You are called to stand firm in God's word regardless of your feelings, choosing to rejoice even in the midst of struggle. Commit yourself to a local church community through covenant membership rather than a consumer mindset, allowing your roots to grow deep. Seek Him consistently and stay planted in the right soil so you can flourish and bear fruit in old age.
A couple groups are finishing up. As they do, I just wanna tell you why that song means so much to me. I think the body of Christ has forgotten what joy means. I think a lot of the body of Christ has forgotten what it means to walk in joy. The Bible says his kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness, *peace*, and joy.
So when you when you give your life to Jesus when you're born again, he puts his kingdom in you through the Holy Spirit. Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. That is a promise for us. The bible says rejoice always. Again, I say rejoice.
A lot of people think everything has to be going right for you to rejoice. It doesn't. Share a testimony from I went through depression when I was from 14 to 22, I was diagnosed with with depression and was often on Prozac for years. And for me, it was not just a mental, like, oh, I just feel sad about things going on. I have an aunt that's schizophrenic and an uncle that's manic depressive.
I was scared I was going crazy. And I felt fuzzy in my brain, and it stunk. And I would call that time frame of my life mental torture. I knew Jesus, and I was walking with him, and he still used me in amazing ways, and somehow I still got good grades and all kind of stuff, but I didn't understand why I was going through that. But I decided
because of what the word said that I
was gonna rejoice in all circumstances no matter what. Because that's what my bible says, and that's what my Jesus says. So I'm a stand regardless of what I feel.
And I remember being 16 and 17 and 18 and 19 and 20 years old, not understanding why I'm feeling the way I'm feeling, and playing a song that said, you are my joy. You are my joy. You are my joy. You are my joy. And I remember going to my room, nobody knowing, turning it up as loud as I can.
My arms were lifted high from the bottom of my heart saying, you are my joy. You are my joy, Jesus. You are my joy. I'm standing in your word. I'm standing in the promise.
No matter what I feel, it doesn't matter. I'm gonna rejoice now, and I'm gonna rejoice again because your word commands me to. You are my joy.
He is your peace, and he is your joy, and he's lord over every circumstance. And until you
get it, you won't get it.
If you're only good as your circumstance is going, then the circumstance is your Lord. He wants to be your Lord, and he wants you to trust him over what you feel and what you don't feel. That's why we sing that song. Because I felt the lord tell us to, but I know now that you some of you need to learn that. Go home in the midst of what you're going through.
Rejoice. Not because of what you feel in your mind, because of what you know in your heart. He's enough. Amen? Amen.
My name is David John Phillips. I have the joy and honor of getting to be the pastor here. I say this every Sunday, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart. There's no place I'd rather be. There's nothing that I'd rather be doing than this with you.
Thank you for choosing to be here this Sunday morning. Thank Amen. Our prayer is that you encounter the love of Jesus. We're not a church that plays religion, but minimizes the power of the gospel, the power of God. We're a church that believes that Jesus, the same Jesus that's in the bible wants to impact your life in the same way today, every day.
And we go after him because we love him, and we've seen it. Like, just this past Tuesday, we have a ministry called Belong. We started it. You're invited to come and learn how to share the gospel in a real, true, simple, effective way? Because every 1 of you should be confident in your ability, if you're a believer, to share the gospel whenever the opportunity presents itself.
And how are you gonna be confident in that unless you keep yourself limber in that area? You ever notice when you stretch, if you haven't stretched in a while, you're you're kinda you're not real limber? You know? You you can't really you gotta consistently stretch in order to "stay limber" and pliable. The same way you probably need to consistently, to some extent, share the gospel and be around people who are doing that so you can stay limber and pliable in that area and not hard hearted to towards God when he says, hey, that person needs to know me, and you're the only 1 around that knows me.
Would you share the Jesus with them? How can we accomplish the great commission? Unless we're first willing to win them to Jesus, and then second, willing to lay our life down to help them to know him in the same way we do. Amen? Amen.
So I would encourage everybody, if you call Real Church your home, and you can on a Tuesday night, meaning it's possible for you to shift your schedule on a Tuesday night, to come at least once every 6 weeks so that you stay limber in your ability to share the gospel. Because that would be awesome. Now, you might be freaking out because you haven't ever won anybody to Jesus, you haven't ever shared the gospel in a in or maybe you haven't in 10 years or 15 years, and you had bad experiences when that happened. That's okay. Come hang out with people who are better at it than you.
