Closer | Persistent Vs Poisonous Prayer | Pastor Earl McClellan

ALWAYS PRAY AND NEVER GIVE UP. This is one of those messages that will leave you encouraged, challenged, filled with faith, more passionate to pray fervently and expectant to see God do a miracle. Lean in, take notes, KEEP PRAYING.

Are you ready to step into all God has called you to be through our Christ-Like Leader Pathway? There are so many ways to start, and we're here to walk with you every step of the way.

-CLICK HERE TO SERVE: https://www.shorelinecity.church/join

-CLICK HERE TO GET IN COMMUNITY: https://www.shorelinecity.church/connectgroups 

-CLICK HERE TO LIVE GENEROUSLY: https://www.shorelinecity.church/give

JESUS FIRST: We’ve been praying for you! If you made the decision to put Jesus first, text “JESUS” to 73000.

PRAYER: We believe there isn’t anything too small or too big to bring to God. It would be our honor to pray with you. Text “PRAYER” to 73000

STAY CONNECTED
Website: https://www.shorelinecity.church/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shorelinecity/
Facebook:   / shorelinecity  
Pastor Earl:   / earlmcclellan  
Pastor Oneka:   / onekamcclellan  

#ShorelineCity

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Really, really excited what God has uh in store. Today I'm doing something I don't think I've ever done here at Shoreline City. First time I've ever done this, uh felt a couple of different messages come to my heart. Uh so depending on what service you are in will depend on what sir which message you get. So uh we'll see which one we're gonna go with right now, okay? But if you have your Bibles, open up with me to Luke chapter 18. They're both in Luke 18, so that's good. What we're gonna do with our YouTube uh later, either today or to be by Monday, is we're gonna string uh the messages together. Uh so whatever one you missed, you'll be able to uh you'll be able to hear that one. Luke chapter 18. As you're turning there, I didn't see Ben Campbell here. Is Ben here and Kate? Are they here? Hey, they just got engaged. Give it up for Ben and Kate just getting engaged. Congratulations, guys. Kate's so sweet, too. So sweet. Ben's sweet too. Ben, Ben, you're kind. But we already like her more than you. And I said that the first day I met her. Excited about today, Luke, chapter 18. And somebody turned 21 as well. Did anybody in here turn 21? Yes, indeed. Sierra just turned 21 on Friday. Did you get drunk? Okay. Because we would not be celebrating you if you did. We'd love you, but we would not be celebrating that. No, she's a woman of God. Luke chapter 18. Okay, back to your Bibles. Luke chapter 18, verse number one. It says, Then Jesus told his disciples the parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said, In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, grant me justice against my adversary. For some time he refused, but finally he said to himself, Even though I don't fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice so that she won't eventually come and attack me. Verse number six. And the Lord said, Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night. Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? If you're taking notes, uh this message is titled Closer Persistent Prayer. Closer Persistent Prayer. Um this text is beautiful. Jesus is not yet to Jerusalem. He's on his way. He talks about that a little bit later in the text. He's walking with his disciples and begins to share this parable. Why do I bring up Jerusalem? It's because in Jerusalem, that's when we will celebrate Palm Sunday. That'll be next week. When he comes in riding on a donkey, and all the people take out these palm branches and they begin to lay them on the ground. And they say, Hosanna uh in the highest, uh, and and Jesus is coming in on Palm Sunday. He's not quite there yet. So I was praying and trying to figure out what was Jesus doing right before Palm Sunday happened. And this is one of the conversations that he has. We're not sure of the exact day, uh, we don't know the exact hour, but we know this is while he is on his way to Jerusalem. This at the end of this chapter, he tells his disciples that he's going to die and that he'll be raised again on the third day. They do not understand or comprehend what he is saying. They're trying to figure out what, bro, what are you talking about here? You're the Messiah, you're the one we've been waiting for, you're the one that's going to make everything right. Uh none of this dying talk, this doesn't make any sense to us. Why would you die when you're supposed to be here to rule and reign? They didn't understand the kingdom that Jesus was trying to bring in, that Jesus was going to lay down his life for the sins of all of humanity, and this is how he would become king when he was raised from the dead. But here they are on this walk, and Jesus, the greatest leader that has ever lived. If I was telling you that Warren Buffett will be here today to talk to you about investing, or that LeBron James or Steph Curry, rather, was here to talk to you about shooting, or fill in the blank, or whoever your favorite person is in the industry that you are in, and they were up on the platform, your ears would be tuned in. And what I'm telling you is the greatest leader that has ever walked the face of the earth, we have his words in this book written to us. What would this leader be teaching us today? And he says, I'm gonna give him a parable. This parable is gonna be for a very specific reason. Some parables you have to try to figure out, okay, what is the reason for this parable, not this one. The gospel writer Luke tells us this parable is to tell these hearers and everyone after them that they should always pray and not give up. You don't have to read between the lines, you don't have to have a PhD to get this one. Just to have to have ears to hear. That the reason for this parable is that you should always pray and not give up. Not sometimes pray, but always pray and not give up. And it's not just the praying that matters, it's also the not giving up that matters. And it's