One Way to God | Landon Schott | Mercy Culture Church

This morning, if you want my notes, you can text notes to the number that comes on the screen, and what is in front of me and up on that screen will be sent to you. And if you are an overachiever and you want to spiritually grow and steward this message a little more, you can text GROW to that same number, and we'll send you a GROW guide or a discipleship guide where you could steward it as the week continues. How many ready for the Word of God today? If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, beginning in verse 24. And it says this, verse one, Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to appoint out to him a building in the temple. But he answered them, You see all these, do you not? Truly I say to you, there will not be one left here stone upon another and will not be thrown down. He sat down on the Mount of Olives and his disciples came to privately tell us when these things will be and what will be the signs of the coming of the end of the age, verse four. And Jesus answered them, See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray. Someone say many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of war. See that you are not alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There'll be famines, earthquakes in various places. And these are but the beginnings of birth pains. They will deliver you into tribulations. We put you to death. You will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many of you will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because the lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved, and the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. Then the end will come. I came here to tell you there is one way to God, and that's through Jesus. But in Jesus, there are many ways to connect with God. The title of this message today is one way to God, Jesus. Let's pray. So father, I thank you right now. Your word is true. Let every man be a liar. I declare your word is a lamp into our feet and a light into our path. Lord, we hide your word in our hearts, so we won't sin against you. Holy spirit. I pray that you would breathe upon your written word. I pray that logos would become personal. Raymo revelation to us today. I pray you would give us ears to hear hearts to receive minds to understand what your spirit is saying. Holy spirit on this Easter Sunday, we say we don't

make room for you, but we give you the entire room. We declare now no spirit, but the holy spirit is welcome in this place. I say spirit of fear and shame. You must go. Holy spirit come rule and reign. Father, I thank you that nobody came to hear me. We all came to hear you. So together we pray. Speak, Lord. Your servants are listening and all God's people said amen and amen. Well, at mercy culture, we are stewarding a prophetic word that this is a year of encounters and visitations. A prophetic word means is that God has spoken to us something specific for our house. And when you get connected to this house, that word for our house could be a word for your house. What does it mean for a year of encounters and visitation? We believe that this is an Exodus three, five year, the same way that Moses found himself talking to the angel of fire in a burning bush. And he found himself on holy ground, that this is a year that you are going to have encounters with the Lord. And it's going to cause you to find yourself on holy ground. As I was actually in my daily encounter this morning, I was running on the Trinity trail, praying before I got here today. And I felt that a strategy of the enemy this year was to keep you from your daily encounters. So you never find yourself into holy encounters or holy ground. I want to warn you. There's no graphic that's coming up. This is warning because this is hot off the press this morning. But I felt a warning for you today that the enemy is going to do everything he can in strategic ways to keep you from meeting with God every day, because there are holy ground encounters that God has planned for you this year. I came to tell you, listen, you choose your daily encounter, but the Lord will choose your time of holy visitation. We've have a preaching calendar, teaching calendar. You can throw it up on the screen where we are strategically leading people all year long. We don't just show up on Sundays and come up with something, but we are pre-planning, praying into what we feel like the Lord wants to say in your life. We're in a season right now on connecting with God and learning these different ways to connect with God. This summer, we're getting to a series of prayer. And in the fall, we're going to begin to teach on spiritual warfare and what it looks. like practically as well as theologically so right now we're in this series on connecting with God and here's the thing is there's many different ways to connect with God so when you learn how you connect with God it's a game changer for your spiritual growth but there's one way to God and that's through Jesus someone say one way only one way but here's the cool part is that Jesus

encountered the same way that we can encounter God through Jesus so to Jesus all of these different ways are biblical ways from connecting with God outside in creation from fasting from Reformation all of these different things Jesus also communed or encountered the Father and so when you have a relationship with Jesus and learn how to connect with him your relationship with God grows this is the secret this is the it factor to spiritually growing is daily encountering God that's why we push these daily encounters that's why we push you to go through connect is because we want to teach you and disciple you how to connect with God today we're talking about the one way to God and that is through Jesus when we talk about this phrase called the gospel what we mean is this the gospel is the good news someone say good news that through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus and Jesus alone God saves sinners he satisfies his justice he restores us into right relationship with him by grace through faith can I get an amen so good people don't go to heaven saved people go to heaven and salvation is a gift of God today I want to define what salvation is salvation is God rescuing man from his sin judgment and the separation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ restoring us into right relationship with him when I teach on Sundays I like to give the Hebrew and the Greek definitions for words because reading the Bible in English is lame and what I mean by lame is the English language is lame so there's nothing wrong with our translations the doctrine is still the same but there's so much depth when you read the Bible in its original language one rabbi said it like this it's like looking at a painting in black and white or kissing a woman through the through a veil you miss out on the depths of the words so when it comes to the word salvation in English we have a Hebrew word in two Greek words that give us a greater definition of that the first Hebrew word for salvation is the word Yeshua it means deliverance or rescue it's a victory it's God intervening to save us from danger or destruction it's not self-achieved it's divinely initiated it's when God steps in where man cannot save himself it's

