Oh crossing family, I've missed you and I hope you know you are
loved by me. You are loved by this church,
but most importantly, you are loved by God through Jesus
Christ and there is no hiding it.
We are in a special season as a church.
God is doing something that is incredibly hard to put into
words. I want you to just hear this
from me. I am inspired by your faith, I
am encouraged by your boldness, and I am so very hopeful about
our future all across this region, gathering at all of our
different locations. And to those of you who've been
longing for our nation to turn to God, it appears that
something significant is indeed happening.
And I'm going to unpack more of that at the beginning of the
year. But in the meantime, can I just
ask you to do something that I think would not just be good for
you, but it would actually be good for us collectively as a
church? I want to encourage you to start
your day off on, you know, in prayer.
And would you just add these three things to your prayer
list? I would love to just have a
bunch of people all across this region praying.
Here are the three prayers. I'll put them up on the screen
if you're a person who likes to take pictures.
One, would you pray for God's continuing blessing and
protection over our church? Anytime you were taking
significant spiritual ground, you're flying over enemy
territory. And when you are flying over
enemy territory, you can expect to encounter the enemy.
And so I would just love for God's protection and provision
and continuing blessing over our church.
The second thing is that when you would pray that God would
give you courage to share your faith with those who are close
to you but far from God. The number one way to get the
country you want, the city you want, the community you want,
the family you want is for you to live like Jesus and share
Jesus. And so if our expectation for a
move of God in our country is for other people to be serious
about their faith, but us not be serious about our faith, that's,
you know, one O 1 hypocrisy. So I want you to just be praying
that God would give you the courage to step out in those
bold ways. And then the third thing would
be that God would give you clarity on what your next step
of faith should be. You've heard me talk about this
before, but faith and obedience are tied together.
They move at the same speed. So if you want to increase your
faith, it's going to show up and or manifest in obedience.
If you want to take a step of obedience, it's going to require
more faith there connected. And what we want to be as a
church is people who are moving in the direction of God and we
move in the direction of God through faith and obedience.
That being said, I want to welcome those of you joining at
all of our different locations, those of you watching online,
and to those of you who are part of the Crossing Inside
celebrating 8 Baptisms. Our whole church loves it when
we see what God is doing in your life.
We love it. And to those of you who are here
for the first time or maybe the first time in a long time, I
want to encourage you to stop by the new Here booth in all the
lobbies at all of our locations. And I know there's some of you.
You've been here for forever, but nobody knows it.
We would love to get to know you so we can cheer you on as you
take your next step of faith. Now, if you are brand new to the
crossing, we're in the middle of something.
And so I want to get you caught up right now.
So here we go. Here's the catch up pitch.
We are going through a book of the Bible.
Now the Bible is a collection of writings inspired by God and the
Bible is divided into two big sections.
If you have a real Bible, they'll be something called the
Old Testament or the Old Covenant, which is a description
of God's relationship with the people of Israel.
And it begins in the beginning of time and it goes all the way
until the end of Jesus death, burial, resurrection, and
ascension in to heaven after his crucifixion.
Then you get into the New Testament.
And the New Testament is God's covenant, God's agreement, God's
relationship with all people. It is both prescriptive and
descriptive of how you and I are to live and what is available to
us in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
And for those people who are Christians, and when I say
Christians, I mean people who have this, who love God and have
made Jesus Christ their Lord and their Savior, it shows us how we
are to live our lives. And let me just say at the
outset, for those of you who are new here, here at The Crossing,
we believe that God's way is the best way and we believe it to
the core of our being. We are a group of people who
believe in the power and in the authority of the Bible, and we
are fully convinced that you will never regret being obedient
to what is contained in the words of the Bible or its
author, God. Now the New Testament, it starts
off with four biographies about Jesus.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and it's important that I clear this
up on the very outset that this church deeply loves Jesus.
In fact, we believe that absolutely every single person
should find and experience an intimate personal relationship
with Jesus Christ. And when you read those first
four books, the Gospels, it lets you see what Jesus was like and
it'll help you understand why we love him so dearly.
