The Cost of Staying the Same

On today’s episode of The Morning Charge, Joshua wraps up the week by talking about the cost of staying the same. After a week of conversations on surrender, daily obedience, biblical order, and making the home an altar again, this episode asks the question many people avoid: what happens if we keep hearing the truth but refuse to change?

This is a strong Friday challenge for anyone who feels stuck, stagnant, spiritually dry, or tired of going around the same mountain. Joshua teaches that there is a cost to change, but there is a much greater cost to staying the same, resisting conviction, delaying obedience, and continuing to live with open doors that keep bondage alive.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• There is a cost to change, but staying the same costs more.
• Hearing the truth without obeying it can harden the heart.
• Delayed obedience is still disobedience.
• Open doors give the enemy access, but surrender brings freedom.
• Your refusal to change affects more than you; it affects your family, home, future, and assignment.
• God’s mercy is still available when we turn, repent, and surrender fully.

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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. So this week we have talked a lot about surrendering the goodness of God. Remember, I started off with the goodness of God, and the goodness of God is chasing after us. But I've got to have a life laid down. I've got to be surrendered now. Lord, I give you everything. It's just like the song, Goodness of God. Well, that song teaches us a lot of things in the few short little lines there. With my life laid down, I'm surrendered now. I give you everything. So if you want to be surrendered, you've got to lay down your life and you have to give him everything. See, that's the that's the point we don't want to talk about. Ooh, the everything part. And we've gone down what a surrendered life looks like. We have gone through actionable steps this week on what you can do to have a surrendered life, steps you can take to do that. But there's one important thing that I have had just a few glimpses into, but I haven't fully talked about it. And I was praying this morning. I was like, Lord, how are we going to tie all of this in together? I want to be able to tie this in. It's Friday. Let's tie all of this in. Lord, what you've been speaking, unless He's got something different and he changes things in a moment. I mean, we might get on something else. I don't know. But what the Lord started to remind me this morning, and he started to speak to me about, was the cost of staying the same. See, there's an invitation to lay our lives down. There's an invitation to begin to change and to begin to trust him with our lives and stay rooted and grounded in his word. And there's things that you've got to do on a daily basis to be in that place. But what is the cost of staying the same? See, that's what we're going to talk about this morning. God is merciful, God is patient, God is gracious. But if a person continues to refuse to surrender, if a person continues to refuse to resist that conviction, all right, he doesn't come to condemn, but he will come and shine his light bright in your heart and on your life so you can see the things that need to be dealt with. But if somebody continues to resist the conviction, resist surrendering, they continue to ignore the truth of what God is speaking to them about. And someone that just continues to choose the same old ways, there is a cost to staying the same. There is a cost to change. Oh, but there is a much bigger price to pay by staying the same. And refusing and being stubborn. You don't want to, you don't want to step out. You don't want to change. You want to stay in the same old mess that you're in because you're caught in the same old traps of the enemy. Your eyes need to be open today and understand the weightiness of this and the cost of not changing. Like I said a few moments ago, we've talked about what surrender. We've talked about walking out this daily walk. We've talked about putting order back in the home. We've talked about making your home an altar. All right, those are the places that we have been. Oh, there's a cost either way. And once again, where you, I mean, you you're you're cautious about where you put this. Whatever God has placed in your hands, you're, you, you should be conscious about where that goes. It's currency, it's a current, it flows. But there's an even bigger price tag on not changing versus walking with the Lord. There's freedom when you walk with the Lord. And it's almost like the vision God gave me the other day. I think I explained that to you guys here. I was standing there and there were two paths. There was pennies in a pile right here. So you got to a crossroads where the path split. There was pennies in a pile here, but there was a huge mountain and a long path leading to that mountain. You can see the mountain way off in the distance. What happens is people will settle for this little bit right here because it's convenient and it doesn't require anything. It's all right there. But the mountain of promise is this way. Yeah, but I gotta put on boots and put on my backpack, and I've got to, I've got to walk that entire path to get there. I but I have this little bit right here. See, there's a lot of people who are diving headfirst into that sin, into that, into that little bit. You getting your little bit fixed over here, wondering why your life ain't blessed. Or on the flip side, if you leave sin out of it, a lot of people are just settling in their life instead of going this way. You you'd rather just stick with what you have with your little bit because it's familiar and it's and it's constant and it's there. But to go that way, I'm gonna have to roll up my sleeves and I'm gonna have to put some elbow grease in this thing, and I'm gonna have to go. And I can't see that path all the way. What do you think trusting God is? What is trusting God? Trusting God is it was the things that you can't see. So you're gonna keep and now and I'll tell you this a whole big pile of pennies, I mean, you you can only scoop up so much and