Laodicea: Hot, Cold, or Lukewarm?

Go ahead and grab your Bibles, too, whenever you get a chance and open up to Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3 where is where we're going to be today. Uh, but I want to share a little story with you before we get started. Um, so right now I'm uh on Sundays kind of pulling double duty. I'm preaching here at 9:00 and then afterwards I head over to Lawrence and I preach at a church over there at 10:45. And last week, um, I was having a conversation right after the service, the 10:45 service over there, and this 87y old man came up to me and he said, "Hey, I I just wanted to let you know something."

I said, "All right, love to love to chat. Love to hear the story, whatever, whatever it is you want to tell me. Sometimes you have no idea what they're going to say." Um, and he said when he was in his 20s, he grew up going to church. He grew up, his family was very church oriented, but in his 20s, he walked away from the faith. Um and for 60 years, he said he chased anything and everything he could possibly look for.

He was wildly successful. Uh he went through multiple marriages. Um he raised families. He said, "I I sought out everything that this world had to offer." And he said, "And it's taken me over 60 years to figure out that there's nothing this world can provide that only Jesus can." And at the end of that message last week, he came back and he said, he's like, I I finally feel like the Lord I was prone to wander.

I mean, this is why it reminded me of that song. He said, I was prone to wander and I wandered for 60 years and I feel like I wasted it. He said, but the graciousness of God is the fact that even in 87 years old, the Lord wasn't done with me yet and he's called me back. And it's just such a beautiful thing that that's exactly what Jesus is doing for every single one of us at all times. at all times is we can be wandering and we are absolutely prone to wander but at the same time the Lord is faithful and the Lord is always pursuing and the Lord is always seeking. He's always leaving the 99 to go after the one.

He's always open and knocking on your heart to just invite you back in. Come back to me. Trust me. In today's message, as we close out our series, Letters to the Church in America, as we look at the church in this city called Leota, it's the exact same story. It's the exact same thing. This church that has found comfort in the the pleasures of the world, has found comfort in the riches of the world, has found comfort in the healings of the world, but not Jesus.

And Jesus has a message for them. He has a message for them. And so I want you to open that up. Revelation chapter 3 looking at verses 14- 22. I want you to see what Jesus would have for us this week. Starting in verse 14, here's what he says.

He says, "To the angel of the church in Leosa, write the words of the a man, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of God's creation." He says, "I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, "I am rich.

I have prospered and I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Father, I pray that is true for us this morning. I pray that we would have ears to hear and eyes to see the truth of your son Jesus and who he is. That he is the amen.

That he is the true one who is sitting on the throne. That he is the faithful one to us when we are unfaithful. And Father, regardless of what every person in this room, regardless of their background, regardless of their intellect, regardless of their experience, regardless of how long they've been going to church or how little they've been going to church, I pray that this morning your spirit will be knocking on their hearts and that they would have the wisdom that comes from you to open the door and invite you in so that you will eat with us and dine with us And more than that, that you would also then invite us to come and sit with you on your throne. Father, may this morning be a morning in which wherever we were coming in here today, we walk away treasuring Jesus more, loving him more, trusting him more, following him more, because whatever the world is throwing at us and offering to us is not enough and it will never be enough.

I pray that we walk away satisfied with what Jesus has to offer us this morning. It's in his name that we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, let's start with a universal truth this morning. Universal truth this morning.

No matter where you go, this is true. Lukewarm drinks are the worst. I think we can all agree on that. All right. No matter what it is that you're drinking, lukewarm drinks are the worst. Like if you order coffee, which I got coffee as soon as it got here this morning.

When I drink coffee, I want it scalding hot. Like that's the way to drink coffee. I know that when I drink this, I'm sacrificing my taste buds for the next three days. That's how I want my coffee. I want it hot. Especially on what should be a crisp October morning.

You want that molten joy. I mean, that's what you want. Or if it is like it is today, summer is hanging around longer than it should, then maybe you want an ice cold coffee. But if you want it ice cold, you want it ice cold, right? Like you want it when you drink it too fast, it gives you a joyful brain freeze. Like that's what you want.

You either want it hot or you want it cold. But lukewarm coffee, like nobody wants that, right? Nobody wants lukewarm coffee. If you do, that's a problem. That's a problem. All right.

