[PASTOR MICHAEL NOVOTNY]
When it comes to your
relationship with God -
your forgiveness, your
peace, your joy and your
salvation - I have some
really good news.
It's not about you!
It was never about you and
it will never be about
you.
What do I mean by that?
Find out next on Time of
Grace.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MICHAEL
NOVOTNY] Jim Gaffigan has
this bit about going to
the gym and when he goes
to the gym, the walls are
covered in mirrors.
And he says, like, "I know
how I look.
I don't want to look at
myself when I go to the
gym.
That's why I'm at the
gym." [Pastor: Laughter]
And then he goes into this
little bit; I'm going to
try to do my best
impression but I'm a
preacher not a comedian so
show me some grace, huh?
He says, "You know, can
you imagine the people who
like the mirrors at the
gym?
Like, 'While I work on
myself, I'm gonna look at
myself.
And I'm going to leaf
through my Self magazine
to see how myself can
improve myself.
And then I'll go on social
media and look at pictures
of myself and read about
myself that's written
about myself." [Pastor and
Audience: Laughter] Okay,
I'll stick to the pastor
gig.
But he's right, huh?
There's self-esteem in our
world and there's
self-hope and there's
selfies.
When we buy a phone these
days, right, we don't just
need a camera on the back
of it; we need one on the
front because that's what
we do.
In our culture it's so
much about self and our
culture pushes us to think
so much about me, myself
and I.
You know the worst thing
though?
The worst thing is when
that happens when you come
here.
When you open your Bible
or when you come to church
and you spend most of your
time thinking about you.
Am I good Christian
person?
Do I love God with enough
of my heart?
Do I give enough?
Am I patient?
Am I pure?
Am I generous?
Am I kind?
Do I share my faith?
Am I here because I want
to worship God or because
I feel the obligation to
be?
Do I share my faith so I
don't feel guilty or
because I want to?
I'm singing these songs to
Jesus but I'm kind of
thinking about how my
voice sounds and the
sounds of the voices of
the people behind me.
And that's why today we
need a rebel yell.
We need this rebellious
cry from inside the church
against all the Christian
self-help and the three
tips about that and the
five steps to a better
this.
We need to step away from
the mirror, maybe smash
most of the mirrors in our
spiritual house, and
instead turn our focus
somewhere else.
That's what I want to give
to you today; I'm going to
give you a place where you
can go for deep spiritual
happiness, for joy, for
contentment.
And it's not a mirror;
it's a cross.
So just in case you fall
asleep while I'm talking,
I want to give you the big
idea upfront.
It's not about you.
When it comes to you and
God, when it comes to joy
and peace and contentment,
it's not about you.
I'm going to apologize to
your self-esteem but it's
not about you, it never
was about you, it never
will be about you, it's
always been about grace
and Jesus Christ.
See, that's what one of
the most famous chapters
of the entire Bible says.
If you grew up in church,
you might be familiar that
there are over 1,200
chapters in the Bible but
one that is quoted perhaps
more than any other is
Ephesians 2.
The end of the verses are
so famous they put them on
walls and homes and in
churches; kids memorize
them as they're growing
up.
Paul starts the chapter in
a pretty heavy way but I
guarantee by the end of it
he will give you so much
good news that if you
can't smile after this
message, something is
deeply wrong with your
soul.
And even if it is, it's
still not about you.
[Pastor and Audience:
Laughter] Here's what the
apostle Paul said to his
friends in Ephesus.
He said, "As for you,
you're dead in your
transgressions and sins in
which you used to live
when you followed the ways
of this world and of the
ruler of the kingdom of
the air, the spirit who is
now at work in those who
are disobedient." Paul
says, "As for you," and
he's talking about his
friends who were Gentiles.
Do you know what that word
means?
They were people who
weren't descendants of
Abraham; that famous
father of the Jewish
nation from about 2,000
B.C.
And it's a bit of a
stereotype but in the
ancient world, Gentiles
tended to not be very
morally conservative.