Then on the backside of that, you find a book called Acts.
Now the book Acts should actually have two more words or
three more words after it. Acts of of the Apostles.
This is what happened with the group of people who are close to
Jesus after Jesus died, was buried, resurrected and ascended
into heaven. What did they do with all they
had learned from God? And then what did they do when
they had been empowered by God through His Holy Spirit?
And what you get is the 31st 30 year history of the church and
how you ended up here starts all the way back in the book of
Acts. And then you get into a bunch of
weird names for books in the Bible.
So let's unpack the weird names in the books of the Bible.
They are letters that were inspired by God through a
particular person, and they were written to people living in a
city or a region. So when you read Romans, you're
reading the letter from Paul to the people who lived in Rome.
When you read Galatians, you're reading a letter that was from
God through Paul to the people in Galatia.
When you read Ephesians, it's to the people in Ephesus.
When you read Thessalonians, first and 2nd Thessalonians,
you're talking to the church that was in Thessalonica.
And then you get a little bit further back and it kind of it
shifts a little bit. You get names of people that the
letters are written to. So there's 2 letters to a guy
named Timothy, There's a letter written to a guy named Titus.
There's a letter written to a guy named Philemon.
And then towards the very end of your New Testament you it
switches on you again. You got to kind of keep up.
It's Christianity's for smart people too.
And when you get into it, you'll find that you got first and
second Peter. Those were two letters written
by Peter, not to Peter, or first, second and third John.
Those were written by John, not to John, and most of the New
Testament was written by a guy by the name of Paul who at one
point in time was the most hostile person to the Christian
faith. Then through a powerful
encounter with the risen Christ, his life was completely changed.
Can I give you a mini devo Before I get too further in the
sermon, I just want you to feel this.
I've said this before, but I just want this to get all the
way into your heart. Who is the person in your life
that you think is too far gone? Who is the person in your life
that you think will never turn to Jesus?
Whoever that person is, they are not as far gone as Paul once
was. Listen to me.
There is nobody, nobody who God can't reach through His love.
There is not a single person that the power of the cross
can't completely transform. Paul was the most hostile person
to the faith and then became the biggest proponent of the faith.
Don't you dare stop believing that God can turn a life around.
So whoever your person is, I want you to know that God is
your ally and wanting them to find a relationship with Jesus
Christ. So Paul, after he has this
radical transformation, goes all over the region and he writes
letters to these churches through the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit to help them live out the life that is the
appropriate response to the salvation that they have
obtained and received through Jesus.
And what we've been doing as a church is we've been taking a
long look at Paul's. This is where it gets confusing.
Technically his 2nd letter, but it's called First Corinthians,
his first letter to the church. And one of the reasons why we've
been looking at this particular letter is because it addresses a
whole list of problems that existed in the church, problems
that threaten their unity, problems that could limit their
effectiveness and it could diminish their impact.
Three things we do not want to have happen here today.
We find ourselves in First Corinthians chapter 8.
Now, before I get into the text, I have to be boring for a little
bit. Turn to your neighbor and say
he's about to be boring. We're just going to name it, OK?
Some of the outfits you wear make you look fat.
Some parts of the sermon are boring.
You just roll with it, OK? But if we're not boring for a
little bit, none of this will make sense.
OK, so Paul is writing to a group of people who lived in
Corinth. Corinth was polytheistic.
Poly meaning many theistic, meaning God.
So they had many gods. And they, because they believed
in many gods, they had many temples.
And so you could go to the different temples to celebrate,
to honor the different gods that they had in the city.
And they had gods for everything.
They had gods for sex. They had gods for peace, they
had gods for war, they had gods for love, they had they had gods
for all kinds of things. And so because they lived in
this community, there were people all around them that were
still devoted to Pagan rituals. And because of that, one of the
things that they believed was that they needed to go and honor
and sacrifice to these gods. But they also believed that evil
spirits were constantly trying to invade their lives, and that
the way that the spirits would invade their lives was by
attaching themselves to meat. And then when the people would
consume the meat, that they would then be invaded by an evil
spirit. And So what they would do is
they would go to the temple of a particular God, whichever God
that they were, you know, if they're getting ready to go on a
trip, they would go on to the God of travel.
