What Are You Using? | Pastor Chris Kouba | United City Church

Well, good morning, United City. It is so good to be with you. I don't know about you, but it is a great day to be in the house of the Lord. And so will you do me a favor and just put your hands together like this. Here we go. Because God is good. He is always good, and he is worthy to be praised this morning because of that we can sing with confidence. Hallelujah. We sing. Sing, hallelujah. You can always praise me. Sing, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Come on, it is a joy to be in the house of the Lord this morning. We sing. I've got to sing. I've got to God who is for me. And he's known for making a way, yes. Because he spoke about us, so I wouldn't have to. All glory even wrong to his name. And I've got to God who's been faithful. Yes, he has. Far more than I could explain. And through every season, in spite of my weakness, he gave me a song of this thing. I came to pray. Come on, put your hands together this morning.

I came to pray. That's why I woke up today. That's why I woke up today. Oh, I came to pray. We sing. Hallelujah, hallelujah. You can always praise me. Sing, hallelujah, hallelujah. Because we are, we are, we are. We are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are. We are, we are, we are, we are, we are. We are, we are, we are, we are. We are, we are, we are, we are. We are, we are, we are. We are, we are, we are. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing in the night. I'm singing in the battle. That's how I'm far. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing in twice. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing in the night. I'm singing in the night. That's how I'm far. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing in twice. I'm singing in twice. I'm singing in the morning.

♪ I'm singing the Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ We've come to bless the Lord ♪ ♪ We sing, sing, Hallelujah ♪ ♪ You get all the praise ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ We're singing, Hallelujah ♪ ♪ The Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Halle, Hallelujah ♪ ♪ We're singing, Hallelujah ♪ ♪ I'm singing, I'm singing the morning ♪ ♪ I'm singing now ♪ ♪ I'm singing in the battle ♪ ♪ That's how I'll cry ♪ ♪ When singing is holy ♪ ♪ I'm singing it twice ♪ ♪ I'm singing is holy ♪ ♪ The rest of the night ♪ ♪ We're singing, Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ You get all the praise ♪ ♪ All things, put your hands together like this ♪ ♪ 'Cause I came to pray ♪ ♪ Repeat after me ♪ ♪ I came to pray ♪ ♪ Things that will be out of my way ♪ ♪ Things that will be out of my way ♪ ♪ Whoo! ♪ ♪ It's a simple song ♪

♪ It just goes like this ♪ ♪ Just thank you ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ Come on, give me give me some praise today ♪ ♪ Sing, say ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ ♪ You Lord ♪ ♪ Lift your voice and sing ♪ ♪ Thank you Lord ♪ ♪ Sing all just water ♪ ♪ As you want to thank ♪ ♪ You Lord ♪ ♪ Come on, sing, thank you Lord ♪ ♪ Thank you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh thank you ♪ ♪ Thank you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh thank you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ Come on, we come to bless the Lord today, say thank you Lord, say thank you Lord. And I just want to thank you Lord, say thank you Lord, say thank you Lord. And I just want to thank you Lord, say thank you Lord, say thank you Lord. I want to thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord. And I can you push your hands together and thank you Lord, but He is good and great and worthy to be praised, amen. Amen, it is so good to be with you in the house of the Lord today, on this today the Lord is made. Can we put our hands together and thank all of our first time, guests with us in the room. Thank you so much for being with us, hey do us a favor, take your phone and just touch it to the black circle on the seat back in front of you, we'd love to get just a little bit of information from you as we continue here in our time of worship to thank you for

being with us today. I just want to call my hearts for just a moment, it's really fun to come in church and to sing the fun songs, but it's always good to be reminded of why we're here. And so for some of you, this one will be simple, it will look like closing your eyes, just a quiet the noise, distractions, sometimes it takes a lot to get in the room, but you made it and you're here. The scriptures say that we get the opportunity to enter into his gates with thanksgiving into his courts with praise, let us not take that invitation lightly, yet at the same time would you right now just say, Jesus would you have your way in my heart today, full surrender God would you have your way in my life today, for the next hour or so far I fix my full focus on you, I make room for you God, for you to do whatever you want to, it's in your name for you God, for you to do what you want to do, for you to do what you want to do, for you to do what you want to do, for you to do what you want to do, for you to do what you want to, to do whatever you want to do, and I will make room for you, to do whatever you want to do whatever you want to do, for you to do whatever you want to do, for you to do what you want to do, for you to do what you want to do, for you to do what you want to do, for you to do whatever you want to, to do whatever you want to do, for you to do whatever you want to, to do whatever you want to do, and I will make room for you ♪ So do whatever you want to do ♪ ♪ So do whatever you want to do ♪ ♪ And I will make rules for you ♪ ♪ So do whatever you want to do ♪ ♪ So do whatever you want to do ♪ ♪ We lace our feet ♪ ♪ Don't shake up the ground before my tradition ♪ ♪ Pray down the walls before my religion ♪ ♪ Your way is better ♪ ♪ Your way is better ♪ ♪ Pray down the ground before my tradition ♪ ♪ Pray down the walls before my religion ♪

