In this powerful 15th anniversary message, Pastor Jeff challenges us to embrace four vital marks of a last-days church: a distinguishing love that warms hearts even toward enemies, an awakened discernment that recognizes the urgency of our times, a separating holiness that reflects Christ's character, and complete dependence on Christ's covering grace. Through vivid examples from Scripture and current events, Pastor Jeff calls us to move beyond comfortable Christianity into radical, transformative faith. Don't miss this timely wake-up call for believers seeking to honor Christ in increasingly challenging days.
Sermon Transcript
For all those who have gathered, who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you, and who will, by faith, put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly by saying the word Amen. Amen. When NASA launches a rocket, it takes about 90% of the energy just to get the thing to take off and to get it out of the atmosphere. And the reason for that is when you leave a familiar surrounding to go into an unfamiliar surrounding, it takes an enormous amount of energy to launch that. We, as a church, when we launched this church on November 7th of 2010, it took a exceptional amount of energy.
We move out here, we only knew two people at the time when we begged them to introduce us to some of their friends. And by God's grace, we just kept meeting person after person. And as you saw that 19 seats grew to 30 seats. And then we moved to Cherry Creek High School. But all along the way, it's taken a lot of energy.
It's taken a lot of prayer, it's taken a lot of preaching. It's taken a lot of ministering to people and one another. And God has been so, so faithful in all that he has done. And it's important for us to understand this, because when we as a people understand that what God's doing, the most important vehicle that God is trying to build is his church. Jesus said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
The word church comes from the Greek word ecclesia, which is those that have been called out of the society that represent something. It's a governmental term, it's a political word. And what Jesus had in mind is he was going to call people out and save them and let them be born again. And then they would gather in a place where he would direct how they were to live. And he would give them instruction as to how they should build families.
And he would give them instruction as to how they should live their lives. And that's why we gather as a church. We gather as a group of people who love the Lord Jesus Christ, because we want to honor Him. We want to praise him, we want to hear him, and we want to be obedient to Him. And it's important that we understand that in any generation that we would ever live, that the church of Jesus Christ is the most important institution.
No matter what government says of what essential is, the church isn't essential. The church is foundational. The church is primary. So goes the church, so goes the world. And so it's important for us to understand, well, what kind of church does God want us to be?
How should we be living as the body of Christ? What would God expect for us? And so Today, on our 15 year anniversary, I wanted to teach a message on the four commendations of a last days church. For commendations of a last days Church. Now, when I say last days, here's what I mean.
Jesus Christ came. He died on the cross. When he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, we started living in the last days. We've been living in the last days. You were born into the last days.
And Jesus makes it very clear in his word when he's coming back. He tells us specifically soon, right? Which may not mean much, but if you take the authority of God's word seriously and you realize that God created the world in six literal days out of nothing, and that the world's about six, six thousand years old, and that 2,000 years ago Jesus was here and 2,000 years ago he was saying, I'm coming back soon. You can be assured of this, it's soon and it's sooner than you think. And whether he comes back in our lifetime or not makes no difference because we want to live as though he is.
And if he does, we want to be found doing what he wants us to do. As a church and as an individual, I want to hear, well done, good and faithful servant. As a church, I want to hear Jesus say, you did what I wanted you to do as a body. You represented me where you were as a living example of me. And so I wanted to talk to you about if Jesus is going to judge his church, if Jesus is going to say, here's what I'm commending, then I want to talk about four commendations that Jesus wants.
Now we're going to be in the book of Romans this morning in chapter 13, verses 10 through 14 to do that. And as you're turning there, Jesus does give commendation to church, and Jesus does give criticisms to church. If you ever read the Book of Revelation, chapter two and three, talk about seven different churches and, and Jesus gave commendation to some and he gave condemnation to some. Out of those seven churches, there were two that he didn't have any criticisms with and five that he said, there's some things you really need to change. And it's important that we understand that we align with where we're going.
Because where we launched 15 years ago, everything's changed, hasn't it? We live in a different culture. We live in a Different world, we live in a different time. We live in a different place, we live in a different season. And we're not in launch phase anymore.
We're in maturing phase. We're in multiplying phase. We're in how can we do it God's way as we continue to go as a church? And so this morning I'm going to highlight four of those ways that we can do that. So hear the word of the Lord this morning from Romans chapter 13.
Starting in verse 10. He says, Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Do this knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep. For now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.
The night is almost gone and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day. Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust. And here, as Paul spells out how we need to live, I believe that this is the kind of church that Jesus is gonna bless.
This is the kind of church that we're gonna see fruitfulness in. This is the kind of church that when Jesus comes back, he'll say, you were doing it the way that I wanted you to do. So I'll give you four truths this morning to the kind of church we need to be in these last days until Jesus gets here. And the first is this. We need to be a church with love that distinguishes us.
