You are a new creation in Christ, regardless of how you feel right now. Trust His word over your doubts and step out in obedience by giving, serving, and praying for your community. Let your identity fuel your action as you become a witness for Him everywhere you go.
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.
Okay. Let's go to *2 Corinthians-5* and verse 17, it says, therefore and if it says therefore, if you've been in church, you know, hey. Why is what is that there for? Right? So let's go above it.
Verse 16. So from now on, like, is this there for? From now on, we regard "no 1". Everybody say no 1. No 1.
From now on, we regard no 1 from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in that way, we do so no longer. So at 1 time, we just thought Jesus was just some guy, but there came a point in our lives for most of us where we realized Jesus is the son of God. Jesus is God incarnate. He's God in the flesh.
He died on the cross for me. He rose again. Now because of him, I can have relationship with him. He's amazing. He's everything.
He's my "all in all". That's how I view him, though I used to not view him that way. Now I do. But because of that, I regard no 1 anymore from a worldly point of view. In Philippians, it says that in all of my relationships, I'm supposed to have the same mindset as that of Christ Jesus.
Right? So in my relationship toward you, no matter what you've done to me, no matter how bad you've wronged me, in my relationship with you, I'm supposed to have the mindset of Christ Jesus. What is Christ Jesus is mindset. What's his mindset towards you? You're loved, you're worth it, you're worth me dying for, and I forgive you.
So in my relationships with everyone else, I'm supposed to have, hey, I it doesn't matter what you've done to me. I'm not gonna be offended by that. I'm just gonna forgive you anyway because God loves you that that much. I'm gonna do whatever it takes to show my love for you so that you can receive it and move forward in your life. You guys are quiet.
So I regard no 1 from a worldly point of view. But not not only that. See, no 1 that's that means I'm not supposed to regard myself from a worldly point of view either. Right? So I regard not even myself from a worldly point of view.
So I look at myself as Christ looks at me. I look at myself from the viewpoint of heaven, how heaven sees me. Amen? Therefore that's what that's there for. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone, the new is here.
Everyone say, "I'm a new creation".
I'm new creation.
Now I know I've been hitting this over and over, but I'm gonna continue hitting it over and over. You are a new creation if you're in Christ Jesus. Right? You are. I don't care how you feel.
I don't care if it feels like you're the "same old same old". If you gave your life to Jesus, right, you're following him, you know that you're forgiven, you are a new creation. His word trumps your feeling. Alright. So yesterday, my family went on this outing.
We got to we went to the park, and Trip took his roller blades. He's learning to roller blade, and he's getting kinda decent at it. My wife actually took her roller blades, and and she roller bladed some, which is awesome. And Eden, she's like she's 4 years old. She's my flower child.
She loves to pick flowers and just like, woo hoo. You know? It's what she does. And and Selah we took Selah's bike. I knew it was time for Selah to learn to ride her bike.
I knew it. Daddy knew it was time. Right? I she's strong enough. She's big enough.
She's old enough. Daddy knew it was time. Now we've tried it multiple times in the past, and and she just wasn't ready, but I knew she was ready yesterday. So we get to the park, and and I put her on the bike, everybody else is doing their stuff, and and I'm holding the back of the bike, and and running beside her, and and she's pedaling, and I'm telling her to pedal hard, and and she realizes it takes a little it's it's a little harder to pedal than than what she thought. You know, she needs to not relax the whole time, but she's actually gotta pedal to keep going.
And and it over time, it it it came to you know, we saw that daddy believed that it was time for her to ride the bike, but she didn't believe that she could do it. Right? And so daddy's daddy told her to to focus on where she's going, to not look to the right or to the left. Right? Because wherever you look, that's where you're gonna go.
And I told her to focus on where she's going, and and as long as I was holding the back of her seat and running with her, she felt like she was okay. And I'd let go, and she'd think I was right there holding on, so she'd keep going for about 5 yards. But then she'd look back, see that I was kind of letting her do it, and she'd look to the right, and then she'd just go right to the right. And she'd end up falling. Over and over and over she fell, and daddy would pick her back up, I'd take her right back to the start, and I'd say, baby, we're gonna do this.