That's the only way that you're gonna learn. And just watch for a little bit. Let it rub off on you. Then the next time you come, you'll be a little more bold, and it'll be a beautiful thing, and you'll be a little bit more, a little bit closer to living out the great commission as godhascom commissioned us all to do. Amen?
Amen. So this past Tuesday, we had about 20 people from the church come out. We split up into groups of 4. We we got there 6 30 to 7. We prayed powerful prayers.
We prayed that we'd be led by his spirit. We prayed that that chains would break. We prayed that atmospheres would shift wherever we go because we carry the atmosphere of heaven through the Holy Spirit, righteousness, peace, and joy. Amen? Amen.
And then we prayed that God would fill the net, and he did. We're growing. But on Tuesday night, we're growing too. We had 7 new baby believers that we'd led to Jesus in the past month and a half or 2 being discipled. In addition to that, we over the course of Tuesday, 5 people gave their life to Jesus.
So what I mean by we sent the teams out, and 5 different people accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior from Tuesday, and then 7 new believers over the last month and a half came in for us to sit down and disciple and and teach them the foundations of the faith and and encourage them, and it's it's an awesome thing. And I'll tell you 1 story of 1 of the teams that went out. Renee Gabriel. Where are you, Renee? Would you just wave your hand?
There she is. Mighty woman of of God. Hey. They her and her team went out to go pray for people, and it was really and share the gospel or just minister, love people where they are, and, you know, we're not standing on the street corner saying, God hates you. You know?
We're laying our life down to love people where they are as we go because that's biblical. So they walk up to this guy, and they were sharing Jesus with him, how much God loves him and stuff, and he was a believer. And then Renee got a "word of knowledge", a word of wisdom or kind of a prophetic word. It kinda all do this. A word It was a word of wisdom, which is her supernaturally knowing by God, the Holy Spirit that's inside, what he should do in a situation she really didn't know about.
So it was kind of a combination of a word of knowledge and a word of wisdom. And she told him, without knowing, she said, I just feel like God is telling you to to courageously stand in your integrity. Shout out of blue said that. He goes, how did you know? You shouldn't have known that.
And I think at this point, he's crying, as the story goes, because God is touching him in the midst of his situation. If you don't believe God does that, you're wrong. God still supernaturally moves in amazing ways. He just does. Stay around here long enough, you'll hear enough testimonies that will convince you.
So he goes he tells them he was from the Carolinas, either North or South Carolina, something like that, and he had come down just for the next day because he had a hearing with the union. He was a part of UPS, and UPS was accusing him of lying or cheating and that kind of thing. And so he was possibly getting fired. He had a hearing with the union, and the union was telling him to just confess, say that he did it. And because they had so much power with UPS, they'd help him to keep his job and pay him off for doing that.
But he said, but I didn't do it. I didn't do anything wrong. And here, God meets him in his in the moment to tell him to courageously stand in integrity by somebody that had no idea, and he's weeping. How could you know this? Come on, that's God.
So so Mark Becker's in that group, he gets his number. The next day he has his hearing, he calls him and prays for him or sends him a voice memo praying for him before he goes into his hearing. He goes into his hearing confident in what he should do, standing in his integrity. Comes out of his hearing, everything went as it should, he said. And then he got back pay.
They're restoring his position. Like, more than he could ask for. Walking with Jesus is fun. Like, when you walk in relationship with him and you don't minimize who he is in your life just because you haven't seen it, but you read the scripture and you're like, wow. You did that in them, and I'm a dude just like them, and I have the same Holy Spirit in me.
Lord God, help my unbelief. Teach me how to hear you in in the moment so I can follow you in a real way, and and you changed my life and experience the joy of what that looks like. But then also, I can help others to experience you through me. Lord, teach me what that means. I trust you.
Teach me to trust you more. It's called Christianity. It's a it's the book of Acts. You know why we're experiencing that kind of stuff on a Tuesday? I'll say this gingerly.
You ever wonder why people go on mission trips, and they experience all this stuff, and then they come back and share testimonies? You're like, wow. That's cool that God's doing that over there. Why doesn't he do it here? You ever asked that question?
Well, if you have, I wanna answer it for you. To the extent that you live on mission here, you'll experience the power of the gospel. When you go, you're going intentionally to be on his mission, and you experience the power of the gospel. When you live on mission here, not just on Tuesday night at Belong, but at your job, with your family, you experience the full power of the gospel, changing you, experiencing peace and joy, *righteousness, and and the fruit of a relationship* with him, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, faithfulness, self control. But then the power too with people getting healed and words of knowledge and prophecy.
