Wednesday Night Service 7PM -

Good evening. Thank you. I got one. Hey, would you all just stand with me in honor of our Lord this evening and I'll open us up with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for giving us this time that we can just come together, Lord, and just give you the praises that you deserve, God. I just pray that everything that happens this evening would just do one thing,

Lord, that it would help us understand more of who you are, God, that you're not a thing or a theory, Lord. You are a person that we can get to know personally, Lord. I just pray that as we look into your word this evening, that we would just learn more about who you are. And God, I just pray that as we sing these songs, God, that it would just be us speaking to you from our heart. Lord,

I just pray that you would just bring your spirit here this evening, with us, that you would just enable us to just give you the praise that you deserve. I pray this in your name. Amen.

God, I just thank you for, Lord, making us, not making us to be separated from you, God, but from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden, your plan was for us to walk with you, your plan was for us to know who you are, God. I just pray that we can claim that, that we can lean on that, that no matter what the world throws at us, no matter what circumstances get thrown at us, God, we know that your ultimate plan is for us to know you. And anything that gets in the way of that, Lord, I just pray that we would put it to the side. And anything that discourages us from that, God, I pray that we would put it to the side, knowing that it's just small potatoes to you. God, that the only thing that matters is us having a relationship with you

and talking to you and learning from you. God, I just pray that, Lord, that you would just lead us and guide us through your word this evening, that we would get to know you more. And I pray this in your name. Amen. How's everyone doing? Good? Half asleep? Kind of? Cool. Hey, thank you guys so much for being here. Really excited to be here. I'm so excited to be here. I'm so excited to be here.

Here for you. Obviously, I'm not Ryan. He is still at home. And obviously, with what's taken place in the last week, always just please be in prayer for Nichols' family. Even though we know what took place and we understand the impact that Robbie had on so many people, that this is always a time for mourning, but it's also a time for celebration because we know where Robbie's at

right now. And he is glorifying God every single minute. So be in prayer for Nichols' family. They will be around them. And if you want to literally hug them, Ryan's definitely a hugger. So give him as many hugs as you can. But just be with them. Reach out to them. Love on them. Whatever you can do, support them. This is always a tough time, but it's also a celebration. So tonight, we're

going to be in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 11. 2 Corinthians 5, verses 11 through 21, if you can turn there. And I titled this, Christ is a Lifestyle, Not a Trend. Christ is a Lifestyle, Not a Trend. I felt like when I was reading through this passage, it just kept coming more and more abundant of what Paul is trying to talk about here. And before we really dive into it, I want to talk about early on. You're not going to agree with me now. You can

understand. But early on, I was in diets. When I was in college, I played college ball. Obviously, a lot slimmer, right? They don't have people my size in college playing basketball. But I was a slimmer, and I was doing a lot of the fad workouts and the dieting. And I tried the P90X. It lasted, I think, three days. And I was like, this is the dumbest thing I've ever done. Who in their right

mind gets up at 6 a.m. and does P90X? I don't even know if that's around anymore. I tried the diets like keto. I'm like, this is dumb. I love bread, and I love sugar. Why would anyone take this stuff out? There's just no logic behind it. I don't support it. You just be you. Do you, okay? But I would try all these workouts. I would try all these diets. And I just, I could not stick with it. And one of my problems I noticed is I'm very

systematic. I like to wake up at the same time. I like to do the same thing in the morning. I like to carry on my day. I have a routine at work. And I would do that with the gym. I'd go to the same gym, do the same workout. Probably a bad idea. Why I never got thinner. I just kept working the same muscles, right? And then the problem is when it comes to like holidays or for traveling, I'm like,

I give up. Can't do this. I'm not working out. It's some other gym I'm not comfortable with. I'm skipping Thanksgiving and having way more food than I should be having. I'm going to sit there and indulge myself. Bad thing, first off. But I struggled. And the problem, I think, what I kept coming back to and I look back at now is those diets and those workouts, they were all

fads. They weren't lifestyles. I didn't make that true commitment internally, externally, consistently. And I really struggled with just staying with that lifestyle of working out. So whenever you hear people like, yeah, I'm on this diet. It's going great. It's going great. It's great. I'm like, cool. Is it like, are you sticking with it? Are you going to stay with it for the rest

