What's Religion? - Pastor Kyle Self

[00:00:00] Welcome to the World Changers Church Gold Coast Podcast. Join us as we listen to today's message. You know, Michelle will rebuke me later for saying this. I think we have one of the best worship teams on the Gold coast, but that also creates a target on their back, and we need to be praying for them in this space. And that's why we've added intercession to Sunday mornings, is because sometimes all hell tries to break loose. Amen. And I said tries to break loose. Amen. But it can't when you're full. Amen. When life is hard, and I'm not even in the message, I just have a word for you this morning. This is just a nugget. When life is hard and everything seems to be closing in, it's because there's oppression. And oppression is trying to depress what you have on the inside. It's trying to push down everything. But when you're full, you have a pushback spiritually. You have a faith response. You have authority. You have words that give power to and increase. Amen. Amen. Amen. And this morning we have to realize that there are some things that are said around the world that are not godly, but they're coming from godly people. And. Amen. And there is a language of acceptance in the world that can sneak into our personal lives and make us focus on relationships so much that we lose the outworking of our religion. Now, a lot of you in that moment just said, oh, no, it's relationship over religion. I come to rebuke that this morning. Because it's not right. We've let word definitions and social construct change the definition of the original intent of that word. You know, you could take any word from the 70s and it means something different now, right? But God's word is everlasting. So when God talks about religion, he's not talking about the way you see it, the dogma of religion, the control of religion. He's not talking about the things that we've experienced in church. When God talks about religion, I want to give you the original definition. But I'm going to hang here for a minute because we've heard it's not religion, it's relationship. And I do understand the heart behind that. So if I've lost you, can you lean back in? Can you pray? Can you say, holy Spirit, give me understanding. Can you turn your love back on for just a moment and hear me? Because I want to help us as a community present the right model. Because when I was in the Middle East, I saw devotion that was unbreakable. And I believe that that's what needs to come back to Christianity. Amen. And so people are tired when we say relationship or religion. People are tired of empty routines. That's really what we're tired of and that's what we need to say. I am tired of empty routines. I'm tired of traditions. I want something real, I want something alive and I want something personal. But because we lack the language, we say, I don't want religion. Right. That desire of I want something real is, is beautiful. And God wants relationship too deep, genuine, intimate connection with his children. Amen. But sometimes in the rejection. Listen, because I'm going to preach your language. Sometimes in the rejection of lifeless religion, we accidentally reject the beauty of true, pure God defined religion, the kind that scripture celebrates. Amen. The Bible never says religion is bad, it says fake religion is empty. Right? But pure religion, listen to me, is powerful. Fake religion is empty, but pure religion is powerful. So today, instead of tearing down the world religion, we're going to redeem it. Amen. And discover the kind of faith that is alive. Amen. Now today, God's done another beautiful moment. He only allowed me to write the intro and said the rest is just going to be scripture and I'm going to do the talking. So I'm like, yay. God's got me on this journey with preaching where it's rhema words, it's a now word, it's not a sermonette. I'm not up here to teach, I'm here to preach. Amen. And I believe that God's going to make some moves today. Amen. So when we discover that kind of faith that is alive, compassionate, holy and visible to the world around us, see, your religion should be visible. I was in a conference yesterday where I heard Jesus is against religion. And it was coming from Christian groups that were just so tired of the church being ill equipped to impact a need. But the church is not without money. The church is not without the want or the know how. The church is without people to do the work. So in the effort to not do religion and be religious, we stop showing up to church, we stop going to prayer nights, we stop doing things that are religious. Because I just want to have my time to relax in Jesus. Amen. When did it become so much about us? Amen. When did it become so much about us? Because the real meaning of religion in the Greek, I'm not going to even try and say the word because that's just going to come out like Tongues. But in the Greek, it means an acting out of what one believes. In the Latin, it means to bind, to. To bind and act out of what you're bound to. Amen. So if you believe that it's all about you, your religion is going to act out in that way. If you believe you can lose your salvation. Your religion is going to act out in that way. If you believe you got to be dunked, immersed, sprinkled, tapped, or slapped. Your religion is going to act out in that way. Amen. Whatever you. Your religion is acting out what you believe. If you believe everybody's against you, your religion is going to. Your beliefs will act out. Amen. And when we say that Jesus came to tear down religion, no, he came to purify it. Amen. He came to redeem it. He came to quantify it with heavenly realms. Amen. With grace, faith favor spiritual fruit. Amen. Oh, come on. So God defines pure religion in James 1:26, 27. Now this scripture is pretty harsh at some points, and I'm not gonna focus on those points, but we're gonna read them anyway. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Amen. Pure and undefiled. Religion before God and the Father is to visit the orphans and the widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Our expectations of heaven, our expectations of church, our expectations of many things can define and offend and dilute and depress what religion actually is. But your religion should be acting out as what Jesus came to do. To set the captive free. Amen. To help those in need. To love the unlovable, to love the unfortunate, to reach and to reach each other. When one body hurts, we all hurt. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. This is a corporate thing. Our religion is not individual. Our religion is corporate. Our religion is not a me. It's a we. It's not an I, it's an us. And so it's preferring your brother over yourself. As loving your wife as Christ loved the church. Amen. Religion is something that is so pure. Pure religion is love in action. Amen. Pure religion is love in action. Holiness as a lifestyle. Amen. A faith that the world can feel and see. But what is holiness? Well, holiness is not sinning, not being pure. La la la la la. No, no, no. Holiness. Holiness is being spiritually mature first and foremost. Holiness is being a set apart people that God can use untarnished. Of the things of this world because you have rejected the things of this world. Holiness is not about your outward actions or your speech or your prayer. My heavenly Father. No, it's not about your language. It's not about how. Oh, I. You know, when. When Kyle walks into the room, you can just feel the presence. You probably do. Amen. I'm a big old boy. I'm not unnoticeable. But it's not because of me. It could be because of my focus. It could be because of my intentions, and it could be because of the Holy Spirit resting and pushing and saying, this is what I want you to do today. But it's not about me. My holiness has nothing to do with me or my actions. My holiness has everything to do. What Jesus did on the cross, and the holiness was transferred because of the blood. Amen. I was going to try and read that without my glasses. So God came to define what pure religion is. Do you see that? So when someone says, what's your religion? Oh, well, I don't believe in religion. I believe in a relationship. Please stop saying that. You're confusing yourself. Amen. Well, my religion is I believe and am a follower of Christ. And I am a Christian. And out of that, I have the outworking of my divine nature, which Peter talks about. Right. And so as we're following God, as we discussed last week, we actually have to define what that looks like. And it actually is an outworking of what we believe and what we bonded ourselves to. Amen. True? Yes. Everybody agree? Where unity is, God commands a blessing. If you disagree, raise your hand. I'll keep preaching. No, I'm just kidding. But the reality is, is that God is doing something so significant that he wants to define what pure religion is. Pure religion in itself is an outworking of what you believe. God wants faith that's real, not pretend. He doesn't want you to come in. How you doing today? Oh, I'm fine. I'm kicking like a chicken. I'm 52 flavors of favor. Hallelujah. I got the Holy Ghost on the left side and the right side and in the front side. And if I look backwards, the devil's still behind me. Amen. That's so fake. That's cliche. That's just words. But real Christianity, it has a light about it. It has. It has a salt that's savory. It's not pretend. It's persevering. It's overcoming. It's strong. Amen. And it's something people can see. See, people should know you're A Christian, but the world tries to hide it. I was in that conference yesterday, and they kept saying Jesus hates religion. Well, we need. You know, we're doing these things, and we don't really push Jesus because we don't want nobody to be offended. Well, doggone Muslims will just break out a carpet on the side of the road, but they'll just do whatever they want to do, any way they want to do it. And nobody's saying anything. But y' all have set back so. And lived in the world of tolerance so much that we just won't want to offend anybody. The Bible says this gospel is offensive and foolish to them that don't believe we're not supposed to be accepted. You being a Christian is not something you gotta hide. The Bible actually says in Romans 1:16, I am unashamed of the gospel. The Bible says, actually, if you prefer them over me and you deny me in the world, I deny you in heaven. I. I want to claim Jesus everywhere I go. Amen. Now, don't get me wrong. If in the workplace, you can't go shouting Jesus, or maybe it's something you're inventing, you can't shout Jesus, that's fine. But be a Christian. Use the language of a Christian in every space. Be the light wherever you are. I'm not talking about what you're doing is wrong. Oh, my God. So many people thinking about what he's eating. We're such a small church, y' all thinking, huh? He talking to me. No, I'm just talking from Jesus. When we get big, we won't have this problem where you think I'm talking about you. You actually have to lean into God, you know, when we get big. Yes, I said that. Cause we gonna grow a healthy church. Grows. Amen. But when that time's happened, you're gonna have to lean into Jesus for yourself. You're gonna have to hear the message for yourself. Amen. But pure religion is being that, not that fake and phony. It says it in Matthew 15:8. The people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Amen. God is not looking for perfection. He's looking for authenticity. He wants the real you. And if right now, if the real you is colorful, pink, and flawed, be that because. See, I used to say when I was growing in Christianity, this is for everybody in the room. So listen to me. When I was growing in Christianity, people say, kyle, you're so loud. You give your opinion everywhere. In every meeting, you say, this. And we have to rebuke this and correct that and reprove this, but you never get offended. I wish that was still the same thing now. But anyway, back then I was learning Amen. Back then I was hearing what God was saying and I was saying, listen, I want to be right with God. I want to know how to do it the right way. So I'm not going to hide my rough edges. I'm not going to hide my colors. I'm not going to hide what I think. Because if it's wrong, I want you tell me, isn't that what community is? Faithful are the wounds of a friend? Iron sharpens iron. It doesn't say flowers. Sharpen flowers. I mean, two daisies clap together, it's just gonna be fluff, fluff, fluff. But man, iron on an anvil with a hammer being heated. Clang. That is a statement and a reality. It didn't say two dandelions just come together. Poof. They spread their wings on eagles. No, it says iron sharpens iron. The way this religion becomes purified is when we stop all the and just come forward with everything. Amen. Been walking around all morning hugging people. All morning, just hugging people, like you just need a hug. I've had words of encouragement and affirmation all morning. You know why? Because God told me to heal. He said, sometimes people just need to know that they're loved. So it's not always about the anvil, it's not always about the wound, but it is always about the love. Amen. So don't get me wrong when I say iron sharpens iron. Let's not become a brutal church. Everybody's swinging their swords, cutting each other. Amen. Some of you are