November 24, 2025
I'm gonna have y'all sit down. I felt impressed to play a song for you, which is kind of odd. And I'm already hooked up, I think. So, if you can just keep an eye on it for me, but I'm gonna play a song., and I just want you to listen to it because I think it I think it's going to minister to you. And, I don't normally do this. I don't think I've ever done this, but I've also never had control of it in my pocket before, so that's fun., but let me play this song, and I want you all to just listen to the words, and then we're going to get in the Word for a minute. Child of God, [Music] I have dear friends who've adopted children and they said the hardest part was filling out the questionnaire asking you what kind of challenges you're willing to live with. What kind of disabilities, as the world would call them, you're okay with in a child that you're going to adopt? Like, are you okay if they can't walk? If they're paralyzed, if they're in a wheelchair and you've got to push them, are you okay if they can't eat and they have a feeding tube? Are you okay if they have some mental disabilities? they're not able to learn or they lacking cognitive functions, their brain's not working as a normal brain would. Are those things that you're all right with? And you think, man, if I don't choose that child, who will? If I say, I'm not okay with that, then what's going to happen to that person, that living being? And what I love when I'm thinking about God adopting us is that he says, "I'll take that one. I'll take the one that's stuck in pornography like a dog to his vomit. He keeps going back to his sin.
I'll take her when she's starving herself. I'll take the one who looks in the mirror and hates what she sees. I'll take the person who sits with the razor blade cutting their arm. I'll take the one who constantly thinks of themselves, walks into a room and wonders what everybody is saying about them or thinking about them. They're enslaved to their insecurity. And the list goes on and on and on and on. There's no disqualifying disability that the Lord turns away. There's no one that God says, "Oh, they're too far gone. I can't save them. Jesus's blood is not enough. That he didn't die for them. " Anyone who would trust in the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins can be adopted as God's children. We can be as kids, not as slaves, not as workers, not people who are trying to earn our allowance, not someone who's trying to earn a wage, but women and men who have been adopted by the Creator of the heavens and the earth to be his children, to call him Aba, Father. again [Music] forgot I was the DJ. Man, I just want to highlight something. I know everybody heard the message in that song and it is a pretty remarkable analogy to think about. What are you willing to live with? If you were adopting, what are you willing to live with? And then to compare it to the heart of the Father who says, "Man, I'll take that one who's struggling with this, struggling with that, been through this, been through that. " And he said, "I'll take them.
I'll take them in. " That's the heart of God. And he says at the end there toward the end, he says that we get the privilege now to be children. To be children of God. We're not slaves. We're not workers. And I just want to reinforce something I said last week before we get into the message tonight is just man the Sabbath idea of Sabbath or rest that we have the privilege to enter into the Bible says that it's there to meet the needs of people. God wants to bring rest for your soul. Your soul has needs man. Many of us to some degree fit the bill in that song. Maybe it's not that extreme. Maybe it's not that extravagant. But there's deep wounds, there's heartache. pain and man just the stresses of life. Whatever you're going through, man, some people in here are facing giants right now. And some of you might be smooth sailing. Either way, you have to come to this place, this moment, an intentional, an intentional moment to say, "God, I turned my attention to you, and he is the rest for our soul. " When we turn our attention to who he is, his character, his Truth, his love, his commitment, his devotion, all the words that I could ever muster up to describe him, when my heart, my attention is on that, it creates a rest for my soul, it creates a confidence for me. It creates a contentment, a fulfillment, a reward that only God can create. And if being here on a Sunday night at 5:00 becomes that religious duty, the Sabbath is a we weren't created to fulfill the requirements of Sabbath.
If it if this is a duty then all the other six days of stress of going to work and handling things and doing business now this becomes that now there's no rest because I have to go to Church I have to show up I have to perform and I never find the rest that God wants me to walk in. So if this becomes religious duty just know that's not the life of God that he has for us. There's a rest for us and it's a simple intentionality to gather around like-minded people like this. It's a simple intentionality when you're at home to turn your attention to God, to get in the Word, to turn on praise and worship music, to whatever it is that turns your attention back to the reality and the Truth of who he is that helps create a rest for you and your soul while you're navigating everything here on earth. Man, we got work to do. We need to show up for work. We need to put the work in. We need to do the effort. We've got to do all the things. It's a It's a challenge to be married. It's a challenge to raise kids. It's a challenge to manage your finances. It's a challenge to run a business. It's a challenge to fix your vehicles and do the it's a it's a stress. Life is a stress. It's a resistance. And the only thing that I can find the rest in is in him. And just know that's God's heart. He says, "Man, you're my children. You're not my slaves.
