WEBVTT 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:04.879 So excited to be here with you all. 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:10.720 It is uh such a blessing to be able to stand up here and you guys allow me to speak. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:17.679 So we've been walking through uh book study of Ephesians. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:26.640 And in Christ is its name, with identity being chapters one through three, and purpose being four through six. 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:35.520 And so if you haven't had a chance, you know, we we're we're right now in chapter five, and and chapter five talks about purpose, four talks about purpose as well. 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:45.200 But if you have not heard any of the previous sermons, or if you have not had the chance to read Ephesians one through three, you really need to do that. 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:59.039 It's really hard to step into the latter part of a letter written to the Ephesians and be like, all right, well, this is my purpose, if you first don't understand the identity of who we are in Christ Jesus. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:04.959 Because it's only through the identity in Christ Jesus that we can actually come to our purpose. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:06.159 That's it. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:08.480 We can't do this on our own. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:10.239 And so we need to jump back to that. 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:19.439 And so I'm gonna do just a little bit of a recap of that for those of us who don't know, but really it is so important for you to go yourself and to listen to the sermons online. 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:25.200 You if you didn't know that, you can always go back to anywhere you listen to podcasts, it's all a podcast on there. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:31.760 Just try to type in Trinity Community Church, or you can go on YouTube and find it, or you can find it on our website. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:35.120 Listen, there's a plethora of areas you can find it, right? 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:39.359 So jump back on there, or just simply go read chapters one through three. 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:44.159 And in chapters one through three, we figure out who we are in Christ Jesus. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:51.920 That we are sons and daughters of the Most High God through the blood of Jesus Christ, how he saved our soul and he made us new. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:57.280 We've been made right in Christ through Christ Jesus and we're no longer slaves. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:03.840 So, because of Jesus, he's made a way for us to put on new clothes, as I talked about a few weeks ago. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:12.240 And when we put on those new clothes, it's because he has given us his righteousness and his everything's about him. 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:13.280 Everything. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:19.120 So we put on his clothes and become more like him because we want to be more like dad. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:23.439 Mark as well talked about how we put off and put on. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:35.840 And then it's been continued in that through chapters four and now to five, where we are able to do certain things because the Father in heaven has allowed that to happen. 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:48.879 So I want you to see today that everything that I talk about is not something that we need to do to get closer to God, but we do these things because we're already children of the Most High God. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:55.280 We've been brought out of the darkness and into his glorious light. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:03:07.520 So now, with those things in mind, we can step forward and see what our purpose is through Christ Jesus and his saving love for us. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:15.199 We're able to live right because of what he has already done for us, right? 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:16.719 All right. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:24.560 So we are looking at Ephesians chapter 5, verses 11 through 14. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:27.280 And so we're gonna read that. 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:35.759 And it says, Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:40.960 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:48.800 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:56.639 Therefore it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:03:58.159 Let's pray. 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:00.960 Father, we thank you for your word. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:08.960 We thank you, Lord, that you helped Paul to know these things years ago by just miraculous things, Lord. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:16.240 And God, that he wrote it down for the letter to the Ephesians, Lord, and now we still have that today, 2,000 years later. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:22.480 And God, it can easily be applied to us by looking at Scripture and seeing what you spoke to them. 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:25.680 And we thank you, Lord, that you are never changing. 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:28.319 You're the same yesterday, today, and forever. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:33.040 We thank you that this word is alive and it speaks to us through your Holy Spirit. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:48.079 And we pray this morning, Lord God, that you would speak through us in this word, Lord, as you spoke it to the Ephesians 2,000 years ago, it is still the same and true and alive and speaking to us as if it were written to us today. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:52.240 And we thank you for it, Lord, in Jesus' name. 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:56.319 So we've been talking about different actions and things, right? 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:08.079 All right, like you don't cuss, you don't uh steal, you you know, all these things, but it's not because of something that we need to do to become right with God. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:13.439 As I said a moment ago, we want to become more like our Father in heaven. 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:16.240 How many people here have experienced that even on earth? 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:18.399 You want to be like dad, right? 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:21.920 And sometimes we don't even want to be like our parents, but we turn into them. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:24.079 There's a commercial about that right now, right? 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:28.079 For all those who turn into their parents, and it's hilarious. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:29.360 But we do. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:32.319 We're going to end up like that at times. 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:39.279 And so the more that we hang out with the Father God in heaven, the more we start looking like him. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:51.199 The more we start smelling like him, the more we start talking like him, thinking like him, we're going to, he's going to rub off on us and we're going to be more and more like him. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:59.439 But Paul is talking about this over the last couple of chapters, and now he's taking it, he keeps taking it a step further each time. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:05.040 Because now he's saying, All right, I want to remind you that this is all about the inner life. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:13.199 Every week we've been talking about all of these things, our heart issues, and what comes into our heart, right? 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:20.319 And so he is now taking it back to that, saying, listen, it's back to the core of the heart. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:28.879 He says, Don't even let don't have anything at all to do with the unfruitful things that the world is doing, what they did. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:31.839 Who are they and them we see in the scripture here? 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:34.480 He's talking about us before we knew Christ. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:37.279 He's talking about the sinner before they know Christ. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:40.879 So when you see that, don't be like them, right? 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:43.279 Which is at one point, us. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:48.879 And so he's saying that what comes in also comes out of us. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:07:08.399 And I this week I was really praying about this over the last couple of weeks, and and it's been uh a little while since this has happened, and I've really been thanking God for it, but I had a word for today, a prophetic word that I felt like the Lord gave me the moment I read this scripture as I sat down to study, and I felt like the Lord gave me a word. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:20.720 And it lines up with the word that I felt that we felt as the eldership that the Lord gave us back in October was crisis, to prepare for the crisis that may happen and that will happen in our lives. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:32.319 Well, what's going on in our world around us is culture is just falling apart and it is getting more and more uh satanic, is the easiest way to say it. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:37.360 It's getting more and more in love with anything that's opposite of God. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:43.120 And there's a reason why the church is following suit in certain ways. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:51.920 And so today I felt like the Lord gave me a word, and it's funny when I show you this word because I saw the word, but then I looked, I was like, Well, God, I can't even say that word. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:53.600 You ever have that, right? 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:56.000 It's like I you see it, you're like, I can't say it. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:57.120 I'm gonna try. 00:07:57.360 --> 00:07:59.040 But you can put the word up there. 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:01.199 Desensitization. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:02.319 I said it. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:04.000 I did it. 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:08.240 We were in prayer earlier today, and I couldn't say it. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:16.240 But it means that you lose sensitivity through repeated exposure. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:19.600 So you lose sensitivity over time. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:23.120 And I'm gonna give you a real easy illustration for this. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:25.040 We live in East Tennessee. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:27.279 We're all allergic to something. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:31.600 We wake up in the morning, the air that we breathe, we're allergic to. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:34.320 So many of us take allergy medicine. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:38.399 At times that take two, just so I can get up and live life. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:44.480 Some of us have taken it a step further, and we go to the doctor and get this thing called allergy shots. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:45.440 Okay? 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:53.600 And these allergy shots, if you don't know what they are, they fill a needle with the things that you're allergic to. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:54.480 All right? 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:58.399 And if they give you a bunch of it at once, they're just gonna kill you. 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:06.480 But what they do is they give you just a little bit of what you're allergic to, and three times a week they stab it into your arm for a year. 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:12.399 And they give you this shot to desensitize your body from that allergy. 