Tag: Shawn Reinsel

Simple Grace: Glorification | 7-27-2025

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Updated: 5/8/2026

Sermon Prep

This was the third sermon in a row and I was feeling a bit exhausted from being so short-staffed while our team was out on the Taiwan mission trip. The tech once again wasting working and so only 18 minutes was recorded. I was just gassed from the month of July overall.

Work was going great, but overwhelming too as I was preparing to go on short-term medical leave for my upcoming hernia surgery in August. It was a lot and this flurry of things caught up to me on this message. On that note, here’s the YouTube recording warts and all, along with my message notes below:

Sermon Notes

Opening Prayer

  • Father God, lead us this morning as we search the scriptures. Thank you for your Son whose sacrifice is our salvation. Would you speak through me, in spite of me, and beyond me. May you, Holy Spirit, dwell within us as you teach us today. Amen.

Intro

  • Why I hate Subaru’s. When the coolant system set my car on fire and almost killed me.

“Grace is the free, unearned and undeserved favor of God given through Jesus Christ that pardons sin, empowers righteousness, restores relationships, and transforms the entire person. A divine gift and an active presence that renews the soul.” – Andrew Morrison, Reunion Church

Main Point

  • Lately we’ve talked about the spiritual journey (justification, sanctification; glorification).
    • Today we’ll learn how grace is fueled by the power found in Jesus’ resurrection. 
  • God’s grace doesn’t just save you from sin, but resurrects you into a new life with him.

Grace and Resurrection | 1 Corinthians 15:10-14, 17-23, 42-49, 57-58 (NRSVue)

“[10] But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me. [11] Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you believed. [12] Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? [13] If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised, [14] and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain and your faith is in vain…”

  • The Corinthians viewed their bodies and the physical at large as less than the spiritual.
  • Grace is the source of power for our good works and compels us to live like Christ.

“[17] If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. [18] Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. [19] If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. [20] But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. [21] For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human, [22] for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. [23] But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ…”

  • No resurrection means no good news. Grace isn’t a vague comfort, but a cornerstone.
    • As Christians we believe in the bodily death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

“[42] So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. [43] It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. [44] It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. [45] Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. [46] But it is not the spiritual that is first but the physical and then the spiritual. [47] The first man was from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. [48] As one of dust, so are those who are of the dust, and as one of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. [49] Just as we have borne the image of the one of dust, we will also bear the image of the one of heaven…”

  • Grace empowers us as we’re made new now and anticipate what’s not yet in eternity.
    • In the same way, the Kingdom of God is both here now and not yet.

“[57] But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [58] Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

  • Grace emboldens us to persevere knowing that our good works are never in vain.
    • We’re no longer victims to sin, but victors through Jesus’ resurrection power.
      • Saved from sin, but still dealing with the damage of our sinful decisions.

Why It Matters

“[7] But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. [8] We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, [9] persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, [10] always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. [11] For we who are living are always being handed over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal flesh. [12] So death is at work in us but life in you. [13] But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and therefore we also speak, [14] because we know that the one who raised Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and will present us with you in his presence. [15] Indeed, everything is for your sake, so that grace, when it has extended to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. [16] So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. [17] For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, [18] because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” –  2 Corinthians 4:7-18 (NRSVue)

  • Without the physical resurrection of Jesus, the Christian faith is pointless and powerless.
    • Grace is a present power in weakness because the resurrection is active in us.

“[14] For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. [15] And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for the one who for their sake died and was raised. [16] From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we no longer know him in that way. [17] So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!” –  2 Corinthians 5:14-17 (NRSVue)

  • The resurrection doesn’t just change our destiny, but rather it re-creates our identity.

Power Text

“[1] What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may increase? [2] By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? [3] Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? [4] Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. [5] For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” – Romans 6:1-5 (NRSVue)

Outro

  • We were blind, but now we see. Lost, then found. Dead to sin, yet now alive in Christ.

Final Thoughts

I don’t look back at this message fondly. I just remember the end of a long month covering for people and working extra hard, which impacted the quality of this message. It wasn’t a prep problem, but a performance problem in that I just didn’t preach all that good in my opinion. To me, it felt like quoting big blocks of text with little to no explanation and none of it flowed very well.

