Real Conversations | Freedom In Christ? | Chad Herold

Uh hey, if you're new here, you might not know this, but we are one church in four locations.

And so uh right now we're here at Richmond, but multiple campuses are linking up with us.

So I wanted to say hi, welcome them in.

First, Mo City is joining with us.

Let's welcome them, give them a round of applause.

That's my campus where I get to pastor at on a daily basis.

So uh uh if you're there and you're visiting, particularly if you're visiting, be sure to go introduce yourself to Whitney so she can help you and your family get connected.

Uh she will she will lead you in the right direction.

And then we have our West End campus who's with us.

Let's give them a hand, welcome them in.

They have a treat today.

Our senior pastor, Chad Brugman, is there and he is hosting, which, let's be honest, probably was a disaster because he does not do that very often.

But you get to have him there, which is gonna be awesome.

That was a joke, bro.

Relax.

I can see him already like, oh, I'm gonna get you later.

Hey, something funny though that everyone has to know.

Uh Chad Brugman, our senior pastor, has been bitten with the pickleball bug.

And I'm not upset about it at all.

So excited for that.

So encourage him.

And if you're new, go introduce yourself to him, he'll help you get connected.

And then finally, all of the men at the Ramsey Unit, let's welcome them.

Gentlemen, we are so always so, so glad to have you, and thank you for taking the invitation to come to church with us um this morning.

Hey, how many of you like new music?

Anybody?

I know some people like kind of the old oldies and the traditional, and that's great.

No, no judgment for me, but I really enjoy new music.

In fact, um I'm not sure if everyone gets this or if it's just me, but Spotify, every Friday morning, uh gives me a brand new list called My New Music Mix on Friday, and it's all these new songs from different artists, different genres.

I'm kind of a hard one for Spotify to figure out what I actually like because I really do listen to everything.

But every Friday morning there's these new songs.

And a couple of months ago, a new song came on my list that um just caught my attention.

I thought it was great.

I mean, I was, as the young people say, I was vibing to it.

And uh I was trying, I was gonna try to explain to you what it was, and I thought, man, why do that when I could just play it for you?

So I want you to listen to this song.

This is super weird.

I know we don't do this normally in church, but just listen to this song.

It's gonna be very different than what we just did.

But just listen and see what you think.

Guys, take it away, play it.

Uh let's see.

All right, starts kind of cool, right?

A little guitar action.

Okay, you're not with it yet?

That's okay.

I see.

I see.

Most cities with me, I know that.

Okay, here we go.

Little bass.

Good voice, right?

This way.

Oh, Lord, that was good.

Lord, you don't have to like me.

Here it comes, ready?

Come on now.

Can I feel in that?

Man, three people.

That's a jam! Okay, that's good, that's good.

All right, I don't I don't know what the other campuses were doing, but I I I'm I'm vibing.

That was pretty good.

So I'm I'm I'm kind of intrigued, and I kind of like this.

And uh the song was talking about God, it's cool voice, good music.

So I was like, man, I'm gonna I'm gonna check out some other songs.

And guess what I found out?

The artist's name, you ready for this?

Outlaw Gospel.

Come on, ain't that just cool?

I mean, I don't have tattoos, but if I did, maybe that would be the other one I'd get.

Outlaw Gospel, that's just so cool.

So I started looking at them, checking out the artist page, and you know on every artist page there's a picture, right?

And so I started looking at the picture, and I was like, huh.

That's kind of interesting.

Look at this picture.

Huh.

And it's like they stole my picture, put me in a cow button out of shit.

But I mean, it's intense, which is cool.

It's totally my my gem.

But I was I don't know if if you're young, you've already figured this out.

But you look at it long enough, and you go, man, that's almost like too perfect.

You notice that?

Not how good looking he is.

Relax, ladies.

Come on.

Y'all, here's what I found out the picture of the song, it is all AI generated.

It's all fake.

