Scripture: Matthew 3:1-15
The Pulse Experience
Sermon: The Narrow Road-A Call To Holiness Part 6
Pastor Jay Mace
Sunday, November 24, 2024
The Pulse WV
A Narrow Road-A Call To Holiness-Part 6 (Winfield, WV)
So when we're thinking about this series and the Narrow Road and we've covered a lot of stuff and I know I challenge you, amen, and I challenge you because I like to be challenged, right? I don't want to go to church and I don't want to hear a message that just kind of pats me on the back and makes me feel good about myself, amen, because that doesn't help me, right? That doesn't help me and that doesn't help you and, you know, so, you know, I've told people before, this is kind of like my 12-round fight. I've said a lot of times, man, I would love to get in a boxing ring one more time with the devil and go 12 rounds. I just absolutely would. I know that's not possible, amen, but I would love to, as a man, I would love to have that moment. This is my moment. This is my moment to step into the ring and to do, for God to do a work in me so that he can do a work in you to keep us all out of the grip and out of the grasp of Satan. Amen? That's how we beat him. That's how we overcome him. That's how we win, amen? And the Bible tells us that there's a way that leads to destruction and there's a way that the pathway to hell, the way to hell, broadens, enlarges itself every day, amen? What does that mean? It means that there are more people inclined to the things that lead to destruction and desire the things that lead to destruction than those who desire the things that are going to get them to Jesus who takes them through the veil and delivers them to God, amen? And so when we, when we're talking about a narrow way, right, listen, I'm not caught up in religion and I'm not caught up in tradition and everything else. There is a friend and most of you maybe saw it and everything else who said anybody got a size 15 dress shoe because I'm trying to help this guy go to church. I'm like dude, just put tennis shoes on him. If he's going to a church that's requiring him to wear dress shoes, there's a problem anyway, right? Amen? Because I, my, my goal in getting people to Jesus isn't in how they dress. My goal in getting people to Jesus is getting people to Jesus, amen? And if I'm adding to that, amen? What did we say last week? We're robbing people. God's gonna flip that table on us, right? Jesus is going to flip that table on us because his desire is that we in here at the earth. What is earth each other? Amen? How do I, how do I bring people to Jesus by being meek? Amen? And by developing relationship, not judging, not pointing fingers, not sterling up my nose? Amen? That, that's all, that's all the enemy. That's our demons showing, right? The way I bring people to Jesus is by engaging them where they are and not putting a yoke on them that God didn't put on them. Amen? And unfortunately we've done way too much of that. We've put way too many yokes on people that God didn't put on them. And, and I think that's why the church really gets a bad rap from a lot of people, is because people feel like they've got to, they've got to meet a certain standard before they can even come to Jesus. And, and we have felt them if we taught them that. In all of this, and I think some of the questions that I've gotten, and I love the fact that you guys feel comfortable sending me texts and sending me messages when you have questions or maybe you didn't hear something exactly right or, or wanted further clarification. I love the fact that you're comfortable in doing that. And, and I know sometimes it takes me two or three days to get back to you, especially this time of year 'cause Q4 is really busy in our, in our office. But I love the fact that you do that and feel comfortable doing that and that we can have discourse and conversation that lifts up and praises the name of Jesus in that. Amen? And one thing that probably when I look at this, and I look at the, the sermon series before this, it's almost like they went in reverse order, right? It's almost like I should have started here in Matthew 3 and then worked my way through each of the thing and it would have brought more understanding. But sometimes I think God does it the way that He does that because He ruffles feathers. And if you look at Jesus, Jesus ruffled some feathers. Jesus kind of created a lack of comfort in His teaching in what we know. He kind of, he kind of ruffled things up a little bit and then He brought understanding. Amen? And so what I want us to understand this morning is that this way of life, the Christian way of life, is all about us stepping into God's kingdom and not God stepping into ours. Amen? There is nothing about the gospel. There is nothing about the virgin birth. There is nothing about anything related to Jesus coming. Amen? And we're getting ready to step into the Christmas season. So let's look at it in that context. Did Jesus come as