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The commands of Jesus · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: If I asked you right now, what are the commands
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  Jesus gave? Could you name even three? Do you remember
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  any of them? Or worse, do you even know that
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  he gave commands at all. We talk a lot about
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  what Jesus did. We celebrate what Jesus promised, but we
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  rarely stop and confront what Jesus commanded. And yet Jesus
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  himself said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
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  So here's the question that cuts deeper than most sermons
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  dare to go. Which of jesus commands did you ignore
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  to day? Was it when you refuse to forgive again,
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  when you judge someone silently in church? When you heard
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  his voice and walked away unchanged? In this journey, we
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  are not just going to list the commands of Jesus.
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  We are going to open them like scrolls from heaven,
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  each one a divine summons, each one a sword that
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  divides flesh from spirit. By the end of this video,
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  you won't just remember jesus commands. You'll tremble at them
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  and love them. Before we dive in, drop this in
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  the comments. What's one command of Jesus you remember right now?
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  Be honest, be real, let's start this journey with humility.
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  You've made it this far, which means something in you
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  is hungry, hungry not just for information, but for revelation.
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  You didn't click this video to check a box or
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  browse theology like a menu. Something inside you is aching
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  for more. And maybe, just maybe you know God's been speaking,
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  but you've stopped listening. Maybe that's where we need to begin,
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  because the very first command Jesus gives in the Gospels
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  isn't about doing something. It's not even about believing something.
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  It's about hearing, Yes, hearing, not hearing with your ears,
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  but hearing with your soul. Jesus didn't open his public
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  ministry with a list of rules. He didn't lay out
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  a code of ethics. He said something so simple, so confronting,
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  it gets lost in its simplicity. He who has ears
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  to hear, let him hear. Can you feel the weight
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  of that? And he didn't say those who have eyes look,
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  or those who have mouths speak. He focused on the
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  one thing we think comes easiest, but in truth is
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  the rarest in this generation. Listening now, pause, don't skim
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  over this. Ask yourself right now, when was the last
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  time you truly listened to God. I don't mean when
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  you read a verse or heard a sermon. I mean
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  the last time you sat in silence, no music, no scrolling,
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  no distractions, and let the voice of Jesus cut through
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  the noise of your soul. Do you even remember what
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  it's like to tremble when God speaks? Because this command
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  he who has ears, let him hear, is not poetic,
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  it's not passive. It's a summons, and the moment you
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  treat it casually, you've already disobeyed. Now let's go deeper.
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  Picture the scene. A carpenter's son from Nazareth walks into
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  a world filled with chaos. Rome is oppressing, religion is hollow.
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  Crowds are buzzing, and into that whirlwind of culture and control,
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  Jesus begins teaching, but not in a way they expected.
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  He starts speaking in parables, stories, mysteries, wrapped in simple metaphors,
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  and people lean in, but not everyone understands. Some walk
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  away confused, others mock him, and still others are pierced.
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  Because here's what Jesus knew. The Kingdom of God doesn't
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  come to the curious, It comes to the desperate. So
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  he teaches, and then he ends with this phrase, he
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  who has ears, let him hear. That phrase appears more
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  than a dozen times in the New Testament. It's not filler,
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  it's a filter. Jesus is saying, some of you heard
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  my words, but didn't hear my heart. Some of you
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  want to be entertained, not transformed. Some of you want answers,
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  but won't sit long enough for revelation. And here's where
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  it gets real. For us. We live in a world
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  addicted to noise. Everyone is talking, preaching, podcasting, commenting, arguing, uploading,
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  but who's listening. You can have ten Bibles on your
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  shelf and still be deaf to the voice of God.
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  You can go to church every Sunday and still miss
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  the whisper of the Spirit on Monday. Why Because hearing
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  true hearing requires surrender. It demands that you shut down
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  your ego, quiet your inner monologue, and allow Jesus to
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  interrupt you. Have you noticed the most terrifying part of
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  the modern Christian walk isn't what we don't know, it's
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  what we refuse to hear. And maybe that's the very reason.
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  And Jesus made this his first command. Let me bring
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  this into today. Think about our world right now. There
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  are wars happening across nations, people being slaughtered, economies falling,
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  churches splitting, And yet the loudest voices are not prophets.
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  They're influences, not pastors but politicians, not saints but celebrities.
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  In all this noise, who's still hearing God? And even
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  closer to home, think about your own week. When that
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  tension flared with your spouse, did you stop and ask God?
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  What are you saying in this moment? When you got
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  that unexpected news or felt that rising fear, did you
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  fall to your knees and listen? Or did you do
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  what most of us did, reach for the phone, text,
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  a friend, binge, a show scroll, endlessly drown out the whisper.
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  This is why jesus first command is more urgent now
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  than ever before, because we've lost the art of holy attention.
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  We are spiritually scrolling even in our prayer life. We
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  skim scripture, we speed through devotionals, we multitask while worshiping,
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  and then we wonder why we feel disconnected from God?
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  Could it be because we've refused to hear? Let's make
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  this interactive right now, I want you to pause this
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  video for just sixty seconds. Close your eyes, no music,
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  no distractions, Just pray this simple prayer. Jesus speak, I'm listening.
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  Go ahead, I'll wait. If you did that, you just
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  obeyed the first command Jesus ever gave. You didn't move mountains,
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  you didn't preach a sermon. You simply listened. And friend,
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  that is the beginning of everything. Let me show you
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  how powerful this command really is. In Matthew thirteen, after
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  Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower, the story about
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  seeds falling on different kinds of soil, his disciples come
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  to him. Confused. They say, why do you speak in parables?
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  And Jesus answers with one of the most haunting truths
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  in all of Scripture. Because seeing they do not see,
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  and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
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  For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their
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  ears they can barely hear. Matthew thirteen thirteen to fifteen.
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  Did you catch it? The ears aren't broken. The heart
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  is the real problem. Isn't in the audio. It's in
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  the attitude. Jesus is saying, you've heard my teaching, but
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  your heart isn't soft enough to let it in. This
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  is why some of you can sit through sermons every
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  week and still live in secret sin. Why you can
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  know the verses but still battle the same chains, why
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  you can say Amen on Sunday but be numb by Monday.
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  You've heard, but you haven't listened. So what does it
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  mean to hear with ears that here? It means you
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  don't just understand the word. You obey it, You let
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  it cut, convict, change you. You pause after reading scripture
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  and say, God, what do you want to break in me?
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  To day? You journal your wrestling, you pray your fears,
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  you confess your resistance, and you listen until something moves.
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  That that's hearing, and it's not optional. Jesus said plainly
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  in Luke six forty six? Why do you call me
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  Lord Lord and not do what I say? Real discipleship
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  starts with ears that do something after they hear. So
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  let's close this part with a challenge. Every day this week,
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  before you scroll, before you speak, before you react, ask
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  this one question, Lord, what are you saying? Then? Stop? Wait,
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  open your Bible, listen, write it down, and when you hear,
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  even if it's hard, obey because in the Kingdom of God,
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  hearing is holiness, and only those who hear will follow.
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  Let that sink in. Were just getting started. You heard him,
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  didn't you, Not just with your ears, but with your soul.
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  That whisper that pierced through the noise, cutting between your
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  thoughts and your habits. Maybe it came in that quiet
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  moment you gave God just a few seconds ago, or
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  maybe it's been echoing longer than you'd like to admit.
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  You've heard him say something, but now he asks for everything.
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  Because hearing Jesus is only the beginning. The next step
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  is where most people turn back, because the second command
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  doesn't come softly. It comes like a hammer shattering comfort,
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  a sword slicing through routine. Jesus looks you in the eye,
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  not metaphorically, but eternally, and says two words that should
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  terrify and thrill you at the same time. Come follow me.
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  That's not a suggestion, that's not an invitation to explore.
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  That's a command, and it doesn't come with a preface
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  or a safety net. It comes fast, it comes loud,
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  It comes when you least expected. You may think you've
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  heard those words before on a youth retreat in a
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  Sunday school song on a bumper sticker. But don't confuse
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  the familiarity of the phrase with the fire in his voice,
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  because when Jesus says follow me, he's not asking you
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  to add him to your life. He's commanding you to
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  abandon it. Let me show you how real this is.
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  Imagine this moment. You're a fisherman. Your life is simple
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  but stable. The sea is your income, your identity. You've
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  cast nets since you were a boy. You've memorized the
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  wind patterns, the smell of the storms. Your family depends
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  on you. This is your whole world. And then a
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  man you barely know walks by your boat. He doesn't
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  stop for small talk. He doesn't explain a five year
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  ministry plan. He doesn't tell you what happens next. He
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  just says, come follow me, and you drop your net.
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  Just like that, You leave the tools of your trade,
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  the source of your security, the weight of your family expectations,
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  all lying in the sand. You leave the boat, you
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  leave your father, you leave everything because something in his
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  voice makes everything else feel temporary. You don't understand it fully,
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  but you know this is the moment where life itself divides.
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  That's what happened to Peter and Andrew. And it wasn't
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  just poetic. It was painful, risky, violent to their rhythm
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  of life. But when Jesus calls, you don't negotiate, You move.
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  And here's the part nobody talks about in modern Christianity.
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  Jesus hasn't stopped saying those same words today, is still
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  walking into real lives, real jobs, real routines, and saying
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  follow MIHI. He's saying it to the corporate executive who
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  built their identity on position. Leave it. He's saying it
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  to the young woman chasing approval on social media. Turn away.
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  He's saying it to the pastor who built a ministry
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  but lost intimacy. Come back. He's saying it to you
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  right now, drop what's in your hands. Come And here's
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  the problem. We want Jesus to follow us. We want
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  his presence, but not his path. We want his blessings
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  but not his interruptions. We want to be led, but
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  only if the path is comfortable, only if it's on
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  our schedule, only if it doesn't cost too much. But
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  Jesus doesn't follow your terms. He commands surrender. Let me
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  be real with you. The call to follow Jesus is
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  the death of every worldly attachment. It's the moment your
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  dreams get placed on the altar. It's the second you
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  realize that salvation isn't just a ticket to heaven. It's
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  a call to die now yourself, to your timeline, to
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  your comfort, to your identity. Come follow Me is not
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  said with a smile and a brochure. It's said with
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  blood on the ground and nails on the horizon. If
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  you really want to follow Jesus, you have to leave
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  the things that define you before him. Let's make this interactive.
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  I want you to pause again, and I want you
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  to write, yes, physically, write or type the top three
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  things that define your life right now. Think deeply. Don't
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  just write God, family, friends. I mean the real things,
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  the things you think about when you lie awake, the
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  things that control your schedule, the things that stir your
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  anxiety or inflate your pride. It might be financial success,
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  romantic relationship, reputation, a secret habit, a dream you've clung
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  to for ten years. Whatever it is, Jesus sees it,
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  and he's asking you one question, and you leave that
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  for me. He's not being cruel. He's not minimizing your
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  pain or mocking your journey, but he's drawing a line
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  and calling you across it, because nothing you hold tighter
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  than him will last, and everything you lay down in
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  obedience will resurrect with greater glory. Let me show you
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  just how far this goes. In Luke nine fifty nine
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  to sixty two, Jesus says something that shatters our Western
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  idea of Jesus as soft and seeker friendly to another.