of your life? Oh, no. It's like a six-month program. Like, that's not going to work, right? I mean, how many of us, I've done this. How many of us sign up for a gym membership and you're like, yeah, I went the first week of January, second week. It's like, I'm done. This is great. And then we're being chewed out by our wives because we signed up for a year subscription, right? And then we get in

trouble and then we're forced to go to the gym and then we have a bad attitude and then we're slamming weights and pushing people around. I hope you're not doing that. But I did that sometimes. I thought about it. But if we look at 2 Corinthians 5, verses 11, we're going to notice that we have three different points. One, we fear because we love. Number two, move on from the past and don't look

back. And number three, let our words and actions mirror Christ. So let's start diving into it. So chapter 5, verse 11. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God. And I hope that we are made manifest also in your conscience. We are not to gain, we are not again, commending ourselves to you, but are giving you an occasion to be proud

of us so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. If we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. He died for all so that all who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died,

and rose again on their behalf. Therefore, from now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we will know him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who has reconciled us to him

health, excuse me, through Christ and gave us ministry of reconciliation. Namely, that God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were making an appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.

He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so we might become the righteousness of God in him. Heavenly Father, Lord, I just come to you. Lord, I just pray that if anyone is in this room right now is just battling something right now. God, if something is just on our hearts, it's heavy. Lord, they'll take care of that right now, right here in front of you.

Lord, that we can hear what you have to say. God, we can apply what Paul is trying to teach us. Lord, open our hearts. Make us vulnerable. Lord, let us just conform more to you. Let us just draw near to you in everything we do, through our words, our actions, our thoughts, and our thoughts. Lord, let us seek you out in everything. And once again, please be with the Nichols family,

Lord. Put your hand over them. Continue to bless them. Watch over them. God, let this church just surround them with love and continuous support as they are in our prayers. We love you. In Jesus' name, amen. So number one, we fear because we love. What does that mean, right? So if you look back at verse 11, it says, Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.

But we are not afraid because we love. We are not afraid because we love. We are not afraid because we love. We are made manifest to God, and I hope that we are made manifest also in your conscience. The message isn't, you know, watch out. If you're reading the KJV, it's not watch out for the terror of the Lord. It's not like the Lord is going to bring down fire and brimstone on you. It's not

like you should live your life in fear or concern. It's not like, oh my goodness, if I don't do this, God's going to strike me down. Though there is a place for that. I truly believe that. But this message is not, if I don't persuade men, if I don't hit the quota, if I don't share the gospel five times a day, then God's going to sit there and punish me. I don't think that's what Paul's trying to get

the message across. Because if we look, the translations we're looking at now is knowing the fear of the Lord, not the terror of the Lord. Instead, the message is, I've been delivered from the terror of the Lord, and you can be delivered too. But remember, the whole theme of tonight, we're going to be talking about is lifestyle. And so what does that mean? If the lifestyle is for you,

then that means it's personal, right? So what if we think about it this way? Because, you know, reading through different commentaries, I kept seeing different meanings and what people's thoughts on this and what they were really trying to stretch for. And I kept coming back to this one commentary where I really believe this is what Paul was trying to get across is, what if we read it this way? Now I fear that I may hurt God. How many times have we ever thought of it like that?

When reading through this, verse 11, therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, are we thinking that God is going to strike us down, or are we living our lives in fear? I'm just so concerned that if I don't hit the quota, if I don't share the gospel, if I don't do X amount of nice things every single day, that God's going to take my job away, God's going to punish me in some way. If I don't go to church so many times in a month, I'm in trouble. What if we change that?

What if we look at, what if Paul meant to say, now I fear that I may hurt God? What's the significance of that? Let me break it down into something a little more practical. A few years ago, eight years ago or something, whatever it was, I went down to Mexico, for a mission trip. Loved it. Went to Tijuana, and we knew it was a service project. Once again, I was smaller, thinner, like I could handle the service project. Usually you don't send

overweight people to a service project. Doesn't end well. Usually you become the service project. But I'm sitting there, and we understood we're going to build a concrete house for this family. And so we're like, okay, sounds great. They told us the plans. They knew what we're doing. There's about five of us guys that were going to be working on this. Okay, so we knew the day. We

