good morning church family for the Lord's Day we're going to go ahead and begin our worship with this first song over to God Great God of Highestown Occupy my lowly low Born it all and reign supreme Conquer every rebel Let no vice Let no vice or sin remain That resists your holy war You have loved and purchased me Made me yours forever No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I was blinded by myself Had no ears to hear your voice Did not know who loved them Had no taste for heaven And your spirit gave me life Open up your word to me The gospel of your sound Gave me in this open prayer Help me now to live a life That's dependent on your grace Help me now to live a life Help me now to live a life That's dependent on your grace Keep my heart and guard my soul From the evil's death You are worthy to be praised With my every thought and peace You are worthy to be praised With my every thought and peace Great God, O God, O God, O God Glorify your name Good morning Welcome to Brink Community Church We're going to get started With our announcement From our college department Our pastor, Sung He's going to come And give the announcement For what's going on With the college ministry right now Hello, everyone I'm Pastor Sung I oversee our college ministry Here at Brink Community Church First of all I want to welcome All the visiting students For the first time If you're here I just want to extend That warm welcome And also welcome To our returning students We're glad to have you back I have a couple of announcements Starting this Tuesday September 23rd We're kicking off Our welcome week And we're going to start With a boba night And we have a lot of things Planned for that evening We have activities We have testimonies From our students And so if you have time Please come join us Tuesday, September 23rd For boba night And then following that On Thursday We have pizza and ice cream And then on Friday We have making wise decision seminar And then Saturday We're going to end it With our welcome barbecue We have a lot of food Prep for that day So if you're new And if you're returning Please come join us For those events And then we have a separate College welcome lunch That's scheduled For October 5th And that's scheduled To start at 1pm Sunday, October 5th We have a red canopy Outside at the courtyard That's our college Ministry table So following the service If you're a college student You're visiting For the first time Please stop by Don't leave Without stopping by Say hello to our collegians There and come And talk with me I would love to meet with you And you could ask Any other questions That you have For college ministry At the red canopy Outside in the courtyard Thank you For the next Next Sunday At 1pm We have a newcomer's Welcome lunch So if you are visiting And you want to find out More about the church And some of the leaders Will be there Some of the newcomer Welcome team members Are going to be there And they'll go over The history of the church Or have any kind of questions To get to know the church better So that's happening Next Sunday There is a separate college one That's happening The week after that If you're a college student And you can't make that And you want to come to that one You're welcome to come to that But again This is open for anyone At church who is visiting And I know there's a lot Of college students That are coming into town Or back into town So there's one For the general group Next week And another one For the college students The week after that The next round of Church membership Is happening on October 5th At 9.30 a.m.

And so This is an eight week course Where we go over The doctrines of our church Our ministry philosophy So there's eight Eight weeks of going over Our church vision And so Different leaders in our church Will lead that class That's happening on Sunday During the second service So it's happening at 9.30 And it's an eight week course So if you want to participate In that Please go sign up For that as well And then finally On October 12th At 2 p.m.

We have a members meeting So our quarterly members meeting Is happening at 2 o'clock So if you cannot make it Please let us know Ahead of time And that Sunday That our Taiwan mission team Is going to be doing A fundraiser And that team Is going to be leaving At the end of Taiwan For about a week and a half Okay I think that's it For the announcement So let me pray for the offering To give you an opportunity To give online And if you do have A physical offering We have an offering box On the back On the wall On the way out Okay Let's pray Father we Thank you so much For this morning Thank you for Gathering your people On this day Where we can Focus our attention On you That we can find Rest Joy Our comfort All of it Lord God Would come from you And not necessarily The things of this world Help us to be sober Help us Lord God To honor you With our singing And even in this giving That it may be an overflow Not simply out of habit But that we would Give extension of who we are Lord God Through the offering And I pray that you Would give us wisdom As leaders Lord To be able to handle it As good stewards And that you would Multiply this gift Thirty-six to a hundredfold For the spreading of the gospel In your kingdom In Jesus name we pray Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen All glory and honor, all power and faith, and lead to your name, lead to your name.

For God's arrival, all glory and faith, and lead by the name of Jesus. For God's arrival, all glory and faith, and lead to your name, lead to your name, lead to your name. For God's arrival, all glory and honor, all glory and faith, and lead to your name, lead to your name.

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For God's arrival, all glory and faith, and lead to your name. Okay, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 12. We're going to be reading from verse 35 to verse 40. Luke chapter 12, verse 35 to verse 40. Okay, reading out of the NASB. "Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit.

Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.