You're not my workers. There's no rest in that. Come, come, let's spend some time together. Let me help you. Let me visit with you. Let me encourage you. Let me let me love on you. Let me strengthen you. Let me let me come behind you. Let me let that I'm with you and I haven't forgotten about you. " That's a powerful thought and a powerful Truth. And I want to I want to go ahead and pivot forward because I've been I told you I had like four messages and so you'll get probably two and a half of them tonight. But I've been talking about buyin and I I kind of wanted to move on but I had to come back to it tonight. and when I talk about buyin, I gave the analogy the example of coach press Taylor, Pastor Bill's Son-in-law who has works with professional athletes walking through telling them to tuck their shirts in and finally one of the athletes comes to a coach and says, "Coach, why you keep telling tuck your shirts in? " He says, "Because it communicates buyin. It communicates in alignment with the vision of this culture. It communicates your outward behavior of tucking your shirt in is showing your agreement to the vision of this program to win a championship, to win a Super Bowl. It's important that we buy in to the vision of it. And what I want to tell you and really what I think I've wanted to tell you about the buyin is that is this. Let me I wrote it down that there's a buy in to the promises of God in your life.
There's a buy in to walk in the promises of God. The promises of God are conditional. The love of God is unconditional. God's going to love you no matter when, where, what you do, where you go, how you live. God's going to love you. You're his creation. And you are invited to be in his family. But to come into his family requires a conditional response. I'm loved. I'm invited. But to go to the invitation, to accept the invitation is my response. There's a practical part of this. So, we say, "Man, I want to You're going to hear me preach the life of God, the vision of God, the promises of God, man, God, what God wants to do in your life. " And then there's got to be this alignment, this agreement to receive it. But before you ever buy in like that, you're going to have to believe that God's heart is for you and that God's heart towards you. You're going to have to see God's heart in it because you're never going to come into alignment if you don't believe that's available for you. You're never going to come into alignment if you don't believe the coach has your best interest in mind as the athlete. You're never going to come into agreement with it if you don't believe the parent has the best interest in you and the kid. You're never going to want to buy in and do the sacrifice, which is going to require you doing something you don't want to do. If you don't believe that the one who's calling the shots, who set the culture, who set the vision isn't for you and have the best interest and the best plan and playbook to help you get there.
There's going to be some kind of sacrifice. If I really believe God's way is better, then it's going to require me letting go of my way of doing things. And that's going to get really hard. That's gonna that's where the hurt starts to kick in. In fact, Jody, if you want to put up there this verse, it's in I think chapter nine. I think it's John or Luke or Mark or one of them, one of the gospels. It's in there. Luke 9, he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, see, this is the invitation from Jesus. Follow me. " And I told you before, it's not this like skip in the park, follow me. It's not this, hey, we're going to take a little walk and maybe we'll get a subway on the way, right? We're going to go pick flowers and run through the fields and take a swim in the river. He's saying, "Follow me. I want you to imitate me. I want you to think like me. I want you to pick up my patterns. I want you to think like me, talk like me. I want you to learn of me. " And he says, "If any of you wants to be my follower, if you want to imitate me, if you want to follow me, if you want to think like me, if you want to experience the life of God, if you want to walk in the in the fullness of supernatural life, if we can call it that, because that's what they experience walking with Jesus, he said, then you must give up your own way. " Shoot.
Because what we want to do so often, and I've said it before, is we want to invite God into our situations. But what we all have is the privilege to take our situations to God. We want to make it about us and we want Jesus to come follow us. I really feel like it's heavy tonight and I'm looking for jokes to make it laugh and lighten it up, but I don't have any. So that's your joke right there. Okay? Because we want this is how we treat it. We don't think this way. They were not deliberately telling Jesus to follow us. I would never do that. But I will subconsciously and imply it and make it known that Lord, I would like you to walk with me and touch everything I'm touching instead of submitting to him and saying, God, what what do you want to do? See, we want the life of God in in all of our in our marriage and in our how many kids we got here? In our in our relationships, but we don't want to do it God's way. So in the world, what God has created to be a great thing, there's a lot of perverted elements to it. And so then we get to this place of just kind of negotiating with God as if you have a say, as if you get to have an opinion about it. We start negotiating with him. So we want the life of God in our marriage. We want the life of God in our relationships, but we don't want to do God's way of doing relationships. Like I like I don't want to forgive Spencer as my friend. I would like to get even with Spencer or I'd like to make him pay or I want him to feel the pain of what he's done to me.
Whatever it is, right? Okay, that's not God's way. I can't find that instruction anywhere. So, I've got to find this place of forgiveness. Right, man? Young people in here, you want the life of God. You want the family God. You want a marriage that's Christ centered. You want to be able to raise a Christian family. Well, you're going to have to date like God says to date. God's got a way he does things. And if we're going to enjoy the benefit of God's way, then we got to buy into God's way of doing it. If you want if you want to see some increase in your life in the area of finances, then you may have to consider the priority of how you're spending. And some of you are going to go, "Well, I know where you're going with this. " Hey, I'm just saying, is God first in your finances? That's all I'm going to ask you, man. Is God first in how you talk and what comes out of your mouth? Is God first in in how you start your day? is God first. Is am I considering God's way and how I'm going to respond to what life threw at me?
