Understanding Grace Pt 4

All right, good morning. Welcome you guys this morning. Welcome everybody watching online. If you guys want to go ahead and stand, we'll pray and we'll get started. Father God, thank you for the day. God, we just want to take this time and just lift praise to you, God, because you are worthy of all of our praise. Lord, we just ask your hand of blessing upon this time. Lord, let your word go out with power.

Father God, just move in a big and mighty way this morning, God. We love you, Father, and we praise you and we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you'd like. We'll continue on here.

We proclaim your name this morning, Father God. We proclaim your name.

Yes, Lord, every day. One day, Lord, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that you are Lord. Lord, we just want to come to you this morning, God, and just express our thanks and our gratitude, Lord, for all that you've done for us. Lord, for all the ways that you take care of us. God, for your son, Jesus. Lord, God, the words thank you are not enough to begin to express our gratitude for what you've done for us, Lord.

Lord, God, we just want to praise you this morning, God. Would you stand with us?

God, we just thank you for the day. God, thank you for giving us the breath in our lungs to return praise to you. As I said earlier, Lord, the words thank you just don't quit expressing our gratitude to you, Lord. It's just not enough for considering what you've done for us, Lord, God. For sending your son, Jesus, to pay the price for our sins. For your sin, for my sin, on a cross that I rightfully deserve to be on.

Lord, thank you.

Thank you for all that you've done for us, Lord.

Lord, as Pastor Ryan comes this morning, I pray that your Holy Spirit, God, just move mightily through him. Speak mightily through him, Lord. Let your word go out with power and not return to you void, Lord, but accomplish the purposes for which you've sent it. Lord, we ask your hand of blessing upon this time. And we ask your hand of blessing. On the kids at the other end of the hall.

Lord, God, we love you and we praise you and we thank you. In Jesus' name, all God's people said, amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning. If you could begin the process of locating your seats. We'll get ready to go over some announcements together.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad you could be here with us this morning. I do not have any bulletins for you today because currently the copier is in a process of revolt and rebellion. I'm glad you could be here with us this morning because currently the copier is in a process of revolt and rebellion. I'm trying to cast it out of it now, but it's going to take a great deal of prayer and fasting.

So, uh, cause ones like that only come out through prayer and fasting. Uh, actually it's just spraying all kinds of crazy ink all over the place. And so they, the copier person came and said, Hey, you need parts. They're on back order. Catch you later. So I don't know when they're going to be in. So hopefully soon, because that's kind of how life goes. So, uh, but I do have a handful of announcements for you to pay attention to.

Uh, number one is a reminder that next Sunday after church is our, uh, potluck and kickball game. So come join us, uh, enjoy some food with us. If you don't want to play kickball, that's fine. You can still enjoy some food with us and be a wonderful spectator. We just want to get everybody together to fellowship and have a great time. Um, men's conference, uh, may 19th through the 21st, uh, out of camp horizon.

I emailed out that link this morning. So, uh, that should be, if you are on flock note, that should have come to your prayer request inbox. If you are not on flock notes, uh, that's how I communicate things to people. So you need to go to, uh, uh, flock note.com slash CCAC, and you can sign up for that and start getting all the information that comes out through that.

Uh, also, uh, in a couple of weeks, May 4th, uh, is national day of prayer, uh, at noon at Wilson park there, uh, minister alliance is putting on an event, uh, where we'll gather together and, uh, and pray for our community. So come join us for that. And then one other thing that I failed to mention first service. I'm sorry, Kurt, I let you down. Um, uh, the mowing schedules are out.

They're sitting out there where you would have signed up to, uh, to mow. Uh, so check those out. Uh, if you signed up to, to mow, check it out. If you didn't sign up to mow, make sure your wife didn't sign you up. Uh, so you might want to just check that out and make sure that your name didn't get put down without you knowing about it. Uh, so anyway, take a look at that.

Um, those are the things that are going on. There's one other thing though, that I would, uh, we need to do this morning before we get into our message. Um, this is Taylor. Taylor, why don't you come on? Join us, uh, us meeting me in the Holy spirit. Um, uh, this is, this is Taylor Cushenberry and she is going to be taking a missions trip this summer. And so she's going to talk to us about it and see if we can't maybe help support her.

Taylor Cushenberry. Um, I'm going to share with you guys a little bit about what God is doing through a mission trip, um, that I'm a part of. So the video is going to play on the screen while I talk a little bit about it. I've been currently at, well, okay. So let me just start here. I wrote notes. Let me read it. Um, I'm, I'm Taylor Cushenberry and I'm a teacher at ACA.

I teach K four at ACA. Um, I've come to know, uh, Calvary chapel through this, their support of ACA. Uh, the Lord brought my family and I to Calvary a little over a year ago. Um, before then we attended first Baptist church and I was allowed the privilege of joining a mission team to Guatemala. The ministry there has changed my life. Forever. Um, so the, for the past two years, um, God has allowed me to be the hands and feet to people in Guatemala during our ministry.

The Lord gave me a passion for his people and the different ministries there. He expanded my heart and opened up my eyes to things I didn't know or have ever felt before. Um, compassion, um, beyond what I had already known and an urgent need for action. My first year, my heart was totally broken. It was really broken. The first day there, um, my friend had gracious, graciously reminded me that the Lord breaks our hearts for the things that break his.

