Laodicea: To Self-Satisfied Believers

And good morning to everybody watching over in venue. It is great to have you guys with us too and everybody watching online. It is wonderful to have the whole extended congregation together. My name is Rene. I'm one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church. And I want to invite you to grab your message notes that look like this. They're in the bulletins that you got when you came in. And if you're watching online, you can download them. And also, if you have the TLC app on your phone, you can just download the notes and take notes right in your phone and email them to yourself.

And if you have a Bible, please turn to the book of Revelation. It's super easy to find because it's the very last book of the Bible. And over in venue here in the auditorium, we also have some Bibles for you to check out the book of Revelation. In Revelation, as we've been finding in this series that we call the seven, you will find seven ancient letters, one of the most overlooked pieces of Scripture, in my opinion, in the entire Bible. These are seven letters dictated by Jesus to the Apostle John in a vision to seven ancient churches. And we've been checking out those seven churches during this series. Today, we're on the seventh one. And that means next week, we're doing a wrap-up weekend.

I would love to hear from you about how God has used this in your life. Just email me, rene@tlc.org. That's rene with one e on the end, R-E-N-E. Two e's would make it a girl's name. So please don't put that. And I would love to hear your stories about how God has used this in your life to maybe change your opinion of the book of Revelation or even work something deeper into your life.

Well, in this letter, we're looking at a letter from Jesus to self-satisfied believers. Now, what do I mean by that phrase? Well, perhaps this Pepsi commercial from the Super Bowl a couple of years ago might help explain what I'm talking about. Watch and listen.

Basically, it's about... I'm good. Be honest here. I'm good. My bad. I'm good. I'm good. Ready? Go. Men can take anything. I'm good. Except the taste of diet cola. Until now. Pepsi Max, the first diet cola for men. This is good. All right. For the people who might not have caught it after every one of those guys gets injured, what do they say? I'm good. Say it with me one more time. I'm good.

What is it about us human beings that even when we're not good, we have to say, "I'm good," right? Like at Costco when I'm checking out 8 million things and they always offer, "Can I help that... You take that to your car, sir?" No. What do I always say? "I'm good." And then they always fall out of my car, down my way to the car. Every single time I really need somebody to help me and they offer to help me, I just say, "No, I'm good. Can I help you carry that burden? I'm good. Can I help you with directions?" That's another one, right? "No, I'm good." And then I'm lost for another hour.

Well, this happens spiritually as well, right? Can I help you carry that spiritual burden? "No, I'm good." My friend, can I help you with that addiction? "No, no, I'm good, and you're judging me," right? Well, in this letter, Jesus talks to an entire church that's got a bad case of, "I'm good. I'm good." Now, quick show of hands. How many of you think you need to hear this today? About two-thirds of you, and the rest of you are apparently going, "No, I'm good." Ah, gotcha. See how hard this is?

Let me just say this. As your pastor, I think this last letter is really a letter we all need to hear, right? Previous letters have applied to some of the people here and other letters have applied to other people. This one applies to every single one of us because it's so easy to slip into this mindset of, "I'm good. Everybody else here might need some spiritual help, but I'm okay." In fact, let me just get real specific here. Older believers can think, "You know what? I pretty much learned it all. I am perfectly fine the way I am. I'm good. Please do not challenge me in the services with music or teaching or service opportunities. I'm tired. I'm good."

And younger believers can look at us and think, "Those old church people, so smug and passionless. You know what? I don't need their church. I'm good. I pretty much know it all, and I'm going to worship God among the trees." And I always say, "You can worship God among the trees, but a tree's not going to visit you in the hospital when you're sick." That's the one flaw in that plan. Plus, trees are not going to challenge your thinking.

You see, here's the problem. That kind of smug attitude of, "I'm good," it stifles your passion. It encourages arrogance, and it cuts off any potential growth. If you want to keep growing, you have to be willing to say, "I'm not good. I'm not 100% good. I need help." Say that with me. Can you say, "I need help"? "I need help." If you cannot say that sincerely, you cannot grow. So open your minds to what Jesus says here to the churches, starting in Revelation chapter 3, verse 14. He says, "To the angel," and we've seen that can also mean messenger of the church in Laodicea.

Now, stop right there for just a second, because to really understand what comes next, you have to understand the amazing story of this place, Laodicea. And this is just emerging in the last few years, thanks to an amazing archaeologist. Here's the story. Laodicea was a spectacular city that sat perched on a plateau. But before 2002, all you could see there was this, a field. This picture was taken in the year 2000. Here's what happened. The city was leveled by an earthquake about 1200 years ago, and the damage was so bad that it was just abandoned. And over 1200 years, dirt covered the ruins.