a babe in a manger? Absolutely. But the purpose of Him coming as a babe in a manger was so that we didn't have to be royalty to receive Him. Amen? And you'll hear more about that in the weeks to come. But the reality for us is He came to this earth to represent the kingdom, to teach the kingdom, to give us the kingdom and empower us into the kingdom. Amen? There is never ever a goal in Jesus' ministry or a goal in God sending Him to say to us "Hey, I'm sending Jesus so that you can do some really cool earthly things." Right? And we're getting taught a whole lot of that garbage today. Right? And I've covered a lot of it in these last few weeks and with God's help I'm not going to get on soapboxes. But the reality is we're getting taught a whole lot of things in churches and seminars and in all of this stuff we're getting taught a whole lot of things that gratify us of God's presence in what we want. That's not accurate. It's not good. And that broadens the path to hell or that leads to destruction. And if you're on that I encourage you to turn around and encourage you to turn around. Not because of my feelings or my wants but because that is why Jesus came. In the beginning Matthew chapter 3 here's what happens. In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying "Repent ye for what is at hand?" From the start we are told the goal. From the beginning we are told the purpose. From the beginning God takes away all doubt of his intentions. What are his intentions? The kingdom of heaven. His intentions from day one is to bring us through Jesus Christ into his kingdom. Physically not yet spiritually absolutely. In our lifestyle absolutely. In our decision making absolutely. In our choices absolutely. He from the beginning desired to bring us into the kingdom of heaven. What does that mean? That means for me and for you that pursuit of anything else is destructive, demonic, and going the opposite direction of God's intention. Am I wrong? I mean it's not really my opinion because it took me a while to figure it out too right? But it's what the Bible says. "Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." I think John went a whole lot deeper spiritually than we tend to go. Amen? And I think if as a baby in the womb John can leap and praise the Lord at the presence of Jesus in Mary's Belling that I believe if he can do that then standing on the shore baptizing people and Jesus comes walking through the crowd. I believe he can sense that presence of Jesus and worship too. Amen? And I believe in this moment John knew the Lord was near. Maybe he saw him, maybe he felt him, amen, but he knew and he said, "Behold the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Amen? What was he saying? John tapped into it right away. What was he saying? He's saying this guy is going to usher us into something we have not experienced, felt, believed, or pursued. For this is he that was spoken of. He explains it to us. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaius saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." This was John's job, right? This was John's duty. Amen? To make whose paths straight, man? Come on, we've got to grab this to really understand God's desire for us. Whose path was John to make straight? Jesus's, right? It was all about pointing to Jesus, right? And unfortunately we have a lot of theologies, we have a lot of doctrines, we have a lot of stuff that try to make our way straight, that try to defend our way, that try to defend my way of thinking, that try to put things in my context or in the world's context. Amen? Jesus rips that out from under all of us right here. When he says this is about my kingdom, right? I've sent John to make the way straight for Jesus and now Jesus is going to usher in something new in the same John, verse 4, and the same John had his reamen of camels here and a leather and girdle about his loins and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Now if somebody walked in here looking like that, how would we respond? Right? But forget about here because you know I say just wear clothes, right? So y'all be like okay that's weird but Jay's gonna deal with it, right? Jay's gonna be okay with it and I'd be like wow that that's a big step but okay, okay I'm glad you're here, welcome. Amen? Imagine in that day this guy wearing camel hair and and sticky honey all over it and eating bugs and everything else comes out and puts his finger in your face and says repeat! People people are gonna be like, man this guy needs locked up, right? This guy's crazy, right? And listen, we have brought ourselves to the same kind of place. If people don't look our way, people don't do it our way, if people don't don't make it happen our way, then we want nothing to do with it, right? It's got to be our way or no way, right? And so we bring ourselves into this idea of defending our kingdom and defending our path, defending our road rather than ever stepping on to the