Or, you know, if they were needing some peace, like they
just got married. And so now they had a
mother-in-law and they're like, how we got to get some peace in
this house. They would bring the me.
And I'm not worried about the demon getting in my body.
I'm worried about the demon that just moved in.
How do I navigate this? And so they're going to the
temple. Now when you would go to the
temple what would happen is is you would take your sacrifice,
your animal and your it was divided into 3 parts.
One part was the sacrifice to the God, one part was what you
would give to the priest for offering the sacrifice.
And then whatever was left over, like the the the last third,
although it wasn't broken into thirds, but just big picture
would be given back to you. So if you're the priest at the
God of sex and everybody wants to have sex.
And so that's so it's going to be a long day of sacrifices.
All the guys are showing up. It's Valentine's Day.
And so they're going, all right, we got to I'm, I'm bringing in
the squirrel. And so they bring in all the,
the food that they wanted to eat or wanted to be sacrificed.
And the priest would be like, there's no way I'm going to eat
all of this meat. So what he would do is he would
go and he would sell the meat that he wasn't going to keep for
his family. He would sell it in the
marketplace. Then you'd have some of the guys
who showed up who, you know, they were doing the God of peace
thing. And so the, or the God of War,
whatever it was they'd be bringing, they're like, you know
what, well, we're going, we're going to be traveling.
We're not actually eating this. We just wanted, you know, to
have our, our trip blessed by, you know, God.
And so they would go, well, we don't actually, we're not
actually eating the meat. We were just trying to make a
sacrifice to God. And so they would take that meat
and they would sell it in the marketplace.
And this forms the backdrop of First Corinthians chapter 8.
Let's read it now about food sacrifice to idols, what we just
talked about. We know that we all possess
knowledge, but knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
Those who think they know something do not yet know as
they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known
by God. We'll circle back to that.
So then about eating food sacrificed to idols, we know
that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is
no God but one. True statements, straight facts.
For even though there are so-called gods, this is all kind
of parentheses, whether in heaven on earth, as indeed there
are many gods and many Lords, yet for us there is but one God,
the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live.
And there is but one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things
came and through whom we live. But not everyone possesses this
knowledge. Some people are still so
accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food, they
think of it as having been sacrificed to a God.
And since their conscience is say this word, week, it is say
the next word. OK, so something's happening in
them because of what you are doing.
But food does not bring us near to God.
Thanksgiving's close. We are no worse if we do not eat
and no better if we do. Be careful, however, that the
exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the
weak. For if someone with a weak
conscience sees you with all of your knowledge eating in an
idol's temple, won't that person be emboldened to eat what is
sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister
for whom Christ died is destroyed by your knowledge.
When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak
conscience, you sin against too. Fill in the blank, Christ.
Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall
into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not 'cause
them to fall. Now I know that there's about a
0% chance that any of you walked in here today and went.
You know what, babe, we got to figure out this meat sacrifice
to idol stuff. Hurry, get in the car.
I hear there's one church in town that's talking about it and
we got to get the answers to these questions.
I know that this is not the burning question on your
conscience, but let me talk to you about Romans chapter, our
first Corinthians chapter 8 from this perspective.
This is what I would call the Gray areas.
Turn to your neighbor and say the Gray areas.
These are the areas of the Christian life that do not have
a chapter and verse saying thumbs up or thumbs down where
God has not clearly given you an edict or a command to follow
saying do this or don't do this. What do you do with the Gray
areas? And you're going, Clayton, what
are the Gray areas? Oh, listen, I've got I know tons
of them and I know you have tons of them.
Why? Because you e-mail me, let me
just run you through some of the questions I've received about
the Gray areas. Can I get a tattoo?
