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
Finding God When the World Burns: Daniel's Lessons for Dark Times
Daniel's extraordinary courage wasn't rooted in guaranteed divine rescue, but in faithful obedience when death seemed certain. His friends declared they would not bow to idols whether God saved them or not. This perspective transforms how we understand faith during dark times. God doesn't promise to extinguish every fire, but He guarantees His presence within them.
The mysterious visions Daniel received - some so profound even he couldn't fully comprehend them - teach us humility about spiritual matters. When Daniel prayed desperately for his suffering people, heaven heard immediately, though answers were delayed by unseen spiritual warfare. This reveals a startling truth: cosmic battles rage beyond our perception, and God fights for good even when we can't see evidence of it.
For those newly committed to faith, expect opposition. Drawing closer to Jesus makes you a target, as the enemy desperately thrashes like a mortally wounded bear. But take heart - we know how this story ends. Christ has already secured victory over sin and death, taking the sting from our ultimate enemy.
When your world feels overwhelmingly dark, when your strength fails and breathing becomes difficult, remember Daniel's experience. The same Jesus who appeared to him saying "you are very precious to God" speaks these words to you. He is listening. He is fighting for you. And He will never leave you alone in the lions' den.
Ready to walk faithfully through your own furnace? Join us as we explore Daniel's upside-down kingdom, where present suffering gives way to eternal triumph.
The stories of the prophet Daniel are riveting, full of adventure and the miraculous. But what if we're telling these stories the wrong way? Yes, god saved his people and shut the mouths of lions, rescued those thrown into the scalding furnace. But maybe it's less about stopping wild beasts and power-hungry, egomaniac kings and it's more about humbly following our God when the world around us laughs. Maybe it's more about being faithful and kind when not promised deliverance from every king and executioner who threatens us, because our God never leaves us when the heat is turned up. He will never forsake us when the world demands we deny him. Daniel was obedient when he expected to die for his faith. Jesus obediently chose death for us. Today, the word of God challenges us to humbly follow our good and loving God, no matter what happens next. You may already be in the lion's den, but God will always be with his children. Join us for Daniel and the Upside-Down Kingdom.
Speaker 2:So Daniel 10, 4 through 21 is where we're going to start out, and this is the end of our series, and I'm a little sad to not hear Kishani's voice as they've moved several hundred miles up north and we're going to miss them. But we have a new video coming and I think you're going to be really excited when you hear it Daniel 10. Here we go. Daniel 10.4. 10.4. On April 23rd, as I was standing on the bank of the great Tigris River, I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body looked like a precious gem, his face flashed like lightning and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people. So normally when we talk context, we got to like find out what the heck is going on by reading the rest of the Bible, and so the question should come up who is this speaking? And I'm excited that you asked that question, but don't interrupt. The person speaking is Jesus. Daniel is talking to Jesus before Jesus was born. Okay, we call this the pre-incarnate Jesus. How do we know this is Jesus? So glad you asked. Listen to this from the end of your Bibles. Okay, this is Revelation 1, 13 through 18. And it says there was one like the son of man, dressed in a robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest. The hair of his head was white as wool, white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame. His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace and his voice like the sound of cascading waters. His face was shining like the sun at full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said don't be afraid, I am the first and the last, and if you know your Bibles, you know Jesus calls himself the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last and the living one. I was dead, but look, I am alive forever and ever and hold the keys of death and Hades. Once again, that's Jesus talking about his resurrection. So yeah, that's Jesus, that's Jesus. I think we can be pretty confident. That's the same picture, it's the same guy. Okay, verse seven continuing.
Speaker 2:Only I, daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide. So I was left there all alone to see the amazing vision. My strength left me. My face grew deathly pale and I felt very weak. Then I heard the man speak and when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground. Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees, and the man said to me Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you. When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling. Then he said don't be afraid, daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer.
