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Come Back Season (North OC)

Come Back Season: Rediscovering Our Identity in Christ

In this passionate sermon, Dallas Kaauwaii calls on the church community to reclaim their spiritual 'swagger' and return to their foundational identity in Christ. Dallas emphasizes the need for a 'Come Back Season'—not just a comeback, but a return to core values and beliefs. He draws parallels between scriptural figures, like Paul, and personal experiences to underscore the importance of grounding oneself in faith, rather than external validations or comparisons. The main message focuses on reaffirming Christ as the central figure in our lives, the true essence of our faith, and the importance of communion as a collective act of worship that reminds us of our shared commitment to Christ's teachings and sacrifice.

00:00 Introduction and Inspiration

01:36 The Greatest Comeback: Paul's Transformation

03:20 Losing and Finding Identity

06:52 Securing Our True Identity in Christ

11:55 Returning to the Main Thing

21:44 Communion: Coming Back to the Table

28:42 Closing Prayer and Call to Action

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OC Church of Christ

Transcript
Dallas:

So today's lesson, I feel like is, was I was really inspired by Jesse

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Goldman's lesson if you were able to

attend the joint service of, of 5,000

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people at the, in the Anaheim Arena with

the ICMC and with the, uh, uh, the, the

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Jubilee, Jesse Goldman gave a lesson.

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I, I think for me, one of the, the

one, the phrases that he spoke that

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kind of really stuck out to me was

LA needs to get its swagger back.

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I really, I really believe it.

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I mean, as someone that is born and

bred in LA culture and then moving

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out here to Orange County and being

part of an extended part of our

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LA church, I really believe that

we need to get our swagger back.

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And so I feel like we need to

proclaim the Jubilee, proclaim

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the year of the Lord's favor.

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And the reason why we need to is because I

feel like we've had a lot of discouraging

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things happen that have really,

honestly, quote unquote hindered us or.

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Really, we felt like we've had to pull

back and shrink back from what we were

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really, really about from the beginning.

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That we were proclaiming the

word, we were proclaiming the

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gospel, proclaiming the good news.

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And LA and OC need to

get its swagger back.

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Amen.

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Come on.

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And today the title of my lesson is.

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We need a come back season.

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Now obviously that space in between

come and back is intentional because

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it's not just about, you know, a

comeback like LeBron coming down three

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one with the Cavs and coming back and

winning the finals, or any other big

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sports comeback that you can think of.

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This is a coming back to who we are.

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It's coming back to what

we have always been about.

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Maybe sometimes we can forget

or be distracted by, but this

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is coming back to who we are.

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Amen.

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You guys with me this morning.

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Come on guys.

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So we're gonna start in one

, verse:

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I think for me the greatest comeback

in spiritual history besides Jesus

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dying on the cross and being in

the tomb for three days and being

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resurrected, I think is Paul.

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Paul has one of the

greatest comebacks ever.

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I mean, this man pulled a full 180.

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This man, literally, it's like this

man was playing for the Yankees

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and then went to the Dodgers.

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It's like he went from playing against

Manchester City to playing for Man

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United, like he flip sides so easily.

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Because, but not so easily.

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But in the sense of that

it was a complete change.

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That it was who he was to who He

to, who he became, and who he is now

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as someone that is right with God.

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Now and here I wanna write, I

wanna read a passage here in one

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Corinthians 15 that I feel like

really shares the epi of who he is.

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It says, for I am the least of the

apostles and do not even deserve

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to be called an apostle because

I persecuted the Church of God.

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But by the grace of God, I am what I am.

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And his grace to me

was not without effect.

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No.

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I worked harder than all of them yet.

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Not I, but the grace of God.

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That was with me.

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You know where Paul was?

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He was a persecutor.

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He said this, I mean, if you don't

know about Paul, Paul used to work

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for the Roman government and would

kill and persecute Christians.

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That was his job.

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That's what he would live for.

