Who and What Displeases God - The Revelation - Brad Powell - 10/3/21

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so [Applause] [Music] whoopie [Music] great [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] but somehow i don't seem like i myself i feel as though i'm several other people and all of them better and are all very benevolent i mean even i feel about that that i'm not being my i'm not describing the word benevolence the way i mean it well returning back to your life you don't feel at all like eating at all no not at all [Applause] [Music] i feel that i'm perfectly adequate [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] well good morning welcome to northridge if you're watching online we're so glad you decided to join us for worship today if you're in the room and you're able won't you stand to your feet we're singing that there is joy in the house of the lord today redress and be glad come on make some noise northridge if you're in the room hallelujah [Music] [Music] will be he opened the prison doors he parted the raging sea my god he holds the victory come on let's sing it out there and we won't be quiet [Music] [Music] [Music] my god there's joy in the house [Music] and now we're running free there's joy in the house of the lord today and we won't be quiet there's joy in the house of our god is surely in this place and we won't be quiet we won't be quiet come on and is out your praise won't you lift your voice come on somebody shot hallelujah glory be to you god to the only wise god be glory honor dominion and power come on northridge let's celebrate jesus one more time we're gonna experience the joy of our salvation and we're gonna continue in this atmosphere of worship and we are always striving here at northwest to worship god in spirit and in truth and one way that we can do that is through the reading of scripture together allow as a church family so if you put your eyes and your attention on the screens we're going to read in the book of galatians and first samuel together let's read loud and strong galatians chapter 5 verse 13 it reads you my brothers were called to be free but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature rather serve one another in love first samuel chapter 16 verse 7 the lord does not look at the things man looks at man looks at the outward appearance but the lord looks at the heart lord examine our hearts today may you be magnified in our lives that sing and worship together [Music] one [Music] we'd hear christ we magnify [Music] his name would [Applause] [Music] be magnified [Music] come on let's sing it together christ be magnified [Music] oh christ be magnified let his praise arise christ be magnified in me singing christ be magnified [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] be magnified christ be magnified is [Music] hey [Music] we were [Music] [Music] is [Music] glory angels [Music] [Music] of my life [Music] [Music] me [Music] they magnify jesus we glorify jesus [Music] come on all over the room won't you lift your hands as a sign of surrender lord be magnified and let's be glorified today come on in your own way lift your voice say christ be magnifying in me come on let them hear you christ be magnified change us renew us make us more like you jesus that's our prayer this morning let the world see you in our comings and our going jesus that's our prayer this morning be magnified jesus jesus be magnified jesus now if that's your prayer this morning won't you celebrate him won't you seal it with a response won't you respond to his presence come on clap your hands wave your hand somebody shot hallelujah come on give him some glory [Music] brave [Music] and make him greater this morning for him to be magnified in our lives means for him to become greater in our lives but but this morning i want to remind you that for him to become greater in your life means i have to become less and and that can feel maybe a little bit like a loss right what do you mean less of me no no no for there to be less of you and more of him is the greatest thing that could ever be possible for you and for me the greatest and we know from the revelation that at the end he is going to be magnified he is going to be made greater his name is going to be lifted up higher than every other name and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that jesus christ is lord and that's good news this morning that's good news this morning and so whatever you walked in here with this morning i just i would beg you i would ask you i would invite you to just lay it down just lay it down give it over to him this morning and see what he has for you see what he desires for you see what he wants for you this morning and it's so good to worship together and we're going to continue to worship in singing man in truth by reading his word and and now through giving what an honor and a privilege to partner with god in his mission all over the world and here locally by contributing to what he wants to do before we give let's pray god thank you thank you for being who you are god thank you for for allowing us to be in this place this morning thank you for allowing us to be reminded today of who you've created us to be that you've created us to be reflections and image bearers of you i pray god that that to today that's exactly what would happen that through the message that that brad's about to bring that that the reminders of the truth that we've been given this morning through song would start to change us would start to transform us would start to help us become more and more like you this morning now we thank you for who you are and that you've invited us into becoming like you help us to do that more today and it's in christ jesus name that i pray amen you guys can be seated [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] well hey everybody thank you so much for being here this weekend for all of you who are regular attenders those of you who might be guests welcome so glad that you're here and of course every one of you online wherever you're at around the world thanks for joining us for this series on the revelation and so so proud that you're here and i just want to remind you