Men's Night with Johnny Hunt

[Music] i am reaching for the highest goal that i might receive a prize [Music] [Music] know [Music] i want to know [Music] i want you [Music] i want to know [Music] i want to hear your [Music] oh i want to see your face [Music] jesus lamb of god is your name [Music] jesus of god worth is [Music] i want [Applause] i want to hear your voice i want to know you more [Music] i want to see your face i want to know you more [Music] lord i lift your name on high lord i love to sing your crazy i'm so glad you're in my life and i'm so glad you came to save you came from heaven to earth to show the way from the earth [Music] lord [Music] behind lord i love seeing your prayers [Music] i'm so glad you're in mine [Music] you came from heaven to earth [Music] lord [Music] from [Music] [Music] lord i lived your name on [Music] you always [Music] hello guys how you doing this afternoon how many of you'd rather be here than in a hospital just want to make sure y'all okay good well good to see you thanks for coming let's stand together we're gonna sing some of our favorite hymns and just praise the lord together get ready to hear a good word from pastor johnny this afternoon join me on this great course some glad morning when this life is over i'll fly away to a home god celestial shore i'll fly away [Applause] [Music] singing in [Music] sorry go back let's start that again just a few more ready just a few more weary days and then i'll fly away to a land [Music] o glory [Music] [Applause] [Music] hallelujah his mercy and his grace in the mansions [Applause] [Music] what a day of rejoicing that will [Music] jesus we'll sing and shout the victory let us then be true and faithful trusting serving every day just one glimpse of him in glory will the toes of life repay sing it out now when we are when we all see jesus we'll sing and one last time on that course again when we all get to heaven when we [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus will [Applause] thank you guys aren't you excited about heaven one day amen you may be seated god bless you pastor is this one on there we go like to say welcome to you guys that brave coming out and all the danger and everything i i've sensed that god has been protecting and doing a great thing i was hoping we'd see more men but i'm glad we got the special men out tonight and so you're here we're grateful for you being here and you're in for a treat if you've not heard brother johnny personally you're going to be excited about him uh he's going to bless you and i'll tell you what i'd love to do we've got three over here and we got you over here and we got a whole empty section over here and empty seats here it'd be easier on his neck than if you'd move in a little bit in just a moment and so i'm going to ask you to do that in just a second and i know that baptist's their famous theme song is we shall not be moved especially once you're planted but let's change the theme song today and move into into the middle johnny hunt is the real deal i'll tell you i've i've observed him from a distance known him for quite some time here's what i do know we haven't spent a lot of time together but wherever you're wherever you are and he is there he will take time to say hello and he'll talk to you he's personal and i'll never forget that after meeting him one time and then he saw me at a southern baptist convention later and he hollered knew my name and just pulled a bullet aside and talked to me never never forget that in my life i was so impressed with that because i know some people like him that have served as president of the pastor's comp southern baptist convention president southern baptist convention itself he has served at a mega church from 1986 at first baptist woodstock until last year when he retired and now his retirement means he's working more than ever with north american mission board he just told us his preaching engagement and his speaking engagement matter of fact he's going to speak to men after uh after he leaves here at in the place i heard him tell brother jim and then he's going to a women's conference he's trying to charge the women tell them be nice to the men and so anyway it's good but i love brother johnny and he has one most powerful testimonies you'll ever hear and so you're going to be blessed thank you for being here we are going to receive a love offering tonight we didn't charge anything this was kind of a last-minute deal johnny was scheduled we scheduled he and scott to be with us last fall sometime we did this and to be with us tomorrow at 8 45 and at 10 30. and so uh we're we didn't get it out as quickly as we'd like to turned into a men's event just very briefly uh not too too uh many weeks ago and so we're going to give a love offering to brother johnny for he being here this evening and so with that scott you're going to come and share about your work and your ministry now he used to serve as the minister of music with brother johnny minister worship now he's into something else thank you pastor thank you pastor good to be here believe and taught us and allowed us to exercise our faith and so when pastor johnny uh was leaving last year i went out with him and god led us to another ministry where we're helping get the gospel to cambodia say cambodia cambodia that's where it's going now most of you men will probably never go there some of you may have a chance in your past to have been there maybe uh through a war or something close by or maybe just travel but the bottom line is people need the gospel all over the world amen and so my wife and i have been partnering with power of grace radio ministry out of nashville tennessee area to get the gospel to them you say how do you do it i've got a brief two-minute video i want to show you if you'll turn your attention to the screen guys watch this and see how god might speak to you not so very long ago the ancient kingdom of cambodia was a place ravaged by the communist dictator paul pott his government began an attempted and horrifying genocide murdering and torturing nearly 40 percent of his own people it is estimated that nearly two million cambodians died of starvation and execution and what is now famously known as the killing fields since that time cambodia has tried to heal in every way but these humble hard-working loving people have been deprived of hope for so long imagine if your children or family lived in such a place what would you do to make sure they heard the gospel what price would you pay to rescue those you love these precious forgotten and abandoned people have no voice but right here right now in this very moment we are their voice for nearly 20 years the power of grace ministry has been sharing the good news of the gospel in cambodia now through our distribution of free radios every cambodian can have access to hearing the gospel in their native tongue the follow-up visits by our power of grace ministry local church teams will help develop long-lasting relationships with those that receive jesus as savior we believe that by discipling the next generation we have greater potential for this nation to be rescued from the cult of buddhism for a one-time gift of fifty dollars you can send a radio as a beacon of light entire communities sometimes gather around one simple radio to hear the gospel message as it is preached seven days a week even reaching deep into the remote jungles of cambodia please know that a simple little radio sent by you may indeed change a life still haunted with the scars from the killing fields for every