A Heart for Jesus
The Ministry of John The Baptist
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good morning if you're new here Among Us my name is Gene I serve here at C3 Church as your pastor and I want to start by thanking Tony Tony Johnson gave a great message on obedience and donkeys last week so that was kind of entertaining and cool uh so we're continuing in the rest of our story this is our series and so a couple of weeks ago we talked about the early life of Jesus and right from Christmas time from the Shepherds through the Magi through Jesus's parents Simeon Anna there were people searching for Jesus and finding Jesus so that was kind of the application there Tony took us to obedience important glue there between these two messages today we're going to talk about the key or one of the keys here which is relationship now this got me thinking about a story about hot air a hot air balloon that is you'll see where I'm going in a minute so in the mid-1900s or a little bit later slightly later people wanted to make these transatlantic uh flights with the hot air balloons see if they could get across and there were many failed attempts which isn't really funny I don't know why I'm smiling but anyway they try to go on these hot air balloons from the United States over to Europe and finally in 1978 Double Eagle two made it W1 they landed in Iceland it was really bad they got frostbite so they tried again right so then it became encouraging and kind of a more popular thing to take these Trans-Atlantic flights in the hot air balloons so here's a story about one particular group of people they decide to go for it right so what are you going to do it's about a week it's going to take you six days a week and so you're going to bring all the provisions you need right in this basket but it's like not a rickety basket yeah so what do you bring water like a lot of canned goods and stuff like that you know maybe tuna sardines I don't know anything in a can not the beans you already got the hot air so anyway oh it's bad so it gets worse so you know they pack all the necessary Provisions they have a little extra room they start thinking about the week all right it's going to be a week so we've got some other things that are important to us as we prepare for this journey so they came up with a few other things chocolate and all the ladies are like yep but guys you're like what no so anyway chocolate was important so they took some chocolate case of chocolate we're gonna put a case of chocolate in there one of the things are we gonna need during that week cigarettes all right so back then everybody smoked right so you see the like World War II movies and stuff what's in your ration kit some of you are going yep that was my right we're Lucky Strikes right so everywhere it's necessary so you got to bring cigarettes they're not too heavy we're bringing a case of them on what else is necessary in a week wine wine is going to be really necessary right so they take some wine so people like yeah okay so they take the wine good what else well see this is kind of like early 80s late 70s you know smartphones so what else we're going to need some reading material right so they bring some reading material on board in the form of magazines but they had a lot of pictures so you can just use your imagination they bring that on so case and if you ever picked up a box of books or something like that paper it's heavy so they bring that on and like okay we got it we're going to make it a week we can do it so they go up and there's a certain point they're over the Atlantic and they start sinking rapidly and these things go really high like 20 000 feet you can go in these things so you get down like four thousand feet it's an emergency it's a bad bad thing unless you're about to land they're not going to land in the water so they decide to we're gonna use a big word I'm gonna teach you a big word jettison a bunch of stuff right so just throw out jettison so everyone's like ooh that's a good word we're gonna jettison some stuff so they've already jettisoned the ballasts another big word right but this is for balance in a ship or a hot air balloon and sometimes some weight if you need it we don't need to wait so we're trying to get up they already got rid of everything and they have not elevated at all uh-oh what are we gonna do we got to get rid of some important things so the chocolate they're guys right so that's not important we're to get rid of the chocolate right still hot air balloon not going up a problem what are we going to get rid of next the cigarettes we'll get rid of those all right no altitude the wine that was a good year overboard jettison that not going up finally but probably should have tried this first the magazines books are heavy bye ladies so they jettisoned that and finally now they start coming up and they make it to Europe now it seems like the lesson here would be super obvious right it's Pastor why is he telling the story well there's an obvious lesson here right so what are they doing they're getting rid of stuff they shouldn't have been doing in the first place right so did they learn their lesson did they go back to any of these things they get maybe what God was putting down no they landed in Europe that's where they specialize in all of those things so no lesson why do you think they were going there anyway so now jettison interesting there getting rid of things in your life now I know this is going to happen is going to happen today and so don't do it all right so I'm preventing this because somebody's going to get in a fight like two your kids are going to fight in the car right they're gonna be bopping each other with a toy and Dad's going to be like jettison the toy like Pastor said jettison what's not important to you causing you to sin so don't do that I've had that done to me as a kid it's traumatic so here's here's the lesson here's the lesson now this can be like relationships in relationships if we want to go the distance we sometimes need to abandon some things that might seem important to us there's less serious right I like when he ends on a joke nope anyway