Living With Lions | Part 4: The Priority of Love

You came in on a great day. It is the last message in our series and we have been calling it Living with Lions. And if you're with us for the first time, let me catch you up as to why we have been calling it that. Daniel and the physical lion's den may be the most widespread and well-known story in the book, but the truth of the matter is, it was just a small part of a much larger scope of issues that Daniel was dealing with while living in a Babylonian culture. He was surrounded by a very dark and difficult society that was trying to devour his faith and his belief in the one true God. And there is no doubt, as we've covered in this series, that we are living in an ever-shifting culture where there is a greater rejection of what we believe as Christians and followers of Christ than I have ever seen in my lifetime, maybe in your lifetime as well. And if we don't understand it, if we don't learn how to respond to it, if we don't look at the Bible as the playbook for how to live our lives in this dark and difficult culture it has the potential to discourage us or cause us to think the sky is falling or to make us to look at the world through a very pessimistic lens, or even worse, some people are just abandoning and falling away from the faith altogether.

And so it's a very, very appropriate series. I told you, gonna be one of the most important that we teach all year. I stand behind that. And one of the central ideas that we have been talking about throughout the entire series is this one right here, that God has called us as his followers to set the culture, not reflect the culture. Bible says that Jesus said we were gonna be salt and that we were gonna be light, that we were gonna be, as his followers, a city that's set on a hill that cannot be hid. In other words, Jesus said the world would see our good works and they wouldn't glorify us, but they would glorify our Father, which is in heaven. They would notice how differently we live our lives and they would recognize that it's not just us trying to be good, but it is actually God at work in our lives and through our lives. And he made it clear to us that we have been saved on purpose, with a purpose, and for a purpose. And I've shared this with you the last three weeks. Let me share it with you today in our last message that Jesus prayed this prayer specifically in John 17. My prayer to you, heavenly fathers, not that you take them out of the world, that's you, that's me, but that you would protect them from the evil one. Watch it, they're not of the world even as I'm not of it. In other words, they're still in it, but they're not of it.

Sanctify them by the truth, and we know this, that your word is absolute truth. It is not subjective, it is objective. God gets the ultimate say of what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false. Jesus said, the way you've sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. Jesus said, I've saved you, transformed you, and you are to live your life by a different code and a different kingdom. And always remember, while you are in this world, you are not of this world. And that's the challenge and what we learn from Daniel's life. He was a Jewish man from Israel who worshiped Jehovah, living in a foreign land surrounded by Babylonian pagan worship. Daniel was in Babylon, but he was not of Babylon. And if you're with us for the first time today, I just wanna encourage you as strongly as I can to go back and listen to the first three messages. In the first message, we set the tone by talking about grace and truth, that we have to walk in grace, but we also have to walk in truth. And how do we navigate and balance that in our lives? And nobody did it better than Jesus. And then the second week, we talked about how does a culture actually begin to pivot farther and farther away from God?

What drives that? And it's a Babylonian mentality, and we addressed it, and you need that one as well. And then last week, we talked about how to live a stand-up life in a bow-down world, and that if the fire of conviction inside of you is not greater than the furnace before you, we will always live wishy-washy, up and down, in and out, and that is not standing firm in the faith as the Bible instructs us to do. So all of those are so important to set us up to where we are going today. And last week, I told you that Daniel and his friends were able to do two things that God has also called us to do, to stand firm, but to love well. Yes, stand firm, but love well. Here's what it says in 1 Corinthians 16. Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith. That's what we talked about last week, what it means to stand firm in the faith. Be courageous and be strong because it's gonna take that to do it, but this is what we're gonna talk about today, and I just felt like this is where the Holy Spirit wanted us to end so that we would leave here today on the right tone, on the right note, and know how to actually make a difference in this world. He said, no matter what you do, as you're standing firm in the faith,

bro, you've gotta do it in love. Everything that you do, you must do in love. What is he saying? He's saying that we can stand for God, we can stand for his truth, and not behave. hateful, mean, cold-hearted, hyper-spiritual people. The world may hate us, but we cannot return the favor. In fact, the scriptures teach us that for the follower of Christ, love is to be a priority in our lives. We are called to influence people. We're called to influence the world. Remember, not reflect the culture, but set the culture for Christ, and we cannot do that without love. If you have ever been to a wedding, you have no doubt heard 1 Corinthians chapter 13 read, and a lot of people think that it's only for weddings. It is not. It is a playbook for how Christians and followers of Christ should live their life in a dark and difficult world, and Paul made it clear that without love, nothing else really matters. It is indeed the priority. Let me just show you four things real quick that Paul said. Paul said without love, it don't matter what you say, it's going to be ineffective. Watch this, verse one. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, and it literally translates,

