How to Actually Change | Crossroads Church

Hey, and welcome to Real Encounters. Again, we are in Turkey and Greece, and it's hard to believe, but this is week four. And this week, we got something special. This week is all about character, and to talk about character, we're going to Corinth. What else is happening in there that kind of makes it a powerhouse or a place where we can even talk about character? What's going on? Well, Corinth is, I think, it's my favorite site from the life of Paul. I mean, it's just such an amazing setting. It was one of those three great cities of ancient Greece that I mentioned, Athens, Corinth, and Sparta. In the ancient world, Corinth had become notorious as a place of immorality. There was the notorious Temple to Aphrodite up on the top of the mountain that sits right behind the city of Corinth called Acrocorinth. There were many temple prostitutes there, and so it was just kind of a notorious place of immorality. And so for us, it's a great place to talk about character because there was a lot of lacking in character there. And Paul, when he came there, he had this interesting connection to a couple, a Jewish couple named Priscilla and Aquila, and what they had in common was their vocation. They were leather workers, which means mainly making tents out of leather,

also other leather goods and things like that. So we can call Paul a tent maker. And so when we go there today, it's been beautifully excavated, and we're really seeing the city of Corinth that Paul saw, which is really amazing. It's an amazing place for us to see how Paul had to help these formerly pagan people who had become followers of Jesus, but they had to unlearn so many of their old habits and their old ways of life. And so when you read the first and second letter to the Corinthians, you see how many problems that church had. But when you understand Corinth, it's kind of understandable, you know? So that's really interesting because, Nerula, you're living in a context probably a little similar in that the stuff around you and the people around you are doing something completely different than what is the character of Jesus. If you want to speak to that from your local perspective, I'd love for you to kind of just guide us through what that's like for you. I had anger issues with my dad and with the people around me. I used to be a person who thought that for a human being to change is, if not impossible, is too difficult. But I've seen the change and transformation in the lives of others around me, other Christians around me, and in my own life.

And not only that, even my, for example, Muslim father, who is still very conservative and who used to be very radical as well, sees that. So that for me is a great testimony. He sees your character changing. Exactly, and for me, it is so valuable because maybe I could have said some smart things to him and tried to convince him, but to be able to live out the testimony that we are called to live. But even the word Christian means follower of Christ. So we are to follow him, how? By imitating him, right? By imitating his character. And so to be able to live this example and to show people how that actually affects the lives of those around you in a really good way, I think is a great testimony. That's exactly right. Well, Paul has a lot to teach us all the way in Corinth about what it means to have godly character. So we're going to go to Corinth right now. Welcome to Corinth. Nowadays, it's a sleepy little town. But back in the days of Paul, and for nearly half a millennia before that, Corinth was one of the most important cities in the entire Greco-Roman world. The reason is because of its strategic location. Corinth sits on a tiny isthmus of land, only four miles wide.

Isthmus just means like land bridge. And it connects central Greece in the north to southern Greece on the Peloponnese Peninsula. Athens up there to Sparta down here. Now, the Peloponnese Peninsula was very, very dangerous to sail around. You didn't want to do it if you didn't have to. And so what Corinth enabled was for ships to pull up to one of its two ports, Lachion on one side and Centraea on the other. You would unload your cargo onto a ox cart. Then you'd pull the boat itself out of the water, put it on carts, and all that crap will get drugged to the other side. Nowadays, there's just a big canal. So much better. Why did they do that? I don't know. They did the ox cart thing. Have you ever wondered why all the statues of old people from this time period are like totally jacked and ripped? It's because they did stuff like this. It's like CrossFit, but way better, apparently. I don't know. Now, while that was happening, the soldiers had some time to kill. So to kill time, They came here. This right here is the ruins of the Temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and fertility and pleasure. This place was full of temple prostitutes and the sailors loved it.

