What If Jesus Came Back Today? Would You Be Ready?

bit longer to get ready? Now you shouldn't have looked to your left. You know, a humbling task this week would be to even to those of us who think we're efficient in getting ready is to calculate how much time you spend in life getting ready. I am grateful I'm a guy, not all the ladies will understand this, but like as guys, like we can get away with right guarding it. You know what I'm talking about guys? There's a little bit of right guard on them pits and baby on the way, push the hair back a little bit. Boom, we're going. But you know, in life we spent a lot of time preparing. We prepare for a career, right? You went to school, education, we prepare for the wedding day, all the brides in the house and your moms understand, birthdays, vacations, right? Well, we'll prepare six months to go on a six day vacation. Some of you are putting away a little bit money every single paycheck into your 401k because you're preparing for retirement. Preparation, it's not strange to us, it's a part of our ethos. But here's the thought that I want us to wrestle with today is this, is we prepare for what we believe is important. And Jesus says in Matthew 24, "Therefore you also must be ready, you must be prepared for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." So the question is, if we prepare for vacation, if we prepare to invest our money, if we prepare in an athletic event, how are we preparing for Jesus coming again? And if you're not, if this past week there was no conscious thought about Jesus coming again, is it okay for you just to come to the conclusion, Jesus coming again really isn't all that important to me? So the question is, are you ready? I'm not talking about your best friend. I'm not asking you, do you attend church?

I'm not asking all the other boxes that you might check. I'm just asking, are you prepared for the reality? We've been looking the last four weeks, the amount of information that's in the Scriptures. It's the second most frequent conversation all throughout the Bible. In the New Testament, every 30th verse talks about Jesus coming again. The question that's in play this morning is, are you ready? And this whole year, RJ talked about our spiritual journey guide. This whole year, it's been around this theme, be more like Jesus, because we believe the world is better when we are more like Jesus. So with that said, I want you to grab your Bible, Matthew 25, kind of landing this conversation this morning about Jesus coming again. And I want you to see clearly as we lean into communion in just a moment of the reality that Jesus Christ is coming again. And, and I say this with love, the absolute incredible failure of your life that you spend more time for vacation, for school and your career than you do in Jesus Christ coming back, because it's happening. You can ignore it. You can pretend that it's not happening. You can check it off and start scrolling through your phone right now. That is your prerogative because this is your life. You get to live your life. God has given you agency and God has given you authority, but I'm here to tell you right now. If you think you've ever regretted anything in your life, the day that Jesus Christ comes back and you are not ready, the regret will be at a level that you will not be able to humanly comprehend. You've got your copy of God's Word. Check out Matthew 25. Then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins, verse 1, who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.

Five of them were foolish, and five of them were wise. Find yourself in the story this morning. of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at the midnight, there was a cry. Here is the bridegroom come out to meet him, then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said to the wise, "Hey, hey, hey, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." But the wise said, "Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. Go down to Walmart, buy your own oil for yourself." And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with them to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Today, you have second chances, third chances, 10th chances, you have a thousand chances in getting right with Jesus. On this day, God's not grating on a curve. There's not a second chance, there's not a third chance, there's not an eighth chance. There's not a, I'm going to appeal this to a higher court moment. This is not, I'm going to call Morgan in Morgan, and they're going to stand up for me and prove my point. The Bible says, and the door was shut. And afterward, the other virgins came also saying, "Lord, Lord, Lord, open up to us." But he answered, "Truly I say to you, I do not know you." And this is what we've been teaching now for four weeks. Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. All ten knew they were, the bridegroom was coming. All ten knew that he was coming. All ten were waiting, all ten had lamps, but only five were prepared. Five were wise, five were foolish. The difference here is an awareness.

