← Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
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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.
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I picked too high of a note for us. This little light of mine. But here's the point. I want His Word and His presence to wash me, to sanctify me. So yes, I am ready for the day that I get raptured by Jesus. But in the meantime, I want to be a light in this world. I don't want to be plagued by this world. I don't want the culture to define me and fill up my heart. I want my heart and my life to affect the culture. I want to be an impact. I want to be a difference maker. But to do that, I got to get in the Word. I got to get in church. I got to turn my house into a temple for the presence of the Lord to show up. I got to stop letting my TV show junk on it. I got to make sure I'm letting music come in my bedroom and my house, my car. I got to turn it into a worship service. That's where the Word begins to wash you. That's when he begins to drive out all this stuff of the world. Give these guys a big hand. Come on, Jesus. Everybody say, let the light in. Fourthly, Paul says, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Becoming more like Jesus means I choose to be filled with the Holy Spirit. More of him, less of me. So Paul's talking about light. He says, listen, awake, O sleep, arise from the dead. The light of Christ will shine on you. And then he goes into verse 18. He says, don't get drunk with wine because it will ruin your life. If you keep getting drunk every single night, you might be able to try to drown out your memories, but you numb your life to the purpose that God has for you. And maybe you're here today and you've been getting drunk night after night after night after night. Today's a great day to switch from getting drunk on wine to getting drunk in the Holy Spirit. Come on. He's pouring drinks today. This is the altar. Come and get filled up in Jesus name. Paul says, instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. And then from that, in the next verse, in verse 19, he says, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves. When we were singing earlier, how great thou art, then sings my soul, my savior God to thee. How great thou art. I looked around the room, and, man, you could just feel the presence of God. It was so good. It was so good. Now, I've never been in a bar where we're all singing a song together, drinking, you know, whiskey and alcohol and drinking our sorrows away and singing a bar song together. But I think what we experience today is so much better than singing some song in the bar together. I'd rather sing it. Come on. This is the best bar in town right here. Victory Church. Get filled up on the Holy Spirit. We sing together. We worship together. We pray together. Becoming more like Jesus means I choose to. Here's the next point. Worship the Lord. You get to choose every week to turn your worries into worship. To turn your panic into praise. To turn your fear and your paranoia into a song of victory. To say, I'm gonna raise a hallelujah. I'm gonna sing even when I don't feel like it. I'm gonna talk myself into victory. I'm gonna worship my way out. Paul and Silas began to sing in the midnight hour. Friends, I loved that last Sunday, during that memorial service, they sang for three hours. They said, I talked to a pastor that was there. He said, we just kept singing worship songs. When we finished one, we went into another. So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again. Cause all that I have is a hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I know it's not much. But I'm nothing else fit for a king. Except for a heart singing hallelujah. Hallelu. This is where it's at. The prisoners on Thursday, when we were at that state prison, they didn't want to stop singing. They were like, come on, sing another song. Some guys came to the service on Thursday because they weren't required to come. They got to choose. It was optional. But some guys came just for the music. They just wanted to groove. We had a live band. We had live drums. They said, we haven't had a live band here in, like, 10 years, you know? And some of them came just listening to the music, but they were touched by the presence of God as we begin to worship. They didn't want to stop. They didn't want to stop because Jesus was showing up. And then Paul says this in verse 21. And furthermore, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Now, what he's talking about here, he's about to set up the design for marriage, and he's about to talk about, what does it look like, the structure of a husband and a wife and a household and a family. But his very first verse is mutual submission. Submit to one another. Like a lot of husbands. Like to circle that one verse like, wives, submit to your husbands. But Paul says, hold up, husbands, men submit out of reverence for Christ, even to your wife and to each other. Mutual submission. Now, that doesn't mean you become a rug mat, a doormat. You don't have any leadership. You don't have any say or opinion. What he's saying is, surrender your rights, surrender your entitlement, surrender your selfishness, surrender your demands, and become a servant leader in your house, in your life, with your friends. You go, I don't know if that's like Jesus. I thought Jesus came to be served. Jesus literal words was, I did not come to be served, but I came to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many friends. We are more like Jesus when we lay down our rights and our demands and our entitlements and we say, how can I serve you? How can I help you? How can I place your needs above mine? It's a radical way to live. The world says, if you want to get up, you got to climb the ladder. But Jesus says, if you want to get up, you got to go down. You want to be great, you got to become small. You want to be a leader, you got to become a servant. So Paul says, you want to be more like Jesus. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ in verse 22. So here's the next point. Submit to one another out of honor for Christ. And then here it is. I'm giving you guys, like, 10 points. You're like, this is a lot, bro. Okay. I just got so much in me. I've been ready to preach to y' all for two weeks. Here we go. Surrender your marriage to. To God's design. Any married people in the room? Nice. You're like, hey, pray for us in Jesus name. We had like four shouts like, woo. Come on. Any married people in the room? Yes. Come on. I just want to tell all the single people, it's awesome. It's the greatest adventure. The water is warm. Come jump in, get married, have kids, go to church, but surrender Your marriage to God's design. Because the world will try to tell you this is how it is. This is what you should do, you know, and exalt this gender and exalt that gender and define what you want to define. And there will be social media and podcasters who will talk about what it needs to look like and how it's supposed to be. But more than I want to listen to any other podcast out there, I want to go back to the word of God. Because this has outlasted Joe Rogan and Charlie Kirk. This has outlasted Ben Shabir. This is outlasted whatever podcast you listen to, whatever TV show. Ultimately this our guide for what God's marriage design looks like for a husband and wife. And it's lasted for thousands of years. And so he says, listen, now he's speaking to the wives. He says, wives, here's what this looks like in verse 22. Submit to your husbands as to the Lord, for a husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. Now he's going to connect this. And by the way, there's three verses for the wife and there's eight verses for the husband. So you just take that, put that in the oven and let it cook for a second. Because husbands love to circle that one verse for wives. And wives, you're like, hold up, look what he says to you too. Husbands. Now he says, as Christ is the head of the church, he's the savior of the body. Jesus laid his life down for the church as the church submits to Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands in everything. Now what Paul's saying here is like, there's a design for this marriage to function for the glory of God. I want to bring glory to God in my marriage and my family and my house. To do that I've got to go to the word of God to go. What does God's word say for what marriage is supposed to look like? Verse 25, for husbands. This means love your wives. Just as Christ loved the church, he gave his life up for her to make her holy and clean with washed by the cleansing of God's word. Jesus did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Friends, we are more like Jesus when we choose to love our spouse the way Jesus loved the church when we choose to respect our spouse the way that Jesus carried honor for his church. What did he do? He washed his disciples feet. Selfishness says, I'm not washing my spouse's feet. They're gonna wash my feet, right? Selfishness and the ways of this world exalts toxic masculinity, toxic feminism. But there is a godly masculinity, and God is calling men. We are reclaiming masculinity under the word of God and reclaiming feminism under the word of God. To say that women have a great valuable part in the body of Christ and and in the marriage, and men have a great valuable part in the body of Christ and in marriage. And one gender is not higher than another gender, and one person in the marriage is not better than another person. We are meant to be a team. It's not you versus me or this spouse versus this spouse. We are in this together. And the way we do this. Jesus says, as husbands, lay your lives down for your wife. And then he says this. He says, just like Christ laid his life down for the church, in the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. Take it like this. A man who hates his life will hate his wife. A man who hates himself will eventually hate his family. And if you want to know where is this hatred coming from, you got to investigate. Where am I holding on to shame and unforgiveness towards me? Because if you carry those chains, where's those chains at, Daniel? You carry those chains of unforgiveness in your own life, it's going to come out on your husband. It's going to come out on your wife. It's going to come out on your son and your daughter. Ultimately, for a marriage to be holy, for a marriage to bring glory to God, I have to lay down my chains of hurt and hatred and anger and judgment towards my parents, towards their marriage, towards my wife, towards my husband. And I have to say, jesus, Jesus, take over, Jesus. I want to be more like Jesus. Anyone in this room want to be more like Jesus? Some of y' all are looking at me like, I don't know if I agree with this. Well, you came to