Fullness In Christ

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ And it's good to be with you here at Vertical Church. If I haven't had the opportunity to meet you, my name's Juan. I'm our next-gen pastor here, and I love Vertical Church. I love what God is doing here. And last week, we titled the new series that we're kicking off, Jesus Changes Everything. Not just one thing or a part of something. He changes everything. And I'm not sure what you think about when you hear that phrase. Like, Jesus changes everything. Because for some of you, you might think, well, can he actually change this in my life? Can he actually change my marriage? What I'm going through with my children? The sickness, this disease. I mean, can he actually do that? And let me tell you today, Jesus can change everything. And just because a situation doesn't change, doesn't mean he can't change how we go through that situation. And I had no idea that 25 years ago, just by giving God an opportunity here at Vertical Church, then BNF, literally, Jesus was going to change us completely. So I want to show you a picture of 25 years ago when we first came to Vertical Church. It's been, I think, 25, 26 years now. I think the team, you guys have it? The picture of the first one? There it is. Boom. Let me break it down.

Who's in the picture? This is Pastor Virgil Sr., the founder, alongside his wife, Pastor Maria Maruja. These are my uncles in the middle, my mama. And guess who this is right here? Come on, that's me. Do I still look like him? Not really. But my hair, you can't see it from the, maybe from where you're seated, but I had some highlights, some yellow highlights there in my hair because Pastor Virgil Jr., right, our lead pastor, when he was a part of Contagious, the band, there was a moment, a season where he dyed his hair blonde. And I was like, I want to be like him. So it's crazy. It's funny and powerful how much people, the influence they have over your life, right, when it's the right people. And so I just showed this picture, honestly, to just honor our pastors, our founding pastors and our lead pastors, because look at what God can do when we just give him an opportunity. I would have never thought my life would have been redeemed. I would have been forgiven. But because my parents and my family said yes to Jesus, it changed my whole life. So I just want to encourage you, regardless of how you're coming in today, like Pastor Claudia said, Jesus can change everything in your life and one step at a time. Amen. And so with that being said, today we're going to continue with the series in the book of Colossians. Last week we started in Chapter 1. Today we're going to go to, can you guess, Chapter 2, that's right, of Colossians. You could go to the New Testament. And Paul gives us a very big warning here. He's giving this warning to believers in the early church where he's basically saying, hey, you really need to be careful as you're following Jesus because you ought not to be deceived. Don't be deceived. And so when I started reading a little bit more about Colossians Chapter 2, it brought me back to a moment that I was deceived.

I don't know if you've ever gotten deceived before, but it's one of the worst things ever. What I'm going to share with you, it's kind of like a joke and lighthearted, but it's real. So I got the opportunity to go to Greece with my wife years ago. And we went to Santorini, which is a small island, and we wanted to rent a car because to get around, we didn't want to ask for an Uber or a taxi or whatever. And then my wife mentioned to me something so smart. She says, before you check out, take pictures of the car. Look, it's messed up. So let me show you some of those pictures of the car then in Greece that I took. You can see my wife's reflection there. She's so smart. Take a picture of the bumper, of the rear. Here's another picture of the tire because it was scratched up. You probably can't see it too well. But as a tourist, sometimes they take advantage of you. So my wife's like, do this. I was like, yes, ma'am, I'll do it. This is a smart thing to do. So I went back to the lady. I said, hey, I'm taking the car. I took some pictures because there's some damages. Are we good? She's like, we good. I was like, OK. To my surprise, after a week in Santorini bringing back my rental car, I bring back the car and she has the audacity to tell me, you did those. I was like, excuse me, ma'am. Look at the pictures that I took. I didn't take, I didn't do any of those damages to the car. And she's like, after an hour and a half, we're going back and forth, back and forth.