radio that you sponsor they have a chance at the greatest gift ever known eternal life through jesus christ powerful video isn't it when you think about it did you hear it in the video where it said right here right now at this very moment we are their voice we have a chance to help get the gospel to the people of cambodia and how can you partner with us it's very simple if you feel that after the service today when pastor johnny is done just come by our table we'll tell you how to get plugged in and get involved for a one-time gift of 50 a radio a kinetic driven solar-powered radio can be sponsored that we through our ministry will send over to cambodia where they can hear the gospel in their language 365 days a year so we're honored to be here and honored to give you an opportunity to pray about partnering with us will you pray with me and then pastor johnny is going to come i believe and share lord thank you so much for an opportunity to be here in dallas area today we're honored we love you we're so thankful for the gospel and lord it's good news it's the good news of jesus that you came to seek and save that which was lost and so lord i'm honored to stand here today and just represent that gospel thank you so much for it i pray for every man here that god they would do what only you tell them to do and nothing else but god if you tell him to help him to partner with us that'd be a joy and god thank you for pastor johnny being here today to share with us now a word from your word may we just open the eyes of our heart and allow the spirit of god to minister to us and draw us closer to you in this time thank you for pastor mike today in jesus name amen thank you guys pastor johnny well how's everybody doing hey good to see y'all and thanks for um following the orders of the pastor and moving so i could see you it's uh good to be back uh with you um i've got where i'm tired of guessing about when i was here last and i guess it's been about a year but uh i appreciate pastor mike he said that i always remembered him i'm pretty sure that's because he had bought me a free meal and you just don't don't forget the guys when they do that but i appreciate jim and brian and all the guys making it possible and look forward to being with you tomorrow lord willing i'm in my 29th year of hosting men's conferences and i host them on super bowl sunday weekend do a friday night and saturday and i started because i felt that if uh the lord was going to give us a ministry upon which the sun would never set and that was sort of a dream in my 30s that i knew we needed men that would be active lead their homes spiritually and even finance the kingdom work and so i did an extended fast and through that time uh i just put together a men's conference wrote three lessons each time i do one on friday night then it'd be breakouts then two on saturday and i just coined a little phrase that simply said men are the untapped reservoir of useful energy and it just it's amazing how god has used it so i was out preaching somewhere this week in georgia and guys come up and they'll tell me what year they were at woodstock and when god changed their life and what a difference it made in their life and so i love being with men so i'm grateful to spend these few minutes with you we just landed about an hour ago so i just traveled from um panama city beach if you don't know where that is that's redneck riviere and so uh we stay over there a good bit at a time now and just travel from there and speak every week if you have your bibles i'm going to take you to a familiar passage but i hope i'll share some unfamiliar truths that'll help us romans chapter 12 but i'm going to deal with verse 2 alone romans 12 and verse 2. when i thought about a title for really what turned in not just to this message but to a series we entitled it cardio i mean the bible says a lot about your heart you know you hear people say this i gave my heart to jesus i've surrendered my heart and life to christ i pray every morning in my journal the first thing when i get to praying about my own needs i always pray that god would minister and deal in my heart in life that's in my prayer journal that i carry in my phone and so people say i gave my heart to jesus jesus came into my heart and people ask sometimes what do you mean by that and i'm gonna show you by way of introduction as we dive in that that is a biblical concept of the lord jesus controlling your hearts matter of fact it was john calvin that said that our hearts are like idol factories and they they conjure up these idols that our hearts go after and and it becomes a rival in our relationship with jesus christ and and the bible speaks of that and so i'm going to show you that in a moment from the book of ezekiel but here here's the thought i want you to take away tonight and i feel like that it'll be an i play pray and enrich time of studying the word number one but number two i'm as excited about closing the message as i am opening it because one of the greatest truths that i want to give to simplify i had a um a brother to email me the other day i was preaching uh here in dallas last week and they had me online and i had no idea how many people were watching and he wrote me and he said you clarified truth that helped me to understand how to really get my mind and heart around it that's what i really desire to do so here's what i believe god does when we talk about the heart god transforms our heart through the gospel he transforms our heart and then when he does it's it's a once and for all time in that he transforms us that metamorphosis that we're going to see about his texts and he saves us but then it is a lifelong process of god renewing our minds through the word of god so when somebody begins to get wavered a lot of times people begin to even wonder if they're saved or not because they get so wayward in their walk in ephesians 4 warns of that it says if you're not careful even now that you know the lord you can you can get past feeling where you're desensitized to a life that doesn't bring honor to god so transformed heart renewed mind and here's what it'll give me a life that is in linemen with the will of god the ways of god and the word of god so i mean the bottom line is i want a testimony that will outlast me a life that that transformed it makes a difference and we never know how we influence people uh a very godly lady died but all four were boys a wayward and i buried her husband just a few years ago and i was telling the guys coming over on the plane today i said i'm really burdened and i i know every one of those guys by name and they're all men now but uh they they were with me some of them when they were teenagers but i served as their pastor for 33 years so they're way in their 40s and one he was 50 years old and only by the grace of god three of the four reached out to me today and i could pull it up in my phone and tell you where he says i know you may be surprised that i'm reaching out but you said stuff that i've never been able to get away from and i'm going to be at woodstock tomorrow the bad thing is he hasn't been as long i don't even think he knows i'm gone but anyway he'll say he has to watch him online from texas so romans chapter 12 look at verse number two do not be conformed to this world but be transformed listen to the language by the renewing of your mind and you'll see that more than one time in the text or in the scriptures about the renewing of the mind and then it gives the word that and i'd like to just remind people the word that speaks of a