I'm coming.

I can't get the timing down because the bumper is always different, so I think I'm going to... never mind.

John chapter eight, as you turn to John chapter eight, let me remind you of a few things, okay?

Because when we did this series, there were two things in my mind when we started this series, okay?

The first was this, do I really want to do this?

Because if I do this series, some of the people that I really want to reach for Christ, if they hear some of these things out of context, or if they don't listen to all four messages, I may never see them again.

Because if I do this, some of the people that I really want to reach for Christ, if And that of course is going to break my heart because you've heard me say, we're all sinners, man, right?

Everybody in the room needs something.

They have some kind of coping mechanism that they're going to, to make it through the wounds of their lives other than God.

And so I didn't want to somehow give them the idea that we were better than someone else.

Okay.

The second thing that I struggled with was that I've got a whole generation of young people.

in one and all church on our various campuses who are looking to me to teach them what the Bible says about the crucial issues of our day.

So if I don't teach on those things, if I don't take at least some time to show you what the scriptures tell you and to explain what Paul means in Ephesians 6, then you're going to grow up thinking all of these things that are happening in culture right now are acceptable and right.

So I've got a dilemma.

One of the things you know that I say is I just refuse to become overly political because I don't believe that's the way you change the world.

You change the world not by trying to legislate something.

You change the world when Christ followers inside the church start living a life that is consistent with the way we say we believe.

That's the primary tool.

All right, so you got those two things.

Now, here's the other thing.

I try to start every weekend by saying...

What is the greatest commandment?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

But what did Jesus say is the second is likened to it, which is what?

Love your neighbor as yourself.

So I didn't want to do this series to incite hatred for people who aren't like you or who don't struggle with the same sins that you struggle with.

I've gone overboard to try to show you that we've all got sin in our lives.

We've all got something we're struggling with.

We all have to do a 180 and say, this is the way I'm living, but this is the way Christ wants me to live.

So if I'm going to follow him, this is the direction I got to go.

Now there's one more thing added to all that.

Until you come to the conclusion, no matter who you are, that when God gives his law or his precepts, he is motivated out of love and design.

That means that God knows best how you function because He made you.

He knows how creation is to function and relate to Him because He is the author of everything made.

So until you come to the conclusion that because he is the designer of all things, therefore he knows how it best works.

Until you come to the conclusion, when he gives you a precept, he gives it because he loves you in the way a father would tell his son not to play in the middle of the road.

Here's your precept Delaney, don't play in the middle of the road, you'll get hit by a car.

God says, here's your precept because I love you.

Don't do this, do this, don't do that.

Thank God we're not saved by works, right?

Because we violate all of them.

Thank God we're saved by grace through faith.

But he gives us these precepts because he knows if we live within these parameters, we will have the best chance at a great life, a great culture, a great society.

Now there's the evil one that comes in and says, I'm going to try to destroy everything that God determines as good.

Or he tries to counterfeit everything that God gives you to fill the gaping holes in our lives, okay, to help us deal with those wounds.

as we close this series. If you can keep those things in mind at all times, it'll be great.

And you'll walk out saying, Pastor Jeff is not half as bad as I thought he was when he started this series. All right? Now, let's take that, put it to the side. This is July 4th weekend. It's a big day for us, right? I want to take you back to July 4th. Let me set the stage here. 1973.

Many of you were not even alive.

It's the city championship little league baseball game in Elizabethton, Tennessee.

My team, I play for the Norwell Plumbers, and we're playing against the Tri-State Containers for the Elizabethton City Championship.

You can't make this stuff up.

The mayor's there.

He's got a baseball team.

My mom's there in her lawn chair.

I think this was before Walmart.

So if Walmart was around, that's where she got it.

And everybody's got the lawn chairs out, moms and dads.

And you got tri-state containers on this side and Norwell plumbers on that side.

And my coach Laverne Banners.

I'm the pitcher.

My brother's the catcher.

It's Little League baseball though.

Remember, do you use the pitching machine now for the age of seven, eight, and nine?

Actually, I said Little League, but this is more like Pee Wee.

So in Pee Wee baseball here.

when you're six, seven, eight years old. Do you use the pitching machine now? You still, you have a live pitcher? Okay, good. Because when I was growing up, you had a, you had a eight year old trying to throw three strikes, but you got eight balls before you walked.

Eight balls, because there's no way, you know. So you're just, my coach would say, rock and fire, Jeffrey, rock and fire. What he meant is just to haul back and just throw it as hard as you can.

