Stop Playing Games – The True Meaning of Repentance (Matthew 3:1-2)

We are skipping 25 years ahead in the timeline of Jesus’ life, moving from the manger straight into the dirt and grit of the wilderness. This week, we are looking at John the Baptist and his single, unapologetic message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The modern church has completely butchered the word "repentance," turning it into a cheap behavior modification program. But white-knuckling your sin and just trying to "be a good person" will leave you exhausted and beaten down by the enemy. In this episode, we break down the original Greek word metanoia (a total change of mind), why if you want different you have to do different, and why your own unrecognizable transformation is the greatest evangelism tool you will ever have.

The Rundown (Key Takeaways):

• The Wilderness vs. The Screen: Why John the Baptist chose isolation, locusts, and camel hair over the comfortable, distracted city life.
• Defining Repentance: Repentance isn’t just stopping bad habits; it’s metanoia—a complete shift in your mind and desires because you finally see Jesus for who He is.
• The Boat Analogy: You can’t stand in the back of the boat doing the same thing and expect to catch fish. If you want a different life, marriage, or faith, you have to put in the work to do different.
• New Desires vs. New Rules: Why relying on your own willpower is a losing battle, and how God replaces our heart of stone with a heart of flesh.
• The Ultimate Witness: Evangelism isn't just inviting people to a pizza party; it's living a life so transformed that people from your past don't even recognize you anymore.

Scriptures Referenced:

• Matthew 3:1-2
• Matthew 11:11
• Psalm 51:5
• Ezekiel 36:26
• 2 Corinthians 3:18
• Ephesians 4:20-32

This Week’s Challenge: Stop playing the middle ground. Take 5 uninterrupted minutes every single day this week to pray or read scripture. Prove to yourself where your allegiance actually lies. Be hot or be cold, but stop being lukewarm.

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Transcript

The 25 Year Jump In Matthew

Josh 0:00

I would pay attention, but as we jump into this new chapter of Matthew, we are actually jumping forward in the life of Christ by about 25 years. Alright, so going from chapter 2 to chapter 3 is a big jump in the life of Christ. It is moving from God and in protecting the young Jesus and is actually the start of Jesus' earthly ministry. Alright, and this is one of the things that I think we overlook a lot of times when we're thinking about the Bible. Because for us, we can just read through it really quickly. I mean, Matthew's really only 28 chapters long. If you really wanted to, you could probably read the entire book just today. And it seems like things are just happening one after another, like they would in a movie, like very sequentially. But what we have to understand is when you start really like looking at what each book covers, like Matthew, for example, only covers a three-year period for 26 chapters. And I know that sounds like it might be a lot, but really it's not covering the entirety of Jesus' life. In fact, Luke is the only author that includes something from the time Jesus is about four or five till he is about 30. And that is when he is 12, he runs away, he is in the temple, his family can't find him, and he's sitting there teaching the teachers. Now, Matthew is going to keep his focus throughout the rest of the book about Jesus being the promised king of his people. But it's gonna look a lot different in how he approaches it now. Right? We're coming out of the birth and into the ministry. So let's get started with our big idea, and it's this repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That is what Jesus starts his ministry with. In fact, that right there is the sole focus of Jesus' ministry. It's that word repent. If you want transformation in your own life, you want to know where it starts? Repent. And I'm going to go ahead and get into this right now before I jump in. I think we have a misunderstanding of what this word is. And I think the American church on a whole has done a terrible job of explaining what repentance actually is. So, y'all can buckle in because this one will probably get to ruffle some of our feathers. I'm gonna pray and we're gonna jump in. Father God, I ask and I pray that as I go through your word, that it be your word, Father, that it is not my opinion, but that you are speaking directly to your people to challenge our very hearts, Father, to get us to look more like you. Father, I ask and I pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so Matthew chapter 3, verses 1 and 2 says this, and those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Alright, so now we're being introduced to another person throughout Scripture, and I'll go ahead and tell you, John's not going to be around too terribly long. Alright, but in the short period he is here, John is amazing. John does a lot and it is an incredibly important person. Number one, there's a prophecy that comes from the Old Testament that says, they will come, Elijah will come to announce and make way the sh or make straight the way of the Lord. That comes from Isaiah, it's written about 700 years before this. Now later on, Jesus will go ahead and tell us from his very mouth that John came in the power of, does anybody want to guess who? Elijah, just like was prophesied. John is sitting here, and what we see right now is in the wilderness preaching. I'm gonna be honest, I think this is more in line with what God should be calling us to, not air-conditioned buildings. Now, my guess is we have a hard enough time getting people to show up here on a Sunday morning in comfortable chairs and air conditioning. I can only imagine what it would be like trying to get people to show up in the wilderness. However, as we look at this John the Baptist guy, we're gonna look at the words that Jesus Himself uses to describe him in Matthew 11, 11, Jesus says this truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Think about that. If God himself were to go, truly I say to you, among women no one greater has risen than Kevin Rogers. Like, could you imagine the compliment that is that God Himself is sitting here talking about how great you are? Does anybody in here know what made John so great? Like, I mean, think about it. Like we go through the book of Judges, some of the judges did far more than he's going to do. In fact, Jesus and his disciples are gonna surpass how many people John's baptizing. We'll get to that later. But what made him so great? I mean, honestly, if you look at him, John's dad, his name's Zacharias, he's a temple priest. So John's a pastor's kid. Except, Zacharias isn't like the priest you're thinking of. He's one of a couple thousands of priests whose jobs it was to like go to the temple and just kind of welcome people into the temple. Like he wasn't even the guy that got to stand up in front of the room and preach. And then his mom, her name's Elizabeth, although Elizabeth comes from the line of Aaron, anybody know who Aaron is? He was the first high priest, Moses' brother, right? She comes from that line, but her herself, like, she wasn't like in a special position. Like, no one's like, oh my god, there's Elizabeth, and you know, that's Aaron's great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great. You get the picture of granddaughter. So I go, his parents really aren't like these standout people. However, his mom does have a cousin who does something pretty important. Anybody know her cousin?

