[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:14] Well, take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to 1 Kings chapter 18. A quick word from the Holy Spirit, my wife. The Bushes are in Indiana.
[0:26] Mindy's granddad died, and so they traveled, I think it was Friday night, and drove up. And so pray for them. And then also, this is interesting, not a prayer request, but there's a family visiting today from Lima, Peru.
[0:42] And they live 650 miles away from us, but they visited Atiquipa every time we had a big national conference. And they were telling us at lunch today they came when they were single.
[0:54] And so they've been like 14 or 15 years in a row. They were single back when they started going to those conferences, got married, and now they're here with their 14-year-old kid. And so things happen in less of a long time.
[1:09] Amen? Go to 1 Kings chapter 18 with me. Before I read the passage, I'll say something to you that's maybe a tad shocking. But the title of the message, I'm calling it There's No Neutral Ground.
[1:21] And what I want you to realize is this is what the Bible says. You're either for him or you're against him. You're either with him or you're not with him. You're either gathering or you're scattering.
[1:34] And in this Old Testament story that you know very well, in this Old Testament story that you know very well, he's going to say, how long halt you between two opinions? That's the famous text that's found in 1 Kings chapter 18.
[1:47] That's the famous text found in 1 Kings chapter 18. Now, you could say, well, that's Old Testament. And in the Old Testament, you either had to be one of God's people or you didn't have to be one of God's people.
[2:01] But I'm going to show you in the New Testament, that's still the same way it is. I think sometimes we want to fit in. We want to kind of be homogenized with the world. We want to kind of be, we want to bring ourselves down and maybe bring them up so we fit in.
[2:17] But here's the truth of the matter. We don't fit in. We are strangers and pilgrims in this world. This world is not our home. We don't belong here.
[2:28] We don't like what's going on here. If we study the Bible and follow the Bible, we're against it. As Jeff Myers would say, we're against it. And so we are against it. And I just want you to go through the passage of Scripture with me tonight.
[2:40] And I want you to see that. I want you to be ready to take a stand. I preached this the first time. I called it no hay terreno neutral. I preached it to the Peruvians. I said there's no neutral ground.
[2:53] I preached that to the Peruvians because I wanted them to understand, well, if you decide to follow Christ, well, you're putting yourself on the wrong side of things as far as the world is concerned. But you have to make a choice.
[3:04] You'll follow along with the Scripture, and you'll tell me if you agree that I'm right about that. 1 Kings 18 and verse 1, the Bible said, It came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, Go, show yourself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.
[3:20] And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab, and there was a sore famine in the land. Father, I pray now that you would deal with our hearts and challenge us and motivate us. I want to take a stand.
[3:32] I want to be your man. I want to be your man on Monday. I want to be your man at work. I want to be your man at home. I want to be your man with my friends. I want to be known as one of yours, and I want it to be clear and plain and obvious, not by being obnoxious, but by being loyal and faithful to you and magnifying your name.
[3:51] And I'll give you praise for all. In Jesus' name, amen. There's a whole lot in the chapter, so I'm going to kind of tell you the story. If you have your Bible up, we'll kind of go through the story until we get to the main part of the text.
[4:02] But I know you know the story. How many of you know the story of when Elijah is going to call down fire from heaven to burn the offering? Do you know that story? Say amen. I think everybody probably knows the story.
[4:13] But look if you would in 1 Kings 18 and verse 3. The first thing that's interesting in the chapter is there are many unsung heroes in the ministry. There are many unsung heroes in the ministry, like Mr. Obadiah here.
[4:26] You know, I think sometimes when you read the Bible, you hear all these big shot stories and we don't really fit into those big shot stories. We're just not the big man of God and we are not the big leader and we have small ministries and small lives.
[4:40] But there's a guy in this story, and his name is Obadiah. And in verse 3, he feared the Lord greatly. And what he had done is he had taken, in verse 4, he had taken 100 prophets and he put 50 in one cave and 50 in another cave and he had divided the food up and he gave them, they only ate bread and water.
