0:01 - Now what the sermon actually is about. And sometime in the future I'll use a great illustration about pressure washing the lizard. But right now I just want to get it out of my heart so I could think about the message. So, um, what, what, what the sermon is actually about is this the question we've been asking ourselves as can people really change? And I'm not talking about behavior modification, I'm talking about really core DNA pieces of who we are. Can that really change lasting change? Can people be transformed? So like can people that are self obsessed, obsessed, start caring about other people or can people who are angry start, start being peace givers? Can people who are catalyst start being more compassionate? Can, can people who are self righteous stop that and be more grace giving? Can people that are removed from, from intimate relationships to actually be engaged.

0:52 - Can people who are afraid move to being bold, can people who are anxious moved to being at risk and people who are into off the inauthentic moved to actually being real people? Can people move from being insecure to being secure? And Jesus. And the list goes on and on and on and on and on. Get addicted. People move, Dude. Unaddicted you know, whatever it is, can people change? And today what I want to look at is going to appear like a touchy subject for some of you. And I get that. I do. I want us to apply this change idea to society at large. Now we are inundated with voices crying for social change right now in our culture. I mean every kind of equal rights, social equality, sexual equality, which are all good things. But I think some people don't want change. They just want to fight. They just want to argue. I think that's kind of the what people are excited about. And so the people who lead these arguments that are going on in our culture society, they're not always the people that we want leading these arguments.

1:54 - Okay.

1:55 - And so here's what ends up happening. It's not necessarily the people that are the right people, but they end up being the loudest people or the people with the largest platforms. And so as a result, see if you agree with me, we allow kind of entertainers, athletes, and politicians to determine things for all of our society because they have the cameras in front of them.

2:17 - Okay?

2:17 - They may not be the people we want speaking for us, but they are. I tell you something I've started to do, whenever I hear a politician or an actor or athlete, get on there and spout off about something, how the world would be great if we all listened to them. I always go to see where they went to school and what they studied.

2:34 - It's like, oh, underwater basket weaving. I bet you that really helped you form society policies and all that of up. That's amazing. That's so I start thinking like that because I've got this dark mind, but here's what I've discovered. Consequently, these people are speaking and as a result, philosophers, sociologists, theologians, they're no longer part of the discussion and that should matter. That shouldn't matter because they're no longer part of the about what would be the best belief system for our society. The best ways that our society could function together and the value of a moral code in a society. None of those questions are being discussed because the people, the largest platform, loudest Mike to the ones who are forming what our society discusses. And as a result we sort of forgotten the power in our culture of unity. And we're at, we pride ourselves in this unity and I don't care what side of the aisle you sit on, it changes every four years.

3:31 - I get that. But we take more pride in what this group won't stand, when that group stands and what this group wants to and when that group stands. And we're proud of that. And I think we have a punch ourselves in the face for that. I just think that's wrong. I was struggling, I was reading this week have about an actor who was being asked just as sincere question about how you're handling all the fame that you've received. And part of his answer was great upbringing, blah, blah, blah. And I have a great church I belonged to that just got out into Twitter verse in some other actor responded on Twitter, criticizing that dude's church for their stance on the LGBTQ stuff. I see this, this unity, not just in culture people, but I'm also seeing it in church. Even our church. In fact, in a couple of weeks our friends United Methodist Church are going to go to bat over a huge issue that's dividing them. And then we kill each other on Facebook, which means we have to avoid each other in church.

4:37 - There are now words in our society that will get our anger instantly going, um, cause us to begin drafting an email. So I thought I'd just bring them out to you all so you can start right now. So how about this one? Abortion, man, that's a big issue right now, right? How about, how about racially quality? Watch this. How big an issue is that in the media, even a year to two years ago and now it's taken a back burner even though it still remains a huge issue to other issues. Um, socialism, Democrat, Republican, Trump Pelosi,

5:13 - the wall, the wall, gay marriage, immigration.

5:23 - Now all of us have opinions on all those issues because we all read the Facebook memes.

5:27 - Yeah.