unknown 6:33

Mary.

Josh 6:33

Mary. In fact, we get this, like when Mary is pregnant with Jesus and in Luke 141, we see this. Mary's pregnant, she goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who is also pregnant with John, and here's what happens. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. Think about this. Like, Elizabeth hears Mary is at the house, and as soon as she hears that Mary is at the house, John is leaping in her womb. You know how filled with the Spirit you gotta be? That in what is it? In vitero? Is that vitro, whatever?

unknown 7:17

In utero.

Josh 7:18

Utero? Oh, okay, now we're just quoting Nirvana stuff. Y'all are sinners, especially back there.

unknown 7:25

Okay.

Wilderness Living And Modern Distractions

Josh 7:28

But all the baby does is hear Mary and knows that the Savior is that close and is leaping. Can you imagine being filled with the Spirit that much? Like most of us have to muster up everything inside of us to like quietly mumble under our breath as we sing to the Savior. Heaven forbid we ever let out like something in service too, like, I don't know, an amen or anything of that nature. Right? See, that is who John is, though. He's leaping because he's near the Savior. And then sometime in his early teens, John makes this decision. I'm giving up the city life. And he goes out into the wilderness. Now later, and we'll get more into this later, like, John's not a slave to fashion either. Okay, he wears camel hair clothing. He's not real big on gourmet meals, right? He's just grabbing some locusts and wild honey and going to town on it. John is the original Alaskan bush people, okay? He chooses to give up the distractions of living in the city to go live in the wilderness, to be a voice crying out in the wilderness, to make straight the path of the Lord. He chooses to remove himself from the distractions of society. How many of us choose to do this? Most of us, we choose to actually like add distractions to our life. Right? We we walk around with these fancy rectangles. And we choose to give this rectangle all of our attention. Some of you, and and and I'll tell you right now, these kids in class, they thought they were something that they wanted to like check screen time and see who had more screen time, me or them. And and some of them just blew their mind because I was only averaging seven minutes of screen time a day. See, here's the thing, okay? I've caught a lot of grief over my years as a pastor because I believe in things like what the Bible says when it comes to predestination. And you know the biggest argument I always hear is free will. Free will, free will, free will, free will. Here's what I want us to understand. I believe you make choices. And I believe your choices are your choices. And I also believe that God is sovereign over all of that, and somehow in that tension, we exist. But if you are someone who is sitting here and you want to really push your choices, do you really want the judgment and weight of your choices on you? Think about this. John chose to give up a life of comfort in the city to go to the wilderness and preach. What are you choosing? What is your life looking like? See, think about this. This is what repentance, and we're gonna get to that in just a second, is so many of us do not choose to repent. We choose instead to look at the world and go, that's what I want. And we'll do it undercover. But we just sit here and we go, these shiny things out here, this entertainment, that's what I want. We'll say things like, oh, I can't concentrate because I have ADHD, but yet you can sit there and spend hour after hour after hour after hour in front of a screen. So please tell me about your ADHD. You obviously can pay attention. It's just what you pay attention to. And as someone who does struggle with ADHD, I get that. Do you guys know, like, okay, I'm just gonna throw it all, like today is gonna get nasty. So I use AI in some of the stuff that I do throughout the week, like social media posts and stuff like that, because here's the deal: I don't care about social media. I don't care that Charles in North Carolina liked my post. We use social media here because that's where everybody's at, so I guess we have to be there too. But I want to use it as limited as I possibly can because I don't have it on any of my devices. I get texts sometimes about posts that I put up. Happened yesterday with Eric, who was like, hey man, how'd you do fishing today? And I was like, What are you talking about? I didn't go fishing today. He's like, uh, the post you put up said you did, and I was like, uh-uh. I schedule all my posts out a week in advance. I don't even remember what post I put up there all the time. But here's the deal. I can never, okay, because here's what'll happen. I will take my sermon after I am done preaching and I will transcribe it. I will use AI to transcribe it because I'm not gonna go word for word and type out everything I am saying. And then I will go to AI and I will go, hey, what'd you think of this sermon? Because I like feedback. Do you guys know that I have never gotten higher than an 8.5 out of 10 for any sermon I've preached with AI? And do you want to know the points it always takes off?

unknown 12:44

Meandering.

Josh 12:45

What is it?

unknown 12:46

Meandering.

