REAL CHRISTIANITY | Part 1 | No Fluff

Hey,

baby.

Hey,

hey, hey.

Hallelujah.

Hey, Ethan, I forgot my cotton candy.

Will you bring it up to me? I need

>> need both of them. H Let's Let's give it

up for Ethan,

man.

You guys talk amongst yourselves. I'm

going to eat some cotton candy.

You guys like cotton candy?

>> Anybody in here want some?

>> Yeah.

>> Really?

All right. There we go. I don't know if

I can get it to you.

>> Oh, man. There we go.

All right. Um, anybody else want cotton

candy?

Here we go. Everybody in the house gets

cotton candy. Ushers, bring it out.

Hallelujah.

You don't get the giant bags though,

man. It's like going to the fair or

something in here.

>> For those of you watching online, you

really need to show up at Grace Summit

Church cuz we got Candy and Jesus in the

house.

Hey, if you're a first- time guest with

us, my name is Ben. I have the

opportunity to serve as lead pastor

here. And man, we are kicking off a new

series today called Real Christianity.

Anybody want to be a real Christian?

>> Okay. Do we have any fake Christians in

the house?

Don't raise your hand. Deliverance team

will be showing up.

M.

>> Praise the Lord. Jason, you can't have

two. You only get one.

Uh, I give you permission because we're

grown. You guys can eat your cotton

candy in church.

Just don't be like the kids and have

sticky fingers and wipe it all over the

seats because then I'll get reprimanded

for Miss Sherry because she keeps this

house really clean.

You know, I'm going to preach a word to

you today

and uh

it's a different type of word.

Uh there's not going to be a lot of

excitement around it. I'm just going to

preach. You know, sometimes the word

that I get is very prophetic in the

sense that I know that this is what God

has for you. And sometimes if you read

the Old Testament, all prophets weren't

received well. Amen.

>> So, I'm going to preach. Before we do,

let's pray. Father, I thank you, Lord.

God for the living word of God. Lord, I

thank you, God, for a fresh stirring on

the inside of us today. Father, that

today, Lord, we can hear your word from

heaven. I thank you for the anointing

upon the preaching of your word. Father,

I pray that I stand and speak as an

oracle of God.

Praise you, Jesus. Father, we didn't

come to hear words from men,

but Lord, we came to hear from you. And

Father, I thank you also for revelation,

for impartation, for understanding and

grace

in this hour. our Lord, I pray and thank

you, Lord, for blessing our time

together in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Amen.

>> If you have your Bibles, go with me to

James chapter 1. The title of the

James 1 · chapter mention

message today is No Fluff. Say, "No

Fluff."

>> No Fluff.

>> And uh while you're turning there, I

want you to look around just for a

second because there's some people here

that look like they're uh having a

little bit too much fun in church eating

their cotton candy. I see some blue

tongues already. Hallelujah.

Free sugar in Jesus. Man, that's a good

Sunday morning.

James chapter 1 and verse 21,

James 1 · chapter mention

he says this. He says,

"So get rid of all the filth

and evil in your lives.

Man, he's coming right out of the gates

here, isn't he?

And humbly accept the word God, the word

God has planted in your hearts, for it

has the power to save your souls.

But don't just listen to God's word. You

must do what it says. Otherwise, you're

only fooling yourselves.

For if you listen to the word and don't

obey, it is like glancing at your face

in a mirror. you see yourself walk away

and forget what you look like.

But if you look carefully into the

perfect law that sets you free and if

you do what it says and don't forget

what you heard, then God will bless you

for doing it.

Who in here wants to be blessed by God?

>> Oh man. James here says we're not just

hearers of the word, but we're doers

also. You know, I think about this

cotton candy. And it's interesting to me

uh that it looks so big. You know, when

you look at cotton candy, you get this

big old fluff. And you ever put a piece

in your mouth and you want you feel it

dissolve down to like this little morsel

of sugar and that's it. And like, have

you ever noticed that you never actually

get full on cotton candy? You stop after

you get the sugar rush, not because

you're full, right?

you know, it's big, it's beautiful, it's

uh uh all these different things, but

it's not sustainable for life. And you

know, there is a version of Christianity

in our culture that looks a lot like

this. Acts a lot like cotton candy. It's

big. It's loud. It's sweet,

but absolutely weightless.

