e e e e e e e e e e [Music] w [Music] you [Music] [Music] w [Music] a [Music] [Music] a [Music] w [Music] Lord saints come on let's give the Lord a hand clap of praise tonight amen amen how good and pleasant it is when the Brethren dwell together in unity I'm glad to be in the house of the Lord one more time we thank God for each and every one of you who is here with us tonight uh here in the house uh in the car on the way hopefully you're listening and not watching or uh who are uh joining us uh via Facebook or YouTube we thank God uh for each and every one of you uh who is here with us tonight uh we're going to get into our word tonight and uh uh spend some time together in the word of the Lord so um we're going to go to John chapter number one we're going to go to John chapter number one I want to thank God for pastor Roy uh Walter standing in for me at the 10:00 service on Sunday amen yeah I appreciate him uh falling on the sword and uh uh being my stand in at 10: a.m. on Sunday I thank God I heard we had some uh some visitors uh that came uh because of uh their children just falling in love with the church and uh the other kids uh during vacation bible study Vacation Bible School and uh that came to service on Sunday so uh what an awesome awesome thing and and outcome uh from vacation bible school and again I want to say thank you to everyone who volunteered uh to be and work with uh the kids uh for vacation bible school and to all the parents uh who brought children brought your kids brought your nieces nephews and cousins and even the kids uh from the neighborhood we thank God uh for you and uh your work and labor amen let's get into our lesson again John chapter number one we're going to read from uh verse 35 through verse 42 John chapter number one verse 35 uh through verse 42 and we are in our series on questions Jesus asks so John chapter number one verse 35 through verse 42 and it says this the next day again John this is John the Baptist was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said behold or look the Lamb of God the two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them what are you seeking and they said to him Rabbi which means teacher where are you staying he said to them come and you will see so they came and saw where he was where he was staying and they stayed with him that day for it was about the 10th hour one of the two who heard John speak and follow Jesus was Andrew Simon Peter's brother he first found his own brother Simon and said to him we have found the Messiah which means Christ he brought him to Jesus Jesus looked at him and said you are Simon the son of John or Simon bar Jonah you shall be called kyus which means Peter let's pray dear heavenly father I thank you for today I thank you for your people who are here we're grateful God for uh your sons and daughters and their desire to hear from you to know you to be instructed by you so we pray tonight that your spirit would lead and guide this Bible study um that you would direct us in exactly where you want us to go and be uh speak Holy Spirit uh your servants are listening amen amen so um uh again we're talking about questions Jesus asked and we've been in the past few weeks um talking about the power of questions and what they cause us to do and that all of us must become more proficient in asking questions um of ourselves of others of our situation of our actions and today uh Jesus asked uh and this is one of the very first questions he asks and we're getting ready to wrap up this series so we're coming down to I think I don't know if there is a much uh uh more potent question Jesus asks in all of scripture and that we can ask ourselves then this question here it is most certainly an evaluative question it is a question intended to cause us to not have conversation with anybody else to not debate what the right answer to this question is it is a question that is intended to cause us to search our hearts to look deeper to consider what is your answer to this question so that's what's important today what seek ye what are you seeking so context how many know John the Baptist had disciples all right now uh we are and our job is to go ye into all the world and do what make disciples so you and I are supposed to be disciples followers of Christ now uh the context here is Jesus is engaging with people individuals two individuals in particular that are already in the discipleship business they are already in the discipleship program now being a disciple in biblical times and in these times was very serious it wasn't like we call discipleship you know like hey I'm I don't well I don't know what everyone here calls being a disciple I don't know how you define that you know if you have a definition of what it means to be a disciple I don't know if you do or if you don't um hopefully you will or one day will uh develop an idea a a definition of what it means to be a disciple um but to be a disciple in these days and times was essentially a life was the pursuit that your life was centered around it was essentially your vocation and it started from when you were a child and you just started learning scriptures um by the time you got to your bar mitzvah and 13 you were expected to have memorized the Torah the first five books of the Bible you were expected to have memorized them and after you memorized the Torah in your bar mitzvah as a teenager you would begin getting instructions and studying the scriptures because you learn to you memorize them first and then you start learning about them what they mean uh I think that is instructive to a lot of us some of us want to dive into the deep end of understanding the mysteries of God before we even just know what his word said you know you want to know what God is saying and what it means and what these signs mean when let's first just do you know your Bible do you know what John 3:16 Says like just let's let's get some of those fundamental things and then you can start studying and understanding the implications of those things and at the end of your teenage years or throughout your teenage years there would be rabbis teachers and as a man you would determine and decide and not every man but some men if they were going to go deeper into study of the things of God would pick out and choose a rabbi who they wanted to follow who they wanted to be their teacher their master and just because you wanted to follow that Rabbi doesn't mean he would allow you you would have to be chosen by that Rabbi to be one of his followers because because you wouldn't just come to his class you would be with him you would go where he went you would eat what he ate you would go to the houses he went to which is why Jesus when he calls his 12 disciples what he call what does he call them to do follow follow me which is why when you see Jesus do Miracles and debate or uh uh teach and and discuss and with the Sadducees and the phes his disciples were what with him they were with him and one of the sayings it goes is when you picked a a rabbi and you were accepted as one of his disciples or one of his followers the saying would be may you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi meaning wherever he goes you are close by you are close with him that's may you be covered in his dust and I I I that's why I think most of us don't get the idea of decip iple ship down too well um uh uh cuz we don't know that we are supposed to be well practiced in the art of discipleship now here's the difference these were