Many in this space watching online, you're aware of Jesus coming again. They all knew the bridegroom was coming. The difference was readiness. I ride on the local Santos Trail. And since 2019, I have carried in my, in my back pocket here on my bike jersey. I've carried pepper spray, and I've carried an air horn. Now, you can run on the trail and you will find practically nobody carrying pepper spray and an air horn. Quite frankly, some people ask me, "Hey, what is that back there?" It's pepper spray and an air horn. Why are you carrying pepper spray and an air horn? Don't you know? There's bears out here in these woods. All the embairs ain't never coming out. I've never seen a bear. I heard they're saying a bear. Well, I want you to know something. You want to go riding with me, because number one, you're going to see a bear. I was out riding with two of my friends this week and we're coming on the back side of the trail and I'm up in front. They're kind of behind me and I'm telling you this bear. Now, good news, it was an adolescent bear, still probably a couple hundred pounds. It jumps out of the woods. I cannot make this stuff up. It jumps out of the woods, right into the middle of the trail and looked at me and said, "Comeons, I'm about to have lunch." He did not say that. I promise you, he didn't, but I locked up my brakes. I'm grateful for the rider behind me who did not run into the back of me and I'm reaching, right?

Well, I just want you to know, I think the bear had intuition that Cummins was on the trail, because he jumped on the trail and he looked at me and I had like this picture of my mind, Clint Eastwood. Go ahead, make my day. Actually I think I might have wet myself, but that bear jumped right back into the woods and I didn't have to pull out my pepper spray and my air horn, but I want you to know something. I'm glad that I had it. There have been many times I've kind of thought to myself, you know, I'm kind of weighing myself down a little too much. I got this, all this stuff. I want to have less so I can go faster. I haven't seen a bear. Would say markable when I am two thousand And that's where most of us are living. Is Jesus Christ has not come back yet? And so it's easy for you to begin to say, yeah, you know, I really don't have to prepare for that. See, you don't get ready when the moment arrives, you get ready before the moment arrives. You wanna take your life, you wanna take your marriage, you wanna take your kids, you wanna take your finances, you wanna take your relationship with Jesus with a whole 'nother level, you start preparing today. It's easy to prepare for something that's gonna happen tomorrow. You know it's gonna happen tomorrow. It's harder to prepare for when you've been waiting for a really long time.

That's exactly what the tension is in the second coming of Jesus. Jesus promised he was gonna return. And generation after generation after generation had been waiting. I mean, come to the conclusion, where is he? If he's coming back, Mark, where is he? Why is he gonna come? What's going on? The five prepared women trimmed their lamps. The other five realized that they were just not ready. They asked the other women if they could have some of their oil, but readiness cannot be borrowed. You cannot borrow your spouse's belief. You cannot borrow your parents' surrender. And I cannot follow Jesus for you. Your friend's faith can't become your faith. Oh, you can borrow someone's Bible, but you can't borrow someone's relationship with Jesus. Some of you are counting on that. We don't follow Jesus as a group sport. We come to gather collectively what we're about to do in communion. It's the collective group of individual Christ followers coming together to remember his death and burial and resurrection. The wise weren't ready because they knew when the bridegroom was coming, they were ready because they lived prepared for whenever he came. And I really believe that for this reason,

that Jesus gave us this moment called communion. Not a religious moment to check off your box and say, okay, all right, what we do in the communion moment and depending on your background and your denomination background, communion has become kind of like an active salvation. What I want you to know that this moment that we're about to participate in communion, it's a symbol of what Christ did for us. It is a cracker, it is juice. It does not become his literal body that you're eating, nowhere in the Bible would God ever suggest, eat his flesh, nor would the Bible ever say drink his blood, that's not in. But he wants us to be reminded because our tendency is to forget what he did for us. In a moment, I'll be leaning into communion. Again, just one more time, if you didn't get communion supplies, would you just lift your hand up and just hold it up and don't just kind of, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. Hold it up so our team can see you. Keep it up, keep it up, and our team will get communion supplies to you. Take your Bible and you're in Matthew, the gospel. I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians, this is known as the Epistles. These are letters that the Apostle Paul wrote to real churches like where church, he's writing to different churches. Notice the instructions that he gives

