We are recognized by our relationships Acts 4, 13

Whitten Baptist Church

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I want to give a shout -out to the

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Lee family, the Lee family, the Stewart family. Brother Lee, our worship minister, young fella, had a localized stroke last week.

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And someone said, well, it's not a severe stroke. And I was like, is there a mild stroke?

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I mean, I don't know. I mean, when you have a stroke, it's a stroke. But he is doing much better.

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And he is able to get out of the hospital, I think, this Wednesday. But here's what I want to point out.

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They got 27 kids lined up in the hallway for Children's Church. And his wife is out there ministering still to this day.

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And so I just want to tell that is a great example of the people of God here at Witten.

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Also, y 'all do be praying for Jerry and Maria Davis. We married them yesterday right here.

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Young couple. They are on their way to Mexico. And so y 'all pray for that young couple that this time of honeymooning will be a great foundation in which to start a beautiful marriage.

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Let me ask you this. What are your relationships today? What are your relationships?

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In other words, where do you put stock in trying to be assimilated to?

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Now, in the world today, especially the younger group, the world is trying to get you to assimilate with them.

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Have you ever watched perfume or cologne commercials, especially around Christmas time?

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Does it make any sense to you? There's a guy floating in the ocean. And then he dives into the water and an airplane falls overhead.

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And then a pelican flies off and it says, our cologne. It's just like stupid.

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But the idea is that if you buy that cologne, you'll be that mysterious or you'll be that cool.

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You'll be that good looking. And as I look out in the room today, don't even bother wasting your money because some of you dudes is ugly.

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But the point is, relationships are who you are.

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Now, listen, I had a coach one time tell me, Shipley, the people you hang out with, you show me who you hang out with and I'll show you who you're going to be in 10 years.

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And I was like, whatever, dude. You know, I was a rebellious, godless heathen back then. Nobody could tell me what to do or how to do it because I was so busy satisfying

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Jeff and worshipping Jeff. And Jeff was an idol that my insecurities,

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I thought, would be cured by acceptance from the world. And I was sorely, sorely mistaken.

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Relationships define who you are. People always say, don't judge me. Hey, idiot, you are judged by how you appear.

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You are judged by who you hang out with. You are judged rightly for how you present yourself.

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I hear people say, well, I don't fit into any group. I'm my own person. The minute you say that, you fit into the majority of the world who is in rebellion against God, seeking self -identity.

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You're fooling yourself. Relationships define who you are and how successful you will be in the

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Christian life. Let's read, if you will, from Acts 4, verse 13.

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Now, this is going to be a topical sermon rather than an exegetical one, but I think it's one that is needed at this time.

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We're going to be in Acts 4, then John 13, and then finally in 2

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Corinthians. But let's first look at Acts 4, verse 13.

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Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished.

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And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. Guys, your personal relationship with Jesus Christ must be the first and foremost aspect of your existence.

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I brought my kids up telling them this, I love your mother more than I will ever love you.

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I remember telling them that to their face constantly. But I also said this to my wife,

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I will love God more than I ever love you. You see, that is the proper understanding of how

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God needs to be first and foremost in our lives. Your personal relationship with Jesus means a couple of things.

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Here is Peter, who was married. Here is John, who is the disciple whom

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Jesus loved. Jesus left, they grew by the power of the Holy Spirit, and they changed because they had a relationship with Jesus.

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Some of you in this room have walked down an aisle in a church setting somewhere at some point in your past and gave your heart to Jesus.

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You are a liar and the truth is not in you. How can you say that, pastor? Because that relationship has not formulated any change in your life.

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Did that offend you? Then it's to you that the word of God needs to speak this morning. Number one, understand this, there will be a visible change when you become a

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Christian. There will be a visible change. I had three jobs when

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I became a Christian. I'm not going to mention what they were, but none of them except one was honorable.

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Within two weeks of my conversion, I had lost all three of those jobs.