But like for me, if if like I was this week, we were um out of town on a little retreat and I literally I I brewed coffee in our hotel room and then I walked away and I went out and I forgot it and I went out and I I was doing my devotional out on the balcony and I came in later and when I came in later I was like, "Oh yeah, I forgot I brewed coffee." And so I went and I grabbed it and I picked it up and I started sipping it and I literally just put it down. Nope, not today, Satan. Like that stuff's awful. like I'm not going to drink something that is just lukewarm because it's just not that good. And here's what Jesus is saying to this church in Leosa is he's telling them that's what your faith tastes like to me.

That's what your faith tastes like to me. It's lukewarm. It's not hot. It's not cold. It's room temp. It's bland.

And I'm going to literally vomit it out of my mouth. I'm going to spit it out of my mouth. And that's also not a pleasurable thing, right? Like I don't know the last time you spit up or threw up. Like it's it's not enjoyable. And what Jesus is explaining to this church is the way you're operating as a church not enjoyable.

I want to spit it out of my mouth. And so here's the big question for us today that I want you to ponder and I want you to meditate on and I want you to think about as we walk through this passage is what does your faith taste like to Jesus? That's a hard question. That's a hard question. What does your faith taste like to Jesus? That's a probing question that I want you to meditate on during this message and then give an answer at the end when we give a time of response.

But let me give you a bit of a quick history lesson in regards to Leodysa because you need this to feel the punch of this passage. All right. Leodysa was one of the wealthiest cities in the Roman Empire. Very wealthy city. They had banking. Think Wall Street of Asia Minor, okay?

They had a lot of banking. They also had fashion. They had this very particular special black dye that allowed them to have this booming business in um black textiles. And so they had this famous uh famous black color for glossy black wool. So think Gucci of the first century. Okay, that's what that's what was going on in Leosa.

But they also had medicine. Okay. So, they invented this eye ointment or this eye salve. And so, think Lily. All right. What we have in Indianapolis, like if Lily walks out, Indianapolis dies.

Let's just be fair. Like, that's true. The amount of jobs, the amount of wealth that comes through there is an anchor to our city. And so, that's what Le Oysa was looking like. They were so wealthy that if you look in history in AD60, there was this massive um on the record scale a nine earthquake that came through the region of Leodysa. And not only did it levels in AD60, but it also even leveled two cities that were next to them, Heropolis and also Colasse.

And it knocked both of them out. Colass they they literally like the Roman Empire was like um you you're we're not going to send you any money to be able to help rebuild you because you're not like strategic enough for us. But then in Heropoulos the Roman Empire was like absolutely we're going to send you wealth and they accepted it. Leodysa was also again a very wealthy city but also a strategic city for the Roman Empire. So the Roman Empire said we're going to send you wealth to rebuild. And Leotaa City was so wealthy as a city they said no we don't need you.

we're just going to rebuild it ourselves. We don't need your help. We don't need your stimulus package. We're going to do this ourselves. And they rebuilt it with their own money. That's what we call self-sufficient, right?

Independent attitude. But here's the reason that Jesus is writing this letter to this church is the church let that same self-sufficient independent attitude seep into the church. It seeped into the culture of the church. They said essentially we don't need anything. We don't need anything. And Jesus is responding to them actually you need everything.

You need everything. You're po you're poor. You're blind. And you're naked. Or as we say in the south, naked. But let's look at this here because let's be honest, most of us in this room, we live in a leosysa.

We live in a le oysa of the modern world. We have every comfort at our fingertips. Right? Think about it. Security. We can lock our doors.

You can even put your own security system in your home if you want. Anyone opens a window, opens your door, alarm goes off. Most of us just have old ones that are in there that we don't activate and people think we are or we just put the ADT sign out in the front and people are like, "Avoid that house." But we have security. More than that, we have Amazon Prime. You don't even have to leave your house and you can shop for anything you want.

We have Netflix. You don't have to wait for a movie to come out or for a show. Like, here's how here's how much suffering we had back in my day. And I'm able to say that because I got gray hair now. Back in my day, if you were watching a show, you had to wait a whole week before you could watch the next episode. Like, most of y'all don't even understand that.

You're like, you can't just see the little 3se secondond thing pop up and click it because I can't wait 3 seconds. Netflix, Starbucks, anything you want. Any way you want it, you can order it that way. We can cover up spiritual emptiness with the American dream. We live in a modern day leadya. So, let's look at this deep deeper verses 15- 16.