Whether he comes in the second watch, or even the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

You too be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect." Let's pray. Father, we pray that as you have gathered us here, that you would speak to us, that you would protect the words that come forth, that it may be your words and your words alone.

I pray, Father God, for the hearers, that you would give them open ears and softened hearts, and ready will, Lord God, to obey what you call us to do. So for that end, we pray that you would anoint this time, and empower it with your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. So the text that we're looking at this morning is in the context of Jesus preparing his disciples as he is preparing to head toward the cross. So we have to study everything that we're seeing in Scripture within the proper context, because if we dissect what we're studying, independent of the context in which he is saying these things, we can either have a wrong interpretation or wrong application.

The text that we're looking at is in the context of Jesus. He is turning his attention from the crowd to his disciples because he is headed toward the cross. And he's preparing his disciples for about the turmoil that's about to come. And so that's why he tells his disciples as he is going to the cross to be careful.

Because the Pharisees, the 11 of the Pharisees, the hypocrisy, that the first line of persecution is going to come from people in the name of God. They're going to persecute them. So he's saying pay attention to them. And secondly, he says when they begin to persecute you, the synagogue leaders and the rulers and authority in that order, when first persecution comes because the religious leaders don't like what you have to say, when you call them out from sin, they're going to push back.

And then when you are starting to bear fruit, the local authorities are going to drag you into court. And then they're going to they're going to flog you and try to physically stop you. And when the movement becomes large enough, when the Roman government begins to step in, and they may have the authority to even kill you, which many of them did.

He says, don't be afraid of them because they can only kill your outer body. If you're going to fear anything, fear God who can kill your outer body and your soul after you die, because that God loves you and he cares for you. And we talked about that how last week or a couple of weeks ago, he didn't tell them that if you are bold, that he's going to protect you and that you're not going to be persecuted or you're not going to face death.

He actually tells them, don't fear death. That the work that I'm calling you to do is going to lead to death specifically for the disciples. He said, but don't fear that. Don't fear death. Because the God who loves you will protect you and provide for you even when you die.

Now they didn't fully understand this until Jesus actually died himself and he was resurrected. And he realized that death wasn't the final place for the people of God. And so everything he's been saying was to prepare them for what he was about to do. But we talked about how last week, I said in the midst of this challenge, telling them not to be afraid of even death.

He says, don't worry about what you're going to eat and what you're going to wear, right? FOMO, fear of missing out. Because where the rubber meets the road is as much as we get convicted and challenged and say, you know, I'm going to be a great Christian. I want to bear much for the kingdom of God.

But what causes us to be squeezed where our passion and conviction begins to die is where the rubber meets the road is our daily concerns over our daily lives. About what we're going to wear, what we're going to eat. The next thing you know, the deceitfulness of riches, of seeking comfort and desire and pleasure, begins to choke the word of God and it no longer has any effect on you.

So he tells them to be careful. And then the text that we're looking at today says, no, you need to be alert. They need to be aware. You need to be eagerly waiting for the coming of Christ. Again, all of this because they see the turmoil that's coming. Everything in the scripture is written with that mindset.

He's not just talking to his disciples. He said from the very get-go. He's not springing this on because now the stage of comfort is over. Now you have to get ready. From the very get-go. He left his throne. Came down. He said, even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

He came to seek and save the lost and he called his disciples. Come after me and I will show you how to make disciples of men. And then now he's about to leave. He's going to give the baton to them. And exactly what I called you to do, you're going to start doing.

And then you're going to make disciples of other men who are going to also do the thing that we're going to do. So we have 2,000 years of connected history of God's calling to the church. In fact, you can't read Genesis and you can't read all the way through Revelation if your paradigm isn't aligned with God's calling.

If your mindset in the church is, I want to come to church with people who have good morals, who are similar minded, we're going to go and enjoy each other's company, we're going to raise children with godly morals, and then we're going to sprinkle some Jesus on all of this.

And if that's your mindset, if you have a bunker mindset where all you are doing is building a fortress to protect our children and our families from the wickedness that's happening outside, you're going to miss the whole point of scripture. Everything that he says, every part of scripture is in the context of God pursuing the lost and then calling us to join his work.

And that's why the language that is used in the Bible is very militant. In 2 Timothy 3 to 4, 2, 3 to 4, it says, "Suffer hardship with me." "Suffer hardship with me." Can you imagine that being said today, that you're going out and inviting people to church and introducing Christ and your invitation is, "Come suffer with me." I mean, think about our generation, how we make it so easy, right?

