The Way to Strength

Female: Hey, Porch. Join me as we read God's Word together from the book of 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 1-13.

"You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: if we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful-for he cannot deny himself."

Now for our second message in our series on 2 Timothy.

Tyler Moffett: Come on, Porch. How are we doing tonight? Man, I'm so glad you gave your Tuesday night to be here with us. Whether you're here in the room or whether you're watching and tuning in from online, we're so, so glad you're here. We want to give a special shout-out to our Live locations that are tuning in, specifically from Wheaton, from Scottsdale, and from our neighbors over in Fort Worth. Let's give it up for our Live locations for jumping in.

Hey, we just read it, but if you have a Bible, go ahead and open your Bible up to 2 Timothy, chapter 2. We're just going to walk through what we just read. Last week, we kicked off a new series on the book of 2 Timothy where we're just walking through this book together. Last week, we looked at chapter 1. This week, we're going to look at chapter 2.

It's interesting. We planned this months ago, and we just thought, "Oh, 2 Timothy…that'd be a good book to study. It's written to a young adult in a secular city." We had no idea what was coming this week, yet God in his sovereignty knew. So, 2 Timothy 2… I mean, you just read it. We're going to look at it together. I do not think there's a better chapter in the whole Bible we could be in this week.

I don't know if you've felt it like I have, but this has just been a uniquely dark season. Not only the past six days; I'm talking about the past month. It's interesting. A few weeks ago, we went to Launch as a ministry. Many of you were there. It was amazing. One of the things we did at Launch is we had… Those of you who were there know. That first night we talked about light invading the darkness, and we gave little note cards out to everyone.

We said, "Hey, don't put your name on these, but just write on that note card the darkest thing you've walked through over the past year, and then on the other side, write something you need to confess. We want to start this weekend off just getting it out there." We turned them all in, and over the past couple of weeks, our team has been praying through those cards. I mean, no names on them, so we don't know your story, but we're just hearing story after story, and it's breaking our hearts.

One of the cards said, "I'm counting down to the deadline of the day when I'm going to take my own life." Another card said, "I am right now in an affair with a married man." Another card said, "I'm right now sleeping with two different women who don't know the other one exists." Another card said, "I hate the way my body looks. I wake up in the morning, and I just hate what I look like."

Countless others said, "I'm drowning in sexual immorality. I feel like I'm stuck." And then card after card after card talking about abuse they've gone through. I could go on and on. I just get sick to my stomach, going, "Wow. This is the reality." We walk in here, we sing the songs, we look the part, yet these cards are telling on ourselves. This is where we are. It's dark. It's heavy.

Then, you fast-forward to the past week that each of us have endured of a shooting in Colorado, of a stabbing on a subway, and then, in a gathering much like this, Charlie Kirk assassinated, and the world just blew up, it feels like. We look at this, and what's so sad to me is that not only do we grieve these things, but what grieves me the most is sometimes I look at how Christians are responding… (If you're not a believer, just bear with me. I'm talking to Christians for a second.)

I watch how Christians react to what we just witnessed, and it's no different than the world…scared, running to our political posts to yell at the other side, or even apathetic. If I'm honest, I've just been grieving the past week, and I found solace in the Scriptures that say, "Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep." This has been a week of weeping, yet this has also been a week where I've been asking this question. This is the question we're asking that Paul is asking in the text we just read: Where are the strong people today?

Where are the strong people today? I'm not talking about physical strength. I'm not even talking about mental strength. I'm talking about this deep, settled, spiritual confidence, strength in who God is and what he has done on our behalf and what he's doing even in the midst of the darkness. I just look out and go, "Where are the strong people today? Where are they? God, would you raise up those who, like Timothy, are strong?" Because we live in a time where there are so many weak, passive, victim people who just run to the sideline when anything happens rather than rising up and going, "God, this is the moment. You have created me for moments like this."

I believe that's what Paul is talking about. In fact, if you look at it again… Again, we just read it, but look at 2 Timothy 2:1. You see this in the first verse. Paul says, "You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus…" At the end of chapter 1, Paul talks about people who deserted him after he went to prison. Remember, Paul is in a prison cell, writing to Timothy who's in a secular city, a dangerous city. He's writing to him to be strong.

