Praise God. What a sweet spirit of

celebration here in this house this morning, church. I'm so excited

to, to join in with, just

congratulating Hal Laughlin. He is he is the epitome of

what it means to to see God's faithfulness in action,

and a man of integrity. Man, I tell you what,

I just hope that we can all, see that

and and and see that bar that Hal has set, and say,

Lord, let me, you know, achieve this one day.

Thirty years of faithfulness and service to the

Lord. So wow, what an incredible incredible thing. We are

gonna talk about some things that might ruffle some feathers today.

So we're gonna go from celebration to maybe, oh,

maybe. But you know what? I pray that this morning it's gonna provide

some freedom, in and amongst ourselves.

It'll break some bondages that maybe we've been holding on to for

a long time that I pray that the Lord is gonna use it

mightily to to just set us free.

Amen? Alright, so let me ask you something this

morning. Have you ever felt like maybe sometimes you're just going

through the motions? Just another day, one step at a

time. Here's another day, so I'm going to go through it. This is what I

got to do. Right? These are the things that I'm

responsible for, so I'm going to step in and I'm going to do it and

I'm going to perform it because that's what's expected of me. Like

maybe there was a sometimes maybe there might be a different image that you're

presenting to the world than what you're actually

who you are on the inside. Right?

I know I have. I have, felt that way a

lot of times. I felt like I was living a lie. I felt

like what I was allowing other people to see was

not the real me. It was maybe this facade or

this, act. And, you know, whenever

I really came to the real moments of, okay

God, you know, what am I doing here? Times

of reflection of going deeper of who am I

and who who do I want to be. Right? The Lord has shown me some

things. I started to crave something

real, something genuine, and I and I got real honest with myself.

So today, we're gonna unpack a portion of scripture that cuts right to the

heart of this very struggle. It offers us not just comfort,

but a pathway to a deeply authentic and powerfully

impactful life. It's out of the book of Romans chapter

nine, just one Scripture. I'm not gonna make you read a

whole bunch, so if you would stand with me this morning, and we'll

all read it together. Love is

to be sincere and active, the real thing

without guile and hypocrisy. Hate what

is evil. Detest all ungodliness.

Do not tolerate wickedness. Hold on tightly

to what is good. Amen. Lord, thank You for Your

Word. Thank You for the truth of Your Word, God. I just pray that You

would use it this morning to penetrate our hearts, Lord, that

any hardness that's there, God, I pray that You would soften

us and correct us, God. It's in Your name we

pray. Amen. You may be seated. I

love reading out of the amplified version of the Bible throughout this,

teaching this morning. You're actually gonna hear probably four different versions of

the Bible because I like to study, and I like to see

what different, versions, say. And

so, the Amplified, it just kinda goes a little bit deeper. It gives

a little bit more context context, maybe some more explanation.

And so that's, that's an incredible thing. It

it says to, it says love

meaning the real thing without guile and hypocrisy.

And then whenever it says hate what is evil, detest all ungodliness.

Do not tolerate wickedness. These are things that I think we

need to think about. Right? So

it's not just a a phrase, it's not just a verse in the Bible, it's

not just a real feel good sentiment, it is powerful. It is

something that we are to break down.

So I believe there's three key parts to this

verse. Love being the first,

holiness the second, and righteousness the

third. And as we break this verse

down, we're gonna I'm gonna ask you some questions, and I want you

to be real with yourselves before anything else.

So dig deep. What's the one thing

that you need to let go of? What's that one thing?

This is our one thing conference. Right? So we're going to need to dig deep

and think about what's that one thing in my life,

and go more than just the surface, go more than just

a vague word that encompasses a lot more

whenever you really dive in, because I

know that the Lord is bringing it to us right now. Even now as I'm

speaking, I know that the Lord is bringing it to us. What's that one thing

that we need to let go of? And the second question is what's the one

thing that might be separating you from an even deeper,

more intimate relationship with the Lord.