woke up early. We prayed. We had a healthy breakfast. We knew that they're going to have a cement mixer. Okay, and we had about five wheelbarrows. This sounds easy. Mix, pour, mix, pour. Now, what they did not tell us, or maybe they forgot, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, is we had to truck this wheelbarrow full of cement up a hill, and this was a steep hill. This was nothing easy. And so we took this wheelbarrow, and we ran up the

hill, poured, ran back down. Take the wheelbarrow, full of cement, go up the hill, come back down. That was one of the toughest workouts I've ever done in my life. And we did that for about four or five hours. I think we only had like half of the house. I'm like, this is ridiculous. You just need a 3D model or print this house, and we're done. Call it good, and we are done. Like, this

is nuts. And I remember it was about lunchtime. I was like, I don't want to eat. I don't want to talk. I just need to lay down. Like, it's not, I'm not sitting right. There's not something right with me. And so I'm laying down. I'm like, I am like one Ike's donut away from like a maple long john of dying. Like, I need to have a maple long john always. This isn't ending well. And so I'm sitting there, and I'm laying out, and I'm like, I can see the

light. It's fading away. And this one of the townspeople, he comes up to me. He's like, hey, I just want to say thank you for what you're doing. I'm like, no problem, man. And so I switch my brain back to thinking like, oh, I'm on the mission trip. I got to serve you. I'm here to bless you. And so I immediately sat up, and I knew I was in pain, and I was tired, and I was more

interested in trying to bless him and trying to serve him that I took every opportunity away from that individual. Who was trying to bless me because he saw how hard all five of these guys were working because I feared that I was sitting there, or I worried that I signed up for this mission trip that I was here to work. I was here to meet that quota of building that house. I wanted to serve them. I wanted to

bless them. And it doesn't matter if I had more money in my pocket. It doesn't matter if I had a house that was built. It doesn't matter. I had two vehicles. The fact is I took an opportunity away from him to bless me because I was more worried about my goodness. I signed up for a mission trip to serve you. And sometimes we do that to other people. We take opportunities away for them to bless us, for them to have those conversations

with us. And I think it comes back to this verse. Knowing the fear of the Lord, it's not that he's going to strike us down. Once again, there is a time for that. It does happen. We see in the Old Testament. It is justified by bonehead decisions by so many individuals who continue to mess up. Obviously, God is righteous, but he's not going to strike us down. He's not going to strike us down.

But in here, if we start asking the question, now I fear that I may hurt God. Let me break it down one more time. Practical. All right. My kids, all of them except for Hosanna, they're in sports. Fall, spring, winter, nonstop. We're at games every single night except for Wednesdays. We're always supporting them. We're watching them. It's a lot of fun. And in Kansas, you know, like

last night, last week, it's 159 degrees. It's 99% humidity. You look like you're in a hospital. You look like you just came out of the shower and you're like, go team. You're like, this is a terrible idea. Who thought of this? Thanks a lot, rec. In fact, I pay so much for the rec. I feel like I should get a lifetime supply of hot dogs, but it doesn't happen. I try. But we support our kids so

much and we love it. We want to be there for them. But if I was thinking from like a selfish standpoint, do I really want to sit in 159 degree weather cheering my kid on that he's kicking the ball the wrong way into the wrong goal and scoring? It's adorable, but he's doing it the wrong way. I want to run out into the field and tell him, dude, you're messing up. But what happens if I

don't go to that soccer game? My kid's looking out and he's trying to find his parents. And what does that mean when I'm missing? He's like, hey, where were you, dad? From a selfish standpoint, would I love to be at home, sit in the AC and not 159 degrees? Yes, absolutely. But when my child looks over and he's like, where are you? That's just selfishness. I'm choosing not to be there for him.

And it's hurting him. So if I ask myself, it's like, you know, if I fear or if I worry that I'm going to hurt my child by not being at a game, what is he going to think? And so when we start to think about other people or family members or church members, when we start to think about everyone around us rather than ourselves, that lifestyle starts to take over us. It starts to become more of how can I bless you? How can I serve you? Our attitude changes, our work style,

changes, our actions change. You look at Colossians 3, 4. It says, when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him glory. Look at it. I'm going to say it one more time. Colossians 3, 4. When Christ, who is our life, lifestyle, that's what it's saying, lifestyle right there. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, meaning the glory that's

flowing through you because of Jesus, because you put your faith and trust in him, also be revealed with him in glory. What we have to understand, especially in our cultures, we struggle so often is that we want the accolades. We want the money. We want the job titles. We want the big house. And God's like, it's not about that. It's never been about that. It's about

