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Join us every Sunday morning at 9 or 10:30 AM in the Maywood Center. Sermons & Bible Studies available online on any podcast platform or visit our YouTube channel "@flipsidechristianchurch"! Download our app at https://flipsidechristian.churchcenter.com/setup for more info about our church and ministries.
Flipside Christian Church
Madera Ranchos, CA
We're going to be in Matthew 25.
So if you have a Bible and brought one
with you, turn to Matthew 25.
It's also on the on our app.
If you go to our app,
you can follow along there.
But let me let me set up
Matthew 25 with this.
Have any of you been anxiously
awaiting for something to arrive?
And you kind of.
You're not exactly sure when,
but you're going to kind of
go to bed at night
thinking, okay, it might be,
it might be soon,
and you'll wake up with anticipation.
Any of you.
Yeah.
Remember what was like to be a kid
at Christmas time?
You know, summer vacation, whatever.
So I've been talking about this renovation
of the
the interior for a long time,
and we're making progress.
But it should have been done a month ago.
And and it's been this constant thing
where I get word.
Okay, so so in two days we're going to
start on this and it'll take us a couple
and then and and I find myself
I found myself especially this week
getting excited like, oh,
I wonder if they start out on this part
and checking the cameras in the morning
and nothing.
And then getting, oh, hey, it was delayed.
I think they're
still blaming the supply chain and Covid.
I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but,
you know, it's just delayed and so.
Okay, well, tomorrow
then we'll start this.
And so I'm like, okay, oh,
I'm excited for a while.
And I wake up in the morning,
check the cameras and nothing.
And it's been like that.
This was it was again,
it just happened on Friday.
You're supposed to get all the wrap done
and then they'll put the door in on.
You know, I'm so excited for the church
to get to see it.
And then of course, it's not done.
And I found myself just so frustrated
because of the anticipation
and the letdown.
Right.
And then
and then I felt incredible conviction
because while all that's going
on, I'm reading Matthew 25
and I'm
realizing I have more excitement
and joyful anticipation
about a garage door
than I do about the return of Jesus.
And I was just I was convicted,
and I was amazed at how quickly.
The main thing stops being the main thing,
and everything else in my world starts
taking precedence
over the joyful expectation
of the journey of Jesus.
And so Matthew 25
is Jesus's instructions on how we live.
While we wait for his return.
The foundation of what
Jesus is going to say in Matthew 25.
He's already laid the foundation
in the previous chapter, Matthew
24 verse 44 and he says this therefore
you also must be ready,
for the Son of Man is coming
at an hour you do not expect.
Now, granted, we live in tension
with the idea of Jesus's return.
The tension is this there are passages
in Scripture prophecies in Daniel
that Jesus referred to in Matthew 24,
his own words in Matthew 24
that seem to give us indication
of when these times are going to come,
when you see these things happen
in, when you see what Daniel calls the
the abomination of desolation set up
in the temple, you know, then you'll know
when you see these things happen
that Jesus is right around the corner.
The segment is right around the corner.
And so there seems to be some indication,
well, we'll know some stuff.
But then there's other passages like this.
He's like,
you got no idea when I'm coming back.
Had no clue.
Matter of fact,
the only one who really knows is a father.
So quit trying to guess.
And so we live in this strange tension.
And let me just tell
you, as far as faith is concerned,
as far as the Bible is,
there's a lot of tension.
There's a lot of stuff
we live in the now, but the not yet.
And we just have to learn
to live with that.
We won't have answers.
We don't have answers.
And so there's this tension.
He could be coming back today.
And so Jesus says, listen,
because you don't know,
you might be able to see some signs
when it gets like you might see,
but you don't know when those signs
are going to show up.
So you just don't know.
So get so be ready.
That's the whole thrust,
especially now in Matthew 25
and in Matthew 25,
Jesus is going to tell two parables
a parable of a wedding banquet
and a marriage,
and the parable of stewards,
servants who've been entrusted with some
of the master's stuff and the parable.
Just to remind ourselves
a parable is is a story from everyday life
that sit next to something that's
difficult to understand, to help
you understand it better.
So the parable,
everything
doesn't mean something in a parable.
There's a main point to the parable
that helps you understand the truth.
And so we're going to look at these
two parables.
Don't look for Henny hidden
meaning behind all the little details.
