SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: Things happen in church and you don't want to just you don't want to walk on them too quickly.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: So I just want to let that breathe a little bit.
SPEAKER_02: And you gotta ask yourself, will that be enough for you?
SPEAKER_02: When you get to the end of this, you see you see you see God.
SPEAKER_02: Will that be enough for you?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying there won't be some some joy, some some enjoyable things along the way, but you gotta ask yourself, because we live in a culture that kind of says a lot of things that aren't true about heaven and about God and Christianity.
SPEAKER_02: When you get to the end of this long, long road where you're gonna bury your parents, some people bury children, is it gonna be enough for you that you see God?
SPEAKER_02: Because that's that's what all this is is moving towards.
SPEAKER_02: Every once in a while, people say to me, Hey, when you walked up on the stage and you talked to those people, what'd you say?
SPEAKER_02: I just didn't sense we were done.
SPEAKER_02: And so I looked at them and I said, You got a ham stirring up in you?
SPEAKER_02: And Clyde's like, Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02: So uh let's let's don't be done yet.
SPEAKER_02: Let's uh maybe is there something we can sing with you?
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: Lord Jesus, thank that you you've given us something to cling to, something sure and certain to hold on to.
SPEAKER_02: Uh as we kind of journey down this road.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, as we open up the Bible, it's gonna open us up this morning, tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna be helped by that, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And so uh I pray that you would speak to our head, shape what we think, speak to our heart, align what we feel so that what we hear today manifests itself in our hands this week.
SPEAKER_02: That's the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel is not just for thinking and feeling, it's for doing.
SPEAKER_02: And so uh we we want to be equipped.
SPEAKER_02: We want to be equipped the saints for the work of ministry this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Uh so ask your Holy Spirit to assist and aid and lead us in that process.
SPEAKER_02: Illuminate the Bible, cause it to come to light in our head and in our heart.
SPEAKER_02: That's our prayer, God.
SPEAKER_02: Make it our experience.
SPEAKER_02: We pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You got a Bible, you can take it open up to Matthew chapter 7.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter 7.
SPEAKER_02: I'll start reading in verse 13.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're our guest today, let me explain what we're doing.
SPEAKER_02: We're in a series on the Sermon on the Mount, we just call the Jesus Way.
SPEAKER_02: The way that Jesus taught and talked and invites us to live and think about our life and about the world that we live in.
SPEAKER_02: There's more to life than just getting mad at all the things you see around you that you don't agree with.
SPEAKER_02: And so uh today I want to talk to you this morning about the Jesus way.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the here's the topic for the sermon, the title for the sermon, the undiluted truth.
SPEAKER_02: Undiluted truth.
SPEAKER_02: The Jesus way involves being men and women that are uh of undiluted truth.
SPEAKER_02: You say, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: Let me begin with a confession of mine.
SPEAKER_02: I do not drink much orange juice.
SPEAKER_02: Some of y'all are looking at me like, you're a weird little man.
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh and here's why I don't drink much orange juice.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's in my house, my wife drinks it religiously.
SPEAKER_02: We have like the half-gallon tropicana with calcium.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, do you need that for like osteoporosis or whatever?
SPEAKER_02: What's that about?
SPEAKER_02: She goes, Leave me alone.
SPEAKER_02: Uh but it's there right in the door of our refrigerator.
SPEAKER_02: I just don't really drink any.
SPEAKER_02: Occasionally, if I drink something, my wife's like, Who drank my juice?
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Oh, I thought it was community property.
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh but and and I started thinking about why I don't drink it.
SPEAKER_02: Here's why I don't drink it, because when I grew up, my stepmom, uh, we were poor, and so we had the orange juice every once in a while, and it was always remember the frozen concentrate, you peeled the little white plastic strip off, pop the lid off, and then she would dump it in the pitcher, and then it says on there, add three cans of cold water and stir briskly.
SPEAKER_02: Well, because we were poor, she wanted to multiply, so she would add five or six cans of cold water.
SPEAKER_02: And it wouldn't, at some point, it stopped being orange juice.
SPEAKER_02: One of the worst whippings I got was she put it in front of me and she said, drink that.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, I don't want that.
SPEAKER_02: She goes, Why don't you want that?
SPEAKER_02: I said, It's not orange juice, it's like orange-flavored water.
SPEAKER_02: And I got a whipping for telling the truth.
SPEAKER_02: And I was just like, this is a messed-up household I'm growing up in here.
SPEAKER_02: Uh now, why do I tell you that?
SPEAKER_02: Because we live in a culture that adds five or six or fourteen cans of water to the concentrate when the label clearly says, add three cans of cold water.
SPEAKER_02: We live in a day and age of diluted uh truth.
SPEAKER_02: And but but God is a God of undiluted truth.
SPEAKER_02: And look at me, he doesn't not dilute the truth because he's mad or hateful.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is getting to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, and he wants people to understand what this is all about so that they can make the right, they can have the right response to what he's been saying.
SPEAKER_02: So I want to drop in Matthew chapter 7, starting in verse 13, and we'll read all the way down to verse 23.
SPEAKER_02: He says this, he says, Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is ease that leads to destruction.
SPEAKER_02: And those who enter by it are many.
SPEAKER_02: For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
SPEAKER_02: Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
SPEAKER_02: You will recognize them by their fruits, or grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles.
SPEAKER_02: So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
SPEAKER_02: A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
SPEAKER_02: Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
SPEAKER_02: Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
SPEAKER_02: Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_02: But the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, on that day many will say to me, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?
SPEAKER_02: And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
SPEAKER_02: Depart from me, ye workers of lawlessness.
SPEAKER_02: Now you gotta ask yourself the question I mean, if you're Jesus and you're kind of wanting to get a following, uh, is this really the way you would talk to people?