Speaker 2:But for 21 days, the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me and left, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come. While he was speaking to me, I looked down at the ground, unable to say a word. Then the one who looked like a man touched my lips and I opened my mouth and begin to speak. I said to the one standing in front of me I am filled with anguish because of the vision I have seen. My Lord, I am very weak. How can someone like me, your servant, talk to my Lord? My strength is gone. I can hardly breathe. Then the one who looked like a man touched me again and I felt strength returning. Don't be afraid, for you are very precious to God. Peace, be encouraged, be strong. As he spoke these words to me, I suddenly felt stronger and said to him please speak to me, my Lord, for you have strengthened me. He replied do you know why I have come Soon? I must return to fight against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia, and after that, the spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece will come. Meanwhile, I will tell you what is written in the book of truth no one helps me against these spirit princes, except Michael, your spirit prince.
Speaker 2:Okay, then we go to chapter 11. I'm going to paraphrase chapter 11 for you quickly. The man continues to speak and says to Michael future events that concern Persia, greece and the Medes, and how many armies will come and go conquering nations? You'll have an army from the north, an army from the south, and then the army from the south will conquer the army from the north and then the army from the south will come down and he'll be into himself, this leader. He doesn't have very much experience, but he will deceive people with his words. Many will despise God and work against him. And to the true believers, god will say the king will do as he pleases, exalting himself and claiming to be greater than every God and blaspheming even the God of gods. But his time will run out. We're going to read a little bit more later, but I'm going to pray for us. Okay, if you're overwhelmed by this, it's okay. Let me just tell you one thing that chapter 11 is just confirmed events. For the most part, it's just things that have come to pass already. Now they can have extra meaning, but we're not going to spend too much time in 11 because there's a lot to cover. So let's pray.
Speaker 2:Father, with all the hatred, with all the despair around us, with all the violence we recognize right now in Gaza, in Israel, in Ukraine, in Haiti, in Darfur, in the United States. We trust that you have not stopped caring, nor have you stopped being powerful. Your word says that you hold off because you do not delight in the death of the wicked. Instead, you desire that all might come to repentance. God, that's our wish too, but it's hard when we see so much pain while we wait. And so, as the world gets darker, would you help us to shine your light brighter? Would you help us to sympathize with the people who hate us? Would you help us to turn the other cheek, to show compassion, even when the world thinks we are fools? We know you are coming soon and time is short, and so we desperately cling to these promises. While we watch the world turn in on itself, we see people destroying each other. Come, lord Jesus, be close to the grieving, be close to the suffering and teach us by your word and give us supernatural ability to love by your spirit. May the words of our mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you. We pray this all in Jesus name, and all God's people said amen.
Speaker 2:Now, when I planned to preach on this text several months ago, like over nine months ago, I thought I would paraphrase this text for you as we ended our series in Daniel, and then, on Monday, I started looking at it in a deeper way and I was like, oh my gosh, I bit off more than I can chew. I'm embarrassed, I don't know what to do, um, but there was one thing that saved me on. This is uh, there's an app called street lights. Has anyone ever heard of street lights, the app before? Um, a few of you. Um, basically, what it is is it's the Bible with beats, um, and it's free, um, and, and it's amazing.
Speaker 2:And so, basically, when I went surfing, I listened to it again and again, and again, and so I listened to this text many, many times and I missed a lot. I'm not an auditory learner, but it really helped me, and so, if you find yourself ever stuck in scripture, listen to it again and again, and again, and you can do it on your drive. So this text takes about 20 minutes almost for the three chapters, but I listen to them again and again because this matters, and so I got some stuff that I'd not expected to get, and I'm blessed and I felt like it's perfect for this moment. So there's three things I'd like to talk to you about today, but I'm warning you that I'm going to skip around the text a bit. If you feel cheated by this, go read it a few times, or listen to it a few times. You'll be blessed more than my sermon. Or even listen to it on the Streetlights app, like it's free and it's in English and it's in Spanish. I think you'll be blessed.