After this crazy month, I took a well-earned break to write more of my book and didn’t preach again for about 2 months. I also stepped back from serving altogether since I had to be bed-ridden for the first part of my hernia surgery recovery. The picture for this one came from a family fishing day in late August and that day I was a lot more relaxed. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless.

Simple Grace: Justification | 7-20-25

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Updated: 5/5/2026

Sermon Prep

This was the midpoint of my trilogy on grace in 2025. The week before this message was on sanctification and the week after was on glorification. Thematically, this really should be the first of the trilogy but it all worked out. The through-line was there and had an overall arch I intentionally pointed out on each sermon.

Of the three sermons this was, like it’s placement chronologically, right in the middle both for quality and how long the sermon was ironically. As I went along I liked each sermon a little less and the length was shorter each time so interesting correlation there. This one isn’t a bad sermon, but it just wasn’t as good as the last one. With that, here’s the YouTube recording and the sermon notes below:

Sermon Notes

Opening Prayer

  • Father God, lead us this morning as we search the scriptures. Thank you for your Son whose sacrifice is our salvation. Would you speak through me, in spite of me, and beyond me. May you, Holy Spirit, dwell within us as you teach us today. Amen.

Intro

  • Have you ever not known who you are? EX: Jackie Chan’s Who Am I?

“Grace is the free, unearned and undeserved favor of God given through Jesus Christ that pardons sin, empowers righteousness, restores relationships, and transforms the entire person. A divine gift and an active presence that renews the soul.” – Andrew Morrison, Reunion Church

Main Point

  • Last week we learned about sanctification, but today will be about justification.
  • As Christians, you are not what you do but what Christ has done for you.
    • Justification is just as if you’ve never sinned. An identity status.

Grace and Identity | Ephesians 1:3-14, 2:1-10 (NRSVue)

“[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, [4] just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. [5] He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, [6] to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. [7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace [8] that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight [9] he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, [10] as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. [11] In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, [12] so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. [13] In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; [14] this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.”

  • The Ephesians were obsessed with how they were perceived in civic life, religious practice, and social status. Paul recenters their focus on God’s grace defining them.
    • The Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, was here.
      • Whereas Corinth was a melting pot, Ephesus was a spiritual epicenter.
  • Your identity in Christ isn’t achieved or accomplished, but an acknowledged status.
    • In the same way you’re like your parents, you’re also like Christ (i.e. Christian).
  • Sin separates us from God and his grace unites us back to him through Jesus’ sacrifice.

“[1] You were dead through the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. [3] All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, doing the will of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else, [4] but God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us [5] even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— [6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— [9] not the result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.”

  • We are redeemed, being restored, and will be reunited to God in the resurrection.
    • In other words: we’re justified, being sanctified, and will be glorified.

Why It Matters

“[26] Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” [27] So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” – Genesis 1:26-28 (NRSVue)

  • We’re so focused on building our own brand and image that we’ve forgotten that we’re imagers of God meant to represent him on Earth. Our identity has been damaged by sin.

“[17] So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! [18] All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; [19] that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. [20] So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. [21] For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” –  2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NRSVue)

  • In Christ, this identity is redeemed and we’re being restored to his original design for us.
    • Jesus didn’t save us from our sin because he had to but because he loves you.

Power Text

“[14] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. [15] For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” [16] it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, [17] and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” –  Romans 8:14-17 (NRSVue)

  • Our identity is a gift of God’s grace and has been given to us as children of God.
    • Grace redefines us as his children who are cherished, chosen, and loved.

Outro

  • “We give glory to God simply by being ourselves. God created us for union with Himself: This is the original purpose of our lives. And God is defined as love (1 John 4:16)… Our identity rests in God’s relentless tenderness for us revealed in Jesus Christ.” –  Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2015), 34-35.
  • Who are you? A child of God who is loved and redeemed or a stranger at arm’s length?

Final Thoughts

This was a run-of-the-mill message on the shorter side that was right under 25 minutes. Like usual when you’re down volunteers and leaders, there’s lots of tech issues. The sound was bad. The set-up was stressful. Being short-staffed is always a race against time to make sure everything is set-up just well enough to keep the ship sailing.