Do you want an intimate relationship with Jesus?

Yes. Your answer should be profoundly yes. So do you want

an intimate relationship with Jesus? Yes. Yes.

Yes. That is what we strive for.

So let's start with the first part. Love is to be

sincere and active. The word here in the

original Greek is agape. Now I'm If

you've been coming to church for a while or if you've been a believer of

Jesus, you know that this agape love is the

highest form of love. Right?

It's not any you know, if we can forget about the emotional I I

I Chelsea, I love those shoes over there. You are sporting them, girl. The

I love Cole, that jacket, come on, man. I love that.

Man, I I really love pizza. Pizza's good.

I love it. As a culture, we throw around this word

love like it's just kind of, you know,

anything and everything. But agape

love is so much different than that. It is sincere

and active. Agape love is complete.

It's willful. It's not just a fleeting feeling. It's a

conscious deliberate choice. See, everybody, we

have a choice to make. We can choose to love.

We can choose to hate. But the one thing

that we have is a choice. We can

choose righteousness, or we can choose wickedness.

These are choices that we're all gonna have to make. And one

day, whenever we're standing face to face with the Lord, He's

gonna ask us about those choices. He's gonna say,

I don't I'm just I'm gonna I'm gonna think about this is what I think

the Lord is gonna say. What have you done with the life

I've given you? And then He's gonna say, what have you

done with the life of my son

whom I sent for you?

It's a choice. We can choose.

It's about actively seeking the best for another person

regardless of what they deserve or even about how

we might feel at the moment. Feelings are fickle.

Feelings are caught up with emotion. So it

doesn't matter how we feel, we are called to love

regardless, called to put others before our

own selves.

Think about it. God's love for us, it's sacrificial.

He came and gave His life for each one of us. It's

unconditional. He loves us regardless

of what we do. Does it hurt

Him? Yes. But He's right there to pick us right back up, dust

us off, and welcome us with a warm embrace.

He loves us unconditionally. He

is constantly pursuing our ultimate good

even when we wander away. That's agape love.

But Paul doesn't stop there. Remember, he

says we ought to love what? Unhypocritically.

Unhypocritically. The church has gotten a bad rap for

being hypocrites at some point and sometimes. There's a lot of people who are turned

away from coming to church because sometimes they see

Christians doing one thing, saying one thing, and doing

another. That's the definition of being a

hypocrite. We're supposed to love unhypocritically

without our desires, without something that, well, what's in

it for me? Right?

Let that go unhypocritically.

Agape love is transparent. What you see is what you truly

get. So why does this authenticity

and love, why does it matter so much?

Guys, we are people. We are hurt. We are broken.

We can easily put on a facade.

Right? And then also, we can easily be ones to determine,

oh, that's fake right there. Right? That's why it's

so important for this love to be authentically

lived out step by step each day, because authenticity

is the real currency

as a believer. We

have to live what we believe. And if we

believe that he is who he says he is and he came

and he set us free, guess what? We better live that

way. We better let other people see that we

believe that, and they better hear it coming out of our mouths

because that's what's gonna bring them to make the choice to follow

Jesus. Authentic

love resonates. It transforms.

That love, my friends, it reflects the very heart of God

himself. We are his

image bearers. So let's be honest with ourselves.

Is our love always? That word always is bold

for a reason. Is it always sincere and active?

Is it always looking out for the best interests of others?

Is it always authentic, genuine?

And if it's not, what needs to change? What

are the things that we need to course correct as

we're living this life? It's a tough question,

But honesty, that's the first step.

See, honesty, it will go beyond

what we do, what we say. It has to

be the very first thing. Are we honest with ourselves?

Am am I truly the person that I believe I

am, the person that I am letting other people see?

So here's our challenge this morning. Let's intentionally examine

ourselves. Think about your interactions with your families,

your workplaces, in your church communities, in your neighborhoods.

