Sit Down

My name is Brea and I want to invite you to come check us out in person. I am so glad that you're tuning in to this online message, but it gets even better when we connect face to face. If you're ever in the Central Florida area, come check us out. I also want to encourage you to check out our website, freelifetravel.org, to learn more about who we are, what we do, and how you can be apart. Now, let's get into what you've been waiting for. Check out this message. We are going to hit something today, a topic that I just, it was in my heart and I just got to talk to you because we family and we're going to go here today. We're going to, we're going to lean to this. If you have your Bible, wave it at me. Where are the Bible carriers, the Bible bear? Look at the Bibles. Let's go somebody. Even people on the balcony brought Bibles, I'm loving that. From your Bibles to the book of Matthew, the book of Matthew, chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16, for those of you who don't have your Bibles, you're good. We love you too. We're going to put some verses on the screen for you, but our goal this year is to lean in to become familiar with our Bible. This is my Bible. It's a message written to me from God on how to live my life and we want to become familiar with this. In chapter 16, verses 24 and 25, check this out. Here's what it says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, for whoever would save his life will lose it." Confessions of a pastor, these are the most conflicting, difficult verses I think I can identify personally for me. These are the most difficult, conflicting verses in the Bible, in my opinion, they sting.

I'm just talking to me. You might have your own, these right here, they hit different. They hit different. Because the Bible is telling us, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. These are Jesus' works. Scott, pick up your cross, follow me. If you try to save your life, you're going to lose it. If you are willing to lose your life for my sake, then you're going to find it. The reason this is so challenging and uncomfortable for me is it's very telling. It throws a mirror in my face and quite honestly it calls me out. I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about me. Because I see a lot of areas and ways that I compromise my faith in Jesus. Now maybe you got it all together. You and your halo just sit right there and glow and just go ahead and blind the rest of us. There's some of us that we've compromised carrying the cross. In following him, there's been some challenges that we have. We've chosen social comfort over biblical conviction. Can anybody relate with me or am I just maybe just preaching to me today? Okay, good. Good. I'm glad to hear that because this is very in your face. If I let me just ask you, what kind of compromises have you made in your walk with Jesus? Netflix over debos and prayer, maybe avoided telling someone the truth because you didn't want that awkward feeling in the room of I told him really what I thought. I prioritized work and family activities over church on the weekend. Like where have I backed up on Jesus? Where did I lay the cross down and walk away from it? Jesus said pick it up and follow me. My heart, I don't know about yours, my heart gravitates towards compromise.

The most natural thing I do is make excuses. I'll have, you know, we can make some good excuses. Yeah, you're right, right? It's like the girl who, you know, the guy's really after and wants to take her out like, what are you doing on Friday night? She don't want nothing to do with him. I'm washing my hair. What are you doing Saturday night? Drying it. Like, you know, like we can make some excuses, but you know what excuses are, right? Excuses, excuses are simply alibis to make us feel good. the same place we were, and it didn't make things any better. Oh, I got the pressure off of me, but the truth is, even though the excuse seemed to hit, it didn't really advance my life any. Heard a story about a pig and a chicken that we're walking past a homeless shelter, and the chicken looks over at the pig and says, "We ought to go in there and give them breakfast." And the pig looks back at the chicken and says, "Yeah, for you, it's a contribution. For me, it requires total commitment." There's just a little bit of difference between both of us supplying breakfast today. Can I tell you something? I'm not here calling you "porky." I'm not saying that you are a pig. That's not how God looks at you. But what I am telling you is Jesus does not want your eggs. Jesus wants all in. Come out of the stands, put on the jersey, get on the court, let's play the game. Let's go full court. You were made to play the game, not just watch the game. This is what I'm trying to talk about today, because I want us to consider what we can do to start putting God first in our life. Can you think of just one area that you can move your life forward in Jesus? One change you can make that would actually make me like, "This would be right. This would be good. This would focus my heart more on God." I think if we're going to be honest, we can all find better ways to align our lives with the Word and with God. And I want to talk about that today. How many of you have a favorite chair at home? Okay. It's really interesting how there is an unspoken rule in your house as to who sits in which chair. I mean, you have that favorite couch. That's mom's chair. That's mom's chair. No one sits in mom's chair. Y'all got that? Okay. Dad's chair? Is there a dad's chair in the house?

