The Causality of Faith

Christianity is more than a source of personal comfort, it is a cause that acts upon us and produces radical transformation.

In this sermon on Acts 16:25–40, Lead Pastor Neil McClendon concludes the study of Acts 16 by examining Paul and Silas in the Philippian prison. Pastor Neil explores the "causality of faith", how true, biblical faith empowers believers to defy difficult circumstances, practice holy restraint, and inspire a desire for God in others. Discover the profound difference between holding a mere religious tradition and experiencing a living, lived-out faith that surrenders to the lordship of Christ.

In this episode, we cover:

• Faith That Defies Circumstances: How Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns in the dark after being beaten and bound.
• The Power of Restraint: Recognizing how faith is often displayed in what we choose not to do.
• Lived Faith vs. Believed Faith: How a genuinely transformed life prompts others to ask, "What must I do to be saved?"
• Identifying with God: Understanding baptism and active obedience as the natural responses of true belief.
• Signs of Religious Tradition: Evaluating whether your faith is an internal reality or just a set of external rituals.

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This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org.

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Let's pray together. Lord, we've come to do just that, to set our hope on you, uh, to set our affection on you, and have our hope deepen and widen because of you. So, Lord, as we open up your word today, let it open us up. Your word is quick and powerful and sharpening two-edged sword, and it pierces through the dividing asunder of joints and marrow and becomes a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our heart. That's the part we don't like, God, is people. We don't like when the Bible gets in our business and starts really reflecting back to us what we really think, what we really feel. But yet you do that, and it's a mercy gift. And so today, God, we ask you to do that as uncomfortable as it may feel. Please do that. Let us see where we're preferring ourselves over you. Let us see where we're uh allowing willful sin to have dominion over us. And Lord, more than anything, increase the capacity and the causality of our faith today. We pray in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen, amen. You can have a see. If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take and open it up to Acts chapter 16. If you don't have a Bible, don't sweat it. Everything I'll say come up on the screen behind me. I want to say a special welcome to everyone who's here today, because when you ask your mom, what do you want for Mother's Day? She said, I want all of us to go to church together. Uh so just relax. This will be like a trip to a good dentist. It'll be painless and relatively quick. Amen. Yeah, I don't I don't hear you people. Uh, I want to talk to you. If you're our guest today, we're preaching through the book of Acts, which is we typically preach the books of the Bible, because that's how you nourish and grow your faith and you understand God, the gospel, and yourself. And we're up to Acts chapter 16. I'll start reading in verse 25. I want to talk to you today about the causality of faith. The causality of faith. Now, causality, I have to use big words so you'll know I have degrees. Amen? Uh so when I say the causality, I brought you, it's it's a big-sounding word, but I brought you a definition. Here's what I mean by causality, because too often we think of our faith in terms of comfort. Uh, and it is comforting, but it also has causality. It acts upon us and causes us to do things that we by nature wouldn't do, or causes us to not do things by nature we would normally do. Here's causality: it's an influence by which one event, process, state, or object contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object, where the cause is partly responsible for the effect, and the effect is partly dependent on the cause. Now you may be thinking, dude, this feels like chemistry class all over again, all right? But so let me demonstrate from just Acts chapter 16 in the Bible. We've been in this one chapter for about four Sundays now. So so far in this chapter, we've seen the causality of faith. It started with a young man named Timothy. Paul was on his first missionary journey. He goes to this little town called Lystra where he gets beaten half to death. They drag him out of the town, they drop him on outside the city limits and like good riddance. They think he's dead, but he gets up, has a few Advil and a Red Gatorade. He's like, I'm ready to rock, let's go. But when he preached in that town, there was a young man there named Timothy who came to faith. It's been about a year. Paul comes back, and Timothy has so grown in the faith that Paul takes him on his missionary journey as a missionary. God is so at work in his life that he writes and records under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the New Testament books of 1 and 2 Timothy. Let me just pause and ask you a real practical question. How would you summarize what all God's done in your life over the past year? Because that's a pretty incredible first year. You come faith, and within a year, the apostle Paul comes and says, Dude, I want you on my team. So this is the first thing we see is a causality, what the faith has caused people to do. Next comes a wealthy businesswoman named Lydia. Lydia comes to faith because Paul and them were looking for the Jewish synagogue. There wasn't one in the city, but there's a bunch of women gathered down by a river praying. They start just, they don't assume, hey, just because you come to church, you're a Christian. They start explaining Christianity, and Lydia says, This is, I've believed in God, but I've not known God. And so she comes to faith. After that, there's this slave girl that's being trafficked by a couple of men, and they're making money. And all day long, she's walking around behind Paul and Silas, complimenting them, but it's no comfort to have the