that you know as fun as it would be to always gather together and be hyped up and be cheerleaded and be affirmed and be congratulated as wonderful as that would be and as important as that is at times more important than anything is to make sure that there's one place on the planet and that one place should be the church of jesus christ one place where we hear god's truth and i just it's very important that i remind you that i don't stand on this platform and say all right i am the example of what it is when you arrive and i can't wait until you're more like me that's not what this is about it's not my job to stand on this platform and to tell you what i think what i want what i believe what i would like to be affirmed i'm a human being like you and i would be a bit distorted on that if i was to write a truth it would be favorable to me and probably not so favorable to you but it's my job as a christian and certainly as a pastor to share with you the truth of jesus christ we live in a world where it's bankrupt of that truth and there has to be one place where we get to hear his truth so here's my point if you have a problem with my talk send jesus an email all right that's uh i'm just kidding i'm glad to entertain how we feel we all are challenged by truth we all wrestle the truth is when i get an email that's really challenged and challenges me very often it means that this person's wrestling it's the people who aren't challenged by truth that really are worse off than anyone else but if you're a guest i just want you to know this isn't about anything but sharing god's truth and there are reasons why it's the only thing that will lead to your fullness in the end when i was growing up my dad was larger than life he without a doubt was the primary influencer in our home he set the tone if he was happy with you life was good if he wasn't there was no guarantee life would be continuing do you know what i'm saying i mean very interesting dynamic so needless to say securing his pleasure was very important if you were going to experience the better parts of life sadly i wasn't smart enough to learn that lesson until later in my life which caused me to miss out on a lot of positive experiences i could have had with him it saddens me to this day and he's been gone over two decades i share that with you because in many ways the same is true with god the father now don't misunderstand there's no way that we can ultimately perfectly compare a human dad with god the father because human dads are flawed and god the father has no flaws human dads can sometimes be capricious and follow their moods god is always faithful but but the idea is the same because whether we know it or not whether you believe in god or not the reality is he's the primary influencer in our lives and in this world he sets the tone and if we're going to experience his best or not it all depends on whether or not we are experiencing his pleasure or displeasure well here's the truth that i want to build this conversation from the book of the revelation on this weekend god's displeasure leads to the loss of everything we're looking for god's displeasure leads to the loss of his blessings his fullness in our lives and this isn't something i'm making up remember this is his truth not mine in fact jesus when he wrapped himself in humanity and he was walking on this planet and he was teaching actually made clear this truth he gave us one parable the parable of the talents and in it he laid out how like a master is god to us and how this master had three servants and this master distributed some things for them to do and he told them this will bring me pleasure this will bring me displeasure and then jesus said two of them took it seriously and brought him pleasure and they experienced his blessing and fullness one of them knew what the father the master wanted but man it was uncomfortable it's a bit challenging it was hard and so he decided to take his own route do his own thing he didn't do what would bring his master pleasure he did what would bring himself pleasure and in so doing he lost all of god's fullness and blessing in his life jesus is teaching this look at how he says it in matthew 25 26-30 his master replied you wicked lazy servant take the bag of gold from him all the blessings that i wanted to pour into his life take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who's brought me pleasure the one who has ten bags and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth and just so you know god made no one worthless every single person created with value in god's image the only way we become worthless is by choosing to live for our own pleasure and his displeasure it's a big deal there's so much feeling of worthlessness in our world and it doesn't come from god it comes from our own choices disconnecting from him and living lives of displeasure to him the reality is most people most people be honest even most people who gather in places like this and worship infect all of us along the way at times most people miss god's blessings and fullness because they don't know what displeases god or they avoid what pleases god for their own pleasure one of the reasons so many people in our world have no idea what brings god displeasure is because people who know god and have access to his truth and claim to be his followers are afraid to tell the world god's truth and what jesus said he's pleased with this he's displeased with that they're afraid because they don't want to be rejected by the world they don't want to be considered ignorant and foolish and dumb and idiots and from times gone by people who don't understand intellect like they do and and they're afraid of it so they never tell them what god really says about what will bring him pleasure and displeasure and so they don't even know do you know how selfish that is to have access to the truth of what will please god and displease god and not tell others because you love yourself so much you're unwilling to be rejected many people are missing god's blessings in fullness because someone won't tell them the truth to save their own feelings and emotion and status and then there are those of us who like the servant and the parable