road that God gave us, the narrow road. Amen? And so we've got so we've got John here in verse 5 and it says then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan. We're not talking about a few. We're talking about a lot of people. What does that tell you? Tells tells you that there was spiritual authority and spiritual power in the voice of John and it drew people. Amen? You know what the Bible tells us? If we lift Jesus up he'll draw men to him. All men to him, right? So what's our job? Lift Jesus up. Point people to Jesus. Tell people about Jesus. Amen? Why? Because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What's the kingdom of heaven? Jesus, right? God defines this for us from the very beginning. I'm not here. I'm not here to gain the world. I'm not here to gain things of the world. I'm not here to pursue things of the world. I'm here to show you my kingdom but you have to decide if you want it or not. I mean that's really the battle we we go through every day in our Christian walk is do I want God's kingdom? Do I want what he offers? Am I willing to sacrifice the things of this world to have his kingdom? Am I willing to go through him to get it? Or can I do my thing and just bring him into it? No, we said at the very beginning that this was all about the kingdom of heaven. God shows us from the very beginning it was not about us. It was not about this world. It was not about these things but it was about his. Amen? And I heard someone explain to Charles Stanley one time explained something about Charles Stanley. I love him. I believe he's a godly man and everything else but we differ on a couple of things but Charles Stanley said one time like this if it doesn't glorify God it doesn't edify me, right? And I'm like wow, right? There's no sin in having this but if it doesn't glorify God it doesn't edify me. There's no there's no sin in being this and I think I think we've been taught for so many years as Christians. Amen? That what what can we do and what can we do without going to hell? And so the Christian life is about how far can we go and and still be a Christian. What things can we do and still have God part of our life? Amen? Where's that line? And I think we've spent so much of our life trying to figure out trying to figure that out. The reality friend is anything that God can't be glorified in could absolutely be in the need of our soul. Could absolutely be destructive to our life, could absolutely be destructive to our family's life. And so we have to make hard decisions sometimes. We have to seek things out and pursue things and allow God to move us where He wants us according to what? The Kingdom. According to the Kingdom. Are you with me this morning? And sometimes that's hard, right? Because sometimes you're kind of like, "Man, God, I really, I really want this. This is really cool." But I could serve you more and I could do more for you doing this, right? And so yeah, this is this is where I should be. This is what I should do. Amen? And I'm not talking money and I'm not talking things. Amen? Because what? That's that's earthly worldly stuff. That's stuff that's going to burn. Amen? And sometimes what we need to take a good inventory of is what are we pursuing that's going to burn versus what are we pursuing that is going to be everlasting? Amen? And one of the questions I got from you all was about to be attitudes and then, you know, are really those the blessings that come from God? Yes. Yes, yes they are. Those are the spiritual blessings. Those are the things that God rewards because why? That is how His Kingdom behaves. That is how His Kingdom thinks. That is how His Kingdom operates. And when we step into that lifestyle and that mannerism, He blesses us with the things He promised. Amen? It's it's the word. Guys, it's not it's not me. And for a long time, I thought differently. For a long time, I thought I'm blessed this way. I'm blessed that way. No. God has allowed that. God has granted that and I should be thankful for it. But I'm blessed according to those things that God says you behave like this and I'll bless you. Why? Because that's my Kingdom. That's how my Kingdom operates. That's how that's how my Kingdom thinks. That's how my Kingdom loves. That's how my Kingdom works is in these things. The Beatitudes, right? I preached a message years ago on a New Year's Eve. Don't enter whatever the new year was. I don't remember. Don't enter the new year I want to be. And I preached it from the Beatitudes because if we're going into the New Year with any other heart's desire, then we're really want to be because we're not being what God lays out for us to be. Then went out to Him Jerusalem and all of Judea and all of the region around about Jordan and were baptized of Him in Jordan confessing their sins. Now we're not talking two or three. We're not talking five or six. We're talking about a lot of people. I don't even know how to put a number on it, right? It