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  He said, follow me, But he said, Lord, let me
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  first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him,
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  leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as
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  for you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God. That
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  sounds harsh, doesn't it. But Jesus isn't being callous, He's
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  being clear. Obedience delayed is disobedience. Another person says, I
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  will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell
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  to those o at my home. Jesus replies, no one
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  who puts his hand to the plow and looks back
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  is fit for the Kingdom of God. Do you see it?
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  Come follow me is not an open ended journey. It's
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  a now or never call. And this is where most
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  people hesitate. They want Jesus and safety, Jesus and identity,
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  Jesus and their political opinions, Jesus and their dreams, Jesus
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  and their secret sins. But Jesus won't be added. He
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  must be followed or not at all. I know this
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  sounds intense. It's supposed to. We've domesticated discipleship into comfort.
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  But the early followers of Jesus lost everything, homes, inheritances, friendships,
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  their very lives, and they counted it joy. Why because
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  they knew the one they followed was not just a man.
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  He was the son of God, and only he held
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  eternal life. So what would this look like for you?
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  If Jesus walked into your room right now, looked you
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  in the eyes, and said, come follow me. What would
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  you have to leave behind? Would it be a toxic
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  relationship that feels too familiar to quit. Would it be
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  a business that brings income but steals integrity. Would it
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  be a lifestyle of comfort that's kept you from radical faith?
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  Here's the truth. If following Jesus hasn't cost you anything,
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  you might be walking beside him, but not after him.
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  So here's your invitation, not from me, from him to
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  night before the distractions start again, Sit in silence and
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  pray this, Jesus, what are you asking me to leave?
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  And then wait listen. He will show you. And when
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  he does, don't argue, don't delayce, drop it, walk away,
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  follow because everything you release for his sake will return
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  a hundredfold, not always in this life, but in eternal glory,
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  and nothing you cling to apart from him will last
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  past the grave. This is not safe, this is not easy,
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  but it is real, and it is the only way
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  he is walking. He is calling. Are you ready to follow?
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  You're still here, and that tells me something. You didn't
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  just hear him, You felt him when you looked at
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  what he asked you to leave behind. Maybe something in
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  your soul began to tremble. Maybe you even said it
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  out loud. Jesus, I want to follow you, But now
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  you're realizing there's something else standing in the way, something deeper,
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  something buried. Because the command to follow me is always
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  trailed by another sharper call, one that strikes the heart
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  before the feet can ever move. Repent for the Kingdom
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  of Heaven is at hand. This was not a line
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  Jesus said once. It was his first sermon, his opening message,
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  his inaugural declaration, before he healed the sick, before he
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  fed the multitudes, before he walked on water or wept
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  in gathsemone, Jesus launched his public ministry with a call
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  not for applause or admiration, but for repentance. Why because
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  no one enters the kingdom casually, and no one follows
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  Jesus while facing the wrong direction, we don't talk about
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  repentance much anymore. It makes people uncomfortable. It sounds old fashioned, outdated, harsh.
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  But isn't it strange that Jesus himself started with it.
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  In Matthew four seventeen, scripture says from that time on,
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  Jesus began to preach, saying, repent for the Kingdom of
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  Heaven is at hand. Not believe in yourself, not try harder,
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  not even just accept me. No, Jesus begins with the
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  command to turn. And that's what repentance is. It's not
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  merely feeling sorry. It's not a vague conviction you brush
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  off during a sermon. It's not crying during a worship song.
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  Repentance is violent surrender. It is a spiritual u turn.
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  It's when the Holy Spirit confronts the road you're on
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  and commands you to stop, to burn the maps you made,
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  and to follow a path you would never choose on
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  your own. Let's make this personal. Have you ever driven
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  somewhere familiar, so familiar that your hands moved by habit
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  you didn't even think. You just turned, merged, cruised until
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  you ended up at your old workplace, or your childhood home,
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  or a store you didn't mean to go to. That's
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  what sin is like. It becomes default, and until someone
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  grabs the wheel, you won't even realize you're headed in
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  the wrong direction. That's what Jesus does with repentance. He
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  gets in the car, rips out the GPS you programmed
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  with pride, and says we're going somewhere else. But here
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  is the hard truth. Most people don't want to change direction.
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  They just want Jesus to bless the route there already
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  on Repentance is the refusal to let him be your passenger.
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  It's giving him the wheel, the keys, and even the
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  title to the vehicle. And here's the kicker. It's not
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  a one time decision. It's a lifestyle of constant turning.
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  In the days of Jesus repentance was more than a
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  religious concept. It was a national crisis. Israel was under
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  Roman oppression. The people wanted a political revolution, a messiah
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  with a sword, a king who would topple the empire.
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  But instead Jesus came with this message repent because the
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  kingdom he was bringing wasn't political, it was personal. It
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  wasn't about conquering Caesar. It was about conquering sin. So
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  he preached it boldly in streets, on hillsides, in synagogues,
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  And later he handed the same message to his disciples
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  when he sent them out two by two. Mark six
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  twelve says they went out and preached that people should repent.
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  Repentance wasn't a footnote in the gospel. It was the gospel.
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  But we've lost the urgency in our generation. We've reduced
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  repentance to a check box on a salvation card, a
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  whispered prayer at an altar, a moment of emotional vulnerability.
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  But repentance is not a ritual. It's a revolution. It's
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  your soul declaring war on your sin. And until you repent,
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  nothing else in your spiritual life will align. You can't
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  worship while walking towards sin. You can't grow while tolerating rebellion.
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  You can't be free while excusing your chains. That's why
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  this message is still for Todell. Look around, do you
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  feel it? There's a spiritual dullness creeping across the church.
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  People who once burned with holy fire now settle for
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  weekly inspiration. Hearts that once broke over sin now scroll
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  past it. We weep over canceled plans, not compromise purity.
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  We panic when our finances are hit, but not when
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  our prayer life dies. Where is the urgency? Repentance is
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  the alarm clock of the soul. It wakes you from
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  spiritual apathy. It reminds you that God is not casual
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  about your sin, and neither should you be. The Kingdom
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  is not coming soon. It's at hand. It's breaking in
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  right now, That's what Jesus meant. It's within reach, it's
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  pressing in. Heaven is invading, which means your choice is
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  matter right now. Let's stop here, Let's make it real interactive.
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  I want you to ask yourself and don't rush this.
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  What is God asking me to repent of to day?
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  Don't just name the obvious sins, go deeper is it pride, bitterness,
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  a relationship you know doesn't honor him, a secret ad diiction,
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  a lazy spiritual rhythm, an idle dressed up in Christian language.
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  Write it down, say it out loud, don't excuse it,
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  don't soften it, Name it, then nail it. That's repentance.
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  You call your sin what it is. You bring it
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  into the light, and you turn not with half your heart,
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  but with all of it, with trembling, with urgency, with joy, Yes, joy,
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  because here's the beauty. Repentance is not about shame. It's
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  about freedom. The enemy wants to trap you in guilt.
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  Jesus wants to set you free. In Acts three nineteen,
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  Peter says, repent then, and turn to God, so that
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  your sins may be wiped out, and times of refreshing
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  may come from the Lord. Do you see it. Refreshing
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  doesn't come from pretending everything's okay. It comes from repenting
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  with everything you've got. That's why revival doesn't begin with
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  music or lights or miracles. It begins with people on
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  their faces, crying out, God, I'm done playing games. I
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  want to be clean, I want to be new. Repentance
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  is the doorway to revival. It's how you come home.
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  Jesus doesn't call us to repent so he can shame us.
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  He calls us to repent so he can restore us.
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  And the kingdom he offers is too holy to be
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  mixed with compromise. He's not lowering the standard, he's lifting
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  your soul right now. He's doing it again. He's not
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  just asking you to follow him. He's telling you turn.
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  Turn from that sin before it destroys you. Turn from
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  that lie, before it becomes your identity. Turn from that
• 24:45
  dead end, before it costs you your soul. The Kingdom
• 24:49
  is at hand. It's not a theory, it's not a
• 24:51
  future plan. It's pressing against your reality even now, and
• 24:56
  Jesus is not giving you a suggestion. He's giving you mercy.
• 25:00
  This is your moment. Let the tears fall if they must,
• 25:04
  let the pride crack if it needs to, Let the
• 25:06
  voice of the king drown out every excuse. He's calling
• 25:10
  not with anger, but with urgency. Repent for the kingdom
• 25:14
  is at hand. Are you ready for what comes next?
• 25:17
  Because Jesus doesn't just confront your sin, he commands something
• 25:22
  even more impossible up next. Love your enemies the command
• 25:27
  that exposes every shallow form of love and reveals whether
• 25:31
  you've truly met the king at all. Let me know
• 25:35
  when you're ready to go. There you felt it, didn't
• 25:38
  you that moment, after the tears, after the conviction, after
• 25:41
  the turning, when something in your soul whispered, I'm clean.
• 25:47
  That's the beauty of repentance. It doesn't leave you in ruins.
• 25:52
  It rebuilds you. And just when you think you're ready
• 25:55
  to breathe, Jesus speaks again, not with condemnation, but with
• 26:00
  a command that might be even harder than letting go
• 26:03
  of sin, because now that you've turned toward him, he
• 26:07
  turns you toward them. Love your enemies. Wait what, Yes,
• 26:14
  that's his next command. Not tolerate them, not avoid them,
• 26:17
  not block them, and pray for peace, number love them,
• 26:20
  bless them, pray for them, do good to them. Not
• 26:23
  when it's easy, not when they apologize, not when the
• 26:26
  pain fades. Now, let's not pretend this is easy. This
• 26:30
  might be the most radical thing Jesus ever said, and
• 26:34
  let's be honest, most Christians don't do it. We might
• 26:37
  preach about it, we might nod along in Bible study,
• 26:40
  but deep down we'd rather avoid it, because enemies don't
• 26:44
  just exist on battlefields. They show up at dinner tables,
• 26:48
  in church pews, in divorce papers, in law suits, in
• 26:52
  gossip circles, in bitter memories. We keep locked in our hearts.
• 26:56
  And yet Jesus said it clearly, without loopholes. But I
• 27:00
  say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those
• 27:03
  who persecute you, that you may be children of your
• 27:06
  Father in heaven Matthew five forty four to forty five.
• 27:11
  Let that sink in. Jesus ties our identity as children
• 27:14
  of God to how we treat those who wound us most.
• 27:18
  That means how you respond to your enemies might reveal
• 27:21
  more about your heart than how you sing in worship
• 27:24
  or serve in ministry. Let me take you back to
• 27:29
  the dusty hills of Galilee. The crowds gathered. They thought
• 27:33
  they were coming for a revolution. A Jewish rabbi with
• 27:36
  healing power and a crowd of followers. Surely this would
• 27:40
  be the uprising they prayed for. But as they stood
• 27:43
  on that hillside, waiting for marching orders against Rome, Jesus
• 27:49
  did the unthinkable. He didn't incite violence, He didn't curse Caesar.
