City Life Church San Diego
Welcome to the City Life Church Podcast, where faith meets action in the heart of Mt. Hope. We are a diverse family of God, united by Jesus, led by Scripture, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are committed to caring for both the spiritual and tangible needs of the lost and hurting. Through inspiring messages and practical lessons, we seek to equip and encourage you to live out God’s calling in everyday life. Join us as we grow in faith, serve our community, and share the hope of the Gospel with the world.
City Life Church San Diego
Romans 13: 8-14 Wake Up!
We explore Romans 13:8-14, discovering how God calls us to wake up from spiritual slumber, embrace the armor of light, and fulfill the law through sacrificial love.
• Time is short—our salvation is nearer than when we first believed
• Like preparing for sunrise fishing, we must get ready while it's still dark
• Jesus is the armor of light that protects us and transforms how we live
• Christians throughout history have shone brightest in the darkest moments
• God's commandments aren't arbitrary but designed to help us thrive
• We're called to love others first, ensuring they know they're loved before knowing what we believe
• Rejecting the false binary that says "either fully support me or hate me"
• Now is the time to wake up, put on Christ, and shine brightly
Let's stop hitting snooze on God's spiritual alarm clock. Time is running out—Jesus is coming soon. Wake up, put on the light of Christ, and shine brightly in this dark world.
Today we're going to be in the book of Romans as we continue our series. As you know, we continue straight through books most of the time because, pastors, we like to teach on things that we like to teach on, and a lot of times, when you teach straight through a book, we got to teach on things that the Bible wants us to teach on. So, which you learned for poor Isaiah last week, as he had to teach a very difficult text and I thought Isaiah did a great job last week. Yeah, yeah, yeah, good job. All right, we're going to be in Romans 13, 8 through 14. Romans 13, 8 through 14.
Speaker 1:So, turn on your Bibles or open up your Bibles. We have study Bibles. We have Tony Evans study Bibles on both sides. If you would like to have one, we have them in Tagalog. We have them in Haitian Creole, we have. Can anybody show me their Bibles? If you got a physical Bible, I would love to see it because I just think those are beautiful. Yeah, I just love these. I just even like the smell of them. I don't know, I'm weird. So we're going to start in Romans 13, eight through 14. I'm going to read us from God's word. You ready, let's go. Romans 13, eight Do not owe anyone anything except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to stop us and I'm going to talk about this just for a second, and we're not going to talk about it the rest of the sermon, because I got other things I want to talk about. It says all we owe is love. All we owe is love. So is this saying the banks are evil? Is that what it's saying? Is this saying, like, owing money on your home is evil? Is that what this is saying? I would say no, actually, you know, as one who studied so I actually took a class on anthropology for Pacific Islander people. It's very interesting. There was, there's, a tribe where the person who has the least is the chief, and it's because the chief gives everything to everyone else, so that they would owe him.
Speaker 1:Right, if if we were to say how that works in the United States, it's a bit like, you know, the mafia, like in in Godfather Right, if you owe the Don, he will make you do what he wants. So don't owe someone so that you have to do what they want. In the same way, though, when we fall into debt and we start to make our decisions based on debt, then that's a problem, right. Like, if I can't see my daughter's recital because I have to work 12 extra hours to pay for her recital gift, then that's a problem, right. Owing, if I can't take a day off when I'm sick, that's a problem. I can't be involved in a church because I owe too much on my car loan, well, that sounds like a bad debt problem.
Speaker 1:If that causes you to follow Jesus less, then you know, maybe we should listen to Paul here. Huh, okay, now I'm not even going to preach on the rest of that anymore. Um, and let's continue. And can we? Can we mute the, the, the TV? I think that's where we're getting that. There's a low hum. Is that maybe what it is? I don't know, I'm hearing something, but you guys probably don't hear it, but I do and I get. Okay. No, it's like the computer sometimes like sends out some like nasty sound to the speaker. I don't know why, like you would think we would have figured this out by now. But, um, but the people who are on it are much smarter than me. It's all right, okay, can I pick us up in verse nine now? All right, here we go.
Speaker 1:The commandments do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet, and any other commandment are summed up by this commandment Love your neighbor as yourself. Summed up by this commandment Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law, verse 11. Besides this, since you know the time, it's already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over and the day is near. So let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk with decency, as in the daytime, not in carousing drunkenness, not in sexual impurity and promiscuity, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the Lord, jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. This is God's word.
