You are invited to stop running from your struggles and fall forward into Jesus' love. Embrace your identity as His child today, knowing He is pleased with you and has amazing things planned. Take the next step by connecting with us to grow in this truth.
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.
Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. And welcome
to Real Church. Did you guys have
a good week? Good spring break so far? Yeah. A little bit? Some of you guys did?
So my name is David John Phillips. I am the pastor here at Real Church, and it is an honor, an absolute honor that I get to to be here. I get to be the pastor at Real Church. I love it. I love you guys.
I'm just thankful that I get to play this role that God has asked me to play in establishing his kingdom throughout the world, and and being the pastor of a local church. I just believe wholeheartedly that the local church is the hope of the world. I do. And I believe that you, whether you're connected here or you're just visiting here and connected to another church, whatever, I believe that you should be Everybody deserves to be a part of a life giving local church. I think every single person deserves to be a part of a "life giving local church".
And if you don't have a life giving local church where you are connected and growing, and then also have the opportunity to help others to grow, you are welcome to connect and to grow here. You are invited. We pray if this is your first time, then we pray that you felt welcome, you felt at home from the time that you you drove into the parking lot until the time that you made it to your seats. Thank you guys for being here. And then also, I'm thankful that I get the opportunity every single Sunday to encourage you because we all need encouragement.
I'm reminded by my my brother in Christ, Phil, that we we just all need encouragement all the time. It's just a big deal. We're bombarded by all kinds of stuff. So maybe maybe you've fallen, you know, recently. Maybe you've just really messed up, or maybe you're hurting, or there's just all kinds of stuff going on in your life.
If that is the case, I want you to know that you can "fall forward" into Jesus. You don't have to run from him. Jesus loves you. We look at Jesus. We move forward into Jesus, and we keep going forward in him.
It's it's kind of a it's kind of a big deal. Amen? Alright. Cool. So I want to continue with that.
Recently, and encourage you with this, recently, a lot of people have been encouraging me, especially in the last 6 months since we started this church. Planting a church, starting a church is the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's so worth it. Like, you guys, the the lives that have been changed, the people have given their life to Jesus, the marriages that have been restored, the people who are who are coming back to Jesus, it's just worth it. Like, Christ gave his life up for us, so we give our life up for others as as we see him more and more clearly. But people have been encouraging me a lot.
So the people will come, I'll meet like some random person on the street, or I'll I'll meet, you know, random person at at a restaurant, or God will connect me with someone, and I'll find out that they're a Christian, and I'll find out that that they love Jesus, you know, and they're following him, and I'll ask them this. A lot of times, some sometimes, not a lot of times, sometimes, I'll ask them, I'll say, hey, would you pray for me? Now, when when I ask them that, a lot a lot of them don't realize that I'm a pastor. And they'll say, well, I say, look, I'm a I'm a pastor of a local church. I'm a pastor of real church, and I'd love for you just to pray for me.
Now, that does 2 things, probably more than that. But 1, it levels the playing field. Right? I'm not more special because I I have a title that says pastor. Right?
I'm just a guy that loves Jesus and playing a role that he asked me to play and establishing his church. That's it. Right? So so I have these these some of them, maybe they just started following Jesus, some them been following Jesus for 20, 30 years, you know, something like that. And and instantly, they realize, hold on.
I have the same Jesus in me that you have in you. You know, they're challenged with this. I can I can pray for you? I'm like, absolutely you can. Sometimes, you know, Holy Spirit, he's so sweet he encourages them.
Right? So you have Jesus in you, and and I believe that your prayers are powerful and effective, so would you pray for me? And some people say, well, wait, you really believe that? Like, I do. Right?
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. And because you told me that you believe in Jesus, that you're following him with everything you have inside of you, that means you're righteous, not based on what you've done, but based on Jesus. He he sees you as in right standing and and and with him right now. So that means that your prayers are powerful and effective. And I know that Paul wanted people praying for him all the time because it made what he was doing more effective.
It it moved things in the world. And so, would you pray for me? And then, you know, they they step out of their comfort zone, some of them, and and and pray for me. And and multiple times multiple times, these people, whether they're super strong Christians or or just growing in their faith, multiple times, they'll look at me and they'll say this. And it's just God encouraging me.
