Clean House - Week 3

Amen.

If you got a Bible, go to James chapter one.

James chapter one. We're continuing in our series clean House.

I mentioned I have been reading a lot of of

of some of that old church literature and those those

founding fathers that stood and and they saw the early

Church and all of the pressure and the persecution that

went on. And I begin to h to read some

of that over the last week and be inspired by it.

And this quote also for from from Tertullian. Men remain

in ignorant ignorance as long as they hate. Let me

read that again because I think somebody needs to hear this.

Men remain in ignorance as long as they hate, and

they hate unjustly. As long as they remain in ignorance.

I want you to understand that the proper response to

what is happening is not hatred. The proper response is

not hatred. We have an opportunity to respond the correct

way to see the Kingdom of God grow. We have

an opportunity right now, as the world looks at us,

to respond appropriately and lead the way we stand on

the precipice of either the greatest failure or the greatest

move of the local church in the United States. There

is more stirring, There is more sentiment. There is more anxiety,

more fear, more faith, more prayer than at any point

that I have ever seen in my ministry. Right now,

as we stand here and when we look at what

is happening, we must be cognizant. We must have a

full understanding of what's happening, or the enemy will use

us and point us in the wrong direction, not out

of not out of our own sin, not out of

our own rebellion, but out of.

Our own ignorance. Come on, somebody.

In James chapter one, verse two, it starts like this,

my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into

various trials.

Let me just stop right there.

I'm gonna read some more, but let me stop right there.

There's something clear that he's saying here.

He said, listen, when.

You fall into trials, it's not the natural thing for

it to feel joyful. He said, it's not natural. That's

not the natural response. When you feel pressure, the natural

response is not well, thank you Jesus, that's not the

natural response.

But we should go out of our way.

We should make the effort, we have to put forth

the the action and the effort to count it all joy,

because when we can come to that place, then the

rest of this scripture happens and we move towards spiritual maturity.

He says, knowing that the testing of your.

Faith produces patience, Now I'm going to how many of

you believe I'm gonna show a hands with transparency is

our foundational core value?

Here?

How many of you believe that you have a solid foundation,

you have more than enough patience?

Raise your hand about three people. Okay, the rest of

y'all are in my camp. I do not have I

am not, nor have I ever been a patient person.

I just don't like waiting. I don't like sitting back.

I like to move. And a lot of times in

the history of my life I have moved and then

I've had to turn around and say, God, can you

fix what I just did?

Amen?

Because I didn't have the patience to see what God

was doing. But he said, the testing of your faith

produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that

you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Patience produces

wholeness where we lack nothing, nothing missing, nothing broken. Patience

when it has its perfect work, when it is fulfilled,

we step into a place of complete and utter peace.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you know it's funny

that he says, these are the steps.

These are the steps.

Have faith when your faith is tested, when a trial.

Comes, count it all joy.

Your faith is being tested, so it produces patience. When

patience gets to the end, And listen. He understands that

we don't know this. He understands this is not the

natural expression of the human state. Is to just allow

things to simmer, allow things to have its work on

the inside of us.

Allow the first thing we do.

I would almost guarantee that ninety percent of the people

in here when something happens are your initial response is panic.

And it doesn't matter what it is, doesn't matter what

it is.

Flat tire, Oh no, what world is over? Just change it.

Right, Pull up your bank account. You got twelve dollars,

Stop spending money. These things don't require panic. My brakes

go out, I'm headed off a cliff.

Panic anything short of that.

Just understand God is working and moving, and he's got

you because he says he has you.

And listen. If he chooses not to fix things the

way you.

Think they should be fixed, it's because.

It brings more glory to Him and the Kingdom for

it to end up that way, And.

My personal happiness and my personal comfort does not matter

in the grand scheme of who God is and what

the Kingdom is. His plan is paramount. His plan is first.

His plan is more important than Steve. If any of

you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives.

To all liberally and without reply.

If God gives wisdom freely, I'm about to say something.

