The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 5: Marks of the Growing Believer

Episode Date: February 3, 2019

The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. - Proverbs 22:3 (NIV) The path that your life is on leads somewhere. Where is your life going?

Amen, amen. Happy to do a church. Everybody good? If you got your Bible's, Second Timothy, is where we are. I hope you survive the polar vortex here in Florida. I know it was a really big deal around the country, but it's a little bit ridiculous here. On Thursday night, as we did our 722 service, it was 51 degrees outside. I checked right before I walked out. And as I surveyed our San Pablo campus, I saw fur and flannel. scarves. Some people were dressed as if they were trying out to be an extra on the Game of Thrones.

Do you understand what I'm saying? It's crazy. In Florida, a Cat 5 hurricane could be barreling down upon us. And most Floridians are standing in their front yard with a case of natty light and jean shorts going bring it on. You let it get 51 degrees and they're like, we can't handle this. It's crazy. All right. That has nothing to do with anything. But welcome to 1122. Hey, grab your Bible. Second Timothy chapter 2. we're walking through the book of 2nd Timothy, and I don't want you to just understand the individual verses.

I need you to be able to like palm 2nd Timothy by the time we're done with it. That we're walking through this letter from the Apostle Paul as he is trying to pass on faith and leadership and this anointing and appointing to young Timothy. Because, like we said in week one, faith this doesn't happen to you, faith happens through you. And so on the beaches one day, Paul, gathers together a group of elders that will be the local elders at the church at

Ephesus where Timothy is called to be the pastor, and he lays his hands upon young Timothy, who is weak and afraid, who's got a whole bunch of things working against him, he grows up without a dad, he's got a lot against him, and the apostle Paul lays his hands on him and says, Timothy, God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-discipline or self-control. And in fact, we thought that verse was so important. We put it on a card and gave it out to you last week in a sermon about how important words are. And I said, careless words stabbed like a sword.

And we were so careless that we put the wrong verse. That's how slick we are here at 1122. So we put 2 Timothy 117, but it's really supposed to be 2nd Timothy 1.7. It's my fault. It is my fault because I didn't look at it. But pretty much if anything is my fault here at church, I just blame Pastor Brue. So that's how that goes, and he takes it well. So scratch out that one when you get home.

And the way we found out, honestly, as a single lady, called us, and said, I think it's prophetic. Because here's what 117 says. 117 says, and when he arrived in Rome, he searched for me earnestly and found me. She thought it was prophecy. Well, I hate to break your heart, but maybe he is looking for you, but have no fear. So make sure you do that, so when you get home, you memorize the right verse. So Paul does lay his hands on Timothy and says, it says, God did not give you a spirit of fear,

but of power of love and of self-control or self-discipline. And then from chapter 2 on, what the Apostle Paul is doing is he is trying to set Timothy on a pathway or a trajectory that leads somewhere. Not only eternally to heaven, his faith is in Christ, so that is secure, but even in this life that leads him to a place where he can thrive as the power. at the Church of Ephesus. And the same thing is true for every single one of us. I want to share something with you very, very profound.

You may feel like you need to write this down, or some of you will be able to memorize it, but this is just true. Ready for this? Ready? You are here. That's right, here. Like in the sea, wherever here is.

San Pablo, Baker Correctional, Mandarin, Arlington, Bay Meadows, riding around in your car three days later, whatever it is, you are here. And a couple hours ago, you were not here. You were there. And then you had to make a series of decisions that took you from there to the here, the seat that you are sitting in right now. And if you made a different set of decisions, then you would not be here. You would be somewhere else.

Now, the crazy thing is, is that's not just true of you geographically, but in regards to your life. you are here. Or another way to say it is this. This is your life. I mean, this is it. That your life has lined up, the path that you have been on, the decisions that you have made, the decisions that other people have made that impacted you, and how you responded to them, have perfectly aligned in the universe

so that this would be your life right now. You guys seen the 10-year challenge going on on social media? You know, everybody's posting pictures from 10 years. years ago? If you're 45-year-old church planner, I would highly advise against looking at those pictures, all right? They're not encouraging. But the real 10-year challenge is not what you used to look like 10 years ago. The real 10-year challenge is, what's your life going to look like 10 years from now? So you've got another truth for you. Ten years from now, you're going to be somewhere. And the question is, where is that going to be? Because the reality is, is that direction,

not feelings, not determination, not intention, not motivation, but direction always determines your destination. That you are on a path, that path leads somewhere. I want you, I want us to begin to think about what our life there is going to look like, because how in the world are we going to get from here to there? You see, if you go on your phone and you want to find directions, there are two very important things you need to know. You need to know where you're going. But even more important to that, you've got to know where you're starting. Now, I've got some really good news that Pastor Ben taught me at his granddad's funeral as he was burying his granddad.

He said these words, I'll never forget him. He goes, it's not how you start, but it's how you finish that counts. And so there is good news for all of us. And that's where Paul is going to pick it up with Timothy in verse 20. He says this. He says, now in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, that'd be like really about. stuff, but also of wood and clay, not so valuable stuff. Some for honorable use and some for dishonorable.

