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An 11-week podcast designed as a companion resource to the Core Series at Chapel Pointe Church. Through deep theological conversations with pastors from our church, our goal is to help you build a deeper understanding of the core truths of Christianity and apply them to your life. From the Bible and Jesus to salvation and the church, our prayer is that you don't just grow in knowledge but that you gain a deeper appreciation for the love, grace, and movement of God in your life. For more resources, visit chapel-pointe.org/core-series.
Well, hey. Welcome to the Core Podcast. We're super glad you have joined us. And today is a lot of fun because we get to talk about salvation. So I'm joined with pastor Andrew Honeycutt, who's helping us launch our Granville campus, which is so exciting because that's coming up really soon here in a couple months.
Luke Bilberry:And the one and only pastor Tyler Parrotts. Yesterday was a lot of fun because we got to see people declare their hope, their salvation in Jesus Christ. Tell us a
Andrew Honeycutt:little bit like, I just
Luke Bilberry:want a sidebar conversation with you, buddy. Okay. What's it like on the other end of seeing 21 people say yes to Jesus?
Tyler Perrott:I mean, I think I think especially yesterday. I mean, happens every single time, but I think the uniqueness and I think the privilege that I feel like so fortunate to have is to see the vast array of stories that are coming out. The way that God is at work and the redemption of people's lives who have not grown up in church, from those who maybe have fallen into traps of religion, to whole families who are just being moved and transformed by the work of Christ. Like all of those things together, people to see that and then let people hear a glimpse of that story. And there's so many so often that we see, we tell them this ever they're getting baptized, your testimony has the power to impact other people.
Tyler Perrott:And so often we see that people come back who are, hey, I remember hearing the story of someone who's being baptized. And that's part of what compelled me to take this step of obedience, to take this step of faith. And so it is just such a privilege every Sunday that we have these moments when we get to share how God is at work in the lives of people.
Luke Bilberry:And how he's transforming people. It's cool. Like, and just even at one moment, I think it was in the third service, there was a couple of high school or early college guys. Yep. And this whole group of dudes came up to cheer them on, and they're, like, patting each other on the back.
Luke Bilberry:It was almost like this distraction because they're like,
Andrew Honeycutt:pa pa pa. And I was like, yes.
Luke Bilberry:Because we're celebrating transformation and life change that comes only in knowing who Jesus Christ is.
Tyler Perrott:Yeah. We were backstage, and they like, several of these dudes bust through the backstage, and it was almost like
Luke Bilberry:a I real did open the door for him. You're
Tyler Perrott:welcome. Thank you. It was like, are we getting ready to go baptize or start a football game? I'm not sure. It could be one or the other at
Andrew Honeycutt:this point. Was awesome to see and to see
Luke Bilberry:dads baptizing their kids and husbands and wives and just the transformation that's happening. It's cool. And I I love even this moment because right now we're getting ready here for On Point summer camp, and it is it is at all of our locations, an intentional conversation for our kids to dive into the word of God, but there's gonna be a really special moment that's happening this Wednesday. And so depending on when you're hearing it, it may be happening on that day. And we have bracelets with kids and volunteers that we're praying for this week, and hopefully you're joining us in that.
Luke Bilberry:But that's one of the prayers for us is that kids, and if not, the adults and parents would come to a saving knowledge of who Jesus Christ is. Absolutely. We are very clear and explicit as a church that we have one purpose, and that is to multiply transform followers of Jesus. And that means to come to know who Jesus is as their Lord and their savior. And so so that's a conversation we're gonna dive into, and so we're glad to have you guys.
Luke Bilberry:And so, this one's kind of a weird one because I happen to preach this message. And so, I'm gonna let you guys ask the questions, and, and we're just gonna have some fun having these conversations.
Andrew Honeycutt:One thing that we brought up earlier is the salvations that we saw yesterday. I mean, that's something that we're praying for all the time as we see salvations. And you were talking about just some of the stuff like logistics wise as you were looking at the people who responded that was unique from yesterday.
