REWIND
The podcast "REWIND" features a collection of past sermons from Organic Church. Each episode takes listeners on a journey through the teachings and messages delivered during previous worship services. The content is a retrospective look at the spiritual guidance and insights shared by Pastor Michael and visiting guests!
Listeners can expect to revisit powerful sermons, meaningful scriptures, and impactful messages that have been shared in the past. The podcast aims to provide a convenient and accessible way for the church community and new audiences to engage with the timeless wisdom and spiritual teachings presented during earlier sermons.
Whether it's a reflection on a particular theme, a series of teachings, or a selection of sermons covering various topics, "REWIND" offers an opportunity for individuals to deepen their understanding of the faith and find inspiration in the timeless messages.
The podcast may also include commentary or reflections on the historical context of each sermon and how it continues to resonate with the present-day congregation.
REWIND
Choose Your Own Adventure (January 19, 2025)
What if life had a reset button like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book? Explore the fascinating intersection of literature and life choices as we nostalgically reminisce about childhood favorites while tackling the very grown-up challenge of fundraising for our annual Easter egg hunt. As costs soar, the community's support becomes more crucial than ever, with creative solutions like an Amazon shopping list making it easier to contribute. We share the joy and laughter of these events and the vital role they play in bringing everyone together.
Diving into the power of choice, we reflect on the allure of suspenseful stories and the human drive to uncover truths in both fiction and reality. From the eerie mystery in "The Others" to the gripping podcast "Somebody Knows Something," we discuss the satisfaction of piecing clues together, even when the answers remain elusive. This leads us to ponder the spiritual quest for closure and understanding in unresolved mysteries and life's deeper questions, drawing parallels to our faith journeys and the enduring lessons from biblical tales like Moses and Pharaoh.
Finally, we take on the complexities of living authentically for Christ in a world filled with distractions and challenges. As we explore personal stories of faith, doubt, and the struggle against temptation, the focus remains on the transformative power of a genuine relationship with God. We emphasize the importance of seeking God's presence beyond material blessings and the responsibility of upholding truth in today's world. Join us as we offer encouragement to break free from spiritual bondage, embrace faith wholeheartedly, and strive to change the world through steadfast belief and action.
to move from this place. And as they're doing that, I did forget one announcement that I want to make really quickly, and that's to say that we have begun the initial phases of planning an Easter egg hunt. We met with council last week, we talked it through, and basically here's what it boils down to yes, we're going to get a helicopter this year, but we're going to have Roger just hang off the edge of the helicopter and drop the eggs. No, I'm kidding. Well, you weren't at that meeting. Here's what we've realized In years past, we've been able to pull this off based on hard work and lots and lots of donations. We totaled out an Easter egg hunt this year, and we are, and this has been the same number in the past. I mean, things have gone up a little bit, but generally speaking, an Easter egg hunt costs us between five and six thousand dollars to host every year. It's a lot of money, right, and so we've begun the initial phases of planning. However, here's what it boils down to we will not be able to have an Easter egg hunt this year if we don't get the donations. The church can't afford it, and while we hate to say that and say that we would have to cut it off. It's just the truth. And so we have an Amazon shopping list. We're trying to make it easy for everybody. We will send the link out this afternoon and it's got candy, it's got some of the prizes, just some of the small stuff. If you're not an Amazon shopper and don't want to buy off of the link, just see myself, alyssa, courtney or Tyler. We'll happily collect your money and buy the candy for you. But it is we figured. Even if this year we cut back to 15,000 to 20,000 eggs, we're in $4,000 between candy and prizes that go inside of the eggs roughly $4,000. And then by the time you've made the baskets and all of the additional things that you have to do. We have opted to cut back on a few things. We're not going to do hot dogs this year. We're going to move the time and we're just going to do like cookies and juice and things like that to help save us a little bit. But it's still an expensive undertaking. So if it's something that we're passionate about and we want to do, please make sure that you see Alyssa, myself, courtney or Tyler to make a donation financially, or you can shop off of that Amazon list once we post it. Individual bags of candy are not expensive, but when you figure that you need 80 of those, it climbs pretty quickly. So that's just something I want you to think about, pray about, and we will make a final decision on whether or not we're going to move forward, based on the level of interest that we get from inside of the body. So there's that Question, love to start with a question how many of you have ever read those like choose your own adventure books when you were little?
