I want to believe, but… 2 Killjoy God

Believing is not easy… but maybe our belief struggle is caused by incorrect beliefs? Maybe aren’t rejecting the True God, but actually rejecting our distorted views of Him?

One distorted view is what we call “KILLJOY GOD.”

A common perception of Christianity is that it is ANGRY, RULES ORIENTED, & BORING. It is time we rejected this KILLJOY GOD distortion and saw a clear picture of Jesus.

Welcome back to Redemption Church. We are a mighty Church in Plano Tx. We are the kind of church that believes Jesus can change any situation… Jesus can change your life. We believe in SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION! Before today is over we are going to gather for a time of talking to God. We challenge you to be a part of it and let God Spiritually Transform your life.

Greetings to everyone in the room. And a big God bless Ya’ll to all our friends experiencing the Word of God over the internet.

We are the 2^nd week of our sermon series “I want to believe, but…”

I want to believe, but…

Believing doesn’t come naturally. We often struggle with faith and wrestle with doubt.

Last week we asked a question and had people write in to our anonymous text line. That question was “Tell us what has been the hardest thing for you believe concerning God.”

I was moved to see so many people respond. Here are some of the responses.

• I have trouble believing I still hear God..


• I have trouble believing when I see strong faithful Christians walk away from faith.


• I had trouble believing when my father died.


• ..that they don’t have to and cannot earn God’s love.


• Believing that death isn’t just the end.


• That God loves me… even when I do wrong.

Anonymous Text Line

Today I want you to pull out your phones and answer this question. Is there a piece of knowledge or something that happened that helped bring you to believe in God? Tell us about it.

Our anonymous text line is 214 856 0550. And we really mean that it is anonymous. Our text line is available to you anytime you want to talk about faith, life, or even Redemption Church.

Last week we talked about the idea of rejecting God. We asked this question…

Are we rejecting God… or are we rejecting our distorted view of God?

It could be that the reason we are struggling to believe, is that we have wrong beliefs. If this is the case, we need to call these distorted views out and reject them.

Last week we talked about ON-DEMAND GOD. If you missed it or would like to review it can be found on our website REDEMPTION-CHURCH.COM… and by the way we have a podcast and it is super easy to push that subscribe button.

Today it is time to reject… it is time to move one god further from the distorted view of Killjoy God

Killjoy God

I was around 18 years old and was crazy about Jesus. I really loved Jesus and wanted to share Him with all my friends at school. I started inviting my friends from school to church and even started bible studies at school. It was a cool time. A lot of my friends started coming to church! They were saved by Jesus and it was exciting!

One day after a great church service I was talking to some of the other young people in that church. I said “wasn’t it exciting that my friend came tonight. I could really tell God was doing something in their heart. I just know God is going to save my friend…”

And a girl in that youth group stopped me dead in my tracks “If she…” I looked up and saw the angriest and scariest face I have ever seen. Pennywise & Jason Vorheese had nothing on the anger and hostility coming out of my fellow youth group member.

“IF SHE DOESN’T FOLLOW THE RULES THEN SHE CAN’T BE SAVED! IF I HAVE TO FOLLOW THE RULES TO BE SAVED THEN SHE HAS TO FOLLOW THE RULES TO BE SAVED!”

The room was so quiet after this outburst.. mainly because we were all terrified. I don’t remember saying anything, but I remember my heart communicating something to me… “That’s not Jesus.”

Have you ever known an angry Christian? “WOULD ANY OF YOU WORTHLESS SINNERS LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT OUR LORD AND SAVIOR!!!?”

Have you ever been overwhelmed by all the rules of religion?

Gotta go to church, pray, wear the right clothes, stand and worship, must think and say the right things…

Can’t cuss, drink, smoke, go to the school dance, or hang around anyone who does!

Ever been scared that maybe you are missing a rule that is going to damn you to hell? Ever thought I don’t know if I can go to that Church, I need to know what their rules are first…

Angry, rules… and perhaps the worst… boring.

Have you ever felt like church was boring?

Ok here we go. Service is starting. Stand up… ok now we can sit down. Turn to page whatever and sing the song… oh we are standing again. Guy gets up and speaks about stuff that I don’t understand… I don’t see why it is even important. If it weren’t for the rules I wouldn’t be here to begin with, because this is boring.

Angry, boring, and so many rules… That is not the kind of life I want to live.

• I don’t want to be angry I want to be happy.


• I don’t want to be controlled by rules I want freedom.


• I don’t want to be bored I want to have a lot of fun.

Have you rejected God, or are you contemplating it now, because you have had enough of this angry, rule oriented, boring, killjoy god?

I have good news for you today. Killjoy god does not exist! You should reject this god distortion… move one God further and embrace the true God.

But before we dive into this good news… I need to tell tell you about the bad news of religion.

Bad news of religion

Religion and God are not the same thing. This is not always easy to understand.

That is why you get a lot of arguments like… “how can you believe in God when religion has many failures.” We must understand that religion & God are not the same thing.

I describe religion like this…

Religion is man’s effort to reach God.

Religion focuses on the external & not the internal.

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