If the average Jewish
person grew up kind of
like an Amish farm girl,
the average Gentile grew
up like a college frat boy
and the religion actually
pushed them towards it.
In Ephesus, one of the
most popular gods to
worship was the god of
wine named Dionysus.
And a way you could
worship Dionysus was to
drink the grapes that he
had given to you.
You drink so much that you
would vomit was your way
of worship; you get drunk
and hungover and that was
religion.
If that weren't enough,
Ephesus was also the home
of one of the seven
wonders of the ancient
world; the temple of
Artemis.
Don't google her; she is
known as "many breasted"
Artemis, the famous
goddess of fertility.
So worshipping her you can
just imagine didn't
exactly make you chaste
and pure; instead there
was prostitution and there
were temple shrines and
there were sexual impurity
and that was called
worship.
And Paul says because of
that, you've ruled - you
grew up following the ways
of this world and of the
ruler of the kingdom of
the air.
He said, you know, you're
just doing what the world
did; how the culture lived
and you followed the ruler
of the kingdom of the air.
That was a really curious
nickname for the devil.
You know what air is?
It's invisible.
It's all around us but we
don't see it.
We breathe it in, we live
off of it, but we don't
even think and that's kind
of how the devil is,
right?
He's not a guy in like a
red jumpsuit with a pitch
fork; he's just invisibly
influencing culture in a
way you don't even know
it.
You just breathe it in and
you live it and it feels
normal.
And Paul says because of
that, because of Dionysus,
and because of the devil
and because of Artemis,
you were dead in your
sins; he says that to his
friends.
That is a pretty loaded
word in the Bible.
It means obviously when
you're dead you can't do
anything to make yourself
alive; we'll talk about
that later.
But it also is kind of a
slang in Paul's
terminology to distance
from God.
Like if you're far, far
away from the heart of God
and the presence of God
and the will of God, the
Bible would say you're
dead.
Now you might know the
story Jesus told; the
parable of the Prodigal
Son.
When this kid disrespects
his dad and Jesus says he
goes off to a "distant
country." And when he
comes back, what does his
father say?
"We have to celebrate
because this son of mine
was dead.
He was so far away from my
voice and my heart and my
blessings and my love, he
was dead." And Paul says
to his friends - and he
loves them but he's blunt
- he says, "As for you,
back before Jesus, you were
dead." I have to ask kind
of a tough question: Have
any of you been there?
Did any of you grow up,
you know, really far, far
from the church?
Far from the Bible and far
from Jesus?
I know some of you like
maybe stopped in church
for a wedding or a
funeral, maybe a Christmas
or an Easter service, and
maybe you prayed when
things were bad and mom
was really sick or you
were broke and didn't know
what to do, you know,
"God, if you're up there."
But some of us would admit
in the past we were pretty
distant from God.
When we figured out how to
spend our time, we didn't
exactly open a Bible.
What do I do with my body?
How much alcohol should I
drink?
What do I do when someone
disses me?
We didn't look for a
chapter and verse; we were
distant from God.
Our life, our goals, our
eternity, we didn't think
much about Jesus and his
wants and his will and his
heart.
We were dead.
And maybe some of you were
in that place even now;
like you'd admit, "Yeah, I
don't even know what God
says.
I don't even know what God
wants.
I don't even know where I
would turn in this book to
find answers to my
questions." So if you're
dead, if you're distant
from God, how do you get
life?
Eternal life?
Now Paul's going to answer
that question in these
famous verses but first he
wants to talk to people
who grew up like I did;
the Jewish people.
Paul continues in
Ephesians 2 and he says,
"All of us," talking about
his fellow Jews, "All of
us also lived among the
Gentiles at one time,
gratifying the cravings of
our flesh and following
its desires and thoughts.
Like the rest, we were by
nature deserving of
wrath." That's a crazy
thing to say, isn't it?
Like Paul was one of the
good people in his
neighborhood and he said
we were dead too!
He said we were by nature
deserving of God's wrath.
