The Danger of Distraction

If you got a Bible and you got your journal, turn maybe it to 1 Corinthians 1. You'll notice a new thing in your journal, if you got one last week or today, on the left-hand corner of each page is a Bible reading plan for like five days in the week. So if you don't have something you're already doing and looking for a place to start out reading the Bible, those are easy readings for you to do day by day throughout your week there, okay? Last week, we began a new series called 1 Corinthians 11 dangers for every Christian, where we are walking through this great book of the Bible over the next 11 weeks together. Here's what I say, there's more than 11 dangers for every Christian, but these are 11 that we've identified within the book of 1 Corinthians that are very, very good for you to know and to be a part of in your life. And let me say hey to everybody in the student room today in our overflow seating, glad to have you. I give this spiel every, for the last decade, every time in August. This is our 9.30, it is our most packed service. Eight o'clock still has some room in it, 11.15, iffy. So it's a fight for survival, we're glad you're here, all right? And wherever you're at, you participate like you're right here in the room with me

because it doesn't really matter where I am, okay? There are two things that every person that can hear me, we all deal with them, okay? Two things, one of them is blatant and outright, and the other one is more subtle in nature, and I honestly think the one that's more subtle in nature can actually be more dangerous for your Christian life, and that's the one we'll talk about today. Here's what's blatant, and I have a hunch that even walking into church, you are aware of the first thing that all of us deal with, and that's your own battle against sin, okay? This summer, we walked through a series on spiritual warfare, we have an enemy who is dead set on our destruction. You and I are born with a sinful nature, which means we always gravitate away from the things of God, even after salvation, we're still dealing with the flesh, and so all of you most likely came in with an awareness of, man, Nick, I am very aware that I'm a sinner, I'm very aware that I deal with temptation day by day, it feels like moment by moment sometimes in our lives, and so you're very aware of that, that's a blatant and outright thing. The thing that is more subtle in nature is the one that I'm concerned about today, and honestly, that's what we're gonna talk about our entire message,

and that is what I'll just call spiritual distraction, okay, spiritual distraction. It's not that your life is consumed by bad things, or even sinful things, it's just consumed with things that are not of the Lord. In other words, it's not that they're bad things, they're just not the best things. God's not first in your life. Now, you may say he is, but your life doesn't show that. You may be here at church most Sundays, but your life is distracted by things that are not of the utmost importance in your life, and so today, we're talking about the danger of distraction. Last week, we rolled out our first Sunday in this series called The Danger of Division, and no, they will not all be 11 Ds, all right, for the entire service just happened this way. If there's one thing the apostle Paul had figured out in his life, it is a wholehearted commitment to the Lord Jesus. If there's one thing that he was consumed with, it was the message of the gospel and the things of God, and here's what I tell you. The reason why you and I get so distracted sometimes in life is we get so dominated within our own battle of sin, and we never move on from that. If you don't get anything else today, get this statement. The Christian life is more than just trying not to sin. That's like elementary Christianity, bottom shelf. The Christian life is more than just trying not to sin,

and I'm gonna give you a statement today that really is the heartbeat of our message, the heartbeat of our passage, and I'm gonna come back to it about four different times in the message today, all the way to the end of it here, and here's what it is. Write this down. The Christian life is a radical reorientation of your life around the mission of God. All right, your life as a Christian, it is a radical reorientation around the mission of God, and many of us in this room, many of us in the student room today, we never get to that because we are so distracted in our everyday lives. You say, well, what distracts us or what keeps us from this radical reorientation? Let me give you two things, and then we'll dive into the passage today. Number one, I've already mentioned, we're distracted by our own constant battle of sin. Think about it this way. We live in spiritual infancy, and we're so dominated by sin, and we're saying yes to the same old things we've always said yes to, and before you know it, here's what you find, is that the last thing you're thinking about when you're battling sin day by day by day

