Christian-ish: Part 1
Revelation 3:15-17,19-20
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
I'm so glad you're here. Happy new year. And we're excited to get going on a new series this January to kind of kick off 2026 together. And have you ever had a time or a moment where you were meeting somebody new and you guys were just hitting it off? You ever started that? You're meeting somebody brand new, you've never met them before, and you're just like, you're totally hitting off. You're jiving, things are going great. You're talking about your family. You're talking about life. And things are just going really, really well. And there's times as a pastor, I love meeting new people, but then there comes a moment that I always hate. And that's the question, what do you do for a living? And the problem is with that, is that it always gets weird. No matter what happens, it either gets Christian weird, or it gets unChristian weird. And what do I mean by that? Well, Christian weird is we're having a conversation, things are going, what do you do for a living? Oh, I'm a pastor. And then all of a sudden a switch flips inside of them, and they're like, hallelujah. Praise the Lord, brother. That is such a good word for me this morning, thank you. It just gets weird. I'm like, no, don't do that. Or it gets unChristian weird. And you tell them I'm a pastor, and they're just like, oh, cool. And then sometimes, most likely, they just usually walk away and they won't talk to me again. I will say, I have never lied, but I can't say that I haven't thought about it. I mean, that's, can I be honest with you guys this morning?
So recently I had this opportunity, I met a guy who lives here locally, and I've known him for a little bit, and we were talking, and he's not a Christian. And we were having a good conversation, and we were just talking about life, and he would say how he's a good person, and he tries not to judge people, and he tries to be generous how he can. Maybe it's someone on the street, or a family member, or a friend. And from afar, it's so funny, he loves our church. He talks to me all the time when I see him. He loves our sign on the corner. He loves the jokes. He loves our church. And we're having this conversation, and he literally turns to one of the other guys in the room, and he goes, you know what, if I go to church, I'm going to that pastor's church. He calls me pastor, it's the funniest thing, but he doesn't go to church. I invited him for Christmas candlelight service. This was a good conversation. He was totally open to it, but he did not come.
After high school, I moved to the Midwest, to Indiana for college. And if you've ever been around the Midwest, you know it's an area called the Bible Belt. And it was a culture, I would say a reverse culture shock for me to go back to Indiana after living in California, and to see so many people there in the Bible Belt that would call themselves Christians. I'd have conversations with people, and it would be great. They'd be like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm a Christian. I'm like, okay, cool. Like, where do you go to church? Well, you know, it just, my grandma took me to church back in the day, and I probably go like Christmas and Easter. You know, like the big holidays, like the big ones. And it's so funny to me that they would call themselves a spiritual person, but yet you might ask somebody in their lives of, would you say, hey, so-and-so, are they a Christian? And they might answer, I really don't know. And that's how I would probably define this term, Christian-ish.
And as we start a new year in 2026, I wanna give you a new word for your vocabulary, and that is Christian-ish. I would define it this way. Christian-ish is having a half-hearted faith, or wearing the label of Christianity without truly following Jesus. Something like Christian in name only, sort of Christian, Christian-ish. And I will say very honestly, from a pastoral perspective, to be Christian-ish is to embrace a superficial watered-down version of Christianity. It's not the real thing. You get enough of Jesus that it makes you kind of feel better, but not so much of Jesus that it changes your life. Happy New Year. Welcome to church in 2026. My heart and my goal here is to make you feel better about your faith, but I heard a professor quote once, and it said this, it says, "The role of an effective pastor is to comfort those who are afflicted, "and at the same time, afflict those who are comfortable." Ooh. My heart, my desire today, I just want you to know this, is to maybe push you a little bit into 2026, and believe that you can be closer to Jesus this year than you ever have before, and to be more effective for his kingdom than you ever have been in years past.
