Can You Be Right and Still Be Wrong? | The Disciples | JJ Vasquez

- Hello, journey, journey. - Welcome everybody. Hello, hello. Good morning. Happy Sunday. - Happy Sunday. - It's such a blessing to be here with you all today. - Yes, we're so excited to have you here. And this is week two of the disciples. So I'm super pumped. But before we jump into all that's ahead, my name is Josanne. We are so grateful that you're here and I'm honored to be your host today. - And my name is Jorge. I'm also have the privilege of being here co-hosting with Josanne. And please let us know where you're tuning in from. Let us know if you're here in Florida, if you're out of state, out of country. Just let us know. Put your flag, wrap your city, all of the things. - Absolutely. Put mountains if you're in Colorado. I actually just came back from Colorado at midnight this morning. - So love to Colorado. Thank you for the warm welcome drop hearts. So I know who's from Colorado. - And that's the calling.

If I haven't heard any myself from the airport, pretty much got home, took everything off. Shower got dressed and came right here to serve and be here with you guys. Thank you very much. We appreciate you. - Thank you. I really appreciate that. - Honestly true. - I mean, I did get an hour now. But yeah, thank you. - Thank you, thank you. (laughs) - I'm just like a baby after this. (laughs) But so honored to be here with all of you today. And I'm excited because it's week two. But before we go into week two, tell us what you got from week one. Pastor Hector was on fire. - Absolutely. - Loved it. - Absolutely on fire. Last week on Sunday and in the after talk. - Oh my God. - If y'all don't know, after talk is kind of where it's at on YouTube, make sure to like and follow the YouTube channel at Trinity Church. Because what doesn't get covered in the summer and gets covered there.

- And it gets real, like real real. So please check out the after talk. Last Sunday, we were talking about the first two disciples. - Yes. - Right, which is Peter, who actually had three names. Peter's the one that everybody knows him for. Because the rock, you know. And then Andrew, which is Strongman. One of the meanings of the name Strongman. He only needs the one name. He doesn't need the three. But, you know, Peter's always front facing in front of the camera. He's getting all the likes and shares on social media, things like that. And while Andrew is the one behind the camera. - You're doing good, bro. I appreciate you. - Like our production team. We love you production team. - This wouldn't happen without them. - Yes, exactly. - But Peter wouldn't happen without Andrew. If Andrew didn't say, "Hey, I know this guy. "He's amazing." And he's presenting the one coming after him. Which is our Messiah, Jesus Christ. So without Andrew, Peter wouldn't have existed. - Yes, so that's a word for somebody. So if you're feeling like, "Hey, no one sees all the work

"that I do, I pour in a lot, I serve a lot." Don't give up. It's not in vain. God sees it. And you will be rewarded for it. But also just know that at the end of the day, we are all part of one body building the kingdom of Christ. - That's right. Maybe you are called to help build someone else up. - Yes. - Because maybe you're more of the Andrew. - Yeah. I think about the scripture that talks about, like, you know, you're the arms, the hands, the feet, the eyes, the ears, like the body can't function without these parts. So you matter. No matter if you are the eye. You help a seat, right? So don't devalue the gifts and talents that you have because you don't feel like it's shining as brightly as someone else's. You matter and God can use every part of that. - That's right. And another thing that I like for Andrew, without him, he wouldn't have presented the boy with the loaves and the fish. - Exactly. - And wouldn't be able to feed the thousands. - That's right.

The 5,000 wouldn't have been fed if it wasn't for Andrew. So amen, thank you, Andrew, for feeding people. - Thank you, Andrew. And thank you so much again for joining us. We're gonna transition to our friend, Kyla, in the auditorium. We'll hopefully hear out the message impacted her last week. But we'll see you after a time of worship. - See you guys. - What's up, journey church online. Shout out to Joe San and Jorge up in the studio for kicking us off on this amazing Sunday. If you and I haven't had the pleasure of meeting, my name is Kyla and I get to serve as one of the online hosts. And in journey church family, I'm just so excited to be in the house of the Lord. But I wanna remind you right now that the presence of God doesn't just live here. It lives in you. It lives in you wherever you're watching from at home, in the gym, in the car, wherever you are, he is with you. And if that's not encouraging enough, out of my devo time this week, the Lord placed a specific verse on my heart out of Philippians four and eight. It says, fix your thoughts on what is true, what is right, what is pure, what is lovely, what is admirable and what is honorable.

Fix your thoughts on these things that are excellent and worthy of our praise. Journey Church family, I don't know about you, but there's only one person. I know who fits that entire criteria. He is worthy of all of our praise, not just because of what he's doing in your life now, but because of what he did thousands of years ago on the cross. I wanna encourage you that during times when you're overwhelmed, what we wanna complain, when things don't look the way we want them to, when we're in the valley, he is still worthy of our praise. When we're on the mountain, he's still worthy of our praise. So right now, I just wanna remind you to have that posture, fix your thoughts on who he is, what he's done, and what he's gonna continue to do. I wanna take the time to pray with you all before we go into a time of worship. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for every single person watching on the other side of the screen. God, we would pray right now that you would bring peace where there's pain, that you bring comfort where there is chaos. Lord, right now we say we're gonna fix our thoughts on you and who you are and what you've done. Father, God, we are ready to accept what you have for us this morning through worship and through your mighty Word. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen, let's worship. Good morning, journey, church, how you feelin'? You excited to be in the house of God this morning? Come on, just lift up your praise to the Lord, just let him know how grateful you are for him. God, we love you, we won't cook these today, Jesus.

Come on. We love you more. ♪ I have felt the hands that bear their spots ♪ ♪ And stood out in rest of the end ♪ ♪ I have known the love of the Father's home ♪ ♪ A radical now, dear ♪ ♪ From where I was ♪ ♪ To where I'm now ♪ ♪ It so will me ♪ ♪ The more and more ♪ ♪ I see you move ♪ ♪ All around me ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you ♪ ♪ Praise you, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but lift up ♪ ♪ Shouse of joy ♪ ♪ Come on, declare ♪ ♪ Oh, when I think of how good you've been ♪ ♪ Faithful now 'til the end ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you ♪ ♪ Praise you, Lord ♪ Come on, are you grateful for the cross today? Come on. ♪ The more and more ♪ ♪ You feel the same I like ♪ ♪ And that I cannot be made ♪ ♪ For the cross you bore ♪ ♪ With open arms ♪ ♪ In salvation that bought me ♪ ♪ From where I was ♪

♪ To where I'm now ♪ ♪ It so will me ♪ ♪ The more and more ♪ ♪ I see you move ♪ ♪ All around me ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you ♪ ♪ I just feel it as your new joy ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but lift up ♪ ♪ Shouse of joy ♪ ♪ Oh, when I think of how good you've been ♪ ♪ Faithful now 'til the end ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you ♪ ♪ Praise you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but this 'cause I'm free ♪ ♪ Got no chains on me ♪ ♪ I'm healed and redeemed ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but call on the name ♪ ♪ That buried my shame ♪ ♪ Who opened my grave ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but this 'cause I'm free ♪ ♪ Come on, come on, come on ♪ ♪ Chains on me ♪ ♪ I'm healed and redeemed ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but call on the name ♪ ♪ That buried my shame ♪ ♪ Who opened my grave ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you ♪ ♪ Praise you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but lift up ♪ ♪ Shouse of joy ♪