It's just real. It's just real. Yeah. Amen. Amen.
Yeah. Alright. So we're in the Corinthians series. Right? We've we've been going through the Corinthians series, and we were in 1 Corinthians-6.
I think we did, like, 1 through 4 last week. So we should continue with verse 5. Right? Do you ever, like, drive around Pinellas County and you you you have a destination? You wanna get there.
It's important for you to get there and to get there on time, and then you see 1 of those orange signs that says detour because there's construction going on. Like, man, that construction. And so you have to turn, and you go, and they guide you in the right direction so you can get the appropriate destination so that construction can be finished on time. If you were just driving through, the construction wouldn't be done. Well, as I was praying, I just really felt like as we were talking about an eternal mindset, having an eternal mindset, I felt like the Lord was doing construction on your hearts.
And so I felt like we should take a detour to allow that construction to continue to happen in your lives. You guys ready? Yeah. Alright. Living from a reward and for a reward.
*Hebrews-11:6* says, without faith, it is **impossible to please God**. How many of guys wanna live a life that pleases God? 85% of you. I think everybody should raise their hand. Right?
I wanna live a life that pleases my father. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. What is faith? Faith comes by hearing, requires belief, and is completed by obedience. Faith is a gift.
He speaks to you. He gives you the ability to hear His voice in relationship. You have to hear him, believe it was him, then believe it enough to adjust your life to put it into practice. That's faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God.
It's my buddy, Johnny. What's up, buddy? Sorry. I got distracted. Without faith, it's impossible to please God because you must believe that he exists, that he is, and he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
Another version says consistently seek him. The reward's important. As a matter of fact, you probably wouldn't follow him if there wasn't a reward, if it wasn't beneficial for you. If you didn't believe that God is good, God is loving, and following him is better than following myself, you wouldn't have faith. You do your own thing.
My son loves rewards. He does. I I went running. Here he is right there. He's awesome.
We used to run together, and I would offer him a reward. And because he thought the reward was beneficial, he was willing to go through the pain in order to get to the reward. And, man, I even got him to go 5 and 7 miles with me because he was excited about the reward, but then he decided, no, the pain was too much. The reward was not good enough, so I'm not gonna run as much anymore. I wanna be captivated by the reward of knowing him.
We talked about last week, just a a little bit of review of 1 John-3. Says, see what great love the father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Now, right there, you can see that not everybody's a child of God. That's a false statement that a lot of people say.
Well, we're all God's children. No. That's not true. You're God's child if you've been born again, if you've been born of spirit. If you've confessed Jesus as Lord, he put his spirit in you, and you became his child.
The world, the ones that don't follow him are not God's children, but God wants them to be. That's why he commissioned us to go share the gospel and to draw them into a relationship with him. Amen? Amen. Just being biblical here.
That's all. Verse 2. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when we see when Christ appears, and this is what we talked about. This is just review.
We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. So to the extent that we see him as he is, that's the extent that we can be like him now. We'll talk about it. All who have this hope in him purify themselves. Everybody say purify themselves.
Interesting. Just as he is pure. Now we talked about this last last week. Right? To the extent that we have the hope that he's coming, and when he comes, I'm gonna be like him, that's the extent that I'm gonna be very intentional to put all of my focus on him now and to reflect what I see in my daily life.
And we talked about, like, if you are 8 years old, and you knew beyond a "shadow of a doubt" that you were gonna be like Mike, the greatest of all time in basketball, Michael Jordan. You knew that. Would you spend all your time practicing ping pong? If you did, other people would see your life and say you're throwing away your destiny. If you really believed that you were gonna be like Mike, then you would spend all your time studying Mike and practicing.
Like, first, you'd probably start we talked about this last week. It's review on purpose. First, you'd probably start with his crossover, and you'd get it probably pretty terribly at first. But you knew that 1 day you're gonna be like Mike, so you're watching him, and you see how he, like, stutter steps and whatnot and does his crossover just right, and so you're able to reproduce what you see. And then the more that you study him, the more you do it, then you realize, wait a second.
Oh, he does his jump shot a little different than I do. And and you watch him a little bit. Oh, he he steps back a little bit, and then he jumps. And so you begin to put into practice exactly what you see because the fact that you're able to notice it shows that you can do it as long as you have a little bit of ability. Right?