Feels good for the moment. Gives you a

little sugar rush,

but it can't sustain you in the storm.

I got to say this. I don't know about

you, but I'm not real interested in

cotton candy Christianity.

>> Amen.

>> I kind of want the real thing. I'm kind

of hungry for more. I've been in church

circles and and everything is kind of

surface level. You know, we don't want

to we don't want to preach this

particular spot because uh because it

might offend some. Yeah. We don't want

to go here because it might draw some

people away. Can I tell you that the

word of God is not offensive.

>> That's right.

>> If you're out if you're in Christ,

>> I'm hungry for the whole council of God.

>> Amen.

>> Amen. I want I want every part of it.

The parts that that encourage me, that

stir me up, that get me excited, and the

parts that make me feel this big and

convict me and bring me to that place of

decision or change or whatever it is.

Man, I want the whole council of God.

Then, do you know that people study this

book, the word of God, their whole life,

and there's still more to be had?

>> Yeah, that's right.

>> I don't want the fluff. I want faith.

The title of the message today is no

fluff.

James here is talking to believers

when he says, "Get rid of all the filth

and evil in your lives.

Don't be hearers of the word, but be

doers." He says, "If you do it, you'll

be blessed by God for doing it." And

this isn't a letter written to pagans or

sinners. This is written to solid

believers in Christ.

people who sit in the services, hear the

word,

who agree with the pastor, nod their

heads. But James says, "You don't need

more spiritual cotton candy. You need a

solid walk, a solid truth, a solid

faith."

He says, "Get rid of all the filth and

evil in your lives."

That's a tough word right there. If you

ever noticed, I like when I read the

Bible, I kind of like to uh my the lens

that I look through, I go, man, whose

responsibility is this? Because there's

a lot of things that it's all on God,

you know, forgiveness of sins,

salvation, all the blood of Christ. I

mean, that's that's God doing these

things. But I look at a lot of the

scriptures that talk about repentance

and man, particularly in the New

Testament, there's a whole lot of stuff.

That's my responsibility.

>> Amen.

He says, "Hey guys, uh, clean it up.

Clean it up. You got some filth." He

says, "Get rid of all that filth and

evil."

Do you know that you can be a believer

and still have junk in your life?

Well,

get rid of the junk. That's what James

says.

Get rid of all the filth and evil in

your lives.

Don't just listen to the word, but do

what it says. I want to give you the

whole message really can be summed up in

one sentence. And after I share this, it

doesn't mean I'm done preaching and you

can leave.

The heart of the message today is that

it's easy to talk the talk of

Christianity,

but real Christians walk it out.

>> Amen.

It's easy to learn Christian ease.

Amen. God bless you, brother. I'm

praying for you, right? You guys know

Christian.

>> Yeah.

Easy to talk the talk, but real

Christians walk the walk. Number one in

your notes today is no fluff faith.

I'm hungry for no fluff faith.

It's from hearing to obeying.

He says James 1:22, "But don't just

James 1:22

listen to God's word. You must say

must."

>> You must obey what it says. Otherwise,

you're only fooling yourselves.

James says, "Don't just listen." He's

not anti-hearing.

Amen.

>> He's pro-doing.

>> It's time to put it into action. Hearing

is good, but hearing is not the finish

line.

Hearing is it's kind of like the

starting gun. They still use those in

track and field or have those been

banned because it's a firearm. You guys

remember that track and field and you're

getting ready and everybody gets on

their block and get get ready to go and

they got the little 22 cartridge with no

they go I have one actually at home.

Somebody gave me one. I've never even

used it.

Man, when we hear the word of God,

right, that's the starting line. And I

think about how often we hear the word

and we do nothing with it.

It doesn't speak action to me.

