Living As Enemies | Pastor Daniel Ethridge | Liberty Live Church

Somebody give God a shout of praise in this place. So good of you to be here with us. Scripture says, come magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. Come on, let's do that this morning. ♪ Sing to the Lord ♪ ♪ If the cross won your freedom ♪ ♪ Sing to the Lord ♪ ♪ If you know that he's safe ♪ ♪ Tell all the earth that God's all wide open ♪ ♪ Salvation is in his name ♪ Come on, this is our prayer. ♪ Let the lost be found ♪ ♪ Let the blind eye see ♪ ♪ Let the music play ♪ ♪ Let the people sing ♪ Come on, we come to give him our worship today. ♪ Worship the Lord in the light of his presence ♪ ♪ Worship the Lord with the angels and saints ♪ ♪ Tell all the earth that the Savior is risen ♪ ♪ The stone has been rolled away ♪ ♪ Let the dead rise up ♪ ♪ Let the bound run free ♪ ♪ Let the church have faith ♪ ♪ Let the people sing ♪ Let's sing it out. ♪ Let the people sing ♪ Lift your voice. ♪ For great are you, worthy of praise ♪ ♪ Jesus, God of unbeaten grace ♪

♪ Let the people sing ♪ Let them sing, let them sing. ♪ Let the people sing ♪ ♪ For great are you, worthy of praise ♪ ♪ Jesus, your love has defeated the grave ♪ ♪ Let the people sing ♪ Come on, let's give him our worship today. ♪ To Jesus, all the praise belongs to you ♪ ♪ To Jesus, all the praise belongs to you ♪ Come on, first thing this morning, let's give it to him. ♪ Jesus, all the praise belongs to you ♪ We're here for nothing else. ♪ Jesus, all the praise belongs to you ♪ No one else is worthy. ♪ Jesus, all the praise belongs to you ♪ So let the lost be found. Let the blind eye see. Let the music play. Let the people sing. Let the people sing. Lift your voice. ♪ For great are you, Lord, worthy of praise ♪ ♪ Jesus, your love has defeated the grave ♪ ♪ Let the people sing ♪ Every voice in this room. Let the people sing. Only he is worthy of it. ♪ Great are you, Lord, worthy of praise ♪ ♪ Jesus, your love has defeated the grave ♪ Let the people sing.

Come on and rejoice. Rejoice in him this morning. We fix our eyes on the cross. We remember the gospel. We remember the blood that was shed for us. Come on, let's sing this together. ♪ His head, his feet, my Savior, Lord, that cursed tree ♪ Sing his body. ♪ His body bound and drenched in blood, his body bound and drenched in blood ♪ Come on, let's bring Him our praise today. ♪ The Lord our God, oh praise His name ♪ ♪ Forever born, for endless days ♪ ♪ We will sing Your praise, oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh Lord our God, yeah ♪ ♪ Then on the third at the break of dawn ♪ Come on. ♪ The Son of Heaven rose again ♪ ♪ Oh, tremble, dead, where is your sting? ♪ ♪ Today, the angels roar, for Christ the King ♪ Oh, we give You praise. ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore, for endless days ♪ ♪ Forevermore, for endless days, we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ And shall return in robes, come on, this is our hope ♪ ♪ The blazing sun shall pierce the earth ♪ ♪ And I will remember my graciousness on Jesus' face ♪ Amen. Good morning, church. We have one to be baptized this morning,

and this is Caroline. Can you come stand right over here? And I tell you what, when you meet Caroline, she will make your day. She is a bundle of joy and energy from the moment I got to see her in the back room right here. She has just been so evidently filled with the joy of the Lord and she committed her life to Jesus a year ago, but through 21 days of prayer in January, she was praying, how can I be obedient to God? And God said, you need to be baptized. So she is here today to go public with her faith. Plug your nose. It's a joy to baptize you as my sister in the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. Buried with Christ in baptism, raised through water, in newness and life. Thank you. God bless you, amen. Let's do it. ♪ Oh, we praise your name ♪ Come on, church, let's sing this out. Let's celebrate, let's give Him our praise today. Oh, sing your praise. ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For in this day we will sing your praise ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪

♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For in this day we will sing your praise ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Praise, sing my soul, my Savior God ♪ ♪ Oh, my Savior God, we sing our praise to You alone ♪ ♪ How great Thou art, how great Thou art ♪ Oh, they sing my soul. ♪ They sing my soul, my Savior God to Thee ♪ Oh, how great You are. ♪ How great Thou art, how great Thou art ♪ We'll sing when Christ shall come. ♪ When Christ shall come, with shouts of exultation ♪ ♪ With shouts of exultation, and take me home, what joy ♪ Are you ready for that day, church? Come on. ♪ And then I shall burn in holy fire ♪ ♪ With obliteration, and then I'll proclaim ♪ ♪ My God, how great Thou art, oh, there's no one like You, Lord ♪ ♪ They sing my soul, my Savior God to Thee ♪ ♪ How great Thou art, how great Thou art ♪ ♪ They sing my soul, my Savior God to Thee ♪ Oh, how great You are. ♪ How great Thou art, how great, how great Thou art ♪ ♪ How great Thou art, how great Thou art ♪ Man, who's excited to be in church today? How great are you, Lord? Some mornings are just different. Some mornings are marked by the Lord, and I believe there are so many of you

in the room this morning. The Lord has been preparing your heart from the minute you woke up today. He wants you, whether you're watching online, whether you're in the room, He has started preparing you for what He wants to teach you today. And the first thing He wants to teach you today is that He is great and your soul already knows it. Your soul already knows why it was created. Your soul already echoes how great He is. The psalmist writes in Psalm 145, you are great and greatly to be praised. And by the way, your greatness is unsearchable. What's He saying? I will never get to the bottom of your greatness. I will never know all that you are. In the peaks of my life, there's still more of you. In the valleys of my life, you're still great, it doesn't change. God is great, your soul knows it. This morning, align with your soul, sing to Him, let Him know, God, I trust you even in the middle of my brokenness. And God, if I'm on the mountaintop, I know there's more. I know you have more for me and I can't wait to experience it. And we can't wait for you to experience it. I think God's gonna do incredible things today. I'm so excited to hear Pastor Daniel preach.

I've kind of walked through the notes with him just to listen and sit under the teaching already. And today you're gonna be blessed and you're gonna be challenged and you're gonna be encouraged. And I can't wait to unpack it. And I can't wait to see what God does. There's so many things ahead of us as a church, but really there's one thing in the front center stage, and that is Easter. Easter is coming and there's a few things I want you to know. God has more for you at Easter and God has more for your friends and your family, so get them here. Get them to an Easter service. We have two days of services, one Saturday at five o'clock and then three on Sunday, three on Sunday. How many on Sunday? Three on Sunday, great. Eight on Sunday, eight on Sunday. Great, eight, nine, 30 and 11. So a little bit different, but we wanna make sure that we can house as many people as we can because we want as many people as we can get in front of the gospel, in front of the gospel because the gospel changes everything. It is the foundation for his greatness that he would leave heaven and come get his prize creation. So get people in front of the gospel on Easter Sunday.

I'm so excited to be here. I know many of you are too. Find three people, give them a high five and then grab a seat. as we watch this video and start our service today. Good morning and welcome to Liberty. We're so glad you joined us for church this morning. We are one church in multiple locations with a passion to change lives, communities, and the world for Jesus Christ. That's right, Kyle. And if this is your first time here, we'd love to meet you. Text CONNECT to 40371 or come on by the Next Step Center. If you come by the Next Step Center, we got a free gift with your name on it, and we'd love to get to know you and get you plugged in. And for more info, just follow us on the website or on social media. Now, here's some awesome things that are coming up real soon. Liberty family, Easter is right around the corner. We hope you'll make plans to join us for Good Friday on April 3rd and then celebrate Easter weekend April 4th and 5th. For service times and locations, text NEWS to 40371 and make sure you grab a stack of invites on your way out today. Well, hey, Liberty, your generosity is making an impact as we're seeing lives changed each and every week at all of our campuses.

And if you wanna be a part of Kingdom Work and helping us change lives, communities, and the world for Jesus Christ, just text GIVE to 40371, or you can fill out that card in that seat back in front of you and drop it off on your way out of service today. Liberty family, it's gonna be a great day in church this morning. We pray that God speaks to you through today's message. So let's gather with all of our campuses and those watching online, and let's dive into the message. Well, good morning, Liberty. Who's excited to be at church this morning? I hope you're excited. It is gonna be a great day together, and I hope you're still not over what God did last Sunday. I hope you haven't forgotten. It's been a week. Do you remember what God did last week? If you weren't with us last Sunday, I'm sorry. I genuinely am. You know, back during 21 days of prayer in January, one of our members stopped me in the morning during prayer, and he said, hey, you got something wrong. And I was like, ooh, bless the Lord. It's 7 a.m., we're trying to pray, you know? I'm gonna need more spirit before this conversation ends, I can tell you. But I loved what he said next. He said, you know that graphic y'all keep putting up?

