I'M NOT GOING DOWN WITH YOU | Jonah 1:1–16 | Chris Durso

And I'm going to read to you 16 verses. I know it's a lot of Bible. I'm going to read to you these 16 verses. And this story is going to serve as the illustration that we're going to pull from today so that we could learn what's appropriate for us when it comes to our relationships and our friendships. And then we're going to read a verse found in Proverbs that's going to serve as the underlining point that I'm going to ask that you lean all the way into. Here's what it says, Jonah chapter one verse one, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. So let's just start there, right? The word of the Lord came to Jonah. So immediately out the gate, we know that Jonah got a word from God. It wasn't just from anyone. It wasn't a good idea. It wasn't a feeling. This word came specifically from God. He said, "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me." I also want to point out, look how God talks about a city that's wicked. He still calls it great. Even if there's wickedness in a city or a place, God says there's wickedness happening there, but that city is still great. Which speaks to this idea that we don't write anyone off or we don't write any city off, we don't write any place off. Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it. They're wrong, but they're still great. You know you could be wrong and still great. You know you could be great and be wrong. Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and he headed to Tarshish. He went down to Japa where he found a ship bound for the port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. How funny is that? He said, "I'm going to sail away from you." Even though we know that the word of God says if you go to the heavens, he's there. But if you go down to the pits, he's there. In other words, you can't escape God. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea. Do you see that? Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea. If you're taking notes, you should highlight that in your Bible. You should write it down because this is an important detail to remember. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea and such a violent storm arose. That the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own God and they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck where he laid down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, "How could you sleep? Get up and call your God. Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish." Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible

for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do?" "Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" He answered, "I am a Hebrew. I worship the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land." This terrified them and said, "What have you done?" They knew he was running away from the Lord because he had already told them so. The sea was getting rougher and rougher. They asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm for us? Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you. Instead, everybody say, "Instead," this is their first mistake. Instead, the men did their best to row back to land, but they could not. For the sea grew even a wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord, "Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man. For you, Lord, have done as you please." Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this, the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice Skipping on over to the Book of Proverbs, chapter 13, verse 20. Look what the Bible says. Walk with the wise and become wise. For a companion of fools suffers harm. For a companion of fools suffers harm. I wanna take the next few moments and I wanna preach to you from this thought. I'm not going down with you. If you're taking notes, write that down. I'm not going down with you. If you decided you weren't gonna take notes, write it down anyway. Let's pray one more time. Holy Spirit, speak. In Jesus' name, amen, amen.

Thank you. One of the hardest things about loving people is discovering that you could be affected by decisions you never made. You could be faithful and still find yourself dealing with the consequences of somebody else's unfaithfulness. You could be responsible and still find yourself cleaning up somebody else's irresponsibility. You could be doing everything you know to do right and still find yourself in a situation you would have never chosen for yourself. Because the people we love do not make decisions in isolation. In other words, their decisions affect us. Their habits affect us. Their direction affects us. And sometimes you are living in a storm that started because of somebody else's decision. Some of you are going through storms right now. And for some of you, it's your own doing. It was a decision that you made that you shouldn't have made and now you're here dealing with the consequences. And then there are others of you. You are walking through a storm. You're walking through difficulty. Not because you did anything wrong, but because somebody you're attached to did something that they shouldn't have done. And what makes it this part so difficult

is that we rarely are talking about strangers when it comes to this conversation. When it comes to this conversation, we are talking about people who are close to us. People that we've known for years. People that we've sacrificed for. People that we've stood beside when nobody else would. And the closer somebody is to you, the harder it could be to recognize when their decisions are beginning to determine your direction. So then what do you do when the person you love is going in the opposite direction of the God that you serve? Let me say that again. What do you do when the person you love is going in the opposite direction of the God that you serve? Because the truth is, I believe in loving people. I believe in patience. I believe in grace. Hear me. I believe in walking with people through difficult seasons. I think that the church has done a poor job by standing with people. I think that we do great at preaching to people where they're at, but the moment they come to you with their real issues, I think that the church has to do a better job at sticking with people even through the most difficult of times.