Look for the point of the story,
because that'll help us understand
Jesus saying, you don't know when,
so you better be ready.
Got it?
Okay, so the overarching thing through
Matthew 25 and what Jesus said, he's
getting ready to go to the cross is like,
I got to give my disciples
a couple last things.
And so the last things
that he's telling them
is this and live
with the joyful anticipation of my return.
That's what he's saying.
I want you to live the joyful anticipation
of my return.
And here's two reasons
why we, as disciples of Jesus,
should live constantly with the joyful
anticipation of eternity of Christ.
One because the joyful anticipation
of the eternity
of Jesus motivates me to holy living.
It motivates me to live a holy life.
Because if he can come back right now,
I don't want him to find me living a life
I'm ashamed to live.
You follow.
But the other reason why we should live
for the joyful anticipation
of the turn of Christ is because it
calibrates my perspective on my life
and the world around me.
It calibrates it all.
If I know
that Jesus could come back at any time,
it calibrates how I view my life
and the world around me,
because what it tells me is all this stuff
is passing away.
The Bible says in Second Peter,
but the day of the Lord
will come like a thief.
The heavens will disappear with a roar,
the elements will be destroyed by fire,
and the earth and everything done in
it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed
in this way.
What kind of people ought you to be,
Peter?
Peter's answering the question.
How do we live
while we wait for the return of Christ?
Well, what kind of people want you to be?
You ought to live holy and godly lives
as you look forward to the day of God.
And speed is coming.
That day will bring about
the destruction of the heavens by fire.
Talk about global warming
and the elements will melt in the heat.
But in keeping with his promise,
we are looking forward
to a new heaven and a new earth
where righteousness dwells.
So then, dear friends,
since you are looking forward
to the joyful anticipation
of his return, since that's what you're
looking forward to, make every effort.
To what?
To be found spotless and blameless
and at peace with him.
The joyful
expectation of the return of Christ.
It causes me to motivate me
to live a holy life,
and it recalibrate how I view this world.
Those who are who do not have
a joyful expectation of Jesus return
have a horizontal view of life.
This is. This is the only plane.
They see the world through this lens
right here.
Their life and what's around them.
Those who live with a joyful expectation
of the church, Christ,
have a vertical view.
We'll look at beyond this plane
and it calibrates it all.
And when this is my view,
the joyful return to Christ,
I'm not so worried about life.
I'm not so worried about this world
like most of you are.
Jesus warned us what was going to happen.
I realized this is not my home.
I realize I'm a stranger passing through.
So the person with the vertical view,
the expected return to Jesus
Christ, has the view that job had job
as the whole life as this
as this view was, was being destroyed.
He looked this way and he said,
I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end
he will stand on the earth.
After
and after my skin has been destroyed.
This is all gone, yet in my flesh
I will see God.
I myself will see him with my own eyes.
I am not another. I won't see anybody
else. I'll only see him.
And how my heart yearns
within me for that day.
And so Jesus says, listen.
I want you to live
within a joyful expectation of my return.
And while you live, waiting on my return,
joyful, anticipating it,
I'm going to tell you
how you're supposed to live. So you ready?
Matthew 25.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to read the entire parable,
and then we'll talk about it.
So the first parable is 13 verses, okay.
And we'll talk about
there's going to use a lot of words
that aren't going to make a lot of sense.
All those scenarios
we're not going to understand,
but we'll explain it
verse 20, chapter 25, verse one.
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like
ten virgins who took their lamps
and went to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them are foolish,
and five were wise.
For when the foolish took their lamps,
they took no with them.
But the wise took flasks of oil
with their lamps.
As the bridegroom was delayed,
they all became drowsy and slept.
But at midnight there was a cry, here's
the bridegroom, come out and meet him.
Then all those virgins rose
and trimmed their lamps.
And the foolish said to the wise,
give us some of your own for our lamps,
for our lamps are going out.
But the wise answered, saying,
since there will not be enough for us
and for you, go rather to the dealers
and buy for yourselves.
And while they were going to buy, the
bridegroom came, and those who were ready
went in with him to the marriage feast,
and the door was shut.
Afterward the other virgins came also,
saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
But he answered, truly I say to you,
I do not know you.
And then Jesus says, watch.
Therefore this is how you live.
Watch therefore, for you know
neither the day nor the hour.
Now this scenario make perfect
sense to them, because they understood
the ancient Jewish,
because it wasn't ancient to them.