Speaker 1:Would you pray with me, friends? Father, we thank you for allowing us to be here together in this room. This year has been full of so many illnesses and hospital visits, and it's just an honor to be gathered together with your church today. Thank you, god. We see war and persecution all over our world and yet this very day, in darkened rooms in Iran, in silent hallways in China, in the midst of great grief in Ukraine and the Dominican Republic and Haiti, there are people gathering and worshiping you. Come, lord Jesus, comfort the grieving, bring peace on this earth, bring justice to the earth, where demagogues and tyrants believe themselves to be above the law. Father, we need you more than ever. Please teach us this morning and empower us to obey. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you and we pray this all in Jesus name and all God's people said amen.
Speaker 1:Does anyone in this room work nights? Is there anyone in here that works nights? No, okay, then I'm going to ask you guys to do something. Would everybody just stand up for me? I just want you to stand up Now. I want you to stay standing If you wake up normally before 9 am, all right. All right, a couple of you, all right. I want you to stay standing if you wake up before 8 am, regularly, okay. I want you to stay standing if you wake up before 7 am, regularly. Man, we need to have some earlier worship services. I guess I want you to stay.
Speaker 1:Did I say seven, or what I say? I said seven, all right, stay standing. If you wake up before 6 am regularly, ok, well, six is six or before six, all right, all right, now stay standing. If you get up at 5 AM or before, okay, now, stay standing. If you get up before 5 AM normally, okay, you guys are crazy. You guys are my heroes and, and you know what? I know these people. They all work very hard. You can sit um, that that's insane. And I know some of you guys like cause, you know you'll know these people. They all work very hard. You can sit Um, that that's insane. And I know some of you guys like cause, you know you'll say hey, can you call me before six? That's my bedtime.
Speaker 1:Um, now, my alarm clock usually goes off at 5.00 AM or earlier. If it's the summer, it goes off earlier because the sun comes up earlier and I can go surfing earlier, um, but I get up at 5.00 AM about four times a week and I do my best to wake up and not wake up my bride. So I'm kind of like spring-loaded, ready to get up out of bed, right? So my phone will play a song from some movie, this peaceful, relaxing song, but it'll vibrate just a second before that and my goal is to get my butt out of bed before the alarm fully goes off to take off my CPAP. Yes, I also love my wife enough to wear CPAP. Some of you guys are getting poked right now and throw on my glasses. It's a lot, it's a lot, but I always try to be spring-loaded, ready to jump into the day because I got a lot to do.
Speaker 1:But it's hard to wake up, like it's hard to wake up, like it's hard to wake up. And and you know, uh, to the people who think I wake up early, I go to sleep early. It's, it's, it's, you know, it's just the way I do things. Um, and I know that you don't call me past eight, cause you know I'm going to start to wind down, um, but I just know I have things to do and I have to get out of bed or else I'm not going to do anything. My most productive time in the morning, my most productive time in the word, is early, because no one's bothering me, um, and I've told many of you like I need coffee in the morning, but I need the word first, because I'm a huge jerk if I don't read the word of God. Um, and I'm not even joking, it's just real. Um, cause, you know, if my wife is just like making food while I'm reading the word of God, I start to get a little cranky.
Speaker 1:So, um, but waking up is not the same for all of us. Uh, some of you, the alarm goes off at, say, six, and then maybe six oh five, and then six, oh eight. And, and you know, we might even hear you, like trying to snooze it. Or even when you're like echo, snooze for five minutes, and we have to hear that all morning long. No, I'm not calling out anybody in the room, I promise you, um, but then, and then you're like, why do I always run late? And it's like, cause you snoozed your clock 17 times. That's why you're running late. Um, I'm not mad at you. I'm not mad at you, uh, because you know I go to sleep early. So, um, but today I'm going to give you three promises to wake us up when the world is snoozing. Three promises to wake us up when the world is snoozing, and this first promise is this Time is short, time is short. Verse 11 says since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
Speaker 1:Now, we used to say be woke, and I honestly loved that term. I'm not going to lie to you. The idea that you are aware of what's truly happening, like that's what woke meant to me at the time. Like be aware of how things were set up, be aware of how things started, be aware of why things are the way that they are. That was when we would say woke, to be aware of what's happening. But the term means so much to so many people we use it as a pejorative constantly.
