Desire | Rodrigo Vargas

What's good, Houston, Texas? Let me hear you out there. Let me hear you out there. Can we give Jesus some praise in the house today? My goodness. Well, welcome to our greater series where we've been discovering not just to believe in Jesus, but to embody the very essence of Jesus. Greater is not about doing more. Greater is about becoming who God intended us to be, you to be. You don't become greater by effort alone. You become greater by what you desire most. Whatever captures your heart will inevitably and ultimately shape your life. Now, if this is your first time with us, I want to welcome you and tell you that we want you to know that you aren't just another guest here. You're an answered prayer. And we want you to know that here at Union Houston, we connect people to God with the gospel of Jesus, regardless of your past, your struggles, or your doubts. We want you to know

Jesus loves you right where you are. And he loves you too much to leave you where you are. And this includes everyone that is incarcerated and is watching through the Pando Ab Union. Can we welcome our Union prison campus? I hope you hear that because we may not be able to see you, but you're never out of our hearts and we can't wait for the day that you walk in through those doors. Last week, we talked about pursuit, right? What we chase is shaped by what we value. And what we value is often shaped by what we desire. So today I want to talk to you about desire. Desire is powerful. Desire is spiritual. Desire is direction. Desire can lead you to do good, or it can lead you to do wickedness. And most people don't know, don't realize this, but desire is forming you right now. Even if you are unaware of it, your desires are already discipling you. The question is, are they discipling you towards Jesus or

are they discipling you away from Jesus? Let's talk about desire. Not on opinion. Let's us build together on the very words of Jesus himself. Because if desire determines direction, then we need to take direction from the one that knows greatness the best, the one that defines greatness for us. Let's open up to the gospel found in Matthew chapter 20. I'm going to set this up. Jesus is on the way to the cross. He has just told his disciples, he's having a conversation telling his disciples that he's going to be betrayed, he's going to be beaten, he's going to crucify, but don't worry, I'm going to rise again in three days. And in the shadows of the cross, a conversation about desire breaks out just as he's telling them this very thing. So go ahead and we can stand reading out of Matthew chapter 20 verse 20. Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and kneeling down asked for

a favor of him. What is it you want? He asked. She said, grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom. You don't know what you're asking. Jesus said to them, can you drink the cup that I am going to drink? We can, they answered. Jesus said to them, you will indeed drink from my cup, but sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my father. When the tent heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers, just outraged. How can they ask him for such a thing? And Jesus called them together and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles, Lord, it over them. And their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. I want to say that this is not the only time Jesus says this. This is a common teaching found in the Gospels that Jesus taught them, told to them on multiple occasions. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be your slave.

For just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And that is the Gospel. Father God, we thank you for this Gospel. We thank you that this Gospel is so rich in revelation that today is going to give us direction to our desires, Lord. That today you are redirecting some of us, realigning some of us, repositioning some of us. Lord, I ask Jesus be lifted high in this place and that the Spirit of God blow on everyone here. That the Spirit of God be the one that speaks to us, that reveals to us, that encourages us, that strengthens us, rebukes us, and convicts us so that we may walk in the kingdom steps that you have already prepared for us. Holy Spirit, open every spiritual eye, every spiritual ear, and soften hearts so that the seed of this Gospel may flourish in people's lives. Help me deliver that which you have imparted into me. And I pray this in Jesus' mighty name and the people of God said, amen. You may be seated. Everything we consume, what you see, what you hear, and what you experience gets processed in your mind. Thoughts that become desires and desires become decisions. Decisions that dictate where we live today. And many of us today are living in decisions that were made long ago. Raw emotions that we wrestle with, like rage, outrage, offense, comparison,

greed, envy, lust, selfish ambition, they didn't start as behaviors. They started out as thoughts that later hatched hell into your lives. And like the disciples, we're easily drawn to desiring things that we think are important, significant, or great. Some of you think they feel good. It'll make me happy. It'll give me relief. But Paul says, do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That's Romans 12 too. And so we ask God, Lord, why am I drawn to things that drain me? Why am I drawn to things that cause me pain and shame? Come on, am I preaching to someone today? This is for someone today. I know it. God, why? It wasn't God. Why am I tempted by the things that don't satisfy me? Don't satisfy me and only bring me strife? Someone's being redirected today. Someone's being repositioned. I'm going to show you, I'm going to show you today that it's your desires. But wait a minute. You might be thinking, does God promise to give you the desires of your heart? Not exactly.