like, oh, darn. God's looking for authenticity. He wants you to love him with more than your lips. You gotta start asking, how do I really feel? Grace has supplied so much to us and so much favor that we don't have to require much. And there's not a lot of self effort and we can just sit back and rest. But we can become. What's that word I'm looking for? We can have apathy set in. Complacency. We can have complacency set in where we're not working on anything. But do you know that this is still about maturing in Christ? And our religion has to be an outworking. Our religion is not something we hide and say, I'm gonna go shine it on Sunday and hide it on Monday. Religion is a language that comes out of your mouth and I can tell if you're saved or not by the language of your mouth. Now, hold on. That doesn't mean you won't cuss. Some of you sailors. Praise the Lord. God's still working on you. Amen. It's because sanctification for you is a process. But sanctification being set apart to be fully surrendered to God doesn't have to take long. But your unwillingness to surrender may take time. And God's so patient, he'll keep working on you. And you're like, well, the Bible says to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Well, honey, you are working out your own salvation, but you ain't doing it with fear and trembling. Amen. When things begin to get right in your life is when you say God, I've been doing it so wrong for so long that I just. I just. I just want to come before you and find out what. I want to have true repentance. I want the real religion. I want the real Jesus. I don't want the. I want the real Jesus. Amen. Amen. Am I talking to you this morning? Amen. Jesus confronted hypocrisy because he wanted freedom. He didn't abolish religion. He confronted hypocrisy because he wanted freedom. He didn't confront hypocrisy so that you could just sit back and chill. He confronted hypocrisy so that you could walk in true freedom. Amen. Is that good? Amen. Matthew 23:27 says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Exclamation point, hypocrites. For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bone and. And all unclean or have uncleanness. Pastor Kyle, I'm sad. Washed in the blood, I'm graced and favored. Hallelujah. I got Jesus. If you haven't surrendered, you have a knowledge of these things, but you're not living these things because scribes and Pharisees had a knowledge of God, but we're no longer living it. And we're wearing the mask of false religion and not true religion, because true religion is birthed out of the heart. Amen. As a man thinks, so is he. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. This is not for you to feel convicted and say, pastor Kyle said, I was attuned today. No, this is for you to actually ask, is what I'm outwardly living and believing really the work of Jesus? Because if you're mad at Everybody, it ain't the work of Jesus. Amen. If you're trying to solve the world's problems. Jesus didn't heal everybody. Amen. He didn't came to solve every problem. He came to solve the problem which was our disconnection from God. Amen. Jesus removes masks. Listen to this, Father. I pray they hear this. Jesus removes masks not to shame us, but to free us to live fully alive. You're not living in that, you know, even in that false humility where you're just not wanting to cause trouble so you don't. You know, my kid, I always pick on my kids. Does anybody else wants to be picked on today? No, I'm kidding. All right, Timmy, I ain't gonna pick on you. I get in trouble later if I pick on you. I done learned my lesson there. But no, I won't even pick on Timmy. I'll pick on me. I'm a pastor of a church, and I face, in the community more than ever, people blaming the church for not stepping up. And I find that I'm doing everything I can to. To do what God's called me to do. And no matter how much I try, it's never enough. And if I allow that to set in, it will change my heart's direction and cause it to be hardened. But if I just stay on the path that God's called me on in the race that God's called me to when I'm running the sidelines, and all their voices won't matter as much because those people aren't running my race. Listen, all those people talking about you to what you shoulda, woulda, coulda do. They ain't running your race. And everybody telling you what you should be doing and what you are and what you ain't, they ain't running your race. Honey, you gotta stay on your path. You gotta know who you are. You gotta know where you're called to be. Now, this ain't at nobody. We a small church. And I'm like, ah, this is something. No, this is for me just as much as it is you. Pure religion knows who it is because it's not acting out of a belief system. It's acting. Acting out of identity. Who I am in Christ, knowing Him fully. Amen. So take the mask off. Stop being so fake. [00:22:19] I. [00:22:19] You know, I love people that network. Well, y' all met them people. I'm looking at you because you're safe. But anyway, I'm not talking about you. But you know, those people that they just. They walk in a room and everybody loves them. Those people get on my nerves. You know what I'm talking about? You know? No, no, Jeremy doesn't get on my nerves. That was mean, Michelle. Father, I pray for their marriage right now in the name of Jesus. Father, I thank you for the open wound in Jeremy, Lord Jesus. That's why y' all love each other. Amen. Hallelujah. I can take it. But I can't stand fluffy. Right? I need real. But those people have their place, you know? They have their space. That's who they really. I've actually grown to love that. That's actually who they are, you know, they're not fake. That's just actually who they are. Strange enough newsflash, they're happy. And just because this ain't it you, Michelle. And just because you ain't, doesn't mean they should stop being happy. Amen. You know what I'm saying? It's like. It's like sometimes my wife's so happy, I'm gonna pickle her down. And she has such a pure religion. She'll be singing in the shower and I'll be like, hallelujah, Amen. Sometimes she'll be dancing around the house and it's just so beautiful. And I. I can't take away her happiness because it's not founded on me. It's founded on Jesus. And used to, I'd get so upset. Amen. What you happy for? Don't you know what we're going through? We ain't got no money. We ain't got no eggs. We ain't got no milk. We ain't got no money for the bills. We ain't got no this. We ain't got no gas. We ain't got no diesel. The car's broken down, tires flat, and the cat just died. What are you happy for? Glory to God. 25 years, it just all came out at once. Sorry, but no. I looked at that and I said, and