of the talent know what will bring god pleasure we just avoid it we do what we want to do and so we by choice miss it all last week we looked at who and what pleases god because god hasn't left us in the dark god hasn't left us guessing he's told us right up front what pleases him and displeases him but this week we need to take a turn to the other side we need to look at what he tells us about who and what displeases god i have to tell you this isn't my favorite subject and it's not going to be yours you're not going to go thank god i got up this is better than a latte at starbucks this is not how you're going to react to this it's not how i do but if we don't know what pleases him we can't live it and if we don't know what displeases him we can't live to his pleasure and it's all lost for us so this is about gain not loss this is about lifting people up not tearing them down but sometimes the truth is a bit challenging jesus came down and he wrote who and what displeases god he started here believers who take the right stand with the wrong heart it's interesting isn't it he doesn't start by saying believers who take the wrong stand he actually starts this do you know who really displeases god those who take the right stand claim the right beliefs stand on the right things but they do it with the wrong heart he wrote to the church at ephesus he goes man you guys you've stood right you've stood against evil and you stood for truth that's really really good but then look at where it turns in revelation 2 4 he says yet i hold this against you this displeases me you have forsaken your first love we always need to remember because it's so easy to forget that god's number one command isn't for us to do right now you'd never know that by the way people preach and live and act and all that but god's number one command isn't for us to do right it's to love him with all of our heart and even if we stand on what's right as the church at ephesus if we have the wrong heart it brings him great disappointment and displeasure you see this is an issue of having first and then maintaining the right kind of heart and unfortunately we as human beings have this natural inbred tendency to move away from the right heart even as we maintain an allegiance to right beliefs and right behavior do you know why it's easier to have allegiance to right belief and right behavior than it is to continue to have the right heart ever been in a relationship with anybody we as human beings we move from love to duty because duties easier it happens in marriage all the time roxanne says i just want you to love me what do i have to do is what i want to say you want me to wash the car and then you'll know i love you you know you i'll vacuum once a week then you'll know i love you you know show up maybe once a week to say hi then you'll know i love what what do i have to do because duty's so much easier than love but when you love write you live right do you realize that true love isn't about checking off all the to do's that have been signed you true love is loving so much that you go so far beyond the to do's that they go i never even would have thought of that which is why i'm such a great husband actually no that's not even true but you you you get the idea we move from love to duty when this happens in the life of believers and churches this is where it gets hard when we move from love to duty when we have the right stance but the wrong heart it destroys true christianity because it looks nothing like jesus christ you realize no matter what happened to him he never lost his heart he was betrayed by everyone that he loved and then he was beaten almost to death nailed to a cross hung naked in shame and people were still mocking him and he said father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing sadly his heart his first love is being lost by many churches and many believers today often they stand for many of the right beliefs they still state the creeds accurately but they have no heart and this is pictured quite profoundly in one setting where the pharisees the religious leaders of the day the people that man oh man they stood for all the right things in that world found a woman caught in adultery and adultery was wrong god made it clear that adultery was wrong sexual immorality is wrong and she was living in sexual immorality and they found her and they grabbed her and threw her at jesus feet right beliefs right stand identified sin clearly you know what the problem was they never saw her they didn't care about her they never saw themselves they forgot that they were just as sinful as this woman they too were flawed and in need of grace the only thing they could do was use her for their own advantage to try and take jesus down and they used the truth for their own agenda jesus was entirely different because his heart was right jesus saw her sin he had the right beliefs he didn't compromise that now notice we live in a world where everybody wants the heart and empathy to override the truth god just loves everyone so whatever you're doing it's okay do it do it no no jesus never said that you know what he said to the woman caught in adultery he says you know what sin is keeping you from experiencing god's blessings in fullness you need to go and sin no more it's destroying your life i'm not here to tear you down and condemn you i'm here to tell you the truth and lift you up but you know what he did he saw her he cared about her he wanted to redeem her the right heart the reality is that we lose our love when we lower our faith to a philosophy or a system of belief like the pharisees did that's when it becomes religion so we need to stoke the fires of our relationship with god if we maintain a love relationship with jesus christ and his word we won't lose our passion for living for him or serving him so we have to be careful of this in our lives in church because the day we lose the heart of christ is the day we lose the opportunity to positively change our world how's your heart jesus cares he says you want to know who and what displeases god believers who tolerate false teachers and their teaching that grieves god's heart look at revelation chapter 2 verses 14 to 16 