Everything is Spiritual: Choosing God's Light Over Darkness

I watched some of the recap from last week and if anybody took anything from my whiteboard, I'd to meet with you afterwards because you are supernatural. Okay, a lot of scribbles. So, I took the initiative to pre- write on the board a few things. And if it's too small for you to read, I understand. Maybe you can take a picture afterwards after I scribbled all over a little bit. , has anybody seen my computer with my notes on it? >> I got two I got two of them. Is it back there? I could probably use those tonight. I don't have to have it. Regina might me to use them. Well, in the aftermath of a national tragedy, the emotions of a country are pretty high. And in my opinion, God, hold on a minute. In my opinion, the face of good and evil is present. , and it's not even about it is about the moment. It is about the issue. It is about what happened last week. But it it sparked this conversation that I want to have with all of you. And the bottom line is, and I've said this many times before, you're going to hear it many more times after tonight. You're going to hear it again tonight. Everything is spiritual. Everything is spiritual. Everything in your life is spiritual. And let me just tell you, that's hard for our brains to wrap around because all we've known is natural. And all we see is what's in the natural. And it's all we've known for 20, 30, 40, 50 years we're here is we've seen the natural. And that's what I can see. And that's what's easy to believe. It's I can if I can sense it, if I can smell it, if I can taste it, if I can touch it, it's real. But the reality is that everything is spiritual. First, we looked at John chapter 4. And I I didn't bring all the pen and papers. I should have because I want you to write some verses down that won't be on the screen. I want you to write these verses down. I want you to take notes. I want you to go back and read it for yourself. I want you to have your personal encounter with the Lord. I want this to become alive in you. And don't just take my word for it. John chapter 4, the Bible says that God is spirit. God is spirit. He is He is not you and me. He He is spirit. He made us in his image and in his likeness. God is not human. I've said this before jokingly. If somebody ever tells you about the man upstairs, go ahead and slap him across the face because he's not a man upstairs. Okay? Maybe don't slap him because it might start a problem. But my point is this. They're not He's not you and I. He's not a man up in heaven. He is God and God is spirit and God is perfect and God is holy. And the Bible says that God created everything. When he spoke it into existence, when his word went forth, it had power. And what did he create? He created everything that we know, including mankind, humans. And the Bible said he created man, he created them male and female. You are a created being. But when he created mankind, he created mankind in his image and in his likeness. That's what separates you from everything else in creation. Everything else is an amazing part of creation. It's mo it's marvelous to see and witness. And we can see the beauty of creation all around us. We can see the power of God's hand. But when he sees you, the Bible says that you're a masterpiece. He knew you in your mother's womb. He formed you. He knit you. And he designed you to have an intimacy with him, a relationship with him. He designed you to know him and to walk with him. He wanted to have communion with you. He wanted to walk with you and talk with you. He wanted you to benefit of him. He created you. And so when we separated it and when we broke it, when we went a different direction, there was a there was a there was a breach. there is a separation. So what does God who is spirit do? He comes in the likeness of his creation. He comes in the likeness of mankind. He comes and is born of a virgin and and is is fully human and fully God. And he he he he bears the penalty and the pain for all of our separation, for all of our brokenness. He took it upon himself. And we talked about this last week that the idea of justification, which is a big Bible term, which simply means that you're right with God. It means that you have been paid for. You're justified in being there. You have a right to be there now. Not because you and of yourself have a right. Do not ever get that confused. That would be your ego and your pride. You now have a right because God has given you a right to be there. God has justified you by your faith in the finished work of Jesus. When you say, "I believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead." That's the conquering of death, the acknowledgement of sin, and the penalty of sin, which is death. But then, I believe and confess with my mouth that Jesus is God. That is what now makes you your faith in that is what makes you justified. That is a covering for all of your flaws and all of your blemishes, which we all have. God is a holy God. And we are not a holy person because of the sin and the fall of mankind. God's creation separated itself from God. So what does he do? He comes to rescue us so that we can be restored back to him. And we talked about how when you're justified by faith, God who is good and and and and holy now dwells on the inside of you. He has washed the blemishes off of you and you now have a Holy Spirit. Your spirit has been reborn and is now without flaw. That's what it is to be born again. You are now a holy person, a holy nation, a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood. You are you are now set apart in the same way God is set apart. God has no rival, has no equal, and nothing competes with him