Francis Chan: Fighting Hypocrisy in the Church

this week my wife's my wife's grandmother passed two and some of you guys know grandma Clara and she still writes letters to some of you she she was here from the start with the church and you know we just gave that series on being in love with Jesus and I was trying to think do I know of anyone on this planet who was more in love with Jesus than grandma and I thought no they're not even close either there are people that are committed to Jesus there are people who committed to serving Lord people that have sacrificed everything for God but when I think about someone who was truly in love with Jesus Christ I think no one holds a candle to grandma my wife would tell me that like it when she was growing up she'd hear grandma in the room next door to her just crying and praying every morning and she tell Lisa she goes you know every morning I get on my knees right there by that corner of the bed and that's where I meet with God and she goes throughout the day whenever I passed by that corner of the bed I I get weepy and I say that say to God god I can't wait til tomorrow morning just to be with you again and spend that quality time with you and she was just talking to Jesus all the time all day long she would pray I mean she was truly in love and she could not wait to see him and so I was exciting when we got the news and going wow she's she's finally there she's finally there she told me one time that she thought maybe that the Lord was keeping her alive because he was going to return you know before she died and so that she was waiting for that and the most impactful faint sue she ever did for me personally and I've shared the story before was a this one time the the whole family went over to the Moore Park melodrama thing this was years ago nobody exists anymore but we're over there at the theater and and during halftime I look over at grandma and I go I go grandma what are you what do you what do you think what do you think of the play so far because it was clean it was good and she's very godly woman and she goes oh I don't want to be here and I was like okay I go oh there was nothing bad you know they didn't say any bad words there weren't any anything that was wrong about the play she goes oh honey it's not that she goes I just don't know if I want to be here when Jesus returns she goes I'd rather be helping someone I'd rather be praying for someone but I don't want Jesus to return and just find me sitting in a theater watching a play and I thought wow you take the Bible seriously I mean we've all heard the passages right that Christ could return at any moment and want to be ready we want to be doing what he wants us to be doing at that time but she lifted out he was a woman who thought through every moment of the day what do I want to be doing when Christ returns do I want to be doing this when he returns not even with his something horribly evil is just she does I want him to see that I'm serving him and I'm praying to him that I've been waiting for him and it's so weird when someone takes the Word of God seriously isn't it it's convicting and you go you know what that's the way we ought to live and and needless to say I didn't watch the second half of the play I mean I'm sitting there praying the whole time going maybe she knows something you know I I'm just the whole time just seriously I was praying for neighbors praying for friends it changed the way I live because when someone lives out the Bible suddenly you don't have an excuse when you finally see it that's what Brad Boozer did for us last weekend right because it's one thing for me to come up and say hey deny yourself pick up your cross follow him you know what let go of your dreams it's another thing for someone who actually did it to stand up here and say you know I don't see any other way around this thing you just do what God wants you to do I remember a few weeks ago we talked about Matthew 25 and we talked about the sheep and goat judgment and how Jesus says that you know what that's me that's starving I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat I was thirsty you gave me nothing to drink and I go if we take that seriously then we've got to be living our life to try to help these people that are in need around the world because that's Jesus I'm not going to let Jesus starve and so we've got to be passionate about these things and it's interesting after I gave that message and the podcast went out we've been getting emails all around the world people people emailing us going you serious your church is going to give away that much you guys are going to take that passage seriously people say finally a church as putting its money where its mouth is you're really going to care for the poor like that it is just you're hearing these people because suddenly now churches go and wait now we have no excuse if they're going to do that because that that's that's that's the way it ought to be you guys are passages in Scripture that we have to take seriously I mean every passage in Scripture we have to take seriously and again I'm just tired of growing up in church and hearing the message and then not actually doing something about it is this morning we share a passage of Scripture that we have to take seriously the elders discuss this a couple weeks ago as either this last Monday or the money before and and we agreed that I need to teach on this but let me just say this right now because we're taking this passage seriously some of you will not return next weekend not glad for that you're hoping for certain people huh no I know by teaching this though seriously um yeah last service guy just walked out after saying is that really it yeah yeah all right um and that's a very sad thing it's sad to me but it's but it's okay it's okay and the reason why it's okay is you need to understand that ever