I had another plane to catch to go to Mykonos with my wife. And I was like, you know what? Fine, we'll pay. How much is it? Like 50 euros? She's like, 350 euros. I was like, are you good? Like 350 euros? I was like, no way. Anyways, in that moment, right now I'm like healed from it. It's been eight, nine years. But in that moment, I was upset, for real. I was angry. My wife was seeing another side of me that you guys haven't seen, but it's been redeemed. So regardless of this, I know that all of us in this room, we, in some way, shape, or another, you've been deceived. I've been deceived. Maybe it's not something just that's silly or lighthearted. Maybe you were deceived by a friend who betrayed you. Maybe it was a co-worker. Maybe it was your spouse who actually hid something from you, didn't share something with you till much later. Maybe it was somebody at school who actually took your trust for granted and backstabbed you. We've all been deceived by something or someone. And so the message today in Colossians 2, it's really the heart of what Paul is trying to tell us. Hey, don't be deceived. On your way to following Jesus, things are going to happen.

People are going to come your way. You're going to see and hear things, but don't be deceived. So I want to pray because I believe God's going to speak to you like He spoke to me. Amen? Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this time. Thank you, Jesus, for this opportunity that we get to share and read your word. I pray that it would be all you. Thank you, God, because it is your word and your kindness that leads us to a repentful heart. And so I pray that as we explore and read your truth today, that it would set us free. We love you. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. All right, I want you to write it down. And if you don't have a notebook, take out your phone. The title of today's message, I want you to write it down. It is fullness in Christ. Say it with me, fullness in Christ. This is a very important topic. When I think of the word fullness, the word that comes to my mind, right, is full, right, like full. It's just things that are full, complete, not lacking, not missing anything. But here's a problem in today's world, and this is what Paul was trying to tell the people in Colossians 2. The problem is that people think they can find fulfillment in Jesus and in other things. If you ask a lot of people today, if you ask them, do you believe in God?

Do you believe? Yeah, I believe in Jesus. But many times, the way that we live, and even in the church, even knowing God and being a Christian, we're maybe not saying it, but the way that we're living it is showing something else, that we're not just finding our fulfillment in Christ, but also in other things. So let me show you this picture because I think it'll help you kind of understand what I'm trying to explain here. So many of us, I would say all of us, have these different areas of our life, success, career, achievements, relationships, approval, temporary pleasures, identity, self-image, right, control, independence, social media. And then what do we have in the yellow? Oh, come on, that was weak. Help me out. And in? Jesus. We also have Jesus. This graph here represents us, the entirety of the graph. Sometimes, we might not say it or even think it or know it, but the way that we're living, we're finding fulfillment from a little bit of everything. And what Jesus wants for your life is the next picture, He wants you to find fulfillment in everything. You know what I'm saying? Amen to this. Like, He wants everything that you are, that you would find fulfillment in Him so that when a challenge comes up with your health, when a situation comes up with your children, amen, Lord, help me, help us, right, when that person fails you, betrays you, when you didn't get that job, when the finances are lacking, your identity is not in those things. It's in Jesus.

So what should we do? Well, today, if you feel like you've been struggling with being fulfilled just alone in Christ, because we're human, I feel this tension at times, too, and I have to, like, come back and, okay, Lord, it's only you. It's not this, it's not that, it's not this goal, this ambition. It's only you. If you feel like you've been struggling, this message is for you. If you're firm in your relationship with Christ, this message is for you. If you're here because a cute girl invited you, this message is for you. Let's go through Colossians 2, verse 2. Check out this verse, talking about biblical truths, to be fulfilled in Christ. What can we do to be fulfilled in Christ? Verse 2, my goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ. Okay, so point number one, if you want to find an experience fulfillment in Jesus and in him alone, I'm going to blow your mind with this point. Ready? Point number one is know Christ. Amen. Know Christ. Know Christ. I'm going to break it down to you, Colossians 2, 2. At the end there, look at what it says, in order that they may... No, the mystery of God, namely Christ. I think, this is very interesting, the fact that Paul had to be specific about the mystery of God, namely through who? Through Christ.

