Hope In Deceptive Days

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Bear with me.

Father, you have every person you saved, everyone who's come to faith in you, they share, you spliced into our lives.

The same story.

You've entered into it.

When Jesus died on our behalf, some part of our story all became the same story.

And we can say this this is my story.

Jesus, I believe Jesus died.

He was God's son, he's resurrected.

And more than this, God, uh, the parts of our stories that are different, you have been sovereign over every detail.

No matter if we thought you were ignoring us or didn't see every bit of it, you have been sovereignly ruling and reigning over.

And all of this, somehow in the mystery of how you control and they're sovereign over everything, it all folds into and it is braided together in this grand epic story that all of history is pointing to, and that is the glorification of you and of Christ.

And so we just take a moment and recognize our place.

We have a story, we all share the part of the same story.

It's all part of this grand story.

And so this morning, just just unfold another page for us.

We read together and see what you've done and what you want to do in us.

Would you open up for us?

Let us see more of what is in your heart for us to have an experience.

We ask these things in your name and for our good.

Amen.

Please be seated.

I'm really glad you're here.

My name is Blake Hardcastle, and I'm the spiritual formation pastor, and I'm preaching today.

So that's how the sermon works.

We're gonna do it like a YouTube video.

You know, like going on YouTube and you got to watch a five-second commercial before your video will resume.

Here comes your commercial.

So part of my responsibility is I have oversight over our Bible studies.

And those happen in the hour preceding this one, and actually quite a few of you attend those.

I know others of you are serving during that hour, but I want to let all of you know, especially those who don't serve and don't attend, that uh we have all new studies starting next Sunday.

We if if if we have class that's just for men, a class that's just for women, a class that's just young adults, a class that's all adults, and a class that's just couples.

The couples class, if you like, I I think I might want to try out a Bible study.

Try this one out.

This is one of our core classes on Christian formation, which is the means God has given for us to change and grow.

Brent, our one of our teaching pastors, we'll be the primary teacher in that one.

So all new classes start next week.

If you're not serving, I hope you'll be there.

That's in the commercial, our video will resume.

So let's dive into the text.

Uh we're in 1 John chapter 2, 18 to 27.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

I'm gonna read the whole thing.

What you're gonna hear as I read this, you're gonna hear three predominant words: Antichrist, anointing, and abide.

And they're gonna be all kind of twisted and and braided together like a strong rope.

So listen for this.

So John writes to this uh this community of believers.

He says, Children, it's the last hour, and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come.

Therefore, we know it's the last hour.

They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that it might become plain that they were not of us.

For you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

So I write to you, not because you don't know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

For is is the lie who is the liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ.

This is the Antichrist.

He who denies the Father and the Son, no one who denies the Son has the Father.

Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.

So let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.

If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.

And this is the promise that He made to us eternal life.

I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

But the anointing that you receive from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you.

But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true, and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him.

So you heard those three things kind of roped around, twisted around this morning.

What we're gonna do, we're gonna kind of unravel them.

And so we're we're gonna talk through and teach every verse, but they might be out of order.

We're gonna take them with the anointing and then um uh uh uh uh Antichrist and abiding.

So we'll start with verse 18.

Here's point number one.

How do we have hope in deceptive days?

Maybe you didn't know these are deceptive days.

These are deceptive days.

They've been deceptive since John was writing this to this group of believers.

Number one, remember that there are deceivers among us.

What about what John's saying in a room this size?

Don't look around.

Don't just look at me.

Don't look around, don't poke anybody.

Okay, don't play Nathan the prophet.

Don't do that.

In a room this size, statistically, there are some deceivers, there's some liars, there's some antichrists.

That should be a sobering landing on us.

It says it's the last hour.

And as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come.

Therefore, we know it's the last hour.

The last hour, he said, we know it's here, because those who are vehemently against Christ, they're unearthing themselves.

We know it's a last.

What's this last hour you're talking about?

Like literally like 60 minutes?

No, it can't be 60 minutes.

He wrote this a while ago.

Last hour is like the the pre the the little time before the return of Christ, kind of the pre-dawn before his return.

And so it's been the last hour, it's been the last days ever since John wrote this.

So someone comes around saying, hey, 2022, last hour, last days.