says all of Judea, all of Jerusalem, all of these people came to John, heard his message, and said I don't want to miss the Kingdom of heaven, right? Now if I were to stand in front of you and say who wants to go to heaven? Every hand would go up, right? If I stood in front of you and I said who doesn't want to go to heaven, right? I was I actually was preaching revival one time and I asked that question or something similar to it and everything else and and this one guy that was trying to give me the steer down in the back, you know, and trying to intimidate me and everything else raised his hand and smiled at me. When he did that I said your opinion is going to change by the time this night's over. He got saved that night, amen, and as of a couple years ago the last time I saw him still rocking it in church today, amen. So the power of the Holy Spirit can do. But what I want us to understand is we all want to go to heaven, but are we choosing heavenly things, right? That's what it really comes down to for us. We all want to go to heaven, we all want to walk the streets of gold, we all want to see Jesus saying that trust me, man, you're gonna have to wait your turn when I get there and it might be a while and sweaty or not be. I'm getting a big old hug and some Jesus loving on that day, amen. And the reality is this, it's all I care about. I've come to a place to where I don't I don't even care about a mansion, G.B. I don't even I don't even care about all the beautiful things that I'm going to see. Thank God I'm going to see him. I'm thankful, but I don't care. I just want Jesus and I just want him to say, well done. That's it. That's all I care about. I don't care about money. I don't care about cars. I don't care about fame. I don't care about my name and lights. I don't care about any of that. I just want to live for his kingdom and for him to see it in me and say, well done, J. Talk care about. Don't care about anything else. Why? Because I've persecuted it from my flesh. It has no effect on my mind. If God gives, I'm thankful, what a cool blanket this morning. I'm thankful for that and I will cherish that gift, amen. Thanksful for the cup I got this morning. Thanksful for the cup I got this morning, amen. Because I love devil stomping some ninjas. Wait, devil, I love devil stomping ninjas, right? Yeah, that's how it goes. So I love love and kindness and people sharing that and working with that, amen. But my blessings are what comes from God in his kingdom. Amen. And I'm thankful that through a lot of maturity and a lot of learning things the hard way, you know, you feel me, right Kermit? Learning a lot of things the hard way that I found my way to his kingdom and my heart only cares about that. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to him, verse 7, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who have warned you to flee from the wrath to come, right? Here's the guys that were pursuing their own thing in the name of God, in the name of the law, they were pursuing their own thing and not God's thing. And he called them snakes. Bring forth their for fruits, meet for repentance. Amen. Show me your sorry. Show me repentance. Amen. A lot of us come to the altar because we're guilty. A lot of us come to the altar because we're ashamed. A lot of us come to the altar because of our feelings and not because of our desire. Amen. I'm not taking, I'm not taking the removal of guilt and shame from you as a work of God. Amen. Because He wants to take guilt and shame from you and make you free. Amen. But I will take from you your desire to pursue the things of your flesh and to pursue the things of this world and mock Him by not living for Him. Oh, you're quiet now. Amen. Isn't that what we do? Isn't that what we do? Oh, man, I screwed up. I did, I did the dumbest thing. Lord forgive me. Lord forgive me. We cry our eyes out and everything else. And as soon as we feel the same go, we're good. As soon as we feel the guilt go, we're good. Oh, thank you Lord. Praise your name. Your faithful and just to forgive me of a multitude of sins. Praise your name. Amen. And what do we do? We walk right back into the world. We screw right back into our flesh. We start thinking the same way and we start doing the same things and had no change whatsoever of God's power in our life. If you're, if you're struggling with things that you struggled with years ago, it's because you didn't kill them on the altar. Amen. And there is a part of you, your heart, your mind, both seeking it and pursuing it. Maybe it's way down deep. But there is a part of you that values that more than His kingdom, values that more than Matthew chapter 5. Because Matthew chapter 5 is a huge life change. You want to, you want to be blessed in that manner. That's a huge life change. Amen. A huge change in how we think. A huge change in how we see people. I, dude, listen, I used to be the guy that would stand in a barn. I didn't like