wrong people say the right thing about you. So Paul turns around one day, he's troubled in his spirit, and he speaks to the evil spirit in her by which she tells fortunes, and he casts the spirit out of her. And when that spirit left, they realized so do their means of making money. And so these men that are trafficking this woman take Paul and Silas down there to the police station and get them in trouble. They lie about them, they get put in prison. Actually, they beat them with rods and they put them in prison and locked them up and said, Hey, keep your eye on these guys. And now, in this part of the chapter, you're gonna see a jailer. The guy who was told, hey, make sure these guys don't get out, so he puts them in the inner cell, locks them in stocks, okay? This guy's probably retired military, so he's got a military pension coming, he's got his social security, he's crunched the numbers, he's got about 14 more months of work in this job, and he is gonna be golden for the rest of his life. And then this happens: Acts chapter 16, verse 25. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer awoke and saw that the prison doors were opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. Supposing that the prisoners had escaped, but Paul cried with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself, for we're all here. And the jailer called for lights, and he rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. And then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you'll be saved, you and your you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and his and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them, and then he rejoiced along with his entire household that they had believed in God. But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, Let these men go. And the jailer reported these things, these words to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent sent to let you go. Therefore, come out now and go in peace. But Paul said to them, They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned men who are Roman citizens and have thrown us into prison. And do they now throw us out secretly? No. No, no, no, no. Let them come themselves and take us out. The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid, and they heard that they when they heard they were Roman citizens, so they took, they came and apologized to them, and they took them out and asked them to leave the city. So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And then when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed. Now, again, the causality of faith. It started in the beginning of this chapter with a young man named Timothy, who is so grown in a little over a year that Paul says, I want you to come on and help me in my missionary endeavors. And now it culminates in this jailer coming to faith. What I mean the causality of faith, again, faith is not just comfort. It causes us to do certain things and it causes us not to do certain things. Let me point out four or five of them in the text. Number one, faith empowers us to defy our circumstances. Faith empowers us to defy our circumstances. Verse 25, their circumstances, lest you forget, uh, they've been beaten uh 39 times with rods. Uh they were stripped and beaten, by the way. Uh, and they're locked in prison, they're locked in stocks, and about midnight, they're praying and they're singing hymns to God. Now, this is the circumstance. We have to outgrow thinking of our faith in terms of forgiveness for how we act in all circumstances. And instead, you got to start thinking in terms of the power that is ours to defy circumstances. Let me say that again. You can't just think about Christianity as, oh, it's forgiveness because how I act in every circumstance. No, it's not. That's your religious tradition. That's not biblical Christianity. And now, am I saying there's no forgiveness in biblical Christianity? Not at all. Okay. I wouldn't survive if there wasn't, okay? But when we reduce Christianity just down to forgiveness, then you never really defy circumstances because you never experience the power that is yours in Christ and because of Christ. So when I say faith empowers us to defy our circumstances, uh, this is what I mean by by defying your circumstances, I mean to act outside of human nature. This is the essence of what's known as the Sermon on the Mount. We read from it earlier in chapter five. Uh, but Jesus, the greatest ethical teacher in all the in the history of humanity, even non-Christians will tell you that. Uh, and so Jesus seems to believe that we have a capacity because we have faith. We don't have just forgiveness for how we act all the time. No, we have this power in us that empowers us to defy our circumstances. Allow me to demonstrate. This is Matthew chapter 5, starting at verse 21. Jesus says, You have heard that it was said of those of old. In other words, some translation says, You have heard of old, but verily, verily I say unto you, he says, Hey, you've heard that it was said to those of old. Here's here was the standard where it used to be: you shall not murder. And whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the counsel, and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Now, if you're one of those people, and I hear this every once in a while, I do not in social settings where I don't know a lot of people, I do not lead with, hi, my name's Neil, and I pastor a church in the city. I just say, Hey, my name's Neil. And they say, What do you do? I work here in the city. I don't bring it up. Because here's what I hear when people hear, oh, you pastor a church, they go, Oh, the church is always about money. Oh, church cares about is money. Why does the church care about money? And I say, you know what? One of things that the church, the Bible teaches the church should care about more than money is reconciliation. And they all go, What do you mean? Jesus said, again, he thinks we have this capacity as Christians. If you're at the altar presenting your gift, if the church was all about money, then why would Jesus say this? Hey, if you're there presenting your