[4:57] They only ate bread and water, but at a time when nobody else was eating, that was still a pretty good deal to get that. That means that there were great and famous men of God like Elijah, but there's also Obadiah and 100 other prophets that are serving God whose names we don't even know.
[5:14] I think we might not even make the rank of those 100, but God has a lot of people and God's not counting things like you and I count them. God knows who they are. We don't know their names, but God does.
[5:27] I want to show you a couple of verses because I know you're working and I know you're serving and I know that maybe in your own heart and mind, it's like, I'm not anybody special and people don't recognize me, but look if you would at Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 10.
[5:41] No one may know what you're doing, but you can rest assured God does and God will reward you accordingly. Look at Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 10 if you would. The Bible says, For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you have showed toward his name and how you ministered, served the saints and how you minister and how you serve.
[6:07] Would you want to write in your Bible, God won't forget your work. I don't want to forget your work and labor of love. God is not going to forget. So you might be working in the Iwana program and nobody ever mentioned your name and your name's not in a bulletin.
[6:20] You might be taking care of the nursery and nobody ever thinks about you or says anything about it. And you might have another ministry and maybe no one knows. You drive the bus, you drive the van, you do a whole lot of things and you don't think anybody knows, but the Word of God says God knows.
[6:33] Amen? God knows. Now look if you would at 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. The apostle Paul felt that way. This is kind of how I feel about vision. And in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 2, the Bible says Paul's talking to this church in Thessalonica and he says, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.
[6:52] So when I pray, I think about you and I make mention of you. And look what he said in verse 3, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father.
[7:06] So there is Paul saying, your name might not be mentioned. I didn't write a letter to you. I wrote one to Timothy and I wrote one to Titus and you didn't get a letter, but I think about you and I know that you're doing a work and I believe with all my heart that visions, growing and visions, reaching more people and visions, doing things is done by a lot of people nobody else keeps up with, but God does.
[7:27] And I promise you, I'm trying to pray for you and think about you. Go with me if you would to 1 Kings chapter 18 and verse 8. This Elijah guy is one unusual dude. You get to the New Testament and John the Baptist will be the guy that's modeled after him.
[7:41] So you get to the New Testament and they see John the Baptist who dresses weird, eats weird and lives weird. They say, you remind us of Elijah. In 1 Kings chapter 18 and verse 8, Elijah tells Obadiah to go tell Ahab.
[7:55] So Ahab is wanting to find out where Elijah is so he can fuss at him and get him to do some things, get some things straight in the kingdom. He needs Elijah to do some things. And so he sends him out.
[8:06] He goes one way and he sends Obadiah another way. And Obadiah is out there and Elijah comes out and meets with him. And when he meets with him, Elijah says, you go tell Ahab.
[8:16] And Obadiah says, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't want to go tell him. I know how you are. You show up, but you won't be here when I get there. And so I'll tell him you're out here and then you won't be here and he'll kill me because you're kind of like a weird man of God.
[8:29] And everybody knows that you are Elijah, the weird man of God. And he said, by the way, chapter 18 and verse 13, he said, I'm really trying to do a lot of good stuff here.
[8:41] I don't, I mean, I don't want you getting me killed. And he said in verse 13, you know, when Jezebel slew the prophets, I hit a hundred men. Just so you know, put it on the record, I have been trying to do something for God.
[8:53] And so he says, I won't mess you up. I won't get you in trouble. You won't get killed. Just go tell the king I'm out here and I'm waiting to see him. And he goes to tell the king. I find it amazing what happens in 1 Kings chapter 18 and verse 17.
[9:06] Ahab comes out and he finds Elijah. And when he finds Elijah, you should underline this in your Bible in verse 17. He said, are you the one that troubles Israel? So here's the wicked king, Ahab.
[9:18] You do know, because you've been studying the Bible on it, to know that Ahab is like one of the most wicked men that have ever lived. I mean, he is the, his wife's name is Jezebel. And he's Ahab.
[9:28] And they are both really wicked people. But when he sees the man of God, he says, ho, you're the guy that's messing everything up in our country. Isn't that amazing how the world looks at that and says that and thinks that?