Speaker 1:Yeah right, those are good books. Which ones did you read? Yes, that was what I was going to talk about. Yes, you're the man, the RL Stine. Choose your Own Adventure books. How many of you remember those? Emma is still reading Choose your Own Adventure books Like it's part of it.
Speaker 1:He hates it.
Speaker 1:He will cry when he has to read them. He loves to read, but he doesn't like to read those ones because he makes the wrong decision, right. So I cheated when I used to read them.
Speaker 1:So what I would do is I would read and when you got to the point where, for those of you who don't know, it's just a regular paperback book, but you read like three pages and then it'll say choose to go down this hallway, turn to page X, or choose to stay where you are and open the cabinet, go to page X.
Speaker 1:And so you would go to two different places.
Speaker 1:You have a choice to make, right? And so what I would do is, when I got there, I would pick whichever one I thought was the right one. But before I would flip there, I would write down the page number that I had started on. So if I got to the next part and it was the bad decision, I'd just flip back and start over again, right? Well, I don't want to read the whole thing a second time. I don't want to try to remember the decisions that I've made, so I would cheat a little bit, right? Don't we wish life was like that? Because how many of us have made a bad choice? How many of us have gotten to flip back and start over again? How many of us have gotten to flip back and start over again? Ain't a one of us, right? Because life's not like that? Okay? How many of us like true crime documentaries and podcasts? Don't lie, it's okay. It's okay, put your hand up. Put your hand up, okay?
Speaker 1:Isn't there just a thrill in listening to something unfold and trying to figure it out before you get to the end, like suspense movies. I'm not going to ruin it, but I have one suspense movie that has stumped me until I finished it, and it's a fantastic movie. It's called the Others, with Nicole Kidman in it. Anybody ever seen it? I'm not recommending that you watch this. Before I knew Jesus. Okay, it's about ghosts, so just, but understand that I love to watch a movie that has a suspenseful ending and figure out what the ending is before we ever get there. Right, it is my it's like my passion to, and Alyssa hates watching movies with me because I can usually do it and I ruin it for her. Before we ever get to that point, I'm like, oh, it's so-and-so and they did such-and-such. She's like how did you figure that out already? It's not hard. It's not hard If you know what to look for. There are always little breadcrumbs all the way through the movie, right, okay, do you know why? Well, let me back up.
Speaker 1:I want to tell you about the podcast that I'm listening to right now. Sid and I exchange podcasts pretty regularly. I'm listening to one called Somebody Knows Something, and the first season is about a little boy who goes fishing with his dad, his siblings and his dad's friend in Canada and he just vanishes. He's like seven years old and just he's gone. They can't find him anywhere. Now I have a hard time believing that You're fishing with like six other people and all of a sudden, you're just gone. Sounds suspicious, doesn't it? Bigfoot? That's exactly what somebody on the podcast talks about it and which all of you who listen to our podcast know. That's Lazarus. Right, we're kidding, obviously, but it's a whole tangent that we went on for like two episodes.
Speaker 1:Anyhow, the idea is this documentarian he's visiting this place and going and talking to all of these people and it comes down to it was a miscommunication between the dad and one of the sons. The dad says, hey, is he in the car? Now, mind you, they're in Canada. And the boy says, yeah, meaning what? But dad heard yeah, he thinks the little boy is in the car. Hours pass by before they realize this boy is missing.
Speaker 1:So 47 years later, they're now looking for this little boy. Did he get dragged off by an animal? Did somebody abduct him? Did he get murdered? All of these questions remain right and I think I'm at like episode 9 of 11, and I am so hopeful that when I get to the end there's an answer right.
Speaker 1:The more I listen to it, the less likely there is going to be a resolution. And can I ask a question, what happens when we don't get the answer that we are looking for? We don't get that closure or that conclusion. We make the assumption about what happened. We find the solution that we want to have happen. This little boy's mother assumes that he was abducted by a family who really wanted to raise a little boy. Isn't that a mother's hope? Like her heart feels better and can let go of it because she thinks that he is alive and doing well somewhere.
Speaker 1:They talk about in the podcast how there are so many people who believe that he was abducted and murdered. There are people who believe that his father murdered him on that fishing trip and threw him in the water. Can you imagine, as a dad, being accused of that? Now, I can't prove he did it or not, but people are jumping to an assumption because they need closure, they need a solution, they need an end to the story. So what we end up doing is we fill the gaps with suspicion. Right, we fill the gaps of things that we don't know about with suspicion, and I'm going to use a personal story on this.
