The Lukewarm Church - Laodicea

[Music] [Applause] [Music] this is Laodicea a city located in Lycus River Valley in the southern portion of western Turkey in the first century there were three major cities in this river valley Harappa 'less Laodicea and Colossae due to the fact that there were six other cities with this exact same name Laodicea was known as Laodicea of the Lycus to distinguish it from the others this was an extremely rich City and the people who lived here prided themselves on their financial independence and self-sufficiency of the seven churches to receive letters from Jesus this letter seems to stand out from the rest on how it connects with many people today while the ruins accessible here are really impressive it's the message that Jesus gave the Christians here that really resonated uniquely throughout history especially because of its parallels to our culture today this is a city that worked hard and eventually became very prosperous but only to discover the dangers that come from self-reliance and prosperity the words of Jesus to the Laodiceans speak loudly throughout time as a warning to all of us who depend solely on ourselves several statements in the letter to laetus sia make better sense once the general context of this area is understood first the city's major liability was its lack of fresh water the city of Hierapolis was only seven miles away but it was famous for its hot springs on the other side Colossae which was 11 miles away had a good nearby supply of cold water the city of Laodicea however did not have its own spring nearby so they were entirely dependent on aqueducts to bring water to them from natural springs in the mountains nearby despite the cool temperature of the water at its source by the time it traveled on exposed channels of the act ducks on its way to the city it changed to at lukewarm temperature the people of Laodicea would have understood the value of both hot and cold water nearby hurrah police with its natural thermal springs was a spa destination for the entire region Coldwater obviously was desired and refreshing in a hot climate like this one the only water supply that Laodicea had in its immediate area was mineral rich this left it essentially undrinkable for the people of that city water with this high content of minerals leaves significant residue once it cools from its original thermal springs the White Cliffs of Pamukkale a are a great example of this this was especially true with the water supply from here appleís the hot springs in that city were even more mineral rich especially with the mineral lime in fact to this day everywhere these Springs come to the surface and cool in that area massive lime deposits are left behind the reality of the water situation in laodicea impacted the way Jesus communicated his feelings about their devotion to him he used their context as a springboard to address their lack of commitment and that message would have been heard loud and clear by the original audience Jesus says to them your casual approach to following me has made you virtually impossible for me to accept I would just rather spit you out of my mouth a second piece of background information is that Laodicea had become known as a banking center for this whole area and over time they became extremely wealthy and were really able to enjoy the benefits of a rich lifestyle interestingly in just the last 15 years of ongoing digs they've discovered unbelievable displays of the immense wealth that was present here in latest further confirming the accuracy of Scripture they became so wealthy here in Laodicea that they were proudly able to proclaim their financial independence even from Rome itself one example of this was a nearly unbelievable situation in which they refused the Emperor's offer of financial assistance for the process of rebuilding their city after it was destroyed in an earthquake in 1860 in other words they believed they were financially stable enough after a devastating natural disaster to pick up all of the pieces on their own this kind of wealth and the impact that it had on people's way of thinking was a major part of what Jesus chose to approach this group of people the way he did in this letter a final piece of background information has to do with the major commerce in this area Laodicea was famous for its purple wolf due to the mineral content of the soil in the water in this area sheep actually grew a dark purplish wool coat and this wool was obviously very expensive and desirable especially for the ruling royal class and this trade only enhanced their wealth because they were situated along the Silk Road a major trade route and their wool became world-famous generating huge income the textile industry that resulted from this incredible phenomenon made fashion and dress an integral part of the cultural makeup of this city and Jesus alludes to even this very specific part of their worldview in his letter to the believers here in Laodicea latest year was a city with many things going its way business was booming finances were strong they were independent and self-sustaining but jesus knew that christians in this city had something unique that they needed to hear from him a message that struck deep into the hearts of their weakness Jesus was saying to them you can't do this without me and that was a message that strikes just as powerfully into our struggle at Northridge church in Rochester today so what about you are you trying to live this life in your own strength are you casual in your approach to God Jesus addressed these issues in his letter to this lukewarm church well good morning and welcome to North Ridge Church we're excited to have you here this morning and man Thanksgiving is upon us the the holiday season is right around the corner and you know what that means for us who live in Rochester it means cold weather is coming and I know some of you might laugh at me but I think it's already here like it's cold already to me and you know as the snow and the cold weather comes you can almost feel yourself in the morning you know you're kind of under your covers and it's so warm and cozy that you just don't want to get out of bed you can almost feel it in your bones it's a a Cal ittle bit they're slow to