 All right, good morning, Radiant Church. Good to be with you. As I said, my name's John, I'm on the teaching pastors. Hello to Portage over there on the other side of the city. We love you, glad that you're with us. Can you see that boot from here? Is it too dressy? Is it okay? No, I'm just kidding. I still have the boot on. I am being healed in the name of Jesus, so thank you for everyone who prayed. If you didn't know that this happened to me, I forgive you, it's fine, but I almost didn't wear the boot. Then I told pastor Lee, I am gonna wear it because if the message goes south, I could probably get some pity if I was like, oh, the pain or something like that. But I only have like a week and a half left in the boot. Hey, we're in the middle of a series. That's what we're doing and it's in Malachi and I am so honored to be sharing the pulpit with pastor Lee. This has been a challenging series. How many of you have been here for the first love series for the past messages? Yeah, and so if you haven't been, we're going through the book of Malachi and we're looking at ways that God challenged and admonished his people because of the way that they were relating to him. So he starts off this book, it's the last book in the Old Testament and he says, I have loved you. And then it's this dialogue, but you say, how have I loved you? And he goes into these reasons and the ways that he has. And then he says, but I need to communicate some things to you. There's some things I need you to be aware of. I love you, however. How many of you have ever had a, I love you, however, conversation with your children? Right? We're God's kids. He did the same thing. I love you, but the dog can't go in the oven. You know, we have these conversations and God was doing that. He says, I've loved you and it's an everlasting love and it never fails and it's never going to give up. It's never going to turn its back on you, but there's some things you need to know. And so we've been looking the last few weeks at the idea that honor to God matters. That worship, the way we worship matters to God. Marriage and covenant matter to God. Our finances and money matters to God. We're going to look at that next week. And so, although they've been challenging, I'm just so grateful for the voice of Radiant Church and really the prayers that Pastor Lee Cummings puts into what are we going to be speaking about? What is God speaking to me? Because you know, the Bible says in 1 Timothy 4, there's a day coming when people are going to reject sound doctrine and biblical teaching and they're going to pile up. They're going to surround themselves with teachers who say what they want to hear, what their itching ears want to hear. And I am concerned about the church of Jesus Christ in America falling into that trap. And Paul warned about it thousands of years ago and he told this to Timothy. He said, but you preach the word. He said, you endure suffering. You be strong, do the work of the evangelist. And he said, you fulfill your ministry. And that's what we're hoping to do here. So thanks for being a part of this series and we're praying that God's continuing to move. We've had some awesome testimonies, just of marriages and some other breakthroughs that people are having. And that's really the heart of what we do. It's not like, oh, I hope I sound really good when I'm up there. Obviously we study and we prepare. But at the end of the day, God has to move. God has to do what he can do and we have to respond. And then miracles happen. Amen? All right, so if you brought your Bible starting in Malachi chapter two. The last book of the Old Testament. So go to Matthew and go backwards or go to Zachariah and go forwards. Whatever is easier for you. And we're going to read verses 17 through the first verse of chapter one. It says this, you have wearied the Lord with your words. And yet you say, in what way have we wearied him? And that you say, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delights in them. Or you say like, where is the God of justice? Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming. So again, there's a conversation that God's having with his people through the prophet. And he's saying, you're wearing God. There's something going on that's not happening. And I say, well, what do you mean? What are we doing? And he says, you're acting as if God isn't just. You're saying God sees what's happening. He doesn't care about it. So here we have these people and they're not, they're going through the motions in worship. They're not honoring. Chapter two of Malachi verse 10 says they're dealing treacherously with one another. So they're not honoring God. They're not honoring each other. They're robbing God. It says in chapter three with their ties and their giving. And yet they're saying, God, you're not holding up your end of the bargain. Like what's your problem? And God is saying, no, there's something that's gonna happen. I'll explain what it is. But they're having this conversation like God thinks that people who do evil must be good and that there's really no justice in the world. And so literally what the people of Israel are asking for is for God to send the Messiah. They're saying we need the Messiah to come, the root of David. We need the promised Messiah because they think, as many did in the Old Testament, that when Jesus came, he was gonna come as a conquering king. He was gonna restore Israel to its rightful place. He was gonna chop Rome down or all of the oppressing cities and the Babylonians and all of them were going to have to, you know, get out of the way so that Israel could be restored. And that's what they're asking God to do. And so that's the first part. And then you hear sort of the rebuke from the prophet. He says, where is this God of justice? And then this is God's response through Malachi. Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way. I want you to underline that in your Bible. Prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek, he will come to his temple. Even the messenger of this covenant whom you delight, behold, he is coming. So God says, look, you're going to see the Messiah, but of course we know it isn't the way they thought it was gonna be. They're expecting this conquering king, this massive entourage and Jesus comes instead, very inconspicuously to Bethlehem in a manger as a baby. And yet this phrase, someone's going to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus is used again earlier in Isaiah chapter 40, verse three, where the prophet Isaiah says, behold, a voice crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord and he will make pause in the wilderness and he will make streams in the desert. And so two times in the Old Testament, there's this idea of something's gonna happen when Jesus comes, but there's gonna be a preparation. There's gonna be a movement that prepares the way for the Messiah to come. So this is the last book, Malachi, before the New Testament, which is 400 years later. So now I want you to turn to Mark chapter one and we're gonna see that covenant and that promise come to fruition. So I know your Bible is Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John's last, whatever God, and I'm just kidding. And there's no hope of changing that and that's fine, but most scholars do believe that Mark was the first gospel written. So that's why we're going to Mark instead of Matthew. So remember the last thing Jesus, God said to the prophet is, yep, the Messiah is coming and there will be a messenger who prepares the way for that to happen. And now we go to Mark chapter one. I'm gonna read the first eight verses. In the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God as it is written in the prophets. So he's quoting Malachi and Isaiah here. Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Then he starts talking about how that's gonna happen in verse four about John the Baptist. So John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist and a sweet boot. Oh wait, that's not in there, sorry. There comes, and he says there comes one after me who's mightier than I, whose sandal strap, I'm not even worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. So from 400 years ago in Malachi and before that in Isaiah, the promise of one coming to prepare the way for Jesus is presented and now the fruition of that happens in Mark chapter one and the messenger that they refer to hundreds of years earlier is John the Baptist. Is this man who is clothed with camel skin and a bell and eats wild honey and locus? Have anyone tried that? I think it's keto, it's pretty good actually, no. So you say to yourself, oh, isn't it just like God to use that type of a person to introduce the coming of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Again, they were expecting an entourage and pomp and circumstance and even in our culture today when a politician comes through or when they're campaigning, you know, what do they do? They get all the celebrities they can, there's commercials, you know, rock the boat and there's rock stars and so we're all like, whoa, look at that, I wanna be like them. God sends a crazy wild man wearing camel hair and a belt and says, this is my entourage, this is who's gonna prepare the way for the King of Kings and the Lord. It's so beautiful because God in 1 Corinthians, it says he uses the foolish things to confound the wise and the weak things to confuse the strong in the world and the things that we think in the world should be a part of some sort of process. God often says, no, that's not even on my radar. We think, oh, it should be a huge deal, there should be signs in the heavens, there should be meteors, no, there's gonna be a guy wearing camel hair and locusts. It's just awesome the way that God moves and so this John the Baptist is preaching, the Bible says a message and it's a message of repentance. Everyone say repentance, repentance. That's the message. 400 years earlier in Malachi, 1,000 years earlier in Isaiah, he says I'm going to send a messenger and he's going to prepare the way and the way it's prepared for us to usher in Jesus Christ and his arrival in ministry was through something called repentance and that's what we're gonna talk about today. Repentance was needed for the arrival of Jesus to come the first time and I believe with all my heart the church of Jesus Christ needs repentance in this day and age to usher in the second coming of Jesus Christ. We want revival, we want revival, we want revival, of course we want revival but it doesn't happen without repentance and it happens in us first. We repent, we line our thinking up with God and then God can move and so that's why I feel like it's so important. Obviously it's important because it was prophesied two times before it actually happened so now you're sitting there saying John, what's repentance? Just tell us, okay fine, I'll tell you. Repentance, I'm gonna give you the definition. It means this, to change the way that you think in order to turn from sin and towards God. That's basically what repentance means and so we're gonna