REVELATION SERIES: ”Compromise” // The Danger of Almost Following Jesus (Rev. 2:12-16)

What a Sunday. I realize um many of us

it's like let's just get on to the

baptisms and I'm with you. I I was

supposed to pray I think at the end of

that uh little segue and I think my wife

knew like you're a hot mess. Don't you

have h the mic? And uh there's just

nothing like seeing people give their

full allegiance to Jesus. There is

nothing more significant of why we

gather and what we live for than the act

of from death to life. So uh do stay

after and this is going to be more of a

devotional. We're in the book of

revelation and the book of revelation is

the most uh I believe the most abused

misunderstood book in all of scripture.

It's meant to be simple and it's meant

to give us the real Jesus, the real

battle and the real story, the real

gospel that spiritual warfare is real.

But how do we do that and walk into the

battle? It's it's particularly the

chapters that we're currently in. It's a

letter to seven churches. Seven churches

in the ancient world, early church, but

each church represents something that is

eternally a temptation or a victory that

we can live in in the eternal big C

church. So today we're going after

Pergamum, which we'll talk about. They

are uh complimented for some things and

they are corrected for some things. Last

week we looked at Ephesus. Ephesus,

you've lost your first love. You've done

a lot of things well and been really

faithful. But the temptation to lose

that first love and become a bit of a

religious spirit is a temptation.

Pergamum, the temptation is this

compromise. You're so loving to the

people in the culture around you that

you forgot

how to live in the chaos and not be

afraid of what happens to you.

Compromise. So,

I was going to give some examples. I'm

just going to go right into it. We tend

to think something in in in our day and

age, I believe, as believers, that our

biggest problem as Christians or just in

general as human beings is making bad

decisions.

That's what most of us stress out about.

Am I going to make the right decision?

Most of our decisions though, they don't

necessarily feel bad. Uh it's the issue

is am I justified in making this choice?

Is this wisdom? Is it necessary? The

issue is often it's not about choosing

evil. If it was so clear that my choice

was of evil, I wouldn't choose it. And

I'm we're not acting like that's what

we're trying to convince you in church

to just make the moral less evil

decision. We're usually not doing that.

What we're really doing in life are

choices. It's about responding to the

pressures of this world. The pressures.

The pressure is usually this success,

security or acceptance.

The pressure of success, the pressure of

security, pressure of acceptance.

Most men,

success feels a little bit more

weighted. Most women, acceptance is a

little more weighted. Regardless of

either side of that,

security is something every single one

of us have to navigate. Where's your

security? Where's your acceptance? And

where's your success? The enemy, I feel,

could care less. He could care less what

you value most. He doesn't care.

Literally doesn't care. Which is why

he's totally fine if you value really

good things. He's totally fine if you

make your idol your children. He's

totally fine if you make your idol your

spouse. If you make the city your

nonprofit, your church,

your neighbor,

if you make the good things your

ultimate thing, he is completely fine.

He could care less whether you value

atrocities, evil, heinous hate crimes,

injustice, or you value justice more

than everything. As long as it's not

allegiance to the person of Jesus and

then everything else, he doesn't care.

Any selfish, self-serving value will do.

Most of our selfish values

are quietly good things that become the

ultimate thing. So the danger isn't just

what we value doing the wrong thing.

It's that we give our allegiance to

things that were never meant to define

us. And whatever you value most will

eventually shape how you follow Jesus.

So the real question isn't what are you

doing? What do you need your life to

give you? What do you need to get out of

life? What are you pursuing? That's not

really the question. It's If it's

anything other than Jesus, and churches

talk about this all the time, it's it's

Jesus and then everything else. And if

you if you've been if you've been part

of a church for five seconds, hopefully

you've heard that. And it doesn't matter

whether you've heard it. It matters

whether it's gone under the surface and

it's convicted you and it's adjusted the

way you live your life. Not so that you

can reach some sort of moralistic

standard, but so that you can look at

compromise

and say, "I found another life that sets

me free." So here's our vision today.

