Amen.
I wanna ask you, uh, a question.
I wanna show you this actually here real quickly here.
These are a number of things here I want you to ask, answer this question here.
What do these things all have in.
What do these things all have in common?
And some of these things might be some triggers for you, so I
apologize, uh, for that there.
But what do these things have in common?
Here's what it is.
All of these things are causes.
These are causes.
We have people who are about social justice.
Uh, the, the cause to end homelessness equal pay, uh, uh, abortion on
both sides to end abortion, to continue abortion in breast cancer.
We have gay rights, animal rights, global warming, politics, right?
Left blue and red, conservative and liberal.
And we have Black Lives Matter.
These are just many of the causes or some of the many causes that
are in our current society.
Correct?
And so all these are causes.
Some you might be a fan of, some you might not be a fan of.
Some you might be a card carrier member.
Some you might say, ah, I like that from a distance.
Some you might actually put some financial support to, because
you care so much about the cause.
And so I wanna ask every one of us here today, what is your cause?
What is your, cause We shared this a little bit with the, uh,
family group leaders at our, at our, at our retreat last week.
I wanna ask you, what is your cause in life?
And so I want us to break down what is a cause.
And I, I was, I just love both definitions and Britannica and, and, and also on
the internet here says, a cause is something such as an organization,
belief, idea, or goal that a group of people support or fight for.
Or it could also be defined as a principle, aim or movement that
because of a deep commitment, one is prepared to defend or advocate.
And so we're all familiar with this.
We, we understand, we might say things like, I'm wanting to support that.
Cause or I put money to that cause.
And so we're familiar with this and really what a cause
is basically a mission in life.
As we saw earlier on the screen, a lot of people, it's their mission
in life to end this or to promote this or to advocate support and
even fight for and defend a cause.
And so again, the question that I have for you is what is your cause today?
What should our cause be as a church individually and collectively?
And I want us to look at a couple example of some individuals
throughout history that have had causes that we are familiar with.
Abraham Lincoln, his cause to keep the union together.
Dr.
King who we celebrate, his birthday tomorrow was civil rights.
We at Chak, his rev, his was the revolution.
We also have Adolph Hitler was the Arian racing to rule the world.
Mother Teresa was to help the poor.
Then we have good old classic right here, Batman.
His cause is what Justice, right?
And then we go ahead here.
And we also have, I've been doing this, uh, with my family here.
We watched the movie here, uh, over the, over the break, Frodo
to destroy the ring, right?
That's his cause there.
And then some of us, I know Jason Smith, you'll be fired up about this one here.
But the Mandalorian, his cause is what Help baby Yoda.
And so all these individuals, they had a cause, right?
They all had a cause, something that they were willing to live for,
to fight for, and even to die for.
And most of these maybe we can agree with.
We like some of these, we go, no, I'm totally against it.
But they had a cause, didn't they?
So we could even see the impact that a person or an a group.
Can have when they're convinced of a cause.
The world is transformed by causes, communities, individuals lives,
family, trees, and generations are deeply altered by causes.
And we see this is no different in the faith.
And so even if we look at biblical examples, and this is just a real simple,
uh, summary, if you will, of the causes, some of the causes that God called
people to and his people to in Moses, to get the people to the promised land.
Many of the Old Testament prophets were called, were calling people back
to return, to faithfulness to God.
Then Hak and Zechariah, they were called and had a cost to rebuild
God's temple when they came back from captivity, then Ezra was called
and the people were called to renew their covenant relationship to God.
Nehemiah called to lead the people to, to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
We even get to the Pharisees and they're, I know they, we see 'em in
a New Testament, but their, their cause was to call the nation back
to obey the ridden and oral laws.
And then we get to John the Baptist is caused what to prepare the way
to be the forerunner for Christ, preaching, repentance, and baptism.
And then we have our Lord and Savior Jesus, who you can simply say His
caused what to save the world.
And then we get to the church with the apostles in the first century.
Christians and their cause was simply stated as Jesus.
And so here do we have causes throughout the narrative of our faith?
And so again, the question for you and me is, what is our cause?