They'll say, I just feel like God says that he's super proud of you. I just feel like God God wants you to know, David John Phillips, that God is just He's 1 big proud papa. You know? And that's encouraging to me, but I want I want to to take that, and I wanna encourage you. I wanna share something super encouraging with you.
I have 3 beautiful kids, an amazing wife, actually. Yeah. So so that's Courtney. You you met her earlier. This is this is Trip.
We call him Trip. He's actually David John Phillips the third. Triple. You know, so Trip for triple. Yeah.
And then, this is Selah. Selah reign Phillips. Selah Scholars are not sure what it means. I believe it means pause, stop, rest, the Lord has spoken. She's amazing.
And this is Eden. Eden Rose Phillips. And she if you've ever heard Eze speak, she's got the sweetest little voice, and Selah Selah just has been singing almost from birth. It first came out as crying, but it was really singing. And and she's been singing ever since, and man, Trip's just a little leader.
Anyway, so before bed, as they go to bed, when I'm home when they when they go to bed, I make sure to go in their rooms and tuck them in. So I'll be, you know, first I go to the girls' rooms, and I'll I'll tuck them in before they go to bed, and I'll I'll, you know, tell them how much I love them, and and sometimes I'll sing them a song. They each have their own song that I've made up for them. I'm not gonna sing that to you, but it's their song, not yours. So so I'll sing this song to them, and and, you know, whisper sweet nothings in their ear about how beautiful they are, my 2 little girls.
And and then before I go, I ask them some questions. And 1 of the questions that I ask 1 of the questions I ask, I'll lean over into Eden's little face. I'll I'll say, look at daddy in the eyes. And I'll say, Eden, why am I proud of you? She'll look at me at me and she'll say, because I'm your girl.
Absolutely, baby. That's why. And I'll move over to Selah, and I'll look at her in this big blue eyes. And Selah, why am I proud of you? Because I'm your girl, daddy.
That's right. I'll I'll get done with them, I'll turn the lights off, I'll go into Tripp's room, and you know, talk to him a little bit different. Right? He's a little he's a little boy. But but, hey, son, why am I proud of you?
Because I'm your son, daddy. That's right. Because because you're my son. Later, maybe they get in trouble. You know, trip Let's say, maybe maybe trip or say that, maybe they they lie about something.
Right? They forget for a moment that they're a truth teller, and they think for a moment that they're a liar. A lot of times when when your kid lies, we we say, oh, you're not you're a liar. No. No.
Don't call them that. They're not a liar. They just forgot that they're a truth teller. Makes sense? And and Peter, it talks about those that that make a ton of mistakes if they're following Jesus, they've forgotten that they've been forgiven.
They've forgotten who they are. Right? So so trip, let's say Trip lies, and it's it's something where it's it's time for him to be disciplined. Discipline is I'm simply reminding him of who he is. Right?
He forgot for a moment, and this is a reminder. We we spank at our house when it warrants it. We do. Spare the rod, spoil the child. You know, in in Proverbs it says, if you don't discipline your kids, you hate them.
Crazy. Right? I love them. I want to train them up in in in the way that that they should go, train them in righteousness. So so I I discipline my son, and sometimes, you know, he's he's crying, it's a it's a sad thing, it's a bad thing, and and But I've explained it, he understands.
And and through his tears, I'll ask him afterwards, Son, is daddy still proud of you? Of course, are, daddy. Why am I still proud of you? Because I'm your son. His mistake didn't make me not proud of him.
I'm proud of him because of who he is, because he's my son. In Matthew-3, Jesus is baptized. I've shared this before, but I'm gonna share it again. Jesus is baptized. He he By John the Baptist, he comes out of the water, the Holy Spirit lights on him like a dove, and this voice, I imagine it as this booming voice for all to hear, but it says this voice, it was the Father.
He spoke and he said, this is my Son, whom I love and with whom I am well pleased. My version, this is my son, I love him, and I'm proud of you, boy. Why did God say that? Why did the Father say that to the Son in that instance? *Jesus* hadn't done anything yet.
