Do Pharisees Exist in the Modern Church? Part 4

Speaker: More than just a song that we sing.

Speaker: He is our all in all.

Speaker: I've got the scripture.

Speaker: Prepared for you.

Speaker: But before we go there, a little reading.

Speaker: The white shirt.

Speaker: Ethan loved wearing white shirts.

Speaker: Every Sunday he picked the brightest one from his closet.

Speaker: Crisp collar, smooth sleeves.

Speaker: Not a wrinkle in sight.

Speaker: When he walked into church, people smiled and said, you

Speaker: always look so sharp.

Speaker: And Ethan liked that.

Speaker: One afternoon, while helping his grandpa in the garden, he

Speaker: slipped in the mud.

Speaker: Dark stains splashed across his favorite white shirt.

Speaker: Frustrated, he rushed inside and scrubbed at the spots.

Speaker: Some faded, some didn't, he complained.

Speaker: Now it does not look clean anymore.

Speaker: His grandpa sat down beside him and said gently, a shirt can

Speaker: look clean and still be dirty, and it can look dirty and still

Speaker: be worth washing.

Speaker: Ethan frowned.

Speaker: What do you mean, grandpa?

Speaker: Grandpa pointed to a cup on the table.

Speaker: It shined outside, but inside were dried coffee stains.

Speaker: If I wash only the outside, would you drink from it?

Speaker: No, Ethan said quickly.

Speaker: Why not?

Speaker: Because it's dirty inside.

Speaker: Grandpa smiled.

Speaker: Exactly.

Speaker: Being clean isn't about what people see first.

Speaker: It's about what's inside.

Speaker: Ethan looked at his, strained, his stained shirt again.

Speaker: The outside mattered, but it wasn't everything.

Speaker: Dirt could be washed away.

Speaker: What mattered more was staying honest, kind and truthful, even

Speaker: when no one was watching.

Speaker: That day, Ethan learned something important.

Speaker: Soap cleans clothes.

Speaker: Water cleans skin.

Speaker: But truth, humility and love.

Speaker: Keep a heart clean.

Speaker: And that kind of cleanliness

Speaker: lasts much longer than a white

Speaker: shirt.

Speaker: You know, I was preparing this message.

Speaker: A lot of truth in that.

Speaker: A lot of truth in how we what we see, we automatically judge.

Speaker: True.

Speaker: Now, for example, that's why I wore the bibs today.

Speaker: And I gotta tell you, they're comfortable.

Speaker: I think we are going to have a

Speaker: big day after talking to some of

Speaker: you, but maybe a new visitor

Speaker: comes in.

Speaker: They see me in my bibs.

Speaker: Well, what kind of guy is that?

Speaker: Now, these are my best bibs.

Speaker: I will say that I could have

Speaker: wore some that were pretty

Speaker: nasty, but I didn't want to go

Speaker: that far.

Speaker: But let me ask you something, my friends.

Speaker: Picture yourself along a a deserted road one night, car

Speaker: breaks down flat tire, whatever, and you're stranded.

Speaker: Well, all of a sudden you see headlights coming up the road.

Speaker: This old pickup truck or old car pulls up side.

Speaker: You see an old boy looking like me.

Speaker: Work clothes.

Speaker: Got a little George Jones playing in the background.

Speaker: Maybe a little Hank Williams Jr. Maybe a little Elvis.

Speaker: He appears rough by his appearance.

Speaker: And you decide he's eating a ham sandwich to boot.

Speaker: Just got off the midnight shift,

Speaker: but he doesn't look appealing to

Speaker: you.

Speaker: He offers you a ride, offers to help, but you pass him on.

Speaker: Ten fifteen minutes later, a

Speaker: nice little Maserati comes

Speaker: driving up.

Speaker: Man in a three piece suit.

Speaker: Little gold, little bling bling going on.

Speaker: Offers to help.

Speaker: Now, let's be honest.

Speaker: Who are you going to be?

Speaker: Feel more comfortable jumping in the car with?

