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Well, we're in a series, man called Goaded. I want to go right to the word of God. I want to read a couple of verses of scripture found in the book of Matthew, chapter number seven, beginning at verse number 13. Donna, do y'all still talk back to the preacher here? I just need to know. All right. Matthew, chapter number seven, verse 13 says, Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. I want to stop the reading of scripture there and talk from this subject in our time together. Family, hopefully this is your testimony after reading this text. Not going that way. Clap your hands, everybody, everywhere. I'm not going that way. Family, I want to start this sermon with a statement that is pregnant with the potential to orchestrate an evolution and dare I say, revolution in every area of our life. This statement is simple yet significant, is regular, yet revolutionary, is short yet special. And the statement for my note takers is as follows. If you want to live like no one else, you must be willing to live like no one else. This statement has its origins in the financial arena with one specific financial leader, but it has implications in the spiritual arena. Because, family, if I want to arrive at a different destination, I must be willing to follow different directions. If I want to end up in a different place, I must be willing to walk a different path. If I want to live a different life, I must be willing to live my life a different way. I'm simply suggesting that sometimes reaching your redemptive potential will require stepping away from the crowd and walking away from what we call regular. But I wonder, am I talking to anyone in this room and online and at our other location? I wonder, am I talking to any individual who can say this not because you're arrogant, but because you got self awareness that this is not your year for regular. I'mma ask that one more time. Yeah. I want to know, am I talking to anybody that has a biblical healthy view of humility? And you're not saying this arrogantly, but you're saying this because you've got discernment regarding the season of life that you're in. And this year is not the year where you want to label it regular? Come on here. Yeah. Does anybody. Has anybody come to the epiphany through your experience in life that regular doesn't work? Yep. A regular marriage is toleration of each other and not celebration of each other. A Regular job is getting finances but not fulfillment fulfillment. Regular friendships are surface level and not soul deep. This for my old school. Smiling in my face but trying to take my place. Backstabbed? Yes. Regular faith is believing for what's safe and not for what's supernatural. A regular mindset is settling and not stretching. A regular life is existing but not excelling. And regular isn't working. And why would I serve for a regular life when I serve an irregular God? If I'm examining the Scriptures correctly, my God is an expert in the irregular. There's nothing regular about the Red Sea parting. There's nothing regular about Jericho walls falling. There's nothing regular about Daniel surviving the lion's den. Nothing regular about the Hebrew boys coming out of the fiery furnace and not even smelling like smoke. Nothing regular about a shepherd boy named David a stone, and defeating a nine foot tall giant named Goliath who's been trained in military warfare. Nothing regular about Jesus going to a cross, staying there all day Friday, all night Saturday night, but early Sunday morning, experiencing a resurrection. I don't serve a regular God. And this is why I don't come to church and give a regular praise. This praise is irregular. This praise is different. This praise is distinct. Because when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he's done for me, my soul, I need you to look back at your past. There's nothing regular about it. There's nothing regular about you bouncing back from that. There's nothing regular about you recovering from that. There's nothing regular about you surviving that God is the God of the irregular. And is there anybody that's in a season where you say, I'm not created for regular, I'm not called to regular, and I'm not craving regular. The only thing I want regular is my gas. Everything else I need irregular in my life. Well, if you are authentically interested in irregular living, if you and I are authentically interested irregular living. If we are serious and not just curious about irregular living, we need to listen to the words of Jesus in this text. This text captures the closing section of a sermon of Jesus called the Sermon on the Mount. It's called the Sermon of the Mount on the Mount because it was a sermon that Jesus spoke in an elevated place in a city called Capernaum. Listen to this. He's sitting higher. Are y'all here? He is sitting higher so he can be seen better and heard clearer. He's sitting higher so he can be seen better and heard clearer. Okay, one more time. He's sitting higher. So he can be seen better and heard clearer. Here's the revelation from this reality. Jesus is sitting higher so he can be seen better and heard clearer. And there are times where we have to go higher if we want to see him better and hear him clearer. And all throughout scripture, God has historically used mountains as meeting places for extraordinary encounters with