Speaker 1:Back in my day I will tell you I have realized I do that more and more. Oh, when I was younger. It doesn't feel good. Guys, when you realize you're doing that, just chalk it up, get your AARP card and be done with it. I realized that when I was younger I didn't do that with people so much, but with situations. And then I realized, as I got older, so did other people. But we have a hard time realizing that. See, when I got in trouble, I was arrested and I got put in jail for a little while, people who didn't know the whole story filled in the gaps. They didn't call and ask me, right, they didn't ask other people who even knew me. They're like oh well, yeah, that's obvious because of this, this and this, but none of it was true. How often do we do that to other people? How often do we do that to other situations in our lives where we don't get the answer that we think we deserve, and so we fill those gaps with suspicion?
Speaker 1:I would like to try to put some of that to rest this morning. I would like to try to break the chains of suspicion. I'd like to get us out of a trap of suspicious minds. See, I was going to say I should have, yeah, I should have. Yeah, the music should I should have. I didn't think about it that far. I was just hopeful that somebody would get it. And I looked at Nick because he was my only hope. I was just anyhow. Anyhow, for those of you who didn't get it, it was an Elvis joke, it's okay. Yeah, when I did the move, you figured it out. All right, all right, okay.
Speaker 1:Last week after service, I was asked a question that I could not physically answer in written form. Like I sat for a while and I tried to respond and then I just couldn't put it down the way that I wanted it to. So I stopped and then I went back to it and I still couldn't do it. So I sent this person a message and I just said, hey, listen, I want to answer you, but I want to give you the time you deserve and I want it to be a well-thought-out answer. Right, that's fair. Somebody's asking me a question about spiritual journey. I want to be able to have all of my ducks in a row, and so I was a little torn, and then I started to work on some other things and I realized that, all right, I've got the answer, but I can't put it in word. I can't put it on paper, I just need to preach it. Right?
Speaker 1:There's a rule Anything you say to a pastor can and will be used in a sermon. Okay, it's true. It's like listen, my kids end up in a sermon every week, don't they? Like we talk about the things we live, because that's what we know. And listen for a pastor, holly, how long have you been preaching? 30 years, do you realize? For 30 years. Every time Holly preaches, she is expected to do a book report on the same book.
Speaker 1:Right, we have to figure out new and exciting ways to deliver the gospel. No, I'm not saying that we turn the words to make it exciting, but I'm saying that we have to find something that sparks interest with the people around us, right? And so when this question was asked, I was like that's it, that's the one. So I'm going to paraphrase the question, and it goes like this I have a person in my life that believes and wants to be baptized, but I also have two who don't believe that Jesus is their Savior. How hard do I try to get them to believe and am I doing the right thing? Big question, right thing, big question, right. My mind immediately turned to Exodus whenever I was thinking about it. My mind turned to Exodus for a couple of reasons, but I believe that every person who is a non-believer is held in bondage. Right, the enemy has a hold on their life that allows them to not believe in Jesus Christ. Now, sometimes this is an addiction, sometimes this is just simply a decision. Sometimes it's a situation that's happened in their life.
Speaker 1:Church hurts a real thing, folks, right, you go to a church and they do or say something that you don't like and then I don't go to church anymore. Right, my sister is that way right now and it breaks my heart. We've invited her to church so many times. And then I got my grandma on my side and had my grandma invite her to church and within seconds of my grandma sending that text, my sister called me. What did you tell her? I said I didn't tell her nothing. I said I did tell her to invite you to church, but I didn't tell her anything. But when you think about that, my sister was a Christian. I mean, she attended church every Sunday. It was a Baptist church. We won't hold that against her right, but she was in church every Sunday and now she wants nothing to do with church.
Speaker 1:I believe that oftentimes that people who don't believe in Christ are ignorant to the gospel. I don't mean ignorant like they're stupid. I mean ignorant like nobody has ever explained it right, because you don't know what you don't know right. If all you know is how the world treats you and how the world expects you to treat other people, that's how you will treat other people right. You will have a low expectation for the world around you. And then when you meet a Christian who seems like they're a nice person, you assume that they are fake, that they don't really live this life, and many of us don't. Let's be honest with each other and that is their depiction of what the church actually is.
Speaker 1:So we're going to go to Exodus 7. We're going to start in verse 1. Now in my notes I have all the way to 11.9. That's a lot of reading. We likely aren't going to get to all of it. Okay, so we're going to start at Exodus and it's 7.1. Actually, I'm going to open my Bible because I'm going to skip around in here just a touch. I'm going to skip around in here just a touch. It says.