Tyler Perrott:Yeah, I think it's unique because we've not done this in a service before where we've specifically asked people to fill out a form, which can feel a little bit unique, but whenever you have thousands of people, how do you help people be able to take an actionable step? And so we had 12 people respond to that form yesterday to say, hey, I'm That's amazing. I I wanna accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And I think there were probably others outside of the scope that also did that by raising a hand in the room. But of those twelve, eight of them were brand new to us here at Chapel Boy.
Tyler Perrott:We had my whole idea. I love it. This is like data nerd on the backside. But it's like their profile creation was created by them accepting Jesus as their Lord and savior, which is just such an awesome moment.
Luke Bilberry:Yes. This first step that we get to come alongside them and care for them well. Yeah. And even being, like, on the stage kind of helping to lead our church in that moment, it can feel really, really weird. But at the end of the day, what I'm now convinced of thinking through that, I'd rather sit and have a conversation because it feels personal.
Luke Bilberry:It feels real. It feels, quote, unquote, authentic. But at the end of the day, our desire is for people to to come to know Jesus and take a step of growth and maturation and knowing who he is. Because I believe at the end of the day, the more we know Jesus, the more we find meaning and purpose and who we were actually meant to be. So it's this beautiful, I don't know a better word, synergy.
Luke Bilberry:The more we know Jesus, the more we know who we are. And in doing so, we find the life that we were meant to live. And that's my prayer for our church at the end of the day is to find that hope in life in Jesus Christ alone.
Andrew Honeycutt:So what was it like getting ready and prepping and getting ready for the message? Like because that's such a crazy like, preach on salvation. Like, this is so fun. Like, it's such, like, an exciting thing to preach about. But what was it like going through the preparation process for preaching yesterday?
Luke Bilberry:That's a great question. It was was fun because we found out that we were we didn't have anyone that was, like, lined up to get baptized. And so and then the closer we got, all of sudden, they're like, we think we've got 21 people that we know for sure, and they ended adding a few more at the Byron Center location. And so I think 23 people ended up getting baptized. And so it kinda changed my preparation, because one of the things I think about this topic is there's actually a lot of questions around this.
Luke Bilberry:There's a lot of ways my brain wanted to try to go. Part of me wanted to compare this to, like, world religions because every other world religion says something wildly different while they're still using this word salvation and finding finding God, if you will. Maybe that's another way to think about it. So part of me wanted to go down that lane of thinking to try to equip our church. And then I was like, no, that's not where we need to go.
Luke Bilberry:And then part of me was thinking, I always love to do study in the in the words and just kinda what do they mean. And I feel like we could sit there forever, but at the same time, we can also lose the thread. So just kinda came down to those questions is what is salvation? Who can be saved? How are we saved?
Luke Bilberry:And kind of living in those three questions, and at the end of the day, preparing a message, thinking about people in front of us. People that I know who have been saved, and and I know we can probably talk about it in a little bit, but hopefully a paradigm shifting reality that I am saved. Mhmm. I am being saved, and praise God, one day I will be saved. And so to live in that idea, I think I even quoted in the sermon that R.
Luke Bilberry:C. Sproul, the golden chain of salvation, this unbreakable chain because that that's how it works. I'm saved, I'm being saved, and one day I will be saved. To sit in that moment is like, I think this is a life giving thing for us as a church to be reminded of. And so just left me kind of with joy, left me with, eager anticipation to get after it.
Luke Bilberry:And then to know that really the message was a small fraction because it was all about seeing those stories of transformation, those lives of folks who have been saved and put their faith in Jesus, saying this Jesus is my Lord and savior, and here's how he's transforming me. And so that was, to me, just to know that the sermon was a small piece of God's on the move actively saving people. So just kind of fun to think about that and pray into the message, for this week for us.
Andrew Honeycutt:It was beautiful to see it, like, acted out in the room. Like, we saw real life, like, salvation's taking place. We saw the baptisms afterwards. And so it was really cool to see like the whole experience of people taking those next steps. That was awesome.
Tyler Perrott:Yeah. Yeah. Think something that even as you're talking, I think it's this reality. I think part of how we want to frame up this conversation is to recognize that like salvation isn't just something like we do and then check it off the list and never think about it again. But it actually should have this kind of paradigm moment by how we live and follow Jesus our entire life.
