09-13 - The Grace Message with Dr. Andrew Farley

jesus plus nothing 100 natural no additives andrew farley is celebrating your freedom in christ call in and ask your questions at 877 655 675 that's toll-free at [Music] this 877-655-6755 andrew farley so glad you're joining us tonight that number eight seven seven six five five six seven five five we've got wide open lines tonight that means plenty of room for you to get in with your question tonight if you've got a question about a scripture passage maybe you heard something in church recently and uh well you're still scratching your head wondering about it let's make it a conversation together right now eight seven seven six five five six seven five five wide open lines plenty of room and if you're a first time caller tonight you gotta know we love it we love to hear from our first time callers we'd love to hear from you and if you're a veteran listener maybe you've called in the past but it's been a while and you've got something new on your mind tonight by all means join us as well again 877-655-6755 and maybe you've got a personal problem going on in your life in your marriage with your kids in your church whatever it might be and you're looking for that grace-based perspective that's why we're here for you for the next half hour wide open lines lots of room for you right now again that's that's a toll-free call for you in the united states and canada eight seven seven six five five six seven five five we're gonna uh start out tonight in north carolina and we'll talk with brandon hey brandon what do you got for us tonight hey dr farley it's good to talk with you again um love your stuff as always i have to say the whole music was pretty cool when i was waiting to get on the call so that was pretty cool my main question though tonight was um i have several friends who have a lot of opinions on this particular subject on worship music specifically worship music that comes out of like vessel hill song and elevation it seems like those are the big three in question yeah and my question to you is i mean i know that sometimes at your church you've played like a couple of their songs and i know everyone kind of has their own take on how they deal with that with like the licensing and all that correct seems to be the big question sure because there's some songs i really love that are like correct theologically and like it really helped me connect with god but then some people are like well it comes from this place that's like you know i kind of feel like i'm throwing the baby out with the bath water and so right i didn't know if you had any um yeah yeah i do i do brandon that's a great question i mean first of all i think if if we filtered out all of the music that was produced by people that we disagreed with there'd be almost no music left that we would have to write every song ourselves uh because you know there's going to be a reason to discard this song and that song and the other song because of being able to trace it back to some person or some movement or some belief system or something and we become so exclusive in our selection of music i don't know what we would think we were believing at that point are we somehow promoting the songwriter who spent five years at such and such a church and then now you know they've moved on or whatever but somebody's gonna trace our singing of the song to that writer to that church to that problem and i think we could spend the rest of our days trying to predict who's going to point their finger and accuse because of some lyrics in some song and at the end of the day we have to ask ourselves hey why are we singing these songs again oh yeah oh that's right we call it praise and worship because it's about praise and worship it's about worshiping the lord jesus christ so uh you know i i have mixed feelings i mean of course we want to watch out for what lyrics we're actually singing uh we don't want to be singing songs that are basically uh begging and pleading and hoping and waiting for god to do what he's already done i mean a lot of songs they do sound like you just lost your girlfriend and you're trying to get her back and you know that's not what praise and worship should really be about we have the finished work of christ to celebrate we have the cross and the resurrection to celebrate we have the presence of god living in us to celebrate we have so much to celebrate we shouldn't spend our time whining and begging for more of what we've already got we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in christ we have everything we need for life and godliness and yet if we're not careful some of these lyrics out there that become popular well they're popular because of the beat or maybe even because of the words but by and large some of the christian community doesn't even realize what we're singing or what's wrong with it so i think it's good to be sound minded and discerning about the lyrics that we sing but the other part of your question is should we worry about well who wrote it and when did they write it and what denomination were they in and what congregation were they in and were they ever associated with something we disagree with i mean yuck oh my goodness can you imagine that level of analysis uh i don't know if there'd be any christian books on our shelves there wouldn't be any songs on sunday mornings there wouldn't be well a whole host of christian stuff would just go out the window as we worried way too much about what people think uh and whether they're gonna relate us to some some place i mean i found that to be a question people were asking as a you know before covid and now now that covet is dissipating some i'll be traveling and speaking and somebody says why would you speak at that church they believe this or that and my answer is well that's exactly why i'm speaking there then let's go there and to see if that can get cleared up if they've invited me my goodness hey if the vatican invited me to speak i think i would go and share the gospel of grace at the vatican do you see the point i mean are we not going to associate with each other or are we going to allow this message of god's grace to infiltrate every crevice and every crack of the christian community because we've got something exciting to share and so i i think at the end of the day brandon uh we can be far too worried about what people are thinking and most people are thinking about themselves they're not even thinking about us so let's be careful what we sing in terms of the lyrics but as far as tracing back the roots of every song and the root you know the root movement behind every author and every writer and every oh my how about we just trust the holy spirit living in us to examine the final product the lyrics of the song and see if they're biblical or not because after all we we're singing this to god we're not singing it for the praise of men we're singing it to the glory and