The Price of Compromise

You are a part of this great body of Christ. Yeah, guys. Come on. Welcome to Imagine Church. Man, I've been a pastor since I was 21 years old and, I'm 46. So you can do the math because I can't do math without a calculator.

But, I've been in ministry a long time and we just started here at Imagine. We're a part of a church in Brazil, that helps fund the work that we're doing right now. Can you imagine? Brazilians are giving to America right now, which is pretty amazing because they believe in us, they believe in what's happening, they believe that the 90% here in South Florida that are not in church need to be in church and everyone here is needed. Everyone has a place. Everyone has a gift or a talent that you can reach people with and God needs you to see that, know that because people need to No, this amazing grace that we talked about.

And I know there seems to be like a lot of churches here but just think of that just from the statistics and the research over 90% are in church here in South Florida. So we're in like the largest mission field of The United States Of America right now that needs God. You know, we got spiritualism, we got culture, we got all this cool stuff, but people really need Jesus. They really need to know what the scriptures say. They really need to know who, what their identity is. And so we need your help.

Everyone in this room is needed. We just started. We're just building a team. We're just get going. This is not the final destination is this room in this hotel. We will not be here long.

We are moving forward and God's on the move and we are super excited for what he's doing. We're in 16 countries. We just got back from Malawi. You guys saw the videos from that last week where we feed 2,000 kids every Saturday food and we do schools for them. We're starting 20 churches there. We're in 16 locations all over the world, London, Belgium, Pakistan, Iraq.

We're everywhere. And we're here in The US. We're in Deerfield with Mateo's doing a group there. We're gonna start a church in Deerfield for the Brazilians, those Brasileiras that love speaking Portuguese fire my wife, mi esposas Brasileira, and, but we're on the move, man. So we're super excited for for what god's doing. It's just the beginning.

And one day, we're gonna look back in in this room and say, hey. Remember when we were in that hotel room at the Holiday Inn? Oh, that's a song I don't wanna oh, I wasn't that a real. Anyway, we'll see what happens. So, so I'm excited. It's exciting times to be alive.

And God's chosen you, every one of you from a different culture Church nation and a place that needs, people need Jesus. And so we celebrated, No came, we celebrated the resurrection of Christ-centered then hype appeared to everybody for like forty days. And then the Holy Spirit was poured out. He told everyone, Hey, go to the upper room, go to this room like we're in a room like today, 120 people, they didn't get mad at each other all the time. Sometimes they did. And they said, hey, let's be devoted to prayer and to worship and different things.

And then the Holy Spirit came, the power and the presence of God for the first time in all of mankind was now not just for the high real and not just for the king, but it was for everybody. And it says everyone in that room was filled with the Holy Spirit. Filled. Weren't just fire touched one just sprinkled on, but literally drenched with the presence and power of God. And then from that moment on, his presence and power just continually was being poured out everywhere people went and miracles and signs and wonders and people are getting healed and raised from the dead. And this religion, this Christianity has exploded in the most horrible times of the most impossible instances, the most cruel persecutions of the world that you would think would stop it, has just spurred it on, and it's everywhere.

And so we're in the book of Acts. We're in week five of it's time to act. You know, it's time for us to do something. We don't want to just read about what they did back in those days, because the God of the Bible days is still alive today. He's still moving. He's still doing Kingsley.

And he wants to do things through you and through me. And so we're on a mission. No have a purpose. But you know what? The enemy would love to stop you, distract you, would love to, get you divided or Church, would love to get you caught up in stuff that you shouldn't be caught up in. Because he the devil knows that you have a calling, you have a purpose, you have something that God's called you to do.

And so the devil and all his angels will do anything to get to distract you and to get you to stay seated in the seat that you're in and say, you know what? I just like what I'm doing. And today I want to talk to you about the price of compromise. The price of compromise. See talk kills the mission from the outside is dangerous, but what kills it from the inside is deadly. And you can apply this to your marriage, your life, your relationships, your calling.

But have you ever given God almost everything? Almost Real almost gonna surrender. I'm almost gonna go all in. I'm almost gonna obey. Almost as a dangerous word. It's like when my kids tell me, Hey, I almost cleaned the room today.

That's not good enough, bro. You know, I almost what did you almost went to the gym last week? Almost don't count. That was a nice thought. Right? I almost told the whole truth, but I didn't, you know, I held back some.

It's one of the most dangerous places to live in talk the world is in the almost, and the enemy doesn't come to you with full on temptation. Sometimes he just whispers, Hey, hold up, up. Hold a little back. Right? Keep a little for yourself. Ain't gotta be honest about that.

You gave God most of your life, but not you don't gotta do it all in. You don't gotta be like them crazy fanatics fire in the world cup over there chanting. Oh, those guys are crazy. They're naked. They're, you know, they got, they got paint all over their body. I mean, I don't know what's happening with this, these people in the World Cup, you know?