And over and over and over again, she looked at me, and she'd make excuse after excuse after excuse. Through tears, daddy, I'm hungry. No. It's not time to eat right now. Daddy, I'm thirsty.
Baby, you can do this. You are a bike rider. Daddy, my knee my knee is hurting right now. I just fell. Baby, it's it's not bleeding yet.
We walk we walked it out. You you're we we walked and tested it. I know it's you can do this. Daddy, I I I I don't know, daddy. It was obvious that what I knew she could do, she didn't know she could do yet, She had to just trust my word over what she felt.
It didn't look like she was a bike rider to her, but daddy knew that she could do it. And you know what? At any point in time, she could have just threw herself off the bike and refused. And though her mouth was saying over and over that I can't, I can't, I can't, I knew that she trusted me more than what she said because she she stayed on the bike. I told her I was never gonna quit.
I was never gonna give up on her. I was gonna continue and continue, and I didn't want her to quit because she's not a quitter. That's not who we are. We're moving forward. Is that right, Selah?
Yeah. And so through tears and and this happened for 45 minutes. Not 4 to 5 minutes. 45 minutes. And I'm I I remember holding her holding the front of the bike, and I'm looking at her, and she's just tears rolling down her face.
Daddy, I I can't do this. I don't baby, just look at the goal. Just "look where you're going". Don't look to the right. Don't look to the left.
Look where you're going. Stay focused on the goal. You can do this. You are a bike rider. I'm with you.
I'm not quitting. I'm not giving up on you. I'm going to help you move forward. Don't quit. That's not who you are.
You are a bike rider. You can do this. And you know what? 45 minutes later, she finally believed me enough to continue pedaling, because that's what you gotta do, you gotta just keep pedaling. And she kept her eye on and you know what?
She she rode the bike for about 40 yards without me touching it. But it took her believing me over what she felt in the moment. And it took her to continue to get back up when daddy helped her back up, get back on the bike, and keep moving. Do you understand? You are a new creation in Christ Jesus.
The old has gone. When you scrape your knee, he's right there forgiving you, putting you back up on the bike and saying let's go. Keep your eyes on the goal. Don't like Peter look to the right and to the left and start sinking. No, keep your eyes on Jesus and move forward.
Amen? My sermon prop is my sermon prop's a little hot. Okay. *2 Corinthians-5:17*. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.
The old is gone. The new is here. 18. All this is from *God* who reconciled us to himself through *Christ* and gave us the *ministry* of reconciliation. Everybody say us.
Us. Who did he give the ministry of reconciliation? Us. Not the pastor. Not just the pastor.
He gave you the ministry of reconciliation. You are a minister of the gospel. You are commissioned with the ministry of what is reconciliation? Well, you think about it. It's 2 parties that were separated that now need to be reconciled, brought back together.
Mankind and God separated, and now God is asking you to help restore those around you back to himself. What is the ministry of reconciliation? Verse 19. That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, what I just said. Look at this next line.
Not counting people's **sins** against them. Not counting people's sins against them. A religious person says, hold on, pastor. You can't say that, won't they? Look what the Bible says.
Not counting people that's the good news. The good news is Jesus' blood was good enough to pay for it was 1 sacrifice for all mankind for all time. Jesus already paid for now stick with me here. Jesus already paid for the sins of Osama bin Laden when he was Jesus paid for the sins of the people that you're mad at. Jesus paid for the sins of Hitler.
*Jesus paid for the sins* of Stalin. Jesus paid for the sins of your most hated political candidate, whichever 1 that is. Jesus. My little sister thought I was really funny. Okay.
No. Seriously. Whether that's whatever that is, Jesus paid for the sins of of all people. Right? Now before you get all uptight on me, just let me explain.
It's a free gift. I've I don't know if I've said this before, but I'm a say it again. It's a free gift. Right? A gift requires both a giver and a receiver.
The gift has already been given. Not counting man's sins against them. Now let's let me show you what it looks like. Here's a here's a phone. It's iPhone X.