Because I will respond my way and it will produce my results. But if I want God's results which are available to me, it might require me tucking my shirt in when I don't want to. It might require me doing something that I don't want to do or it's not how I would like to do it. Man, what if being in this room tonight was the game changer for you for the rest of your life? But like most people in here probably didn't feel like coming tonight. I'd like to do a show of hands, but it might really hurt my feelings. But let me help you. And I talked to the CYC like this Wednesday night. Some nights I don't feel like coming. Hey, how you like them apples, right? I get tired too, right? Sometimes I feel the pressure of whatever. Sometimes I'm not in the mood and something like, what, just y'all have a coffee and move on with your life, right? Like, but so it happens. There's that carnal part of it for all of us. It's like, ah, I don't feel like reading my Bible today. I don't feel like it's not even that I don't feel like doing. I don't feel like not doing certain things. Does that make sense? I just I want to say it, so I'm going to say it.
Well, it takes discipline to do and it takes discipline not to do. And that's part of the buy in, right? If I want to if I want the results of winning a Super Bowl with this team, then I've got to buy into the vision of the culture and the leadership that is set by the coach. So, paying that analogy forward, if I want to enjoy the benefits of the life of God, then I've got to buy into the vision, the culture that the coach sets. But here's what's going to happen. There's going to be some two-day practices in there. There's going to there's going to be some early morning runs. There's going to be some run it again moments. Run it again. Do it again. Coach, I just did it 40 times. Do it again. Why? Create repetition. Create until it becomes natural. Till it becomes instinct, becomes flow. Hey, we're going to run this play. Hey, I need you to play this position. I don't like that position. I'm a quarterback.
You need me at quarterback. I don't need you at quarterback. We have a quarterback. I need you to get down and hike the ball to the quarterback. But I don't want to do that because I'm going to get squashed. I know. Hike the ball. See, if I'm bought into the vision, put me where you want, coach. run that play, whatever it's going to be, because I've bought in to the vision and I'm willing to do what it takes to experience the result and the reward of winning that championship. I'm willing to do what it takes to be part of this winning franchise. I'm willing to buy in to the life of God. And so that's what that is. The Bible says in Hebrews 12:11, it says that no discipline is pleasurable while it's happening. It's not on the TV, but it's painful. Don't you appreciate the honesty of Scripture? No discipline is pleasurable. In fact, it's painful. But in the end, everybody say the end. In the end, there's a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. And I love to highlight the Word trained because it requires some degree of buyin.
If you going to train for a marathon, you cannot get up tomorrow morning, have a have a fruit salad, take a walk, and think you're ready for a marathon. It's going to require some de devotion. It's going to require some commitment. It's going to require some buildup. It's going to require a strict diet. It's going to require some commitment and exercise if that's what you want. But I've got to experience. I've got to buy into the training to get to that result. I've got to buy into it. I don't get to make up my rules. There are people who are much better at this and have already done it that have already set a precedence for how to train for a marathon. So, why would I come in with my own ideas about how I can do it better? I'm going to take that and I'm going to apply it in my life. It's the same concept. That discipline is not going to be fun. At some point, I'm going have to get up and run 16 or 18 miles to build up to the 26. 2 or whatever it is, and I'm not going to want to do that. But if I want the marathon and I want to go participate, I want to and potentially win, then I'm going to have to train that way. And here's the deal. On the other end of that discipline that was not pleasurable, but painful, there's a peaceful harvest of right living.
I didn't want I didn't want to do it, but there's a reward on the other side. I didn't want to hold my tongue, but I did. I didn't want to give that offering, but I did. I didn't want to volunteer, but I did. I didn't want to go to Church, but I did. I didn't want to I didn't want it, but I did. And there's a reward on the other side. And it requires the buy in on the front. And I said this last week about Jesus with the analogy, the parable of the two houses. Both of them had time to build a house. Both of them heard the message of Jesus, which is the equivalent of building the house. The one who dug deep is the one who applied what he heard. the one who did, the one who bought in, the one who followed, the one who imitated. And it says that he dug deep to get to bedrock so he could build a house on the rock. Because he dug deep on the front end, when the storms hit both houses, which by the way, the storms are coming for you and your house. When the storm comes, you're still going to be standing. Why? Because you bought in on the front end and you paid you did what you had to do on the front end, man. You were in the Word. You were around the right people.