in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. He said, "For I received from the Lord," I'm in verse 23, 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 23. "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, he took the bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and he said, "This is my body, which is for you," again, symbolism. Jesus at other times talked about he's the door, you walk through it, he never said that he's a literal door, right? So he said, "This is my body, which is for you, do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also, he took the cup after supper saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." We're pausing and remembering his death and his burial and his resurrection. I want to pause for just a moment because I've received some feedback through this series about some confusion about what happens when we die. One, I want you to know that the we can recap that we send out to you. I taught an entire series about what happens when you die. All the links are there. I talk about when you die, talk about when you're pet. email, I would encourage you to fill out this connect card, stop by the front desk, and they will make sure that you receive that today. But what really, what does happen when we die and our spirit and our body, and some people have kind of wondered, "Mark, it seemed like you were teaching that

somehow our body goes into the earth." And did you say that it just kind of stays there? It's kind of in limbo for a season. So I want to clear up that confusion. So if you're taking notes, write, write some things down. One would be 2 Corinthians 5, 1 through 10. 2 Corinthians 5, 1 through 10. The Bible teaches in these 10 verses that our physical bodies are like a tent. You all who go camping, you understand this? A tent gets set up. It's used for the night when it's done and you're ready to move on to the next spot, that tent gets taken down. While we are in this body, we are away from the Lord. To be in this body means I'm absent from the Lord. One day, we will be at home with the Lord. We will be present with the Lord. And at that point, the Bible says, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us will receive what is due for us that we've done in this physical body, whether it be good or evil. So at some point on this side of eternity, I take my last breath. I die. This physical tent that right now is housing my spirit. You see me moving. You hear my words. It's going to die. And just like a tent that you would go hiking with and you would set it up for that day when you're done overnight and it's time to move on, you're going to take that tent down. Now, what we have to understand is that we have a physical body, but my soul is inside of me, who I am, Mark Cummins, my spirit. When I die, I immediately go to be in the presence of the Lord. Not this physical body. This physical body is buried in the earth. My soul, my spirit, immediately. So you who have loved ones, when they have passed away and you're like, well, they're in a better place and they, well, yeah, they are in a better place. But right now, their spirit man, their soul, that saved. See, your body's not saved. Those glasses you get on right now? Because this is, this is not a immortal. This is a mortal. This is not an incorruptible body. This is a corrupt, right now you are inside of a corruptible body. That won't be true in heaven. Now, I also want you to recognize this. Think about Jesus. Jesus, who's crucified on a cross, he takes his last breath. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they do. Into your hands, I commit my spirit. And then that physical body is taken off the cross and it's buried in a tomb. But also write down in your notes, 1 Peter 3, 18 and 19 and Ephesians 4, 8 and 10. The Bible tells us what Jesus in his spirit man is doing. While that physical body has been buried in the earth, the spirit man Jesus is at work and you can reference those verses. Now, notice 1 Corinthians 15. I tell you this, brothers and sisters, flesh and blood, our physical bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the

imperishable. Behold, I'm telling you a mystery. I want to pause again. I want to say to everybody, you follow Jesus by faith. Does anybody in this room online understand the virgin birth? Would you please stand up and explain it to us? How does a woman who's never had sex with a man become pregnant? You're following Jesus. One of the struggles of living in the West is you think that if you know more, if you're more intellectual, if you can cross the box off and say, I know this and I understand this, that somehow you'll believe more. And I want you to know something. It's just not true. If you and I, as the creation, can fully articulate and understand the creator, then let me say something. You're not creation. You're creator too. And too many times in theology, in our seminaries and in our churches, we're trying in a very subtle way to climb the ladder of idolatry by thinking we're just like God, as we know as much as God does. Repent from that. Right now the Bible says we look through a glass darkly. We shall not all sleep die, but we shall all be changed. This is where I think the confusion came a few weeks ago. There is a generation of human beings who will not die in a normal way where my body dies, my spirit goes to heaven, and my body is cremated or put into a casket and put into the earth. The Bible says that there are some who will be changed. Now watch verse 52. In a moment in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. In this twinkling of an eye, in this moment, who has a love one that is a follower of Jesus who's already died? Can I see your hand? Your love one in this twinkling, I mean in a millisecond of moment, what happens first is Jesus is going to come. He's not coming back to earth yet. He's coming into the sky. Your loved one's spirit, their soul who is with Jesus right now, in an instantaneous moment, their physical body rises up first and is connected. What was mortal becomes immortable. What was perishable becomes imperishable because these physical bodies like this that have been stained by sin cannot inherit heaven. So in that twinkling of an eye, that loved one, they come up out of the earth first. I can't wait to see how AI tries to explain that. Oh my, oh, there will be a way, there will be a way, but they come and then we who are still alive, we in that same millisecond of moment, what happens, we didn't die, but the Bible says we are changed. We are transformed. Look at verse 53, for this perishable body must put on the

imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass what is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death we sing about this morning. Where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, my beloved saints be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for you know that your labor is not in vain. This is going, this is our destiny. This is what's in front of us. Get excited about your vacation. Get excited about your retirement, but I want you to know, there's a moment that goes far beyond what earth has to offer, and this is why we follow Jesus 'cause he is the permanent solution for the pain of sin. And I'll give you just one more, one more set of verses before we go into communion to help you understand. First Thessalonians chapter 4, put it in your notes. And all these verses, I've taught you the last four weeks. So you could go back and actually listen to what I taught before. I taught exactly this. You've got to get some reps. You've got to get some sets. If you think Jesus is showing up on a Sunday and sitting on your blessed assurance, and that's all that it takes, just go to the beach, just go to the mountains. We don't, we gather together like a spark plug in an engine. That's what this is. We're a spark plug. It's your personal following Jesus every single day in your devotion life, how you spend your money, how you spend your time, how you avoid the temptation, how you lean into spiritual community, how you serve others. This was what it means to follow after Jesus. This is not a weekend hobby. You have been sold a bill of goods from some theologian who wants you, some pastor who wants you to kind of feel good on a Sunday so you can live however you want Monday through Saturday. It's a lie from the pit of hell. First that's no means for, but we do not want you to be uninformed. The Spirit of God is having me teach this because he doesn't want you to be uninformed. Some Bibles actually say ignorant brothers about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord. This is not the apostle Paul given his opinion. He wants it to be clear. This is a word from the Lord.

That we who are alive, he's given us another rep. Exactly what he taught to the Corinthians. He's teaching to the Thessalonians. That we who are alive, who are left, until the coming of the Lord will not proceed those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will ascend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of the arch angel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ, I just taught you this, will rise first. Then we who are alive, oh dear Jesus, I wanna be a part of this generation. I just, listen, you can die if you wanna die. But I just kinda prefer to go be transformed. Be a part of this moment. Never have to taste that bitter taste of death. I know where I'm going, but you're still like, we grieve, we limp, we miss our dad, we miss our mom, if a child has died, the overwhelming grief, it's there. But we don't grieve like those who don't have hope. Why? Because we know that one day we will see them. Again, we will be with them for all of eternity. And then look at verse 18. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. Encourage, encourage, we know what happens. He died, he rose, he saves, and he's coming again. Now, what am I about to show you?

I have never said, I don't think I've ever recognized it. I've never connected the dots. Maybe you have. I wish you would have sent me a text and say, Mark, I could have told you this a long time ago. I never really connected. I don't know, since 1990, I have served in the role of a pastor. So how many years has that helped me out? 10, 20, 38 years. You know, if I do a communion, let's just say once a month, 38 times 12, how many communions is that? It's a lot, right? I've done this a moment or two, and I've never really connected it all the way to the Second Coming. Go back to your Bible, 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 26. For as often if you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death. Do you see it? Right in communion, it's a declaration. It's supposed to be a reminder that Jesus could come back tonight, tomorrow. What you're about to partake when that cracker is on your taste buds, when that juice is on your lips is to be a reminder. See, communion looks backward to the cross and forward to the coming of Christ. He wants you to be aware. He wants your eyes to open up.