Can I get a loud amen? We are quiet this morning. Okay, we'll figure it out. I want it to be said about us that if you're struggling, we'll stand with you. If you're hurting, we'll pray with you. If you fall, we'll help you get back up. If you need something, we'll try to figure out a way to help provide it. But if you deliberately choose to disobey God, I cannot follow you. If you deliberately choose to disobey God, I cannot follow you. That doesn't mean I'm walking away from you. I've just decided I'm never walking away from God. And I know myself. I know how easily people could be influenced. I know how easy it is to convince yourself that something is right simply because it's what you want. I know too much about myself to trust myself more than I trust God. And that doesn't mean that I always like what God says. Sometimes he tells me to forgive people that I don't want to forgive. Sometimes he tells me to apologize to someone that I do not believe deserves an apology. Sometimes he tells me to be quiet when I have a whole lot to say, can I get a good amen? I've learned that God is wiser than me. Anybody else believe that?

I have learned that God is wiser than me. And this is why I'm going to encourage you to lean all the way in. Because we have spent the last several weeks talking about a shift here at Good Company. We have been declaring that God is doing something new. But here's what I've come to realize about this shift. God isn't just shifting things around us. And the difficult part isn't understanding what God is asking of us. It's accepting what obedience is going to require. There are people who recognize that God is calling them to change. Here we go. They hear what he's saying. They know what he's asking them to surrender. They hear the shift. They recognize the shift. They just don't want to go with it. They're not with it. And now their decision to disobey God is directly impacting your decision to follow God. The problem is not that they don't know what God wants. It's that they do not want what God wants. And that decision that every one of us is gonna have to deal with at some point in our lives. 'Cause the truth is I cannot make it for you and you cannot make it for me. But what I could tell you about me, what I could tell you about my household,

what I could tell you about what I am going to do as Christopher Durso responsible for my own life and my own body with a wife and a family to lead. I have made my decision. If God is calling me to change, I'm changing. If he is calling me to forgive, I'm forgiving. If he's telling me to let something go, I am letting it go. If God is shifting, I'm shifting. I say, God, whatever you want to do, I'm down for it. You want to shift, I'll shift. I'm with all the shifts. I have been saved for 24 years and there's one thing that I've learned. It's that God knows better than I do. His ways are better than my ways. His plans are better than my plans. See, I decided a long time ago that I wasn't gonna spend my life fighting the one who knows what's best for it. So let me say it another way. Regardless of what it looks like and regardless of what it feels like, I know that for me, I am going with God. If he says to go this way, but I want to go this way, even though I want to go this way, I'm still gonna follow him here. If he says go north, but I feel like going south, I'm still gonna go north. If he tells me to go west, but I want to remain east, I'm still gonna go west

because I am not gonna allow how I feel to dictate what I do. Every time I allow what I feel to dictate what I do, I find myself in a moment where I have to repent and I've learned that I could live my life honoring God, worshiping God and praising God, and I do so, not by simply just worshiping him, but by obeying him. And if I obey him, even when it doesn't make sense. And if I follow him, even when I don't want to, and when I give into it, even though my emotions are telling me something else, I may not like it, but thank goodness I won't have to repent of it. I would rather be uncomfortable in the will of God than comfortable walking away from him. I would rather be uncomfortable in the will of God than comfortable walking away from him. Can I say this to you? Many of you will say things like, "Well, I have peace about it, so I did it." Not everything that God leads you into grants you peace. There are things that are difficult, that are frustrating. It's hard, and yet God still calls you, and you'll say things like, "You know what? "I'm just gonna do this, and I'm gonna change my life, "and I'm gonna quit this job, and I'm gonna move over here. "I got a peace about it as if your peace "is something to rely on." The word of God says his ways are greater than our ways. It says that to follow him and lean not on our own understanding. So with all due respect to your peace, your peace will not lead you where you necessarily need to go.

