Discovering Your Identity in Christ - Andrew Farley
[00:00:00] Matt Potter: Many people struggle to grasp the immense power of God's grace, his unconditional love, and his complete forgiveness through Jesus Christ. It can be easy to get tangled up in legalism or works based on righteousness healing as if we have to earn God's love or approval. However, as you pointedly described, the Bible teaches that we are saved not by works, but by faith alone in Jesus Christ.
[00:00:31] Ephesians two, eight through nine, this is the heart of the new covenant. A covenant based not on our ability to keep the law perfectly, which we can't, but on Christ's perfect sacrifice on our behalf, it's true that we're completely forgiven in Christ. He paid the full penalty for all of our sins, past, present, and future when he died on the cross.
[00:00:55] He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, not only for ours, but also for the sins of the world. Verse John two, two. There is no sin. That his sacrifice does not cover. As Christians, we are freed from the bondage of sin and we're given new identity in Christ. We are a new creation, as it says in two Corinthians five 17.
[00:01:20] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here, and in Romans eight, one, we're reminded that there is, therefore now no condemnation to. Which are in Christ. Freedom in Christ doesn't mean we're free to sin without consequences, but that we're free from the bondage and penalty of sin and free to live a life pleasing to God, empowered by his spirit within us.
[00:01:52] Our actions don't earn us salvation, but their unnatural outflow of a, our love for God and our transformed identity in Christ. In this episode of Relentless Hope, Dr. Andrew. Farley describes the transformative power of understanding the grace and forgiveness offered through the new covenant. It's indeed a message of hope and liberation, one that can bring about profound transformation in the lives of believers as they fully embrace the truth of who they are in Christ.
[00:02:26] It's also a valuable reminder for all Christians to stay grounded in the truth of the gospel. And not to drift into legalism or self effort, but to rest in the finished work of Christ. Let's begin today's episode of Relentless Hope with Dr. Andrew Farley
[00:02:47] in a thought-provoking reflection, Andrew Farley delves into the profound forgiveness offered through the cross and explorers. The extent of God's forgiveness pondering the weight of various sins and the uncertainties many Christians face regarding their own forgiveness and the liberating concept of true freedom in Christ.
[00:03:10] Andrew Farley: There's incredible forgiveness through the cross, and I talk about that a ton nowadays. How forgiven are we? Did God fail to forgive us for one of those sins? What about the big sins? What about the frequent sins? What about the forgotten sins? The ones you don't even remember anymore? And we Christians, it seems like we have a lot of hangups.
[00:03:32] We're not sure how forgiven we really are. And then I love to talk about the freedom of the believer. Freedom can be a scary word. I mean, you, you think about the guy in the movie Shawshank Redemption, and he, well, he didn't love freedom. There was one character in there. He kept getting in trouble on purpose over and over so he could go back to prison because he loved bondage.
[00:03:58] He loved to be told when to get up and when to go to sleep and when to have free time, and when he could go to the restroom, he. Liked bondage because there were rules involved and there was structure and freedom scared him. Well, there's a lot of Christians today where, you know the word freedom. It, it, it can scare us, but I'm talking about a, a beautiful freedom.
[00:04:23] A freedom from rule-based religion. It's not about rules. It's about letting Christ rule.
[00:04:37] Matt Potter: On part one of this three-part series, Andrew Farley delves into the themes of forgiveness, freedom, and identity in Christ with an honest and personal touch. Andrew Farley discusses the struggle of understanding the depth of God's forgiveness and the fear that can accompany the concept of true freedom.
[00:04:58] Emphasizing the transformative power of the new covenant and our new identity in Christ. He invites us to embrace the liberating truth that the finished work of Jesus is truly enough.
[00:05:16] Andrew Farley: God, I'm doing everything they say to do. I'm sharing my faith with every single person that I meet. I'm in church every time. The doors are open and I'm reading my Bible four and five hours a day, and yet I still don't feel like I'm getting closer to you. Where did I go wrong? My formula is broken. I was 19 years old and that was my prayer to God.
[00:05:42] I had had a crash and Berndt experience. I had put my antenna up to the religious world and I was doing everything they said to do. I was in halfway houses, in jails and prisons. I was preaching in subway cars and on the streets of Greece and Italy going. Door to door sharing my faith so that I could get God to like me and then keep him liking me.
[00:06:09] And you know what? The whole thing, it just didn't work. I was so miserable. I mean, if I were being honest back then, my sales pitch would've been, Hey, would you like. To become a Christian and be miserable like me. So there I was on the floor of my apartment and I was begging God for real answers and nothing made sense.
[00:06:34] But I gotta tell you, it wasn't like a lightning bolt out of heaven. It was more like 10 years of replacing old thoughts with new thoughts. And at the center of that was something. Thing called the New Covenant. Now, for me, the new covenant just meant maybe that's the name of the church down the Streeter, something, but I had no clue what the new covenant was.
[00:06:58] I had never heard a single sermon. On the topic, and it wasn't an immediate overnight change. It was more like a decade of coming to know what this new covenant is, coming to know what a New Testament relationship with God is really all about. And it was. 10 years of replacing old thoughts with new ones.
[00:07:21] And yeah, I was a believer. I mean, I grew up in Virginia on a horse farm. I grew up in a Christian home and I prayed to receive Christ at a young age. Actually, when I was about. Three years old. My parents told me about how I could receive Christ, and so I prayed with them and then about 10 minutes later, I invited my parents back into my room and I said, Hey, now that I've got Jesus in my heart, could I get an angel in my stomach?
[00:07:52] So it was pretty obvious. I did not understand what real salvation was yet. But later, later on, I was eight years old and I'll never forget, I decided that I really wanted to have Jesus Christ live in me, and I opened the door of my life and received him when I was eight years old. And so I grew up in a Christian home and I.
[00:08:17] I certainly, uh, got a lot of Bible teaching and went to church regularly, and somewhere along the way though, I got really, really confused about what Christianity is supposed to be like on a daily basis. I started to make it about me and what I was doing for God instead of. It being about God and what he had done for me.
[00:08:45] So I didn't understand a, a good portion of the gospel. I, I was really feeling like a black sheep in God's family. By the time I hit my teen years. I had a sense of humor. I was a class clown. I was student body president. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was popular and. Yet I had a guilt complex because I thought, well, if you're a serious Christian, then you'll be walking the aisle every week at chapel.
[00:09:15] I went to a Christian school where we had chapel every day, and at the end of the chapel there would always be this altar call, and they were basically inviting us to. Do more and be more and love more and be better and commit and rededicate and again and again. There was this cycle of trying to present yourself to God and get more right and get more acceptable to him, and it really created a revolving door.
[00:09:45] Experience where you saw the same people get up and rededicate and recommit, and then a week later, a month later, there they were again, tears in their eyes having failed God. They were promising that they were really gonna do it this time. And so that was the environment that I grew up in. And you either got up and walked the aisle and recommitted over and over, or you felt like a second class citizen.
[00:10:13] In God's family, and that's where I landed. But once I went to college, I decided, you know what? I am gonna do this thing for real. I am gonna be the Christian that I never was before. I'm gonna do exactly what they said to do back in those chapel messages. So when I went off to college as a freshman, I decided that I was gonna be the most dedicated and most committed Christian.
[00:10:41] Anybody had ever seen, and so I was reading my Bible four and five hours a day and I was literally sharing my faith with everybody that I came into contact with. Whether they wanted to hear it or not, they were gonna get grace. In their face, man. And so I would steer every conversation around to some sort of evangelistic moment so that I could feel like I got a notch on my belt for that day so that God would like me yet another day.
[00:11:14] And I had pleased him only to go to bed that night and feel a sense of, well, maybe a lack of service. I could have done more, I should have done more. So I would literally, Get up and go to the 24 hour grocery store and find somebody in the produce aisle who was squeezing the fruit, and I would share Christ with them so that I could go home and feel better and get some sleep.
[00:11:42] Finally, only to wake up the next day and try to serve God even more and make him happy with me. So do you see what happened? I mean, yeah, I knew I was saved by Grace. I knew that salvation was a free gift because of what Jesus did through the cross and the resurrection. The problem is that somewhere along the way, everything got twisted and I started making it about me and how much I'm doing and whether I'm doing enough and if I've hit.