He hadn't went to the desert to to, you know, do his 40 day fast before ministry, and then, you know, Satan himself was about to tempt him. He hadn't overcome that. He hadn't, you know, turned the water into wine, his first miracle. He hadn't healed any sick. He hadn't opened any blind eyes yet.
He hadn't rebuked the religious yet. Jesus does that, by the way. He hadn't raised the dead, and he definitely hadn't done what he was called to do. He hadn't finished, like, hadn't died on the cross yet for our sins and rose again so that we could have relationship with God. He hadn't done anything yet, but yet God said the Father said to the Son, in that moment, this is my Son in whom I I love and whom I am well pleased.
Because it wasn't based on his performance, it was based on who he was, who he is. Right? Period. Now, Jesus took that understanding of that that who he was. Right?
His understanding that his father loves him, his father's pleased with him. And because of that, because Jesus knew who he was, he went into the desert, and Satan himself tried to get him to doubt who he was. If you're really the son of God. But he didn't have to be insecure because he was secure in his father's love. He didn't have to doubt.
He didn't have to be insecure and prove himself. He didn't have to prove himself because he just is, because his father said he was. He knew his father was pleased with him. And so, was able to carry out everything that he was supposed to because he was secure in his father's love for him, and he was secure that his father was pleased with him. And in the same way, if you've given your life to Jesus, right, you know him, then the whole the father is saying to you, through me, you're my son, you're my daughter, and with you, I am well pleased.
He's 1 big proud papa. He loves you, and he's proud of you. Don't forget it. Because when you forget it, instead of running to him when you make a mistake, you run from him. There's a Facebook post that was going around.
Religion says, oh, no. Don't tell dad when you make a mistake. But relationship says, oh, no. I made a mistake. I gotta call dad.
Right? We we fall forward into Jesus when we understand our relationship with him. Just like me and my son, I learned that from God. When you make a mistake, your daddy's still proud of you because of who you are. And if you understand that, you'll take your eyes off of your mistakes, and you'll take your eyes off of self, and you'll put your eyes on Jesus every single time.
And as you do that, it's gonna produce more Jesus in and through you, so that everywhere you walk, people see Jesus. And you make mistakes less by focusing on him instead of yourself. It's just good. Just wanted to encourage you for a moment. Alright.
So, we're in the series called big. Have you guys enjoyed this series? Have you enjoyed the big series so far? Right? It's been it's been pretty, I don't know, maybe enlightening.
We've gotten to some really deep stuff. If you've missed the last 1, I'm I'm a give you just a little bit of a recap, but I encourage you, click on listen to our podcast. We have that last 1 up. We had a couple of issues with the podcast before, but just some recording stuff. But we got it fixed, so we got that last podcast up.
But in the series called Big, last week, we talked about Adam and Eve. We talked about the big fall. I think that's the Yeah. We talked about the big fall and what happened there. Adam and Eve were in the garden.
*God* is love, so God gave them a choice not to love because otherwise, it's just obligation. And Adam and Eve chose to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, right, instead of the tree of life. In that, what were they choosing? God is life. Right?
In the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they were choosing not God. They were choosing to be independent from God. So independence from life results in *death*. Yeah. Right?
They were choosing what they thought was good instead of what God thought was good. And anything, even if it feels good for a moment, if it's not God's good, it results in death to us. Okay? So that was just kind of a a big recap right there. And because of that choice, because of what they chose, because they never did eat of the tree of life.
They never did. *Jesus is the tree of life, by the way. Jesus is the fruit of the tree of life, is pretty amazing. They never ate of that. They ate of of of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil*.
And so, from that point on, we have a nature issue, and sin and death entered the world. We have a proclivity, a leaning, a bent towards self instead of a bent towards God. We're born with it. Right? Romans-5:19.
I think it's a little bit further down in the notes. But Romans-5 verse 19 says, by the disobedience of the 1 man, and we got to this towards the end, by the disobedience of the 1 man, the many were made sinners. So question, are you a sinner because you sinned? No. You're a sinner because 1 man sinned.
Or let me rephrase that. Is someone a sinner because they sin? No. Someone's a sinner because 1 man sinned. Right?