Speaker: Little do you know, that man's a serial killer.

Speaker: Now, as he's preparing to chop

Speaker: and slice and dice you, you're

Speaker: probably going to wish you got

Speaker: with the good old boy, because

Speaker: he probably would have shared

Speaker: his ham sandwich with you on the

Speaker: way home.

Speaker: How easy it is for you and I to

Speaker: look with these and

Speaker: automatically assume.

Speaker: But we do not see what is inside.

Speaker: Just like the white shirt.

Speaker: Just how we are discussing today.

Speaker: The woes of the Pharisees and

Speaker: Jesus tears into him pretty good

Speaker: about appearance.

Speaker: Let me ask you something.

Speaker: I could come in here today in my bibs, clean as a whistle on the

Speaker: inside, but I could also come in in a three piece suit and dirty

Speaker: and as nasty as a porta John at on the last day of a life.

Speaker: Think about that.

Speaker: True.

Speaker: Is that not the case with all of us?

Speaker: We can put on a dog and pony show.

Speaker: We can look it.

Speaker: But what's inside?

Speaker: Is it clean?

Speaker: So let me ask you.

Speaker: Church.

Speaker: Rockford church.

Speaker: How clean are you and I?

Speaker: How clean are we on the inside?

Speaker: How clean are you and I on the outside.

Speaker: Have you ever noticed someone

Speaker: sit down next to you, wrinkle up

Speaker: their nose, look around, check

Speaker: themselves, and then get up and

Speaker: move?

Speaker: What would indicate?

Speaker: What would that indicate to you?

Speaker: You might just smell a little, maybe due to the fact that you

Speaker: are not clean.

Speaker: Now, if you would take out your Bibles and we're in Matthew

Speaker: twenty three to twenty eight, as you and I continue on this

Speaker: journey on self-righteousness and hypocrisy of the Pharisees.

Speaker: Now in these words, Jesus speaks again some of his strongest

Speaker: words recorded in Scripture.

Speaker: Again, just like last week, you and I are instructed that these

Speaker: words are not careless insults against the Pharisees.

Speaker: These words are loving warnings.

Speaker: Warnings.

Speaker: Jesus is exposing a spiritual

Speaker: disease that is still very much

Speaker: alive today.

Speaker: And yes, it is hypocrisy as we

Speaker: have discussed these last few

Speaker: Sundays.

Speaker: Hypocrisy.

Speaker: And I ask you today, start thinking about what hypocrisy

Speaker: can, how it can destroy people in their walk, especially the

Speaker: ones who are seeking this Jesus thing, this Jesus guy.

Speaker: Jesus says, if you go to twenty three, woe to you scribes and

Speaker: Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint, Ananias and

Speaker: Cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law.

Speaker: justice, mercy, and faith.

Speaker: The Pharisees, you see, my friends, were meticulous about

Speaker: tithing, even tiny garden herbs.

Speaker: The Pharisees were precise.

Speaker: The Pharisees were careful and they were disciplined.

Speaker: But while the Pharisees were

Speaker: counting their leaves, they were

Speaker: ignoring the mission of

Speaker: something so very, very

Speaker: important.

Speaker: The Pharisees were neglecting lives.

Speaker: Is that something that we as

Speaker: Christians and as a church do

Speaker: even today?

Speaker: Neglecting the calling of telling people about salvation

Speaker: through Jesus Christ?

Speaker: So put your thinking caps on this morning and start thinking,

Speaker: do I neglect telling people what Jesus did in my life, what Jesus

Speaker: has done for me and what he can do for you.

Speaker: Because guess what, my friends?

Speaker: It's not a joke anymore.

Speaker: As I said last week, look around

Speaker: and see what is going on in the

Speaker: world.

Speaker: Prophecy is coming true.

Speaker: Let me go ahead and flip this now, my friends.

Speaker: These religious leaders were so focused on small external

Speaker: religious duties they were ignoring the significant issues.

Speaker: The Pharisees were ignoring justice, meaning treating people

Speaker: fairly and rightly, something we should not be ignoring today.

Speaker: True, the Pharisees were

Speaker: ignoring mercy, having

Speaker: compassion towards those in

Speaker: need, something we still do

Speaker: today.

Speaker: The Pharisees were ignoring Faithfulness.

Speaker: And I'm talking about loyalty to God and integrity in life.

Speaker: Jesus says in verse twenty four.

Speaker: Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.

Speaker: Now think about that.

Speaker: They strain out a gnat.

Speaker: Think of your strainer in your kitchen that you use the

Speaker: spaghetti for, or anything you can strain enact.

Speaker: But yet you can in the hindsight, you swallow a camel.

Speaker: So in layman terms.

Speaker: These religious leaders obsess over tiny details while ignoring

Speaker: massive spiritual failures.

Speaker: Rockford Church as their yet

Speaker: another warning from these words

Speaker: of Jesus you and I can take from

Speaker: is it possible in this day and

Speaker: age to be deeply religious and

Speaker: spiritually empty at the same

Speaker: time?

Speaker: I would venture to say we've all

Speaker: went through those valleys at

Speaker: times.

Speaker: Spiritual emptiness.

Speaker: As a Christian, as a pastor, even a church.

Speaker: Oh, I, we are so deeply religious, but hitting the empty

Speaker: mark on the spiritual gas tank.

Speaker: And yes, it can happen.

Speaker: So do you.

Speaker: And I not need to be aware of this danger.

Speaker: Again, why?

Speaker: I bring it to you to make you aware of the dangers.

Speaker: Jesus is giving us warnings back then and right at this moment.

Speaker: How often can we attend church

Speaker: on a regular basis, speak and

Speaker: even sing the right words to the

Speaker: hymn?

Speaker: And as I mentioned last week, we know and speak of the doctrine,

Speaker: which is all good.

Speaker: But also look at your inner self.

Speaker: Oh, brother Jim, I get a gold

Speaker: star for following all the

Speaker: outward rules.

Speaker: Well, good for you.

Speaker: But in life do we find ourselves at times neglecting to love our

Speaker: neighbor, love our Jesus, fail to show and give compassion just

Speaker: like these religious leaders.

Speaker: And let UI not forget the word

Speaker: that was very important from

Speaker: last week.

Speaker: Living life with integrity.

Speaker: As we said last Sunday, God is

Speaker: not impressed with religious

Speaker: precision that lacks what

Speaker: transformed character.

Speaker: Did the bibs really matter?

Speaker: Does a three piece suit really matter?

Speaker: Does a Louis Vuitton bag?

Speaker: I hope I got that right.

Speaker: Does it really matter?

Speaker: God's interested in this.

Speaker: And as a society today especially, do we not get caught

Speaker: up in that?

Speaker: In verse twenty five to twenty

Speaker: six, woe to you, scribes and

Speaker: Pharisees, hypocrites, for you

Speaker: cleanse the outside of the cup

Speaker: and dish, but inside they are

Speaker: full of extortion and

Speaker: self-indulgence.

Speaker: Blind Pharisees first cleanse

Speaker: the inside of the cup and dish

Speaker: that the outside of them may be

Speaker: clean also.

Speaker: And remember grandpa's coffee cup and what it looked like.

Speaker: Yeah I do.

Speaker: I would definitely pick a red solo cup over his coffee cup,

Speaker: but that was his.

Speaker: I suppose it gave character.

Speaker: Jesus says they cleaned the outside of the cup and dish, but

Speaker: inside they are full.

Speaker: Full of greed and self-indulgence.

Speaker: And if you would for a moment imagine yourself serving a drink

Speaker: and a sparkling.

Speaker: Just like this cup here.

Speaker: A sparkling, beautiful fancy cup that say, royalty would use.

Speaker: But here's the problem.

Speaker: That Royal Cup is filthy inside.

Speaker: Would you want to drink from that filthy cup?