Um, we visited many families and homes of people who greatly needed help. For example, um, adequate housing. A lot of times it's common for families of eight to sleep all in one bed. Uh, their houses are just one room. So they sleep and cook in the same place. Um, they cook over a fire top, um, a fire. So it's in the same room as their bed. And their houses are made of 10.

So it's just 10 walls, 10 roof. Uh, the climate in Guatemala is rainforest. So there's two seasons. It's a rainy season and a not rainy season. And, um, it's on an incline. So if you think about it, um, during the rainy season, there's lots of landslides. And their mattresses are on the ground, so a lot of times their mattresses get really wet, and it gets really cold at nighttime.

So what we would do is one of the ministries, we would go in and build them beds up off the ground, give them new mattresses, new blankets, and comforters and things. A lot of times we would offer to build bunk beds, provide bunk beds so that they had different sleeping spots, their own personal spaces to sleep in. We also, another ministry we work closely alongside was, or is, we'll be returning again, a group called Roxana's Hope. This is a girl's home.

So we would visit different children's homes, and when they turn 18, they're looking for a place to go. So to keep them safe from exploitation, there is a ministry called Roxana's Hope. And so these girls that turn 18... They would be enrolled to join this girl's home. And this way, they would learn basic life skills like cooking and cleaning. They would get an education and maintain a job before they would go out on their own.

They would also help them find homes and be affordable, and that way they could start their adult life off on a successful note. We do this every year that we go to Guatemala. So these relationships... These relationships are being built, and we follow them over Facebook throughout the year. So some of the different missionary, the ministries that we do, when we go over there, we're there for a total of seven days.

So we do a different ministry every day. So some of the different ministries are, we did a medical mission, food distribution, VBS, evangelisms, with college students that are in the ministry. And then we have an intensive year program for Bible college. We would go out on the streets and pray with people and try to get their lives turned over to Christ. So there's lots of different paths to serving as we go on these trips.

So when I returned to the States, it was really easy, and it was easy to understand what was important in my own life and how important it is to devote my time and energy into the things that will... benefit me for eternity. And so serving others and giving myself to others in need is very important to me. So I look forward to this trip every year. This year, though, it seemed as though it was going to be a paused year of ministry.

The previous two years, the finances were covered. This year, it is not. It's a little different this year. However, the Lord has still opened up doors for me to... participate on the team of First Baptist Church. So God is my foundation for the church, or for the mission trip. And I'm relying on him fully to provide where he has called me to go. What I am in need of, though, is a community of support.

I would love your prayers. And I would also... I'm asking for financial support. So if you could, please pray. For every aspect of our trip, including the 19 other people that are going along with. And pray for all the opportunities that we'll have to minister, whether while we're in the country or traveling or at this time as we prepare to go. I'd appreciate your prayers for our hearts to be fully filled with the spirit of God

to anoint our work and to work together as a team to meet the needs of the people that we're going to help. I'd also appreciate your prayers for my family as they're staying behind. But if the Lord lays it on your heart to support me financially, there's a couple different places that you can donate to. So I've got my Venmo and my Cash app. So those are available.

Or if you'd like to write a check or donate cash, you can come to me personally. If you're interested in learning more about the mission or knowing more details, there's so much I could talk about. But that will be saved for another time. So I just appreciate you taking time to listen to me this morning.

Okay. And so again, if you're able to help, wonderful. If you're able to pray, please do. And we'd love to be able to support you as much as we can on this trip. Okay. For our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be at Psalm 23. Psalm 23. Looking at the New American Standard for the responsive reading part. So we sound the same. It should be a copy in your row if you need one.

And as you are turning to Psalm 23, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word, I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 23, a Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the sheep, shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

And Father, we thank you for being our good shepherd. Lord, the one who guides us, directs us, sustains us, and is always with us. And so, Father, as we spend time in your word now, I just ask that you would speak to us through the power of your Holy Spirit. Bless us with a deeper knowledge of you, and may only the things of you shine through. We just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name.

Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Galatians, chapter 4.

Galatians, chapter 4. We've been working through a series in Galatians on understanding grace. We said that the first thing that Paul did, was he defended his message, but now he's explaining his message. And today, as he's explaining his message, we'll really see the heart that Paul has for the people of Galatia. His fear for them, his concern for them, his desire to see them not go back to the things that they were at one point in time enslaved by,

and said to move forward in faith. And as a matter of fact, verses 8 through 20 will break down three ways. Three statements that I would like for you to remember. Number one, don't go back. Number two, become like... Like me. Number three, remember the love. And so we jump into verse 8 with the first section of don't go back. It says, However, at that time, when you did not know God,

you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak, worthless, elemental things to which you desire to be known? How is it that you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. Now, by way of context, as just a reminder for us,

I want to remind you what he had told them just before this. He said, Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son. And as sons, you are heirs through Christ. And so that's who we are now. That's the position that we as believers sit in. We are no longer slaves. We are no longer slaves. We are no longer slaves. We are no longer slaves. We are no longer slaves to the things of the world.

We are now sons of God. Therefore, we should live like sons of God. But with that as a backdrop, Paul now moves into question mode again. Because he has a question for them. Why, if you are no longer a slave, but a son, why would you go back? And that's where we jump into verse 8. He says, However, at that time, when you did not know God, prior to his coming to the region of Galatia,

many that had no understanding of God, or had no understanding of a relationship, as a matter of fact, many were living under the bondage of idolatry. He said, You see, it's understandable for people that don't know God to live in slavery to other things, because they've not yet learned the truth. You and I were created for a purpose. The purpose that we were created for is to know God.