What Repent Really Means

New Desires Not Behavior Control

Repentance As Your Strongest Witness

Marriage Change Starts With Jesus

A Simple Weekly Repentance Plan

Choose Your Direction And Closing Prayer

Josh 12:46

Meander. You just meander way too much. You you just start bringing up things that have nothing to do. And you're right. You know what? If I were to stand like this the whole time, because I prepared this message a week ago, and it would make sense, but would you guys like if I was just like this? See, I get it. The mind is a terrible place to be. Because right now I have roughly 3,247,562 things going through my mind. Like right now, as I am trying to preach, I am also sitting here going, hey, what day are we gonna go swim with Manatees this week? Like those two thoughts coexist at the same exact time. I'm also sitting here wondering, hey, it when should we do this another summit order so that the parts will be here when I get back? Like, it is Wednesday, like, is that a good time? But see, we can choose what we focus on. Most of us want to focus on the world because we like it. Well, well, here's the thing. Doesn't the Bible say something like, um, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? In other words, you can't have both of these things. Because these things don't go together. And yet, what do we choose to focus on? I just want to be part of it. What if people leave me out of things? You know what your biggest fear is? That I won't belong. Because what if people think I'm just a crazy Christian? What if people think like, oh, I don't want to have them around. All they do is talk about Jesus. We could always do what John did. And we can move out to the wilderness. And I'm not in any way, shape, or form right now going, hey, we're gonna start a cult and go out into the wilderness. But think about this. This was a choice John made because he's full of the spirit. Because he's sitting here going, I don't want to get distracted by the shiny things over here. You know what John wouldn't have known? What the latest TikTok trend was. You know how much I hate with a passion anytime you get a group of people together, and like all you see, and if you're listening to this on a podcast, this isn't gonna make sense to you, but all you see is like, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh. Like, I go, what is that? Like, you could see thousands of kids at a volleyball tournament, and they are all doing the same exact thing. And it looks just as dumb, regardless of who's doing it. And here's the kicker like the adults jump in on it too. Like you were 50 years old, leave them 14-year-olds to do their own videos. You are no longer relevant. I got an idea. How about you be a parent? How about you look at your child and go, enough? Pay attention to something that matters, because that dance is gonna stop trending before you even post it. But yet that's all we want. We want all the eyes on us. John has no idea who the greatest rapper of all time is. He's not getting involved in who's the goat conversations. He's sitting here going, I have one mission and one mission only. Ready? Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. He's sitting here going, Don't y'all understand this is all temporary and we'll all go away one day. Like, understand this one day, this whole earth will be burned up. And if you guys are watching the news, I don't think that day is as far away as we think it is. Like every day it just seems like there's another war popping off. Every day there just seems like, uh oh, are we really going to a one-world currency? Hmm, think I've read this somewhere. Like, think about this. How many of our politicians were on an island where they took children and sacrificed to Molech? But yet we think we're not getting closer to that day. See, understand, John is sitting here going, I know and have known since I was in my mother's womb that heaven has invaded earth, and now the only mission is to repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. You know what John's not doing? Here's 15 steps to a better marriage. Here's the best biblical financial advice. Hey, let's take this and let's contextualize it so children and youth can get in on the same thing. You know what he's not doing? He's not playing church. This is the kind of crap we do as the church. And we go, no, no, no, I need a series, you know, because my marriage is in trouble. You wanna know why your marriage is in trouble? Because you fail to repent. You wanna know why your bank account's in trouble? Because you failed to repent. You wanna know why all of these things are happening? Because you failed to repent. That is why all of this is happening. See, John sits here and goes, I'm gonna go out on the edge of society and I'm gonna call people to me out there. I'm not going to them where they are. Now, let's jump into this word