Cancelling Low Effort Christianity | Creative Church

Everybody say let's cancel. Low effort Christianity. Okay, there's this, let's pray, Lord, I don't want to preach without you. And Lord, don't let my experience or anyone else's experience with church calls us to lose the wonder of what could happen in a moment with you. Love in our hearts today, shape us into a vessel to be used for your glory. In Jesus' name, everyone said. There's a phrase going around right now called low effort, everybody say low effort. And low effort parenting, low effort grandparenting, low effort friendship, low effort marriages. It's basically where people show up when it's convenient, when it's easy, they give when it costs them nothing. And I started thinking about this through the lens of the kingdom and what if the greatest threat to the church today is not persecution, that it's not culture, that it's not politics. What if the greatest threat to the church is low effort Christianity? What if the greatest threat to your marriage is low effort marriage? Low effort parenting, low effort Christianity. So what is low effort Christianity? It's a version of faith that wants the benefits of Jesus without surrender to Jesus. We should do a study on how many times the scriptures call him Savior and how many times the scriptures call him Lord. Because we're really good with Savior, but He actually wants to be Lord. Low effort Christianity is a version where we attend, but we don't engage. We receive, but we don't respond, and we say I'm saved, but we're never sent. God's called you to be a soul winner. I was inviting the girl that worked at valet here to church Sunday. Every Sunday you should be telling somebody about Jesus. Come on. If your children need to see you win someone for Jesus, Alexander was right there. I'm like, "Oh, this is my oldest son, Alexander, and you've got to come be a part." I was wearing one of our hats, and she recognized the logo on there, and she's like, "I've seen

that logo before. It's our church. You've got to come." The pastor is amazing, I didn't say that. I didn't say that. Telling Jesus is amazing, amen? I said, "Oh, you've got to come." I said, "Jesus is there." People are looking for Jesus. They're looking for hope. They are done with man. They are done with all this stuff. They don't need to be entertained. They want truth. They want Jesus. Come on. They want the presence of God. They want to be healed and delivered and set free. I think people would rather experience the presence of God, and I'll take healing over donuts. Come on. Can I get any men about that? I can buy my own donut. I need healing. I need freedom. I need deliverance, and I feel in my own life sometimes with eight kids and being married over two decades, I know what it feels like. you know, there are some days, if we're just completely honest, that I don't feel like praying. I know you can't say amen about that because you always feel like praying. But on behalf of us, reform sinners. There are days I don't feel like praying. There are days

I don't want to get up early. There are days I don't feel like reading my Bible and I don't feel like opening the Word of God and I don't feel like being patient. And I don't feel like answering all the questions. And many times the same question. Over and over and over again. Do you know how many times I have to answer that question? And I just don't want to be patient. And honestly, there are just some days I want to live in my flesh and say, "Lord, we will try holiness again tomorrow." Can anybody identify with Pastor who needs more of Jesus? But I've learned something. When I get on my knees and pray, when I surrender, he fills me. He renews me, changes me. This is what happens. When you read the Psalms, like when you read David and the Psalms, David starts off like, "My life is terrible. Everybody is out to kill me." I just feel like dying. It's parched in dry land and everyone's talking about me. But then he goes, "But I remember the Lord." And I remember the joy of my salvation. And you watch David go, most of the Psalms sound like this. Because this is... And what David experiences in a Psalm is what you experience in prayer. Where you go, "I don't feel like praying today, God." And I don't feel like being here. And I feel like everything's against me, my back hurts, my knee hurts. I've got a headache. The kids are messing up stuff and this isn't right. But God, you restore my joy and you change my life and you do the... And before he gets to the end of the Psalm, he's worshiping and praising and loving God. And you watch him walk through the journey of prayer. You watch him walk through the journey of worship. And the same way David walks through it, we walk through it. And I've learned that a low effort in private eventually produces weakness in public. I've learned that what I tolerate, my children will inherit. So write this down. Low effort faith produces low impact lives. Revelation 3, 16. So then because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will view you or spew you or vomit you out of my mouth. God goes, "This makes me sick." God doesn't want lukewarm Christianity. My kids go to do the dishes and they start off doing them in cold water. Then you get onto them, they turn it a little bit, now it's lukewarm. And you say, "Listen, you have to use hot water to cut through the grease." How many people know what I'm talking about? You can't wash grease out with no cold water. You got to use hot water. There's something about the warmness of the presence of God that cleans you. And when you don't spend time with them, how many people know what that coldness feels like? You get into prayer, you haven't been