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Two of them I walked away from because they weren't good. One of them, though, I was fired. And at the time,

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I'm going to be honest with you, that newness of Jesus Christ, that honeymoon, I remember the guy said,

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I'm sorry, we can't keep you any longer. And I was like, it's cool, man.

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I had turned from a biker into a hippie with one touch of Jesus Christ. I was like, it's cool, man.

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That's cool. God will provide. And in that ignorance, in that ignorance, in that childlike faith, there was a peace of God.

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People thought I had tripped one too many times. My brother, when I became a

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Christian, literally sat me down and goes, dude, you have tripped one too many times.

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You've lost your mind. By the way, he's a pastor now.

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You see, you can't understand the diametrical difference, the juxtaposition, the change that takes place in your life.

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If you claim to be a Christian, there will be a visible change, not to just you, but to the rest of the people around you.

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Do you have the same friends and the same level of intimacy with the godless heathens after you were saved that you did before you got saved?

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Man, there's a problem there. There's a problem there. Number two, look at this.

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There will be visible discipleship. First of all, these guys were amazed.

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But they also were amazed at this because Peter and John were educated now.

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They ascribed to them this haughty, arrogant look.

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They were amazed not just because of the change in their boldness, they were amazed because of the level of education that happened.

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One of the things when I do pastor's conferences, I have spoken, this is not an exaggeration, this weekend to over 40 pastors all over the world.

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That's what I do. It's one of the things I do. 40 pastors. And it's amazing.

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And it's not just in Pakistan and India. I have a brother in Uganda, Africa now, who blesses my heart because he can actually string together an exegetical thought on the doctrine of the

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Word of God. But most pastors do not know anything.

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Well, that's shameful. But I don't pastor pastors. I pastor Witten Baptist Church. And my responsibility first and foremost to God is you people.

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One of the things we do here is we want to educate you on the

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Word of God. I'm not interested in you knowing stupid Bible stories. I don't care about felt board theology.

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I want you to know because in the waking hours of the morning or in the times where cancer or divorce or your kid goes wild or something happens in your life and you lose your job, it's not going to be the feelings of the music on Sunday morning.

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It's going to be the steadfast recognition of the sovereign hand of God in your life by the truths presented in His Word.

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And if you don't have the Word of God hidden in your heart, you're going to crumble and fold like a cheap

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Walmart lawn chair. You see, we sing a song. What's that second song? Where's my music chick?

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That second song we sung. The wrath of God was satisfied. The wrath of God was satisfied.

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What is that? No, no, forget the song. What's that doctrine?

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Wait a minute, I didn't hear you. One more time. Propitiation.

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Well, pastor, that's just some fancy theological term. No, you arrogant, ignorant individual.

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It is a biblical term found in Scripture. We need to stop memorizing

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Bible stories and start learning the doctrines of the Word of God. For the Word of God is profitable.

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It is profitable for correction, for instruction, for encouragement. It is profitable by the doctrines of God that you as a

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Christian in this lost and dying world that is out to get you, you have a bullseye on your back that you can walk in this world not cocky, but confident.

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And some of you don't know the difference between the two because you don't know the Word of God. I know whom

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I have believed in and absolutely persuaded without one doubt that he is able to keep all of that which

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I have committed unto him against that day. Do you know that you know that you know? Or every time an airplane flies over your house or every time a thought enters your mind of doubt, you immediately go to how you feel rather than the

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Word of God. Christian, if you value and measure your spiritual life on how you feel, you are going to be an unstable individual for the rest of your life.

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You see, they were amazed at their boldness, but they were also amazed at their education.

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Guys, right down the road here, Witten Baptist Church spends two years training our people in ministry.

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We ordain it and send them out. We put them in ministry positions.

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Are you a part of that? This morning, Pastor John teaches a Sunday school class. Brother Bill teaches a

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Sunday school class. Where were you this morning at 9 .30? I guess

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I'll bless God with my presence at church today. I'll get that little check mark on my devotional book and show up at church.

