He Sees You

Praise. No, I'll give it back. Let me see. All right, we're good, We're good. Y'all be seated for a Y'all may be seated.

I'm not going to tell you what to do. You can stand up if you want. That's totally fine. Just know that if you stand up, I'll accidentally look at you the entire time because I'm still working on my- like- verbal skills. You know what I'm saying.

Hey, if you need a seat, we're going to find you a seat. Feel free to scoot in. If you got like multiple seats in between you, Treat it like you don't want to treat a movie theater. You know what I'm talking about. I ain't trying to sit.

I had to sit next to somebody yesterday and I chose to do it because I was like maybe it won't be as bad as I thought. And I sat next to him. I had to. I chose the seat. He chose to seat next to me.

I had to sit next to him. But here at church you don't choose your seat, but let people sit next to you. I know it's tight, but it's good. Maybe you'll make a friend. I don't know why I'm talking about all that stuff.

We're going to be in Revelation, chapter 2, today. Who's excited to hear the word of God-. Hopefully it's preached good too. Revelation, chapter 2. To-, to catch anyone up who has not been here over the last couple of weeks, We're in a series called Faith.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention Revelation 2 · chapter mention

That Sticks. I like it, Just making sure some people are participating with me. Sometimes I'll stand in the back of the room just to worship with everybody and see how it like feels from the back. I like it up here. If you like to worship a lot and you feel like maybe you've been struggling, it's probably if you're standing in the back and you'd like to work, you should move up to the front.

You don't see anyone in front of you. Everyone's behind you. Who cares Like you don't see them. You know You get to worship God in spirit and in truth, regardless of what the people around you are doing. I'm trying to build a strong worship culture.

I don't know, I just felt, I felt in my spirit when I walked up here we needed to go into an extra stanza of that song. Just, I don't know, Maybe it's warm in the room and you're scared to move around, But, man, let's create a culture where we are not ashamed to give God glory. Isn't he worthy. Isn't he worthy of the glory That's? That's a.

That's a huge one person. That's cool. The rest of y'all- Y'all can clap later when there's air conditioning in your car. I get it. It's a little bit warm.

We're working on that thing. It is 108 degrees outside, but it's just part of the game. Guys, We're in this faith that sticks, stick series, And a huge part of having a faith that's resilient through thick and thin, good, bad, like, hard and easy. That resilient faith comes from regular choices toward God, not away from God. And one of the choices you can make is simply to come to church.

And you came, Amen, somebody. You came. It might have been difficult. We're going to. I'll tell you when to clap today.

First service was just doing it. Second service: I'll just give you a, give you a little bit of a helping hand, . But another choice you can make when you come here is to be extremely intentional and focused a. As you come here, It can be really easy to look around or just say, "Well, I'm here, so I'm just going to stand here and hope that by osmosis I get some excitement about the Lord". But you can choose today to be like I'm going to lean in.

I'm gonna lean in. The pastor, the Bible, all the people around me have been saying that if I lean in, God's going to. God's going to speak something directly to me. So let me choose to lean in, because God will speak to you And I'm going to read the word all the way through. First today, and then I will dive into this message that in some ways will be very similar to last week, but I hope that it adds just a little bit more color to my last week's message.

In fact, if you didn't hear last week's message, feel free to go back and watch it. You don't need it for today. But I just think it adds a little bit more color to what I said last week, Starting in chapter 2, verse 18, I had the first service do it, so I'm going to have you do it. Can we stand for the reading of God's word? Somebody in here was like I thought this wasn't some old school traditional church.

I can't get any laughter today. Sweetie, Can you laugh for me? Will you laugh for me? It's not about that, It's about the word of God. Right, I got you All right.

And to the angel and theotier write: the son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet are like burnished bronze, says this: I know your deeds and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. But I have this against you that you tolerate. Everyone say tolerate. You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess And she teaches and leads my bond servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality, usually referencing sexual immorality or at least unfaithfulness to God, and they eat things sacrificed to idols- Verse 21, . I gave her time to repent and she does not want to repent of her immorality.

Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation unless they repent of their deeds. I love this part And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts And I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. But I say to you the rest, who are in Theotira, who do not hold to this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them. I place no other burden on you. Nevertheless, what you have hold fast until I come.