carry that's heavy. I don't I don't know, that might actually be worth something now since they're not making them anymore. But the point of the story is that's heavy. You have to load them in a wagon, and then you where are you gonna drag it? You're gonna drag that somewhere? No. But we've talked about all things this week. So now the question is, well, what what what should I do? What should I do? Let's take that question just a step further. Instead of asking what should I do, we should be asking ourselves, what happens if I refuse to do it? It's not what should I do. What happens if I refuse to step in? If I refuse. All right, because there's there, hey, there's a cost to change, yes, but there is a cost to staying the same. So let's jump into this. There's something that, and I mentioned this to someone yesterday, and something that Brandy and I have kind of seen over and over as a pattern with with Brandy and myself, and it's it's kind of a running thing between us. If you see me and my wife come on the scene in someone's life, many times it feels like like God is giving that person one more chance to get things in line and truly surrender. I don't know why that is, but anytime the Lord has put us on assignment with with with with with with people in the past, it's almost like we begin to see and we begin to pray. And it's like, okay, God's giving you, He's got this. So it's that running thing with people that know us, old Josh and Brandy. Because God loves you and He gives you so many chances. He's given me, you know how many chances he's given me with things in my life? And finally the light bulb went off. Now the light bulb will go off, but what you do after the light bulb moment, what you do after the light bulb moment matters more than just having that moment with God. That's something else we've talked about this week. The actionable steps that you lay out and that you put together and you begin to walk a different way, that is what's going to take your life to the next step, or it's gonna leave you right here in the pond with the pigs still. I was gonna say the pig pen, but but it's like being you want to waller around where you are or step up and arise into where God is calling you. God will send you warnings, he will send you the truth, he will send you people, God will send you conviction, he'll send you opportunities to turn from where you've been and what you've been doing, but but he does not do that forever. If there's a person that will continue to harden themselves, he won't do that forever. God is gracious, yes. God is kind, God is patient. He showed us what love looks like. God is love. So he is patient and he is kind and he is all these things, but there there is a real danger in continually resisting him. Or you do well and then you're not doing well, and doing well and then you're not doing well, and then you're doing well. Yeah, uh, Brandy Brandy said he gives us free will. You can continue to run around and do what you're doing. He gives you the free will to do so. But if you're wondering why, this ain't going right, that ain't going right, this ain't lining up, that ain't happening, this ain't moving. If you're wondering where there's a log jam somewhere, what we don't realize is that we are blaming the log jam on the enemy. He's causing things not to flow, he is causing things, but what you don't remember is every time you opened a door to him, you're the one that went and cut another tree down to put across the river. With the open doors you have in your life, you're causing the dam to form. It is God Almighty that can have enough dynamite to blow that dam to smithereens so that the water will begin to f to rush. All right, there's a lot of people who are standing in stale, stagnant waters this morning, and you're wondering why. And you've been blaming it on the devil. And the devil's like, they think that's me. All I had to do was whisper lies in their ear, and they're the ones that built that. Do we understand this or do we do we not understand this? The enemy has no power except to get you to move in wrongful actions and do things. You got to keep yourself, you got to keep your house swept out. You got to keep your house clean. You got to forgive people you don't really want to forgive, and you've got to you've got to cast down those thoughts and put on the mind of Christ every day. You have to deny yourself, pick up your cross daily and follow him. It is a choice every single day. Yeah, the the only power the enemy has is the power you give him. And when you open up a door, you've invited him on in. You've invited him in. Yeah. Yeah, Landon, we got to put our armor on. We have to put our armor on. If you're not shit, get it, get in here and look up the armor. You better be wearing every single piece of that armor because if you're not, you have weak points before the enemy. Oh, but when you surrender to the Lord and you lay it all down and you cast all of that down on the altar, all that sin, all that, all those wrongful thoughts, all those actions, all those emotions, all of those things, when my life laid down. I'm surrendered now. I give you everything. And then while you're at it, keep yourself down there on the altar. Every day, get yourself on the altar of the Lord. And no, I'm not talking about furniture. We went over that this week. What I mean is you need to live a surrendered life. That's what it means to keep your life on the altar. You're surrendered in everything. You're surrendered. And every decision you make, make sure you're surrendered. And everything that comes out of your mouth, make sure you surrender it before it comes out of your mouth. Every wrong motive that you have, every wrong thought that you have, cast it down and make that thing surrender unto the Lord. This, these are the things that we should be doing. Because the greatest danger is not ignorance here. The greatest danger is hearing and refusing to do. I can sit here and talk until I am blue and purple and I have no breath left in my lungs, and I have said it all, and I've said it all 15 million times. If you choose not to move, you are in a very dangerous spot. It is one thing to not know and do. There's a lot of people out in the