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That's even recorded in the Bible.

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That's what he did.

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But then he had an encounter with

Jesus on the road to Damascus

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and everything changed for him.

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His sight was blinded.

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For three days, he wandered and a

brother named Ananias came and restored

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his sight and he became a disciple.

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You know, where he was now is he

was transformed, but where he's

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going, it's not by his own words.

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What does he say?

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It carries him.

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It says, by the grace of God

that he became who God intended

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him to be by His grace.

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You know, have you guys

ever felt like this before?

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Or I'm gonna see, I'm, I'm

gonna say for like this,

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for those of you that don't know,

this is an episode in SpongeBob.

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Um, actually shout out to you.

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Where's Derek Lale?

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It's Derek LaBelle's birthday today.

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Derek Derek's a big SpongeBob

fan, so I had to, I had to shout

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him out for his birthday on that.

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Um, but there's this episode in SpongeBob

where he's sitting at this diner and

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he's, he's got his hands full, obviously.

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You can see he's just distraught and

he's in this identity crisis because

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he's just for, he's lost his name tag.

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He's lost his identity.

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He's just like, oh man, I'm

just, he doesn't know what to do.

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He's like, I lost something once.

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And it, it's a whole thing.

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If you, if you don't, if you

don't watch it, it's okay.

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You know, some of you guys say

that SpongeBob's a brain rock.

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Sure, go, go tell it to

your friends, it's fine.

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But I used, I had a moment

like this in my life.

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I was a freshman and college just

coming into the campus ministry.

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I was, uh, 17 years old.

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And I remember I just

got a job at Chipotle.

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I, uh, needed to get my documents in, in,

uh, inserted into the system so they could

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run a background check, all these things.

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Um, after that at, because I

had, I didn't have my documents,

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only my dad had gotten it to me.

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So I had used it to go turn it

into my manager, got it back.

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And so that day I was actually going

to Disneyland and I was like, okay.

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You know, after I got my documents, I went

to Disneyland and I was giving it back.

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Uh, there's the documents to my dad.

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And so I was like, Hey, here's a, it was

like a, like a clear sheet, uh, folder

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with my birth certificate, with my social

security card, with some other things,

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uh, some other documents, stuff like that.

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I get back to him, say, okay, cool.

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Have fun at Disneyland.

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I said, okay, great.

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Awesome.

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So I go to Disneyland.

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Um, I'm having a great time with

my roommates and my friends.

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I get a text from my dad, Hey, um,

where's your social security card?

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And I said, what do you mean?

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It's in the documents that I gave you?

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He's like, yeah, they're not here.

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I was like, what do you

mean they're not there?

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I literally had 'em when I got out of

the car and Disneyland, I gave it to

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you, and I, I left and he's like, I,

I don't know, but they're not here.

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So obviously as you know,

if you lose your social.

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That's pretty detrimental

to your identity.

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So I'm searching all of Disneyland

of all the places I lose it at.

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I lose it at Disneyland.

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So we're searching the park.

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We, after we're done, I could

even enjoy the rest of the day.

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I always just stress every time we go

on a ride, it'd be like this, like two

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minutes of thrill and then I'm like back

to worrying and I'm like, just distraught.

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And then next thing you know, we're

at the end of the day, we're searching

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up and down the parking lot of the

floor I was at of the elevator.

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Like it was just everywhere.

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And I just could not, I

could not believe that.

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The first time I have, I handle my

social security card, I already lose it.

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And I was just like I, I'm like,

someone's gonna take my identity,

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someone's gonna run with it.

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And there goes my life, you know?

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Now, luckily, I called the next day

and then someone actually turned it

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into the Lost and found at Disneyland.

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So it was at Disneyland.

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It was just not in my care.

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But I think sometimes this can be

us spiritually, that we can lose our

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identity, that there are things that

happen in life that cause us to stray

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and veer away from who God says we are.