5:31 - But I struggle with this. Nobody's winning any arguments, nobody's solving anything. We just argue. And then we look for more things to argue about. And even if we have to lie to make up our argument, we'd rather win the argument that actually solve the issue. And as a result, we're not winning. Society's not winning people. We, we are actually becoming more polarized and more divided. And I would suggest easier to, and if you're offended by that, you're proof. Okay. There you go.

6:07 - Well, now that you're thoroughly depressed, let's stand for closing prayer. I mean, that's just kind of a, I don't think many of us are going to disagree with where I am so far. You might've said it differently than I would, but it does lead me to what I want to talk about this morning. And we've been discussing this change paradigm, uh, in our, in our time in this series, and we're gonna apply it to some sticky situations. And today I want to go after these two questions. Um, does God desire for our society to change? And if so, how?

6:39 - Yeah.

6:39 - Does God desire for society to change? And if so, how? Now, if you haven't been here, let me just kind of remind you, cause you know, when you first read that sentence, you know my answer to that is, does God desire for a of change? Yes. How well everybody should think like I do, you know, then it would all be resolved. You know, we'd all get along and everything would be great. Um, to kind of remind you of the Change Paradigm that we've been discussing that we find in scripture. It goes like this. It starts with grace. And this is, this is the distinction because grace is something only God can do in the discussion. I can't bring grace into our discussion. The only God can bring grace into this discussion. Grace that restores us and grace that reveal some things that we think about ourselves and about others that's different than what God thinks.

7:29 - This is the beginning of the discussion and this is something only God can do. The next part is stuff that we do. So the next parts of it would be vision, intention and strategy. Do you have a vision for change? Do actually give a rip enough about it that we're going to do something and if so, what are we going to do? Now, here's, here's a, here's the bomb diggity of distinctions right here. Grace is what God does. This is what we do. The discussions going on in our society right now don't have that. You see, that's where we're all bickering and fighting and non on each other because we haven't started with what God only God can do and what we've started with is here's one person's opinion about what we should do. Here's another person's opinion about what we should do. Now let's fight one, two, three, go.

8:20 - And then the whole thing we start finding, do you see this? It's happening in our culture, in our society, all over the place, but this is what scripture says scripture. He said, this is actually a process that can lead to real change and we've been applying it. We applied it to our own lives when we've applied it to different areas. What does, what does it mean for society? What's the scripture actually says this? The outcome of that process is freedom. It's freedom. Not just freedom in one area, but a whole mess of freedom. How do we know this? Well, it's for freedom. This is Galatians five it's for freedom. Christ has set us free. Oh, so what you're saying is it's for freedom.

9:04 - Yeah,

9:05 - that Christ has set us free and he thank God I don't get well. That's exactly what that means. Stand firm. Then he says, and don't let yourselves be burdened again by Yoga slavery. Now there's a question that I would ask if I were you and that is freedom from what? Freedom from what he's like. Change is not necessarily a good thing. Change for change sake. Freedom is not necessarily a good thing unless we know what we're free from. Well, a couple of verses earlier, Paul Answers this question and I'm going to take us around the block this morning. Now, listen, I've been through this a couple of times and had been built once this morning. Here's what I know in the next few moments. Some of you are going to find an opportunity to get a blessed at time of rest. You're going to kind of nap, and that's okay. If that's a, that could be the most spiritual thing you need to do today because I've got to actually lay a tremendous groundwork to get to the point of answering this question.

9:55 - So if I lose you the next few moments, stay with me. We'll have something nice at the end, okay? But if you can engage with me, because this is where it gets really complicated, but also very rich. A couple verses earlier from this verse. Paul writes this in Galatians chapter three and this is what he says, he redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the gentiles. Just whenever you see gentiles, that's for anybody who's not Jewish, which is probably most of us come to the gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the spirit. Now, if you're a normal person from human being, this verse does nothing for you. Like, okay, what does all that mean? And, and I get that. Um, so let, let me look at this just a minute. God redeemed us. Set Us free in order that the blessing given to Abraham. Now we've got to figure out what that is. Whatever that is might come to the good folks in central South Carolina.

10:56 - Okay?