♪ Your way is better ♪ ♪ Your way is better ♪ ♪ Shake up the ground before my tradition ♪ ♪ Pray down the walls before my religion ♪ ♪ Your way is better ♪ ♪ Don't shake up the ground before my tradition ♪ ♪ Pray down the walls before my religion ♪ ♪ Your way is better ♪ ♪ Don't shake up the ground before my tradition ♪ ♪ Don't shake up the ground before my tradition ♪ ♪ Pray down the walls before my religion ♪ ♪ Your way is better ♪ ♪ Whatever you want to ♪ ♪ And I will make room for you ♪ ♪ To do whatever you want to ♪ ♪ To do whatever you want to ♪ ♪ And here is where I lay it down ♪ ♪ You are all I'm tasting now ♪ ♪ This is my surrender ♪ ♪ This is my surrender ♪ ♪ Here is where I lay it down ♪ ♪ You are all I'm tasting now ♪ ♪ This is my surrender ♪ ♪ All to Jesus ♪ ♪ My surrender ♪ ♪ Sing it out loud ♪ ♪ To Him all every year ♪ ♪ And love and trust Him here ♪ ♪ Love and trust Him here ♪ ♪ His presence day ♪

♪ Sing it out loud ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ All to Him I ♪ ♪ Blessed Savior ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I open up my heart to You ♪ ♪ I open up my heart to You now ♪ ♪ So do what only ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Since Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus had Your way ♪ ♪ In the end of our life ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ lord speak to me now you have all my attention so i'm a linker and listen i can't miss a thing because lord i know my heart you want some more my heart you want something new so i i said to the clock you just lift your hands because what i wanted is to live within and hold see i'll be loping up again and throw my fears into the wind i am just before it's as hard as i ever know king jesus lord will you meet us all oh we sing you're the fire you're the fire in the morning you're the cool in the evening oh you're the breath in my soul oh the life in my bones there is no hesitation in your life come on he loves you it's the sweetest of all oh because lord i know my heart you want some more of you my heart and one come on that's our prayer this morning so we surrender because lord is to live within your love

my desire is to know you need better so i will open up again i'm the best friend won't you say oh king jesus oh you need come on let this be our prayer i open up my heart to you i open up my heart to you now king jesus jesus hide your way again now we surrender i open up my to you so do what only you and open invitation jesus hide your way when we're now i open up my heart to you i open up my heart to you now so do what only you can jesus hide your way in the evening oh where are you for who you need who you need oh king jesus turn across and you just lift your hands can you lift your hearts can you accept the spirit of the lord will fall on this place because all we want is to know him and to dwell in his courts forever and because of that we can see that all my heart is to live within your love be done by who you need to know you need better so do what you need One time, love ends Oh, you're all we want Oh, you're all we need Oh, you're everything 'Cause all I want Is to live within your love Be undone by who you are My desire is to know you Deep for the soul I will love and love again Throw my fears into the wind

I am desperate for all I want Oh, I want Is to live within Be undone by who you are My desire is to know you Deep for all I want I will love and love again Throw my fears into the wind I am desperate for all I want Ever, ever I will love and love again I am desperate for all I want I am desperate for all I want I am desperate for all I am desperate for all 10 o'clock, how are we doing? Hey, grab your Bibles, open them up to me to Colossians 2 Colossians 2 is where we're going to hang out today. It is so good to be back with you. I do want to take this opportunity to welcome all of those Let's give them a hand and celebrate the facts We've got those folks on the other side of the camera Had somebody come up to me after the first service Who used to be in a correctional facility and now goes to our church Which we think is one of the most beautiful things ever And she simply just said please, please, please do that every week You have no idea what it means, we just want you to know we love you And you are welcome here at United City Church Colossians 2 is where we're going to be

I've got two things I want to show you today The first one is something that you most likely Probably have maybe in your junk drawer at your house It's something that you don't think about very much Maybe it's been a while since you've even used one It is a pencil, got me a pencil up here Whenever I was growing up, I feel like I was severely misled I was told that you need to go grab a lead pencil Anybody ever told that, you need to grab a lead pencil? Did you know there's no lead in a pencil? None, whatsoever The little gray matter that you used to write on a pencil Is actually made up of graphite And if you break it down even further, it's made up of carbon So essentially there's no lead, it's just a carbon pencil The other thing that I brought to you today is something that's much more significant Much more beautiful, it is a diamond In fact, there's quite a few diamonds This is a diamonds that are all made up into a cross necklace This is my wife, she wears it on special occasions A beautiful, beautiful thing here A diamond, of course we know is the hardest thing in all of the world Like literally it's the most strongest thing that you could possibly ever imagine Think about all that takes place with a diamond Literally wars have been fought over diamonds A diamond is something that you again might put on a necklace like this Maybe it's something that you might put on a ring of a woman That indicates something very significant It's something that you would ensure It's something that you would admire in every single way