You ever heard that phrase, curse like a sailor? It had nothing on the sailors this place. This was like party like a sailor and not just the sailors, but the locals too. Corinth had a reputation even in this time period, even in the Roman world. Forget your modern Christian values. Back then, they looked at Corinth and its citizens and what they did in places like this as being the lowest of character. In other words, the worst of all sinners. There's even a Greek verb to Corinthianize. It basically means to live immorally and to indulge in sexual access. This is the city that Paul walks into, the low character city, which I think makes it the perfect place to talk about the next step on our race, the step of character. Here's what Paul says in Romans 5. What do you get when you endure? You get an increased character. The word for character literally means proven, as if by trial. So your character is not who you intend to be. It's not who you wish you were. It's not how you imagine yourself. It's not you on your best day. Your character is who you've proven to be day in, day out. And by this point in his race,

Paul has proven to be a man of high character, a man of strength and wisdom and love. Paul came straight here from Athens and spent two years deeply investing in the people of the city. And not to spoil the end of the movie before we have a chance to watch it, but in many ways what happens in Corinth is Paul's first major win because he's not just effective with a tiny pocket of people, one particular group. He's effective with everyone. Jews, Gentiles, rich, poor, city officials, immigrants, even religious officials are coming to faith because of the work that Paul is doing in this town. Because Paul likes to shout out people in his letters and Luke in the Book of Acts mentions a lot of names. We know many of them by name. People like Phoebe, a powerhouse woman who Paul set up, appointed as a church leader, and then in the future entrusted her to carry his most significant work to the most significant city of all, the Book of Romans written to Rome. Another one, Chloe, a local church leader who Paul set up as an official in the church here in Corinth. And he entrusted her to be his eyes and ears to watch over the Corinthians in the years to come. Another one is a man named Erastus,

a city official who Paul tells us about in Romans 16. Now, you can hear all these names and you can go, how do we know that any of these people actually lived? How do we know that the Bible is reliable? That's an excellent question, one that should be asked. And the answer is we should look for evidence. Back when they were digging Corinth up about 100 years ago, they uncovered this inscription right here, which has the name Erastus, says that he was a city official in charge of public works and that he paid to pave this square and the entertainment district out of his own means in appreciation for being elected to office. Back then there would have been bronze letters here with his name and that inscription. Once again, what we find is when we go digging, the Bible turns out to be very, very reliable. When Paul got to town, he pretty quickly made friends with another couple brand new to the area. Their names were Priscilla and Aquila. They had just come from Rome right after the Roman Emperor Claudius kicked out all Jews from the city over a disturbance about Jesus. They were also tent makers and leather workers like Paul. So they hit it off and actually decided to go into business together. And that business most likely would have been right here. This is the marketplace that we're in in general. And this section of shops right here was brand new in Paul's day.

Perfect if you're opening up a new business. Where exactly on this line was the shop? We don't know. But we do know that it would have looked exactly like this. Maybe it was this one. Don't know. But in the shop is most likely where Paul started to have this idea of the race form in his mind. Why? Well, because one of the main clients of a tent maker in the city of Cloranth would have been sports fans who were ordering tents. so they could go watch the nearby Isthmian Games. The Isthmian Games are basically the Olympics of Corinth. And back in the day, they were just as big of a deal. And so it's not hard to imagine Paul working in a shop, talking to customers. Oh, what do you need a tent for? Well, we're going to the Isthmian Games. What happens there? Oh, there's all these races and there's actually only one winner in every race. And the winner gets this crown put on their head. You can imagine the light bulbs going off in Paul's mind. He's like, wait, a what? Maybe he even goes and watches the race himself. And this picture forms in his imagination. That's what it's like to follow Jesus. There's a race. And from this moment on,

that concept becomes part of Paul's teaching and preaching. It's not an accident that Paul wrote these words to this city. 1 Corinthians 9. Clearly, based on his long stay in this town and the number of letters that Paul wrote here, we know that Corinth had a special place in his heart. By the way, he didn't write just the two letters. Paul mentions four letters that he wrote to the Corinthians. What we call 1 and 2 Corinthians are actually 2 and 4 Corinthians. He loves these people. Why? Well, in this time, they were known as the worst of all sinners, something Paul himself could identify with. In fact, here's how Paul described himself in Timothy. Paul says, look, I'm the worst. And he wasn't being like dramatic about it. In Paul's mind, he was the worst of all sinners. He had persecuted the beginnings of the church. He had hunted down and attacked Christians. But Paul says, God pursued me and has changed my character so that we'd have me as an example, so that all of us would look at Paul and go, well, if God can change him, well, God could change me. That process of change is the process of repentance. It's the process he walked every single person he preached to who responded to the good news through, including Priscilla and Aquila. They became not just believers, but church leaders