I have put this phone in your name, Susie, Bobby, whatever your name is. I put this phone in your name, and I put 1000000000000 dollars on the phone. You can use that phone as much as you'd like, and and I'm giving that. It's already been paid for. I've already purchased it.
I'm giving it as a gift to you. Now you have a few options. Number 1, you can look and say, I don't believe that's real. Nope. That ain't happening.
Nobody nobody gave that phone to me. That phone's not even real. Are you serious? And go on about your business. Now the gift was given, but you didn't receive it, so you die separated from the phone for eternity.
And you never live experiencing the benefits of living with that phone. Right? Another option. Oh, I see that phone there. I see it.
But I'm not good enough for that phone, so I can't accept the phone. I need to go and purchase my own phone. And so you try as hard as you can, and you get an old 1999 Nokia flip phone or something. It's it can't do the job, guys. It just can't.
And you die separated from that phone for *eternity* and never get the benefits of experiencing all that the iPhone x can give you. This is not an iPhone commercial, but it's a great phone. So there's that option. And then there's the option, hey. Thank you for this phone.
I believe it. I received this phone, and this is my phone. This is amazing. But you still feel unworthy. So you have the phone.
You you you you purchase the phone, and every now and then when you feel good enough, you talk on the phone to the owner of the phone and build start to build a relationship. But all of a sudden, screw up, and you're like, I can't talk to the to the owner right now. I you know what? I have this phone. This is great, but I'm a go and do whatever I wanna do because I'm I'm too ashamed to talk to the owner.
And then all of a sudden, sometimes you feel a little bit better, so you talk on the phone again to the owner, and your relationship with the owner of the phone is up and down and up and down and up and down because you don't really believe what he did for you. Stop it. That's religion. **Jesus paid the price** for all your sin so that you could be free from it. Completely free from it.
Not to live in it, but to be free from it, to move forward from it. When you when you enter into relationship with the 1 who did that, you don't want to do it anymore. You want to move forward in what he's called you to. It's that good. Yeah.
Amen? Amen. So *Jesus* the message second Corinthians I gotta get on to the message. Jeez. I'm taking a lot of time here.
But 2 Corinthians-5:19, that God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people's sins against them. That's amazing. That's the message of reconciliation that you are entrusted with. Your friends need to know that God loves them enough to do that. And the reason they're not running to him is either they don't believe he's there, or they don't believe that he's good like that.
But what if you were the "love letter from God" to them? Let me show you. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God was making his appeal through us. God is making his appeal to mankind. Come to me.
I will give you rest through us. You are a minister of reconciliation. Your family is waiting on you to be *Jesus* to them. Your family is waiting on you to be the love of Jesus. And when they see the love of Jesus, they will come running.
The harvest is ripe, but the workers are few. Clearwater is waiting for you to see who you are in Christ and how loved you are by them by him. And when you see that, you become that love. And others people see it, and they're like, wow. I need that.
You are Christ's love letter to the world. Verse 21, just in case we didn't get what the message of reconciliation is, Paul says it again. Here's the gospel in 1 sentence. *God made him who knew no sin* to be sin for us. *Jesus* literally knew no sin and died as your sin.
So that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. You're a new creation, and when God looks at you, he sees the righteousness of Jesus. If you believe it, you walk in it. And if you don't, you shrink back from it. It's time to believe it, receive it, and walk in it, just like Selah did.
Selah believed her daddy's word that she was a bike rider. It took 45 minutes. It took multiple things. She believed it for a little bit. She fell and she's like, I don't know.
And daddy just said, baby, this is who you are. This is who you are. Come on. Get back up. Let's keep going.
I think a lot of times we become so sin conscious, just like Selah was focused on the right and the left, we become so sin conscious that that's where we go, where if we were Christ conscious, that's where we would go. Alright. Everybody say, I'm a minister. No. Really, you are.
You are a minister. Okay. So what do I have to know? Maybe that's a question you have. What do I have to know to minister to others?
*Jesus*. Jesus is the love of God incarnate. You have to know Jesus. Period. *Acts-9*.
