First John chapter 4 and we're going to make it through 6
verses. I'm not as good as Steve.
I can't get to all the verses. I actually I, I have the whole
chapter printed out and I was really excited to go all the way
through it and I'm like, I'm making it through this.
So, but we'll start in verse one, beloved, do not believe
every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of
God, because many false prophets had gone out into the world.
But this you know, sorry by this you know the Spirit of God,
every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not
confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.
This is the spirit of Antichrist which you have heard was coming
and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children,
and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than
he who is in the world. They are of the world.
Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.
We are of God. He who knows God hears us.
He who is not of God does not hear us.
By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of air.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and
everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
And Lord, I just lift up this time, Lord and I, I just lift up
everybody here and those at home.
And Lord, just this whole church body that we would be about your
business, Lord, that we would our lives would be confessing
our love and our our our life in you, Lord, and I pray all this
in Jesus name. And so the the title of my study
today is by this. And it really is you know what
is what? How do we how do we do this
thing called Christianity or living in Christ, right.
And it's it's by by knowing him. And that's really our when we
get into all the, the joy of my, my job of digging into all, the,
all the false doctrine and false prophets and false things out
there. They always are just caught up
in, they're just caught up in that they, they lose track of
that. It's, it's about Jesus and it's
about that relationship with him.
You know, it's, I always bring it back to just a marriage
relationship. And when you start, when you
start trying to take some of the doctrines out there and turn
them into personal relationships, they don't work
right. Calvinism doesn't work on a
predestined that I'm going to live with faith for the rest of
my life so I don't have to do anything.
It's her requirement to do it for me.
That doesn't work right. And when you just look at how
God wants to interact with us and this this beginning says do
not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they
are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the
world by this, you know the Spirit of God.
And so that by this is you know what by what basically is what
you should ask yourself. And that's every spirit that
confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.
And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh is not of God. So we can look at this and go,
so if somebody, if somebody says Jesus is Lord, then they must be
a believer and we don't have to worry about it.
Or Jesus, I, I believe Jesus came in the flesh, right?
I mean, we, we already talked about this numerous times.
You know, Satan believes those things.
So what's this confess mean? If we go to John 11, in the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning with
God, and all things were made through Him, and without Him
nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. And we all know those verses.
But if you skip down to verse 14 And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory in the glory of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
So confessing isn't, isn't something that I do just
verbally and say, Hey, I I've confessed now I'm good.
Check that box, right. And Jesus is the word and the
word, the revelation of God became flesh, right?
He's he became a human walking on earth.
And you'll find that those that deny Jesus came in the flesh,
they deny him by denying his word right there.
And what it is, is they deny his lordship over their life that
that confession is confessing, confessing that he is Lord,
right? Not just, not just, I mean,
everybody wants to be saved, but in order to be saved, I have to
accept him as Lord and Savior, right?
Not just as my as as my get out of jail free card.
And this isn't John looking, looking up and going, Hey, I
need to I need to add some stuff to the word.
This is all the way back in Deuteronomy, Moses talking,
obviously, he put the he told the Israelites to be on guard
against those who would lead them away from God and his
commandments and his word because all all the Israelites
had at this point was Moses and what he wrote down about God,
right? They, they knew God, but they
knew God by his, his explanation of himself in the word, right?
He wasn't walking amongst them. He was a, a pillar of cloud on
during the day and a pillar of fire at night.
But they didn't know him other than through Moses and through
what Moses wrote down about him. And so Deuteronomy 13 it says,
if there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams,
and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign of the
wonder comes to pass of which he spoke to you, saying, Let us go
after other gods which you have not known, let us serve them.
You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or the
dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing
you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord
your God and fear him and keep his commandments, obey his
voice. You shall serve him and hold
fast to him. So this is this is the Lord
saying, are you following? I mean, and we've over the over
the decades we've had, you know, all the big movements of the
spirit. And I'm sure there's, there's
churches out there today that are all about worship for stages
or whatever The thing is. And that in itself is not
unchristian. But if the reason you're going
to church is for the experience, then you're that is not you
following the Lord, right? That's you chasing after that
next, that next thing. And that's when you look at the
I think it was the Vineyard movement.