and giving in to sin day by day. by day and dealing with shame day by day by day. The last thing that's on your mind is making a difference for the kingdom of God. Is that not right? Like all you're thinking about is, man, I can't believe I said yes again. I can't believe I did that again. Man, I just, I hate myself. I'm so frustrated with myself. I can't believe that I'm still living in the things that really designated who I used to be. So we get distracted by our own constant battle with sin. Here's the second one, and this is really where we'll part for the message. We're distracted by our own consumption with the things of this world. We're distracted by our own consumption with the things of this world. Again, they're not even bad things. They're just not the best things. And God and the things of God are like, they're like just one choice in a cafeteria like style of life, okay? Anybody remember going to the cafeteria growing up? Some of you are like in that mode still. You're in middle school or high school. Like, yeah, it's horrible. I would just tell you, the older I get, the more appealing it sounds.

Anybody else? Like, there was a reason why Luby's stayed in the Fayetteville Mall for so long. If I go to Luby's growing up, dude, I'd be, I'd go through and I'd be like, yeah, can I have some of that prime rib? And we'll go down and I'll, somebody just snorted over here, okay? And I'll have some red Jell-O. Have I had Jell-O lately? I love some Jell-O when I was a kid. And I just go, I don't want this, I want this. So it's like this. We often treat the Christian life like this. Y'all have some mozzarella sticks, but hold the green beans and calories. You know, watching calories here. I want a little of this, I don't want that. So I, Lord, I don't want a life dominated by sin. So I, you know, you can have that. But like radically reorienting my life around the message and mission of God, I think I'll just keep on going. And we live in that cafeteria style choice Christian life that is never prescribed in the Bible. It is not of the Lord. And God is calling many of us out of that today into a life that is fully focused on him. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna work our way backwards from this point forward.

So I've opened up talking about distraction for the next 80% of the message. Here's what it's gonna be about. It's not gonna be about distraction. It's gonna be about the very thing that we should focus our lives upon, all right? So this is what your life as a follower of Jesus should be all about. And then at the end, I'm gonna come back and say, now, here's how we often get distracted from that. And let's move on from that, okay? So let's look at the passage, 1 Corinthians 1. We'll begin reading at verse 18. We left off last week in verse 17. Let's see what it says to us today. It says, for the word of the cross is what? Folly, underline that in your Bible. To those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Here's what this passage means. The lost people in your life. So when I say lost people, I mean people that are not Christians, that have never trusted Christ by faith. Y'all see me trip right there? People in your life that don't know Christ, they've never repented of a life of sin, never trusted in Christ and been saved. These people in your family,

these people that you work with, people that are in your friend group, or they live in the dorm with you. Here's what I would tell you. They think that you believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the world, they think that's ridiculous. In fact, they think you're stupid. And they would consider the message of Jesus, the cross of Jesus, folly. The word here, folly, means foolishness or nonsense. They think that all that you believe about Jesus is hogwash. They believe it is nonsense. They have no concept of why you would give your life to Jesus and submit your life under the message of the cross of Jesus Christ. Now, look at what verse 18 says about the eternal destiny based on what people believe. He says, for those who believe the cross is folly, they are perishing. So to those who are headed for eternity in hell, they believe the cross of Jesus is stupid. One scholar even pointed out that the translation is connected to the word moron. Okay, did you call anybody a moron this week? That the translation here is speaking about they believe that you are a moron, that you would believe that one man would give his life on a cross for the salvation of the world.

So for those who believe the cross is folly, they are perishing. And then it says this, it says, for those of you who are being saved, you believe the cross is the power of God. Anybody read this and say, well, why is it in that tense? Why did it not just say, for those of you who are saved, the cross is the power of God? But instead it says, for those of you who are being saved, like it's an ongoing thing. Here's why, our salvation, if you look at this like biblically and theologically, you are saved right now. So if you were to die, if you repented of sin, trusted in Christ, you're saved, you're a Christian, you are saved, okay? But it's also theologically accurate to say you are being saved because the ultimate fulfillment of your salvation will not happen until Jesus Christ returns. We just sang about that. So to those of you who know Jesus, who are saved and being saved, we have realized, listen, the message of the cross is the power of God. Amen, church? Like we have given our lives to this message. Here's our point. Christian life is a radical reorientation of your life around the mission of God.