Therefore, if anyone, you should underline that word anyone. That word anyone in Greek means anyone. Everybody. If you're somebody, you fall under the anyone category. This applies to you too. I know you don't think it does. I know you think it applies to church people or good people or smart people or some other group of people, but this does apply to you too.

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. You see, because some of you, when we talk about your life and say, you are here, you don't like here. You didn't want to be. I mean, some of you don't want to be here, like in church here. You lost a bet or you're grounded or whatever, all right? That's not my problem. But I'm talking about like your whole week, your whole month, your whole year, you don't like here.

And you think, some of you think that it's over, that you're done, that you're cursed forever. And what Paul would say is this, is that this, this is an invitation for every single one of us. In other words, our past does not have to define our future. that the fact that that you got to hear does not have to determine where you go from here. That anyone who would be cleansed, anyone who would be cleansed can have a future that is completely different from the past that you have experienced. In other words, ma'am, don't you let this world try to define who you are. Don't you believe the labels that this world tries to slap on you. You are not those things.

In fact, it's why we started off this service by declaring, I am a child of God. I am who you say that I am. And I know you think everybody on this stage has this like perfect church story. I wish you could just peel back the layers and see into some of our lives. And what a faith-filled truth claim it is for some of us to say, no, no, no, this world doesn't get to tell me who I am. I am who you say that I am. if anyone is cleansed anyone then you could be made into a new creation

this is what he says he says that you would be made holy that's what the Greek says literally where it says set apart as holy that you would be made holy not that you could make yourself holy but that you would be the recipient of holiness by Jesus's blood that the blood of Jesus is what makes you holy that you could be useful to the

master of the house. Try to wrap your mind around this for just a second, folks, okay? That you, no matter what your struggles are, no matter your sin, no matter what this world has tried to tell you, no matter what your last church told you, that you could be useful to the master. You see, the opposite of useful is useless. The biblical definition for the word condemnation is unfit for use. This is what the enemy whispers to a bunch of us. He whispers, hey, listen, man, because of what you've done, because of what you currently struggle with, because of what you think, because you haven't defeated this sin, because of the way you were brought up, because of the things that you struggle with, who do you think you are? You are unfit for use.

You are condemned. You see, to condemn something, it's a building term. It's like a building inspector shows up and inspects a building. building and goes, that's pretty jacked up. And then slaps condemned signed on it. And the enemy comes around and looks at you and goes, that's pretty jacked up. Now listen, I'm not saying you're not jacked up. It's worse than you think. You are more jacked up than you think. You think we believe your Facebook. We don't. We know you are like demon possessed. I mean, and here's the thing. The closer, the more you read your Bible, the closer you grow in Christ,

the more you will understand just how deeply depraved each and every one of us is. It is worse than you think. And yet, because of the grace of God, he looks at that same vessel that the enemy says unfit for use. He looks at that same condemned building. And Jesus goes, no, no, no, no. If you will just surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ, that building is not condemned. that building is fit for a king to move into. And Jesus, the king of the universe, literally moves inside of us.

The Spirit of God enters inside of us. And what the world says is condemned, the Spirit of God says, that is my permanent address here on earth. And wherever the Spirit is, that is what a temple is. Therefore, your body is the very temple of the Almighty God. Therefore, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, Jesus. that in Christ you are useful and ready for every good work. Literally in the Greek, that word ready is prepared in advance for good works.

You really want to blow your mind? That the sovereign God of the universe could use what the enemy intended for evil and God intends those very same things for good. that the worst pain that you've ever been through, that God was using it and prepared it to prepare you to be used. Even the self-inflicted wounds. How about that? Even your own dumb decisions that only a sovereign God

could use your own self-inflicted pain as a part of the preparation for his glory. Now, I can tell by the way you're blankly staring at me that you don't believe me. So check this out. Every week I check on all of our country. campuses. We have great campus pastors, and I want to know how it's going. Part of my job is to know well the flock, and so I need, you know, we got a bunch of people all over the place. And so I'm particularly dialed into Baker Correctional, because I can't just like stop by on a Wednesday, okay? And so Baker guys, I'm going to talk to you about you. Pastor Michael Olson, one of our worship

guys, he was leading worship there last Monday. And on Monday, we had like 138 men at our Baker Correctional campus. Amen? It's the most, it's the most, any kind of Jesus meeting has ever had on that campus. All right? And so, Olson's leading, and he's singing good, good father. Good, good. You're perfect in all of your ways. And so, Olson's, you know, he's a little Pentecostal in there.

And so, and he's an artist, too. So it's just a flock of butterflies going around in there. Spirit-filled always. Those that know him, you really know I'm talking about. He's awesome, man. And so he just backs off the song for a second and says, Ellis, can you just think about this for a second? Just think about this for a second.