so we saw that Jesus spoke to the teachers this is one of the reasons that his parents had to go looking for him now we're going to look at a section where Jesus and his relative John are now grown up in the background on this year's John the baptizer or the Baptist because that's how we call him these days but he's got actually a very large Ministry it's huge I mean you know this historians talked about it back in the day it's a very very large Ministry whereas Jesus's Ministry has not yet initiated yet the point of John is he's preparing the way for Jesus at this point so here's what I want to show you the Bible is not in chronological order we've discussed this so I made another chart and it can get kind of confusing here because Matthew Mark Luke and John no particular order on the second line there uh there Matthew Mark and Luke are the synoptic gospels right so they're similar just think of it like that they're similar to one another Matthew's the longest gives the most details Mark is the shortest Luke's in the middle right so they're giving you different perspectives not differences they're not different from one another John's different John gives a lot of other accounts and other things here so you got to kind of look at them and then kind of paste them back where they belong they're not chronologicals that's what you're seeing here what we're going to look at today so John won an intro to John then you have these three are kind of you know I didn't put them in order but Mark Matthew and Luke they're covering John preparing the way you can see Mark's like a little shorter so then Jesus is baptized Jesus is tempted and then you have the testimony of John the Baptist and you'll see it it should be clear how they happen in that chronological-ish order it's difficult so let's Jump Right In John 1 6. God sent a man John the Baptist literally a man named John to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony John himself was not the light he was simply a witness to tell about the light the one who is the true light who gives light to everyone was coming into the world the light is Jesus so we go to Matthew 3 1. in those days John the Baptist same guy we were just talking about came to the Judean Wilderness and began preaching his message was repent of your sins and turn to God for the Kingdom of Heaven is near the prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said he has a voice shouting in the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord's coming clear the road for him clear the path for him just noteworthy that's the Greek version of the Old Testament that's being quoted there John's clothes were woven from coarse camel hair and he wore a leather belt around his waist for food he ate Locust and Wild Honey people from Jerusalem and from all over Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John and when they confessed their sins he baptized them in the Jordan River but when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees these are the religious teachers are kind of not getting it right coming to watch him baptize he denounced them you brood of snakes brood of vipers it literally says he exclaimed who warned you to flee the coming wrath prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God don't just say to each other we're safe if we are descendants of Abraham that means nothing for I tell you God can create children of Abraham from these very Stones even now the acts of God's judgment is poised he's ready to sever the roots of the trees yes every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire I baptize in water those who repent of their sins and turn to God but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am so much greater that I'm not even worthy to be his slave and carry or tie his sandals he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and in fire he is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winning Fork then he will clean up the threshing area Gathering the weed into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fires it's kind of like some agrarian illustrations here so this is how you kind of get like the wheat stalks the wheat the separating the grain from the chaff that's how you get the grain so he's going to separate out and what's being said here going back to what we talked about a couple weeks ago the good and bad fruit see that's essentially what's going on here if you're not producing any any good fruit chop down throw into the fire we get what's implied there by fire that's what he's saying and then we see if we just keep reading right along it goes immediately into this Matthew 3 13 then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John but John tried to talk him out of it I am the one who needs to be baptized by you he said so why are you coming to me but Jesus said it should be done from what we must carry out all that God requires so John agreed to baptize him after his baptism as Jesus came up out of the water the heavens were opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him and a voice from Heaven said this is my dearly loved Son who brings me great joy noteworthy here Trinity you see it right there it's a complete picture of the Trinity happens in this situation so you have the son Jesus you have the Holy Spirit and you have the father all in the same picture operating then we see Jesus is tempted so if we just turn the page it's right there Matthew 4 1. then Jesus was led by the spirit Into the Wilderness to be tempted by the devil the tempter for 40 days and 40 nights he fasted and became very hungry during that time the devil came to him and said you are the Son of God tell these stones to become loaves of bread but Jesus told him no the scriptures say people do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God quoting Deuteronomy then the devil took him to the Holy City Jerusalem to the highest point of the temple and said if you're the Son of God jump off for the scriptures say he will order his angels to protect you and they will hold you up with their hands so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone Jesus responded