Press Out: How to Imitate Christ in Everyday Life || Pastor Adam Mesa

Awesome. Well, praise God. Is so good to see all

of you here this Sunday.

Morning, and as Ashley said, we're really excited. This Friday,

seven o'clock hosted at our Pomona campus, we have our

young Adult Night and it's gonna be absolutely incredible. Please,

if you have anyone that you know that's a young adult,

maybe you're even hearing you have grandchildren that are young adults,

these are the type of moments that you want to

encourage them to go.

Okay, so do whatever you got to do.

If you know someone that's young who hasn't developed a

relationship with Jesus yet, promised them a gas card to go,

Promised them some roadblocks money if they're still into that.

Hopefully no one you know is. But anyway, whatever you do,

you know, tell them I'll venmo you lunch, but go

to this because I know God's gonna touch them and

our resident pastor, Pastor Sammy's gonna be preaching on Friday.

One of the things that I admire about Pastor Sammy

because he may be new to our team, but he's

not new to me as a friend. I've seen him

in environments where he has a gift and move with

the spirit and move prophetically. And so what I do

know without a shout of doubt that as young adults

come on Friday, if they are looking for the Lord

to speak a word to them, we're truly believing God

that that's going to happen on Friday, because Pastor Sammy

moves in that vein and I'm really looking forward to

being able to be there and just witness what the

Lord is going to do on Friday night. And as

always on Saturdays, you may have a friend that said,

you know, I went to Patrio, but it was just

so big. It just felt, you know, just kind of

felt like I got lost. Well, a couple of things.

If you serve and you join a neighborhood group, it

won't feel very big at all.

That's one thing.

So always encourage that if someone maybe says it's a

little too big or a little two packed. But also

that's where our Saturday night service comes into play. And

so you know, it's not a large service. It's not

massively attended, and that's for a purpose. That's because then

it's much more intimate. And so if you know someone

that says, oh, it's just there's a lot of people. Well,

Saturday service is that way, and we're gonna have a

lot of time where we're going to fellowship in the

courtyard as it's finished and other things like that, and

so we just really can't wait for our Saturday night

service and so encourage people to come. And if you

have a Bible today, let's dig into the Word of God.

We've been in a series at the top of this

year that goes along with our fast. By show of hands,

let's just see who's been doing our twenty one day

fast with us.

I know we got a lot of people. That's great.

If you haven't, that's okay, But we've all been doing

a twenty one day fast a lot of us. Some

of it's food related, habit related, but the most important

part has been to spend extra time with God every

single day that at the top of the year we

can grow and strengthen our relationship with the Lord.

If you have your.

Bible, turn to Philippians chapter three. We've been here all

month really digging about three verses at a time into

the Book of Philippians. If you were with us this

first week, Pastor Aaron shared with us and open the

series about explaining to us what's happening in the Book

of Philippians, that it's written by the apostle Paul, that

he's writing it as a prisoner for Jesus, as he's

in prison for preaching the Gospel, and he pins this letter.

We got babies on both sides. It's like three D

audio right now, that's okay.

What happens is.

Is as Pastor Aaron shared, we talked about suffering on

the first week as he opened up the series, and.

Then within the second week we then.

Talked about Paul says that as you experience suffering as believers,

what will often happen is God will build a maturity

in your life.

And so we talked about last week.

As you become a Christian, as you follow Jesus, there

should be an expectation in your life that your maturity

level grows. In the Gospels, in the New Testament, the

apostle Paul puts it this way.

He says, when I.

Was a child, I thought like a child and I

acted like a child. But as you become an adult,

you ought to act like an adult.

And so in other ways, if I'm a believer on

year one and new.

To faith, it's okay, that a lot of things may

be difficult at first, but hopefully as you get into

year seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve as a believer, your

maturity level increases, that you don't have the same struggles,

you don't have the same mishaps that you had on

year one.

So the Apostle Paul talks about there.

Should be an expectation in your faith that says, I

can overcome things by the power of the Spirit. I

can grow in character, I can grow in attitude. And

in this week, the apostle Paul says, if you would

experience suffering, if you would grow in your maturity and faith,

then ultimately what will happen is your imitation game will

get really good when it comes to following Jesus.

That you'll be really good at imitating Jesus.

So that's where we find ourselves today in Philippians, chapter three,

verse seventeen.

If you have your finger there, I'll have it up

on the screen.

If you want to fall along, would you join me

for standing for the honored reading God's word while we

give the Lord our full attention today as God's word

is open. Here's what the apostle Paul says, brothers, join

in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who

walk according to the example you have in us. For

many of whom I have often told you and now

tell you, even with tears and walk as enemies of

the crime of the Cross of Christ. Their end is destruction,

their God is their belly, and they glory and their shame.