repent. JT, go ahead and put it up on screen. Repent is meta noway. Okay, and I'm pretty sure I butchered that, but it's up on the screen. You can read it. It's Greek, so it doesn't follow the same English rules, Deborah. And here's what it means. To repent is to change one's mind. Now, a lot of you grew up in church. What does repent mean to you? To confess your sins, to go in a different direction, to stop doing what I used to do. And although all of that comes with repenting, repenting is this change your mind. You guys hear me say this all the time. If you want different in your life, if you want your life to look different, if you want your marriage to look different, if you want your children to look different, if you want your job to look different, if there is anything in your life that you want different, you ready? It's real easy. Do different. Because listen, you keep doing what you've always done, you will always get what you've always got. You can come out fishing with me, and you will literally stand in the back of my boat and argue with J2, who gets to stand on the deck and who gets to stand behind the steering wheel, and you will watch me catch fish after fish after fish, and if you're lucky, you might get one. And you'll sit there and you'll go, oh, it's the bait he's using. Oh, it's it's he has the secret spot. Oh, he gets to the spot first. And you want to know what? You're right. On all of it. It's my boat. Of course I'm gonna get there first. You're not about to spook all the fish. But here's the thing you know what you're doing in your mind? You're repenting. You're going, I have to do something different. The problem is, is we don't want to do anything different. Because what does doing different mean? Oh, it's a W word, right? It's another four-letter word, or at least we all think it is. Work. Repentance takes work. This isn't something that you just kind of fall into. See, the problem is this is what we need to realize is the human experience, and I'm gonna tell you guys, listen, this is not a popular idea. You are not perfect the way you are. None of us are. That's why repentance matters. Because we're not good the way we are. Your life looks the way it does because of choices you've made. Everything in your life is the way it is because of the choices that you've made, and each and every one of us in this room need to understand that. Regardless of whether you're young or whether you're I don't want to call anyone out, I'll call myself old. So we need to be repenting of our old lives because listen to me, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Most of us, here's what we do: we get comfortable. We can be in a bad situation, but we're comfortable in it. And it doesn't matter that the situation isn't what it should be because we're comfortable. And you don't want to move. Why would I want to move if I'm comfortable? Well, here's why. Because the whole message of scripture is repent. When did we think this was such a bad word? Like, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look around and realize, like, we're all born into Sin. You parents in here. Anyone, have you ever taught your child how to sin? I mean, we have theoretically, because guess where they learned it from? You. Me. Like when JT explodes on his sisters, the only thing I can hear is me exploding on him. He went, This is how daddy solved things. So I'm gonna solve things like that too. See, listen, in Psalm 51, 5, we see this truth. David is sitting here and he's going, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Here's what that means. Every single one of us in this room was born with this sinful nature. And here's the proof. If you look at JT, can you tell he came from my loins? Yep. Passed down a couple of genes to him, didn't I? You know what else I passed down? My sinful nature. Just like it was passed down from my dad and all the way back to Adam. And this is why repentance has to be where we start. See, the message of the church for too long has been stop doing bad things. And you know how long that'll work? As long as you're strong enough to stop doing bad things. The message of Scripture is this have new desires. And I don't know about you, but it's pretty hard for my heart to have a new desire. Like there has to be some change that comes along in that. And you know where that change comes from? Seeing Jesus for who he is. See, listen, you can make this all about head knowledge, and I promise you, you know the one thing you won't get? Change. You know how I know that? Because there are atheists that could argue better than 95% of you in this room. They know more about the Bible than you'll ever do, and they'll sit here and go, hey, this isn't even real. Yet you'll sit here and go, oh, I believe this, I believe this, I believe this, but you can tell me more about celebrities, marriages, and drama than you could ever tell me