What you need is to be obedient. What you need is destiny. What you need is not the thing that makes you feel good. It's the thing that you do even though you don't wanna do it. And if we could become a generation, if we could be a church, if we could become people that say, "Look, I'm not gonna lie to you. "I'm not gonna sugarcoat it for you. "I've been following Jesus, "and he told me how to walk away from some things. "He told me how to give some things up, "and I really miss doing those things, by the way. "I liked doing those things, "but he told me it wasn't good for me. "He told me I had to lay it down, "even though I found a lot of joy and comfort "every time I did X, Y, and Z. "And what I am telling you is that you will deceive yourself "if you tell yourself that comfort leads to call it. "Comfort does not lead to call it. "The voice of God leads to call it. "This is why you need to be reading your word. "This is why you need to be praying. "This is why you need to study the Word of God "and learn how to hear the Holy Spirit. "Because I know that I've made a decision for myself. "I just want you to know, I'm gonna tell myself today. "If you're trying to figure out what kind of pastor, I have made up my mind that there are some things that I will no longer participate in. In other words, I will not lie to protect something that God is trying to expose.

I will not make excuses for decisions that everybody else knows is wrong. I will not help you through what you are facing. I will help you through what you're facing, but I will not help you continue in what God is calling you out of. Because the truth is, we are good company. Good company does not mean unwise company. Imagine we're walking down the road together and we see a sign and the sign reads danger. The road leads to death and you look at me and say, hey, I got a good idea. Let's go down that road. I'm going to think to myself, huh? I love you. We're friends. We've been through a lot together, but I'm not going down that road with you. I'm not even praying about it. The sign already told me everything it is that I need to know. I'm not going to ignore the warning just because I love the person who's ignoring it. And that is the whole sermon right there. I am not going to ignore the warning just because I love the person who's ignoring it. I am not going to ignore the warning just because I love the person who's ignoring it. When the word of God says to live a life of purity, when the word of God says how to handle your finances, when the word of God says this is how you're supposed to behave and this is how you're supposed to treat your spouse and this is supposed to how you're supposed to raise your family and you tell me, hey, I got an idea. I heard about this book or I heard about this podcast and the only reason why this person has a platform, by the way, is because they made a whole lot of money making movies, but because they're a great actor, maybe they have something to tell me how to live life. So why don't we go listen to that and I go with you and I hear that and it contradicts everything that the word of God says. I don't care how famous they are. Fame does not equal right. And some of you will throw out the wisdom of God. You will toss away your theology because somebody else encouraged you that this way could potentially work. When we say God has never failed, what we are saying is that his word has never come back void. His word has remained true and the word of God promises us that is what was true 2,000 years ago is true today and what is true today will be true 2,000 years later. I love you but I ain't going down with you. I'm rock with you until you choose to walk away from God. I'm not I'm not walking away from you. I'm just not walking away from God and we could go together and we could walk together but if you choose to go that direction, hey, I'll pray for you but I cannot make you and because

I cannot make you, you cannot make me. Go ahead and write this down. Go ahead and write this down. Stop ignoring the warning just because you love the person ignoring it. See, when I think about Jonah, most people know Jonah as the man who was swallowed by a great fish. But before Jonah ever encounters the fish, there's a group of sailors who find themselves in the middle of the storm that they did not create. Jonah has received a word from God. He knows exactly what God told him to do but instead of going to Nineveh, he boards a ship headed towards Tarshish and because of that, the Bible tells us that God sends a huge wind which ends up resulting into a huge storm and now the sailors are terrified. The sailors who did nothing are terrified because now they're involved in a storm that they did not create. The ship is threatening to break apart. They are now throwing off the cargo that is precious, doing everything they can to survive while the entire time Jonah is asleep. Think about it. The man responsible for the crisis is resting while everybody else is fighting to survive it. The person that created the storm is resting while everybody else is fighting for their lives. How many of you are living that exact scenario right now? The people that are causing you drama are rested up while you're out here trying to figure it out. This is a question that you have to ask yourself. This is a question that you have to settle in because the more you run from this conversation, the more you run from this question, you're never going to be able to get to the truth. I am not encouraging you to play the blame game but I am encouraging you to be honest because there are some of you that always take responsibility because you you've done and what you don't realize is that you've done nothing but only love somebody that you should have walked away from a long time ago. Eventually, the sailors discover what's happening. Jonah tells them that he's running from the direction of the Lord. He even tells them what they need to do, but the Bible says that they try to roll back to land anyway. They are risking their own lives trying to save the life of the man whose disobedience has put them into danger. I wish they would have heard that one song that said, "Don't save her, she don't want to be." If there was ever a bar that I thought to myself, "That could be the Bible right there, don't save her, she don't want to be, don't save him, he don't want to be saved."