Desires move toward whatever delights us most. Where your delight sits, your desire follows. Where your desire points, your life goes. Let's look at Psalms chapter 37, verse four. Lord, because there is a key truth here that we need to grasp today. Delight yourself in the Lord. You see that comma there? That must come first. God's not going to change your desires. If you're not delighting in the Lord. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. God doesn't give you what you want. He shapes what you want when you delight in him. Delight determines desire. Desire determines direction. And direction will ultimately determine your destiny. Can I tell you this? Your desires are a steering wheel of your soul. Now before we unpack what Jesus has just taught us. I want you to see something. The disciples weren't pointing were pointing their lives in one direction. And Jesus was pointing at quite another direction. You see that he's redirecting them. He is repositioning them. No, no, no, no, no James and John. You tend it's this way. And I believe he's doing the same thing with us today. Now there's a tension. The gap between the chasm between what they desired and what he defined as greatness. And this is exactly where many of us live today.

Now, I want you to picture this. Your life is like a compass. You ever seen a compass? Young people with phones. There's this little dial. It's round. It's got like a thing. And it's got a magnet. And it pulls to the magnetic true north of the earth. Okay, it tells you what which way you're headed. A compass doesn't point to where you want to go. A compass is doesn't point to where you wish to go. It points to where you are headed. And you can tell a lot by where you're headed. But it also indicates what your true north is. It tells you here's north. Can I tell you what our spiritual true north is? Jesus. The word of God, the gospel. And the Holy Spirit. Our life is the needle and Jesus is the true north. And when you look at your life, when you look at your patterns, when you look at your habits, when you look at your decisions, you can see exactly where you are headed. The question isn't where are you going? The question is, is the direction of my life pointing towards Jesus? The one Jesus desires for me. The needle doesn't lie. It will never lie.

Your life will always be telling the truth about what you truly desire. And when you delight in the Lord, your needle stabilizes. It heads towards Jesus. When you delight in the world, your needle spins everywhere, but Jesus. When your needle isn't pointing towards Jesus, of course, you're going to lust. Of course. Your delight is not in the Lord. Hold on a second pastor. I've tried. Yes. There's another answer to this and I'm not sure you're ready to hear what the answer to well, I delight in the Lord, but somehow I always have this one thing come up. I guess you want to know what it is, right? It's demonic influence over your life. And until you come to the reality and the honesty with yourself to say I need to be cast out of this impure spirit that constantly leads me to fornicate to masturbate to go watch porn to go use drugs to drink again to burst outrage to get angry at my wife or yet again for the same thing. It might just be a demon get over it and get get it out. But but I'm going to get to that in a second because it does come at a cost. I'm going to talk to you about the cost when you delight in yourself, you know what happens the needle bends. inward. You're always right, they're always wrong. It bends inward to selfishness. It's about me and not them. It's about me and not the Lord. But when you delight in Jesus, your

