Growing Together
Step into a virtual garden of spiritual growth and community connection with the "Growing Together" podcast. This podcast is a nurturing space for individuals seeking to deepen their faith, cultivate relationships, and explore the boundless beauty of a shared spiritual journey.
Each episode of "Growing Together" is a breath of fresh air, where Pastor Michael, Syd, Nic, Pastor Holly, and Pastor Roger try to navigate the twists and turns of life while staying rooted in faith. Their warm and inviting presence makes you feel like you're sitting in a cozy living room, engaged in a heartfelt conversation with old friends.
Diving into topics ranging from personal growth and self-care to building resilient relationships and fostering a sense of community, the podcast aims to equip listeners with the tools to nurture their faith in all aspects of life. Through scripture readings, open discussions, and interviews with experts in various fields, "Growing Together" provides a holistic approach to spiritual development.
Whether you're a lifelong believer, a seeker on the spiritual path, or simply someone curious about how faith can shape lives, "Growing Together" offers a welcoming haven for everyone. Tune in during your morning routine, while taking a leisurely stroll, or even during a quiet moment of reflection – the podcast fits seamlessly into your daily life.
Join the "Growing Together" community and embark on a journey of discovery, growth, and genuine connection. In a world that can sometimes feel disconnected, this podcast reminds us that nurturing our faith and cultivating meaningful relationships can lead to a life that's deeply fulfilling and spiritually abundant. Subscribe now to start your journey of growing together in faith and fellowship.
Growing Together
Indifference (August 3, 2025)
The silent enemy creeping into our churches isn't hatred or rebellion—it's indifference. In this challenging message, we confront the comfortable apathy that has many believers stuck in spiritual neutral, neither fully committed nor openly opposed to Christ.
Jesus's words ring with clarity: "Anyone who isn't with me opposes me." This leaves no room for fence-sitting or casual Christianity. The danger of spiritual indifference lies in its subtlety—it doesn't feel like rebellion, but Christ tells us in Revelation that He will "spit out" those who are lukewarm in their faith.
Many of us have conditioned ourselves to respond "I don't care" to life's questions, and we've brought this same attitude into our relationship with God. We show up to church, perhaps even regularly, but leave unchanged. We become consumers rather than participants in the gospel, filling ourselves up but never pouring out.
What makes this indifference so dangerous? As we explore key scriptures from Luke, Revelation, and Matthew, we discover that spiritual neutrality creates a false security. It lulls believers into thinking they're safe because they're not openly against God, when in reality, they're working against His kingdom purposes.
The narrow gate demands decision. Joshua's challenge to "choose today whom you will serve" remains as urgent now as it was then. We must examine our hearts—are we truly with Christ, or are we simply going through religious motions? Every calling matters in God's kingdom, from preaching to serving behind the scenes, but indifference renders even great callings ineffective.
With Christ's return drawing nearer each day, we can no longer afford spiritual apathy. It's time to wake up, make our choice, and recognize that indifference isn't safety—it's the exact opposition to Christ. Will you remain lukewarm, or will you choose today to serve the Lord with your whole heart?
Thank you, jesus. Father, we thank you and we praise you for your move in this house this morning. Father, for physical healing in our bodies, healing in our hearts, lord, whatever it may be, lord, as the wind of change was blowing through the sanctuary, lord, I know that there was life-giving power, that there were people who were released from chains of things that they had been dealing with for years. Lord, and I thank you for being so faithful to us, lord, that you would continue to pour out your love, even when we feel like we don't deserve it. You are the only one who is worthy of our praise. Lord, I thank you for the anointing that rests here and, father, for the word that will be delivered. Lord, I pray that it is of you and not of me today, father, god, and every word that is spoken falls upon ears and hearts that are ready to hear and absorb. Lord, I thank you. I give you praise, honor and glory in the mighty name of Jesus. Praise, honor and glory in the mighty name of Jesus, and the church says amen, amen, amen. Dave, you always take such good care of me with that. You know that I'll trip over it, so we'll let the kids head back to class. Are you leaving your babies here? Do I have to watch them? Okay, I'll keep an eye on them. I'll make sure they're good. Hey, listen, we have birthday parties for those little girls all the time and I'm pretty sure that their birthday. I think we have nine or 10 of them in the house. They all have birthdays on different days, but I think their birthday is like once a week. So it's quite a bit for us. It is quite a bit for us. It gets expensive too, because we have to buy gifts for those babies. I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1:Well, I was praying about today's message and I realized that there is an epidemic that is taking hold of the church, and not just our church, but the church in general, and I would feel remiss if we don't address it at some point. And I thought well, lord, if you're going to tell me about it, let's address it today. And the problem is is it's subtle, but it's dangerous, and it's starting to rest in our hearts. And it's not about defiance or opposition, it's not loud and it's not hatred. Do you know what it is? It's indifference. It is a state of indifference where our hearts are just like well, I don't really care one way or another, right, right. And we do it all the time. And the problem is is that we've conditioned ourselves to doing it Right, amen. Now, what do I mean by that?