Now, seven innings of scoreless baseball, you only play seven in Pee Wee Baseball, and In the top of the seventh, my younger brother hit a homer.

We're up one to nothing.

All I got to do is strike three batters out.

We are the Elizabethton City champions.

We will be known forever in Elizabethton.

Two batters, strike them out.

Third batter comes up, but it was Mike Little and everybody knows, everybody knows it, man.

Mike Little's a home run hitter.

And Coach just started screaming, my mom, go Jeffrey, go!

You know, little Jeffrey, go!

Go!

Go!

Two strikes, my brother the catcher, this is peewee baseball now, puts his hand up and he goes, now that's the only thing we can throw is a fastball.

But you're trying to hide it, but everybody knows what's coming, you don't throw curve balls and things at that age.

So he goes.

So I run back and fire and throw as hard as I can and Mike little pelts it.

You can hear the sound off the aluminum bat.

It goes to the right field fence, hits the top of the railing, thank God, comes back in.

There's a problem though.

In Pee-wee baseball, outfitters aren't used to seeing the ball.

They've heard the possibility that one day a ball may come to the outfield, but they're busy collecting four-leaf clovers and looking at the birds.

And he, I don't think he would have known it was, and by the way, you put your worst player, I'm sorry to tell you that, but if your coach puts you in right field, that's because you stink.

And the right fielder, the right fielder wouldn't even know a ball was there except he heard some clink on the fence and it caught his attention.

He walked over to it like he had all day to deal with it, and he picks it up.

Now at this point, Mike Little's rounding the bases.

He's just surprised as everybody else.

And he rounds second.

By this time, he knows I'm going to get to the home plate before I get thrown out.

I go to home plate, which is why my brother still holds this against me to this day.

I said, I know you're the catcher.

Move out of the way.

I'm taking over.

And so, I'm going to get to the home plate.

I get there, throw me the ball.

And of course, the fielder, he doesn't know what to do, so he's just doing this like this because this never happened before.

And he just throws it up in the air.

The second baseman gets it, but by the time Mike Little rounds third and he's coming home, he knows he's going to make it.

But remember, he's only seven.

And he gets a little excited and caught up in the drama, and he forgets that you still have to go and touch home plate, so he rounds third and goes into the dugout to celebrate with his friends.

Now, I didn't see it, but evidently my mother did.

And so she did what any of you moms would do.

She ran onto the field and she got the baseball and she put it in my glove and she says, Jeffrey, he didn't touch home plate.

Go and tag him out in the dugout.

And because I am a good boy and I do what my mom tells me to do, I ran over to the dugout and I tagged Mike Little.

And till this day, I don't know why, but the umpire yelled out above all the pandemonium, you're out.

The coach for Tri-State Containers started yelling at the umpire.

You thought that happened just recently.

This has been going on for generations.

My coach came over, Laverne Banner, and hit their coach, hit my coach in the nose.

And then suddenly you got pandemonium everywhere and the mayor, thank God he was at the game because there's a reason he was mayor.

In those days you actually get elected to become mayor and he got elected and he came out to the field, separated everybody, and he decided to give both teams first place trophies.

and send us all home to celebrate Fourth of July.

That's a smart politician, isn't it?

Now why would I tell you that?

Because I don't usually tell stories like that.

Why would I tell you that?

Because I want to tell you a story.

I want you to think about something.

My mother may not have done the right thing.

You had to know her.

But she wanted so desperately for her kids to succeed.

Right moms?

Sometimes you'll do things you're not proud of.

And now I've got grandchildren.

I can't believe that I thought that when you had children and they grew up, that you would stop worrying about your children.

Nobody told me that you're going to worry until the day they die.

And then the grandchildren come along and you love them more than you love your children.

Now you can't explain it, but you do, don't you?

Yeah.

You can't explain.

You don't want to tell your kids that.

Of course, I just let it out of the bag.

There's just something different.

And now you're really bad because now you're thinking, man, I got to help protect them.

Every time I sit down next to Ada and I look into her eyes, I'm like, I'm going to tell I just want to go with her every step of the way through her life and instruct her, you know, don't put that in your mouth.

Don't eat that dirt.

You know, don't drink that.

Don't hang out with him.

And then as they get older, same thing.

Don't smoke that.

Don't eat that.

Don't take that.

But you can't, can you?

You got to release them and you got to let them go live.

Now you think about it.

If it's true, if it's true.

that the greater the knowledge and complexity of an entity, the greater the ability of that complex thing or ability to love.