And, those guys are crazy. I mean, they're crazy. I mean, I got people from Brazil flying here and then flying to all the other stadiums, watching all the games. And I'm like, I'm here and I don't, I'm not going to a game. I'm not paying. I I'm watching on TV and I'm going to sleep, but there's got some crazy people, some fans that are just crazy.

And so, you know, as Christ-centered don't wanna be that crazy guy. You No, there's a couple in the Bible, in the book of acts called Ananias and Sapphira. And they were kinda like this. In Acts chapter four, because we're reading through this, and I'll send it out if you haven't gotten it. Kind of like a little reading program, so you just read through the Bible. And as we're going, we talk about it here on Sunday.

And so in acts chapter four, there was this cool guy named Barnabas. Barnabas means son of encouragement. And dude, can you Imagine, I real, the Holy Spirit's poured out, God's presence comes on people. 3,000 people say, Hey, I'm in. They jump in the water. I mean, it's a Church is born in a second.

All those that hate mega churches. I mean, come on. A mega Church is born. It wasn't like a group of 10. It was 3,000 and it continued. Right?

And so the church is born and then like talk these guys are like, Hey, I got land, I'm selling it. Hey, whoever has needs. Hey, here's the money. Take it. I mean, it's just movement is happening. It's crazy.

And the religious people don't know what to do about it. They're trying to, every time someone gets healed or every fire the guy that's 40 years old, that can't talk. All of a sudden he can walk and they're saying, Hey, you can't preach in that name. And they're like, Hey, you tell me, is it better to obey God or man? And so this church, this beautiful thing, it's organic, it's infant. It just started.

And all of a sudden people are giving. And these, this guy named Barnabas, the son of encouragement, give some money. He sells his land. He gives it to the apostles and this couple season. They're like, man, I like, Oh, that's cool. I want that status, Bro, that guy's known as, look, he's generous.

I won't be like that guy. So you know what they do? They do the same thing. They sell the land, and they bring it to the disciples' feet. And look what happened, Acts chapter five, one through 11. I'll read it to you.

It's in the, I got these little blue Bibles. I don't know. Maybe I still got a bunch at home, but I like reading in the paper. But in Acts chapter fire, let me turn there. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. It's time to act, guys.

Everyone happy? Amen. I went to the gym yesterday and did legs. And there was some guy that was doing a lot of weight on one fire. And I thought, man, I can't you know, I I should do like that. And it didn't that didn't help me.

You No, he's at, like, 45 plates, and I have, like, three. I'm like, Oh, honey, put one more on. Let's go. I real embarrassed. But next to this guy, and then now I got a little thing in my talk, you No, don't do that. You know?

But these guys in Acts chapter five, Ananias is fire. There's this couple. They see what Barnabas does. And it says, but a man named Ananias with his fire. So they won't just, you know, they were together And a pea they sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostle's feet. But Peter said, Ananias, bro.

Yo. Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourselves part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man, but to God.

And when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathe his last breath and create fear came upon all those that heard of it. And the young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. Can you imagine? And then verse seven, after a couple hours, his wife came in. Yo, what a, you know, And Peter said to her, Hey, tell me the truth. Hey, did you sell that land for so much?

And she said, Yes, for so much. But Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and his feet. And she breathed her last breath and the young men came in. And I can't imagine guys imagine if the church was like this today. You fire, come in, Hey pastoral was really, you know, last, last week I was sick and you were at the beach and boom, you just die.

I mean, come on. It's like he just lied to the he didn't lie to me. He lied to God. Can you imagine? I mean, there'd be a great holy fear that would come upon us. All of a sudden we would just like always be honest and always be truthful.

And, and this is what was happening. All of a sudden, just imagine this beautiful church just started all these great things and God's as a good father is trying to protect what is going on here. And, so these guys wanted this reputation and with, and they sold this field and God never asked for all of it. It wasn't like, hey, if you're going to do this, you got to give everything. No, they they they just pretended that that was the lie. It was that, oh, we sold all the land.

We're giving all the money to you guys. No. They kept back some. It's okay. They could hype just said that, hey, we're giving you 80% of what we sold it for. It's cool.

And no one would have cared, but because they lied about they lied. I mean, I know the Bible says God hates it says liars won't inherit. I mean, it's but God never asked for it talk. But they lied. So hear me, Church. God is not after your performance.

He's after your honesty. Just want you to be real. Like, hey, be real. Where you at? How's it going? What's going on in your life?

Let's talk about it. Let's be real about it. No. Everything's good. We good. We all no.

No. It's not. We ain't good. Maybe in Erik. Hey. We ain't good.

We gotta get help. Oh, we ain't good in my business right now. I need to get a a mentor. Oh, we ain't good. You know? But I want everyone else to think God just wants you to be honest.

Be honest with him. Here's the thing, though. It's the compromise always starts small when we compromise things. And I'm preaching this message no because I'm trying to come at you guys. This is because the Lord's dealing with me about things. And I'm like, oh, No.

