's right.

Assuredly, I say to you, today, everybody say today. Today. Today, you will be with me in paradise. What righteous acts has that man ever done? Not one, everything he had ever done had been wicked and selfish and destructive and dishonest. Everything he had done was rebellion against God until the last conversation he had on earth. He didn't have time to offset his wickedness, and yet he was promised by Christ, today, you will be with me in paradise. The idea that we can sell time off of purgatory is pagan nonsense. The truth is Christ, who is our great high priest, is able to. save to the uttermost, that he's able to save fully and completely everyone who comes to God through him. Amen? Everyone who comes to God through him. And so, you know, now, because, you know, in history, because this merit-based soteriology, soteriology is the doctrine of salvation that we hold, because of this merit-based soteriology or the system of justification, the Catholic institution began to see human virtue as salvific in nature. That's to say that we began to look at the good deeds of people like those are the things that save us. And so, here's what naturally flows from that.

If we begin to look at virtue, human virtue, like it's able to save us, then we look at virtuous humans like they are able to save us. Do you understand what I'm saying? How these things lead to each other? How like bad soteriology, that's our understanding of how salvation happens, bad soteriology leads to actual idolatry. And so, in Roman Catholic practice, not only is Christ our savior, but so also is Mary and Peter and the other saints. In fact, the Pope, the Pope today can release people from purgatory, which is actually one of the things that made the reformers so angry is that the Pope on his own impetus could release any person from purgatory he wanted to. And so, they were like, why are people paying for this? Why would you not just do that for everyone? Right? But if you hold the keys to salvation and people gotta pay you to get them, you have the power, right? And so, in Roman Catholic practice, not only is Christ our savior, but so also is Mary and Peter and other saints, including the Pope himself, who after all is the one who would issue the indulgence. So, this produces an idolatrous infatuation with the saints.

If we see human virtue as the thing that saves us, then we see virtuous humans as able to save us. You could see this, I think, most clearly in the Catholic veneration of Mary. Now, here's the interesting thing. If you say Catholics worship Mary, they will tell you we don't worship Mary, we venerate Mary. You should know that if you look up in the dictionary synonyms of worship, veneration is on the list. It's just two words that mean the same thing. So, you should know this about me. I took my first several theology classes at Catholic universities. I went to two Catholic universities during my undergrad. And so, my father taught at a Catholic university when I was young. And I remember talking with one of my theology professors and I asked her and I said, hey, it seems like y'all worship Mary. And she said, we don't worship her, we venerate her. And then she explained this. She said, we honor Mary because of her yes to the Lord. That is a good and right thing and it's worthy of honor. And I said, I totally agree with you, that's fine. And then it was years later that I finally stopped and looked and I said, that's not what y'all do, though. I respect Mary for her yes to the Lord. I admire it.

My plan is to preach about Mary next week. However, you should know that we can hear the salesmanship all we want, but the reality I think we can't escape is this. We've gotta trust our eyes. When you see people worshiping Mary, it's because of their worshiping Mary. Here's, okay, so there is a prayer. It's a very, actually, extremely popular prayer in the Catholic church even today. So this isn't some ancient sort of fringe thing. This is something that today millions of Catholics woke up and recited this prayer. It's called the morning consecration to Mary. And I'm just gonna read it to you and you guys can, Daniel, you know this one? You're laughing already. All right, you guys can just come to your own conclusions, I guess. This is the prayer that today, this day, on May 3rd, 2026, millions of Catholics woke up and recited this prayer. My queen, my mother, I offer myself entirely to thee. And to show my devotion to thee, I offer thee this day. my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my whole being without reserve. Wherefore, good mother, as I am thine own, keep me, guard me as thy property and possession, amen. Man, we get sometimes so into the weeds of doctrinal debate that we, you know, we argue over the meanings of words.

It's not worship, it's veneration. It's like, no, that's worship. It's worship. And it comes from, it happens because of a poor soteriology. We view salvation as being something that is a product of man's virtue. So then we look at a virtuous human like Mary and we say, well, that person can save us too. Yes. But 1 Timothy 2, five makes it very clear how we are able to come before God. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. There is one God. This has been, I mean, it's just, yeah. This has been a verse that we have to cling to. We have to cling to, like you understand that I can pray for you, but I can't mediate your relationship. You don't come to God through me as your pastor. You don't come to God through your parents. You come to God through Christ Jesus. There's one God and one mediator between God and men. That is the man, Christ Jesus. And just in case, it's almost like the God who wanted to communicate doctrine was also in charge of history because there's an event recorded in Luke chapter 12 that clearly shows us what Christ's position on this, on the worship of Mary was.