It, it started off with speaking in tongues a lot and then
prophesying. And then by, you know, you, you
scoot down some years and they're laying on the floor
barking like dogs, right? And and that's because they were
kept searching after that next big thing.
And that isn't God, right? Doesn't mean that signs and
wonders don't happen. It means who am I serving and
why? And is it, is it taking me away
from Jesus or bringing me to Jesus?
Right. That's that's one of those
questions you ask kids when they're dating is spending time
with that girl or spending time with that boy.
Do you feel closer to Jesus when you're done spending time with
them or farther away? Right.
And that's, that is in our relationships, in our time.
We can you can apply that to everything in your life, right?
Is the are the things you're doing in life leading you
towards or away from Jesus, right.
And you got to remember that as Paul went out.
So Paul went out and he walked into synagogues, right?
He walked into synagogues and he take Deuteronomy, right?
Paul didn't walk in and say, hey, bring me all your sick and
all your infirmed. Paul walked in.
What did he walk in doing? Teaching the word right?
Now, did sick people get healed? Yes.
The demons get cast out. Yes, right.
But that isn't what Paul went doing.
He went teaching the word. And in Acts 17, and this is what
we should be, right? Because what Paul did in Acts, I
mean, he did it all through. But Acts 17, we'll talk about it
is Paul wasn't telling the Jews to turn and go after other gods.
He was sharing the scriptures in context, telling them to turn to
God and the Bereans. And we all you know, you hear,
you hear that we should all be like Bereans and, and study our
scriptures. And this is the this is the
verse, verse 11 and chapter 17. There were more fair minded,
sorry, these were more fair minded than those in
Thessalonica in that they received the word with all
readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out
whether these things were so, so they didn't argue with Paul,
right? They listened, they listened and
then they went and searched it out for themselves, right?
They went and said, OK, so he's saying this is this what this
says, right? And that's, and that's what you
guys should be doing to me to, to anybody that stands up here,
right? To a, to a YouTube video, to
whatever, wherever you're getting a Bible study, you don't
take that at face value, right? You should be not only not only
checking it for yourself to see if it's true, right?
And then, and then if it's not, you know, there's, there's
correction, you know, maybe I said something wrong or or
whatever, But it's also, as you're digging into what you've
been taught, you're, you will know it and understand it better
so that you can share it, right? And so it's not just not just
looking at it with a critical argumentative.
I like, I don't. It's looking at things as you're
studying so that you can know the information so that you can
share it with others. And John does go on there and
talk about how to discern, right?
And it's, you know, how do we know the Spirit of God?
And it's every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ.
We talked about that, that he that he has come in the flesh is
of God. And this is the reason John,
John beats on this and he does it all through first John that
he comes in the flesh is that the Gnostics taught all flesh
was evil and Jesus couldn't have been in the flesh because that
would make him evil. And so he was like, like if he
walked on the beach, he was on the beach, but he didn't leave
footprints, right? So he, he was here, but he
wasn't here. And the problem with that is
Jesus was born as a baby, grew up as a child, became a
Carpenter. All these things take him having
a physical body. A Carpenter that doesn't leave
footprints also can't hold a hammer, right?
He can't hammer nails. And but more than that, for
John, guys, John, you got to remember John in particular
spent three years with Jesus. He spent three years with Jesus
in towns, in boats, in the wilderness.
He he was with him at night. He ate, he ate food with him.
He he was cold with him, he sweated with him, right.
Jesus that that anybody was coming out and saying that Jesus
hadn't come in the flesh was a heretic at a level that John, I
mean, I can just imagine John going what who's who's coming up
with this right. I mean, and that's that
absurdity. But John is also at the same
time pointing out that many I mean, this is during during a
time where people were still alive that would have known
Jesus came in the flesh, right. This wasn't a, you know, we're
2000 years away. And so then people start coming
up with things because we're 2000 years away.
Well, this wasn't this was 90 years away or, you know, within
that ninety 90s. So 60 years away.
And this was in a time frame that John, John just pointing at
it going that's just retarded. And people that say that are not
of God. But more importantly, when they
say that they are, they are truly going against the word of
God, right? Because, because when you go
through the gospels, they say Jesus was born.
And if he was born, that means a body was born, not a spirit was
born, right? And they, they talk about him
eating bread and, and touching people.