He who overcomes and who keeps my deeds until the end, To him I will give authority over the nations- That's a good word- And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, As also as I also have received authority from my father and I will give him the morning star. He, the one, she who has an ear, Let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. You may be seated, Everybody say amen for the reading of God's word. Sometimes I just like to be traditional and stress you people out.

It's fun, I love it, and I love the word of God. So sometimes I'm just going to change things up. Anytime I feel like y'all get bored or stagnant in something I'm, I'm going to just try to flip the lid a little bit. See what happens. See what happens.

This message, very similar to his message to the church at Pergamum, has to do with the idea of what you're willing to tolerate. Last week I talked about this idea of no compromise, that when God calls us to a life without compromise, he's not calling us to a life without fun. He's calling us to a life filled with joy and peace and salvation and redemption, like an exciting life, one that is acquired over time. Like you, don't understand the full extent of how beautiful the life with Christ is- You, you just don't. But as you experience him and his grace, you're going to learn to love this life without compromising your calling.

And this week he takes it a little bit further, talking to a different group of people about this idea of what you're willing to tolerate or they're willing to tolerate. So I want to talk about that, but I want to give you one to two things that'll help you understand this passage a little bit better. I recognize most of you, or many of you. You're going to come in here week in, week out, and the vast majority of your Bible is going to be from this message. My encouragement would be that you read it throughout the week, so that this is just like icing on the cake rather than like your meat and potatoes.

I don't know why I use that illustration, but I like it. It's good. Meat and potatoes is like what you do during the week. That's where you're really going to apprehend the nature of God, And so I want to actually teach you how to do that, more than I want to just give you something inspiring on a Sunday, Because if I give you something inspiring that doesn't help you through Thursday or Friday, then then we're missing something huge. And if we want to be a church that revolves everything around Jesus, that's not just a Sunday morning teaching.

So I'm going to teach you periodically from Scripture And my encouragement to you would be: lean into this, because if I give it to you and say it's like a teaching point about the Bible, it's because that's something I had to learn the hard way that I'm trying to give to you the easy way. And one of the things that you can really benefit from in Scripture is trying to navigate and understand when the Old Testament is being used in the New Testament, or rather when another Scripture is kind of being used as an Easter egg or a tie-in to the present Scripture. I was, making a comment to my wife earlier this week as I was trying to finish up prep for this message, because, man, I struggle sometimes to prep messages for you guys because sometimes these texts are convoluted, Like there was a, a commentator. His last name is Hemer- I don't ever learn scholars first names, but his last name was Hemer And what he said was this is: this passage to Theotira is the longest and most complex passage of the seven letters to the churches in present day Turkey, And it's also to a city that has like the least amount of significance in the Asian province at the time. Right He is writing, talking about the complexities of this, And when I was talking with my wife, I said I think there's probably a minimum of 8 to 10 Old Testament references in this passage And as you're reading through it, you might be thinking I didn't notice any.

Well, this is your cue to say: you know what? Let me, let me dive in. And when I'm opening God's word throughout the week, he's going to speak to me regardless of the level I'm at. But let me try once in a while to engage with a deeper level of study. And when you notice that there is an Old Testament passage utilized, this is your, this is your, this is your clue, right?

This is your big Bible reading tip. If you go to that Old Testament passage and read it, it actually acts, as scholars would say, a hermeneutical lens. I'm going to tell you it's just a good understanding lens for you in this passage. So I'm going to walk you through that a little bit, And I know it sounds a little complex. It's actually much easier than you think it is.

It's as simple as like watching a Marvel film that has a reference to Thor And then saying, "Oh, let me go watch Thor and see what they were referring to". It's literally the same way in Scripture, So I'm going to walk you through it, And the main point is talking about what we're willing to tolerate. So here's what he says first, and this will be helpful for you- says: "And to the angel of the church in Theotira write: the son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet are like burnished bronze, says this". So this is always fun for me. I, I, I love to get a glimpse into.

You know where people are coming from. It's like you know those comedians- I, I, I always used to want to be a comedian, but then people told me I wasn't funny. So I went and bit was a preacher. I'm kidding, That's not how it went, I'm just joking, and y'all clearly aren't laughing. So that's why I didn't go into comedy, but I like to get where people are and just kind of get to know the audience a little bit, And so I want to ask you when I read that comment right there from Scripture about the eyes like fire and the feet like burnished bronze, anyone know where that comes from in the Old Testament?

You just need to know. You know the book. Anyone know the book. You can't say it. If you heard me in the first service.