You know, actually it was, you know, I realized the last few weeks I hadn't been with the Lord. Like I should hype. It's like, oh, I'm on a trip on a missions trip. I'm in Africa, but I'm doing things, but I'm not really spending time with him, but I'm doing a bunch of cool things for God. It's good, but I still need to spend time with him. You know what I mean?

Oh, I'm gonna go to the gym fire. Before is like, no, I'm gonna seek the Lord fire, then go to the norm. And it's like, so just a few days ago I was like, I just spent a lot of time with God. It's like, Oh, God, I gotta get back. Because it's like these little things that we let go in our life become big things. And before you know it, it's like an airplane that takes off from Miami and it's off one degree to its destination.

And now it's over here in Cuba. And you're like, What? How did we get over there? That wasn't our destination. You're right. I No, Michelle, I know you love Cuba and I know you want to go, but, but compromise always starts small, right?

It does. And so they held back for themselves some of the proceeds, not all, but some. And that's how compromise always starts. Not without scandal, not without, just some, some of the truth, some obedience, some surrender. Nobody wakes up one day and blows up their whole life. It's a series of sums.

A series of a little here, a little held back there, a compromise. It's not a blowout, but compromise is a slow leak. Right? It's a slow leak. You don't lose your marriage in a moment. You lose it in a small amount of all these sums added up.

You don't lose your integrity overnight. You trade it one sum at a time. You don't drift from God in a day. You drift in the inches that you didn't think, oh, you know, I'm not gonna go to church this week. I'm not gonna go to church next week. I'm not gonna And then it's like, Oh, I haven't been in a year.

And then that's what the Bible says. We get out of the habit of going and being together because we need each other. We're not called to do life alone. We need encouragement. We need his presence. We need each other.

We need to have each other's back. We need to hear his word because every day, I don't know about you, but this might be the only day you hear it and you need his word, his life and power and to your bones. The Bible says you can't live by bread alone, but out of every word that comes out of the mouth of God. I don't know about you. If I only eat once a week, I'm in trouble. I need his, I need food.

I can't, I gotta eat Cuban bread. I gotta eat pastelitos. I gotta real. I gotta eat. We gotta eat. We gotta keep eating every day.

So physically, we know how to do it, but spiritually, we've gotta do the same thing. We gotta get with God and we can't just be It can't just be a Sunday. Sunday is just a shot in the arm. It's gotta be an everyday thing that we're with God. We know God, we're seeking God. And James reformed, as you come closer to him, he'll come closer to you.

Try it. Take a step today. Oh, I haven't been with him. I was okay. My basketball coach would always say, Hey, Eric, it's never too late to make things right. It's never too late to go the right direct.

It's never Repentance is just going, hey, I was going this one way for a long time and ain't working. I've tried it. I bought the t shirt. I thought it was fun. It looks cool on Instagram, but in the end there is just It's emptiness. But I want to repent and turn and go the way God's saying to go.

I don't know about you, but God has the best way. And some reason the devil has tricked us in the world has tricked us to believe that it's not the best way. But Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. So if I want life and truth and abundance and everything that God wants fire me, I gotta follow Him. And that means He's the leader and I'm the follower. Follow the leader, leader, leader, follow you know, you gotta follow Him.

Not me and my flesh. I don't know about you, my heart, my flesh wants to eat Oreo cookies every day for the rest of my life and be five hundred pounds and, you know, and watch TV all day. The flesh wants to do, Bible says, walk by the spirit, not by the flesh. Anyways, it's the sums though. Compromise becomes this slow real, right? And no, here's the truth.

The enemy doesn't need all of you to take you out. He just needs a little held back. A little held back. The little area that I want no well, it's okay. I can keep talking to them through my DMs and no one knows. It's cool.

No No, they ain't, she ain't gonna find out. He ain't gonna find out. They ain't gonna know. I can keep having conversations and liking things and this and that. It's all good. I can keep doing my own thing and no one knows about it.

No, those little leaks. There was just pastor, congressman running for Congress in two days reformed he's about to be inaugurated and win the seat, pastor of a Church. And it all came out, all his text messages. And he was talking to Miss Oklahoma, who was on the campaign. Everything came out in the daily news. I mean, this literally happened like a week ago.

I know the guy, I know some pastors that were hanging out with him. They're talking about going to strip clubs they're talking about. I mean, it's all over the news. A bunch of people lost their job. This dude lost his seat, all done. All.

I mean, everything hype fire is out. So, you know, you don't just wake up one day and say, Hey, you know what? I just want to lose it all. This would be fun. Let's end my career, in my marriage, end it talk, lose my church, lose everything, and be all over the media now forever as a joke. The devil doesn't tell you about that.

Hype just it's just like, oh, that one little dopamine hit. Boom. Real, that's key. The small little sums is what happens. Right? It's the little corner we keep in the talk, the little thing you decide to manage instead of repent of.

It's not right? The little to the devil is the doorway. See, in the book of Numbers, no in the message, there was this, the children of Israel are blessed. I don't know if you know this. The scripture says you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. Ephesians one:three.