and you are in alignment with him. You are in lock step with him. You are his children. You are his family. And so now you are holy because he is holy. That's who we are. But then we got into the part that our soul, why does it, if we're a new creation, why doesn't that look different right away? Because what we want to do is we want to see the difference so that we can believe the difference. But what we do is believe the difference and then we'll see the difference. If you're writing notes down, you should write that down. Please understand, we talked about it goes from the inside out. We want to find peace by getting the outside correct and the absence of adversity instead of understanding that we have peace with God. And through us, God will bring peace to our circumstances, many of them. God will bring life and hope and restoration to them. And so when your spirit has been made new, you are the righteous of God. You are holy. You are born again. But your soul, which is your mind and how you think, your will and how you make decisions and your emotions, they are not in alignment. I to go ahead and throw in your personality. I to go ahead and throw in your gifting that God's put in you that he'll never take from you. And it's not being used correctly because your soul has to be restored. Your soul has to be renewed. Your mind is renewed. Romans 12:2, your soul is restored. As David said, you restore my soul. There there's there's a there's a renewing. There's a submission. We don't that word, but there's a submission of my will to his will. Jesus exampled it. Jesus exampled it. I don't want this, but if this is what you want, Father, I'm on your page. I will do your will. I'm about your business. I'm about your purpose. Romans 8:28, if you've been in church very long at all, love this verse. God causes everything to work together for good. And we throw it out real fast and real casually, but the Bible says he works everything together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. See, it is not about your purpose. It is about his purpose. And your life has submitted to his will. And now I'm about his purpose. So for the next 20, 30, 40 years of my life, 10, five, six months, whatever I got, it's going to be for the purpose of making him famous. It's going to be the for the purpose of God. Whatever it is, I'm going to steward this life and be submitted my will to his, renewing my mind to the truth of the word and learn the the things of God so that my life can be a vessel that I can lay down for him. Man, I heard it today. Even the idea of murder is a life that was stolen, but the idea of sacrifice is a life that was given. See, when you when you sacrifice, you're giving your life for something. I'm laying my life down. We talked about it last week, the behindthe-scenes footage of of Charlie Kirk arriving at that at that campus. And if he'd have known that in 30 minutes he's about to be shot and killed, would he have gone a different direction? I think so. Would you? I Yeah, probably. But but Jesus knew that he was going to give his life. He knew that when he went to Jerusalem, he's going to be arrested. He knew that he was going to be beaten and betrayed. He knew that what was going to happen. And yet he went anyway. Why? because he was sacrificing his life for it. His life was not taken. He laid his life down. That's the difference. See, God came in and covered you. He came in and sacrificed his life for you. No greater love than a man laid down his life for his friends. God takes it upon himself to come and cover his creation. Oh, it's good news. You don't have any other hope anywhere else. The one who created you covers you. See, there's two opposing forces. Before anything is political, it's spiritual. Before anything is natural, it's spiritual. And there is there is God who is good. Every good and perfect gift comes from above. Thoughts that he has for you are good, not evil. God causes things to work out of good. God is good. He is only good and only wants good for you. God is the author of life. God is the way, the truth, and the life. He is truth. He is life. He is clarity. He is freedom. He is peace. He is joy. This is the nature, the character, the culture of God. This is the hope in God. And then anything outside of that spirit is not of God. So if it's not of God, then it's going to be the difference. Listen, everything it this is simple 2 plus 2 is four stuff. Okay? You you shout out the opposite for me. Okay? Hot left up light. Good. Listen. It's either God or it's not. Watch. Either God created us or we created God. And if God created us, then he sets the standard. He sets the the the boundaries. He he his way is what's right. If we created God, then guess what? It's a full-blown crapshoot in here. Everybody gets to have their opinion. Everybody thinks that you get to demand your rights and you get to demand your rights. No, no, no, no. God, who created you get to declare his rights in our lives. And we're privileged to get to say, "I'm right with God." Why? Because he says I'm right with God. I have the right to life and liberty. Why? Because God has created me with the right to life and liberty. And God has a way. He does things. God has boundaries. God has direction. And we talked last week that the God of this world, this world mentality is not of the Holy Spirit. So we can go big G and little G if that's how you want to roll. Right? We live of big G. We live of God. God who created us. We see God. Our heart is turned to God. Our heart is turned to truth. And as we allow this to come into our life, it begins to renew every aspect of our life. John chapter one, man. And Dan helped me see this this week. It's it's this is it. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. What is the word? The message, the truth, everything was him. And he was God. And he came and was a light in the darkness. And the darkness cannot comprehend it. The darkness cannot extinguish it. No matter what evil comes at this, it can never listen to me. It can never triumph or eliminate God. It can frustrate you. It can offend you. It can manipulate you. It can twist things for you. It can never win over God. Watch. Let me help you. Please catch this. God and the God of this world are not opposing enemies. They are not in battle. Watch. This is a created being. This got flicked out of heaven a big booger. This has no opposing authority against God. This is nothing more than manipulation, deceit, lies to manipulate you from the life of God. That's it. To get you thinking that you're the priority and that you created God. To get you thinking that it's you're not getting your way and your will, then then obviously God doesn't care about you and it's all about you and what you want. And what we begin to realize is that God is and I'm submitted to it. He begins to work in my heart that changes my heart to see you and function different in life. This is where I begin to get to walk in the freedom of God. See over here, what's the opposite of all these things? What's he want for you? He wants to steal, kill, and destroy. Put that up there if you would, Regina. John chapter 10. The great dividing line in scripture. Let me help you. You're either on one side or the other side. You cannot be in the middle. I I drill this for the people. You guys are people. If you come up to a T in a road and you got to turn right or left and you say, "Well, I'm not going to turn right because I don't want to, , I'm not sure I'm at, but I'm not going to turn left because I know that's not good either." So, you stay at the T and never turn. Let me help you with something. You have made your choice. You did not turn right. There is no in between. You cannot stay on the line. The thief comes for one reason, to steal, kill, and destroy. He has one motive, one purpose, one objective. And what is he stealing from you? What does he want to steal from you? He wants to steal the life of God from you. He wants to steal your joy. He wants to steal your peace. He wants to steal your freedom. He wants to kill, destroy everything that's good in your life. And everything that's good in your life is God. He wants to destroy your future. He wants to rob you of the truth that allows you to live in the light. He wants to steal everything. That's his whole motive. And what is his MMO? What is his tool of choice? Lying. It's all he's got. The Bible says that Jesus stripped him of all of his authority, all of his weapons, all of everything. What does he have? Zetto. That's Spanish for some of you. Zetto. Zero. Zilch. Natada. Goose egg. Nothing. Okay. Trying to connect with some people. Zero. So, what does he have? All he can do is manipulate, lie, and lure you away from the things of God. If he can get you offended with somebody else in this room, he's got you. If he can get you to think that that that if you don't get your way, that God doesn't love you, he's got you. If he can lie to you and you believe it, you're cooked. So, if you don't know the truth, you're cooked. That's why when you say, "Man, I put my faith in Jesus. I'm justified by by faith now. I'm right with God." Well, then you better start figuring out who you are. If you're going to live in the life of God, you better figure out who you are. Now that you've experienced the atonement, another big Bible term, you better start to understand the transformation that's available to you because all he's got is the accuser of the brethren and the father of lies. He goes around accusing you of things that you don't do right. Well, get in line, big fella. I already know that. I'm already aware of the part of times I put my foot in my mouth. I'm already aware of where I'm already broken. I'm already aware of all that stuff. So, he comes around accusing you, to belittle you, to disqualify you, to beat you down so that you will never embrace the great things that God has for you. He wants to belittle you and accuse you so that you'll never understand and accept the fullness of what it means to be justified. I promise you, collectively, including myself, we do not fully grasp what it is to be right with God tonight. I promise you if I did a poll in here, everybody in here would have some degree of a performance mentality where we would go, "Man, yeah, well, I I deserve that. I brought that on myself." We we we would we would we would quickly, easily not fully grasp that you are completely washed of your sin and right with God. Woo. I'm telling you, you got to get that down deep in your heart cuz that's the one thing he wants to lie to you about. Well, if you'll do more, then you'll be loved and accepted. Well, you remember when you did that one thing? It's just lies and accusation. Why? Because Jesus came for one reason. God, the creator, who is spirit, came in the likeness of his creation for one reason. So that they may live and have life and that they may have it more abundantly. That word abundant life is zoey. That's the Greek word. It's the God life. God wants you living in a in a in a place of peace, in a place of prosperity, in a place of being out in front and in control. God wants you healthy and whole. He wants your mind right. He wants you liberated. He doesn't want you stuck in the past. He wants you to be about his business, about his purpose. This is what he has for you. And let me tell you something. When you're about his business, about his