needle will indicate Christ's likeness as a servant of God. See, our idea of greatness reveals our true desires. In this text, Jesus exposes something profound and powerful. Jesus, the disciples came to him, and Jesus is like, what do you want? And the disciples aren't asking for money, they aren't asking for comfort, they aren't even asking for protection. You know what they were asking for? Position. Why? Because desires always reveal what you believe greatness looks like. And here's a truth I want to give you today. We sometimes want what isn't rightfully ours. That's a sobering truth. You might want to write down. We often want what isn't rightfully ours. All while neglecting what is rightfully our responsibility as believers and disciples of Jesus. We want the Lord to deliver me of this. But we haven't been responsible in our praying and fasting and reading our word of God. Right? We want God to give me that new job to pay off that bill to be secure financially. We neglect the fact that we're supposed to bring him our first tithe. We often want, this is another thing that shows up in desires, we often want what others have. Let me say it this way. We sometimes want what others have earned. With faithfulness, with faith, with service and sacrifice. We want what others have worked for. Without ever asking, I wonder what was the price they paid for that. And so we looked at people's blessings. We look at people's relationships. Right? How come they have all these friends? Oh, they get along so great. Their marriage is perfect. Right? We look at people's children. I want another child and I can't have a child. I'm not being mean. I'm giving you the realities, your desires. We want a bigger home because Susie Jo got a bigger home. We want a new car because your friend, your sister, your cousin got a new car. We want a better career because Susie Jo got promoted at work. And we want the influence others have. Do you compare? Do you compete with your friends? Because sometimes we think we're owed something. Do you ever feel like a victim? Oh man, it always happens to me. I'm sure Peter was like, Oh, come on. I didn't think of it. The world is out to get you. You ever feel that way? Oh man. Again, the devil's out to get me. The world is out to get me. Your friends are out to get you. Your mom's out to get you. Everybody's out to get you. You feel left out. I just, I don't know why I'm never picked. At work when they cut the cake, I never get a piece. You know, like a office space, a movie homeboy never got a piece of cake. You know, James and John acted like they deserved honor. Maybe it was because they were there from the

very beginning of Jesus ministry. Maybe it was because they saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain. Their mother only verbalized what they were already thinking and feeling, by the way. Don't, don't, don't. Hey, well, wait, wasn't his mother? Nah. Mom, you know, like Jesus always picks on Peter. He's always bringing Peter around and he's a cussing sailor and he's always cutting people's ears off. And you know, we didn't do any of that. We were there in the beginning, mom. We saw him on the mountain. But while they were reaching for position, they neglected their responsibility as servants. Here's what's wild though. Here's something people don't ever catch. You probably didn't catch it when I was reading to you. The other disciples weren't indignant because they were wrong. You know why they were indignant? It's because they wanted the same thing! Power. Influence. Recognition to be great. In their world, in the first century, greatness looked like political authority. Wealth. Influence. How many followers, how many likes did I get? And military strength. They still didn't get it. But what about us? Aren't we still trying to get Caesar to save our lives? Notice, Jesus doesn't rebuke the fact that they wanted greatness. He simply redefines what greatness truly is. Because misaligned desires always lead to malignant definitions of greatness. Misaligned desires lead to malignant decisions and deeds in our lives. And when you align desires with Jesus, you start to unlock a greater life for yourself. The world says, follow your heart. Doesn't it? Follow your truth.

Here's what Jesus says in Matthew 16, 24. Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me. The world says, desire whatever makes you feel happy. Do what makes you feel happy. Do what makes you feel alive. Do what makes you feel good. I think this is why people take pills. This is why they're addicted to pills. Because it makes them feel good. But Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5, verse 6, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. In other words, blessed are those who delight in me. Jesus doesn't suppress their desires. He's redefining it. He is shaping it. He is sanctifying it. The problem isn't that we desire too much, y'all. The problem is what we often desire is wrong. You were created to desire God. And this is exactly what Psalm 37 was saying. Delight in the Lord because you were made, you were created to desire him who created you. Responsibility of this has a cost. The responsibility has a cost. Jesus' words are resounding. You do not know what you're asking for. That statement exposes their misaligned desires. Deep down in their hearts, they believed Jesus. Now, I got to give you a term that they would have called him and that's Yeshua Hamashiach.