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Sometimes we lose our identity by, by,

by comparing ourselves to others, saying,

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why is this family more spiritual?

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Why does it seem like

they have it all together?

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Why do, why are they

more stable financially?

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Why does it seem like they're

relationally more intact?

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Right?

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We start to compare for one another,

or we even, our sin begins to make

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us ident, lose our identity, right?

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We make mistakes.

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We, we, we fall short of the glory of God.

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I'm like, man, like I just, I

can't be who God wants me to be.

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Or sometimes you let the culture

define it by whether it's

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beauty or success or it's fame.

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Or we leaving, led by the

achievements that we wanna get,

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whether it's at work or school.

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We allow so many things to take

and steal away our identity.

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But can I tell you what God says we are?

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Do can I tell you who God says we are?

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Come on church.

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Come on.

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Come on.

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Because if we, we have to know, are to

ask, are you secure in your identity?

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We have to ask that question,

are we secure in who we are?

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Because I think when life gets

hard, when life changes, when things

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are not in your control, are you

secure in who God says you are?

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God says in one Peter chapter two, verse

nine, he says, you are a chosen people.

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A royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's

special possession that you made it

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declare the praises of him who called you

out of darkness into his wonderful light.

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Once you were not a people, but

now you are a people of God.

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Once you had not received mercy,

but now you have received mercy.

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I could go on because therefore in

two Corinthians chapter five, Paul

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says, this is Paul the persecuted,

who is now a disciple of Christ.

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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ.

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The new creation has come and the

old is gone, and the new is here.

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Trust me, if there's anyone that

believes that firmly, it's Paul.

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He was a persecutor, someone that

was dead in his sin for killing

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Christians, for murdering them, and now

he says he's a new creation in Christ.

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The old is gone in, the new is here.

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All this is from God who reconciled

us to himself, uh, reconciled us to

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himself through Christ, and gave us

the ministry of reconciliation that God

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was reconciling the world to himself.

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In Christ, not counting people's sins

against them, and he and He has committed

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to us the message of reconciliation.

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We are therefore, Christ's ambassadors,

as Marcel loves to say, as though God

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we're making his appeal through us.

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We implore you on Christ,

God be reconciled to God.

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God made him who had no sin be

sin for us so that in him we might

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become the righteousness of God.

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And you might say, Dallas,

you know, that's great.

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I wanna be a new creation.

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I wanna have the old God news here.

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But it just seems like

I can never get over.

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Or sometimes it can just seem like it's

just always my sin is always before me, as

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David was say in the Psalms and it's hard

and like, DA man, you don't understand.

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I've been struggling with this for years,

or it's just been too hard to overcome.

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I've wrestled with this,

I've struggled with this.

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And you know what, and

sometimes I can feel that too.

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My God, I, I'm, I'm, I'm fighting for it.

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I'm trying to get through, but sometimes

I just don't feel like I'm enough.

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I don't feel like I

don't deserve your love.

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I feel like I'm not worthy

to be identified as a son.

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But you know what God says,

God says, for I am convinced

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because Roman says, this is Paul.

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Once again, like I said,

Paul said one of the greatest

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comebacks in spiritual history.

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He says, I am convinced that neither

death nor life, neither angels nor demons,

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neither of the present nor the future.

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Neither any powers, neither height

nor depth or anything else in our

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creation could be able to separate

us from the love of God that is

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in Christ, our Lord and Savior.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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If this does not fire you up, this

does not inspire you to be the new

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creation that God has called you.

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You are out of touch with God's love.

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I can.

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I can say that with confidence

'cause this is someone right here

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on this stage that is not perfect.

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I am not righteous at all.

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Because Why?

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Because it's hard to be righteous

as an imperfect human being.

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'cause I'm flaw, I'm sinful.

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And I say that because as someone

that has fallen many a time because

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we all fall short of the glory of God.

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Amen.

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But that God's love, nothing

separates me from that.

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And you know what?