Do your neighbors know you? I'm in

a we're in a day and age in which, man, I don't know if the

people across the street or to the left or the right if they know my

name. Go bring them a

meal, break bread with them, Go introduce yourself.

Ask them about their life. Get

real with one another. We are

people. We are made and created to be personable, to

be, interactive, to share with

one another. God designed us specifically

for community. And when we say we're a believer, we

will live it out sincerely and actively

pursuing God, pursuing his

heart for others. If that means I'm gonna go bake some cookies and

bring it to my neighbor because I don't know him, then that's what I need

to do. Amen?

Amen. So I want you to

ask yourself, am I actively seeking the good of others even when

it's inconvenient for me, even when it's

challenging? I might have to go out of my way to bake those cookies

and bring it over to my neighbor. I might have to set aside a

portion of time to do this,

but is that what you're called to do?

Is that what's gonna bridge the gap between someone

knowing the Lord and not? It could

be the simplest of phrases. It could be one word

that speaks to their heart that the Lord uses and says, come

to me.

Alright. Let's strive for that authentic

agape love in everything that we do.

Let's move on to the second part of this verse. Hate what is

evil. Oh. Oh. Does anybody get chills when they hear that

word? Hate. Gosh, I was always told

whenever I was younger, don't hate. You should never have hate

in your heart. I was always told

that hate is not a good thing. It is

actually the opposite of good.

But the Bible says to hate what is

evil. So it so we are supposed

to have hate. Right? We are supposed to hate

the evil. Right? That's what the Bible says.

Hate what is evil.

Listen to the strength of the original Greek word here. It's not just a

mild dislike. It's an intense revulsion

too. It's to detest, to abhor,

to shrink back from. This is

what the word hate means. It's

a strong active rejection. We're

not Or we are called as followers of Jesus to have a gut

level disgust for evil, for wickedness,

for the things that don't belong in the kingdom.

Now, I'm not talking about people, because people will pick

up this wickedness, and they will carry it, right, and

they will live it out continually throughout their days.

And we are not called to hate people.

People are just conduits. People are shells,

our bodies. Right? We are called to

love people, see past what

they do, the wickedness that is is produced

in them and called to love them beyond it.

To hate what the enemy is doing in their life

is appropriate. To hate the evil that is

plaguing this world is right.

Love the person. God

loves everyone.

Evil here is ungodliness

in all forms. It is more

than just a word. It is more than just something that we do.

It is anything in opposition to

God, anything that opposes Him, His precepts,

His Word, anything that is in opposition

to God. So this brings

us to a really important first question. What is the one

thing that you need to let go of?

What is the one thing that is in our hearts

that is maybe it's something that we're doing. Maybe it's a thought

process or an action. What is the one thing that we

were called to let go of?

First John one nine points us directly to it.

Boom. Sin. Big, bold

sin. I couldn't get the words any bigger than that on

the screen. I wanted to make sure that

it was as big as we can make it because it

is the one thing that we need to let go

of. Now, that is an all encompassing

sin, and I pray this morning that the Lord

speaks to each one of us and reveals what that sin

is. What is it in the workings of

our minds, our hearts, the things that we're doing

when nobody's looking? What is that sin?

God, speak to us. Reveal it to us. First

John one nine says, if we confess our sins to Him, He is

faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us

from all wickedness. All of it.

It seems so easy, doesn't it, just to to hate sin?

Seems easy. Hate the sin

out there. So easy to point fingers,

to judge, to say, I can so easily see your

sin and I'm gonna call you up out of it

because I know that you're better than that. Right?

How easy is it to point here?

The sin that is in our own hearts, the sin that

works through us in our minds, the sin that

we're maybe afraid to share with anybody. How

easy is it for us to do that, to succumb to that type

of level? But that's

what we're called to.

The secret sin, that habit,

that pattern of thought or action that we make excuses for, that we tolerate

because it's not so bad, is it? It's not really

so bad. Look at everybody else, they're doing it.