used of God of rescuing Israel and from its enemies it's the root name of Yeshua or we get the name Jesus from because Jesus is salvation and Jesus is the one who rescues you see salvation is not you reaching God salvation is God reaching to you it's not behavior modification it's divine intervention it is not earned it is freely given I would summarize this Hebrew meaning to say this it's God rescuing you when you cannot save yourself I'm reminded of the Israelites in the Red Sea in Exodus chapter 14 that they are in a heap of trouble they have nowhere to go and it was God's divine intervention that made that that water dry ground and got them to the other side the same way that God them at the Red Sea is the same form of salvation when you don't know how you're gonna make it without his divine intervention the Greek word for salvation the first is the word Soteria it means rescue from danger death or destruction deliverance from sin and its consequences its restoration into relationship with God it's a wholeness a healing a full restoration salvation in Soteria is not just getting out of hell but it's being brought back into relationship with God this salvation is a complete rescue and a restoration the third the third word and the second Greek word may be the most well-known word for salvation and it's the Greek word sozo it means to save rescue or deliver to bring it out into safely through danger it's used at healing and salvation to restore or to make whole and this form of salvation that's what it really emphasis on is that there's this wholeness or this healing that comes with salvation I would summarize this to say God rescuing you restoring you and making you whole just like he did with the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15 So, we have the word Yeshua, which is God rescuing. We have the word Soteria, which is God restoring, and Sozo is when God saves, heals, and transforms you. See, salvation is that. It's God rescuing you, restoring you, and transforming you through Jesus. But the Bible says a lot more about salvation.

There's nearly 300 different scriptures that speak to it. And I want you to understand today, biblically, really what salvation is. Salvation is only found in one name. Someone say one name. One name. Acts 4, 12, it says, and there is only, salvation is no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men that you would be saved. Salvation is only through Jesus, John 14, 16, where he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one goes to the Father except through me. Salvation cannot be earned. It is a gift from God. Ephesians 2, 8, it says, by grace, you have been saved through faith. It is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not of results of works, so that you may be boast. This one is, it's wild. The most brilliant people in the world have a hard time understanding this, that you cannot be good enough to be saved. It is not like a Christmas Eve miracle, Mr. Scrooge, where if you run out at nighttime and get enough gifts for Tiny Tim, then all of a sudden, you know, you can enjoy the Christmas miracle and be saved. You cannot do enough good works. The Bible says our righteousness is like filthy rags. On our best day, we are not good enough to be saved. It is a free gift from God. How many are thankful for salvation? It gets a little deeper. Salvation requires you turning from sin. Luke 13, three. No, I tell you, unless you repent, you will likewise perish.

Salvation is available to all by, but chosen by few. Matthew 7, 13 and 14, it says, enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide that leads to destruction, but those who enter it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life. This is wild. This is what stumped so many peoples. They say, well, if God is good, then why does he send people to hell? God doesn't send anyone to hell. Salvation is open to everyone. It's a free gift, but there's many in their rebellion or in their pride choose to deny God and embrace the consequences and the wages of their sin. So even though it is available to all, it is not received by all. Salvation requires faith in Jesus. This is my son, Preston's favorite verse, Romans 10, nine. It says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So I read you a few verses on salvation that will help you understand it. But even as we read scripture, salvation can be difficult to understand because the question is, is when are we saved? There's a group of people that think it's just this one time moment. There's another group of people that say, if you don't do all of these things and you weren't really safe, so what does it look like? And the answer is this, is that salvation is a promise is a process and it happens in a moment, but it is sustained by moments. The profits, the prop process of salvation is a three part process in the first is what we call justification, or that's when you are made not guilty. So the moment you believe in Jesus, the moment you put your faith in Jesus, that is the moment you are saved. That is the moment that you are justified through the righteousness of Christ and you are made innocent, even though you're guilty.