Some natural ability. You need some natural ability. But you have this deep hope that you're gonna be like Mike 1 day. You believe it enough to study him. You have some natural abilities, so you're putting into practice and day in and day out, you're growing to be more like him.
That's what this verse is saying. And we said, man, a lot of people say, well, I don't I I could never be like Jesus. Well, the Bible says you you you you can. As a matter of fact, when you were born again, he gave you the supernatural ability to be like him. He put his spirit in you to lead you and guide you and coach you day in and day out.
And so we have this hope, and all who have this hope that we're gonna be like him when we see him purify themselves just as he is pure. How? The Holy Spirit leads you and guide you step by step, revealing every little day "pursue him" a little bit more of who Jesus is so you can see him more clearly. And if you can see him more clearly, then you can reflect what you see by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. Is that clear?
Good review? Feels sturdy and strong in that? Good. Because the eternal perspective is partially, man, praise the Lord. When I see him, I'm gonna be like him.
And I was born again to reflect his goodness and his character and nature. He credited his righteousness to my account. Awesome. How many of you guys believe that? Most of you.
Some of you. Well, hopefully, all of you. The only people that will survive the judgment day will be those that are like him. The only people that will survive judgment day will be those that are like him. Let's go to the great white throne judgment, *Revelation-20:11* through 15.
Says, then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it, the earth and heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. It's the book you want your name in. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. And each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Verse 15.
Anyone whose name was not found in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. Hell's real. And quit fooling yourself to say it's not, and quit telling people it's not. You're not loving them well by saying that. Hell is real.
And those who have been born again, when you when you give your life to Jesus, you were born again, born of an incorruptible seed. He put his spirit in you, and he wrote your name in the book of life. *Romans-4:8 says, blessed are those whose sin is never counted against them. He forgave you past, present, and future. 2 Corinthians-5:21* says, He credited His righteousness to your account.
The Bible says that you are a "living stone" reflected to look like Jesus, and that's awesome. So if you've been born again, Jesus said no 1 can enter the kingdom of heaven unless you've been born again. Jesus said, he is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but through him. You go through Jesus, your name gets book written the book of life.
You try to go any other way, you miss out. Yeah. This is just bible. You believe the bible or not. Amen?
Amen. Okay. Good. So that is the judgment seat, and we are judged based on who we are. And if we gave our life to Jesus, then he says we're like him.
For Christians, there's a second judgment seat. Oh, and let me tell you how you're gonna have confidence on the day day of judgment. I don't want you being scared. I don't wanna I wanna put fear in you, if you're a believer. If you're a non believer, I want you to know that God loves you enough to take away the fear of judgment.
You receive him. He cares for you. But first 1 John-4:17 says, this is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence. Everybody say confidence. Confidence.
On the day of judgment. In this world, we are like Jesus. Man, I want to, from the time that I'm born again until the time that I die, pursue a deeper relationship with him and allow the Holy Spirit to conform me into his image moment by moment. And I know he's a good father, so when I fall, I'm gonna fall forward. He's gonna pick me back up and help me to walk towards him day in and day out.
Amen? Amen. But I can have faith that he's going to, in his process, by grace, through faith, faith are faith is like the train tracks, and grace is the train that pushes us towards the purposes that he has for us. So I I wanna I wanna believe everything that he says so I can experience the fullness of grace in my life. Amen?
Amen. Yeah. Alright. Say amen just to make sure you're still with me. If you if I didn't hear any amens, I'd go back and say it again.
Alright. So you have or you most of you are those that have been born again, and if you haven't, man, we're gonna give you the opportunity at the end of of the day. Jesus wants you to enter into relationship with him. So you are those whose name is written in the book of life, which is a beautiful thing. But now, the only people that survive the day of judgment will be those that are like him, and he's conforming you into his image.
But number 2, the only works that survived the judgment day will be those that are purely from him. The only works that survived the judgment day will be those that are purely from him. And so, man, I want to believe who I am so much that every action that flows from me is what he told me to do. You guys gotta understand, we're not in a democracy. We're in a kingdom.
You don't get a vote. He's our Lord, and he's our king. He says it, we do it. And it's better for us, and there's more joy and peace in living that way. And that's hard for individualistic Americans, but we need to learn how to operate in a kingdom, in in our relationship with God, how to come under **kingdom authority** instead of a democracy because that's the way that he set it up.
