All right, well hey guys, welcome across all of our locations today. Hey brand new service times. I want to celebrate this. We had over 400 people at the eight o'clock service at the Ridge this morning, which means there's room here.
So hey, we want to let y'all know that we have that we're man, if you're at the ridge today, that the eight o'clock service, man, we're in for it. We're committed to it. We're not kind of seeing how it goes.
So it's like, man, if you still can be one that maybe thinks about making a move to try to open up seats as we move forward, that'd be awesome. I also want to celebrate this, guys. You know, we had summer studies this summer and some of them are still going on. But we had a goal of seeing 300 leaders lead summer studies and we wanted to see 600 new people in them.
Okay, so that's not total. We knew there was going to be a lot more people than that in the groups, but we wanted 600 new people that were not in a Mercy Hill community group. Guys, you absolutely crushed it. These numbers are only going to go up because the summer studies are still going on. But I'll just tell y'all: hey, as of right now, 373 leaders, 662 brand new people that were in a summer study this summer.
So, man, we praise God for that. And you guys just crushed it, man. I don't know what else to say. We're really excited about it because it was a real charge from our leadership for the church. Hey, you take them, you go into your community, whether that's your workplace, your neighborhood, whatever.
And you guys just went and did it, man. And man, we're just so pumped about that. And those new people, who knows? Maybe they get into Christian community for the first time. Maybe some of them are going to jump in now to a community group.
I want to give you a quick announcement. Our regroup, which is how we sign up for groups, starts August 27th. But if you are in a summer study, we're backing that up for you, VIP, okay? We're backing that up for you to August 20th.
So if you're in a summer study, if you're one of those new people that's in a summer study, you get total access to like, man, where are the groups, what nights of the week, all that. You're going to be able to get in there early and do that.
So that's going to open on the 20th.
So take advantage of that. All right. Hey, we're going to be in Proverbs 23 today. And, man, we're going to talk about drunkenness and gluttony.
Okay.
So this is going to be an interesting sermon. All right. I think the people this morning, when they got here at 8 o'clock and I said, hey, we're starting with drunkenness and gluttony, they were a little bit like, I'm not sure I'm up awake enough for this, okay? But it's going to be great, I think. And man, I pray that we're going to see some cool stuff come out of this sermon.
But hey, if you're new with us, it's good for you to know we're in a series called Built. And what we're doing for five weeks, especially coming out of the summer studies where we just read the book, Stand Firm and Act Like Men, what we're actually going to do is say, hey, for five weeks, let me talk about some things that are not unique only to men, but they are some things where over time me and our other pastors have seen a lot of men fail in these areas. And what we're talking about is: Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, he said, Hey, a wise man hears my word and does it. That's like building on the rock. If you hear my word and don't do it, or don't hear my word and do it, like he says in Matthew 7:26, everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them.
It's like building your life on the sand. Every man is building, man. We're building a life. We're building a future. We're building a family.
We're building a career. Man, we're trying to build where we're going to be in the next five years, 10 years, where that wife and those children that are so dependent upon us, man, to build a life for them. Like, we're all building. Are we building on a foundation that starts with hearing and obeying? Because that's the rock.
That's the foundation that will last through the storm.
So when we were on sabbatical, One of the funnest things we got to do, I got to do personally, was for a month of the sabbatical, man, I just worked with my hands.
Okay, so it was outside every day. It was chainsaws, it was skid steers, it was just you know, tractor. It was all the work, and I had all these things I wanted to do. One of the things I want to do is build a new dog lot for our hunting dogs. And I got a chance to do it with my dad.
It was super fun. The next picture was cool. It was three generations, all right, getting to work on this stuff. But if you notice in the picture, you can see even behind my dad right there, those things are built on a concrete pad. Let me tell you something about these dog kennels, okay?
Over half the cost. And over half of the time spent on the whole project was on one thing. You know what it was? It was on that foundation. Because if my grandkids are gonna be out there playing with hunting dog puppies one day, granddogs, okay, if they're gonna be out there 20 years from now, It's going to be because the foundation of that thing was right.
And it sat on something that was hard and doesn't move. And that's what we're talking about in this idea of built. There are things, men, or the Bible tells us: hey, it seems like there's dangers. Where the world is gonna come in, you have an enemy that seeks to kill, steal, and destroy. He wants to whisper to you: hey, come build on the sand.
