The Little Bones: Confronting Hidden Sin Through Grace

• Skeletons in the Closet 00:05:21 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines 'skeletons in the closet' as hidden shames or secrets that affect not just the individual but everyone around them, using Lance Armstrong as a primary example.
• The Promised Land 00:10:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor clarifies that the 'promised land' is not heaven but the current life with Jesus, which includes problems but also divine help and leadership.
• Israel's Failure in the Promised Land 00:12:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the biblical account of Israel failing to drive out inhabitants, leading to a generation that did not know the Lord, to illustrate the danger of compromise.
• Coexistence vs. Obedience 00:15:44 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor challenges the congregation to choose obedience over the ease of coexisting with sin, warning that little compromises lead to big consequences.
• The Nature of Compromise 00:17:18 ▶️ 📄
  > Defining compromise as calming or dumbing down the promise, which results in consequence and corruption rather than sanctification.
• Personal Testimony of Salvation 00:17:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares his personal experience of being saved in 30 days and the subsequent failure to influence his fraternity friends while still living in that world.
• Church Selection Criteria 00:22:48 ▶️ 📄
  > Advising against choosing churches based on convenience or proximity, urging believers to find churches that challenge them with the Word of God.
• The Infiltration of Sin 00:24:17 ▶️ 📄
  > Using the analogy of poison in water and leaven in dough to explain how small compromises infiltrate and corrupt the whole life.
• Identity in Christ 00:25:46 ▶️ 📄
  > Emphasizing that one is a Christian first, before any political or social label, and nothing should come before that identity.
• Sanctification as Work 00:27:28 ▶️ 📄
  > Contrasting justification (God's work) with sanctification (our work of removing sin), referencing the Israelites' 40-year journey.
• Sanctification as Active Removal 00:27:49 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines sanctification as the ongoing process of removing 'old things' and spiritual compromises, contrasting it with justification.
• The Danger of Sparing Sin 00:28:20 ▶️ 📄
  > Using Judges 2, the pastor explains that what believers spare becomes a 'snare' and 'thorn in the side,' preventing them from entering the promised land.
• Testing Before Promotion 00:28:50 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that God uses trouble and challenges to test believers before promoting them, urging them to recognize they are on the verge of a breakthrough.
• Obedience vs. Wisdom in Disobedience 00:32:45 ▶️ 📄
  > Through the story of Saul, the pastor illustrates how believers often call disobedience 'wisdom' when they try to keep parts of what God commanded them to destroy.
• The Spirit of Amalek 00:31:06 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor identifies the 'spirit of Amalek' as spiritual delusion and old loyalties that compete with surrender to God, representing false ideologies that snare believers.
• Urgency of Repentance 00:34:13 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts 'tomorrow' (hell's favorite word) with 'today' (heaven's favorite word), urging immediate action to clean out one's spiritual closet.
• The Gospel of Grace vs. Works 00:38:31 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor clarifies that the gospel is not about trying harder or earning God's love, but receiving a free gift of forgiveness and rest through Jesus Christ.
• Repentance 00:41:00 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor calls the congregation to an 'old fashioned repentance time,' inviting them to open the door of their hearts and let God deal with hidden sins.
• Faith and Works 00:41:26 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asserts that 'faith without works is dead' and urges physical action (getting out of the seat) as evidence of genuine faith.
• Divine Love and Acceptance 00:41:55 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that believers do not need to clean out their 'closet' to earn God's love, but rather bring sin into the light because they are already loved in Christ.
• Altar Ministry and Worship 00:42:24 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor invites the congregation to come to the altar for worship, prayer, and repentance, emphasizing that they are coming to Jesus, not to the pastors.

• Sermon Illustration 00:06:15 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the story of Lance Armstrong, who won seven Tour de France titles while secretly using performance-enhancing drugs, illustrating how a 'skeleton in the closet' eventually destroyed his reputation and awards.
• Sermon Illustration 00:08:51 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares an anecdote about a prominent pastor who had a significant worldwide ministry but was destroyed by a hidden sin that he kept in his 'closet' for a long time.
• Sermon Illustration 00:15:03 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the biblical history of Israel, specifically the failure of tribes like Benjamin, Manasseh, and Ephraim to drive out the Jebusites and Canaanites, as an illustration of choosing coexistence over obedience.
• Sermon Illustration 00:21:03 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts a story where he pretended to be a stranger fishing at a private pond, asking another fisherman for permission. When the man lied about knowing the pastor, the pastor revealed his identity and kicked him off the property to illustrate the consequences of lying and compromise.
• Sermon Illustration 00:24:17 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses an analogy from A.W. Tozer's book 'A Crucified Life', comparing compromise to a glass of water with 1% poison, which is more dangerous than 100% poison because it kills slowly and painlessly without immediate detection.
• Sermon Illustration 00:28:34 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the biblical story of King Saul, who was God's perfect choice but failed his test by sparing what God commanded him to destroy, illustrating how sparing sin becomes a snare.
• Sermon Illustration 00:28:34 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the biblical account of King Saul sparing King Agag and the best livestock from the Amalekites to illustrate how keeping even a 'little bit' of sin can lead to the loss of one's kingdom and become a snare for future generations.