purpose, it is the life beyond the greatness of what you can imagine. It is the most satisfying, fulfilling life. The New Living Translation, what did it say? A rich and satisfying life. Man, you can have everything the world has to offer and not be satisfied. And yet, you can have half of that stuff the world has to offer with Jesus and be fully satisfied. Why? Because we're about his business. I'm about his purpose. Because that's what I was designed for. That's why I'm satisfied and fulfilled with it. That's what I was built for. You weren't designed to just make a few dollars at a job. You weren't designed to just go. You were designed to be about his business, to walk and talk and commune with him. And so what God wants to do is flood your life and change it. And again, we want all the stuff on the outside that we see, all the heartache and all the pain and all the struggles and the murders and the assassinations and the debauchery and the fornications and the perversions and the molestations. We want all that all that junk. And I'm just telling you, it's evil. It's evil. an exist of evil because why? The god of this world is a force to be reckoned with. You go, what do you mean by that? Listen, anybody that's ever read some books or is familiar with the Greek gods or a godlike king or a god king, Xerxes and all this stuff, man, there there's a godlike king. Listen to me. Please be patient with how I'm trying to say this. There is a force that the god of this world has. There's an oppression. There's a weight. You can feel it. What is it? It's a godlike status that the word that the god of the world has. It's an oppressive nature. It's a resistance. It I it it's a it it's something that you can feel that that has some some some weight, some power to it. And the best analogy I can give you is that if how many of you guys ever been in a room that's pitch black? pitch black. Can't see your room, your hand in front of your face, right? You've been in a room where it's pitch black, dark. Okay, let's just imagine if we can. Anybody got imagination in here? Let's just imagine if we can that this room is completely pitch black dark. Some of y'all would be freaking out. freaking out. A couple of you would. Go ahead and raise your hand if you would be one of those people that just say, "Man, I would freak out." Pitch black dark because there's people in here and you don't know who's in here and what's going on, right? Okay. You would be trying to find the door. I don't know where the door is cuz it's pitch black. You think, "Well, it's right over there." No, no, no. You don't know. It's pitch black. And then you try to go and there's people in your way and then you hit the table and you bruise and then you trip over somebody and then somebody punches you because they're freaking out. Okay. Chaos. What? What is that? That's the the It feels the darkness has power, doesn't it? The dark Listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me. The darkness in the room is controlling the quality of life you're living. See, right now you're all relaxed. , everybody's comfortable. Everybody's doing fine. Eating some snacks. You can see. where the door is. It's all good. You got your eye on everybody. You're you're scoping everybody out going, "I'm keeping eye on that one." Whatever you're doing in here, right? I turn the lights out, pitch black, all of a sudden everything changes in your life. The darkness has this weight. But let me tell you something. How do we defeat the darkness? And if nobody knows the answer to this, we're going back to kindergarten. How do we defeat the darkness? Go ahead, >> turn the light on. If there is darkness, the god of this world oppressing your life, let me help you with something. That's what he does. That's real. That's evil. That's darkness. That's hate. That's that's a hatred for you because there's a hatred for God. It is a a direct diabolical opposing of who God is in your life. It is designed to hold you down, suppress you, , and and want to possess you and destroy you and kill you. That's what it wants. But all you have to do all you have to do is turn the light on. That's all you have to do. You go, "Well, this darkness is dark. It's real heavy. It's a heavy darkness. I can turn the light on. Turn the light on." What does that mean, man? You bring God's promise into the situation. Man, I'm just feeling heavy. There's a heaviness in my life. Guess what? Put on a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. That's That's 1980s right there. Y'all are ready for that. That's what happens when you grow up in church. Okay. For the gar. what I'm talking about. where I'm at. Garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Right. What happens, man? There's a spirit of fear. Well, what are you going to do? Well, man, I better make a declaration. I don't have a spirit of fear. I got a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. That's what the Bible says. Here comes a spirit of heaviness. What are you going to do? I'm going to praise God who's bigger than that heaviness, and it's going to lift off of me. Are you all listening to me? You flip the light on and the darkness goes away. We're sitting there going, we're all in here bumbling and stumbling over chairs and tripping over each other and punch each other mouth going, "It's just so dark in here. What? It's hard to live with all this darkness. It's all around us." And then what happens, man? Then we start to have a hatred for one another. Well, I was I thought I had a way out and somebody got whatever whatever storyline you could make up. Why? Because we're living in darkness. And all you have to do is go turn the light on. Man, there's