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:25.759 And then for the next year, they give you a little less for another year, and then now your body is desensitized to the allergy that your body's trying to get out. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:29.440 Because your body sees it as a foreign object and it wants it gone. 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:33.840 It's doing exactly what it's supposed to do, so it wants it out. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:39.919 So that is what this desensitization, I did it again, is saying. 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:48.080 We as Christians continue taking sin shots every day. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:53.919 It's not just three days a week at one shot for 10 minutes. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:10:04.480 It is every day on our phones, in our life, what we listen to, what we allow to happen around us. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:06.960 We take sin shots. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:16.879 And the church has become more and more desensitized to the word of God and the sins that he says are sins. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:28.559 We wonder today why churches right down the street accept homosexual marriage, while churches right down the street will allow man and a woman to live together for years. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:37.600 And that while they continue and continue to be all right with certain sins, it's because they're like, well, then that's just the culture of that time. 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:43.679 No, you were desensitized to sin, as were I. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:51.840 And the Lord has been dealing with me in a number of areas that I thought I was alright with, and now he's revealing more to me. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:52.879 And you know why? 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:56.320 Because we keep praying the prayer that David prayed. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:00.240 God, if there be any wicked way within me, reveal it. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:03.120 And that's what I want. 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:07.120 And how do we prepare for crisis in today's time? 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:14.080 We see what God calls right and what God calls wrong, and we flee from the wrong. 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:27.759 And Paul reminds us here in this scripture to have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of the spirit or of the world and of spiritual things. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:31.120 So it's much like pruning trees. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:34.240 You we see Jesus use this one a number of times as well. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:47.360 But if you're a farmer, if you know any farmers, an apple tree or different uh fruit trees, if they go and they see that certain branches aren't producing fruit, they chop those branches off. 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:49.039 Do you know why they do that? 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:56.559 Because the branches that aren't doing so well are sucking the life from the good branches. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:01.440 And that is what these sin shots are doing in our life. 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:05.440 They're sucking the life from the good things. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:08.480 That's why he says, no unfruitful things. 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:11.840 So it doesn't mean just don't do it. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:24.320 This is where he's taking it a step further, and he's saying, don't have anything to do with it, don't entertain it, don't absorb it, don't start to normalize it. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:29.039 Because what we watch shapes us. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:35.039 What we listen to will start to form our thinking process. 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:41.840 What we stay silent about when the things are going on around us, we condone it. 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:44.960 Right now, it's time to vote. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:52.080 And one of the things that we have in America as one of our freedoms is to go and vote for righteousness. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:54.000 That is how we can do it. 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:57.919 Not getting on Facebook and running our mouth about silly stuff. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:00.159 No, that does nothing. 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:04.879 But we can go vote and we can vote for righteousness. 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:19.519 But to sit still and say, I we didn't have time to vote when they've made three weeks worth of voting time and then complain about the things, all you're doing is condoning the things of unrighteousness. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.399 And right now it's local, and I know I'm talking political, and I it is what it is. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:43.200 Here's the thing: if we don't go and vote for righteousness, and for the people who stand for righteousness, then it's going to continue for all those out there that are voting for unrighteousness to keep filling our offices with unrighteousness, and we continue to see more and more unrighteousness. 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:47.519 So we must not be silent. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:14:00.159 But what we see and allow us to come into ourselves affects our mind and comes into our heart, and out of the out of the mouth speaks the abundance of the heart. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:00.960 We saw that. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:05.759 Jesus said it, and it's recorded in Luke chapter 6 and in Matthew chapter 12. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:12.080 And he says, What we allow, what comes out of our heart is what we speak. 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:18.559 And so when we're driving down the road and we cuss at the dude because he cut us off, that stuff's in you. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:20.480 And it's just waiting to come out. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:22.480 But where did we get that? 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:29.600 When we are getting mad and we have a really loud uh outburst of anger, where did that come from? 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:32.240 Well, it came from what's inside of us. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:36.480 We've allowed the sin shots to come in. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:40.799 Because we are spirit and flesh. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:50.080 Oftentimes we forget this is that 50%, yes, 50% of the time we're in the physical, that's what we're dealing with. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:55.519 But the Bible says we do not fight against flesh and blood, but of angels and principalities of dark places. 00:14:55.759 --> 00:15:01.759 That means that even right now in this room, there is spiritual warfare going on right now. 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:12.000 There's a few things that's going to be said in just a second that your spirit inside is either going to go, yeah, I need to allow God to change that, or you're going to go, wait, he's gone too far. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:15.440 He's stepping on my toes because it's spiritual warfare. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:18.639 But we are made in the image of God in heaven. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:19.279 Okay? 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:20.320 We are. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:26.799 In the Genesis, he says, and God made man in, uh, he says, let us make man in our image. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:32.399 Well, we know that God is spirit because we have the Holy Spirit in which that He gives to us. 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:46.720 So we are 50% spirit and we are 50% flesh, but yet we forget that there's a whole spiritual world going on, and we don't even pay attention that the sin shots are affecting our spirit. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:50.799 They're affecting what's inside. 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:58.240 And so, oh, it's not a big deal to have these uh shows on our television. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:02.799 Years ago, my wife and I, we've been together for 20 years. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:06.240 We'll be selling 20, celebrating 20 years in December. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:12.399 But we made a rule 20 years ago that PG-13 was the most we would watch. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:17.360 And to this day, PG-13 and lower is all we watch. 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:22.399 But certain PG-13 movies today, I can't even watch because now that's become different. 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:33.519 Did you know that over the last 50 to 60 years the television and what they call good and bad has changed so much. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:36.879 Little by little, by little. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:44.639 Because remember, I told you that if they give you an allergy shot with completely full of what you're allergic to, they will kill you. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:47.360 They will put you into anaphylactic shock. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:57.440 It's the same thing that the devil knows that'll happen when he gives you a sin shot with too much, because you'll recognize it and go, that's not right. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:13.599 But when we allow the devil to get a foothold inside of our house and he pops us with just a little bit of that sin, and he pops us with just a little bit more of that sin, and all of a sudden, over a few years' span, that one little sin is not so big. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:23.839 So, yeah, we watched uh Will and Grace in the 90s, and everybody thought that was the worst thing in the world that they would even allow a homosexual man on TV and talk about it. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:31.519 But did you know that they didn't even say anything about it then other than every once in a while you would figure out that he was homosexual? 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:33.519 But they never said anything about it. 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:35.279 That was 25 years ago. 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:46.799 And now today I'm trying to watch a show at the house and I can't even watch it because a 30-minute show has a 10-minute section of this person's lifestyle and what they do in their bedroom. 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:51.759 I don't care what a sinner does at their home in their private time, that is their deal. 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:56.319 But why do I need to hear about it and why do I need to allow it to come inside of my home? 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:02.559 And I'm I'm not just I'm just pulling this one out because this is how the culture has changed. 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:10.400 We could go into pornography, even for that matter, and we could see that what's on TV years, 50 years ago, man, they were fully clothed. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:12.559 They were not allowed to have anything showing. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:16.079 To the 60s, that all of a sudden a little bikini came out, right? 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:19.839 The teeny weenie yellow polka dot bikini came out, right? 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:21.279 It came out. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:23.680 And all of a sudden, that was allowed. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:28.960 To the point today that women are wearing less at the beach than they wear in the bedroom. 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:34.720 Okay, and so it's become okay because of little sin shots. 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:46.799 Little here, little there, little there, to where over 50 years' span, the devil has gotten a hold of our culture and shifted it completely. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:53.519 And we're okay with it because we've just been sitting back and we've been watching it with them. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:55.759 Well, Derek, you've gone too far. 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:58.319 It's okay for me to watch that show. 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:04.720 Well, I'm sure the pastor down the street thought the same thing until he got so many sin shots that he married two men. 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:07.759 We can do that too. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:19.039 I'm sure that pastor down the street had good intentions at one time and listened to the Holy Spirit until he went too far and allowed the sin shots to say that all of this stuff was okay. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:27.680 And then all of a sudden, we start allowing the devil to change our thoughts and change our convictions. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:30.480 How is he able to do that? 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:39.279 Because we allowed him to give us a sin shot, a little here and a little there, to where it stopped pricking our convictions. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:42.480 Now, I've been a contractor for many years. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.039 Y'all know I've heard some dirty language. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:50.319 I'm gonna tell you today, I don't speak any dirty language, I'm not going to. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:54.559 And I will sit with any of you, and you can talk how you please. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:59.359 But I will tell you, it does still hit me in the chest when I hear them. 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:01.519 Because I know it's sinful. 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:12.000 When I'm sitting with somebody and they've said, Yeah, I've been living with my wife for seven years, or with my girlfriend for seven years, I'm not gonna call them out right there because I want to build a relationship with them. 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:14.960 But my spirit's pricked immediately. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:22.559 When I'm watching TV and something comes up and I see what's happened on that TV, it still pricks my heart. 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:26.079 Because I know that it's wrong. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:27.920 And I stand on that. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:31.119 You know, music does the same thing. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:43.599 Years ago, we wouldn't allow to have things in music like that, and then all of a sudden we started having the 60s and the drug scene, and now, you know, we got words today that we say, and when he, you know, I didn't even notice this to the other day. 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:49.839 I said, Oh, that's just a pipe dream, and then I realized, wait, where does a pipe dream come from? 00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:55.200 And I realized that it came from the 60s with being stoned. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:21:01.200 You have dreams and you're stoned, and now you have a pipe dream that'll never happen. 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:08.319 And yet I've said this a million times and never even noticed what it was until now, and I'm like, well, I can't say that anymore. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:09.680 That's not right. 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:12.319 And then it turned to music. 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:21.920 And I'm gonna tell you right now, I love country music, and I've listened to it from now on or now and then, but I have to stop on certain songs. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:28.079 I've heard people say one of their favorite songs is strawberry wine from the 90s, right? 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:30.559 Oh, I've stepped on somebody's toe here. 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:36.799 It's a 15, 16-year-old girl who loses her virginity while being drunk in the back of a car. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:38.480 And that's what the whole song's about. 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:45.519 And we're okay with it because the way it plays the music out, and we've made this stuff okay in our mind. 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:55.200 And we continue to allow it to where we then change the convictions that God placed inside of our heart. 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:59.599 We don't watch rated R movies because one. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.119 The violence. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:06.079 What in the world should we ever even be watching this stuff? 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:06.880 Okay? 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:16.640 Do you know that the violent things that happen today are much because of the video games and stuff that started coming out in the 90s? 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:19.680 We see violence ramped up like crazy. 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:21.119 And we're allowing ourselves. 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:23.200 But Derek, this is just entertainment. 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:31.119 Why do we feel like we have the same right to be entertained the same way the world's entertained? 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:47.920 We have a fully different life like Christ, the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of us, by the way, who's sitting on the couch next to you watching that with you, by the way, in your car, listening to the same stuff that you're listening to? 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:57.599 Would you really sit there if you had a conscious mindset to think that the God of the universe is sitting on the couch beside you watching that? 00:22:58.160 --> 00:22:59.440 Would we watch it? 00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:01.359 Would we listen to it? 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:13.440 When you pull out your phone and you're looking at stuff, would you do that if you really took note that the God of heaven is right there? 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:14.480 Because guess what? 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:17.680 If you know Jesus, he is, he's right there. 