We make excuses for it. We justify our actions and we

say, you know what? I think God might be

okay with it. I think I can probably get away with

this. He sees

everything. He knows us through and through,

every fiber of our being.

He knows every hair on our head.

Why would we think that we can for one second get

away with something from God.

Remember what sin is? It's it's ungodliness in all forms.

Anything in opposition to God. So if it doesn't line up with

His Word, if it's not a characteristic of His

heart, should we be carrying it? Should we be doing

it? Or should we turn like the Bible

says and run as fast as we can away from

it?

I pray that he's urging us in this way to

hate the sin. God is calling

us every day to

come to Him at a deeper level. Lord, I

pray that You would use this to flesh out any sin that

still remains. The Word

talks about in first John one eight, it tells us plainly

that if we have no sin, we deceive If we say we have no sin,

we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Remember

what I said about being honest? The first thing

is to be honest with ourselves, to be honest

about the sin that we're carrying.

Acknowledge the sin. We have to acknowledge

it in our lives, acknowledge its grip

on us, acknowledge what it produces in

us, and turn and run from

it. See, denial is not

just a river in Egypt. Denial,

denial I learned that from VeggieTales, by the way.

Denial is pretending.

It is pretending it's not a problem.

That's our enemy number one, denial.

Honesty first. Always. Honesty

first. Second, we need to know God, know

Him deeply. We need to know Him and and what

He desires for us. Guys, if you have problem

with coming to know God, pick this up

and read it. His truth tells all

about who He is. It shares stories of

His goodness through and through. It is a

book of His faithfulness in generation after

generation. The

Word of God is living and active. It's sharper than a double

edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing of

soul and spirit, joint and marrow. The word of

God is our truth. It is

the only offensive weapon that we have in this world,

and it defends us from the fiery

darts of the enemy. Pick up the word of God

and apply it to your lives every day. Be

in it and live through it.

Amen? We need to know Him.

Psalm 29 says, honor the Lord, you heavenly beings. Honor the

Lord for His glory and strength. Honor the

Lord for the glory of His name. Worship the Lord

in the splendor of His holiness. The splendor. What

is that? The splendor of His holiness. He

is holy, and that looks like something. That looks

like this incredible gift that we

have to worship Him. He is all

encompassing. God is good,

and His goodness will prevail over any wickedness.

The more we know God, the uglier our own sin will inevitably inevitably become in

comparison. See, when we come to know Him, right,

opposition to God. That's that's something

that doesn't agree with what I just read. This is

the the splendor of His holiness is right here and so it does not

line up with what is right here, what is what is going

on right here.

Spend time in His Word. Communicate with Him in prayer. Draw closer

to His radiant light, and any darkness in our

own hearts will become undeniably more apparent.

It will be highlighted. This doesn't belong. This

darkness that's in here, I need to get it out because

I'm in here, because He's taking me deeper, because

He's showing me the splendor of His holiness.

Third, we must understand the devastating consequences

of sin. Well, if I do this,

it's it's not really gonna matter in the long run. It's not hurting anybody.

It's not really, is it? The

devastating consequences of sin,

it enslaves us. Sin

separates us from God. Sin ultimately

destroys us. Understanding

the true eternal cost of of sin should

fuel our hatred of it. When we

realize that as we walk in sin, we are

walking continually down a path that

is away from Him, that is continually separating

away from Him. When we realize that, and

that one day, we'll have to give an account,

one day, we're gonna spend eternity either here

or here, the eternal cost of what

sin does in our lives.

Then we might change. Then we might

see this is more than just for the now, for the here.

This is an eternal weight.

Next is we must love God deeply.

We must love God with all of our hearts. We are not our own.

We belong to Him. He gave us the very breath of

life, making you fit for Himself. Okay.

Ephesians four thirty says this. Don't grieve God. Don't break His

heart. His Holy Spirit moving and breathing in you is the

most intimate part of your life, making you fit for

Himself. Don't take such a gift

for granted. I love the message

version of the Bible. It really brings it to

another level of who He is.