SPEAKER_02: If you want to understand just the just the preposterous nature of how authentic and truth-telling Jesus was, it would be like going home today and turning on the TV to find out that Hillary Clinton has revealed all of her emails and all the redacted parts that the FBI blotted out, have been uncovered, and then put them out there for public display for everyone to read and just said, Hey, make your own conclusions about me.
SPEAKER_02: This is what I said in all these emails.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all are like, that ain't ever gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02: You you're exactly right.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not being political, I'm just saying this.
SPEAKER_02: This is how crazy it was that Jesus just kind of just lays it out there and says, Hey, here's what the gospel's all about.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what God is all about.
SPEAKER_02: Why does he say these things?
SPEAKER_02: I just want to make five points that come right out of the text that we read this day.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're visiting today, here's what we do.
SPEAKER_02: We teach the Bible, and at the end of our service, we'll give you some time to think about it, kind of process it, ask yourself, what does this look like in my life wrapped around it?
SPEAKER_02: As we go through the sermon, I'll throw out questions and say, hey, here's maybe a good question to think about when you're driving to work tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02: You can jot those down, or you can just listen to them and kind of go, hmm, I may or may not think about that.
SPEAKER_02: Totally up to you.
SPEAKER_02: First thing the text tells us, though, number one is simply this that God wants an understanding, not a following.
SPEAKER_02: God wants an understanding, not a following.
SPEAKER_02: That's why he says, enter by the narrow gate.
SPEAKER_02: For the gate is wide and the way is ease that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
SPEAKER_02: But the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
SPEAKER_02: He said, What do you mean God wants an understanding, not a following?
SPEAKER_02: Here's why.
SPEAKER_02: Because Jesus wants us to go on long after he's gone, long after he goes back, ascends back into heaven.
SPEAKER_02: He wants us to keep carrying on after him.
SPEAKER_02: You don't turn there, but in John chapter 21, you know, the disciples, by the way, towards it when Jesus first started off, he had large crowds following him.
SPEAKER_02: As he got closer and closer to the cross, the crowds dwindled.
SPEAKER_02: If you look in the book of Acts, this whole thing started not with thousands, but more like hundreds.
SPEAKER_02: But these were a hundred, I mean, not hundreds of people that they entered in at the narrow gate and they continued along the way, even though it was difficult.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, you're sitting in this room today because those people were faithful.
SPEAKER_02: See, the Bible, people that really know Jesus live consequential lives.
SPEAKER_02: And you say, Well, what do you mean God wants an understanding, not a following?
SPEAKER_02: Because he wants us to carry on long after he's gone.
SPEAKER_02: If you read it, if you ever looked in John chapter 21, it begins with Peter saying, I'm going fishing.
SPEAKER_02: Translation, I'm going back to my way of life.
SPEAKER_02: This was fun while it lasted.
SPEAKER_02: We had a good time.
SPEAKER_02: We had a few ha-ha's.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus healed some people, fed 5,000.
SPEAKER_02: Remember that time?
SPEAKER_02: They are content just to live in the land of remembering.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus intended all along for this to keep going on after he was gone, which is why he labors hard for people to understand what he's really all about.
SPEAKER_02: It's called the Caesarea-Philippi incident because they're in this area, the region of Caesarea and Philippi, these two towns.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus asked them the question, hey, who do men say that I am?
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Well, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some say one of the prophets.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus kind of narrowed the focus on Peter and said, Who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_02: And he says, Oh, you are Christ, the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus says, Hey, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, You are Simon, but you'll be called Peter.
SPEAKER_02: And upon you, I'm going to build, upon this rock, I'm going to build my church.
SPEAKER_02: The next verse says this.
SPEAKER_02: After that, Jesus began to speak to them about his death.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because they understood who he was, and now they could grasp the magnitude of what he was going to do.
SPEAKER_02: They still didn't get it.
SPEAKER_02: That's why Peter, after Jesus dies on the cross and he goes in the tomb, they're like, okay, well, that was great.
SPEAKER_02: Let's get back to what we used to do.
SPEAKER_02: He labors hard for there to be an understanding.
SPEAKER_02: He wants an understanding, not just a following.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, if Jesus wanted to be liked, appreciated, or accepted, why would he talk like this?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, if he's just trying to get a religious movement going, wouldn't he be like these charlatans on late night TV?
SPEAKER_02: Hey, send me a hundred dollars and God will give you a thousand.
SPEAKER_02: What do you say?
SPEAKER_02: But instead, Jesus says crazy things that are life-altering.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, this isn't the only time he's done this.
SPEAKER_02: As a matter of fact, anytime you look in the Bible, you see large crowds.
SPEAKER_02: Usually Jesus is like, I don't think they understand what I'm all about.
SPEAKER_02: Like, don't turn there, but in Luke chapter 14, Jesus turns around.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says, and seeing large crowds, he said to them, If any man comes after me and doesn't hate his mother and brother and father and sister, and yea, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
SPEAKER_02: And they are like, oh, oh, oh.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus could tell, they're kind of choking on this.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, Oh, by the way, if you don't take up your own cross and follow after me, you can't be my disciple.
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, so he tells them a story about a guy that sets out to build a tower and another guy that goes out with 10,000 to confront an army coming against him with 20,000.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, if you can't take that guy on, you better send a delegation and ask for terms of peace.
SPEAKER_02: That's the only place he's talked about it.
SPEAKER_02: Another place is Luke chapter 9, verse 57, he says these words.
SPEAKER_02: It says, as they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
SPEAKER_02: To another he said, Follow me, but he said, Lord, let me first go bury my father.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus said to him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead.
SPEAKER_02: But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: Now let me pause right there.
SPEAKER_02: That sounds harsh, okay?
SPEAKER_02: The guy's like, Let me bury my dad.
SPEAKER_02: Says, forget about your dad.
SPEAKER_02: His dad wasn't dead.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, who leaves their dad dead back at their house and they go to the Jesus parade?