If we feel that way with our children and grandchildren, how does God feel about us?

You think God wishes he could just go with us every step of the way and say, don't do that, don't smoke that, don't eat that, don't do that.

See, until you come to the conclusion that God gives you precepts because he loves you and wants you to have the best life possible, as the creator and designer, you will never submit your life to the word of God.

You will always think you know better.

Now, why would I start that way?

Why?

If you can compartmentalize just for a moment, we are a blessed nation.

And sometimes people say, well, Jeff doesn't love America because he doesn't talk about politics and you're just so wrong.

Again, I just think the way you change this country is through the love of Jesus Christ, not through a political stance.

On July 2nd, 1776, isn't today the 2nd?

Yeah, so in 1776, July 2nd, Congress voted a complete separation from Great Britain.

Two days later, the Declaration of Independence was signed by John Hancock, the President of Congress, and by Charles Thompson, the Secretary of Congress.

Four days later, on July 8th, members of the Congress read it out loud on the steps of Independence Hall, after which the Liberty Bell was rung.

And the inscription around the bell read this, proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof.

That's Leviticus 25.10.

Even though there is all this deconstructionism going about America, I just don't know how.

Most of our kids don't know this because I don't know when we stopped teaching it, but we did.

There is zero doubt that this country was founded not simply on the idea of God, but upon Judeo-Christian principles and values.

I've got 40 quotes that I shared last night, but I had to cut some of that to get to what I really want to talk about today.

But can we just share with you what Patrick Henry said?

And then we've got quotes by John Adams and...

on and on, but Patrick Henry said, it cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, so not just by religious people, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of the things I wanted to show you in this series is I made a comment that I told you in the first sermon that might offend some people, and that comment was this, that America has something in common with Israel that no other nation on planet Earth has.

Its very beginning, its very beginnings, Israel was founded on the Mosaic Code, the Mosaic Law, the Ten Commandments.

Christianity is founded from its inception at the very beginning on Judeo-Christian values found in the Scriptures.

I'm not saying that everybody was a loyal Christ follower.

I'm simply saying we were governed on the basis that God is sovereign and human life is sacred because it's been created.

John Winthrop, in the founding days of America, the Puritan leader, gave a charge to America based on Moses' charge to Israel when he said, and I quote, but if our hearts shall turn away so that we will not obey but shall be seduced and worship and serve other gods, our pleasure and prophets... Notice how he names the gods.

What are the gods?

Pleasure and prophets.

And serve them, we shall surely perish.

Winthrop's words became prophetic because think about where we are now, and I don't want to go too much into this because we've done it already.

You can't have the Bible or prayer or talk about God or Jesus in the public arena, but you can fly a pride flag.

We've come a long way and it's in the wrong direction.

But you should never, listen, but don't be angry toward individuals.

The point of this series is not to make you mad at people.

It's to help you understand where all this is coming from.

And we went through Ephesians 6 where we talked about, Paul said, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but it's against the rulers, powers, and world forces.

And remember I shared with you how when I was younger, why does Paul use these three words?

That just irritated me.

I couldn't find the separation.

Until finally, through Greek word studies, archus is the word rulers, which means architect.

So Also, the demonic forces are well organized.

They're strategic.

They're not haphazard.

They have the architect of evil.

Then they have what is called the exousias, the powers which are the generals that employ what has been, or execute, exousias, what is executed by those who have determined legislation.

And then they need world forces, cosmocrator is the original word, they need world forces, human entities to work through to achieve their goals.

So as you look out to America to find out where we are, we've discovered three gods that primarily work with the ancient gods all the way back to the time of Mesopotamia.

They have reentered culture because the other thing we learned is as the Jesus movement came, all of these gods and goddesses were relocated to the fringes of the West so that the West began to what?

Prosper.

It prospered because of Jesus.

It was beginning to be built on the precepts of the Judeo-Christian belief worldview.

And of course, when you love your neighbor as yourself, of course when you pray for your enemies, when you pray for those who persecute you, when you turn the other cheek, when you're honest and you have integrity and you treat others the way you would want them to, of course society's going to be better.

Of course culture's going to work when there's honesty and integrity and character.

Right?

So as the, as the Jesus movement spread through the West, it began to flourish, it began to But now that we've eradicated the Judeo-Christian values out of the West, we find ourselves in political and economic turmoil.

But know who the real enemy is.

The enemy are the gods who have returned because the Jesus movement has now been relegated to the fringes.