The sovereign king of the universe has used the events of your life. The fact that you got caught or you got framed or somebody did it or did it to you or whatever that thing is that would land you in a place through our correctional system of this government so that you would have the opportunity to sit in this place right now and be able to bellow out with great amounts of faith. You are a good, good father. You are perfect in all of your ways. That's what it means for the sovereign God of the universe to be able to use anything and everything,

and we are never out of his hands. You see, how does this happen? Because every single one of us are on a path. Every single one of us are on a path. And that path leads somewhere. And again, it is your direction that determines your day. destination, not your feelings, not your emotions, not your intentions. The crazy thing is not even your values and beliefs. They should, but we rebel against our own values and beliefs all the time.

And we know this to be true. If you get in your car and you intend to go to Miami and you pack for Miami and you got sunscreen and your bikini and you get your disciple group to pray for traveling mercies to Miami, and you get 95 and you go north. Guess what you're? ain't doing. You ain't going to Miami. I don't care how many Bible verses you quote. I don't care what's on the radio. You could be either listening to songs about Miami, Gloria Estefan herself or worship music. It just don't go there. It just don't go there. And the same thing is true in your life. The decisions that you are making, the path that you're on leave somewhere. The decisions other people are making influences the path that you're own. And it goes somewhere.

And what Paul is going to do now is he is going to talk about where. that path goes. And I'm telling you, I don't know why this seems like something that's hard to understand. I remember I was doing student ministry, and this teenage girl who was pregnant came to see me. And she sits down at my desk, and she goes, I don't know how this happened. And I go, I do. This is why they don't let me do counseling anymore, okay? And I'm like, I, this is. This is why. This, This is the past principle, okay? This is where this goes. And I think a lot of times we look at our lives and we're like, I don't know how this happened.

And yet, I'm telling you, the decisions that we make, the path that we're on, lead somewhere. So what Paul now does in verse 22 is he goes, so, Timothy, so. And the so here is referring all the way back to that word cleanses. That word cleanses is in this example about you've got honorable, items and dishonorable items, and no matter what those items are pre-labeled, if the Lord cleanses any of those items, whether it's wood or clay or silver or gold, they can all be useful to the master. That word cleanses is a theological term that we would call sanctification. Sanctification.

That salvation really has three parts. Salvation has justification. That's like the moment you surrender to Jesus. Sanctification, it's a progressive thing that from the moment you surrender to Jesus. to the moment you breathe your last, that the Spirit of God progressively makes us look more and more and more like Jesus. And then the end of the train is glorification when he perfects us when we are in heaven. And that thing in the middle, that sanctification, that ongoing work of the Spirit of God in us to make us look more and more like Jesus, it really has two different parts.

That to be sanctified, there's a lot of no and there's a lot of yes. There's a lot of turning from. There's a lot of turning to. Theologians would call the no, the turning from. They would use this language. It's called mortification. Mortification just means to kill. John Owen says, be killing sin or it'll be killing you.

There's a part of, there's some things you don't do anymore. Not because they're bad, because they'll kill you. And then the other half of it is vivification. That just means that we are consistently, doing the kind of things that stir our affections for the Lord. This is where Paul is going to go in verse 22. So, Timothy, flee, turn away from, run away, youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

You see, he says, flee youthful passions. Kill that sin that's trying to kill you. Tim Keller says, the sin that is killing you. most right now is the one that you are most defensive about or completely unaware of. This phrase, youthful passions, in Greek it is epithemite. Thamai is like a desire. Thamai is like an appetite. And in and of themselves, a desire or an appetite may not be bad. But when you have an epi desire, when you have an epipatite, it's like you look at that thing and that thing it's so big in your life that you don't see any any of the consequences for pursuing that thing.

I think this is why he calls this a youthful passion because immaturity is ruled by feelings. Immaturity is obeying your thirst. Immaturity sees a picture. Maturity sees a pathway. Immaturity says, I want it now and I want more because that is the language of appetite. And immaturity means that I am subservient to my feelings, to my emotions, to my emotions, to my appetites, to my epithomai. And so Paul says, you better run from that because that will put you on a path that leads somewhere. And when those appetites rule you, it never leads you where you want to go.

You see, every single one of us are on a path. Financially, you're on a path. Financially, you're on a path. And the path that you are on has a destination. And if I were to ask you, hey, 10 years from now, in regards to your finances, where would you want to be? I don't know a brother in here that says, I'd love to be broke. Actually, some of you would, because broke means I got nothing, but I owe nobody nothing. No problem. Jesus was broke. There's a lot of people, you're not broke.