And if I could just say it a little bit differently, and a radical reorientation of your life around the message of God. What is the message of God? It's the cross, it's the cross, it's the cross. Let's get down to verse 22. He goes on, he says, for Jews demand, what do they demand? Signs, and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach what? We preach Christ and Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. This is a really important verse right here. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And the weakness of God is what? It is stronger than men. Paul points out three different groups of people, Jews, Greeks, Gentiles. If you don't know what a Gentile is, a Gentile is a non-Jew. So I am a Gentile, okay? If you are not of Jewish descent, you are also a Gentile here. This section perfectly describes all the various people in your life and how they view, like, will I believe in the Lord and submit my life to Christ or not? So like, will I buy into what you're saying as a Christian

or will I not? Let me walk through these. Number one, some desire proof before they will believe. You probably have these people in your life who they're like, well, I need evidence. Like, I need to see it with my eyes. That's the point Paul is making here related to the Jewish people. He says, Jews demand signs. In other words, they want miracles. And here's the irony of that passage is that when the Jews of the New Testament and the Old Testament, when they believed in the Old Testament, what they missed with Jesus is the biggest miracle of all, that God, whom you have been waiting on to send a Messiah, has sent a Messiah in Jesus. God has come to earth and yet you have neglected that person. He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. And it went just like this right over your heads because you're looking for signs. You're looking for miracles. Here's a second group of people. Some desire everything to make sense before they will believe. There's some of you who are here today who this is your hangup with God. You know the gospel. People told it to you.

Maybe you were raised in church. But if you're honest with yourself, like, you've held back because you're not sure that you really buy in because you can't understand everything. You got questions about the Bible. You got questions of why God allowed something to happen in your life. You just gotta beef with God. Just like all those kinds of things right here. He says it this way in the passage. He says Greeks seek wisdom. In other words, they were ruled by their own intellectualism. He goes on and talks about how the message is also folly to the Gentiles. Jesus was the opposite of what they thought a God would be like. Now, get this statement, okay? I'm gonna say it twice. I'll say it slowly both times. Some people never come to faith in Christ because they are ruled by a worldly mind that cannot conceive a world in which their own intellectualism is not the highest form of wisdom. I'm gonna say it to you again. Some people never come to faith in Christ. It may be you today. Because you are ruled by a worldly mind that cannot conceive a world

in which your own intellectualism is not the highest form of wisdom. Let me ask a little group participation question here. And I'm in this boat, so you will join me with my hand raised. Anybody ever have doubt before the Lord? Anybody battle doubt? Anybody doubt some things? And from time to time, we get a lot of hands in this room. Probably in the student room as well. I've had questions of why God has allowed certain things to happen in my life. I have questions of why God has operated, why he's operated throughout history. Like, well, if I was God, as if he was asking me. But I've had questions like that. Probably like you've had questions like that. And here's what has helped me time. time after time, and I think this passage pushes us towards that, is that I have come to grips again and again and again in my life that my mind and my belief structure and my intellectualism is not the highest form of wisdom. In fact, it's quite prideful for me or for you ever to believe that, and this passage is accentuating that, saying, listen, some of you have not put your faith in Christ yet because you think that you are smarter than God. And what 1 Corinthians 1 is teaching us is this. You are not smarter than God. In fact, God has created the things that are foolish in the world to shame the wise and the people that we would look at and say, golly, they're just so weak. He uses those people to shame the strong. God doesn't operate like you and I operate. He doesn't think like you and I think.