You've been practicing these disciplines so that there was a peaceful harvest. When the storm came, there was still a peaceful harvest. Let me tell you, it's not a peaceful harvest. When great is the destruction of that house, there's no peaceful harvest there. We've experienced that. We've seen pieces of that through tornadoes and all the different stuff. It's a big mess. It's a lot of cleanup. Well, what if in your life, and that's a parallel, don't get all on the natural in the natural the part of in your life. It's not that the storm's not going to end. It's not that there's not going to be tornadoes. It's not that you're not going to have giants to face. It's not that there's not going to be adversity and difficulty. It's not that everybody's going to like you and everything's going to be hunky dory and it's going to be sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns because you're a Christian now. No, no, no. You're going to get hit, but you're going to be standing. Why? Because you bought in and you dug deep, man. The Word is at the center of your life. The Word is at the center of your mind.
The core people in my life that have a voice are Christc centered people. Man, I'm stable. I'm strong. So, here comes an adversity. Here comes a flood. Here comes a whatever. That's all right. I'm good. My house can take that beating. I can handle that because I'm there. Because I'm already in that place, right? And so now, here's where here's where, if I could use vernacular that we might recognize. Now, you're going to have the opportunity to double down. Anybody know what I mean by double down? Any gamblers in here? Go ahead, raise your hand. It's all right. There's one, two. Thank you. Thank you for your honesty.
, nothing wrong with a healthy competition. Little game time. Okay. If you're spending your diaper money, let's talk after Church. Now, the double down is what? You got a good hand. You've already got your you've already bought in. You got a bet going on, and you feel so confident about it that we're going to go ahead and double down on this. I feel really good about this win. Am I am I on the right track doubling down? I'm not much of a gambler. we're going to double down. Okay, now watch what happens. So, there's this personal buy in. If I want to enjoy the life of God, I'm personally going to buy into his way of doing things. But now, here's what happens. Here's where it gets cray. Here's where it gets like, I don't know if I really want to do this. Here's where it gets like, this is not a fun message, Jeremy. Could you do a better one?
Right. Okay. This is when this vernacular starts happening. Because it because when we buy in, the Bible says that we're going to we're going to we're going to start getting hate from people. Yay. We're going to start getting rejected. And in doing so, are you ready for this? You're going to imitate and follow Jesus. So here's the invitation again. Come follow me. Come embrace the hatred of others. Come. Let them let them stop inviting you to stuff and talk about you behind your back. Come on. Let them have opinions about you and your walk with the Lord because now you're a Christian. Come on. It'll be great. You're going to have to give up your way and take up your cross every day. You're going to die to your way of doing it. And and here's what's amazing about it.
Is God God is going to be present with you in the moment. See, it's not fun to think that people are going to hate on us or they're going to have opinions or whatever, but I'm going to show you about three or four verses that show us that it does happen. And in doing so, this is why I call it the double down because I've already bought in like phase one is I want the life of God. Sure, I'll commit to every Sunday night at 5. I'm in. I'm all the way in. Besides that, they're giving me ice cream. Can't be much easier, right? I'm in. That's that might be one of the biggest decisions you're ever gonna make because once you've made that decision, the rest of them start to really tumble, honestly. Just to be committed to showing up, right? But I'm going to I'm going to buy into the life of God. I'm going to I'm going to start to be disciplined with my with how I talk. I'm going to I'm going to get in the Word. I'm going to I'm going to all the little all the simple things that start this process of a relationship with the Lord. Okay? I'm bought into that. And now as I start to walk and live my life as a Christian, people start having opinions because you're not the same person you were. And so people go, "Man, you don't hang out with us anymore. " I know.
Love you, bro. Man, you're not any fun to talk to anymore. You don't talk the same. I know. Love you, bro. Man, you don't want You don't watch movies with us anymore like you used to. I know. Love you, bro. You want to come to Church with me? No. love you, bro. And that might be what they say. And that's okay because you don't have to lose love for him. You just may not be able to run with him anymore. I mean, here's what's really again crazy. Jesus said, "I came to bring a sword. " And when he said that, he's referring to the fact that he's going to be a separating element for you with relationships you have, including family. Ah, family is everything. Ah, not more than Jesus. I mean, this is where it really gets heavy if I'm really going to go there.
Like, what are you willing to embrace or walk away from for Jesus? Like, are you ready to have your fingernails pulled out one at a time? Are you ready to be flogged? Are you ready? Are you ready to be beheaded and leave your kids with no dad or mom? I know. I wish I had a better joke right now to tell y'all to lighten the mood. I'm just saying how much of this commitment do I have? How much am I willing to follow? How much of a buying? How much do I really believe in? And watch. I can't do any of that. Listen to me with all my heart. Listen to me. I can't do any of that until I see his heart. I can't trust somebody I don't know. I can't until I see until the veil is removed. I'm like, "Oh, I see the heart of God. Oh, I see the Truth of who he is.