But for decades, one persistent archaeologist pestered the Turkish authorities, "Please let me dig there. I just know that there are amazing finds there. If the legends about Laodicea's amazing wealth are true, please let me dig." And year after year after year, the authorities said, "No. No. No." And he's just dreaming of what he might find. Finally, in 2002, he gets permission to dig. And under just four feet of dirt, he finds mile after mile of this, an entire Roman city folded flat, knocked down by the quake.

And for the last 13 years, what they've been doing is popping the city buildings back up. It's like unfolding a pop-up book, really. And we got to visit this last October, and we now know for the first time in centuries just how wealthy this city was. I mean, here's some examples. It had not one, but two massive theaters seating a combined 20,000 people. They had a massive stadium the size of three modern football fields. Not one, not two, but five ancient agoras or shopping malls.

We now know that it was by far the richest of these seven cities in the book of Revelation, and we now know how they got so rich. First it was their location. The Laodiceans built right at the crossroads of two major trade routes, and that's become clear as the ruins have been uncovered, as you can see in this drone picture. So they became naturally kind of a business hub. And then the Laodiceans capitalized on that by breeding sheep that were famous for their glossy black wool. The Laodiceans just loved these for their winter coats.

And so money starts pouring into the city because of the black wool, and then the Laodiceans leveraged that by becoming one of the first banking centers. They literally mint their own money. And then some Laodicean whose name has been lost to history has an innovative idea. He said, "Hey, let's keep gold for travelers who can, instead of traveling with their gold and becoming targets for bandits, can keep their gold safe with us, and all they have to travel with are certificates that we issued to them. And so they can come to any one of our banking centers, and if they put their seal proving it's them, then we can give them the gold that we are keeping for them." And the idea spreads like wildfire. You could call it the very first checking account, right? And they simply charge just a small service fee, of course, and they get outrageously wealthy from this.

And then it gets better. They develop a famous medical school that comes up with an eye medicine that they become very well known for and popular for. And then in A.D. 60, another massive earthquake levels Laodicea. Now this wasn't the same one that leveled the city hundreds of years later that they then abandoned. This one was back in Bible times. And it was such a bad earthquake, as you heard Mark expertly talk about Philadelphia last week, that was the same earthquake. But while Philadelphia really was impoverished by Roman policy and couldn't rebuild themselves, the Roman government offered Laodicea help.

They said, "Hey, we will give you massive subsidies to rebuild." And the Laodiceans said to the Roman Caesar something that probably the Roman Caesar had never heard from anybody else. They said, "No, we're good. We're good. We are so wealthy that we are turning down Caesar's money because we would rather be independent than have any kind of financial ties to you." And so they rebuilt with their own money very impressively. In fact, Tacitus, who was a Roman senator at the time, he wrote this and you can just feel in his words the wonder. He said, "Laodicea rose from ruins by the strength of her own resources and with no help from us."

In fact, as the archeologists keep unearthing these buildings, they find literally tons of inscriptions on nearly every building like this one. "I, Nicostratos, rebuilt the stadium out of my own resources." Or here's another one, "I, Nicostratos, restored these heated walkways at great personal expense." The Laodiceans were so proud of how self-sufficient they were that you even see it on Laodicean money. Just like we do today, they had their motto, their city motto on the money that they made. And their motto was this, a phrase in Greek translated, "Laodicea, the sacred and," what? Autonomous.

And what's another word for autonomous? Shout out some, yeah, free, independent, I'm good, right? That's what autonomous means. Now, check this out. As time went on, just a few decades later, their motto developed. It's interesting how it developed. They dropped the word sacred. And their later money just said, "Laodicea, the autonomous." When it came down to it, that's the adjective that they wanted to have described them. And I was thinking about this. In our society today, which adjective do you think means more to people, sacred or autonomous? Autonomous, right? I want to be independent. That is even more important than being holy. And that's where the Laodiceans were coming from too.

In fact, if you were wandering around the city of Laodicea, you might have heard this phrase, "We don't need a thing." And in fact, Jesus says, this was not just true of the city, it was true of the Christians in the city. Verse 16, he says, "You say, 'I am rich. I have acquired wealth and I do not need a thing.'" In other words, they were saying to the emperor of the universe, just the same thing they said to the emperor of Rome, "We're good. We actually, now that we're Christians, we actually don't need you, God. We got the spiritual life thing handled." Here's Laodicea's problem. The delusion of spiritual self-sufficiency. The delusion of spiritual self-sufficiency. I don't even need God anymore.