Speaker 2:And so today I'm going to give you three points from Daniel's last meeting with God for when the world gets dark. For when the world gets dark. And my first point is this we won't always understand God's ways. We won't always understand God's ways. So, after reading all of those texts, we're going to make a quick stop at the end now, the end of Daniel in chapter 12, where everything becomes clear and it's wrapped up in a neat little package. Okay, it's not wrapped in a neat package and it seems like nothing is like this. But we're going to read from 12, 8 through 11. I know I'm skipping you around, but this is Daniel 12, 8 through 11.
Speaker 2:He said when I heard what he said but I did not understand what he meant. So I asked in their wickedness, and none of them will understand. Only those who are wise will know what it means. Guys, search the scriptures and you will see many themes consistent with our God. One of them is his transcendence, god's transcendence, that's a big word, I know. Transcendence is defined as surpassing or exceeding ordinary limits, transcending the universe or time, etc. Above all possible modes of the infinite, something not fully realizable in the human experience. Pastor Brian Loritz, he sums it up in a much better way, I think, when he says put God in a box and he spills out. Daniel had just been told many stories and prophecies about God and he was left afraid and he was scratching his head. Even wise old Daniel, at this point, the one guy in the kingdom who seemed to understand all the spiritual things, was lost. So Daniel, one of the wisest human beings ever, didn't fully fathom the depths of God. Daniel met God face to face, didn't fully understand.
Speaker 2:And yet I will still get a postcard in the mail from some Yahoo pastor that knows everything. Somehow the postcard will have like his picture of it, of himself, usually on the postcard, and it'll say something like here are the seven signs of evil that God is returning this year. And God will be returning to Orlando, florida, right by the resort. You know like you get these things in the mail and you're like, wait a minute, how is this guy seem to know everything? One of you guys are going to send me a YouTube video and let me just say this I have received all of these that say Barack Obama or Donald Trump are proven to be the antichrist, or the vaccine is the mark of the beast Read about it here in the Bible or the things happening in Israel always seem to prove that next Tuesday is the end of the world.
Speaker 2:I just say we don't know. We should hold these things humbly, okay, and the fact is, the most important thing is are we faithful now? That's what's important, guys. There will be a day when jesus returns, and it won't be a day that we expect. Be faithful while you wait. That's the important thing. We should be quite confident of the things that we know in the bible and we should be humble about the things that we don't know, it's okay to not know things.
Speaker 2:Jesus says when he returns, it will be like a thief in the night, at a time when the house doesn't expect. When Jesus was on earth, he said he did not know the time he would return. We just know how he will return A sword in his mouth, a tattoo on his thigh that says King of Kings and Lord of Lords, his robe dipped in blood of those who have killed the innocent. That's what we know. The how and the why is what matters. He will come back for justice. Those who belong to him will go home. His enemies will be sent into the place that they have chosen, which Jesus describes as a place of darkness and gnashing of teeth. It's described as a place of fire. It's described as a place where the worm is always hungry. But, guys, you see, god is always working when the world feels so dark. And does it not feel dark? We cannot see in that darkness sometimes, but we can trust that he is working to redeem all good things for our good and his glory, church. Here is what I know the Bible is God's word. I know that it is true and it has withstood the test of time, and also I know that our interpretations can suck, we will get it wrong. Hear me out, though. The church will get it wrong sometimes. This church, your church, will misunderstand the Bible sometimes. But also, god's ways will sometimes seem to go against common sense and God's ways will seem to go against our culture. God's views on sexuality will anger one side. God's offer of grace to the sinner sometimes angers the religious side. God's offer of grace to the sinner sometimes angers the religious side. God's offer of grace for our enemies is constant. It might not always make sense to you, but God is transcendent.
Speaker 2:I was raised by feminists, y'all Like. When I first started reading the Bible, I struggled. It went against a lot of the views I'd been raised with in the Bible. I struggled. It went against a lot of the views I'd been raised with. It also affirmed some of them. I was confused. There are places in the Bible where God has someone destroy an entire town or a village. I don't understand those places. Well, I'm often confused, but God is confusing sometimes and it's okay to be confused.
