The Sin of Tolerance

Hey.

Welcome to Church Online this morning.

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My name is Brandon.

I'm Cody.

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It's November uh 11th.

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But yeah, lots of stuff going on this season.

So much, so much.

Um, but we got a great service today.

We do.

It's gonna be awesome.

Uh, if you've been tracking with us, you know that we are in the series called Seven, and we're looking at uh what God says to the seven churches in the book of Revelation.

And so, man, it's been so powerful and so good.

Uh, we would highly encourage you to go back onto the archives to the app or the website and uh catch up if you've missed any of uh those uh sermons in the series and catch up and today we're jumping back in, it's gonna be amazing.

Linking up live with our walnut grove campus with Pastor Russ, and it's gonna be so good.

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We're gonna jump into some more ships.

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So grab what you need, grab that app real quick, uh get it downloaded, get it open, download the sermon notes.

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Let's go, I'm gonna go.

So now you five way for the road, but I want to be on take you out.

You said your grace is always in love, you set your heart, never forget of save me.

You say I'm saying, I'm your church, you ever see that you had to work, I've seen how to do the work in your company.

I've taken you a joke.

At the age of accountability for them, we believe parents, this is a partnership.

So we do it because it's it's of the Lord.

But regardless of what age you are, the enemy might just tap, tap, tap.

You were dedicated.

If you've trusted Jesus, you've been dedicated to the Lord.

If you don't know the Lord, then you know what?

Lord, I pray for the dedication over each person who doesn't know the Lord.

And I dedicate them to the Lord.

And I pray for spiritual parents.

And I pray for people to come around them that will that will help them grow up in their faith.

So you've now been dedicated to the Lord.

So we can see God work.

Amen.

All right.

That does not, all that does not count to my time to the sermon.

Just so you know that.

And I actually am pulling out my timer, uh, because I, you know, I I can be, I know you this is a shock, but I can be a bit long-winded.

Um and and what we're doing is what we're teaching through in Revelation in these in these seven letters, and by the way, my name is Russ.

I always I want to introduce my name is Russ.

I'm one of the pastors here at Church at the Grove, so founding pastor, um, and and been here since day one uh with the handful of families that helped us plant this church, and uh God has just blessed us in so many in so many ways.

And so I want to say welcome.

There may be some of you here for the first time, maybe second time.

You are so welcome.

Every, you know, everybody's welcome.

And we say this at churches that grow, everybody's welcome.

I don't care what your background is, I don't care what your beliefs are, you are welcome.

And so we because we want to share the love of Jesus with you.

And so what we're doing in this series we're in, is the series is called Seven.

Seven.

I just mainly uh I wanted to do a series um in honor of my friend Jeff, uh Jeff Hughes.

And if you know Jeff, he he sends out these prayer uh texts with just the number seven.

I get a text message from him during the week, and it's just the number seven, and it's it's it's he's saying, I'm praying for you.

And so he sings, Jeff sings right up here on this side of the stage, he's up here this morning on this side of the stage.

I'm kidding.

This is a series on the seven letters of Revelation.

Seven letters.

So we're in Revelation 2 and Revelation 3.

Um, we're not going through the whole book of Revelation, and this probably would be a great time to look at some of the things in the book of Revelation, but but um but we're not going to at this point.

Um I I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'm gonna share a little bit about just how I feel about this season that the world is in and how my spirit feels.

Um But but what we're talking about today is um we're looking at the church of Thyatira.

Thyatira.

It's found in Revelation chapter 2, verse 18.

Revelation 2:18

And so the issue that we're looking at in this particular passage, probably the overarching issue is is the issue of tolerance.

The issue of tolerance, and that has become uh a very uh polarizing word or concept in our culture, probably extremely misunderstood.

Tolerance, just definition or understanding, is when one allows or permits or accepts an action, idea, an object, or a person that one dislikes or disagrees with.

And in that sense, I want you to know that Jesus practiced tolerance.

Jesus stood in between.

He stood in between the woman caught in adultery and the religious men that wanted to cast stones at her.

Jesus stood in between people who were being condemned and the people that wanted to condemn them.

