September 29, 2025
How many of you guys are excited about God's word tonight? Come on. I know more hype stuff from the pastor guy. I get it. Heart be receptive to God's word. It can never return to him void. It can never return to him void. When God speaks a word, it can never it can never not produce. That's who he is. That's why words matter. Our words have a lot of power. Our words have a lot of play. I've used the example on several occasions with with probably everybody in here that I could look at my children right now in the eye and in this environment in this setting and say I love you or I can look at them in the same setting in the same moments and say I hate you. And the change of one word changes the trajectory of their life. The change of one word changes the atmosphere of their life. And let me tell you something that's because you are made in the image and the likeness of your creator. You are made in the image and likeness of God. God formed you to be him. When he created you, he created you uniquely different than the rest of his creation. He said, "This is very good. Let us make man in our image and in our likeness." Okay, quick review context before we get into the word tonight. John chapter 4 verse 24. I got a several announcements, but I'm already in the word. So, here we go. Okay. John chapter 4 says that God is spirit. God is not the big man upstairs. God is not a man that he should lie. The Bible says God has no shifting shadows. He doesn't change. He's constant. He's true. That's why he's an anchor to our soul. That's why we have the confidence that we can have in who he is. That when we're going through trials, when we're going through tribulations, we can be confident we've already won. Because the Bible declares that. Jesus told us in John 16:33, "In this world, you will face trials and tribulations, but be of great cheer." Anybody else of great cheer in here? Be of great cheer. I've overcome the world. So, here's what he said. In this world, you're going to have trials and tribulations. That's not the part we cheer. But be of good cheer. Why? I have already overcome the world. We've already won. Okay, we've already won. God is spirit. He created us in his image and likeness. His words have power. Your words have power. And then he came in the likeness of man. When God created mankind, he created them male and female. He created them humans. We are created beings. Okay? Everything there's a spiritual realm and there is a physical realm. And everything is spiritual. I'm giving you some some feedback from the last couple weeks, some context, some review here. Everything is spiritual. Before it's political, it's spiritual. And let me go ahead and help you just a little two cents. We've surpassed political differences and we're now into good and evil. Just so everybody knows. Okay, just a heads up. We are surpassing all of that. It's gotten to where we're in good and evil because everything is spiritual and everything is either of the Holy Spirit and of God who is spirit or it is of a different spirit. And we've been talking about big G, God Almighty, the one true living God, who said, "My name is Yahweh." He has a name. He told us who he was. See, any other little G gods that have been ever been created, they were ascribed a name and ascribed attributes. God said, "Yo, I'm the one true living God. I'm the one who created everything else. I'm the God of all gods, King of all kings, Lord of all lords, and here's my name, and here's who I am, and here's who I'm going to be for you." And he he introduced himself to us. And then when Jesus came, the Bible says that the spirit of God put on flesh and dwelt among us. In the beginning was the word. John chapter one. And the word was with God and the word was God. That's why words matter. And his word matters. He's the word. It's who he is. When he speaks, bam, life. He says light. Boom. Light. That's how it works. And then the word put on flesh. Ephesians chapter 6. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We're not fighting against one another, man. That's why the very first sermon I preached and I was energized and I can hardly remember I just remember what my objective was in that first service was to preach that know no man by the flesh because I knew in that room which God bless world him there was 165 people the first service we had and I thought to myself there's people in this room that have fist fought there's people in this room that have sold drugs to other people in this room there's people in this room who have slept with other people that there's not their wife in this There's people, there's a lot of stuff in this room. And the Bible says for us to know no man by the flesh. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We wrestle against spirits and principalities and powers of the unseen world, the God of this world. And I talked last week, there's a force to a godlike character. And the force is darkness, right? If the darkness is so pitch black in here, it's disrupting how we live. And you feel , well, the darkness is just too much. when all we have to do is go turn the light on. All we have to do is ch listen. All we have to do is change the message. All we have to do is change the words. You have believed a message and now you get to declare a new message. You have heard this message your whole life and now you hear a new message. You have been told that you're of no value and now I'm here to tell you that you're a masterpiece. You were told something. You were abused, molested, neglected, whatever it was. And it was a message that was told to you. You you were used by men. You were used by women. You were you were you were used as a pawn for finances. You were you were betrayed. You were whatever. Let me tell you, the Bible says that Jesus, he can relate to everything that you have felt. He can relate to everything that . And here's what I'm here to tell you. God come to heal. Now, there's a new message for you, man. God's always known you. God's formed you. God's picked you. God did not pick what happened to you, but God picked you. And God has brought you through all of it. And God wants to heal all of that in your life. God wants there to be a a health, but