Yes, live this one annoying life that you have. It's vibrant, have a great career, raise your kids, have your homecoming courts, go out on vacations and have a really good time. But living it through this lens that Jesus Christ is coming again. See, communion remembers the cross behind us while reminding the King is coming for us. Absolutely. And that response should be ordinary because he is coming again. The question I put in play is are you ready? I want you to do a couple things. One, I want you to cross-examine what you know with how you live. As we prepare for communion, cross-examine what you know. Many of you, many of us in this space, we know about Jesus coming again. But I want you to cross-examine it. Use the cross as your examination tool. What's the gap between what you know and how you live? There are many successful people in this room. I look across, you're successful in your business, you're successful in your marriages with your kids. In many ways, you do such good work. And I applaud you. But hear my heart. Failure is living casually, remembering the death of Jesus, why carelessly living unprepared for the return of Jesus.

[Music] He's asking us to live this one and only life. He wants you to raise your family. He wants you to have a great career, but he wants you to live it through the lens that Jesus is coming again. Verse 28 says, "Everyone ought to examine themselves." He doesn't say you should examine the pastor. He says you should examine you. He doesn't say you should examine your spouse. He says you should examine you. And he says, "Before you eat." And so I'm giving you a little bit of space to examine yourself before we partake together. You know, that word "examine." I think we're familiar with that word "examine." You know, some of us, right? We examine the box score to see how our favorite player, you know, in our fantasy football league did. How many yards, how many receptions they had. We're accustomed. Some of you guys drive, pick me up trucks, right? You got a truck that's worth about $4,000 and your rims are worth $25,000, right? And you're examining them rims and you're palacing them rims and rims looking really, really nice. Some of us, we examine our bank accounts. We're anticipating, do we have enough to retire? Can we retire sometime soon? Can we afford this new vehicle?

It's important. You should examine your retirement. You should examine your bank account. Some of us examine social media, right? Did someone like my post? Are they following me? Why aren't they following me no more? Some homework to give to you if you choose today that you're not gonna examine yourself is found in verse 29, 30, 31 and 32. I double-dog dare you to read what the Bible has to say if you choose not to examine yourself. So you think that you can go through the motions. You think you can play marbles at the foot of the cross. You think you can have an appearance of godliness and denying the power thereof. And you think you're gonna get away with it. There were five foolish virgins and five wise. They were all aware, they all had lamps. Five were prepared and five were unprepared. Where are you in the story? Let me give you a couple of steps to look at. Help you, some reps in examining yourself. Number one, how do you examine yourself? You look back at what Jesus did for you. RJ's testimony. Remember when he said after he had met Jesus that Easter that he felt like he was mourning? He almost said they felt like he was depressed. Remember when he said that?

Let me tell you, the Bible has language for that. It's called conviction. You see, when you have an encounter as a human being, we have all sinned. Nobody, nobody hasn't sinned. Everybody in this space, online, everybody has sinned. But what we like to do is we like to classify sin and we like to look at those people on those side of the tracks and look how they live and our sin really isn't like their sin and we classify sin, but all have sinned. And when you have an encounter with an Almighty God, when you look back and see that God, Jesus, died on the cross for your sins. Let me tell you something, you're gonna mourn. The healthiest thing that could happen in this space this morning is some of you, when we begin to sing, is you come to this front of stage, this altar, and you mourn because here's the problem. Some of you think you've actually done God a favor by joining his team. God's lucky I joined his team as if you're an athlete with an NIL deal and you're gonna choose that school over that school. Oh, no, when David understood what his sin had wrecked and ruined his life, he comes and he mourns. When Isaiah has a glimpse of an Almighty God, he repents for his own sins and he repents for the sins of the people. It's looking back. Second, look in.