Speaker 1:Have you ever had anybody ask you where you want to go for lunch? And what's your answer? I don't care. But then when they tell you where they want to go listen, this is the thing in my house. Where do you want to go for dinner tonight? Or what do you want for dinner tonight? I don't care. Well, I'm going to make hamburger helper. I don't want hamburger helper. Then, what do you want? Amen, what do you want? And I say I don't care, just not hamburger helper. So then she says I'm going to make tuna casserole. I'm like, I don't like tuna casserole. She says then, what do you want? And what do I say? I don't care, Right, I don't care unless I care. Right, I'm telling you it is plaguing the church just the same.
Speaker 1:Indifference is a dangerous place for the church to be. And why is that? Because Jesus didn't leave room for indifference. He at no point said it's okay to be on the fence. He says it's black and white, it's right or it's wrong. And so here's the problem when we talk, we want to talk louder because we want to be right. The more I shout, the louder I am, the righter I am than those who think they're right. Amen, and we can get politically specifically and I'm not going to talk about politics but when you get into politics, the person who shouts a lot of things that they're the right, they're on the right right, they think that they're the one that has the correct answer.
Speaker 1:The problem is is, typically, when you're doing that, it's because you don't understand what's going on in your life or what's going on in the world that you are trying to explain. Here's the thing In Luke 11, 23, jesus says it very plainly Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, amen. And anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me. Does that allow for indifference? Because it says that if you are on the fence and you're like I don't care, you are actively working against the will of God. You are actively working against the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you don't feel like that's a dangerous place to be, you need to reevaluate your heart right, because it is not acceptable in the kingdom of God to be indifferent. I need you to understand something that doesn't mean you're always right. Okay, just because you think, it doesn't mean you're right. That is what prayer is for, that is what relationship with Christ is for, because when I think that I am right and somebody is opposing that thought, I have to go to the Father in prayer. Lord, if I am wrong, allow me to see what is right. Right, because oftentimes our view of the world is skewed on our life experience. Amen. So you've gone through life differently than I have. Listen, you be careful.
Speaker 1:When I lost my job, I came home depressed. I was frustrated, I was hurt. I only told one. I told two people, two people. Do you know who those two people were? My wife. Good job, pastor Holly. Why did I tell those two people? Because I knew they were going to pray for me.
Speaker 1:My heart was hurt, I was lost, I was confused, I didn't know what to do with myself and then God said knock it off. You know I've got this. And I said okay, god, I hear you, but I don't see you Right. And that's the hardest part, because I know what's true, I know what's right and I can go. I don't really care. No, I say God is good all the time and all the time God's. Therefore, I don't have to worry about what is bad.
Speaker 1:Listen, I had a job in under five days. Listen, god was good to me and the thing is, is what he gave me not necessarily entirely better than what I had, but it slowed me down, which is what my wife had been praying for. Now, I love my wife, but I was like, if you're going to pray, pray specific Lord, slow him down, but let him keep his job. Can we do that next time, please? Right, listen, my wife knew that at the pace I was going, I would not be able to keep up with everything that was happening, and so she said, lord, I just need you to slow him down, and that's what the Lord took away. Now I'm gonna tell you the truth. Okay, I love all of you and I believe I can do that.
Speaker 1:When my wife talked about what does slowing down mean? What does that look like? She said there's only one logical answer. And I said there's only one logical answer and I said well, what's that? Are you ready for it? It's going to hurt your feelings. Okay, I need it to hurt your feelings a little bit. I hope it does.
Speaker 1:She said you have to give up the church. She said that's the thing, it's where you spend all your time. And then she prayed about it and God said nope, that's not the one. Instead, he took what we thought we wanted. We thought we wanted this place where we could be busy all the time and we could have things that we couldn't have otherwise. And God said no, you're gonna learn to live without right.
Speaker 1:So night one of losing our job, we start cutting subscriptions and we realized just how wasteful we truly were. See, money looked good, but that money caused us to be indifferent about our relationship with Christ. Right, it allowed us to just go. It's okay, it's whatever. It doesn't matter, it does matter. It matters every single day. And when I wake up and I think about it, I can't just go. Well, god will do something great. Today. I don't have to pay attention to him. God is going to do something great, but I have to be able to recognize it. If God is doing something great and my head's buried in the sand, I'm not going to see greatness. I'm going to see a subpar reaction to what God is doing in my life, amen. So the problem that we have is the church has become so indifferent to literally every topic, that we're just okay with showing up on Sunday morning, right? We're just okay with showing up on Wednesday night? We're okay with texting everybody every once in a while.