[00:12:15] The mark of hit the benchmark or not, and what does God think of me? And I began to live in my emotions and I would let that be the barometer of my closeness. And so you fast forward a decade or two, and you look at my life now. And yeah, I'm talking about Jesus, but it's certainly not from the same perspective.
[00:12:41] It's not from the same vantage point. I mean, you know, I would wish my relationship with God on anyone today, it's not like it was before. Living in misery on the treadmill, trying to jump through all those hoops, trying to get in God's will and stay in God's will and get forgiven. And stay forgiven and, and get in his good graces.
[00:13:05] And stay in his good graces. I mean, that was a nightmare. But today, I have more confidence in who I am in Jesus Christ. I have confidence in my God. I have confidence in what he did for me and I, I'm finally seeing that this closeness that I have with him, that was his idea. It wasn't even my idea. That's why he sent Jesus to initiate this closeness with me.
[00:13:35] And so when I realized that it's God's idea that he knew what he was doing and that he initiated and completed everything that needed to be done, Jesus said on the cross, he said, it is finished. And that means that God did it and he doesn't need to do anything else. And so through the cross and through the resurrection, we're set up.
[00:13:59] We're set up for a free gift of closeness with God, a free gift of intimacy. It's not about what we're trying to do, it's about what he did 100%. And so today I enjoy sharing the good news of the gospel more than ever, and I get to talk about the new covenant, which is a very neglected message. I mean, it's the idea that God, Couldn't swear by anyone greater, and so he swore by himself.
[00:14:31] You know, when I was a kid, I couldn't do that. I couldn't swear to God if I swore to God, my mom would have me in trouble, in a heartbeat. But hey, there is one person who can swear to God and that's God. And that's exactly what the new covenant is. Hebrews says. That it's an oath or a promise that he made with himself so that there would be two unbreakable, unshakable, unchangeable things.
[00:14:59] In one corner, we've got the God of the universe and he's a perfect promise keeper. And then in the other corner, we've got the God of the universe, and he is a perfect promise keeper. And when you have two. Perfect promise keepers, then everything is rock solid. And so you see, I was thinking that I had to be the promise keeper that I've gotta keep my end of the bargain up.
[00:15:24] And that's what empty religion offers us. It says, do your best and then God will respond. You initiate. And if you do enough, then he'll come and bless you. But the new Covenant is not like, That it turns religion on its ear, and we ultimately see that it's a promise that he's made to himself. And so what's the benefit of the new covenant?
[00:15:48] Well, There's incredible forgiveness through the cross, and I talk about that a ton nowadays. How forgiven are we? Did God fail to forgive us for one of those sins? What about the big sins? What about the frequent sins? What about the forgotten sins? The ones you don't even remember anymore? And we Christians, it seems like we have a lot of hangups.
[00:16:10] We're not sure how forgiven we really are. And then I love to talk about the freedom of the believer. Freedom can be a scary word. I mean, you, you think about the guy in the movie Shawshank Redemption, and he, well, he didn't love freedom. There was one character in there. He kept getting in trouble. On purpose over and over so he could go back to prison because he loved bondage.
[00:16:37] He loved to be told when to get up and when to go to sleep and when to have free time, and when he could go to the restroom. He liked bondage because there were rules in involved and there was structure and freedom scared him. Well, there's a lot of Christians today where. You know the word freedom, it, it, it can scare us, but I'm talking about a, a beautiful freedom.
[00:17:02] A freedom from rule-based religion. It's not about rules. It's about letting Christ rule. And when we let Christ rule, that's not a scary thing. He knows what he's doing and. We can let Christ be Christ. And that's a beautiful thing, to not be driven by external rules and regulations, to not be driven by something written on tablets of stone, but instead to be led internally by the indwelling Christ and his presence in us, letting that be our motivation.
[00:17:38] So I talk about new identity in Christ. Uh, it's, it's amazing to me how. So many Christians have bought the enemies lie that we have to diminish ourselves and get rid of ourselves. We're told we gotta die to self. We're told we gotta deny ourselves. But all of those are salvation pitches. I mean, Jesus says, deny yourself.
[00:18:01] Take up your cross and follow him. Where do you follow him? You follow him into death and new life, and that's what salvation is. We follow him into death and new life. So now if you're saved, you've got a new self, you don't need to deny that self. You've got a new self. So why would you deny the new creation?
[00:18:22] Why would you deny who you are as a child of God? And so I love sharing the good news of who we are in Christ, that yes, there's an enemy. Yes, we say no to sin. Yes, we say no to the flesh. Yes, we trust Christ and walk by the spirit. But as far as who we are, God has recreated us in Christ Jesus as a new self, a new creation.
[00:18:50] We're redesigned from the ground up for good works. So that tells you something about our beautiful design. And when we use these phrases like, Hey, you gotta die to self well, the phrase die to self is non-existent in the Bible. It's not even there. And so, I love talking about this stuff because I have seen it liberate so many people.
[00:19:16] Christians go free in their new identity. They start believing that they're totally forgiven, past, present, and future. They drop the rule-based religion and start letting Christ rule and ministering this new covenant message. That is my passion. I mean, second Corinthians chapter three, it says that.
[00:19:37] That's the only message that we're qualified to minister. It says God has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the law. He says, you're a, a minister of grace, and that's what it's all about. It's not about us and what we're trying to do for God. It's all about Jesus and what he already did for us.
[00:20:03] And so. You know, if there's one thing that I wanna shout from the rooftops to the Christian world and beyond, it's that the finished work of Jesus Christ really is enough, and I'm excited. I'm excited about my life right now. I'm excited about the future. I'm excited to share these truths with other people because I've seen how God used them in my life.
[00:20:30] And I have seen how God is rescuing so many people when the gospel gets to shine brightly, when. All of the fig leaves of religion are peeled away and we get back to the core message. My first book was called The Naked Gospel. Jesus Plus Nothing a hundred percent natural, no additives. And that's what I love talking about.
[00:20:58] That's what I love sharing, and that's why I'm excited. Maybe, well, the most in decades. Ever since salvation, looking back on this journey, I can say that today I am more excited than I've ever been, and it's because I know who I am in Christ and I know who he is in me. We've heard in popular theology that we have deceitfully wicked hearts, and you might even see a worship leader on stage at some point.
[00:21:31] He's strumming on his guitar, he's mid song, and he looks up to heaven and he says, God, we've got wicked, wicked hearts, Lord. And then everybody erupts into a big amen to affirm that notion. And you just want to hit the pause button and say, no. Wait a minute. We don't have deceitfully Wicked hearts. The Bible says he took out our heart of stone as believers.
[00:21:59] He took out that stony heart and he gave us a new heart. In Romans chapter six, it says that we were slaves of sin, but we became obedient from the heart.
[00:22:18] Matt Potter: On part two of this three part series, Andrew Farley challenges the notion that believers have deceitfully wicked hearts emphasizing the transformation that occurs through salvation. He delves into his own journey of leadership highlighting the shift from a self-focused approach to one centered on availability and dependency on Christ with an organic and grace oriented perspective.
[00:22:42] A advocate for leading from the heart and trusting the new heart in others, fostering a community driven approach to leadership.
[00:22:56] Andrew Farley: You know, when I think about my initial approach to leadership as a young believer, I would describe it as pretty much a lone Ranger approach to leadership. I was doing my own thing. I was out on an island. Religiously speaking, I was in halfway houses and jails and prisons. I was sharing my faith on airliners and in subway cars.
[00:23:23] I was going door to door in neighborhoods, and it was all about me and what I was doing for God, and there was no community in it. There was no relationship or fellowship in it. It wasn't about connecting other people or empowering others or, um, enabling other people to succeed. It was all about me and what I could accomplish in order to get God to like me yet another day and wake up with the confidence that I had recently, at least recently done enough for him.
[00:23:59] And so, The whole thing was about me and my impact and me trying to be a, a world changer. And then I had that crash and Berndt experience, the one where I'm on the floor of my apartment and I'm begging God for answers, and I'm saying, God, you know. I'm doing what the Christian world told me to do. I'm out there dedicated, committed, sharing my faith, reading my Bible.