disciples by choice many of us this question challenges us because we are disciples but we are not disciples by choice you're a disciple of someone or something the question is do you know what's discipling you you do you know who is discipling you so Jesus runs into two men who know I have chosen to be a disciple of John so John know me I've got two men who desire to follow me be like me follow my disciplines live how I live live according to my teachings understand the teachings the same way that I do that's their desire so they're following him and John says well since you've been following me look Behold the Lamb of God and since they were good followers of John guess what they knew to do stop following John and follow Jesus but that's because they were followers by choice they had chosen to be Disciples of John and when John whom the one that they decided to follow said no that's who and what you really need to be following guess what they were able to do stop following John and follow Jesus now here's where we come to our lesson today Jesus sees these two men we only know one of them is Andrew Peter's brother doesn't give us the name of the other Jesus first question to his first two would be followers is not what do you believe consider what many people would think the first questions they have to ask or answer when it comes to being followers of Christ some of us think the most important question you can answer is well what do you believe some people think the most important question you can answer is well what do you know about Jesus what do you know about all of this we used to sing a song when I was a kid what you know about Jesus he's all right that was all we said what you know about Jesus he's all right and then for 30 minutes we say he's all right he's all right all right he's all right I think he's a little better than all right but we y'all y'all got the point we have these questions that you would presume if someone was going to become a follower of Jesus what's the first thing you need to answer what do you believe what do you know what do you understand when that wasn't Jesus's first question his first question is what are you looking for crazy I'm going to try to let Jesus is teaching or his qu his question do the work today and not over te this because it is profound in its implications that I believe every single one of us if you have not sat with this question you cannot be a proficient follower of Jesus Christ too many of us have not wrestled with the question of what are you seeking what are you looking for what are you going after like what what do you what do you want or probably more pointedly what do you love what do you have affection for because I came to tell you today Jesus poses this question first because what you want typically has the most power over your life more power than what you know more power than what you believe what you want is really what's driving what you do and so many of us say we want Jesus but have a hard time living like it because we have not reckoned with the real answer to this question not what do you believe I believe Jesus is the son of God I'm glad you believe that but even the devils believe and tremble that's what the Bible says I'm glad you believe J demons believe that too they believe and tremble some of us believe that and don't even tremble but that's not my lesson today yeah you say he's the son of God but it like you like okay yeah Jesus is the son of God sure and you move on with your life said demons believe and tremble it's like when Jesus came across the man that was full of demons in the cemetery was cutting himself with rocks and they would try to chain him up and he' break the feathers and chains and strip naked and run back into the cemetery and holler and how all night when Jesus ran up that man full of demons what did he do threw himself down at Jesus's feet Son of God have you come to torment us before our time too many of us you know Jesus is the son of God but it does not cause you to fall down at your knees and one of the reasons for that lack of effect and impact is because typically what moves us is not what we think not what we believe nor what we know is what we want is what we love and the headline for this lesson tonight is Jesus is asking us what we want is because if you are ever going to be a true follower of Christ you can't just change look to change what you you know the goal has to be to change what you love full stop full stop that's that that from now on your work in following Christ and being a disciple and and and being amongst the Saints is not to just get more information it is to discern what do you really really love and then the work of discipleship that is why we are called to be disciples and not just students is because this is not just a matter of knowledge this is a matter of desires that's why the scriptures tell us you must do what love what I love okay okay okay not just know what I know cuz who amongst us and I'll be the first to testify have ever done something that you knew was wrong done something that you knew better than to do that but you did it anyway have you ever went in saying to your yourself I know I shouldn't be doing this I know this second piece of cake has no business on my plate while you're cutting it and moving a knife over to get yourself just a little bit more and then you're like I shouldn't even be having this cake but since I'm having this cake I might as well have some ice cream with it since we here we might as well go all the way help me Holy Ghost because you know you shouldn't have it but guess what has more power in that moment what you want and you can learn all you want about calories and carbs and proteins and and carb uh uh calories in and versus bur you can know all you want but you can know everything but want the C take and have it that is why Jesus's main thing isn't isn't just do you want to be skinny if you ever going to get a sixpack the question has to be what do you want more than a six-pack oh man listen to me cuz I don't think there's very many in here that wouldn't want a six-pack I'll take one I used to have one I tell people I still got it it's just in the cooler six-pack I just put it in the cooler for a little while to keep it cold I'm pull it back out by next summer but the difference the difference and I mean it I mean it the difference between where you are now and that is there something you want more than that I'm am I said you don't want that there is just something you love more than that and it might be Kate it might be leisure you want Leisure more than you want you want TV you want movies you want you know I don't know you want the fellowship around the dinner table like there there there there are things and that is why Jesus question is so potent that I know you following me John told you to follow me so you you you you you coming after me but if you going to come after me you got to answer the question what are you really after what do you really want what do you really love because if you don't change that you'll have a hard time leaving it for me or worse yet you'll believe my job is to not be your master you'll believe my job is to help you get what you want that's the only thing I'm good for and I I got to challenge you today that if your impression is that Jesus is just the means by which to get what you want you're not a follower of Christ you're not a follower of Christ you are an attempted user of Christ you are an attempted abuser of Christ I say you got to I'mma get into it in a second before you can have a right relationship with Jesus Christ you must reckon with and ask yourself the question what am I really after what do I really want go to Philippians 1 verse 9-1 much of what I'm teaching today comes from this is one of my favorite books of all time it's it's called you are what you love by James Ka Smith I've referred to it many times before I'm referring to it again you are what you love it is so so so powerful so powerful James Ka Smith you are what you love the spiritual Power of Habit Philippians 1:9 and11 says this out of the English Standard Version and it is my prayer this is Paul praying for the Philippian church and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God now here's the thing most of us desire verse 10 and 11 we want to approve what is excellent we want to be pure and blameless before the day of Christ right I want that I want to be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God who else I want yeah yeah I do here's the problem I want those things but I'm not certain all of us love those things that's why the order of operation here is really important he says I pray that your love may abound more and more that you actually start to love this that your love may abound with knowledge so here here's here's the key this is and and and James Ka Smith is a philosopher he's instructing us on how we work this is what you need to know many of us believe that the more I know the more I will love where it's actually just the opposite love is the right precondition to knowledge because if you love it you'll seek to know it as opposed to if I know it enough I'll start loving it and that doesn't necessarily happen if you love it you do what it takes to know it that's why a lot of us think reading our Bible is a sacrifice that's cuz you don't love his word you don't delight yourself oh it ain't a delight to you when you delight yourself in it it's not a chore some of us think the sacrifice we offered to God I read my Bible for 30 minutes today Jesus now that might be how you start off but that can't be how you stay because when you abound in love and that's what I want some of us need to leave here today and reckon with what we really want and pray I want my desire to be for you God for you like I want you to reorient my desires and my loves and we're going to talk a little bit of practically how that happens today so love is a proper precondition to knowledge so some of us the problem we have with memorizing our scripture or studying our word or doing right isn't that we don't know enough it is that you don't love enough if you love God more you'd read his word more y'all know it's true somebody you you ain't even got to love them you just like them a whole lot and they can't send you a text message long enough they can send you a book and you'll read it you'll just be sitting there doing nothing and go back and read it again my wife and I started dating before text messaging and all of that good stuff and I still love a good long text message from my wife I just go back and read it over and over again and you can't get through one verse in your scripture so what we must know the problem isn't just with your study habits your ability to discern some of us well I maybe this this King James vers verion is too difficult for me I can't understand it that's why it puts me to sleep and maybe I need to get some more study tools and I need Elder joson to come teach another class on how to study your Bible I'm not saying any of those things are true I'm saying could it be that you want you love you have a passion for something else more than you have a passion and love for the things of God and maybe it's not your study habits it's your desires that need a reorienting so so so so so love is a precondition of knowledge so I want you to number one leave here that in your prayer regularly add in there I want to love you more I want to abound in love I want my love to be full I want to want you the same way Paul prayed for the Philippian church I want your love to abound I want you to fall in love more I want you to pray cuz God works both the will and to-do of his good pleasure so I want to love you I want you to reorient my wants and my desires toward you I don't want to just not go to hell and I don't want to just want to go to heaven I want to love God what do you want do you want to not be punished or do you want to go to heaven or do you actually want God cuz if you want you love him you do what's necessary to get him yes sir you go into death for stuff you love you max out your credit card cuz you want it that's what Jesus CH you want to follow me first we got to talk about what is it that you really want cuz at a certain point it's going to come down to me or what you really want and the truth is going to come out at some point what do you want do you want to be rich what do you want do you want control oh some of us we can't follow God cuz we want control of our lives too much we want control that's what we really want you think you want to be rich no you don't want to be rich you want to have enough money so you can control your life you think you want to be an entrepreneur rur you don't want to be an entrepreneur you want control over your life you don't want to be single you just don't want to have somebody else that takes away your control it's control what you really and and listen I'm not even going to say whether that's right or wrong I'm just saying you got to know what that is in order to know what you don't even know what's keeping you from Walking with God because you don't know you haven't assessed yourself appropriately so here's one of the questions you have to ask yourself whenever period period but when it comes to following Jesus what are you seeking what are you seeking what do you want what do you love here's another question that this that this question should cause us to ask ourselves what is your vision or your definition of the good life what is the picture you have in your mind of what it means for H for for for you to be flourishing for you to be living your best life what what does that look like what do you have what are you doing what are you not doing who else is there like what what what what's the picture if you can snap your fingers or get in the car and drive there what would that look like and and here's the thing all of us have we all have a vision even if it's not at the front of your mind we all have a vision of what the good life is we all have it some of us need to sit and really consider what that is every single one of us has a vision and a desire and a definition of what the good life is most of us just haven't intentionally thought about what it is now this this is what's what's inherent in all of this is uh you may the ecclesiastical writer says this God has put eternity in our hearts like we have a desire for Eternal things we have a desire God put this vision for the kingdom in each and every one of us there is no Society whether they believe in Jesus Christ another deity or say they're atheist there is no human society that does not have an imagination of what the good life is and a desire to get there and typically when you have these clashes of civilization say the clash between uh Capital uh uh capitalism and and socialism is those are two different definitions of human flourishing and those two visions for the good life were clashing in the Cold War like between us and Russia right if