You may have seen this live. Otherwise, you may have seen the clip afterwards. It's absolutely outrageous.
Okay.
So I want to be practical and helpful. and edifying. I'm not here to attack Josh Hokut. the fighter that You just saw there a moment ago, not here to comment on the UFC, the mixed martial arts event on the White House grounds on President Trump's 80th. birthday in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of America.
Uh I want to talk practically. about something that many have missed. Of course, I absolutely denounce the attack on Michelle Obama. Of course, 100%. Even Daniel White, who's the head of the UFC, who's an absolute free speech advocate.
You could say anything. You could win a fight and say, I love Adolf Hitler, and they're not going to censor it out. I mean, you could say virtually anything. And it and Fighters use all kinds of profanity and things like that. Even Dana White, who's an absolute free speech advocate, unless you're inciting violence against someone.
He said, I hate this nonsense. Believe those exact words. You know, I hate these personal attacks.
So even he weighed in.
So so of course We 100% denounce those foul words about Michelle Obama. And the fact that it's on the White House lawn and it's amplified to 80,000 people watching on the ellipse, obviously that... is despicable. And the profanity that's everywhere these days. Oh.
What I find many people are missing was the middle section. of that.
So it's the first comment about President Trump having the Mm-hmm. with the show I'm using profanity there and then the the vile comment about Michelle Obama. It's it's the middle part. Again May Josh Hokut really come to know the Lord in an extraordinary way. May he experience God in ways he didn't know.
were there. May he come to know Jesus as Lord in ways he doesn't even know exist. And may he be a shining example for many in the days to come. He's obviously quite fearless in what he says. But it We hear this over and over and over again these days.
from athlete after athlete after athlete. Talking about my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Now here's here's the deal It used to mean something when people would say that. I don't mean 100% of the time, but overwhelmingly... It meant something. And It's one thing when somebody wins some award or Oscar or something. I just want to thank the man upstairs.
Think, okay, does he actually know God? Is this person born again? Is this person in relationship with Almighty God? Have their sins been forgiven through the blood of Jesus? Are they serving the Lord?
Are they a true believer? You hear words like that. It's just anyway, I got to thank the man upstairs or somebody's got to be looking out for me somewhere. You know, that kind of thing.
Okay, we're not talking about that. We're talking about someone using the language, my Lord. and save your Jesus Christ. I I saw one fighter Use that very language. He had to praise the Lord, his Lord Jesus that means everything to him.
And then afterwards, he invited people to join him at his strip club to party. I kid you not. Another fighter really preaching Jesus so strongly There's only one. There's only one that can change your life. There's only one that can say whatever his exact words were.
It's Jesus. Mother effing Christ Yeah.
So when I see this Think, okay, Lord, really touch them. really work in their lives, really open their heart and mind to who you are. I Is it possible? that they are absolutely brand new. and they haven't been discipled.
And What were some of us doing as brand new believers? What stupid things were we saying? I was certainly using profanity initially as as a new believer. Didn't even dawn on me not to. Honestly.
I mean, it didn't even strike me that I shouldn't. in tho those opening days and weeks. And I remember the night I realized, oh, this is wrong. This is wrong. And I thought, okay, I'll get rid of the F word and just substitute stupid.
Because I used the F-word constantly, so everything was stupid this and stupid this. I thought, okay, that's not much better. But I was brand new. Uh You know, I've heard people give all kinds of testimonies. And, you know, one couple wanted to testify they were so excited.
You know, the pastor prayed for them. They couldn't have kids. He prayed for them and now they're having their first baby and they're hoping to get married. One of these days they're living together out of wedlock. They may have been that brand new.
That it happens. that some some of you got radically dramatically saved overnight and everything changed in a minute for me drugs were gone overnight other things were gone overnight you know drinking stopped completely and But then other things took a little while, other things longer, and other things God still. Working in me. And same with you. Until you see him face to face, we're going to be growing, right?
We're going to be at a process of becoming more like Jesus and dying more and more to the flesh and repudiating more and more the sins of the world.
So I'm not making any judgment on on the man. And the vile thing he said about Michelle Obama, I've Could he be that new in the Lord? God knows. God knows. Here's what I do know.
is that it means something. to say that Jesus is my Lord and my Savior. It means something. And Jesus says in Matthew 7, not everyone. who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father.