Tyler Perrott:I think there's an aspect of that that might be new for some people that we do maybe a great job of that initial salvation, but do we think about, you know, what are the ways that that salvation continues? We think about that word that it carries out through the Christian life and even into eternity.
Luke Bilberry:Yeah. Yeah. And so, I mean, like, when you guys think about I kinda flip and we're dancing around this. Whenever you think about salvation, I think it'd be helpful for you guys. How did how did you know who Jesus was?
Luke Bilberry:When were you saved? Tell us, like, briefly, like, about that. Because I think that is one of the ways because it's such a broad term, but then we begin to bring it into this focus around your story transformation, pastor Andrew, yours, Tyler, you know, Ramsay and Cyrus and Sidney are in the room, and we've all had these encounters with Jesus. And I would We are saved. There's been a marked moment.
Luke Bilberry:And so I wonder if that might be a helpful way for us to continue to navigate the conversation.
Tyler Perrott:Yeah. You wanna take us away?
Andrew Honeycutt:Yeah. So I remember I was seven years old, and I remember, like, I loved Sunday school. I still remember would. Judy. Yeah.
Andrew Honeycutt:I I'm first born in, That like
Luke Bilberry:checks real well.
Andrew Honeycutt:Yeah. Everything in that, like, vein. So I love Sunday school. And so every week I would, like, be so excited to go and miss Judy, she taught her Sunday school, and there's, I mean, four or five of us in there. And so I would always prep the room for her.
Andrew Honeycutt:I would, like, get stuff off the top shelf for her and all the different things. And I remember the Sunday that we talked about sin. And I remember that Sunday's like so vividly. And then later that week I actually went and I took something without asking for it.
Tyler Perrott:You done done?
Andrew Honeycutt:And so I that day, I remember I was seven years old, but I felt, like, heavy, like, and shame. And I was really processing because, like, we had talked about it together about sin and what it actually meant. And I knew that I was breaking God's law by doing what I did. And so I remember I went to my dad, my dad's pastor. And so he was just like, brought me in and he's like, so what did you do?
Andrew Honeycutt:And he kind of walked me through it. And I said, is this sin? And he said, yes. And he's, you know, he said, you know what, I forgive you. But what's most important is if God forgives you.
Andrew Honeycutt:And so he said that, like, with love, like, because we were talking through about sin and stuff. And so at that moment, like, my dad kinda walked me through the whole, like, Romans road piece with me. And I had never, like, I still so vividly remember everything about that moment. He even drew, like, you know, how there's, like, drawing with a chasm and how the cross And the cross like a chasm. I love that.
Andrew Honeycutt:So I I took it and I even had, like, a little treasure chest in my room and I remember putting it in my room that day because I accepted Jesus as my Lord and savior that day. And I remember talking to everybody about it of like the freedom that you can have when knowing that he has paid the payment for my sin. And so I just remember that moment was that marked, I am saved. And I just couldn't wait to tell everybody about it.
Luke Bilberry:Yeah. Not too cool about you, Pastor Charlie.
Tyler Perrott:Yeah. I think so mine's a little bit different in the sense that it maybe will be helpful kind of dialoguing these together in some way. So for me, I grew up in the church, grew up very much, I was not as big a fan of Sunday school as pastor Drew was. But I think for me, I think whenever I look back at the uniqueness of it, this will, this will not shock you about me. It's like, I knew all the right answers.
Tyler Perrott:Like I had all the right religious answers, but I didn't have any real relationship. Like I was like, I'd go there on Sunday night, I'd go there Wednesday, I'd be there Sunday morning. But then I would say probably about when I was about 14 that really began to transition. And I think I reached the point where I acknowledged my need for a savior and ultimately I think confessed my need and was baptized. But I would probably say in that moment, I would say like the seeds of my faith were at that point.