you're young and you don't remember it's it's it's a seminal part of my early life so I still it still sits with me because I was born with the threat of nuclear war between the United States and Russia and really what the conflict was is that were two definitions of human flourishing one said capitalism and competition and everyone having access to that competition and capitalism was the path to human flourishing and Socialism or communism said it's collectivism there is no ownership it's shared ownership it's not competition it's shared ownership that we're all the same there is no hierarchy we're all the same that is the path to human flourishing and it was a competition to see which IDE ology was going to win out and it's crazy once you start looking at the world through that lens and start reading some history books you'll start seeing America's actions in the world very differently than what maybe you and I were taught and told to believe because we had some very intentional things we wanted to do which is why we would go in and fight certain Wars and not fight others support certain governments and not support others is because there was a fight between us and socialism and communism and I've been reading some history books so I'm not going to let this class go off the rail so I'm stop right there but those are two definitions different definitions I just reading a a biography on Mel gorbachov like he was a similar figure in my childhood I just happened like you know what I'm going to read about him all I remember is he was bhead and had the the the birth mark and it was crazy just reading like things that were happening when I was a kid and having a different lens on it like the Berlin wall or the blin wall coming down between East Germany and Germany like I remember that happening as a kid but when you read what was going on around that and the part the US plays and how Russia behaves itself and things of that nature different definitions of flourishing creates conflict and if you come to God and he has a definition for you of what it means for you to flourish but you have a different one guess what's going to happen it's going to be conflict there's going to be a war in your members okay as Paul says right come to the conclusion there is a war in my members that's the things of God says this is what it means for you to have the good life and there is your flesh that has its own definition of the good life I want us when we leave here today to ask ourselves that question where did we get that what is my definition of a flourishing life or a good life and the next question is where did you get that from I told you at the beginning of this lesson on the simal questions it wasn't a question Jesus asked but it was right in Genesis where are you and then what who told you that who told you that everything about yourself whether you think you're pretty or ugly smart or dumb you always have to ask the question who told you that if you believe the definition of a good life is financial Independence a big house and and money in the bank and being able to go on vacation whenever I want to go on vacation and that's what you mean and believe is the definition of a good life you have to ask the question who gave you that definition if you believe the definition of a good life is being married and having a lot of kids and all living close to each other and having a good relationship and who who told you that was the good life that's inherent in the question when Jesus says what are you after can you define it and then can you tell me where you got it from because if you didn't get it from the word of God it will inevitably be in competition with the word of God and I'm challenging you today to consider that so you do not use that as your definition of good and your Bible is just a way for you to get to that and that's why so much preaching in our modern moment God is not the center of it we are the center of it and preachers are just going to tell you how to use this Bible to get what you want when Jesus's first question was to challenge what you want not sanctify what you want they'll teach giving as a means to get what you want it teach prayer as a means to just get what you want it teach confessing scripture and confession just as a means to confess what you want so you can have it they'll teach Kingdom principles as just a way to get what you want when really the kingdom of God is not a path to get what we want it is a challenge to everything you thought you want but that's really what the conflict the kingdom is in Conflict consistently with what the world tells you you should want it is not just the way you live the Kingdom at its root is a different desire all together that's why Jesus says if you seek the kingdom if your desire is for the kingdom everything else Falls in line but the first thing first your desire what you're going after your want your love has to be for the kingdom you can't want the world and think the kingdom is going to help you get the world what is your definition of a good life and who told you that cuz the reality is is all of us have been given a definition of a good life we've been told that there are things we should want we have been a disciple of something or someone whether we know it or not go to Luke chapter number nine because this is what's important about the context of these two Disciples of John the reason why they were able to leave John and follow Jesus is because they were intentional disciples listen to me you all hold on stop turning listen to me we going to read John N in a second but I need you to listen to me the reason why they were able to leave John and follow Jesus immediately like they dropped John and picked up Jesus and stayed with him that same day the reason why they were able to do that is because they were intentional disciples they were intentionally engaging in the activity of discipleship already and when they found out what they really should be going after they took their intentional activity and pointed it at Jesus that's what happened is right there they were Disciples of John John said look at Jesus Behold the Lamb of God they said thanks John thank you for your time and they went to Jesus and said where do you stay oh I'm GNA get to that in a minute they didn't say what do you teach they didn't say what's your Doctrine they didn't say explain to what's your theology they said where do you stay cuz we coming over because I am an intentional disciple see many of us I got people that come here and they want to know my tenants of Doctrine they don't want to know where I stay so I know the difference between somebody that wants to be a disciple and somebody that wants to be a student students want to know what do you teach discipleship say where do you stay what do you do all day what does your house look like what do you spend your time on how do you treat people how do you handle folks you don't like I want to know what's going on at your house I don't know I don't want to know what you believe about your Bible before I know where you stay I don't care what scriptures you can quote if I can't come to your house and see what you really do because what you really do tells me what you really want what you can quote just tells me what you've read it tells me nothing about your desires your definition of a good life cuz some of us know the Bible says a soft answer turns away wrath some of us know our Bible says to turn the other cheek some of us know our Bible says