Here's what I want you to see is that lukewarm faith makes Jesus sick. Lukewarm faith makes Jesus sick. Jesus says, "I know your deeds. You're neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other, but since you're lukewarm, I'm about to spit you out. Now, I love this because Jesus is actually drawing more on their context, using what they already know as an illustration for what they need to learn.

Listen to what I say there. He's using what they already know as an illustration for what they need to learn. There were three cities that I already mentioned close to one another making a triangle or a triad if you will. Heropouloolis which was actually known for its hot springs for healing. People would go to the Heropouloolis literally to to bathe in these hot springs for healing. And then Colasse was known for cold springs that flew or that flowed off of Mount Cadmus because it was snowcapped.

And so when it would start to melt, cold water would flow into Colasse, known for its cold springs. So you got one that was a healing place to be able to go. And they had this other one that you could go if you wanted a refreshing drink. But Leota was not close to any water source. And so the way in which they got a water source was they had to create these aqueducts that were miles away from any water source and then pipe them in. So much so that by the time the water got to them, it was lukewarm.

It was tepid. And if you know anything about survival, you don't want to drink lukewarm water that's piped in from somewhere else. You need it to be one or the other. And this is amazing because lukewarm is when you look like water, but you don't provide either of the benefits of water. or hot, which is cleansing or healing, or cold, which is refreshing and satisfying. In other words, you look like a Christian, but aren't receiving the benefits of Christ, nor are you sharing the benefits of Christ.

That's the two differences between hot and cold. Hot is that you are receiving the healing benefits of Christ, and cold is that you are actually sharing the refreshing benefits of Christ with others. Some of us, we've got just enough Jesus to be comfortable, but not enough to be changed. Just enough to be comfortable, but not enough to be changed. It's like joining the gym in January. You buy the $300 workout clothes.

You look the part. You even go into the gym. You even take a picture that you were there, but you never actually work out. You look committed, but nothing's changing. nothing's changing. Maybe you even just have a membership at a gym but never show up.

That's lukewarm Christianity. It doesn't benefit you, nor does it benefit anybody else. Because we aren't changing, maturing spiritually. We change or mature ourselves materially and physically. That's what happens. If we're not changing and maturing spiritually, the way that we solve that void and that emptiness that we feel because we're not drawing closer to our creator, what we do is knowing that there's something wrong, we then try to change our situation materially and physically.

That's all we do. And which is why I think he goes to the next thing in verse 17. And here's the second thing I want you to see here. Comfort confuses your true condition. Comfort confuses your true condition. Jesus says to them, "You say, I'm rich and I don't need a thing."

But you don't realize that you are actually wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. They thought they were killing it. They thought they were doing everything right. They thought they were very mature and a very successful church. And Jesus is actually telling them, "You're broke. You're broke.

Everything about the city looks rich, self-sufficient, independent, yet it's broke. And I love the imagery Jesus chooses to use because it once again goes back to the context of their culture. Remember Leosa? Basically, it's a white collar city, wealthy city, known for banking, being rich, known for black textiles, wealthy clothing, and known for medical eyes, which would help people see. And Jesus says, "Actually, you are poor, naked, and blind." He's drawing on the things that literally they're known for.

And he's saying, "You don't have any of that spiritually. You're bankrupt. Here's the hard truth. You can't measure spiritual health by material success. You can't measure spiritual health by material success. Let's translate this into 2025.

You can have 10,000 followers on Instagram and still have zero fruit of the spirit. It's just true. Just because a bunch of people like you or follow you doesn't mean you're something worth liking or following. That's hard. That's hard to hear, right? You can max out your 401k and still be spiritually bankrupt.

Make all the money in the world. Can't take it with you. You can't show up and negotiate with God whether or not he let you in because of how successful you were here. You can have the perfect family Christmas card photo and still have a faith that makes Jesus gag. Which is why I think he goes to verse 18, he says, and I'll rephrase it here. The third thing I want you to see, stop chasing upgrades that don't matter.