talk more about that but repentance is a changing of mind and it's so crucial in this day and age but it says this is the way I was going and maybe you've experienced it upon your salvation. I was going this way but then I realized who God is, what he's done and so I'm turning around and now I'm going towards God because God and sin are not going in the same direction and so you have to turn, you have to make a conscious decision. We believe at this church that there is a born again experience that you have. You don't just morph into the kingdom. No, you make a decision like Jesus talked to Nicodemus about in John three. You're born again and that is part of the repentance process but it doesn't end there. Repentance is something that we live, something that communicates and flows through us even as Christians and that was the message of John the Baptist and it was intentionally used to prepare the way for Jesus. Does that make sense? Repentance? Say yes. Okay, all right. Turn Your Bibles, not a Luke. We're gonna flip over and we're gonna look at what John the Baptist ministry looked like. Luke chapter seven, you're gonna see repentance in action here. Verse 24, first let me give you a quick, quick background. So this is pretty crazy and it's for another message but John the Baptist at this time is sending messengers to Jesus because he's in prison and he doesn't understand why this is happening. Like, wait, I'm supposed to, he knows who Jesus is, they're cousins. He knows, he believes that Jesus is who he says he is but he's experiencing things that are causing him to kind of doubt it. Raise your hand if you've ever experienced anything in your life that have caused you to wonder God, why is this happening? Yes, see, it happened to John the Baptist and so he literally sent messengers, go to Jesus and just ask him straight up, are you the one or are we supposed to expect someone else because I didn't know I was gonna get thrown in prison, I didn't know it was gonna happen like this and so they come to Jesus and Jesus says to them, he says, Jesus answered, go and tell John the things you've seen and heard that the blind see and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, deaf hear and the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them and blessed is he who is not offended because of me. So he sends these guys back and he says, that's what I want you to tell John and then we pick it up in verse 24. So when those guys left and the messengers of John had departed, he began to speak to the multitude concerning John. He said, what did you go out in the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind, but what did you go out to see, a man clothed in soft garments, indeed those who are gorgeously apprailed and live in luxury, they're in king's courts. He says, look, is that what you expected? That's not how it's gonna work. And then he says, but what did you go out to see? A prophet, yes, I say to you and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare the way before you. For I say to you among those born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he, it's such a powerful statement. So he says, this is him, he might not look the part, he might not be what you expected. You might not like locusts, but he does and he's the one I'm using. And see, do you expecting someone in gorgeous apparel, king's robe, soft clothing, that's not it. He's not a reed that's blown from one situation to another when now I believe this, now I believe that. No, he's a prophet and he calls him the greatest prophet born of women. So greater than Isaiah, greater than Jeremiah, Micah, Nahum, Jonah, all of them, why? Because they all prophesied about Jesus from a distance much time had elapsed. John the Baptist prophesied at the door of who Jesus was and what he was doing. But then he makes another remarkable statement. He says, but he who is least in the kingdom of God is still greater than the greatest prophet of the Old Testament. That's you, that's me, that's us. John was the last prophet of the Old Covenant and now Jesus says anyone who has the spirit of God in them is actually greater than the greatest Old Covenant, Old Testament prophet. So these people are hearing this and they're just like, rocked. Like what is he saying? This is insane, right? So then he goes on and listen, this is so important. It says in verse 29. And when all the people heard him, meaning John the Baptist, even the tax collectors justified God having been baptized with the baptism of John. What's the baptism of John? Re, re, okay, all right. Just see if you're tracking. When all the people heard him, even the tax collectors adjusted by God having them baptized with the baptism of John into repentance. But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves not having been baptized by him. How many believe that God has a will and a plan and a purpose for every single human being on the planet? Come on, no one's left behind. No Tim Leves books here, okay? Everyone has a plan and a purpose. The Bible says in Romans 12, too, you can know by not being conformed to this world but transformed by renewing your mind, you can know the good, perfect and acceptable will of God for your life. And so John is preaching, you have to turn. There's a different kingdom here now. This is not the way you've heard it said, but I say, and you're supposed to follow Jesus. And John's preaching and it says the tax collectors and even the prostitutes, the worst sinners of their day heard his preaching and justified God. They said, this