et me introduce you to day’s speaker, Pastor David Lee. Come on, everybody, put it together.

01:24:36:23 – 01:24:39:11
Unknown
Thank you brother.

01:24:39:13 – 01:24:47:15
Unknown
Wow. Thank you guys. Wow. The strength of the Lord, right?

01:24:47:18 – 01:25:13:23
Unknown
Man. It’s my honor to be here today. To give. Give the message. I just I feel the Lord’s heart right now. And I sense his burden to relieve burdens. And I love that song. I’m desperate for you. Now, you guys know I believe in the finished work of Jesus. I believe that we’re one with Christ. We can’t get any more of Christ.

01:25:13:24 – 01:25:36:16
Unknown
We can’t be any more secure. But I’m still desperate for Christ. And we’re not desperate for him because of something we want him to do. We’re desperate for him, not because of someone that we want him to make us into. We’re desperate for him because we’re made for him, and he made us for himself.

01:25:36:19 – 01:26:01:20
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Will be unfulfilled without communion and sharing of his life directly with him and with one another. Like Rose said, I need you. You need me. We’re growing not only by imitation, but by circulation. We’re not just imitating Christ. We’re circulating in the blood flow of Christ. We’re circulating in the body of Christ. We’re supplying to one another and receiving from one another.

01:26:01:20 – 01:26:34:28
Unknown
And when we do that, we do not have to walk alone. And the mindsets that we’ve built around being alone can crumble and fall away. The things we’ve been resisting, we can stop resisting and receive life as a gift. Receive life not only as an assignment to complete, but as a gift to enjoy. We can approach our life not having to justify our own existence, but to to hear God say, my grace justifies your existence.

01:26:35:00 – 01:26:57:18
Unknown
I’m glad you exist. Maybe someone here has never heard their dad or their mom say, I’m just glad you exist. And ABBA father says that to you. He’s always been your father. He predestined you for sonship. He came to deliver you when you were at your worst. And he says, you are my beloved son. You’re my beloved daughter.

01:26:57:18 – 01:27:17:02
Unknown
You don’t have to prove a thing. You don’t have to drive yourself and be driven and figure out how to earn and figure out how to achieve and produce, and how to make the people around you produce, and how to put every piece in place, and how to be so pure and so perfect that you’re always be safe and you’ll never be blamed, and you’ll never be punished.

01:27:17:04 – 01:27:38:00
Unknown
You can put all that stuff aside. It’s hard for you to kick against the truth of the gospel. It’s hard for you to kick against the goads. It’s hard for you to resist the grace of God. It’s hard for you to earn your own existence and justify your own worth. It’s very hard. It hurts you and it hurts the Lord.

01:27:38:03 – 01:28:06:24
Unknown
It breaks him when you break yourself. It breaks him when you break others. Because we’re meant to circulate. We’re meant to have an unhindered fellowship with Christ and with one another. That’s a fellowship in God’s life. And God is love. He’s never been anything else. Father, son, and Holy Spirit, before God created anything. God was a living flow of love, a circular dance, interweaving, exchanging, giving, receiving.

01:28:06:25 – 01:28:26:28
Unknown
This is who God is. And he said, let’s draw them into the dance. I only have one message, pretty much, but today I’m going to preach it through a different scripture. Okay. It’s going to be acts 26. I want you to see, because we’re going to talk about Paul today. And when he was converted on his way to persecute Christians.

01:28:27:00 – 01:28:48:08
Unknown
And if you’ve ever thought if you’ve ever been like Paul and you’ve been driven, that you had to do many, many things that you believed were right, that you were raised to believe was right, that you were taught to believe was right. That you were even indoctrinated or abused or wounded. So you believe that this is the way that you should live, and this is how you have to serve God.

01:28:48:09 – 01:29:10:26
Unknown
Paul was right there. Paul was breathing out. It says threats and murder against the church. He was he was driven. He had a spirit, a breath of rage. He was driven, man. And the thing that you are driven by, you will use to drive others.

01:29:10:29 – 01:29:27:03
Unknown
The thing that hinders you. You will make a hindrance to somebody else. The thing that you stumble over, you’ll become that very stumbling block in front of somebody else. Why does our culture think that Christianity is the persecutor?

01:29:27:06 – 01:29:51:17
Unknown
Why do they feel pressured and driven and judged? Maybe because that’s the voice that we hear in our head driving us. And it’s hard for us as born again believers that have the Holy Spirit in us to be pushed by something that’s so contrary to what you know is true, deep in your bones, what you know in your DNA, that our father is better than we could ever think.

01:29:51:19 – 01:30:15:17
Unknown
He’s more merciful than we could ever imagine. His mercies are new every morning. And yet we’re told in our culture, in America, in some streams of Christianity, in some theological teachings, that you can buy and you can read and you can swipe through on the internet machine. Jingjing. The slot machine. Right. You know, and I’m just getting this stuff constantly putting me under bondage.

01:30:15:17 – 01:30:37:11
Unknown
And I’m like, oh, it’s hard. And it was never meant to be that way. In Matthew 11, I don’t know if we have that scripture from the Message Bible. I know, I know, I put it there. Cool. Let me read this from Eugene Peterson, translated the Message Bible.

01:30:37:13 – 01:31:07:07
Unknown
It says this Matthew 1128 through 30 Jesus said, you tired, worn out, burned out by religion. Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you.

01:31:07:10 – 01:31:33:08
Unknown
Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. Now I take God more seriously than any of you. Sorry. I really do. Like, I really believe that. Which is why it’s so hard for me to preach and to understand the things that I preach as a gospel preacher, because I really am serious about it. But I’m meant to also have a light heart about it.