He says at the end of chapter 1, "All of these people deserted me." Then he says in chapter 2, "You, though… Timothy, it's different for you. You be strong. Be strengthened by the grace…" Grace is an undeserved gift, power from God that's given to you. He says, "Be strengthened by the grace of God. It's different. It's a different standard for you than everybody else. Be strong." Twenty-five times in the books of 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, Paul will tell Timothy to be strong.

I believe he's saying the same thing to us in the midst of what we're walking through. "Be strong." The question is…How? "I mean, how in the world do you be strong, Paul, in light of what we've gone through the past week, in light of the mental illness epidemic that's going on, in light of the sexual sin I'm stuck in? How in the world am I supposed to be strong? You'd better be glad I just made it here today. Now you're telling me to beef up, get out there, be strong, and endure the world? How?" That's what the rest of this chapter is about.

There are four things he's going to tell us. How do you be strong in the Lord? There are four things. Let's keep reading. Look at verse 2. He says, "…and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also." The first thing Paul says is "You want to be strong? You need to go find the faithful." He says, "What you've heard from me entrust to faithful men." That's the idea of faithful people.

This is discipleship 101: 2 Timothy 2:2. There's a verse in the Bible about discipleship. This is it. Paul says, "Hey, Timothy, I want you to be strong, and here's how. First, don't be just a participant. Don't be just someone who consumes the gospel I've given you. I want you to be a channel through which this truth flows right through you to other people."

He says, "That's how you become strong." You receive this, and you don't just go, "Oh, this is so good. I'm just going to keep watching this YouTube video. I'm just going to keep sitting in this sermon. I'm just going to critique." He goes, "I'm going to be an active participant learner, and then I'm going to share it with others."

It begs two questions. First, before you can share to other faithful people, are you faithful? Paul says, "Entrust to faithful people." He doesn't say smart people. He doesn't say good-looking people. He doesn't say popular people. He doesn't even say perfect, good people. He says faithful people, people who are steadfast, who are hungry, who are full of faith, who believe "God is who he says he is, and I'm going to trust him for crazy things." I just wonder, are you one of these people?

Proverbs 20:6 says, "Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?" There are a lot of people at a place like this who go, "I'm faithful. I'm faithful." Yet Solomon, writing, goes, "It's hard." Jonathan Edwards was a pastor in the 1700s. When he was in his 20s, he wrote 70 different resolution statements about his life. These things are crazy. Just Google it later. "Jonathan Edwards resolutions." They start the same. "Resolved, I will…" "Resolved that I will be…" "Resolved…"

His thirty-second resolution basically says, "Resolved that I will be strictly and firmly faithful, and that Proverbs 20:6, 'A faithful man who can find?' may not be partly fulfilled in me." Do you have this resolution in your life? "Man, despite what's going on, I will be faithful. I will be hungry. I will not lose that drive, that desire, that hunger for you, God. I will be faithful."

That's the first question, and then the second one is this: Where are the faithful people around you? Some of you would say, "I am the only one at my workplace who loves God. I'm the only one. Tyler, you don't know. You haven't been where I've been, where I work. I mean, I am the only one. The fact that I'm not just saying the F-word all the time is proof. Right?"

Maybe you'd say, "I'm the only one in my family. Like, I go home for Thanksgiving, and I'm like, 'Lord, please just take me home right now.' I'm the only one." Some of you, your group chat right now is blowing up. You're like, "O Lord, just please no one here at The Porch see what my friends talk about. I'm the only one." I've felt that.

I remember when I was a freshman in high school down in Houston, a big 6A school. I remember walking the halls of my high school. I was in football. I was in band. I was running in not a great crowd at the time. I remember thinking, "There are no other Christians at my school. There's nobody who loves God here. I'm trying, but there's nobody." I remember just moaning and complaining. Finally, a mentor talked to me. He was like, "Tyler, turn to 1 Kings 19."

He told me the story of Elijah. Elijah had just seen God do a mighty miracle, and the queen Jezebel is after him, wants to take his life. He goes into the desert, and he cries out to God. He goes, "God, I'm the only one who's left. Everyone else has deserted you. I'm the last one." God goes, "Get up. Go over to this mountain and look out. There are 7,000 people who haven't bowed their knee to Baal. You didn't know they existed, but they're out there, so stop your whining."

My mentor said to me, "Tyler, start praying for the 7,000." I was like, "There are only 3,000 people at our school." They were like, "You get it. Start praying for the 7,000." So, you know what? I don't even know if it was the right heart. I was like, "Lord, show me the 7,000. Where are they?" A few months later, I'm in biology class, ninth-grade biology. The class finishes, and my buddy leans over and goes, "Hey, man. Have you ever thought about starting a Bible study?"

