You are invited to listen closely to what God is saying to you right now through His Word. Take that next step of obedience today, whether it is trusting Him with your finances or giving your life to Jesus.
Welcome to The Real Church Podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
Good morning, Real Church. How you doing? What a great Sunday it has been. My name again is David John Phillips. I'm the pastor here at Real Church and and there is no place I'd rather be.
I love you guys. I love this church. This is our 5 month yesterday actually, but as of Sunday, it's our 5 month anniversary. We've been at church for 5 months. Yeah.
That's awesome. There's been a lot and a lot of life change, there's a lot of families that are that have gotten back together, lives that have been freed from all kinds of drugs and all kinds of stuff, people that have given their life to Jesus. It's been wonderful, it's been amazing, and let me tell you, it's been worth it. And I planting a church the hardest, bar none, hardest thing I've ever done. It's so worth it.
You are worth it. Our team is worth it. I mean, it's amazing. And I I we couldn't do this without the team here. We couldn't do this without you guys.
So thank you. Thank you for what you do. You know, when when I when I tell people, they ask me, I strike up a conversation with people, you know, and and I I say, hey, what do you, know, what do you do? And of course, I'm a church planter. Right?
So I'm I'm I know that they're gonna ask me what do you do, you know? And and I say, we we started a church. I said, they say, well, what's the name? And I say, it's real church. And of course, they get that look, you know, maybe some of you guys have done the same thing when you heard about it at first.
Real church? Like, really? Come on, man. Like, what The heart behind that, and I've said this multiple times is since I was 14 years old. I was 14 years old and and I don't know, God just put it on my heart.
I'm a real person living a real life for a real Jesus, having a real good time. It's my life's motto. Right? So of course, I mean, every ministry that that God has God has allowed me to start in in a church has been named after that. You know, we we we did a youth group a while back, it was for real youth group.
I'm a real person living a real life for a real Jesus, having a real good time. Right? 4 reals. Anyway. So Hey.
It it works. It it it just does. So anyway, my wife stole some of my intro. I was gonna talk about small groups, I was gonna talk about next steps and highlight it, but she did an amazing job. Know?
Would you guys give her a hand? Just give me bonus points for later. We're going to get into We are in week 4 of a 6 week series called asking for a friend. Have you guys enjoyed that so far? Well, we we Tough answers Or answers to tough questions.
Right? And so we put out we put out online, we put out on different invite cards and stuff where, you know, you have a QR code or or you can go to our website and click and ask any question that you want anonymously about life, God, church, religion, etcetera. Right? And the reason we named it the asking for a friend series is it's, as I've said before, it's those questions that, you know, you're a little insecure about asking really. It's the questions that you think maybe you should know or it's a faux pas topic or whatever in in society, and so you you kinda don't wanna breach the subject, but when you finally find someone that might know the answer and and you finally do ask the question and they give you that look, you're like, oh, just asking for a friend.
Right? So it's that. That is the whole thought behind the question. We've had How many questions come in? 70 something questions come in?
And and and some of them have been the same questions. I try to pick the toughest ones. I try to pick the ones that have been asked the most. So I encourage you, if you have not asked a question yet, we have 1 more Sunday in the asking for a friend series. So please, go to www.realchurch.us, click on the asking for a friend site, and ask a question.
Chances are, hey, maybe we'll use your question next Sunday, which would be pretty awesome. Right? Okay. So we're gonna get into the asking for a friend series to to today's questions. But before we do, I wanna pray.
Just I believe in starting with prayer. I just believe it's powerful and effective. Right? And a lot of you know this by now, it says the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. So it's not it's not powerful effective for everyone, just just those who are righteous.
But if you've put your faith in Christ Jesus, then you're righteous not based on what you do, but based on your faith in him. Right? When God looks at you, he sees the blood of Jesus. He sees the goodness of Jesus. No matter what you did, no matter what you've done, and no matter what you will do, based on your faith in him.
*2 Corinthians-5:21*. So, your prayers are just as powerful and effective as my prayers. Go figure. Now, may I ask you a question? Do you believe and I actually wanna see a raise see you guys raise your hands on this 1.
Okay? So so do you believe that God still speaks to people? Does God speak to people? Yeah. Great.