It's a vision to crush compromise in our

life. Root it out and then to crush it.

Compromise is not about abandoning

Jesus. It's never We don't compromise by

rejecting him, abandoning him. It's

usually continuing to follow him. but on

my own terms. My compromise is I will

follow you, Jesus, but I get to define

which way we're going. I get to define

the topic, the subject, and and in a

world of preferences where I can just

pick up and only listen to the sermons I

want to listen to.

Quiet. Am I the only one that does that?

Yeah. I I mean, I'm hopefully convicting

you. You know who does it more? You

still sometimes come here and you didn't

choose what you were listening to today.

I did.

I only listen to sermons that I choose

only. I can filter out anything I don't

want to hear. And the rest of you that

that go home and watch your favorite

preacher or, you know, you tune out and

and you're actually just planning who

you're going to listen to. I'm just

kidding. So hopefully that's not what

you're doing right now. A few of you

might have just started. But the the

point is this.

It's a big deal that we live with so

many preferences. Our freedoms are

enslaving us.

And so the question today is not about

compromising through abandonment. It's

about following him on my terms. So

here's here's the question, and this is

the main thing we're the only thing

we're really asking today. Where are you

being asked to just adjust a little bit

in your life to survive, succeed, or

belong? How is the world pulling you to

simply adjust a little bit through

survival, success, or belonging? How is

survival, success, and belonging causing

you to compromise just a little bit in

some area? All right, let's get into the

passage. Revelation 2 verse uh 12-6.

This is the church of Pergamum. So

again, seven churches. This letter is

meant to not just be for them, but for

us today. And if you're if you're new to

Revelation, the reason why most people

don't talk about it or preach on it, and

the ones that do get super weird, is

because it's all full of this poetic,

beautiful, profound, deep imagery that

you have to do a little decoding that

shouldn't be that hard. If you do a

little history, I'm going to do it for

you. And if you disagree with me, my

email is philfrontierurch. us. and to

the angel of the church in Pergamum,

write the words of him who has the sharp

two-edged sword. Again, this is Jesus

speaking. The two-edged sword is just

his authority to judge and to speak

truth. His word cuts through any

illusion. It exposes what's really going

on beneath the surface. I know where you

dwell, where Satan's throne is. Now,

what the heck does Satan's throne? It

gets really intense real fast.

Pergamum was the center of power,

culture, and religion all at the same

time. It was filled with all kinds of

temples, emperor worship, and and they

had all kinds of competing truths. Kind

of like, I don't know, every day of our

lives. Jesus is saying, "I see how hard

it is to follow me right where you

live." He's acknowledging the difficulty

of their circumstances.

This is a place where all kinds of other

allegiances will completely dominate the

people if if they're not careful. And so

before he confronts them, Jesus

acknowledges their context. I know where

you live. And he's not disconnected from

their pressure. He sees their

environment, their challenges, and he

sees what costs them to follow him.

Jesus doesn't deal with costly sacrifice

and suffering by just kind of putting it

off to the side or minimizing it just

because he gave everything. He

acknowledges, he looks you in the face

and thanks you for responding to him

despite the fact that he's given

everything to you and I. And he says,

"Yet you hold fast my name. You did not

deny my faith. And even in the days of

Antipus, my faithful witness who was

killed among you where Satan dwells."

again. You know what?

Well, Antipus was likely just a local

believer who was executed for refusing

the compromise. That's pretty cool.

Jesus calls him a faithful witness.

That's the same title that's used for

Jesus himself.

Jesus takes his name,

puts it on you, puts it on those who are

faithful no matter the cost.

That's who Antipus was. I don't know why

more people haven't named their children

Antipus.

Sounds ridiculous. All right. In this

city, following Jesus could cost your

life. Some of the cities, it wouldn't.

It's pretty safe. This city, it might.