is God, I'm being convicted. God's dealing with my heart and my issues. What do I have to do to be saved? And John starts baptizing people into repentance, preparing the way for God to move, preparing the way for the will of God to come to fruition in their lives. But it says the Pharisees who were the religious people and the lawyers who were the educated people rejected the will of God for their lives. Why? By refusing to be baptized by John, by refusing to repent. So repentance is the thing that prepares the way for God to move in your life, in your ministry, in your family, in this church, in the city. It's repentance. But there is a way we can reject or block the will of God and it's by refusing to repent. So I wanted to set this up today because we're gonna talk about three truths about repentance just by saying how important it really is. It was prophesied a thousand years ago by Isaiah, 400 years before Christ in Malachi. And then the beginning of the New Testament starts with preparing the way, the message of John the Baptist. All right, so I'm gonna give you three things about repentance. The first one I want you to know is this, is that repentance requires being all in. Being all in. How many of you raise your hand? You're in church, don't lie, have ever played Texas Hold'em per poker before? Okay, get out. No, I'm just kidding. It's fine. There's this no limit poker game, right? And that's one of the phrases that's used. It's, I'm going all in. If you know anything about poker, there's this craze that happened I don't know, 10 years or so ago. And you can make all this money to have this world series of poker, just by playing poker. So thousands of people pay because they can win like $10 million. And so they have a feature table and you're watching these people play poker. And most of it's really arduous and slow and it takes forever. And there really is, I guess, stamina involved. That's why I actually hurt myself. No, I'm just kidding. But then there's a moment where somebody goes all in. And even if it's at a different table, the camera goes over to that. Why? Because there's this drama and this buildup. Somebody is saying, every one of my chips is going in the middle. There's no turning back. If I win, I win. If I lose, I go home. This is my moment. And it's called the all in moment. And that's exactly the mindset we have to have as Christians. When it comes to repentance, when it comes to following Jesus, when it comes to offering our lives. We're way too good as Christians at compartmentalizing. And saying, well, this is my family life. This is my work life. This is my friend's life. And God gets my church life on Sundays and once in a while on Wednesdays when we have Seek. That's too often what we do. And God is saying, look, repentance is not, I feel sorry for my sins. It's not I feel guilty. I feel bad. It's not just acknowledging that there's a wrong thought in our lives. Repentance is all of your heart, soul, mind and strength surrendering to God. Every part of you saying, God, I'm all in. Whatever you want to reveal to me, I will allow. Whatever you want to speak to me, I will listen. I'm not going to keep anything back from what you're wanting to do in my life. That's what repentance is. So in any situation, we're called to, if we're going this way and God's saying, no, I want you to go that way, we acknowledge it, we humble ourselves and then we turn and we say, God, wherever you're leading is where I'm going to go. And the reason, guys, that's so important in this day and age is because of the times that we're living in. The Bible says in Isaiah 60, we know the verse, that darkness covers the land and deep darkness, the people are cultured. There may have been a time, listen, we cannot afford to play patty cake Christianity anymore. We can't afford to just show up at church and say we're Christians and check a box because the fight is getting intense for the things of God. And there may have been a time, I don't know, two generations or 50, 60 years ago where culture and Christianity were kind of going in the same direction if they're on tracks. It was a little different than it is now. People went to church, if you went to church, it was considered a good thing. If you believed the Bible, that was a good thing and the family dynamic might've been a little different and there wasn't a whole lot of persecution or any kind of like judgment if you were a Christian. Well, in our day today, that is becoming the polar opposite. Culture's going this way and the truth of God is going this way and we have to choose. That's all I'm presenting to you. When I say go all in, I'm saying we cannot decide, well, I wanna believe this about God but not that and I wanna give God this but not that. Repentance says, God, whatever you're speaking to me, I will listen. Whatever you want me to do, I will do. I'm all in because our world needs us to be all in. Now, if you say I believe the Bible, you're very likely gonna be called a bigot, a racist, a homophobe, a patriarchal system is all it is. It's outdated, it's completely out of date and context and people are going to persecute you in a way that maybe they didn't a long time ago, 50 years ago, let's say. And you're gonna have to have a rubber hits the road moment where it says, am I going to believe what God says or am I gonna believe what culture is saying? Am I going to kind of let myself drift towards what's acceptable in the world? And it's getting crazy. This past week I had the incredible opportunity to hold on to my niece