purposeful clause it's like okay my you don't want me conformed to this world you want me transformed by renewing of my mind and then it says that the purpose is that you may prove what is a good and acceptable and perfect will of god uh what it is god have us to do i did a lesson this week for virtual training at southeastern seminary in wake forest for august the 29th and i'm honored they would ask me and give me the subject but it was on the call of god how does a person know that it's the will of god to leave everything and serve him vocationally and and does god have ways of affirming that and so people are interested in knowing the will of god i mean question you could personalize and ask yourself tonight am i living in the will of god so with that in mind let me give you a question i wrote to started with have you ever had this thought i seem to be doing good in my christian walk with the exception of fill in the blank uh most most men that are struggling it's not a proliferative things a lot of times it's just one thing it's kind of like you know and this is how the enemy works on it if i could just get this one thing straight uh adrian rogers used to say that if my life were a hundred acres the enemy would be satisfied if i would just give him one and said he would make end roads and destroy me from that one acre and let me tell you where we are in in the evangelical church our mindsets are often that hey none of us are perfect man i'm struggling in this area of my life and that's exactly how the enemy wants you to think but don't you listen to something new testament theology teaches that the christians life is to be a life listen carefully stay with me perfection you say well none of us are perfect no we're not but that's the goal that's the goal when paul wrote philippians chapter 3 and he had known jesus for 30 years he said that i might that i might apprehend that for which i was apprehended of christ every theologian i've ever read on that text says that he's referring to christ's likeness his ultimate desire in his life was to be just like jesus and he would never get there fully but it was his goal but if he ever begin to put that parenthetical or that comma or that conjunction that uh he's not satisfied to be the absolute best he can be he's going to say here's here's the area of my life well one thing's for sure when you determine what that one thing is you quit looking outside for the reason you do what you do and you look inside and then you look up for help that can only be found in jesus paul david tripp put it this way no the people and situations around you aren't your biggest problem the sin in your heart is and for that there is transforming grace now let me give you another statement i would make this statement it would stop and the people would kind of chuckle and i had to say one time hey hold on i'm that's not a laughing matter i'm not being humorous i'm telling the truth i've pastored an extremely large church for years bottom line i never had as much trouble with anyone i pastored as i have with me i'm just telling you when somebody says man if when when you want to someone says what have i got to do to see the church grow and i would say well you need to grow let god do a work in your life and so it's my surrender and so god working in my life proverbs 4 23 no wonder moses would say moses no wonder solomon would say above all else here it is guard your heart for everything you do flows from it i love to go to israel i was scheduled to be there and like a lot of other places i was scheduled it didn't happen but uh one of the things that was probably just uh eye opening for me is the first time i ever saw the jordan river because i'd always sung those songs about the mighty jordan well i'm telling you you go down to a place to baptize is anything but mighty it's not even wide it's not even deep and nothing mighty about it and i was telling a guy that one time and he said you know we've got time on this trip it is the mighty jordan you've just never been to the head of the jordan and so we went to the head of the jordan i mean where the water comes out of the mountain and you it was rapid force coming out it was the mighty jordan and here's what i thought and this is what this passage is referring to above all else guard your heart for everything you do flows out of it if at the head the source the heart of the individual if the if it's not right in its flow everything flows from it downstream there will be nothing but pollution in our life and so that's where the purity begins and it needs to continue so i want you to listen to this passage from ezekiel and then i'll dive in and give you two overarching thoughts and be through so our heart in the bible is the primary seat of our worship where we hold our deepest affections i mean come on guys if you're married or you're dating uh you go home and you say to your wife honey i want you to know i thank god for you i love you with all my it better be heart i imagine calling my wife what are you doing i'm just sitting here thinking i i just love you with my mind the more i think about it no you love them with the deepest place of affection in your heart so i want you to listen to what ezekiel said about the heart that we'll dive in ezekiel 14 verse 1 now some of the elders of israel came to me and sat before me and the word of the lord came to me saying son of man these men have set up their idols in their hearts and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity should i let myself be inquired of at all of them therefore speak to them and say to them thus saith the lord god every one of the house of israel who sets up idols in his heart and by the way these are the elders these are the leaders in israel and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity that's what the heart does it produces idols then we chase those idols it causes us to stumble it causes sin in our life he says i the lord will answer him who comes according to the multitude of his idols that i may cease the house of israel by their heart by their heart because they are all estranged from me by their idols so the idol in the heart is anything that rules me other than god this this is a true story i wish i had time to tell it all but a guy named darby moore has started reaching out to me he's 27 years old he's not long been out of the marine corps he's just been married a couple of years but somebody turned him on to my preaching on youtube so man i mean he just started rattling off all these quotes and things and so i've never met him so he just started reaching reached out really through an email to our website and they sent it to me and i went ahead and chose to reach out to him so we talked long story short we've been talking about the gospel and i led him to faith in christ yesterday i mean it was just absolutely gorgeous my wife was with me we were in the car i had him on speaker phone and i shared the gospel and here's what he did after i shared the gospel i called god as my witness darby said mr hunt can you like lead me to know this christ and embrace this gospel and i'm thinking glory to god can i ever i can't believe what he did i got it in my phone i can show you he texted me this morning he said man i'm telling you god has changed my life i can't wait uh pray for me i'm just gonna find a baptist church and go tomorrow i've never been but uh hey i'm i'm getting ready to write a check i've never written one before for the church and i'm thinking you're gonna make a good baptist and i said well uh so he asked me