if I could speak every language known to man of all the languages and of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. In other words, what he's saying is, look, man, it doesn't matter how brilliant your arguments may be. It doesn't matter how eloquent you can state the facts or how spiritual you may sound if your words are not seasoned with love and from a place of compassion for others to the world, it's just noise and our words will always fall upon deaf ears. You know, I told y'all this earlier, but sometimes I see the most God-awful stuff on social media from people who claim to love God and be Christians. Hard, harsh, argumentative threads that are this fight fire with fire attitude, and it is absolutely so counterproductive. Now, look, I know, I see what you see, I see people say things, I see people post things that are crazy, but I got something to tell you. Did you know there is this amazing thing that you can do when you see craziness on social media? Hang on to your hats, this is brilliant. You can keep scrolling. Did you know that? It's unbelievable.

You can just go. And it's gone, it's magic. Did you know there's a button that says block? Dude, it's brilliant. You can just, if you don't wanna see it anymore, block somebody or block, so you don't see it anymore. You can just, what I'm saying is, bro, we gotta do better. We gotta do better than some of the stuff that I see. We don't have to take debate, we don't have to comment on everything that we disagree with, we don't have to wade into every crazy thing that we see or don't agree with. Some issues in this world are just too important and meaningful to text about. They require in-person, compassionate conversations. All right, amen, praise God. About three of you agree with me. Rest of you, keep on getting into it with him. You're winning the world, trust me. What's he saying? He said, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what you say. If it's not seasoned with love, you're not gonna win or influence anybody, and it's the truth. Number two, Paul said without love, it don't even matter what I know. All I know is insignificant.

Watch this, verse two. If I have the gift of prophecy and I can fathom all the mysteries of the earth and all knowledge, but I don't have love, I am nothing. In other words, what really makes a difference in this world, what really gives us influence, is not what we know or how much we know, but how we handle what we know. In other words, Paul said, it's not your mental aptitude that's gonna make a difference. It's our Christlike attitude that's gonna actually make a difference. You know this is true. People don't care how much you know till they know how much you care. Jesus knew how to connect with people before he ever tried to correct people. He knew how to connect with people before he ever tried to correct people, and when people realize that we actually love them more than we love just being right, it changes things. It changes things. So Paul said, don't matter what you say, if you don't have love, it's nothing. No matter what you know, if you don't have love, it's nothing. Number three, Paul said,

without love, all I believe is insufficient. Watch verse two. And if I have enough faith, if I had enough faith that I could actually move a mountain, but I do not have love, Paul said, it's absolutely nothing. He's saying, you can be a bold believer, you can trust God for the greatest miracles in life, but if you approach the world as a spiritual bully rather than a compassionate follower of Christ that loves them, then what true good we could have done for others has been lost. Yes, we should grow in great faith. Of course we should, but we should also show those who are far from God that we are not just people of great faith, but we have the potential. to be even friends with people who don't agree with us. Friends with people that don't see it the way that we see it. That we're not just people of great faith. No, no, no, our faith leads us to be actually good friends with people that may not even see what we see or believe what we believe. And Paul ultimately said this. He said, without love, even if I gave everything, if I didn't have love, it's incomplete, it's not enough. Watch what he said in verse three. If I gave everything I have to the poor,

I even sacrificed my body that I could boast about it, but if I didn't love others, I have absolutely gained nothing. He's saying, even if I followed through with this over-the-top amazing act of generosity, but my motive was to boast about it and to be the hero of the story without being driven to do it for the true well-being of others, it just doesn't have the impact that it could have had and should have had. It falls short of how God wanted to use that act of generosity to change lives. Because here's the truth, ladies and gentlemen, it is possible to give without loving, but it is impossible to love without giving. It is possible to give without loving, but it is impossible to love without giving. And then Paul just goes through and just absolutely takes us to this point of priority. Watch what he says. Let's finish it out. Love is patient, it's kind. Love is not jealous or boastful. It's not proud, not rude. Does not demand its own way. It's not irritable. It keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out,