Anyone know the book Comes from the book of Daniel, when he was referencing the son of man- It's also in Revelation, chapter 1- as an identifier of Jesus, also the son of man in Revelation, chapter 1. This is something that's utilized- fairly common, throughout history, or at least biblical history, And when you go look at the history of it, even how it's used in Daniel, you'll see, before you even go into the passage, that you can actually interpret the passage through this lens: Eyes like fire, feet like burnished bronze. Is it burnished or furnished? I don't know. Yeah, burnished bronze.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention Revelation 1 · chapter mention

I don't know what burnished means. That's what Scripture says. So I keep saying it: Eyes like a flame of fire and feet like burnished bronze. Scholars tend to summarize it by saying this: His eyes see everything. That's my first point.

He sees everything. Before we talk about what you tolerate, I want to talk to you about the character of God and the capacity of God to literally see everything thing, And I want you to look at your neighbor. Look at the neighbor on your right And if you're all the way on the right of a row, you can look back at that person who's looking at you. All right, Do that. Look at the person on your right, On your right, On your right, All right.

Look at them and say this: He sees everything. Yeah, You know, with that judgy look that assumes someone did something bad that they shouldn't have done and God knows about it. Even if you don't know about it, He sees everything. Now look at your other neighbor and shift it from a judgy look to an encouraging look and pretend they just did the most awesome thing ever.

And they don't know about it. But you do know about it and you're about to tell them about it. So have that kind of posture of you. He sees everything. This, this concept is really helpful.

His eyes like a flame of fire. It pierces through everything. He can see every single thing: Past, present, future. He not only sees what you do, he sees what you thought when you did it. He can see everything.

So for those of you in the room- this should be- who are struggling with something- Everyone in the room this should be an encouraging comment to you: that he sees everything You could think of, the worst thing that you ever did or ever thought, And he sees your motivation and your intent behind it And he knows that, even if that intent was bad, he knows where it came from. He understands the complexity of your humanness because he created you and he sees it. So, even when you screwed up, he sees what you were hoping for. Even when you went the wrong direction because of bad mentalities that lured you in that wrong direction, He knows what your heart posture was, even when you went the wrong way. Now he would not tell you it's right, but he knows you in the midst of it.

So for the person locked into addiction that they're struggling to get out of that, your entire family has disowned you and gotten frustrated at you because maybe they tried to help you but you weren't really able to be helped at the time- God still sees you, He still loves you And he knows that, even though you're stuck in something, he knows that that the reason you're stuck there is a result of sin And that, while a lot of it is your responsibility to take ownership of, there's still, like man, humanity is complex. He sees it Like those of you struggling in your relationship, those of you who feel lonely right now, like nobody could understand you, Like that was me so many years of my life, where I would say stuff with an intent and people would hear it with an opposite intent. It's like I would say something out of love, but the way it came out was a little bit too direct And they're like "Oh my gosh, this guy's a jerk". And so for years of my life I'm perceived as a jerk And I'm wondering like nobody. Nobody understands what I'm trying to get at.

But God did? God got it because he sees everything And- and this should be an encouragement for any of you in this room who are struggling to be understood by your spouse or by your kids or by your parents or by your employer, Even when they don't understand you- he sees everything. The Bible tells us in the Old Testament. He doesn't judge either by outward appearance. He, He knows what's right here and right here.

So you don't have to flee from God, You don't have to hide from God, You don't have to feel shame around God, because he already knows what you did and he loves you regardless. And we see the love of God manifest most effectively in the son of Jesus, or sorry, in the son of God, Jesus Christ dying on the cross and rising from the grave. He sees everything. And when he's talking to the group in Theotra- Theotira is like the fourth city that that he's writing to. I've told you this, but I want to refresh you.

He is writing to a group of seven churches in present day Turkey. He starts in Ephesus, moves to Smyrna, then he goes to Pergamum and now we're in Theotira. It's a clockwise mailing route that starts and ends at Ephesus And so he's just getting to this group. It's it's kind of a city on the borderline of the backwoods at the like, the border of two different rivers, Like it's not a significant city at all. And when he writes to this group of people, he's going to tell them some stuff they can improve on.