I hear it, sounds good, kind of like

cotton candy,

and then I go about my way. Maybe it had

a little effect on me. But what if when

we heard the living word of God

communicated, we caught the revelation,

we caught the conviction, we were we

were hungry after God, like we're

sitting at the block in the spiritual

realm. And as soon as we gets done

hearing the revelation, man, the gun

goes off and we go and we do the word.

Amen.

Go make disciples of all nations. Which

one, God? Who where are we going? Preach

the preach the word. Be instant in

season. said, "Who am I preaching to,

God? I I'll I'll preach to the squirrels

in the backyard. Who Who am I preaching

to?"

What if we had this action piece on the

inside of us? See, we're living

in a church age with the warning

of lukewarm.

We are so comfortable,

so complacent. Amen.

M I better get back to my notes.

James is alluding to the fact that it's

possible for you to sit in church to

love the music,

not at the sermon, post your verse on

Instagram,

still be in bondage, still be deceived,

still lacking in action.

It's cotton candy faith.

Big, bright, sweet, and empty. Oh man,

it's awful quiet in the house of God

today.

Big, bright, sweet,

and empty.

A lot of spiritual lives look like that.

Fluffy, sugary,

impressive,

and gone five minutes after church.

You guys ever had that problem?

Sit in church on Sunday morning go, man.

You the the one thing you remember I

remember listening to my pastor go,

"Man, that's a good word. I know it was

good. I know it was anointed. I know it

came with revelation and there's been

times when my wife and I are driving

home and and talking about what what

she'd ask the question, what do you go,

man? I can't remember anything.

You guys been there? Like I don't have a

clue. You asked me on Monday at lunch, I

don't even know what we were talking

about on Sunday.

Why are we cotton candy Christians?

That God is communicating, the creator

of the universe is communicating and I

don't even have the attention span for

it to last 5 minutes after I get out of

the parking lot.

Am I preaching to anyone this morning?

>> I told you I'm not preaching to be

popular. Amen. I'm going to give you the

word. I'm going to give you the truth

and I'm going to share with you what I

know God gave me to give to you. We are

living in a culture and a time where we

are overfed with information and

underweight in obedience.

Man, we got podcast,

we got Tik Tok, YouTube, you can get 20

sermons before lunch if you want.

Yeah.

James says essentially,

if it never moves from your ears to your

feet, you're fooling yourself.

Hearers of the words, but not doers of

the word.

And let me give you some Bible on this.

Jesus said in John 14:15,

John 14:15

he says, "If," say if.

>> If you love me, keep my commandments.

if you love me.

We're pretty quick to say we love God.

Sometimes we're a little slow to keep

the commandments.

I think of Luke 6

46. I think it's echoed in Matthew 7.

Jesus says, "Why do you call me Lord,

Lord,

and don't do what I say?"

Why do you call me Lord of your life

but don't do what I'm asking you to do?

I thought it might be quiet today.

First John 5

three makes a declaration. And it says

this is love for God to keep his

commands. And his commands aren't

burdensome.

Once you cross over from my will and my

way and and all of this side of things

and you jump over in full surrender and

hungry for obedience and and God,

whatever you say, man, I'm I'm right

there.

Can I tell you that you look back and

you go, why did I ever live that way?

because it's so much harder to be on

this side of things. The torment, the

the turmoil, the all the different

stuff, the consequences of of me just

leading my own life, all of those

things. Man, I I get over here and I go,

I'm I'm not interested. The enemy will

come and he'll say, "Come back over.

Come back over." And I go, "Shut up,

devil. Why in the world would I want to

go back to the way?" And I'm not talking

he sins. I'm not talking the, you know,

all the stuff that's easy to see. I'm

talking about those those hidden spots

in my heart, those hidden agendas that

are mine. And and God's pulling me this

way, and I say, I don't know. I think

I'd rather go this way.

He who the sun sets free is free indeed.

Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and don't

do what I say?

And Jesus never said, "If you love me,

you'll get goosebumps during worship on

Sunday morning."

He never said, "Man, if you love me,

you're really going to feel the vibe."