His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And so the message of Paul here about Jesus is this. Don't be looking for miracles. Don't be looking for your hope in the wisdom of this world. Look to Jesus and be saved. And so if you're here today and you're like, man, if God would just give me a sign, if he would just like write it in the clouds, Jesus died for you, and he wrote out your name like in cursive, because God writes in cursive, right? And if he would just give me a sign like that, or if I could have every single answer to every single question I've ever had about the Bible or about Christianity, if only I could have every one of those answered, then I would believe. Paul's saying, don't look for miracles and don't think too highly of your own wisdom. Look to Jesus and be saved. If that's never happened in your life today, that is the message of 1 Corinthians for you in this hour as we read this, okay? Keep on reading. Look at verse 26. He goes on and he says, for consider your calling, brothers. Remember, he's speaking to Christians here. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to what? To shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. So the no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are, look at this, you are in Christ Jesus, underline or circle

the word in right there in your Bible, who became to us, what? Wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, so that as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. The thought is here is that no one walks with swag towards the Lord Jesus. Like, no one walks like with a prideful limp of like, I mean, I think God's gonna be really happy I'm on his team now. I mean, I'm pretty legit in my life. That's not how you come to faith in Christ. You know how you come to faith in Christ? Like, face to the ground. I'm not worthy of this. And it's by grace that God has saved me. That's the difference right here, okay? The identity of the believer was mentioned in this passage. When I had you underline or circle the word in, here's what I want you to understand. Because of God, you are in Christ Jesus. So if you have, by faith, trusted in Christ for salvation, what this passage has outlined is really the identity of the believer of who is Jesus to the believer. Like, who is Jesus to us who are followers of Christ in this room? And the Bible mentions four things that I underline right there. Number one, write this down, he is wisdom to us. Paul is reiterating his point yet again. Jesus is the wisdom of God, and this supersedes all earthly wisdom. So if you didn't get it so far in the passage, Paul's saying it again, and the Bible's saying it to you again. Jesus is the personification of wisdom. You may be, you may have graduated top of your class. You may have the best GP at the University of Arkansas. You may pride yourself on your mind. And the reality is, we don't hold a candle to the wisdom of God.

That's what Paul's saying here. He is also our righteousness. When you come to faith in Christ, the righteousness of God, it's a word called imputed. It is imputed to your account. This is the doctrine of imputation. Here's what this means, is that before you become a Christian, before you receive Christ, God looks at you and you are under the judgment of God. He sees your sin, he sees the shame you're walking in, he sees all the wrong that you've done, and then the moment that you repent of a life of sin, put your faith in Jesus Christ, the Bible says that the righteousness of God is imputed to your account. So God doesn't look at you and be like, oh, sinful Nick, or sinful Sharon, or sinful Bill, if your name's Sharon or Bill, I apologize. He doesn't see sinful you any longer. He looks down at you, and what does he see? He says, there's my son. There's the righteousness of Christ set upon Jennifer's life, set upon Daryl's life. You know what I'm saying? Like the righteousness of Christ to you. Jonathan Edwards once said this, you contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. That's all you brought at the table. So again, if you think that you will work your way to heaven of like, well, I've been a pretty good person in my life, and I've been at church for a long time,

and dude, I even was baptized one time, or I serve in the church, or I give money to the homeless person on the side of the street, or I root for the hogs, you know, all the moral things that we do, like, they count for nothing. They count for nothing. And so, college students, if you were at the Greek, like, this is what I talked about right here. This is the great exchange that takes place at salvation, and it is the doctrine of imputation here. When I get saved, all I'm doing is I am saying, Lord, all I have to bring to the table in this scenario is my sin. So I give God my sin, he gives me his righteousness. That's a pretty great exchange. You ever had to exchange something at a store, and like, hey, the shirt didn't fit, and so they give you store credit, or they'll put, you know, credit back on your credit card. That's an exchange. This is the best exchange you could ever imagine. This is horrible. I have nothing to give to God that's of worth. This is the worst thing that I've ever done. All these things grouped together in a basket, and I'm like, God, here you go. And he's like, thank you so much. Here's the righteousness of my son.