In a few different areas, right? We talked, we're going to be hitting some different areas as we go. Man, we talked about anger last week. Hey, this week we're talking about overindulgence. All right, so let's just hit it straight on.
Godly friendships. Godly friendships fortify us against overindulgence. This is really two sermons in one sermon.
Okay.
One part of the sermon we're going to see in Proverbs 23 is gluttony and drunkenness. And I'm going to expand that to talk about other areas of overindulgence.
Okay.
Man, it could be a lack of sleep because I'm overindulging on watching Netflix till one in the morning, or it could be caffeine, or it could be nicotine pouches, okay? Or it could be any of this stuff. That you look at men, and it's like, well, I'm not putting that thing in a wrong or right category. I'm putting the way I handle it in a wrong or a right category, right? Like there's a way to handle it the right way, and there's a way to handle it in a way that becomes dangerous because it's excessive.
It's overindulgence. It's something that's like, man, this could be used in moderation, but instead it's being used in an excessive way and it might be killing you. That's one part of the sermon. The other part of the sermon is very simple. The people we are around influence us way more than we want to admit.
And if we have friends that are going that route, we're going to probably go that route. And if we have friends that are going to kind of go a different route in terms of moderation and godly enjoyment, then that's probably the way that we're going to go. Proverbs 13:20 says it like this: Whoever walks with the wise become wise. How do we tell this to our kids? How many of y'all have said this?
Show me your friends, I'll show you your future, right? If you're wise, walk with the wise, become wise. But it says, the companion of fools will suffer harm. All right, so we're going to go that way. Ladies, listen to me, wives, listen to me.
If the closest friendships you have Are people who love to get around a table and gossip and complain about their husband? Where do you think that's going to take you? That's just what that's just what the scriptures are saying. All right, nobody in here is going to understand this except for the high school students, but I'm going to tell you: if you hang out with pogues, you become a pogue.
Okay, I know nobody knows that except for them, but they know that. Guys, if you are one who your closest friendships, guys are with people who will not control their appetite. What do you think is going to happen with you? Man, it is hard to have the right appetite if you got the wrong friends. They influence you in so many ways.
Guys, this fall is going to blink. It's going to be over. We're going to be rolling into 2027. Who are we going to be?
Some of who we're going to be is going to be determined by the people that we are around. All right. So, Proverbs 23 says this: verse 19: Hear, my son, and be wise. And direct your heart in the way. Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat.
For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags. Proverbs 23 starts. Proverbs 23, 19 starts in the same way that a lot of Proverbs, a lot of verses in Proverbs start, where it says this: Hear, my son. Hear, okay? We want to talk about hearing and being wise.
If we're going to be a people whose lives are characterized by moderation and godly enjoyment rather than over excess and sin. That we need to hear and be wise, okay? And hearing is the preordained path to wisdom, it's not seeing. It's not doing, it's not ceremony. It is hearing.
Why does the Bible always talk about hearing? Incline your ear. What did Jesus say? Give them ears to hear. Proverbs 1:5, let the wise hear and increase their learning.
Proverbs 8:33, hear instruction and be wise. Proverbs 13:1, a wise son hears his father. There's two paths in the book of Proverbs: wisdom and foolishness. The the fool Sees with his own eyes and thinks, man, I got it all together. The wise person, Proverbs 12, 15 says, is a man who listens to advice.
There is a heart posture when it comes to inclining the ear. And that's what I just want to try to ask us right now: is like, hey, there are many times, some of you, and at our campus as well, you may come listen to a sermon every week. Do you hear? what the word of the Lord is trying to get you to s to hear. You're listening, but do you hear, right?
Now, I wonder, you know, some of us, maybe we sit down and read, but what's the posture of our heart? Are we actually going to hear and be changed? Because that's what we got to talk about today. I mean, we got to talk about the ways that we're going to take steps in changing friendships and habits around food and drink. Can you get more personal than that?
That we will never change in those things if we have a heart posture like a little kid. It's got their fingers in their ears. You know, you've seen this.
So when I was in school, there was a movie that came out that was literally the dumbest movie that's ever been made. It was even named that. It was named Dumb and Dumber. You can't get dumber. Than that movie.
And the two guys in the movie are so dumb that they're playing tag in the front seat of a box truck that's just a bench seat. Tag, you're it. No, tag, you're it. Tiger it, tiger it. To make the game more fun, they've made up all these stupid rules about the game.