not just the not giving up that matters, it's also the praying that matters. Because some of us have the grit to not give up, but we're trying to do everything in our own strength and we don't bring prayer in on it. And others of us are praying prayers, but we're throwing them up like they're wishes, and once something doesn't happen the way we want it to happen, we stop before the miracle ever comes to life. We know how to pray, but we have not yet learned how to not give up. And Jesus here is teaching these very two important things. You need to know how to pray, and you need to know how to not give up. That I'm going to give you this parable to give you a direction and a purpose and a focus for those who are my followers. This is a gift I want to give you. This is the way my kingdom works. It functions like this. It functions with disciples who know how to always pray, and disciples who also know how to not give up. Now, I did not ask my son for permission. He's in the room right now. My middle son, Grayson, who I love so much. Grayson, can I please have permission to share this story? You give me a thumbs up? He didn't give me a thumbs up. Oh, there it is. Okay. It's a good story. Good story. Our son Grayson is a large human being, okay? I love this about him. Uh, when he was a baby, we called him the Dallas Destroyer, okay? He just could grab anything and just kind of pull it over. I mean, he just was one of those big kids, you know. And now that he's growing up, we keep seeing seeing him get bigger and bigger and bigger. And I get this has nothing to do with his manhood. I told my kids, I don't care how tall you are, I'd rather you be a good man rather than you have a certain height, okay? So I'm I'm not I'm not, you know, putting on him that he's better because he's bigger or taller. I'm just saying this is the reality. This is a large human being. His feet are very large. They're about as wide as they are long, okay? Now I I wear a size 13, and Grayson is right about there. He's 15, and he's right about uh to that 13, and he definitely needs them because his feet, I mean, they they they're not fitting in a 10 or an 11 because they're so wide. And and we hear him. This is him in the house, Grayson. Can you please stop stomping? Dad, I'm not stomping. This is how I walk. Grayson, have you ever thought about sliding? Can you go through the house like this, Grayson? Could you just instead of stomping, can you just I'll get your socks, Grayson, just so you could you can slide through. So he he's got these large feet. And um, so Onique and I and Nana, my mom, are on our way to one of his track meets, and he tells us that he's running the 800. Now, some of y'all have no idea what that means. Some of you are track people, and you go, that's a long time to run. That's what I thought. That's a long time to run. This is not a sprinting race, this is a distance race. And he tells us he's running the 800. And I go, Well, are you sure? He said, Yeah, yeah, yeah. My coach said this is the one I should run. I go, Oh boy, your coach must not like you. That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that. I don't say I'm thinking it. So he we're there in the stands, and as a parent, it's terrible being at track meets, okay? I mean, we love our kids, we don't love all these other kids. And your your kid runs for 10 seconds, 20 seconds, a minute, or whatever, and then you have to sit and wait for their next event. It's a it's a bad experience as a parent. Uh, but but again, you you love your kids, so we're there, we're ready to cheer them on. It the the gun goes off. Grayson's at the starting block, he takes off. Y'all, he is flying. Boom, boom, boom, boom. I'm watching, I'm like, this is not gonna go good. He you can't keep up that pace. So he's 30 yards ahead of everybody else, and then he kicks in. Them feet start getting heavy, and Grayson is just, I mean, he's just Onika is dying laughing, okay. She, there are tea. I have the video, there are tears streaming down her face. I don't know if Grayson knows that part. She's laughing so hard. We cannot believe it. He's he's giving it his all. People are now lapping him, okay? They are lapping him, but you know what Grayson's doing? Y'all, it's four laps. We're only one lap in. Your boys just he goes around one, two, three, four. He's the last one by I don't know, a minute and a half. But your boy came across that finish line and we were yelling for him the entire time. When I feel like I want to give up, this is one of the pictures that I have in my mind that I think Jesus is trying to tell us. I want you to always pray, but I also do not want you giving up. Even if everybody else is laughing, you, even if everybody else got their healing, and everybody else got the husband, everybody else got the wife, everybody else got the promotion, everyone else got the miracle, and you're still just then you'll go ahead and do that all the way to the finish line. Jesus when I meet you face to face, it will be me having to put one foot in front of the other every single day, saying I'm trusting you. I am needing this type of faith to rise up on the inside of us because too many of us as followers of Jesus are praying prayers one time and quitting. I prayed for a year, it didn't happen. I'm done. We live in a day where people actually will post. I was praying for this and it didn't happen, so now I'm done with God and I'm done with church. And then everybody's in the chat, oh sweetie. I'm so sorry. And we're just we're just babying everybody. Oh, I'm sorry that it happened for you. You know what? I wish sometimes the old saints could could come back and tell uh look at us in the face and be like, fool, you know how many things we prayed for and how long we prayed for them, and you know how long breakthrough actually takes? Do you know how long you need to be on your knees? Do you know at some point in time your back might hurt and your knees might hurt, and the tears might be, they may have made a rot in your face because you cried so many tears, but you don't stop Jesus told us, don't give up.

