God's cure for overthinking

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I am really excited by what God has shown is happening in the life of our church right now. When I say church I don’t mean the building, I mean, look to the right and look to the left of you, look across the way, look behind you. The people, you, what God is doing in your lives right now. I am excited because I see God changing you. I see God changing me.
I am excited and I know that some of you are going through an incredibly tough changing time right now. It’s hard and we all care and walk with you in this hard. Usually that is how change is right? So honored that EJ shared with us about what God is doing in his life. Even as EJ talks of this blessing he knows that the hard work is in the day to day. Some of you are experiencing the hard work of the day to day right now.
The hard work might be on yourself, it might be with your family around you. My wife had the hard work of nursing me back to health from COVID two weeks ago, Thank you to her and thank you to my dad for preaching last week. Thank you to all of you for your prayers.
Today though you might be right in the middle of a spiritual work with others, maybe it’s their illness or maybe it’s their attitude. The pressure of trying to be with others. Where is God when we have to deal with people and their difficulties. with people telling us what to do, with our culture telling us what to do.
Our culture celebrates tomorrow the independence of the United States. Freedom from tyranny that was fought for an one. We talk about freedoms, and the amazing blessing of our country, which we are so grateful for this gift but freedom can be hard. Free speech means everyone gets a change to speak and everyone gets a chance to tell us what to do and from Tic-Toc, to news, to radio, to even our relationships everyone keeps telling us what to do. What are we really supposed to do?
Yesterday, EJ came by my house and he was telling me some of the things God had shown him will he was in treatment. I got really excited because I said that is exactly what God has been showing me through His words in the Bible. Today I want to begin talking and sharing with you one book of the Bible. This is just the first Sunday of many Sundays with this book and it’s exciting because it provides answers to all of the issues I just mentioned. If your dealing with this stuff today and even if your not dealing with a tough time of change, a tough time of hard work, or trying to figure out who to listen to and what to do today, you can save it for your tomorrow because these issues hit all of us at one time.
The part of the Bible which will call a book which speaks to these problems is Galatians. It really was a letter, written to a church in a city called Galatia by a follower of Jesus named Paul. It’s a long letter and we are going to get to all of it but right now we are just going to start it. It starts kind of weird, but good news, we are going to nerd out on it too and see that there is huge answers for us right now, today. So let’s begin the letter sort of like we would begin a letter today, with an introduction.
Galatians 1:1 CSB
1 Paul, an apostle—not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead—
This is an introduction with a point. A point that may get lost if you read the Bible because it has a weird word that most people except for just a few use today. Apostle. What is an Apostle and why is it so important that Paul goes around telling people He is one. Also really important, What does it matter to you?

Apostles were taught by Jesus, God himself. Meaning God revealed what an Apostle knows and teaches.

No one else. We have an old saying, “Straight from the horse’s mouth.” It means that you got it from the source. No one changed the message.
It actually goes back to that whole unique thing of following Jesus. You see Paul joined 11 other guys specifically picked by Jesus and taught by Jesus.
Luke 6:13–16 (CSB)
13 When daylight came, he (Jesus) summoned his disciples, and he chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; 15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
There they are, the 12 apostles. The 12 guys who went with Jesus everywhere and were the leaders that Jesus used to share with everyone what Jesus said, how a person is to follow Jesus, and how those who follow Jesus are to gather together worship God and do life together. We got it from the apostles not Judas the traitor, but the others. This teaching became the Bible and Jesus calls a few more Apostles later.
Today you might, every so often hear some leaders say they are apostles. However, there is a special meaning to the word Apostle, the way that Paul is using it here and it should never be given to a person who lives today, even if they are a leader in the church. Leaders in the church today do not have the same authority.But it actually is OK to call all of you Christians today apostles, because those who go out behind Chick-Fil-A today to worship God with the un-sheltered, are technically apostles but that’s not the kind of meaning of the word in Galatians 1:1
So let’s nerd out for a moment. Because words are important and people use them to gain authority.