Speaker: That dirty cup?

Speaker: I know I wouldn't.

Speaker: Brothers and sisters, the

Speaker: outside appearance cannot

Speaker: compensate.

Speaker: There's a big word for you.

Speaker: Compensate for inner corruption.

Speaker: Let's just break it all down to sin.

Speaker: Is there inner corruption?

Speaker: Sin in your very own cup this morning.

Speaker: Now, I can't speak for you.

Speaker: I can only speak for myself and my cup.

Speaker: So in asking that, how can you and I offer share someone a cup

Speaker: of righteousness and obedience when it has all your spiritual

Speaker: worldly funk in it.

Speaker: You ever see one?

Speaker: It's actually got stuff growing out of it.

Speaker: Think of that as the funk in your own life.

Speaker: These Pharisees, oh baby, they

Speaker: worked hard on any image

Speaker: management.

Speaker: Think about that.

Speaker: Image management.

Speaker: The Pharisees desire to appear holy.

Speaker: They desire to appear righteous,

Speaker: and they desire to appear

Speaker: spiritual.

Speaker: But inwardly they were driven by greed, pride, and self interest.

Speaker: Jesus makes it clear start with the inside.

Speaker: First, clean the inside of the cup and dish and then the

Speaker: outside also will be clean.

Speaker: Christianity.

Speaker: Is not behavior modification.

Speaker: Christianity is heart transformation.

Speaker: Now you and I can polish behavior.

Speaker: Think about this.

Speaker: You and I can polish our

Speaker: behavior without changing the

Speaker: heart.

Speaker: But when God.

Speaker: And here's the thing.

Speaker: I think society today is missing.

Speaker: So. Much?

Speaker: That.

Speaker: When God changes the heart, behavior follows.

Speaker: How many times have you run into somebody that says, I believe in

Speaker: God, I've been saved, but there's no transformation.

Speaker: The Information, the behavior does not change.

Speaker: And again, for all of you who

Speaker: are believers in Jesus Christ,

Speaker: who have repented, who are born

Speaker: again, is there not change in

Speaker: your life?

Speaker: Isn't there a change that start of transformation?

Speaker: But in today's world, and I'm sorry, I'm just going to say it

Speaker: like it is.

Speaker: You get the pop rock stars, the

Speaker: actors and everybody else in

Speaker: between saying, I am a

Speaker: Christian, but where's your

Speaker: transformation?

Speaker: You can't help but change if you got Jesus in your life.

Speaker: Prove me wrong.

Speaker: You and I can find tragedy in hidden corruption.

Speaker: If you go to verse twenty seven

Speaker: and twenty eight, woe to you,

Speaker: scribes and Pharisees,

Speaker: Hypocrites!

Speaker: For you are like whitewashed

Speaker: tombs, which indeed appear

Speaker: beautiful outwardly, but inside

Speaker: are full of dead men's bones and

Speaker: all uncleanness.

Speaker: Even so, you also outwardly

Speaker: appear righteous to men, but

Speaker: inside you are full of hypocrisy

Speaker: and lawlessness.

Speaker: Jesus compares them to whitewashed tombs, beautiful on

Speaker: the outside, but full of dead bones on the inside.

Speaker: Now, in Jewish culture, tombs

Speaker: were whitewashed so people would

Speaker: not accidentally touch the

Speaker: inside because that would make

Speaker: them unceremoniously,

Speaker: ceremonially unclean.

Speaker: So you couldn't touch.

Speaker: So thus they whitewashed it, representing purity.

Speaker: These tombs looked clean and bright.

Speaker: But let's be honest on the inside.

Speaker: What do you find?

Speaker: Decay.

Speaker: Decay.

Speaker: Does that sound familiar to

Speaker: anyone sitting here this

Speaker: morning?

Speaker: Maybe that is you.

Speaker: Maybe that was you.

Speaker: Or maybe that is you.

Speaker: Currently, right now, in your walk with Jesus.

Speaker: And if you allow it this morning, this can create an

Speaker: image that is powerful.