Jesus stood for the people who were left out, and he wanted to include them.

Jesus stood, and so in the sense, in the sense of just tolerances, hey, there's somebody that has a, there they believe differently than me.

They grow up, they grew up differently than me.

They have a different culture than me, but I am going to show kindness, I'm going to show love, I'm going to show compassion.

Jesus demonstrated that.

He looked at the crowds and he saw them as sheep scattered without a shepherd, needing guidance and needing love.

But here's the problem with tolerance and how it has become to be used in our culture.

It often dismisses the reality of absolute truth.

And I know that is that I'm I'm I'm I'm that that's immediately controversial.

It dismisses the idea that there is something that is right and that there is something that is wrong.

There are things that are right and there are things that are wrong.

And I will tell you, the source of what we know is right and wrong, it comes from the Word of God.

It comes from the Bible.

And so the only problem that we run into, and this is uh, you know, the Gallup poll, Gallup did a poll in 1994 and asked if there was a such thing as absolute truth, or a truth varied from person to person and situation to situation.

In 1994, 67% of Americans believed there was no such thing as absolute truth.

And most recent surveys show that that number continues to grow higher and higher.

Even things once universally accepted as now being questioned are now up for grabs.

It's just whatever you think.

Your truth suits you, you do you, and you just tolerate anything else that anybody says that they believe.

And we all know that the end of that path is a difficult, tragic ending.

There is such a thing as absolute truth.

There's things that we know to be right, and there's things that we know to be wrong.

The lack of that understanding is chaos.

It's chaos in a world where God wants there to be order.

He created order.

Do you know that the earth rotates around the sun absolutely on a regular basis?

That's called God's design.

So there are systems in place.

Our bodies.

Um my body tells me today that we are not following an absolute system of time throughout 12 months of the year.

You know, we there's a lot of different opinions about about um daylight savings.

And so I I kind of tend to, I like that extra hour.

Yesterday was a busy day, so I kind of enjoyed that.

But but you know, by at four or five o'clock tonight, I'm I'm gonna, oh man, I gotta wait till 9.30 to go to bed.

I mean, that's you know, and I know you're laughing because I go to bed at 9.30, but I'm just all right.

I hope you understand what I'm saying.

This this view is often received in common statements like no one has a right to tell me what's right or wrong.

It's wrong to impose your beliefs and morals on someone else.

And I don't, I don't, I don't want to uh impose uh everything that I believe on other people.

I want to I want to share the love of Christ.

I want to love people with the love of Christ.

I want people who are unaware of what truth is and the fact that we have access to truth to understand it.

It's what we would call, it's this term biblical worldview.

You all have a worldview.

Everybody has a worldview.

And if you haven't defined it, then you've allowed somebody else to define it for you.

You need to know what your worldview is.

And if you haven't, then choose to investigate.

Hopefully, you'll land on an understanding of a biblical worldview.

And a worldview is a is a lens.

It's the lens through which you look through to determine the important things that we understand.

Who am I?

Where did I come from?

How should I live?

Where will I go after I die?

Is there a place that I go?

All of those things are huge when we're thinking about a worldview, how we should live, how we should uh it affects how we should engage in our community, it affects how we should engage in being involved.

I don't think the world is going to be saved by bullets or bombs or even ballots, but we should be engaged in our communities and and and vote.

I think that's our responsibility.

So I hope everybody says amen when I start preaching and getting into the so that's a long introduction.

Um how does that how does that how does that apply?

Um you would think the people that go to church or are part of the church that believe in the gospel, that follow Jesus would have a high view of truth.

However, only 50% of Protestants in America believe in an absolute standard of truth.

And that's scary.

There are certain things that are absolutely sinful, and that and they should be universally accepted as sinful.

And I know there's some things that we would not agree on, and that's that's okay.

That's probably not it's probably not uh, you know, it's it's probably not a healthy thing to think that and we're all gonna agree, all of us even in the same church, but but hopefully on the big things we might agree.

So here's here's where we are in this series.

Um we are we're looking at how how John, the apostle John, who followed Jesus from a young man, about 19 years old, 18 years old, 20 years old.