• 27:55
  He didn't call them to arms. He said love your enemies,
• 27:59
  and the crowd went silent because he wasn't just talking
• 28:02
  about far away foes. He was talking about them. The
• 28:06
  tax collector who exploited your family, the Roman soldier who
• 28:10
  spat at your wife, the pharisee who humiliated you in
• 28:13
  the synagogue, the neighbor who betrayed you, the person in
• 28:17
  your life whose name still makes your chest. Titan. Jesus
• 28:22
  wasn't being poetic, he was being prophetic. He was flipping
• 28:25
  the entire world order upside down. Love your enemies. That's
• 28:30
  not just countercultural, that's supernatural, and it was never optional.
• 28:36
  But here's the question you have to wrestle with. Who
• 28:38
  is your enemy? Pause, don't answer quickly. The enemy in
• 28:43
  your life may not carry a weapon, but they've done damage.
• 28:47
  Maybe they stole from you, lied about you, rejected you, abused,
• 28:52
  you betrayed your trust. Maybe it's not even a who.
• 28:56
  Maybe it's a group of people, a political party, an
• 29:00
  old friend, or a parent who never said sorry. Now
• 29:03
  look me in the eye through this screen and hear this.
• 29:07
  Jesus commands you to love them, not for their sake,
• 29:10
  not to enable them. But to free you. Because holding
• 29:13
  hate doesn't hurt your enemies, it poisons your soul. And
• 29:17
  Jesus didn't die to make you nice, He died to
• 29:20
  make you new. Still, I know what you're thinking, But
• 29:23
  how do I even begin? Let me walk with you.
• 29:26
  The command to love your enemy doesn't begin with emotion.
• 29:30
  It begins with obedience. Step one, bless them, Speak no
• 29:35
  evil of them, don't drag their name in your group chat,
• 29:38
  don't rehearse their faults in your mind. Romans twelve fourteen says,
• 29:43
  bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse.
• 29:47
  That's not a feeling, that's a decision. Step two, do
• 29:49
  good to them, Jesus says in Luke six twenty seven
• 29:52
  to twenty eight. Do good to those who hate you,
• 29:55
  Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you.
• 30:00
  That might mean helping when they least deserve it, serving
• 30:03
  them when everything in you screams, know giving kindness when
• 30:08
  vengeance would feel more satisfying. Step three, pray for them.
• 30:14
  And I don't mean Lord show them their wrong. I
• 30:17
  mean the kind of prayer that cost you, something, that
• 30:20
  asks God to bless them, to soften them, to heal you,
• 30:24
  because when you pray for your enemy consistently, something strange
• 30:29
  begins to happen. Your heart starts to shift. Now, don't misunderstand.
• 30:35
  Forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting Loving your enemy doesn't mean inviting abuse.
• 30:41
  Jesus is not calling you to stay in toxic situations
• 30:45
  or ignore injustice. He's calling you to release vengeance, to
• 30:49
  stop playing judge, to let mercy win. Let's make this interactive.
• 30:53
  Right now, Yes, right now, I want you to think
• 30:57
  of a name. The person who, if you your honest
• 31:01
  is hardest to love, the one you've avoided, the one
• 31:04
  you've gossiped about, the one who has hurt you deeper
• 31:08
  than you've ever admitted. Say their name to God, even
• 31:12
  if it feels like poison on your lips. Say it.
• 31:15
  Then pray this God. I don't feel love for them,
• 31:18
  but I surrender my hate. Teach me to see them
• 31:22
  like you do. Change me. Friend. If you just did that,
• 31:25
  as you obeyed Jesus more than many churches dare to teach,
• 31:29
  you stepped into kingdom. Love not cheap love, not soft love,
• 31:33
  cross bearing love, the kind that makes demons tremble, the
• 31:37
  kind that makes the world say what is this and
• 31:39
  the kind that makes your father say now that that
• 31:43
  is my child. Because you can fake giftedness, you can
• 31:48
  fake theology, you can even fake repentance, but you can't
• 31:51
  fake enemy love. That kind of love only comes from
• 31:55
  the spirit of the living God. It's crucified, it's resurrected,
• 31:59
  it's whole, and it's the only thing that can change
• 32:02
  this world. What if you loved the one who posted
• 32:06
  lies about you? What if you forgave the one who
• 32:09
  never said sorry? What if you returned blessing for betrayal?
• 32:13
  Do you realize the power of that? That's revival. The
• 32:16
  church doesn't need more followers, It needs more forgivers, more
• 32:21
  people who say, I won't live bitter, I won't retaliate,
• 32:25
  I won't hate, I will love because Jesus loved me
• 32:30
  when I was his enemy. Yes, that's the gospel. Romans
• 32:34
  five tens says, while we were God's enemies, we were
• 32:38
  reconciled to him through the death of his son. You
• 32:41
  were once the enemy and he loved you. So now
• 32:44
  it's your turn. Can you feel the weight of it,
• 32:46
  the wonder of it. We're only beginning to see how
• 32:49
  high his commands are and how much they cost, And
• 32:52
  yet every step deeper brings a new kind of freedom.
• 32:57
  Up next, do not be afraid, the most repeated command
• 33:01
  in scripture, the silent chain behind most disobedience, and the
• 33:05
  fear that Jesus is ready to break in your life
• 33:09
  once and for all. How strange isn't it that just
• 33:12
  as you begin to walk in enemy forgiving cross bearing love,
• 33:17
  fear shows up. Not a loud, obvious fear, but a
• 33:21
  subtle whisper, a quiet hesitation, a question buried deep beneath
• 33:26
  the obedience. What if I get hurt again? What if
• 33:30
  I lose control? What if this love costs me everything?
• 33:35
  That's when you realize something most believers never say out loud.
• 33:39
  Fear is the background music to nearly every act of disobedience.
• 33:44
  And that's why the next command from Jesus isn't optional.
• 33:49
  It's not a comfort blanket, it's not a motivational phrase
• 33:52
  on a coffee mug. It's a command just as clear
• 33:56
  and binding as follow me, or repent or love your enemies.
• 34:02
  Do not be afraid. Let that land with full weight.
• 34:06
  Not a suggestion, not a soft encouragement. It's an order
• 34:09
  from the mouth of the king. In fact, it's the
• 34:12
  most repeated command in all of Scripture. Some scholars count
• 34:16
  it over three hundred sixty five times, once for every
• 34:20
  day of the year. Why because fear is the first
• 34:25
  reflex of the human heart after sin entered the world,
• 34:29
  and it's the first chain Jesus comes to break when
• 34:33
  he calls you into the kingdom. Picture at the very
• 34:36
  first words God speaks to humanity after the Fall are
• 34:41
  filled with grief. Adam says, I heard you, and I
• 34:45
  was afraid. That was the beginning, and from that moment
• 34:50
  fear has gripped every generation. The fear of not being enough,
• 34:55
  the fear of rejection, the fear of scarcity, the fear
• 34:58
  of failure, the fear of death. But here's what most
• 35:02
  of us never realize. Fear is not neutral. It's spiritual
• 35:07
  rebellion in disguise. Yes, I said it. Fear isn't just
• 35:10
  an emotion. It's a rival throne. When Jesus says, do
• 35:15
  not be afraid, and you choose fear anyway, you're not
• 35:19
  just struggling. You're disobeying. You're placing your trust in anxiety
• 35:24
  more than in the Almighty. You're declaring, even without words,
• 35:28
  God isn't big enough to handle this. Now, Let's get
• 35:32
  painfully honest. Think of the last time God asked you
• 35:36
  to do something, something that stirred your spirit, and you
• 35:40
  said no, or not yet or maybe later. What held
• 35:45
  you back? It wasn't confusion, It wasn't theology. It was fear.
• 35:50
  Fear of people's opinions, fear of failure, fear that he
• 35:54
  wouldn't show up like he said, fear that obedience would
• 35:57
  cost too much. And yet he still commands do not
• 36:02
  be afraid. Let's walk through scripture and see how serious
• 36:07
  this command really is. When the Angel appears to Mary
• 36:11
  and declares that she'll carry the Son of God, what's
• 36:14
  the first thing he says? Do not be afraid? Why?
• 36:19
  Because fear is the first thing that tries to kill
• 36:23
  your calling. When Jesus calls Peter to walk on water,
• 36:27
  Peter actually does it for a few steps, But then
• 36:30
  what happens. He sees the waves, he feels the wind,
• 36:35
  He panics, and he sinks. Jesus doesn't say, oh, that's okay,
• 36:41
  fear is normal. No, he confronts it. Why did you doubt, O,
• 36:50
  you of little faith? Are you seeing it yet? In
• 36:55
  the Kingdom Fear is not your therapist. Fear is your enemy,
• 36:59
  and if you coddle it, it will cripple you. Right now,
• 37:03
  many of you are standing on the edge of a command.
• 37:08
  You know what God is asking of you. Start the ministry,
• 37:12
  forgive the father, step into the unknown, leave the compromise.
• 37:17
  And the only thing stopping you is fear. So here's
• 37:21
  the question. If Jesus commands you not to fear is
• 37:25
  continuing in fear disobedience. That's a hard pill to swallow,
• 37:29
  but it's also liberating because once you see fear as
• 37:32
  a liar, not a protector, you can finally shut the door.
• 37:37
  Let me be clear. Fear will knock. It always knocks.
• 37:39
  It knocked on David's door before Goliath. It knocked on
• 37:42
  Moses' door before Pharaoh. It knocked on Esther's door before
• 37:46
  the king's court. But here's the difference. They didn't open
• 37:50
  the door. You might feel afraid, but you don't have
• 37:54
  to live afraid. Jesus commands it. Do not be afraid,
• 37:58
  not because it's cute, but because you can't obey him
• 38:01
  fully while worshiping fear silently. Let's get personal. What is
• 38:05
  fear stealing from you? Right now your peace, your purpose,
• 38:09
  your obedience. Write it down right now, make a list,
• 38:13
  name your fear, and then declare this out loud that
• 38:16
  God has not given me a spirit of fear, but
• 38:19
  of power, love and a sound mind. Tewod Timothy one seven.
• 38:28
  Because here's the promise. When Jesus commands you not to fear,
• 38:31
  he also equips you with the power to overcome it.
• 38:35
  He doesn't leave you alone. He walks with you into
• 38:38
  the valley. He whispers peace when the waves rise. He
• 38:42
  reminds you that his presence is stronger than your panic.
• 38:45
  In Isaiah forty one ten, God says, fear not, for
• 38:49
  I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am
• 38:52
  your God. That's not poetry. That's protection. That's not suggestion.
• 38:57
  That's security. And if you're saying, but fear feels real,
• 39:01
  yes it does. So did the Red sea, So did
• 39:05
  the lions in Daniel's den, so did the furnace for Shadrack,
• 39:08
  Mishak and Abtnigo. But faith sees past what's real to
• 39:13
  what's more real. And that's God. Let's go even deeper.