We're gonna be in Revelation chapter three this morning, and this early in the book, Jesus, he's giving custom messages to seven different churches, and one of these churches is the church that you may know as the church of Laodicea, and when talking to the Laodicean people, Jesus isn't pulling any punches or holding back. He's coming right at him, and he says this in Revelation chapter three, Jesus says, "I know your deeds, that they are neither cold nor hot." I know your deeds, I know your good works, and they're neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one of them. So because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth. What you wanted to hear is coming to church this morning, right, right? You say, "I am rich, and I have acquired wealth, "and do not need a thing, but you do not realize "that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked." Jesus, a few verses later, says, "Those whom I love, "I rebuke and discipline, so be earnest and repent. "Here I am, I stand at the door and I knock. "If anyone hears my voice," Jesus says, "opens the door, "I will come in and eat with that person, "and they with me." Jesus said, "I would rather you be one or the other. "I'd rather you be cold, or I'd rather you be hot. "But the fact that you are lukewarm, I'm going to, "for a lack of a better term, vomit you up." But Jesus isn't playing. I wanna give you a little context. That's why Jesus brought this spiritual intensity to Laodicea. See, Laodicea was one of the wealthiest cities in the entire Roman Empire. And 30 years prior to this, they had a massive earthquake that ruined the city. And unlike what would be custom in that culture, where neighboring towns and families and cities would come together, Laodicea had so much wealth that they just themselves took care of their city. This is completely unheard of. They were loaded. And when they rebuilt their cities, they built extravagant coliseums, theaters, shops, markets. Think of like a modern day Las Vegas. Might as well look something like this. There's a picture I put up here. It would have been extravagant for that time and that age. Modern technology like you'd never seen. But when Jesus says, "You think this wealthy "and your self-sufficient community are," he says, "You are lukewarm.”
And this analogy would have been so striking for this city. Because even with all of their wealth and everything that they had, their biggest problem, their number one thing was they had an inadequate water supply. And so the only solution they had was to actually bring water into the city. And so I got a map here of where Laodicea is. And what they would do is up in Hierapolis, they would bring down hot spring water. And then from Colossae, they would pipe through these kind of old school aqueducts that would bring in this cool spring water from the underground. So might here be thinking about H. Hierapolis, H. hot and Colossae C. being cold. And so they would have to bring in this water. But the problem was, because these cities were so far away, by the time the water, the hot water from Hierapolis would get to the city, it would have cooled. The hot mineral spring water that had these healing capabilities wouldn't be hot anymore. And then the cold water from the underground springs in Colossae, by the time it made it through these aqueducts and this gross piping, it would arrive tepid. It would just be lukewarm. And so these people would understand when Jesus says you are lukewarm, they would very well know exactly what Jesus is talking about. Because this water, by the time it got to them, being lukewarm and going through all these minerals and sediment and all this long travel, it would be gross. It would be filled with sediment. It would be calcified and it would make people sick. Jesus is saying here that you are lukewarm. You're not hot, you're not cold. You are not serving any real purpose and that makes me sick.
See, the spiritual interpretation here for lukewarm is occasionally misunderstood. I think when Jesus says this, you're not cold, you're not hot, he was not just talking about their spiritual passion, but he was also talking about their spiritual purpose and impact because the hot water had purpose to heal and the cool water had purpose to refresh and cleanse. And Jesus is saying you are not fulfilling your purpose. May I say this humbly and with a heart to heal and a desire for hope to bring to your life, as you enter a new year looking back, you may have not fulfilled your spiritual purpose. See, God has given each and every one of you a specialized gifts. He's created you in a special certain way. Some of you are so good with people. Others of you are so other oriented. Some of you are incredibly generous towards others. Others of you know how to organize in a way that is like scientific. Others of you know how to serve in such a great way. Something about you is different. And if you didn't use that gift and the way that God gave it to you to fulfill your spiritual purpose, creating a spiritual impact to make a difference, Jesus might say to you, "You're lukewarm.”
See, there's a word here in the Greek called emeo. And this is the action that Jesus is talking about. And it's a pretty aggressive word, I'm not gonna lie. But the word emeo means to vomit, to throw up, to spew out forcefully. If any of you have ever been around a baby after you fed them, some of them are just like a ticking time bomb, right? You don't handle them too rough. You don't move them around too much. Dare say you ever lay on your back and go, "Wee!" Like this, 'cause it is going to come out. Emeo here is almost to this level of a projectile vomit, a strong visceral response. And Jesus says, "I am vomiting you out." God can't stomach comfortable Christianity. He can't. And it's not just undesirable to God, it's intolerable. Christian-ish. Suggest this half-hearted, convenient, comfortable, committing to receive the benefits of Jesus without fully surrendering to the call of Jesus. Suggest a half-hearted faith that's repugnant to God and reacts in a visceral way.