Paul wrote to Timothy, that the foundation of God stands sure. Despite deception and apostasy and heresy, the foundation of God stands sure. The Lord knows those who are His. It has this inscription. The Lord knows those that are His.
And let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord depart from inequity. If Jesus is my Lord, that means he's my boss. If Jesus is my Lord, it means He's my Master.
Now on the one hand, Relationally, we are his brothers and sisters. He is our elder brother. And he has brought us into his family with God, his Father. And now we are also children of the same Heavenly Father and joint heirs with Him, according to Paul in Romans 8. Relationally, we are sons of God.
Vocationally, we are his servants, his bondslaves, or even his slaves, same word that's used in the ancient Greek world for slaves. And Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6 and 7. to the Corinthian believers and said, you were bought. with a price You are not your own. You are bought with a price you are not your own.
If you're a believer, my friend, God's saying that to you as he's saying it to me. You have to have been bought with a price. You hear it, sl slaves are bought. Slaves are bought, Yes, we were freed from slavery to Satan. But what does Paul say in Romans 6?
We have now become slaves to God. And are the parts of our body given up in service to God? When we say, Lord, here, think of this, think of this. When I say Abba, Father. He's my father.
I'm his Son. You're his daughter. Father Children. Yes. Lord, you are my shepherd.
I am your Sheep. Shepherd. Sheep. Lord, you're a man of war You're the commander of the army of the Lord. I'm one of the troops in the army of God.
Right? I mean this is just That's the relationship. Master When I call him master, what does it mean? Master? Slave.
Lord servant. I'm here to do your will. We live to do the will of God. I'm 71 years old now. I'm going on 55 years saved.
God has never once asked me my opinion. He's never once said, okay, Mike, how do you feel about this? You have several options. Which path would you like to choose? I could choose the wrong path in disobedience to God, but he's never said, hey, you think it through.
What what are you comfortable with? You know, we've got the martyrdom option, we've got the millionaire option, several things in between. We've got the famous mega church option. We've got the prisoner option. What do you feel good about?
What do you like? But it's never done that. At the end of John's Gospel in John 21. Jesus tells Peter When you're older Y people are gonna dress you and take you and Place you don't want to be. They're just going to be crucified.
They're going to tie you up and take you somewhere you don't want to be. You're going to be crucified like I was. And it says he said this to Peter to signify by which death he would glorify God. It was ready given he was going to glorify God by death. There was already a given.
For these early apostles, that was the given. The question is, by which death will he glorify God? Have you ever seen Maybe the end of a basketball game. It's a good illustration. At the end of a basketball game, the coach is drawing up plans.
For for final play. And if you ever played sport, you know, you have this.
Okay.
So I you Joe, you're going to set the pick over here. Billy, you're going to pass the ball in. John, I need you to set a screen here.
Okay.
Sammy, you're going to run to the basket. And Okay, um And Amos, you're gonna... What do I do?
Okay, you're going to be here. I don't know where he was came from with all these other names, but but but but anyway Everyone is okay, what's my role? What's my role? Here are the start the the five that I want on the court here. You know, actually, I need a taller person throwing.
Okay, I need you to sit down. Here's your role.
So, with this apostles, okay, You're going to die by crucifixion. All right, Thomas, you're going to be speared to death.
Okay.
John, you're going to be boiled in oil, but survive. According to tradition, that's what happens. Like, okay, what about me, Lord? Oh, you're going to be stoned to death.
Okay, got it. Got it. What about me? Actually, you're you're gonna die a natural death.
Okay, got it. It's not our call. Is It it's it's it We don't get to dictate our lives. Oh, yeah. I don't believe that when you wake up in the morning, the Lord is saying, put on the red.
I said the red socks today, not the brown, the red socks. I don't believe unless there's some... an incredibly important reason that you have to wear certain socks. Because predestining your decision or saying you you've got to wear these certain socks or I don't believe that. Why did you use that toothpaste instead of the other toothpaste?
I don't believe. That's the case. And I'm not trying to say that. What I'm saying is... the overall course of our life.
is set by him. He has a will, he has a plan. Will we follow it or not? If he is our Lord. We will.
There are things that he says we are not to do. They are sinful, they are forbidden. If we do them, we are disobeying him as Lord. And he says in Luke 6, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and don't do the things that I say?
So Uh I was I was talking Yeah. Uh when I was in England To two older MMA fighters that were my security team. When I was in Birmingham. England to debate a Muslim apologist. And I asked them, I said, what do you make of this?
