This Is Not the Hour to Play Church

In this episode of The Morning Charge, Joshua challenges listeners to move beyond simply studying Scripture and begin living it.

Using the book of Acts as a foundation, this message focuses on what it truly means to be a Christian in a time of compromise, distraction, and spiritual drift. It highlights holiness, obedience, prayer, dependence on the Holy Spirit, and the difference between religious appearance and real surrender.

This episode is a direct call to stop playing church and begin walking as the church in everyday life.

For a more interactive experience, watch "The Morning Charge" LIVE every Monday–Friday at 7:00 AM CST on TikTok.

Find more teachings, podcasts, resources, and ministry updates at fireandwaterministries.org.

If you’d like to become a Monthly Partner with Fire & Water Ministries or sow into the mission, click HERE!

- Real Talk. Real Jesus. Real Life. -

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Morning Charge. This is your moment to slow down, breathe, and get your spirit aligned before stepping into the day ahead. Life moves fast, responsibilities pile up, voices compete for your attention. But before the noise of the world takes over, this is where we come back to what actually matters. This is a place for honest conversations about faith, life, purpose, and everyday battles we all face. No pretending, no religious performance, just the truth. Because following Jesus was never meant to be complicated, it was meant to be real. So whether you're driving to work, you're getting the kids ready, or simply taking a quiet moment for yourself, you're in the right place. This is real talk, real Jesus, real life. This is the morning charge. Um, how can I apply what I've learned to truly adopt the lifestyle of Jesus, to adopt the lifestyle that Paul had, the apostles, the disciples, I want to adopt the lifestyle that they had, Lord. Will you show us how to glean from that? Now we know we're in a different culture. We know the world is totally different than when that stuff was written, but the principles still apply. God, come search my heart. You know my heart, Lord. What do I need to change so that I can begin to walk out in the fullness of what you have for me, the fullness of the plan that you have for my life? It's almost like we're standing at a crossroads right now, and we have heard some of us for years what to do. Some of us were new to hearing what it is we're supposed to do. So where do we go from here? So things aren't just a nice story, so that we're like, yeah, that's great. And the last time I read Acts, I act the same way. No, I want this to be different. There's so many people that have felt led to go through the book of Acts, and they're just like, I feel led to study this. I feel like, well, that's great. You felt led to study this, but what are you doing as you're studying it? What are you doing after you've gone through the book? We took what pretty much over a month. It took us about 27 days to get through, but it's morning charge talk. It took us a month or more to go through this whole book. And so I began to search out some other scriptures this morning. I began to take a look at some things, and and I just I heard the Lord say so clearly to me, you've read what you read, but this is not the hour to play church again. That's that's what he dropped him up. This is not the hour to play church. We've played church for too long. This is not the hour to continue to play church. This is the hour to get before the Lord and really become the true church. By the way, I'm not talking about the building. Okay. We're not playing good little Christians anymore. We need to step into our roles as sons and daughters of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. But this is not the hour to play church. So the Lord began to speak to me this morning about what it really means to be a Christian in an hour of compromise, pressure, and those that are drifting away from the faith. You guys realize there's a lot of people drifting away from the faith, right? And the other day it was like, uh, I believe, and I don't want to get this wrong, but it was like 30-something percent, 32%, 30-something percent of pastors considered leaving their positions in their church. And it was it was due to conflicts. It was due to being either stressed out, overburdened. See, see, we've got church wrong. There's so many pastors that are so they're so busy, they don't have time to do what it is they really need to be doing, meeting with people, fellowshipping with people, counseling people. They're so busy and they're so caught up and they're so I mean, like I could get so consumed with social media, I could, I could get so deep into the social media weeds that that becomes an idol to me. I can't do that. You guys are going to notice there's some days that I ain't there's a whole lot of crickets on my pages. That's because I decided to fully spend time with God that day instead of posting a whole bunch of stuff to get. I'm not looking for a platform. I'm looking for him to use me how he wants to use me today. Today may be some stuff out. Tomorrow might be crickets because I got to go get on my face before God. That is first and foremost in my life. If I do not spend time with the Lord, I should not be doing anything else. I'm just, I'm just being real. That's just where I'm at in my life now. I'll be 42 this year, and it finally took me a few years to get there. But if I hadn't spent time with the Lord, I'm not doing nothing else until I go get before him and see what he's got for the day. All right, y'all may have organized jobs and careers. You got to be there by eight or nine or whatever time you work, or it doesn't matter the shift that you go in. But if you ain't spent time with the Lord, you better back up and punt and spend a few moments with the Lord before you go do anything else. We schedule our work day. You got to be here at 7:30. Well, I need that on my calendar. It says I got to be with Jesus at 6 before I make the 7:30. We schedule everything else. We schedule our Zoom calls, our times with work. I mean, we'll even schedule uh dates with our honey. Amen. We'll schedule a coffee uh outing, you know, to mentor and spend time with other people or whatnot. We schedule all these other things. I mean, some people even schedule time to go to the grocery store. But Jesus, we live in a culture that's so fast we just give him what's left. Whew, Lord, thanks for getting me through today. And that's about the time we spent with the Lord today. Goodness gracious. We need to be praying for our pastors. We need to be praying for our pastors, y'all. If your pastor passes you and he didn't say hello to you, don't be offended. Pray for him, be like, Lord, whatever he's got on his mind right now, I just pray, Lord, that you would bless him right now in the name of Jesus. See, we we've got we've got church so flipped. Anyway, y'all know where I stand on that. I could I could beat that. Try not to beat that so much, but sometimes I do. But the question we need to ask ourselves today is are we just are we studying Acts? Did we just have a nice study? Or are we going to live it? Are we going to live like the people we saw in Acts?

