May 17th, 2026 - Against The Tide: Part 1 (10:30 AM)

What does Paul say a Christian should be seeking after? Should it be, you know, that upgraded car, that upgraded house? He says two things make you rich, godliness and contentment. If I if you when you came in today, I gave you a quiz and I said, in the bible, what makes you rich? Probably most of us would not have filled out godliness and contentment. But in scripture, do you see how radically it's defining riches versus our culture? Our culture says, have all these things, and you should feel really good about where you're at. The Bible says, pursue godliness. Let God work in your life, and you should feel really good about where you're at and be content with where you're at. That's the the the definition. And so in your heart, what are you pursuing? [00:42:13] (41 seconds)  #GodlinessAndContentment

Don't store up treasure here on earth. So if Jesus went to your house, how would he how would he grade you? Right? Like, how are you doing? He went to your storage unit. How are you doing? Are you very different than the world that doesn't have this command? You and I have a unique command here. Right? Don't store up treasure here on earth. The reason this isn't my words too. I wanna make sure you understand this. You could be mad at it right now because of this. I don't like this. But this is the word of the lord because he loves you. He sees you as his child. He wants better for you. And so he knows the way to freedom is not to store up more stuff here on earth, but to actually have less. [00:53:16] (34 seconds)  #LessIsFreedom

So here's your challenge for this week. Try to live more simply. Figure out what things are you spending money on that you really don't don't need. Try it for a week. See what happens. Learn to be content with less, and use that energy and time to pursue things that you know god help you lead to godliness. Right? Spend time in prayer. Spend time with believers. Spend time at praying. And I believe you will be blessed for it because that is the shift. Right? We that's how we need to fight against the the waves of our culture. Let's pray. [01:00:41] (31 seconds)  #LiveSimplyChallenge

one of the things that surprised me is how emotional I was when I had to sell my car. We had no car. And then we had to give up the rent, our the plate we were renting out an apartment and I had to give up my rent keys, I had no keys in my pocket. For the first time since I was like a young teen, I didn't have a key to anywhere. And it sort of hit me like, I have nothing. Like nothing meaningful to my name. Didn't have a lot in the bank either at that point. And so we literally went overseas. I don't remember exactly how many suitcases we had, but several and that was it. No furniture, nothing else. You know, that was the time I literally had the most joy about my possessions in my life. It wasn't it's not even close. Because when I when I went overseas, I had such a sense like, god, I live for you. My true riches are not in what I own in this world. The only thing I have is what I have with you. [00:45:02] (47 seconds)  #JoyInSimplicity

But the bible's quite clear. The more you want this, the materialistic things, the less you get this. Because your passion God wants your heart. And he wants your heart to be solely sold out to him. Meaning, are times where, sure, god wants you to enjoy blessing and the things he's given you, but your passion is supposed to be, I want Jesus. I want him working in my life. I wanna be used by him. And when you do that, you get both, in my opinion. But you put this in a rightful place, and it doesn't become something that you're pursuing in a in a healthy way. I wanna look at the last verse of first Timothy six eight. What should we be content with? He says, if we have food and clothing, that we should be content. [00:49:58] (38 seconds)  #PursueJesusNotThings

If you get enough promotions or you make enough money, now I'm somebody. Right? I feel really good about who I am because look at what I make or what I do. And in the scriptures, again, do you think Jesus is really impressed by somebody who's a CEO versus somebody who's a janitor? Like, does it matter in scripture? Not really. No. Right? You have ability to do more if you have make more money to to influence and use that for good things. But but from a standing before God, you're not right with God because, wow, I have a great job. That doesn't impress God, but it tends to impress us because we live in a culture that praises it. Because more income means you can buy more. Right? We can have more in our garage, more stuff in our house. [00:38:14] (37 seconds)  #TitlesDontDefineYou

I lived in The Middle East for eleven years. I pastored a church for nine years where it wasn't safe for a lot of those people to go to church. And I watched as they lost their families and cried at the church and were devastated by the persecution they faced for their faith. And I and I do know in America, many of us would not come to church if it weren't easy, if it weren't comfortable. Right? If this room was sweaty and hot like in Mexicali where we bought air conditioners for a church down there, they were worshiping in terrible heat because they didn't have the money for air conditioning. Would you come? When we look at the New Testament, there's a joy when you come even though it's not easy. There's a joy when you pursue God even though your life's hard and not going the way you want. [00:52:00] (42 seconds)  #FaithBeyondComfort

I've never been more scared of water in my life. I never thought I might drown until that moment when I felt like I can't go on. And I'm like, I'm so far from the shore too, I don't know if I can float back to the shore even. Like, what am I gonna do? Luckily, adrenaline kicks Right? Adrenaline can be a wonderful thing at times. And just my survival instinct said, okay Joe, however you have to do it, you're gonna make it to that platform. And I instant clawed and I got there. But when I got there, the people who were already there were like, you okay? Because they saw it was not a good situation I was in, but I made it. But the point of that story is this. Culture is a lot like that. Right? It wears you down. You swim and you think, got this. No problem. I could go against the current. But eventually, wave after wave hits you, and you're like, maybe I should just go with the current. It's a lot easier than fighting against it. [00:35:43] (48 seconds)  #FightTheCurrent

What does Paul say a Christian should be seeking after? Should it be, you know, that upgraded car, that upgraded house? He says two things make you rich, godliness and contentment. If I if you when you came in today, I gave you a quiz and I said, in the bible, what makes you rich? Probably most of us would not have filled out godliness and contentment. But in scripture, do you see how radically it's defining riches versus our culture? Our culture says, have all these things, and you should feel really good about where you're at. The Bible says, pursue godliness. Let God work in your life, and you should feel really good about where you're at and be content with where you're at. That's the the the definition. And so in your heart, what are you pursuing? [00:42:12] (41 seconds)