Now before you flip over to page two, look up here for just a second. Because this right here, this is the hidden danger for Christians, more than any of the other dangers talked about in the book of Revelation so far. In fact, let me just have a show of hands. How many of you have been Christians, followers of Christ, for let's say five years or more? Would you slip up your hand? Look at this. You are all in danger. You really are. That's what this letter is about. In fact, maybe you've been feeling it already. Look, your joy is gone. Your passion is gone. You're not feeling it anymore and you go, "How did that happen? I'm still a believer." Here's how it happened.

Look up here for just a second. Step one, I accept Jesus Christ as my savior. I'm saved. That means I have some light bulb moment. I see my own helplessness and I go like the song, "Jesus take the wheel. I can't do this anymore." You have your come to Jesus moment, right? Everybody who raised their hands, we're here because we've had that moment. We've got so warmed by his love and so in awe of his grace to us. When we worship, we were just, "Jesus is what it's all about because I'd be lost without Jesus." But then, step two, as my life slowly gets better, I remember I was saved by grace but I forget to keep living by grace.

Very slowly, I start living by my own strength, just trying harder to do better and my spiritual life becomes a slog and I get spiritually dry. You know why? Because nothing about my faith is really supernatural anymore. So I barely pray because I figure there's not really anything to pray about. If it's to be, it's up to me, right? I don't really need God actually. I don't really worship with passion. There's a disconnect. Why? Because my spiritual life is all about my own strength, not about God's strength working through me. So worship doesn't connect for me.

So how do I snap out of it? Well, Jesus' answer on page two is actually kind of surprising to me. You know why it's surprising to me? Watch this. Jesus does not insist that they move out of Laodicea. And Laodicea, this was a spiritually compromising environment. For the first time, I looked at the Jewish Talmud that was written about the same time. And in the Jewish Talmud, there's condemnations of the synagogue at Laodicea for laxity and lazy wealth. So it wasn't just a problem that the Christian community had here. But Jesus doesn't say, "Get out of Laodicea. It's poisoning you." He doesn't say, "Move to Philadelphia and suffer. That'll improve your spiritual life." Why not?

Listen, have you discovered yet that a change of location doesn't do anything for you unless you change inside first? Right? And Jesus knows that there's some spiritual changes that can happen, some moves they can make inside right there in Laodicea that will affect them profoundly. And this is such an important thing for you and I to learn, right? Isn't it? As Christians in a relatively comfortable church, in a relatively comfortable place, Aptos, Santa Cruz County, we've got it pretty good here. So we need to know, how do you live in a place that's pretty comfy and yet still have that edge, still have that eye of the tiger, still have that passion for the lost and that passion for God and that passion for spiritual growth?

How can Christians in comfortable situations escape the trap, the illusion of spiritual self-sufficiency? Well, there's three ways. First Jesus says, "You gotta see the symptoms that I see." He says, "I know your deeds." In other words, I know how you are. I know all about you. "That you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth." Now this doesn't mean they're going to lose their salvation. It's a colorful way of Jesus being very honest and saying, "This spiritual smugness that you have is making me sick to my stomach."

How did you like to have your church wind up in the Bible? That's the good news. Are churches in the Bible? Yeah, the bad news is it's because you make Jesus sick. Wow. Now what's he talking about here? Again, this is a situation that's just been illuminated by a lot of archaeology. Here's what we now know. For all of its riches, Laodicea lacked one crucial resource, water. Now the two closest cities to it, one just across the valley, one just down the valley, where two neighboring cities had water in abundance.

Like just across the valley, Hierapolis had amazing natural hot springs that they piped into elaborate baths where the Romans would come to just sit and soak in the afternoons after they skied. No, that part's not true, but the rest is all true. They were like the first Jacuzzis ever, and you can still soak in those very same waters. In fact, we did this last October. The water still bubbles out of the ground at 95 degrees Fahrenheit. It's hot. It's rich in minerals, so as it spills out of wide pools over the edges of the cliff there, it creates these amazing white stalactites. These are 300 feet high and almost a mile wide, so these were easily seen from right across the valley at Laodicea. It must have just galled them.

And just a few miles the other direction in the valley was the city of Colossae. It hasn't been excavated yet, but it's got pure ice cold snow melt water all year long. So one neighbor with hot water, one neighbor with nice cold water, Laodicea, no water. So their engineers pumped water in from six miles away. Archaeologists find these ancient water pipes everywhere on that plateau. One problem, by the time this water gets to Laodicea, it's neither hot nor cold. It's very lukewarm and yucky, speaking scientifically.