Speaker 1:It just means start to show up on my orange tree in March. That's a sign of something. I know something's about to happen. I'm about to get a crazy headache. My allergies are about to go nuts. Like it looks like snow in my backyard right now and like my backyard is just like buzzing. Like literally is all you hear just bees, bees going through the orange tree right now. Um, I mow, I mow the lawn. I have a headache instantly right now. But soon those signs will lead to beautiful oranges. The best oranges are in my backyard, especially when they've been sitting there for a long time, kind of like deep into the summer, and oh my gosh, they taste like Tang. I don't know if anybody knows what Tang tastes like, but they're so good.
Speaker 1:Now there's other signs, like in my life. If I start to snap at my family, if I start to like be quick to get angry, it means that I'm not resting. That's a sign in my family. It means that I'm overworking. It means that I need to turn off my phone and let you guys worry about it for one more day before I turn it back on. See, paul is here urging the Romans to look for the signs. Stop sleeping. Your alarm has already been going off. You've snoozed enough. Time is already here. You are running late Now.
Speaker 1:Do you ever have your alarm set for something really important but you're thinking about it so much that you get up five minutes before it. Does anyone have that happen? Like I know that happens to me. Um, what I really hate is when it's an hour before and I'm like Ooh, what do I do? Like I don't want to accidentally sleep through this. A lot of times it's like when the waves are really big, when when they're like six to eight foot, which is a little big for me, but I'm going to go anyway. That's when I start to like get up really early. I'm nervous when I know that I have a dentist appointment in the morning. I'm going to wake up at two just because I want to make sure that I get there and I never have to go back for another I don't know how long. When I have an early flight, I often wake up way before time because I'm just so worried and I want to be prepared In May of 2020, we hadn't been allowed to surf for actually 40 days because they thought being in a real open space would give people COVID for some reason.
Speaker 1:You know, we all didn't know anything at the time, um, but then one day, uh, they said we could and I could not help it. Guys, I got up at 3 AM and I just could not like, and I just, at some point, I'm like I'm going. So I got there it was like 4 AM. I was still waiting for the sun to come up, like just waiting because I was so excited for the daylight and actually what ended up happening is some of my buddies showed up around four 30. And we just at some point I mean actually the news was interviewing us like and at some point we just went in the water and it was actually one of the most amazing experiences of my life, because the water was bioluminescent and so every time you hit the water, it would like turn into this beautiful, bright blue, and every wave you caught, if you like, splashed a little bit. You just see blue light everywhere. It was so gorgeous, but I was so excited to be there that I had to get up at three.
Speaker 1:See, god has also told Israel to wake up several times. He says wake up to my glory. To them, he says wake up to my mercy. He says wake up to my healing. But he also warned them that if you sleep, if you continue to sleep, it's death. Isaiah 51, 17 says this wake yourself, wake yourself up, stand up, jerusalem, you who have drunk the cup of his fury from the Lord's hand. You who have drunk the goblet to the dregs, the cup that causes people to stagger. Now he's actually talking about the Lord's wrath. You have received wrath, but wake up and find God's blessing now.
Speaker 1:But awakening was also akin to like celebration music Psalm 57, eight through 11. My heart is confident, god. My heart is confident. I will sing. I will sing praises. Wake up my soul, wake up harp and liar. I liars like a, like a stringed instrument. I will sing praises. Wake up my soul, wake up harp and lyre. Lyre is like a stringed instrument. I will wake up the dawn. I will praise you, lord, among the people. I will sing praises to you among the nations, for your faithful love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches the clouds. God be exalted above the heavens. Let your glory be over the whole earth. I got so excited. I'm just spitting front row. Sorry, got a splash zone. That's right.
Speaker 1:This is not just a simple awakening from sleep. Here is it? This is an awakening to something, to something special that you're anticipating, that you're excited for. This is a celebration. My children, they wake up to music on their birthday and they're kind of excited. They come walking out like right, do you have that for me? I don't know. We muted it. Is it possible that I can hear music through there? Oh, there it is. This is what my children wake up to. There it is. Does anyone know this? Does anyone know who this is? There it is. I think I heard it Stevie Wonder. When my kids wake up on their birthday and I'm not just saying kids me, like we come out awake celebrating Like everybody's going to celebrate me, right? That's how you come out on your birthday if you're in our family, because you know we like the adulation, we like the song. Okay, yeah, this is a good song. You should listen to it. Um, uh, but this is the kind of music that they wake up to, and this is what it's like. Echo play happy birthday by Stevie wonder on Spotify. That's what we say. Somebody who's watching this online right now is like dang it, turn it off, guys.