gift, do you remember your brother has aught against you? Notice he doesn't say you have ought against your brother. Because he raises the standard for us. He said, if you remember your brother has ought against you, you leave your gift. Now you can't say, Oh, well, I would go and be reconciled, but God, you know, he's a narcissist. I took the online survey and it reminded me of him. And so he's never gonna, he's never gonna agree or anything. And so, no, no, no. Just because you think you know how they're gonna respond, that does not release you from your responsibility. And so Jesus says, Oh, this is what I mean by you have a capacity. You are empowered uh uh differently because you are a Christian, you have a capacity that allows you to defy your circumstances. Read on uh verse 27 of Matthew 5. You've heard that it was said you should not commit adultery. But I say unto you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Translation, hey, you've heard that it was said you should not, you should not commit adultery. Jesus says, hey, it's not enough that you do, no cookie for you because you don't commit adultery. You sleep with someone that's not your wife. Here's what you gotta stop doing, men. You gotta stop objectifying every woman in the world. See, and and Jesus says, You have the capacity to do this. Matter of fact, I I'll make a crazy statement. The Bible never asks you and I to do something we do not have the capacity to do. Did you know that? So when the Bible says, hey, it's not enough just to say, Oh, do not commit adultery, I say unto you, do not look at a woman with lustful intent, because if you do that, you've already committed adultery with her in her heart. Now, some people come back and say, Well, I've already committed adultery on my heart. Why not just commit adultery? You're not understand what he's saying. He's saying, you have a capacity in you to not give in to what comes naturally, to defy the circumstances. All right. Here's the last one, Matthew chapter 5, verse 43. You've heard that it was said. Again, this is what you've always been told. But now that I am come, now that now that I'm here, and now that you have faith in me, you have more capacity than that. He said, You've heard it that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Wouldn't you love to hate your enemies? Some of you are like, Oh, wait a minute, I do. Problem. You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good. He sends rain on the just and on the just on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, well, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Again, Jesus is reminding us that we have this increased capacity. I would ask you this question. What had what does the faith, what does the Christian faith give you the capacity to do that you by nature couldn't do? Does that make sense? Say amen. What do what does the Christian faith give you the capacity to do? You by nature just couldn't do. See, this is the distinction. This is what makes you a Christian, not that, oh, well, I was baptized when I was eight, or I was baptized as an infant, or I was baptized, or I went to camp, or I rededicate my life, but no, no, no, no. Strip away all the rituals, all the routines, capacity. Do you have the capacity to defy what comes naturally? And then on occasion to do what sometimes feels supernatural. Here's the second thing uh uh the causality of faith. Faith is often displayed in what we don't do. Faith is often displayed in what we don't do. Get this, verse 26. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors flew open and everyone's bonds were unfastened. And when the jailer awoke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself. We are all right here. Now, okay, time out. If you've had the day that they've had, and by the way, let me just kind of summarize, set the scene for you, unless you missed a Sunday or two and you don't have a context, what got us to this point. They were just going to the place of prayer. They got up, they didn't buy tickets to some intense experience. No, they just got up and said, We're gonna go pray with some other believers. Does anybody, any old people in here, you remember when the church used to have a prayer meeting? Remember that? They just meet to pray. This this is what they did. And so they're just meeting to pray, and and they're minding their own business, and they get harassed by a woman saying generic things about our specific God. They cast an evil spirit out of this woman, and then the men that were trafficking her for money, and they got upset, so they took them down to the police station, lied about them, and then they stripped them and beat, they got they were stripped and beaten with rods by a man wearing Lululemon tights, and they're like, gee, whis, what's going on here? And so after that, I don't know if you've ever had a like a bad wound or whatever, uh, but one time I fell playing basketball. I was looking over my shoulder, and a guy threw a pass, it was kind of behind my head. And so when I turned like this, my foot went that way, and I fell. We were playing shirts and skins, and I was the skin. And I hit the gym floor, and my shoulder and my arm went and then I ran out of sweat and it just peeled the skin. So I had about a six-inch abrasion on my arm out here, and it was bad, it kind of scabbed over, and then I forgot and I wore a long sleeve t-shirt to bed that night, and the t-shirt stuck to the wound because there's this clear fluid that secretes from a wound called blood serum. Yes, yes. Some of you are like, no, no. And so I just thought, oh, it's just kind of stuck. And so I just pulled my shirt, I grabbed my shirt and pulled it. Don't do that. So, why am I telling you this? I'm telling you this because these men were beaten with 39 times with these rods. I showed you a picture. Remember last week, the guy wearing the magenta uh lululemon man tights? Yes, yes, because they're called likters, they were enforcers, and and so basically they strip them and beat them. There's a good chance they don't have their shirts or their clothes back on because their body is oozing this blood serum. And