Speaker: Now, think about that.

Speaker: This young lady here got a beautiful smile, doesn't she?

Speaker: We can all smile.

Speaker: Right?

Speaker: Everybody smile.

Speaker: But what happens when we open our mouth?

Speaker: Do you see that decay?

Speaker: What happens with decay in our own lives?

Speaker: Makes you sick, don't it?

Speaker: Makes you stink.

Speaker: Decay.

Speaker: How many people who attend

Speaker: church who call themselves

Speaker: Christians?

Speaker: And I'm not judging.

Speaker: I'm just being honest.

Speaker: They've got decay in here because maybe they never had to.

Speaker: Transformation.

Speaker: Or maybe they quit allowing Jesus the Holy Spirit to keep

Speaker: that transformation going.

Speaker: Brother Jim.

Speaker: Oh, big guy, you have such an attractive exterior.

Speaker: But, Brother Jim, you stink.

Speaker: You stink.

Speaker: Why?

Speaker: Because you have a rotten interior.

Speaker: This, my brothers and sisters,

Speaker: is what we call spiritual

Speaker: hypocrisy.

Speaker: You and I, mankind, Christians alike, can protect.

Speaker: Excuse me.

Speaker: Project righteousness while harboring sin right here.

Speaker: Dead center mass.

Speaker: Now, for all our hunters out here.

Speaker: Our target shooters.

Speaker: If you're going to take down a big buck, are you going to hit

Speaker: him in the backside?

Speaker: No. Where are you aiming?

Speaker: Clean.

Speaker: Kill right through the shot.

Speaker: Where do you think Satan wants to hit?

Speaker: Yeah, he can put a little decay

Speaker: back here, but think about if he

Speaker: does it here or right here, that

Speaker: decay is going to spread, is it

Speaker: not?

Speaker: That hate is going to spread,

Speaker: that jealousy is going to

Speaker: spread.

Speaker: The hypocrisy is going to spread faster.

Speaker: And do you think Satan wants to

Speaker: mess around or does he want a

Speaker: quick kill?

Speaker: Because again, his time, my friends, is running out to.

Speaker: Our time is running out.

Speaker: And again, I can't stress this enough.

Speaker: The days of playing the church are over.

Speaker: Either you are the church, which

Speaker: I'm talking about being a member

Speaker: of the Kingdom of God, being a

Speaker: Repented sinner who has Jesus

Speaker: Christ in their life or you're

Speaker: not.

Speaker: And when that trumpet sounds, you're going to find out real

Speaker: quick, aren't you?

Speaker: I'm going to find out real quick.

Speaker: Time for ticky tack.

Speaker: Playing around is over, and I can't stress that enough with

Speaker: each one of you.

Speaker: Are you stinking inside?

Speaker: Are you smelling like a brand new thing of lilies?

Speaker: What are you projecting?

Speaker: And if we're honest and truthful, you and I can discover

Speaker: a sobering truth.

Speaker: Truth?

Speaker: This morning.

Speaker: I believe we can all have the

Speaker: ability to fool people with

Speaker: appearance.

Speaker: Now, I'm not talking about putting on your happy face

Speaker: because you're not feeling good.

Speaker: We all do that at times, right?

Speaker: There are times we are down, I

Speaker: get that, but what I'm talking

Speaker: about is that spiritual decay

Speaker: that keeps taking you down and

Speaker: down.

Speaker: Just like them rotten teeth to where you're gumming everything.

Speaker: Eventually.

Speaker: Flip the script, though you cannot.

Speaker: You and I cannot fool God.

Speaker: Even when we try so very hard at times in our life.

Speaker: Proverbs twenty one two A person

Speaker: may think their own ways are

Speaker: right, but the Lord weighs the

Speaker: heart.

Speaker: Brother Jim can fool you.

Speaker: I can't fool God, can I?

Speaker: My good brother Larry, he can fool you, but he can't fool God.

Speaker: To each one of you, I say, you can fool all of us.