And this is stuff you can't. So that's you're, you're
changing the word of God and you will find that across the world,
the thing people change is Jesus.
It's he is the thing, right? It's the definition that Satan
wants to fix, right? If I can change the definition
of who you serve and I can do it subtly, you know, he's a good
teacher. I mean, I think we have quite a
few, quite a few churches out there that that would teach that
he's a good teacher or he's a good man.
Or like the Gnostics, he was just a spirit, not real.
Or the Jehovah's Witnesses teach he was an aunt.
He's he's Angel. Or Michael the Archangel that
the Mormons actually teach that he's Lucifer's brother.
And so obviously at that point, not the only begotten son of
God, because you know, first of all, if you're, if he's an
Angel, not the only begotten son of God, right?
Because we know there are lots of angels.
And if he's Lucifer's brother, not the only begotten son of
God, because that would bet minimum give him one brother.
But the those those things, those little, those little
tweaks are just changing definitions because what's the
name of the Mormon church? Church of Jesus the Jew, right?
Yeah. And I just totally blew the name
because I don't repeat it all the time.
But the point is, is that they've got Jesus Christ in
their name. They must, they must be a
Christian Church, right? And that's why John is really,
really hammered down. Basically, if you don't confess
with your heart, Jesus Christ Jesus is a Messiah.
This Jesus, the only begotten son of God, you're you're of the
world, you're Antichrist, right? You're if you're not, if you're
not confessing who he is and what he done has done, you are
you are Antichrist. You're against him.
And in this guy. This is the part that I always
you know, if you confess, if you confess his name and then you
will be saved. What does that mean?
The The thing is, is remember that Jesus, the Father, the
spirit aren't fooled by fancy words.
There is not a magic Jabez prayer out there.
I think that's the I think that's the one that went around
back in 15 years ago. That was a book that you know,
if you pray like this, God has to answer you.
No, that ain't how it works, right, Any more than there is a
specific set of words that I can say to Faye that now she has to
do what I said. Anybody want to try that with
their wife? Anybody that So if I can't, if I
can't hold a human, if I can't take a human and say specific
words and now they have to do what I said, what is my chances
of doing that to God, right. But what do you what the that
confession is true, heartfelt confession that is I not only I
confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, but I but my life
confesses his death on the cross, right that that my life
shows you he's the Lord of my life.
And we know people right that that talk the game, but their
life shows you that their Lord is the sin in their life, right?
And Titus says it like this is sorry.
Paul says to Titus in chapter 1, verse 15 to the pure, all things
are pure. But to those who are defiled and
unbelieving, nothing is pure, but even their minds and their
conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in
works they deny him being abominable, disobedient and
disqualified for every good work.
And because we, we know people like this, right?
That, that, that know the words to say, but their life doesn't,
doesn't reflect that. And just on a, just on a rant
about I'm not going to pick on that denomination tonight.
There are denominations out there that have just shrank and
shrank and shrank over over the last decades because they got it
in their head that I just need to use his name and say he loves
everything. And then I'm good.
And what, what, what Paul tells Timothy, and this really fits.
This is our country and it's heartbreaking.
But in in chapter 3, verse one, verse one to five, he talks to
Timothy about America. It's not really, but it might as
well because this is the country.
And guys, this is many, many churches.
And I'm not this is not so I would bet you in 95% when I say
many churches in 95% of those churches that I'm talking about,
there are there's probably a remnant that loves the Lord.
So I'm not, I'm not calling out all the people, the
organizations. The organizations are broken and
and lost. And they're these.
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
boasters, proud, blasphemed blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving slanders
without self-control, brutal despisers of good traitors,
headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
God having a form of godliness but denying its power.
And from such people turn away. And guys, I could, I could pull
up on YouTube and watch, I could watch a study on every one of
those things on why it's OK to not love your parent, to not
take care of your parents, to to love money to to think of
yourself first, to love yourself first, to be to be boastful and
proud. Right that that Jesus isn't God,
you know, be a blasphemer. I could watch.
I mean, there are there are Bible studies on every single
one of those on the that it's OK, it's OK to be unloving.
If they're not nice to you, you don't have to forgive them right
it. And that's the world we live in.