to some way somebody looked at me from across the barn. I'd walk across the barn and smack him, right? So I'm not, I'm talking about a hard heart and I'm talking about a whole lot of anger and I'm talking about a whole lot of things that God had to take from me and deal with me and turn my life around. And one by one fall off of me so that I can seek the kingdom of heaven. So I could seek it in its fullness and in its glory, not my own. See, our own glory gets in the way way too much, right? We like to be gratified. We like to be padded on the back. We like to feel good about ourselves. Amen. But the reality is, friend, we need to feel good about Jesus, right? We need to feel good about Jesus. We, we don't need to be first on the list. Jesus needs to be first on the list. Amen. To pursue the kingdom and think, verse nine, and think not to say, "Within yourselves we have Abraham to our Father, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children under Abraham." Man, you talk about ripping a carpet out from under someone. Is that not what John just did to the Pharisees? Amen. They claimed their faith. They claimed their access to God based upon being the children of Abraham. John said, "No more." Now you've got to stand on God. Now you've got to stand on Jesus. Now you've got to stand on His kingdom. Not this stuff anymore. Because God could snap His finger and raise up a whole new generation if He wanted to. He don't need you. He wants you, but He don't need you. He wants you to be His and to walk with Him. And now also the axis laid under the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which bring forth not good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Amen. Take verse ten. If you really want to know if those blessings are real and if those blessings are true, take verse ten and read the beatitudes one at a time and read verse ten after it. Because if I'm not chopping down the things in my life that put a wall of perdition between me and God, if I'm not chopping those things down, amen, He will. That's why the road is narrow. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. What is that? Significance of I am I am washing you clean on the outside. I am doing an external work in you. We have to get that. What John was doing was an external work saying I am removing the guilt and the shame that your sin brings you into if you are truly repentance, but it is up to you to be truly repentant to God to receive the full blessing. Amen. I indeed baptize you with water under repentance, but he that comeeth after me making a way for Jesus Christ is my dear than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Why? Because he is the walking kingdom of heaven. He is the walking kingdom of heaven. Everything that God is, everything that God's kingdom is has been manifest in Jesus Christ. And so he is going to walk among us and he's going to show us the kingdom. You with me? He's going to walk among us. He's going to sit down at our table, praise God, right? And he is going to show us the kingdom in how he talks, in how he interacts with people, how he loves us, right? How he loves us, how he engages us, how he makes time for us. It's a scene in the chosen that I dearly love, right? Jesus had been healing and touching people and praying with people all day to the point that disciples were like, man, I can't do this. And they came back and were sitting around the fire arguing who was better amongst them, right? I mean, think about this for a minute. Jesus out there ministering all day in his disciples sitting around the fire arguing about who was the best. Who's the greatest in the kingdom? Well, I did this. Well, he asked me to do this. Why? If that's how you live your Christian life, stop, stop, stop because you're pursuing planets, not kingdom. Amen? So just stop. Pursue the kingdom of heaven in your life, amen? And in that scene a few minutes, a few minutes later, while they're in the middle of arguing, Jesus comes stumbling up, barely able to walk because for hours, maybe even days, He ministered and prayed healing into people's lives and couldn't hardly make it to the tent. And He walks by the fire and He says, good night. And I loved it. I loved it because if you know the Scripture there and what they were arguing about, Jesus walking up doesn't include Himself in the fire. He just spent hours and days delivering people from their sin and from their sickness because they came to Him. A bunch of nincompoops sitting around the fire arguing about who was holier and who was higher, He wanted nothing to do with. So I'm going to bed. Amen? I paint some pretty clear picture to me of where Jesus wants to hang out. He said, well, He was just tired, tired of people with the wrong hearts and the wrong ideas, tired of tired of not being surrounded by kingdom-minded people, amen? Why? If you're kingdom-minded, why weren't you out there laying hands and healing? Amen? No, it's the pastor's