Nerd moment: Denotative and Connotative

See words have a dictionary definition, what the word actually means, also called the denotative meaning and then they have the way the word is almost always used and whether the way the word is used is an extra part of that meaning or the connotative definition.
Take for instance “elope.” Elope technically means to go without permission, that is the denotative meaning. But We usually elope only with a couple who goes off and gets married without letting others know or asking for their blessing. When I say elope, the connotative definition is a couple driving up to Reno for a night and getting married. I had a weird moment in my other job as a special education teacher. We teachers use the denotative meaning, the dictionary definition to say that students who wander or run off from where they are supposed to be are “eloping.” We actually ask does the student elope? Believe me when I first started teaching special ed I wondered why all these elementary kids were getting married.
There is a denotative or technical definition of the word Greek word Apostolos from which we get the English word, Apostle is “special messengers or sending out.” Apostle was also used for a ship or a ship commander that was ready to set sail.
Paul by saying he is an apostle, he is saying he is a special messenger of Jesus Christ. and the way he use Apostle captures the special meaning, the connotative meaning the meaning of the way we use the word.

Apostle means someone who is shown the Gospel, the knowledge of who Jesus is by Jesus himself and no one else. Apostles wrote or told a writer what Jesus did and His teaching in the Bible. This God revealed teaching of the Bible has authority over all of us.

Everyone here in this room is not, and cannot be an Apostle because we learn about Jesus from the Bible which was written by Apostles. I don’t have more authority over you than the Bible. Yet because Paul and the other Apostles were taught by Jesus so that everything they tell us about God was revealed to them. They didn’t learn it school, they lived walking with Jesus, hearing from Jesus, knowing Jesus Himself.

God reveals, He speaks through the Bible and all of us are under God no one alive today has the authority of the “Apostles

But Paul was different than all the other Apostles because he was not taught by Jesus before Jesus crucifixion but after Jesus rose from the dead. We will learn throughout Galatians that Paul and Jesus actually spent time together away from everyone else to learn from Him. This gives Paul the Holy Spirit power to teach us how to actually follow the Lord Jesus and not just some nice words and good moral teaching.

The Gospel is not made up by people but given by God.

The first thing Paul stressed is that he isn’t making this stuff up. It isn’t nice teaching or a new idea but a revelation from God himself. It’s not just what popped into his head. It’s a real, divine, metaphysical, spiritual revelation from God.
Galatians 1:1–12 CSB
1 Paul, an apostle—not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead—2 and all the brothers who are with me: To the churches of Galatia. 3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. 5 To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 6 I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7 not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! 9 As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him! 10 For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. 11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.
You see it is so important that if you are a follower of Jesus, if you have been a follower for a long, long time or a short time that you recognize such an important things in your life and in your faith. This is called doctrine and it matters to you everyday.

This stuff is not made up. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was revealed by God.

This isn’t one of many religions. We can look in our own town, job and see people of so many different beliefs, some who claim Islam, Buddhism, and you know what inside those religions their are many different kinds of Buddhists and Muslims that there are, friends I can’t take the time to list all the different types of religions and sects or groups within religions that there are Hindus, Sikhs, and even those who claim to worship nothing or worship reason. Their are many who claim to be followers of Jesus but add on or change the apostle’s teaching, they change the Bible. The list goes on and on and when we who follow Jesus Christ try and love others, live in a respectful society, we should love and respect all people.
On this independence day weekend, We Christians should remember we fought hard for the 1st amendment of the Constitution that church and state would be separate. Words have meaning and that meaning can get all messed up. What does it mean to respect and love others who do not believe what has been revealed to us by God. Respect means we don’t do anything to others that goes against how God would have us treat another. Respect does not mean we are all correct.
The lie can develop that the following of Jesus or Christianity is just another created religion like all the others, it just “works” for us. The thought is something like, Islam works for you and Following Jesus works for me because it is comfortable for me or for my family. So people in my neighborhood who are really into atheism that’s just them. It works to make their life easier.
Jesus isn’t meant to “work” for us. Jesus is God and doing what He desires in this world or He isn’t. If he isn’t this is all made up by men.
Galatians 1:1 CSB
1 Paul, an apostle—not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead—

Paul is an apostle from Jesus not men. Men didn’t do it. God did.