♪ We thank you Jesus for your goodness ♪ ♪ May not be without goodness ♪ ♪ So faithful now 'til the end ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you ♪ ♪ Praise you Lord ♪ Come on, you declare. ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you ♪ ♪ Praise you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you ♪ ♪ Praise you Lord ♪ Come on, journey, would you lift up a shot of praise to the Lord? ♪ God we love you, you are so faithful, you are so good ♪ ♪ You are true to your word God we welcome you ♪ ♪ We lift you up Jesus ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Thank you Lord so much for all you do God ♪ ♪ Thank you Jesus ♪ Thank you so much. Just fill this room with a mighty rushing wind, God. Just set our hearts ablaze through the Lord. We're all here. We're all waiting for you. (light music) ♪ Can you feel that something's changing ♪ ♪ Something's stirring in the room ♪ ♪ All this holy expectation ♪ ♪ How the Lord is good ♪ ♪ Do you feel the joy in returning ♪ ♪ Freedom's catching up to you ♪ ♪ Do you feel the joy in returning ♪

♪ God exchanging all anew ♪ ♪ Wake up, wake up, he's in our midst ♪ ♪ Born our soul, he's riding ♪ ♪ There's holy while you're rushing ♪ ♪ Where there's no containing it ♪ ♪ No rain is coming, hear the sound ♪ ♪ Here is the mercy ♪ ♪ The cloud is glories ♪ ♪ Falling all around ♪ ♪ Feel and have your way ♪ ♪ Do what you want to ♪ ♪ Take your right for place ♪ ♪ Make this your throne through ♪ ♪ Fire on heaven ♪ ♪ We want your presence ♪ ♪ Falling on your name ♪ ♪ Feel and have your way ♪ ♪ Come away, come away in this way ♪ ♪ Wake up, wake up, he's in our midst ♪ ♪ Born our soul, he's riding ♪ ♪ There's holy while you're rushing ♪ ♪ Where there's no containing it ♪ ♪ No rain is coming, hear the sound ♪ ♪ Feel his blood and see ♪ ♪ The cloud is glories ♪ ♪ Falling all around ♪ ♪ Feel and have your way ♪ ♪ Do what you want to ♪ ♪ Take your right for place ♪ ♪ Make this your throne through ♪

♪ Fire on heaven ♪ ♪ We want your presence ♪ ♪ Falling on your name ♪ ♪ Feel and have your way ♪ ♪ Have your way ♪ ♪ Wild, rushing way ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, man on land ♪ ♪ We don't wanna leave the place wild ♪ ♪ Rushing way ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, man on land ♪ ♪ We don't wanna leave the world wide ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, man on land ♪ ♪ We don't wanna leave the place wild ♪ ♪ Rushing way ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, man on land ♪ ♪ Come on, come on, let's go this way right now ♪ ♪ Would you break it ♪ ♪ Wild, rushing way ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, man on land ♪ ♪ We don't wanna leave the place wild ♪ ♪ We don't wanna leave the place wild ♪ ♪ We don't wanna leave the place wild ♪ ♪ Have your way ♪ ♪ And have your way ♪ ♪ We don't wanna leave the place wild ♪

♫ She changed the game, changed the game ♫ ♫ But you won't have your way ♫ ♫ We all wanna be the same ♫ ♫ Be right out of your way ♫ ♫ You won't be ♫ ♫ You won't want to ♫ ♫ Take your rifle, please ♫ ♫ Make this your throne ♫ ♫ Through my hero heaven ♫ ♫ We want your presence ♫ ♫ Pulling for your name ♫ ♫ Spirit, I'm your queen ♫ ♫ I'll be a wager ♫ ♫ Just come on ♫ - Amen. - Amen. I love a song so much. - Such a good song. - Yes. Holy Spirit, have your way. I mean, God, we just ask you to move. There's so many prayers with our church, and we wanna be able to just honor that and cover that. So if you're comfortable, we just wanna lift up a prayer just over those who are needing reconciliation and just recovery in their lives, so raise your hand to the screen with us. Father God, we just thank you for being the wonderful, amazing Father that you are. Thank you for being the Father who sees us, for being the one that loves us, for being our provider, for being our healer, our comforter.

God, we ask for just forgiveness and reconciliation for those who are going through difficult marriages, going through hard times, going through struggles. We pray for comfort for those who are going through loss. Father, we ask that you continue to just meet the needs of those who are your children who are hurting. You said that you were close to the broken heart of God, so be close to them now in this time and this season. Father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for your love. We thank you for your faithfulness. We thank you, God, that you never leave us or forsake us. For those who are feeling lost, feeling unseen, God, remind them that you see them, that you are with them, that you are in the trenches with them, that you are in the valleys and you are with us on the mountain tops, God, you never leave us. So cover them today, God, come for them, bring them up, remind them of who they are in you. We thank you for your love. We thank you for your faithfulness. And we thank you that you're going to restore. All that is lost, all that feels hopeless, God. We give you praise, honor, and glory in your son's precious name. Amen. Amen. Amen. And here at Journey Church, we believe in prayer as a first response, not a last resort. Yes.

So if you have any prayer requests and you would like to share that with us so that we can intercede on your behalf, or if you have a praise report that you would like for us to share, maybe God is able to move and work in your life in such a way that you need to share it and give other people more hope. Click the link below or scan the link below or the QR code so that we can assist in praying with you and for you. Yes. So you can drop it on the Journey app as well. That way we can celebrate you throughout the week. Well, welcome Journey Church. If you are now tuning in with us, we're so glad that you're joining us today. My name is Josanne. I got the privilege of being your online host today. And my name is Jorge and I have the honor of doing so as well alongside Josanne. Yes. Welcome everybody. You could have been anywhere else, but you decided to be here with us. And we don't take that lightly. We do not. We're so grateful that you joined us today. And welcome to our Pando family. That's right. All those that are currently incarcerated in correctional facilities across the U.S. We thank you that you are here. We're happy that you're here with us learning the word. Absolutely. And I want to give a special shout out to one of our Pando brothers, Justin Adams. Thank you so much for reaching out.