• 39:17
  Jesus was not afraid to confront fear face to face
• 39:21
  When he stood before pilot bruised, bleeding, falsely accused. He
• 39:26
  didn't flinch when he prayed in gathsemone and sweat blood,
• 39:30
  facing the full horror of the cross. He didn't run.
• 39:33
  He obeyed. Why because perfect love casts out fear first
• 39:38
  John four eighteen, and He is perfect Love. That means
• 39:42
  the more you walk with Jesus, the less room fear
• 39:45
  has to breathe. Fear suffocates in the presence of faith.
• 39:49
  It dies in the face of obedience. That's why Satan
• 39:53
  works overtime to make you feel afraid. Because fear is
• 39:57
  the lock on the door of your calling. How do
• 40:00
  you break it? You obey anyway, You move forward while
• 40:03
  your knees shake. You speak when your voice cracks. You
• 40:06
  forgive when your heart still aches. You trust when the
• 40:09
  numbers don't add up. You walk in the dark because
• 40:13
  you know who holds the light. And each time you do,
• 40:17
  fear loses ground. We've seen this in every generation. When
• 40:21
  Jim Eliot stepped into the jungles of Ecuador, knowing death
• 40:25
  was possible, he wrote, he is no fool who gives
• 40:29
  what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
• 40:34
  When the early Church stood before lions and laughed in
• 40:37
  the face of death. They weren't superhuman, they were spirit filled.
• 40:42
  And now it's your turn. You may not be facing death,
• 40:46
  but maybe fear has wrapped itself around your heart so tightly.
• 40:50
  You can't move, can't speak, can't trust. Jesus is calling you.
• 40:55
  Do not be afraid. Say it again. Say it until
• 40:59
  something shifts inside. I will not fear. God is with me.
• 41:03
  God is for me. God commands me to be brave.
• 41:06
  You don't need more self help videos. You need to obey.
• 41:10
  You don't need more evidence. You need to move, and
• 41:13
  we're here to walk with you. We have ebooks available
• 41:16
  on our website to help guide your deep Bible studies.
• 41:19
  These resources go further into these teachings, so you don't
• 41:23
  just hear them, you live them. Whether you're walking through fear,
• 41:27
  stepping into your calling, or confronting compromise. We've written these
• 41:32
  to strengthen your journey. Check the description to download your
• 41:36
  next guide. Because freedom is possible, victory is real, and
• 41:41
  fear is finished. Let's keep going. The next command is
• 41:46
  one that most Christians quote but rarely practice. Forgive not
• 41:51
  seven times, but seventy seven, the command that unlocks heaven
• 41:56
  or keeps us in chains. The fear started to loosen,
• 41:59
  didnt it just a little? Maybe you finally took that
• 42:02
  breath you'd been holding. Maybe you stepped forward, trembling, yes,
• 42:07
  but forward nonetheless, And that one act of courage reminded
• 42:11
  you you're not a slave anymore, You're not under fear's spell.
• 42:16
  But just when you thought the chains were broken, Jesus
• 42:19
  reaches deeper. He doesn't just deal with fear. He goes
• 42:23
  after something darker, something buried beneath even our boldest obedience.
• 42:28
  Because there's one command the tests whether your freedom is
• 42:32
  real or just rehearsed. Forgive not seven times, but seventy seven.
• 42:39
  This command doesn't come with thunder and lightning. It comes
• 42:42
  like a whisper through prison bars. And for many of
• 42:45
  us those bars are still locked, not because God hasn't
• 42:49
  forgiven us, but because we refuse to forgive others. Jesus
• 42:53
  isn't vague here. He isn't suggesting. He's commanding forgive not one,
• 43:00
  not seven, but seventy seven times. Another gospel says seventy
• 43:05
  times seven. Either way, the point is clear. Forgiveness isn't math.
• 43:11
  It's a lifestyle now let's be honest. This is where
• 43:14
  most believers pause the video literally or figuratively, because forgiveness
• 43:19
  is easy to quote until it's your wound, until it's
• 43:23
  your story, until it's your childhood, until it's your betrayal.
• 43:27
  And yet Jesus doesn't soften his tone. In fact, this
• 43:31
  is the one command he attaches a terrifying consequence to
• 43:36
  let me show you. Peter thought he was being generous
• 43:39
  when he asked in Matthew eighteen, Lord, how many times
• 43:43
  shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?
• 43:47
  Up to seven times? That was above and beyond Jewish tradition.
• 43:52
  But Jesus looks him in the eye and says, I
• 43:55
  tell you not seven times, but seventy seven times. And
• 44:00
  then Jesus does what he always does when the truth
• 44:03
  is too sharp to swallow. He tells a story. He
• 44:07
  describes a servant who owed a king an unpayable debt
• 44:12
  millions by today's standards. The king, in mercy forgives the
• 44:16
  entire debt, just wipes it clean. But that same servant
• 44:20
  walks out of the palace and finds someone who owes
• 44:23
  him just a few dollars. He grabs him by the
• 44:26
  throat and demands payment. When the man begs for time,
• 44:30
  the forgiven servant refuses and throws him in prison. When
• 44:35
  the king hears about it, he's furious, and listen to
• 44:39
  what Jesus says. Then the Master called the servant in you,
• 44:44
  wicked servant, He said, I canceled all that debt of
• 44:47
  yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had
• 44:51
  mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?
• 44:55
  In anger, his master handed him over to the jailers
• 44:57
  to be tortured until he should pay back all he
• 45:00
  owed Matthew eighteen thirty two to thirty four. And here
• 45:05
  comes the punch in the gut. This is how my
• 45:07
  heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive
• 45:11
  your brother or sister from your heart Matthew eighteen thirty five.
• 45:16
  This isn't poetic. This is a warning. Forgiveness isn't optional
• 45:22
  in the kingdom. It's the proof that you understand the Gospel.
• 45:27
  You can't receive infinite mercy and extend none. You can't
• 45:32
  cling to grace for yourself and deny it to others.
• 45:35
  And yet how many of us are doing just that?
• 45:40
  Think about it. You pray, you worship, you read scripture,
• 45:44
  but you still avoid that one person. You still hold
• 45:47
  on to that one offense. You still feel that cold
• 45:50
  knot in your chest when their name comes up. And
• 45:53
  maybe you've said it, I've forgiven them, but deep down
• 45:58
  you know the wound hasn't and maybe it hasn't even
• 46:03
  begun to heal. Here's the truth. No one wants to say.
• 46:08
  Unforgiveness is spiritual suicide. It doesn't hurt your enemy, it
• 46:12
  kills your peace, your joy, your intimacy with God. Because
• 46:17
  forgiveness isn't just a command, it's a mirror. If you
• 46:21
  can't forgive, it means you've forgotten what Jesus forgave you.
• 46:24
  Let's pause, Let's make this interactive. I want you to
• 46:28
  close your eyes, yes, right now, don't just keep listening.
• 46:32
  Close your eyes. Ask the Holy Spirit, who am I
• 46:36
  still holding hostage in my heart? Don't argue, don't explain,
• 46:40
  just ask. He will show you. Is it your mother,
• 46:43
  your ex, the friend who betrayed you, the pastor who
• 46:46
  failed you, yourself. No, open your eyes and hear this.
• 46:50
  Forgiveness is not saying what they did was okay. It's
• 46:53
  saying it no longer has power over you. It's not weakness,
• 46:57
  it's not denial. It's a spirit jailbreak, and you're the
• 47:01
  one walking out because until you forgive, you're not punishing them,
• 47:06
  you're imprisoning you. And Jesus doesn't just suggest you forgive,
• 47:10
  he commands it because he wants you free. Think about
• 47:14
  the cross as Jesus hangs there, bleeding, suffocating, betrayed by friends,
• 47:19
  mocked by enemies, what are his words, Father? Forgive them,
• 47:24
  for they know not what they do. He's not just
• 47:27
  practicing what he preached. He's demonstrating the d n a
• 47:31
  of heaven. If anyone had the right to withhold forgiveness,
• 47:35
  it was Jesus. But even in death he loosed the
• 47:39
  grip of offense. Now the same Jesus looks at you
• 47:42
  and says, do the same. And here's where it gets harder.
• 47:46
  Forgiveness doesn't wait for an apology. Jesus didn't wait. He
• 47:51
  forgave while they were still crucifying him. That's real love,
• 47:56
  that's real obedience. That's the kingdom. But how do you start? First,
• 48:01
  you decide not based on your emotions, but on the command.
• 48:05
  Forgiveness begins with obedience, not feeling. Second, you speak it
• 48:10
  out loud in prayer, Jesus, I choose to forgive dragi.
• 48:15
  Name them, name the offense, name the pain, then lay
• 48:18
  it at the cross. Third, you release them. That means
• 48:21
  you stop rehearsing the story, stop weaponizing the pain, stop
• 48:25
  identifying yourself by the wound. And finally, you bless them, Yes,
• 48:30
  bless them, just like Jesus commanded. You pray God would
• 48:35
  draw them, heal them, change them. That's the final strike
• 48:39
  that breaks the chain. You may have to do it
• 48:42
  again tomorrow and the next day, and again when the
• 48:46
  memory resurfaces. That's okay. Forgiveness is not a one time act.
• 48:53
  It's a daily warfare. But with every act of obedience,
• 48:57
  the grip loosens, the weight lifts, and Heaven moves. Remember
• 49:02
  what Jesus said, if you forgive others their sins, your
• 49:06
  heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do
• 49:10
  not forgive others, your father will not forgive your sins.
• 49:15
  Matthew six fourteen to fifteen. That's not symbolic that spiritual reality.
• 49:20
  Unforgiveness blocks the flow of grace. But today you can
• 49:24
  open the floodgates you can step out of the prison,
• 49:27
  You can walk into healing. You can unlock heaven in
• 49:30
  your life by unlocking the chains on some one else.
• 49:35
  So here's the final challenge. Who do you need to
• 49:38
  forgive right now? Don't just nod, don't just feel convicted.
• 49:42
  Do it a pause, pray, speak it out, write it down,
• 49:46
  release them, and when you do, you'll feel it. The
• 49:49
  sound of chains falling, the whisper of freedom, and the
• 49:53
  voice of Jesus smiling, saying, that is my disciple. Are
• 49:57
  you ready to go deeper? Because next comes a command
• 50:01
  that so misunderstood it's either ignored or misused. Go and
• 50:06
  sin no more. What did Jesus really mean? Was he
• 50:09
  setting an impossible standard or inviting us into supernatural freedom?
• 50:14
  Freedom feels different, doesn't it. Not loud, not flashy, but deep,
• 50:18
  almost unnerving, like something shifted in the atmosphere around your soul.