I mean, I'm sure some guy in a dark room, somewhere in an unknown location, was the one behind making it, but it is all AI generated.

Now, I'm gonna be honest, I kept jamming it and I listened to all the songs.

I thought they were great.

But it was kind of funny because I'm thinking about that, and that actually is very interesting.

Because just like that song, and this isn't about AI, don't freak out, but just like that song kind of snuck into my playlist, uh, there's a lot of false things that creep into the church, that creep into culture, just like that.

They often don't show up with a big sign that says, I'm alive, follow me.

They come in and they kind of creep their way in unnoticed.

So that's what we're gonna talk about today.

We're actually gonna look at a really cool book called The Book of Jude.

Um, it's an interesting book because it's only 25 verses, it's really short.

But it uses some strong words to wake the church up, to make sure that we stay aware to a very significant thing.

Uh fact the book is really interesting.

You could tomorrow you could read all 25 verses in about five minutes.

When someone asks you when you get to work, what'd you do?

You just say, I woke up early, read a whole book of the Bible, and now I'm ready to roll.

And you won't be lying, it'll be 100% accurate.

Uh I thought that was cool.

But so that's the book of Jew.

Now, the reason we're doing this is because we're in a series right now, a message series called Real Conversations.

So if you were here last week, uh our senior pastor, Chad Bruman, did a phenomenal job.

And if you missed it, I want to encourage you to go back and watch it or listen to it, whatever is your choice, because it really was a blessing.

But he looked at a conversation uh that Jesus had and he asked this question.

He said, Do you want to be healed?

And the whole thing was really fascinating.

So I encourage you to go back.

But we're gonna keep that trend going of real, honest conversation.

And we're gonna have another one today, and it's gonna come from the book of Jude.

And the conversation can be summed up in one statement.

And this is the statement God hates sin.

God hates sin.

Why?

A couple things.

Number one, sin violates his character.

Sin is a rejection of his authority and design.

Second reason, sin destroys people.

God hates what sin does to you and to me.

And finally, sin separates people from him.

Sin creates a necessary distance between a perfect, or as scripture calls, a holy God, and a sinful man, you and I.

And I want you to notice though, when I said that God hates sin, I didn't say that God hates you or me because we sin.

No, God hates sin and he hates what sin does to us.

And so what we'll do today is unpack how do we bring all this together?

Because every single one of us are imperfect, or as Scripture would say, we are full of sin.

And if God hates sin, how do we rectify this?

And that's what we're going to look at today.

Now, when you walked in, you got a communion cup.

And I'm going to encourage you, we're not going to take it now, we're going to do it at the end, but I would love for you, if it's if it's at all possible, to try to hold on to that cup during our message today.

And let it just be a reminder of where we're going as we unpack this very important path.

So, to start, we're going to look at the book of Jude, and I want to start in verse one, and we're going to learn a little bit about who Jude was.

And I also want to give you just a little disclaimer.

I'm not going to really preach today.

I'm going to teach to the best of my ability.

I want to try to unpack this text so we can grab some understanding, and then we'll close this down by taking communion.

So let's start by getting to know Jude.

Jude verse 1.

You don't have to say chapter 1 because there's only one chapter.

Jude verse 1, it says this.

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James.

Now, first thing you need to know that's not fully here is that Jude's real name is actually Judas.

And what's happened as translations have happened, is particularly in the English translations, that the translators didn't want us to be confused that Jude might be Judas of Iscariot, the one that betrayed Jesus, and so they've what you might describe as abbreviated his name to Jude, just to avoid confusion.

But his name is actually Judas.

Now what's also interesting here is it says that he is the brother of James, but a servant of Jesus Christ.

Now, why is that interesting?

Because the James he's talking about, this James is the half-brother of Jesus.

Are you tracking the family tree?

That means that Jude is the half-brother also of Jesus.

But notice he doesn't come out and say, hey, I'm the brother of Jesus.

Listen to me.

He says, I'm a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James.

James was a leader in the church.