Do you believe God uses people to speak to people? Do you believe God can use me today to speak to you? Yes. Alright. Good.
Yeah. That was a speaker setup, of course. So if that's the case, if you really believe that, then let's sit on the edge of our seats metaphorically today. Alright? Let's listen because if God speaks and we hear him, then it has the potential to change us for eternity.
Right? It has the potential to affect us for eternity for the better because he is good whether you believe or not. So I'm gonna pray and and I want you guys to pray with me. Alright? And I want you guys to pray and ask God to speak to you.
Ask him to open your heart, ask him to clear all distractions away and be laser focused in on what he has for you today because what he has for you may be different from the person beside you. Right? You might wanna pray for them too. Okay? Alright.
*God*, I thank you for who you are. You're amazing and you're wonderful, Lord. Lord, I thank you that you are a loving God and you care about us. Lord, you you use the foolishness of preaching to change lives, which is crazy. Lord, and and just thank you for the grace to be able to even do this today.
Father, I I give you everything that I am. Lord, pray you get me out of the way, and it's you speaking, Lord. Your compassion for these people, these amazing people flowing through, it changes lives. It's your kindness that leads people to repentance. Father, I pray that people are led to repentance today, people are equipped today, people surrender fully to you today, people see you more clearly than ever, and in that, they see who they are in you more clearly than ever.
*Lord*, I pray a result of today is a revival in this city, in their lives, in their homes, in their in their businesses, Lord God. I thank you for who you are. Lord, I thank you for loving us. I thank you for being here. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.
Alright. So usually, read a bunch of funny questions, but we're just gonna get into it today. Let's go to the first question. Real questions. If life looks so bleak and suicide looks like the best option now, why should I keep living?
Why should I stay here? I could not answer this question first. You know, there's 9000000 over 9000000 people in The United States every year who seriously contemplate suicide. 3 percent, that's about 3 percent of The US population every year seriously contemplate suicide. Meaning, that the chances are someone in here or multiple people in here either recently, right now, or in the future are seriously contemplating or will seriously contemplate or have seriously contemplated suicide.
So I wanna address this question. If life looks so bleak and suicide looks like the best option now, why should I keep living? Why should I stay here? Because God loves you. He loves you so much.
And you've probably heard a lot of lies from the enemy. There is a enemy of your soul. The enemy wants to "steal, kill, and destroy" you. Steal from you, kill you, and destroy you. That's what he wants.
Right? So he's lying to you constantly telling you how worthless you are, how you don't have a future, how what you've done is is you can't come back from. It's impossible. Right? He's lying to you telling telling you you should be depressed, You should be sorry.
You don't want need to be around people. You don't need to do any of these things. Why? Because he's depressed. Because he's in despair.
Because he's a liar and he's a thief from the beginning and he's a murderer and he wants you to be just like him. Don't believe your circumstances, your temper it's temporary circumstances that your eyes are focused on. It's so much better than that. The Satan wants you to believe that you are worthless when God says that you're "worth his life". I've said this before and I'm gonna say it again because it's powerful.
This shirt right here, there's a price tag on it, $20. Would you pay for it? Maybe, maybe not. Let's say you don't pay for it. You don't pay $20.
It goes on sale. It's $10. $10 and then you buy it. Was the shirt worth $20? No.
Something is only worth what someone else would pay for it. Right? In the same way, someone is only worth what someone else would pay for them. Now Jesus, Bible says that Jesus is the fullness of all of the deity in bodily form. Jesus, God in the flesh.
*Jesus* paid his life for you and you think you're worthless when God values you as you're you're worth his life. That's how much God loves you. Why would you kill off something that valuable? And actually, if you're ready to give up your life, you're actually in the best place that you could possibly be. You might not see that, but you're actually in the best place you could possibly be.
But Matthew in Matthew-5:3 is the beatitudes. The first 1 says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It's not the rich in spirit who inherit You know, it's not those who think that they have everything and they don't need anything else. It's those that get to the end of themselves who are able to look up and see, say, I I can't do this anymore.
I need you. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and that's exactly where you are. It's the best place to be until you come to know Jesus. So, if you are tired of your life, then give it away. If you're tired of your life, then give it away.
