WEBVTT 00:00:07.809 --> 00:00:10.169 Thank you for listening to this message from 00:00:10.169 --> 00:00:17.750 Lifehouse Church. Thank you for being in the 00:00:17.750 --> 00:00:20.730 house. I want to say one thing. I love that this 00:00:20.730 --> 00:00:22.910 is Rise Sunday. Before I get into the message 00:00:22.910 --> 00:00:27.469 and what God has for the day, some of you may 00:00:27.469 --> 00:00:29.949 not know I used to be a youth pastor. So praying 00:00:29.949 --> 00:00:32.090 over the youth is a big deal to me and praying 00:00:32.090 --> 00:00:34.460 over the kids of this church. And I, you know, 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:36.640 as I was up there praying, I was thinking something, 00:00:36.659 --> 00:00:38.039 you know, so many times we pray for protection. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:41.100 We should, we pray for God's blessing, but I 00:00:41.100 --> 00:00:43.560 pray that God makes them the head and not the 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:46.579 tail. Amen. So if I can get you to challenge 00:00:46.579 --> 00:00:48.159 you to something as you pray for those students, 00:00:48.340 --> 00:00:50.759 I want you to pray over them and just ask God 00:00:50.759 --> 00:00:52.619 to make them the head, not the tail. Here's what 00:00:52.619 --> 00:00:54.460 I believe about young people that follow Jesus. 00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:56.799 I believe they're blessed and highly favored. 00:00:56.979 --> 00:00:58.960 I believe that God goes before them and makes 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:01.539 a way. I believe that God goes and raises them 00:01:01.539 --> 00:01:04.920 up in their generation. So I want to pray that 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:06.500 way, and I want you to join with me that way. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.659 I cannot tell you how much it means for adults 00:01:10.659 --> 00:01:13.180 to be praying over the students in this church 00:01:13.180 --> 00:01:15.890 and speaking over them. over them. I remember 00:01:15.890 --> 00:01:18.810 when I was a kid in church, I remember people 00:01:18.810 --> 00:01:21.709 coming and speaking over my life. They recognized 00:01:21.709 --> 00:01:24.450 the gift of God in my life. They recognized what 00:01:24.450 --> 00:01:26.450 God was doing. So if you get the opportunity 00:01:26.450 --> 00:01:29.189 and you see, you know, if you catch a kid, I 00:01:29.189 --> 00:01:30.930 know we all catch kids doing the wrong thing. 00:01:30.989 --> 00:01:32.790 When you catch them doing the right thing, speak 00:01:32.790 --> 00:01:35.689 over them, amen? Speak into them, raise them 00:01:35.689 --> 00:01:38.049 up, all right? That's our job as parents, grandparents, 00:01:38.409 --> 00:01:40.530 you know, just all along the way. And I appreciate 00:01:40.530 --> 00:01:43.189 that so much. You all do that beautifully. Just 00:01:43.189 --> 00:01:46.359 keep doing it and do it. even more. Amen? Amen. 00:01:46.439 --> 00:01:47.879 I got that all out. That was my youth pastor 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:50.159 side of things. All right. Let's pray. What I 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:51.700 want to do, if you would, just one more time, 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:53.299 extend your hand. I will even let you stay seated. 00:01:53.620 --> 00:01:54.859 Extend your hand this way. We're going to pray 00:01:54.859 --> 00:01:56.900 over these invitations this morning. We don't 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:58.959 ever want to fail to do that. These are invitations 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:01.319 for people to come into the kingdom of God, to 00:02:01.319 --> 00:02:03.459 know God. So that's represented by the green 00:02:03.459 --> 00:02:05.400 balls and the orange ones are those who have 00:02:05.400 --> 00:02:07.739 accepted. So Lord, we thank you for this day. 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:09.560 God, I thank you for each person, God, that's 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:12.280 represented by these invitations. Lord, we're 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:15.419 believing God for an influx of people into the 00:02:15.419 --> 00:02:16.620 kingdom of God. kingdom of God, that for the 00:02:16.620 --> 00:02:19.080 kingdom of God to expand. Lord, we pray over 00:02:19.080 --> 00:02:21.740 every invitation. We pray over every need, every 00:02:21.740 --> 00:02:24.120 person. And Lord, we're just asking, Lord, that 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:26.479 God, that the light of Jesus would shine in their 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:28.099 hearts. And Lord, they would make commitment 00:02:28.099 --> 00:02:30.259 to follow you. And we thank you in Jesus' name. 00:02:30.500 --> 00:02:34.319 Everybody say it together. Amen. Amen. Amen. 00:02:34.500 --> 00:02:36.900 Well, thank you for all that. Man, that was my 00:02:36.900 --> 00:02:38.580 mini -sermon before the sermon. This is going 00:02:38.580 --> 00:02:40.919 to be a good day. All right. Well, believe it 00:02:40.919 --> 00:02:44.319 or not, believe it or not, you decided what to 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:50.060 do today about 2 ,000 times every waking hour. 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:53.020 So when you got up this morning, you made at 00:02:53.020 --> 00:02:56.900 least a couple thousand decisions of what you're 00:02:56.900 --> 00:02:59.020 going to do. How many of you, that makes you 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:00.780 tired right now just thinking about it, right? 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:04.379 In the littlest things, in the biggest things 00:03:04.379 --> 00:03:08.909 in life, you've made about 2 ,000 decisions in 00:03:08.909 --> 00:03:11.969 your waking hour. 2 ,000 times you thought, what 00:03:11.969 --> 00:03:15.050 in the world am I going to do today? And you 00:03:15.050 --> 00:03:17.650 might have been decisions on the way to church. 00:03:17.729 --> 00:03:19.090 You might have thought about, do I turn my head 00:03:19.090 --> 00:03:21.629 left or do I turn my head right? That's a simple 00:03:21.629 --> 00:03:23.569 decision. Do I look up? Do I look down? Do I 00:03:23.569 --> 00:03:25.870 look forward? What do I do? You've made a decision 00:03:25.870 --> 00:03:27.509 about what you ate for breakfast or what you 00:03:27.509 --> 00:03:29.389 did not eat for breakfast. You probably made 00:03:29.389 --> 00:03:31.270 a decision if you went to the cafe this morning. 00:03:31.389 --> 00:03:33.810 What flavor am I going to get? How many squirts 00:03:33.810 --> 00:03:35.610 of flavoring am I going to get in my coffee? 00:03:35.949 --> 00:03:37.349 Am I going to put half and half in my coffee 00:03:37.349 --> 00:03:38.930 or am I not going to put half and half? Do I 00:03:38.930 --> 00:03:41.349 get it hot? Do I get it cold? We do it all here, 00:03:41.389 --> 00:03:45.189 by the way. All right. Relationships. You might 00:03:45.189 --> 00:03:47.270 have been thinking about what do I do about a 00:03:47.270 --> 00:03:49.409 relationship? What do I do about finances? What 00:03:49.409 --> 00:03:52.430 do I do about my car? Come on. You can name it, 00:03:52.469 --> 00:03:55.889 right? Anything. It's been a busy morning for 00:03:55.889 --> 00:03:57.050 you. Turn to somebody beside you and tell them 00:03:57.050 --> 00:03:59.110 you look tired. Come on. You look tired. You've 00:03:59.110 --> 00:04:01.770 got a lot of decisions to make today. Right? 