Stop chasing upgrades that don't matter. Jesus says this, "Buy from me gold refined in fire, white clothes to cover your nakedness. I salve to heal your blindness." He's saying, "You're actually on to something with the riches and the clothing and the medicinal healings. The issue though is you're grabbing them off the wrong shelf. You're searching for them in the wrong places.

you're upgrading the wrong things. Stop chasing upgrades that don't matter. What he says here instead is basically riches. He says, "You need my righteousness. You don't need the riches of the world. You need my righteousness."

Clothes. You don't need the clothing of the world. You need to be clothed in Christ. medicine. You don't need to search for it in healing powers of the world. You need my healing presence.

He's counter literally cross-referencing each one of those things that this church has slipped into self-sufficiency and independent trying to pursue their own material, physical, and even probably thinking their own spiritual maturity in these things. And he's saying you don't realize how bankrupt you actually are. You're not healed and you're actually naked, which means you're you're you're shaming yourselves without even realizing it. It doesn't mean you should quit your job or dress like a homeless person, never see a doctor again. That's not what he's saying. That's not the point.

The point is not to pursue those things as the great comfort of your lives when God is supposed to be our great comforter. It's what are we pursuing? What are we actually investing our time, talents, and treasures in? Because we'll drop $1,200 on the new iPhone every September, which is actually hilarious because my kids are picking up on this. They said, "Wait a minute, iPhone 17? I thought the iPhone 16 just came out."

And I said, "Exactly." It did. But they're tapping into this reality that we always believe we need more of what we already have because we're not satisfied. We're not satisfied. And that's how the world gets wealthy is they play into you being unsatisfied with what you have and then they just hand you more of it. What will actually make you happy is not the 16, it's the 17.

This is going to be everything you need. We'll binge Netflix for hours, but we say we don't have time to read scripture. We'll spend hours scrolling social media, but we have no time to talk to God. Jesus is saying, "You're chasing all the wrong upgrades. The only upgrade that matters is him." Is him.

Are we upgrading our lives by our abiding in Jesus? He's the only thing that actually satisfies us. Number four, Jesus doesn't barge in, he knocks. Look at this in verses 19 through 20. Jesus says, "Those I love I rebuke and discipline." And you might be thinking at this point, like as as we're walking, this feels like just a ton of Jesus jukes in this message right now.

You're just constantly telling us the wrong things that we're doing. And I'm telling you, that's God's way of saying, "Let's get you to the right things." Because what I'm never going to apologize for is saying hard things that are true. What I think sometimes too many churches are doing this these days is we try to soften hard truths in hopes that you'll accept them, receive them, but never actually hear the truth. The truth. Because the truth is is that if Romans 3:23 is true, that all have fallen short of the glory of God and that there's no one who seeks God and that there's no one who does righteousness by his standard, then what we need to know is that's us, not someone out there.

That's us. And that we also need to know that Romans 6:23 says the wages of those sins are death. And so because we're not good enough, because we're not perfect enough, because we always mess up, we're heading towards our own impending death. But the mercy of God, the richness of God, the righteousness of God shows up on the scene and says, "You need to know how bad you are, but you also need to know how good God is." And you need to know that he doesn't leave you where you are, but he actually rescues you out of it. and he brings you into his righteousness so that you will no longer be considered unrighteous.

That's good news. That's good news. But you can't understand that good news if you don't understand how bad you are. Wes Huff, who's a current kind of mainstream apologetic um guru, I love the way he said it in an interview recently on a flagrant podcast. Um, he said, "Here's the truth about the gospel is that you're actually far worse than you think you are, but also God loves you more than you think he does." And that's a truth.

That's where the gospel hangs in the balance of those two realities. You're far worse than you think you are. That's why sometimes when people send me like a negative email or tell me that something I did was dumb, I always tell them, "Is that it?" Because I know way more that you don't know. But that's our reality. It's in that place where we can begin to see the beauty of the gospel and the beauty of the rescuing savior who comes to us and says, "I'm not going to leave you where you are.

I'm knocking on the door. I'm coming to rebuke, tell you that what you're doing is wrong. And I'm also going to discipline so that it corrects you to start doing what's correct, to start following him and trusting him the way that he has designed us to actually live out our lives. And so he says, "Those I love I rebuke and discipline." He says, "Here I am. I stand at the door and I knock."

Now, we always use that verse in evangelism. We always use that verse in evangelism. But listen, Jesus is not talking to unbelievers here. He's talking to the church in Leodysa. He's talking to Christians. He's saying, "Hey, I started this thing and you shut me out.