I see it in the demonstration of his Son in the sacrifice. Things that I've said to you many, many times. Colossians 1, the visible image of the invisible God. The demonstration of God's love shows me his heart. And I start to see that it's like, okay, and then as the relationship grows, man, I can I can I can give my life for this. See, you have relationships in here. Everybody in here, some of you're closer to your spouse or you're closer to your loved one, whoever it is, than you are to somebody else in this room. There's somebody else in here. You don't even know their name. It's going to be hard for you to give your life for that person. You might be willing to give it to the person you're closest to in here. Probably would, probably should, right? There's it's there. But the person in here that you don't know and potentially don't like, probably not as willing to give. So what that shows us is that the Bible says that while we were still sinners and separated from God and live with our middle finger in the sky, he is giving of himself and dying on the cross for us while we want nothing to do with him. It's a remarkable passion. And the only way that you're ever going to want to buy in to that level of commitment from your life to him is in is when it initiated to you first. Because again, it feels like we're choosing him. I'm choosing to lay my life down for him. I'm choosing to follow.
I'm choosing. No, no. He sent the invitation first. He chose you and said, "Follow me. He created you. He formed you. He saved you. He died on the cross for you. " And so now once I see it, oh, where you going? I don't know. Birds have nests and foxes have dens and people got food and Son of Man's got nowhere to go. Come on. It's going to get uncomfortable and people are going to start hating on you. I want you to look at these verses with me. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 5-7. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 5-7. I do not have on the TV like my friend Crystal asked me to do. So, I apologize for that. But I'm saying it three times over. First, you guys have really helped me.
Somebody was like, "Hey, I didn't never mind. I'll get back to that another time. " 1 Thessalonians 5:7. Watch this., for when we brought you the good news, everybody say good news. It was not only with words, but also with power. For the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. Cool stuff in that verse, but that's not my highlight verse. Verse six. Watch this. So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. You heard the good news and it and like man, your heart leaped. It was exciting to you. You heard the message that God loves you. God's for you. God picked you. God saved you. God wants to bless you. God wants to promise you.
You heard it and you received it with joy from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit spoke to your heart in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. Come follow me. Come imitate me. The message exciting. the hatred, the disdain, the disrespect, the abuse, the suffering, the punishment. And again, we only know American lifestyle, a country that was founded on biblical principles, the freedoms that we enjoy. If you can back up about 2,000 years and go back over here to the Middle East about 2,000 years ago, even now, we as a Church, we support world compassion. my friend Jason Long who takes the Gospel to hostile nations and you can be arrested and thrown in prison just because you have a Bible in Iran. God's doing a great work there, but you can still be thrown in prison for having a Bible. How many of us are willing to walk around with a Bible still? I mean, you start checking yourself going, "Ah. " And so in this way though, in this way, you receive it with joy even though even though you had severe suffering that it brought to you because you received it. People hated on you. they were suffering for it. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece throughout both Macedonia and Aaya. You become an example to other people. You become somebody that says, "Hey, like Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ.
Imitate me as I imitate Christ. " You become Paul when you say, "Hey, they can imitate you because you're imitating Christ because you received it with joy in spite of whatever it cost you. " And people look at that and go, "Man," and so now we can say, "Hey, follow me, man. Here, I'm going to be with you. I'm going to coach you. I'm going to mentor you. I'm going to big brother you. I'm going to help you how I can because here's what's coming for you, man. Follow me. You can follow my example. You can trust somebody that's been there, right? I mean, we can apply this to work or sports or whatever. If I'm wanting to learn how to run a marathon, I can trust somebody that's run a marathon. I'm I'm not I'm not coming to Greg to learn how to run a marathon. Sorry, bro. Right. Just It's not happening. I might check in with Spence before I check in with Gregor. Okay. Anybody here run a marathon?
Yeah. Why would you want to? what I'm saying? Like, who does that for fun? I don't understand you runner people. Okay. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13 and 16. Here's the next chapter. He says, "Therefore, we never stopped thinking God that when you received his message from us, you didn't think of our words as mere human ideas. " Man, that's powerful. Well, Jeremy's fun to listen to or Jeremy's all over the place or he's wild, whatever, right? And you can look at what I'm saying to you is just human words and I am a human delivering the message and you can think these are my ideas and these are my thoughts. But what I hope that you always see and can translate is the passion and the Word of God that speaks to your heart. Like it's like you didn't hear it just as these aren't my ideas. Man, I want to encourage you and challenge you with the Word, right? And so you're not receiving them as just human ideas. You accepted, watch, you accepted it. That's alignment. That's buyin. You accepted what we said as the very Word of God, which of course it is.
And this Word continues to work in you who believes. Do you understand why it matters that you're here? This Word works in you. It's working in you. You heard the message. I received it. And then the Word, the messaging keeps getting deep-seated in your heart. It keeps plucking out all those toxic old things and old mindsets. That identity that you derived from your upbringing, man, it starts ripping that identity out and giving you a new identity. The Word is working in your life. So the words that we've used that the Bible uses, washing, purifying, cleansing. This is what the Word does. And it becomes an anchor to our soul when we're navigating stuff. It's washing. It's it's doing a work in you who believe. Verse 14. And then dear brothers and sisters, watch. You suffered persecution from your own countrymen. Let's make it a little more personal. You experienced persecution from your own homies, from your own co-workers, from your own family members, from your own small town van beurren locals.