00:04:01.969 --> 00:04:04.879 You've made a lot of decisions today. What to 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:09.939 do. Thousands of times we make decisions on what 00:04:09.939 --> 00:04:14.240 to do. What to do. What to do. On the road of 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:17.759 life. And it changes as you go. And the journey 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:22.339 and the destination itself will depend on what 00:04:22.339 --> 00:04:26.579 you do. The decisions that you make. And in one 00:04:26.579 --> 00:04:29.379 of the most important moments. of interaction 00:04:29.379 --> 00:04:33.220 between Jesus and the 12 disciples. He says something 00:04:33.220 --> 00:04:37.759 so profoundly impactful that has to do with what 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:40.120 do I do? So if you got your Bibles this morning, 00:04:40.220 --> 00:04:41.879 we're going to be jumping around a little bit. 00:04:41.899 --> 00:04:43.060 You want to get your Bibles, we're going to be 00:04:43.060 --> 00:04:45.720 in the New Testament. Go to Matthew chapter 28. 00:04:46.060 --> 00:04:49.269 We're going to start off at verse 18. And it 00:04:49.269 --> 00:04:51.329 says this, very familiar piece of scripture. 00:04:51.610 --> 00:04:53.290 If you've been in church any length of time, 00:04:53.350 --> 00:04:55.370 you've heard this, you can maybe quote it. And 00:04:55.370 --> 00:04:58.110 Jesus came and said to them, all authority in 00:04:58.110 --> 00:05:00.370 heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go 00:05:00.370 --> 00:05:02.389 therefore and make disciples of all nations, 00:05:02.430 --> 00:05:04.709 baptizing them in the name of the Father and 00:05:04.709 --> 00:05:07.790 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them 00:05:07.790 --> 00:05:10.370 to observe all things that I have commanded you. 00:05:10.470 --> 00:05:14.089 And behold, I am with you always to the end of 00:05:14.089 --> 00:05:17.079 the age. It's the Great Commission. It's what 00:05:17.079 --> 00:05:19.579 Jesus said to his disciples before he was about 00:05:19.579 --> 00:05:22.100 to leave. And he tells them to go do three things, 00:05:22.279 --> 00:05:24.860 right? It's a commission to us, followers of 00:05:24.860 --> 00:05:26.899 Jesus Christ. He said, first of all, go make 00:05:26.899 --> 00:05:30.600 disciples of all nations. Go make other Jesus 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:33.459 followers. You just prayed over invitations. 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:35.879 This is an invitation to come into the kingdom 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:39.980 of God, to follow Jesus. So our job, right after 00:05:39.980 --> 00:05:42.639 we get saved, our job in our job description 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:46.339 is to go make disciples. Go find people. Bring 00:05:46.339 --> 00:05:48.879 them into the kingdom of God. Then he said, baptize 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:50.319 them in the name of the Father, the Son, and 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:52.620 the Holy Spirit. If you've been here for a baptism 00:05:52.620 --> 00:05:55.920 Sunday, we baptize. We believe in immersion baptism. 00:05:56.199 --> 00:05:59.000 So we put them down. We make sure they're baptized, 00:05:59.420 --> 00:06:01.180 right? We put them under the water the whole 00:06:01.180 --> 00:06:03.839 way. I haven't held anybody too long yet. I'm 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:06.879 thinking about it, right? But we baptize them 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:08.759 in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:11.279 Spirit. We do that. That's what the Word of God 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:14.259 says. We tell them about what water baptism means, 00:06:14.379 --> 00:06:16.899 how that's a representation. We even talk about 00:06:16.899 --> 00:06:19.800 baptism in the Holy Spirit. But then Jesus said, 00:06:19.899 --> 00:06:23.079 teach them to do everything that I commanded 00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:26.439 you, right? Teach them that. Teach everybody 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:30.959 that comes into the kingdom what to do. It's 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:33.579 mandated. This is what he told us to do. Teach 00:06:33.579 --> 00:06:36.120 them what I said to do. Teach them how to act. 00:06:36.300 --> 00:06:38.259 Teach them what they should put their energy 00:06:38.259 --> 00:06:41.019 to, right? Teach them what really counts in this 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:43.379 life and what doesn't really count in this life. 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:45.300 The Word of God will tell you that. Teach them 00:06:45.300 --> 00:06:47.899 what is sinful and what's not sinful. Teach them 00:06:47.899 --> 00:06:51.600 how we should act in the kingdom of God even 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:54.079 though we're in the kingdom of man. Teach them 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:58.079 that. Teach them what to do. And in John 10 .10, 00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:00.339 and you can jump there if you want to, in John 00:07:00.339 --> 00:07:04.740 10 .10, Jesus gives a summary reason, right, 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:09.199 why this is so important, why he said what to 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:13.519 do. He says this. Again, another very quoted 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:16.339 piece of Scripture. For the thief comes to steal, 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:21.000 kill, and destroy. I came, this is Jesus talking, 00:07:21.060 --> 00:07:25.560 I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 00:07:28.540 --> 00:07:32.740 Jesus spoke. What we do makes the difference 00:07:32.740 --> 00:07:36.660 between having abundant life and not such an 00:07:36.660 --> 00:07:39.439 abundant life. It really does. Say it out loud 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:41.500 with me. They're going to put it up on the screen. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:44.560 There's abundant life if I do what Jesus says 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:48.379 to do. Ready? There's abundant life if I do what 00:07:48.379 --> 00:07:50.639 Jesus said to do. Let me say it again. Some of 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:52.319 you don't believe it yet. There's abundant life 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:56.209 even if I do or if I do what Jesus said. to do. 00:07:56.730 --> 00:08:00.870 There's abundant life if I do what Jesus says 00:08:00.870 --> 00:08:05.629 to do. There's abundant life if I don't do what 00:08:05.629 --> 00:08:10.610 Jesus says don't do. Amen? And the lack of abundant 00:08:10.610 --> 00:08:14.670 life, even death, is when I ignore what Jesus 00:08:14.670 --> 00:08:19.050 said to do. It's true. If I'm ignoring what Jesus 00:08:19.050 --> 00:08:22.470 said to do or not do, I When I do that, when 00:08:22.470 --> 00:08:24.949 I ignore what Jesus said to do or what he said 00:08:24.949 --> 00:08:28.310 don't do, I kick the door open. If we go back 00:08:28.310 --> 00:08:30.769 to that scripture in John 10 .10, I kick the 00:08:30.769 --> 00:08:33.309 door open for the thief to come in to steal, 00:08:33.549 --> 00:08:37.629 to kill, and destroy my life. It's true. It's 00:08:37.629 --> 00:08:39.289 true. I'm going to prove it to you by the end 