We need to be a church with love that distinguishes us. The way I would tell you this very clearly is just warm up, warm up. Notice what he says. He says this in verse 10. Love does no wrong to a neighbor.
Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Love is the fulfillment of the law. Jesus was once asked, what's the greatest commandment? He said, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And the second is, like it, you should love your neighbor as yourself.
On this hang all the law and the prophets. Like, if you want to do what Jesus wants, then honor God and love him with everything you have. And if you do and you're born again, that will translate into the way that you love others. So you can sum up the whole Bible this way. Love God, love people.
That. That's it. But what does it mean to love? Because for most of Us, we think love is a feeling. We think it's something we have to feel like, I really love them or I don't love them anymore.
I fell out of love with them. Love is not a feeling. Love is a choice. And that choice is the type of love that preferences other people more than yourself. And everybody can make that choice in every relationship that they have.
And when you do, you demonstrate that you belong to the Jesus who is loving. Because Jesus himself modeled this. He even told us in his earthly ministry in John, chapter 13, verses 34 and 35, about what the distinguishing marks of his disciples would be. In John, chapter 13, verse 34, he says, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love, love one another. And he says, by this, by this kind of love, all men will know that you are my disciples.
If you have love for one another. Christianity is the only faith in the world that teaches you how to do that. Christianity is the only way that you can ever do that. Because the Bible doesn't just say, love those that you're close to. It doesn't just say, love those that you like.
It doesn't just say, love those who are good to you. It says this, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. How can you love an enemy? How can you love someone who's attacking you, saying all sorts of evil about you? How can you love someone like that?
Well, you can choose to preference them, because if you understand the gospel, you'll realize how much you've been forgiven. Therefore, how could you withhold love from anybody? Because if you truly understand what Christ did on the cross and took the full measure of the wrath of God, there is no person that. That has ever caused you more pain than you yourself have caused God. And if you understand that, then you can demonstrate that.
By the way, when you say, I belong to Jesus. Did Jesus demonstrate that? Did Jesus Christ show that his whole ministry was a ministry of love? You saw him sneaking away all the time to pray to his dad. You saw him praying all night when he picked out his disciples.
You see him praying in the garden, asking the Father if there's any other way. You always see see him loving and honoring his dad. He said, I and the Father are one. But then how did he treat other people? It's amazing how he loved them.
Even the religious people. I mean, imagine this somebody that you created, somebody that you created in utero, somebody that you're sustaining by your own power, is able to look you in the eye and tell you you don't know anything about religion. And Jesus doesn't turn them into frogs or smote them or anything like that. He loves them. And even when he goes to the cross and he's being beaten and he's being whipped and he's got a crown of thorns on his head, and they're driving nails into his hands and into his feet, what's he saying?
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. What was he doing? He was loving his enemies. Who are his enemies? All of us.
All of us who have lived our own lives for ourselves. We're enemies of the cross, of Christ until we turn and believe that Jesus is the Christ. So our Lord and Savior modeled love for the world. And here's the reason this is so important. Because we live in a world that's getting harder to make that choice, to love people.
They say in the Word what it's going to be like in the last days. God tells us what it's going to be like. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And Jesus tells us in Matthew 24 that towards the end, the love of most will grow cold. Do you know what that means?
That means there's going to be a temptation in your heart that when people are mean or people are hurtful or people are rude, or people come against Christians, or people persecute Christians to retaliate. We don't return wrath for wrath. We return wrath with love. That's what the distinguishing mark is. That's what Christianity can do that no other faith can do.
Because Christianity is not about dominance. Christianity is about love. Amen. And so we have to be a group of people that's distinguished by the way that we love one another, by the way that we purposely choose to preference one another. And in every relationship every day, you always get the choice to choose to love somebody, to consider their needs more important than yours.
It goes against the flesh, it goes against the grain. It goes against everything that we are. But if we're truly submitted to the word of God and obedient to him, then we can do that in First Corinthians, chapter 13, a passage that's usually only read at weddings, where it talks about what love is, how love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful. It's not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way. Love does not rejoice in the wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, hopes all things, believes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But do you know how that passage starts out?
It says, if I speak in the tongue of men and of angels, but I have not loved. I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. I preached that message one time and actually brought cymbals on the platform and started banging them while I was preaching till everybody was annoyed. Because that's how annoying it is when you can do all these things for Christ but you don't have love in your heart. It says, if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but I do not have love.
I am nothing. So what is Jesus looking for? He's not looking for your service. He's not looking for how you're doing all these things for him. What's he looking for?