Because Adam sinned. Because Adam and Eve sinned, their nature was passed down from mankind. In in the same way, and I and I've done this multiple times from this this stage, in the same way that a 2 year old You don't teach a 2 year old to sin. They naturally do. It's a natural nature thing.
Right? I want that. Mine. Johnny, that's not yours. Yes, it is.
Johnny, did you steal that? No, Sally did. Right? It's if you've ever had a 2 year old, or a 3 year old, or a 1 year old, it's just part of it. They steal, they lie.
There's all kinds of things that happen because of the fall. It's passed down. It's a nature issue, a nature towards self. Period. Now, because because of that, *sin, death*, sickness, disease, all kinds of stuff entered the world.
Right? Okay. We see that. It even played out in the first family, the first dysfunctional family, Adam's family. I thought that was funnier than you thought it was.
But, Adam's family, the Adam Yeah. So so you have Cain and Abel, and it plays out in Cain murders Abel, like *sin* just to the core resulted in rage and hate, and and all kinds of crazy stuff happened. Now, as man multiplied, right? So man multiplied and began to fill the earth, what happened? Sin multiplied.
Right? Man multiplies, *sin multiplies. So we get to Genesis-6:5*. Let's pull it up on the screen. The Lord saw So this is this is years and years and years after that.
The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of human heart was only evil all the time. That's pretty crazy. Every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was on evil constantly. So you guys know the story, maybe you do. What happened after that?
It was the flood. Right? So God judged the world. Judgment happened. Okay?
And he flooded the earth and and saved this 1 family, Noah and his family, all of his sons and daughters. *Judgment* happened. Why? What is judgment? Judgment is simply divine I I just looked it up in the in the dictionary.
*Judgment equals "divine punishment"*. Okay? Judgment is divine punishment. Well then, if that's the case, then what is punishment? Once again, looked it up in the dictionary.
What is punishment? Punishment is the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense. What does that even mean? Punishment is giving you what you deserve for doing something wrong. K?
So then, divine judgment is divine punishment. It's giving you what you deserve for sin. Giving you what you deserve, and what is sin choosing not God? So, divine judgment is is God giving you what you deserve for choosing not him. You guys see that?
That makes sense? Okay. So that's that's what that's what the judgment that's what happened with the flood, that's what happened with all of that. So let's let's look at this, because there's a there's a very important picture to see here because history is what? His story.
It's God's story. And so he did this, and it was crazy, but he did it for a reason. And I think he did it 1 of the reasons was so that we could understand something very important, a principle about humanity that he wants us to understand in this moment right here. You guys ready for this? Let's go to Genesis-8:21.
So, you have the flood, like every inclination of the human heart is on evil all the time. God judges the world, and and it causes this flood, and and Noah and his family gets on the ark, and there's a whole lot there, and we'll preach on that another time. And and then after the flood stops, the rains stop, and then, you know, the waters begin to recede, and and Noah and his family and the ark, it rests on the Mountains Of Ararat, and then the waters continue to recede until they're completely and totally gone, the ground's completely dry, then God lets them out of the ark. Okay? Noah and his family get out of the ark, and and they're just so thankful to God for what he's done for them, for saving them from this judgment.
Right, they they decide to worship him through a sacrifice. So they so they do do this sacrifice, and here's what the Bible says after that. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart, never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. Do you guys catch it?
Go back to Genesis-6 real quick. *Genesis-6*. We're gonna go back and forth real quick. *Genesis-6:5*. The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was on evil, only evil all the time.
This is before judgment. Judgment happens, and then Genesis-8. Genesis-8. There we go. Judgment happens, and then the Lord smelled their pleasing aroma and said in his heart, never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is still on evil from childhood.
Every inclination of the human heart was on evil before judgment. Judgment happened. Every inclination of the human heart was still on evil from childhood. Judgment didn't work. Judgment God God did it.
It did what God had intended it to do, but it doesn't judgment doesn't work to change the human heart. You see it? Judgment doesn't work to change someone's heart. Then why why do churches constantly do pastors constantly preach judgment? Why do we do What is judgment?