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Are we? Are we? Are we going to live out Acts? Or are we just going to have a nice study?

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Right now, we are living in an hour where Christianity isn't standing so well. Christianity, the weaknesses thereof are being completely exposed. Now we know this exposing is important because God's looking at your heart, not your platform. Hello? He's looking at our heart, not our position. So he wants to make sure that this is right. Because this right here, this whatever God has given you, if he's given you a place to speak, that's secondary to you and the Lord. I'm just being honest. But there's a lot of things being I know we talk about this quite a bit, but there's lots of things being exposed. Lukewarm faith is being exposed. Is it true ministry for the Lord? Or is it a man kingdom that was trying to be built? Lots of things are being exposed. Religious performance is being exposed. God is calling his people back in this hour to real, raw, unadulterated surrender. He's calling us back to lifestyles of holiness. He's calling us back to live a life of obedience, no matter the cost of our own personal goals and things. Hello? I mean, God's had to tear down a lot of walls in my life. He's had to tear down a lot of idols in my life that I have built up myself, trying to get God to come over and bless it. He's like, Yeah, it's not really what I had for you. Oh man. Okay. He's calling us back to holiness, obedience. He's calling us back to prayer, being on our face before him. He is calling us to be bold in the arenas that he has placed us in. What do I mean by arenas? I mean your workplace, your home, your church, your community, wherever God has put you. He is teaching us how to be consecrated to him, how to set ourselves apart unto him. He's looking for a consecrated people. Being a Christian should never be a label to make yourself just look like I know Jesus. Being a Christian actually means that I have unalive to myself. That when I get up every day, I take my cross and I follow Jesus, and I don't just do that, but I obey this. We have to unalive to ourselves. We have to take up our cross. We must follow Jesus and we have to obey his word. That is what it means to be a Christian. And then the final part of that, if that wasn't enough, we have got to learn how to stand firm even when it costs us everything. We've got to learn to step out even when it costs us everything. Are you willing to do it even if it costs you everything?

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Even if it does. This is not an hour to be playing games.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

This is not an hour to be to be claiming the name of Jesus but yet living like the world. I'm gonna give him some of this, but not all of this. He wants all of it. He wants all of you. He's looking at your heart. Whatever is deep seated in here, he's looking at. So don't think you've been hiding things from. It's not a matter of if God will, it's a matter of when God will. So it's just best to come before the Lord and lay it all out there on your own. He loves you too much to leave you in your mess.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

But he gives you the choice.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