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Man, that ain't the attitude to have. Enter His courts with thanksgiving and praise already in your heart.

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Come expecting to learn something. Guys, there are needs with a personal relationship with Jesus.

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There needs to be marked changes, visible changes, and visible discipleship. But now let me tell you something else.

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For those of you who are educated, we have a lot of educated theological people in this church.

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Let me also say this to you. Read that last part of verse 13. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

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Notice the Pharisees and Sadducees didn't say they recognized them.

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It says they recognized that they had been with Jesus. You see, you have to understand this.

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There will never be a time where there is a Jeff Shipley ministry. There will never be a time where there will be

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Pastor Josiah ministries. You see, because we are nothing more than tools.

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The same Spirit of God that's in me is the same Spirit of God that's in Vicki. It's the same Spirit of God that's in every one of you.

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I am nothing but a tool, a megaphone, if you will, if you can picture that.

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I am nothing more than a megaphone in the hand of God. You must decrease so that He can increase.

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I see these pastors on TV. Keep one of their suits could feed and clothe and educate some of my single moms.

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It is an atrocious abomination to God. Did y 'all see that idiot who sat there and started lamb blasting his church because they didn't buy him the watch that he wanted?

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Oh, you two -year -old spoiled brat. Remove yourself from that pulpit. Repent and come back and mature and then enter back into the calling of your service.

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You see, I don't want people to see me. I want people to see

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Jesus through me, you see. You see, when you have a personal relationship with Christ, the maturing aspect in some of you young men in here, the maturing aspect is humility.

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Are you struggling with alcoholism? Humility. Are you struggling in your marriage? Humility. Are you struggling understanding?

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Humility. Humility is king. Now, don't misunderstand. Meekness is not weakness, okay?

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Meekness is the ability to not be back here in the shadows and wallflower because of your insecurities.

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It's to be able to just stand up and say what needs to be said. But the attention should be you're always pointing towards that.

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I want you to think about some of you holy rollers in here. You worship the Holy Spirit and that's great.

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That's great. But it's redundant, really. You want to worship the Holy Spirit but not God or not

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Jesus and this is more important than that. Take your Trinitarian view and expand it beyond your myopic demographic or denomination.

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What I mean is this. If you look in the Old Testament, you know what God did? Through foreshadowing and prophecy, it pointed to the cross of Jesus Christ.

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Yes, in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit had come and indwelled believers. But do not miss this fact.

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The Holy Spirit of God still pointed backwards to the cross. Everything is centric on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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You see, it's not about me. It's about Him. And that is something we need to remember.

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Number two, your personal relationships. Now, at the bottom of your paper, there's three little questions.

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I want you to score from one to ten on where your relationship personally is with Jesus Christ this morning.

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Take a pen, a pencil, cut your finger, use blood, whatever. I don't care. But I want you to mark ten being you're there, man.

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You got it, baby. One being, man, you don't even know what time it is. You don't care.

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You're the guy looking at your watch going, when is this going to be over so I can go home? Okay. Scale of one to ten.

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We're going to talk about this in a second. All right.

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Don't go too far, brother. Good. All right.

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Here we go. Number two, personal relationships with believers mean this.

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Turn with me to John chapter 13. John chapter 13, verse 34 and 35.

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John chapter 13, verse 34 and 35. It says this,

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Jesus is speaking and says, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you.

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You also are to love one another. And by this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another.

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I want you to hear this in God's word again. This is what it translates from the

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Koine Greek into English. God said, this is my suggestion.

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I mean, I personally have no right to tell you what to do because you're an American and you have rights by the constitution.

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But I strongly suggest with no offense, Christian, Jesus Christ commands us to love one another.

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Have you seen some of y 'all? I got one guy in here, he walks up to me and he has no idea what he wants to say, but he just wants to talk.

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And so he'll go, pastor, pastor, pastor. And I'll go, yeah, how are you doing?