love never gives up, never loses faith. It's always hopeful. It endures through every circumstance. You know these verses, prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge. One day that's all gonna end. One day the gifts of the Spirit will not be needed over there, but love will go on forever and forever and forever through eons of eternity. These three things, abide, faith, hope, and love, but the priority, the greatest of these, it's the priority is love. Ladies and gentlemen, God has called us as his followers to influence and impact others. God has called us to make a difference in this world just like Daniel made a difference in his world, but I'm telling you, we can't make a difference if we're not different. We can't make a difference if we're not different. Say, Pastor, what are you talking about? If we respond the way the world responds, we can't make a difference. If we act the way they act, if we talk the way that they talk, if we overreact, we can't make a difference. If we overreact the way that they overreact, if we fight fire with fire, it's never going to work. We are called to something higher and bigger and greater. We are called to stand out as salt and light

and to be a city set on a hill. We can never make a difference if we're not different. If they can look at our lives and can't see the difference that Jesus makes, all of it's lost. Then all we've done is we just burned an hour on Sundays, and we just got together, we sang some songs, we feel a bit better about ourselves, but there's no real change or transformation or difference. If we want to make a difference in this world, we have to live and to be different. And the reason that Daniel did not just survive Babylonian culture, but he thrived in Babylonian culture. He was not just a slave. Now, if you know the story and you went back and you were here for week one and week two, you found out what happened out of Daniel chapter one, that Jerusalem was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, and they killed a lot of Jews, but they also took a bunch of slaves back to Babylon, and then they took some of the upper elite and they trained them and they used them for Babylonian, the advancement of Babylon for a long time to come, and Daniel was a part of that. So he was a Jewish man, but he was living in a foreign nation, and even though he was technically a slave, he was technically someone who was a prisoner of war, even as a prisoner of war,

he was recognized and identified as elite and as above everyone else, and they recognized the difference of Daniel, and when that difference was recognized, he was promoted and God used him in a great way there. Let me show it to you. I'm gonna just show you one segment of Daniel today, and then I wanna wrap it up today by giving you three things. Okay, watch this. Let's go to Daniel six, verse one. Darius, Nebuchadnezzar's gone. Here's the new king of Babylon, Darius the Mede. He decided to divide the kingdom of Babylon into 120 provinces. That's basically 120 counties. It was a big place, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king's interest, okay? So here you go. You got 120 provinces. You got 120 mayors, so to speak, and then you got, he appointed several governors that would oversee all of the mayors in Babylon, but Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all of the other administrators or governors and high officers. Because of Daniel's great ability,

the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. He's a prisoner of war. And there was something so unique about Daniel that the king recognized that I don't even need my guys, I just need to put everything under this slave's command, and it is going to be the best for Babylon and the best for my interest. How do you get that kind of influence in a culture that doesn't subscribe to your faith, believe what you believe, or respect anything that you really hold sacred and dear? Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way that Daniel was handling government affairs. They were jealous of him, but they could not find anything to criticize or condemn him for. Watch this. Because he was faithful, he was always responsible, and he was completely trustworthy. He was faithful, he was always responsible, he was completely trustworthy. So they concluded our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel is going to be in connection with the rules of his religion. Now, I'm not gonna read the rest of it, but this is the segue and setup to the infamous Daniel in the lion's den. But I want to point out

what it was that made Daniel different. Please notice that it was not his great intelligence, it was not just his incredible business acumen, it was not just his amazing education. He had those things, praise God for that. Those are mentioned. But what made him stand out to culture that did not subscribe to his beliefs or worship of his God, what made him take notice of Daniel was his character, the way that he lived his life, the way that he handled himself, and the integrity he demonstrated in every part of his life. When Darius looked at Daniel, he saw a man that was faithful, always responsible, completely trustworthy. These are not aptitudes that you are born with. These are attitudes that you get to choose every single day of your life. Daniel made up his mind that no matter where he was or who he was around, he was going to love God, love people, and serve others to the best of his ability. He lived it every day, he lived it in every way of his life, and because of it, the world took notice of who he was and the way that he lived his life. Now let me take just a few minutes this morning and talk about how we can do the same. Because remember, we're called to set the culture, not reflect the culture.

We're called to make a difference. We're called to have impact. We're called to influence the world that God has left us in. How do we live in such a way that it would cause even a dark, shifting culture to take note, pay attention, and give us similar credibility to have influence with them the way that Daniel had in Babylon? Well, I'm gonna say this to you. If you know anything about the story, it is clear that Daniel was a praying man. Bible says that he prayed three times a day. In fact, that's where they kinda got him and hooked him up to get into the lion's den. He prayed three times a day. I do not think it is inconspicuous, I don't think it is coincidence that the power of his life is directly connected to his prayer life, that the power of his life and the influence of his life was directly connected to his prayer life. So let me end our series today talking about how to influence a dark culture by giving us three prayers that I want us to begin to pray as a church, certainly as Canvas Church, but I'm gonna speak generally now to the Big C Church, the church as a whole and what it looks like.