He was Yeshua, the anointed king. The anointed one, the Hamashiach was a political leader in scriptures that they were waiting for, they were praying for, they were believing for to come and set them free from Roman rule. They thought Jesus would overthrow Rome and establish the promised kingdom of Israel in political power. Gee, I wonder where we see this today. But here's the truth, the word of God is very clear that Jesus didn't come to set us free from Rome. He came to set us free from sin, from death and hell. He didn't come to establish a political throne. He came to establish something greater. He came to establish the kingdom of God inside the hearts of men and women. And the tension is to be great in the kingdom of God, one must become a servant. Now, that is not Union Houston's definition of a servant. That is not Pastor Rod's definition of a servant. That is Jesus' definition of a servant. Well, whoever desires to become great among you must be. your servant. He didn't say you might want to think about being a servant. You might want to take some time to become a servant. You might want to take some, make sure you get all your things worked out before you become a servant. You got to know the Bible before you know the servant. You got to know how to pray before you become a servant. You got to fast before you become a servant. He said you must be a servant and whoever wants to be first in the kingdom of God must become last in pride. There it is. Surrender is a requirement in God's kingdom. It isn't a suggestion. Surrender is a requirement. Not influence, not

status, not recognition, not how much you make, not how much you know, not how many tongues you speak. Surrender and the surrender, the price we pray for surrender is our pride. We exchange our pride for surrender. What is rightfully our responsibility has a cost. It's our pride. Jesus doesn't crush their ambition. He crucifies their desires, their egos, their pride because what is rightfully our responsibility as disciples, as followers, as believers in Christ is humility, service, sacrifice, surrender, and that always comes at a cost and that cost is our pride. Delight. The scriptures are very clear when we read it that delight in the Lord will lead to desires of my heart. In other words, delight determines destiny. The psalm was clear on this but more than that, this scripture, this is where this sermon, what I'm teaching you, what I'm pulling apart for you becomes personal because for too long the church in the West has created an industrial complex of consumers where we have to keep up with the Joneses and we got to do what the other churches are doing because or else our people won't come and people won't come to God and people won't get saved as if God needs a building for him to save people. This is the truth, okay? These are things I've had to crucify that the Lord has crucified in my egos that we need a new LED light, that we need a bigger LED screen, that we need more lights, that we need more microphones, that we need more singers, that we need a bass player, that we need a guitar player, that we need that we don't need nothing but the Spirit of God. We need the Word of God because the West has been delighting in revival nights. Come on now, I know y'all, we're gonna go to the revival nights, the worship team got revival unsanctioned merch wear that they wear up here that says revival. Revival, yeah! We've been relishing in this revival night, we like it. I ain't gonna lie, I like a good old revival night, you know? We've been, we've been indulging in false prophets. Did you hear the word so-and-so prophet came? Then you find out he's been sleeping with boys. Come on now, let's not act like you ain't heard it, that I'm being messy or gossipy. Everybody's heard it. You know, we relish, right? In my circles, the big talk is, oh, you gotta have seeker-friendly messages. Seeker-friendly. Let me tell you what that

means. Tell them God loves them, right? But don't tell them they gotta change. Tell them about the Christ that died on a cross for them, but don't ever talk about their carnal issues in their lives. I don't think that convicts people. That's not true conviction. I think what that does bring is fanfare, right? And, and, and people on staff, and it grows a building, and it grows a crowd because people are getting their ears tickled, and they all speak the same, and they all have the same things, and no one's struggling with anything, and there's no real transformation, at least not real spiritual. transformation. We're enamored with the gifts of the Spirit. Oh, come on now, people of God. Hey, where are my prophets? Where are my intercessors? Y'all love the gifts of the Spirit, but not the fruits of the Spirit. We have chosen to be spiritually entertained instead of spiritually equipped to do the good works. Servants, let me teach you this. Ephesians chapter four, verse 10 says, Christ gave the church to the apostles, to the prophets, to the evangelists, to the pastors and the teachers to build up the body of Christ to do good works. Why did Paul say that? Because he was already seen in the church of Ephesus. To do good works, Jesus called us to do. That's what he's called us to do. And so instead we have revival nights without repentance and we got platforms without purity. That's concerning to me.