And he takes it seriously. And he says,

"But I have a few things." He

acknowledges them, but then he gets

real. But I do have a few things against

you. Here's the shift. He affirms their

faithfulness. But he's going to expose

something deeper. He says this. You have

some there who hold the teaching of

Balum who taught Balak to put stumbling

blocks before the people of God so that

they might eat food sacrificed to idols

and practice sexual immorality.

And you're like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Idol

worship, food, sex. I've heard it all

before." Some of it you have. But here's

what's going on. Balam is an Old

Testament figure who didn't exactly like

oppose God's people. He taught others

how to compromise. It was like someone

in the church that was literally leading

people in the church astray. He showed

them how to blend in with the

surrounding culture, which sounds good.

We we often teach that some Christians

teach you to get rid like get out of the

culture and move to Nashville or Atlanta

or Dallas. I'm just kidding. Does that

joke never get old? That never gets old

for me.

We really do. We really do though talk

about and you can do that anywhere. But

we do talk about that the the will of

God is not to remove Christians from

culture but to be in it but to still be

salt and light, not to be watered down.

People should still be able to taste you

and to know that you're there. And some

people might not like your flavor, not

because you're obnoxious, but because it

reminds them of something that they're

resisting.

And so here's what's going on.

You some there holding to the teaching

of Balum and this compromising reality

is there. He showed them how to blend in

with the surrounding culture in ways

that slowly pull them away from God.

That is exact. So by just naming a

couple people Antipus they think

immediately gave his life then they hear

Balum and they go compromise

in the bubble slowly pulling away.

So, it's not about their behavior. He's

not telling them like, "Hey, stop being

so just impure rodents. He's he's simply

he's simply talking about a heart issue

where you're compromising and being

pulled away." And we need to know how

serious this is because he doesn't just

warn them about compromise. He's saying,

"If you don't deal with it, I will."

And that's where just like I don't

understand how people only see Jesus as

a fuzzy little lamb. He doesn't say

himself. I mean, the lamb who was slain

and then he calls us stupid little

sheep. That's basically the tone Jesus

gives most Christians. Hey, I love you

so much, you stupid sheep.

Stupidest animals on earth. I love you.

And in fact, I will take on as a lamb

and give my life and and let my blood

spill over my beautiful wool, but you're

dumb and I love you anyway. And I will

go after you, even just one of you. I

mean, but here's the thing. It's not

just cute cuddly Jesus that's just

rubbing a little little little little

whatever.

That was getting dangerous there.

He goes, "If you don't deal with this, I

will."

Now, let me tell you what he's not

talking about. He's not talking about um

current events. And whenever there's a

bad catastrophe like, I don't know, the

earthquakes of Pompei or the fires of

2025,

uh, that's not a Christian's excuse to

say, "Look at God judging your state for

whatever it's doing."

I hate that stuff so much. Oh, the world

just can't wait for Christians to tell

how the weather is a punishment because

of your sin. That's not what he's

talking about.

You don't deal with it, I will. What

he's saying is I will come. I'm in a war

against He's giving strong language, but

he's talking about the compromise.

It's not neutral. It's not a personality

difference. It's not just a different

approach at doing the Christian life.

He's saying Jesus is actively opposing

something because it's what it does to

your soul. And if you compromise on the

things that are affecting your soul, you

might as well not call yourself a

follower of me. So, also you have some

who hold the teaching of the

Nicolatians. I talked about this last

week. This is a group doing something

similar. Also teaching how you can

participate in the way, but you can

compromise on moral practices. In other

words, you don't have to take things

that seriously. Those guys, it was about

sex. And they were saying, "Oh, the way

to conquer it is just give into it until

you can until you just go so nuts that

then you can dominate it." I'm like,

"Oh, that's a great plan." Anyone tried

that? Did that work for you?

>> Thank you for that.

Then his response, therefore, repent.

Repent. Um, I feel like, you know,

somewhere somewhere in like the 20110s

to somewhere after COVID, a lot of

pastors like we felt like we had to

change the terminology because like

repent was such a bad word that so many

people were so offended by because so

many Christians had ruined the

definition of repentance and there were

too many people picketing with black

signs or something.