Did you know that a pencil and a diamond are made of the same thing? This is carbon One, you write down to where it's a nub and you throw it away The other one you buy insurance on in case you ever lose it You want to make sure that you can get the money back for it What's the difference in the two? A diamond is made up of carbon a hundred miles below the earth And there is heat and pressure added to it Something we can never reproduce up here And as a result of that it crystallizes and comes together And it makes something that is beautiful and it shines you know what I wanna be? I wanna be a diamond. And so you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna download an app and I'm gonna let that app tell me what I need to do to go try to become a diamond. It doesn't wake up at 5 a.m. and read books on how to be a diamond. It's instead something that happens to it outside of it. Something that it can't control. And as a result of over time, all of the pressure that is put on it, it becomes something that is beautiful that we get to look at and admire. I wanna argue this morning that I am speaking to a bunch of people here who are pencils all their lives trying to become diamonds and your exhaust. You tried everything that you possibly can think of in order to try to take who you are

and make it into something that everyone would look at and admire. Everyone would look at and just look and admire how beautiful do you look but you find yourself at a place to where you're exhausted, tired and it's just simply not working. I need to tell you something before we go any further because I'm gonna talk to you today about how to achieve change. And this is coming from somebody who is a very disciplined person. I'm insanely disciplined. It's something that I take a lot of pride in but I would tell you that not as a source of pride, I tell you that instead as a source of admitting to you that one of my greatest spiritual struggles in all of my life is my own discipline. It's because essentially whenever I look at a problem, I begin to think, what am I gonna do? What plan am I gonna put together in order to tackle that problem? And here I am today gonna tell you that you and your discipline cannot achieve change in your life. Here who is saying that to you, it's somebody who's tried. It's somebody who's worked hard. It's somebody who's tried harder than the problem that's put in front of them. And I would tell you there are things in my life today that look just like they did many, many years ago

and it's not because I haven't tried to fix them, it's simply because all of my efforts of trying haven't worked. If I had to guess, I'm not alone. You maybe are here today and you've got a drawer in your life that represents like a museum of all of the things that you tried and failed at to bring about change. Do any of you have the journal that you have eight really good entries in in a row? Only to look up on day nine, realizing you don't even like journaling. I don't know why I'm doing this. And then the journal just sits there as a reminder of what you tried and failed. Some of you have that streak of you're gonna read the Bible every single day and guess what? It ended in February, but you are 45 days into it and you are really, really good. But now it's just a reminder, you don't even wanna open it 'cause it just reminds you how far you're behind, how much the streak ended and how it's no longer something that's gonna be who you are. How many of you find yourself at a place? It's where you've got that text message accountability group and it's really, really good and it came out really, really high and things were really, really great. And then all of a sudden now people have left it unread

and no one even says anything anymore and it's basically gone away. Here's the thing, it wasn't like you started out with the thought that I'm gonna fail at this. Like whenever you made the commitment, you were all in. Like you actually thought I'm gonna do these things and I'm gonna bring about this change and you were all fully committed. But now if you were honest, you stand here five years ago. You have the same hang ups, the same habits, the same difficulties that you used to have. It's not because you haven't tried, it's just because they haven't worked. What I wanna talk about in Colossians chapter two is really trying to answer this question, what are you using to bring about change in your life? What is it that you're leaning into in order to go from where you are to where you want to be? We're looking at Colossians, the book of Colossians, which was written by the Apostle Paul to a church he's never met and he's writing to a group of people who have false teachers who've come onto the scene and here's what they're doing. They're not saying Jesus isn't any good. They're instead saying Jesus isn't enough. What you need to do is have Jesus and something else. And what they're gonna do is they're gonna muddy the water in every single way by trying to get you to add things to Jesus and what I want you to see today is that when you add things to Jesus,

what you actually do is replace Jesus. And what we wanna lead you to do today is instead admire and look at the only one who can bring about change in your life. Let's read Colossians chapter two, beginning in verse 16. I wanna ask if you would please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word together. This is therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. Let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism and worship of angels. Going on in detail about visions puffed up without reason by a sensuous mind, and not holding fast to his head from whom the whole body nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why is if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that are all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. You may be seated. Three different times in these two paragraphs, Paul pushes back on the same thing. Verse 16, let no one pass judgment on you. Verse 18, let no one disqualify you. Verse 20, he turns and he asks them why they submit to regulations under all of these three are one question, who gets to tell you how to change? What Paul's going to do is he's going to give us three answers to that question of what is not right, and he's going to give us the answer in verse 19. Let's look first of all at the first one of what does not work to bring about change in your life.