SPEAKER_03 14:29

I want to church, I always pray. I won't give up. Do you think the world is just gonna let the kingdom of God show up?

SPEAKER_02 14:40

It's gonna take some people of fake. They're gonna say, God, I trust you, no matter what it is. I'm behind this woman, it looks like, but I'm gonna keep on moving forward. Always pray and not give up. Always pray and not give up, always pray and not give up. We're not gonna be soft Christians. We're not gonna be the generation that people look back 15, 20, maybe a hundred years from now. Should Jesus tarry and go, man, man, those guys, they had access to more Bibles, more preaching, more podcasts, more church services than any other generation before them, and they lived weaker and faithless than any other generation. That will not be our testimony. We're gonna be men and women that keep on trusting God who always pray and don't give up. So don't don't dumb down your Christianity to being God better do things on my time frame, that God better do things when I tell him to do something. There is no genie in a bottle. He is not Sentecost, He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the creator of the ends of the earth, and this God of ours is inviting us into a journey and a story that will grow us and develop us to be the men and women we've been called to be. Go with me. Uh we're gonna come back to this parable in a second. Go with me to 1 Kings. Go with me to 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter 18. I don't have these verses on the screen either. I'm forcing you to bring your Bible. 1 Kings chapter 18. Let's start in verse number 41. I love hearing the sound of the Bibles turn, the pages in the Bible turn. 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 41, and Elijah said to Ahab, go eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain. Look at me for a second. They have been in a drought for years. Uh some three years, uh, maybe a little bit longer. There's been no rain. Drought. Desert. Parched. No rain at all. If you read a little bit earlier in this chapter, in chapter 18, you'll see that there's a very powerful confrontation that takes place between Elijah, who represents Yahweh, he's on God's side, and the prophets of Baal that represent the culture and the demons and the lies of the day, and they clash here. And Elijah says, whose ever God shows up by fire, that's the real God. You can read it, it's it's it's pretty powerful. But after that confrontation is happening, and God shows up and reveals himself by fire, and the whole altar is is burned up, and and the prophets of Baal are dealt with, then Elijah says to King Ahab, I need you to go ahead and get ready because there's the sound of rain. There's a sound of rain. Now at this point in time, and we're gonna see this in a second, there's not a cloud in the sky. There's been no drops from heaven, there's no dew on the ground. There is nothing that says it's about to rain. But Elijah looks at Ahab and he says, I hear a sound. Now, as I read this, I need you to kind of step into the text a little bit more with me, and I want to help elevate our understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Because some of us, as a follower of Jesus, we think everything we see is all there is. So our Christianity right now is based off of our sight. But the Bible teaches us that we actually walk by faith and not by sight. So there are some times that what you see is different than what you hear. I'm not just talking about physical ears. I'm talking about spiritual ears. I'm talking that there are some times that you know your kid, your best friend, your spouse, your job. It's it's off. Things have gone the wrong direction. And you know you can see that. But you hear something else. You hear something else. You hear something not here. In your spirit. You hear something else. Some people will say, oh, this is my gut, right? That's how we talk in our day. My gut's telling me. I just got a feeling. Okay, okay, for followers of Jesus, let me help you understand that the Holy Spirit will speak here. Before you ever see it, here. So He says to Ahab, before he sees anything, I hear something. I hear rain. I hear rain. I hear rain. I don't see rain, but I hear rain. I don't see it, but I hear it. Do you hear that? You ever uh we just went to go see the movie Hoppers the other day? Um you can see it if you want to. It's got kind of crazy at the end, but it's fun. But the animals in the movie, they step up and their ears, they're trying to cover their ears because they can hear something that's that's ringing so loud, but the other person who's a human can't hear it. But the animals can hear it because they put something on a frequency that only the animals could hear. And there are some times that you're with your family and everybody. Is freaking out, but you're hearing something different than what everybody else is hearing. And it doesn't make you better. It just means you're tuned in to another frequency because there's a sound that's coming from heaven that's saying there's a miracle that can actually happen here, even though it looks absolutely impossible. I hear the sound of rain. I hear the sound of rain. So keep on following with me. Follow with me here. So Ahab, verse 42, I'm in chapter of 1 Kings 18, verse number 42. So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of karma, bent down to the ground, and put his face between his knees. You see him now in the posture of prayer. Now, verse 43. Go and look toward the sea, he told a servant. And he went up and looked. There is nothing there, he said. Okay, look at me. There's nothing there. You ever go to your Chase Bank account? You're looking. There's nothing there. There are some times you're looking at your marriage. There's nothing there. Looking at your your your mental health and you're wanting things to be turned around, there's nothing there. I've sent out 15, 25, 35 resumes. I'm checking my inbox. There's nothing there. Elijah sends him back. Look, look, I want you to read it. Seven times Elijah said, go back. First time. Hey, uh, I checked it out. There's nothing, Elijah. Go back.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Go back a second time. Elijah, check. There's nothing. Go a third time. No, no, I just told you. I just I just went. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go again. Imagine you're the servant. And someone's telling you to go look for something that you know is not there, and you have already gone one, two, three times. At some point in time, you're like. Hey, Elijah, you know, because you know what I mean, we just had that fire from heaven thing, so I want to be honoring of you, but just so you know, I've already gone the check multiple times. You're over here with your head between your knees. I'm looking. There's nothing. Now, here's what's interesting about him having his head between his knees. That in uh Elijah's day, this was the birthing position for women. So now Elijah is in this spot with his head between his knees, and he's telling his servant to go look for something that the servant knows is not there. But Elijah, in this point in time, as he's in prayer, is birthing something. I said he's birthing something, but you can't see it yet. He knows something's coming, and he's here praying and he's telling his servant to go look. I like the partnership here. I like that Elijah is doing his part and that the servant is doing his part. I like that some husbands are on their knees and some wives are the ones going to look. I like that some wives are on their knees and some husbands are going to look. I like that there's some single people on their knees and their roommate is going to look, or their sister, or their brother is going to look. I like that the connect group leader is on their knees and the people in the connect group are going to look. It requires everyone to do their part. But if everybody is willing to do their part and you don't get off of your knees too early, and you're willing to keep on to you know you're willing to keep looking even before you see it, then in a moment something can change, and it might be so small. The prop the servant comes back one time and he says, I see something. But it's small. It's small. I see something, but it's not that big. You mentioned it was gonna rain a lot. What I'm seeing doesn't match with what you said, but something is different. What did you see? The seventh time, this is verse 44. The servant, oh man, I gotta hustle, reported. A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea. So Elijah said, Go go and tell Ahab, hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you. Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling, and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. Here you see that while Elijah is praying, it was not just one time of prayer, it was not just two times the prayer, it was not just three times the prayer. It made it all the way to the number of completion. He had to keep at it even though he did not see the miracle that he heard in his heart. He had to keep at it to do not grow weary and putting down the same prayer request on that prayer card, even though things have not turned around yet. You're saying, God, I trust you, I trust you, I trust you, and it's been a year, it's been two years, it's been five years, it's been seven years, it's been fifteen years, but you're able to do exceedingly abundantly above all I can ask, think, or even imagine. I'll keep my head down and I'll keep on trusting you. And you gotta have some people in your life that'll remind you. Jesus is looking for this from his followers. He's looking for followers who will always pray and not give up. Go with back meeting, Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. Give me a second, Cam. Give me a second, give me a second, Cam. Luke chapter 18. Look, look. Verse number two. In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea grant me justice against my adversary. Okay. Um this parable is not saying God is like the unjust judge. The parable, the story is actually what's powerful, it's the contrast. Here's what the unjust judge is like. God's not like that at all. He's totally different. So that's what Jesus is trying to do here. So don't read that and kind of get it twisted that God's some unjust judge who's reluctant to take care of and help his people. That's actually the exact opposite of what Jesus is trying to communicate. He's saying, You see this unjust judge? God's not like that. God's like this kind, compassionate, gracious, loving, will move on your behalf. That's what God is like. And then when we're reading this, we read widow and we just kind of read through it. Because in our day, widow simply means um someone who lost their husband. That's all it means. In our brain, if she lost her husband, then maybe her husband, you know, left her the estate. Or maybe he had life insurance and and and she's taken care of. Even though we would be sad for her emotionally, we would not think about many other uh financial or cultural ramifications in her life. That's in our day. We can't read the text just like we're reading it in our day. You gotta read it like it's in Christ's day. So when Jesus says widow, they would all know, oh, widow in Jesus' day, vulnerable and powerless. When the husband died, if there was a son, then the son is the one that got the property, not the wife. If there was no son, if the husband who died had a brother, the property would go to that brother, not to the widow. And then that brother would either marry or take care of the widow. But if there was no one, that widow did not get the property. Many times she'd have to run back to her father's house or she'd be left begging. So in Jesus' day, when he says there was a widow, he is saying this is someone that has no leverage, no influence, no connections. The only thing she has is she's persistent. The Bible then goes on to tell us that the judge goes, uh, she might come and attack me if I don't turn around. Um other translations put it, she might she would weary me. One commentator uh talks about that word, and it's a metaphor that will be used in boxing. Like a boxer would bruise his opponent. So it carries with it the idea that the woman is jabbing. Judge, hey, you think I'm not going any place? I'ma stay here. I'ma stay here. I'm getting body blows, but I'm staying here, Judge. I'm staying here. So she keeps on punching over and over and over and over and over and over and over. And there are some times that this is what it feels like as a follower of Jesus, that you keep on asking God for the same thing over and over and over and over. But the text here is telling us this widow did not have any other rights other than she was willing to keep at it over and over and over and over and over, and because she was willing to keep at it, the unjust judge says, Oh my goodness, I've gotta do something on her behalf. Now compare that to the good and kind and gracious and loving father, he will quickly come. I gotta palm with the word quickly, because man, God's idea of quickly and my idea of quickly, they seem to be very different. Quickly in my mind is Lord, may I please? Yes. That's quickly. I ask for it tonight, I get it in the morning. Thank you, Lord. You're faithful. I'll follow you all the days of my life. And it can be kind of tricky sometimes because sometimes when you first start living for Jesus, it seems like your prayers get answered that fast. Maybe just in that time, God's just trying to teach you that He's a loving father that you can trust. You don't take a baby and force them to cry and cry and cry and cry. You feed the child. But as that child grows up, you go, hey, you're fine. I'm cooking right now. You're fine. I don't have to give you a snack. You know it's coming. I've been taking care of you for seven years. Chill. I've been taking care of you for 15 years. Chill, why are you acting like I haven't fed you your whole life? Why are so many of us acting like God has not been feeding us our entire lives? All these temper tantrums. All this, I'm gonna quit if God, if you don't, whoa, time out. You're 28 years old, and you've been through all the hell you've been through, and God has brought you through all of that, and now you're gonna try to give God an ultimatum.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