Check this out. All their pipes show layers of crusty minerals. Do you see that inside the pipes? Those are silt and mineral deposits from their water. That tells you how impure their water was. It made their water taste terrible, really literally sickening water. So for all their wealth, they had serious water shortage and water quality problems. In fact, let me show you a brand new archaeological discovery revealed just this last August. This is just less than three months ago at Laodicea. They found this huge marble block that has the Laodicean water law inscribed on it from Bible times.

You think this is a joke, but this is really not a joke. It says, "The use of water in the city is now managed by law, and water abusers will incur a severe penalty ranging from 5,000 denarias to 12,500 denarias." Isn't that interesting? Now look at this. It says, "And those who report a water abuser will get one-eighth of the penalty as a reward." That is one strict water district right there. So for all their weaknesses, water was, for all their strengths, rather, water was their weak spot. Does this sound familiar to anybody else, by the way?

Well, Jesus zeroes in on this like he does in every one of these seven letters, their unique situations, and he uses it, again, as a spiritual analogy. And he says, "Your spirituality is kind of like your water. It's lukewarm and it's polluted and it's sickening. You know, you got the cold spring water at Colossae. That's good for something, good for refreshing you. The hot water at Hierapolis was good for relaxing you. But the lukewarm Laodicean water was literally good for nothing." It's kind of like this. Starbucks serves cappuccinos that are hot, right? And frappuccinos that are cold. They don't serve lukewarm tepid-chinos.

You will never find those there. Can you imagine? Try our new tepid-chino with flat room temperature foam, perfect for hosting all bacteria. That would be literally sickening. And that's a similar point here. The Laodiceans had become so passionless, they were purposeless. Hot water heals, cold water refreshes, but lukewarm water is useless. And that's what he's saying to these people. He's saying, "You're not living with a purpose anymore. The eye of the tiger is gone." Think of this. Another word for lukewarm, watch, is room temperature, right? When the water just is the same temperature as everything else surrounding it in the room. Are you tracking with me? Have you gone room temperature?

Where your actions are the same as everybody else, your values are the same as everybody else, your thoughts are the same as everybody else, your media consumption is the same as everybody else. Room temperature water doesn't make an impact. It doesn't transform, it doesn't refresh, it doesn't heal because it's the same as everything else. Poses a tough question for you and me. Has my faith become so passionless it's purposeless? And you got to remember, Jesus is writing to all seven of these churches because he knows there is coming persecution. All of these churches, he knows, are going to face roughly 250 years of pretty intense hits.

And just like them, I'm no prophet, but I think it's pretty obvious that we're in a time in world history where there's some rough sailing ahead. The terrorist attacks in Paris tragically are just the latest evidence of that. And Jesus is saying to them and to you and me, the biggest danger to surviving and thriving through tough times is lukewarm spirituality, lukewarm Christianity because it's hollow, it's spineless. There's no substance to it. And so when tough times come, you're just going to fold. And he doesn't want you to fold. He wants you to stay strong.

And so if room temperature is the symptom, here's the underlying disease, here's how we get lukewarm. Simply put, it's the disease of spiritual pride. We've already looked at this. Jesus says, "You say I have no need of a thing but you don't realize you're wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked." We're blind to what we're going through because we're so spiritually proud that we're going, "I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. Don't tell me how I need to improve." So if that's the disease, spiritual pride, the symptom is room temperature Christianity, what's the prescription?

Well, you know, when emergency first responders find somebody lost in the wilderness and their body temperature is low, their first course of action is to raise the body temperature. They try blankets, they try heaters. Well, if you need to raise your spiritual body temperature, Jesus talks about three ways here. And I love the way he uses the financial analogy because Laodicea was such a banking center. Verse 18, he says, "I counsel you to buy from me." You know, as your investment manager, here are three additions to your stock portfolio that I recommend. First invest in gold refined in the fire so you can become rich. What's that mean? I thought they were already rich.

He says, "No, you need gold, real gold, so you can get rich." It can only mean what Jesus refers to in the Gospels, where he says, "Store up for yourselves treasures where? In heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves don't break in and steal." And how do I do that? It happens when I use my resources for a purpose. When you use your time, your talents, your treasures to give to those in need, that's how you become truly rich forever. And it's one way to raise your spiritual temperature. And I want to prove it to you. I want to show you two videos. I showed some of you part of the first one last Christmas, but I want you to watch the rest of the story. Look at the screen.