him, where people get to see him better and hear him clearer. He met with Abraham on Mount Moriah, Moses at Mount Sinai, Elijah at Mount Carmel, the disciples at the Mount of Transfiguration. Because mountains can be metaphors for meeting places with God. And when we meet Him. Come on. On the mountain, we see him better and we hear him clearer. And there are times where God will orchestrate the lack of clarity and use the lack of clarity to lure us to an elevated place that we wouldn't go to if we weren't clear. Did you hear what I just said? He says sometimes he turns the volume down in our spiritual ears so that we can't hear until we get to a higher frequency in our relationship with Him. Because in many cases, as long as we can see and hear where we are, we aren't motivated to move to higher places where we could and should be. Come on. For many believers, it takes the presence of crisis or the absence of clarity to move them out of places of spiritual stagnation to higher places in their relationship with God. Did you hear what I just said? Yeah. It takes the absence of crisis, the absence of clarity, and the presence of crisis to move them. But I pray that this is a year where God doesn't have to make me miserable to move me. Where is the church that's going to help this preacher preach? I pray that God doesn't have to blow things up to get me to step up. I pray that God doesn't have to push me out to get me to step out. I pray that this year he doesn't have to put me in crisis to keep me committed. This is the year I want to go after God. Not because I'm hurt, but because I'm hungry. How am I talking to anybody today that says I'm hungry? I'm hungry. I'm hungry. So that's why I'm going to read the goaded Bible plan. Not because I'm hurt, because I'm hungry. That's why I'm going to get in a small group. Not because I'm hurt, but because I'm hungry. That's why I'm coming to awakening. Not because I'm hurt, but because I'm Hungry. That's why I'm coming to revival. Not because I'm hurt. I'm hungry. So Jesus is sitting on what they call a mountain, giving a sermon, and he's speaking to a mixed multitude, trying to introduce them to an alternative way to live their life. He is educating them on what I've affectionately entitled the Third way. Pastor, why do you call it the Third way? Because the Bible presents three ways one can live their life. Number one is what we call culture, or the world's way. Here it is for my note takers. It is a way of living that is guided and governed by trends in culture that are not rooted in truth. It is conscious or unconscious rebellion against God's divine design in the name of freedom. It leads people to bondage. So they are looking at others saying, y'all abound because they bound and don't know it. Did you hear what I just said? Yep. It is conscious or unconscious rebellion against God's divine design. God has designed things to work a certain way. He's designed humans to work a certain way. And he gives a blueprint that leads to his way, and it creates human flourishing. Culture's way says, I know me better than the one who created me. Give my definition again. Because the last segment of the definition contains a significant sentence. It is grace without truth, day in the multitude Jesus is talking to. But that's not the only way the Bible presents life could be lived. The second way is what we call church. Religion, sway. Now, when I say church, I'm not talking about the body of Christ. When I say church, I'm talking about Brother Brock, the insta. The historic institutional practices that are inconsistent with what God intended. The stuff we added. He didn't come on here. The church. Church as we made it, not church as God's made. So when I say church this way, this isn't a slight against the body of Christ. I'm talking about the historic institutional practices of church that are inconsistent with the intention of the Father. Is this not what Jesus had to deal with? Remember when he goes into the temple and he starts turning over tables? What does he say when he does that? He says, it is written that my father's house should be a house of prayer. Is that what he says? But the next phrase is, but you have made it. You have made it into a den of thieves. You have created something that is inconsistent with what my father intended. So instead of it setting people free, it's actually sanctifying their bondage. Okay. Are y'all okay? I said, are Y'all, okay, okay, here it is. It is a way of living that is guided and governed by practices and traditions that first of all prioritize rules over relationship. Pastor, what do you mean by that? I'm going to give you two examples. This is what I mean. There's one example where the disciples are hungry. They're hanging with Jesus. They come across this field, we would call it a garden. It's got corn in it. They pick some corn so they can eat this religious sect called the Pharisees, see what they're doing and they start criticizing and critiquing, saying they shouldn't be doing any kind of work on the Sabbath day. And Jesus says, now you prioritize rules over relationship. Watch what he says. He says, man wasn't made for the Sabbath. I just want to know, am I in the book Church? He says man was not made for the Sabbath. Is that what he says? The Sabbath was made for man? He says, I didn't create. Watch this, man. With the Sabbath in mind. I created the