• Sermon Illustration 00:33:41 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references Jewish tradition that Agag, spared by Saul, impregnated a slave girl, leading to the birth of Haman (from the book of Esther), who sought to destroy the Jews, illustrating how spared sin becomes a generational snare.
• Sermon Illustration 00:28:06 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the metaphor of 'cleaning out a closet' to describe the process of exposing hidden sins and spiritual compromises to God's light for healing and freedom.
• Sermon Illustration 00:41:00 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the metaphor of a 'closet' to represent hidden sins or secret things controlling a person's life, urging them to 'open that door' and let the light shine in.

• Pastoral Charge 00:13:49 ▶️ 📄
  > Physically hit neighbors and verbally announce 'closet cleaning time' as a call to spiritual self-examination.
• Pastoral Charge 00:23:08 ▶️ 📄
  > Choose to attend the church based on spiritual growth and challenge rather than convenience.
• Pastoral Charge 00:26:56 ▶️ 📄
  > Actively remove sin and compromise from their lives.
• Pastoral Charge 00:35:35 ▶️ 📄
  > Engage in mutual accountability and personal spiritual cleansing.
• Pastoral Charge 00:41:26 ▶️ 📄
  > Physically come forward to the altar for repentance.
• Pastoral Charge 00:41:00 ▶️ 📄
  > Repent and expose hidden sins to God
• Pastoral Charge 00:41:26 ▶️ 📄
  > Leave seats, approach the altar, kneel, and confess sin
• Pastoral Charge 00:42:24 ▶️ 📄
  > Leave seats and approach the altar
• Pastoral Charge 00:43:55 ▶️ 📄
  > Come to the altar for repentance and worship

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Good to see everyone. Good to see everyone. Hey, we're going to do something really special this weekend. I just found out is something that's happened nationally where we, as the faith community, is partnering with our officers, our police here in our city and all around the nation. And the police are connecting with communities of faith to make sure we bring awareness and just honor to what they do.
[00:01:05] can. So I want to just ask, uh, officer Cossack to come up here on the platform with him. If you could, could you all stand up and give it up for all of our police and what they do? We're just
[00:01:16] going to pray for him. When he came in, I thought Aaron is in trouble again. And, and I was like, I was asking around, like, what did Aaron do this time? Um, but, um, we're, we're just so honored
[00:01:31] to have you here, man. And thank you for what you do and not running away from danger, but running to danger. And we just want to just honor you today and just grateful, man, for what you
[00:01:42] represent. And we're believing that today you represent all of the police here in Charlotte.
[00:01:47] So can you just stretch your hands out to them as we pray? Father, thank you. Thank you for this gift and protection that we have, Father. Father, we understand that it's a difficult job. It's a
[00:01:59] hard position to walk in, to walk in the face of danger, to deal with problems day in and day out.
[00:02:06] So, Father, I just pray that you would protect our police, that you would protect their families, that you would guard them, that you would govern them.
[00:02:13] Father, that you would use them in our community to bring awareness and protection to keep us safe from the enemy that forces itself into our families, into our community.
[00:02:26] Lord, thank you for Officer Kosick.
[00:02:28] And, Father, we pray for his family.
[00:02:31] We pray a blessing over him.
[00:02:32] God, that it would, that would flow into all of the other families that he represents. We love you, Lord. We thank you as a church. We support them in the name of Jesus and all God's people
[00:02:44] said, amen. Hey, thanks, man. Thanks for coming today. I really appreciate it. Come on, let's give him a big hand and then you may be seated. Awesome. Awesome. Hey, listen, whenever you see our policemen, would you just go up to them and just thank them for what they do and appreciate
[00:03:01] them. Man, it's a hard job. I couldn't imagine doing what they do and facing the things that they face. There's some crazy people out there, aren't there? Amen. Hey, I want to mention one other thing too. On the way out, we do have a vote coming up, a very, very significant vote
[00:03:16] in North Carolina. And we cannot have Christians sitting down during this vote. We cannot. Look at your neighbor. See, you cannot exit this. Look at him. You cannot exit this. We have to participate.
[00:03:28] Now, if you don't like to vote, then just go in there and do what we tell you to do, okay?
[00:03:35] And you can just put the camera on me.
[00:03:37] This is no separation of church and state.
[00:03:39] I'm going to tell you what to do because it's very important.
[00:03:42] We have these cards on the way out, and I'm asking every person to take one of these.
[00:03:48] On the back, it has a QR code.
[00:03:50] You can QR code it.
[00:03:51] It'll tell you exactly what you need to do in our midterm elections, which are extremely important.
[00:03:58] Extremely important.
[00:03:59] we got to make sure that we keep the house. We got to make sure that we keep the Senate. We got to make sure that we keep, we get the right governor and the right people in the right
[00:04:07] place. And so it tells you exactly what you need to vote for. Expanding school choice. Yes.
[00:04:12] Abortion on demand. No, no. Protect women's sports. Yes. We don't need to have no men and women's sports, right? Same-sex marriage, no. Parental consent for all medical procedures, yes. We need to make sure we protect our kids. So make sure you grab one of these. If you have
[00:04:34] any confusion, call the office. We want to help you. Talk to your campus pastors. Give it up for your campus pastors, the Blands. Give it up for them. Come on, you guys stand up. We love our
[00:04:45] campus pastors. We are one church, many different how. We have four campuses all around, plus online.