Yep.

And so was 2021 and 2020 and 1735, and so was 1016.

This is before he returns.

And don't go, oh, okay, well, I can project he's not coming for a while.

We don't know that.

You don't know that.

He said, You have heard.

So they they knew there would be antichrists.

This is not new knowledge.

How did they know that?

Jesus taught this a good bit.

Here's one example, Matthew 24.

Jesus answered them saying, See that no one leads you astray.

For many, many will come in my name, saying, I'm the Christ, me, not him, this one, not that one.

That's an Antichrist.

Whenever we go, me over Jesus, we're functioning like an Antichrist.

So there'll be many.

And they will uh they will lead many astray.

So this is not new information to them.

So you already know this.

Remember, there's Antichrist deceivers among you.

Now, part of what's in view here is what this theological concept of what's called the already not yet.

This is not a verse that's like, you know, the already not yet verse.

It's just preeminent about the Bible that the kingdom of God has already begun, but it's not yet fully realized.

When Jesus comes, he comes announcing the kingdom.

Most of his parables are parables about the kingdom.

What is it like?

What is God like?

What happens?

But it's not fully realized.

When he returns, it will be fully realized.

Is rescuer of God's people and the conqueror, punisher of God's enemies.

And what God has done in Jesus is He's separated this office of Christ, of Messiah, the first time he came, it was for rescue.

And it still is.

When he comes the second time, no more rescue.

It's now punishment and conquering of God's enemies.

So you should be thinking questions as we're going through this text.

Certain things should be emerging.

If you're following along, you should think, okay, well, Blake, uh, who are these antichrists?

Who are they?

Well, maybe it's Putin.

I knew that guy was an antichrist.

Or maybe, maybe I'll give you a couple little more flavors.

Maybe it's Biden.

Yes, for sure.

Maybe it's Trump.

Yeah, I thought we got rid of him.

Maybe it's Big Pharma.

That's not what John says.

Let's let John tell us what he means by this.

Verse 19.

They went out from us, but they were not of us.

For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that it might be plain they were not of us.

Now that sounds all twisted.

You can understand this.

He's saying, oh, the Antichrist, those are the ones who they were with you for a time.

You went to youth group with them, did college ministry with them, you're in Bible study with them, did MOTS with them.

Maybe you're in a D group with them, maybe you're in a community group with them.

They're with us for a time, orbiting for a time, and they kind of drifted away or they separated themselves and they re-emerged with, yeah, you know what?

What we are taught and told, that's not actually true or right.

This is actually what God's like.

And the doctrine is it's not what God revealed in the scripture.

It's new and enlightened.

In fact, according to John, it's actually just rewarmed old heresy.

These are the Antichrists that are once part of the fellowship.

So, what does it mean is that attendance is not what determines the condition of your heart.

I'm so glad you're here.

I want you to come back next week and the week after, and I want you to bring people with you.

So glad you're here.

But you being here is not the threshold line, is is God pleased with you?

Or do you have a relationship with him?

Or do you know him?

Or can you sing these songs and it's true?

Presence in the church does not mean conversion.

Presence of the Spirit in you is proof of conversion.

That's what John's identifying.

Verse 26, I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

So we're gonna call them deceivers.

I'm not gonna say antichrist.

What's the deception?

You should be thinking, all right, what's what are they what are they deceiving?

What's the deception?

Let them tell us.

Verse 22, who's the liar?

But he who denies Jesus is the Christ.

This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.

So what's the deception?

It's that Jesus isn't the Christ.

Okay, is that super bad?

Yeah, it's super bad.

If he's not the Christ, what it means is he's not the source of life for me.

He's not king, he's not preeminent.

And so something else has to take that place.

And guess what almost always takes that place?

In fact, not almost always takes that place.

You.

You become the king of your life, you become preeminent, you become the source of life.

Or something you hold up as this will give me life, and it never, ever does.

In fact, we're gonna revisit this at the end of the sermon today.

And what's confusing is those who they they refuse to believe Jesus is their source of life, that he is the Christ.

They kind of orbit around it and believe it partially, or they adapt it.

And they say things like, you know, I've never been closer to God than I am now.

Or uh, I know God's getting me through this.