I mean, this would be like
your kindest, humblest,
most compassionate friend
reading the president's
Twitter feed and saying,
"Me, too." You'd say, "No,
no, no.
That's not you, Paul!"
And Paul's basically
saying to people like me
who grew up in church and
with religion and with the
Scriptures - I mean,
Dionysus, I didn't have a
beer until after I turned
twenty-one.
I was a virgin until my
wedding night.
I would drive the speed
limit in the left lane of
the highway, which I found
out was a very bad thing
to do.
I would go to church.
In my whole life, I don't
think I have missed two
Sundays in a row of going
to church.
For my first job, I would
give 10 percent pre-taxed
to God and yet, people
would say to people like
me, "You're dead." By
nature, you deserve the
back of God's hand.
And you want to say,
"Whoa, Paul.
Like how do you figure
that?
How do religious, devout,
churchgoing people end up
distant from God?"
And here's this little
hint in here.
He says, "Because we were
gratifying the cravings of
our flesh and following
its desires and thoughts."
Paul says you can actually
be a very, very religious
person and be so
self-obsessed that you end
up far, far from the heart
of God.
And so Paul makes this
like universally
condemning claim: We all,
by our very nature,
deserve to be distant from
God.
So how do you fix that?
I mean, if you're just
distance, I suppose, if
that's the metaphor, you
could walk back home.
But if you're dead, how do
you get alive?
Well, here is where our
world will trick you with
eternal consequences.
Self-help.
Fix your karma.
Improve yourself.
Try a little bit harder.
I've realized that
there is something in
my heart that thinks
that, too.
Have you ever had a really
good spiritual day and you
wake up and you're just,
you know, you're good with
God?
And have you ever had like
a nightmare of a spiritual
day and you wake up and
how do you feel?
Like God's mad, like God's
disappointed; like this is
kind of about me making
God happy with my life.
But Paul won't have it.
I mean, Paul is so good
and Paul is so godly that
he wants to tell the
Ephesians and he wants to
tell you today it's not
about you!
Okay, you unchurched
people who've been hooking
up and getting drunk.
And Artemis and Dionysus
and distant from God, it's
not about you.
And even you church people
who've been relying on
yourself and focusing on
yourself, it's not about
you.
And this is really the
message that has been
changing churches for
hundreds and thousands of
years.
It's what the story of
Martin Luther is all
about.
You know that history?
About 500 years ago, there
was this Catholic monk and
priest named Martin Luther
and he was brilliant and
he was tech savvy and as
historians will tell you,
he was a very flawed man
who could say some really
snarky, vile things in his
later years.
But Luther's greatest gift
perhaps was his conscience
because Luther knew that
God was so good, to
actually be close to him
and not distant you had to
be really, really good.
And so when the church of
his day said, "You know,
if you just buy this
little piece of paper, you
can get close to God and
your family members can,
too." Luther said, "No.
God is way better than
that.
You need more than a few
coins." But it wasn't just
the bad, greedy church out
there that bothered him.
What bothered Luther even
more was himself.
He was passionate about
the commandments of God.
He would pray for hours.
He would sleep on the
floor.
He would whip himself and
try to confess every sin
he had committed and
people told him like,
"Okay, everyone does this.
You're human." But he
said, "No, to get close to
God, you have to be better
than your average human."
And he tried and he tried
and he tried and he tried
and do you know what
happened?
He hated God.
He hated him.
He said, "All God says is
be good, love me with your
whole heart.
Love every person as much
as yourself and I can't."
I mean, Luther trained
like a spiritual Olympian
but he realized the
distance between him and
God was like the Grand
Canyon and he could never
jump far enough.
And just when he despised
God, the most amazing
thing happened.
He read a passage in the
book of Romans and here's
what the passage said.
He said that
"Righteousness," the
apostle Paul wrote, "is by
faith." Righteousness,
getting right with God,
being close to God, is not
about you; it's by faith.
And Luther asked, "Well,
faith and what?
My performance?
My effort?
My improvement?
My karma?"
He said, "No, no, no.