Sabbath with man in mind. I didn't create man to serve the Sabbath. I instituted the Sabbath to serve man. So whenever you begin to take what I have given to serve people, and you put that, oh, gosh, in a place of priority over the well being of people, you have just put rules over relationship. I priorit. God prioritizes people and then puts practices in place to protect and to promote the well being of the people he gave his life for. He didn't die for the Sabbath. He died for you. He died for me. I was sinking. I got to. I got to slow down. Deep in sin Far from the peaceful shore Very deeply stained within Sinking to rise no more. But then the master of the sea he heard my despairing cry and from the waters he lifted me now safe am I Love lifted me Love lifted me when nothing else could help Love. So like the church, sometimes, sometimes church's way feels like you got to protect God's Sabbath from God's. Did you hear what I just said? I said, did you hear what I just said? Prioritizes rules over relationship information without application, which means, are y'all ready for this? I said, are y'all ready for this? Which means church almost becomes a religious school where there's no accountability for actual implementation of what you learn. Did you hear what I just said? Yeah. So when I was in school, all my teacher could do was test my memory and my comprehension. They could only gauge what I did in their presence. There's no way they have any Insight on whether or not I'm actually implementing what I'm learning in my day to day life. So church's way is almost like, how much scripture do you know? Not how much scripture are you doing? Did you hear what I said? Yeah. So sometimes quoting all their scripture doesn't mean they're a good Christian. It just means they got a good memory. Come on here. Because it's not just can you retain information, it's can you engage in application. And application is much more difficult than memorization. I can quote, love my enemies all day long. That's easy to quote. It's information without application that makes sense. And this is why, like in certain sects in the body of Christ, there is this illogical educational and intellectual elitism. It's illogical because they're not even educationally, intellectually elite. So that almost like, almost feels like if you start talking about application, then you're not serious about information. I'm not learning to learn, I'm learning to do. For example. So when Jesus was teaching prayer, he didn't just teach what prayer is. He taught you how to do it. He gave you a model to do it. We call it the model prayer or the Lord's Prayer. He said, when you pray, say our Father relationally, who art in heaven, be aware of his transcendent transcendence, his immanence and his otherliness. He's here and there at the same time, hallowed be your name. So he would teach on prayer, but then he would say stuff like, so practical. When you pray, don't be like people who are rambling and verbose and impressive that they may be seen and heard Him. It's rules over relationship. It's information without application. It's ethics without whole life improvement. So it's a life of running from sin, not running toward the Father. So it's actually moralism, but we're calling it Christianity because we Christian. So you spend your whole life chasing deliverance instead of chasing the deliverer. So you're not running after him, you're just trying to run away from stuff. So you're more sin conscious than savior conscious. Because his ethics live ethically, but there's no improvement. It's like, I'm holy, but you don't speak to your kids, but you're mean. You don't have love in your heart. The quality of other areas of your life hadn't got better. I can pray heaven down though. World's way, culture's way, grace without truth, church, religion's way, truth without grace. But Jesus, here in the Sermon on the Mount, is introducing the third way, the King's way. Are you here? Here it is. Here it is. Family. Here it is. It is a life that is guided and governed by the person, the principles and the power of Jesus. It prioritizes relationship over rules, transformation over tradition, and marries biblical information with practical application. It is life as God designed that leads to life as God intended. It is not grace without truth or truth without grace. It is grace and truth. This is the third way. It is the way of the Rabbi. See, the second way only knows Jesus the Redeemer, and you need Him. But the third way recognizes Jesus as the Rabbi. Ayah. Did you hear me, family? I said the second way recognizes Jesus the Redeemer. Jesus as Redeemer. The third way recognizes Jesus not only as Redeemer, but as Rabbi. You see, the Redeemer reveals the person of Jesus. The Rabbi reveals the principles of Jesus. The Redeemer purchased my salvation. The Rabbi leads me to transformation. The Redeemer gets us to heaven when we die. The Rabbi brings some of heaven to earth while we live. And in this text, Jesus is extending an invitation to follow the way of the Rabbi. And what is interesting is not just what he said, it's who he said it to. Because way number one and way number two were at the Sermon on the Mount. Did you hear what I just said? So this means that this text is not just a text about salvation. This text is not just a text that teaches people how to die. This text is a text that shows people