about Jesus. Well, that that's all that was on my feed. You know why that's all that's on your feed? Understand your feed, okay? Let's talk about that for a second. This is that ADHD kicking in. You know there's an algorithm that goes, hey, here's what so-and-so interacts with, and this is how long it stays there. So I'm gonna give them more of this because this will keep him there longer. So if you look through your social media, understand that is what you look at. Like you don't like you don't need to sit here and like be introspective anymore, because now we have the internet that does that. Like if you were to open up my YouTube right now, it'll tell you what videos I'm watching. Because it'll recommend videos. And if you open it up right now, here's what you'll see: a bunch of phishing videos, a bunch of engine rebuilding videos, and then a bunch of Jesus videos. You know why? Because that's what I spend my time watching. And the algorithm goes, we want him to stay here, so let's give him these videos. See, but we have to start being honest with ourselves. Because here's the deal: you're lying to yourself. You're sitting here going, I'm good. You're sitting here going, oh, I believe. You're sitting here going, oh, I give Jesus time. And this is why we won't repent. Because we won't be honest with ourselves about who we are to begin with. I ask this question all the time. Do you even know what salvation is? Anybody? Soteria in the Greek, it means to be delivered from. What were you delivered from, though? Because raise your hand if like you went, I believe in Jesus, and now your life has just been rosy and peachy ever since. What were we delivered from? That desire. Because like when you know who Jesus is, you know what you feel? Conviction. Because the spirit can't live within you and you not feel conviction. So if you don't feel conviction, guess what? The spirit ain't living in you. And if the spirit isn't living in you, guess what? You don't believe. You can have all of the information in the world. The devil has more information than all of us combined. Because he's been there. He's been in the court of God. Like as the heavenly council gathered, the devil walks in. Any of you ever been in there? I was hoping. That would have been a good story right there. Could have told me a lot. But see, here's what salvation is. In Ezekiel 36, we see this heart of stone being replaced with a heart of flesh. And all of a sudden I can see who I am. Paul would reword it like this in 2 Corinthians 3.18. We all with unveiled eyes have been transformed from one degree of glory to the next. See, the more honest I can be with who I am, the easier repentance is for me. The reason we repent, though, listen very carefully, is not for our salvation. Understand, a person who does not believe in Jesus cannot repent. Why? Because we are dead in our trespass and sin. And guess what? Dead people don't do anything. Outside of fill up with bacteria and eventually explode, they don't do anything. So we don't repent for our salvation, we repent because of our salvation. And here's what repentance does in us. In Ephesians 4, we see this. Starting in verse 20, it says this, but that is not the way you learned Christ. Here's what that means. If you learn Jesus, understand this has it a different outcome. Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. Deceitful desires are this. I'm gonna do this and it's gonna make me happy. Think about everything you've done in your life that you thought was gonna make you happy. Most of the time, what did it bring? Emptiness, misery, not happy, strife, discontent. And it left you sitting here going, well, then what's the point? And guess what that left you do? Well, maybe I just need to fill it more. Maybe I need to get a little further out there. Because then I'll be happy. And it goes on to say, and to be renewed in what? The spirit of our minds. Romans 12, 2, all day, right? Be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from among you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Here's what Paul is saying. We all look at lists like this and we go, okay, I gotta stop doing this, and I gotta stop doing this, and I gotta stop doing this, and I gotta stop doing this, right? That is not at all what Ephesians is driving at. What did he start with? What have you learned of Christ? Because, see, all of the other things come out of what I know of Christ. We have an obsession with behavior modification. When at the end of the day, you are only gonna be strong enough to modify your behavior while you're strong enough to modify your behavior. What happens when the devil attacks like how Eric's been going through? Because I know I'm not gonna give away his business, but I'm gonna tell you guys right now, there's been a lot of gut-wrenching tears and prayers over the past couple of months that this has been going on. You