Speaker 1:I realize there are people in my life who intentionally text me every week. I got one guy. Every week he sends me a text and it doesn't. It's usually not important. And what do I do? I read it and I ignore it. Why? Because the consistency of what he is doing has become it's made me indifferent to that relationship. Like I know, he'll text me every week, whether I respond or not. So why would I respond every week? If he is lifting me up and giving me encouragement? Why am I not doing that back or doing it for somebody else, right?
Speaker 1:So I was talking to a friend on the phone the other day and he Mark Fowler. You guys remember Mark. He was here once before incredibly prophetic, incredibly apostolic. He was here once before, incredibly prophetic, incredibly apostolic. He was here and I called him. He and I were chit-chatting and he said that he had to fire their pastor. That's a crummy job. Right Now I want to explain how that works.
Speaker 1:Their church is operated by their church council exclusively. They decide the spiritual direction of the church, the financial direction of the church In our house, the way that we are structured. I am the spiritual head of the church. The council is the financial head of the church. Okay, so we work together in that aspect. Council could not unseat me, council can't remove me. However, they could go to my supervisor and they could say we don't like what he's doing, we want you to take action, and they would right. The only person who can remove me from the office of the senior pastor of this church would be the president of Foursquare. That's scary, right, but here's the deal. Their church doesn't operate that way.
Speaker 1:And this pastor used to be a rock star, real life rock star. Yes, not a joke, not a joke. Played guitar in a really popular rock band and he was pastor. It's a local church, not local here. It's local in Holmes County. Had a band and they did all of these wonderful things, but he was very indifferent about his congregation. Right, he split the church twice simply by the way that he behaved and the way that he treated people. Right, if you were on the inside, you were on the outside. Ever felt that way? Split the church twice. So he had to make. The church council had to make the hard call and they did that.
Speaker 1:And he called me the other day and we were talking and they have adopted a five-fold ministry style ministry. And what does that mean? So they have pastors, teachers, they have got all parts of the five-fold ministry, but they all perform different tasks inside of the church. They do not have a senior pastor in their building. Instead, they share the responsibilities of the senior pastor through those five pieces. And what's interesting is once a month they do nothing but ministry service.
Speaker 1:Sunday morning you come to church. There is no message, it is all prayer and ministry time. Wow, right, that's a big deal. That they're making time for the prophetic, not just the apostolic, not just the teaching, right, that is a big difference. But I tell you that story because that pastor had become so indifferent with the way that he operated the church that he genuinely didn't care about the people of the building. He cared about the paycheck, cared about the money that was coming in and what he could do for himself.
Speaker 1:God has not called any of us to be that way. It doesn't matter the level of authority that you have. It doesn't matter if you're all the way at the top or all the way at the bottom. God has not called any of us to focus on what we can do for ourselves, but what he can do for us. Amen and I just so.
Speaker 1:Every Sunday, I text him. I'm praying for a mighty move of God in your house today. Praying for a mighty move of God in your house today. Praying for a mighty move of God in your house today, lord, I am praying with you. I am believing with you that God is going to do something great, and so I do that every week. And I got a text back that says you don't understand how much this means to me.
Speaker 1:I could have been doing that for years and I wasn't doing it Right Now. We can't think about all the things we didn't do and should have done and could have would have you know, but if it is something so simple to give somebody confirmation or understanding about how God is working in their life, then we should be doing that every day. We should be focusing on the people around us and really pouring out our hearts and our lives for them. We come in here every week and we get filled up. And what do we do with it? We sit on it, right, we keep it for ourselves. That's not what we're called to do. We come in to get filled up so that we can pour out, but oftentimes we don't want to pour out because we've become indifferent to the world around us.
Speaker 1:There is no spiritual Switzerland, right? There is no spiritual. Did I die? No, I'm still working. There is no spiritual neutral ground, right, it is good or it is bad. You either. You are either with him or against him. That's that Okay.
Speaker 1:So now we're going to explore that, because there are a lot of people who are sitting in their seats looking at me like a deer in the headlights, like they don't believe what I'm saying. If you think that being neutral is harmless, these are the kinds of people who say things like well, I believe in God, but I'm not really ready to follow Jesus. Right, heard that one, you've heard that one. I respect Christianity but I'm not religious, right? Okay? How about this one? This one's one of my favorites. I don't have anything against Jesus, I just don't want to get involved. Have anything against Jesus? I just don't want to get involved? Right what? I don't have anything against Jesus, I just don't want. Then you have something against Jesus, you just don't want to admit what it is Right.