And Galatians says the fruit of the spirit is Lovejoy, peace,
long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control. And against such there is no
law. And those who are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
That's confess when you're confessing Christ, you, you have
died to yourself and said, Lord, I can't, you have to because,
because my flesh is bent towards second Titus or through second
Titus three, that is my my flesh is all over that right.
My flesh wants to be selfish. I, I, I'm materialistic.
I like to, I, I, I mean, I want people to think good of me,
right? I don't want self-control.
You know, you can go through that list guys.
And that is, that is us outside of Christ.
And when you go through the the Galatians list of the fruit of
the spirit, the best thing about the fruits of the spirit is none
of those can be faked, right? I mean, we can fake each other
out, but I only get joy from one place and and I can't well it up
inside me, right? I can, I can't, I can't well up
self-control or peace, right? That's that's a gift from him to
us. But as we're as we're doing this
and we're saying the idea of this is how do I how can I tell
you know that where somebody is in the Lord, you know, and that
the confess not that doesn't confess Jesus Christ, right?
And we're as believers, guys like this on Friday, we're going
to we're going to have lots of conversations, right?
I mean, I'm hoping we're going to have lots of conversations
and in those conversations, right, what's what's our lead?
And Matthew 1016 says, behold, I send you out as sheep in the
midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents
and harmless as doves, right? And this is Jesus talking to his
disciples as he is sending them into the world.
And he wasn't sending and the the difference here guys is he
sent him into the world with his with his blessing and his power,
but he wasn't going with him. He was, he was still on earth,
right? And so, but he was sending them
with, with with his power and not to be bent by the world,
right, but to declare the truth to the world and to do it in a
way that worked. I mean, that was The thing is
that the idea isn't that I stand.
I mean, there, everybody knows our, our resident.
It's recorded our, our resident Orthodox guy that stands on the
in the black with the cross. OK, not effective, right?
Just all kinds of zeal, all kinds of energy, not effective,
right? I mean, other than if you want
to want somebody to laugh at, and I'm, I'm not even picking on
him. I'm just saying as a, as a non
believer, as a non believer, that's just a spectacle to laugh
at. Not as hey, I think I want to go
to that church or hey, you know, maybe I should go.
It just, it isn't effective. But what is effective in Matthew
1027 and you know going on, Jesus tells them, whatever I
tell you in the dark, speak in the light.
And whatever you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.
And do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill
the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul
and body in hell. So how do I, whatever I tell you
in the dark, speak in the light and what, what you hear in the
ear quietly, right, preach on the housetops.
How do I do that? Well, I got to have I, that
isn't Sunday morning, right? That isn't Wednesday night.
That's you and him, right, Having that, having that close
conversation, because he may want you to talk to somebody on
Friday, right? He may want to talk to somebody
in the, in the checkout line, but that doesn't happen because
you went to church on Sunday or you went to church on Wednesday.
It's because you're, you're with him all week long, right?
You're, you're praying, you're, you're in your word and you're
discerning what he wants you to do because he's speaking to you.
And The thing is, when you're talking with somebody, we test
all things by the word. That's the bet.
I mean, I, I, I know I beat that up a lot too.
The most exciting thing about being a Christian is we have a
book that is proven to be correct and there are people way
smarter than me that can walk anybody that has doubts of that
on why it's been proven, but proven to be correct and we can
trust it. And so therefore I can weigh
everything against it, which means I don't have to worry
about people's feelings, right? Jesus over and over in his
ministry says it is written right.
Jesus doesn't talk about feelings.
You know, I'm feeling, I'm feeling like we should go to
Caesarea this week. He, he didn't talk about
feelings, right? He didn't talk about cultural
correctness. He, he, he pushed pretty hard
against the other direction, right?
And he, he really just a lot of times said, let me clear up your
bad teaching on my word. And, and he did that a lot,
right? He he broke things down and
said, so this is what you're saying, but that is not what
that means. And I can show you that, right.
And when he got in a, when he got in a dispute with with
Satan, how did he work that right?
Satan was taking verses out of context and Jesus was finishing
his verse in context and saying, sorry, you're wrong, right?
But that isn't because that isn't because the day he was
having the conversation with Satan, he whipped out his Bible
and started going. So where's that?