Speaker: But you can't fool God.

Speaker: And God knows your heart.

Speaker: And here is a Sunday news flash for you all.

Speaker: God sees our motives, our intentions, and even our secret

Speaker: little dirty thoughts.

Speaker: And the big ones are hidden sin.

Speaker: Let me ask you this morning I

Speaker: thought this would be kind of

Speaker: funny.

Speaker: What if this very moment I would

Speaker: have up this monitor I could put

Speaker: on your heads and it would

Speaker: reveal.

Speaker: Your mind and your heart what

Speaker: you're thinking at the very

Speaker: moment.

Speaker: Our most private, intimate

Speaker: thoughts and have them displayed

Speaker: right up there on that screen

Speaker: this morning for all the church

Speaker: to see.

Speaker: How many of you, including myself, would run out that door

Speaker: before the wires even got hooked up on the box?

Speaker: Would some of us just be a little ashamed and embarrassed?

Speaker: I could really see what you

Speaker: thought of the message or me up

Speaker: there.

Speaker: Uh huh.

Speaker: Likewise, you could see what my

Speaker: thoughts were of you in this

Speaker: congregation.

Speaker: Keeping it honest.

Speaker: Keeping it even.

Speaker: How many people would rush out the door?

Speaker: Because then we could really see.

Speaker: Well, here's the thing.

Speaker: God already sees that God

Speaker: already knows that Katy bar the

Speaker: door.

Speaker: It could get very nasty and

Speaker: hurtful this very quick, could

Speaker: it not?

Speaker: Now.

Speaker: We don't know what's going on in

Speaker: our minds other than ourselves

Speaker: and God, but again, we can't

Speaker: fool him.

Speaker: He is our creator, made in his image.

Speaker: We can't fool him and neither could the Pharisees.

Speaker: The Pharisees had built a reputation among their society.

Speaker: Remember this church reputation.

Speaker: Reputation is not righteousness.

Speaker: So why does that matter for you and I today?

Speaker: Again, let me reiterate this message is not just about

Speaker: ancient religious leaders.

Speaker: It is about you and I, along with this church present day.

Speaker: Can we agree this morning that we live in an age of where image

Speaker: is everything, especially on social media, the way we manage

Speaker: our image for all to see, just like the Pharisees trying to

Speaker: control their image.

Speaker: Remember this Jesus is not attacking religious practice.

Speaker: No, Jesus says you should have practiced the latter without

Speaker: neglecting the former.

Speaker: Tithing mattered, but not

Speaker: without justice, mercy, and

Speaker: faithfulness.

Speaker: The problem is not obedience.

Speaker: And here, this church, if you don't take anything else, here's

Speaker: one of them.

Speaker: The problem is not obedience.

Speaker: The problem is hollow obedience.

Speaker: Think about a big old tree.

Speaker: It sure does look good.

Speaker: You're building your tree stand on, and then all of a sudden you

Speaker: find out it's hollow inside.

Speaker: Not the sharpest, not the brightest move to make, is it?

Speaker: Because there's no structure,

Speaker: there's no base, there's no

Speaker: foundation.

Speaker: It has rot, and away it is full of decay.

Speaker: And I pray that this message makes us, each of us, examine

Speaker: our hearts, minds and thoughts.

Speaker: Maybe, just maybe, maybe someone might actually look in the

Speaker: mirror again and take a hard look at your appearance of what

Speaker: you're portraying versus what is actually inside you.

Speaker: But there's that big but.

Speaker: Bob Armstrong.

Speaker: Allow me to remind each of you and anyone listening in.

Speaker: There is hope.

Speaker: There is hope, my friends.

Speaker: Jesus did not condemn, did not

Speaker: come to merely condemn

Speaker: hypocrisy.

Speaker: Best of all, Jesus came to cleanse hearts.

Speaker: Yours and mine.

Speaker: Church.

Speaker: How many times do we find ourselves trying harder, trying

Speaker: harder to do better, to look better, to do more?