Faith in Jesus." It's like
Luther, his whole life,
had been taking a selfie
and he never looked quite
good enough until he hit
that little button and
focused on someone else
that wasn't himself.
And once he saw it, once
the Bible and God and
religion and church was
not about me and my prayer
life and my improvement,
once it was about Jesus,
he said everything
changed.
Like this joy came
bursting in his heart and
he had to tell everyone he
knew.
He wouldn't stop until he
could tell the whole
world.
And Paul says this so
beautifully; here's the
good news.
Paul says in Ephesians 2:
"But because of his great
love for us," we were all
dead, deserved God's
wrath, but because of his
great love for us, "God,
who is rich in mercy, made
us alive with Christ even
when we were dead in
transgressions.
It is by grace you have
been saved." He repeats
himself: "It is by grace
you have been saved
through faith, and this is
not from yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not
by works, so that no one
can boast." [Pastor:
Laughter] How much time
can you spend with me
today because I need about
six hours for that little
passage.
It's so beautiful, isn't
it?
But because of his great
love for us.
Paul doesn't say because
of your great love for
God.
He says, no, even when
you're dead, God has love
- and not just a little
love or good love - he had
great love.
And because of that, he's
rich in mercy.
You know the word mercy?
When you do something
wrong; when the
punishment's coming and
mom or dad has mercy and
they let you off the hook?
God's rich in it; his
mercy is new every single
morning.
Every day when you wake
up, God is like the Bill
Gates of mercy and he has
billions of blessings and
he forgets a thousand sins
from the past day and he
treats you like you don't
deserve.
And Paul says because of
that, he made us alive
with Christ.
Some of you should get
that tattooed on your face
because it is so
incredible.
Remember, if dead is
distant, what's alive?
Right next to God.
How close to God?
He says, "With Christ."
Jesus is sitting at the
right hand of his Father.
He is as close to God's
heart as he can possibly
be and where are you
sitting by faith?
With Christ.
And who did that?
Did you make yourself
alive?
No, look at the verb: "He"
made us alive with Christ
even when we're dead.
And after all the struggle
and after all the sin,
where am I?
I'm seated with Jesus in
heavenly places.
God cannot privilege me
more than he already does
and that message is true
for you, too.
Then Paul just explodes
the dynamite, doesn't he?
He says, "It is by grace
you have been saved."
Alright, saved means
rescued from danger in the
Bible.
Think of a kid who is
unconscious in a pool.
He can't save himself;
he's in deep danger.
The lifeguard dives in;
that's being saved.
How does that happen by
grace?
Some preachers say grace
is undeserved love.
I love to say grace is
when God loves you with no
reason to.
Like, I love custard
because it's delicious.
You might love your dog
because he's faithful.
You might be attracted to
this boy because he's
funny and beautiful.
It's something in the
thing, the object, that
causes you to love and
desire, right?
Grace is when there's
nothing in the object but
God still chooses to love
it.
It's by grace.
You say, why did God
rescue us?
Why does he rescue us?
Because he wants to!
Because he's rich in
mercy; because of his
great love for us.
And then Paul just punches
again and again; he says,
"This is through faith.
It's not about you.
It's not from yourselves,"
which means it's not about
you.
"It's the gift of God,"
which also means it's not
about you.
"It's not by works," which
I think means it's not
about you, "So that no one
can boast," because it's
not about you.
All of these blessings,
the best things that God
can give for all eternity,
it's not because you did
it right; it's because
Jesus did.
And when we focus our eyes
on that, right, you feel
the difference in your
heart already.
It's not about me; how am
I doing.
It's about Jesus; how's he
doing?
He's perfect and God
delights in him and that's
why he delights in me.
So I know you struggle but
here's what Paul wants to
tell you; here's what God
wants to tell you.
The way he feels about you
has never been about you.
And maybe you haven't been
sexually pure, maybe you
moved in before marriage.
Maybe you got pregnant,
maybe you went to the
clinic, and maybe you
can't take that back.
It's not about you.