He knew his word right? Now I understand it's Jesus and
he knows His word because it's His word and we can go through
that. But Jesus walking on earth had
to learn how to speak, right? He had to learn how to walk.
So these are his words, but Jesus walking on earth had to
learn them however that works because and he was ready with an
answer. And he did that for every,
every, every interaction with the Pharisees and with Satan.
And Jesus pointed to the word and you shot used signs to show
God's love, but he didn't use signs to get the attention,
right? He shared truth and and then
then he healed people and he raised people from the dead and
he cast out demons. But as a byproduct of, of the
truth that he was teaching right, It wasn't it wasn't.
Hey, come see all the big things that's going on over here.
And then in the background, you know, that's I was listening to
a Bible study today about that. One of the big church movements
out there was, you know, it was a three hour study and there was
10 minutes of study and 2 1/2 hours of, of the Spirit moving.
That's not that, that isn't it, right?
And that isn't that God doesn't want worship and isn't into
that. It's that real revival, real,
real time with the Lord is spent getting to know him.
And it isn't a fields thing. You can watch Jesus through his
whole ministry. He taught and he taught.
I mean, Paul, Paul didn't go to towns and set up a revival
meeting with a bunch of instruments.
And I'm not against worship. That is, that is not this, but
he went and taught all night, right?
Until people were falling out of windows and dying, right?
He, he taught and he taught. I mean, you look at Joshua and
Joshua. One day we'll go through Joshua.
But it, he makes the mistake at AI and gets 37 men killed.
He corrected the mistake. God, God rebuked him.
He corrected it. They wiped out AI and then they
went to a mountain, sacrificed and read the entire law.
OK, so I screwed this up, but we're going to read we're going
to go back to this. That's that's let's sit down and
read 5 books. I'll start reading the word of
God is important. It's real.
It, it, it's it's tangible and and it will change us right?
It is sharper than any 2 edged sword.
It it will change us from the inside out.
It's what it's what works in our lives, right.
It's not the not the guy up front, not not the thing said
perfectly. A prayer that I pray in the back
a lot is Lord, if I don't say it right fix it when it before it
gets to their ears because I at the end of the day, I want you
guys to want to read this to want to be to be in relationship
with Jesus our our Lord and savior who just who just wants
to spend time with us right and you go on to verse 4 and it says
you are of God little children and have overcome them because
he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world guys we
got nothing to fear. I mean that is, and as we, as,
as we get to go through the rest of chapter 4, that's it's really
going to get into that, that guys, we, we are on the winning
team. I mean there and, and it's not
even like a it, it is a, it is a NASCAR race and they have a
matchbox car, right? It's not even a there, there
isn't even a, a comparison to our how much we are greater
because of who we serve and who we're in right?
And John 16, this says in starting in verse 7, the Spirit
will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement.
And it says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to
your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the
helper will not come to you. Now, Can you imagine being the
disciples in this conversation when they when they actually
figure out what he's saying? It is better that you die, is
it? Repeat that again.
No, Lord, it's way better that you're here.
But the helper will come to you. But if I depart, I will send him
to you. And when he has come, he will
convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgement
of sin because they do not believe in me, of righteousness,
because I go to my Father and you see me no more of judgement,
because the ruler of this world is judged.
You notice how it doesn't say the ruler of this world will be
judged. The ruler of this world is
judged. He is done right.
We are, we are in Christ. He has nothing for us, right?
He is, there is. If I am walking in Christ and I
am building that relationship with Him, the enemy's got
nothing for us. We got nothing to fear and and I
don't say that in a cocky way at all.
I don't say that like I'm going to put up my fist and I'm going
to fight the enemy. That is not I I will I will
guarantee you that is the worst plan you can come up with.
I'm going to say Lord Jesus, fight my battles and and he is
this. He's already judged him.
The battle isn't even a battle, right?
The, the, the enemy sits down and shuts up and the spirit
convicts, confronts and rebukes the world.
And guys, when you're, when you're talking to people, know
that understand that even the blindest person that that is
lost and has doesn't know, they don't know there's something
going on inside, right? Pastor Steve always, always says
that, you know, how can you, if you throw a rock into a pack of
dogs, how do you know who got hit?
The one that yells the loudest, right?