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Fine, son. Okay, I'll see you. Bye. Do y 'all know some people in here that are difficult to love?

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Yes. My gosh. Man, some of y 'all just...

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The pain starts in my neck and starts moving south the more you talk, you know? There's one of them right there, my wife.

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You know, wouldn't it be so awesome if churches in the world today heard this as a command rather than a suggestion?

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Do you know I have no right, no right to absolutely hate or despise a brother and sister in Christ no matter what denomination they're from.

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You know, we have Harold Baptist and Pentecostal. When I talk to my pastors, one of the first questions they ask me is this.

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Well, they all ask me this. They ask me church questions, but then they eventually ask me this. What denomination are you?

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You know what I answer them? As a joke, I say we're Jehovah's Witnesses. Just to jack with them.

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And they'll go, what? What's that? What's that? I go, dude, most of my church are first generation believers, man.

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We don't even know what we are. You know, we have Baptist on the sign because it's been there since 1948, but we have no idea what we are.

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But I can tell you this. We know who we belong to. Guys, we are commanded by Jesus Christ to love one another.

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How are your relationships with your church family? Now, if you're one of those people that show up here every six weeks because it's convenient, let me ask you a question.

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How are you ministering to your brothers and sisters in Christ? How are you doing it? Well, pastor, you don't understand.

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No, you arrogant, rebellious, heathen, you don't understand. You are disobeying a command of God.

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Hebrews 10, 24, and 25. Let us provoke unto one another to do love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.

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Well, pastor, I struggle with this, that, and the other. What you struggle with is walking down that aisle right now, kneeling down before God Almighty and asking for forgiveness, and then going and starting to minister to your brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Well, pastor, I don't see it that way. Right, you don't see it that way. That's why it's all about you rather than the body.

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How much do you love this body? I'm not talking about our ministries. I'm not talking about our preaching service.

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I'm not talking about our music or our program. I'm talking about these dorks, all of us in this room.

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How much do you love these dorks? I mean, there's Richard. That's a perfect example of a dork right there.

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I love seeing his face. Bill, you know, you just see

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Bill. You can't help but see Artie. He looks like Big Bird with that yellow shirt on, you know.

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You just gotta love them, man. Do you truly love them? It is the standard.

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Now, here's the standard on how much and how far we got to go. Jesus says,

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I command that you love your brothers. That personal relationship. You love them. Here's the standard.

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Here's the command. As much as I have loved you. I don't know about you and you might want to fire me as a pastor, but you know what my spiritual life looks like?

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I'm going to confess it looks like this. Sometimes it's like, other times it's like, and it smells like that too.

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Sometimes I'm such a loser for Jesus, I just, I'm shamed.

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And yet, He still chose me before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless.

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He chose me to call me His son. He loves me when I'm unlovable.

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He is faithful to me when I am faithless. That is the standard by which we must love one another.

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Do any of us in this room have to work on that? Man, y 'all are the most awesome church in the world.

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Let's try that again, liar. Is there anyone in this room who needs to work on their personal relationships with their church family?

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Oh wow, the rest of you are just great. I love you, Pharisee. All right, so, if you on a scale of one to ten need to do better than that, go down to the bottom of your little page and mark on that from a scale of one to ten, ten being you're perfect, one being eh, where you are in lovingness.

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Now, last point of this, you know the result of a church loving one another? Let's see.

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Seth, how old are you? You're 19 years old. Are you a witness for Jesus Christ?

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You are? Great. Tell me what substitutionary atonement is. That's actually pretty good.

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I mean, really? For a tard, that's pretty good. Are you a Christian? Probably not.

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Probably not. Well, we're going to keep working on you. Lisa, are you? Yeah, you went to a Presbyterian church, right? Yeah, but what's the last church you just attended?

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That cult? Non -denominational. I always love non -denominational churches.

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All right, so let me ask you a question. What is God's decree in infilapsarianism? You have no idea.