Sin came in and destroyed that purpose, and yet you and I, as human beings, still felt a calling to something outside of ourselves. We still felt a craving for something outside of ourselves. And quite frankly, if we don't fill it with God, we'll fill it with something. So when you did not know God, you were seeking to fulfill your purpose of knowing something outside of yourself by worshiping all of the things of the world.

He says, But when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which were by nature not gods. You were slaves to those which were by nature not gods. You were slaves to those things that were not gods. Now, we talked about this a little bit last week. What were they enslaved to? Well, I said that there were three things that people, prior to coming to know God, are enslaved to.

Number one, they were enslaved to pagan idolatry. And that's what the region of Galatia, and much of the Roman Empire was known for at that time. They were known for pagan idolatry. Now, in our culture today, there's still a great deal of idolatry that takes place, not only with the material things that we worship, but with the false gods that people worship today, with the cults, that people are caught up in today.

And more and more, those cults are growing. Why? Because people are seeking something outside of themselves. And if they don't find it in God, they'll find it in something. So number one, we can be enslaved to idolatry. Number two, we can be enslaved to the sins of the flesh, simply appeasing the desires of our flesh, simply following what my flesh wants. After all, if it feels good, as Nike says, do it.

And so they were enslaved to their flesh. But the third thing that we can be enslaved to is the law. Whether for Jewish people, it'd be the Mosaic law, or whether for you and I that didn't grow up as Jewish people, it's the law of our conscience. He says, you were at one time enslaved by all of those things. You, but you have been set free. Notice what it says in verse nine.

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known, by God, how is it that you turn back? You see, we who have put our faith in Jesus Christ have been set free. He refers to this being set free in two ways because he uses two phrases. He said, but you who have come to know God. Isn't that a beautiful thing for us to come to know? Isn't it beautiful that you and I came to that place

where God revealed himself to us? We were seeking something outside of ourselves, perhaps in bondage to all of the things of the world. And then we came to know God. That is salvation from human perspective. We came to the place where our purpose was finally restored, where our purpose was finally fulfilled, because after all, I came to know God as my Lord and savior.

And now I don't need all of the bondage of the world because I have the one true place of freedom. And if I may tag along with this a little bit, a little bit of an application point. When you came to know God, it didn't stop on that one day. You didn't just come to know God and now that's all you need to know. You began a process. I always tell married couples this,

that on today, you will become one flesh. In God's eyes, in the eyes of the state of Kansas or the state of Oklahoma, depending on where I'm doing a wedding, in the eyes of the state, in all of the eyes of the people that are gathered here, you have become one flesh. You have become one flesh. But you will spend the rest of your life becoming one flesh because you've begun a process.

Well, it's the same way with your relationship with God. On the day that you came to the Lord and you said, I give up, I can't do it. I need to know you. I'm tired of being in bondage to the things of the world. You came to know God. And now you will spend the rest of your life following the process of getting to know God. Continue in the process. Don't be content with the knowledge you have today.

Press on to a deeper knowledge of him. And so, he says, but you were set free. You were set free by coming to know God. But then he gives us a second statement. Or rather, to be known by God. You see, that's salvation from God's perspective because he now knows you. I think one of the coolest things in the world is that God knows my name. As a matter of fact,

he knows my name and he knows everything about me. We were talking about this in the book of Revelation on Wednesday night, but there are two different places in scripture, at least, that say something fascinating if you're a born-again believer here this morning. And it says that your name has been written in the book of life since before the foundation of the world. Now, I'm a young earth person.

I think the earth is no more than about six, maybe seven, eight thousand years old. That's how I feel. And so, if that's true, then for about eight thousand years, my name has been written in the book of life. God was like, Ryan Nichols. It just took me a long time to find it, right? Like, your name is written in the book. In the book of life, you're just still looking for it, some of you.

But once you came to find your name in the book of life, you're like, oh my gosh, God knows me. And listen, it's one thing to know about somebody famous, but when somebody famous knows your name and they know you, that's pretty cool, right? But when the creator of the heavens and the earth, the founder of everything, the one who makes sure that the breath in your lungs continues to flow, when you know that he knows your name, he knows everything about you, and listen, he loves you anyway, that's the most beautiful truth you can imagine. You are known by God.

That's salvation from God's perspective. And because you know God, and because God knows you, you have been set free. It means that you are no longer a slave, just like you said last week, but a son. And if a son of God, then an heir to everything that God has for you. You've been set free. But if you've been set free with this most blessed position, why would you return to slavery?

He says, verse nine, but now that you have come to know God or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak, worthless, elemental things to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? He says, if you've been set free, why are you going to go back? If you've been set free from all of the garbage of the world, why would you get back down into all of the garbage of the world? If you've been set free, why put the handcuffs back on?

If the rope has been cut, then why walk in the same circle? If you've been set free, why go back to the trash? A friend of mine on Facebook put this beautiful picture up the other day and I thought it was amazing. He took it in his backyard. He goes, I don't know how this ended up here, but he's got a cross in his backyard and there was a bag of trash laying at the foot of the cross.