But Jesus says this in Revelation 3:17. He says, "You say I am rich." That's what the people of Laodicea would say, "I am rich." Well, today, I wanna let you know that maybe this correlation would be you have an iPhone or a smartphone. You can go on Amazon and you can shop and you can get it in two days or less. You came here in a car. From the perspective of the world and the eyes of the world, you are rich. You live in the top percentile of people on this entire planet. You are rich. You have maybe even a house for your car that you go home and you drive and you park it in. It's called a garage. You have not only a house, but a house for your car. Jesus says, "I have acquired," Jesus, that you say, "I have acquired wealth "and do not need a thing." Maybe you know somebody who doesn't need anything from God. Maybe you don't think you need anything from God. You think, "I don't need anything." Maybe you're like this guy that I continue to have these conversations with who says, "I'm just a good person. "I got it figured out. "I went to church when I was a kid. "I got my Jesus. "I'm good. "I don't need that anymore." Or maybe you're one who goes, "I got it figured out. "I don't need anybody to tell me how to live my life. "I don't need some outdated, archaic religion "to make me have to feel better about myself." Maybe you don't need anything from God, but the problem is you may feel that way until you do need something from God, until you get that medical report, or until something happens in your life. And maybe you weren't a person who prayed the day before, but it sure can tell you when you get some bad news, you turn into a praying person, right? Until your spouse leaves you and you don't know what to do, or until you have a broken relationship, maybe with a friend or child or family member, and then you feel broken and hopeless. Or maybe you're a situation where you finally got everything that you wanted. You finally got there. You got the job. You got the house. You got the six-figure income. You got the boat. You got the vocation. You got it all. And you sit there, and then you begin to realize, yeah, I might be rich in stuff, but I'm spiritually empty. I'm poor in spirit.
Revelation 3:17 continues on. It says, "And you do not realize." Don't realize. I may not realize. You do not realize. "Wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked." Have you ever been out to dinner, maybe with some friends, and you're having a good time, you're having a great conversation, and then you go to the restroom, and you look in the mirror, and all of a sudden you realize you've got food in your teeth, right? You got a little piece of meat stuck right here. Maybe you got a little bit of cilantro or pepper or something, and you're just like, "Oh my gosh. "I've got stuff in my teeth." Last year, right up here, one Sunday I led worship. It was great. It was an awesome Sunday. The band was rocking. You guys were worshiping. I didn't make any mistakes, which is impressive. I usually make mistakes every Sunday, just to let you know. I got done, I walked in the back, and what I realized, my zipper was down. I led worship up here for the whole service with my zipper down. I didn't realize. It was recently I got a haircut, and I got my beard trimmed up. I was feeling good. Life was great. I had a big meeting with some other pastors. We were having a good conversation. Was doing just awesome. I felt like a million bucks. I don't know, a new haircut, right? It can just make you feel like you're just killing it. And then I get home, and I look in the mirror, and what happened? I had these nose hairs that I felt like went all the way down to my mustache. They probably didn't go that far. But then there was like a little booger hanging in there. The whole time, I'm so focused on this up here and the sideburns and all the beard and everything. And yet the one hairs that needed to be trimmed didn't get trimmed. I didn't realize.
What if you are lukewarm and you just don't realize? What if you are not fulfilling your God-ordained purpose and you don't even realize it? You think, you know, I'm okay, I'm good. I'm a spiritual person. I believe in God and everything. I'm all right. I got my Jesus, I'm good. But you don't even realize that you're spiritually wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and you got your zipper down. You're naked. Or you got a booger hanging in your nose hairs. See, lukewarm Christian-ish faith is perhaps the greatest and ultimate form of self-deception. It's enough of Jesus to soothe your conscience with some good word and encouragement and some music every Sunday, but it's not enough to make you anew. What if you're lukewarm and you just don't even realize it? Christian-ish. How do you know if you're lukewarm?