here everything is spiritual. So, so if you grew up in a broken home, there was a spiritual atmosphere of that home that was not of God. And so that's all . And so then what do we do? We begin to portray that forward. So in church terms, we try to put words on it. So we call them generational curses or generational blessings. Let me tell you what it is. It's generational thinking. It's generational messaging. And so what happens is you're living under a curse because it's not of the Holy Spirit versus living under the blessing because it's of the Holy Spirit. And so what happens is when I say you have the power to change the atmosphere, you have the power to change the atmosphere with your words. You have the power to change the atmosphere with your focus on the truth. You have the ability to change the atmosphere and say, "Everything now is new. I'm a new creation in Christ." And that old spirit is gone. And my home is now a home where the the Holy Spirit lives. My heart is now a heart where the Holy Spirit lives. Everything in my life is now of the spirit. 2 Corinthians 5:17, one we know very well says that you're a new creation in Christ. Old things have passed away and behold, everything is new. what verse 18 starts with? Now. Everybody say now. Now all things are of God. There you go. See, you're a new creation in Christ. Now all things are of God. You were of the world. Now you're just in the world. Now you are of the spirit of God. And so everything is different for you. And what we're learning, we've been talking about. What we're learning is how to now live in the life of God. Man, we're learning to get our mind renewed to the truth of the word. We're learning to his character. We've been introduced to him and now we're building relationship with him. And the more we build relationship him with him, the more we stand to gain, the more we grow, the more we can understand, the more we can navigate that while we're in the world and we're facing hardships, we can make a declaration. It is well with my soul. Why? Because the wind and waves still obey him. I said the wind and waves still obey him. He's still God is what that means. He's still the one who started this whole party. He's still the one who's the creator of all things. He's still the one who's sovereign, who holds all authority. He's still the one that has already won the victory for you. He's still the one that has already saved you. He's still the one that is the anchor to your soul. He's still the one who's the reward for you. So, yes, did we face some adversity? Yes, do we face difficulty? Yes, is it hard? Yes, is it fair? Yes, is it? Who cares? I have God. I can say it is well with my soul. Why? Because the wind and waves still obey him. Man, I'm just telling you when I say everything is spiritual, we are now spiritual beings, but we are flesh and blood. And so God comes in the likeness of his creation. He comes in the flesh. John 1:14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And this is what happened. And he took the penalty for our sin, our shortcoming, our breach that separated us from God. And he restored it so that we could have intimacy with the with the life again. So we could have in in what is it? intimacy with the truth again so that we can have intimacy with joy and with peace because why? That's who he is. We are not working for it because I understand his character, his message, his heart, his truth. I have everything that he is. My peace comes from knowing who he is. My joy comes from knowing who he is. My confidence comes from knowing who he is. My hope comes from knowing who he is. Everything that we want to champion and celebrate and long for in life comes from him. And so because it's come alive on the inside of us, man, it's changing who I am. It's changing how I act. It's changing how I behave. And therefore transforming the outcome and the fruit of my life, which is what we've been talking about. But here's what I want you to recognize. The the Bible says, , we're going to go forward in a minute, but let me stay here for a minute. The Bible says when Jesus was prophesied, you're going to have a son and you're going to name him Emmanuel, meaning God with us. Here it is. God coming who is spirit and put on the flesh. What's his name? What's one of his names? Emmanuel. God with us. God among us. And when I recognize that he is God and I can therefore I put my hope in the sacrifice and resurrection of him, I see his nature and character and it's , "Oh my gosh, I'm good now." This is why we get to live free. have already won. See, what happens is if I could give you a picture, it's looking at the scoreboard and you're losing by 27 points. And then you project the outcome of the game based on that. And the Bible says for us not to lose heart, but to take heart. See, you look at the scoreboard of your life and you say, "Well, we're not going to win this game." And you lose heart and you give up. But if you've already won, you look at the scoreboard and say, "Man, we're losing, but we're going to win." See, there's a totally different mentality with that. There's a totally different position with that. There's a total different confidence with that. Is the scoreboard that true? Yeah, it's the facts. Guess what's subject to change? The facts. Guess what the scoreboard's going to say when it's over? I win. But only if I stay in the game. Only if I continue to go forward. But I cannot lose heart and I cannot give up because that's where I'm lost. We've talked about John chapter 10:10. The enemy comes for one objective. The god of this world comes for one objective to manipulate, twist and pervert the truth that God has created. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy the life of God that is destined for you. That God created for you that God foresaw, forneew, and predestined for you. He has manipulated, twisted, and robbed you of it because of the darkness and the veil that we've lived in. And so, man, the veil comes off, the light comes on. , whoa, teach me how to explore this. How do I get to live in this more? The lights on. I want all of it I can get. Because Jesus, who was God, who came and put on flesh, came for one reason, to give you a rich and satisfying life. A life with unicorns, rainbows, and sunshine. Everything. No. He came to give you a rich and satisfying life. A life that is satisfying. A life that is fulfilled. A life that is of purpose. A life that has something to look forward to. A life that is anchored. My soul is at peace. where man, I'm going through trials and tribulations, but I'm of good cheer because he's overcome the world. This is the life he's given me. God came in the likeness of us to give you a rich and satisfying life. He came in the likeness of flesh so that you could be of the Holy Spirit. Now, that we could be part of big G and not let the little G dictate and and and lead everything. But let me be very, very clear that the devil's objective is to corrupt everything that God's created. I want you to write this down. Get another tattoo on your neck. Whatever it is, here it is. Are you ready? God's the creator. The devil's the corruptor. Listen to me. The devil can't create anything. Quit giving him so much credit. He can't create. He's not the creator. Listen to me. This maybe never dawned on you. Maybe you never heard it. He's a created being and he rejected God because he became full of himself and full of pride and he wanted to be worshiped God. And so it was an easy move out of here. I don't share my glory with anybody. God doesn't share his glory. He's the one true living God. And so this created being has now been removed from the presence of holiness. And his whole sole objective is to steal, kill, and destroy. His whole sole objective is all about himself and all about selfishness and all about pride. And he has come to corrupt what God created. And he comes and manipulates. See, he cannot create new truths. He can corrupt the truth. Oh gosh, I hope you're getting this. See, God created the garden. He created the Adam and Eve. And the devil came in and corrupted. He said, "You're not going to die." See, he can only take what God said and twist it. God, you don't you really think there's still hope for you? You still think there's time for you? You think God can heal that? You think God You think you're going, you think you're , whatever it is, all he can do is take the truth of the word and corrupt it. And that's the spirit of the world. It takes what God's created and it's a counterfeit or a corruption to what God has created. And so, let me give you the definition of corruption. Are you ready? This is the definition. I got to scroll back where I was supposed to be. The definition of corruption, moral perversion. See, everything God's created, he pervert. The devil perverts. God created sex, the devil perverts it. God created money and provision. The devil twists it and perverts and manipulates it and turns it into greed and power. Everything that God has created, the devil corrupts. See, there's two things. God created the church. This is his idea. The family, his idea. What's the one thing that the enemy wants to attack more than anything? God's ideas. He wants to twist and contort the church. So, man, have there been some bad church leaders? Yeah, they made mistakes. They fell, man. Has it caused problems for people to be able to trust the church now? Yes. Has God has the devil come against the family? And man, there's so many splintered families and broken families and all these things. Listen, there's no condemnation, but understand that the devil hates your guts because he hates God and wants to destroy the family unit, wants to destroy the church unit, wants this to go everybody that's not here to have an opinion of what goes on in here. Well, , a bunch of holders now, a bunch of bunch of are you kidding me? This is the soil where you plant the seed of your life so that your life can produce. And we get the greatest news in the world. It's good news, right? It's great news. So moral perversion, depravity, perversion of integrity, the purity of the truth, the purity of the character of God gets perverted, twisted, contorted, contaminated to make us think that it's something else. So the the the spirit of the world comes in through your experiences, which cannot be the doctrine of your life. Hear me? Your experiences are not the doctrine of your life. The word of God is the doctrine of your life. And so he comes in through the experiences you've had and manipulates and twists and contorts it to show and and contaminate the purity of God's character in your life. You can't trust God. If God loved you, why would that have happened? If God loved you, why were you born into that? If God loved you, why are you still dealing with that? If God loved you, and all he's wanting to do is contaminate the purity of God's love for your life. That's it. Why? to steal from you, to kill, to destroy, to keep you and prevent you from living the life of God that God offers you from day one. Here's here's more words. The debasement to devalue things. All the devil wants to do is devalue God's word to alter decay, rottness. And then this is one version that was in there, a debased form of a word. If he can take the word and twist and contort it and you believe the manipulated version of it, you're cooked. If I have two $100 bills and one is real and one is counterfeit, one's going to buy you some cheeseburgers tonight. One's going to put you in jail. You better know what you're looking at. And that's how slick it is. It's so simple. And we justify and excuse it. Well, this is the world I live in and this is the way the world's going and this is my lot in life and duh. No, sir. We get to take ownership. We get to take a position because we've already won and say, "Man, I've already overcome the world. Yeah, I'm dealing with some things, but I've already overcome the world. I'm already winning." And he wants to corrupt it. Let me talk to you about what corruption is. If he if he can get the spirit, the God of this world, if he can get to the heart of man, then he corrupts the outcome. Let me give you a couple examples, okay? , people have professional careers as writers. People have professional careers as actors. People have professional careers as musicians and songwriters and and instrument people have professional careers as producers and and directors. And if they're of a different