You received persecution from people that were close to you. and watch. In this way, you imitated the believers in God's churches in Judea who because of their belief in Christ Jesus suffered from their own people. I wish this message had a lot of butterflies and stuff to it. What I'm doing is just giving you a heads up. What I'm doing is saying, "Hey, you want to win a championship? Okay, here's what's going to come. " Let's talk about it the same analogy for a minute in sports. Anybody got a team? I happen to be wearing a St. Louis t-shirt. I had to look up what they're if they're even winning. I don't even know. But they're my team cuz I grew up going to Cardinal Games. But my point is this. We have our teams and we hate the other teams. We like the Chiefs. what I'm saying, Ry? And we hate the Raiders. The people on the Raiders have done nothing to Ryan.
And he hates them. He doesn't know them. He's never met them. They may be some of the best, godliest men you've ever met. Perhaps not likely. But regardless of that, he hates them because they have a different color uniform on. When Kevin Durant went from the If anybody knows sports, if you don't, just bear with me for a minute. He was on the Oklahoma City Thunder, him and Harden and Russell Westbrook and all that stuff, and I was in Tulsa and so everybody's thunder thunder, which they won this year, and that's cool. But back then it was thunder thunder. And then Kevin Durant bailed and went to go Golden State to play with Steph Curry and all those guys and then won a championship. And let me tell you something today. Everybody loves Kevin Durant. Oh, we're going to win a title. We're going to title tomorrow when they found out he went to Golden State. You apparently did not love him because you are throwing crazy hate to this man for making his own business decision with his own career. Leave the man alone. But my God, his character was attacked. His motive was attacked. I hate him. He abandoned us.
He left us. He It's like, how about he's just a basketball player? How about How about he just made a big paycheck for his family? How about that? How about it wasn't about you to begin with? Maybe it's not so personal, but I'm telling you, the hatred came out. Well, let me tell you, I forgot where I was kind of at with this. Except that people are going to hate you because you're growing in the Lord. And this is this is that heads up. And in this way you imitated the believers in God churches who because of their belief in Christ Jesus suffered from their own people, the Jews. Verse 15, for some of the Jews killed the prophets, killed them. And some even killed the Lord Jesus. We've talked about it. He They rejected him. People are going to reject you. You don't get invited to the New Year's Eve party anymore. You're no fun. You big party killer, right? You're not you're not any fun to hang out with because we say in the world that misery loves company. But it's that discomfort.
What you listen that statement is not biblical. Here's what happens. Your presence brings conviction in other people's lives and they don't like it. And so they reject you now because they know what they want but they don't want to respond to it. And you being around is no fun for them anymore. So they quit hanging out with you. Because see this deception that the Devil uses and I don't know who I'm talking to right now but this deception the Devil uses and he says well my friends they say that I never hang out with them anymore and that I'm too good for him and that and they say you never hang out with us anymore and you say well bro we can hang out why don't you come to Church with like no I'm not going to I don't want to do that's not my jam. Okay then who's rejecting who here? See you're inviting me to go to this old dark place to hang out and I'm inviting you to this light place to hang out. I'd like to hang out. I'm just not going to hang out there. But they're going to do the same thing to me. But see, the deception is that you're going to feel like you're abandoning your friends because you want to go there. No, no, no. We can hang out over here. I would love for you to come hang out over here. But people say, "No, no, no. " And then make you feel guilty because you don't go back over there anymore. Right? Your conviction is no fun for them anymore.
And they don't want to come in here and get their life right because they're not ready to buy in. But we're buying in. I want all the God I can get. Right? I keep going to this and there's nothing there. For some of the Jews killed the prophets, and some even killed the Lord Jesus. Now watch this. They have persecuted us, too. They fail to please God and work against all humanity. See, this Gospel message is for everybody, right? Wave at me if you feel like the Gospel message has done any good for you in your life. Wave at me with the other hand if you believe it's good for other people in their life. But the haters are working against you or want to shut us down. And I'm not I'm not picking a fight here. I'm saying the resistance that people have is working against the Lord. It's not working against you. It's not as personal as we make it out to be. What it is everything's spiritual and it's working against you because the good news you have is going to liberate other people. And the hatred or the the attempt to try to snuff you down or or stifle you is only preventing the good news from getting to someone else. Yes.