Speaker 1:Then the Lord said to Moses Pay close attention to this. I will make you seem like a god to Pharaoh and your brother, aaron, will be your prophet. Tell Aaron everything I command you. And Aaron must command Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave his country. Next line, but I will make Pharaoh's heart stubborn so I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. I'm going to stop there for just a second.
Speaker 1:So the plan here is simple. Now we all know that Moses was not eloquent in speech. We assumed that he had a stutter, right? So Moses knew that he couldn't go to Pharaoh and try to get Pharaoh to understand what he was talking about, because he's going to get nervous. And he's going to have a stutter. Right, because people who have that condition, typically when they're nervous, it makes it worse. Right, and I can't imagine walking into the palace and telling Pharaoh that he's going to let all of the Israelites go Would probably make you a little bit nervous. Right, most of you can't even walk into your boss's office and ask for a raise. Right, because we get nervous when we're in front of somebody who is in a position of power.
Speaker 1:But God has reassured Moses that he will have the assistance that he needs. I will send Aaron with you. I will make you look like a God. Aaron will be your prophet and we are going to convince Pharaoh to let your people go, but first I'm going to make his heart stubborn so that I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. All right, first, plague of blood.
Speaker 1:Moses goes to Pharaoh, says let my people go. What does Pharaoh say? Not going to happen. Why does Pharaoh say not going to happen? Because God allowed his heart to remain stubborn. Right, we go back a second time. Well, then he sends the plague of blood. We go back the second time. And this to me like I would be dead if this happened. So Moses goes back to the Pharaoh and he says let my people go. And Pharaoh says nope. Why does Pharaoh say nope? Because God has continued to make his heart hard and stubborn so that he could multiply his miraculous signs in the land of Egypt. So what does God send next? Can you imagine frogs just raining from the sky? I'm picturing these giant frogs hopping out of the Nile. Lord, have mercy, like I don't know if they had EMTs back then, but we would need one. Quick with the paddles, because like I'm getting queasy thinking about it, like it's too much for me. It is too much for me. So we go back again, right, of course, my Bible is apparently missing half of its pages, I don't know. We go back again and Moses says let my people go, and Pharaoh says nope. And why does Pharaoh say no? Because God allowed his heart to remain stubborn. Are you picking up what I'm laying down? Are we noticing a theme here? Okay, so then he sends a plague of gnats that's just for the frogs to eat. Right now, the frogs have a purpose. Okay, the fourth time, moses goes back and he says let my people go, and Pharaoh says no. Why does Pharaoh say no? Because God has allowed his heart to remain hard, so that his signs and miracles, his signs and wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. What does he send the fourth time? Flies. Then he sends diseases on beasts. Then he sends hail. Then he sends locusts. Listen, does anybody want to deal with any of this? Like I'm inconvenienced by the snow, could you imagine if you go outside and you're getting hit in the face with bugs. Listen, we have a property at the company that I work for that the flies are humongous Because it's surrounded by horse pasture. So these are big flies, listen, and they're everywhere. You can't go anywhere without getting hit in the face with these things. I walked into one of the units one time and it was so bad that they would dive bomb you when you came in. Like this is our house now. I mean, I fixed their wagon, I just got some of those raid bombs and set them in there, but we were sweeping flies up for days. There were so many of them, right, that's inconvenient for us. Can you imagine if this was a real plague, like you guys? Every time we talk about the locusts coming, everybody's like ooh, they're so gross. Can you imagine if it was an actual plague where they were genuinely everywhere, like sticking to you when you went outside, were genuinely everywhere, like sticking to you when you went outside. Think about that with frogs, and if that doesn't scare you, I don't know what to tell you. Ninth plague is darkness. Tenth plague is that there would be death. And then and then Moses goes to Pharaoh and says let my people go. And Pharaoh is thrilled to get them out of Egypt. Why is he thrilled to get them out of Egypt? Do you think he wants to deal with any of this stuff anymore? He's practically begging them to leave. Right, I told you that whole story to simply tell you this Sometimes it's not their season.
Speaker 1:You ever met that person that you tell them about Jesus and they tell you you're a nut job? Ever met those people? Ever walked around in the world and saw somebody who was so miserable? And you said you know what? I know this man who can save your life. I know somebody who can make you happy and give you all of the things that the world will never give you. And they say I don't want nothing to do with church because I was treated bad or this happened or that happened.