Why is this important? Because the world will tell you, you can get to God by knowing or doing all of these other things. But Paul is saying, uh-uh, the only way to God is by knowing Christ. And basically the mystery of God, what's the mystery of God? And I want you to write this down. The mystery of God are these four things. Creation, the fall, redemption, and restoration. The mystery of God is that now because of Jesus, we know why we were created. It's to relate to God. It's to be in communion with him, to be able to relate to him through Christ. Unfortunately, the fall came or happened, which was sin through Adam and Eve, right? All of us have sinned, that's where it started. Because of that sin, we deserve separation from God, eternal death, spiritually speaking. But redemption, the third component, is thank be to God who sent who down? Jesus, so that we could have a relationship with God now. And restoration is that last component when we get to heaven, on where Christ comes back for his body. Okay, so how do we get to know Christ? We need to be reading what? His word, the Bible.

That is God's heart on paper, is the Bible, is the word. So I'm gonna speed through some of these verses. I'm sure you've heard of them. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. First John 1.9, if we confess our sins, he is what? He is faithful and just and he will forgive us. First John, excuse me, Philippians 4.19, and my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Psalm 23.4, even though I walk through the darkest valley. Have you ever been through a dark valley? I have. There's another one coming up because we're living here on earth. I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they come from me. Psalm 121 verses one through two, I lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker and heaven of earth. The last verse I'll give you, Numbers 29.13. God is not a human that he should lie, not a human being that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Okay, pause. How many of you by a show of hands

had heard or knew these verses before? At least one or two, yeah. We read John 3.16. I think a lot of you have heard of this, right? But here's a problem that we have in our Western culture, in the United States, is that because that word that exists in English, the word no, is not really what it's supposed to mean in the original text. When you hear, when you and I hear the word no, we think intellect, academia, right? Understanding up here. But the word that was used in the Greek when Paul wrote this was the word ginosko. Say it with me, ginosko. Ginosko, this is what it implies and I want you to write it down, it's important. Ginosko implies intimate relationship, experience, and knowledge through something that we do. So ginosko implies intimate knowledge through experience, through relationship, to doing, not just knowing. And talking a little bit about Greece, right? Because I mentioned to you, we went on that trip. I remember some of my friends, they were telling me, hey, you have to go on this trip, on this boat where they give you this food. It's the best seafood ever. And I was like, ah, it's fine, like seafood's good, but yeah, okay, it looks good on the pictures

on TripAdvisor, but look, I still have the picture. I wanna show it to you, thank you, team. They have the picture there of the food that I had on that boat, man. Look at that food. Some of you are like, that's not good because it's seafood. Because you don't know ginosko, you haven't tried it. And so when I tried this type of food, it changed me. I was like, bro, that is so good, I'm coming back. It's been nine years, I still have the picture. Proof is in the pudding, right? Look, so basically, Paul, spiritually speaking, he's saying the same thing. He's saying, hey, you think you know Christ, but you just know him up here. You just know him from afar. But don't get it twisted, don't be deceived. The only way for you to truly know ginosko is through an experience, a relationship. It's not enough just on a Sunday to come and listen or even to be in your Rooted group. Shout out to Rooted, who's in Rooted right now? Yeah, yeah, me too. Let's go, shout out. All those things are good, but it's not enough. Are you following Jesus and getting to know him on your way to work? When things are bad, are you praying and worshiping, Lord, I need you, I'm seeking you? Or are you going to some of those other things that we showed in the pie graph?