It's giving someone what they deserve. If we constantly give someone what they deserve for their wrongdoing, it's not gonna change their heart. Period. It's a little crazy. It's a little radical.
But it's truth. Judgment doesn't change a man's heart. What does? *Romans-2:4* says, it's the **kindness of God**. It's the goodness of God that "leads a man to repentance".
It's the kindness of God. It's the goodness of God that leads a man repentance. What is repentance? What does repentance mean? Repent means to turn.
Right? Repent means to change a change of the heart and a change of the mind. So it's a turning to repentance is a "turning from self" to God, a changing of the heart and the mind from self to God. Because what did Adam choose? Adam chose the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
He chose a self knowledge of self self understanding of what I think is good and what I think is bad. Instead of that, what what is what is needed, it's a turning of the heart, a changing of the heart and the mind, a repentance turning towards God, turning turning towards him. And what causes that? It's not judgment. It's the kindness and the goodness of God that leads a man to do that.
Let me Let's think about this for a little bit. Let's say let's say you live in a small town, maybe, I don't know, 4 or 5,000 people. Okay? Small town. And don't laugh because that's where we're from.
We're from Winnsboro, Louisiana. It's about 4 or 5,000 people in city limits. And actually, we lived about 15, 20 miles from that. So really, there was no town at all. And there was a bayou.
And and and and really, the the closest movie theater was 45 miles, 50 miles away from us, and there's no traffic, so a mile is a minute, you know, so we anyway. So let's say you live in this small town, and nobody's moving to this town, so everybody that's there is pretty stagnant. Right? And I'm not talking bad about Winnsboro. Winnsboro is an amazing place, amazing people.
But let's say it's pretty stagnant, nobody's really moving in. So and and you've heard there's only 1 person in this whole town. Now, imagine, you you live here. You're pop you're part of the population of this small town. Okay?
I'm gonna take you on a a little journey for a second. And the only person that there's only 1 person there in that whole place that's named Grace. Only person in the whole town. And you hear about this person, it's this this the the rumor is it's this little old lady who's just bitter, and mean and nasty, and you don't want anything to do with her. Now, a question.
If you hear that somebody's super mean, would you would you want to get to know them? Or would you probably run from them? Which 1? You you probably run from them. Right?
You probably not wanna be around them if you just know that they're super mean. Okay. So so check this out. You you hear about this little old lady. She's bitter.
She's nasty. You hear she gets people sick all the time. You hear that that she's a witch, that she kills people, she's murdered a ton of people. You hear that that she just she steals from people, and she just plays and toys with people just for the fun of it. But this little old lady named Grace, the only person in the whole town, and you've heard this.
And so, when you hear people talk about this little old lady named Grace, you're like, woah, stay away from her. Man, I've heard she kills people, I've heard she gets people sick, I've heard she, you know, she just toys with people, she's a witch, she's mean. Stay away from grace. Right? That's what you would do.
So then, 1 day, you're walking in the town, and you got kinda got your head down, and you look up, and you see this guy that you've never seen before. And he just seems amazingly kind, and just a super nice guy. He talks to you a little bit, and you and you ask him, well, hey, what's your name? And he says, oh, my name's grace. What?
Wait, what? Are you new here? No, I've lived here all my life. Hold on. I thought I thought grace was a little old lady.
Little mean lady, he laughs. Yeah, you know, lot of people think that about me. You know, there's a lot of rumors, but the problem is they just don't know me. They've never really talked to me. They never they've never taken the time to to seek me out, to find me.
Well And then after spending a little bit of time, you realize how kind and how good, and amazing this person is. But but you're still kinda taken back because of everything that you've heard, so you walk away from them. But but but something in you is is beginning to turn. Something in you is beginning to change. So then, all of a sudden, you begin to meet people who actually know the real grace.
You begin to talk with them, and they're telling you about grace, and how nice and kind and amazing, and how just getting to know Him has completely changed their life. So, something in you begins to change and begins to turn, and you begin to go from thinking that grace is this little old mean bitter lady, to grace is this kind amazing person who could help change your life. And so, instead of running from grace, you begin to turn towards him and run to him. It's the kindness of *God* that leads a man to repentance. Do you see it?