We well, I'm a tell you this story. I'm not gonna read it. But in Acts-9, Saul was a murderer. He murdered Christians. He put them in prison.
He went from town to town doing that. He was the furthest from a Jesus follower you could be. He was an enemy of the faith, an enemy of the gospel. As a matter of fact, when they were stoning someone, Paul was standing there holding everybody's coats proud of what they were doing. That's who I mean, Saul.
He later became Paul and wrote a third of the New Testament. But at that time, he was proud to kill Christians. That's that's who he was. That's what he did. And then Saul had an encounter with Jesus.
Let's read. *Acts-9*, let's go to verse 18. Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized. Verse 19.
After taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus at once. Everybody say at once. At once. That takes away all the excuses.
At once, he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus was son of God. He went from enemy to preacher in just a few days. At once. Now those of you that grew up in the church, you're saying, woah. Woah.
Hold on. Wait a second. Wait a second, pastor. Saul already knew the whole Old Testament. He was like the "Pharisee of Pharisees".
And for those of you that that maybe you don't know that, Pharisee is someone who, like, they studied rigorously the Old Testament, they knew it in and in and out, and they tried to keep it with everything that they had. And and yeah. That's what a Pharisee was. So Saul was like the Pharisee of Pharisees. He was like the biggest religious dude ever, and that's why *Jesus* was so such an enemy to him because Jesus came in grace and truth.
You know? Anyway, so some of you might say, well, Saul already knew the Bible. I get it. But let me take away that excuse as well. Let's go to Luke-8.
Check this out. This is really cool. Luke-8:26. And I'm gonna read for a little bit. I might dramatize it because that's kinda what I do, but I'm gonna read a little bit.
*Luke-8:26*. They, being the disciples, sailed into the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. This is all in Israel area. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon possessed man from the town. Now if you like movies like The Exorcist, I wouldn't recommend that.
But if you like movies like The Exorcist, this is way better. Check this out. He was met by demon possessed man from the town. For a long time, this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, what do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?
I beg you, don't torture me. That's kinda what I think you sounded like. For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken from his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. Can you imagine what this looked like?
This guy is from this region, from these towns, and what he has inside of him is not socially acceptable, so much so that he rips his clothes off, he runs around naked, he's he's a crazy guy. They try to put him in chains, and he's so strong because of the demon inside of him, he breaks the chains and runs to the cemetery. Sounds like a movie. Man, living for Jesus is awesome. It's better than a movie.
It just is. Okay. *Jesus* asked him, what is your name? Legion, the man replied, because he had many demons. Now a legion in Roman times was, like, 6,000 demons.
Can you imagine that? I I can't. So 6,000, like, a troop of 6,000 people in the Roman guard. His name was Legion. It's kinda what theologians assume.
Anyway, and they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. Now I just want you to think about this for a second. If you're afraid of demons or the demonic or darkness or whatever that is, you don't have to be.
Do you see this? 6,000 demons begging Jesus not to send them into the abyss and begging Jesus to send them somewhere else. Like, he who is in us is greater than he who's in the world. Jesus is greater than that. Not only that, remember we just read in 2 Corinthians-5:20 that we are ambassadors?
Do you know what an ambassador is? An ambassador is someone from a nation in another nation that carries all the authority of the sovereign. We're not we're in this world, but not of this world. We're of the kingdom of heaven, and we carry all the authority of the sovereign because he lives in us. You don't have to be afraid anymore.
They're under your feet. Okay. So a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
Deviled ham. That was funnier than how much you laughed. Okay. Verse 34, when those tending the pigs saw what had happened they ran off and reported this in the town in the countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at Jesus' feet dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
Well, mean, you imagine what they saw? I they they went and you got this crowd of people coming out, and the guy who used to be naked is dressed. The guy who used to be insane is sane, sitting at the feet of Jesus, And over in the distance, you have a bunch of dead pigs in the water. I might be afraid too if I don't know Jesus. Then all of the people of the region of the Garrison asked Jesus to leave them because they were overcome with fear, so he got in the boat and left, which tells me they didn't know him.