And what they're talking about is something you like, I I think, I think the Bible says this is big rebellion against him.

Yeah, but I've never been closer, so the Bible must be wrong.

There's a guy I've known for a long time, decades.

And in the last couple of years, he's kind of changed his public practice of sexuality and morality.

And he's a guy that's been around in a church for five decades.

And uh this Monday he had gender reassignment surgery, he called gender affirmation surgery.

Pretty, pretty big deal.

And he says, uh, I've never felt closer to God than I do now.

I know God's the only one getting me through this.

And inside, I'm like, what do I believe?

Do I believe this or do I believe him?

Where's my source of authority?

And what he wants, he wants to stay in his church, and he wants his church, he wants his church here to bend to him.

Wants his church to change to bend to him.

And if they eventually don't, he will call them bigotry and hatred.

The modern term for this is deconstruction, kind of deconstructing your faith.

And this isn't what deconstruction used to mean.

So deconstruction used to mean we take an idea and we kind of break it down to its separate parts, and we see if every part as it fits together is consistent.

It's called a worldview.

Is your worldview consistent with the things you claim?

Uh, it also works with machinery.

We'll take this machine, break it down, clean it all up.

Does all this stuff work together?

Is there some inefficiency in here?

Two weeks ago, we deconstructed this baptistry.

Baptistry?

Where's it at?

It's in the floor.

It's like covered up.

You're you're gonna see it next month in April.

We're gonna have some baptisms.

You're gonna see it in action.

We deconstructed.

What do you mean?

We tested it.

So we picked a day.

All right, we're gonna deconstruct this baptism testing day.

So we pulled the hatches off, figured out, okay, we need to put some more handles.

Or get a chiropractor on staff, because uh heavy hatches.

So we go, okay, we've got to fill the water.

So press the button, no water.

Press it.

Get the manual out.

Okay, let's see.

Oh, okay.

Other button.

Okay, other button.

Water's working, okay.

All right.

And then waiting for it to fill.

It fills.

Okay, and now the heater.

And we'll come back later.

Now we decided that afternoon we're gonna test it.

Me, Wade Burgess, we're gonna test it with Clyde.

Yeah, so we dunk Clyde.

Now listen, Clyde did not get baptized.

You only get baptized one time.

Every other time, you get wet.

But you only get baptized once.

So Clyde, we dunk in him, and so um we got it, and and and uh we're trying to test the heater, the heater, according to the thermometer and Clyde, the heater wasn't working.

Because the thermometer said 61, and Clyde said polar bear club.

And so it wasn't working, but we did it anyway.

Uh, and and so Wade's like, okay, I'm gonna put this thing through the paces, and he and uh he gets you kind of reach over and goes, okay, and and uh the bad baptizer, you stay dry if you do it right.

The baptizer you get wet.

So he got cloudy, and he goes, wah-bam, wah-bam.

Now, I don't know if you ever played in the bathtub as a kid and kind of made this wall of tidal wave, but that is what can happen if you go too fast.

We get the water and then the water, and then it's all over the stage.

And so we learn you gotta go slow.

And you gotta come up slow.

We're putting this thing through its paces.

Now, listen, later on, we figure out okay, here's a heater problem, heater's working.

We go back to test the heater.

105.

Yeah.

Some of you are like, I like you.

I would like to sit there every Sunday and um cold drink.

I'll pay perfect attention.

We had to dial that down.

So listen, when it happens in April, it'll be great.

You know why?

Because we deconstructed it to make sure it works together.

That's good to do with an idea.

What we didn't do is say, you know what?

This is too hard.

This is not working.

That's it.

No baptisms.

No baptism.

Hello, son of a change the sign.

We're not Baptists anymore.

Take it off the sign.

We're not doing that.

We'll just be the Grand Parkway church or the church on 1460.

We'll just be something.

We won't be Baptists.

We didn't do that.

When someone goes through deconstruction in Christianity, that's what they do.

Uh, I no longer believe Jesus is the Christ.

What they're saying is uh you sort of a person is not just what God says a person is in the scripture.

And then it shifts to, and morality isn't just what God says morality is, and sexuality isn't what God says sexuality is, ultimately becomes God is not what he says he is in the scripture.