Because there comes a moment when the sailors have to make a decision. They have to decide what they're going to do with what they now know and that is what's going to make this conversation so difficult. I'm not going down with you, going ahead and write this down. You can't fix the wrong problem. You cannot fix the wrong problem. In Jonah chapter 1, the Bible says that the men start taking the cargo. Might I suggest to you that these men got on this ship with a specific assignment. It was probably to deliver this cargo. So now while these men are being faithful to their assignment, but they find themselves in the middle of the storm and trying to figure out why they're in the middle of the storm, they start getting rid of precious cargo thinking that this could help them. They were sacrificing the wrong things. Some of you are sacrificing the wrong things. You're about to quit the right job. You're about to walk away from the right situation. You're about to become estranged with your family because your parent who loves you is trying to tell you that he or she is not for you. You cannot fix the wrong problems. A few weeks ago, my wife and I were watching television or we attempted to watch television. And as we're there trying to turn the TV on, nothing was happening. Immediately, I said, "I didn't think this television was that old, but I think we got to get a new one." And she said, "Yeah, it's not that new, but it's really not that old." And I thought, "Yeah, I don't know what's going on." I said, "Hey, help me take the television off the wall." So we unmount it, we unplug it, we plug it back in, still nothing. So then I think to myself, "Oh, I know what happened. I got to reset the breaker." So let me go down and let me reset the breaker.

I do it. I call up, "Hey, TV on." He says, "No." Put the TV back in, put it back on the wall, and she looks at me and says, "Does the remote have batteries?" And I said, "Yeah, of course it does." Woman? I didn't say that. I did not say that. But I did fight her a little bit. I was like, "No, it's not the remote." She's like, "Well, why don't you change the batteries?" I said, "Okay, we'll try, we'll go your way." Turned out she was right. 21 years married, I just learned, "Hey, listen to your wife." She's probably right. I'm over here trying to fix the wrong problem. I was already searching up new television. I was already looking at which one we could buy now, but what could we get to fix this situation? And the issue had nothing to do with the one that I was trying to fix. Here these men are throwing cargo overboard when they actually should have been throwing Jonah overboard. And I know that sounds difficult or mean for some of you, but the fact of the matter is they were worried about the wrong thing, and because they were worried about the wrong thing, they continued in the wrong position. Let me say it this way. The wrong diagnosis will keep you chasing the wrong solution. The wrong diagnosis will keep you chasing the wrong solution. You can keep sacrificing what's valuable and still never address what's wrong.

You can keep sacrificing what's valuable and still never address what's wrong. This is the port that we have to come around today. And you keep making excuses for them. Well, that's just how they grew up. And they say to you, well, I'm like this because my dad was like this. And then you accept that and say, well, they're only like that because their dad's like that, but they're not really a bad person. They just act like that when they drink too much. And then when you go to talk to them about their drinking, they say, don't talk to me about my drinking. That's what I do. That's how I relax. And now the very thing you're trying to solve, you can't even talk about. And now you're doing all the other things to try to fix the situation, your downloaded podcast, and you're getting books, and you're saying, Pastor Chris, can you pray for me? And can we pray for our marriage? And I'll pray for your marriage. But if you don't put down that bottle, you're going to keep ending up in the same position, time after time after time. What's up, band? I'm going to keep you up here a little bit. I'm just at 0.1. But you're making me sound spiritual, so thank you. Write this down. Love doesn't require participation. There's going to be a difficult one.

