"End Time Sins in the Church 2017"

I've got some great photos and cultural insights to share with you, but our team was celebrating 6th Sunday this morning in pajamas with Jackie Chan and an egg bake, and THIS cultural insight for the church is a whole lot more important than anything I was going to articulate.

THIS is the message for the church today.  THIS is MY message to you today, to be strong and courageous and to brace yourselves.

There is NOTHING we can do about this storm.  We cannot calm the seas of the world today.  But the boat...the boat is our job.  It is our job as Christ-followers to keep our boat strong and steady and ON COURSE...to keep our crew around us strong and steady and on course.

This past week, my dear friend and I have been talking almost every day about a horrifically heartbreaking situation she's a part of....and I can't get it out of my mind.

The need is great great great.  And the going and sacrificing and loving is great, great, great.  But the holiness?  It's not great.

And the cost of that is far greater than all that has been accomplished.

Our generation today has SUCH GREAT passion and willingness to sacrifice and go and help and pour out for others, praise the Lord.... but our same generation has walked away from holiness.  We are willing to go and love and take steps of faith, but are we willing to keep our bodies and minds pure in the eyes of a Holy God?

Now is the time for us to be strong, strong and courageous.  The church is going to keep finding justifications for all kinds of things, and we will always be able to find some brilliant someone who will tell us that what we WANT to believe is true.

But are we ready and willing to submit to the Gospel, the Bible, even when we don't understand it, even if we don't think we agree with it?

Are we ready to lay down our great understanding and submit it to God's understanding and trust His Word as true?

Are we ready to lay down our lives for others, AND to God in holiness?

The world is going to keep getting more messy, the church is going to keep getting more messy and afraid and tumultuous and tossed about by every wave, it's eyes on the world...

But Not. Me.

We have to be able to say, NOT. ME.

Be strong and courageous today.

Please take the time to be re-focused and encouraged today...If I could make the entire church listen to this today, I would.

Here's the short version if you just can't fit in the full sermon:

...and here's the full 55 minute sermon (SO WORTH YOUR TIME)