Number one, write this down. Doing more will not change you. Doing more will not change you. Verse 16 states, therefore, you need to know that means you're going to go back and see what it's connected to, what it's connected to is at Brian McCormick. Let us in through last week in Colossians chapter 2, the beginning, and specifically in verse 14, when he says that the record of debt that stood against us was set aside nailed to the cross. So everything that we're reading here, all these false teachers and what they're teaching, he's saying, look, Jesus has already done all the work. There is nothing that needs to be added to it. He's not arguing rules versus freedom. He's saying a finished work on the cross means the whole system becomes obsolete. Look at what he names for 16 food and drink, festival, new moon, Sabbath. That's not a random pile. It may be random to us, but a Jewish listener would hear this and immediately think, oh, that's all the stuff I got to do. That's all the things that God has given to us in order to have a right relationship with him. And so, therefore, these are the things that I've got to do. And he lists all of these festivals, all of these things, it's like the whole calendar was laid out. And he's basically saying this from top down, all these things you must do. And by the way, if you don't, look at verse 16, it says that you are past judgment. That's stronger than being critical of you. These men believe that they were handing down a verdict on God's behalf. They weren't saying, hey, you should follow Jesus and do these things if you can. They were saying, if you don't follow all of these things, then hear me, you don't follow Jesus. Now, before we jump on these people too bad, let's begin to look and understand that nothing

on Paul's list here is actually bad. In fact, God is the one who gave Israel the food laws. God is the one who gave them the feast. God is the one who gave them the new moons. God is the one who gave them the Sabbath. The problem is what the teachers did with these gifts that God had given. They took the gifts that God meant to be used as a way to have a relationship with him and turn them into a test that you had to pass, meaning whether you do these things or not determines whether you're in or not. Looking for 17, it describes it. These things were actually a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. A shadow isn't a lie. Like a shadow is real, and you can't deny it, but you can't focus on the shadow. You have to focus on the thing that is casting the shadow. Hebrews 10, it tells us that all the laws and all the festivals are not bad things. They just weren't enough. They ultimately pointed to the greater thing, which was the person of Jesus. So please hear me. When the law was given, we knew that things were still left to come. When Paul is writing here after the cross, the tints has changed. The thing that was coming is here. So the shadow hasn't been discredited. It just means that it has been finished. It did its job. Here's why that's really hard for us. Because our version of shadows that we make into the substance are also good things. Like, we don't have new moons, but here's the kind of thing that we would ask. Hey, I know that you're going to church, and that's great. I heard you're even in a small group.

That's really great, too. But do you also go to this Bible study? I've noticed you used to go to four Bible studies, but now you only go to two Bible studies. Are you okay spiritually? Is something okay with you? We've somehow graded your involvement for your spirituality. We've put these ideas that somehow the more activity that I do, and that means that God must be pleased with me or how about this? Hey, do you journal? I mean, like, yeah, but do you really journal, like in an actual leather bound journal? Like that's spiritual. Digital's cheating, all right? What you need to do, do you use a real Bible or do you use a digital Bible? Because if you use a real Bible, that means you actually love Jesus. If you use a digital Bible, that just means that you're lazy, all right? That's what that means, okay? (congregation laughing) Folks, we make up all kinds of crazy stuff to make ourselves feel better about where we are in relation to other people. And what he's trying to say is this, Jesus is enough. You wanna know how you can determine

whether what you're doing is actually to try to have a relationship with Jesus that is a pure part in mind. It's not basically the what, it's the why. Here's how you find out the why. What do you do when it stops working? So I'm praying, I'm reading, I'm serving, I'm sharing, I'm doing all the things I'm supposed to do, but I don't feel it. Folks, please hear me. If that's your motivation, and in that moment you begin to stop doing those things, you were never doing those things for the Lord in the first place, you were always doing those things for you. So ask, not should I be doing this, ask, why am I doing this? I'm not trying to act like someone, we just do nothing. What I am trying to do is this, is that I do stuff knowing that God has never once moved, even if I move towards him and I don't feel it. Hillary and I have been married 24 and a half years, so about 25 years next year. And she said the same thing that I would, there have been times in our marriage where we don't feel it. There have been times in our marriage where it's hot, there's been times in our marriage when it's cold. When it times that it's cold, it doesn't mean that I somehow stop dating her. Somehow I don't pursue her anymore,

I don't ask her questions. No, the reason why I do those things is now because things are going well, I do those things because the end goal of our relationship is I want her. Like I wanna be with her. So often what you see is so many marriages turn into transactions. I'm gonna do these things over here and you're gonna do these things over here and we're gonna keep score and we'll see if we're gonna come together as a result of it. Folks, we do the very same thing in our relationships with God. We think as long as I do these things over here, then God owes me and he has to do these things over here. Please hear me, God's been the same the whole time. He has not once moved. So even though you may be on a treadmill, feeling like you're trying to earn his favor, feeling like you're trying to hear his voice, feeling like you're trying to somehow move him in such a way, please hear me doing more is never going to change you. Let's talk about the second thing that Paul knocks off here. Write this down, feeling more will not change you. Feeling more will not change you. Verse 18 is one long sentence, Paul packs four things into it. He mentions insisting on asceticism, worship of angels,