You're gonna get offended this, okay.

If God gives wisdom freely, why are there so many

dumb people? Y'all are laughing, But I'm kind of serious.

It's because we're not asking. We're not asking because we

live in the ignorance of a flesh experience, because we

want to live right here.

We don't want to live down here.

We want to live making a knee jerk reaction to

everything that happens. And the enemy will push your buttons

and get you to make a mistake that will draw

you away from.

God instead of towards God.

And it will be given liberally without reproach, and it will.

Be given to him.

But let him ask in faith, just like everything in

the kingdom.

It's a cycle.

It starts with faith, it ends with faith. To start

it with faith, let him ask in faith with no doubting.

For he who doubts as like a wave of the sea,

driven and tossed by the wind. For not let that

man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.

He's a double minded man, unstable in all his ways. Father,

We thank you for your word. It's the only change

agent on the face of this planet. And I pray

that today you bury it deep at the fabric of

our soul. Lord, that we take this anger, this righteous indignation,

that we take all of these things that we're feeling

and sorting through, and that you help it be a

positive kingdom expression, that it would build your kingdom, not

our social media, not our reputation, not fulfill the lust

of our flesh, but it would build your kingdom.

Inspire us today, Jesus, in your name, we pray Amen.

So the reality is, he says, listen, when trials come,

there is a purpose for a trial. A trial is

to build faith and patience and perfection. And if we

can't get those things right, ask for wisdom. But the

problem is is when we go through experiences like this.

How many of you when you go through social media

right now, you get angry. You see things on social

media that make you angry. I spend a half an

hour a day going through comments on social media, erasing

idiotic things, half an hour a day, and it makes

me mad.

And what I want to do is reply back.

What I want to do is hit that little camera

button and make a video response.

To the comment. That's what I want to do. But

I just deleted. I just deleted because I.

Have understood and found out the difference between trial and temptation,

and many times they manifest themselves in the same way.

But if we as believers can understand the difference between

a trial, which is purpose is to is to produce

faith and bring us towards wholeness and completeness, and temptation,

which is a tool for our downfall, at that point

we can begin to express ourselves in living a whole

nother level of kingdom, being at spiritual maturity when we

talk about trials and temptations and listen, I okay, here's

the thing. I know y'all might not be able to

see this board. I got somebody to write this stuff

on this board. I'm about to write stuff on this

board and you won't be able to read it even

if you can see it.

Okay, but that's okay.

I should have got somebody with messier writing so that

it mine wouldn't look so bad.

But it's just the reality of how it is.

So when we understand trials and temptation, there's three levels

of filter that we need to use to determine whether

it is a trial or a temptation. The number one

filter that we apply to it is this God trying me?

Is God bringing me up a level? Is God trying

to do something in me?

Is this God? Or is this the enemy? The number

one sore is it God?

And I put a question mark because I want you

to understand that not all temptation comes from the enemy.

Let me say that again, not all temptation comes from

the enemy. Our own fleshly desires tempt us, other people

tempt us, and the enemy certainly brings temptation into our lives.

But I do not want you to.

Think that you are so important that the devil is

following you around tempting you. What you face is not

the devil himself. Big l Lucifer. He doesn't have time

for us. He can only be in one place at

one time. So do not give him the attention and

the glory to say the devil is doing this to

my life, because the reality is he's not.

The reality is he's influencing.

World leaders, he's taking shots from buildings, He's doing those

things to try to damage and hurt the most people.

So that's why I put a question mark, because it's

not always the devil that's bringing temptation. Temptation comes in

many different forms. But a trial the source of a trial.

If the source is God, it's a trial. God will

not tempt you. Let me say that again.

God will not tempt you.

God will not present you with something that pulls you

towards sin. If the source is God, it's a trial.

If the source is anything else.

It's temptation. How do I know?

Because I mean, this is to me, this is the

hard one, right because there's a lot of.

Things that I think are God.

How many of you think that, you know you feel

that you're like, oh, I think that's God.