I remember the first time one of my, uh, my pastors I worked for, he asked me to go to the jail and go stand with a guy that came to the church every once in a while. And he said, uh, I need you to go and visit him. And so I go to the, the, the, the courthouse and he's, he's getting, uh, arranged and he's going through the standing before the judge and I sit down and, and, uh, they have, um, uh, video cameras of him robbing a seven 11. And then he called the police on himself and reported himself. And then he got arrested and then he went up there and, and, uh, the judge said, how do you plead sir? And he goes, not guilty. And I'm looking around and I said, the brother called the police on himself. How is he not guilty? It boggles my mind. How do you even think that that is what justification looks like is you are so guilty elbow, your spouse. You are so guilty of sin, but watch you put faith in Jesus and Jesus says, no. took the punishment. They're not guilty. Now, number two is where this begins to grow. Number two is called regeneration, or this is when you become a new creation. This is where you're being made new, a new creation. This is where you start looking like the character of Christ. This is the new birth, or when you're in the family of God or the Christian family. Second Corinthians 5 17 says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. This is when you start realizing that your life today starts to look different than your life before Jesus. That's when you realize you're the only one that cusses when you're at church. And you're like, Pastor, that was a blanky blank. Great sermon. Everyone else is looking around. Oh, my bad. My bad. It's a great sermon. It's a great sermon. Watch where there's things of yesterday in you that you've got to replace. That's when you come to church, but you're still living with someone that's not your spouse. And this is when you realize on Easter, you're like, Oh, he talked about that.

That's okay. I'm gonna talk about more things later. But that's where you realize, Hey, hey, there's some things in my life. I love Jesus. My faith is in Jesus, but I need to be sanctified to look more like Jesus. So this is where the Christian folk need to have grace for the people that are working out and figuring out their salvation, because you're not gonna look like Jesus on day one. This is where you come to belong on Thursday nights at all the Mercy Culture campus or whatever their belong nights is text belong to 599. And you start getting discipled in Jesus. You start renewing your mind in Jesus. This is where you start growing as a Christian. This is hopefully from when you go from a baby Christian to a mature Christian. Then the third one is the final stage of salvation that we call sanctification. And this is when you are living like Jesus. This is when you reflect Jesus. You talk like Jesus. You walk like Jesus. You forgive like Jesus. This is where you have a laid down life like Jesus. Philippians 2 12 says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only in my presence, but also more in my presence, work out your own salvation with fear in trembling. This is when you look like the God that you really love. Now, apparently there's a fourth level of salvation that only Facebook theologians and people that don't go to church but online have. And this is when they're better than everybody, and they have their life mission to point out the plank in everyone else's their life from the comfort of social media. I've never gotten to that stage. I'm hurt. It's like it's like Scientology. It's like the ninth bridge that you go over. It's amazing once you get there. But we call those judgmental Christians. Has anyone ever met one before? Okay, in jokes, I want to warn you today that Jesus warned us that many people would falsely claim to be Jesus. The Bible says that in the last days, many will claim and lead people astray. We've seen this over the years. A guy named Jim Jones was a cult leader in 1931. He was the leader of the people's temple. That sounds creepy. He claimed divine authority and identified himself as Christ. He led over 900 people to mass suicide. So before you jump online and call someone a cult, think of James Jones for a second. Okay, then you

have a say hello to our Waco campus. David Koresh. Somebody needs to do a drive-by Holy Ghost Shofar blast over there today. He was the leader of the Branch Davidians, claimed to be the final prophet and the Lamb of God, said he alone can interpret Scripture. And he had those creepy glasses too. Then there's a guy named Jose Jesus Miranda. He claimed to be Jesus Christ returned. This is the 1940s. He taught that there was no sin, no devil, no hell, and required his followers to tattoo 666 on themselves. Now Matthew 24, Jesus warned that many people will do things like this. But here's my question today. Those ones are obvious, but can you recognize the false Jesus in culture today? 2 Corinthians 11 4, Paul echoes Jesus and says for if some of you comes and proclaims another Jesus, he's warning that people will come and proclaim a different way of leading or living a life that they say the name of Jesus, but it does not reflect who Jesus was. Today I'm going to give you three false Jesus today. Number one, Islam. It's a Jesus without the cross. Historically, Muhammad was a religious, political, and military leader who led or participated in multiple battles, had around 11 wives, and according to early Islamic sources married Aisha, who was consummated when she was about nine years old. His life included warfare that had resulted in thousands of people's death. Islam teaches a belief in Jesus, but they do not believe the Jesus of the Bible. Their version honors Jesus as a prophet, but denies him as a savior. The problem is when you call Jesus a prophet, you cannot ignore John 14 6, that I already quoted, where he says, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. They deny Jesus being the Son of God. They deny Jesus being crucified, even though it is one of the most historically proven acts in history. They deny that Jesus was resurrected. Islam can't tell you who goes to heaven or how people are saved. See, Islam and Western society are not compatible because the West is built on Judeo-Christian society or Christian values, and Islam is built on another Jesus and something that we call Sharia law. Sharia law is a religious legal system of Islam that governs life according to the teachings of the Quran