SPEAKER_02: What are you doing here, Bill?
SPEAKER_02: Well, my dad's dead, but we put him in the deep freeze, and I'm going to come see Jesus, and I'm gonna go back and bury him.
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: What he's saying is this in Jewish culture, when someone died, they buried him immediately, as soon as possible.
SPEAKER_02: That's just what they did.
SPEAKER_02: What he's saying is, hey, my dad's in modern-day vernacular, my dad's in the nursing home.
SPEAKER_02: We've got like six to eighteen months to live.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, let me button up those affairs.
SPEAKER_02: Let me settle my dad's estate.
SPEAKER_02: Make sure that I'm squared away financially, and then I'm gonna get really into you.
SPEAKER_02: Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_02: That's what he says.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus says, let the dead bury the dead.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, let people that are spiritually dead deal with the affairs of this world.
SPEAKER_02: You come and follow me.
SPEAKER_02: Yet another said, I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus said to him.
SPEAKER_02: No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: Hear that again.
SPEAKER_02: Yet another said, I will follow you, Lord, but.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, circle those two words in your Bible, I will follow you, Lord, but.
SPEAKER_02: You can't mean both of those things.
SPEAKER_02: You can't say, Lord, you can't call Jesus Lord, but.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is Lord, but.
SPEAKER_02: Ask yourself this question: Is there any area in your life where Jesus is Lord but?
SPEAKER_02: It's conditional Lordship.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: I will follow you, Lord, because what he's saying is, hey, I will follow you, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: I will refer to you as Lord, but let me define the conditions by which I will I will follow you.
SPEAKER_02: I was a part of a wedding yesterday.
SPEAKER_02: I've been married 23 years to the same woman.
SPEAKER_02: It's been great.
SPEAKER_02: And there's sometimes I look at my wife and I think, you cannot possibly think that way.
SPEAKER_02: You really just can't.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02: Like my wife is addicted to the Olympics.
SPEAKER_02: We have to watch ribbon dancing and hula hoop kicking, and I'm like, this is not a sport, okay?
SPEAKER_02: If I was God, we'd hunt these people.
SPEAKER_02: What are we doing?
SPEAKER_02: Oh no.
SPEAKER_02: It's the Olympics.
SPEAKER_02: It is our patriotic duty to watch this.
SPEAKER_02: Last night diving was on.
SPEAKER_02: I think diving is great.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think men should wear that kind of clothing in outdoors.
SPEAKER_02: But and she said to me, Do you want to watch diving with me?
SPEAKER_02: I would rather be beaten about the head and neck of a blunt object.
SPEAKER_02: I just couldn't fake it.
SPEAKER_02: I said, I want to go in my room and watch the Texans because that's what men do.
SPEAKER_02: Men play football.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, you're slipping down to every male stereotype.
SPEAKER_02: And then she played the God card.
SPEAKER_02: Well, he's a good Christian.
SPEAKER_02: I'll see him in heaven then.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to watch men do handstands and then dive into a pool.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing wrong with it.
SPEAKER_02: If your kid's into diving, glory to God.
SPEAKER_02: Not my thing.
SPEAKER_02: Here's my point.
SPEAKER_02: Love my wife.
SPEAKER_02: It's great.
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
SPEAKER_02: It's just, mmm, yesterday at the wedding, you people have been married buried a long time.
SPEAKER_02: You go to weddings and hear what they say to each other.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you do.
SPEAKER_02: You've been there.
SPEAKER_02: You're kind of like, oh, that's cute.
SPEAKER_02: You're going to want to kill him.
SPEAKER_02: It was just funny because you could tell that people have been married a long time.
SPEAKER_02: They're just kind of like fanning themselves, going, Yeah, hurry up and get this over so we can go eat.
SPEAKER_02: It's not, you're not negative or anything.
SPEAKER_02: It's just kind of like, here's the deal.
SPEAKER_02: You have understanding.
SPEAKER_02: They're up here saying, I'll follow you to death's door, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, some of your biggest fights are going to be about where you're going to go out and eat one night.
SPEAKER_02: Because your wife's going to say, I don't care where we go.
SPEAKER_02: And you're going to go to Papa Seas, get Mexican food.
SPEAKER_02: She's going to open the menu.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I really didn't want to come here, so I don't know what I don't know what I want.
SPEAKER_02: Huh?
SPEAKER_02: Well, you said, I don't care.
SPEAKER_02: What did you mean?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I wanted you to pursue me.
SPEAKER_02: I caught you 23 years ago.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I got to keep pursuing.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, woman wants to be pursued.
SPEAKER_02: You know what I want?
SPEAKER_02: I want to be obeyed.
SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden, we're getting our meal to go because we're done.
SPEAKER_02: Poor waiter.
SPEAKER_02: Hello, Pastor.
SPEAKER_02: I got you a couple to-go boxes here.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: See, God wants an understanding, not just a following.
SPEAKER_02: I love what Leon Morse said.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Jesus is appealing for an evangelical decision, the gate, and for ethical endurance, the way.
SPEAKER_02: You can't just enter in the narrow gate.
SPEAKER_02: You've got to continue along the way.
SPEAKER_02: You can't just pray the prayer and say, Well, you know, I'm going to go to heaven because I prayed some prayer when I was 12 and you hadn't hit a lick at a snake in the past 30 years.
SPEAKER_02: Now Jesus just lays it down.
SPEAKER_02: He said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: Look at that.
SPEAKER_02: He spells out, he says, enter at the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is easy that leads to destruction.
SPEAKER_02: And those who enter by it are many.
SPEAKER_02: Wide, easy, destruction, many.
SPEAKER_02: And then he says, Hey, for the gate is narrow and the way is hard.
SPEAKER_02: Don't you love that Jesus said that?
SPEAKER_02: The gate is narrow.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, if you're one of those people that believe all roads lead to God, you have a problem right now.