Like if there's someone sitting in that chair and mom or dad walking, everyone goes, like they're getting ready to get kicked out of here right now. Like they broke their son's spoken rule. Like around the table, there's certain chairs that are kind of understood, right? That's kind of how it rolls. Some of y'all right now are sitting in your favorite chair right now. And if somebody was in your seat the day, you would have, "Oh." We have our favorite chairs that we just kind of let us say today. I want to talk to you about the seat of your soul. Every area of your life, your marriage, your finances, career, your thought process, every area of your life is sitting in one of three chairs. They're all situated. They've sat down and that's where they're resting right now. And where which chair you have chosen decides what quality and the reality of your relationship with Jesus where you are. It determines if there's a legacy of faith coming after you or it's dead. Are you a fan or are you a follower? It starts to very much define who we are and where we are and it becomes very telling for us. And I want to talk to you. I want to show you today, my hope, my prayer, is that what you see and I want to give you a visual that if I can just say this in the most wonderful way, that righteously haunts you. That it speaks to you beginning to determine where am I in the seats? Have I chosen the right chair? The first chair I want to talk to you about is this chair right here. This is the chair of commitment. This right here is a work chair, office chair. Man, it spins. It's ready to go over here. We can get back to the computer here. We can get to a meeting here. It moves. It swivels. It's right in the face of what needs to happen. I can run myself over here. Take care of this. Back up over here. This is so much fun. I can hang. I can get work done in this chair. This chair is structured to pick me up, keep me focused, good posture, boom. Get some work done. This is a work chair. It's a commitment chair. It's a chair that states where if we're talking about our faith, I'm sold out for Christ. I've got convictions that hold me that are different than other folks around me. Here's what's a little difficult about this chair. If we're going to be honest, this chair makes you and I look outdated in culture. It makes you look old-fashioned. Yonder what old-fashioned is. It's like you've got those old ideas. Oh, you still believe that. Oh, you're one of those. And when you begin to walk with biblical convictions, living your life by that, that's your standard. That's your yes. That's your heart. That's the foundation of your life.

That's how you look at life. All of a sudden you realize that there are some things where there's going to be some challenges. You're at odds with some family members now. You're at odds. You see different than some people that you work with. I like them. I'm not throwing elbows, but we see things different. And I just can't go along with what you say and what you want to check off on. I just can't go that route. Social media. I don't agree with everything I see posted coming across. I just can't go up the news. The world, politics. There is a different ethos, a different mindset, a different heart, a different conviction, different lenses that I see through when I'm sitting in a chair of commitment to Christ. You see, here's what I need you to know. Jesus offers us new life, but for that new life to begin, our old life has to end. So the way I used to think, I don't think that way no more. Can anybody testify that once you gave your life to Jesus, some things changed in your life? Or that they should, that they should. And we're going to go here. They should be changing. Because here's what we have to realize. When we make a hard shift toward Jesus and begin to walk in a place of commitment, you're going to have to handle some people exiting your life. Amen. Welcome to free life chapel today. You're going to have to handle losing some followers. Everyone's not going to be shouting you out and giving you thumbs up on social media. No, they're going to, they're going to scandalize your reputation. Can you handle that? Because if you can't handle what I'm telling you about, you're going to bail out of chair one really quick. If I'm so addicted to people's opinion and being liked and being first and being approved, I will never be able to handle chair one. I'm always going to be seeking something different because people own me. People play me. People decide for me what I believe and what I want because I've got to fit in. I can't stand on my own. Chair one is a place of commitment. I know what I stand on. I know what I believe and it will not be moved. You got to be willing to be misunderstood. You got to be willing to be canceled. Pick up your cross and follow me. Everyone understands a cross is not a pretty thing, right? I know we cover them in gold and put them on our neck, but you understand that that's basically you're wearing an electric chair, an execution chamber around your neck. In first century, when Jesus was crucified, that was the number one way that the Romans would put people that were killed on display, hang them publicly, strip them naked, beat the life out of them and watch them die a slow death on that cross. There was nothing beautiful all today. We dressed them up and I'm not mad at you wearing your cross. I got crosses I wear. It's all good. All I'm saying is don't get it twisted. Understand what Jesus said, take up