Speaker 1:And this person goes to church and they act a certain way. I'm gonna tell you that each and every one of you represent the church, not just this building, but the church of Jesus Christ. And so when you go out and you treat people poorly, that is the depiction of the church, amen. And so when you're out there acting a fool and making people hurt, and they're upset and they don't understand why, you're talking to them a certain way. Let me tell you, that's what they think the church is like, right, and so their hearts remain hard.
Speaker 1:Now there will come a day when God's going to say to that person, or God, somebody's going to say to God, let my people go. Their heart will be softened and they will come to Jesus. But do you think if Moses couldn't do it on the first go around, we're going to get it on the first go around every time? Sometimes we have to be persistent, right? Sometimes it has to be that, hey, why don't you come to church with me this morning? Hey, why don't you come to church with me this morning? Hey, why don't? And eventually they're going to say, well, you, they're going to block your number. Right, they're going to say, well, they're going to block your number. They're going to be like, listen, this person's a Bible thumper and I don't want nothing to do with him.
Speaker 1:But I would rather be considered crazy in the world than to be considered lazy in the spirit. I would rather be crazy to all of the people around me who think that, oh my gosh, he just thinks he's got it all together. As Florence would say, he thinks he's all that and a piece of cake, right, listen, I don't think that about myself, but I also walk upright. When I walk into a room, I stand tall because I know who I am in Christ. I don't always know who I am in the world. I show up and I have no idea what to expect from the world. But I know who I am in Christ. I don't always know who I am in the world. I show up and I have no idea what to expect from the world, but I know who I am in Christ and I will stand tall because of that. I would rather be crazy to the world than lazy in the spirit. Amen, all right.
Speaker 1:Each time that Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, god chose to harden his heart simply to multiply his miracles. Every day, I ask myself this question Will my brother or my sister or my mother get into heaven? I can't add my dad to that list because he sits here on Sundays. No, you can wonder, right, I've seen his behavior sometimes. We can wonder. You guys wonder where I got it from. We can wonder, you guys wonder where I got it from.
Speaker 1:But if I choose to give up on them, who am I in the kingdom? I'm lazy in the spirit. I'm a quitter and that is not who I want to be. I don't ever want Jesus to look at me and say you didn't even try. So when I send my brother that text that says, hey, you should come to church on Sunday morning and I get no response, it doesn't even bother me anymore. But someday he may just show up. Someday he may respond with get bent, I don't know. But eventually, when that time comes, his heart will be softened. It might be a deathbed conversion. I don't know what God's plan is in his life, but he has to make the choice to allow Jesus into his heart. Amen.
Speaker 1:It's the same with my sister. Listen, if anybody sends this podcast to them, I'm going to beat y'all. Actually, I don't care. It's like my sister when she said I will never set foot in a church again. Can you imagine the pain that that brought to my heart, knowing that it is a good possibility that she won't make it to heaven? She's mad at God for something that the world has done to her. I don't even know what it is that the world's done to her, but she's mad at God for it. She's mad at God because maybe the people of the church turned their back on her when she needed them the most. I don't know if that's true. I'm just, I'm speculating, I'm filling the gap with suspicion, just like I told you not to do right, but it's so natural for us to want to do that. I want to know why she's hurt so that I can fix it. I can't fix it. I can't fix it. All I can do is encourage her, lift her up in prayer and say God, I need her to be in heaven. I need you to work on her heart. I need you. Whatever it is, father, that's holding her back, let it go, help her, let it go. Okay.
Speaker 1:Now my responsibility is to preach the gospel and to tell the world all about Jesus and to make disciples, but I am too afraid and this is, generally speaking, not me that the world will turn me away. That's a fair statement, right? How many of you are willing to just walk into a grocery store and pray for somebody? Not many of us. And the reason we're not willing is because we are afraid that they will reject us. They won't reject you because you're offering to pray with them. They will reject you because they don't believe that Jesus is capable of doing what you're calling on him to do.
Speaker 1:You're standing in a grocery store line and there's somebody in front of you and they're trying to pay for their groceries and the card just won't it, just it doesn't work, for whatever reason. Now, I don't know if they don't have any money, I don't know if their card is deactivated, I don't know the situation. I'm standing behind them and I say to you hey, can I pray for you today? No, right. But if I say, can I pay for your groceries, there's a difference there, right? Because the world is conditioned to only function on the physical need, not on the spiritual desire. It is my desire to help people grow spiritually, not physically. I don't need to grow anymore physically, right? I know, dave, trust me, buddy, I'm feeling it, man. I know, dave, trust me, buddy, I'm feeling it, man.