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I'm not a person of words of affirmation.

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That's not my love language.

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I'm not someone that really likes to

receive a lot of encouragement or not

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that not like it, but I don't know.

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It just doesn't hit the same for me.

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Yeah, but I'm actually, I'm

really grateful for my girlfriend

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because when I fall short, I'm

the hardest person on myself.

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I'm the first person to beat myself up.

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I'm the first person to

just drag myself through.

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I don't know about you, about, that's me.

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But she reminds me that

I am a child of God.

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That got my identity is

not in my weaknesses.

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My identity is in Christ

who died for my sin.

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Yeah.

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And that I get to be a new creation, that

I get to be loved by God, and that nothing

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separates that, and that fires me up

because I'm like, man, I, I feel so free.

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I feel so passionate.

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I feel so driven to continue

to show others that love.

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And I want us as the OC Church, as

the LA Church, as the ICOC, whatever

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you want to call it, the church,

to be able to show people that the

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love of God can never separate them.

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That there is always opportunity

to be identified as a child of God.

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Amen.

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There needs to be a passion and a

drive, an unshakeable conviction that

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your identity is rooted not in you and

your works, but in Christ and the grace

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that was blessed upon the cross for us.

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That fires me up and if that doesn't

keep you going as a Christian,

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then I don't know what will.

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If that doesn't keep you inspired to

continue to share your faith and to

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continue to uphold and encourage other

people in their faith, I don't know

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what will, because the only reason

you or any of us are here, or even

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me, is because of the love of God.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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If we wanna be transformed

and have a comeback season,

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we need to have, we need to.

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We need to remember that our

true identity is in Christ.

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Are you secure in your true identity?

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Next point is come, we gotta

come back to the main thing.

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We gotta come back to the main thing.

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I I, I, I have a bunch of stories today.

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It, it's just one of those, kind of

the sermons, you know, but I'm as, as

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a broke college student, I remember

one day, um, as, as one does, I,

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I, I, I love going to the movies.

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That's one of my biggest things.

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Shout to my dad.

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My dad is like, the

reason why I love movies.

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And I, uh, I go to the movies

and, uh, uh, it's too expensive

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to afford concessions there.

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'cause as you guys

know, a MC is not cheap.

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Regal is not cheap.

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But, uh, so I sneaked some food in

from McDonald's 'cause that's cheap.

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Right?

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Um, and I, this day I think it was,

uh, it was McNuggets and, uh, some

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sauce I think, or McNuggets and

fries and everything like that.

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But what happened was I forgot

to ask for sauce that day.

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And so I'm like, ah, I gotta

eat these nuggets all dry.

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This is, this is terrible.

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And so I'm like, I'm in the theater,

I'm like watching the trails.

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I'm just eating and I'm like.

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But then it, but then it

occurs to me as I'm eating.

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I'm like, you know, I don't remember the

last time I ate nuggets without sauce.

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And I'm like, you know what?

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This is actually pretty good.

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Like, I'm not mad about it.

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I'm like, I thought I would be like just

super discouraged and super, like just,

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oh, like just get through this meal.

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But I was like, you know what?

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It's actually not that bad.

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But then when I thought about it

some more, I was like, you know what?

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I don't go to McDonald's

just for the sauce.

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Though it's nice to have as an add-on.

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That's not the reason why I don't,

I go, I don't just say, Hey.

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It's like, wow, welcome McDonald's.

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What do you wanna order?

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Uh, can I have four barbecue sauce?

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That's cool.

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Would you like anything else with that?

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No, just the sauces.

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No.

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Right.

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No.

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We don't go to a McDonald's

or anywhere place just for

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sauce or the size or the extra.

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We go for the main thing, right?

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And so for me, the main thing

in this analogy is Christ.

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Jesus, his word, he is the main thing.

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And why do you think

I, why do I share that?

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'cause I think in collage in

chapter two, I think this paints

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a beautiful picture as to why.