I'm pretty sure that's God. Yeah, that's God.

Let me make that response video and it's not God.

And at this level, God gives us a tool here.

It's one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Discernment

is what allows us to know the source. The spiritual

gift of discernment allows us to know the source, whether

it's God or whether it's evil. The second filter is

the intent.

What is the intent of what's happening.

If the intent is to push me to look more

like God, If the intent is for me to look

more like Him.

Then it's a trial. It's from God.

If the intent is to build me up and make

me better, it's a trial.

God is putting me through a trial.

If the intent is for it to be a flesh response,

if the intent is for it to do something contrary

to the Word of God and lead me towards sin

and brokenness and hate and anger and all of those things,

then it's temptation. Two filters right there, Two surface level

filters to let me know whether I'm going through a

trial or a temptation.

And this matters. It matters if.

It's God, if the genesis is God, or if the genesis.

Is the enemy, because it will feel.

Your flesh will feel good to accept that temptation, and

a temptation doesn't always look like evil. A temptation can

even look like good. In the present situation, those people

would think it was good if we blasted people online

for saying stupid things. Most people would think it was

good if we screamed and yelled and did those things

that we're trying to be drawn into those traps.

That we're trying to listen.

The enemy is watching you with television cameras, and he

wants to paint a picture of the church that's simply

not true. He wants to right now, he wants to

paint a picture of the church that says they're hateful,

they're small minded, they're not accepting.

They're not this. They're not this. They're not this. They

are this. They are misogynistic. They are this. They are

that they are.

Don't take the bait that is temptation to respond in

love can still be the truth. It has to be

the truth or it's not love. That's trial. The third

filter is the outcome, the outcome. And here's the reality is,

once we get to the outcome, we may have already

missed it. Come on, somebody, Once you get to the outcome,

once you realize what's happened, it may be too late,

because if the outcome is spiritual growth, if the outcome

is I'm moving towards maturity, then it was a trial.

Here's the worst thing that happens. If God presents us

with a trial. If God presents something for our growth

and we fail it, we stay where we are.

Let me say that again.

You stay where you are. It doesn't draw you to sein,

It doesn't. It doesn't break you, It doesn't do any

of those things. You just don't go from glory to glory.

You don't just you just don't progress. You don't spiritually mature.

You just end up where you were. Because a trial

is not meant to break you. It's meant to elevate you.

It's meant to bring you up.

Because our whole lives are a test.

We're either being tested daily by trials, which is God,

or tested daily by temptation.

Which is me or you or the enemy.

And he says, hey, listen, the outcome if I've grown up.

But what happens.

If we get there and the outcome is that it

was sin. What happens when we get there and we

look back and we're like, oh, shoot, I thought it

was a trial.

But it wasn't I felt so good about that. I

just knew. I knew that when I use those new

words I learned.

I just thought that was God just wanting me to

just express myself and unburden myself.

I was just so angry, and now I just feel

so good.

And then we look and we've hurt people, and we've

brought shame to the Kingdom of God and to our Savior.

Because of the way we've responded, we now have a

deeper hole to dig out of. And I am now

bound by guilt, and I'm bound by hurt and brokenness,

and I'm full of shame and guilt and all of

those things.

That's the outcome of a temptation.

And when I get there, the only response is repentance.

Let me say that again, the only response is repentance. Now,

God says, hey, we don't want ignorant men to stay ignorant.

We want you to know because we want you to build,

we want you to grow. So here's the reality is

that for a long time, the modern church has taught

that repentance is just simply going to God and saying God,

I'm sorry, I'm sorry I did that. But that's not

that's not repentance. It's part of repentance, but it's not repentance.

Repentance is when I see the era of my ways

and I stop.

In my tracks.

It's where Paul says, shall I go on sinning so

that grace may increase?

Surely?

Not stop doing it? Turn and move in the opposite direction.