Speaker 2:Because Daniel was confused, but here's what I know. He, daniel, was confused, but here's what I know. He knows more than me. Here's what I know. He has always existed and he always will. Here's what I know. He is more kind and compassionate than me. How do I know? Jesus sacrificed his life for you. Jesus, god in the flesh, gave up his life for you. Now I may not understand, but I understand that he loves me. I understand that he loves the people of this dark world and he hopes to save them. I understand that he loves you, even after all the crap you pulled, even this weekend. Some of you are all like whoa pastor, stop. I understand that he loves you. I understand that he is kind. I understand that he is all-knowing, but like I understand it sometimes.
Speaker 2:How a single-cell organism might understand a movie? I understand it sometimes. How a jellyfish could understand grief or love at such a small level compared to the vastness of his compassion, the vastness of his intelligence, the vastness of how long he has lived and will continue to live. We cannot ever fully understand God.
Speaker 2:Now, hip hop artist KB. He says this this is so good you might want to get pens out. Kb says if God were small enough to be fully understood, he would not be big enough to be worshiped. I'll say it again If God were small enough to be fully understood, he would not be big enough to be worshiped. Guys, it's okay that we don't understand everything about God, but we know God is wise, we know God is with us and we know he bends his ears to us.
Speaker 2:And that's our second point. God is listening. God is listening, and I'm in Daniel 10, 11 through 12. And the man said to me Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I've been sent to you. When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling. Then he said don't be afraid, daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come to answer your prayer. I've come in answer to your prayer. See, daniel was a relentless prayer, but God heard his first prayer. You don't think that God hears your first prayer, even though first prayer. You don't think that God hears your first prayer, even though nothing changes. You don't think that God is listening.
Speaker 2:But Daniel went to God again and again and again. Daniel saw the suffering of his own people, he saw the fallen state of the world and he grieved. But he didn't grieve alone. He prayed with others and he took it to God this week, and an immigrant woman was horribly stabbed on a train for sitting there. Children at Evergreen High School in Colorado were shot in their classroom. A 31-year-old political pundit with three children and a wife was shot and killed at a rally. There are civilians who have died in Ukraine this week. Gaza, israel Does something not feel broken, and we try to address the brokenness ourselves, though, don't we?
Speaker 2:With social media, maybe? Just we just try to like. Stop us from seeing what's happening with sports, or with booze, drugs, relationships, sex, our careers. That's like trying to put a band-aid on a gaping wound that requires a hundred stitches. You got a shark bite. Here's a band-aid. It doesn't work, does it? This world is gruesome at times. Come Lord Jesus, and while meds and self-help books and therapy can have their place at times, they cannot be a substitute for Jesus. They cannot. Only Jesus addresses the despair in the world and the empty pits in our hearts.
Speaker 2:Daniel understood this and Daniel did the right thing. Daniel cried out to the Lord in his suffering. He didn't turn his back on the Lord. He went to the Lord, he humbled himself in God, himself in God's presence, and he cried out.
Speaker 2:Are we surprised at the depravity of this world? We shouldn't be. We know the world is going to get worse and worse. In many ways, we know that, as it gets darker though, that his light will shine brighter. And yet we see things so demonic, so hate-filled. We see anger, we see injustice, we see xenophobia, we see violence against innocent children and even violence against people we disagree with and we instinctively know something's wrong To kill someone for their sexuality, their religion, their race, their political views. It's demonic To kill someone because they were born into a country, but it's very common, and it's common in this country too, for hundreds of years.
Speaker 2:Where do we take that God who can handle such heavy things? God, on some days we just can't hold such heavy burdens alone, can we? Sometimes you guys come to me or you'll come to your leaders and you will tell us about your abuse, You'll tell us about your hurt, you'll tell us about your hatred, you'll tell us your thoughts of self-harm, and many times it's good and right to come to your leaders and do that. I'm not telling you it's wrong, but my shoulders and the shoulders of Pastor Mark, they cannot bear every burden for unlimited amount of time because we're human. It's why I take vacations. It's why I leave my phone off on Friday and Saturday. You guys try to call me, I don't see it. You get that little green thing in your text messages. That's because I turned it off. It's why I took three months for my sabbatical after our first seven years as a church. It's why I'm going to do it every five years now, because I'm going to stay in this game, because I'm not God. These shoulders are flesh and bone.