[9:40] And Elijah said, you're the one that forsook the commandments. You're the one that followed after demons, Baal, Balaam. And you know that. So here's the story. We're going to get to a point with it.
[9:51] But here's the story. He says, let's get the people together. And he challenges them and he said, bring all the prophets of your false God and get them down here. And they got 450 of them in 1 Kings chapter 18 and verse 19.
[10:03] And they bring them all together. And he says, I'm the only one that God has left. Look at 1 Kings 18, 22. 1 Kings 18, 22.
[10:14] Can I just stop here in a second? And I think that's the Austin Gardner syndrome taking place in 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 22. Because he just got told by Obadiah that he wasn't the only one. He just got told there was 100.
[10:26] But somewhere along the way we begin to feel like we want to suck our thumb and pout and whine and think we're the only one left. But Obadiah's already got 100 guys on the sidelines. And look what he says. He said, I only remain a prophet of the Lord.
[10:39] I'm the only one left. Everybody else is gone. There's 100 of them we already know about in the story. That's a mistake we all make. Think we're the only one serving God. Go with me down to verse 27 if you want and you'll notice there that they are calling on their God.
[10:55] They put their sacrifice on the falter. They've been praying out to their false gods and asking their false gods to bring about the work. And instead of it happening he starts laughing at them and mocking them.
[11:08] I'm just going to say that doesn't fit well with who we ought to be. I mean we could show a little Christian dignity here. But he cries out to them and he said, well maybe he's on a journey or maybe he's asleep and maybe he needs to be woke up.
[11:20] And they cried out loud and cut themselves with knives so the blood's gushing out of them trying to get their false gods to wake up. And hours afterwards, hours after, noon has come and passed and now it's time for the evening sacrifice and Elijah says, alright boys, I've had it.
[11:38] You obviously ain't going to get it done. So let's bring my offering and you know that. He sets up the offering. He has them pour water on it, has them pour water on it and has them pour water on it. And after they soaked that thing in water, he steps back and says, God I need them to know you're really God and I'm really your man.
[11:53] And God destroyed the altar, burned even the altar, burned the rocks up. God really was real. Won't you go with me to Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12 or mark it in the margin of your Bible.
[12:08] And so I just want to bring it to you where we live right now. We are in a war. That's what the Bible teaches.
[12:19] We're in a war. In Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12 it says, We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
[12:32] So in this story, Elijah stands by himself against 450 false prophets and the 450 false prophets are all praying out to their false gods and they're asking their false gods to do it.
[12:44] And this one man standing by himself looking at 450 guys in the eyes feels like he's totally alone and feels like he's there and God comes through and shows his power. And so we might say, Well, that's kind of a weird story that'll never happen with me because that's an Old Testament story and that's the big story but I get the New Testament and I find out I am in a wrestling match.
[13:05] I am in a fight. I am trying to struggle. I am trying to fight the devil. I am in a fight but it's not against human beings. So go back with me to 1 Kings chapter 18 and verse 21. So here's what I want you to write down.
[13:17] No neutral ground when we speak about who our master is. The Bible's really clear. I'm going to take you, you're going to go all over the New Testament with me. But the Bible says in 1 Kings 18, 21, Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions?
[13:35] If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal then follow him and the people said nothing. The people just stood there quietly. But the question's being asked.
[13:46] Whose side are you on? Whose side are you on? And we want to say in our hearts and our minds, we're not on any sides here. We know what's right but we're tolerant.
[13:57] We can put up with it. But in the Bible sense of things, you've got to pick your side. In the Bible sense of things, you've got to pick your side. That might be harsh. You might not like the sound of it but you've got to read enough scripture to know that.
[14:11] Look if you were with me at Luke chapter 16 and verse 13. Luke 16, 13. Would you write that in the margin of your Bible or write that on that sheet of paper there? Luke 16, 13. No servant can serve two masters.
[14:23] For either he will hate the one and love the other or he'll hold the one and despise the other. You can't serve God and mammon. You've got to pick who you're going to serve. And the mammon in that verse is material goods.