your cross. He was saying there's going to be some difficulty. There's going to be some struggle. There's going to be some pain. It's going to you're going to be talked about. People are going to walk away from you. This is not all kicks in giggles. This is not just going to be a bunch of ice cream with sprinkles on it. It doesn't roll that way. If you stand for something, people are not going to like it. Can you handle that? This is what God's Word is telling us. Chair one, man, there's a bunch of Hall of Famers in the Bible that give us perspective of what of what it means to stand there. Remember the three Hebrew boys? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These three Hebrew boys, they were in Babylonian captivity and keep Nebuchadnezzar comes out and he says, here's what's going to happen. We've got a big idol furnace, big God here. I want everybody in this in the nation to bow in front of this God in the three Hebrew boys. Good? I ain't bound. The whole nation was. They didn't. Can you handle standing alone? The whole office says, yes, you say no. The whole family wants to, you can't. Do you have the ability to stand and hold on to that conviction on the inside of you? I'm committed to Christ. And my commitment to Christ says, no, I can't participate in that. No, I can't attend that. No, I won't be entertained by that. No, there's got to be something that stands up in us. These three Hebrew boys say, no, okay, for what it's worth, we will not bend, we will not bow, and by the way, we will not burn because they came out the other side after he threw them in the Noah was rejected, mocked, ridiculed in his culture because he was preaching that there was this flood coming when they had never even seen a raindrop yet, but he's building this big boat nowhere near water, obeying God, mocked, laughed at, canceled, only for God to save he and his family. What about the Apostle Paul? Paul was beaten with rods three times and spent years in prison because he would not stop preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm so glad he didn't quit. We have two thirds of our New Testament because Paul said, "I know in whom I have believed and I will not let go.

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ." And because of that, we have this thing called the Bible today that we draw from. I'm so glad he didn't back out and run for his faith. What about Daniel? Daniel chose to spend the night with a den of lions over skipping one prayer service. You can't have my prayer. I'm talking to God that this is a chair of commitment. Lean in, hold on tight. This is what we do. You see these men had decided and you and I have to decide the Bible is our standard, not popularity and not politics. I don't look to Paul's in order to find out what truth is. I don't need to hear the sway or what public opinion thinks. I've got truth. The Bible tells me that his word is truth. And I will live my life by this book right here. And this book right here is going to force me to treat everybody right. If even people that I don't want to treat right, it makes me treat people right. It's not about me throwing elbows because I'm right and you're wrong. It's the fact that I'm so jacked up. I need a standard in my life that's not always changing every other week based on who's speaking the loudest. I need truth in my life. And that's what God's word does. John chapter 14 verse 15, read this out loud with me.

Here's what it says, if you love me, you will obey my commandments. Oh, read it now without an attitude. Read it here, God. If you love me, you will obey my commandments. If you love me, if you love me, if you love me, you'll obey my word. If you love me, on the count of three, would everyone just say, Ouch, one, two, three? I know, it stings me too. It's one of these verses, the two of these verses that I want to scratch out of my Bible, but there it is. Take up your cross, follow me. I can't get around those verses. I have to live that. That's a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. That's when I'm on vacation. That's even when I'm at Walmart. (congregation laughing) Like you gotta live by this stuff. Like wherever you are, this is the call of our life. Number one, it's a chair of commitment. Number two, it's nice and cushy. Ah, it's right here, this chair is nice. This is plush, this bill's good. That's a little stiff. This is nice right here. If you had to sit all day in one chair,

which one would you choose? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it's the chair of compromise. Oh, it's a lot more comfortable than that stiff thing. That stiff thing is always telling me stuff to do and stuff not to do. That chair has way too many opinions. This chair, my opinion, is the one that rules. What I decide, what do I feel like today? Hey, Jesus, bless me. This chair fits me really good. Oh man, and they're so close together. This chair of compromise is really interesting. It's, I'm saved, but Jesus is really more of an acquaintance than he is my Lord. In fact, let me just put it this way. The save button is clicked, but the follow button isn't working. (muffled speaking) See number two, that's a dangerous chair. That's a dangerous chair. In the Bible, we got this guy named Paul. I just told you, beaten with rods, thrown in prison for years. This guy was traveling and preaching Jesus and planting churches all throughout the non-Jewish region. And he had some guys with him. He had a guy named Mark. He had a guy named Luke. He had a guy named Demas. These three guys were his traveling companions.