job, right? Now how we play? Jesus went to bed and his mom got up and went and helped him with his shoes and had a really, really tender moment in the show that I think really captured this heart of God. Verse 12, "Whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Then come with Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. John forbade him saying, I have need to be baptized of thee and come us thou to me." And Jesus answering said unto him, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becomeeth us to fulfill all righteousness." And then he suffered him, then he baptized him. Amen? What's the pursuit? What's the goal? What was the purpose that moment? Righteousness, right? Jesus's own words. The goal is righteousness. The goal is choosing Jesus over stuff. The goal is choosing Jesus over anything else. Becoming like him, living the life he exampleed, making choices that our flesh doesn't like, but our spirit invigorates. Amen? And so from the very beginning we're told. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. From the very beginning we're told there's something new coming and it's going to change everything. It's going to change how you think. It's going to change how you talk. It's going to change where you go. It's going to change what you do. It's going to change who you do it with. It's going to change how you do it. It's going to change where you do it. It's going to change why you do it. Amen? If you really want the kingdom it's going to change all of that. And we have to decide do I just want heaven or do I want the kingdom? Do I want the fullness of God's glory living in me? Because the reality friend is we can't have both. We can't we can't just wiggle in through the gate, right? We have to be received. We have to be received into the gate, right? And the only way we do that is through the blood of Jesus Christ. Through His example, through His workmanship and through His life. Amen? We say all the time in churches. It's not a religion. It's relationship, right? And that's true. That's true. I know I'm mocking it, right? So bear with me a second, right? I know it's true. We've all made the meme post. We've all done the thing. It's it's not religion. It's relationship. And that is 100% correct. But the reason I kind of mocking and the reason I kind of act the way that I do want it is because I don't think any of us really know what the relationship means. But I'm going to put it to you like this and hopefully close. Don't don't take that for granted, but hopefully close. Where's Josh? There's Josh. If we are not living out kingdom principles, and if we are not recognizable to Him by His own example, He will say, "Depart, I never knew you." Did you catch the water, son? Not the depart part, right? We all know that. We all know that's Bible. But I'm talking about what led up to that. If He can't recognize us by Himself, if He can't see Him in us, if He can't see those attitudes that we need to be, if He can't see those mannerisms and that make up in who we are, and there be no reflection of Himself in us, then just like the disciples that night, He'll want nothing to do with us. And He'll say, "Depart." To the covering of our sins is the covering of our sins and the changing of our flesh to be like Jesus. Depart from me, I never knew you. What should be our goal? To know Him. You track it with me, you with me? What should be our goal? To know Him. How do I know Him? I read every word that comes out of His mouth. I understand the context of it, I understand the intent of it, I understand the desire of it, and what He wants from me. And I make it part of my life. And if it doesn't line up with my life, then that's got to go. Amen? Even if it's just thinking, I'm not talking about stuff, I'm just talking about how I think. Amen? If it doesn't line up with with His life, then it's got to go. Amen? Because how's He going to know me if I look like Him? If I act like Him, if I walk like Him, if I talk like Him, if I am an embodiment of what He delivered here on earth, do we embody Jesus? Are we, are we the workmanship of His hands? And I think, I think so many times we live in a culture today that wants us to get our little fill up and our little feel good on Sunday morning and let us be whatever we want to be the rest of the week. Amen? And honey, I'm not, I'm not being religious this morning, I am not kicking dust in your face and beating you up. But what I am saying to all of us, including myself this morning, is there is a better way. Amen? There were a time that giving up the things of this world hurt. Oh, I got to give that up. Dude, I really like that. Amen, I love my 80s music, but I had no idea what some of those lyrics meant in the 80s. Amen? And now that I'm older and wiser, I'm going down the road and they're just singing and that, that, that, that. Yeah, I'm taking that one off playlist, right? And so, so my 80s playlist getting smaller and smaller and