Thank you for your letter. We love you. We're so grateful that you continue to be a part of our family. We will be praying for you. And we just want to encourage you in your walk with God. And I want to give another special shout out to our first time guests. F-T-G? F-T-G in the chat so we can recognize you and honor you and walk alongside you. We're so excited that you're here with us and also excited to see what God is going to do next in your life. Awesome. Absolutely. For those F-T-G's, please put F-T-G in the chat. The fire emoji. Let us know that you are here with us. We are so happy that you're here with us. But for those not so first time, first time guests, we have something else for you. Our next steps process is in two steps. Step one is done exclusively online at your leisure. This is where you get to learn more about us, the church, what we stand for, our mission, core values, those things, as well as who our lead pastors are. Pastor JJ and Pastor Liz. is both online and in person at one PM. There will be someone to usher everybody in. This is where we get to learn more about you and your talents and your gifts that God has given you and how you can share that with the church community. And that is one PM Eastern Standard Time. - Yes, and another way that we can learn more about you and just what God is calling you to

is through Journey College. We have our Journey College Info Day coming up next Sunday, November 15. We wanna celebrate that with you because we know that your journey with God is truly an amazing experience. But also maybe God has been calling you into ministry. Maybe he's just calling you to go to college and you're not sure. Well, we wanna encourage you to join us next week. You can do it completely online. Go to journeycollegeorl.com and just learn more about what Journey College has to offer. - So Eastern University, you can do it completely online. You do not have to be here in person. So you can complete the course online. And if you have more questions, I'm sure Gianna, our director will be happy to reach out and give you more information. - We also have something very special that we do every single year. - Yes. - We get to do this again. - Operation Christmas Club. - Operation Christmas Club. - And that is where we can create gift packages and shoebox size to kids all around the globe because it might be the first gift that they have ever received in their entire life. And it is the perfect way to open the door for conversations about Jesus Christ. And you can do so online in the link in the description

or the QR code, you can scan that. And we have until the 22nd of November to complete all the boxes, in which case it will then be sent out to everybody. And you can customize your box for a boy or a girl or a specific age group. You can also leave a message, personalized message for that child and open up the conversation for the love of Jesus Christ to be shared with them globally. - Absolutely. And another way to share the love of Jesus Christ is to be sharing today's message. It is going to be an absolutely powerful word, Pastor JJ is back and he's talking on the other two disciples today. So we would happily encourage you to share this, encourage it with others because this is going to be something that I know is going to impact so many lives. - That's right. Another way you can share it is by leading people to the YouTube channel. - Yes. - Journey Church Online as well as the mobile app. Don't forget to share that because you never know who needs the good word. - Absolutely. And speaking of the good word, we're going to transition back into another song of worship

and then the message. But we want to encourage you to lean in and press in for all that God has for you. And as we talk about the disciples, try to really truly ask God what He has for you through this time. We'll see you after worship. - See you on the other side. - Bye. - So at this time we want to welcome in all our locations. We love you. We're grateful you're here. And we are so excited to be able to worship together. And if you feel comfortable, would you lift your hands towards heaven as a sign of surrender? Would you just tell God, have your way in my life, Jesus? Have your way in my life. ♪ We want you, we want you, Jesus ♪ Come on, let's worship together. ♪ Breathe on me, breath of God ♪ ♪ Throw my hands up in the air ♪ ♪ 'Cause you can take me anyway ♪ ♪ Would you breathe on me, breath of God ♪ ♪ Hold my hands up in the air ♪ ♪ 'Cause you can take me anyway ♪ ♪ Oh, the spirit I surrender ♪ ♪ For it will take over me ♪ ♪ God, I want to be baptized in your fire ♪

♪ Take over me ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, it's just sing out, carry me wind of dark ♪ ♪ Come on, carry me wind of dark ♪ ♪ Somewhere only heaven knows ♪ ♪ Somewhere so incredible ♪ ♪ Put you carry me wind of dark ♪ ♪ I'm getting good at letting go ♪ ♪ Better when you're in control ♪ ♪ The spirit I surrender ♪ ♪ For it will take over me ♪ ♪ God, I want to be baptized in your fire ♪ For all the spirit come, take over, take over, take over Come on anybody in the room ready for revival Come on you're ready to see Jesus, to become more like Him Yes, we want you Jesus, to our prayer today God, come on let's declare We're about to survive, and we never know there's something out the body The impossible I think is ready, for a miracle, and now we're getting fired In the Holy Ghost, we're about to survive, like we never know there's something out the body The impossible I think is ready, for a miracle, and now we're getting fired In the Holy Ghost, we're about to survive, like we never know like something out the body The impossible I think the room is ready, for a miracle, and now we're getting fired In the Holy Ghost, and now we're getting fired In the Holy Ghost, and now we're getting fired In the Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, I surrender, forever, take over God, I want to be baptized in Your fire, come on people Spirit, I surrender, forever, take over God, I want to be baptized in Your fire, take over me We're about to be revival, we're about to be revival Like we never know, like something out the body The impossible I think the room is ready, for a miracle, and now we're getting fired

In the Holy Ghost, we're about to be revival, like we never know like something out the body The impossible I think the room is ready, for a miracle, and now we're getting fired In the Holy Ghost, and now we're getting fired Come on church, Holy Ghost, and now we're getting fired We need you, we need you, Holy Spirit, now we're getting fired We want you, we want you, Holy Ghost, now we're getting fired We want you, Jesus, now we're getting fired In the Holy Ghost, now we're getting fired In the Holy Ghost, now we're getting fired In the Holy Ghost, come on Breathe on me, breath of God Would you breathe on me, breath of God My body is a temple, for all our life I'll be your best Holy Spirit, come take over, take over, take over me Yes, Lord, Yes, Lord, Yes, Lord, Yes, Lord, Yes, Lord, Yes, Lord We thank you, Jesus, we love you Come on, anybody in the room, just grateful for Jesus Anybody in the room, just say you know when Lord, here I am Come on, your way, here I am How many people want the Spirit of God to take over them today? Come on And every time I hear a song like that, Holy Spirit, come take over I always feel compelled to teach just a little bit When we say Holy Spirit, take over, we're saying Holy Spirit, come inside and only do what you can In the Bible, when we have the Old Testament, we have the law, we have it written in the paper In this book right here, thank you so much In this book right here, but the Bible says that when the Holy Spirit came to earth That the law went from being written on paper, ready to being written in our hearts So when we give our life to Jesus and the Spirit of God fills us All of these laws, all of this way of living

It becomes not just the thing that changes our mind It becomes the thing that changes our heart, it changes the way that we live When I say Holy Spirit, come take over, I'm saying, I don't want to be this guy anymore Because this guy makes mistakes, this guy makes bad decisions This guy hurts people, I want to be that guy right there Come, I want to be you, Holy Spirit, come take over every mindset Come take over every worry, come take over every thought Come take over every fear, come take over every doubt I need you Lord to come on inside Come on, as we surrender, renew Jesus For we spiritize surrender forever, take over me God, I wanna be baptized in your fire, take over For we spiritize surrender forever, take over God, I wanna be baptized in your fire, take over me Yes Lord, take over this place, take over the Lord If you want the holy spirit to come take over and you feel comfortable Would you consider just raising your hands for just a moment, stress them out towards heaven A lot of people say that this is the universal sign of surrender I give up, I lift up my hands, I'm done Trying to do life my way, done trying to be in control But this isn't just the universal sign of surrender, you know what this is also This is the universal sign of every baby in the world When they look to their father and say pick me up Pick me up See when I say holy spirit come take over I'm not just laying down my life, I'm asking you to pick up this life And I wanna pick you up, I wanna be you Come holy spirit come take over, pick me up out of the pain Pick me up out of the worry out of the doubt Pick me up out of the struggle