think he's been strong enough to go, oh, I'm just gonna take my sin and I'm just gonna wrestle it and white knuckle it. No, half the time he's sitting here going, I'm trying to just keep my sanity. That's why Christ is what we have to hold on to. Because if you make this about your ability, listen to me very carefully. The devil is going to beat the lip the living crap out of you. That was a good catch, wasn't it? That's repentance at work, right there. I'm telling you. And he's gonna leave you on the floor because you are no match for him. Especially in your own strength. See, here's what repentance does. Repentance causes me to see Jesus for who Jesus is, and then causes my mind to change because of who Jesus is. This is why salvation is so important. This is why you want to talk about your choice. Choose to believe, choose to surrender, choose to sit here and go, yes, Jesus is who Jesus claimed to be, because your life will not change until you start at that point. So you want to know the best witness you can give people? Because this is the other thing we do, right? Evangelize, evangelize, evangelize. Seriously. And you see it more so, I will tell you, with youth than you ever see it with adults. Oh, we're having a pizza thing, come to my church. Oh, we're doing this, come to my church. Oh, we're doing that, come to my church. Let me ask you though, then why aren't these young people like transforming the world? Because again, that's not evangelism. You wanna know the best evangelism you can do to a person? Your repentance. When people see you, let me ask really quick: if you ran into someone who hasn't seen you in the past 10 years, what are they gonna think when they see you? Are they gonna go, oh that there's Tawny, old Tawny? Or are they gonna go, I don't even know that lady anymore. See, that's what repentance is. And I've told you this story before, but I'm gonna tell it again just because it's one of my favorite stories to tell. I was preaching one Sunday morning. I'm getting ready for service and everything, and and we were part of a different church. It wasn't, it was before we planted. So I'm like getting mic'd up and everything and doing sound check and all of that. And and this girl that I knew from my past, um, all of a sudden I see her walk in, and I'm like, no way. And I don't like go over and talk to her or anything like that because my wife's hotter. But I get ready and I go stand up in front of the room and I preach. And we get done, and after the service, she comes up to me with her new husband, and here's what she said: not, oh, that was an amazing service, not oh, you preach fire, nothing like that. She went, man, if Jesus can save you, I guess he can save anyone. And at first, like, this hurt, right? Because you're like, what the heck? Almost did it again. What the crap does that mean? It's gonna happen one of these days. This is my biggest fear, has been since I started preaching, but one of these days the cuss word is going to fly out, so just apologize in advance. Yes. But I went, what does that mean? If Jesus can save me, like what were you perfect? Because my memory is pretty good too. And then I went, hold up. Do you understand the compliment this is? Because you can obviously tell Jesus saved me. I'm different than I used to be. That is the goal of repentance. Because your repentance can be so mighty in the in the lives of people around you. See, think about this. Raise your hand if you think just because I'm a pastor, the devil doesn't attack me or remind me of who I used to be. And I will tell you right now, I get, like, you know when Paul's preaching, he's like, I was chief among sinners? Like, I will compare stories with anyone anytime you want to. Like, I was chief among sinners. You don't think that the devil ever reminds me of that? You won't think that the devil ever stands here and looks at me and goes, dude, you have no business being in front of a room of people trying to tell people how to live. Do you know your black-hearted heart? Guys, this is something that I deal with on a day-to-day basis. I get it. It sucks and it can beat you down mentally until you're sitting here going, you know what? You are. I walked away from church at 17. I knew at 13 I was gonna grow up and go into ministry. And at 17, we had a family come into church and they were like, hey, you guys know that Josh kid? Yeah, he was out in the parking lot, like drinking a bunch of alcohol and smoking and like trying to get people to buy weed, and you know, he's a terrible kid. And every adult at the church I was at believed it. Now, I will tell you, I've done some horrific things in my life. Those weren't any of them. And I went, you know what? If this is who people think I am after all the work that I do, well, I might as well just give in to that. And for the next eight years of my life, it was the darkest, like coldest part