• 50:23
  You forgave, maybe with trembling lips, maybe through clenched teeth,
• 50:28
  but you did it, and somewhere in the spiritual realm
• 50:31
  shackles broke, Heaven smiled. But now Jesus turns again. He
• 50:39
  doesn't just free you from the weight of offense. He
• 50:42
  walks right up to your private compromise, that sin you've excused,
• 50:47
  that cycle, you've baptized in soft language, and he says
• 50:51
  a phrase that cuts deeper than most sermons ever. Do
• 50:54
  go and sin no more. It's that's impossible, doesn't it? Unrealistic? Intense?
• 51:03
  You almost want to say, Jesus, that's a bit much.
• 51:07
  But that's the problem. We've made room in our theology
• 51:10
  for forgiveness, but not for freedom. We celebrate grace, but
• 51:16
  we've weaponized it to protect our disobedience. And yet Jesus
• 51:21
  isn't confused, he's not poetic. He's commanding, go and sin
• 51:26
  no more. Let me take you back to where he
• 51:29
  said it. A woman stands alone in a temple courtyard,
• 51:33
  dragged by religious leaders, humiliated in front of a crowd.
• 51:38
  She was caught in the act of adultery. No time
• 51:41
  to clean herself, no time to cover her shame, just
• 51:44
  raw exposure, every secret laid bare in the daylight. They
• 51:48
  throw her before Jesus, trying to trap him in a
• 51:51
  theological ambush. Moses says she should be stoned. What do
• 51:56
  you say? The tension is electric, and if Jesus says,
• 51:59
  let her go, they'll accuse him of dishonoring the law.
• 52:03
  If he says stone her, they'll accuse him of cruelty
• 52:06
  inconsistency with his message of mercy. He kneels, writes in
• 52:11
  the dirt, and then he stands and speaks a sentence
• 52:15
  that echoes across eternity. Let him who is without sin,
• 52:19
  cast the first stone. One by one, they drop their
• 52:24
  weapons and walk away. And when it's just her and
• 52:27
  Jesus left, he asks woman, where are they? Has no
• 52:30
  one condemned you? No one, Lord? She replies, Then neither
• 52:34
  do I condemn you? Jesus says, go and sin no more.
• 52:38
  John eight ten to eleven. We love the first part,
• 52:41
  neither do I condemn you. We quote it, we put
• 52:44
  it on t shirts. But we ignore the second part,
• 52:48
  Go and sin no more, as if Jesus was joking,
• 52:52
  as if he didn't mean it, as if grace cancels
• 52:55
  the need for holiness. But Jesus never separates mercy from transformation.
• 53:01
  Forgiveness is the door, holiness is the road, and this
• 53:05
  is where lukewarm Christianity dies, because Jesus is not just savior,
• 53:11
  He is Lord, and his grace doesn't give you permission
• 53:15
  to keep sinning. It gives you the power to stop.
• 53:19
  Let's bring this into your life. What's the sin you've
• 53:22
  learned to live with? The hidden compromise, the secret addiction,
• 53:26
  the habitual gossip, the pornography you struggle with but never surrender.
• 53:31
  The manipulation you justify as just being strategic, the pride
• 53:36
  you call confidence, the anger you've baptized as passion, the
• 53:40
  compromise you excuse as balance. Name it. Jesus knows he
• 53:44
  sees it, and he's not throwing stones. But he's not
• 53:47
  ignoring it either. He's commanding you go and sin no more.
• 53:52
  This isn't perfectionism. This is repentance. This is the fruit
• 53:56
  of a real encounter with Jesus. He doesn't leave you
• 53:59
  half healed. He doesn't patch your head and say just
• 54:02
  try harder next time. He gives you a real command
• 54:06
  because he offers real power. But maybe you're thinking, how
• 54:10
  how do I stop when the cycle feels so deep.
• 54:13
  Here's the answer. You can't, not in your own strength.
• 54:16
  But that's the point that the same Jesus who says
• 54:18
  go and sin no more, also says, apart from me,
• 54:22
  you can do nothing. John fifteen five Freedom isn't about willpower.
• 54:27
  It's about abiding, staying, living, clinging, letting his word renew
• 54:32
  your mind, letting his spirit lead your desires, letting his
• 54:35
  wounds heal your wounds. The woman in John Nate didn't
• 54:40
  walk away sinless because she had superhuman strength. She walked
• 54:44
  away changed because she had seen the face of mercy.
• 54:47
  And when you've truly seen Jesus, when you've truly felt
• 54:50
  his grace, you don't want to go back. You don't
• 54:54
  want to sleep with compromise. You want to burn the bridge.
• 54:58
  You want to rip out the sin before it poisons
• 55:01
  you again. That's what real grace does. It doesn't lower
• 55:04
  the standard, it lifts your soul. So let's make this
• 55:08
  real interactive. Right now, ask yourself, what is the sin
• 55:12
  I've been tolerating, Not the dramatic sins that get headlines,
• 55:17
  but the quiet ones that kill the soul. Write it down, yes, physically,
• 55:23
  on paper on your phone. Then pray this, Jesus. I
• 55:27
  believe you've forgiven me, but I'm done going back. I
• 55:30
  don't want to play with death. I want to walk
• 55:33
  in freedom. Give me strength to obey, make me holy,
• 55:36
  and then go not back, not around, forward into new patterns,
• 55:40
  new thinking, new accountability, new boundaries, radical steps, whatever it takes.
• 55:45
  If you need help walking that path, we're here. You're
• 55:48
  not alone. You're not expected to be perfect. You're invited
• 55:52
  to be transformed. But remember this, Jesus never commands something
• 55:58
  he won't empower. If he said go and sin no more,
• 56:01
  it means the prison door is already open. You just
• 56:04
  have to walk out. And here's the most freeing truth
• 56:07
  you'll ever hear. Holiness is possible, not because you're strong,
• 56:12
  but because He's in you. And when the sun sets
• 56:15
  you free. You are free. Indeed, are you ready to
• 56:19
  take that freedom to the world Because Jesus didn't just
• 56:23
  command personal transformation, He called for radical mission. Up next,
• 56:28
  go and make disciples, the command that shifts your life
• 56:32
  from comfort to calling and reveals whether your faith was
• 56:35
  ever meant to stay private. You felt that shift, didn't you,
• 56:39
  that moment when sin no longer felt like a struggle
• 56:42
  to manage but a wait to cast off completely. You
• 56:45
  didn't just hear Jesus say go and sin no more.
• 56:50
  You believed him. You walked out of the tomb like Lazarus,
• 56:54
  still wrapped in grave clothes, but breathing resurrection air. And
• 56:59
  just when you think the path might get easier, Jesus stops,
• 57:03
  turns to you and says something that breaks the illusion
• 57:07
  of comfort forever. If anyone would come after me, let
• 57:12
  him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow
• 57:17
  me Luke nine twenty three. This isn't an altar call.
• 57:22
  This is a death sentence, and it is daily. Jesus
• 57:26
  isn't offering a week end faith. He's not inviting you
• 57:30
  to sprinkle him on your schedule. He's calling you to
• 57:33
  die every single day. No exceptions, no compromise, no room
• 57:39
  for part time disciples. Let that sink in. This is
• 57:43
  the command that separates cultural Christians from Kingdom disciples, because
• 57:48
  there is no such thing as following Jesus without carrying
• 57:51
  a cross. And if you've never felt the weight of
• 57:54
  that wood on your back, then you might be walking
• 57:57
  in a direction he never walked. Let me ask you
• 58:01
  something personal. Have you ever tried to follow Jesus but
• 58:05
  still hold on to control. Have you said yes to
• 58:09
  salvation but no to surrender? Have you prayed for His
• 58:13
  will while planning your own? If so, you're not alone,
• 58:16
  but you're also not yet dead. And that's the problem.
• 58:20
  Jesus doesn't want a better version of your old life.
• 58:23
  He wants you to bury it, crucify it, nail it
• 58:27
  to the beam. Because resurrection doesn't come before the cross.
• 58:31
  There is no short cut, there is no loophole. Let's
• 58:35
  go back to the moment Jesus first said these words.
• 58:38
  It was after a major spiritual high. Peter had just
• 58:42
  declared that Jesus was the Messiah. The disciples were finally
• 58:46
  catching on, and then out of nowhere, Jesus drops a bomb.
• 58:52
  The son of Man must suffer many things, and be
• 58:55
  rejected and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
• 58:59
  Then he looked at them and says, if any one
• 59:01
  would come after me, let him deny himself, take up
• 59:04
  his cross daily and follow me. Can you imagine the confusion,
• 59:09
  the shock. They were expecting a throne. He gave them
• 59:13
  a cross. But Jesus wasn't being metaphorical, he was being literal.
• 59:18
  These men would watch him carry a Roman execution beam
• 59:22
  through the streets. They would see him bleed, they would
• 59:25
  hear the hammer ring against nails, and later most of
• 59:29
  them would carry their own crosses, some literally, some through persecution,
• 59:33
  some through exile, but all through daily death. Now here's
• 59:38
  the question, what does it mean to take up your
• 59:40
  cross daily? In twenty twenty five. We're not facing Roman soldiers,
• 59:46
  we're not hiding in caves for our faith. But the
• 59:49
  command still stands and the cross hasn't gotten any lighter.
• 59:54
  Taking up your cross means choosing death every morning. Death
• 59:58
  to your ego, death to your lust, death to your
• 1:00:01
  need to be right, death to your image, your plans,
• 1:00:04
  your timeline, death to your political idolatries, death to your
• 1:00:08
  carefully curated Instagram version of Christianity. It means waking up
• 1:00:13
  and saying, Jesus, you can have everything to day, not
• 1:00:17
  just your Sunday, not just your sins, your life. So
• 1:00:21
  let's make this interactive. I want you to sit quietly
• 1:00:24
  for a moment and ask what is still alive in
• 1:00:27
  me that Jesus is asking me to crucify. Is it
• 1:00:30
  your reputation, your independence, your dream that doesn't align with
• 1:00:35
  his word, your private addiction, your fear of being unpopular,
• 1:00:40
  your desire to be admired more than obedient. Whatever it is,
• 1:00:44
  put it on the cross. You don't tame across, you
• 1:00:47
  don't decorate it. You die on it, so right now,
• 1:00:50
  pray this out loud, Jesus, I lay down my will,
• 1:00:53
  my need for control, my flesh, my pride. I take
• 1:00:58
  up the cross, not just in theory, but right now today.
• 1:01:02
  I choose death so that I may live in you.
• 1:01:05
  This is why lukewarm Christianity doesn't survive long, because Jesus
• 1:01:10
  never said add me to your life. He said lose
• 1:01:14
  your life for me. And there is no resurrection without crucifixion,
• 1:01:19
  no crown without the nails. We live in a world
• 1:01:22
  that says, be your true self. Jesus says, deny yourself.
• 1:01:27
  The world says, chase your dreams. Jesus says, lose your life.