That's repentance that I put safeguards in my life so

that I don't repeat it, and I don't get caught

in that cycle, so that I'm continually drugged down. Because

if we are giving in to temptation more than we're

being built up by trials, we end up at a

spiritual deficit. We're not staying where we are, we're not growing.

We're actually regressing in our faith. As a matter of fact,

I'm going to tell you that if you're not progressing

in your faith, you are regressing because there is no

staying standard in the Kingdom of God, because he's progressive.

He's always moving, he's always working. He's always calling us

towards purpose, he's always calling us towards destiny. He's always

calling us to make an impact. And if we're not,

we're getting further behind.

On your spiritual road map. Are you on the right road.

Are you stopping at every gas station and filling up,

or are you stopping at every gas station in buying twinkies.

That hurt when I just said that.

But when we understand trials and temptations, then we can

begin to grasp purpose at a whole different level. When

we understand what is happening in our lives in the

direction we're headed, then we understand purpose at a.

Whole new level.

Because trials are going to drive us towards purpose, and

temptation will pull us away from purpose. Trials will drive

us towards our destiny and God's plan.

For our lives.

Temptation will pull us away from it or try to

slow us down. So when you discern these things and

you immediately know, oh the source of this is the devil,

I'm not going there.

Oh the intent of this is to break me. I'm

not going there.

Or I get on the other side because I just

got fooled. I just missed it, I just blew it.

I just missed what was happening, and I get on

the other side. My immediate response, my immediate reaction is

I'm not listen. Here's what Most people's immediate response is

when they know they've messed up.

I can't go back to church. I can't go back

to church. I'm so and bad. I can't go back

to church.

I'm just going to delete my Facebook. Facebook didn't make

you say those stupid things.

That's where you fix it. That's where you repent if you.

Did it on Facebook. Go fix it on Facebook. Go

reply to the people you hit and say, hey, listen,

I'm sorry, I miss God. I want you to know

that my response was not godly. You're still wrong, but

my response was not godly. Do you know they can

be wrong and your response not be godly. My response

it was tempered by hate, it wasn't tempered by love.

And I'm sorry and I'm gonna do better. Don't just

delete it. Don't just shut your social media.

Go repent on it. Go make things right on it.

Go to those people that you blew up on and

tell them you're sorry. That's true repentance. Not this man

be paying me. Old Jesus forgive me. I'll do better

next time. Know you what, He's not going to fund

your addiction of hate and meanness by excusing you, just

by asking I'm sorry in Romans chapter eight, verse twenty eight.

No matter what happens, there's redemption at the end. Clay,

You guys can come and get ready. If I'm successfully

navigate a trial, or if I'm miserably f temptation. Listen

to what scripture says in Romans chapter eight, verse twenty eight,

and we know that all things work together for good.

We'dout to stop quoting it right there, but let's finish it.

To those who love God, to those who were called

according to his purpose. If you were called according to

his purpose, if you were on assignment, if you are

chasing your destiny and your purpose and you are trying

to build the Kingdom of God, and you miss it

and you fall prey to temptation, the Bible says that

Jesus will spin it at the end when you repent,

and it will still work together for good.

That he will bring a.

Testimony out of your life because you missed it, and

you were big enough to say you missed it, and

he'll work it together. For whom he foreknew, let's just

go ahead and deal with this one too, for whom

he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the

image of his son, that he might be the.

First born among many brethren.

Listen, he didn't predestine you to be the son of God.

He didn't predestine you to be saved or not be saved.

He predestined the plan that he has for your life,

so that you can live in the fulfillment of purpose,

knowing that you are a son of God. He has

laid a plan out from you from the very foundation

of the earth. He has an assignment for every single

person that's born. And when we get saved, we just

chase after that purpose and that destiny with a reckless

abandon because he's laid it before us.

And when we get to the end and we've.

Achieved purpose, he stands by his throne and he says,

well done, my good and faithful servant, Welcome into the kingdom.

