Good morning, CHURCH!

(Opening joke)

One Easter a priest and a taxi driver both died and went to heaven.

St. Peter was at the Pearly gates waiting for them.

'Come with me,' said St. Peter to the taxi driver.

The taxi driver did as he was told and followed St Peter to a mansion.

It had everything you could imagine from a bowling alley to an Olympic size pool.

'Oh my word, thank you,' said the taxi driver.

Next, St. Peter led the priest to a small home with a twin-size bed and a small television set.

'Wait, I think you are a little mixed up,' said the priest.

'Shouldn't I be the one who gets the mansion? After all I was a priest, went to church every day, and preached God's word.'

'Yes, that's true.' St Peter responded, 'But during your sermons most of the people went to sleep.

The priest responded, “why did the taxi driver get a mansion?”

St Peter said, “Well, while you were putting people to sleep, the way that the taxi driver drove, was causing people to pray.'

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Let’s go to the book of Romans 8:35-37 for this week’s wisdom Vaccination.

This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination

Romans 8:35-37 ESV

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

This world is full of tribulation.

This world is full of distresses.

And although not as much in America, this world is full of persecution.

Famine is prevalent among certain sectors of society.

This world is definitely dangerous.

But the biblical author says, “In spite of it all these things, we are not just conquerors, but we are more than conquerors.”

Today’s message title is:

What world are you living in?

I’ve really been challenged over the past couple of weeks with the lives of people and with the situations some people find themselves in.

I literally feel like I live in a different world than a lot of people.

I definitely feel like I go to a different church than a lot of people.

I feel like I have a different marriage than a lot of people.

And I surely have the privilege of being in a different family dynamic than a lot of people.

When I think about the situations some people find themselves in, I can’t help but thank the LORD that he delivered me from all of that when I chose to follow him with my whole heart.

When I say a different world, I am of course not talking literally, as I too have been affected by the plandemic, by inflation, by racial conflicts and even political matters.

But as I sit and talk to people, I often find that they live in a world of dysfunction that I haven’t been around for quite some time.

With that said, there are three worlds of people that I want to talk about this morning.

I usually have 3 points but today it will be 3 worlds.

World #1

The world of the deceived.

1. People are deceived about truth.

2. People are deceived about love.

3. People are deceived about this life.

1)The world is deceived about truth!

What is truth?

Truth originates with God. And since God can’t lie, whatever he says is truth.

Truth is not subjective. (Based on feelings or opinions)

Truth is not relative. (In proportion to something else)

Truth is not pluralistic. (Based on multiple sources of authority)

Unless that plurality is Elohim the originator of it all.

Truth never changes

Proverbs 12:19 ESV

Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

Truth is found in Jesus Christ

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.

Truth sets us free

John 8:31-32 ESV

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

2)The world is deceived about love!

What is love?

I would be remised if I didn’t start with the truth that God is love.

We also use love of that between human beings.

There is also the use of love as describing an affection for things and qualities.

The greatest understanding of love and the one I want to be clear about today is of the love God has for mankind and the love we should have for God.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Here the love that God commands from Israel is not primarily a matter of intimate affection but is to be expressed by obedience to God’s commandments, serving God, showing reverence for God, and being loyal to God alone.

Just because you cry when you worship, or you get emotional when you pray doesn’t mean that you love God.

And just because you don’t cry or get emotional doesn’t mean that you don’t love God.

These are often a great deception that people walk in.

The love of God is rooted in his choice to have our best interest at heart and our choice to follow Him and His ways as the ultimate truth.

Romans 5:8 ESV

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

That’s some love for you.

Ask yourself, “Self, do I have the well-being and best interest in mind in what I say and do concerning others?”

3)The world is deceived about life!

What is life?

We are born, we live and then we die.

Some people think that is all there is.

Some people live as if that is all there is.

Yes, there is the natural side of life which comes from God.

Genesis 2:7 ESV

Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

But that’s not all there is to life.

Hebrews 9:27 ESV

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement,

So, clearly after we die in the natural, it ain’t over.

This natural life gives us an opportunity to choose how we want to live for eternity.

World #1 was the world of the deceived.

World #2

The world of the double minded.

Matthew 23:25-26 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

In the Jewish culture it was highly frowned upon to be a hypocrite. Saying one thing but living another.

Speaking or living inconsistently with what you profess.

The way they were on the inside in comparison to the way they were on the outside, would be as if I came to visit you and you asked if I wanted something to eat and drink.

And then you cleaned off the outside of a cup, but the inside was filthy.

James 1:7 ESV

7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Unfortunately today so many professing Christians are deceived into thinking that it is okay to confess to be like Christ or to be a follower of Christ, while in all actuality they are more like the world and follow more of society’s ways than God’s.

If this, is you, don’t tell on yourself by looking uncomfortable?

No one will know its you unless they have hung around you.

But today, I charge you just as Elijah charged the people in 1 Kings 18:21.

1 Kings 18:21 NIV

Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.

Elijah said I’m the only prophet of the LORD here and Baal has 450 prophets. Get 2 bulls and y’all chop one and put it on the wood but not set fire to it and I’ll chop the other and put in on the wood and not set fire to it.

Then you call on your God and I’ll call on the name of the LORD. The God that answers by fire, he is God. The people said cool.

The 450 prophets danced around and shouted from morning to noon with no response. At noon Elijah started taunting them. Shout louder. Maybe he is busy or sleeping or something. They started cutting themselves and bleeding which was customary. They kept on till evening and still no response.

Then Elijah set up his and dug a trench around it and had them pour water all over the altar he had made. He had them water it three times.

Then he called on his God.

1 Kings 18:38 ESV

Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.

Then the people decided that the LORD is God.

When will you stop being deceived and double minded, and decide that the LORD is God and serve him with all you got?

If you’ve made that decision or are ready to make it today, it will lead you into world #3.

World #3

The world of the delivered.

Galatians 5:1 ESV

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Some might say, “Pastor J, I would love to be delivered but the Devil just keeps wreaking havoc in my life.”

If the devil is wreaking havoc in your life you have to use the biblical equation of James 4:7 properly.

James 4:7 ESV

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Submission to God + resistance of the devil = the devil fleeing from you

Psalm 34:4 ESV

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 34:17 ESV

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

1 John 5:4-5 ESV

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

(Closing illustration)

Just as Elijah proved the LORD was God to the prophets of Baal, I submit to you that I was once lost, no apparent future ahead, following the world and its lustful desires and I chose God.

He totally reshaped me spiritually, mentally and has kept me physically.

I was lost and now I’m found.

I was blind and now I see.

I was a slave to sin and now I’m free.

How long will you waver between two opinions?

The LORD is God, I challenge you to follow him.

If you’re watching online or here in the room, I have a very important question to ask you.

What is Holy Spirit saying to you right now?