I was like, "A what? What? No way! You want to start a Bible study?" He was like, "Yeah, man. I kind of have been thinking about it." I was like, "All right. Let's do it." So, we planned it for the next Friday night. Four people showed up, three guys and one girl. We all had a crush on the one girl. But we opened the Bible, and we studied the Bible. And do you know what's crazy? The next week, six people showed up. The next week, 10 people showed up, then 15, and before long, 30 freshmen… No adults. Thirty little freshman high schoolers were meeting in a home.

Who knows what terrible theology was being taught, but we were just diving into the Word, and we were just studying it. Do you know what's crazy? To this day, my closest friends… When I got married, my groomsmen were part of those 30…at my school where I thought, "There are no believers here. It's just me, God." God goes, "Shut up. Just wait. Just open your eyes. Start praying. There are faithful people here."

You know, here at The Porch, I've heard statements like this: "There are no godly guys in Dallas." I've heard that statement. I've heard guys say, "There are no faithful girls at The Porch. None!" I'm like, "None? Really? None? That's pretty bold. It's a little critical." But I always think, and sometimes when I'm one-on-one, I try to turn it on the person and go, "All right. Let's just say there are none. You're the only one. Shouldn't you walking in here defy that statement? Shouldn't the fact that you're in here as a godly guy…? No girl can say, 'Well, there are no godly guys in Dallas' because you're here." "No guys can say, 'There are no faithful girls' because you're here."

All of a sudden, even if you feel alone, you're just going, "I don't care if I'm alone. I'm going to walk this path." And maybe a few of you start seeing each other. You start meeting, going, "Wow! You love God too. You love God too." Paul says, "Do you know what discipleship is? It's finding the hungry people, the faithful people, and going, 'Do you want to walk together? Can I entrust my life to you?'" Paul says when you do that, and you train one another up, watch; this thing is about to explode.

When you navel-gaze and think, "Oh, I'm the only one," then your world is so small, but when you start opening your eyes and going, "God, show them," the hungry people are out there. Start it with you. I mean, last week on this stage, we announced our Disciple class. We said, "It's for those of you who are hungry. We have limited spots."

On the spot, 110 people signed up. The class is full. Don't try to sign up, because it's full. I'm just telling you, those of you who go, "Oh, there's nobody…" I have 110, starting next week, who are hungry. "I want more. I want more." So, believe again. Do you want to be strong? You need to find the faithful people. Find the faithful around you. That's the first one.

All right. Let's keep moving. Look at verse 3. Paul continues. He says, "Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops."

The second thing is you need to realize you're not a civilian. Paul starts off this section, and he tells Timothy, "Hey, you'd better expect hardship, bro. This thing is not easy." He says, "Share in suffering." Paul says, "I'm in prison. I'm writing to you. Don't think you're getting out of this easy, that that's just for the super-Christians. No way, man. Get in the game. How do you do it? Focus on your identity."

He says in verses 4-6, "Timothy, you're not a civilian; you're a soldier. You are not a spectator; you're the athlete who's playing on the field. You're not an H-E-B shopper; you're a farmer out in the field. That's what you are. Don't you realize who you are?" I'm curious for you… What does your Christian life resemble more, a civilian or a soldier?

A few years ago, my younger brother got accepted into the Naval Academy out in Annapolis. We were so excited for him. I remember, the summer before he went for his freshman year… They call freshmen plebes, just a really endearing name. He went out for his freshman year. The summer before, they have this ceremony called I-Day (Induction Day). Part of I-Day is it kicks off this plebe summer where they're just getting yelled at and all this.

They have this ceremony where parents come and drop off their little baby, you know, and take pictures and give them a kiss, and then they send them into this room. In the room, they shave their hair off. They yell at them. They teach them how to march. Then there's this moment where, literally, they split parents on both sides of this walkway, and they put all of the midshipmen, the plebes, in between their parents, and they have these goofy uniforms on.

They march in between their parents, unable to smile, and then they go into this room, this dorm, with a huge mahogany door, and they slam it shut in front of all of the parents. My brother said behind that door, this is what they tell you. They say to all of these freshmen, "You are no longer a civilian. Your civilian life is done. You are now a member of the United States military. You need to know, and your mamas out there need to know, you belong to us." My brother said there are big ol' guys shaking, like, "What did I sign up for?"