one day, I just realized she's happy. I'm not. All I can do is focus on the problem while she focuses on the promise. I want to be like that. And now when I'm happy, she looks at me and goes, what's wrong with you? Religion begins to act out what it believes. See how this church is laughing this morning? Y' all happy. This is how church should feel. There shouldn't be no laughter. We need to have a holy presence in the house of God. There needs to be a weight on everybody's shoulders. No. Jesus took that on the cross so that you wouldn't have to feel it. He said, you will have joy, everlasting godliness, kindness, fruits of the spirit that will produce in your life, no matter the circumstance. You can be happy. Religion acts out, but you gotta take off the mask. You gotta stop trying to be the protector. Take it off. You gotta stop trying to be the provider. Take it off. You gotta stop trying to be the co worker. You gotta stop taking off all those titles and all those masks and have a change of heart. Mind. Said, lord, just free me to be me and you and let me work out of that space. Amen. And when people don't accept me, praise God, I understand that they just don't understand me. I'm not going to tell them that they're wrong or that they need to be like me. I'm just going to understand that they don't have the revelation that I have that Jesus has freed me to be me and to be more like him. Amen. Hallelujah. True religion is recognized through love. John 13:35. By this we will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another. I'm going to tell you something. I know it's hard to love me. I am the most focused, methodical, precise individual I can be. Somebody can send me a simple text about going on a holiday and mention something about church. This happened, by the way, and I will want to talk about the two things they mentioned they won't be available for. You know what I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about. Somebody can send me a simple text about church, be like, I'm not going to be a part of worship and need to cover this and this. And I just want to talk about the things that needs to be covered, not the fact to go and enjoy your holiday. Do you understand what I'm saying? My love for one another has to change that. It can't always be about the service. It's got to be about the living, the living in Christ. Amen. If you're always critical of one another, if you're always judgmental of one another, if you're always looking for that key in the service, maybe you're missing what God is actually doing in the unity of joy this morning. This may not be your cup of tea and this humor that I give you may not. It's just not reverent enough. That's okay. Maybe God's trying to change you like he changed me. Because when Tina would preach, I'd have to. Back in the day, back when we first started preaching I just had to walk out and come back when she was done preaching because she was just too happy for me. Amen. That's just the truth. Now I can't get enough of, fills my joy bubble. Amen. Hallelujah. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Now I'm just being truthful. That's what we need more of. Amen. So love is our greatest testimony. The world can be changed when we, when it experiences Christ through us. Amen. Amen. People want real and authentic religion. So what's religion? Oh, it's founded on relationship and it's birthed out of that relationship. But it is the fruit of your relationship with Christ. So the way you act out what you believe is actually the fruit of your relationship with Christ. The amount that you have surrendered, the amount that you have allowed him to redeem in your heart and mind to cause true repentance, the amount of revelation and progressional revelation you've received in the area of Christ and the knowledge of who he is and who you are in Him. This is not just a one time shop, fix it all. It's progression. No. Amen. And we're not, you know, who was it this morning? Patty and Jeremy. Jeremy said something, I can't remember. We were outside and it was a fun little jab. And Patty just said, I'm walking off on that one. I said, you know, I was talking about all the things we need to do in church. And I was looking at Jeremy, I said, yeah, I'm just trying to be, you know, trying to make sure everything's joy filled this morning and trying to be happy. And he goes, well, one day you will be. And Patty walked off. I looked at Jeremy, I said, you know, when that day is going to be? Jokingly speaking, knowing myself, the day I walk into glory immediately the Holy Spirit convicted me and said, is it going to take that long? Is it going to take that long? Amen. You got convicted too. You should have. I knew the Lord would get you, boy. Because true religion shines through our actions. Next point. Matthew 5:16. Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. If your actions are causing people to get angry, guess what? It's, You know, it's your actions. The truth can be given with love. Like this morning, I'm actually preaching a pretty hard message and I'm lining it with how the Holy Spirit is telling me to be with humor and love. I'm not saying easy things here this morning and I'm not being irreverent to them. I just know that the truth is better received in love. Amen. And so let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. It's not so that they can see your good works, is so that they can see what God's done in you and what God's doing in you. Amen. Your life is a light, guys. God wants you to shine. He wants to shine through you. He wants to shine through your kindness, your service, your generosity, and your faithfulness to tell his story. Amen. You know the one thing about generosity that religion has ruined? It's a perfect time for the kids to be jumping around because maybe we're gonna need to buy a new floor. Lord, we pray for the beans. Hallelujah. They jumping like leapfrogs up there. Hallelujah. Kangaroos are invaded that place. But no, the thing is, is that our generosity, you know, when your religion is pure, it doesn't withhold. You know what I'm saying? It doesn't withhold love, it doesn't withhold money. It doesn't withhold time. It's generous. Amen. And if your language of giving is like, well, you know, I'd give the church, but I don't know where it goes, that is your belief acting out. Amen. You believe that your money is for you and your home only and that you can't trust nobody else with your money. So therefore, you have a love of money. Now, I don't want your money. The church is blessed. God just says, give to the storehouse for those in need. So even when we give to the church, we're giving in pure religion efforts that you