01:31:33:10 – 01:31:50:04
Unknown
Do you understand this paradox? You’re supposed to say, this is the most important thing in the world. I’ve got to pursue this with everything in my being. I have to be so desperate for God. But it’s not that I have to. It’s that this is what is real. I can’t unsee it, and I’m not bummed out about it.

01:31:50:04 – 01:32:10:10
Unknown
I’m not trying to be burned out and burdened and crushed and and kick against it. And why do they have to push me so hard? And why am I being asked to do this? That’s not how grace works. Grace transforms us from the inside out, and it happens when we see Jesus Christ in a new way, even if we think we know who the Messiah is.

01:32:10:14 – 01:32:36:01
Unknown
When Paul was on the road to Damascus, he was fully convinced he knew who the Messiah was. The Messiah will be a descendant of David, who will raise an army, who will destroy the Roman Empire, who hates the same people that I hate, who uses the same weapons that I use, who has the same grudges that I have and will help me succeed in my life and my plan and make everybody else like me.

01:32:36:04 – 01:33:03:12
Unknown
That’s not who the Messiah is. It’s a rude awakening. Let’s read the Scripture. Acts 26 nine through 15, and then I’ll read what happened as a result of this encounter. Now Paul’s giving a defense before King Agrippa. He’s defending why he preaches the gospel. And he says, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene.

01:33:03:15 – 01:33:25:20
Unknown
He was convinced it was necessary. It was right. It served God. It’s beautiful. It’s the law. It’s the Torah. I have the zeal of Phineas. If you know the Book of Numbers, I’m going to strike down the enemies of God. He was totally convinced he was right. I was convinced I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene.

01:33:25:20 – 01:33:47:15
Unknown
And this is what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I lock up many of the saints and prisons by the authority I received from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote against them when they were sentenced to death. I punish them often in all the synagogues and tried to force them to blaspheme. This is the same idea when he says, I was convinced I must do.

01:33:47:16 – 01:34:10:03
Unknown
It’s the same idea in Greek of what he forced the church to do, what was forcing him, what was pressing him. He then pressed into other people. It’s like a brand that you’re just, you know, sizzling into somebody else because it sizzles in the back of your brain and the bottom of your heart. I don’t know if I’m the only one that’s ever felt that.

01:34:10:06 – 01:34:34:24
Unknown
He forced them to blaspheme. He forced them to say I was wrong. Jesus is not the Lord, I lie, I lied. I didn’t see him raised from the dead. He was forcing people to conform to his view of who Jesus was, what he believed was true 100%. The only problem was it wasn’t true. You will always be driven by what you believe is true in your bones.

01:34:34:26 – 01:35:01:09
Unknown
You will always be driven by what you believe is true in your bones, not just in your gray matter, not just in your concepts, but in your your deepest self. That’s what will drive you. And when you get a new glimpse of what’s true, everything has to change. And by the way, your old identity will be dismantled and everything that you used to take pride in and that you built yourself on and said, this is what makes me good, it will all flow away.

01:35:01:09 – 01:35:19:05
Unknown
And everything that you used to think was vision will be turned into blindness. And you’ll say, I don’t even know how to look at the world anymore. If there’s really no merit system, if God really loves me no matter what, if I’m really as righteous as Jesus Christ, if I’m as loved as much by God the Father as He loves Jesus Christ.

01:35:19:11 – 01:35:41:14
Unknown
If that’s really true, if David’s not talking out of his left ear here, if I go home and I ask God, is this really true? I’m going to have to rethink who I am, and I might have to accept that I’m good, I’m okay. I’m safe. I’m rooted. I’m where I belong. I don’t need to kick against the goads.

01:35:41:14 – 01:35:54:26
Unknown
I don’t need a new life. I don’t need a new calling. I don’t need a new family. I don’t need anything. I don’t need grass greener on the other side. Because he’s good.

01:35:54:29 – 01:36:17:13
Unknown
Because I was so furiously enraged at these Christians, I went to persecute them, even in foreign cities, while doing this very thing. As I was going to Damascus with authority and complete power from the chief priests. About noon along the road, Your Majesty, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining everywhere around me. And those traveling with me saw it.

01:36:17:14 – 01:36:40:23
Unknown
When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me and Aramaic, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself by kicking against the goads. So I said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord replied, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

01:36:40:25 – 01:36:55:02
Unknown
That is a big shakeup. Maybe Paul was singing the song on the way. Lord, shake up the ground of all my religion. Break down the wall of all my tradition. Your way is better. Whoa!

01:36:55:04 – 01:37:00:06
Unknown
Never mind. This hurts now.

01:37:00:09 – 01:37:12:24
Unknown
We pray that stuff and we’re not ready I don’t think. I wasn’t when I started to see. But I would never want to unsee it.

01:37:12:26 – 01:37:29:25
Unknown
So what happened as a result of this? Paul gets blinded in the midst of I see so clearly. I’m going to make everybody else like me. He gets totally blinded. I don’t know anything. He has to be led by the hand. He has to get healed and filled with the spirit by a guy that he used to persecute, Ananias.

01:37:30:02 – 01:37:56:11
Unknown
God sends a man that used to be on the receiving end of Paul’s torture and his coercion and his imprisonment, and this man goes, Brother Saul, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus sent me that you would recover your sight in the midst of his hatred. The Lord meets him with love. In the midst of his darkness, the Lord meets him with light.

01:37:56:13 – 01:38:29:04
Unknown
In the midst of his false calling, the Lord gives him a new calling. Look at this. The Lord said to him, rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness to the things in which you have seen me, and those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

01:38:29:05 – 01:38:35:29
Unknown
Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

01:38:36:01 – 01:38:57:15
Unknown
He said, while you are in darkness, I’m calling you to open other people’s eyes. While you’re blind. There may be somebody here who feels locked and unworthiness and sin. And the Lord says, I’m calling you today to lead many into righteousness. Well, that’s not who I am. Yes it is.