You know, process of of marriage.
We don't understand so much.
We, you know, I'm lonely.
I'm gonna go on Tinder, I'm
going to find somebody, I'm
going to swipe,
you know, whatever that is, whatever.
However it works now,
it wasn't so back then.
Back then,
marriages were arranged like
the fathers got together and decided
who their kids would marry.
It was a it was a brilliant system.
It's a brilliant system.
And so they would work out
the payment of what the bride was worth.
The, you know, the groom's parents
would pay the money they would enter in.
There were three elements
to a Jewish wedding.
There was there there was the betrothal,
the engagement, and then the wedding.
And it lasted last over a year.
It was a long process, but.
But it culminated with the groom
kind of arriving at an unknown time,
and the bride and all her wedding party
going out to meet him,
and they would come together
and consummate the whole wedding deal.
That's what this story is about.
This parable is about now
when I was when I was young,
like in the
70s, and I know I don't look it,
but I am that old.
That was like the whole the Jesus movement
and the hippies on the tail end of that
and this great revival.
And back in those days,
we learned this song
give me for my lamp.
Keep me burning, burn and burn it.
Give me all for my lamp
I pray. Hallelujah.
Give me your for my lamp.
Keep me burning. Burn up burning.
Keep me burning till the break of day.
Right.
The goofy song.
But it was the 70s.
And it was cool
that songs about this passage
give me all from a
give me a burn, burn a burning
can't be burned to the break of day.
Now, back in the 70s,
we added a bunch of other,
you know, lyrics to that cool song
Give Me Gas from my Ford.
Keep me trucking for the Lord, give me gas
from earth, Lord I pray Hallelujah me
gas from my forehead.
Give me trucking for the Lord.
Check it out on the break of day.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
All this stuff.
But it was about this passage
because there was an expectation
that who knows,
just give me all for my lap.
Keep me burning. I don't want to.
I don't want to miss this.
These elements to this wedding.
Let me walk you through it.
There was the betrothal,
which was the agreement between the groom
and the bride, of what the bride was worth
and the payment that was made.
And once that payment was made, then
they entered into the engagement period.
And the engagement
period was was like a year long.
And during that engagement period,
the groom would leave
to prepare a home for the bride.
And when the home was ready,
the groom would return
and take the bride with him
that they would be together.
And during that time of of engaged, while
the groom was gone,
that was used to prove that the groom
was able to take care of the bride.
He was shown to be trustworthy
and reliable and providing
and mighty and powerful, and everything
that a bride would want in a groom.
And then that was the second.
And then the third part of
it was the actual wedding feast,
when the groom would come back
and as the groom came back,
there would be great pomp and circumstance
and fanfare, and everybody in the city
would know that the groom was coming back,
and then the bride and her party
would go out to meet the groom,
and together they would arrive together
and establish their presence.
That would that
that was the process of a Jewish wedding.
And usually when the groom would come back
because it was unknown
and usually it would, it would be
in the evening time or night time.
And so the bride in her wedding party
made sure that during that,
during that entire time,
they always kept their lamps with them
in case, in case the groom came back
and it was dark
so they would be able to go meet him.
And which, by the way,
let me just pause right here and tell you
this is the picture,
I believe, of Jesus second coming,
the wedding processional.
See the patrol. Those already happen.
The price has been set for the bride,
and the price was blood.
And so
God, through Jesus the Father,
through the son,
paid the price on the cross.
And because the price has been portrayed,
the agreement has been made.
Now in the second period of this process,
the engagement,
Jesus goes to prepare a place.
And this is what says
in the Gospel of John,
if I go to prepare for you,
I will come back and receive you to myself
so we can be together.
It's the whole marriage
now. He's been working on our place
for 2000 years.
It's probably going to be pretty good.
And then here's what's going to happen,
as I understand it.
And you can disagree with me, that's fine.
But as I understand Scripture
and as I understand the
the context of a Jewish wedding,
when Jesus comes back,
there's this whole idea of the
how many of you heard
the rapture of the church?
Okay, when Jesus pulls the church out
and the tribulation goes on
and the church isn't in the world, I don't
think it's going to go down like that.
I think the church is going to be here
through the whole tribulation.
And here's why.
Because when the groom comes
as he's on his way, the bride hears
and he calls her out to meet him,
and then they arrive together.