with the Lord for a week, two weeks, you get into prayer and it just feels distant. Come on, guys. And it just feels like [BLANK_AUDIO] And you just like forgive me for letting lesser lovers steal the affection of my heart. You are worthy of my eyes, Jesus. What does it say in Proverbs that His presence is more important than your eyesight? That His presence has to become your food. Our church, Him, come on guys. So let's just say a plain Jesus didn't die for a lukewarm life. He didn't carry a cross so we could be or we could live in convenience. Convenience is not in the Scriptures. Jesus said, "If any man wants to follow me, let him first deny himself. Take up his cross daily and follow after me." That doesn't sound very attractive. That's not a very enticing church growth strategy, but that's the call. The church is calling you to die. This is what Jesus called you to do. You're not calling you to convenience. Churches all over America have strategies about how they can make it very convenient for church members. And it has raised a generation of consumers that actually think they should write Google reviews on churches, which is as silly as I've told you before, your children writing a Google review about you, because you think the church is a product to consume and not a family to belong to. This is not a product. We are not offering you a product. We're not even offering you a service. When you came under the door, there was a big sign. This is we build services for Jesus and invite people. We do not build services for people and invite Jesus.

This is a family. Everybody say this is a family. It's a family to belong to. We have to get out of this consumer mindset. Listen to me, it is holy to be inconvenienced for the cause of Christ. I'm just letting you know, let yourself be uncomfortable, inconvenienced for him. It is okay. It's not an evil church because you had to circle a couple of times to park. It's not evil because you had to wait to check in your children. It's not evil because they asked you to serve children because you have children. Every parent who has a kid in this church should be volunteering in kids ministry. Why? Because you have kids. You're already in kids ministry. You are the most qualified. Let's have people who don't have kids do it. Come on, can I get any men about it? Yeah, it's low effort Christianity is what this is. We've got to get rid of the low effort Christianity. Well, I don't want to, and that's why it's worship. To see you guys know, your worship is not the songs you're saying. It is doing what God wants you to do when you don't want to do it. And your best worship service, I promise you, is when you're alone. It is worship The very first mention of worship has nothing to do With singing its Abraham taking his son Isaac to the mountain to sacrifice him Come let us go to the mountain that we may worship. That's the first mention of worship in the Bible. There's no singing There's no band Worship is sacrifice So if you come and you never some of you come and you never worship

Because you you you didn't David said I will bring him Nothing unless it cost me something My question to all of us is what did today cost you This is this is Christianity it is a life of surrender it is a life of sacrifice it is a life of saying No to my will and yes to him And it doesn't start on Sunday it starts in your living room in your bedroom on your knees in Prayer saying yes to the scriptures yes to him in prayer yes to time with him This is just a reflection of what you should be doing all week That's what this is this is corporate corporate prayer and corporate worship At home it's individual prayer and individual worship and you will never worship publicly if you don't worship privately I know something like I told you we shouldn't have come today Everybody say let's get rid of loa for Christianity We got to get rid of it. We got to get rid of it I've watched in my own home when I pray and read the word it shifts the atmosphere and then moments when I don't it shifts The atmosphere cold I'm telling you dads you are The spiritual authority in your home and it's not a title. It is God given My wife can My wife Pastor Julian can do all she wants. Let's pray. Let's read. Let's let's come on kids. Let's pray. Let's read and she does But when I do it When I do it when I lead it it shifts the home Your presence shift the home. It's not about Culture it is God ordained It is God ordained when you say come on guys turn TV off We're gonna we're gonna lean into prayer put the worship music on from the church on Sunday Put the worst music on put it on. Let's sit around. Let's talk. Let's pray. Let's confess Let's pray one for another. What do you got going on this week? Everybody come put their hands on