In the Old Testament, they tried A king tried to hire a prophet to go curse the children of Israel. And every time he came up to a mountain, he'd say, Look, I can't do something unless God tells me I can no that because only God could do that, not you. And every time we got to the mountain, they'd be like, well, they're blessed. And the Kingsley would get mad and say, well, why you should How come you didn't curse? I can't do it because it's only And basically the scripture, it's famous, says you can't curse who God has blessed. You are a blessed people, holy people, righteous people.

You know, you know, if you keep reading throughout the scripture, though, about this king, you know what this prophet did? He instructed the king how he could get the children of Israel out of the blessings of God. And you know what he did? It was compromise. Back in those days, they were like, Hey, I don't want you to marry other women that are from other nations. Why?

Because other nations and other women did all these things. They worshiped idols, they worshiped Real, they killed their kids, they sacrificed. And so God was trying to preserve his people and say, Hey, I don't want you to get mixed in with the other culture. I know we love culture and I know we love to embrace culture, but that's what God was trying to do. Preserve the fire that Jesus was about to come through and keep the people clean. And so hype instructed him, Hey, have them marry and intermingle with the other nations that God had already told Moses to stay away from fire very good reasons.

And there's the little compromises. No, see, just think of it like this. The devil can't take you out from the outside, it's always from the inside. If he can get you in those little sum areas, in those little compromise areas, then he got you. The little things that you don't think that seem so little, but they actually become big, Oh, it won't matter, no one will know, blah blah blah blah. You know how it goes.

It happens on every facet of life and every person in this world. It's the little things. The proverb says, It's the little foxes that spoil the vine. It's the death by a thousand paper cuts. It's not the big, Oh, I just I'm not gonna, Oh, I want to ruin my marriage today. Let's go door door number one, ruin the marriage.

Let's go. No one has it in their right mind says to do that. No, it's the little, little, little things. And it's the same thing with your relationship with God, the same thing with every area of your life. And see, this is the good news though. The Bible says, don't be ignorant of the devil's devices.

See, the devil is a liar. He wants to lie to you about you and say, oh, well you screwed up. You mess up. Well, as far as from the East to the West, my transgressions been removed. Actually, it says that he's blotted out every transgression I've ever, that whenever he sees me, he sees Christ in me. Not the me that I think that I think The devil is the accuser of the brethren.

He wants to accuse you to you, to your marriage, to your family, to your wife, your kids, the whole time, the rest of your life, every screw up and every bad thing that you did pastoral, present, or future. But when Jesus come, he said, hey, I made you new. I make you a new creature in Christ. The oldest passed away. The newest talk. You're raised with me.

You're seated with me. You're blessed by me. You're a son and daughter, the king of Kingsley the Lord of Lords. You're a part of a heavenly family and whatever you think and whatever the devil wants to accuse you of is a lie because now the truth is you are this and not that. So we're not gonna be ignorant of how the devil works. And maybe we've allowed him to work a certain way from this point on, but I love in Joshua, I think Joshua said, he drew a line in the sand and he said, hey, for me and my house, from now on, from this day reformed, and it might be that for you today, it might be for yourself, from this day forward, we ain't going past that line no more.

As a family, as a person, because in the end, the wages of sin is death. Every cool thing that the world, I'm telling you, every person I thought was cool to go hang out with or sleep around with or do whenever, whatever in all this world, the drugs or whatever you've ever done that I've done that we've done because the Bible says you've all sinned. Every one of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So it don't even matter what category it is in. It's still it disqualified you, but God qualifies you with the Son. So you could draw the line and say, I'm not doing that no more.

Ain't worth it. Because in the end, Jeremiah 29 says, he's got good plans for you, plans to prosper you and not harm you. But the devil is a liar. He just wants to take those little sums and get in the little door and then he tries to go to work. Don't let him. You know, when I grew up, that's how I I was like, I'm turning the tables.

I'm not gonna do what everyone else is doing. They're going that way, and my dad would say, if everyone jumps off a cliff, you're gonna jump off? No, dad, I'm not. But it's like, I'm not gonna be pushed. I'm not gonna be mismanaged by sin or my appetites or No. I'm gonna be the master of my life.

I'm gonna be surrendered to God. I'm gonna submit unto God. I'm gonna resist the devil. And the Bible says when you submit to God, you're surrendered to God. You're under God's authority, his kingship. You're doing his way, his things, the way he's called you to do it.

Then the devil runs from you in terror. He sees, he says, oh, Mr. Epps was walking in. Oh, the devil just starts running. Oh, Epps is hype. I'm out. That's what happens.

Osborne's here. I'm out. I'm out. That dude, the demons know your name. I don't care what voodoo or I've been to Haiti whenever. And I've been to those countries.

They doing all that fluff. And I ain't scared. We weren't, I told them, poor dijabulah, poor devil. He's been defeated. Hey, church, you don't have to go to the witch doctor no more because the devil has been defeated. The scripture says that the devil is under your feet.