The wages of sin are, but I want to have life and life more abundantly. Lay it all down. It's time to lay it all down. This is not time for half-hearted devotion. I'm sort of half-heartedly in it with to win it with you, Lord. I'll be obedient if it feels good. I'll be obedient if it aligns with my plan and my agenda. It's not an hour for that. This is an hour to be obedient when he speaks it, and he and you kind of go, mm. And then he speaks it again, and you go, mm. And then somebody that don't even know you gives you a phone call and says, I'm hearing the Lord say, and you go, mmm. When you start hearing the same thing over and over and over and over and over, God is speaking to you over and over and over and is confirmed over and over and over. It's time to step out. It's time to move. It's time to go. You've been hearing and seeing the same message over and over and over, but you haven't moved yet. Don't be one that's stuck. Get to moving. We sing that song. I decided to follow Jesus. Anywhere he leads us, that's where we'll go. Do we just sing that song? Because it's, I mean, it's a I mean, it's a good song now. Or do we mean it? We got to ask ourselves that.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Do we mean it?

SPEAKER_00 12:58

We have got to be like the guys that we saw in Acts. That is what real believers and followers of the way looked like. What were their characteristics again? I know we just went through this. Guys, we got to get this. I got to get this. All right. I'm talking to myself this morning, too. Holy Spirit's already dealt with me on this. I'm just sharing with you what Holy Spirit has dealt with me on. What did these guys look like? They were ones that were what? Filled with the Holy Spirit. They were the ones that were devoted to prayer and commitment to the word of God. They went through bold persecution, but they did not care because they unalived to their flesh every day. It was not, who all's going to like me? I got to make sure everybody likes me because the platform I have is I'm done with that.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

They were generous to all of those that were around them.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

That was one thing that if you if you weren't careful, that was that part would kind of slip through, but they were generous with everybody that was around them. They had no ulterior motives other than preach the gospel of Jesus. Preach the gospel of Jesus. My goodness gracious, let's preach the message of Jesus and what he has done for us and what he can do for them. That was the only motive. They were completely sold out to Christ. Completely sold out to Christ. Now, the question here, it's not a question of do we admire the life that they live? Of course we admire it. The question here is, am I willing to admire it and then live it myself? Rod, I'll hit you in a bit. Are we willing to live like they lived?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Are we?

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Let's look at some other scriptures this morning. Luke 9 and 23. Let's start with the guy that actually wrote Acts. Luke 9 and 23. Then he said to all of them, If any man comes after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. Really good instructions. Jesus said, If you want to come unto me, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. That was it. Jesus never presented walking with him as a convenience, because it's not very convenient to our flesh. Because you have to lay down all of the things that you wanted to do, denying yourself of the the ways of your flesh and your own ideologies, and and you you're commanded to take up your cross just as him and follow him. Denying yourself. No, he said deny yourself. He didn't say make sure you protect yourself. No, he didn't say any of that. He said, deny yourself. We have a whole lot of people today that's trying to add Jesus to their life without unaliving their life first. We're trying to walk out the ways of Jesus and walk out our ways, and a double-minded man is unstable in what? All of his ways. You cannot be on this side of the fence and this side of the fence at the same time. I cannot follow Jesus and follow Josh at the same time. I got to either do what I'm going to do or I'm going to do what he wants me to do. The most important thing is to be on his side of the fence. And I can tell you too, when you begin to follow Jesus, there will be times when you look at your side of the fence and you go, man, the grass looks a whole lot greener over there. Because we're too busy looking for this. Laura thinks, friend up to the gallery you go. We're too busy looking with these. We need to be busy looking in here and what God has for us. Once again, we don't want to be busy with a whole lot of good. We want to be busy about the kingdom and his business. Well, I want to be full of God, not full of good. There's a lot of good people in this world, and they're not full of God. You need to be good, full of God, okay? Get the God stuff in you. Amen. Sherry, thanks for your heart, me friend. He's called us to abandon ourselves and to follow Him. Romans 12, 1 and 2. It's been a minute since we've been in Romans. Of course, that's next after Acts, but it says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We quote this a lot. We say it a lot. We've heard it a lot. Have we walked it out? See, that's where we're at. We're at, we've heard it, but are we at the point of we're gonna walk it? Jesus was the ultimate example of this, Amanda, for sure. Think about who he is. He laid his identity down. Jesus himself laid down his identity for us. He said, He said, I do what my father does. His father moved, he moved. His father spoke, he spoke. His father stopped, he stopped. Whatever the father did, whatever the father said, that's what he did. We have to do the exact same thing. That's a part of denying ourselves. Because I can tell you, God speaks things to me that don't didn't line up with what Josh wanted to do. Amen. You guys have to remember, this is not something I wanted to do. Even though I had the years in broadcasting, when I laid down broadcasting, I was done. Done, done. Put a seal on it, tape it up, no more of that. We're moving on to other things. Number one, I didn't want this to be about me, and I didn't want to do that anymore. But God continued and continued and continued and continued to deal with me about it. Words spoken to me about it, and I'm like, oh man, okay. All right, Lord. Well, if you've called me to do it, then let's do it. But we have to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