SPEAKER_02: You have a real problem.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says the way is the gate is narrow, the way is hard, but it leads to life, and those who find it are few.
SPEAKER_02: Now, by the way, we live in a culture that tries to make the gate wider and wider and wider.
SPEAKER_02: But don't be one of those church people that tries to make the gate narrower and narrower and more narrow.
SPEAKER_02: That's just as wrong as the people that say, Oh, my God's a God of love.
SPEAKER_02: He's not going to send anybody to hell.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: The gate's narrow.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what the Bible is saying.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, God gets to define what this looks like.
SPEAKER_02: And so He does this because he wants understanding, not just a following, because He wants us to continue.
SPEAKER_02: He's saying the gate is wide and it's easy and it leads to destruction.
SPEAKER_02: I remember, not I remember this vividly.
SPEAKER_02: This happened in November of 1993 in the Dallas Fort Worth Airport.
SPEAKER_02: I was traveling at the time, preaching all over the country.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to get on my gate.
SPEAKER_02: I'm sitting there in the gate and they're calling for, you know, if you're this and this, this, you know, platinum level, blah, blah, blah, all these different people.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm kind of in the gate and I look over, and probably about from here to that section over there is a man sitting in the waiting area, and he's got a Bible in his lap.
SPEAKER_02: But it's not like a Bible like this right here or what you got.
SPEAKER_02: It's like a nine-pound white family Bible.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you could maul somebody with this thing.
SPEAKER_02: And everybody in the airport is kind of goosing each other, going, get a load of that, get a load of that.
SPEAKER_02: And they're kind of making fun of him.
SPEAKER_02: And I thought, I want to encourage that guy.
SPEAKER_02: So I thought, what am I going to do?
SPEAKER_02: Go over and go, hey, is that the Bible you're reading?
SPEAKER_02: Of course it's the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the guy's legs were asleep things so heavy.
SPEAKER_02: And so they're calling my plane, and I wanted to encourage him, and so I'm kind of stuck.
SPEAKER_02: So I just, I broke out, walked over there, I said, Excuse me, sir, are you a Christian?
SPEAKER_02: November 1993.
SPEAKER_02: Put his finger down and started laughing.
SPEAKER_02: Ha ha ha.
SPEAKER_02: Looked up at me and said, That's a little broad for me, my friend.
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of people in this world who call themselves Christians.
SPEAKER_02: They don't know Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I like to call myself a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Went right back to reading.
SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden, I couldn't talk.
SPEAKER_02: I was like, I just walked over there.
SPEAKER_02: Lady taking my ticket.
SPEAKER_02: She goes, What'd he say?
SPEAKER_02: It's not important.
SPEAKER_02: I got on the plane, walk to the very back of the plane, just back there taking deep breath.
SPEAKER_02: I said, I'm just waiting for a seat, a roll with nobody in it.
SPEAKER_02: She says, Well, the flight's not that full.
SPEAKER_02: We're going to North Carolina tonight.
SPEAKER_02: So just because I just sat down.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the question that haunted me.
SPEAKER_02: What does that guy know that I don't know that he would respond that way?
SPEAKER_02: I wasn't offended.
SPEAKER_02: I was provoked.
SPEAKER_02: I wanted to think about God the way that man thought about God.
SPEAKER_02: And here's what he realized.
SPEAKER_02: It was not rocket science.
SPEAKER_02: What he realized is what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction.
SPEAKER_02: And many there be that find it.
SPEAKER_02: And so when he said, that's a little broad for me.
SPEAKER_02: I was like, uh-oh.
SPEAKER_02: You ever get in conversations you don't know how to get out of?
SPEAKER_02: So you just walk away.
SPEAKER_02: I was like.
SPEAKER_02: Good.
SPEAKER_02: Second thing the Bible tells us is simply this many people are religiously lost.
SPEAKER_02: Many people are religiously lost.
SPEAKER_02: It would seem that those two words don't go together, but if you read the text and you think about it, they go together quite well.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because they believe.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, I introduced, I had some experience I point to.
SPEAKER_02: Ask yourself this question this morning.
SPEAKER_02: What experience do you point to to verify the fact that you profess to be a Christian?
SPEAKER_02: There's something these people point to that says, Oh, yeah, I'm a Christian.
SPEAKER_02: On the basis of what?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I blank.
SPEAKER_02: What do you point to?
SPEAKER_02: Because Jesus says, hey, many people, many people are religiously lost.
SPEAKER_02: Talking to a lady one time, she said, Well, my spirituality is very important to me.
SPEAKER_02: I'm a very spiritual person.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm concerned about the environment.
SPEAKER_02: I'm concerned about animals.
SPEAKER_02: And when she said my spirituality is very important to me, I was like, hmm.
SPEAKER_02: And then the more she talked, I was like, and she goes, well, you know, the environment and animals.
SPEAKER_02: And finally, I just thought, let me introduce an objective standard into the dialogue and see how she responds.
SPEAKER_02: So I said, How important is Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Bible to you?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I don't read any of that.
SPEAKER_02: But that's our culture, beloved.
SPEAKER_02: Let's don't laugh and at her.
SPEAKER_02: And I get it, it's kind of it's sad.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, oh.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, you don't no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: And it's my this and my faith and my religion and my relationship with God is very private.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna tell anybody, tell me how to worship God.
SPEAKER_02: That sounds empowering, like Helen Ready on line one, I am woman, hear me roar.
SPEAKER_02: That's The furthest thing from biblical Christianity you can fathom.
SPEAKER_02: You cannot live a life that violates the clear teaching of the Bible and then go to heaven when you die.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the thing: here's why I tell you this: in such a culture as this, we don't get mad and yell at those people.
SPEAKER_02: We engage in dialogical apologetics.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, we talk in such a way, our speech is full of grace and seasoned with Saul in such a way that it provokes people to think about how they live.