If you're in Christ, you're more than a conqueror in Christ. You are blessed. Nobody can curse you. You're a child of the king of Kingsley. You're an ambassador of God. You're a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

There's no group. There's no Jew, no Greek, no black or white, male or female. We're all one in Christ. That's what the scripture says. Amen. So we ain't gonna compromise no more.

No you can't fool a room. You could fool a room. You could walk in a room and everyone can think and and you could put on a persona and Instagram is great and social media is great because you can create whatever you want to real. But you can't fool God. And you can't fool His Holy Spirit. Right?

Watch what Peter said. You have not lied to man, but to God. See, Ananias thought he was just managing an audience, like, Oh, I'm gonna give this money. Everyone's gonna clap. It's gonna be great. They're gonna think I'm a great guy.

That's not what it's about. He thought church was a stage. He thought as long as people clapped, he was fine. But Peter said, You didn't lie to us. You lied to the Holy Spirit. I don't know about you.

I don't want to lie to the Holy Spirit. And hype knows when I'm lying. Don't miss this. There is presence in the house of God that you cannot perform your way past. You can't fool the people. You could fool people next to you.

You can fool people in a group. You could fool me as your pastor. You could tell me everything's great all the time. You could post the verse, lift the hands, sing the songs. Come on. The loudest?

Yeah. But you can't fool the Spirit of God. You just can't. And so Hype sees the field you sold. He sees the part you keep back. He sees the version that nobody gets to see.

And some of you are just tired of that. It's too much. Tired of the gap. The gap between who you are, maybe when you walk in here today, and who you are on Tuesday. The gap between testimony and the truth. See, pretending is a full time job.

I don't know. The Bible says hype rather you be hot or cold, but don't be in the middle. It's like, hey, you're either gonna just like be like everybody else. Alright, do it. Or you're gonna be all in. But don't be in the middle because then that's just that's a game.

It's too hard to play. It ain't worth it. You either be in or out. Come on. So God isn't asking for you to be impressive. He's asking you to be real.

Be real with God. That's where I'm at. The early church wasn't impressive and powerful because they were perfect. No one is perfect. No one will get it right every time. Never.

Right? But the closer you're with God, guys, I'm telling you, I think the more you're with God, the closer you get with God, the more you know about God. Right? Then it's harder to get into the Psalms. Or this, you No, it's when you're away, when you're real far away, is when talk of a sudden start oh, I'm a let that happen. It's okay.

See, a church full of actors has no power, but a church full of honest people is unstoppable. Unstoppable. You are unstoppable. The devil ain't gonna stop you no more. He ain't gonna win with his devices. He ain't gonna divide your family.

He's not gonna keep you out of heaven. You're saved by grace. So here's the deal. Here's the pastoral hard part. Two people lied. Two people dropped dead.

And some of you are thinking, Pastoral, that's heavy. Real, it is heavy. I mean, but God had just burst something special. And the most powerful move of his spirit the world had ever seen was talk place. Thousands of people were getting saved. People that were born, crippled, were walking.

People were testifying. It was only in the name of Jesus that anything of this could ever happen. And so this was a holy thing. And so what God was trying to tell the Church of those days, hey, fire, this ain't a game. This ain't some social club that you buy into. Ain't No, this ain't no Netflix membership.

No, this is holy. This is special. This is powerful. Don't bring the games in here. It was a father guarding the family. Listen, when someone is precious, you protect it fiercely.

You don't let poison in the well where your children are drinking from. Right? I was I was thinking about the protection of the father. I remember in Kansas, I've told this story, but we had two ladies come to me. Tell me, Hey, my kids, it's their senior real. They just graduated.

They're going to Mexico. And both the moms had a dream that their kids should not go to Mexico. But they didn't want to be that mom. And they came to me. What do we do? I'm like, Real, I think you should do whatever God showed you to do.

Keep their pastoral, talk them they ain't going on. And they let them go. You know, they didn't want to. They don't deal with the hassle. They didn't wanna. Bro, let me tell you, those kids got off a bus, walked into a bar, someone got some drugs, and both of them got direct, thrown into a Mexican jail for six months, dollars 60,000 or more.

I mean, bribery's out the wazoo. I had to get the church to hell. It was a crazy disaster. And God was trying to warn them. And it might seem like, oh, you're not going to let me have fun. See, God wanted to protect his church.

He's trying to protect you from the little things, the little foxes that spoil the vine. So hype ain't gonna let deadly poison in the house. Amen. He's not gonna let rot or mold come into the foundation of your house that you're raising. The early church was the well. It was the foundation.

God said, not hype, not in this house. And these people just, boop, died. And I believe God's still jealous over his house. He's still saying this house is holy. The Church is holy. You know, this is what we're building an Imagine church.

This is not a fluff, it's not a show, it's not a stage, it's not an image. This is dwelling place of a holy God and we will protect it. So I'm not here to scare you today, you know, but to wake us up. Come on. This is the great I AM, the great King, the great King of the universe, the same presence that wants you free. He wants you real, free of sin, free of everything, free of shame, of guilt, of anxiety, of fear.