What is your cause today?
What is it that you're living for?
You're not only supporting but you are prepared to defend.
You are fighting for, and we're obviously not talking about it in
a physical sense because I know how Sosa gets, he gonna go out there and
knock some people out afterwards.
But what are you living for?
What are you dying for?
What are you, what are you advocating in your life right now?
And so I believe that the cause of the church today is no different than the
cause for the church 2000 years ago.
And that is the cause of Jesus.
We are called to be a part of the cause of Jesus, brother and sister.
Do you hear what I'm saying?
This.
I want us to look over here real quickly in Acts chapter five, acts chapter five.
This is really, uh, chronically in the, the church after Jesus
had ascended and give the, gave the mission to the apostles.
Okay, now preach the gospel and the gospel spreads throughout the known world at
this time, and in Acts chapter five, we see an example of what their cause was.
Now they have been preaching Jesus, but they've already been
receiving some persecution.
The people who, who, who had Jesus killed, they were upset.
Stop this madness, but each time they said stop, they would go
out and still keep preaching.
And so at this time, they had, they tried to stop 'em again, but the
apostles are so fired up, they're like, we're not gonna do it.
They allow, believe it was God, they allowed them.
Okay, let's just let them be.
And if it's from God, it will continue.
And if it's not, it will fail.
And so the apostles go and they, and with the rest of the church
at the time, they start praying.
And after this prayer, here's what it says.
It says, the apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because
they had been counted worthy of suffering, disgrace for the name.
Boy, that's perspective right there, isn't it?
Boy, they, they, they, they said they suffered and they're,
they're excited about it.
I don't have that same, uh, response when I'm suffering or when there's persecution.
You guys get what I'm saying.
It says they rejoice, but it says Here, check this out.
Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never
stop teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
Persecution didn't stop them.
Time their own I desires, whatever the case may be, comfortability.
They decided, you know what we're gonna do?
We're gonna live, advocate, fight, and die for this cause.
And it says, day after day in the public arena or from house to house, they
never stopped claiming that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one, Christ the
king who was prophesied, the king who would usher in God's kingdom on earth.
This was their cause.
If we see it, we see it with all those individuals we saw earlier,
we see it with here in our society.
If you're really about that, cause if you're about that life,
you're at the protest, aren't you?
You're giving financially.
You're advocating on social media.
You're ge engaging in conversation.
You're trying to persuade people to see what you believe.
And we see this in the first century Church.
What are they about?
They are about the cause of Jesus.
They want Jesus to be seen.
They want Jesus to be heard.
They want Jesus to be taught.
They want Jesus to be known so that people would hopefully
respond to the good news of Jesus.
They were concerned about the results.
They were just concerned with Jesus being taught and proclaimed
and preached to the masses.
And you can say, wow, well, that just seems like that was just for
them or, or maybe just the leaders.
But then we get this call here in Second Corinthians five, and we
see it doesn't apply to just a few, but this was the call for the whole
church, second Corinthians five.
It reads, for Christ, love compels us.
I just love that everything is sparked.
Everything derives from Christ's love for us.
It says, for Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one
died for all and therefore all died.
But here we go.
And he died for all that.
Those who live, who is that?
Amen.
Anybody who's living, who's reading at the time, right?
That those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him, who's him?
Jesus who died for them and was raised again.
He says, guys, for Christ's love compels us.
If you've been forgiven of your sin, if you understood the grace of God, if you've
been that broken vessel who was repaired again, if you were that grave that turned
into a garden, he says, guys, we should no longer live for ourselves, but for him
who died for us and raised again, and that wasn't a first century thing that wasn't
supposed to stop at a period of time.
It's to continue until the day Jesus returns.
And so we are a part of the cause of Jesus.
Amen.
You and I, if you are a disciple of Jesus, you're part of this inter
intergalactic this, this universal, this intergenerational, this eternal cause.
Come on.
There's no cause greater than the cause of Jesus.
We can get into all those other causes.
Maybe you're thinking of another cause and you're like, oh, Marcel,
you didn't mention that one.