This is really interesting because he could have flexed on this a little bit, right?

I mean, let's be honest.

If you and I were the half-brother of Jesus, I don't want to speak for you, but I think you're going to have merch and hats and a podcast.

I mean, you're going to have a whole thing because you got something to offer.

But he doesn't do that.

He says, when I think about Jesus, I'm a servant of his and I'm a brother of James.

It's also interesting to note that Judas wasn't a believer of Christ as Savior until after he rose from the dead.

I mean, Jude grew up with Jesus, played with the same toys, did all the same things.

But when he started talking about being the savior of the world to come and take away sin, Jude looked at him like he was crazy.

And I think we all have someone crazy probably in our family.

He looked at him like you're the crazy one.

That makes no sense until his death and resurrection.

And then Jude started to believe.

So maybe it's connected there.

But there is a really great lesson, and it's this that it doesn't matter what influence or position or authority or even like Jude, family relationship you have at the end of the day for all people, Jesus is Lord.

Very important truth right out of the gate that he's proclaiming to us.

Now, who's he writing to?

Jude goes on and says, To those who are called beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Jude is writing to Christians.

He's writing in this context to a particular church, but he's writing to Christians.

Who is that?

People that belong to Jesus.

He uses three words.

He says, called, beloved, kept.

Called.

You've been invited in and accepted salvation.

You've accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.

He says, beloved, you're loved by God and then kept.

You are kept by Jesus.

So he is clearly talking to the Christians.

Now, what is he talking about?

This is where our message series kicks in.

Here's the real conversation.

He says, This, beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

He says, originally, I was going to write you a letter maybe about theology, or I was going to write you maybe something kind of warm and fuzzy.

He was going to talk about community and how we're going to have mercy and love on each other and encourage each other and all those things are good, but we don't know exactly what he's going to write about.

But whatever it was that he had in mind, he had to make an immediate turn because there is a crisis in the church.

And before he even gets to the crisis, notice what he says.

He says, I found it necessary to write to you, appealing to you to contend for the faith.

Contend could be translated to fight, to protect, or defend.

I want you to notice, it doesn't say attack, it says defend.

Protect.

Now save that because we're going to need it at the end of the talk.

Okay?

So he says content, and then for what?

For the faith.

What's the faith?

The faith are the core truths of the gospel.

He wants us to defend, to protect, to be on guard for the core truths of the gospel.

And what are they?

That were once delivered for the saints.

When he says once delivered for the saints, what he's saying here is that the truth of Jesus, it's not new, it's not trendy, and it's not constantly changing.

The truths of Jesus have been established and they are set.

What does that mean for us?

It means, listen, we don't get to edit or fit the gospel to our mood or our culture.

We stand on the never-changing truth of Jesus.

So before we even get into the crisis, Judas saying, pay attention here.

This is important.

You're defenders.

And now here comes the crisis.

You ready?

Verse 4.

For certain people have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were designated for this condemnation.

What it says is, we've been warning you this would happen, and we continue to warn you throughout the New Testament that you gotta be on guard.

He says, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ.

What's the crisis?

The crisis is this that people, certain people, have crept into the church and are spreading a false gospel.

What's the false gospel?

It would sound like this Jesus forgives you, so do whatever you want.

Grace means no boundaries.

Or you can have Jesus as savior from sin, but not as Lord of your life.

And he says, listen, these things are not accurate.

He says, I want us to be on guard to protect from this.

Why?

Because yes, Jesus came to save you and I from sin and to lead and rule our lives.

And friends, this isn't always the case.

We don't always look at it this way.

But you cannot have Jesus as Savior and not as Lord.

We showed a video last week, and if you don't know the context, this will sound super weird.

We showed a video of Theo Vaughn.

I should just stop there for clickbait purposes.

But we showed a video of Theo Vaughn, and basically it was a really great moment in his life where he is clearly wrestling with faith.

He's wrestling with the Bible and the truths.

And he said this statement in the video.

He said, I want a different story.