How are you demonstrating my heart towards other people? Like, if you ask people, do you love God? Most people will be like, no or yes. But a lot of people that say yes don't really love God. And then you can get an argument with them.
I don't think you love God. Yes, I do. No, you don't. Yes, I do. The Bible makes it really clear.
John 14 says, if you love me, you will keep my word. If you don't love me, you won't keep my word. So the question is not, do you love God? The question is, do you obey the word of God? If you do, you love God.
If you don't obey the word of God, you don't love God. It's that simple. You don't need to argue with people. Jesus already told us what it looks like. So in these last days, we need to be a church that warms up.
We need to be a church where love distinguishes us. We need to be a place where any person that would walk in here feels welcome. Any person that walks in here feels appreciated. Any person that walks in here feels honored. And beyond the walls of our church when we go out and live our lives in the community, that when people encounter us, what do they experience?
That person genuinely cares. That person's genuinely loving that person. I treat them like this, and they never stop anything. They still do all the right things. I've never seen anything like that.
How can they do it? Because Christ lives in me. And may we be a church where that is true. I mean, think about it like this. I mean, you see lighthouses on the shore when darkness and storms come.
The lighthouse doesn't curse the darkness. The lighthouse doesn't say, I can't believe that I have to do my job. The lighthouse just shines. That's what it was designed for. Like, what the church is designed for is to be a beacon of light in a community of darkness, no matter where we live.
And here's what Jesus says. I mean, one of the churches, it was a church in Ephesus. We read the book of Ephesians. Like, what a great book. What a great book.
I mean, just years later, it's that church that's still doing good stuff. But Jesus says, I have this against you in Revelation 2. Four, that you've lost your first love. I mean, you're doing all this stuff now, but you lost me. Remember?
It was like when you first got saved and how much you loved me. You've lost that. I want you to return to that. I want you to return to me and know how much I love you and then let that be dispensed out through your life. That's the distinguishing mark of a believer.
And here's the truth. I mean, even Ephesians, it talks about, truth's important, but how we speak it, we're to speak the truth in love, right? I mean, think about it like this. I called somebody at my house this week because the thermostat wasn't working. And I was hoping it was just the therm that.
And when they came out and checked it all out, they said, hey, good news, it's just the thermostat. Everything works. Your heater's fine, everything's going to be good. You just need a new thermostat on it. And if we put the new thermostat on, it will set the heat and everything will work.
Here's the truth. If you're born again, you've been wired to love God and love other people. All the equipment is there because you have the Holy Spirit indwelling your life. You just need a new thermostat. And the new thermostat is just being obedient to the word.
It's recalibrating your life to say, oh, yes, that's most important. I'm called to love God and love other people, right? And that's what he wants us to be as a body. And when the world looks on, as the world gets darker and darker and sees a group of people that genuinely care for and love one another and build one another up, they're gonna wanna be a part of It. Amen.
So let's have a love that distinguishes us and let's warm up. Secondly is this. We're gonna need a discernment that awakens us. We're going to need a discernment in our culture and discernment through the word that awakens us. I would say this simply.
Just wake up, warm up, and then wake up. I mean, notice what he says in Romans, chapter 10. Starting in verse 11, he says, do this saying that love is the fulfillment of the law. Keep loving people. Knowing the time.
He's not talking about chronology. He's not talking about the date and place. He's talking about the season that you're in. He says, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep. For now, salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.
The night is almost gone and the day is near. Here's what you need to know. Jesus is coming sooner than you think. He's coming sooner than you think. You're going to see him sooner than you think.
Whether he comes in your lifetime or not, you're going to see him sooner than you think. I mean, and what does he say? The day of salvation, it's now. You've been given time and space to live for the Lord. Now you want the Lord to find you doing what you're supposed to be doing now.
I mean, we're getting close. And listen, I could stand up here all morning and say, do you see anything going on in our culture where it's getting darker? Jesus said things would go from bad to worse. I'm watching it with my own two eyes. I mean, look anywhere you want to see.
Look at the Islam takeover of the world. Look at the new mayor of New York City. Look at what's taking place in our culture. Look at politics and government shutdown. Look at the financial crisis we have.
At no other time in the history of the world have people been crying out for no borders and one government and one system of money. Just the way the Bible says it's going to happen. I mean, we're living there, right? I remember when credit cards went into gas machines, gas pumps, in about the mid-90s. And I remember thinking, who's ever going to use that?
Why wouldn't you just walk in and just pay? This isn't going to catch on. It's caught on. And now people are waving their hand and doing that. And the Bible talks about, there's going to come a time where you'll take a mark on your back, your right hand or on your forehead so that you can get all that, every technology set up for all that to happen.