Okay, so they're having the game attack. Harry says, tag your it. Lloyd says, tag your it. Harry says, tag your it. Quitsies, no anti-Quitsies, no startseys.
Lloyd says, you can't do that. Harry says can too. Lloyd says cannot stamped it. Harry says, Ken Tu double-stamped it. No erases, Lloyd says cannot triple-stamped it.
No erases, touch blue, make it true. Harry says, no, no, you can't triple stamp a double stamp, Lloyd. You can't triple stamp a double stamp, Lloyd.
Now, some of you guys remember this part of the movie was so stupid.
Well, what's Lloyd doing the whole time when Harry's yelling at him, you can't triple stamp a double stamp? He's got his hands and his ears going, la la la la la la la. I'm not going to hear what you're saying. Little kids do that. You guys have heard or seen people do that.
Here's what, that's funny. What's not funny is coming to hear a sermon every single week when the posture of your heart is la la la la la. Because that's not going to change anything. What is the posture of our hearts when it comes to hearing the word of God? Because I'm going to tell you what the posture should be.
There should be an intensity. Edge of my seat. I'm going to sit down in the morning and read the Bible, and no, my phone is not in the same room. No, the TV is not on in the background. The kids are not bothering me right now.
Like, you know, when you have your Bible, do our children, even when they're young, do they feel like they have complete access to you even in that moment? They shouldn't. It it sh it should be like it should be like, hey, bud. You see what I'm doing right now. We'll talk about that in a minute.
Right, because this is very important. Same thing when you hear a sermon. You know, when we hear, well, I heard a guy say it like this: when we're listening to a sermon or reading the word of God, we should be listening for it like we're listening to someone read their will to us. You know what happens if somebody reads your will to you? If you get invited in, law office, hey, we're reading this person's will.
Well, I'm there. I must be in the will. I'm listening for my name and what's there for me. That's how we should be listening to the word of God. Hey.
Lord, my heart's wide open. What part of this do you have my name on? What part of this is for me to take and chew on and change today? That's hearing, and that's the path to wisdom. Hear, my son, it says in verse 19, and be wise.
Hear and be wise. There is no wisdom without hearing, but wisdom and hearing are not the same thing. One leads to the other, all right? We have a heart posture that says, I want to hear. Wisdom is this idea.
Wisdom is saying, God, I want to do life by your design. That's what wisdom is. We've been using that as a definition at Merci Hill for a long time. Wisdom is doing life by God's design. It's hearing what God wants.
And then starting with a reverential awe. How many of you guys have ever heard the verse, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom? You know what that means, right? Fear, reverential awe. having a heart posture that says, God, I didn't create this world.
You created it. You've shown us what human flourishing can look like inside of it by your wisdom. I want to live that way. I want to be involved in your wisdom. I want to live by your design.
Now, when that's our heart posture, then we have an opportunity finally to hear something, even though it's hard, like this. Do not be among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat. It says don't be among them. I love that language, among them. Don't throw your lot in with them.
Man, you don't be the one that is a little part of the whole that is called drunkard and glutton. That whole class, you don't be among them. You don't throw your lot in with them. You don't be counted as one of them. Why?
Because they will lead you in this way. For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags. Guys, I think that it's important for us to talk about excess and to talk about. Man, overdoing it in a lot of different areas of our life today. I think we can mention some things, but we can't move directly to that.
The Bible has given us these two big examples for a reason. Because these are two very dangerous things. Danger doesn't mean bad. A gun is dangerous, doesn't mean it's bad. Fireworks are dangerous.
Doesn't mean they're bad. But there is a warning here. Specifically about food and drink, because they will take you to what is bad, which is drunkenness and gluttony, if we aren't handling them the right way. The specific warning about overeating and overdrinking should awaken us to the danger. And men, listen to me, this is not isolated.
The Bible talks about these things more than we want to admit. Yeah, I feel like, especially when it comes to eating and drinking, maybe in our culture we understand overdrinking to be a moral issue. We would say that's a morality. We don't think about overeating that way, though, not in our culture. We look at it like this, we're like, overdrinking, moral.
overeating, well that's a health issue. The Bible don't look at it like that. The Bible sees both of these things, actually literally puts them in the same verse.