You're a slave. The Bible says the rich rule over the poor, and the debtor is slave to the lender. In other words, you owe so many people that your master card is your master card. Because you don't get to make decisions about what you do with the money, God, gave you anymore because of the decisions that you have made in your past. If you overspend without a plan, that goes somewhere, and it ain't good. Relationally, you are on a path. And I'm talking about I meet people around here all the time, single men. And I ask them, where you want to be relationally in 10 years. And they describe a kind of marital intimacy

that only exists in the last four minutes of a romantic comedy. It's incredible. And I'm like, okay, Scooter, so what are you doing to get from here to there? And they would never say this, but if you look at the path their own, the path is this. Well, currently what I'm doing is treating every female in my life like a commodity. I use her up, get what I can, and if I don't like it, I swipe whichever way, you're, you know, that thing. And I just basically hook up, shack up, break up, repeat. Hook up, break up, repeat. Hook up, shack up, break up repeat.

But I think what's going to happen is even though I'm walking down that pathway, one day I'm going to find somebody that will put up with me and I'm going to get dressed up and I'm going to come here to the church and say I do and then everything's going to be transformed. Look here, boy. And I mean boy. It just doesn't lead there, bro. You have no idea what it means to be a husband. If you think you can be that selfish for years and years and years and then one day here at the church,

you think the Spirit of God is going to sprinkle a little husband dust on you so you know what it's like to love your wife like, Christ loved the church. I mean, seriously, dude, if you were God, would you let him, would you let you date one of his daughters? I don't think so. You were on a path that leads to brokenness and not just you. There will be collateral damage for your immaturity. Stop. Ladies, single ladies, you too. I'm telling you, you use your body to try to get intimacy from somebody that just cares about a body, then one day you're going to wake up and you're going to look next to you and you're married to a body snatcher. And here's the problem. Listen, you look great. You do. You do. This is as good as it's ever going to get. Trust me. Trust me. It ain't getting better, darling.

And you can tweak it every six or eight weeks. You know, you got a little reunion goal or something, but I'm just telling you, time and gravity or not your friend. They are not. Now, if you've got enough change, you can fight against the flow for a while. But then in the end, you're like, okay, whoa, that's something there, right? Mr. Potato Head or something, I'm telling you, that path leads somewhere. You better get on a path where you value how valuable you are to God. You better get on a path where you value your purity so other people will. Married couples? Where do you want to be in your marriage in 10 years? You don't just accidentally frolic your way over to deep abiding, self-sacrificing love for one another.

That's a pathway. Fellas, you flirt at work and you don't think that's a pathway. It leads to destruction. I can't tell you the number of men that I know that are heartbroken because another man is tucking their kids into bed and it started because they got on a pathway that says, it's just lunch. It's just one meeting.

She really gets me, but my wife doesn't. It's a pathway. You don't think pornography is a pathway? is a pathway that leads to death. Death. It will just kill your relationship. Every single one of us are on a path in your family. I ask dads my age that have kids, my kids age all the time.

What do you want your family to be like? And they talk about this closeness. And yet right now, they're on a path where you neglect time while you have it. And it leads somewhere. So that one day you're going to be really. tired, you're going to have all this time, and then your kids are just going to mimic what they saw you do, and they will not have time for you, and you say, how do we get here? Because you led your family there. You see, every single one of us are on a path. Our bodies are the same way. Hey, what you

want to be like? 25 years from now. And we have this image of health in our mind, except we poison our body all day long. We neglect our bodies all day long, and that leads somewhere. And then small, small, small inputs over a long time have a cumulative effect. It just puts us on a path. And so Paul says to that, so flee youthful appetites. And not just run from that,

but you've got to run to something. He says, so pursue righteousness. This is very important. To run away from one thing is to run to something else. By the way, that run away from and run to in the Bible, the one word for that event is called repent. When Jesus says repent, it means you should rethink, your strategy for life, and then you should reorient your life in a different direction.

That's what repent means. And so this is repentance. Flee from those youthful passions and pursue righteousness. Now, if you were around for the Roman series, you know this one. That righteousness in the Bible doesn't mean right activity. It means right standing. Because when we get that right standing before God and we know who we are in him, then right activity is an outpouring of right identity in Christ.

That's what he's talking about. So when he says pursue righteousness, essentially what Paul is saying is pursue Jesus. That's what he's saying. Pursue Jesus. In Romans chapter 3, Paul will say it this way. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

But now the righteousness of God has been man. apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe. So to flee from the youthful passions means that you run to Jesus, not because you're going to get this thing right, because a perfectly righteous Savior died in our place. And for anyone who would believe, we are imputed with his righteousness. Because God made him who was without sin to be sin for us that we would be made. the righteousness of God that we run to Jesus. Then he says, pursue faith. Pursue faith.