Repentance. You cannot shy away from the

concept of repentance. Jesus talks about

repentance so much. And I think that

what we have to do is say when people

misrepresent the concept of repentance,

we need to shut them up and reintroduce

Jesus. That's it. So we don't shy away

from concepts of sin and repentance

because Jesus didn't. We simply point

you to Jesus instead of ourselves to

define what he's talking about. So he

says repent, not just feel bad.

Repentance is changing direction.

Rethink your life. realign your

allegiances.

If not, I will come to you soon and war

against them with the sword of my mouth.

Again, more imagery. What's the sword of

his mouth? It's his truth. He's saying,

"If you won't confront the compromise, I

will because what I say defines real

reality, not the culture around you."

Then it says, "He who has an ear, let

him hear what the spirit says to the

churches." That's repeated over and over

and over again throughout these seven

churches. Meaning what? He who has an

ear. That means it's for you and I. Are

you listening? It's for everyone, not

just them. To the one who conquers, I

will give some of the hidden mana. Mana

refers back to the Exodus and the people

of Israel in the wilderness. And they

were fed mana from heaven as their daily

bread. And mana was the bread again in

the wilderness. And it was representing

provision. Hidden mana here points to

something deeper. It means real

spiritual nourishment, real life from

God, but not the counterfeit

satisfaction culture often offers us.

And so what he's doing, he then goes, I

will give him a white stone

with a new name written on the stone

that no one knows except the one who

receives it. So man, a white stone, what

is this talking about? And this is kind

of what wraps it all up. A white stone

was often used as an invitation

or an acceptance like an admission

to a banquet or a gala if you will. I

was actually thinking be perfect if we

gave out white stones as your uh

admission to the gala. And then I

thought, who has to administrate that?

Not me. Okay. The the admission to the

banquet was a declaration of approval.

This white stone and Jesus is

essentially saying this. Instead of

seeking acceptance from the world, I

will give you a deeper personal

acceptance. I will give you a new name,

a new identity given by me to you.

That's his promise. So all of this is

put in to the reminder of the promise

that's given to you when you say yes. So

here's what you have to see. He's

cutting through the false story,

which means this moment isn't just like

a nice reflection. It's a confrontation

of everything we carry. He's saying, "My

word, not your culture, will always have

the final say." Which which sounds like,

"All right, Jesus is getting mean. I

don't like the way he's talking to me.

Jesus, I don't like your tone."

I feel Jesus like like we can get in

like when when my wife and I have

marriage therapy, your feelings really

matter. I have to I have to listen first

to her feelings, not tell her the facts.

She doesn't care about the facts. I care

about the facts. Uh, I care about my

feelings. I just want to suppress my

feelings and I don't want to care about

her feelings. And in a relationship, you

need to care about the feelings. Um, but

there's also a reality that we're both

flawed. I mean, I'm mostly flawed. She's

a little bit flawed, but like I still

have the like there's a chance sometimes

she's wrong and I'm right. And I can go

into every conversation knowing that

possibility. It's there. But when we're

going into a conversation with Jesus, if

you are operating on like I don't like

your tone, Jesus. Uh I don't feel like I

don't feel like I just that doesn't jive

with me today. You know, that just

doesn't speak to my heart. You I'm kind

of feeling more like in this direction.

And and we don't really say that out

loud. We don't even journal it.

We just listen to the next pastor that

agrees with us.

That guy was a I didn't like Yeah, this

guy will encourage me. Yeah, cuz I'm

having I don't need to listen to the

hard thing today. Or you just keep

flipping your Bible. The thing that is

the hardest that you don't like what

he's saying is going to expose the thing

that's holding you back.

>> Look for the pain points. He wants to

meet you in the pain, not to torment

you, but to set you free. And I have

found that every time I don't like what

he's saying or the way that it feels

like he's saying it, it's because he's

talking about the thing that I need

healing from.