10:56 - Through Christ Jesus. So here's what I'm saying, if that blessing to give than to Abraham is lottery numbers, somebody need to cut a check. You know what I'm saying? Somebody, somebody, if that's what that is, I want that. So what is this blessing given to Abraham? So we by faith, receive problems. The Holy Spirit. Now this thing actually may cause some confusion, but it's going to get to our earlier question. Does God wants society changing? So how Abraham's a big deal in the story of God. I was at a conference in Orlando a couple of weeks ago, and the guy at those doing hotel banquet, the guy the banquet waiting on us, um, was Jewish and he could trace his lineage all the way back to the tribe of Levi, one of Abraham's sons.

11:42 - He said, yeah, he said, he said it with a little like an attitude, which I'm sure I'm going to insult somebody by, by mimicking him. But it was kind of like a, yeah, we take care of the temple. That's what we do. I was like, wow, that's amazing. Can I sell more water? You know, casket when a, when a great moment. But that's what I said. So he could trace it all the way back. So Abraham's is big deal to the Jewish people. It's a huge deal. Every Jewish person can trace them back to Abraham. Now apparently, whatever blessing God gives Abraham people who believe receive it. And once we receive it, Jesus gives that blessing to people around us. Don't Miss Abraham gets a blessing from God. We can get that same blessing. And once we receive whatever blessing that is, the people we are doing life around, he society also get that blessing. You follow this? This is what scripture saying. So what was the blessing? What the get that you go all the way back to genesis chapter 12 God and Abraham or having a discussion.

12:42 - Yeah.

12:43 - God is speaking to Abraham and he says this, Abraham, I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you.

12:51 - Yeah,

12:52 - I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse. And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Why does this first matter? Because Paul said whatever blessing gave Abraham same blessing given to us as gentiles. See?

13:17 - Yeah.

13:18 - So we've gotta figure out what he's talking about here. Now, first thing out of the gate for me, whenever I read this word curse, I get a little bothered because I started thinking like purses, like a Voodoo and witchcraft and fruitcake. You know, all these things in society that are so evil. You think, man, I don't, I don't want any curse. Well, for this context, cursors, just someone who chooses not to receive God's blessing. That's what a curse is. So it's like here's God's blessing. And a curse is me choosing not to participate in the blessing. So it's actually something I bring on myself. That's curse. Blessing is something different. That's an important word. And in this context, blessing. Blessed. I burned my fingers. Did it tell you all about my lizard and the pressure Washer Hoe, boy, blessing blessing means three things. Here's what blessing means. First, it means we're God's people. According to Abraham. Discussion, we are God's people. So the gentile blessing is Abraham's blessings, a gentile blessings. So it means this. We are all sons and daughters of God. We are God's errors. We are part of God's family. If we believe, if we believe our faith in Jesus makes us family, that's the first blessing. We're God's people. The second God part of God's blessing is this. God takes care of his people.

14:40 - Okay?

14:41 - God's going to take care of you and me. If we believe he'll take care. He watches out for his family just like you. Watch out for yours. God was the first original mama bear. He takes care of his people.

14:57 - Now those first two parts of the blessing are the grace part of our change paradigm. These aren't things that we could do. These are things God does for us. You are my people and I'm going to take care of you. The third thing is where we put skin in the game where God gives us the option. God's people become blessings. This is where vision, intention and strategy come into play. This is where you and I have to decide. Now when I think of blessing, I think of something we say before we eat. We say a blessing or I think of little babies cause when our kids were little babies, they were blessings,

15:54 - but the blessing of Abraham is actually something different. It's not a cute little prayer. It's not a cute little baby. When God says blessing to Abraham, it actually has power and strength. This is in a southern all bless their heart. That's not this. That's not this. This is a powerful thing. When God offers blessing and scripture, it always accompanies a promise and power for that promise, so it looks like this. The promise that God says to Abraham is, you're going to become my people. That's the promise. I'm going to make you my people. The fact we're gathering this place and some of us believe is proof that that blessing actually took place. I, I am going to make you my people. Now watch this. Here comes power, intent and strategy. I'm going to do whatever it takes for my promise to be true. God is saying, you're going to be my people. There it is grace and I'm making this choice vision. You're going to be my people. The power I'm going to do whatever it takes for this promise to be true. What was God's strategy?