who Paul later sent off to Ephesus to help oversee the church there. This process of change is what we're focusing on today. It's the process that leads to character. Now, Paul started here in the synagogue after he sets up his tent making business, after he gets it going, he does what he usually does. And he goes to the synagogue to try to reason with the Jews. But it goes awfully. And this time Paul has no patience. He shakes the dust of it off of his garments and says, I'm done with you people. I'm going to go to who will respond to me. Here's how the story goes in Acts 18. Paul's having a massive impact. People all over the city are being changed by what he's saying. And he's pushing against the tide here because there was no concept of change. Just like in our culture today, I don't think change is a super popular idea. I think the more popular idea is, you know what? This is who I am. You know what? I just get angry. You know what? I'm just a stressed out person. You know what? Who I am. I'm just, I just have fits of just anger. I can't, I don't have no, that's just who I am.

Paul pushes against that tide. And he says, it doesn't have to be who you are. There's another idea he comes up against that fits right along with that. And that's the idea of, well, it can't be that bad. I mean, everybody is doing it. And in this town, what that meant is everybody's going up to the temple. Everybody's sleeping with prostitutes. Everybody's getting wasted all the time and partying with all the sales. Everybody's doing it. How bad can it be? In our time, I think it's more like, you know, everybody looks up porn. How bad can it be? Everybody cuts corners on the truth to kind of massage things, make ourselves look a little bit better. How bad can that be? I mean, everybody has these little holes and outages in their life. How bad can it be? Everybody's doing it. Well, yeah, everybody's doing it and everybody's stuck. Everybody's doing it and everybody's... stressed out, everybody's doing it and everybody's not finishing their race. See, Paul offers a chance to change.

Repentance and character growth and development. It's not about behavior management. Paul doesn't give them the Ten Commandments. Paul doesn't walk them through an evaluation form and see how high they score. Paul invites them to be transformed into the character of Christ. Listen to how he puts it in 2 Corinthians. After a year and a half of teaching and preaching, Paul saw so many people experience that exact kind of transformation and so did other people in the city, and they did not like it. In fact, the Jews came after Paul, upset over what was happening in their city. Paul was dragged right here in front of the bima, the judgment seat, where Galileo, the local governor, proceeded over the trial. If you're Paul, this moment is deja vu. This feels like exactly what happened in Philippi when you got beaten. But what happened was not that. What happened was something that's never happened to Paul before. Here's the story out of Acts 18. But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galileo said to the Jews, If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint.

But since it's a matter of questions about words and names in your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things. And he drove them from the tribunal and they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Galileo paid no attention to any of this. This has never happened to Paul. Galileo basically says, No, I think these charges are ridiculous. I refuse to hear the case. Why would he say that? I think it's because Paul has already been on trial. His character has already been tested and proven. He's got a reputation about town and Galileo knows it. And so he throws out the charge. He said, this is ridiculous. What the Jews decide to do is to beat somebody up. And so they pick poor Sosthenes, their brand new synagogue ruler, and they utterly unleash on him. Now, interestingly, there is a Sosthenes that shows up later in the story connected to Corinth. In fact, 1 Corinthians is co-authored by Sosthenes. Here's the beginning of that letter. My brother is Sosthenes to the Church of God that's in Corinth. Could this Sosthenes be the same guy? I think so. We don't know it for sure.

But think about this moment in this scene as Sosthenes is getting beaten and lying on the ground and the crowd disperses. There would have been one man watching who knew exactly what it felt like to think that you were in the right by attacking Christians only to get knocked to the ground yourself. There would have been one man watching who knew exactly what it felt like to have your own turn on you and beat you publicly. And because of that, I think there was one man watching who would have reached down his hand and said, Hey, Sosthenes, can I help you to your feet? I think it's time to change. See, if you and I are going to continue on our race, we have to get this thing of increasing our character, of being transformed into the image of Christ, just like Paul, just like Sosthenes and so many others in this place. And that means embracing repentance. Oh, oh, oh I've been feeling just a little bit lost I've been gone with the gas light on Oh, you know I've gone everywhere else And now I'm seeing that I need your help Strip away those crooked lies That I've been believed a thousand times Oh, you know I've tried everything else And now I'm seeing that I need your help Enter me