I'm going to tell you some stuff we should improve on, But I wanted to start with the positive value of him seeing every aspect of your life. And John, the author, writes the same thing. He says: "I know your deeds", verse 19, "and your love and your faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first". He says: "I know what you've been doing" And he gives him a compliment that is in stark contrast to his comments about the church at Ephesus. With the church at Ephesus they were great at worshiping and calling out false teachers, but they struggle with the love that they had at first, this kind of outreachoriented love, this love that wanted to help people know the love of God.

They were missing it. He flips it for Theoter and he says: "The deeds that you're doing now are actually better than when you started. This must be an outreachoriented church, a church that loves people who walk in off the street, A church who's doing really well when it comes to their faithfulness and their perseverance. He's going to tell them what he has against them, but they're doing really well". And it's interesting because I can actually see this in churches today.

I can see this in people today. I've been to the churches that are great with calling out false teachers, great with getting theologically accurate worship and preaching, and sometimes they struggle on the love end. They struggle on the outreach end. And then I've been to churches that are really great in the community, But sometimes- I'm not talking about every church, but some of you may have been to them- Sometimes they really struggle on caring at all about theological accuracy. Sometimes they struggle on like letting too much into the church.

They tolerate things that they shouldn't. Now, not all churches are one of these. I'd actually like us to be a very balanced church, one that has theologically accurate preaching and worship, but also goes out into the community and does the same deeds as Theotira: that we're faithful and that we are great representatives of God in the community. In fact, I'm going to use this as an easy opportunity to talk to you about being out in the community for serve week. I'm glad you're with me.

I'm excited about serve week. We're going to do a lot of outreach as we move forward as a church. We're going to do local, national, international outreach And we're starting small. Last year we did one day where we had multiple projects on that same day. Hey Well, actually we had a couple days but, we didn't do a full week cuz we weren't ready for it.

But this week we're trying to do a full week. It starts today, right after this service. Someone's excited about it. I'm excited about it because I want to be like Theotira. I want John to write to us and say that you guys are killing it.

I, I, I, just, I don't know. I want to go out into the community and be a great representative of who Christ is, because there are too many churches who don't do anything in the community And I, I don't want to be lumped into that category. Now, I don't want to be lumped into the bad theology category either. I want to be balanced, but I want us to be out in the community. So, right after church today, we're filling up hygiene kits.

Y, Oh goodness gracious, Someone give me a fly water. I, I'll handle it. I ain't tolerating that. Today, we're going to do hygiene kits. Our goal was to do 10,000 hygiene kits.

Does anyone happen to know how many hygiene kits we have filled up so far? I don't know. I'm asking: Does Andre know? Does Ariana know? Does Kaylee know?

Are any of y'all in here? I don't know. It looked like we filled up a couple hundred. You guys are usually, more in number than the first service. So here's what I'm going to ask.

I'm gonna ask. I'm assuming there's about 120- 125 adults in here. I think we probably have about 600 to 700 left. Maybe not that many, but I'm just going to assume. You know I don't want to be doing it later in the evening myself, right?

So walk through that thing five to six times, It won't take you long. Who's done one? Does it take long? Say yes, if it does. They all said no See.

Yeah, it wasn't proper reading of instructions, but still, I'm just kidding with you. No, it doesn't take long at all. So I want to encourage you to do it. You might not have time to do anything else during the week. That's why we did this here, so everyone can participate in it.

And here's the reality, guys. There are people in this community who actually need these hygiene kits. We don't just fill up hygiene kits to say, we filled up hygiene kits and gave it to All Face Food Bank, which is actually represented out there. So y'all should go chat with them, and say, "Hey, man, that we love that organization". No, It's because people actually need them.

And while you're home spending one minute brushing your teeth today, I need you to remember that there are people who don't have toothbrushes and toothpaste, And we're going to provide that for people today. So the least that we can do is take a couple rounds and fill some of them up so that the people can receive them who need them. Amen, somebody. I'm not trying to be mean, but that's, that's that's, I don't know. I don't think we get a letter from John for that.

I don't think we get a letter from John. Good job, y'all Filled up hygiene kits. I think that's just a start. And the rest of the week, Monday through Friday, we've got events in the morning and in the evening, And so, on your way, after filling up hygiene kits, we're going to have QR codes everywhere. That QR code will take you to the same place.

They might even drop it behind me. If not, it's going to be okay. Fill out that form. You can actually come, maybe to several of the AM or PM events this week And then- they already mentioned it- next Saturday. We bought like a whole bunch of them.