And when it's relegated to the fringes, the demonic forces return.

The question is, listen now, a shorter sermon if you behave.

Which God are you serving?

Bel-ishtar-molek.

Bel is the God in the ancient world that turns the hearts of men away from the Creator and we start worshiping created things.

Money, power, affluence.

We go to those things as coping mechanisms to fill the void in our hearts.

And then Ishtar comes in.

Bell ushers in Ishtar.

Because when you get bored with affluence and you realize it doesn't work, man starts to worship each other.

And so they start to cross the sexual boundaries.

And so now, remember the goddess Ishtar, her motivation is to convert or turn a man's desire for a woman from a woman to a man, and a woman's desire for a man, a woman to a woman.

Why would she want to do that?

The gods of the ancient world wanted to destroy everything that God values.

If you want to hurt somebody, hurt the thing they love most, the thing God loves most is you and me.

If you can destroy culture, if you can destroy the family, you will destroy society and ultimately mankind altogether.

And then after Ishtar enters the scene, it paves the way for Molech.

Molech is the god of child sacrifice.

When the people of the ancient world participated in sexual immorality with the high priest and priestesses in the temples as a form of worship, the natural result was children, and they were unwanted, so they were sacrificed on the altar, burned in the fire of Molech.

And so now here we are today.

All those things have happened in our culture.

Through abortion, through sexual immorality.

and through all of us pursuing something above and beyond a relationship with God.

But here's the problem, and this is what I've been trying to say.

Remember I said a couple of months ago, you know what?

I'm at the point now, here's what COVID taught me.

We need to preach the gospel and whoever's offended is offended.

And if you stay, you stay.

If you go, you go.

Because...

Because if you really love somebody, you'll tell them the truth, but you'll also give them grace.

You with me?

You'll tell them the truth, but you'll also give them grace because you got sin in your life as well.

Okay?

So, that's what I'm saying.

You understand that.

But why is it that we all point the finger at people who are struggling with Ishtar when Baal is dominating us?

So you're so quick to tell somebody who's struggling with same-sex attraction or adultery or pornography, you guys are really bad over there.

We got to get you out of here.

But wait a minute.

You're following Baal.

How so?

All right.

Honesty.

Every time I talk about giving and do a giving series, the attendance decreases week after week.

Do you know why?

You don't want to be told that you should be living your life for something greater than yourself.

And somehow you think that the fact that you're not generous, that you're all about building your kingdom and not God's, that somehow you're better than the people who are struggling with same-sex attraction.

And I want to tell you something, you're not.

All the gods have gotten us, me, you, to some degree, they have moved in, they've been relegated to the fringes, they've moved back into mainstay, and now as a result, do you realize we are all gonna be tempted by the gods, and if you don't watch your back, and if you're not committed to Christ, and if you're not pursuing Christ, and you're not in community and accountability in a relationship, the current of the world is so strong that it can pull you away.

Do you understand that?

Now let me shift gears again, this is the last message and look at this, I've got nine minutes left.

They got to be crazy back there.

But anyway, I'll try my best.

Listen, listen, here's what I want you to see as we pull all this together.

In one of my first conversations of helping a person far from God come near to God, it was one of my first ones, I met with a gentleman for over seven years.

And in that seven years, we talked almost every Wednesday, about every Wednesday as we had lunch together.

And I really wanted to help somebody that I considered far from God come near.

But over the years, I began to hear his story and it opened my eyes to the paths that we travel in life.

His parents left him, they took him to town when he was six years old and just left him and deserted him.

He was picked up and taken to an orphanage where he was sexually abused.

That's a pretty good start to a life, isn't it?

He goes through life thinking that he doesn't matter, but he's the kind of personality that becomes incredibly driven.

He says, I'm going to prove to the world and everybody that I matter and I'm somebody.

And he excelled.

But through the course of our conversation, he shared with me, even though I was excelling, there was this gaping hole and I couldn't fill it.

And every time I felt lost, it seems like somebody provided something to kind of get me over the hump.

Drugs, alcohol, a relationship, but those, instead of giving me life, I noticed now, after the fact, that they were further taking me into the pit of destruction.

And it's almost like every time I got to a point where I was ready to look towards something else that he'll tell you now the evil one offered something that would take me further and further away from God.

Because I didn't know much about God then.

And then he said I had a friend invited me to church then.

And I went and I listened and it's like somebody told the preacher all about my life.

And I was really upset.

And this has happened all in New Zealand and Australia.