But what I remember most now almost a year later is my baby girl sleeping on my shoulder before worship, which was emotional. I cried during worship and just took in the moment before I went up to teach. Not only was the cute and tender moment with my daughter enough to cry, but I think it was a way to calm my nerves from the morning set-up stress. Shane snapped this pic and texted it to me after service, so it made it even better because I had no idea he did that but I’m glad he did. It’s one of my favorite father-daughter moments captured.

Like last week, I continued hovering at each table instead of sticking to one Table Talk group. I don’t always do this, but when there’s enough leaders I prefer it. I get a lot of FOMO when I miss out on a good conversation at church. It was a good message that continued our trek through Shawn Reinsel’s Simple Grace book. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless.

Simple Grace: Sanctification | 7-13-2025

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Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/4/2026

Sermon Prep

This was an insanely busy summer for our church given roughly 12 people were leaving for our Taiwan mission trip in July and that meant a lot was riding on those who stayed behind which included me. This time in particular was mostly leaders or faithful laity which left me with a couple core leaders to steer the ship for a few weeks. To take the pressure off of everyone, I volunteered to teach 3 weeks in a row and that was rough since work wasn’t slowing down either. In fact, it was my best month to date in the new role but the workload was a lot.

But before those 3 weeks in a row started, I began mapping out how to approach these sermons at the beginning of the month. I treated it as a trilogy since there seemed to be a through-line in the messages I was covering that spanned the spiritual journey. This one focused on sanctification, the next one justification, and then lastly glorification. That birds eye view helped me approach each message and tackle them one-by-one. We were also doing the sermon series through the Simple Grace book by Shawn Reinsel again so that familiarity was super useful too.

In hindsight, I don’t think my teaching thrives when I go back-to-back weeks, unless the series or section of scripture demands more attention. In this case the through-line made sense, but it revealed to me that I do my best preaching as a complimentary and occasional voice in our church. Not as someone who leads our church in God’s word and teaches on a weekly basis like most pastors do at most churches. I think I’m more in-line with a guest teacher or a leading a catechism/Sunday School. Anyways, here’s the YouTube recording and the notes for this message:

Sermon Notes

Opening Prayer

  • Father God, lead us this morning as we search the scriptures. Thank you for your Son whose sacrifice is our salvation. Would you speak through me, in spite of me, and beyond me. May you, Holy Spirit, dwell within us as you teach us today. Amen.

Intro

  • Story of defeating the Blazing Inferno Spider Mech in MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf.

“Grace is the free, unearned and undeserved favor of God given through Jesus Christ that pardons sin, empowers righteousness, restores relationships, and transforms the entire person. A divine gift and an active presence that renews the soul.” – Andrew Morrison, Reunion Church

Main Point

  • Sanctification is the ongoing process of the Holy Spirit shaping the soul to be like Christ. 
  • The Spirit empowers spiritual growth by his grace alone through faith and good works.

Grace and Sanctification | Galatians 3:1-5 + Galatians 5:7-8, 16-25 (NRSVue)

“[1] You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! [2] The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? [3] Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? [4] Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. [5] Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by you doing the works of the law or by you believing what you heard?”

  • Paul was correcting the churches of Galatia who fell into legalistic works without faith.
    • Judaizers in Galatia taught that Christian growth required the Mosaic law.
    • Paul said “if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” – Galatians 2:21b (NRSVue)
      • See Romans 8:1-4 and 2 Thessalonians 2:13 for more.

“[7] You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth? [8] Such persuasion does not come from the one who calls you… [16] Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. [17] For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. [18] But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. [19] Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, [20] idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, [21] envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. [24] And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [25] If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”

  • The Galatians began to receive God’s grace through faith which inspired good works.
    • Over time, they fell into the lie that it was their good works that saved them.
      • Putting the cart before the horse thinking what enslaves them saves.
        • The Mosaic law doesn’t deliver us from sin, but damns us.
    • The law pressures us to perform, while grace produces good works organically.

“[14] What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it? [15] If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food [16] and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?… [26] For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.” –  James 2:14-16, 26 (NRSVue)

  • Our good works are a natural result of our cooperation with God’s grace as we trust him.

Why It Matters

  • Sanctification isn’t powered by our efforts, but by the Spirit who empowers our growth.
    • God’s grace doesn’t just save us from sin, but molds us to be more like him.