says pray for them that despitefully use you some of us know our Bible says vengeance is mine sayth the Lord but what we want is our enemies putting their place and what we want is to be the one to put them there I don't just want them in their place I want to have been the one to have put you know the Bible says that but that's what you want yes you want them to know you want them to know how wrong they were you want them to know how much they messed up that's why you want them to see you after you came up you want them to know that's what you want so since they were actively engaged in the process of discipleship they were able to read re reorient those activities toward Jesus Christ and I came to tell you today everyone here you are a disciple of something or someone most of us just don't know it look at Luke chapter number n this is again Jesus speaking to people who would follow him this is English Standard Version he said and he said to all if anyone would come after me y'all know the rest I just don't know if we want to do it y'all know the scripture right what do you have to do deny himself take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself s for whoever is ashamed of me and my words of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the father and of the Holy Angels but I tell you truly there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God stop here here's what Jesus is teaching here first and force foremost the only way to truly engage with Jesus is to do what follow him not read about him not study him follow him but the only way you can follow Jesus is you must do what first deny yourself now here's the thing I'm asking you to do today is to reckon with do you know the you you're denying do you know the you you you have to deny oh that's a heavy question it is it's heavier than most of us has reckoned with do you know the you you have to deny to follow Jesus now some of us think the you or the me I have to deny is the propensity to lie I got to I got to deny the propensity to cuss I got to deny the propensity to fight or to steal or to fornicate or to commit adultery I've got to deny the desire for samex attraction we many of us have these things about ourselves that we can admit we need to deny in order to properly follow Jesus but unfortunately our bad or inappropriate behaviors are typically not the you that has to be denied those are typically the means Me by which you try to get what you really want y'all going to have to go back and listen to this most of us think we have to deny behaviors where typically our behaviors are means by which we're trying to get what we really want so so so your propensity to fight so you don't have to deny fighting you have to deny what I said before you have to deny wanting to be the one to put people in their place you don't to just deny the propensity to lie you have to deny the propensity to want to be in control cuz some of us are habitual Liars because you want to continue truth seeds control when you say the truth you have to just let what happens happens but your lie allows you to stay in control of I'm trying to teach you today your desire you are a control freak that's who needs to be denied not the liar if you gave up control Li won't be no problem see because if you're going to follow me you don't deny sin you deny yourself who wouldn't have a problem denying well okay at least agreeing with denying sin most of us agree with the denying sin but many of us have a hard time doing it because we have not truly denied ourselves and the sin still seems like a great way to get what I want I think the good life is people liking and accepting me and so giving them my body is a good way to get them to like me so I that's what you do you got to give up the desire to be liked me and Jesus Christ alone you ain't got to like me therefore I can tell you no but he must deny himself take it take up his cross daily and follow me daily and follow me for a second time I got to move here's what you have to know we get our desires the things we're after our definition of the good life that gets given to us and we live in a society where we are so heavily marketed to and you know what marketing especially the type of marketing that happens now the type of marketing that happens now is not what marketing has always been about what was marketing initially about it was about telling you that there is a product that performs a service and we want you to be aware of it there is an ice cream shop on such and such Mile Road in this address we have these flavors and they go for this much come and see us this is our hours of operation that was traditional marketing if you had a restaurant you say tell them you got a restaurant tell them your hours of operation tell them the kind of food you have that's not how we market now because that kind of marketing is only effective if you already hungry so guess what we know how to do now make you hungry we know how to make you hungry then we know how to tell you good-looking people eat here then we know how to tell you rich and famous people eat here fashionable people eat here like we know how to say the good life includes my restaurant so now it isn't just if you're hungry here's food if you want a good life here's a restaurant and a way to get access to that good life like that's what marketing does is it says this is a part this is a good life and this is a way to have the good life so much of marketing is about reorienting our wants and desires they're not saying if you're hungry come eat here they're telling you what to desire fire every listen the mall is an exercise in reorienting desires why do you think the mannequins look the way that they look mannequins have big butts now they didn't always somebody said amen Church f fol is funny we do Church stuff all the time so mannequins have big butts amen and they man and they man they do manicans didn't always have big rearin that wasn't always a thing but mannequin were always supposed to be this is the shape you should want that's what man are designed to do first and foremost to tell you this is what you should want your body to look like and then they put their outfit on it and say this outfit will make your body look like this and guess what won't happen your body won't look like that this is why every now and then mostly in men's stores and they're trying to do it more they're trying but it's a hard way to go is they typically don't put clothes on people's bodies or mannequins bodies that look like most of ours cuz we wouldn't want the jacket if if we saw how the jacket would look on us we would not want the jacket when you see how the jacket looks on a mannequin it makes you want the cuz it's not saying if you're cold here's a cold the mannequin wouldn't need to do like this if it was just about cold the whole exercise in the mall I came and tell you the next time you go to the mall the entire exercise is in reorienting what you want that's why the people in stores look the way that they look and dress Dr the way that they dress that's why the store is designed and furnished the way that it is furnished like if you go to Ralph lawren store it is furnished a certain way everybody working there is dressed a certain way so you feel like if I get this sweater all of a sudden I'm going to have mahogany wood everywhere at my house I'm going have leather bound books like it it it goes with an entire life it is no longer utility it is stoking a desire for an entire lifestyle that's