God. It always will be. And sometimes we try to put ourselves in front of that. And he's like, just stop for a second. You have to remember, what are you doing? What is your purpose? Philippians 1, 21, it says, for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. For to me, to live is Christ. See, when we start living for Christ, when we put Christ at our forefront, when he is our lifestyle, everything that we do,

our words, our actions, our thought process, when it's all about Christ, there comes a time when we pass. And that's not necessarily a terrible thing because as we transition, we are passing and we're going to heaven and we're spending every day with God glorifying him. But we have to make it our lifestyle. You know, Paul speaks about the glory of God. He says, we have to make it our lifestyle.

He speaks with irony here. The Corinthian Christians were not interested in glorifying Paul or seeing anything good in any of his trials. Look at verse 12. We are not again commending ourselves to you, but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. Verse 13, for if we are beside ourselves, it is not for God. If we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of

Christ controls us, having concluded that one died for all, therefore all died. You know, Paul is explaining right now, he's like, he's going through trials and he's in a vulnerable situation. And he's telling these people that are around him, he's like, listen, I just went through a tough time. These are my trials. These are my tribulations. And he's vulnerable right now. And these people are like, dude, what are you doing? Like the bro code. You

don't cry in front of us. You don't act all mushy, gushy. Like we're dudes. We puff out our chest. We don't cry as men. Like, stop. You're being weird, Paul. And he's like, no, hang on a second. We're going through these trials and tribulations. It doesn't make you, you know, less of an apostle. It doesn't make you less of a man of God. They looked down on Paul because of his glory was not

in appearance and only in heart. And by telling those Corinthian Christians how God worked through his struggles and trials, Paul gave him something to answer those who thought that way. He's like, look, there is nothing wrong with going through trials and tribulations. In fact, when you're going through tough times, you need to reach out to people. You need to talk to people. You need to

have accountability partners, people that you can trust. You can have those tough conversations and explain what's going on in your heart. What are you struggling with? It's amazing because ever since I started attending Calvary, I've noticed, Ryan's probably watching, so he's going to text me later on, but he cries a lot. If it's a Sunday or Wednesday, he's crying. And I'm like, my guy,

slow the tears down at first. And now I totally like, I love it. And there's been times where I'm crying too. I mean, at times, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm blabbering back there. I hope Lisa's okay with this. Lisa and I are blabbering together. I think we went through like three tissue boxes. There's times where I'm doing my devotions and

I'm crying. And I'm telling Erica, my wife, this, and I'm like, babe, this devotional just hit hard. And I just, I felt like I had to cry. And she's like, you've been crying a lot. I said, I've been hanging out with Ryan too much. And I don't think obviously that's a terrible thing, but when we see people that's healthy, especially when we can see people being emotional up here, like Ryan,

the times when he's describing what's going on and those emotions are flowing through. I don't see it as a negative thing. I see that more of Christ within him, that he's so passionate and he's just wanting to share that with you. And so I've been blabbering too much also. And so what Paul is trying to say is like, listen, these trials and tribulations, it's okay. It's an

opportunity to glory on behalf of God. It's okay to cry. It's okay to cry. It's okay to cry. It's okay to laugh. It's okay to look back and understand that, you know, what matters the most is what's on your heart. It's not your appearance. It's not the way you look. It's not the way you come about yourself. Paul gave them something to answer those who thought that

way. My second point, look at it, move on from the past and don't look back. Look at verse 16. Therefore, from now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him in this way no longer. Therefore, anyone who is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things passed away. Behold, new things have

come. Now all these things come. Now all these things are from God who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. It's funny because I'll sum this up real quick, but with Oliver, he's my little redheaded guy that he's terrorizing everyone. He has a red Afro. He's running up and down the church. If you don't know who he is, but he's

either getting extremely dirty, playing in mud. He's eating or he's pulling pranks. It's one of those three. It's constant. It's at church. It's at home. It's wherever we go. Vacation. He's always doing one of those three. It's funny because I know like Erica and I will have to give him like a bath every single night. And it's so frustrating because the dude, if he finds a puddle the size of his two feet, he's jumping in. It doesn't matter