And it isn't what I want for us here. And it isn't what I want for your families. I want you to see the real Christ. I want you to live the real Christ. And I want you to experience the real Christ in everything you do, because to live greater will mean that we have to reflect Jesus's desires for us. He has desires for you, but that requires delighting in the Lord Jesus. Not delighting in what I just learned. What do you mean, pastor? See, sometimes we delight in what we've learned. We just learned a new Greek word. And oh my God, you're not gonna believe this, right? But how is it transforming your life? And are you delighting in how it's transforming your life? Because for us to be there, we're gonna have to delight in the Lord. Our delight in Jesus will birth, will give birth, will flourish kingdom desires. That's what that psalms passage was. That's what Jesus was teaching them. Desires that will shape us into kingdom citizens, into local servants who lead out global movements, ambassadors of the Lord Jesus and the gospel, ushering the spirit wherever they go. But many people will ask, well, how do I delight in Jesus? Do I put on the new Elevation Worship album, right?

Do I go out and get flame flags like sister Edith over here? What are we talking about? Do I need that gibberish, speaking in tongues that some of the people do at church? What is it that we need? Shouldn't I have a reason to delight in the Lord? Oh, come on, I know. I know y'all been, hey, you can't tell me you've never thought that, and I'm like, oh my God, what do I have to delight in the Lord? My life is crap right now. I'm late on my car payments two months, right? My check barely covers my bills. The baby mama keeps raising up my child support. Come on now, I know I'm talking to the right church here. My parole got set off again. What do I got to delight in the Lord? I ain't got nothing to delight. I came here to tell you, oh, we have reason. Oh, we have good reason. As a matter of fact, in the very verse, he says he came as a ransom for many. He said earlier in John 3, 16, that he loved the world so much that he came into it, not that it should perish, but have eternal life, that he died on the cross of Calvary. For me, for you, let me make it plain and simple. Let me tell you, let me preach, let me testify

that while I was out using drugs, cheating, stealing, running in and out of places that I had no business being in, he loved me so much that he died on a cross. Oh. You know what I can delight in? That when I called on his name, when I was down in the dirt, when I was down in rock bottom, I called on his name and he rescued me in the most likely of places that he kept me from serving time in prison. Prison that not without a cause I did lose my way, but he restored my family. He restored my finances He restored he broke Addictions on my life. He took cast it out the devil of depression and he healed me of anemia Boy, do I have something to the light in the Lord? How about you? And You might be wondering well today's my first time It's your time ever. I'm here to tell you That he paid the debt That you owe for your sins for your mistakes for your past I Understand you used to be a dope boy. He paid the price for you being a dope boy back then He paid the price for all your shame that you caused in your family and in your house and in your life Let me tell you he is mighty to say He is more than able to restore he is faithful to redeem That is worthy of delight That is worthy of delight When we come to understand

And internalize this in our hearts Who he is What he has done Can I tell you what the light is? It's an overflow of my relationship of the one who did it all for me now Psalms 37 in the amplified Version I really like because he takes the Hebrew words and they really expound a little bit on it and That verse actually says the following trust rely on and have confidence in the Lord and Do good So delight You cast that to delight isn't simply to feel It's to fully trust have confidence and do the good of that delight Dwell in the land and feed securely on his faithfulness Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires and I love this part and the petitions Of your heart if I fully trust With all my confidence Then it'll show up in my life How's that pastor? Well, it's really simple This people always ask us. I don't know how you do it. I Don't know how you do you you pastor you go through you hear all these crazy stories all these people going through things and then You got the building and we got that We got to think ahead and we got to build this Another sermon another teaching another small group and you got meetings and you got to think outside the box You got to meet with other ministries in the area so that we can collaborate and expand the kingdom of God And how do you do it? Well, it's really easy. I trust Fully and have full confidence in the Lord and so my life naturally gravitates to where I'm doing this I feel fulfilled