Pick me up out of the wrestling in my identity Pick me up out of the mire and the mud that I'm stuck in Pick me up Come on somebody, lift it up you I can't do this by myself Pick me up Lift me up, Jesus I give you my life, leave me and take me In your name we pray, amen Whoo Amen But before we take a scene and continue on with our service I'd love it if you could find three people That you did not drive to church with today Give me my high five, welcome to church Give me some love Let them know how grateful you are that they're here Amen Amen, well who's excited to be in the house of God today? It's November everybody Come on This is how I'm gonna know the kind of church I pastor Raise your hand If you've already got your Christmas tree set up I'm judging I'm judging so hard right now People are like it's November I get it, November You know back in the day they used to set up the Christmas trees on December Eve Like Christmas Eve That was when they did it, Christmas Eve back then

And every, here since it's just been getting further back and further back At this rate We are going to be setting up our tree in July 2020, 2030, 2040 Seven more trees in July No, I love it We always wait till the week after Thanksgiving the right day But now we do it the week before Culture is slowly pulling me in Amen All right, well We haven't had an opportunity to meet yet My name is JJ And alongside my wife Liz We have the honor and the privilege of serving journey church As this lead pastors And if you didn't know that That probably means you are a first-time guest And if you are And you're looking for a home church looking no further We think you found it And only because you're surrounded by the presence of God But because you are surrounded by some of the most amazing Honest, open and transparent people in all of Central Florida Journey Church, will you prove me right by putting your hands together Welcoming all of our first-time guests one more time Keep it going for journey church online Keep it going for journey East Orlando Keep it going for journey Kissimmee We love our campuses

Keep it going for all of those who are currently incarcerated Watching from jails and prisons blocking United States To prepare in the world So that you're with us today Wait, before we get into the message I just wanted to do a quick PSA A quick invitation to jump on board and get along with us We've been talking about for the last kind of eight weeks Can you see it a vision that we've been having At our church to plant more campuses To renovate space for the next generation Making Jesus accessible to generations And I'm proud to announce that At this point we have about 60% of our entire church Has made a pledge over the next three years So love you, you are the most generous church in the world If you haven't made a pledge yet I want to invite you to consider praying And what God would have you do You can grab one of these pledge cards on the way outside At the tent today And I just I believe when we can get It is a financial gift, above and beyond your tie that you can give at any point over the next three years. And so I'm just believing we can get up there. I just-- I don't care really what it is. I just want us to be all in together, because I think God's going to do something pretty cool. Anything you give, also, if you'd like to give to that, anything you give, this remainder of the year,

is going to be doubled, because we actually had an anonymous $1 million matching fund. So anything you give up until the end of this year here, you can go ahead and it would get doubled, which is pretty cool. So if you're planning on giving, you can give sometime there and double the impact that you're giving. All right. Well, excited to get into the message today. We are in week two of a series we are calling the disciples, the disciples. And I want you to know that we are studying the lives of the 12 disciples. Jesus is 12 disciples. And the reason why we're studying the lives of the 12 disciples is not because they're perfect. Some may say amen. They're not, and hopefully, at the end of this message series, you will know that. We study Jesus because he's perfect. Somebody say amen. Yeah. But the reason we're studying the disciples is not because they're perfect. The reason we're studying the disciples is actually because they're not. Because following Jesus is hard. And these disciples had issues. They had struggles.

And they had weaknesses. And here's good news for you and for me. Ready? And God picked them anyway. And God chose them anyway. And God used them anyway. And here's the best news. And they changed the world anyway. Changed the world anyway. And so if you feel unworthy, if you feel like not good enough, if you feel like God would never pick you, I'm just like, you need to go study who he did pick. You feel a lot better. So we're looking at their lives. And we're also looking at how they navigated it, right? Like they didn't stay where they were. They were imperfect, but they still follow Jesus. So if I were to summarize, what's the purpose of this series? I want to figure out how imperfect people can follow Jesus. Because they did it. And they did it in a powerful way. Last week, Pastor Hector kicked us off with a sermon on Andrew and Peter. How many people we hear? Andrew and Peter. Yeah, we honor Pastor Hector over at East Orlando. Great job, buddy. We crushed it. We love you. Thank you so much.

And so this week, we're going to continue with a set of brothers. And we're going to study this week, not Andrew and Peter. But we're going to be studying the brothers James and John. James and John. And if you're going to understand the life of James or John, you really have to understand them both. Because 99% of the time that they are presented in the Gospels, 99% of the time that they speak, they always speak together. There's only one time in the Bible where only one of the brothers speaks, and it's John, apart from James. But other than that, they're always presented as a group, as a bros. And so if we're going to understand them, we can't separate one from the other. We actually have to understand them both. And so we're going to understand a little bit of James and John today. Now, let me just say this before I get into this message. Today's message is-- I say this four or five times a year, if you come to a journey you know. Today's message has the potential to offend. Today's message has the potential to make us uncomfortable. And today's message is going to be very teaching heavy. So if you ever wanted to go to Bible college, feel like that would be like, today's message is going to feel a little like that. And if you ever wanted to get punched in the stomach, today's message might-- I'm just playing.

I'm just playing, but also nobody leave the church after today, OK? All right. Just come back next Sunday. It'll be nicer, all right? James and John, some things you need to know about James. James is the older brother, yeah. And John is the younger brother. And we know that John is the younger brother, and James is the older brother because whenever the Bible presents them, they always present James's name first, James and John. So the first name in the two is the one who is older. So he's the leader, probably, of this brother group. And we also know, because he is older, and because he is the leader, he probably talks a lot. He probably talks the most. All the younger brothers in church today say amen. You know what it's like to have an older brother, just always trying to talk, always trying to take over, always trying to control. That probably would have been a little bit of James. He definitely dominated the conversations when he comes to James and John. I can say that 'cause I'm an older brother and talk for a living. So might be true, might be true. Something to know about James. James is the least known of the three. So when we say the three,

what we're talking about are the three closest to Jesus. A lot of people think Jesus had 12 disciples, but in reality, if you look, there's one time he actually sends out 72 disciples. So when we look at Jesus' life, there's actually spheres of relational connection. There is a group of 72 and there is a group of 12, and then there are a group of three, James, John, and Peter. This isn't the message, but it would be a helpful point to just take a pause from my overall kind of point that I wanna preach and just say, "Hey, it's--" You can't get vulnerable with everybody. You can't show everybody who you are. There are some people, the 72 new Jesus, but they didn't know Jesus like the 12, and the 12 new Jesus, but they didn't know Jesus like the three. It's always gonna be a smaller group of people that get to see the real vulnerable to you. So don't be showing all vulnerable you to all 72, they can't handle it. Find your three, get vulnerable with your three. John, on the other hand, actually wrote more of the New Testament than anybody except Paul. Paul writes about two thirds of the New Testament, but then John is responsible for a big chunk. He writes the Gospel of John. He writes first, second, third John.