Speaker 2:Listen to Isaiah 40, 30 through 31. Youths may become faint and weary. Young men will stumble and fall, but those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. Walk and not grow faint. I've been honored to be with people we love as they pass from this life to the next life.
Speaker 2:I've been at the scene when someone was shot. I've talked to you in jail before I performed CPR after an overdose. I've seen people. I've been in the room with people who were dripping in sweat, punching holes in the walls, trying to counsel them and draw them closer to Jesus.
Speaker 2:And in the middle of all that, I try to be a good pastor, but I'm just a man and when I leave the hospital, when I leave your funeral, I go home, I go into my bedroom and I just fall straight down onto my bed, face first, and I cry and I need the Lord more than ever in those moments. I cannot bear that much pain. I cannot bear all your pain. But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. Guys, the love I can give is directly tied to the love I receive from God, which means I got to go back to that well, again and again and again and again for survival. Not because it looks good, not because it's the right thing for pastor to do, but because without doing it I will die, I will be crushed.
Speaker 2:But there's an old hymn about Jesus that says some of the most beautiful lines I've ever heard. It says this about Jesus, who every grief hath known that rings the human breast and takes and bears them for his own. That all in him may rest. Can I read that to you again? Who every grief hath known that rings the human breast and takes and bears them for his own. That all in him may rest. See, that's Jesus. Friends, when you are suffering, go to Jesus first. It should be something you practice now so it's a reflex. In the biggest moments of your suffering you will need this practice to be a reflex. There will be a day when you will suffer more than you are suffering now. Sorry, suffering is coming for everyone, but Jesus can handle even the heaviest of your burdens.
Speaker 2:Psalm 145, 18 says the Lord is near all who call out to him, all who call out to him with integrity. James 5, 15 says the prayer of faith will save the sick person and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. And then this is an important line the prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. So you have all who call out to him with integrity and the prayers of a righteous person will be heard.
Speaker 2:But you see, god listens to the prayers of a righteous man. But who here can promise that they're fully righteous on their own works? Your pastors, my kids laugh, your deacons no. The book of Romans says no man is righteous, not one. I'm sure many of you know that, that all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God. So who's your righteous person to pray for you? This is why Jesus says to pray in his name. Guys, if you pray in my name, ears will be shut to you. I just pray in the name of Pastor Dale's God. He's going to be like, please. If you pray in the name of Muhammad or Moses or Mary or Madonna, or Moses or Mary or Madonna, he's not interested.
Speaker 2:Jesus is the righteous man. And you know, when we confess our sins to God and we repent honestly, seeking to change our ways and follow him, something incredible happens. The father looks at us and sees the righteousness of his son, jesus, and he listens to us. The people of the world are not God's children. The people of this world are not God's children. Those who align with God, those are God's children. We become God's children. We are reborn as God's children. The Bible says when we do that, we receive the inheritance of the son Jesus. We become co-heirs with Christ, and the father listens to the prayers of his righteous children.
Speaker 2:If you have not given your life to Jesus fully, if you've waited for a long time, perhaps today is that day. Put your trust in Jesus. He is trustworthy, and then let us pray with you about it, because when you are suffering and you feel like Daniel, where you feel like you might faint, where you feel like your chest is tight from anxiety, you go to God and you find he's been waiting for you patiently the whole time and he's listening to you. He's listening because he loves you and when you ask him for help, he fights for you. He fights for you. God is always working. When the world feels so dark we cannot see, we can trust he is listening to us and working to redeem all things for our good and his glory. Even when you can't feel it, even when you can't feel it, even when I don't feel it, you're working. God is fighting for you. Even when it feels hopeless, god is fighting for you. And that's our third point. God fights for good even when we can't see it. God fights for good even when we can't see it.
