05/22/2026
Sorry about the late post again.
Pastor Dennis continued with his series on Romans. This past Sunday's message Pastor Dennis spoke about how Paul was calling out believers who are leaning way too much on their external practices for their salvation and not on their internal. Pastor Dennis even focused on those who often cite these words, "God knows my heart," as a means of validation for their behavior. In thses verses the Apostle Paul does some deep soul-surgery on the religious crowd. He goes after the most sacred external "badge" they possessed—the ritual of circumcision—and reveals a challenging truth: a religious ritual doesn't cover up personal rebellion; it actually exposes it. To help us picture this, we looked at three powerful real-life illustrations:
The Empty Frame: A beautiful, gold-gilded picture frame looks amazing on the wall, but if there’s no canvas inside, the frame is just a hollow joke. It’s a border for a masterpiece that doesn't exist.
The Wedding Ring: A wedding ring is a precious sign of a covenant. But if a spouse wears that ring while living a secret life of unfaithfulness, the ring doesn't make them a good partner—it actually becomes a witness against them.
The Passport: A passport identifies your citizenship, but it won’t protect a traitor who commits treason. God is looking for genuine citizens of the Kingdom, not just consumers with pristine "religious paperwork".
Paul shows us "The Great Reversal"—that an "outsider" who actually honors and obeys God from the heart is in a far better position than a religious "insider" who ignores Him. Because when it comes to God's standard, "close enough" is an illusion.
The Law is like a seamless pane of glass; you don't have to smash the whole window to be a window-breaker, you only have to crack it in one corner. The good news is that the Law was never meant to be a towel that cleans our face; it’s a mirror that shows us our dirt so we can run to the Savior. God isn't looking for people who are just "Christian-ish"—He is looking to make you entirely NEW through the Holy Spirit.
This week, let's stop performing for the applause of the crowd in the pews and start living for an Audience of One. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to do that deep interior work in our hearts so that the masterpiece of our daily walk finally matches the frame of our profession.
If you missed the message or want to review it before Sunday, just click on the link below, and then make plsns to join us this Sunday at 10:30.
https://youtu.be/PEzdhKaRQzE?si=10TSs_t2j6fdcQrj
(We do not own the rights to the music)