In Luke chapter 12, verses 27 and 28, it tells us this story. And it happened as he, this is Jesus, spoke these things that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, blessed is the wound that bore you and the breasts which nursed you. That sounds like much of the Marian worship from the Catholic Church over these last 500 years. But he said, this is how Jesus responds, but he said, this is Luke 12, 28. You can check me on this. More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Listen, I have heard the word of God and kept it many times and there are no Catholics praying before pictures of me. Nobody lights a candle with my picture on it in their house during Lent. Weird, right? Jesus is clearly communicating hierarchy or priority here. He's saying, listen, I'm not taking anything away from Mary, but understand if you're looking for an order of sacredness, this is the thing we esteem the most is obedience to the word of God. The thing we honor the most is obedience to the word of God. More than Mary, the wound that bore me or the breasts that nursed me, more than that, more blessed than that are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

This is Jesus himself clearly communicating priority. Not to say that Mary isn't an example worth following, a woman worth celebrating whose story is for all of us, you know, an inspiration, a bit of guidance and revelation about how to respond when God calls us to a task that is way too big for us to handle. I'm so grateful for the example that she set and it's an example we all ought to follow. But she doesn't stand between us and God. Christ is our only mediator. You know, and we are told, if you remember, that the Catholic Church is sort of the one true church and that the way that they practice the faith today is the way that it always has been. That is, it's actually just not true. You know, for example, the treasury of merit that idea was codified by the Catholic Church in the year 1343. So for 1300 years, the treasury of merit just wasn't a part of Catholic doctrine. Mary, for example, all of the Marian legends, the Marian mythology that have been, become that have been proclaimed infallible doctrine by the Catholic Church have happened since the Protestant Reformation, in the last 500 years. And those include the idea that Mary was without sin, she was born without original sin, that's the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, that she lived her life sinlessly, that she was a perpetual virgin,

perpetual virginity of Mary, and that she was bodily assumed into heaven, that she never died, that she just floated up into heaven. None of those things, of course, are in the scriptures. This is just mythology that has developed very recently, more recently, in fact, than even the Protestant Reformation. You can see the same sort of developmental issue with the church's position. This is, I've got too much to say on this, and I don't have a clock here. With the church's position, this is from Vatican I in 1870, the Roman Catholic Church said it was to Simon alone, that's Peter, to whom he, that's Christ, had already said, you shall be called Cephas in John 1.42, that the Lord, after his confession, said, blessed are you, and I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and will give you the keys of the kingdom. Then the council adds, this is a direct quote from the Vatican Council, the Council of the Roman Catholic Church of Vatican I in 1870, this quote, this doctrine has always been understood by the Catholic Church in accordance with the ancient and constant faith of the universal church. I've got a full page of church fathers who disagree with that.

I've got quotes from Tertullian and John Chrysostom and Ambrose of Milan and Augustine of Hippo and several others who would disagree, and so there's these claims that the whole church has always agreed with our current position, but in 1870, which is really in the grand scheme of the last 2,000 years, not that long ago, the Roman Catholic Church canonized into doctrine something that much of the early church would have disagreed with enthusiastically, and they did it by saying this is what the church, all of the church has always believed. That is a lie, I need you to hear this. That's a demonic lie designed specifically to exert control over people who are willing to defer the study of God's word to someone else because maybe they're too innocent or too ignorant to do it on their own, and so the true issue here, this is really the core issue. Like I could talk for hours and hours and hours about official doctrines of the Catholic Church that are just unbiblical, but the core issue here is this. Who has the final say? Okay, in the 1400s, the Catholic Church, I should say, yeah, from the 1300s to the 1500s, the Catholic Church had a pretty fierce debate over who would get the final word, the pope or a church council, who was the final authority, and so it's interesting this idea that you gotta submit to Rome

because Rome isn't even quite clear on what it means to submit to Rome. Is it submit to whatever the pope says or is it submit to whatever some Vatican council asserts or writes down? You have in the 1370s for like 70 years in the 1300s, you have another papacy in Avignon, France, and so you have the Roman pope, there's a pope in Rome, and then there's another pope in France, and so the church gets together and they select a council, and they think, all right, we're gonna clear this up once and for all. We're gonna get together in Pisa, Italy, and we are gonna select another pope, and this is gonna be like the official popes, and then they select that guy. Guess what happens? The other two refuse to leave, so now there's three popes, and they're all excommunicating each other, and people are like, you know, winding up dead under suspicious circumstances, and it just becomes this like very complicated situation in the 1300s, so eventually, after all this chaos, people start to say, well, maybe the pope doesn't hold all authority. Maybe the council should hold authority. The councils have the final word, and so then you have councils saying things like what they said at Vatican I in 1870,