You got it wrong, it's not a one-day revival. Because it's not gonna be one day. And he was right. And I wanna tell you something. I really believe we are in a year of revival. Revival was happening before last Sunday, and revival's still going on. We have so many people scheduled for baptism at all of our campuses over the next few weeks, and people taking their next step in their walk of obedience with the Lord. So many people who are spending time in the Word and growing in their walk with Jesus. I'm telling you, we're in the middle of revival. And last Sunday, we saw over 320 people baptized to the glory of God. And that would be okay if we were clapping for a church or for some preachers. I said we saw over 320 people baptized in one Sunday morning. And God was moving at every single location, just overwhelming. Church, I hope you never get used to what God's doing in our church. I hope you never get used to what God's doing in your life. And this is a year of revival. And so we're continuing the revival that's already been going on, and that God's been working in our lives. This morning, we are back in the book of Philippians. We're looking at the letter to those in Philippi together.

This morning, we're gonna be in Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three, we're gonna start in verse 17. Philippians 3, 17, so many exciting things coming up in the life of our church. Our Spanish services have already pre-launched. They've been working together over the last few weeks. I wish you could see this amazing core team, over 100 people ready to serve the Lord together. And to reach people in Hampton Roads who don't speak English. And I'm so excited about those services. Next Sunday is our official launch of our Spanish services. And I want you to be praying. I want you to be fasting for them. If you speak Spanish or not, I want you to get fired up about what God's doing. And so excited, we're just three weeks away from Easter. I mean, our weather doesn't know it, but you need to know it. Three weeks away from Easter. And so I just believe it'd be appropriate before we go any further to just go to the Lord right now, thanking Him for what He's doing and asking Him to continue to move. Let's pray together. God, You are so worthy of our praise and our worship. Lord, we don't have enough praise to give You. We don't have a loud enough voice to proclaim how great You are. And God, we wanna thank You for the fact that Your Spirit is moving

at work in our lives and in our church. We never wanna take it for granted. We're so humbled to be Your children, so humbled to be a part of Your kingdom. And God, we want to continue to see You move. God, I pray if there's anything in us, anything in our vision and direction, anything in our planning that would grieve or quench Your Spirit, God, would You reveal it to us. God, I pray that every member would examine their own lives today and if there's anything in us that's not of You, Lord, would You change us? Would You make us like Yourself? God, I'm asking now that the same Spirit that inspired the apostle to write this letter would bring it to life in and through us. Lord, we're listening. Would You speak to us today? I pray if there's anybody under the sound of my voice that doesn't believe in Jesus, that Jesus would be made so plainly evident to them every second that we are in the midst of this hour. God, I'm asking You to do what only You can do. And I pray as I always pray that my preaching would not rest in the clever or cunning words of men, but in power and in demonstration of the Spirit of God so that our faith might rest in Your Spirit.

Lord, take control in my mind and my mouth. Speak to us all now by Your Spirit. Amen. Well, we're continuing in our series called Living with Joy. Living with Joy. And really the whole letter, the Apostle Paul is trying to explain to believers in Philippi how they ought to live. And that's why we titled the whole series Living with Joy. But I want you to see the specific verses that we're looking at today together. Philippians chapter three. We're only looking at a few verses together starting in verse 17. Paul says, join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us. For I've often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach. Their glory is in their shame. And they are focused on earthly things. Verse 20, our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble conditions into the likeness of his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.

Amen. When I begin to read and look through these few verses, and this is by far my favorite style of teaching and preaching. Give me two or three verses and just let me unpack those. And I love this verse by verse study through Philippians. And when I looked at these verses, I couldn't help but get caught in the middle. Verse 19, Paul describes what he says are those who live as enemies of the cross. They're living in such a way that they are enemies of the cross. And I've entitled this sermon, Living as Enemies. Living as Enemies. It is very possible to say one thing, but live another way. And Paul is writing a letter to believers in Philippi, but he's calling out the fact. There are many among them who are living as enemies. And he takes the time in verse 19 to unpack specifically what that looks like. It reminds me of what James says in James chapter four, verse four, you adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be a friend of the world becomes the enemy of God. It would be so easy to preach today against those who live in the world.