praise of our lord jesus christ so those are my thoughts my friend reach out to us again anytime great to hear from you all right let's go now to florida and we'll talk with george hey george what do you got for us tonight yes i'd like you to re-teach me on an issue i brought up probably about a year and a half ago um i got i've been i've been saved for about 50 years i've just felt like i've really wasted my life haven't really led but maybe just a few people to christ and i don't feel like i really disciple people and i'm and now at 61 i'm beginning to really wonder like what would what do you think the lord would like to accomplish through me and for me and and i don't want to be so down on myself and yeah just readdress that issue again for me if you don't mind yes i would be happy to george well you know the number one thing that god is after in our lives is first that we know him and of course that's a no-brainer for you you've already called upon the lord to know him and you've received christ into your life so knowing him having that connection with him spiritually is number one and then number two would be expressing him i mean that's why he lives in you so that he can live his life through you the problem is people don't really understand what that looks like we we get a bunch of ideas going in the bible belt and we end up with a bunch of stuff that's in the belt but not in the bible and what i'm talking about there is this measure i mean you said well i've only led a few people to christ uh and therefore you know i wish i hadn't wasted my life well uh by what measure have you wasted your life it feels like we're back at the garden of eden and we've eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and we've decided uh that witnessing is good and everything else is not worth as much so we've got our knowledge of good and evil and we're measuring ourselves and now we're naked and ashamed and we're covering ourselves in fig leaves and we're saying oh no i feel like i wasted my life well all of that requires a measuring stick you're choosing a unit of measure there and what i would encourage you to say my friend is that you're the righteousness of god you're holy and righteous and blameless and you're beyond measure you're off the charts okay with god because of what jesus christ did for you and as far as sharing your faith i mean the scripture the new testament letters they do say be ready to give an account of the hope that is within you uh but with gentleness and respect so there's this readiness to share the gospel message but that's not the measure of how i'm doing let's look at the fruit of the spirit you want to make your life worth something well first it's already worth something it's worth the righteousness of god it's worth the life of jesus given for you it's worth the death burial and resurrection but as far as fulfillment i can tell you as a person who went door-to-door witnessing i was on the streets of greece in italy i was in halfway houses jails prisons i was sold out dedicated committed to witnessing and i was absolutely miserable and so you talk about wasting a lot of time i was wasting time trying to get god to like me and keep him liking me i was seeking fulfillment i was seeking peace when my head hit the pillow at night i wanted my life to count and i'm telling you that's a very popular message today i can think of a number of best-selling books in the christian world that are about being radical and dedicating and rededicating and committing and are you sold out enough and the problem with the church here's this easy sermon to preach that we keep hearing everywhere the problem with the church is that you're not sold out enough and well we have a big pep rally everybody says i'm really going to be sold out now and then we go home and the sold outedness lasts for a few hours maybe a few days even a few weeks but then we're back at the pep rally again and they're telling us we're still doing it wrong you got to do more and be more and love more and give up more and sacrifice more and dedicate more and then and then your life will really count well uh i'm here to tell you having gone through all of that it doesn't work and the real target here is knowing christ that's the target no christ and also express christ and when you look at what that is it's compatible with every move you make are you a mother of five children well christ life is compatible with you are you a businessman who works nine hours a day christ's life is compatible with you you don't have to be on the mission field in africa you don't have to be getting on an airplane to asia you don't have to be changing your location or your circumstances to enjoy life to the fullest life to the fullest has a name and his name is jesus and he lives in you and he is fulfillment and so when we realize that george you can be living your life in florida and it can be his life but your life but his life and realizing that you're in union with christ is what it's all about it's about the fruit of the spirit things like love and joy and gentleness and peace that's what we're after and his name is jesus those aren't individual traits that you pursue i hear people talking about the fruits of the spirit they put a little s on the end they pluralize it and say i'm shooting for the fruits i'm trying to generate the fruits of the spirit and then i've heard people say boy i wish i had more fruits well it's not about fruits plural it's called fruit of the spirit and it comes from the spirit and you know what you can only be one display in one moment and the way you do that is by fixing your eyes on jesus and letting him be the source of everything he is your vine you're the branch he's the source he's your life he's your everything and so if if you want to find fulfillment in your life recognize your union with jesus this means you don't need to change your house or your car or your spouse or your church we're always trying to change a variable to try to make life more meaningful and the truth is fulfillment is found in our union with jesus christ and when we recognize that that he's our life then he's compatible with every single moment so i hope that helps i want to put you back on george and see does that encourage you my friend much thanks yes you bet we'll call us back any time uh great to hear from you all right let's go to san diego we'll talk with kalina hey kalina what do you got for us tonight hi beloved um i hope that you guys are wonderful okay so i have called you before about this but um this will be the fourth restraining order i have put on my very very abusive husband um i'm in the middle of this restraining order and trying to divorce him okay two years ago i took him to my beloved dr david jeremiah shadow mountain and um i i wanted to work for awana i wanted to um you know work at awana and the only way he was going to allow me to leave the house and do this is if i