important the scriptures also say You must not Test the Lord your God Deuteronomy again chapter six next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their Glory I will give it all to you he said if you kneel down and worship me get out of your seat and Jesus told him for the scripture say You must Worship the Lord your God and serve only him the devil went away and Angels took care of Jesus so there's a lot of noteworthy things in here we're going to jump back to this but it's noteworthy that Jesus is initiating his ministry by fasting very interesting so this is the way he gets baptized immediately goes out fasting the devil's trying to tempt him right so he's in a period of weakness here he's trying to get close here he's preparing himself for this ministry the Devil comes into the picture we're going to hop back into that later I just want to end here with the testimony of John and we'll go to the application John 1 19. this was John's testimony when the Jewish leader sent priests and Temple assistance from Jerusalem to ask John who are you he came right out and said I'm not the Messiah well then who are you they asked are you Elijah remember Elijah was taken up are you Elijah no he replied are you the prophet we're expecting no then who are you we need an answer for those who sent us what do you have to say about yourself John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah again I am a voice shouting in the wilderness clear the way for the Lord's coming then the Pharisees who had been sent asked him if you're the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet or you aren't what right do you have to baptize John told them I baptized with water but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize though his ministry follows mine I'm not even worthy to be a slave and untie the straps of his sandal this encounter took place in Bethany in an area east of the Jordan River where John was baptizing the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world he is the one I was talking about when I said a man is coming after me who is far greater than I am for he existed long before me I did not recognize him as the Messiah but I have been baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel then John testified I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him I didn't know he was the one but when God sent me to baptize with water he told me the one on whom you see the spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit I saw this happen to Jesus so I testify that he is the chosen one of God so interesting he is far greater than me he existed long before me well John is the slightly older one so how's that possible so this is he's talking about his deity here right so before Abraham was I am Jesus says about himself John 8. so he's also saying something very important here look look at him not me look at him he's the one who is greater than me so this is the preparing of the way he was preparing people's hearts for the Lord we've read read previously he's preparing the way as we saw we also saw this means preparing ourselves what was said to the Pharisees and Sadducees right make sure you're right prove prove by the way you live that you're prepared otherwise so it's not good right you must produce good fruit every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down again thrown into the fire so this brings me to a couple of weeks ago if you weren't here you can go back and watch that message that self-examination quiz that I had Everybody Take and so what I did is I took the basically the fruit of the flesh right so the sins of the flesh sends the spirit from Galatians I said okay look at them and then check off you know which you're checking off more or less of and uh I gave you some encouragement all right so I said even after please hear this hear this don't skip over this part even if you checked off all of the sins of the Flesh and you're like this is the behavior I'm normally exhibiting listen you are welcome here did you hear that okay so even if there's a dot in the bad column you are welcome here if you've checked all that stuff off just fine you just keep coming we are here to help we love you we're here to help and we're here to walk do life with you right so just don't come up to me and say I want to preach on Sunday right so no and not that I'm perfect either so I got some in there too we're all kind of working on it it's okay so just hear that part that's important a lot of people forget that but a lot of people will kind of freak out it's like a New Year's resolution right they'll say this is impossible like this cannot be done like it cannot and so what do they do they just quit that's what happens it becomes like in years you know what I'll just try to get this Holy Spirit thing next to you you know or whenever so don't one behavior modification at a time and I've been giving everybody that encouragement one thing at a time I'm gonna get into some keys because people ask they're like well okay how how do we do this okay the first thing we have to get over is we have to know that it's possible that's the first thing because here's another bad Christian Mantra this is kind of what it leads to so there is a Prosperity Gospel out there just kind of like infecting the church but in many different ways and one of them is saying to a lot of people who are identifying as Christians that you know what sin is just not a big deal that's out there it's not a big deal right we're going to do it so whatever some people cause greasy Grace right so we're going to do it whatever it will get there right so again if you're in the fruit of the flesh it's okay I'm not trying to beat you up I just want to show you scriptural truth if you're new here yes it's a lot of scriptures because I like to hear from God a little bit more than opinions all right so this is not an opinion so here's here's what you're going to get here some people will say nobody can do it and I've done this right on the Instagram and stuff maybe there's a real and it says like look yo you're called to be holy you're called Saints that's the Greek word same