Speaker 1:And sometimes what we have against Jesus is he has done something in the lives of somebody around us that we didn't get and we don't like it right. It is hard to comprehend that God is moving in everybody's lives inside of this room. Listen, when God takes something from you that you've had for so long and you've become complacent in it, and he takes it away and you look around and you say, but why do they have this? Then that's selfishness, right, and it doesn't get you anything in the kingdom of God. You don't earn anything by talking about what has been taken away from you and potentially given to somebody else.
Speaker 1:That same passage of scripture is also repeated in Matthew 12, 30. It says anyone who isn't with me opposes me. Anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me. And if you go to Revelations, chapter 3, verse 15 and 16, it says I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other. Now, this is the book of Revelation. This is talking about end times, right? And he's saying hot and cold don't work.
Speaker 1:How many of you believe that Jesus is coming soon. Amen, jesus is coming. So I'm telling you like and when I say that it might not be in my lifetime, it might not be in your lifetime, but here's the thing we're a lot closer today. We were 10 years ago. Jesus is coming soon and I wish that you were one or the other. Be hot or cold. If you're cold, then we ain't got to worry about it. If you're hot, then we got work to do. But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold I will spit you out of my mouth. God is going to spit you. Jesus is going to spit you. Jesus is going to spit you. Are going to have no place in heaven if you continue to be lukewarm.
Speaker 1:Jesus detests us being lukewarm. He wants us to be hot. He wants us to look at the gospel as the truth and run with it right. He wants us to take this, absorb it, read it. You know, jenny just finished her Bible for the first time. She's not here today I don't know where they went For the first time and it took her three years to do it. Good for her right, because some of us are sitting here. We've been alive for 50 plus years. We ain't never read it once. The only time we crack it is when we're at church, and most of the time we got our phone out anyway and we didn't even take notes. Amen, isn't that the truth?
Speaker 1:So many of us don't actually desire to be in the word. So many of us don't desire to understand what God's word actually says. We want somebody else to tell us and then we just take it for what it is. I thought about one Sunday coming in here and just giving you guys a bunch of fake scriptures Because, I mean, many of the people in here wouldn't know right, and then at the end of the message you go oh, I want you guys to go home and look all of those up, because so many people would sit here and believe every word that I said and never go and look.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, you cannot take everything I say and just run with it. You need to go home and study it out and do your homework right. You need to understand the passage before and the passage after. You need to understand the context and the time. There's so much to studying your Bible, so much more than just reading it. But see, we've become indifferent.
Speaker 1:We showed up to church on Sunday. Isn't that enough? It isn't. It isn't anymore, because showing up to church is one step in a relationship with Christ. You're filling up so that you can pour out when you show up at church on Sunday morning. You're filling up your heart, right, so that you can go and share that heart with the rest of the world. But you can't share that heart if you don't understand what you've heard. Right, because most of you will walk out of here today and not have any idea what I'm talking about. You won't remember the message past lunch, right, isn't it true? Now, some of you will go home and listen to the podcast three or four times a week because you want to.
Speaker 1:I didn't catch all of that. What scripture did he use when he was talking about? That's what I'm talking about. You don't just have to listen to me. There's lots of people who will tell you the truth. There are also lots of people who will lie to you.
Speaker 1:I heard a pastor say that if you walk into his church with a Starbucks cup, he will ask you to leave, because he studied it out. Starbucks is of the devil, it's coffee. Folks, and listen. Maybe you don't like Starbucks, that's okay, but why would I kick you out of my church Because you like Starbucks? Because what is the likelihood that you will find Jesus out on the street or in a Starbucks coffee shop? It's not likely. So why wouldn't I take the opportunity to explain to you what God has on my heart? Right? If I stop you at the door because you're dressed in a way that I don't think is appropriate for church and tell you you can't be here, what good is that for the kingdom of God? It's not right.
Speaker 1:But we believe that our way is the only way. You know, there are gonna be churches who find out they're wrong. It's gonna happen, because we can't all be right. I was. You guys know who. John Crist is Comedian, christian comedian. He said you know, if Jesus were to come back, he's gonna go and goes to a church, but he doesn't come to your church. Why not? Right, because everybody said that the church across town was wrong, but that's where Jesus showed up. Well, somebody's gotta be wrong. Right, it's gonna happen. And the thing is is we're all part of a body, and I'm way off topic right now. We're all part of a body, but I'm telling you that we're not all functioning as part of the same body. Right, we're part of a body, but some of us are trying to be the foot like. We're kind of like Frankenstein at this point, like the foot doesn't actually work right. It's going to be a dangerous time when we really truly get to the end, because the church has become indifferent to what it means to share life with one another. We just only allow ourselves to just that sneak peek on Sunday morning or Wednesday night.