The one that barks. And a lot of times the person
you're talking to is the one that wants to argue because
they're the one being convicted, confronted and rebuked the most
in their soul, right? They're the one that the the
spirit is after you know when and so then our job as believers
is to stand in Christ in that moment, but stand there being
able to to speak to them in joy, in love, in kindness, in truth,
right, which doesn't mean you you fold the truth.
It means you don't have to get angry because they've live they
they are on the losing team. We get to talk to people from
the winning team, begging them to get on the winning team,
right? And they they that doesn't mean
that you know, it's somebody said a drowning man is going to
try and pull you down, right. And so verse 5 says they are of
the world. Therefore they speak as the
world and the world hears them. We are of God, he who knows God
hears us. He who is not of God does not
hear us. But this by this we know the
spirit of truth and the spirit of air.
And guys, I want to remind you guys in, in social media, on all
the news channels, on Facebook, we can all agree that the ruler
of this world, the, the, the guy pulling the strings behind,
behind the, the worldly people, the Antichrist of this age
pretty much runs all those outlets, right?
He's got Hollywood on his side. He's he's taking over that he's
got the political side. So is it in his benefit to let
us hear any good news that's happening in the world?
No, but just because we don't hear it doesn't mean it isn't
happening, right? A two years ago at the, the
first, the first ministry conference we had at the new
building in Tri-cities, I think there was just at that one,
there was 20 or 22 different, different churches.
And so Steve on Saturday at the end of it, right before we
released everybody, he said, you know, all the head pastors, if
you want to stand up and just give us a, an update of what's
going on in your church. And this is just right after
COVID, right? Covid's for three years, two or
three years after that. And, you know, everything's dark
and gloomy and every, you know, everything's horrible.
And so that was, you know, Oregon, Idaho, There was a
couple of churches from California there in Washington.
And 18 of the 20, some churches there stood up and asked for
prayer for growth, that they, they'd outgrown their parking
lot. They'd outgrown their children's
ministry. They'd outgrown their sanctuary.
They were running two and three services and they needed they
they were asking for prayer and managing growth and Calvary
chapels. If you guys haven't figured out
pretty much sing some songs and read the Bible, right, It's not
a production and those churches are growing to the point that
they they couldn't couldn't hold their buildings, could no longer
hold them. So know that that like Elijah
when he is in a cave and he is throwing a temper tantrum and
telling God I am your only one that's left and God says there
are 7000 that haven't been the knee.
Know that we're on the winning team.
That doesn't mean that Satan has to advertise for us, right?
That isn't that that isn't part of the game.
We know we're on the winning team.
So be on the winning team, right?
And. And remember that the world, the
world is blind. Like Billy was up here that that
Sunday and and said, you know, when, when you see a blind man
and he trips on the curb, do you do you get mad at him?
He was blind. He didn't see it when we're
talking to the world, right? That's that's you're talking to
people when you talk to the world about abortion.
Guys, I was, I was that person. I grew up in the world.
Abortion was a political issue. I got saved.
Abortion was a political issue. 2 years into being a believer,
abortion was a political issue. God may need a 2 by 4 upside the
back of my head. But no, that's the, you know,
just because we, we spend time around each other and we can see
doesn't mean the world does because they've been hearing the
same narrative, right, since they were kids.
And so the world, you know, they speak as of the world and the
world hears them, right? So they, they have their
language and they know what it means.
And it's, it's really back to Charlie Kirk.
It's why it's, it's, it's why he was so dangerous to that side is
because he had the patience to just speak truth without getting
angry, because that's the thing that he had, right.
When you watch Charlie Kirk, he didn't yell at him.
He was just and, and everybody said, well, he debated him and
he was better. He just kept his cool and just
shared truth, right? And that's that's our job is and
if and if you understand you're on the winning team and your job
on the winning team is to win as many souls as possible, then
getting mad at the souls you're trying to win is a waste of
time. And that was Charlie.
I mean, that was truly Charlie's goal.
Turning Point's goal is to share the gospel with as many as can
hear it in a way that they can understand it right.
And if answering those questions because because it wasn't The
thing is, is that the the person at the mic may not be.