Only God can do that. So he is wisdom to us, he's righteousness to us. He gives the next word, that he is our sanctification. Sanctification is the lifelong process of becoming more like Jesus. So here's what I would say. In your life as a Christian, this process of becoming more like Jesus is only made possible by Jesus. You respond to his grace every day, you be filled with the spirit every day, you walk in obedience every day, and over time, you look back, and you've come a long way. Those of you who were at the Greek Wednesday night, I told you the story about a guy that just got saved on Monday that's a part of our church. And what I told him was this. I was like, man, you just walk daily in obedience, and you'll turn around in one year, and you'll be like, golly, I've come so far. So if you're here today, and you're like, Nick, I feel like the worst Christian in the room. Like if y'all knew, like if y'all knew, you wouldn't let me in. And I would say, number one, that's not true. Like, we're for you. And what I would tell you is this. If like, you'll just commit to the things of God. Like if you'll radically reorient your life

around the things of God, and you'll do that day by day for the next 365 days, you will end up over here one year from now, and you'll be like, I mean, let's go. I mean, I was a long way back there. Can you believe what I was stuck in back then? He is our sanctification. Last word he gives us is that he is our redemption. Redemption is the idea that God buys you back, like you've been bought back with a price. And what is the price? Jesus was the price, okay? God says, I've given you my son. He has died on the cross for you to redeem you, to buy you back from a life of sin, and to bring you back into right standing with God, okay? Here's how he wraps it up. He gets into chapter two. So you may have to turn your page in your Bible here. But let me give you the Nick Standard version of the next five verses, okay? Here is how I would define this for you in my own words. Paul is saying, my life is not dominated by anything else, but the gospel of Jesus Christ. My life is not dominated by anything else than the things of God. So look at chapter two, and we'll start round on third base here and heading home. He said this, and when I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God

with what? With lofty speech or wisdom. In other words, Paul's like, I didn't come to you with like great oratory skills or like super wise thoughts. He says, for I had decided to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Verse three, and I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but what did Paul want to get across to people? But in demonstration of the spirit and of power, in the power of God, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. If you're newer to our church, you may not know this. I've been the pastor here for seven years. I actually followed my father, who was the pastor of this church for over 32 years. And so it's kind of funny, like my office at the Springdale campus was his office. And so it's just kind of ironic in many ways. When he left to take a job in Nashville, he left a prayer altar in the corner of the office. And it's got like a padded area where your knees can sit. It's kind of like a half semi-circle type of thing. And then like a little makeshift pulpit, almost where the Bible, there's an open Bible on it. And he left an old Bible and he left it open to this very chapter right here that I just,

that passage that I just read to you. And much of it is underlined. And I can't tell you how many times I have about to walk out at Springdale campus to preach the word of God, and I have come and I have touched this passage with my hands. And I have prayed, Lord, today, would my speech not be in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and in the power of God, so that their faith might not rest in me, but in the power of God. And so I just want you to understand this. When I preach to you or Pastor Mark or Pastor Jeff, we don't come to you with intellectualism by itself. We don't come to you with fancy talk or fancy speech. We really have a central message to all of our sermons. Christ in Christ crucified. So just like a little pastor hack, if you never noticed this, like open the curtain and you'd be like, oh, that's why, okay? It doesn't matter what we're talking about. Division, like last Sunday. Family issues, like we do from time to time. Tithing. You know what we're gonna make a beeline back to? At some point in the message. Christ in Christ crucified for you. Like that is the central message of pastors. That's a central message of the Bible. It's a central message of this church right here.

So why is that? So that your faith might not rest in me. I hate to break it to you. I wish my wife was up here. You can ask her tonight, ladies at the ladies thing. I'm just a dude. I'm very much a dude. I don't get it right all the time. I had to apologize yesterday to her and one of my daughters for something I said. I'm just a dude, okay? So your faith, your Christian faith does not need to rely on me as a pastor. Now hopefully I live a life that you can emulate and follow and that whole thing. But your faith does not rest in me. Your faith rests in a crucified Savior who was crucified for you. Does that make sense? The Christian life is a radical reorientation of your life, not around a pastor, but around the mission of God, okay? I once heard a story about Billy Graham. Because many of you are here and you're thinking to yourself I got lost friends. I got lost people in my family. Man, I work with a whole host of lost people. I live in the dorm or the apartment complex with a lot of lost people and I just don't know what to say. And we have this fear of sharing the gospel with people that they're gonna ask me some weird question

