"I think a lot of people go through religious life on the cheap."

 Dr. Kevin Baxter, pastor of Foundry Methodist Church in Great Bend, Kansas, talks about his new sermon series, Religion on the Cheap.

Your newest sermon series is called, "Religion on the Cheap" what exactly is that?

I have a truck and the back taillight was falling off. And instead of going in and getting a new headlight, I did the cheap thing - I put it on with tape.

I think a lot of people go through religious life on the cheap.

When we try to start to compare it to the Bible, we realize it falls far short of what we're made for, of what we're called to be.

It's a series that's going to focus on different aspects of our religious life.

Maybe you've got a good biblical reference about religion on the cheap.

In Ecclesiastes 5, Solomon talks about coming in to worship.

Just in my own prayer life, I'm starting to realize that I take for granted the presence of God.

If I were in my office, and someone wanted to come into my office, they would knock, and I would say come on in.

I don't honor God enough. I don't respect him enough.

When I was a little kid, I would have to ask permission to leave the table. But when we're praying, we just say, "oops, I gotta go."

Solomon talks in Ecclesiastes 2 about how he had everything, but had missed the most important thing - God. Don't we do that?

I think we do it all the time.

The world is always pushing stuff at us. The world is always wanting us to say, "It's okay to do this."

It's very difficult....to live a holy life in a world that's fallen and likes it.

How have you lived religion cheaply?

Just praying - doing it quickly.

I could kick myself how many times I'm just not spiritually ready for worship.

It happens all the time when all the sudden I want to help someone, just give them a few bucks here, rather than investing my life in them.

Jesus doesn't call me to that. He calls me to live like Him.

I think it's the stuff of religiosity, the outward effect of it, but we forget there's an inner thing that God needs to do.

Yeah.

I think for myself to realize that it's not about me; it's about God.

It's a hard thing to get me out of the way.

It's so easy to get tangled up in ourselves, in our things, in our comfort.

If we were going to seek some practical antidotes to religion on the cheap, what would you suggest?

I think the top thing that keeps coming to me at this point is remember who God is.

We need to be respectful of Him that He is God.

And our lives are His.

And what He says He wants from us, He wants from us.

If you keep in mind that, I think it will help us to give what He wants.

Let me ask you a question. How important is it for people who have serious spiritual lives to have someone to hold them accountable?

I would say that they're absolutely necessary.

How do we hold ourselves accountable? Anyone who's left alone with a position of power will abuse it.

It's going to take people who love us enough to say, 'Hey look, you're wrong here.'