Fully Convinced | Pastor Chris Kouba

Good morning, good to see you today.

How are you?

Good, good.

I'm telling you, I hope that you didn't miss what we just experienced in worship.

Great are you, Lord, great is your faithfulness, and wait on you, Lord.

These two things are not contradictory.

I want you to know that sometimes the faithfulness of God is shown to us most when we wait.

The assumption is God's got it all figured out, and God's gonna basically hurry up, and God's gotta give us everything that we want, and God's got to fulfill all of our dreams.

And my experience suggests this.

A lot of times it's God, I'm pleading after you while I wait.

God, I'm trusting you that even though I can't see it, you're working.

I hope that you realize that wasn't just two songs that happen to get pushed together just because it sounded good.

It's because these truths both speak loudly today.

I hope that that's the case in your heart, and I hope that's the case in your life.

My name is Chris Kuba.

I want to add my word of greetings to Dave's earlier.

I get to be the lead pastor here at United City and get to bring this message to you today.

Before we get going, though, I just want to ask for your prayers.

We've got some exciting things that are happening.

We've got some teams that are out on mission right now, which we want to both celebrate and also pray for.

We've got a group of six that left for Peru.

They should be in Peru by now.

We are praying for them.

This is a trip that has been long coming.

We've been trying to go to Peru for a while, uh, and finally are now able to send teams back.

This church has a long, long history of doing incredible ministry there in Peru and excited to be able to send this team that is there.

Be praying for that group this week as they begin their ministry.

And we also uh have a group of 25 high school students uh who are at Longmont, Colorado this morning at Connection Church, which is very, very exciting.

This is a church plant that we've partnered with the last few years.

Many of you may not know this, but we partner with about 10 different church plants uh directly.

We've got indirect relationships through our cooperations with uh Sin Network, which is a church planning strategy to both plant churches, both nationally as well as internationally.

But we specifically have 10 church plants that we not only send money to, but we also send teams to.

And so we've got some high school students that are there at Longmont today working alongside of Doug Hickson, who is the pastor there.

So we want to make sure that we pray for them.

I mentioned this last week, and I just want to reiterate it again.

It is our desire and it is our goal that we would see 500 people out of United City go on a mission trip in the next five years.

500 people.

Now, what that means is there's plenty of opportunities, and you're gonna hear about these opportunities going forward locally, but we are envisioning a mission trip being you get on a plane or you drive in a car outside of this area and you go and serve some other people.

And so we're gonna be giving you plenty of opportunities, and in order for that to take place, it means some of you are gonna have to actually go on one of those mission trips.

And so I'm just giving you a heads up that God probably wants you to go on one of these, right?

And your life will probably be changed.

Now, some of you may be saying, you know, I don't think I'm supposed to go one of these things.

I I that that's past me.

Can I tell you that in two weeks or a couple weeks, three weeks, I believe is what it is, we're gonna be taking a mission trip to Las Vegas, and our 78-year-old senior adult lady who was in our last service decided this was the time for her to take her first mission trip.

So let me just tell you if you can beat that, all right, then then if you're underneath 78, you're eligible.

And if you're over 78, you're eligible.

The point being this, God wants you to be able to be a part of what he's doing.

And we're excited to be able to send high school students and 78-year-olds on a mission at this church.

He's been so good in every single way.

Uh, Romans chapter 14 is where we're gonna be.

Romans 14 · chapter mention

I invite you to grab your Bibles and open them up with me to Romans chapter 14.

Romans 14 · chapter mention

Uh, I want to take this opportunity to greet all of the men and the women at all of our correctional facilities.

We are very grateful to have this opportunity to bring this message to you.

Let's give them a hand and celebrate that.

Dave mentioned the 60 that we got to baptize at Plain State yesterday.

What's great is that we don't just baptize and leave, but we also baptize and then follow back up and we do discipleship classes with them.

A great way for you to serve on a serve team is to be a part of our correctional facility ministry.

We'd love to talk to you, contact our offices, and we'd love to talk to you about what that can look like.

Let me ask you the question: why do you do what you do?

Why do you do what you do?

If you think about your life, a lot of what you do is maybe thought through and planned out, and so therefore, you just kind of execute what it is that you had intended to do.

Then there's also a part of you where you just kind of do things on a consistent basis and you don't really even think about it.