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So then just as you've received,

this is Paul, once again, I'm

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telling you, comeback of comebacks.

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Just as you receive Christ's use as

Lord, continue to live your lives

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in him, rooted and built up in him.

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Strengthen the faith as you were taught

and overflowing with thankfulness.

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See, to that, no one takes you captive

through hollow and deceptive philosophy,

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which depends on human tradition and

the elemental spiritual forces of

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this world, rather than on Christ.

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You know, the sauce is not always bad.

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You know, the wor like, and I think

for me, and, and we're gonna turn

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this analogy into reality here.

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Sometimes the sauce can be the worship

music here, it could be the fellowship.

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Even the podcast or spiritual books that

you like to read, or the advice you like

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to get from one of the relationships

that you trust, or even the conferences

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or the retreats that you attend.

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You know, those things are not bad.

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The sauce is good.

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That's why we have sauce, right?

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Because we, we felt like we

needed to add a little something.

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But what's bad is when the sauce

begins to overtake the main thing.

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When that becomes your, when

the sauce becomes your main

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thing, there's a problem.

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And Paul warns the church against this.

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He says, do not let the deceptive

and hollow philosophy, there

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was a, there was, it's basically

tox of gnosticism and mysticism.

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That's a fancy way of saying that

gnosticism is like this, that you, it

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required secret knowledge outside of

scripture in order for you to really

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have a close relationship with God.

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Or this mysticism, which is like these

spiritual experiences and these feelings

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rather than just Christ in his word.

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The main thing is the main thing,

and the main thing is Christ.

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That's what Paul is talking about here.

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He's saying that, you know, all these

things that you, we try to add on,

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or the things that we try to attach

to Christ, it's like, you need Christ

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plus this in order to have this.

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When Christ is supposed to be just

enough, you know, some of the philosophies

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that I feel like sometimes have plagued

our church, and let's be real about

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this and let's be honest, is that

sometimes, sometimes we, we, we, we

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create our own, um, standard of love.

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We create our own standard of forgiveness.

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We create our own standard of confession.

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We create our own standard of what

devotion looks like instead of

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just going back to the main thing.

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I get, there's circumstances I get.

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There are things that we all deal

with that are different, but the

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main thing is the main thing.

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The main thing is Christ

and in Christ and his word.

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And I think for me, at least the things

that I've seen is that sometimes we can

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become too dependent on the fellowship.

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That if the relationships here

are not feeling me up, then

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:

Christ is definitely not worth it.

376

:

If I'm not being poured into, if I'm

not being the one met, having my needs

377

:

met, then I guess crisis isn't worth it.

378

:

Right.

379

:

Some things I think is sometimes

we idolize even people and their

380

:

advice over God's word, man,

what does this person think?

381

:

What does this person wanna share?

382

:

Instead of, and then even then, if you're

the one that's giving the advice, you're

383

:

like, you don't even whip out a scripture.

384

:

You just think, well, I think

this, or I feel this instead.

385

:

No, let's go to the Bible.

386

:

Let's see what Jesus says about this.

387

:

Let's see what God's word we have to make.

388

:

The main thing, the main thing.

389

:

Church.

390

:

Are you guys with me?

391

:

If we are gonna have a comeback season as

a church, we have to make the main thing.

392

:

The main thing.

393

:

You know what else that means

for us specifically, church is

394

:

not a place, it's the people.

395

:

And I know some of you are frustrated

that we're going back to Irvine.

396

:

I know it.

397

:

And you know what?

398

:

Church is just a place Or is it for you?

399

:

Is it just a place for you?

400

:

If not, if it's the people and if

it's God, if Jesus is the main thing

401

:

that it does not matter where we go.

402

:

That's right.

403

:

If two or more, I gather

that's where we are.

404

:

Christ is with us.

405

:

And if we're gonna have the same

fire that we have from the beginning,

406

:

then it does not matter where we go.

407

:

It matters who we are with.