spirit, then they're going to make dirty jokes, perverted jokes. They're going to have no standard for for purity. they're going to have. And so they write a story that has a dirty joke in it or whatever. And they and that's their job to write something that's funny. And it's funny to the world. We talked about this. The world hates you because you're of a different belief now. And so it's still funny to the world. It's still funny to the population. And it's funny to some of us because we're still being sanctified and still growing. Okay? So there's no condemnation. But where I'm going with all this. And so then there's people whose professional job is to act out what was written in the script. And there's people whose job is to direct it to make it look really good so it's pleasing to your eyes so you want to watch it and it's comedic and funny. And then what do we do? We laugh and we say it's funny and then we go and tell our friends I watch this movie and then we quote this movie and it and and we quote the joke and so it keeps this little bit of perverted element in my heart. And you go well you're being dramatic there Jeremy. I know this is how it works. Thi this is how it works. This is how subtle it is. See, in the same way, nobody in here is really getting paid for anything. And we're speaking a different message. We got musicians playing music of a different spirit. We got a message coming out with different of a different spirit. We got jokes that are so so sometimes, right? And so he can quote and and it's a different environment. We got drinks, we got food, but it's of a different spirit. And so it it changes the the heart. It heals the heart. It's a different environment. Man, everybody's all wound up about AI. Some of you in here are , "Man, this is going to be the next big thing." Some of you can't spell AI. It's okay. Listen, here's what's going to happen. AI is just AI. It's a powerful tool in my opinion. It's a powerful tool if you can treat it as a personal assistant and use it properly. But let me tell you something. What it wants to do is that there's algorithms that are created by humans whose heart is of the god of this world and it's going to get twisted and perverted. It's going to cause destruction through a powerful tool in your life. It's not any different than money, then music, than movies, than anything. What happens is it's of a different spirit and it's to get to your heart. That's that's how this whole thing works. And so I'm not busting on AI. I think it's a powerful tool. But let me tell you what's going to happen. You're going to start what what it wants to do is to start going to AI instead of going to God. We want to start having conversations with AI. We want to start looking for directions and wisdom from AI. We we want we want to know what AI thinks about stuff. Let me tell you something. You better find out what God thinks about stuff. You better find out what the truth is about stuff. Man, you want to go use AI to write your, , grant papers or whatever. Great. You need a little help. You need an outline. You need some direction. You need some support. You need some creative ideas for a Christmas party. Let it rip. But let me tell you something. So when you start going to it as the voice in your life, you better be careful because it is not of the Holy Spirit. I'm not telling you can't find value in it. I'm just simply telling you this is how the God of this world works. Works through a simple TV show, sitcom. Works through a powerful tool, man. It works through the cares of this life. That's why the Bible says the word of God is a seed. And there's four kinds of soil. There's the shallow soil where the birds come and eat it right away, man. It just it's you hear the message and boom, it's stolen the next day. You just can't receive. Then there's the the the the stony soil where it just it can't ever get a good root system. Then there's the thorny bushes where it chokes it out. And then there's the soil that's rich and it will produce 30, 60, 100fold. It will produce. It can't not produce. Our job is to not get caught up in the cares of life. Our job is to make sure that the soil is sufficient enough that the the seed of God's word can get planted in our heart. Our job is to make sure that it's good soil that will produce because it can't not produce 30, 60, 100fold in our life. You will see the outcome of God's word in your life. But what the devil wants to do is corrupt the simplicity of it. Listen, I say, "Hey, how many of you excited about God's word?" You're , and then and then the devil's I'm I'm just telling you, he's right here going, "That's just it's preacher tricks. He's just trying to get you all wound up. Yeah, that's right. But you see how he's taken the truth and he's contorts it and twists it and makes it about my character and my motive. Y'all didn't see it coming, did you? You didn't even realize it happened. Instead of recognizing opportunity, get excited about the word, you made it about my character because the spirit contorted something in your own heart. And I'm just using that as a simple example. This corruption is what he does. Let me give you three quick points and I'm out. Corruption makes it about us. When I say that everything that God's created, the devil corrupts, the corruption is it is about us. Now, see, he was full of pride and selfishness. He wanted to be worshiped God. And so, what did he do? He said he just doesn't want you to know what he knows. And eat of this tree. Eat of this fruit. You're not going to die. He's just holding out on you. He doesn't want you to to be in the know he is, right? Because why? It he turned the attention to himself to them to themselves instead of upon God. And when they the Bible says when they saw that the fruit was pleasant and and good to eat. In other words, here's another New Testament version. Sin is pleasurable for a season, but in the end is death. It looks good. It It looked attractive. It was It was sexy. I liked it. It was very I was drawn to it and it seemed easy. And the first time it did, it wasn't that big a deal. and the next thing it's this stronghold in my life and I'm stuck and I'm trapped and I don't know how not to do it because that's