[00:24:26] I'm in church. I'm volunteering, I'm helping out. I'm leading youth groups. I'm going on mission trips. I'm doing jail ministry, everything I could possibly do, and yet I feel depleted. I feel depressed. I feel disillusioned. Where did I go wrong? And you know, looking back on that, God taught me so much through that crash and Berndt experience, and today I see that leadership is first about availability.
[00:24:58] It's about being available to the God of the universe and letting him inspire us, and it's about dependency. That's why Christ lives in us. I mean, think about it. He could have just said, Hey, here's a ticket to heaven, and I'll see you in 80 years. But what did he do instead? He deposited his life inside of us.
[00:25:22] He gave his life for us on the cross, and then he gave his life to us through the resurrection so that he could live his life and express his life. Through us every day. And so what's our role? Well, as leaders, as people, just as humans, our role is to be available. And I think there's a lot in that. The Bible says, let your speech be seasoned with grace.
[00:25:51] It says, let this mind be in you. I love that word. Let, because that three letter word, it says so much about the attitude we can have as believers. God has everything rigged. Christ is in us. We're in Christ. Everything is set up for success. All we have to do is let, yes, we could fight it. Yes, we could dig our heels in or we could just let it happen.
[00:26:19] And to me that's step one of being a leader, is living from the heart and letting Christ be Christ innocent through us as we relate to people we work with. As we relate to people that we encounter every day. So as a pastor, I have a very organic style of leadership. I don't know a better term for it. I mean, in our church we don't build programs and then try to fund them later.
[00:26:50] We don't, we don't even create positions and then try to fill them later. We have a bottom up approach as much as possible, and we, what does that mean? I, I guess it means that we, we kind of survey. The gifts of the people that are already evident, you know, around us, and we look to their desires and their passions, and we ask ourselves, well, where did these passions and desires and gifts come from?
[00:27:22] If they came from God and they're already in our midst. Then we can let these things dictate where we go next. So you see what I mean? That's why I would call it an organic approach. We're not setting up all kinds of programs and then hoping that we eventually get the right people for those slots.
[00:27:42] Instead, we're relational and we're, uh, looking for the, the natural growth. Colossians two says There's a growth that comes from God, and we're trusting in that, that that's real. And so it's just like our, our church giving. I mean, we don't teach a mandated 10% tithe in our church. We just happen to have noticed that it's not in any New Testament epistle.
[00:28:11] You look at Romans, it's not. There, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. It's not there. So how did the Galatians survive? How did the Thessalonians get by? How did the Corinthians make budgets, so to speak? Well, Paul says, give freely from the heart, not under pressure. He says, not reluctantly, but he also says, not under pressure.
[00:28:36] And he says, God loves a cheerful giver. And so that's where we're coming from leadership wise. I mean, a cheerful giver. Can that really be, can that happen? Is it gonna occur if you just take a step back and let people get motivated and inspired by Christ living in them? Well, grace giving is the same. As grace living, the theology doesn't change when you get out your wallet.
[00:29:08] It's real, and yeah, it's risky From a human standpoint, it's risky to lead that way. Yeah, it might mean that you end up cutting some things, but it also might mean incredible excitement about the areas where God is stirring in people. So we lead from the new heart. That's what we're saying. And unfortunately there are just too many, uh, bad ideas out there about the Christian's heart.
[00:29:40] I mean, we've heard in popular theology that we have deceitfully wicked hearts, and you might even see a worship leader on stage at some point. He's strumming on his guitar, he's mid song, and he looks up to heaven and he says, God, we've got wicked, wicked hearts, Lord. And then everybody. Erupts into a big amen to affirm that notion.
[00:30:05] And you just want to hit the pause button and say, no, wait a minute. We don't have deceitfully wicked hearts. The Bible says he took out our heart of stone as believers. He took out that stony heart. And he gave us a new heart. In Romans chapter six, it says that we were slaves of sin, but we became obedient from the heart.
[00:30:32] Now that's awesome. That means that we have new hearts, that we have obedient hearts, and then Paul even goes as far as to call us slaves of righteousness. Now just think about that. All of the slavery that you had to sin, all of the connectedness that you had to the power of sin as an unbeliever, you know, everybody would say yes.
[00:30:56] Unbelievers, the Bible says there's slaves to sin. Yes, I agree with that a hundred percent. Well, the same Bible. The same Bible says you're a slave of righteousness. The same Bible says you have an obedient heart. No, our attitudes are not always. Online, they're not always right. They're not always obedient.
[00:31:17] Yes. We're we're getting a renewing of the mind. Yes. Our mind is being renewed, but our heart, no, our heart has already been extracted and replaced. The bible says that salvation is basically like a heart surgery. It's like a, a DNA swap. We talk about Christ living in us, but. W do we know what Christ did to us?
[00:31:42] He, he doesn't live in dirty places. He cleaned house and then he moved in. And so when Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, that's a new heart that he gave us. And so we can lead from that new heart. And then here's the even bigger thing we can trust that other people also have that new heart. And we can liberate them to learn to be who they are in Christ without micromanaging them, without lording things over them and and manipulating them.
[00:32:20] We can learn to lead by grace when we recognize the new heart in other people. So, I would say leadership wise, that's what we're doing. We're letting that happen in people's lives. Yes, of course we intervene at times to disciple and counsel and exhort people, but for the most part we are letting that happen.
[00:32:45] So that's what I mean by. That it's truly organic. We're living from the heart, we're leading from the heart. We're giving from the heart. God has this whole thing rigged to work in community. If we will trust what he's done in tr, transforming the core of our being. Hey, we're, we're letting it happen. And to me that is so exciting and there's no better way to lead.
[00:33:16] The gospel is God's idea, and he initiated it and he did it perfectly. Everything that was done through the cross and resurrection is so very effective to the max, and there's just no concern about any work being left over. We don't add to what Christ already did. He said it's finished and that's real.
[00:33:40] And so I love talking about the believers' forgiveness. I love talking about issues of, of freedom. I mean, this is my cause to proclaim the new covenant of God's grace for the rest of my days. And I hope that when I'm 90 years old, Or when they're talking at my funeral that they say that far. Leash sure was a, a broken record.
[00:34:04] All he kept talking about over and over and over was God's grace and he wouldn't let up, and he was a broken record just constantly celebrating the new covenant of God's grace. That's what I want to be remembered for because that's what endures what endures is the message itself, not the messenger.
[00:34:30] Matt Potter: On part three of this three part series, Andrew Farley passionately shares their mission to proclaim the message of God's grace and the beauty of the gospel. Andrew emphasizes the completeness of Christ's work on the cross, highlighting the forgiveness is not based on human apologies, but on the blood of Jesus.
[00:34:49] Andrew's desire is to see believers experience the freedom, confidence, and rest that come from. Knowing that they are unconditionally loved and forgiven by God. Andrew's hope is to leave a legacy of pointing out others to the finished work of Christ so they too can experience the profound reality of God's un wavering love.
[00:35:14] Andrew Farley: So I'm on a mission, and frankly, I'm excited about that. It's. It's a mission that's all about freedom. It's all about getting into touch with that heartfelt motivation. I mean, that's my cause. My cause that I'm fighting for is to enable believers to see how beautiful this message is that the gospel is better than any of us realize.
[00:35:45] I mean, what's not to like? You think about the forgiveness that we have. Okay, so. A lot of people think that forgiveness is apology based. I mean, sure it is. If it's human to human. I mean, if you and I are in a fight and if I do something to tick you off and you do something to tick me off, well, I'll forgive you.
[00:36:07] Hey, but you gotta show up on my doorstep. With an apology on your lips and tears in your eyes and sorrow in your heart, and then I'll say, I forgive you. And then you get to go away feeling forgiven. And we have an apology based economy when it comes to two humans relating. But that's not God's way. Like God's way is not our way.
[00:36:32] His way is higher and his way is better. And I'm finding that part of my mission is to help people resonate with the, the blood economy. Hebrews says, without the shedding of blood. There is no forgiveness, and so if I could recognize that it's a blood economy instead of an apology economy, then the whole thing makes a lot more sense.
[00:36:57] It can't be about my 5 million apologies. It can't be about my confessions, it can't be about my memory and my legal pad. In my many words, it has to be about Jesus Christ and his blood, and that's why he shed his blood. One time. It worked. The first time it needs no repeat. The cross worked and that's why Jesus said it is finished.