I remember hearing that and thinking, "That is the picture we get in the Bible of Christian baptism." Now, just hang with me for a minute. Think about it. My brother got accepted into the Naval Academy long before this ceremony, but this moment is important if you're going to be a part of the United States Navy in the Naval Academy, because it seals, it severs in your mind and in the minds of your family, "You're different now. Everything is different. Your identity is different. The way you think about yourself is different. You are no longer the same."

Think what baptism is supposed to represent. It's a goofy thing. We dunk ourselves in water, snot going everywhere, but think what it's supposed to be. "I have died with Christ, and I am risen to new life. Whoever was down there in the water is gone. I'm raised to new life in Christ." That doesn't happen because of that act; that happens when you place your faith in Jesus, but there's something about that symbol that changes your identity.

Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Here's the question: What is your identity in in this season? Are you in the game or are you just a spectator right now? Paul tells Timothy, "Come on, let's go. Let's get in the game."

It has been a really interesting week to be in ministry. I'm just going to be honest with you. One of the questions I've gotten over and over and over from people this week is, "Hey, what are you guys going to do as a church in the midst of everything that's going on this week?" I understand the sentiment of the question. I understand what people are trying to say. They're trying to go, "Hey, are you going to speak on things? Are you going to be bold? Are you going to talk about it?"

I understand, as leaders, as shepherds, we need to own the moments we're in. We do. We don't shy away from hard things. Are you kidding me? Yet I wish the question was asked differently. I wish the question was, "Hey, what is God calling us to do?" because we are a body. If you're a believer in here, you're part of this thing too. You don't just sit on your cushy chair, cross your legs, take your notes, and go, "Well, what is it? What is Watermark, what's The Porch going to do?" You are in this thing. You're a part of this army. You're not a civilian; you're a soldier.

The way to get in the game is to start by seeing yourself that way. Some of you are not believers in here, and that's okay. We're glad you're here. It's not by earning, it's not by baptism that you become a Christian; it's by dying to your ways and putting your faith fully in Jesus. For those of you who name Christ, you're on the team, and the civilian ways need to go. You have a role, and weeks like this should not take you out. They should wake you up.

You should be saying, "God, what is it, not just that the church is doing; what are you calling me to do?" So analyze. Use this week as a litmus test for yourself. Were you more of a civilian this week…scrolling on Instagram, watching the news, criticizing everyone, judging the other side…or were you in the game? Were you calling people you know have a different perspective and going, "Help me understand"?

Were you weeping with those who weep? Were you in the trenches with those who are feeling it? Were you going to community going, "Can I be honest with where I'm at? Help me"? Or were you sitting on the sideline watching everybody else and criticizing? Do you want to be strong? Then, Paul says, you need to find the faithful, and you need to understand you're not a civilian; you're in this thing. That's the second one.

Then he goes to the next thing. Let's look at verse 7. Paul says, "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." This is a little verse, but it just arrested me this week. "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." What's the third thing Paul says? You need to think hard.

Paul tells Timothy to think. He says, "Think about what I'm saying. Stop and think." Then he says, "If you do, God will give you understanding in everything." I've been thinking about that. That is a crazy promise, almost laughable. "Hey, if you think about it, you'll understand everything." Like, really? You'll understand everything? Like, everything will just make sense?

I started to think. There is something right now that exists that's only a few years old that promises to give you understanding in everything. Anybody know what it is? Yeah, ChatGPT. Right? We laugh, but think about it. You can put anything into ChatGPT, and it will think for you. Some of you don't know how to write emails anymore. You just put in your gibberish, and then ChatGPT spits out like a Harvard grad did it. You're like, "Yeah, that's me." I'm like, "No, that's not you; that's ChatGPT." We've totally bought in.

I'm not anti-ChatGPT. I have fallen into that, because here's the truth: it works. I list out something I wrote, and I go, "I don't even understand." I put it in ChatGPT, and it makes sense. I'm like, "Oh, thank you, god of ChatGPT." I mean, we just think this way. Yet, here's the crazy thing: the more you turn off your thinking and go to a machine that will give you all understanding, the less you learn how to think. Literally, your brain begins to turn off.