They were watching miracles take place. They're planting churches. They're ministering. They're preaching on the streets. They're watching people give their lives to Jesus over and over. In fact, the Bible said, in Philemon chapter one, and in Colossians chapter four. there with Paul. I mean, watching all this go down, Paul, like this is Paul two-thirds of the New Testament. He wrote it. They're right there with him. Amazing things going on. And then something you've got to be kidding me happens. In 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 10, here's what it says, "Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life." What? Who puts that in the Bible? Can't we just keep it all high life? Do we have to jump into low lights also? Do we have to like spit that out? That's like the, you took me into the kitchen and showed me the nasty kitchen. Just leave me in the dining room where everything is nice, but the Bible pulls no punches. You said, "Demas was one of the guys that miracles were being worked. Demas was one of the guys that were preaching. Demas is one of the guys who were helping to plant churches. And Demas hit a place in his life where he decided he wanted the world and what it offers more than he wants Jesus. I choose chair two instead of chair one. Demas walked away. It crushed Paul's heart.

Here's what I want you to understand. Her faith is no guarantee of future faithfulness. I'm so glad you said yes to Jesus a few years ago, but that doesn't mean you're still saying yes today. You and I have to decide every day. Someone shout, "Every day, you and I've got to decide. This is the day the Lord has made. As for me and my house, I'm going to serve the Lord. Let's go. Let's go. I know it's a Monday. I'm going to need some Jesus today, but that's okay. We're going to do this. I'm leaning on him like it takes that, but former faith, it doesn't guarantee that future faithfulness. Israel. Israel is a nation. They were in Egypt. They were locked down. And the Bible says that they were took blood and they put it on the door post of their house. The death angel passed by and they were released. They were broken free. They had faith enough to follow God's instruction to get them out of Egypt. But God's plan wasn't just to get them out of Egypt, out of slavery, but to take them into a promised land. They had enough faith for God to get them out of the slavery, out of the bondage, out of Egypt. But when they got to the wilderness, they stopped acting in the faith and that entire generation died in the wilderness and never experienced the promise. Here's what I want you to understand, talking faith and living faithful are different things.

I know what it is to be really good at sitting in this chair talking faith. I know enough about the Bible to have a conversation, talk it out, and even to the point that I will take a few verses here and there and I could almost justify my compromise. Because I'm talking it, I'm just not living it. I'm really good at laying the cross down and making excuses for it and trying to make sure I feel better about it. You see, the chair of compromise is a dangerous chair. It lives like chair two, but it talks like chair one. I know it sucketh, doesn't it? This is what's so dangerous. I can be serving Jesus a long time and somehow find myself here and still talking that language. I'm talking it, but I'm not living it. I slid over and I'm not sure when the slide took place, they're so close together and I can still say the same things that I used to say when I was there, but the results and my lifestyle are locked up in that. Let me just kind of help you identify. I stand for Christ until it's no longer popular, then I'm back away. I see Jesus as love, just not as authority. Decisions and lifestyle are now self-satisfying. I'm chasing whatever feels good to me. Entertainment, decisions, language in my life, they're still cringe, they're not where they should be. My career is more important than my calling. Sunday worship is now optional. I have to decide every Sunday if I'm going or not. I'm more concerned with success than I am surrender to Jesus. This right here, this chair of commitment, this chair of conviction, it holds the line. This one right here learns to try to play a little bit of both worlds at the same time. I'm not mad at Jesus. I don't hate Jesus.