move because it's starting to get cold and one thing that kind of helps me get through the seven months of winter is that was a joke we can laugh in church it's okay I know they're not good and they probably won't get any better but one thing that helps me kind of get through winter is two things the first thing is a nice cozy fire in our fireplace but then secondly I like to go to local coffee shops or even Starbucks and get like a really hot latte you know like caramel brulee or pumpkin spice and anytime I'm going through the drive-thru or anytime I'm stopping in a coffee shop and I'm getting a cup of coffee or a latte I always have one special requests I say to the person who's serving me I say hey could you make this latte extra hot because I like my coffee like barely drinkable I like it so hot that when I drink it it kind of like warms my soul up and I don't know if you've ever been in my shoes before but I would a lot of times I'll go get a coffee I'll ask for it to be extra hot and then all of a sudden I'll get to the office or I'll be driving in my car and the email will come in or my phone will ring or a meeting will take place and I get caught up in the busyness of life and the busyness of work and parenting that by the time I get back to my latte it's lukewarm and it's lost all of its luster it's really in my world good for nothing because you can't microwave if it tastes weird after that and it's lost its it's become lukewarm and what's interesting is that can happen to us as Christians in fact it happened to a church in laodicea where they became casual and safe in their faith and Jesus called them those words lukewarm if you have your Bibles Revelation chapter 3 is where we're gonna be Revelation chapter 3 if you don't have a Bible we'd love to provide one for you it's gonna be on page 993 you can open up on your iPad your iPhone you can pick us up in our app and follow along and take notes and as you're making your way to Revelation chapter 3 I want to welcome our campuses thanks for hanging out with us welcome those of you who are watching online or if you're gonna watch us later in a podcast thanks for being with us this morning and we've been walking through in a series called 7 through revelation chapter 2 and 3 looking at the seven letters Jesus writes to these churches and what's amazing is 2000 years ago they were they were written but yet they're so relevant to us today and we're in week six of this series and you might have noticed this as these churches don't really struggle with a whole lot of different things I mean if you study these seven churches you'll notice that a lot of their struggles were similar it's amazing even 2000 years later we still struggle with the same things not a lot has really changed it might look a little bit different in a modern world but not a lot has really changed and you're gonna find this to be true in this passage today where Jesus speaks to the church and Laodicea we pick it up in verse 14 he says this through a man named John he says to the angel to the Angel of the Church in Laodicea write these are the words of the Amen the faithful and true witness the ruler of God's creation and again we see this constant theme throughout the letters where Jesus identifies himself he introduces himself and here he does it a little bit uniquely he says these are the words of the Amen now if you grew up in church you've been going to church for a while that word Amen might be a common word for you but outside of religion outside of the the context of the church in religion Amen is kind of a unique word if you haven't been coming to church for a while you you might not hear this in in your job or parenting or wherever you are in life very often but in the church you might hear in fact someone during the message or during a song say those words amen and the definition of that word is simply to let it be so when someone says Amen they say hey let that be true of my life let it be so in my life but was interesting as Jesus introduces himself as the Amen but in first century that word was a legal word it was a word you would find in contracts that made the contract binding at the bottom of a contract they would put Amen and what it meant was let this be so and Jesus here is referring to this church as a faithful God a God who says if it's going to be it will happen let it be so um V amen in fact the next to two words he says the faithful and true witness the ruler of God's creation so Jesus introduces himself to this church but then he continues in verse 15 he says I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot I wish you were either one or the other so because you are lukewarm neither hot nor cold I'm about to spit you out of my mouth and you notice when you read this this Jesus doesn't beat around the bush he jumps right into it you see how serious Jesus is in fact Laodicea is one of two churches of the seven letters that receives zero encouragement and that's exciting for this church Jesus just gets right to the problem and he says hey you're neither hot nor cold and because you're lukewarm I'm gonna spit you out of my mouth the actual greek word there means to vomit or to projectile Jesus is saying he's serious here like where you are right now makes me sick and he's talking about this this difference he says you're neither cold nor hot and a lot of us interpret this passage I think incorrectly because we think hot is that person who is on fire for Jesus but we think cold is that person who just doesn't really want to have anything to do with Jesus they walk away and we think that God just to pick sides but we have to recognize that hot and cold are the same thing in this passage they're both good things it's the value of hot water and cold water they were both valuable to the city of Laodicea in fact Jesus speaks directly to their circumstances because Laodicea was a city that a lot of people wanted to live in they were wealthy they had beautiful buildings they had a Medical Center Medical Center that most other cities could not have access to they had all the amenities of a good city they everybody wanted to live there other than Ephesus Laodicea was the spot to live but they had one major problem they didn't have a water source