Do you see the difference? There's a difference between head knowledge and knowledge that comes through experience. So that's why today, this question of how are we trying to fill our God-sized void is so important. Like, what are you doing? What am I doing to try to fill that void? We all have it. And what are we doing to try and fill it? Because Paul is saying the only thing that will fulfill you and I is knowing, ginosko, Christ. Let's continue reading in Colossians 2 verses 3 and 4, In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Verse 4, I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. Okay, pause. Paul is saying you want to be fulfilled by Christ. First, you need to know him, ginosko, right? The second thing is don't be deceived. In verse 8, look at what he says, See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy. That's interesting. Why would he say that? Which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than Christ. Look at me for a second. Philosophy is the attempt to understand the big picture. Meaning, why are we here? Why are you and I alive? What's the purpose of life? What is it? There are so many different beliefs as to why we're here and what we should do with our life. And I'm going to talk to you about some of these false beliefs and false doctrines or philosophies according to the word. But I want you to just hear me out for a moment. It's all out of, it's all out of love. That's what I say to students on Wednesday. Hey, what I'm going to share with you. It's all out of, come on say it with me. It's all out of love.

This is not with a condemning message or you shouldn't, no, no, no. It's because when we see the truth, it will set you free. And even in my progression as a young adult, as a student and an adult, me and my family, we had to open up our eyes according to the scriptures and see, man, many of these false beliefs. We were practicing some of these things without even knowing. So I just want to share that with you because I might step on, not me. The Lord is going to step on some toes right now, but it's good because it's going to help you take a next step today. Sound good? Let's talk about one of these philosophies. The first one is the trap of humanism, humanism. A great threat to Christianity is humanism. It's become the general accepted philosophy in education, in government, in media, social media, schools, you name it. Humanism is really the belief that our world operates through. So what is humanism? Humanism teaches that everything just happens by chance, just happened. Humanism rejects the idea of a God, of a perfect God who created us by design. Humanism rejects and actually approves, or excuse me, humanism approves that the best way to fulfillment is just by doing whatever you want to do. Find your pleasure in you, in things and stuff. And as long as you do that, that is the purpose of life and why we're here. That is humanism. In Romans 125, Paul speaks to this. He says, they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. They worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator. Do you see that? Wow. The second thing I want to talk to you about is the trap of mysticism. Mysticism is the belief that God can be known through a variety of experiences, theories, or practices. So if humanism is the belief that there is no God, mysticism declares there is a God, but you need to do things individually and personally, and there are a lot of things you could do to get to God. Let me give you some examples here. We see it in Colossians 2, Colossians 2 18. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you.

Such a person also goes into great detail about what they've seen. They are puffed up with notions by their unspiritual mind. So let me break that down for you. Paul is basically telling the church in this moment. He's saying, yo, I know you don't feel worthy of worshiping Christ because you feel like I'm so unworthy. He's so good for us, but you need to stop worshiping the angels. Like the only person that deserves our praise is who? Is Jesus. Is Jesus. So he's telling them, stop this worship of angels in their false humility, in their blindness. They were doing something that you and I maybe would think, it's not too bad. Worshiping. You know, the Virgin Mary or this saint or that saint. Last time I checked through our scriptures, the only one that died for us and forgave us is who? Is Jesus Christ. So I'm going to take it a little step further, okay. Stay with me. Remember this is all truth in love. Mysticism also comes through jewelry. Also decor. There's a lot of things in our modern culture that smell good, look good but aren't Christ-like. Okay. I used to wear some of these things when I was in my early 20s and late teens. So I want to show you this picture. I'm sure you recognize at least one thing or another here. Okay. So this hand here is what's called the Hamza hand. Okay.

The eye is also known as Nazar's or eye beads. And then you see a dream catcher as well on my left. Your right. The reason why these exist, by the way, it's because there's a mystical belief that there's an evil eye. And that this evil eye carries a supernatural curse that if somebody who looks at you with envy or anger, you're going to be cursed because of them. And so these amulets or these objects were created in mysticism, the idea behind, hey, if you put these on, wear these, put this in your room, you're protected against the evil eye. So again, I'm sharing this with a lot of what? With a lot of love. But we have to place our trust in who? In Jesus. And it's his blood who covers us. It's his Holy Spirit who guides us. And for some of you, maybe you're hearing this today and you're like, man, I had no idea. And that's why I'm trying to share it with a lot of love. But I want to be honest, too. We as a family, we had to break away and throw some of this jewelry that we had. I remember, you know, people in my family were like, wow, we had no idea that this was the meaning of that little innocent blue eye that isn't so innocent. You know what I mean? So we need to be conscious. And let me just side note, this is not a topic or a debate of