Noah and his family weren't judged. The whole earth was judged. Everybody's judged during the flood. But Noah and his family were the only ones that weren't. Why?
Let's go to Genesis-6. Verse 9. And if you have your notes pulled up on the phone or whatever, it's it's there too. It says, this is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
That was why he wasn't judged. He was righteous, *blameless*, and walked faithfully with God. Seems like he was a goody 2 2 goody 2 shoes. Right? I don't think so.
Because if you know Noah, then you know that he got drunk, drunken stupor, is what it says, and made a fool of himself before his kids. It doesn't sound too righteous and blameless in what we think about things, does it? So why would it say, Noah was righteous and blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. That's interesting. Let's let's figure it out.
Go to Hebrews-11. I love this chapter. It's an amazing chapter. Verse 7. By faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen in holy fear, built an ark to save his family.
By faith, he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. Now, what is faith? Faith Where does faith come from? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word about Jesus, the word of God. Who is the word?
*Jesus. John-1:1, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God*, and the word was God. And the word became flesh and and made his dwelling among us. Jesus is the very word. So what happened, and and just in my mind's eye, so so give me a little grace here as I as I explain this.
I mean, it would seem because I know my God, and it's it's God's desire that no man should perish. Right? As a matter of fact, it says that that he delights in showing mercy. God "delights in showing mercy". Now, what is mercy?
Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Judgment is getting what you deserve. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. God delights in showing mercy. That's who he is.
It also says in James-2:13 that mercy triumphs over judgment. Not getting what you do deserve triumphs over you getting what you do deserve. Does that make sense? So that's my God. That's who he is.
So then it would make sense in my mind, and it doesn't say this, but it would make sense because of that, because that's who he is, that God was warning the people all all the time. Say, hey. Hey. Look. This is coming.
This is coming. Hey. This is coming. This is coming. And what is faith?
*Faith* is hearing hearing the Lord. Right? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So God's speaking, and Noah Noah heard him. Noah listened.
Now, because of that, Noah had faith. Right? When you hear God, when you're believing him, *Romans-4* says, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, as right standing with him. So it's hearing the word, it's And and and what is what is Noah hearing? Who's the word?
*Jesus Christ. Noah is hearing and receiving the word. He's looking forward to what Jesus did on the cross. He's hearing and receiving it, and he's believing it, and it's credited to him, not based on what he's done, do, or will has done, is doing, or will do, but based on who he is on his faith* in Christ. That make sense?
So now, Noah probably screwed up a lot. We know that he screwed up some. But based on him believing the word of God, it was credited to him as right standing with God. As a matter of fact, God went even further and said he was blameless. That's amazing.
So what does that mean? I'm telling you the word of Jesus right now. You have the choice to believe your circumstances. You have the choice to believe what you've always thought about yourself. How could God ever be proud of me?
How could
*God* love me? How could
*God* be pleased with me?
The Bible says without faith,
it's impossible to please God. Does anybody who comes to it does believe that he exists, that he's rewarded those who diligently seek him? Gives you, because he's a gentleman. He gives you what you choose. You choose to believe.
See, I mean, people you know, people can hear the word. I mean, it's not a formula. Some people hear it, believe it, receive it, and boom, it's done. Some people need to need to pray certain prayer. Some people need to, you know.
But but you can hear the word of Jesus in in in being saved. That that's 3 different things. It's being healed, being saved, and being delivered. 2000 years ago, Jesus paid the price for your your sickness, your disease, your peace. He said, my peace I give to you not as the world gives.
Don't let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. If you don't have peace in your life, Jesus already gave you his peace. You can believe it and receive it and "walk in it" or not. Jesus already paid the price for you to be forgiven. Sitting right there, right here, right now, as I'm speaking, you can receive the word of God by faith.
Believe it and it's credited to you as right standing with him. Right now, you went from death to life. You went from from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and independent from him and spiritually dead because you don't know your father in heaven. To all of a sudden, you receive this word and it becomes life to you and then things begin to change and you're like, wow, I'm forgiven and I'm loved and and you can walk. When you believe that, when you believe that you're forgiven, you walk as 1 that's forgiven.