the question and i call the spirit of god is my witness i asked the same question 47 years ago he said well mr hunt tell me i i got my paycheck right here in front of me do i tithe off the gross or the net and i said i've always tithed off the gross and the reason is i want i believe all of it came from god listen and i want god to bless all of it that was a good place to say amen but anyway so i just thought it was cool some people been in church all their life and never have started tithing and this dude wants to die this first sunday just it just seems like when you're really saved you don't mind giving i just thought i'd throw that in so an idol in hearts anything that rules me other than god so as worshiping beings human beings always worship someone or something so if god isn't ruling my heart someone or something else will listen to calvin's quote john calvin man's nature is a perpetual factory of idols my mind full as it is of pride and boldness dares to imagine a god according to its own capacity so with that in mind let me give you two overarching thoughts from this text number one in verse two of romans 12 there's a challenge that's imperative there's a challenge but it's it's it's imperative it's a command the bible says do not be conformed to this world so being a worshiper means denying the patterns and schemes of this world john phillips put it this way don't allow yourself to be pushed into the mold of this world in first peter 1 14 as obedient children not conforming yourselves to the former lust so our conduct our motives our thoughts our desires intentions are not to be consistent with the patterns of the lost world but of a new creation now be conformed refers to an outward experience that does not reflect that which is within in other words like if i'm conformed to this world i'm looking like something listen to me i'm looking like something on the outside that is not representative what's inside if god has transformed my heart and the world is conforming me it's doing a number on myself please hear this this is a incredibly important truth here the word when it's talking about being conformed it's the word for masquerading or putting on an act it carries the idea of being transitory impermanent and unstable now i'm going to give you a little lesson in language but i promise you it's very simple and i'll make it as simple as i can the verb conformed is passive and imperative now listen to this passive indicating that the confirmation is something we allow to be done to us so there's two major voices in the greek new testament one is passive which means i'm being acted upon by an outside force the other is a middle voice where god enables me with divine strength to take off some things lay some things aside where it'd be like a guy says not being ugly i'm just going to try to illustrate a guy says i've got a cigarette in his hand he says and pray for me i've been wanting to get rid of these and uh i've just asked god to take them i'm not trying to be cute but here's here's a good answer god don't want them you know what and and and by the way wouldn't it be wonderful if just anything in your life that's not right just ask god to take it but there are times in the middle voice god says strip it off and you may say well wait a minute i haven't been able to strip it off because you haven't really wanted to get it stripped off but when you s you desire to be obedient as much as your next breath god will meet your obedience with divine enablement god will then give you the power when you seek him with your whole heart yeah so so listen to this it's an imperative in that it's it's it's a command it's not a suggestion jb phillips put it this way don't let the world around you squeeze you into its mode kenneth whis puts it this way stop assuming an outward expression which is pattern after this world an expression which does not come from nor is representative of what you are in your inner being as a regenerated child of god illustration i know i'm saved and i pray every morning god would not only cleanse me fresh in the new fill me with the spirit of god clothing and humility even though i'm a christian it's gonna shock you no it probably won't sometimes i don't act like one and sometimes you just catch you i went to a delta counter some time ago as i walked up checking in before you could check in on your phone and he said i'm sorry mr hunt you uh you gave up your seat what do you mean gave it up he said well you were not at the gate certain amount of time before your seat's been given to stand by you you'll not be on this and uh listen to this statement i write statements every now and then here's one anytime i try to uh represent myself protect myself prove that i'm right uh always at the end of the day feel dirty no wonder the bible says let another man speak well of you not your own lips the bible says in proverbs 27 verse 21 that a man is known by what others say of him so i said to that man right quick i said you check right there in that computer i'm uh i'm diamond i'm flying colonel so i was telling him everything i was the bottom line is i didn't have a seat so it's oh this ain't right i mean i didn't cuss but i thought about it and so um but i was ugly i was just i was ugly and in his face and then i thought well i've got a couple hours for another flight so i went over into a little coffee shop got that cup of coffee how many of you know you don't need somebody else there to correct you if you know jesus jesus lives inside of you and he said i'll never leave you never forsake you and he's been known to talk to you when you get quiet and so i'm sitting there and it's like the spirit of god said you were wrong and let me tell you what you do nobody was there for me to talk to about it but if somebody's around you'll try to get a witness against god you'll tell somebody guess what just happened i've been flying with delta i've got 3 million miles i'm a flying colonel i'm this i'm that and they just took my seat and and a person with you'll say man that ain't right i don't bla somebody should have put him in his place can't you hear it listen the bible speaks against that too the bible says that the rebuke of a friend the wound of a friend is better than the kisses of an enemy see our friends kiss up to us that's right brother you're exactly right no we need some men of god that'll say you ain't thinking right man you you need to talk to jesus because god's going to show you your attitude stinks so i'm sitting there drinking the coffee and then and so finally i i surrendered lord forgive me i i didn't represent you very well i'm really sorry forgive me and it's like in my heart i felt a real release that i'd ask him confess your sins he's faithful and just give you symptoms for her and then it was like i felt the prompting uh go tell him and i'm thinking oh god i don't want to go see him so so when i went over there there was a line so i'm in the line i'll never forget as long as i lived the guy every now and then be on this community look up he'd see me in the line it was like he was thinking oh my god round two a few moments i'm back at the counter and i said hey sir uh that's what this is why i don't want to do wrong because this is painful i said uh hey i'm a christian but you wouldn't know it by the way i just acted i bet in the back of his mind he was thinking you could have fooled me and uh and i said so i i just want you know i'm sorry uh for the way i act and i ask you to forgive me and so before i walked away so hold on just a minute mr honey said