about evolution. They never do, okay? Or they're gonna ask me about something in the Bible and it's like in one of the minor prophets and I don't know what it is. They never do, okay? But our singular message to all of them, Christ in Christ crucified. Here's the story about Billy Graham. Billy Graham towards the end of his life in ministry was once asked, well hey, what would you do if you could live your life in ministry over? You know what he said? He said, I would preach about the cross and the blood of Jesus more. That's where the power is. And so in the midst of you wanting to lead lost people to faith in Christ, be a part of the mission of God, you may think. Think, well, man, I gotta take at least three classes on apologetics before I'm gonna know how to do this. I mean, it's not bad, go for it, more power to you. You know what you need to do to know how to lead someone else to faith in Jesus Christ? Just talk about Christ and Christ crucified for them. It is a, it's a cheat code, okay? And you may think you gotta line out from Genesis to Revelation all the facts and all the reasons why they should believe in Jesus.

And again, that's not wrong. You know what they need to know to be saved? Christ and Christ crucified. C3 students, do you realize that that's basically what we talked about the other night? Every person is born spiritually dead, only Jesus can make you alive. Guess how that happens? Christ and Christ crucified. And there is power in the message of the cross. There is not power in your own wisdom. There's not power in your own arguments. There is power when you look at somebody with love in the eyes and you say, Jesus Christ has died for you. And if you will turn from a life of sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ, he will save you, he will change you, and he will forgive you. There is something supernatural that takes place when the gospel is shared. That's why Paul is saying, all you really need in your life is one message. Christ and Christ crucified. That's where the power is. You say, okay, Nick, we've talked a lot about what our focus should be. Can I just end with two things? Here's how we get distracted from that mission and that message in our life, okay?

Number one, I'll just say it's a distracted message. The message of the cross, Christ and Christ crucified for you, foolishness to Northwest Arkansas in 2026. We all agree on that? Foolishness to our own country, America, in the year in which we live. And here's what I'd say. It is easy for you as a Christian to make your message about all these other types of things other than a biblical gospel message. You can make it a moral message of like, yeah, you just need to come to church with me more and stop doing that, at least stop doing that so much, and just start reading your Bible. And we make it a moral test, like you can actually do something about that, okay? Or we may make it a comfortable message, like you're not really bad. Every person is inherently good. Er, wrong answer, okay? Not in the Bible whatsoever, okay? We often make it a comfortable message. A biblical gospel message is this. You were dead in your sins, and God created you and he loved you with such a love that he sent his only son, Jesus, to die on the cross for you. So if you would ever respond to that message, he would save you, and he would forgive you of your sins.

That's the power of the gospel, as simple as I just said it right there. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved. Something you didn't earn, something you didn't deserve, it's the grace of Jesus Christ. That's our message. And so we can get off course with a distracted message, but here's the last thing I'm gonna talk to you about today. This is my main concern for the masses at Cross Church. Okay, like, as your pastor, hear my heart, okay? I want the best for you, I want God to be able to use you for his kingdom, and I've got a deep concern for many of you. And here's what it is. It's not even a distracted life, er, distracted message, it's a distracted life, okay? A distracted life. You're here at church consistently. You're not like living in outright sin, or you're not living a hellish lifestyle, but if I could just be straight with you, like, it's just casual. It's just like a casual Christian, like, yeah, I go to church, Cross Church, every Sunday, I mean, most Sundays when it's convenient. And I wanna end with something like really blunt.