believe that the leaders of this house will give to the community. And I can prove it with our accountment statement if you ever want to see how much we give. Since 2020, we've given it all away to mostly members to the community, and we've been deemed one of the top 10 generous churches in the Gold Coast. Amen. But because of the assumption and the hurt and the belief that is shaping your religion on generosity, you withhold that because you don't believe that the church should get it, and you want to. You've been taught another place that you feel comfortable with. Let every area of your life begin to line up with the purity of Christ. Amen. This is not about giving to the church. That was just one area that we needed to rectify and redeem. Amen. Hallelujah. Y' all got Quiet. Y' all didn't laugh on that one. Hallelujah. But true religion protects holiness, not makes excuses for it. There is some pure religion up there. Yeah. Immediately. You know, immediately I just thought, wow, how blessed are we? Amen. So you don't have a normal pastor where it's like, I want y' all to be comfortable, and I want y' all to not be disturbed by the children. I'm actually happy that they're disturbing you right now, because somewhere in the world right now, somebody's wondering if they're going to get their head cut off for praying. Amen. And the worst thing you got to deal with this morning is kids. Hallelujah. Somebody in the world right now has to hide their faith and is begging for someone to come to their country and privately baptize them, because if they get baptized, they'll go to jail for the rest of their life, and the person that baptized them will be killed. That's Pakistan. Amen. And I know that firsthand. Somebody's going through that right now. And the worst thing you gotta go through is there's not enough parking on Sunday morning. All right, I'm not going to go there. We'll save that for a podcast. Hallelujah. Amen. So, holiness in 1st Peter 1, 15, 16. But as he who called you in is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, be holy, for I am holy. Now, let's look at that word in the difference of perfect holy, Kadesh. And there's many different Hebrew words and Greek words for holy and holiness. Now, holy means God called us to be his people and to serve him alone. That we serve one God, one faith, and we serve him. Amen. So that this, what this is talking about, we back up to 15. But, yeah, he has called you to be called you. He who called you is holy. He is the one God. You also be holy in all your conduct. Operate out of serving him. Operate out of knowing him. I mean, married folk, y' all shouldn't be going to clubs. Right? Right. Y' all shouldn't be dating. Right? Right. I hope so. There is a conduct in a marriage, in a covenant, that changes how you act the moment you came to Christ, it should change how you act because of the covenant, the contract. The conduct changes because of the contract you're in. Amen. And that contract is built on grace, on love, and says, only believe. And I'll supply all your riches according to my. According to my riches and glory. I'll supply all your needs. I'll give you strength to do all things. All it says is, just be my bride, serve me, and I'll give you everything, even the desires of your heart. Because it is written, be holy. So God is calling us to be set apart, meaning we protect holiness. Like in this church. If someone came to me and said on Sunday morning, we gonna play Give me a. A rapper of today. Somebody. No, not a Christian rapper. Come on, people. That's good. I'm glad that y' all did that. Amen. Oh, well, anyway. I don't know. We'll just call him Big Thug. I'm just gonna look. Sound old now. But anyway, anyway, I don't. I don't know. But if you said that you want to come in and play a Cardi B song, a Cardi B song in church on Sunday, and, you know the song at its core actually has worship in it. I'm gonna look at you, be like, what? It probably does have some worship, but not of the things that are holy. Amen. And so I wouldn't allow that song to be played. But if you came in with Lecrae and the song had the same beat as Cardi B song but had a different message, I'm gonna be like, cool. Cause the beat ain't the problem. The message is Amen. The message is the problem. So we can't change the message. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We cannot change the message. And if we're not supposed to be doing certain things, then we shouldn't be doing them because of the conduct of the contract. God's called us to be separate. Amen. We're doing this for him, not the approval of man. Am I making sense now? If you're being convicted in that moment, I know we're a small church, so I'm not identifying certain things and saying certain things, because I do know certain things. And I would dread you hear from the Holy Spirit and be convicted and not condemned. Because pure religion doesn't condemn. Because Christ. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. He came to set us free, and that is the religion we operate out of. He did not come to shame us or to make us feel guilty. He came to set us free. He did not come so that we'd feel powerless. He came to empower us to live a holy life and has given us all things for life and godliness. He did not come to make us feel ashamed of everything that we're doing. Nor am I trying to preach anything that should make you feel ashamed or even make you feel like I'm not worthy. I don't live up to the standard that I don't even know if I should come back. That's just you squirming in your flesh. Amen. And your religion, your current belief is saying, I don't know if I can do that. When you take off that mask of you can do everything and put on the reality of without God, you can't do anything. You're free. Amen. Is this good this morning? Give the Lord a hand clap of praise if it is. Amen. Holiness is not pressure. It's privilege. It's God transforming us to look more like Jesus. I mean, how about that? You can't even live up to dying on the cross, giving your son to die for the world, but he invites you to be like him. It is a privilege. Step into this walk with Jesus. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. I'm going just for this last holy moment. If we can get the kids to quiet down, that would be awesome. Relationship, relationship produces pure religion. Amen. That is the thing we need to realize is that relationship, relationship produces pure religion. If you do not have a relationship with Christ and you have a relationship with your pastor, if you have a relationship with your church, if you have a relationship with your thought process and your philosophies and your theologies and your knowledge of God, you're actually not producing pure religion. You're producing you. And you cannot fix all the world's problems. Only Jesus can. Amen. John 15:5 says, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, I am in him, bears much fruit, but without me, you can do nothing. You want to help people? First help yourself from the pressure of your belief system of being a rescuer, a victim or a perpetrator and start just being a child of God, saying, daddy, what do you want me to do today? Lead me, guide me, let me walk in your abundant grace. Because that's what pure religion does. Relationship with Jesus is the very core of pure religion and the fruit that naturally grows by knowing him. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are or I had somebody tell me. They said we were asking them to pray, and they said, I don't have the words to pray. I'm not educated enough. King Josiah was 8 years old and changed everything around him. Solomon was a dedicated kid in a temple with Eli and his two sons and had to give a word that because of you not saying the right things in your house and letting your kids act this way, this house will see destruction. It doesn't matter who you are. To tell the truth, I think Mia was telling me this morning about a lady getting saved. What's the story? Just a little bit. Hold on a second. I'm right here and I can barely hear you. You know how to turn this thing on. You should, I think, don't you? Yeah. [00:41:26] Hello. Oh. So at my workplace, I work in like a little booth at Robina Town center. And this lady came up to my store. She always comes up to my store and we chat heaps. And she's this Muslim lady and she always talks to me about Allah and stuff. And I'm like, she's a Muslim lady. And I'm like, wow, cool. I believe in Jesus. And so I always tell her about Jesus and she always just would like kind of not respond to me or just ignore me when I spoke about Jesus. So I was like, that's all good. And I noticed, like a little bit of hardness growing in me because I was like, oh, like, I'm trying to speak to about Jesus and stuff. And then my good friend Annabelle was like, you know, you're probably the only person speaking to her about the Lord. Like, don't get hard with her. So I. I was like, oh, okay, yeah, true. And so I just decided, okay, I'm just going to keep going and just keep talking to her about Jesus. And a random day, she came up to me and she's like, I've had this issue with my heart. I'm really struggling. And she's like, sweating profusely because of her issue with her heart. She's on all these medicines and stuff. And I was like, you know what? I believe Jesus can heal you. He's got power. He can heal you. He's the true God. He can heal you. And she's like, oh. And so I was like, let me just pray for you. And she's just like, okay, fine. And I pray for her and she goes on about her day. And I was like, God, you know, it's on you. Like, if you're going to heal her, you're going to heal her. And it's on you. I can't do anything about that. And so then, yeah, like on Thursday last week, she comes around and I'm like, looking through some drawers and stuff, and she's like, hey, hey. And I turn around, she's like, it's negative. And I was like, negative? And she's like, the doctor report, it's negative. I'm healed. [00:43:17] I know. [00:43:18] Yeah, I know. And I was like, oh, my Goodness, it's Jesus. He healed you. And she's like, I know. And so it was so beautiful. And she's like. I was like, jesus healed you? And I was like, he is the true king. Like, he. He's the true God. He loves you. He's got a purpose for your life. She was like, he does. And she's like, weeping in the middle of this. Middle of Robina Town center. And I was like, do you want to give your heart to Jesus? And she's like, yes. [00:43:52] So, church, God is not asking us to abolish religion. He's asking us to purify it, to redeem it. True religion isn't about rules. It's about response. Now, Mia could have said, well, I haven't been to theology school for 10 years. I don't have any degrees. But what she said is, I know Jesus. And she responded out of that space. Church, it's not about who you are or how much you know or really anything to do with you. It's about, what do you believe, what do you believe? And how is that out working? Because if people watched your life, would they see Jesus in the way you love, in the way you serve, and in the way you live? Now, that last part, way you live, man, there's so many dots on that. Like, oh, you know, Lord, I still struggle with a drink here and there. And, Lord, I smoke here and there. And I know we're a small church, but I gotta say these things every once in a while. You know, I get on Instagram and it leads me to looking at the wrong things. And, oh, you know, oh, Lord, I'm not perfect yet. And remember, he said, I'm not asking for your perfection. I'm asking for you to just begin to walk with me first, to know who you are. Because the more you know who you are, and the more you know who he is, the less you act in those spaces, the less of the fruit of the flesh comes out and the more the fruit of holiness comes out. It's not about your conviction. It's about your repentance. And repentance means change of heart and mind towards a thing. So if you're tired of being angry, repent of the things you know, Repent of the things that make you angry. Maybe you need to forgive somebody. And maybe they are unforgivable. Well, maybe they're so unforgivable that you need to heal. And maybe the first process in you forgiving them is you forgiving yourself. And maybe the first process in you forgiving yourself is healing from all the trash that happened to you. And that is a process. It's not just empty words and false routines that produce this. It's the heart. So whatever you're going through, whether you're on the mountain or the valley, God is wanting to walk with you and produce pure religion that leads and comes from true repentance. Amen. True repentance. Well, no, no, I don't have to repent. I'm forgiven. No, you are forgiven. Meaning you do not have to ask God to forgive your sins. Jesus paid the price for that. But what you do need to do is stop acting like you. You need to repent. You need to learn and grow and become mature in God. And honey, I've been having to do that. I've been on a journey. Amen. When I was in Saudi Arabia, I got sick and I'm going to end here. And I'm not going to tell you all the stories, but it was so bad. I was so sick. It's the best way I can say it because I don't want this recorded. And I thought I was going to die. I was gray. No matter how much water I drank, I couldn't just get enough water. Everything was