world who are caught up in the things that they have seen, the wrong motives and the wrong things, and growing up in the wrong atmosphere of a household, and they have false identity. You know what? They did what they saw. It is one thing for them to do, but it's another thing to know the truth, be moving in the truth, but you're going to do those things anyway. That is dangerous, waters, because you know better. And this is not about being perfect. It's about keeping your eyes on Jesus and denying yourself every single day. A lot of people act like the problem is that they that they, I don't know enough. I don't know enough. I don't have enough whist. But you know what? That's that's often that's not the issue. The issue here is that they have heard the truth, they have felt the conviction, but they still refuse to change. Well, I just need to read a little more before I get there. Well, I just need to do this. Well, I just need to. Do you? James 1 and 22 tells me that I need to be doer of the word, not just a hearer, only deceiving myself. So if that's the case, then I don't just need a little more, I don't know, I don't need a little more knowledge. You don't need one more morning charge before you make decisions to change. You don't need one more uh church service to go to, all right, this is a Sunday, I'm gonna get it. He wants to meet you where you are right now at 8:21 a.m. Central Standard Time. The Lord wants to meet with you. You ain't gotta squeeze yourself into a building, you ain't gotta put on the right clothes, you ain't gotta smile the right way. God wants to meet you in the middle of your mess and say, are you ready to be done with what you're doing? Are you ready to be finished with this life because I have something so much better for you? And I want to bust that dam down with all the dynamite of heaven this morning so water begins to flow in your life. The blessings that I have for you, I can give to you because you know what? There's some things he can't give to you because you would squander it away until you fully live a surrendered life. What blessings are you holding up in your life? Oh, yeah. What blessings are you holding up in your life? The longer you hear the truth without obeying it, the easier it will become to lie to yourself. Everybody does that. Everybody struggles with that. I'm not the only one. It's okay. I can do this and I can do that. And it what kind of lies is the enemy speaking to you? If it doesn't line up with this and it goes against this, and you're trying to pick this apart to find your favorite verse to try to justify what you're doing, oh, there's some deep-seated issues that need to be dealt with. A lot of people telling themselves, I'm fine. Well, I'll I'll get I'll get to it. I will get to it. We'll get there. It's gonna be okay. It's not that serious. You ever talk to somebody? Somebody who's really wanting help, but when you start talking and things really start getting deep, they're ready to cut that thing off and be like, it's not that serious. It's gonna be fine. Well, I'm gonna get through this. I'm gonna get through this. No, you're not gonna get through it alone. We all need accountability in our lives. Or my favorite thing. So many times people continue to do things and they thought, well, God knows my heart. Yes, he does. And the things that you are displaying on the outside must be ten times worse on the inside. He does know your heart and he's ready for you to change. But so many times we'll make up excuses and we're trying to find a way to justify the things that we're doing. One day I'm gonna change. I'm gonna change one day. He knows my heart. He loves me. Yeah, he loves, yes, he does. And those are, I mean, yes. And you said very truthful statements in that moment, but you're twisting it and you're justifying it. He he loves you enough to not leave you where you are, and he's giving you 15 million chances to change from where you are. What are you going to do with it? And then you wonder, why has he left me? He hasn't really left you, but he's he's taking his hands off. He's like, when you're ready, I am standing right beside you, but I am not going to continue to touch or press on that today. Apostle said it, accountability is the key. Just own that so deliverance can come to you. So deliverance can be, so deliverance can come swiftly and quickly, rushing in to purge out all the stuff that needs to be purged out. Because if you have opened the door to the enemy, that means you've let him in. Can a Christian carry a demon? Nobody asked that, but a good friend of ours wrote a book on that. Can a Christian carry? Oh yeah, you opening up, you're opening up doors to the enemy in your life. You giving him legal rights to come on in and just do whatever. You can't just say, there's going to be many that say, Lord, Lord, and he's going to say, Go away from me. I don't know you. But I did all these things in your name, Lord. Yeah, you did all those things, but you don't know me. I don't know you. Gave you opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to come to the real thing, which is denying yourself, taking up your cross and following him. And that means you've got to surrender everything. If you have not surrendered everything, I don't want to be one in that day where I said, Lord, Lord, I did this. We did the morning charge and we did fire and water ministries. You know what? All of this is stuff. These are these are things, these are tools that the Lord can use to be able to bring truth to people. But if my relationship ain't right with the Lord and I've allowed the enemy in my life and I have all these open doors, everything, I don't want him looking at me and be like, oh, that was lovely and all of that was great. But you know what? I I I don't I'm I'm trying to I'm trying to look through here and and I don't I don't I don't see you. Did you have a surrendered life? Did you did you have everything laid down? Did you did you follow this did you follow the freedom book that I gave you? This ain't the rule book. Did you follow the freedom book I had for you? I'm trying to look for you. Did you were you spending time in my presence? Did I let me see? I'm sorry, y'all. If this is gonna be real talk, real Jesus, real life, then we gotta have the real talks. You want to live the real life, but you ain't wanting to have the real talk. In here, we gotta have the real talk. Because if if we can't have the real talk, then what are we doing? I don't want this to be another little old service where you come in and you you feel good when you leave. Of course, I want you to feel empowered when you leave. There's a lot of people taking this a little slightly different angle. There's a lot of people who you're trying to comfort yourselves, and you've been telling yourself, I'm not, I'm not saying no to God. I'm just saying I'm not ready yet. I'm not saying no. I'm just not ready yet. Hebrews 3 and 15. Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. In other words, correction is going to come, things are going to come, there's going to be assignments that are going to come, all different things that are going to come to you today. And when you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. 2 Corinthians 6 and 2 says, Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. In other words, behold, now is your moment. See, God deals in the now of obedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Half obedience is disobedience. Whatever God said is what you need to do. Now, right now, every time you delay what God is saying clearly to you, you strengthen the grip of what he is trying to free you from. If he is trying to have you release something out of your heart or release things back to him, you've tried to control it all. This is mine, this is mine, this is mine, this is mine. I got all of this, I'm going to control all of this, I got all of that. And then you're trying to do everything all by yourself and wondering why you're you're overwhelmed and you're worried and you're and you're and you're stressed out all the time and you don't have any peace. And this is this is all that this is tying in everything we've talked about over the past few days. The longer you delay, the harder your heart is going to become. Obviously, in Hebrews, we see that. If you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts. That means that there's a possibility for you to harden your heart. Why did it why do you have to say that? Because the longer you delay. The harder your heart is going to become. The more normal compromise is going to feel to you. You can throw a little white lie here and a little thing over here. And the more you do that, the longer you delay to surrender everything to the Lord, you just do it and don't even think about it. It's almost like your conscious is not even a thing anymore. You're pushing down all the all the convictions that God is bringing to you. And I'm not dealing with this today. I'm not dealing with that. I'm going to push that right back down. We're going to think about something else. And see, the Lord sometimes He'll try to bubble some things up and you're pushing it down, saying, I'm going to think on things that are lovely and pure and holy and good. And well, God is trying to raise some things up so that you can repent and you can throw all of that, get all of that junk out. So then you can think on things that are lovely. But you can't think on anything because it keeps on rising back up and rising back up and rising back up. It keeps, it keeps bubbling all back up because he keeps trying to give you chance after chance to deal with the things that are going on and he wants to partner with you to help you get through these issues and these things and release things fully to him. Oh, but you keep pushing it down. You know, those things that you're suppressing has a spring attached to it. When you push it down, it's just a matter. It's like a jack in the box. It might stay down for a little while. Dun dun dun dun bump. It's going to pop back up again. And then you try to suppress it down. And then it's going to pop back up again because it's got a spring on the end of that thing. So the cost of staying the same is the hardness of your heart. And this is just this is one of the first things that begins to happen when you decide to stay the same. When people refuse to surrender, they do not stay neutral. You don't stay in the same place. Your heart becomes hardened. Proverbs 29 and 1 tells us that he who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed. And that without remedy. There's no remedy. That made me stop when I was when I was searching out of scripture for this. I'm like, my gosh, Proverbs 29:1. He who is often rebuked, in other words, things have been exposed. That's not right. We need to talk about that. They're rebuked and they harden their neck. Suddenly they're going to be destroyed and without remedy. Stuck in that position. Because I can tell you this, and when I look at this, when it says harden your neck, okay, this goes beyond a hard heart. A neck, if you have a hardened neck, that means I can't I can't see unless I unless I turn my whole body. So I'm not able to see as quickly as I can if I'm able to turn my head. If you resist correction long enough, destruction comes like that, and it's gonna stiffen you up. And when you can't see the attacks of the enemy at that place, in that point, your reaction time is a lot slower. And the mighty devourer comes to devour. It's just a real thing. I mean, it's it's in here. God, God doesn't, and God doesn't want that for his people. And people in that point in time, uh he's left me and he doesn't love me. And he the enemy's got them believing all kinds of lies about he's he's he's made me walk through this this sickness and he put this on me and he's made this and he's causing stress and he's made my marriage fall apart. And and he you start blaming stuff on God at that point. God didn't put you in that position. He didn't do that to you. Why do you think his word begins to warn us? There's warnings in here on not opening doors to the enemy. He sent us the truth of his word, and he sent us the he sent us his son Jesus to tell us the truth, and and he gives us chance after chance after chance after chance to turn to the truth. And if a person continues to put themselves in a position where they're stiffening themselves, now