If we truly love the Lord, we will hate the very sin that breaks His

heart. So let's commit to doing some

truly so honest soul searching today. Take David's powerful

prayer and make it your own. Search me, oh

God. Know my heart. Test me and know

my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that

offends you and lead me along the path

of everlasting life. I pray

that God will reveal that one thing that needs to

go.

Second part of this is to hold on tightly to what is good.

To hold on tightly.

It's God's goodness. God's goodness,

his righteousness, his very character that we are called to

cling to with all our mind.

How do we cling to God's goodness? How do we know his

character? Read the word. By passionately

pursuing goodness, by choosing to cling to his righteousness.

Wait. I think I did it.

We are actively drawing ourselves closer to God, bridging the gap that

sin creates and stepping into the fullness of relationship

that he longs for us to experience with him.

The one thing that separates us from an even deeper more intimate relationship with the

Lord, guess what it is? Sin. Sin is a relationship with the Lord. Guess what

it is? Sin. Sin

separates us from an even more

intimate deeper relationship with him.

So how do we go about

letting our love be sincere, hating what is evil

and clinging to good,

Fall down on our knees in prayer and say, Lord,

you know what's going on in my life.

God, I pray that you would root it out. I pray

that you would give me people to come

alongside me and help hold me accountable

to show me these areas so I can

depend on you, Lord.

In everything that I do, not just in my words, not just

in my deed book, God, in my very heart,

that you would live through me, That I would be

used for you.

Love must be sincere and active,

real in real tangible ways. We have to have

a an intense hatred for evil

starting with the sin in our very own hearts.

And then we have to cling to good passionately.

Pursuing his righteousness with all of our

might. And remember, we

don't have to do this alone. We don't have to do this in our own

strength. Because Jesus left us with the

Holy Spirit. Our helper. The one

that walks with us through this life,

we are called and empowered to do it in His

strength, deeply rooted in

the unshakable love of God.

And with his hope that Jesus is gonna come back one

day. He's gonna split the sky and he's gonna call us home.

That hope at the forefront of our minds.

So that one thing that we're called to let go of.

Sin. I pray

that as we've talked this morning that the Lord has

highlighted what that sin is in each one of

us. I know as I was preparing I

was so hesitant to share what that sin

is or was in my life, but I think it's

necessary. I was

called to the Lord when I was eight years old, led in prayer of

salvation from pastor Jerry Bryant right down the road in

Antioch at a church called the Vineyard Church. And from a

very young age, I was in a family

that pursued the Lord, was in church.

We actually came here when it was Smyrna assembly. I was baptized by

miss Margaret Mink in the in the old sanctuary.

But something happened. I started to choose

selfishness. As a freshman in high school, I

started smoking weed and it separated

me from the Lord.

And I continued in this pattern, this

sinful selfish behavior pattern over and

over again for the next fifteen years,

it separated me from my

father. It put a burden on my family.

It made me desire the things

of this world and forget about the better things that

he had for me.

The Lord brought me out of that. And he drew

me close to him. And I was able to see

those patterns of selfishness. And I'm

so thankful for it. If

you're in a deep pit

in your own mind or in entangled in some

sin and you don't know how to get out of it,

he is with you. He wants

you to come close to him.

To get rid of those things that the world offers

and say, I have better.

He is so much better. He

is so much more. There are things

that He has to offer that no man,

no nothing in this world can give.

So Lord, I just pray God right now that you would

illuminate the things that don't belong God. That you would rise

up an intense hatred for in us for those

things that you detest, God.

That you would fill us completely with the things that are good.

Your goodness, your mercy. God, that

we don't have to rely on our own

strength. And that we don't have to

once we rid of those things be empty, but we can be filled to

your good. Let us

cling to them with all of our might.

I pray that you be glorified,

Lord, and that we would begin

to let go of that sin

in Jesus name. Amen.

Now, Stan, we're gonna finish with some worship.