There have been studies that have been conducted about this. MIT did a study last summer where they divided up 54 subjects in Boston, ages 18 to 39 (20s and 30s, our age), into three groups, and they asked them all to write several SAT essays. The first group they gave ChatGPT. "Here. Write an essay. Here's AI." The next group they gave just a simple Google search engine. Then the third group they gave nothing, just their own brain. They hooked up an EEG scanner to their brains to try to see the brain activity.

Which one do you think had the lowest? Yeah, ChatGPT. They said, "ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement and 'consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.' Over the course of several months, ChatGPT users got lazier with each subsequent essay, often resorting to copy-and-paste by the end of the study." For some of you, that's all you needed to hear tonight. You're like, "I feel known. Holy Spirit conviction. I get it."

Paul says, "Timothy, I want you to reject the easy way out, and I want you to think. I want you to force your mind to think." I just have this question: When was the last time you were wrestling with something…a decision that needed to be made, a crisis in your life, a conflict you were having to lean into? When was the last time you were wrestling and turned off all the noise and just processed it with God and said, "Lord, I need to hear from you"?

It's interesting. A couple of months ago, I was driving back from a trip I had taken by myself. I'd gotten there, I was driving back, and I was just processing with God. And I'm just being honest with you. I was complaining to God. I was like, "God, why is it that your voice has felt so distant in this season? I feel like in the past I used to hear you. Not necessarily an audible voice, but I just read the Bible and it was clear, or I'd study Scripture and light bulbs would go off, or I would be in prayer and prayers were getting answered. I feel like I'm missing that. What's going on?" I was just crying out to God.

I kind of felt in my spirit… Like, a wrestling match, a tug-of-war began with God. Literally, I was just driving, and I felt like God said back, "Tyler, what are you willing to give up?" I'm like, "Okay." I'm like, "Well, all right, social media. I'll log out of social media for three weeks. You want me to do that? Fine."

It was just this very convicting but very gracious kind of feeling, like, "No, Tyler. I want you to deactivate it." I was like, "Oh," you know, just processing. Like, "Really? I don't know." I'm not a big social media guy, but that's how I get to know y'all's lives. That's how I get the tea of what's going on. "How will I know?" I'm like, "All right, fine. I'll deactivate."

Guys, I just want to tell you, for the past month and a half, I've been off social media. That means this past week, I was not on social media. I didn't see any videos. I didn't hear any rhetoric other than what was on the news, which was plenty. But I heard so many of you and what youth were talking about this week. There were so many battles that were being fought.

Do you know what I did instead? I'm not saying these couple of weeks have been perfect, but as all this chaos went out, do you know what I did? Wednesday night, driving home, I just thought. I used my brain to think. Rather than scrolling, I processed with God, and here's how it went. "God, what do you think about all this?" I didn't run to AI. I didn't run to social media. I ran to him. Do you know what came to mind right away? John 16:33. "Tyler, in this world you will have trouble." Aren't you shocked? "But take heart; I've overcome the world. I've overcome it."

All of a sudden, Scripture was beginning to come to mind, and I began to think. I'm telling you as somebody who has struggled in this, but I believe what some of you need to hear… You're here today because you are so encumbered with other people's thinking, with AI's thinking, with pundits' thinking, with your friends' thinking. You don't even know how to think for yourself anymore. You really don't. If I took your technology, your phone away, and said, "What do you think about this?" you'd go, "I don't know."

I'm telling you, it's in the wrestle God meets you, and your brain starts activating, and you become strong, because you're not relying on what the crowd thinks. You have conviction. You actually know what you think about something. I believe God is saying, "I want to raise up young adults who know what they believe, not because they've run to some thing." Not that those things are evil. "They've just processed it with me."

Some of you don't even know what you think about God, because everything you believe about God is, "Well, Matt Chandler says this. Well, Kylen Perry says this. Well, Emma Dotter on the Join the Journey podcast says this. Well, my parents say this. Well, my girlfriend says this." I just wonder, what do you think? Have you gotten alone with this book and thought for yourself, "What do I think?" And not on an island. You process it with community. You allow the Holy Spirit to do work in your life.

The irony is in hitting the Easy button, you often optimize your way out of discomfort, which is the very place where God often wants to meet you most. All right, last thing. Let's keep reading. How do you grow? Let's look at verse 8. Paul says:

"Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: if we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful-for he cannot deny himself."