if there's concrete underneath. He's jumping in. He'll go find neighbor's pools and go jump in them. I'm kidding. Don't call social services. Maybe though. But that dude is trying to swim all the time with his tube. BFFs and it's hilarious, but he's dirty every single night. He's dirty every single night. So we have to sit there, obviously get them undressed, get them into the tub, clean them. And then as

parents, we have to do the responsible thing. We have to clean up the mess. When they got out of the tub, we got to put stuff away. We tell them, obviously go to the room. We'll be there in a second, get them dressed. And what is, what did the kids always do? They put those same dirty clothes right back on. And you're like, are you kidding me? We just cleaned you, bro. And now

you're smelling again. Like why are we repeating this process? We may think that's funny. We may think that's silly, but look at, look at what it says in verse 16. Therefore, from now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to flesh, yet we know him in this way no longer. Verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Silly analogy. I get it, but why are we taking that silly analogy of dirty clothes and we're stinky clothes and have stains on them? We know we shouldn't wear them. We know we shouldn't even be touching them and we put them back on. We do that in our own life. We know as Christians, if we put our faith and trust in Jesus, that we are to have that lifestyle, that to mirror Christ, to move forward,

to move away from that sin, to grow closer to Jesus Christ, to be more like him. How do I know that? Perfect example. And I'm sorry for the Nichols family. I'm going to bring this

into the stories and the testimonies on Saturday. Just people continuously talking about situations where how much he reflected Jesus Christ. Why? Because Jesus was his first love. Jesus was his first love and he pursued him constantly. And I'm frustrated. I wish I could have had more time to get to know Robbie. I wish I could have talked to him so much more often.

And I missed that opportunity, but it's amazing to hear those stories. And then for him to sit there and just continue to pursue God through his entire life. And how do we know that's real? Because you look at his entire family. You look at Pastor Ryan. The standard that Robbie set to be more like Christ, to have that lifestyle of Christ, to talk like Christ, to be with Christ,

to think like Christ, to pray with him, spend time with him. That is a lifestyle. It wasn't a trend. And that's the same thing. What we have to be moving away from. Stop taking that old and just keep putting it on. If it's music, if it's addictions, whatever it may be, we have to get away from it. It's not what we're called to do. I know it's, I said that before. It's a silly analogy with my, with Oliver or Chunk putting

the dirty clothes back on, but we do the exact same thing. Week after week, we continue to get wrapped up back in the same sin. And some of us may think that, you know, it's harmless. But if you go back to the very first verse, look at verse 11. We start thinking about that more and more. It's like, am I doing this to please myself? And if so, is that going to hurt God? Why is that so important? Because it's a relationship

that I have with God. You know, it seems like the whole WWJD bracelets are coming back. I love it. I think it's cool. I'm seeing more and more people, or maybe it never really died. I don't know, but I keep seeing it more and more. And I think it's great. And I hope they continue to share them as much as possible. I think there's something else to it. I think it's a process. You know, as far as what would

Jesus do if you don't know what it stands for? But you know, the more I see it, it's like the more I keep coming back to this verse as I was studying it for the past few days, and it's like, what would Jesus do? Sure. Jesus would probably do this. But think of it from a relational standpoint. How would Jesus feel? That's different. Because what would Jesus do is more looking at

the action of it, but what would Jesus feel is now looking at the relational, the feeling of it. It's like, man, that kind of hits home a little bit more. God as being that relational, rather than just so much action, the do's and don'ts of what people say with the Bible. What if we put that aside for a second? How would that feel to God if I do something that He doesn't want me to? He blatantly told me. It's in Scripture. I know

better not to do that. We want to know Christ by the Spirit, not merely know Him through what others say. How do we do that? We want to know Christ by the Spirit, not merely know Him through what others say. Well, just because I heard of God, or just because I went to church once, or just because, you know, somebody told me about God, I'm a believer. That's not it. That's not how this

works. You have to know Christ by the Spirit. How do we do that? We put our faith and trust in Jesus and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. And from there, when we decide to take that action, we now make it a law. We make it a law. We make it a law. We make it a law. We make it a law. We make it a law. Every day I choose to pursue God in everything I do. My words, my actions, my feelings, my thoughts.