Speaker 2:Verse 10, chapter 10, 17 in Daniel says how can someone like me, your servant, talk to you? My Lord, my strength is gone, I can't breathe. Then the one who looked like a man touched me again. I felt my strength return. Don't be afraid, he said, for you are very precious to God. Be encouraged, be strong. As he spoke these words to me, I felt stronger and said to him please speak to me, my Lord, for you have strengthened me. And he replied do you know? I have come Soon, I will return to fight against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia and against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece. Meanwhile, I will tell you what is written in the book of truth no one helps me against these spirit princes, except for Michael, your spirit prince.
Speaker 2:Now, the spirit prince of Persia, the spirit prince of Greece. Dr Tony Evans says this was clearly a high-ranking demon assigned to the nation of Persia to represent the devil's kingdom and fight against gods. Now, if you come here and you're like this pastor, he seems to like science. This pastor he seems to talk about like current events and stuff. He's not one of those crazy pastors who believes in the devil. I'm 100% a crazy pastor that believes in the devil because it's in the Bible. That's who. That's just the way it is.
Speaker 2:Now let me ask you, friends do you think that the United States of America has a demon? Yeah, you think Mexico, haiti, san Diego, mount Hope has demons watching over it? Yeah, I think so. There's just too much hatred that we see all the time spread around. But when things are dark, jesus shines brighter. When Jesus died on the cross, the war was over, but there are still battles being fought. Even though the finishing blow came when Jesus died on the cross for our sins and he rose again, conquering sin and death, there are still battles going on. Sometimes, when the war is over, the battles continue.
Speaker 2:The devil is like a desperate animal, friends. He has been mortally wounded, he is dying. But if you had a bear that was dying in your house and still thrashing around like knocking into bookshelves and stuff, would you give it space? Would you just like walk in and tease it? Man, I don't care what that bear does to my house. He could get into all my favorite, like high protein, gluten free food. That stuff's expensive. My baseball memorabilia, I don't care. I'm not going to get near that thing. I'm not going to challenge it. It can thrash around the house all it wants, tear up the carpet, destroy my stuff. I'm not getting near it. It's going to die. But it's dangerous. It's probably desperate, so it might even be more dangerous for a moment.
Speaker 2:Friends, if you are drawing closer to Jesus right now, maybe you are newer to faith. You have to know you are a target for the devil. You have to know it. We have five people being baptized today at 2 pm. I bet this has been a rough week for many of them. Actually, I went up to one of them this morning and I said let me guess rough week, huh. And they said let me guess rough week, huh. And they said yeah, what, it's been really hard. You've been attacked by the devil this week, right? I never asked that question before, but I knew, because they were surrendering their life to Jesus. They were making a public pronouncement to the world that they were following Jesus, that they would be attacked. Announcement to the world that they were following Jesus, that they would be attacked.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you, sometimes one of my children is in a class and in that class they will do a really good job, and so the teacher never gives them any feedback. Why do you think that the teacher never gives them feedback? The teacher has to go deal with everybody else. If you have the devil giving you no feedback, it might be because he thinks that you're on his team already, that you're doing fine. But if you're being attacked, then you know you're doing something right, guys.
Speaker 2:The devil may not have been interested in you before, but I'm seeing your lives change. So he's going to send some of those ex-girlfriends back into your life, some of those people that used to use with you. He's going to give you opportunities at work that could cause you to neglect your family. That's what the devil is going to do. He may offer you land. He may offer you influence. He may offer you thousands of new followers on social media. Be careful Jesus is not usually the one in the Bible offering worldly goods. Someone else is. But, guys those of you who are new to Jesus, your life is changing. You're drawing closer to Jesus, so he's coming at some of you. You weren't a target before. You feel it, though right. So you may need a season where you think hard about everything you do. Who do you spend time with? What do you watch or read? How much are you on social? As long as they are influencing you more than you are influencing them, you might need to sit back, for a minute?