I kind of put together five different thoughts and signs that you might be lukewarm. This isn't an exhaustive list, this isn't an end all be all, but this is kind of maybe a place to start to check our hearts. The first of which would be you might be lukewarm if you crave acceptance from people more than acceptance from God. More than trying to live a life that is pleasing to God, you actually just wanna be liked by people. You wanna fit in, you wanna be popular, want everybody to like you, you wanna be long, and that's fine, that's natural. We have that inside of us, but you end up just going along with the crowd. It's easier just to go along than to fight against, right? It's easier to go along than you have to stand out and to do something that Jesus has called you to this. Jesus says this, "Woe to you, "who everyone speaks well of you, "because if you're truly following Jesus, "you will be persecuted." That's the reality. You may be lukewarm if you're seeking acceptance of people more than acceptance from God. Number two, you may be lukewarm if you rationalize sin. If there's sin in your life, something in your life that's displeasing or dishonorable to God, but you explain it away. Hey, everybody else is doing it, so it just, is it really that big of a deal? Nobody needs to be in my business, that's me and my own business, stay out of it. I'm not hurting anybody, but God's word in Isaiah says, "Woe to those people who call good evil and evil good." You might be lukewarm, and you don't even realize it, if you rationalize or explain away your sin.
Third one, you might be lukewarm if you rarely share your faith in Christ. You say, "Oh, I'm a Christian, I believe in Jesus. "I know I'm called to be a light in this world, "but it's just not my gift. I'm just not wired like that. "I'm not very good at it. "I don't want to offend people. "I just, I'm better at other things, "so I'm gonna focus on those things, "so I just, I don't share my faith." Maybe you're so timid in your faith that you've been working with someone in your job for seven years, and they would be surprised to find out that you're a follower of Jesus. I can be convicted of this one as well. Sometimes I myself forget to invite people to church when I'm the one that is kinda doing a lot. You rarely share your faith in Christ. You don't want to offend people. You don't even realize. Number four, you might be lukewarm. You only turn to God when you need something. God is your emergency 911. He's that call when it all hits the fan. Instead of seeking Him every single day and letting His Holy Spirit guide your life, letting His Word come into your heart and build your faith, would you renew your mind? You call on Him when you're in trouble. Maybe like a tool in our toolbox that we pull out when we need it, and then when we're done with it, we put it in the drawer, we close it, and we know it's there when we can go back to it, but we only really use it or pull it out when we need it. Something that we use instead of a God that we truly honor and worship. You might be lukewarm when God is someone you call on when you need something.
The final thought, you might be lukewarm when you're not much different from this world. So you call yourself a Christian, but you talk like you're not. Maybe you gossip just like everybody else at work. Maybe it's under the guise of I'm gonna gossip because I need to pray for my brother or sister in Christ. Or maybe you cuss, I don't know. Maybe you take the Lord's name in vain. Maybe you're critical of other people. You're judgmental with your words. Maybe you're watching the same shows on Netflix and TV, shows that take God's name in vain and are horrible stuff that is just completely dishonoring to God, but you rationalize it. Maybe you're rationalizing some sexual sin and you say, it's just not that big of a deal. I'm not going that far. I'm not hurting anybody. Or maybe you're hanging out with friends and you just have a few too many to drink. Just a little tipsy, just a little buzz. I'm not like pass out drunk. Or maybe, I don't know, you're doing drugs and you know you shouldn't, but you're doing it because everybody else is doing it. You're living for the things of this world. Maybe you're living for money. You're clamoring for success for yourself. And yet at the same time, you claim Jesus is all your success. But your actions say something different. Your actions say that you love the world. What if you're lukewarm and you don't even realize it? You claim Jesus yet. You love this world. 1 John 2:15 reminds us to, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. "If anyone loves the world, "the love of the Father is not in them.”