Speaker 1:Some of you in the room are waiting, though. You're waiting to wake up. You're waiting for the right moment. You're waiting to embrace Jesus. You're waiting to embrace his church. But Jesus asked this question. He says what woman who has 10 silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying rejoice with me because I have found the silver coin I lost. Jesus says this.
Speaker 1:I tell you in the same way there is joy in the presence of God's angels over one sinner who repents. Now you know what? When I was a new believer, someone told me there's a party in heaven, amongst the angels. The angels have a party and I was like that's cool and I repeated it endlessly and I still do. But it says there's joy in the presence of God's angels. You ever think about that? So who, who, who? Where is the joy coming from God? God is rejoicing over you when you return home, when you return to him, when you go home to God, when you awaken to his love. God rejoices over you. Joy in the presence of the angels. See, god is rejoicing over us and the Bible even says that God rejoices over us with singing, and I think that his voice is pretty close, probably to Stevie Wonder, jennifer Hudson, whitney Houston, beautiful singing over us.
Speaker 1:But we have to respond. We have to respond to the call. We have to listen to the alarm clock and say yes. Jesus once said when evening comes to you say you say it will be good weather because the sky is red, and in the morning today will be good weather because the sky is red and in the morning today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening. You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can't read the signs of the times. Church.
Speaker 1:When is the best time to go fishing Sunrise. I know someone's like well, actually, no, just come on, it's just for the point. But in order to be ready for sunrise, you got to get up when it's dark. Yes, the world is dark, but Jesus shines brighter. Get ready now. Daylight is almost upon us. Friends, See, you can do this.
Speaker 1:But sometimes you get up in the morning and you feel sleepy, don't you Like? You drag yourself around. I know for me. I take a Benadryl or two the night before. I'm like am I still drugged? Am I okay to drive? See?
Speaker 1:But what is one of the best ways to wake your body up? It's to bathe yourself in light, in light. Surround yourself with light. It does something physiologically to you. It affects your wellbeing, it affects your brain, it affects your body. It says time to wake up. That's what light does.
Speaker 1:Verse 12 says the night is nearly over and the day is near. So let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor, armor of light. And that leads us to our second promise. So let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor, armor of light, and that leads us to our second promise. One who walks in the spirit can live in the light. So it says so. Let us discard the deeds of darkness. Put on the armor of light, verse 13,. Let us walk with decency as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual impurity and promiscuity, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the Lord, jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.
Speaker 1:Now Dr Tony Evans says too many Christians trust God enough to take them to heaven, but not enough to guide their lives daily. Thus they look like the darkness around them. Stop being spiritually sleepy. Put on the armor of light, guys. Jesus is the armor of light. It kind of makes me picture the movie Tron. Has anybody seen Tron? No, nobody here. Do we got a picture from Tron? Yeah, so that's like the armor of light to me.
Speaker 1:Putting on Jesus as the armor of light, like, not only do we have forgiveness, but we have protection. Not only so, we can even, like, go and take the light with us into darker places, into scary places, into places that we're afraid of. No matter what dark places we go to, when we carry the light of Jesus with us, it's not dark anymore, is it? Sometimes you might go with your friends to get high, but now, now that you belong to Jesus. It doesn't hit the same way, does it? Suddenly you don't feel so good about it. You might be sleeping with someone outside of Christian marriage and now it just won't feel right. Why is that? You realize it not only hurts your relationship with God, but you're hurting that person and dishonoring them too. Suddenly, the light is going with you, no matter where you go, no matter what decisions you make. That's the light of God shining in you. Embrace it. It's breaking free in you because even in the dark he's there, calling you to something better, helping you when you lack the strength, helping you when you lack the discipline. You have his Holy spirit with you Always.