01:38:57:17 – 01:39:22:19
Unknown
That’s who you are made to be. Oh, I don’t even see. I don’t even understand all this. I’m calling you to lead others into the understanding of Jesus Christ. I couldn’t do that. Holy spirit thinks different. Okay, oh I don’t. This is the good news of the gospel, Paul. This guy Saul. Right? His name is Saul. He’s on a crusade.

01:39:22:19 – 01:39:50:06
Unknown
He’s at his lowest point. He’s. He’s an inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition before the Spanish Inquisition existed. Okay? He’s he’s a crusader. He’s going to do horrible things in the name of God. And Jesus shows up and says, what are you doing to me? Isn’t it hard for you to kick against the goats? The compassion of Christ? Isn’t it hard for you to live totally contrary to what you’re created to be?

01:39:50:09 – 01:40:14:09
Unknown
You know what a goad was? It was an 8 to 10ft pole with a big spike on it that they used to poke oxen to go them, like, speed them up. Get going. Come on. Plow. Make them work. Okay. It’s a metaphor for resisting truth. It’s a metaphor for being driven by truth and not resisting what’s driving you.

01:40:14:11 – 01:40:25:06
Unknown
The weird thing is, Paul was being driven by religious compulsion, by what he said. I believe there is many things I must do.

01:40:25:09 – 01:40:51:08
Unknown
Jesus that was driving him from behind those false voices. The accuser, the Pharisee 11. The false belief it was driving him. Was Jesus behind him or in front of him in front? He met him on the path. The Holy Spirit leads us. He leads gently those who are with young. The Bible says he’s meek and lowly of heart.

01:40:51:08 – 01:41:06:10
Unknown
We started with that scripture, and in Matthew he said, I don’t want to use a goat. I just want to walk by you in this easy yoke. The word in that that says my yoke is easy is the word for relax.

01:41:06:12 – 01:41:16:20
Unknown
You know, there’s not there’s one thing that hardcore legalism and hardcore religion will never say, relax.

01:41:16:23 – 01:41:47:27
Unknown
Rest, I got this. You’re not the martyr. You’re not the savior. You can partner with them. You’re not the provider. Partner with them. You’re not the hero. Partner with him. You don’t have to bear that burden. You’re not the anointed reformer. Paul. David. Jeremy, whoever else. I share this identity. You know, I believe you actually will reform so much.

01:41:48:03 – 01:42:01:24
Unknown
But we don’t bear that burden on our own. We’re in a yoke with Jesus Christ. When we resist that, all there is is a prod. Just.

01:42:01:26 – 01:42:23:03
Unknown
Sinking in. I almost brought one. Like I almost brought one of those tree pruners, like those long things with a big blade on it. And I would have been like, oh, I can get you, you know, that would have been kind of funny. You know, you guys can imagine it. Okay. The idea there is you’re being driven from a distance.

01:42:23:05 – 01:42:33:05
Unknown
Is that how you see God’s commandments to you? Is that how you see the expectations that are on your life?

01:42:33:07 – 01:42:53:19
Unknown
What do you believe is true that is goading you? What does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to be a pastor? What does it mean to be a boss? What does it mean to be a single mother? What does it mean? What do I have to do?

01:42:53:21 – 01:43:19:12
Unknown
What does it mean to be a provider? Like I said, what does it mean to be a Christian? It means I have to fulfill all my prophecies and have a great destiny better than that person and make kingdom impact. And I must do it. That’s a drive. That’s a good. That’s a whip at your back. Did the Lord put it there?

01:43:19:14 – 01:43:26:14
Unknown
Or is he in front saying it hurts you to kick against the goats?

01:43:26:16 – 01:43:32:19
Unknown
It hurt. It hurts you to not receive your identity, but to try to carve it out.

01:43:32:21 – 01:43:53:19
Unknown
And he’s so compassionate. Saul. Saul, why are you persecuting me when you hurt these people? You hurt me. Do you know some of you have been abused? They didn’t just hurt you. They hurt Jesus.

01:43:53:22 – 01:44:06:21
Unknown
Some of you have abused others. You didn’t just hurt the person. You hurt Jesus. We’re not divided from Christ.

01:44:06:24 – 01:44:27:01
Unknown
There’s one God and Father who is over all and in all. You know, here’s the thing. When we’re when we’re operating from our flesh, we’re looking from our human viewpoint. We’re looking from our I have to carve my own identity approach. People look like objects and they look like obstacles.

01:44:27:04 – 01:44:52:00
Unknown
Something to fix, something to clear out of the way, or something to serve me so that my world can look good. Okay, you know what it means to I have to. If I’m a man, I have to restore order. Right? I have to restore order. I have to manage my household. I have to have my wife in submission.

01:44:52:02 – 01:44:57:09
Unknown
I better suppress everything.

01:44:57:11 – 01:45:19:13
Unknown
Okay, that’s not going to work either. But, I mean, you could try. But, you know, some people, I mean, the sad fact is people can do it and people do it all the time. You can conform your employees, you can inform the conform, the people in your ministry. But all you’re doing is you’re putting on them the same goad that somebody put on you.

01:45:19:15 – 01:45:24:02
Unknown
The go that you’re back will become the goat in your hand.

01:45:24:05 – 01:45:44:21
Unknown
Do you understand that? See, Paul believed, and Saul believed. What it means for me to be a faithful Jew is that I need to get the whole people in purity so the Messiah can come, and he can deliver us from Rome. I have to stamp out this sect of Christians because God’s not going to be pleased. We’re supposed to be in the temple.