So you may say, okay, Chris, you're obviously coming out swinging in 2026. You're not holding anything back. But I feel convicted. Is Jesus mad at me? I wanna tell you right now, and I wanna promise to you that Jesus loves you more than you can imagine. He does. He loves you way more than you can even think or fathom in your life. And when Jesus was calling out the Laodiceans as being lukewarm, he was not to shame them or to make them feel guilty. He was loving them. He was loving them. It says this in Revelation 3:19, "I correct and I discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.” Jesus is saying, I'm not angry at you. I'm not mad at you. I love you. Just as if a parent correcting a child. You're loving them. You're trying to help them. You're trying to guide them. You're not mad at them. I got some kids in the audience this morning. Where a parent is guiding them and leading them, loving them. I've been convicted by the Holy Spirit on this story myself. I heard an analogy from a, I think it was an author, a Christian author, and talks about how our heart is like rooms in our house. And I think sometimes that we're good to let like Jesus into the living room, but that's it, right? Maybe he makes it to the kitchen, heaven forbid, maybe the hall bathroom, but he ain't going in the bedroom, right? And he's really not going to the closet and he's really not going for that box that I've got deep back, deep, deep, deep back in there in my heart. I'm not opening that box for him. Newsflash, Jesus knows the box is there. That's the reality. You're not hiding anything from him. But I think there's just something about this word here, this word indifference.
The scripture is saying, Jesus is saying, "Be diligent, turn from your indifference." I find this striking because there's, I think, this one word truly captures a lot of Christian-ish people when it comes to the things of God. They're just indifferent. Take it if it helps, leave if it doesn't. Call on Jesus when you need him. Live comfortably by yourself when you don't. And so maybe you're feeling a little bit of the conviction of the Holy Spirit right now. And that's not because God has managed you. It's because God is loving you. So what do we do? What do we do this? How do we grow out of this Christian-ish life? I was there probably middle school, high school of my life. And I was in church every Sunday. I was there for Bible studies. I was there for youth group. I was there for service projects. I even went to a Christian school. And when I was around all the Christian people, I spoke all the Christian stuff. I lived a life, I said the right things. I do the Jesus stuff. But then when I was around my non-Christian friends, I was so far from Jesus, it wasn't even funny. I was living this lukewarm, hot, cold life. And God got my attention one year at youth camp. And he says, "What are you gonna do, dude? "You gotta choose one. "Either in or you're out. "I'm done with this lukewarm garbage in your life, Chris. "You gotta choose." And I remember sitting on a rock overlooking this lake, having this argument with God. And he said, "You just can't keep living like this. "Can't live over here like this "and then go do this stuff over here." I was living Christian-ish. But I had to make a decision. And God may be like me right now. He might be convicting you in his love.
So what do you gotta do? I have some good news for you this morning. And I could give you a list of 21 things for you to start today to live out of your Christian-ish and step into a Christian faith. And I think there would probably be some pretty good stuff. I talk about reading God's word daily because when you do, it changes and transforms who you are. I would say you need to pray and talk to God every single day. You need to be in Christian community and accountability. You need to get in the Word of God. You need to be in Christian community and accountability. You need to give and to trust God by faith. You need to worship. You need to be in church every single Sunday in 2026. I could give you a whole laundry list, but if you're probably like me, maybe just even a little bit, sometimes when you're given too much, you end up doing nothing at all, right? It's 2026. You're supposed to be doing all this new stuff. You're supposed to be working out, eating better. You're supposed to be going to bed on time. You're supposed to have less blue light at night. You're supposed to be doing this. You're supposed to be doing that. Eat your vegetables, right? No more sugar. Everybody's telling you to do all this stuff, and then what happens? Tomorrow. Right? So I don't wanna do that.