salvation. This is a topic of freedom. So if you feel like you're kind of stuck as a Christian, why can't I overcome with the Holy Spirit? That's what I hear about on Sundays and Passover preaching, the Holy Spirit. Maybe you've opened up a door without knowing to some of this stuff. To mysticism. And not only are you professing the Holy Spirit at home but there's another spirit at work happening. Do you see it? So that's why we need to be careful and understand some of these things. I'm going to go in a little bit deeper, but remember, it's out of love. Let's keep going. Lord, help me. All right. Let's talk about yoga for a second. Yoga. Yoga is a physical, mental, but also a spiritual practice. I don't know if you knew this, but the origin of it was actually in ancient India. And the whole purpose of yoga is to control the body and mind to attain what they call love. And the whole purpose of yoga is to control the body and mind to attain what they call liberation. The word, and you can look it up. You can do your own research.

It's maksha. It's practice in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. This is real. I don't have time to go through each pose and whatever. But that first pose up there is the representation is purity and enlightenment. That as I stretch this way and as I am one with the earth and with the spirits and my body, I will be pure and receive enlightenment. When what we see in the scriptures is that we are enlightened. When what we see in the scriptures, the only one that can purify us is Jesus Christ. It's by the blood of the lamb. Because of his sacrifice. It's not something that we could do. So again, I didn't know this 10 years ago. And I remember at times taking one of my friends and I think even Danny, then my girlfriend, now my wife when she was like 17 took a yoga class. And now I'm like, Lord, I'm sorry. I had no idea. So that's the heart that I'm coming with. I'm not coming with the belt of truth. That's not what I'm doing here. Because it's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. And what's it worth to externally be perfect and polished but internally there's no heart change. Here's the last kind of this deceptive philosophy that I want to talk about.

Or the second to last. Is the trap of legalism. It's a big one. Legalism is relying on external obedience. Like doing things. But without a transformed heart. Let me say it this way. And I want you to write this down. It's doing the right thing without a transformed heart. That is legalism. Let me give you some verbiage to it. Some meat to it. It's, you know, those people and maybe you grew up in one of these homes or those people that you know they do all the right things. They go to vertical and they're on three different teams on the impact team. They're reading the word. But then, you know, these last 10 or 20 years that they've been here, there's no change in their heart. They're still cursing up the same storm. You know, the world is changing. They're still cursing up the same storm. You know, the way that they're living doesn't honor God. And you're like, wait. Why is it that you're treating me this way when this is what you're doing on the outside. They're more obsessed with doing the right thing than having a relationship with Jesus and being transformed. Now, I'm not saying, don't take it out of context.

Look, we all have our process. Amen. But clearly, you're doing the right thing. You're doing the right thing. It be that maybe, maybe in your environment where you grew up, You're doing the right thing. which is similar kind of where I grew up, You're doing the right thing. that maybe the presentation of Christianity that was given to you was a legalistic approach. If you don't do this, go to hell. I mean, hey, if you don't read, if you don't pray, but then it's like, we're reading and we're praying, but dude, you still hate me. You can't forgive me. Or where's your expression of love? And it's like, you're more obsessed with abiding by the law, the word, the rules, but there's no transformed heart. And because of that, honestly, on behalf of like the global C church, I just wanna say, I'm sorry. Like, if that happened to you growing up or seeing it around, because it messes us up. Today, God wants to free you from the perception, the skewed view, or even the experience of legalism. Here's the last thing. And I think parents, you'll be really happy with this one. The trap of technology and AI. Oh, I was expecting a few amens there, parents. The trap of technology and AI.