why we have influencers now CU they tell you if you want my life add this to it and guess what you can get a brand endorsement if you got enough what followers I came even tell you today immersion what and where you spend your time re orients what you want and what you desire if you're at the mall all the time you going to have a long list of things you want if you don't go you won't even know there's new things to want s I'm I'm being dead serious that's why Jesus thing is not literally but for some of us literally come out the mall and follow me and you won't be fighting over the latest sale cuz if you're with me you want what I show you that you might have life and it more abundantly I don't have time today but that's why Jesus says follow him he is the Ultimate model of what Holiness looks like and what it does if you think a mannequin can make a jacket and a pair of pants look good what about Holiness righteousness prayer fasting forsaking yourself what about what that looks like on Jesus it looks like walking on water it looks like praying for healing and people being healed it looks like casting out demons and them fleeing it looks like eternal life in the presence of the father and he says put on joy peace patience love hope all these things he models it and says this is what it looks like and if you're with me you won't just want to not lie you'll want to look like what I look like you want to wear what I wear you want to talk like what I talk like yes sir but you got to be with me to have that want reoriented immersions immersion matters you can't keep being around and marketed to and spoken to by any and everybody and think you're still going to want Jesus you can't listen to everything and think you're still going to want Jesus that's why he didn't say you got to put down sin you got deny yourself you have to deny the you that wants to be famous you have to deny the you that wants to be the cool kid in class you have to deny the you that wants everybody to think they're funny think you're funny you have to deny that you but if you're in places that keep giving you a different de definition of you keep giving you a new car to want a new house to want a new kind of boyfriend to want you will never want Jesus you'll want what you're told to want and you'll be fighting between that and Jesus all the days of your life but if you going to follow me you got to deny yourself take up your cross daily and come after me because it is not just an exercise and trying to get to heaven I Promise You Jesus wants to reorient your wants and desires all together he don't just want you to know different he wants you to want different he doesn't want you to just speak differently he wants you to love differently that's why Proverbs 4:21 423 I like it out of the NV it says above all else guard your heart for everything you do flows from it listen to me you all guard your heart Three Stacks cuz everything you you do comes from it I ain't been say all my life comes from it here's the deal I would I I submit to you today most of us don't really know what we want we know what we've been told to want we know what the right answer is but we don't know what we really want what we really love and I came to tell you your affections and your feelings don't tell me and don't tell you what you really love your habits and behaviors what you do without having to think about it tells me what you love see love we could do a whole series on what love really is and love really isn't feelings right love is not feelings there is a component of feelings and love but feelings do not make love you can have a lot of feelings and not love someone because I know people that have a have strong feelings toward people but still treat them poorly you don't they don't love you I don't care how much they tell you they need you and couldn't breathe without you if they treat you poorly They Don't Love You I don't care how many love songs they write back in my day CDs they burn with all the classic R&B cuts on it and give it to you I don't care I don't know what y'all do now make a mix on Spotify Apple music and shoot it over do y'all even still do that anymore if you don't I promise you it's good and romantic these songs make me think about you back in my day I cut a cold mixed CD play that and think about [Music] me track three I don't care how Sapp the love songs are on the mix CD or the song you play to them the lyrics you sing if they don't treat you well they don't love you period they don't desire to know you they don't love you they might like they might like what you do for them they might like how you make them feel but if you got to beg them to come home they don't love okay that was one type of Love song I never wouldn't be a single begging song on my mix CD ain't no such thing as begging for somebody if you want to leave go on ahead you know I one of the hardest things about getting married is cuz now I got the bed if my wife say she want to leave guess what I got to do now I'm down On Bended Knees it's Boys to Men is going to be at the top of my mix CD Now now I'm down on bended knees before I got married no such thing as Bended Knees your boy going to die on his two feet now I'm down On Bended Knees baby girl if you're watching on your birthday if you ever thought about leaving I'm unbended knees begging you please don't leave didn't understand begging now that I'm married I'm I I'm well acquainted with begging but before I promise you it didn't even dawn on me to beg somebody to want to be but I didn't get it since we're talking 90s R&B I was Tony Braxton Love should have brought you home words of the psalmist ssal says heard the song writer say but here's what you have to know about love love like what you what you're really attracted to and Drawn to it causes you to behave before you even have to think about it that's why so many of our most deeply embedded actions we don't have to choose to do them we do them before we think about it we say things like it's second nature right it was second nature to fight to cuss to steal to lie you can say it was second nature we call it second nature is because it's akin to First nature our first nature is our biology right that your body does things and goes after things deflects things you don't have to choose to do it you've been sitting here breathing this whole time without having to think I need some oxygen no cuz your body knows it needs it it gets it without you thinking about it because your body loves your eyes and loves it them the way that they are you'll blink before you know something is on the away before you even consciously know something is coming at your eyes your body will blink cuz it like your eyes just the way that they are and it wants to keep them that way and you don't have to think hard okay today eyes eyelids when dust comes at us today we are going to Blink yourself in the mirror and say blink blink blink no cuz it's it's it's it's what your body desires to protect itself it desires to maintain homeostasis it has a desire so your body does things Without You consciously thinking of it love is much the same way what you want for yourself what you don't want for yourself you will do it and think about it later you get in the car and you will have smooth cuss somebody out before you decided to and you get in the car like Lord that might have been one of the Saints I was right down the street from the church I should have at least waited till I got to the other side of town some of y'all