Speaker 1:I gained five more pounds, what felt like, overnight. I was like what is going on? And then my wife said well, it's probably the pack of thin mints you ate last night. Like, make better choices, right? It's the Buckeyes. It's the five dozen Buckeyes in under two weeks that I ate. That's what it is, folks. That's not a joke. That really happened in my house and I got mad when I found out my kids had each had one.
Speaker 1:I'm like stay out of my stuff, right, but I wonder why I look like this? Well, that's why, see, I have a choice to make every day. I want something, but I don't want to do what it takes to get there right. I want a stronger, deeper relationship with Christ, but I'm not willing to do X to get there and listen. Yours is different than mine.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, god says in order for you to get closer to me, I need you to give up this, and sometimes give up this is not like a physical item. Sometimes I need you to just stop worrying about yourself and focus on me. I need you to stop worrying and stressing about all of the things in life that don't truly matter and I need you to just focus on me. Any of us able to do that anymore? No, because the world has conditioned us that we always have to worry, right? Some of us in this room I'm not going to look at Jenny when I say this are freaking out because TikTok's gone. Freaking out? Yes, she is, don't let her lie to you. Here's the thing. Here's the thing Sometimes. Sometimes, god knows what we need. Amen.
Speaker 1:I've seen some TikToks. I don't think God would like those Right. I've seen some Facebook posts. I don't think God would like those Right. Sometimes they're coming from Christian folks who pretend like nobody knows. Listen, I don't post on Facebook for a reason my sense of humor is different than most people's sense of humor, and so sometimes I know that I can't share everything, that I think it's got to stay up here, right? God knows what I'm thinking, but he also knows my heart, right? I'm not trying to be mean or hurtful or disrespectful to anybody, but sometimes I look at you and I'm like that was pretty funny, right, but we're all different. Sometimes, though, we have to give things up that God calls for us to give up. It's not easy, and we don't want to do it, because we want to be happy and comfortable with whatever it is that we have in life right Now.
Speaker 1:There will be a day when TikTok comes back, and when it does, we're just going to pray for all those people, because they will be like 48 straight hours of just doom scrolling right. Won't be able to turn it off, right? Tiktoks are stupid. Tina says. But here's what happens. Here's what happens. We're on day 14 of a fast, right? Here's what happens. We're on day 14 of a fast, right, someone? Whew, seven more days, baby, seven more days. Just so you know it doesn't end until midnight Sunday night, so not till Monday. Can you have whatever it is that you're fasting, because TikTok's gone, see, hallelujah, thank you, jesus. See, maybe God knew you weren't going to be able to make it and he's like you know, we're just going to take it away from sin. But my point is is we're going to walk out of that fast and many of us are going to go right back into that lifestyle. Amen, whatever it may be.
Speaker 1:And doom scrolling, as I have come to call it, is where you get lost in all of those reels and Facebook videos and you're just looking at stuff you don't actually care about it. Right, listen, I watch. This is not a joke. This is me being honest. Okay, don't judge me. Umbrella of Grace.
Speaker 1:42 minutes of high-speed chases yeah, 42 minutes is nothing, right. But when you think about it, 42 minutes that I could have been using my life for something useful. I'm sure in that 42 minutes my wife would have loved for me to put away a load of laundry. Right, I'm sure in that 42 minutes I could have done a lot of productive things in my life, but the world has convinced us that we have earned being lazy. Right, the world has taught us that we should be able to just sit around and relax. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that us, that we should be able to just sit around and relax. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. But ministry should be easy, meaning that when I'm sitting there, I should be able to send a text to somebody that says hey, I've been thinking about you. I just want you to know I love you and I'm praying for you. And really pray for them.
Speaker 1:Don't just say it Really, do it Right. Shouldn't it be like that? Don't just say it really, do it right. Shouldn't it be like that? How many of us play games on our phones? How many of us find ourselves playing games for long periods of time on our phones Because we've got nothing else to do with our lives? Right? How many of us have dirty dishes in the sink right now? Right, that's life. But we are convinced that we are allowed to just sit around and be lazy. That is not what we should be doing. All right, we got to jump. That was all tangential. It was not part of what I was talking about. Okay, all right.