Look at your neighbor. You got to do the

hand, though. Look at your neighbor and

say, "Feel the vibe."

>> Yeah.

He said, "If you love me, you'll obey

me.

If you love me,

you'll obey me.

If you're taking notes, you can write

this down. And it might be wise to do

so. I want to ask you a hard question

today,

and it might be worth meditating on this

week and praying into. Where have you

been listening and nodding,

but not obeying?

Where have you been listening

and agreeing

but not obeying?

Here's the prophetic word that God gave

me.

For some of you, it might be for all of

you.

You don't need a new word.

You need to obey the last word.

>> Amen.

We have this culture that's always

chasing the new word. Again, we're fat

on information and underweight in

obedience, but we'll hear this word and

do very little with it. We just like

that it made us feel good because it was

a good word. And then we'll chase this

word and we need a new word and we need

a new word.

You don't need a new word. You need to

obey the last one.

No fluff says I'm done just listening.

I'm ready to start walking.

Say no fluff.

>> Number two for your notes is no fluff

surrender.

This is from sweet talk to solid walk.

Amen.

A no fluff surrender.

Think of the idea. Some of this language

was in the church 10, 15 years ago about

recklessly abandoning self.

Recklessly abandoning yourself. That's

no fluff surrender. Too often we have so

many other things that we're carrying

and and we blame it on disciplehip.

Well, God's not done with me. Be patient

with me. I'm still growing.

I think of Jesus walking up to these

guys, meeting them for the first time.

They're at work. They're busy. Yeah, you

getting that work mentality. There's

fishing. He says, "Hey,

leave your stuff. Come follow me."

I mean, we'd be having I'd be like, "Who

who are you? You want me to leave?"

One guy says, "Man, I got a funeral I

got to go to." He says, "Hey, let the

dead bury their own dead. You come with

me.

I don't think we really understand in

America what faithfilled

surrender feels like and looks like.

There has to be this reckless

abandonment of self. The way that I

think, the way that I process

information, the things that I do, the

places that I go, the people I call

friends. There has to be an authentic

reckless abandonment of self.

No fluff surrender.

Look at your neighbor and say, "Shut the

fluff up."

Come on. Hey, you want the religious

church? There's some of those, man. Shut

the fluff up.

Oh man, I just made a whole lot of

people uncomfortable in church.

>> My daughter is appalled.

I noticed that hardly any of you said it

to your neighbor.

Golly, where was I?

No fluff surrender.

From sweet talk to solid walk. I mean,

let's be real for just a minute.

Christians talk a really big game.

Amen.

And we have a lot of confessions and a

lot of cliche statements, man. We'll

even use it in prayer. We use big

language. God, God, have your way. God,

just have your way in my life.

We make proclamation, Jesus, you're Lord

of my life.

We say things like, "I surrender all."

Oh my goodness, man. I remember being in

the old church. We used to sing that

song. You guys know it. I surrender all.

If you just got saved, you you too it

when you get home. It's an old song, but

I remember standing in a in a service

and uh man, it's a Pentecostal service,

man. People are emotional and we're all

singing this I surrender all and we're

just man all that's a good song, right?

And I'm looking around watching people

sing, but I'm pastor and I know too much

about everybody singing that song.

Amen.

And I'm looking around and I'm going

maybe your lyrics should be I surrender

some.

Right. I look over I go, "Oh, she's

she's doing all right." Maybe maybe hers

could be I surrender most.

But I surrender all.

Do you actually

Is our proclamation for God bigger than

the life that we live for God?

Am I making you uncomfortable?

The real test of surrender isn't what

you sing on Sunday morning.

It's what you do when nobody else is

looking.

When God's will collides with my will,

and it happens all too often, which will

I choose?

When God steps in and rearranges

my plans, we all make them,

right? There's a struggle going on there

because I have my ideas and I have this

is what I think, man. And there's

nothing wrong with it. Good idea. But

but the question is, is it a God idea?

And I get going, man. I I'm a kind of a

driven personality. I get move in this

direction. And God says, "Uh, no. I want

you to go this way." And then God and I

start wrestling.