I wanna be honest. I wanna give you one thing today. Here's your one thing to walk away from today. Are you ready? If you wanna grow out of your Christian-ish illusion of self-deception to be truly a follower, devoted disciple of Jesus, I suggest this. Do something every day that requires faith. Do something every single day that requires you to trust in God. And take time each day. I don't know, write it down. Start a note on your phone. And start tracking. And if you miss one day, whoop-de-doo. Start the next day. And then do it again the next day. And do it the next day. Every single day, do something that requires you to put your faith in Jesus more than you did the day before. Maybe for you, it's to do what is right, even if a friend might make fun of you. Maybe it's to worship God even when you don't feel like it. That by faith, you worship Him. Maybe you need to forgive somebody. We just came through the holidays and the season of family and all the fun that comes along with that. Maybe you need to forgive somebody, ask for forgiveness. Maybe it's somebody who hurts you really deeply. Maybe it's a friend, a family member. Maybe you need to give sacrificially above a tithe. Maybe you need to tithe for the very first time, 'cause that's gonna take a whole lot of faith. Maybe you need to invite somebody to church. Maybe you need to share your faith in a way that isn't just like, hey, good to see you, bye. Gave him a little Jesus, didn't know it. Maybe you need to pray to ask God to do something impossible in your life that you're like, why do I even begin to pray this? This isn't gonna happen. Maybe you do.
Do something that requires faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith, it is impossible to please God." Do something that requires faith. Please, God, do something every day that requires faith to put your trust in Jesus. 'Cause when you do that, you won't be Christian-ish. You can't be Christian-ish if you're doing that. You won't be lukewarm. You know what, you won't be tepid. You will be hot in your faith. Why? Because you're serving God. You're glorifying him. And when you do something that requires faith, you're depending upon God, not yourself. You're depending upon God. And suddenly you're just not concerned with the world around you and what they think. Your one concern is an audience of one. I'm glorifying God, I'm honoring God. That is what matters. You're living for his approval. Maybe you'll stop rationalizing your sin because why? You will be confessing your sins to Jesus. And Jesus says, "When you confess your sins, he being God is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all of your unrighteousness." Be empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the will of God. Instead of hiding in your faith, you will be bold. You'll start sharing your faith with others and you won't care what they think. And they will see it. They will be lit up like a light in a dark place and they will be drawn to the savior. Mary, for the very first time, through the power of the gospel. And you don't just turn to God when you need something, but you seek him, you prioritize him. Pastor Andreas said it beautifully before, church on Sunday starts on Saturday. You don't just wake up and accidentally fall into church, right? You made a conscious decision last night or maybe earlier in the week, maybe you need to back it up a few days. You made a conscious decision to be in church today. And I think you are here for a purpose and a reason. And God has a word for your life. You design your life around him. And you know what'll happen? You won't look like the world anymore. You will be different and people will know it. Others will respect it. You are not Christian-ish. You are dead to yourself, but you are alive in Christ.
So what if you find out you got some stuff in your teeth or your zipper's down, or you might be a little bit lukewarm, and you don't even realize it, what do you do? Jesus says here in Revelation 3.20, look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we'll share a meal together as friends. Jesus is knocking. You let him into your life. See this word here, this knock in the Greek, it's what they call like a perfect tense. It means it's an active, ongoing thing. Jesus is just knocking. And he's knocking. And he's knocking. He's not trying to sell you anything. Not getting you to sign up for a home warranty. He's just knocking. But in a way that is so loving and caring that says, will you just let me in? You know what's even greater is that there's only even a door there because of Jesus. And that it's only by the grace of Jesus that we can even open the door. But there's a door and Jesus is knocking. And Jesus has created and made a way for you to have a life like you never experienced it. To live life with purpose in the way that you were created. So what do you do? I'd encourage you open the door. I would encourage you to go all in. What if 2026 was the year that you stopped holding anything back? And just see what happens. Just see what happens. Just let God come into your life. Just let him have access as the story I was saying. Your home is like your heart. Have access to everything and just let him do his thing. What would that look like in your life? 'Cause I wanna be a follower of Jesus that's not gonna settle for a faith that looks the part but lacks the power. I wanna be a fully follower of Jesus, a disciple of Jesus in the everyday stuff of life. To let him come and saturate my heart and my life and transform me into the person he has created me to be. Luke Warm doesn't just grieve God, but it robs you of the life that God wants for you. He doesn't want half of your heart. He doesn't want a little bit of your heart. He doesn't want just this over here and this over here and this over here. He wants your entire heart. He wants it all. He's standing at the door, knocking. No one's gonna stop him from knocking. He's just there. The question is, will you let him in? Will you let him come in and bring full purpose and meaning and life to you so that you can experience the life that he desired and created for you? So what if you don't realize it? You might be Luke Warm. What are you gonna do? You're gonna do something every day that requires faith because without faith, it's impossible to please God. And more than anything else, what do we wanna do? We wanna please God with everything that we are and everything that we do.