00:08:39.289 --> 00:08:41.389 of today. If you don't believe it yet, you will 00:08:41.389 --> 00:08:44.049 as you take a look at scripture. And you might 00:08:44.049 --> 00:08:47.330 be like, well, how does this all work? It is 00:08:47.330 --> 00:08:50.230 my obedience to Christ's command that protect 00:08:50.230 --> 00:08:53.370 me. from the enemy's hand. And I did not try 00:08:53.370 --> 00:08:55.990 to rhyme that on purpose, all right? It worked 00:08:55.990 --> 00:08:58.590 out that way. It is the obedience to Christ's 00:08:58.590 --> 00:09:02.450 command that protects me from the enemy's hand. 00:09:03.009 --> 00:09:08.169 It is what we do that Jesus says to do that keeps 00:09:08.169 --> 00:09:11.690 me from the enemy. I say this all the time when 00:09:11.690 --> 00:09:14.909 I get into... premarital sessions, or sometimes 00:09:14.909 --> 00:09:18.529 even marital sessions with individuals, I'll 00:09:18.529 --> 00:09:20.850 tell them, listen, do what Jesus said to do about 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:23.330 marriage. And sometimes couples are living together, 00:09:23.470 --> 00:09:26.629 right? And there's two sides to that whole thing. 00:09:26.730 --> 00:09:28.929 When couples are living together, there's a side 00:09:28.929 --> 00:09:30.750 that they could be involved in premarital sex, 00:09:30.970 --> 00:09:33.370 and we can talk about sin on that side. But then 00:09:33.370 --> 00:09:35.870 I come over to this side, and I say, look, why? 00:09:36.429 --> 00:09:38.809 Why are you doing this? Because here's the thing. 00:09:38.909 --> 00:09:41.169 If you do what Jesus said to do in a relationship 00:09:41.169 --> 00:09:43.450 between a man and a woman, You come into covenant 00:09:43.450 --> 00:09:46.350 relationship, it's blessed. It says that in the 00:09:46.350 --> 00:09:48.149 Word of God. I can show you that in the Word 00:09:48.149 --> 00:09:50.509 of God. It's already blessed. Anything that Jesus 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:53.690 says, anything that God's Word says that we're 00:09:53.690 --> 00:09:56.929 supposed to do, and we launch into what we're 00:09:56.929 --> 00:09:59.309 supposed to do, do you know it's already blessed? 00:10:00.129 --> 00:10:01.950 Half the time, you don't even have to pray about 00:10:01.950 --> 00:10:03.370 it. I'm going to shorten your prayer life a little 00:10:03.370 --> 00:10:07.059 bit. If you're doing what God said to do, it 00:10:07.059 --> 00:10:10.399 is already blessed because it is his word. It 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:13.720 is what he spoke. It is what he commanded. So 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:17.039 all I have to do is step into what he says to 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:19.299 do. So sometimes when I get these couples, I'm 00:10:19.299 --> 00:10:21.500 like, hey, you don't want to stay outside of 00:10:21.500 --> 00:10:23.960 God's blessing. You want to walk in God's blessing. 00:10:24.059 --> 00:10:27.259 And his blessing is do what he said to do. And 00:10:27.259 --> 00:10:31.710 this is where we do what God says to do. what 00:10:31.710 --> 00:10:34.789 his word says, what his direction is, right? 00:10:35.690 --> 00:10:39.970 Move on that thing. Do that thing. Step into 00:10:39.970 --> 00:10:43.769 it because there's blessing attached. The blessing's 00:10:43.769 --> 00:10:46.850 attached to it. There's life there. There's favor 00:10:46.850 --> 00:10:51.129 there. We ward off the enemy and we walk in the 00:10:51.129 --> 00:10:55.070 abundant life when we walk in obedience. Sometimes 00:10:55.070 --> 00:10:58.750 this is what happened. Sometimes Christians... 00:10:59.740 --> 00:11:02.840 Jesus followers, right? They feel like they're 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:04.799 not living in the abundant life, and sometimes 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:07.940 it's because in their head they're following 00:11:07.940 --> 00:11:10.419 Jesus, right? They think Jesus is a great idea. 00:11:10.679 --> 00:11:13.700 They may have even said a prayer at some point 00:11:13.700 --> 00:11:16.220 in time. They kind of think in their heart they're 00:11:16.220 --> 00:11:17.620 committed to follow Jesus, but they don't really 00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:21.200 do what God says to do. So in their head, they 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:23.200 say they're following Jesus, but they don't really 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:25.080 follow what the word of God says to do in their 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:27.899 lives. And they end up, instead of experiencing 00:11:27.899 --> 00:11:30.940 abundant life and what abundant life should be 00:11:30.940 --> 00:11:33.139 in their lives, what they end up experiencing 00:11:33.139 --> 00:11:36.080 is this waffling back and forth. James talks 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:37.960 about this a little bit. I won't go into all 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:40.960 that in the book of James. But they experience 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:43.799 this going back and forth and it's back and forth. 00:11:43.980 --> 00:11:45.879 And they experience the enemy kind of kicking 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:48.039 in the door in their lives. And they're wondering 00:11:48.039 --> 00:11:50.330 why. The enemy's hitting them on every side. 00:11:50.450 --> 00:11:52.149 And it's because they're not walking in the blessing 00:11:52.149 --> 00:11:54.129 of God. They're not walking in the commandments 00:11:54.129 --> 00:11:56.029 of God. They're not walking. And so in their 00:11:56.029 --> 00:11:58.429 head, they're like, man, I follow Jesus. And 00:11:58.429 --> 00:12:00.029 in their lives, they're not following him at 00:12:00.029 --> 00:12:01.690 all, right? They're not following anything he 00:12:01.690 --> 00:12:05.110 said to do. And all this mess comes in and they 00:12:05.110 --> 00:12:08.090 just get confused and they get waffled back and 00:12:08.090 --> 00:12:11.269 forth. I've seen it a thousand times. See, when 00:12:11.269 --> 00:12:14.590 talking about God's blessing, his spiritual blessing 00:12:14.590 --> 00:12:18.480 is not spiritual pixie dust, okay? It's not. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:21.100 It's not spiritual pixie dust. God's blessing 00:12:21.100 --> 00:12:24.759 is a result of you getting underneath and involved 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:28.659 in and stepping into what he says to do. It's 00:12:28.659 --> 00:12:30.500 where you're going to find God's blessing. It's 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:32.559 that last thing. Now, am I saying that God's 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:34.659 presence doesn't ever overshadow you? Absolutely 00:12:34.659 --> 00:12:37.120 he does. But let me tell you when that happens, 00:12:37.179 --> 00:12:40.480 when you start. When you start walking with him, 00:12:40.580 --> 00:12:43.019 I didn't say perfection, I said walking with 00:12:43.019 --> 00:12:45.500 him. You start walking with an obedient heart, 00:12:45.639 --> 00:12:48.340 God begins to overshadow you. The blessing of 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:50.580 God comes and the presence of God comes with 00:12:50.580 --> 00:12:54.279 all that. It's all tied together. We never get 00:12:54.279 --> 00:12:57.080 to the abundant life in Jesus if we're locked 00:12:57.080 --> 00:13:01.059 down into doing what I want to do and not what 00:13:01.059 --> 00:13:04.740 God wants to do. We can't hop on the train of 00:13:04.740 --> 00:13:08.120 God's grace. and jump off the train of God's 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:11.379 obedience, right? Or obedience to God. So many 00:13:11.379 --> 00:13:12.700 times we do that. I want to jump on the train 00:13:12.700 --> 00:13:15.860 of grace, the grace of God. I want to take that 00:13:15.860 --> 00:13:18.080 all in, but I jump off the train of obedience. 