00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:20.000 And he's watching it. 00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:23.200 And he's like, son, why are you doing this? 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:25.359 Why are you allowing this to happen? 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:30.240 Daughter, why are you reading that book that has all that exotic stuff in it? 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:31.920 Why are you doing that? 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:34.160 That's that's ungodliness. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:40.240 That's sin shots that's gonna wreck you and pull you away from what I'm trying to do. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:42.079 And that's what Paul said. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:46.960 Have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of the Spirit. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:52.720 Then he says, don't even speak of the shameful things they do. 00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:56.240 Don't even speak of it. 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:05.039 So you think it's okay to watch a little bit of that clip when it's shameful to even speak of the clip? 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:08.480 Oh, it's okay to watch that show. 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:09.279 It's okay to watch. 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:10.960 No, it's not. 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:16.000 And so for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:21.440 And I don't need to be entertained the way that the world is entertained. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:32.319 Because I have the Holy Spirit that dwells inside of me, and through him, my mindset and my thoughts have changed to his way. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:36.000 Now, Derek, what about grace? 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:39.200 Well, there is grace and mercy for the times that we mess up. 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:42.640 But that doesn't mean we continue doing it on and on and on and on. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:43.279 We see that. 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:44.640 Paul said it in another letter. 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:47.759 Should we just keep sinning so that grace may abound more? 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:50.000 He said, No, that's foolishness. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:51.839 What are you thinking? 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:54.880 No, we don't take advantage of grace. 00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:57.759 But when grace is needed, we we're there. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:01.359 It's much like having an unlimited roll of bandages. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:05.839 Do we just keep slitting our arm just so we can keep using the bandages? 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:12.160 No, we use the grace of the bandages when we make a mistake and cut our arm and we let it heal. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:15.039 So we don't do that to our spirit. 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:16.960 Why would we do that? 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:23.119 So then he says, expose the darkness. 00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:28.079 Now that doesn't mean we go out here in the street and just start yelling at everybody. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.640 People should, in our life, should know where we stand. 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:44.079 I've got family members who live lifestyles that are totally against the word of God. 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:48.400 I'm not going to go to a family get together and call them out. 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:53.759 I'm going to welcome them to my home, and we're going to spend time together as a family. 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:58.960 And I'm going to love on them and host them as well as everyone else. 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:05.920 But they know where I stand just by my life lived out in front of them. 00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:15.359 And if I get the opportunity to minister and their heart is softened and they're ready to hear the gospel, I will share it with them. 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:20.319 But it takes recognizing when that time is. 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:32.480 But that's why we have to listen to the Lord. 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:43.359 We share the gospel at all times through our life, sometimes through at the Walmart or whatever, but we have to listen to the Lord and what he's saying. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:54.480 But when he says expose the darkness, it does not mean be harsh, shame people, act prideful, I'm better than you. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:55.279 No. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:27:02.880 It means living differently, speaking truth in love, and not agreeing with sin. 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:21.359 You know, I just told you one of the ways, like, and it's not me being all high and mighty or anything like that, but if someone that you're talking to talks about some movie and you know that that movie is ungodly, and you're not going to take a sin shot with that movie, and somebody says, come watch this movie with me, you can say, No, no, thanks. 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:22.640 Well, you don't you don't like that movie? 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:26.799 No, I've seen some things that's in that movie, and that just doesn't agree with my spirit. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:36.400 And they can make fun of you if you're want, if they want, and and all of these things, and all these areas in your life that you step out of and you let someone know the reason when you step out of it. 00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:43.279 You know, blessed are those who revile, or blessed are those who, what is the scripture, who are reviled for Christ's name's sake. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:53.599 And so just because you're made fun of for standing up for the righteousness of God and what he calls right doesn't mean anything super terrible. 00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:55.279 That's all a flesh thing. 00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:02.960 So we live differently, but correction requires relationship. 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:15.359 You can't correct everybody, but you can correct those close to you, but only if you are open to correction yourself. 00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:21.759 We must be willing to be corrected. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:27.200 If you're not willing to receive correction today, you should never give correction. 00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:34.160 If you're not willing to receive correction, keep your mouth shut. 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:43.440 That brings back to the scripture that says you're worried about the speck in your brother's eye where you have a plank in your own. 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:49.119 So we must have relationship with someone. 00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:57.440 And so then what it would look like is I have a close relationship with some of you in the room. 00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:06.000 And if I see one of my brothers or sisters stepping into something wrong, I'm gonna lovingly meet with them, give them a call. 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:12.720 Hey, I see this in the scripture, and I see you stepping into that, and I'm really concerned for your soul. 00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:20.240 And if you have a close relationship with that person, they're going to look at you and say, Well, thanks for bringing that out. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:25.200 Now, what does it look like on the flip side to receive correction? 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:38.160 When I receive correction, we get some, uh, as the elders do, and I get some uh from some of my close friends and some of my mentors, and it hurts every day and time. 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:39.920 I don't like it. 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:47.759 But you must always ask, Lord, is this true? 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:50.319 Now, some parts of it may be. 00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:57.119 Sometimes somebody's bringing you correction in a totally ungodly way, and none of it's true. 00:29:57.440 --> 00:30:07.440 But most of the time there is truth found in the correction, whether it's completely wrong or half wrong, but sometimes there's some truth that brings to that point. 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:12.880 Maybe it was just the way you said something that was seemed super un not humble. 00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:16.480 And it's something that we need to work on in our spirit, right? 00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:26.160 So we allow the Lord to work in and through us in every way to receive that correction because we want to be more like dad. 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:28.319 And sometimes we're not listening. 00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:30.000 And our brother and sister knows it. 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:34.720 I see this at home when my little girl corrects my little boy. 00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:39.440 And it's because she knows and she's received the bad side of that. 00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:43.759 And she was like, Zeke, you shouldn't do that, you know, because she's seen, right? 00:30:43.839 --> 00:30:48.079 And he doesn't want to receive it because you're not my boss, you know, and that's what we do. 00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:49.279 You're not my boss. 00:30:49.519 --> 00:30:54.720 And then he goes and he does it, and then he gets hurt and comes back to me screaming and crying that he just hurt himself. 00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:57.920 And then Allie goes, Well, I told him not to do it. 00:30:58.079 --> 00:30:59.519 I tried to stop him. 00:30:59.920 --> 00:31:01.359 Sounds familiar, don't it? 00:31:02.160 --> 00:31:05.440 We do that ourselves in this world. 00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:12.960 Dad's telling us something, our brother or sister comes and says something because we're not listening and we don't want to hear it. 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:18.160 And then we step into something, and now there's consequences from stepping into that. 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:21.920 And sometimes those consequences have to be lived out for quite some time. 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:24.559 And that's that's hard. 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:35.039 But I felt like this morning that the Lord really wanted us to see that we are letting sin shots into our life. 00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:39.039 I have let sin shots into my life. 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:47.359 The way the world gets entertained, y'all, we have no right to be entertained that way. 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:51.680 We should not want to be entertained that way. 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:58.960 We should not want to be where ungodliness is being lived out regularly. 00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:06.720 We should not want to see the things that this world sees. 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:15.119 The TV can be a wonderful servant, but a lousy master. 00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:18.720 My brother Neil Silverberg told me that one a long time ago. 00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:28.000 Our phone can be a great servant, but it is a lousy master. 00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:41.279 And the things that are coming through your Instagram and your Facebook and your Snapchat and your TikTok, and those are sin shots that's gonna keep dulling our senses. 00:32:42.720 --> 00:33:00.160 When we keep watching the same shows that we know are ungodly, we've watched that movie that has 48 F-bombs and 38 B words, and that stuff comes into you, and you wonder why you're screaming cuss words at the red light when somebody doesn't cut you off. 00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:04.000 Because you've allowed that into your heart. 