“[21] “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. [22] On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ [23] Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.’” –  Matthew 7:21-23 (NRSVue)

  • We’re children of God (justification), but overtime we become more godly (sanctification). Just as we go from infants to adults, sanctification operates the same.

Power Text

“[11] For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, [12] training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, [13] while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. [14] He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.” –  Titus 2:11-14 (NRSVue)

  • Christianity is relational, not ritualistic. There’s no formula. We just humbly trust God.
    • St Anthony the Great puts it best: “The truly intelligent man pursues one sole objective: to obey and to conform to the God of all… For knowledge of God and faith in Him is the salvation and perfection of the soul.” – “On the Character of Men and on the Virtuous Life,” in The Philokalia: The Complete Text, vol. 1, trans. G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware (London: Faber and Faber, 1979), 329.

Outro

  • Sanctification is the spiritual journey where we learn to not achieve, but abide in Jesus.
    • Justification is the beginning, glorification is the end, and sanctification is the path to get from one point to the other. The dotted line between A and B.
  • Like the Galatians, we get distracted and forget that grace got us here in the first place.

Your Sanctification Story

Who was I in 2017?Who am I in 2025?Who will I be in 2032?
20yrs old
Sin: alcohol, porn
PMCC, then LifeGate
Volunteer
Single, nokids
Anabaptist
Deconstructing faith
Content creator
Learned apologetics
Aurora, Colorado		28yrs old
Sin: anger, lying
Reunion Church
Pastor
Married, 1yr old baby
Protestant???
Reconstructing faith
SaaS sales
Learning history
Reunion, Colorado		36yrs old
Sin: pride, workaholic
New Church or RC???
Pastor???
Married, 1-4 kids
New convention???
Deconstructing faith
PT writer; SaaS sales?
Learn Greek/Hebrew
New place or state???
  • What’s your sanctification story? Where has God’s grace guided you?

Final Thoughts

After my first of three messages, the reception was surprisingly excellent and some people were saying it was my best message yet which is always encouraging. In my opinion, we also had some of the best Table Talks in our church’s history. What especially stood out was the sanctification story activity with a lot of people saying they loved it.

Great response overall. Even with what felt like half of the church was on the Taiwan trip, those who remained had a great Sunday service. Of the three messages in this trilogy, this was by far and away the best from my perspective and the congregation’s perspective. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless.

Simple Grace: Humility and Faith | 12-17-2023

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Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 11/5/2024

Sermon Prep

As I’ve written throughout my last several posts, I made 2023 more difficult than it needed to be for my family. For the last time and hopefully for awhile, I made my latest job change which writing this almost a year later is going great! This is where God wanted us the whole time and I just rushed the whole process.

In other aspects of life near the end of 2023, things were good there too just in time for the holiday season. The Simple Grace series at large was at its best this time around and we got to see both sides of the family for differing holidays as well. By the end of the year, everything worked out and thanks be to God alone for that result.

Since I was emotionally and spiritually in an awesome spot, this sermon tremendously benefitted from it. I also was excited to preach about one of my mentors, Mr. Freddy, who changed my life. Now here’s the notes I had for this message and the recording too:

Sermon Notes

Opening Line

  • Alright, who is the strongest person?
    • Now who is the smartest person here?
    • Last one: who is the most humble?

Intro

  • Mr. Freddy is one of the most humble.
    • Taught 3rd and 4th graders, plus was the Eaglecrest High School janitor.
    • Only taught about God’s plan vs my plan.

Transition To Main Point

  • Grace isn’t accessed by human achievements, but rather by the heart’s attitude to God.

Main Point

  • Humility and faith are the relational realities of a heart saved by God’s grace.
  • Humility is the way to wisdom.
    • Proverbs 22:4
  • Faith is expectation and evidence.
    • Hebrews 11:1-2
  • God sees the heart.
    • 1 Samuel 16:6-7
  • Jesus is humility and faith perfected.
    • Philippians 2:1-11
      • Philippians 2:1-4 | Collective humility and faith
      • Philippians 2:6 | Not concerned about social status
      • Philippians 2:7 | Not concerned about self-will
      • Philippians 2:7 | Not concerned about self-importance
      • Philippians 2:8 | Not concerned about self-preservation
      • Philippians 2:9-11 | Because Jesus, God the Son, is gentle and lowly, he’s exalted and glorified by God the Father

Why This Matters

  • Humility and faith must be relational realities for you if you want God’s grace.
    • 1 Peter 5:5-7
  • True humility and real faith is seen in every relationship.
  • Empowered by the Holy Spirit himself, humble and faithful peopel lift up others towards God.
    • Galatians 2:20
  • What is your heart’s attitude to God?