and Muhammad, determining what is right and wrong and how people must live. It's interesting that online critics always want to talk about Christian nationalism, where people love their God and love their country, but are pretty silent about this other Jesus that is trying to be pushed without a cross called Sharia law through Islam. This is important you understand. Islam is a political ideology that is masquerading as a religion. Now here's where it gets crazy. Islam claims its roots through Abraham and its son Ishmael, but the Bible is clear that God's covenant and God's promise came through Isaac. Genesis 17, 19, look, it says, but no, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and his name shall be Isaac, and I will establish, look at this, my covenant with him. So even though Ishmael was blessed, but the promise and the covenant and the line of salvation came through Isaac. Galatians 4, 28, the Apostle Paul says, now you brothers like Isaac are children of the promise. So watch, Jesus came through the line of Isaac and Muhammad came through the line of Ishmael. This is what makes it another Jesus, because it is another God that removed the cross and has no salvation to it. And it is infiltrating America today. See, Islam is false because it offers salvation without the cross. See, in Islam, you die for your God. In Christianity, our God died for us. This is wild. So what came from Ishmael and Isaac is now Islam and the Jewish people today that they are still at war today. Watch from this moment that Abraham gave in to his flesh. I want you to hear this Christians today. When you partner with your flesh, it will always give birth to your greatest enemy. Number two, you ready for this one? Turn to your neighbor and say, welcome to Mercy Culture on Easter. Number two, false Jesus, progressive Christianity. This is Jesus without repentance. Progressive Christianity is a movement that claims following Jesus while rejecting his biblical authority, redefining truth, removing sin, and the need of repentance. It presents a version of Christianity that appears to be loving and inclusive and compassionate, but is disconnected from truth, holiness, and Christ-like transformation. Progressive Christianity stands in direct contrast to the real Jesus who preached

repentance, confronted sin, and called people to deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow him. Progressive Christianity teaches. It does not believe in the Bible. It does not believe the Bible is the Word of God. This is wild. They use scripture while they don't believe it. So the only reason they use scripture is try to manipulate it and manipulate you. It twists and manipulates scriptures to pervert their own agenda. They claim to follow Jesus, but they redefine what Jesus, who Jesus was and what Jesus taught. This version of Jesus affirms you, but never changes you. I remember one time some gay Christian activists online said, hey, Landon, I could tell you have a good heart. He said, but just don't try to change people that are in same-sex relationships. And I said, bro, an encounter with Jesus changed everybody. I was prideful. I was immoral. I was a sinner. I was hateful. I was self-righteous. Come on, add to the list. What were you? I have not met a person that came to Jesus. It didn't change him from the inside out. Listen, even though they declare that you were born a certain way. That's why our Bible says that we must be born again. There is no transformation in progressive Christianity because they do not believe in the power of the Word of God. Progressive Christianity says Jesus is a way not the way. Progressive Christianity dishonors Christianity and honors other false religions and says, well, we're all going to end up at the same place anyway.

They deconstruct God's laws and God's words. They proclaim there are many ways to God. Not Jesus is the only way to God. See, the progressive gospel is not built on Scripture. Watch this. It's built on culture. So the progressive gospel replaces God is love with love is God. I mean, the first time I saw someone had a tattoo, this this dude tattooed it on himself. He says love is love. I said, what does that mean? He's like, well, it's like love is love. I said, I know I can read. That's what it says. But what does it mean? It's like when someone tries to define a woman with a woman. Because it's a circular definition and circular definitions are designed to manipulate deceive people. So this whole concept of love is love is the whole purpose is to remove God in love. See, they don't understand what real love is. That love is not a feeling. Come on. How many been married for five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years? Let me see your hands now and in being married. How many have had days? You didn't feel like it. Come on. How many of that was yesterday? Let me see your hand. Don't lie in church. Don't lie in church. No, no watch.