[00:04:51] Speaking of online, we got North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Florida, Virginia, West Virginia, DC, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Washington.
[00:05:00] If you're traveling, if you decide to skip church, which I wouldn't encourage you to do that, make sure you're here.
[00:05:06] Come to church.
[00:05:07] It's important to come.
[00:05:09] You can't have church sitting at the couch, but maybe once a year.
[00:05:14] I'll give you one a year, one sick day a year.
[00:05:17] The rest of the time, just come get healed, you know, and let God use you.
[00:05:21] We're in a series called skeletons in the closet. I did a little closet. I did a little research on where that term came from and come to find out it came from in the turn of the century, turn of the
[00:05:32] 19th century, doctors, uh, were putting skeletons in the closet. I could not find why they were putting skeletons in the closet. I have no, I don't know why, why would you put a skeleton in
[00:05:44] the closet. It turned into basically a hidden shame or maybe a family illness or a problem or an issue or a secret that you wanted to hide. Now, I have a question for you. I have a picture
[00:05:57] they're going to throw up on the screen here. Who can tell me who this is right here? Who is this right here? Anybody want to take a guess? Lance Armstrong. Very good. I didn't know if anybody
[00:06:05] would get it. I tried to get a picture that looked a little odd. Now, if you recognize the yellow, it's because that was his team that, you know, if you know anything about the story of Lance
[00:06:15] Armstrong, he had testicular cancer, came back in 1998, he had testicular cancer, came back and won seven Tour de France's, one of the most difficult cycling races on the planet.
[00:06:31] And his team won seven times. I mean, pretty, pretty sick just to, to win once is incredible.
[00:06:39] you would think he would be called the goat of cycling. However, he was cheating. He was doping up. They created a system where his whole team was involved and he was using physically enhancing drugs and all kinds of stuff. He denied it the whole time. In other words, he had a skeleton
[00:06:58] in the closet. Came to light in 2012. He denied it all through that time. And in 2013, they completely stripped him of all of his awards and forbid him from cycling. This is the effect
[00:07:13] of a skeleton in the closet. See, the enemy would love for there to be something hidden that he can hold over you. See, what's true about skeletons is they're dead, right? So the only way
[00:07:27] they get there is if we put them there. So nobody's putting a skeleton in your closet.
[00:07:33] It's something that we do.
[00:07:35] And the thing that I want you to understand about skeletons is that they don't just affect us personally.
[00:07:41] They affect everyone around us.
[00:07:43] In other words, just because they're in the closet doesn't mean they don't affect the entire house.
[00:07:51] And I don't think one day we wake up and say, you know what?
[00:07:53] I'm just going to put a skeleton in the closet.
[00:07:56] I don't think we do that.
[00:07:57] I don't think we dream up some kind of issue or problem or secret sin and we hide it to ruin our community or ruin our job or ruin our ministry. I've watched, you know, countless hundreds of
[00:08:10] ministries that have failed because of a skeleton in the closet. How many all enjoyed the Cedras the last couple of weekends? Weren't they fantastic? I mean, if you're not alive after, you know, being in those services, we had some people leave, which is good. You got,
[00:08:26] sometimes you got a clean house, you know, they're, they're crazy. They're, they are wild.
[00:08:29] They're wide open all the time. Crazy Egyptians. They love Jesus. My dog at home tried to bite him. I said, that's because they think you're Muslim. I said, look, he just, he has like a
[00:08:41] Muslim thing on him. He just tries to bite Muslims. I'm just kidding. That's, that's wasn't the right thing to say. Islam. He tries to bite Islam. Anyway, uh, crazy, crazy. And, and they had the
[00:08:51] opportunity, Martin and Andrew had the opportunity to sit down with a very prominent pastor who had a skeleton in his closet. He no longer really is in ministry. I mean, he had a very significant
[00:09:03] worldwide ministry. If I said, I'm not going to say his name, but if I said his name, you would know him. Um, you, you would be very familiar with it. And they had an opportunity to sit down with
[00:09:12] him, which I'm very thankful for. And they had dinner with him and he explained the things that he had hid for so long that eventually came out and destroyed him. We don't ever set out to do
[00:09:24] that. You know, we don't ever set out to hide something in our closet. There's a very sad verse that, um, I read this week that, that inspired this message. So in judges chapter two, and I
[00:09:38] want to give you a little history before I read the verse. This is basically Israel have had come out of Egypt. They spent 400 years in slavery. We know the story. Moses delivered them. God
[00:09:50] delivered them 10 plagues. They left Egypt. They went into the wilderness for an 11 day journey to the promised land. And their, their, their goal was to go into the promised land. Let me say something about the promised land that I've said before. The promised land is not heaven.