You just do it out of habit or you do it out of routine.

It's those things in your life where you can actually accomplish a task accurately and also technically while at the same time having no recollection of how you did it.

There's scientists that actually say that there's something called the autopilot mode that our brain goes into.

You do this all the time where all of a sudden your your mind just begins to do things out of just sheer habit or opportunity, and you don't really know why, or maybe you didn't even set out with the intention of doing it, yet it's just natural that you do it.

Let me give you some examples of some things that you can do on autopilot.

Have you ever found yourself at a situation to where you wake up without having to have your alarm being set?

Your body just wakes up at the very same time every single day.

You didn't intend to wake up.

You wanted to actually sleep in, but guess what?

Your body knows that it's supposed to wake up, and so therefore on autopilot, it just wakes up.

When you get up, do you have a routine to where you mindlessly check a certain website every day?

You don't intend to say, This is what I'm going to do, but you just find yourself going to the exact same website that you do the day before and the day before and the day before that.

Do you check email or do you check your messages to see if you have a new text message or do you see if you have a new email?

Even though you most likely have notifications which are designed to alert you that you have one of those, but you think just maybe you could catch it before it alerts you, and so therefore you just routinely begin to check these things over and over and over and over and over again.

Um, how about the fact that maybe you go and get a snack around the same time every single day?

Do you ever do that?

You didn't necessarily say I'm hungry, but you just find yourself going into the break room or going into the kitchen or going into the school, whatever it may be, and you find yourself eating that same snack every day just out of habit.

Have you ever find yourself where you've driven somewhere, maybe 20, 30 minutes, you arrive at your destination and you have no idea how you got there.

You know you took turns and you know you got on the freeway and you know you exited the freeway, but you don't remember any of it.

Your mind is on autopilot.

How about whenever you check social media, you pull that out, and you begin to just sort of scroll and you look up, and it's been two hours, and all you've done is look up stuff that you couldn't actually tell someone else what it is that you just looked up.

You just mindlessly autopilot went through the day.

Brushing your teeth is another example.

Mowing the yard is another example.

These are all things that we do on autopilot.

This morning, as we continue in our series in Romans chapter 14, looking at this title we've called Kingdom Culture is the title of our series.

Romans 14 · chapter mention

We're gonna be looking today at how what is true in the mundane, ordinary task of life, where your mind begins to do certain things on autopilot, this is not the way Christians should live.

We've got to be people who think deeply.

We've got to be people who understand and wrestle with this whole idea of why do I do what it is that I do?

I want to read you the theme verse of this entire series, Romans chapter 12 and verses 1 and 2.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

It reads, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

In our very first week of Kingdom Culture, we we gave you this principle that in kingdom culture you are to look, think, and act different.

The whole idea is this is that we don't just do what everybody else does.

But instead, if you're gonna live for Jesus, you're gonna do it with a transformed mind, which is gonna follow after his will, and by doing so, it's gonna go against the grain of what everybody else is doing.

And so, therefore, we're supposed to live lives that have a different way of thinking, which leads to a different way of living.

This morning we're gonna talk about disagreements.

How do we handle disagreements whenever people disagree over a specific topic that may not necessarily be essential, yet nonetheless is still very important.

Let's begin reading in verse 1 of Romans chapter 14.

Romans 14 · chapter mention

It says, As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?

It is before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.

Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord.

The one who eats eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.

If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.

So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Paul identifies two different issues that were causing disagreement in the church.

The two different things were diet and days.

Jewish Christians made it a habit of intentionally following the law, practicing all the dietary commands.

The Jewish law said that they were not to eat any meat that was non-kosher or any meat that would be considered unclean.

The Gentiles, on the other hand, they took seriously Romans chapter 8, verse 1, which says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

So therefore, as a result of that, they ate whatever they want to and they didn't feel bad about it.

It says here that you have one who is weak and one who is strong.

The point here is not to make an emphasis on which one's weak and which one's strong.

The point rather is to show you have a disagreement that takes place, and it's telling us how with a transformed mind, according to Romans chapter 12, verse 2, that we're supposed to have as believers, we are to process and think about disagreements.

Romans 12:2

Another issue here is the issue of days.

The Jewish people, they celebrated certain days, they marked certain days as significant and special because of feasts that they were accustomed to celebrate, or the Sabbath, for example.