uh first of all i've never had anybody to come to the counter and talk like that and uh he said but uh while you're at it uh i need to ask you to forgive me i said really he said yes sir i checked after you walked away but i didn't know what to do i weren't supposed to give your seat up so i knocked the fire out of it i did not i just said man that's the way it goes praise the lord [Laughter] but the bottom line is you'll let this world squeeze you in to that role now so when it talks about uh don't be conformed to this world means the philosophy of this life system of thought dominated by satan speculations hopes opinions impulses aims aspirations i preached at woodstock the other day and i preached listen to this the greatest single commentary in the bible on wisdom james 3 17. about a greater verse in the bible theologians say it is a precise commentary on wisdom what it does it gives seven characteristics of what wisdom is when god sends it down from heaven and by the way our nation's in dire need of wisdom god's people like never before needs to know that the way we think and what we say is representative of the god that we serve but listen to this if you're making notes and that's james 3 17 james 3 15 makes this statement there is wisdom that does not descend from above you mean there's a wisdom of this world and a wisdom and he says and it gives three qualities james 3 15 he says it's sensual it's worldly and it's demonic that's that's a christian's three greatest enemies the world the flesh and the devil so sometimes you can think man i i went and i got my degrees i i feel i'm pretty sharp but i'll tell you there's there's there may be knowledge and understanding from your education but wisdom comes from heaven there's a time where god i'm not sure how i'm to respond speak to me and god speaks and and then he tells you to be full of mercy and full of good works and full of fruit it's easily uh entertained you're not hard to deal with and he said don't be conformed into that now i want you to hear this i've never really thought about what i'm getting ready to tell you be not conformed to this world it is not uncommon for unbelievers to mask themselves as christians have you never seen that i've seen people live like h e double hockey sticks consistently and yet they'll say oh oh yeah i'm a christian i'm a christian unfortunately it is also not uncommon for christians the world to wear the world's mask they want to enjoy the things of the world that do not conform to the standards of god's word so just as much as they're lost people that are put on a mask and act like they're a christian they're christians that'll put on a different mass so they can act like the rest of the world i'm telling you in the last 20 years jesus has got to come soon billy graham used to say that if jesus does not return soon he'll have to apologize to sodom and gomorrah so consecration to god prevents conformity so what we're doing will look like the world so so what we've done i'm just going to be honest you may not like me saying this but this shift has only come in the last 20 years and and i mean a big part of it i've never seen so much liquor among evangelicals in all of my life there was a day when jesus came the bars closed now they go to church and leave church and go to the bar you read the great men of yesteryear there was something different we've drifted vance hafner never drove a car died at age 83 an evangelist from north carolina preached in all 50 states wrote over 25 books his his his sermons are considered masterpiece even today and here's what he said america has gotten used to the dark you go to a nice restaurant they take you to your table with a flashlight you sit across from your wife and you think honey i can't see you but what i remember when we were in the car you look great tonight and fine but guess what happens it's what we did in africa you'd go out in africa and one of those mossad warriors lead you through a path john you were there too and i'm thinking oh my god where where are we going just follow me just follow me and his eyes had adjusted to the dark in america and the evangelical church we've gotten used to the dark now let me give you uh one last major overarching statement a change that's internal okay a change that's internal so really just two overarching thoughts a challenge that's imperative don't be conformed it's command um you you the world will try to squeeze you into its mole and if you're not careful you'll slip right into that mole and you only know it you'll be acting just like the world talking like them telling the same jokes listening to them beginning to believe it i'm reading a book on the culture right now by al mohler and and i have a friend that's reading it too and we're talking how difficult it is to read you would not believe some of the that's going on out there to try to defend marriages other than a man and a woman and and i've had quote evangelicals to challenge me when i preach on biblical marriage wow all right why does it matter to you because the marriage represents the gospel and if we didn't get it right in the marriage we've not got it right in the gospel by the way ephesians 5 is not about marriage it's about the gospel love your wife like jesus christ loved the church and gave himself for it that's the gospel somebody says why does it matter to you because i'm a gospel preacher well moving right along hope this encourages your dinner tonight all right gives you appetite so a change that's internal we're done it says but be transformed he uses the latin word metamorphosis means to be changed from the inside out this is the word that describes how we're being changed and made into the image of christ now listen to this just as much as the word conformed is passive imperative the world is trying to squeeze you into its mole you got me it's on the outside it's an outside force action there's philosophies there's things being taught ideologies we have to watch it in our public school system with our kids they're trying to squeeze them into a mole your own kids will become your enemies if you're a conservative christian if they buy into how the world so you got to be careful so and then he says be transformed and again he's saying this transformation you can't do it on your own this it's passive you've got to be you've got to be changed it's like um when i prayed yesterday with darby i said darby if this prayer is the attitude of your heart make it yours so we prayed together prayed something like this lord i've come to confess that i need you and lord i know i cannot save myself that's what it means to be transformed you can't transform yourself it means you need one from the outside passive voice one acting is you you'd find the same verb in the same voice in ephesians 5 19 be filled with the spirit it means passive one from the outside fills you that'd be like someone said how you doing today good got up this morning filled myself with the holy ghost no no no god has to fill me with the spirit of god god even has to give you give you the gift of repentance so be transformed passive imperative so we're commanded to allow ourselves to be changed here it is to be changed outwardly in conformity to our redeemed inner nature i don't know why i keep telling this story but it's good if you i'm out of it now 33 years i had 30 about 28 years i had the same office but a guy came in one day and said i want to do something for you and i said what do you want to do and he said you like nice real wood floors and i thought i've always liked