thing same word in the Greek Saints holy you're called to be kind of the royal priesthood here guys you know we should be kind of not sinning so much then inevitably someone will come along and say well you know what nobody can do it and I'm gonna show you and I'm gonna show you where they'll do this but I just want to point this out if we go to Luke's account so this is like very parallel to Matthew just a little more condensed just Luke 3 8 this is what John is saying prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turn to God don't just say to each other we're safe for descendants of Abraham right so that's like saying I'm safe I was dunked in water I was baptized I'm good that means nothing for I tell you God can create children of Abraham from these very Stones even now the acts of God's judgment is poised ready to suffer the roots of the trees yes every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire and so you gotta mean it we talked about this at Bible study right and I'm not throwing my wife under the bus here because she just raised her hand and said I had like what like a false start I had a fake baptism she admitted it she's like I got dunked you can all emotionally charged up whether it be the beach the sun said whoa you know the more the worship music is great don't but she didn't mean it and she admitted it I didn't know what it was to be a Christian not safe so this is what's going on here they had Abraham right so prove by the way you live now here's the thing I want to point out a couple of things to you that nobody really talks about and they're within this text and I want you to just absorb this and you go to the scriptures now let them talk so this is John talking right prove by the way you live you might remember his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth something is said of them that the first time it came to my attention I was kind of like well because I'd been filled with this like typical kind of Christian Mantra right though you can't do it right you can't they couldn't do the law back then just read this though Luke 1 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God's eyes careful to obey all of the Lord's commandments and regulations as living blamelessly if you want to get literal on me because that's what happens right I try to do an easy reader right for people because I know they're like kids who watch a message I want everyone to understand and look at what version was that because I didn't like it you know like that this is what it says it says it John's parents were living blamelessly according to the law of Moses thank you don't hear that too much but it's there and I don't think Luke inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this is lying Paul look at what Paul says of himself Philippians 3 I was circumcised so Paul wrote half-ish of the New Testament 13 books of the New Testament all right inspired by the Holy Spirit to do so I was circumcised when I was eight days old I'm a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of The Tribe of Benjamin a real Hebrew if there ever was one I am a member of the fair I was a member of the Pharisees who demanded the strictest obedience there's that word again to the Jewish law I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church so he was against the church at first that's kind of a miracle as for righteousness I obeyed the law without fault again I was blameless according to the law of Moses you think Paul's lying I don't I think you did what are you saying right there is true blameless even before becoming a Christian he got that obedience thing that Tony talked about last week down you could do it otherwise Paul's a liar Luke's a liar holy spirit's not a liar that's true interesting so to context he's going to rail against false teachers dogs right so they're false workers and so what he's doing he's saying I have a reason to brag too I did all that too and then he'll go on to say garbage it's all worthless comparing to no Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and that's where we're going so all that stuff garbage but despite this there's a popular false teaching and many who want to sin they like to repeat here's what you're going to get when I start talking if this goes up in a real here's what we're going to get right we're going to get that guy who goes no and he'll quote this here's where it comes from first John 1 8 if we claim we have no sin we are only fooling ourselves and not living the truth but if we confess our sins to him he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness if we claim we have not sinned we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts I will tell you exactly so people will run with this and they'll go yep we're just gonna sin so whatever all right but it's not a big deal here's how you get it here's how you get it you start there and you stop there that's exactly how you get it these people are too lazy to turn the page and that's what we're gonna do if you keep reading this is immediately after those verses my dear children I am writing this to you so that you will not sin it's literally the very next line that's why people post this I'm like like I'm getting tired like I just delete it I'm like delete I can't do this anymore read I am writing this to you so that you will not sin but if anyone does sin we have an advocate who pleads our case before the father he is Jesus Christ the one who is truly righteous he himself is a sacrifice to the tones for our sins and not only our sins but the sins of all the world and we can be sure that we know him if we obey his Commandments if someone claims I know God but doesn't obey God's Commandments that person is a liar there's a not living in the truth but those who obey this word's coming up a lot isn't it those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him there's a key I'm gonna come back to that those who obey God's word show how completely they love him that is how we know we are living in him those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did those who say they live in God should leave live their lives