[00:37:26] And so, oh, we just, we need people to. To see this because it's huge. We are not being forgiven progressively. We're totally forgiven people. Think about it. How many of your sins were in the future when Christ died? All of them, right? Your past sins, your present sins, your future sins, they were all in the future when Christ died, and he didn't differentiate between the big sins or the little sins, or the frequent sins, or the occasional sins, or the confessed sins and the unconfessed sin.
[00:38:02] No, he died for. All your sins. He took away all your sins. He remembers your sins no more. He removed them as far as the east is from the west. That's the message of forgiveness through Jesus. And there's just nothing to, to not like about that. It's an incredible. Message that Christians need to know. This is the gospel for Christians.
[00:38:28] Yeah, we got saved through the gospel, but it's like, then we just sort of took a vacation from the message and tried to start working to impress God and we're trying to live for God instead of living from God and. What I'm trying to say is when you know that you're this clean and when you know that you're this close to God as a free gift, you start acting like a person that's clean and close and you get your confidence back and you don't have any hangups about where do I stand with God and what does he think of me, and all of that fear and that guilt.
[00:39:07] Were asking questions like, is God mad at me and did I mess this up? And. Is it too late for me? Am I all washed up and have I lost my salvation? Ultimately, it feels like we're asking the big question, am I okay? And I think that's what the gospel is designed to answer. The gospel is shouting from the rooftops.
[00:39:33] A resounding, yes, you are okay. You are more than okay. You are forgiven and cleansed of all unrighteousness, past, present, future. You're the righteousness of God. You're holy, your blameless. It's like you never sinned a day in your life. And again, I mean, all of this was God's idea. It's not our idea. Look, if this was our idea, Then look at the religions of the world and how they're trying to climb up to God and get prepped to relate to the deity.
[00:40:03] The deity is far off and perfect, and we are lowly and sinful, and we gotta get ourselves prepared to relate to him as if it's our idea. And so we're gonna go through these steps and jump through these hoops and do these things and then we'll be okay. Well, the gospel. Is God's idea, and he initiated it and he did it perfectly.
[00:40:26] Everything that was done through the cross and resurrection is so very effective to the max, and there's just no concern about any work being left over. We don't add to what Christ already did. He said it's finished and that's real. And so I love talking about the believers' forgiveness. I love talking about issues of, of freedom.
[00:40:52] I mean, this is my cause to proclaim the new covenant of God's grace for the rest of my days. And I hope that when I'm 90 years old or when they're. Talking at my funeral that they say that far, Lee sure was a, a broken record. All he kept talking about over and over and over was God's grace and he wouldn't let up and he was a broken record just constantly celebrating the new covenant of God's grace.
[00:41:21] That's what I want to be remembered for because that's what endures, what endures is the message itself, not the messenger. And so the freedom. That we have as believers, not living under a rule driven theology, not living under a rule-based system, but just recognizing that we have something written on our hearts, that God has etched his desires on the lining of our new spiritual hearts, that we have something in there inside of us that will never be deleted, and that is.
[00:41:58] To believe in Jesus Christ and love others even as he's loved us. And John writes and he says, these commands are not burdensome. The Christian life is not supposed to be burdensome. Don't we remember the original invitation? The original invitation went something like this. My yoke is easy, my burden is light, and you will find rest for your souls.
[00:42:25] That's gotta be real. Either Jesus is a liar or that's gotta be real, and I think it is real. And so that's my mission, is to help and encourage believers as they come to know the finished work of Christ and the real message of the gospel and the fear and the guilt they begin to dissipate. But let's be honest, I mean, the Bible can be like a weapon for people.
[00:42:57] There are many twisted scriptures out there. I'm thinking of things like depart from me. A lot of Christians are freaking out about a passage like that, uh, depart from me. Uh, is that what God is gonna say to me if I didn't do a enough for him? Well, I love helping Christians see the truth. The truth will always set us free, and in that case, just as a.
[00:43:23] A, a tiny example. I mean, Jesus says, depart from me. I never knew you. So those are people who never knew him. They never had relationship. Those aren't people that are with Jesus. And then suddenly they're on the outs. They haven't done enough. They haven't achieved enough. And so God just gets sick of them and kicks 'em out.
[00:43:42] No, this is depart from me. I never knew you. And then we have, you know, other. Fears, like, is God gonna blot us out of the book of life? And that's so ironic because when you look at the Book of Revelation, what you discover is that it's actually a promise to the contrary. He's saying, I'll never. Blot you out.
[00:44:04] I'll never delete you. I'll never erase you. And it's a passage designed to encourage people and build them up in the truth of their security and give them assurance. And look at what we've done in our paranoia, in our fear. It becomes a twisted scripture and the enemy uses it to accuse us. Maybe God has left you, maybe God will leave you.
[00:44:26] And we know. The truth is staring us in the face the whole time. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Nobody can snatch you out of my hand. Even when you are faithless, I remain faithful. So these questions have answers. Is God mad at me? No. Romans says, you're saved from the anger of God. Did I mess this up?
[00:44:50] No, it's not about you. It's about God being a promise keeper. We're not very good promise keepers, but God is, and that's why the new covenant is two unchangeable things. God and God getting together, making an oath so that. Everything you have in Christ is rock solid, unshakable, unbreakable. We keep asking these questions, is it too late for me?
[00:45:15] And have I lost my salvation? And am I okay? And again, and again and again. The gospel affirms that we're more than okay, that we're off the charts righteous, that God is smiling in our direction. Look, these are the questions that I want to help answer for people. I love encouraging people. I want to be remembered as someone who was pointing every time you looked at me.
[00:45:43] I was pointing, pointing to Jesus, pointing to the cross, pointing to the resurrection, pointing to the finished work of Christ, to let people know that the cross worked, that the resurrection was a, a. An amazing success, and as a result, we have a love from God that will never be revoked and leaving that legacy of unconditional love and people knowing that it's real, that it's not a cliche, that it's not a sermon, that it's real, how God feels about us, that God demonstrated his love.
[00:46:20] In dying and resurrecting for us. When people get to know that, that's, that's what puts a smile on my face. That's what I get most excited about.
[00:46:33] Matt Potter: Often we find ourselves questioning the extent of God's forgiveness. Are we truly forgiven for every sin? What about the big ones, the frequent ones, or even the forgotten ones? It's easy to get caught up in the doubts and uncertainties about our forgiveness, but the truth is that. Through the cross, we have been granted an unimaginable level of forgiveness.
[00:46:56] It's a forgiveness that extends to every sin, past, present, and future. Moreover, we explored the notion of freedom in life of a believer. While the word freedom can sometimes evoke fear or apprehension, we discussed a beautiful kind of freedom, one that liberates us from the rule-based religion. It's not about striving to follow endless rules and regulations.
[00:47:21] It's about allowing Christ to rule in our lives and experience the transformative power of his grace. Throughout this episode of Relentless Hope, we discovered the significance of embracing our new identity in Christ. We. The notion that we must deny ourselves or diminish who we are. Instead, we celebrate the truth that in Christ, we have become new creations, redeemed, forgiven, and designed for good works.
[00:47:50] It's about living out our new identity with confidence, and embracing the grace filled life that God has prepared for us. The message of the new covenant resonates deeply, yet it often remains neglected in our discussions today, Andrew. Farley. Sheds light on the profound truth that God initiated and completed everything necessary for our salvation.
[00:48:14] It's not about our efforts or performance. It's about what Jesus did on the cross. Through him, we can experience closeness and intimacy with God, all based on his perfect promise, keeping nature. We should be passionate about sharing this transformative message of the finished work of Jesus Christ. It's a message that liberates and powers.
[00:48:36] Brings joy to our lives. We should be excited about the future and the impact these truths can have on the lives of others. Together let us celebrate the gospel, the pure, unadulterated grace of Jesus without any additives. It's through his grace that we find true freedom, joy, and a renewed sense of identity.
[00:48:58] Thank you for being a part of this journey. I'm your host, Matthew Potter. Stay tuned for more empowering episodes of Relentless Hope. As we continue to explore the depths of God's love and grace, and as always, may you embrace your identity in Christ, walk in the fullness of His grace and give hope a voice.