Speaker 1:Or maybe you hear a radio broadcast. Did you know? Every morning, every single morning, on 99.9, at the end of it's right before their. I think it's the eight o'clock hour, it might be the seven o'clock hour, I can't remember for certain. They play Amazing Grace and then it turns into their regular radio show. Wow Right, small town radio station. Still willing to take a risk? Amen, we're sitting in church on Sunday and we ain't willing to take a risk.
Speaker 1:Have you ever looked around at somebody and went I don't know who that person is? Have you ever gone up and just shook their hand and said hey, I just want you to know. I don't know you, but I know this about you Jesus loves you. Right, it's hard to do, but I'm telling you it's what we're called to do. I don't care what they look like, what they smell like, how they're dressed, it doesn't matter. Jesus loves them just the same. I can't look around the room and say, well, I don't, I'm not gonna talk to that person because I don't like the way that they acted yesterday. Or I heard what they did, I saw what they did. I'm gonna just ignore how they, I'm gonna ignore the fact that they're in the house of the Lord today.
Speaker 1:Listen, indifference often masks itself as a respectful distance, right? So whenever we become indifferent with one another, we just pretend like right. So whenever we become indifferent with one another, we just pretend like, well, I'm just going to stay away from them because I want to make sure that my heart is safe, that's fine. But you also have to be willing to have hard conversations about the truth, because if I just say, well, you believe that and I believe this and we're not going to talk about it, dale, we're just not going to talk about it. We have to be able to. I have to understand where you're coming from. You have to understand where I'm coming from, because one of us has to be right, there has to be a truth in there, and God wants us to find that truth. Amen.
Speaker 1:Scripture warns us that we cannot openly act against God. It tells us that he will spit us out of his mouth. If we are indifferent and if we are not for him, we are against him and we will have no hope in inheriting the kingdom of heaven. Amen, I wanna go to heaven. That means I can't be indifferent. That means when I say something to you, just assume that I'm saying it in love. I try to watch my tone. You know what I mean. But sometimes my face doesn't know that and you say something to me and I'm looking at you like did you bump your head? And then I would say, well, I don't really think that that's what that meant. I do it to Roger a lot Like I don't think you caught that right.
Speaker 1:Sometimes when you tell Holly a joke, that's how she looks at me when I tell the joke, right, and then you explain it to her and it's not funny. Once you've explained it right, the joke loses all of its humor. I did that to courtney the other day. I sent her a video Like I heard the joke and I was like I'm sending this to courtney. So I take a video of myself real close to my face and I said, courtney, I'm worried about you. I think your house might be haunted. I think it's haunted with the ghost of a chicken. It might be a poultry geist. Thank you, thank you. She didn't get it. She didn't get the joke and I was like. So I explained it to her and she's like ha ha, I'm like it's not funny. Once I've explained it, courtney, the joke is no longer funny. And when she didn't respond, she read it and didn't respond. I was like she doesn't get it. My wife even said to me when I was like Courtney didn't get my joke, she was like I knew she wasn't gonna.
Speaker 1:Jesus, jesus, where was I at? Stop, just Lord, help me. James 4, 17. Is that where we are? Thank you, remember.
Speaker 1:It is a sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. Yes, amen, hallelujah, thank you, jesus. Can we all accept that and run with it? It is a sin to know what you ought to do and not do it. What you ought to do and not do it, what does that mean? Do what you're supposed to do. Don't fight it right? We think about Jonah. Jonah knew what he was supposed to do. Instead, he runs from God ends up getting tossed into the ocean. He says to the people on the ship he's like it's me, throw me overboard. It's me. And they do it. And he gets swallowed by a whale. Listen, it is a sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. God has called you to do something special. Amen. Sometimes, something special is to simply speak life into somebody around you, right? And the problem is this. The problem is this If you don't do it, god will bring somebody else to do it, but they can't do it the way that you could have. They cannot do it the way that you could have. Sometimes it is simple Listen, I believe that our church thrives the way that it does, and I always joke that we get people from all walks of life in this building.
Speaker 1:Right, we get incredibly affluent people. We get people who they walk in the door and they never heard about Jesus before. And here's the reason. I believe that we do that because we are about as real as it can get. Right, we're gonna joke, we're gonna have fun, but at the end of the day, our goal is one thing, and that is to make sure that each and every person in this room and in our community enters into the kingdom of God. That's the goal, right, At the end of the day.