Speaker 1:Now I've seen Christians shine bright in all sorts of places. In the darkness of slavery, true believers stood up against it. They opposed it. In Nazi Germany, christians stood up to Hitler, christians like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was stripped naked and hanged to death a day before the end of the war. As he walked towards his death, he was heard to pray this. He said this is the end for me, the beginning of life. And the Nazi prison doctor there in the darkness later said this in almost 50 years that I worked as a doctor. I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God. See, bonhoeffer was awake. He was awake to Jesus, and his light shone even brighter in his death.
Speaker 1:Now, in the dark days of apartheid, south Africa Archbishop Desmond Tutu. You may have heard of him. He famously and openly opposed apartheid, and apartheid is defined basically as a system I'm going to read it so I don't get it wrong of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination that existed in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. It gave white people a disproportionate political, social and economic advantage. Now, after apartheid ended, it was the time now for black native Africans to turn things around and oppress their oppressors. Finally, and still, tutu encouraged light. Tutu said this. He says he said be nice to whites. They need you to rediscover their humanity.
Speaker 1:Wow, he went on to say this when we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognizing the humanity in others. But this is all impossible without God right. Like, without God's spirit working in you, you can't do this Like. You can do some nice things, but you're going to miss it in other places. So how can we do impossible things? It is only possible by the spirit of God in you. But then the question becomes how do we have the spirit of God in you? But then the question becomes how do we have the spirit of God in us? And this is the beauty of the gospel, friends.
Speaker 1:The gospel is this that there was a time when we had such a wide birth between us and God where there was no way to bridge the gap where his perfection could not meet with our imperfection and stay perfect. So he's not going to mess with us in the way that we should, because every time we try to have relationship with him we would ruin it. And that started right in the beginning in the Garden of Eden. And so we had to make sacrifice and sacrifice and sacrifice to get right with God. But it would never fully fix things. So Jesus came to this earth not only to teach us a way.
Speaker 1:I know you might look at him and say he's a good guy. That's what I like about Jesus, but he's so much more than a good guy. He's not only God and man, but he's our sacrifice. He sacrificed his life for me and for you, not that you might just like take his goodness and like forget about him. No, no, no, no. He sacrificed himself for our relationship. He sacrificed himself so that we would be in perfect relationship with God, just like God is in perfect relationship with himself.
Speaker 1:So when Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross for us, he rose again on the third day, showing that he defeated sin and death. We call that his receipt, that what he said was true. And then what did he do? Then he sent his Holy Spirit that whoever believes in him would not only have eternal life, but we would have the power of God working within us, god present here amongst us. We are the temple of God and he inhabits our praises and he is here with us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wonder what that is. What is it? Oh, glory be to God. Hey, that's not your fault, dean, that's on us. Oh my gosh, do you feel like 10% better right now?
Speaker 1:For those of you who are listening to the podcast, we just turned off an amplifier. But, guys, this is the beauty of the gospel that when we were hurting, when we were suffering, god loved us. Still, the Bible says that we were enemies of God and he transferred us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved son. When that happened, his Holy Spirit became a part of what we did. Yeah, you feel it too right. So God's spirit is working within us and the thing is, is that if we continue to reject him and snooze the alarm and say, man, your spirit's good, but I don't want him right now? Well, I just tell you, it's later than you think, church. When is the best time to go surfing? You don't know Sunrise. But in order to be ready for the sunrise, you've got to get up when it's dark. And, yeah, the world is dark, but Jesus shines brighter. Get ready now, because daylight is upon us. Friends, see, our lives on earth are temporary, so in our short time left, let us shed the darkness of our sin and pick up the light of Christ and shine brightly. See, when we belong to Jesus.
Speaker 1:It says we put on Christ like you would put on an outfit. We effectively wear the goodness, the righteousness, the holiness of Christ, and that kind of changes the way we live, doesn't it? Things change. And that kind of changes the way we live, doesn't it Things change. If I put on a tuxedo, there's no way I'm going to start digging in my backyard, like, because I mean, the fact is is I'm going to get sweaty, I'm going to get nasty, I'm going to get guayaba and low quads in my fresh kicks that I wore with my tuxedo. Why else am I not going to do that? Because I want my deposit back, because I'm not going to buy a tuxedo. You guys have seen me in a tuxedo, maybe like never. In the same way, when we put on Jesus, we wear Jesus, and I'm not going to take a white tuxedo. I'm not going to take a white tuxedo to a pie eating contest, am I? Unless it's like a joke? I'm not going to go play paintball in a white tuxedo, although that could look cool. Guys, it's not just that Jesus puts us in righteousness, though. It's not just that he puts us in righteousness. He puts us in armor. He puts us in armor of light.