A Christian, to be a Christian, let's talk about being a Christian for a minute. To be a Christian is to be a living sacrifice. To be a Christian is to be a living sacrifice. A Christian does not blend in with the culture of the world. If you want to be a Christian, you have to be set apart. You cannot blend in to the cultures of this world. And to be a Christian means that you have been transformed, not conformed. When people look at you, they should say, Man, who is that? That can't be so and so. No, when people look at you, they need to see something different. You gotta be a living sacrifice for the Lord. This is not about me and my life. He is the one that gave me this life for a purpose. See, we miss that. I'm gonna get out here and live. I'm gonna get out here and live. What? What does that mean to just? Live it up. That's a thing that we say. I'm gonna get up here and live it up. I'm gonna just have a good old time. Well, you little rebel, you. But when we get the realization that God is He's the one that gave me this life, not to live it my own way, but to live it His way, and He gave me a life to live for Him and through Him, there's such peace when you get this revelation. If your version of Christianity, and I'm thinking, if your version of Christianity looks like the world holding this, something is wrong. I'm gonna listen, God just getting really, really, really real with me this morning. If your version of Christianity hanging on to this thing, but still looks like the world, that is not Christianity. See, there's there's there's something happened over like the last decade or so where there is this flip within certain almost the religious sex. Within the Christian body, if you will, where they completely swerved into the other ditch. Because guess what? For every mile of road, there's two miles of ditch. All right, and a lot of Christians are either way over here where it's really religious and it's very boxed in, or they're really over here where they're just a little too free and they smell and look like the world. There is a middle road that Jesus walked. That is the narrow, it's a narrow path. So think about it this way it's such a narrow path. People are swerving on one side of the road to the other side. And when this side does something, they go back over here, and then they're way over, they're very unstable. But if your version of Christianity looks like the world is holding this thing right here, that's not Christianity. We got to live based upon pri uh biblical principles. We have got to live based on biblical principles and adopting the lifestyle of Jesus. How he lived was our model. And if it doesn't go based on this model, I'm just saying. Something just flipped where everybody felt like, well, I gotta get in there and be like them so I can touch them. What? You gotta be like them so you can touch them? No, you need to look different, sound different, walk different, talk different, smell different, for goodness sakes. You gotta be different if people want to ask you the question, why are you so different? Let's look at Matthew 7, 21 through 23. All right. Some in this, Matthew 7 tells us not, everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father, see, walking this Christian walk out is not just the talk part. See, you you walk, you walk the walk, but too many people talk in the talk. Not everybody that says, Lord, Lord's going to get into heaven. But those that are walking and talking, those that are moving. See, when you open your mouth, you're like, I know all the churchy language. I know what to say, I know how to get people going and how to get people in there. And see, unfortunately, we put people in positions they should have never been in because they're real good about getting people in and making them feel just motivated. Well, that's just great. We need to motivate one another and get each other out there and being discipled. But they were talking the talk and they weren't walking the walk. It's not that, hey, I posted my scripture today. Don't I look good? See, that's another downfall of social media. I posted my little post today. Don't I just look great? No, no, no. This this this this this this this walk is about it's about it's about obedience. Our walk with God is about following him at all costs.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

All costs.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

In that verse, not everybody that says Lord is gonna enter. That that should make that should make us all kind of stop and go, hmm.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Yeah, lukewarm said, I will spit you out of my mouth. You're either hot or you're cold. Lukewarm ain't gonna ain't gonna get it.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

One of the most I mean, and it's just it's it's a it's a it's it's just truthful. It's a terrifying truth. One of the most things, truths in Scripture is that there's gonna be people who use the name of Jesus, but they never belong to him.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Do we understand this?

