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Everybody say, who am I to deny what the Lord can do? So keep on getting baptized. And they got. They said 10 more people just got in line while we were doing it. So come on. People are jumping in the boat. Fish are jumping in the boat. It's harvest time. It's harvest time in the world. How many of y' all feel it? Like, we're in a harvest season. We're just in a season. I mean, literally on the calendar, the fall season is a harvest season for farmers, but we're in a harvest season in the church. And it's a season where God is. He's bringing in a harvest of people. He's bringing in a harvest of people. A divided world needs a united church. And maybe you're here today and you're not necessarily in unity with all of us. Well, I want to ask you to make a decision by faith to get united around this right here. God is not finished with you yet. And get united around this. You're here on purpose because you have a purpose and that your best days are not behind you because Jesus has a plan for your life. And so we're gonna lift each other's hands up as a sign of unity. A world that speaks death needs a church that speaks life. You could sit down after this. Y' all are like, when do I get to sit down for the next 40 minutes. Here we go. Let's say this together. The words are on the screen. One, two, three. I'm here on purpose because I have a purpose. My heart is. My mind is ready to receive, because God is not finished with me yet. My best days are right in front of me. And I have victory in my life because Jesus lives in me. All right, you may be seated. Come on, Jesus. We are in the book of Ephesians. If you got a Bible, go to Ephesians, chapter five. Ephesians, chapter five. Yeah. We get excited for the word of God. And I want to title this message More Like Jesus. More like Jesus. Come on. How many? I want to be more like Jesus. That's our goal. That's our aim. In 1991, a commercial came out, maybe it was 92 from Gatorade. And it was, be more like Mike. Be like Mike. How many? All. Remember that commercial about Michael Jordan, Right? The greatest of all time in basketball. And so people were. Y' all, like, I don't know about. I believe it, okay? But people wanted to be like him, dribble like him, practice like him, work like him. And there was this call, this brand, this slogan. Be Like Mike, right? People wanted to jump. I used to jump in my room and try to touch with the tongue out. Just try to hit the top of my door, right? Because people wanted to be like Mike. And in the word of God, if there's any role model that we're supposed to be like, it is Jesus. I know there's some great people in the Bible. People were inspired by, like, during David's time, all the kids wanted to be like David because he slayed Goliath. They were like, be like David. Be like David. During Esther's time, all the girls wanted to be like Esther. She was the queen, right? She was beautiful. She saved a nation. Be like Esther. Be like Esther. During Paul the Apostle's time, people were arguing, do we want to be like Paul? Do we want to be like Peter? Do we want to be like Apollo's? During John the Baptist's time, his followers, they were like, we want to be like John the Baptist. I am John, right? But ultimately, all of those people would say, no, don't be like me. Be like Jesus. We're living in a time right now where people are inspired. Many people are talking about the impact that one man in the last two and a half weeks who was shot and assassinated, Charlie Kirk. His impact on our world. People are saying, I am Charlie. I want to be like Charlie. But can I tell you, ultimately, he would say, no, be more like Jesus, because I am a flawed man. Any flawed people in the room? Yeah, all of us in this room have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Just like Charlie. Ultimately, our goal is not to be like another man. We're inspired by people. We're inspired by men and women. But ultimately, our greatest role model is Jesus. Everybody say, more like Jesus. Ephesians 5, verse 1. Paul the Apostle says, imitate God, therefore in everything you do, because you are his. Dear children, live a life filled with love, following the example of Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us as a sacrifice, a pleasing aroma to God. So Paul is saying, be more like Jesus. In your words, in your actions, in your thoughts, in all that you do now. I didn't get to preach to y' all last week. You had Lisa Bevere. How many? All enjoyed Lisa Bevere? Come on. She brought the fire. Just keeping it raw and real. But on Sunday, last week, something happened that impacted the world. There was a funeral service for Charlie KIRK, and over 100 million people watched it on ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, online. It was streamed across platforms. More people heard a Gospel message preached at one time on media than any other time in your history or my history. And I think that's something to celebrate. Whether you agree