And he said, I came back again and then finally I realized that my entire life, all these, all the things that I'd done were coping mechanisms to deal with this overwhelming sense of lack of significance and love and all of that.

But when I found Jesus, he said, Jeff, I can't explain it to you.

When I found Jesus, I went up, I got baptized and it's like the burden was lifted off me.

Why do I say that?

I say that because you and I have no idea the road that people have traveled to get where they are.

All right, I'm not going to read it because I'm already behind schedule.

But in John 8, I was going to read the passage, but you know the passage.

It's where the woman is caught in adultery and these men bring her because she's been caught in the act.

How do you catch somebody in the act of adultery?

You set her up.

You just didn't happen to be there.

So they set her up.

They bring her to Jesus.

They want him to condemn her.

And then Jesus says, and in the original language, this is how it were.

It's worded, he or she, and I'm assuming that there's no she's there, but perhaps there were, he or she who is without not just sin, but this sin, be the first one to cast a stone.

This sin.

And then it says the older ones left first.

Well, because they've been around long enough.

No man, I can't fake this.

I mean, I looked at stuff, I've done things, man.

And then the younger ones finally admitted, yeah, I probably, I'll leave too.

They all left.

And then Jesus looks at the woman and says, Who condemns you?

She says nobody.

And then Jesus said, neither do I condemn you.

But then he says, go and leave your life of sin.

Well, wait a minute.

If you're not condemning me, why are you telling me I'm a sinner?

Because Jesus saw something in the lady's life that you and I could not have seen.

What got her there?

What made her into the person she had become?

Maybe she desperately wanted her father's approval and didn't get it.

Was she abused by a relative?

Maybe she just wanted to be a part of it.

Maybe she just wanted to be a part of it.

Was she forced into selling herself in a time when you could not survive?

Was she abused by her first husband?

What kind of coping mechanisms did she develop?

What Jesus is trying to say is it doesn't really matter where you've been or what you've done, you're one decision away from total forgiveness and restoration.

That's the point.

That's the point of John 8.

That's the point of Jesus' ministry.

He doesn't seem to be interested to go in where you've been, just in where he wants to take you.

That's why I did the series.

I know another young man.

He wanted desperately the love of his father, but his father was a narcissist, probably because his father was a narcissist.

So his father, the thing he wanted most from his dad, he didn't get.

So guess what?

In his early 20s, he met an older man who gave him that kind of security and affirmation, and over time, it turned into a gay relationship.

But for the young man, it wasn't about the sex.

It was about the acceptance and provision.

We have no idea all the things that play a part to get a person to where they are.

But the point is, here's what I want you to learn from the series.

Number one, number one, work with me.

Work together to redeem this land for the sake of our children.

Work with me here.

But as you work with me, as you work with me, know that you've got people who've been raised in a culture where the gods from the fringes have returned to mainline society and they have been impacted.

So it's gonna be hard work.

You gotta give grace, you gotta give mercy, but at the same time, you gotta tell the truth.

It's not loving to hide the truth.

So help me restore.

Now, when Daniel was taken captive by the Babylonians, and by the way, why was Israel taken captive by the Babylonians?

Because they stopped serving and worshiping God.

So the thing that got them into the land, the thing that gave them prosperity and affluence, they turned their back on.

So God said, well, I'm going to send the Babylonians in and discipline you and maybe you'll come to your senses.

That's what God does.

I've often wondered, who will God send into America to discipline us?

But either way, our response is to be the same because what did Daniel do?

Daniel didn't picket, protest, and scream.

What Daniel did was just keep living a life of distinction that was so powerful that people around him wanted to know what made him different.

Listen, the problem is not out there, the problem's in here.

The problem is with the church in America, not the world.

We're not distinct enough anymore.

We watch the same things, we go the same places, we read the same stuff, we participate in all the same activities.

Pew Research tells us that 73% of all Christ followers in the congregations in America are addicted to pornography.

Why are you talking so much about what's going on out there when we've not cleaned up our own house?

And I'm telling you, a revival can happen in America.

Thank you.

A revival can happen in America when you and I start living consistently with what we say we believe.

Help me.

However, and this is a big however, and it's what I think most of you have been waiting on me to say for a long time.

There is something different between us and Daniel.

We live in a different world.

We live in a, well again, I said I think it's more of a republic, but just so that we can be on the same page, a democracy.

And in a democracy, we have power.

Something Daniel did not have.

But the key is Matthew 10, 16, Jesus says, I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves, therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

So Jesus says, use your head.