SPEAKER_00 27:54

And we we even saw that in the instance where Paul was. Do you remember the possessed woman when they would walk by? They would be like, They're followers of the way, they're going to speak. I mean, somebody was making an announcement about something great, but they were completely possessed in the moment until Paul called that thing out. We cannot afford to look godly but not be godly. We can't afford that. We have got to follow him at all costs and allow the fire of God to burn away the things in our life that should not remain. We have got to allow him to do that. 2 Timothy 3, 1 through 5. This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Perilous times are going to come. There's going to be forms of things that look godly, but denying the power of God. Paul, again, thank goodness for Paul.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

Paul warned of a generation that would have religious appearance without any spiritual substance. There's a lot of things in our day that look holy, they sound holy, it looks like the Bible. It even quotes scripture, but it does not have the power of heaven. It does not have any power, it has no is not being holy, spirit-led. It looks spiritual, but it ain't.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

We live in that generation that Paul talked about. Things that look holy. But they ain't holy. Yeah. Josh said, I mean, the devil knows scripture, for goodness sakes, if we want to get technical. We're not just fighting darkness.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

We're confronting deception today. We're not just fighting the rulers and the principalities of darkness, but deception is everywhere among us. And I tell you guys this all the time. Be careful, be careful, be careful of the voices you're listening to, especially the voices on social media. Because social media is free. Anybody can make an account, put their little picture up there, make a nice little bio, and start spatting off things. You don't, I mean, I I I was I was a guy you didn't know at one point, too. But hopefully, I hope that I've been able to show you some fruit as we've gone because I am going to be one that always points you back to studying for yourself and get back in here. Okay? Don't just don't end with me. Don't end with the pastor on Sunday or the Bible study on Wednesday or the whatever you got going on. I want you to go look this up. I want you to go find things. And I want to be just one that points you to where you need to go to find what it is you're looking for, or find what it is we're talking about. But we're not just fighting darkness here. We're fighting major deception in the church. Started to talk about being careful on social media and it froze. Oh my goodness. Swipe out and but you know. Maureen, welcome in. Good morning to you. I lost everybody on the other ones due to the power failure, and it's not letting me come back, but we're good on TT, so that's where we're sticking. Telling people to get in the word. I mean, yeah. That is the greatest message I'll ever tell you. Pick this up, get in it. Every single day in the secret place.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Please, that is, we got to get back to that.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