The last thing is to remember Jesus Christ. It comes straight from the text. Remember Jesus Christ. I've just been thinking this week. That sounds so "Bible," but what does it mean? What does it mean to remember Jesus Christ? Is it like you just go, "Oh, yeah, he existed. I remember he existed"? Is it that you remember what he did for you? Like, you watch The Passion of the Christ, and you go, "Wow! Look at that. He did that. I remember."

Is it that you remember Jesus is watching, so, "You dirty sinner, you'd better not do that thing, because Jesus is watching you"? Is that what that means? I think it's this. I think what Paul is saying is "Remember who Jesus actually is," because it's so easy to fall into a caricature of him. It reminds me of a couple of years ago. I was officiating a wedding up here in Dallas. The night before, it was the rehearsal dinner, and I got seated by this guy named Amir. Amir came from India. He has a Hindu background, but he was agnostic.

So, I'm just chopping it up with Amir, and we're having a good conversation, honestly. He was getting his graduate degree. He was a smart guy. I'm asking him about his background. Finally, I go, "Hey, man. I'm just curious. What do you think about Jesus?" It was so funny. He responded how many of you would maybe respond. He goes, "Jesus? I'm good with Jesus. Good teacher. Nice guy. Hung out with sheep, I think. He's great." I'm like, "All right."

We keep talking. We're talking about religion a little bit, and then we talk about all kinds of things. Then he circles back. He goes, "You know, the one thing I don't like about religion is how exclusive it is." He said, "You know, what I especially hate about Christianity is that teaching on hell. I hate it." I just paused for a second. I'm like, "Amir, do you know Jesus talked about hell?" He's like, "What?"

"Yeah. He put down his sheep, and he talked about hell." I said, "In Matthew, chapter 10, Jesus said, 'Don't fear men who can only kill you.' This is Jesus. Jesus said, 'Fear God, who can not only kill you but send you to hell.'" I said, "Not only that. Jesus was pretty exclusive. In John 14:6, Jesus says, 'I am the way, truth, and life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

Do you know what he said back to me? He said, "Well, I don't like that Jesus." I'm like, "Well, if you don't like that Jesus, don't read Luke 14, because in Luke 14, Jesus says, 'Unless you hate your father and mother and wife and brother and sister and mother-in-law…'" That one is easy. "'Unless you hate all of them, you can't be my disciple.' Then later he says, 'Unless you renounce all that you have, you can't follow me.'"

Do you know what Amir said back to me? It was awesome. He said, "I don't believe that Jesus ever existed." I said back… It was awesome. I just love it. I go, "Bro, now we can have a real conversation about Jesus. See, the problem is your version of Jesus was not what we see in Scripture. Jesus is not the Christian version of Gandhi. He's not a Confucius-style sayer of good sayings. He's not a good teacher. Jesus is the King, and one day, it says, every knee is going to bow down to him. That's who Jesus is."

Right after the meal ends, Amir goes, and I go. I'm like, "Blew it. It's gone." Next day, the wedding comes. After the wedding, Amir comes up to me. He goes, "Hey, man. Can I get your number?" I'm like, "Okay." He's like, "Man, I want to hear more about that Jesus." Christians, we've done such a terrible job at portraying who Jesus really is. He's this emasculated, sheep-holding whatever version that's not true to this book. Even though this Jesus is offensive, this Jesus is intriguing.

I think Paul is saying, "Remember who Jesus actually is." Look at how he describes him. He says in verse 8, "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead…" He defeated death. Death has no hold because of this Jesus. He says, "…the offspring of David…" Meaning, he's in the line of the king. Jesus is a king. "…as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering…"

He goes on to say, "The word that Jesus preaches is not bound." Nothing can stop it. Then he says, "Even when we are faithless, this Jesus is faithful." When we believe this, it changes everything…everything. It changes how you see life, it changes how you see this past week, and it infuses you with courage and strength to endure even the most difficult aspects of life, because you know who your commanding officer is, and he's undefeated. He's undefeated.

So, I just want to end with this. We started with the question of…Where are the strong people today? I said it in such a way… I hope it was a little jarring, like, "What do you mean, who are the strong people?" Yeah, I meant it. Where are the strong people today? Where are the people who follow Jesus wholeheartedly and go, "I'm with him. If he's alive, then I will live. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. I believe it."