they had no water to drink and we know the value of water I mean for the last five years we've invested in a village in Africa who had zero clean water to drink and we brought them clean water to drink and it changed the village and so we know the value of water water is life and so this City and Laodicea had no water and so what they would have to do is they would have to pipe it in if you went to Harappa 'less there was hot springs in fact when we were at this city you could see these springs popping up just about everywhere I was like free jacuzzis all over the place it was amazing and then if you go to Colossae just about 11 miles they were known for their cold springs but the problem was is by the time Leia to see a pipe this water in from the mountains whether it was cold or whether it was hot by the time it travelled through these pipes and it got to their city it became lukewarm and Jesus uses their water problem he's not talking to them about their issues with their water he's using their water as an illustration to springboard to their spiritual condition he's saying to them just like your water you in your faith and your walk with me you've become lukewarm you become casual in your faith you're more concerned with being comfortable than you are with following me you're playing it safe and ultimately this is what Jesus was saying to this church half-hearted faith is good for nothing half-hearted faith if you're not all-in why waste your time half-hearted face that is casual and comfortable and safe and easy is really no valuable to me in fact Jesus gives us the imagery of spitting it out of his mouth beautiful picture there he says I don't want half of you and what's interesting is he tells us how he tells this church how they got there I mean this is your thesis half-hearted faith is good for nothing but he shows the church how they got their verse 17 he says you say I'm rich I've acquired wealth and do not need a saying now we know from the video and Laodicea was a very wealthy City they had all the gold they could ever want they had all their needs met and all their desires met they had more money than they knew what to do with and what happened because they were a wealthy City it led them to a place where they started to depend and Trust and Bank on their wealth more than they were God it led them to a place where they slowly became spiritually numb because they had money that could provide everything that they wanted for and it's really easy honestly in our culture today to find ourselves in those exact same shoes where we depend on something else other than God and I'd ask you today in your world right now what do you depend on more than God what do you trust in what do you bank on what do you depend on more than God maybe today you're just like layer Tasya where your business is booming and finances are flowing and you just kind of recognize as long as it stays that way that hey I can provide everything I want and everything I desire because I have money and so you know what I don't really need you god I'd only need you maybe today it's your education where you're a physician or you're a doctor or you're an educator and you know you have the backbone of your education it will take you into your it will lead you wherever you want to go and so you bank and you trust in that education because you know it will provide your future maybe today it's your 401k or the stocks you're investing in maybe for your retirement you just think hey if things keep going that way I'll be set for life and you bank on that and you trust in that maybe it's a relationship today a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a husband or a wife where you just say God as long as this relationship is in my life you know I've got this and what happens is what happened in this church is they dependent on their money and when we depend on something other than God it leads us to a place where we just say god we don't need you god we really don't need you now we would never say this out loud with our mouths we would never look at God and say hey God I just don't really need you but the truth is we live this way we live this way where we say hey as long as I have my finances in order god I'll leave you here just in case of an emergency but just stay there I'll live my life on my own because really I don't need you as long as I've got my education or this relationship or I've got my 401k booming as long as I have this thing god I can do this on my own I can figure this out I've got this and this is what the scripture says in in verse 17 it says you're rich you've acquired wealth and you don't need a thing see Laodicea was so rich that in their history there was this massive earthquake and it destroyed the city and what would happen in this culture is when a city was destroyed it's a lot like our culture today the government would step in and provide some financial help and so Rome Caesar went to Laodicea when their city was destroyed and he said hey I want to help you finance the rebuilding project and they were so wealthy that they told Rome they didn't need their money they would handle it on their own and they did the exact same thing to God God we have our money we have all we need you can stay back here and you can be our emergency plan but really at the end of the day we don't need you we don't have to depend on you and I think a lot of us we fall into this trap where we depend on something other than God on a regular basis you see dependence that word dependence is one of our staff values we have values as a staff that we live by and we try to live by everyday and you can see them at our Irondequoit campus there's a wall in in a place where we meet on a regular on a regular occasion as a staff and on this wall are all these words there's about eight of them there are staff values and the largest value the biggest word that you will see is that word dependence and under that word it says God is the source of all we are and all we do and what happens is in life when we choose to depend on something other than God we fail to realize that everything that we have and all that we are is solely and completely from God it's completely from him and do you recognize that today that your job or your