Love does not require participation, even after they hear that this man should not be on this boat. Before they throw him overboard, they just row harder. They were exhausting themselves trying to save Jonah. They were rowing harder, but the storm was getting stronger. My brothers and my sisters, stop confusing exhaustion with faithfulness. Some of you are rowing harder. You're trying to fix it, and you can't. You cannot change the situation. I know you want to help. I know you want to serve them. I know you love them. This is not a matter of if you love them. Well, my brothers and my sisters, if they really loved you, the way that they said they loved you, they wouldn't be putting you in that position. And that's the part that you have to accept, because if God is calling them somewhere, it is not your job to serve them in going the opposite direction. It is your job to affirm them and confirm the calling on their life while keeping your disposition and saying I'm staying right here. And if you want to go with me and follow God, we could do that. But if you're going in that direction, I know you keep telling me you love me, but love would not invite me into a storm. The same way not every storm is yours. Not every storm can be solved. Until someone finally surrenders. You're going to remain in that toxic environment.

Until the person that's creating it and making it toxic repents. But if you keep making excuses for them, even though you're well-meaning, you're going to continue dealing with what you shouldn't be dealing with. Love does not require you to take responsibility for someone else's deliberate disobedience. Love does not require you to take responsibility for someone else's deliberate disobedience. Do you have that first Corinthians verse for me? First Corinthians 13, can you put that up there for me? It says love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Thank you, keep that up there for me, please. Love does not delight in evil, but what are we going to try that again? But what? With the truth. So we know before this, a very famous scripture that says love is patient, love is kind, love is not self-seeking. If they love you the way that they said they love you, they would not encourage you to go with them into deception. They would not encourage you to continue in disobedience. So when you tell your boyfriend or girlfriend, we can't sleep together and they say no, but we have to sleep together because that's how I express that I love you. And then they start manipulating you. And you like how it feels because you do want to sleep with them. But you know that you shouldn't be sleeping with them. And they're inviting you, they're inviting you into it. The fact of the matter is you have to remember the truth of God because love does not delight in evil. What's evil?

Anything that is disobedience to God. And I do not care how you dress it up. I don't care if you say well we've been together for 10 years. And if you keep choosing to ignore it, what you don't even realize is that you're actually rejoicing in what is evil. When your spirit should leap at the truth, even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's frustrating, but if someone tells you that they love you but they're being cruel, say you don't love me. If they're trying to move you along and you're asking them to wait, they don't love you. Why? Because love is patient. Love is kind. If all their decisions only serve them, they don't love you. Well, they said they love me, saying you love me and showing you you love me are two completely different things. I could love you. And I love you enough to say, I'm staying here. I will not participate in your disobedience to God. And with that said, write this down. You cannot obey God for somebody else. You could encourage them. You could chat with them. You could send them reels all day to encourage them about the conversation. You're trying to get them to understand, but you cannot obey God for them. You can't do anything else for them other than release them. When they finally stopped a rowing and they threw him overboard, the storm stopped. But it did not stop when they tried harder. It stopped when they finally made a decision. You have to make your own decisions and you have to allow other people to make their own decisions. And I know you love them, but you have to love them enough to release them. Take Jesus for example. When Judas comes to betray him, Jesus still calls him friend. He says, friend, come do what you came to do. Judas shows up to arrest Jesus so that Jesus can be murdered. Notice what Jesus doesn't do. He doesn't say silence. Judas, I love you. How could you not believe that I'm God? Look at all the great things that I did. See, some of you are over explaining when the conversation should have ended two months ago. Because here's the fact of the matter. Peter pulls out his sword. He cuts off Malchus's ear. Jesus heals Malchus's ear in front of everybody, including Judas. And if you're thinking like me, you're thinking that would be enough for me to go wait a minute. The man that I'm betraying just healed this man. He must not be God. But when someone's mind is made up, they can see a miracle and miss it because they are helping on what they want to do. Some of you are engaged in the conversation for too long. Jesus doesn't try to convince Judas. He releases him to make whatever decision he wants to make. He allows him to be wrong. And you have to understand that you cannot control someone else's ignorance. You have to learn how to create a boundary. You have to learn how to let people go. You have to understand that you'll never be able to repent, surrender, or choose obedience for someone else. I love you. I just can't go with you. If you love God, I hope you get back to God. If you want to make things right, man, let's make things right. But if you want to keep going down that path, I cannot go with you. And you could try to manipulate me, and you could gaslight me, and you could try to pull up my heartstrings and tell me that I don't really love you because I'm walking away from you. But the fact is, that's just your deceit talking. That's just your addiction talking. That's just your anxiety talking. I can't do anything about it. I've already showed you the truth. We already know that God said this. You know it, and I know it. So why are we playing with it? I love you. And the reason why many of you find it so difficult, because even though you're well meaning, you think too highly of yourself. If the Holy Spirit is not getting their attention, who are you to think that you'll convince them? You have to learn how to release. If God is not speaking to them, hear me. I am not. about someone who walked away from God. I am talking about the one that comes to church. I am talking about the one that lifts up their hands in worship. I am talking about the one