We have good music, we have encouragement, we have coffee, our parking is this, our sermon is short, and they're bending over backwards to make people feel comfortable. Because if you come here, you're going to have a better life. But Paul says, "Come suffer with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." "No soldier in active service entangles himself with the affairs of everyday life." Who isn't at some point entangled with civilian affairs?

We have to pay our bills, we have to take care of our children, we have to go to school, we have to get proper degrees, we have to get married. So these are all civilian affairs, but what he's saying is, these civilian affairs may be important, but when you get entangled with them, and you begin to forget what our primary calling is in life.

And that becomes your primary goal, primary concern, is entanglement with civilian affairs. You cannot please the commanding officer who enlisted us. Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:12, "Fight the good fight." He doesn't just say, "Endure hardship." He doesn't just say, "Just coast along, hopefully we'll make it to the end." He calls us to fight.

So the question we have this morning is, "What fight are you engaged in?" "What fight are you engaged in?" "I just fought with my wife this morning, that's the fight I'm in right now." "My kids aren't listening, so I'm fighting with that." So of course, there's fight that everybody who lives in this fallen world has to fight.

But obviously, that's not what he's talking about. He's not just talking about fighting that everybody else is involved with. This is specifically Christian. When he says, "Fight the good fight." I mean, I think you and I know exactly what he's talking about. We have the good news. He says, "I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not be able to prevail against it." He equipped us, challenged us, to go fight the good fight, to take the light into darkness.

At the end of his life, 2 Timothy 4:7, he describes his life as, "I have fought the good fight." So our Christian life is described as a fight. Over and over again, 2 Corinthians 10:3-4. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh." That's written to the church.

Somebody may look at 1 and 2 Timothy and say, "Well, he's talking to a pastor who's going to go and challenge and fight against heresy." Well, 2 Corinthians is written to the whole church, which would involve us. And he says, "We do not war according to the flesh." We are in war, he says.

"For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses." What are you fighting for? You know, I found out recently that in the 20th century, the number of people who have been martyred for their faith outnumber all other generations for the last 2,000 years.

Now, I thought that was kind of crazy. 2,000 years of people sharing the gospel and first 300 years of the church history where people are being dragged into the Colosseum. And obviously, one of the reasons is because we are a much bigger number in our generation. But the damage that the people are able to do now, obviously, is in larger numbers because it's not local.

Like, there are certain parts of the world right now where hundreds and even thousands of people are dying instantly because of the hostility toward Christianity. It's just that we're not aware of it. Because you and I kind of live in a bubble where we hear about it, we hear the news about it, and much of the media is not concerned about what's going on.

They did a little digging, and they were actually accurate. The hostility toward Christianity is more severe today than they say at any other time in history. It's just that you and I, it's not real to us here. There is a battle going on, and just like Jesus said, they don't like what I have to say.

They love what he did, but they didn't like what he had to say. And they, because they hated me, they're going to hate you. This is the context in which he is saying what he is saying in verse 35. He says, "Stay awake. Be ready. Be sober." Because if you're in a time of battle, and you're not awake, you don't realize how great of a danger you are in.

Because you don't realize the attack you're in. You don't realize the deception that you're in. You don't realize how much of your thinking, your emotion, and your opinions are being affected by our enemy. Because you're not even aware there's a battle going on. So he begins by telling us, "Be dressed in readiness." Be dressed in readiness literally means to gird up your loins.

And you probably see that in the Bible. If you go to the Middle East or some parts of India, especially in the villages, where the men wear what looks like a skirt. I don't know what that is called. I forgot what it's called. Right? But when they need to go to work, they would take it and then they would wrap it around their waist and it basically becomes a pants or short pants.

And that's a literal image that he's giving. He said, "Gird up your loins." It means be ready for action. Be dressed, basically, for warfare. Everything that we do. When, if you're not engaged in a Great Commission, Bible study just becomes study. It's homework. You did homework in high school.

You did homework in college. Now you know how to do homework at church. It's just homework. You're just learning. But you're not being equipped. Because you're not using it. You're just gaining knowledge. So after a while, when Bible study is done, it's like, "Oh, okay. All right. Now I get three months or two months off.

We don't have to do homework." And then when Bible studies, "Okay, now I got homework now." But the Word of God is given to us to equip us. For if we're not engaged in what God has called us to be engaged in, everything that we do, why do we need to pray?

Because you're supposed to. We want to fellowship with God. The primary reason why he told us to pray is to engage in spiritual battle. After he says, "Put on the full armor of God," at the end of that, he says, "You must pray, pray, pray, pray, pray." But we don't feel a dire need to pray when we're not engaged in the spiritual battle.