How can you reach people far from God without destroying... Be gentle, without destroying your primary goal, helping people far from God come near.

And the fact is, here in America, because we're in a democracy, you have to use...

the idols of the West as a means to reach them for the one true God.

The idol of the West is materialism.

That means that Christ followers have a lot of power.

Your power is that you quietly go about your business praying even though they tell you you can't pray, reading scripture in public even though you can't read scripture, talking about Jesus wherever you go.

But you also have a silent power called buying power.

And if you as... If the Christ followers in America... Forget about America.

If the Christ followers just in San Dimas and Laverne and Glendora stop supporting those primary agencies that are devaluing Judeo-Christian values and coming after our children, let me tell you, they would wake up.

They would.

They would say, wait a... Because money means everything.

Money means everything.

So if they stop making money, they're going to say, why?

And that's when they're going to find out.

They're going to say, money means everything.

Maybe we shouldn't do this.

So here's what I've done.

I've told you I do my research.

You know that I don't typically do this kind of thing, but I'm doing it now and I probably won't do it again for a very long time.

Here's what I've learned.

Here are the corporations that are aggressively trying to undermine the Judeo-Christian worldview.

Okay?

Number one, Disney.

Number one.

If just the Christians in SoCal stopped going to Disney, they'd take a good look at themselves.

But here's the problem, and I told you that's going to be a little rough, you won't.

Because you're in a culture of affluence, and when you're affluent, you're going to get what you want when you want it, and nobody's going to tell you what to do.

So the Christ followers in the early church died for their faith, and we can't even give up Disneyland.

Target, Target, you know about Target so I don't need to go there.

But think about what would happen if just the people who call themselves Christ followers, just think, just the Christ followers, I mean because we're one church in a gazillion around here and good ones around us.

What if all the Christians down in Anaheim and Irvine and right here and all, just stop going to Target?

I guarantee within a month, they'd say, oh, something's going on here, what's happening?

Thank you.

Adidas, which I don't...

participate in anyway, so I don't care about that.

I mean, Adidas.

Hershey, which is horrible chocolate.

So Bud Light, you know their constituents.

Here's another one, Ford.

Now that makes a lot of sense to me.

Here's one that's been around, it's kind of the trailblazer of all this, Nike.

Nike's a disaster.

And you know, I could tell you why.

Go do the research for yourself, okay?

And then this last one's going to hurt.

Coca-Cola.

What am I going to do?

Because I've always believed that God himself made Diet Coke and sent it to us as a gift But you know, the more I read, the more I realized, okay.

And I went to my wife yesterday, I said, Robin, I just, you know, I'm gonna have to drink something else.

I can't do this anymore.

Don't buy any Diet Cokes.

She goes, are you serious?

I said, yeah.

No more Cokes.

She goes, well, you got a problem.

We sell Diet Coke in the cafe at church.

What are you gonna do?

I said, well, I'm gonna start weaning us off of it and go somewhere else.

Does Coke make Mountain Dew?

Or is it Pepsi?

Oh, is it Pepsi?

But think about, think about what your pastor just did.

Think about what he did.

People in the first century died for their faith and I'm thinking, oh, giving up Diet Coke is the end of the world.

But if I'm going to be consistent, I've got to set the example for you.

Do you understand that when a significant group of people push back against sinful ideologies, the trajectory of culture can be changed?

This is the way you do it while loving those who are far from God.

You don't get loud, you don't get vitriolic.

You do everything you can to live a quiet and peaceable life, but you use the power that God has given you, and you use the advantage of culture.

I think that's exactly what Paul did when he kept going into the synagogues.

Cultures build around the synagogues.

That's where I'm going.

But when your identity, when your church becomes associated with a political position, then you're in trouble.

You see, that's why there's such a fine line to travel.

My job is not to do, my job is to preach the scriptures.

And most of you know if you've been here any length of time of the work I try to put in every weekend so that you can walk away thinking, okay, I understand that passage and how it relates to my life.

I don't wanna just be a pep rally coach.

You know, you can do it.

You know, when the outlook is bad, try the up look.

You know, I don't wanna just say that for 30 minutes.

I wanna give you something that's gonna sustain you.

But please remember, your greatest weapon, your real power that you have, is repentance against the hypocrisy in the church of Jesus Christ.

Now let me give you an example.

Almost done, we're doing well.

So we're in Kauai.