01:45:44:21 – 01:46:07:24
Unknown
We’re supposed to be offering sacrifices. We’re supposed to be rallying. We’re supposed to be totally pure. No idols, none of this. We’re waiting for our military king to come. Just so you know, that’s the background of Paul. That’s what he believed that he had to do. Jesus totally shattered that he was a totally different Messiah. He came on a donkey, not a war horse.

01:46:07:26 – 01:46:31:09
Unknown
He washed feet. He didn’t raise armies. He believed in subversion, not coercion. You know, I could coerce you if you’re if you’re bothering me, I could coerce you to stop. Or I could turn the other cheek and make you rethink your whole worldview, and I could subvert you. That’s what Jesus was about. He’s about the way of love.

01:46:31:11 – 01:46:37:08
Unknown
He’s not an agitator or an accuser. He’s a peacemaker.

01:46:37:11 – 01:47:05:24
Unknown
So Paul was absolutely driven. He had to do something. He needed to achieve a result because God wanted him to get a result, a measurable result. And that wasn’t just a good goal. It became a necessity. It became a compulsion. It became an identity to him. It is not bad at all to have a plan, to have a goal, to have people around you, to have a calendar, to have a schedule.

01:47:05:27 – 01:47:10:17
Unknown
Those are all great servants and horrible masters.

01:47:10:19 – 01:47:32:15
Unknown
If you turn them into this is how I’m going to motivate myself. You’re you’re enslaved. You’re under a yoke of bondage. Okay. This make sense to everybody? All right. I’m trying to say that phrase less, but it’s just a way for me to pivot, okay?

01:47:32:18 – 01:47:56:06
Unknown
There’s a lot of things we can do when we don’t understand that our growth comes from God. When we don’t understand that we are growing organically, not mechanically. What have we? What have we here? Last week we heard about being planted, being rooted. We didn’t hear about being on an assembly line. We didn’t hear about a cookie cutter stamping everybody.

01:47:56:08 – 01:48:25:17
Unknown
You know, we didn’t hear about mechanical processes. We heard about metamorphosis. We heard about a child growing into his DNA. We heard about how God gives the growth when we are rooted, when we’re being circulated in the body of Christ, when we’re looking at Christ and worship, we’re becoming like him. That’s not something you can drive. It’s not something you can whip ahead.

01:48:25:20 – 01:48:49:09
Unknown
It’s not something you can motivate. Okay. What I think I wanted to talk about today was we’ve had this whole series on unhindered, and I really think it’s been good. And today I want to talk about having unhindered motivations, because one of your biggest hindrances is how we motivate ourselves and how we believe we ought to motivate ourselves.

01:48:49:12 – 01:49:22:29
Unknown
Is it through fear, shame, guilt, spreadsheet ledgers, progress bar all these things? Do you measure yourself by your progress? Is that what motivates you? Paul said, I’m compelled by one thing the love of Christ. Pastor Pat talked about gratitude as like the core of our being. That’s the seedbed of our desperation for God. It’s not I got to get more God.

01:49:23:01 – 01:49:46:11
Unknown
I got to please him more. I gotta get more results. I gotta change more stuff. I got to cut more things off. That doesn’t please the Lord. What he wants is a heart that’s open to him and willing to be rooted and abide. Bear much fruit. There’s going to be times that that is excruciatingly slow. I look at it and I go, this isn’t working.

01:49:46:14 – 01:50:03:05
Unknown
I need to get some religion. You know, I need to, like, I need to get somebody to motivate me, kick me in the butt, shame me, tell me I’m an idiot, you know, like that’s going to I used to listen to preaching like that. You’re a lukewarm, you know, and I’m like, oh, you’re right. You know, I’d probably be probably lose my salvation.

01:50:03:07 – 01:50:19:22
Unknown
And I would really motivate me to try to do better. But that’s not salvation. It’s probation. That’s not a jubilee, it’s jeopardy. Did you know that when you’re saved, you’re safe?

01:50:19:25 – 01:50:40:09
Unknown
God didn’t put a refundable down payment down on you. He gave you the down payment of the inheritance, the seal of the Holy Spirit, and he doesn’t change. So I don’t think he’s taking that promise back. He incorporated you into Christ. And I don’t think you can be shredded away from Jesus Christ. He rose you from the dead.

01:50:40:09 – 01:50:44:08
Unknown
I don’t think you can die again.

01:50:44:11 – 01:51:10:23
Unknown
That’s just one man’s opinion, okay? But what we want to do is win. Our growth is not happening quick enough. And this could be in many areas. We want to take up a device, a goad and make it happen, or we’ll put it in someone else’s hands and say, do this to me, okay? But we grow from the seed bed of security.

01:51:10:25 – 01:51:37:03
Unknown
The works of the flesh are evident. They’re they’re pushing their they’re divisive, their self exalting. But the fruit of the spirit come from a place of peace. They come from a place of rest and rootedness. You’re not uprooting the plant every ten minutes, okay? Gentleness doesn’t come from stress, does it? That’s one of the fruit of the spirit.

01:51:37:05 – 01:52:08:13
Unknown
Joy doesn’t come from feeling crushed by by external pressures, does it? Internal condemnation doesn’t really exist with peace, does it? Charity doesn’t coexist with feeling like I’m a piece of junk that’s never done enough. Okay, we need to embrace and take the risk of saying, God’s really my Savior, and he wants to motivate me with his love and his peace.

01:52:08:15 – 01:52:28:24
Unknown
He wants to motivate me with my brothers and sisters that are standing side by side with me. And we move forward as one, and we’re going to move at the pace of the Holy Spirit. We’re going to move together. Sometimes it’s going to be like a storm. It’s going to be so fast. We’re not going to know. We’re not going to know how to even maybe keep a handle on it.

