Weekend Gathering | Saturday July 18, 2026

[00:00:00][music] Hey church, how you doing? Why don't you go ahead and stand? [music] So glad you're here today. Um got a text from Pastor Shane. Looks like him and Charlie are fly fishing somewhere. [music] So they're on they're on a vacation this weekend. I'm going to be teaching this [music] weekend. And my friend Judah is here. He's going to be leading worship this weekend.

[00:00:29]Now, if you haven't met Judah, Judah was a part of our church when we planted years ago. He's one of my best friends in the world. He's not really that good of a singer or musician, so [music] you're going to have to kind of bear with him, but but we're here for it. Um I love you so much, brother. And this is going to be his last time with us before he moves, but [music] he has promised me he's going to come back. Um and it's actually kind of cool how it worked out because he's going to be in Oklahoma and that's where all my family is. So, I was saying maybe we could do some swaps on Christmas and stuff and I think we'll have him back a bunch. So, [music] um so we're going to worship with Judah one last time, but as we begin, as we enter God's presence today, would you just lift up your hands and let's just begin to fix our eyes [music] on him.

[00:01:14]Jesus, you are so good to us. We are so grateful that you've called [music] us, that you know us. Uh we're so grateful for your word. We're so grateful [music] uh for your presence in this room. You are an infinite God. You have no beginning. You have no end. And yet somehow someway you know us. You know us intimately. You you know the number of hairs on our head. We're so grateful um for that great love that you've um poured out on us. We thank you today that the veil was torn and that we have access to your spirit. [music] Would you come and fill this room as we worship you today? In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

[00:01:54]Let's sing, church. [music] [music] [music] There is a sound I love to hear. It's the sound of the [music] Savior's voice to the room where people [music] pray.

[00:02:23]where we hear praises he [music] [singing] [music] bring back that kick.

[00:02:42]There is a sound [music] I love to hear.

[00:02:45]It's the sound of the Savior's ros where people pray, [music] where we hear praises, he he's [music] [singing] singing it out. [music] Oh, awake [singing] my soul and sing his praise [music] aloud.

[00:03:20]Sing his praise [singing] aloud.

[00:03:26]Oh, wake [music and singing] my soul and sing. Sing his praise aloud.

[00:03:35]Sing his praise [music and singing] aloud.

[00:03:40]Yeah.

[00:03:43][music] Sing and yeah.

[00:03:51][music] There's a sound.

[00:03:57][music] There is a sound that changes things. The sound of his [music] people.

[00:04:03][singing] He's [music] slumbering. It's time to worship him.

[00:04:13]My soul [music] and sing praise sing praise. [music] Yeah.

[00:04:27]Make [music] my soul sing.

[00:04:33][music] [music] And when we lose [music] and when we pray, we still stand [music] away. Where every promise be [music] the B [music] of hell in the sh I the king [music] the king [music] the king of glory answer.

[00:05:22][music] Fall down on your knees and worship [music] him.

[00:05:32]Let his praise rise up. Don't fall.

[00:05:34][music] [music] Awake my soul.

[00:05:43]Awake my soul. [music and singing] and sing. Sing his praise loud. Sing his [music] praise.

[00:05:57]I say [music] awake [singing] my soul and sing [music] [singing] his praise.

[00:06:06]Sing his praise. [music] Let's sing it again. Awake my soul today. [music and singing] Awake my soul and sing. [music] Sing his praise [singing] loud. Sing his [music] praise.

[00:06:27][music] Oh [singing] wake my soul and [music] sing [singing] his praise God. Sing his praise.

[00:06:39]Oh, [music] let's wake up.

[00:06:51]We're going to sing this again.

[00:06:56][music] Oh, let the king of glory [music] enter him.

[00:07:06]Yeah. [music] Hey.

[00:07:09]Oh, we're going to sing this bridge again.

[00:07:14][music] Oh, let the king of glory answer in.

[00:07:28][music and singing] When he moves and when we pray, we stood alone. [music] now stands away where every promise is.

[00:07:39][music] Amen.

[00:07:41]Let's sing this bridge again. And when and when he moves, make no [music] mistake, begin to sh [music] the king. Let's sing it again like a shout. When he moves and when he moves and when he pray we're still [music and singing] pro [music] >> [music] >> King [music] on your knees [music] and worship me.

[00:08:50]Heat. Heat. Heat.

[00:08:52][music] [music] My soul [music] is crazy. [music] Crazy.

[00:09:26][music] [music] [music] Yeah. Heat.

[00:09:46][music] [music] >> [music] >> Bless the Lord, oh my soul.

[00:10:05]Let all that's within me bring praise [music] to the Lord. Bless the Lord, oh my soul.

[00:10:15]Bless the Lord, [music and singing] oh my soul. Yeah.

[00:10:24]Send [music] this blessing. Blessed are those who run to him. Place [music] their hope and confidence in Jesus.

[00:10:35][music] He won't forsake them.

[00:10:39]Blessed are those [music] who seek his face, bend their knee, and fix their gaze on Jesus.

[00:10:48]>> [music] >> They won't be shen.

[00:10:52]Come on and praise the [music] Lord with me.

[00:10:59]Sing [music] you love his name.

[00:11:05]Come and lift your voice [music] with me.

[00:11:12]He's worthy [singing] of all [music] our praise. Amen.

[00:11:18]Amen. He's worthy.

[00:11:22]Blessed [music] are those who walk with him. Hearts are set on pilgrimage with Jesus.

[00:11:31][music] They'll see [singing] his glory.

[00:11:36]Blessed [music] are those who die and live. Joy it is to give it all for Jesus [music] and for him holy. [singing] Oh Lord Jesus all for your glory.

[00:11:55]Come on in [music] pray.

[00:12:02]Sing if you love his name.