Discovering Your Identity in Christ - Andrew Farley
[00:00:00] Matt Potter: Many people struggle to grasp the immense power of God's grace, his unconditional love, and his complete forgiveness through Jesus Christ. It can be easy to get tangled up in legalism or works based on righteousness healing as if we have to earn God's love or approval. However, as you pointedly described, the Bible teaches that we are saved not by works, but by faith alone in Jesus Christ.
[00:00:31] Ephesians two, eight through nine, this is the heart of the new covenant. A covenant based not on our ability to keep the law perfectly, which we can't, but on Christ's perfect sacrifice on our behalf, it's true that we're completely forgiven in Christ. He paid the full penalty for all of our sins, past, present, and future when he died on the cross.
[00:00:55] He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, not only for ours, but also for the sins of the world. Verse John two, two. There is no sin. That his sacrifice does not cover. As Christians, we are freed from the bondage of sin and we're given new identity in Christ. We are a new creation, as it says in two Corinthians five 17.
[00:01:20] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here, and in Romans eight, one, we're reminded that there is, therefore now no condemnation to. Which are in Christ. Freedom in Christ doesn't mean we're free to sin without consequences, but that we're free from the bondage and penalty of sin and free to live a life pleasing to God, empowered by his spirit within us.
[00:01:52] Our actions don't earn us salvation, but their unnatural outflow of a, our love for God and our transformed identity in Christ. In this episode of Relentless Hope, Dr. Andrew. Farley describes the transformative power of understanding the grace and forgiveness offered through the new covenant. It's indeed a message of hope and liberation, one that can bring about profound transformation in the lives of believers as they fully embrace the truth of who they are in Christ.
[00:02:26] It's also a valuable reminder for all Christians to stay grounded in the truth of the gospel. And not to drift into legalism or self effort, but to rest in the finished work of Christ. Let's begin today's episode of Relentless Hope with Dr. Andrew Farley
[00:02:47] in a thought-provoking reflection, Andrew Farley delves into the profound forgiveness offered through the cross and explorers. The extent of God's forgiveness pondering the weight of various sins and the uncertainties many Christians face regarding their own forgiveness and the liberating concept of true freedom in Christ.
[00:03:10] Andrew Farley: There's incredible forgiveness through the cross, and I talk about that a ton nowadays. How forgiven are we? Did God fail to forgive us for one of those sins? What about the big sins? What about the frequent sins? What about the forgotten sins? The ones you don't even remember anymore? And we Christians, it seems like we have a lot of hangups.
[00:03:32] We're not sure how forgiven we really are. And then I love to talk about the freedom of the believer. Freedom can be a scary word. I mean, you, you think about the guy in the movie Shawshank Redemption, and he, well, he didn't love freedom. There was one character in there. He kept getting in trouble on purpose over and over so he could go back to prison because he loved bondage.
[00:03:58] He loved to be told when to get up and when to go to sleep and when to have free time, and when he could go to the restroom, he. Liked bondage because there were rules involved and there was structure and freedom scared him. Well, there's a lot of Christians today where, you know the word freedom. It, it, it can scare us, but I'm talking about a, a beautiful freedom.
[00:04:23] A freedom from rule-based religion. It's not about rules. It's about letting Christ rule.
[00:04:37] Matt Potter: On part one of this three-part series, Andrew Farley delves into the themes of forgiveness, freedom, and identity in Christ with an honest and personal touch. Andrew Farley discusses the struggle of understanding the depth of God's forgiveness and the fear that can accompany the concept of true freedom.
[00:04:58] Emphasizing the transformative power of the new covenant and our new identity in Christ. He invites us to embrace the liberating truth that the finished work of Jesus is truly enough.
[00:05:16] Andrew Farley: God, I'm doing everything they say to do. I'm sharing my faith with every single person that I meet. I'm in church every time. The doors are open and I'm reading my Bible four and five hours a day, and yet I still don't feel like I'm getting closer to you. Where did I go wrong? My formula is broken. I was 19 years old and that was my prayer to God.
[00:05:42] I had had a crash and Berndt experience. I had put my antenna up to the religious world and I was doing everything they said to do. I was in halfway houses, in jails and prisons. I was preaching in subway cars and on the streets of Greece and Italy going. Door to door sharing my faith so that I could get God to like me and then keep him liking me.
[00:06:09] And you know what? The whole thing, it just didn't work. I was so miserable. I mean, if I were being honest back then, my sales pitch would've been, Hey, would you like. To become a Christian and be miserable like me. So there I was on the floor of my apartment and I was begging God for real answers and nothing made sense.
[00:06:34] But I gotta tell you, it wasn't like a lightning bolt out of heaven. It was more like 10 years of replacing old thoughts with new thoughts. And at the center of that was something. Thing called the New Covenant. Now, for me, the new covenant just meant maybe that's the name of the church down the Streeter, something, but I had no clue what the new covenant was.
[00:06:58] I had never heard a single sermon. On the topic, and it wasn't an immediate overnight change. It was more like a decade of coming to know what this new covenant is, coming to know what a New Testament relationship with God is really all about. And it was. 10 years of replacing old thoughts with new ones.
[00:07:21] And yeah, I was a believer. I mean, I grew up in Virginia on a horse farm. I grew up in a Christian home and I prayed to receive Christ at a young age. Actually, when I was about. Three years old. My parents told me about how I could receive Christ, and so I prayed with them and then about 10 minutes later, I invited my parents back into my room and I said, Hey, now that I've got Jesus in my heart, could I get an angel in my stomach?
[00:07:52] So it was pretty obvious. I did not understand what real salvation was yet. But later, later on, I was eight years old and I'll never forget, I decided that I really wanted to have Jesus Christ live in me, and I opened the door of my life and received him when I was eight years old. And so I grew up in a Christian home and I.
[00:08:17] I certainly, uh, got a lot of Bible teaching and went to church regularly, and somewhere along the way though, I got really, really confused about what Christianity is supposed to be like on a daily basis. I started to make it about me and what I was doing for God instead of. It being about God and what he had done for me.
[00:08:45] So I didn't understand a, a good portion of the gospel. I, I was really feeling like a black sheep in God's family. By the time I hit my teen years. I had a sense of humor. I was a class clown. I was student body president. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was popular and. Yet I had a guilt complex because I thought, well, if you're a serious Christian, then you'll be walking the aisle every week at chapel.
[00:09:15] I went to a Christian school where we had chapel every day, and at the end of the chapel there would always be this altar call, and they were basically inviting us to. Do more and be more and love more and be better and commit and rededicate and again and again. There was this cycle of trying to present yourself to God and get more right and get more acceptable to him, and it really created a revolving door.
[00:09:45] Experience where you saw the same people get up and rededicate and recommit, and then a week later, a month later, there they were again, tears in their eyes having failed God. They were promising that they were really gonna do it this time. And so that was the environment that I grew up in. And you either got up and walked the aisle and recommitted over and over, or you felt like a second class citizen.
[00:10:13] In God's family, and that's where I landed. But once I went to college, I decided, you know what? I am gonna do this thing for real. I am gonna be the Christian that I never was before. I'm gonna do exactly what they said to do back in those chapel messages. So when I went off to college as a freshman, I decided that I was gonna be the most dedicated and most committed Christian.
[00:10:41] Anybody had ever seen, and so I was reading my Bible four and five hours a day and I was literally sharing my faith with everybody that I came into contact with. Whether they wanted to hear it or not, they were gonna get grace. In their face, man. And so I would steer every conversation around to some sort of evangelistic moment so that I could feel like I got a notch on my belt for that day so that God would like me yet another day.
[00:11:14] And I had pleased him only to go to bed that night and feel a sense of, well, maybe a lack of service. I could have done more, I should have done more. So I would literally, Get up and go to the 24 hour grocery store and find somebody in the produce aisle who was squeezing the fruit, and I would share Christ with them so that I could go home and feel better and get some sleep.
[00:11:42] Finally, only to wake up the next day and try to serve God even more and make him happy with me. So do you see what happened? I mean, yeah, I knew I was saved by Grace. I knew that salvation was a free gift because of what Jesus did through the cross and the resurrection. The problem is that somewhere along the way, everything got twisted and I started making it about me and how much I'm doing and whether I'm doing enough and if I've hit.