It's not by what other people say. Four things out of those verses that we just covered. One, we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. 2 Corinthians 4.18. We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. Number two, 2 Corinthians 5. One, our earthly tent will be destroyed, but we will have a new body eternal in the heavens.

2 Corinthians 5.7. We walk by faith, not by sight. And the last is we do not glory in appearance, but we glory in heart. That was just verse 12. So you can see what Paul is trying to get across is that everything you see, it doesn't matter. You don't take your house. You don't take your belongings. You don't take your money to heaven. Your tent, it doesn't belong here. When you choose

to put your faith and trust in Jesus, when you make him your God, you don't take your money to heaven. You don't take your lifestyle. None of that matters. Your tent is gone. It will reside. You will reside in heaven. Everything that we see, we touch. It doesn't matter. But what does is the things that we can't see. It's the things that we have faith in, which is God, that does matter.

We do not glory in appearance, but we glory in heart. How do I know that's true? Because of the story that recently came up, and this is going to be tough to talk about. Some of you may have been following. I've been kind of checking in from time to time on it, but Brian Koberger, the murder case that was in Idaho, I'm not going to go too much involved with it, but he killed four people in 2022. I don't know

if you know much about it, but the case is now, from my understanding, officially wrapped up. Extremely just saddening, disturbing. And at the very end, I think this was last week or the week before, the judge granted the families to have a conversation or to express their feelings, to express their thoughts, their opinions with the guy, with Brian, who murdered their children, three girls and one guy. And it was pretty tough to hear, and I completely understand why they said what they said. And three of the families went up. They said their piece. It was very harsh. I get it.

I'm not advocating for or against, but I'm just saying it was tough to hear it. And the mother of the fourth, of the daughter who was murdered, she came up. Her name is Kara Northington. And this is what her response is. She's looking at Brian, who murdered her daughter. She said this, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, now has her in his loving arms in heaven,

where she can never be harmed again for eternity, Northington said. Because of her, I came to know my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Because of her, many will come to Christ that has filled me with joy, hope, and peace that surpasses all understanding. She's saying this to Brian, the man who murdered her daughter. They're in their young 20s. Northington addressed Kohlberger directly. Jesus has allowed me to forgive you

for murdering my daughter without you even being sorry or asking for this. This is only possible because he who lives, in me, is greater than any evil in this world. I do not fear you or even let you rent space in my head anymore. This forgiveness has released me from any and all evil you have inflicted on me and my family. It has allowed me to let our Lord deal with you. Before she finished, she shared

that she spends time in prayer for Kohlberger. She said, I do pray for you. I pray that you come to an end of yourself. I pray that before this life is over, I pray that you come to an end of yourself. I pray that before this life is over, that you ask our Lord and Savior into your heart and ask for forgiveness. Talk about a lifestyle, a lifestyle that reflects Jesus. There's no other explanation

other than that. There's no other possible avenue for what those families have been through and what they experienced. There's no reason, no rhyme or reason why that guy killed them. And for them, for that mother, to give that problem, that tragedy to Jesus and saying, you know what, Jesus, you have this. She didn't ask Jesus to try to come down. She just simply said, it's my prayer that you come

to know Jesus before your life is over. That is a lifestyle. That is something that she believes not only in her heart, but it's a part of her actions. It's a part of her words, her thinking, everything about her. Three, let our words and actions mirror Christ. Look at verse 20. Let our words and actions mirror Christ. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ as though we were making an appeal through us.

We beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. I have this quote up here I saw from a buddy of mine. He posted this. He said, your relationship with Christ should produce joy. That's what the mother just said to Brian. Your relationship with Christ should produce joy.

And so I'm asking you, if you don't feel like you have joy, if you don't feel like, man, I'm just, I'm bogged down. I'm frustrated. I'm just super negative. I don't feel like right now there's anything going on. I try to talk to God. There's no response. I'm confused. I don't understand my purpose. I'm frustrated. I feel like I give, give, give, and there's nothing coming back.

Understand, stop for a second. I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand. Take a step back and reevaluate your, your faith. Reevaluate your, your relationship with God. Are you lukewarm? Are you just checking the boxes where you just show up to church on Sundays and

Wednesdays and do the to-do list? Or are you having that daily relationship with Jesus? Is it a lifestyle for you? Are you making the necessary changes? And I would encourage you, if you are feeling that way, if you are struggling, you are frustrated, Talk to Pastor Ryan. Talk to Pastor Allen. Don't talk to Pastor Jerry right now. He's busy with kids, but here in like 30 minutes, go talk to him. Reach out. Find that support group.