Well, break my bones Burn my throne if that's what I need I'm surrendering And all of me Will let my life testify That Your everything Will drain my pride So I'm coming up empty Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh There's a secret flowing in my veins There's a wonder that I can't contain I lost the world but I got my soul Small price to pay but it ain't fool's gold Empty me Break my bones and burn my throne If that's what I need I'm surrendering And all of me Will let my life testify That Your everything Will drain my pride So I'm coming up empty Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Living water overflow Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Spring up, oh well Living water overflow Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Spring up, oh well Living water Empty me Break my bones and burn my throne If that's what I need I'm surrendering And all of me Will let my life testify That Your everything Will drain my pride So I'm coming up empty Break my bones and burn my throne If that's what I need I'm surrendering And all of me Will let my life testify That Your everything Will drain my pride So I'm coming up empty Yeah, let's pray. God, thank You so much for the words of that song. That's our prayer, God. Would You empty us? Would You drain us of all the character that doesn't match the character of Christ? And would You conform us to the image of Your Son? Would You make us people who love like You? Amen. It is a two-word prayer of repentance. Empty me.

And repentance is the key to character transformation. It's getting rid of my character and replacing it with the character of Christ. We talked about Paul in Corinth. This is actually the Temple of Aphrodite as it would have looked back in Paul's day where all kinds of crazy things happened. The most remarkable thing about Paul in Corinth, though, is that while he lived in Sin City, Paul focused on and was able to see the sin in himself. So you and I, if we want to, conform and transform to the character of Christ, we have to do the same thing. We have to come to grips with the sin in our life, with the character outages in our life, and we actually have to invite the judgment of God. I'm actually excited to tell you that in 19 1⁄2 minutes, that's exactly what we're all going to do together. We're going to walk up to the judgment seat of the throne of God and invite Him to cut and correct us. No one's applauding. Of course not, right? Because you're like, that sounds like a terrible idea. Why would we do that? Why would we do that? We'll relax. We'll get there. Starts with this. We heard in that video about being transformed. Paul used the word conform to to communicate the same idea.

Conformed into the character of Christ. He wrote this in Romans 8 29. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, to be conformed to the image of his Son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Now, people read the word predestined in the Bible. They get all bent out of shape. What does that mean? What it means right here is destiny beyond your control. God says, I will do it whether you run, whether you fight, whether you resist, whether you get mad, whether you throw a fit about it, doesn't matter. I will conform you into the character of Christ, not your best self. That's what makes us so radically different than the world's self-image. self-improvement journey, become the best version of you. Not God's goal. God actually says, I want less of you in more of the character of Christ formed in you. That's another way of talking about the character is kind of look at all the teachings of Jesus and say, okay, what does that mean though? You know what I mean? Like, what does it mean? But if you were to summarize all of Jesus's teachings, all of the writings of the New Testament, all the letters that Paul wrote,

you could summarize the character of Christ in one word, love. Jesus himself said this in John 15. This is my commandment, singular, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you, if. Jesus comes, he fulfills all the law, all the 10 commandments, all the list and Leviticus and all that stuff, fulfills all of that and he replaces it with one single commandment, love like I love you, lay down my life. He went to the cross and laid down his life and so you might be wondering, like, what would I do? If I wanted to model the character of Christ called love, what would I do? Easy, go to Home Depot, buy some lumber, something sturdy, four by four or six by sixes, build a cross and then nail. Just kidding, that's not. Some of you are like, is that really what? No, it's not what it means, relax. It's not what it means. Well, what does it mean? Well, Paul tells us exactly what that would look like in a letter that he wrote to this city. It's one of the most famous chapters in all of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, it's called the love chapter and he wrote it to this town.