since we started this church we have taught a god-centered theology that means that everything revolves around God we don't teach a man centered theology which is what most the world teaches and most churches teach is a man centered theology where everything revolves around you and God is just trying to appease you and do things the way you want them done that's why I don't ask you hey what you guys want to do at church next week because it's not about you it's not about me it's about looking in spoken saying what does God want it's a god centered theology easy and when you have a god centered theology that says that everything revolves around God it answers the question when people ask you know or people say my life is painful I've been through some hard times things aren't going the way I want them to so there must not be a god we hear that all the time I'm going through a hard time so there must not be a god well that's true there must not be a god whose actions revolve around you but there could exist a God who believes that everything should revolve around him that God could exist and that's the way the God of the Bible explains himself and that's why we pray thy kingdom come thy will be done not my will your will be done on earth as it is in heaven we grew up praying that prayer a lot of us growing up in Sunday school you learned in Catholic school did you know that God wanted us to take that seriously too that when we said thy kingdom come thy will be done that we not just to repeat it and just to say oh you know thy will be done on earth as it is in hell know that we really mean it God I want what you want forget my desires put my dreams aside this is about you this world centers around you and therefore this church centers around God and the God of the Bible when he describes himself because you need to understand why I do certain things on the earth it's really for one reason and that reason is me in in the Old Testament if we look at Isaiah I'm going to put a passage up to Isaiah chapter 48 verses 9 through 11 this is when God was telling Israel why he wasn't destroying them yet he says this for my own name's sake i delay my wrath for the sake of my praise i hold it back from you so as not to cut you off see I have refined you though not as silver I've tested you in the furnace of affliction for my own sake for my own sake I do this how can I let myself be defamed I will not yield my glory to another God is explained to the nation of Israel because you know why I don't destroy you is it because you're just such good people and you're such a wonderful nation that you know what I just figured I'm going to take care of you he does know the reason why I don't destroy you is for my namesake it's for me it's for the sake of my praise he's saying see if I destroy you and everyone knows that you are my people they're going to say that see your God isn't as powerful as our God and egos so it's for my own namesake that I'm delaying my wrath because because I don't want to be defamed I don't want other people say see your God isn't powerful he goes so it's for my own sake he says again for my own sake I do this because he goes I'm not going to yield my glory to another everyone needs to know the young way God the God of Israel is the Almighty God and that's why I don't destroy it because you're rebellious and I should destroy you but I don't from my own namesake understand that it wasn't for Israel it was for him it was for his own glory for his own name it's no different in the New Testament in Colossians chapter 1 verse 16 it says for by him all things were created things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether Thrones or powers or rulers or authorities all things were created by him and don't miss that word for him why did he make everything so that he could cater to the needs of all the things that he made he made everything it says for him that we are supposed to revolve around him legal what do you want rather than God why aren't you giving me what I want that we teach as a church this God centered theology and I understand it flies in the face of everything you're taught all week long in other places where everything's about you the customer's always right it's all about you if you don't get your way you know what fight for a fight for it fight for it and the Bible says no now my will be done but dying that's why jesus prayed even Jesus I only say what the father wants me to say I don't say anything unless he tells me to say it thy kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven having said this again just want to make sure you understand that you realize this weekend is the 13th anniversary of Cornerstone Church we existed 13 years and and I and from its inception it's it's been about what does God want and from its inception this has not been Francis's Church this is God's church is not my church it's not your church if it were my church I would do a lot of things differently you wouldn't even want to know the reason is the reason is I would do things differently because I disagree with this book a lot I disagree with this book a lot but when I disagree I still obey because you don't have to agree with someone to obey with to obey Him see because when I disagree with God I assume I'm wrong crazy huh I just give him the benefit that you probably know more I when I disagree I go you know what I assume that I am wrong in you're right and so I'll still obey you see the crazy thing is most people don't do that when they disagree with this book they walk away and they go well forget it I'm gonna go my own way or when I disagree with this book you know what I'm gonna go with what I think because God gave me a mind and I'm not going to just check it in at the door and ask oh wow that's crazy so you're going to go with your opinion over God's that's not it's a it's like the other day