[00:10:07] okay the promised land is your life right now with jesus it's it's a it's a gift that god gives us post salvation it's a it's a life that's better that's doesn't mean you're gonna you're gonna
[00:10:22] be absent of problems but you have someone who can help you with those problems it doesn't mean that you're going to be absent of discouragement but you're going to have somebody that's going to help lead you through that that discouragement it's not a life that's
[00:10:34] absent of disappointment, but you're going to have somebody that's going to come alongside you and pick you up when you feel disappointed. Are you following me? The end of our life here is heaven, but promised land is not that. In other words, this is our life. This is our house. This
[00:10:49] is our, our family, the community that we build post Jesus saving us by his blood. Amen. So, so the Israelites come out of Egypt. They spend 11, they're supposed to spend just 11 days and
[00:11:00] go into the promised land. You know what happens? They start complaining and God can't take this generation because they got too much of Egypt left in them to go into the promised land.
[00:11:10] And sometimes God's got to get some Egypt out of you before he can take you into the promised land.
[00:11:14] And so, so he, he, he sends them back into the wilderness for 40 years.
[00:11:20] Moses dies. Just give you a little history lesson real quick, raises up Joshua and Joshua's goal is to take them into the promised land. And they go over the Jordan river to, to possess the
[00:11:33] promised land. They go over the Jordan river. How many y'all remember the first city that they come into contact with? It's not a trick question. Somebody said it already. Jericho, you know, the walls came tumbling down and the walls, John Cougar, Mellon camp. I found that out last
[00:11:47] service. Great song. That's why I was saying he was thinking about Jericho. And so they defeated Jericho, went into the promised land. Do you remember the second city or the second is Ai?
[00:11:57] Now they lost to Ai because they messed up and Achan took some of the stuff, you know, he took some clothes and some jewelry and, and tried to keep some money and they ended up losing to Ai,
[00:12:09] but eventually they, they got that straight. And then something interesting happens. Now God had sent them in with a specific goal and they did not accomplish that goal. And as a result of having something in their closet. Listen to Judges chapter two, verse 10, when all that generation
[00:12:27] had been gathered to their fathers. So this is Joshua's generation. So from, from Egypt to entering in the promised land, 40 years from the time to this verse from Joshua defeating Jericho and AI another 40 years, which is 40 plus 40 is 80 years, short period of time, Christian,
[00:12:49] very short period of time this is what this is the verse that's sad it says it says when all that generation had gathered together to their fathers after 80 years another generation arose after them some of this who did not know the lord scary verse listen our country is 250 years old
[00:13:13] very young country i've been to some other countries that are thousands of years old walk through Rome. The streets of Rome touch things that were 1500 years old. This country is very young. I do not want a generation after me to not know the Lord. I don't get, I'm not getting many
[00:13:32] amens in this Presbyterian church right now. I do not want the next generation to not know the Lord while on my watch. Come on. While I'm the pastor of freedom house church, we're going to make sure
[00:13:49] that the next generation knows who the Lord is. How are we going to do that? We're going to clean some closets out. Hit your neighbor. Say it's closet cleaning time. It's closet clean. Hit your other neighbor. Say I'm cleaning my closet out. How about you? Why? Why? Why? Because little
[00:14:06] compromises cause big consequences. Little compromises cause big consequences. Now God gave the children of Israel, a very specific plan. When they went into possess the promised land, he told them to remove everyone out of it. All of the inhabitants need to go in order to possess
[00:14:32] in order to take, you've got to get rid of everything. And Deuteronomy chapter seven, he told them Exodus chapter 23. He said the same thing. He said, remove all the inhabitants.
[00:14:43] do not make any covenants with anybody don't make any type of contracts covenants no relationships don't marry any of the cute girls that you see outside the walls make sure you you do not co-mingle do not coexist do not tolerate do not allow don't permit don't live with but listen to
[00:15:03] judges chapter 1 verse 21 but the children of benjamin did not drive out the jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem. Verse 27. However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants. Verse 29.
[00:15:15] Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites. Verse 30. Nor did Zebulon drive out. Verse 31. Nor did Asher drive out. Verse 33. Nor did Naphtali drive out. I could go on and on. Doesn't say they could
[00:15:28] not. It said they did not. It didn't say that they didn't have the power, the armed forces, the ability. They chose to put something in the closet. They didn't remove the skeletons.
[00:15:44] Are you choosing? Let me ask you, church. Are you choosing coexistence over obedience?
[00:15:50] Are you choosing it? Because it's easy to do. It's really easy to allow something to stay in your house, in your life that God's saying, get rid of it. And today's the day we need to walk away from
[00:16:05] I learned a long time ago that we often don't deny God. We just don't fully obey him. We just, we just let a little bit of compromise in. We start living with something that we shouldn't
[00:16:19] live with. Tolerating Oscar, something that we shouldn't tolerate. Allowing something. Happens with our kids all the time. We're like, where did that come from? Why, why did they say a cuss word?
[00:16:31] Well, sweetheart, you've been so cussing. They didn't learn from anybody but you. I can't believe your little boy. He's eight years old and he said the cuss word. That's right. Because when you get mad, guess what you do? He said, well, is cussing bad? Yeah, it's bad. Why would you want to cuss?
[00:16:51] I need to get somebody's attention. Just slap them. No, I'm just kidding. They'll do that.
