You Gotta Serve Somebody [Part 3]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Allen Wright. Wouldn't it be fantastic if you just couldn't ever lie?

You don't have anything in your life that you're having to hide and cover up all the time. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I am Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, It's All Right Now, from Romans chapters four through seven, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina.

Now, if you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, we sure want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries. So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer, and you can contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org, or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Allen Wright. He gets his little boy another cake, sits him down in a park at a picnic table, and says, undo the wish. This is terrible, I can't lie. But what the movie's trying to show, and what his actual case is, wouldn't it be fantastic if you just couldn't ever lie? Like, you don't have anything in your life that you're having to hide and cover up all the time. Our Uncle Stanley used to say in his counseling ministry that most people are like someone who's standing in the ocean and trying to keep about five beach balls under the water all the time so nobody can see them.

And they're all trying to come up. So much cover up that we're exhausted with it. The thing about it is like, if you are always just putting up an image for everybody in your life according to what you think they would want from you, don't you know in the end you're lonely because nobody knows the real you? Oh, there might be some temporary cost to telling the truth, but in the end it's only truth-tellers that can have any authentic peace in this world.

And if you just would go through any of the catalog of the types of sins, you'd recognize the same thing. Wouldn't it be, for example, wouldn't it be the greatest thing in the world if poof you just couldn't covet anymore? You know what would happen? Your gratitude level and your joy level would skyrocket in an instant. You just no longer have the capacity to covet. You can't be looking at somebody else's life and suddenly lose your joy because you go, I wish I had that.

You can't suddenly start having this terrible feeling of I can't be happy of I can't be happy until I have what so-and-so has. If you took that out of your life, can you imagine how wonderful that would be? What about if you could just get rid of the sin of bitterness? Jesus says forgive and you are forgiven. Be set free. Hebrews says do not let any bitter root spring up lest it defile many. Could you imagine what would happen if you just couldn't be bitter, couldn't hold anything against anybody, kept no record of wrongs?

You try, you just can't keep a record of wrongs. Can you imagine the joy and freedom of such a life? Could you imagine suddenly you can't worry no matter how hard you try, you can't worry anymore? Jesus said do not be anxious about tomorrow.

What if you just couldn't worry? I've had times in my life, back in 93, this beautiful, powerful Holy Spirit renewal was moving and I got so touched with joy, just every meeting, joy, joy, joy of the Lord, joy of the Lord. I mean joy to make you belly laugh, joy that just transform everything in your life. And I had so much joy come in my life.

I remember one time in the middle of a big joy fest one time in the Holy Spirit, I just made a little experiment. I tried to worry. I tried to resurrect everything that could possibly go wrong.

I tried to think of it. I tried to worry about something and I literally, I realized I could not worry, at least in that moment. That's what heaven's going to be. There's too much joy.

You can't even worry. What we are being invited into here is an image of being a slave of righteousness, but what it really is, is the image of ultimate freedom. Wow.

Sin's our problem and he's offering a life that's the most fantastic life imaginable. So it is like saying, beloved, our appetite can change. Some years ago, my daughter convinced Ann and I to go on the Whole 30 diet. It's ridiculous.

It's too hard. They don't just say no ice cream. They say no sugar for 30 days.

And I did find this out. Sugar's in everything. And I tell you, Whole 30, I'll tell you another reason they call it Whole 30, it's going to take your whole paycheck to do it. Because you've got to go to Whole Foods and take your whole paycheck in there and get the ketchup that doesn't have sugar in it. And that costs four times as much as regular ketchup.

And then it doesn't really taste like ketchup. But no sugar and no sugar substitute, no splendor for 30 days. I'm telling you, I will say this, by the end of that 30 days, I had lost my craving for sugar. I'm not saying ice cream wasn't in the back of my mind.

I knew it existed still. But a grape, at the end of 30 days of no sugar, a grape tastes like a piece of candy. A grape tastes like a piece of candy.

Right now, a grape tastes sour to me. And I made the terrible mistake that at the end of the Whole 30, we were having a kind of a meal to celebrate the end of it. And I got chicken parm.

You know, that just did something to me. And then a few days later, I had some ice cream. I hadn't been back on Whole 30. But I am saying your appetite can change.

Let me give you a more appetite can change. Let me give you a more ridiculous and gross illustration of this. We had a beagle. His name was Reese. Anybody ever had a beagle knows that they they love, they got a nose and they like to hunt. And they like to find vermin. And he would be so proud if he found a chipmunk or squirrel or mouse or something in the backyard. He's so proud of that. Printer it in with that dead thing in his mouth.