But I'm, and I'm paraphrasing, but I'm not sure I'm willing to do or go where that new story requires.

And I want you to hear me.

Theophon is not preaching.

He's not sharing a false gospel.

Don't leave for that.

What he's doing is he's just being gut-wrenched honesty.

He's sharing that I see there's something better, and I think that I want that.

But I know there's stuff in me that I'm gonna struggle to step away from.

He said there's stuff in me that I don't even know I know that I need to get rid of.

And so there's this powerful moment here because something happens when we surrender our life to Christ fully.

I like to think of it like this.

Um, how many of you have ever driven with an expired registration sticker?

Wow.

This is a very holy service because at 9:30 there were hands everywhere.

9.15, so everywhere.

Okay, so we got some good folks here.

Maybe in most city, all of y'all are my people, so sadly all your hands are probably uh.

Okay, so so a while back, um, I like to say my BC days before Christ, um, I was driving with an expired registration sticker.

It actually wasn't before Christ, but that sounded better.

Okay, so I'm driving, and um, and it doesn't matter how expired, right?

It could have been a couple months, could have been two years, we don't really know.

Um, so I'm driving, and then what pulls behind me is a police officer whom we love and are grateful for, and so I mean we need them all, just not in that moment, right?

And so they pull behind me, and I instantly am like, ugh, I clam up, right?

I get nervous and I turn the music down, I roll the windows up.

I don't think I actually did that, but you know, I roll the windows up and I'm like, oh, 10 and 2.

I think that's how you I should know that.

I think that's where they are.

Sorry, new drivers.

Like, uh, don't pull me.

And I did get a ticket.

And I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't mad, I was, you know, feeling away.

And uh, but anyways, but I got the ticket, and so I went in, I got my sticker renewed and taken care of and paid all the fees and the ticket fee and all that.

And I kid you not, a couple months later, when almost the identical thing happened.

I'm driving down the road and a police officer pulls behind me, but you know what?

It was a different experience.

Because see, on that day I was good, and you know what I did?

I rolled those windows down, I turned that music up maybe just a little bit, so I didn't get a ticket, but I turned it up and I'm riding in freedom.

Why?

Because I'm in the confines, but in the confines I have total freedom.

I wasn't free the couple months before when I'm driving and I'm nervous and I'm freaking out because sin is chasing me, which is my own sin that I did.

You see, so this is a great picture for us.

That, like when we follow Jesus, yes, there are confines that He creates, but it's not to punish or to restrict us, it's to protect us.

And then inside those confines, we have all of this freedom.

I mean, roll the windows down, turn the music up.

It's your moment because you're walking in the freedom of Christ.

Listen, a lot of people want freedom from sin.

We are chasing freedom in Christ.

And freedom in Christ is a surrendered life to him.

That's where we find the freedom.

And so now what Jude is going to do is he's gonna show us, particularly his church, but he's gonna show us that this pattern of choosing not to surrender to God's authority, choosing to chase after sin, this isn't new.

This has been going on from the very beginning.

And what Jude's gonna do is he's gonna pull a couple of stories that the people he's writing to would have 100% knew every moment of it.

For us, we might not be as familiar, but he's gonna pull some stories.

And these aren't just small stories, these are like sledgehammer examples.

And because we're not doing a Bible study, we don't have a lot of time here, um, what we're gonna do is I'm gonna give you kind of the overview of each story and kind of what the problem was and why Jude used it, but we'll put the address of each one of these stories up there in scripture so you can go on your own and look at these.

But listen, I'm just gonna warn you.

Be prepared.

Like if you look around the world today and you go, man, it is dark and evil and sick and makes my stomach turn, you are correct.

But this is not new.

There has been stuff from the beginning that would make you feel the world is dark and scary and sick and makes your stomach turn.

And so be forewarned.

The examples he uses here are sledgehammers, and yet he's articulating a very important truth.

So let me read to you what he says, and then I'll show you each example and really what he was trying to articulate to us.