like Jesus did they will obey God now just a digression just really just disclaimer here because I want you guys to understand another thing to be clear no one could be made right by following the law of Moses you can't be saved by following Paul makes that very clear read Galatians that's what it's all about very clear some of Romans very clear all right no law but we're not under that anymore right we're under the Covenant of Grace but it's abusing that Grace is the problem so not saying the law of Moses something we should do Peter a yoke we and our fathers couldn't even Bear by the way just because there are a lot of crazy people around this kick we gotta go back to the law of Moses you're crazy it's impossible people are better than math at me say it's 75 of the law of Moses the Torah of the first five books of the Bible cannot be before you don't have a lineage of a priesthood that can make the sacrifices you have no Temple no Tabernacle it's very sad for Jewish people like uh if you didn't find the Messiah before the destruction of the Temple like you gotta go back it's Jesus right so you can't do it plus it's not a buffet James 2 10 says that the New Testament clarifies this point if you fail in one point you broke all of it so no we are under the law of Christ so what it's talking about here obeys obey God's commands obey his what love Jesus says Matthew 7 12 right loving others treating others the way you want to be treated is this it's the Royal law as it's called in the New Testament right so love it's not the 613 commands and all these exact things everything else falls into place if we love everybody it all kind of comes together and that's my point here so what's going on in first John it's a paradox kind of a big word so there are two seemingly contradictory or absurd statements that when you read them in context and understand what's going on it makes sense so what's happening here you got to read carefully what do we have we have sin we have a sinful nature if we didn't Jesus wouldn't need to die we have a sinful nature that it's what it is to have sin it's in there and we have all sinned operative words here and here's the thing I'm going to keep reading because even though that exists John if you keep reading is not letting anyone off the hook here this is scriptural truth right so my wife was trying to do the kids lesson she's like it's not a lot of scriptures like it's got to be when you say something hard because this is God right so if this is hard for you you need to have that argument with God right now because First John 3 4 everyone whose sins is breaking God's law again not the law of Moses right breaking God's law for all sin is contrary to the law of God and you know that Jesus came to take away our sins and there is no sin in him anyone who continues to live in him will not sin but anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is dear children don't let anyone deceive you about this when people do what is right it shows that they are righteous even as Christ is righteous when people keep on sinning it shows that they belong devil who has been sinning since the beginning but the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil those who have been born into God's family do not make a practice of sinning because God's life is in them so they can't keep on sinning because they're children of God so now we can tell we're children of God and who are children of the devil anyone who does not live righteously and does not and does not love their other believers so they're they're that's that Matthew 7 12 thing other believers does not belong to God this is very clear crystal clear and very serious but here's the thing we are born with sin we have sinned and here's the thing did I just tell you as a pastor I have some in the fruit of the flesh column right yes why We may accidentally sin like listen I haven't always been a pastor but I've heard pastors say bad words I Come From New York right so that was really hard to get that out of that column really really and once in a while boom something comes out right so but it's like an accident you know I don't like seek to do that it doesn't feel good when I do that now I'm like wow that was the first thing I was most nervous about I'm like oh I'm gonna say bad words it's gonna happen we may accidentally do it and I've accidentally said stuff you guys forgive me right yes right so the thing here is we're not to be seeking it out we're not to be seeking it out and here's where we're going to go Hebrews clarifies this more hard scripture but just hear it with the right heart Hebrews 10 26 dear friends if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins that's hard there's only the terrible expectation of God's judgment and the Raging Fire that will consume his enemies for anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without Mercy on the testimony of two or three Witnesses just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God Jesus and have treated the blood of the Covenant which made us holy as if it were common and Unholy they have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God's mercy to us so you hear that sometimes in church where it's like oh the Avalon Moses was so hard punishment was so severe Grace is cool right the Bible doesn't say that how much worse will the punishment be because see there you just had like Lambs dying for you you had the Lamb of God you had Jesus died for you how much worse when you don't take that seriously that's what's being said they're serious verses but here's the thing all the more reason to read them just because people don't read them doesn't make them go away doesn't mean that they don't exist right so like it's a kid thing right I'm not listening but that's what a lot of people do but at the end of your life you will have to answer to this I can't just make it go away that's not my job it was really hard this message pastors don't like preaching but it's there it's what the word of God says so how do we sort this out and this is pastorally where I want to get you guys right so I'm not going to that'll be terrible just stop