Because your life doesn't look any different whether you pray or don't pray. You don't see any effect of it other than when you're hungry, when you're sick, when you don't have enough money, then you pray for those things. But outside of an emergency in our life, you don't feel any urgency, spiritual urgency, to pray unless you are engaged in spiritual battle.

Everything that he calls us to do is in the context of this spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6:13, "Take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the day and having done everything to stand firm." You don't need to put on the full armor of God to live in a fortress.

You don't need to put on the full armor. How many of you come in and say, "I need to put on the full armor of God because I'm going to, Pastor Peter is going to say some stuff and I need to put on the full armor of God to protect myself from this guy.

I need to put on the full armor of God because we're going to go out to eat lunch and we're not exactly sure what we're going to eat. I need to put on the full armor of God. I need to go to Bible study. We're going to be opening up Genesis.

So I need to put on the full armor of God." No! If you're living in a fortress, you don't need the full armor of God. He says put on the full armor of God because our battle is not against flesh and blood. But make it clear it is a battle.

We are in a fight. 2 Timothy 4:1-2, "I silently charge you in the presence of God in Christ Jesus, who is the judge of the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction." The word for charge is a military term.

A commanding officer telling his subordinate, "I command you, I charge you in the presence of God." In other words, equip yourself to go fight. Be ready in season and out of season, whether they listen or don't listen. Whether they thank you or hate you. Whether they support you or even want to kill you.

Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. When you're living in a fortress, you can't handle rebuke. You can't handle rebuke. Because what's the point of rebuke when you're trying to relax? You don't want to pom-pom when you're trying to watch a movie.

You don't need somebody, "Come on, let's go!" The enemy is coming. Get equipped, put on your full armor of God. Get on the wall, protect yourself, don't fall asleep. You don't want to hear that when you're in your fortress, kind of like, "Hey, hey, hey, relax." I'm trying to take a nap.

So you don't want to hear rebuking and reproving. Only rebuking and reproving and exhorting happens because you need to stay alert. You need to be equipped for the war, for the spiritual war that he has called us to. The gates of Hades will not be able to prevail against it.

You can't go to war unless you are sober and you are alert. You are girding up. 1 Peter 3:15, "But sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart, always being ready. Be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." Be ready.

If you're not corded up and you're living your life in peace, when the opportunity comes, you're not going to be ready. You're so entangled with the basketball game going on or whatever it is that you're entangled with and your mind is so saturated with these things. And I'm not saying that any of this thing is wrong in and of itself.

But you're not living a sober life. Your mind and heart is not about the advancement of the kingdom. So when the opportunity comes, you're not going to be ready. And let me give you a perfect example. I mentioned last week, and some of you may not like what I have to say, but I am more convinced today than last week that Charlie Kirk was a martyr for the gospel.

I am more convinced today. And if you want to challenge me, don't come up to me and say, "This is how I feel." Because I feel more than you. Right? That's not a good argument, I feel. That's not a good argument. If you're going to challenge me, go do your homework.

Go look at all the videos. Go look at all the things they said. The totality, and not video clips. But look at the totality of it, and then come bring the evidence and say, "Here's why he's a racist. Here's why he's a fascist." Right? But I am more convinced today, at the end of doing even more research, that he was a martyr for Christ.

God has used this young man to open up the door for the gospel than I've ever seen in my life. Just this Friday, and I mentioned this, and I've told this to so many people because I was just so excited about what God is doing. Because we were out on the street at Spectrum, and usually if I'm going witnessing, I don't target high school students because they're not very friendly.

And I had four teenagers, one with the surfer hair and the typical, and they were looking at their phone. And usually if they're by themselves, they're a little bit more vulnerable. But four of them together, you know what I mean, they really become obnoxious. So usually if I'm out witnessing, those are not the people I target, right?

But I was walking, and four of them happened to be there, and they looked like they had a little bit more time. And I went and talked to one of them, because on the end, and then I said, "Hey, do you have any time to talk about, you know, about your faith and about our faith?" And he gave me the side eye, and then he was looking at it, and everybody was kind of, "What's this weird guy doing?" And then so I thought, you know, I'm going to have to change my approach to get their attention.

And I said, "What do you think about what happened to Charlie Kirk?" And then all of a sudden they perked up, you know, they got off their seat, and they actually came to me. And I said, "Okay, these guys want to go at it." So I don't know what their view was, maybe they hated him, but they came.

