God’s Story Changes Ours
Bryan Jones
February 2, 2025
Prayer Points for Prayer Time:
- Pray for Brookwood to teach about the transformative power of God's grace.
- Pray for people to know Jesus as the hero of their story.
- Thank God for those who are publicly expressing their faith through baptism this weekend.
Scripture Reading:
Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Luke 18:9-14 (NLT)
A. Introduction
We’ve been in this series called Resistance, and we are looking at the reality that when God creates, Satan wants to counterfeit.
But here is the thing I want you to understand.
B. God’s story changes ours.
- His GRACE changes everything.
(Luke 18:10-13; Ephesians 1:7)
Why is it, when some people talk about Jesus, they are so moved by Him, and others, when they talk about the love of God it, doesn’t really move them… Anytime my heart is on fire for God, and anytime I’m apathetic, it almost always comes down to these two things:
If you don’t view both of these as big, then you are going to have little faith or grace…
- Your sins (little) = little grace
- Your Savior (big)
“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank You, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give You a tenth of my income.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’”
Luke 18:10-13 (NLT)
If you are in this room and grace is cheap, have you come face-to-face with your sin? Jesus talks about if you harbor anger in your heart, it’s a form of murder…
How you see what’s in your heart, or your motives, attitude… those are big deals to God… if you find grace cheap, it’s because you reduce what you’ve done…
But the flip side is true… some of you have the opposite problem. You are so aware of your sins… but your Jesus is too small… and that creates little grace in you…
- Your sins (big) = little grace
- Your Savior (little)
Your sins are big, but your Savior is bigger.
When I was in college… a friend of mine and I went to a 24-hour McDonald’s to do some work. This McDonald’s had a lot of homeless people come in and out and try to sit in McDonald’s, so they had security… It was probably around 2 am, and we had food earlier that night. Now, my friend was asleep. He had a jacket on… Laying on the table… and all of a sudden, the security officer came over to me and said, can you show me your receipt? And I showed him my receipt of the food that I had earlier… then he looked at me… and said, do you know this man… and I said, never seen him before in my life… and so the security guard woke my friend up and took him outside… and there was nothing he could do because only I had the receipt. The receipt gave me the right to be there…
Listen, your works and behavior don’t give you rights to the Kingdom… The blood of Jesus is what gives you the right to be called a son or daughter of God.
When the enemy comes and says things like:
You will never overcome this struggle…
You won’t find victory.
God has to be disappointed.
You will never be a great woman or faith; look at your past…
What if people found out who you are or what you did…
You slap down the receipt that says paid in full… you’re right, but according to Ephesians 1. Jesus has canceled my record. He’s set me free.
So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
Ephesians 1:7 (NLT)
This shows two things:
- Your sins (big)
- Your Savior (bigger) = big grace
Today, as we get ready to celebrate baptism… I want to remind you their sins are many… but their God is bigger…
- He is the HERO of your story.
(Colossians 2:15)
Do you realize, in your story, you aren’t the lead character? Jesus is.
That’s why we talk about Jesus at the center… you aren’t the hero of your story. Jesus is. And this is so important…
Some people will say, I don’t have that great of a story… Well, if the Savior and Redeemer of the world is a part of your story, then you have a great story… because it’s all about Him!
Sometimes, people will say, I have an amazing story, and they are talking about parts of their life. Listen, the amazing part of your story is Jesus.
In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the cross.
Colossians 2:15 (NLT)
He’s the hero… because He defeated sin, death, Satan, and hell… we don’t do that… He does…
He is the powerful, strong one…He’s the man… He’s the alpha.
My kids sometimes want to play the game mercy… where they squeeze your hand… and you try to get the other person to give up… listen, you aren’t trying to overcome Satan. Look at what it says…
Jesus made Satan say uncle a long time ago… He made him say mercy… Jesus is the hero. You just have to stand in that victory. Live under that victory.
So today, as we get ready to celebrate… let’s remember Jesus is the hero of it all.
In just a little while, we are going to celebrate what Jesus has done in a few people… Baptism is a picture of people moving from death to life…
I think of baptism like the Red Sea moment… in the Old Testament, God sets free the Israelites, and the Egyptians start to chase them…
As they cross the sea, the waters part, and they make it across safely… on one side of the sea was a place of slavery and death, known as Egypt, but on the other side was the Promised Land, was the new life God had for them… they crossed through the water…
Baptism is a symbol of people leaving their old lives behind. Death and slavery and coming out of the water into new life!
But the hero of each one of these stories is Jesus…