there right we're gonna see how we work it out here's the thing we will sin we should not be seeking it up it all comes down to this we shouldn't be searching for a relationship with sin if we are in a relationship with Jesus right that is the relationship that takes priority we don't want to be searching for a relationship listen this is the key it's all about relationship it's about love so it's made possible through love that's what's being said here the law is being followed by force doesn't work you could do it but probably like Peter says oh no we should want to the key is love it's made possible by love we should love Jesus so much that we don't want to sin that's the point and that's the key here we should love Jesus more than whatever that go-to is right so we see this picture told you we were going to come back to it with the devil tempting Jesus he tempted him with some typical go-to's if you look at it carefully things that seemed like a blessing Jesus was refining himself he's fasting fasting is a very good Christian practice something we should all be doing drastic praying and here comes the devil hey what's up you hungry bet you are you know if you're and there's The Compound thing here he's hungry well if you're the Son of God make some bread appealing to his ego again the ego two more times a lot of people don't understand this the Devil he's the ruler of this world that's what it says clearly so here's the thing just I'll give you dominion over this you're gonna be the king of this world be short-sighted Jesus right if you if you worship me no worship God Alone I'm going with Matthew or Luke's count so he's appealing to his ego jump off if you're the Son of God jump off but you won't even Dash your foot against the stones what I said right ego you do whatever you want you're Jesus you can do anything you want and there will be no consequences really oh don't put God to the test scripture also says so you see what the devil's doing and a lot of people are praying on Christians today they're saying first John 1 8-10 stop stop that's what the devil does but Jesus says scriptures also say and then what do we see first John 2 First John 3 we have to arm ourselves with the word of God against these deceivers because they can lead you into a trap so why you have to know the word Jesus put God over the go-to and here's the thing about the go-to's the go-to and Jesus sees this right they're temporary it's temporary my kingdom is not of this world he says later Focus there no no no no it's temporary it's shallow and in our lives the go-to's they come with baggage they come with drama they come with regret they come with shame they're not good full of empty promises weighing us down here's the thing you may have been introduced to Jesus you may have met Jesus but the question scriptures ask is are you in a committed relationship with Jesus that's the key there's a really big difference there's a really big difference between dating and putting a ring on it isn't there some people like Jesus is looking for commitment I gotta lighten it up I was getting really heavy for a long time the regulars are like usually breaks that up with a joke yeah when we don't commit here's the thing let's be real let's just be real when we don't commit what are we doing it's like that we're leaving the door open for something better that's what we're doing that's the truth I see these engagements so funny as a pastor like cracks me up how long have you been engaged like seven years what you're gonna be like what is going on I I some man in the audience today is like I hate this guy we're never coming back but it's true I gotta call you out right like we had a courtship we dated for it was like two years something like that she's like you don't remember so I got myself in trouble it's okay and you put a ring on it right like you're like yeah it's beautiful I want to be with her I want anyone else to get her all right spend too much money on the ring but her mom helped anyway so dating right so let's let's go back to dating think about it so those of you who are dated you're going to totally get this hopefully uh you you learned this lesson but for like the younger people there I'm going to teach you something else right so aside from the Bible we're going to learn something here so if you're on a date like maybe you're on a date you can remember dating right and it seems to be going well and it's a Saturday and so the person you're dating you're on a date like this is going really well but that's it so here's the thing this is this is the Pastoral lesson for you guys after the word but that's everything else the person really wanted to say the first line was a setup for that that's it they don't really mean that so it's going well but I think we should just hang out on the weekends you know what that means so here's how you answer that question this is how I give kids the answer to the questions if you're young you're going to you hear that nonsense here's what you say through the weekends who's got the Monday through Friday shift that's what that means yeah and so that's the thing they're telling you right away that they are really committed to someone else or something else they could be like a workaholic what it really means is at that point you know you are not going to be a priority you're not a priority you're the weekend thing or fling that's it get out they're not committing to you now some people do this with Jesus right so they might have found Jesus and then they might have told them hey Jesus this is awesome I'm glad I met you can we just hang out on the weekends and they thought right he was cool with that like you shouldn't be cool with someone abusive like that but he's got to be cool with that look he's not if you heard that that wasn't Jesus he doesn't say that so I do little memes sometimes are funny to me but look here's one look let's just hang out on the weekends said Jesus never I go there so yeah all right so if you heard that again not Jesus Jesus wants all of you all of you but this happens some find Jesus and they just like it's cool if I just hang out with him on the