408

:

And it's, it's the word of God

that will be preached in the place.

409

:

We cannot allow circumstances,

guys, I've, I've been so blessed

410

:

to be able to go to different parts

of the world and meet different

411

:

parts of my brothers and sisters.

412

:

I remember gonna El Salvador

and there was a sister there.

413

:

Who lives about 40

minutes outside the city.

414

:

She only makes about in our

currency $2 a week for her job.

415

:

And she can spend that on food.

416

:

She can spend that on water

and everything like that.

417

:

She uses that fair to

take a bus to church.

418

:

Another, another brother

in Panama takes a bus.

419

:

That's an hour and a half.

420

:

To get to church every Sunday.

421

:

Those are people that they know that

the main thing is the main thing.

422

:

It does not matter where they are.

423

:

It matters where is the main thing, and

that is in Jesus, whatever it takes.

424

:

We go to the ends of the earth to

preach the gospel, but if we can't

425

:

even go to the ends of our county

to do that, what are we doing?

426

:

What kind of love are we showing people?

427

:

If we're limited in our capacity?

428

:

If the main thing is the main

thing that we need to come back

429

:

to it, we need to be convinced.

430

:

We need to be devoted about it.

431

:

That the level of God that you get

to experience everyone else should

432

:

be, to be able to experience it

here in this county, in this state,

433

:

in this country, and in the world.

434

:

The main thing is the main thing, and

there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

435

:

If you said, Jesus' Lord, then you

should be agreeing with me on this.

436

:

Right.

437

:

There's no, there's no fine print in

the contract where you get to decide

438

:

who, what you wanna do and everything.

439

:

You surrendered it all.

440

:

You said, Jesus is Lord, above

my finances, above my gas

441

:

mileage, above my time, but my

schedule, he's Lord over it all.

442

:

If that's the main thing,

then that's the main thing.

443

:

No deceptive hollow philosophy

will be brought into this church.

444

:

That isn't the main thing.

445

:

We need to be convinced

and convicted about that.

446

:

'cause that's what brought

us here in the first place.

447

:

People in our people that have walked

steps to me that we are following

448

:

and paved the way because they

were convinced of the main thing.

449

:

So my question to you is this

church, do you have the main thing?

450

:

Is the main thing?

451

:

The main thing, or.

452

:

What extras are you getting caught up in?

453

:

Come on.

454

:

Okay.

455

:

What sauce are you getting lost in

456

:

barbecue.

457

:

Right?

458

:

I'm more of a sweet and sour guy.

459

:

No, I'm, I'm a barbecue guy,

460

:

but like I said, are you,

is Jesus the main thing?

461

:

Am I chasing experiences?

462

:

More than I'm chasing Christ.

463

:

Am I letting cultural philosophies

or podcasts or spiritual books define

464

:

what things are for me rather than what

Christ says First, am I letting my own

465

:

feelings trump over what the word says?

466

:

What would it look like as a church for

us to make the main thing, the main thing?

467

:

What would our prayer life look like?

468

:

What would our relationships look like?

469

:

Would our faith look like

470

:

because he's before all things and

in him all things hold together and

471

:

he's the head of the body, the church,

he's the beginning and the first

472

:

born from among the dead, so then

everything he might have, the supremacy.

473

:

Paul is convinced that nothing

matters more than Christ.

474

:

Are you convinced that

Christ is the main thing?

475

:

Last but not least, we gotta

come back to the table.

476

:

You know, the table is, for me

in this context is communion.

477

:

And I'm gonna transition us into this time

of communion here and we'll talk about it.

478

:

But for those that don't know,

communion is a spiritual and, uh,

479

:

physical reminder of crisis sacrifice

for, uh, for us on the cross.

480

:

You know, this is where we really center

our hearts and let go of distractions.

481

:

And remember that it's not by

works philosophies or tradition.

482

:

It's by his grace that we are here.