Let's start with Jude 5 through 7.

Here's all three of the first examples together.

Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

And the angels who did not stay within their position of authority but left their proper dwelling place, he has kept an eternal change under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.

And then in verse 7, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in a sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

He says, Here's three examples that you will know about as a reminder of how God sees sin, that sin is not okay.

It must be dealt with.

Now, let me just give you kind of some overview here, really quick, so we can understand it.

First, he references Israel in the wilderness.

Here's the mistake they made.

The Israelites had been, listen to this, delivered by God.

God, blessed by God, led by God, and they still rejected his authority.

They were delivered out of slavery, led by him, blessed by him, and they still rejected his authority.

They wanted their own way instead of trusting him.

And Jude is showing that rejecting God's authority isn't new, it's ancient.

It always has the same result.

You forfeit the blessing God wanted to give you.

Then he uses the angels.

You'll find this in Genesis 6.

Even the most powerful beings in creation, angels, with incredible authority and knowledge, when they rejected God's boundaries and used their power for selfish purposes, faced immediate and permanent judgment.

Judas saying, if God didn't spare the angels, he won't spare you and I either.

And notice they use their authority to take what wasn't theirs.

This is about power being abused.

And then the last example, you might be more familiar with this one possibly.

Sodom and Gomorrah.

Sodom shows what happens when sexual sin becomes normalized and celebrated.

It's not just individual people making bad choices, it's a whole culture that's rejected God's design.

And God's judgment is total and immediate.

Judah's warning is church that false teaching about sexuality spreads like this.

It normalizes sin.

It makes people arrogant about rejecting God's boundaries, and it brings judgment and all add pain.

Then in verse 11, he gives three more examples, and these would have been maybe a little bit more well known.

He says, Woe to them in verse 11, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's heir and perished in Korah's rebellion.

Same thing, let's look at all three quickly.

McCain.

The mistake was this.

Cain rejected God's ways and pursued his own desires instead.

When he didn't get what he wanted, he used violence to take it.

Jude is showing that when you reject God's design, you don't just face external judgment.

You become enslaved to your own desires.

He uses Balaam as another example.

Balaam had a genuine gift from God.

He was a real prophet, but he compromised his gift for profit for money.

He knew what God wanted and did the opposite because he was being paid.

Due to showing that false teachers often use their spiritual authority for personal gain.

They're not ignorant, they know better.

Money can tempt people to twist truth.

And the last one, I know we're going quick, but I just want you to kind of see the overview of these examples he's using.

Korah rebelled against the leadership God had placed in Israel.

Jude is warning that false teachers often reject legitimate authority, and God judges that rebellion swiftly.

Okay.

Now what is Jude's point?

The point is this: he's reminding us that God is just and that sin must be dealt with.

And notice, as you were hearing these examples, uh, I mean, you may not want to raise your hand, but could anybody relate to any of them?

Because we still struggle with these temptations, right?

We reject God's authority, we pursue sexual sin, we use our position for profit, we reject earthly leadership.

And he's just reminding us, and you need to hear this, that listen, we are not here to just take Jesus as savior.

He must also be Lord.

Because if you don't do that, you will not experience the full fulfillment of the gospel.

You will not experience a fulfilled life.

Because a fulfilled life, the Christian life, is a surrendered life to God.

And Jude goes on in verse 12, and I'm not gonna read it all, but he uses a couple of examples to just show you how this will not fulfill.

He used the first one, he says it's like waterless clouds.

They're like empty clouds that bring the hope of rain.

Here it comes, it's gonna rain.

And then they never fulfill.

That may not hit us the same because oftentimes when it rains, it's unhelpful for us.

But back then, when it rained, it made sure their crops are gonna grow.

Like their resources were found in rain.

And so when a cloud came in, it looked like it was gonna rain and it didn't.

That was a real problem.

He says, This is what a false gospel like this is like.

He uses wild waves.