Maybe there are a lot of
years, not just college,
but a lot of years when
you didn't think about
church or God or
generosity or evangelism.
Okay.
But it's not about you.
Maybe you're struggling
with an addiction; maybe
you just can't get a hold
of your words and your
attitude toward food or
alcohol.
Let's work on that but in
the end it's not about
you.
When God is trying to
figure out how he feels
about you, he just looks
at Jesus and then he turns
his face towards you and
his expression does not
change.
That's what some of my
best friends told me.
A few years ago, I met
these two people who were
dead; like distant from
God.
She had actually never
been in a Christian church
in her entire life.
But here they came and God
gave me the privilege of
sharing this with them:
"It's by grace you've been
saved." God makes us alive
and God did; he did what
he loves to do.
He gave life to their
hearts.
And it was so great to see
them come to Jesus but
then God like put grace on
top of grace and they
became two of my closest
friends.
In fact, most Sundays
after I preach, I end up
at their house and they
make me a huge meal, we
watch shows about zombies
because my wife watches
shows about zombies with
me, we have this great
time and we laugh and I
can be real with them.
But the other day before
we start the show, do you
know what happened?
I ran to the bathroom and
I went to wash my hands
and I got the soap and the
water and I looked out and
there's a post-it note
right in the middle of the
mirror.
Do you know what it said?
"It's not about you." Here
these new Christians will
get up every single
morning and no matter what
happened yesterday, what
would look them right in
the face, they couldn't
get around it, it's not
about you.
Now I don't know if you
want to put a sticky note
on your mirror, on your
steering wheel, on your
office, on your computer,
next to your bed, or just
put it on your heart
today.
That whenever I feel less
than, whenever the
comparisons weigh down my
heart, whenever my joy is
too small, I look at Jesus
and I smile and I said,
"But, but, but it's not
about you.
It's about him." Thank God
for that.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MICHAEL
NOVOTNY] I hope you
enjoyed that message about
the comfort and guarantee
that we find in the work
of Jesus and in the grace
of God.
Now, of course there's
times when we do need to
think about ourselves;
there's times when we need
to own the bad choices
that we've made and the
sins that we've committed.
But if you realize that
you've messed things up
with God and you're
looking for real hope and
real stability, a great
way to sleep at night and
live with a clean
conscious, that's the time
to forget about yourself
and to fix your eyes on
Jesus, who the Bible calls
the author and the
perfector of your faith.
I hope that gives you a
ton of peace and immense
joy today as you worship
him and I'll be back with
you in a moment to pray.
[PROMOTION] Starting this
January, longtime viewers
of Time of Grace will have
a chance to meet a whole
new place - the church
that I love and serve, The
Core, in Appleton,
Wisconsin.
Now things might look a
little bit different here
at our church but we know
that so many things are
not going to change.
The timeless truths that
we love and appreciate
will continue to be our
message and that's where
you come in.
We need generous
supporters like you to
help us reach our $125,000
goal.
By your continual gifts,
your prayers and your
support, you can help
God's grace reach brand
new people in my community
and, we pray, throughout
our nation.
People like Valerie, from
Texas.
Valerie says, "Time of
Grace has helped me become
more spiritually mature
than I could ever have
thought.
Although I still struggle
a lot, I use Time of Grace
to replenish my faith,
strength, and get my back
on track." To thank you
for your gift, we would
love to send you our
insightful and encouraging
book, "Angels," because
everyone loves a mystery,
by Pastor Jon Enter and
Pastor Mark Jeske.
So call the number on your
screen and start making an
impact today and may God
bless you.
We here at Time of Grace
are so grateful for all of
you who do so much for our
ministry.
There are so many people
who are finding out that
they can find joy and
peace and forgiveness in
Jesus because of the
prayers that you pray and
the gifts that you give.
So on behalf of our entire
team here at Time of
Grace, thank you.
Would you join me and
pray?
Dear Father in Heaven, We
thank you so much for
Jesus.
I just can't imagine today
if I believed that I had
to earn your love; that I
had to pay you back for
every mistake that I made.