Amen? Amen. Alright. So 1 Corinthians-3. We are gonna be in first Corinthians just a little bit.
I want you to get this before we're done. This is important. *Eternal* mindset. I wanna see him, grow in him, and I want to make every moment matter because it matters. *1 Corinthians-3*, let's I'm a start in verse 8.
I don't know if I gave them this verse. The 1 who plants and the 1 who waters have 1 purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. This is talking about the judgment for believers and what we did. For we are God's coworkers or we are coworkers in God's service. You are God's field, God's building.
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each 1 should build with care, for no 1 can lay any foundation other than the 1 he's already laid, which is Jesus Christ. Verse 12. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, or costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, their work will be shown for what it is. Okay?
Gold, hay I mean, sorry. Gold gold, silver, and costly stones represent stuff that came from Jesus. Wood, hay, and straw represent stuff that came from us. If I did If I started this ministry in order to make me look good, in order to make me feel better about myself, that would have been from me. And and the day, this judgment day, which my works will be judged by fire, will show, if that was the case, that this was a vain work, and it would be burned up, and there would be no reward for it.
K? Watch. The day so their work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives, oh my gosh, the builder will receive a reward.
Everybody say reward. Reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss. Everybody say, suffer loss. This is the 1 time where we suffer loss in eternity.
But yet, we'll be saved even though only as 1 escaping through the flames. Then I don't wanna be saved as 1 escaping through the flames. I wanna experience the fullness of the reward that God has for me. *2 Timothy-4:6-8*. This is Paul.
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is near. I have fought the "good fight". I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now, there is in store for me a crown of righteousness with which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day.
And not only to me, but also to those who have "longed for his appearing". I wanna live my life as 1 who has longed for his appearing. My hope is in the day that he returns. My focus is in the day that he returns. My my focus is on him, so that every single day I'm growing to look more like him because I have an eternal focus.
Now, that day, what does that look like? *Jesus* is the judge, and it's a different type. The the word used for his judgment seat when it's talking about this, it's a different type of throne than the great white throne judgment. Imagine the great white throne judgment as a courtroom with the judge, you know, to jail, not to jail. The word for when believers are judged and just to reiterate, our sin was judged on Jesus so we could be credited with his goodness and his righteousness.
Right. And that's how we make it past the great white throne judgment, and make it into eternity with him. Amen? Amen. Now after that, he has good works that he's prepared for each of us that we should walk in, Ephesians-2:10 says.
Okay? And we're gonna be judged on whether or not we did walk in them. And the judgment seat is the word the Greek word used for it is. It's like, imagine Olympic games, and all of the runners and all of the Olympians and stuff, they do all of their work, all of the stuff that they were training to do. They finish all of the races, and they get at the end of the Olympics, they get before the guy sitting on the, the judge who tests their races and their work, what they did, and gives them rewards based on how they ran.
Some finish the race, and they get a participation trophy, and that's great. But it's not as good as those that ran intentionally every step in the form that their coach told them to run so that they won a prize. And I wanna run to win a prize. I don't wanna miss out on the reward. I don't know what it means to suffer loss, but I don't wanna find out.
I know I'm gonna experience eternal joy with him, and that's gonna be great. But I'll tell you, I wanna get the reward, and I don't wanna suffer loss. Anybody with me? Amen. So let's run as if to win the prize.
*Ephesians-2:8* through 10. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. Remember, grace is him enabling you to be what you couldn't be on your own, and him enabling you to do what you couldn't do on your own. And that happens through faith. Every day I wanna **live by faith** so that I can live a life that pleases my father.
And this is not of yourself, it is a gift of God, not by works so that no 1 can boast. I can't earn it. He does it in me, he does it to me, and then he does it through me. My responsibility is obedience. Amen?
For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. The ESV, which gets the translation a little bit better here, says, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Not that we do. I'm a show you that scripturally so that you believe what I'm saying. But that we should walk in them.
Let's turn to Psalm 1 39 16. Do a little bible flipping because this is important. Says, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before 1 of them came to be. It does say Christ was crucified before the foundation of the world.
It doesn't say that he planned for your everyday before the foundation of the world. He could have. I'm just saying, I wanna stay to the text on what it says. It says your day your days were ordained before 1 of them came to be. That's important.
*Ecclesiastes-3:11*. He has made this is God has made everything beautiful in its time. He also set eternity in the human heart, Yet, no 1 can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live, that each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil. This is the gift of God.