My father-in-law and I and a friend, this is a couple years back, and there was a golfer behind us, a single, and we thought, let's call this guy through because he's a pretty good player.

You can tell by his swing.

Let's let him go through.

So he goes through, but he stops and we start a conversation.

Hey man, how are you?

I'm good.

And we find out he's from Corona.

He finds out I'm a pastor.

Oh, you're a pastor.

I'm a pastor.

He said, where?

I said, one at all church.

He goes, ah, I've been there.

One time, one or two times my girlfriend, he said, I'm a Christian and I've got my girlfriend here.

We're here on holiday together.

We've got two kids together.

We're not married.

We live together though.

Now here's the thing.

He didn't bat an eye.

He didn't feel bad about saying that to me at all.

at all. There was no shame, no guilt, nothing. Okay, I'm going to say this one more time and I'll wait a while. If I say to you, follow me, and I start walking this way, and you go the other way, you're not following me. Okay, if Jesus says, if Jesus says sex is between a man and a woman in the context of marriage, and he walks this way and you go the other, you're not following him. If you've got an addiction to pornography, you're not following him.

If you're sleeping with somebody you're not married to, you're not following Him.

If you're cheating on your wife, you're not following Him.

All sexual immorality is the same in the eyes of God.

So before you start yelling at what's going on out there, let's clean up our own house and let's… If we're Christ followers, let's live like we are.

Work to redeem this land for the sake of our children.

Work toward repentance for the sake of salvation.

Let me say again, the point of the series has been to encourage you that no matter where you've been, what you've done, there's forgiveness.

Do you know that?

For those of you who are struggling with same-sex attraction, please hear me.

I love you.

Don't leave.

I want to go this journey with you the same way I want to go on a journey with somebody who's struggling with not having sex with his girlfriend, even though they're not married.

I'm not throwing you under the bus.

I'm telling you I got it.

I know what life is like.

Believe it or not, I was not always this ugly.

I was young once.

I could get the girls.

I know what it's like, but I love you.

Because I love you, I want to tell you the truth.

This is not your best life.

So I want you to stay though and go on the journey.

I want to help.

I want to put you in a group of people who will love you and say to you, who is it that condemns you?

Neither I, but go and leave your life of sin.

You see that?

You see that?

So whatever you've done in the past, whatever you've done, and those of you who are addicted to money, that you use God, your real God is money, so you use the real God to get your idol.

Because you come to church and you do everything you do because you think, if I can get God on my side, he's gonna give me more money.

That means you're real God's money.

Repent.

This is the weekend where you, God, I'm sorry, I'm not generous, I'm greedy, I live in constant terror that I'm not going to have enough, but really I know the only thing I can't live without is you.

And repent this weekend.

While you're pointing the finger, you sexual immoral people need to repent.

You need to repent.

I need to repent.

All of us.

Repent.

For those of you, when you were younger, had an abortion, can I tell you something?

God loves you, he forgives you.

Repent.

Name it and say, God, I see now that I did this for convenience sake.

I know there are other circumstances.

I'm talking about the 97% that have an abortion because of inconvenience.

Come on now.

Whoever you are, God is good and he will forgive you.

And that's the third and final point, okay?

Work toward purity for the sake of distinction.

Okay, because you're the final audience and we can go over a little bit, I'll give you a little extra with no charge. Come on now, come on.

My, I'm almost done. I'm almost done.

I don't know. Many of you don't know my father-in-law, Charlie Delaney.

He was in the nine o'clock today. He's 83 years old.

He's my mentor, my friend.

He's one of those that you don't find very much anymore.

Just solid preacher of the gospel who has lived a life in integrity with his family, with his children, his grandchildren.

I don't know if any of you know this story, but I was 19 years old and I was struggling with what my next move in life was.

I realized that I was never gonna go to the NBA.

I was good enough to be here, but I was never gonna go beyond.

And some friends of some men invited me to a men's retreat out in the sticks of East Tennessee.

And I sat there trying to debate what I'm going to do with my life.

And it was all about me at that point.

What am I going to do?

What am I going to do?

And this funny little man gets up to preach.

And he was so captivating.

I had no idea who he was, but I remember drawing a line in the sand that day.

That's it.

That's it.

I am living for God.

I am going this way and I'm never turning back.

I want to live my life for something bigger than myself, and I want to see what God will do with me.

Now, here's what's interesting.

I'm going to go to bed.

Good night.

I go to that, so I made the decision to go to study in the seminary.

The meeting was in June.

I started seminary in the first of September.

When I went, I met this girl.