[00:16:56] I learned a long time ago that compromise, my definition, I was taught that compromise means to calm the promise to, to dumb down the promise and compromise creates consequence. See Israel's cohabitation with the Canaanites didn't, did not result in the sanctification of the Canaanites,
[00:17:18] but the corruption of the Israelites. This is why in one generation, 40 years, it went from knowing God to not knowing God. And that's what compromise does. It causes a consequence. You know, when I got saved, I was, I was like a month long salvation project with God.
[00:17:40] Somebody got saved in like one day. It took me 30 days. I went through like, I met this girl, you know, the story, you know, y'all know, y'all know the story. I'm not gonna tell the story
[00:17:48] again. Um, but, but Penny took me to church and my idea of Christianity was that faith was for weak people. Like you need to be weak to have faith. And then I realized that, that that's so
[00:18:03] untrue that actually the strongest people are the ones who have faith. Uh, and God rocked my world.
[00:18:11] And it was like, every time I went to church, this is when you had church in the morning on Sunday, you had church on Sunday night. You had church on Wednesday. It was called Wednesday night supper.
[00:18:21] You had spaghetti every Wednesday night, right? How many y'all know what I'm talking about?
[00:18:26] Some of y'all grew up Baptist. You know, I'm talking about Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. And if you were a real Christian, you came on Thursday night prayer.
[00:18:34] So that's four times I was there every time the doors were open and God was just bombing me with just understanding of him. I mean, I, God changed my life in 30 days. Now here's what I thought.
[00:18:46] that within those 30 days of God changing me, that I could go back into my world and change them. Now I was in a fraternity. And so all my friends were fraternity brothers of mine. I was
[00:18:57] the secretary of the fraternity. I lived with seven guys at the time. And so I went back into that world after giving my life to Jesus, thinking that my, the influence of God in me could change
[00:19:10] them wrong. I wasn't ready to go back. So, so what happened just like with the Israelites with me is I went into that world thinking I don't have to drink anymore. I can, I can get them safe. It did
[00:19:23] not happen. The influence of them overwhelmed me. I had to do a lot of repenting during that time and realizing that I wasn't ready to go back in that world. See the Israelites thought, you know,
[00:19:33] we can just keep a little Canaanite in there. Just a little bit of Jebusite, just a little bit a Hittite, just a little bit of Pepsi light diet, right? Just a little bit. My wife hates it when I
[00:19:46] do that. She's not here though. See compromise is when convenience becomes more important than obedience. Compromise is when convenience becomes more important than obedience. What's safe becomes more important than obeying God. What may cause someone around me not to like me is more important
[00:20:15] than obeying God. Whether I hurt this person's feelings or not is more important than obeying God. You know what that's called? Compromise. Compromise. I talk to people all the time about church. And you know, when I, when I, I don't tell them I'm a pastor. And so I have a
[00:20:32] conversation with a bunch of, where are you going to church? I'll go to so-and-so. My next question always is, so what's the pastor's name? Now, if they don't know the pastor's name, they don't go
[00:20:40] to church. One time, I'll tell you a funny story because we don't have a service after this. I can tell you some funny story. One time, this is just has nothing to do with the message. Can I tell you
[00:20:50] a funny story? Is that all right? Officer, is that all right if I just tell the story? Okay.
[00:20:55] I'd do this every now and then just, just we'll have some fun, Richard, just to just have a little fun. I was fishing. I went over to the pond to fish and there was this guy over there fishing.
[00:21:03] And, um, and so, and I didn't know who he was. And so I walked up to him. So he's fishing on the other side and I throw in a line. I go around the other side. I said, Hey man, how's it going?
[00:21:13] I said, uh, um, have you got permission to fish here? Cause it's a private, this is private property. He goes, oh yeah, yeah. I talked to the pastor. I said, really? I said, um, I said,
[00:21:27] so what campus do you go to? He goes, I'll go to this one right here. I said, um, I said, what service do you go to? I'll go to the early one. You know, I'll go to the early service. And
[00:21:35] who is the pastor? He goes, ah, um, I said, bro, I'm the pastor. And he goes, oh man, I'm so sorry.
[00:21:47] I didn't tell you the truth. And this is what I told him. I said, if you would have told me the truth, I probably would have let you fish here. But since you lied to me, like to my face,
[00:21:56] get out of here. I told him to get out and that's mean, isn't it? But I needed to do it. It felt good to kick him off the link. All right. What was I talking about? Compromise, compromise.
[00:22:10] So I talked to people about church and they tell me that they don't know the pastor's name. I know that they don't know. They're not really going to church. What I find out is most people will go to
[00:22:21] church because, so my next question is, why do you go to that church? You should know why you go to a church. You really should. And it should be more than my friends are there, right? Or here's the
[00:22:34] biggest one because it's close to my house. Look, it's life or death. What church you pick right now in 2026, you can't, bro, you can't be going to just any church. You got to find a church that's
[00:22:48] challenging you that has conviction that preaches the word of God. It does not remove itself to challenges you with the word of God, not based on convenience. Don't come to Freedom House just because it's close to your house. Come here because God's changing you, challenging you.