16:57 - Jesus

17:00 - strategy is I'm going to send my son to die for your sin, to pay the wage of your sin in order that you could actually be my people. All right? All right. All right. All right. Let me, let me see if the help, if you, if you order something online these days, let's say you order something on Amazon, the good people at Amazon will send you a very personal email and the very personal email includes your kind of order, maybe a status, and then some proof of purchase, right? So we've got this email has got this proof of purchase and basically this is what it is. This is the proof of purchase that what you ordered online will be delivered to your doorstep. Here's the proof that what you've been promised. We'll be show up at your doorstep and you'll get it before the dogs. You know? That's kind of what that is. It's this proof of purchase. In many ways. If I summarized all of this, I would suggest the blessing is actually God's proof of purchase in a person's life and in society. God's people, the family become proof of purchase of God's promise. Let me say it like this. Grace has invited me into the Kingdom of God. I am now a child of God adopted into God's family. And as a result, believers are to be living proof that the Kingdom of God is actually

18:36 - here.

18:40 - And you start running this out. And whether or not God is our society to change believers, those of us who believe you don't believe you. No, no, no. Believers are living proof that the Kingdom of God, it's actually here who has promise, who has power, who shows up? People of God. We do.

19:05 - Why?

19:07 - So everybody will be blessed through us. And this gets to the question of the morning,

19:15 - okay,

19:16 - does God desire for society if you'd change? And if so, how? I just brought three versus you can look this up. I mean there's a mess of verses in there. This one's from Isaiah. Seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless and plead the case of the widow. Does God desire for society to change? How about this one from psalm rescue, the weak and needy, deliver them from the hand of the wicked. And then this one is from Jeremiah. This is what the Lord says. Do what is just and right people of God rescue from the hand of his oppressor, the one who has been robbed do not wrong or or do violence to the alien, do no wrong or vice to alien the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place. Does God desire for society to change? Absolutely he does. So the next question is

20:26 - how

20:29 - the New Testament tells the popular parable of a dude who gets beat to a Paul points going on a road and none of his religious people help, but actually the enemy helps him and takes care of them. Why should we even care of this? I mean, just putting it all out there. I've got a really good life.

20:52 - Okay,

20:53 - I've got things, Tom, because I worked for things, Tom,

20:56 - okay,

21:00 - if we'd all just get jobs, why should we even care? Well, because people of God, you are the proof of purchase. James says this in James Man, he'll cut you with a knife. He's amazing. James, he says, suppose or brothers, sisters without clothes and daily food. And one. He all says to him, go, I wish you well what he's saying, it's one of you says bless their heart.

21:45 - Go, I wish you well. Keep warm and well fed, but then does nothing about his physical need. James says, what good are Ya? Well, he says it a little more nicer, but well, what good is that? I'm starving to death. All bless your little heart. And James says, what good is that? And James is right now, we live in the intergeneration in at a time when their social justice has become an obsession in our culture. And I don't know who's pushing it. I really don't. I have an idea, but it's not for this platform for me to share, but social justice is becomes the top. We will march to anything, anything we can do to raise an awareness about any issue. We're all about it. We're going to go to conferences, we're going to draw things on our hands and then post a picture on Facebook or we're going to wear a certain color clothing. All these things are good in all of these things. Make us feel better. But listen, ultimately they produce very little change. Ultimately what we're doing is saying, I see you're hurting but I'm not going to do anything about it.

22:49 - And we do lots of talking in this socially obsessed social justice obsessed culture, but very little doing now if having offended non getting ready too. So send your email to me@phaithcaulkandalivewesleyan.com write that down everybody. So see if you agree with what I'm saying. Jesus was murdered by a political system. He never showed any interest in changing. He cared less what the Romans were doing. I would suggest this and this is where you might get upset. Jesus was not a social justice warrior. Jesus was something you have never heard of before. He was a social justice servant and that's how he changed the world. That's how he changed the world. Not by getting in front of someone and getting in front of a mic and spitting and spiel and the latest Facebook meme we saw,

23:46 - but

23:46 - by bending the knee and serving the fire out of people,

23:53 - I grew up poor, our our family was, was really poor. We would have been dirt poor, but we couldn't afford dirt. So we were really, really, really poor. And, um, and my dad worked. I mean, so he was, he was, uh, he traveled and spoke, which meant we were starving. And, um, and so we are really poor. Fifth Grade. Um, we would, we were living in a place of great family, please, you know, don't feel sorry. This was a great family. We were poor but didn't know what kind of thing. You know, we're, we have great. And, um, at certain times, you know, we didn't have any water in the house, so we'd go down to the gas stations and used to be, I'll get water for free before someone realized you could bottle it and sell it. But anyway, so you get the water and we'd use it at the house cause we didn't have any water in the house.