Can I get your permission? Can I get some nods? I mean, I'm gonna say it either way, but nods help, okay? Okay. Again, usually when tough truth comes out, I offer free hugs after the service at the lobby, I'll be out there, we'll hug it up, okay? Your time doesn't reflect a focus on the mission of God. This is some of you. Your words don't reflect a focus on the mission of God. Your money does not reflect a focus on the mission of God. Your life in general does not focus. does not show a focus on the mission of God. And so today, what is God calling us to? It's a radical reorientation of your life around the mission of God, around His message, Christ in Christ crucified. So let me just ask you, in your life, I don't care what you do for a living, is that your number one agenda? For every person to answer, is that what I'm in right now? Like what a great discussion over lunch today, is if you just like threw it out on the table, you with some friends, if you're single, or you with your family, or your spouse, or your kids, I think it's best when kids are present, because kids tell the truth, right? And what would it be like if you just said, hey, do we feel like we're really oriented

around the mission of God in our family? And if not, can we just throw it out on the table? Lunch discussion. What would it look like for us to radically reorient our lives around the mission of God? Like what would need to change? I guarantee your kids know, they'll tell you. Can I encourage you to be honest enough with yourself today, to look in the mirror and say, is that my life? Is that really my focus? And if not, man, today's a great day to come back. Maybe you're here today and you say, Nick, it was at some point in my life. Like right after I got saved, man, I was like all in, or I've been deciphered by somebody else, man, I was all in. And for whatever reason, I've just drifted. Let the word of God today be a gentle nudge back to where you need to be with God. Here's what I'd like, it's never too late to radically reorient your life. Doesn't matter if you're 19, doesn't matter if you're 85, it's never too late to do that. I'm gonna encourage you to come and just get on your knees and say, Lord, I just, I want to do what the word of God is saying today. Some of you, be honest enough, you say, Nick, this has never been my life. Like I've kind of lived as a spiritual infant.

My life has never really radically reoriented around the things of God. I know that I'm saved, and listen, I know that I want what you're saying, I just have no idea what it looks like. And here's what I would tell you. It just looks a lot like surrender. Of Lord, I want my life to count for you. I want to have a life that reaches people. I want to have a life that focuses on your mission and message. And so Lord, whatever that looks like, I'm in. I'm gonna invite you to come to the altar. We call it an altar on purpose. An altar is where living things come to die. I've lived for myself. I'm coming to die for the mission of God. Others of you would be honest enough to say, Nick, I got a long way to go in this, and I know that I've been out of step with the Lord, and I need to repent. I need to come back to where I need to be. You come on. Here's one. Maybe you're here today, and it really doesn't matter what age you are. You may be in elementary, maybe in middle school, or you may be an adult, maybe high school, college. Is God calling you to the ministry full-time? You may not realize this,

but God is calling men and women to the ministry as adults in our church literally right now, right now. Or you may be a college student. You're pondering your life, and God's been working on you. And when I talk about radically reorienting your life around the mission of God, there's one thing in mind, and it's like God is saying, it's you. It's you, full-time in ministry. If that's you, I'm gonna invite you to come to one of our staff. All you gotta say to them is, hey, I have some things going on inside of me. I think God may be calling me. Can we talk about that? And we'll begin a conversation with you. Others of you, here's where I'll end. You've never trusted Christ by faith. You know it. You know you need to be saved. You've relied on intellectualism. You've desired signs. You've looked for all the evidence. You've looked for all the things, and you gotta realize today, it is by faith that you are saved. Will you believe in the Lord Jesus today and be saved? I want us to bow our head and close our eyes. Our staff's making their way to the front. Please, no one moving or leaving. It's the most important thing we do right now.

If you were here today, and you would say, Nick, I've never trusted Christ. I know that's what God is calling me to do. I'm gonna invite you, as soon as we stand and sing in a moment, to come to one of these men or women, take them by the hand, and all you gotta say is this. I need to give my life to Jesus. And today, we'll lead you to faith in Christ. I'm gonna have to come on stage, a very private moment with you and that person. You come, obviously the crux of this message is for the believer, are you living a distracted life? I just want to encourage you to be honest with yourself today. Is my life centered on the things of God? Is my life centered on His mission and His message? Is my life centered on His church? Or am I just consumed with not even bad things, but just not the best things? I'm gonna invite you to this altar. If you fit in any of those categories earlier that I mentioned, you come to the altar. Lord, I want to be yours. I'm ready to be yours. I surrender before you, whatever that looks like. I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna respond to the Lord. Father, we give these moments to you. Would you move us in ways that only you can? It's in Christ's name that we pray, amen.