how to live. Come on, watch this. I want you to see this. This is so interesting. He's trying to introduce them to the way of the Rabbi, and he wants. Watch this. The religious to know that there are three ways you can live your life, but there are two gates. And religious, you think only the worldly are going through a certain gate, but what you don't know is you're going through that gate with them. Did you hear what I just said? He says, in other words, he's saying you need to repent. You need to have a change of mind that leads to a change of direction. You need to repent, for the kingdom is at hand. Another way to live your life is within arm's reach. So you need to have a change of mind about the way you're currently living your life and have a change of direction. So he's saying to the religious and the worldly, you both need deliverance. You just need deliverance from different things. Are you here, family? I Said, are you here? This is the essence of the imagery. This is important. This is important, this is important. Let me just summarize this section of the sermon for you. Jesus is extending an invitation to come to a place. He wants you to come, but won't make you come. He's encouraging others to intentionally abandon the way of the world and religion so you can experience him doing more than saving your lost life, but saving the life that was lost. He is arguing that the life God promised can't be possessed. If you're following the path of the popular, you need discernment to see that the way that many people take is easy short term, but it's hard long term. It is default, but it's destructive, and your improvement requires intentionality. The door to the third way is open, and you have to walk through it, knowing most people won't walk with you. That's the text. That's the text. And this is the essence of the imagery he's using with gates. Look at the text family. He says, wide gate, broad road, small gate, narrow road, wide gate, broad road leads to destruction. Many enter small gate, narrow road, leads to life. Only a few find it. See the audience in this Sermon on the Mount. They would understand what Jesus is saying here because they would get the gate imagery in a way we don't. So when we think of gate, we think fences. We think about all sorts of gates. See, there were two types of gates here historically that would produce certain images in the mind of Israel as Jesus was talking. One was, you're going into the city. There was a wide gate with a broad road because chariots and equipment and animals had to have a gate that was big enough to go through. And if a caravan of people wanted to come into the city at the same time, they had to go through the wide gate. Y'all are not talking back to this. I feel like a Baptist preacher that's got the Holy Ghost today. I said the wide gate, equipment, animals, and a caravan of people who could all go through at the same time. But then there was a smaller gate, Brother Brock. It was called the I gate or a needle gate. And only one person could go through that gate at a time. So when Jesus is using this language, there's images coming to the minds of people. They're seeing camels and chariots and caravans of people going through this wide gate, and then they're seeing one at a time going through the eye gate or the needle gate. This is what Jesus meant when he's talking to the rich, young Ruler and talking about the rich, young ruler and says to the disciples, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of Anita. Got me? He said, it's easy for a camel to go through that gate than it is. He's saying that there's some stuff I can have on me and get through the wide gate that I can't have on me. Did you hear what I just said? Yeah. What makes it through the broad gate or the wide gate. Excuse me. Won't make it through the small gate. There are some criteria that has to be met. There are some traits and some prerequisites that must be Traits that must be developed and some prerequisites must. That must be met to go through this narrow gate, metaphorically. And I got. I'm out of time. But if you got time, you got time today. Okay? If you got time, I want to share this with you because we're about to go on a journey of exploring the third way. Does that make sense, y'all? I was talking to somebody this week. I was like, hey, tell me what you know about fasting. And they said what they said. I said, now tell me what Jesus said about fasting. They couldn't. See, most people can tell you what they read about fasting, but they can't tell you what Jesus said about fasting. And if you don't know what Jesus said, you don't know if your way is third way. Y'all not talking to me. I got Bible. I got Bible. Give me Matthew, chapter five, verse number 21. Matthew, chapter five, verse number21. Watch this. I want to give you that. Jesus says, you have heard that it was said to the people you shall not murder. So here's what Jesus is doing here in Matthew 5. He's saying, you have heard, but I say, he's trying to help people see, everything you heard in something I said and everything people say I said in what I said. And if you're going to grow spiritually, you got to be able to manage the tension of shifting between what you heard was said and what he actually said. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Can I give you another example? All right. The race is not given to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to the one who. What? That's not even what the text say. Check me out. Acts 17:11. Be like the Bereans. Go home and study and see if the things that I'm saying are true. That is not what the text says it says, but time and chance happen to us all. I feel like shouting. Do you hear what I'm saying? That there can be. What we heard was said and what he actually said. So we're getting ready to go on this journey to see. Okay, what does the rabbi actually say about prayer? Tell me what prayer. Okay, now tell me what Jesus said about prayer. See the difference? All right, so we're on this journey, but you can only go on the journey if you're willing to go through the gate. So there are some prerequisites, some traits I gotta adopt and commit to if I'm gonna go on this journey. You still want me to share them with you? You still got time. All right, here it is. Here it is. Number one, I must have the character to be developed. Now, please, please don't tune me out here. Please don't assume. You know what I mean here. Because while it is true. Because when I say character to be developed, most people think about. Okay. The development of character. And while it is true that some people don't have great character because they haven't been developed, it is also true that some people cannot be developed because they don't have character. I'm done. Man of God. It takes some. It takes a certain kind of character to actually be developed. You cannot teach the unteachable. Gosh. Did you hear what I just said? I said you cannot teach the unteachable. The unteachable become unreachable. You can determine whether or not you have something to teach. They can determine whether or not they have a heart to listen. The only thing that you can control is whether or not you have something to teach. You cannot control whether or not they have a heart to listen. This is God's quandary when speaking to his own people. Let him who has ears. Did you hear what I just said? And so many times those of us who invest in people and want to develop people don't realize that there's a step before development that you have to be just as good at. If you're developing people, you have to not only be good at development, I learned this on the back end. You got to be good at discernment because you have to discern who ready to be developed. Do not give that which is holy to the dogs. Neither cast your pearls before swine. They not ready. Omg, Lord, give me the character to be developed. How many of y'all remember the real Karate Kid? I'm not talking about some of y'all. Some of y'all watch Cobra Kai on Netflix. That ain't it. I'M talking about Daniel's son, Mr. Miyagi. You guys remember he had him. He had him washing his car, wax on, wax off. Had him, like, painting the fence. Had him sand in the deck. You remember that? And Daniel is so upset, he's offended because he feels like a man that don't need him is using him. That's what trauma will do. I don't even have time to deal with Daniel's father wounds. So now he's suspect of a man he needed. He sought Mr. Miyagi out. Mr. Miyagi didn't seek him out. So now you're thinking you're getting used by somebody who don't need you. So Mr. Miyagi's trying to. He said, I don't need you to wash my. He's trying to teach him things right. And what's happening is what he's trying to teach him. Alex. It's not just technique. He's trying to teach him to trust the teacher. I know what I'm telling you doesn't make sense, but I'm trying to teach you to trust me while I teach you. Because later down the road, when you in that ring and you having to fight, I'm gonna have to tell you some things that may not make sense. And when we get to that point, we don't need to be working on trust when I need to be talking to you about technique. You can't fight and trust. Learn to trust me. At the same time, when I come to that. When you come to that corner, you have to trust me already. So sometimes God's not just teaching you technique, he's teaching you to trust. But think about what would have happened to Daniel if he would have just let that character flaw get the best of him. Can't teach me what you going to show me. If you would have walked out, he only won in the ring because he had the character to be developed outside of it. Are you willing to let God reteach you over these next three months what you think you already know? Do you have the character to be developed? Number two? Let's go number two. We're going to need the conviction to be different. We must have the spiritual conviction to endure the emotional discomfort of rejection, loneliness, and relational loss that comes with following the narrow way. There must be more than curiosity. There must be a craving and a conviction for the third way that is so strong that this conviction serves as an anchor that keeps us steady when we want to drift back into normalcy. So that even when you want to be Normal. The anchor only lets you go so far and says you are not created for that. And when it gets difficult, and it will. And when it gets lonely and it will. And when you feel rejected and you will. And when you feel weird, and you will. If you don't have an anchor, you will drift back into your defense default settings. So curiosity is not enough to keep you. I gotta have a conviction. I've been called and created for this way. And the conviction