And I can trust him.

Truth is I can trust her, too. But I

have I have reasons to maybe doubt a

human because there's that 10% that

sometimes you know the imperfection may

be there

but we don't have to look at Jesus in

the same way can trust him and he's

saying will you I get the final say

so after after reading that like I just

want you to feel that tension they

didn't deny Jesus but they were slowly

adjusting him to their preferences they

were trying to follow him, but they were

also trying to survive in the world. If

you and I can continually go after this

concept, I'm not trying to survive in

the world.

And here's the thing that that I don't

have fully worked out is how do we how

do we live, defend,

and inspire

an ideology? Can we all just kind of

acknowledge like is that word way

overused right now? What ideology are we

talking about now?

But at the same time, it is the battle

of our day. It's the battle of ideas.

And what ideas dominate? What's the idea

of the west?

We have atheists arguing for the the

western

Christian ideology, the Christian West.

Why? Not because they're arguing for the

gospel,

but because they realize their way of

life, their preferences are being

rattled.

Now, here's the tension that you and I

have is that like we agree kind of a lot

on that to some degree probably.

It's just that my allegiance isn't to

agreeing to an ide. If my ideology,

which a lot of it does, agrees with

Western atheists

and all we're talking about is the exact

same thing, that should make me nervous.

It shouldn't worry me. There's nothing

wrong with an alignment in an ideology

with people that don't believe in Jesus.

It's just that if that's really your

everything, if that's your if that's the

thing that you ultimately are aiming

for, your worship, your allegiance. You

go, there has to be more in the way of

Jesus if the atheist is on my team now.

Not because they're the enemy,

but because we can't live a life based

on aligned preferences.

Because then the gospel will serve me.

The difference is always

not what will serve me, but what will

serve others. When the tone of the

church is this is the ideology that we

encourage society to move towards not

because it serves me but because it

serves you.

It's because I want to die for that

atheist.

Because this ideology I believe will

lead him to an encounter with Jesus. And

it's not to keep me safe.

It's not for my success. It's not for my

safety. And it's not for my acceptance.

When we can root out those three lies,

then we know that we're living the

gospel. And then we know that our

ideology isn't leading us. The gospel

is.

Is your ideology leading you or is the

gospel?

Okay, that's enough. Okay, that wasn't

in the notes. Uh here here's here's

this isn't just what am I compromising.

It's also what am I normalizing? How am

I staying silent about certain things?

And what have I decided is just not

worth addressing in my life? So, there's

three modern idols. I want to make that

really clear. And then we're going to

try to I'm going to crash this and we're

going to go baptize some people and

we're all going to cry again and

celebrate and it's going to be great.

And I love the fact that it's cold and

rainy because those of you getting

baptized, it's like a picture of

discomfort in the most comfortable

environment in the country. We never

have rainy days in this time of year.

And you guys get to go into a freezing

cold water just like Jesus probably did

baptizing all those people that had all

kinds of disgusting things that could

have killed them in the water. And

there's nothing even close to that. It's

just freezing.

And those of us that are helping baptize

get to stay on the outside because we

have this nice little skinny thing to

dunk you in. And we don't even have to

get in like my pastor did growing up

right behind you in the baptism troth.

Yeah. Anyway,

I'm in a weird mood, guys. This is gonna

I don't know how I'm gonna land this.

I'm thinking now about my pastor and all

these bloopers I've seen about pastors

dunking people. This is what's playing

in my mind. Some people when they get on

stage, they like freeze up and can't

think of anything. My problem is I think

of 5,000 more things I'd love to tell

you right now. And I need to shut up and

stay focused. What was the word you gave

me? Like an arrow. Just straight arrow

she gave me right before. And I think it

was like focus. Christian. Yeah.