He Jesus tells John, hey, drop everything you've got and come follow me.

And so they developed a very close relationship.

And he follows Jesus and he gives his life to Jesus.

So much so that when Jesus is hanging on the cross, there's a couple of people, a few people are at the foot of the cross.

Two of them are Jesus' mother and John.

And Jesus looks down and says, Hey, John, this woman here is now your mother.

Would you you it is your responsibility to take care of her?

And so I would think that Jesus felt pretty highly of John.

Now, based on what John writes in his gospel, he is Jesus' favorite.

He says so.

I mean, you I you know, you any of you are multiple children from from your parents.

I've got I had two brothers.

I know I'm the favorite.

I was the baby.

And so um I I heard him say that.

I, you know, that's what but but John he really said, he said, I'm the beloved.

I'm he himself the beloved.

I I mean, and he was definitely in Jesus' inner circle.

And so John, John is at the end of his life.

He he had been, they, he had, he had been taken and put in a hot vat of boiling water by the Roman Emperor.

They tried to kill him by boiling him.

He survived it.

And then they exiled him to this Isle of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, off the coast of modern-day Turkey, what at that time was called Asia Minor, where these seven churches are.

And so the very beginning of this book, the book of Revelation begins with John saying, I let me tell you about Jesus.

Jesus is high and lifted up.

He is the Alpha and the Omega, He is the beginning and the end.

He is the one who was and is and is to come.

And one of my seminary professors said, Rush, he said, put all of your charts away from the book of Revelation and let me help you understand.

The book of Revelation is all about Jesus.

It's not necessarily about how to figure out when the end of the world is.

It's all about Jesus.

That's what this book is about.

And so he writes these letters to Ephesus.

We started at the beginning of the series.

He says, I see your works, but you've left your first love.

That's a simplified review.

The second week, the book at the church at Smyrna, he doesn't correct them.

He just commends them.

He says, I know you are in tribulation, I know you're suffering, and I know you're in poverty, but I want you to know because of Jesus and you are rich.

You are rich, and you have the crown of life and the hope that comes from a relationship with Jesus.

Last week we looked at the letter written to the church called Pergamum that had compromised.

The church largely was committed to Jesus, but some of the church had compromised their faith from due to due to being persecuted and attacked from outside the church.

And so today it's Thyra, Thia, Thia, Tyra.

This church was located 35 miles southeast of Pergamum.

I don't think we have the map in um but but I but but look in the back, get a Bible, and and good Bibles have maps in the back.

So uh look at one of the maps, and you can see Asia Minor and see those churches laid out.

You can look this stuff up on the internet.

You can get uh you know, a good study Bible that has that has pictures and maps and stuff.

It's a small city, smallest one mentioned out of all the seven, but the longest letter that is written by Jesus through the Apostle John.

And they're located on a major Roman road.

And so there's a lot of commerce, busy commercial.

It was a very busy commercial center because of the Roman uh road that it was built on.

Here's what he says.

So, verse 18 of Revelation chapter 2.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

Revelation chapter 2.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

Write this letter to the angel of the church in Thyatira.

This is the message from the Son of God, whose eyes are like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze.

Here's what he's saying.

He's immediately identifying Jesus in his rightful place of deity.

It's coming from Jesus.

And he's stressing, he's got eyes of flames of fire, feet like polished bronze.

Um, he can pierce through the facades that we try to portray.

I love, I love reading, you gotta read the whole Bible.

Because there's parts of the Bible that you would read and you read and you see the compassion and you see the soft-hearted, caring side of Jesus.

I love that.

He became human, he he died in humility, and and and and and um he was died naked on a cross.

He suffered for you and I.

And so, in that sense, he was he was he was human.

That's it, that was his humanity.

But he was God, and so I love revelation and other passages lift him up.

He is God, he will come back.

He came born as a humble baby in humble circumstances, he will return on a white horse in triumph.

Maybe sooner than we think.

And the point is, not when, but are you ready?

So he's he's giving us this picture of Jesus.

Verse 19, I know all things, I know all the things you knew.

Now this is Jesus speaking.

John is the one who writes it.