And I asked them, "So what do you think about what happened?" He said, "Man, you know, that was jacked up, the people celebrating his death. Whether you agree with him or not, how can people be celebrating his death?" And I said, "What did you think about what he said?" And he said, "You know what?" One of them said, "You know, I followed him before." And he said, "He makes a lot of sense." So I just automatically assumed that he was a Christian.

So I said, "Hey, do you go to church? Do you read the Bible?" And he said, "No." I said, "Oh, you're not a Christian." He said, "No, I was not raised in a Christian home." None of them did. So I said, "So what do you think about when, if you were following him, you probably heard what he was saying." He was very blatant and clear about his faith.

And he would share about Jesus, about repentance, and how you need to come into the kingdom, believe in Jesus. He said, "The most important thing you need to do in life is to come to Jesus." And he said that repeatedly, over and over. So I asked him that, and his response was, "Yeah, I know.

I'm going to read my Bible." This is from 16-year-old teenagers. That has never happened to me in the history of evangelism. Usually I don't go to the teenagers because they're very difficult to talk to. So after that, you know, we're going back and forth, and they were excited to engage and talk.

And I asked them, "How many of your friends are like you?" And they said, "Well, there's a lot more like us." And they said, "But the majority of them were celebrating." And they said they were disturbed. Their friend group was very disturbed in the way that their friends were reacting.

But I noticed that it created an open door to be able to share. And I found out that Charlie Kirk said that his life goal was to establish 20,000 turning point, you know, the clubs on high school and college campus. At his death, they had somewhere around 35,000, 4,000.

As soon as he passed away, in two days, they said they had 18,000 inquiries. And then it went from 18,000 to 32,000 a few days after that. And a few days after that, 32,000 to 42,000. I'm losing my number. 52,000. And then the last time I checked, it said they had 62,000 inquiries in a week and a half after his murder.

62,000. 62,000. His life goal was to get 20,000. And in his death, 62,000. And they're not all Christian. These are not all Christians who are coming, participating. But because he made his faith so clear. In fact, like I said, I did a deep dive on this. And a lot of the conservatives were very concerned that he was being too religious.

A lot of conservatives was on the right side, was saying, "You know what? Charlie's going through some sort of a spiritual change." And they said, "I don't know if he should be bringing that in." You know, it's muddying what he's doing. But he was crystal clear. My number one goal in life is to introduce people to Christ.

And then number two goal in life is to make sure that we live in a country where they are able to do that. And he did such a perfect job of bringing Christ into what he was doing. And to be honest, I've never seen that before. I've seen so many people, starting from Reagan, who said he was a Christian and then kind of used that for political purposes.

And so every person who said they were a Christian, I realized they were more politicians than they're a Christian. So whenever I hear young people saying, "Oh, I did this and I did that," I'm skeptical. Right? Because I've been so disappointed in the last 40-some years. This is the first time I've seen this guy who literally gave his life preaching the gospel.

The gospel is first for him. And I say all of this because God has created, he stirred the pot where so many people you can engage. In fact, after I talked to those teenage boys, their dad had to come pick them up so they had to leave. And after that, the next person I started with it, "Do you know Charlie?" Right?

Instead of saying, "Do you know Jesus?" I said, "Do you know Charlie?" Right? And it was so easy to talk to them. People were kind of like, "What is this crazy guy?" He said, "Do you know Charlie?" And then you could tell by their body language they wanted to engage.

So I had three conversations in a short period of time just to connect with them. And all I had to say was, "Oh, what happened?" He said, "Yeah, you know, I think what they did was wrong." And I said, "What do you think about his faith?" "What do you think about what he said?" And that immediately led to the gospel because he made the gospel so clear.

And all I had to do is, "Hey, you should keep watching it. Keep learning." And he said, "Yeah." Especially the last four or five years, he was so clear about the gospel. Now, the reason why I say all of this is because the door's been opened. The carpet's been laid.

If after all of this and we still refuse to engage, what will it take for the church to engage? What will it take for the church to realize the door's been opened, the pot's been stirred, and we're still looking at it and say, "Oh, that's great. That's going on over there." Where we have a world full of people asking questions.

They have seen evil unlike ever before. And there is a turning of their heart looking for something. And the church who claims to know the answer is sitting on their hands, And they're worried about the fortress that it doesn't get shaken up. What will it take the church to realize that this opportunity, I've never seen it.

As long as I've been a Christian, I've never seen this before. I've seen disasters and political turmoil. I've seen wars break out that didn't cause this. For the first time in my life as a Christian, we have a world filled with people who are looking for answers. And if this isn't going to wake up the church to be the light, what will?