when two weeks ago we were visiting my wife's grandma and we're up up north and some other relatives were there and we went out to line and during lunch my wife prays well after she prays her her cousin's daughter was there who's like three years old after my wife prays she looks at my wife and goes you did that wrong and we just kind of laugh and then she goes now you don't do it right and at least it's like well what did I do wrong speechless this is just wrong is wrong and you're getting anything out of her and pretty soon it's like okay it's not cute anymore but but you know the whole it's just so funny I was a little three-year-old telling her you know you don't pray right you don't you don't do that very well and and I think how silly it must sound to an eternal God when someone who has existed 20 years 40 years 80 years looks up and goes I you didn't do it right that's not the right way to do it I've got a better idea you see when you and God disagree when you disagree with Scripture whose viewpoint do you take it's very important because if you don't follow God's Word then you're really not a follower of God I mean you just follow God as long as he agrees with you so in reality who's who's your God it's yourself you know at some point you just got to say you know and I disagree with this but you know what God this is God so I'm going to submit to it anyways and that's what we're doing as a church that's what we've always been striving for as a church this one my church I would in practice 1st Corinthians chapter 5 so if you ever Bibles turn to 1st Corinthians 5 because we're going to do it anyways because God has written his word 1st Corinthians chapter 5 the first corinthians chapter 5 starting in verse 9 it's written I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters in that case you'd have to leave this world but now I'm writing that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy and idolaters or slander a drunkard or a swindler with such a man do not even eat what business is it of mine to judge those outside the church are you not to judge those inside God will judge those outside expel the wicked man from among you so what do we do with that it's ignore it come on I like it I don't agree with it sounds harsh let's not do it where do we go you know what just what God says and and because this is his church you got to understand God says this is my church this isn't isn't Francis Church not your church is God's church and goes look I want things done a certain way in my house in your house if you want to have all sorts of immorality that's your home with your bride whatever you you whatever kind of bride you want that's up to you but for my church my bride my house I want a house that is pure this is God speaking he goes if you want to do things on earth as it is in heaven you really mean that well here's what I want in my church I want purity when I come back from my bride I want to see that my bride is pure and I want to see that you've expelled those who call themselves Christians but are living these immoral lifestyles now he makes it clear he goes look I am not telling you see because Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians and he said you know what in my letter I told you not to associate with the sexually immoral because I wasn't talking about the people in the world it I'm not telling you just to die and go to heaven I mean you wouldn't be able to talk to anyone because you need to be out there you can understand this I think the church has got it all wrong what we end up doing the same thing the Corinthian church does is we avoid the people in the world that are immoral we run from them and we curse them and we judge them and God says what are you judging them for you have no right to judge them that's God's job he goes but inside the church you are supposed to judge them see we allow sin in the church and go well that guy's leaving his wife but well I would have left her too you know whatever type of thing and all you put my arm around you and the Bible same way no no no not in my house not in my church and we let these things go on in the church and then we say how evil those people are out in the world guys that's completely opposite of what God desires God says you know what the people who don't know me they're going to do what they're going to do and you need to love them needed beginning to go after them isn't that what Jesus did he was out with the alcoholics with the prostitutes with the murderers with the thieves that's who Jesus hung with out in the world but singing the church it's supposed to look differently God says I want the church to be pure see and I know that some of you are thinking man Frances you preach this type of message and we won't need a you know a building project we if we we you're going to get rid of everyone you know what what what if what if unbelievers hear this message what if people outside of the church walls hear this type of message it's going to turn them off to Christianity and I think you'd be surprised I believe the world is waiting for the church to preach this message they are waiting for the church they get serious about judging the sin that's inside the church and quit judging them and then suddenly will be a light to the world and they'll be attracted to and said okay now I want to be a place like that because how many times if you shared with people and they said I don't need to be a part of that church I know so-and-so he goes there calls himself a Christian he's twice as immoral as I am who needs your Jesus or if the church was serious about purity and suddenly in here we loved each other enough that we went after each other and confront each other on the things that are not pleasing to God we started judging those inside the church I tell you that's not going to deter people from this place it's suddenly going