must be, not only is this way right, this way better, it's not just right, it's better. Is this not what we see in Daniel in the Old Testament as he's been prepared for civic leadership? And there was a process of preparation that helped not only with their health internally, but people who were working the King's cabinet with their aesthetic externally, there was a specific regiment that included a diet that everybody had to follow. And Daniel looked at the menu and saw that there were some things in the diet that were in the dietary restrictions as followers of Yahweh. And Daniel says, listen, listen. I can't eat that conviction. I know everybody else looks good following your process, but that process violates my values, and I'm anchored in my values. He say, but give me these 10 days and watch what the third way will do. Hallelujah. Does that make sense? You know, this is kind of the origins of what y'all call what people call the Daniel fast. All right, anyway, in Daniel. Watch this. The Bible says in Daniel 1:15, at the end of the 10 days, they look healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the raw food. The third way is not just right. It's better. And if it's not better, you're not at your verse 15 yet. You might be in your verse 12, but keep walking. You might be in your verse 13, but keep walking. You might Be in your verse 14, but keep walking, and eventually you'll hit your verse 15, where God shows you. I told you, my way is not just right. It's better. I got a conviction. This church was birthed on that. It was birthed on that conviction. That's why we called it Kingdom Church, because we're supposed to do it the king's way. Them golden girls back there, Ms. Drew Phillips, the first woman in my office, first person. Where we going? Conviction. That's the only thing that's going to get you through the loneliness, the rejection. Let's wrap up number three. You got to have the courage to be disliked. You have to go into it knowing Everybody not going to like this. We must have the spiritual conviction to endure the emotional discomfort of rejection. I mean, excuse me, we gotta have the courage to be misunderstood by others who will see your choice to go the third way as a critique of theirs. You just saying I'm not going that way. You didn't tell them you don't need to go that way. You just saying I'm not going that way. And you saying I'm not going that way will offend other people who've attached their happiness to their control of your life. Why you mad when I say what I'm not going to do? I didn't tell you what to do. Your authenticity will offend those who are invested in your pretense. Here's what Jesus said. If the world hates you, keep in mind it hated me first. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world. But I have chosen you out of the world. This is why the world hates you. To be surprised by the inevitable is to be naive. Number four, we're done here. I not only need the character to be developed, I not only need the conviction to be different, I not only need the courage to be disliked, I need the capacity to handle discomfort. The narrow way is one of discomfort. But listen to Pastor. Discomfort is better than destruction. Text says the wide way is eventually going to lead to something that God wanted to live, die. Did you hear what I just said? So when we look at death in the Bible, don't just look at you're dying. Like the Bible told Adam and Eve. God told Adam, in the day you sin, you'll surely die something. Life, as God intended, died. Does that make sense? So sometimes the thing you survived didn't kill you, but it killed your confidence. It didn't kill you, but it killed your optimism. It didn't kill you, but it killed your trust in people. So you survived, but it didn't. The wide way leads to something that could live. Dying. The narrow way is discomfort. But discomfort is better than destruction. And many people confuse discomfort with destruction. So they get out of the narrow way to be comfortable and they're comfortable on their way to death. The life you want to have is on the other side of discomfort you won't endure. Did you hear what I just said? Whatever you want in marriage is on the other side of discomfort you got to be willing to endure. Whatever you want in your body is on the other side of some discomfort you don't want to endure. Whatever you want Come on. Here. Your career is on the other side of some discomfort you don't want to endure. I want to know more. Learning more is on the other side of some discomfort you don't want to endure. Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for me, not for them, Jesus said, for me, we'll find it. Because the Cross only puts to death the inferior life. Are y'all here? New Jersey? I said, come on. Here. The only the body. The cross put to death of Jesus was an inferior one. After the resurrection, he got a better one. He got a glorified body. Because the cross only kills what's inferior. It only kills what doesn't need to live. But if you're willing to endure the cross on Friday, you can experience a resurrection on Sunday. And I want somebody in this room to lift your voice and say, Sunday's coming. You didn't say it like you meant it. I said, raise your voice and say, Sunday's coming. Come on. One more time. Say it so that your soul believes it. Sunday's coming. Come on. Clap your hands and give him praise.