If you fear him, you don't know him. Alright? Verse 38. I'm going somewhere with this. The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him.
So this is a guy who just had an encounter with Jesus, had no idea who he was, probably didn't know any of the Old Testament whatsoever, filled with demons, the furthest thing from any knowledge of God possible, because he had just knowledge of darkness. Jesus frees him in an instant. He has this encounter with Jesus. Then the man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away saying, return home and tell how much God has done for you. So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done.
The man actually did it. Now let's go from here. Let's go to Mark. Same story. Mark-5.
Alright. Just to to show you it's the same story, verse 16. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon possessed man and told about the pigs as well. Then the people pleaded with Jesus to leave their region. Same exact story.
Right? Verse 18. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. 1 encounter with Jesus, he became a minister of reconciliation.
So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis, deca means 10, polis means city. So in 10 cities, his region of 10 cities, how much Jesus had done for him, and all the people were amazed. 1 man, 1 encounter with Jesus, changed from darkness to light and changed it said all the people feared him in his region. And now it just said all of them were amazed. They went from **"fear to amazement"** because of 1 man's testimony.
I don't know about you, but I wanna be that guy. I wanna be that guy that when Jesus says go because of what I've done for you, I go and and just begin to share what he's shown me and the people go from fear of Jesus or rejecting Jesus or not believing to amazement in him. And guess what? We are called to be those people. Remember?
We're ministers of reconciliation. We are to share our story of what Jesus has done. Your testimony. What is a testimony? A testimony is the "story of Jesus".
It is. Alright. Let's go. But what power does my story of Jesus have? I don't feel like you know, I I didn't have 6,000 demons in me.
Right? I don't feel like my story is that powerful. Well, okay. Let's go to Revelation-12. *Revelation-12* verse let's start in verse 10.
Now have come then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah For the accuser of our brothers and sister sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night has been "hurled down". Who's the accuser of our brothers and sisters? Satan. He's the accuser. He's the accuser of you, and he has been hurled down.
All of those accusations that tell you you're not good enough, that, oh, you could never do this again, or you failed too much, or you shouldn't, or you no. That is the accuser, and he has been hurled down. How? How was he defeated? Verse 11.
They, being us Christians who follow Jesus, triumphed over him, being the enemy, the accuser. How? By the blood of the lamb. Everybody say the blood of the lamb. Blood of the lamb.
We have to understand this. What has the blood done for me? The blood has forgiven me. The blood has washed me clean. So every accusation that comes against me, I go back to the blood of the lamb.
No, I'm forgiven. No, I'm brand new. No, I'm a "brand new creation" in Christ Jesus. You can bring that against me, but that's not who I am. Yes, I did mess up there.
Yes, I did fall, but that does not define me. My daddy defines me, and he tells me I'm a bike rider. My daddy defines me and he tells me I'm a mighty man of God or I'm a mighty woman of God. So I'm moving forward and I'm walking forward because his blood has washed me clean. Amen?
So by the blood of the lamb, going back to that, and by the word of their testimony. What is a testimony? It's your story of Jesus. It's not. It is, and this is the, probably, the most important, your story of what he's done for you, right, of how he saved you, how you came to know him, and how you started your relationship with him.
That's a big deal. But you know what else is? What he did for you this morning. What he did in you yesterday. What he did through you.
What you learned in his word. That is your story of Jesus. And as you share your story of what he's doing in your life, it not only strengthens you, but it strengthens those around you, those who hear it. Because Jesus is no respecter of persons. So if he's done it in me, then he can do it in you.
And if you hear what Jesus has done in me, you can have hope that he's gonna do the same thing in you. If he's used me in this way, then you can know he can use you in the same way. *Revelation-19:10* says, the the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Don't get freaked out by that word. It's an amazing word.
The story of what Jesus has done is the spirit of what he wants to do. You get it? So if you hear what Jesus has done in my life, you can know that's what he wants to do in yours. Amen? Because you're a minister of reconciliation too.
Doesn't stop there. They did not love their lives so much as to shrink back from death. Okay. If I really believe this thing, if I'm really in him, like, then then it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Paul said to die I mean, to live is Christ, but to die is gain.