[00:12:08][music] Come on and lift your voice with me. For he's worthy of [music] our praise. Come on and breathe. Come on [music] and bring your offering. [music] Sing if you know his [music] grace.

[00:12:35]Come on and lift up your [music] holy hands. He's worthy of all our [music] praise. Going to bless God.

[00:12:49]Bless [music] God in the sanctuary.

[00:12:52]Bless Gods of plenty. Bless God in the darkest [music] valley. Every chance I [singing] get, I bless your name. Bless God when my hands are empty. [music] Bless God for the praise and bless God when nobody's watching.

[00:13:11][music] Every chance I get, I bless your name.

[00:13:15][music] Bless God storm. Bless God.

[00:13:21][music] Bless God for he goes before me. Every chance I get, I bless your [music] name.

[00:13:29]Bless God for he to be true. Bless God for [music] always.

[00:13:35]Bless God for he's always worthy. Every [music] chance I get, I bless your name.

[00:13:42][singing] Every chance [music] I get, I bless your name.

[00:13:50][music] Every chance I get, come on and praise [music] me.

[00:14:04]We see [music] [music] for [music] our [music] [music] singers we know his grace.

[00:14:34]Come on in [music] your holy hands. He's worthy [singing] of all our [music] praise. So worthy.

[00:14:47]He's worthy of all our praise. He's so [music] worthy. He's worthy of all our praise. [music] You're worthy.

[00:15:03]You're [singing] worthy, Lord. You're [music] so worthy, Lord.

[00:15:11][music] So worthy, Lord.

[00:15:15]So worthy. [music] Word [music] of God upon the throne in majesty [music] in strength.

[00:15:36]Surrounded [music] by an endless song that all of heaven sings.

[00:15:48]We sing [music] holy wonderful marvelousness, glorious song and good righteous and mighty. [music] We praise you. We [music] lift you up.

[00:16:06]We magnify. We glorify. We exalt you. We extol you. We adore you. Hallelujah.

[00:16:15][music] Hallelujah. [music] [music] The one who [music] is behold the great [music] God, [music and singing] our God, our [music] God, the Lord of my [music] we wonderful, [music] marvelous, glorious omnip righteous and mighty. [music] [singing] Yeah. We praise you. We lift you. We magnify. We glorify. [music] We exalt you. We extol you. We adore [music] you. Hallelujah.

[00:17:31]Holy.

[00:17:33]Wonderful. [music] Glory.

[00:17:39]>> [music] >> righteous and mighty. We praise you. We praise you. We lift you. [music] We mag we glor you. We exalt you. We exalt [music] you. We adore you. Glory.

[00:17:58]Glory to [music] you.

[00:18:04][music] Heat. Heat. Heat.

[00:18:10][music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Yeah. Heat.

[00:18:28][music] [music] Heat.

[00:18:42]Heat.

[00:18:43][music] [music] Heat.

[00:18:55]Heat.

[00:18:57][music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Yeah.

[00:19:18][music] [music] Heat.

[00:19:31][music] heart, all my soul, [singing] all my mind, all my strength. I will praise, I will. [music] [music] I will love.

[00:19:53]I will love you all my days.

[00:20:01]You deserve [music and singing] it all.

[00:20:05]You deserve [music] wild sacrifice.

[00:20:12]Glory.

[00:20:14]Hallelujah.

[00:20:16]Hallelujah.

[00:20:17]Hallelujah.

[00:20:19]Hallelujah. [music] Hallelujah. [music] Hallelujah.

[00:20:29]Hallelujah.

[00:20:31]Hallelujah.

[00:20:32]Hallelujah.

[00:20:34]Hallelujah. [music] Praise the Lord God Almighty.

[00:20:39]We say hallelujah. [music] Hallelujah.

[00:20:44]Hallelujah.

[00:20:46]Hallelujah.

[00:20:48]Hallelujah. [music] Hallelujah.

[00:20:54]Hallelujah. [music] Hallelujah.

[00:20:58]Hallelujah.

[00:21:00]Hallelujah.

[00:21:01]Hallelujah. [music] [music] Wonder [music] righteous.

[00:21:19][music] We praise. We praise you.

[00:21:27]>> [music] >> We exalt you. We exalt you. We [music] adore you.

[00:21:34]Hallelujah.

[00:21:37]Hallelujah. [music] Hallelujah.

[00:21:43]Yes, Lord [music] Jesus. Jesus, we worship and adore you, King of Kings.

[00:21:50][music] Bless you Lord.

[00:22:02][music] >> [music] >> You are alpha [music and singing] in Omega.

[00:22:23][music] We worship [singing] you our Lord.

[00:22:30][music] You are [singing] worthy to be praised.

[00:22:41]You [music] are ala and [music and singing] omega.

[00:22:51][music] We [singing] worship you our Lord. [music] You are worthy to [singing] be praised.

[00:23:07][music] You are our father.

[00:23:12]Yes, [music and singing] Omega.

[00:23:19]We [singing] worship [music] you our Lord.

[00:23:25]You are worthy [music and singing] to be praised.

[00:23:32][music] We give you all [music] the glory.

[00:23:43][music] Sing it out. We worship you [music and singing] are Lord.

[00:23:51]You are worthy to [music and singing] be praised.

[00:24:00]Oh, we give [music] you all [singing] the glory.

[00:24:10][singing] We [music] worship you our Lord.

[00:24:18]You are worthy [music] to be praised. One more time. We give you [music and singing] all.

[00:24:27]We give you all [music and singing] the glory.

[00:24:39]We [music and singing] worship you.

[00:24:45]You are [music] you are Never.

[00:24:59][music] [singing] [music] [music] [music] Yes.

[00:25:24]Heat.

[00:25:30][music] Yeah. Heat.

[00:25:39][singing] [music] Heat.

[00:25:50][music] [singing] [music] Heat.

[00:26:04][music] Heat.

[00:26:10][music] [music] [singing] Heat.

[00:26:34]Heat.

[00:26:39][singing and music] Heat.

[00:26:46][music] [singing] We [singing] worship [music] you our Lord. Let's sing it out. You [singing] are worthy [music] to be praised.

[00:27:05][music] We [singing] give you [music] all of the [singing] glory.

[00:27:19]We [singing] worship [music] you our >> You are worthy [music] to [singing] be praised.

[00:27:32][music] >> Yes, [singing] Lord, we cry out tonight.

[00:27:40]You are [music] worthy to be praised.

[00:27:51]Oh my [music and singing] Lord, my God, you are [singing] worthy to [music] be praised, Lord. We bless you, God.

[00:28:06][music] We bless you, King of heaven, Lord of all, alpha and Omega.

[00:28:13]We [music] bless you. We give you glory.

[00:28:16]We love you and we praise you.

[00:28:20][music] May you be glorified the rest of this service, the rest of this [music] weekend, and the rest of our lives. Lord, we give you the praise, honor in Jesus name. [music] Amen. Amen.

[00:28:37]Well, let's find a somebody around us to say hello. Let's be family for a moment as we go to this next part.

[00:28:51][music] >> Thank you, Judah. Oh wow. Praise the Lord.

[00:29:15]H well it's so good to see you Judah and all of you as well. Thank you too for those of you joining us online. Um you are just as much a part of Revolution Church family as everyone here present.

[00:29:27]So thank you again for tuning in. If you are new, special welcome to you. Um our welcome team who you met coming in. Uh they would love to spend more time after the service getting to know you. uh just learning a little bit more about your life and how we can um be part of your church family here too. So I hope you'll take time to to linger a little longer after service. Um so I want to just get right to if you did come prepare to give today. We are going to pray before we receive offering and while the offering is being received we are going to watch a video from our lead pastor Shane Farmer. Let's pray.

[00:30:04]Father we thank you for this opportunity to give today.

[00:30:09]We have so much to be grateful to you, our provider for. And as you reminded us in your word this week in First Timothy 6:18, you said, "We are to do good and to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share."

[00:30:28]And so we give now with generous and grateful hearts. May these tithes and offerings please you, Lord. We pray this in Jesus name.

[00:30:38]Amen. Thank you, service host. You can come forward to receive the offering and we are going to hear a special video from Pastor Shane.

[00:30:50]Hey, church family. This is an unorthodox uh position as I'm driving down the road and I'm going to try to keep my focus on traffic as I do, but I just had to share a testimony and a word of encouragement for our church body. As many of you know, this last Monday kicked off the 40 days of annual prayer and fasting as we head toward our annual revival week, which is really the last two weekends of August and that whole Monday to Friday night in between.

[00:31:28]And that's the time where we seek the Lord. So, we're humbling ourselves.

[00:31:32]We're praying. And then we're going to spend this week just seeking the Lord in a place of uh worship and of course responding to his word and his spirit.

[00:31:41]But I I shared with you guys last weekend, I don't like to fast. I like to feast, you know. Um I I I it's not like a great joy probably for almost anyone to fast. And yet I recognize what Jesus said about it. and certainly what saints have said about it over time and my own personal experience. But um I'm doing like a progressive fast uh during this time. Everybody can be doing their own thing. It was like okay I'm going to fast for 24 hours and then I'm going to eat. I'm going to feast um and then I'm going to do a longer fast 2 days and then I'm going to you know eat and and kind of grow over the course of these 40 days. Well, at the end of the first 24-hour fast, I, you know, I ate food.

[00:32:41]Praise God. And I I wasn't doing anything significant. I was sitting there kind of multitasking, resting at the house, had some show on the television and I was, you know, texting with a buddy and, you know, researching something at the same time.

[00:33:04]And all of the sudden, to be very vulnerable with you, I felt a feeling that was foreign. It was like a foreign feeling. And I was like, what is that?

[00:33:16]What you know what what is this feeling?

[00:33:19]And I I quickly was able to identify like this is the feeling of shame. This is the feeling of shame. And it came from this little moment of like feeling stupid, not being able to like figure something out that I was kind of researching, whatever. But I knew it was a foreign feeling. And I've been on enough of a healing journey with God over time because we all have ours uh for, you know, our various reasons. And for me, maybe it's been this way for you. But what I really learned is that when I started kind of knowing that God wanted to do a healing work in my heart, the first thing I found at the surface of my heart was anger. And I had to work through a bunch of anger stuff. And then under the anger was sadness. It's like, okay, you know, the anger is real, but it's also kind of hiding this sadness.

[00:34:09]And I worked through this sadness. Um, and not that long ago, I became aware of a feeling that I felt like was foreign to me, but I was just unwilling to recognize it. And it was a feeling of fear, the feeling of anxiety. And once God showed me this is even under the sadness, it was like then I just felt like anxious all the time. And I was like, I mean, I know it's been here, but now that I identify it, I can feel it all the time and no fun. And you know, God working on all that kind of stuff.

[00:34:45]And then I had this moment of feeling shame. And I was like, God, is there something even under fear?

[00:34:52]Is shame what's at like the core? And he said to me, yes. and he showed me like what the shame message was. And it was essentially the message like something's wrong with me. And right away when he showed me what it was, I felt complete peace. It was like this peace washed over me. And this was 24 hours ago now.

[00:35:14]And I still feel this profound peace of heart breakthrough that I mean years and years of God's always doing a heart healing and a refining in us. And I I I just believe is on the heels of fasting for a reason. You know, this kind can only come out by prayer and fasting.

[00:35:36]Like breakthrough happens when you partner fasting with prayer. And I just want to encourage you guys as we're on this journey. Like join in. Like there is so much more of God to be encountered, experienced in our personal lives and in our corporate gatherings.

[00:35:56]There's so much breakthrough even outside of a time of revival. Even as we wait on a season of revival, there is so much more. And I have this Oops. I have this profound hope that we are about to go to places that we have never been before as a church family as we pray and fast.

[00:36:21]We're going to see breakthrough and we're going to see a sacrifice of praise and God's spirit falling upon us in new ways that eclipse the glorious ways that we have in the past and currently. And certainly there's a lot to say about God's graciousness to us. So please participate and please uh log your hours you know with 247 so we can just have a testimony of what is happening. I'm going to tell you, I've asked God many times, why 24/7 prayer? Why 24/7 worship? Why both of these things? And why before revival? You know, you think like a revival would bring those things.

[00:37:01]And God has consistently said the same thing because he's he's leading us into a revival that turns into a first love revolution so that the revival never dies. And people don't understand that revival die because people eventually want to go back to their old lives. Like revival comes with the glory of God and all that he does. But church services go along. It dominates your life. People start to long for their old lives back. And essentially people grumble in the hearing of the Lord. And revival die in this way. And he has told me that a people who will pray and worship 24/7 before revival simply out of love for Jesus, they will also continue to do it after revival comes. That revival can be sustained. The very thing that starts the fire is what sustains the fire. And the quality and the quantity of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit are in direct proportion to the quality and the quantity of the prayer and the worship that are ascending to the Lord upon the altar of sacrifice of praise and the altar of the incense of the prayers of the saints. And so be encouraged. Let's go. Let's climb the mountain of more of God as we like to say at Revolution Church. And even though I'm taking my family up to Yellowstone right now, uh praying that we don't get hit by any bison while we're up there, uh we'll be back in just uh I think 8 days and cannot wait to just charge ahead and see new breakthroughs in the life of our church. Love you guys. Blessings everybody. Goodbye.

[00:38:49]>> All right. Praise God for uh Pastor Shane's testimony and the breakthrough that God um brought even through that one one day of obedience and fasting. Um and so thank you uh to so many of you who have already been joining us in prayer um around the clock for now over five years. And um and we're inviting more more prayer um and anyone that is new to join us especially again as we approach revival week. Um, and as you leave, you will get a card. Uh, it looks like this, and it's got a QR code here.

[00:39:22]It's super easy to get signed up. It talks you right through it. Uh, and then if you have any questions, you can email me, Christinachurch.com.

[00:39:31]So, we're just so excited to to just again join in. And there's so many times in that testimony where I'm just like, "Yes, Lord, and amen." And yes, and amen. And um what we are praying for and seeking for. And yes, maybe we've been praying and seeking for revival for a few years, but why not now? God can do it whenever he wants. And so we're going to keep pressing in until he brings it.

[00:39:50]And then we're going to keep pressing in even more. Right. Uh all right. So lastly, before I welcome Brandon up, our campus pastor, to share this weekend's message, uh let's focus a little more on revival. And once you see this video, you're going to wish that revival week was starting tonight because this is awesome. So check this out.

[00:40:11]>> Who is Jesus? He's matchless in every way.

[00:40:16]He is not a way. He is the way.

[00:40:19]>> He is not a truth. He is the truth. Not because if you want to, you will bow to the name and the lordship of Jesus Christ.

[00:40:29]>> Everything that he is leading you in, it is always in faithfulness to his character.

[00:40:33]>> Then we're going to make what Jesus did for us at Calvary the defining thing in our lives. He is the king of glory. He is [music] the judge of all the earth.

[00:40:42]He is the desire of every nation. The sky will crack open. The trumpet will sound. And he will come this time not as the suffering servant, but as the conquering king.

[00:40:58]Amen.

[00:40:59]Hey, listen guys. I think that our lead pastor Shane is worthy of um following his example in many ways, but I do not recommend driving down the highway taking a 10 minute long selfie video.

[00:41:14]That was crazy. Shane, if you're watching this, that was irresponsible.

[00:41:20]My name is Brandon. If you're new, welcome. Um hello to all of our campuses and those online uh streaming.

[00:41:29][clears throat] We've been in a series lately called Headlines. And if you've been here for the last several weeks, you know that we've been addressing many of the hot topics in our culture. Um, some of the weekends have been downright weird. It's been really good, but it's been pretty wild. Um, I just want to remind you if you've missed any of those messages, you can get on our website or on our YouTube channel, and they are all archived there in order by date. So, I encourage you to catch up if you've missed any. Speaking of headlines, I was scrolling through uh X on my phone and I came across uh a interesting headline a few weeks ago. The the Pentagon under advisement of Pete Hath trimmed its religious affiliation codes from over 200 down to 31 for military purposes.

[00:42:16]Perhaps some of you guys saw this article. Um, what made headlines and what what caused such a stir was that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints got its own code and it was not included among the 21 faiths labeled as Christian.

[00:42:33]Um, Utah Senator Mike Lee himself is Mormon and was he was the most vocal. He he called the exclusion offensive and and said the classification was quote repugnant to any sense of decency, any sense of our common heritage end quote. And then he posted a video on X urging the Pentagon to reverse it. Um over uh other you other Utah politicians piled on as well.

[00:43:03]Representative Mike Kennedy said the decision was quote wrong and needs to be corrected. Senator Curtis Johnson argued that LDS members are quote unquote.

[00:43:19]I'm sure there are many in this room who have friends, family members, and co-workers who are Mormon. Perhaps there are some in this room or at one of our campuses or watching online who currently consider themselves to be Mormon. Today we're going to talk about Mormonism. Okay. I want you to know that I come today from a place of love for you. And because of that love uh for you, I want to best explain the key differences, the key distinctions between Mormonism and how it relates or doesn't relate to historical Orthodox Christian faith.

[00:43:59]Now, you can feel free to fact check me.

[00:44:03]All right? My email is brandonflrurch.com.

[00:44:06]These are my sources. The Mormon Research Ministry, church of Jesus Christ.org, formerly Mormon.org, the King Flet Discourse, Bruce McConkey's Mormon Doctrine, and the Unveiling Mormon podcast, which you can find on Spotify. All right, if you're taking notes, I'd like to frame this message in four parts. God, Jesus, authority, the gospel. God, Jesus, authority, the gospel. To begin with, I won't mince words. The Apostle Paul uh didn't waste time uh being polite about such topics.

[00:44:45]When the church in Galatia started to drift from the gospel, Paul was very direct and he didn't mince words either.

[00:44:52]On the topic of God's word, he never said anything remotely close to, well, let's just agree to disagree. No, rather he said the following. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

[00:45:11]Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed. Now, I'll say upfront, I do believe there are significant differences between what Mormonism proposes and what historical Christianity holds as true. So, please know ahead of time that that is the framework that I'm starting with. The fact is, friends, Mormonism and Christianity share much of the same vocabulary. Jesus, God, salvation, prophets, scripture, grace. However, sharing language isn't the same as sharing faith.

[00:45:59]When you actually take a deeper look at what these words mean in Mormon theology versus biblical Christianity, you will quickly see that we are not simply looking at two flavors of the same religion. We're looking at a different God, a different Jesus, a different gospel, and a different authority.

[00:46:21]But first, let's talk about the origins.

[00:46:23]The origins of Mormonism begin with Joseph Smith.

[00:46:27]He was born on December 23rd in 1805 in Sharon, Vermont. He was the fourth child of a poor family who spent their days farming in 1816.

[00:46:39]The family was beyond broke. They had nothing. They moved to a small town called Pommyra in upstate New York.

[00:46:48]Interestingly, during this time, this region was actually in the middle of the second great awakening, which was an intense wid widespread revival of the Christian church in that time. At around age 14, okay, age 14, Joseph Smith during this time of awakening was troubled about which church he should join. And so he went out into the woods to pray. And later he reported a conversion experience in what would be called the first vision. He reported seeing two people who he later identified as God the Father and Jesus Christ. 14-year-old Joseph Smith said that the vision told him that all of the existing churches were wrong.

[00:47:36]Three years later in 1823, Joseph Smith shared that he had a second vision. He reported that an angel named Moroni told him about golden plates that were buried nearby and contained an contained a record of ancient inhabitants of America. He said he located the plates, but he wasn't allowed to take them until four years later. I should add that there were never any other verifiable witnesses of these golden plates themselves other other than Joseph Smith. The Church of Latter-day Saints, however, claims on their official website that there were witnesses, but this claim is disputed. Joseph Smith said that he translated the engravings that were on the golden plates and he did this with the help of interpreter stones as he called them. He completed this work in around 90 days and this work was finished on July 1st, 1829.

[00:48:35]In 1830, he published these words which came in at 588 pages and is what is now called the Book of Mormon. On April 6th, 1830, around 50 people gathered in a home in Faget, New York, where Joseph Smith began his first church. Joseph Smith had a plan. And it was it was to gather new converts into what he called cities of Zion. The these missionary efforts brought tens of thousands of converts into the Mormon church within his lifetime. Joseph Smith and his saints moved across the country to Ohio and then to Missouri. And it was in Missouri where tensions with settlers erupted. During this time, Missouri's governor issued an extermination order stating that Mormons must be exterminated or driven from the state.

[00:49:30]The church then relocated to Illinois.

[00:49:33]But in 1844, a newspaper exposed Joseph Smith's practice of polygamy.

[00:49:40]Smith then called for the newspaper press to be destroyed. This led to Joseph Smith's arrest and before he could be tried, he was assassinated by a large mob in front of Carthage jail. At this point, leadership passed on to a man named Brigham Young. It was Brigham Young who then led the Mormons west where they eventually settled in Utah.

[00:50:07]And that is a very, very short version of the history of the Mormon church.

[00:50:12]Now, perhaps you are familiar with the Mormon church. Maybe you are not. I'm sure most of you have at least driven by a church or you know someone who is Mormon. The the Mormon church has rebranded itself a lot in recent days.

[00:50:27]This new Mormonism is an attempt to soften the differences between Christian churches and enhance the similarities.

[00:50:36]When you click on the website of a Mormon church, it it might look like any other Christian church in town, but there are distinct differences. And those differences start with God, the nature of God, the origin story of God, who God actually is. Historic Christianity has defined God as this one God existing eternally in three persons.

[00:51:07]Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is eternal.

[00:51:13]God has no beginning.

[00:51:15]He has always been God. He was never created. He never progressed. He didn't become.

[00:51:24]He has always been God. Before me, no God was formed, nor shall there be any God after me.

[00:51:34]Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Psalm 92. Before the mountains were brought forth, wherever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Now, Mormonism offers a different perspective on God. Mormonism proposes that God the Father was once a mortal man who progressed to godhood. This is famously captured in what is referred to as the Lorenzo Snow couplet. This statement is rooted in teaching by Joseph Smith and coined by Snow who was the church's fifth president in the year 1840.

[00:52:19]As man now is, God once was.

[00:52:25]As God is now, man may be.

[00:52:32]The teaching, this teaching has been in the LDS curriculum and taught for generations. Now, this isn't a fringe teaching. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, preached this in a message called the Flet discourse in which he told a crowd of people that God the Father was once as we are now and is an exalted man. LDS Apostle Bruce McConi later stated plainly, "Those who attain exaltation are gods." You can find this statement on page 237 of the Mormon doctrine.

[00:53:11]The Mormon church leadership has occasionally softened on how emphasized this teaching is today, but it remains written in official LDS manuals and is still stated in general conference talks. Mormons, also called Latter-day Saints, who fulfilled all the required covenants and ordinances of the Mormon church. They believe that they themselves can become gods in the afterlife and that they will inherit the same nature, power, and glory that the father has. Mormons teach that humans shall be gods because they have no end.

[00:53:53]Therefore, they shall be from everlasting to everlasting because they continue. They shall be above all because all things are subject unto them. They also teach that humans will have everything that our heavenly father and Jesus Christ have.

[00:54:14]All glory, all power, dominion, and knowledge.

[00:54:20]I tremble at reading this. Right?

[00:54:23]>> What does this mean? This language attempts to rob Jesus of his eternal honor and glory and places it on humans as if they too can receive the same glory and honor. This isn't a minor detail, friends. Mormons share a very different view of the nature of God.

[00:54:48]This means that Mormon theology teaches that there are an infinite number of gods. That you yourself can also be a God. Mormon theology teaches a God who is one among many. A God who became rather than a God who is. This is not a variation on the Christian God. It is categorically different. In the book of Exodus, God says to Moses, "I am who I am." The Christian God of the Bible is self-existent, eternal, and has no beginning and no end. The teaching about the God of Mormonism is completely different. So, that's a quick look at the fundamental differences about God. But what about Jesus?

[00:55:45]After all, Jesus is in their name.

[00:55:47]Historic Christianity teaches that Jesus is God's eternal son. He wasn't created.

[00:55:56]He was there in the beginning and he is co-equal and co-eternal with the father, God in the flesh. Here are a few scriptures about Jesus. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created. Mormonism in contrast teaches that Jesus is a created spirit being.

[00:56:28]Look at this. He had a beginning. There was a day when he came into being as a conscious identity, as a spirit entity, as an organized intelligence.

[00:56:40]Mormons teach that not only does Jesus have a heavenly father but also a heavenly mother.

[00:56:47]Mormonism teaches that Lucifer is the brother of Jesus.

[00:56:54]And importantly, Mormon teaching proposes that Jesus achieved his divine status over time as opposed to the Christian teaching that Jesus is eternally divine by his nature. These are important differences. If Jesus is a created being who eventually became divine, then the world then he would not be the eternal creator described in Colossians chapter 1. For by him all things are created.

[00:57:26]All things were created by Jesus. Jesus was not created. Jesus is the creator.

[00:57:33]Jesus didn't come become divine. Jesus has always and will forever be the king of kings and the lord of lords. And Jesus did not share the same nature and origin of Satan. [clears throat] If you believe this, then you have fundamentally changed and redefined who Jesus is. Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 11:4 should send a chill a chill down our spine in light of these teachings.

[00:58:04]For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached or if you receive a different spirit.

[00:58:16]If you receive a different spirit from the spirit you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted then you put up with it easily enough. They call themselves the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In recent days, they have chosen to limit the use of the term Mormon and they emphasize that they are the church of Jesus Christ. That Jesus presented by Mormonism is unrecognizable to those who know God's word. They are fundamentally different. All right. So that was God. Then that was Jesus. Let's talk a little bit about authority.

[00:58:55]Authority.

[00:58:57]Historic Christianity teaches that the Bible is complete, sufficient, authoritative, and inherent. All scripture is God breathed, profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. In Mormonism, the Bible is one of four books that they call the standard works. In addition to the Bible, the Mormons follow the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Those are their four books. You should know that although Mormons uphold these four books as their standard, the Bible that you and I read is explicitly held as subordinate to these other books when they are in conflict.

[00:59:54]And as you can already see, the teachings of Mormon are often in conflict with the teachings of the Bible. The Mormon church makes allowance for the Bible to be viewed as subordinate to the texts when they conflict. And it also makes allowances for the view of the Bible to be changed from ongoing revelation through a prophet who can add or reinterpret doctrine. Again, the Mormon church has a different view on how God speaks and how truth is settled. In Mormonism, new revelations can supersede God's word. New revelations can reinterpret what's already been written in the Bible. There is a Mormon translation of the Bible called the Joseph Smith translation or the JST.

[01:00:47]The JST, listen to this, the JST changes roughly 3,410 verses of the Bible with 1,289 of those verses changed in the Old Testament alone. Uh several of these verses are highly concentrated in the book of Genesis.

[01:01:07]I'm reminded of this verse in Jude. I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God's holy people once for all. Christians would never dare change the holy word of God. We hold the Bible as complete, authorit authoritative and inherent.

[01:01:35]Now that's the Bible.

[01:01:37]Fourth, let's talk about the gospel.

[01:01:40]Christians have historically defined the gospel as this. We are saved by grace through faith.

[01:01:49]That's it. We are saved by grace through faith.

[01:01:53]Our human effort is not what saves us.

[01:01:56]It is received and not achieved by our works. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Now, in Mormonism, it's a little trickier.

[01:02:16]Salvation is available to all just by nature of being born on this earth. Everyone is saved. Everyone receives some form of heavenly eternal life. It's essentially a universalist doctrine. Everyone makes it. However, on top of that, the Mormon church introduces a concept called exaltation.

[01:02:42]Exaltation. Now, stick with me here.

[01:02:44]When when a Christian hears the word exalt, we immediately think of Christ, right? We were just singing that song with Judah earlier. When we hear the word exalt, we think of Christ. He ex He is exalted. He is the exalted one. We exalt him. To exalt means to raise or to praise someone. Now in the Mormon church, exaltation is the process of becoming a god yourself where you will live in eternity with your family as a god. Now this requires a litany of temple ordinances, tithing, obedience to Mormon doctrine, and faithfulness to the Mormon church.

[01:03:24]Mormons do teach grace and that grace enables the effort required to become exalted to become a god. Grace enables their a person on their journey to become a god.

[01:03:39]Now if the goal is to become a god yourself, the very nature of the Mormon religion then emphasizes the effort of man as well as the supremacy of man.

[01:03:51]See, there's a ladder, you see, that you can climb in the Mormon belief structure that promises divinity for the person.

[01:04:00]In Mormon teaching, there are three levels of heaven. The celestial, terrestrial, and celestial.

[01:04:07]The celestial kingdom is the highest heaven. This is for those who are good Mormons, fulfill the ordinances, and remain faithful. Those who have the ability to become priests and kings and they have the ability to produce children in heaven. These special ones have the ability to progress to level to a level of God themselves and have dominion over their own kingdom. All right. Now, the second level is the middle level. This is for honorable people who didn't fully embrace the Mormon teachings. This includes non- Mormons and and those who rejected teaching on earth. They receive God's glory, but not his fullness.

[01:04:50]The third level is for the wicked. This place is framed as a place with genuine glory. It's still kind of like heaven, but it's the lowest tier of heaven.

[01:04:59]There is also what is called the outer darkness, which is reserved for a for a small number of people who outright reject God and all of the Mormon teachings. Okay. Now obviously Christianity holds to a more binary outcome. There is a heaven and there is a hell. There is eternal life with God or there is eternal separation from God.

[01:05:25]The LDS church teaches a near universal salvation where almost everyone is guaranteed some form of heaven. Now many Mormons will cite this verse from the Bible to support the entire framework.

[01:05:39]I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven.

[01:05:44]Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows.

[01:05:49]And I know that this man was caught up into paradise. Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. That's from 2 Corinthians. This is Paul describing himself in third person.

[01:06:05]Okay? Describing his experience. Let me be clear with you, church. When he says third heaven, this is not a ranking of some afterlife system. In ancient culture, it was common to view the sky above us as three layers. Okay? The first heaven was the sky above. The second heaven was the stars above the sky that appeared at night, aka space.

[01:06:28]The third heaven was God's dwelling place. This verse is not a proper starting place to build an entire theology on three levels of heaven that we can earn our way through. Okay, I'm reminded of the parable of the workers in the vineyard. This is in Matthew 20 if you're following along. Verse one, for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out in the early morning to hire laborers for the vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a daenarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace and said to them, "You go into the vineyard." And whatever is right, I will give you. So they went and going out again about the sixth hour. And the 9th hour, he did the same. And about the 11th hour, he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, "Why do you stand here idol all day?" They said to him, "Because no one hired us." He said to them, "You go into the vineyard, too." And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foremen, "Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first." And when those hired at about the 11th hour came, each of them received a daenarius. Now when those hired came first, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a daenarius. And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, "These guys, these last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat." But he replied to them, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong." Now, in the story, the master hires workers.

[01:08:10]They agree to work one day for a daenerius. Throughout the day, more workers keep showing up. At the end of the day, all the workers were paid what?

[01:08:21]One denarius. There are a few simple kingdom principles in this parable that we should remember. First, God's grace is a gift.

[01:08:33]It's not fair. That's the beauty of it.

[01:08:36]That's the beauty of it, man. Those of us who followed Jesus for years will enjoy eternity alongside those of us who gave our lives to Christ in an old age after decades of living apart from God.

[01:08:50]Second, the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of grace and not seniority.

[01:08:56]There is no tiered membership. It's not like a country club or a golf club with tiered membership levels. The kingdom of heaven isn't like that. Third, Jesus is confronting religious thinking. The first will be last and the last will be first. Fourth, this teaching undercuts a system of heavenly progression. The landowner, the master in the parable, he's not stingy or unjust to his workers. He gave them what he promised.

[01:09:26]His generosity to the latecomers doesn't cheat the early ones. It simply reveals that the master's goodness isn't rationed out like we might operate.

[01:09:39]Fifth, this teaching is aimed at the heart rather than the need to earn.

[01:09:45]Jesus is diagnosing self-righteousness.

[01:09:50]You see, this parable actually isn't about work. It's about whether I It's about whether you can celebrate the grace given to someone else without needing to protect my own sense that I deserve more than them.

[01:10:11]The problem with this three heavens thing and exaltation and humans being exalted is that it's entirely unbiblical.

[01:10:24]There's only one man who is exalted. His name is Jesus.

[01:10:28]>> There is only one man who is divine. His name is Jesus.

[01:10:34]>> The biblical gospel isn't a ladder. It's not a bunch of stuff that you have to do right, to get better, to get right, to be better. It's a gift. It was paid on the cross. It's the beauty of the gospel. Jesus paid it all. When Jesus said in n in John 19:30, it is finished.

[01:10:53]That's what he meant. It's finished.

[01:10:56]It's done. Thank you, Jesus. This is good news. But I think one of the reasons that Mormonism is so attractive is that it offers this sort of self-improvement option for people.

[01:11:11]Instead of I I lay down my life at the feet of the one who paid it all for me, there is a different prayer that gets prayed.

[01:11:20]If I can do this thing, if I can do that thing, then I'm going to become a God myself.

[01:11:27]Can you see how offensive this is to our savior who bled for us?

[01:11:34]As a Christian, I'm not dreaming about my own kingdom that I'm lord over.

[01:11:44]As a Christian, I'm longing for the day that I get to lay all my crowns down in the presence of the one true God at the feet of my sweet Savior, Jesus.

[01:11:57]I dream of worshiping him for all eternity. I dream of surrounding his throne with all my faithful brothers and sisters as we collectively honor the one true king of kings, God, Jesus, authority, and the gospel.

[01:12:15]Friends, I hope you can see in this short framework that these are not small differences.

[01:12:21]And there is so much more that I could get into that I I won't because I don't want to make you sit here for three hours. It gets even stranger and it departs even further from anything that looks remotely like the Bible that you and I hold as our authority. I'm just scratching the surface here. Mormon Mormonism proposes a different God entirely, a different Jesus entirely, a different authority entirely, and a different gospel entirely. Mor Mormonism isn't just another Christian denomination.

[01:12:54]It's a different religion attempting to wear a Christian vocabulary.