And so that's why he says, "Gird up your loins for action." Keep the lamp lit. The lamp lit basically means don't fall asleep. Don't fall asleep. At that time, in order to light a lamp, it's not like a switch. You have to put oil in constantly. If the wick burns out, you have to cut it and put new wick on it.

In other words, don't let it burn out. It's not time to rest. In 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8, it says, "So then let us not sleep as the others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep, do their sleeping at night. And those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

But since we are of the day, let us be sober. Having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation." It is not time to sleep. Especially now. God has used this opportunity to open the door. If there is any other time, and I don't know how long this is going to last.

I don't know how long people are going to be this searching and open. But if church does not engage the darkness now, when will we? In 1 Peter 5:7-8, it says, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert.

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." He said, "You can't sleep because our enemy is not sleeping." The spiritual battle is going on 24/7. He said, "It is not time for us to sleep." Matthew 24:37-38, "The coming of the Son of Man will be like the day of Noah.

For as in those days, before the flood, they were eating, and drinking, and marrying, and giving marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark." The greatest expression of God's anger and judgment is at the Noah, is with the flood. And a description of what it was like. They were concerned about FOMO.

Eating, and drinking, and marrying like everybody else. Because they were unaware of the judgment that was coming. They were unaware of the emergency. They were unaware of the spiritual battle that they were in. So therefore, he says, "Stay awake. Keep the lamp lit. It is not time for the church to slumber." He says, "Be awake like a slave who is waiting for the master to come back from the wedding feast." Because when he comes and knocks on the door, that you would be eager and ready to open that door.

It says in Isaiah 40:31, "Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength." Where does spiritual vitality come from? Those who are eagerly waiting for the Lord. When we live our lives constantly worried about this world. The entanglement that comes with all the things that are here. You have no spiritual strength.

What makes you happy? What makes you joyful? What you're passionate about? It has nothing to do with God. It's just something that you hear on Sunday. And then if you feel guilty about it, it's like, "Ah, you know, he's always making me feel guilty." Maybe the guilt is there to the Holy Spirit to wake us up.

Maybe the guilt is there to call us out of our slumber. Maybe Christ is coming to wake us up, telling us to light the lamp. It is not time for us to slumber. Whatever it is that you have been entangled with. Whatever civilian affairs that has consumed your heart.

Maybe the guilt is coming to wake us up, to engage the darkness. "He who waits upon the Lord will renew their strength." 1 John 3:2-3 "Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not appeared yet as what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him.

Because we will see Him just as He is. Everyone who has the hope fixed on Him purifies himself just as He is pure." He said, "Everyone who is eagerly waiting for Him, fixes eyes upon Him, will purify himself." Now, I'm going to say something that's going to make a lot of you feel uncomfortable.

So many of you are struggling with pornography. And it is killing you. It is killing you. If you are not engaged in the Great Commission, all you do is feel guilty. "Oh, I shouldn't be doing this." And I go to church and then I confess. And then, "Oh, I am not alone.

Everybody else is struggling with this." And so, you don't feel any sense of urgency to conquer this sin. Because all you feel is guilty. And that's all. As long as I can be, "Oh, Jesus died for me and He loves me." Isn't it great that despite the fact that I watch pornography constantly?

Despite the fact that I am constantly compromised? Isn't it great that Jesus loves us unconditionally? And so, that's how we justify our sins. And by doing so, you've nullified your witness. You can't speak boldly. When the opportunities come, you don't speak. Because you're weighed down by guilt. And all the gospel does for you is give you a security blanket so that you can feel loved until He comes.

I don't want to engage in pornography. Because I have to preach on Sunday. I don't want to come up here with muddied water, muddied eyes and heart feeling guilty. Because I will not speak with conviction if I'm drowning in sin. When the opportunity for me to, time to come to share the gospel with them and to share with clarity and conviction and boldness.

I can't do that if I'm living in sin. I can embrace the gospel and say, "Oh, God loves me no matter what I do." And I can make it the next day. But you're not going to bear fruit. You can't speak with power. You can't speak with conviction. Because your enemy is going to use that to nullify any kind of authority and power you have.

To preach with conviction. You will never say to the world, "You must repent and come to Christ." You will never speak with that kind of conviction if you continue to allow this pornography to be a regular part of your life. He said, "He who fixes his eyes on him purifies himself." I don't want to be dirty because I want to bear fruit.

The next time I have an opportunity, somebody comes and asks me to clarify the gospel. That I don't want to be in a position where I have to numb down. I have to speak softly because I'm weighed down by my own sin. He who fixes his eyes upon Christ purifies himself.