Why? Because, man, if I I'm not really dying. Like, I'm falling asleep here, and the world might think I'm dead, but I'm living with Jesus. That's my hope. That's real.
That is as real as this is to me. I don't fear death anymore. Right? And if I don't fear death, then I definitely don't fear what you think about me. If I'm free from me, then I'm free from your opinions of me.
If you're free from you, then you're free from everyone else's opinions of you. So you can move forward in faith instead of in fear. Right? That's amazing. That's what we have in him.
Let me share a story. Just a couple days ago, I was driving to the YMCA. I like to work out at the YMCA. There's a lot of families there. I get, you know, warning.
I may start talking about Jesus at any time. I get to impact a lot of people. Right? Okay. So and I I actually have some some eyewitnesses of that can that can verify that that are that are sitting in here today.
I'm not gonna call you out though. Don't worry about it. But I'm driving to the YMCA, and I see this guy who's hobbling on the side of the road. And he's well, he's not on the side of the road. He's on the sidewalk walking down.
And I have this thought, why don't you pull over and pray for him? Now our old nature, right, who we used to be, that's that's not real. Nope. Nobody's gonna do that. The culture of today doesn't say to do those things.
That's crazy. But I'm not my old me anymore. My old me would be maybe too timid to do that. But I don't live in me anymore. I live in Christ.
And if Christ says to do it, maybe that's exactly what that guy needs. And maybe he wants to love that guy through me, and I get to be his love letter to that person in the moment if I would just be obedient, get out of my own head, and begin to love people the way that he wants to love them. Because he set me free from me, I don't have to worry about what everybody else thinks. Amen? So I pull in.
You know? I I still kinda get a little jittery sometimes. Right? But I'm growing. It's getting more and more normal.
It's normal life. Pull in. He stops at the bus stop. I get out of my car. I go over to the gentleman.
I say, sir, excuse me. If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your leg? He says, oh, I was "born with it" was a birth defect. I was born this way. And I said, well, man, I I just believe God loves you a whole lot.
Do you mind if I pray for you? And just to be really transparent, in the moment, he said it was a birth defect. And I I don't know. I I felt like, oh my gosh. I just didn't feel like I had faith to pray for that leg in that moment.
Right? And so anyway, so I said, sir, I I just believe God loves you a lot. Can I pray for you? He said, sure. I said, well, what what could I pray for?
Duh. But he said, well, you know, you could pray for me at I'm I'm looking for a job. I've just been I've been working in in these areas, and I just got let go or something like that. I said, man, I'd love to pray for that. So I grab his hand, and I just pray.
And usually when I do this, I I I usually start it out with what I know. I know that that person is loved by God, and he that that the person is precious to God. Right? And so I just pray, father, I just pray that that you would show this person how much you love him. Lord, that that you would show them how precious they are to you.
And and then I I pray, you know, I prayed for his job. I pray whatever the Holy Spirit brings to mind in the moment and just love that person, you know, in in that moment. I get done praying, and he asked me, he says, what church do you go to? You know, I find it interesting. I don't have to go around begging people to go to church.
All I have to do is be the love of Jesus to them, and it's so different to the world. They're so hungry for it. People are so hungry for the genuine love of Jesus that they'll beg to come to your church. They'll ask you. You don't have to ask them.
They'll ask you. What church do you go to? So I told them, I I go to this church called Real Church. The and I gave them, like, the website, realchurch.us, and told them the times, and he said, man, thank you. I've been looking for a place, and and I'd love to come.
I said, that's awesome. And so I got my car, went to the gym, worked out. About 6 hours later, well, on the way home from the gym, I think it was, the Holy Spirit, I I was reminded of when Jesus prayed for the man that was blind from birth. It was a birth defect. Jesus was teaching me, hey, where's your faith brother?
He prayed and and the and the guy says, well, who sinned that this man would be born blind? And Jesus said, nobody. It just happened for his glory, and Jesus healed him. For the for the glory of God, Jesus healed him. It was awesome, and people saw Jesus.