I think we contributed a couple hundred of these backpacks that we're passing out, and then the city partnered with us to, or we partnered with the city, I don't know who partnered with who. We're doing it together, We're partnering, and we're going to pass those out on Saturday. So I want you to come and represent it. They actually asked us if we were going to be there because we represented so well last year. So let's not go backwards, Let's go forwards.

John's not gonna write me a letter because you know he's dead, I think. In theory, there's some scholars who think he never died, but that's just. That's an aside point. Point is, I want to get to that place where, when God holds me accountable to the church that I led, I want us to be a church that was faithful, that persevered, that was there in the community and that did what he called us to do with love and grace and called people to repentance. I, I, I think, I, I think.

Serve Day is just to start to do that. So I'd encourage everyone to sign up for at least one event, And the one event that doesn't Don't count, this one. You should all do that immediately, today. It's so simple. Well, you can go get a lunch afterwards, cuz if you can afford a lunch.

Remember people there. I'm not going to keep trying to guilt you into it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not. He sees everything.

He saw that too. He- He's making me humble right now, Goodness gracious, he not only sees what you do well, he sees what you tolerate, And- And I'm not trying to make you feel bad- I mean John's text does that enough. He's like bed of sickness and kill children with pestilence, Like that. John said that. I want to tell you he sees, he sees your, your best parts, and he also sees the things that you're tolerating, And there are things in my life that I've tolerated way too much of guys.

And how many of you in this room you would be willing to admit that you're tolerating something you shouldn't tolerate. You don't have to be a believer to do that. I mean you're, we're tolerating something. It might it might be a person that you probably need to not be rude to, but, like you, just you spend a little bit less time with. It.

Might be an activity, It might be a substance that you're allowing into your house, maybe because you're so familiar with it or used to it and you're not realizing the impact it's going to have on you, your family and your kids. It might be, something you're not doing that you really should start doing. That's where I'm at, Hannah, That's where I'm at, And sometimes I tell you, the same time I tell them things that you've never heard me say before, And one of those things is that I've been feeling convicted today about some of the things that I've not been doing in our household, that I've been tolerating. Not You're doing great, me right, Like like we got to. We're missing some components that we need to add back in, And you and I both know these components, but we need to add them back in.

Why? Because because God's called us to hire, And in your families, it's the same conversation that needs to ensue. What are we doing that we need to not tolerate any longer? What are we not doing that we need to not tolerate that absentee or stagnant lifestyle any longer? What are we doing?

Let's not tolerate, because, I mean, God sees what we tolerate. He sees it. He says here- I have this against you- that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads my bond servants astray so that they do essentially two things, and I'll break it down for you. The first thing that this woman Jezebel would be doing is she would be causing them to commit spiritual adultery, Meaning she's leading them astray, But a lot of scholars would say that it could mean that she's enticing them into actual, like adultery and - acts of sexual immorality. This is something that would happen back in the day And while there's nothing significant happening in Theotira that we know of at the time, we do know this based on coinage and different archaeological evidence that we found There were a lot of trade guilds.

Now, if you weren't here last week where I explained what trade guilds are, they're essentially they're different, but they're essentially unions- you kind of have to be a part of them. They're things that you need to be. I mean, you need to be at the meetings and you may not like it, but in order to do business, you kind of have to participate in some components of it and you definitely have to be a card carrying member. This is a trade guild. Now, the difference between- I think the difference between their trade guilds and our unions is that these trade guilds, they would worship other gods.

That was just part of the game. You would pour libations or you would sacrifice things to those gods And so, in order to have business, in order to have clientele, in order to live your life and make any type of income, you were immediately thrust into this place where you had to compromise and potentially tolerate something that God didn't want you to tolerate. And this woman, Jezebel- according to scholars and according to what we've seen in history- and you can look at the Old Testament and know exactly what he's talking about-, this person was telling them: "Hey, it's okay, Don't stress out. God understands. You can do what you want to do.

In fact, I know the deeper things of God that John calls the deeper things of Satan, and you don't actually have to worry about some of this stuff, like not going to these meetings, not eating food sacrificed to idols, not committing this sexual immorality. She's like: "Just chill, relax, It's not that big of a deal. God loves you anyways. God's grace is so good". This woman was someone who probably misinterpreted Paul, where he said: "It's by grace you've been saved, through faith, not that of your own, that no man may boast".