But I'm really preaching today to those inside the church. I believe this message is so that every one of us can examine our own lives. I've been asking myself all week, are these characteristics true about me? And I wanna focus on the four characteristics that the Apostle Paul gives in verse 19 that describes those who live as enemies of the cross of Christ. We'll just look at four things together. Number one, the enemies of Christ focus on earthly things. They focus on earthly things. Look back at verse 19, their end is destruction. And because he starts by saying the end, I thought it might be helpful to work through the verse in reverse order. So we're gonna end there, but I want you to see the last phrase first. And they are focused on earthly things. Your focus determines your direction. I mean, come on, everybody, keep your eyes on the road when you're driving. You better put down that cell phone in the name of Jesus. Because your focus determines your direction. And I can't drive anyway, so I definitely can't drive if I'm not looking at the road. But a lot of us have the wrong focus in life. And we end up in the wrong place because we are focused on the wrong things. He says, enemies of the cross are focused on earthly things,

on worldly things. And we've gotta learn to get our minds off of the things of the world and onto heaven, onto the things of God. It reminds me of so many places in scripture, Colossians 3 to set your minds on the things above, not on earthly things. I can take you to Romans chapter 12, one of my favorite passages in all of scripture. Don't be conformed to this age or other translations. Don't be conformed to the patterns of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, your mind. The Proverbs say it like this, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. And I'm telling you, you've become who you are. Your destination, you've ended up where you're at in life based on the focus, the mindset of your life. So we gotta learn to get our minds off the things of the world. Because the things of the world are contrary to the things of Christ. Everything around you is trying to program your heart and mind, the news, the things you watch, the things you listen to, the things of the world. And the problem is the world is under the control of the devil, of the enemy. Which means that those things are trying to pre-program you against the things of Christ. They are in themselves antichrist. There's a day coming when someone,

a figurehead will be known as the antichrist. But the apostle says the spirit of antichrist is all among us now. In fact, he tells us many antichrists have come and are here. And the spirit of antichrist is all around us. You can either live centered on the things of the world or centered on the things of Christ. The world, so egocentric, so self-centered, so focused on us rather than focused on Christ. Rather than focused on his cross, which is salvation. And you think when your mind is set on the wrong things, you get the fruit, the attitude of that focus in your life. That's why so many people are overcome with fear, overcome with depression, overcome with frustration and discouragement. So many people living their lives day in and day out, completely overwhelmed with all these negative emotions because their focus is on the wrong thing. I love how Romans says it, Romans chapter eight, verse five. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit have their minds set on the things of the spirit. Now, the mindset of the flesh is death. But the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. Come on, we say all the time, it's not just church. And think about this, you can live with peace. I'm asking, Jesus said, I've come that you might have life and that life to the fullest.

So do you have it? I get so confused when I come into contact with believers who are so down and so negative and so frustrated. You say, Daniel, there's a war going on. Daniel, our people are being deployed. Do you know where you live? Daniel, just this week, there was a shooting at ODU. Are you unaware when you're telling us this? No, I'm not unaware at all. And I'm telling you, I mourn like I believe the Lord mourns over the fallenness of the world, over terrorism. I mourn over war and death. I don't believe it's of God. I know it's not of God. But here's the thing, my mind is set somewhere else. My mind, something would happen if you realized you don't have to live under the circumstances of the world because you're not of this world. You're not of this world. Let me show you because the very next verse is not accidental that the apostle Paul says in verse 20, our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly wait for a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. I love this word for citizenship. It's palatuma. It literally means the commonwealth of heaven. We're citizens, we live in a commonwealth. And the only thing more confusing than Virginia weather is Virginia politics.