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Richard, dude, smoke another one, because I know you know. Hey, baby, how are you?

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So cute. Amy gets shy when people talk to her. Baby, can you tell me the eternal nature of God's decree in grace, theologically?

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How are we ever going to warn the world to Jesus if y 'all don't know this? Go back and look at that last verse.

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Read it. How's the world going to know Jesus Christ? It's not by our theology, kids.

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It's how we love one another. You know why the world calls us hypocrites? It's not because of what we stand for.

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It's because that they see this unique love, this koinonia, this fellowship that happens, and they in the world trying to make everybody the same, make everybody different but the same, to have no standards, yet there's this should be, this shining light, this salt, this flavor in a dead world, and it should be the love they see between brothers and sisters in Christ.

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That is the personal relationship we need to have. Last point. Third point is this.

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Your personal relationship with Jesus, your personal relationship with believers. 2

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Corinthians. Let's talk about our personal relationship with unbelievers. And I think, be honest with you,

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I think this is one of our weak spots in the church no matter where you are in the world.

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2 Corinthians 5 .20. 2 Corinthians 5 .20. It says this. Therefore, we as ambassadors for Christ, or we are ambassadors for Christ, God making

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His appeal through us, we will implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

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Our first and primary responsibility to a lost world is that we are ambassadors of Christ.

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Does everyone agree with that? Do I need to elaborate that point any further? I think not.

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But here's the problem. It's not 2 Corinthians 5. The problem is we come to a place where we come to 2

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Corinthians 6. Just go over one chapter. 2 Corinthians 6. Starting in verse 14.

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And here's where we struggle. You ready? Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

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Now, brother Jeremiah, I believe it's in sin.

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I do. I believe it. Brother Matt, you are in sin.

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You see, God said in His Word not to be unequally yoked.

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Right? A white person cannot marry a black person.

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You know what I'm saying? Do you understand what I'm saying? Right? Oh, I'm sorry.

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That's what it says. You white people that are marrying black people and you black people that are marrying... You've got to keep your races pure.

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Why? Because it says not be unequally yoked. Now, you're laughing. But for 300 years, the church in America preached that exact message.

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Preached that exact... And it ain't just the white slave owners that were preaching it. It was both sides of the aisle.

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White power. Black power. Read the verse again.

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Two words at the end of it. Do not be unequally yoked with... It ain't got nothing to do with your color of skin.

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It don't got to do where you're from. Guys, what we need to understand is we got more drama about that garbage than we do about the garbage that really matters.

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We got Christians marrying unbelievers expecting it to work out.

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Stop smoking crack. If you are a little insecure girl in here that got daddy issues and some guy told you you look good, but he ain't a

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Christian, but you working on him, you're an idiot. You are a codependent idiot that is storing up for herself, wait a minute, and your children.

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Heartache. Heartache. Oh, well, you don't understand, pastor.

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He's a really sweet guy. But he's an unbeliever. It doesn't matter how sweet he is.

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It's not going to work out well. Now you say, oh, we can live happily ever after.

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Absolutely. You're going to live happily ever after in your own mind. But the problem is you just violated number one and number two relationships that we talked about because Jesus ain't first in your life no more.

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Why can you say that? You don't know how I feel because it says it in Scripture. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

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Here's what's going to happen. He will drag you down. You might be a strong believer, but I promise you this.

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You will be sleeping with him. You will. Oh, pastor, you're judging me.

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Yes, because you're stupid. No one else will. No one else. Your friends are telling you and making excuses for you.

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You formed your little camp of cheerleaders. No one is telling you the truth. Do not be unequally yoked.

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Now, if you're not convicted about that, the other position may be that you need to look into is that you're not a believer yourself.

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Maybe you went to Christian school. Maybe you grew up in church. But you have no conviction of the

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Holy Spirit for disobeying God. You can just live your life the way you want to. I'm sorry, is this too forward for you?