01:52:28:28 – 01:52:35:20
Unknown
And other times we’re going to be going at what Pastor Amanda said, the pace of grace.

01:52:35:23 – 01:53:04:28
Unknown
And it’s going to be okay that we’re not achieving everything that we would imagine that we should achieve. And we’re not bringing people into conformity in our community as fast as we would like them to be. And our kids and our wife are not obeying perfectly like little angels all the time. Right? When I say, you know, because I think sometimes we internalize things like I’ve internalized what it means to obey God is just to instantly, without any delay.

01:53:04:28 – 01:53:12:27
Unknown
I have to do it right away with all my heart. And my kids better do it.

01:53:12:29 – 01:53:28:08
Unknown
Now. I don’t think you have to make that leap. I just think it’s something to be aware of. I don’t believe you should delay to obey God. Just so I have my my disclaimers out there. But the thing that you are driven of, that you think this is who I am. I’m an obedient son. I’m a serious son.

01:53:28:08 – 01:53:55:00
Unknown
I’m a, you know, I’m a I’m an impact person. I have kingdom destiny. I fulfill all my prophecies. I don’t know if anybody else has tried to do that. Maybe I’m just a weirdo here, you know, I fully would would accept that. Okay. But what you are putting on yourself and what you are making into an identity that drives you, it’s going to drive other people around you crazy.

01:53:55:02 – 01:54:16:19
Unknown
It has a vibe. The spirit of fear and slavery has a vibe. Okay, I call these religious devices that we use to accelerate our growth. I have a I have a whole lot of them. I wrote down, if you want to ask me later, I had like 28 of them, but I’ll just give a few. Right? The ones that I sense in my life is the whip.

01:54:16:21 – 01:54:46:01
Unknown
I need to do this thing, and it’s not enough that I just should do it. I need to attach a threat to it. What happens if I don’t do it? Which okay, that’s a nice way of just ensuring that other people are like me and that I am like, I want to be my ideal self. When God says, you know, before you do a single thing, you’re my beloved daughter and whom I will pleased.

01:54:46:03 – 01:55:11:21
Unknown
You like, that’s a little bit too good to be true. Well, maybe we should think about it and say, is that actually true? What if that was the truth that was motivating you? I’m loved. I’m righteous. I’m secure. I’m plugged in. I’m not going to be rejected. I belong in this family. God didn’t make a mistake with my kids, with my city, with my spouse, with my church.

01:55:11:23 – 01:55:15:12
Unknown
He didn’t make a mistake.

01:55:15:14 – 01:55:25:25
Unknown
Wow, I trust him. I’m not trying to impress him. I’m trusting him.

01:55:25:27 – 01:55:36:04
Unknown
Think about if this is real. We’ve had an amazing series on the things that’s hindered us, and we need to give it a minute to marinate.

01:55:36:07 – 01:55:59:11
Unknown
I’m not going to speak too much longer, because I want to give us a minute to think about these things. It’s not just good to hear all the ways that you can be hindered, and then rush through it to the next thing. It’s good to ask the Holy Spirit. Am I believing a lie here because I will be driven by the thing I believe is true about God and true about me?

01:55:59:13 – 01:56:30:15
Unknown
If you believe that God is not 100% for you, that you’re still on probation, that he has a lot of expectations and you are really failing. If you believe that that’s going to motivate you and it’s going to go on to the people around you, that is going to be a big hindrance. I don’t know if the Lord highlighted anything over the weeks that Pastor Shelly was speaking or by or even today while I’m speaking, but if you’re really sensing I’ve got, like, a weight on me.

01:56:30:16 – 01:56:49:04
Unknown
I’ve got a hook in me. There’s a whip behind me. The other one I talk about a lot is the shot clock. You’re like, I only have so many years. We don’t even have to start playing yet. Thad. Sorry about that. I brought you up here too soon, man. I put you on the stopwatch. That’s a religious. That’s a religious device.

01:56:49:06 – 01:57:05:15
Unknown
We got to be really, really efficient here or else, you know, God’s not going to move anyway. But I love that you’re here. I will call it just a second. I have, you know, I just want to lay it out. Is that cool? All right. Look how gracious that is. Everyone give that a hand right here. That’s good.

01:57:05:17 – 01:57:30:06
Unknown
I’m good. But, man, I just want us to understand, like the things a deadline is a good thing. If you never had a deadline, very little would get done. Right. But if you put that on yourself of, like, I only have so much time, I have to save everybody before the clock strikes midnight. I have to write everything on Facebook, all my opinions anyway.

01:57:30:06 – 01:57:41:05
Unknown
But you know, you’re like, this is a deadline I got. God’s only going to love me if I fulfill all the prophecies. And I only got this much time.

01:57:41:08 – 01:58:00:01
Unknown
Okay. How are you going to approach that from gratitude and love and peace? How is that going to be a gospel motivation? How do you understand what I’m saying? The other thing would be that stopwatch where it’s just, hey, look! Hurry up, be efficient. Produce. Perform.

01:58:00:04 – 01:58:19:17
Unknown
Okay. You could look at the progress bar. Like I said. How close? Am I to being one with Christ? How much more works do I have to do before I’m one with Christ? Okay, how much more do I have to pray before I can break open heaven’s gates? Oh wait, I’m already seated on the throne in Christ Jesus.

01:58:19:20 – 01:58:45:12
Unknown
What? Could that be true? How much do I have to do before God’s going to be pleased in me? Oh, he sees me as the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Could that be true? Oh, it’s a Bible verse, but have you internalized it? Much more do I have to do before I finish the finished work of Jesus?

01:58:45:14 – 01:58:54:28
Unknown
How much more boxes? How many more boxes do I have to check? How many more conditions do I have to meet to get the unconditional love of God?