Speaker 2:What shows do you watch? What music do you listen to? You don't think music can disciple you. Guys, when people first get saved by Jesus, life often gets worse. When you're walking with Jesus in a new, positive way, when you've like taken another step, doesn't matter which step it is If you've been with him for 30 years. When you take another step, it is an attack on the world of darkness and your world might seem worse for a while and your past is going to hunt you down. Your addictions show up and try to draw you back. Old boyfriends, girlfriends show up, trying to pull you back into sin. But you are a new creation now. You were dead, but now you're alive in Jesus. You have the Holy Spirit of God in you, and that's not the worst of it, though.
Speaker 2:Many of the battles being fought will be unseen. You become a target and suddenly the devil will put a bunch of fake Christians around you and that start to question your motives. That's a scene battle, but there's other things that you cannot see. And is this a reason to give up? No, the Bible says resist the devil and he will run from you, he will flee from you. And here is a text that really encourages me, guys, it's in Ephesians 6, the armor of God, he says, finally be strengthened by the Lord, and his vast strength Doesn't say limited, vast. Put on the full armor of God so you can stand against the schemes of the devil, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, against the cosmic powers of the darkness, against evil spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason, take up the full armor of God so you may be able to resist the devil in the evil day and, having prepared everything to take your stand. Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace In every situation. Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Guys, if you're doing one of these things, you're not fully protected. You got to put on full armor. You ever see Dumb and Dumber. He's got a. This is not on my notes. Why did I do this? He's got a bulletproof vest on and he's like it's cool, I was safe. And they're like what if they shot you in the face? And they said that's a risk we were willing to take? Guys, put on the whole armor of God, just not one piece, because this world is messed up, it's dark. War is always happening. Jesus says you will always have wars and it's easy to lose hope. But we know how this ends.
Speaker 2:Friends, my son loves the Major League Baseball app. When he does his chores he wants to watch highlights of Major League Baseball. It's double plays, it's home runs and it's guys jumping and robbing home runs. But then when I want my kids to watch baseball with me, sometimes they can't handle it. Why? Because it's live, they don't know how it's going to end. I get that. Did some of you guys get that? Like you're stressed out by a live game. You're like I want the highlights. That's how my son is and I get it. But, guys, we know how this game ends, don't we?
Speaker 2:Jesus is the victor. Christ is victor over death. Christ is victor over sin. Christ crushes the head of the devil.
Speaker 2:We can watch the darkness of this world like a rerun of our favorite TV show.
Speaker 2:Do you guys know what reruns are?
Speaker 2:It doesn't matter of this world like a rerun of our favorite TV show.
Speaker 2:Do you guys know what reruns are?
Speaker 2:It doesn't matter, knowing that one day this will all melt away and God will wipe away every tear. We know how it ends. Jesus will stand in victory. He's taken the sting out of death like you take the sting out of a bee. He will return with vengeance and wrath for all who fought against justice and truth, those who hated holiness, and while that was many of us matter of fact, that was all of us. He already took our sin and has now pronounced us good. He paid the price so we wouldn't have to. God sacrificed himself on the cross so we might have victory against darkness and we will have victory in Jesus.
Speaker 2:So, city Life Church and guests, I want to remind you that God is always working and when the world feels so dark that we want to give up, when the world feels so ugly and mean that we want to hide, and when we cannot see the way forward because it's so dark, we can trust. God is listening and he's working to redeem all things for our good and his glory. Let's pray, father, we thank you. We thank you that, even though we weren't born into your family, when we died and were lifted back up, that we were raised to walk in newness of life. But, god, we still chase after darkness, we still like to think that we can hide from you, we still like to do things that we see as petty sins, that aren't real, that aren't as big as other sins, and yet we know that these things separate us from you ultimately. So, in this moment of silence, in the silence of our hearts, the quietness of our hearts, we confess our sins to you, the things we have done wrong and the things we have left unturned. Thank you.