God's not giving you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind. The fear of god isn't running from him. It's it's refusing to play with him. Fire the Bible says, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the lord. It means that like a reverence of god like, hey, wait a minute. I ain't doing that.

I ain't sleeping with that chick fire Joseph when he ran because he's like, I serve God more than I as much as and he ran out naked. I mean, can you imagine? I don't know if I run out. But he ran because he said, man, I'm with God. That's where we need to be at in our life. I ain't compromising in the Psalms at all because of who I serve.

Amen. What kills the mission from the outside is dangerous. What kills it from the inside is deadly. So let me ask you the real question. What's your song? What's the part you've been holding back?

You know, sometimes we give God 50% or 10% or 90%. But if you had 10% poison in this water, would you still drink it? I don't think so. There's a relationship, a habit that no one knows, an offense that you keep feeding, a secret that you keep managing instead of confessing money that fall on the door you keep locked. Here's the good news. You don't have to drop dead today.

Jesus already died for us. Thank God. Because I hate pride. Thank God it ain't like that because we might hype all died fire 20 times or more already. You know, I'd be like, I'm just talk, boom, dead. Oh, man.

God. Thank God his mercy endures forever. Real is his faithfulness. He's a good God. He's a merciful God. Thank God for mercy.

That's why I give a lot of mercy to my children or to those around me. Cause I know the mercy he's given me. Thank God for mercy. Mercy that endures forever. His love that endures forever. Great is his faithfulness.

He's faithful even when you're unfaithful. The scripture says. He still believes in you. He never turns his back on you. Nothing could separate you from his love. No depth, no height, no principality, no power, nothing.

No sin too big. God's grace is bigger than any sin you've committed. This is good news. There's no sin so big that God can't forgive. God paid for it all on the cross. All the penalty of talk the shame of it, everything he put on Jesus for you and for me.

He transferred and took our place. So he did the dying. He went to the cross. So the sum of you and even me that have been hiding could Christ-centered and not get buried. And he's asking you today, bring the whole field. Lay it all at his feet.

Because half surrender is the most miserable way to live. And fully surrender is the freest. God, I'm fully surrendered to you. Lord, create in me a clean heart No I don't sin against you. As David, after he cheated on his after he killed somebody I mean, David cheated, killed the guy, you know, that he slept with, the fire. And then the prophet came and confronted him.

And then he was like, You know what? I'm wrong. And he repented right then. And he prayed, God real me a clean heart. And he was known as a man after God's own heart. This guy that cheated and killed someone.

I don't know if you cheated and Kingsley. Maybe you have. You don't have to tell me about the killing part, but that's cool. God still forgives. And hype forgave Kingsley David and called him a man after God's own heart. No a drunk.

Come on. Oh, No got drunk. All these guys in the Bible messed up. Big time. Big time. So don't let the devil lie.

Well, it's, it's too late for you. You can never come back. You can't it's, you're just always gonna be this is just cliches. To try to keep you in the sums of life and the little compromises. It's time to fully surrender. Amen.

Because being surrendered is the freest. So this is what you're going to do this week. I want to ask you a question. Number one, name your sum. Write down the one area in your life or think about it that you've been holding back from God. You know, I know you don't have to tell me when I'm gonna have a big confessional in front of everybody.

Well, my son was this and I should hype done that. I'm sure we could all be here all day long confessing the Psalms. But think about it. Holy Spirit. What is it that I need to do, that I need to give to you, that Hype been keeping back from you? What area in my life do I need to just adjustment and it has to be made?

It's time. I'm too old. I'm 46. You know, it's time to surrender. Bring it into the light. Number two, confess it, maybe to a trusted person or tell somebody.

I mean, James says, confess your sins one to another so that you may be healed. Sometimes maybe you hurt someone or maybe they're holding unforgiveness or you need to forgive them and you need to go to them and say, I forgive you. Hey, you know what? I know you screwed up. I know you messed up, but I'm gonna let it, I'm gonna let it go. Let it go.

Let it I'm gonna let it go. Why would I let it go? Well, because God let you go. Well, if hype let you me go, then I gotta let you go. Okay. Because he said, I can't do what I do for you and you not do it for others.

You gotta do it. It don't work like that. Well, he did he forgave me of everything. He saved me from everything. He he forgives me. He he does even remind me of hype keeps no record of any wrongs ever when he talks to me.

He's not like, Hey, you know what, brother? You No, Hector, you should have, could have, might have. No, no, no, no. He might convict you, but he don't condemn you. There's now no condemnation in Christ. You've been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Amazing grace. Bring in the light. Pray the dangerous prayer every morning. God, what am I keeping back? And just stay quiet. And I'm sure He'll show you.

Is there areas in my life I've been keeping back? I haven't been distracted. Have I gotten to things I shouldn't have? Is there things I need to walk away from? Are there relationships I need to get out of? Is there boundaries I need to put up in my life?

What is it? What do I need to do? Right? God, what am I keeping back from in my marriage? What am I keeping back in my hype, in my family? What have I been keeping back?