with everything he said or did or not, Jesus was preached. And when his pastor got up there, he said, I'm not here to talk about Charlie. I'm here to talk about Jesus. Rob McCoy said this, and he said, if you're ready to stand up for Jesus and surrender your life to Jesus, I want you to stand up. Thousands of people begin to stand up in that arena. Thousands of people online said, I'm ready to follow Jesus. I'm ready to give my heart to Jesus. And then the words that shook the whole service, when his wife Erica stood up and she said these words, that man, that young man who assassinated my husband, who killed my husband, who murdered my husband, I forgive him. And it shook the arena. In fact, there were people who were watching online who were very in opposed to everything he stood for. And they said, I couldn't watch it after that. There were people online. He said, I couldn't watch it after that. It was like there was too many things shaking there. They're dangerous. This one news guy, he said, these people are dangerous. And I'm watching the service and all I'm seeing is people worshiping Jesus, surrendering to Jesus, repenting to Jesus. And I thought to myself, the danger right now is what God is going to do to the gates of hell. We are dangerous against the gates of hell. We are dangerous against a spirit of hatred. We are dangerous church and I'm speaking right now to the Unified Church in this room. If you call on Jesus, you are part of the church. And we are dangerous to what the devil has planned for our nation. You know, the devil came to steal, kill and destroy, to divide and disturb people up against each other. We are more like Jesus when we get united under the banner of his cross and we say what Jesus said on the cross. Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do. Erica was not being a copy of someone else here on earth. She was imitating her savior, Jesus. She said these words. She said, I can forgive him because Jesus has forgiven me. And it sparked a revival of forgiveness. Friends, we're in a revival right now. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not. We're in a revival. We just had more and more people getting baptized than we've ever seen in our Service. In this 11am People just saying, come on, put me in. I'm ready to go in that tank. That's something to celebrate right now. People are giving their hearts to Jesus, praying right now backstage stage and signing up for discipleship class. Friends, our discipleship class is seeing record attendance right now on Tuesday nights. Men and women signing up saying, I don't want to just pray a prayer at the altar. I want to sign up to grow in my walk with Christ. Connect. Groups are overflowing. Baptisms are overflowing. Dream Center's overflowing. At the north and the West. Prisoners are coming to Jesus, and there's a revival of forgiveness. Tim Allen, who used to be on Home Improvement. Y' all remember Home Improvement and Tim Allen, he was the original Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 1. He gets on social media and he says these words. I want you to see what he said. He said. When I heard Erica say those words, that man, the young man who killed my husband, I forgive him. That moment, he said, deeply affected me. I have struggled for over 60 years to forgive the man who killed my dad. I will say those words now as I type. I forgive the man who killed my father. Peace be with you all. Trapped in bitterness for 60 years. Can I tell you what bitterness is? Bitterness is holding onto a chain. This is a long chain. I didn't know how long that was. Daniel, come up here. Bitterness is holding onto a chain. Go ahead and wrap that around you. Yeah. Not around me. Around. He's like you or me. No, you, you. But let me. Let me hold this side. It's holding onto a chain, and it's chaining you to what someone did to you, someone did to your family. For Erica, it's. It was the chain of a man who killed her husband so her kids don't get to grow up with their daddy. She doesn't get to stand next to her husband. She doesn't get to go to sleep each night with her husband because someone killed her husband. Last night, a woman came down to our altar. She said five of my family members were murdered in the last 20 years. She said this week has been such a triggering week for me. Listening to those words, seeing them plastered on newspapers and headlines. I forgive him, she said, I've been holding on to bitterness. Bitterness keeps you in chains. See, you can be behind bars even though you're not behind bars. I met men at prison this week who for the first time said, I forgive my dad. I forgive the abusive father that I grew up with. I forgive the absent mother. I forgive the man that killed my wife. Unforgiveness is like drinking poison, hoping for the other person to die. Unforgiveness is like setting yourself on fire, hoping that someone else is gonna die from the smoke. When you're the one that's burning, you're the one that's in chains. To forgive is to set a prisoner free, only to find out that the prisoner was you all along. When you forgive, I want you to take those chains off you. When you forgive, you unwrap yourself from the chains of the enemy and you walk free. You walk free. Everybody say more like Jesus. When Paul writes these words in Ephesians 5, he's speaking to the church and he's saying, church, don't model your life after John the Baptist, even though John was great, or Stephen the Martyr, even though Stephen was great, or Paul the apostle, or 10, or whoever it is, Esther or Deborah. Model your life after the one who saved you, the one who died on a cross between two criminals who deserved what they died for. But Jesus gave his life. Everybody say, more like Jesus. Our role model is Jesus. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? The term Christians came in Acts 11, verse 26. The first time we hear this term, it was actually a derogatory term that people gave. The Greeks gave it to Christians. They called them little Christ. Christianos. They would call them this as a derogate, like a condescending term. You little Christ. You little Christ. And at first, the Christians, they didn't like this. They. They said, don't call us that. We're disciples. We're followers of the Way. But ultimately they embraced the title, no, I want to be a little Christ. I want to be a follower of my rabbi, a follower of my pastor, my teacher, Jesus. I ultimately want to model and show the light that that Jesus lived with. Even though I'll never be 100% just like him. But he is my aim. He is my target. What does it look like to be more like Jesus? To be a follower of Jesus? And I want to give you a couple points that Paul gives us in Ephesians, chapter 5. The very first thing he says out of this is, let there be no sexual immorality, impurity or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God's people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, coarse jokes, these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure, Paul says, you can be sure that no immoral, impure or greedy person will inherit the kingdom of Christ and of God. Now, the disciples of Jesus, when they first started hearing him preach, they were like, dude, who's gonna make it into heaven? Cause all of us have sinned all of us have thought sins or said sinful things or done sinful things. And Jesus says, with man it's impossible, but with God, all things are possible. The only way we are saved is not by our good deeds. Like, it's not like, you better walk in purity or you're gonna lose your salvation. No, because you are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. Let it now become a new way of life that you begin to pursue purity. So the first point, to be more like Jesus, to become more like Jesus means that I choose to pursue purity. Everybody say, pursue purity. Now that's not just what we do with our bodies. That's not just your sexuality, that's also with your words, the stories you share, the stories you listen to. Paul says, listen, let your life be a life of purity. Jesus said in the Beatitudes, blessed are the pure in heart, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Our job in this life is not to try to compare ourselves with people of the world and go, well, I'm not as bad as this guy. I didn't do with this girl. I didn't sleep around. Jesus says, no, no, no, put the aim higher. I teach my kids basketball and I know for each kid they have a different setting for the goal. Like for our 7 year old, they're shooting on an 8 foot goal for their basketball team. And for our 10 year old now the goal has been raised from 9 foot to 10 foot and our 11 year old, he shoots on a 10 foot goal. And when they shoot on that 10 foot goal for the first time, it's a little awkward. We're trying to get used to it, trying to make sure we get to the top of that rim at 10 foot high and there's this desire on the inside to go, can we lower the standard? Can we lower the goal? Because we're used to making it on a lower standard. But to make it on a lower standard does not prepare you for the real game that you're about to play. If you want to be good at the right standard, you got to practice at the right standard. Even if it's hard. I'd rather miss shots on the right standard than make shots on the wrong standard. Giving high fives to my buddies saying, well, at least I didn't do this. No, guys, our standard is Jesus. Our example is Jesus. And I would rather continue pursuing that standard and that height because that's the Bible and it's outlasted TikTok and Twitter and X and social media and presidents and politicians and we don't excuse people's behavior that isn't like Christ. But we also recognize we all have a standard that is very high to hit. But let us not bring it down. Let us not compromise. Let us come back to what does the word of God call us to live like? And then secondly, Paul says, embrace a thankful spirit. Becoming more like Jesus means I must choose to embrace a thankful spirit. Paul says, instead of