When it drifts to Jesus is not what he says in the scripture, you have someone who's just like what John's talking about.

They're a deceiver.

Jesus is not the Christ.

What they're saying is, I once wondered if Jesus was king, but now I know he's not.

I know I'm king.

And I might dress it up as, man, he sure helps me a lot.

He's getting me through this.

But John says, No?

He's not.

You should be thinking this, Blake.

Are you saying that my fill in the blank with the person's name who's on your mind right now?

Are you saying that my who no longer follow Jesus and they sometimes give me a hard time about it and think some turns, the church needs to accommodate amend to them?

Are you saying that they're an antichrist?

Are you saying that she's a deceiver?

No?

It's far worse than that.

Jesus is saying that through John.

And this should land with some sobriety.

Any rejection of Christ is a danger.

See, we either confess him or we deny him.

There's not a spectrum.

There's no middle ground here.

There's no taking a portion.

It's he's the king, he's the ruler, he's Christ, or I'm the king.

I'm the ruler, I'm Christ.

Verse 23, no one who denies the son has the father.

This is what John says.

Whoever confesses the son has the father also.

Or they deny.

They're denying he's the Christ, they're denying he's a source of where life is found.

And so even though you went to the same kids' camp and maybe the same youth group and the same college ministry or same same, heard the same sermons, they've always been dead inside.

Hasn't been true life.

And any fruit would just be kind of faked and manufactured.

Like one author says, instead of having a uh a fruit tree that produces fruit, you just got this plant and you go out there and you tie fruit onto it.

See, I got fruit.

Fruit of the spirit.

And it's just self-manufactured.

It doesn't actually nourish or help anybody.

But for a time, if you look far away and squint and turn sideways, it might look like they're a believer.

John's saying that their view did not change.

What happened is they got exposed for what was always been there.

And it was a great mercy to the church.

But those who would deceive and lie need that needs to be exposed.

Point number two.

And you should be thinking this.

You should be thinking, okay, well, how can I spot them?

How do I know?

I'm glad you asked.

Relax.

John was going to tell us you can spot them easily because you've been anointed.

Let's read together.

Verse 20 but you've been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it's truth.

It and because no lie is of the truth.

You should be thinking, well, what's this anointing?

It's the presence of the Holy Spirit in a believer.

That's what John has in mind here.

It's like three other texts.

This is all over the New Testament.

1 Corinthians 6.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?

Whom you have from God and that you are not your own?

Or this is the Old Testament text, Ezekiel, that this has always been part of the story God is writing.

I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to obey my ordinances.

You want to pray for someone to come to faith?

This is a great core prayer.

God, put your spirit in him, put your spirit in her, cause her to walk in chat, change them, make them obey you.

Romans 8.

However, you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

If indeed the spirit of God dwells in you, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, you does not belong to him.

If you are a believer, if you come to faith in Christ, the spirit is in you.

And maybe today, part of the awakening God has for you, part of what has always been in the heart for you to dawn and realize is uh I'm I'm walking around with the spirit.

And I can trust him and be led by him.

I can trust him to identify, yeah, don't listen to him.

Now, read her real carefully.

Now, probably don't want to pay for that conference.

Let me give you an example.

Um, Joshua Harris came to fame maybe 15, some years ago.

He was pretty young and wrote a book that caught fire called I Kiss Dating Goodbye.

And um he uh went on to pastor a church and lead a sovereign grace church network.

And then at some point, this is uh maybe five or so years ago, he said, I need a break.

And that's what he said publicly, privately, there was deconstruction going on in him.

And so he took a break to study, and what he concluded is um I can't truthfully say I believe this anymore.

Uh he began to separate himself from the gospel.

Him and his wife got divorced, and then he later made some public statements.

So this is this is where I'm at.

I'm gonna read two of his quotes to you.

He said, uh to the LGBTQ community, I want to say I'm sorry for the views that I taught in my books, and as a pastor regarding sexuality, I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry.

You're always welcome here.

We want to pastor you, we want to spiritually care for your soul.

But we we will always hold up the scripture.

We'll hold it gently, but the scripture is predeminent.

God has given us pretty clearly, clear lines, this is how, this is why I have my heart for you for your life to flourish.

But you're welcome here.