Be quiet and let God speak. He will speak to you. He will talk to you. Listen, write it down and then do it. He ain't trying to hurt us. He's trying to help us.

He wants you to have the best marriage, the best family, the best life that you could ever dream of. He wants you to have abundance and prosperity in all your life. He needs you to be vibrant and prosperous and rich and all those things. Why? Because we just went to Malawi and there's a bunch of churches we need to build and he needs you to be blessed enough so you can help other people and not be so distracted and entangled talk these sums and compromises because he's got work for you to do. Because there ain't enough world cup games.

You can go and attend in person. They're gonna make you hype. There ain't enough club things that you can go to, or ain't enough money that you can make that will ever make you happy or fulfill your heart ever. Just won't. Only God can do that. Amen.

Pray every morning. God, what am I keeping back? Let him talk to you. He loves you. He's not gonna condemn you. He's gonna help you.

Close the gap. Pick the place. One place where your Sunday and your Tuesday don't match and surrender it fully. Let's live surrendered lives to God. He's the leader, not me. I'm the follower.

I got to follow him. Jesus said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I don't know about you. My heart's wicked.

It wants to do stuff I shouldn't do. I'm not gonna just listen to my heart because sometimes my heart wanna kill that person that just cut me off in South Florida. Right? Well, let's get them. The heart's wicked, man. I gotta follow the Kingsley, follow His way, and bring the whole real.

Nothing held back. Half surrendered is the most miserable way to live. I've done it. It's horrible. Fully surrendered is the best way. Amen?

Let's close our eyes for just a moment. Father, I thank You. I thank you, Holy Spirit. I know Holy Spirit is a hard message, but it was a good message. Lord, create in us a clean heart as David prayed. Everyone talk close your eyes just for a second.

I just want you to be honest with God for just a minute. Not the room, but to God. He already sees the field. He already sees the part you keep. And there's no more reason to pretend. Maybe you're here this morning and maybe you're here in this place.

You've never really truly surrendered your life to Jesus, and you've realized, man, I've just been performing. I've known about Him, but the Bible says even the demons know about God. But you realize you've been giving God an almost, but today it's time to give it all. That's you. I want to pray for you today. And we'll pray in just a moment.

Maybe for those that are living in the gap, you love God, you're in the house, but then there's a sums, these little sums of this and some of that, a corner in the dark, a wall you built. Right now in your heart, it's time to tear it down. And you say, God, I'm bringing it into the light. I'm not gonna hold back any longer. I want honesty over image. I want your presence more than people's applause.

That's your prayer. And for the whole house here, father, make us an honest church, a real church, a church the spirit can trust. Lord, take down the masks, Take down the performance to every the held back corners, and fill this space with your power. Lord, we don't want a stage. We want your presence, Holy Spirit. We want to be surrendered people.

We want to lay down the whole field, Lord. And, Lord, we thank You that today is a new day. As we're praying, maybe today you real, I've never surrendered my life to Jesus, ever, for the first time. Or you're here in this room. You're like, I did, but now I'm not living that way. It's time to come home.

It's time to come home. It's time to come back. It's a story about the father that had two sons, and one of the sons left and sold everything and basically said, dad, I don't care that you fire, and took his inheritance and went hype, and went and spent his life and partied and did all kind of stuff and lost it all. Then one day, the son decided, what if I just come back? I can be a servant in my father's house. The Scripture says the father was always watching for his son to come home.

He was always waiting. He couldn't wait. He didn't care what he had done. He didn't care all in the state. He didn't care real got his inheritance early. And one day, the father did something that in those days he had never done.

He started to see his son in the distance. And the father ran to his son, embraced his son, put a new robe on his son, put a new ring on his finger, had a party for his son to celebrate him coming home. And today, there's people in this room, you need to come home, man. Man, your heavenly father has been waiting, anticipating this day of celebration, this day where you say, you know what? I'm coming home, man. I just want everyone to put your hand over your heart for just a moment.

I wanna pray with everyone in this room. Just everyone here, just put your hand over your heart. Just keep your eyes closed. Because your Father is here. He sent you here. For some reason, you ended up here in this room.

And I think it was to come home. And so maybe you've never prayed to God to say, God, I'm going to surrender. But right now, I'm going to pray a prayer, and you're going to surrender, man. It's the best decision you've ever made. And I wanna pray with you, and maybe you're here today. Maybe a lot of us today.

You're like that son that left, has been gone. But man, your father is here in this room, and he couldn't wait for you to come back. If you're ready to come back, you're ready to surrender, I wanna pray for both of those two people. With your eyes closed, You can just repeat after just say this after me. Say, Father. Father in heaven.

Father in heaven. I'm here. I need you. I surrender my life to you. Forgive me of all my mistakes, man. Lord, on this day, I turn to you.

I'm gonna follow you the best I can. Help me do it. Give me a new heart. Give me a new mind. Give me a new mind. Give me a new mind.

Give me a new vision for my life. Let your ways be my ways, Lord. I surrender all of you. Lord, be the Kingsley and Lord of my life. Be the master and CEO of my life. Jesus, thank you for dying for me.