01:58:55:01 – 01:59:19:00
Unknown
No, there’s a better gospel. There’s a better truth. There’s a finished work. There’s an identity that you do not. You do not carve it out. You receive it. And it’s not just a personal identity. It’s a corporate identity. We are together. The thing that hinders you hinders me. The thing that hinders me is really going to bug you.

01:59:19:02 – 01:59:32:16
Unknown
I would, I thought I was going to get more amens from that. All right. But yeah, the things that you really are driven by that you’re like, I have to have compliance. I have to have my whole identity is going to be shattered. If people do not do this, I’m not going to be a good parent if they don’t listen.

01:59:32:16 – 01:59:58:10
Unknown
I’m not a good husband if she’s not, you know, adoring me all the time. Whatever. I’m not a man. If I’m not earning seven figures, whatever you’re putting on yourself, that’s something you think you must do. Like Paul, I was convinced I must do many things. But the Lord said, I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. You’re going to go open people’s eyes.

01:59:58:10 – 02:00:12:07
Unknown
But I’m blind. Yeah. You’re not going to do something you can do on your own strength. All of this is going to be a miracle. But I can’t do that. Exactly.

02:00:12:09 – 02:00:19:07
Unknown
I can’t drive myself hard enough to do that. Exactly.

02:00:19:09 – 02:00:52:08
Unknown
Because we’re serving a very counterintuitive messiah. He won by losing. He raised the dead. By dying. He defeated the enemy by submitting to crucifixion. He became Lord of humanity by washing feet. Do we understand this? We serve a humble God, a servant God, a crucified God, the God that came to be our slave.

02:00:52:10 – 02:01:08:29
Unknown
It’s a radical message. Paul said. It’s Paul said the cross is an offense. It’s a stumbling block. Because what Paul did was he ran up against. I think we have Philippians three here. If we want to put Philippians three on, on the board.

02:01:09:01 – 02:01:27:18
Unknown
In the net, starting in verse two, Philippians three two. He said, beware of the dogs. Beware of the evil workers. Beware of those who mutilate the flesh. He’s saying, watch out for people that tell you you need to do behavior modification or else you’re not okay.

02:01:27:20 – 02:01:47:28
Unknown
For we are the circumcision. We’re already the ones that are separated to God, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God. We exult in Christ Jesus. We do not rely on human credentials, though mine too are significant. This is Paul talking again. If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more.

02:01:48:00 – 02:02:06:14
Unknown
Was circumcised on the eighth day from the people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. In my zeal for God, I persecuted the church according to the righteousness stipulated in the law. I was blameless, I never made a mistake.

02:02:06:17 – 02:02:35:02
Unknown
I can’t say that, but Paul could. But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. More than that, I now regard all these as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. So what he said was everything that I thought I had to do, everything that I attained in opposition to the grace of God, that wasn’t an asset to me, that was a liability.

02:02:35:05 – 02:02:43:15
Unknown
That wasn’t who I really was. It worked against me receiving who I really was.

02:02:43:18 – 02:03:01:05
Unknown
And Paul said, well, where is the room for boasting then, if this is all by grace? And in Romans three he said, it’s excluded. No one can boast. God decided he loved you so he would save you. And God did that.

02:03:01:08 – 02:03:21:08
Unknown
I just told you the gospel, okay, you can either believe it or not. So what do you have to do? Stand firm and do not submit to a yoke of bondage. What do you have to do? Abide in me and I in you, and you will bear much fruit. What do you have to do? Walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

02:03:21:11 – 02:03:37:01
Unknown
What do you need to do? Reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God. I don’t have to crucify myself every day. No, he did that. Just believe that it’s true.

02:03:37:03 – 02:03:41:20
Unknown
Just believe that it’s true.

02:03:41:22 – 02:03:58:06
Unknown
I hope somebody can hear what I’m saying. The work is finished. You’re not on probation. The Jubilee has happened. Your debts are canceled. The inheritance is restored. You can go home.

02:03:58:08 – 02:04:13:26
Unknown
What if I mess it up? Salvation is not by works. I know I’m saved by grace. But then if I don’t work, I lose it. No, it’s by grace.

02:04:13:28 – 02:04:20:28
Unknown
What’s going to motivate me, love?

02:04:21:01 – 02:04:30:17
Unknown
Not pressure. Not a whip, not a shot clock. Not a progress bar, not a lie detector. Oh, did I really confess? Every little.

02:04:30:19 – 02:04:54:12
Unknown
Once and for all. Forgiveness. Not a payment plan. Not an installment plan. By a single sacrifice he has perfected forever those who are sanctified. Past, present, future. Hebrews 1014 I’m proclaiming something if you here let the one who has ears to hear, hear.

02:04:54:14 – 02:04:59:29
Unknown
When you settle into this, you go, I’m desperate for you.

02:05:00:02 – 02:05:21:01
Unknown
I’m desperate for you. You’re better than I ever thought you could be. They said you were like this. And I had to do this and this and this. And you said, why are you persecuting me? It’s hard for you. It’s hard for you to kick against those goods. Doesn’t it hurt? Isn’t it hard for you to live that way?

02:05:21:04 – 02:05:48:24
Unknown
Come to me. All you who labor and are heavy laden, I’ll give you rest. See, we don’t have to live our life in a religious frenzy. We don’t have to live our life in a capitalist frenzy, in an American frenzy. We don’t have to build ourselves to be loved. We don’t have to drive ourselves to be safe. Sometimes we think, if my purity is perfect, I’ll be safe.

02:05:48:27 – 02:06:00:10
Unknown
If I never make a mistake, I’ll never be punished. I’ll never be blamed. I’ll never be shamed. So I better be perfect. I better be pure.