What needs confession? What needs repentance? What needs forgiveness and surrender? We spend so much time looking out. You're convinced that your bad attitude is justified because of what he did or what she did or what they didn't do and they promised this and they promised that so you're walking around with a big old attitude. (uplifting music) And then third step is look forward. How am I living ready for Christ's return? How am I spending in my mind? Does my money say out loud? Look at my checkbook. Look at the way of sending money. Oh, yeah, you can tell. That person's getting ready for Jesus second coming. Look at their calendar. Oh, look at the conversations they have at their house. Look when they're riding in their SUV with as a family. Look at the conversations that they're having. Oh, they're getting ready. Oh, having a great time. Go to the movie. Go out to eat. Go on vacations. I mean, have a wonderful career, but we live through the grid that Jesus is coming again. That's communion. It reminds us as we look back to the cross of what Christ did for us. And then it reminds us that we've got a king that's coming for us. So we start with that cracker of this piece of bread. Let me just say if you're here and you've never made a decision for Jesus like this wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to you. And it's certainly way too small to be a mid-morning snack. I would tell you if you're not a follower and you're not a believer in Jesus, just leave this little cup to the side. But I would I would also say to you today, you could become a follower of Jesus right when you're sitting. There's no doubt the Spirit of God is saying to you today's your day. Today you need to trust Jesus as your Savior. And just where you're sitting in your mind, say Jesus,

boy, the light bulbs have come on and I need you to save me for my son. I believe that your body was broken for me. I believe that your blood was poured out for me and today. And let me do the very first thing that you ever do after that prayer is to partake in communion. Be the best moment of your life. To the rest of us. This little cracker is a reminder that my sin was so horrific. There's nothing I could do about it. But Jesus loved me so much that he allowed his body to be broken. So he said eat this in remembrance of me. Then you flip that cup over. Here at Hope we use juice rather than wine. We have a celebrate recovery ministry. You know there are friends who are working through their steps and not wanting to allow anything to capture their attention other than Jesus. So we use juice. Up until this moment the only way human beings up into the moment that Jesus died on the cross. The only way that humans for centuries could get to God was to go through the high priest. No human being had access to God except through the high priest until this moment. Jesus called this the new covenant. On this moment the veil that was between humans and God it tore in half and now you and you and you and you and you and online you. You don't have to go through a pastor. You don't have to go through a priest or a rabbi. You don't have to go through a social influencer. You have instant access to God through Jesus. That's why Jesus said I am the way. I am the truth and I am the life. No man comes into the Father except through me.

And so he said this is the new covenant in my blood. Drink this in remembrance of me. You've been sitting for a while and I know Corbin the team are going to come and time is slipping away. Let me give you a second action step before we worship and come to the altar. I would say that after you examine, you cross examine what you know and how you live I would say make a decision this morning to bring one person to Jesus before he comes. Readiness that doesn't create urgency for others to discover hope in Christ has become religion instead of mission. When Church of Hope started almost 20 years ago, we didn't start because Ocala needed another church. We started to declare war on religion. See I believe religion sends more people to hell than pornography, adultery, murder, whatever the pet sin is that bothers you. because religion tells human beings, you know what, you're good enough, you're okay. You haven't done what they've done. I mean, it's not that big of a deal. See, we're on mission. Our mission is to make this space the hardest place to go to hell from in the world. Living our lives, that's this whole year, is we believe that the world becomes better when we, as Christ followers, become more like Jesus. Readiness that doesn't create urgency for others to discover hope in Christ has become religion instead of mission. You heard it in RJ. He got a fresh passion for his coworkers. You know, ready people help other people get ready. If you knew a hurricane was coming and your neighbor didn't know, you would tell them. I know the men in this space.

You guys are good men. I've been in some Bible studies with you. I've been in Tuesday nights with you guys. You guys are, man, you guys are strong. You lean in, you help. I've watched, we've traveled across the state with different hurricane relief programs. I mean, you guys show up. Man, if your neighbor, if a tree fell on your neighbor's house, you'd be the first guy to fire up your chainsaw, man, you'd be over there zzzzzz cutting it all up, right? Can you be helping and miss sweating? Not getting all nasty. That's who you guys are. But when it comes to your buddies who have the tree of sin that has fallen on their life, on their life, you're silent and men, you need to repent. What would cause you to be so passionate about getting a physical tree off of a physical house and knowing that there was a spiritual tree that has fallen on your friend, your coworker, the guy you go hunting with, the guy you go fishing with. Bring one before he comes. If you knew someone's life was in danger, love wouldn't remain silent. If we really believe that Jesus is coming again, what about the people we say that we love? Your son, your daughter, great parents and the man I see,