Whatever that cause is is not as big as Jesus's cause.
There's nothing more important and nothing more impacting than the cause of Jesus
transforms generations, transforms family trees, transforms the whole world's,
and we are part of the cause of Jesus.
That is our cause that we can have some, some sub causes.
That's all good.
Nobody's bad about that.
But when we are ever asked the question, what is your mission in life?
It's Jesus.
Sir is to know Jesus.
To follow Jesus and to show the world Jesus brother and sisters, can I get Amen?
Amen.
You see, here's the thing though, I think universally, but let's
just talk about our setting.
We need a revival of the cause of Jesus, right?
There needs to be a revival for the cause of Jesus because I'm sure when
I asked you what your cause some of you thought, Hmm, I don't know.
Instead of it quickly coming, Jesus is my cause.
What kind of question is this?
Marcel?
Some of us are thinking, uh, I don't know if I have a cause.
Well, maybe it's one of those things that you listed or maybe it's this
or maybe I don't have a cause.
Maybe my cause is me.
Again, we can veer when we don't remember what God has called us toward.
You guys get what I'm saying.
Yeah, and so our cause is Jesus.
We need to see a revival in for the cause of Jesus, amongst God's people
in which we too can be described as saying, we will never stop following and
proclaiming the good news of Christ to my neighbor and in the public squares,
no matter who may say something against me because I believe that Jesus is the
Messiah and he turned me from a broken vessel into a one whole peace in God.
You see, we need a revival.
Many of us who raised our hands, 15, 20, 25 years, we remember the days in which
it was said, we are sold out for Christ.
Remember those?
Are you still sold out?
You go, yeah, I'm here, but I don't know if I'm really sold out.
We have young people and they said, man, we heard about those stories.
We heard those, but you know what?
I don't really see it now.
And to be sold out looks differently as you get older.
Let me just say this, you don't have the same energy.
I mean, I get up every day, man.
I get up like, you know, doc Rivers, you know Doc Rivers, right?
He walks like this, , he's a coach.
That's how I get up every time I get up.
Now, I get up and I, it's like, it's like that picture of evolution with a guy.
You know what I mean?
They walk like, that's how it takes me a while to finally stand up straight.
You know what I'm saying?
And so I don't have the same energy and passion or strength that I used to have.
I was just telling them I don't know what I did.
I was lifting weights and, and I, I must have turned my head and now this thing's
been hurting for like a week and a half.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm just, I just don't have it the way I used to.
You know what I mean?
But my heart should be devoted to Christ no less now than it
was when I said Jesus is Lord.
Amen.
My devotion, my commitment, my readiness and preparation to defend, fight, and
live and advocate for the cause of Jesus.
Young people, we need you to be about that cause we invite you to join this cause.
Just imagine if we had the young generation, the more mature generation
come together and we're fully committed to the cause of Jesus.
How incredible would that be?
You know, our church has never really seen that because those of us who, who were
baptized 20, 25, maybe 30 years ago, it was all mostly a bunch of young people.
But now we have kids that are coming up and what are they a part of
the church or the cause of Jesus.
I love the church.
The church is a part of the cause of Jesus, but I don't want my kids
to just be a part of the church.
I want my kids to live in and forward the cause of Jesus.
You get what I'm saying here.
And so I'm calling every single one of us.
Let's ask ourselves, are we about that life?
Are we about the cause of Jesus?
And if not, that's where we're at.
But we can make a decision today.
We can make a decision today to be about, to live for, to advocate the cause of
Jesus and let, let's break down the cause of Jesus a little bit more here, guys.
I, I don't know, man.
I'm sorry.
I'm just so excited.
I really, I, I've been sitting on this for a couple weeks.
I shared a little bit about it with the, uh, family group leaders.
I was supposed to go five minutes, I ended up going 20
minutes, you know what I'm saying?
And, and, and so I, I, this came to me a couple weeks ago.
No, uh, at least no more, maybe about four or five weeks ago, it came to me.
I, I was, I was praying and I felt like I was John writing
the, the book of Revelation.
And I was praying.