a Jesus preaching church, so that's what we're going to keep preaching. Surrender your marriage to God's design. And then we get to Ephesians 6, and he says this. Children, obey your parents. How many of y' all in the room had parents? Anyone grow up with a mom or a dad? Yeah, most of us in this room. How many of y' all still have parents? They're still alive. Yeah. You know what? The call is still to walk in honor and you might be here today and go, paul, I can't honor a dishonorable man. Can't honor someone who was abusive, who was mean. I can't honor. Honoring doesn't mean you agree with everything they said or did. Honoring means that you're going to choose to show love. You know, my father's in heaven. He's been in heaven for some 16 years now. But I am intentional to show honor from this stage for the man that he was. You can honor someone even after they died. I was talking to someone last night. She said, I grew up with very abusive parents. They're both dead now. What's the best way for me to honor them? I said, the best way for you to honor them is to choose to forgive them for what they did to you. And she said, okay. She was like, because I don't want to get up and tell lies. Like they were perfect parents. I said, you don't have to. You also don't have to just walk around and talk about how bad they were. You can choose to forgive them and choose to be a better parent as a result of what you walk through. You can choose from this day forward, you're not going to carry on the generational curse of abuse and the addiction to alcohol and drugs. That's how you honor them. And this is what Paul's saying here. He says, listen, obey your parents. Not obeying like criminal requests. If your parents ask you to do something illegal or criminal, don't do it or sinful. But he's saying, obey them in the righteous commands. Most. Most of the time, parents are calling their kids to walk in obedience. We live in a society that questions all authority, that does not want to have anyone telling them what to do. But the word of God, the way of Jesus, is to walk in honor, to honor up, to honor down, and to honor all around. We honor our family members and parents. We honor our children. We don't abuse them. We don't, you know, hurt them. We don't try to attack them. This is what he says. He says, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. In other words, don't name call them, don't put them down. Rather bring them up with a tenderness and a discipline and an instruction that points them towards Jesus. Friends, we're in a revival for families right now. We're in a revival for the nuclear family. And God is calling husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, to forgive, to. To take off the chains, to bring it down to the altar. To get free and to say, I belong to Jesus. I want to be more like Jesus. So here's the eighth point. Honor your parents, your leaders, and ultimately honor the Lord. Or if you want to make it simple, just honor, Honor up, honor down, and honor all around. I want the band to come out as I get ready to close. The final point that Paul begins to make here is in verse 10. And by the way, Paul talks about walking in honor, even in your job, walking in honor with your boss. Walking in honor even in a difficult situation that you work for the Lord. Work as unto the Lord, as if God is watching what you do. And you will be rewarded even when you're working in a harsh place that God has a reward for you. And then we get to verse 10. He says a final word. A final word. Everybody say a final word. Be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Friends, this is where the power comes from, when we begin to surrender to God. This is number nine, right here. Be strong in the Lord and put on the full armor of God to stand firm. Put on the full armor of God to stand firm. So he talks about putting on the helmet of salvation. I do this with my kids on the drive to school. We put on the armor of God. I say, repeat after me. I put on. I put on the helmet of salvation. I put on the breastplate of righteousness. I put on the belt of truth. I put on the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace. I take up the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit. And I take all of this armor because I'm gearing up for the day. Friends, we're living in a spiritual war. Welcome to the war. You are on the battlefield. And the enemy more than is trying to steal, kill and destroy, trying to divide and conquer the church. This people, about this people, this group against this group, this brother against this brother. Cain and Abel all over again. Hatred, strife, division, dissension, gossip, slander, putting up our fences, living offended, living more with the fear of man instead of the fear of God. Bowing down to cancel culture instead of bowing down to Jesus Christ. Not in my house. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Listen, I want to be more like Jesus, which means that I may not be popular to everybody. I may not be liked by everybody. But we are not in a liked contest. Like, this is not a contest to be the most liked person. We're in a race. And Hebrews 12 says, Let us run this race with endurance, fixing our eyes On Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. I want to be more like Jesus. As I was watching that service this last week and watching the overflow on social media and then going to this prison outreach, I was filled with these, like, just. Just this urgency to preach on the love of God. And I shared this story I heard when I was in college. It was a story of a pastor in Thailand. This pastor had a son who grew up in the church, pastor's kid. But he got very, like, just turned off to, like, church and God and religion and all that. And he just told his dad, like, dad, I just want to go see what's out in the world. And so he left his dad's house, he moved to Bangkok, and he began to get involved in partying and clubbing and true story, he ended up getting pulled into the sex trafficking trade. And he found himself in some dark places. He ended up getting arrested and sent to prison. And while he was in prison, he never talked to his dad, never wrote letters to his dad, never reached out to his dad. In fact, he felt like such an embarrassment, such a failure. He thought, my dad would never want to talk to me again. If anyone told the church what I've done, the church is going to judge him as a father, thinking he didn't do a good job raising me. And I'm sure the church has lost, lost members because of my sin and my stupidity and my regrets. And so he sat in prison just with shame, just. I'll never. I'll never talk to him again. But then the day came where they told him. They said, you're getting out of prison this next week, and we're going to give you enough money, but you can't stay in Bangkok. You got to leave this city. You got to leave this city. So you're going to board a train and you go anywhere you want to go, but you can't stay in this city. And so he's got enough money to get on a train. And he thinks to himself, I could take the train back home. There was this tree outside the train station where he lived. It was a big oak tree. And his dad used to take them to this oak tree. They used to climb the tree. And he had these memories as a kid before he messed up, before he got into so many dark sins of sexual immorality and partying and drunkenness and just terrible crimes he committed against women. And he was thinking about when he was a kid, when he was innocent and pure and he hadn't done anything Bad. He used to climb this big oak tree by the train station. So he thought to himself, I'm going to write a letter to my dad, and I hope that he even lives at the same address. I'm going to write a letter. And in the letter I'm going to tell him how sorry I am for all the things I've done. And I'm going to put in this letter. He writes, in the letter, dad, I know I've messed up. I know I've done so many bad things. But if you still have just a little bit of love left for me, would you tie a little red ribbon on the bottom branch of that oak tree? And when I'm on that train, if I see that red ribbon, I will get off the train. And if I don't, I won't judge you. Because I know I don't deserve your forgiveness or your love. I'll stay on the train and I'll take it to the next town. And you'll never hear from me again. Sign your son. He sends the letter. A week goes by, he gets out of prison. He gets the ticket on the train. He's riding the train the whole time. He's thinking to himself, oh, man, what. What a mess I've made of my life. My dad will never forgive me. I've messed up so bad. I'm. I'm in such darkness. How could he ever forgive me? So he thinks to himself, I'm not even going to look out the window. I can't bear to look at that tree and not see a red ribbon. I know my dad's ashamed of me. I know my dad hates me. I know I've missed it. So he buries his head down in his lap and he's just crying. And he's thinking to himself, God, if there's any love or forgiveness that you have for me, please, even just an ounce, please let my dad tie just one red ribbon there that I could get off this train and start over. I just need a fresh start. I need to get out of this mess I've been in. He's crying as he's holding his head in his lap. And I'm telling you him this story at this prison on Thursday. And I tell him what happens. That as the train is pulling up, he can hear the brakes coming to a stop. And he's thinking, I don't want to look out. I don't want to look out. I'm so ashamed of myself. But finally he works up enough courage to look up and look out the window. And when he does, the entire oak tree is covered in red ribbons. And his dad is standing there with open arms, saying, son, I love you. He had climbed up every branch and tied red ribbons all over this oak tree to tell his son, there's still a spot for you. There's still forgiveness for you. You can get out of this mess. You don't have to stay in this sin. You don't have to go back on that train. You can get off now. You can get off the train now. His son walks towards him. His father runs towards him. Friends, this is the story of Jesus. The story of Jesus is that he pursues us even when we are in sin, even while we are dirty. Christ died for us, and he gave his life so that you and I would be forgiven and saved and not just one day make it into heaven, but so that we would live our life on this earth, becoming more like Jesus. Friends, we are more like Jesus when we choose to forgive the worst of sinners. You go, well, I don't know who that story is for because I don't know any sinners. You need to get to know some sinners, because Jesus ate dinner with sinners. Sinners. Every night, Jesus would walk up to Zacchaeus and say, I'm coming to your house. He would sit with Peter, who wanted to cut a dude's ear off. Some of