Come on, somebody. I can't go there today, I'm not going there. Y'all not gonna get me. We always rebel from whatever's happening in DC. Our elections are one year after the presidential elections and Virginia's elections, go look at it, just watch. It's always a rebellion from what's happening nationally. And we got rebel in our spirit because Virginia is a commonwealth. Because a little history lesson, the British came over here and said, all these colonies are ours. And the rebels, we said, no, they're not. We got our own commonwealth, we rule ourselves. And we rule in such a way that we're for the commonwealth, we're for the good of every single citizen in this territory together. So we said, no, that King's not over us. We're over ourselves. Now, this would have especially made sense to those in Philippi. I've been to Philippi. It's one of my favorite places I've ever been in the world. And it is amazing, but it does not make sense in the middle of Greece. Because even in this day, Philippi was over 800 miles away from Rome, 800 miles. But it looks perfectly like a Roman city. And the people who lived there were Roman citizens in the middle of Greece, Macedonia, the Macedonians.

And yet they didn't look like the Macedonians, they dressed like Romans. And they didn't talk like the Macedonians, they talked like Romans. And they weren't under the rule or authority of the Macedonians because they themselves were Roman citizens. And that territory was claimed by Rome. So the Philippians would have understood this in a way that even we today would not understand because they were in the midst of a people that they themselves knew they were totally different from. And he says, as much as you're a citizen of Rome, you're a citizen of heaven. We still have this modern day in the world and it's through embassies and ambassadors. Pastor Zack from Campus Pastor at Smithfield. Pastor Zack said in a meeting a few months ago, and it flew all over me and I haven't forgotten it. He said, every one of our campuses are embassies of heaven. And every one of our people are ambassadors of heaven. I'm telling you, he said it and it flew all over me. Y'all about caught me in the next town shouting. Because I thought, I've never heard somebody put it like that, but that's true. This morning, every single campus across Hampton Roads is the embassy of heaven. And every single member is the ambassador of heaven. Let me tell you what that means. I don't live under the authority

of the ruler of this world, Satan. I don't live under the authority of those who do his bidding even spiritually in demonic forces or people who just take up his work. I don't live under that. I don't live under the circumstance. or the fallenness of this world because I am an ambassador of heaven. When I walk into the room, I'm under the authority of somewhere else. I talk and I act under the authority of somewhere. I don't look like everybody around here because I'm not from around here. I may be here physically, but I'm not of here. I'm of heaven. And I'm telling you, the revival that would take place in our cities, if our people would start walking and acting like ambassadors of heaven. Listen, you're not the thermometer, you're the thermostat. When you walk in, the Holy Spirit resets the room. You don't have to talk like them or act like them or live like them. You don't have to have the attitude of the people of the world. Why? You're a citizen of heaven. And when you walk in, every reality right now that's true of heaven comes to earth. That's the meaning of on earth as it is in heaven. So you just walk into a room and peace enters the room.

Life enters the room. Joy enters the room. Hope enters the room. Why? Because the Spirit of God showed up in and through you. We gotta start living like citizens, like ambassadors of heaven. And I'm telling you, pay attention, examine your life. Because if that's not true of you, you could be living as an enemy of the cross. This is how Jesus said it. And I hope this just fills you with so much confidence. Jesus said, I've told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. Now in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart. Come on, somebody, take heart. Jesus said, I've overcome the world. We gotta learn that enemies of the cross live with their focus, their mindset on the things of the world. But that's not so for citizens of heaven because our attention, our focus is on the Lord. Number two, Paul says they glory in their shame. I took this right out of the verse. Their glory is in their shame. And I almost reworded it because I wanted to make sure everybody understood. He's literally talking about they celebrate the things they should be ashamed of. That's what enemies of the cross look like.

The word there means to praise or to boast. Literally, if you go look it up in an original language concordance, there is a definition that means to be filled with pride. And it would be so easy to preach this in the reality of the culture at large. If you think about Ephesians chapter five, sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard among you as is proper for the saints. And I struggle with this because there was a part of me that wanted to preach what I believe Paul outlines in Romans chapter one. And that is that when you exchange the glory of God for the glory of man, when you worship and serve creatures yourself rather than the creator, then you're giving over to all kinds of vile practice and you begin to celebrate those very things. And the culture at large has an entire month now called pride. But the Lord would not free me to preach that because today I was coming to preach to the church. Because look at the rest of this verse. Yeah, sexual immorality shouldn't even be named among you. But look at this, impurity, greed. And I believe in the church, we have tolerable sins. We have sins that we tolerate and God forbid, we even boast in. Unforgiveness, materialism, title and fame, gossip,