When you believe that you're in right standing with God, you do righteous things. It becomes a part of you. It's just life. It's amazing. You don't have to try.
It's who you are. When you believe that Jesus paid the price price for your sickness and disease, by his stripes you were healed 2000 years ago. It begins to manifest in your body. It's amazing. It's life giving.
Would you guys stand? If you don't mind, if you if you can't stand, don't worry. You can stay seated. But I'm gonna ask everybody that can, please stand. And I want those of
you that have given your
*life to Jesus*, if you've given your life to Jesus, I want you to just close your eyes. *God*'s presence is here. God's here. This is part of his word. Knowing is greater than feeling.
He says he's here. So he's here whether
you feel him or not. Right? Where 2 or 3 of them
are gathered. There I am in the midst of it. He's here.
So if you've given your life to Jesus, you know him, I want you to close your eyes. And I just want you to ask ask your father, God,
are you proud of me?
You heard anything other than yes, It wasn't for that. If you've given your life to Jesus, he's proud of you. Not based on what you've done or haven't done. It's based on your fact. Said.
Your ears don't. Ask him this. If you've given your life to Jesus,
*God, have you forgiven*? Have you forgiven? Am I forgiven?
Ask him this, God, am I blameless before you? Am I righteous? Surrender your life to Jesus, you believe his word. The answer is yes.
What God said to Noah, says, righteous and blameless before you. You believe that, you walk with that.
Because that's who you are.
How you feel about yourself doesn't compare.
It's not truth. **What God says** about you, that's truth. If there's anybody right now that hasn't surrendered their life to Jesus and you want help, you wanna know that God is proud of you, you wanna know that God's pleased with you, You wanna know a relationship with God like I've been describing. If that is you, on the count of 3, I want you to "shoot your hand up". 1, 2, 3.
Shoot your hand up. Anybody? Anybody need a life surrender their life to Jesus right now?
Wonderful. I'm standing in the
midst of a crowd of people who know Jesus, who love Jesus, who are loved by Jesus, who are in right standing with Jesus, who are blameless, not based on what you've done, do or will do, but based on what
he's done for you. Now that's kindness. Now here's the crazy part.
The kindness of God leads a man to repentance. You might be saying all of these things and God and then all of a sudden something, Holy Spirit bubbles something up, convicts you. All he's saying is
just like I told my son. Hey, that's not who you are. You don't have to do that anymore. You're righteous. Hey, that's not who you are.
You don't have to be addicted to that anymore. You're blameless. All you gotta do is agree. Confess as agreement. You're right God.
That's not who I am. Thank you that I'm forgiven. Thank you that I'm new. Thank you that I am who you
say I am. Thank you Jesus. I'm gonna walk with you. I'm gonna keep my eyes on you instead on myself anymore.
How cool is that? It's amazing. Let me pray for you.
If as I was speaking
today, you believed the word for the first time and gave your life to Jesus, Make sure on that connection card to write, I gave my life to Jesus and turn it in. Back. If you feel like, hey, this is, you know what, I feel God at work, I know God's at work here and it's time for me to be a part, make sure to come see
me at Next Steps after service.
Let me pray for you and let's worship. As we worship, I want you
to sing these songs. Sing this song. You're sing
1 song. Sing this song as a prayer to God. Knowing that he's here. Knowing that you're loved by him. Knowing that you're his son, his daughter.
He's pleased with you. He's proud of you. He's got amazing things for you. God, I thank you for these amazing people. Lord, they're world changers.
Why? Because they know you. Jesus Jesus changed the world in 3 years because he knew who he was
in you. *Jesus* is in us. We're gonna do the same thing. So what I pray that you just bless them.
Lord, them of this every single day.
In Jesus name. Thanks
for listening to the Real Church podcast. If you have questions, comments, or would like to get to know us, be sure to check us out on social media by searching real church clear water or visit us online at www.realchurch.us. If you'd like to "play a part" in what we're doing, you can do so right where you are. Your prayers are powerful and effective. You can also be a part through giving.
Go to realchurch.us and click the gift button. Whether you're praying, giving, or serving with Real Church, you are playing a part in every life being changed. Thank you. Until our next podcast, be blessed. We'll see you next
time.