There are days watch that you don't feel like it. But watch when you don't feel like it. You stood before God and you said I do in sickness and in health on good days and bad days in poverty or riches to death do us part. I'm declaring an oath under God that I'll be loyal to you. Watch I choose. I am so glad when Jesus was in the garden sweating blood and he did not feel like getting on the cross that he chose to go to the cross because that's how great his love is. We need to pray for our DC campus. I went I was in DC all week and and I went on quite a few prayer runs and you walk around DC. It's hard to find a church. There are church buildings and they are plastered by rainbow and it's interesting that rainbows and black live matter stickers are on the same churches. It's this progressive Christianity. There's not repentance. There's not the word of God. They have steeples. They have perversion and they have their own cultural agenda. Let me tell you more. The progressive Jesus removes repentance redefined sin replaces truth with tolerance. It calls conviction condemnation and calls accountability judgment. See we cannot affirm what God's word doesn't affirm. You have progressive Christians like James Teller Rico. I want to say this with honor and I want to say this with respect where I can say I'm choosing to bring out what this man has said and stand for to confront it publicly because I believe that this man is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Where he proclaims faith in Jesus, but all of his actions deny the faith in the Jesus that he says. Welcome to Mercy Culture on Easter.

Here's some of my favorite lines of James Teller Rico who's right now running for Senate right now. God is non-binary really Jake's Jesus Christ himself was a radical feminist his pro-abortion stating creation has to be done. with consent, you cannot force someone to recreate. This is my favorite one. He also famously stated trans people need abortion care too. This man proclaims to be a Christian and is running right now for Texas Senate and has deceived Christians by the masses because they don't know God and they don't know God's word. Let me read to you a little bit of God's word right now. First John three seven. Let me read this to you. It says, list little children. It says little children because it's talking to the dummies. Let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteous is right. Righteousness is righteous and he is righteous. Verse eight, whoever makes practice of sin is of the devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning for God's seed abides in him. He cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. Look at verse 10. It is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. See, you know what's wild about this verse? I looked up this verse because I had this verse almost memorized and I just asked Chachapiti to give it to me really fast because it's faster than my Bible program. And if you have that slide, fill that up of Chachapiti. Chachapiti refused to give it to me because your Chachapiti is a progressive Christian. Over and over and over. Chachapiti, is it designed to provide this kind of progressive design to provide this kind of content? See, if you don't have God's word hidden in your heart, the progressive Christian will remove it for you. Church, if your Jesus never calls you to turn from sin, it is not the real Jesus. Luke 13 three. No, I tell you, unless you repent, you will, you will likewise perish. The progressive Jesus embraces your sin and the real Jesus delivers you of your sin. Now we got visitors in the room. So I want to let you know, no matter what you're struggling with, we love you. And Jesus stinking loves your guts. That's why he went on the cross and literally spilled his guts for you. So this isn't about, does God love you? He proved his love on the cross. This is about a world that's trying to deceive you. And you can say, Hey, there's sin in your

life. There's heterosexual sin or homosexual sin. There could be all sorts of different kinds of sin, but Jesus came no matter what the sin was to save you up your sin. Come on, mercy, culture, church, let people know they're welcome in this house of mercy. Number three, if you weren't offended yet, you're about to get there. Number three is false. Jesus is the spirit of the age or when government is your God spirit of an age is when government replaces Jesus. It creates systems where people no longer depend on God, but depend on government to define right and wrong. The spirit of the age teaches that government defines morality. Culture defines truth, government systems and programs will replace dependence on God. It claims to help people, but it tries to remove their need for God. The system manages behavior because it cannot change the heart. They say the problem is systems, but the problem has always been sin. It's message is it claims that it fixes humanity, but the truth is it cannot save humanity. So a spirit of the age is when Jesus is replaced by government. Like pastor, I don't know about this one. We'll go back a few years and just remember COVID remember COVID. Remember all the people that are getting millions of dollars right now because they were fired because they were ostracized because they had their constitutional rights stripped of them. Remember that moment? Come on, think back to this. It was just a few years ago. Remember when no one was allowed to enter church, but you can go to strip clubs and you can go to Walmart and you go to, you go to liquor stores, but you couldn't go to church. Remember that? Remember in California, when you couldn't sing in church, remember that they were doing everything that they could watch to control God's people and replace, watch your loyalty to God, to your loyalty, to your government. The more I've been involved in government, the more I've seen. And I've seen it on both sides of the aisles, but I've seen it mainly in one party that has an idolatry of Government that has done everything it can to take in God We trust off of their party and to put government on the people It is a spirit of the age and it is a false Jesus let me show you how it's worked its way in to our schools and culture over the years the spirit of the age from move prayer in schools in This was the beginning it normalized nor no-fault divorce in 1969 It fueled sexual revolution and perversion in the 60s and 70s it redefined marriage. Thanks to Obama in