education or your money or your business or whatever you have your kids your home the bed you sleep and they are all gifts from God and you know some of you today you know you're in church and you're checking it out but you're not sure about this whole god thing I'm not sure I believe in God but I want you to understand something today just because you don't believe in God doesn't mean you're not dependent on God because the very breath that you breathe right now is a gift from God the fact that you can stand up and leave this building is a gift from God and we fail to realize that when we depend on something other than God he's the source of all that we are and all that we can have in fact this this is what His Word says John 15 verse 5 it says I'm the vine this is Jesus speaking you are the branches if you remain in me and I in you you will bear much fruit and here's the part we don't want to hear apart from me you can do nothing that will shatter your ego and that will break down your pride because I won't speak for you I'll speak for me because there's something inside of me when I read that last line that says really God I mean come on God like seriously apart from you I can do nothing my pride and my ego says okay let me show you how much I can do without you I'm just being real in church when I read that I'm like okay God really and I fail to realize that the only reason I'm standing here today the only reason I'm breathing the only reason I have a home to go to is because God has blessed me with it he's the source of everything that we have when we depend on something else we fail to realize that and when we depend on ourselves it sets us up for spiritual failure when we trust in something whether it's our wealth or our education or our stocks when we trust in something more than we trust in God it t--'s us up for the enemy it t--'s us up to become just like Laodicea Luke war and we walk in this slippery slope where we continue to walk in our spiritual failures I find it really fascinating that in life when when life is going really good when things in your life are safe and easy and comfortable we live in this reality where we don't depend on God we got it but the moment something bad takes place it's almost like a reality shake it's almost like God's little reminder like hey you actually do need me when things go bad and we lose somebody we love or something devastating happens it's almost God's Way of reminding all of us like hey you can't do this without me and I think sometimes we forget this but Jesus continues verse 7 teen he says but you do not realize that you are wretched pitiful poor blind and naked and I wonder when the Church in Laodicea read this I wonder if they almost laughed I wonder if they're almost like obviously Jesus sent the wrong letter to the wrong church because we have all the money in the world there's no way we're poor Jesus like we must say we need to send this somewhere else because this doesn't apply to us and this is the scariest part about the whole church scenario is they couldn't see it they couldn't see their own spiritual condition and this scares me half to death I never want to get up to a place in life where I think I'm doing all the right things and God looks at me and he says you're missing it I never want to get to the place in life where I think I'm being blessed by God and he's showing me his favor and then I stand before him and he's like you are actually poor wretched blind and naked and I think some of us we can't see because if you looked at this church from afar they looked really good they had all the money you could want they probably had big buildings they looked the part but the moment you stepped past the facade and the look and you got in you realized that they were blind and they were naked and they were spiritually luke warm and how many of us live in this reality where we think man God's doing amazing things from me and God looks at us and he's like actually I'm not because blessings can blind us from the truth blessings can blind us from the truth sometimes we view the blessings of this world finances and health and safety and comfort and we can have all those things and we think God is blessing us but it actually blinds us from the reality that we are spiritually bankrupt that was the church and Laodicea and everything you could desire and from a worldly perspective man they look good but from a spiritual perspective they were bankrupt and what Jesus does in verse 18 is he transitions he says here's the problem you have half-hearted faith you're lukewarm and you've gotten there because you depend on something other than me but in verse 18 he says here's how we change that verse 18 he says I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so you can become rich and white clothes to wear so you can cover your shameful nakedness and salve to put on your eyes so you can see and so jesus shifts and he says hey here let me give you some advice of how we change this half-hearted faith he says in three unique ways and this is what I think is so powerful in this Texas Jesus speaks directly to their circumstances he's not a distant God who has no clue what's going on no he speaks directly to three things to this city he says first I want you to buy gold from me what are you saying to the searches you have all the money you have all the gold in the world but your gold won't do what my gold can do my gold will actually make you rich when you think you're rich he says secondly he says I want you to wear white clothes white referring to we've seen this color before to his righteousness he's calling them to his righteousness but what was interesting about wearing white clothes was in Laodicea they were known for their cloth in fact really really really rich people would travel from miles away miles and miles away to come and get some of the purple and black cloth of Laodicea because they're sheep as they drank the water the water was full of all these minerals and it was dying the sheep's wool purple or like almost a blackish color and people were wanted it it was like j.crew I mean they had to get some of it it was awesome clothes and so rich people would flock for miles to get some of this rare commodity and Jesus says hey you've