I'm yours. I surrender. I'm yours. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Say that one last time. Amazing grace. Amazing grace. I once was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. I can see you now.

I can see you Amen. Let's give Jesus the biggest round of applause this morning. Amen. Amen. Guys, you're gonna make it. Amen.

You're gonna make it. You're not gonna just make it. You're gonna succeed. Yes. Hallelujah. Your marriage, your family, your life is never gonna be the same.

Amen. We serve a great God. Amen. A good God. Yes. Amen?

Amen. I know there's people. You probably prayed that prayer. You can let me know later. If you'd like to take the next step, if you wanna learn more, get together, I would love to do that with you. I'm here for you as your pastor.

We're here to watch over your soul, here to help you progress and grow. And I'm just excited for what God is doing. We're in a challenge right now where Erik the the series is it's time to act. And so pray for one person every morning. Pray for them. Pray for someone that needs Jesus.

Pray for someone that needs to be here. Make a commitment to, man, I don't know if you've ever not eaten a meal, but maybe don't eat a meal for that moment, or that lunch, or that breakfast. And in that time, make time for God and pray. Amen. That's the idea. Not just no on a diet, but just reformed, you know what?

I'm not gonna eat breakfast today, and in this time of breakfast for that thirty minutes, I'm gonna actually I'm gonna read this. I'm gonna pray for that person. Amen? And I'm gonna tell people, hey, come with me to church next week. Invite them. We'd love to have them.

Amen? We're on a mission. And God needs you. Amen? You have a everyone in this room is needed. Everyone in the body of Christ, every part is special.

Amen? And so thank you for being here today, guys. If you'd like to be a part of what we're doing, talk to me more. If you'd like to be a part of our team, we come in the morning. I set up around 08:30 or nine. We put everything up.

If you'd like maybe do worship or help with the things on the screens or decorations or all that. We meet at different times in houses. I think this month, I think probably we'll do we always do once a month a women's gathering where the ladies get together and kind of do fire a study and get gifts and pray. And the guys will go barbecue because I like to eat and, play a little pickleball, stuff like that. We like to get together. And after church today, we're probably gonna go to sushi sake.

We usually have like 20 or more people go and we just eat together and hang out, which is cool because then I get to know you and talk. And so everyone's invited to be a part of that. Right now, we're gonna have the opportunity to give to the church. If you'd like to give, you can scan that code or you have a Zelle. This This is what the scripture says in Proverbs three. It says, Honor the Lord with your wealth.

Right? It says, Honor Him with what you have been given. And He says as you honor the Lord, He's gonna fill your barn. He's gonna take care of you. Amen? Amen.

He's gonna take care of you. And so as you give to God and give to His Kingsley, it's because of you, we're in Malawi. It's because of you we're able to do so many great things as a church. We support missionaries. I design their websites. I host their websites for them.

People, you know, that never had anything like that in their ever. And they don't have to pay for it. And it's you guys that I get to say, Hey, man. I got you. We got you. We're giving to you.

It's very cool. And, your generosity makes everything go. So thank you for giving. Thank you for what you do. God sees it. He knows what you do.

And no, Father, I just thank you for the just the privilege to be a part of Your Kingsley and Your church. Thank You for everyone in this room. Thank You for their generosity in their hearts. Lord, thank You for the church we started in Malawi this past week. Lord, thank You for the people there. Thank You for the pastors that we support.

Thank you, Lord, using us, Lord, in a significant way to reach South Florida. Lord, I pray, Lord, that this room is full of the army of God, people of heaven, people with supernatural gifts and things that can reach these people in this area. Lord, use us in a supernatural way. Use our gifts and talents. Use the God given abilities that only you gave, Lord, so we can touch people's lives with your love is our prayer. Lord, thank you for this day.

Thank you for all that you're doing in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, and all God's people said, amen and amen. God bless you guys. Thank you. We'll be here next week. Bring a reformed, and, let's go.

Bravo. Awesome. Brother, thank you for coming, brother. Thank you for coming. Come on. For the invite, man.

Thank you so much. Thank you for the invite. You're welcome, bro. It's one of those strong days, bro. It's not one of the fluffy days. I was like, oh, man.

Thank you so much. There's a Thanks Claudia. Wow. Every time I'm with your husband, he's talking about you all these it's like I'm I'm like Claudia, Claudia, Claudia. I'm like, it's so and fire good things. I'm like, man, I gotta meet this amazing lady and his son and everything.

You're at all. It's just on and on and on. Supposed to come, but she's not her friend. Oh, it's okay. Fire. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I have two other Kingsley, and so sometimes they're here, sometimes they're not. Fire, 20 year old, 19 you No?

So yeah, you're always welcome, guys. This is what we do. This is what we do every week, and, we're just getting started. I love that. Come on, bro.

What's that? This is a microphone because I record the message through this so that I can upload it to YouTube later and on the iPhone. I just zoom in and it's got a little thing there. That's true. You can turn off.