so you're like, uh-oh, okay, why are you telling us this? So you'll envision this. You say, I didn't think about this on Mother's Day, but go ahead. You're one of the prisoners in the little in the little jail, and they walk these two naked guys limping in, beaten to a bloody pulp, and then it's about midnight, and everyone's like, Where'd that come from? I heard there's some religious rabbit, blah, blah, blah. And then about midnight, them cats start singing. They were praying and singing hymns to God. They're praying, and then they start singing. And the guy next to you says, Hey, Bill, there's two naked guys down here singing. You want to look? No, I don't want to. I I can't unsee that. He says they were praying and singing hymns to God. What do you think they sang? They're locked in stocks. You think they're just like, I got friends in low places? No. He says they're praying and singing hymns to God. Hymns are that the church had songs that they historically sang. We still have them to this day. I wonder if they were singing the fourth verse of this old hymn that says this stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long. This day, the noise of battle, the next of victor song. To him that overcometh, a crown of life shall be. He with the king of glory shall reign eternally. Can you imagine what kind of imprint it would leave on your soul if you saw these guys marched in who had been beaten almost to death? And then at about midnight, where it's really, really dark and bleak and it's not looking very hopeful, and those cats are not over there feeling sorry for themselves. They're praying and singing hymns to the God who allowed this to happen. Because this sovereign God puts them in a circumstance that says, Hey, you're gonna get beat, and I'm gonna get glory. Are you okay with that? Happy Mother's Day. Hey, mom, your kids are gonna be thankful, selfish weasels till they're about 25. And some of them until they have a kid, and then they're gonna call you and go, I am so sorry. And you're gonna be like, talk to mama now. How about that colleague? They don't care for that girlfriend. Well, can you come? No, your daddy and I are going on a cruise. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I had a professor in seminary. His name was Dr. McGorman. His name was Jack McGorman. We called him out of respect, Dr. McGorman. I should have known I was wrestling for my classes and I was putting the pencil in this little bubble, and the guy said, Oh, you're taking Cactus Jack. And I said, Excuse me? He said, Dr. McGorman. We call him Cactus Jack. Why? He said, because he'll stick it to you. First class I had him for was Roman. I understood why they call him Cactus Jack. But also he was fascinating. He's like a clown on fire. I couldn't look away. His daughter struggled with addiction so severely that in his 70s he adopted her two little kids. And one guy asked him, he said, How did you do that? He said, I didn't want those wee boys to grow up without a father. And we asked him one time, we said, What do you pray? And he said, I just pray that I'm alive, I stay alive until the youngest and graduates high school. That's all I can ask for, amen. And I understood why his classes were full. One time he said this, it wasn't on the final, but I wrote it down and I've never forgot it. He said, Your true character is most on display when you get the upper hand on your enemies. Let me say that again. Your true character is most on display when you get the upper hand on your enemies. They get the upper hand on this jailer when there's an earthquake. The foundations of the prison shook and the doors flew open and everyone's bonds fell off. Now you're like, I don't know what this has got to do with what you're saying. Remember, faith is often displayed in what we don't do. Your faith is not always displayed in what you do. It's most often displayed, especially in this culture, in what you don't do. Do you repay evil for evil? When someone slanders you, do you slander back? You clap back on social media. See, doing nothing gives us space and opportunity to see who's actually doing something. This is why the Bible made the top ten list. One of the Ten Commandments is remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Translation, make a practice of doing nothing so you can train your heart and your eyes and your spirit to see who's actually doing something. Here's a third thing about the causality of faith. Our lived faith causes others to desire faith. Our lived faith causes others. Not your believed faith. Well, I you know, I believe, I believe, I believe. Your actually lived faith causes others to desire faith. It's verse 29. Look at what he says. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. And then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Have you noticed no one's asked you that lately? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you'll be saved, you and your household. And get this. And they spoke the word of God to him and to all who were in his house. Our lived faith causes others to defy to desire faith. I'm reading a book right now by a woman who is Jewish and she converted to Christianity. Okay. And the book is about what she misses about the Jewish faith. She said, I don't want to go back, but I missed some things about the Jewish faith. And one thing she said, she said, I notice about us Christians is that we talk a lot about what we believe, we put it on bumper. Stickers on the back of our car where we go to church. No one cares, by the way. Occasionally people ask me, Hey, why didn't our church have a bumper sticker? And I say the same thing. Don't ask me, I'll tell you the same thing. If you need a bumper sticker to let people know you're a Christian, something's wrong with your faith. I owe to God it was that easy. She said, I notice as Christians is that we talk a lot about what we believe, but in Judaism, what you believe is demonstrated in what you do and you don't do. You rarely hear a Jew talking about what they believe. They just do it and they don't do it, and you are left to figure out what they believe. And it's not hard. They don't