He also writes Revelation. Well, you say, within James, write the book of James, different James. The James that wrote the book of James was actually the brother of Jesus, who wasn't even a disciple, but became one after Jesus' death and resurrection, which is how you know Jesus really came back from the dead when your brother believes your God. (congregation laughing) When your brother believes your God, writes a whole book about it, you're like, bro, came back from the dead. No way his brother is gonna say it, unless it's actually true. Something to know about James, next one. Yeah, he was actually the first apostle to be killed. And so even though we don't hear a lot about James, when it comes to, in the context of John and Peter, he's not quiet, he's not insignificant. He's the first apostle to be martyred. He was killed by King Herod, the headed with a sword. And ironically, and we'll talk about why that happened, ironically John was actually the last apostle to die. So John actually, he dies of old age. He's the only apostle to not be martyred according to church tradition. First to be killed, brother, last to die. Together, they were both the sons of Zebedee, sons of Zebedee, the Bible tells us,

Zebedee was a wealthy and connected man. We know this because he owned a fleet of fishing ships. He had a groups of hired men. He also was able to pull some strings to get John into the temple court of the high priest so that he could see Jesus' trial in a lifetime. We also know Zebedee had money because his wife, Salome, who was the mother of James and John, was actually a financial supporter of Jesus' ministry. Also the woman who came to anoint Jesus' body after his death and before his resurrection. So the Zebedees were actually like a part of the legacy team. Like here at Journey Church, Zebedee and Salome were part of the legacy team. They financially supported the ministry, but then probably the coolest thing about James and John and the most relevant to our message today is the nickname that Jesus gave them. 'Cause Jesus gave these two the greatest nickname of all time. I love their nickname. Jesus gave it to them, not the writers, Jesus. Jesus called James and John, sons of thunder. That's cool. Sons of thunder in the Greek, it's called bowenerges. Bowenerges is not actually a Greek word. It's actually a Hebrew Aramaic saying that gets translated in the Greek and it means sons of thunder. And the reason why Jesus called them sons of thunder is because they were very harsh when they spoke.

They were very loud like thunder. They made a ruckus. The best way to illustrate to you in real time today like what they would be like. I need you to think of the most controversial podcaster that you can imagine. The one who when he post or she post, everybody gets in the comment, half love 'em, half hate 'em, but everybody's got an opinion 'cause they made sure to make it. This was James and John. And it makes sense that they were that way and that James being the older brother spoke the most because if Herod is looking to kill followers of Jesus, don't you think he's gonna go for the one who is the loudest and speaks the most? So this is one of the reasons why theologians believe James is the first to be killed because he spoke very thunderously and he wasn't afraid to speak up. He was also very harsh. He also spoke the most, sons of thunder. A great example of what I mean will find in scripture, Luke chapter nine, verse 51, you're gonna see an example of these sons of thunder speaking. And you'll know exactly why Jesus gave them the nickname. Verse 51, as the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem and he sent messengers on ahead

who went into a Samaritan village. So what village, what country? Samaritan, so it's Samaria. And he's headed to Jerusalem and he's headed there to die, to go to the cross. Verse 94, when the disciples, James and John, saw this, saw that they were rejected, that Jesus was rejected, they asked, That escalated quickly. There's not no Lord, do you want us to send a strongly worded letter? No? Not even Jesus. Jesus when he sent out the 72 said, "Hey, if they reject you, just brush the dust off your feet and keep going." They were like, "No, no, no dust, fire, burn." This was the thunder that Jesus was talking about, verse 55, Jesus looked at them. He turned and rebuked them. Find it interesting that James and John, when they saw people rejecting Jesus, their reaction to that rejection was burned. But when Jesus saw people rejecting Jesus, his response to that rejection was to keep heading towards Jerusalem to die for the very people who rejected him. James and John's reaction was burned. Jesus' response was bleed. I'm going to die for the ones who turned me away. I want to speak today on a message titled, "James and John, Love and Thunder." How to speak the truth of God with the heart of Christ. Why did Jesus rebuke James and John? I think James and John were thinking that when someone rejects Jesus, when someone rejects God and his ways, the response to their rejection should be destruction. We got to eliminate the op.

If someone doesn't believe when I believe, if someone does not see it, how I see it, if someone is against Jesus, he is the enemy, he is the enemy, and they must be eliminated, eradicated. They think this is what it means to follow Jesus, y'all. Here's what I need you to understand. They actually think that their response was good. We're not talking about just anybody here. We're talking about disciples. These aren't disciples that are at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. If Jesus is about to go to the cross, that means that this is the end of the ministry. That means that they have been walking with Jesus for three years, and they think this is what it means to be a Christian. Why do they think I think a lot of Christians in our world today think that? I think people who are unfamiliar with church think that that is the case, that to be a Christian is to eliminate the opposition, is to reject it, to turn away. And when I wonder why people think that, I think it's because that is the perception of religion as a whole. When you look at religion in the world, religion in the world, religion out of whole, there are many countries where certain religions, there are many, for example, and I know this is a hot topic right now, please don't get offended, I'm just sharing and I'll just wait until the end of the sermon to get offended. There are many Muslim-majority nations in the world right now. This is just a fact, right, where if you are a believer, if you believe in Jesus, you will be either socially attacked, politically attacked, or you will die. If you are a convert to Christianity, you will get killed. If you try to convert someone to Christianity, you will get killed. And there are many people who look at that and they look at Christianity and they put them both from the pedestal and you go, "You see? All religions are the same." They just hate and they just attack and anybody who thinks this thing, I'm like, "I can't

speak for Islam. I just study Islam in school, but I'm going to speak for Christianity because that's my authority. When the Bible says we actually don't kill our enemy, the Bible actually says we love our enemy." The Bible says that when someone hurts you, you actually turn the other cheek so they can hit the other cheek. This is the message of Christianity. And America might not be a Christian nation, they might not be. I don't know. But I pray that it's always a nation that welcomes people of different faiths and different walks. There is a wave, I think, of Islamophobia that is going through our nation, that is afraid of Muslims coming to the country, and I'm like, "I'm not afraid. Let them all come so that they can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of Jesus." Hey, our missions team was going to buy a plane ticket to go over there anyway. He might as well save us the money. Come here so that we can tell you about Jesus and love on you, love on you. It's just love, it's love. I think we think that's what Christianity is. Forget just outside of America, but because inside of America during every election season, doesn't matter what side of the aisle you are on, you get upset at someone else on the other side of the aisle and they say something and they believe and we both use Christianity to attack each other and then we get so mad at them. And then when we see the enemy, 'cause that's what it's become, when we see the opposition and something bad happens to them,

they get attacked, they get ridiculed, God forbid assassinated or an attempt on assassination, we celebrate because there's actually a part of us, like James and John that wants to see those who reject Jesus burn. And Jesus is like, I bled so that they wouldn't burn. You're not ready for this message today, that's okay. Just promise me, you'll keep coming back. But they're breaking the law of God, Pastor JJ, Amen, I'm with you, but on the scale where the law of God is on one side, what balances out the law of God is placing the love of God on the other side of that scale. It is the love of God and the love of God. And I'm not pretending like that's easy. That is one of the hardest things to do as a follower of Jesus, is to live with an detention of the truth of God in the heart of Christ. And what I attempt to teach you today is that there is not actually a contradiction. And that there is not actually a separation, but that we make it and it shouldn't be. And it's not just out there in the world, it happens in our home. If you're a parent, how do you as a parent, this is great for parents, how do you discipline your child while still letting them know you love them? That's hard. I remember my dad was thanking me and he's thanking me,

like you can count on one hand how many times he's thanking in my life. And I remember when he's thanking me, before he would spend me. And while he was thanking me, he would say, this hurts me way more than it hurts you. And I just remember mid-spank thinking, I don't think so. (congregation laughing) I don't think so. But then I became a parent and I had this in my kids and I go, it's exactly right. I don't want to do this. This does not bring me joy. I don't want to hurt you. I want to help you. Some of those doesn't feel like it, but this is, this is my love. How do you rebuke a friend and still remain friends after you rebuke them? Here's a tough one for everybody who's married. How do you tell your spouse they need to change while still loving them for who they are? Truth and love. How do we do it? And someone says, well, Pastor John, I'm just following the Bible. I'm just doing what the Bible says. You can't be mad at me for just doing what the Bible says.