And I want you to note, too, that just a form of godliness, a form of godliness is dangerous because it looks right on the outside, but remains empty on the inside. There is no sustenance to it. A tree can look beautiful on the outside, but what's going on on the inside may cause it to never produce fruit. It's beautiful, it's large, and it has green leaves, but there is no fruit. It looks like a tree, but it ain't no fruit tree. You're after fruit trees. One thing people lack is discernment. Discernment, discernment, discernment. And that's what I'm saying. There's a great deception that's going on within our generation. And if you don't have discernment, you're going to be one that fought. And that's something else too. If you're not one that gets in here, let me just let me just be honest for a minute. I'm trying to word this correctly. If you're not one that gets in here on your own, you will become like the old country song we sang back in the 90s. You got to stand for something or you're fall for anything. So then this inkling of something comes along and your flesh agrees with it. And it was maybe a form of God. Maybe something was said and scripture was taken completely out of context, and you went, ooh, that sounds good. I like what this guy has to say. And then you start listening to this guy, and he makes your flesh feel so good that you're the godliest person on earth. That's what deception does. It comes and takes some of this and it twists it. If it even uses any of this, it may talk about how God, this, that, and the other, and blah blah blah, blah, blah, and it never points you to any of this. And then what do you got to stand on? There's no sustenance to that. There's no sustenance to that. But you've got to stand for something, or you will fall for anything that comes along. And a tree that is not rooted real good, when the wind goes, it falls over. If it ain't God, a little, a little old breeze comes by and that tree just goes. Look for those that are rooted and grounded. And no matter what storms come, they're still standing there, and there's beautiful fruit hanging on their tree. And in turn, you be one that is so rooted and grounded by the streams of the living water that brings life and brings fruit, that you too are a strong tree that produces much fruit and doesn't just go and topple over. Amen. Revelations, oh boy, let's go to Revelation 3, 15. I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. And because you're lukewarm, I will I will spew thee out of my mouth, is what the King James says. I will spew you out of my mouth. Jesus is not pleased with lukewarmness. That's not that's not a cute little saying we've said before. That's a severe warning. When Jesus says, I'll spew you out of my mouth. Jesus would rather deal with somebody just ice cold who knows that they are just lost out here in this world than he would with somebody who is lukewarm trying to convince themselves that they're all right. I got this together. I got it. Nope. I'm good. I'm good. That's lukewarm. He would rather deal with somebody that's cold and say, I know I'm lost, I know I'm broken, I can't go any further. Lord, I surrender. Lord, take me now. He would rather take that person because he can do something with that person. He can't do nothing with lukewarm. There's not a shot with lukewarm. They got it all figured out and they're right there in the middle. But on the flip side, he can do something with this red hot. I'm sold out for you, Jesus. I'm going where you tell me to go. God, I deny my flesh today. I take up my cross and whatever you have for me, I'm going to stand up and I'm going to walk and I'm going to rise and I'm going to speak forth the truth in love to everyone that I encounter today because Lord, I want to be about your business. He can do something with the red hot one too. Icy cold, lost, red hot on fire. Do not be one that feels like you have it all together, because I don't. I don't have it all together. But I know I'm red hot for Jesus and I'm going to do whatever he wants me to do, and I'm going to go where he wants me to go at all costs. That's where we're at. That's how we walk this thing out. Thank you, Jesus. James 1 and 22, be doers of the word and not just hearers only. Being hearers only, you deceive your own selves. I mean, after studying Acts comes our responsibility. Now hearing the truth, but not obeying it is self-deception. You're deceiving yourselves when you hear the truth, but you don't do it. When we know better, we do better. It is one thing to be out there in the world not knowing what you're doing and you do. But if you're a believer and you know better and you've heard and you haven't done, come on. James chapter 1, verse 22. Or Jacob. James. What about Acts 17 and 6? Let's go back to Acts. These that have turned the world upside down have come hither also. These that have turned the world upside down have come. The early church did not fit into the culture. The early church did not fit into the culture of the day. It did not squeeze itself into a cultural box to be accepted. It looked different. It sounded different. It had to be different because this was the message that needed to stand out was the gospel of Jesus. They came in and disrupted everything. Religious systems, the world, they came in and disrupted the whole thing. All right, they weren't trying to be accepted, but they were trying to tell the people truth so they would accept the truth and begin to walk in the way. They were ones that obeyed Christ. They obeyed Christ. The problem today is that the church is not too much different than the world. Much of the church, much of the church isn't different enough.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

And they just accept whatever. They just do whatever.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

So many of us have gone through those seasons where we're just like, we're uh I'm good. I'm good. You don't need to do nothing with me, Jesus. I'm alright. Every day I get up, I say, Lord, break me today. What is something that you need to come and break on the inside of me that I have built up myself? We've got to ask Him to come tear up walls. I think a lot of us have been in that season where we feel like we've been okay and we got our ideas together and we sort of know what who this Jesus is. My my but as the church, we've got to look different. We've got to sound different. Something's got to be different. And the fruit that you got hanging on your tree has got to taste different than the fruit of this world. Galatians 2 and 20, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ that lives in me. All right. This Christian life is about Christ coming in and taking over. You come and take over. Come and take over, Lord. It's not about Jesus coming and helping me with my agenda, but it is about Jesus coming, Christ in me. I live, but it's not I that lives, it's Christ that lives in me. He is the one that gave me life. Amen. We've got to allow God to come in and take it all. And when you do allow God to come in and take it all, you will never experience that type of freedom anywhere else. But it's a decision. It's a decision that has to be made. Christ in me is the one that brings me life. And I want to live life to the fullness that He has given me. And there's so many things that weigh us down. So many people that struggle with so many different addictions and different things, and they they sort of kind of got it together, but they don't have it together, and they're a mess, and God wants it all. God wants it all.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

Thank you, Lord, for your healing power. Thank you, Lord, for your deliverance, God. First Peter 1 and 15.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

But as he which is called you is holy, so you also be holy in all manner of conversation. In all manner of conversation. Holiness is still the call, y'all. He's still calling us to holiness. He didn't call us to be perfect, but he's calling us to holiness. Y'all know I use this illustration all the time. So many of us have tried to be perfect, we fail and fail and fail. If we would keep our eyes set on Jesus, keep Jesus at the forefront, He is the way to holiness. He is the way that brings holiness to your life.