Speaker: And unfortunately, that's not the answer.

Speaker: Because what happens?

Speaker: You get burnt out, you get tired, you give up.

Speaker: The answer to this, it starts with repentance.

Speaker: Repentance.

Speaker: Our repentance.

Speaker: When a person invites Christ to search them, cleanse them and

Speaker: transform them, he works from the inside out.

Speaker: Let me ask you something.

Speaker: Why do you take communion?

Speaker: Why do you really take communion?

Speaker: Back row to the front row.

Speaker: Why do you take communion?

Speaker: Is that not a chance to come to the table?

Speaker: To cleanse yourself, to partake

Speaker: of Christ's body, his sacrifice,

Speaker: his blood?

Speaker: A chance to start over.

Speaker: That is an act of cleansing yourself, not to come up and get

Speaker: a little shot of grape juice and eat a wafer.

Speaker: No, not because of all everybody else does it.

Speaker: It's an opportunity to repent.

Speaker: That is the answer, my friends.

Speaker: And again, he works from the inside out.

Speaker: King David prayed.

Speaker: Create in me a clean heart, O God.

Speaker: And that is my prayer.

Speaker: This passage calls us to pray.

Speaker: Matthew twenty three twenty

Speaker: eight confronts you and I as

Speaker: individuals, but also as a

Speaker: church.

Speaker: As we finish up with three questions.

Speaker: Number one, am I focusing on minor religious details while

Speaker: neglecting major moral responsibilities in my own life?

Speaker: Number two, am I more concerned with how I appear in the world

Speaker: to the world, than who I truly am in Jesus Christ?

Speaker: Let that one sink in.

Speaker: Sink in for a moment.

Speaker: Who are you serving?

Speaker: And number three.

Speaker: Have I allowed Jesus to cleanse my heart, not just my behavior.

Speaker: God is not looking for polished exteriors and pretty stain free

Speaker: white t shirts.

Speaker: Did you hear that?

Speaker: He's not looking for that.

Speaker: God desires to transform your heart.

Speaker: Your mind.

Speaker: For all of us.

Speaker: For all of us.

Speaker: Brothers and sisters, may you and I not be whitewashed tombs.

Speaker: May you and I be living temples clean within from without.

Speaker: Because, Christ, if you are a true believer, if you have

Speaker: Christ living in your heart, he has made you anew.

Speaker: He has made you very brand new.

Speaker: And if you've not asked Jesus

Speaker: Christ to do that in your life,

Speaker: I'm just going to be very blunt

Speaker: this morning.

Speaker: What's your problem?

Speaker: What is your problem?

Speaker: Are you afraid?

Speaker: Afraid of what?

Speaker: A lifestyle change, losing

Speaker: friends, giving up the sin in

Speaker: your life that you so much

Speaker: enjoy.

Speaker: And I challenge you with that.

Speaker: Give me one valid reason why you cannot give it up to Jesus.

Speaker: And let him transform you into

Speaker: what God intended you to be in

Speaker: this world.

Speaker: When I met Kasey today, what?

Speaker: I thought she would have a beautiful voice.

Speaker: Look how God is transforming her.

Speaker: Her gift, her fruit.

Speaker: How so many of you are growing,

Speaker: stepping out who God wants you

Speaker: to be.

Speaker: This life passes quickly.

Speaker: Eternity does not.

Speaker: Choose wisely.

Speaker: And I can't beg you enough.

Speaker: Choose wisely.

Speaker: Choose.

Speaker: Please.

Speaker: Please choose Jesus Christ, not this world.

Speaker: Because at the end of the day, my friends, this will run out

Speaker: for all of us.

Speaker: And at the end of the day, there

Speaker: will come a time when we stand

Speaker: before the judge and we can't

Speaker: hide.

Speaker: I don't care if you think you can wear your three piece suit

Speaker: with all your jewelry.

Speaker: It's not going to matter.

Speaker: So why take the chance?

Speaker: Amen.