[00:12:15] The mark of hit the benchmark or not, and what does God think of me? And I began to live in my emotions and I would let that be the barometer of my closeness. And so you fast forward a decade or two, and you look at my life now. And yeah, I'm talking about Jesus, but it's certainly not from the same perspective.
[00:12:41] It's not from the same vantage point. I mean, you know, I would wish my relationship with God on anyone today, it's not like it was before. Living in misery on the treadmill, trying to jump through all those hoops, trying to get in God's will and stay in God's will and get forgiven. And stay forgiven and, and get in his good graces.
[00:13:05] And stay in his good graces. I mean, that was a nightmare. But today, I have more confidence in who I am in Jesus Christ. I have confidence in my God. I have confidence in what he did for me and I, I'm finally seeing that this closeness that I have with him, that was his idea. It wasn't even my idea. That's why he sent Jesus to initiate this closeness with me.
[00:13:35] And so when I realized that it's God's idea that he knew what he was doing and that he initiated and completed everything that needed to be done, Jesus said on the cross, he said, it is finished. And that means that God did it and he doesn't need to do anything else. And so through the cross and through the resurrection, we're set up.
[00:13:59] We're set up for a free gift of closeness with God, a free gift of intimacy. It's not about what we're trying to do, it's about what he did 100%. And so today I enjoy sharing the good news of the gospel more than ever, and I get to talk about the new covenant, which is a very neglected message. I mean, it's the idea that God, Couldn't swear by anyone greater, and so he swore by himself.
[00:14:31] You know, when I was a kid, I couldn't do that. I couldn't swear to God if I swore to God, my mom would have me in trouble, in a heartbeat. But hey, there is one person who can swear to God and that's God. And that's exactly what the new covenant is. Hebrews says. That it's an oath or a promise that he made with himself so that there would be two unbreakable, unshakable, unchangeable things.
[00:14:59] In one corner, we've got the God of the universe and he's a perfect promise keeper. And then in the other corner, we've got the God of the universe, and he is a perfect promise keeper. And when you have two. Perfect promise keepers, then everything is rock solid. And so you see, I was thinking that I had to be the promise keeper that I've gotta keep my end of the bargain up.
[00:15:24] And that's what empty religion offers us. It says, do your best and then God will respond. You initiate. And if you do enough, then he'll come and bless you. But the new Covenant is not like, That it turns religion on its ear, and we ultimately see that it's a promise that he's made to himself. And so what's the benefit of the new covenant?
[00:15:48] Well, There's incredible forgiveness through the cross, and I talk about that a ton nowadays. How forgiven are we? Did God fail to forgive us for one of those sins? What about the big sins? What about the frequent sins? What about the forgotten sins? The ones you don't even remember anymore? And we Christians, it seems like we have a lot of hangups.
[00:16:10] We're not sure how forgiven we really are. And then I love to talk about the freedom of the believer. Freedom can be a scary word. I mean, you, you think about the guy in the movie Shawshank Redemption, and he, well, he didn't love freedom. There was one character in there. He kept getting in trouble. On purpose over and over so he could go back to prison because he loved bondage.
[00:16:37] He loved to be told when to get up and when to go to sleep and when to have free time, and when he could go to the restroom. He liked bondage because there were rules in involved and there was structure and freedom scared him. Well, there's a lot of Christians today where. You know the word freedom, it, it, it can scare us, but I'm talking about a, a beautiful freedom.
[00:17:02] A freedom from rule-based religion. It's not about rules. It's about letting Christ rule. And when we let Christ rule, that's not a scary thing. He knows what he's doing and. We can let Christ be Christ. And that's a beautiful thing, to not be driven by external rules and regulations, to not be driven by something written on tablets of stone, but instead to be led internally by the indwelling Christ and his presence in us, letting that be our motivation.
[00:17:38] So I talk about new identity in Christ. Uh, it's, it's amazing to me how. So many Christians have bought the enemies lie that we have to diminish ourselves and get rid of ourselves. We're told we gotta die to self. We're told we gotta deny ourselves. But all of those are salvation pitches. I mean, Jesus says, deny yourself.
[00:18:01] Take up your cross and follow him. Where do you follow him? You follow him into death and new life, and that's what salvation is. We follow him into death and new life. So now if you're saved, you've got a new self, you don't need to deny that self. You've got a new self. So why would you deny the new creation?
[00:18:22] Why would you deny who you are as a child of God? And so I love sharing the good news of who we are in Christ, that yes, there's an enemy. Yes, we say no to sin. Yes, we say no to the flesh. Yes, we trust Christ and walk by the spirit. But as far as who we are, God has recreated us in Christ Jesus as a new self, a new creation.
[00:18:50] We're redesigned from the ground up for good works. So that tells you something about our beautiful design. And when we use these phrases like, Hey, you gotta die to self well, the phrase die to self is non-existent in the Bible. It's not even there. And so, I love talking about this stuff because I have seen it liberate so many people.
[00:19:16] Christians go free in their new identity. They start believing that they're totally forgiven, past, present, and future. They drop the rule-based religion and start letting Christ rule and ministering this new covenant message. That is my passion. I mean, second Corinthians chapter three, it says that.
[00:19:37] That's the only message that we're qualified to minister. It says God has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the law. He says, you're a, a minister of grace, and that's what it's all about. It's not about us and what we're trying to do for God. It's all about Jesus and what he already did for us.
[00:20:03] And so. You know, if there's one thing that I wanna shout from the rooftops to the Christian world and beyond, it's that the finished work of Jesus Christ really is enough, and I'm excited. I'm excited about my life right now. I'm excited about the future. I'm excited to share these truths with other people because I've seen how God used them in my life.
[00:20:30] And I have seen how God is rescuing so many people when the gospel gets to shine brightly, when. All of the fig leaves of religion are peeled away and we get back to the core message. My first book was called The Naked Gospel. Jesus Plus Nothing a hundred percent natural, no additives. And that's what I love talking about.
[00:20:58] That's what I love sharing, and that's why I'm excited. Maybe, well, the most in decades. Ever since salvation, looking back on this journey, I can say that today I am more excited than I've ever been, and it's because I know who I am in Christ and I know who he is in me. We've heard in popular theology that we have deceitfully wicked hearts, and you might even see a worship leader on stage at some point.
[00:21:31] He's strumming on his guitar, he's mid song, and he looks up to heaven and he says, God, we've got wicked, wicked hearts, Lord. And then everybody erupts into a big amen to affirm that notion. And you just want to hit the pause button and say, no. Wait a minute. We don't have deceitfully Wicked hearts. The Bible says he took out our heart of stone as believers.
[00:21:59] He took out that stony heart and he gave us a new heart. In Romans chapter six, it says that we were slaves of sin, but we became obedient from the heart.
[00:22:18] Matt Potter: On part two of this three part series, Andrew Farley challenges the notion that believers have deceitfully wicked hearts emphasizing the transformation that occurs through salvation. He delves into his own journey of leadership highlighting the shift from a self-focused approach to one centered on availability and dependency on Christ with an organic and grace oriented perspective.
[00:22:42] A advocate for leading from the heart and trusting the new heart in others, fostering a community driven approach to leadership.
[00:22:56] Andrew Farley: You know, when I think about my initial approach to leadership as a young believer, I would describe it as pretty much a lone Ranger approach to leadership. I was doing my own thing. I was out on an island. Religiously speaking, I was in halfway houses and jails and prisons. I was sharing my faith on airliners and in subway cars.
[00:23:23] I was going door to door in neighborhoods, and it was all about me and what I was doing for God, and there was no community in it. There was no relationship or fellowship in it. It wasn't about connecting other people or empowering others or, um, enabling other people to succeed. It was all about me and what I could accomplish in order to get God to like me yet another day and wake up with the confidence that I had recently, at least recently done enough for him.
[00:23:59] And so, The whole thing was about me and my impact and me trying to be a, a world changer. And then I had that crash and Berndt experience, the one where I'm on the floor of my apartment and I'm begging God for answers, and I'm saying, God, you know. I'm doing what the Christian world told me to do. I'm out there dedicated, committed, sharing my faith, reading my Bible.