their heart is growing hard and hard and even harder by the day. And then a hardened heart stops responding rightly to God and begins pointing the finger and begins pointing blame on things God never did. Persistent rebellion can at some point lead to God just giving a person over. And I don't I don't say this to say that God is one that just I mean, he's not just gonna push you aside, but what I say, he just he backs his hand off. He's gracious, but his hand eventually will lift off of your situations and your life if you're not willing to surrender. And he's like, I'm here. I love you. I've tried to show you some things, I've tried to bring conviction to your life. I've given you some gentle nudges here, and we continue to go around the mountain and go around the mountain and go around the mountain and go around the mountain. Amen. Do I have any advice for someone who is losing their faith? Blue collar changer. I don't fully know your situation. I don't know how you got to the point, but there has to be, there was a disconnect at some point. I don't know if you put too much faith in man. There's so many different variables out there, but I do know this one thing. If you do not spend time in the presence of the Lord every day, if we don't work our way back to the garden where we're walking with him in the cool of the day, that doesn't mean you're going out and finding what I mean is where you're getting alone with him and you're saying, Lord, I really need to hear from you. Maybe you've heard a whole lot of voices in your life, maybe a lot of conflicting information, maybe, maybe, maybe, I don't know. There's so many different variables of things that you can go through, my friend. But what I do know is you got to spend time in the secret place with the Lord. You have to spend time reading his word to understand and allow the Holy Spirit, if you've accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life, he said he was going to give you a guide, and that was your that was the Holy Spirit. And he gave you his Holy Spirit to help lead you through this as you read it. Go back to the book of John, my friend. Start in chapter 1, verse 1. Go through that gospel again and just get to know who Jesus really is. And in your heart of hearts, say, Jesus, I want you to help me understand your word. I'm gonna, but but see, you got to get back in, you have to get back in the secret place. You have to make that time. Early shall you rise and get in the word. All right. I try not to read the word. I mean, I might listen to something at night because I mean, at nighttime, you you you've already given the day all you had. So early in the morning is the best time to really rise and get in your word. I'm just giving y'all honest advice. I mean, you can read you read the word of God all day long. You read it at lunch, I mean, whatever. But I want to give God my best. So you want to get back on track with the Lord, give him your best. Step out and try it. Give it some time and see what God has to show you. Amen. I can only lead you to him. Now go get in his presence. In Romans, in Romans 1. Come on now. Oh my goodness. Well, I was almost there and then I flipped too far. I should have marked it. That's my vault. Romans 1. If I look in chapters 24, 24, Romans 1, 24, and then we're going to look at verses 24, 26, and 28. What do they all have in common? Let's look and see. All right, because biblically, all right, there's support for this idea that persistent refusal can lead to God stepping back and giving people over to the path that they're insisting on going on. He is one that will step back and say, okie dokie. We see this in Romans. This is why God lifted off his restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameless desires. You see that? Oh, well, amen, Whitehammer. Amen. That's what I'm talking about. That's where I usually point people. If things start slipping, get back into John, start reading it, read it slow, go through it. Get back in it with Jesus. And that's just it. Thanks for putting that up there, man. Sometimes, you know, I'm human too. I can sit here and be like, Lord, did we make a difference today? Because if I'm not making a difference, I'm not doing things just to do them. All right. This is I I am only on social media because God said, hey, this is what you need to do. And I'm like, I fought it forever. So thanks for saying that this morning. And I'm I am one. If it's for the one, we're going to do it for the one. If I got on here and there was one person here today and they stuck with it the whole time, that's the one person I was supposed to talk to today. That's how we roll. But here we see Paul say this is why God he lifted his restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameless desires. They were given over to moral depravity, dishonoring their bodies by eschal perversion among themselves. All because they traded the truth of God for a lie. This is in the word. Hello. This is in the word. They worshiped and served the things that God made rather than the God who made all things. Glory and praise is to him forever and ever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them over to their own disgraceful and vile passions. Then you skip down to verse 28. And because they thought it was worthless to embrace the true knowledge of God, God gave them over to a worthless mindset, to break all rules of proper conduct. What I keep seeing here over and over and over, and that's the third time that it states here that God gave them over. God gave them over. God gave them over. God gave them over. Do we not understand and believe that He is the same God yesterday, today, and always? And He will just, He will give you over to your ways, to the path you want to go down. Hey, I gave you free will. You go your way. I'm here when you decide to change. Amen. Stephanie, thank you. Jason, I saw your comment up there too. You guys are, you, you, all of you guys are a morning charge family. We're very thankful for every single one of you guys, man. But when I read this God gave them over three times, Paul explaining this to us, that's that's terrifying to me. And it's not terrifying because God just he he he he stopped being just