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Are your feelings hurt? Are you triggered? Do you not know what pronoun you are? Dumb.

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That's your pronoun. Hey, dummy. Because you say, well, it's a little strong.

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It's not just your life you're playing with. It's not just your life.

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Well, pastor, you don't understand. I've got 6 ,000 years of recorded human history and the sovereign

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Word of God on my side. You've got your feelings and the collective intellectual value of five 20 -year -old friends of yours.

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I'm going to go ahead and bet on my side. Guys, I'm not saying this to be mean to you.

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I'm waving a flag telling you the bridge be out. Guys, how many races of people are there in the world?

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There's one race of people. You can be a Dalmatian. You can be a pit bull. You can be a pug.

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But we all dogs. Stop focusing on the stupid stuff. Do you imagine how

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God sits there when we say black church and white church? Can you imagine? Really, guys?

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Really? But then we just dismiss shacking up with unbelievers.

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Christian, male or female, remember this. Shacking it ain't hacking it.

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Okay? If you want to live your life to be blessed by God, you will never have that blessing living in the midst of sin.

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I don't want to delay this too long. Let's keep going. Watch this. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?

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Or what fellowship has light with darkness? Little Milton here for you. For what accord of Christ is with Beal?

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What portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

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Now listen. For we are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them.

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And I will be their God and they shall be my people. Are y 'all the church?

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Or are you sitting in church? Y 'all answer sporadically and weakly so that I'll be impressed.

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Let's try that again. Is this the church? Or are we the church? According to this right here, we are the temple of God.

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And for some of you old school Baptists that get fired up because kids run around in the sanctuary, this is the sanctuary.

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This is a gymnasium. Get it right. We got more respect for a pew and a concrete building than you do the body of Christ.

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This is the church. We are the church. And don't open your mouth to these kids.

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May their voices and their feet always be heard in this sanctuary. Get to the point of reality.

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Don't adopt and inherit the world or religion standard for holiness.

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Because I'm telling you, religion is the same as unbelievers. You remember this.

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The road to hell is paved with religion. Not drugs, not alcohol, not premarital sex.

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It is the legalism of religion and the self -righteousness and the idolatry and the humanism of saying that my good works and my value of who

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I am will merit my eternal life. It is only the blood of Jesus Christ that you have any hope of inheriting the kingdom of God.

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Now watch this last verse. Verse 17. Two more. Verse 17.

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This is God's command. And Jesus and Paul are quoting the

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Old Testament. And Isaiah says this, Therefore, go out from among their midst and be separate from them, saith the

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Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. Then I will welcome you and I will be a father to you and you will be sons and daughters to me, saith the

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Lord Almighty. Guys, and I'll close with this. Listen. Listen.

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How many of you feel like you and God are this far apart? Don't even raise your hand. How many of you have said,

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I don't feel like my prayers get further than the ceiling? And you think if you just find the right praise and worship service, or if this sermon will speak to you, if your emotions are somehow stirred and you get little goosebumps on your skin, oh, well, then the

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Holy Spirit has spoken to you. Will you please grow out of your myopic, sophomoric understanding of the

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Holy Spirit of God? You see, your problem isn't everybody else. Dare I say it.

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The problem isn't the church. The problem isn't the Sunday school teacher. The problem isn't the music department.

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The problem is you. If you feel like you and God are this far apart, guess who moved?

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It wasn't God. It was you. Well, pastor, what do I do about it?

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One word. I give five bucks to anybody who knows the word. Oh, my wife said it first.

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Thank God it stays in the family. Good job, baby, because I need this five bucks. Repent.

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Well, pastor, I feel bad about it. Repentance isn't a change of feelings.

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It's a change of action. It's a change of action. How many of you are going to sit there, hold on to the back of that chair, look up at that stupid screen with them stupid words, and just mumbly follow through a song waiting for you to leave after the

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Holy Spirit of God has been doing this to your heart while I've been preaching? Sorry. Let me ask you this.