made sure that he was able to do it as well well since he is not saved and does not have a testimony i had to lie my butt off when i filled out his awana application so i lied okay so um he is a narcissistic sociopath and very very very good at charming people and ingratiating himself to them so that they buy all of his nonsense and lies well um now that i have a restraining order and um i have much much evidence of him being abusive to my children i am feeling like i want to contact shadow mountain and be like listen he cannot continue to work i don't know if they've started yet or if they've even allowed him to go back i do not know he mentioned in court that he would be serving there and that's just like that's i've got a yeah oh that sticks in my craw in a big way so i'm like should i go to that church and show them all the evidence of child abuse should i start telling the other parents this is the person they are allowing to watch your child like i gotcha i got you kaleena well this one's an easy one uh i mean the answer is yes to alerting the church that's a no-brainer if everything that you say is accurate and this is a gentleman who is engaged in abusive behavior even toward children you have doubts about his salvation and his role is apparently to share the gospel or at least be a believer and to function among children in a in a ministry known as awana then i mean my goodness it's a no-brainer that you need to alert the church now uh the church is going to listen to you any church in their right mind is going to listen and get it after about 30 seconds so i don't think you need to air all of the dirty laundry i don't think you need to have a list of 25 evidences i don't think you need to be running around telling all the families there's no sense in just dragging him through the mud on this it's one phone call to someone in authority who knows what they're doing at the church and explain that you have concerns about both his salvation and his behavior toward children and that you're available to answer questions if they have any and make sure that you're heard by one person who's in charge of that program and that's it i mean that's a simple straightforward way to go about it you don't have to have a long list of evidences you don't need to tell 25 or 50 people or families you tell the leader and you be clear about your concern and you make yourself available for follow-up and there you have it so i think that'll help you move forward with your next step my friend and reach out to us again anytime great to hear from you all right let's go to champaign illinois and we'll talk with susan hi susan hi andrew hey what do you got for us i'd like to know what you think about the covert vaccines okay and that's uh in general what do i think about it yeah if the men if if people should take them or not okay all right well your your the call screener said uh that you were interested in knowing if it's the mark of the beast as well so i'll address that i i don't think it's the mark of the beast uh the mark of the beast involves a number 666 the mark of the beast also involves someone pretending to be god or divinity in general and so i don't think that the covid vaccine is the mark of the beast there's just no no evidence that it is and secondly as far as my thoughts i mean that's the problem that's the problem that we're having is that people are asking people like me i mean you know i'm a pastor i have no medical degree i have no background in medicine uh i've taken some vaccines throughout my life but i've never studied vaccines i i'm not a researcher i don't have any uh medical expertise in this area and so what i would encourage people to do is ask the experts ask your doctor ask people that are virologists ask people that have the expertise in the area that you're curious about you know i certainly think that it's helped a lot of people stay safe but that's my opinion and i think that we live in a free country and my goodness uh the last thing we need to be doing is asking someone on a news station you know some talk show host on a news station or some uh random pastor who has no medical background or um you know just people that are popular personalities i think this is something that is so important that every thinking believer should dig in and do the research and look at be careful what websites you go to because websites are skewed you know go to medical websites that are reputable that if your child had cancer you would go to that website if your child were deathly ill you would go to that website those are the websites you want to go to to medical experts and find out the truth uh if someone may have millions of followers on twitter or facebook or instagram or whatever they may be on tv every night and yet they could totally not have a clue what they're talking about uh so i just encourage you to consult those that you would trust your life with those that you would trust your physical life with and the life of your children ask your doctor ask a medical expert that you have access to that's the conversation to start and then from there i think god's going to give you wisdom and discernment in your fact-finding and you're going to be able to make your own decision there susan so that's my advice for you i hope that helps and reach out to us again anytime great to hear from you well what a program it's been a variety of questions tonight i hope you enjoyed it and if you did well we encourage you to dig even deeper go to our website at andrewfarley.org that's andrewfarley.org and you can click on the media tab there and find whatever you're looking for that's right you can search by keyword you can search by topic or by scripture passage and you'll find a two-minute video on your forgiveness a five-minute encouragement about your identity in christ or maybe you've been wondering about that ominous passage in hebrews well that too is easily findable on our website at andrewfarley.org and this month just a reminder we've got this beautiful opportunity we're sitting on a matching grant of a hundred thousand dollars you know what that means to our ministry that's a rare opportunity to have your gift doubled by this matching grant so your gift of 100 becomes 200 your gift of 500 becomes a thousand it's a beautiful month to give to the grace message go to our website and check it out for more information on the broadcast ministry of dr andrew farley please visit andrewfarley.org that's andrewfarley.org join us next time as we invite you to celebrate the grace message with dr andrew farley this

Channel: The Grace Message with Dr. Andrew Farley

Views: 1,459

Rating: 4.8024693 out of 5

Keywords: forgiveness, freedom, identity in Christ, Christ, Jesus, Grace, Bible teacher, Bible ministry, Andrew Farley, Andrew Farley Ministries, new life in Christ

Id: wnFr9N9-wHw

Length: 24min 53sec (1493 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 14 2021