Speaker 1:Sometimes when we're dealing with people like that, we just have to make them. And what does that mean? So I have three kids who love Jesus. I have two older boys who are kind of like, eh, we think you're crazy, that's okay. But I have three kids who love Jesus, right, and I mean love Jesus Probably love Jesus more than I love Jesus, just because of the way that they're raised by their mother, right, like she. I mean, she instills it in them. But can I tell you a secret? That didn't come naturally, we had to make them. That means you come to church on Sunday morning. If the doors are open for an event, you are here, and a lot of times my kids are serving, right. There is a difference and a lot of people are like well, if I force them to, they'll turn away from the church. You're forcing them to is not going to make them turn away from the church. Their attitude towards the world will make them turn away from the church. When they start experiencing life with kids their age who don't believe in the gospel, it is easier for them to walk away from the church than it is to bring those other people into the church.
Speaker 1:I'm asking you a question Do you make your kids brush your teeth when you go fishing? Do you make them put on a life vest? Yeah, do you make your kids take a shower? Yeah, as teenagers, sometimes you have to make your kids take a shower because they just won't otherwise you say yes because you are worried about their physical safety and their physical hygiene. Now it's time for parents to step up and worry about their spiritual security, because we look at these kids and we look around at them and we're like, oh well, they're good kids On the surface. They might be right, you might be able to walk by and fist bump them. They don't say anything. But you get three steps past them like that old person sucks, right. I think that about some people I'm kidding. I don't really I'm kidding.
Speaker 1:The point is that not just your children, sometimes you have to do that with your spouse too. Now, you don't do it in the same way. All right, there's a different approach when they're your spouse, right? Sometimes you look at your spouse and say and Holly, you can attest to this, you used to drag Dave to church hungover, right. Right, it's a true story.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you have to say to your spouse I just need you to do this with me. This means a lot to me and I just need you there with me. I need you to hear what I'm saying. It is important to me to be at church on Sunday morning. I really just, can you, please just go with me, because you cannot be unevenly yoked. It can't happen, because the marriage will not survive so long as you're unevenly yoked.
Speaker 1:Amen, okay, this is a note that I wrote. This is the last line that I wrote down. Marcus, I'm not talking about you, but you might feel like it. Okay, all right, if they show up for church on Sunday morning and they get nothing out of it, all they did was waste a few hours of their Sunday morning. Most of those people will waste that same time in the bathroom on Sunday morning. Amen On their phone, exactly Doom scrolling on the toilet.
Speaker 1:If you only have a one bathroom house, you're like what is going on in there? Like do we need to call an exorcist? What's happening? Like I gotta go right. And what we don't realize is that we so quickly spend the exact same amount of time that we come together as a body doing things that don't matter in our lives anyway. So sometimes you just have to tell your spouse I need you, right, I need you to be. Listen, they're not going to show up here and like everybody in the building, they're not going to like the way I preach. They're not going to like the music they're not going to like. There's going to be something until their hearts are softened right, until their hearts come around to who Jesus actually is and what he can do in their lives. All right, we're going to jump to Hebrews 13, 8 real quick, without seeing it. Does anybody know what it is? Oh, never mind, it's already up there, that's okay. She didn't know, they didn't know. Does anybody know Jesus Christ? The same yesterday, today and forever. Now the point I don't know. Okay, I'm good, I'm back, I'm back.
Speaker 1:I think there's a reason that that particular passage of Scripture is so powerful. It makes the truth very, very plain. Jesus is the same forever. The same Jesus that existed yesterday exists today and, surprise, he is going to exist tomorrow. That means that the Jesus that you served yesterday at home is the Jesus that you serve today in church, and it will be the same Jesus you serve tomorrow when you go to work. Jesus is omnipresent. Do you know what that means? He's everywhere all at the same time. So when you're doom-scrolling in the bathroom, he's there. When you're hanging out at the bar, he's there. When you're sitting on the couch at home talking poorly about somebody else, he's there. But he's also there in the high times, in the good times, in all of the wonderful things, he is there.