of my life I can ever remember. Until one day Debbie was like, hey, we're going to a play tonight. Do you want to go? And it was looking back now, it was terrible. But at the time, God used it to like kind of punch me in the chest and go, What are you doing? You know better than that. And see, and some of you in this room, the devil might be reminding you who you are. The devil might be coming to you all the time, going, Hey, you know who you used to be. You want to know what repentance is? Go, you're right. But remind him of who he is. Remind him of how redeemed you are. Remind him that while he is burning in hell for all eternity, you get to worship the Lord Almighty. What power does he have over that? See, repentance is a change in mind. It's not sitting here going, like, I'm gonna do. It is sitting here literally thinking differently. Because unless you do different, listen to me, nothing is going to change. So if you are perfectly content with where your life is and where it is heading right now, just keep doing what you're doing. If you're sitting here going, hey, I got it all figured out, number one, I think you miss the entire point of scripture, but just keep doing what you're doing then. You seem like you you got it. But repentance is sitting here going, hey, you know what? I need to be renewed by the transforming of my mind. I need to literally see things differently. How long have you heard me tell you you can have all the right answers? The devil has all the right answers. But you know what he doesn't have? Repentance. Like, do you guys understand how powerful this is? This is what takes us from our old life to our new life. You guys that that look at or have seen me and Debbie, I mean, we're going on 22 years married in the next couple of months. So God willing we make it there. We have been married longer than half of my life. Half of my life, not Debbie, she's older. I'm gonna tell you right now though. First couple of years weren't like that. I haven't always been the best husband I could be. In fact, on the flip side of that, I'm kinda shocked that Debbie is still with me. I'm kind of shocked that we made it long enough to have kids. I'm kind of shocked that we made it at all. Because when Debbie met me, I was a little boy who did little boy things and lived a little boy life and made it all about me. And it wasn't until I saw Jesus for who Jesus was that I went, uh-oh, I need to pick up my game as a husband. See, that wasn't me looking at Debbie going, she deserves more. That was me looking at Jesus going, he deserves more. Like, I didn't look at Debbie and go, oh, I need to lay my life down for her. I went, Jesus said to lay my life down for her. So if I'm gonna sit here and tell people, hey, I follow after Jesus, then I need to kind of follow after Jesus. Because if I'm not doing any of the things Jesus did, how am I following after Jesus? That's what repentance is. Repentance is this, making Jesus the priority of my heart. Repentance is knowing that all the other things in life will fail me, but Jesus won't. Repentance is sitting here going, I am going to choose to worship Jesus. And the more I do that, as James 4.8 says, the more I draw near to God, he will draw near to me. So we have it twisted when we think, like, oh, I'm just gonna stay here and God's gonna come find me. So some of you know Kayla has chosen to run away before. And you can ask her. I wasn't chasing her down. You know why? Because I know where her food is. And I know what Kayla's heart desires. And I know eventually her heart is going to desire that food, and she is going to go, uh-oh, I made a terrible decision. She made it two streets away. And when I caught up to her in the car, because I wasn't chasing her down because I can drive and I'm smarter than that, and she's not gonna outrun a car. She's standing in the middle of the street, not in the street itself, but like in the middle of the street on the sidewalk. And she's just standing there. And I stopped and I rolled down the window and I went get in the car. Just very calmly, with no cuss words. If Kayla did not choose to get in the car, you know what that car would have still done? Went home. Yep. And at that point, Kayla would have had to make that choice. Do I keep heading north? Because that was her choice, even though she was going south, or do I come home? Here's the deal. You guys want all your free will? Take it. Make a choice. Just like I found her in the middle of the street, Jesus found you wherever he found you. But make a choice. He's sitting here inviting you into it. He's sitting here going, hey, you can repent. He's sitting here going, you can worship. He's sitting here going, hey, I want to spend time with you this week. He's sitting here telling you, hey, make it about me. And you can choose to go with him. Or you can choose to walk off. And that choice is yours. But here's the