Jesus is speaking.

He says, I know all the things you do.

I mean, I let me see, let me let me tell you, I'm a pastor.

I'm a pastor.

But I'm a man.

I'm a human.

So I am not gonna portray to you that I've got it all together.

So can I just speak to the man for a second?

There's probably a couple things that all of us men struggle with.

I'm not even gonna mention it, but you know what I'm talking about, don't you?

I understand that.

I can identify with that.

Jesus says, I know all things you do, I know all your thoughts, I know what you're doing secret.

Men?

You try to do things hidden behind the scenes.

Think your wife doesn't know, she knows.

You think you think God doesn't know, he knows.

That's more important than your wife knowing.

And my wife and God are, you know, sometimes indistinguishable.

I mean, I'm just kidding.

She she is pretty, pretty, she uh she's pretty important and and very and very I have I have a huge respect for my wife.

He says, I've seen your love, I've your faith and your service and your patient endurance.

I can see your constant improvement in all these things.

So he says, I he says, I know all things you do, which is like, uh oh.

And then he says, encouraging things.

I see your love, I see how you love for love people, you're representing the love of Jesus.

I see your faith, I see your service, I see your patient endurance.

And so, man, facing difficult times, facing this listen, Domitian is the emperor of Rome.

This is probably the end of that first century.

John is an old man, so 95-ish A.D.

And Domitian is vicious.

He is awful.

You go back and look at the Roman emperors.

Nero, he lighted his garden by taking Christians and covering them in black pitch and lighting them on fire.

He had his garden parties.

That's how he lighted his garden.

Nero was awful in his own ways.

Domitian was awful in his own ways.

And so he's saying, I see your endurance even in the midst of the persecution you're experiencing from the Roman Empire.

And so if we stop here, we see the church is doing pretty well.

So let me ask this church at the grove, how are we doing?

How are we doing?

How are we doing?

Are we are we are we a church that that is growing in faithfulness and our love for Jesus and the way we love, the way we serve, the way we represent our Lord Jesus to the community?

Are we?

I would love, I love it when I talk to people in the community that don't go to our church and I get to hear good, I hear feedback.

Most often it's good.

I'd say, I don't, I mean, I would say all the time.

A lot of times criticism is not heard as much.

And so, if he would look at your life, our life as a church, how have we been doing the last six months?

How have we been doing?

What are we looking forward to in the next couple of years?

Are we going to be obedient to what God is calling us to do?

To how we're going to continue to reach people in this community, represent Jesus to the schools, represent Jesus to the families in this community.

And so verse 20, here's what he says.

He says, but, but, he said, I see all this good stuff, but I have this complaint against you.

You are permitting that woman, that woman, that Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet, to lead my servants astray.

She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols.

I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn away from her immorality.

That woman.

That woman.

Jezebel.

Do you know who Jezebel was?

You know, one thing, I have never seen a baby named Jezebel, dedicated to the Lord.

So go back to 1 Kings 19.

Go, go, just read, like, go back to that story, 1 Kings 19.

Elijah has this battle with the prophets of Baal.

He wins the battle.

I mean, he calls fire down from heaven.

They call fire down and nothing happens.

And Elijah, I mean, I would have walked out of there.

I'd have been, yeah, yeah.

I showed you.

And Elijah, so so when all this happens, Jezebel, Jezebel, Ahab was the king of the northern kingdom of Israel.

Ungodly, disobedient, dishonored God.

I mean, brought reproach upon God's people of the northern kingdom.

And the main character who influences Ahab is Jezebel.

I'm talking a rotten, evil, despicable woman.

When I was in Israel, I was able to visit a place where they had uncovered an altar where they are absolutely, fairly, absolutely certain.

I want to say absolutely certain, because archaeology is a tricky thing, but they believe that Ahab and Jezebel sacrificed children on that altar in the northern part of the kingdom of Israel.

Children.

So that's the spirit of Jezebel.

And so this woman in the church is not, her name probably isn't even Jezebel.

And the point is not that she's a listen, let me make sure.

This is not against women.

This just happens to be a woman.

So this has nothing to do with gender.