SPEAKER_02: Like I'm at a wedding this weekend and I'm talking to one of the event coordinator ladies, and I'm just fascinated because she is all pierced up, her ears are pierced, her lips are pierced, and I just asked the obvious, does that hurt?
SPEAKER_02: And she's like, Well, no, and I take them out, I have to use needle-nose pliers.
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, We changed something in the order of the service, and she goes, I'll change it, I'll take responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to hell anyway, it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Scooby-doo.
SPEAKER_02: And so I tried to engage her in conversation, and she's like, I'm gonna go over and smoke a quick cigarette.
SPEAKER_02: And I was kind of like, okay, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02: And so she's standing over there and I'm like, hey, I want to hear sometime about you in hell, and because it going to heaven may not be as hard as you've been told.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, honey, you don't know what I've been told.
SPEAKER_02: And I just thought, who is not loved her enough to tell her the truth?
SPEAKER_02: Because in this, in this Matthew chapter 7, beloved, Jesus is not playing keep away with heaven.
SPEAKER_02: He's just laying down, hey, hey, now by the way, you love people, that's why you tell them the truth.
SPEAKER_02: The motivation for undiluted truth is love.
SPEAKER_02: It's not hate.
SPEAKER_02: And in our culture where we have this broad path, this wide gate where just anybody skates through, regardless of how they live.
SPEAKER_02: We got to know what we believe in, why we believe that, so we can be like Proverbs says, a word fitly spoken is like an apple of gold in a setting of silver.
SPEAKER_02: Third thing we take away from the text this morning is that people have always distorted the truth.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus talks about the wide gate that's easy, that leads to destruction, and many people are going there between.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, hey, there's this narrow gate, it's hard, but it leads to life.
SPEAKER_02: And few there be that find it.
SPEAKER_02: And then look at the next verse, Jesus says in verse 15, beware of false prophets.
SPEAKER_02: Look at me, beloved.
SPEAKER_02: People are always going to try to distort what the what the gospel's about.
SPEAKER_02: Beware of false prophets.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, this is not talking about parishioners, this is talking about preachers.
SPEAKER_02: People that do what I do.
SPEAKER_02: Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravenous wolves.
SPEAKER_02: They come to you in sheep's clothing.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, they look like us, they talk like us, but on the inside they are diseased trees who cannot produce any fruit.
SPEAKER_02: That's what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_02: He says, You'll recognize them by their fruits.
SPEAKER_02: Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, so every healthy tree bears good fruit.
SPEAKER_02: But the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
SPEAKER_02: A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
SPEAKER_02: Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
SPEAKER_02: Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
SPEAKER_02: Now let me just start with myself, okay?
SPEAKER_02: That last verse we read, Jesus says, Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
SPEAKER_02: You should not think I'm a Christian just because I'm your pastor.
SPEAKER_02: I said this in the first service, and they were like, What are you saying?
SPEAKER_02: Look at me.
SPEAKER_02: What I'm doing right now, this is my part of my spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_02: It's anointing, whatever word you use for this, this is not my Christianity on display.
SPEAKER_02: This is my calling.
SPEAKER_02: This is what God has called me to do.
SPEAKER_02: You shouldn't go, well, he's a Christian because he's our pastor.
SPEAKER_02: You should say, Hey, that man's a Christian because I see the fruit of the gospel being borne out in his life.
SPEAKER_02: If I don't love my wife like Christ loved the church, you should be concerned.
SPEAKER_02: If I'm not patient and long-suffering with my children, with my friends, like we're Wednesday, we're driving our oldest to Baylor to start school, and she says, My wife's like, you ride with her, and Sophie and I'll follow in the van.
SPEAKER_02: And we're riding along.
SPEAKER_02: When I'm not driving, I'm not paying attention to where we're going.
SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm I'm like, I got three hours to get life-altering lessons into my kids' life, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So I'm just downloading it.
SPEAKER_02: She's like, I got it, Dad, I got it.
SPEAKER_02: And I went, listen, whatever this is, you're gonna draw back a nub if you give me that one more time.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're driving along, listening to the radio, talking, having a good time.
SPEAKER_02: We're on the uh uh the grand parkway here.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna go all the way up to 290.
SPEAKER_02: I look up and we're in Tombaugh.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, thank you, one yeah.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Madison, where are you?
SPEAKER_02: Where are you going?
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to college.
SPEAKER_02: And in that moment I flash back to my dad who used to say this, hey boy, it ain't no good if you're book smart and sidewalk stupid.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Can I just love you enough to tell you college is that way?
SPEAKER_02: And we're headed around to the north side.
SPEAKER_02: Where if it's at 45.
SPEAKER_02: Well, you said you knew the way.
SPEAKER_02: So I get on the cell phone to my wife, because I'm like, Adam, I'm gonna blame the woman that God gave me.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Hey, you're driving, you realize where we all are?
SPEAKER_02: And I've been looking for 290.
SPEAKER_02: Well, not very well because it's way back there.
SPEAKER_02: 13 miles past the turnoff to 290.
SPEAKER_02: They'd have whipped that bad boy around and head back.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, well, I don't, what, what, what, what do you I don't get it.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Just, it's so easy to lose track of where you are and and the signs.
SPEAKER_02: It's just, I thought about we we whipped back around and got headed in the right direction.
SPEAKER_02: We got there in time, and I just thought, hey, wide and easy.
SPEAKER_02: It's so easy to lose track of where you are against where you need to be.
SPEAKER_02: See, the the Bible tells us people have always distorted the truth.
SPEAKER_02: My wife and I had this discussion on our cell phone.
SPEAKER_02: She goes, Are you sure?
SPEAKER_02: You're sure?
SPEAKER_02: I said, Babe, we we're almost in Tombaugh.
SPEAKER_02: I'm pretty sure Tombaugh's north of 290.