He says, Wild waves, it's like a the promise of a powerful ministry, but instead that wave gets out of control and it wreaks havoc on lives and havoc on the church.

And then he says, wandering stars, and I think he's probably referencing more of a shooting star here, but he says, wandering stars, they appear good for a moment, and then they're gone.

And what's left?

Darkness, the freedom to walk the Christian life.

It is a surrendered life.

Now remember who Jude is dealing with.

He isn't writing this, hear this, to the Christians about them making a mistake.

He's writing this to the Christians to say, be on guard for this false teaching inside of our church.

He says, we must be aware that this might creep in, and we don't want to fall victim to this idea.

And that same truth is still here today.

But I want you to notice something.

Because if we stop right here, some of you that are like me, where you go into protective mode pretty quick, by the way, I get in the most trouble when I go into protective mode.

All right, if you mess with someone that I love or one of my kids, like, uh, ministry behind bars, that's where I'm headed.

Like, I just when I'm in protective mode, I'm in trouble.

But the reality is this if we're not careful, we'll read these verses and we'll hear that word contend, right?

Fight.

We'll leave out protect and defend.

We'll just hear fight and we're gonna bring it on.

And you start looking around the room and you're like, all right, where are all the sinners?

You, you, you, you, you, you, you.

Oh, bad theology, you don't understand that, that verse is out of context.

And you're just firing away.

And this is not what he's saying to do.

He doesn't say come with war.

Contend doesn't mean attack.

Contend was to protect.

Listen to how he describes it.

He says this, ready?

What do we do with these people?

Have what who goes into protection mode with mercy?

That's a bad strategy.

He says, Have mercy on those who doubt.

Save others by snatching them out of the fire.

To others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Did you catch what he didn't say?

He didn't say, go on social media and find all the people that don't say what you like or have a bad, and they may have some bad theology.

There's a lot of TikTok theology that's messed up from the ground, jacked up from the ground up, like it's bad.

But he's saying this is not about going out there and starting wars.

He's saying this is about our house.

It's about protecting, defending our house.

And wherever fight's required, we're ready, but we're not looking to attack.

What are we doing?

We're looking to be like Jesus, which is to have mercy, but standing on truth.

He says, instead of going to war, I want you to put your arm.

This is me paraphrasing, I want you to put your arm around them.

I want you to bring them from the darkness and bring them to the light.

I don't want you looking at the person sitting next to you and go, oh, they must be mad.

No, no, you should be putting your arm around him, go, man.

I cannot wait to show you what God's done with my life because maybe he can do the same with you.

Hey, I heard you say something that that sounds a little off from scripture.

Hey, let's go look at that together.

Let's learn together.

He says, Man, help someone who is confused.

Warn someone who's heading toward destruction.

Show mercy without approving sin.

Show mercy without approving sin.

That's why he said, he said, this is like uh even the garment stained by the flesh.

He says, we're not saying sin's okay.

We recognize it, we're looking for it, we're on guard for, but we're gonna have mercy with it to guide you to the better thing.

And then every once in a while, there will be some exceptions.

And this is what Jude's talking about.

There will be a few that sneak into the church with intention to cause pain with the false truth, with intention to cause pain with the false gospel.

And for those, what do we do?

Go to war?

No, he says we get in protect mode and we do it with fear and trembling because we don't want to get swept up in that.

And we want to be faithful to showing mercy and love.

But where necessary, we'll find the time, and together as a church, we'll remove them if necessary.

But this isn't the norm.

The norm is mercy, bringing what?

Toward the gospel so that they can experience the change.

So, what do we do?

Well, watch what he says.

This is powerful.

Verse 20, we'll go backwards a little bit.

This is what he says.

But you, beloved, building yourself up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

First thing he says, he says this word keep, and keep doesn't mean keep yourself safe.

That's that's not accurate.

No, he's saying keep close to God, keep close to his truths so you can see.

He gives us four examples.

Just go through them quickly.

Build yourself up in the faith.