I'm the one that builds the church and yet you locked the door and you left me outside. And Jesus is giving this church an opportunity just like he's given the other six churches throughout this series is that he's saying there's two things that can happen for you as a church. If you follow Jesus as a church, then he will continue providing his transforming presence so that that church has an ability to transform its community. But if you leave Jesus outside and say he's not welcome here, then what he's going to do is remove his lampstand, which is his transforming presence, and then all of a sudden now you are no longer a church. You're just a social club that gathers together because you like people. But there's nothing different that you experience than going to the country club or going to the bar or going to a workout gym.

You'll have a little bit of change, but you're not actually going to experience spiritually changing and becoming like Jesus if he's left outside. And so, he's telling this church, "I'm at the door and I'm knocking." And if you want to continue having a transforming presence, then you got to let me in. You got to open the door back up to me. Question for you. Where in your life have you left Jesus outside?

Because he doesn't just want your Sunday morning. He doesn't just want your Sunday morning. He wants your marriage. He wants your phone habits. He wants your Amazon cart. He wants your work week.

He wants your calendar. Like one of the things I believe that we do in modern day Christianity is we compartmentalize Jesus in our weekly schedule. Here's what I mean by that. Not this last week because I had a lot of time to rest this last week because I was on a retreat. But normally what a week looks like is that I get up at 6:30. My boys get up about the same time and then I get them dressed, get them ready, and then we come down downstairs and we read scripture together.

We're just we're read through the book of Mark right now. I just read the passage and I let them ask questions. And then I get them ready and I take them to school and I drop them off at 7:30. I then come back to the house and I start getting the youngest shepherd up and ready. And then I read scripture to him and I do the same thing except his questions are bizarre because he's five. And then I take him to school at 9:00.

And then from nine o'clock, I then head to a meeting. And it's usually around 9:30, 10 o'clock that I have a meeting. And then from there, I'll head to another meeting or I'll go to a coffee shop and I'll start prepping sermon work. And then I'll either if Kelsey's not able to go back and pick the boy up at 1:00, I'll go back, pick him up, take him home, and then I'll go back out and I'll get some more work or I'll go to another meeting. And then on Monday nights, I go to football practice. On Tuesday nights, I go to karate.

On Wednesday nights, we go to group. On Thursday nights, um, don't know what we do. Sometimes we do something. Friday nights, we usually have a couple over for dinner. What I'm trying to explain to you right now is that life gets busy. And in all of that, I'm looking, even as your pastor, I'm looking at that and saying, "Where can I mix Jesus in?

Let me give Jesus like 10 minutes here in this afternoon, or let me give Jesus this 10 minutes in the morning, or let me give Jesus this over here." and I start compartmentalizing him rather than seeing that he is actually the one that defines every single bit of that calendar. Abiding in Jesus is not just when can I get to Jesus, but it's what does Jesus want from me in this moment? What does he want my morning routine to look like with my kids? What does he want that meeting that I'm heading to to look like? And so as I'm going to it, am I praying and talking to him about the meeting?

Maybe I'm listening to music on the way and I'm worshiping in that moment as I'm just abiding in the truths that he's preaching and and singing over me as well. He doesn't just want to be compartmentalized because I can tell you this, Satan does not stop. He's spending every waking hour trying to give you more of what you think you need. He doesn't take a moment off. And the dumb thing in Christianity is that we think, well, if I do a 10-minute devotion in the morning, I can handle the next 10 hours that Satan tries to throw at me. And that's an imbalance.

So, we can't just open the door for Jesus at 7:00 and then close the door at 7:10. We need to understand that what he's calling us to is an open door policy where we're abiding in him every single moment. That's why James later says literally pray unceasingly. If you don't know what unceasing means, it means don't stop. Don't stop. Never stop communing and talking with God.

Because we need this. We need him. He rules and reigns the heavens and the earth. Is he ruling and reigning you? I can tell you this from a cosmic perspective, yes, he is. But in your life, are you receiving it or are you rejecting it?

Are you receiving it or are you rejecting it? because there's a response on either side of that. Look at the reward here. Number five, the greatest reward isn't more stuff, it's more of him. Verse 21, to the one who is conquering or victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne. I mean, that's something the world cannot offer you.