00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:20.120 Man, I'm not getting many amens. Charlie got 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:28.080 at least one, all right? Listen, we got to jump 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:30.820 into this. We got to follow him. Abundant life 00:13:30.820 --> 00:13:35.679 in Jesus is God's grace. It's salvation by faith 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:40.360 in God, plus doing what he said. That's how we 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:43.519 get to abundant life. It's true. Thank you. Even 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:47.500 if that was a pity, amen. I'll take it. We love 00:13:47.500 --> 00:13:50.480 the first half of that formula, don't we? I do. 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:54.519 God's grace extended to me. It is so easy. It 00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:58.210 is so beautiful. Jesus paid it all on the cross 00:13:58.210 --> 00:14:01.870 of Calvary. I can't do a thing to earn salvation. 00:14:02.110 --> 00:14:04.429 There's nothing in me good enough. There's no 00:14:04.429 --> 00:14:07.990 way I can come to Christ in my own power, in 00:14:07.990 --> 00:14:10.129 my own strengths, or with anything that I do 00:14:10.129 --> 00:14:13.070 in any way. He spilled his blood, the only blood 00:14:13.070 --> 00:14:15.529 that would pay the price for me and redeem me 00:14:15.529 --> 00:14:20.509 on Calvary. He died in my place. That grace extends 00:14:20.509 --> 00:14:23.370 to me as a free gift of God. All I have to do 00:14:23.370 --> 00:14:26.419 is receive it. He sets me free. from my sin. 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:30.360 It's amazing. It's grace. But we can't take the 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:34.480 grace and discard the obedience in the abundant 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:37.879 life. We obey out of result of the grace of God. 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:41.360 Abundant life post -salvation, right? Post -born 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:44.539 again is me having so much faith in Jesus Christ, 00:14:44.659 --> 00:14:47.500 my Savior, that I will go do what he says to 00:14:47.500 --> 00:14:49.960 do. I got more faith in him than I have in me. 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:51.980 I got more faith in him than I have in anybody 00:14:51.980 --> 00:14:55.379 else. It's no longer my opinion, but his opinion. 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:58.019 Amen? How many know we're a society of opinions? 00:14:58.379 --> 00:15:02.980 Amen? It's true. Many of us have opinions. I 00:15:02.980 --> 00:15:04.720 would love to just take the mic and send it around 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:06.889 the room. How many of you know you have an opinion? 00:15:06.909 --> 00:15:08.429 Raise your hand if you have an opinion this morning 00:15:08.429 --> 00:15:10.970 about anything at all. Yes, thank you. Remember, 00:15:11.769 --> 00:15:14.990 you made 2 ,000 decisions in the last hour. You 00:15:14.990 --> 00:15:17.070 made your mind up over the last hour. You had 00:15:17.070 --> 00:15:19.950 some opinion on what you should do. Where are 00:15:19.950 --> 00:15:22.809 you going to eat? If you like this message or 00:15:22.809 --> 00:15:24.629 not, you're going to have an opinion later on. 00:15:24.710 --> 00:15:28.269 Why are you going out to eat? If I like my wife 00:15:28.269 --> 00:15:30.570 or my husband today, some of you have an opinion 00:15:30.570 --> 00:15:33.110 on that, depending on what happened before church, 00:15:33.169 --> 00:15:36.110 right? I know you love your spouse, but how many 00:15:36.110 --> 00:15:38.750 know sometimes you don't like your spouse? Come 00:15:38.750 --> 00:15:40.309 on, amen, the married people. If you've been 00:15:40.309 --> 00:15:41.710 married for a minute, you know what I'm talking 00:15:41.710 --> 00:15:44.590 about. And Dixie and I are fine, by the way. 00:15:44.610 --> 00:15:47.049 We had a great morning this morning, so I wanted 00:15:47.049 --> 00:15:51.029 to clarify that. We got opinions. But I'm here 00:15:51.029 --> 00:15:54.250 to tell you the abundant life is not on the other 00:15:54.250 --> 00:15:57.370 side of my opinion. It's not on the other side 00:15:57.370 --> 00:16:01.269 of my decision. It really isn't. It's what he 00:16:01.269 --> 00:16:04.769 said to do. And I don't always love it. It doesn't 00:16:04.769 --> 00:16:07.269 always line up with my opinion. Because Jesus 00:16:07.269 --> 00:16:09.830 said things like, I'm supposed to love my enemies. 00:16:10.669 --> 00:16:14.269 That is not my opinion. Don't like that opinion. 00:16:15.169 --> 00:16:17.110 But there's abundant life on the other side of 00:16:17.110 --> 00:16:20.529 that opinion. If I do what he says. The Lord 00:16:20.529 --> 00:16:25.909 said, vengeance is mine, says the Lord. Not my 00:16:25.909 --> 00:16:28.350 opinion. Probably not my opinion at all. Might 00:16:28.350 --> 00:16:31.210 not be yours, right? But there's life on the 00:16:31.210 --> 00:16:34.549 other side of his opinion. Hitting somebody harder, 00:16:34.730 --> 00:16:37.809 hitting somebody back harder. If you've got siblings, 00:16:37.889 --> 00:16:38.970 you know what I'm talking about. If you get hit 00:16:38.970 --> 00:16:40.889 by a sibling, you want to hit them back twice 00:16:40.889 --> 00:16:43.610 as hard, right? Vengeance is yours, saith you. 00:16:44.350 --> 00:16:47.830 Right? It's kind of our motto. But that's really 00:16:47.830 --> 00:16:51.129 not what Jesus said. Jesus said vengeance is 00:16:51.129 --> 00:16:54.190 mine. I'm supposed to put down the vengeance 00:16:54.190 --> 00:16:57.950 in my life. I experience abundant life when I 00:16:57.950 --> 00:17:01.879 follow what he says to do. God's grace. plus 00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:04.519 doing what he said to do equals abundant life. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:07.519 And if you're not experiencing abundant life 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:11.180 as a Christian, it's probably not God's fault. 00:17:11.299 --> 00:17:14.539 I'm pretty sure it's not actually, right? Probably 00:17:14.539 --> 00:17:17.420 on your end, probably something going on in your 00:17:17.420 --> 00:17:20.059 own life. Listen to what Jesus says. I told you 00:17:20.059 --> 00:17:21.039 we're going to jump around a bit. We're going 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:23.579 to Matthew chapter seven in verses 24 through 00:17:23.579 --> 00:17:27.420 29. He says this, he says, everyone then who 00:17:27.420 --> 00:17:31.059 hears these words of mine, and does them. Say 00:17:31.059 --> 00:17:34.519 does them, right? Who hears these words of mine 00:17:34.519 --> 00:17:37.039 and does them will be like a wise man who built 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:39.400 his house on the rock and the rain fell and the 00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:41.240 floods came and the winds blew and beat on that 00:17:41.240 --> 00:17:43.500 house. But it did not fall because it had been 00:17:43.500 --> 00:17:45.940 founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these 00:17:45.940 --> 00:17:48.059 words of mine and does not do them will be like 00:17:48.059 --> 00:17:50.160 a foolish man who built his house on the sand 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:52.579 and the rain fell, the floods came, winds blew 00:17:52.579 --> 00:17:54.680 and beat on that against that house and it fell 00:17:54.680 --> 00:17:57.269 and great was the fall of it. And when Jesus 00:17:57.269 --> 00:17:59.210 finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished 00:17:59.210 --> 00:18:01.369 at his teachings, for he was teaching them as 00:18:01.369 --> 00:18:03.789 one who had authority and not as the scribes. 