[14:36] The mammon in that verse is what this world offers. The mammon in that world is this world based and God in that verse is that world based. And he said, you've got to choose. You have to choose.
[14:48] That's very hard for us because we live in nice houses and we drive nice cars and we wear nice clothes and that's really great and I'm very blessed about that and I'm happy about that.
[14:58] But he said this, I want you to pick. You can pick the Wall Street Journal, the Wall Street Vision or you can pick the Heavenly Vision. You can decide you want, I'm more important or God, I'm more important or your money's more important.
[15:12] He said you've got to choose. You have to choose. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? Pause. You know that's why, you know the world could not understand us giving away so much money.
[15:26] You know, we tithe, we give the faith promise and we're givers and that doesn't fit the world model. In fact, our big political leaders often give as much as 3% and we don't even call that giving.
[15:41] We're like 3% and they give it to anybody and everybody and here we are, us little old nobodies in a little old place like this little church here and we're giving massive amounts of money because we decided that we're not as worried about the comfort in this world as we are about serving the God of heaven and honoring Him.
[15:57] Who are you serving? Who are you serving? You have to choose who you're going to worship. You have to choose who you're going to worship. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 21. This is amazing.
[16:10] This is right before 1 Corinthians chapter 11, obviously, which is where the Lord's Supper will be introduced and look what it says. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the table of devils.
[16:25] You know, we're all like, well, of course not. Everybody gets that. But what he was trying to say was, you've got to pick your table. You've got to pick your master. You've got to pick your table. You've got to pick, am I working for money or am I working for Jesus?
[16:38] There's nothing wrong with us making all the money we can make. There's nothing wrong with us having blessings and prosperity, but if that's our goal, we're wrong. Our goal ought to be, I'm here to serve Jesus.
[16:50] I'm going to be a giver. I'm going to be a, I'm going to be praying about what God wants me to do with his money. He puts in my hands. What does God want me to do? And then there was the Lord's table. That's the, that's the Lord's supper.
[17:02] That's serving God. And then there was the worship they did of the devils. And he said, y'all got saved and you used to go over here and you'd have your worldly feast and you'd, you participate in what the world did, but I got to tell you something.
[17:14] You got to choose. How long will you halt between two opinions? It's not as clear in America as it would be when I was in Peru. When, when, when it would become, when it would come, uh, the day of the dead in Arequipa and you had your choice of going and sitting in the, in the graveyard with a plate of food and a glass of liquor to serve to your dead relatives and, and you participated in that.
[17:36] And I had to say to him, you need to choose. You need to choose. That's not God's way. That's not God's plan. That's not what God wants you to do. That's what the verse is about. You have to choose the table that you'll serve.
[17:49] You'll work there. Go with me to Matthew chapter 12 and verse 30. How long halt you between two opinions? New Testament, not Old Testament. So the question is, who are you going to help?
[18:00] Who are you going to help? Look at Matthew chapter 12 and verse 30. He that's not with me is against me. And he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
[18:12] Now that's a, that is bold. That's like, that's not comfortable because I really would like to look worldly all week long and righteous on Sunday, but I would like to fit in with both crowds.
[18:23] That's where I lived for a long time. In my teenage years, I was like the most miserable guy in high school and the most miserable guy at church because during the week, I love trying to be like the rest of the people.
[18:35] So I went to regular school and I tried my, I tried to cuss as much as they did. I tried to smoke when they smoked and I had my limits of what I do wrong, but I wanted to fit in. But the whole time, something inside of me said, you're wrong.
[18:47] And I go to church and I'd be in church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night and the pastor and the deacons, they all thought I was like the finest young man. And I was not the finest young man. I was a fake of all fakes.
[18:58] And so I wasn't happy there either. I literally prayed, no telling, how many times did God would take my life? I just wanted to die. I wanted to have a car wreck. I said, I got to do it in an easy way, Lord.
[19:08] I don't want to hurt. But I'd sure like to check out of this world because I couldn't pick. Look what the verse says. You're not with me, you're against me. That's over the top, isn't it? I didn't say it.