My mom says no. Is it OK for me to get my nose
pierced? Can I get my belly button
pierced? No, you're a dude.
Can I listen to secular music? Is it OK for me to date?
Is it OK for me to dance? Is it OK for me to play cards?
What if I just don't play cards on Sunday?
Is it OK for me to drink Starbucks and go to Disney, even
though they've made some pretty radical decisions socially over
the last couple of years? I know that Target got crazy a
couple of years ago, but I really like their women's
apparel and their home furnishings.
Can I still shop there? Is eating meat a sin?
Can I smoke? Can I drink?
How much can I drink? If I don't drink beer and I just
drink wine, is that OK? I'm trying to work on my
flexibility, but I hear that yoga is really bad spiritually.
Can I at least stretch? Is it OK for me to dress up for
Halloween with my kids or do I have to go to another harvest
party and carve pumpkins? These are the Gray areas where
there is not necessarily a chapter in verse.
Should I send my kid to public school to be a light in the
world or should I put my kid in private school to protect them
from the world? So how does Paul address this
situation? How do you and I handle the Gray
areas of life? How far do Christians go in
their freedom and in their liberty when it comes to their
behavior when it is not specifically forbidden in
scripture? Hear me When you came to faith
in Christ, you became free. In Christ we have liberty.
In Christ we have been set free. But at the same time, in our
freedom we are not to cause other people to sin.
So Paul does at least three things.
One, Paul acknowledges that they have knowledge.
The people are going, the idols aren't real, they're fake.
There's nothing going on. They're fake idols.
There's only one God. There's only one true God, and
we're worshipping him. Let us eat the meat.
And they're right. They have knowledge.
These idols are nothing. There's only one true God.
Eat the meat, enjoy the meat. Second thing, Paul says that
knowledge is not enough, that you can be right and behave
wrong. He goes your knowledge must be
filtered through love. Now hear me, hear me, hear me,
hear me not compromised by love filtered through love.
First Corinthians chapter 1 and three.
Look at what it says in verse 8 or chapter 8.
But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
Those who think they know something do not yet know, as
they ought to know. Whoever loves God is known by
God. In other words, you can know the
right thing, behave the wrong way, which means you don't know
enough, because the right knowledge should read to lead to
the right kind of love. You can have the right knowledge
and have the wrong actions. If all you're doing in your
conversation about your liberty in Christ is talking about how
right you are in your beliefs without considering how best to
live out these beliefs, you are missing God's best for you.
Now I want to say this again, we are talking about the Gray
areas, not the areas where there is a clear chapter and verse
about the thumbs up and thumbs downs about liberty and freedom
in Christ. Paul is basically asking what is
the loving thing for me to do on behalf of my Christian brothers
and sisters? He's saying your knowledge
should not stop at having the right belief, but also having
the right practice of love. This is important.
Why? Because when somebody asks Jesus
what's the greatest commandment, he says love the Lord your God
with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.
The second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.
So if your freedom in Christ does not put you in a position
where you are loving others, you're doing it wrong.
Because part of loving God is loving the people around us.
And when we are good at loving others, God says he knows us.
That when we love God we become known by God.
And 3rd, this is the hard part. Paul shows them that their
actions could become a stumbling block to their brothers and
sisters who are struggling. Look what he says in verses 9
through 11. Be careful, however, that the
exercise of your rights, something you are completely
entitled to do, does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
For if someone with a weak conscience sees you with all of
your knowledge, eating in an idol's temple, won't that person
be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?
So this weak brother or sister for whom Christ died is
destroyed by your knowledge, destroyed by your knowledge and
your freedom. What he's saying is, is you and
I could in our liberty, 'cause somebody to backslide in their
faith or become enslaved again to their sin.
Paul is reminding these believers.
He's reminding us that Christ died for the very people we are
causing to stumble, for the very people we are causing pain.
I just want you to imagine with me for a second.
I want you to feel the weight of this.
Imagine somebody that is close to you but far from God you've
been praying for for forever. They finally start showing up
for church and they start sitting in your row with you.