Three prayers I think that we ought to pray that could actually make a difference in this world. Hold on a little bit, okay? I'm gonna drop down into some stuff, but here's three prayers. Number one, listen to this one. Lord, would you help us as the church to be known more for what we're for than what we're against? Lord, would you help us as the church to be known more for what we're for than for what we're against? Christianity has developed a perception problem, y'all. At the heart of the problem is the simple fact that I believe Christians are more known in this world for what we're against than what we're for. But if we're gonna be real honest, I don't think it's a perception problem. Not really, because we as Christians are often quick to point out what's wrong with our culture, and we certainly need the moral courage to stand up for what's right in the face of what's wrong. That's been clearly demonstrated. covered in this series, but listen to me carefully. Before confronting what's wrong with our culture, I am convinced we need to be, and we, when I say we, I mean me, we need to be humble enough, honest enough, and courageous enough

to repent of what's wrong with us first. You say, well, pastor, what's wrong with us? Good question. I don't think we're great at the great commandment. I don't even think we're good at it. You say, what are you talking about? Well, I'm not talking about the Great Commission. You might remember the Great Commission, right? Jesus said, go into all the world, preach the gospel, baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's evangelism. That's not the great commandment. The great commandment was found somewhere different in Matthew chapter 22. Do you remember this? Bible says that the Sadducees, the Pharisees, were trying to trap Jesus, and they wanted him to be able to assess. They wanted to hear, what do you think the most important law that God ever gave to Moses was, and they thought they were gonna trap him, but Jesus just answered it clearly, and here's what he said in Matthew 22, 33, and 34. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question. Teacher, which is the most important commandment in all of the law of Moses?

Jesus didn't even hesitate. You must love the Lord your God with, everybody say this word. All your heart and all your soul. We stink at it. Hear me now. Don't get mad with me. I'm your pastor and I love you. We need to be really careful that we don't get just enough Jesus in our life to ease our conscience but not change our lives. That we go to just enough church to make us feel better about ourselves. That we compare ourselves to people outside in the world and say, well, you know what, they're not here, at least I'm here. I mean, I got up today and got dressed. I mean, I brushed my teeth. That's a big deal on Sunday morning, pastor. Some people don't brush their teeth like all day on Sunday. I did my hair, I put on my clothes. I'm here, they're not here. I'm better than them. And we think God operates on the gold star system, like when we just show up, we get a participation star and we were there. I mean, we were in the room where the preaching happened. We were there when what was said was said, but we gotta be careful

because this is not what he's implying here. He's implying something deeper. This is something different. With all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, Jesus said it's the first and the greatest commandment. If Jesus said that loving God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind and strength is the most important commandment, then doesn't it logically follow that we ought to spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to understand it fully and obey it deeper? We can't afford to just be good at the great commandment, ladies and gentlemen. We've gotta be great at the great commandment because the better we get at loving God this way, the closer we get to God. And the closer we get to God, the more humility grows in our life. And the greater our humility in God, the greater the credibility we have with the world. I think one of the reasons why we don't have more credibility with the world is they see this big disparity between what we say and what we do. Actually what we're saying and actually how we're living. And what I'm suggesting to you is that if we would get closer to God and over religion, get over religion,

and make our personal relationship with God the most important pursuit of our life, the closer we get to God, I am convinced the more the light of God would begin to shine into the world. People would be attracted and drawn to it because they would see the authenticity, the authenticity of what God is doing in our life. I told you one time before, I want you to hear this now. I told you one time that we can either see the world the way Jonah saw the world or Jesus did. We can either see it the way Jonah saw it or Jesus saw it. Remember this, God sent Jonah to preach to Nineveh, but Jonah hated the Ninevites. He did not want them to be saved. He was glad they were going to hell. He was mad at them and they were brutal people. And when he went reluctantly after God brought the great fish, spit him up at Nineveh, he reluctantly preaches the gospel. The entire city gets saved and Jonah's mad about it. He's mad they got saved. But Jesus stood over a city that had clearly rejected him and the Bible says he wept over it. Jonah was bitter towards the world. Jesus was broken for the world. And we have to pray and say, oh God, don't let me see the world. I know how they are.

