Religiosity Vs. Relationship

Nothing says Christmas like a water buffalo. For a poor family in Asia, getting a water buffalo is like getting a farm tractor to pull a plow, or getting a milk truck full of delicious milk, or getting a stand at the market to sell cheese. A water buffalo opens the door for work, food, and income. More importantly, it opens the door to talk about Jesus.

And nothing says Christmas better than that. This is Chris Hughes with the Christian Perspective Podcast with Chris Hughes, where we encourage our listeners to engage the culture with Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds, so enjoy it, share it.

But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. And sometimes the first thing they say is, yeah, I need to go back to church. Yeah, I need to change. I need to do better. But Pastor Alan Holmes, you wrote this book, Redefined. I'm holding my hand. I'm so excited. Congratulations on this book coming out. Thousands of copies are flying out the door.

People are loving it. But you wrote this book because so many folks think religion is going to save them. Religiosity, doing better, more rules, more pep talks, and that sort of thing.

Right. You know, it's interesting. I think there are two big groups of people. You've got some who have been in church world. And like you say, they are convinced that religion is the path to life. And if they were honest, they would say the religion is a burden. And this is what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 11 when he says, all who are weary and heavy laden, he says, come to me and I'll give you rest. And the idea is they're burdened with religion. They're burdened with trying desperately to earn favor from God, earn his blessing.

So that's part of it. Then you've got another group of people, though, who have given up on church, who've given up on Christ, because what they would say is I tried it didn't work. Well, they didn't try Jesus. What they tried was religion and religion doesn't work. And so what Redefined is, is we're trying to redefine what it means to have a relationship with God, that it's not religion, that it really is a life changing relationship.

And how do I cultivate that relationship? That's awesome. And the book is Redefined.

The noise you just heard is read to grind because they're grinding coffee here. We're at Green Joe's coffee shop right here in Greensboro, North Carolina on Battleground Avenue. I can't think of a better place to tell everyone about this awesome new book. Pastor Allen, this is life right here, right? All these folks are coming in all walks of life, and some have their Bibles out.

Others are doing who knows what, working on their junior college credits, getting ready for this and that. And we're talking about this book Redefined. I love the simple subtitle, A Simple Path to a Hope-Filled Life. What a statement. What does that imply? And I want to go through some of these chapters with you. Well, you know, the steps are referencing the Beatitudes. So the book is about the Sermon on the Mount. And what's significant about that is the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus's first sermon, his longest sermon. And it kind of lays out theological, philosophical foundation for his life and ministry. And in the Beatitudes, which are the introduction to this sermon, it's like steps in our relationship. The first four steps in our relationship with God, the first four Beatitudes and then the second four are steps in our relationships with each other. And when we understand what Jesus is communicating and our relationships begin to flourish and prosper, it gives us hope. And a lot of the issues in our life that's stealing our hope are resolved because our relationship with God is right and our relationships with each other are flourishing. And this really is a literary masterpiece, this Sermon on the Mount by Jesus.

Secular and religious scholars all agree and they always point to it as just an absolute critical piece of literary history. But you go deeper with these blesseds. Blessed are the porn spirit. Blessed are the mourners.

I mean, who says you're happy if you're sad and crying? What is it about this kingdom message of Jesus that's so counterintuitive to our culture today and even deeper and even more potentially offensive to those listening out there? What is it about this that's offensive even in the church today, Pastor Alan Holmes? Well, you know, Jesus said if we humble ourselves, we'll be exalted. Jesus said if we lose our life, we find that our world is teaching us to try to take hold of the kingdom without the king. So all of our striving in this world for financial success, for fame, for comfort, for safety, all these things, those are good things. They're kingdom things.

The problem is we're trying to get it without the king. And what Jesus does is he helps us to see in the Beatitudes our need for Jesus. So those beginning Beatitudes, on one hand, Jesus over and over again says, I want to bless you, I want to bless you, I want to bless you. But the way to that blessing is humility, brokenness, surrender, independence, which are what the first four Beatitudes are about. And what Jesus is saying is if you'll humble yourself, if you'll be broken over the condition of your soul, if you'll put me in charge, if you'll learn to rely on me to produce in you all that I expect of you, then you can begin to experience a blessed life. Life will begin to be full and rich and meaningful again.

Pastor Alan Holmes, he's also pastor of Definition Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. And this book, there's two parts. Part one, reconnect with God and people, which as you said earlier, it's the first half of those Beatitudes, which are very vertically centered toward God in the second half. Part two, recommit to impacting culture. And I don't want to tell too many people too much because I want them to get this book and they'll really be blessed because we've all heard sermons on the Sermon on the Mount and we've all read it or many of us have.