Amen.

Who's the Lord of my life here?

Who's calling the shots?

God will speak to me and has many times

over the years about money.

We just talked about money and rooted.

Good stuff.

I was thinking back uh when we were in

church, man, we were just newly married

and we're the kids in church, right?

Hanging out with all the old folks and

and uh as our pastor was up there and

and sister so and so needs a car. Her

car broke down, right?

And God put a number in my spirit and a

number in her spirit. I didn't know

which number, but I'm starting to feel

some kind of way. And so we start

communicating with God gave us the same

number. It was a lot of money, more than

what we were comfortable with. But when

God starts speaking, who am I going to

obey?

When he interrupts our schedule, when he

calls us out of our comfort zone, man,

we all like the idea of Jesus take the

wheel till he takes us down a road we

don't like.

Our song changes real quick, don't we?

Sweet talk.

It's a solid walk. Sweet talk.

Real good at sweet talking.

Lord, lead my life.

Solid walk, says, "Lord,

I'm with you." And you know what?

There's less talk and more action.

God says it and I do it. I just go.

If Jesus is only Lord

until he disagrees with me,

he's not Lord. He's a consultant.

I don't know, hun. Do you think Grace

Summit's ready for this heavy of a Okay.

Mark 12 and verse 30 and 31.

Jesus was kind of approached and asked

what the greatest commandment was in the

Bible. He says, "And you shall love the

Lord your God with all your heart, with

all your soul, with all your mind, and

with all your strength." And the second

is this. You shall love your neighbor as

yourself. There's no other commandment

greater than these.

Man, we hear scriptures like that. It's

a theme verse. I love God. Oh, I just

love God with all of my heart, all of my

soul.

Do you I love my neighbor as myself. Do

you

I'm preaching to myself. Amen.

Say we love everybody.

And then God drops that person

capital that

right in your path. You know who I'm

talking about, right? Some of you just

had visions of humans in your brain.

Drops that that person in your path. the

the one that annoys you, the one that

drains you. Can we just tell the truth

in church, right? The one that disagrees

with you, that's argumentative, and

they're not even trying to, it's just

who they are. And you know what I'm

talking about, right? We all have they

have those situations. I love everybody.

And then that person shows up, and I'm

like, I'm out of here, man.

We start justifying it. I don't have to

put up with her.

Yeah.

And then we say, "I just had enough

peopleling today." All right, I need to

separate a little bit.

Love God with everything that you are.

And love people,

loving everyone. And the one that votes

differently than you,

thinks differently than you,

sins differently than you,

the one that consistently disappoints

you.

That's who we're called to love.

It's easy to love people in theory,

isn't it? It's easy to boast about

being a loving person,

but it's hard to love that person

in that situation.

You know, solid walk is forgiving

even when it hurts.

It's showing up when it's radically

inconvenient for you.

It's loving people, giving to people who

don't have the ability to pay you back.

If the love that I express

never costs me anything,

it's probably just a feeling, not fruit.

Amen.

>> The love of God is a sacrificial love.

That means there's a price to be paid in

order to express it.

You don't have to feel it.

I'm nice to people I don't like all the

time.

Shut the fluff up. Come on.

Love isn't a feeling. Love is an action.

And prayer is another one.

We believe in the power of prayer. Amen.

>> Yes.

>> Prayer is powerful.

But here's the big one that we do when

we're talking about cotton candy

Christianity.

How many times do we say there they're

sharing their stuff? I'll be praying for

you.

Did you

pray for them?

I'll pray for you. Oh, he sent it in

text messages.

Yeah,

I'll pray for you. We're praying for

you. We love you. Did you pray for them?

Man, I just felt some toes curl back

praying.

We say we believe in the power of

prayer. We have that confession. We'll

even express that to others that we're

doing it. But why didn't we do it?

Jesus said, "If you love me, you'll obey

me." And here's the crazy thing that

happens when we go from cotton candy

Christianity to real Christianity is the

things that we say and the things that

we do are one and the same.

Amen.

>> Sweet talk to solid walk.