This somehow orbits your life.

Harris went on to write to say, and he just made really clear how his view of God had changed.

He said, This my the popular phrase for this, for how what he taught and wrote and preached before had changed.

So this deconstruction.

The biblical phrase is falling away.

Now listen to this carefully.

By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian.

And I'll just say, I deeply respect him for this.

Because he said, I don't believe this.

And so you shouldn't read my books anymore if you're part of that.

You you you shouldn't listen to me anymore.

Do not invite me to come speaking anything.

I'm not doing that anymore.

Me and the church is not a thing anymore.

And it's not.

He leads a consulting company, but it has nothing to do with Christianity or religion at all.

Just personal branding.

I respect them for that kind of integrity.

And that isn't quite who John's talking about.

Who John is talking about are those who do not have that kind of integrity, and they're liars and deceivers and schemers, and they fraud the bride of Christ.

They flitter around and they catch some sugar-coated enlightened truth in their blog or podcast on the gram, and they want to sell you books and retreats and conferences, and they just kind of put a real pretty bow on something that's a lie about Christ to confuse you, that he's not the king.

He's not the sole determiner of what's true.

You should be thinking, okay, who are these people, Blake?

I'm ready to write them down.

Here's the thing, you don't need me to tell you.

Didn't John just say you have all you have the anointing?

You don't need me to tell you.

You can listen or look and go, something just doesn't feel right about this.

Could it be the spirit is like, hey, hey, hey, hey you, hey, hey, hey.

Something's off here.

Yeah, lie, it's a lie.

Hey you, it's a lie.

And maybe God's inviting you to is fully experienced in spirit where you just become a really easily trustable guide who's a source of truth and who's tricking me and fabricating.

So I'm not gonna tell you.

Afterwards, the pastors up front, don't come here and ask me.

Okay, is this person?

Don't ask me, I'm not gonna tell you.

Now you know who you might tell you?

Alisa Childers might tell you.

She'll be here next this next weekend.

She can address this somewhat.

This is pervasive, where uh people who are who uh are shelling out a warped fraud of Christ are frauding the church by taking their money.

So you can ask her.

Today's last day to sign up, by the way.

You can go right after the service.

And man, you may think, well, I can't go to that.

Well, yeah, you can't go to that.

That's right.

We're not gonna let you.

But here's what you can do uh you wanna let your wife go?

You watch your kids, let her go, or or your mom, or your girlfriend, or just your friend.

You you you serve them so they can go.

And then Sunday you go to lunch with them and you say, Tell me all about it.

Double blessing.

They'll feel heard and affirmed, and you'll learn something.

End of the second unplanned commercial.

Uh verse 27.

But the anointing that you receive from him abides in you.

You have no need for anyone to teach you.

What you what you need is to stop listening to me or people like me and listen to the spirit.

You have no need for anyone to teach you.

Teach you what?

Anything?

What he has in view here is the basics of Christ.

Uh he's writing them a letter.

He's teaching them stuff in this letter.

But that he's what he's not teaching them is hey, you got that beginning stuff about Jesus came, lived perfect, died, resurrected, invited you to eternal life.

You got that all messed up.

Let me correct that.

So the basic stuff, you have it.

You don't need anyone to recreate this basic stuff or adjust it.

But yeah, you you do need to learn and grow.

So not the basic things.

Not that they already know that Jesus is the Christ.

And we're just like John Readers.

We need to learn and grow.

And so maybe, again, for some of you, the step is all right, I'm gonna start attending a Bible study just for a little while and see.

Or maybe it's a D group or a community group.

For somebody else to help help you read and think about what you've been lazy to read and think about.

But his anointing teaches you everything and is true and is no lie, you can trust it.

So for a fifth grader in the room, you can trust the spirit.

If you come to faith in Christ and you've born again, the spirit really lives in you, you can trust the spirit to lead you.

And so can a 15-year-old and a 35-year-old and an 85-year-old, if you have the spirit in you, you can trust him.

Third point: abide, exclamation point.

It's a command in this text.

And it's also the kind of the clutch of how Antichrist and anointing work.

What do you mean by clutch?

Well, back when we used to have dinosaurs and they died and the crust of the earth cooled, we have these things called standard transmission.