And he said, I didn't mean to do this. I didn't even think about it. He said, I just took a picture because I thought it was funny that somebody threw a bag of trash at the foot of my cross. But he said, all I could think was, that's exactly what we do. We bring all of our garbage and we leave it at the foot of the cross. Listen, if you've left all your garbage

at the foot of the cross, why are you going to go back? Why are you going to pick it back up again and carry it around with you? If you've been set free, then live free indeed. Don't go back to slavery. I want you to notice how he points out what it would be to go back to the life that you lived before. He refers to it in four ways. He refers to it as weak and worthless

and elemental. Elemental and enslaved. Why would you go back to the weak things? The law can't do anything to save you. Why would you go back to a system of rules that could do nothing to save you? Why would you go back to something that is worthless like the sins of the flesh? As a matter of fact, the old and new King James translated this way, and I really appreciate this word,

the beggarly things of the world. The things that have no worth or value. Why would you go back to those things? Why would you go back to the elemental things, to the ABCs? Listen, brothers and sisters, now that I've eaten, a steak, I'm never going to be content with a chicken nugget, right? Let me put it to you a different way. Once I've eaten a Chick-fil-A chicken nugget,

I'm never going to be content with a McDonald's chicken nugget, right? But that's just the truth. Because once I've experienced the freedom, why do I want to go back to the ABCs? And once I've experienced freedom, why would I be enslaved again? Because if I decide to go back to the law, if I decide to go back to the flesh, then that slavery will continue to have its hold on me.

Brothers and sisters, why would we go back? He describes what he means by what they're going back to. He says, some of you observe days and months and seasons and years. What does he mean by those things? Well, those all have a reference to the law of Moses, the old covenant. And if you don't understand what those means, let me explain them to you real quick.

When he says, some of you observe days, he's talking about the Sabbath day. Some of you feel like you have to go back and worship, worship God on the Sabbath day, that that's the only day that you can do it. Some of you feel like you have to observe months. Those are the new moon festivals that they were supposed to keep. Some of you are observing seasons, which speaks of Passover and Pentecost,

the feasts that they felt like they had to keep in order to be right with God. And some of you are observing years, Sabbaths, Jubilee years, all of those things that have to do with the law. You're going back to those. And listen, when we go back to the things of the law, we forget that Jesus fulfilled them all. Jesus fulfilled all of those things of the law.

We don't need to go back and do them. If we observe anything, it's only in remembrance, not because it adds to my salvation, not because it adds to anything. I'll tell you this. We've done a Passover, more than one Passover Seder here at Calvary Chapel, not because we feel like we have to keep the law, but because it is the most beautiful thing in the world to see how Passover is presented and how Jesus has fulfilled all of those things.

Because the problem with legalism is that it is a shadow which Christ has fulfilled. Brothers and sisters, I firmly believe you should keep the Sabbath day. Only I think you should keep the Sabbath day every day. Because every day is the day that we celebrate the rest that we have in Christ. What day should you worship Jesus? Well, you know, some people say we should worship Jesus on Saturday.

And some people say we should worship Jesus on Sunday. You know what day I think you should worship Jesus? Our day, right? It should be all you do. Our day. Our day. Our day. Every day you should be worshiping Jesus. And if we choose to have church on Sunday, beautiful, we'll celebrate the resurrection. If we choose to have church on Saturday, beautiful, we'll celebrate the resurrection.

Because every day is Easter. Every day is Sunday. Every day is the day that we worship. Because we're not bound by those old laws. He said, why would you go back? Why would you go back to those things? And so I started thinking about this because legalism is something that we all struggle with. And listen, if you think it's something that you don't struggle with,

you're lying to yourself. Because we all struggle with wanting to be a Christian. We all struggle with wanting to keep rules. And so again, I've been thinking about this. Why? Why do we struggle with legalism? Why did the Galatian people struggle with legalism? Why do we in the United States struggle with legalism? Why do we find ourselves drawn to churches

that give us the list of do's and don'ts? Why do we find ourselves drawn to making a list of do's and don'ts for ourselves? Why do we find ourselves drawn to those kinds of legalistic things? Well, I think it's two reasons. Number one, because it appeals to an attitude of superior knowledge. Oh, man. You see, I've been doing some studying and what I've come to realize

is that the only reason that we don't worship God on the Sabbath day is because of an old rule that was made by Constantine way back when. And now that I know the truth, now that I've been enlightened, I no longer worship God on Sunday. I worship Him on the Sabbath day. Right? I mean, that's... You think you've got a superior knowledge. You named the thing.

People want to think that they know more. We all want to think that we know more than the person next to us. You're like, no, I don't. Yes, you do. That's who we all are as people. And we feel like if I've got this superior knowledge, you know what I want to do? Share it with everyone and make sure that they do everything the way that I do it. After all, I have found the truth.

Legalism appeals to an attitude of a superior knowledge. Number two, legalism appeals to an attitude of prideful self-reliance. Prideful self-reliance. There's an old song that says... Oh, man, I had the lyrics correct in the first service. Let's see if I can do it. COVID brain still gets me sometimes. Oh, to the foot of the cross I come with nothing in my hands.

The idea is I'm going to come to Jesus with nothing because I have no righteousness to offer Him, right? J. Vernon McGee says, too many people in today's day and age say, to the foot of the cross I come with everything I need in my hands. Because we have this prideful self-reliance. Listen, you just give me the rules, I'll follow them and everything will be perfect

and I'll do it better than everybody else. Legalism appeals to that part of us, that American spirit that we have that I'll pull myself up by my bootstraps. I'll be a self-made man. Listen, none of us are self-made in here. We're all God-made. Actually, that's not true. Some of us are self-made. We're called sinners. We need to become God-made because it takes a lot of work to become God-made.