I'm cooking. Let him cook.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

I'm making something for you right now. I'm putting some things in order. The text ends with this, and this will be our last verse. We'll be all done. When the son of man comes, this is verse number eight, the end of verse number eight. However, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? God's got his part, expect he'll be faithful to it. The question is, will you be faithful to yours? When I come, accept, will I find faith? Will I find trust? It's okay to have questions, it's okay for your heart to be heavy, it's okay to be confused. It's okay to be like, God, are you sure? I think all that's okay. You can read that in the Psalms. They're utterly confused at times, and all that stuff is still in the Bible, so God's not trying to scrub our emotions and scrub us, scrub our thinking. No, but in the midst of all of that, will I find faith? And this is what you're invited into. You get the one, you are the one that chooses. Will you respond to the goodness and the grace and the character of God with faith or by running another direction? And don't try to put that on somebody else. That has nothing to do with how your parents treated you, has nothing to do with how the church has treated you. It does not have everything to do with those things, those are real body blows, whoo! Body blows, but we're not going to give them the power to take away our faith because they were faithless. Jesus, you have been good and you have been merciful, and you have forgiven me. So with a heart of gratitude, I trust you, even through tears at times. Luke chapter 18. If you have your Bibles, you can turn there with me. Luke chapter 18, beginning in verse number nine. Love hearing all the pages of the Bibles turn. If you didn't bring your Bible, we're gonna have some of the verses on the screen, but not all of them. Luke chapter 18, beginning in verse number 9, it says to some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else. Jesus told this parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, God, I thank you that I am not like other people. Robbers, evildoers, adulterers, people that cheer for the ravens. I got a Raven's jersey in the second row right now. No, I love you so much, Jackson. Or even like this tax collector, I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Verse 14 I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. If you are taking notes, uh the title of uh today's message is Closer Poisonous Prayer. Closer poisonous prayer. Not all parables we know kind of right off the bat what it's about. Some we just know right off the bat. And Jesus here, at least the gospel writer Luke tells us why Jesus shares his parable. He shares it because there are some people who are confident in their own righteousness and they look down on everybody else. Do you have any family members like this? You have anybody in your world who is very confident in their own righteousness, and they look down on everybody else. We're gonna walk through this here. I was praying and trying to figure out what was happening before Palm Sunday. Uh next Sunday, Palm Sunday, the Sunday after that is Easter. Uh we call it Palm Sunday. This is when Jesus is coming into Jerusalem, and they take the palm branches and they're waving them and laying them down and they're crying out, Hosanna. That's Palm Sunday. I was trying to figure out what happened the Sunday before. Now we don't know for sure that this happened on the Sunday before, uh or exactly when in the week, uh, but the gospel writer here, even at the end of Luke 18, gives us an indicator uh that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. And as he is on his way, he is giving some really valuable insight. He's giving uh this teaching, he's giving perspective, he is he is trying to open up people's eyes and minds to understanding what does real righteousness and a real connection with God look like. In Jesus' day, there were plenty of religious people. Now, there are plenty of people who were not religious at all, but there are plenty of people who were very religious, and religious people can be some of the worst people on the planet. Amen. They can be crabby, rude, mean. Uh by religious, I'm not just saying like they have a relationship with God. By religious, I mean like they uh they just kind of think because they do everything right, that now they're right with God. And they feel sometimes this conviction to convince everybody else how bad you are and how good they are. And it's fascinating when somebody is really, really, really, really religious and they're really yelling at everybody else for their sins, they usually are yelling at people about the sins that they don't struggle with. It's more convenient. So let me pick your problem, and I want to make sure that's the biggest problem on the planet. My problem, God understands. He knows my heart. And we'll say things like that. But in Jesus' day, it it's religious, there's religious people uh everywhere. Um, but in our day, it's kind of changing a little bit. There was a day you were growing up, like most people went in America anyway, most people kind of went to church. They kind of had like at least some type of a rhythm where they were like, yeah, I believe in God and I'm kind of doing this God thing. Nowadays, when you tell people you're going to church, they'll be like, Some of your friends are like, Really? I haven't been to church in years. Wait, you go all the time? Yeah, I go all the time. I go once a month. And that has become all the time. In our day and age, you're like at the top of the food chain when it comes to like religious practice. When you're someone that is consistently coming to church one, two times a week, let alone three, four, four times in a year. No, in a month, you go to church four times in one month. Now, in our day, you ask most people, hey, um, are you a good person? And they say, Yeah. I'm a good person. And I'm like, well, well, how are you judging if you're good? Like, are you good enough to get into heaven? I think so. Because I'm a good person. Well, if it's heaven and hell, wouldn't you want to like really be sure? Not kind of like, I think I'm good enough. Don't you want to be like, you can have this a hundred percent? And most people are like, well, God knows my heart, and I haven't killed anybody, right? That's a standard. So I'll he know my heart. I haven't killed anybody. I'm kind of a good person. So I think I'm good. I I think I'm good. You ever read that heard that fairy tale? Uh it's by uh Hans Anderson, Hans Christian Anderson, uh, the Emperor's New Clothes. You ever heard of this? There's so many different adaptations uh to this, but it was written in the 1800s. And and here is the gist of it. The gist of it is there is this emperor, and he loves fancy clothes. Loves them, okay? He is into his fit. His fits go hard every single time he steps out. Steps out, boom, something new, something fancy, something nice. Well, he hires two guys that he thinks are designers. He thinks they're elite designers from this fantastic fashion house. They're the best of the best, is what he thinks. He doesn't know they're con men. These con men are now working for him. He thinks they're designers from this best fashion house, but they know they're not. So they tell the king, we're going to they tell the emperor, we're gonna make something for you that is so incredibly spectacular. Matter of fact, this is these are magic clothes. They're so magic that you can only see them if you're smart and competent. But if you're a fool, if you're incompetent, you can't see the clothes. This is what they tell the king. So then they go to their room and they start making these magic clothes. The problem is, there are no magic clothes. They're fake clothes. Matter of fact, there are no clothes at all. So they come out of their room and they go, King, do you see what we made? But there's nothing there. They're lying to the king. King, this robe was made just for you. King, can you see it? And the king, the emperor, doesn't want to think that he's an idiot. So he goes, Oh my goodness. I've never seen a robe like this. That robe, oh my, that robe was made just for me. And everybody who's around them, they don't want to look like an idiot. So they go, oh my, whoa, whoa, look at the colors. No, the two con men know. There's nothing there, okay? We're lying to you, but they're going along with it too. Oh, this, yeah. Do you look at the thread? Look at the thread. Touch it, touch it. Oh my gosh. I've never touched a thread like this. This looks amazing, it feels amazing, it's made for me. King, you're gonna have to parade yourself through your kingdom. Emperor, let everyone know. Emperor, go ahead, take those clothes off, put these clothes on, and let the kingdom know that you are the man. And he goes into his room, takes off his real clothes, puts on these magic clothes that are invisible clothes, that are fake clothes that he thinks he can see, but he really can't see because there's really no clothes there. And he comes out and now he is parading down the street naked. Okay? Letting everybody know, look at my outfit. And everyone, they don't want to look like an idiot, so they start going, ooh, wow, amazing. And then a little kid speaks up and goes, uh, he's naked. No, that's not exactly how Hans puts it, but he declares there's nothing there. He's not wearing anything, and I'm concerned that in our day and age we are putting on some fake cloak of righteousness, tricking ourselves. I'm good, I go to church, uh, I'm nice to my grandmother, uh, uh, I did good in school, uh, I'm kind to people, uh, I even gave something at the Salvation Army, or I gave a