to be the salt of the earth it'll be the light of the world so in 1st Corinthians 5 in verse 11 he says I'm writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother very key phrase calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral okay so we're not supposed to associate not even eat with someone who calls himself a Christian but is having sex outside of marriage if you're unmarried having sex call yourself a Christian I shouldn't even talk to you you should never eat with you according to the Bible if you haven't an affair call yourself a Christian unless you're going to turn from that sin I don't want to associate with you I will not associate with you if I know it other than to confront you because that's what God tells me to do and so I'm bound to that he says a the immoral or the greedy guys this one's a little more difficult because how do you judge when someone is greedy and sometimes this is one that we belittle here in Simi Valley in Thousand Oaks you know because aren't we all greedy you know are we all materialistic and so it's hard to judge on that one it's like when is a person truly greedy greedy enough to not associate you know I don't know that's that's necessarily the whole point of it to say well that's the line you know but it's more just the attitude of this person's heart it's all about stuff you're always just thinking about stuff you're always just thinking about this earth the greedy the idolaters and we're announcers associate with those who call themselves Christians yet worship other idols or worship other belief systems it's not okay to say well Jesus is one way and here's another way here's another way here's another way if you're going to do that call yourself something else but not a Christian a slanderer that means if you say negative things untrue things about other people you gossip about other people then we shouldn't associate with you if that's the pattern of your life again it's not saying that you slipped once we're all going to do that in different areas it's talking about the person this is the pattern of your life you refuse to repent this is just what you do who you are I mean you guys you understand this is a good thing it really is everything the scripture is good it's for our good I mean cuz could you imagine what it would be like if you knew that every time you walked inside the church that no one in that room slandered you that week I'd be crazy you imagine how happy I'd be if I walked up here every morning and knew no one spoke negatively about me this week I mean what if the church was that type of place where we took slander that seriously that you could walk in and go you know what I know no one slanders me here I mean the workplace everywhere else but not in the church because they take it so seriously as they confront and they don't even allow people who are slanderers to stay in that place and what a light this place would be how people would run for a safe place like that a drunkard I recognize some of you you have some addictions and you struggle with those addictions and you fight those addictions some of you you wake up every morning you say Lord get just get me through this day I don't want to sin against you want to fight this thing you've got people holding you accountable and by the power of the Holy Spirit you're fighting the fight and I say praise God for you you know what because I know it's not easy I I talked to people all the time with different types of addictions whether it's whether it's you know alcohol drugs sexual whatever it may be and it's a fight it's a fight all of us have our addictions in some area and it's a fight this is referring to the person not the person who's fighting the person who just says you know what I'm both I'm a Christian and I go wasted on the weekend I'm a Christian and you know I'm a drunkard he says or swindler that's a person who rips other people off would that be great to know that man if someone you know goes to Cornerstone I can trust his business he's not going to rip me off and and if you are if you have any unfair practices don't you dare put a fish on your business card and make it look like you're a Christian to get more business that's just the lamest thing you could do you're dragging the name of Jesus Christ down with you we see this stuff is to protect the church but it's also to protect the reputation of Jesus Christ I understand something see that here's your something we don't talk about a whole lot I call myself a Christian that's an honor whose name did I take when I called myself Christian I took the very name of Christ man it's not anymore about Francis Chan I am a Christian I took the name above every name at the name of Jesus every knee is going to bow every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord the glory of God the Father and now suddenly I've taken that name for myself and you guys that's an honor that's a sacred thing and Jesus don't call yourself a Christian if you're going to live that type of lifestyle don't allow that in the church Paul was telling the Corinthian church they see the Corinthian church was proud because of their immorality the Bible says that there was some immorality going on in the church and they were proud of it they were saying look we're an open community we allow everyone you know what you can be a Christian and do whatever you want see we're not judgmental we're tolerant and Paul says your of that this is God's church and he's saying I'll have none of that this is my house this is my bride and that's why he's saying expel expel the wicked man from among you so how do we do this I believe that scripture outlines this and explains to us the process of how do we expel the immoral person from within the church and I believe that process is laid out in Matthew chapter 18 I'm going to put it on the screen for you this case you