Let's pray Lord right now in the name of Jesus. We pray when you and you you create a home where the presence of God It's is where worship is normal Where confession is normal Where prayer is normal where repentance is normal where tears are normal It's normal in our home to weep in the presence of God To cry to confess to repent. These are normal things. These are not weird Because we do it Come on, can I get any men about like you have to be that in your home And and some maybe we're not because of low effort You have to put effort into this. It's not just gonna naturally have if what do we say all the time? winning begins and if winning begins at home so does losing It begins at home. It begins in that room And you are the pastor You're the pastor and before you criticize this house, can you get your family to pray? Can you get your family to serve? Can you get your family to give? We have to talk about who's doing dishes and everybody looks at that somebody else God calls somebody else to do that Because with ten people guess what we have a lot of And they all look around like oh God had called me to do that That is not my calling And so we have to allocate okay, you got this is this way you got you got this is sweet And it's always like the worst everybody's like What a sacrum it's a cross you know and so if That's, that is worship to Jesus. Come on, can I get any minute about it? Teaching them to love their siblings. How do you love siblings? Well, serve. Serve. And if you don't, that's why some, see some of y'all

never learn to serve siblings. That's why you can't serve these siblings. These are your brothers and sisters in Christ. These are not your co-movie watchers. Come on, amen, about like that. This is not that. When I go to the Timberwolves game tonight and watch them win, those are not my brothers and sisters. Like I will literally go and not help anybody. You understand what I'm saying? Like I'm not here to help anybody. I mean, I'm not against it, but I'm not here to help anybody. This is not that. This is not where you buy a ticket, you walk in, you get entertained and you leave. This is not that. That's why I tell you, do you know the person of them? Do you know them? What do the scriptures say? Know those that labor among you. It's not their job to, you don't go, it's their job to know me. No, it's my job to know them. It's a low effort and this can happen in family. This happens in, and I love my grandparents and I defend grandparents more than probably any pastor that you hear. But even with grandparents, hear me.

I know you're tired. You have to get involved. I'm not attacking you. You have to get involved. You can't just go, I'm here. You could come and see me. You could come call me. You gotta say, where are they? Well, they're at the, I'm coming. I will be there. Put them on the phone. I have a word. I'm praying over them. I wanna pray for my grandkids before they go to sleep. And parents, well, they didn't make it easy. They're not honoring, they're not, so be it. Put them on the phone. I'm coming. Here's a letter. What do I have to spend? Let me, do you understand what I'm saying? Like you've got, you have got to invest. I told a man, I told a man, wealthy man. He was talking, he was upset because his daughter was working and she was putting the kids in school and in a daycare and he didn't like what was happening with the daycare. I said, well, just hire her. Hire your daughter. Hire your daughter.

And her job is to raise your grandchildren to love you, each other, and Jesus. I said, what you gonna do all that money anyway when you die, what you gonna do with it? Hire her. What? Yes. What you gonna do with the money? What else is more important than your children loving you and Jesus and each other? (congregation clapping) Get involved. It's hard, I know what it's like. 'Cause sometimes I'm just like, I just don't want to get involved. How do people have just been like that? You're just like, like the kids are over there. And it's just like, I don't wanna get involved. Like do you know how many things I have to fix? And I don't have to fix anything. My God, I fix it, you know? And they believe I can't fix anything. And I'm like, oh my gosh, go get my little tool kit. I got this little tool kit, and then I can't see it. So I gotta have this big magnifying glass on my desk and I'm trying to, and these screws that they put in kids toys are so small. Why is this so small? (congregation laughing) I just don't want to get involved.

(congregation laughing) I've got to, I cannot be a low effort dad. So write this down, low effort at home creates fragile families. Dude around me six, six and seven, I'm almost done. And these, I had like five points, we got the two. And these words, which I command you to, is it a command? I'm gonna view will obey Jesus's command. These words, which I command you today, shall be in your heart. Go to the next verse. "And you shall teach them diligently, to your children. And you shall talk of them when you sit in your house." Do you obey this? When you walk, when you're driving down, 35w, when you lie down, when you get up, what do you hear me say all the time before your kids go to bed, turn their heart towards Jesus? Where does that come from? Right here, this is a command when you get up in the morning, when you walk with them, when you talk with them, when you sit with them in your house. We don't let our kids go to their bedrooms except to sleep and change. None of our kids are allowed in their bedroom, other than to sleep and change. You are in the room with us. We do life together. No one hides in their rooms, there's no TVs in their rooms, no computers in your rooms, no phones in your rooms, no iPads in your rooms. We do life and family together. Because how am I, put the verse back up, how am I going to talk about them when we sit with them if everybody's alone together? Bring your children to the living room.