Ashley's new baby boy, Owen, which makes me his great uncle, which I knew I was already, but whatever, it's official now. I'm a great uncle. So I'm holding this baby, I'm kidding. It's like four years old, or four days old. She gave birth to a 40 year old baby, it's insane. Four days old. And Eric, my youngest is six now, so I haven't been like proximity that around babies that little for a while, for an extended period of time. And I'm just looking at this baby. And I didn't even want my mind to go there, but I couldn't help but think. I live in a culture where five days ago, this four year old baby could have been terminated. Four day, did I say years again? I'm way ahead, sorry. I'm thinking this five day old baby, four days, or four day old five days ago could have suffered based on laws that we've passed in this country, had his life terminated, could have been aborted at that time. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm remembering when they passed that legislature, if you watched it on TV, there was excitement, there was clapping, and there was celebrating at the passing of a law that provides impending death to babies in the third trimester. That's what's happening in our country. And this is not a political thing, but here's what I'm saying, is that's what's happening in our country, and so if you believe that abortion is, it's okay, I mean, it's choice, it's healthcare, and much of our country does. Like I said, people are clapping and celebrating. We, as people of God, need to repent from that. We need to turn away and say, no, that is not what God says, that is not God's truth, and I'm not going, the country might be going that way, I'm not going that way. I'm going this way, right? Yes, and we're following God. That's, and listen, I get it. I'm probably preaching to the choir for the most part, but I'm gonna tell you, there's another angle to that, that sometimes we don't always get the same perspective on, and that's, okay, so we see the value, we see the image of God in a baby, and we say that's wrong, they should be allowed to survive their God's creation, and yet sometimes in the political schemes, we go to this side and we see the immigrant, we see the person seeking asylum, we see someone trying to come into our country to escape persecution or for whatever reason, and then we bristle up and say, well, they don't belong here. They shouldn't be here. They're not Americans, get them out. And all I'm gonna say to you is that if your heart breaks for the image of God here in this person, you better have the same mentality that God does about this person on this side, because for all of God saying, thank you, for all of God saying, look, I knew you before you were created in your mother's womb and we believe all that, you read Deuteronomy and there are many scriptures about what God says about how we treat foreigners among us, how we treat the poor among us, and sometimes we get things politicized, and I know I talked about that a few weeks ago, but that's why this has to be about people, not just about policies. They're people and we need to repent and they're people we need to repent. So if your mindset is, hey, they need to get out of here, you see a poor people or homeless guy on sprinkling 94 and your first thought is, oh, they're probably a scam. Taco Bell's hiring, what's your problem? I'm not giving you anything. And that's your first thought, you need to repent because that's not how God sees them. That's what I'm talking about, of being all in. They have value, they're in the image of God and we pray when I say all in, it's saying, God, break my heart for what breaks yours. Not just the things that I am a fan of, not just the policies I want to see, but in every arena of my life, God help me turn from the way culture sees things, right or left, towards the way God sees things. We're God pleasers before we're man pleasers. That's what it means to be all in. Second thing about repentance, that it requires humility. If we're gonna repent, if we're gonna see revival, we are going to have to humble ourselves under the sight of God. Turn to your neighbor and say, I know I'm way more humble than you are. I'm just kidding. What we need is more humble geniuses. You know, there's so few of us. I mean, I'm kidding. Humility is the thing that allows repentance to happen because pride keeps us from believing God over what culture's saying, what our circumstances are saying. Pride wants to rise up and say, nope, that's not true. That's not right. That's outdated. And humility is the thing that keeps the presence and the power of God activated in our lives. And so spiritual pride is not just, hey, I'm smarter than you. It's us as a culture saying we're smarter than God. That's what's happening in our culture today. You wanna know what the absolute worst sin is? You might think it's murder. You might think it's armed robbery. The absolute worst sin in the eyes of God is pride because it turned an angel into a devil. And pride is the thing that kept the Pharisees and the lawyers from receiving the baptism of repentance. They pride built up and they said, I don't need this guy. Who's this camel wearing guy? I'm smarter than him. I don't need that. And humility is the thing that says, God, whatever your word says, I'll believe it. Whatever you ask me to do, I'll do it. Culture may be going one way. My feelings might even be going one way, but I stand on the truth of your word and I humble myself to believe that what you say is true and that your heart towards me and towards people