he's writing to the church at pergamum and he says nevertheless i have a few things against you things that displease me you have people there worshiping holding up their hands declaring themselves to be so spiritual you have people there who hold to the teaching of balaam who taught balak to entice the israelites not to live for god but to sin by these two things are important eating food sacrifice to idols and by committing sexual immorality and can i just tell you it always ends up right there sexual immorality it just is so tied to our identity in god or outside of god and this is what false teachers always deal with it's always the same thing eating food sacrifice to idols they try and corrupt who we worship eating food sacrifice to false gods to gods with a little g to not the true god and the reason is once you corrupt the god we worship you then corrupt how we live one always leads to the other and so they were trying to corrupt them in every way because who we worship determines our moral identity so verse 15 he continues likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the nicolaitans repent therefore giving them a chance to turn to him to experience redemption otherwise if you don't repent if you don't turn to my pleasure i will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth now i don't know if you noticed this but pergamum had the opposite problem of ephesus opposite they didn't lose their first love they were all into empathy and all that stuff they lost their commitment to god's truth and here's what's very important to understand the compromising of jesus truth is just as destructive as losing jesus heart and our world has a pendulum swing there are a ton of people who have jesus heart and empathy and love and distorted a little bit because they've turned love and empathy into that which is more important than truth and so i'm just gonna make you feel good about yourself even though you're living to god's displeasure i'm gonna tell you you're doing okay this is okay this is okay that's okay whatever you do is okay whatever your truth is it's okay because i love you of course they stand in judgment of the people who declare what jesus said was true isn't it where the people who claim such great love for everyone in the world only hate people who declare god's truth wow then there are people on the other side they're all about the truth man truth like ephesus but they have no love for anyone they don't even see they don't even care it's destroying the church it's destroying christianity it's destroying the view people have of jesus now just so you can understand the elements he said you're following balaam balaam was an old testament prophet who compromised god's truth god's word for his own prophet his own comfort his own advantage so he wouldn't be killed in the end balaam's compromise helped to corrupt god's people and the world and god strongly rebuked it and he's saying that's what you're doing when you reject my truth and he says it's not just balaam it's also the nicolaitans it's hard to nail them down some people try and say this is who they were no one can say that but this we know like balaam they compromised god's truth it always deals with compromising god's truth you know we have to do as believers we have to look into our world are they compromising god's truth are they explaining it away are they watering it down am i you see they taught that we could be right with god the nicolaitans they taught that we could be right with god and live immorally at the same time what they taught that we don't have to be different from the world that we can embrace the world's immorality and still be pleasing to god two things i want to say very convenient and it looks a lot like our world today a lot of christians are living here this is where pergamum was experiencing culture and that's where so many christians today are experiencing culture and just know this it displeased god then and it displeases god today i just want to give you some observations about these heresies because if you don't notice some things you might miss their application to us first thing i want you to see is they came these heresies came from the inside of the church not the outside now don't get me wrong they had been influenced by their culture and their view and their want to be accepted and all that different stuff but these heresies developed inside the church you know with the people worshiping singing leading teaching that's where they developed and it's happening today i mean i there are books that are more popular than any book i could ever write and podcasts more popular than any podcast i could do i do a podcast every thursday night and for the three of you who come and join me thank you very very much i really appreciate it but i mean they've got millions of people and then there are these television broadcast is crazy they've got millions watching them and you know why because they're telling people what they want to hear not what jesus said and we need to be careful about that it comes from inside not from outside be careful another observation about these heresies they were presented and this is so important because you know marketing is really important they were presented not as a danger but as an improvement how often are we hearing that i'm gonna tell you people have had this wrong for two thousand years since jesus came i know it seems pretty clear that he's saying this is wrong but what he's really saying and then it takes a book this you know thick to explain it what he's really saying is the exact opposite of what he's saying there he being god just didn't know how to say it right so let us help fix it that's crap i'm just telling you right now if god said it it's not ours to improve it's ours to either accept or reject and you're free to reject it but you're also free to experience his displeasure and the loss of blessings and the loss of fullness people are so wrong they get so mad at me you're trying to make me live this no i'm not i'm trying to give you the option to know what jesus said so that you can choose a different way because your life's not going well right now and when the horse is dead you should dismount