I know how they're coming against me. I know how they feel about me, but oh God, do not allow me to see. Culture like Jonah allow me to see the world through your eyes help me to be broken for them Maybe may we see the world the way that Jesus saw the world. I told you last week. We are not against anyone We are just 100% sold out for our God and for his word That is what we are for and may we Lord help us as the big C Church Not to be known more for what we're against but for what we're for I run into people all the time and they think the Bible is just this massive This big killjoy this this big buzzkill and and they see the Bible the completely wrong way They think the Bible is a rule book to tell you what you can and can't do when the truth is the Bible is a Playbook to tell you who you can be and what you can do through what Jesus enabled you to be and do It's it's a freedom. It's not a restriction and when you see it that way You'll always think that God is just trying to one-up you and we got to be careful as the church that we don't just stand Up and always rail against what we're against. No. No, let's tell the world what we're for And if he did it for us, he can also do it for them. Okay, here's prayer number two prayer number two Lord Seriously, would you help us to love people right where they are? So that you can do your work and get them to where you want them to be I Think we send mixed signals sometimes and we say come as you are But the way we want you to be as you are is this So it sounds good But we clearly treat people different sometimes if they come in and they're not where we think they need to be in their walk with God a lot of churches that people have gotten into and they were genuinely curious about Christ and they came just like they were and They were not received the way that they felt like Jesus would receive them because of religion and we have to be careful I want you to hear this man. Look, I'm just pouring my heart out to you today. Okay, I don't even I guess it's a sermon I don't know. It's just a reflection today, but I want you to hear this. We are not trying to recruit people to a cause That is not what we're doing We are trying to point people without peace to a person who can change their lives

This isn't about convincing people to join our thing This is not about getting another spiritual notch on our belt at the heart of everything We do at the heart of everything. We are as a church We have simply fallen in love with a Savior who has given everything for us walks with us daily Changed our lives and we simply want others that are lost and hurting to also know his life-changing love This isn't about making canvas bigger. It's about making heaven bigger. That's all it's about. That's all it's about And you know people Who need the hope of Jesus? I know people who need the hope and the love of Jesus and God has called us to influence them For him and I think we start when we say Lord. I don't want to be known for what I'm against I want to be known more for what I'm for as a follower of Christ Lord number two Would you give me the compassion and the ability not to fall in love with a future version of somebody? Lord would you give me the compassion to see them for right where they are and know that even Romans 5 and 12 while we Were yet sinners Christ died for us. You didn't say come up to me and if you can get good enough, I'll save you No, no No You came to me when I was in my broken and decrepit sinful state and if you did it for us God help us to Do it for them number three Lord give us wisdom and the courage watch this to know how to share with hurting people the reason For our hope Bible tells us to do this watch this First Peter 3 instead you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer Always be ready Always be ready to tell them Always be ready to explain this To them. Here's what I know and you know everyone in this world everyone in this world from time to time Experiences emotional brokenness on various levels whether it's a broken marriage or a strained marriage or kids or stress or Finances or loved one doesn't matter. We all experience in this life broken emotional brokenness

And whenever you're talking with someone and you begin to sense an unusual amount of emotional stress in their lives Here's my encouragement to you. Don't ignore that and walk away I would encourage you to acknowledge it step into it and trust that God is about to do something amazing in their life You can in that moment connect them to the incredible grace and life-changing love of God now Let's be honest. Most of us get a little squirrely when it happens And when we see these emotional moments, we move away from them instead of moving towards them But that's why I want us to pray this prayer Would you give us the wisdom and the courage that when we see the opportunity to not walk away from it But to step in to that moment, and God's grace will show up in people's brokenness, and miracles can happen if we're willing to step into the moment and let God use us to bring hope and healing to them. I'll never forget one of my favorite testimonies that I heard years ago from this pastor who pastors in Georgia. He was talking about this young lady that began to attend their church and how God was moving in her life, but he took a step back and he talked about how she originally came to the Lord, and she was a cosmetologist. Her name was Misty, and she had a large clientele, and he said one day, she had appointments all day, and at nine o'clock in the morning, she had her first appointment, and this lady who was in the first appointment went to this pastor's church, and so she shows up, and as you do, you're just talking when you're getting a haircut and getting your hair done,