that even ties, gives an offering, possibly even serves on team. They know better, but they're choosing not to do better. If God is not gaining their attention, even though they find themselves in his presence, who are you to think that you could save them? It is my prayer today that the Holy Spirit would break off that Savior's complex. You want to help him? Let him go. His salvation started the moment he was thrown overboard. He got swallowed by a whale, but the whale was not to hurt him. It was protection. It was salvation. And it was there that God met him. Some of you are holding somebody from hitting rock bottom, and you don't even realize that the rock bottom is the best thing that they could experience. I know. It's not easy. It's not fun. And here's the good news. The sailors could not save Jonah, and God was not finished with Jonah. Hold that truth. The sailors could not save Jonah, and God was not finished with Jonah. You have to be able to say out loud, "I cannot save them," but that doesn't mean that God is not finished with them, and that should release you to know, "I'm going to walk away, and God, you're going to do what only you could do." And in time, they'll come back to you, and in time, they'll repent, but I am tired of trying to make you change. If you ask me my opinion, I'll give it to you. If I see you going in the wrong direction, I'll shoot you the text. But if you are going to blatantly ignore the voice of God that I know you heard, and I know I heard for myself that my brothers and my sisters, I will encourage you to turn around, but I cannot walk with you in that direction, because I know the God that we serve, and I fear him too much to go with you. I'm staying with him. God's ability to save someone goes far beyond your ability to help them. We got two people we're going to pray for. We're going to pray for the sailors that are trying to save people, that they cannot save, and then we're going to pray for the joners that are in the room. You know you're running. You know what God has asked you to do. He may be asked you to quit a job, and you want to stay in the job. He may be asking you to stay in the job, but you want to quit the job. He's asking you to remain in the marriage. You want to quit the marriage. He's telling you to start the business. You don't want to start the business. He's asking you to serve in the church. You don't want to serve in the church. Now I would encourage you to go with God. Can we go deeper? He's asking you to forgive. You don't want to forgive. He's asking you to stop gossiping. You don't want to stop gossiping.

He's saying stop drinking. You don't want to stop drinking. He's asking you to respond to the text message. You don't want to respond to the text message. He's telling you to delete the app. You don't want to delete the app. He's saying my son, my daughter, my ways are greater than your ways. And I could see far beyond what you could see right now. And what you're actually hoping for is actually in the place that you're running from. You're hoping for peace. You'll find peace through the very thing you don't want to listen to. You want joy. You'll find joy in the very thing that you're running from. Will it be immediate? Nope. But it'll happen eventually. If you're in the room and you say I identify with those sailors. I'm seeing you're hearing some toxic relationships. Maybe there's some ameshment going. If you have your hand lifted up stand. That's okay. They might be sitting next to you. That's all right. Stand. Which means they are. Okay. That's okay. We're going to be bold. Yeah. Can I ask all of you that are standing to come to this altar? Come on. Come to this altar. I know. You're already standing. Might as well go all the way with it. Come on, let's fill this front. Fill this front, yeah. Get as close to the front as possible. Come on, hi, hi. Come on. I'm gonna ask the prayer team. Jairus, I'll want to come lay your hands on people, stand with them. Now, I'm gonna pray over you. This was bold, by the way. It's not easy. Yeah, come on down. If you would say, man, Pastor Chris, I'm Jonah. I'm running, huh? I know what God is asking me to do. I don't want to do it.