Most of us spend most of our time pursuing comfort, pursuing safety. That's what we pursue. And he says, run from youthful passions and run to faith. Now here's what's crazy. Faith is not a feeling. In fact, faith is not felt. Faith is exercised. There's all kind of feelings surrounding the moment where you decide

if you're going to choose fear of faith. And let me ask you this question. What are you doing in your life right now that requires big faith? And if you look around and go, there's really nothing. There's really no thing in my life where I think, God, if you don't come through, I'm in trouble, then how in the world could you be pursuing faith? And that may mean that you take the first step into a disciple group that you show up on a mission trip or you're a dad and you're saying, hey, I'm leading this thing, we're going on a family

mission trip or family camp this year. be that kind of thing, or it could be sharing your faith or forgiving somebody or loving Susan in Cubicle 3 and nobody likes Susan in your office. If your name is Susan, I'm sorry. People love you, okay, but you know what I'm saying. What is that thing? You see this week I had the opportunity to decide if I was going to pursue faith or comfort. There's a lot of details. Please don't get hung up on them because it's not the point. I had to go to the courthouse this week, all right? It's not what you think it is. All right. I just had to go. I had to give and receive some pay. I was. I had to give and receive some papers, no big deal. And the office that I had to go to because the person I had to give and

receive papers from is the domestic violence office. And again, Gretchen's not beating me. Don't worry. All right. So I'm, I go to the courthouse. It's huge. It's awesome. I open the door. I walk in. And the moment I step into this room, I'm overwhelmed. Like, I'm the only dude in there. There's like 14 women. Me and one other girl in her mind. are the only non-minorities in the room. And as soon as I walk in, I look, and there's this little white girl over here, she looks 15, turns out she's 22, and her mom's with her. And they give me that look.

They give me the like, I think that's our pastor look. I get it all over town, so immediately I'm like, yep, that's 1122. And then I'm just overwhelmed. It's not a very big room. And I felt like the spirit of God said, pray for them. And I'm like, hold on, man. I'm at the court. I can't just be like, hear ye, hear ye. So now I'm in this wrestling match with the spirit.

And then I don't know about you, but then my brain starts to go with like, who do you think you are? You think you can just walk in here? Like, is this ego? Is this this whatever? Okay. Anybody with me? Anybody ever have those moments where you're like, I think the Spirit of God is nudging me to do something. And the reason I really think it's the Spirit of God is because it glorifies Jesus and I don't want to do it. There I was. So it's a crazy situation. Okay. So I sit down because it's going to be a minute because it's the government. It's going to take a while, all right?

Efficiency is not one of their highest priorities. That's fine. The people there, honest to goodness, incredibly helpful. I mean, they have like a ministry. Now, it's a small room. There's not quite enough seats for everybody. And there's this glass, it's like really thick glass and the workers on the other side of the glass. And before you get the paperwork that you need, you've got to tell them your story.

You've got to tell them what you're doing there. And so the people go up there and they're trying to. to be quiet. Nobody wants to be loud about how you ended up in this place where you need a restraining order, right? So there you are, and you're like, all quiet. And she's like, can't hear it. And then eventually you're like, just screaming what you've just been through. By the second person, I'm not even trying to act like I'm not listening anymore. I'm just like, oh, oh, my goodness. Now the other thing, man, and I'm telling you, the spirit's like, you got to do something. What are you doing? You got to do it. Pray for them, pray for them.

And it's also, it's a little bit in musical chairs because every time you get up and go hand in a paper and then you come back and somebody's in your seat, it's like here at 1122, if you come down and pray and you go back and go back, and they're like, oh, okay, have my seat, no problem. It's the same thing. I hear about one girl, and she's pregnant,

and had scheduled an appointment for an abortion, and then decided not to. And the baby daddy said, if you don't take care of that, I will. There's a story. There's this other lady, and she's just got kids, and it's getting to the point where she fears for her life. I mean, I'm hearing these stories, man. Then one of these ladies comes and just sits down next to me, and the Spirit of God just said, get her. So I just leaned over and said, you okay? She's trying to be, she's dressed to the nine. She's trying to keep it all together. That little lip, she's like, yeah, I'm fine. I'm like, not really. You okay? Do you

have a church? It's just what I said. Do you have a church? By the way, you know how awesome it is to be a church where we got a campus in every area of Jacksonville? And if we don't have it in your area yet, here we come. So I get to me in the courthouse and say, where you at? You know?

And I said, do you have a church? And she looks at me, she's like, why are you going to make me cry? And I said, that's actually what I do for a living. It's crazy. That's what I do. So the moment I do that, the couple over here, the girl with her mom there, she leans this. She goes, we were there last. night, you should go. And she just starts preaching the sermon from the other week to her,

and I'm going to get them. So I'm trying to talk to her and invite her to church. I'm trying to talk to them and say, thanks for coming. And then just a second, man, 14 people just gather around right there. Okay? And I just was like, all right, ladies, God has so much more for you. Sin is a real thing, and you have felt the depravity of it. This is not God's best for you. This is not God's plan for you. But what the enemy intended for evil, God intends for good. Maybe all this happens, so you could just be right here and just hear by Jesus. He is a good, good father, and he loves you.

And for the moment I got here, I just wanted to pray for you. Well, this lady sitting over here next to me, you could tell she was from some church, and she was like, well, why don't you just pray then? Yes, ma'am, why don't we? And so we held hands at the courthouse in the thing and prayed not a short prayer. I don't know if you've been a Christian a long time. You know, sometimes you're praying, but you're kind of preaching while you're praying. So that's what we're doing.