maybe darkness in your home, darkness in your marriage, whatever it is. I'm just here to tell you, everything is spiritual. And you can eliminate the darkness by turning the light on. The God of this world is oppressive. The God that created everything. He is liberating. I get to proclaim his truth, his life, his character, his nature, his promise, his salvation. I get to live in this. But I must choose to turn the light on. I must choose to respond. I must choose to renew my mind to the word of God. I must choose to submit my will. I must choose him. And in doing so, the darkness has to flee. It has to go. It this is what this is what Daniel reminded me of John chapter one. The darkness cannot extinguish it. You science buffs in here. How do we define darkness? Say it again. the absence of light. So, you're telling me that darkness isn't even a real thing? You're telling me that that this isn't even a real competition for this? What this is is the absence of truth. What this is is the absence of life. What this is is the absence of God's presence. But we want to keep watching trashy shows. We want to keep listening to trashy music. We want to keep hanging out with trashy cultures. We want to keep listening. Why? And it's , wait a minute. Why? Why? Why? Nothing's changing in my life. Well, this is just the way the world is and I'm just in it and I can't change it. Okay, have at it. what the Bible says? You have what you say. You have what you say. You have what you say so you can believe. Look, look, let me help you with this. When we talk about living in this, it's as simple as what you believe. Can it really be that simple? Can it really be that easy? And here's what's bonkers. Are you ready? Here's what's bonkers. Everybody in the world, it's either of the Holy Spirit or it's of the God of this world. When you say, "I believe that Jesus is." Here's what's amazing. Everything in the world now hates you. Just because, just get ready, just because you believe this, just because you put your hope in it. And look, everybody's going to get on this wild mantra. I'm not trying to tap into your political emotions or anything. I'm telling you, the Bible says in John chapter 15, I think I have it over there. Pull it up. John 15:18. If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belong to it, but you are no longer part of the world. So guess what? Everything that's not of God hates what is of God. What you and I have to grow in our maturity about and grow in our discernment about is that we don't hate people, we hate evil. We love people, but we hate evil. And we have to discern when people are of a different spirit and say, "Man, I have an authority to help them." But let me tell you something. You're going to get into a different battle. There's a time and a place. It might be a spiritual miraculous overhaul and it might be a process of lover and it might be patience. But let me tell you something. I can discern that I don't I don't hate the person. I hate the evil that that person is of. That's how Jesus could be on a cross and he can say, "Father, forgive them." Because they don't know what spirit they're of. They don't know who they are. They don't know what they're doing. So when you say, "Man," you start putting your faith in Jesus, let me tell you something. Remember all those friends you used to hang out with that don't call you anymore. What happened? You're of a different spirit now. That's what happened. Your hair didn't change. Your weight didn't change. Your style didn't change. Your car didn't change. Your house didn't change. You're of a different spirit. Now all of a sudden, nobody wants to hang out with you anymore. I'm just telling you, that's how it works. The devil hates Matthew chapter 10. Jesus said this in verse 34. Jesus said this. Don't imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth. That sounds contradictory to Jesus, right? And it peace on earth, goodwill to all men. Watch. Catch the difference here. When Jesus was born, here's this big announcement from angels. Peace on earth, good will, good things, goodness of God toward all men. Unfortunately, all men are not going to choose Jesus. And so what that means is Jesus is a dividing line. Jesus is a sword. Jesus will separate the spirit of God from the God of this world. Jesus is John 10:10. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus said, "I've come to give life and life more abundantly. I am the dividing line. You're either with me or against me." So when he said, "I came to bring a sword." I came not to bring peace, but to bring a sword. I bring a separation. There's there's a difference now. You're either with me or you're against me. You're either of God or you're of the world. So again, almost full circle. Before anything's political, before anything's natural, before anything is, , your opinion, it's either good or evil. Let me let me help you something. Everybody in here, including myself, needs to take my opinion and just throw that thing right out the window. I don't live with my opinion. And I don't live and build my life on my opinion of you. Not because I don't know you and haven't walked a mile in your shoes. Even though there's some validity to that part of it in the natural. It's because until I discern what spirit you're of, man, that that's the dividing line. Because the only thing that matters is that you're of the Holy Spirit. Now, so the purpose of God is to make sure that you're of the Holy Spirit. That's why you're here tonight is because you want to grow in the things of the Holy Spirit because you want to be around other people who are of the same spirit. You could find community in another place and it would be