which is just demonstrably not true, and so the idea that maybe the pope is infallible, he cannot err, that is clearly false, and then they thought, well, maybe the council cannot err, and that also now is clearly false, and so what is it that cannot err? You wanna know what it is? Scripture. Scripture cannot err. Welcome to the Protestant Reformation. This is sola scriptura. This is to say not that tradition doesn't matter, not that church authority doesn't matter, but if church authority or tradition disagree with the scripture, we submit to scripture, and I would say that about me, that if I ever ask you to do something that's not biblical, submit to the scripture. scriptures, submit to God's word where God's word is clear. And then people would say, well, you need someone to interpret the scriptures for you. And I actually, this is an interesting, I'm just, we're just talking here, right? Like this, okay. I actually am working out this idea that I don't necessarily, I'm not against conciliarism. That's the idea that you believe that the council holds authority. I would just consider myself, I literally have never heard anyone else

use this term before. Maybe they have, I just haven't Googled it yet. But I would consider myself a universal conciliarist. And here's what I mean. I think the council holds the final authority. I just don't think the council is this group of a dozen Catholic scholars that the Pope appointed. I think the council is the full body of Christ globally. And so I do think the council holds authority to interpret scripture, but I think that God has decentralized that council in his sovereign grace to make sure that people from different walks of life, from different backgrounds are able to say, no, no, no, I see it this way so that we together as a collective body can come closer to the truth generation after generation after generation. So anyway, are we having fun? I am sweating. Let's do it, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. And so the question of who has final authority, is it the council or is it the Pope? I would disagree. I would live and die with my boys, John Luther and John Calvin and Zwingli by saying it's the scriptures. The scriptures have to hold the final authority. And if there is any tradition or church council

or church leader that disagrees with the scriptures, I will always yield to God's word above all. Sola Scriptura doesn't mean that God only speaks through the Bible. Sola Scriptura means that the Bible is the only universal and infallible rule of faith. That if it's not in the Bible, it may be beneficial, it may be helpful, but it's not divine universally. And so here, I'll actually, I'll point this out to you that this is actually how the apostles dealt with their own authority. I would look at Acts chapter 15. Let's do it. I don't have a timer telling me that I'm past time, so we're just gonna do it. In Acts chapter 15, this is the Jerusalem council. There's a debate going on among the first century, the first generation church leaders about circumcision, about Gentiles coming to salvation, what they need to do to be saved, and even if they can be saved or if salvation is only for the Jews. And there is this set of circumstances. I'll just read it to you. Okay, so it says, now the apostles, starting in verse six of Acts 15, now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. And when there had been much dispute, understand this is a church dispute over doctrine,

Peter rose up and said to them, men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So Peter is referring here to Cornelius, the story of Cornelius and his house. Peter has a vision of unclean foods coming down out of heaven. And God says, don't call unclean what I've called clean. And then Peter preaches the gospel to Cornelius, a Gentile. He and his whole family are saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. So Peter says, I've seen it happen. In verse eight, he says, so God who knows the heart acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Purifying their hearts, what? Yeah, yeah, not by purgatory, not by, you know, atoning rituals, purifying their hearts by faith. Our hearts are purified by faith. And so he says, purifying their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, everybody say grace. Yeah, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they.

Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. Okay, so here's what you have. These guys are all saying, we're not sure. Can the Gentiles get saved? Do Gentiles have to convert to Judaism? Do they have to start, get circumcised and start going to the temple and making sacrifices? Like, what do we do with these guys? And so you have Peter and Paul and Barnabas all stand up and share testimonies. Peter's saying, I saw it in Cornelius' life. Paul and Barnabas are saying, man, we're seeing it all over the place. God is giving grace to the Gentiles. It's obvious God wants these people to be saved. And so then this is. What happens, James, this is the brother of Jesus, in verse 13, and after they had become silent, James answered saying, men and brethren, listen to me. Simon has declared, that's Peter, has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And with this, the words of the prophets agree. Just as it is written, after this, everybody say as it is written. As it is written. Yeah, yeah, pay attention to that.