00:18:04.789 --> 00:18:07.589 Jesus gives a detailed account of what the abundant 00:18:07.589 --> 00:18:10.730 life actually looks like. This is what it looks 00:18:10.730 --> 00:18:11.890 like. If you want to know what the abundant life 00:18:11.890 --> 00:18:14.289 looks like, it's a picture of that. Because a 00:18:14.289 --> 00:18:16.390 lot of us, when we think about abundant life, 00:18:16.470 --> 00:18:18.789 as soon as I said the abundant life, well, a 00:18:18.789 --> 00:18:20.769 lot of you had a lot of different ideas. I can't 00:18:20.769 --> 00:18:22.890 read your mind, but if it was like the cartoons 00:18:22.890 --> 00:18:24.829 where your little bubble came up above your head 00:18:24.829 --> 00:18:27.400 and went ping. And just the words came across. 00:18:27.859 --> 00:18:29.640 Probably a lot of you had different ideas of 00:18:29.640 --> 00:18:31.900 what abundant life is. When I say abundant life, 00:18:32.059 --> 00:18:35.339 you might be thinking of money and stuff, right? 00:18:35.579 --> 00:18:37.579 Abundant life to you might be like, yep, I got 00:18:37.579 --> 00:18:40.960 abundance at home. I got stuff. I got money in 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:44.380 the account. Everything's looking good. Financially, 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:48.279 things are all lined up. 401K is looking good. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:52.140 I get to retire soon. That might be abundant 00:18:52.140 --> 00:18:53.920 life. That might be more popped in your head. 00:18:54.019 --> 00:18:56.369 It could be cash. your stuff. Or maybe abundant 00:18:56.369 --> 00:18:58.869 life to you means like, you know, all my human 00:18:58.869 --> 00:19:01.900 relationships are in good shape right now. Right? 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:05.400 No conflict, no stress, no strain. Like, everybody's 00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:07.660 kind of getting along in the family, you know, 00:19:07.660 --> 00:19:09.339 because it's always just kind of getting along. 00:19:09.539 --> 00:19:11.599 But everybody's getting along in the family, 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:13.880 you know, but that's kind of abundant life, right? 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:16.200 Or maybe it's health -related for you. Oh, I 00:19:16.200 --> 00:19:17.660 got my health. If you don't have your health, 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:19.339 you don't have anything. People say that kind 00:19:19.339 --> 00:19:21.160 of stuff all the time. That might be abundant 00:19:21.160 --> 00:19:23.359 life to you. There's all kind of definitions 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:24.940 of abundant life. There's all kind of things 00:19:24.940 --> 00:19:27.099 we look at. For you, it might be your children 00:19:27.099 --> 00:19:28.619 running around your home, and you're thinking 00:19:28.619 --> 00:19:30.819 abundant life's just a piece of quiet, right? 00:19:31.079 --> 00:19:33.299 Or you might have elderly parents falling and 00:19:33.299 --> 00:19:35.079 stumbling around your home. And you're like, 00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:37.079 man, if I could just go to an island somewhere 00:19:37.079 --> 00:19:39.759 and get a few minutes peace, you know, that might 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:41.839 be abundant life for you. There's all kinds of 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:44.400 definitions. We come up with all these ideas 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:46.900 of what abundant life is. But Jesus says, this 00:19:46.900 --> 00:19:49.299 is actually what it looks like. This is what 00:19:49.299 --> 00:19:51.700 abundant life looks like. Everyone who hears 00:19:51.700 --> 00:19:54.099 these words of mine and does them will be like 00:19:54.099 --> 00:19:56.319 a wise man who built his house. And the rain 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:59.720 fell and the floods came and the winds blew and 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:02.619 beat on that house. And it did not fall because 00:20:02.619 --> 00:20:07.039 it was on the rock. Abundant life is life where 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:11.000 you stand. It's when you don't get knocked down. 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:14.119 It's when you don't get drug over, right? It's 00:20:14.119 --> 00:20:18.319 when you can stand fast on the rock. That's what 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:21.900 abundant life is. When rain falls. When you look 00:20:21.900 --> 00:20:23.819 at this scripture, when rain comes, that's trouble. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:25.740 I don't know how many of you ever started your 00:20:25.740 --> 00:20:28.039 week out. Monday was looking pretty good. By 00:20:28.039 --> 00:20:29.819 the time you got to Wednesday, you wonder what 00:20:29.819 --> 00:20:32.019 in the world ever happened, right? How did I 00:20:32.019 --> 00:20:34.319 miss this? There's just trouble dropping all 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:36.880 around you. It's like little bombs, like rain 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:38.920 falling. Just boom, boom, just like you came 00:20:38.920 --> 00:20:40.980 in this morning. There's trouble all around you. 00:20:41.019 --> 00:20:43.900 There's rainfall. Or maybe it's winds of adversity 00:20:43.900 --> 00:20:46.039 that begin to push against you, and all of a 00:20:46.039 --> 00:20:48.599 sudden, in one moment, everything changes, and 00:20:48.599 --> 00:20:50.980 there's this wind, and there's struggle, and 00:20:50.980 --> 00:20:53.759 there's stress, and there's strain in a relationship. 00:20:54.259 --> 00:20:57.759 Or maybe it's even crisis, like a flash flood, 00:20:57.980 --> 00:21:01.470 right? That's floods, flash flood. You're up 00:21:01.470 --> 00:21:03.450 one minute and it feels like your feet just gonna 00:21:03.450 --> 00:21:05.410 be ripped right out from under you because there's 00:21:05.410 --> 00:21:07.869 a torrent coming down the hillside and you're 00:21:07.869 --> 00:21:10.170 standing in the middle of it and you don't wanna 00:21:10.170 --> 00:21:12.690 get washed away. To everyone that hears these 00:21:12.690 --> 00:21:15.750 words of mine and does them is like a wise man 00:21:15.750 --> 00:21:18.289 who has built his house on the rocks. And when 00:21:18.289 --> 00:21:20.609 the rain came and when the wind came and when 00:21:20.609 --> 00:21:27.670 the crisis came, he stood. It stood firm. It 00:21:27.670 --> 00:21:32.849 stood fast. This is abundant life. This is life 00:21:32.849 --> 00:21:35.230 in Christ. You don't get your legs taken out. 00:21:35.329 --> 00:21:37.990 You don't get rolled over and destroyed. You 00:21:37.990 --> 00:21:40.829 don't die in the process. You don't get swept 00:21:40.829 --> 00:21:45.329 