Tyler Perrott:I would say it's probably about a year or two later when I went on a mission trip to Philadelphia, that all of that just blew up in a great way. Like my faith grew up out of that. But I would say if you would like the mountaintop moment for me of my faith in that early season would have probably when I was 16. But I would say I genuinely actually came to faith whenever I was 14 or 15. Even though it took a while for that to fully become activated and the sense of going, I didn't have that that initial moment where I was like, oh man, this is this is it.
Tyler Perrott:And then everything was different. That took a while downstream in my sanctification process. But I can remember at 14 getting to the point to go, I can't do this. I don't have enough right answers. I'm not good enough.
Tyler Perrott:So I'm gonna confess my need and be baptized. But then ultimately I would say that maturation or sanctification process really took root about a year and a half after that moment began in my life. And so I think when I look back at my kind of own salvation moment, there there are sometimes people can feel like, man, is it right in that moment everything grows? That's my hope as a discipleship pastor. That's what I want.
Tyler Perrott:But then I also recognize that reality is sometimes people grow at different rates. And so I think it's be willing to kind of wrestle through what does that look like.
Luke Bilberry:Well, would you say, like, for you, like, you had this head knowledge, head saving knowledge of who Jesus is and those things kinda made sense, but it wasn't actually activated into your heart and therefore your your whole being. That's kind of what I hear you saying and knowing you a little bit is like, yeah, we're going walk it through logically, but activating that heart process.
Tyler Perrott:Yeah. And I would say, right, I think like my emotions follow my logic. Right? So that's kind of my natural bent. And so whenever I I think I really got to the point in my when I was 14, 15 in that moment of I truly do believe I was saved.
Tyler Perrott:But I would say that there was a gap, between that becoming an experiential reality for me down the road of being saved. I received some of that initial aspect of of knowledge, understanding, and then it took a while for that route to begin to fully grow.
Luke Bilberry:Yeah. I wanna I wanna kinda come back to it because what you're talking about reminds me of a parable that Jesus talks about. Right? A parable of seeds. And when we think about salvation in this process, I am saved, I'm being saved, and will be saved, there's a lot of overlaps for us to even kinda begin to mind the depths of it.
Luke Bilberry:Right? Because we can there's this beautiful simplicity about what salvation is, but then there's also there's this incredible depth to what salvation is and and the incredible work that God has done on our behalf and for his glory. But I wanna come back because you said something that growing up in certain circles at certain times, the way we've talked about salvation, think, has changed, you know. And I think about my upbringing and maybe other people's is, you know, we would talk about salvation and you're being you're just being saved from hell. And that was, like, the end of the conversation.
Luke Bilberry:Like, you wanted to to get a get out of jail free card, you wanted some fire insurance, you know, those are kind of the old religious jokes about being saved. But there is a simplicity to that. There is this faith I can put my trust in Jesus, but one of those things that I know that we haven't talked about as a church since I've been here, but you mentioned the Romans Road. And I and I'd love for you maybe to unpack that real quick, Andrew, because it's a helpful tool to use scripture as as as a beginning place for this conversation that I do think lays out a biblical framework that we would say that we've built on in this core podcast of understanding who God is, understanding humanity, and understanding our our sin, and ultimately getting to this place of this conversation about salvation.
Andrew Honeycutt:Yeah. And I think it starts with the idea that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And I knew at that moment as a kid, it's like, yeah, I know that there is nothing that I could do because I also was, like you said, like, you're kind of poking fun at, like, I I was kind of the good kid, you know, but at the same time I knew that my righteousness, that's not something that I could earn. That is only something that Jesus could have done for me. And so knowing that, knowing that he paid the payment for my sins, that was the moment when I knew, like, everything, like, unlocked in me that I couldn't be good enough.
Andrew Honeycutt:And and I needed him in his payment for my sins.
Luke Bilberry:Yeah. And so, like, this idea of the Romans where you you kinda started it off, you know, there's Romans three ten. There's there's no one righteous, no not one right. That's what we talked about in the humanity. The reality we've all and then goes into Romans three twenty.
Luke Bilberry:For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You get to Romans five eight, but God demonstrates his love for us that Christ would die for us. Romans six twenty three, for the wages of sin is death. Romans ten nine. This is I mean, like, this is wild when you think about what the world says, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, you will be saved.