So were James and John. Luke chapter, or I want to show you a story in the Old Testament. Second Kings chapter one verse nine. Remember the city that rejected Jesus? What country was it in? Samaria, important note. Second Kings, one nine. Then he, the king of Samaria, sent to Elijah a captain with his company at 50 men. And the captain went up to Elijah who was sitting on the top of the hill and said to him, man of God, the king says, come down. Elijah answered the captain, if I am a man of God, that's how I visited him. If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you when you're 50 men. Then fire from heaven came and consumed the captain and his 50 men. Verse 11, the king was not having it. So he sent another group to Elijah, a king sent another, to Elijah another captain with his 50 men. The captain said, man of God, come down at once. Verse 12, he said, if I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you when you're 50 men then the fire of God fell from heaven and consume him and his 50 men. Where did this take place?

What country? Where were James and John when they asked for fire to come down from heaven? James and John were just trying to do what the Bible said. James and John were trying to pull a page out of Elijah's life and go, God, I'm just abiding by scripture. I'm just standing in faith like the man of God in the Old Testament, but where James and John missed it was that Elijah's mission was different than Jesus' mission. Elijah came with a mission of condemnation to cut off the people of Samaria from God. You don't want God fine, don't have God, but Jesus came not when a mission of condemnation but a mission of reconciliation. He didn't come to cut people off from God. Bible but the wrong mission listen this is so important James and John were right the Bible was right ready but they were still wrong they were still wrong are you ready take the science my next point because you can be right and still be wrong truth is always right I want to hear I want you to hear me say truth is always right but how you use truth and why you use truth can make a right thing wrong this is this is a this is a knife it's a blade right is this this you could put this on a plane you can you take this on a plane you can't take this on a plane because the blade is a what it's a weapon and I think it's so interesting that you called it a weapon ready when I've seen firemen use this same blade to rescue women trapped in a burning car when the seat belt couldn't come out because you saw a weapon but this thing has the power to set captives free you called it a weapon but I've seen surgeons use a blade to pull out a tumor of a patient who was going to die if they had not because this thing has the power to separate and pull out and draw out that which is in you that is killing you

you called it a weapon but here's what I've learned truth with love is a medicine truth without love is a weapon he was in where the Bible says the sword of the spirit is the word of God so the word of God is a sword it's a weapon bro he was talking about finding the devil it literally says right after that but we do not battle against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms it's a medicine I've shared often here at journey church the story of when I confess to Liz about my point addiction I share because this is a big part of who I am and how God healed me and every time somebody comes to the first time because we have first time guests every Sunday and I share it I know you're hearing it for the first time and then people in the lobby share their struggles with me and it's amazing that we get to talk about it while I often share that story about how I confess that she received and she loved me all that what I often don't say is that that was the second time I confess I don't share often the story of the first time I confess about seven years before that and I'm going to share that story here okay because it was a different response earlier on in our marriage for for starters I didn't confess I got caught so there's that secondly when I got caught and then I confess she it's what happened I don't know how to say it I'll listen she was Puerto Rican [applause] Man there were words spoken there was there was anger she said you sleep on the couch I said not sleep on the couch I'm sleeping on the bed she said well I'm sleeping on the couch so I took a pillow on a blanket and I stuck on the floor next to the couch I say again wait for me and we talked and we reconciled and all of that but it was it was it was it was truth everything she said to me was truth but it hurt it hurt she loved me but she was mad at me and I hurt her so because I hurt her she gave me truth but because the truth was coming from a place of her she was hurting me second time seven years later twenty more days of prayer fasting God is doing something in her life God tells me it's time I confess I didn't get caught I confess she totally different this receives me corrects me loves me prays with me forgives me and if you ask her the difference between first and the second So if you've got something to confess, we'd like to have prayer and fasting in just a couple of weeks here.

I would just hold on. Listen, she said, "God had changed my heart. Can I just help you?" Anytime you try and find the right words with somebody, you're already trying to pretend to be something that you're not already. So never try and look for the right words because you're just acting. Don't look for the right words, look for the right heart, and the right words will follow. Because when you really love somebody and you get your heart, now I say really love but you can really love somebody and be really angry at somebody. And when I say get your heart right, don't just be like, "I love you," and then go ham. It's, "I love you." Ready? Here's how you know. And I don't want to hurt you. I want to help you. That's the big difference. When you want to help somebody, when you are hurt, you want to hurt somebody. But when you want to help somebody, it's completely different. When you catch your kids lying, especially teenagers, I got teenagers now and, "Well, my teenagers are perfect, but y'all's teenagers, when y'all's teenagers lie." I don't know why they lie. Teenagers be lying about things they don't even need to lie about. It's crazy. I saw a teenager lie recently and it was a lie, just a lie. I'm like, "Why'd you say that about the milk? I didn't care." It's lying for nobody. You get mad, you get upset, and so what you do is because you're hurt now, because being lied to hurts, you go, "You're a liar, why are you always lying? Stop lying."

And you yell, and you shout, "And here's what you--what you said was truth." But it came from a place of, "You hurt me, I'm going to hurt you." You could say, "Hey, when you lie,"--ready, here's the difference--when you lie and it's not a word thing, it's a hard thing. When you lie, you lose trust with people. And when you lose trust with people, it affects your relationships. And today, you lying about your screen time is affecting your relationship with your parent. But if you don't fix this now, one day you're going to lie about a DM that affects your relationship with your spouse. And I don't want you to have that kind of relationship with your spouse. I want you to love each other and to be quiet, and so don't you see, this is hurting you. And I want to help you. Here's truth. Do you see the difference? I just got my place in the heart of, "I want to help this person." I don't want to hurt this person. I want to help this person. When you preach the gospel to somebody, and you're telling them about Jesus, there's a big difference between, "Go to hell and come to Jesus." Often times we look at people who believe different, live different, act different, and we go, "Fine, if you don't want Jesus, go to hell." Right? James and John. Burn. We want to hurt them because they reject it. But the other way to go about it is not to hurt them to go, "You don't have to live that life that you're living right now. There is hope for you. There is joy for you. There is peace for you.