downstream. This is rock life. Say rock life. 00:21:46.029 --> 00:21:49.390 I'm going to coin a new phrase around here. This 00:21:49.390 --> 00:21:54.750 is rock life. You won't crash. It's an accurate 00:21:54.750 --> 00:21:59.819 picture. And the one that ignores Christ, the 00:21:59.819 --> 00:22:01.880 one ignores, it says it right at the beginning 00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:05.140 of that scripture, what he says to do is the 00:22:05.140 --> 00:22:08.119 person who builds their house in the sand. And 00:22:08.119 --> 00:22:11.339 you might get through the rain, but when the 00:22:11.339 --> 00:22:14.190 winds come and the floods come, I don't know 00:22:14.190 --> 00:22:17.549 if you've ever been down by a beach when a hurricane 00:22:17.549 --> 00:22:20.289 comes through and see what it does to buildings 00:22:20.289 --> 00:22:23.029 that are built in the sand. I've been down in 00:22:23.029 --> 00:22:26.170 places like New Orleans when the hurricane hit 00:22:26.170 --> 00:22:28.269 down there. I went in after the aftermath. And 00:22:28.269 --> 00:22:30.390 anything that was down along the shoreline that 00:22:30.390 --> 00:22:32.789 was in those posts in the sand, they were gone. 00:22:33.170 --> 00:22:35.349 There might be a post sticking out. They were 00:22:35.349 --> 00:22:39.630 gone. History, out of there. You're going to 00:22:39.630 --> 00:22:44.250 crash. Sooner or later, it'll come down. This 00:22:44.250 --> 00:22:47.789 is life on the rock, Jesus Christ. This is abundant 00:22:47.789 --> 00:22:50.769 life. This is what happens when you hear the 00:22:50.769 --> 00:22:54.569 word of God and you begin to do it. You won't 00:22:54.569 --> 00:22:57.410 get taken out. The enemy can't get you. Anchored 00:22:57.410 --> 00:23:01.150 to Jesus, plus doing what he said to do, is abundant 00:23:01.150 --> 00:23:04.569 life. Can we just keep drilling that? Is it okay 00:23:04.569 --> 00:23:07.299 if we drill down just a little deeper? And here's 00:23:07.299 --> 00:23:09.480 what I'm going to do. I got you in Matthew chapter 00:23:09.480 --> 00:23:11.279 7. We're actually going to work through this 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:12.740 chapter backwards. I'm going to go back up a 00:23:12.740 --> 00:23:14.579 couple verses. And we're going to go to verse 00:23:14.579 --> 00:23:37.740 21 through 23. And it says, you workers of lawlessness. 00:23:38.579 --> 00:23:42.200 Huh. This is a tough scripture, right? Like, 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:48.460 what? You know, do, he says, do the will of my 00:23:48.460 --> 00:23:52.359 Father. If you look at that verse closely, you 00:23:52.359 --> 00:23:55.960 can't separate doing what Jesus said to do and 00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:59.480 following Jesus. Not everyone, he says, not everyone 00:23:59.480 --> 00:24:03.980 to me who will say to me, Lord, Lord. There will 00:24:03.980 --> 00:24:06.240 be people who will come and say, well, I prophesied. 00:24:07.180 --> 00:24:09.880 Prophecy is speaking the word of God. Sometimes 00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:13.859 it's quoting the word of God. Sometimes prophetic 00:24:13.859 --> 00:24:18.319 means futuristic, even getting a sense from God 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:20.460 what the future is going to be. He said there 00:24:20.460 --> 00:24:21.519 are going to be people who will come and say 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:23.160 they prophesied. There are going to be some who 00:24:23.160 --> 00:24:25.039 cast out demons, and you're thinking, well, how 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:27.920 in the world can they not know God and cast out 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:30.039 demons? Because the name of Christ carries that 00:24:30.039 --> 00:24:32.920 much authority. It is not anybody's name. It 00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:35.319 is not the power of a man that casts out demons 00:24:35.319 --> 00:24:37.779 from somebody. It is the name of Jesus Christ. 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:40.160 It is the power that is invoked when Jesus' name 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:42.480 is used. And he says, I'll even do mighty works. 00:24:42.519 --> 00:24:44.359 People will do mighty works. They'll say, I did 00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:46.660 mighty works. It is the authority and the power 00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:49.119 of Jesus Christ. But if you're not willing to 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:52.460 do the will of God, walk out the will of God, 00:24:52.599 --> 00:24:55.740 do what Jesus says, do rock life, right? He said, 00:24:55.819 --> 00:24:57.819 you're going to walk up and you're going to say, 00:24:57.859 --> 00:24:59.880 I did this and I did that and I did this. And 00:24:59.880 --> 00:25:03.920 he's going to say. I never knew you, right? The 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:06.920 grace of God is salvation, but there's gonna 00:25:06.920 --> 00:25:10.140 be evidence of that. Jesus said in his scripture, 00:25:10.279 --> 00:25:13.140 lawlessness is the one who prefers to do the 00:25:13.140 --> 00:25:15.220 will of the father or does not do the will of 00:25:15.220 --> 00:25:17.779 the father. Lawlessness is the one who refuses 00:25:17.779 --> 00:25:21.680 to do what Jesus said. Lawlessness is my way 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:25.059 and not his way. And when Jesus says this, it's 00:25:25.059 --> 00:25:27.000 synonymous with what the father said, because 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:29.000 Jesus said, I am in the father and the father 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:33.049 is in me. If we claim Jesus as our Lord and we 00:25:33.049 --> 00:25:36.150 do not do what he says to do, in the end, he's 00:25:36.150 --> 00:25:37.529 going to look at us and say, I don't even know 00:25:37.529 --> 00:25:42.349 you. I don't even know you. Now, you might be 00:25:42.349 --> 00:25:44.430 thinking, are you preaching a works gospel? Absolutely 00:25:44.430 --> 00:25:51.849 not. We are saved by grace, by faith, by faith 00:25:51.849 --> 00:25:55.650 in Jesus Christ and that alone. But what I do 00:25:55.650 --> 00:26:00.519 is the evidence. of God's grace extended in my 00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:04.259 life. What I do is the evidence. It really is. 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:06.460 Let me back you up just a couple more scriptures. 00:26:07.099 --> 00:26:09.619 It says this in 15, beware of false prophets 00:26:09.619 --> 00:26:11.099 who come to you in sheep's clothing, but they 00:26:11.099 --> 00:26:13.400 don't really are ravenous wolves. You will recognize 00:26:13.400 --> 00:26:16.359 them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from 00:26:16.359 --> 00:26:18.960 thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:21.539 healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased 00:26:21.539 --> 00:26:24.579 tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear 00:26:25.160 --> 00:26:28.000 bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.740 fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit 00:26:30.740 --> 00:26:33.420 is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you 00:26:33.420 --> 00:26:36.359 will recognize them by their fruits. Look at 00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:38.099 the person beside you. Tell them you got some 00:26:38.099 --> 00:26:41.140 fruits. Don't tell them they are a fruit. Tell 00:26:41.140 --> 00:26:44.559 them you got some fruit. You got fruit. You do. 00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:50.420 The fruit of your tree is the evidence of what's 00:26:50.420 --> 00:26:53.359 on the inside of the tree. That's what this scripture 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:56.440 is saying, right? The fruit of the tree is what 00:26:56.440 --> 00:27:00.940 a tree does. A fruit tree produces fruit. That's 00:27:00.940 --> 00:27:04.220 what its purpose is. That's what it does. It 00:27:04.220 --> 00:27:07.940 produces fruit. And you'll know a tree if it's 00:27:07.940 --> 00:27:11.339 good or bad by its fruit. You'll know if a tree's 00:27:11.339 --> 00:27:15.740 diseased if it's by its fruit. And you can say, 00:27:15.779 --> 00:27:18.740 and it's no matter what it's pretending to be, 00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:20.920 what that tree's pretending to be on the outside. 