It's His work in us. And legalism appeals to that prideful self-reliance. And so he says, don't go back. Don't go back to living that way. And then he goes on to say, become like me. Notice what he says. He's starting in verse 11. He says, I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. I beg of you, brethren, become as I am for I also have become as you are.

You have done me. You have done me no wrong. Now, as he begins this next point of become like me, he's going to make two statements. The first statement that he makes is, I fear for you. I fear for you. Literally, I am afraid for you. And what's he afraid of? He's afraid that all of the labor to exhaustion that he's put into the lives of these Galatians is going to be in vain.

All of the time he spent pouring the truth of God's word in them, all of the time he has spent teaching them about grace, all of the time that he has been trying to teach them the truth is going to be in vain because after they have heard all of the truth, now they're gonna go the opposite direction. And can I just tell you, he's not the only one that feels that way sometimes. I know as both a youth pastor and a pastor, I have at times thought I am afraid for you because I'm afraid that I have labored in vain. I'm afraid that after I have worked to exhaustion to give out the truth of God's word and to pour it into the lives of people, that they will then turn and go the exact opposite direction.

And you know why I'm afraid for that sometimes? Because I've watched it happen over and over again. Brothers and sisters, I can give you an account of some of the people that I have been able to work with over the years and they are doing wonderful in their walks with the Lord. I get to go on vacation with a handful of them again this summer. We get to go to a family camp together

and we're gonna talk about what God's doing in their lives. And I'm gonna tell them what God's doing in my life because I know that they're serving God. I know that their lives are continuing to be pointed to the things of Jesus Christ. But I also know, I know that if I were to send out a message on any form of social media and say, if I ever taught you in a Bible study, I want you to tell me where you are in life, I'd be shocked by a good number of the things that I hear.

Because sometimes I'm afraid. I'm afraid that the things that I've done have been a labor in vain. But you know what? I know that pastors aren't the only ones that feel that way because some of you are parents in here. And maybe you feel the exact same way. You fear for your kids like you've labored in vain. Well, we'll talk in just a minute about how you need to handle that.

How you need to handle that fear. And after he tells them how fearful he is for them, he says, become like me. Now, some of the translations I believe read, imitate me. Now, I don't think the idea of imitating Paul is what he actually carries with it here. I actually prefer the New American Standard translation on this because I think that's what he means. He means literally become like me,

not because I'm perfect. Matter of fact, let me read it to you out of the Amplified translation because I feel like it carries the idea of what he's trying to share the most. He says, become as I am free from the bondage of ritual and ordinance. I think that's the idea that he's trying to say. He goes, I remember what it's like to be you bound by the law, bound by my inability,

bound by the law of Moses that told me you still have to do more because you still haven't done enough. The law of Moses that said, be perfect as I am perfect. The law of Moses that said, if you break the law at any one place, you've broken the whole thing. I know what it was like to be bound. But now I want you to become like me because I'm free. I'm free from the ritual and the ordinance.

And I have a question for you. What rituals are you bound by? I shared this with first service this morning. I want you to think about it. What if I told you that next Sunday, we're not going to meet on Sunday. Instead, we're going to do church on Friday evening. And that'll be the only church service we have all week. Would you guys fire me? But Ryan, we always meet on Sunday.

Oh, I know we always meet on Sunday. And I realize we're following the example of the early church when we met on Sunday. But if we're really not bound by ritual, does it really matter what day of the week do we have church? I don't think it does. Maybe you're bound by that ritual. What if next year I was like, hey, instead of celebrating the resurrection on Easter Sunday,

when the rest of the world celebrates the resurrection, let's do it a month later. Would you fire me? Would you be like, that guy's nuts. Listen, you may not be wrong, but what if I did that? Well, no, Ryan, we have to celebrate Easter on Easter Sunday. Why? Because here's the fact of the matter. Every day is Easter, right? Every day I get up and I'm like, thank God that you're alive.

Thank God that you are alive. Therefore, I have a living savior. I have someone interceding for me and I have a living hope because this place is not my home. I don't just do that one Sunday of the year. I do that every ding dong day, sometimes multiple times throughout the day. Because every Sunday is Easter. Every day is Easter. And every day is my day of worship.

Every day is the day that I honor God. He says, become like me. I'm not bound by all these rituals. In another place in scripture, Paul will say, some people esteem one day better than another. Some people esteem every day the same. I esteem every day the same. He said, are you bound by ritual and ordinance? Become like me, I'm free. Why? Because I became like you.

What does he mean by, I became like you? Well, again, I'm gonna refer to the Amplified Translation here, where he says, I became like you, a Gentile. In other words, Paul in another place says, I have become all things to all people. In other words, when I'm among the Gentiles, I don't mind hanging out with Gentiles. I'm willing to meet you where you are. I'm willing to get down on your level

and from whatever level you're down on, point you to Jesus from there. He says, become like me, become free. I became like you and you've not injured me at all. It's time to live in freedom. Well, then the last thing that he does is he tells them to remember the love. Remember the love. I really wanted to have something where I could play, can you feel the love tonight?

But I didn't. So starting in verse 13, he says, but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time. And that which was a trial to you and my bodily condition, you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus himself. Where then is the sense of blessing you had? For I bear you witness that if possible,

you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner. And not only when I am present with you.