weekends really okay now here's the thing here's a disclaimer somebody like this is my first time in church this guy's crazy right so look it's a good start that's what Sunday is all about it's a good start but I'm not talking about church is not like your entire relationship with Jesus where we come together as the body of Christ but when we're apart we operate as a body of Christ there's nothing I'm talking about you have to come to church we're not open every day so we don't do the service every day all right just start so I want to be encouraging to you guys but we shouldn't hang there we should be developing our relationship right we should want to commit if we love Jesus we'll want to hang out with them all the time that's how it gets you know people who really love Jesus because almost like you're bothering them sometimes in their prayer life and they're reading their Bible you're bothering I'm having a really interesting conversation with Jesus right now but then Jesus says go love that person please yes okay the more we develop a heart for Him this is the key we're not going to want to sin all right you should have that picture of what he did for you you didn't have any of those no remember what he did for you put that right here why do you want to go sin now developing a relationship means spending time together and so here's the thing preparing your heart means clearing the calendar so this is the first applicable just simple step how clear the calendar for Jesus that's all it's simple one little thing at a time now here's the thing you may have said I don't have time I don't have time for a relationship I'm too busy here's a true statement It's Gonna Hurt we make time for things that are important to us that is a true statement we make time you may have said I don't have time for a relationship with Jesus okay but here's the other one gonna sting you had time for the go-to's you had time for the go-to's right so if we go up in the healing you had time for the chocolate another Talk of the sin right so like oh is he saying I can't eat chocolate it's not a case of chocolate right so that's bad right you got time for the wine yes you can drink wine but just am I a lot you got time for that if you had time for the cigarette still doing that it's the 2000s cut it out it's enough right that is bad we're destroying the temple of God but you had time for that and they're really expensive now I stopped when they were like two dollars a pack or something like that and you get them out of the machine that goes remember those anyway memories maybe you had time to look at something you weren't supposed to be looking at takes time doesn't it we need to make Jesus part of our lives in those places we need to replace those things with Jesus so as we close I'm going to give some encouragement and some practical steps we're going to continue we're going to kind of go into more of the house but this is really the beginning and if you'd stopped here you'd probably be doing all right because it's about loving Jesus really loving it again the dating analogy right when you got together you don't want to date anybody else that's how you know he didn't want to be with anyone else except my wife was like that's that I know not a problem there's no open door for anything else that's it you're great right like I can't do any better than that so it was logical too you know so so here's the thing building relationships so this is what we're going to just focus on a spending time together is a key to building relationships when I know distance makes the heart grow fonder right but when you go too long you grow apart we don't want to do that with Jesus not good the other thing is what we're going to get to listening that's important relationship but I don't know if you guys did this when you were dating it was kind of funny because you know we're living together we're dating stuff and so we're on the phone right and you're talking on the phone talking talking it's hours and it's late we're getting tired like no you hang up you ever do that one no you hang up no you hang up knew you hang up and then like like you're hours later but see we wanted to listen to one another or talk to one another well huh Jesus no you hang up why aren't we like that that's how you get to know a person and so it's about listening and that begins so clear the calendar right so take one of the go-to's or something and then when you normally do the go-to do Jesus there like put Jesus in that spot that's what you do that's it simple how it's like listen come back when you want to do this how Breezy five minutes I think something is give it to Jesus this is your time Lord that's it now I'm going to invite you into something practical it's going to be kind of funny at first especially if you've been in this church for a long time it seemed like a kind of contradicted myself especially if you've been here on a staff level but I'll explain this to you so here's what we're gonna do I'm going to give everyone in this room and everyone online my phone number you're going to get this is my cell phone number okay so there's put it on the screen that's right and I had everybody check it this morning so I was like oh man if I type that in wrong that would be really funny look at this game everybody in the church the wrong number and I was like why didn't I do that perfect anyway so here's the thing this is not a stunt and I've seen this done as a stunt we're like at a certain point we had a lot more pastors on staff before I like started preaching the whole Bible and then people ran away so there are more pastors on staff and then we had some Pastor do this and we were all like on staff and I know we're like oh gosh oh no no like he's showing off you know what I mean like now I have to give my number I'm just a worship leader at the time I'm like are you kidding me and we hated this guy for a little while it was tough to love your neighbor I was like I don't know if I can love this guy at all he just put me like threw me under the bus like everything it was a stunt you know this is not a stunt I want you to hear that I'm not doing this