And not only for the parents, guys, it's also for us. For us, the adults too. AI, if you're not aware, artificial intelligence, it's a branch of computer science that creates systems capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as reasoning, learning, perception, and decision-making. AI can do just about anything. It could problem solve, write content, stories, schoolwork, don't get any ideas. Maybe you've already done it. Today's a good day to repent. Emails, it could explain information. You can have conversation. It could even create images and videos. Just by a show of hands, I use AI too. So don't worry, okay? The truth will set you free. How many of you have used AI? Come on, come on, don't be afraid. Yeah, it's all right, it's all right. It's part of kind of, you know, now 2026. Some of you are like, amen, yes, Pastor Juan, I use AI, right? AI is real. And I wanna see if you're able to differentiate the difference between an AI-generated picture or a real one. So I'm gonna give you three seconds

to look at each picture, and then I want you to raise your hand and I'm gonna ask you, do you think this is the real one? You'll raise your hand. Or do you think this is an AI picture? Then you'll raise your hand. Sound good? All right, let's go with the first picture, guys. We have it? Okay, I'm gonna count to three. One, two, three. Okay, do you think this is a real picture? Raise your hand. Is this the real picture? Raise your hand. Nice and proud, you know? You don't have to be, don't get swayed by people. Okay, I saw like five hands, that's okay. Do you think this is a real picture? You can raise your hand. I see some of you are just like, okay, who's gonna raise their hand? I'm gonna copy them, okay. All right, you're right, this is the real picture. Good job, this is the real picture. Okay, next picture. This one's an easy one, come on. All right, one, two, three. Come on, is this the real picture? How many of you said this is the real picture?

The first one. I'm helping you out, good job. How many of you say this is the real picture? Come on, brother, this is the time to raise your hand if you're not raising it, this is it, okay. That's right, this is the real picture. All right, let me show you this next picture. How many of you would say this is a real picture, Pastor Juan, for sure it's a real picture? Like 10 of you, look around, about 10 or 15 out of like 250 people. How many of you say, bro, this is AI, like totally AI, look at it. Looks like, that's so fake. This is actually a real picture. She knew, it's a real picture. This is the campus of Apple, wherever it's based, I'm not sure, I think you probably know somewhere where it's based, worth billions of dollars. Let me show you this next picture. Okay, how many of you say this next picture is, can we get the next picture, guys? Perfect, how many of you say this is a real picture, the man and his dog, it's a real picture? Look at the dog, come on, James being confident. Yeah, that's right, if you, you gotta raise your hand, don't be swayed by people, okay. How many of you say this is an AI picture? Okay, this is an AI picture. I like the confidence though, I like the confidence,

that's important. All right, last picture, let me give you the last picture. All right, how many of you say, man, this is a real picture. It's a real picture, has to be real. A couple of you, George, anybody else? Yeah, I like the confidence. Yeah, yeah, don't get swayed, look at the murmuring that's happening, don't get swayed. Don't get swayed, okay. How many of you say this is AI for sure, AI? It is AI, you are right, it is AI. Okay, listen to me for a second. I know it's funny, but look at me. Did you see the trouble and how long it took some of us to actually see if it was real or fake? I want you to write this down. AI, it has no source of truth, AI has no source of truth. That's the danger behind AI, that's the danger. The only truth, and I want you to write this one down, the only truth is the word of God. Now, don't take my words and skew them. I'm not saying AI is the devil, technology is the devil. I'm not saying that. I like AI, I use AI, I use technology. The problem is when we allow and stop AI from being real, start believing this more than the word of God. AI is not going to be real. AI is not going to be real. When we're having marital issues and ask AI, AI is not going to be real.