And I know he was confused his whole life why I did not like it. When he would drag in, he could come and go through the sunroom. It kind of became his room. He would drag an animal in there. And every now and then, he'd get one in there.

I didn't know he did. And I'd walk in that sunroom, the stench would just hit me. I don't even need to conjure up the thought of the stench of a dead animal smell, but it's just terrible. And I remember one time he had I think it was a dead chipmunk. He'd been nurturing that dead thing. It smelled so rancid. And I tried to chase him down and get the thing and get rid of it. And he was guarding it. And he was just standing over it and looking at me and looking down at it.

And he just looked at it and just licked it. I don't think there is an amount of money you could give me to pay me to lick a three day old dead chipmunk. Okay, you make me a millionaire on the spot. I'm not doing it. I'm not going.

I'm not going. I can't lick a dead chipmunk. And the dog loved it. How could that be? I'll tell you how it can be.

He's a dog and I'm a human being. How different an appetite can be. That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Seeing as Jesus sees, it's the title of Pastor Alan Wright's newest book just released. And it's the giant secret of real transformation. Followers of Christ tend to focus on doing so we've been told to ask what would Jesus do? But even our noblest efforts to be more like Jesus ultimately fail for the same reason that pledging to keep the law never works.

There's no gospel power in our self-striving. But what if the secret to personal transformation and victorious living isn't found in doing as much as in seeing? Anyone who has ever had an aha moment or has suddenly discovered the truth of a situation knows that fresh vision changes everything. In his eye-opening new book, Alan Wright invites readers into a new, simple spiritual practice, a little breath prayer that can be prayed throughout the day. Jesus, how do you see this?

It's a prayer that the Savior loves to answer because after all, Christ came to be the light of the world. Clear away confusion, win over the darkness and open your heart to wonder and joy by getting your copy of the book right away. When you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's new beautiful hardcover book. And as an additional thank you for your support, you'll also receive a free six weeks seeing as Jesus sees companion video series from Pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan. Let Jesus take you by the hand and show you a whole new perspective for your life.

As you learn how to ask Christ for his eyes, you'll start seeing as Jesus sees and you're going to love the view. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. You are a new creature in Christ and you've got a new appetite. Feed your new appetite. Because it's a process, verse 19, just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness. So now, present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to sanctification. See, we might say, well, if I'm a slave to righteousness, then why do I still sin so much?

Because. Because any slave can rebel against a master. Paul doesn't say we don't ever sin again once we're Christians. He's saying we've got a new master and it's pulling us towards a new way of being. We don't always obey our new appetite, but it is a new appetite. And the more that you feed yourself on the stuff of the new appetite, the more you develop a taste for it.

Taste and see that the Lord is good. It's wonderful. His ways are wonderful.

His thoughts are wonderful. Try it out more and more, Paul's saying. You don't have to be under fear of the consequences of disobeying because you've been justified. So, yeah, you're free from the fear of the punishment of God. But you do have a new way of being. You're growing up. You're growing up.

You're growing up. My best buddy when I was a kid was Bob. He lived across the street. We played together almost every day. And we'd go over. We'd play GI Joe. We'd jump off his swing set until our bottoms were raw, sliding down this little hill. We'd hit tennis balls in the middle of the street. Whatever we could do, we'd play together. And I'd say about 50% of the time, about 50% of the time when I was little, somebody wouldn't be playing the other way.

They'll go, I want him to play. And somebody could start crying, get upset, and stomp off home. And then we'd get bored.

And 10 minutes later, we'd call and say, what are you doing? Nothing. You want to come back over? Okay. I don't do that as often as I used to. I don't stomp off crying when people aren't doing the way I want them to do as often.

Why? I've grown up some. You're growing.

And sometimes you'll find there are areas where your new appetite and the obedience of the heart has come into alignment with your new master more than other things, right? This thing about lying, I think I could just almost honestly say I would have to work extremely hard to tell a lie. I don't know if it's just something God's done, especially early in me, because he appointed these lips to speak truth. But as far as I know, I never told a lie to my children. And as far as I know, I've never told a lie to you. And the thought of that feels like licking a dead chipmunk to me.

I can't do it. Now, I want to get all the other areas of my life that same way. But I'm just saying, we're going to still sin in this world, but we are growing. We are growing. And the fruit is so sweet of this new life. Verse 20, for when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting?

What fruit were you getting? The things you're ashamed. The end of those things is death. But now you've been set free from sin, and have become slaves of God. The fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. Growing in the Lord means that part of what you get is wisdom that sees things for what they are.