Speaker 1:The problem when I want that so very badly, and then the body becomes indifferent, and this is that wake up, oh, sleeper moment. You know what I mean. Like we should be really excited about what God is doing and have a desire to truly wake up. But we're not, because we're so indifferent. Right, and listen us men, I will tell you, us men are really bad about it. Right, men, we pretend like we're not, but we are. And the reason that we're indifferent is because we don't like to talk about our feelings. Right, but sometimes, when you're in a relationship with Christ and you get inside your feels, you got to talk about it, you got to deal with it. Right, because I feel lost, I feel confused, but I'm not going to tell anybody, because if I tell anybody, they're going to think I'm weak. Listen, I am weak. But he is strong. I don't need to be the strong one all the time, right, I don't have to be the guy that walks around and pretend like he's got it together. I ain't got it together. I haven't had it together since I was born. I probably won't get it together before I die, but I know that I am covered with grace and mercy and I will continue to move towards that goal every day of my life. I will continue to be more like Christ every single day, knowing the truth of the gospel and not responding to it. It's just like procrastinating on homework, right, you know what's going to happen. It's not going to end well, right, you're going to turn in that assignment and they're going to go. That was moderate work at best, right? My wife told me the other day. She said think about this and just think about it. We should probably start getting our lives together and be healthy, because every doctor that is going through medical school right now is using chat, gpt to pass their classes. Right, it's the truth.
Speaker 1:Emmett had to go to the doctor. He had an infection in his eye. We couldn't figure out what it was. He goes to the doctor. I don't remember what they told us. It was at first, but it was some highly contagious disease in his eyeball and we're like well, that's wild, like we had no idea. So they call in a prescription for an ointment to put on it and a medicine for him to take, and then they called back before he could fill the prescription and said we don't want you to start giving that to him yet. We actually think it might be something else. We're going to send you to a specialist. Fine, so we go to the specialist, we. So we go to the specialist. We get to the specialist. The specialist says we actually think it's herpes in his eye. Okay, so they said we do want you to go ahead and start taking the medicine. We want you to do it right away, but make sure when you're putting the medicine on his eye you're using a glove or a Q-tip or something like that.
Speaker 1:At some point Emmett sees the doctor's computer. Dude's Googling it and I ain't kidding y'all. Turned out it was a staph infection. Two days of the medicine it was gone. That's scary. They're Googling stuff.
Speaker 1:Listen, I'm thankful that Jesus is my healer. I am thankful because I don't trust any of them anymore. Right, that's a scary thought to think we got to start getting healthy folks. But we don't just need to get physically healthy, we need to be spiritually healthy, because when the Lord starts to move physical healings into our lives, it's going to shake us on the inside. Listen when God starts saying you got to give up the McDonald's Coke. I'm going to say no for a little while Because I love it, but God is gonna say you don't have a choice, you have to give it up. And at some point we're gonna have to be willing to hear the voice of God and say my life is not where it should be. We cannot be indifferent.
Speaker 1:Some people are okay with being overweight right, there's no shame in that. But if you wanna be healthy, we can't be overweight, right? If we wanna do good things in our lives, we have to be willing to eat healthy and exercise. I don't want to do any of those things I just told you. I want to eat chicken nuggets for breakfast right. But at some point God is going to move in my life and he's going to say you can't get off the couch anymore. That happened yesterday to me. It was a really low futon and my kid had to pull me off of it. Be crawling around on the floor pretty soon.
Speaker 1:Listen, indifference in our lives is not acceptable any longer. If God is calling, if he tells us that our body is a temple, if this is where the spirit is being housed, then we have to be willing to take care of it. This isn't a diet plan by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not trying to get anybody to lose weight. I'm just saying that God speaks to us, each and every one of us individually. We hear it, but we don't do anything with it. Right? He tells you hey, don't do that. Hey, you need to go to this, you need to do that. And then we say I don't want to, I don't have the time, and we find a hundred excuses not to do it. Doing what God has called us to do will allow us to live in harmony with God's calling in our lives. Right, what does a calling mean in your life? What has God called each and every one of us to do? The great commission is to preach the gospel to every corner of the earth. Right, so that's our job, that's our responsibility.
Speaker 1:Now, some of us are gifted in caring for small children. Ashley, right, that's a gift. She loves kids. Well, she loves her kid for sure. We know that. But the rest of them is up in the air. But we'll yeah, I was gonna say we'll find out on Saturday how much she actually likes kids.