The Gentiles, on the other hand, they didn't have this same mentality, they didn't have the same conviction, and so as a result of that, they did whatever they wanted to do.

You have two groups of people, both who love Jesus, both who love the Lord, both who are serious about their faith, but they disagree on how to live it out.

The question ultimately is what do you do when this happens?

And in Romans chapter 14, this week is foundational because I want us to establish what is necessary in these conflicts.

Romans 14 · chapter mention

Look at verse 5, I believe it's the key verse.

One person esteems each day is better than another, while another esteems all days alike.

This is the key part.

Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

Here's the principle that I want you to walk away with today.

In kingdom culture, you have convictions.

In kingdom culture, you have convictions.

Now we gotta talk through what this looks like because Romans 14 here is not talking about what I would consider to be absolute essential items.

Instead, it's talking about secondary items.

Now, here's the problem in our day and age.

Secondary items become primary items.

Things that are not the most important get viewed and seen as the most important, and therefore we determine whether you are in or whether you are out based upon secondary things as opposed to essential things.

We're gonna look and see what some of these secondary things are in just a moment, but before we do that, I think it's important for us that we begin to identify what I would call the absolute essentials.

These are things that I would tell you are whether you are in or whether you are out.

These are things of whether you are a believer or whether you are not a believer.

This list, if you will, is what I would say are the absolute non-negotiables.

Okay?

Take a look at this.

I encourage you to write these down.

I encourage you to pull out your phones and maybe take a picture of this.

This is the absolute essentials when it comes to our faith.

Number one is the Trinity.

We've got to have an understanding about who God is.

Bible teaches that God is there's one God, and he exists as three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

By the way, this separates us from all other religions right there.

Meaning, you have a very well-intentioned religious neighbor that may be around you, but if they do not believe in God as the Trinity, at the end of the day, they do not believe what we do.

And so, therefore, what we're about to talk about in Romans 14 isn't what we're talking about in that situation.

The second thing there is the full deity and the humanity of Christ.

A lot of religions are gonna give definitely respect and admiration to the person of Jesus.

However, we take this a much, much more significantly in a step further.

We believe that he was 100% God and 100% man.

And we believe in light of that, it allowed him to do the very next thing.

Actually, it's gonna show us what happens in verse in number four there, which is the atonement.

It's vital that we see who Jesus is and don't make him into something that we're comfortable with.

Number three says there the spiritual lostness of the human race.

Let me tell you why this is important because you're not gonna agree on the solution if you don't agree on the problem.

And here's the problem.

The problem is not that you just haven't figured out the best version of you and being able to get all the freedoms that you need in order to express it.

The problem is you're lost.

You don't need a tweak, you don't need some help, you need a rescue.

We learned about this in our series called The Ugly Truth, Romans chapter 1, 2, and 3.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Here's the summation of it.

You're really bad, and you're actually way worse than you thought, right?

Like it's bad.

It's really, really bad.

All of us are desperately and wickedly lost, which then leads us into number four, which is the substitutionary atonement and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Let me tell you why this is significant.

Because there are people that are out there that would say Jesus is a great teacher.

They would be willing to admit that he was even a great prophet.

And the assumption might be this that Jesus is somebody that we should follow his teachings and follow his example.

Please hear me.

You can follow his example all you want, it ain't gonna do anything for you.

Because at the end of the day, what you need, because of number three, is something way more than an example.

What you need is a rescue, and Jesus provided it as a substitutionary death on a cross on your behalf, doing something for you you could not have done on your own.

And not only that, but he rose from the dead three days later, thereby defeating sin and thereby defeating death.

Significant stuff here, right?

Look at number five, salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

A lot of people would say that basically God is at the top of the mountain, and it is our goal to try to all figure out how to get there.

And so I may believe this, and you may believe this, and you somebody else may believe this.

As long as we all end up at the top of the mountain, we are good.

Here's the problem: that's not true.

There's only one way.

The Bible is super clear in John chapter 14, verse 6 Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

John 14:6

No one comes to the Father except through me.

Meaning, this you can be really good and well-intentioned and still be lost.

The only way that you can be saved is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Number six says the physical return of Christ.

It's important for us to know that Jesus will one day come back to judge the living and the dead.

He will reign for a thousand years, and then he will establish the new heavens and the new earth.

Meaning, this we will give an account of our lives.

Number seven, the authority and the inerrancy of Scripture.

Let me tell you why this is so important and why what we're going to talk about in Romans 14 and some of these secondary matters, this is not what we're referring to, because if God's word says it, we don't have to debate it.

And here's the deal our culture is changing a lot.

So, like, we don't have to have an argument over what a man is and what a woman is.

God's already told us that, right?

We don't have to talk through the issues of sexuality and the issue of marriage and those types of things.

God's already like kind of said it, so like it's already done.

Like it's not like we're like, oh, well, this is new.

No, no, no, no.

Like the inerrancy and the authority of God's word, if he says it on a specific topic, we really don't need to debate it.

Like it doesn't really matter.

Like it's it's already been settled, right?

So when we talk about these secondary matters, we're not talking about this list.

You gotta make sure that you see this.

And I want to make sure you, first of all, if you're maybe here and you're maybe new to church, maybe you're here and maybe you're new to this whole idea of church.

This list isn't a means to talk about how we're all inside, and this list shows you how you're outside.

I want you to see this list is an invitation.

This list has changed my life.

Like this list has literally caused me to be at a place to where my marriage is different, my family my family's different, my entire life and purpose and destiny is all different.

And I want you to open up your heart and your life today to consider the truths that may be listed as doctrine on a list here to actually be an invitation for you to have a relationship with the God who made you.

At the end of the service, I'm gonna give you the opportunity to do just that.

Romans chapter 14, though, let's talk about this because it talks about this idea of secondary issues.

Romans 14 · chapter mention

In those days in Romans 14, the issue was diet and days.

Let's talk through what some secondary issues might be in our modern day today.

Uh for today, it could be Sunday church attire.

Did you grow up in a church where basically you were told, unless if you're gonna be at church, then you better dress up.

If you're gonna dress up for royalty, then you better not dress up any less than for God.

Some of you right now are still judging me because my shirt is untucked, which I did on purpose for this message, all right?

But there's no question about it, right?

You may have this just kind of thing in you that's like, okay, what are you supposed to wear?

I mean, this idea of church.

I mean, what is it that what am I supposed to do?

Because you have strong opinions about this specific issue.

How about dancing in church?

Was that a thing?

You're not supposed to dance in church because you never know what dancing can lead to.

Here's the deal.

We probably shouldn't dance in church because some of you aren't good dancers, right?

That's kind of a bigger deal, right?

I mean, let's just think about what some of these things could be, all right?

Uh, how about, for instance, uh, this one's always fun for me.

Uh, another debate is homeschool versus public school.

If you want some entertainment, get a passionate homeschool mom, get a passionate public school mom.

Uh ask them what the best version of education is.

For their kids, get some popcorn, sit back and watch the fireworks go.

It is awesome, right?

Because they're hardcore into it, right?

They firmly believe this is what not only I should do, but this is what you should do as well.

A few years ago it was whether Christians could do yoga.

Do you remember that?

That was a big deal.

Whether Christians are allowed to do yoga, are they not allowed to do yoga?

Or how about this one, Harry Potter?

If you do Harry Potter, you're gonna turn to a wizard, right?

You're supporting sorcery.

These are actual things that were a deal.

Of course, we know a big one that's even the case to this day is issues like alcohol.

Uh, I grew up in an environment where I was never actually told this directly, but I was told this all the time indirectly.

The instructions were this you don't drink, smoke, or chew, or date girls who do.

All right?

That was basically what I was told.

Now, again, like you're like, they really said that?

No, they didn't say it, but they they kind of did.

I mean, I grew up in an environment where if I was in the vicinity of alcohol, like if it was in the room, not that I was partaking, or not that I even knew that it was gonna be there and showed up and it happened to be, but if I was in the actual physical presence of alcohol, I and everybody else around it was gonna go to hell.

That's what I was taught.

On the other hand, you have other people who also love Jesus, who also believe in him, who also have strong faith, and here's what they would say: Jesus' first miracle was turning water into wine.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with drinking whatsoever.

How do you reconcile these types of two things?

How about marijuana?

That's a new one.

Marijuana has been illegal for most of our lives, and so therefore, as a result of that, it was pretty clear-cut.

You don't do something that's illegal.

What about the fact that it's now legal in like a ton of states?

What do you do then?

We've gotten to ask that question.

How are we to handle this?

Am I allowed to do marijuana in places where it is legal?

I can just feel the tension already in the room.

How about material wealth?

Is it okay to be allowed to have nice things?

Are you allowed to have a second home?

Are you allowed to go on a nice vacation?

I mean, there's these expectations.

How about tattoos?

Can you have a tattoo and love Jesus?

Can you have a whole sleeve and love Jesus?

Can you be on the worship team and not have a tattoo?

That's the question, right?

Kind of a deal.

Okay, there you go.

That's what we all want to know.

All right.

Speaking of worship, how about the style of worship?

Let me tell you an area, everybody's got an opinion.

What songs we sing.

Everybody's got an opinion on this.

Everybody's got a thought as to what this looks like and what is right and what is wrong, and they're very passionate about this particular issue when it comes to the things of worship.

Can I tell you that I've also gotten emails that have critiqued me and gotten mad at me because I use an iPad when I preach?

I have.

People think that's not the real Bible.

The real Bible is okay, well, it has the verses in here too.

So I can't.

But there's no question about it.

The assumption would be you maybe grew up in a particular tradition where maybe there's a specific translation or now a way in which you present stuff, and that begins to matter.

Can I bring up one that just immediately, immediately causes people's blood pressure to rise?

Politics.

Trump.

You either have people that love Jesus that are passionately about this, or you've got people that love Jesus who are passionately against this.

And it is polarizing these days and has been more so in the case in the last few years.

It was just 18 months ago when I was getting emails from people in this church who claimed to love Jesus with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength who were blasting me about mask or no mask.

About vaccines or no vaccines.

Folks, it's not like this is ancient history.

These are secondary issues where literally you had people leaving churches over it.

Can I tell you some of the most hateful responses that I've had in the four years of being the pastor at this church have had to do with their perceived impression of my politics?

These are secondary issues which become primary, and the very idea is this.

Look, I'm not gonna solve all of this.

You gotta come back next week.

Dave Kinney's gonna preach part two of Romans 14 and answer all your questions, okay?

It's gonna be great.

But here's what I would tell you Romans chapter 12, too, says this that we're supposed to be people who offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

This is our spiritual worship.

It's supposed to lead us to reject the world, and it's supposed to then lead to a transformed mind.

Meaning, this, I believe when it comes to the secondary issues, the big question that we have to ask is this Am I being conformed, or do I have convictions?

Because what I've noticed is a lot of people feel passionately about something because that's the tradition that they grew up in.

Or people get really, really worked up and upset and angry, and I can already feel it for some of you, even in this room, over some of these topics that I just mentioned, because this is what your parents did.

Or some of you, this is the tradition that you grew up in, and so your assumption is because this is what I'm familiar with, that must mean that it is right.

And so, therefore, your actual reason to do what you do is because of groupthink more than biblical convictions.

Here's the problem the society and the culture, it's gonna shift.

It's gonna change its mind.

And you're gonna be like a ping pong ball that's going around from place to place, and you're not gonna be a people who are able to make decisions out of godly biblical convictions, which is what we as believers are called to do.

And instead, even when it comes to these spiritual issues, you're gonna be an autopilot.

Just doing what you've always done, but you don't really know why.

You feel that way.

So let's talk this through.

It's important then that we begin to get a framework by which we can wrestle through these things because whether you are weak or whether you are strong, you should be convinced in your own mind.

Convinced meaning that you are convicted, you are assured, you are solid in your thinking.

So let's practically let's talk about how to have convictions.

I want to offer three questions to you that help you and guide you when it comes to debatable items so that you can know what I believe and why do I believe it.

I encourage you to maybe even write these downs in the in the in the margins of your Bible there in the front, because these questions will serve and guide you when it comes to how then should I live?

What do I believe and how do I believe it?

Let me read you verse six again.

It says, The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord.

The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

First question I encourage you to write down is this when it comes to biblical convictions.

Number one, can I thank God while doing it?

Can I thank God while doing it?

In both situations here, whether someone keeps the day or whether someone doesn't, both situations they say that they give thanks to the Lord.

This is a clear recognition that we don't have separate lives.

You don't have a spiritual life where God sees and God cares and God knows about that, and then you have a personal life where you get to kind of go over here and do whatever it is that you want.