gluttony was funny, not to God. And we have sins in the church. It'd be so easy to preach all about the world. What about the church? We have sins that we tolerate and even boast in. It would be shameful enough if we just walked in sin and lived in the shame of it. We have sins that we tolerate and even boast in. It would be shameful enough if we just walked in sin and lived in the shame of it. But to walk in sin and boast in it. God have mercy on us. And he says, obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks. Worship to God, thanksgiving. What do you talk about? Is it foolish? We're gonna give an account for every idle word that we speak. What do you joke about? Is it foolish? We're gonna give an account for it. I love the phase that Wells is in, two years old, and he's hilarious to me. I mean, the kid is so funny, and he's trying to figure out his voice, and he's trying to figure out where the boundaries are, and he pushes those all the time. And he learned that he really has a voice.

His sister's four years old. He really has a voice in their relationship, and he can take what he wants, and he's strong enough to stand up for himself. And so he's really been testing that. And the other day, Olive is decked out, four years old, in a full princess gown, crown, shoes, makeup. You know, she is decked to the nines, and it's taken her a long time to get ready. And Wells was just being Wells. And she was having a whole moment, and I was telling her how beautiful she was, and what a princess she was. And I don't think he loved that. And he walks over there, two years old, and he said, you're not a princess. That's what he said, you're not a princess. And he like whispered it under his breath to her. And she starts, I mean, takes her crown off, sits down in her dress. She's sobbing. I'm like, why does it even matter what he says? And he said, you're not a princess. And I ran over there. I said, Wells? And he heard it in my voice. And he goes, I'm just joking. I'm just joking. He talked back to his mom the other day. All I have to do is say his name.

And she said to do something, he said, no. And I said, Wells? And he said, I'm just joking, I'm joking. And he thinks if he's joking, like he's not gonna get in trouble. He's all good, he's just joking. We do this. Hello, somebody, we do this. But it's not funny to the father. And we have got to live in such a way that sin is intolerable to us. Our boasting has a place, but it's gotta be in the right place. Galatians chapter six, verse 14 said, may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Second Corinthians chapter 12, Paul actually says, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses. Can you imagine? That's the stuff we try to hide and cover up. Paul says, no, I'm gonna talk about how weak I am so that you know how strong the Lord is, how powerful God is. So I'm gonna boast about my weaknesses so that his power might reside in me. Makes much of the power of the cross of Christ, of the saving life of Jesus Christ. But this is one of my favorites. Second Corinthians chapter four, verse five says,

for we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord. You know what the King James version says? We preach not ourselves. How foolish to preach ourselves. You think about, we live in the social media culture. What is that mess? We live in a selfie generation. We take pictures of ourselves with nobody there. 36 of them and we go through them to see which one we look best in. And then we edit them because we don't look good in any of them. God help us. Just so prideful and so much boasting in the wrong things, in the things of the world, in title, in money, in fame, in success. What success do we have to talk about? And I've struggled with social media. I tried to get it back. This year I was like, I'm gonna use it for the Lord. I'm gonna get on here. I've already deleted it. I deleted it like two weeks in. I just don't wanna be a part of it. I can't figure out how to use it and glorify God. It gets my mind on the wrong things. It's so self-centered. Our profiles are all about us. I couldn't even post preaching clips

or videos of me talking about the word because it just felt about me. I hated it. And we're so prideful, but I love the phrasing of the King James. We preach not ourselves. We have nothing to preach about ourselves. Bob Pittman, a great evangelist, he's still traveling preaching the word today, but he's from another generation of evangelists. That's the, that's the, verse for his ministry and he preaches this hallmark sermon that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, called, We Preach Not Ourselves. that's the, that's the, And he asked the question over and over, I can hear his voice in my mind saying it, preach myself? I cannot preach myself. Well, I never lived a perfect life, but I know somebody who did. I never healed one person of their diseases. I never freed one person from sin, but I know someone who did. Preach myself?

I cannot preach myself because I did not carry the weight of the sins of the world and go to Calvary, but I know somebody who did. Preach myself? I cannot preach myself because I did not go into a borrowed tomb. I did not defeat death and hell and sin, and I did not rise with victory over hell three days later, but I know the man who did. Preach myself? I cannot preach myself. We preach Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as his servants. For his sake. We cannot preach ourselves. It's ungodly. And if you go around preaching yourself, it actually reveals you're an enemy of God. Number three, they're controlled by their stomachs. Look at verse 19 again. Their God is their stomach. A stomach literally represents our physical desires, our hungers, our wants. And I mean, it's kind of funny. Their God is their stomach. Think about us. We plan our entire weeks around where we're gonna eat. Am I the only one? Like, what are we eating on Tuesday? We plan our vacations around restaurants we wanna visit. I don't care about what city we're going to.