When the
Bible talks about the return of Christ,
his his appearing requires him
touching down on earth.
And so if the church is taken
out of the world during the tribulation,
that is talked
about the perilous of Christ,
the appearance of Christ, he has to touch
down to take the church out.
If that happens before
the tribulation, he's got to come back
a third time for the final coming.
So there's three returns of Christ.
It doesn't make sense.
And so according to Scripture,
and as I understand
the context of a Jewish wedding,
when Jesus comes, the church is here
through the tribulation.
When Jesus comes, he pulls the church out
and they arrive together
after the tribulation.
For the what's the Bible calls
the millennial reign of Christ
with his bride for a thousand years
to follow.
So personally,
I believe the church is going to be here
through the through the through,
through the entire seven year tribulation.
No, if you don't, we disagree.
And that's okay.
Because if I'm wrong, I'm happy.
But if you're wrong, you better get ready.
You follow.
And I think that scenario fits
the Jewish wedding.
And that's what the context of this
whole thing is about the Jewish wedding.
So as we go through this,
I'll just just look at this.
There's ten virgins.
Think bridesmaids.
That's what we're talking about.
Ten bridesmaids.
Because they don't know
when the groom's coming back.
They keep their their their lamps ready.
Really? That word lamp in Greek is torch.
And it literally was a stick with cloth
on the end, soaked
and all that they would light.
So that's really what these
what these ladies have
all ten of them waiting for the groom
to come back,
and all ten of them fall asleep
because he's delayed.
And the Bible doesn't say that's good
or bad.
It's just is he's gone a long time
and they get tired and they fall asleep.
No problem.
When they hear him coming back.
Wake up.
Let's go meet him.
The procession has started.
We realize he's coming.
Let's get our lamps.
Light him and go meet him.
Five of them are wise.
Five are foolish.
Why not? Because they got tired.
Because of his delay,
but because five of them weren't ready.
They said we
don't have enough all to sustain us.
So give us some of yours.
And the the fife who had extra all said,
we can't.
We can't give you our oil.
Go buy some. Now.
This might have been at midnight.
There's nobody open at midnight to bio.
It's too late
now. Listen.
All through the Bible.
All is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
Old Testament holy.
The kings were anointed.
God's chosen were anointed
with all symbolizing the presence of God
through the spirit on them to anoint them
and empower
them and purify them all through
the Bible.
Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
So apparently there were five
who looked like
they were ready,
but they weren't
because they had not the Holy Spirit.
There are some who look ready, who are.
And some who look ready, who are not.
It's easy to look ready.
I don't want you to miss this.
It's easy to look ready.
See, some look the part,
but they lack the heart.
They had the outward
appearance of a Christian,
but they weren't a disciple.
There was no repentance of sin.
There's no transformed life.
Spurgeon
said, if your theology doesn't
change your behavior,
it'll never change your destiny.
You make all the confession
you want in the world,
but there's no repentance of sin
and putting sin to death in your life.
That confession means nothing.
Just because one might say the word
sometime in their life.
Jesus, come into my life,
make me Christian. I want to go to heaven.
Where I die does not mean one is saved
because words can't save anybody.
If those words aren't proved
to be true by a repentance
and a turning of sin
and putting sin to death in one's life,
there are just words.
And many will look ready
and find that there's no oil.
I don't want you to get tripped up
on the nuances of the parable
when the 500 should go buy some oil.
It's not.
They're not saying that the Holy Spirit
can be purchased,
that salvation can be purchased.
Nor are they saying that salvation
can't be inherited by somebody else.
You can't gain it from somebody
giving it to you.
Each person, each person.
Has to work it out them selves
between them and God.
Their own repentance.
And every person must own the faith
for themselves, not just in word,
but in proof by repentance
and the putting to death of sin.
Now for you parents.
For us parents, it is wonderful.
It's a blessing to raise our children
in the Christian home.
Showing I did,
but even with that, each child
must make that decision for themselves,
not just accepting Jesus as their Savior
as we like to say, but turning from sin
in repentance and putting to death
sin that reigns in their bodies.
Magic words don't work.
And there will come
a time when the door is shut, and many
who look
the part will say, please let me in.
And the response for some will be,
I don't know who you are.
The Bible says many
in that they will say, Lord, Lord,
didn't we do these things in your name?
We made the confession with our mouth
and he'll say, I don't know you.