Speaker 1:Some of us love processes and procedures and we love to be able. Some of us like to be outside and some of us like to be, to clean and to cook. God calls us to those things and it might feel like, oh, god has called me to cook. It seems silly, right? Do you realize the blessings that you pour? Listen, pastor Holly made me a potato salad last week, week before, week before Best potato salad ever. I love potato salad. I love potato salad. I love banana nut bread. There's so many things that I just cheesecake oh man, cheesecake. That is a blessing to me. She cooks and she blesses us. Ladies, you guys are blessed every time you go to one of her events and she's cooked you food, right? Amen, Listen, it might sound silly, but it's a calling and there is no greater calling than to serve your brothers and sisters in Christ. And she does it every time you're in. Listen, she brings me stuff all the time. Anybody have any scones out there? There were scones out on the. You had one Good job, dale Dale's like. I still got some in my pocket. That is a blessing. She brought those for us. Amen, listen, it's not about being in the pulpit, it's not about being on the platform in worship. It is about doing what God has called you to do and not just saying my calling doesn't matter, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Hebrews 2, 1 through 3. It says so. We must listen very carefully to the truth that we have heard or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? Amen. Listen. It is our responsibility to deliver those words. Today. We have proof that Jesus lived. There is no doubt about that. We have proof of the words of Jesus Christ. It is our responsibility to share that every day.
Speaker 1:To ignore the gospel is to drift away from the truth. Amen. To ignore the gospel is to drift. Now, what is ignoring the gospel? You can show up at church on Sunday and still ignore the gospel. Right Reading is not the only way to acknowledge the gospel. You should read. The scripture should be in your heart, it should be etched upon your heart, but acting and living a Christ-like life is just as important. That doesn't come. You don't get saved by doing that, you do that after being saved. That is a reward, that is, you're able to walk in the glory of God after you are saved, amen. Oh guys, I'm running over, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Indifference is dangerous because it creates is that right? Am I in the right spot? Yes, because it creates a false security. It lulls people into thinking that they are safe because they are not openly against God. Amen. The people who tell you well, I don't have anything against God, I'm just not ready to go to church, that statement is an act against God. That statement is an act against the gospel of Jesus Christ. Proverbs 14, 12,. I think that's where we are correct. I'm doing good today.
Speaker 1:There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. Right, because if we remain indifferent, we can feel like something good is gonna happen. I don't want anybody to not like me. I don't wanna say something that is going to happen. I don't want anybody to not like me. I don't want to say something that's going to push somebody away from Jesus. So I don't say anything at all, or I say something that's very passive. Listen, that path may seem right, it may feel right, but it will end in certain death, Maybe not for you, but for the person you said it to right. I am not going to condemn any of you to death. I want each and every one of you to make it into the kingdom of God. I want each and every one of you to enter into heaven, greeted and welcomed. I want Jesus to be excited to see you. I don't want Jesus to look at you and say depart from me, for I never knew you. That is a scary thing to think about, right.
Speaker 1:And there are a lot of people who sit in this building week after week, who sleep through the service, who don't hear what God is saying. I don't mean physically. There are some of those, but not everybody. Emotionally asleep, spiritually asleep, and that's when we start to yell wake up, oh sleeper, wake up, because if you are spiritually asleep, you are not hearing what God needs you to hear and you are doing nothing then with what God has called you to do, indifferent. No, we got to go to Matthew 7, 13. I'm sorry, Almost skipped it. You can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate.
Speaker 1:The highway to hell is broad, yes, literally anywhere you go in the world, you know that. When listen, drive past the bar that's up here on the right-hand side, because I don't try to even go Macaulay Drive anymore, because I don't ever know which direction I'm allowed to go. I just avoid it, right, I just avoid it and I just avoid it. And when I go past there and there's cars in the parking lot at 11 am, lord, just touch their hearts right, wake them up. It is not a place to be. It is not a place to be at 10 o'clock at night. It's not a place to be at 11 o'clock in the morning either. I mean, start your morning off in a way that is not good for your health. Lord, touch their hearts, wake them up, give them a desire to be in your house. Lord, send somebody to them that will tell them the truth about life, about who you are and what you would have done.
Speaker 1:The highway to hell is broad and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way, but the gate to life is very narrow and the road is difficult and only a few will ever find it. Think about the millions of people in this world. How many people are in the city of Yerkesville and in the village of Denison? A lot of people, and most of them don't know Jesus. They've heard his name, but they don't really know him. Only a few will ever find it.