My children with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you, but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone for I am perplexed about you. He urges them to remember the love. And as he does so, the first thing he urges them to remember is to remember the love that they had for him. And remember, remember, Galatians is not just a defense of Paul's message. It's a defense of Paul himself

as the messenger. Because I know, like a lot of other people do, that if you want to discredit a message, the best thing that you can do is to discredit the messenger. And that's exactly what the legalists that came in preaching false doctrine had done. They had tried to discredit Paul. And so as they did so, Paul reminds them, don't you remember how much you loved me? Don't

you remember the love that you had for me? He says, but you know that it was because of bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time. What does he mean by that? Well, if you were to go back to Acts chapter 14, you would know that Paul arrived in the region of Galatia under a great deal of stress and under a great deal of physical illness. Some people believe

that he had some form of malaria that caused an infection in his eyes. I lean towards that. None of us really know exactly what took place, but I lean towards him having some sort of an eye issue based on what we read next. But he didn't fully intend to stop in Galatia. He stopped there because of how weak he was physically. And he climbed higher into the mountains to a better altitude there that would

be better for him physically. And when he showed up, he was at one of the weakest points of his life, spiritually discouraged, physically discouraged, and somewhat emotionally discouraged because it was at his, during his time in Galatia that John Mark, one of his sidekicks left. So this is too much for me. I can't take the pressure of ministry. I'm out. They bailed on him

and it hurt Paul deeply. And so when Paul showed up there to preach the gospel, it was because of a bodily illness that he preached the gospel to them. He was in the weakest place he'd ever been, but instead of rejecting him, they actually accepted him with open arms. Notice what he says. And that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition, you did not despise.

What does he mean by that? Well, if he really did have the eye infection that a lot of people believe that he had, it would have caused running sores in his eyes. It would have caused him to have to squint when he looked at the people and not to be able to see very well, but it also would have been somewhat loathsome to look at. So he wasn't exactly what you'd call a prize to look at.

From what I understand from church history, he wasn't a prize to look at anyway. But then once he really got going and all the physical issues, it was potentially a, how does he put it here in verse 14? It was potentially a trial to you in my bodily condition, you did not despise. And yet in spite of everything that he had going on physically, they didn't despise him.

Instead, it says that they accepted him. He says, you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus himself. You know why? Because when Paul showed up, it wasn't all about how he looked on the outside. It was about the message that he delivered to the people. And can I go ahead and tell you that in a world that we live in, that puts all of the emphasis on the aesthetics

have nothing to do with whether or not you can deliver the truth. Aesthetics have nothing to do with whether or not you can give out the truth. That's why God loves to choose short, bald guys to be the people that deliver his message, right? It's because sometimes God doesn't care what the outside looks like. All he cares about is whether or not you give out the truth. He said, you

received me as an angel. And can I just go ahead and say to the fellowship of Calvary Chapel of Ark City, I came into this position in a very difficult place. I don't know why I feel led to say this, but I do. I came into this position under some really difficult circumstances. And I can wholeheartedly say, just like Paul, that you all have received me as if I was Jesus himself.

You all have shown me so much love and so much grace. And with the things that our family has gone through and will continue to go through, the love that has been shown through all of that has been so overwhelming. And I can wholeheartedly say to the fellowship of Calvary Chapel of Ark City, I think I can speak for our entire family when I say that the love and support that has been shown has just been overwhelming. And I'm so thankful for the love that you all as the body of Christ have shown to me over these last five and a half years, in particular, over these last few months.

And so I just want to say thank you for that. And he says, that's what you did for me. He said, I showed up and it could have been a trial to you, but you didn't despise me. You didn't loathe me. Instead, you received me. As an angel, where then is that sense of blessing? As a matter of fact, I would tell you that you would have plucked out your own eyes for me. That's why I think it was the eye issue that he dealt

with. It's because he says, I think you would have even plucked out your own eyes just to give them to me. He said, but with that love, have I now become your enemy because of telling you the truth? Have I now become your enemy because I told you the truth? And if I may, again, add on a little bit of personal application right now, you're going to become the enemy when you tell people

the truth. Now, listen, you should always speak the truth in love and it should be with always with a desire to see restoration take place in someone's life. But the more that you speak the truth, the more that you're going to continue to become an enemy, not only to people outside of the church, but to people inside of the church. There are some wonderful men in our culture right now. They're culture warriors right now.

That have been made enemies because they have told the truth. There are some wonderful women who have been made enemies because they have told the truth. I'm thinking of that swimmer, Riley Gaines, who has made a stand on the truth. And because of it, she has, I'm just going to go and use the word persecuted. She's been persecuted because of it. Men like Matt Walsh, who I was

showing with the first service, you know, he made that, that movie. What is a woman? He's spoken out about transgenderism and, and how it's affecting our culture. And as he has done, he's spoken out about transgenderism and, and how it's affecting our culture. And as he has done so, do you know that all of his emails for the last 20 years have been hacked into? And who knows what they'll be

able to do with those things, but, but they've hacked into it. Other, another guy whose name I can't think of right now that also works for the Daily Wire. I heard him on the radio the other day, speaking of the daily death threats that he gets, and that he's had to hire private security because he's telling the truth. Listen, as we tell the truth, we're going to be, we're going to be enemies to people sometimes. And you may not be an enemy on a large scale, like some of those guys

are, but you might be on a very small scale. And you're not going to be an enemy on a large scale. It might make you very unpopular with your family. It might make you very unpopular with your friends. Matter of fact, your friend circle may get a little bit smaller, but listen, keep telling the truth. Keep doing it in love. Keep doing it because you want to see restoration. And I promise

you when the truth really takes its hold on the lives of people, I'm going to make this guarantee to you. If it really takes a hold on the life of the person, they'll come back and thank you for it later. I know I've watched it happen for me. I've watched it happen for my dad. I've watched it happen for all kinds of people where they come back later and they say, thank you.