Andrew Honeycutt:Mhmm.
Luke Bilberry:Right? And so, like, this is this using these Roman these passages in Romans is a way to understand, who we are and our need of salvation and the way we are saved is through Jesus Christ. Mhmm. But it's pretty wild to think that if I just confess with my mouth and I believe in my heart that Jesus is Lord, I'm saved. Mhmm.
Luke Bilberry:Like, for some people, like, really? Like, the wait. That that's it? Mhmm. And if I read the Bible, that's what I that's what I see, guys.
Luke Bilberry:How would you begin to try to address some of that when you're thinking about it is a simple gospel. It's a simple faith. But what about my works and what about my life? Don't these things do I need to balance the scales? Right?
Luke Bilberry:Because that's what mythology was kind of built on. Like, you've got to live a good life and balance the scales, hopefully your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds.
Tyler Perrott:I think I think often whenever even just even going back to baptism a little bit, this is often one of the struggles I see for people wanting to step into baptism is like, well, I feel like I need to know understand more.
Andrew Honeycutt:Feel like Which you understand that.
Tyler Perrott:Yeah. Right. Not like, get it. You have a lot more to learn. It's gonna take a long time.
Tyler Perrott:But I think that that is the kind of hope of salvation is this aspect of it is that simple in the sense that you this is what is required, right? So there is a great, Christ has paid the great price. We have to receive it by faith and belief in who he is and what he has done. And the reason it's so simple is because it's our faith being activated to that reality. And so all of life begins to be shaped in that direction.
Tyler Perrott:So the rest of the sanctification process, all of that is just downstream of have you crossed that line? Do you believe that to be true? Because if it's Jesus doing that, but oh, I've got these things over here that I'm also doing and I also need to have done, well then you're outside of the scope of what the gospel is. The gospel is the good news of what Christ has done on your behalf. Do you believe it?
Tyler Perrott:Have you accepted it? And that is the starting line for every single person. We'll talk about downstream what sanctification looks like, but that's what is required. And that is all you need to have, the faith, the knowledge, the understanding to step into a fullness and assurance of salvation, and then respond often what we see with aspect of baptism being the outflow of that, because there isn't more that has to be obtained to be able to say, I'm a follower of Jesus.
Andrew Honeycutt:Yeah, that's good. What are some of the conversations that you've been having now thinking about all those people that are kind of coming through the system that said, hey, they raised their hands, but they got saved. What does the next steps look like for somebody?
Tyler Perrott:Yeah. So I think of this like in a real practical sense. We have a, like a seven week old at home, right? And so often I think of, and even scripture points us out about thinking through spiritual maturity and that's Seven weeks. Yeah.
Tyler Perrott:Like Not a lot of sleep. No, not a lot of sleep, but also it's like recognizing what, what are people capable of. And so it's helping people recognize that, hey, you are a spiritual babe in some sense, that you need help to grow into maturity. That is the process of sanctification. And you actually the great news of that is that you weren't saved to be by yourself.
Tyler Perrott:You were saved to be part of the church, which is what we're getting ready to come into next week. But this aspect of invitation, we're able to go, you need to come be a part of the body to grow in maturity, step further into. And so those can happen in a variety of ways. I mean, you've got your very traditional, we do small groups, we have Bible studies. Those are key aspects to begin to grow.
Tyler Perrott:But also I think it's just helping people to recognize and not fall into the trap that, oh, salvation is just something that I do one time and then I'm just kind of, I coast until the end and I'm good. It's to recognize, no, out of a response from that, you begin to grow in your obedience and your following of Jesus. So you need to be connected to other believers who are going to encourage you, call you forward. You need to be connected to the life of the church, whether that's through serving or through, any number of ways that you get connected here. And so I think that that's an aspect that we're always thinking about, but also recognizing that we can't expect people who are brand new to the faith to be as mature as people who have been in the faith ten, twenty or thirty years.