Speaker 1:When I go hiking, um, which is, you know, I did. I do every like couple of years Um, we, I was with my family last week. We went to the mountains, cause, you know, that's a good place to get away to the mountains and I got these shoes called Merrells those are legit, man. I found them on sale and they're nice and they're super waterproof. And so we went hiking in San Bernardino Mountains last week as a family. We went to something called Heart Rock.
Speaker 1:It was OK, and I'll just tell you, when I had these, these marils on, I could walk boldly, I could walk confidently. And there was this time, um, that my son didn't want to go through a stream, you know like, and it looked a little slippery and sometimes he has some some uh, balance issues. And so I knew that in these marils I could just walk directly into the stream, pick him up and carry him over the stream. And it's because I had confidence in in what I was wearing. And you know what, the nothing got in, nothing got into my shoes, like I didn't walk around the rest of the day with like soggy feet.
Speaker 1:No, the, the Merrill's worked sometimes like what you put on not only like changes you, but it protects you from other things. And when we put on Jesus, he's preparing us for other things, he's arming us for other things. Jesus clothes us in his armor to go places we could never go before. Guys, you know that when there were shootings happening at the market Mike's market and then coming back to the park, and then back and forth and back and forth. I had my wife pray for me and then I went down and I prayed over the dudes at the park. Why? I was confident that God wanted me there.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying you should always do dangerous things, but there are times that God will call you and take you to a place where you know there's a drive by coming back. And God sent me there and he protected me. And I'll just tell you, I became closer with a lot of those men because they knew I was there for them in a dangerous time. And I was there for them in a dangerous time. Why? Because I had the armor of God on, not because I knew I would survive, because I knew God would be with me and I knew he wanted me there.
Speaker 1:So, friends, like, there are times that you have to put on the armor of the Lord and you're going to have to walk into dark places and and and you know what, like, I know that he'll light the way and he'll protect me for his glory. But if I die, even if I die, they could put dirt on my grave, but they cannot put dirt on my soul Because I belong to Jesus. I belong to Jesus. So so, even though we go into the world as believers, we don't live like the world, we don't do the deeds of the dark, but we still walk into the dark and bring light. One day, it's all going to be exposed. The secret things we do or say the Bible says will be exposed. The dark will be exposed, you ever. You know okay.
Speaker 1:So some of us grew up in the nineties and we used to watch MTV, and there was a time when it was like half music videos and then half shows and the shows. They would like go into houses and they would use black lights to reveal things. Don't ever watch those shows. Uh, never, never, especially when they'd be like let's do forensic testing. No, I don't want to know, but they would use a black light and you would look at a really nice place and you would say this is a beautiful place, and they would put the black light on, and you'd be like no, never touching that, never going in there again. Disgusting Guys. It's just like that.
Speaker 1:One day, everything will be exposed, and the good thing, though, is is that when we're exposed, like will see God, will see the righteousness of Jesus. Now I know that, dastardly, deeds in the dark sound better at times, or they sound more fun. I know that our culture glorifies all of it, but there's no real lasting joy in those things. Submission to God sounds harder I know it does, but it is easier in the end. Now Nepalese pastor, dr Ramesh Katri. He says baptism is the first step, but we also need to put on Jesus on a daily basis, with the help of the Holy Spirit. As we do this, we will gradually change to become like him. See, friends, when you sin and you truly repent of your sins, our God is good to forgive you. And then he helps us to powerfully forgive others which is the much harder thing, I think and love others in his name. And this is our third promise. God's spirit helps us choose love even when love is difficult. God's spirit helps us choose love even when love is difficult.
Speaker 1:Verse nine these are the commandments Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet and any other commandment. They are summed up by this commandment Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law, see, look at how Paul is defining love for our neighbor. It starts with following God's law, doesn't it? For those of you who are stuck in addiction. God is not trying to lay a heavy burden on you, friends. He's not telling you to stop meth because he just likes rules. He's not telling you to stop viewing pornography because he's a jerk. He's not telling you to show kindness to your enemy because he likes to watch you squirm. All these rules are because God loves you and he loves them. All these rules are because God wants you to thrive. Listen to Tim Keller, who says things better than me. He says Paul refuses to pit love and law against each other.