With mindset on earthly things, you may be seated. Let's

talk about that a little bit today.

As Paul continues what we've been talking about the past

couple weeks, he makes an invitation, an invitation that I

don't tend to be very comfortable with, because here's what

Paul does. He tells everyone, join me in imitating join

me in imitating me.

It's not because he's saying that because he's prideful.

He could have said, hey, let's all collectively imitate Jesus.

But why does he say let's imitate me.

Because Paul recognizes that he's an example to other believers.

He recognizes that to follow Jesus means that you are

setting an example of what it means to serve Jesus.

And so if he just.

Said let's all imitate Jesus, that's a scapegoat, because how

often have you said this to someone when they saw

your humanity.

Well, I'm not Jesus, and.

So it's a way that you've tried to escape responsibility.

If I was Jesus would be easier. If I were

one of his disciples, it'd be easier. But what Paul

begins to do is he says, hey, guys, imitate me,

and then people could be in the church and they

could be like, who we only have to imitate Paul,

That's it. But then what he continues to say is

he says this.

He says, when you're in church, look around and have

your eyes on other people who are intimidating are imitating Jesus.

Wait, hold on, Paul, I was totally game with you

telling people that, hey, look at me, imitate me.

Ephesian chapter four. But Apostle Paul says, follow my example

as I follow the example of Jesus. And so Paul,

I get that.

But don't be telling people to come to church and

tell them to look at their left and right and

see whether I'm following Jesus or not. Don't be telling

people that I like my privacy.

A lot of us we live in this social.

Media age where you think you're transparent because you post

your anniversary or you post your birthday. But how many

of you guys know you all have privacies set on

your phone. You all have privacies, including myself, set on

our social media. You have it set where your profile

may be private or only certain people can comment, or

maybe you've blocked people before or muted people before. Why

because we all want privacy.

But the Apostle Paul says, to follow Jesus, you are

giving up that privacy, and you are inbiting not only

the people in church around but the church around you

and the people around you to look at you whether

you are.

An example for Jesus or not. The moment you step

into this call and you say that you follow Jesus,

you step into a responsibility to be the example. When

the Apostle Paul says, imitate me, there's a Greek word

that he uses called cinematite.

Which would be the word where we get the word

symmetry from.

And how many of you know if something that needs

to be in symmetry is not, then the whole thing

will fall apart. And so if you're a contractor, you're

a construction worker, if you're building a home, things need

to be in symmetry. You got to use rulers, you

gotta use geometry. You gotta know where things space out

and where they go, because if they don't and you

finish the house, guess what one win come, one thing, come,

one earthquake, come, the whole house will fall apart. And

so measurement is essential for help, for things to be

able to stand on their feet. So what the apostle

Paul says is he says, hey, why don't you measure

your life against my life? And let's see if we

have symmetry imitation against one another.

Because what the.

Apostle Paul knows is he knows that he is following

Jesus every single day. He knows he's imperfect, he knows

he's fallen, he knows he's not Jesus. But what Paul

also knows is every day he strives for Jesus Christ.

And he says, if you find it difficult to bear

the image of Jesus, to follow the example of Jesus,

then why don't you look over at me, see if

you have symmetry with me?

And what is he? I mean, he's in prison their

prisons back then.

Oftentimes we're in their sewage system, so there's manure, there's urine,

there's a bunch of asdist food is very minimal. So

I mean, he's going through it, and he writes a

letter and says, hey, if you want to grow and maturity,

measure your life against mind right now. But we live

in an age where everybody wants to have influence, but

no one wants to be an example. You know, everybody

wants to be an influencer.

We all want followers, we all want likes, we all

want comments, but don't expect me to be an example.

TikTok rip but then not rip. It raised from the

dead this afternoon. Oddly enough. I don't know if you've

got the news already, but last night TikTok was banned.

This morning or this afternoon rather or afternoon, it's only eleven.

At eleven am, TikTok got turned back on.

Yeah, I know, I'll be your guys's Fox News and

CNN News breaking news to you before you because you

don't have TikTok.

So you didn't know that.

But I went on Instagram in between service and I

found out. But for about thirteen hours some of y'all

were freaking out. We our prayer team was prepared to

pray for you guys if any of you were experiencing

withdraw for TikTok.

I see people. They don't even hear me anymore. Right now, like.

Addicts, you guys are downloading TikTok, you're resigning in, You're

pulling up all.

Your friends again. I get it.

Give me twenty minutes and you can you can scroll

your life away once again.

But how many of us know on TikTok, everybody on Instagram,

on YouTube, everybody wants to influence they They want to

influence you on what to buy.

They want to influence you on what to wear. They

want to influence you on what music to listen to.

They want to influence you on what restaurants are good

to go. But how many times have we seen it

on social media that a person may have influence, but

their private life doesn't match their public life, and eventually

their private life will be uncovered. What's done in the

dark will ultimately come to the light. And so we

see what happens with influencers is they have influence in

a category, they have millions of followers, But what happens

they don't treat their spouse a certain way and it

gets out in public, they lose their following, or they

don't treat a waitress a certain way out in public

and someone records it and we see it. Or what

happens is is we end up finding out that they're

actually a lie or a farce, and all of a sudden,

their followership's declines. And what they didn't realize was is

the responsibility of influence was not actually in followers, it's

actually in.

Being an example. And the apostle Paul starts on the

opposite foot. He says, hey, imitate me. Let me have

influence in.

Your life because I'm being an example, not so that

I can be an example. He's not saying, let me

know if you're watching me, so that I can get

my act together.

He's saying, no, I know that.

I'm following Jesus, so I invite your eyes to look

at me. You don't have to tell me you're looking

at me when you come to church, because I'm walking

in a standard, I'm imitating Jesus. I'm in symmetry with

the way that Jesus would all me to act. So

therefore I don't care what any conversation anyone hears me

conversating about. I don't care what happened. I don't care

if you see me in public. I don't care if

you see me in the gym. Because the apostle Paul

says this, because my standard of conduct is an example

that you can follow. So therefore he takes that example

and he uses it for influence. And if we're going

to truly influence people for Jesus and be an example

for Jesus, we have to recognize that there are some

things that happen if you're taking notes. Here's the first

point that Paul encourages us with in verse seventeen.

What happens if you want to carry.

Influence, then influence come carries a cost.

There's a cost to influence.

It's not just a matter of being a leader or

a manager, or a CEO or a boss, or a

husband or a father. It's what cost are you.

Willing to carry to carry that honor, to carry that right.

As we read, he says, brothers, join me in imitating me,

and keep your eyes on those who walk according to

the example you have in us. In a few moments,

he'll make it clear that there are people in church

who are not setting an example of what it means

to follow Jesus. It's powerful that he says, Hey, don't

focus on those people.

Jesus will take care of those people. Focus on the

people that are setting an example.

He In other words, Paul says, there's gonna be in

perfect people that come to church, but the Lord will

handle that and church discipline will handle that. But our

responsibility is if you're a believer that's looking to grow

in your faith, not only imitate Paul, but he says,

but look for others in the church who are imitating Jesus,

and he says, and get around them. The reason Paul

can have influence is because he's under the influence of God.

And there's a lot of people today where we want.

Influence, but we're not under any authority or any in fluence.

We have to be under the influence of God, under

the influence of the Holy Spirit to be led. And

the apostle Paul can say these things because he is

under God's influence. He's led by the Lord every single day.

When I was a kid, what we played a lot

was the game Telephone. You guys, remember that game telephone, you.

Get eight kids. Seven kids.

Well, I often still play it to this day because

I have children, and then I have nieces and nephews,

and particularly whenever i'm with my in laws, my mother

in law, my brother in law, my sister in law,

we'll go to a restaurant and we'll get one big

table and it'll have all the grandchildren, all the nieces

and nephews. We're all around a table and while we're

waiting for our food, we often play a game of telephone.

And so what happens is, if you don't know the game,

one person comes up with a phrase or a sentence,

and then they say it to that they whisper it

to the next person, and then that person whispers it

to the next person, and so on and so forth.

And the part of the game is is the last

person when they repeat it, does it match what the

first person said.

And here's the thing.

If you're playing with my youngest son, Thomas, it always

ends relatively the same. It has some type of bowel

movement involved. At the end of the sentence, he'll talk

about far poop whatever. So it'll start off like Spider

Man swings from the building, and then by time it

gets to Thomas on the end, it'll be like Spider

Man poops and farts, and we'll be like.

Tom like but because he's young, because he's a child,

because he immature, because he has not developed. Even if

he hears it right, he changes it.

Because that's what it is. In the same way we

often do that with our walk. Here's how it goes

how God normally. There are some exceptions, but normally, here's

how God will communicate to you.

John chapter one.

Talks about that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Word

of God. He's the incarnation of the Word of God.

And so therefore, as Jesus has spoken, what happens is

is that it has been recorded in scripture by the

power of the spirit. All the writers have been spirit

led in spirit filled in this inerrant Bible that God

has spoken through mortal men. God has recorded his word

which originally started with Jesus. And so the game of

telephone is starts with Jesus. It gets recorded in the

Word of God. And then what happens is as the

word of God is open and shared, the Spirit of

God will deliver it to your heart, and then from

there God will expect you to not only live that

example out, but translate that or transfer that to the

world around you. The question is, is I know.

That when Jesus recorded it in this there was no

mistake between the words.

When the spirit of God translates this to your heart,

there's no differences in suggestion. The question is what happens

with you when the word of God gets telephoned to

you and then now you're encouraged.

To walk that out. Does it match the original intended

author's expectation of.

How we needed to live, how we needed to walk,

how we needed to pray, how we need to be,

or by time it gets to us, does it Spider

Man pooped his pants? In other words, Jesus, I hear

your phrase, I hear you speaking, I hear the word

of God speaking.

The Word of God has reached my heart. But by

time it goes to walk it out, I want to

change it up a little bit. I know what you said.

I heard it, but I don't know.

I just I feel like I could say this a

better way. I feel like I could live this a

better way. I feel like I can do this a

better way. A lot of times what people will say

is I'll get with people and uh. One of the

best things that you can guide your life with, and

probably the best thing is you just as you're trying

to be guided, go to the word of God. And

there's times people will come to me and they'll ask

me questions and I'll say, well, let's go to the

Word of God. And then here's how you know that

they're about to play the wrong game of telephone is

when they say this, I know that's what the Bible says,

but oh no, no, the word of God. It's a

game of telephone.

Ain't no, but no, but they said, what is it?

They say, what is it? Corinthians, do not be unequally

yoked with an unbeliever. Someone comes to me and says,

Pastor Adam, my boyfriend isn't a believer.

My girlfriend isn't a believer. It's getting serious. What do

you think about this? Okay, well, let's turn to the

Bible and show them in the Bible. And they go,

I know it says that.

But but they bring me coffee Starbucks to work every

single day. And my last boyfriend never did that. But

it to be unequally.

Yoked, it takes a cup of coffee well, shoot, I

didn't know dating was so cheap nowadays. I know some

Christian guys that'll buy you a latte. I mean, like,

that's what it I know that's what it says. But now,

if you're already married to an unbeliever, Bible talks about

totally different things.

But this is in the dating process what happens. And

a lot of times I know that's what it says.

But hey, me, me and my boyfriend were living together.

What is abouble say? Oh we talked about I know

it says that, but it's hard out here to pay rent. Well,

there's a lot of other solutions that we can help

you find before you gotta result in that.

I'll tell you this.

Let me look, can I I just want to help

someone real quick. Okay, I didn't even do this for

a service, but I know the crowd. We got second service. Okay,

it's hard second service crew. Some of y'all slept in

because Saturday night was long, you know what I'm saying.

So that's why I know the crowd I'm talking to.

When it comes to your walk with Jesus, if you

are trying to look for an exception to the rule,

then chances are. I'll tell you right now, you're probably

not doing it right. In other words, this is what happens.

Sometimes someone will come to me say, is it all

right me and my boyfriend are living together. I will

pull up the word and I will show them in

the Bible why. I encourage them that you're already partaking

in the marriage bed. And then they say this, well,

what if we have stained from sex and we just

live together. I tell them, well, you must be mother Teresa,

because for me, that would be really hard for my

you know, I'm very attracted to my wife there.

I mean, it would be very hard for me to

not do that. And then they go, oh, okay, well

what if we just sleep in separate bedrooms? Okay?

All of a sudden, we're just looking for exception after

I said, what if I do this?

What if I do this?

Rather than you know, Jesus's expectation. He says this, when

you encounter sin, he says, it's better that you cut

your arm off or rip your eye off then lose

your entire body.

Okay.

So a lot of times we're trying to negotiate with

Jesus to say, why don't I just give you my

fingernail right in my armor. How about a tow rather

than my leg. We're rather expectation is to move forward. Now,

let me give you an exception. You say, okay, you've

heard the gospel, you're living with your boyfriend or girlfriend,

and you say, we're getting married in ninety days. Okay,

Well you can fight ninety days and you can abstain

to do God's work. But a lot of times it's like,

we're gonna get married in like seven more years, and

we're gonna keep doing this, but we love Jesus. Well,

are you imitating Jesus? Though your imitation game, your example

will show what your walk is. A lot of times

when it comes to drugs, when it comes to alcohol,

we're looking for an exception. We're looking for ways out

that we can still partake in something that we enjoy

while also still love Jesus. But you'll know, by the

power of the spirit, the word's coming to you. How

do you play that game of telephone and how do

you translate that in that moment.

Here's the second point that I want to share with.

You is what will happen is going in the same vein,

is if you begin to live an example for Jesus

and carry influence. What will happen is your influence will

mirror God's mannerisms.

You'll mirror mannerisms. The Apostle Paul was mirroring the mannerisms

of Jesus. That's why he invited people.

To follow his example and imitate him, because he knew

that he was following the example of Jesus. He says,

for many of you, who I often told you and

now tell you, even with tears, walk as enemies of

the Cross of Christ. Apostle Paul in this moment is

not talking about unbelievers. He's talking about Christians who refuse

to imitate Jesus. So what the Apostle Paul says is

in our community, people know that you're identifying as a Christian,

they know you're coming to church, they know you're following Jesus,

but your mannerisms.

Is not doing that.

So therefore you are exposing you are an enemy of

what we're try to accomplish. As we preach Jesus, your

life is preaching something else. And so he says, I

don't write this in happiness. He says, I write this in.

Tears, hoping that you recognize that as we're trying to

spread the gospel of Jesus that he's here to redeem

us and save us. Your mannerisms communicate the complete opposite.

Fiesis Chapter four, Verse one says this, Therefore, a prisoner

of the Lord Jesus urge you to walk in a

manner worthy to which you've been called. So walk in

a manner worthy that he has called to you. In

other words, your mannerisms need to match your master. They

have to match. That's like you bringing in someone, or

you've ever been around a parent before and they seem

to be like really respectful and really put together, and

then you meet the child and then you're like, whose

kid is this? Or vice versa.

The parent is like really bad and really disobedient and

really wild, and then you meet the child and the

child's actually like really good, right, like straight.

A student, like, whose child is this?

In the same way, we expect when children are with

their parents that there's a mirror a mannerisms good or bad.

Me and Ashley we debate all the time whenever our

boys do something bad, who they get it from. We'll

be like in the house and Mathias will be like, Thomas,

be quiet and I'll look at her and I'll be like,

that is all you, and she'd be like, no, that's.

Not all you.

And then, like good parents, what we do is we

say this, we come to a consensus and we say, oh,

they learned it at school. That's where they got that's

where they got it from. What we do we recognize

that our children will mirror our mannerisms. My dad had

a saying growing up when I was a kid and

I was a teenager and stuff like that. He would say,

you can do whatever you see dad do. So he

would tell us like, if you see me cuss, you

can cuss.

If you see me drink, you can drink. If you

see me treat someone poorly, you could treat people poorly.

If if you see me yell at someone in public,

you can yell at someone in public. And he said,

but but you cannot do anything that you don't see

me do. And he would go, I'm not even worried

about your mom. He would tell us that my mom's great,

she's an angel, but you know my mom got some

sass on her and so and so he would say,

not even your mom, I'm talking about dad. You can

do what you see Dad do. That's a heart like

as we think about that, I want you to put

that in your shoes right now, Like, go home and

tell your kids you can only do what you see

mom and dad do. You're gonna see your kids fly

out that window and take the first taxi to yard

house and just start partying, you know, like you like,

think about that if you gave your children permission to

do everything that you currently.

Do right now, what would that happen? What would happen?

Would that be an example of like, oh, we're proud

that they're doing it, or would it be like you

could do everything you see us do except blank blank,

blank blank and blank. Everything else is fair game. You

can go to church like we go to church. Who

have you know, like, but don't talk like us, don't

do this, don't do that. And so there's an expectation

that we have to mirror God's mannerisms. The second thing

we need or the third thing we need to do

is influence. Will begin to fix your focus As we

begin to mirror Jesus's mannerisms. What will happen is your

focus will begin to be fixed.

See the apostle Paul says this Their end is destruction.

Their God is their belly, and they glory and their

shame with minds set on earthly things. Their minds are set,

in other words, their attention and their focus is set

on earthly things. So therefore they're an enemy of the

Cross because their focus is not on Jesus. Their focus

is not on walking this thing out. Their focus is

on their mindset being on earthly things. There's a famous

painting that all of us would know it. It's probably

the most famous painting in all of the world. It's

Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. There's probably almost no one

in the room who would say they didn't know what

this was. We all know.

What this is.

This depicts Jesus's last moment with his disciples before he

goes praise in the garden of Guessemine. Leonardo da Vinci

painted this in the sixteen hundreds in a chapel, a

Dominican priest chapel in Milan. So he painted this gorgeous

mural that's on a wall in the chapel. Most of

us have seen this picture regenerated, we've seen it digitally enhanced,

we've seen it redrawn, and so most of the time

you'll see the painting as a completed painting. But the

way it stands today, if you were to get on

a flight right now and you were to go to

Milan and you were to go to this chapel, what

would happen is is you would look at Leonardo da

Vinci's painting and you would see that there's something missing.

And so I want you to see for just a moment,

if we could show it again, you'll notice that there's

something unique in the original. How it is right now

is at the base of Jesus's feet there's a doorway.

When that painting was done, it was a blank wall.

There was no doorway there, and so when Leonardo da

Vinci did the painting, he did not have to work

around a wall. The story is is some years later

there's Dominican monks that live in that church and on

the other side of that wall is their dining hall,

and normally their walk to the dining hall from where

they would work was about fifty yards away. And what

they found out one day is they said, hey, if

we blow a wall at Jesus's feet, we could get

to dinner faster. And so what they did was they

took the world. They don't know it at the time.

They took the world's most famous, most recognized painting in

the world, and they cut Jesus's feet off and they

made it so that they can walk right through it

so that they can get to dinner faster.

And a lot of times in our.

Own life, we allow our appetite to dictate our direction,

and we'll blow right past Jesus.

We'll blow a hole, a whole wall, a hole.

Through the life of Jesus so that we can get

to where we want to go. It's admirable, it's beautiful

to look at. It's gorgeous. Oh but wait, it's time

for dinner. Hey, can someone make a wall right here

so that we can get to dinner faster? See the

apostle Paul says, their appetite, their belly is their god,

and they have their mindset on earthly things.

He's saying, they love.

Jesus, they come to Jesus, they they admire Jesus. But

when their stomach starts growling, they don't go to Jesus.

They go to the dining hall.

And he says that is their god, is that when

hunger strikes, they don't go to the Cross.

They don't go to Jesus. They go to their own thing.

They go to their bond, they go to their drinks,

they go to their friends, they go to the club,

they go to a relationship. When the hunger comes, their appetite,

it's on food, it's on their belly, it's on other things.

One of the things I noticed that i've been on

this fast is and I know Ashley, we.

Talked about it for service.

This is a big moment for her because I've never

admitted this, and so I made her promise for service

that when we get home, we don't talk about it. Okay,

So because I got to admit something before you guys

right now. But historically I'd always say I'm not a

thirsty person. Ashley would always be like, you didn't drink

water today, And I'm like, well, because I don't get thirsty,

I'm never thirsty for water. So for the past twenty

one days, during this fast, we went more of an

extreme fast even too, and we removed like all sugar,

all carbs, all stuff like that. So we're not even

eating fruit or anything like that. So no strawberries, no pineapple.

Because some of you guys know when you're doing the

Daniel fast. When you wanna feel a little naughty, you

just get some frozen grapes or some pineapple or something

like that, and you're like, oh, it tastes like candy.

So we're like, we're even gonna remove that. We're gonna

go a little harder on this fast. What I noticed

was the moment I removed the sweets and the moment

I removed the carbs, I started getting really thirsty, like

I was, actually I'm right now able to tell that

I'm thirsty. And for the past two weeks, I can't

go like thirty minutes without drinking like twelve ounces of water. Now,

mind you, I don't ever drink man, I can go

a week without drinking twelve ounces of water right now.

I can't go thirty minutes, forty five minutes. It wasn't

because I was never thirsty. It's because I was full

of a lot of other things that I was never

able to tell.

Ye, I was actually.

Thirsty, and I'm recognizing a lot of things that carry water.

The moment I remove it, I was like, oh, I'm

actually really thirsty. And so a lot of times for

our own walk, our own life, you know, I got

right here. Our normal diet be like, man, I got

some breakfast burrito, like a normal diet for us. Wake

up in the morning, like, oh, I'm on my way

to work, I'm gonna stop at Farmer Boys.

I'm gonna get me a breakfast burrito.

And then you know, I've been really good lately, so

then I'm gonna get me one of these cheeseburgers with fries,

and I'm gonna eat this at lunch. And then you know,

sometime around five or six o'clock, I'm gonna my little

sweet tooth is gonna be calling, and so I'm gonna

need me some chocolate cake.

And then when you eat all of this, someone felt

that right now, they're like, give me that. They're like,

if it's the last service, can I have that?

They're like, now, if you ate all this and I

came to you and I said, hey, I got a

nice piece of fish that I just out in the ocean,

or man, I have a really nice healthy piece of steak,

you'd go like this. You'd go like, oh, I'm full,

But how many of you go just because you're full

doesn't mean it was nutritious.