Okay? It sees overdrinking, overeating as both moral issues. And it's not the only place that it does this. Proverbs 20, verse 1: wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging. And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Ephesians 5:18, do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. Philippians 3:18 and 19, for many walk as enemies of the cross. Their God is their belly.
Okay, you know, what does it say in Proverbs 25, 16? If you have found honey, only eat enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it up. These are, it's not a sin issue over here, drunkenness, a health issue over here in terms of overeating. They are both health issues, obviously, but they're both moral issues as well. There's something that is going on with overconsumption that puts us in this class of drunkard and glutton that the Bible is calling us away from.
Now, here's the deal, and I know this, okay? This is where, this is where this thing starts to get into us a little bit. And some of you in here right now, some of us in our campuses might be saying, like, man, I don't know that I signed up to come to church and hear about this. I mean, this is like, this is like you're stepping on, you know, you're getting pretty close. You're talking about the way people eat.
You're talking about the way people drink. You're talking about other ways, like, what are your habits around caffeine? What are your habits around sleep? I mean, your phone, all of this stuff. And you're like, dude, this stuff's getting pretty personal to me.
One of the bedrock ministry philosophy things you will always get out of Mercy Hill is this: the Bible doesn't care about your personal space. They don't care. The Bible is written from a loving father. Who says, man, if I got to rattle the cage to see flourishing in your life. We understand that food and drink can be dangerous, and the Bible is just calling that out.
And maybe it is one of those areas that has got you today. I mean, did you let's think about it. Did you go into COVID with a little bit of a problem? and came out with an addiction. And now it's five years later, and it's like, man, I still haven't shaken this stuff.
Guys, when it comes to eating, are we using an excuse of our job or the stress of life to just kind of abandon what God has for us in these things, nutritious food, in the right amounts, at the right times? And instead, we're just like, dude, my life, grogginess and soreness. I don't even remember what it's like to feel good because this is just my everyday reality. I have just waved the white flag. In terms of the way that I'm treating and handling my body.
And I know a lot of us, man, it's it's uh It could be overindulgence on our phone. It could be a hobby that has just gone way too crazy. I mean, listen, ladies, I'm not letting you off the hook how many of them Diet Cooks are we drinking in a day, okay? They call them fridge sigs for a reason, all right? I mean, it's like, and here's the thing I don't want you to think.
I'm not drawing the line for us today on what you should or should. That's not the point. The point is, there's some wisdom in there about handling something with moderation and godly enjoyment. And then there's a whole other thing that is getting into gluttony and drunkenness and overconsumption. Which one of those two things, I'm not here to draw a line.
Like what we have to do as believers in wisdom is realize there is an overconsumption issue. And that's an issue that I want to stay way away from because The Lord has designed this life in a certain way, and my body flourishes in this way, and my testimony flourishes in this way. God is honored when I treat these things in this way, and that's what we want to do. And I think some of us, guys, listen, I think some of us are just like, man, I don't want to ever admit that I've ever had a problem in these areas, or these things are so taboo to talk about. We have got to get away from that.
You know, I would tell you in front of all these campuses, thousands of people, there have been times in my life where I've mishandled both of these. There have been times in my life where I overconsumed.
Now if we can't even say that Then we're never gonna be able to repent of that, right? And some of us are gonna need to be able to say that because the pattern of life right now is not like, oh, back in college, or there was a time when I, instead, it's just like, dude, this is just. My life is overconsuming, and today is a day in God's kindness to wake us up from that. And sometimes we just make a decision to suspend all judgment around some of these things. I told you guys this before, a few months ago, Anna, I come home.
Now, Anna cooks at night, and she keeps it clean, man. It's gonna be like a hunk of chicken and a vegetable, and that's dinner. And that's great. That's what we like. I get home this one night, and for whatever reason, man, it's the biggest pot of fettuccine Alfredo you've ever seen in your life.
I ain't talking about protein noodles, okay? We're talking about just straight up. Just, I don't know why, it was just there. And I just made the conscious decision. I'm like, dude, I'm going hard tonight, okay?
Why? I don't know. And then it's like, I'm going to tell you. What I did to Alfredo. Yeah.
It was anything but moderate. And we all laugh about that, and it is kind of funny, but at the same time, it's like, man. I mean, is that, you know, and I don't man, am I looking back on that? Is that wrong one time? Man, I'm not trying to get into that.