And so it's a resistance to the things of God, not to you. So when we take personal offense to it, you're you don't need to. You've already won. I'm I'm good. I'm already right with God. I'm already in the family. I'm my s I'm great. So now all I want to do is encourage you. I want And if you don't want it, that's fine. I'll encourage you. And I'm not going to let him keep me from encouraging him. I'm just going to be me. I'm going to I don't know how not to talk about Jesus when it presents itself. And sometimes you got to make it present itself. I don't know how not to. I feel like I've talked to everybody in here at some point somewhere in some way where it's work, coffee, whatever it is. At some point we're because I what else do I got to talk about with you? I'm going to talk about some work stuff. I know there's some small talk things and we want to get into Jesus in your work and Jesus in your family, Jesus, but I'm going to talk about Jesus in it. Otherwise, it's just work.
It's just the stresses and dramas of everyday life. And they try, verse 16, as they try, I don't know if it's in there. They try to keep us from preaching the good news of salvation to the Gentiles. Hebrews chapter 6 11-2. I'll start wrapping it up here. Verse 11, chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6 vers 11. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Now, this is the New Living Translation. This is one of those moments. I don't love the way that's worded, but let me just clarify what that means. This is not a hope like a wishing well, like we're throwing pennies in a wishing well or it's 11-11 or we found a star or whatever it is, all that nonsense. I'm not wishing for anything. This is a hope that's a confident expectation. And because of my comp, watch this. What happens in verse 11? Because of my confident expectation in the Lord, I will continue to love people. And in doing so, it will solidify things in me until the Truth of his Revelation comes to pass. You understand that? In verse 11.
And then in verse 12, it says this. Then because of your commitment, because of your confident expectation, because of your enduring love for people who perhaps are unlovable or not loving you back, because you're doing it is solidifying things in you. And you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. See, we become spiritually dull and indifferent when we stop moving. We become stagnant water instead of moving water. I don't want to become dull and indifferent. When we stop volunteering, when we stop giving, when we stop showing up, when we stop pressing in, when we stop buying in, when we start untucking our shirt because we don't care anymore, that's when we become dull and indifferent and things start to go sideways in our life. There has to be an intentionality every day of our life. And so then verse 12 says, you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, everybody say that instead. So the so in place of that I don't want to be dull and indifferent. So in place of that you will follow the example follow me Jesus said of those who are going to inherit God's promises because of their faith and endurance. Endurance. They're going to inherit God's promises. You will inherit God's promises. You will walk in the life. So, here's the deal. Will you face adversity? Yes. But is your life commanded blessed and elevated?
Yes. My house is stable even though it's getting hit with the storm. That's the blessing of God. It doesn't say there's no challenges or obstacles. And because of my faith in God that I'm willing to dig deep. I'm willing to keep trusting his way of doing things. I'm willing to keep putting him first. And as the storms, I'm going to keep standing. And I'm going to endure. And I'll endure the next storm. And I'll endure the next storm. and I'll endure the next storm because my house isn't going anywhere because it's built on the rock because I'm trusting God's way of doing things because I've selected and bought into his way of building the house. And in doing so, I'm following the example. Imitate me as I as I follow God. Follow me as I follow him. Imitate me as I imitate him. Jesus said, "Follow me. Imitate me. " Paul said, "Follow me as I follow him. " All right, here we go.
Last couple verses. 1 Peter chapter 3. And I'm closing with these ones. There's some Carter County for you. Verse 13. Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? Question Mark. Verse 14. But even if you suffer for doing what is right. What? Even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. There's still there's still the reward of God's promise. are still the reward of God's blessing in your life. So don't worry or be afraid of their threats. Don't worry or be afraid of the rejection. Don't worry or be afraid of people's opinions. Don't worry or be afraid of of how people could feel about you because you play on the opposite team. Instead, there's that Word again. You must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks you about your confident expectation as a believer, always be ready to explain it.
But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. [Music] It's a lot easier to explain when I don't have a guilty conscience. It's a lot easier to demonstrate and show when I'm not feeling disqualified because of my foolishness, my behavior. It's a lot easier to walk in confidence when I'm confident and can lay my head at night knowing that I'm living in right standing with God. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they're going to end up being ashamed or feeling convicted when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Verse 17. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good if that is what God wants. Now watch, God's not up there pulling puppet strings. He's going, "Let's torture them. Let's Okay. If you experience suffering in your life because you're following him, it's going to produce God results because you're following him. It just will. The question is, are you going to have the endurance to navigate the opposition? Do we have enough buy in to say I can endure a little bit of resistance. I can endure a few people's opinions because on the other side of this, there's going to be an outcome. There's going to be result. There's going to be production. There's going to be God results.