483

:

Our comeback season starts here.

484

:

It starts at the cross.

485

:

It's not by our own works, like I

said, but really remembering his

486

:

mercy and committing to live for him.

487

:

You know, the beautiful thing I, I have

a little script here that I wanna read.

488

:

It says, the beautiful thing about

the Lord's table is that it reminds

489

:

us that two things at once, that

what Jesus did for us and what

490

:

he calls us to be, his people.

491

:

Communion isn't just this private

snack that we have with Jesus.

492

:

It's a family meal.

493

:

You know, Paul says in Corinthians,

chapter 11, verse 26, uh, here, Al

494

:

says, for I receive from the Lord.

495

:

What I also passed on to you,

the Lord Jesus on the night

496

:

he was betrayed, took bread.

497

:

When he had given thanks, he broke it and

said, this is my body, which is for you.

498

:

Do this in remembrance of me.

499

:

In the same way after suffer,

he took the cup saying, this cup

500

:

is a new covenant in my blood.

501

:

Do this whenever you drink it in

remembrance of me for whenever you

502

:

eat this bread and drink this cup,

you proclaim the Lord's death.

503

:

Until he comes, the table brings us back

to the center that we are proclaiming.

504

:

Jesus' blood has for forgive us.

505

:

His body was broken for us.

506

:

At the cross it's ground

level for our comeback season.

507

:

All great comeback seasons

start from a turning point.

508

:

And it's not one that we made.

509

:

It's one that Christ made for us

and that we get to decide if we

510

:

want to join in on that as well.

511

:

'cause where we were is that

we were all lost in sin.

512

:

We were not a people of God, but

where we are now is that we are

513

:

forgiven and that we are children

of God and what carries us forward.

514

:

Is eternity with him that we get

to spend eternity having a feast, a

515

:

meal, a un unblemished relationship

with him in heaven for eternity.

516

:

I think I, I love that it says that.

517

:

Will you proclaim the Lord's death

until he comes Man, guys, church.

518

:

Think about church back then.

519

:

What, what reason do they

have to come to church?

520

:

They were being persecuted, people

were dying, proclaiming the Lord's

521

:

death, proclaiming that he had

resurrected and come back, and that

522

:

nothing was ever gonna be the same.

523

:

That when we come here to this

place, it's not just because of the

524

:

people, it's not for the worship.

525

:

It's to come center our hearts.

526

:

Because guess what we got?

527

:

I hope in our faith that we've

gotten beaten up by the world so

528

:

much that we need to come here and

be reminded of why we are still here.

529

:

Right.

530

:

Communion reminds us that the cross is

the reason why we do what we do, right?

531

:

We had to recenter ourselves.

532

:

This is why Jubilee is so important.

533

:

This is why Jesus fulfills the jubilee,

because he is the point that we get to

534

:

come back to and be like, man, I had a

rough week, or, man, I fell short so much.

535

:

This.

536

:

You know what?

537

:

I'm ready to go back out there.

538

:

Not because of what I'm I'm about

to do, but I'm gonna allow Christ.

539

:

I'm gonna come back to Christ, come

back to the cross, reset my heart

540

:

and reframe my thinking so that I

can be able to go out for another

541

:

week and proclaim the name of Jesus.

542

:

Do you allow the cross

to reset your heart?

543

:

Do you allow it to break you?

544

:

And, you know, it's hard.

545

:

I'll be honest.

546

:

Like I said, I, I don't feel this

every week and every and every week

547

:

out, so don't feel like I'm coming up

here saying like, you gotta follow me.

548

:

Like, no, I'm, I'm, I'm asking myself

the same questions that it's hard to

549

:

sometimes feel broken by the cross.

550

:

Why?

551

:

Because we live in a, a place that is

peaceful in a, in a, in a, in a shorter

552

:

way of saying, sometimes sheltered.

553

:

Well, we're not being

persecuted for our faith.

554

:

People are not, no one's

threatening to kill us.