Thank you for being the one person that told me the truth when nobody else would. Thank you for the one person that confronted me and held me accountable when nobody else would, because we need that in the world today. And so he says, have I become your enemy? Because I told you the truth. After he reminds them of the love that they had for him, he now reminds them or tells them to

pay attention to the false love from false teachers. Notice what he says, they, meaning false teachers, the legalists, they eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. Now, as he tells them about this false love from false teachers, I want you to pay attention to something because I think that we're given some keys here. As a matter of fact, I'm going to draw two points of application out of this verse. The keys that we're given, first of all, are how we can identify false teachers.

And I think this is important because I would venture to say a good 50% of the New Testament is all about identifying false teachers. It's all about paying attention to the false teachers. That tells me that you and I have a tendency to fall into false things. And so we need to keep our eyes open and use discernment to pay attention to these things. So three things that I want you to

notice about false love from false teachers. Number one, they eagerly seek you. They eagerly seek you. Let me tell you what I mean by that. Beware of flattering words. Beware of flattering words. You know what I find is that those who want to pull you into false doctrine, they'll wherever you are. They will even ride a bicycle to your house, right? They will do everything that

they can. You know where they always start looking? They never look in the world. They always start looking in the church because they want to draw people out unto themselves, right? And so they will eagerly seek you. Number two, they will isolate you. They will isolate you. Beware of those who would separate you from fellowship. Beware of those who would say, you don't really need to be a part of a church. You know why they

don't want you to be a part of a church? Because at the church is where falsehood is revealed. At the church is where false teaching is revealed. At the church is where you're going to be held accountable. At the church is where you're going to be asked the hard questions. At the church is where they are not going to want you to hear what the Bible really has to say. And they're going to

pull you from fellowship. Listen, I'm going to make you a promise. If you stop coming to church, if you stop being a part of fellowship, you will grow cold in your relationship with the Lord. You cannot help it. You can say, oh no, I can do it. I can do it without church. I can just be my own little home church, just me and my family. Yep. And your family will grow cold. I promise. I promise. You need to be aware of the people that

you listen to on the internet that say things like, ah, church isn't really that big of a deal. Church isn't really that important. You just listen to me. No, stop listening to them and go to church because they will isolate you from fellowship. That's what he says. They'll do right here. Notice what he says. They'll eagerly seek you. And then they will shut you out. Why? Because number three, they will point you to themselves,

not Jesus. They will point you to themselves, not Jesus, because they want to make disciples of their cult, not disciples of Jesus Christ. And again, it goes back to the same thing. Pride that comes from superiority of knowledge. You know so much more than everybody. Now you can never go back. They will isolate you and then they will point only to themselves. Beware of those who make themselves your world.

And brothers and sisters, we need to keep an eye on this sort of thing. We need to pay attention to the things that we listen to. And if it's doing these things, you need to stop listening to it. You need to stop paying attention to it, but you know what? We need to look out for each other as well, right? We need to pay attention to each other. Listen, if you know somebody that hasn't

been to church in the last month, give them a phone call. Now, if they're going to another church that's teaching the Bible, I don't care. I want them to be where they're being fed. If this isn't it, then I want them to go where they are being fed. But if they're not going to another church that's teaching the Bible, it's time to get to the bottom of things. Because either they're

living in sin or they've been convinced of a false doctrine. And we need to pay attention to the body. That's what we do as brothers and sisters in Christ. Listen, if you show up to family Christmas and somebody's not there, you ask, where's Uncle Dan, right? Well, Uncle Dan's got this going on. Okay, just wanted to make sure he's okay. Brothers and sisters, pry into each other's lives a little

bit sometimes. Pry in and say, hey, I haven't seen you at Bible study for a really long time. What's going on? Hey, I haven't seen you at church for a really long time. What's going on? Hey, I see your car at the bar all the time. What's going on? Pry into each other's lives a little bit. But you know, I drew another conclusion. Out of this that I want to share with you this morning, I've worked with young people for a

really long time and I've watched relationships happen and I've watched relationships be really unhealthy. And as I was looking at these three things, I thought, holy cow, that's exactly what a controlling relationship looks like too. So I want to point these three things out to you. They're the exact same three, so you don't need to write them down again, but I want to share them with you from this other perspective. Because some of you are young people in here right now that are in

the dating pool and you need to pay attention to them. So I want to share with you some of these things. Some of you have kids right now and you need to pay attention to these things. Some of you have grandkids right now and you need to pay attention to these things. Number one, they will eagerly seek you. They will eagerly seek you. Someone that wants to control you in a relationship

will begin by making you think you are their world. That you're the greatest thing that's ever happened to them. That you're the greatest thing that's ever happened to planet earth. That you are the greatest thing in the world. And as they continue to tell you those flattering words over and over again, they will tell you that until they have you. And then they will do number two, they will isolate you. They will isolate you. They will

pull you away from your friends. They will pull you away from your family. They will make it to where you have no support system around you except for them. And then the third thing that they will do is they will make themselves your world. They will make themselves your world. They will make themselves your world. And listen, one day you'll wake up and you'll go. That's the only person I

have in life. And you know what they'll tell you? That's right. You could never leave. Because they've convinced you of it. Listen, if that's you this morning, if you're in one of those controlling relationships right now, I want you to know there is a way out. I want you to talk to me. And maybe we need to get a couple of minutes together. I want you to talk to me. I want you to talk to me.