I mean, probably 90% of the time when the ones who lives got
changed, it was the one in the crowd that that heard the back
and forth and one group that they agreed with, I agree with
the one at the mic. And then the one the mic speaks
like a lunatic. And the one that I don't agree
with is speaking clearly and I understand that and that makes
sense and that's logical. And now I got to go figure out
what I really believe because I thought I knew what I believed,
right? And as believers, that's our
job, right? Is to, is to have have the
ability to have those conversations.
And the only way to do that is to be in our word and not not as
the, the prime product, right? If I am in my word, if I am in
my word, so that I can go out and argue my, my position, I
failed again, because that is not why we get in our word,
right? We get in our word to know him
more. That's that's the reason that I
pray, the reason that you guys hear this all the time, but the
reason I pray, the reason I'm in fellowship, the reason that I, I
read my Bible, the reason that I do any of my spiritual
disciplines isn't the discipline.
It's the time with Jesus. That's it.
And if I'm doing it, if I'm doing it because I have to once
again, back to marriage relationships, anybody want
their spouse to spend time with them because he has to or she
has to? That's that's not healthy right?
Now, that doesn't mean that we don't have bad days, right?
Pastor Steve says, you know, there are times I don't want to
pray. You know what I do?
I say, Lord, change my heart. And then I pray.
There are times I don't want to read my Bible.
You know what I do say, Lord, change my heart, and then I read
my Bible, right? And not, I mean, if that's an
everyday thing, then you're going to need to spend some more
time, right? But those days happen, you know,
believe it or not, there are days that Faye doesn't want to
spend time with me. I know that's hard to believe,
but you know, God straightens her out and she's stuck with me.
But the best thing about the Bible guys and I, I beat this
up. It's not fuzzy, it's not ghosty,
it's not feelings. Just says stuff.
And it it says stuff about the God of the universe, who he is
and how we interact with him. And in that he teaches us about
our life. 1st Corinthians 212 through 14 says, now we have
received sorry, now we have received not the spirit of the
world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the
things that have been freely given to us by God.
These things we also speak, not in words, that which man's
wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not
receive things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to
him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned. So as believers, guys, we need
to be in the Word. But it isn't a works thing,
right? It's not like picking up a
textbook. It's it's Lord, I want to know
you more and, and show me like, like bring the bring the words
off the page. There's a movie out there called
the beautiful Mind. It's a it's a Russell Crowe.
I think if I remember right, Russell Crowe and he's a
schizophrenic and it's a whole thing and he's a scientist and,
and got numbers. But the in the in the movie,
they do a really good thing of, of the numbers jumping off the
chalkboard at him like he can. He, he sees formulas.
Guys, when you're reading your word, those are the things
you're asking the Lord for. Like what?
Show me, show me who you are. Like show me, teach me your
word, right? He isn't going to, he isn't
going to run you off the deep end and teach you, teach you
weird doctrines. He's just going to show you him
right? He's going to, he's going to
give you great, great moments that are just between you and
him. And but he does that by you
being in his word, right by you, you reading and and spending
time with him because at that point you have the ability to
see others right to to know where they are right, just
because he gives you that discernment, right?
He gives you. And it's by this right by this,
the word of God, we are to discern the world around us.
And but unless we are in the word, the flesh of the Word,
we're not going to discern the world around us, right?
We're we're going to have opinions about it.
We're going to watch YouTube about it, but we're not going to
we're not going to discern it. We're not going to see where God
has us and what he has for us to do.
Guys, this as much as America's dark and all that, it is not the
darkest place on the planet that Christians live, right?
We have all kinds of freedom to speak to all kinds of people.
You know, there Nigeria is one right now that, you know, we
could go out and we can go out and do a do a Friday night in
Nigeria and get the church burnt down, you know, And so this
isn't the darkest place to live, but it does take discernment to
have those conversations, right to to listen to people and then
share with them who Jesus is and what he wants to do in their
life, right, because he's already done it in yours.
So Lord, I slipped up this time. And Lord, just that you would
truly, truly just fill this body with your spirit.
Lord, give us a hunger and a thirst for you.
Lord that you would guide and direct us, fill each and every
one of us with your spirit to overflowing into into each area
of our lives that we touch the world.
Lord and Lord, that we would just shine light Into Darkness
and that we would be able to speak from the housetops the
things you speak to us in our hearts.
And I pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.