And then, boy, Mom over here, she is calling down the Chicana glory on it while we're praying. Dude, I got, we finally said amen. They ain't a dry eye in the place, including all the workers who have come out behind the glass and they're just standing there praying with us. Now, listen, man, I am no superhero of faith. You understand? But faith is not this feeling. I got this because I'm a pastor. Actually, the feeling that I most feel in regards to fate is like nausea and fear and I don't want to do this.

So what are you doing in your life right now? What is that thing that you know would be God glorifying if you did it, but in your flesh you know you don't want to do it? Not the thing that you've got to figure it out, the thing that you're like, how is this going to work? Because if you don't put yourself in those places where you have no idea how this thing is going to do, to turn out, then who needs faith? And the Bible says, without faith, it's impossible to please God. So we should pursue faith. Put yourself in those situations.

Go for it. Go for it. Go for it. He will not let you down. Amen. And then he says, pursue love. That word love there. It literally means community.

That we would love one another. So pursue disciple groups. You need to be in a place where you're known and when you know people or you're praying for one another. He says pursue people. Peace, it's a little juke here. Paul's triggering us because peace is not a situation. Peace is a person.

He's a prince. And so the bookends, he says, flee youthful passions and run to. And the bookends of what we're supposed to run to, righteousness and peace, are the person of Jesus Christ. And then he says this, along with, this is a group run. This is not a solo venture that we have been called into. a family. We need each other on this pathway that God has called us on. I say this all the time, man. You know, the Bible says the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. You've seen the animal planet. You see the one the lion goes for. It's always the isolated one.

I don't care how cool of an antelope you think you are. If you're like, I got this, you ain't got this. The lioness is going to eat you face off. All right? And the same thing is true for any of that are like, you know what, I don't need church to walk with Jesus. The problem with that is Jesus said you do. So I don't know how simultaneous you say, he's my Lord, and I'm not going to do what he says. And I know historically the church has been terrible at beating up people that need the most help and kicking them out. Okay, so if you got some church experience where you got beat up, man, welcome here. And if you're like, well, I have issues.

Me too, and they let me work here. You will fit right in, I promise. You've got to get in community. You've got to get in the herd. The fact that you're jacked up has been made known by the cross. The cross is the evidence that I need a Savior, and so do you. And we are supposed to do this thing together. So come on.

Pursue righteousness, pursue faith, pursue love, pursue peace, along with one another. And then he's going to move on to talk about our words. We spent our whole time last week talking about the importance of words. But I think where Paul goes next is this. I think he's saying that what comes out of our mouth can reveal the path that we're on. He says, have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies. You know that they breed quarrels. In other words, don't let your mouth or somebody else's mouth take you off the path that God has called you to.

And I'm so glad to hear this because, boy, I got some doozies of some emails last week. this and I do I get emails you know I get lots of very encouraging emails and to that I say thank you and then I get some emails like I ain't got nothing to do all week but reply to your email I'm so sorry if I can't get back to it but sometimes I get ones like pastor I visited your church this week and my heart was grieved as I walked up to the Lord's house and I saw people smoking in front of the Lord's house to which I say, I think that was our band. So, I'm just kidding. It's not our band.

They are godly men and women who are awesome. So listen, man, I don't, I'm not going to spend my time. Look, I'm not pro-s. I'm anti-smoking, cigarettes. Cigarettes? Super cool, no problem. Cigarettes? Totally dumb.

Whatever, okay? But I'm not, even that, that word right there is some of you're in a tailspin. Okay, whatever. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies. Here's another one. Look, it's a long one. I highlighted the highlights, okay? Got it this week.

If I could give the Church of 1122 a zero rating, I would very much indeed. You know last week was about words? Like, that's why I think it's so funny. Oh, it gets so better. I visited the Church of 1122, the pastor of this mega false teaching church Jobi Martin was preaching what he called a sermon.

I call his preaching the false gospel. He was telling family stories, not preaching the gospel. Mr. Martin, is my favorite part, was encouraging violence through his entire sermon, talked about fighting people by punching people, spanking people, and even stabbing people. Maybe I wasn't clear. I did have a sword last week. Just to clarify, in case, the point of my sword illustration was anti-stabbing, not pro-stabbing.

Okay? So let me just be clear there. Then he goes on to talk about the sinfulness of hockey, which leads me to say, thank you to everybody who came to the hockey game on Friday night. That was awesome as we raised money to not just that. So here's what I'm saying, man. I ain't got time for this.

I don't. God has called me to lead this movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. So I'm not going to debate hockey or stabbing. Okay? We are going to preach the gospel, preach the gospel, preach the gospel over and over and over and over. That's what we're going to do. He says, and the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone.

This is partly why I don't respond, because I'm supposed to be kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents. That word there literally means to guide like on a path. It's directional terminology. With gentleness. And look what it might happen. and God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. In other words, no matter where you are on this journey, no matter where here is for you, whether here is like super awesome and your life's going great, or here is you're like ensnared in the net of the enemy.