This is not on the TV, but James 1:19 and 20, right? Be quick to slow to speak, quick to listen, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man will not produce the righteousness of God. In other words, Jeremy translations, your emotional outbursts and preferences will never produce God results. So, let me be disciplined with my responses. Let me endure the opposition because in the end, I will produce God results. If I get offended in the in the moment, in the season, I'm going to pop off. I'm going to say something and it's going to squelch what God can do in that life, in that situation. Let me tell you, it's hard. It's hard. It's hard to not say what I want to say. It's hard to not get just let my emotions lead. It's hard to do that. But like Brad and Holly talked in our disciplehip class, they went through the Old Testament in the tabernacle is that part where we surrender our will first. That's the buyin. Okay? It's your way, not my way. And then there's a mental a renewing of our mind that makes our mind strong to attack what we're doing. And then our emotions become tools that we can use that we can use. They become functional again.
But we get it flipped around and we let the emotions lead instead of the Spirit lead. Let me get to my point, my last point. Verse 17. Remember, it is better to suffer than good if it's what God wants than to suffer for doing wrong. Duh. Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. Watch this. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He died for sinners to bring you home safely to God. He died to bring you home safely. So on the other side of your sacrifice is going to bring somebody else home safely. Can you endure it? There's going to be results if you can endure it. Things are going to have impact. Your me the message of the Gospel cannot not produce in people's lives if they're open to it. And you're going to be the vessel of it. If you can endure some opposition, if you can buy in to it, you're going to get to experience it. And it will it will have impact. It will produce people becoming the children of God and not living in that dark place anymore. Then it says he suffered physical death but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
We die to ourselves. Luke chapter nine. Pick up your cross. Die daily. You die to yourself and what God's going to do is he's going to resurrect things in your life. You die to yourself and God's going to re resurrect his way in your life. You died to you die to your preferences and God's going to resurre resurrect his results in your life. See what's going to happen. There's no there's no resurrection without a death. So if I want to experience the supernatural result of God's resurrection in my life, then something's going to have to die. Typically, it's my own arrogance, my own preference. And when it does, then there's going to be room for a resurrection to happen in my life. There's going to be a replacement. There's going to be a new life that comes in when I get rid of the old one. Yes. Father, we love you and thank you for the privilege it is to be in your house once again. It is an absolute privilege to be here. It is an honor and we don't take it lightly. And God, I just thank you that for many of us perhaps there was some sacrifice to be here tonight. And God, I just pray that the Word gets swn deep in their hearts that God, you bring to their remembrance tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday, something that you spoke in their heart tonight because they were here.
And God, I just declare in Jesus name that it can never return to you void according to Isaiah. And it will produce results in their life. God, I pray again that we would have the courage and the boldness to act and to obey. We don't fear man's opinion, but we fear God and fear God alone. God, I pray for a healthy relationship with you. That we recognize, God, that you're our loving Father and that you want to rest for our souls. That God, we don't have to perform for you. We don't owe you duties. It's just our privilege to lay our life down and serve you. And God, I pray that we would be great, God, that we would be great at encouraging one another to go after you with all we have. God, that we would nitpick people and have our opinions about what everybody else could, should, and would be doing. But God, we're simply going to come alongside and help hold each other's arms up. We're going to come alongside one another and encourage one another and champion one another in their race to follow you, God. You're a good God and only a good God. And we recognize it tonight in Jesus name. If you're in here tonight real quick and you've never made Jesus Lord your life, I'm not going to put you on blast. I'm just going to give you an opportunity. This is that moment, right? I say it all the time. Ministry is a lot of work to create a moment.
This is a moment for you, man. If you need a fresh start with God, this is your moment. And all you do is just say, "God, I'm asking you to forgive me my sins. God, forgive me for not putting you first. and I choose to put you first now. That's how that works. That's how simple that is. Right now, God, I choose to put you first. I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe that he is who he said he was. And I believe that man is my righteousness. That Jesus is my righteousness. I believe you conquered death and the results of sin. And you're the one true living God. And you're first from now on. That's you in here tonight. Just do it. And if you've done it before, do it again. It's a good opportunity. Let's all do it.
God, we put you first in our life right now. We make Jesus the Lord of our life. Right where you're sitting, it's got to be your It's got to be your words, not mine. Just make it verbal. Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life tonight. You're first from here on out. I'm all in. I'm buying in. And I'm willing to endure and pay the price for your glory in Jesus name. Amen. Hey, thank y'all for being here tonight. I want to encourage you to stick around for a little while., it's summertime. It's going to be daylight for another few hours. And, if you didn't get a coffee or ice cream, do that. If you do want to be a part of anything financially, there's a box over there. You can do it or you can text them out. You want to give things like that. If you need ministry in any way, man, everybody's going through stuff and sometimes you just need somebody to pray with you, be in agreement, and I would love to do that, and be part of that in your life. And there's a plenty of people in here that would love to do that laterally.
Can I help you? There's nothing there's nothing particular about me that's different than you. You have access to the same authority I have access to. You're in the same family I'm in. So, I'd be glad to do it, but there's a lot of people here that can do it with you. Okay? All right. God bless y'all. Thanks for being here.