those and i'm gonna get somebody to build you new cabinets and i'm gonna do a florida match i just want to do a gift for you why would he do that for me because here's where the story started billy roberts was gonna divorce pam and about two weeks before her divorce was final he tells me later that someone i never even knew who said to him billy before you divorce pam go to 777 nice road sit on the back row at first baptist church and listen to that indian preacher to which billy said he responded i don't go to church i'm not even in the spiritual or another i believe in god why would i want to go to church how many of you know that sometimes god may prompt you to do something like that and the spirit of god will plant a seed in them and they can't get away from it billy said every day he'd wake up and be in the back of his mind go sit on the back row at first woodstock in here an indian preacher that's his words he said every day it got stronger and stronger sunday morning billy sitting on the back row at woodstock after i got saved i'll be honest uh i was going to sunday school in the morning i mean right after i got saved i just got me a new bible i couldn't get enough so and then i'd go to church and hear mr gibson then i'd come back for church training then i'd go to evening worship i would go to wednesday night prayer meeting and bible study and thursday night was soul winning i'd go out with people and watch them share the gospel on saturday morning we'd have brotherhood meeting and i thought that would be a cool police place to go because now i was a brother and i'd been raised in the hood so i went and hung out with those guys and then people would call me and say there's a camp meeting in town this week you want to go and i said good night yeah man i'd get my bible in those days throw on a tie and take off the camera he went to a church of god camp meeting i'll never forget as long as i live there's some things you can't remember and there's some things you can't forget that night they sang a little song like this while i was praying somebody touched me must have been the hand of the lord glory glory glory glory somebody touch me while i was singing somebody touched me must have been while they were preaching somebody touched me must have been to hand to the lord now i want to tell you what happened by the grace of god that morning when we were singing and then when i preached god touched billy i didn't know billy billy came down the aisle surrendered his life to jesus christ i knew nothing of billy i just know a man came and professed faith in christ word began to circulate the story comes to me later here's how it comes hey pam pam have you seen billy no and i don't want to see our divorce is final in a few days well just i just wanted to warn you when you see him you're not going to recognize him what do you mean i'm not going to recognize him i've never seen a man so changed by god said she just kind of pushed it aside somebody else bam pam have you seen billy and so finally pam couldn't take it anymore pam calls billy and says meet me at longhorns in town lake when she goes back to her office the ladies say well what was it like seeing billy and she said i've never had lunch with that man before long story short called the holy ghost of god is my witness scott knows it's sitting right there she came to church she was saved they got their marriage back together and i mean this has been years and years ago and they are they're lovebirds god is my witness they they bother me they are so you know ooey gooey stuff you know say well what what in the world happen well metamorphosis that change that transformation is one time one time and it's ongoing through sanctification in other words i am constantly being set aside for god i'm his own private possession you're not your own anymore you've been bought with a price where for you to glorify god in your body and your spirit which are not yours they're gods and by the way christians need to realize you were a slave to sin but when you got saved god did something with the sin but he didn't do anything with the slave now you're to be a slave to righteousness i've known men that were great sinners and awful christians i mean bottom line and someone said i'll tell you what balls around her back in my days that's quite a hell yeah well let me ask you this you were on fire as a hell yeah you're on fire as a christian you're radical matter of fact when i got saved people used to say to me why do you go all the time you don't have to go all the time did you know nobody ever said that about the pool room i managed a pool room for four years i was a hustler when i was 17 18 years old i wanted to be a professional pool player when i was 20 and was well on my way nobody ever said you playing pool seven hours a day you shouldn't go nobody ever said you're at the red fox saloon again when i lived like a hellion nobody did anything but encouraged it on my way to hell but when i'm on my way to heaven it's almost like they're saying cool off no we need something to be on fire for jesus i'm almost through so transformed is not constant is proportioned to our obedience which can be intermittent at times so if we're not careful in our walk with the lord we learn a few truths and feel we have a handle on life and our inner redeemed nature also is to be manifested outwardly let me do this let me just let me land this so much i could deal with here but if you don't mind doing if you have your bible if you've got a phone you can pull it up in i want to close with this verse second corinthians 3 18. it really to me it um is sort of a capstone for what i've said about this change that needs to take place um i know don't be conformed don't be like this be like this and they are diametrically opposed to one another but this is one of my favorite verses i've written several sermons on this verse so i'm gonna read it and give you commentary on it and then we'll pray but we all and paul's writing second corinthians uh warren wiersby says second corinthians he calls it be encouraged says it's a book of encouragement but we all with unveiled face and really unveiled face the best way to translate it is you've been saved now god raised the blinds took the blinders off now your face is unveiled you can see him you have seen him so he's referring to people that are saved but we all that is we're saved we've been changed we're beholding as in a mirror the glory of the lord the word beholding there is a very rich word it doesn't mean a casual glance but a constant glare that's a great statement right there not a casual glance you know i um have no reason to tell you this other than if it can be helpful you have to be careful people preachers don't really necessarily teach their people how to have devotion and let me tell you why people think you're bragging junior he was kidding one time he said you know if you're not careful the way they look at you is uh um he didn't want to tell you how he did his devotion he won't tell you how early he got up or something some negative or critical way but i got deeply burdened one time i wrote a whole sermon it became a very highly requested cd and and i brought all my helps there but every morning when i get up and this is 47 years of my journey and the night i came to christ i'd never owned a bible in my life i'd never read the bible didn't own one but my wife got me one the morning after i was converted and so it was really fresh and new and one of the things that intrigued me about the bible is that uh i would read things