Out of those two verses, I came up with a couple points. Your relationship with Christ should produce joy. There is so much the idea of being ambassadors. Ambassador does not speak to please his audience, but the king who sent him. Check this out. This is crucial. It's super easy to just read over verse 20. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making an appeal

through us. That's cool. God put a title on me. I'm an ambassador now. I'm gonna ask for a pay raise, right? An ambassador does not speak to please his audience, but the king who sent him. An ambassador does not speak on his own authority, his own opinions or demands, mean little. He simply says what he has been commissioned to say, but ambassador is more than a messenger. He's also a representative, and the honor and reputation of his country are in his

hands. My question to you is, we are supposed to be ambassadors for Christ. How clear is your message? Is your message flawed? Is it selfish? Are you even giving a message? Are you being an ambassador for Christ? Or you say, you know what? I really just don't come in contact with that many people. I'm really not comfortable with public speaking. I really don't know what I'm supposed to say.

In fact, I've never even shared the gospel. I don't know how to. Let me ask you this. How many times does God talk about, and Ryan brings up in the scripture, does God want lukewarm people to be running his kingdom? No. He either wants you to be warm, or he wants you to be a man of God. He doesn't want you to be lukewarm. He doesn't want you to be half in, half out. He doesn't want

you to be just doing the checklist, showing up on Sundays and Wednesdays. He's like, listen, I need you to be all in, or you're not. Don't be lukewarm, because what happens is when you try to be an ambassador, your message is so flawed. It's muddied waters. It doesn't make sense. At the end of the day, who are you trying to glorify? Is it yourself, or is it God? At the very end, look at verse 20, part B. We beg you on behalf of Christ to

be reconciled to God. For Paul, this is a glorious title, but this is the craziest part. How easy is it to read over that part? We beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. You literally have Jesus Christ begging for you. So if you are unsure of your value, your value in life, if you're just not feeling like, man, God, I don't know why you love me. I

am so messed up. I have the worst sins. I have more sins than everybody in this room. I don't know what to do. I don't know how I can serve in ministry. I'm not useful. I have no value. I don't know why you love me. No one loves me. I have no friends. If you're feeling those emotions, if you're just so confused and you don't understand why God wants you, look at that last part. God is

begging you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. You're just not feeling like, man, I don't reconciled. He's saying, make your life right. You literally have Jesus Christ, omnipotent, all-powerful, all-knowing, begging you to make your life right with God, begging you. And when we make that right, we can then be the proper ambassador that Christ is calling us to do. And we can take

that message and share with people. And then we can end up sounding like people like Kara Northington and all the other people that are in the same situation where her daughter was murdered. And instead of just lashing out with anger and frustration and saying hurtful things to Brian, she shares the gospel on live TV. Someone like Robbie Nichols, where he didn't make excuses for him being blind. In fact, he just embraced it, it sounded like. And every person he came in contact,

especially from my understanding, the story of the guy when he was on the bench and scared him, Robbie kept moving closer and the guy is getting freaked out. Robbie was an ambassador for Jesus Christ. I'm not saying strive to be like those individuals. What I'm saying is strive to be like Christ. Make that your lifestyle. Make that a part of who you are. Everything you say, everything you do, your actions, your thoughts,

so we can glorify God in every situation. Lord, we love you so much. Lord, thank you for what Paul had to teach us, Lord. I ask that you would bless us. I ask that you would bless us. I ask that you if any of us are struggling here with just understanding what that lifestyle looks like or what steps we need to take, God, if we are just feeling like we're not valued or we have

no value or where can we serve or what can we do for your kingdom, Lord, I encourage that people just go see Pastor Ryan, Pastor Alan, and Pastor Jared, Lord, that people will make their life right, that they'll be reconciled with God, Lord, that we can be ambassadors for you to share the good news to everyone, Lord, that we can see the paradigm shift in Ark City, that we can see people continue to know who you are, Lord, that we can just continue to be a light. We love you. We praise you and give you all the glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Have a wonderful night.