I said yes to Jesus, but I'm living me. I'm not living him. I'm talking him, but I'm living me. Take up your cross and follow me. That means I don't have time to lay it down between here and there. There's a cross on the ground, somebody laid it down. And you and I've got to make sure that our hearts and our minds and our spirits, especially living in this culture that we're living in right now with heresy and foolishness being preached on social media that will give you a license to feel good about the hatred in your heart towards other people. Stuff that you'll see where we feel bigoted and elitist, like we're so much better. Well, at least I'm not like them. And we're comparing ourselves to people as opposed to Jesus. Jesus is the one that we're gonna be looking at. Jesus is who I'm trying to emulate. And when I fell in my life, it's because I fell from his standard. We have to live our lives differently. Chair too is a dangerous place. Jesus said, Jesus said, my followers can't serve two masters. In other words, no compromise. But you know what? I kind of get it. I feel the same way. You probably do too.

No compromise. I'm not sharing my wife with another man. Just in case you're wondering, I just kind of throw that out there. No compromise. Well, that just sounds so bigoted that you're just trying to control. Oh, you better believe it. Smith and Wesson will help me. They're two good friends of mine. We will take care of this right now. Oh, yeah, don't get it twisted. Yeah, Mr. Springfield's standing right behind him. I'm just telling you right now, we can take care of this. They got a brother named Glock. All of those guys were getting, we deal with this. No, she's mine. Relationship, I don't share that. Jesus is saying, wait a minute, you're mine. I died for you. I gave it all for you. You asked me to save you. I took you serious. I did. I lifted all your sins. I completely changed your status. Let's go. He has a right. I get him. I don't share my wife.

I don't share my Riese cups. There's two things in life. You just don't let go. You gotta fight. You gotta know what matters. You and Riese, those are two. I said you first though. I said you first. Watch, watch, watch, watch. We gotta hurry. Commitment, chair one. This right here is the goal, y'all. This right here, compromise. Oh, it's plush. It feels so good. It talks like that chair, but it just lives like this chair. And then you got this one over here. You all have a good day today. God bless you. This one right here, this is chair three. And this is the chair of culture. Commitment, compromise, culture. This one right here, the reason this is, because people that are here are just asleep. They don't even know that there's even other chairs in life. I'm just, I'm just, no, this is great, just asleep. And can I tell you, there are precious, wonderful people on this couch. I'm not mad at any of them. They just don't know who Jesus is

and what he gives and the joy of knowing him and serving him and loving him and the connection, the blessing that flows, the promise. They don't know that. So they just, they just sleep in their life away. I was, I would just like them. And in fact, if I didn't know Jesus, I'd be sitting right there beside him, doing some crazy stuff. Y'all ought to be glad, I'm saying. Oh no, y'all, hey man. Would you turn to someone telling him, you better be glad I'm saved too. You just, you better be glad. Yeah, no, exactly, because I would not be hanging with you. Without Jesus, I'd be sitting right beside him. God is not included in their text thread. Do you understand? Like they're not communicating with him. He's not a part of wondering what his word says and what his opinion, they don't care about that. No, that's the count, they out, it's done. So let me just kind of help you. We gotta make a pivot real quick. Seat number one is the seat of commitment and it's solid. Seat number two is the seat of compromise and it's slippery. Seat number three is the seat of culture and it's just sleepy. You can live solid, slippery, or sleepy, but you gotta choose one. You can't live all three.

The only seat that works is number one, because seat number two deceives. It'll make you think and it will talk like it's sitting in one, while it's living in two and sliding towards three. This is why the Bible says that the day is coming, that people will look Jesus in the face and he will say depart from me, I never knew you. But didn't we prophesy on your, I never knew you. You talked it well. You see, here's what I want you to understand. Jesus gets you saved, but God is the one who owns you. - Amen. - I need him for salvation, but he doesn't stop there. They come in a package agreement. When I gave Jesus my life, my sins, my debt is gone. God says, now you're mine. Now let me make you what you were always intended to be. This is how this world lives. Matthew chapter 20, 22, verse 37. Here's what Jesus said. Jesus replied, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your heart. We just translate it for you real quickly. Put God first in every aspect of your life. Everyone shout, God is everything. - God is everything. - Yeah, God is every and God is thing. God is everything. He is all that, that's who He is. And that's how we have to live our life.