SPEAKER_02: Since 290 goes to Brian Codge Station.
SPEAKER_02: Oh boy.
SPEAKER_02: We just whipped it around.
SPEAKER_02: My daughter looked at me and she said, What are you thinking?
SPEAKER_02: I said, It's not your fault.
SPEAKER_02: I should have been paying better attention.
SPEAKER_02: You don't know the way up here.
SPEAKER_02: I told you I knew the way.
SPEAKER_02: But I was so hanging on your every word, I lost track of direction.
SPEAKER_02: My 18-year-old says back to me, Are all men that way?
SPEAKER_02: What?
SPEAKER_02: You you you you messed up and you made it sound so eloquent.
SPEAKER_02: You got to be married a long time to develop that skill, honey.
SPEAKER_02: You're not gonna find boys at college like that.
SPEAKER_02: But by the way, Jesus, hey, the third thing the text tells us people have always distorted the truth.
SPEAKER_02: People have always come along and said, Jesus, beware of false prophets.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because they want to kind of varnish the hard edge off of what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I know that's what Jesus said, but what the Bible really meant, and blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: Paul writes to Timothy.
SPEAKER_02: Paul, an older, more mature Christian, is writing to a young believer named Timothy, and he's giving him instruction.
SPEAKER_02: He says these words in 2 Timothy chapter 4.
SPEAKER_02: He says, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_02: And by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word.
SPEAKER_02: Be ready in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.
SPEAKER_02: For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.
SPEAKER_02: But having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, that word passions is the Greek word epithet.
SPEAKER_02: Epithemia, and it's what it the little translation is lust.
SPEAKER_02: People will accumulate teachers to suit their own lusts, their own passions, their own desires, what they want to hear, and they'll turn away from listening to the truth.
SPEAKER_02: Here are statements that I've heard in just the past two months.
SPEAKER_02: Statement number one preaching in America is overrated, and we need to stop acting like it's so important.
SPEAKER_02: Someone said that to me, and I just chuckled, and he said, What are you laughing about?
SPEAKER_02: I said, Because you're dead wrong, but go ahead.
SPEAKER_02: Statement number two, this was on this this past Wednesday.
SPEAKER_02: I was talking to a friend of mine, and uh he was a worship leader at a 6,000-person church.
SPEAKER_02: And he quit because he has integrity.
SPEAKER_02: Now I got nothing against big churches or whatever.
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh I think it gets to a certain point.
SPEAKER_02: You can't really know anybody, you're just providing religious experiences for strangers, but that's a whole nother sermon.
SPEAKER_02: Uh but his boss came in and said, Hey, listen, the curious, lost people that are spiritually curious, what they want, surveys have shown, is they want four upbeat songs.
SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna do four upbeat songs from now on, and we're only gonna take 18 minutes and we're gonna give them what they want.
SPEAKER_02: The guy went home, talked to his wife, she said, We're out, and they quit.
SPEAKER_02: As I stand here before you this morning, he does not have a job as a worship pastor because he has principles and he just said, Hey, listen, I don't think worship, I don't think church is to attract lost people.
SPEAKER_02: I think church is to equip the saints for the work of ministry.
SPEAKER_02: And I said to him on the phone, you're right.
SPEAKER_02: You're exactly right.
SPEAKER_02: Which is why if you're new to our church or you're checking out our church, we don't do lights and smoke and all that kind of stuff, because this is not the experience that we're not the experience.
SPEAKER_02: We want to so equip you with what the Bible says that when somebody in the cubicle beside you at work gets in a conversation with you, you're the experience that they have.
SPEAKER_02: And they go home and they go, here, and their wife says, How was work today?
SPEAKER_02: You go, man, I I work with this guy named Dan.
SPEAKER_02: And when Dan talks, it's just there's something different about Dan.
SPEAKER_02: I want to have lunch with Dan again.
SPEAKER_02: That's what it means to equip you for the works of ministry.
SPEAKER_02: We're not supposed to be the show.
SPEAKER_02: I I tried to watch Christian TV this weekend at my hotel.
SPEAKER_02: I just couldn't do it.
SPEAKER_02: I was getting dizzy.
SPEAKER_02: There were smoke and lights and people jumping in runways.
SPEAKER_02: I was like, are we at a modeling show?
SPEAKER_02: What are we doing here?
SPEAKER_02: Worship has become so popular in America, you can sell tickets to it.
SPEAKER_02: Sure, you can go to the movie theater and have a worship experience.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just saying, that that's our that's our passions, that's our lust, that's what our that's what our pseudo-spiritual culture wants.
SPEAKER_02: And there's a lot of people that kind of go, let's give them what they want so that they'll come.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says, just here's the point.
SPEAKER_02: Let me just don't miss it.
SPEAKER_02: People have always distorted the truth.
SPEAKER_02: They did it back then, that's why Jesus says, beware of false prophets.
SPEAKER_02: They do it in our day and age as well.
SPEAKER_02: Just because something's big and flashy doesn't mean it's necessarily right.
SPEAKER_02: He says, hey, they will uh uh they have itching ears and they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and hear this, and they will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
SPEAKER_02: Let me give you some of the myths of the past four or five years in America.
SPEAKER_02: The Shack, the Da Vinci Code, Your Best Life Now, Love Wins.
SPEAKER_02: Love Wins is a book written by a man named Rob Bale, who basically said that love trumps all the other things that the Bible says, and a loving God would not let anybody go to hell.
SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, hell's not even real.
SPEAKER_02: That is a myth.
SPEAKER_02: That is a lie.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm not mad at Rob Bale.
SPEAKER_02: You say, why do you say his name?
SPEAKER_02: Because as your pastor, I need to warn you that there are people out there who dress up like sheep, but inside they're ravenous wolves.
SPEAKER_02: You are the church.