right but whatever one last observation i if you're a guest here you're watching the first first time or something you might go this guy's got some anger issues you know i was like i i do get intense usually though i'm really kind and gentle and soft you know i mean i but sometimes i get overly intense and i just need to tell you i'm tired of the lie winning and the truth being hidden and someone's got to talk about it [Applause] and i also don't want you to think that i measure up so it's easy for you to say i'm as challenged by this as anybody and the third observation about these heresies is that these heresies perverted god's liberty into worldly license you just need to know it's true that jesus truth sets us free but not to do whatever we want he sets us free for the first time to be able to do what brings pleasure to god because when we're born with adam's nature we are imprisoned to living for god's displeasure but jesus by dying for our sin and then raising from the dead can redeem us so for the first time ever we can actually hear god know god listen to god and please god but you know what a lot of people do he died for my freedom i can do what i want love how i want find pleasure how i want it's all okay no look at galatians 5 13 you my brothers were called to be free that's true but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature rather use your freedom to please god to serve one another in love and this should sound very familiar to us today all this stuff i'm talking about i mean jesus was very relevant he showed up for a reason and we need to remember that satan transforms himself into an angel of light he's always trying to corrupt god's people not by looking like the devil but sounding like jesus you know how you can tell the difference jesus tells you the truth and he tells you a lie jesus gets you worshipping the real god and satan tries to corrupt who you worship so he can corrupt how you live let me ask you where do you stand on the issue of truth could it be i'm asking you to be honest because i've had to wrestle with this too could it be that you've grown soft on issues that are contrary to truth god has given us we need to be careful who we listen to and who we follow remember not everyone who says there for jesus is really standing on his truth so if we want to please god we have to stand on his truth with the right heart we can't tolerate all these false teachers and false teachings then jesus says you want to know who displeases god it's believers who conform to the world standards and the world's practices i died to redeem you so you could conform to the image of god and you're conforming still to the world and its practices look at revelation 2 verse 20. he's talking to the church at thyatira and he says nevertheless i have this against you you tolerate that woman jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and it's not because she's a woman it's not because she's calling herself prophetess it's because in the name of prophesying for god she's denying everything about god and a lot of people try and tell you this is who jezebel was you can't know who jezebel was it doesn't get identified there john is using jezebel as a symbol that reveals the dangerous characteristics of this woman and so he calls into the old testament and he brings out jezebel who was notorious as the wife of king ahab she was responsible for polluting the people of god by getting them to worship a false god so that they could live false messed up lives she was corrupting the church it's happening today look what verse 20 jesus says by her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality because it always gets there and eating food sacrifice to idols worshiping the wrong god i've given her time to repent and can i just say jesus gave her she's the worst of the worst of the worst and what does jesus want he wants her to repent to find redemption do you realize all the losses we experience aren't him doing it to us it's us doing it to ourselves by our choices my dad wanted me to experience him and i didn't because i made the wrong choices same is true with god i want her to repent of her immorality but she's unwilling so i'm going to cast her on a bed of suffering because that's what she's chosen and i'll make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely because that's what they keep choosing to displease me unless they repent change their ways i will strike her children dead of course because the soul that sins dies even though he wants to redeem but if you don't choose his redemption then death is the only thing we have for eternity and then all the churches will know that i am he who searches hearts and minds that's so cool what does he care about the heart and the mind right heart right truth and i will repay each of you according to your deeds well can i just say it obviously god takes this issue pretty seriously that's strong language why don't we take it seriously if god takes it seriously shouldn't we take it seriously yes and don't miss this once again the heart of the whole issue that jesus is addressing here is spiritual compromise spiritual compromise is the predictable result of tolerating false teachers and their teachings which so many of us are doing at the core of jezebel here was the teaching that we should rationalize and compromise god's truth to our agenda so that we could get our needs and wants our way compromises all the way haven't you heard in our world it takes compromise to get there it takes compromise i think that's true if you're talking should we tax people five percent or six percent let's compromise i know that's a dream 80 or 90 i guess that's where we're at now but it's like that's a compromise maybe but you can't compromise absolute truth or you no longer have any truth at all and this is what jezebel wants us to do compromise god's truth that's not true what's it matter in the end it's happening it's common for people to rationalize the lack of time they spend with god the lack of commitment they have to his church the lack of commitment they have to serving the lack of giving the not sharing their faith with people who desperately need to know jesus it's easy for us to