Suicide is a serious matter and it is doing your with away with yourself forever. Giving your life to *Jesus* is a serious matter as well. And it's also doing away with yourself forever. It's doing away with who you used to be. When you give your life to Jesus, when you're born again, it doesn't make you a better version of yourself.
We don't need a better version of ourself. Right? We don't need a better version of a sinner. We don't need a better version of a liar. A better version of a liar is just a better liar.
A better version of a thief is just a better thief. Right? A better a better version of youth a prideful person is just someone who hides their pride just a little bit better. Salvation is doesn't giving your life to Christ doesn't make you a better version of yourself. It makes you a "brand new creation".
The old completely gone, there is brand new in Christ. It's kind of a big deal. *Galatians-2:20* says, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So therefore, once again, it's the best place because it's the point where you say I'm giving up. I'm giving up on myself.
I'm giving up on trying. I can't do it anymore. God, I need you. Right? The the Bible says those who love their life lose it, but those who lose their life for my sake will will what?
Yeah. We'll we'll gain it. We'll find it. Amen? He also said apart from me apart from me, you can do nothing.
You know, I've I've realized that. I've I have a lot of you know, we all have we all have giftings and talents and abilities, but I've realized my strengths and my weaknesses absolutely mean absolutely nothing. Because if I'm doing anything in and from myself, it will amount to absolutely nothing. Jesus said those words, apart from me you can do nothing. Yes.
I could I could try to build a church myself and maybe sound as good as I can on stage, know, and tell some cool stories and make people have a a funny feeling as they walk away because you know, the this this this speaker was alright or whatever, know, have some good music and all that kind of stuff. But if it's not him speaking through me, if it's not him you know, spell praising through the band, if it's not all about him and from him and through him, then it's it will amount to absolutely nothing in eternity. Because apart from him, life amounts to nothing. So I no longer live for myself. I'm putting myself, my way of thinking, what is best, my selfishness, weaknesses, all my strengths.
I'm realizing that they amount from nothing apart from Christ, so I no longer live for myself, I live for another, I live for Christ. Let's go to Romans-6. And this message went a completely different direction than I thought it was gonna go. So *Romans-6*, and I've said this before, but we're gonna go we're gonna dig in a little bit deeper here, and I say this every time that we do baptism, but we're gonna dig in a little deeper here and and and take it a little further than we've ever taken it before. *Romans-6* verse 3.
Man, crazy thing, man. Christianity is all about it's all about death. Death brings life. Right. No longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
I'm dying to who I always thought I was, so that you can live through me, Jesus. So I can have the life that you created me to live. Check this Or don't you know, verse 3, that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, we too may live a new life. Buried with him into his death.
The Bible says, crucified with Christ. Right? That's Galatians-2:20. So when we give our life away, when we give our life to Jesus. Right?
What we're doing, we're recognizing that we're not we weren't ever good enough. We can't be good enough in order to make it to how we were created to live because we weren't we weren't just created to to go back to how Adam was before the fall. We were created to eat of the tree of life. We were created to know God, and knowing God is eternal life, which means we know him, we walk intimately intimately with him, we have him in us. It's kind of a big deal.
We have a daily conversational relationship with him and that happens. We give our life away. We die to who we used to be. So in baptism, what baptism is? It's a burial ceremony.
I've said this before. We're gonna go a little bit deeper than we've ever gone. Baptism is a burial ceremony. You don't bury someone who's alive. You bury someone who's dead.
Right? You bury someone who's dead. Right? You don't have a family member who is who is almost dead and say, well, let's just bury them. No.
You wait till all life is completely and totally gone. There's no chance of them ever being resurrected back to life, and then you have a burial ceremony. Right? Well, in the same way, when we give our life to Jesus, the old is gone. The new is complete.
We are a new creation, 100% brand new. So the old man is completely gone. I'm no longer the old David John Phillips junior. He's gone. He's dead.
He's taken away. I am brand new in Christ Jesus. Therefore, I'm ready to be baptized. So when you go under the water, you're saying, you go under the water, you're saying, I recognize that I'm I'm brand new and and I was crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but it Christ who lives in me.