Two totally different things, and what.

The apostle Paul is speaking to is he's saying this.

He's saying, a lot of you are full. Your appetite

is full, Your God is your belly. You're eating a

lot of food and and you're you're you're injecting a lot.

Of the world. But at the end of the day,

it's not nutritious.

And so if you want to be in a nutritious life,

then that's a life that follows the example of Jesus.

That's what he says, and he writes it with tears

to say it breaks his heart.

When he sees people living this life.

And a lot of times your appetite may not be

your food, but you know that when your stomach rumbles,

there are a lot of things you turn to before

you turn to Jesus when you're when you're angry and

that starts rumbling, what do you do?

You you you man?

Words start coming out, phrases start coming now, things start

coming out. You go in the garage, or you go

out somewhere else, and you just man, I gotta get

out rather than going.

To Jesus or your habits start itching. One of the

biggest things was in Paul's day as we begin to close.

In Paul's day, what would happen is is the Romans

would and the Greeks would hold these huge parties of food.

It was tremendous and they were famous because what they

would do, let's just say they were in a rectangle home.

They would put pottery in each corner.

And what the pottery in each corner represented is they

were vomit bins, so that as everybody was partying, if

they wanted to continue, because how many you know, we're

like we had too much to drink, You've had too

much to eat. You just kind of go like, oh,

I'm gonna just go sit, or I'm gonna head home.

I don't want my stomach. So they had these bins

that you could go and vomit into so that you

could go back to the party and you could go

back and enjoy the party, so you can empty your

stomach and you can get back in the game. And

they had these all over. So the apostle Paul, he's saying,

your God is your belly. You're just pursuing this, and

you think to yourself, that's so weird, that's so odd.

We don't do that today. Really, you ever been to

a Super Bowl party and someone starts drinking and eating

too much and they just go in the bathroom and

they just go throw up and they come back and

they go, oh, I'm good.

All I needed to do is vomit, and I'm straight.

We still do that stuff all the time. Someone goes

to a wedding and you celebrate too much and you just, oh,

I just gotta go find me, or I just got

to go to the bathroom.

You come back and you say, let's keep it rolling,

or all of a sudden, you start getting anxious, so

you start getting.

Angry, so you're like, man, I need to go in

the back. I just got to smoke real quick. I'll

come back. I'll be myself again. There's this appetite that

God has made that he can feel.

But what we do is we just keep.

Ingesting it, and then we vomit it, and then we

ingest it, and then we vomit it, then we ingest it.

And so the Apostle Paul says, if you're truly looking

to be fulfilled, you can only be fulfilled by Jesus.

And there's an expectation that as we follow the example

of Jesus, your appetite, I.

Will be full of the things of God.

And if you're here today and you've been struggling with

your appetite, you've been saying, Lord, before I go to

the altra car, I just want to pray for you.

If you're in here and you're saying, you know what,

I have had appetite for other things.

It may be on.

Actual food, and you say, you know what, I want

to change my appetite my diet. But your appetite could

be other things. You may have your mind set on

earthly things. You may have been consuming yourself with earthly desires.

I just want to pray for you just a moment,

if we bow our heads right now, before I go

to an ultra call. If you're just looking and you're

just saying, God, by your power, I want to change

my appetite. I'm ready to be full of you. I

don't want to be full of the earthly things anymore.

I truly want you. I just want you to raise

your hand because I'm gonna pray for you. If you

just raise your hand, you're saying I want my appetite

to match what I see in the Word of God.

I don't want an appetite for the word early or

earthly things anymore. Let me pray for you God. Right now, Father,

I just pray for every person hand that's raids. Lord,

I pray you begin to by your power, by your strength, God,

speak to their heart. Right now, Father God, give them

the strength Lord to put to death all of the

misdeeds of the body. Father God, Today, Lord, give them

the strength to fully trust in you. Lord, I pray

we no longer be enemies of Jesus. That we on

the outside say that we're believers, but on the inside

we're truly not following Jesus in according way that you've

called us. Father God, May our example match our profession.

Today Father God, Lord, I pray you give everyone radical

strength to fully follow.

And obey your example. Jesus. God, May you transform their thinking.

May you transform their mind. God. May you heal them

in every which way. Lord. May you anoint their hands

and their feet.

God, I pray that as they leave this place, Lord,

and they may set their eyes on the things that

distract them.

As they set their eyes on.

The things that pull them, Lord, may you remind them

and convict them Lord that you're doing something in their life.

God, that you've started a work in their life. God,

that you are renewing something in them by the power

of the Holy Spirit. God. I pray Lord, as they

hear the word of God, Lord, that.