Earlier this month in Kansas City, Missouri, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department was out looking for people. And when they spotted a subject, they went after him in a sting operation, the likes of which this country has never seen. Hello, ma'am. Your vehicle was targeted. What do you mean? Oh, my gosh. Okay. What made this operation especially unusual was the man behind it. Good morning. A fellow in a red hat known to these men only as Secret Santa. We got a mission today to go out and do random acts of kindness. Every year this anonymous wealthy businessman gives out about $100,000 worth of $100 bills to random strangers.

But this year, instead of doing it all himself, he deputized these deputies to give away much of it. Let's start with 1000. And so armed to the teeth with Benjamins, the officers went out to do Santa's bidding red in color Chevy Cavalier. They specifically went after people they thought would appreciate it most cars driving while dented or out on bondo were likely targets. Merry Christmas. You can see that most people weren't just working most people weren't just blown away. Most people were brought to tears. That make your day better.

Their reactions a combination of really needing the money and being caught so off guard. Hello, look straight at me and turned around and pulled me over with no car. How you doing, ma'am? I'm good until you pulled me over. Okay, well, on behalf of Secret Santa, we want you to have this. Okay, Jessica Rodriguez, a mother of three, told the deputy he saved her Christmas. I wasn't gonna be able to give the kids anything. Well, I hope you maybe get your kids something with as always moments like that are the main mission here. All right, you have a good holiday season.

But this year, Secret Santa also had a secret agenda. What do you want the officers to get out of this? Joy, you know, as tough as they are, they have hearts that are bigger than the world. Let's face it. It hasn't been a good year for law enforcement, but for the vast majority of decent officers who will never make headlines, Secret Santa offered this gift. Appreciate it, man. A chance to be the bearer of good news for a change. Congratulations. A chance to really help the homeless, to thank the law abiders, to see hands up in celebration and then be assaulted in the best possible way.

There were a lot of hugs. Our body cameras took a real beating, but it was worth it just to see people trust again and to see cops surrender. You have a good holiday. Isn't that beautiful? Don't you love that? Love that. Yeah. Let me ask you a question. Do you feel your heart stirring, getting warmer, just watching that? It's because when you use your resources, your treasures or your time or your talents for a purpose, it just does something to you on the inside. The temperature gets turned back up. You know, the eye of a tiger comes back.

I want to give you an example of one way I see that happening right here at TLC. Our own people's pantry. On Wednesdays, that's when we turn Munski Hall or a side of Munski Hall back into a food bank. Whoever wants to can come and get food. The people there are living for a purpose. Here's just one person who helps out there. Watch Anna's story.

My name is Anna and I volunteer at People's Food Pantry. People's Food Pantry is a ministry, a place that everyone that needs food, families, singles, homeless, they can come to get the food that they need. We have camps and we have produce and bread. So we are open for anyone that needs help. Long time ago, when I moved to California, I had no idea about food pantry. And I was going through a very hard time that I have to get quarters to go to the market and then I have to decide to buy toilet paper or food. And it was very hard decisions and one day someone find out about my situation and I was in Salvation Army and the captain there opened the doors of the pantry and I was so impressed that these kind of things happen here.

Like you can go someplace if you need food and get food. And who will tell that years after I will be here volunteering for People's Food Pantry and I have seen the difference in many ways and besides that before opening the pantry, Jack Sporlock and me, we give a talk to the people and we talk about encouragement words and of course we talk about God. And many of them have become members of Trillich Church because of this ministry. And they ask for prayers and I just thank God every Wednesday when I come walk here and see the box and they're like, "Once more God provides food."

Isn't that awesome too? I love that. And here's the thing, those of you who know Ana know Ana's always passionate. She's got a fire inside of her. She's got the eye of the tiger. Why? I think a huge part of the reason is she is living for a purpose. She has exchanged her gold for a heavenly gold that just raises your spiritual body temperature. And those of you who serve you, you understand this. You totally get it because it's challenging and it's exciting and it's thrilling and it's risky and that is one of the reasons I want to encourage you to give to the food drive this November.

I don't want this to just be wallpaper yeah every November we do a food drive I give the same amount every single year. I want to challenge you to do something that's a little sacrificial for you this year. Not just to feed the hungry but for your own spiritual vitality. You can pick up these envelopes if you don't have one at any of the tables in the lobby. They'll be in the bulletins again next weekend. But as it says here if every one of us gave for example $80 to the food drive and I know that's a lot that's a pair of shoes but if we do that we'll give away the equivalent of a million meals and that's spiritually thrilling and it does something to you when you give sacrificial. It just raises your spiritual body temperature again.