555

:

But how much more, how much more

do we need to surrender and submit

556

:

our pride and our comfort to Jesus

so that we can proclaim his name?

557

:

The cross helps me refocus my priorities,

man, I, I, I, I, I'm grateful for all

558

:

that I've been able to experience on

this earth, that getting an education,

559

:

being able to serve in the ministry,

being able to have an amazing family,

560

:

have an amazing relationship, like.

561

:

A lot of things in life and in our

culture today that would say I'm

562

:

successful, that say that I have it all.

563

:

But for me to come before the cross

and be like, man, you know what?

564

:

Paul calls it all garbage 'cause of the

surpassing worth of knowing who Christ is.

565

:

And the cross reminds me of that.

566

:

And I pray that as we take

community today, like I said, this

567

:

is not an individualistic thing.

568

:

This is a collective thing we do together

As we look across the rows and we think.

569

:

I'm so grateful you were here because

Jesus was worth it for you as he

570

:

was for me and for all you that, for

Christians that have been here for a

571

:

long time, thank you for your faith.

572

:

Thank you for being faithful and

being stewardess with your, with

573

:

the wisdom and the knowledge and

the experience that God has given

574

:

you to be able to pass down to us.

575

:

And I pray that we can continue to

do the same college students singles.

576

:

We've gotta be able to pass

that down and, and remind people

577

:

that the cross needs to reset.

578

:

Always bring us back to ground

zero that we were not good enough.

579

:

That when we walk into these build,

we walk into buildings, we walk into

580

:

places of worship, it's not because

of what we've done, that we are

581

:

only here because of God's grace.

582

:

Every time we come to the table,

we preach the gospel with his bread

583

:

in the cup because we are saying

that what Christ is worth more than

584

:

anything we could ever have done.

585

:

So as we take communion today,

brothers and sisters, I pray

586

:

that we have a comeback season.

587

:

That not only brings us spiritual

rejuvenation, but brings God glory for

588

:

generations to come because we get to walk

in God confidence, found not in our found,

589

:

not in our identity as in our own personal

way, but in God is who God says we are.

590

:

We get to come back and remind ourselves

that the main thing and that the main

591

:

thing does not change, and that the

extras and the sauce and all the sides

592

:

should never overtake the main thing.

593

:

And if anything, that we

remind ourselves that Christ.

594

:

Is always at the center and the cross

should always bring us to our knees,

595

:

bring us to gratitude and thankfulness

that God chose us and has called

596

:

us out of darkness into his light.

597

:

Let's pray.

598

:

God, thank you for today.

599

:

In the time that come before you.

600

:

God, thank you for speaking

through your words so powerfully.

601

:

God, thank you for reminding

us that the, that you are the

602

:

main thing, that as a creator.

603

:

As a creation that is

fickle, that is stubborn.

604

:

God, we pray that and ask that you please

humble our hearts as we take communion.

605

:

God, we pray that we remind ourselves

at the cross was the greatest act

606

:

of love in human history, that we

remind ourselves that we are not here

607

:

and merited because of our work that

we've done or how to be faithful.

608

:

But because of your example and the

way that you remind us of who we are.

609

:

God I pray to.

610

:

I pray for our church.

611

:

I pray for our brothers and

sisters across the world.

612

:

I pray for specifically though that we

could get our swagger back here in Orange

613

:

County, that we could proclaim your name

to the ends of this county, God, that

614

:

you would change lives, you would break

hearts and mend them because of your love.

615

:

God, I pray for those in this

room that have not yet made the

616

:

decision to follow you fully God,

and invest fully into your kingdom.

617

:

I pray that you can inspire them

and convict them to, to see that

618

:

you are the main thing, that there's

nothing else in this world that

619

:

could ever, ever overshadow that.

620

:

Father, be with us as we

remember you and your son.

621

:

Thank you for this time and for Jesus may.

622

:

Amen.

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