[00:24:26] I'm in church. I'm volunteering, I'm helping out. I'm leading youth groups. I'm going on mission trips. I'm doing jail ministry, everything I could possibly do, and yet I feel depleted. I feel depressed. I feel disillusioned. Where did I go wrong? And you know, looking back on that, God taught me so much through that crash and Berndt experience, and today I see that leadership is first about availability.
[00:24:58] It's about being available to the God of the universe and letting him inspire us, and it's about dependency. That's why Christ lives in us. I mean, think about it. He could have just said, Hey, here's a ticket to heaven, and I'll see you in 80 years. But what did he do instead? He deposited his life inside of us.
[00:25:22] He gave his life for us on the cross, and then he gave his life to us through the resurrection so that he could live his life and express his life. Through us every day. And so what's our role? Well, as leaders, as people, just as humans, our role is to be available. And I think there's a lot in that. The Bible says, let your speech be seasoned with grace.
[00:25:51] It says, let this mind be in you. I love that word. Let, because that three letter word, it says so much about the attitude we can have as believers. God has everything rigged. Christ is in us. We're in Christ. Everything is set up for success. All we have to do is let, yes, we could fight it. Yes, we could dig our heels in or we could just let it happen.
[00:26:19] And to me that's step one of being a leader, is living from the heart and letting Christ be Christ innocent through us as we relate to people we work with. As we relate to people that we encounter every day. So as a pastor, I have a very organic style of leadership. I don't know a better term for it. I mean, in our church we don't build programs and then try to fund them later.
[00:26:50] We don't, we don't even create positions and then try to fill them later. We have a bottom up approach as much as possible, and we, what does that mean? I, I guess it means that we, we kind of survey. The gifts of the people that are already evident, you know, around us, and we look to their desires and their passions, and we ask ourselves, well, where did these passions and desires and gifts come from?
[00:27:22] If they came from God and they're already in our midst. Then we can let these things dictate where we go next. So you see what I mean? That's why I would call it an organic approach. We're not setting up all kinds of programs and then hoping that we eventually get the right people for those slots.
[00:27:42] Instead, we're relational and we're, uh, looking for the, the natural growth. Colossians two says There's a growth that comes from God, and we're trusting in that, that that's real. And so it's just like our, our church giving. I mean, we don't teach a mandated 10% tithe in our church. We just happen to have noticed that it's not in any New Testament epistle.
[00:28:11] You look at Romans, it's not. There, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. It's not there. So how did the Galatians survive? How did the Thessalonians get by? How did the Corinthians make budgets, so to speak? Well, Paul says, give freely from the heart, not under pressure. He says, not reluctantly, but he also says, not under pressure.
[00:28:36] And he says, God loves a cheerful giver. And so that's where we're coming from leadership wise. I mean, a cheerful giver. Can that really be, can that happen? Is it gonna occur if you just take a step back and let people get motivated and inspired by Christ living in them? Well, grace giving is the same. As grace living, the theology doesn't change when you get out your wallet.
[00:29:08] It's real, and yeah, it's risky From a human standpoint, it's risky to lead that way. Yeah, it might mean that you end up cutting some things, but it also might mean incredible excitement about the areas where God is stirring in people. So we lead from the new heart. That's what we're saying. And unfortunately there are just too many, uh, bad ideas out there about the Christian's heart.
[00:29:40] I mean, we've heard in popular theology that we have deceitfully wicked hearts, and you might even see a worship leader on stage at some point. He's strumming on his guitar, he's mid song, and he looks up to heaven and he says, God, we've got wicked, wicked hearts, Lord. And then everybody. Erupts into a big amen to affirm that notion.
[00:30:05] And you just want to hit the pause button and say, no, wait a minute. We don't have deceitfully wicked hearts. The Bible says he took out our heart of stone as believers. He took out that stony heart. And he gave us a new heart. In Romans chapter six, it says that we were slaves of sin, but we became obedient from the heart.
[00:30:32] Now that's awesome. That means that we have new hearts, that we have obedient hearts, and then Paul even goes as far as to call us slaves of righteousness. Now just think about that. All of the slavery that you had to sin, all of the connectedness that you had to the power of sin as an unbeliever, you know, everybody would say yes.
[00:30:56] Unbelievers, the Bible says there's slaves to sin. Yes, I agree with that a hundred percent. Well, the same Bible. The same Bible says you're a slave of righteousness. The same Bible says you have an obedient heart. No, our attitudes are not always. Online, they're not always right. They're not always obedient.
[00:31:17] Yes. We're we're getting a renewing of the mind. Yes. Our mind is being renewed, but our heart, no, our heart has already been extracted and replaced. The bible says that salvation is basically like a heart surgery. It's like a, a DNA swap. We talk about Christ living in us, but. W do we know what Christ did to us?
[00:31:42] He, he doesn't live in dirty places. He cleaned house and then he moved in. And so when Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, that's a new heart that he gave us. And so we can lead from that new heart. And then here's the even bigger thing we can trust that other people also have that new heart. And we can liberate them to learn to be who they are in Christ without micromanaging them, without lording things over them and and manipulating them.
[00:32:20] We can learn to lead by grace when we recognize the new heart in other people. So, I would say leadership wise, that's what we're doing. We're letting that happen in people's lives. Yes, of course we intervene at times to disciple and counsel and exhort people, but for the most part we are letting that happen.
[00:32:45] So that's what I mean by. That it's truly organic. We're living from the heart, we're leading from the heart. We're giving from the heart. God has this whole thing rigged to work in community. If we will trust what he's done in tr, transforming the core of our being. Hey, we're, we're letting it happen. And to me that is so exciting and there's no better way to lead.
[00:33:16] The gospel is God's idea, and he initiated it and he did it perfectly. Everything that was done through the cross and resurrection is so very effective to the max, and there's just no concern about any work being left over. We don't add to what Christ already did. He said it's finished and that's real.
[00:33:40] And so I love talking about the believers' forgiveness. I love talking about issues of, of freedom. I mean, this is my cause to proclaim the new covenant of God's grace for the rest of my days. And I hope that when I'm 90 years old, Or when they're talking at my funeral that they say that far. Leash sure was a, a broken record.
[00:34:04] All he kept talking about over and over and over was God's grace and he wouldn't let up, and he was a broken record just constantly celebrating the new covenant of God's grace. That's what I want to be remembered for because that's what endures what endures is the message itself, not the messenger.
[00:34:30] Matt Potter: On part three of this three part series, Andrew Farley passionately shares their mission to proclaim the message of God's grace and the beauty of the gospel. Andrew emphasizes the completeness of Christ's work on the cross, highlighting the forgiveness is not based on human apologies, but on the blood of Jesus.
[00:34:49] Andrew's desire is to see believers experience the freedom, confidence, and rest that come from. Knowing that they are unconditionally loved and forgiven by God. Andrew's hope is to leave a legacy of pointing out others to the finished work of Christ so they too can experience the profound reality of God's un wavering love.
[00:35:14] Andrew Farley: So I'm on a mission, and frankly, I'm excited about that. It's. It's a mission that's all about freedom. It's all about getting into touch with that heartfelt motivation. I mean, that's my cause. My cause that I'm fighting for is to enable believers to see how beautiful this message is that the gospel is better than any of us realize.
[00:35:45] I mean, what's not to like? You think about the forgiveness that we have. Okay, so. A lot of people think that forgiveness is apology based. I mean, sure it is. If it's human to human. I mean, if you and I are in a fight and if I do something to tick you off and you do something to tick me off, well, I'll forgive you.
[00:36:07] Hey, but you gotta show up on my doorstep. With an apology on your lips and tears in your eyes and sorrow in your heart, and then I'll say, I forgive you. And then you get to go away feeling forgiven. And we have an apology based economy when it comes to two humans relating. But that's not God's way. Like God's way is not our way.
[00:36:32] His way is higher and his way is better. And I'm finding that part of my mission is to help people resonate with the, the blood economy. Hebrews says, without the shedding of blood. There is no forgiveness, and so if I could recognize that it's a blood economy instead of an apology economy, then the whole thing makes a lot more sense.
[00:36:57] It can't be about my 5 million apologies. It can't be about my confessions, it can't be about my memory and my legal pad. In my many words, it has to be about Jesus Christ and his blood, and that's why he shed his blood. One time. It worked. The first time it needs no repeat. The cross worked and that's why Jesus said it is finished.