Too often we don't even pray for our own

circumstances.

We default to venting or complaining or

just staying stuck and use prayer like a

last resort instead of a first response.

If we talk to people about our problems

more than we talk to God about them,

that's still cotton candy Christianity.

Amen. Say, don't be a sweet talker,

man. We talk about the word of God. I

love the word. I live according to the

Bible. Uh, too often we want a Bible

that comforts us, but not a Bible that

confronts us. We like the bumper sticker

scriptures. I can do all things through

Christ who strengthens me. Oh, that's

just my verse. It just speaks to me. I

love that one.

What do you do with the scriptures you

don't like? Amen. What do you do with

the ones that say get rid of all the

evil and the filth in your life? What do

you do with the ones that say don't be a

gossip?

Oh my goodness. What do you do with the

scriptures you don't like? Man, those

are the ones we should be running to.

And and man, you know, James Seir says

it's like a looking into a mirror.

You get to see yourself.

I don't want a cotton candy sermon. I

don't want cotton candy Christianity. I

want conviction of sin.

Truth is, most of us don't have a Bible

problem. We have an obedience problem.

You know, we do the same thing with

serving. We have all of these

confession. I think about Pastor Mark. I

think about uh you know, the confession

that we have. I'm all about the next

generation. Oh man, I just believe in

the the young people should be able to

hear Jesus,

but then we never serve in kid ministry.

Amen.

I believe we should have a place where

all this stuff, but we but we never give

to the vision.

Amen. I I believe in the law. I want I

believe in lost people getting saved,

but we never initiate the conversation.

We never engage and invite

M

James 1:22 says, "But don't just listen

James 1:22

to the God's word.

You must do what it says."

You must do what it says. Otherwise,

you're only fooling yourselves.

My yes to God has to be louder than my

feelings, my comfort, and my plans.

Number three in your notes is no fluff,

church.

from sugar high to real substance.

You know, if all we have is cotton candy

faith, cotton candy surrender,

then when we meet together, all we have

is cotton candy church.

Amen.

Thin. It's watered down. Look at your

neighbor and say, "Bring me the steak."

I like cotton candy. Hey, we like to

have fun at Grace Summit, right? We have

cotton candy in church. But I want more

than lights, camera, action. I want more

than than the fluff. Amen.

>> I've been in some circles, man. It's

just that's all it is. It's so thin. I

go, man, where's the meat? Hungry. I'm

hungry, man. I got to feel some kind of

way. I want you to stir something up on

the inside of me to get me motivated.

And I think about this scripture.

Consider how we can spur one another on

towards love and good works. Amen. Amen.

>> How do we how do we kind of poke each

other and get go, man, that's that's not

good in your life. I love you too much

to let you see you continue in that

stuff. Let me poke you a little bit. Let

me encourage you along the way. Let's

have some real Christianity with real

confrontation. Amen. With real love and

real grace and real mercy. And and

here's the reality is we have real

people with real hurts and real hang-ups

that don't need passivity.

>> That's right. H we have real marriages

on the rocks

that need a revival that need an older

married couple that have that have gone

through it man have got the victory and

figured some things out to come

alongside the younger struggling to be

real Christians and pour into them and

bless them.

We have lost and dying people out there

that need real Christians to show up.

We have prodals

that have wandered from the faith.

They once knew God and now they're far

away.

And God is looking, I believe, for real

Christians

with real power, real freedom to give

them real truth.

We don't need sugar coating. We need

substance. I just believe the days of

playing it safe and being passive have

to leave the church world.

Amen. Say what needs to be said. Do it

with love. Do it with grace. But say it.

Paul said, "I'm not ashamed of the

gospel. It's the power of God unto

salvation."

I don't think God's

just looking for hype. I think he's

looking for holiness.

not impressed with how sweet we sound or

the words that we use, but he's moved by

how surrendered we walk.

I believe this for Grace Summit Church.

God's not building a carnival here.

Amen.

>> Cotton candy and cupcakes.