All right. Here's here's the things

we're gonna do. self-fulfillment. Here's

the three modern idols. Self-

fulfillment, success and security,

comfort and convenience. Uh

self-fulfillment looks like this. Uh

Charles Taylor is if you haven't read

anything by Charles Taylor, he's uh a

brilliant philosopher. He wrote some of

the most influential books of the 20th

21st century. He's one of the leading

thinkers on modern culture. He argues

that we live in what is called the

culture of authenticity. In this world,

the highest good is not conformity to

truth outside of us, but faithfulness to

what we feel inside of us.

What do I feel inside versus truth

outside? And I'll tell more in a second.

In other words, the modern self is

formed by the belief that our identity

has to be discovered. I have to discover

my identity from within myself and then

I have to express my identity outward.

This isn't even about like agreeing with

people's identities. This is about where

do they come from? Do they come inside?

I get I get to discover it and then

express it or I mean again that's like

regardless of any external authority

because ultimately

life without meaning and purpose in God

means there is no external authority.

I'm the highest authority and over time

that shifts something fundamental. It

shifts truth because truth then is no

longer something that we receive.

Truth is something that becomes

something I discover and then I generate

it. Then we get phrases like be true to

yourself because the underlying

assumption is that I discover that truth

and we value and believe the feelings of

truth that each of us have the pressure

to come up with ourselves and then

define ourselves and our identities by

them. So our feelings aren't just

something to process. They're something

that we then have to obey because our

own feelings carry the authority. In the

past, we made the mistake of telling

everyone to just suppress their

feelings.

That didn't work so well. And now we're

realizing we need to process them, but

we don't know what to do with them when

we don't know what level of authority

that they have.

Again, in a relationship, the feelings,

you got to process them. We don't have a

single conversation without valuing each

other's feelings. If you hear anything

like, "I'm actually getting sick of

Christians acting like we just have to

like tell everyone their feelings suck

and just suck it up and believe the

gospel." That's that's not how that

works.

It's Jesus then because he's saying

he's he's saying your feelings are all

over the place because you don't trust

me to give you a new name and an

identity that's secure that doesn't wash

away with just like all the things that

are going on in life.

Let me give you something that you can

trust, live your life by, and be secure

in. And then

let's process how you're feeling and how

life is hitting you and how you can come

back to me and find something solid.

It starts, culture does, and ourselves

if we're honest with this compromise

where we want to be honest, we want to

be whole, we want others to do the same,

and we don't want to live fake lives. So

then feelings become authority. Our

desires become our identities. And then

identity then is non-negotiable.

And so we don't ask the question is this

faithful to something outside of us like

the way of Jesus where we're simply

asking is this am I being authentic?

Like do you realize that's that's the

battle in in the ideas is the highest

value is am I just being authentic the

true me

and that's an enormous pressure

to have to carry by a flawed human

being.

So if I have to feel something really

strongly instead of testing it I have to

trust it.

When I read scripture and think that

this doesn't feel right, I just keep

flipping.

You begin to reinterpret parts of

Jesus's teaching because they just don't

align with your internal sense of self.

Or you don't do the digging

because there are legitimate things that

people misrepresent the person of Jesus

and instead of saying like that doesn't

sound like Jesus, let's do some digging.

you go, I'm just throwing that guy that

said that, Jesus, and everything out.

Or that your inner world becomes the

loudest voice in your life. That's

torment. That's called hell on earth.

Compromise then looks like you're not

necessarily denying sin. You rename it.

And that's ah

you don't reject truth. You're you're

actually taking truth and you're you're

completely reframing what it looks like.

You're not you're not ever trying to

leave Jesus again. You're just editing

him into a place where you feel like

that's what he should look like. And

you can never have a God that's truly

your God that you worship with your

whole heart if you have the authority to

change him and his personality and his

preferences.

So here just a couple questions. When

was the last time you obeyed Jesus when

it didn't feel right?

That's the sign of a mature Christian. I

have to ask myself that because most

most of the time I don't have to do

that. When I do that, that doesn't feel

good.