Speaker 1:The obedient thing is the loving thing. The loving thing is the obedient thing. If we want to love others, we will obey God's commands. Modern people don't see it this way. In the short run, it often seems that the loving thing to do is to break the law, for example. Often we know the truth will hurt someone, so we lie. Ooh, that's a little painful, but we get this right, like if I told you it's okay to keep using meth. Am I loving you though? No, I'm selfishly caring more about what you think of me than how you are killing yourself. That's no friendship, that's no love, that's no compassion, if we love God but do not love our neighbor. If we love God and do not seek justice for our neighbor, at some point they will have to question if we really love God. It's not easy to love our neighbor, is it?
Speaker 1:Jesus uses examples and he always uses enemies. If you belong to Jesus, you see someone with a MAGA hat lying in the street, you'll seek to care for them. If you belong to Jesus, you are undocumented. But you see someone from ice lying in the street, beaten and bruised, you will care for them. If you belong to Jesus, and and, and, and and. Oh, I lost my place.
Speaker 1:See, here's the thing Our, our Bible, a theology of sexuality, and it's very clear. But we should be the first to have compassion on our neighbor who believes themselves to be gay, bi or transsexual. We should, but what if someone gets confused and they think that you agree with them on their views on sex, on MAGA, on immigration? What then? What if they think you might agree with them on Israel or Ukraine? Um, uh, or even worse, what if? What if they think you agree with their opinion on Drake? What are you going to do? Guys, we're still called to love first.
Speaker 1:I'd rather people know we love them and be confused about what we believe. Is that weird? Then, um, then they will know what we uh excuse me, uh, we. We want them to know that we love them before they know what we believe. Um, and we don't want them to be confused on if we love them. We don't want them to be confused on if we love them, because if they're confused on if we love them, they will never hear any truth. If people know we love them first, they will be more willing to take seriously what we believe.
Speaker 1:I get advertisements. I've even had people like from like, say, the Padres want me to have you guys all to the Christian night. And I'm not mad at the Christians for going to the Christian night where we can all gather at a baseball game together and sing Kumbaya. Like it's super performative to me, but maybe it's not. Um, but you know what I'd rather do? I'd rather go to pride night.
Speaker 1:Show Chris, uh, show some people that Christians still love them and that we don't have to agree with them to love them. Would that confuse people on what? Where we stand on it? Maybe I wouldn't want to wear the pride hat personally, but I would want to be there to show our love for Jesus and our compassion for them. I'm done with the idea that you fully support me in everything or you hate me. That is a dumb binary option, and if people can be non-binary, you know what Christians can too. I refuse to fit that definition that I have to love you and agree with everything you say no, no, no, I can love you and I can disagree with you, and we can still have a kind, loving relationship.
Speaker 1:No matter what we do or say, though some people will hate the dark, it's going to be true. Just being around, you will feel like you are judging them. Tell me you haven't heard that before. Carrying my Bible around, I have guys that are like yo, I'm getting high and you have your Bible. Can you just get back? I'm getting high and you're praying with somebody over there. I'm, I'm, I'm drunk right now, and you have your Bible around. I'm like dude, I didn't even know you were there. Like I'm not here to judge you. I'm here for that person, but I would like to talk to you about Jesus.
Speaker 1:No, friends, the thing is, is that when we're open, when we're honest, it's a bit like for some people. It feels like when you go into a dark room with a flashlight. It's going to hurt them, so don't shine it in their eyes, right? But like, let's compassionately go to people and bring light. We can be kind and we can be honest. We can speak truth and we can show compassion. It can be both Friends. Everyone around you is struggling with something. They are struggling with depression. They were raised in a tough situation. They're going through addiction. If we knew that everyone had what everyone had gone through, would we treat them better? Yes, and, and they say, proximity breeds empathy.