Now very quickly let's bring it in for a landing. Second thing he says is "Buy from me white clothes to wear" referring to their black clothing industry so you can cover your shameful nakedness. He's saying try white. You guys are experts in black and white clothes are symbolic of holiness. He's saying long for holiness desire it live for it and of course I don't mean some rigid legalism. I mean a longing to just live righteously live righteously. Why? Because that brings back the passion.

And then third he says buy from me salve to put on your eyes referring to their eye medicine market so you can see he's talking here about wisdom. Again when you desire wisdom long for wisdom pray for wisdom every day ask God to salt every conversation with wisdom something happens you turn the temp back up in your soul. And so the question is how do I get these three things? Where do I find these things? Is it an endless exhausting spiritual quest? No. All three of these things are found in one refreshing place.

Jesus talks about it in a verse that's become a classic. I'm going to put Revelation 3.20 on the screen and I want us all to read this out loud together. All right? Let me hear you. Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with that person and they with me. A super famous painting of this verse is William Holman hunts the light of the world. You've probably seen this but if you notice the details fruit has been left to rot on the ground. Weeds have grown up in front of the door. The hinges are rusted. Clearly it's been closed for a long time. And notice something else. There's no doorknob on the outside. It can only be opened from the inside. This is your heart.

Jesus doesn't barge in. He says what? If you hear my voice and open the door to me then I'll come in. You know for most of my life I heard this verse referred to as a salvation verse. You know if you're not a believer invite Jesus into your life. But this is actually not written to unbelievers is it? It's written to the church at Laodicea. Let me ask you is it possible for a Christian to basically live without Jesus being a part of their daily life? Absolutely. It happens when you get lukewarm.

And so Jesus says and here's the bottom line welcome me into your life daily. Do you welcome Christ in daily? Do you say daily Jesus give me your perspective today? Jesus help me to be your agent today? Jesus give me your wisdom today? I want to be clear here if you ever see Christ I believe you can't ever lose your salvation because it's secured by what Jesus did not what you do. But there's a practical basis of it keeping inviting Jesus into your life on a daily basis. And I want to give you a chance to do that right now.

A couple of years ago I was the morning speaker at Mount Herman and Mike Romberger who's the new president of Mount Herman. He was a pastor in Colorado. He was the evening speaker. And at the end of his message he talked about this verse and how it's addressed to believers and he invited us to come up to the front of the chapel if we needed to welcome Christ back into our lives as our daily friend and guest. And he said come on up to the chapel there's stairs here come to the front and kneel and pray and then you can have your seat.

He said there's something about us that when we make a physical move when we stand up and go to the door and open it so to speak that decision stays with us longer than decisions we just sort of make silently in our minds with nobody else knowing about it. And he was right because I did it. I went up and I went forward. At first I was worried I thought there's going to be people here who are wondering why is our morning speaker going up has he not been saved you know? But I did it because there were things in my life that weren't right. There were areas where I'd allowed myself to go room temperature and that decision time for me stuck with me.

So I'm going to invite Trent to come back up here to the front and as we sing one song I'm going to invite you to come up and pray to say God you know what I'm not good today and I need your help. Now I don't want this to be a product of guilt or emotion only but if you have been resonating with this message I have been feeling so lukewarm and you've heard Jesus's voice outside as he knocks on the door of your heart. Here's your chance to open the door. Simply come up to the front and pray and then you can return to your seat if you need to pray with somebody the Stephen ministers will be up here.

So here's what I want us to do. Let's stand together as we pray. Would you stand with me? And with our eyes closed and our heads bowed let's just take a moment to hear his voice. To hear Jesus saying I'd love to come in. Don't be afraid I'm not going to come in and beat you up or come in and lecture you. I want to come in and eat with you. To fellowship with you. Will you open the door? Jesus we know how deeply you love us and I just pray that you would let the world around us kind of fade away for a minute and let us hear you knocking.

Help every one of us to say Jesus I'm not a hundred percent good. I really need you. I'm tired of trying to do it all by myself. I welcome you into my heart today and some want to make a decision about something that they've been dealing with in their lives and they're going to come forward right now whether here whether over in venue they're going to come to the front and pray and maybe some for the very first time are going to say Jesus come into my life as my savior. Thank you for what you did for me on the cross and now please come in and empower me to change in Jesus name. Amen.