and he stopped being good and and or because they they kept rejecting the truth. God wants you to get the point that if you choose a path for yourself, he's gonna let you walk on it. He tries to give you warning signs along the way. It's like going down a highway, ain't nobody on the highway, and you got over on the left side of the highway instead of where you should be over on the right side of the highway, and it says, wrong way, wrong way. Every so many feet, wrong way. You see them wrong way signs? You on the wrong side of the road. What are you doing over here? You're supposed to be over there. Wrong way, wrong way, wrong way, wrong way. And you're driving just as fast as you possibly can. He's giving you all the warning signs you can have, and finally he stops giving you warning signs and he says, you know what? If that's the way you want to go, we're just gonna take our hands off of this. There's traffic up ahead and it's coming the opposite direction. If you ain't careful and you're going as fast as you can, probably gonna crash at some point. Hosea 4 and 17 said, Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. What? Yeah, Ephraim over there, he's joined to these idols. Leave him alone. Just leave him alone. Leave him over there. That's where he wants to be. He's got to come to the truth. Psalms 81, 11 through 12. But my people would not heed my voice. So I gave them over to their stubborn heart to walk in their own counsels. Scripture after scripture. I always, I always, I, I, I, I dislike having to say things like this because it's almost like, well, God doesn't care about anybody. He just wants to. No, he loves you so much. He's tried to show you and show you and show you and put warning signs in front of you until finally you are so headstrong and your heart is so hardened. He's like, at some point, when you get to the end of yourself, I will be over here, but I got to leave you alone. You want to worship those idols? Leave him alone. People won't heed my voice. I got to give them over to their stubborn heart. They could, they're gonna walk in their own counsel for a little while. And that's one of those, one of the most frightening judgments is when God lets a person continue to have their own way. That should just be like, ooh. I mean, really, that should be like, ooh, on the inside. I'd love to bring y'all a little fuzzy, nice little something. But this is real talk. Saul. If we look at the story of Saul, it's a warning of what happens when a person continues to resist God. If we want a clear picture of what that looks like, 1 Samuel 15, 22 and 23, that's that's where it says to obey is better than sacrifice. See, Saul wanted to keep appearances. All right, he wanted to, so he's compromising. Here he wants to keep up his appearance here and in refusing full obedience with God over here. I got I gotta keep my appearance, but I gotta, I can't do this because I gotta keep this up. And then what happened? We see in 1 Samuel 15, 26, you have rejected the word of God, and the Lord has rejected you from being king. Since you have rejected the word of God, you have rejected the ways of the Lord, then God has rejected you from being king. And then we see in 1 Samuel 16 and 14, but the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. Remember, David's about to come on the scene here. The Spirit of the Lord's going to visit the one that's going to be faithful, the one that is listening, the one that is walking. But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. It absolutely stands as a warning that persistent disobedience has its consequences. The rejection of God's word can lead to loss in your life. When you are one that knows better, but you want to do this over here anyway. Like I said before, it's one thing to not know and do. It is a totally different ballgame to know better and to do anyway. You cannot keep rejecting God's ways and expect to keep enjoying God's favor in the same way. You cannot do that. You cannot reject this and go against what God says. He wants you to live a life of freedom. You're tearing yourself apart. Think about it for a moment. When you're in that sin and you're in those things and you're trying to create this compromise and you're trying to do all these things, you have no peace. You have nothing but turmoil in your whole life, in your marriage, with your children. I mean, in your businesses, maybe, or your ministry. Hello? I mean, how much light do we see shining over in ministry? A lot of immorality going strong. SUL immorality is running rampant, especially in the Western world. It's all over the place. We've seen it in the news. We see it all over the place, and more and more and more and more comes to light. And it's just, it's just, it's a weighty, weighty thing. And we see it, and we like to point the finger of, I figured that one, and oh, this one, and oh that. We should be in our face before the Lord and say, in Lord, come and rock our nation again. Lord, bring us back to our knees again at the altar of life. Lord, come and when we see things like this, we shouldn't be pointing the finger at them. We should say, oh Lord, come and search me and know me, see if there be any wicked way in me. God, I don't want to fall like that. Lord, I don't want to stand like that right there, Father. Lord, I want to surrender it all to you. I want to live in freedom and I want to live in truth and I want to live in peace and I want to live in wholeness because I got one shot at what I'm doing right now. Is your life a living example for others? Are you bringing people into the truth of the of the gospel, into the truth of what Jesus says, or are you are you trying to put on this front and trying to just be a good little somebody that'll eventually lead to decay? Because what's on the inside is much more important than what's on the outside. You can look the part, you can dress the part, you can try to be the part and smile and just continue to just be on through and be eaten up with darkness on the inside. Until you surrender, there will not be full change. And you can only maintain this for so long. You can only maintain this for so long. Staying the same. If we want to talk about this, the cost of