and if you're in leadership here you do not have to give out because that's what you guys are doing like I do not want to give up no right this is me but did you notice the guard rails did you notice that Monday through Friday 7-7 all right it's a lot of hours it's a big window right so there you go that's my number but here's here's the purpose and those of you who know me real well you're on this list and every morning right about seven o'clock you get a text from me and it's a Proverbs devote that's what these people in the church get Proverbs devotional right it's not the whole project I want you to go open your Bible and read the proverb it's not a lot of text but you get the little Devo based on it and there's a little real for the kids you know that like a 60-second real you can just watch it about that topic and it's a way of getting you in the word right so if you text me at that number between seven and seven right so here's the real truth at seven PM my phone goes off so it doesn't matter go ahead and text me anytime you want I'll get it 7 am I send me the Proverbs Debo cool good and I'll send it to you it's not a long read doesn't take a long time here's the other thing and I and I'm not going to say who said this first time Jacqueline but anyway they told me that I thought it was a computer program this is like a computer program and I know this is true I was like it's just this one person no it's not because you ever go like shopping online right you could do that as a Christian it's okay so you shop online and then here's what you get like if you give us your phone number you can text for 10 off your next order something like that right so you put your number in and then what do you do immediately stop like that you all capital letters like no someone actually did that to me I sent it in the morning as I knew they were hungover I sent it in the morning and what came back stop I was like you know like you are still drunk so it's me like I'm actually texting I do copy and paste but I text it to you it's an open door it's a relationship building thing this is my office door opening up it's an efficient way for you to just maybe you need prayer about something maybe you need to talk to me maybe you want to schedule time and talk on the phone all of that like I'm here for you I'm here for you all right now so on the seven to seven thing real quick because this has just got to be said when I said there's the fact some people say oh my gosh what if I have an emergency what if I have an emergency I'm like you know how many times I have been called after 7 00 p.m and it's like actually an emergency never okay like it's usually you're drunk like that's what it is that's because you started drinking and I don't want to talk to you when you're drinking I just don't like so go to sleep that's usually what if I actually accidentally picked up go to bed that's what you're going to hear I'm gonna hang up the phone right because it's not a good idea you're going to say things and it's you're not going to remember right so that's the thing but there are two things that you can do if you can't get in touch with me here's one nine one one if it's an actual emergency they are far better equipped like Deputy Johnson is going to get there quickly right and he's going to have a taser which is really awesome in which I I wish I had if I had to talk to you at eight o'clock I'm gonna go to bed so so anyway 9-1-1 they are equipped in the emergencies there's somebody else not just going for it getting fired today so there's somebody else right how about this God he's better equipped than even Deputy Johnson God go talk to God this is what's going on here he is far better equipped than any of us what do we learn from John preparing the way now you go there I'm just like a relationship facilitator I like make the introduction I want to help you with the training wheels but eventually we got to get those training wheels off you have to go on your own you have to rely on God not me this is the thing as we closed we are not the Savior here and you could be doing this in other relationships so many stories including my wives they finally got on their knees and took it to the Lord when no one else was enabling them that so many people have a savior complex you're not the savior in the story got news for you I'm not your savior don't come to me go to God I give you some advice along the way but I'm not your savior that's it I'm showing you where to go scripture is not even me too many people pastors included they have a savior complex Pride that's why you're picking up the phone and too many people get in the way too many people the worst thing you can do is make yourself the go-to great we don't want to do that my job like John is to prepare a way for the Lord I'll help you out while you need the training wheels we can even take them off and I'll be like this but eventually what oh you're good now right that's my job I'm just here him him I'm not I'm not the Messiah I'm not Elijah not Jesus that's Jesus you go there we need to be less dependent on the go-to's more dependent on God and so it all comes down to this relationship we should depend on every word that comes from the mouth of God not men so here's the thing as we move upward in Christ we do so by turning away from those things cutting ties replacing them with a good relationship with Jesus they're weighing us down anyway ultimately we will be freed from them when we cut those ties and enter into right relationship with Jesus so we can experience fullness of Christ and all that he has to offer that love that joy that peace that patience that goodness that only comes from Jesus amen amen we pray for you Lord and thank you for this church everyone in the sound of my voice whether they tune on a line or they're here I thank them for coming and taking the time to be here to kind of tune out the world a little bit Lord we thank you for your word I just pray to build each and every one of these individuals up by the power of your Holy Spirit build them up and encourage them to come into relationship with you ask these things in Jesus name amen