Speaker 1:You know, last week there was a surfer who just hates me. Dude, picks on me. I swear one day he's going to, he's going to throw hands and I don't even know what to do about it. You know, because, like, my fantasy is that somebody punches me and I just don't punch back. That's like my fantasy. I know that's funny, but like I really don't want to punch back. But like there's a dude that I feel like wants to throw down and he's always out there and he's always angry and he's always mad-doggging me every time I'm surfing. Um, but I'll tell you, I was sitting out there in the water, uh, this week, and he was talking to someone else and he was talking about his dad, and he was talking about his dad is sick, and you know he was talking about how like he wishes he could. Uh, he wishes he could get his dad to drink water instead of beer, because his dad is is is getting sick from it, and I'll just tell you, in that moment I had so much compassion for him Because I was closer to him and I understood him, and he's not my enemy, god. Thank you for reminding me.
Speaker 1:Guys, when you choose to see someone's perspective, you know, sometimes it's going to change your heart towards them. Maybe you just start praying for them more. Without the love of Jesus in you, though, you are going to struggle with this. It will be almost impossible. But, guys, our lives on Earth are temporary. Time is running out. The alarm is going off, so we have to pick up the light of Christ and shine brightly Now.
Speaker 1:Next week, for some reason, if you invite someone to an Easter service, people will say, yes, I don't understand. I don't understand why, but they will. So the question will become are you going to look at it and say, nah, it's too difficult to invite somebody to this. You know, I'll just snooze it for them right now. Do we snooze the alarm Cause we're worried how they'll see us when we invite them? I'll invite them another time when my life is together and some of you know it's time for you to give your life to Jesus. He's been knocking on the door of your heart. To mix my metaphors, the alarm is going off. Do you snooze? Oh, I'll give my life to Jesus another day, because I need to figure a couple things out first. Or is it finally time? You just got up and said Jesus, I believe in your goodness. Jesus, I've been, I've been feeling this again and again, and you know I just it's time for me to say yes to you, because time is never any better than now, and then you can put on the love of Christ, the light of Christ. Guys, time is running out.
Speaker 1:Let me read you a couple of verses from Jesus in Revelation 16, 15. He says look, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who is alert and remains clothed so that he may not go around naked and people see his shame. Guys, this is why I wear something at night, because if someone's going to break in, I got to have something on to chase after them. But that sounds urgent, doesn't it? Jesus says again in Matthew 24, but know this if the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into Now. First Thessalonians 5, 4,. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark for this day to surprise, excuse me, are not in the dark for this day to surprise you like a thief.
Speaker 1:City Life Church and guests. When is the best time to go to a garage sale? Sunrise, come on. You know people showing up at your house at four just waiting. You want to go at sunrise, or else someone's going to score that Michael Jordan rookie card that the mom was like just trying to get back at her son and sell it. Someone else is going to get those Star Wars figurines and sell them on eBay. Someone else is going to find that jewelry that was on the Titanic. I'll never let go.
Speaker 1:Guys, we got to wake up now. If the garage sale starts at sunrise, you better be ready before the sunrise. You got to get up while it's still dark. Yes, the world is dark, but get ready now, because daylight is almost here. Friends, when is the best time to wake up and start following Jesus? While it's still dark. Yes, the world is dark, but Jesus shines brighter. Get ready now. Daylight is almost upon us. Our lives on earth are temporary. So in our short time left, let us shed the darkness of our sin, pick up the light of Christ and shine brightly. Let's pray church.
Speaker 1:Father, we thank you. We thank you that you bridged the gap that we could not. We thank you that you loved the unlovable. We thank you that, when we belong to the army of darkness, you didn't recruit us to be your servants. Only you didn't just forgive us, you brought us into your family. And, lord, we know that was only made possible by your sacrifice to send your son to this earth on our behalf. And so, knowing you forgive, knowing you love us, we come and silently in our hearts, confess our sins to you.
Speaker 1:Right now, god, we thank you that you use guilt to draw us back to you and guilt to draw us back into community, and that we don't have to have shame, we don't have to hide from you, we don't have to hide from your church because we messed up, because we know that you are kind and compassionate, slow to anger. We thank you that, as far as the east is from the west. So our sin is from your side. That when you look upon us, father, you see the righteousness of your son, jesus. Mm, we thank you for that kind of love, that sacrificial, kind compassion. Lord, we ask that we wouldn't just stop there, that we would take your forgiveness and we would extend it to others, that we would be light bearers, that we would reflect the light that is from you, that is from your Holy Spirit, in us. And God, when we do sin again, when we do mess up, that we'd be drawn back to you again and back into community. Lord, we love you and we pray this all in Jesus' name, amen.