Her name, Robin.

We started dating.

We got serious and in six months she took me home to meet her father.

It was that guy.

It was that guy.

I mean, it's an amazing story.

I go to her house, she goes, I want you to meet my dad.

Wait a minute, I know who you are.

I remember that day, but it's all, it's all God, what God was doing to get me to where I am now.

But, but God doesn't love me more than you, He's trying to get you to where He wants you now.

But you gotta make a decision in your life, I'm gonna step across — I'm asking you this weekend, that's it.

No more pornography, no more sexual immorality, no more trying to stockpile and build my own kingdom.

From this day forward, I'm stepping across the line, I've been going that way, now I'm going this way, and I'm gonna live for Jesus.

I'm asking you to do that.

Amen.

Amen.

Whatever transgression, if you say that your transgression is so bad that God can't forgive, do you know what you're saying?

You're saying that the blood of Jesus is not powerful enough.

And it is.

Yeah, sure, we've got the dark trinity, Bel, Ishtar, Molech, but they're no match for the real trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

Right?

There is but one God, the Creator of all things.

There is but one Jesus, the Savior, who atoned for your sin.

There is but one Holy Spirit, the one who can come into your life and transform you from the inside, who, who, who not only changes what you do, but what you want to do.

And there's only one way, and only one heaven prepared for those who have been transformed by God's Spirit.

And according to John in the book of Revelation, we are in those days where many hearts will turn away from God.

And the cost of following Christ will be too great, and they will live those lives of mediocrity and refuse to follow Jesus.

But for those who turn and choose to repent and follow Him, everything we've lost in this world will be replaced to an infinitely greater degree in the world that is to come.

My favorite three scriptures.

If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, 1 John 1.9.

Psalm 103, 12, as far as the east is from the west.

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

And then listen to Colossians 1, in light of everything that we've done in this series, this is the way to end it.

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

I don't care what it is that you've done.

I mean, I care, but in the whole scheme of things, you're one defining moment away from security in eternity with Christ.

And I know you're not going to...

When you turn and go the other way, it doesn't mean you're going to be perfect now and never sin.

Believe me, I know that by experience.

Right?

But if you'll turn...

and ask for forgiveness and truly repent with the intention of going in the direction God has called you, I'm telling you, He will give you the supernatural power that you need.

He won't override you because it goes back to love and freedom.

But if you invite Him in, He'll come in and He'll give you the supernatural power that you need to overcome all temptation.

So here's what we're going to do.

I'm going to pray.

Band's going to come out and they're going to do a song, and during that song, we've removed a section of chairs here because this is going to be a makeshift altar.

And I'm going to be the first one down here because I'm asking you, if you have a son, grandson, daughter, nephew, niece, cousin, that you want to come and represent, I'm asking you to come and represent them and pray for them.

Whatever sin it is they're struggling with, whatever temptations, whatever desires, that you would come and represent them and call and.

Fall on your knees and call on the name of Jesus to do whatever he has to do to wake them up, to open their eyes against the darknesses, the forces of darkness rather, so that those who are far can come near.

And also, if you've got something in your life, this is your time.

And that's why we're gonna do both things, because you might say, man, if I go forward, they're gonna think I've got some immorality in my life.

Well, let me tell you something, I already think you've got some immorality in your life.

Of course you do.

So this is the time when you come to represent somebody or if you've got something you're really struggling with, let me say again, let me say again, you're struggling with gender dysphoria, you're struggling with same sex attraction, hear me say, I love you.

I love you and I wanna help you and I want us to go through this journey together.

But I wanna tell you the truth.

that you live within those parameters, God is gonna bless your life in ways.

He's gonna fill that void that you have that you're trying to fill by idols.

He'll fill it in a way, and when he's done it, you'll think, oh, I am so glad.

How sweet and precious is the name of Jesus who comes into my life, and there is a well springing up within me that just overflows.

Okay?

Father, thank you.

I praise your name for your goodness and for your mercy.

Anything that I've said during this series that is not consistent with your word, I pray that it would be like seed fallen on the wayside or by the wayside.

It would be trampled under the feet of men and will never be remembered again.

Anything I've said that's consistent with your word and in harmony with your will, that it would be remembered for a long time to come, that it would go deep into our hearts and transform us.

And I pray right now as we call on your name.

that as you've told us in James 5, the effective prayer of a righteous man releases the divine energy of God into the lives of people for whom we pray.

And I pray that you would do an awesome work in Christ's name, everybody said.