[00:23:08] You're growing in your faith. See, with compromise, what ends up happening is we say, I can manage it, which becomes I can live with it. And then I can live with it becomes it lives in me. This is the scary thing about putting something in your closet and thinking
[00:23:31] it's just hidden behind the clothes. It starts with, I can manage this. I can just manage this compromise. The Israelites thought I can just manage the Canaanites. I can just manage the Hittites. None of their stuff is going to get on us. It's okay. It's a, they're not going to bother
[00:23:49] us. We're going to keep worshiping God. I can manage it becomes we can live with it. We can live with little gods being put up all around the neighborhood. We can live with what's happening
[00:24:00] in our community. It's okay. It's not going to really bother us. And then it becomes, guess what?
[00:24:04] It lives in me. I've been reading this book by A.W. Tozer called A Crucified Life. And here's the story that he wrote in there that I think makes a lot of sense. He says, this is much like drinking
[00:24:17] a glass of water with poison in it. That glass does not have to be filled 100% with poison to kill you. Even if only 1% of the liquid in the glass is poison, it will do the trick. In fact,
[00:24:34] it is my opinion that if only 1% of the liquid is poison, the glass is the more dangerous because the poison is less obvious. A glass with 100% poison will kill you outright, but a glass with
[00:24:50] one percent poison will kill you for sure, but your death will be slower, drawn out, and more painful. Compromise never stays contained. In other words, what we think is hiding in our closet is infiltrating your living room. It's messing with your bedroom. It's messing with your kitchen.
[00:25:14] It's getting everywhere. Paul said it this way, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Galatians five, verse nine, he was admonishing the church in Galatia. And he says, listen, guys, you need to be careful. You know, this be careful. Don't let a little of that truth mingle with the truth.
[00:25:32] Be careful that you don't mix anything with your Christianity. Matter of fact, you are a Christian. You can't put anything in front of being a Christian. I hear this all the time. Can you be a gay Christian? No, you're a Christian period. You can't, you can't be a
[00:25:46] conservative Christian. Don't let anything come before your Christianity. First and foremost, Jesus Christ is your Lord and savior. Number one, everything else follows that. I'm a Christian first. I'm not a Republican. I'm a Christian. Are you following me? I'm not a Democrat. I'm a
[00:26:03] Christian first. That's what you have to put your, your faith and your, your, your foundation in.
[00:26:10] We can't add anything. I'm a Christian. I'm a follower of God. I'm a disciple of Jesus.
[00:26:16] See, compromising is making peace with what God has called us to fight.
[00:26:23] And that's what happened with the Israelites.
[00:26:25] Just a little bit of bitterness, just a little bit of porn.
[00:26:30] You know, nobody knows I'm looking at it.
[00:26:33] My wife doesn't know.
[00:26:35] I just delete my history real quick to make sure she doesn't know.
[00:26:39] Just a little bit, just a little bit of dishonesty, just a little bit of envy, just a little bit of a critical spirit, just, just, just a little bit of alcohol every, just every night to calm myself. Just, I'm just going to flirt with her a little bit at work. Nobody's
[00:26:56] going to know it's okay. Just a few text messages. I mean, it's just, it's just innocent. Now you got to drive it out. You got to get rid of it. Secondly, God tells them what's going to happen.
[00:27:11] And he says, this is what's happening with you because you did not remove what needed to be removed. And judges two, verse three says, therefore, I also said, I will not drive them out before you. In other words, God's not going to do your work. Sometimes, you know, justification
[00:27:28] is God's work. Sanctification is our work. If you think about the Israelites, Egypt was justification took one day to get them out. Sanctification was the 40 years that took them to get Egypt out of them, to enter into the promised land. Are you following me? And then
[00:27:49] it's a constant removing and battle of getting rid of the old things that jump up in our faith.
[00:27:55] That's why it's important to be a part of forward. Forward is the execution of cleaning out your closet once and for all. It's one of the best things we do at Freedom House Church. And so
[00:28:06] here's what God says in Judges chapter two. He says, therefore, I also said, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall be thorns in your side and their gods shall be a snare to you.
[00:28:20] In other words, what we spare becomes a snare, whatever we spare. And let me give you a perfect example of this. It's found in first Samuel chapter 15. If you remember, Saul was the first
[00:28:34] king of Israel. God anointed to Saul. He was, he was the perfect pick in every way. He was head and shoulders above everybody. From the outside, he looked like the right pick. And what happens whenever God promotes you or is getting ready to promote you, he always tests you.
[00:28:50] Now, we don't like this as Christians because we want the easy road. But the truth is, is that God often, when he's about to promote you, and some of you are going through this right now,
[00:29:00] you're wondering why you're going through this trouble and these challenges and problems and issues. God doesn't cause them, but he uses them so he can take you to the next level.
[00:29:13] So recognize that you're on the verge of your promotion by the trouble you're going through.
[00:29:18] You're right on the edge of it, right on the precipice of it. So Saul, who was the new king, was given a test and the test from God was to drive out a group called a people called the
[00:29:31] Amalekites. Now the Amalekites were a significant group of people because when the Israelites came out of Egypt, the Amalekites were like this animal that kept nipping at their heels. Everywhere they would go, the Amalekites would come and try to defeat them and attack the weakest clan.