compromise our angry unforgiving spirits it's common for us to rationalize lying and cheating and living without integrity in business because everybody knows we need to make a living it's easy and common to rationalize our political views even when they clearly seek to advance the immorality and valuelessness that god speaks against i grew up with a dad who is of a particular political persuasion and i love my dad love him but my life of fullness won't come by continuing to pull the lever on my dad's political party it will come by me trying to do everything i can to promote god the father's values in a world without values and we need to stop rationalizing it and by the way it's not clear it's not easy and it's not without complexity but in the end it becomes pretty obvious at least to me it's easy and common to rationalize about sex outside of marriage about not honoring our marriage views and about marriage itself it's easy and common to rationalize about our moral compromises in the name of being a human being do you do this i do this at time you know come on everybody else is doing it none of us are perfect i'm flawed god knows my flaws how can he have a problem with me being who i am who he created to me to be and in the end he's going to forgive me anyway come on i can do whatever i want except for one thing as good as it sounds as wonderful as the truth it would be jesus showed up and he said that's not right so you're going to live for his pleasure or is displeasure i told you this was going to be a fun talk i told you this was going to be better than starbucks i told you the reality is that john the author of the revelation was imprisoned on patmos because of his unwillingness to rationalize and compromise himself spiritually all he had to do was say what they wanted him to say but he wouldn't if we want to please god be used by him and experience his blessing and fullness in our life then we need to make the same commitment so let me ask you is it possible that you've been rationalizing in any area of your life if so you need to remember that it displeases god and it's causing you to miss his fullness and blessing in your life but jesus made it clear you can fix it just repent my dad always told me the same thing son come on but i didn't and i'll regret it forever i don't want to do the same thing with god do you jesus you want to know who and what displeases god i'll tell you believers who emphasize and value appearance over authenticity you know how we appear instead of who we really are chris christianity is pretty easy as if all i have to do is make you think i'm spiritual all i have to do is make sure you never see me in the real world come up on the platform and sound pretty good and go and live my dank and dark life but you know what i experience even if you're convinced i'm spiritual i still experience a dank and dark life you wonder why so many people in positions like mine have fallen in atrocious unexplainable waste of the years because over time they went from love to duty and they said all the right things they just didn't live them it leads to emptiness darkness all we need to do is repent look at revelation 3 1 he says to the angel of the church in sardis write i i know your deeds you have a great reputation of being alive everybody thinks you're like me you worship great you teach great you look great you show compassion great you're awesome there's just one problem this is jesus not me there's just one problem everybody thinks you're alive but you are dead can i ask you what good is it for you to think i'm alive but may really be dead and yet this is what so many of us are committed to we are so committed to making each other think we're alive as if that's going to do anything for us it doesn't jesus is simply saying that these believers show well but aren't well i mean they show off a healthy spiritual life a vital spiritual life it's just that they don't have one they're dead and why does this displease and disappoint god so much because it's the exact opposite of what he's looking for first samuel 16 7 the lord does not look at the things man looks at man looks at the outward appearance but the lord looks at the heart but it's easier to do duty than love great example of this in scripture that you know those pharisees that didn't see the woman caught in adultery they just used her and who cares well it was predictable because their whole spiritual life was outward not inward they had created a system of belief but not a system of life and jesus said it look at matthew 23 verses 27 and 28 woe to you teachers of law and remember these are the religious teachers of the day what do you teachers of the law and pharisees you hypocrites you are like get this imagery you are like white washed tombs which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside you're just full of dead man's bones and everything unclean in the same way on the outside you appear to be people who are righteous but on the inside you're just full of hypocrisy and wickedness and of course we have people like this today don't we yeah sometimes us if we're honest we have those who play the role of christian but don't maintain a relationship with christ for them it's just religion what they do not a relationship who they know and are we have people today who appear to be everything we think a godly person should be but then we find out they've been living a lie and it's really sad and it displeases god we just can't let it be us so i've actually tried to construct for myself so i don't become that hypocrite what should i be looking for in my heart and maybe you can benefit from this well i should be looking for a heart that desires to spend time with and please god and you know how i can know if i have that heart because the heart gets what the heart wants and if i have a heart to spend time with god you know what i'm going to be doing spending time with him if i have a heart to please god i'm not just going to talk about i'm going to well please him seek to i need to look for a heart for the hurting and the lost i need to look for a heart of worship and truth i need to look for a heart of generosity i need to look for a heart in myself of moral