The Prime Minister of England said, by the end of next year, everybody, in order to work in England is going to have to take a chip in their hand. That's where we're at. Everything's being set up. If you don't see what's unfolding before us, your head is in the sand. Because to be a member of a church in about 1985, I mean, they might give you a WWJD bracelet and tell you to smile at people.
And that's about it. That's all it's going to cost you. There's coming a day it's going to cost you to call yourself a Christian. Will cost you to attend church. May cost you your job, it may cost you your finances.
You may not be able to buy and sell anything anymore. Are you still sold out to Jesus? Which means don't live in fear, but live with. Focus on where your hope is. It's in Jesus.
It's not in this world. Amen. It's not.
I mean, when Jesus was talking to the church at Sardis, in Revelation, chapter three, he says, I know your deeds and that you have a name and that you are alive. It's kind of like, I know your deeds, I know what you're doing. And you have this reputation of being this really thriving church. And Jesus says, but you are dead. You're dead.
What was he telling them? Wake up. Quit going through the motions. Quit thinking, oh, that's for somebody else. Those are those serious kind of Christians.
Every born again believer should be serious about Jesus Christ and what he wants. Amen. Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 14 and following says, Awake sleeper. And be careful how you walk, making the most of your time. Jesus dedicates an entire sermon in Matthew 24 and 25, and it could be titled Be Ready.
Be ready. Every, every parable there is like, be ready. I'm. I'm telling you things before they happen. Be ready.
They're. They're coming first. Thessalonians 5, verses 5 and 6 say, we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do. Now, I don't know how some of you wake up in the morning, but some of you wake up in the morning like me, and just kind of get up.
Others of you wake up in the morning and there's that button that you hit called snooze. You know, snooze button. And if you hadn't had enough Sleep or even if you just had to talk, you hit the snooze button, and it'll give you about nine more minutes, and you hit the snooze button. You can keep hitting it all day. You just snooze.
I'm not ready for that yet. You know? Oh, I just need a little more sleep. I'm not ready for that. I think there's churches filled with Christians that hit the snooze button all the time.
God prompts their heart about something that they're hearing. Like, I'm not ready for that. I'm not ready to go to prayer meeting. I don't want to do evangelism. That's for other people.
Joining a cadre and being in community or serving in the church. That's snooze, snooze, snooze, snooze, snooze. Friends, wake up. The hour is now. God didn't save you to sit.
He saved you to serve him. And the greatest joy you'll ever have in your life is giving God your best and honoring him with who you are. Right? I mean, I look at it like this, as a former football player. We're in the fourth quarter.
We're in the fourth quarter of the world. I mean, the end is coming. And when you're in a game where you're playing and the end is near and you are giving it everything you have, and you know that time is short, you fight even harder. That's what I sense in my spirit when I read the Word. That's what I sense in what I'm doing when I read the Word.
I mean, think about it like this. In Ezekiel, one of my favorite Old Testament books, the prophet Ezekiel is told by God what he needs to do. And I just want to read you a little bit about this, because he says, what a watchman should do, what a prophet should do, what a man of God who's speaking the Word to a group of people should do. And here's what he says in Ezekiel 33, verse the first six verses, he says, and the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, if I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man among them and make him their watchmen, and sees the sword coming upon and blows the trumpet and warns the people. Then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.
He heard the sound of the trumpet, but he did not take the warning. His blood will be on himself. But if he had taken the warning, he would have been delivered with his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity. But his blood I will require of the watchman's hand.
What is he saying? He said, if you're going to be my prophet and you see something that's coming, and you tell my people that it's coming, and they don't take heed to what is coming, that's on them. But woe to you. If you hear my word and you know it's coming, and you don't tell people it's coming, and you tickle their ears and you tell them everything's okay when it comes upon them, I'm holding you accountable for it. What does that mean?
Means pastors that stand in the pulpit better preach the word of God and get their people ready for what's coming. That's what it means.
And if they're not, they should repent and leave that position because they're not called to it. Right? God tells us clearly in His Word what's coming. There's a final judgment coming. You're either in or you're out.
And it's not just going to be what happens on that day. It's everything that you've been preparing for. If you know Jesus, you've repented, you trusted Him. It's going to be a great day for you. It's going to be the start of a great eternity for you.
And if you don't, it is not only going to be the most miserable day of your life, but it's going to start the most miserable eternity you could possibly have. And I love you enough enough to tell you God is so good, he's so holy, he's so righteous. And he sent His Son, Jesus, because you couldn't be good enough for him. Jesus died for you in your place. He was buried in the grave.
He rose again. And you have one choice, and one choice only if you want to be saved. And that's to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way. He is the way, the truth and the life.
You were not born believing that. So at some point in your life, you must turn from your sin and turn to Christ. If you do, you're his. If you don't, you still belong to your Father. The devil.