deal. If you want different, you're ready to have different. I can sum up our challenge this week in one word. You ready? Repent. Repent. Stop playing games. Go, you know what? I'm going to do it for real. You know what? This time next week, I'm going to have evidence to show that my heart belongs to the Almighty. Because I'm going to take five minutes a day and I'm going to pray. I'm going to take five minutes a day and I'm just going to read through scripture. I'm going to take five minutes today and I'm going to go, you know what? Jesus deserves this. I'm going to take five minutes and do whatever it is. Because we need to repent knowing the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And my guess is if you are in Christ this entire time, there's been one thing that's just been going right through your mind. And you're sitting here going, Yep. Listen, that is the Spirit sitting here going, you know better. Repent. Some of you, if you're anything like me, there might be like three or four things going through your mind right now. Where you're like overwhelmed on the inside because you're sitting here going, whoa, I can't do all of this in a week. But pick one thing and go, I am going to do this. And if you're sitting here going, I got nothing, like my mind is just blank right now. Listen to me very carefully. If that is you, you are not in Christ. And you need to make a decision. And you need to sit here and go, hold on, do I believe? Because I'm going to tell you the same thing I tell teenagers every week. I don't care whether you believe or not. But if you're going to say you do, then do. And if you don't, then stop pretending like you do. Because how does that benefit anyone? I've had my own children in tears. Behind Walmart. Because I went Jesus at JT. Dang it, why do I always call him Jesus in those moments? Here's the deal. I don't call my son Jesus, okay? It's while I'm preaching, it slips out. We were in the car and I looked at him and I went, here's the deal. I don't want you to believe because daddy believes. I don't want you to believe because daddy's a pastor. I'm gonna love you regardless. But I do want you to be able to stand on your own two feet and go, here's what I believe. You wanna tell me that the world came from a Big Bang? Cool, we can talk about that. You wanna tell me that life began on a meteorite traveling 50,000 miles an hour through the earth, and as it got superheated in the water, somehow this DNA magically, cool, we can talk about that. You wanna tell me that the Anunnaki, the sky gods, came? Obviously, I can talk about that too. The lizard people, Middle earth, hollow moon theory. We can talk about all of it. But just like Joshua 24 tells us, we have to make a choice at some point. Jesus told us be all in or be all out. But make a choice. I would rather you hot or I would rather you cold, but if you were lukewarm, I spit you from my mouth. So as we close today, you got two choices. One, yes, I believe, I'm going to repent. And if you're sitting in here today going, I have nothing to repent of, cool, come talk to me after service. I bet money we can find something in your life you have to repent of. Your second thing, do I even believe? Because listen, you don't believe. You're just wasting time anyway. There's better things to do on a Sunday morning, like sleep. But here's the deal. We were talking about this after service last Sunday. I'm telling you guys right now, and all you gotta do is watch the news for a couple of minutes. Lines are getting drawn every day. And one day, it will happen even here in America. I'm not saying it'll happen in our life because I can't see the future. But one day there will be a cost to follow Jesus. Are you gonna be willing to pay that? The Bible tells us that even the elect, if it were possible, will get drawn away. Think about that. So, Father, I ask and I pray that if there is anyone in here right now, Father, that you are sitting here calling to, that God the answer. And Father, I pray that as we move forward throughout this week, that God, if they are yours, you are already placed upon their heart, here's what you need to repent of. And God, I just ask and I pray that you change their mind, you change the way they see things. Father, the actions will always follow the belief. So, Father, I just pray that you work within their heart to sit here and go, hey, here's what it is. And then, Father, I ask and I pray that you, by your grace and power, walk with them through that. Father, I ask and I pray that as we move forward from this moment that we repent, that we know the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and because we know the kingdom of heaven is at hand, God we stop playing games and we move forward. We move forward in any direction that we are moving, but that we move, Father. Father, we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.