What I'm saying is. That a pattern, a pattern of like saying, hey man. I'm just kind of throwing caution to the wind. I mean, even, dude, I'll tell you one thing that's pretty convicting. I don't want any show of hands here, but how many of us have said something along the lines of like, oh, well, calories don't count on vacation or something like that?
I mean, or even alcohol. It's like, man, well, that stuff doesn't really. And it's just like. We've got to understand the Bible has given us moderation and godly enjoyment as a pattern for a reason.
Okay, so maybe today we need to actually just Repent and break some of that bondage that is on us right now over some of these issues. But of course, the biggest determiner of where we're going to go in this stuff, a lot of ways, is who we're around. And that's what we talked about earlier. And that's what it says in verse 20: Be not among drunkards and among gluttonous eaters of meat. For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.
One super modern translation that tries to get everything to kind of pop for you, it's called the message. It basically says, Don't be among the glutton and the drunkard, because they're going to end up on skid row. It's just like, man, the end of that life is a place you don't want to go. And so, if the end of that life is a place you don't want to go, the fastest, surefire way to make sure you don't get there is don't surround yourself with those types of people. And I ain't talking about not being on mission to them.
I'm not talking about not praying for people. I'm not talking about not sharing the gospel with people. I'm talking about those people that are the closest and they will influence you in your life. Those seats in your life are not for the drunkard and the glutton. Those seats in your life are for people who are going to push you to the mission.
You know why? Friendship is spiritual, man. Friendship, you choose your friends. You don't get to choose your mom and daddy. You don't choose your kids.
You don't choose your brother or sister. You choose your friends. And when you bring someone into your life, They better be a person who is going to have an influence on you that is going to take you to where God wants you to be in five or ten years. I'm not talking about not having second-tier, third-tier friendships of people that we're doing ministry for and with. That's not what I'm saying.
The closest people in your life with the most influence and most intimate knowledge, yes, do not be unequally yoked with people that do not share the same spirit and the same brotherhood and sisterhood as we do. Friends form you.
Okay, they are influential in your life. It guys If the closest people in your life wear a Fitbit or a whoop and they get up early in the morning and they care about where their career is in the next five years and they're moderate in terms of the way that they eat and drink and they care about their family and they, where do you think you're going to be in five years if that's the closest to you? If the people that you're like, that's my ride or die type people, okay, if they're that way, where do you think it's going to take you?
Well, flip side, you know, and I think about our student ministry about to kick off. I think about our awesome college students, probably have some of them right now at Clifton and High Point and maybe here that are just getting back on campus, and freshmen are moving in. It's like you get to choose right now who you're around. and family groups and putting people in your life. If that's going to be that type of person, you're going to go that way.
But men, if your friends are like, dude, They've never exercised in the last 20 years. They drink too much every single day. They never care about what they eat. They stay up till 1 o'clock or 2 o'clock in the morning, and they're tired, and they're sore and they're groggy. You're going to look like that too.
Give it enough time. And to think, I'm going to bring those people into my inner circle and I'm going to influence them. That's pretty much like a Messiah complex. To not realize that they're going to have an influence on you. You know, Jesus is the one that can come in among all of us and change us.
But you and I, we get in among all the drunkards and the gluttons. Guess which way we're going to go? This is why we don't. Plant churches with people by themselves. Like when we send a team, we want to send a team of 20 or 30.
Because they're going to need to have inner close working friendships because the enemy is going to come after them. And they're gonna need people in their life to influence them in the right way. Man, I remember this pastor I met in Montana one time. He had gone to the Indian Reservation to reach Native Americans and moved his life and was planted or was pastoring a church on an Indian reservation. Within he went by himself within two years He's sitting in a sweat lodge smoking peyote.
The Indian said he came to reach us, we reached him. That's what happens when you fill your life with people who are going in a different way. We end up not on the same path as them, or we end up on the same path as them. One of our residents said it like this: he moved to go play college basketball. He wasn't intentional to get enough Christian friends around him and church and all that.
And he said, Man, after a couple months, I realized all these influences around me were making me think differently. That's what he said exactly. My thoughts were different. And that's what we've got. It's not one decision.
It's not like, oh, you made one, you know, these guys are, hey, man, let's go do this, let's go do that. It's 1,000 little tiny decisions that move us down the way of the drunkard and the glutton. And so the Bible says, don't. And here's what I want to tell you: all right? The way that we don't is right here, verse 19.