staying the same is the cost of bondage. John 5 and 14, after healing the man, what did Jesus say? Jesus said, sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you. You've had your moment with, you've had your moment. This was wasn't just advice for that man, not just that one guy, this one guy. This is the principle of life that applies to this one guy. No, no. After healing the man, Jesus told him, Sin no more, unless you want even worse things to come upon you. Today was your day of deliverance. You had your moment with Jesus. You, you, you, you, you surrendered things in that moment. Now you need to go and sin no more, or it's going to come back a whole lot worse for you. What you refuse to confront today could grow into something a whole lot stronger. That bondage in your life could be even stronger tomorrow. Or when you have surrendered today and you wake up tomorrow and you choose not to deny yourself or take up your cross and you go forward in life the same way you've always gone forward. See, we we see this so much. I repent, I picked it back up. I repent, I picked it back up. I repent, I pick it. Every time you pick that thing back up, you're picking up more and more and more until the bondage just grow and the chains wrap around you. Jesus came to break every chain, but you're the one that continues to pick those things back up. And we see this in addictions, in eschul, lustful things, bitterness, pride, laziness, disorder, anger, compromise, the lack of prayer and spending time with the Lord in your life. Nothing stays still. What is aliving and growing in your life? And what needs to unalive in your life for good? Once again, once you unalive to something, you cannot, you cannot try to be perfect at that point. I'm gonna try. What do you mean you're going to try? Follow the principles of the Lord. If you follow the principles of the Lord, yeah, the flesh, yeah. You got to unalive to the flesh, hope. That's it. But you got to be willing to walk the way. And when those temptations and those things arise, you either need to have an accountability partner or you got a strong relationship with the Lord. There's things you can put in place to help you walk through it so you don't continue to stumble into the sin that so easily ensnares you. One final thing I want to throw at you, and this is a thing that heads close to me. And parents, we need to pick this up. The cost of staying the same affects not just you, but it affects your family. If there's a husband that is staying stubborn in his ways, the family feels the effects of that. If there's a wife whose heart has been hardened, the family is going to be affected by that. If there's a parent that refuses to change, then the children grow up and they grow up under the weight of that, and they're going to do what they've seen. They're going to do what you do. If you do not surrender as a family, you're going to see disorder. Oh, there's going to be so much disorderly conduct, and it's going to just multiply, and it's going to multiply, and it's going to multiply. Exodus 34 and 7 says sin has generational effects. That's what Exodus 34 and 7 tells us that sin has generational effects. Judges 2 and 10, a generation arose that did not know the Lord. There was a whole generation that rose and didn't know the Lord. How in the world, how in the world did these things happen? It happened when one generation stopped building altars. They stopped obeying the Lord. They stopped honoring God deeply. And they started settling into compromise and going about their big busy lives because they wanted to build their world instead of bring kingdom to earth, just like God has instructed. Your refusal to change does not just affect you. It affects your house, it affects your atmosphere, it affects your children, your peace, your future, your businesses, your ministries, your communities. I mean, I got so many points to this. The hope for you and I is that you don't have to stay the same. Much of what we've talked about this week. There's a cost to staying the same, but there is enough mercy that is still available to you right now, 8 54 AM Central Time. If you will turn. If you'll turn. Isaiah 55, 6 through 7, seek the Lord while he may be found. Let the wicked forsake his way, and he will have mercy on him. Ah, the Bible gives us hope. Once again, these are the warnings that you get before you get to the other part where God removes his hand off the situation. There is mercy for you today. It says right there, God will have mercy on you when the wicked forsake their way. James 4 and 8 says, Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. 1 John 1 and 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us. Hello. This is the hope that we have. Carter Knott, welcome in. Michelle, welcome in. Anyone I have missed, welcome in. And while this warning is something that really just settles upon us, I just want you to know that the door is open for those who truly want to surrender. That's what all this boils down to. It just boils down to surrender. Letting your guard down, letting your walls down, allowing the Lord to come in and show you the things that need to be dealt with and being around those that can help you deal with those things and pray off of those things and walk through those things. That's why I'm big on your reach out and touch you people. You need a community of people where you can talk with them and walk with them. Yes, I'm sure you could, you guys can all message one another on here if you're in an isolated place in your life and this is a stepping in safe place for you. Please reach out to someone in this room and you see those that that engage and and those that are in the chat down there. This is a community thing. I can take you so far. But you gotta have your reach out and touch your people to help walk you through. Which is why he warns you deeply. The Lord loves you deeply, which is why he says, I'll be here. When you want to get serious and get over here and and find out the better ways I have for you, I'll be here. But I gotta take my hands off of where you're at. Leave them alone. He is a gentleman and he loves you. Some of you this morning are here at this place. You're at