going on in detail about visions puffed up by a sensuous mind. He's describing people who have these amazing religious experiences. They probably wrote books about them and then they go on speaking tours about their experiences. They're folks who go and travel around and simply tell you if you wanna be spiritual like me, then here's what you're gonna be able to experience. And they describe a path or steps to get to the place where you think you need to be in order to have an experience like them. If you truly love Jesus, then you would feel this way, the way that I feel. If you truly love Jesus, then you are the spiritual gifts that I've experienced, the spiritual gifts that I've been able to do, you would be able to do those things as well. And what we're essentially saying is this, there's a J.V. and a varsity. I'm on varsity and you're on J.V. because you haven't gotten there yet. Books you need to understand the whole point of the book of Colossians is this. There's no J.V. There's no J.V. Think about what these men are actually claiming, not just that they wanna know more about, they knew more about God, but they're claiming that they've seen more of heaven than you have and they're telling you, here's the ladder, here's the steps you've gotta take

in order to have the feeling that I've had. They're saying, look, here's the way you climb up to get to God. Let me tell you about another ladder in the Bible. Genesis chapter 28, Jacob is running for his life after lying to his father and cheating his brother. He sleeps out in the open with a rock for a pillow and he dreams about a ladder that's set up on the earth reaching all the way up to heaven where the angels of God are going while Jacob is asleep. He doesn't build the ladder, he doesn't climb it, he's lying in the dirt at the bottom running from the mess that he made and the heavens open up over his head anyway. When he wakes up from his dream he says these words, surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it. Fast forward centuries later, John chapter 1 verse 51, Jesus tells Nathaniel that he'll see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Jesus is telling him this, I'm the ladder. It's not about what you laying on the ground in the dirt asleep have to climb up to get to me. Instead what you need to know, the whole point is this, Jesus climbed down the ladder to get to you and that truth by itself is enough. I remember back in college, I also remember back in seminary the big thing was this like oh it's so great man that you know the word, it's so great that you've experienced Jesus, it's so great that you've got salvation but can I just ask you the question that really is the litmus test of whether you're truly spiritual, have you ever spoken in tongues? That was the question. Look I'm not trying to somehow act like the gifts of the Spirit are gone and done and gone with. I'm not saying that at all but I am saying this, to use any measure of the spiritual gifts as a litmus test for your spirituality is absolutely against what the Scripture teaches in every way. Yet we buy into this whole thing and it's like man I want that. Maybe I'm not spiritual, maybe God hasn't spoken to me. I mean some people, other people talk as though somehow like they talk to God all the time. I feel like I'm praying and it doesn't go above the ceiling and we kind of use this. How do I feel about this? This is going to be the determined whether God must be happy with me or not. You ever done this? Go to worship service and you ask the question man I just didn't feel it today. Did you feel it today? Where somebody comes in there and they're

like man worship was off the chain today. It was so great. I mean I just, you could just see they're expressive and you see they're so into it and you're like I've never had that. Does that mean that somehow I'm not really worshiping? No that's not at all. What's trying to say look there are times when look and we want to make sure our worship is engaged in every way mentally, emotionally, physically, absolutely. But we can't allow the whole idea of being did I feel it today to be the evidence of whether God is real or God is present in that place. Because then we start asking crazy stuff like well I'm just going to go to a church where I can feel it. Let me just tell you something. You'll feel it for a little bit and then you're going to realize that feeling is not trustworthy. Instead what you have to understand is that when God does allow us to truly feel it praise God for that and other weeks when we don't feel it God is still just as present in that place as he ever was before. So I worship him in spirit and in truth not in feeling. I worship him because even when I don't feel it he's still worth it. I worship him because even on my worst week he's still worthy of praise. I worship him like Paul did whenever he was in prison and what does it say while he was in prison a worship service broke out. You think he felt it in prison? No. But I know that God is worthy of all that I am and all that I'm not being and so therefore I do not make my external feelings the litmus test of whether I've truly experienced change them all. We're going to skip verse 19 come back to it. Third thing though is found in verse 20 through 23. Let's write this down. Number three the third thing that he attacks about how to bring about change. Number three giving up will not change giving up more will not change you. First 20 if with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world. Why is if you were still alive in the world do you submit to regulations? I mentioned two things though about that verse. First he's not asking whether they died it's not like asking if this is a did you guys die on this? No it's stating kind of a hypothetical situation here where he's basically saying look a dead man is out from under the old jurisdiction. You don't answer to a system that you already died out of. Like why are you doing this again? It's gone. Don't go back to what you used to do. Second Paul stops arguing with the teachers up until now it's been don't anybody do this to you. Now it's why are you letting them do this to you? The problem isn't just what's being done to them anymore. It's what they're reaching for. Verse 21 he quotes their own rules back at them do not handle. Do not taste, do not touch. They're building a whole spiritual system around stuff that rots. And look at verse 23 says, it looks wise, self made religion, aestheticism,