don't have your Bible now there and then let before I go through this let me explain that some people look at Matthew 18 and say they don't believe that this this is this applies to all sin and I and I can understand because the first part of it says if your brother sins against you now I understand there's some ancient manuscripts that don't have the against you in it but because the the main ones do we leave it in if your brother sins against you so people say well this is only a sin if someone is sinning against you and I agree that that is what this is referring to however I don't see a better pattern of how to confront sin I think this is such a loving way because how else do you expect you get out and get them out of there do you just see him sin once and kick him out no what what Matthew 18 explains is it's a loving loving process it's as if your brother sins against you go and show him his fault just between the two of you if he listens to you you've won your brother over but if he will not listen take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses if he refuses to listen to them tell it to the church and if he refuses to listen even to the church treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector okay there's a process here you know because people are you know saying man are you going to kick me out you can kick me out man that that's not what this is saying there's a process man it's a loving process okay this is so loving you can kind of get this because you're going man this seems harsh it seems extreme no way this is the most loving thing you do for a person in fact this this is Matthew 18 verse 15 you know what verse 14 is about and the stuff before that it's the parable of the lost sheep remember that that's where Jesus says hey which of you if you have a hundred sheep and one of them strays off aren't you going to leave the ninety-nine and go after that one and we look at that past and go wow what a loving passage you know like a Good Shepherd you go out for that one that strays away well then in the very next verse what to say so if your brother sins against you what do you do you go after him see people say well that's not loving to go confront someone on their sin and the Bible's saying no it's not loving to leave them alone you're just going to let them straight they're like that one sheep that just wandered away from from the flock and he's going to let him go and their sin now if you love him you'll go after him and you show him his fall and he goes just between the two of you it's a private matter that means if you see someone in the church and sin don't come running to me you're supposed to love that person enough to talk to them and show them biblically look the Bible says this is wrong you can't go down this road and the Bible says that if he listens to you you win you've just brought your brother back into the fold can you you just did it that was the goal that's the goal of this thing the goal is not to get rid of people the goal is to win them back and he goes and if he listens to you you've just won him back but then it says if he he will not listen then take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses he says if you confront this person and they don't listen bring a couple more people with you maybe of three or four of you love on this person then they'll turn around you know in the secular world they call this intervention right is to get the people that love this person let's all circle around them and love him and let them know that you can't go on living this even the world does this this is in the church making you get a couple of people who love this person in all to them and show them that it's wrong because maybe he'll listen to two or three of you maybe several of you in love come to him and tell them how much you just want to see them walk with the Lord again I'll turn them around what a loving thing to do if he refuses to listen to them then tell it to the church see if you've gone down the process and you've talked to the person you've brought some others along and you talk to them then you can tell when the elders of the church and the elders discuss it and go you know what this is legitimate then we're going to bring it before the whole church and we will name names and say you know what this person we've tried we're loving them everything else may if we all in love just go after this person and say you know what you got to walk away from her you got to walk away from this addiction I walk away from that maybe if we all love on him maybe then he'll come back maybe then he'll repent of his sin then the Bible says if he refuses to listen even to the church the church leaders the church body he refuses to listen to all that he goes then I believe that's what 1st Corinthians 5 is about then you expel the wicked brother from among you now again remember the context of this passage because right after this passage he talks about forgiveness and talks about how you know what you got to keep forgiving you got to go after that lost sheep but there's a process in there so it is love and so let me just say this right now if you are in this room this morning and you call yourself a Christian but you have decided to continue in on in these sins or any of those sins that we mentioned you need to know that we love you and we love you so much that we're willing to ask you to leave we're so committed to restoring you that we'll even take it to the point of asking you not to come back until you've turned and in fact if you have your Bibles go back to first Corinthians 5 I want to explain one more passage to you just two verses to show you how serious this is in 1st Corinthians 5 verse 4 and this again is something that we're going to we're going to start doing verse 4 1st Corinthians 5 when you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit and the power of our Lord Jesus is present hand this man over to Satan so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirits saved on the day of the Lord I know you must you read that yo that's weird what does that mean hand this man over to Satan when you're assembled in a public assembly these people have refused to repent after everyone's gone after them at that point publicly just say this person is no longer under Christ and God we hand him over to Satan now why would you do that well one because the Bible says so but what sense does that make okay why does the Bible say hand him over to Satan so that what yeah it's about his salvation it says hand this man over Satan so that what his sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirits saved on the day of the Lord what's the goal here the person's salvation right you see the point is is is when I say you know what this person has been handed over to Satan and just publicly God we're handing him over Satan have Satan have his way with him then the whole idea is we no longer associate with him we no longer eat with him this person he or she goes off in his or her sin which he or she loves so much that she wasn't willing to let go she just indulges indulges indulges indulges and then at some point hopefully the hope is that her flesh and these fleshly desires as she's fulfilled them all she goes like this isn't that great I miss what I had I remember the way it used to be when I was a part of the church I remember what it was like to be close to God and I gave all that up for this the hope is that at some point they come to the end of themselves and they go man okay I want to come back and then we with open arms say yeah come on practice what we've been hoping for is what we've been praying for that you've had enough of Satan you want all of God now and that Bible says that that leads to salvation because the Bible says that the godly sorrow leads to repentance which leads to salvation whereas worldly sorrow it says leads to death you see it's not enough for when you're confronted in your sin ago yeah I know it's wrong it's wrong it's wrong but I'm not going to stop we're way aware that's nasty I'm not going to put my arm around you seriously because that would only lead you to death for me to say oh it's okay you can keep calling yourself a Christian and keep living this type of lifestyle I'm not helping you I'm only enabling you and leading you to death the Bible says and I love you too much to do that yeah even though we explain these things I guarantee you people will walk away from church this weekend and say they're judgmental which young we are we're supposed to be within the church Bible says that you're going to say that we're unloving and to that I respond no the truth is is that you are unloving and you are also very arrogant because you believe you have a better way of restoration than what Jesus laid out you read this and you're not denying what the passages say you're just saying you have a better way I mean less you can tell me know that verse really means this is go ahead try and try to convince yourself that it means something else I mean it's black and white how else do you read it but you think you have a better way and the reason why I say that you're unloving is the truth is is by you not going after these people and allowing them to have this worldly sorrow and not really bring them to repentance it says you lead them to death and the truth is here's the here's the bottom line is you care more about your friendships than you do about your friends that's what it comes down to it's selfishness on your part you're more concerned about your friendship than you are about your friend you can't imagine not having that person as your friend it's selfish you can't imagine them looking down on you or thinking that you're judging them or doing something bad to them you can't handle that and so rather than doing the right thing that would lead them to life you're going to do the easy thing that will help you keep your friendship even if it means your friend goes to hell and if you want to call that loving so be it but to me I say that's evil that self-centered it's arrogant and it's very unloving you guys this is a topic that is tough to talk about obviously but it's also something that's very dear to my heart and the reason is is over these last 13 years there have been times when I've had to look at some of my friends people that I loved I mean really loved not acquaintances not just some guy that stepped into the church some of my absolute best friends that I've been friends with for over ten years and I've had to look them in the eye over dinner and say this is our last meal together and read this passage and say how else do you read it I said unless you want to tell me to my face that you're no longer a Christian otherwise I can't talk with you associate with you eat with you this is it this is goodbye and it's killing me to say this to you you think there's any bone in my body that enjoys doing that to walk away from these friendships of years some of the funnest people in my life but I go you know God I don't want to do this I don't even know if I agree with this but I'm a follower of you and my hope is that someday those guys will look back and go man Francis did what he hated doing what he didn't feel like doing in order to honor God maybe I should do the same I don't want to leave my sin but I've had an example of someone who was willing to even like over friendship for the sake of honoring God because he believed so much that this is a god centered world for those who are visiting i man weird weekend for you come but honestly I think you understand this better than the people who go to the church I think you and your heart are going amen and some of the churchgoers are angry about this because you're going man I've been waiting