What restaurant are we stopping at? On the way, where are we eating? My wife's car, we live on the opposite side of town, but somehow my wife's car shows up at Seven Brew every day. And I can't figure it out. There are 47 coffee shops from here to Seven Brew. But she loves it. She wants it. And if that coffee, amen, if that coffee makes her happy, baby, you drive to Seven Brew every day. No, it's funny because we know this. Our gods are our stomach. And when we're talking about food, it's kind of comical. What about when we're talking about sin? How controlled are you day in and day out by your appetite for the flesh? How much are you submitted to your flesh? Well, the world says, if you want to, if you wanna do it, go do it. I'm telling you, no, in Jesus' name, no. Because you have to learn to put your desires and your flesh under the submission of the Holy Spirit. You gotta learn how to die to yourself. That's the gospel. That's sanctification. Well, if you want it, you probably shouldn't be doing it. Not in your flesh. Kids wanna put their hand on the stove, but we don't let them, because it'll hurt them. Kids wanna play in the street,

but it'll cost them their lives. So as an adult, you gotta learn that your desires cannot control you, or else they will destroy you. I love how Ephesians chapter five puts it, don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living. He gives you both the desire here, and he gives you the result. Don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled with the Spirit. You ever seen a drunk person? I was at Busch Gardens last night, and I'm telling you, I'm not kidding, someone almost ran into the stroller that I was pushing, put their hand on the stroller to catch themselves, because they were so drunk. Drunk people look crazy. Why? They're under the control of something. And the Apostle Paul said the image is so clear that I want you to know, people ought to recognize that you're under the control of the Holy Spirit. Galatians five, verse 16, I say walk by the Spirit, and you will not. Gratify the desire of the flesh. Look at me, are you gratifying the desire of the flesh? How's that addiction going? by the Spirit. You're not walking by the Spirit. If at any point you find yourself gratifying the desire

of the flesh, under the control of your flesh, you're not walking by the Spirit, but I'm telling you, if you'll get right with God and be filled with His Spirit, that flesh and that earthly desire will fall away. Be overcome by the work of God in your life. And if you live like this, in under the control of your flesh, it may be evidence that you're an enemy of the cross. The final one, their end is destruction. Philippians 3, verse 19, their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach, their glory is in their shame, and they are focused on earthly things. There is no way around it. There is an end to living and walking in the ways of the world. There is a reality of being an enemy of God, and it is destruction. Each person, James says in James chapter one, is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. This is what we were just talking about. And then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. And physical death is coming for all of us, but I'm telling you, for everyone who does not believe in Jesus, spiritual death is coming. And I'm telling you, it's already here for you. You know it right now.

You're already, day in and day out, your life is hell. And it's because you're living as an enemy of the cross. The devil tries to trick us by telling us we're actually choosing between the world and heaven, the earth and heaven. And there might be some things about the earth that are enticing, attractive, but I'm telling you, the real choice is heaven or hell. There is no in between. If you are a friend of the world, you are the enemy of God. And I get scared because I look at our lives and our lives look like the world. At LYA recently, we were doing a panel and somebody asked, it was a great question. One of the guys asked, if our marriage rates, our marriages that end in divorce are the same as the world's, then does the Bible's way of doing marriage really work? It's an excellent question. But as I read it, I just felt, we were reviewing the questions ahead of time. As I read that question, something just welled up inside of me. Something just came over me. Yeah, our rates are the same as the world. Our rates are the same as the world because we're not living according to Scripture. And if, listen to me,

if we were really living according to Scripture, our rates wouldn't be the same as the world. How many marriages that are founded on this word last? All of them. We got away from the word. We got away from the things of God. Don't you let a pop in mic distract you from what God has for you. And I'm telling you, and I'm telling you, I look at our lifestyles. I look at the reality of how we live and we look like the world. And friends of the world are enemies of Christ. And so I'm asking you to examine yourself. You can be a friend of God. You can be a friend of God. None of us start out as friends of God, nobody. In fact, Romans chapter five, in fact, Romans chapter five, verse 10 says, if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more have he been reconciled? Shall we be saved through his life? We all started as enemies of God, but for many of us, we've been saved and changed by a son. And you can be the friend of God today. You can go from being the enemy to being the friend of God. What do you do? Put your faith and trust in him. I want every head to be bowed, every eye closed,