little something at church, or or maybe even I'm serving at church. I'm plugged in. Matter of fact, I tithe. Matter of fact, I give. Matter of fact, I'm in a group. Matter of fact, I'm doing all of these things for God, and all of these things are making me right with God. And little do you and I know that not tithing and not giving and not serving and not helping little old ladies across the street or anything that can actually make you right with God. You are only made right with God by the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and there's nothing you and I can do to add to that finished work. Don't believe the life. First, I want to talk to those who are not really saved right now. You're hearing me, you go to church, but you're not really saved. You have not yet given your heart and your life to Jesus. You have like a form of godliness, but you're denying the power. You're not like Jesus, I've given you my everything. Church is kind of like a little bit of an add-on. And I'm so, so glad you're here. So glad that you're watching, but you're tricking yourself a little bit into thinking I've just got more time, I'll just get serious with God later. And I want to tell you, stop putting it off and stop trying to trick yourself into thinking that you're somehow in some quasi relationship. Are you dating or you're not? Are you married or you're not? Are you gonna put a ring on it or are you not? And I can tell you that the finished cross and the empty grave is Jesus saying I do, and now he's looking at you, saying, Are you actually gonna go all in in your relationship with me? Or are you gonna play games and act like you're wearing something that you're not really wearing? Stop. Stop it with lying to ourselves, stop it with the playing games, stop it with God. You know my heart. Yes, he knows our heart, and our heart is deceitfully wicked above all else, and that's what he knows about our heart. That's why he sent his one and only son to say you don't have to stay in your own righteousness. I've got a way for you to come out of that and to come to new life in Jesus. So I don't care where you are if you graduated from Bible college. I've known plenty of people that were in Bible college, but they're living for themselves. They're living selfish lives, they're living egotistical lives, they're living a life about their own righteousness. I don't care what school you went to. I want to know have you surrendered the authority of your life to Jesus Christ and you're following him who's the way, the truth, and the life. No more playing games. No more playing games, no more just tiptoeing, trying to convince everybody that we're dressed, we're naked. Naked. Not wearing anything. You know how many people are so talented, and some people that sometimes they can sing or speak or lead, and you even feel something that feels like anointing, but they're not living their lives for Jesus. I stopped being impressed with people's talents a long time ago. I stopped being impressed with individuals that could move a room. I'm not trying to move a room. That's right, uh I want to see people's hearts actually get captured by the majesty and the beauty who Jesus is, and they actually live their lives for his glory, not doing one thing up front and another thing behind the scenes. There are these people that Jesus is talking to, and they're thinking that their righteousness is at such a high level, and Jesus going, you're missing it. You're missing it. You're missing it. So for some of us, I need to reshape our understanding of righteousness because you keep thinking it's about what you do and how you act and what music you listen to and what what what where you go and where you don't go. And yes, I'm all for all of these exterior things that need to come in alignment with us, reflecting the glory of God. Yes, but do not think it starts on the outside and goes inside. It starts on the inside and it goes to the outside. That's the gospel message. So we got a generation of people thinking, I'm dressed, I'm good. And I just am here to submit to you. If your righteousness is based off of your own works and your own actions, you're not good. That's not enough. I got confirmed as a kid. I got baptized. Hey, hey. Let's be real here. Let's be real. Are you actually living your life for Jesus? Let's be real here. Let's talk. Some of y'all you're like, I'm not coming back to this church. I'm okay with that. I want you to come back. I love you. I want you to come back, but I don't preach till you come back. I want to preach till you're alive. And not dead. What good does it do to have you here and still just naked? Blind. Thinking I'm good because I did X, Y, and Z. And God's like, son, daughter, I love you so much. Stop playing games. No, no, that's one group. Now, some of y'all, you are like passionately following Jesus Christ, and I just want you to know I'm really, really proud of you. Great job, great job, great job. And you we can just sometimes when we start following Jesus Christ passionately, we start kind of getting this relationship with Jesus that we think uh it's like a quid pro quo. I do this, you do this, we good. Fist bone. Okay, Jesus, I'm not gonna sleep around, and you're gonna bless me with a husband. We good here, Lord. It's it's kind of the idea. Hey, if if if I behave right, then my kids will always act right. We good, Lord? Great. It's kind of saying, God, you owe me. You owe me. Because look at what I've been doing. Look at how faithful I've been. Look at my consistency. I'm consistent, Lord. Matter of fact, then we start judging ourselves against our friends. Well, look at them. Ratchet. You nasty. You nasty too. Lord, look at me. Look how pure I am, Lord. Look how I'm doing everything right. So you better heal me when I ask to be healed. You better answer the prayers when I ask when I pray the prayers. You better open the doors when I ask for the doors to be open. You need to do all this stuff for me, God, because I work for you. Let me show you this verse. It's not gonna be on the screen. Go with me to uh Romans. Go with me to Romans. After this, we're gonna go to Isaiah. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. Go with me with me with Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4. Okay, look at this one. Romans chapter 4, verse number 4. Y'all still with me? Romans chapter 4, verse number 4. It says now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation. Let's pause. Okay. When you work at your job and you get your automatic deposit, yes, we can be thankful and we ought to be thankful. But that's not a gift. I work for this. I showed up early. I stay late, especially all who are in sales. You're only eating what you kill. So when that bonus check comes in, or they're trying to change the bonus structure right before your bonus is about to hit, and you're like, hey, time out, company. Don't try to change that structure right now. Go ahead and pay your boy. Then you can do the changes that you want to make. But don't try to change them now because I have worked. And because I worked, I'm owed. I work, you pay. I work, you pay. I work, you pay. If I'm on salary, I don't work, you still pay. You can fire me if you want to. But I'm gonna try to get away with that as long as I can. I work, you pay. I work, you pay. I stop working, you fire me. And this is how some of us are seeing a relationship with God. I work, he pays. I work, he pays. I work, he pays. And once I stop going to church, or I stop doing the right thing, or I stop tithing, or I stop serving, then he's gonna fire me. No wonder the body of Christ is so jacked up. People walking around like the theology's all off. It's not biblical. We're taking the world system, applying it to God's kingdom system. And the scripture here says it makes sense. No one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. Verse number five. However, verse number five of Romans chapter four, however, to the one who does not work, but trust God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. Y'all, this is good. I'm just telling you. This is good right here. Not my preaching. This right here will set you free. Get out of the mindset. I'm doing some song and dance and tap dancing for God and trying to entertain him until Jesus comes back. And I'm just gonna try to make God not mad at me. You better get off of that stage and understand that you are a son and a daughter of Almighty God. And to the one who believes and has faith, you got something credited to your account and you didn't even do a thing for it. We have we have uh green light, uh, these little debit cards. Maybe you've seen them. Parents probably have seen them. Um maybe a little pop-up happen on your on your computer screen at some point in time. But green light are these debit cards you get to teach your kids how to handle money. And you, uh, as a parent can put money on their card. And then they have their debit card, and you know, they can have have the app and they can see, like, oh, I'm saving for this, and I'm investing here. And so it's a great little tool uh to have. And there are some times I was talking with Grayson, and I was like, hey Grayson, because he he works, he he he homeschools, but he also works uh throughout the week. So from 12 to 4, he works and O'Neek and I. We pay him, you know, uh, and and you know, make sure he's taken care of. But one day I was like, hey Grayson, uh, I put some money in your account more than what you have worked. I know you worked 20 hours this week, but I put money in your account that's based on you working way more hours than that. How much money is it, Dad? I told him a number. I gave him hundreds of dollars.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:09