02:06:00:12 – 02:06:10:04
Unknown
That can motivate you. But wouldn’t it motivate you to say. How blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin?

02:06:10:07 – 02:06:29:02
Unknown
Sin is not counted where there is no law, and through the law I died to the law that I might live to Christ. I’ve been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in my flesh. I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

02:06:29:03 – 02:07:03:22
Unknown
If righteousness were by my law, by my works, Christ died for no purpose. Galatians 221 Christ did not die, so you could continue to live like everybody else, because if you could just do it better than everybody else, there would have been no need for him to die. If you could just prove yourself and get closer to God by the law and by self effort, and by beating yourself, and by driving yourself and by timing yourself and scrutinizing yourself, there was no need for Christ to do anything.

02:07:03:24 – 02:07:28:20
Unknown
The gospel is a revelation. It’s an apocalypse. That’s the word in Greek. Revelation is apocalypse. When you hear apocalypse, you probably think David’s talking about the end of the world, and I am, because the gospel is something that happens to you like an apocalypse, and it is the end of the world that you’ve been living in. It is the end of the world where you have to prove yourself.

02:07:28:21 – 02:07:44:09
Unknown
It is the end of the world where you’re not enough for God. It’s the end of the world where you’re not safe. It’s the end of the world where you have no home and you have no friends, and you have no people, and you have no father, and you have no mother. It’s the end of the world where you’re an orphan because he’s always been your dad.

02:07:44:11 – 02:08:11:01
Unknown
It’s the end of the world of fear. You’re no longer a slave of fear, but inside you, the spirit of sonship cries, ABBA, father, ABBA, father! So just lay down the burden. Lay down the religious devices, lay down the whip and the shot clock and the shame and the measuring stick and whatever you’re using, man. Because he didn’t bring that.

02:08:11:03 – 02:08:18:02
Unknown
He said, I did not come to condemn the world, but that the world through me might be saved.

02:08:18:04 – 02:08:43:21
Unknown
Not just to make you a potential son or a potential salvation, but he came to pull you out of the fire, and I think he did it. You know, that’s my Jesus. You can resist that. But I beg you not to. You can hear this message and continue to kick, kick, kick against those goads. That’s not true. I gotta do I have many things I must do to be somebody.

02:08:43:24 – 02:08:55:14
Unknown
I have many things I must do to not waste my life. My life is an assignment. It’s not a gift. Go ahead.

02:08:55:16 – 02:09:13:25
Unknown
I’ve been down that road. I’d say just stop. You know what the funny thing was? Paul was going down the road as quick as he can. And what was Jesus in effect saying? Stop, stop.

02:09:13:28 – 02:09:17:11
Unknown
Just stop for a second.

02:09:17:13 – 02:09:23:19
Unknown
Stop. This is hard, isn’t it?

02:09:23:21 – 02:09:29:26
Unknown
Maybe you have the wrong Messiah.

02:09:29:28 – 02:09:34:12
Unknown
Who are you, Lord? I’m Jesus.

02:09:34:14 – 02:09:46:06
Unknown
Do we remember that we love Jesus? Do we remember Jesus? That’s like no one condemns you. Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.

02:09:46:09 – 02:10:08:03
Unknown
Jesus has said, father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing to people that never ask for forgiveness. He’s like, Paul’s like, who are you? You’re not the Messiah. Yeah, I am, I’m Jesus. That may not be the Messiah that religion wants or that the world wants or that America wants, but it’s the Messiah we have. You remember the dark night?

02:10:08:06 – 02:10:14:04
Unknown
It’s not the hero we wanted, but the hero we needed. Hero we got right now.

02:10:14:07 – 02:10:21:25
Unknown
I know that spoke to at least one person in this room. Okay. All right. And it was probably me. Okay.

02:10:21:27 – 02:10:54:14
Unknown
But the Lord wants there to just be a release right now. We can start just playing some music. And if you’ve been hearing this message and you’ve been hearing the messages leading up to this, the Lord’s being very clear with us. He doesn’t want us hindered. He doesn’t want the flow of his love interrupted in this body. He doesn’t want our false beliefs and our false self-condemnation and just he doesn’t want that in the way it’ll it’ll make you turn away from him.

02:10:54:16 – 02:11:10:12
Unknown
When you’re ashamed, you’ll turn away from the father. Even if the father would never turn away from you. Remember when Adam sinned and God showed up and said, where are you? Who was the one hiding?

02:11:10:15 – 02:11:14:19
Unknown
I guess God can look on sin.

02:11:14:22 – 02:11:18:18
Unknown
Was Jesus God?

02:11:18:20 – 02:11:28:03
Unknown
He with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus isn’t as disgusted with us as we would like to believe that he is.

02:11:28:06 – 02:11:53:09
Unknown
You can come. You can lay down your filthy rags, your bar of soap, your fig leaves, your whip, your shot clock, your stopwatch, your progress bar, your light detector, whatever has been goading you that has also been goading others. You can lay that down. And I have a couple questions.

02:11:53:11 – 02:11:58:16
Unknown
What? God has been hitting you in the back.

02:11:58:18 – 02:12:04:07
Unknown
And how are other people feeling that?

02:12:04:09 – 02:12:11:01
Unknown
What’s driving you and how are other people feeling that?

02:12:11:03 – 02:12:18:29
Unknown
And lastly, what necessity are you bearing right now that God never asked you to bear?

02:12:19:02 – 02:12:46:06
Unknown
Are you bearing burden for somebody that was never your burden to bear? Well, I had the responsibility to watch for their soul. Hebrews 1317 says, we’ll give an account for the work that we do watching over people’s souls. We won’t give an account for people’s souls. We’ll give an account for how we watched over those souls. We don’t make decisions for other people.