hurting, I was aching. The Muslim guys were hurting for me. Before they found out I'm Jewish, they were saying things that they shouldn't say to a Jewish man. And they were blessing me. And then they had to take care of me because they committed their heart to do it, but they didn't want to do it for a Jew or a Christian. I was like, ha ha, look at God. But I'm doing it like, ha ha, look at God. And God did some work in me that made me realize what matters. And you can see it in the way I smile and the way I walk. And I'm not pointing it out because look at me. I'm pointing it out because look at him. And the way I preach. I mean, I haven't preached from just scriptures since I was 28. I said, God, last time we did this, we was an evangelist. And he said, well, I'm going to make you the type of people pastor that preaches rhema words. Now I know I'm called to pastor, I know I'm called to lead a multi campus church, a spirit led church. But I'm called first to lead this church and to build a church of the community in this church that operates in the community seven days a week in this church. Amen. So if you want to serve your community, if you want to Impact the Gold Coast. Can I say something? First, let pure religion start in here. The way you conduct yourselves with each other. Don't let people leave without saying hello. Get out of your cliques. Stop stopping and talking to the people that feed your joy. Talk to the people that don't feed your joy. Give them some joy. Because, like, the way Tina impacted me, it wasn't because I was giving joy back. You can't always just love the people that are lovable. You gotta love everybody. I used to say, you ain't gotta like everybody, but you gotta love everybody. Until I realized how wrong that is, too. Because in it is still a root of discontent and disappointment. You got to surrender to Jesus so that you can begin to see things through his eyes, not yours. So that you can forgive and trust and rely on him. And if we want to see the church that we always talk about, we gotta stop. We gotta start acting different. We got to start talking different. And we can't just be a part of friendly conversations. We sometimes looking around the room, okay, only babies. We sometimes got to piss each other off. I'm talk real. I can't go to this church anymore. He said that. Well, I don't really care. I'm going to be me. Let God rebuke me. All right? Sometimes you gotta make each other mad. Sometimes you gotta confront each other instead of, hey, man, did you see what Caitlin said the other day? Did you see, like, I'm expecting you to go tell her? Amen. You come to me. Let's come to each other. Love starts here. Love starts here. Before it can ever be good out there. And love mainly. Watch. This starts right here in your own heart. Who are you really? What do you really believe about yourself, about the world, about Christianity, about people? Begin to ask those hard questions to yourself and say, you know what, God? I need to change that. Because when I think about that, it gets this feeling in my gut, and I want that to go away. I'm tired of hurting. I'm tired of being angry. I'm tired of being anxious. I'm tired of wondering if people like me. I just want to be free to be me. Amen. Amen. I want to be free to be me. And if I'm colorful and pink, let me be me. I know y' all like that. If I was pink, but I ain't. Ain't no pink about me, girl. Maybe a little bit of purple, but not a lot of pink. Amen. You get lucky if I wear anything other than black and tan. I'm wearing Blue today, aren't I? I think it's blue. Yeah. But anyway, learn to be yourself when a church becomes free because Christ has set it free. Indeed. And they have a true revelation of what they believe, and we can unify around that. Stop looking this way. Well, that church doesn't have this, so I ain't going there. And he didn't say that. He's too funny. He's not reverent before the Lord. I need a hard minister. No, you don't. You couldn't handle that either. No matter what we give you, it's not enough until you are satisfied with God within yourself. Amen. It doesn't matter what we change, what we supply, what program we do. It doesn't matter. You gotta do this for you. You got to do this with Christ first. And then out of that, we become a community that impacts the Gold Coast. Amen. So let's all do better together. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, Pastor. Get out of my cookie jar. I will. Back in my day, I know I look young, but back in my day, the altar was a place I came and cried at. Fell before the Lord prostrate, begging him to not forsake me. Then one day I came to the altar. I was begging. Forgive me, Lord. I'm so sorry. Said, son, my son died for you to become my son. Is that not enough? I said, yes, it is. Lord, do you not know by now that I love you? Kinda. He said, I love you. Well, Lord, right now, life just doesn't. It doesn't feel. And he said, son, it may sometimes not. Sometimes it's gonna be filled with valleys, and it's gonna hurt. But that's why I'm here, to give you strength and give you a resting place when it's too hard to overcome, when you can't take a step, I'm there for you. When you don't know what to pray, My Holy Spirit gives you utterance when you don't know what to think. I send people to you. Do you not see me working in your life? I said, yes, Lord. Today, what do you believe? Do you believe God's way off and you got to bring him down? Do you believe he's here and you bring him out? God is surrounding you. David said, you immerse me. No matter where I go, Lord, if I go to the pits of hell, you are there. If I die and go on the ground, you are there. No matter where I go, you are there. You cannot escape God. And if you're ashamed of what you did or what you're doing, he's still right there loving you through it, so that you reject it and receive him. That is when your religion is developed through relationship and it begins to produce this purity that the world can see. I want to ask you a question. I want a real church. You want that? Then come proclaim it. Not that. Not that this step does anything. But what this does is show everybody else and shows you. I am taking a step to saying I want to walk in pure religion. And I need you to not be comfortable right now. I need you to shake in some awkwardness, and maybe we'll do it this way. If you want pure religion operating in your life, stand to your feet. Now. If you want to stay, sit down. Don't worry. It's all right. We're not going to shame you. Amen. It's kind of hard, Kyle. You're making everybody stand. Now. Pure religion is this. Jeremy talked to you about it in communion. Put your hand if they'll allow you. If you don't