talk so much about what they believe, they simply do it or don't do it. This is what I mean by our lived faith causes other to desire faith. They had this opportunity to escape prison and they didn't. And this moved the jailer to want to know the God that they know. I got a question for you. What do people see in you that makes them want to know the God that you know? Because here's the reality, folks. If they see you and I engaging in every circumstance they do, and then coming back to our dorm room or to our apartment or to our house and saying, God, I'm sorry, please forgive me. They do the math. They're like, there's no difference in you and me. You just ask God for forgiveness and I don't feel bad about it. I would submit to you, you have a religious tradition, not so much a relationship. They had the opportunity to escape when they didn't. Why? Because they didn't see the earthquake as a natural phenomenon, but as a supernatural one. Translation, they did nothing because they could see clearly that God was doing something, and they did not want to miss out on what God was doing. All the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. Now, some people say, well, you know, the geologists in the crowd go, well, you know, the tectonic plates of the earth moved and shifted, and it's like your house when the foundation got foundation problems, the doors don't close anymore, the prison doors follow. Okay, well, how did the bonds uh get unfastened that they were chained up to? See, they're not doing anything so they can see clearly who's actually doing something. Ask yourself this question: How is the faith manifesting itself in your life these days? How is the historic biblical Christian faith? Because by the way, they didn't get a better version of Christianity than we got. They don't have the technology we have. No, they these people are just they're a bunch of simpletons. Here's the fourth thing the Bible tells us true faith seeks to identify with the God of faith. True faith seeks to identify with the God of our faith. It's verse 33. Look at what he says there. And he took them the same hour of the night. This is the jailer. He took them the same hour of the night after he sees that they had an opportunity to escape and they do not escape. He takes them the same hour of the night and he washes their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and his all his family. And then he brought them up into the house and set food before them, and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. True faith seeks to identify with the God of our faith. Now, when I read this and when I was studying for today, it made me think of the 23rd Psalm. They get this. This guy's commanded to watch over them. This earthquake happens. God says, Hey, I'm doing something here. And they're like, We're great. We're tuned in. We so are accustomed to not doing anything. We can see when God's actually doing something, and we're not going to get ahead of it and interfere with it. We're going to trust in it. And all of a sudden, he prepares a table for them in the presence of their enemies. This man who's commanded to watch over them all of a sudden comes out and says, What must I do to have what you men have? They share the word of God with him, and then he prepares a meal for them. That's where the 23rd Psalm comes in. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. But when I say truth faith seeks to identify with the God of our faith, what do I mean? It's that part of the text that says, and he's baptized at once. He didn't say, Oh man, they said, you know, you know, you repent and believe and be and be baptized. Well, you know, I was baptized as an infant, so I'm good. No way in the Bible says that, by the way. Because he didn't do that. Baptism is like a wedding ring. You don't put this on until you're in a relationship, until he was baptized at once. Baptism is an order to the church by which we identify with God and the people of God. Now, a lot of people have a religious tradition but not genuine biblical faith. They got a lot of rituals they point back to. Well, you know, I prayed the prayer at D now, or I went to camp when I was 14. And so, yeah, and I just see a lot of people have a religious tradition but not genuine biblical faith. It's one of the questions I ask people in counseling all the time. Hey, tell me, do you consider yourself a person of faith? And almost everybody says yes. Uh, I every once in a while, somebody says no, and it's so refreshing. Uh, and they go, Yeah, yeah, I don't believe all that. I think you're crazy for believing. Matter of fact, God told me the other day, you believe in an invisible God? No, he's very visible. He's very visible. He has manifested himself over and over and over again. But thank you for your honesty. It's so refreshing. And he said, It doesn't bother you that I don't believe. No, it should bother you that you don't believe. It should really concern you. It doesn't concern me at all. I'm not going to try to win an argument with you. You don't argue people into the kingdom. God has to reveal himself to you, or you don't stand a chance. He kind of looked at his wife and looked at me, and she's like, Where'd you get this one? No, it may surprise you if you're visiting today. It is not the goal of the church to convince you to believe. We are here to equip the saints for the work of ministry. And by you being around people who know God and live like it, you'll want to have what they have. I promise you. So instead of a thousand people gathering every Sunday to watch one person talk, this one person talks every Sunday took up a thousand people to be the kind of people other people want to believe in. They want the God that you that you worship. Now you say, What do you mean? It's a religious tradition and genuine biblical faith. How do you know? Here's some ways you can tell you have a religious tradition, but not genuine faith. Let me just take them off for you. Here's the first one. You have some rituals in your past, but little little joy in the present. You have some rituals in your past, but little joy in the present. Think of it