Speaker 1:God does not want any of us to go to hell. It is not his desire. His desire for us is to be saved, and people ask well, if that's his desire, why doesn't he just save everybody? Because you have a choice to make, and it's to follow Jesus or to go to hell. That is it. There's no gray area. It is black and white. Amen. There's nowhere else to go. You're not gonna get to stay here forever. You are going to be called away.
Speaker 1:Indifference delays the decision that Jesus commands us to make now. Joshua 24, 15 says but if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates that is so small I can hardly read it or will it be the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. As for me and my family, listen. My kids might not like it. Every night, when we say grace at the table, they argue about who's gonna say it. Nobody wants to do it right. But it doesn't matter, because every night we will and every night we will serve the Lord.
Speaker 1:All day long we are looking at what God has done in our life. When my wife says, I'm not worried about it because God's got it and sometimes I want to fist fight her when she says it because I'm like, I love that you're confident, but he and I are wrestling right now and I don't want to hear it. Sometimes I just want to wrestle with God, right? The problem is is I am not going to win. He and I can wrestle and we can debate and we can argue, but here's the thing he always says the same thing every time why? Why are you fighting what I'm trying to do for you? You already know it's going to be okay. You already know it's going to be okay, but for some reason, the indifference that I have in what the world is giving me is causing me to doubt what God is already doing.
Speaker 1:Matthew 10, 32 and 33. Is that where I'm at? Am I good? No, I missed one. All right, we'll keep going.
Speaker 1:Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge them before my father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my father in heaven. This is your chance to say that Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior. He was born of a virgin, died on a cross, rose in three days and he's coming back soon. Amen, because when I proclaim that, when I believe that and I believe it with all my heart, not just part of my heart, I believe it with all my heart then I know that I don't have to ever worry about hell, death or the grave, because I am going to enter into the gates of heaven, and that's what I'm excited about. Listen, I'll live here as long as God wants me to live here and I will do the work that God has called me to do for as long as he has called me to do it. But at the end of the day, when it is time to go home, I'm gonna be ready to go, right? I'm not gonna get excited about getting there, because if I get excited, then I do stupid stuff, right?
Speaker 1:God, every day that I walk this earth, I want you to continue to use me. Allow me to break the bond of indifference, allow me to look forward to what it is that you're going to do and don't allow me to stand in one place forever Every week. We should be changed when we leave this place. Some part of us should be changed every week when we leave this place. Some part of us should be changed every week when we leave this place. And sometimes it's little right. You leave and you're like man. That made a lot of sense, that made me feel good about my. That's what we need to be doing, but then don't let it go. God, if you're willing to do that in a matter of an hour on a Sunday morning, I know that you can do greater things through this week. I know that, lord, when I walk into work and I see those people that I don't want to be around, you're going to give me the ability to give them grace. Because you have given me grace, I will also show grace. What was that? Okay, I don't know where I'm at now. Gotta catch up here. All right, I'm gonna button up. I'm gonna land the plane. I'm gonna land the plane. I don't wanna nick it up here. You know I love making that joke when he's here. It's so much fun.
Speaker 1:Luke 11, 23 is not just a warning, it is an invitation. Amen. It is not just a warning, this is an invitation. Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me. You should hear that and not go. Oh no, I'm scared. You should look at that and go. That's great, because I know that I am working with him. Amen. That should be a celebration for us, not a warning or a scary set of passages. This should excite us to know that we have earned everlasting life by believing in Jesus Christ and doing the good work that he has called us to do, amen. Listen, I'm not gonna go to hell with any of you. Okay, if you choose that for yourself, that is fine. But I'm going to go to heaven because I am going to continue to do what God has called me to do each and every day.
Speaker 1:Indifference is not safety, it is not patience, it is not wisdom. It is the exact opposition to Christ. You can no longer sit in your seat lukewarm. I don't allow it, and I don't allow it because Christ doesn't allow it. You cannot sit there thinking, oh, is he going to shut up? It's 1130. You can't sit there thinking I can't wait to get out of here because I've got more important things to do. You can't be sitting here thinking well, maybe I'll come back next week, maybe I won't.
Speaker 1:Listen. Let me tell you something If you are indifferent to the gospel, you are working against God. If you are working against God, you will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Amen, I hate to say it, I hate to scare people. Listen, hell is real. Heaven is real and I'm going to go there. But hell is just as real and some of us are going to go there, amen, sitting in this building. Some of us will go there because we don't actually believe who Jesus Christ is and we've become indifferent to his love in our lives. Listen, don't drift, don't delay. Go to Christ in all things, because if you are not with him, you are against him. Amen, let's pray Father. I thank you and I praise you for the word that was delivered today. Lord, I thank you for continuing to build up this body. Lord, that we may have.