Even though we have cotton candy today,

I believe that God is allowing us to be

a Holy Spirit hospital where sick

people, broken people, lost people can

walk in. And man, I watch what God does

in this house.

How faithful so many of you are. How

powerful of a testimony you have and

what God's doing. And I watch the

younger people. I watch the new people.

I watch the broken people come in and

God blesses them through your life. Man,

that is encouraging and that's powerful

and that's what God's up to. I believe

Grace Summit Church is a type of

spiritual training center to disciple to

move us uh from from new Christian to to

mature Christian to disciple that's

that's being raised up that's being used

through the power of God.

>> It's no fluff faith. It's no fluff

surrender. It's no fluff church.

James says, "If you listen to the word

and don't obey it, it's like glancing

at your face in a mirror."

I want to close with this thought.

You guys ever go out in public and see

people in public

that don't look like they should be in

public?

It's trending more and more. I don't

remember that as much when I was a kid,

but you go to Walmart and I'm like,

what?

I'm like, are those fluffy slippers?

Like, what are we doing

in public?

You know, hair's all sideways. They got

bed head.

And I'm going, did you even brush your

teeth before you came out, man? Like,

what's go, you know?

>> Yeah. Aren't you guys thankful for a

good mirror at your house?

James said, "When you hear the word of

God and you don't obey," he said, "It's

like looking in the mirror

and leaving and forgetting what you look

like."

It It's kind of like waking up, looking

in the mirror, and seeing spinach in

your teeth and all the craziness,

and then leaving and going out into the

world like you're God's gift to

creation.

You guys have met those people, too.

You know, the ones that get me are the

ones that you can tell tried to look

like that. Like they looked in the

mirror and they laughed and I'm going,

"They thought they looked good."

Yeah. Somebody needs to tell them

that hairstyle died in 1983, man.

Yeah. Or whatever. you know, but but

that's I kind of picture James kind of

joking around a little bit, but but why

is it that when we read the word, we

don't do it, man. It's like it's almost

like going to the spiritual realm that

that God can see everything about you

and and we are walking through that

spiritual realm and God's going, "Why

didn't you get the spinach out of your

teeth?

Why didn't you Why didn't you fix

yourself up a little bit? Do your hair

before you before you went out?"

cuz I read the word. I heard the word,

but it didn't travel from here the seven

ines down to here to get into my heart.

And it didn't move from my ears to my

feet to become action.

If you listen to the word and don't obey

it, it's like glancing at your face in

the mirror. You see yourself,

you walk away and you forget what you

look like.

I'm going to ask the worship team to

join me up here.

I know today was a heavy day

and a different day.

I believe God is calling us

to get up and get going. Amen.

We don't need a new word. This is the

season that we get to obey the last word

that God spoke to us. And my lips and my

actions are saying the same thing that

when I say I love God, my life is a

representation of loving God.

If I say that I believe in prayer, my

life is a prayerful life. Amen.

Let's stand to our feet all over this

house.

James says, "If you look carefully into

the perfect law that sets you free,

and if you do what it says and don't

forget what you heard,

then God will bless you for doing it."

Praise you, Jesus. Father, we are hungry

for more of you.

Lord, I thank you for calling us sons

and daughters.

Father, I thank you that we've been

grafted into the family of God. And

Father, I pray that we would carry your

name well. Father, that we would carry

the title Christian well, God. Father, I

pray that we would have ears to hear and

eyes to see and a heart to obey, God.

That we would move with you in every

little uncction, every little nuance,

every little thing that you're sharing

with us, God, that we're so steadfast

after you that we just move.

Father, I pray over those specific ones

in this house that you've spoken a word

over them in the past and they have yet

to obey it. Father, I pray for the

courage and the umption today, God,

to step into that place of obedience.

I thank you, God, for moving us and

stirring us.

Lord, I thank you for the calling that

you have upon this house

that we, Father, would have high impact

for the building of your kingdom.

Father, that you would use us to make

heaven crowded.

Lord, so grateful to serve you today.

Praise you Jesus. So Lord I pray

blessing over everyone now in Jesus

name. Amen.