purity and holiness and i don't know if you noticed all of these stem from the heart because of out of the heart come all the issues of life which is why false teachers love to corrupt your heart so they will corrupt your life jesus says you want to know who and what displeases god it's believers who do not walk through the doors that god opens for them now i'm going to tell you right now if you're like me you're going to go an easy one finally you know it's kind of kind of like this doesn't go right to the core of who i am and start yanking my organs out and all that stuff but it's still really really important but you can breathe a little bit you can see the sunshine you can feel the caffeine going through your veins just a little bit for a moment he says in revelation chapter 3 verses 7 8 to the angel of the church in philadelphia right these are the words of him who's holy and true who holds the key of david what he opens no one can shut and what he shuts no one can open and then he says i know your deeds see i have placed before you an open door that no one can shut and he goes this is he really didn't attack philadelphia so much but he goes and i know this is tough for you i know the door's open i know that you know the door is open but i know that you're having a hard time walking through it because i know that you have little strength it's hard can i just tell you sometimes it's really hard to walk through the doors that god's opened it's really hard you know what it's easier to do binge watch netflix but he says yet though you have little strength you've kept my word and not denied my name i think one of the greatest gifts that god gives us is an open door the gift of being used by him investing in our life in something that makes a difference for eternity and when we walk through those open doors we experience him on a whole new plane the apostles our example of that jesus came and said hey i'm going to open a door for you follow me and if you take that open door you know what's going to happen jesus said it i will make you i'll make you something you could never be on your own i'll make you fishers of men well this in mind the truth is that nothing displeases god more than when you know he opens a door and we don't walk through so can i just ask has god put an open door in front of you you know maybe an opportunity to share him with someone who desperately needs him but you haven't walked through it because you don't want them to think you're an idiot has he opened the door for you to serve him somehow even last weekend you know we had that wheel and we said there are hundreds of ways to serve them you could do it and yet so many still don't serve could it be that you're just not walking through the door could it be that god's resourced you given you extra in life whether it's time treasure or talent and and you just haven't walked through the door of investing that so that he could advance his mission what are you doing with the open doors that god is giving you if you want to please him and experience true joy in your life you need to walk through those open doors finally jesus you want to know who and what displeases me believers who become spiritually complacent believers who become spiritually complacent apathetic look at revelation 3 i'll just let him say it he's speaking to the church at laodicea and he says i know your deeds that you're neither cold nor hot i said this last week it's talking about being refreshing in this world or hot bringing healing in this world i wish you were either one or the other but you're not and so because you're what only you can be lukewarm mediocre uneffective neither hot nor cold i'm about to spit you out of my mouth not because i don't value you but because you choose to displease me and what was the basis of the displeasure you say i'm rich and have acquired wealth and do not need a thing they thought they were good and we're living in a culture where people who are living in such compromising ways to god's clearly taught morals still go me and god we're like this i can't tell you how many people they're living just dark lives and they're saying me and god man the only problem is that's what laodicea did and here's what jesus said you don't realize that you are wretched pitiful poor blind and naked but then he said but don't worry it doesn't matter how bad you've gotten i still love you and those i love i tell the truth i rebuke and i discipline just repent just repent god this weekend is looking at your life and seeing you even better than you see yourself and you see some displeasure things and he's saying but i love you enough to tell you the truth and all i'm asking you to do is turn back to me turn back to me this is a serious malady in the church today it's easy for us to get complacent complacent about the reality that people are lost it's so sad churches and christians are telling people who are so lost that they're okay and they're good and everything they're doing is okay you know why so that they can feel good about themselves instead of help a person who's so lost and needs hope we get complacent about our daily and desperate need for god we get complacent about worship and serving and prayer and sin and lack of commitment to his church and the whole reason boils down to the same thing the whole reason that we lose the right heart and we lose the right mind and we live outwardly but not the whole reason we move from love to duty all of it comes down to the same reason people shut jesus out of their lives and that's exactly what jesus says to all of these churches he writes it to laodicea specifically he says here i am i stand at the door and knock ready to change your heart ray to change your mind ready to change the reality of who you are here i am i stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door i'll come in and eat with him and he with me here's what i have found i'm often with god the father like i was with my human dad not living to his pleasure and whenever that's true it's because i'm shutting him out and doing it my way and what i have to do if i want to experience his blessings and fullness is i have to say forgive me jesus come back in come back in this