know them, ask their permission. Can I put my hand on your shoulder? Can someone come to this young lady here? Mariana. Don't let her be alone there. She gonna go back. Look at her. Don't let nobody go without. Pure religion is when you prefer the person next to you before yourself. Amen. Now, Jeremy, I'm gonna ask you to do me a favor. I want you to go up here with your wife. Amen. So begin to pray for the person next to you. If you know their name, speak their name. You know that baby's got a name. Hallelujah. The baby's got a name. Baby's got a beautiful name. Amen. So, Father, I thank you. Amen. Brother, do you mind if I come and pray with you? Would that be okay? You know, right, Father, I thank you right now. That this begin to work in me. That this begin to work in me. That I relinquish all my fears, my worries, my doubts, my concerns, my logic. And I just want to operate in the freedom that is found in Christ. Let there be no shame or guilt here. Let there be no looking around, but just I pray for the person next. Let Christ shine in the person. Let Christ shine in them, in their words and their actions, their deeds. Not birthed out of them trying and giving effort to be like Christ, but out of knowing Christ. And the Bible says, don't be conformed, but transformed by the renewing of your mind, which is found by reading the word of God. Therefore, you can fulfill the perfect will of God. So the more we learn of him, the more we walk with him and the more we act like him. So, Lord, I thank you that I want pure religion to be seen in my life. The outworking of what I'm bonded to, the outworking of what I believe, it's in Jesus name I pray and we all say amen. Come on, give the Lord a hand clap of praise. If you believe it, you receive it. You know, sit down for a second. I want to say one last thing. We're going to have some announcements because we're a small church. I'm going to be truthful. You know, a healthy church won't remain small. Have you looked around and seen how much this church is growing? But it's growing because of health. Now, we've put people in position and things in place for health, but that systems don't replace relationships. So one of the things I want to tell you is that we have opportunities to connect here at this church. From life groups to prayer calls to men's night men. This Friday, sign up to church suite. If you haven't yet make your way back to Patty, he can sign you up. It don't cost you a thing but your time. And then we have born to set us free. Our Christmas night of worship. You can find out more about that if you go. But can I tell you something this morning? You know, yesterday I called a friend driving to the airport coming back from Melbourne and I called a friend and we were talking about the message and I thought I was going to preach. I still haven't got to this series. The balance of faith and grace. The Lord's like, not yet, not yet, not yet. And I thought I was going to preach Follower, not a fan. Blessed. I had all these great messages that just make us feel good. And the Lord said, what's religion? He asked me that question, what's religion? I said, lord, the church is doing good right now. Do we really need this message? I'm gonna make a lot of people unhappy and kill a few cows. I don't think, Lord, if I can intrigue you, that this message pass us over. That's because of my thinking. I was trying to let logic lead me in that moment that maybe you wasn't ready for this. And that's not because I'm thinking less of you. It's because the world's not ready for this message. But maybe if we receive it, the world can be because they see it in us. Amen. And maybe as we walk more like Christ, we can realize that we can Connect Friday night as men, we're gonna have a great special guest. If you don't know who he is by now, he's sitting right there. Praise the Lord. Amen. And it's gonna be fun. There's gonna be lots of opportunities to connect. There's gonna be lots of opportunities to experience different things and just to be enlightened with the grace of God. Grace and Aiden are doing a lot as champions for the Lord. If you didn't see your social media post, she came over to Australia over a dolphin video. I wish I had that faith, Grace. Amen. But it's more than that. That was a joke he was telling two bags on her back. They both came believing the Lord. So come Friday night and support one of the partnerships of music that they do and hear his story then. We have so much going on that just get in church suite. If you're saying, I just don't feel connected at our church, it's because you're. You're not connecting. You know, I did a social media post that with, like, people that say, I have no friends at church. Also me. Church ends. Pew, pew, pew. You know, just get up and go out. They don't talk to anybody. If you want friends, you got to be friendly, folks. So be friendly and people will receive you. I've had to learn that I got to smile every once in a while to be approachable. Because when I'm walking around like this, you fix that and fix that and fix that. I look angry. So Tina's been telling me, when you come to the church next time, can you just not look at all the things you need to fix and just see the people? And I said, thank you, Jesus. So, Father, we thank you for this message today. We hope, we believe that today we will redeem at least in this space, what religion is. And we will release the language that the world's trying to teach us, to make us draw back from our devotion and our outworking of it, that we will be more bold and unashamed of what we believe. But it'll be seen in how we love. It'll be seen in how we live. It'll be seen in how we care. It'll be seen in how we serve. It'll be seen in the language of our lips. So, Father, don't let this message, don't let this message, please, God, please do not let this message pass this church by. Please install it in their hearts. Father, brethren, my brothers and sisters, please receive this message. Please go back and listen to it laugh at the jokes again, overlook the mistakes I made in context and language and just receive. I want to walk the way Jesus has called me to walk, what he came and died for, the freedom that he called me to live in. It's in Jesus name I pray and we all say Amen. God bless you is my prayer. Men, can we have more of our men at this Friday night than visitors? Let's do our best. Amen. Let's do our best. God bless you. Thank you for tuning in to today's message. To connect or find out more, you can reach us online at worldchangers.life. Remember to subscribe for more uplifting messages from our pastoral team, and may you continue to walk in faith and transformation until we meet again.