what it is. It's pleasurable for a season but in the end will always be death. That's how he corrupts. He makes it about us. He makes it about our selfishness, our pride. And God's not going to share his glory with anybody. So listen, when the message comes in and you have the revelation, oh, it's not about me, it's about him. When you get the understanding that he's the one that initiated this, that he's the one that loved you, that he's the one that rescued you, that he's the one that saved you. When I receive that love, when I receive that gift, when I receive that grace, when I say I receive it, my hope is in you. Thank you for forgiving my sins. I am washed and clean. Man, if I understand that, receive it, I want to lay my life down now for him. It's not about me anymore. It's all about him. So now, man, why do we want you to volunteer in kids? Because it's an opportunity to lay your life down for him. Why do we want you to come early and set up chairs and take them down, man? Because you get the opportunity to serve for him. Why do we want you to to give financially? Because it's opportunity to be about him. Why do we want you to do anything? Let me tell you something. We're going to have a baby dedication. This is one of my announcements. I guess I'll get it. We got babies. There's coming out. They're sprouting everywhere. They're taking over. And at some point, we're going to have a nursery. We're going to have toddlers. We're going to have we're going to have baby ministry. And some of you are responsible for it. And you say, "Well, I don't know if I want to do that." I know. And Jesus didn't want to go to the cross, but we need somebody to watch these babies so these parents can pay attention. And the other people that are doing this, you're trying to be cool, but you're , "I can see your face." Just so you guys know, okay? You guys are all , ", I'm over here, guys." , but here's what we're going to do. A baby dedication. Why? Because we're gonna bless these babies. We're gonna bless these families. This is God's design. That's why I'm telling y'all, y'all focus. Let them be parents and love them babies. We want them in the church. This is God's design. And we're going to dedicate these families and dedicate these babies because God's blessing this church and blessing these families. And we're going to shout and cheer for it. Okay. I forgot my point before that announcement. so we'll go back to my notes. It's about him. Somebody in here's a nursery administrator. You don't know it yet. It's all about the Lord. Everything that we can do now, listen, everything in your life has been repurposed. You thought you knew what your purpose was was to build your business. Your purpose was to find a wife. Your purpose was to whatever, and now everything has been repurposed because it's , "Oh, God is oh, he's the reason. Oh, now everything is repurposed." , well, now everything I have is to be reused for a different purpose, him, not me. All the toys that you want to acquire was for you. Now it's , oh, I got all these toys now. I can use them for him. Everything switched because it was corrupted. And now the corruption's been removed. The veil's been removed. Everything's become pure again. You're , "Oh, I got a tractor. I can help. Oh, I got two arms. I can rank stuff. Oh, I can come early. Oh, I can greet people at the door. I can help park cars. I don't want that microphone, but I can get a car parked. Right? This is how it grows. I can come and set up a table for football. I can I can bring cookies. We can all contribute and make it happen. Second point I want to tell you. Corruption is the world view and it distorts the true view. I'm reiterating my point because I got ahead of myself. But this is John chapter one. It all starts with God. We must first believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Man, we must believe that God is. This whole thing starts with the fact that God is. And then I see his character, his nature through the sacrifice of Jesus, the physical image of the invisible God. The visible image of the invisible God. I see that the spirit of God that God came in the likeness of his creation. I see it now. I get it. Ah. And I see his heart and his love. And now everything makes sense. It makes it's it has purpose. The veils come off my eyes. Now I can see good and evil. Now, now I can see right and wrong. Now I can see truth and lies. Now I'm of the spirit. So I have a discernment to recognize when things are of God and when they're not. See, that's what I have now. I I I I no longer have the truth distorted in my life. And this truth is what, listen to me, helps shape our view of politics, help shape our view of government, help shape our view of family, help shape our view of humanity. It helps shape our view because now the light's come on, the truth has come on. Now I can see things for what they are. Listen, I said it last week about about hating evil and not hating people. In Psalm 97:10, it says this. It says, "You who love the Lord hate evil." Watch. Let me let me paint a picture for you. See, here's what happens. The moment in John 15, we talked about how that now the world's going to hate us. Okay? Why? because we believe we have a different belief. We heard the message and we believed it. And so now we're over here and that which is not of God hates that which is of God. Now watch, please pay attention how this I believe how this works in our life. Those who are still veiled, who are still blind, don't believe that God there's a spiritual element. Don't believe that there's a truth. Hate the things of God. And so they hate you the people. We are now of the Holy Spirit have a discernment and hate evil and can see the spiritual what spirit is of. And so we can look past the person and hate the evil. This is why Jesus was hanging on a cross. He said what? Father forgive them because they don't know what spirit of they don't know what they're doing. This is why Jesus didn't kick Peter out when he said when he tried to reprimand Jesus and said I'm not going to let you go to the cross. Jesus didn't kick him out of the club. Jesus didn't boot him. He said, "Get behind me, Satan." He didn't kick him out. He was patient with him