of a different spirit. You can find people who are going to eat and drink and play music tonight and be of a different spirit. That's all we're doing. You can find people who are using words and maybe have a microphone and but it'd be of a different spirit. See, you've chosen to be of the things of God now. You've chosen to be of the Holy Spirit. I want to show you something. How easy it is to walk in the in the in the soul that's not fully restored versus walking by the spirit of God in the revelation of God in our life. Everybody knows this story. I've highlighted it before, but we're going to look at it quickly in Matthew chapter 16 verse 16. Jesus had showed up. He said, "Who do I who do men say that I am?" And the disciples said, "Well, some say you're Elijah. Some say you're John the Baptist. Some say you're whatever." He said, "Who do you say that I am?" See, watch this. I can't ever go by the story and not address this. You're going to hear people's opinion about who Jesus is. But Jesus is going to ask you, "Who do you say he is?" People have a lot of opinions about Jesus. Some people, some people, believe it or not, still haven't heard. And if they have heard, they haven't heard in a healthy, wonderful way, you get to deliver to them now. But let me tell you something. People have opinions about Jesus. What do we care about opinions? Nothing. Right? And so he said, "Yes." , who do people say that? Then he said, 'But who do you say that I am? And Peter popped up and he answered, "You are the Messiah. You are the Christ. You are the eternal word. You are God Yahweh who is spirit, the great I am who is now in the likeness of us." This is what he says in one sentence. I acknowledge you and recognize you as God, the one who came to rescue and save us. You are the Messiah, the son of the living God. And Jesus said, "You did you did real good, Pete. Good job, buddy." And he said, he said, "Look, that wasn't your own knowledge, though. That was revelation from God. That was that was divine inspiration by God. Go read it for yourself." Matthew chapter 16. But what's amazing is we drop down just four little verses, six verses to verse 22. And Jesus is telling them plainly, "I'm going to have to go to Jerusalem. They're going to arrest me. They're going to kill me. And and I'm going to have to die." And look what our boy Pete does, who just had this divine revelation by the Holy Spirit of God, but his soul is not fully understanding the things of God yet because he's growing just you. Everybody say, "I'm Peter." You're in this boat. I'm in this boat. So Peter took Jesus aside. Now think about this for a minute. He just said, "You're the Christ, the son of the living God." Just a few verses later, Peter takes him aside and begins to reprimand Jesus, , because we know better than Jesus. Because I'd to tell Jesus a little bit how this needs to work because Jesus, I know these people and I know what needs to happen here. And he took Jesus aside and he began to reprimand him for saying such things. Jesus, why are you talking this? Jesus, why why would you you don't talk? We don't talk this, Jesus. He's he's telling the teacher how to talk and he says, "Heaven forbid, Lord, this will never happen to you." Look at the next verse. But then Jesus responds to him, turned to Peter, and said, "Get away from me, God of this world. Get away from me, God of this world. God of God of carnality, God of that's not holy. Get away from me. you are a dangerous trap to me. See, when we don't operate in discernment about who's around us, it becomes a dangerous trap because your opinion, if you're of a different spirit, has some weight to it. See, the devil was he he's very good at what he does. He comes to Adam and he says, "You're not going to die, right? He just doesn't want you to know. He's holding out on you." Da da da. He didn't just directly boldface say, "God's stupid. I'm going this way." He lured them away. In the same way, if you're not discerning about who you let have an opinion, let have a voice in your life, it's going to be a dangerous trap for you. And he says, Jesus said to him, he said, you are, watch, you are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's. So, you can be you're the Christ, the son of the most high God. You're the Messiah. You're you're God in the flesh. You're you're my salvation. You're my hope. You're the eternal word of God. I can know who you are and still be operating because I'm not fully renewed and restored yet to want to stop a move of the Holy Spirit in my life. And Jesus says, "Hey, I don't need your opinions." Jesus says, "I don't need your feedback. I'm not looking for you to give me your thoughts and strategies about how this works best. I'm telling you what's going to happen because this is what has to happen." And then what we got to do in this way, Peter needed to sacrifice his preference to get on line in alignment with Jesus. I didn't want Jesus to die is what Peter's saying. I don't want We're not God forbid that happened. We got we got a mission. We got a charge. We got a because he didn't understand in the moment the things of God. And so his answer, he was only seeing things through a merely human point of view. He was only seeing things not of the Holy Spirit, which he had just done. But now he is still being fully renewed. So I've had moments where I can speak life into your situation, turn around and stick my foot in my mouth that I just used to give you life. Nobody else, just me. Cool. I've had the same moments where it's , did I just make that dumb joke? And it's , h I jokes, but that was a dumb joke. , the difference, right? I I I I shouldn't have said it that. I shouldn't have, man. I