y' all want to cut more than an ear off. Okay? Peter had a hard time forgiving people, but Jesus said, peter, I love you. I love you. I'm praying for you. You're going to get out of this. You're going to learn how to forgive. You're going to learn how to love. Jesus never gives up on us. Friends, this is an hour right now where I feel like God is calling us to a radical revival of forgiveness. To forgive our enemies, to pray for those who have cursed us, to bless those who have spoken evil against us. That is the radical turn to become more like Jesus. I want you to stand your feet all over this place. So Paul says to gear up for this. We're going to lace up our boots. We're going to put on the full armor of God. We're going to get ready to stand firm in a world that is full of hatred and a world that is full. Full of sin and chaos and confusion. We are not running from the truth. We are running towards the truth. And we're letting the light in. And we're choosing to forgive the people that have hurt us the worst. And we're choosing to practice the way of Jesus. And we're choosing to surrender our rights, our demands, our addictions, our habits. We're bringing it to the cross and we're saying, jesus, purify me. Maybe you're here today and you've watched some things you shouldn't have watched. You've listened to things you shouldn't have listened to. Maybe you've given your body over to sins that you go, God, what am I going to do with this? The cross is calling you to a place of repentance, to become clean, to become holy, to be forgiven, to be made righteous by the blood of Jesus. We cannot save ourselves. Only Jesus can do that. We cannot forgive ourselves. Only Jesus can do that. And when he does, he gives us the power to forgive. And so today, I want us all over this room with heads bowed, eyes closed. I want you to serve. Search your heart. Maybe you're here and maybe in some area of your life, you've been living unsurrendered. Maybe it's your marriage, Maybe you've been treating your spouse a certain way. Maybe. Maybe it's your body. Maybe you've been allowing your body to just do whatever your flesh craves to do. Maybe it's even your mouth. You've just been saying things you know you shouldn't be saying. And Paul is. He's preaching to the church. He's not preaching to people that aren't saying. He's preaching to people who are saved. He's saying, come on, guys, imitate God. Follow the way of Jesus. Love like he loved. Live like he lived. Pray like he prayed, sing like he sang. Treat people the way he treated people. Let's bring it back to the cross. If you're here today and you need to forgive someone who's hurt you deeply and you're ready to do that, by the way, when Tim Allen said, I forgive my dad, it trickled. Multiple comments and posts started coming after his saying, if Tim can do it, I can do it. I choose to forgive the person who did this. I choose to forgive. What if today was a revival of forgiveness? What if you forgave your dad? What if you forgave your mom? What if you forgave your son? What if you forgave your brother? What if you forgave that organization that let down your family? What if you forgive that church? What if you forgive that governmental leader? What if you chose today to get free of anything that's holding you back from becoming more like Jesus all over this room? If there's an area that you just need to surrender. Someone you need to forgive. Something you need to lay at the foot of the cross. I want you to raise your hand just boldly today. Hands going up all over this room. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'. Am. Yes. Yes. Maybe you just need to surrender your relationship with your family to the Lord. How you view and how you treat yourself. Your siblings, your kids, your spouse, your parents, maybe here today. And you say, I need to forgive some people who have deeply hurt me. If you raised your hand, or you needed to raise your hand, or you just need to get to the altar. I want you to leave your seat. Come and join me. We're going to cheer on brave men, brave women, moms and dads, husbands and wives, sons and daughters. There's room at the cross for you. His love is strong for you. His grace is sufficient for you. Come on. Yeah, let's cheer on. Today is a day of new beginnings. Today is a day of radical forgiveness. Today is a day that we become more like Jesus. More like Jesus. More like Jesus. More like Jesus. And as you're coming down to this altar, I want to share something with you. When I shared that story in the prison, this guy comes up to me afterwards, and he was so angry, said, I hate you. He's coming at me aggressive. I was looking for the prison guards and the warden. They were nowhere to be found. This guy comes after me. He goes, I hate you. I've been carrying a grudge against you for 15 years. And he had long hair like Charles Manson. I mean, I was scared for my life. I thought he was gonna kill me. He said, I hate you. I hate your church. I hate you guys. I hate you. I've been holding on to a grudge for 15 years. Where's that chain at? This is what I felt like when I was around him. I. I felt like he was wrapped in that chain. There it is, Tim. This guy was literally holding onto a chain as people were getting saved all around him. He couldn't let it go. The service was over. People had already gotten baptized. This was after we had already been there, listening to testimonies. He was saying, I hate