DIFFERENT

ME

Every time I go to the gym for a workout, bombs go off.

These bombs are dangerous and can hurt everyone around, but people still go into this gym.

And the police never do a thing about it. They just let the bombs keep dropping.

So where do these bombs come from and why doesn’t anyone do anything about them?

They come from people’s mouths. 4-letter words. Cuss words. Dirty words.

Words that people use to try and sound cool but make them sound silly.

And so every time I take my power beats out of my ears, these bombs drop all over.

I go from listening to Skillet, NF, Lecrae, or a preacher on a podcast to hearing *Beep, Beep, Beep!” and “that last set Beeping hurt!*

Sometimes I’m like: “is this what they taught you in English class?”

As a Christian, when I have conversations with some of these gym rats, it can be awkward sometimes.

I don’t give these people a lecture and shame them for cussing in front of a Christian.

Bc then I would never have a chance to share Jesus with them.

I also have patience with these people bc that is exactly the way I talked BEFORE I gave my life to Christ.

But I do wonder what they’re thinking when they are chatting with one of the few people who don’t use bad language in their conversations.

Now, not everyone in the gym is like this… I talk to Johnathan who is a Christian and Atlanta Braves fan like me, so none of that mess comes out of his mouth. And I’ll see Brad every once in a while, and I obviously don’t hear him cussing up a storm.

But they are two of the few there that don’t cuss.

And then there are times when guys and girls forget half of their outfit when they come to the gym.

The dudes are usually wearing a cutoff shirt that they cut too much off of so they can try to look bigger. SMH.

The girls will forget how to dress sometimes too, and out of respect for them and my wife, I will literally turn my back from them or look straight down. While I can hear other dudes twice their age trying to holler at them. (Which is just gross.)

But this is the culture we live in.

Where wrong is right, right is wrong, and when many people only think about God when they’re in trouble.

And while living as a Christ-follower in this culture is hard and awkward for me at times, I will continue to live in and interact with and shine light in this culture rather than hiding in a hole scared to death of everything.

WE

As Christians, sometimes we feel awkward and out of place.

Those who aren’t Christians around us are acting one way and we’re acting differently.

At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Many Christians in our culture struggle with trying to fit in, so they sprinkle in some sin in their lives and keep the “Jesus” title to make themselves look better.

That’s called hypocrisy, and it turns people off of God, Jesus, the Bible and Church quicker than anything.

The truth is that we can’t live for Jesus and the world at the same time.

It’s impossible.

But we also can’t hole ourselves up and stay away from the culture completely, because we are called to witness to our culture of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

So what do we do?

We live IN this world, but we are not OF this world.

We go to school, work, play sports, and talk with people who don’t know Christ every day, but there is an internal separation from the way that they do things.

We go about our daily lives differently, living for Christ rather than just doing what everyone else is doing.

GOD

A guy named John wrote some letters this towards the end of his life.John has seen all that the world has to offer through the wealth and power of the Roman Empire, the most prosperous Empire in history up until that time.He’s also the last one alive of all the original disciples. He’s seen Jesus do countless miracles, saw Him die on the cross, come back to life and disappear into the clouds.He’s seen many friends die for believing in Jesus.And he’s seen thousands come to faith in Jesus Christ, many times risking and giving up their lives to follow Him. After seeing all that the world has to offer and the pain he’s seen his friends go through, which way does he choose?Let’s take a look:

​1 John 2:15–17 NIVDo not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

GOD>EVERYTHING“Don’t love the world...” Now hold up Pastor Kyle… isn’t this the same John that wrote “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that no one would perish but have eternal life’? And now he’s saying don’t love the world?What the what?John discovered that loving God was infinitely more important than anything this world had to offer.God has placed many things in this world for our enjoyment and pleasure… but everyone on earth was corrupted when sin came into the world. You could put someone in the most perfect environment and they will mess it up… it happened with the first two humans: Adam & Eve. The reason is not because there’s something wrong with the environment but because of what is going on inside the person. As the Lord Jesus put it, ‘What comes out of a man is what makes him “unclean.”Imagine this: Your goldfish swimming around in its bowl is tired of the straitjacket of its environment. You may even feel you should set it free it to the wider world of the living-room carpet! But that sort of freedom is freedom only to die. In the same way, people far away from God are dead to those spiritual realities. But the devil don’t want us hearing that. He uses our natural appetites, which God has created, in order to put us in a prison we can’t see.

​Genesis 3:6 NIVWhen the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

So our natural tendency is to take our eyes off God and place the things in this world that He created above Him. Having food, clothes, a house to live in and relationships aren’t bad in and of themselves. But when we think any one of those things is more important than God, we get into deep trouble and those things begin to own us.

​1 John 2:16 The MessagePractically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him.

“I see it,” “I like it,” “I want it.” Then, ultimately “I gotta have it,” and “Here’s how I will get it.” This approach to life leaves us feeling empty inside. When people hope in material things or treat other people as objects to be used by them, it’s impossible for them to love God or others.Because they’re too worried about themselves to have any thoughts about God or others...

IN A CULTURE THAT TELLS US TO PLEASE OURSELVES, GOD CALLS US TO LOVE HIM ABOVE ALL ELSE.

and here’s why:

​1 John 2:17 The Message

The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

The person who attaches themself to this world is giving their life to things that literally have no future. Everything that we see is passing away.But the one who has God at the center of their life and the throne of their heart has something that will last FOREVER.

YOU

A man named Daniel lived for the one true God in a place called Babylon, where everyone worshipped false gods.He lived in and became a leader in that culture and even influenced the King of that empire to leave behind the false gods and follow God almighty.When and where we live today is a lot like Babylon. People love and worship almost anything BUT the one true God.

But that doesn’t have to be you.

Who will you put on the throne of your heart?God? Or this world?Will you bow down and serve sin and the devil or will you choose to love God above all else?Bc you can’t have both...You can't love the ways of this world and Jesus at the same time.

WE

What if, across this entire KY district you students chose to love God above everything else?In the midst of a culture that is MESSED UP, lost and looking for hope. God would start a revival that would BLOW OUR MINDS and shine the light of Christ so bright in our culture that people wouldn’t be able to ignore it.May we love Christ with all that we have, leave the dead ways of this world behind *Prayer*

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