Well, I've got good news. that God may grant you repentance. Repentance is when the Holy Spirit opens up your heart, opens up your eyes, opens up your mind for you to repent, for you to just think about it this way. If you don't like the word repent, no problem. For you to just rethink the strategy of your life. To look at the pathway you're on,

to get your eyes up off of the moment you're in and the momentum that you have to look over the horizon and say, my life is leading somewhere and uh-oh, I don't think I like where it's going. My way of doing life has not worked. I'm going to repent. I'm going to rethink my strategy for living, and then I am going to not just change my mind, I am going to change my direction, and I'm going to go God's way instead of my way. That's what he's saying here.

You see, here's the point. The path that your life is on, it leads somewhere. So would you please ask yourself this question, where's my life going? Where's my life going? As I was thinking through this sermon, I was talking with a guy that I've gotten to know lately, Mattens 1122, thinking about his pathway, where he came from, where he is, and where he's going. And so we sat down for a few minutes for me to ask him a few questions in regards to what these verses are leading us to. And so I figured we would record it and share it with you.

So take a second and watch this. So I'm Pastor Jobi Martin. pastor of the church of 1122. And Georgia Bulldogs fan. Gosh. Through and through, man. You give great sermons, but there's still that little bit of bitterness

because I know you're rude for Georgia. I rooted against you for many years. I cannot wait for you to move. That's why anything I ever signed for you, always put Go Gators. This is how we know God is sovereign, that he would bring us together. That's right.

So we're in a series right now in our church, teaching through Second Timothy. And basically in chapter two, he's going to say, Timothy, the direction of your life determines the destination. And so we're talking about direction. And as I think about direction and influence in our culture, you literally may be one of the most influential voices of our generation. I mean, it's really remarkable.

Your Heisman Trophy winner, national champion, as much as that hurt me, but I'm really glad for you. A professional football player, a professional baseball player. And yet you continuously use your influence for the glory of God to share the gospel and to lift up the least of these. Well, I think in all of those situations, for me, it was one of the things you mentioned, what are you running to? Not necessarily as much, what are you running away from? Because I'm a believer that when we're aggressively going towards something, it's easier than if we were trying to defend. I want to stay away from the bad things.

No, I'm not trying to stay away from the bad. I'm trying to push back evil with how aggressive I am every day at trying to love people, at aggressively doing it. And if you do that, I think you do stay away from able. But I had that same mindset in sports that we have at our foundation that I had in life at everything that I do is I have a goal and I want to be able to get to that goal. And in the meantime, I want to love and help as many people as possible on the way to that goal, whether it was football, whether it was baseball, whether it's been at TTF. And that vision for us, that goal is the kid lying on the side of the street that no one's helping. It's a kid in Haiti that has gone from orphanage to orphanage to orphanage, but no one truly loves them. That's what

keeps us going. And as long as there's going to be one of those kids that are out there, our job's not done. What is it about that community that first drew you to say, I think I want to do something to help? Well, I feel like that was one of the biggest ways that God touched my heart when I was a young person. I was 15 years old. I met a boy in a village in the Philippines who was born with his feet on backwards, and his village looked at him as cursed, as insignificant, and he wasn't allowed to be part of the village. You know, I got to pray with that boy to receive Christ, and I knew going down the mountain that day, leaving that boy that, yeah, I wanted to be the best athlete that I could be, but more importantly, I knew that God put something on my heart,

and that was to fight for people that couldn't fight for themselves. And I knew that God gave me strength not to be able to try to throw a touchdown or run over a Georgia bulldog, but was to be able to lift up a kid that has never been lifted up. It was to be able to celebrate a kid that doesn't understand their worth. It was to be able to create a red carpet for them to walk down because no one's ever clapped for them in their life. When I am doing those things for people with special needs, it's the closest that I have. have ever felt to God and to doing what I feel like my purpose is. Amen. That change of heart that you had as a 15 year old is what introduced me to night to shine. But man, I'll tell you, I walked into that

prong and I just thought I've never been around something that smells more like Jesus than this moment right here. There's so many amazing factors of night to shine. It's churches coming together from all over the world. And for me growing up, churches didn't really work together a lot. And now you have led 10 churches in your collaboration. We have over 35 different denominations coming together, and together we'll have 656 churches partnering in Night to Shine. In over 24 countries, over 200,000 volunteers, celebrating over 100,000 guests with special needs

and crowning all of them as kings and queens. And yeah, a lot of those are pretty staggering numbers, but it's not just about the number, it's about the story. I think God has a big old smile on his face when we care for and love people that he cares for and love so much. So you've been, you know, we all know about where you've come from, from here, man, right around here to be on a worldwide stage. And where's the future? Where's the path leading from here? You know what? I think there's so many different avenues. I'm excited about all of them. I'm loving baseball. I can't wait. It's going to start here soon. But more than anything, it's the platform that God has given me.