Right? Alright. Now, let's go a little further. This is really cool, guys. Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory oh, wait.
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, we too may live a new life. Verse 5, for if we have been united with him in death like his like his, because we have, we've given our life to Jesus, it's no longer the identity we we thought we were born with. It's no longer the identity we we grew up with. We're no longer who we always thought we used to be. We're taking on Christ's identity, whatever that is.
For if we've been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. We are raised to new life with Christ. Whatever Christ's life is after his resurrection, that is our life. So what was what is Christ's life as after his resurrection? Because it the Bible says, the same power that conquered the grave lives in us.
That power that raised Jesus from the dead, the fullness of *God* in us. That's crazy to think about. But that's what baptism is declaring. No longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. You go down, you're buried with him, but you come up, you're raised with him, seated with him in heavenly places now.
So what does that mean? What is the life what does that resurrection mean for our life today? Oh, guys. This is check this out. Let's what happened when Jesus was raised from the dead?
Like, what happened 3 days after that day he was crucified? Let's go to Matthew-27. This is so cool. So many people have never they just read over this. I wanna show you what happened.
Where am I at? 10 59. Okay. *Matthew-27:50*. It says, and when Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
A lot of people think that the the the Romans killed him. No. Jesus gave his life away for you. He coulda he coulda stepped down any moment off of that cross. He said, no.
I'm staying there for you because you're worth my life. So he died. Verse 51. This is crazy. Go look it up.
At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in 2 from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rock split, and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. Because of Jesus' death, many others were raised to life. When we realize that it's no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us, when we have died to our self completely, when others see us, they no longer see who we used to be.
They see somebody brand new and it sparks a seed of the gospel and then they say, man, I want that. And people around us are raised to life just like they were when Jesus died on the cross. You catch that? That's crazy. And the tombs broke when Jesus died, the tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
Verse 53. Then they didn't come out of their tombs then. Verse 53, then came out of their tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. Jesus died, many people raised their life, Jesus rose again, and they went around publicly proclaiming what Jesus has done. Can you imagine 20 years ago, you had some relative die, 20 years later, they come knocking your door, honey, I'm home.
What? What happened? The Messiah died and rose again, and now I'm a new man. What what do you think happened to that wife when her honey honey came home and told her that? 1, she freaked out, But 2, she devoted her life to whatever happened.
Wouldn't you? Can you imagine? Have you ever seen a resurrected life? Has that ever happened? You ever seen someone that went from living a life of death, of sin, and it's just wreaking havoc on every aspect of their life, and then all of a sudden, they accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, and there's a radical change in their life.
It's like they're a completely new creation, and you see that you're like, wow, that's crazy. But then you also begin to see after that happens, people around them start to what? Exactly. Change as well. Because that's what that's what real Christianity does.
Intimacy causes reproduction. You give your life to Jesus, it's not about just coming to church on a Sunday and going to heaven 1 day when you're and you'll get a get a license to go to heaven 1 day. No. No. Giving your life to Jesus is a a life of complete surrender.
It's death to who you always thought you were. And whatever you say Jesus, I'm following you with everything I have inside of me because I am who you say that I am. And when we live that life, oh my gosh. People around us they see us and they see Jesus. They don't see us anymore.
They don't see when they when they hear us speak, they hear the very words of Jesus and it's causing them to to want what we have. They see a changed life. Do you know why? Because we're created to know God. We're created to walk in intimate relationship with God.
We're not created to play church. We're not created to play religion. We're created to walk in intimate relationship with the Father and as we do, the same power that rose Christ from the dead lives in us and impacts every person around us. *1 John-4:17* says, in this world we are like *Jesus*. You say that to some Christians and they'll think you're a heretic.
In this world we're like Jesus. Why? Because he's in me. He's in you. He loves you.
He knows you. And he's ex he wants to show his love to those around you through you. What does it take? Death. Surrender.
I'm done with me. I want what you have for me. I've tried as hard as I can, and I realized that I can't do it anymore. I'm giving up. I played church.
I played religion. I've read up my bible as just this checklist and all this kind of stuff, but you know what? I'm done with that. I'm keeping my eyes focused on you. I'm not gonna play performance church where I do enough stuff and I feel good about myself.