and the lady was telling Misty about her son that had just got back from youth camp, and she was just saying, man, they went on this incredible youth camp. My son is just on fire for God. Things are just happening. His life's changing. We're watching it right in front of us. It's amazing, and we've prayed for this for so long, and Misty's hearing all this, and she goes, really? What church did she go to? And she told her, and the lady said, Misty, do you go to church anywhere? And she said, nah, church ain't really my thing. I've never really been to church. She said, I remember one time I tried to read the Bible, but she said it was all this this and thous and thus and that, and I couldn't make heads or tails out of what it meant, and so I just put it down. I've never picked it up again, and it was hard for me to read, and so that lady made a mental note of that. When she got done with her hair, she paid her, and she went about her way, and the lady gets out, gets in her car, makes a beeline to the Christian bookstore, and she buys a message translation Bible. The message translation is the most easy to read by Eugene Peterson you could ever imagine. She drives straight back to the hair salon,

and she walks in, and she puts it down on Misty's station, and she says, hey, I just felt like I wanted to give you this gift. This is not King James. This is a different translation. It's everyday language. I think if you'll read it, you will get a lot out of this. She said, thank you so much. Second lady shows up for her appointment. She goes to a different church in town, and she sees the Bible sitting there, and she goes, Misty, is this your Bible? And she said, yeah, actually, I just got it. She said, I haven't even read it. I wouldn't even know where to start if you really wanna know the truth. But somebody in my previous client went and got it for me and brought it back, but it's just been sitting there, and again, I don't even know where to, it's such a big thing, I don't know where to begin. And the lady said, well, I'll tell you what. Would it be all right while you're doing my hair? I'll just go through and highlight some passages so that you can read it later. She said, sure. She goes through, and she highlights a bunch of John, highlights a bunch of Matthew, and highlights a bunch of James, and highlights a bunch of Proverbs. Gets done with her appointment.

Leaves. Third lady shows up at one. She goes to a different church. Three different ladies, three different churches, all believers. And she sits down and she goes, Misty, is that your Bible? And she said, it is my Bible. Somebody just got it for me today. I said, the lady before you, I haven't even had time to read it. I've just been working all day. But she said, the lady before you highlighted a bunch of stuff for me to read later. And the lady said, well, would it be all right while you're doing my hair? Why don't I just read it to you? And she said, okay. And she starts reading about how Jesus sought sinners out to eat with. And he looked for people that were nothing like him. And that he loved them and treated them with respect. And he didn't look down on them or talk mean to them. He wanted to go to their house for dinner. And how they responded to him and how he responded to them. And she's just reading through the Gospel of John. And Misty had never heard any of this before because she had only heard or seen what she thought was hard, cold religion. She just heard what you can't do and what you can't be and what you should be and what you're not.

And that Jesus won't put up with any of that. And it's all rules and it's all regulations. And for the first time in her life, she heard the story of Jesus and how he really looked out for and loved lost people. And it began to impact her. And finally she goes to Matthew and she's beginning to read Matthew. And she comes to Matthew chapter 11. And in the message translation, it's where Jesus looks at a bunch of people that felt like they could never be good enough. And she reads these words. Come unto me all you that labor. Are you tired of religion? Are you weary in your soul? Come to me and find rest. I will show you the unforced rhythms. of grace, learn from me and live with me. I will give you rest for your soul and show you how to live. And when she reads that, Misty just breaks, bro. I mean, breaks. And this lady with foil in her hair, like she stuck her finger in a light socket just crazy looking, she just turns the chair around and she just takes Misty, see because Misty had been sexually abused when she was a teenager. She had two failed marriages. She had lived a horrible life and she knew who she was and she thought that church would never be

for somebody like her or that she could ever be good enough for God to love her. And she heard the word and it did what the word does. It did what it did in my life. It did what it's done in your life. God sent three people that day to Misty who got it. They got that Jesus isn't just a Sunday thing, bro. They got that Jesus is a Monday thing, he's a Tuesday thing, he's a Wednesday thing. He doesn't just work one day of the week. He is working in and through our lives. Now we have come together today and we have had church and I love it, I thank God for this. But when I say amen and we walk out those doors, we are the church of Jesus Christ and the world is starving for what we have. Now they, not everybody, but there's a bunch of people that if we would just have the wisdom and the courage to step into the moment and not try to offer them our solutions, our opinions, our ideas, if we would just give them Jesus for who he truly is, he will change their lives. May we be salt, may we be light, may we be Daniels in a dark, difficult world and even though we are living with lions, may we be that city that's set on a hill that cannot be hid.