Holy Spirit, I pray that you would stir God deep within us, that we would become the people that you created us to be. And right now, I wanna take a moment. I just wanna, I wanna talk to those in this room who are a Christian. You know you're a Christian. You're not just Christian-ish. You know that you're a Christian and you have maybe become a little comfortable in your life. And I wanna try to help stir you up in your faith. And I wanna challenge you that every day this week, for the next seven days, you would write something down. You would maybe put in your phone, put it somewhere. I don't know where you wanna put it. But I want you to do something that requires faith. And this is for those that you're a Christian and you don't want to become comfortable that every day this week, you're going to look for that moment at least once a day, maybe more. I don't know, but you just are gonna say, "Yes, Chris, I want you to pray for me this week "as I step out in faith." Is that you? I just want you to raise your hand 'cause I wanna pray for you this week. If you would say, "I'm gonna be one. "I wanna step out this week. "Every single day I'm gonna do something in faith." I see you guys, thank you. Yes. God, I pray for those, Jesus, that as they raise their hands, that maybe that was their first step of faith to go, "God, I don't know. "I'm trusting you. "I don't know what this looks like. "I don't know all the details of it, but I'm trusting you. "I am going to step out this week, "and I'm gonna do something every single day "that requires faith." God, I pray that you would be with us, that you would be with those who right now just raised their hands, that you would help them and give them a boldness. They would give them faith, not to live by sight, but God, to depend on you. 'Cause we know without you, we don't have anything. So God, I pray that you would stir up a boldness. You would forgive us, but when we are comfortable, you would teach us, God, to live by faith every single day.
And as we continue to pray, maybe you would say, "Chris, I'm like that guy "that you were talking about. "Maybe I've been coming to church just to be social, "or maybe just be spiritual in general. "I think it's a cool church or whatever." But you're not really walking with Jesus. You have not taken that step of faith to put your full trust and your full self in him. You hear Jesus knocking at the door, and you might've been convicted a little bit this morning, but you would say, "For the very first time, Chris, "I want to let Jesus into my life. "I want to open up the door." If you would say, "That is you, "I wanna put up a salvation prayer on our screen, "and I would encourage you to pray this prayer. "I'm gonna say it out loud. "I want you to pray in your heart, "but I want you, in this prayer, "for you are opening up the door to Jesus." And this is the prayer. It says, "Father in heaven, "I know that I've lived for myself instead of you. "I have sinned against you, "but I believe that Jesus died for my sin, "so I confess my sin, and I ask you to forgive me. "I bow to you as Lord and leader of my life. "Help me to live for you from this day forward. "In Jesus' name." If you were one who prayed that prayer, you would say for the very first time, "I want you to look up. "I wanna be able to celebrate you. "I wanna pray with you. "I wanna lift you up in Jesus' name, "because I am so excited with you "that you're leaving your Christian-ish behind, "and that you're stepping to a relationship with Jesus "for the very first time. "Jesus, we thank you for this morning. "God, I thank you sometimes even for the hard sermons. "God, as you've put this on our hearts "over a month ago, God, "that knowing that this wouldn't be the easiest thing "maybe to hear in the first week of January in 2026, "God, but it was what you wanted us to hear. "So God, I pray that as we step into faith with you, "as we leave our Christian-ish behind, "as we take a step of faith "and to do something each and every day "to trust in you a little bit more in 2026, "God, may this be the year that we go fully all in "in our faith for you, God. "God, transform us. "God, shape us. "God, give us purpose and meaning "for what you have for our life. "We thank you, Jesus. "We love you. "Amen.