The interesting thing about Jesus is not only is he King, not only did he say hard things and the Bible says one day every knee will bow to him, but Jesus actually won in the craziest way. Jesus was strong in a way that ticked people off, because Jesus was strong not in kicking the butts of the Romans that he was born into, like the Jews hoped he would do.

"Oh, this Messiah is going to rise up, and we're going to follow him. He's going to kick their tail, and we'll be victorious again." No! He dies at the hands of the Romans. They go, "Some Messiah is this." Jesus goes, "No, no, no. You don't understand. By dying, I win. By my suffering, I have victory in this world. By my scars, you're healed." It's in suffering Jesus wins. It's through the cross, not despite it. Jesus says, "I'm now raising up people who follow me."

What was so frustrating about this week was to see so many Christians on every side of the aisle just complaining and moaning and whining, saying, "How could it?" versus those with a deep, settled conviction, confidence, and strength, going, "If my Savior was mistreated and suffered and did not despise the cross but endured it with joy, then I will too. If this life gets hard, then so be it. I'm not a civilian. I'm on that team. Jesus is my guy, so if it happened to him, it's going to happen to me."

What's crazy is in the book of Revelation, it talks about how Jesus is the Serpent crusher. He crushes the head of all evil. It says this King and those who follow him will conquer by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Guys, it's in the midst of the hard things you're going through, the hard things that if I were to do the whole card thing today and go, "What's the darkest thing you're walking through? What's something you need to confess…?"

It's not like Jesus looks at that and goes, "Oh, I wanted to use you, but I can't because of all this mess." He goes, "Okay. You're telling on yourself. I'm going to use you in the midst of this. What the Enemy meant for evil I don't just use for good; I mean it for good. That thing that's your trial is going to become your testimony in your life. Just keep trusting me, man. Just keep trusting me. Don't give up. Even when it seems like you're being faithless, I'm faithful. Keep going. Keep going."

When we look at our country… I believe there are young adults all throughout our country and in this room who, rather than moan and complain and whine and sit on our couch, we go, "Okay, God. It's moments like this that you've called a generation to rise up and not go defeat our enemies but die at their hands if need be and say, 'God, it's all for you. It's all for you.'"

We're going to go into a time now where we're just going to pray, so I invite you to close your eyes. This is going to be just a couple of minutes where I'm going to lead us in a time of prayer. I don't know who's in here right now, yet God knows, and he knew you were going to be here tonight. Some of you are not even sure why you're here, yet God knew. We're just going to pray together, and I'll guide you here in a minute.

God, we need the real Jesus, not some caricature. Lord, we need the Jesus who defeated death, who conquered the grave, who did not despise the cross but went. He set his face like flint toward Jerusalem, toward the cross, knowing, "It's through that I win. It's going to cause pain, and it's going to be difficult, yet in the end, I'm going to inspire a movement that's going to conquer Rome and much more than that. Not by raising up a bunch of Christians who defeat the world through crusade. No. But in the midst of their dying, in the midst of their suffering, in the midst of their persecution, I will be with them." So, God, I'm praying for that kind of heart for us tonight.

As we're there in this moment, I think some of you are here, and you're going, "Man, I don't know. I don't know anything that's going on here, and I need that Jesus." You're like Amir, going, "I hadn't heard that before, but I want that. That's a high call, but I want it." So, I just want to lead you here in a moment. Nothing weird about this, and there's no magical prayer, but I don't want you walking out of this room going, "I don't know." Let's do this. Come on. Cross over the line. Make the decision. Let's go.

So, if you go, "That's me," would you just pray this? Would you go, "God, I'm broken. I've strayed from you. I've sinned against you, and I need Jesus, that Jesus. I need the Jesus who conquered the grave, and I need the Jesus who defeated death. I surrender tonight to him. Come into my life. I die with you, and I'm raised in new life in Christ. Fill me with your Spirit. In Jesus' name."

Then, I think there are those of you who need to be strong. Some of us need to come and surrender and some of us need to be strong. It says in 2 Peter 1:3 that God has given us everything we need, by his divine power, to walk in godliness and to have full life. So, your prayer can be something like this: "Father, make me strong by your Spirit. Give me courage to resent the civilian life and live as a good soldier for you. Fill me with hope. Fill me with peace. Fill me with power and magnify Jesus in my life. I'm yours, and I love you."

God, we just ask that you would hear these prayers wherever we're at. We don't want to leave this place without doing business with you. God, we love you. We need you. We trust you. In Jesus' name, amen.