the crossroads. And it and you're not at this place in your life because God hasn't been good, and you're not here because he hasn't been patient, and you're and you're not here because he hasn't been speaking to you. He has been doing all of those things. But because you have heard him over and over and over and over and over, and maybe now you have decided, hey, I gotta do something. Maybe now you have decided I I I gotta bring myself back over here, and I need to get in my word again, and I need to get in the secret place again, and I gotta find, I gotta find who I am in him again. And maybe you're at that point. What you need to do is just stop and surrender to Jesus right now. Look, just repeat, if that is you this morning, just say, Jesus, I surrender all. If you're truly at that place, maybe you feel like you've laid some things down, but you ain't laid it all down. Say, Lord, say, Jesus, I surrender it all. I surrender my life. I surrender my marriage. I surrender my children. I surrender, I surrender my job, or I or I surrender my business, I surrender the ministry that you've given to me. Right now I surrender my finances, I surrender my house, my vehicle, whatever you got to surrender, you surrender it back unto the Lord and you consecrate yourself and everything that is attached to you back to the Lord. I consecrate it to the Lord. I'm giving it fully back to you. This is all yours, Lord. This life is yours. All the things I have are yours, my marriage is yours, my children are yours, everything is yours. I trust you with it, God. Lord, show me how to steward the things you've given me well. Oh, right now. You just come before him and say, Jesus, Lord, will you give me the fresh start? I want your hand to be upon my life again. I want you to take the dynamite of heaven and blow up the dam that has been blocking the flow of blessings in my family and in my life. I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to be in this place anymore. You've got to come to the end of yourself to see change, change, change in your life. You just got to declare it out of your mouth. You've got to let pride down. You've got to let everything down. All the guards that you've had up, rip off every veil, tear down every wall, and say, Jesus, here I am. I am here exposed before you today. I'm vulnerable before you today. King of kings, Lord of Lords, will you rush in and will you save the day and will you save this life that you have given me, that I have squandered? Lord, I ask, Lord, that you would come and restore the years that I have squandered away on doing this and doing that, because he is a restorer of time. He will do in you what he said he was going to do in you if you will humbly come, if you will lay it all down, if you have a true heart of repentance, there is a way for you. There's a way for you. I am not the guy that takes the bullhorn and yells, repent, repent, repent on the street corner. But I am one that wants to bring truth to you. I am one that wants to bring understanding to you and then lead you into the way of repentance and take you to the feet of the one who can do something about the mess that you're in. He's the only one that can do it. I can't, I can't meet you in the middle of your mess and help you take care of this. The two of us couldn't partner together and have enough time to handle all of this, but he can come in a moment and he can square some things away. And he will give you the blueprints of your life to be able to take care of business once again. He is the one that gives you the chance, the chance, the chance, the chance, the chance. And sometimes, literally, I am the one that shows up and say, here it is. Are you gonna follow the way? What if I were the last messenger in your life and this was the last message you ever received? You've got to treat it like that. What if this was the last time this is ever said to you? Are you willing to come on up and rise a little higher? Are you willing to come back to the Father's feet and just say, Here I am, Lord, do it in me. Come and save my life and lead me in the better way. That's what we've got to decide this morning. And that's between you and him. Don't stay the same today. Lord, I pray a blessing over those that are turning their hearts towards you this morning. Lord, I thank you for speaking your truth to us today. And Lord, I thank you for your mercy. I thank you for your warnings. I thank you for your for your corrections, God. I thank you for not leaving us alone in our stubbornness, God, Lord. Lord, forgive us for every place that we have heard you and we haven't done anything. Lord, Lord, forgive us for every place uh where our hearts, where our hearts have been hardened, God. Come and soften our hearts this morning, Lord, Lord. Forgive us for mistaking your patience for permission to continue to do what we've been doing. When you have just removed your hands, Lord, Father, I pray for those that feel like they have gone too far. God's throwing a life raft out there for you to get a hold of and hold on to. And he's he's he's he's doing this number. He's he's pulling you back in today. But you got to let that let that conviction come to you. You've you've got to let that mercy settle upon you as he's reeling you back in. Your heart has got to be softened and turned back toward him. You've got to surrender your home to him again. You got to surrender the marriage that you've tried holding together. You've got to surrender all that over to him this morning. You've got to surrender your family, your children back to him again because they're just on loan. They're just on loan to you for just a little while to train them and teach them and show them the way. Because they're his. As he's reeling you back in this morning, you've got to let your life come back into alignment with the Lord. And then, and then, and then as he brings you in, run into his arms. Because he's there to welcome you. Just like a prodigal son, just like a prodigal daughter. That's it. Repent, surrender it all, and watch God begin to move in your life. Once again. Holy Spirit, come and move in our life again. As we lay it all down for you. 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.