2015 and it pushed separation between church and state outside from 1947 and on which had no place to be there originally This was infused into our nation over the last 50 years And today the spirit of the age teaches a variety of genders in your school It normalizes abortion as a human right instead of human sin It celebrates sexual identity over God-given identity It censors truth by promoting deception it replaces biblical parenting with cultural indoctrination And it removes God from public spaces, but promotes every other belief Church the church hasn't gotten political the government has gotten spiritual and They've been telling the church for the last few years to stay out of politics when the truth is is politics came into the church Romans 1 25 it says because they exchange the truth of God for a lie They worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator Verse 28 says it like this and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God they gave themselves up over to a debased mind not knowing what had been done a Debased mind is a mind that comes up or invents new ways of doing evil. It's like inventing new genders This is what a debased mind does so when you push God out watch the spirit of age comes in and Let me be clear for everybody at Mercy Culture in 2026 the spirit of the age does not want Christians involved in any form of government We learned this when Mercy Culture got involved in politics as the enemy cannot Care how big our stupid churches get as long as we stay in them And as long as you are a Sunday Christian or an Easter Christian The enemy won't mess with you because you are no threat to the kingdom of darkness But the moment you start walking in and you start bringing your relationship with God you start bringing your Christianity in public Places all of a sudden you become a threat in fact our last leadership of the last Administration said that white Christian men are some of the most dangerous people to society No Christianity is a danger to every society that has set itself up against God And it is an insult to every person that has any color that there is to be that has their faith in Jesus to try To summarize everybody into a description and manipulation to keep them silent. It's amazing You want to see the most hated people in society?

It's African Americans that are conservatives that are fighting for righteousness that are fighting for truth and fighting for justice and the public Spaces it is amazing you want to see somebody that is ostracized see somebody that Deconstructed from a man to a woman got convicted by God is going back to their original design Look at how they're treated look for somebody that leaves the life of sin and homosexuality And says I wasn't made to be born like this I need to be born again and goes back and look how they're treated in society This is what the spirit of the age does it will accept anything that is not Jesus We learned this When we got involved when pastor Steve ran for mayor you would think that Fort Worth would celebrate the first Guatemalan to run for mayor That's what he is. No one ever really knows wherever we go around the world. They're like, what is Steve when we're in India? They're like, what is he when we're in Israel? Like what is he? He's an Ironman that's what he is. He's an Ironman just finished a half my Ironman last week He runs for mayor it wasn't Wow first Guatemala it wasn't son of an immigrant who cleaned houses to put her son through college It wasn't self-made man who started a business from scratch that God's put his hand on. No He was brown Christian nationalist trying to indoctrinate Watch No, they loved him them until they realized he loved Jesus. See this is what the spirit of the age does. It pushes out your God. You think it's just interesting that they're open to everything at your business meetings. You could talk about anything, joke about anything. You could be inappropriate about everything. But the moment you bring up Jesus, all of a sudden, oh, you shouldn't do that. So you can make whatever jokes you want that are immoral, improper, and you shouldn't do it. And you start talking about faith, I don't know about that.

See they have tried to push out Christians and because it hasn't worked, then they start saying stuff like, well, separation between church and state. And let me help you. If you've heard anyone say that, and they're trying to keep Christians from being Christians, it shows they are so stinking ignorant to American history and church history. Let me give you some understanding to that real fast. See, all throughout history, where their government was, the power often determined what religion was or accepted. And when government controls religion, truth gets compromised. So history shows us when government controls religion, religion is corrupt. So let me take you on a journey of church history real quick. 33 AD, we have the cross. This is where Jesus died on the cross for us, excuse me, 30 AD. And then in 33 AD, you have the Pentecostal church was born on the day of Pentecost. We're going to be celebrating that on May 24th. My birthday, when we are planting two churches in DC and OC on Pentecost Sunday. So the first and third century, the church was persecuted under Rome and 300 AD, 380 AD Christianity became the state religion of Rome. And 1,054 is known as the great schism. This is when the Catholic and the Orthodox church left. We see the Protestant reformation in 1517, then in 1529, the church of England breaks away. King Henry, the eighth creates a state controlled church and government defines religion. Then in the 1530s, we see what is called the Puritan movement where they were pushing back against state controlled religion. Then a group of people in the 1600s found their way to America to escape religious religious persecution and find freedom from religion. They named it America. The design of it was to have religious freedom. So watch all throughout church history, whatever government was in power, they impose whatever