You may never have seen one of these, but it's where you had to disengage.

I think that's how it works, the the transmission, and then you'd re-engage it and you'd change the gear.

There's probably some proud standard transmission.

I will drive one forever.

It's a best gas mileage.

I see that hand.

Thank you very much.

And um and so the clutch, it's how you change the gears.

If the clutch goes in, you can move the gear, clutch comes out, now you're in that gear.

Abiding is how you move the gears of uh recognize Antichrist, uh engage the anointing.

It's abiding in him.

Verse 24, let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.

If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and the Father.

He repeats this heard from the beginning, pretty important.

What they hear, it's the gospel.

The gospel is not just what you need for conversion, it's what you need for all of life.

Remain in you.

How does it remain?

Well, for us, certainly through the word.

For them, it's the word taught, teaching of the apostles, the word, the spirit, their practice.

And it says, you too will abide.

Now, when we begin to drift in our experience of abiding, you know what the first couple litmus tests are?

It's usually scripture reading in prayer.

When I stop seeking and listening to what God has said to me, and go days or weeks, is it any wonder that I'm spiritually anemic?

If I go days and weeks without experiencing his presence, where you have my full attention.

Is there any reason, any wonder that I'm anemic and weak?

Verse 25, he said, and this is the promise that he made for us, eternal life.

This can be translated to the life of eternity.

This is this word, Zoe life, this full experience of abundant life.

So the life of eternity, this is the present experience of abiding in the Father and the Son.

Experiencing and enjoying all that's in the Father's heart to give you.

Now.

And this somehow amplifies and increases when he returns.

Verse 27, when with this text, as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and no lie, just as is taught you abide in him.

The core thing it's saying is Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the Christ, Jesus is your source of life, not something or someone else.

Can you look to as a source of life?

And we we just our our nature, we we can drift to people and drift to things we look to for life.

The Bible calls it sinning.

For you who are believers, really it's we're impersonating a deceiver.

You're converted, you have the spirit in here, but you're looking and acting like for a time, you're impersonating one of them.

What's this look like, Blake?

Well, give me a couple examples.

Sometimes it looks like this, parents.

Parents, sometimes it looks like when you look to your kids' accomplishments as a source of life, or you look to their behavior as a source of life, well, how do I know I do that?

When you're not getting it.

When they aren't accomplishing or they are not behaving, and then how you respond to that, if you begin to think this says something about me, I'm dropping on the boasting and failure scale, I'm going towards failure because you're melting down in the grocery store.

And it may just be because they're six.

And when you have a six-year-old, that doesn't help.

But it's true.

Sometimes we look uh to work, we look for our job to give us provision and status and power in a way that's life-giving.

Really, what it says is if I have this power, the status provision, I don't really need God.

I've got everything I need.

And then when he inverts that and we don't have it, then we can begin to see, oh, I might have been looking to this as a source of life.

Because I don't know who I am, I'm I'm wandering, lost and reckless because this no longer is there.

In his book, Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges points out more of these things.

Uh we give you a couple more.

One is frustration.

Frustration is it's a sin that we kind of wink at, that we kind of let go in ourselves and others.

Do you know a Christian who's like this?

She's perpetually frustrated.

If I had to give him an adjective, he'd be frustrated.

This is living as if God is not involved in my life or circumstance.

And I see this when my plans are blocked.

And so when my plans are blocked, if frustration isn't just happened, but it's persistent.

I mean, it's kind of, I don't know about you, but my track record of plans blocked or accomplished, the accomplished is really losing badly.

The blocked is winning.

If it's if I live as if God's not involved in this, I'm impersonating a deceiver.

Discontentment.

This is living with an unchanging circumstance that I can't change, I can't control it.

And it's the kind of feeling of our dreams are shattered.

And this doesn't just, I experience this, I feel what I'm feeling, and I turn to God, but I experience this, I feel what I'm feeling, and I turn bitter against God.

This is a sin.

This is no one of us has a permission to be discontent.

The gospel does not permit us to be perpetually discontent.

It invites us to see there's more here than you ever realized.

One more, hopelessness.

Hopelessness is a sin.

Now let's get first in line.

I'm a quick hopelessnesser, which means I give up too quickly, prematurely, on the promises of God.