24:36 - So it was that kind of situation sometimes. And, um, I'll never forget one night we were sitting home and, uh, we're getting ready to eat our meal, their five kids and mom and dad. And so we're all gathered around the table. And I could, and hindsight, there was tension that I wasn't aware of because I'm in the fifth grade and um, mom set the meal down in front of us and all of us had this little bowl of rice and some red sauce on top of it. Now the kids in our family all think the red sauce was ketchup. Mom swears it was something a little nicer, but I don't know. So that's essentially, it was like that. I mean, we looked at it and we looked up at each other like, you know what has happened right here? What's going on is this is, and um, mom and dad were both carrying await that particular meal. In fact, I would even say mom had some tears in her eyes in reflection of it. So we sit there around our table getting ready to eat this meal and we pray and we thank God for the meal that's before us. My heart wasn't that thankful, but we prayed and thanked God for the meal that was before us. And we started to eat

25:43 - rice and tomato sauce and we heard,

25:52 - well those five little kids reading rice, so we all ran to the door and you at the door where the prettiest brown paper bags you have ever seen in your life filled with groceries.

26:11 - Let me tell you something. This was friends from our church. Guess what?

26:17 - It wasn't God at the door.

26:21 - It was you. You were at the door.

26:27 - You were the one that said, hey, it was hard and kids are dying on a vine. Let's get them some groceries.

26:36 - What do you want to think? We should get them? Well, let's just get them some pop tarts and any healthy stuff. No, no. You know, let's get them all this. Whatever, hey goes, anything you can do. Serial was sugar on it. This is going to be fantastic. They're going to love, and this family went out and, and did what God wanted them to do. Do you understand? It wasn't God at the door. It was you. And I know I should make this a great preaching point and say, oh, but it really was God at the door. But I don't want to do that because we'll miss the area of responsibility where it was actually you. You were proof of purchase to the hardings that night. You were so that now at 29 years old, I can still remember when you all came to the door and you showed up at the door with bags full of love because God had blessed you and you are a blessing to other people. They were proof of purchase. So here's what I got for Ya. It's a very complex solution to a very complex problem. I hope you're able to follow along with me, but here's what I think we ought to do. Trust God to make us better people.

27:56 - When someone needs help,

27:58 - give it

28:02 - everybody. Put your hands up like this and do that. We've done now that's it. That's all we got to do, right? We just solve the problem in the world just now. We did it. You confused. Let me start again. Trust God to make you into a better person and then someone needs help.

28:25 - Give it,

28:27 - well, I don't have a whole lot. It doesn't matter. You get a bag of groceries and show up at the door. Now the question becomes, because probably everybody in the room would say, even if you don't believe he'd say, Tom, that's not like a good thing to do in life. It is so why don't we do it? Well, first I don't. There's two reasons I don't think we see people like God sees. People see, scripture teaches. Everybody is made in God's image. Even that person you don't like, even that person you didn't vote for, even that person, you say, well, if they just get a job, apparently scripture teaches that everybody's made in God's image. It's difficult to hate somebody that you understand, but it is so easy to hate somebody that you've labeled. God didn't make any throwaway people. He didn't. Don't let anybody rob you of that. Don't let anybody dehumanize you because of that should. The question is, who do you struggle seeing the image of God in? Is it the alien or the immigrant? Is it a person who has a different sexual attraction than you do? Is it a person who voted a different way than you do and did? Who Do you struggle seeing the image of God in? Because of everything I've seen in scriptures, this, that image is in there.