with TTF and with Night to Shine and with our hospital and what we're doing around the world and and my goal would be that one day people would forget about anything that I ever did at the University of Florida and football or in baseball or in sports and it would be about the legacy that hopefully TTF will leave but not in remembering us but remembering all the lives that we touched around the world and my goal at that TTF will be around many years after I'm dead and gone, and that night to shine would be in every country and every village around the world. Amen, glory to God. Thanks, brother. Thanks, brother. Amen. So here's a guy that God put on a path,

and he's been walking that path, not for his own namesake, but for the glory of God, for the sake of the gospel, and to lift up the least of these, and I'd say, but what about you? And I get it, you're going to be like, well, I ain't Tebow. You're not even close. That guy's a freak, okay? But your job is not to be the next Tebow. God made one of him. We have plenty of those. God created you to be the you that he created you to be for his glory to demonstrate and declare the gospel and to lift up the least of these.

So what about you? And as I evaluate where I am in my life, I'm going to tell you, I have a really hard time reconciling the blessings of God on my life. Because I can tell you, I didn't get here just because, like, I've made really wise decisions over the last 45 years. In fact, it seems like I stand in this place in spite of my decisions. The only thing I can chalk it up to is the gospel of Jesus Christ, is His grace towards me.

In Proverbs 22, 3, he says it this way, the prudency, danger, and take refuge. That word refuge matters. The prudency, danger, and take refuge. but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. Do you see the path language? And the reason I love that verse so much is because I think it's 52 times in the Psalms God is referred to as our refuge. So the ultimate repentance is not about your financial path, it's not about your relational path, it's not about your family path.

The ultimate repentance is about your eternal path. And the prudent person, the wise person, is the person that lifts a person. up their eyes eternally, looks over the horizon of just this life and says, where is this path leading? Because the truth is this, the death rate in America? 100%. And everybody spends forever somewhere. And so eternally speaking, eternally speaking, what path are you on? And again, man, I hope your family, I hope your finances, I hope your relationships are awesome. And when you do them God's way, generally speaking, it goes way better. But the goal here, is not to line up everything in your life and then just skip happily on your way to hell.

You see, God sent his son Jesus on a rescue mission. That any person, any person that would assess the situation they're in and look at the path that they're on and go, uh-oh, Houston, there's a problem, and the problem is me. My way has led somewhere that will lead to destruction. I may gain the whole world and yet forfeit my soul. That's a big L in the eternity column. And so the book of Psalm says a lot about it.

It says this. Psalm 111, in the Lord I take refuge. Psalm 182. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 1830. This God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord proves true.

He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. Psalm 31 for anybody that feels like you're entangled in the net of the enemy you take me out of the net They have hidden for me for you are my refuge Psalm 34 8 this is about firsthand experience You can't just hear it you can't just understand it's for somebody else you have to experience it first hand You can't inherit it He says oh taste and see that the Lord is good Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him

So I'm believing that there's folks at all of our campuses. And right now, by the power of God, the Spirit of God is speaking to you. And for the first time, eternally speaking, you are assessing the path that you're on. And for the very first time, you are understanding, uh-oh, there's a problem, and the problem is me. The problem is I have been the Lord of my own life, and I have been obeying my own appetites and desires, and that leads somewhere. And right now, by the grace of God. He is allowing you to be prudent, that you see the danger of being the Lord of your own life, and right now he is giving you the ability to change paths, to change direction, and take refuge in him who is our refuge.

And so I want to give you that opportunity right now. To rethink the eternal strategy of your life, to get to the place where you'll admit it, I'm not a mistakeer that needs to try harder. I'm a sinner that needs a savior. and I believe that somehow when Christ came and died on the cross, that counted for me. Not just good people, not just religious people, not just church people, but that counted for me. And in this moment right now, I'm ready to change direction. I believe in my heart that he died for me and he rose from the grave.

And I'm ready to confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord. Would you please bow your head and close your eyes at all of our campuses? And I would ask you, if you were ready to change the eternal trajectory, of your life. If you are ready to change that path forever and admit it, you're a sinner that needs a Savior and that you believe, you trust that somehow when Jesus died on the cross and he says it is finished, that counted for you. And in this moment, right now, you were ready to confess him as your Lord and Savior, then would you just raise your hand where you are? Raise it high. Lift your hand and say, Father, here I am, I surrender my life to you. I am changing direction

by the power and the leading of the Holy Spirit of God. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you because you loved us first. And God, this is love. Not that we loved you, but you loved us, and you sent your son to die on a cross, to be the full and exact payment of everything that we have done, everything that we are doing, everything that we will do so that you could lavish your love upon us and we could be called children of God. God, we thank you that even right now,

There is salvation in this place. And Spirit of God, would you give us the power and the strength to continuously run from youthful passions and run to you? And God, I thank you and I praise you that because of the gospel in our running when we stumble and when we fall as we're so apt to do as little children, that we can continuously run to you because you hold your arms wide open for us. we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.