Your heart is so excited, you can't believe it.
You're going. God is doing something awesome.
They start making friends with all the people that you sit with
at church and it's going really stinking awesome.
You have to be traveling out of town for the weekend.
And so guess what? Like happiest of all, happiest
the people who sit in your row at church.
Invite the people, your friends that you've got coming to church
to hang out over the weekend. And while you're gone, the
people in your row go and do something that used to be a
struggle point for the person that you had been praying for
and finally showed up. And then that person actually
got sucked back into the life of sin that they used to have.
And it messes up their conscious and it messes up their walk.
And then you come back to church sitting next to all the people
that were sitting with you and praying with you, but there's an
empty seat because those people aren't there anymore.
Now imagine you were the person in the row that did that for to
somebody else. That's the kind of weight you
and I are supposed to feel. What Paul is doing is he's
actually setting up two patterns of behavior.
We've talked about this before, what a mature person does and
what an immature person does. So a person who's immature in
their faith contrasted with the person who is mature in their
faith. The immature person asks, is it
permissible? Am I OK to do this?
It's a good question. It's a reasonable question.
It's also an immature question because the the mature question
is, is it helpful? The immature person goes, hey,
they make their decision based off what I know I'm right.
A mature person makes the decision through the filter of
those they love. The immature person causes other
people to stumble. The mature person causes others
to be built up. The immature person is concerned
with their rights. The mature person is concerned
with their witness. Now it flips here.
Pay attention. The immature person judges
others for their liberties. The mature person accepts others
with their liberties. And you and I have to make a
decision about which person we want to be in Christ.
Why does all this matter? I'll tell you because some of
you grew up in legalistic environments.
We don't smoke, we don't chew, we don't kiss girls that do.
This is kind of where you hung out, right?
This is this is this is where you lived.
And you did a great job of separating from the world.
However, over time, because you were so separate from the world,
you had no influence in the world.
And so when I say things like who are the people that are
close to you and far from God, you don't have anybody because
you don't have anybody. Some of you, you grew up over
here. Hey, hey, hey, woo, glad you
guys have Listerine in the bathroom because I was drinking
last night. But I made it to church.
Someone drove me. And we're glad you're here.
We're really glad you're here. And you grew up fully embracing
your liberty in Christ and your freedom in Christ.
You love the Gray areas. It's kind of where you hang out.
You're everybody would say you're a lot of fun, but not
everybody would say, I'm pretty sure he's a Christian.
You are a little bit too much of the world.
When I asked the question, who are the people that are close to
you and far from God? You've got all kinds of people.
But if you were to ask some of those people, they actually have
you on that list, because nothing about your life says
that you are with Christ. Some of you in your freedom and
your liberty in Christ, you became indistinguishable from
the world. 1 camp says, hey, let's separate ourselves, let's
get out of here, let's have a holy huddle, let's avoid all
worldly influences. The other side went the opposite
direction and they fully went all in and they live their life,
enjoy all the freedoms that they have in Christ, but they don't
ever run any of their actions through the filter of how will
this impact my witness and the advancement of the gospel.
And so they fully embraced the culture that was around them
when Jesus was in the garden right before he went to the
cross and died on behalf of our sins.
He's praying for his followers and he has a very interesting
prayer. You have to look for it, but
watch what it says. Verses 14 through 16 and chapter
17. This is Jesus talking.
I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them, for
they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that
you protect them from the evil one.
They are not of the world even as I am not of it.
Jesus is saying two things that His followers would be in the
world but not of it. People who live in the world but
are not controlled by the world. Those of you who are predisposed
to kind of isolate from all things, you are doing a good job
of not being of the world, but you're not really in it.
To those of you who are big in liberty and freedom in Christ,
great, awesome you are in the world.
The problem is that sometimes you're a little bit too much of
it. And you might be thinking right
now, Clayton, this seems like it's going to be really hard to
walk out. Yep, really hard.