And we think that looks glorious, But you know, sometimes

it seems abbreviated. Sometimes a man is sitting at a

table on a college campus talking about the principles of

Jesus and somebody kills him. Let me tell you what

didn't happen in heaven. Jesus didn't say. Jesus was standing

at the gate and he put his arms around Charlie

Kirk and he said, well done, my good and faithful servant.

Welcome into your reward and your rest. And if somebody

comes in and shoots me right now, Jesus will say,

well done, my good and faithful servant. Now online, I

just want you to know, if you come in and

shoot me, you're gonna get shot. We take pastoring you

very seriously because and there's an element of protection that

comes with that. We take that very seriously, and we

have a plan in place. And listen, if we're ever

in the midst of worship or wherever we are and

you hear someone say get down, don't run around like

a crazy person.

There's a plan in place. You just get down.

Do not. If you're here and you're not part of

our security team. It's sad that we have to address

things like this from the stage, but we do. If

you're not part of our security team and something happens,

whatever you do, do not draw a gun.

You will get shot.

Also, let them do their job and walk in their

spiritual gifting and their calling.

Amen. Amen, just let them do it. Now.

I will say that if a barrier will come and

plug the hole, if he can, but just do what

we say and you're gonna be all right. Guys, we

live in a scary time. We live in a time

where it's not just us that are afraid, but everybody's afraid.

You know, we all see those stereotypical scenarios where you're

walking down a road side of the road and somebody

that looks different from you, feels different from you, and

you don't quite understand who they are, and that fear

grips you and you move to the other side of

the road. I want you to understand that Christians are

moving to the other side of the road right now,

and so are the lost, because they're afraid of you.

They are afraid of you. And until we can live

in the love of Jesus, until we can.

Love, learn to speak truth.

Bathed in love, both sides will continue to live in

ignorance and will never come together. But there is an

important agenda at hand, and that is God's purpose for mankind.

And it doesn't matter how mad I am. It doesn't

matter what's happening on the inside of me. It doesn't

matter what the American part of me says. It matters

what the Kingdom part of me says, and you don't

have to take a back seat anymore. You don't have

to lower your head anymore. You don't have to make

an excuse for God anymore. You don't have to do

those things you never did, but you certainly don't have to.

Now. It's time for you to be bold and speak

the truth. But when you're bold to speak the truth, you.

Better be able to back it up by love and

not hate.

Because he's calling you to make a difference.

People are tired of hearing from men with microphones, and

they want to hear from people with a cup of

coffee or a bag of groceries, or a little help

with the light bill, or an honest conversation about why

are you the way you are?

That's it, you know, if you're here today and you.

Haven't had a good response, You've cussed everybody out online.

You called your at because you thought she might have

voted Democrat one time back when she was a teenager,

so cussed her out, told your mom and daddy not

to call anymore. That's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. I have people

in my face. I think they've lost their mind.

I still love them with all my heart. That needs

to be your response. Everybody, stay with me.

You know, if you're here today and you don't know

where you are, you don't know what to do, you

don't know what to say. Maybe you just need to

have an encounter with Jesus this morning. Maybe you need

more of Him less of the pressure of the world.

On the count of three, if you just say I

want more of Jesus, I'm going to ask you to come.

I'm going to ask our prayer team to come and

get ready, and then we're gonna baptize some people. I'm

so excited, so excited, you know. Uh, this is why

we do what we do. This is why we love

the way we love. This is why we fight the

battles that we fight so that we can have, you know,

baptism and we can baptize Jackson and Jaden.

That's why. That's why we do what we do.

But it takes you moving from where you are in

moments just like this and surrendering to Jesus. So on

the count of three, if you're ready to bring your hurt,

your brokenness, your anger, your pain, your sin to Jesus,

I'm gonna ask you to step and move. The band's

gonna sing the count of three. Step out and move.

Don't look to see if anybody.

Else is moving.

You be bold and move one, two, three, step out

and come right now. If you just say, I want

the word of Jesus, I want to live out loud.

I want to be a difference maker, a kingdom citizen,

a peace broker.

Amen. Amen, past your claim.