What does that mean?

It means stay rooted in the scriptures.

Read your Bible, read so that you know truth, so that as you know truth, you'll more easily spot things that are false.

Do you know how they studied to identify counterfeit money?

I know, I know we're all digital now, but back in the day when we used cash, young people was it was a thing.

Um, I can't believe we just said that.

That's crazy.

We're in a real, real, crazy world.

But that's how they you know how they prepared?

They prepared not by studying the counterfeit bills, they studied the real bills so that they would recognize the fake ones.

And the same is true for us.

As we absorb God's word, as we build our lives up in him, build our faith up in him, we do that through the word, and we're more able and easy to see the things that are false.

Then he says, pray in the Holy Spirit.

And this isn't some weird thing.

He said, pray and know when you pray, the Holy Spirit is involved and activated.

If you're worried about your prayers, like, I don't know if God even can make sense of my prayers.

I don't think I'm good at praying.

You might not be good at praying, but the good news is the Holy Spirit stands in on your behalf, and it all makes sense when it gets to God.

That's a beautiful thing.

So pray.

Stay close to God, stay engaged with him, let his spirit move in you.

Then it says, keep yourself in the love of God.

What's he saying?

Keep close to God.

Keep close to God.

Listen, and I and I need to say this because I don't want you to leave with anything that is confusing or or missed here.

The Christian life is not about perfection, it's about pursuit.

The Christian life is not about perfection because you and I will fail.

We fail every day.

It's about pursuit.

My uh mentor of mine, he's gone now since to be with the Lord.

Uh his name is Wallace Henley, and I mean he was so smart when he would teach.

We would all sit in his class and we we very we didn't really always understand what he was saying because he was so smart, but we all felt smarter when we left.

Ever been in a room like that?

You're like, don't know what you said, but I'm smarter just because I sat in this room.

I was amazing.

But, anyways, there was one illustration that he gave that I never forgot.

I want to share it with you because it helps bring this point home.

He said, the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is this the Christian chases after God.

And on that journey of pursuit will fall into sin because we are all imperfect.

But that man or that woman will get themselves right back up, they will ask for forgiveness and they will continue chasing after God.

He said, the the the person that doesn't believe or doesn't have a right understanding of God just chases after sin with no remorse.

Listen, if you have messed up today, last night, this weekend, it's not okay, but it's okay because we are imperfect.

The difference is, did you get yourself back up?

Did you feel the Holy Spirit stirring you to say, man, that that wasn't good?

Like, let's not do that again.

How do we avoid that?

How do we move in a new direction?

That is God working, and then you just keep chasing after him, and he will meet you in that.

This Christian life, it's not about perfection, it is about pursuit.

And then here's the last thing he says: he says, to wait for Jesus.

Wait expectantly for Jesus.

One of the big mistakes that Christians are making today, and that's a bold statement, but I'm gonna say it.

One of the big mistakes Christians are making is that we have allowed ourselves to become content with this world so much so that we stop thinking about heaven.

We have forgotten that our end destination is not this world.

Our end destination as believers in Christ is eternity with God.

And when you and I stop looking toward eternity and become content with this world, we become satisfied with the things that we'll never fulfill.

God has put us here to pass through, to go here to the end destination.

But while we are here, he has asked us to be a part of his story.

Don't miss that.

Waiting expectantly for Jesus.

So now here's how I want to close.

I want to take communion together.

And hopefully you've had a chance during this message to be holding on to this cup as a reminder that while God is just and he hates sin, he loves you and I so much that he made a way for sin to be removed in his eyes and us to be new creations in him.

And he did that through Jesus, which is the symbol of this cup.

And so what we're gonna do because we have a few moments, uh, we're gonna take an extended time now in communion.

And I'm going to, and I'm gonna be honest, I'm gonna read to you.

I have put together a guided time for us through communion because I want us to sit in this moment.

I want us to think about what this means, why it's so important, and why it matters to you, and why it matters to me.