need to behave y yourself on Shaner and on the freeway I've been cussing out the Saints and they look up they turning in L right with you yeah yeah that got me together on 696 that was my biggest fear that was what helped get rid of my uh road rage cuz I would have road rage on the way to preach look up there in the left hand turning lane coming into the church with me Lord Jesus said well we have to get delivered from that because they might be on my on their way here but what you have to consider and I want you to to do the work it's another question you have to ask yourself when you leave here what do my habits my regular Behavior say I really want some of us you really want Leisure more than you want anything else so as soon as something get difficult you quit now you may make up a whole lot of reasons and excuses why but really you just lazy now that's something you have to reckon with cuz the only way you can deal with it is if you call it what it is you keep saying what somebody else did and how difficult that was and what you no you you like Leisure I won't call it lazy you like leisure and there's nothing wrong with liking Leisure Leisure is beautiful enter into my rest rest is important rest is important it is but you got to know you ain't entering into the Lord's rest you lazy you have to leave here and ask the question what do my habits the things that I do subconsciously what do those things say I really want that's a better indicator than your vision board it is cuz you have to try to make yourself do the stuff on the vision board there's a you that you don't have to force yourself to be the you you have to deny it's not the you you trying to be it's the you you are when you wake up and somebody call you in the middle of the night what you say before you turn the lights on get a drink of water that's you that's the you the you when you're sleepy and you haven't eaten what you do then that's you the you when nobody's around and good or bad you won't get in trouble or get celebrated what you choose to do then that's you that must be denied and that you has something it wants that's why then you have to know immersion matters you have to to guard your heart because there is a whole world out there Jesus ain't the only one saying deny yourself and follow me the enemy is saying the same thing corporations and companies that have products to sell you are saying the same thing social media platforms that desire your attention are saying deny your kids and F okay yeah deny your work and follow me deny your scriptures and follow me that is why Jesus calls for discipleship that's why ultimately ultimately and I'm closing ultimately this is about who and where you spend your time came to tell you today that unless you follow after Jesus and he says make disciples and it's 757 you got to go read the book of Acts and not just for knowledge but for Behavior so you know when people got saved what did they do they became a part of the family and they were with the Saints like that was the people that they were with like that became their friends and family you want to know why because those are the people that began shaping your desires and your wants cuz if you ask yourself where did I get my definition of the good life from you may have gotten it from a commercial but I guarantee you got it from some family members some people that were in your life I don't know who you who did you get it from was it your aunt that always showed up in the latest fly gear driving a nice car her hair was always done and you were little and couldn't get your hair done and your family didn't have a lot of money and whenever she showed up her car was shiny her shoes were nice her hair was done her nails were long and you said that's it you might not even remember that day but she she told you that's it and she was single didn't have kids had a nice career and all of a sudden that was the life you wanted you say that's it and you just started charting a path towards that because she gave you that want what did your parents praise what were the things that they celebrated what were the things that your family spent the most time on when you were a child chances are they were shaping what you want cuz everybody loves the praise of their parents even abusive parents everybody loves the the the the acceptance and acknowledgement so if your parents acknowledge and and and and celebrate certain things no doubt those are going to be the things you want it's not a mistake we marry people that are very much like our parents oh cuz you didn't know they were shaping what you want it's not a mistake you were in a house with them they shaped what you wanted subconsciously you just picked somebody that was like your mother and you didn't know it and you thought you didn't like your mama and then you pick somebody just like her ain't that deep cuz wants and desires get shaped whether we know it's happening or not you don't have to agree all you got to do is spend enough time at the mall and you're going to start wanting things that are at the mall your wants and desires get shaped it's not a mistake that pants can go from baggy to skinny to baggy again and there's somebody right now saying I never wear those baggy pants guess what yes you will cuz the same ones of y'all that say you won't wear baggy pants said you would never wear skinny ones and guess what all y'all started doing wearing skinny pants I remember all of the guys man that's gay you won't catch me in those skinny pants next thing you know he's got on jeggings how did you go from skinny jeans being gay to you have one tights sir what happened how how did that happen you don't even know what happened to you go look at your pictures and see how big listen some of y'all think yeah that's them no no no no no you got on skinny pants right now you don't even know it they just look good to you but guess what there skinny go look at a I'm talking guys my age older go look at a picture of yourself from 1998 and the how big your pants was then versus how big your pants are now you in 1998 would look at your pants right now and go why do you have on those skinny pants you don't even know they skinny you don't cuz somebody told you these pants look good they said it's so long till you think you came up with the idea I'm unique no you're not you're wearing what you were told to wear 99% of us there are very few of us y'all listen to me I'm I'm dead serious so many people call themselves I fashionable and they got their own style there are very very few and by few I mean in the percentile one two per of people that really wear what looks good to them just about everybody else is wearing a version of something somebody told you looks good and I know you think you putting outfits together no you're not oh I know you think you putting it on like ain't nobody seen no you're not anybody seen that movie Devil wees product yes sir what a great movie that is yes sir and there's a scene in the movie where she describes how everybody ends up she said there's a room of people that are deciding what you're going to wear next year cuz you can only wear what's in the store unless you're making your own clothes sourcing your own Fabrics dying them to colors and Hues you want you're wearing something somebody to and they Market it to you so you think that's what you want that's why you'll wear skinny pants one year baggy pants the next a long shirt one year a short shirt the next is because what you like gets shaped regularly