Listen,
there will be an end to all of this.
Our days will end
and the end will result
from the eternal of Christ.
Two things are guaranteed,
and you and I will experience one of them.
Either
you will die,
or while you are alive,
Christ will return.
When either of those two things happen,
the door will be shut.
And the only thing
those on the outside will hear
is, I don't know who you are.
And so the point of that parable
is, don't be foolish.
Be ready.
Got it?
And just think for a moment.
If I'm right
about the whole return of Christ,
that we're here through the tribulation,
and then we go to meet Christ in the air,
and we come together for the 1000 year
reign before the consummation
of all things. If we're here for that time
and we can't even get ourselves ready now
before that time.
What do you think it's going to be like
during that time?
Be ready.
Do you feel how sobering this is?
Jesus is like,
I'm going to the cross
at the end of this week.
What am I going to leave you with
that will motivate you for holy living?
And that'll put this world in perspective.
And this is what he says.
And then he tells another parable,
let me read it for you,
for it will be like a man
going on a journey
who called his servants and entrusted.
Remember that to them his property
to when he gave five talents,
to another, two to another one,
to each according to his ability.
Then he went away,
and he would receive the five talents,
went at once and traded with them,
and he made five talents more.
So also, who had the two talents
made two talents more, but he had received
the one talent and dug in the ground
and hid his master's money.
Now, after a long time,
the master of those two servants
came and settled accounts with him
settled accounts,
and who had received
the five talents came forward, bringing
five talents more, saying, master,
you delivered to me five talents.
Here I've made five talents more.
His master said,
well done, good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful over a little
I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of your master.
And he also had two talents came forward,
saying, master, you delivered me
two talents. Here
I have made two talents more.
His master said to him,
well done, good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful with over little.
I will set you over much. Enter
into the joy of your master.
He also had received the one.
Talent came forward, saying, master,
I knew you to be a hard man,
reaping where you did not, so gathering
where you scattered no seed.
So I was afraid, and I went hid your town.
The ground here have what's yours?
The master answered him.
You wicked and slothful servant.
Oh, you knew that I reap
where I have not shown, and gather where I
scatter no seed.
Then you ought to have invested my money
with the bankers,
and at my comment I should have received
what was mine with interest.
So take the talent from him,
and give it to the one who has ten times
for everyone who has or be given more,
and he will have an abundance from the one
who has not.
Even what he has will be taken from him
and cast the wicked, worthless
servant and outer darkness in that place
they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Pretty strong parable.
In order to understand that,
you have to understand what a talent is.
A talented is not a skill in the Bible.
It's not a skill.
It's not a it's not a
talent is a measurement of weight.
And in the Bible, the the talent,
the measurement weight
is always in connection with money,
the talent of silver or talented
gold, that type of thing.
So when Jesus says one was given
five talents, two talents, one talent,
one talent of silver was worth
20 years wages.
And so the point is, he's saying, God,
the master has given you a lot.
Cherish it.
The wealthy traveler
go about the business.
He goes and he leaves his.
He leaves the treasure possession
with his servants.
What instruction did he give his servants?
You're looking for your Bible.
You're not going to find it.
He didn't give me any instruction.
I'm going away. I'm leaving this with you.
I know you can handle it.
They can't all each handle the same thing,
but they each handle something.
He doesn't give them any stress
because he expects his servants
to know his heart and know his desire.
And to get busy doing it.
And the Bible says that
the one is given five immediately
he got the the master left
and he got is he right then
investing it and making it grow.
He didn't wait for instruction
because he knew the master's heart
and he knew the master's desire.
And he said,
I have so much expectation of a comeback.
I gotta get busy putting this to use
right now.
And the one who was given two towns
did the exact same thing,
and the one who was given one.
What did he say?
He was afraid.
What he say.
He said, I what I know of you
is that you are an unreasonable master.
You reap or you don't.
So you take things from stuff
that you never laid anything down.
What I know of you is your harsh and
unreasonable and you scare me to death.
So whatever you want,
take whatever he didn't say.
He said take, take, take,
take a little bit.
And the response
in the parable from Jesus,
he doesn't agree
with this guy's assessment of him.
It's more long lines.
Oh, you knew that I was,
I kind of pictured Denzel Washington that
oh, you knew I wish I could do Denzel,
but that's kind of, you know,
oh, you knew that I was.