I got up and I was reading and I was like, oh, I gotta write all these things down.
And I was just so giddy creating.
I was like, what's wrong with you?
I'm like, ah, I just gotta write this stuff down.
I was like, man, God is doing something to me.
He's moving me.
He's changing me.
And there's one of the revelations that came about when I thought
about this cause of Jesus.
And again, I think it was Holy Spirit moved.
I think it was Holy Spirit driven.
It was as this, that the cause of Jesus is key.
We need to know, follow, and show the real Jesus.
We need to know, follow and show the real Jesus.
When we're talking about the, the, the cause of Jesus,
it's us, you, our neighbors.
Just knowing and then answering the call to follow, and then again
showing who the real Jesus is.
Let's go back to Acts chapter five, verse 41 and 42.
Church, are you still with me?
Day after day, check this out.
Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never
stopped teaching, proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
Now, that's key here.
They never stopped saying What?
Come to church, live a good life.
Be moral people.
No, it says that Jesus is the Messiah.
See, there were savior haters.
The ops were out there, right?
They had heard of Jesus, but they didn't know who Jesus really was.
And so what was their message?
That Jesus is what?
The Messiah.
He's the chosen one.
He's the anointed one.
They proclaimed and showed that Jesus was the Christ, the real.
Jesus wasn't a prophet.
He wasn't just a he.
He definitely wasn't a convicted felon, but he was God's son,
the redeemer of the universe.
That was their message.
Hey, you guys, you've heard, remember Jesus has been known, especially to the
Jews at this time because he was killed, uh uh, um, uh, during during Passover.
So so many Jews were there.
They had heard of Jesus, and so they knew of Jesus, but they
didn't know the real Jesus.
So what they were doing is we have to go from door to door and from public square
and let people know who the real Jesus is.
He's not a convicted felon who died on the cross.
He's not just a a, a, a nice moral man.
He's not just a religious man, and he's not just a prophet
like we've known from before.
No, he is the Messiah.
And that same call applies to our context here today, right?
In 2023, following and showing the real Jesus, because there's a real false
portrayal of Jesus in our society.
Would you agree with that?
There's a huge false portrayal.
Some of it misrepresentation, some of it misinterpretation of what happens.
You know, in this world there's 7.8 billion people.
We're almost at 8 billion people over 2.5 billion of the Christian faith.
However, in the Western world, Christianity is declining.
And you go, man, that's not encouraging.
But let's think about the perception of Jesus in the western world.
People say no to Jesus because they say no, really to the church.
They don't know the real Jesus, but they at least have heard or at
least seen on TV or interacted with people from the Christian faith.
And so what are they saying no to?
I'm not saying no to the Messiah, I'm saying no to you guys and what
you talk about, what you believe, you know, Christians are believed
again, some, uh, uh, uh, because of misrepresentation and some, uh, be
because of, uh, misinterpretation.
But Christians, what are we known as today?
Intolerance, bigots, racist.
We hate the L G B T Q community where hypocrites, unloving,
self-righteous, judgmental, irrelevant, outdated and uninspiring.
Let me ask you, is that the real Jesus?
No, of course not.
The Jesus I know, the real Jesus, the Jesus of history, the Jesus of
Nazareth, that Jesus right there is relevant to my life today.
There's no way he's boring.
And then we also have another part of Jesus that, oh, he's
basically like a modern day or an old school predated, uh, hippie.
He's just all about love and peace.
Hey, peace, brother.
Let me hold my lamb.
Hey, just be nice.
Anything goes, it doesn't matter.
Just peace, man.
Just love.
That's a false Jesus.
And so I would say no to that.
Jesus too.
Or I might say Yes, but then I don't really know the real Jesus,
so therefore my discipleship isn't.
And you know, I used to misrepresent this type of Jesus
before I knew the real Jesus.
I remember I'd be in school and I got, I got quote unquote
religious at this time here.
And I'd be like, man, you gotta follow God.
You gotta follow God in class.
And we'd be talking.
And then as soon as I get outta class, I was trying to holler
at every single girl I could.
And I was like, Hey, yeah.