smaller, but you say, hey, that's extreme. And I'm gonna be honest with you, there was a, there was a time and a day in my life that, that, that, you know, I was like, man, the church is a cult and well, let me listen to rock music, right? I was that guy at a point in time in my life and everything else. But as I, as I matured and as I grew and as I, as I chose, big word there, as I chose to embody the things of Christ, the more and more I chose Him, the easier it came for me to give up the things that did not embody Him. Amen? The closer I walked with Him, the more my desire for Him outweighed my desire for the world, the easier it was for me to choose Him rather than choose the other stuff. Amen? And, and, and the question would be, and this is what, this is what a lot of people will call me religious about and, and everything else saying that, is they'll be saying, oh, you saying, I can't do this and go to heaven? Well, that's a question you have to answer, right? I mean, that's how I respond to that. That's a question you have to answer because does this, whatever this is, have your heart more than Jesus does? If that's the case, then absolutely, He is not going to see His reflection in you. He's going to see that and He's going to say, depart. My role? No? So, it really comes down, this narrow road really comes down to my heart. And when my heart posture stands in front of a mirror, what do I say? What should I say? I should see Jesus completely in all that I am. And you're saying, well, no, you're saying you're perfect, no. No, but God called David a man after his own heart because David was perfect? No. But because of his imperfection, David desired God. Amen. So, what is our desire? Siki first, the kingdom of heaven and all of these things shall be added to you. You know what that tells me? That tells me my job is to pursue Jesus. My job is to work, to be like Him. My job is to focus on Him. Amen? Do I go to work? Yes. Do I do my very best to be the best employee in the company? Absolutely. Why? Because I'm representing Jesus Christ. Not because I want to get promoted, not because I want to raise. Why? Because Jesus said, if I live like Him, those things will be added to me. If all I cared about was money, I would have left the state years ago and taken a whole lot of other jobs that I'd been offered. But I didn't care because God had a purpose and a plan for me here. And that was more important to me than anything else. More important than titles, more important than money, more important than prestige, more important than fame, more important than anything else. Amen? I just want Jesus. I'm not just preaching a message with your friends. I'm sharing my heart with you. I just want Jesus. Amen? Talking to someone the other day and we're talking about the economy and we're talking about, you know, it was all work-related and talking about economy and we're talking about, you know, the expected changes, you know, with the new president and everything going on. I am not being political and everything. But, you know, we were just kind of talking about all of that and so forth. And they were talking about how difficult these last several years have been. And I said, "They haven't been easy. Definitely required some changes." I said, "But, you know, thankfully, I have been blessed other than where I live to be predominantly debt-free." Right? And they're like, "Oh, debt-free." And I'm like, "Yeah, other than the place I live, I'm debt-free. It's why I drive a 2012 vehicle. It's why I do these things. Everything else is not casting fingers at anybody else." And so forth. But I said what it does is it gives me the freedom to pursue the things of God and everything. I'm not looking to be. I could care less about being a millionaire. I could care less about building wealth. I could care less about any of those things. By being predominantly debt-free, I am in a place that I can be used for the Kingdom of Heaven. Just like Luke was saying this morning, "Man, right? My ties check hurts. Doesn't hurt if you're not buying a whole lot of things to keep up with the Joneses." Right? Well, I can't, I can't write my tie check this month because, you know, I didn't bring, I didn't bring enough money in. Well, writing your tie check has nothing to do with how much you bring in. It's how faithful you are with what you did bring in. Right? And, you know, why, why do we, why do we make ourselves, and I'm going somewhere with this? I'm not just preaching all money. Even why, why would I indent myself to something that now has a hold over me and now makes me a debtor and makes my life more difficult? Right? All of us sitting here who pay bills every month, we can understand that. Right? Think about it spiritually. Why would I live a life? Why would I make choices? Why would I be someone that indents me spiritually? Why would I pursue something in this life that separates me from a holy God? Amen? We can understand it