In essence, he's
saying, listen,
if that's your assessment of me,
if all you think of me is that I am
harsh and unreasonable,
then you should have
at least put it on interest.
But because you don't know
who I am, you condemn yourself.
Harsh and unreasonable.
You don't know me.
Now listen.
This parable is not about how we handle
the practical blessings of God.
It's not what we do with the talents
and gifts he's given us.
It has nothing to do
with the resources he's
entrusted to us and making sure we're,
you know, giving back to the church.
And it doesn't have anything to do
with that.
It's something much more deep than that.
But but here's so that you don't walk out
and think, well, there's nothing practical
I'm going to give you.
I'm going to give some practical insight
into these talents,
and then I'm going to tell you the deeper
spiritual truth.
Okay.
So listen, the overarching question is, is
what are you doing for God
with what God's giving you while you wait?
What are you doing for God
with what God's giving you?
That's the just the practical application.
There are five practical observations
for this parable.
I'm going to give it to you real quick.
Jesus owns everything.
We only manage his stuff.
The servants given five and two talents.
They doubled it.
How much do they keep for themselves?
Not because it wasn't theirs.
They give it all to the master
because it's all he is.
They just managed.
By a while he was gone.
Everything that we have in this world,
we're just managing for a time
until the matter was back
and asked for an accounting.
Do you follow?
Okay.
Second one is this God
expects us to use what he's entrusted
to us to benefit his kingdom.
How much of what they produce do they say?
Well, great, now I'm going to live large.
It was all given and invested
not for their benefit,
but his kingdom's benefit.
That's the point. Follow.
Oh, don't.
The third thing is this. Don't be idle.
Be busy during the times of waiting
and faithful during times of delay.
The moment the master left,
the guys got busy.
Two of them did.
There was no delay.
They didn't have to ask for a search.
They knew the father's heart.
And they knew they'd be held accountable.
The fourth thing is this a misunderstood
view of God is no excuse
for poor stewardship.
Just because the one didn't understand
the heart of the master was not an excuse
for his failure.
And fifthly,
where there is no risk for God,
there's no reward from God.
But I think there's more to this parable
than that practical stewardship.
And I think all the practical stewardship
is true and applicable.
But there's something
deeper going on here.
That's why it
ends with cast that worthless servant
into outer darkness.
In that place
they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In this parable, the master.
The master is Christ.
The servants are us.
And there will be an accounting.
What is the most precious thing
entrusted to us?
It's not your money.
It's not your time.
It's not your opportunity.
It's not your possessions,
it's Christ.
It's the gospel
that's been entrusted to us.
First Thessalonians two four.
On the contrary,
we speak as those approved by God to be
what entrusted with what?
The gospel.
The most precious thing
that's been entrusted to us
is the gospel of Christ and salvation.
How faithful are we
in the administration of the gospel
to multiply it
in this world while we wait?
There will be an accounting.
The question is, am I leveraging
everything I have been given
to help people here
and know and respond to and repent
and mature in faith?
This is why
that one servant who just hid what he had,
because he didn't understand
the heart of the father
is sentenced to hell.
Because all he knew what the father.
Was a harsh, unreasonable master.
Jesus said, you only see him
as harsh and cruel and unreasonable.
Find your words.
Condemn yourself.
My expectation of those who know me
is that they multiply all that
I've given them.
Imagine for a moment
what would it have happened
had the 120 in the upper room
after Jesus ascension?
Had they received the truth of salvation
and hid it in themselves?
Where would the world be?
What are you doing?
What are we doing as a church?
What are you doing as an individual to
leverage everything that God has given you
to help people here
and know and respond to
and repent and mature in their faith?
Have you taken the truth of the gospel
and the truth
and just hid it here and think, well,
I pray the prayer
I said the words I'm going to heaven.
I'm you know, I'm good.
Oh, lazy and foolish of it.
I know,
I know the pushback from a lot of people.
I don't know how to, like, help
people out.
Jesus. Like, that's not my gig.
But if I get it,
if you think you're not good at it,
the point is, isn't to be good at it.
The point is to be faithful with it.
The Holy Spirit makes even a bad
presentation, a good presentation.
And honestly, if you're not good
at this stuff, come to the 401 class.
I'll teach you how to be good at it.
Listen, the point of this whole thing.
Get ready.
Don't be one of those who looks ready.