like this. If I ask you today, hey, how's marriage? You wouldn't go, yeah, it was 1976, about seven o'clock at night. I walked down the aisle, my wife was there, it was beautiful. You're telling me about your wedding day. When I say how's marriage, I want to know about your married life. You ask me how marriage is, I'm not gonna tell you. Well, it was January 9th, 1993, 7 o'clock, first Baptist, 7 o'clock p.m., first Baptist Pensacola, they chimed the hour, gong, gong, gong. And then the back doors opened up, and there she was. And by the way, when they gonged the hour, one of my groomsmen said, This is your last chance to run. I was like, Thanks, fellas. And the doors, big, beautiful wooden doors of that church swung open, and there she stood. And I thought, what a friend we have in Jesus. Yeah. But I don't talk about my wedding day. You say, How's marriage? I'm like, huh, 31 years being married to a crazy woman? Are you kidding me? It's great. Highly recommend it. Yes. You see, I don't have some rituals in the past. I have a lot of joy in the present. Because I've been in a relationship with this woman for 31 years. Here's a second one. It's an external thing trying to get in. It's not an internal reality that tries to get out. If you think of Christianity, really, here's how you know you have a religious tradition. You come to church and it feels foreign and awkward and clunky, and it's like people trying to press it in on you. Like today when your mom said, I want you to come go to church with me, you're like, Oh, mom, come on. That's not Christianity. Jesus said, if any man tastes this water I give, it will become in him a well springing up to eternal life. Here's the third one. Nobody, excuse me, nothing exercises dominion over your appetites, over what comes naturally. If a woman talks to you at work or compliments from you, you're like, hey, oh, the potbelly stallion still got it here. Whoa. There's no part of you that's like, I am so sorry if I gave you the wrong inclination, but I'm so happily married, ma'am, you couldn't reach me from where you are. I'm so sorry. I'm not interested in that. Matter of fact, that kind of offends me. And by the way, single people, just because somebody likes something you post, that doesn't mean they want to marry you. I talked to somebody this week. It's like, well, he liked the message that I'm like, what? So what? Are you really, are we really that desperate? I mean, where does the sovereignty of God factor into your dating life? Or you just say, you know what, God, you know the desires of my heart, you know the type of man, type of woman I want to be with. I'm gonna live my life. I'm not gonna be desperate. I'm gonna be looking. I'm gonna be living and obeying and trust you at the right time to bring that person into my life. Oh, oh, oh, he, hey, he, he, he liked that. Oh, who is this? Let me check out his profile. Really? Here's another one. You have more excuses than experiences. You got more excuses, you don't have that many experiences. Somebody says, hey man, what's God stirring in you these days? You're like, oh, well, I went to church on Easter. That was in March. We're sneaking up on June. Now it's gonna get personal. You rarely submit to anybody or anything. So the first service, I think I might get kind of awkward because Mother's Day I'm supposed to be talking about seven ways to be an awesome mom. That church is down the street. Yeah, you rarely submit to anybody or anything. I talk about in counseling with a young couple, they're like 24 and 23, and and and the girl has downloaded all her pity onto her new husband, and he's taking up offense against her parents. And her big thing was when she was in high school, she wanted a brand new car because all our friends get a brand new car, and her parents bought her a two-year-old car, and that just really embarrassed her. And the boyfriend's like, We just we just need a break from them. We're taking a break. And the mom and dad are like, What have we done? And I said, Nothing. And I said, I asked a simple question. Hey, do any or are any of y'all profess to be Christians? And all of them did. And I said, Well, what does it look like to the young couple? What is it about for you to submit? If your parents really embarrass you, and by the way, my first car was a 67 Plymouth Valley, and I would have prayed to God for a two-year-old car, but I digress. It's just, well, my parents have money and they could have done it and they chose not to. It's their money, they can do with it what they want. See, this is why you shouldn't come to me for counseling. I will tell you the truth. I will not lie to you. Oh, by the way, your hurt feelings do not create reality or responsibility for everybody else in the world. Sorry, news flash. Well, I'm triggered. Oh, you ought to be triggered. Well, I just can't believe what kind of parent would have money and not spend it all on their parents. I said, wait till you get kids, you'll get an answer to that question. And finally I just said to the guy, I said, So you're a believer, right? And you're saying you choose not to forgive your in-laws because of the way they treated their daughter when she was being raised before you ever came in the picture. Well, yeah, I guess that's one way you can look at it. That's the only way to look at it, Skippy. There's not one way or your way or their way. That's the only way. So you do not submit to the responsibility of the gospel to forgive when people ask for your forgiveness. No, we're gonna take a break. To which I said, I doubt your salvation. And this is the dark part of me. I kind of was hoping he would pop off. In my mind, I'm not going say my mama fat one more time. Just say it one more time. We on a parking lot, we're going in a circle. Just say it one more time. Because here's the thing: if you're visiting today, I'm a nice person, okay? I buy junk from the little kids in my neighborhood who ring my doorbell and go, Pastor Neil, I'm selling chocolate bars for little league. Why can't y'all run that pyramid scheme better? Why you gotta sell some come sell candy to a fat man? This is a crime. How much are