got the best clothes in the world but they don't compare to mine they don't compare I want you to wear white clothes and then third he says I want you to put salve on your eyes again Jesus speaks to the reality because in Laodicea it was a major Medical Center an area where they trained people in the medicine field and in fact a physician a doctor in Laodicea invented this eye salve and people who were struggling with vision lost people were struggling with eye conditions they would put the salve joint Minh on their eyes and it was creating heal in their life and Jesus says to an area where they were known for their medical industry where they were known for being inventive he says hey I know you have SAP but my salve will make you truly see fact check this out Laodicea was known for their School of Medicine which was the chief medical center of the region one of the school's graduates wrote an influential textbook on the eye and he developed a revolutionary eye SAFF people would travel to Laodicea simply to visit this medical school and purchase the eye salve for their different eye sight problems this is something that the Laodiceans were very proud of a medical breakthrough that again Illustrated their self sufficiency and capabilities but in light of that Jesus tells them to buy eye sap from him the people who had the whole region coming to them for medical care he was instructing them to come to him for healing in other words you think you have all the remedies you think you can see but really you need to purchase salve from me so you can see what really matters isn't it interesting that in a very prosperous and developed location Jesus clearly says you've missed it you've missed me you can't see it you can't see that you've allowed your dependence on yourself to make you casual and lukewarm in your relationship to me you're blinded to your own spiritual drift so how about you do you think you're self-sufficient and able to live without the guidance and leadership of Jesus have you allowed your success to lead to a place where you've just become numb to your Savior the Christians in this city clearly had because of that Jesus urges them to buy from him in other words to seek Him and follow him with all that they have so that they would come to a place that they recognize that all they are and all they have only comes from him [Music] here's what Jesus was saying to this church he's saying what God offers you is so much more valuable than what you can earn on your own and it's the same thing he's saying to us today is what I can give you and what I can offer you is so much more valuable than anything you can earn on your own or anything this world can give you but I wonder do we really believe that I mean do I really believe that because sometimes in life it seems like what the world is offering me is so much more appealing and so much more valuable than what God wants to give me and I think we have to come back later to see you had to come back to this reality that God was offering them so much things so much more valuable than what they could earn on their own what they could buy on their own in fact he winds down in verse 19 and 20 he says this he says to those whom I love I rebuke and discipline so be earnest and repent Here I am I stand at the door and I knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and I will eat with that person and they with me Jesus gives them a small piece of encouragement he says I love you even though you're lukewarm I still love you but because I love you I'll rebuke you and discipline you it's almost like that moment as a parent where you you're a father or a mother and you look at your child and you say this is gonna hurt me a little more than it's gonna hurt you and Jesus says this word we've seen this word in in other passages he says repent he says walk away from the lifestyle that you've been choosing there's a different path for you and ultimately Jesus was asking this church and really our church this question us as individuals and us as families this simple but yet powerful question has your faith become lukewarm has your faith become lukewarm has it become easy and comfortable is a casual do you just go to church every Sunday and you kind of go through the motions and that's kind of the extent of it as you're sure has your faith got to the place where you no longer stretch yourself where you no longer take risks for the Gospels but you're more concerned about being safe and comfortable you realize that Jesus never called us to comfort I know that might be a news flash for some of us but Jesus never called us to be comfortable as his followers in fact all throughout the Gospels as Jesus is investing in twelve men his disciples he constantly took his disciples places they never wanted to go places that they didn't feel comfortable that he asked them to do things that would stretch them that would move them that would lead them that would guide them ultimately to prepare them and we have to realize as Christians where we grow in Jesus Christ where we become a better disciple as at a place of uncomfortability where we get uncomfortable where we get open to say god whatever you want so how do we break this mold of lukewarmness how do we break this mold as individuals where we say man maybe I'm there where I I'm more concerned about my safe Christian walk than I am about taking risks for the Gospels how do we as a church get out of this lukewarmness I'll give you one thing today just one thing I think we have to stop playing it safe stop playing it's safe where we say to God we're willing to go and do whatever you lead us to and I want to illustrate how we do that this morning because I think for all of us there's been a time in our life if we know Jesus as our personal Savior there's been a time in our life where we were passionate about it maybe it was when you first got saved maybe it was when you started understanding what God's Word was speaking to you maybe it was at a moment in your life where you felt God's voice speak to you but there was some point in our life where we got to the place where we were comfortable being uncomfortable a place where we were so in love with God that we would do whatever he called us to do and when