God, here's his promise, I'm claiming it, and it's been two days, so that's all I got as far as my trust of you.

When we give up too early, we're we're impersonating.

Someone who doesn't believe Jesus the Christ, we're impersonating a liar deceiver.

Let me close with this.

Uh, in in high school, I had to take a class called Driver's Ed.

I don't think they do it anymore.

I think you go to driving school.

But in driver's ed, we had an old school simulator, which really meant you had like a wheel and you kind of did this, and you did this.

Oh, look over your shoulder, and the teacher, you look over your shoulder and you did, put your blinker on, turn your blinker off, and then you scored you somehow.

But we also had to watch this film called The Decade of Highway Death.

Anybody seen this one?

Oh, yeah.

Saw it in black and white.

And the goal of this film is to warning.

This can be really dangerous, what you're gonna do.

And now that I am almost 50, 16-year-old me should not have had a car or the freedom.

I was not competent to be a responsible enjoyer.

But I didn't end up on the movie.

But decided highway death is like this bad things can happen.

What it is, the goal of this is not no one drive.

The goal is fully enjoy driving.

Beware of the danger and warning.

This is what John's saying to the church.

Fully enjoy the life God has opened to you.

Beware the liars and deceivers.

Don't get tripped up by them.

You can recognize them.

If you're new to our congregation or it's a bit longer, what we'd like to do is teach the Bible, and then we pause and give God space to help us think about it.

So Clyde's gonna come play, and I'm gonna pause.

There'll be questions on the screen to help guide that.

You can read them.

You want to think about it later, take a picture, you can pray through them, or maybe God's already landed on your heart and pray.

I'm gonna pray quick and then I'm gonna pause and we're gonna ask God to uh give us time to think.

Holy Spirit, you who live in the inside believers, we just ask right now that like a hen sits on eggs, you would brood on us and hatch in us thoughts and feelings and actions.

We trustworthy.

We trust ourselves to you right now, Father.

If we at all want what you want, it's you making us.

And we see that and say, thank you.

It's a sign of conversion, a sign of you're active in me.

Would you open our eyes, our heart's desire, and be looking for what you have in your heart for us to experience?

What is the glory of abiding that we never knew it could be this way?

And the scripture begins to really make sense, and life becomes really engaging, not just waiting, not just surviving, but thriving.

Holy Spirit, we trust ourselves to you to work in us now.

These next days.

Amen.

Thank you for being here.

If if you're new to our congregation, we we want to know you, we want to pastor you, we want to shepherd your soul, we we was the Bible says care for you.

And um, so what you can do is you can text the word welcome to a number, and that just opens a door and says, hey, just kind of raise your hand.

Here I am.

I want to be known, I'm ready.

One of us will contact you and we'll begin to get engaged.

Uh, secondly, there's um several things in the life of our church that we want to let you know about, and and we're gonna play a video, but I also want to say, look, these these uh these bands are gonna stay up here.

Uh come come afterwards.

Let's not let any of them stay.

Let's let's pick them all up and be praying.

So turn your attention to the screen.

Thank you for joining us today.

Here's some things we want you to know.

If you're new, text Welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know that you're here and get you connected with the life of our church.

If you have any questions about what you heard today or would like someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

The deadline to register for Women's Weekend is today, so head to the lobby or grandparkway.org to get your spot today.

Also be sure to grab a bracelet at the front of the stage to pray for the weekend.

New Bible studies begin April 3rd.

To find out more, head to grandparkway.org.

Student camp registration is now open online.

We conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

So please stand.

So I'm gonna speak a blessing over you, and then I have a quick announcement because if I say announcement first, you're not gonna get the blessing.

So, blessing first, then announce, all right?

So hold your hands out if you're comfortable.

You're gonna receive something from God.

God put the Holy Spirit in you to guide you into the life of eternity.

There are many who want to divert or even destroy that journey.

But you can trust the Spirit to not lead you to follow them or impersonate them.

He is leading you to abide in him by enjoying Christ.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Here's the announcement.

If you maybe left your cell phone in the women's restroom, we have found it.

It's in the welcome room across the hall.

So everyone do a phone check.

If you're missing it, it's over there.

Thank you.