Verse 14. I know that everything God does will endure forever. Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken away. God does it so that people will fear him. You gotta understand that God is building his house, his temple, and you are living stones in that house.
When you gave your life to Jesus, you were placed in that house as a living stone in his house. But there's another aspect of that. He's also said that you are co laborers with him, helping him to build his house. And he's giving you works. Your days were planned before you were born.
He's given you good works that you should walk in them. Those works will get done. The question is, will you be the 1 that does it or someone else? Let me give you the analogy, and then I'm gonna show you in scripture. The analogy is kinda like God is the designer of a home, and Jesus is his general contractor.
And Jesus is making sure that that house is built appropriately and correctly. So he hires different subcontractors. He hires the guy to do the toilets, the plumbing. He hires the guy to do the electrical work. He hires the guy to do the sheetrock, and the brick, and the shingles, and the wood.
Hires all those guys, but he does it in order so that it can be done appropriately. Because if you put the sheetrock up before you do the plumbing, it's kind of a big deal. Would you agree? Yeah. K.
Now, we're co laborers. We're the subcontractors. *Jesus has given you specific work each day for his kingdom* that you should walk in. Now, if you miss out on your subcontracting work, he's gonna find another sub to do it. Would you agree?
It's not that you definitely will accomplish every little thing that he says. No. He gives you free will in it. Let's see that in scripture. *Ecclesiastes-3:15*, that next verse.
Watch this. Whatever is has already been. It's God's sovereignty. He's already seen it in his mind, and it will happen. And what will be has been before.
He knows what's gonna happen. It's been in his mind. He's got a plan for it. And here's the free will part. And God will call the past to account.
He planned out your day, but now you have to be account account for whether or not you followed his will or went your own. You see that? He planned out your day. He's got a plan for every good work you should walk in, and you're gonna have to give an account for whether or not you went his will, what he planned for you, or you win your own. And he wants to reward you, and you're invited to participate and do every good work.
And I'm just praying about this and thinking about this. I wanna make sure that I'm in the center of God's will every day. The Holy Spirit is good. He's going to show me what his will is for me. He's gonna show me his plans for me.
I remember 1 time in my life really feeling that, sensing that. I'd gotten out of the Navy, and I took taken a job. I'd surrendered my life to "full time ministry" in the navy. I was like, God, every life decision you give me will be in line with full time ministry. So when it took came time to get out, was hired the next day at a church, I was hired as the janitor, the maintenance guy.
So I went from being a submarine officer to a janitor. I had to say yes because I had told God otherwise. I mean, I had And I had saw God given me a glimpse of what I would be doing, but he didn't put me straight in the pulpit. He made me go to to be a janitor. Just because you have a glimpse of what you're gonna be doing 1 day, it doesn't mean that's where you start.
He takes you through the process to see if you're willing to say, yes, Lord, in the process, even if it looks like it's going the opposite way. Are you willing to be obedient in the "baby steps" that he's leading you on? Because if you're willing to be obedient in the baby steps, don't you know if he's leading you? He's gonna lead you back to where he's called you to be. If you're not willing to be obedient in the baby steps, and you just go to where you wanna be, because God, you showed me this and it's not your time, man, that's tough.
You gotta follow his process. Because he's gonna put the sheetrock up at the right time. And if you're the sheetrock guy, don't try to be the plumbing guy before it's time. Play your role in his kingdom with all your heart. You play somebody else's role, you're messing up, and your work will be burnt up.
Amen? Amen. So I was the janitor for a while, and I had a wife and a kid, needed to pay for my family, and that wasn't giving me enough money. I was like, Lord, what do do? I had the GI bill.
GI bill, if you go to school full time, you get a housing allowance, like $1,600 where I was living. Praise the Lord, a month. That would give me enough for my family, so I had to find I had to go to school full time. I found, well, I'm gonna be in full time ministry. It'd be dumb for me to, you know, get an MBA.
I'm a be in full time ministry. Me and God had already had this conversation. It'd be like playing ping pong when I'm supposed to be practicing Michael Jordan stuff. So I found a school, Gordon Conwell, that was in the area, and started getting my masters in Christian leadership. And I remember sitting in class the first day.
It was in like theology too because I started in the spring. The professor was up there, and before he started the class, he prayed. And as he prayed, the Holy Spirit hit me. And I just start weeping, crying tears, falling on my desk, you know, boohooing and trying not to make noise. Everybody else's heads bowed and eyes are closed.