[19:19] Jesus said it. I didn't say it. Jesus said it. If you're not with me, you're against me. How about this one? If you're not gathering, you're scattering. You're not gathering, you're scattering.
[19:32] That's what Jesus said. That's a little over the top. You must choose who you will serve. Matthew chapter 4 and verse 10.
[19:43] Then said Jesus on him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it's written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only. And him only shalt thou serve. So I may go to work on Monday morning.
[19:56] I may go out and do business. I may buy and sell some stock or buy and sell some houses. I may be involved in the world but the whole time I need to be really careful. Who am I serving?
[20:10] Why am I making money? Why am I doing my job? Is Jesus on my mind, on Monday like he is on Sunday? Is Jesus on my mind?
[20:21] Have I made up my mind? I am here to serve him. If you're a Christian then you become a steward. The time doesn't belong to you. The talents don't belong to you.
[20:32] The money doesn't belong to you. It all belongs to God and you know that. So everywhere you go your entire life is lived like this. How long will you halt you between two opinions? Are you all going to stand with Baal or are you going to stand with Jesus?
[20:44] Are you going to stand with God or are you going to stand with Baal? You got to choose. That's the point of 1 Kings chapter 18. Elijah's like it's time to choose guys. It's time to pick.
[20:55] Matt in Luke chapter 9 and verse 62 you can only walk in one direction. You can only walk in one direction. Luke 9 62 the Bible says and Jesus said on him no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.
[21:12] So I would challenge you to meditate and think about your life and how much you know the idea of a plow you've probably never even seen one but you know the idea of a plow my daddy used to plow with a mule he never let me because he'd get hurt.
[21:22] They'd throw the big old ropes around their neck that were hooked up to the reins and they'd grab the two sides of it and try to get the end in the ground and start walking and holding that holding that in the ground is as much work I think on the back end as it was on the front end and they but if you look back you're not fit and here's how we serve God we're kind of like I love you Jesus I want to serve you but I'm sure I'm missing my money I love you Jesus I want to serve you but I think the preacher is exaggerating that and our minds are not on the Lord but they're on what we want.
[21:51] That's what the passage is about. You can only walk in one direction. So the first question every one of us have to ask how long do we halt between two opinions? So Elijah's like a wild man standing up there and saying I call you to check out who God is and we all love that we think he's a great hero but I think biblically in the New Testament God's calling on you to do the exact same thing.
[22:18] Go with me if you would to 1 Kings chapter 18 verse 21 again that's our verse we're referring back to. There's no neutral ground about our friendship. There's no neutral ground about our friendship.
[22:28] In 1 Kings 18 21 it says how long halt you between two opinions? How long halt you between two opinions? As for me and my house we'll serve the Lord.
[22:40] That's another verse like this isn't it? We decide we're going to serve God. And if you would look with me at James chapter 4 and verse 4 here's one of those verses that's just like over the top rough.
[22:54] James 4 verse 4 look at what it says if you would you adulterers and adulteresses know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God.
[23:05] If you want to be a friend of the world then you want to be an enemy of God. That's ridiculous. I mean let's just be honest. God is really demanding a bunch.
[23:18] He's like I don't even want you to be their friend. I don't even want you to be their friend. You got to choose you're their friend or you're my friend. You're my friend and their enemy or you're their friend and my enemy.
[23:30] But you got to choose. How long haunts you between two opinions? I don't know how that sits in your heart. I don't know how that affects you but most of the time I'd say we don't consider that in our money.
[23:44] We don't consider that in our time. We don't consider that in what we believe is right and wrong. We allow the world to tell us what's right and wrong. We become super tolerant of sin. We won't decide hey this is what God says that's it.
[23:57] We're going to obey God. We can't have a friendship with the world. So what is the world? It's a system that denies God. It's a system that rises up and says you don't need God.
[24:10] It's a system that says that God's wrong. So they don't want to believe in the creation. They don't want to believe in the judgment. They don't want to believe that we're accountable to anybody.
[24:21] They all want to think it's humanism. They want to think we're the high and lifted up ones. And that's kind of where we are and I have to decide. Can I just say to you that I'm quite uncomfortable with a lot of things the Bible teaches.