nobody looking around. It's the most important moment in the message. I'm asking you to evaluate your life. Are you a friend to the world? If so, you're the enemy of God. Are you focused on the right things? Are you controlled by your own desires? Do you actually glory in things that ought to be shameful? I'm asking you, are you going to end in destruction? Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And right now, wherever you're at, watching online at any of our campuses, you can call on the name of the Lord. Jesus lived a life we could not live. He died in our place and He rose again so that we could be made right. We're not saved in and of ourselves. We can't be our own saviors. That's why all of our boasting is in Jesus Christ and His cross. And right now, you can put your faith and trust in Him. Just pray such a simple prayer. Say, dear Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I believe you died in my place. I believe you rose again with power over death and hell, over the punishment that I deserve. And Jesus, I am trusting you today for salvation. Jesus, I am believing that you can rescue me and free me so that I don't have to be an enemy of your cross. God, would you save me? Would you restore my life? It's in your holy, precious name, the name of Jesus Christ, that we pray, amen. Today could have been the first moment for so many of you that you said, yes, I realize this for the first time.

I have been an enemy of the cross. And you came to faith and you stepped into that. Here's what I wanna invite you to do. I wanna invite you to let us in on that. We wanna walk with you. The last thing we wanna do is understand and recognize you made that decision and then leave you to go figure it out by yourself. Here's how you can let us know. You're gonna see a little QR code in the seat back in front of you. Take your phone out, tap it. There's gonna be some prompts. Let us know you stepped into that for the first time with Jesus today. If you're watching online, you can text yes to 40371. Let us know you made that decision. The invitation is so abundantly clear today. For those of us, for the first time, we're coming into faith and we're trying to figure this out. Bring that to Jesus. I'm gonna invite the staff down front to be ready to pray with you right now. The staff is gonna come forward. I want you to come talk to somebody. I want you to let somebody in on your burden and your brokenness. And for so many of you, it's not that you stepped into salvation for the first time. It's that you just heard the word of God open and preached bluntly and you realize I have not lived under the identity Jesus has given me. I have lived under the identity of an enemy of the cross and today, no more. Today, no further. Today, I'm laying it down. Today, I'm walking in the fullness of what Jesus has for me. Today, I'm gonna repent and leave those things behind.

I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna invite you to stand and come forward. The altar is open. This is your moment to come sit before the Father and say, God, I'm believing today what you say about me and I'm no longer living as an enemy of the cross. Today, I repent and I wanna walk with you. The band's gonna play. I'm gonna pray for us. The band's gonna play. And I want you to come and I want you to respond and I want you to do business with the Father this morning. Jesus, right now, by the power of your spirit, would you convict and compel? Would you draw all men to yourself? God, would you help us leave these things at your feet? God, would you use today as a day that we plant a flag in the ground and we say, no more living as an enemy of the cross. Today is the day I'm gonna live like Jesus calls me to live. God, would you both call us and convict us and then would you restore us this morning because of our obedience to come to your feet and lay it all down? Father, we love you. We praise you. It's in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name, I'm asking you to compel and convict by the power of the spirit right now. Amen. Come, respond, do business with the Father. And all who've gone before us, and all who will believe, will sing the song of ages to the land. Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest, Your name stands above them all. All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, Your name stands above them all, and the angels cry, Holy, all creation cries, Holy, You are lifted high, Holy, holy forever. If you've been forgiven, and if you've been redeemed, sing this song forever to the land. If you want freedom, and if you bear His name, sing this song forever to the land.

We'll sing this song forever and amen, and the angels cry, Holy, all creation cries, Holy, You are lifted high, Holy, holy forever. Hear Your people sing, Holy, to the King of kings, Holy, You will always be, Holy, holy forever. Because Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest, Your name stands above them all. All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, Your name always stands above them all. Oh, sing Jesus, Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest, Your name stands above them all. All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, Your name stands above them all, and the angels cry, Holy, all creation cries, Holy, You are lifted high, Holy, holy forever. Hear Your people sing, Holy, to the King of kings, Holy, You will always be, Holy, holy forever. You will always be, Holy, holy forever.