Direct your heart in the way. Direct your heart. How do we direct our heart? That's a great question. Because look, if I ended the sermon right now, I mean, think about it.
This is the best Southern Baptist sermon you ever heard, okay? If it's like, hey man, don't drink, don't have bad friends, we're like, amen, let's go home. But If we want more than the religious kind of dogma of, like, hey, don't do this, do that, then we gotta understand what this means. Direct your heart. See, I'm going to give you, you know, we do this every week at Mercy Hill, but I'm going to try to make it explicit.
We are a gospel-centered church. Do you know what that means, gospel-centered? It's very simple. Here's what it means. It means we believe that the gospel not only saves you, but it is key for your sanctification as well.
So what God has done in your life through the gospel Actually, empowers you to go live the Christian life because we live in a constant state of being blown away over his goodness. Over his grace. Man, we love him because he has shown his love for us. That makes us want to live the way that he wants us to live. See, a lot of us would be like, okay, don't drink, don't overeat, don't have bad friends.
Why? Because God's going to kick you out of the family if you have those things. And it's shame and it's guilt. That'll motivate you for a little while, take you a little ways. You want to know it'll take you a long way?
The fuel that actually kind of moves the train down the track, so to speak. Is being blown away over what God has done for us. It makes us want to live. in the way that he wants us to live. It makes us want to live in the new identity.
So when it says direct your heart. Man, direct our heart to see God is big, God is good, to see the gospel. And here's what we learn in the gospel. This is crazy, okay? Jesus came.
and took the accusation That you and I are guilty of, which is in some way being a drunkard or a glutton.
Now, you may say, man, I've never touched alcohol in my life. I don't overeat.
Okay, but I've mentioned a lot of other things that we can over-consume in, right? And here's the thing: we've all probably put the wrong people in the inner circle of our life at times. This is what's crazy: Jesus was accused of doing the very thing that we did. This was in Luke chapter 7, actually probably with Proverbs 23 in mind. Jesus said this: The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, Look at him, a glutton and a drunkard.
I'm gonna tell you something: Jesus was never drunk a day in his life. Jesus was never over he never overate One day in his life.
Okay, he never had the wrong people put in the wrong position in his life that would influence him towards sin.
Now, how many of us, we don't need a show of hands, okay? How many of us can say, I've never followed the wrong people towards sin, I've never overeatened and I've never overdrank. I mean, come on. If we just say, just those three, have any of us done one of those three? Every single one of us in here would be like, man, at some point in my life, Jesus never did, and yet he was accused of it.
Now think about what's going on here. He's accused of the thing that we did. Then, to make matters worse, or actually better for us, Jesus took the penalty of the things that he was accused for, even though he had never done, but we did them. What did the Bible say in Proverbs 23? The end of gluttony and drunkenness.
is sl is slumber and rags. You think about the end of Jesus' life. He slumbered in death. And he was hung on the cross in rags or worse. But the poverty was complete.
I mean, think about it. He lost everything. And it was not for what he had done. It was for the accusation against him and others like it, for the things that we had done. You can say it like this.
Jesus was led into death and poverty so that we could have life. and riches in him. I want you to think. This is why Jesus came. You know, the Bible told us in Proverbs 23: don't be among the glutton and the drunkard.
Think about what Jesus did, though. Jesus in John chapter 1, verse 14 says this: The word became flesh and dwelt where? among us. The very thing that we can't do. We can't go be around drunkards and gluttons because we will end up following them.
Y'all, Jesus came and made his home around us so that we would have the opportunity to follow him. He had the opportunity to change us.
Now, you say, well, what does all that mean? It means that we have a really awesome God who loves us a lot. And it means that his son has taken all the penalty for all the times that we overdid it and chose the wrong friends to follow. And I think, man, if you understand the gospel, you're like, man, he did all that for me. I want to live for him.
So, with that in mind, Build godly friendships that foster moderation, right? Build godly friendships that foster moderation. I wanna say one thing to the unbeliever. And I wanna say two things to the believer, and then we're gonna be done, all right?
So one thing to the unbeliever. The first thing I would say is this at all of our campuses, all right? If you're not a believer today, I want to let you in on a bit of the secret from the inside, if you can try to get your mind there, okay? I've been a Christian since I got saved when I was six years old, 42. I've been in this game a while, all right?