00:33:04.799 --> 00:33:13.440 What we allow into us, it's much like the thing when we were a kid where my parents would tell me, you hang out with them, you're gonna become like them. 00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:18.880 Well, I got two brothers in prison, and I saw it become real. 00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:24.079 You hang out with the wrong people, you become the wrong people. 00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:29.920 You watch the stuff, you become the stuff. 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:40.480 You hear the words over and over again come into your mind, you're no longer convicted that speaking that way is wrong, and you start speaking that way. 00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:54.400 You watch it long enough, it's just a bikini show, and it goes way too far, and now you're searching on the internet and your phone for things that are way ungodly. 00:33:56.000 --> 00:34:15.920 By the way, on that point, you know that like 70% of the people in all of those movies are uh sex slaves, are being forced to do those things, and we allow ourselves to watch them with the Father God right there next to us. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:21.920 Just think about that a second. 00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:31.039 We're reading those books, and they have these things in them, and we're allowing it to come in and shape who we are. 00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:35.360 We're listening to that music, but it's just about the beat. 00:34:35.920 --> 00:34:36.880 Yeah, right? 00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:45.920 You know the words, you know them, and they're in you, and they start shaping our hearts. 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:49.280 Somebody want to come up and play some keys. 00:34:51.119 --> 00:35:16.320 I really feel like this morning that the Lord gave us the word desensitization where we have allowed these little things from the devil to reach into our home little by little when we let that horror movie play because oh, but we just love it. 00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:19.519 Did you guys know the author of Fear is who? 00:35:20.800 --> 00:35:21.679 Satan. 00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:24.239 What is a horror movie all about? 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:25.599 Fear. 00:35:26.239 --> 00:35:28.559 So who did you just let into your home? 00:35:30.320 --> 00:35:36.880 Like, I'm not trying to be like pointing it in your, I'm just trying to bring common sense to the situation. 00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:40.000 This is what scripture says. 00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:55.920 We allow these things into our home, and we wonder why we have horrible nightmares and we're not able to sleep, and why when somebody does pull out in front of us that we think about pulling our car into them and taking them out. 00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:06.480 That didn't come from the Lord, it came from all those little sin shots that you've been allowing to get popped in you every single week. 00:36:08.559 --> 00:36:12.239 We wonder why we're not hearing the word of the Lord anymore. 00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:22.320 Well, your ears have been closed off from a hardened heart from these sin shots that continue to block us from what the Lord is trying to say. 00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:28.960 Because those sin shots have become much louder now than the Spirit. 00:36:30.559 --> 00:36:40.079 And today, I really felt like the Lord wants to bring us back into right thinking of what God calls right and wrong. 00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:50.639 Because Paul said, have nothing to do with the unfruitful works, says take no part, no part of it. 00:36:50.880 --> 00:36:54.159 Means watching it, listening to it, having it around you. 00:36:54.400 --> 00:37:01.840 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, for it is shameful to even speak of them. 00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:05.360 But expose them. 00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:12.159 When anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. 00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:18.159 Everything is now brought into life. 00:37:18.960 --> 00:37:20.960 Your life should look different. 00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:26.079 You shouldn't be wanting the things that the world wants. 00:37:26.639 --> 00:37:32.639 We shouldn't be sad in our heart that we don't get to be entertained the way the world does. 00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:34.800 Well, they get to watch that. 00:37:35.280 --> 00:37:43.199 Well, they get to go there, they get to party, they get to, why do we want to? 00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:48.079 They don't get to go to heaven unless they get to know Jesus and turn from this stuff. 00:37:49.519 --> 00:37:54.480 Oh, I get to enjoy this stuff on this little bitty time in earth. 00:37:56.000 --> 00:38:02.400 Okay, that's unfortunate for them because I get to enjoy the Father in heaven for all of eternity. 00:38:02.880 --> 00:38:05.199 And we want to bring them there. 00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:11.519 But us having part in the things that they call fun makes them think it's okay. 00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:16.239 Makes them think it's alright to keep living that way. 00:38:16.480 --> 00:38:18.559 And so we're never bringing them. 00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:26.719 So in our homes, we should not have the things that bring no fruit to us. 00:38:28.559 --> 00:38:41.760 If what we're watching and the shows that we're watching aren't bringing fruit in our life, then it'd be chopped off because those areas are removing nutrients from the things that can bring fruit. 00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:50.719 If your phone and the things on your phone are causing us to sin, we need to cut it off. 00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:56.159 Well, Derek, you're saying I can't have a phone? 00:38:56.480 --> 00:38:58.960 Sure, just the phone part of it. 00:39:00.079 --> 00:39:02.559 Listen, you can pull my phone up right now. 00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:04.480 It's completely locked out. 00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:05.519