Final Thoughts

Although love this sermon, I did make one glaring mistake. Near the end when I talked about Mr. Freddy’s whiteboard chart of God’s plan and your plan, I described it as a series of circles with an upward trajectory. He didn’t do that.

That’s actually what I believe a mapped out view of faith looks like in an upcoming book I’m (still) working on publishing one day and I misspoke. On the other hand, Mr. Freddy would just draw a bunch of jagged lines dramatically instead to show the adventure God has for us. Just wanted to clear that up off the top.

In my opinion, this is one of my best sermons. Everything just lined up perfectly here. Honestly immensely proud of how this one turned out. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless.

Footnotes

  1. Reunion Church

Simple Grace: The Law’s Message | 10-22-2023

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Updated: 11/4/2024

Sermon Prep

Life as always kept changing in 2023. My wife Glory sold her Dad’s car to make ends meet, but we enjoyed our new family car for if and when we have kids. Little did we know we would have a kid just over a year from this sermon, but we’ll get there.

At this point in life, we were celebrating others and their mountaintop moments. For instance, our friends Taylor and Emma who took this photo of us right before Taylor proposed to Emma in the mountains of Breckinridge. It was beautiful and an honor to be apart of their special moment.

This next new job was still incredibly stressful. Wasn’t hitting quota and wasn’t getting any commissions. I was applying for roles, but had no bites. It was just a tough year of dealing with the consequences of my impatience and pride. Instead of waiting for God’s timing, I rushed the process.

In regards to this message, it’s actually an adaptation of a chapter from Pastor Shawn Reinsel’s book, Simple Grace. Our church has made it a tradition to go through his book on Sundays at least once every other year, if not more often. It’s just one of those foundational teaching series for us.

For me when it comes to adapting a sermon versus an original message, I usually just prefer original messages produced by me. I don’t like being too reliant on just one person’s message. Adaptation can often feel like copying and not adding anything new to the conversation.

With Shawn’s book it’s actually great! I honestly don’t mind preaching from it at all and look forward to it when the series comes around again. With that, here’s the notes for this adapted sermon:

Sermon Notes

Opening Line

  • Watching Mean Streets at Colorado Film School.
    • Learn the rules of film, then break them.
  • Kobe Bryant studied referee book, then fouled and got away with it.

Intro

  • It’s the same for the law of God and his grace.

Transition To Main Point

  • You need to know the message of the law before you know the message of grace.

Main Point

  • The law’s message is perfect performance.
    • Be holy.
      • Leviticus 19:1-2
    • Be loving.
      • Leviticus 19:18, Deuteronomy 6:5
    • Be perfect.
      • Matthew 5:48
  • The law is God’s standard of perfect obedience. It measures shortcomings, not success.
  • What is the law unable to do?
    • Makes nothing perfect.
      • Hebrews 7:18-19
    • Makes nothing justified.
      • Galatians 2:16
    • Makes nothing sanctified.
      • Galatians 3:2-3
  • The law damns you, but is unable to save you.
  • What is the law able to do?
    • Romans 3:19-20
      • Able to silence speech.
      • Able to cause guilt.
      • Able to understand sin.

Why This Matters

  • The law teaches that you are depraved and need to be saved.
    • Galatians 3:24
  • Only by humility and faith in Jesus can someone depraved like you be saved.
    • Ephesians 2:8-9

Final Thoughts

To mix things up and garner more audience participation, I intentionally planned 2 different stories to start my message. There were some kids in the front row and they chose the Kobe Bryant story, so I rolled with that one. I don’t think I’ve tried this again, but I do like to test new ways to communicate to our congregation and improve what we do.

The one problem and feedback I received here was that I read too many different passages of Scripture aloud. For the audience, it was extremely hard to track where I was and register what was being communicated. Also, I stayed too conservative and relied strictly on the book whereas on the next one I truly made that my own. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless.