Christians can turn worldly ideas and transform them. We can use Halloween, for example, for the Gospel. Let’s receive one another and reject judgmental attitudes. Rather, let grow and walk in grace. Romans 14:13-14; Hebrews 13:8-10

Speaker: Thomas Schaller
Date: 2026-10-28
Time: Wed 7:00 pm
Sermon #13230

P. Schaller –

Thank you. Wow. So sweet. Beautiful. All right. I have three words tonight. First of all, praise the Lord. Cedric is here. Is that correct? Is Miles Tanksley here? Miles. Is Miles here? Okay. Has anybody told Miles that he looks like Zay Flowers on the Ravens? Huh? Tell him he looks like Zay Flowers. He’s the wide receiver for the Ravens. Have you seen him? I go, Miles? You play for the Ravens? Okay.

 

Three words and we’re going to have this and I’ve got your concentration and I’m going to play a little bit with it cuz it’s Halloween and there are some thoughts about Halloween. We all have I think the same thoughts, that it’s a different kind of a celebration that’s in the world on the eve of All Saints Day. 

 

It’s as if the All Saints Day is somehow like twisted by the devil and he has this thing, trick or treat. Like if you don’t give me a treat, I’m going to trick you. Do mischief. How many of you were, you were kids, had a great time doing Halloween? I loved it. Bags of candy. Pillow cases stuffed under my bed with candy. I lived on it for 6 months and had a lot of cavities because of it. Okay. So, I think it’s a great holiday for children and families and not a holiday. Of course it’s not a holiday but it’s kind of funny. 

 

So, I want to start with #1, these three words, reject. I’m sorry, receive. Let’s see. Receive. I want to speak about receive, reject, and grow. But I have been praying today for this meeting tonight. And I love you guys. I’m so happy you’re here tonight. And what a beautiful thing to gather together and listen to, sing like this, and worship God and live by faith. 

 

And of course, my prayer is that the Lord will give us what we need in the Spirit and in our hearts so that we grow in our faith and we’re able to receive. And then we also are able to reject. And I want to explain what that, what I mean. 

 

When it comes to Halloween, there are people – look at Romans 14 with me. In this chapter, we see that Paul is giving the believer a lot of freedom to decide for himself what he will eat or reject. He gives him a lot of room whether the Sabbath is on Saturday or the Sabbath is on Sunday or the Sabbath is on Monday. 

 

You can have a sacred day for one believer, but a believer might have another day. And Halloween in a way is a secular holiday or secular celebration and we could reject it. On the other hand, through Christian history, we’ve taken pagan holidays and used them in our Christian life. Christmas is one. It used to be a pagan holiday for the winter solstice and it was celebrated by pagans.

 

When Christianity grew, the Christians say we can take that day and use it to celebrate the birth of Christ. And that’s what that holiday, what Christmas became. 

 

There are other ways that you can explain that the things that we do, we do before God and there aren’t really gods. 1 Corinthians chapter 8, there are no gods. There is only one God and he is the one that we serve and worship. So, there are Christians that will say maybe, you know, I don’t want to have any part with Halloween and I would respect that if that’s how they feel about it. But then so they have the freedom to do that. 

 

And then we also, it depends on what you think about it. But if you look at Romans 14 and 13 and this is – I don’t want to do a long message. This is short, but I want to draw your attention to a couple verses. Vs. 13. The context is really like a Christian could say, I don’t eat meat. I’m a vegetarian, so I don’t eat meat. So, I’m not judging that person. They don’t want to eat meat. That’s fine. 

 

They have – no, I don’t make jokes about it. let’s say he was a personal friend or something and we could do it like that. But I’m not making fun of him. I don’t ridicule him. I let him live his life. And I know you do that too generally. We all do. But we can fall into being judgmental. It’s also part of what I want to say here. Look at chapter 14:13-14. So, there are things that Christians say it’s unclean. So to me it’s unclean and I don’t have any part of it. 

 

But then another will say, no. To me, I sanctify it. I enjoy God in it. There’s nothing evil in my heart. I am getting candy with my children running down the street or however it goes. And there’s a house with like haunted house and a graveyard of plastic skeletal bones and headstones and spirits in the tree and so on. And we say, you know, I can teach my children about it or talked to them about it of course or grandchildren and so on. 

 

So, here is a good part of the message here. Receiving one another is another part of that. Receiving one another in God. Receiving one another with encouragement, receiving one another with compassion, receiving one another, not judging one another, but receiving one another. 

 

And if you notice, the closer you got to a person and the longer you’re with them, the more prone you are to judge them. The more I know about them, their weaknesses, their personal problems and so on. So, I can develop an attitude of being judgmental and that’s a pattern of life for people. 

 

But here we read that, no. Be very careful about that. We are not to be judgmental of each other. We are, we are to walk in the grace of God, the love of God, the faith of God. We’ll look at that in a minute. There are things then that I reject and there are many things in life that we have no part of. 

 

There is pornography, for example. There is deceit and betrayal. There is hatred, animosity toward people, hatred, friends. Psalm 101, David said, “I will not have a wicked person in my house.” It’s a very real thing that there are things that are to be rejected in life. It’s not, it’s not from God. It’s to be rejected. It’s not in my house. I don’t accept it. It’s poison or dangerous. I don’t have a loaded gun in my house. I don’t have this or that in my heart. I just want to walk carefully with God in the plan of God. This is interesting and important.

 

So, now turn with me please to Hebrews 13. This is the essential part of the message. So that was a little warm up to get you thinking a little bit. Chapter 13:8. We all know that verse I think. Profound. The center, the primary, the person of Jesus Christ. 

 

I could draw a picture like this of it, I think. Here is a little box and we can call it religion. This is the Christian religion. The churches maybe – I grew up in one of these. It never really touched me. I never really knew Christ. I did the confessions and so on, but in my life, there was no fruit. There was no love. There was no worship. That was boring. 

 

Nothing touched me. The Bible was rarely read. I had no – but I had a religion. But then when you and I are coming to Christ and born again, we could say something like this. It’s not the best picture, but now we have Jesus, Jesus in our life. Jesus Christ, God. Wow. He is God. He is not a man. He is beyond us. He is God. 

 

The Almighty God, the wonderful God, the God we worship. And he is the same. The same compassion we see in the Gospels. The same purpose that he had in the Gospels. He set his head, his face like a flint. The same compassion, hands, feet, the testimony before Pilate, the character, the depth of his character, the depth of his love, and the depth of truth in Christ. Life changing, powerful Christ, the same yesterday. That means first century, fifth century, 12th century. 

 

I personally believe if there was a 12th century man here tonight and a 7th century man here and a 3rd century woman, we would have fellowship in the person of Christ. If we knew Christ, we have the Spirit of Christ. We know Christ. If we are at a table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we know Christ. We have the fellowship with the same God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We have touched and we are in fellowship with God. 

 

Vs. 9. And that’s why the pulpit is so important that it needs to come from God. there needs to be an unction in the pulpit, a conviction. There needs to be the teaching of the Bible. And thank God there are thousands and thousands of churches like this where that is happening. And little groups and big churches or small churches or Bible study groups and all kinds of denominations. 

 

And if the Spirit of God, then we have the Spirit of truth and we have the knowledge of Christ and a fellowship of devotion with him. But we can be carried about with strange doctrines. And keep your eyes and ears open to what is happening in the world and discern and recognize that there is – the Bible is saying we don’t ordain women but many, many women are pastoring people. But we say, no. They are godly. They are teachers. They have spiritual authority. They are encouragers. They are precious. They are in the Body, but they are not to be ordained. 

 

All of the, all of the issues in our culture, the social issues of the day. No, we are not accommodating our culture when we reject the things that our culture wants to follow, because we have found the reality of the living God and he does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we love him, and we hear from him and grow in him. 

 

Look at vs. 9. That’s the key. What does it mean? If you go, if you are living by your manual of laws and traditions and performance and checking the list of your religious activities, then you need a revival with the person of God. A revival with worship. A revival in prayer. A revival in listening. A revival that builds you up. A revival of grace in the heart. 

 

It’s a good thing that the heart would be established with grace. It will keep you from being judgmental. I am judgmental with my wife. But it’s a good thing the heart is established in grace so that I’m loving my wife and giving grace to my wife as I am also giving it to myself and to my children and to my church and in the world that we live in to our neighbors and to our friends. 

 

We are to give grace. Our hearts are to be established in the person of Christ. When Christ came into his situation, he’s coming in with truth and grace. He was able to say to Peter, Do you love me? And restore him. He was able to encourage. When Jesus encouraged people, he motivated them. 

 

I talked to Benscu today in Finland cuz his wife is here now with us and their daughter and I wanted to see how he does without her around. So, he said, he said something interesting. He said like we all need encouragement. We all need encouragement because that motivates us. When we are encouraged, we don’t have to be forced to do things. We do things out of encouragement. We do things without being told. 

 

And he said the example was David, just said, he just said, Oh, I wish I had some of that cold water from the well in Bethlehem. And three mighty men heard him and they were gone. He didn’t have to say, Could you please do this for me? Or I’ll give you extra credit on your report card or, you know, could you? He didn’t. 