It's hard for me to explain this, but other believers are going to explain it. are gonna understand it. And if you're not a believer, I just I want you to just try to Try to get a piece of it in your mind and your heart. One of the greatest things about being a Christian In my opinion, hands down. is the friendship of Jesus.
Jesus is a friend of sinners. And here's what happens in your life. When you admit your sin and believe in what he has done and confess him as the Lord of your life, here's what happens. that inner circle of friendships in your life. It has a seat that will always be vacant.
Until you accept Christ. And when you do, it will always be occupied. The greatest friend, closer than a brother. What you're going through, what you're going to go through, you will never face it alone. That is what it means that the spirit of Christ is in us.
It's a mysterious thing to be joined with Christ. Hard to explain if you don't Oh, if you're not, you know, it's hard to explain from the, you know, to somebody on the outside, so to speak. You got to kind of understand it from the inside. But I'm telling you, man, you're missing out. Greatest friend you ever had.
And I pray that you would come and experience what that means. to be joined with him. Let me say two things to the believer, done. All right? First thing is this.
How are you handling food and drink? Are we eating like Christians? Are we drinking like Christians? Very simple. What about other things in our life?
I mentioned a bunch of stuff, right? You know, and so I've already, you know, I don't need to go back through the list. It's like there is an endless amount of things that are not in a good and bad camp. They're in the dangerous camp. It's all about how you handle it.
If you, I mean, even think about this. It's like, I'm talking about eating the right way and working out and all that kind of stuff. Do you know how many people use fitness? And working out and fitness, and they end up putting that. In the wrong camp, it's like that becomes the thing that's dangerous.
They get addicted to it. They get sick.
So anything in life that's not really good or bad, we can take it. and make it one way or the other. Moderation, godly enjoyment. Do we need to straight up repent of some things? Do we need to come forward at all of our campuses and leave some things right down here?
God, today's the day I'm turning from this. My prayer is that there'll be a bunch of brothers that come down here and pray for your other brothers. Guys, that you know that are struggling with some different things that we're talking about today, man, we need to get down here and get on our face today and pray for them. And ask the Lord to free them from some stuff.
Okay, second thing. The last thing I'll say is this: if you're a believer. Are we building the relationships, godly friendships that are gonna carry us. towards wisdom and godliness. People in our life that want to feast on the right things, not the wrong things.
People in our life that want to keep things in a moderate way. in a godly enjoyment way. This is a great time of year, all right? Hey, if you're a student, Man, we got students launching next week. We got college ministry launching next week.
Choose to put people in your life that are going in the same direction as you. Man, be equally yoked with them in that sense. The Spirit of God. They're chasing things. You're going to chase some things.
Parents. Man, I'm begging you. Like, let's get these kids around godly relationships. I cannot tell you how many times I have counseled parents. And this is what the deal is, okay?
The parents are like, we're not raising them to be that type of way, and they're right. they're not raising them to be that type of way. but they've also fostered an environment where the kids' closest friends are fools. I know you're not raising them that way. I know you're trying to teach them this and that, but you fostered an environment where the people that are closest to them are fools.
And if that's the case... Man, read this book. Where are they going to land? While we have time to exert influence. Let us build Christian friendships among our young people.
I would tell you this in my own house, my house. My kids. There is nothing I put a higher priority on in terms of their spiritual development than putting them around people that they can lock arms with that are fellow believers and be friends with them. I'm telling you, there's nothing I put a higher premium on. in our family than that.
Because I understand the implications of what we're talking about today. And adults, all right, you're coming out of summer studies.
Some of you guys, look. Man, it's time to break away from some people that might be killing you. I've known them since I was young. I've known them since. There's a life God has you building.
There's a family. There's kids involved. And we're gonna, we're gonna, I know it's awkward to break up with another dude, okay? It is, it's weird, all right? You, but you're gonna have to, there's gonna have to be some friend breakups here, okay?
And then there's going to have to be Man, let's throw ourselves in a group. Let's build.
some relationships. I know you're like, man, I don't have those guys in my life. Yes, 10 years ago would have been a better time to surround yourself with some Christian men. The next best time is today.
Okay, so let's start that journey today. Let's pray, Father. We come before you, and Lord, I just pray that you would give our church a spirit of repentance. Honesty. Lord, we're asking right now, God, that you would move in incredible ways.
Lord, you free some people from some ungodly friendships today. Lord, I just pray the men of our church be healthy and run hard. Christ and we pray. Amen.