that god i felt was doing with me and i'm thinking man i i feel like john the baptist here's what it says about john the baptist in luke chapter 1. here's what it says and john was strong in the sight of the lord and drank neither wine nor strong drink well i just come out of a life of abusing alcohol my dad was an alcoholic divorced my mom when i was seven she raised six kids in a government project and so uh i thought boy that that's my life and here listen to this i wanted to be like john i didn't want to be mediocre you know like hey i just want to be kind of a carnal christian like i mean i mean i don't want people to be uncomfortable around me the bible says if you're full of god you have the fragrance of jesus christ that is diffused from your life it's like you go into a group of lost men and you spray them with the gospel and it says that it puts off the scent of death to them but said when you get around christians and they see that aroma it puts off the scent of life so i go to a party they never invite me and that's another thing that i've read about a lot lately i'm not invited to some of these places anymore and maybe the reason is they thought let's quit and invite old john he came out of that type lifestyle i went in and didn't say a word but somehow another your life puts off an aroma that reminds them of their death so here's what they say you know hunt came to our party the other night and i felt like he was judging all of us i didn't said a word but i weren't judging them they were mindful of their mortality and mindful of death and i ain't said a word it's jesus he was defusing them it's incredible and that's in second corinthians chapter 2 verse 15 and 16 where you put off that aroma so an unveiled face so i'm beholding not so so every morning i get up and i'm in the psalms i love to read the psalms i'll read a psalm a day and i pray those psalms in reflect on them sometimes gets my attention and i research something about it and then i have devotions i have a prayer journal i mean god just really speaks into my life every single morning so i behold in a mirror and the bible's referred to as a mirror and so what you do the bible shows me me says i'm having a personal devotion and god's showing me some things and and really and i may say to my wife you know boy honey and i was doing my devotion this morning well god god spoke to me like i i should i didn't say that just right last night what i said to you and i i asked god to forgive me just want you to forgive me and my wife's real funny she's a real prophet matter of fact cut to the chase black and white and she'll just look at me just to seriously say you a good little preacher you just got to know miss janet she is a ball of fire so beholding as in a mirror listen to this the glory of the lord now i'm almost through so listen to this what do you mean the glory of the lord and by the way in the last five years or so we've worn that word out uh we don't do it for the glory of god for the glory of the gospel that's good what is glory the english translation of glory speaks of estimation and it would also be translated weight you know there's an old song guys remember it he ain't heavy he's my brother but let me tell you about jesus he is heavy and he's my brother brother he's heavy he carries a lot of weight he is not a lightweight he's not one to just casually receive him wholeheartedly you receive and live for him he is worthy of all but glory speaks of the attributes and character of god for instance if i'd say the love of god that's the glory of god the grace of god the mercy of god the goodness of god the faithfulness of god any word that describes an attribute or character refers to an estimation of him his glory so but look what happens so here i'm i'm beholding now remember not a casual glance but a constant glare i'm i'm in the mirror of the word i see the glory of the lord and look what happens look what happens and i'm being transformed god god is taking the word and changing me from the inside and how is he changing me into the same image john 15 3 jesus christ said you are clean by the word which i have spoken to you somebody says i want the word of god to wash over me that is a biblical terminology god will wash you with the word and so he transforms you into the same image and listen to this he does it from glory to glory now here's what the theologians say about that from one level of knowing him to another level of knowing him i'll just be honest i don't want to quit growing i still i still read a minimum a minimum a minimum of one great book a month i could tell you what i've read this year now when the pandemic set in especially those first four or five weeks i was reading three and four books a week and i'm not a reader somebody said if you're not really a reader how did you do it discipline not by love if all you ever do is what you love doing it won't be enough there's not enough that you love but it's disciplined god i want to be disciplined so what i do when i get a book i write to date that i start reading that month i must be through in 30 days it's a personal discipline i want to do this so i'm being transformed god is changing me inside it's showing on the outside into the same image but notice now just as by remember transformed just by the outside work right so how does he do it he does it by the spirit of the lord so god does it so what i'm doing this is a book see to be controlled by the word and be controlled by the spirit are identical truths the spirit of god will never speak contrary to the word never so when somebody says i said god told me to do this when the bible says god tells you not to do that they're wrong let god be true and every man a liar so god says it so he changes so don't be conformed to the world be transformed see my kids come home from school and somebody treated them ugly i hear or a teacher did something they don't like the dad thinks he's wise and he says i'll call them we'll go over there tomorrow and deal with them what you just did is showed your children the wrong picture of authority so what would you do come here uh uh deanna let's let's pray for the teacher and let's ask god to intervene if there's really a problem there and there's normally not it's a child that you're talking to for heaven's sake or dad this girl talked ugly to me today um holly how do you think jesus would have you to respond so let's do this sweetheart come here i'm going to ask her to do it i get on my knees beside her just put my hand on her she'll never forget that as long as she lives let's just let's ask god to work in that that little girl's life and help you too to really represent him maybe she's very insecure maybe she needs a friend but remember there's a wisdom that's demonic of the world and of the flesh and there's one from heaven father in jesus name thank you for our time together in the word thank you for these dear men on a saturday night giving up this time to come and fellowship around the word have your will and way in our life with heads bowed and eyes closed i'm not going to do a come forward invitation but boy anytime i get to preach and talk about the gospel i just i really want to know that you're going to spend eternity with me i don't want to preach to men and they think i heard him one time and he never even told me i could come to know christ i really do believe that when you trust jesus you make the single most important decision of your life and if you've made that decision here's what i know god changed you in fact i believe this is absolutely