Because trust leads to obedience obedience leads to service and service Cultivates delight what I'm trying to tell you is service Being a servant won't feel natural to you you don't feel like I Don't know if I could do it I've never done that before You're the perfect person You're the perfect person You're the one that God's calling today You're the one that's a God saying look if you just trust me and you take these steps You're gonna find out what delighting in the Lord is really all about This is how we dwell in the land and live off his faithfulness. That's to delight in the Lord then and only then our desires begin to be shaped Into kingdom desires our prayers align with his will and and all of a sudden Things start to happen in our lives our ambitions become his purposes in our life In other words, I don't just want to be rich. I want to make an impact in the kingdom of God. I Don't just want a promotion. I want to be able to better serve the place. I'm being promoted to Notice I kept money all out of that Now if you look if you still wonder well Pastor I'm you I Never been to church. This is my first experience. It's wonderful. So what does Jesus look like? Right. Well, what does this delighting look like? We got to look at Jesus and Paul understood this and he urges us as little In Philippians chapter 2, in verses 5-9, he says the following, and I'm going to show you how this pairs up perfectly with Matthew chapter 20. This is amazing when you read the word of God and you study it

and you meditate on it, you ruminate on it. In other words, you chew it and you mess with it and you keep wondering and you keep asking, Lord, what is there more. You find these things. He says, in your relationships with one another, have the mindset of Christ. Okay? Now he teases up. Okay? This is how we should be with the world. Who being the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Stop there for a second. The cross was a sign of a curse. The scripture says that the tree was a curse. That cross was the tree that the curse died on. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. Therefore, God then exalted him. But when did that happen? After he took death on a cross. That is above every name and that the name of Jesus, at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord in the glory to the glory of God the father. Now, I don't want you to miss this because the word nothing,

he became nothing in the original language is kenosis. And what that actually means is that he emptied himself. He emptied himself. What did Jesus empty himself of? Well, we know that, you know, the nature of God, but I want to put some layman's truth. He emptied himself of privilege. He emptied himself of status. He emptied himself of legal rights and he emptied himself of public glory. I think some megachurch pastors should probably read this part right here. Public glory. He emptied himself. Now, let's look at this pattern. Because Matthew chapter 20 aligned with Philippians chapter 2. He says, want to be great? He says he was great. The very nature of God. Then he goes on, become a servant. He took on the form of a servant, Philippians 2. Become a slave, he says in Matthew 20. He took himself as a slave to mankind. As a ransom. Give your life, he says. Even obedient to death. As a ransom. And Philippians 2 says, even on a cross. Now, the word servant is the word diakonos.

Which is, by the way, where we get the word deacon from. Which never made any sense to me how the deacons sit up on the upper level, you know, on seats and they got plaques and they got flags in the parking places. Because servant is a deacon. You should be like, hey, bro, shouldn't you carry a towel? I need my feet washed real quick. Don't ask a deacon to wash your feet. But that's the word, diakonos. It means someone who waits tables and runs errands. This is the lowest form of servant in the Middle East. This all kind of debunks and defeats the idea of celebrity pastors and preachers, don't it? Right? Slave of a bond servant is the word duolos. Duolos. It means someone who belongs to another. How can we say we belong to the Lord Jesus and not want to be a local servant in his local church? He humbled himself, therefore God exalted him. He went low and God lifted him high. He chose the cross and God gave him a crown. That's the kingdom pattern. If you want greater, you must follow the downward path before the upward reward. Jesus didn't change positions. He embraced obedience to the father. And the father entrusted him with all the glory. So when Jesus says in Matthew, whoever desires to be great, must follow the downward path.

become a servant. He wasn't given a leadership lesson. He's describing himself. Are are are we not disciples of Jesus? Is that not what we're here to do is develop? Cuz the way up in the upside down kingdom is down. Now, let me ask you something. Let me ask you something. Honestly, answer in your hearts. What have you been desiring? What have you been desiring? Some of us want a better position at work. There's it's okay to want those things. But does that come from the light in the lord? Some of us have been wanting a child. We've been praying so much for a child. But is that at the cost of not delighting in the lord because it hasn't happened yet yet. That's that yet. If what you've been desiring, can I ask you something? Has it paid you good dividends or has it led you to get another dead end? Has it led you all the disciplines you've created, all the barriers you put, you put all these barriers around you so that it doesn't happen again and yet you find yourself logging on again. You find yourself DMing her again. You find right. You find yourself right back in that toxic relationship. You find yourself once again offended at someone that said something online that you didn't agree with. Desire always leads us to something and it can either lead you to purpose or it can lead you to pain. It can either lead you to Jesus or it can lead you to something that doesn't look like Jesus. It can either produce life or produce loss. The truth is nothing will change. You're going to still have that lust. You're still going to have that greed. You're still going to have that anger. You're still going to be bitter until desire changes. Are you hearing me? And when you start