I see your parents who love your kids. You lean into their life, you help them athletically and you take them to travel ball and you're at the park and you're cheering them on and you help them academically to study and to grow and to get into that college. But let me ask you, I mean, you take them on vacations, you want them to have big experiences. Well done, moms and dads. But let me ask you, how are you preparing them for the second coming of Jesus? When are you having conversations about Christ coming in? We've got some moms and dads, you've got grown sons and daughters. I know they made a decision for Jesus back in vacation, Bible school or at a youth camp somewhere, but if you got honest, they made a decision, but then they have not lived for Jesus in years or even decades. We have made being backslidden into a theological term where it's not even in the Bible. Really the only example we have about someone being backslidden would be the prodigal son in Luke 15, where he says, "Come in my money now." When he goes out and he spends his money on whores and drinking and crowsing, but it's a matter of days that he comes to the conclusion that, "Wait a second, "this is not where I belong. "I need to go home with my dad." A man or woman who has become born again,

this idea that they're living in a backslidden state. When we begin to sing, there should be some parents, there should be some grandparents who bring that grandson, bring that granddaughter, bring that great grandson, bring that son, bring that daughter's name and ask for the spirit of God. Your neighbor, your co-worker, your golf buddy, your friend, your workout partner. If you believe Jesus is coming, don't just ask, "Am I ready?" Ask, "Who am I bringing with me?" For our house party, inviting opens the doors, but bringing walks them through it. Don't take no for an answer. We invite people, we want people to come every week. We have space, people can come. You can invite people any week, but on purpose, we're saying out loud, this coming Sunday's house party, bring leverage your life. I mean, honestly, if you really, I mean, I'm really for you. But let me, how many more weeks are you honestly going to go and say, I'm just going to come alone because this space is for me? If you really believe this story, that your neighbors and your coworkers and your kids and your workout partners, if they don't know Jesus and he comes again, then like the door shut, the five foolish versions didn't get into the party. It's time for us to wake up. It's time for us to be aware, to be alert and to be active. See, when Jesus changes your life, seeing others meet Jesus becomes your passion, purpose and priority. And the problem with this quote is this, like, if Jesus hasn't changed your life, if this is just something that you do going through the motions, then I could see why you wouldn't be passionate about getting people to Jesus and you won't be on purpose and you won't live a priority. Makes total sense. But if Jesus has changed your

life, like Jesus changed my life. I know exactly who I was when I arrived on the island of Okinawa, Japan, and I know who I was when I left that island. My passion for people meeting Jesus has nothing to do with the title of being a pastor and has everything to do. I know a dude, a guy named Mark and how my life was changed by Jesus. I wanted everybody to experience what I'm experiencing. It's become the purpose of my life. Why? Because I believe that this life I love, I enjoy, I'm in it, I percake of it, but I know that this is the temporary life. There is an eternal life that I'm anticipating and one day I want everybody that I know to be with me and to be in this real place called heaven. That's why it's become a priority. This is ordinary. This is not extraordinary. This is ordinary when people have experienced when you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. You become passionate. You live on purpose and introducing people that Jesus becomes your priority. Thank you. Being together in this space today is really good. If you've never begun a relationship with Jesus, I'd like to invite you today to start following Jesus. It's not about your behavior. It's not about your church attendance. It's about the reality that Jesus is for you. God's not managed you. He's madly in love with you. Would you right now pray this prayer with me? Hey God, it's me. I've sinned and I know it and I can't fix me. But today I receive you Jesus as my Savior. I believe that you died on that cross for me and that you were buried for three days and then you became alive again and I invite you into my life to guide me and direct me all the rest of the days of my life. And with that prayer, my friend, welcome to God's family. I'd like to continue our friendship. If you would email me, [email protected]. I'll follow up with you and together we'll celebrate Jesus in your life. Peace. [MUSIC PLAYING]