for the church to address its own hypocrisy but here's what I don't want you to leave worried about because some people if you're visiting you're not a Christian you don't call yourself a Christian I don't want you to go home and think okay well then I got to get my life together before I become a Christian I better get my life together before I get baptized you guys if you're going to wait for that it's never going to happen okay because the Bible teaches that it doesn't matter what your past is don't you understand I don't care how many people you've slept with I don't count people you've killed I don't care what you've done in life you can be forgiven today it's all wiped away that's the grace of God I mean the Bible says you come that way and you recognize that you've sinned against God and you recognize that God loved you so much that Jesus already paid that penalty on the cross for you and the Bible says you can be forgiven you can come up here and get baptized regardless of what you did this week God's forgiveness is that great it's that huge and it's when you get baptized is when you give your life to Jesus that God's Spirit comes inside of you now the Holy Spirit of God comes into you and he empowers you to put to death the deeds of the flesh many of us in this room are testimony of that you're going man you know the way I used to live and then God came into my life and man I had the power to get rid of this and I'm so glad I'm through with that old life and man how great it is to know God and his power to put to death the deeds of the flesh man that's that's the truth and we want you to experience that and then you walk on this journey with us a bunch of imperfect people that are striving for this perfection striving to live a life that's honoring to the Lord and having our lives revolve around him we love for you to experience that and you can experience that today and I want to make sure you understand that in fact right now we're we're going to take communion and another thing the elders have talked about in the last couple weeks is is how you know how we used to have the tables up here with communion I mean not right up until last week and we did that initially because we wanted you guys to come early or stay late and hang out as families and take of communion together and give you some time but we recognize that while we were doing that some people would just walk up and take of communion not really knowing what they're doing and the Bible says that's a very serious thing that you want to avoid in 1st Corinthians 11 and so what we've decided is we're no longer going to do that and what we are going to do is we're going to pass communion but every time we pass it at the church which will be like once a month or so is we're going to explain to you again that this is only for believers this is only for those who have taken the name of Jesus Christ on for themselves and it is it and it's not for the believers who are an ongoing sin that they refuse repent of in fact we're going to use the time of communion to announce those people and to ask you to pursue those people because biblically they seemed like that was what part of what communion was for a time for us to to look within our own body and make sure that we're worthy to do this and so we're going to take of the bread which represents the body of Christ and take of the cup which represents his blood and if you're visiting you're not a Christian man is so good for you to be here just to watch this not to partake of it but to watch because the Bible actually teaches that we do this to proclaim his death to you until he comes it's a sense in which we preach to you when you are watching and it's a beautiful thing for you to observe as we take of the bread it represents the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us when when we drink of the cup it represents his blood that was shed for us and and it's time for us to remember what he's done and so the usher is going to come the worship team is going to come and we're going to pass the bread in the cup and I'm going to ask you as they do this if you would hold on to the bread and hold on to the cup and we'll take of it together I'll come back up after we worship God for a little bit and then we'll take of it together but during this time ah man you guys listen to this okay our hope is that you hear this passage and you won't need anyone to confront you you'll do it yourself and that's what I do when I read scripture it's like ooh I need to change that I want that's what the Holy Spirit does in our lives right then we get convicted when read those passages and like man you don't need to confront me on that I I know I'm pursuing this I'm going to get this right that that's called self discipline and it's only when self discipline isn't there that church discipline takes place that's only when the Holy Spirit isn't convicting you that the Holy Spirit in us you know hopefully will help convict you but if you two this morning are convicted and saying you know what I shouldn't call myself a Christian and continue on in this sin and you need some prayer they'll be people up here at the prayer room and I ask that you come and pray with someone during during this communion time if you want to get baptized you want to become a Christian today understand this is what you're committing to saying you know I want to live a life that revolves around God and his desires and I want a body of Christ to come alongside and help me then you can get baptized this morning as well and so as the ushers come and pass the elements if you need prayer we'll be up to pray room

Channel: Crazy Love

Views: 21,735

Rating: 4.8911567 out of 5

Keywords: Francis Chan, sermon, church, GOD, Jesus, Crazy Love, Crazy, Love

Id: EtKFtuipaXs

Length: 46min 54sec (2814 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 08 2015