I don't want to engage in that. You and I can't engage in that. If you want to speak with boldness, if you want to bear fruit, if you want to be his witness, you have to shine your light bright. You have to live a life of holiness. Any gospel that causes you to feel safe living continually in sin is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is a gospel that you've created that allows you to live under guilt without being delivered from your sins. That is not the gospel that I know. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. It is the power of God. It is not just an empty ticket.

It is not just a forgiveness and saying, "You know what? It doesn't matter how you live." No, it matters. He didn't just deliver us from the penalty of sin. He's delivered us from the power of sin. So when we can be our witness through our life and our words, Christ is exalted and you will see the power of God.

And one of the things that I saw with Charlie Kirk, and again, I've been watching hours and hours and hours of his testimony. The reason why he was so effective, why did so many people want this? But why was he so effective? Was he a better speaker? Was he better looking?

Does he have more credit? What made him so attractive? You know what I realized? He wasn't trying to sell anything. If you hear him talk, he wasn't trying to sell. He wasn't like, "I'm going to be out there. I'm going to be a witness for Jesus Christ." He was just saying what he believed.

And he was clear about it. Because he practiced it. Because he was living it. He was practicing as a dad. He was practicing as a husband. He was practicing as a man. And because he was practicing and his words came out clear with conviction and boldness. When we are entangled with things that don't matter in this world, it nullifies our witness.

It causes us to be impotent in the way that we speak. We can't speak with clarity and conviction and boldness because of the sin that is constantly weighing us down. And so the only thing that the gospel becomes is a security blanket to make it to the next day.

Instead of being at the power of God unto salvation. We must stay awake. God has provided an opportunity for us to shine our light bright. He said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him and he with me." He said, "If you open the door, he will come and he will provide a banquet." You know what's awesome about this?

He said, "Who's going to provide the banquet?" The master. The master is going to come and serve. And every instance where salvation is described, or many instances. So when he comes, he's going to bring a banquet with him. In Isaiah 25:6, "The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on the mountains.

A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces of marrow." Psalm 23:5, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You will have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows." Luke 13:29, "And they will come and serve." And they will come from east and the west, from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.

Finally, at the end times, Revelation 19:9, "Then he said to me, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" And he said to me, "These are true words of God." You know, I've officiated and attended probably over 200 weddings. And we're in wedding season right now.

It's like every Saturday there's a wedding for a while, right? And so the typical question I get is, "Do you ever get tired of weddings?" And my honest answer is, "No, never." I've never come back from a wedding thinking like, "Oh my gosh, they said they love you again." They walked down the aisle again.

You know what I mean? Ephesians 5:22, right? It never gets old. It never gets old. You know why it never gets old? Because two young couple are starting a new life. They're starting a new life, celebrating with all the people that they love. And they want you to be there and celebrate with them, to be a witness.

So it's not the food, it's not the whatever it is happening. It's like the fact that two people are coming, we're celebrating it together. And I got invited to that. Yeah, it never gets old. It never gets old. But can you imagine the banquet that he's going to bring?

Can you imagine what it will be like? Our master is girding up his loin to bring food to us. I wonder what that food's going to taste like. I don't know what you had at your wedding, but my guess is it's going to taste way, way better. He said he's going to come and he's going to bring the banqueting table for us.

Isn't that worth saving ourselves for? If you knew that you're going to have the best filet mignon at this banquet, you would not have had the cup ramen right before you went. You would not have pulled over and gotten McDonald's before you went to this banquet because you want to taste every bit of this.

And that's what he is saying. You stay sober. Keep the lamp lit. Engage in this battle. Wait for him to eagerly come and he will give you the banquet. The problem that we have, we're so entangled with civilian affairs that don't matter. And we think that if he's coming, we don't think about his second coming because we're coveting so many things down here.

I guarantee you when Christ comes, you're not going to say, give me one more day so that I can experience. You know, I checked off all the things on my bucket list and I got three more places that I need to go. Can you come back in six months?

Not a single person is going to be saying that. When you see him coming in his glory, whatever it is that you coveted before he came is going to automatically be, I coveted that. I coveted that. Do you remember the things that you coveted when you were in high school?

How foolish it looks. Look at your high school. Ear book. Do you ever look at that and say, I wish that would come back? That hairstyle. Remember the braided hair that down the middle? Some of you were in your mid forties. Aren't you embarrassed? Do you look at that and say, that was a good decision.