Do your feelings get evaluated by

scripture or does scripture get

evaluated by your feelings?

This is why we this is why we argue so

much about like is is the word of God is

scripture worth putting my life under?

And if that's something you're wrestling

with, I just encourage you continue to

wrestle with it. Look at whether

scripture can hold up to the

questioning, to the testing, and to

history.

And and can you align your life by it?

Can you I'm not asking you just to like

blindly follow something. I'm asking you

to test it. And that's the same

invitation Jesus has. He's not looking

to be your life coach.

And if we're honest, many Christians are

like, we'd put him in the same category.

He's not a coach. He's a lord. Number

two, success and security. that'll

address our career, our money, and our

status. So, in a city like LA, it's like

we we're in survival often

and we're being formed constantly. We

want to provide. We want to build

something meaningful. One of the my

favorite things about being here is most

of the time success isn't just crushing

like finances. Some of you are in

finance and thank God for you. U the

black box is in the back if you haven't

seen the t. But the the the point is is

like like New York and LA. LA isn't just

about making money. It's how you make

money.

It's like, is it kind of or they don't

even care if you make money if you just

sound cool, if you're someone that you

want to be followed.

And most of you honestly, if we're

honest, it's like, I just need to be

cared for. And then other than that, I

just want to be successful. And

successful usually isn't just finances.

Finances are just there to keep me at

the party or in the room or in the

conversation or relevant or getting to

do what expresses myself that blesses

the world because I have a gift to share

which is I'm not doubting that by the

way. That sounded like I'm like making

fun of you there. There is that. I

actually love that about this. We we our

city refuses a lack of deeper meaning.

But then we have we have difficulty when

you try to live in the midst of that.

Some of you it's like how how do you

take roles that you don't have peace

about because rents do or this is just

an opportunity that's going to lead to

the next one. What if I don't take it?

What about staying silent

when there's a faith opportunity just

just so that you can maintain peace,

access, influence in some way or or you

accept this is just how the industry

works.

I thought about that in church. This is

just how the church industry works.

I was going to give you examples. That's

it's going to be a slippery soap. All

right.

Who wants a smoke machine?

Letting your your schedule

crowd out your soul.

Every single one of us, regardless of

your industry,

it's real because slowing down just

feels like you're going to fall behind.

Every day of my life, that's a wrestle.

Falling behind in my parenting,

falling behind in my pastoring,

falling behind in my building for the

kingdom. What's your falling behind?

Probably a good thing. probably do with

your calling, your purpose, and your

meaning.

But what of it in your soul is being

sacrificed?

It's not because you and I are

worshiping money. It's because we put

our trust in money and we have a hard

time putting our trust in God.

You and I aren't denying Jesus. We're

simply realizing that

we have this tendency to delay obedience

instead of doing what we know we should

be acting on. And and we're not

rejecting our faith. It's usually that

we're we're just putting it in an order

where it's not the ultimate thing. So

again, what feels more real to you,

losing an opportunity or grieving the

spirit of God?

Ah, that's one I have to sit on because

I don't want to sit on that.

What feels more real? Losing an

opportunity or grieving the spirit of

God.

How many of you are just saying, "I'll

be faithful later in some area." meaning

I'll give more, do more, be present more

later. And if Jesus actually asked you

to step back from what you're going

after,

would that threaten you or would that

free you?

That's the issue.

Now, if the team could come up, when

music starts playing,

I'll figure out how to land it.

I mean, I know how to land it. I just

would normally land this in 20 minutes

and I'm going to do it in two. I need

you guys to just posture your hearts.

You can close your eyes. You can get in

whatever posture you need to just to

have a moment and we're just going to

invite you to respond. You're going to

be able to linger as long as you need

to, but then you can also go outside and

of course we're going to get into the

baptisms and the post-church stuff and

the tacos and everything else. The last

thing that I just want to briefly

acknowledge

is that the Christians never bowed to

Caesar.