Galatians 1:1 CSB
1 Paul, an apostle—not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead—

God raised Jesus, who is God, from the dead. Men didn’t do it. God did.

Galatians 1:3–4 CSB
3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.
God finished it. God accomplished this. God is the one who is doing all of this, not me, not you, not women, not people, anyone. God did it.

Jesus gave himself for us to rescue us! Men didn’t do it. God did.

Galatians 1:11–12 CSB
11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Jesus himself, no one else, gave this to Paul. Straight from the horses mouth. No person did it. God it.

The Gospel, the Good News of the Rescuing by Jesus is revealed by God. Men didn’t do it. God did!

I do not worship a created God. We do not follow a savior who taught good things. We follow a faith that was given by God. It was revealed not by people but by God to people. It works because God made it work. Our God, Jesus Christ, who gave himself up for us. He alone is God and this is great news, because this God loves us so much that he came to rescue us. This truth, this good news is the only real, true, and take it to the ends of the earth truth the Bible approves of, no others. Exclusive. Yes Jesus loves the atheist, the Muslim, the Zoroastrian, and we are to love them too but that doesn’t mean that they are correct.
This is huge and important. It means that when we are looking to God, when we are looking to the Bible we are not looking like a doubting detective trying to prove it wrong, reading something from the Bible and asking, “Do I believe that?” “Is that true for me?” “Where is the secret?”
My friends if you are follower of Jesus Christ than please when you read a Facebook post, listen to a politician, watch some news story, read some book, hear someone give you advice, please please ask, is this true, is this believable, is this real? Does this matter? Be wise as a serpent. Do not change just because someone tells you something even if it sounds good.
But brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus when you read the word of God, when you read the Bible, when you hear this amazing Gospel if what you think goes against what God reveals in the Bible, than you change! If what you are doing is what the Bible says, than keep going! This ancient truth, these revealed words, this is what matters. No matter how I feel my life is not working for me if it goes against God. If what I do goes against God I need to be broken! I change, not the revealed words of God.

For my life to work, I don’t need to find what works, Men can’t do it. God did! Let God change me!

Otherwise, we will have a faith that gets beat up, torn up, lost, we won’t even know what to trust and who to run to, we will be lost and confused trying to make everyone happy with the religion that works for us.
This huge truth comes from these words. Receive what has been revealed. Take what God did, your God given good news so that you never have to be torn apart again. Look at what we are taught by the apostle.
Galatians 1:10 CSB
10 For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Boom! Did you hear this verse?
Galatians 1:10 (CSB)
(ARE YOU TRYING TO PLEASE PEOPLE?)
10 For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Remember as a follower of Jesus we have to let the words of the Bible examine our lives, if our lives don’t agree, our lives need to change. So look at this verse and ask am I,
Are you trying to please people?
It’s really simple, the way this revelation works isn’t it. If I am trying to please people - I WOULD NOT BE A SERVANT OF CHRIST.

Please Christ not people.

Today you heard about the amazing blessing of Jesus on EJ and how the Lord forgives, delivers, and continues to guide him form addiction. Because the Lord will do that for all of us. He is rescues us from sin and death.
Friends if we go around trying to please everyone else, trying to be nice, trying to be right but have nothing to really know what right is, the media, our culture, politicians, and even our friends are going to tell us all kinds of things are right, what is right one day is wrong the next, it is going to pull us everywhere and we are going to be lost in depression, anxiety, and addiction.
You see EJ shows and many of you do to, that this

God isn’t made up, God revealed the Bible and Jesus changes us now!

Others may not agree, like it, see it, be happy about how we live, be happy for us, or like us on Facebook.

We are servants of Jesus Christ, not followers of people, because people didn’t do it. God did it!

We are going to take the Lord’s supper in just a second, those of you who have been changed by Christ, you’ve been baptized, you acknowledge by taking the Lord’s supper, we didn’t do it. God did it! By shedding break his body and shedding his blood for the forgiveness of sins. He rose again which gives all of the power to be changed.
Today you may need to change. You are broken and you invite God to fix you, you agree that you will do what He says. We invite you to come to these steps, to come forward for prayer. I invite those who are willing to pray for others to come forward while I pray.
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