[24:38] How's that? Just being honest sometimes I just I'm pretty uncomfortable. You ought to be you ought to be on an airplane and you sit down next to a guy and he says what are you doing going over to North Africa?
[24:50] I'm going to go over and teach the Bible. What would you do that for? They got the Koran. And I said I'd just like to teach the Bible it's the word of God's truth. So what are you saying about them? I said I'm trying to not say anything buddy.
[25:02] If you'll just drop it and leave me alone we'll just move on in this conversation. So why don't you spend all those years to improve? What are you doing? Why are you trying to change people's hearts and minds? You wouldn't be missionaries if you hadn't chosen.
[25:15] You don't realize it's an assault on their culture when we go over there and say the Koran is not the answer. It's an assault on their country when we say Buddha can't save. It's an assault on their country when we tell the Indians and the Hindus that millions of gods are of no value there's only one true God.
[25:32] I mean that just makes us horrible. I choose. What's the world system? Well the world system is everything from cold dead Christianity to Buddhism to Muslim Islam we can't do that.
[25:50] We won't look at the verse because I've mentioned it like three times recently in scripture that we've been in but in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 14 he says repeatedly in the passage what part do you have with that?
[26:03] How do you get along with people that don't love me? How do you get along with people that are of darkness when I'm of light? That's 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 how do you get along with that?
[26:15] How could you get along with people that have the temple of idols when you're not that's not what we believe you can't get along with them. Here's what our world teaches us today our world the one we don't love it teaches us to be tolerant.
[26:28] It teaches us to say dumb stuff that gets said all the time in churches like well everybody just needs to do what they really believe with all heart if everybody does what they believe they'll be okay. No they won't because you could believe false stuff all your life and you'd go to hell and you know what even though Buddhists don't agree with hell and they would say what we say is wrong it doesn't matter what they say.
[26:50] We're a kind of an intolerant group. How long haught you between two opinions? By the way when we do that today it's not that big a deal. Can you imagine 450 guys over here preaching praying singing dancing and cutting themselves and doing everything they can to get their God and one lonely preacher over here on this side standing with his altar just waiting and then he had the nerve to start making fun of them and picking on them and saying you're wrong your whole God's wrong and I'm fixing to prove it.
[27:19] We're like let's just get along. That's where we are today. Let's just get along. I like Buddhists. I got friends that are Muslims. Why would we worry about that? The whole point is we should come out and not be a part of that.
[27:34] 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 11 if you would. We are to separate ourselves even from worldly Christians. Hang on. You realize that not only do I separate myself from people that don't love God I separate myself from people that quote unquote love God but they still love the world.
[27:58] Look at it. Verse 11 But now have I not written unto you not to keep company if any man that's called a brother if any man that's called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or drunker or extortioner don't eat with that guy.
[28:16] That's tough. That's drastic. Here's a guy over here who says he's a brother who says he loves Jesus but he wants to live like the world and not live like God and I got to look at him and say sorry no eating with you.
[28:30] You choose not to love God and I choose to love God. That's a drastic state of things.
[28:42] But 1 Kings chapter 18 is a drastic chapter. How long haught you between two opinions? Let me take you there one more time.
[28:54] How long haught you between two opinions? There's no neutral grounds in our spiritual lives or in our ministry. You know where the urgency comes here? Because we truly believe that nobody can go to heaven except through Jesus Christ.
[29:13] They can't go to heaven because they got baptized. They can't go to heaven because they spoke in tongues. They can't go to heaven because they got circumcised. They can't go to heaven because they are in another group.
[29:24] From a Mormon to a Muslim it doesn't matter. whether it's Jesus or nothing else. That's hard. So here's our question. Are we for him or are we against him?
[29:36] Are we working at fulfilling what he wants or are we trying to hinder it? You say I'm not trying to hinder it. Well he said this. If you're not gathering you're scattering.
[29:50] I'm like hey I don't necessarily want to gather but I'm not scattering either. Jesus said yeah you are. Either gathering or you're scattering. See we want neutral ground before I finish and I'm going to finish just a second.