shouldn't have watched. I shouldn't have watched. I shouldn't have whatever, right? How can we go from this environment where we're cheering the name of Jesus and then go watch and celebrate something that's so Antichrist? And it's because the soul is still being restored. I'm not giving you an out. I'm telling you to recognize it. So you recognize, whoa, I I don't want this. I want all of God I can get. I want to walk in the place where he says where I recognize you as the Christ and I'm all in. I don't want to be getting rebuked by Jesus. And I sure don't want to be so confident that I'm going to pull him aside and rebuke him or reprimand him. That's not going to be my place. I'm going to leave you with this verse because I guess I've said enough tonight. Well, if we go back to the Old Testament in the book of Ezekiel, these verses were brought to my attention the last 24 to 48 hours. And I thought, man, this is perfect to sum up at least for one night what I want to say to you. And in the Old Testament, this is before Jesus has come and he's prophesying through his his man. Ezekiel's was a prophet for God. And I want you to hear what God says. And I want you to listen to me. I want you to hear the invitation from God to you. Watch before before this gospel was presented to you. This is all you knew. All you've known is the natural. And perhaps you were taught something that was very much not of God in your upbringing. Or you experienced heartache and pain that affected your soul and crushed and broke and created strongholds and fear and locked locked things up on the inside of you. And then you hear the the the gospel. You hear the the idea of the Messiah, the the savior of the world, and you believe it to be true. But again, we're Peter. There's this process where, man, I want to get all of God I can get. And this is the invitation that God has. You don't have to live here. Watch. I've said this before. Jesus God doesn't send people to hell. God rescues people from hell. Please get this one. Because if you think God's just looking for the opportunity to send you to hell, I don't know how you want to submit your will to that will. I don't know because that sounds evil to me. I serve a God who says, "Man, they are lost and dying and I care about them so much. Even though I don't need them, I love them so much that I will go and rescue them and invite them to the life of God again." That's the invitation. And in the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel prophesied, and I felt these verses were just perfect to sum up this service tonight. Therefore, this is God speaking. I will judge each of you. Okay, we could camp out there for a minute, but I think it speaks for itself. You will be accountable for your life. Listen, I say this all the time in conversations with people that maybe don't believe in God or whatever, okay? If I'm not accountable to a higher authority, then why do I care? I'm I'm being real honest with y'all. If I'm not accountable for my life to a higher authority, I do not care about you at all. I'm gonna get mine. I'm gonna trample you. I'm going to do whatever I want because who cares? I'm not accountable for anything to anyone to higher authority. And so that's what our founding fathers recognized. That's why things were put in place of prayer before there were ever executive decisions made in that in that congress. That's why they put their hand on the Bible. That's why because they understood that we were from a creator, that he was the one that established our rights. God will judge each one of us. You will stand before God by yourself. Your spouse won't be there. Your children won't be there. Your friends won't be there. Your spiritual mentors won't be there. You will be accountable for your life, oh people of Israel, according to your actions, says the sovereign Lord. What that means is the one who holds all authority. That's what that means. That word sovereign means he's got all the authority. It's all his. He He It's all him. He's the one with all the authority. He's the one ultimately with the final say on anything and everything. That's what that means. He says this, "I will judge each of you according to your actions, says the sovereign Lord. Repent, which means turn. Everybody say turn. >> Turn. Repent and turn from your sins. Okay, that word simply means turn from living over here of a different spirit. Turn from thinking of this spirit. Quit living in the dark. Turn the light on. Don't let them destroy you. Next verse. put all your rebellion behind you. I that line because here's what that tells me. Everybody in here's got rebellion. Not that you didn't know, but let me just go ahead and emphasize the fact that everybody in here has had some degree of rebellion in your life. Everybody at some point, even if you grew up in church, you might have chosen to rebel. But if you didn't, you were living opposing God. And he's saying, "Put all that opposition to me behind you. You are no longer opposing me. You are no longer have to oppose me. You no longer have to be of the spirit, of a different spirit. You are now invited to the life of God. Put all that opposition and all that rebellion and all that living under the influence of the god of this world. Put that behind you. It's a new day. It's a new opportunity." He says, "Put all your rebellion behind you and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit." Now, that doesn't mean go out and find one. That means discover a new heart and a new spirit on the inside of you. Everything changes for you. You're a new creation, man. You're of the Holy Spirit now. And then he says this, "For why should you die, oh people of Israel?" Look at the