because we're learning and growing. See, we get to a place where we get to walk in discernment and I get to know, I can discern what spirit this is of. That's why when you're in conversations and you're , "This doesn't feel healthy." You walk into a room, this atmosphere doesn't feel right. I'm going to excuse myself. I don't got to make a scene. It's just this isn't the spirit that I want to be a part of. This isn't the atmosphere I want to be in. Why? Because everything is spiritual. Period. And so unless I'm bringing light to the darkness, let me go ahead and excuse myself because this is not healthy for me. That's the That's the discernment. I can recognize it. Now, I'm not going to hate you. I hate the evil that has deceived you and I'm aware of the enemy's ws. And so, I've got to be cautious about you. But I don't hate you. I hate the evil that's misleading you, that's corrupted you, that's corrupted of your mindset. Recognizing that you don't know the truth yet. This is why as a church we come across condemning to people who are lost because they hate us because we're of a different spirit. This is also why we don't give them any fodder with foolish behavior. If you're not speaking life and lifting and encouraging and inviting people and probably hold your tongue as God's working in your life still because they already hate us. You don't need to give them more reason. You want to let them know about the goodness of God that inspires us to want to repent. It's the same thing that inspired you to want to repent. Okay? And so, please recognize that. Let me go back to my second point. Our hope can never be in ourselves. This is, listen, I had a conversation with a young lady that works at the restaurant the other night, broke up with a woman. I told her it was going to happen just for what it's worth. And she goes, "Well, you got what you wanted." And I said, "Well, let me be clear. I didn't want it. I'd just been around for a minute and I was trying to look out for you. I was trying to papa bear you because she didn't have a dad in her life. And so I'm trying to papa bear a little bit and I was trying to help her guard her heart because she'd already given her heart away and he just went off to college and everybody in here that's above the age of 40 knows that was going to go down and so now it's not there. So what was I trying to do? I was trying to The reason I brought that story is because we put Listen to me. The reason I brought that story up is because we put our hope in other people. And a young girl at 17 years old doesn't know how, especially without a father, how not to put her hope in some boy. So, this is where the church comes in. Let me help protect you. Let me help guide you. This is where those who are what's the word? More mature in the faith. The older women help the younger women. The older men help the younger men. Man, if you're a new believer in here, come find me. I will help you or find somebody that can meet with you and help you. You can have a mentor. You can have a big brother. You can have a big sister. You're part of the family. But let me tell you something. We've got to protect one another. I was trying to protect her from giving our heart away because we put the hope in ourselves. We put the hope in our paycheck. We put the hope in our boyfriend and girlfriend. We put the hope in this scenario, into this truck, into this thing. And that's the corruption that the devil wants to do. The god of this world wants you to put your hope in something other than God. And the only thing that's not going to change that's going to be stable factual life is the truth of God and God's word. All right. Our hope is not in people or in government in any way. Let me leave you at this third point, which is what I've been saying. We hate evil, not people. First John chapter 3:15. This is one of those check yourself moments. Okay? And I'm going to end with a big encouraging verse, and you're going to light your hair on fire and take off out the door and go win the world of Jesus. Okay? But listen to this one first. 1 John 3:15. Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And that murderers don't have eternal life within them. Ouch. If I have hate in my heart for the other person, then I cannot have the love of God operative in my life. At the same time, if I can discern what spirit it's of and recognize the evil and hate the evil, thereby I can love the person in spite of the evil that I hate. But if I hate the person who has a let me tell you something. I know. I know. I'm dancing all around toes and I know that some of y'all ready to talk to me about your life stories and stuff. People have done some heinous things. People have done some offensive things, things people have done some belittling, bullying things. People have said some things to you, done some things to you in a massive way. And I get it. I understand that. I understand it hurts. But what we have to do, Jesus is gasping for breath. He is gasping for breath and looks at the people who deliberately manipulated the crowd and eradicated this presence of this man and put him on the cross. Looks at him and says, "Father, forgive him." Only way he can do that is if he can see beyond the situation. If he can see beyond the surface and see beyond the circumstance. I said it the last couple times that that video footage of Charlie Kirk riding into the to the college campus and then knowing as I'm watching this video that in 30 minutes he's about to be assassinated and killed and shot. And if he would have known he's about to be killed, would he have changed and pivoted plans? I think so. Much you and I would have. Jesus understood that he was going to have to die. He understood that he was going to why when he went to Jerusalem, they were going to rest him. He knew it was Passover week. He knew it was his time. And he set his face flint and he went. Why? He was that passionate about you. He was that committed to you. He was that determined for you to experience the life of God. He knew he was going to be brutally murdered. He knew he was going to be strung up on a tree and gasping for air for six hours. He knew he was going to be beaten and abused and humiliated. He knew he was going