That I would have to fall
asleep tonight wondering
if I was good enough for
you and so we thank you
today for Jesus.
We thank you that he said,
"It's finished," and not
"It's half done," on the
cross.
We thank you that he rose
from the dead so our
salvation is guaranteed
that everyone who believes
and looks to Jesus would
be saved.
Thank you for this
confidence, God.
Thank you for this hope.
May it give us all the
peace and all the joy and
all the grace that you
always intended it to
give.
We pray all these things
in our Savior's beautiful
name, Amen.
With Time of Grace, I'm
Pastor Mike Novotny and
all your hope, all your
joy, everything you ever
wanted, is in Jesus and
that's why it all starts
now.
[PROMOTION] "The truth of
God's word is truth and
yet the way in which you
can share it can be done
in a wide variety of
ways." "We've taken a
modern style but we have
tried to embrace every
page of the Bible and
every topic that people
are dealing with.
"So I was a pastor at
St. Peter for about two
years, which is the north
campus connected to The
Core.
And a gentleman from our
church approached me and
he came to me and
basically started the
conversation, 'Pastor, my
generation has failed the
church and the generations
to follow.
We've kind of done what we
believed was best and what
was best for us but we've
missed the mark in trying
to reach people of my
grandkid's generation.' So
he approached me and said,
'I'm willing to put
resources behind starting
a church that's main goal
is to reach people that
aren't being reached.' The
basic principles was
nontraditional worship,
very informal, it would
not look like church." "A
traditional worship
service is awesome but you
come down here and you
float out the door.
It's so uplifting and the
word speaks to your heart,
as does the music.
And we love to worship as
a family." "The style and
look of our church is a
little bit different from
where Pastor Jeske
preached.
I was actually thinking
yesterday that the guy who
almost singlehandedly
helped The Core get
started was an elderly man
who actually doesn't like
this style.
He gave just an incredible
amount of time and energy
and his own finances, even
though this isn't the kind
of way that he prefers to
worship.
And the reason was is
because he actually loved
people that much.
He thought about people in
his family, in their
twenties and thirties, who
had kind of disconnected
from church and the Bible
and from Jesus.
And it broke his heart so
much he wanted to start a
church to try to reach
people just like that."
"The people that do attend
The Core were perhaps a
lot like I was.
Everyone has tastes and
what they like and what
they don't like and I
think, for some,
traditional church just
didn't grab them the way
they would like." "Then
we'd get some young
families of people who'd
say, 'I know I'm not your
target but we'd love to be
a part of your church,'
and they'd come and begin
worshipping with us and
they'd invite their
friends who had families
and so what you had very
quickly was this large
group of people - some who
were in their sixties and
some who are even older,
if you've been at church,
in their eighties - and
they come every week.
And then a whole lot of
people in their eighteen
to thirties, originally,
but we found really
quickly that this was
about more than a target;
this is a church for
everybody.
We're not going to age
discriminate by any means.
"We had three young
children at the time and
kind of happened to
stumble on The Core
because some friends had
told us about it.
Went and found out that it
was a very different way
of worshipping than what
we were familiar with or
used to.
And my kids, after going a
couple of times, at their
young ages they kept
asking when they get to go
back?
And I just - you know,
that really spoke to my
heart because as a mom, my
biggest responsibility is
to know that they know
Jesus and The Core was
doing that for my husband
and I.
It was a place that we
could take our children
and they truly wanted to
be there." "When we first
came here, it was not a
style that we, per se,
liked necessarily.
But on the way home from
the first time we came
here, we started chatting
with our kids about the
sermon and immediately,
we're able to do that with
our kids, which we had
never been able to do
before.
So that was pretty
awesome." "We sometimes
call ourselves a 922
church or 922 ministries.
1 Corinthians 9:22 where
Paul said that he would
become all things to all
people so that by all
possible means, he might
save some."
[MUSIC]
[ANNOUNCER] The preceding
program was sponsored by
the friends and partners
of Time of Grace.
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