This wasn't about a belief of like

Caesar is Lord was the day was the was

the label of the day. Caesar is Lord.

When we get Jesus is Lord that phrase it

comes from the reality that the most

powerful empire on earth said Caesar is

Lord. And all of a sudden the one who

was dead these followers were giving

their lives to say Jesus is Lord. And

the question doesn't change then and it

doesn't change now. Is Jesus truly Lord?

or what kind of Caesar of this world is

truly your Lord if you'd be honest about

it. Comfort and convenience in our

lifestyle is the is the most difficult

thing that lulls us to sleep. We have a

culture that minimizes pain and

maximizes ease. And so some of us we're

slowly getting into fatigue and

avoidance and apathy.

And it's because we're avoiding and

we're disconnecting. And instead of

asking what's Jesus called me to do,

it's just what's manageable at the

moment. And the simple turn of

repentance is Jesus

remind me of the joy of my salvation and

the simplicity of following you again.

Let these let these that are saying yes

today remind you of how simple and

profound the turning is. Some of us feel

like life is complete chaos and me. You

just need to know what the next step is.

That's the next step.

Jesus is Lord. Can you rise to your

feet? Raise your hands and just declare

that he's Lord. And let the power of the

spirit of God I guess you took that

literally this. So do it. Yes. Join me.

Come to your feet. Close your eyes. Not

not because I'm about to do an altar

call today. That we're going to do some

we're going to do many more in the

future. But if you can raise your your

hands with me and just declare Jesus is

Lord.

>> Yeah.

return the joy of my salvation.

We pray that in Jesus name. The joy of

our salvation in Jesus name.

Return.

Do warfare by reminding us of the simple

things. Our allegiance is to you and you

alone where we're compromising in the

little things and the quiet things. Give

us a holy vengeance to just root things

out.

May we become a people. In Ephesus, they

got they rooted it out, but they lost

their first love. The religious spirit

came in and they became jerks to the

people that were compromising. This

church, this church got too soft with

the truth. And the beauty of the gospel

is is it it doesn't exonerate one or the

other. It's just saying, "Here's the

temptations that are pulling at you.

Where are you at?" The gospel isn't

trying to tell people that they're

screwed.

It's trying to tell people that they're

welcome because every single one of us

knows if there's not a breakthrough for

the void in my life, if my identity has

to be established by myself and I have

to spend the rest of my days proving it

to the world around me, it is a

miserable, hellish existence. May the

joy of my salvation reverberate in every

single soul today. And may we go out

declaring the beauty of this gospel that

what has been purchased for us is an

identity and a freedom that I didn't

have to pay for and that continues to be

passed on from generation to generation.

Setting people free from the bondage of

what we value most and what we worship.

May we be a people that never worship

self in any of its forms. May these

idols be rooted out aresh in our people

today, God.

May we step in with fresh life and fresh

hope in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You can

stay standing. This team's going to lead

us. But three practices for us today are

going to be put up on the screen that I

just want you to see. I want you this

week to go out and notice the pressure

in life. When something feels off and

you justify it. When you feel pressure

to succeed or whatever it is, I want

your first instinct to be what makes

sense and what's faithful. Then name

what's driving you. Call it what it is.

Self- fulfillment, security, comfort,

whatever it is. What would faithfulness

really look like? And then finally,

choose it. Choose the faithfulness.

Receive from Jesus. Pick one area. Speak

honestly about it. Set a boundary. Step

away from compromise. And just say that

something's going to die in me this week

that needs to die. Something of that

need of comfort, that need for approval.

It has to die. Make today the day that

that thing dies so that you can live. He

doesn't want to kill the stuff to ruin

your life. He wants to kill the stuff so

you can live. So respond in worship. Go

enjoy these baptisms. Enjoy the

community of people that imperfectly

walk this out with one another, holding

each other accountable, speaking the

truth in absolute love, but in

conviction that none of us are doing it

perfectly, but we serve a perfect God in

Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Stay as long as

you need to, respond as you need to. We