Speaker 1:All right, last passage of scripture. We're going to hit this one and then I've got just a few more notes and I promise I'm going to button up around 1130. Isaiah 520,. It says what sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and that sweet is bitter. I feel sorrow for those who can't see the truth about God. In order to summarize that God is good in all things, he is never evil, he is always the light and never the dark. Amen. He is always the sweet and never the bitter, and I have sorrow for people who can't see that. All right, we're going to get loud in a second. Okay, I want you to picture this If I stepped into the pulpit and I started to preach a message and then I decided to take the Lord's name in vain, and whether that's to say something not truthful about Jesus or to just simply curse the name of Jesus the first time I did it, I guarantee with the utmost certainty that most of you would just sit here Because it wouldn't click what had just happened, like you'd hear it, and go well, that probably wasn't good, but you would just sit there.
Speaker 1:If I did it again, you guys would start to go this isn't good. Somebody probably needs to yank him out that pulpit. This isn't good. And then, if I invited a couple up here to start kissing and taking off their clothes, it would get lit in this place, wouldn't it? Like you guys would be finding a rope to tie me up, it would get ugly. And while that's happening, I decide to curse the name of Jesus again.
Speaker 1:At that point, my expectation would be that everybody has left this place right, would be that everybody has left this place right, because it's not acceptable in the church, right? But 12 hours earlier, when you were watching a movie at home, those things were acceptable. 12 hours earlier, when you went to see a movie, those things were acceptable, and we put it under the guise of entertainment. Now my question is this If you cannot be unevenly yoked in your marriage, can you be unevenly yoked in your pursuit of who Jesus really is? Can one person in your marriage think that that's acceptable and the other person does not think that that's acceptable? No, because there will always be a disagreement. Now, if it is sin in the church and acceptable in the world, it either has to be sin in the church and sin in the world, or acceptable in the church and acceptable in the world, and sin in the world, or acceptable in the church and acceptable in the world.
Speaker 1:Today, the church has to decide does the word of God change the world or does the world change the word of God? We sit here proclaiming the name of Jesus, excited about what he's doing in our lives, and then we walk out of this place and we do all of the things that he tells us not to do, because when we're in church, we're expected to behave a certain way. Amen. We don't wear hats. We don't, marcus, I'm just kidding. We don't wear hats in the building. We get dressed up for church.
Speaker 1:When there's a big event, we want to make sure that we're fancy and looking good and smelling right, because we want to represent Jesus as such right. But then we go out in the world and we do whatever we want Kick down walls, tell people they're ugly, treat people poorly. And why do we do that? Ugly treat people poorly. And why do we do that? Because if we proclaim the name of Jesus in the world, the world will turn us away. The world does not turn you away because they don't like you. The world turns you away because they don't like Jesus. They don't want salvation, because if there is salvation, there is a change in life. There is a change in lifestyle. People don't want that anymore. People want to be fat and sassy. They want to be able to live in the world and then just show up for church on Sunday morning. But I'm going to ask the question again Does the word of God change the world or does the world change? The word of God change the world or does the world change the word of God?
Speaker 1:When you walk out of here today, you don't get the opportunity to flip back in the book, write down the page number and start over when you've made a bad decision. It doesn't work like that. Every day you have to make the decision to live for Christ. Every day you have to make the decision to live for Christ. It's a hard-fought battle, but you are not fighting flesh and blood, but you are fighting the powers of evil that have held you in bondage. Today we are going to break chains, we're going to shout the name of Jesus and we're going to proclaim salvation, because the people around us will think that we are crazy, and that's okay. Let's be crazy to the world and not lazy to the Spirit. Amen, amen. Let's pray together.
Speaker 1:Father, I just thank you and I praise you for an anointed word, father, that all of these words that were spoken just begin to settle into the hearts of the people who are listening. Father, we know that in life, in this flesh, that we can't turn the pages back, that we can't make new decisions. But, father, when we come to you and we seek salvation, there is transformation in our lives. Father, the repentance allows us to have salvation and, father, I pray for that change in every person in this building today, including me. Father, god, I pray that you just touch my heart, just allow me to see the things that you wish that I would give up, father, the things that don't work right in my life. And, father, I just want you to show those to me clearly.
Speaker 1:Today, every person sitting in this room has a desire to know you more fully. Father, I thank you for that. I thank you for the desire that rests in their heart, the thoughts that are running through their mind. Father God, I pray that you just give them clarity, give them newness, give them wholeness. Father God, allow us to seek your face and not your hand this day. Allow us to use your word to change the world and not allow the world to change your word. I thank you and I praise you, father, for the blessings that are going to continue to pour out upon this place. I thank you and I praise you. I give you all the honor and glory in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Love you guys. We'll see you on Wednesday night.