is always pure. That's what humility does. And it's what we're lacking in our world. I'm telling you, you will get ridiculed for many of the things that the Bible says and say, gosh, I can't believe that. I can't believe you believe that. We're so beyond that. We're so much smarter than that now. We've gravitated to this place of knowledge and it's not healthy. It's not what God is asking us to do. He says, no, I want those who are humble of heart and who tremble at my word. Second Chronicles 16, nine says this, the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth so that God can show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to him. That's all God wants is your heart. He's not asking you to be a scholar. He's not asking you to be, you know, academically smart as much as just say God in a culture that is increasingly defiantly coming against who you are and what you say I choose to humble myself and believe you. Isaiah 55, nine says this, my ways God is saying are not your ways and my thoughts aren't your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways. The ways of God are greater in their measure and in their scope than the ways of man and we can never get that backwards. We have to trust God even when it might not make sense. There's a story in the gospels about Peter and he's been fishing all night and the Bible says he's caught nothing. He's not fishing like, oh man, like a fishing show. This is like his livelihood. This is super important and he catches no fish and so he starts cleaning the nets and the Bible says Jesus walks up and says cast your nets on the other side. How many of you know Peter? Could have been like, stay in your lane, bro. You know, I'm not teaching, I'm not telling you how to preach sermons. I've been fishing my whole life, man. So I don't need any pointers, but thanks. You know, he could have been frustrated. He could have been angry. He could have blew them off, whatever. Bible says this was Peter's response. We have toiled all night and we've caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I'll let down the nets. It's so powerful. Didn't make sense. Probably was like, whatever, I'm tired. I know what I'm doing. I can try again later. He said, no, at your word, I humble myself. Maybe I thought I was the expert, but you're God and the Bible says in that moment, he had a miraculous catch. Other boats had to come and help him with the catch of fish. And I believe God is saying the same thing to us. If you'll humble yourself and say, God, where are the areas that I've put walls up? Where are the areas that I've blocked out your presence? And I humble myself and I say, God, come, reveal those to me and do it only. You can do humility paves the way for repentance. Last thing, so it requires being all in. It requires humility. Repentance is required to actually know God. To know God, you have to repent. You have to be able to say, I don't wanna just go through the motions. That's what the people of Israel were doing in the book of Malachi. They were just going through the motions in worship, going through the motions with their sacrifice, going through the motions with marriage. And they didn't connect with God. In fact, they were so disconnected, they were blaming God, like, where are you? I thought you were a just God. And the same thing happens today. Sometimes we want to see God maybe move, but we don't wanna connect our hearts to God. Look what it says in Mark chapter six. I'm gonna show you an interesting encounter that John the Baptist had with King Herod. And it will hopefully highlight what I'm talking about here. Let me just give you a quick background. King Herod, this is Herod of Antipas. He's not the Herod who was king when Jesus was born that tried to kill him. It's one of his sons. And so he's the king of Israel, but it's sort of like a quasi-king because Rome's really still in charge and so, but he's the king of Israel and he's married and his brother is married to a woman named Herodius. And King Herod decides, I wanna divorce my wife and then I want Herodius to divorce my brother so that I can marry Herodius. Do you understand? As the world turns, are you with me here? It's a soap opera. He's saying, I'm gonna get divorced, you get divorced and we'll marry each other and we'll be happily ever after. And John the Baptist says, you shouldn't do that. You're the king of Israel. You should walk in integrity and he's preaching repentance at him. And that's where we pick it up in verse, what did I say we were, Mark six? Mark chapter six, verse 17. It says this, sorry, I'm on the wrong page. I'm gonna start in verse 14, sorry. King Herod had heard of him, this is Jesus, for his name had become well-known and he said, John the Baptist has risen from the dead and these powers that work in him, others said it's Elijah. So they're wondering who Jesus is. Others said it's a prophet and Herod heard it, he said, this is John, the Baptist who might be headed. He's been raised from the dead in verse 17, for Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, or he had married her. And because John had said to Herod, it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not. So Herodias, the new wife of Herod, is like, I don't wanna hear this from John. He's preaching, you need to repent. You need to ask God to forgive you. You need to turn around. And she's saying, Herod, kill him. And look what it says, it says, but she couldn't get him to do it for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things and he heard him gladly. So