And she's saying you can't do anything to get into your faith or remain in your faith. True, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do anything within your faith in order to continue honoring God, And one of the things that God wants you deeply to do is to stop tolerating things that derail you, so that you can ultimately come to a greater knowledge of who he is. Because, just like that song said, our eyes seeing God's glory is better than anything this world has to offer. God's glory is better. And I know your eyes see the fleshly things and they're like "Oh, but that's really attractive".

I want you to know. I know it's acquired, It takes time, but the more you see of God, the more attractive he becomes. That would be my encouragement to you. Do not tolerate- And a lot of us, we, we think we can live a life that says: "Well, I'll keep some of this worldly stuff that God probably doesn't like, but everyone else is okay with. I'm gonna keep some of this in my life".

And have God in my life because God's gracious and loves me. And we ignore the fact that Paul says: "Shall I continue to sin? That grace may abound". He, he says. He says "Meano".

No, you should not continue to do the stuff God doesn't like. That would be you trampling over the grace of God and considering it like pointless. That's what Paul says. But we say we can have both. And here's something I want you to know, And it comes from this Old Testament Daniel imagery.

He says he's got eyes like fire that not only see everything, but he's got feet with burnish bronze. Then most scholars would say this. They would say it means he's firm, stable and will not be moved. And I want you to know when. God has a standard for your life that's not changing.

So you have a choice: You change your standard and align it with God's standard, or you keep living this life that lives below God's standard. Now you may be saved, You may have trusted in Jesus and you may spend eternity with God, But God's got a mission for you that is beyond a get out of hell free card. That mission is for you to give God glory and honor, to see him the way he wants to be seen, to have the peace that surpasses all understanding and to live a life that adequately represents him in this world. You know why people are leaving the church. Two big reasons: One, because people got into their holy huddle, worshiped and glorified God, but stopped caring about their first love.

And the other group is people-, is people- who said, "You know what? I don't really care about this God, theology, stuff, and I'm just going to do what I want to do, but I'm going to love people in the process". And so people don't see you as any different than them, And so when you ask them to encounter the like, when you ask him, them, him, her, whoever, when you ask them to come into church or when you ask them to try to experience Jesus, they're like: what, why would I do that? You do the same stuff I do, and it's because you might do some good stuff, but if you're missing the presence of God in your life, it's bad representation. He won't be moved.

I wrote this. I said: "Do not tolerate what God won't tolerate". And it's so funny because in life, right, like in life, I've been called intolerant before You can imagine. I'm a pastor. You know I've got an Instagram account, so gotten called intolerant before.

Anytime I post something that is like moderately judgy towards someone who lives a lifestyle that's against God, they're like "You judgy". Hannah, she grew up Christian. I didn't grow up Christian. She went to a small Baptist church in Houston, Texas. I know you've been called intolerant, legalistic, Baptist.

You know you got all the names. I'm used to getting made fun of as intolerant when I stand for life, or when I stand for a lifestyle, or when I stand for anything that the Bible seems to be pretty clear about get called intolerant. But it's funny because intolerance is only bad when you're on the opposite end of the person who's intolerant about something. There are a couple things that I found that we're cool being intolerant about. I'm g.

Can I give you a list of things you're cool being intolerant about? Like anyone, like sex traffickers- Anyone want us to be tolerant of sex traffickers? No, Okay. Drunk drivers, Smokers-, that one's interesting. I was on a cruise recently and I had to avoid one section of the ship so I didn't get secondhand smoke.

You know, people who treat dogs poorly. If Rita were in here, she'd be like: , it's crazy. You know there's cobalt mining over in Africa-, I shouldn't have brought it up. There's cobalt mining over in Africa. That's essentially slave labor and they pull cobalt out so we can put it into our cell phones, and we all use cell phones.

We're all chill about that. But someone smacks a dog, We're all like losing our stuff. Right, Like it's. It's crazy. We're intolerant of people like that And it's totally fine.

Some people are intolerant of preachers who have a decent income. John and Jesus are intolerant. They're intolerant of sexual immorality. But I'll give you a present- day list: Cohabitation, pornography, sleeping around, orgies, swinging, secret resorts, premarital sex. They're intolerant of food sacrificed to idols- And it's crazy because it's just food that sold on the market after it was sacrificed to an idol.

That seems chill. Got to get rid of that Jezebel spirit within myself. But this is also the same thing as letting culture lead. You tell you what to do rather than you choosing yourself. What God's called you to, It's you essentially worshiping other gods, And you might think that's them.