[30:06] But can I tell you this is not at all strange. Armies think like this all the time. I mean if you want to call out the United States Army and a guy says yeah I like the enemy and I'm with them and I'm not going to hurt any of them and the army would not let you do that.
[30:21] Hey wives are kind of like that. Wives are you can't say to your wife I love you but I like this other girl too. I don't want to really commit to you. I like to kind of hang in here between both. I just like neutral ground here and she's going to be like no you choose and you choose now because either you're with me or you're against me but you can't have both.
[30:41] Everybody knows that. We know it all except when we talk about the one person that's offensive. In all of my ministry and all my years of preaching all over the United States and all over different parts of world I'll tell you this.
[30:53] People do not want to take a drastic stand for Jesus. People want a half-hearted stand for Jesus. They don't want it to affect their money. They don't want it to affect their time.
[31:04] They don't want it to affect their talent. And here's what Elijah said. How long will you hang around trying to figure out if you're with me or you're against me?
[31:16] Which is one of the reasons you're kind of a weird church. So many of you come to church on Sunday night because I think you made that decision. And you give so much to missions because I think you made that decision. But what we're doing is not unusual.
[31:28] It's Bible. We made a choice. Do you feel like you have some sort of spiritual exemption? I think that's the big question. Do you feel like you have some sort of spiritual exemption?
[31:40] That's like I don't have to be a missionary. I don't have to be faithful to church. I don't have to give. I don't need to be so radical. The idea of being a radical Christian is just honestly to say radical Christian is redundant.
[31:56] Because it's like saying radical radical. Because a Christian is radical. When he wanted to follow Jesus he said to him take up your cross and come follow me. When you follow Jesus he said you got to die.
[32:08] And so I mean that's radical. I mean honestly I don't know Jesus could have done a lot better job if he just said let's sing kumbaya and have some candles and we'll eat some cake in a minute and then y'all can all go home and do your own thing.
[32:20] That's not what he said. He said I'll tell you how my message goes. You either in or out. Hate your mama if you want to follow me. I'm like you could have preached that differently than that. Say amen. That's a little over the top.
[32:32] But it's the way God does it isn't it? Are you committed to doing your part to get the gospel to the world? You're in a crazy church with an agenda. How does this affect your giving?
[32:47] You see if it's my money makes it hard to give. If it's my money it makes it hard to give. If it's money I manage for him and he tells me to give it it's not hard to manage it's not hard to give his money.
[33:04] Huh? Think about that a second. If it's my money I'm kind of like whoa you're after my money but if it's like it ain't my money anyway it's his money that changes things. How long halt you between two opinions?
[33:15] I don't have time. Do you have any time? It's none of your time. You realize that your life is in his hands. You've chosen to serve him. Your talents. How does it affect your praying?
[33:27] How does it affect your teaching and training and discipling others? I would say to you I challenge you and I call on you not to be like everybody you know.
[33:40] As serious as I can be. I challenge you not to be like everybody you know. I know what you're thinking. This is a little over the top. No other church is preaching this tonight. In fact this ain't even having services and we're here so why you been so pushy?
[33:54] I'm not it's 1 Kings 18. I mean if you go read the story why did he put that story in the Bible? Here's what the story said. You have two choices here today and how long y'all going to be between but before the day's over you know it's a bloody picture.
[34:11] In a few minutes they're going to kill those guys. They're going to kill them. I'd be like okay okay I'm on Jesus but I don't kill anybody. I told you the story this morning of Levi.
[34:26] You know when Levi stepped over to be on Moses' side you know what he told him he said now take your sword and go across on the other side and you kill your neighbor. He didn't come over here and you kill your brother and you kill everybody else anybody else over it didn't come and they went over and started killing people I think 3,000 died that day.
[34:46] You realize what that means? It's very similar to a story in the New Testament. You must hate your father and your mother and your brother and your sister and put me first.
[35:01] It's radical. It's all in. It's all or nothing. We give it all to Jesus. Jesus. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia.
[35:16] For more information log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
[35:27] Thanks. JSON tätfor you