We're gonna do what Jesus asked us to do, which was to remember his death and to confess our sin.

And listen, you don't have to be perfect to come to the table, which is another word to say, to take communion.

You don't have to be perfect.

You just have to be honest.

And this is what God's asking.

So, with your cup in hand, I'm gonna ask you, and it's gonna be for a few minutes, to close your eyes.

To take a deep breath.

All of our campuses, if you don't have a cup, you can slip your hand and we'll bring it to you.

I want you to take a big breath.

And I want you to be as present as you can in this moment.

What we just talked about is true.

Sin destroys.

It fractures our relationship with God.

It breaks us from the inside out.

And here's some examples.

Maybe this is you.

Maybe you lost your temper with your child over something silly this morning.

Maybe you lied to your parents about where you were going last night.

Maybe you looked at something online that you knew was wrong.

Maybe you spoke harshly to your spouse over something small.

Maybe you took credit for something your coworker did last week.

Maybe you're carrying bitterness toward a friend, a family member, or a church leader who hurt you.

Sin is real and it separates us from God.

But here's what we all need to hear.

You are not alone in this.

Every person in each of our rooms, including me, by the way, carries sin.

Every single one of us has betrayed God's design.

Every one of us has chosen ourselves over Him.

The single mom, the business executive, the teenager, or the child, we are all guilty of this.

Even the person who's been a Christian for 60 years, or the person you saw when you walked in that looked like they have it all together.

We are all broken.

We are all in need of mercy.

And here's what makes the cross of Jesus so scandalous.

Jesus didn't come for the righteous, he came for us.

Sinful, broken people.

Paul writes in Romans 5.8, God demonstrated his own love for us in this.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Listen, not after we cleaned ourselves up, not after we promised we'd do better, not after we earned it through good behavior or church attendance or being a good parent or volunteering or raising our kids right or keeping our marriage together.

While we were still sinners.

That means right now, with your unconfessed anger, your secret shame, your hidden struggles, your broken promises to yourself, your unhealed wounds, Jesus looks at you and says, I love you.

I died for you.

I took the judgment you deserved.

I absorbed the wrath of God so that you don't have to.

And by the way, that's not fair.

That's not justice, that's grace.

That's love that makes no sense except that it's the heart of God.

So here's what I want to invite you to do in the silence that follows.

Not out of shame, not out of fear, but out of honesty.

If you're here today and you've never placed your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you can do that right now by simply saying to him, I believe you are real.

And this is the kicker.

I'm ready to surrender to you.

You can say that right now to him.

For all of us, I want you to think about one sin.

One area where you know you've rebelled against God.

Not ten, not your whole life story.

Just one thing that the Holy Spirit is bringing to your mind right now.

Don't minimize it.

Don't make excuses for it.

Just name it silently between you and Jesus.

And then this is crucial.

You gotta believe this, 1 John 1.9.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It doesn't say he might forgive, it doesn't say he'll consider forgiving, he is faithful and just to forgive.

Your confession doesn't earn his forgiveness, his forgiveness is already purchased.

Now, if you would open your cup, we're gonna start with the bread.

You can peel back to the tab.

The bread represents the body of Christ.

For you and I to cover our sin and to make a way for us to be new creations in him.

We drink this in remembrance of him and what he's done.

Father, we love you so much.

God, I pray this morning that this word was straight from you, that would have landed on us well, that we would leave here with our heads held high, knowing that you have got us.

That no matter how broken we are, we are forgiven of sin.

We are made new creations.

Lord, help us walk out of here with that in mind, our hearts high.

And then, Lord, help us to live these lives chasing after you, knowing we will make mistakes, but when we do, getting right back up, seeking your forgiveness, your face, and continuing to chase after you.

God, we thank you for these moments.

We thank you for your word.

We give you all the glory.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Guys, thank you so much for being here.

Hey, all of our campuses, the prayer team will be down front.

Would love to pray with you.

Have a great day.

We'll see you next week.