[00:29:51] Just kept attacking them over and over. And they were a ruthless people. Because I'm about to read you a verse that sounds very harsh from God, but God deals harsh with harsh. He deals harsh with
[00:30:04] ruthlessness, people who deny God and don't want anything to do with God. He's going to deal harshly with. And so, so he says to, to, to Saul, he goes, listen, I need you to, this was after this was a
[00:30:15] few years after they had been in the promised land, new King. So this is post judges. So, and he tells, he tells Saul, listen, I need you to get rid of the Amalekites. Listen to what he says in
[00:30:26] first Samuel chapter 15, verse three. He says, now go and attack Amalek, go and attack them and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them. Look at your neighbor. Say, do not spare them. Now this is a hard verse. He says, but kill both man, woman, infant,
[00:30:44] nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. I want you to wipe it all out. It's a hard verse.
[00:30:51] You say, really?
[00:30:52] God wants to get rid of all?
[00:30:53] Yeah, because they were so ruthless.
[00:30:56] And he knew that if Israel spared them at all, that they would continue to influence Israel from that point forward.
[00:31:06] See, the Amalekites represent spiritual delusion, delusionment or disillusion.
[00:31:13] They represent a false ideology that if we allow to stay, it will snare us in the end.
[00:31:19] The spirit of Amalek is the spirit that opposes the purpose of God.
[00:31:27] Old loyalties that compete with our surrender to God is what it is.
[00:31:32] And so when we are at our weakest, we often can call disobedience to God wisdom.
[00:31:43] So here's what happened.
[00:31:45] Saul's goal was to get rid of the Amalekites.
[00:31:49] That was the test.
[00:31:52] I think about if he would have done it, what would have happened?
[00:31:54] It may have been a whole different Bible that we read right now if Saul would have done that because he probably could have been the king that was after his own heart, could have been.
[00:32:07] Saul decides that he wants to keep some of what the Amalekites have.
[00:32:15] Samuel, the prophet, comes to the camp and he shows up and he hears all of these animals.
[00:32:23] He goes, hey, Saul, what is that I hear?
[00:32:26] What is this stuff I hear?
[00:32:27] Like, I should not hear any sheep.
[00:32:31] I shouldn't hear any goats.
[00:32:32] I shouldn't hear any cows.
[00:32:35] You know, I shouldn't hear anything.
[00:32:37] What's going on?
[00:32:38] And Saul says, listen, I kept all the good stuff.
[00:32:42] I'll cut the best of the sheep because I want to sacrifice to God.
[00:32:45] Often, often when we are in disobedience, we call it wisdom.
[00:32:53] Well, isn't it wise for me to keep what's good and give it to God? I mean, I'm trying to honor God here. No, no, no. God said, get rid of everything. Don't keep anything at all. Don't
[00:33:04] spare anything at all. It's important. He goes, yeah, but I kept, look, look, let's see that guy over there in the cage. That's King Agag. I just wanted to show him to you just to say he's the
[00:33:14] only one left, but I didn't kill him. Samuel kills everything. And, and the kingdom of God has ripped away from Saul. One night, everybody say one night. Jewish tradition tells us that while Agag was alive that one night, that he had relations with a slave girl and ended up
[00:33:41] impregnating her. And then he died the next day. Now, if you fast forward to the book of Esther, if you remember Esther, Esther was the one who saved Israel, the Jews from being killed.
[00:33:54] Do you remember the guy's name who wanted to kill the Jews? His name was Haman. He was an agagite. See what we spare can become a snare. See Agag didn't have to be on the throne
[00:34:13] to be, to, to, to punish Israel. All he had to do was live one night. See hell's favorite word is tomorrow. I'll clean up my life tomorrow. Hell's favorite word is tomorrow. I'll start praying
[00:34:37] tomorrow. I'll start reading my Bible tomorrow. I'll end the relationship tomorrow. I'll clean my closet out tomorrow. I'll deal with this issue that I need to deal with tomorrow. I'll make the changes in my life tomorrow. See, tomorrow is the graveyard of godly intentions. You know what
[00:35:11] heaven's favorite word is? Come on today. You know what the Bible says today? If you will hear my voice, the Bible says today, the scripture has been fulfilled in your presence. The Bible says, choose for yourselves today. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. Come on, come on today.
[00:35:35] Look at your neighbor today. I'm cleaning out my closet. See what we expose. We can heal what we expose. We can heal what we expose. We can heal. If you keep hiding it and listen to me,
[00:35:49] church, you can't hide it forever. It will come out. It will be revealed. Don't allow the devil to use something to control you for the rest of your life because you're afraid to clean out that
[00:36:00] closet. Today's the day. Let's expose it today. I love Psalms 139 because David says something very powerful. He says, search me, God. I think this is a prayer that Christians need to pray all the time. Search me, God. Is there anything? Because it's so easy to point the finger at
[00:36:15] everybody else. But if they did this and if they changed and if they did this and if this happened and that happened, instead of going, what about me, God? What can I do? What do I need to do?
[00:36:26] Reveal to me the changes I need to make in my life. So I want to ask you some questions today before we, we closed this service. What have I been caught? What have I been calling small
[00:36:35] that God calls dangerous? Do I have an agag in prison that I need to kill? Do I not, not somebody else forget about your husband and how much he needs to hear this message or your friend that
[00:36:55] you go to school with that, man, I wish they were here today. No. What about me? What does that small thing, that little thing? What have I learned to live with that God told me to drive out?