That's the truth of the Word. And I love you enough to tell you that. Amen. You need to know that. Okay?
But I'll also tell you this. I mean, we're called. I mean, I'm called in this position to help you stay awake spiritually and to read the times biblically and to respond with urgency. I just remember, you know, when I first started studying the Word back in the 80s and took it seriously, and I was hearing all the end time stuff and people would ask, are you a pre millennialist? Are you an amillennialist?
Are you a post millennialist? And then people always joke. They would say, well, I'm kind of more of like a pan millennialist. I just believe it's all gonna pan out in the end. And in the 80s, that was kind of funny.
But it's really not funny anymore because we're getting ready to enter all that. And you better believe in the authority of God's word when it happens. It's interesting to me that if you see all the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus, they all came true exactly as it said. They weren't allegorical, they weren't stories. When it said Jesus was gonna be born in BETHLEHEM In Micah 5:2, you know what that means?
It wasn't an allegorical story. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. When it says, in Zechariah, he's gonna ride in on the colt of a donkey, guess what that means. He rode in on a colt of a donkey. Guess what it means in the Old Testament when it said Jesus is gonna be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, Guess what?
In the New Testament, he was betrayed for 30 pieces of. And we could do that 300 times all over. So when I see somebody that doesn't take the authority of God's word seriously and says, oh, it's just a story. Oh, we're going to win in the end, you're lying to yourself. And I'm telling you, one of the signs of the end time is a rise of anti Semitism.
Has anybody seen that anywhere in our culture? It's all over the place. I believe that the Bible teaches clearly that God has a plan for Israel. You can read Romans 9, 10, and 11. It couldn't be more clear.
You can go back to Jeremiah and God made an everlasting covenant covenant with him. And if he breaks that with Israel, it means you can't be trusted in your own salvation. God has a plan for the nation of Israel. All of Israel will be saved. In the meantime, every Jew needs to Repent and believe that Jesus is the Christ.
But God has a plan for national Israel. He does. Pastor Jeff, you believe everything Israel's done is good? No, I don't believe everything the United States has done good. And I read my Bible and most of the time everything Israel did was wrong.
And God punished them for everything they did wrong. I do not stand with Israel because they do everything good. I stand with Israel because Jesus is Jewish and he has a plan for the nation of Israel. Amen.
And you're going to want to know truth, because every prophetic scripture and there a fourth of the scripture that's still prophetic, that's to come, will come exactly like Jesus said it would come. It is not story, it is not allegory. It is exact. His word is true. I believe in a premillennial return of Christ because he will come.
And until he gets here, our kingdom is not established. There's signs of it already. We get the little mysteries of it here and there. But that's not the kingdom I'm looking for. I'm looking for the kingdom where Jesus Christ reigns and rules for a thousand years.
There's no more tears, no more crying, and everything is perfect just the way he said he would come and make his kingdom. That's what he's doing, right? Why? Why do I believe that? Because that's what the Word says.
And I'm tired of people saying, no, we win. We're going to Christianize the world and the Jesus. No. Jesus said things are going to go from bad to worse. Jesus said, I'm telling you all this beforehand, so, you know, I'm telling you you need to be ready for what it's gonna cost you to be a Christian.
And I love you enough to tell you, wake up. I love you. Wake up. Are you in with Christ or are you gonna play games? Stop playing games.
Like, here's what I would tell you. If you knew Jesus was coming back today, like, if you knew he was gonna come back at noon, right? Would you be excited right now or would you be spending the next 30 minutes repenting? Right? If you say, well, I'd have to repent, then start it now.
Start it now. Ask God, Lord, if there's anything that wouldn't be right when I met you. If there's anything I'm playing around with in sin, if there's any part of my life that's not right, Lord, get it out of here. I wanna serve you. I wanna honor you.
I wanna do what's right for you. I mean, Start. That's where we're at. And friends, there's no price tag on a clean conscience. When you know that, you know that, you know.
If Jesus came back right now, in a moment, you'd be like, I'm ready. Let's go. You'll live different. You'll act different, you'll behave different. We need to be a church that.
With a love that distinguishes us, that warms up our hearts, so we love people that are hateful to us. We need to have discernment that awakens us, so we'll wake up. And then this third one we really need. And I've started to touch on it. We need a holiness that separates us.
We need a holiness that separates us. I would tell you this. It's time to step up. Step up. Notice what he says in his Word.
He says in the middle of verse 12 and following, therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing or drunkenness, nor in sexual promiscuity or sensuality, not in strife or jealousy. What's he saying? He's saying, listen, you put on the armor of light. Isn't it interesting that if we're going to sin grievous sins, we usually do it in a dark place or away from anybody else.