severity to the body, but it has no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. I want you to picture your outside mowing, mowing the yard, okay? Only way to mow the yard right is to do it in lines, right? That's the whole point of it because you want to see your work. And so let's say you're mowing out there and you're doing the lines and you look over and you notice that a couple of lines away from you, what you're about to get to, is a very large ant pile, okay? Fire ant pile. I mean, these things are massive, okay? And you see that thing and you're just thinking the whole time and I cannot wait, so that's on my line, right? You actually look over and you get enough to see that it's a little bit active so you can tell like it's not like an old ant pile, like it's like a living ant pile, right? There are a few things in life, probably a lot more actually, but let's take this conversation. There's a few things in life better than being able to take on that line and boom, right over that ant pile. You know what I'm talking about? Just flatten that sucker. I mean, it's just so great, right? You go over it and you just see them all mad as ever and you just walk off just like, yeah, that's right, I own you. You know what kind of a deal? You wake up the next day and you're walking outside and you just want to go and take a look at your victory from the day before. And what do you notice? It's bigger and it's moved over to the left a little bit just to mess with you, right? Why? Because you flattening that ant pile did nothing to change the ant pile. All it did, I mean, the colony was underneath. All you were doing was taking that mower to the evidence.

But while you were taking over that mound and you were flattening it at that time, guess what was happening? Underneath the ground below the ground were all of these tunnels and the queen was doing her work and she was laying all of these eggs. And so therefore she wasn't affected at all by the mower that was on top because all of her work was down below. Please hear me. Verse 27, that's exactly what it's trying to say. Rules can keep you in line, but they can't change your heart. Rules can flatten the mound, but they can't touch the queen. You have got to experience something that rules can never accomplish in your life. So some of you think, well, if I just give up enough, if I sacrifice enough, then God's going to make change in my life. Please hear me. That's never how it works. Let me tell you how I know this. I know this too vividly well. Earlier this year, we led the church through 21 days of prayer and we've been asking you for the last many years, the last week of our 21 days of prayer to fast as a body of a church. And that we would just fast and ask for God to move in our lives in our hearts. I never want to call the church to do something that I don't lead out on. I just feel convicted by that. And so this year I felt like the Lord was prompting me to actually fast all 21 days. So not just the last seven days, but all 21 days. And I had literally water and no food for 21 days. And let me make a couple of comments. One, I'm not telling you that in any way to brag. I'm not saying that you need to do that. I'm not saying any of those things.

In fact, I would tell you, if you're ever going to fast, one, you need to make sure to consult with your doctor and make sure you consult with your spouse, make sure you guys on the same page. I would also tell you this. Many of you have tried fasting and we've talked about it every year. And you're like, man, I kind of want to do that. And you think day three, I'm going to die. You're not going to die. I just want you to know that you're not going to die, OK? So 21 days, that's what I felt like I was supposed to be doing, OK? So physically, there was a lot of great benefits. Just if you know this, just the background physiologically, like there's a lot of really healthy things that go along with fasting. I mean, it kind of, it helps you. It, I lost a bunch of weight. I didn't need to lose a bunch of weight, but you know, it's never, who never wants to lose weight, right? I mean, it's always like that. I lost 21 pounds in the middle of that time. And so it was definitely something that I felt great. I felt like there was so much mental clarity. It was really, really a physically, a really good experience. Spiritually though, it was a very frustrating. Because I did it for the purpose of being able to hear from the Lord. I wanted to give me revelation. I wanted to tell me about what he needed to do in my family and what he wanted me to do at the church and what he wanted to do in future and all the different things that go along with that. And I just felt like I was seeking him and not not eating and instead trying to pursue him. And and I was doing all of these things and it just never no light bulb moments, no, no lightning flash, no neon red signs, nothing ever happened in the midst of all of this. And so I knew that we were heading into the very end of this was going to be a church wide

prayer service, which we did last year. That was one of my favorite services in the entire year of the church calendar. So I was so looking forward to ending our collective fast all together at the church. If you remember, early in January, there was that really weird weekend when all of a sudden we thought that everything was gonna freeze and literally everybody shut down. We put services online like everybody else did and what happened? Absolutely nothing. Do you remember that? So I'm at home at the end of my fast, not gathered with the church, going to pity party, eating my first meal. I would tell you I was in that front for months. It was just frustrating. I was just kind of angry. I didn't feel like, like God, I'd sacrifice all this stuff for you. And this is how you're repaying me. Like you're giving me nothing in the summer. God didn't speak audibly to me, but I'm telling you, I heard it as clear as day. He said this, "Who did you fast for?" It sounds like you did this for you instead of doing this for me. Here I am not eating for 21 days and God's not impressed at all.