You and I have eventually got to stop circling the airport and we got to land the plane on who Jesus is. Jesus looked at the disciples one day and said, who do people say that I am? Well, some say you're this, some say you're that. He goes, who do you say that I am? You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus, yeah, people didn't teach you that. That came from my father. There are some things that he wants to teach and show us and draw us to him that we can only know when we do it his way. You see, Chair, one has a benefit package. Why would we do that? Well, let me just remind you real quick. The Bible says in Psalm 37 verse five. It says, commit your way to the Lord. Trust him and he will act. Trust him and he will act, say and he will act. And he will act. You trust him, commit your way, trust him. And God activates into your life and starts doing things for you that you can't do for yourself. Watch this, here's a couple of things that he does. According to your word, divine authority is on your life because you're sitting in chair one. God is backing your life. You don't have to fight, squabble, but the power and the authority of heaven is on your side.

Supernatural provision is yours because you're sitting in chair one. Open heavens over your life. I'm walking in obedience. God has to be the supplier, provider of my life. Number three, uncommon favor is on your life. There's an extra level of kindness. There's a preferential treatment that hits you from both God and man. God is not a respecter of people, but he is a respecter of commitment and faith. And those who are pursuing him, you have a right to claim that word. The fourth thing, you have an internal strength. The Bible says that God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a power, love, and a sound mind. Ladies and gentlemen, when you got power, love, and a sound mind operating in you, you're not rocked by what people say, by what people do, by what Washington decides. I'm good, I'm solid. I've got peace in my heart, despite what it looks like out there. Everything is all right here. The fifth thing that we see that we get as a benefit package for living in chair number one is a generational legacy. Oh, it is time to stop living off of generational curses and passing on brokenness in our heritage and say we're gonna turn this thing

and pass generational blessings on a legacy of faith. My children are gonna know Jesus and their kids, and we're gonna watch Jesus rise up in our home. Second Chronicles 16 actually tells us God supports those who are fully committed to him. We can live this. You can live in chair one. I'm not saying you're gonna live it perfect. Give me times I'll fall out of this chair. Fall out of it. I'm not perfect here. And I find myself like sometimes getting really close here. Sure does look nice over there. Jesus, why didn't you make this so so comfortable? And I gotta keep as much daylight there as I can. I don't wanna play close to it. I wanna stay away from it. - Right. - There are voices that will draw you into that. There's relationships that will draw you closer there. Who you follow. You think social media is just fine just to follow stuff. Their opinion will eventually get in your head. Lamentations three says, my eye affected my heart. What I saw began to draw my heart in places that I didn't wanna go. Why do you think Demas walked away from Paul? Watching miracles happen. God's power, presence happening everywhere. And all of a sudden, how was the man that was involved like that?

Walks away because he fell in love with what the world was offering. He got this chair too close. He had some voices in his head. He was having conversations he didn't need to have. He found entertainment that he knew was wrong, but he found a way of enjoying it. (gentle music) to changing seats. When you and I decide the commitment chair one is the only standard for my life that changes things, and it sounds like a declaration that was found years ago in the office of a young African pastor in Zimbabwe, and I want you to hear this man's resolve regarding his faith with Jesus. He wrote, and I quote, "I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast, I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made, I'm a disciple of his. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talk, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right. I don't have to be first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on his presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer and labor by power. My face is set, my gate is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of enemy, ponder

at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till he comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till he stops me. If he comes for his own, he will have no problem recognizing me. Would you stand to your feet please? That that I just read to you, chair one, and can I tell you something because I know our humanity? He wrote that and he struggled staying in chair one because he's a human, like you and I, but you and I have to have that attitude, that whatever it takes, it's Jesus. I don't care if the government calls it legal, whatever it takes to please him. I don't care if it's sanctioned, celebrated, applauded, popular, whatever pleases him is what's right in my life. So if you're in chair one, stay seated. If you're in chair two, get up and go sit down and chair one. If you're in chair three, wake up, get up and go sit down and chair one because that is the only way to true life. I want us to pray today. Now listen, this message calls me out like it calls you out. Some of y'all are mad at me right now, you got to let me go to heaven so deal with that. It's telling, it gets in our face and when I look at these, when I was studying for this yesterday, I'm like, dang, that chair one, chair two thing is no joke. It pulls on us. Chair two talks loud, chair two has people that I love in it. Chair two has stuff that feels good and it doesn't mean I got to curse Jesus, it just means I'm trying to do a whole lot of me and a little bit of him. Like I'm, I'm pulling the levers and Jesus is saying, I'm not here to be played. Either we do it or we don't, let's go.