by what you're looking at all the time seeing enough shows magazines and enough people head here at church and guess what you going to want your head to look like that too it just happens it's it's it's it's not anything it's not I'm not acting like it doesn't happen to me I look at things and say I can't imagine myself wearing it I'm just smart enough to know well give it long enough I'll be wearing something similar I ain't never get in the leggings but my pants got a whole lot skinnier than they were they got they got a whole lot skinnier than they were look at Gentry over there in them skinny [Applause] pants your pants skinny bro I didn't even know it he didn't decide to get skinny pants but they just are they are Deacon Gentry did not go to the mall and go give me the skinniest pants you have he didn't theying skinny I'm feeling silly I'm going tell you come stand up here so we can all look at your skinny pants but I'm not going to do that I'm not going to do that they gonna look at your pants when we leave I'm sorry everybody goingon to be looking at Deacon Gentry pants after Bible class tonight but I'm I'm I'm saying that to be funny but I'm dead serious that's how even when we're we don't want it to happen your wants and desires get shaped now you don't like half the clothes in your closet and they you you used to love them your favorite jacket don't wear for a while now it look weird I cleaned up my closet I pulled out my coldest jacket I put that thing on like what did no BR is this like how did this look good now it looks terrible because somebody told me that doesn't look good anymore what are you looking at who are you around that's why if you are going to fight follow Jesus you got to follow and be around those who follow him you don't want a good marriage cuz you never seen a good one be around some folks with a good marriage and you'll want one like the one you see that's why discipleship is important it is not just so you stay out of sin is being around good makes you want good you'll go from wanting abusive people to wanting husbands like Pastor Roy that's going to care about you and call you Queen sit around around you long enough all of a sudden you going to want he a I want somebody to call me queen too see Lady Terry get caught Queen enough times and you going to get tired of your guy dogging you and you going to want somebody to call you Queen that's literally you all of a sudden start that's what discipleship is about not just changing Behavior it's changing your very desires and if you spend 23 hours of every day looking at things that are shaping your desires to things other than Christ you will have a hard time following him people that train themselves to discipline to go after have no trouble saying I've been going after this I'm going to now go after Jesus cuz the real goal is to be Psalm 42 not I don't sin not I do everything right no the real goal is this as the deer panteth after the water Brook so panteth my soul after thee Oh God my soul thirsteth for God for the Living God that's that right there oh now there's no good thing he will withhold from you want him the rest of the stuff won't be any problem seek the kingdom and all the other stuff you think you want will get added to you it's all that other stuff I'm not saying you can't want other stuff you have to have a conscious awareness of it and ask questions of what you want where did I get that from who told me to want that here's here's another thing to ask yourself about whatever's in your life right now that you've been going after what do I think is going to happen when I get that what do I think that's going to do for me whatever you think you want right now like to to to to really investigate it you have to ask yourself questions of it of where did I get that from who told me to want that what do I think is going to happen when I get that how do I think that's going to make me feel how do I think that's going to cause other people to see me cuz we all have those things and that's why what are you after it's such a powerful question Jesus asked and you have to ask yourself that same question what are you seeking were those shoes ugly until you saw they was Gucci and all the sudden they look sweet y'all know I ain't the only one look at these funny looking shoes coochie huh maybe they're not so funny looking after all it it happens cuz then you have to ask yourself the question well what is having Gucci what is that going to do for me is that going to make people know I ain't broke I don't know I don't know all of us whatever if you really really want to be married you have to ask yourself the question what do I think this going to do for me like where did I get that from that being married is the Pinnacle of Life who told you that who who who who told you that that's crazy who told you that where Paul in your scriptures like well if you have to go on ahead like you just have to it's ready to do that then go to hell you know like just go ahead like that's Paul's tener about marriage who told you your life was meaningless who told you that or what do you think getting married is going to do for you all of a sudden do you think you're going to be happy once you get married um you're either happy or not I'm telling you God's truth if if you wasn't happy before you get got married if you couldn't find a way to be happy before you get married you might be happy for maybe 3 to 4 weeks six weeks tops and if you're not a happy person you're going to be a sad married person yes sir yes you just will be and your husband or your wife is going to be like what else do you want me to do I don't know you have to ask yourself some questions about the things you want to really challenge them and they are the thing are they the things God has told you to desire the Peaceable fruit of righteousness to desire the fruits of the spirit where did you get them from and if you got them from somewhere other than the scriptures you got to deny yourself take up your cross and follow him that's why the next question is where do you stay because I need to know what you live like that's why you have to be around the people that are living this out that are walking towards this and they'll make you want to live right they'll make you want to handle your money better they'll make you want to be more well- versed in your scriptures they'll make you want to have a more a a fervent prayer life they'll want you to they'll make you want desire he doesn't want you to just try to do right he wants you to want him amen Give the Lord a hand clap of praise amen God bless you I thank you for being in Bible study uh on tonight again I thank God for all of our VBS workers I thank God for everyone who gave blood on Sunday the goal was 41 units and we collected a total of 45 units of blood come on let's give the Lord hand clap of praise for that we had 63 people register unfortunately not everyone who attempted was able to give but we had 63 people sign up and 21 first time time donors and also donors if you have an email address on file you'll receive a $20 Amazon gift card and your email for donating blood oh yes oh yes I want one of those yes so if you don't see it in your email check your spam but everybody that gave if you're registered and you got to email on file in your email you should have a $20 Amazon gift card amen amen God bless you we love you we'll see you in prayer on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. God bless you we love you in Jesus name e e