Tyler Perrott:I hope those are not the same level of maturity to be able to go, hey, take this one small step, be obedient here. Oh, you've never read the Bible? Man, let's start with some of those kinds of daily practices to begin to know, to grow, to understand what that could look like for you. But recognizing that there is a maturity marker of someone who's brand new in faith, I shouldn't go, well, hey here, hope you read the Bible in the next ninety days. Maybe they could do that, but the average person is gonna be, man, how do you begin to slowly take steps to grow and become a mature follower of Jesus?
Luke Bilberry:Yeah. One, all that's it's good because it's this process. Right? It's this it's this movement that God is doing. And that's one of the things that we tried to draw out in the sermon yesterday is that, again, that idea of I am saved and I'm being saved.
Luke Bilberry:And that's kind of what I hear you talking about, Tyler, is that there's this process, this formation. Right? Scriptures tell us that we're to be conformed to the image of Christ, not to the image of the world, not to the broken and distorted version of the world or the broken or distorted version of of who I am created in the Imago Dei, but the right, the restored image of the Imago Dei. And that that is a life that that has purpose and meaning and a life that is, everything that you desire is in right order with God. And that's that kind of what I even hear you talking about is not as much what I'm saved from.
Luke Bilberry:Yes. Are we saved from eternal separation, from God through Jesus Christ? Absolutely. And and I think even Jesus is very clear about that. Like, there are parables where he tells us, man, that the like, the wheat and the tares, they're going to be separated at some point.
Luke Bilberry:So those who have who are saved, those who are redeemed, those that he has chosen, and those that are not. Right? And then the sheep and the goat in Matthew 25. And so there's that, but it's more the way that I'm trying to think about it is what am I saved for, not just from. Right?
Luke Bilberry:What am I saved for? Because I think there's something beautiful in God's design for all of creation. And so I don't know. Help help us unpack that a little bit, guys, of when we're talking about I am being saved, I'm being sanctified in this process. What are you hoping for people, that we get to lead and serve?
Andrew Honeycutt:Well, I love our vision statement because we call it out that we're transformed followers of Jesus. And that transformation is a continual process. And I think that that's what we're trying to communicate when we say I'm being saved and that sanctification process of that transformation that I'm continually being conformed into the image of his son. So what does that look like for us? It looks like we aren't enslaved to the things of sin and death that we used to be, who we used to live in, but we're actually saved to something, a freedom to live for him, to be slaves to Jesus Christ.
Andrew Honeycutt:And so what does it look like to, like, completely give our lives to him and allow him to completely transform us from the inside out?
Luke Bilberry:Well, you just sparked something and feel funny jumping in there, but it reminded me of Hebrews twelve one and following. It says, therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, the other people who have been saved, the people that God that are with God right now, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Right? And and I think about that passage for a minute because it's an interesting one that we were saved from our sins. Mhmm.
Luke Bilberry:Right? That that that Jesus because apart from the work of Jesus Christ, we could not actually set ourselves free from our sins. If so, why wouldn't we have already done that? Right? So there's this work.
Luke Bilberry:I am saved. I'm set free from my sins, but we're also invited into this process, right, to then set aside the sin that clings so closely. So now there's this active participation. I can either pick up sin like your coffee mug here. I can pick it up, or I can choose to not pick it up.
Luke Bilberry:I can choose to live a and make a different decision and live in a life. And that to me, that's freedom. What I'm saved for is to make the holy, the Godward choices versus the selfish and sinward choices.
Tyler Perrott:And if I had say where I see people get off in that is what they don't do in that passage was with their eyes fixed on Jesus. That we can, by our own willpower, wanna go, oh, I'm going to do it now, or I'm gonna step into this, or I'm gonna try to be a better person or a better version of myself out of my own strength, whatever, that's not the invitation either. It isn't that Jesus saved you, now you can try better. It's going, no, you're gonna you have to try entirely differently. You're looking to Christ.
Tyler Perrott:Right. So like if you're trying to build out often, what I see this play out for people is a lot of spiritual disciplines. But if your spiritual disciplines are not aimed at a greater view of who Jesus is, then your spiritual disciplines are off. Like, if you're going, hey, wanna, let's go, let's read the Bible. I wanna read the Bible.