00:27:21.470 --> 00:27:23.450 Because sometimes diseases are just thought you 00:27:23.450 --> 00:27:26.029 see it on the inside. I've had trees that were 00:27:26.029 --> 00:27:28.410 rotten on the inside and they would grow and 00:27:28.410 --> 00:27:30.930 there's leaves and some fruit comes out, but 00:27:30.930 --> 00:27:32.910 they're diseased on the inside of that thing, 00:27:32.990 --> 00:27:35.549 right? They're a mess in there. And sometimes 00:27:35.549 --> 00:27:38.349 that's what it's talking about here. What is 00:27:38.349 --> 00:27:41.170 your fruit in your life? That's what you're doing. 00:27:41.670 --> 00:27:44.609 That's what you're out there doing. Is it evidence 00:27:44.609 --> 00:27:48.109 of what happened on the inside of you? The scripture 00:27:48.109 --> 00:27:50.150 said our grapes gathered from thorn bushes or 00:27:50.150 --> 00:27:53.250 figs from thistles, right? What is the fruit 00:27:53.250 --> 00:27:55.869 of the tree? It's why Jesus said at the beginning 00:27:55.869 --> 00:27:58.289 of this, beware of false prophets who come to 00:27:58.289 --> 00:28:01.849 you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous 00:28:01.849 --> 00:28:06.329 wolves. Prophets say things. False prophets say 00:28:06.329 --> 00:28:09.490 things. The way you tell a prophet from a false 00:28:09.490 --> 00:28:13.849 prophet is their fruit. What's in their lives? 00:28:14.699 --> 00:28:16.740 right? Sometimes, man, some of you get online, 00:28:16.940 --> 00:28:18.579 you're just taking every word coming down the 00:28:18.579 --> 00:28:21.140 pike from somebody. Do you know who that person 00:28:21.140 --> 00:28:23.619 is? Do you know the fruit of that person? Do 00:28:23.619 --> 00:28:25.839 you know if it's good or if it's bad, right? 00:28:26.329 --> 00:28:28.109 Because you might have a false prophet in front 00:28:28.109 --> 00:28:29.990 of you. The word of God talks about it. Jesus 00:28:29.990 --> 00:28:32.490 is saying, be careful of prophets who say one 00:28:32.490 --> 00:28:35.009 thing and their fruit produces something else. 00:28:35.170 --> 00:28:37.430 They look good at church. They look good at life 00:28:37.430 --> 00:28:39.170 group. They look good when they're speaking in 00:28:39.170 --> 00:28:40.730 front of the camera. But what are they doing 00:28:40.730 --> 00:28:42.910 outside the church? What's happening, right? 00:28:43.069 --> 00:28:46.630 What's the fruit of their lives? I don't know 00:28:46.630 --> 00:28:50.410 if you, and I'm no fruit expert by any stretch, 00:28:50.549 --> 00:28:52.329 but I don't know if you've ever seen a diseased 00:28:52.329 --> 00:28:53.650 apple. And I'm going to put a picture up there. 00:28:53.769 --> 00:28:56.890 They're going to flip that up on there. And you'll 00:28:56.890 --> 00:28:59.849 see the one on the left, right? That's a diseased 00:28:59.849 --> 00:29:02.130 apple, actually. Now, how many know that looks 00:29:02.130 --> 00:29:05.130 pretty normal to you? I eat apples. I eat a bag 00:29:05.130 --> 00:29:07.750 of apples about every two weeks, a full bag of 00:29:07.750 --> 00:29:10.450 apples. And honestly, if I saw that apple on 00:29:10.450 --> 00:29:11.849 the left, see that little, just one little mark 00:29:11.849 --> 00:29:14.109 on it, I'd be like, no problem, right? Because 00:29:14.109 --> 00:29:16.069 most apples have some kind of defect on them. 00:29:16.109 --> 00:29:18.210 That's just, you'll see something on the outside. 00:29:18.369 --> 00:29:20.089 I'd pick that thing up and start munching right 00:29:20.089 --> 00:29:23.119 away. I would, I'd just start, I'd dig right 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:25.380 in. I'd bite right into that thing. But how many 00:29:25.380 --> 00:29:27.839 know it can look perfectly healthy on the outside, 00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:31.119 but as soon as you bite into that apple, do you 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:35.960 ever bite into like a diseased apple? Oh, it'll 00:29:35.960 --> 00:29:39.720 ruin your day. This is nasty, right? You run 00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:42.839 over to the garbage can, spitting it out. You 00:29:42.839 --> 00:29:45.480 know, if it's rotten on the inside, worse than, 00:29:45.559 --> 00:29:48.240 I had worm, a worm literally inside one time. 00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:56.940 Bad day. Bad day. Really bad day. It only takes 00:29:56.940 --> 00:30:01.759 one bite. Finding out what's on the inside, right? 00:30:02.500 --> 00:30:06.319 To find out what's really going on. Every tree 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:10.559 that does not bear good fruit. What's that tree 00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:16.619 doing? Rock life is faith in Jesus. Salvation 00:30:16.619 --> 00:30:19.559 by grace. But what's happening on the outside? 00:30:20.019 --> 00:30:23.859 You cannot jump on the grace train, right, and 00:30:23.859 --> 00:30:26.039 then just leave the obedience train and run right 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:28.740 on by you. That's what the Word of God is telling 00:30:28.740 --> 00:30:32.640 us. What do I do? What do I do? What do I produce? 00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:37.819 What will be the evidence of who God is in my 00:30:37.819 --> 00:30:40.759 life? Worship team, I'm going to ask if you would 00:30:40.759 --> 00:30:44.839 come. As I was preparing this message, I couldn't 00:30:44.839 --> 00:30:48.470 get away. From the word picture that Jesus spoke. 00:30:50.670 --> 00:30:53.789 A house, right? Now, I want you to picture that. 00:30:53.809 --> 00:30:54.910 Go ahead and close your eyes for a minute. I 00:30:54.910 --> 00:30:57.289 do this sometimes. I've done this in actually 00:30:57.289 --> 00:31:01.930 a funeral message that I use sometimes. And I 00:31:01.930 --> 00:31:03.250 want you to do this. I want you just to picture 00:31:03.250 --> 00:31:05.069 this in your mind because this will help you 00:31:05.069 --> 00:31:07.769 grab a hold. I want you to picture in your mind 00:31:07.769 --> 00:31:11.549 two houses on the shoreline. And pretend you're 00:31:11.549 --> 00:31:13.049 out in the boat just a little bit from shore. 