SPEAKER_02: We are the church, and as much as we we we uh uh demonstrate a fidelity, a faithfulness to the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: When we stop being faithful to the gospel and the doctrines of scripture, we're no longer the church.
SPEAKER_02: We're just a place that provides really hyped up spiritual euphoric experiences.
SPEAKER_02: And that's not what Jesus died for.
SPEAKER_02: Fourth thing the text tells us is that fruit is the evidence of conversion.
SPEAKER_02: Fruit is evidence of conversion.
SPEAKER_02: You still with me?
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are like, I cannot believe you named those names.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, hey, look at me.
SPEAKER_02: The book, The Shack, when it came out, I had people come up to me and go, it's so awesome.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, God's portrayed as this like 300-pound black woman who lives in a little shack by a railroad track, and he's very compassionate and loving.
SPEAKER_02: You didn't just say that, did you?
SPEAKER_02: And the person's like, Whoa, uh, uh, I don't know what the big deal is.
SPEAKER_02: I had a friend of mine read the book and said, Man, this thing was life-changing.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Go home and say those words to your wife.
SPEAKER_02: He goes, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: I said, Go home and say to your wife, honey, you're to me like a 300-pound black woman who lives in a shack by a train track.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, I I don't I don't get what you're saying.
SPEAKER_02: Why would you take analogies and apply them to God that you would not use to apply it to your wife and describe your marriage that way?
SPEAKER_02: See, we we've wandered away from the truth, and so now we're we're not we've moved away from is to like and as.
SPEAKER_02: God is like your best friend.
SPEAKER_02: God is as instead of God is.
SPEAKER_02: Do you hear the difference?
SPEAKER_02: Now, I I I'm not mad at you if you read the Shack or you read the Da Vinci Code or any of these books.
SPEAKER_02: No, they're very popular, but they're myths.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because they wander away from the truth into this land of speculation.
SPEAKER_02: Well, we can't prove it and we don't know for sure, but what if it's like, be careful, beloved.
SPEAKER_02: Be careful, you're on a slippery slope.
SPEAKER_02: Fourth thing the text tells us is that fruit is the evidence of conversion.
SPEAKER_02: Fruit is the evidence of conversion.
SPEAKER_02: It's just right there, verse 18, Jesus says, A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
SPEAKER_02: But every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
SPEAKER_02: Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
SPEAKER_02: That's what I was saying earlier.
SPEAKER_02: Don't come to here and say, Oh, that's our pastor.
SPEAKER_02: He must be a Christian because he preaches and he's our pastor.
SPEAKER_02: No, you should see the fruit of the gospel being borne out in my life.
SPEAKER_02: And what Jesus says very clearly in verse 18 and 19, when he says, Every tree that doesn't bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, he's saying these people aren't even Christians.
SPEAKER_02: They're false prophets, they're not even Christians, they're not even going to make it.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because the Bible cannot fathom a non-fruit-bearing Christian.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible cannot fathom a non-fruit-bearing Christian.
SPEAKER_02: Now, fruit is not born.
SPEAKER_02: And when I say fruit, I don't just mean your deeds or your behavior.
SPEAKER_02: I mean everything we are.
SPEAKER_02: Because let me be candid.
SPEAKER_02: We've all had moments in our lives where you look back and kind of go, that wasn't my best spiritual moment.
SPEAKER_02: True or false?
SPEAKER_02: You could look back at periods in your life and kind of go, wasn't a whole lot of fruit being born there.
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't mean you're not a Christian.
SPEAKER_02: It takes time for fruit to show up on a tree.
SPEAKER_02: And there's periods of dormancy where you're just like, I am, I'm not doing well spiritually.
SPEAKER_02: But that person comes around and they bear fruit.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: It's just what they do.
SPEAKER_02: Look at me, not out of effort, but out of identity.
SPEAKER_02: Just because this is who you are.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says this in John 15, 8.
SPEAKER_02: He says, It is my Father's glory that you bring forth much fruit.
SPEAKER_02: And in so doing, you prove yourself to be my disciples.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, I apply it to myself.
SPEAKER_02: Proof that I'm a disciple, it's not that I preach.
SPEAKER_02: It's just that the fruit of the gospel is being borne out in my life.
SPEAKER_02: Fifthly and finally, the text tells us this that don't confuse doing with being known.
SPEAKER_02: Don't confuse doing with being known.
SPEAKER_02: That starts in verse 21.
SPEAKER_02: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_02: On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?
SPEAKER_02: And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
SPEAKER_02: Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
SPEAKER_02: Notice in the text what they said.
SPEAKER_02: They recounted to Jesus a lot of things they did.
SPEAKER_02: We did this in your name, and we did this in your name, and we did this in your name.
SPEAKER_02: They did everything but the will of God.
SPEAKER_02: Ask yourself as we can as we wind down this morning, this right here, it's best you understand what the will of God is in your life right now.
SPEAKER_02: Do you find yourself doing that?
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't mean it's always going to feel good.
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't mean it's always going to be like, oh, this is awesome.
SPEAKER_02: Remember a couple weeks ago I told you about my neighbors being on vacation for two weeks and I mowed their yard?
SPEAKER_02: I had to mow that yard three times before they got home.
SPEAKER_02: The third time it wasn't any easier than the first time.
SPEAKER_02: The third time I was thinking thoughts like this: who takes a two-week vacation?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm pushing my lawn.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, come on, two weeks?
SPEAKER_02: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_02: And my wife, whom I love, is like, hey, did you get the backyard too?
SPEAKER_02: I just stop for water, slave master.
SPEAKER_02: I'll get on it.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because the Bible says things like in 1 John chapter 3, about verse 16, it says, hey, if anyone has the love of God in them and you see your brother in need and you close up your bowels of compassion, how does the love of God dwell in you?
SPEAKER_02: All right, I'm going to mow.
SPEAKER_02: I did not crank my lawnmower and go, every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before.