Like, nobody comes to church on Sunday morning and sends their most grievous sins right here in front of everybody. We always get to a dark place, a place where there's no accountability, a place where nobody is. And here's what Jesus says. Live as though you're living in the light. Now, why would he say that?
Because everywhere you go, he sees everything you do as if a spotlight was shining on you when you're on your date, he sees it all. When you're, quote, unquote, watching a movie in the dark basement, he sees it all. When you're plotting to have an affair, he sees it all. When you're planning on cheating, he sees it all. I mean, nothing in the darkness will stay dark.
It will all be exposed. Every part of your life, right? I mean, how many times have I had to go before the Lord? Repent of that. Don't bring that up again.
I mean, that's how we should feel, knowing that there should be this holy fear in us. Holiness is not God robbing you of fun. Holiness is not. Okay. I can't play cards, I guess.
And I can't drink. And I can't. That's not what holiness is. Holiness Is God, I belong to you. I want to represent you.
Everything in my life needs to be for you, Lord, what in me needs to change so that I represent you well, because I want to live my life in such a way when people see me, they see you or they see me repenting because I needed to be more like you. That's what I want to see. And when the church is holy, that's where God goes to work. Can I just say, I hate it. Like, our culture does not represent Jesus.
No culture has ever represented Jesus. So when we look at the culture and we say, this is what the culture likes, so we'll do that in the church, because then maybe we can attract some of the culture in the church, that's garbage. Here's how people in the culture get attracted to Christ. When you live so radically different, when your music that you listen to is radically different, when your praise is different, when the way you're obedient to the Word is different, when the way you're living your life is different, when your marriage is different, when your kids are different, they look on and they say this, you're weird. That's when you know you got a chance to share the gospel.
That's when you know, because. Amen.
Because if all you are is the, quote, cool Christian that still drinks with friends, still messes around, but you're a Christian, because I know Christ and you don't, that's no witness at all. Because you really don't know Christ.
If you know the Jesus of the Bible and you know the Jesus that I know, there's a desire in your life for holiness and righteousness and truth. And you'll see in your own life where you completely come up short. I mean, when Jesus wrote to two of the churches in the book of revelation, in Revelation 2, he wrote to Pergamum and Thyatira. And Pergamum was known for doing some good things, but they have false teaching. They weren't teaching the unadulterated word of God.
And then Pergamum or Thyatira rather, they were known for their immorality. They had the spirit of Jezebel all around. So they're doing the good things, but they're letting the culture invade them. They're saying, we're going to teach in a way the culture likes and we're going to live in the way that the culture likes. And Jesus was like, then I ain't working with you anymore.
I'll take the keys out of that church. I'll take my presence, I'll Remove it from that church. I tell you what. I want to be a church that preaches the Word. I want to be a church that doesn't tolerate sin.
Why? Not because we're better than others, but because we represent Jesus. And can I just tell you as a pastor how serious we take this? I take it serious in my own life. I take it serious in the life of our staff.
Our elders take it very serious. So every now and again, I'll hear a rumor like, hey, you have a pastor on staff. That or you did this, or you aware of that? We've investigated everything. We will investigate everything because everybody that serves on this staff must be above reproach.
And if they're not, we'll tell them to go find a different job and we'll love them and they can serve in our church doing other things, but they won't be on staff. And so in this passage, I'm just telling you, what does it say not to do? It says, behave properly, as in the day, not in carousing, which is like orgies and drunkenness and sexual promiscuity and sensuality. And then it says this. Not in strife or jealousy.
What's that? That's discord. That's gossip. That's talking bad about a church. That's talking bad about people that are doing things.
When you don't have all the information, right? That's your side of the story. But you're not gonna let anybody else on the other side share their story, right? God hates that. He hates it.
Well, I don't gossip, but I'm just a very comfortable place where people come and tell me stuff. If you listen to gossip, you're a gossip, right? I don't have ears for that. I'm not listening to that. If you have a charge against somebody, bring it and bring a witness or two with you and let's deal with that.
That's totally fine. But if you don't, then stop listening and shut your mouth and quit gossiping. That's what he would say. Why? Because we want to live holy doesn't mean perfect.
There's not one person that would ever say in this church, you gotta live perfect. But the call is to do that, right? Jesus said, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. So we're growing in perfection, but we're not perfect. There's not one that's perfect.
I'm not perfect. Mess up all the time. But we need to be holy in such a way where we see the face of God. I mean, notice Second Corinthians 6 says, what fellowship has light with darkness? Come out of their midst and be separate.
Why are you hanging out and being best friends with those who aren't saved? Well, I'm just sharing the gospel with them. Then share the gospel with them and go hang out with believers. Right. First Thessalonians 4, 7.