to delight in the Lord, like truly delighting in what you're doing for the Lord, how you're serving them, how you're spending time with them, how you're making these changes, letting pride be crushed under the weight of the cross. When you start saying, I'm sorry, babe. I shouldn't have talked to you that way. I'm sorry. I lost my temper, honey. I shouldn't have said that. Until you stop feeling sorry for yourself and I feel yet again. Until you stop giving that depression power by speaking it over your life. When you stop doing these things and you start delighting where he says he faithfully and fearfully wove me in my mother's womb that I've been set apart, that I'm a peculiar people, that I've been called to something greater. Your lust will never turn into love. The light, the light in the pain, the light in the suffering of the cross, of your own cross. Your cross is different than my cross. We got the delight in it because you'll never ever change that greed into kingdom generosity. Here's the funny thing about greed. People think that greedy people are have money. Some of the greediest people don't have squat. Go look up what greed means. Your sinful desires will never be sanctified into service in the kingdom unless you delight in all the things he's calling for you. So today I'm not just inviting you to feel something in your heart. I'm asking you, I'm inviting you, I'm urging you to take a step into change. I'm not just asking for conviction. I'm asking for obedience. Now, if you've already been to meet the team at any point during the last year and you haven't gone to what we call connectors one on one, which is where we finally plug you in onto our team and you become a local servant. Don't sit on this today. Don't delay obedience.

because delayed obedience is disobedience. We call this Connectors 101. It's really easy. It doesn't take very long. We work with you. We ask you questions. We're not gonna put you in the kid's room where you can't stand kids. We're not gonna put you in the kid's room if you got seven kids at home. You got enough at home. You got your own union kids at your own home right now. You feel me? Right? I don't really talk to people. No problem. You got things to do where you don't talk to any person. You can look at your toes the whole time you're. The engineers all like, oh, that's my position. Whatever, Pastor Rossi, I can look at my toes and do it. We got you. We want you to be a servant in the body of Christ. This is where desire turns into direction. This is where your attendance, your faithful attendance, God see you, you're faithful, turns into kingdom assignment. This is where consumers become contributors and spectators become participators. Come hear how you are needed.

Come hear how you are wanted to walk in the steps of Jesus. Come discover how you can be a local servant that in the body of Christ, that leads to global movements with the gospel of Jesus Christ. If greatness in the kingdom requires service, this is your opportunity. If delight shapes desire, let your desire lead you into the responsibility as a servant. I don't want you to just hear the word of God. I want you to heed the word of God because this is how we move from desire to direction, from direction to destiny. So I want to leave you with some next steps before we leave. Audit your delight. What constantly captures your affection? What captures your time? What captures your time? Is it mindless scrolling? I'm not shaming you. We all do, right? What captures your time where you lose track of time, right? My wife always tells me, I go in my room, I have a desk, but it's really called the secret place. This is like, it's a big, it's a big, it's actually not a desk, it's a table. Cause I'm not, I'm unconventional. I got a big old table and it's my desk. And I got a big old screen cause I'm blind.

And I've got a noisy keyboard because I'm a noisy person. It goes, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack. And I got my worship music playing and I got my speakers because the little computer speakers don't do it. And it needs anointing. You see what I'm saying? Right? And I got my seven different Bibles and concordances over to my right. I can just roll my chair over there, grab it real quick. And I lose myself in this. I'll be in there from one o'clock in the afternoon till dinner time. Hey, you gonna come and eat? Oh yeah, it's dinner time. I lose myself in all that, right? I find myself watching my soccer games in there. I got this ugly yellow chair. It's beautiful to me, but Pastor Sarah hates it. You know, it's one of those Togo chairs. And I watch my soccer games, you know. I go through my football cards. Everything's there. Everything I need, everything that brings me joy is right there with the Lord. But that consumes my time. Being in that space where God is speaking to me, where God is affirming me. But I'm not just doing it so I can feel good. You catch that?