02:12:46:08 – 02:13:08:11
Unknown
You don’t make decisions for your children, or for your spouse, or for the friend that betrayed you. You’re accountable to treat them well and love them as Christ, but you don’t have to bear them as your burden. We bear one another’s burdens, but Paul said each one must bear his own load in the same sentence.

02:13:08:14 – 02:13:34:21
Unknown
Are you ready to release some false burdens? Are you ready to release some false religious devices? Are you ready to say, here’s how my my torment has been projected onto others. Heal me, heal me. God, if you’re ready to do that, we can. We can have a time of reflection. You can come forward and surrender that to God.

02:13:34:24 – 02:13:53:23
Unknown
Or you can come and pray with the person next to you. But this is just a time that we want to let the Lord work the father. I just ask that you move now, Holy Spirit, that you would illuminate hearts, that you would bring a liberty. You wouldn’t. You wouldn’t bring a condemnation right now, but you would bring such a shift.

02:13:53:25 – 02:14:19:23
Unknown
God, I pray that the things that we thought were necessities and we thought were true, if they weren’t in line with you, we ask that they would melt away. We ask that you free us from the pressure of performance and the pressure of self purification and self perfectionism, God and making other people conform, and and being so desperate to be approved in ourselves that we will drive ourselves.

02:14:19:26 – 02:14:34:17
Unknown
I pray, Lord, that right now you would bring a rest from dead works. You would bring a repentance that has no regret. You would bring a change of mind and a security in Christ.

02:14:34:19 – 02:14:40:00
Unknown
Father, stir in us in this time I pray, Lord.

02:14:40:02 – 02:15:01:17
Unknown
God, we just we rely on you. Holy Spirit, secure us God. If there’s anyone here that that has never known true salvation, they have never known salvation without fear. I pray that you would bring them in and that you would. You would just remove the condemnation of sin.

02:15:01:20 – 02:15:25:14
Unknown
If that’s you and you’ve just never really known a true salvation, would you come forward and just give your life to the Lord? If you’ve never known what it is to be truly not under probation to be free, let’s come forward. If you need prayer, we’re going to have pastors up here that can that can speak with you, that can pray over you.

02:15:25:17 – 02:15:29:08
Unknown
This time will be open.

02:15:29:11 – 02:15:36:09
Unknown
Holy spirit, I ask you now to do the work that only you can do.

02:15:36:11 – 02:15:53:28
Unknown
Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, I’ll give you rest. Show us a new way of motivation, father. Show us a new way to be compelled by love. Not by self, not by delusion, but by truth.

02:15:54:00 – 02:16:44:06
Unknown
We thank you that when we know the truth, the truth will set us free. Move! Spirit of truth in this room. Remove every hindrance to our shared communion. Remove every hindrance. That wars against fruit. God, we give you this time to do the work of healing that only you can do. In Jesus name, Amen.

02:16:44:08 – 02:16:49:27
Unknown
I.

02:16:50:00 – 02:17:00:04
Unknown
And I lift my own.

02:17:00:07 – 02:17:05:14
Unknown
To.

02:17:05:16 – 02:17:13:03
Unknown
You. Oh I own.

02:17:13:05 – 02:17:16:23
Unknown
Please join.

02:17:16:25 – 02:17:23:12
Unknown
Take your by King.

02:17:23:14 – 02:17:32:19
Unknown
In what you he.

02:17:32:21 – 02:17:47:17
Unknown
And let it be a sweet sweet self in your.

02:17:47:20 – 02:17:57:10
Unknown
We all stand. Let’s sing this I a you Lord.

02:17:57:12 – 02:18:07:03
Unknown
And I lived my.

02:18:07:06 – 02:18:10:04
Unknown
To.

02:18:10:07 – 02:18:20:08
Unknown
Share you. Oh my soul.

02:18:20:10 – 02:18:24:10
Unknown
Rejoice.

02:18:24:12 – 02:18:30:21
Unknown
Take your life. Keep.

02:18:30:23 – 02:18:39:24
Unknown
In what you he.

02:18:39:26 – 02:19:05:12
Unknown
May it be a sweet, sweet tell. Let it be a sweet, sweet house. Let it be us. We sweet out.

02:19:05:15 – 02:19:15:05
Unknown
In your.

02:19:15:07 – 02:19:24:09
Unknown
In your.

02:19:24:12 – 02:19:32:08
Unknown
Father. We thank you for the great exchange.

02:19:32:10 – 02:19:42:19
Unknown
Father. That we can lay down our heavy burdens at your feet. That you give us peace.

02:19:42:21 – 02:19:51:17
Unknown
Lord, you give us joy. You’re the lifter of our heads.

02:19:51:19 – 02:20:03:21
Unknown
Father, I pray today, Lord, that you would secure Lord our hearts in you, father, that we would be deeply rooted in your love.

02:20:03:24 – 02:20:15:04
Unknown
Lord, as you spoke to us through the prophet today, that we are covered by your wings.

02:20:15:07 – 02:20:31:27
Unknown
That you cover our lives. Father calls us today to remember that you cover. You cover our lives.

02:20:31:29 – 02:21:02:01
Unknown
And though we walk, oh God, through shadow of death itself, we will fear no evil. For your rod and your staff. They comfort us. They guide us. Father, lead us and we will follow. Because our hearts to hear. Your voice is the good Shepherd. Lead us into paths of righteousness for your name’s sake. We thank you, Lord. We thank you.

02:21:02:02 – 02:21:06:05
Unknown
We praise you.

02:21:06:08 – 02:21:21:28
Unknown
In the name of Jesus. We’re going to stay in this atmosphere. For those that are up front, you’re dismissed. We’re going to have fellowship across the way. Please join.

02:21:22:00 – 02:21:24:24
Unknown
The love of God and be the love of God.