After this, I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord. Even all the Gentiles who are called by my name says the Lord who does all these things. So this is from Amos, this is from the book of Amos. And then it says, James says, known to God from eternity are all his works. Therefore, I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled and from blood. For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him. Also, you should abstain from drinking blood, which is another point of the Catholic transubstantiation thing. Anyway, you should abstain. Yeah, yeah, there's so much. Okay, for Moses has throughout many generations, Moses had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city being read in the synagogues every Sabbath. Then, verse 22, then it pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men at their own company to Antioch, Paul, and Barnabas, et cetera, et cetera, and they wrote them this letter. So this is what settles it, is James stands up

and says, it's biblical. And everybody goes, okay. Peter and Paul and Barnabas all said, we're seeing personal testimonies. We have a personal witness that this is the right thing to do, but it's not until James invokes the authority of scripture that the council is able to say, okay, we're in agreement now. We'll submit to what God's word says. And so this is where we see, I think, a beautiful working out of how doctrine comes into play. We can say, hey, I'm experiencing this thing. I have this dream or this vision, or God spoke to me in this way that's wonderful. We should bring those things to the table, but when we see those things disagreeing with scripture, we should question our own personal experiences. But when we see those things borne out in scripture, when scripture affirms and confirms the things that God is doing in the world around us, then we can run with it confidently. You see the same thing in 1 Corinthians chapter nine. This is the Apostle Paul struggled with the Corinthian church. I can relate. And this is what he says, and I think this is so beautiful. So there's this idea, right, that Peter is the Pope and the seat of Peter, that's the seat of authority over the entire church, and as the Bishop of Rome, that Peter was the primary authority,

that he's the sort of foundational cornerstone. He's the rock upon which the entire church is built. That would be the Catholic position. But there's this beautiful moment here where Paul is advocating for his own authority. And I want you to notice that Paul doesn't say, I was ordained by Peter. I'm a Bishop because Peter said I'm a Bishop. Peter laid hands on me, I got Peter's permission. This is what he says in 1 Corinthians nine, verses one and two. He says to these people whom he loves, this church that he helped establish, he says, am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? Look at the next verse. He says, if I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. Here's, the position of the Catholic church is that this is not, the altar fellowship is not a legitimate church, because the leader of the church is not a Bishop ordained under the authority of the Roman Catholic institution. But Paul doesn't point to the institution or the office or the appointment as the reason for his authority. He points to the people and he says,

you are the seal of my apostleship. I have authority because you've given it to me. I planted this church. I shepherd these people. I've been in your homes, you've been in my homes. We've eaten food together. This is a family. And Paul is not invoking some external authority. He's saying, you are the seal of my apostleship. That's all the evidence that I need. That's all the proof that I could provide to you. It's the beauty of what God has been doing, is that since the beginning of the church, the Lord Jesus has been establishing his church, not by way of institution, but by way of inspiration, divine inspiration. And he's been calling apostles out of time, men like Paul, for example, and sending them into his mission field to establish them as outposts of heaven on the earth. John Calvin, and so I suppose before I get to that, the question that we have got to ask is, where does the final authority lie? Is it with the apostle, the bishop, the pastor, the leader of the local church, or is it with the scriptures? And as the leader of this local church, I should tell you it is with the scriptures. My authority only goes as far as God's word. My authority in your life only goes as far as God's word,

and I would never demand or expect anything more than that. John Calvin defined the church like this. He said, the church is the society of all the saints. A society which spread over the whole world and existing in all ages is yet bound together by the one doctrine and the one spirit of Christ. Cultivates and observes unity of faith and brotherly accord. With this church, we deny that we have any disagreement. This is John Calvin, the heretic in the eyes of the Catholic church. This is John Calvin who is excommunicated, removed from fellowship, the reformer. He says, with this church, that is the society of all saints spread over the whole world and existing in all ages, bound together by the one doctrine and the one spirit of Christ. He says, with this church, we deny that we have any disagreement. Nay, rather, as we revere her as our mother, so we desire to remain in her bosom. Guys, hear what I'm saying. We love the church when it's rightly defined. The church is not a brand or an institution. The church is an organism. It is the body of Christ, and it is comprised of all who call on the name of the Lord for salvation. And I am more convinced today than I've ever been before that there sits in Rome a demonic tyranny whose express spiritual purpose is to dilute the teaching of the church to such a great degree

that the gospel of grace becomes impossible to find. Remember how Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. The father said, you are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Publicly affirmed his identity as the son of God. Now, Satan couldn't keep Jesus from being the son of God, but what did Satan do? If you really are the son of God, you should command these stones to be turned into bread. If you really are the son of God, you should do what I tell you. See, there's this demonic impulse that you can see even in the scriptures that recognizes if I can't keep you from coming to Christ, then I'll try to convince you what you have to do now that you have. If you come to Christ, here's what you have to do. Keep coming to Christ. Grab a hold of him. Chase after him and follow where he leads. So what does all this mean for us? I want to go to 2 Corinthians 7, two. And I want to just read a couple verses to you in 2 Corinthians chapter seven. And this is Paul writing to the Corinthian church after they've done more shenanigans. And... Sorry. I'm sorry, I think that's the, I think that's wrong. That is a good passage, but I think that's the wrong one.