here. Right? We couldn't, we can make decisions and, and, and lifestyle changes and everything else to, to fix it here. Amen? Why can't we make lifestyle changes and decisions to fix it here? Pride, ego, amen? Well, I don't want my kids standing at a bus stop, so I'm gonna go and deck myself and buy a whole lot of cars. Amen? You want to know how long I rode a bus in high school? Till I graduated. Amen? I've walked a lot too. After a few years, I found out that there was this place in the wood, when I was in middle school, where eight junior high is what we called it, and everything else I figured out that instead of waiting at the bus stop, I found that there was this place through the woods that I could walk from my house all the way to AJ, and I didn't have to ride the bus anymore. Now I didn't, I didn't tell mom I was doing that, but I did it. Amen? Listen, I want to look like Jesus. I want to sound like Jesus. I want to do Jesus' things. Am I there? No, I am nowhere near. I work hard at it. I'm a whole lot better than I was 10, 20, 30 years ago. Heck, I think I'm better than I was a couple years ago, right? But I want him to see him when I stand in front of him. I don't want him to see me. I don't want to bring a lot of things to him that he has to wade through to make his decision. I want him to look at me. I want him to look at my family. I want him to look at this church and say, "There I am. There I am." Scripture says, "The Father seeketh such those who worship him live for him make sacrifices to him." Those are all, those are all translations of that word, "worship" in Scripture. Amen? "The Father seeketh such who worship him in spirit and truth." Spirit and truth. What you, what you bring to life, what you bring to your day, tomorrow is Monday, what you're going to bring to Monday. Are you bringing spirit and truth? Are you disguising anything? Are you covering anything up? Is there anything that creates a wall of tradition between you and Jesus? Amen? Because relationship, relationship, is saying, "I want him more than that." Amen? If Sam was here, I'd have her come and I'd give you an illustration. I'd stand here. Amen? Because it's just like a marriage. In my marriage, I have to decide. Do I want, do I want this? Right? Pretend I got Sam here like I am. C.S.C. Sam. I got my arm around her right here. Dron said, "What up, baby?" In my marriage, in my marriage relationship, I have to choose, "Do I want this and do I want it whole and do I want it pure? Do I want my boys to see it whole and pure? Do I want my grandkids to see it whole and pure? Do I want this more than this?" Whatever this is, I have to make those choices and sacrifices. So just like the money analogy, this analogy, amen, is also true of my place with Jesus Christ. And it means sacrifice. It means hard decisions, right? And sometimes the flesh pouts and that's okay. It'll get over it. Amen? It'll get over it. Or we can be all the things that the Bible tells us we are. Right? We can be all the things the Bible tells us we are. Amen? The Bible doesn't really hold back like we do, right? It calls us a lot of names. It calls us a lot of things. It says that if we are after this, then we're this and we're that and everything else. Amen? And I don't have time to dig into all of that. Amen? But the Bible's a name caller. And if we choose to be those things, then that's what he'll call us. But what he prefers to call us is he prefers to call us to himself. In love and in relationship and in hope and a desire that we do great things in his name. And that we bring a lot of fish. A lot of fish. Amen? Not fish. Men. A lot of men into the fold. Amen? Because you can be fishers of men. You can be fishers of yourself. For that matter. Amen? You've been called to be fishers of men. Amen. And you can only do that by embodying Jesus. Amen? Probably went too long for a Q&A. But keep sending them. If you've got questions, there are things you don't understand or things you need clarified or or maybe you've got thoughts. Last week, I think I put a couple of them out online. I got one from Carl and one from somebody else saying, "Hey man, I thought of this during your message." And everything else. I was like, "Ooh, that's good stuff." And we talked about it for a little bit. And everything else. So you are always welcome to do that. This isn't just me appounding my fist atcha kind of thing. This is us growing together and walking together and choosing Jesus together kind of thing. And most of you have been here for a while now that I'll be your biggest cheerleader. As long as you're as long as the goal is Jesus. If goal is anything else, I might walk away. But if goal is truly Jesus, then I'll be your biggest cheerleader. Amen.
There Are More People That Desire What Leads Them To Destruction.
Our Blessings Come From The Kingdom Of God.
What Is The Wall Of Perdition That Stands In The Way Of You & God?
Your Purpose Is To Pursue Righteousness.