It was awesome. I said, woah. Lord, help my unbelief. Right? We fall forward into his arms.
It's just good stuff. If you know the good that you should do and you don't do it, it's called sin, but we're forgiven. And so we don't just make excuses for not doing the good, we walk in the good that we should do when we understand that we're forgiven. Right? I'm forgiven, pick back up, Jesus starts me back at the the beginning point or back at the point where I left off just like I started my little baby girl.
Alright. You can do this. Alright. Let's move forward. Let's learn from it.
Let's get back up. So I get a call a few hours later. It was about 6 hours after the original thing. And the guy says, excuse me, sir. Is this is this real church?
I said I said, yeah. It is. Is I said, this is the pastor at real church. He said, man, I just wanted to tell you about 1 of 1 of the people in your church. They they just really blessed me.
I can't I can't tell you how much I was touched by it. They stopped and they prayed for me and and he just went on and on and on. Of course, I'm I'm like, oh my gosh. This is amazing. And I say I say, sir, that was me.
He said, oh. And I said, actually, also and I told him the story about the man born blind, and I asked him if I could pray for his leg over the phone. And I prayed for him, and I hung up the phone, and I prayed for you because I don't believe that's the last call I'm gonna get. I believe that you are growing in your understanding of who you are in Christ. You are ministers of the gospel.
And I believe that more and more, the people around you are gonna see Jesus in you because you're becoming the love letter of Jesus to them. And you're gonna do ministry at the gas station. You're gonna do ministry at your gym. You're gonna do ministry at your job because you're gonna stop caring about what everybody else thinks about you and start having more love for them and that love overcomes the fear. There's no fear in love.
If you fear what people think, you need to love them more than you fear them. And it will cause you to move forward and minister to them Because God loves them that much, they're worth it. And God wants to make his appeal to them through you as a minister. Appeal, hey, *Jesus doesn't count your sins* against you. Believe it, receive the free gift, and now let's "walk in it together".
Isn't that good? Let's do this. We're gonna close. We're not gonna sing us. We usually sing a song at the end.
We're not gonna do that today. Let's close our eyes. If you don't have a relationship if you don't have a relationship with the God that I'm talking about, like you're hearing all this stuff about Jesus and walking with him and hearing his voice and knowing him and stuff, and maybe you've believed in him but you've never really known him. Right? Maybe you've believed in Jesus, but you never surrendered your life to him.
You never like, man, I I wanna follow you. You've never followed Jesus, but you want to. You wanna experience relationship with him like I'm talking about right now. You wanna receive that free gift. If that's you, I'm a count to 3.
Would you raise your hand? 1, 2, 3. **"Praise the Lord"**. Praise the Lord. Okay.
Good. Now keep your eyes closed. Keep your heads bowed. I want you to pray this prayer. I want everybody in here to pray this prayer.
Say, *Jesus* Jesus. Do you count your sins against me? Or do you "count my sins" against you against me? Hold on. Wait.
Wait. So let me try that again. Say say, Jesus Jesus. Do you count my sins against me? Jesus.
You should've had a thought come to your mind or a feeling deep in your soul, deep in your spirit, or something that is big no because that's his word. If it was anything else, it was not his word. Right? If was anything else, that was from you or from the enemy. No.
No. No. He doesn't. Now you either believe it or you don't. So what you've been holding against yourself, it's time to drop it.
It's time to let it go, and it's time to "walk forward in him". So say, I believe that Jesus. I receive it. I'm forgiven. Now ask him this, do you see me as a minister?
Or like this, do you want me everybody say, do you want me Do want me. To help others To help others. To follow you. Now I want you to pray this. Father, would you show me 3 people you want me to show Jesus to?
Now I'm gonna pray, and I want you to pray for them. And then also just want you to be led by his presence, led by his spirit in your daily life. And look for don't don't don't go force Jesus on those 3 people. Don't do that. But if you pray for them, a lot of times he'll use you as part of the answer to your own prayers.
So you'll be in a conversation and next thing you know, there'll be an open door. There'll be like a somehow God will come up or Jesus will come up or so they'll ask you, what's so different about you? Something will happen and the Holy Spirit will say, hey, this is it. Tell them about me. Tell them what I've doing in your life.