And that is why God gives us a conscience and the Holy Spirit
to guide us. We should be desperate for a
word from God, direction from God about how we should live.
And hear me, you will get this wrong.
I get it wrong a lot. And when you wrong someone,
their mature response to you should be full of grace.
But we should have it be our ambition that we are not causing
other people to stumble. Why does all this matter?
I'll tell you. Because churches for centuries
have drawn up lines of division in Gray areas.
They have chosen personal conviction over mission.
They'll split a church, leave a church, stop showing up for
church over a personal preference instead of over a
deep commitment to the mission of Jesus Christ.
And the next thing you know, the gospel impact that could have
happened through their unity is destroyed.
Let me give you an example. So recently doctors kind of came
out that we should drink water. And so I've been trying to to do
that. And part of the reason why I've
been trying to drink more water is because if I get too hopped
up on caffeine, my mouth moves faster than my filter.
And you guys have been here for those moments, right?
You're like, yeah, we, we. That's why you guys show up
bringing me Mountain Dews. You're like, here you go, buddy.
You're just trying to wind me up.
OK. So I was trying to drink more
water. And so I don't like bottled
water. I just I it's a weird thing.
I just don't like it. OK.
I think it gives me heartburn and I can't anyhow.
Just don't, don't, don't, don't judge me.
This is a Gray area. And so I started getting water
in a can. And listen, if you work for this
company, I'm honestly not throwing shade.
I'm just using the illustration, OK.
And so they had it and I was, I was drinking it and it was
great. I liked it.
It was awesome. And then I found out into the
Super Bowl that the company that I drank the water from hired a
witch to put a curse over the water and over one of the teams
in the football. And I'm sitting here and I'm
going, which ain't got nothing on me like I'm fiddled.
The Holy Spirit. I'm good.
I'll be fine, right? At the same time, I'm also
going, man, oh man, I don't know if I want to give any of my
money to people that even mess with witchcraft and would even,
even if it was a joke, try to put a curse on people who maybe
don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
And so I'm going. I don't.
I mean, I really like the water, but at the same time, I'm going,
I don't want to be associated even a little bit with this
company. I'll stop drinking the water.
And there was a part of me I was thinking, what if I was walking
around with the cursed juice? No, the witch juice.
And you somebody be like, I can't believe that our pastor is
supporting a company that's trying to put curses on people
in the Super Bowl. You know, we're not supposed to
mess with the Super Bowl. That's that's holy to the Lord.
So there's a part of me. So I got rid of that water.
OK, But I found another company that makes water in a can and I
I was like, it was it was. I don't how many of you guys
read what's on your cans? Nobody.
You're you're not idiots like this guy.
And I'm reading the can of my new water and halfway through
this water, I'm going to say something inappropriate.
I need you to hear me. I just wanted to make sense.
But please hear my heart. It has it has a whole thing and
then at the very last line it says WTF?
And it's not where's the faith? It's it's the IT should say
that. Where is the faith?
It's but that's what it says. And so I'm going.
Are you stinking kidding me? I just put away the witch juice
and now I got the cus juice. Like I'm not doing background
checks on my underwear. I just want to wear some like I
don't know if there's like a you're like go back to drinking
the water. Clayton can drink the water.
OK, hear me. I'm trying to figure out how do
I live in the Gray area and I'm trying to get a drink of water
out of a can, knowing full well that if I was drinking this one,
there'd be people going. I can't believe and I'm like, I
don't, you know, I think Fairfield Inns owned by the
Mormons. So like that's demonic.
And I'm like, can I stay there? I mean, I like the sheets and
the towels. Like where do you And then
somebody else, somebody else could be looking at me and
going, I can't believe that you would drink water with a can
that says the worst things possible.
And I can't believe you could find all kinds of reasons to
divide over Gray areas. And I know that water seems
foolish to you, but I guarantee you there is a Gray area in your
life that you actually want to fight about.
And what I want to ask you is, you know, what we maybe we could
do in the Gray areas for one another?
We could have grace in the Gray areas of life.