is your come back in moment for those of you who know jesus already this is your comeback end moment he wants back in he wants back in he wants you living for his pleasure instead of this pleasure i'm going to give you a moment just before i bring this to an end it will be quick but i still have a couple of important thoughts but just before we bring it to an end i want to give you a chance to let him come back in he's knocking so would you bow with me in a word of prayer and as you pray if you're here and you're saying i'm hearing the knock but i've never let him in let him in for the first time to forgive you to make you new just pray with me just take my words as these others are praying just just say jesus i hear your knock i don't want you on the outside i want you on the inside i confess my sin my brokenness but you died on the cross to forgive me and by faith i'm asking you to you rose again to give me new life and by faith i'm claiming that new life in jesus name amen if you just prayed with us just let us know you can see how on the screen just text texas northridge to 3 16 16. we'll send you information about next steps you can take with god but here's where i kind of want to end our conversation this weekend i want to give you an application remember the truth is that god's displeasure leads to the loss of his blessings and fullness so here's the application if we want to experience god's blessings in fullness which we so desperately need we need to make the choice to both know and now to avoid what displeases him jesus told us he hasn't hidden it now as i thought about this there's no way i can go through each of these points and give you a great action step and do that i'd need another three days to which some of you well one would say that'd be okay the rest of you would say time for lunch so i thought what could we do that could help with the whole talk a bit and it came to this idea that the ultimate problem is that all that we're being exposed to in this world bad company corrupts good character is causing us to move away from the right heart to the wrong heart or from the right truth to the wrong truth it's all this influence out there and this isn't this one thing can't fix it all but we have to i think we have to understand one of the keys to avoiding displeasure of god is living for his pleasure and one of the keys is to have the right influences when i was living such a messed up life with my human dad all of my friends were influencing me that way i was influencing them too wasn't just them but we had we chose our bad influences and we're doing the same thing today bad company corrupts good character that's first corinthians 15 33 bad company corrupts good character that's what was going on in these churches living to god's displeasure so we thought what's one of the key areas of negative influence in our world what's one of the places where negative influence is reverberating the loudest these days and we came up with it social media social media okay so i need to acknowledge on the front end on social media there are some good influences i know that because youtube's considered social media and i do a thing every thursday night called thursday live on social media and i'm not just good i'm awesome great right and and i know this i know this because three of you actually watch every thursday night i must be good for three of you to show up you know and so and so you know the hyperbole and the joke that is but uh there are good influences on social media but there are more bad ones in fact can i just tell you i think that's where jezebel hangs out these days but whether good or bad influences on social media it's easy to lose our focus on jesus when we're continually diving down the rabbit holes of social media together and so we came up with an idea to help you live out this talk for a while it's called a social media fast now some of you are going to need volumes immediately to even consider this but a social media fast as a church we can't we're not making anyone do you don't have to do this jesus didn't come down and tell you to do this just an idea as a church we're fasting from social media this week you're going to see on all of our social media sites as a church and online i'm on a social media fast and this isn't just from the bad stuff it's also from the good stuff so thursday live since it's social media it's youtube not doing it this week how hypocritical we're canceling all social media but me you know that'd be kind of weird so all gone and we want to invite you to join us you can actually get that image go to our social media site before the fast begins download that and put it on your social media and let's take a fast together now i'll tell you the exact motivation in a minute but i do want to give you a little bit of an out we're going to continue sending out our prayer guides each morning because those come through a text there's always a way around right and so it's not social media it's a text so we're going to keep sending our prayer guides out to be a small encouragement in the morning if you'd like to be a part of our prayer guides each morning just text us guide the word guide to 3 16 16. but here's how i want to end this weekend i want to give you the action step this week this week not a year not three months just this week join us in a social media fast why so that we can focus on shutting more of the world out and focus on letting more of jesus in because [Applause] because the problem is that we've been shutting him out and when we let him in he changes everything let's be part of the change i'm so glad you are here invite someone next time and then we'll see you [Applause] [Music] hey there's one [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] come on so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: NorthRidge Church

Views: 1,370

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: NorthRidge, NorthRidge Church, Plymouth MI, Michigan, Church in Michigan, Church in Plymouth MI, Brad Powell, Faith, Hope, Bible, God, Jesus, Love, Worship, Live Music, church live, Pete Wilson

Id: p4noBwT5Amc

Length: 81min 35sec (4895 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021