We need to get a couple of brothers together and we need to deal with some business. Because I don't want you living in that relationship if that's you this morning. Listen, brothers and sisters, we need to look for this in the lives of our kids. You need to look for this in the lives of your friends. I'm here to tell you right now, if you want to burn my biscuits, once I figure out that

this is going on in some young lady's lives, I am not pleased. Matter of fact, I'm usually ready to go to war over this whole thing. Matter of fact, dads, if you're here and you're going to go to war, if you've got a daughter that's going through this right now, I want you to come get me. I'll go to war with you. Let's do it. I've been ready to do it a couple of times.

God's held me back from some things, but I'm telling you, this makes me angry. And you know what, fellas? It's not just girls that get caught up in this. I have seen plenty of men that get caught up in controlling relationships where they no longer have an opinion, where they are so emasculated that they can no longer feel like they can be a leader. And you need to pay

attention to that. And I want you to come get me. I want you to come get me. I want you to come get me. And I want you to come get me. I want you to come get me. I want you to come get me. I want you to pay attention to it as well. And brothers and sisters, as the body of Christ, we need to love and support each other in this way. And when we see these things take place, when we see these

things begin to happen, we need to come along and support. You need to know something. If you confront somebody that's in a relationship like this, at first, you will be the bad guy. You need to know that. You need to know that from the outset, because you have told the truth and they will not be pleased with you. But eventually, they'll see and they'll thank you for it.

Okay? So if that's you this morning, it's time to be free. It's time to not live like a slave any longer. So after he tells them about this false love from false teachers, he reminds them of his love for them. He says, my children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you. I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am

perplexed about you. Paul uses such a tender term here. As a matter of fact, it's the same term that John in his epistles uses over and over again. He says, my children, my kids. He says, I'm laboring for you again until Christ is formed in you. And again, may I speak a word to those of us that lead Bible studies, that teach Sunday school, that you will never stop laboring for those kids.

You will never stop. For your people until Christ is formed in them. Parents, you will never stop laboring for your kids. I was so blessed by something that pastor Dave put on Instagram the other day, pastor Dave from over at first Baptist church, good friend of mine. And he, he put this, uh, put a picture of a bunch of verses and all his kids are grown. I had most of them as students or youth group kids at

one point in time, and they're all grown and doing life now. And, and they're out. And he said, you never stop discipling your kids. These are the verses that I send to them every day. And I thought, what an encouragement to me as a father with a teenage daughter and an almost teenage daughter that my job won't be done the day that they turn 18. My job won't be done the day that they graduate college. My job won't be done

the day that they get married. My job won't be done the day that they have kids. My job will be done the day that I go home to be with Jesus because I'm still discipling my kids. I'm still laboring for them until Christ is formed. He says, so I wish I could be present with you now so that I could change my tone. I wish I could be present with you now so that you can catch the tone of my voice. You see tone, tone's a really

important thing in communication. Do you, do you know that? So they say there's three main parts of communication. You have content, you have nonverbal and you have tone. Most are surprised to know that the content portion of communication only makes up about seven to 10% of communication. In other words, what you say, while important, not nearly as important as how you say it

because your nonverbal makes up about 38% and all the rest of it is caught up in tone. In other words, you can say the right thing in absolutely the wrong way. And those of you that are wives here right now, you're like, darn straight. Tell them again. Anyway. Um, so, but it goes right along with what the Proverbs say that wisdom is only as good as the way in which it's presented. Right? And so he says, I wish I could be with you.

You could catch my tone because the potential is there that they're going to read everything Paul says with a really angry tone in his voice. But you see, I don't believe there is an angry tone in his voice. I believe there's a very tender tone. I believe it was more like, please don't go back. Please don't go back to that slavery. I don't want to see you enslaved again.

I think it was more the tone of a heartbroken father than the tone of an angry master. Why? It says, because I am perplexed about you. I can't figure you guys out. Why? If you had freedom, are you going back to slavery? So I'm going to close this morning, the exact same way I closed last Sunday. If you've been set free, stop living and thinking like a slave. If you've been set free,

don't go back to slavery because he whom the son has set free is free indeed. Amen. Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you and thank you for who you are. Thank you for being the God who sets us free. Thank you for being the God who pursues us, who loves us. And as we're believers in Jesus Christ, the God who knows us. And so Lord, if there's anyone here this morning that doesn't know you,

it's never came to that place that today would be the day that they would say, I give up. I'm coming home. I want to know you. And Lord, if there's people here this morning that have been living in that slavery, just like we talked about last week, Lord, may today be the day that they walk in freedom. May today be the day that they say, you know what? I'm going to start changing my mind today

so that I can start changing my actions today so that I can live in the freedom to which I've been called. Father, do that work in hearts and lives. Lord, may your Holy Spirit move as you see fit. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.

Pass my mind to Calvary. Jesus, bless his hands, his feet. My Savior on earth sent for me. Body bound and stinted and sealed.

Messiah still. Father God, we just want to lift praise to you this morning, Father, because you are worthy of all of our praise. God, we love you, Father. We thank you and we praise you. And all of God's people said, amen. You guys have a wonderful week and God bless you.