Come to Jesus. Jesus is here to change and transform and make it right. Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. James and John, I think there was another reason why they were also so angry. And when you look at verse 54, Luke 9, 54, when the disciples, Jane and John saw this, they asked the Lord, "Lord, do you want, what's that word?" "Excuse me. I didn't know you rolled like that. Do you want us to call down fire? I didn't know you had fire in your pocket like that." It's safe to say, James and John thought pretty highly of themselves. Here's how else I know, because you must say, "Pastor, you're really hitting one passage of Scripture really hard." We're looking at Mark 10, 35, 36, then James and John, sons of everybody came to teach her, said, "We want you to do for us whatever we ask. What do you want me to do?" Jesus asked. Look at the next verse. "Let one of us," there's that word again, "sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory." He said, "These sons of thunders, just speaking, wanting to be important, wanting to be special because they saw themselves as important and special." Do you remember the ones who went to the village to actually prepare the way for Jesus? Do you know who they were? If we go back to the story, you'll see it. It was James and John. So James and John go into a Samaritan village to make space for Jesus. The people reject Jesus, but you can tell by the nature of the way that they saw their lives, they didn't see people rejecting Jesus.

So they took what was a rejection of Jesus and they turned it into a rejection of James and John. And they made something that was about God, about them. Here's the next little thing that we can use as we apply. How do I do this? Are you trying to be righteous or are you trying to be right? So righteous is about God, rights about you. I remember when I, there's a big difference. I remember when I was trying to get my ears pierced when I was a young man, teenager. And my dad had some, a lot of stories about you dad today. I'm sorry, I didn't, but a lot of stories of him. And my dad had certain theological views at the time that did not align with a guy getting piercings. I didn't want anything crazy. I didn't want circles and things, you know, right there in the ear. And I remember he told me one time, he was like, if you do get piercings, he didn't remember this, but my mom was there to give a witness or no, you said this. He said, he said, if you get piercings, you could wear them outside the house. He said, well, when you come into house, you're gonna take these piercings off. And I just remember thinking to my dad, like, I don't think you know how piercings work. (congregation laughing) If you take them off and the whole closes up and you're like re-piercing yourself every morning. I remember, I just ran into the room

as fast as I could some days. Didn't see him. That's the day. And I remember being so mad and so angry. And I remember opening up my Bible. And I remember trying to find all of the biblical support that I could find for piercings. I just remember going through scripture and just going, I'm just going, I'm just, I'm just show him. I'm just show him. I got a whole bunch of Bible verses together. And I spoke with a lady who was like an aunt at the church I grew up in in New York. And I was talking on the phone. And I was like, can you believe my dad doesn't want me to get piercings? And I got this verse and I got this verse. And I remember talking to her and I was like, I'm going to use it on him. I'm going to show him. And I'm going, I said, I'm going to get him. And then when I said, I'm going to get him, she on the phone, she said, she said, JJ, they're called Bible verses, not Bible bullets. Anytime you use the Bible to get somebody, you've missed the point of what the Bible is for. I was young, but I was already trying to use the Bible. This is the problem. We try to use the Bible before we try to apply the Bible.

The Bible is not meant to be used. It's meant to be applied. And as I was reading that, another verse came up in my heart. As my aunt was telling me that, another verse came in my heart. Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is good. And the question that I was thinking of with my dad when it first happened was, why doesn't my dad love me enough to let me get piercings switched into, why don't I love my dad enough to submit? So many people want to use the Bible, but nobody wants to apply it. Are you trying to be righteous? Are you trying to be right? I'll forgive them when they say sorry. If you need someone to apologize before you forgive, you're not trying to be righteous, you're trying to be right. And so Jesus tells them, you don't know what you're asking the disciples. When they say, I want to say you're right, you're left. Jesus said, can you drink the cup by drink or be baptized with the baptism I baptized with? He's talking about his death. He's saying, you want to be the greatest in heaven, you don't want that smoke. You ready to die? And they say this in verse 38, we can't. Jesus said to them, you will. He didn't lie, James would go on to get beheaded. John, John would be tortured, live in exile.

He was the last to die, but he probably suffered the most. How did he suffer the most? 'Cause if you're the oldest one to make it, that means you got to see all your friends die first. And he probably suffered more than any of them. But through their life, it became less about them and more about God. You know how I saw that? Whenever John talks about himself in scriptures, John 1323, he says, this is how John talks about himself in scriptures. It doesn't look like he became less prideful. And one of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved was your kind and next day, that disciple is John. In the book of John, writing about John. So he's like, that's Matthew, that's Nathan, that's Andrew, that's my bro, James. And when he came to his name, the guy that Jesus loves. We were reading it wrong. He didn't call himself the disciple whom Jesus loves because he thought he was better than every other disciple. He wrote the names of Matthew, James, Andrew, Peter, Nathaniel, Jude, Judas. He wrote the names, listen, because he did not consider his name worthy to be included. He included every other disciple's name. He goes, but I'm not going to put my name in it, because if I want them to remember anything about me, it's not anything that I am, not anything that I did, but what Jesus did for me, I am the guy that he loved. I'm the guy that he loves. Here's my next point, listen, you got to care more about God's name and people's lives than your name and your life.

Because when you speak truth, people are going to think certain ways about you. John was an apostle of love. That's what we call him. Why do you call him the apostle of love? First John 4a, he wrote God is love. John 1335, by this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. John was all love, somebody say love, but the epistles of John are some of the harshest letters in all of the New Testament. Did you know that? Paul was a little more forgiving. John, super harsh, but love, can I just tell you some of the harsh verses that he wrote? Here's some harsh verses, verse 22, chapter 2, first John. Who is the liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? Ready? This is the Antichrist. Anyone who says that God is not the Father and Jesus is not the Son is the Antichrist. Whoo! John, that's not very loving. In today's age, you know, a much more loving approach? That's an interesting perspective. I love that you said that, yes, maybe there are many ways to heaven. Let's just all get along in the name of love. John would have, John would have fillet. What? This is as political as I'm going to get during political season, I try and stay out of it. I preach Jesus because that is what we come here for Jesus. So I will just say this, I will say this, I heard on TV an interview, it was a Christian politician. I was just going to put Christian in parentheses. I'm not going to mention his party, unless I get accused of being a partisan.