And you get more mature, and you look, you realize the old appetite, while it might still come back sometimes, you're able to see it through to its end of the fruit that it brought, and it loses its taste. I remember one time talking with a new parishioner, a new friend, who was a recovering cocaine addict. He wasn't real long into his recovery, but he had accepted Christ at one of our meetings, and I loved him.

And I remember talking and praying with him and talking in a counseling relationship with him on one occasion, and I was asking him about his recovery and how his thought processes were changing. And he said, well, one of the things that's changed, he says, I've learned now when I start getting the thought of the temptation of cocaine, to let the mental tape play through to the end. He said, I didn't use to let it play through to the end. He said, I would just play the first part, the first scene, and that's where I felt euphoric and invincible, and all my worries were evaporated for at least a few moments while doing the drug. He said, but what I didn't do was play the tape to the end, and that's the part where I lost my wealth, lost my home, lost my marriage, and began to lose my hope for even being alive.

He said, now I'll let it play through to the end. I remember the fruit and how bitter it is, and I think more about the fruit of being sober. You start seeing the fruit of this way of living as righteous. Paul has been building for five and a half chapters to say you are not under law, but your obedience is of the heart. And it's almost like you said, unless I had built everything up for five chapters, it's almost like Paul saying, I wouldn't even tell you this because you'd misinterpret it as legalism once again.

It is not. It is freedom of a different sort. And thus, he concludes at verse 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The consequences of sin is something that is earned, but the consequences and fruit of a life of joyful allegiance to the righteousness of Christ is not something that's earning you anything. It is the living out of the gift of the grace of God. In the end, what he's saying, beloved, you've got to serve somebody.

Bob Dylan was right. Might be the devil, might be the Lord, but it's a myth to think that we can just live a life where we're not serving in one direction or the other. And Jesus came with power and grace by His blood to break the curse and the bondage to sin and all of its consequences so that you could be free unto a new master.

So that you could be free unto a new master. Something that from the obedience of the heart, you find yourself wanting more and more. You yield more and more.

Be the best thing in the world that could ever happen. And it'll happen in heaven where you are so, so united to Christ and His righteousness that all the old stuff has just become impossible to you. But in the meantime, he says, just keep feeding your new appetite and you'll be amazed how much you'll change. That's how grace works. And that's the gospel. Allen Wright, our good news message. You got to serve somebody from the series.

It's all right now. It's a teaching of Romans chapter four through seven. And Pastor Alan is back here in the studio in just a moment with today's parting good news thought for the day.

Stick with us. Seeing as Jesus sees, it's the title of Pastor Alan Wright's newest book just released and it's the giant secret of real transformation. Followers of Christ tend to focus on doing.

So we've been told to ask, what would Jesus do? But even our noblest efforts to be more like Jesus ultimately fail for the same reason that pledging to keep the law never works. There's no gospel power in ourselves striving. But what if the secret to personal transformation and victorious living isn't found in doing as much as in seeing? Anyone who has ever had an aha moment or has suddenly discovered the truth of a situation knows that fresh vision changes everything. In his eye-opening new book, Allen Wright invites readers into a new simple spiritual practice, a little breath prayer that can be prayed throughout the day. Jesus, how do you see this?

It's a prayer that the Savior loves to answer because after all, Christ came to be the light of the world. Clear away confusion, win over the darkness, and open your heart to wonder and joy by getting your copy of the book right away. When you make a gift to Allen Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's new beautiful hardcover book. And as an additional thank you for your support, you'll also receive a free six-week Seeing as Jesus Sees companion video series from Pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan. Let Jesus take you by the hand and show you a whole new perspective for your life.

As you learn how to ask Christ for his eyes, you'll start seeing as Jesus sees, and you're going to love the view. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastorallen.org.

Back here with Pastor Alan and our parting good news thought for the day as we've come to the conclusion of today's teaching. You got to serve somebody. I just think it's so important to think as I've been talking about that our appetite can change. You can be just in the natural. You can be so I've been there where you're so kind of addicted to the taste of sugar, right? That until you quit it for a long time and then you realize, oh, wait a minute.

I don't have the same craving for that. Well, it's something like that that happens for our soul in Christ. It doesn't happen by law. It happens by a real change that actually takes place in the heart of a believer. And it doesn't happen everything overnight, but it's the things that become sweet to you can change. And that's a big part of what Paul's saying about what the Christian life is like. Yeah, you have a new allegiance, right?

And so in that sense, it's like you're a slave to righteousness, but it's because you just want it so much. And that's powerful. I pray that for every listener. Not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.