For the very first time, it was read right here. Maybe if you've been to a wedding, you've probably heard it read. It's the, includes the section that goes, love is patient, love is kind and people read it at weddings, it's very sweet. It's talking to Eastside community pastor, Lena Shuler, and she reminded me that when she was only 14 years old, she actually read 1 Corinthians 13 at my wedding. As she said, she's like, I didn't really read it, I kind of cried it, what I did. And so, you've heard it at a wedding and while it does apply to marriage, definitely, for sure, use it in your marriage, absolutely. That's not the context in the letter. The context in the letter when Paul writes these words is about how to embody the character of Christ. Starts like this, I'm gonna read you the whole chapter. Starts like this, 1 Corinthians 13. Paul writes, if I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to the hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing, nothing. This is the plot twist of our race.

There is territory that God wants you to take, but the territory he's most interested in taking is inside of you. It's a character change. And clearly, Paul says in this letter, you can do all kinds of amazing stuff for him. You can fathom all mysteries. You can move mountains with your faith. You can give everything you have away to the poor. But if you don't embody the character of Christ, if you don't conform to the character of love, it's for nothing, nothing. The call is to conform to the character of Christ. It's not a test of your accomplishments. It's a test of your character. Many of you this week, you've questioned my character as a father, actually, because you noticed something, which is that I talk about my youngest kid, Gracie, and I talk about my oldest kid, Ben, but I never mentioned my middle kid, Eli. About a half a dozen people pointed that out to me this week, one of which was Eli, and I don't wanna pay for therapy. So Eli, Eli's a great kid. Eli gave me the best gift I think I've ever been given in my life for Christmas this year. So sweet, so thoughtful. He made it using his own Legos. This is a photo of it.

It says, dad, you are smarter than Iron Man, cooler than the Mandalorian, wiser than Gandalf, more worthy than Thor, stronger than Black Panther. So cool, right? So cool. But, but, if God doesn't look at me, and say, you love like Jesus, none of that matters. None of it matters. Don't tell Eli, he worked really hard on that. Doesn't matter, doesn't matter whatever, whatever Abel says about you, doesn't matter what you accomplish. The call of Christ is to embody the character of Christ. That's the plot twist. Well, how would you do it? Paul gives us very clear instructions. He continues in verse four. He says, love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It's not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Now, I know there's a feeling in some of us, maybe in most of us, that when we hear the word love, even when we hear these words read from the Bible, something in us is like, man, that's kind of like soft. You know what I mean? Like, does God want me to become a big softie, like a walking human squishmallow? Is that the goal God has for my life? No, no, it's not. No, it's not. But I understand why you feel that way. I get it. I totally get it. I think we've all been sold a version of love that is soft, the world's version of love. A love so soft that when we meet it, we don't conform to it. It's so soft, it conforms to us. It's fluffy, it's feelings-based. If I'm feeling it, I do it. And if I stop feeling it, we fall out of love. It just kind of, it's weak, it can fade, it can fail. It doesn't require much.

There's no difficult conversations needed because it's all about accepting and affirming you as you, you do you, and you tell me to me do me. And that's kind of all that it requires, soft. But God's love is not soft, God's love is hard. Do you know it's hard to be patient? Do you know it's hard to be kind? Do you know that it's hard not to be easily angered? It's hard to be humbled. It's hard to pray for your enemies. It's hard to pray for those who persecute you. It's hard, it's not soft, it's hard. In fact, God says it's so hard, nothing can break it. He says it will never fail. That's how Paul continues with the rest of 1 Corinthians 13. Here's the rest of the chapter. Love never fails, but where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there's knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now, we see only reflection as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully,

even as I'm fully known. Now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. See, love's so hard that when you meet it, it doesn't conform to you. You conform to it. Martin Luther King in a speech in 1967, he said, love is the most durable power in the universe. It's more durable than you. It's more durable than me. When we meet it, it will not bend. We must bend to it. We must conform to it. And the only way to do that is through the process called repentance. Conformed character requires repentance. It requires allowing yourself to walk before the judgment seat of God and invite him to cut and correct you. Four quick keys to repentance before we do it in just a few minutes. Number one, embrace humility. 1 Peter 5.5 says, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Now, why does God say you gotta have humility with one another? It's because the places where your character