You're not going to look back at what you coveted when you were younger thinking like, Lord, just give me a year. Give me two more years so that I can visit Banff. So I can go eat this and I can travel and experience this. Everything that you coveted is going to look like trash when he comes.

At the banquet feast that he's going to bring. He said those who are eagerly waiting for him is going to experience this banquet. And those who have been entangled and was not engaged, was not waiting for him. He said he's going to come like a thief at night. The reason why he used that illustration is because when the thief comes, he comes to take your peace.

He comes to take away things that you treasure. And he said, when Christ comes, either he will come and you will experience this banquet or you will experience like a thief. What will it be? What will it be? What will it be? What are you fighting for? What are you engaged in?

If what's happening now doesn't wake up the church. If this doesn't stir us up to engage in the Great Commission. What will? Can I ask the praise seem to come up? And I can, I'll have a Keith Green song. You can never go wrong with Keith Green. Okay. So if you've been sleeping the whole time, just at least listen to this.

Okay. Then after this, I'll pray and then we'll wrap up our service today. Okay. If you can play the video. Do you see, do you see all the people sinking down? Don't you care, don't you care? Are you gonna let them drown? How can you be so numb not to care if they come?

You close your eyes and pretend the job's done. Oh, bless me, Lord. Bless me, Lord. You know, it's all I ever hear. No one aches. No one hurts. No one even sheds one tear. But he cries, he weeps, he bleeds. And he cares for your needs. And you just lay back and keep soaking it in.

Oh, can't you see it's such a sin? Cause he brings people to your door. And you turn them away as you smile and say, God bless you. Be at peace. And all heaven just weeps. Cause Jesus came to your door. You've left him out on the streets. Open up, open up, open up, and give yourself away.

You see the need. You hear the cries. So how can you delay? God's calling. God's calling. God's calling. And you're the one. But like Johnny, you're on. He's told you to speak. But you keep holding it in. Oh, can't you see such sin. The world is sleeping in the dark.

That the church just can't fight. Cause it's asleep in the light. Oh, can't you see such sin. How can't you be so dead? When you've been so well fed? Jesus rose from the grave. And you, you can't even get out of bed. Oh, Jesus rose from the dead. Come on, get out of your bed.

How can't you be so numb? How can't you be so numb? Not to care if they come. You close your eyes and pretend the job's done. You close your eyes and pretend the job's done. And don't close your eyes and pretend the job's done. Father, we pray for revival.

We pray, Father God, revival in our church. We pray for revival in our generation. Pray for revival, Lord God, in our families. Revival in the men and the women and even in our children. Open our eyes, Lord God, to see that we are just myths that appear and gone tomorrow.

That we would live our lives, Lord God, with our eyes fixated upon eternity, upon Christ. That the gospel that we proclaim to know and to love will be proclaimed and not just to held on to. So help us, Lord God, to open our eyes, to see the harvest. The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few.

We beseech you, Lord, to send out more workers into the harvest. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. God is faithful to His word. Even when there seems no way. God is faithful to His word. God is deep, faithful He has been, faithful He has been.

God is gracious when I doubt, He draws near the wire, He draws near the wire, faithful He has been, faithful He has been, faithful He has been, faithful He will be. What I don't deserve, the Father gives to me, when He leaves my feet, I shall not want or need.

God is worthy of my song. God is worthy of my song. God is worthy of my song. God is worthy of my song. God is worthy of my song. God is worthy of my song. God is worthy of my song. God is worthy of my song. God is worthy of my song.

God is worthy of my song. The Lord my God is my sustainer, merciful redeemer. All I hope is in the Lord my God. He is my provider, covered and protector. All I hope is in the Lord my God. The Lord my God is my sustainer, merciful redeemer. All I hope is in the Lord my God.

For me He has been, worthy He will be, loved in every space, all I've been in heaven's name. For me is the Lord my God. For me He will be, loved in every space, all I've been in heaven's name. For me He is the Lord my God. For me He will be, loved in every space, all I've been in heaven's name.

For me He is the Lord my God. For me He is the Lord my God. For me He is the Lord my God. For me He will be, loved in every space, all I've been in heaven's name. For me He is the Lord my God. For me He is the Lord my God.

For me He will be, worthy He will be, worthy He will be. For me He is the Lord my God. For me He will be, worthy He will be, worthy He will be. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy.

To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. God sent us home, they called him Jesus, he came to love, healed and pulled out, he lived in love, to find my Father. An empty grave is there to save you away, because he lives, I can face tomorrow, because he lives, all fear is gone.

Because I know, he holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because he lives. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. you