SPEAKER_02: I had morbid thoughts like, I wish I got a two-week vacation.
SPEAKER_02: Don't confuse doing with being known.
SPEAKER_02: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: We are wired up to kind of keep scoring points to these external things.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus always brings it back to, hey, hey, hey, hey, they were like, hey, we we we cast out demons in your name.
SPEAKER_02: We perform miracles in your name.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus says, I never knew you.
SPEAKER_02: Luke chapter 10, verse 17, Jesus has sent out 72.
SPEAKER_02: 72 many sent him out, and he said, Hey, you have power and you have dominion over things, and I want you to engage in ministry.
SPEAKER_02: And they come back and they're so excited.
SPEAKER_02: The 72, verse 17 says, The 72 returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.
SPEAKER_02: And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
SPEAKER_02: Behold, I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
SPEAKER_02: Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, don't confuse doing with being known.
SPEAKER_02: They come back, and if you look at that, could we put that back up there, guys?
SPEAKER_02: Luke 10.
SPEAKER_02: If you look at that, they're kind of like talking about their experiences, and Jesus just drops this on them, and he says, Hey, I he says, Nevertheless, do not rejoice.
SPEAKER_02: Go back before.
SPEAKER_02: Because they're kind of like, oh man, one before.
SPEAKER_02: There we go.
SPEAKER_02: They're telling their experiences, and Jesus says, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
SPEAKER_02: Checkmate.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: And what such a reference to is when before he was Satan, remember he was Lucifer, he rebelled, and he was expelled from heaven.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, oh, we, hey man, let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_02: We came back, the demons were subject to us in your name.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus is like, before you get too lathered up, let me just tell you about my experience.
SPEAKER_02: I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
SPEAKER_02: And then he turns a dialogue and says, Hey, behold, I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing shall hurt you.
SPEAKER_02: But nevertheless, don't rejoice in this.
SPEAKER_02: Don't find your identity and your experiences.
SPEAKER_02: Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_02: Because in Matthew 7, look at me, beloved, and we'll be done.
SPEAKER_02: These people rejoiced over all these things that they did in Jesus' name and thought that made them Christian.
SPEAKER_02: These external behaviors with no internal reality.
SPEAKER_02: Those are the people that God looks at and says, Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
SPEAKER_02: I never knew you.
SPEAKER_02: Again.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_02: As you said in this room this morning, do you understand the will, the intention, the thing God is calling you to do right now?
SPEAKER_02: And are you doing that?
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: I said in the beginning, we like to just teach the Bible and then give you some space to think about it.
SPEAKER_02: And so just take a few minutes and just kind of ask yourself a few practical questions.
SPEAKER_02: Ask yourself, when was it that you entered in on this narrow gate?
SPEAKER_02: And and and secondly, are you continuing on the way?
SPEAKER_02: Another question worth thinking about today is what fruit is there in your life that do you see the fruit of the gospel in your life?
SPEAKER_02: Just being born out, not out of labor, but just out of reflex.
SPEAKER_02: Finally, maybe you just ask the Lord, Lord, what are you saying to me today?
SPEAKER_02: Let's think about these things.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we understand today that when you speak, it's with purpose.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says that your word never goes out and comes back void, but it accomplishes the purpose for which you sent it.
SPEAKER_02: And today will be no exception.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible's thought-provoking because it's the undiluted truth of God.
SPEAKER_02: It's not heavy, it's not harsh.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't make us into this narrow-minded, mean-spirited people.
SPEAKER_02: It makes us into these free, winsome, loving, compassionate people who can just bring the gospel to bear on any conversation whenever we need to.
SPEAKER_02: So Lord, thanks that you didn't water things down.
SPEAKER_02: We're nourished by the truth.
SPEAKER_02: And I pray, Lord, as we prepare to leave this morning that we take with us, continue to think about what you said and what we do with what you've said.
SPEAKER_02: And if we need help processing that, we have plenty of people more than willing to help.
SPEAKER_02: May we give ourselves to the same endeavor in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone said.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a guest today, let me say thanks for being part of our service.
SPEAKER_02: When you came in, you're giving a little worship sheet.
SPEAKER_02: If you've had an opportunity, there's a little uh little tear-off part there, it asked for some information.
SPEAKER_02: And if you'd fill that out, just fold it and crease it and tear it off and drop it in these wooden boxes by the door.
SPEAKER_02: That's where we receive our offering.
SPEAKER_02: That's where you'd drop that in that little box.
SPEAKER_02: If today's the day you worship through giving, you practice obedience or generosity, that's where you would do that as well, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Uh if you're new to our church, you may be thinking, hey, do you guys have an invitation every Sunday?
SPEAKER_02: And this is our invitation.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, myself and some of our pastors and elders will be available down front.
SPEAKER_02: If we can help you process anything you've heard, you had a question about something, just come up to us.
SPEAKER_02: We think it's more natural to have spiritual conversations in this kind of free environment instead of talking to the preacher while 300 people stare at your back and wait for you to get done.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense to anybody?
SPEAKER_02: Remember those invitations?
SPEAKER_02: Nine verses of just as I am.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, come on.
SPEAKER_02: We just think it's more natural.
SPEAKER_02: So we're here and available, and we'd love to help you.
SPEAKER_02: If this is your first, second, or third visit, just come up and introduce yourself so we can put a name with a face.
SPEAKER_02: We'll let you get out of here.
SPEAKER_02: That's all we want, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Stand to your feet, let me speak a blessing over you.
SPEAKER_02: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus speaks the undiluted truth.
SPEAKER_02: Because all along his plan would be that Christianity would continue long after he went back to heaven.
SPEAKER_02: If you're in this room and you're a Christian, that means he trusted you with the truth.
SPEAKER_02: And he has entrusted you with the truth.
SPEAKER_02: Go now and steward the truth.
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Bless you to miss.