I'm being honest with you. I don't want to do it. I know what He said. I just don't want to do it. Let me see your hand. Stand where you're at, yup. Let's come on, stand. That's you, come on, stand. That's all right, stand, yup, stand. That's all right. Proud of you. Starts with being honest. Come on up there, stand. That's okay. Stand to your feet, yup, stand. That's all right. Here's the thing, it's not to shame you. Our mission statement is law saved. Saved disciples, the discipled accountable. This is a level of accountability that we need to accept. Or we don't just make it easy for ourselves. Hey, Pastor, can you just pray a general prayer over me? I could, but then you get to keep hiding. And now you're making the first step in the right direction. I know you want the team to start singing so that you can get lost in the crowd and here's what I'm telling you. This moment of transparency,

this moment of being seen right now is the best thing you could do for yourself. Because I promise you, you will never break what you continue to enable. You will never break what you continue to enable. I know it's difficult walking away from the family, but sometimes you have to. I know it's difficult having to break up. Sometimes you have to. You love them the way you say you love them? Walk away. You really love them? Know that they're better in God's hands than they are in yours. I'm sorry, I know it's difficult. Would you lift up your hands in the front? The rest of you that are seated beautifully in the crowd stands to your feet, please. For all the people that have been running, lift up your, been running, you've been disobeating whatever might be, forgiveness. Lift up your, you don't want to let it go. You want to keep harping on it? Lift up your, keep that hand up. Holy Spirit, I pray that the fear of the Lord would hit them. Allow your fear to remove any idea that we should go against you or do what we'd like and prefer over what you said. Father, God, allow your fear to be accepted in their minds and in their hearts.

Maybe they're new to this relationship with you or maybe they've been walking with you for a long time. I pray that you would reestablish a reverence and a respect for you because my goodness, even if I don't agree with you, I'm not gonna accept walking away from you. We don't want it to say we love you. We want to live that we love you. I thank you for their boldness and their willingness to respond. I pray that you give them peace and wisdom right now. I pray that they wouldn't feel any shame for there's no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. I pray that you would overwhelm them in the best way with your love and with your mercy. Now, can I ask all of you to lift up your hands? I want to pray over you. I want you to have your hands lifted up and I want you to close your eyes 'cause here's what I know life is made up of relationships. It could be romantic, it could be platonic, it could be business. Whatever it might be, but it's made up of relationships. And you need to have the wisdom when to walk away, how to create the boundary, what's to say yes to, and what's to say no to. Even right now, the reason why many of you are or where you are is because of assault time. I want to pray right now that that would be broken. Some of you, it's been conditioning.

It's been a mindset. You grew up in a broken family system that told you that you need to continue to be a part of that. been weaponized against you. They've told you you have to honor your mother and your father, even though what they're asking you to do is dishonorable. You honor what God honors. You do not honor deceit. You do not honor dishonor. You do not honor what's sinful. Do not allow the Bible to be weaponized against you. That is not what God meant when that scripture was declared. In fact, Jesus went on to say, "Who is my mother, my brother, and my sister?" It's those that do the will of the Father, so we were going to go verse for verse and we were going to compare one against the other. We'll have to honor my mother and my father. Well, God, Jesus says, "Who is your mother and your father?" It's actually those who do the will of the Father, which is also saying even though they are your earthly parent, they're not behaving like a spiritual parent if what they're doing is encouraging you to be disobedient to God or wrongful in your behavior. I'm going slow with it right now because I know how deep this can go. Hands lifted up, hands lifted up, hands lifted up, this is... Some of you haven't seen your parents in a long time, but you hear them every day. Some of you haven't seen that brother, that cousin, that person that maybe took your innocence, but you hear them every day. They're not around, but their lies still control you. I'm going to pray right now that that be broken off you. I can ask you to pray. Hands lifted up, hands lifted up, hands lifted up. God, we thank you, God.