Really, Dad?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:11

Really? Why? I love you. What do I have to do to keep earning this? You can't. I gave this because I love you. Well, Dad, uh, I I want to keep getting this. No, no, I don't want you dare to now start trying to work more to try to get this type of blessing. I'm giving this just because you're my son. Go ahead and get those Nintendo Switch bucks or whatever it is. Go get your Fortnite, whatever it is. Go ahead and get yourself a pair of new J Tithes first, but go ahead and get whatever you need to get. But I'm giving this to you because I'm your father and you're my son. That's why you're getting this. And this right here, when you're really religious, we don't like it. Because now I don't control it. God's grace is the champion in this, and not my words. And when you're not the champion, and you're not the star of the story, are you still willing to be on the team if you're not the leading scorer and the captain? Because on this team, Jesus, there's one person scoring 40, getting 25 rebounds, 17 assists, every single game. And you and I are giving them water. But when we win the game, we're all winning this game. But he's the one that gets the glory for it. Let me give you another picture. I gotta get back to I'm gonna show you this verse in Isaiah real quick, then we're gonna get back to Luke 18. Okay, go with me to Isaiah. Isaiah 64. Again, I don't have these on the screen, so you're gonna have to flip. Flip on your phone. Isaiah 64. Verse number six. Isaiah 64, verse number six. If you're not sure where Isaiah is in your Bible, kind of open it up to the center, it'll probably be right about there. Isaiah 64, 6, it says, All of us have become like one who is unclean. And all our righteous acts. Are like filthy racks. Okay, we're gonna stop right there. All of our righteous acts are like filthy racks. What God is saying here is even when you're doing the right thing compared to my holiness and my perfection, it doesn't even touch me. You can't touch this. That's how pure, holy, other, set apart God is. All of our righteous actions. Or it's filthy rags. Now, it says filthy rags here. Can I um I'm not trying to be crude here, but the original language, it would actually read read more like menstrual rags. That's how the original language would read. I'm not gonna do that because I want to make everybody uncomfortable, okay? I told you what it says. Now let me use something that'd be make us a little bit more comfortable. Um parents who have changed your kids dirty diaper. These things are nasty, right? You never knew something so holy and so beautiful could create something so ungodly. This is how you know sinners in the world. When you see a little one-year-old, and they're like, ah, then you smell, you're like, and you gotta go get into that diaper, and you're like, wow, that's a demon. A demon just came out of my child, and a demon is in this diaper. Wow. Now, what we try to do is we take them and we put them in. Uh, we used to have, honey, what's it called? The diaper genie? We had the do we have to still have diaper genies? I asked Eric about this because he's still got little kids. Uh, so we we're out we're out of the diaper phase. Thank you, Lord God Almighty. So so in this diaper genie, we would just, you know, you put the diapers in there, put the diapers in there, then you close it, and they kind of kind of start falling in this little contraption. And we would go to what it was my job to you know clean out the diaper genie. I was also on the you know the diaper duty as well. I'm involved, dad. I was in there, you know, doing my part for sure. Um, but but to come get the diaper genie, I think I was most times I was going to get it. So you lift up this little lid and you go, uh you you cut off the piece of plastic, and many times inside of the diaper genie, you could already see gnats growing inside of it. Now, some of y'all like, girl, get off of this. Please get to the next verse. I'm all done here, okay? I got I got it. I got it, I got it, I got it. That's why I make sure you do. Okay. Our righteous acts are just like that bag. And all the stuff sitting in there. You and I cannot earn what Jesus Christ has done for us. It is a free gift that comes by faith in his finished work. Now go with me back to Luke 18. Give me a second, Cameron. Give me a second. Go back to Luke 18. Okay. So verse number nine, it says to some who are confident of their own righteousness, hopefully we're not anymore. I'm not confident in my own righteousness. No, I'm confident that I have been made righteous. This is different. Follow me for a quick second. I'm not confident in my own righteousness, but I'm confident I have been made righteous. Because if, as a follower of Jesus, you're not confident that you have been made righteous, you'll keep thinking you can earn your way. Please understand there is nothing that you can do and nothing that you cannot do that can undo what God has done on your behalf. That is the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So he says this. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. Once Jesus says this in this day, they would recognize Pharisee. This is like the holy of holy kind of God. This is the perfect kind of guy. This is the guy that does everything right, the tax collector. This is the guy that all of us hate. We cannot stand. This is the guy that's a thief. This is the guy that we look we talk about behind his back. This is the guy that does everything wrong. This is a picture of good and bad. This is the picture of who is really lifted up in society and who is really put down in society. And now Jesus is comparing and contrasting. And he says, the Pharisee comes to the temple and the tax sucker. They both come to the temple. And when the Pharisee gets there, he stands by himself and he says, God, I'm the man.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:04

I'm the man. I do it right.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:11