It's just this is a very bad influence in this local church.

So bad that God, Jesus, through John, identifies her with the spirit of Jezebel.

And she is leading the church astray.

She is teaching them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols.

And he says, I give her time to repent, but she does not want to turn away from her immorality.

So even God, even Jesus, in this terrible situation, he is reaching out to Jezebel.

I'm going to give you a chance to repent.

There's compassion.

There's love.

There's invitation.

And so there are demonic forces at work.

And some, not all, but some of the believers have compromised their faith.

They've allowed their faith to be compromised.

Some, not all, because he says, some of you, he said, I see some of you, I see your faith, I see your endurance, I see your good works, I see, I see God at work.

And so let me give you a little historical information that helps us understand this city a little more.

Thyatira.

It was a city made up of guilds.

Probably the word that we would most likely use to understand guilds is the word union.

And so it's probably blue-collar, and these people working are joined to these to these working groups of people.

And listen, that's unions and stuff.

My dad was in a union.

So I'm of the idea of the approach that unions can be good, unions can be bad.

There's not, it just depends on, you know, leadership and there.

But what they were doing in these guilds and unions in Thia Tyra is they were they were endorsing pagan practices.

I mean, just ungodly stuff.

And so here's the dilemma.

If you were a Christian in Thia, you were probably working a job, and this job was connected to a guild or a union.

And they would go to the union guild meetings and they would be involved in ungodly pagan worship practices.

Can you see and understand the position that these Christians are being put into?

It's similar to situations that we might collide with in our modern culture.

And the question is, are we going to stand tight with what is right over what is wrong?

If we begin to compromise our standards and the truth of God's word to make it more palatable for others, we ultimately do not trust him and the provision that he provides for us.

And so this woman's called out.

There's a point where we cannot be tolerant of things that are absolutely going against the truth of God's revelation.

The truth of Jesus, the truth of the word, the truth of the Holy Spirit convicting us.

Richard Evans says this.

He says, whatever we tolerate in moderation, our children will indulge in excess.

All right.

Verse 22, therefore I will throw her.

Here's what he said.

This is the judgment.

This is the judgment of Jesus.

He said, this is what Jezebel gets.

And so I don't, you know, her name was probably not Jezebel.

It was a spirit.

It was disobedience.

Disobedience brings consequences.

It's what Jill and I just taught our kids.

I mean, they probably got sick and tired of hearing us say, obedience brings blessings.

Disobedience brings consequences.

Obedience brings blessings.

Disobedience brings consequences.

We were at a wedding last night.

Jeff and Patty Baker, who helped help us start church, their son Ryan got married.

And so I mean, very, it doesn't happen often, but my whole family's together.

My daughter, she um, my daughter got married, um, and so her husband, Birch.

I love him.

No, he's he's he is the best.

He's the greatest.

It's just so hard to say that.

My daughter's husband.

Oh.

I just so that and Josiah, uh 20, he's 25, almost 26, and Caleb 18.

So we're all there.

So I mean, I would have, if I'd have said, I mean, if I would, I could have said it last night.

Obedience brings blessings, and they would have been, and disobedience brings consequences.

Dad, we know.

We got it.

And I'm like, do you?

Really?

Do you really?

Because you're on they're on their own.

I'm not there.

That's why I'm like, you know what?

Sometimes the Lord tells me puts it on my heart.

I know what you are doing.

Like he says here.

He really doesn't say that.

I really don't know what they're doing.

I just want them to think I do know.

Yeah, yeah.

All right, that's so wrong.

Um Revelation verse 24, but he says, but also I have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching.

So he just lets, he lets Jezebel have it.

He says, I he said, Listen, you you want, you want to, you wanna you wanna take your bed and use it for ungodly things?

He said, You want a bed, I'll give you one.

It will be a bed of agonizing pain and suffering and hurt.

To those of you committing adultery, entering into those things, there will be judgment.

There will be consequences.

But I also have a message for the rest of you, verse 24 in Thyatira, who have not followed this false teaching.

I will ask nothing more of you except that you hold tightly to what you have, until you hold tightly to what you have until I come.