saying things that just letting your mouth run off, he says, give thanks to God. Give thanks to God instead. Let there be thankfulness to God. In verse 20, he says, Give thanks to God for everything that God has done in your life in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now don't wait until Thanksgiving to be a thankful person. And you go, well, what does thankfulness have to do with being more like Jesus? Everywhere Jesus went, he gave thanks to God. He gave thanks to God even when he was going to the cross, the last supper with his disciples. He lifts up the bread, he blesses his disciples and he begins to give thanks to God. He gives thanks to God even in the hard things, he found something to be thankful for. Thankfulness kills a spirit of greed. You know, Paul said, no greedy person, no person who's full of greed has a place in the kingdom of God. So in order to kill greed, I have to stir up a thankful spirit. I have to embrace a thankful spirit saying, God, I thank you that I have more than enough in you. You're meeting all of my needs. I'm thankful. Today people ask me, how you doing, Paul? I'm grateful. Tell that person next to you, I'm grateful. How about you? I'm grateful. See, greed says never enough. I never have enough money. I never have enough followers on social media. I never have enough. This never like never enough, Never, never, never enough, never. Greed never has enough. My son the other day, our youngest son, Mac, he goes, dad, at what point can I stop making money? I was like, well, I don't think you're making any money right now. He goes, I know, but when I get older, when will enough be enough? That was a profound question from a 7 year old. When will enough be enough? I said, that's a good question. He said, because I want to be just blessed enough to where I can be a blessing to you and mommy. I was like, thank you. That's really awesome. What do you want? I'll buy you ice cream tonight. He goes, I also want to be a blessing to victory. He's like, and I want to buy some V bucks and have like Nintendo games. And stuff. I was like, okay. He goes, so how much is enough? Like, at what point am I rich enough? And I thought to himself, you gotta redefine. What is rich? You gotta redefine. What does it mean to have enough? Because you could have a lot of money in the bank account, but yet not actually be blessed. You can have a lot of materials, a big house, a nice car, and yet still be pouring on the inside. To be blessed is to recognize your relationship with Jesus. What he did on that cross, what he paid for. To know I am forgiven, I am loved. When I look at my wife and kids, I go, man, I am blessed. I am blessed. I am so thankful. Thankfulness redefines what it means to be blessed. You're not asking for more, more, more. You realize, man, I have enough in Jesus. And whatever I don't have, he's gonna make up. He's going to take care of my needs. So Jesus. Paul's pointing people towards Jesus. He. He says, let your life be an example, like Jesus. Forgive like Jesus. Love like Jesus, be thankful like Jesus. Thirdly, let the light in. Jesus brought the light wherever he went, and it exposed the darkness, but it also overcame the darkness. So what in your heart, in your life, needs to be brought into the light? Where in your life have you allowed some darkness in? I need some help for a second. Pastor Tim, can you hold this Dr. Pepper for me? Just pour it in that glass for me. And, Pastor Ty, can you hold this big bucket of water for me? Come on. I got the illustrations for y' all today. It's been a while since I've done an illustration, so we're gonna do some today. This is what I mean when Paul says, let the light in in Ephesians 5, verse 8, and I wanna throw this up on the screen, he says, for once, you are full of darkness. How many? Y' all like Dr. Pepper? Yeah. DP. All right, so for right now, we're just gonna call Dr. Pepper. Sin. Pastor Tim, will you hold that? And this sin. Listen, lust, greed, darkness, pride, gossip, slander, sitting around, talking bad about people, assassinating people with your words. See, all of us in this room at one point have allowed darkness into our life. And you go, what do I do with the murderous thoughts that I've thought? What do I do with the harsh things that I have said? What do I do with the bad images I've seen with my eyes? What do I do with. Like, I wish God could just get me out. Just rapture. And people thought a rapture was going to happen last Monday and we're still here. More than I want God to rapture me right now, I want his light to get so in me. Here's what happens when I let the light in. When I allow the Holy Spirit, the Word of God to take over. I become pure because of His Word and His Spirit. He doesn't take me out of this world, he keeps me in this world. But he sanctifies me. He washes me. He purifies me. He makes me clean. He makes me reflect Him. For once you were in darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. And that light, this little light of.