So what's up with me and you, girl?
Didn't you just talk about Jesus?
Yeah, yeah.
But me and you and Jesus, we can make this work.
so confused.
I didn't know the real Jesus.
I didn't know that, that, that, that call that that didn't work.
You guys get what I'm saying?
You might have like, wow, Marcel, you a mess.
Well, thank God for the real Jesus.
You see, people need to see the real Jesus.
And we are the ones who know the real Jesus.
We are the ones who follow the real Jesus.
And we are the ones who are called to show the real Jesus to a lost world.
But we can't show what we don't know, right?
We can't show what we don't follow.
And so we have to remember, first and foremost, we're called to a
personal relationship with the real Jesus, an individual personal
relationship with the real Jesus.
Not a, not a figure who's nice or not a figure, who just good for or when
times are hard, but the true son of God.
I remember when God revealed the real Jesus to me.
I was studying the Bible and I was like, whoa, I, I, I, I didn't, I
didn't see Jesus in this light.
And then as I kept reading the Bible on my own, I, I just became
so, so, so impressed by Jesus.
I was so fascinated by his character, his response to things.
I was like, oh my goodness.
And I just fell in love.
I said, that man right there, I wanna follow him.
And when I said, Jesus the Lord, I said, I will follow you for the rest of my life.
The cross before me, the world behind me, no matter who goes with me, I will follow.
And it wasn't religion, it wasn't, it wasn't the church.
It was that I saw Jesus, the real Jesus for the first time.
And it transformed me.
And many of you here had a similar experience.
You maybe grew up with religiosity, but when you came in contact with the truth
of Jesus and did something to you, and so the day before you were baptized,
you said, Jesus is Lord, meaning he's messiah and ruler of my life.
And I feel compelled.
I, I, I, I, I, like I said, a couple weeks ago, I was convicted, I was inspired,
and I was like, God, I know I haven't veered from your will, but I have veered
in my attention and focus and even somewhat in this devotion to your cause.
I, I, I'm still going.
I'm preaching.
I'm, I'm helping people.
At least I'm trying to, But the God revealed Marcel, but the cause of Jesus.
Are you leading people to the cause of Jesus?
Do do your kids see the real Jesus?
I said, God, I, I, I'm sorry, I, I I, I, I recommit to you to be deeply committed
to advocating, to not only supporting, but living and dying for the cause of Jesus.
And I want everyone to know the real Jesus, not the figure who's off, not
not the picture of the, the, the, the falls and flaws and and faults of the
church, but I want them to know who Jesus is and make a decision on that
Jesus as opposed to what they know.
And so, again, let's talk about our context here in Orange County
Church, or you still with me?
Orange County.
Let's look here at the OC here.
Oc, there's 3.16 million people in Orange County.
44% claim.
Christian faith.
That's a lot of people right there, isn't it?
Here's what it says here, also, is that there are 500, about 550
churches in Orange County alone.
We're in kind of like the megachurch capital of the United States.
Every city has pretty much, or at least claims to be a megachurch,
at least one megachurch.
Some have multiple mega churches in there, 550 churches.
For guess what?
For 34 cities.
And these are just congregations.
This isn't like people who have like us, like we're one congregation.
However, we have three or four, uh, different geographic locations.
So we would be considered one church.
You guys get what I'm saying here?
So there's more.
And you got house churches.
So there's at least 550 churches here in Orange County for 34 cities.
That's over 16 city, 16 churches per city.
So let me ask you this.
Does Orange County need another church?
Think about this.
We got more than enough churches.
Does Orange County really need another church?
What does Orange County need?
The real Jesus.
Orange County doesn't need another neighborhood.
Corner Church.
Orange County needs to see the real Jesus.
When the LA Church started, we're part of the, we're a region a part of the
larger Los Angeles congregation, my friend and, and former mentor Reese kneeling.
He, he was on the, on the, uh, mission team that came here to la
So he preached the actual very first message here for the LA church.
And I, he remember, he shared the notes with me one day, and this came
to me, uh, a couple weeks ago when I was, uh, uh, writing these notes down.
And, and his sermon was, LA doesn't need another Church and Needs The Real Jesus.
That was over 30 years ago.
Sames still applies 30 years down is that Orange County needs to see the real Jesus.
We don't need more churches, but we need real followers of the real
Jesus to reflect the real Jesus.
And that's for you and me.
And there's no better time, no more needed time for the real Jesus
to be seen and to be revealed.
Our society needs the real Jesus.
Your classmates need to see the real Jesus, your next door neighbors, your
waiter at the store, your, your, your grocery clerk, whatever the case,
they need to see the real Jesus.
Right now, our kids in the church need to see the real Jesus, mom and dad.
You have to ask the question, do they see church?
Do they see religion or do they see Jesus?
I was challenged by this.
I was like, man, I, I know they see the church.
I know they see different forms of following Jesus, but am I revealing
and showing Jesus to them again?
I don't want them to be part of the church only.
I want them to be a part of the cause of Jesus and to follow the real Jesus.
And so we have to ask ourselves here, are we going to reveal the
real Jesus brother and sisters?
I know every single one of us wants to.
We need to remember the call to our personal relationship with the real Jesus.
And then we need to have unwavering conviction to show people the real Jesus,
to see that he's a man of conviction, a man of love, a man of faith, a
man who's worthy of being followed.
A man who's worthy of giving your whole life to a man who redeems,
a man who transforms the man who is the son of the living God.
That's the real Jesus and more.
And so I want to call us every single one of us.
Let's revive the cause of Jesus here in our church.
Let's revive it in our family groups, in our ministries, and in our personal lives.
Let's know the real Jesus.
Let's follow the real Jesus and let's go out and show the world the real Jesus.
Amen.
Even now, everything that's been going on, I feel even more convinced of how
much we need to show the real Jesus.
Yeah, how much we need to show the real Jesus how much we need to
know when to follow the real Jesus.
So that again, that us in here, we see the real Jesus, our kids
see the real Jesus, but those around us can see the real Jesus.
You know, we're gonna start a new sermon series next week called The Real Jesus.
We're gonna study out in the book of Luke.
Jesus said, look at what it means to follow the real Jesus, what
it means, what he was like, and how that applies to our lives.
But let's go ahead and let's get closer out here.
I wanna do something here.
Really for, for this year.
I want us to give us some action steps, but I also wanna call every one of
us to all pray for the same thing.
You guys with me here?
Because I do believe that when the whole church prays that God moves powerfully.
And so I want us to each week have a prayer in which we are
combining, unified in praying.
And so here are the action steps and the prayer for this week.
Number one, reflect on your personal discipleship to the real Jesus.
Asking yourself, am I following the authentic Jesus or just parts reflecting.
Do others see the real Jesus through me?
My kids, my my, my, my, my roommates, my family members.
H how is my personal discipleship to the real Jesus?
And then here's the prayer for all of us pray this week for the church, for all
of us to know, to follow and to show the real Jesus that every single one of us.
We'll revive the cause of Jesus here in Orange County and see
God do something we couldn't even imagine in our own personal lives,
in our church, and in our community.
Brother and sisters, will you pray with me this week?
Yeah.
What would 2023 look like if we all renewed our commitment
to the cause of Jesus?
What would that look like?
What would happen if every one of us would live for defend, fight and
advocate for the cause of Jesus?
What would happen in our church?
What would happen in our ministries and family groups?
What would happen in our relationships if we were all
committed to fighting, defending, advocating for the cause of Jesus?
What would happen in our lives individually?
What would happen in our attitudes?
What would happen in our faith?
What would happen in our evangelism?
What would happen in our families?
What would Orange County look like if they all knew the real
Jesus brother and sisters, we are called to the cause of Jesus.
May we reflect like our brothers and sisters in the faith,
the real Jesus to our world.
Let's close out in Acts chapter five, verse 42, church,
oh, you're still with me.
Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never
stop teaching in proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
I pray that we may live for the cause of Jesus leading us to know, to follow and to
show the real Jesus brother and sisters.
Amen.