God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but on sanctification. First Peter 1. Be holy yourselves also in all your behavior, because it is written, you shall be holy. For I am holy. I mean, you love stories in the Bible of Daniel when he was told about King Nebuchadnezzar and his statue and all that, he's like, not only am I not bowing to him or that, but I will bow to my God.
And just so you know that I'm going to do it. I'll open up my window so that there's no mistake about it it and I'll bow to him. Right? I mean, it's like this. I mean, as we're growing in our faith with God, you've heard the illustration of, you know, refining gold and things like that.
The way they do it is they turn up the heat super hot, and then all the impurities float to the top so you can actually see them, and then they get scraped off so that you have a purer form of gold. That's what God does in our sanctification. You know, we're like, I'm saved. I got everything I need. And then God starts through his Holy Spirit, bringing up some other impurities, like, okay, good, get those out of here.
And now it's all gone. And then God brings up more. And when does that process end? When you meet Jesus. I mean, there's always impurities God is bringing up if you walk with Him.
Like, I used to think that there was some plateau that I could get to when I was about my age. Like 30 years from now, I'll get to that plateau where all the stuff has been brought up and I'm just gonna cruise on. God's bringing up more stuff now than ever before. Why? Because he wants me to be ready when I meet Him.
Holiness is not a drag. Holiness is the power that God uses when his people say, I want to represent you. And when the world looks on and says, you don't look anything like us. And we say, that's right, because we represent Jesus, but we love you and he died for you, too. And you can have a relationship with him too, but you must repent and give your life to Christ.
I mean, holiness is the armor that holds you under pressure. The. The last days church, it must be pure to remain powerful. We have to be. And this doesn't mean that you go look at everybody else and you become their accountability partner.
Like, hey, I noticed you the other day, you were doing something wrong. You need to fix that. That's not what it means. We're talking about a mirror here, right? We're talking about Holy Spirit.
You show me, Search me and try me and show me what needs to change in me for your. For your glory. And if we'll be a church that is warmed up by our love, that is woken up by our discernment, is separated by our holiness, then we can finally be this. We can be a church with Christ who covers us. We can be a church with Christ who covers us.
It means this. We want to be able to reach up, right? I know for some of you might be like, man, I just came for baptisms today. I'm never coming back to this place. I get it.
But what I'm telling you is we're not a church that wants to tickle your ears. I don't want to tickle your ears. I love you too much. And I know you're going to stand before Jesus someday to give an account for your life. And I want you to be ready when that time happens.
If you want to find an ear tickling church, you can find them all over the place. They're in every city in our country. I'm going to preach the Word, but what I'm not preaching is we're better than you. What I'm not preaching is we're perfect and you're not. Here's what I'm preaching.
We were dead and Jesus made us alive. And we want him to take over our lives completely. Amen.
Most of us think we're okay. Most of us think we're doing just fine. Most of us are like the church of Laodicea in the book of Revelation in chapter three, where they thought they were doing okay. And Jesus said, I know your deeds, that you're neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were cold or hot.
He was like, I wish you were one or the other. I mean, lukewarm's good for nothing. Hot is good if you're gonna take a shower or bath. Cold is good if you need a cold drink on a hot day. But lukewarm.
Who wants lukewarm water? When you're sweating on a hot day, you come in and get a nice lukewarm cup of water. I mean, you know, or who wakes up in the morning, said, I want a nice lukewarm shower. I mean, nobody does that. He's like, it's not good.
That's not what it was designed for. So because you're lukewarm and neither hot or cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. And he says this because you say, I am rich and I become wealthy and I have need of nothing. And you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. He's talking to the church today saying, most of you think I got everything I need.
Jesus and I are fine. He's like, yeah, but you don't realize that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. You don't even see yourself the way you are. Like, I only take that which is holy. I only take that which is perfect.
And you're not. So what makes you think that I'm going to accept you when I come? And the answer to that question is found in the Bible. That he came and took the wrath that was intended for you. That's the glorious mystery of the cross of Christ.
That's why Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. He's it. Islam won't save. Allah doesn't save.
He's a false idol. Muhammad doesn't save. Confucius doesn't save. Spiritualism doesn't save. Joseph Smith doesn't save.
Jesus Christ of the Bible saves. And he's the only one that can.
But here's what he's saying. It can be for you. It can be for you. I mean, just like we put on Christ, we don't just put on Christ the first day. Just like a Roman soldier suited up or a football team suits up in there, shoulder pads and helmets and everything else.
I mean, we need to suit up. Just like the prodigal son was given a robe over him. We need to suit up. Every day we need to put On Christ. Ephesians 6 talks about six pieces of armor.
