Choose Your Chair: Commitment, Compromise, or Complacency

``I find myself so often in this chair. Because I wanna be guided by the principles of what God wants to lead in my life, but there are times in my life when I want to make my decisions and be my own person. Make my own actions based on my own thoughts, own beliefs. And so yeah, I get caught in this chair. But I got a question for you today for those of us who sit in this chair. And here's the question. If the Holy Spirit today departed from our life, would we know it? If the Holy Spirit today, right now, got up, packed his bags, walked out of our life, would we even know the presence of God had left us? [01:28:31] (61 seconds)  #HolySpiritCheck

On the surface, the third chair looks like the fun chair. It looks like an enjoyable chair, but in reality it's the very sad chair. It is a very sad chair because we have to live with the haunting question of tomorrow and what happens after we die. You'll notice this chair is extraordinarily comfortable which means it's very hard to get out of. But I wanna tell you today, if you're sitting in that chair, today is the day of salvation. [01:41:55] (34 seconds)  #ComfortableButLost

Marriage, first chair Christians is a covenant. It's covenant made in the presence of God till death do us part. Relationships that are built in the covenant relationship of God. Second one is contract. You and I, we agree to do this. We'll look for loopholes if necessary, but it's just a contract. Third, of Christians. It's a marriage of convenience. And maybe it's not even marriage at all. Maybe it's just two people who live together. [01:34:18] (41 seconds)  #CovenantNotContract

This is sold out. This is a chair of commitment that says, I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins. I believe that he came and he lived and he was crucified on the cross and came off that cross, went to the tomb and rose out of that tomb and ascended into heaven. And I believe that he came and he taught us how to live. He taught us what was valuable. He taught us what was important, and he became our savior. [01:07:46] (30 seconds)  #SoldOutForJesus

Or if you look at us, the church, first chair Christians, we're the community. We're a community of faith. We're a community of brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. We are, we come together and we care for one another. Second chair, Christians. It's a club. It's a place to be seen. It's a place to know people. It's a place to network. It's a place to have a social life. It's a place to gather. Third chair Christians, it's a custom. The family goes on big days, and it's a family thing. [01:33:33] (38 seconds)  #ChurchIsCommunity

Chair two Christians need to understand, The Christian is the Christian life is not about leading a mediocre life so that we slot in to heaven by the very skin of our teeth. The purpose of the Christian life is imitate Jesus and become so deeply committed to him. So committed to him that it helps us move from the second chair, even the third chair all the way to the first chair. And not to have a religion with him, but to have a relationship with him. [01:39:44] (42 seconds)  #ImitateJesus

But the common thread is this, like the young rich ruler who came before Jesus and said, what must I do? And Jesus said, sell what you have and give it away. And he walked away sorrowfully. They simply say no. No to Jesus. A personal relationship to be fair because spiritual matters don't matter. There's an indifference to them. So a relationship with God is simply not on their radar. It's not in their purview. [01:23:32] (37 seconds)  #SpiritualIndifference

Well, how do we understand God? How do we understand the God of the universe, the Lord of Lords? Well, for a first chair Christian, he understands it this way. He understands that it's a relationship. That the God of the universe is not stuck off some faraway place. That the God of the universe, the Lord of our life is not someone who is far away but is actually present. An unseen force in our life that guards us, guides us. He's not a cosmic being way up somewhere else, and what we are trying to do is please the king of kings and lord of lords by the way we live. It is a relationship. [01:19:19] (60 seconds)  #GodAsRelationship