SPEAKER_01 43:14

He's calling us to holiness. He's calling us to consecration again. He's calling us unto Him. He created us for purpose. He created us. He created us to love. We've got to be holy in the way we talk, holy in the way that we move. Holy in public, holy in private. Hello. Matthew five and thirteen.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

I got just a little bit more for us this morning. You're the salt of the earth. You're the light of the world. If the church loses its distinction here, it has lost its witness. If it loses the distinction of what it is, if we as Christians lose our distinction of who we really are in Christ, we have lost our witness. I mean, if we don't look any different than the world, I mean, why would anybody want to talk to us? Well, if that looks the same, why would I why would I want to even discuss what you have to discuss?

SPEAKER_01 44:45

I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

So we cannot admire the early church without answering the call that Jesus placed upon them. We can't just sit here and admire that. We have to answer the call today. What did we say earlier? They prayed, they obeyed, they suffered, they preached the gospel, they gave generously to one another and those around them. They stood together, and they did not live for the comfort of this life, but they lived for Jesus and whatever he said to do. Are we willing to do that? In an hour of confusion, compromise, deception, all kinds of distractions, busyness, hurriness, worry. Oh my goodness. Are we willing to back up for a minute and go, Lord, what in the world do I need to do right now?

SPEAKER_01 45:52

What do you have for me right now?

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Sam, we'll never be perfect. But we can keep our eyes set upon Jesus and we can follow after him. So what does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean to be a follower of the way? It all boils down to I'm not my own. You're not your own. I'm not my own.

SPEAKER_01 46:24

It means I've been bought with a price. I've been bought with a price. I don't live for I don't live for a platform. I don't live for the comforts of my flesh anymore. Being a Christian means that I belong to Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

I belong to him and him alone. He's my source of life. He is my strength. That means that I have to get up and I have to unalive every day. I have to obey even when it's costly. You have to obey.

SPEAKER_01 47:12

You have to move and breathe with him.

SPEAKER_00 47:19

Being a Christian means that I'm going to pray while everybody else is asleep. Any ever wake you up at 2 or 3 in the morning? You just want to go back to sleep. There's a reason you're up. That means I'm going to get up and I'm going to pray. It means I'm going to stand for what I believe in when others had said, you know what, I'm not going to ruffle any feathers. There's a rightful way to take care of business. We've been taught that all through the Word. Being a Christian means I'm going to burn for him in the secret place, not just in the public arenas. If you're not burning with him in the secret place, don't jump on social media. If I'm not burning with him, I ain't jumping on here. Because out of that place is where everything else flows. Out of the secret place and spending time with the Lord is how I can be a good husband, how I can be a good father. How I can be a good encourager and cheerleader and help disciple people and mentor people. Everything flows out of my secret place with God. I can do nothing apart from Him. So if I'm not making that a priority, I shouldn't be doing anything else. I'm not going to be doing anything else if I haven't been with the Lord. This is not the hour to be playing church. This is the hour to arise and be the church. That's it. So are we going to arise and be the church today, wherever we go? Or are we just going to jump off of another morning charge and go, man, that was a great message. And that's where it stops. You got to get before him. See who needs to be in that circle. Trust him with everything, every decision. There's no decision too big, there's no decision too small. Include the Lord in every decision. In every decision. That's today's morning charge. Before you move on with your day, take a moment and let what you've heard settle into your heart. Faith isn't just something we talk about, it's something we live out in the ordinary moments of everyday life. Wherever today takes you, remember this. You don't walk into it alone. God is already ahead of you, working in ways you may not even see yet. Stand firm, walk in wisdom, lead with love, and don't forget who you belong to. Until next time, keep your heart anchored, keep your faith strong, and keep living out real talk, real Jesus, real life. We'll see you on the next morning charge.