they? I'll take 10. Here you go. No, I just it's unconscionable to me. I'm just like, what are we doing? Whoa, whoa. Yeah, I just we're gonna take a break. By the way, that's a trend. Kids get married, guy gets married, and and and and and and all of a sudden they turn against their in-laws. Big thing nowadays. Big thing. Seeing a lot more of that in counseling. And the guy's like, You mean doubt my salvation? I said, you don't get, as a Christian, you you gotta submit to the reality. Well, what if they don't deserve to be forgiven? You oh hey, no, no, this is a great opportunity. And I just said, Oh, we'll get to that just as soon as you answer this. Tell me on what basis you deserve to be forgiven by God. Proverbs says, roll a stone and be hit with it. You're like wily coyote, that that shadow's getting bigger, that stone about to land on you. Well, uh, I'm not sure I agree with your your method of counseling. But great. I really, I don't, I'm not really jazzed about taking 90 minutes away from my people. You don't even go to my church, bro. I could be preparing for Sunday and I'm here listening to a 24-year-old tell me why you don't have to forgive your in-laws when they didn't even sin against you in the first place. So let's just be done, okay? Let's be done. Because the more you talk, the more I think dark thoughts. He goes, Like what? I went, no, don't summon him. No, don't summon him. Now, if you're visiting today, am I threatening physical violence? No, but I know the dark thoughts that go through my head, and I'm just like, say my mama fat one more time. Again, you rarely submit to anybody or anything. Here's the last one. You always have to be in control. You always have to be in control. Here's the thing you gotta ask yourself: can I not be in control and still feel safe? Because Jesus is Lord, and sometimes I just have to just kneel down before him and say, You're Lord. And in that moment, it's like a bottle rock shoot through my head. I don't have to give in to that. I can chuckle at my own depravity. My depravity is alive and well, Jesus. And he's like, Yes, I know, Neil, suppress that. And by the way, I love the 24-year-old. I think his wife's kind of put that, put, put, put, put a little voodoo magic on him, got him blinded here. And I'm like, I can pray and mean every word I say. But if you always have to be in control, I would ask this question then can Jesus ever be Lord? Because I'm gonna begin with Jesus' Lord. Here's the last thing. You still with me say amen. Uh faith sometimes called for civil disobedience. Faith sometimes called for civil disobedience. And I it's not like what you see on these college campuses these days. That's just ignorance with disposable income. Uh but when I say civil disobedience, what I mean is an allegiance to a higher authority, which is why I have to disobey what this authority figure is saying. Let me say that again. Civil disobedience. It's it's a lot of things uh nowadays. But when I talk about it's allegiance to a higher authority, which is why I have to disobey this authority figure, what this authority figure is saying. It's what you saw back in Acts 4. They said, hey, do not talk anymore about this Jesus. And they said, we must obey God rather than man. That's an example of civil disobedience. Like right now, the judge is trying to decide with me whether he's gonna find me or put me in jail for three days. And I'm not kidding. And my offense is I missed jury duty. One time, about a year ago, I missed it because I had COVID. And then this last time they said, okay, well, you're rescheduled and I still can't be there. And about five days before that, a friend of mine called and said, Hey, my mom died. We'd like you to do the funeral. You did the funeral of my father, and we'd like you to do the funeral. I said, I'd be honored. And my wife said, You have jury duty on that day. And I thought, oh, Fort Bean County don't understand. So I emailed and called and left a message, and apparently they didn't understand. They sent me a letter and said, You're in violation, not showing up for jury duty, and Fort Bean County is cracking down. We're making a big deal out of this. And so they called and they say, Well, sir, you have to write a letter and ask for the judge's forgiveness. And I was piqued by that word, and I said, forgiveness. And he said, Yes. And he has authority to decide. You can get fined, you can go to jail up to three days. And I said, Okay, well, I'm not gonna pay a fine. I live on, I don't have a whole lot of disposable income. I'm not gonna pay a fine. A pastor of church, did you read that? Yes, we got your letter. And while we appreciate your letter, uh the it's up to the judge to decide. And so you you couldn't, I don't want to be fined. I'd rather go to jail. And she said, sir, you could go to jail for up to three days. And I said, let me ask you about that three days. Is um can I get solitary confinement? And she said, Well, I mean, you'll be in a cell, and can I get one of those orange jumpsuits? Can I bring some books with me so I can read while I'm there? And she said, Sir, it's not funny. I said, I have one last question. I'm not being funny. Can the people in my church contribute to my commissary account? Now, this is the kind of sinners you go to church with. A man came up to me after the first service, he goes, Hey, if you go to jail, ask him if you can bring a friend because I've been in jail many times. I'll show you the ropes. Thank you, Doyle. I'll keep that in mind. Now, true story. And so they they emailed me this week and said, uh the the the the clerk got your your your your letter, the judge will decide next week, and we'll let you know. So if you get an email saying pastor's in jail, let's just call it a study break. Yeah. Now, by the way, look at what happened. Because they said, Hey, let them go. And Paul says, No, you're not just walking us out the back door. You're gonna come down here and own this, bro. So they come down there. And the police reported these words, verse 38, to the magistrates, and they were afraid. And they heard that they were when they heard they were Roman citizens, so they