Herod's saying, there's something about John, I'm not gonna kill him, but I'm gonna put him in prison. I'll find, I'll imprison him and that's what he did. And it says that from time to time though, he would take John the Baptist out and let him preach to him. Let him talk to him. If your name's John, you're a solid preacher. I mean, let's be honest, no, I'm just kidding. And he's like, I wanna hear this. What are you talking about? And your Bible might say he was perplexed. Like, I wanna hear more about this. What do you mean we have to repent? What do you mean Jesus' kingdom is different? What do you mean? So he has all these questions and the Bible says that he heard him gladly. He wanted to hear it and he did many things. That's what it says. He heard him gladly and he did many things. I don't know what those things were. Maybe he waved a hanky and was like, preach it, John. Maybe he got a little emotional. Maybe he said, hey, can you rattle off the books of the Bible for, I don't know what he did, what the many things were, but listen, he didn't do the one thing he needed to do. He didn't repent. He didn't connect himself to the message of Jesus Christ. He was glad he did many things, but the one thing he needed to do, he refused to do and eventually he killed John the Baptist. Eventually he silenced the voice of conviction in his life. And my concern and my fear sometimes in the church today is that we have too many Christians who are similar to Herod. They come, they're glad to be here. They like it. I like church. Church is great. Pastor Lee's amazing. He's a great speaker. Look at Cory Asbury. They're at the Grammys. It's amazing, right? There's all these things and I'll do the many things. I'll come to church, hell. I'll get here early. I don't even serve once in a while, but when God starts convicting you, when God starts speaking to your heart about being all in, taking the next step, too many times we're like Herod, and we end up silencing that voice of conviction. We push it down and eventually, as Herod pushed it down and pushed it down, eventually he eliminated what God wanted to do in his life. He did the many things, but he didn't do the one thing. And God is saying to you, if you'll open your heart and give me full access, don't just do the many things. Some of us come and say, okay, I'll go to church, but I can't forgive my husband. You don't understand what I've been through. You don't understand how hurtful that was. And I'll come in and I'll do the many things, and then God starts speaking to you about living with your girlfriend or sleeping with your boyfriend. Oh, I don't know. I don't wanna do that. I'll do the many things. I'll come to church. I like, I'll even raise my hands once in a while, but I don't wanna stop going to the clubs on Saturday. Come on now. And then coming to church on Sunday. And God says, I'm not interested in the many things. I'm interested in your heart. Will you connect it to me? And will you repent instead of just going through the motions? That's what God wants to know. And that's why God is preparing us, preparing the way because something powerful needs to happen in our culture, in our city, in our region, and He wants us to do it. But it's not gonna happen because we went through the motions. I wanna show you one more thing. Turn to Luke chapter 23. This is the same Herod. He kills John the Baptist. He's been arrested, or Jesus, excuse me, has been arrested. And he's in Pilate's jurisdiction. And Pilate says, basically, I don't wanna do anything about this. Do you know that Pilate's wife had a dream about Jesus? And as all of the people are screaming, crucify him, crucify him. She said to Pilate, don't touch that man. I had a dream about him. How do you know if your wife has a dream and tells you not to do something and you still do it, you're an idiot? Am I right? But he did anyways, but he was scared to do it. So then he finds out, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. Jesus was a Galilean? Okay, well, that's Herod's jurisdiction. So I'm just gonna be like, get this off of my hands and I'm gonna send him to Herod and we'll let Herod deal with him. So that's what's happening here. And Luke chapter 23 verse six, look at what it says. When Pilate heard that he was Galilean, he asked, is he a Galilean? And as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at the time. Now listen to this. Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad for he had desired for a long time to see him because he'd heard many things about him and he hoped to see some miracles done by him and then he questioned him with many words. So Herod's excited. Okay, sweet, Pilate, I'm on my way. I'll go talk to Jesus and he's like, man, you dude, you gotta tell me, how did you turn that water to wine? I need to know the secret. How did you open those blind? I heard that you really raised people from the dead and he's excited and he's asking him questions and look at the response from Jesus. But he answered him nothing. Why didn't Jesus answer the questions that Herod had because the way had not been prepared and Herod's heart. Herod wanted to see the power of God without knowing the heart of God. And we have to be people who more than anything say, God, I wanna know your heart. I wanna know your ways. And when we open ourselves up to know God, then the power of God becomes manifest in our lives. Then his grace is sufficient for all of our needs. Then his strength has made perfect in our weakness and we have access to the power and goodness of God, but