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Are you going to walk out here the same way you walked back in? How many of you need to rededicate your life to Jesus?

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That's a little catchphrase. Rededicate your life? Can you find me any scripture anywhere that says rededicate?

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Is there a passage that says rededicate your life to Jesus? Come down and fill out a card. You know what it does say, though?

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Repent. You see, to repent, you have to recognize first that you have a problem with sin.

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Number two, you need to come to a place where you humble yourself before Almighty God. Number three, you change your action.

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That's repentance. Now, this is the time usually I've been preaching now for 35 minutes. Eyes have glazed over.

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You're waiting to go. But guys, the music in the sermon was the halftime show.

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This is when the clock starts. I'm going to ask the music people to come up. If you just had a psychological relief of joy because this is almost over, to you,

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I'm asking to come down here and repent. You see, I actually had a guy, he's no longer at church here.

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In fact, he's dead. But he left here because I got on to him one Sunday because he said this to me.

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How many times does this person have to come down front? Because he was irritated it would make the service go on longer.

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And I said, brother, you're the one that needs to be down here with him. Because your attitude and your heart are not right.

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You don't love the things of holiness. You don't love the things of God. You love your own comfort in the things of this world.

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Where are you this morning? I asked you to score one to 10 where you are with Jesus. I asked you to score one to 10 where you are with unbelievers.

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But let me ask you this final question. Do you get along with the world and you love fellowshipping with the world more than you love fellowshipping with God?

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If that's true of you, guess where you need to be this morning. You need to be on your face asking

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God for forgiveness. Not me. I'm just like you. You need to be asking

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God, well, babe, pastor, I can do that in the privacy of my own life. Yeah, that strategy has worked zero times in history.

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Zero. Confess your faults one to another that you may be... Yeah. But see, what's going to happen is you're going to wait.

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God's going to convict you again in three months. You're going to push it off. Then it's going to be year after year after year.

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Your kids will be hypocrites. Your marriage will be stinky. Your life will be a mess. Choose today to follow

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God. Now, if you're in this room and you're not sure if you're a Christian or not, you're not sure, and it is concerning to you, come down here and let somebody help you.

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Your brothers and sisters, hopefully, to be in Christ. If you are a Christian and you've never been baptized in obedience, come on down here.

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If you're a believer and you don't have any accountability or authority in your life, i .e.

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a church. I know in today's world, a church is to be like where you get coffee and have fun and sit around and wear your little flowing skinny jean mocha latte, little hippie yuppie sissy women.

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I get that. But that's not what the Bible says church is for. Church is for, hey, you can do this.

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Church is you better not do that again. That's what church is. They're all up in your life.

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They're all up in your face. They're all up in your bidness. Because left them to you, you will not have the self -discipline to do what

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God's calling you to do. So if you're not a member of church, come on up here. If you are a

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Christian, a member of church, and have been baptized, but you need some prayer, come up here.

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Last thing, if you are good in all categories, if you're good in all categories, then

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I'm going to ask you to do this. I'm going to ask you during this song, instead of sitting there singing,

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Mel, do you need any help singing? No, say no. You chicks are good. Yeah, are you good

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Brit? They don't need your help. So here's what I want you to do.

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Instead of waiting to be like some of these idiot boys I hear, well, I'm being called into the ministry. If you're saved, you've been called.

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God's been calling you now since you've been saved. Don't stand there singing that song.

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Go find someone who needs some ministering too. It's going to mean coming outside of your shell, getting rid of that veneer of church silliness that has been built into you.

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It's going to call you to get outside of your comfort zone. Wait a minute. It's going to call you to sacrifice.

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Hold on. And another word for sacrifice is? It's going to cause you to love.

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And if you love and you do ministry, here's what James says. You're doing well.

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I'm going to ask you to stand with me and if God has spoken to you today as the pastors and counselors are up front, if God has spoken to you today, you'll be obedient to His Word and you come as God leads.