[00:37:26] And so, oh, we just, we need people to. To see this because it's huge. We are not being forgiven progressively. We're totally forgiven people. Think about it. How many of your sins were in the future when Christ died? All of them, right? Your past sins, your present sins, your future sins, they were all in the future when Christ died, and he didn't differentiate between the big sins or the little sins, or the frequent sins, or the occasional sins, or the confessed sins and the unconfessed sin.
[00:38:02] No, he died for. All your sins. He took away all your sins. He remembers your sins no more. He removed them as far as the east is from the west. That's the message of forgiveness through Jesus. And there's just nothing to, to not like about that. It's an incredible. Message that Christians need to know. This is the gospel for Christians.
[00:38:28] Yeah, we got saved through the gospel, but it's like, then we just sort of took a vacation from the message and tried to start working to impress God and we're trying to live for God instead of living from God and. What I'm trying to say is when you know that you're this clean and when you know that you're this close to God as a free gift, you start acting like a person that's clean and close and you get your confidence back and you don't have any hangups about where do I stand with God and what does he think of me, and all of that fear and that guilt.
[00:39:07] Were asking questions like, is God mad at me and did I mess this up? And. Is it too late for me? Am I all washed up and have I lost my salvation? Ultimately, it feels like we're asking the big question, am I okay? And I think that's what the gospel is designed to answer. The gospel is shouting from the rooftops.
[00:39:33] A resounding, yes, you are okay. You are more than okay. You are forgiven and cleansed of all unrighteousness, past, present, future. You're the righteousness of God. You're holy, your blameless. It's like you never sinned a day in your life. And again, I mean, all of this was God's idea. It's not our idea. Look, if this was our idea, Then look at the religions of the world and how they're trying to climb up to God and get prepped to relate to the deity.
[00:40:03] The deity is far off and perfect, and we are lowly and sinful, and we gotta get ourselves prepared to relate to him as if it's our idea. And so we're gonna go through these steps and jump through these hoops and do these things and then we'll be okay. Well, the gospel. Is God's idea, and he initiated it and he did it perfectly.
[00:40:26] Everything that was done through the cross and resurrection is so very effective to the max, and there's just no concern about any work being left over. We don't add to what Christ already did. He said it's finished and that's real. And so I love talking about the believers' forgiveness. I love talking about issues of, of freedom.
[00:40:52] I mean, this is my cause to proclaim the new covenant of God's grace for the rest of my days. And I hope that when I'm 90 years old or when they're. Talking at my funeral that they say that far, Lee sure was a, a broken record. All he kept talking about over and over and over was God's grace and he wouldn't let up and he was a broken record just constantly celebrating the new covenant of God's grace.
[00:41:21] That's what I want to be remembered for because that's what endures, what endures is the message itself, not the messenger. And so the freedom. That we have as believers, not living under a rule driven theology, not living under a rule-based system, but just recognizing that we have something written on our hearts, that God has etched his desires on the lining of our new spiritual hearts, that we have something in there inside of us that will never be deleted, and that is.
[00:41:58] To believe in Jesus Christ and love others even as he's loved us. And John writes and he says, these commands are not burdensome. The Christian life is not supposed to be burdensome. Don't we remember the original invitation? The original invitation went something like this. My yoke is easy, my burden is light, and you will find rest for your souls.
[00:42:25] That's gotta be real. Either Jesus is a liar or that's gotta be real, and I think it is real. And so that's my mission, is to help and encourage believers as they come to know the finished work of Christ and the real message of the gospel and the fear and the guilt they begin to dissipate. But let's be honest, I mean, the Bible can be like a weapon for people.
[00:42:57] There are many twisted scriptures out there. I'm thinking of things like depart from me. A lot of Christians are freaking out about a passage like that, uh, depart from me. Uh, is that what God is gonna say to me if I didn't do a enough for him? Well, I love helping Christians see the truth. The truth will always set us free, and in that case, just as a.
[00:43:23] A, a tiny example. I mean, Jesus says, depart from me. I never knew you. So those are people who never knew him. They never had relationship. Those aren't people that are with Jesus. And then suddenly they're on the outs. They haven't done enough. They haven't achieved enough. And so God just gets sick of them and kicks 'em out.
[00:43:42] No, this is depart from me. I never knew you. And then we have, you know, other. Fears, like, is God gonna blot us out of the book of life? And that's so ironic because when you look at the Book of Revelation, what you discover is that it's actually a promise to the contrary. He's saying, I'll never. Blot you out.
[00:44:04] I'll never delete you. I'll never erase you. And it's a passage designed to encourage people and build them up in the truth of their security and give them assurance. And look at what we've done in our paranoia, in our fear. It becomes a twisted scripture and the enemy uses it to accuse us. Maybe God has left you, maybe God will leave you.
[00:44:26] And we know. The truth is staring us in the face the whole time. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Nobody can snatch you out of my hand. Even when you are faithless, I remain faithful. So these questions have answers. Is God mad at me? No. Romans says, you're saved from the anger of God. Did I mess this up?
[00:44:50] No, it's not about you. It's about God being a promise keeper. We're not very good promise keepers, but God is, and that's why the new covenant is two unchangeable things. God and God getting together, making an oath so that. Everything you have in Christ is rock solid, unshakable, unbreakable. We keep asking these questions, is it too late for me?
[00:45:15] And have I lost my salvation? And am I okay? And again, and again and again. The gospel affirms that we're more than okay, that we're off the charts righteous, that God is smiling in our direction. Look, these are the questions that I want to help answer for people. I love encouraging people. I want to be remembered as someone who was pointing every time you looked at me.
[00:45:43] I was pointing, pointing to Jesus, pointing to the cross, pointing to the resurrection, pointing to the finished work of Christ, to let people know that the cross worked, that the resurrection was a, a. An amazing success, and as a result, we have a love from God that will never be revoked and leaving that legacy of unconditional love and people knowing that it's real, that it's not a cliche, that it's not a sermon, that it's real, how God feels about us, that God demonstrated his love.
[00:46:20] In dying and resurrecting for us. When people get to know that, that's, that's what puts a smile on my face. That's what I get most excited about.
[00:46:33] Matt Potter: Often we find ourselves questioning the extent of God's forgiveness. Are we truly forgiven for every sin? What about the big ones, the frequent ones, or even the forgotten ones? It's easy to get caught up in the doubts and uncertainties about our forgiveness, but the truth is that. Through the cross, we have been granted an unimaginable level of forgiveness.
[00:46:56] It's a forgiveness that extends to every sin, past, present, and future. Moreover, we explored the notion of freedom in life of a believer. While the word freedom can sometimes evoke fear or apprehension, we discussed a beautiful kind of freedom, one that liberates us from the rule-based religion. It's not about striving to follow endless rules and regulations.
[00:47:21] It's about allowing Christ to rule in our lives and experience the transformative power of his grace. Throughout this episode of Relentless Hope, we discovered the significance of embracing our new identity in Christ. We. The notion that we must deny ourselves or diminish who we are. Instead, we celebrate the truth that in Christ, we have become new creations, redeemed, forgiven, and designed for good works.
[00:47:50] It's about living out our new identity with confidence, and embracing the grace filled life that God has prepared for us. The message of the new covenant resonates deeply, yet it often remains neglected in our discussions today, Andrew. Farley. Sheds light on the profound truth that God initiated and completed everything necessary for our salvation.
[00:48:14] It's not about our efforts or performance. It's about what Jesus did on the cross. Through him, we can experience closeness and intimacy with God, all based on his perfect promise, keeping nature. We should be passionate about sharing this transformative message of the finished work of Jesus Christ. It's a message that liberates and powers.
[00:48:36] Brings joy to our lives. We should be excited about the future and the impact these truths can have on the lives of others. Together let us celebrate the gospel, the pure, unadulterated grace of Jesus without any additives. It's through his grace that we find true freedom, joy, and a renewed sense of identity.
[00:48:58] Thank you for being a part of this journey. I'm your host, Matthew Potter. Stay tuned for more empowering episodes of Relentless Hope. As we continue to explore the depths of God's love and grace, and as always, may you embrace your identity in Christ, walk in the fullness of His grace and give hope a voice.
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