to be punched and spit on. They knew he knew they were going to rip his beard out. This flesh who was of the spirit of God, this flesh knew that this flesh was about to be torn. And he went into it anyway. He went into the fire to rescue you out of the fire. If you get no other message than one you've heard me already say several times before that we don't serve a God who sends people to hell. We have a God who went into hell to retrieve you and rescue you from heaven to live in hell. That's the God we serve. And that's a different message. Some of you have been taught your whole life that God sends people to hell. Let me tell you something. God rescues people from hell. And that's why we got to make our voice louder. We got to do everything we can do, man. We got to we got to sound the alarm so people can enjoy the life of God. All right, let me give you a final verse. Second Peter. Are y'all ready for this? Y'all, some of y'all know some of y'all used to be turning up the dance floor. what I just did right there? Okay. second Peter chapter 1 verse three. The corruption of the world. God's the creator. The devil's the corruptor. and and the world. He's the god of this world and the ruler of this world. The Bible says it's of a different spirit and it's corrupted and everything he wants to do is manipulate twist everything that that God has created and is available for you. He wants to manipulate and twist it and tell you that it can't happen. He wants to take the message of God and twist and give it a different message. Now look at second Peter chapter 1:3. by his divine power. Watch. That has nothing to do with you. By his superior power, by his divine God of all creation, by his power, God has given past tense already one. God by his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. Do we live in a broken world? Yes. Is it corrupted? Yes. Do you have everything you need to live a godly life in it? Yes. How? By his divine power. By the move that he made to come into the likeness of flesh because he came and rescued you. Now, by his divine power, you have everything you need. You've been washed clean and his spirit, his presence lives in you and operates through you. And you have everything you need to now live a godly life. We have received past tense all of this by coming to know him. Man, the introduction was made and now there's got to be time spent. Man, you've got to spend time with him. And the more time we spend with him, we're the ones that stand to gain. And let me help you with something real quick. I'm gonna go back in my notes for just a minute. Sometimes it sounds that this gospel we preach is selfish because we start thinking what's in it for me. We're coming to church for what's in it for me instead of coming to church for what can I do for the body of Christ. What can I come in to worship God with other believers? We come in what's in it for me? Are you going to fix me? Are you going to fix my stuff? You going to fix my situation? You said that God would do this, this, and this and this and I haven't seen it. I want to know what it is for me. That's the corruption of your carnality that comes into a spiritual force of life. And I'm just here to tell you, is there something for you to benefit and gain? One bazillion%. You're the only one that stands to gain. God doesn't need it. You're the one that stands to gain. But for what benefit? For your comfort and for your recognition, for your glory, and for your pride. Abso freakingutely not. It is for you to now be in a healthy place that you can now give more of your life as unto God. That you can lay more of your life down as unto God. So that you can you can walk in the benefits and the blessings of being under the covering of God and the commanded blessing of God to be in a generational blessing lifestyle if you want to call it that so that you can live in it. That's what he paid for. If God gave his son, how will he not freely give us everything else? You get to live the life of God. It's for your benefit. But when we come in here, man, we get we get that carnality comes in even into the church. And so sometimes the gospel we can preach can sound selfish but it's for us to to make manifest his glory through the things that are happening in your life. Let me go back to this verse. When we come to know him, the fruit of his word, the fruit of his presence produces this in our life. We have received all of this by coming to know him. Watch the one who called us to himself. This this verse is bonkers good. The one who called you to himself. He didn't call you to Africa. He called you to himself. And because you've returned to him, if you need to go to Africa, go to Africa. If you need to show up for flag football, show up for flag football. If you need to start helping with dinner, helping. If you need to help with the nursery project, help with the nursery project because you've been called not to that. You've been called to himself. He listen to me. He called you to himself. You didn't choose him. And it's not by your power. It's by his divine power that he chose you and called you to himself. Now watch. by means, which means the method of payment by his means of his marvelous glory and excellence. Gosh, this is a good verse. By his marvelous glory and by his excellence, that's the means by which he called you to himself. In other words, it's all him. Verse four. And because of his glory and because of his excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. Listen. Great and precious messages, great and precious words, great and precious truth, great and precious promises to anchor your soul and build your life on. Because of his glory and his excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you, that strengthen you, that empower you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires. You have no other means of escape. And there's nothing you did to be able to escape the corruption that exists all around the world. It's by his divine power, by his glory and excellence, by his means that you have now have the power to live a godly life and to escape the corruption. In other words, you don't have to be of the same spirit the rest of the world is. Why? Because he saved