apologized to them and they took them out and they asked them to leave the city. They were afraid, they apologized, and they asked. Is anybody afraid of you these days? Anyone see the kind of faith that's coming out of you? And they're like, hey, whatever you do, do not activate the faith of that woman. Anybody apologize? Anybody asking you instead of telling you? Here's the part that slays me. It says, and so they went out of the prison to visit Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed. When they seen the brothers, talking about the other people in the church there in Philippi. There's Lydia probably there. It's in her house, so she's there. I think the slave girl was there. Hey, sorry if I said some crazy stuff. I had an evil spirit. Are we good? Everybody good? All right, I'm gonna get some coffee. Yes, and then here's the part that just killed me after this horrific experience. It says they encouraged them and departed. Look at me and we're done. What have you been through? And you so received from God that you can encourage other believers with what you have. Because I believe this that the essence of Christianity is not just a thousand people coming on Sunday hearing one guy talk, it's you being encouraged by the experience of other believers you're sitting around right now. And all through the week, you should be being encouraged. You should just run into people and them go, you know what, just the other day, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I was reminded I don't have to do that, I don't have to give into that. I I don't have to do that. Or I can do this. I didn't want to, but I felt the spirit just rising up in me, and I just did it because I sensed this is what God wants done. These men had this horrendous experience, and they walked away from it, sat down with their church, and encouraged the people, and then they departed. What I'm saying to you on this Mother's Day is this, and I'm done. Is that everything you go through when handled properly is a source of encouragement for somebody else? Let's pray together. If you're our guests, just relax. We like to teach the Bible and give you some space to think about it. Some questions come up on the screen. That's just to kind of to help us mentally worship God and how we think. Let me voice a prayer. Let's just let's contemplate for a couple minutes before we're dismissed. Holy Spirit, brood over us. Some of us are by calm waters, and some of us are walking by a troubled sea these days. And in either situation, you're leading us because you're faithful. So, Lord, help us to tune our eyes to see what you're doing so we don't try to do what you're already doing. We rest in the sufficiency of what you've done. Lord, give us wisdom to know do I need to do something here? Or do I need to choose to do nothing here? Speak, Lord. Your servants are listening. Father, I pray for the believer here today that feels like they're losing their grip on this thing. Just remind them to hold on. You've not forgotten them, you never will forsake them. Strengthen their grip today on the things that matter. Loosen their hold on the things that don't. This is my prayer. I pray in Christ's name. And everyone said, Amen. Amen. If you're our guest today, let me say thanks for being here. You're always welcome. If you're looking for a new church, I would strongly encourage you to consider this one. You're sitting around some of the best people who will ever be around. Not perfect, not perfect, but fully forgiven, okay? Uh, and and moving forward in the faith. Uh, if you're our guest, all we ask of you today is you just text the word welcome to that number on the screen behind me. It gives us a record of your visit. We'll shoot you a text back. Uh, we do this because we want to help you get connected. If you want to get connected, we want to help you take the next step in your spiritual journey, okay? There's always things going on in the life of our church. We'll make you aware of those uh by way of our video announcements. So let's check those out this morning.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

Adventure awaits this summer. Our 7th through 12th graders will head up to Mount Lebanon Retreat and Conference Center on June 24th and will return on the 28th. The deadline to register is June 5th. Spots are already being filled, so sign up today to secure a spot for your student. For more information or to register for this event, please visit our website at grandparkway.org. If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the foot of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

SPEAKER_01 45:24

Again, that's uh student camp this summer, June 24th to the 28th. June 5th sounds like a long way away, but it's about three weeks. Spots are filling up. We'd love you to be a part of that. It's for 7th through 12th graders. It's a great time. If you have any questions, you can see Ian or Annie. Uh, and sometimes every once in a while, people ask, hey, where are the students in the service? Our student ministry meets during this hour. They meet in the warehouse, which is the building at the far end of our property down here. Uh, there's about 150 of them packed in that warehouse down there. And so that's where they are during this service. So if you're in that grade group, uh, we'd love for you to start going there. Come to the nine o'clock service and then go hang out and experience some age-specific programming, okay? We'd like to include our service with a spoken blessing. So if you would stand to your feet, hold your hands out. It's Mother's Day all day today. Get up off your mom and leave her alone. She's not cooking, she's not cleaning, and she's not gonna comfort you when you cry. Figure it out. And for some of you, today's a day you're sad because your mom's not here anymore. Just thank God for her. And if you're not in a good way with your mom, call your mom anyway. Because you have the capacity to do so. That's why. The gospel gives you that capacity. So depart now and exercise it for the glory of God and for the good of his people. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Bless you.