how do I respond to this argument AI is not going to be real. AI is not going to be real. that I'm having with my wife? If you're having sexual identity issues, am I a boy or am I a girl? What options do I have? What should I be? That's a problem. Or if you're lacking purpose, man, I'm lacking purpose, what should I study? Give me the top 10 things to study that make the most amount of money. When God is saying, hey, I wanna give you the answer so you feel fulfilled, and not in what you make or what you do, but in who you are in me. Does that make sense? I hope that you're following it and that you don't leave here saying, no, Pastor Juan thinks technology is the devil. What kind of church? That's not what we're saying. But when you're referring to that more than to God for some of these important and essential topics, it makes a difference and it's scary. John 17, 17 says, make them holy by your truth. Teach them your word, which is truth. Another verse, Psalm 119, 160. All your words are, say it with me, true.

That was weak, say it with me, are true. All your righteous laws are eternal. And so in a world that is inundated with lies, how will you discern the truth? In a world that is rampant on AI and technology, replacing jobs, replacing people, how are you going to know what's true versus artificial, fake? The only way it's with the Holy Spirit. It's knowing Jesus, kinosko, not being deceived. And here's the last point I'm gonna give you. If you wanna be fulfilled in Christ, let's read Colossians 2, verse five, as we get ready to finish. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. The last point is remain firm, remain firm in Christ. If you wanna experience true fulfillment in your life, it's not enough for it just to be a moment, experiencing fullness in God. It needs to be a progress, a lifetime, a journey. Look at what he says in verse six. So then just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him. That lets us know it's remain. Verse seven, rooted and built up in him, strengthen in the faith as you were taught. This is essential because if you wanna remain in Christ,

it's a lifetime decision. So now here's a good question that I think we ought to answer and my kids are asking me all the time, but how do you do this and why and how and why? So let's answer this question. How can we remain firm in Christ, how? How can we do it? When things are going hard, how can we remain? When we're struggling, how can we remain? When there's abundance, how can we remain? When there's uncertainty, how can we remain in finer fullness in Christ and not in other things or people? I believe the answer is found in Ephesians two, verses one and three. Look at this. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. Verse three, all of us, all of who? All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were nature deserving of wrath. Okay, I wanna do a little exercise. I think it's gonna help you. Question, who has sin? Okay, so we don't have to feel bad with what I'm gonna ask you right now. I wanna go one section at a time. I want you to raise your hand and give me an example of sin. It could be anything.

Okay, so we're gonna start over here with my people on my left. Just tell me an example of sin. Just shout it out, anything. An example of sin. What was that? Lies, perfect, lies. So lying, right? Lies, perfect. Okay, over here in the back, talk to me. Give me an example of sin. Killing, okay, perfect, killing. Which, by the way, the word says that even just by looking at a brother or sister with hate in our heart, it's almost like if we were killing them in our heart, right? All right, somebody here in the middle, give me an example. Pride. Pride, okay, give me more. Gossip, yep, that's a good one, gossip. Some of you are like, Pastor Juan, why are you writing that on the board? What else? Lust, that's a good one, yep. Whoops, that encompasses a lot, right? Lust, it could be pornography, sexual relationships outside of marriage. What else? Give me more in the back.

I don't hear you in the back. Give me more examples. Stealing, that's a good one. I heard you. Okay, all right, what about right here? My people over here, give me some examples. Over here, this section over here. Adultery, greed, come on. Adultery, greed, adultery. You guys are testing my knees now, oh my goodness. Okay, greed. Okay, what else in the back? I don't hear you in the back, talk to me. Unforgiveness, come on, Jason. Come on, Jason. Come on, Pastor Unforgiveness. That's right, all right. I didn't forget about you guys, talk to me. Give me some examples. Disobedience, give me another one over here. Overeating, gluttony, right? So gluttony, I don't know if it's spelled like that but we're going to pretend it's spelled like that. Sophie, you said unforgiveness. Disobedience, that's what you said. Disobedience. I know you don't think it says it but it does. Okay. In the middle over here. Give me more examples of sin.