you. Why? Because Jesus died on the cross for your sins. Why? So that you could have a right relationship with God. And look, you don't have to believe it, but you can believe whatever message you want. Enjoy the ride. I'll see you at the finish line. Hope it goes well for you. That's how that works. You don't have to believe this, but I challenge you to find me a better gospel. I challenge you to find me a better story. I challenge you to find me a better message. I find I challenge you to find me a better God. You say, "Well, there's more than one God." Sure, I guess so. But there's one true living God. There's one God who's created everything. There's one God who's perfectly pure and righteous. There's one God who gave us his name. There's one God who established precedents and truth. There's one God who is the one who never shifts and never changes. There's one God who is living. That's why it's called a living hope. And he's a living God because he is alive and living. And the word of God is living. It's sharper than a two-edged sword. And it's alive. It speaks to us. Why? Because the word is Jesus is God is the spirit and it's alive. It's eternal life and it speaks to the soul. It speaks to the spirit. It speaks to the to the heart of every man. Psalm 119:11. I have hidden your word in my heart. Okay. Little crowd participation. Are you ready? I need your help. I have hidden. Everybody say your word. >> In my heart. It's not your word and it's not your Listen, there are there are more voices speaking in the world right now than ever before. Flip your phone out right now and give me about 40 message topics. Flip flip your phone out and give me about a hundred different opinions on the same topic. Flip your phone out and hear some goofy influencer. Let me tell you something. There is millions almost, it feels thousands of influencers and teachers. And let me tell you something. I have hidden your word, not their word. I've hidden your word, not my word, not my interpretation, not my opinion. I take my opinion and I submit it to the lordship of Jesus. I have hidden your word in my heart. Why? That I might not live apart from you. I have hidden your word and your message and your truth and your promise. Why? So that I can live with you and walk with you and talk with you. so that I can enjoy a rich and prosperous life, which is why he came. That's all I got for you. Do what you want with it. Okay, that's that's the gospel for you tonight, man. Recognize the corruption of the creation and have the wisdom now to discern the difference and embrace the truth of life and creation. Recognize the corruption and disarm yourself. Separate yourself from it. Don't hate on the people that don't know. Recognize they don't know. And now be patient. And now be inviting. And now be forgiving. Man, I said it before just so everybody knows. I get I'm I'm with justice for the man. But listen, it's mercy for the soul. Everybody in here is dealing with consequences of your decisions, good or bad, okay? But God's the healer of all of it. God restores all of it. God brings it all back into perfection. God washes everything away. We understand consequences. But let me tell you something. It's mercy for the soul in the same way that God had mercy for your soul. Dog gone. It's easy to have an opinion about what should happen with somebody else, isn't it? But then we can justify our own. I ain't got time to go down that road. I'm just telling you, in the same way you've received mercy, in the same way you've received forgiveness, in the same way God's restoring your soul, man, understand that God has the same heart to do that for the person who has wrongfully accused you and hurt you. I'm not saying you got to be best friends. I'm not saying you got to trust him. I'm just simply telling you God wants to heal their heart the same way he's healing your heart. And God wants to set you free from that thing. If they never turn to Jesus, God wants you to live in freedom from it. That's why I tried to give you a moment to say, "Let it go, man." Earlier, let it go. Let God move in your heart. You got to let it go. Let's pray. Father, we love you and praise you for who you are. God, we praise you for who you are. We recognize who you are. And we give you praise. You're a great God. You're good and powerful and mighty. You are merciful. You are gracious. And Lord, we open our heart to you. Now, everybody in this room for the next couple of minutes, I know we're rounding up. I know we're ready to be done. I get it. I'm just asking you to respond to God. God's moved on your heart tonight. Man, you heard something that triggered something. And listen to me. It is your response. He has called you by his marvelous glory and excellence. He has called you to himself. It is now your response to say, "I receive that call. I accept that call. I I receive the free gift of salvation. and I receive the forgiveness of my sins. I recognize that there is good and evil. I recognize that God is and I believe that is a rewarder and I acknowledge that there is truth and I acknowledge there is life. And so therefore, I put my faith in the finished work of Jesus. If you're here tonight, you've never made Jesus Lord of your life. You believe in your heart. That's what I said. It's a simple belief. Here's the story. Jesus is God. He died for your sins. Okay? I believe that he died. I believe that he paid the price. I believe that God raised him from the dead. I believe that. Now, here's where it comes into play for you. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord. I acknowledge that this flesh that walked on the earth, that there's historical, physical evidence, I declare and recognize him to be God. Man, you've got to confess that with your mouth. It's a commitment of resolve for you. And because of it, we turn and we go and we sin no more. We walk with God. We hide his word in our heart right where you're sitting. If you need to, you just simply say, "I believe in my heart and I confess Jesus as the Lord of my life. I want to be of the Holy Spirit. I want to be of the things of God. I want to be of the truth. God, I give you the rights and the reign in my heart in Jesus name." Everybody says, "Amen. [Music] [Music]