And I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that in that moment, I was exactly where God had designed for me to be. You can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're walking out the plan that he has for you today. You know how? You have the Holy Spirit. You have a relationship with him, and he's going to lead you and guide you because he's a good father.
So follow him, and trust his process. Don't get anxious about where you're not. Stand in him where you are, and trust him to lead you, and take obedient steps every moment of the day. Amen? Amen.
How many of you guys want to make sure that you know the calling God has for you, and you come on. Okay. And you wanna make sure that you're walking it out. You you want me just in here, or do you want me to to tell you how to do that too? Alright.
I'll tell you. I had enough laughs. You want me to do want me to tell you? Yeah. Alright.
3 ways to know your calling and walk out every good purpose God has for your life, and they're gonna be biblical. You ready? Number 1, refuse to be distracted. *Luke-9* and verse 57 through 10 1. It says, as they were walking along the road, a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go.
*Jesus replied, foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head. He said to another man, follow me. But he replied, Lord, first, let me go bury my father. Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their dead, but go and proclaim the kingdom* of God. Still another said, I will follow you, Lord, but first, let me go back and say goodbye to my family.
*Jesus* said, no 1 puts a "hand to the plow" no 1 who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. 10 1. After this, the Lord appointed 72 others. Everybody say others. Others.
So these 3 did not accomplish the work that they were invited to do by *Jesus* because they were distracted. I don't wanna be distracted and not accomplish the work that I'm invited to do by Jesus or that God had put on my heart to go after him. The first guy went after Jesus. Watch. As they were walking, the first 1, verse 57, on the road, a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go.
I'm sure that was a burden in his heart by the Holy Spirit, probably. *Jesus* replied, foxes have dens, birds have nests, but the son of man no place to lay his head. Jesus responded in truth and love, responding to the insecurity that would prevent him from following and staying with him. The man could have repented, but he didn't because Jesus chose someone else. And what was it?
Desire for comfort and security. You can be distracted by your own desires for comfort and security, not realizing that being obedient to the Holy Spirit will lead you outside of your comfort zone. If comfort is your Lord, you won't follow Jesus. If security is your Lord, you won't live by faith. So don't be distracted by comfort and security.
Following him is exhilarating. Yeah. But it can be a little like, oh my gosh. Is this really happening? Sometimes faith equals risk.
59. He said to another man, follow me. So Jesus called this guy, but he replied, Lord, first, let me go bury my father. What does that mean in that culture? The firstborn had to bury his father in order to get the double portion.
But if the firstborn did not bury his father, he'd miss out on his portion, and the secondborn, if he buried the father, we'd get the double portion. So it was money. *Jesus*, first, I need to go and make sure that I'm financially good. And Jesus said, let the dead bury their dead. Follow me.
Apparently, the guy didn't because Jesus chose someone else. His distraction by money prevented him from experiencing the work that Jesus was calling him to. Number 3. Still another said, I will follow you, Lord, but first, let me go back and say goodbye to my family. Jesus replied, no 1 who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.
This would be relationships. You have unhealthy attachments to relationships, it can prevent you from walking out the fullness that God has for you and accomplishing the works that God has for you because Jesus chose someone else. Apparently, this guy chose relationships that were pulling him away from Jesus instead of Jesus that was pulling him to the work that he had for him. Are you gonna choose relationships that are pulling you away from Jesus, or are you gonna choose Jesus who's pulling you towards the work he has for you every single day? Don't be distracted by comfort and security, money, or relationships.
Dangerous stuff. So that was number 1. Don't be distracted. Number 2, consistently seek him. We saw it in the first verse that we we said.
*Hebrews-11:6*. Without faith, it's impossible to please God because you must believe that he exists, and he's a rewarder of those who diligently or consistently seek him. Go after him. The Bible says, draw near to him, and he will draw near to you. He's already done it first.
He sent his son, Jesus Christ. He loves you. He cares for you. He's inviting you into relationship. And every day, I want to draw near to him and experience the fullness of him day in and day out.
The Bible says, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you, not only in this life, but in the life to come. So I'm having an eternal mindset. If my focus is on seeking him first and going after him, I'm not gonna miss out. If I'm distracted, I might miss out on some reward, miss miss out on some experiencing more of who he is today and in eternity. But, man, if I'm seeking him first, you you're you're not gonna miss out.
And the Holy Spirit is such a good, like, leader and such a good coach and such a good God that he's going to pull you day in and day out. Hey. Get up. Go read your word this morning. Don't forget that.