Yeah, I do. I do it right. I know my Bible. Yeah. I listen to elevation worship. Yeah. I fast, I give, I do all of these things. God looks at him. God's like, man, you think I want your stuff? I want your soul. And attack is over here. And this is this is what I want to tap into. I want to tap into some of y'all who have been followers of Jesus for a long time, but you've lost this love. And you've lost this humility. And you've lost this surrender that we see right here. And you're even hearing me speak right now, and it's going in one ear and out another. Because your heart has gotten cold and your ears have gotten plugged up, and you've gotten so comfortable in your walk with God that you have lost this level of passion that this tax collector has right here when he is in there and he will not even lift his eyes up to God. He mattered fact, he keeps his eyes down and he begins to beat his breast and he says, God have mercy on me. A sinner, God have mercy on me, a sinner, God have mercy on me. A sinner, God have mercy on me, a sinner, God have mercy on me, a sinner, and I do not want to be so saved. I don't want to be so professional as a Christian that I have lost sight of those times when God saved me from the very beginning. I do not want to lose sight of the fact that without his grace and without his mercy, I would be lost. I do not want to lose sight of the fact that if he did not reach out his arm, then I would still be lost. I do not want to lose sight of the fact that the grace of God has been pursuing me my entire life. And it came to my mother and my pastor and other people that pray for me and other aunts and uncles. I do not want to lose sight of the fact that God keeps on reaching me. I didn't even want to cut in my back on him. I do not want to lose sight of the fact that every busting I have in my life right now. And my wife came from him, and my kids came from him.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:37

From Almighty God, God, I thank you. You found me. You found me. You found me. You found me when I was running away. You found me.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:07

Come on, first second, just thank God that he found you. Come on, thank God that he found you. I know your marriage is struggling right now, but thank God that he found you. I know you're single longer than you wanted to be, but thank God that he found you. His mercy, his mercy, his mercy, his mercy found you.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:32

And he's there. And he won't even look up. He can't even look up. He can't even look up.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:52

And Jesus says the guy who did it all right, his prayer was poisonous. It was whack. It wasn't even right. All the stuff he's doing, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:10

But somebody over here who decided to humble themselves, I'm gonna exalt them. And even though everybody else has talked bad about him and everybody has else has counted him or her out, I'm gonna exalt them. I'm gonna exalt them. Thank you, God. You can be seated. I'm gonna shut my mouth. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna be done. Have mercy on me.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:42

Have mercy on me. I don't deserve it. Have mercy on me. You know how many times I looked at porn, have mercy on me. You know how many times I've been jealous, have mercy on me. How many times I've argued and complained about things I shouldn't be arguing and complaining about, but still you keep on having mercy on me. How many times I've hurt people that I love have mercy on me. You know how many times I've known to do the right thing, but I didn't do the right thing, have mercy on me. You know the marriage that I'm in right now, and it's it sucks because I made it suck. Have mercy on me, oh God. Have mercy, have mercy, and God hears that prayer and he leans in, and it sounds like the song of a dove. And I don't even know if doves sing. I know they cry. Come on, Prince. He hears it. He hears that. He's like, I can I can do something with that. I can do something with that. Yeah, give that to me. I can do something with that. I can do something with that honesty. I can do something with that vulnerability. Take off your mask. Stop pretending. I know exactly who you are, and I love you. You don't have to do all this for all the people. You're naked. Let me clothe you in my righteousness. Let me clothe you in the garments that can only come from heaven. And they only come by faith. The finished work of Jesus Christ. This is what we're invited into. This is the story of the gospel. This is how I want us walking. And then from there, yeah, we'll live lives that will reflect his goodness and his love. And for sure. And we'll do things out of that. But we're not doing things to become righteous. Those things don't make us right. He made us right. Bow your heads if you wouldn't mind. We thank you, God, for your mercy. Thank you for your mercy. Mercy is I deserved it, the punishment, but I didn't get it. Mercy. Mercy is I made the mistake, but you covered me. That's mercy. Mercy is I've been messing up, but you keep on pursuing me anyway. That's mercy. Thank you, Lord. I pray your grace and your love would capture every single heart. And you would draw every one of us closer to you. And I pray, even in the midst of all of this, that we would see you as father, because even the prayer of the tax collector wasn't exactly right. His heart was, but the words weren't quite right. Expect because you're our father. And you love us. And you're drawing us close.

unknown 1:19:30

Expect.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:31

So we say, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Our Father who art in heaven. Our Father who art in heaven. Our loving Father who are in heaven. Our gracious Father who art in heaven. Holy is your name. As your heads are bowed just for a moment longer, if you have under the sound of my voice and you've never given your heart in your life to Jesus Christ, you've never made him first, you never made him number one. But you're under the sound of my voice, you're saying, I don't want to go my own way anymore. I want to go the way of Jesus. I don't want to be first. I want Jesus Christ to be first. If that's you, you've never given your heart to Jesus, or at one point in time you didn't, you slipped away. And today you're saying, I don't want to go my own way, I want to go his way. On the count of three, I want you to do something simple but bold. I just want you to throw your hands in the air, whether you're online or you're in the room, you're saying, Yes, that's me. I want to give my heart and my life to Jesus Christ. Ready? One, two, three. Just throw your hand up, you're saying, yep, that's me. This is beautiful. We got friends all over. You're saying, yeah, that's me. I want to give my heart and my life to Jesus Christ. I want to make them first. Friends online in this room, you're saying, Yeah, that's me. That's me. That's me. I don't want to go my own way anymore. I want to go his way. I'm gonna ask everyone to do me a favor, put your hand over your heart if you would not mind. I want everyone to repeat this prayer after me. Say, dear Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of all my sins. I admit I've made mistakes. And today I give you my heart, I give you my life. Give me the power to live for you in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Can we lift our heads up, clap our hands, come on with joy? Come on, like your family member gave their heart to Jesus.