doesn't quite match up to the character of Christ, that gap, that sin in you, it will most often be pointed out by someone else in your life. Our friends and our families like sin detectors. If you need one, get married. Works awesome. It was not even in Sarah's vows. She's so generous. She points out my sin to me. She says, that's kind of in there. I don't know if anybody else has that. It's in there. By the way, you don't have to get married. Paul wasn't married. Paul wasn't married. Friends will do. Good friends will absolutely do. In that tent shop, making tents with Priscilla and Aquila, absolutely they had conversation. Paul, that bugs me. Stop it. Priscilla, what are you doing? Absolutely. It will come from other people. Requires humility when they bring it to us. Second key, trust that it's for you even if it hurts. In fact, I should probably say when it hurts. Because true repentance, true correction, will be painful in the moment. It may even carry severe consequences. But ultimately, correction is not about condemnation. It's not to condemn you. It's to conform you. It's not because God hates you and has given up on you.

It's because he loves you and he has more and better for you. That's the entire point. Hebrews 12 says this. Have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons, as daughters? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. But later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. The writer says all correction, all discipline, all finding out every... It's always painful in the moment, always. It's why you have to endure. Endurance produces character. Me, I've been doing this run journey and preparing for this message. Twice in the last two weeks, I've had conversations with friends where I've had to repent. I just felt this like almost like a knife in my chest, just pointing something out and I had to apologize and repent. It even got choked up. It's hard. It's painful. It hurts. It hurts. In fact, when God corrects you, it will feel cutting on purpose. It will feel cutting. If you ever get to a moment in your life where it feels like there's like a knife at your neck, there's like a blade touching your skin, a good idea before you jump to the conclusion, it's the enemy's attack on my life. Well, whose hand is on the handle? Is it the enemy of your life?

Or is it the God who loves you and wants to correct you, who has something better for you? That's a good question. Hebrews 4 says, Thoughts and intentions of the heart and no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Because when the word of God comes to you, it will feel like a sword. In John 15, Jesus was describing the same exact thing. He called it pruning shears. He said, God will prune every single person who's fruitful. He'll prune you. And if you've ever pruned something, you know it's severe and it's cutting. You might be like, man, that's an option. Kyle, is there any other option in Scripture for receiving the correction of God? Any other metaphors used? Anything like that? Good news, there is, actually. There's another metaphor that God uses to describe what his correction will feel like in our lives. He uses it seven times throughout the Bible. And it's not a sword. That's the good news. Instead, it's fire. So this is refining fire. The point being, if you want character to increase, it will hurt. And the best thing you can do is you can accept it even if it hurts. Three, key to repentance, accept the cost because it's also worth it. We're doing the Bible in a year and we were in Leviticus a little while ago. I got stuck in Leviticus 4 and 5 because it was giving instructions for what to do. This is Old Testament, pre-Jesus, what to do if you discover sin in your life that you weren't aware of. How do you handle it? And the basic instructions are, well, you take one of your goats or one of your sheep and you sacrifice them.

And if you don't have a goat or a sheep, you can't afford one, that's okay. Get a turtle dove. And if you can't afford a turtle dove, that's okay. Take fine flour and burn it. I was thinking about that. I was like, man, I don't know how much a turtle dove costs. I've never seen those at PetSmart, but it costs something. Back in the day, it literally cost you something to admit your sin. It would be like today if God said, when you realize there's sin in your life, when you see a gap in character between you and the loving character of Christ, go into your garage, get out a car, and set it on fire. That's like a one, that's what it was, costly. But thank goodness, that's not what God says to do now, but it will still cost you. It might cost your pride. It might cost your reputation. It might cost your time. It might cost a peaceful meal around the dinner table tonight. It will be costly, but it's worth it. It's worth it because he has a race for you and a crown waiting and hope at the end of the run. Your race is on the line. Fourth key to repentance is do not run away. Walk up to the judgment seat and let God correct you. Go up and say, God, I am like you just read. I'm naked and exposed before you anyway. Would you judge me? Would you correct me? If there's anything in me you wanna cut out,

would you cut it out? Don't run. All of us have something, all of us do. Me too, of course, of course, me too, of course. In the moment that we're gonna have in a few minutes, I won't be up here faking it. I'll be up here asking God if there's anything in me that he wants to expose, anything in me, he wants to put his knife on, anything in me he wants to cut out and replace with the character of Christ. All of us have something. Some of us from the moment we started talking today about character, you knew what it was. It's been in the back of your mind ever since. Maybe you've been having this wrestling inside of your own mind. No, not that, I don't wanna deal with that today. I'll deal with that tomorrow. Well, friend, you've been wanting to deal with it tomorrow for a long time. Why don't you let God deal with it today? Remember, he's not trying to condemn you, he's trying to conform you. All of us have something. You're in the spot where you're like, ah, I think I'm good. Okay, okay, you can be good, just don't expect to finish your race. Just don't expect that.