Loud. Envy, right. Like being jealous. Give me some more. Hatred, anger. I like that one. So someone said anger. We said envy. Right. Okay. And then in the back, all the way in the back, talk to me. Blasphemy, that's a good one. Blasphemy, like using God's name in vain, right. Blasphemy. Okay. Give me one more in the back. Idolatry means putting anything above God, right. That could be a relationship. It could be a thing, a goal, an ambition. All right. Give me one more. Cursing. Yep. Okay. That's great. All right. So if we're answering the question, how do we remain firm in Christ? How do we do it? I believe the answer is in the next two verses of Ephesians 2. Look at this.

But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions. Do you see it? Even when we were dead, he died for you. Even when we sinned against him, he loved you. And I don't know anyone or anything, which by the way, we're this, all of us to a certain degree, right, that will accept you for being this in society today. They won't accept you for being that. I want you to write this down. How do we remain being firm in Christ? We remember our transgression and our sin. You need to remember your transgression and your sin. Let me ask you this question. When did you forget? When did you forget that we were sinners? When did we forget about it? When did we forget that we deserve honestly separation from God because of our sin? I think of Alzheimer's, you know, the disease. It's such a, it's so difficult, that disease. It's so challenging. It's so dangerous. Because a person who forgets who they are, the family that they have, what they did for their whole life. They just, they lose their joy. Because you're lost. Where am I? Who am I? Who are you?

Why am I here? And I ask myself the same thing. Spiritually speaking, a lot of us at times, we have forgotten. We have forgotten who we are. We're sinners that deserve spiritual death, separation from God. And I love, I love what King David talks about in the Psalms. In Psalm 51 verse 12, he says, restore to me the joy of your salvation. And make me willing to obey you. Restore that to me. Give me the joy that I once had. In Psalm 51 for context, this is when he's confronted by the prophet Nathan regarding the sin that he committed. Anybody know what sin he committed? He committed, it's here somewhere. He committed adultery. And King David, instead of being at war where he was supposed to, he was somewhere else and this happened. And sometimes, man, we're falling into sin because we're just not where we're supposed to be. So maybe today, God is reminding you and I'm praying that he would remind you today. Just like he reminded me first. God, would you restore to me the joy of your salvation that I'm trying to find and all these other things and for it to feed me and fill me. When in reality, he's like, the only thing that you and I need is knowing Christ. Ginosko. Right. Experience. Relationship.

Not head knowledge. And so as we get ready to finish, I would encourage you right now, as we get ready to pray, there are different steps we can take today. We can ask the Lord for forgiveness for unknowingly or knowingly, right, practicing some of these false beliefs, if you will. These false philosophies. Another step that we can take today, say, Lord, can you restore to me again the joy of my salvation? Because I've been trying to find it in so many other things. What I look like. My career. What I have. What I don't have. My kids. My health. My body. God, could you restore one more time the joy that I used to have when I first fell in love with you. And that happens when we remember who we truly are. Amen. And so I want to pray with you. Amen. You can clap. Amen. So that today God would seal this message in your heart. Because there's nothing worse than forgetting the joy of our salvation and trying to find fulfillment in things other than Christ. Let's pray, Lord. Thank you for this time. Thank you, God, for an opportunity to know you, to seek you.

God, I pray that today we would just come before your throne and thank you. Thank you, God. Because despite us unknowingly or knowingly departing from you, growing cold spiritually, or maybe even just being legalistic or trying to find fulfillment and pleasure in things or people instead of in you. Today you give us a way back. And that way back is through Jesus. It's through Christ. Knowing him, ginosko, with a relationship. Finding you, Lord. I pray that as we do that, Lord, that we would not be deceived. That we would not be deceived, but that instead, today we would make a decision to remain firm. To come back to you and say, God, thank you. Because everything I'm looking for, I have it right in front of me. It's you. I don't need anything else. I don't need anyone else. I just need you. We love you, Lord. And we pray that you would restore to us the joy of our salvation once again. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.