It's 2 Corinthians, sorry, 11, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, starting in verse two. He says, for I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. This is, I should tell you guys, I've been dealing with this and even in our church, we've had families leave to convert to Catholicism and we've had people encouraging other people to leave to convert to Catholicism. So I need to confront this, but I find, like I said before, this kinship with Paul. As he says this to the church in Corinth, he says, I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrayed you. trothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest somehow as the serpent deceived Eve, by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Say simplicity. He says I'm afraid that your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. I can't think of anything that the Catholic institution is better at than corrupting minds away from the simplicity that is in Christ. The simplicity that is in Christ, he says, for if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit, which you have not received or a different gospel, which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. And I feel this, that people I've walked with through hell, are hearing someone go, the Catholic Church is the one true church, 2000 years of unbroken apostolic succession and thinking, Oh, that seems cool. And then I hear Paul saying, Dude, I feel you, Matty. I felt the same way about the Corinthians, these people

that I loved, I gave my life for them, were so shallow in their footing. So shallow in their trust for me as their apostle, that if anybody came along and tried to lead them into some religious institution, that would pull them away from the simplicity in Christ, I thought they might follow. So I have to say to you, understand, we're not here by luck. We're not here on accident. This community of people has been chosen by God for such a time as this. We stand on a foundation of 2000 years of faithful men and women of God that have buried themselves into God's Word. Many have laid their lives down for this beautiful church, the society of all the saints spread over the whole world and existing in all ages. We stand today on a foundation that they laid. And I'm so grateful we get to do that. And my hope is that you will not be deceived into believing that we are who we are as a church just because, you know, of Hillsong. We are who we are as a church because of Jesus, who promised in Matthew chapter 16, that he would build his church on the confession of his messianic identity. And that against that church, the gates of hell would not prevail. This morning, we get to engage in one of the two sacraments we recognize. We get to engage in the Eucharist. We get to take communion this morning. And I want to charge you before we do if I could get the elders to come up and prepare. I want to charge you before we do to remember that it is by faith that we have communion with Christ. It is by faith that we have communion with Christ. It's not by my merit or anyone else's. It's not by your merit or your virtue that we come into communion with Christ. It is by faith. But I would caution you to guard very seriously your heart. Do not take this lightly. Do not view this as flippant or insignificant. As we engage in

the sacrament of communion together, we come very seriously into the presence of the body and blood of Christ. And we must do so, I think, with an appropriate degree of reverence. This isn't snack time. This isn't something that we do without thought or without care or consideration. We engage in this as an act of corporate meditation on the sacrifice Christ made for us in corporate communion with the one who made the sacrifice. And so I'd ask you to just stand with me and we'll begin. Just to give you a couple of instructions. So we'll have you guys. We've got stations set up in these, in front of these two aisles, so we'll have you kind of both filter through these two outside aisles. And then when you're done, you can go back either through the middle or through the, through the outsides. If you need a gluten-free option, we've got one here in the middle. Let's just, I want you to take a moment to look at your own life, at your own heart. If there is unforgiveness that you're holding, resentment that you're holding, I'd ask you to lay it down before you come and receive this today. If there is secret sin in your life, I'd ask you to turn away from it, confess it before you come and receive the elements today. If there is good you know that God has called you to do that you have not yet done, I'd ask you to settle that in your heart. Make that commitment today before you come to receive this. But as Jesus instructed his disciples on the night he was betrayed, he took the, he took the bread and he broke it and he said, this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And then in the same way the scriptures tell us he took the cup and he said, this is my blood of a new covenant shed for you. This, take as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. In remembrance of me. And so we recognize that this is not bread and wine, that spiritually this is the body and the blood of Jesus. And by faith we are carried in this moment, in the practice of this sacrament into the presence

of Christ with gratitude and humility over the unimaginable sacrifice that he made on our behalf. And so I'll pray and then we'll let you come forward. Lord we thank you for your body and your blood. We thank you for your kindness toward us that drove you to the cross and that held you there. Lord thank you that there was a joy set before you for which you are willing to endure the cross. And God we thank you that the church is that joy. And Lord as we receive the body and the blood today, we thank you for the health, the life that it brings. Thank you that by faith today we come into communion with Christ. And we ask you Lord that you would draw us nearer to you in this moment than we've ever been. We pray this in your holy name. Amen. All right whenever you're ready you can come forward now. Thank you. Amen.