Alright, so here he's now he's talking about when I come.

The book of Revelation, it does talk about the return of Jesus until I come.

To all who are victorious who obey me to the very end, to them I will give authority over the nations.

I'll give authority over the nations.

They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.

They will have the same authority I received from my father, and I will also give them the morning star.

Now, the reference there would be to go back and read Psalm 2.

I'm not going to take mine to do that right now, but to read Psalm 2, there, there we don't see the reference to Jesus as the Son of Man in the New Testament as much, but this morning star reference is definitely goes to Psalm 2 as a reference point.

Go back and look at that.

I won't take the time to do that.

Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he's saying to the churches.

He closes the letter by talking to those who remain faithful, who reject false teachings, and follow the Lord Jesus with their heart without any compromise.

And he quotes Psalm 2, and he says, I'm going to give you authority over the nations.

That comes from Psalm 2.

They will be co-rulers of Christ.

He will give them the morning star, the Psalm 2, which Jesus used to describe himself in Revelation 22, 16 also.

So what's the reward?

It's Jesus.

It's Jesus.

What's the book of Revelation about?

Jesus.

Jesus.

It's about Jesus.

He is high and lifted up.

He's the Alpha and the Omega.

He was the one who was and is and is to come.

Now, I listen.

I'm going to be honest with you.

I don't like the news.

I check headlines.

I don't keep the TV on all day.

I don't.

It's just depressing.

You know, wah, wah, wah.

And so talking heads do not teach the truth.

And so I check headlines.

So here, here, now this is this is the honest God's truth.

So on Friday night, October 6th, October 6th was the 50th anniversary day that Israel was attacked on their high holy day called Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement.

And so that Friday night, Jill and I, the nerds that we are, are watching a documentary on that day of attack that the other Arab nations attacked the nation of Israel on their Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.

And that's an incredible story.

1973, you know, I have a heart for the people of Israel.

They are, I mean, I love the history of Israel.

We are related.

You know, you know, Jesus was Jewish.

You do know that.

And so I wake up on Saturday morning.

I don't watch the news, but I do check headlines.

And I'm watching now, you know, Israel, Israel, I'm watching stuff that's already happened hours.

I mean, almost a full day, because of the time change between here and Israel.

So at 6.30 that morning, these terrorists come and attack these villages, people in horrendous ways.

Horrendous.

And I'm gonna I'm gonna just be honest.

I'm gonna be honest with you, as those events unfolded, I begin to think about the book of Israel and the reality that we could be close to the end times.

Now, I don't know.

And I don't, I am not gonna live preoccupied with whether or not we are right at the end, you know, at the time when Jesus is returning.

I'm gonna be preoccupied with Jesus, period.

But here's I'm gonna tell you, I'm just being honest with you.

There's a check in my spirit that says, man, we need to be ready.

The word prepare, get our hearts right before God.

And and I and I I know that this is me, and I'm not imposing, but I I I am I am a I am going to support the nation of Israel because of the promises to God given to the nation of Israel.

Tom Kirby, who used to be the state representative in the area, he's he has organized an opportunity for some Christians to come and be a part of the Shabbat worship for a synagogue in Snellville this Friday night at 7.30 temple.

Um let me let me pull it up.

Tom, you can just yell it out.

Temple Beth David, Temple Beth David at 7.30 in Snellville.

If you are interested, find us.

We'll send out the address.

It's just one of those things where it's just it's just supporting, trying to show support.

Um, and I'm gonna tell you, my heart breaks.

My heart breaks.

My heart breaks for Palestinians that are innocent, that are not, that are not attacking Israel, that don't, that don't have the purpose of eliminating the nation of Israel.

My heart hurts for them, the people that will suffer because of the conflict.

My heart hurts for the Palestinian people that need the love of Jesus just as much as it hurts for the Israelite, the Israeli people that were that lost family members in those areas that were attacked.

We should be moved to compassion by all people that need the love of Jesus Christ.

Now here's how we're gonna respond this morning.

The first opportunity for you to respond is to simply acknowledge that you need Jesus.