Be one of those who is ready.
The way you get ready
starts with repentance.
There's nowhere in the Bible
of anybody who followed
Jesus or was instructed to.
Throughout all of church
history, there's no one
who said, all you got to do
is say this magic prayer,
and then you're sealed and you're good.
It doesn't.
Nothing else matters.
It doesn't work that way.
There's no magic prayer.
The whole idea of Jesus
come into my heart.
Save me. I want to go to heaven.
That didn't
even show up in American Christianity
until about the 1950s.
All through scripture,
a disciple was defined as someone
who believed in a living Jesus.
Though
he was crucified and repented of their sin
and put sin to death in their life.
Are you ready?
Repent.
Believe in a risen Lord
who is coming back in day.
And as a sign of repentance,
put sent to death in your body
that you've been dating and courting
for far too long, and leverage
everything in your life
for the Kingdom of God and its benefit.
I want you to pray with me.
Father, thank you
that your mercies are new every morning.
Thank you that your faithfulness is great
because mine is not.
For your love and your forgiveness.
Father,
I pray this in the first service
and I got prayed again,
not not just so
people are here, but because
I know the iniquity of my own heart
how crooked I am.
And I'm truly father, I am sorry.
That I was so much more excited
and anticipating a garage door
installation than your return.
Jesus,
that's just stupid.
And I'm reminded how quickly
the main thing
isn't the main thing in my life.
How often that happens.
I'm sorry.
Father, ask your forgiveness
of the iniquity of my heart,
the crookedness of my own heart,
the perversion of my own heart.
And I acknowledge it.
Sometimes the iniquity of my heart
leads me to trespass in my life.
And I,
Jesus, thank you that you died
on the cross so I could be forgiven.
I accept what you did.
And I want to live in repentance.
And father, I'm asking by your mercy
that as I repent that you give me all that
your grace allows.
I won't be ready.
I want to live ready.
God, I don't want to fool myself.
And thinking, I'm ready.
I want to be ready.
And so,
father, I pledge allegiance to you.
Help me to put to death sin
that still is alive in my body.
And invite you that.
That that prayer
had nothing to do with you.
That was.
That was just about me.
And I'm going to encourage you
to utter something of the same.
In your sin, confess your sin, and repent.
Choose this day to make the decision
to put to death sin that you still keep,
that you still keep hold of this.
You still practice. That you still
coddle and date.
Put it to death.
How's the father
to give you the Holy Spirit
and the power of the Holy Spirit
to put to death the sins of your body?
To give you the increased desire
to live a holy life
and a righteous life and obedience life.
Because you
have been
loved, because Jesus has died for you.
That is our response.
Father,
there are some in this place who are.
In this moment not relying on it, special
magic words, but who truly believe
that you are alive, Jesus,
that you're coming back,
and our repenting of sin
who desire to live a holy life,
who are pledging their allegiance to you,
solidify that decision in them.
Secure it.
We pray what your people have been praying
for 2000 years.
Come, Lord Jesus,
come and find us faithful.
When you do your name.
Amen.
Listen,
I really believe what Spurgeon said, that
if your theology doesn't
change your behavior,
it cannot change your destiny.
A part of some of you made
a decision and made a prayer,
and you've
taken what God has given you the promise
of forgiveness, the promise of salvation.
You've taken that
and you've internalized it,
and you endeavor to live a holy life,
to put to death sin.
Good man.
The danger is that you bury it now,
and you don't allow it
to multiply in your life.
One of the ways that it begins
to multiply is by telling somebody
and praying with somebody,
the solidification of that decision.
It's a commitment.
It's a public commitment.
And so as we do every week,
the people are going to be in front
and back
that are willing to pray and just say,
yeah, let's celebrate this together.
Let's confess
this together. Let's clean this together.
Let's let's hold this together
so that it
comes just from here
and starts to multiply a little bit.
At least get the ball rolling.
My fear is that we offer this every week.
Some of you are going to take.
No man.
I'm good. I'm.
And you're going to take
what God is beginning to birth
and beginning to to to these embraces
begin to stir and to blow on to night.
You're going to take that.
It's just going to end you.
It's just going to.
Don't let that happen.
Repent.
Be joyful about it.
Because repentance is the doorway to grace
and nothing. Be ashamed of man.
And there's certainly nothing
supposed to be privatized.
Let's sing.