Why? Because I was acting like I was giving him an offering. In reality, I was giving him a transaction. Hey, I'm going to pay my debt and you're going to give me all the merchandise that I mowed. Because I want you to see that's verse 23 all over you. It looked like wisdom, but I had no value. Where are you doing the same thing? Every time you try to change by doing more, by feeling more, by giving up more, you're adding something to Jesus and please hear me. When you add something to Jesus, you're not adding, you're replacing. Jesus plus nothing equals everything. I want you to think about the gospel. What we think is, is that since I've sinned, I should suffer and if I suffer enough that I'm finally going to be different. Christianity is different than every other religion on the planet, every other religion says that a man or a woman has to pay for themselves and if they can't pay right away and they have to do it in installments. The gospel says the opposite. It says that you sinned, but Jesus who never sinned suffered and you are changed by his suffering, not by yours. So look, you need to fast next year. Fast on purpose because he's worth being hungry over. Just know this. This is what it cannot do.

It cannot pay because the bill has already been set. Look at verse 19 again. And not holding fast to the head from him, the whole body nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. Here's the actual answer to bring about change in your life. Only Jesus changes you. Only Jesus changes you. Look at all the verbs in verse 19. Nourish, that's something done to you. Knit together, something done to you, grows. Paul says it's a growth that is from God. The joints and the ligaments don't produce the growth. They just deliver it. There's only one thing in this whole verse the believer does. He holds fast to the head. Think about your arm. It's not straining to stay attached to your shoulder. It's not gripping. It's just attached and because it's attached, it gets fed by something that it doesn't produce. It doesn't understand and never has to think about. Some of you think that what you need is a better grip. Hear me, you need to hold on. Paul says hold fast, but the grip isn't what feeds you. The head is. A weak grip on a living head still gets fed. But a strong grip, a perfect grip on a rule book

gets you nothing because there's no life in a rule book that it has to send you in the first place. So this week when you blow it and you're going to. Watch which direction that you move. Everything in you will say clean yourself up first and then come back. That's the pencil trying to become a diamond. Don't do it. Run to Jesus. You don't change by doing something or feeling something or giving something up. You change by holding on to Jesus. Remember the carbon, it never became a diamond by trying. Everything that a diamond is done to it from the outside by something that it could not reach. That's not just a story about diamonds. That's the offer that Jesus has made. If you perhaps did not get one of these, would you just lift up your hands? For sure, we want to make sure you get one before we take the Lord's Supper together. Just lift your hands up and keep them up, we'll get them to you. If you think about the table, everything else we've talked to you about today is something that's been done to you. This is what you have to do, this is what you have to feel, this is what you have to give up. There's only one thing though that you don't do, you receive it. Somebody else made this little cracker and packaged it up. Somebody else poured this juice, put it in their little container. Somebody put this in a basket, somebody handed this to you. You really just took it and now you're going to receive it. What I want you to know is that is the strategy for change, to receive what somebody else

has done for you. First Corinthians chapter 11 tells us that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he got the bread, he broke it, he gave thanks, and he said, "This is my body which was broken for you as often as you eat of it. Do it in remembrance of me, literally the eating of the bread is the receiving of what Jesus did on the cross." First Corinthians 11 says, "This is the blood of mine you covenant as often as you drink of it. Do it in remembrance of me. We're being reminded of the blood of Jesus. Where none of us are here flexing in this moment. None of us in here are talking about how good we are. All of us are saying, look, the grace of God in my life is the reason why there's anything good in me. What I want you to know is this, the broken bread and the poured cup, both of them were something that happened to him so that it wouldn't have to happen to you. You sinned and he suffered. That's the message of what we take today. Go ahead and take your bread out. On the night that Jesus was with his disciples, he broke the bread, said, "This is my body which was broken for you as often as you eat of it. Do it in remembrance of me." Same night he took the cup, filled with the fruit of the vine, he said, "This is my blood which was poured out for you as often as you drink of it. Do it in remembrance of me." Let's worship together. Let him have got anointed one who was and is and is to come, seated on the throne above. Holy, holy, righteous one who shed his blood to prove to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ be lifted up, holy, holy lamb without anointed one who was and is and is to come, seated on the throne above.

Holy, holy, righteous one who shed his blood to prove to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ be lifted up, holy, holy lamb without anointed one who was and is and is and is to come, seated on the throne above. Holy, holy, righteous one who shed his blood to prove to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ be lifted up, who else is worthy. # There is no one # # Only you, Jesus # # Who else is worthy? # # Who else is worthy? # # There is no one # # Only you, Jesus? # # There is no one # # Only you, Jesus # # There is no one # # Only you, Jesus # When you bite your heads and close your eyes with me all across the stream, those watching us online. Some of your believers in Jesus trusted him for your salvation, but you've been running on a treadmill, trying to figure out how to live this Christian life in your own effort. You're tired, you're exhausted. I would tell you to come back to Jesus today. You never outgrow the gospel. I want you to know this, that the God who saved you is the God who sustains you. So for today, what you need to do is stop doing all the things in your own efforts, and you instead need to come back to the very beginning, to Jesus. Some of you don't have a relationship with him.