Who's ruling and reigning the heavens and the earth? Who's the king of kings? Like that's not just a title. That's like a cool title. That means he's the king of every ruler that exists on the entire earth. I don't care what country you're from, what ethnicity you're from.

Every leader is under the sovereignty of Jesus who is ruling as king. He's Lord of lords. And yet he's approachable. He invites us for those who open the door. He allows them not only to have him come in to dwell with them, but also invites them to come back and dwell with him on his throne. So when we open the door to two-way access to where he comes and lives within us, but then also invites us to come and live with him on his throne.

He's literally so generous and so gracious that he says whatever I have is yours as well. That's why Romans 8 later says we are co-airs with Christ. I mean, you talk about riches, there's nothing this world can offer us that'll compare to being a co-air with Christ. Because if you think about it, the father who wants to reward his son Jesus with an inheritance, that same Jesus says to all who come after me and all who follow me and all who believe in the life I lived for them and the death I died for them. and then resurrecting three days later, guaranteeing for them that they can conquer death as well and have life for eternity. Anyone who follows me, not only do I just invite you into heaven, but I am sharing with you everything that has been given to me.

No one is more gracious and generous than Jesus. No one. And it's a hard thing for us to understand because we don't want to do that. We don't want to share with others. I see this with my own children. Like right now, they are big on Legos.

Big on Legos. These little small Lego figurines. And you would think, you would think someone got like punched in the mouth or body slammed just because someone else asked, "Can I borrow the helmet that goes on this Lego figurine and put it on my Lego figurine?" You would think it's the worst thing that ever happened to the world just because they simply want what is theirs. That's not a spirit of Jesus. The spirit of Jesus is whatever is mine is yours.

Whatever is mine is yours. And that's a reward. And that's the greatest thing. I think it was CS Lewis who said, "If you aim at the world, you'll miss heaven. But if you aim at heaven, not only do you get Jesus, but you get the world thrown in." And that's what he's talking about.

It's not just that we get more stuff. If you if what you're pursuing is more stuff like what the church was doing in Leosa, then you'll actually leave Jesus outside and you'll receive an impending judgment that is going to be separation from him for etern for forever because you didn't want him in the first place and so you'll get what you wanted. But he says if the door is open to me, if the door is open and I come in, not only do you get me, but you get everything that comes with me. You get everything that comes with me. You get the best of both worlds, if you want to put it that way. Victory in this life is not getting the promotion.

It's not winning the game. It's not buying the house. Victory is staying faithful to Jesus in a culture that tempts you every day to be lukewarm. Every day to be lukewarm. So here's the question. If Jesus took a sip of your life, would it be hot?

Would it be cold or lukewarm? So, examine your faith. Examine your faith right now. Your walk with Jesus. Don't think how often I go to church, how often I read my Bible, how often I pray. That's not what I'm asking right now.

I'm asking your relationship with Jesus, your desire for him, your passion for him. It's got to start there. Now, all those other things that I mentioned in the flame that that is an abiding nature that we have is that there is a discipline that comes with it. I it's not you receiving salvation is unconditional. You following Jesus is very much also conditional in the sense that there are things that you do. If you don't read your word, you'll never know him more.

If you don't pray, you'll never talk to him and hear from him. If you don't come to church, you'll never grow and mature in the gospel and also serve the gifts that he has provided for you. So, there are conditional components to it that that you follow Jesus in. And as a shameless plug, we're going to start next week a new series called Treasure where we walk through John chapter 15 on what it looks like to abide in Jesus. That it involves following him. That it involves reading his word.

That it involves praying to him. That it involves serving. That it involves an overflow of everything of of all of those things and what you do and sharing him with others. But I want you to examine right now your life because one question is absolutely true. Every single one of you in this room, you want more. You want more.

You're not satisfied. You want more. And so the real question then is how are you filling it? Is it Jesus or is it stuff? Is it Jesus or is it stuff? If it's stuff, it's room temperature.

It's room temperature. We need to repent of that. Repentance, negative word. Don't talk about repentance. Repentance is the way that God is the pathway that God has granted to us to help us stop doing dumb things and start doing good things, righteous things, following him, treasuring him. It's literally just saying like it it's it's what I do with my kids all the time.