All of us have to be conformed with the character of Christ. If you're part of the Crossroads family, I'll just remind you that the thing that we're asking God for, the thing that we've been praying for, the thing we've been pushing for is to see an awakening in our land, to see God do something we've never seen, to see him heal our land. Well, this is what he says in 2 Chronicles 7, 14. If my people who are called by my name humbled themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. If, it's a choice, it's a choice. Everything we've done in this run journey, everything we do every week here at Crossroads, it's not to entertain you, it's to help you and me be conformed. Maybe you've heard the phrase, information without transformation is just entertainment. A wise friend of mine this week, she put the word spiritual on it. She said, you know, spiritual information without transformation is just spiritual entertainment. That is not what we're going for here. We're going for a transformation in me and in you. That's what the rest of our time is gonna be about. I'm gonna stop talking in just a few minutes.

And instead, I'm just gonna read the words of God to you straight from scripture. Remember, it's a sword. My encouragement is for you to let it pierce you. Don't fight it. Uncross your arms. If there are locked closets in your life that you've not let God into because you don't wanna have him see the stuff in there, open the closet, let him in. If there's a wall you've built, God passed no farther talking about anything, but not what's behind the wall, tear down the wall. Remember, it's not to condemn you. It is to conform you. It might hurt, but it's for your benefit. I'll read a prayer from scripture. And then the description of love straight from 1 Corinthians 13. I will do that three times using three different translations. The prayer is from Psalm 139. It's an invitation for God to search us, to know us, and to point out places where our character doesn't match the character of Christ. When you hear that prayer, you can just respond with an amen. Then I'm gonna read the words of 1 Corinthians 13 that describe the character of Christ of love. And when I read those words,

I want you to pay attention for the poke, for the knife in your chest. Just one word, just one phrase is plenty. Here we go. Psalm 139. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any. leave us way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. First Corinthians 13. Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. ♪ Enter me, break my bones, burn my throne ♪ ♪ If that's what I need ♪ ♪ All of me, let my life testify that you're everything ♪ ♪ Drink my pride so I'm coming up into me ♪ Psalm 139. Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. First Corinthians 13.

Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. We'll sing together. ♪ Come into me and break my bones, burn my throne ♪ ♪ If that's what I need, I'm surrendering ♪ ♪ All of me, let my life testify that you're everything ♪ ♪ Drain my pride so I'm coming up into me ♪ Psalm 139, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Amen. 1 Corinthians 13, love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy, love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things,

hopes all things, endures all things, love never fails. ♪ Empty me, break my bones, burn my throne ♪ ♪ If that's what I need, I'm surrendering ♪ ♪ All of me, let my life testify that you're everything ♪ ♪ Drain my pride so I'm coming up, empty me ♪ ♪ Break my bones and burn my throne ♪ ♪ If that's what I need, I'm surrendering ♪ ♪ All of me, let my life testify that you're everything ♪ ♪ Drain my pride so I'm coming up, empty me ♪ God, that's our prayer. Would you empty us of all of the places where we don't match you? Would you drain it out of us? And would you build in us the character of Christ? of love. God it didn't take me long to feel your prick, your poke of your knife in my chest. Love is patient. I thought about two nights ago picking up Ben from a friend's house and he came out 15 minutes later than I thought he would and I was not patient. I was easily angered. I was provoked. God that's been a pattern in my life for too long. Would you conform me to look more like your son Jesus? I repent of that. Change me. God I'm praying for everyone who's here, everyone watching online, who has the heart and the courage to offer themselves to you God. Would you accept our repentance? We receive your correction. Would you change our character God? Would you make us into a people in a church who looks like you, who can run and win the race you have for us God? Thank you for being a good God who loves us enough to change us. Amen.