00:31:13.809 --> 00:31:16.250 and you're staring back at the shoreline, and 00:31:16.250 --> 00:31:18.650 you're looking on the left, and there's this 00:31:18.650 --> 00:31:21.529 house built on the rock. There's rocks, a big 00:31:21.529 --> 00:31:24.049 rock crag there, and somebody built a house up 00:31:24.049 --> 00:31:25.869 on top of that rock. And then you can pan to 00:31:25.869 --> 00:31:28.029 the right, and you can make your beach look like 00:31:28.029 --> 00:31:29.890 anything you want, because it's your imagination 00:31:29.890 --> 00:31:32.329 you're using right now. But you pan to the right, 00:31:32.349 --> 00:31:34.069 and there's a house that's built in the sand. 00:31:35.690 --> 00:31:39.690 This is what Jesus was talking about. You can 00:31:39.690 --> 00:31:47.470 look back up at me. Rock life, rock life is the 00:31:47.470 --> 00:31:51.670 only life. If you want abundant life, it's rock 00:31:51.670 --> 00:31:56.410 life. It's when it rains, when trouble comes, 00:31:56.589 --> 00:32:00.630 when I'm on the rock, I stand fast in his grace 00:32:00.630 --> 00:32:04.130 and I keep doing what he said to do when it rains. 00:32:04.789 --> 00:32:08.150 When trouble covers me, he shields me, right? 00:32:08.250 --> 00:32:11.130 I keep doing, I keep. depending on the grace 00:32:11.130 --> 00:32:13.910 of God. And I keep doing what he said to do. 00:32:14.009 --> 00:32:16.730 In the trouble, when adversity comes and the 00:32:16.730 --> 00:32:20.349 winds begin to push against me and from every 00:32:20.349 --> 00:32:23.470 side, I'm starting to get pressure and the stress 00:32:23.470 --> 00:32:25.109 is starting to come in. I talked with somebody 00:32:25.109 --> 00:32:27.910 this week under so much stress and the stress 00:32:27.910 --> 00:32:30.529 begins to come in and the winds begin to push 00:32:30.529 --> 00:32:34.170 against. You lean on the grace of God and the 00:32:34.170 --> 00:32:36.470 salvation that he provides and you just keep 00:32:36.470 --> 00:32:39.619 doing what he said to do. Because there's safety 00:32:39.619 --> 00:32:43.500 on the rock. When the floods come and the waters 00:32:43.500 --> 00:32:47.119 feel like they're going to tear you apart, wash 00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:50.900 you away, drown you in whatever's in front of 00:32:50.900 --> 00:32:54.940 you, behind you, or beside you, you lean on the 00:32:54.940 --> 00:32:58.480 grace of God. This is rock life, abundant life. 00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:03.519 And you keep doing what he said to do. When you're 00:33:03.519 --> 00:33:06.660 healthy, when you're sick, when the sun is rising, 00:33:06.799 --> 00:33:09.099 when the storm's going, when the lightning's 00:33:09.099 --> 00:33:14.940 flashing. Not perfection, but obedience to God. 00:33:15.460 --> 00:33:20.920 This is abundant life. Anything outside of rock 00:33:20.920 --> 00:33:24.420 life is that house you built over in the sand. 00:33:25.380 --> 00:33:29.180 And it'll look good when the sun's shining. It'll 00:33:29.180 --> 00:33:31.859 look good when there's no adversity. It'll look 00:33:31.859 --> 00:33:33.900 good when it's just a little pitter -patter of 00:33:33.900 --> 00:33:37.140 trouble coming down. But when in its rain and 00:33:37.140 --> 00:33:39.839 its wind and its flood, that thing's going to 00:33:39.839 --> 00:33:42.440 crash. It's going to come down. I'm going to 00:33:42.440 --> 00:33:47.779 ask you to stand. This is what Jesus said to 00:33:47.779 --> 00:33:51.859 do. Rock life. Say rock life. Rock life. I'm 00:33:51.859 --> 00:33:53.799 telling you, I'm coining a phrase. Even if you 00:33:53.799 --> 00:33:59.339 don't like it, I'm coining it anyway. I'm going 00:33:59.339 --> 00:34:01.240 to give you two things. I have a digital checklist 00:34:01.240 --> 00:34:05.400 on my computer and my devices, and I use it every 00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:08.280 single day. And I kind of mark things this way. 00:34:08.619 --> 00:34:11.420 Typically, I have like a red list, which is urgent. 00:34:11.780 --> 00:34:14.599 And then I'll have a yellow list, which is important, 00:34:14.860 --> 00:34:17.760 but not urgent. And then I'll have a green, which 00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:20.639 means I can get to it sometime. All right. And 00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:22.579 sometimes I'll categorize the things that I'm 00:34:22.579 --> 00:34:24.099 doing, or sometimes I'll just put them in order 00:34:24.099 --> 00:34:27.440 like that in my head on my list. But I'm going 00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:28.980 to give you two things that are urgent for you 00:34:28.980 --> 00:34:32.690 to do. Put this on your to -do list, because 00:34:32.690 --> 00:34:34.429 we're talking about what we do, right? What to 00:34:34.429 --> 00:34:38.409 do. The first one is know the rock. Know the 00:34:38.409 --> 00:34:41.269 rock. And what do I mean by that? I mean, do 00:34:41.269 --> 00:34:43.710 everything in your power to learn everything 00:34:43.710 --> 00:34:46.650 that you can about the rock named Jesus Christ. 00:34:47.469 --> 00:34:51.190 Find out who he is. how he functions, what he 00:34:51.190 --> 00:34:55.630 said. Do everything within your power. One of 00:34:55.630 --> 00:34:57.269 the reasons we do Bible through a year, and we're 00:34:57.269 --> 00:34:58.849 going to do it again, we're going to continue 00:34:58.849 --> 00:35:01.170 to do it every single year. I want more and more 00:35:01.170 --> 00:35:03.110 people to participate. You need to find out who 00:35:03.110 --> 00:35:06.590 Jesus is. You cannot come to a message on Sunday 00:35:06.590 --> 00:35:08.449 morning, and even I know some of you listen to 00:35:08.449 --> 00:35:10.869 podcasts, all that, that's awesome. Keep doing 00:35:10.869 --> 00:35:13.550 that. But you're not going to find out who Jesus 00:35:13.550 --> 00:35:17.030 is until you dive in yourself. Truly. You'll 00:35:17.030 --> 00:35:18.909 find out pieces of it. You're not going to find 00:35:18.909 --> 00:35:22.650 the full expanse of who God is. Find out who 00:35:22.650 --> 00:35:26.409 he is. Know who he is. Know the rock. And then 00:35:26.409 --> 00:35:28.550 the second thing is, is commit to rock life. 00:35:29.809 --> 00:35:32.750 That means that by the grace of God, you're saved, 00:35:32.889 --> 00:35:35.750 right? And if you're not saved, you can be this 00:35:35.750 --> 00:35:38.409 morning. Know Jesus as Lord and Savior because 00:35:38.409 --> 00:35:42.389 of what he did on the cross, and then do what 00:35:42.389 --> 00:35:47.670 he said to do. That's rock life. That's it. Just 00:35:47.670 --> 00:35:51.070 know him and do what he said to do. If it doesn't 00:35:51.070 --> 00:35:54.289 make sense to you, do what he said to do. Even 00:35:54.289 --> 00:35:56.750 when you don't like it, do what he said to do. 00:35:57.469 --> 00:36:00.929 Even if you want to take vengeance, do what he 00:36:00.929 --> 00:36:04.630 said to do. Just do it. Because there's abundant 00:36:04.630 --> 00:36:09.010 life on the other side. You won't crash. You 00:36:09.010 --> 00:36:11.190 will not go down. There should be this deep, 00:36:11.389 --> 00:36:16.489 deep assurance for us that if we walk in this, 00:36:16.909 --> 00:36:20.070 Do you know what it means to know that you cannot 00:36:20.070 --> 00:36:23.750 be taken down? You should be beating your chest 00:36:23.750 --> 00:36:28.869 right now. Right? Come on. Right? It's not you. 00:36:28.929 --> 00:36:31.150 It's him. But if you've got a big enough big 00:36:31.150 --> 00:36:34.610 brother, they can't take you down. They can't 00:36:34.610 --> 00:36:37.409 take you down. The enemy cannot take you down. 00:36:38.889 --> 00:36:52.000 Rock life. in to this message from Lifehouse 00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:55.400 Church. We pray that you were impacted powerfully 00:36:55.400 --> 00:36:58.179 by this message. If you have been personally 00:36:58.179 --> 00:37:00.739 affected by our ministry and you would like to 00:37:00.739 --> 00:37:04.039 partner with us as we love God, love people every 00:37:04.039 --> 00:37:05.980 day, visit our website at