[00:37:10] What is your Canaanite, your Hittite, your Jebusite, your Amalekite? What have I been hiding because I'm afraid of being known? This is one of the biggest lies of the enemy.
[00:37:23] You don't want to answer that altar call because people will think that you're no longer a leader.
[00:37:29] It's one of the dangers of being a Christian for a while as we stop repenting in front of people.
[00:37:35] Because we're so afraid that we're gonna be found out and they're gonna strip our position away from us if they only knew what I did.
[00:37:41] Listen, we're all doing it.
[00:37:45] We all make mistakes.
[00:37:46] We've all fallen short of the glory of God.
[00:37:48] We're all sinners saved by grace, amen?
[00:37:51] We're all in the same, we all need a savior.
[00:37:54] I mean, come on.
[00:37:57] My wife will tell you all the time how jacked up I am.
[00:37:59] It's to know, so this loses its power over me.
[00:38:11] And where have I been saying tomorrow?
[00:38:15] Don't let the devil create your dialogue.
[00:38:17] so here let me just finish with this because I think it's so easy to turn the gospel into if I try harder then everything will be okay that that's what not what I'm saying and that is not
[00:38:31] the gospel the gospel is not you know if I just try harder man if I just if I just do more if I just serve more if I just give more if I just show up more no no that's not the gospel the gospel
[00:38:46] is God in his amazing love for you, regardless of where you are, decided to bankrupt heaven and send his only begotten son who was crucified, who was accused falsely.
[00:39:05] And he hung on a cross for you and me to let you know that I love you in spite of you.
[00:39:12] And there is nothing that you will ever do that can earn that. I'm giving you this as a free gift from me. That's the good news. That's the gospel. It's not. If you try harder,
[00:39:23] amen, stand up on your feet. I want to pray for you today. Jesus said, come to me when you are weighed down and try harder and I'll give you rest. That's not what he said. No, he said, come
[00:39:35] to me. Those that are heavy laden, weighed down. I'm going to give you rest. Just, just lay it down.
[00:39:42] Ephesians chapter five, verse 11 says, have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness.
[00:39:47] but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret, but everything exposed by the light becomes visible and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said, wake up sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will
[00:40:03] shine on you. First John chapter one, verse seven through nine. It says, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son purifies
[00:40:15] us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
[00:40:21] If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Proverbs 28 verse 13, whoever conceals their sin does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Jesus did not die merely to make
[00:40:41] us better at managing our closets. He died to forgive our sin, break sin's power and make us new. Amen. Come on. Can we give God a big hand clap for that? We're going to have, we're just
[00:41:00] going to have an old fashioned repentance time right now. If you need to repent today, if you need to open that door of your closet and let the light shine in and let God deal with whatever
[00:41:11] you're going with. I don't know what's in your closet, what secret thing, what hidden thing has been controlling you, holding you. I don't know what it is, but I'm going to open this altar up
[00:41:20] and I want to invite you to get out of your seat. I think faith without works is dead.
[00:41:26] Get out of your seat, walk up to this altar, maybe even get on your knees and say, God, I'm sorry. This is where it starts. It starts with repentance. It starts with saying, God, I'm opening the door of my life, but the door of my heart, and I'm letting this out because I can't
[00:41:40] hold this anymore. And you can't, you can't willpower it away, but the blood of Jesus can wash it away. And he'll do it today. He'll do it today. I think sometimes we, we do not clean out
[00:41:55] the closet and we don't clean it out because we think God loves us. We'll love us more if we don't clean it out. We bring it into the light because in Christ, we're already loved in him. He already
[00:42:12] he loves us. He cares for us. He loves you right now, right where you are. But I want to invite you just to get out of your seat and come. And we're going to have just a time of worship here
[00:42:24] in closing where we're just going to let the worship team lead us. But I want you to first service. We had just a bunch of people come and just, just unload, man. It's just awesome to see
[00:42:34] what God's doing in people's hearts, but I want to invite you to do the same thing. So just, I want to pray for you and then I want to invite you just open the altar up just to worship and
[00:42:44] and come to Jesus not to Troy not to the Blantons but to come to Jesus and just bring it out in the open just repent when you come just father I'm sorry I'm leaving the secret here today I'm
[00:43:01] cleaning my closet out I want I want you to have full access to my life I don't want to spare anything, I want to give it all to you. So Father, thank you today. Thank you for the power of the
[00:43:15] Holy Spirit. Thank you for moving in our midst, Lord. Thank you for just the blood of Jesus that's available right now. Holy Spirit, I pray that you will move upon hearts to heal, to set free, to
[00:43:31] deliver, to empower, to remove. God, that's what we want to do today. We want to clean out that closet, to clean out the compromise.
[00:43:45] We want to get rid of those things in our life that have been holding us captive for so long.
[00:43:50] In the name of Jesus, come.
[00:43:55] If you want to repent, just come to the altar and let's just worship God.
[00:44:00] Just get out of your seat and come.
[00:44:02] Lead us in worship.