• 1:01:31
  The world says, live your truth. Jesus says, take up
• 1:01:34
  your cross. And one day, when all the noise fades
• 1:01:37
  and we stand before him, only one of those voices
• 1:01:40
  will matter. Are you carrying a cross or just wearing
• 1:01:44
  a cross? Because the cross wasn't a symbol when Jesus
• 1:01:48
  said this, it was an execution device. When the disciples
• 1:01:52
  heard it, they didn't think of a necklace. They thought
• 1:01:55
  of blood, of death, of criminals hanging naked while crowd's
• 1:02:01
  mocked deament. That's what Jesus calls us to not just belief,
• 1:02:04
  not just baptism, not just Bible study, crucifixion. And here's
• 1:02:09
  the strange beauty, this is where real life begins. When
• 1:02:13
  you take up your cross, you stop performing, you stop
• 1:02:17
  managing your image, you stop negotiating with sin, you stop
• 1:02:20
  chasing applause, you stop running on religious fumes, and for
• 1:02:24
  the first time, you breathe. Dead men don't stress about opinions.
• 1:02:29
  Dead women don't cling to idols. The crucified walk in freedom.
• 1:02:34
  And that's the paradox of the kingdom. Only the dead
• 1:02:37
  truly live. So what would it look like for you
• 1:02:40
  to die daily? Would it mean apologizing first, even when
• 1:02:45
  you were right. Would it mean deleting the secret account?
• 1:02:48
  Would it mean giving when no one says thank you?
• 1:02:51
  Would it mean surrendering your future, your relationship, your safety net.
• 1:02:56
  The Holy Spirit isn't asking you to guess. He'll tell you.
• 1:03:00
  He is telling you. Don't push him away, don't explain
• 1:03:03
  it away. Pick up the cross, and remember, this isn't masochism,
• 1:03:08
  This isn't self hate. This is love responding to love.
• 1:03:13
  Because the only reason you can take up your cross
• 1:03:15
  is because he carried his first, he didn't delegate the suffering.
• 1:03:20
  He didn't flinch when they mocked him. He didn't step
• 1:03:23
  down when the nails pierced, and he endured the cross,
• 1:03:26
  scorning its shame for the joy set before him Hebrews
• 1:03:30
  twelve two. And you were that joy. So now carry yours.
• 1:03:36
  Let the death of your old self make room for
• 1:03:38
  the new creation. Let the cross silence your pride. Let
• 1:03:43
  obedience be your worship. This is the daily death Jesus demands,
• 1:03:48
  not because he wants you miserable, but because he wants
• 1:03:51
  you resurrected. We're almost at the heart of the mission.
• 1:03:54
  Now you've died to self, you've taken up the cross,
• 1:03:58
  and now Jesus, turn your eyes outward, go into all
• 1:04:02
  the world. The Great Commission is not a ministry job.
• 1:04:06
  It's the dna of every true disciple. You felt the
• 1:04:10
  weight of the cross. Now, haven't you that quiet ache
• 1:04:13
  when you finally surrendered something you once swore you couldn't
• 1:04:16
  live without. The way pride died on the altar, the
• 1:04:20
  way compromise lost its grip. You're lighter now, not because
• 1:04:25
  life is easier, but because death has done its work.
• 1:04:28
  The Cross doesn't just crush sin, it clears space. And now,
• 1:04:32
  with hands no longer full of idols, Jesus hands you
• 1:04:35
  something more precious than anything you laid down. Remain in me,
• 1:04:41
  Abide in my love John fifteen nine. This is no
• 1:04:47
  longer about sacrifice. It's about sustainability. It's not just a
• 1:04:52
  call to die once. It's a command to stay alive
• 1:04:55
  in Him. Every single moment you've denied yourself. Now you
• 1:05:01
  must dwell in Him. And this is where many disciples fall,
• 1:05:05
  not in the fire of temptation, but in the slow
• 1:05:08
  drift of disconnection. Let me ask you a simple question.
• 1:05:12
  Are you remaining or just visiting? That's what this command confronts.
• 1:05:18
  Jesus gave this word to his disciples in the most intimate,
• 1:05:22
  electric moment of his ministry, the night before the Cross
• 1:05:27
  in John fifteen. He doesn't raise his voice, he doesn't
• 1:05:31
  rebuke the Pharisees, he doesn't walk on water. He whispers
• 1:05:36
  to his friends in a quiet room as betrayal inches closer,
• 1:05:39
  and instead of issuing a warning about danger, he gives
• 1:05:43
  a plea for intimacy. Abide in me and I in you.
• 1:05:48
  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it
• 1:05:51
  abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide
• 1:05:55
  in me, John fifteen four. He doesn't say visit me,
• 1:05:59
  He doesn't say about me. He says remain, stay, live,
• 1:06:04
  root your life in me. Why because fruit is not
• 1:06:07
  a product of trying harder. It's a by product of
• 1:06:11
  staying connected. And this is what most modern Christians miss.
• 1:06:16
  We work ourselves to death trying to produce fruit that
• 1:06:20
  only abiding can grow. Some of you are exhausted, and
• 1:06:24
  you think it's because of your job, or your season,
• 1:06:28
  or your relationships, But deep down you know it's because
• 1:06:33
  you've disconnected from the vine. You still go to church,
• 1:06:37
  you still sing the songs, you still nod in small group,
• 1:06:41
  but your heart it's detached, dry, withering, your surviving on
• 1:06:45
  spiritual fumes. And Jesus isn't angry, He's pleading come back abide.
• 1:06:51
  I miss you. Let me ask you something intimate. When
• 1:06:54
  was the last time you were with Jesus? Not just
• 1:06:58
  in theory, but in presents? Not scrolling your phone while
• 1:07:01
  a podcast plays, not reading a devotional with one eye
• 1:07:05
  on the clock, I mean still silent, present, rooted. If
• 1:07:09
  you're honest, have you replaced abiding with activity? Because The
• 1:07:13
  danger isn't that you'll stop serving, it's that you'll start
• 1:07:16
  doing it disconnected. And that's how people burn out in ministry.
• 1:07:20
  That's how marriage is dry up. That's how bitterness grows.
• 1:07:24
  That's how fruit becomes plastic. It looks real, but it
• 1:07:27
  has no life. Jesus said, apart from me, you can
• 1:07:31
  do nothing, not less, not poorly. Nothing. And yet how
• 1:07:35
  often do we try. We try to love our enemies
• 1:07:39
  without abiding. We try to resist sin without abiding. We
• 1:07:43
  try to carry the cross without abiding. We try to forgive, serve, lead,
• 1:07:48
  and endure without abiding, And then we wonder why we're tired.
• 1:07:53
  Let's make this practical and personal. Jesus uses the image
• 1:07:57
  of a vine and branches. Why because fruit doesn't appear instantly.
• 1:08:02
  It takes time, connection, nourishment, and dependence. A branch cannot
• 1:08:08
  survive unless it stays attached. The moment it disconnects, death begins.
• 1:08:14
  So here's your moment of honesty. Are you connected right now?
• 1:08:17
  Let's do a quick heart check. Are you more reactive lately,
• 1:08:21
  more anxious, easily offended, spiritually numb, distant from conviction? These
• 1:08:26
  are signs not of failure, but of disconnection. So how
• 1:08:31
  do you obey this command, not by trying harder, but
• 1:08:34
  by returning. Abiding begins with attention, not multitasking, not performing,
• 1:08:40
  just being. Take a moment right now and breathe, close
• 1:08:43
  your eyes, say this slowly, Jesus come here, and I'm staying.
• 1:08:48
  That's abiding, But it's more than a moment. It's a lifestyle.
• 1:08:52
  Abiding means waking up and inviting him into your thoughts
• 1:08:55
  before the day begins. Abiding means speaking to throughout your commute.
• 1:09:01
  Abiding means putting down the phone and picking up the word,
• 1:09:06
  not as a chore, but as a lifeline. Abiding means
• 1:09:11
  inviting him into your weaknesses, not just when you fall,
• 1:09:15
  but before you do. Abiding means listening, not just talking,
• 1:09:20
  trusting not just asking, staying not just stopping by. It's
• 1:09:26
  what Mary did when she sat at his feet while
• 1:09:28
  Martha was busy doing important things. It's what John did
• 1:09:32
  when he leaned against Jesus chest at the Last Supper.
• 1:09:36
  It's what Enoch did when Scripture says he walked with
• 1:09:40
  God and then was no more. Abiding is not glamorous,
• 1:09:45
  but it's glorious, And it's not always loud, but it's
• 1:09:48
  always deep, and the result fruit love that lasts, Peace
• 1:09:53
  that outlasts the storm, joy that isn't faked, patience that
• 1:09:57
  doesn't snap, Faithfulness that stays when others leave, Gentleness in
• 1:10:02
  a world of outrage, self control in a culture of impulse.
• 1:10:06
  This isn't personality. This is proof. Fruit doesn't lie. If
• 1:10:10
  you've been with Jesus, your life will show it. So
• 1:10:13
  here's your interactive challenge. Set a timer for ten minutes
• 1:10:17
  to day, just ten. Find a quiet place, leave your phone,
• 1:10:22
  don't bring a prayer list, don't even read. Just be
• 1:10:26
  with him. Listen, wait, breathe, say it again, Jesus, I'm
• 1:10:30
  here and I'm staying because that's where life flows from,
• 1:10:34
  that's where identity is formed, that's where fruit begins. And
• 1:10:38
  when the storms come, and they will, you won't be
• 1:10:41
  shaken because your roots aren't in performance or applause or busyness.
• 1:10:45
  They're in Him. So abide, remain, don't just follow Jesus
• 1:10:50
  to day. Live in him, and you will not wither.
• 1:10:53
  You will flourish. Now that your heart is anchored in him.
• 1:10:56
  There's a new urgency because the next command is not
• 1:11:00
  about staying. It's about going go into all the world.
• 1:11:06
  The call to carry what you've received to nations, neighbors,
• 1:11:09
  and the next generation. Let's step into the great commission.
• 1:11:14
  You've remained, you've abided, You've felt the stillness, the presence,
• 1:11:18
  the quiet power of staying near to Jesus, not just
• 1:11:21
  with your words, but with your life. The fruit has
• 1:11:25
  started to form, Love feels deeper, peace lasts longer. You're
• 1:11:30
  no longer rushing, reaching, proving you're just connected. But now
• 1:11:35
  as you rest in Him, something shifts. His heartbeat begins
• 1:11:39
  to move your feet, His burden begins to stir your spirit,
• 1:11:43
  and the whisper you've heard in prayer becomes a command
• 1:11:46
  that cannot be ignored. Go into all the world, Not visit,
• 1:11:52
  not donate, not repost a verse with a hash tag.
• 1:11:55
  Go because abiding in Him always leads to actction, intimacy,
• 1:12:02
  fuel's mission, and real love. His kind of love never
• 1:12:07
  stays silent while the world is dying. This command isn't vague,
• 1:12:11
  it isn't poetic. It's one of the last things Jesus
• 1:12:15
  ever said on earth, and it's one of the first
• 1:12:17
  things most Christians forget. Go therefore, and make disciples of
• 1:12:22
  all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father.