It's not like you should go and give 10% so that way you have the ability to go and spend the 90% however you want to, as though God doesn't care about that part.

It's not as though you should pray and ask God's blessing over your meal as though he doesn't care about what it is that you're about to eat.

Instead, we have to understand something.

God cares about all the areas of our lives, including the ones that we try to hide from him.

Have you ever untagged yourself on a social media post?

Because somebody took a picture, they tagged you, you get a notification that says, Hey, this picture has been posted about you, and you go on there and you don't want people to see that part of you.

And so, what do you do?

You untag and try to act like you weren't there?

You gotta know something.

God knows.

He sees all those things, and so in light of that, what he's asking us to do is in everything that we do, be able to live in such a way where we can give thanks to God for doing it.

1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 18 says, Give thanks in all circumstances.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Thanking God in all circumstances is the will of God for every believer.

If you're about to make a decision and there is some attitude or action that would cause you not to be able to thank God in the aftermath, don't do it.

Shouldn't do it.

Look at verse 10.

It says, Why do you pass judgment on your brother?

Or you, why do you despise your brother?

For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

This verse reminds me of Philippians 2, 10 and 11.

It reads, So at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Dave's gonna talk about this a lot more next week, but we shouldn't judge each other because ultimately we're all gonna stand before Christ and we're all gonna give an account of our lives.

Which leads me to the second question to help have biblical convictions.

Number two, can I do it in Jesus' name?

Can I do it in Jesus' name?

Have you ever been in a situation to where you are doing something that isn't necessarily wrong, but you really want to do that in a specific context with specific people.

And then maybe someone walks in, maybe your parents, maybe your boss, maybe your teacher, maybe your coach, maybe your pastor, and immediately you begin to feel uncomfortable.

It's like one of those things that you're like, I mean, it's fine that I'm doing this.

I just don't want you to know that I'm doing this.

And so you maybe kind of shuffle around, or you kind of close the browser, or you're you kind of turn the phone or whatever it may be because you don't want someone to see what it is that you are doing.

You gotta know this.

God sees all of it.

Psalm 139, verses 7 through 10 says, Where shall I go from your spirit?

Psalms 139:7–10

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there.

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

I've said this to our staff, I said this to my kids all the time.

A good rule of thumb is this if you have to ask, then you probably shouldn't do it.

Hey, is this okay?

Probably shouldn't do it.

Doesn't mean that maybe you don't have the freedom in Christ to perhaps do it, but the fact that it caused a check in your spirit, the fact that it caused you to begin to ask that question, you should lean into that and see maybe the Lord's trying to tell me, I don't know if I should do this.

We have freedoms in Christ, we have the ability to walk without condemnation, but we also must be able to walk in our cultural context and in our freedom in a way that if we knew Jesus was watching, if we knew that Jesus could see our browser history, if we knew that Jesus was sitting on the couch next to us as we were watching that movie, if we knew that Jesus was sitting in the bedroom when we were with that other person, we wouldn't feel ashamed.

We would be able to do whatever it is that we're doing in Jesus' name.

Keep reading in verse 12.

Look at what it says.

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

The final question I would propose to you is this to biblical convictions.

Can I glorify God while doing it?

Can I glorify God while doing it?

We're not called just to be accountable to God for how we live or told to live with a motivation that sees his goodness, his glory as primary.

God's glory is the filter by which all of our decisions are made.

Dave's gonna talk about this in a lot more detail next week.

Just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean that it's always right.

Because you see, we don't live for our rights and our glory and our freedoms.

As believers, we are called to live in such a way where we will gladly and voluntarily lay those things down if it helps you.

We will take the freedoms that we have and say, hey, it's not worth it for me to have these freedoms and express them if they're gonna cause you to stumble.

And so, in light of that, I want God's glory to be honored, and God is most glorified when we are on his mission, and his mission at times means that we will gladly forsake our freedoms for the furtherance of the cause of the gospel.

It should lead us to that place where we live with this idea of 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31.

1 Corinthians 10:31

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.

If you can do your activity, if you can vote on your candidate, if you can choose your form of school, if you can watch your movie, if you can drink your drink, and your goal is that God would be glorified in your life, do it.

Here's the problem.

Most of us never ask that question.

We just say, do I want to do this?

Would this make me happy?