last line. "For why should you die?" Look at God's heart. I don't want you to die. I don't Why should you have to die, people? The sovereign God of all authority in creation says, "Why should you have to die? I don't want you to die. Turn back and live. Turn back to God. Turn back to the things of God. Open your heart to him. Recognize who he is. Surrender everything you have to him. And begin to live the life of God. Begin to live the freedom, the joy, the peace that comes from knowing him." That is the great things that God has for you. That is the life that God has for you to turn from those things and live with him. That's my invitation to you tonight. Man, the God of all creation says, "Why should you have to die? Why should you have to live miserable? Why should you have to live depressed? Why should you have to live with anxiety? Why should you have to live in fear? Why should you have to live in turmoil? Why should you have to live in danger and afraid of of the future? Why do you have to live afraid of judgment? Why should you have to live eternity in hell? I don't want you to live any of that. So, I'm asking you to turn back and live. Put all that old stuff behind you. It's a new day for you today. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, man. You might have you might have screwed up this morning with some rebellions already. Put them behind you. It's over, man. We repent tonight. We repent right now. And we say, "God, I'm all in. Have my heart. I want to continue to grow. I want all of God I can get, man. I want to learn to think you. I want to know you. I want to recognize your voice." I was talking with Ryan just before church and we were talking about the recognition of voice. Man, if you spend a lot of time with anybody in here, I'm looking at a a married couple. How long y'all been married, sir? >> 55 years. [Applause] 55 years. They got married before I was born. >> If she calls him on the phone, is there a chance he's going to recognize her voice? If you call him on the phone, is he going to know who he's talking to? Why? Because they spent some time together. He knows her voice. She knows his voice. Man, let me tell you. Why do I have to live in the rebellions of yesterday? Why do I have to live opposing God anymore? Why do I have to live under the influence and the darkness of the God of this world? I don't. Man, I want to get to know his voice. I want to spend time with him. I want I want my mind renewed. I want the truth of God's word alive in my heart. I want to live in the freedom. And let me tell you something. It's all in the message, the word, the character, the name of the one who says it. He says you're a masterpiece. The devil says you're a loser. You get to pick. It's that simple. The Bible says God loves you and gave his life for you. The devil says, "How could God ever love you because you're too dumb and stupid and all the dumb things you've done?" And you get to pick what you believe. You get to pick tonight what you believe. Let's pray. God, we love you and we praise you for the promise and the hope that we have in you. We are a people in here tonight that recognize that God, you created us. We have not created you. God, you gave us your name, Yahweh. We did not ascribe a name to you, Jesus. You came and you declared that you are Yahweh. And tonight, we collectively recognize that Jesus is Yahweh. Jesus is God. We put all of our hope, all of our trust, and all of our faith in the finished work of Jesus on that cross. And we put all of our faith in the victory over death that God raised into new life. Right where you're sitting, right where you're at. Don't worry about any babies. Don't worry about that. And don't you be worried about it either. You take care of that baby. People are grown up and focusing here. If you're in here tonight, you need to make Jesus Lord of your life. You make Jesus the Lord of your life. You believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. And you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. You choose tonight to put all those rebellions behind you. You choose tonight to quit living in opposition to the truth of God's word. You choose tonight to say, "I'm going to run with the life of God. I'm going to run with the truth, and my heart is open to the things of God." We receive his generosity. We receive his blessing. Right where you're sitting, again, I'm going to give you It's got to come out of your mouth. I'm not very good at leading this sometimes, but I need you to open your mouth and say, "God, I trust you. God, I turn. I repent and I turn from any opposition to the things of you in my life. I make Jesus the Lord of my life. My heart is turned to you. My heart is open to you. My confidence is in the finished work of Jesus on that cross. Jesus is my righteousness. Jesus is my justification. Now God, sanctify me by your word. Make me holy by your truth. Give me ears to hear and a mind to understand, to discern the things of you in Jesus name. God, I speak your blessing over every family here, every adult. God bless this marriage of 55 years. Bless these babies that are learning and growing. God bless these homes. God, I thank you that every marriage in here is healthy and strong in Jesus name. I thank you that children are being taught the things of God because you promised in Isaiah 54:13 that you would teach our children, God, that our children have a a sensitivity to your voice and to your leadership. And God, we speak your Zoey life in every person in here and those that are going to be joining us. We give you the praise and the glory for it in Jesus name. And everybody says, "Amen. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]