Tyler Perrott:That can be a great aim. But if it's not aimed at going, it's because I desire to know God better, and I wanna know his will and his purposes, instead of, I just wanna get through my Bible in the airplane and have all the check marks.
Luke Bilberry:It's just another skill to master.
Tyler Perrott:It's another skill to master and you have missed the entire purpose and ability to be sanctified and actually kind of pee and re picked up a yoke of slavery and religiosity if you're not careful. So I think we always have to check what are our motives after whenever we're pursuing something. Because honestly, our own willpower will eventually run out. And we'll either settle the bar of godliness to what is comfortable to us, or we'll just stop entirely.
Luke Bilberry:Yeah. No, that's really good. So when you when you guys are thinking about it, where do you see some of, like, the to equip our church family well, where do you guys see some speed bumps or hiccups that people run into when it comes to being saved from their sin and being saved for the life of God? Where do we see people run into some struggles with maybe different belief, cultural norms? What are some ways that we can help equip our church family, to walk in the reality of of the salvation and hope they have in Jesus?
Luke Bilberry:And ultimately, think what we're asking is, what are we praying for our church family as transformed followers of Jesus?
Andrew Honeycutt:Yeah. I think we've been saying it a lot, but just simply abiding with him. Right? Like, I think it's that understanding that he's the one who does the work, it's the spirit that will do the work in us that we will bear fruit, but it's not something that we manufacture, that we create, but it's simply abiding in him. So what does it look like for us to just simply abide in him and allow him to transform us from the inside out?
Tyler Perrott:Yeah. And I would say to be very similar to that would be we talked about that whenever we were talking earlier, this aspect of you don't move on from your salvation in the sense whenever you're trying to step into your sanctification. That what happens when we are saved and all that happens in that occurrence whenever you're now justified, you're now adopted. There's all these aspects that are core aspects of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. It's out of that, that you begin to work out your salvation.
Tyler Perrott:It's out of that your sanctification grows. And I think sometimes we have that we don't connect those things together. We go, oh, that salvation thing I received, I did that in a moment at one time, but it's actually not being connected into the life that I'm being called to live.
Luke Bilberry:Yeah. No. That's good. But I mean, I think some of the ones that you're kind of talking about it is sometimes we can approach our salvation as self help. Right?
Luke Bilberry:Like, live in an age of self help. Right? And such incredible knowledge, you know, in biohacking, you know, like, if I do these things and I and if I'm taking, you know, ice baths and I'm, you know, not eating these foods, then I can live forever. I can quote unquote save myself, redeem myself, whatever that, you know, I can organize my life and I can control and manage it. It it kind of brings me back to one of the things I remember hearing early in high school was it was a phrase, and I don't know if it's used much anymore, but maybe one of the the religions, the faith that we have is actually moral therapeutic deism.
Luke Bilberry:Mhmm. Right? So it's this we wanna be good people. We want it to feel therapeutic to make me feel better, to feel happy. And that actually becomes my God.
Luke Bilberry:Right? And I am saved. And through being good, acting good, earning my salvation, as long as I'm feeling happy. Right? And that I think kind of dumbs down the reality of what salvation is because at the end of the day, Jesus is Lord and savior.
Luke Bilberry:He is a friend that is close as a brother, but he is also the king of kings and the Lord of lords, the one who, at this very moment, the scriptures tell us is holding the cosmos together. Right? And so there is this, intimate relationship, but yet there there should be this awe and this, reoriented of my life to his purpose and his wills. And so my God is God. Right?
Luke Bilberry:And I'm saved for his plan and his purposes. And that's what I think we we often may can sometimes forget in our salvation, conversations is I'm saved. Okay. I'm good in in the eyes of God. And then life doesn't actually matter after that as long as I'm just kind of being sort of good.
Luke Bilberry:Now is your life surrendered in every moment because you have been saved and God is at work saving you right now through the trials and tribulations, the highs and the lows of life? Mhmm. And I think that would be one of the things I would ask people is, well, I don't know if I'm saved. Right? Or, you know, I try to I go to church and I read my Bible and it's like, is every part of your life surrendered to the Lord Jesus would be a question that I would ask.