religion they want. So the purpose of America was to find religious freedom. So when someone says separation between church and state, that was written by our founding lotter, uh, founding fathers, not to keep Christians out of the state. It was to keep the state out of Christianity. We all throughout scripture, you will see that God's people were involved in government. Moses confronted Pharaoh in Exodus five, Joseph led in Egypt with Pharaoh in Genesis 41, Daniel served the Kings of Babylon refused to compromise in Daniel six, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood before a fault system and refused to bow down in Daniel three, Esther used her position of power and government to save her people. Esther four, Nehemiah worked on with Kings and rebuilding the wall in Nehemiah two, John the Baptist confronted political political leaders and called out their sin. And Luke three, Jesus stood before Pilate and declared a higher authority in John 18. And the apostles were commanded by authorities to stop preaching, but they refused in acts chapter five. See, God's people were never called to bow to government. They were called to bring God into government. We've been told a lot at mercy culture. Mercy culture is just a little too political. And my response is you're just a little too unspiritual because our job is to bring Jesus, the real Jesus into every sphere of society, not yet, not yet into every sphere of society. In fact, last week, Heather and I were worshiping in the white house. I got to see our president proclaim the gospel to the entire world. I saw pastors put the picture up, please. I saw pastors and Christian leaders praying over our president, praying over our nation. I sat there and I heard the president say, we need more faith in America. This is a big difference than Easter two years ago. If you remember where they called it trans visibility day. And on our Easter Sunday, the previous administration hung rainbow flags from the white house lawn and had men who are dressed as women dancing on the white house lawn, two administrations

and two different Easter's what's the difference. The difference is when you allow God into the. place of government and when government pushes out God from that place. Now if you're uncomfortable right now, it may because you're a little progressive. And so you've allowed a different Jesus to come in, encourage you. See people don't realize this. When a president is elected, they hire 3000 employees and those 3000 employees could be people of faith or they could be people of carnal perversion. See it's not about just the leader of the free world, it's about the administration that he brings in. And what we saw this week is our president from the White House declare we are one nation under God. You say, Landon, I'm really not happy with this part of your sermon. I'm just really uncomfortable with who our president is. I said, I can understand that, but I am more uncomfortable when God is pushed out of the White House than when God is invited into the White House. And I'll tell you this, every time we're invited into the White House, no matter who it is and who's leading, I will go and when they invite me in, I will pray in the Holy Ghost. I will welcome the Holy Spirit and I'll ask God to have mercy on America. Three false Jesus. Do you recognize them? Islam is Jesus without the cross. Progressive Christianity is Jesus without repentance and the spirit of the age is Jesus replaced by government. And I came to tell you today, there is one way to God and it is only the one true Jesus. Let's go to Matthew 24 to close. Thanks, Danny. You can play. This is the story of Jesus, a warning of the last day and a promise of true salvation. Matthew's writing in around 60 to 70 AD.

This text is known as the ovulate discord. It's a prophecy about end times, a warning about deception and salvation of the last days. Matthew shows us that Jesus is king. And in this moment, Jesus is preparing his disciples to endure, to discern and what it means to really be saved. This moment takes place under Roman rule. Romans are leading the world culture. Deception was rising in the world. The setting was the Mount of Olives. It's one of Jesus' favorite places to be. It's overlooking the temple. Things begin to reveal what was coming and what to watch for. I love the Mount of Olives. I've been there many times, Heather and I've gone, our teams have gone. It overlooks the old city. Jesus is teaching them what's going to happen to that temple that was built there. He says this, this temple is going to be destroyed, but it's going to be rebuilt. He wasn't talking about a natural temple. He was talking about himself. The disciples are so focused on the temple, but Jesus wants them to be focused on their temple according to 1 Corinthians 6, 19. Jesus is giving the warning, don't let anyone lead you astray. He's warning of signs of the time that people are going to be coming in his name. Wars, chaos, fears, deception, division. He says all these are the birth pains and then he gets really intense. He says the greatest danger is not what's happening around you, but the greatest danger is what's happening within you. And then he warns them that those that endure to the end will be saved. That word endure means to remain under pressure.