he said sacrifice financially we did where he said share the love of Christ with your neighbors where he said serve the homeless or jump into the foster care system we just did it because we were following Jesus he didn't even look at the ground because we didn't care because our eyes were so busy focused on our Savior none of this really scared us no matter how much the board started to shake or the waves of life got we were so in tune with who Jesus was that when he called us too crazy and dangerous and wild and exciting we're like yes God I'm in I'll go for it this doesn't make any sense God and I don't know how this is gonna work God but if you say go and you say do it I'm your guy but in this journey of wild and crazy something changed maybe it was success maybe your business was booming and it meant your time and so you had to stop leading group to take a break maybe it was success in popularity as a high schooler in college where all your friends needed you and it led you to a place where you had to take a break Jesus or maybe it was something devastating in your life a diagnosis from a doctor or a loss of someone you loved and and those things of life pushed against you and you started realizing like what am i doing this is scary and uncomfortable and okay let's just take a break so we dropped out and maybe it's just for a season right I need to figure out some doubts that I'm having in my walk with God you know I just need to pull back a little bit because you know my business needs me or my children need me or my family needs me and so we decided to take a break which is a good thing [Music] but the longer we sat here we realized wow this is pretty nice it's comfortable I'm safe here I don't have to sacrifice here I don't have to worry here this feels good so what started as a season leads to year two years three years and the more we got safe and the more we got comfortable and the less we sacrificed we wanted actually more comfort instead of getting back up and saying God okay I'm ready I'm refueled I'm energized lead me and take me know we're like ha this is nice God fact it led us to a place where we wanted more comfort so we go through life just holding the beam [Music] we say prayers like this guys just protect me watch after my kids God God I know you called me to be uncomfortable but this is so nice and I just pray that you continue to bless my business god I I pray that you'd watch over my kids cuz I don't want them to experience the world I don't want them to know what this crazy world's like protect them God protect my family my wife my husband God protect us we don't want to experience pain God we don't want to be uncomfortable we all shared Jesus with our neighbors because that's weird and they might reject us so keep me here God keep me safe and we live our lives right here comfortable and then we get older in our lives winding down we pray it prayer again God I don't want to die a painful death so if you could God just take me in my sleep take me so it doesn't hurt slowly and gently so we pray that prayer and God begins to take us and we die we get to have it over like wow yes did you see that and we get to God and we look at God and we're like Jesus I've been waiting for this moment I'm ready for those words I've read about him in your word just tell me well done I'm waited for this moment tell me well done [Music] and unfortunately God looks at us he says you played it safe you are more concerned with your comfort than you were with my will you played it safe you now to ask you this question God let this question be on my heart it's been wrecking my world is if God answered all of your prayers like the prayers you pray on a regular basis if God answered all of those prayers would it impact more than just you and your family or is it all about you and your blessings and your safety and your comfort because we have a choice today as individuals and as a church where do we want to live our lives do we want to stand on the beam and say God let's do this I don't know what this means but come on let's go and and live a dangerous and crazy life or do we want to just kind of be comfortable cuz it's easier here feels better here [Music] but a prayer I've just prayed a lot of my life is when I die and I breathe my last breath God says you're done through my prayer from my life is when I die I want the devil and his demons to rejoice I want them to say thank God that guy is gone because I'm so willing to say God Here I am and wherever you lead me no matter how difficult it gets and how painful it gets if it costs me my children God if it cost me my job my business my education my status my popularity or whatever you're clinging to today it is yours the only way we can do that is because my life I have to recognize and we have to recognize that my life is not my own it was bought it was purchased on the cross of Jesus Christ where he shed his blood and he gave it up for me he purchased my life and it's no longer what drew wants but it's solely what my Savior was and we live with open hands Sagat my finances they're yours say God my children they're yours got my business my livelihood my reputation my status is yours where do you want to live it's only a question you can answer where do you want to live your life maybe a better question is is it your life or is it his life where will you choose let's pray God I know in my own life man it's so easy to want to be comfortable my god I'm so guilty of praying that prayer God please protect me protect my family protect my children but I never asked is that what you really want I'm so busy and consumed with my comfortable Christianity that I never stop and say God if you want to use my children if you want to use my wife for me or my family or whatever we have do it and I'm sorry God for living that way and I prayed today would be different for me if anybody else just me that you would lead us with open hands that we would say god of whatever I have and all that I am is yours so help us live that way pray all these things in Jesus name

Channel: Northridge Church - Rochester

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Id: K3i_TOipvO0

Length: 45min 12sec (2712 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 19 2017