As they live this out, people can see an example

of them of what it means to fully rely and

have an appetite for the things of God in Jesus

Mighty name, Amen and Amen, Praise God.

And if you're here today, I just want to give

you one last opportunity as we leave here just a

few moments. If you've never made Jesus Christ your personal

Lord and savior, if you've never repented of your sins

and said, God, I am fallen, I have fallen short,

I have missed the mark. But Jesus I fully need you.

The Bible says in Romans chapter ten, verses nine and

ten that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus

is Lord, and you believe in your heart that he

rose from the grave, you will be saved. That's a promise,

that's not a question mark, that's not a comma. That's

a promise God has for you. If you would believe

that Jesus died for your sins and he rose three

days later, putting to shame, sin and death, then.

You will truly be saved.

Jesus says that one day you and I will stand

before the Father. And Jesus says that if you acknowledge

me before men on earth, then I will acknowledge you before.

My Father in heaven.

But if you denounce me on earth amongst men, then

I will denounce you in heaven before my Father. Jesus

makes a promise to say salvation is available to all people.

Sometimes people say, why does God send people to hell? No,

people choose to go to hell. God is giving every

afforded opportunity to not see that future through his son.

It's his love, it's his grace that will sustain us today.

So therefore it's imperative for people to recognize that God

is offering salvation. God is offering a relationship. It's up

to us to receive that or to deny it. And

it's a free opportunity that God is offering you today

through his head Jesus.

So if you're here.

Today, would you all join me right now, because some

of you are going to be making a confession of

faith today for the first time, or you're going to

be rededicating your life. But wherever you're at, I know

there's people in the cafe courtyard, in this room who

are ready to take a step of faith towards Jesus.

And so at this moment I'm gonna encourage you that

we all say a prayer together. By no means, the

prayer is not the thing that saves you. God is

already at work in your heart. When we pray this,

all we're doing is affirming what God is already doing

in your life. So, family, would you join me in

this prayer right now, as many will be saying it

for the first time, would you say, Dear Lord Jesus,

in this moment, I repent to my sins. I confess

with my mouth that you are Lord and Savior, and

you have risen from the grave. And from this day

forward I commit my life to you, through the good

and the bad. I make you my Lord in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, I want to do one last thing before we

leave here together. If you said that prayer today for

the writ for the first time, or rededicated your life,

I'm gonna count to three.

We're not gonna do anything with you or to you.

All we want to do is recognize you and welcome

you to the family. So, if you said that prayer

today and made that commitment on the counter of three,

would you raise your hand so that we can welcome

you the family on the counter three one two, one

two three, raise your hand up Heina, Hey, way, welcome family.

Praise God. Hey, welcome to the family of God. Thank

you for.

Making such an incredible decision.

Praise God. Welcome to the family. Our church patreat means family,

but it's very specific. It means family for those that

have said yes to Jesus and so we consider you

a brother a sister in Christ. And also this may

feel like the end of something, but it's also the

beginning of something great.

It's a beginning of a great journey with Jesus Christ.

And so we want to walk alongside of you.

So if you raised your hand today wherever you're at,

up on the screen is our website ww Do Grow

Dot Faith. It's right there for you.

Before you leave, would you pull out your smart device

if you said yes today, it's the best way we

could come alongside of you and we can help resource you.

We never want you to say yes to Jesus and

then not know what's next. So before you leave, if

you go to our website ww dot Grow dot Faith,

we're gonna send you a small book by our founding pastor.

And also if you want to connect with us, we'd

be happy to do so. My wife Ashley's gonna come

on up to the stage and she's gonna close us

on out together.

Thanks being amen, be you guys, blessed by the word

today such an on time word. You guys, maybe you

may stand and I'll.

Just kidding.

I want to take that maybe later if you guys

can stand to your feet if you did see two.

I know a lot of you do, and we appreciate

you guys support us through our Beyond I Do and

our Beyond the Letter podcast. We have new merge that

is in the building, so if you want to head

out to our bookstore, you can grab a sweatshirt or

a T shirt. I don't believe we sold out, but

you guys like to sell out of everything. So I

may or may be lying, and there may be something,

but I pray there is something. But I'm gonna pray

us out and if you need additional prayer, our prayer

team is going to be up here in the front

for you, heavenly Father, we just thank you for this

on time word. Father, we continually ask that you just

shepherd us and guide us and protect us as we

go through our week. This week, Father, we love you

and thank you. Pray over travel and mercy and your

mighty name. Amen, God bless your family

SSSSS nine