But this is just kind of a refreshing look. Tell us what about the Sermon on the Mount? As you studied it, as you preached it, as you wrote this book, Redefined, Pastor Alan Holmes, what about it connected with your soul?

Take us into the depths of your soul. What about this message of Jesus that really led you to pick up your pen and write this book? Well, you know, for me, and I think this is true for a lot of people, I went to seminary with a desire to change the world, to make a difference. And I think a lot of believers want to make a difference. They want to change their world.

We all feel called to be salt and light. However, if we're honest, when we look around at our culture and we look around at the condition of the church, we're not having the kind of impact we think we should or the kind of impact that we long to have. What's the problem? Well, unfortunately, we've tried to find a political solution. We've tried to find an intellectual solution, an academic solution, and our problem is spiritual. And in the church, even what we've done is we've hidden the church and we've shouted about culture and attacked culture when the truth is we're called to influence culture.

But that has to begin in our hearts. So what I love about the ministry of Jesus is that when he enters the first century, it's a cultural disaster. I mean, Rome was immoral. It was abusive. It was oppressive.

It was bad in every way, much worse than anything we've experienced in modern America. And Jesus wants to address all these cultural issues, but he begins with the condition of our heart. So that's section one of the book, the Beatitudes. But then he shows now that we've gotten our heart right with God and man, now we can be salt and light.

And in the rest of the sermon, he addresses all those cultural issues. Pastor Allen Holmes, will you speak to all our listeners, people from all kinds of backgrounds, struggles, people just stumbling upon this show, Truth Talk. I'm Stu Epperson sitting down in Green Joe's, one of my favorite coffee stops here in Greensboro on Battleground Avenue. I'm having a pumpkin pie latte. This thing's good, Pastor.

I almost resist the urge for the pumpkin chocolate chip muffin, but I had to get one, but I'm only eating part of it, OK? Yeah. Good job.

Well, this is awesome to talk about this in here. For everybody listening, I think the one verse that really stands out in the sermon on the Mount, Matthew 633, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all of these other things that we're worried about, that we're stressed out about, that we're trying to control. If we'll seek first his kingdom, his righteousness, all these things, he promises all these things will be added unto us.

We can trust him. So simple, yet we make it so complex. You're parting word to folks out there that are hurt and struggling, you know, divorce rates at an all time high. We have broken homes. You talk about that and your testimony and what a great testimony God's putting you. And you're connected with so many people as a pastor of Definition Church here in Greensboro.

Pastor Alan Holmes, what do you say to folks out there just looking for hope? Just they're empty. They're in there. They're the last edge. They're done. And they're just wiped out.

They're broken. Give a call of hope. Will you just take him to the Lord?

However, what would you say to him as we wrap up? You know, it's what's encouraging. I think one of the things that people have loved about the book is I tell my story. And twenty three years ago, that's where I was. It felt hopeless. I was losing my marriage. I was losing my ministry. I was a seminary dropout. I was immoral. I was wrestling with all this brokenness and pain from the way I grew up and trying to overcome addiction.

And it was destroying my life. And but I had an older gentleman, Dr. Bennett, who stepped into my life and began discipling me and teaching me what's in this book. And as I learned to really connect with Jesus in a meaningful way every day, he began healing the pain. He began restoring my identity, my character and just transforming my life, saved my marriage, brought me back into ministry.

And I've been the pastor of our church for twenty one years. And what gives people hope is to know that, man, if God can do it in Alan, he can do it in me. So I hope everybody hears that God wants to redeem our lives and use it for his glory. So if you're broken, if you're struggling, if you're at the end of your rope, there's one person that can help you. His name is Jesus Christ. And Pastor Alan, thanks for presenting Christ in this book.

Redefined a simple path to a hope filled life. Hope everyone will get it. What's the best website for folks to pick a copy of this up? The best way to get it is on Amazon.

You know, that's the cheapest way to get it, quickest way to get it. Have you got a site for people to maybe to meet you, hear some of your messages and also connect with Definition Church? They can go to the Definition Church website, just Google that, or they can go to my website, alanhomes.com.

But the best way is just to Google Definition Church and they can find all the messages that are always there on demand for everybody. What are you defined by? Maybe it's time you were redefined by Jesus Christ. I love that. That would be a great t-shirt.

Redefined by Jesus Christ. We'll make one of those, okay? Sounds good. Thank you.