Hey, if you're going to run out into the road, you don't see that car coming. So, I'm going to grab you and say stop and encourage you to turn around and go this way where there's life and not death. And that's exactly what God has done with us. Repentance. Stop running towards your death. turn around and follow me so that you can have life.

And that is, if you didn't know, a daily decision that we make. That's a daily decision that we make because every single day my flesh is stupid and my flesh says, "This will make me happy. This looks fun. This looks appetizing." And that's why the greatest fruit of the spirit that you see woven throughout all of the scriptures is self-control. Self-control is taking control of your flesh that is dumb and stopping it and trusting the spirit of Christ that dwells in you who says walk in this way.

Don't do this. Walk in this way. Do this. And so we need to repent of complacency. And number three, we need to seek true riches instead of upgrading an iPhone. Like let's upgrade obedience.

Again, negative term. Don't talk about obedience. No, no, no. Good term. It's a good thing to obey a God that wants more for us. That is actually satisfying.

It's a good thing if when you're heading towards that road and that car is going to hit you that you obey when we say stop, turn around and walk this way. It's a good thing to say stop eating um all of the candy and start eating something good for you like broccoli. Eat something healthy. Why? Because when you come to me three hours later saying, "Oh, my belly hurts." Well, yeah, because you just ate like literally four packets of razles last week.

Obedience is for literally your s your satisfaction. That's what it's for. That's what it's for. I've never met the person I've never met the person who said, "You know what? This week, man, I was really wanting these fleshly things, these these things of the earth, these things of the world, these things that culture tells me that I really want." But you know what?

I actually I actually said no to those things. And then I read my Bible. I prayed to the Lord. Like I actually listened like I I I worshiped through music and song. I I encouraged and edified other people. I said no to those things and I did these things.

And you know what? At the end of the day, I just felt really bad. Never heard that conversation. Never heard that. But yet the world wants to constantly tell us, "No, no, no. You just didn't do it right over here.

You got to add more to it. You got to spin it this way. You got to start liking or loving this person instead of that person. You just got to change things over here. and it never works. Seek true riches.

Upgrade your obedience, not your lifestyle. Open the door. Don't leave Jesus knocking. Again, think about room temperature lukewarm cup of coffee. Nobody wants that. Not you, not me, not Jesus.

He doesn't want lukewarm Christians. He wants disciples on fire with devotion or refreshing the world with the gospel. Anything less makes them sick. Makes them sick. Leodysa looked successful, but they were spiritually bankrupt. And the scariest part, they didn't even realize it.

They said, "We have everything we need. We have everything we need." They were blind to it. I pray today that if that's us, by the grace of Jesus, we see it. We pursue his righteousness and we become clothed in Christ. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you this morning for your goodness to us. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your word. Maybe right now, Jesus, you are knocking on our hearts. We feel you right now saying, "Let me back into the center of your life. And I pray right now for every single person in this room."

I pray that we don't walk away lukewarm. I pray we don't leave him knocking. But I pray that we invite him in so that he would come in and eat with us. so that we would experience that fellowship with Jesus that is satisfying. And I pray that that allows us to be then refreshing to those around us. Because if we're honest, Lord, the most refreshing people are not those who we hang out with who have all the status and success and all the perfect family and and all the money and whatnot.

that that's that's actually not the most enjoyable people to be around. The most enjoyable people to be around are those who are loving, joyful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle. Those people are satisfied in Jesus and the fruit of the spirit is flowing out of them and they are refreshing to be around. Father, I pray that everyone experiences us in that way. But the only way for that to happen is if you are dining with us. You're dwelling in our hearts and we're dwelling in yours.

And I pray this morning that if there's someone in this room who's never followed Jesus as their Lord, as their savior, as their King, but instead they've just been following this world and doing whatever they think is right in their own eyes. I pray that this morning would be that moment when you knock on their heart and they invite you in and they start following you for the first time. I pray that's true of someone this morning with our heads still bowed and eyes closed. If that's you this morning, you've not been following Jesus, and you want to invite him to come and live in you, to forgive you of your sins, and to invite you on this journey of following him for the rest of your life. If that's you this morning, would you raise your hand? Jesus.

We pray that you were just magnified this morning. We pray that you were made much of. And I pray for these people. I pray that we follow you when we leave from this place. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Would you go and stand with me?