 

He just said something and because in the fellowship I think it’s like our church in many ways. If grace is the spirit of the church and grace is in our hearts and this is Jesus Christ that is in us and he’s the same. Then we’re going to find ourselves motivated by that grace. 

 

We’re going to end up saying, I love you. Just out of our heart. And I’ve had it happen to me. I’ve said it before. The person said to me, Why do, how can you say that? You don’t even know me? And I go, yeah, that’s a good point. I don’t even know you, but I love you. That’s God. 

 

That’s God in us. And we have the Spirit of God and we have love. We are love. We don’t like make a judgment about love. We have it flowing out of us, John 7:39, 37. It’ll flow out of us like a river. Encouragement is our new nature. Encouragement sees hope in a person with a lot of trouble. 

 

Encouragement looks at somebody who others ignore and the encouragement goes to them and they say you believe in me, like you care about me. And we’re saying, we’re saying, yeah. But it’s God loves you. God is for you. And that’s why we’re bringing people into the church and wanting them to hear something. Hear something you don’t, we don’t hear by nature. 

 

We’re very good at judging. But are we good at giving grace? And in the world, that is in the world. Maybe they – I don’t know. I hope so. But I’m trying to say whether they do or not, I know that we are able to be people established in grace and then growing in grace and like thinking grace and speaking grace and encouraging each other and loving each other and that’s what changes a life. 

 

And that’s, you know, like Halloween can be, you know, just a part of life. It’s not I don’t want to make a big deal about it, but I just want to suggest there are things that are in our world that if I approach them with an attitude of faith and I know Jesus Christ, then he can redeem it. He can sanctify it. He can use it, and we can have a ministry in the midst of it. 

 

Okay. Lastly, here is chapter 13 and vs. 9. It says at the end, it’s a good thing that the heart be established with grace. It’s a good thing that my heart would be established with grace. Not judging but established with grace. What’s what? I can find something wrong with you. No, no, no, no. Don’t look for that. It’s a good thing that the heart would be established with grace. 

 

I know I could find something wrong with you or with them or with, of course. But no, no. this is, this is the, this is the knowledge of God in us. And he’s the God of all grace. He gives us all the fish of the sea, all the sunshine day after day. Have you noticed that the blue sky, the white clouds, the food, the life, the love, children, happiness, joy, beautiful music, amazing things in art, many, many things, thoughts and books and many people. God has given to us so much. 

 

He is the God of all grace and he does it day after day after day and he takes care of us and he answers prayer. He’s a God of all grace and he established our hearts in that grace. That’s what, that’s the real thing.

 

And then it says not with meats. Your hearts are not established with sacrifices, meats which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. He’s talking to the Jews who are offering sacrifices and eating kosher food. The heart isn’t established with the kosher food and their behavior and traditions and all of this. It becomes very boring, very empty, praying over your noodles or your footsteps or did you read the Torah or I’m not making fun of it. I’m only saying religion is everywhere in the world, but grace is not. 

 

Religion is part of everybody’s life. But the knowledge of God and the grace of God and the encouragement when people fail. The encouragement for sinners to be saved. The encouragement for people with bad habits to have hope that one day I can be gone and Jesus do it now and take it away and change my life and help me. That’s God. God wants the demons cast out. God wants that person to be renewed. God wants the Bible to be open to them with a heart of grace and love. Beautiful. 

 

And then it says, we have an altar. We don’t have time for this, but I want to say we have an altar. Well, what is the altar? We have maybe two images. The one is the cross right there. That’s an altar. That’s your altar. We have an altar there. That would, where was, where was the animal placed? On the cross.

 

The other image is Abraham offering his son on stones and he was ready to do it. One of them is I’m taking something precious and I’m giving it to God. That’s an altar. But the altar that I have that part in my life where I give up the things that I love and I bring it to the, I bring it to there. Like I don’t have the stone altar. I have that altar. 

 

The stone altar is a picture of me giving up something. But that is a picture of God giving up his Son for me. So, this would be easy for me to give up what is mine. I’m able to give up what is mine because he gave up what was his. 

 

Then he gave his Son so that we could be free and that we could walk in a deeper way. When we have an altar and they have no right to eat at that altar, what do you eat at that altar? We eat his flesh. We drink his blood. What do you eat at the altar? We drink, we are eating the Holy Spirit’s power, Holy Spirit’s mind, Holy Spirit’s food. We’re eating at that altar. 

 

We have an altar that they have no right. They have no – the religious people have no right to eat at that altar. But we have and we’re eating and gaining and growing and learning. And that’s the end. It’s like these three words. We learn to receive. We learn to reject, and we end up growing. And this growth is a real thing. Would you pray with me? (Prayer). 

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