you. I. I've been holding a grudge for 15 years. And I was praying in the spirit because that is the other part of the armor of God, is to pray in the spirit. So I was like, holy Spirit, tell me what to do right now. Come on. We need the prayer language in our church. We need the prayer language of the Holy Spirit. When you don't know what to pray, you pray in the spirit. You stir up that unknown language to pray. The perfect will of God. I said, God, I don't know what to do right now. This man wants to kill me. I need your help. And I heard the Lord say, own it. I said, God, I don't even know who this guy is. I don't remember him. He said, do you remember me? Do you remember me? I said, I don't. I don't remember you. He shows me his id. He said, now do you remember me? I said, I'm sorry. I still don't remember you. I don't know. I said, a lot's happened over the last 15 years. I don't. I don't remember. And he was getting angrier by the second. And the Lord said, just own it. I said, sir, I am sorry. I am sorry. I'm sorry for whatever I did. I'm sorry for whatever our church did. I'm sorry. And all of a sudden, his anger subsided. He looks at me and he goes, I'm sorry, too. His voice changed. His body changed. I was like, what? What just happened? He said, that's all I've wanted. That's all I've wanted for 15 years, is just an apology. That's all I've wanted. I said, I'm sorry. Will you forgive me? I stuck my hand out, hoping he would shake my hand. He looked at my hand. He looked at me. He said, yes, I forgive you. We shook hands. I said, can I give you a hug? He said, you better not. I'm a dangerous man. I said, I'll take the risk. I'll take the risk. So I hugged the man. Come on. Chains begin to fall. Here's what I'm trying to say today. I hear the Holy Spirit saying, break the chains. Break the chains. Break the chains. If you're here and you need to forgive someone, you need to expose something in your life to the light of Jesus Christ. Bring it to the altar. Break the chains. The enemy keeps us in chains as long as we hold on to it. But the second we bring it into the light, let the light in. Let the Holy Spirit begin to fill you. Let it begin to drive out the darkness of hurt and hatred and sin and whatever it is. I want you to just hold your hands up because the Holy Spirit is pouring it out right now. And we're just gonna worship for the next few minutes, and I want the Holy Spirit just to begin to wash you, Just to begin to cleanse us, Just to begin to show us the mercy of God, the grace Of God. The forgiveness of God, the righteousness of God. Let's just begin to worship in this place. Go ahead, Faith. Go ahead, Don Jesus.
- [49:32]
B
Jesus like you, Jes.
- [49:42]
A
Lord.
- [49:42]
B
Fill us with more, Lord.
- [49:45]
A
Fill us with more of your love. More of your forgiveness. I choose to forgive him. I choose to forgive him. Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they've done to us. Wash me, God, purify me.
- [49:59]
B
Make me more like you.
- [50:01]
A
Wash my mind, Wash my heart. Help me to walk in honor. Help me, God, to walk in. Help me, God, to practice the way of Jesus. Live like Jesus More like Jesus.
- [50:13]
B
Crucify my flesh, Jesus.
- [50:17]
A
Renew us, renew our minds.
- [50:30]
B
Take me into your life image More like Jesus Every day a little more like Jesus. Crucify my place with yours My new life, my peace in your Everything I do just so I can honor you. Resurrect me. Sanctify. Make me into your image. Yes.
- [51:04]
A
He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He forgives you. He's kind, he's good. He's going to give you the strength to forgive the person that hurts you the worst.
- [51:16]
B
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Make me into your Holy Spirit. Any more like Jesus Every day a little more like Jesus. Crucify my blessing, yours My new life, my peace. Everything I do just so I can honor you. Resurrect me. He loves you.
- [52:02]
A
He loves you. He's for you, he's not against you. Make me into your Jimmy Holy Spirit. Make me more like Jesus Every day a little more like Jesus. Crucify my flesh with yours My new life might be secure Every Everything I do done so I can honor you. Resurrect me Sanctify make me into your.
- [52:45]
B
Image.
- [52:50]
A
Make me into your Amen. Make me into your image image.
- [53:03]
B
Make.
- [53:03]
A
Me into make me into your image Amazing grace How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like thee I once was lost but now I'm found Was blind but now I see Amazing grace How sweet the sound that sa.
- [54:07]
B
Like me.
- [54:11]
A
I once was lost but now was blind but now I see My chains are gone I've been set free My God, my Savior has ransomed me and like a fly his mercy Grace Unending love Amazing grace My chains are gone My chains are gone I've been set free My God, my Savior has ransomed me Like a fly his mercy.
- [55:15]
B
Reigns.
- [55:20]
A
Unending love Amazing grace Just pray this with me say Jesus, thank you for saving me. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins you rose from the grave I repent I receive your grace. I receive your forgiveness. And I choose to forgive those who have hurt me and hurt my family, the ones that I love. Just as you forgave me, I choose to forgive. Holy Spirit, make me more like Jesus. Purify me. Sanctify me. I'm all yours, God. In Jesus name, Amen. And amen. I love you, Victory. God loves you. Be blessed.