And if you don't remember them all, just say, well, I'm just going to put on Jesus because that'll take care of everything. I mean, every day I'm putting on Christ, I'm putting on Christ. Jesus, you live in me through your Holy Spirit. I want to represent you. And we have a God who covers us through Christ.
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. Don't you wish. I mean, this is one question I forgot. God, why is it that when we become Christians, our flesh doesn't go away. I mean, wouldn't that be awesome?
I mean, I got saved in 1989. I would love to tell you, man, from 1989. I don't know. I've never sinned since 1989. I mean, I just immediately started following Jesus and everything was great.
I know that's not true. My flesh still comes up at 55. I'm almost 55, still comes up, and I'm like, how is it that this still comes up when I know it's wrong? And 30 years ago I put it to death, and it still comes climbing in me. Like, this is what you.
No, I don't. I hate it. Like, who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, who gives us the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Amen. I mean, I think God shows us those things so we can yearn for what's to come. He shows us our imperfection so we can look at his perfection. He shows us what's falling short so he can show us. I've covered all that.
And if we live by grace, it's not an excuse to go sin. If we live by grace, it's the power to grow in holiness, righteousness and truth. And that's what God has for all of us. So if you're here today and you say, well, I. I don't have that kind of relationship with Jesus. I have one of those more nominal kinds that believe what he did, but I'm just not willing to go all in.
Here's what I would tell you. Even the demons believe that and shudder. The devil knows Jesus died on the cross for the sin of humanity and rose from the dead. And he's the only way to life. He knows all that.
That won't do anything for you. You. But you must surrender your life to Christ. You must come submit your life to Christ. You must say, I want Christ.
I don't want my sin. And here's what I would tell you. If you're ready to do that, you can do that at any place, at any time. You can do it right while you're sitting here. You can do it as you leave the parking lot.
You can do it anytime. And Jesus will come into your life through His Holy Spirit and indwell you forever. That's what he wants. And if he's in you, then guess what he wants you to do. He wants to grow with you.
He wants to take over your life. He wants to help you to put on Christ. And in these last days, I want to be that kind of church. I want to be the church with a love that distinguishes us and a discernment that awakens us and a holiness that separates us with Christ being exalted who covers us. Like, I'm 100% sure if I die today, I go to heaven.
And it has nothing to do with anything I brought to the table. It's only because of the blood of Jesus and his death on the cross for me and his resurrection from the dead. That's it. There is no other way. Amen.
And I want to be a church where Jesus comes back and says, I see your love and I see your discernment, and I see your holiness and I see that you exalted me. Well done, church. And in these last days, that's the kind of church we want to be. To stand for the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, to stand firmly on his foundation. In this first 15 years, it's been a foundation.
Who knows how much longer we have. But as long as we're given life, let's be a church for the next 15 years or longer, or whatever the Lord has for us to serve him like this. Because, friends, the day is coming. It's not going to get easier, it's going to get harder. The need for community is going to grow.
The need for evangelism is going to strengthen the need to hear the word and believe it and see other people that are living it, only going to be better. And if that's what you're looking for, God's got a place for you here to continue to grow in Him. And I, you invite, invite you to be part of that. In a minute, you're going to hear a couple testimonies on both our campuses, just for baptisms. And then we're going to baptize today.
It's going to be an incredible time. We're going to cheer and we're going to celebrate. But I just wanted to pray for you right now. If you've never trusted Christ personally in your life, I want to tell you something. He loves you.
He loves you, loves you, loves you. He loves you so much he left heaven to come to earth for you. And he wants you to have a relationship with Him. And if you're willing to surrender your heart to him, he'll come into your life right now. Would you pray with me?
Our Father in Heaven, we give you praise, glory and honor for these last 15 years. We give you praise for all you're doing. And Lord, we invite you in this moment to minister to us in a special way. Lord, I pray for all those who are here today who've never given their lives to you, who would say they're still living in their sin, or they wouldn't even say it that way. They would say, I'm fine.
I don't need this. Lord, that you would arrest their heart, that you would awaken their heart. You would show them the need for the gospel. And Lord, for all those who are feeling that this morning, say, what do I do? Here's how you can pray.
Say, lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I don't have the relationship that's being talked about. But if you really do love me and you really did die for me, you really did rise from the dead. I'm saying this, Lord, save me and save me now. Come into my life and change me.
Grow me. Help me walk in your ways. Lord, I want to know that when I meet you face to face, I'm going to hear the words, well done, good and faithful servant. Lord, extend your grace here today. And Lord, for those of us who know you, just continue to grow us in your grace until we see you face to face.
We lift you up high. We exalt you. We celebrate every living testimony here of baptisms of people who have crossed over from death to life. We love you and praise you. It's in Jesus name we pray.
Amen and amen. Can we give God praise for his word this morning?
It.