I don't worship other gods. I'm not saying there are other gods, but there's something other than God that you tend to worship, Whether it's yourself, whether it's something about culture, whether it's fitness. I could give you the list of things that you've been spending more time giving glory and honor to rather than God. It might not be another God, but it might as well be another God. Ultimately, you're forgetting about the spirit's leadership in your life, And I say all that to say this: that we need to choose, with God and our family, the things that we are going to be intolerant of, And we got to have this conversation.

There's some things we just need to be intolerant of, Like some things I don't need to let in Some things I just need to start doing. I did open up a conversation with you earlier about creating a dedicated space, not just like that works during the, the spring and the fall. That's my back porch, That's where I have my quiet time- sometimes You know what I'm saying- But a dedicated space for me to really meditate and spend time with God, for you, for our family. I'll never forget that family in Indonesia. When we went and visited, They had their whole third floor floor dedicated to meditation, because they said: "I'm not going to tolerate having a space that doesn't give glory and honor to God.

So what are you going to do, What are you going to be intolerant of in your life that'll direct you closer and closer to your relationship with God? And I- I'll close with this because I know I'm getting longer. Ultimately, like you, tolerating something in your life doesn't get the people in your life closer to Jesus. It lures them away from it. And I?

I look at this passage and I think John's talking to me. I hope he's talking to you, but he's talking to me. Guys. Here's, here's what he says at the end. He says in verse 28, : "To the person who holds fast".

Let me jump back, Verse 26, : "He who overcomes and he who keeps my deeds into the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces. And also, I have received authority from my father". This is a direct quote from Psalm, chapter 2. "And I will give him the morning star".

Psalms 2 · chapter mention

Now some scholars say the morning star is Venus. Some scholars say the morning star is just like the opposite of Lucifer, who fell, was initially the bright morning star, But I think it's a reference to Revelation near the end of the book, where he refers to Jesus as the morning star. And when I was reading through all of this together and I recognized that Jesus is ultimately the morning star, the thing that I'm going to receive when I live a life of faithfulness, I was convicted. I was convicted because so often I live my life just like that church. I think if John were to write me a letter, he'd say: "Your deeds as of late have been pretty decent, Matt.

You came out here, You were faithful, You trust God in several different areas. You helped to start this church and the church is, seeing people come to faith, Some people getting baptized, Some people taking huge steps of faith in their life and revolving everything around Jesus. Your deeds: as of late they've been fairly decent, But here's the thing: Deeds don't get you what you're looking for. Deeds are great, Deeds are what God's asking you for in a lot of ways, but ultimately, deeds without the presence of God have little to no value. And my conviction here is that I've been more concerned about the deeds than I have the presence of God, more concerned about the stuff we're doing for God rather than consumed with the presence of God.

And this morning, guys, this morning I was reminded. It just like God caught me up and reminded me of a couple specific moments where nothing mattered except the presence of God. I don't even know how to communicate it to you, Like, how do you communicate the, the feeling you get and the posture you have when the presence of God just takes over a moment? How do you communicate that other than saying it happened and it's crazy and it feels different than you're feeling right now? That's all I can give you.

But I felt it in my life And the conviction for me was: keep doing this great stuff, but hold fast, not to the deeds, but to his presence. Hold fast to seeking him, because he sees everything, And he sees the good that you're doing, but ultimately, the good that you're doing falls short of the glory of God, And what you need to do is you need to seek God where he can be found, And some of you in this room, you don't have a relationship with Jesus, And he is the only pathway or access that you can have to ever experiencing God. So my conviction was that I needed more Jesus, And to some of you in this room, you need Jesus Period, And so what I want to do is I want to invite those of you in this room who have not invited Jesus into your heart, invited him into your life, so that you can experience regularly the presence of God. I want to give you that opportunity right now to trust God. So if everybody could bow their heads and close their eyes, I want to pray this prayer.

We pray it out loud for the benefit of those who are praying it for the first time. It's not a formula. This is just you talking to God. I'm trying to help you with a template, And so we're going to pray that prayer out loud right now. Say this.

Say "God, I believe that Jesus is the son of God. I believe he died on the cross and rose from the grave. I know you see all, the bad and the good, But, God, I pray that you would send your son to live in my heart. God, help me, follow him, Forgive me of my sin And I commit right now to you. It's in Jesus's name that we pray.

God's people said "Amen".