[01:13:01]Loving our LDS friends and neighbors is important. Okay? And part of loving our neighbors means being honest about these differences. We can't just live our lives amongst our Mormon friends and neighbors and pretend the gap is not there. We can't even pretend the gap is small.

[01:13:24]It's a chasm.

[01:13:26]Again, many of us, many of you have friends who are Mormon. Many of the Mormons I know are kind, familyoriented, disciplined people. My goal is not to give you ammunition to win an argument.

[01:13:40]My hope is to give you a little clarity so when these conversations conversations arise and for many of you they have or they will you can give voice to to why this matters with love and with clarity and without fear. When Paul spoke to the Galatians his tone wasn't smug but his tone was urgent and it was because he loved people. He didn't want them settling for less than the real gospel.

[01:14:08]He didn't want them minimizing the work of Jesus on the cross. He didn't want them changing or softening God's word.

[01:14:17]He wanted them to hold strong to the teachings of God's word and not minimize it or add to it. We are a first love people.

[01:14:27]And ultimately any teaching, any book, any doctrine, any podcast that tries to undermine scripture or lessen the supremacy of Jesus should be avoided and rebuked for what it is, a lie, a deception.

[01:14:48]Jesus, may you return to a bride who loves your word, cherish cherishes your ways, and loves you with a first love fire. Let's pray.

[01:15:01]Campus pastors, please take the lead at each of your campuses.

[01:15:06]Father, we want to say thank you today that you have provided your word to us.

[01:15:15]Thank you for the kindness and the clarity that you breathe through scriptures.

[01:15:26]Thank you for Jesus.

[01:15:28]Thank you for grace.

[01:15:31]Thank you for the gospel.

[01:15:34]Would you take a moment now and and and just personally thank God for this great gift?

[01:15:44]We're so grateful, Father, for your son, for your gift of grace, for the beauty of your gospel.

[01:15:56]And as we're praying, um, if you are in the room tonight or online and you have p participated in the Mormon church, maybe you grew up Mormon.

[01:16:09]Maybe you have held on to some of these ideas. Perhaps you are so confused right now listening to this message.

[01:16:18]Maybe you are wrestling with what you believe. Maybe you are just now seeing some of the deceptions.

[01:16:28]My urge to you today is to simply take God at his word.

[01:16:36]You are saved by grace through faith.

[01:16:41]You are meant to exalt only one, only Jesus.

[01:16:47]Not yourself, not a man, only Jesus.

[01:16:54]If you need counsel or prayer, please have the courage to join our prayer team after the service. They'll be right over here to my right.

[01:17:02]And of course, I want to give an opportunity to anyone who may be in the room who does not yet have a relationship with Jesus. The good news is we can fix that up right now. Um, you see, we've all messed up in some way.

[01:17:13]The Bible calls that sin. Sin is all the ways we screw up, mess up, think wrongly, act wrongly. Sin makes a mess of everything, all of our relationships.

[01:17:24]It gets into all the crevices of our life.

[01:17:28]Sin ultimately separates us from perfect union with our father. And the good news is that Jesus died in our place because he loves us and and he wants to spend eternity with us.

[01:17:42]So, if you're here today and and you desire freedom from sin, if you want that weight off, if you want a relationship with God, if you want to be cleaned up, if you want that promise of eternal life, I'd like to invite you to raise your hand right now. I'm not going to do anything. I'm not going to call you out.

[01:18:01]I just want to know who to pray for. If that's you, would you raise your hand?

[01:18:12]Well, I don't see any hands, but I'm going to pray anyway. And if that's you, you just pray this along with me.

[01:18:22]Jesus, I believe in you.

[01:18:25]I believe you are God.

[01:18:28]Thank you for loving me.

[01:18:30]Thank you for coming to earth. Thank you for dying for my sin. Thank you for rising from the grave.

[01:18:38]I confess I have sinned [music] and I need your forgiveness.

[01:18:43]Jesus, please forgive me.

[01:18:46]Do what only you can do. Save me, Jesus. [music] You are Lord.

[01:18:54]You are Lord of my life. I give you my heart.

[01:18:59]Fill me with your spirit.

[01:19:01]Lead me all the days of my life.

[01:19:05]Amen.

[01:19:07]Amen. Friends, can we stand together before we dismiss? Can we stand please together? Thank you so much for being here tonight. Um, I wanted to uh let you know if you need prayer of any kind, we have a prayer team that's going to be right here. They would love to pray with you. This is also a 24/7 house of worship, so you can stay as long as you like. I wanted to announce something to you, though. Um, I wrote a book. Some of you know I've been working on a book.

[01:19:29]Okay, this book is [music] the story of how I lost my late wife Becky to a brain tumor. It's a half uh it's half memoir and it's half teaching on suffering. Um uh and how we worship and honor Christ through our suffering. Um I'm happy to tell you guys this book is finished. It is it is officially today on the pre-order site for Amazon. It feels so good to hit the finish line. Um, as a gift to my church family, and I'm looking around the room and there are many, many people in this room, especially the ladies who helped me take care of my dying wife for a long time. Um, but as a gift to the church, I want to give a free copy to every family in the church. Um, I should have those in a few weeks, but I think uh uh the official release date is August 11th.

[01:20:23]But on the weekend of 15 and 16, I'll have those books here. And if I don't run out, you can grab one. The Saturday, folks are going to have a better shot of getting one because you're here first.

[01:20:34]Um, so be sure to do that. But also, if you want to go get it on Amazon or leave a review, that helps me um get word out about the book as well. Um, this Wednesday night, we're having a summer night here. So at 5:30 on Wednesday night, we're grilling burgers outside.

[01:20:47]There's going to be inflatables for all the kids. Lots of fun. And you can stay for the service. Please come out for summer night. Bring some friends. You guys have a great night and we'll see you back here real soon. Thanks for coming.

[01:20:58][applause]