I'm doing it so that I can help others get to where I am today. I'm doing it so that you can tap into the greatness God's deposited in you. What takes your emotional energy and your emotions to replace, don't just remove. See, some of you have been trying to stop something. Some of you have been trying to remove, you replace this thing. You gotta completely remove it from your life, okay? And that costs. That has a price. It might mean, it might mean, listen, it might mean that you might have to walk away from some relationships. That's a cost because you do love them. But let's just say for a time, you don't need to go to Tio's... Cuz you know how they get? 12 beers in, they're fighting over Los Terrenos in Mexico, bro. You know how it is? And the Primo's got the little saquito, and that's all over with. You can't do that. You don't go over there, bro. You know what it's all about. You know? I was at a birthday party last night, one of our best friends, childhood friends. And she was surprised, oh my God, Pastor Rod came and we gave her a hug. And I said, hey girl, it's 9-15, I gotta go. And she was like, I'm just happy you came. Everyone will know, they know what I'm about. You see what I'm saying? It's all my friends, they know, hey, no, he's got something to do. He's got some purpose in his life. He came, he showed up, he participated. Drank my club soda and lime. Right? And I was still loud, and I laughed, and I made fun of people. I was still me. And I was gone at 9-15. Right? You can't just replace. You got to replace, don't just remove. Whatever it is leading you to that sin, you gotta replace it with Jesus. You gotta think, what was it that led me to that? And replace it with Jesus,

Jesus gotta be enough. Jesus gotta be enough. You can't simply delete wrong desire, you must cultivate a greater delight in Jesus, is what I'm trying to tell you. Three, invite the Holy Spirit to recalibrate. Only the way the Holy Spirit can realign you and recalibrate and reposition you to what true north is. He's not gonna speak to you and tell you, oh yeah, yeah, go ahead and marry that man, because it didn't say it in the word of God. He said to marry a godly man. He said to marry one that is providing for you, that is protecting you, that is praying for you. Not just because he's fine. And lastly, if you haven't been, I invite you, Connectives 101, there's gonna be some signs right out here. Some of you don't need motivation, you just need a recalibration, a repositioning. The compass has already told you where you're headed. Do you know where that new true north is today? Your love for God isn't gone, it's just been crowded with a lot of things that have been creating desires that you don't need. Your hunger for righteousness isn't dead, it's just been doled by the word, by you finding out whether, who's on the Epstein file. It doesn't matter who's on the Epstein file, Jesus is in these pages, baby. Jesus is not condemning you, he is inviting you back into a beautiful, delightful relationship, back to true north, back to his delight. If your desire has drifted, today is your moment to swallow your pride and surrender them. Would you stand with me today? I want to invite anyone today that's felt they've never accepted Jesus into their hearts. Or maybe today you realize you've drifted from Jesus, that man, you have been living this life, that you know what he's done and you believe that, but it's difference in between believing and living out what Christ has done for you. Maybe that's you today. So with every head bowed and every eye closed, no one looking around the room, let's God do his thing. He's God calling you home. Jesus is the son of God, he came to live, suffer and die for your sins, for all your mistakes, for your shame, so that you begin to walk into life in the Lord. He was buried on the third day he rose again so that you can be risen to life. And if today you believe that in your heart, right there in yourself, you're watching on your tablet, I want you to know he is mighty to save. If that's you, raise your hand, raise your hand, there you go, even in yourself, right there, raise your hand, I know that your cellmate's gonna think you're crazy, that's alright. Father God, we thank you. Spirit of God, I've said everything I've had to say, I leave your people in your hands, may you reposition them, redirect them, recalibrate, so that they may find the light and the living God in his name is Jesus. Church, come on, can we give God praise for his word that has come to us today? It's time for repositioning, it's time for redirection, it's time for recalibration.