But it was a Christian politician who got up in front of a camera, looked at everybody and said, yeah, it doesn't matter if you call him God, Allah, Nirvana, Buddha, Yahweh. There are all multiple paths that lead to the same truth. My Bible says different. Jesus' own words, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, and anyone who wants to come to the Father, must come through me. So Jesus is either the truth or a liar, but you don't get to claim him and other ways. This isn't Democrat, this isn't Republican, this is the truth and the lie. But Pastor, if we're going to be a loving church, we've got to make sure that everybody, everybody, no, that's not how that works. Are you going to see the bumper sticker? It says coexist, it's got all the bunch of religions in it and it's on the back of the sticker, that's not how you spell coexist, that's how you spell antichrist. The plan of the devil in the end of the world is going to be to convince everybody that there's a thousand different ways. And everybody is going to say, okay, and you know why, they're going to claim love, they're going to claim love, they're going to say in the name of love, there are multiple ways. And Jesus said, no, I love you too much, I love you so much that I need to tell you there's only one way, there's only one way and his name is Jesus. This is the name, truth without love is brutality. But love without truth is hypocrisy, it's hypocrisy. You can't tell someone you love them and not tell them the truth. Someone's in a while and my wife comes up to me, she's like baby of breath. And I'm like, I don't know why, but when she says something like, oh I whoa, whoa. Imagine if I told her, you should just love me the way I am. scan, a screening for cancer. Finds out that they have cancer, gets the paper with the results, and then in their office goes, "But if I tell them it's going to hurt their feelings." But if I tell them they might get depressed, if I tell them they might get sad, if I tell them they might get anxious, if I tell them they might leave the doctor's office and never

come back. But if you don't, they will die. And that doctor took an oath. You know, we call that oath? The Hippocratic oath. Because if he promises to heal people, he has to heal people even when it hurts. I would be a hypocrite if I said, "I loved you," and did not tell you the truth if the truth is the thing that would heal you. So I said this message was hard, and I said this message was harsh. But if you're getting offended, if you're getting by something I said, "I love you," what passed to JJ, you were too aggressive, and you were too violent, and you were too angry. You should have said it nicer, you should have pink lights, and then you should have a flower sense, and you should have... Sometimes truth and love is messy, but it's still love. Can I show you the best picture of truth and love? This is the best picture of truth and love. This is truth and love. And as you question, when you see the cross, what do you see? Truth or love? I heard a lot of y'all say love. Amen. I see the love of God. I see the love of the Son who gave His life for me. That is love. Follow up question. He gave His life for you. He died for you. But why did He have to die for you? Why did He have to die for you? Why could you not earn your way into heaven? Why could you not make it on your own? He died for you and that's love, but He died for you because the truth is we're sinners. We're sinners in need of a Savior. Truth and love are not contradictions, y'all. Truth and love is the cross. It's the cross. Jesus loved you so much He died for you, but He had to die for you because you couldn't do it on our own. And that's what I'm here to say today during church. You can't do it on this own on your own. We can't do it on our own. We are in need of a Savior. And that Savior's name is Jesus. You can call Him Jesus. You can call Him Christa. You can't call Him Nirvana. It's Jesus. Every head, but every eye closed, I'm going to do two prayers. Listen, my first prayer is for anybody in the room who does not have a relationship with this Jesus. If you were offended today, it was because God wanted to pull something out of your heart. He wants to bring you home. This is not a message of go to hell. No, no, no. This is a message of come to Jesus. He's here for you. He loves you. He wants you. He longs for you. He wants to embrace you. He cares for you. He died for you. And you cannot do it on your own. The truth is, you and I are sinners in need of a Savior. That's you in this room today, and you're ready to give your life to Jesus because you know you can't do it on your own. On the count of three, would you raise your right hand high all over our church, all over our campuses? In that prison

settles, you did this message. I need you, Jesus. On the count of three. One, two, three. Raise your right hand. I need you, Jesus. I need you, Jesus. I need you, Jesus. So many hands. So many hands. So many hands. Thank you, Lord. Whether you raise your head or not, I want everyone to pray this prayer a lot. Everybody say, "Dear Jesus, I hear you say come, and I'm coming." The truth is, I'm a sinner, and the truth is, you love me. The truth is, I can't do it. And the truth is, you can. The truth is, I'm dying. And the truth is, you give eternal life. Forgive me, Lord. I receive your love, and I receive your truth. I declare you today to be my Lord and my Savior. Jesus, thank me, pray. Amen. Amen. Nobody leave. I got one more prayer. One more prayer. One more prayer. If that's you, make sure you scan the little thing in the seat back pocket. Let us know you did. Here's another prayer. I preached today's message, and there are some people in the room. You love people, and you've been too quiet, and you need to speak up. And I'm praying that God will give you that courage to speak up. But there's other people in the room. Listen, you love people, and you've been speaking too much, and it's time to simmer down. There are people in the room who God is saying, "Open your mouth." You say, "You love them. Say something." And there are people in the room that God is saying, "Shut your mouth and open your arms." And hug them and embrace them, "I don't know who's who." Every hand, body, every eye grows. Holy Spirit, to those who lack courage, I pray you give them the courage to open their mouth and love. Open your mouth and love them. Love, as long as you're trying to heal, not hurt God, use me, to the Lord, use me. At the same time, I pray for all those who have been speaking and speaking and speaking, sons of thunder, harsh, harsh, harsh, shut your mouth and open your arms. And love, and love, and love, and love, and embrace, embrace, embrace, only you know who you are. But it's time to take this word

and put it into practice on your way home. In Jesus' name we pray, amen, and amen. Thank you so much for listening, Journey Church. Let's stand on our feet, let's worship the Lord. We love you God, none like you. Amen, Journey Church on the line. If you accepted Jesus Christ into your heart today, I just wanna let you know you've made the best decision you can ever meet. We wanna connect with you. We don't want you walking this life alone. Go ahead and scan that QR code down below so you can get connected to all things Journey. And so one of our pastors can reach out to you personally and make sure that you're plugged in. Well, what an amazing word by Pastor JJ. I'm sorry, but do you want to be right or do you want to be righteous? It took me out, but I'm gonna send it up to the studio because I wanna see what Joe Sand and Jorge have to say about the sermon. Stay tuned. Oh, my goodness. I agree with Kyla, that took me out. I did too. Do you wanna be right or righteous? And the other one was the knife. Is the knife a weapon or a tool? A lot of people, when they see a knife, they instantly think weapon.

But that same tool is used to save lives and extract the cancer. Yeah. When a surgeon uses it, a scalpel. I think it's important that we remember to apply the word to our lives instead of using it as bullets. That's right, that was another one. That will stay with me. So many nuggets that was given to us. Such an amazing service. Last week, Pastor Hector, today, Pastor JJ. Man, this disciples is gonna be an interesting series for sure. That's right. Stay tuned for the after talk. Yes, absolutely. Stay tuned for the after talk. It's gonna be even more on fire. Absolutely, and don't forget to share this message 'cause today it was really powerful. And I know if it impacted you, it was gonna impact your friend. So please share this with a friend today. And the best way that you can help us send this message to other people is by you being generous. Your generosity helps us. So there's other ways that you can give and make this all possible.

You can go to the mobile app, or you can go to online, right? jorney.com/give. And not just do the ties, but also the offerings. We are also doing collections, just try the pledge. We're doing pledge. It's pledge season, everybody. If you are able to, for the can you see it, pledge, pray about it. Ask God for guidance. Yes. And then if he calls you to give a little bit more than your tithing, do so. Absolutely. And don't forget to continue to follow us. Like, subscribe on YouTube so we can keep up with all of the things that we're doing and all the messages to come. Well, it's been an absolute pleasure hanging out with you all today. We really hope that you enjoy the service. We enjoyed our time with you. We look forward to seeing you next week, or for Wednesday, for per service on the app. We'll see you guys next week. See you soon. Bye-bye. (gentle music) [MUSIC PLAYING]