30:03 - Doesn't mean you agree with everything, but that image is in there and nothing you do can totally cancel out the image of God. And so I think we struggle. It's one reason to see people like God. Here's the second reason I don't think we see ourselves like God sees us and something has to change in our hearts. We have missed the CT DNA identity piece of believers that God makes us better people so we can help people that need our help. Instead we'd rather blast each other

30:38 - and divide. So

30:41 - That's apply the change paradigm to this particular issue.

30:46 - Grace Changing

30:48 - in society, grace, restoring grace has God forgives me and frees me from the result of my sin. He paid the wage of my sin. So if that restoring grace is true for me, is it possible? It is true for you? Is it possible? It is true for the person that I love to hate because of the label I have on them.

31:13 - That's restoring grace, revealing grace. What do you believe about yourself or about another person that is different than what God says is right and true? That's where the whole discussion begins and friends outside the walls of the church. This will not be part of the discussion.

31:39 - Come on, be awakened. Be alert, understand this. You have a right to know this stuff. This will not be part of the discussion outside the walls of the church. Who in society do you struggle seeing as God sees vision, now we're putting skin in the game. What would that person look like if you believed what Jesus described as writing true for them, not just me, but actually right and true for them. What would your relationship or position looked like if you saw that person or that group or people as God sees you? Would they be more vulnerable, more afraid, more lost, and then intent? Do you really intend to give a rip or dish? Want to hear this and get on out the door, which I get. Just be honest with yourself. Do you intend to actually give a rip what you want to change the way I vote? No. No. I'm not saying that at all.

32:49 - I personally don't think you can vote anyway and go ride anymore. I really don't. I don't know how you're supposed to vote.

32:54 - Okay.

32:57 - But I think the Kingdom of God and the people who are part of the Kingdom of God should be characterized by sacrifice and service. And I think that could change a society strategy. What's one practical thing that can move you into the game? What game? Trust God to make us into better people. And this week, this day, when you see someone that needs help give it, now you're in the game. Don't call the church. Hey, you know we need a big ministry initiative. No, we don't. God's given you paper bag. Now show up at the door.

33:53 - Yeah.

33:54 - Oh, we need to change. You know their literacy. Yeah. Volunteer at the school and do it.

34:02 - You're God's proof of purchase. Listen. The church was never designed to be a place where people gather once a week to get their religious buzz and talk about how bad the world is and how good we are. Church is a cluster of people placed strategically in communities around the world that are seeking to change the communities they are part of how by being proofs of purchase that God's kingdom is here. That's what you do. That's what I do. We don't need big programs. All we need is about 2000 people that gathered to worship under your live banner, willing to apply this truth to their lives. That's it. And if you'll engage in, I'll engage in would be willing to do that. Guess what? Within a week

34:56 - our community would change.

34:59 - Within a week.

35:03 - Our community would change. Jesus showed up for the hungry and the poor, the lonely and the rejected. Maybe believers out of show up for them too. That's all I'm saying. So you want to be part of society change. Yes. March, wear tee shirts, put banners on your car, all that stuff. But ultimately when someone says, what are you doing to change the world? All of us should have a story that shows this. I found out this dude lot more broke at a lizard in the pressure washer. I found out there was an orphanage in Haiti

35:59 - and so

36:01 - every money, every bit of money I give to the church, I part of that actually goes down

36:07 - there.

36:09 - I want to be part of that world and I hope when you do to Jesus, thank you for your goodness to us in your love. These are beautiful people or look at them. Oh my gracious, I'm so grateful that they gave me this opportunity to share with them weekend and week out and so grateful for the hearts, Lord, that are receptive, so thankful, Lord, for all the different stories represented in these seats, those watching online and thankful Lord for the Stanleys and allowing them to be with us today a heart is full and Lord, as I read this scripture and I stand before my brothers and sisters, if there is any way that's outside of you, then let us know. But as we read this scripture and I read about Abraham's blessing and we understand, wow, we've received in order that we might be a blessing to all people. I want to own that Lord, and I want to be in a community that owns it. And so Lord, we give you permission to speak to our hearts clearly, directly, concisely. And if we miss it one time, speak again, speak again. We're willing to be the proofs of purchase or willing to carry the bags to the door in order that society would change in your name. Amen.