I mean, they were born-again guys. They're still active in MMA, but they were born-again guys. And some say, well, how can you be active in a violent sport like that and be born again? That's a fair question. Many would say, hey, we do it with respect.
We're not trying to injure anyone. And we have a camaraderie and so on. And it's a discipline. And it's gotten us off the streets and things like that. You hear it with boxing, too.
Others say, no, you're doing brain damage. I get it. I understand some say. You can't be entertained by it and be a Christian. You shouldn't be involved with it and be a Christian.
Others say, hey, you don't understand the sport. You don't understand what we're doing. We love the Lord. I'm not getting into that discussion here, okay? But I asked them, what do you make of?
some of these guys with their comments and they knew exactly what I was talking about and heard some of the same things. And they just said immaturity. In other words, they thought some of these people are genuine believers. but they haven't really been discipled. They haven't understood what it really means to follow Jesus.
And so it's just words. And the key thing is to pray that you really get to know God more deeply. and that they really get discipled adequately, so be it. The concern I have Is that this is the thing now? That somehow there's this macho Jesus thing, that he's the man, and you know who I'm talking about, it's Jesus.
And then they'll go from there and launch into the most profane, despicable comments and hateful comments about others. And you think, okay, something's not lining up here.
Something is not lining up here. And what concerns me is the like we constantly do in the church, we have this popular Jesus. Whether it's whatever the trend, whatever the thing is in the society, the latest. Th th the latest thing that's in. And that's who Jesus is.
Yeah, he's that. And you kind of identify the political Jesus, right? And the triumphant political party, that's Jesus. Or the winning fighter, that's Jesus. We project this kind of thing, and it's very, very destructive.
Very, very destructive and very, very misleading. And think of this. I saw my first rock concert at the age of 13. I saw Jimi Hendrix in concert. Impressionable 13-year-old, right?
Beatles had come to America in 1964. I was nine years old. I've been learning to play drums and now I started listening to the early rock music and learning to playing jazz and other things. and took in the rock stuff, so now I see my first concert. It really impacted me.
I mean the intensity of the volume. The sounds that just filled the philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, where it was in November of 68. The outfits they were wearing was so they they broke all the rules.
so countercultural in so many ways. And everything about the music, oh, I wanted to be in a rock band so badly. And I knew that got high. I wanted to break the rules like they did. It really impacted me.
That's one reason when I was asked if I wanted to smoke pot for the first time at the age of 14 that I immediately said yes. It's because Yeah, on the one hand you shouldn't do it so that gave the appeal like, ooh, do the forbidden thing. The other thing I want to be like the rock stars.
So What I'm saying is that You have people that end up being role models. Right? You know, the the the impact of of a of a pop icon. of a Taylor Swift for better or worse on millions of young women and things like that. or or you know the impact of a Donald Trump.
On millions of men and women, for better or worse. That just you have these people who are. tremendously popular. And sometimes it's not just an athlete that you see on the field. You know, a a great soccer football player, something that you see on the field, but that often their lives or their interviews speak.
So when you when you have a lot of folks, especially young men, would be watching mixed martial arts and things like that. And you hear guy after guy talking about Jesus and Jesus is everything, but it seems that their lives are worldly. and they're getting high or they're getting drunk or they're sleeping around or they're profane or they're vile or they're hateful. You think, oh, that's cool. I like Jesus.
He's cool. He makes us strong and tough. That's cool. You know, there's the old saying, never been able to find where it came from. What began as a movement.
in Jerusalem. became a culture in Greece. A monument Excuse me, let me get that right. What began As a movement in Jerusalem, became a philosophy in Greece. a monument in Rome.
A culture in Europe. and an enterprise in America. We know how to sell it. We know how to market it. We know how to baptize Jesus into our culture, baptize Jesus into our world, baptize Jesus into our morals.
Friends, it is a... Fatal error. We conform our ways to His. We get off our high horses and fall on our faces and say, Lord, your will be done in me. That's the place of joy.
That's the place of satisfaction. That's the place of fulfillment. And may these athletes, these fighters who are so boldly professing Jesus, may they're really experiencing him. May they really experience him. If they've never been born again, may they truly be born again.
If they're born again and young in the Lord, may they really Encounter him and become shining examples. And may each of us that profess Jesus as Lord live up. to his name.