it doesn't happen until we prepare the way. Until we say, God, I'm not hanging onto this anymore. I'm not shutting you off from this area of my life. Whatever you need to do, I give you open access to my heart and God will come in and God will do a miraculous work. At your word, I lay down the nets on the other side. At your word, I open my heart to what you wanna speak to me. I don't want any part of my life to not be surrendered and submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We have to church listen, get past the day where we say we're Christians, but we're not following Jesus. Jesus said, do you wanna follow me? Then you deny yourself. You take up your cross and then you can follow me. It's on his terms and not ours. But the beauty of the gospel and the paradox of Christianity is the more that you surrender to God, the more freedom you actually have. So the enemy tells you, hang on to that. Don't change that. You don't wanna do that. And God's saying, if you'll just give that to me, you'll experience freedom and blessing and breakthrough that you never thought was possible. That's the beauty of the gospel, but it happens only when we give it all. When we say to Jesus, I hold nothing back. You can have it all. You guys stand up with me. I wanna just pray with you. And I know it's heavy, but listen, I wanna remind you. Romans 2, 4 says this, it is the goodness, the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. God isn't saying I want you to stop this, stop that. You're in trouble. This is bad. He's saying if you'll just identify with who you are in me, if you'll let me mark you and define you as a child of God, everything will change. It's the goodness. It's the love of God that leads us to humbling ourselves, to repenting and to turning from our sin. It's not pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. It's not trying harder. Too many of us are saying, okay, that's the last time I'm gonna do that and I'm gonna stop that. And tomorrow I'm gonna start this. And God's saying, stop doing it in your strength. Surrender to me. My strength is made perfect when you're weak. I'm not asking you to be strong. I'm asking you to surrender to me because I'm already strong. Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. If there's issues you're going through, if there's addictions you can't break, it's not trying harder. It's saying, God, I give you everything. I'm vulnerable, I'm transparent, I hold nothing back. I repent and the miracle power of God can work. But when we come in like Herod and we say, oh man, listen, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that and you're gonna do this and you're gonna do that, God can't operate. God has to be God. We have to let go and allow Him to be God in our lives. I want you to close your eyes and I'm gonna end just by asking, what is the Lord speaking to you? You personally, right now ask the Holy Spirit, what are the areas of my life that I need to surrender? What are the things that I've kept back from fully submitting to your Lordship? It's all He's asking. His eyes go to and fro. All He wants to do is show Himself strong on your behalf. All He wants to do is take your burdens and give you His burden, His yoke. It's easy. His burden is light. When you're carrying it, it's gonna weigh you down. It's gonna drag you down. It's gonna lead you to a place you don't wanna go and it's gonna make you stay longer than you thought you ever would, but there is freedom in repentance. It prepares the way for the power of God to move. And if you're here with your eyes closed right now and you say, John, I need to give my heart to Jesus Christ. I need to repent and turn from where I've been going and turn around and go towards the heart of God. I wanna pray with you today. I'm not talking about, I'm a Christian, but I didn't have a good week. I'm talking about you know that you have followed the ways of the world. You have followed the things of our culture and you need to turn around and come back to the living God. You need to surrender and submit and use a humble heart to connect back with God. That's all he's looking for. And today he's gonna do a miracle. Today he's gonna prepare the way, but you have to do it. And if that's you and you're here and you say, include me in that prayer, we're gonna pray together. I just want you to raise your hand right now. Be bold. Don't give the enemy one more second of your life. Say today is the day I come back. Thank you, thank you. Raise your hand high so we can see it. Today's your day. Be bold. Awesome, there's hands all over. This is your day. God says, I will prepare the way if you will humble yourself. If you will give me access. Awesome, keep your hands up. If you need it right now we're gonna pray in one minute. Connect with God. This is between you and him. Awesome, you can put your hands down. Let's all pray this prayer together. And if you raise your hand, I'm telling you this is not some exercise in redundancy. There is a power in our confession. And if you will say this out loud, the spirit of God will move into your heart and to your situation. I want everyone in the room to say this after me. Dear heavenly father, thank you for loving me. Thank you for saving me. And sending Jesus to set me free. I put my faith in him. In his finished work on the cross. I turn my back on my old way of life. I turn my back on my past. And I follow after the heart of God. I'm a part of your family. I'm a new creation in Christ. All things are gone. All things are new. In Jesus' name. Amen.