Andrew Honeycutt:Yeah. How does that play into, like, yesterday you talked about the definition of terms and thinking through, like, the Hebrew, like, and what it was saying about salvation. Like, how would you, like, nuance that in light of those terms?
Luke Bilberry:I think it's hear me say, I'm not I'm no expert on this. But as I'm looking at the the language and then I'm my imagination is stirred and my heart is stirred, I'm seeing there's this theme that God wants things to be as it should be. As it was intended in the garden, God is wants to use God's people to create and grow and eventually move us from a garden to a city that we see in Revelation 21. And so God is actively restoring and reconciling those things. That's why I love, like, the metanarrative of scripture, like those four buckets.
Luke Bilberry:It helps me make sense of the scriptures that God created and it was good. Sin enters the story, fall, ruins everything. Jesus comes, shows up at the right time. Right? You were we're talking about kind of God showed up at the right time.
Luke Bilberry:Scripture tells us this kind of overlapping Venn diagram. God stepped into history to change and reorient, reconstruct, the future for us, to put it as it should be. And so that's where those those Greek, Greek and Hebrew terms, I think, really help us understand. It's not just saved, like I was pulled out of a pit, which the psalmist tells us. Right?
Luke Bilberry:The Lord is my helper, and he pulled me out of the miry clay. Right? We see so often that is truth, but it's not just to save, it's to reorient my life around the purpose. And so that's why I think that Hebrew word, Yeshua, is so interesting for salvation. It means to be spacious.
Luke Bilberry:Mhmm. It means to give room and ability to live, work, breathe, have my being versus being restricted and confined in a prison of sin. Mhmm. And so Jesus opens the door and takes us out of the prison cell of sin, out of the old body and puts us in was it one of these days, guys, I'm gonna get the numbers right. Is it second Thessalonians five seventeen or first Thessalonians five seventeen?
Luke Bilberry:We are a new creation in Christ. Yeah. And so that's what I think about those terms that stirs my my heart and my mind to go, God is in the business of fixing what was broken and putting it back on a trajectory and a path that it was intended to.
Tyler Perrott:Yeah. So we get to think about that right in light of our own life. So we're in that kind of aspect, that invitation into kind of restoration and that kind of movement of going. We recognize that our identity has been secured when we come to faith in Christ, but we are still in process. And so that we are invited to walk that kind of redemptive journey out in our own lives.
Tyler Perrott:But also, think you just thinking throughout scripture, but thinking out just the the human experience to recognize that I think that we the Bible, lives in reality. And so we know that this side of eternity, that there are gonna be moments, whether that's self inflicted or things that happen to us by sin, just either the sin of the world or even just the sin of others to go, we get to have kind of this eternal hope that we live from, that our salvation is coming. So even when we experience sin and brokenness, even from ourselves, others, or just the brokenness of the world, that our hope should not be dismayed because salvation is coming, that we get to stand firm, that we get to be anchored. I think it is all the times throughout scripture that the believers are just called over and over again to stand firm, to stay steady, to keep pressing in all of those different pieces.
Luke Bilberry:When I think that, I mean, I think that's probably like a good place for us to kind of wrap up this moment together Because there's a lot of conversations and that's what we're hoping for is you get to have these conversations with friends, family, parents talking having conversation with kids to take a little bit, diver deep from our Sunday mornings because we're we're trying to talk about things that the church has been talking about for thousands of years. But here's what we know. At the end of the day, salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone. And the question that we are praying for and asking you to wrestle with is, are you surrendered to Jesus Christ as your Lord and your savior? That he is the one who's redeemed you from your sin, but he is also the Lord that you get to submit your life to and to follow after him as a transformed follower of Jesus, someone who has been transformed, is being transformed.
Luke Bilberry:And we know one day, Revelation 21, the end of the story is such a hope for us that one day he will make all things new and things will be as they should be. And so, thanks for joining us for today. Again, if you don't know Jesus as your savior, please reach out to us. We'd love to talk with you about that because that's why we're here. We want people to know the goodness and the grace and the love of Jesus Christ.
Luke Bilberry:And so have a great week, and we'll see you guys next next week.