• 1:12:26
  And of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
• 1:12:29
  them to observe all that I have commanded you. Matthew
• 1:12:33
  twenty eight, nineteen to twenty. This is not a suggestion.
• 1:12:37
  This is not a bonus round for pastors and missionaries.
• 1:12:41
  This is the Great commission, and every believer is drafted,
• 1:12:45
  every disciple is deployed. Every delay is disobedience. Let me
• 1:12:51
  ask you something uncomfortable. When was the last time you
• 1:12:55
  told someone about Jesus, not invited them to church, not
• 1:12:59
  really posted a quote, shared the actual gospel with your mouth,
• 1:13:03
  your life, your testimony. If your answer is it's been
• 1:13:07
  a while, su're not alone, but you're also not exempt.
• 1:13:12
  There is a lie that's made its home in the
• 1:13:14
  modern church. It sounds like humility, but it's really fear.
• 1:13:18
  It says, I'm not called to evangelism. I'll just let
• 1:13:23
  my life speak. I'm not good with words, and slowly
• 1:13:27
  the most urgent command Jesus ever gave becomes a footnote
• 1:13:31
  in our spirituality. But let's be clear. The world is
• 1:13:35
  not dying for silence. It's dying for truth. And Jesus
• 1:13:39
  did not say sit and wait, He said go. Let's
• 1:13:42
  go back to the moment picture it. The resurrection has
• 1:13:45
  already happened. Jesus has defeated sin and death. The scars
• 1:13:50
  are still on his hands. The disciples are still trying
• 1:13:54
  to catch up, and on a mountain in Galilee, he
• 1:13:57
  gives them and us their life long assignment. He says,
• 1:14:01
  all authority in heaven and on earth has been given
• 1:14:04
  to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations.
• 1:14:10
  This isn't a gentle invitation. It's a royal decree. Jesus
• 1:14:15
  is king and his command is global. And yet how
• 1:14:19
  many of us have made Christianity about our own growth,
• 1:14:22
  our own healing, our own small spiritual world. We say
• 1:14:27
  we're not ready, but what we mean is I'm not willing.
• 1:14:31
  We say God will send someone, but we forget he
• 1:14:34
  sent us. Let me be blunt. People are dying without
• 1:14:38
  the Gospel, and many of us are still deciding if
• 1:14:41
  it's awkward to bring it up. This isn't about guilt.
• 1:14:44
  This is about urgency. The early Church didn't need conferences
• 1:14:49
  to obey this. They couldn't help it. The Gospel burned
• 1:14:53
  in their bones. The moment Jesus ascended, they went two
• 1:14:58
  cities to synagogues, to prisons, two palaces. Most of them
• 1:15:04
  died doing it. Peter preached, and three thousand were saved.
• 1:15:07
  Philip chased down a chariot, Paul walked into hostile territory.
• 1:15:11
  John wrote from exile, And today we have more tools,
• 1:15:16
  more access, more resources, and less obedience. Why because we've
• 1:15:21
  confused comfort with calling, because we've turned the Great commission
• 1:15:25
  into the great suggestion, because we've lost the urgency of eternity.
• 1:15:31
  Let's make this interactive. Right now, Think of one name
• 1:15:34
  someone in your life who does not know Jesus. Don't
• 1:15:38
  think abstractly, make it real. A friend, a co worker,
• 1:15:41
  a sibling, a neighbor, someone you see almost daily. Now
• 1:15:45
  say their name out loud, and now ask this question.
• 1:15:47
  And if I don't tell them, who will. Silence is
• 1:15:50
  not neutral, Delay is not innocent. That the blood is
• 1:15:54
  not just on the hands of the wicked, it's on
• 1:15:56
  the hands of the silent. Son of Man. I have
• 1:16:00
  made you a watchman. When you see the sword coming
• 1:16:03
  and you do not warn them, their blood I will
• 1:16:06
  require at your hand Ezekiel thirty three six. This is
• 1:16:10
  not hyperbole. This is how God sees it. You are
• 1:16:14
  not just a Christian. You are a watchman, and every
• 1:16:18
  day the sword is swinging through this world depression, suicide, abortion, abuse, identity, confusion,
• 1:16:26
  religious deception. And we have the truth, the only truth
• 1:16:30
  that saves his name is Jesus. And still we hesitate.
• 1:16:35
  But hear me. You don't have to be eloquent. You
• 1:16:38
  don't need a pulpit. You just need to obey. The
• 1:16:41
  Samaritan woman ran back to her village with a broken
• 1:16:45
  reputation and a half baked testimony. All she said was,
• 1:16:50
  come see a man who told me everything I ever did,
• 1:16:54
  and revival broke out. You don't need perfection, you just
• 1:16:58
  need passion and urgency and love. Because the gospel isn't
• 1:17:03
  just information. It's an invitation to escape judgment and enter joy,
• 1:17:09
  and God chose you to deliver it. So here's your challenge.
• 1:17:13
  Who are you going to tell this week? Don't wait
• 1:17:15
  for a perfect moment, make the moment. Invite someone to coffee,
• 1:17:19
  ask them about their story, share what Jesus did for you.
• 1:17:24
  Tell the truth even if your voice shakes, because their
• 1:17:28
  eternity might depend on your obedience. And if that feels overwhelming, good,
• 1:17:33
  that means your taking it seriously. But don't let fear
• 1:17:37
  stop you. Jesus didn't send you alone. Surely I am
• 1:17:40
  with you always, even to the end of the age
• 1:17:43
  Matthew twenty eight twenty. He is with you in the
• 1:17:46
  awkward conversation, he is with you when you stumble over
• 1:17:49
  your words, he is with you when you feel unqualified,
• 1:17:53
  and he's smiling when you choose obedience over comfort. So go,
• 1:17:58
  go boldly, Go, simply, Go with tears in your eyes
• 1:18:01
  and fire in your bones. Go until the nations know,
• 1:18:05
  Go until your neighbors know, Go until your own household knows.
• 1:18:09
  You are the scent ones. The harvest is ready, and
• 1:18:12
  the king has given his command. Now that you've stepped
• 1:18:15
  into your calling, there's one more command Jesus gives, not
• 1:18:19
  for the crowds, but for his closest friends. Watch and
• 1:18:22
  pray the end time, command, the midnight oil, the urgent discipline.
• 1:18:27
  We've traded for distraction. You felt it, didn't you. That's stirring,
• 1:18:31
  that heat rising in your chest as you remembered a name,
• 1:18:35
  a face, someone who still walks in darkness while you
• 1:18:38
  carry the light. The weight of the great commission has
• 1:18:42
  settled on you like armor, and suddenly the gospel is
• 1:18:45
  no longer a distant mission, but a daily assignment. You're
• 1:18:49
  not waiting for a pulpit, you are the pulpit. But
• 1:18:52
  even as you prepare to go, Jesus issues one more command.
• 1:18:57
  It's quieter, more hidden, but it may be the most
• 1:19:00
  urgent of all. Watch and pray. It sounds simple, gentle, even,
• 1:19:08
  but make no mistake, this command is wrapped in fire,
• 1:19:13
  because it's not just about private devotion. It's about survival,
• 1:19:17
  not just physical survival, but spiritual alertness in an hour
• 1:19:22
  when most of the churches asleep. This is Jesus' final
• 1:19:25
  hour instruction, not to the lost, but to the faithful,
• 1:19:29
  not to the crowds, but to the few. And he
• 1:19:32
  isn't suggesting prayer. He's pleading stay awake. Let's go back
• 1:19:37
  to the garden. Gethsemone. The smell of olive trees in
• 1:19:41
  the night air, moonlight flickering through twisted branches. Jesus is sweating, blood,
• 1:19:48
  trembling under the weight of what's about to unfold. He
• 1:19:51
  knows the betrayal is coming, the whip, the cross, the
• 1:19:57
  silence of his father, and he turns to his closest friends,
• 1:20:01
  those who claimed they'd die for him, and says something
• 1:20:05
  so human, so raw. My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow
• 1:20:09
  to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch
• 1:20:13
  with me, Matthew twenty six thirty eight. And what happens?
• 1:20:17
  They sleep not once, three times while Jesus cries out alone,
• 1:20:22
  and then the betrayer arrives, the mob, the swords, and
• 1:20:27
  it's too late. This isn't just history, this is prophecy.
• 1:20:30
  The church is back in the garden right now, and
• 1:20:33
  most of us are asleep again. We're scrolling, we're binging,
• 1:20:38
  we're numbing out. We're caught up in politics, in comforts,
• 1:20:41
  in fake fires that distract us from the real one coming.
• 1:20:45
  And Jesus is still whispering. Could you not watch with
• 1:20:49
  me for one hour? Let me ask you. Are you
• 1:20:51
  awake not physically spiritually? Do you sense the urgency of
• 1:20:55
  the hour? Do you discern the battles raging in the unseen?
• 1:21:00
  Do you pray like your family depends on it, like
• 1:21:02
  your city is on the edge, like heaven and Hell
• 1:21:05
  are one choice away? Or are you sleepwarking? There's a
• 1:21:09
  phrase Jesus repeats over and over in the Gospels, especially
• 1:21:12
  when speaking of the last days. Be alert, watch, stay awake,
• 1:21:18
  These aren't metaphors. They're warnings, and they're not for unbelievers,
• 1:21:21
  They're for disciples. Because here's the dangerous truth. You can
• 1:21:25
  follow Jesus and still fall asleep. You can serve, you
• 1:21:30
  can give, you can preach it, you can lead and
• 1:21:33
  still be asleep on the inside. How do you know
• 1:21:36
  if you are? Let's make it interactive. Do you have
• 1:21:38
  a hunger for his presence or just his benefits? Do
• 1:21:42
  you hear his voice regularly or only in emergencies? Do
• 1:21:47
  you crave the word or have you replaced it with
• 1:21:50
  YouTube sermons? Do you live with a sense of spiritual
• 1:21:53
  urgency or does eternity feel like theory? If you answered
• 1:21:58
  with a lump in your throat, you're not condemned your
• 1:22:01
  being woken up because the hour is late. And look around,
• 1:22:05
  wars and rumors of wars, nations, rising, earth, groaning, truth
• 1:22:10
  collapsing a families, fragmenting, false prophets, multiplying, the love of many,
• 1:22:15
  growing cold sound familiar. Jesus wand of this not to
• 1:22:20
  scare us, but to prepare us. And his solution wasn't
• 1:22:24
  stockpiling or survivalism. It was watch and pray, because prayer
• 1:22:30
  is warfare, and watching isn't passive. It's prophetic. To watch
• 1:22:34
  is to discern. To pray is to intervene. When you
• 1:22:38
  watch and pray, you break spiritual fog off your family.
• 1:22:41
  You disrupt the enemy's plans before they manifest. You hear
• 1:22:45
  God's voice before the news breaks. You live ready, not reactive.
