About This Video
Shawn critiques the traditional model of full-service churches likening them to the now mostly obsolete full-service gas stations, advocating for a transition to a system where individuals are empowered to manage their own spiritual needs without the need for clergy or institutional intervention. He emphasizes a biblical approach grounded in Jeremiah 31:31-34, where believers are encouraged to engage directly with their faith rather than relying on religious institutions or leaders to mediate their spirituality.
A new covenant is established where God promises to inscribe His law on the hearts of the house of Israel, fostering a direct and personal relationship with His people, leading them to inherently know Him and live according to His guidance. In Romans 14, Paul emphasizes the importance of accepting those with weak faith without judgment, focusing on living for the Lord, promoting peace, and avoiding causing others to stumble, while upholding the values of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
The teaching emphasizes that true liberty in Christ involves a personal and direct relationship with God, devoid of institutionalized religion and human-made systems, as supported by scriptural references from Galatians and Hebrews. Rather than adhering to religious organizations or laws, individuals are encouraged to cultivate an individual connection with God through grace and guidance by His Spirit, fostering a life of freedom and personal accountability to Jesus alone.
The Evolving Concept of Service
If you are over fifty years of age – maybe a little younger, you probably remember a common site I’ve talked about before which was popular in the 1950’s – they were called, “Service Stations.” Yes, these were the places people bought gasoline for their automobiles but the providers of the gasoline, due to the spirit of that age, thought it was important for a team of well-dressed men to surround your car, do the filling for you while filling your tires with air, checking your oil and washing the wind screen.
These service stations lasted close to thirty years before someone decided that all of it was overkill and began to phase the presentations out of the getting gas experience. But the full service didn’t automatically just go away but disappeared in stages. In the 50’s every station was a full service station, then in the early 70’s a person was given the choice – buy full service gas or self-service. In time full service sort of became dumbed down and instead of a team of men dressed in white and attending to all your automotive needs, maybe a couple nicely dressed guys would sort of meander out to help and then just a single guy and then a guy who also served as the mechanic, and then finally the gas prices were different because of premium content rather than service.
I doubt that there are many or any full service stations in the world today – with three to five men dressed in all white running out and checking things out for you as part of getting refilled with gas. Instead, most every station is self-serve today, where the customer has to fill and pay for the gas that they want – and to check their own oil, tire pressure and windshield for cleanliness.
Moving Away from Full Service Churches
I miss the days of full service gas stations but I do wish, in the name of biblical truth, liberation and what God said that the world would rid itself of full service church. Oh! Not that churches have ever really fully served the people. Not usually. No full service church refers to churches that demand the full service of their congregants! Those are what I hope to see phased out over time – beginning today.
See, full service churches exist on the principle of the congregants serving them – their pastor's views and vision for his church, with money and offerings, with time and with allegiance. In the case of the service stations of the 50’s, the churches would be the cars and the pastor would be the driver and his congregation would be the men dressed in white and attending to their every need. And it would be their reasonable duty to God to treat the pastor and his property with such devotion. Because to serve him is seen as serving God.
Liberating Through the Spirit of Truth
But God established a much better way – a way that places nobody in servitude to another, but instead liberates them by the Spirit of Truth. In this setting, people realize that they are fully capable of filling their own spiritual tanks, and cleaning their own spiritual windshields, and checking their own levels of oil (the Holy Spirit), and the air in their tires (faith), and do not need a man or team of men running around to do it for them.
Three years ago we did a white board show called, Churches Will Eventually Have To Close Their Doors. This was pre-covid folks and we even warned a number of the Salt Lake Valley pastors that they needed to rearrange their demands and approach to playing church. This is the long show and I want you to review in 17 minutes what we said at that time – take a look:
(SHOW VIDEO HERE)
While some of these observances have already proven true, and some may prove to be false in the years to come, please understand that the central message of what we said in that show was a message given by God himself, albeit indirectly, all the way back in the book of Jeremiah chapter 31:31-34 when he said to True Israel, which is true for all by faith:
Jeremiah 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my
The New Covenant and Christian Liberty
covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. no more.
A Message of Inclusion
It was a message central to what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 14 when he said
Romans 14:1 As for the man who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not for disputes over opinions. 2 One believes he may eat anything, while the weak man eats only vegetables. 3 Let not him who eats despise him who abstains, and let not him who abstains pass judgment on him who eats; for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Master is able to make him stand. 5 One man esteems one day as better than another, while another man esteems all days alike. Let every one be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. He also who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; while he who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. 10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God." 12 So each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Then let us no more pass judgment on one another, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for any one who thinks it unclean. 15 If your brother is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future. is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; 18 he who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. 20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for any one to make others fall by what he eats; 21 it is right not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother stumble. 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God; happy is he who has no reason to judge himself for what he approves.
The Spirit of the Lord
Remember what Jesus came to do, as He said, citing Isaiah and assigning it to himself:
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Remember that Paul spoke of the “glorious liberty of the children of God”
Or in 1st Corinthian 10:29 where he asks, “for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience?”
Or when he writes in 2nd Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
The Concept of Liberty in Christianity
"Liberty" is a significant theme found throughout Christian teachings. In the scripture, liberty is addressed multiple times, such as in Galatians 5:1, which states, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Further down in Galatians 5:13, it emphasizes, "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." This idea of liberty is rooted in spiritual freedom through Christ.
Spiritual Liberty and the New Covenant
The concept of liberty in Christianity is further underscored in the book of Hebrews:
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
23 and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel.
These passages remind us of the spiritual transformation that occurs through Christ, a transition from the old covenant of material religionA fulfilled system of temples, rituals, and laws—replaced by direct spiritual relationship. to a personal and direct relationship with God. Hebrews continues:
26 His voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven."
27 This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe;
29 for our God is a consuming fire.
End of Material Religion
The age of material religionThe biblical era of temples, laws, and rituals—ended in 70 A.D. to make way for spiritual freedom. ended nearly two thousand years ago, with the Kingdom of God manifesting internally within individuals. As Jesus said, the Kingdom "comes without observation," established as God writes His laws on their heart and mind. The remnants of the past that were not of God have been shaken and shown to be lacking.
Traditional religious institutions, referred to here as "service station churches," are no longer seen as functional on their own. Their purpose is questioned in the light of personal spiritual engagement with God. God's desire is for a personal relationship with each individual, one that is direct and guided by His Spirit—not managed by earthly religious systems or doctrines.
God seeks a personal connection, urging people to speak with Him, learn from Him, and follow Him directly. Salvation comes through grace alone, through God's Son, and revealed by the Spirit. A true Christian life emphasizes allegiance only to Christ without the mediation of institutional religion.
The challenge is to liberate oneself from the constraints of traditional religious practices and live freely in Christ, experiencing a unique liberty unavailable in any other form.