What we should both be trying to do is fight to be the mature
person, the person who's full of grace.
What we should do in the Gray areas is we should, you know,
show up for church, raise our hands and worship, beg for a
move of God, ask people to join us on his mission and not allow
the things of this world that God has given the US the freedom
to participate in to destroy the very work he's trying to
accomplish inside of us. We're moving to a time of
decision. So to those of you who are here
who do not yet have an intimate personal relationship with Jesus
Christ, Paul says in verse 6. Yet for us there is but one God
the Father, through whom all things come and for whom we
live, Which means you were made by God to live for God.
And if you are not living for God, you are missing out on your
divine purpose. And you cannot live for God
until you come into a relationship with God through
his Son Jesus Christ. And that's why the verse
continues. And there is but one Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
In other words, the cry of the Gospel is that you were made by
Jesus and through Jesus, which means you can be saved by Jesus
and through Jesus. This is a work that was done on
your behalf, not a work that you do on your own.
What we bring to the table is a belief that when Jesus says he
has saved us, that we are indeed saved.
When Jesus says he's the Lord, we say he's my Lord.
When Jesus says he's a savior, we say he's my Savior.
And if you are here today and you have never made those
declarations, you've never moved into an intimate, personal
relationship with him, don't put it off.
The rescue mission from heaven had you in mind so that, well,
you could be found in him, saved by him, and experience the truth
and grace that can only be found through him.
And so if you're here today and you're looking out at the world
and you're going, this is not the world that I wanted to live
in. You're seeing the pain and the
destruction and the rot and you're going, I want no part of
it. Good, good.
Join the mission to change it. Stop being part of the sinful
problem and be a part of the salvation solution.
And it can happen today in just a few moments.
The people around you are going to stand and sing and some of
them are going to come to the steps and pray.
And I want to encourage you to walk right over there underneath
that screen next to the baptistry and talk to somebody.
Maybe you want to talk to somebody who's in your row.
If you're watching online, somebody's already populated
something in the chat and they'll take you into a private
chat area where you can just talk specifically about what's
going on in your life, and they would love to pray for you.
You see the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of light expand
every single time somebody says yes to him, and today could be
your day to say yes to the rest of you in the room.
To those of you who already have an intimate, personal
relationship with Jesus Christ, how you and I live our lives
could impact whether or not people see Jesus.
How you and I live our lives can impact whether or not they see a
Jesus worth following. There is this weight on us to be
a salt and light to this world. And you might be going, But
Clayton, that is a heavy task. It is so heavy, in fact, that
you can't carry it, which is why God, in his goodness, when you
were raised from the baptistery, place the power of the Holy
Spirit inside of you to strengthen you for the journey
ahead, to allow you to be what you could have never been on
your own. You know, I go, Clayton, there's
a whole lot of decisions that are going to have to get made
about how I live and how I operate in different
environments. Yeah.
Which is why you should be desperate for a word from the
Holy Spirit. You should have this burning in
your heart, this craving for divine direction.
Paul ends the chapter by saying if it's going to hurt him, I
will never eat meat again. He cares more about the mission
and people finding our relationship with Jesus Christ
than any of his personal preferences.
In the Gray area. Is there something you need to
give up so that other people can find Jesus?
And if there's nothing you would give up for other people to find
Jesus, my question would be, have you found Jesus?
Because when you find Jesus, you would give up everything to know
him, and you'd give up everything for other people to
know him too. Would you stand with me?
Heavenly Father, you know every person gathered in this room.
You know every heart, every situation perfectly.
And God, we want to be people who hear your voice.
We want to be people who feel called and directed by you.
And your word says that those who seek will find.
So God, it is not that direction doesn't exist.
It doesn't mean that we're supposed to seek it.
And so God, would you put a burden on our heart to seek you.
To those who don't have a relationship with Jesus God, I
pray that they would have a desire to seek you and to one
day be found in you. And to those who do have a
relationship, put it on our hearts to pursue You and your
Kingdom. In your name I pray.
Amen.