• 1:22:50
  Jesus says, watch and pray, so that you will not
• 1:22:53
  fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh
• 1:22:58
  is weak. Matthew twenty six, forty one. That's not an opinion,
• 1:23:03
  that's a diagnosis. Your spirit is willing, but your flesh
• 1:23:08
  is sleepy, and the only way to conquer it is
• 1:23:12
  to watch and pray. So how do you obey this command?
• 1:23:16
  Start with one hour? Not an obligation and appointment. Jesus
• 1:23:20
  asked for it in gathsemone. Could you not watch with
• 1:23:23
  me for one hour? Make it practical. Choose a time,
• 1:23:28
  a place, a posture, turn off your phone, open the word,
• 1:23:32
  pray in the spirit. Weep, if you must groan, if
• 1:23:36
  you must worship into seed. Wait. This is not for
• 1:23:40
  your performance, this is your oil. Remember the parable of
• 1:23:44
  the ten virgins in Matthew twenty five all had lamps.
• 1:23:49
  All were waiting for the bridegroom, but only five had oil.
• 1:23:55
  Only five were ready when he came. The rest were
• 1:23:59
  locked out, not because they hated Jesus, but because they
• 1:24:03
  weren't awake. Do you have oil? Prayer isn't just conversation,
• 1:24:08
  it's consecration. It's staying filled, staying sensitive, staying ready. So
• 1:24:14
  here's your challenge. Set a watch this week to night.
• 1:24:17
  Every night, take thirty minutes or an hour, not just
• 1:24:21
  to ask things, but to be with him, to fight,
• 1:24:24
  to listen, to awaken. If you're a parent, pray over
• 1:24:27
  your children. If you're a student, pray over your campus.
• 1:24:31
  If you're a leader, pray over your church. If you're broken,
• 1:24:34
  pray for fire to return. Because the enemy isn't sleeping,
• 1:24:39
  Hell isn't resting. Why should we. The world doesn't need
• 1:24:43
  a louder church, It needs a wider awake church. Jesus
• 1:24:46
  is coming back for those who watch. So rise up
• 1:24:49
  and wipe the sleep from your eyes, shake off the
• 1:24:52
  spiritual slumber. Ask the Holy Spirit to wake you body,
• 1:24:55
  soul and spirit. The midnight cry is coming, and only
• 1:24:59
  those who are watching will recognize his voice. Now, after
• 1:25:02
  all the commands after all, the cause to go, die, pray, forgive, love,
• 1:25:08
  and remain. Jesus leaves us with one final test, a
• 1:25:14
  line so terrifying it shakes even the most seasoned believer.
• 1:25:18
  If you love me, keep my commandments the summary, the
• 1:25:21
  final measure, the eternal line between knowing him and just
• 1:25:26
  knowing about him. You've kept watch, You've felt the weight
• 1:25:30
  of spiritual sleep lifting from your soul, and perhaps for
• 1:25:34
  the first time, you've realized what it truly means to
• 1:25:37
  be awake in the spirit, not just emotionally stirred, but alert, intentional,
• 1:25:44
  burning with oil while others burn out. And just when
• 1:25:47
  you think the flame is enough, Jesus speaks the final word,
• 1:25:52
  a line not whispered but thundered across eternity, the line
• 1:25:57
  that separates religious activity from actual relationship. Not did you pray,
• 1:26:03
  not did you serve? Not did you feel moved? But this,
• 1:26:07
  If you love me, you will keep my commandments. John
• 1:26:12
  fourteen fifteen. He didn't say, if you love me, sing
• 1:26:15
  to me. He didn't say, if you love me, cry
• 1:26:18
  in church. He didn't say, if you love me, agree
• 1:26:21
  with me. He said, keep my commandments, And in that
• 1:26:24
  sentence the entire foundation of modern Christianity shakes because Jesus
• 1:26:30
  does not measure love the way we do. We measure
• 1:26:34
  by emotion. He measures by obedience. We say I feel
• 1:26:38
  close to God? He asks, are you obeying me? We say,
• 1:26:44
  I love Jesus with all my heart. He replies, then
• 1:26:47
  why do you ignore what I said? And suddenly the
• 1:26:51
  words that once felt like comfort become a confrontation. Let
• 1:26:55
  me ask you, and I mean this in the most intimate,
• 1:26:58
  gut wrenching way, do you really love him? Not in theory,
• 1:27:02
  not in sentiment. Do you love him enough as to obey?
• 1:27:06
  Obedience is not legalism. It is proof of love, not perfection,
• 1:27:11
  but surrender. Jesus didn't die to make you a fan.
• 1:27:15
  He died to make you a follower, and followers obey.
• 1:27:19
  Let's go back to the room where he said it
• 1:27:22
  the last supper. Darkness outside Judas already gone. The betrayal
• 1:27:27
  has begun. Time is running out, and Jesus leans in,
• 1:27:33
  not to preach to the masses, but to speak to
• 1:27:36
  his friends. He could have said anything, but he anchors
• 1:27:40
  his final teaching on this. If you love me, keep
• 1:27:44
  my commands. And again he says, whoever has my commands
• 1:27:48
  and keeps them. Is the one who loves me John
• 1:27:52
  fourteen twenty one. And again, any one who does not
• 1:27:56
  love me will not obey my teaching John fourteen twenty four.
• 1:28:02
  Do you hear it now? He's not being repetitive, He's
• 1:28:05
  being clear. Because Jesus knew a day was coming when
• 1:28:09
  people would say I love God while living in complete rebellion,
• 1:28:15
  A day when the church would sing about surrender but
• 1:28:19
  refuse submission, A day when emotional highs would replace holy
• 1:28:23
  lives and friends. We are living in that day. We
• 1:28:27
  have churches filled with raised hands and disobedient hearts, people
• 1:28:31
  posting verses while ignoring his voice, worship without obedience, fire
• 1:28:36
  without fruit, zeal without repentance. And Jesus is saying again
• 1:28:42
  to you, if you love me, keep my commands. Let's
• 1:28:46
  make this painfully practical. Do you love him enough to
• 1:28:49
  forgive the one who hurt you, to end the relationship
• 1:28:53
  he told you to walk away from, to delete the
• 1:28:56
  hidden account, To stay when you want to run, to
• 1:28:59
  speak when you want to stay silent, To give when
• 1:29:02
  no one sees it, To repent when it costs everything,
• 1:29:05
  not when it's easy, not when it's convenient. When it hurts,
• 1:29:09
  when it bleeds, when it breaks you. That's love. Because
• 1:29:12
  Jesus didn't just obey when it was easy. He obeyed
• 1:29:16
  all the way to the cross. He humbled himself by
• 1:29:19
  becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross Philippians
• 1:29:23
  two eight. And now he turns to you, not with guilt,
• 1:29:28
  not with manipulation, but with this sacred invitation. If you
• 1:29:32
  love me, show me, not to earn salvation, not to
• 1:29:36
  prove your worth, but because love always obeys parents. You
• 1:29:40
  don't feel loved when your kids say I love you
• 1:29:43
  while ignoring your voice. Spouses. You don't feel loved when
• 1:29:47
  you're praise publicly but disrespected privately. Why would Jesus feel
• 1:29:51
  any different. This is not about behavior, This is about intimacy.
• 1:29:56
  Obedience is not the enemy of grace. It's the fruit
• 1:30:00
  of grace. When you obey Jesus, you're saying, I trust
• 1:30:04
  you more than I trust myself. I trust your word
• 1:30:08
  more than my feelings. I trust your timing more than
• 1:30:11
  my plans. That's worship, that's love, that's relationship. Let's go deeper.
• 1:30:16
  In Matthew seven, Jesus gives a warning that should shake
• 1:30:20
  every church building to its foundation. Not every one who
• 1:30:24
  says to me, Lord Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
• 1:30:28
  but only the one who does the will of my Father,
• 1:30:31
  who is in heaven. Matthew seven twenty one. Did you
• 1:30:35
  catch that? They called him lord, They did miracles, they prophesied,
• 1:30:39
  they cast out demons, and he still said, I never
• 1:30:42
  knew you. Why because they didn't obey as they had power,
• 1:30:47
  but no intimacy, gifts but no surrender, ministry but no master.
• 1:30:51
  And Jesus is warning us it's possible to be publicly
• 1:30:55
  spiritual and privately rebellious. So here's the final confrontation. Do
• 1:31:00
  you obey Jesus when no one is watching? In your finances,
• 1:31:05
  in your sexuality, in your bitterness, in your calling, in
• 1:31:09
  your silence? Is he Lord or just a label? Let's
• 1:31:12
  make this interactive right now, Ask the Holy Spirit? Where
• 1:31:16
  am I saying I love you but refusing to obey you?
• 1:31:21
  Write it down, be specific, then pray this Jesus. I
• 1:31:25
  don't want to just feel close. I want to be close.
• 1:31:28
  I want to obey even when it hurts, even when
• 1:31:31
  it costs me. I surrender not just in words, but
• 1:31:35
  in action. I love you, Help me obey you and
• 1:31:39
  now walk it out, to take the step, make the call,
• 1:31:42
  end the compromise, rebuild the altar. Because if you obey,
• 1:31:46
  he promises this, the one who loves me will be
• 1:31:49
  loved by my father, and I too will love them
• 1:31:53
  and show myself to them John fourteen twenty one. Do
• 1:31:56
  you see it? Obedience is not control, its access. It's
• 1:32:01
  how he reveals himself. It's how intimacy deepens. It's how
• 1:32:06
  revival begins, not in a crowd, but in a surrendered heart.
• 1:32:10
  A So, yes, it's terrifying, Yes it's holy, but it's
• 1:32:13
  also the most beautiful invitation you'll ever receive. If you
• 1:32:17
  love me, keep my commands. If you made it to
• 1:32:20
  the end of this teaching on the Commands of Jesus,
• 1:32:23
  thank you. It means you're not just curious, you're hungry
• 1:32:27
  for the truth, and that's rare. Our hope is that
• 1:32:30
  this didn't just inform you, but awaken something inside you,
• 1:32:35
  a reminder, a warning, or maybe an invitation back to God.
• 1:32:39
  If this blessed you know, there's more waiting, ad free,
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  distraction free on our website. Every book of the Bible,
• 1:32:46
  every prophecy, every teaching organized to walk you through the Word,
• 1:32:51
  and if you prefer to read or study offline, our
• 1:32:54
  e books were made for that. Some of our most
• 1:32:57
  powerful videos are now helping people go deeper in written form.
• 1:33:01
  We're not here to go viral. We're here to go deeper.
• 1:33:05
  And if that's your heart too, you're part of this
• 1:33:07
  family you always have been. You can support what we're
• 1:33:11
  doing by sharing this video, subscribing, or exploring the links below.
• 1:33:15
  Every clique helps keep the Word alive and helps someone
• 1:33:18
  else find what you just did. May God speak to
• 1:33:22
  you even after this video ends. May you carry what
• 1:33:25
  you've learned into your day, your family, your world. And
• 1:33:29
  may you never forget He's still speaking. You're still called.
• 1:33:33
  The story isn't over. This is deep Bible stories, where
• 1:33:38
  the Word speaks deeper.