And now you have the choice to be obedient in that moment. Let's move forward in obedience to what he's did. And as you do, it's gonna change the world. Father God, pray for those people that were on their minds. Lord, I pray that you just continue to bring it to their mind, Lord.
And as they pray for them, they'd know this. If they ask anything according to your will, you hear us. And if we know you hear us, we know we have what we've asked. So they would pray for them and believe that you hear them and look for the opportunity for to be a part of that life change. I also pray that you just fill these people with your presence, with your boldness in Jesus' name.
Just give them a fresh and filling of your spirit to walk boldly as witnesses for you everywhere that they go. Let them become love so that the world around them sees you in them and through them. In Jesus' name. Amen. I'm gonna invite my wife.
Is my wife in here? There she is. She's gonna close us out, and we're done. Okay? So let her let her close y'all don't leave yet, but let her close us out.
Thank you, beautiful.
We've been asked recently actually, we've been asked a lot. How do you become a member of Real Church? Look, we don't have a like sign up or you get in this like log of people that go to Real Church. That's that's not what we do here. Some people do and that's okay.
It's just not our style. Honestly, if you want to get involved and be a part of what God is doing here, there are a couple of ways. 1 is through giving. We unashamedly ask you to ask God if He would have you sow into this ministry financially. Ask Him, and then just whatever He says, say yes.
Our life as Christ followers are just a 1 yes after another. Right? If all of His promises are yes and amen, then all my answers are yes and amen. Right? So whatever he says, be *obedient* and be a part of this ministry financially.
We have 3 ways to give. There's text to give, it's secure. We have online giving, and we have giving boxes in the back. We do online just out of habit, but a lot of people like the text. So just ask and be obedient.
No pressure there. *2 Corinthians-9* says, each 1 must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion for the Lord loves a "cheerful giver". If it's not done cheerfully and it's done because you feel like I've manipulated you into doing it, don't. And I'm okay with that. Deal?
Alright. That's a way to get connected. Another way is through serving, through being a part. I I bring this up so much because I know in our team huddle, we have a team huddle at 09:15 in the lobby every single Sunday where everyone that serves comes out there, and we encourage 1 another and we build 1 another up. And this morning I asked them, you know, what are some things that God has done in your life through serving?
And the answers just encourage me to keep pressing forward in ministry. You know, if we are ministers of the gospel, we are ministers of reconciliation, Get involved in your church and be trained up with other believers in doing that right here on Sundays. And it honestly the encouragement that we get out there from the people serving, saying what God has done through them getting connected through serving is unlike anything that I've ever seen. So that's a way that you can become a quote unquote member. Pray during the week for this ministry.
*God is doing so much, not just here on Sundays, but behind the scenes. And I I'm sure 1 day, like, we could write novels about what God is doing right now, and what he's continuing to do. But pray for this ministry*. Pray for the families involved here. Pray for the city.
The city needs Jesus, and that means that the city needs you. So another way that you can just be a be active as a member **"body of Christ"**. You do not have to do anything under the banner of real church. Okay? You can serve your city, love people outside of these walls 7 days a week.
You can I encourage you, find a soup kitchen and serve? If you get involved in a homeless ministry, or or there are some who are are dealing with trafficking, or there are just incredible ministries all around. Get connected and serve your city as a member of the body of Christ. And another way to get connected here at Real Church is through small groups. We are probably gonna be having them continuing to roll at least 1 or 2 of them, but then our new semester of small groups starts in January.
Pray about it, about what kind of a group you wanna be involved in. And if there's not a group, hey, maybe God is is is pushing you forward to lead 1 or host 1. So those are some ways to get involved at Real Church through giving, through serving on Sundays, through serving your city through the week just as a member of the body of Christ and through small groups. And so I hope that I've answered your questions. Again, those connection cards are really important because it keeps us connected.
You can fill it out, hand it to me or someone in the lobby, stick it in the giving box on your way out, and you guys are dismissed. Y'all have a great week and a very happy
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.