Does this fit in line with what I want right now?

But here's what the transform mind, here's what kingdom culture does.

You have convictions.

You know what you do, and you know why you do it.

Let me ask you, do you have convictions?

Do you know what you believe?

And do you know why you believe it?

What if I asked you the most important question?

Do you have convictions on this?

When you die, will you spend eternity in heaven?

Or will you spend eternity in hell?

How do you know for sure?

If you don't know today, I want to make sure that you have conviction on your eternity.

Bible says that all of us have sinned and all of us have fallen short of God's glory and God's standard.

But God sent his son to save us when we couldn't save ourselves.

He died on a cross for our sins, he rose from the dead, and he now offers you the opportunity through knowworthiness of yourselves to receive his free gift of eternal life and the forgiveness of your sins.

You can leave here today knowing with absolute certainty where you're gonna go when you die, and that can be heaven.

And I want to invite you to receive Jesus and know that today.

Would you bow your heads and would you close your eyes all across this room?

If you're watching me online, I want to invite you to do the very same thing.

For some of you, this message has brought a level of conviction.

Maybe you're a believer and maybe you've been doing some things, but you haven't been asking the questions, hey, why do I do this?

Should I be doing this?

Should I get so bothered that somebody else is doing this?

It is our desire and it is our goal that we have a people who live with biblical conviction and not group think.

For some of you, maybe you've experienced some conviction today and you want to just confess that, or maybe you want to pray with somebody about that.

Maybe you need some wisdom on how to handle it.

Please hear me.

The things that I've mentioned are gonna have different answers, and that's okay.

For some of you, what may be okay for me isn't okay for you because of your propensity for struggle or sin.

But are you convinced in your own mind?

Let's be people who think biblically and people who think deeply.

Others of you need to come into a relationship with Jesus to give your life to Him, to receive the free gift of eternal life that I just talked about.

Please know that that list can be your list, can be your opportunity to receive the mercy and the grace.

Please hear me.

It's not a list of rules, but instead it's an invitation to a relationship.

Relationship that God wants to have with you.

And so, if that's you today, would you just pray this simple prayer of faith with me?

Dear God, I want you in my life.

I confess that I am a sinner in need of a Savior.

I believe that you sent your son Jesus to die on a cross for my sins, and that you rose from the dead.

And right now, I invite him to come into my life, to change me, to set me free.

It's in Jesus' name that I pray.

Amen.

Would you look up here?

You notice some of our team is up front and on the sides as well.

If God just led you to pray that prayer of faith with me, I'm gonna ask you in just a moment, when we stand, to make your way down to the front and tell one of our team members that you just gave your life to Jesus.

Others, if you need to come and join United City Church, we're gonna be a church that's gonna be all about conviction.

We want as many people as possible to come, but we're gonna tell you the truth when you get here.

If God's leading you to be a part of that mission with us through formal membership, I'm gonna invite you to come today and make that public.

Your coming is gonna help others and inspire them.

Others may need to be baptized today.

Maybe you want to give public expression of your faith, like these three that we saw.

Would you come and let us schedule your baptism?

Maybe some of you just need prayer.

However, God may be moving and leading in your life, I'm gonna ask that no one be leaving, but instead believers be praying, and those who need to respond would do so.

So let's stand together.

And as we stand, our team is up front, ready to receive you as you come right now.

What an incredible message.

Hey, if you made a decision today to give your life to Jesus, we'd love to know about it.

We'd love to celebrate with you, we'd even love to pray with you.

And so, if you made that decision, would you text next to 55498?

And someone from our team would love to follow up with you.

In the meantime, I would love to pray with you even right now as God continues to do things in your heart moving.

And so, Jesus, we love you so much.

We say thank you for the truth of your word.

Thank you for still showing up in people's lives and still doing all of what you can do.

Jesus, I pray that you continue to keep hearts and your lives.

Uh, bring peace to minds.

And Jesus, once you can just do it all that you can do.

United City fans, this has been an incredible service.

It's been so fun worshiping with you.

Hey, to stay in the know of everything comes on in the life of our church.

We'd love for you to follow us on Instagram and on Facebook to stay up to date on everything happening.

And we'd love to see you either in person or online, right back here next week.

Services are at 9 30 and 11.

We hope you have a fantastic week, and we'll see you soon.