This is why it's called the living room. We live here. It's called a bedroom because you go to bed there. We live here. That's not your living room. This sounds sound complicated. You feel you've got to have to preach this. We live here. Talk. Let's engage. Do the talking point cards. Open up the scripture. Let's talk about Jesus. Let's talk about the things. I know this sounds silly, but people don't do it. I know this sounds simple, but we're losing our family because we're not doing simple things. This is a command by the Lord to do this. This is not an option to a Christian. Come on, can I get any men about this? This is a command. Did you see the word command? Go to the other. Go back. Go back. And these words which I command you. This is from the Lord Jesus. This is what you do with your family. When you sit with them, talk about me. When you get up, talk about me.

When you go to bed, talk about me. When you're in the car, talk about me. When you're in the living room, talk about me. When you go on a walk, talk about me. There's something about walking that gets your kids talking. You gotta start making this the norm and get rid of the low effort dad, low effort mom, low effort grandmom and granddad. Don't hate me. Please don't hate me. I'm in this with you. Come on, guys. I got eight kids. I got young adults, teenagers, junior high, little kids, I got it all. They want to go to the gas station yesterday to get keen. You know how many times I got asked to go to the gas station? Understand? Like, it is all day, entertaining, all day, wrestling, all day, body slams with the twins, all day, fighting, lightsabers, all day, nerf wars, all day, and then we got to talk about the Lord. And then you've got questions. Leon has got a lot of questions about the Lord, and she's like, "What is, was Jesus God, or the Father, or the Holy Spirit? What is that? When we die, what is heaven? How do I know I'm saved? Why do people do this in the water? What is that bread and juice? Come on, you've got to talk to them. You know, what is healing? Why did they do that to Jesus?

Why did Jesus let them hit him like that? These are the questions five-year-olds have. Why did that happen? children. Young adults get rid of the low effort Christianity. Dads get rid of the low effort Christianity. Mom's grandparents let's get rid of the low effort Christianity and let's do what the Lord Jesus has called us to do. Let's be the church that the Lord has called us to be. If you're not serving start serving. It's not that we need you to serve. It's that the Lord wants you to serve. It's not that we need you to give but we give because the Lord tells us to do it. It's these people who got water baptized. They didn't have to do it but the Lord Jesus told them you should be water baptized. This is where we've got to move and so wherever you're at, wherever you're at in your life, I want us to move away from low effort and I want us to go. Let me read this. Let me read this last verse to you because I want to tie it in with this. I'm not going to be able to finish it but let me give you this last verse because this is the part that I want you to get. Mark 1435, let's end with this. This is when Jesus went to the garden, I guess, sent me to pray and he says he went a little further and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, take this cup from me. All the disciples were with him. They were used to going to that garden to pray but that night Jesus, the Bible says that Jesus went a little further. I want to challenge all of you to go a little further. Just go a little further, a little closer. Come on, can I get any man about it? When you work out, you don't go from, you know, if you're doing 50 pounds, you don't go to 200 pounds. You know, you raise it, you raise that look. One, just a little, just a little further. So wherever you're at, I want to

challenge all of you to go a little further with God. A little further in prayer, a little further in scripture, a little further in serving God, a little further in giving to the Lord, a little further in your marriage because listen to me, that cross, that cross. If you have low effort towards that cross, you're going to have low effort towards your marriage. You're going to have low effort towards your career. You're going to have low effort towards parenting. You're going to have low effort towards your grand parenting. What's the scripture? Say, "Seek ye." The kingdom in all these shall be what? Added unto you. And I know this is a hard sermon but I'm pasturing you today. I'm pasturing you today because I want you to win at home. I want you to win in your marriage, win with Jesus, win in grand parenting, win in parenting. I want you to win in your career. I want you to win and I'm telling you, I want you to go a little further. Just wherever you're at, just say, "I'm going to take a step." I'm going to go further with Jesus. Amen.