Hey. Hey. Go go pray. I don't want to. I know that's your flesh.
You're uncomfortable, but come do it anyway. It's worth it. Seek after him consistently. And then number 3, some of y'all ain't gonna like this 1. But I'm a show you biblically so you can't argue with me.
You ready? Are you ready? Come on. It's polite to talk back. If I just say a bunch of stuff, ask questions, and the person doesn't talk back to me, I mean, might as well just stop.
That's how we do it in Louisiana. We talk back and forth. Right? So you ready? Yeah.
Alright. Psalm 92 13, and I'm done. I'm a start in verse 12. So number 1, refuse to be distracted. Number 2, consistently seek him.
Number 3, be "planted in the local church". Be planted in the house of God. Verse 12 says, the righteous will flourish like a palm tree. They will grow like a cedar of Lebanon planted in the "house of the Lord". They will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age. They will stay fresh and green, proclaiming the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no wickedness in him. All of that in the middle of it was planted in the house of the Lord our God. You know why that's important?
The house of the Lord our God is the soil in which you'll flourish. You don't know what's in the seed until it's planted. You don't experience the fruit of a seed until it's planted. Then you find out what fruit's there. There is a specific local church, house of the Lord, that he has called every person to.
Specific. You know why? Because in that soil, like you you put a seed in the wrong soil, it's not going to grow. It's gotta be put in the right soil because in the right soil, there's a proper amount of moisture and the proper amount of pressure to break that hard shell of that seed open to allow what's in it to come out. There is a specific church for each of you, and it's not the 1 you wanna be at.
It's the 1 he says you're at. If if if you go only to the place where you're the most comfortable, comfort might be your Lord, and you might be distracted and not be at the place where God's telling you to be. Because at the proper place, there will be some amount of pressure that will crack crack open your hard shell. And that's the same. Yep.
Still all that. Amen. If you stay at a place because God told you to be there for 6 months, but then the pressure comes, and you get offended, and you walk away and go somewhere else, you are missing out. Because God says, this is the for the the ones that are planted, not the ones that are transplanted every 6 months or 2 years or 3 years. Because if you get transplanted every couple years, you know what happens to a to a plant?
The root systems cut lower and lower and lower until it bears less and less fruit and eventually dies. Right. Get planted. And if this is it, man, that's my will that every 1 of you, this is the the house of the Lord that he's called you to plant. That's my will.
Nevertheless, not mine be done his. God will move you when it's time. If God's called you to plant in this local church, we have something called establish. It's on the first Sunday night of every month. Go to establish.
You'll find out the soil of our church, the vision, the values, the mission, the direction that God has us going and why, and how you can be a part. Sign up for it today. Then also, we have something called *covenant* membership. This is not a legal document, where if you sign it under the court of law, you can't go anywhere else. That's not it.
This is a method of your pastor and elder team trying to disciple you. Too many people approach church with a consumer mindset. As long as I'm happy and I feel good, and they have the music I like, and the preaching I like, and the people I like that are most like me, I'm good. That's unhealthy. It's not okay.
We enter into marriage, and we enter into a relationship with the church because God told me to be there. And if he told you to be there, then there's stuff in you that they need, and there's stuff in them that you need. And you covenant with them because God told you to be there. So I get people who go through establish and wanna be a member to read this and sign it. Why?
Because you're entering into a healthy covenant relationship with a healthy church. And here's the beauty of it. What if God does send you somewhere else in 3 months, or a year, or 6 years, or 60 years? Well, if that's the case and you're in a healthy relationship, well, man, it would be our honor and our joy. Like, we have open hands.
We want to send you. It's my my prayer that we would send leaders to help many churches all throughout this county and The States. So if you leave healthily, man, to the place that you're going, I can call that pastor. And I can say, hey, man. Dude, you're getting Kevin.
And Kevin's awesome. He's full of Jesus. When he when he comes there, man, these are the ways that he served our church, and I know there's so much more in him. Can't wait for you to get it out of him. And, man, then then there's just a healthy thing, but also you going there, I get to build a relationship with that pastor, and he gets to build a relationship with me, and the body of Christ is more connected.
But the way that too many people do it instead is is they're not in "covenant relationship" with the church. They're in consumer relationship with the church. So as soon as they don't like something, they get offended and run off, and nobody knows. And they gotta start all over. It's unhealthy, and it's not the body of Christ.
Amen? Amen.