The one who endures is someone who remains faithful to Jesus, stays true to his word and does not fall away. Even when life gets hard, even when great pressure comes, even when other fake Jesus arise or deception rises, it's the person that says faithful to the one true living God. And the same way that Jesus warned his disciples to be faithful, I came to tell you today that you need to be faithful to the one true living God. There's not many ways to God. There's not many religions and they're all the same and they eventually get there. Jesus warned us and the difference between Jesus and every other religion is every other prophet died. Every other religion fizzled out. Every religion came to an end, but in Jesus, your life comes to an end because his kingdom has no end. He's the only God that traded your sin. The only God that exchanged his righteousness for your unrighteousness. It's the only God that said, I am the eternal life through me and it's free. It just costs you everything. It's so easy. It just requires faith like a child. I came to tell you today, Jesus is the only way. But you have to choose Him today. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes all over this place? Across every campus. Right now, just you and the Lord. I would say this. Do you choose Jesus today? Today, if you say, Landon, I'm putting my faith in Jesus. Maybe you've been following another Jesus. Maybe you've been following a false God.

Maybe you haven't been living for God. You've been an atheist. Maybe you've been a way for God or there's sin in your life and you came to Mercy Culture because you felt something. You felt drawn to this church. You felt drawn to come today. And the Holy Spirit led you here today because He wants to save you. He wants to sanctify you. He wants you to experience true salvation in relationship with Him. So with every head bowed and every eye closed across every campus, if you say, Landon, today I want to put my faith in Jesus. Today, I want to repent of my sin. Today, I want to give my life to the Lord. Don't wait. Don't hesitate. Across every campus, just raise your hand right now. Raise your hand right now if that's you. Raise your hand all over this place. Hands going up over every campus. Campus pastors, come right now and take your services. I'm going to give you a moment right now. Lift your hand. We're going to wait for you. Lift your hands. Now, keep your hand up, but if you would say, Landon, I have not been living a Christ-centered life. And today, I want to rededicate my life. I want to start living for Jesus. If that's you right now, don't be embarrassed. Don't let any shame rest on you. But lift your hand if you say, that's me. You say, I want to rededicate my life. I want to rededicate my life. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Beautiful. Beautiful. I'm going to ask everybody in this place to bow your heads and close your eyes. And I want you to pray this. Romans says, If we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth,

that is what makes us saved. Scripture warns us to repent. So what we're going to do is we're going to repent of our sin. We're going to put our faith in Jesus. And we're going to declare that he is the one way, the one true living God. There's no special way to pray this. There's no right way. What matters is you repent and you put your faith in Jesus. And you put your faith in Jesus. You confess him to be Lord. So all over this place, I want everybody at Mercy Culture, let's pray together. Just say, Jesus, I declare your God. I put my faith in you. And I repent of my sin. I need your help. I need you to heal me. I need you to deliver me. And I need you to forgive me. Make this time different. Make this moment different. I put my faith in you. I say I need you today. I ask you, not only save me, heal me, deliver me, now,

in Jesus' name. Now keep your eyes closed right now. And just breathe in right now. Breathe in. We're in the presence of God. He's been here all morning. Scripture calls it the Ruah, the life of God. Come on, just take a big breath right now in his presence. We're almost done praying. I want you to pray one more prayer. I want you to say, Holy Spirit, now would you fill me with the same faith that I believe Jesus is Lord. Holy Spirit, fill me with your Spirit. Lead me, guide me, speak to me. I know I hear you. I feel you. So speak, Lord. Your servant's listening. Now just stand your feet all over this place for one moment. Just begin to worship him. Just ask him to speak to you. Come on, just love on him right now. Christians, lift your hands right now. Just begin to love on the Lord for just a few minutes. Just love on him. So Lord, I declare right now,

let a refreshing of the Holy Spirit come. I pray that those that are in the bondage of sin, I pray it breaks off them. I pray those, Father, that need miracles, if you need miracles in your family, lift your hands. If you need miracles in your body, lift your hands. I declare right now, Holy Spirit, would you come with your gifts? Would you come with your presence? We declare, we already said it, you can have your way in this room. You can do whatever you want in this room today. So Lord, I pray right now in Jesus' mighty name, I pray that you would come. You would minister to your people. I pray a refreshing of the Holy Spirit to come. I pray for a renewing of the Holy Spirit to come. I pray for a healing of the Holy Spirit to come. I pray you would heal marriages. I pray you would heal families. I pray you would set people free today. Jesus, I pray today you would do what only you can do. Come on, let's worship the Lord for one more moment. ♪ There's no other name but the name of our God ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no other name but the name of our God ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no other name but the name of our God ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪

♪ There's no other name ♪ ♪ There's no other name but the name of our God ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no other name but the name of our God ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no other name but the name of our God ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no other name but the name of our God ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Come on there's no other name ♪ ♪ There's no other name but the name of our God ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no other name but the name of our God ♪