And when you fall down, get up, I'm here. I love you. We'll put this back together. Let's go. But just when you get up, don't slide the chair two, stay in chair one. Come back. Let's stay on this game. I want to ask you to bow your heads in the room today. If you're hearing you say, Scott, if I'm going to be real honest with you, I'm laying down on the couch. I'm in chair three right now. I'm sleeping. I've never given my life to Jesus. I've heard a lot about Jesus, but I've never really prayed that prayer. I've never committed my life to him and I realize that I need him in my life. He's not just A way, he is the way, and I need him. I want him. but I am going to ask you to raise your hand just to signify that you're going to pray this prayer with me because we're going to pray it together. On the count of three of your sins, Scott, I'm coming off a chair three. I'm going to chair one. I want you to throw your hand to the ear, one, two, three. Where are you? Come on. Oh yeah, I love you all. I love you all, my kind of people. Hands up throughout this room. You can pull those hands down.

Everyone pray this together. Say Jesus, I'm waking up. - I'm waking up. - I'm coming to you. - I'm coming to you. You're living for me. I'm living for you. Forgive me. Change me. Take away everything that is not you. And give me everything that you promised. I love you. I will serve you to the best of my ability for the rest of my life. I choose chair one in Jesus' name. Can you put your hands together and celebrate all those who just prayed that prayer for the first time? Come on, that's huge. That's huge. I love you all. Now here's how we all are going to pray. Could you see this next prayer? My prayer will do nothing for you. 'Cause I can't make commitments on your part. I got to pray my prayer. You have to pray this one for yourself. And I don't know what step you do to take towards Jesus, but I want you to get something in mind of what you can do to move your life towards Him, to step out of, get off of chair two,

and get back to chair one. What's it going to take to get back here for you? I want you to get that in your heart, in your spirit. I want to pray. I want to lead you in prayer, but I don't want you listening. I want you praying. Lord, I'm coming back. The compromise is over. Commitment is in my heart. 2026. I'm a full court believer. I'm here to play. Father, today, we are all in this room, and we struggle between chair one and chair two. Chair two is so much more comfortable. And chair one, it's easy to fall out of it sometimes. Care in our cross, it's heavy. You know that. But we continue to choose you today. And in the middle of our flakiness and excuses and compromise, today we're just coming raw. We're coming clean, but we're being real. And I'm done making excuses. I want to live this life strong for you. I don't want to play with you. I don't want to be talking about you more than I'm living for you. And today, God, I pray that you would convict and lead and draw us back into a place of putting the jersey on and going full court with you.

A true place of commitment. Today, God convict us and lead us. Holy Spirit, do what you do best in letting us fill your love, your draw and remind us of the benefits, of the blessing, of the increase that goes with proclaiming Jesus as our Lord and Savior. It's the only way to live. Every other chair leads to death and defeat, but this chair will lead to promises and blessing and a future that can only be secured by heaven. God, thank you for the option of getting up and getting back in the chair. And we do that today. We re-situate ourselves. We're going to sit down in chair one. We're going to sit down in commitment. We're going to sit back down in our conviction. Sit back down in our love for you. Sit back down in serving in your house again. God, we're not going to play with other options. You are the only option for my life. And I move towards you now as for me in my house, me in my home, my private time, my public time, my time in vacation, my time here. It does not matter. I will serve you to the best of my ability. So Holy Spirit, turn up the volume of your voice in my life. Convict me, lead me, draw me. Let me hear your voice of correction

and let me hear your voice of celebration. But God, I pray for a relationship with you that is so real through the rest of this year that it changes everything in my world. We live for the audience of one, your approval. And today, God, I pray that you would smile on our hearts and our lives as we take steps back towards you again. In Jesus' name, everybody said amen, amen, amen. If you received that today, come on and put those hands together one more time. We really hope this message encourages you. For more encouraging messages, feel free to check out our website, freelifechapple.org. I hope you have a fantastic day. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)