No. You said that I'm forgiven. You said that I'm loved. You said that I'm yours. So no matter how I feel in the moment, I'm putting my eyes on what you say about me and I'm gonna walk forward in that.
That's the gospel, man. That's good news. Next question. It's coming up in a minute, I promise. This is a great question.
Can you still be a Christian without ever hearing God? This might shock some of you. No. You can't. You can't be a Christian without ever hearing God.
Without faith, it's impossible to please him. *Hebrews-11:6. Romans-10:17*, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. So we hear his word. If you're a Christian, if you've given your life to Jesus, it's not because you know, of what you think, it's because you heard God.
You might have not recognized it as a moment. You might have been at a church service or something like that, and you you felt this this conviction inside of you to, man, I I I gotta, you know, I feel like I'm I'm separated from him. I'm convicted of my sin right now and and I just know I need a savior. That was God. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, so he was convicting you because you didn't know him, showing you that you needed him.
That was the that was God speaking to you and you if you've given your life to Jesus, then you responded. *Faith is not just hearing his word*, it's responding to what you hear. It's believing his word so much that you take a an action step. How are we saved? Ephesians-2:8.
I don't I don't think I put it up there. But we're saved by grace through by grace through faith. By getting what you don't deserve, by this unmerited favor that he loves you and he cares about you. He doesn't it doesn't matter what you've always done or what you all who you always thought you were or whatever. He loves you, he has a plan for you and he cares about you and that's radical grace and this is the time of grace.
That's for all men. We see that. We were and and we have the choice whether or not to respond to it through faith. We can respond to what he says or we can reject it, shake our fist and say I'm going my way. Why?
How do we grow in Christ Jesus? How do we grow in our relationship with him? How do we we understand more and more who we are in Christ? The same way we came to know I'm sorry. I'm spitting.
The same way we came to know Jesus. By grace through faith. We hear his voice in the little things. Little things that he that he challenges us to do. Go love this person.
Hey, wake up in the morning, pick up your bible. Go go read it. Hey hey, pray. Hey, go tell this person what you've been going through. Ask them to pray for you.
Hey hey, go get in that small group. Hey, be consistent in church. Go go to church. You need to be around those people. Hey, do this.
Hey, with your finances. Why why don't you why don't you just trust me with your finances a little bit instead of being in control? Hey, why don't you do And by *grace* through faith, it's his grace showing you and leading you and guiding you to look more like Jesus in every aspect of your life, and it's your faith responding to him and being obedient to what he says because you know his plan is better than your own plan for your life that causes us to take baby steps and begin to grow day in and day out. And we look back, we say, wow, I'm a completely different person. It's amazing.
It's all by grace through faith. Let's stand. If you don't mind, I would love for you to stand with me. I know that there are people in here that have never accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Never given your life to Christ.
I'm not gonna point you out. Oh, that's that's that's him. I'm not gonna do that. But I am gonna give you the opportunity because I also know that we prayed and God answers prayer. So that means God has been speaking to you through me.
You heard the voice of the Lord. Not that I'm special, I'm just a dude. But I'm a dude that's being obedient to the Lord and so he's speaking through me because he loves you to you. So you've heard his word. Now, your choice now is to respond or not.
I will respond in *faith* or I will reject because of whatever. Usually, have everybody close their eyes and bow their heads and all this kind of stuff, but I'm not gonna do that today. Why? Because this is a "bold faith". This is a faith that says, you know what?
I'm really tired of my life and I really want what you have for me. So I don't care what other everybody else thinks because we don't do things to please men, we do things to please the Lord who tests hearts. First Corinthians Thessalonians-2 or whatever. So if God is "tugging your heartstrings" right now, and you know it's time for you to step forward and give your life to Jesus, and make a public declaration. Not a declaration, a step of faith, an "obedient step" of faith.
Your your stomach's probably beating out of your chest right now saying, why? That's me. That's me. What are you gonna do about I challenge you right now to make an obedient step of faith, and to come forward right here to give your life to Jesus. Who's that bold?
Count of 3. 1, 2, 3. Come on, brother. Come on. Who else?
Who else? We love you, man. Come on. Come on. Who else?
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