You've never put your faith in Jesus, and you need to repent and believe and say, yes, Jesus, Jesus, he is my Lord, he's my savior.

I'm gonna turn my life over to him.

And that would be that would be somewhat like a prayer that you would say, and we say, and I tell you, if that's you, just you you you say that prayer.

I can't, I'm not gonna give you the words.

I'm not gonna put the words in your mouth.

There's no magical, there's no mantra.

That's one of the things that separates Christianity is you can talk to Jesus, God yourself, and say, I want to put my faith in Jesus.

Say it in your own words.

Jesus said to repent and believe.

That's how he said it.

The second response is the response of just repentance.

I think the message to many of these churches is to call believers who might be either in compromise or leaning toward compromise to call you back to repentance.

Men, men, remember that that statement?

Jesus says, I know what you're doing.

I'm telling you, men, the Lord, I think, is start wants to call us to a place of repentance.

We being the leaders of our home, us leading the way.

And we tend to be the quiet, we tend to be shy about it.

What does it mean to repent?

It means you throw yourself before the Lord, and you may already have a relationship with Jesus, but you've got some things you're hiding or you're doing in secret, and you just come to him and we say, Hey, what is it?

What come to the altar?

Come to the altar.

What is an altar?

An altar is a place of sacrifice.

And so when I come to the altar, I'm just saying, you know what?

I am giving you my heart and my life.

I'm laying my heart and my life on the altar.

And so sometimes you stand there at the end of a service while we're singing a song like a lump on a log, when I know the Holy Spirit is working in your heart, and you need to get up out of your chair, kneel down where you are, or come up here.

Repent.

Repent.

And that starts with me.

So what a last response is to I really want you to have a correct understanding of the word of what tolerance is versus what the culture wants you to buy into to make it.

True tolerance is saying, you know what?

I'm gonna love people that are different than me because that is the heart of God.

I I'm, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna tolerate people around me.

I'm I'm gonna, and that's because I I know that's the heart of Jesus.

Now, I'm but I'm not gonna compromise my values, my beliefs, and my understanding of what truth is.

Does that make sense?

Father, would you work?

Would you speak?

Would you bring us to a place of repentance?

Start just with God, anybody that's willing to say, you know what, I need to come.

I need to come and I need to lay my heart on the altar.

I need to come and just lay my life.

Thank you guys so much for just working with us today.

We hope that you were just encouraged and challenged around the story this morning and uh what he's called to you.

And we would just love to partner with you.

And if you feel like the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, prompting you in any way to take a next step.

We would love to just come alongside you, give you some resources for your journey of faith.

We know that.

We just believe that everyone has a next step.

Whether you are just deciding today that you want to follow Jesus, or you've been following him for a long time, uh, we believe that he's always calling you to the next step.

So whatever that is this morning, uh as you're processing with the Holy Spirit, we would love to be able to come alongside you, give you some resources for that journey.

So if you would start to follow, that's all when words start to follow to 97000, and that'll just start a conversation, and we can be able to uh just encourage you, help you on your journey.

We'd love to do that.

That's so true.

We're just so glad that you guys hung out with us this morning.

Yeah.

Uh so glad you spent time out of your weekend to be um plugged in with us online.

We'd love for you to come visit us, come hang out with us.

We've got plenty of opportunities for you to serve, get involved, meet new people, and just um enjoy a community with believers.

And so we'd love for you to be a part of that.

Um outside of that, like Brandon said, if there's anything we can do, please let us know.

We'd love to help in any way possible.

Um go ahead and say something else.

Don't forget uh cover family membership on the 11th.

Uh, if you're new, make plans to be there.

Um, that's an awesome space to just come meet some people, ask some questions, get to know some people.

And I'll also uh Operation Christmas shop.

We got that going.

Make sure that you are uh grabbing a box, filling that out, or filling those boxes uh so that we can bless people around the world, kids around the world with gospel.

Um and then uh yeah, and we got Shop with Hero coming up this December.

So man, lots of lots of stuff going on as we enter the holiday season.

Yeah, so just make sure that you are um functions and engaged and um we'd love to hang out and help you.

All right.

Love you guys.

Have a good week.

See ya.