true no change no christ no change no christ any man in christ is a new creation doesn't mean you won't slip stumble but i'm telling you spirit of god will convict you the lord jesus will even chasten us and discipline us time to get us to where we need to be but if you'd say tonight pastor johnny i don't have that assurance in my heart that if i died tonight then i'd go to heaven but i'd like to know if you'd say pray for me that i would get this salvation heaven hell saved lost eternal life settled before it's everlasting too late i'm not going to come to you i'm not going to embarrass you point you out or hunt you down afterwards but i don't have the eyes of jesus i can't look you in the heart and know what's there but if you say i'm just not sure pray for me would you just slip your hand up for just a moment i'll just simply in a moment just pray that god would minister your life anyone in the room say i'm really not sure if i died tonight i'd go to heaven pray for me last time i asked just slip it up in the air put it right back down anyone in the room well i pray it's true that we all know him i wonder if any of you would say pastor johnny uh pray for me god is speaking to me tonight and i really want to be less conformed to this world and more con transformed into his image and his glory let me see your hand anyone in the room it's a good number of us god bless you guys are like me you're hungry that's why you're here tonight same thing i did my own life father i pray for these men that have just acknowledged their need and uh i could raise my hand and need to and i just ask in jesus name cleanse us from the top of our head to the soul of our feet god make us candidates for the fullness of of god the holy spirit clothed us in humility give us a heart to serve others to serve our wives and our children and the people that you've placed in our life and to be your witness in our neighborhood at work and at school and most of all in our home thank you for uh pastor mike and brian thank you just for the passion of these brothers to have this special time tonight i pray as a result of your word you would start even a newer and fresher work in each of our lives for the glory of god jesus name amen hey before mike comes to close us out um when i was leaving the end of december finishing 33 years at woodstock and i transitioned to be a senior vp at north american mission board evangelism and i trained pastors by vocational pastors church planners other pastors one of the gifts they made available to the church i was not even aware of it and this is not mine it belongs to a ministry that's with me they took a thumb drive and put a hundred and five sermons on it and so really some of my favorite sermons that i've preached in some of the favorite series normally if you got like eight cds from new day tape ministry of something i preached from our church you'd pay probably uh forty dollars for so he told me to offer you this it's not mine and along with any one of my books the number one book i've ever written in my life is demolishing strongholds somebody asked me tonight so many books you've written i said got i don't remember somewhere i think about 27 and somebody pulled it up online i've written 31 and i'm a high school dropout so it anything bad you know you're amazing what god may do it the newest book i've written is anchored in jesus and it's holding on to truth in a drifting world and boy believe me we are drifting this one's worth the cost because robbie zacharias wrote the forward and he's with the lord now and then uh for 12 years i've done a daily devotional with thomas nelson the largest bible publisher in the world and so he said take pick any one of the three books and this 105 sermons is 49 now that's theirs these are mine so i'm gonna tell you this if you want any of those three books but uh you don't have the resources with you i want to give it to you okay now he won't give you that that's their ministry and their stingy is all get out anyway but uh but i i just be honest if god allows me to write something i think i can help somebody uh i would never want them to be prohibited from getting it because goodbye so honestly just go by and say hey pastor johnny said i could pick up one of these and uh do that delighted to pastor hey thanks for being here well brother johnny i just wish you'd tell it like it is sometime quit beating around the bush uh man what a message tonight what a challenge i hope that you've been blessed and he'll be preaching at 8 45 in the morning and at 10 30. those two services and we opened up last week 8 45 and had almost 100 in that service after going just for one service for a while and so anyway love to have you and invite some people to come back with you i know that we have some guests thank you all for being with us tonight uh be sure to look around y'all from grace temple all of you that's great to have you is that where ryan jesterson was for a while and you all know lloyd williams in the church if you're a member of hillcrest lloyd used to be down there years ago so uh anyway great church and great ministry and brother ryan did a great job down there as well it's good to have you guys you know we have a few other guests as well so look around if you don't see somebody you know maybe thank them for being here uh don't forget we're going to we got receptacles at those two doors uh if you want to make a check out to hillcrest you can make it out hillcrest whatever we get it's going to be a love offering there and so it won't none of it will go to hillcrest it will go to the ministry here and so i if you have opportunity to give cash check whatever you need to do that be sure to stop by the book table enlighten brother johnny's load on the way home okay and so that'll be good let me thank the lord for our time here together and pray that you have a good evening father we give you praise and thanksgiving god for this day and god we just give you praise for the word we've heard tonight the challenge we've heard we pray that god you'll take it use it for your glory and our life and that god that you would uh allow us to look into that mirror and see who we really are and father you speak with conviction and and uh and grace in our life and implement that in our life so we'll look more like jesus at the end every day now father we thank you in jesus name amen let me mention one thing before i let you go brother johnny i'm up early and this morning i think your tweet came in posting uh on on the philippians verse at about five uh something your time i think i don't know 5 39 or something he's always tweeting every morning i'm awake get that from here him or dr devine's one of those twos up tweeting early every morning and so i appreciate that and uh i'm up as well and so this guy man follow him on twitter he'll bless you that way too so anyway god bless you thank you for being here have a great rest of the evening [Music] [Music] blessing and honor glory and power be into the ancient days from every nation [Music] shall declare your glory every knee shall bow [Music] shall not pass [Music] blessing glory and power into the ancient days from every nation all of creation bow before the ancient days [Music] shall not pass away [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] none can compare to [Music] every song in heaven and earth [Music] shall not pass away oh

Channel: Hillcrest Baptist Church

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Length: 81min 0sec (4860 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 16 2020