We thank you for the word today, God. We thank you for your sweet spirit, God, that is so sensed in this room, God. And Lord, we don't want to be isolated or set apart because of our disobedience, God. But we want to be found in the shelter of the Most High God. And I thank you, God, let the righteous run in and are safe, God. We're safe with you, God. We're safe with your presence. We're safe with your word, God. We're safe with your way, God. And Lord, God, I'm just asking, God, that you would help us, God, to abide in your words today, God, that this wouldn't just be something that we come to once a week, God, but that we would run, God, to the throne room of grace Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, God, this wouldn't be a once a week thing. This would be a daily thing, just like we need food to survive in water, God, to sustain us, God. We need the word of God to come in and to penetrate. We need your word to change us, God. We need your word to transform our families, God. We need your word to change the way that we thank God, and for some reason, God, you deep to us, to be the catalyst, God. You deep to us, to change the patterns in our families, God, so by the strength of God, we say Holy Spirit, we need you. We need your strength, we need your mindset, and, oh Lord, we need your ways, God, when we don't want to do things your way, God, help us, God, to lay down our wants, help us to lay down our desires, God, Lord, even help us to lay down our ambition today. We lay our ambition down before you, God, Lord God, I'm asking God that you would make us so wise, God, wise as a serpent, but gentle as a dove, God, so that when people look at our lives, they could see the Jesus that is shining and radiating, that they could see the Jesus when we're offended, when we, they can see the Jesus when our family upsets us, when they can see the Jesus when things aren't going our way, Lord God, I'm asking God that

you would breathe on each and every one of us in this room today, God, that we would walk out of this building, change God, Lord God, I'm asking God that today's word, God, would take deep root in our hearts, God, help us, God, help us to lay down our offenses, God, that sounds so easy in the natural, but when we actually have to live it out, it's so hard, God, and Lord God, I'm just asking that you would strengthen all of us today, strengthen weak Christians. We want to be strong Christians. So, Lord God, today God, start that work in us in our hearts, God, so that we could begin to put it into action tomorrow. God, let this be a week of change, God. Let this be a week of catalyst in our lives, God. Help us not to respond how we would normally respond. We're asking for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to go with us as we do what you've called us to do. And Lord God, for the one that's here today and feels lonely, God, the one that had to walk away from our relationship, Lord God, I'm asking God that you would strengthen them today. Lord God, I'm asking that the Holy Spirit would come and hover over them and give them a big hug in the Spirit today to allow them to know that they're not alone, to allow them to know that they're walking ahead into a new destiny, God, a new journey, God. What they leave behind is not better than what awaits them in their future, God. So Lord God, I'm asking God that they would have eyes to see what the Spirit is doing in their life today. Re-ignite faith in this room, I pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Two things. One, if you've never given your life to Jesus or you need to recommit your life to Jesus, this is your moment. If that's you and you want to give your life to Jesus, I'm going to count to three. When I say three, if that's you, just shoot up your hand. One, Jesus loves you and he died specifically for you. Two, tomorrow's not promised to any man or any woman. But today's the day of salvation. If you want Jesus going ahead, lift up your hand now. Three, lift it up. Yeah, great. One, two, three, four, five, six. Listen, keep that hand up. We got somebody that has a card that want to hand it to you. But if you lift it up your hand more importantly, I want you to repeat this prayer with me. Come on, repeat this prayer from the front to the back. Jesus, come on loud and proud. Jesus, you are King. You are Lord. Forgive me of my sin and all my wrong doing. I love you. I give my life to you. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. [MUSIC PLAYING]