You need to have one today. The Bible says that all of us are sinners, all of us fall short of God's standard, that he died on a cross for our sins. He rose from the dead, and if you will turn from your sins, and turn to him that you can receive the gift of eternal life, if today you want to do that, what I'm going to ask you to do, is step out in just a moment. Our team's going to be at the front, they're going to be at the bottom of the steps. You come and tell one of them, we would love to prayer prayer with you today, that you can know with certainty that you have a relationship with Jesus. Others, if you need to come and join the United City Church, we're going to push you, we're going to challenge you, but make no mistake about it. We want to make Jesus central in all that we do and say, "You're going to be a part of a church like that, would you come?" And join us here at United City Church. Others of you need to be baptized. This is your next public step of obedience, comment. Let us talk with you about that. Others of you need prayer today. Would you come and let us pray with you? Father, in Jesus' name, move in these moments. Lead people to a life-changing relationship with you by their obedience in this moment. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen. Let's sing together, our team is up front at the bottom of the steps. You come as God is leading you to respond.

Come on. Christ God, for you, come on. Who else? ♪ Jesus, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one ♪ ♪ Holy, you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Holy, you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Holy, you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one ♪ ♪ Holy, you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ Christ God, for you, come on. Who else? ♪ Holy, there is no one ♪ ♪ Holy, you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one ♪ ♪ Holy, you, Jesus ♪ Let's pray together, Father, in Jesus' name we thank you that you are the only one that is worthy. You're worthy of all of our praise. You're worthy of all of our adoration. Father, this is all about you. We're just extras in your movie. Father, we thank you that you allow us to experience your presence. We thank you that no matter what we felt about today, you've been good.

You've been faithful. You've been consistent. Your salvation is everlasting, so Father, we praise You for that. And we ask Father that You would move in our hearts, in our lives, as we serve You. It's in the name of Jesus that I pray. Amen. Would you guys all take a seat as David Humphrey comes up. third team members and ushers to come forward as we continue to worship through our ties and offerings on stage with me this is pastor David Humphrey our missions as senior a dog pastor and he wants to share some exciting things they can place I don't know if you guys realize that every time you give you actually also send you know this past weekend you may or may not know it but we had eight people from our church who were on a marriage ministry team leading a marriage conference at Royal City Church in Los Angeles and you were part of that by giving we liked got to see about 40 couples reunite their lives together in Christ and it was amazing you know something else that you're giving does you would probably you're probably never gonna go to the little town of potting jeans on the coast of the Amazon River but we sent water bottles into a ministry just a couple of months ago I've got a really pagan festival it happens every year and the church there mobilizes they go out into the streets give out free water bottles which doesn't seem like much but that's their way of getting to share the gospel and they saw 200 people give their life to Christ on those city streets that day and we got to be part of that what a blessing Amen church when you give you don't just give to United so you're giving through United City to advance the gospel of Jesus and I know the place are passing now but if you'd like to give online or to set up a reoccurring gift you can utilize the tap tag in front of your chair and set that up thank you guys for your faithfulness and your generosity to advance the kingdom of God earlier in our service we got to welcome our first time guests to the service can we go ahead and just put our hands together collectively and just welcome all of our

first-time guests here in the room thank you for coming to worship with us if this is your very first time we would love the opportunity to get to shake your hand and meet you before sneaking off would you do us the honor and come visit us in the lobby at our first-time guest table we'd love to meet you but also put a gift in your hand but that would mean the world to us and allow us to honor you and your time with us today this upcoming Wednesday is our night of worship it's a worship night here in this room we want to invite you it's a family event to come 6 30 let's lift up our voices together and let's worship together on this Wednesday night and lastly men where are you men there's 15 of us praise God okay next Sunday men we're gonna have our men's night and so one of my good friends and best friends in life and ministry will more from long haul is gonna come and speak to us and remind us of the unique calling and purpose that we have as men and so men I want to invite you lean into this some of you get your phones out already good job what do you get your phones out if you have not yet registered it's a free event okay go ahead and scan that QR code we need all of our men to get registered we need all of you to invite someone with you will is a men's minister at Long Hollow Church in national Tennessee and he was a part of a men's night leading amends of it a little over a month ago over 5,000 men showed up and I'm praying we can see a 1,000 men show up in Northeast Houston but it's gonna take our men inviting men inspired by the Holy Spirit that God would do a fresh win and work in the in the life of our men men when we lean into this calling our families are stronger our friendships are stronger our workplaces are stronger it's a free of rent free event but if you're hungry being it bring a piece of meat the grills will be hot bring a steak bring a burger bring a hot dog but bring a friend and bring the expectancy that God's gonna do incredibly more that we can hope dream or imagine would you stand and I'd love to be able to read this passage of scripture over us today as a blessing and as an encouragement as we leave speaking of men Paul Rice's and 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verses 13 through 14 he says be watchful men be watchful stand firm in the faith men let's stand

firm act like men be strong and let all that you do be done in love you nice honey we love you have a great great week (upbeat music)