And listen, welcome wherever you are today, all of our campuses, man, we're so glad that you're with us. And, um, I, I want you to know, uh, just kind of tell you a quick story from this week. I, I was sitting in House Church, and like many of you, I I do house church with my family as well. And this is Wednesday night and we're all kind of gathered together. And, uh, man, it came time we, you know, we ate together. I love the, I love, it's probably the best part about, I shouldn't say that. It's one of my favorite parts about House Church is when we get to eat together. And man, we all ate together and we gathered in the den and, and, uh, we were kind of beginning to discuss the message. And if you guys remember last week, gray really challenged us to go back and listen to the podcast. So there's an unschooled and ordinary podcast that we do every week that kind of goes off of the message. If you've had never listened to it, man, I want you to, it's really, really good. But we use that to help us kind of create discussion in House Church. And the, the question that I started my House church off with, uh, this week was just, Hey, this is the fourth week of this series. And I said, does anybody happen to remember the name of the series that we're in right now? And I kinda looked around and not a lot was happening. And so I had a little ninth grader right over here. And so I asked my ninth grader, I said, come on man. What, what you guys saw you do, you remember the name of the series? And he thought about it, and he could just see it. Like, if you've walked in one of our atriums, we have like a little logo out there. And he, and he sees it and he's thinking, he's thinking, he finally says, it's, it's the way he says, it's the way of Jesus.

And as soon as it kinda came out of his mouth, I began to think about, I don't know that we've kind of connected the dots with you. You know, Jesus said that about himself, that he said, I'm the way you remember that verse, the truth and the life. And then he goes on in the Book of Acts, and the very first believers, the very first followers were said that they were following the way. That's the way that they referred to 'em. And so that's kind of what the heartbeat of the series, that's the big idea, is that we're saying we're trying to break out of what maybe has kind of become this Christian club or this kind of Christian ish mindset. And we're moving towards this place where we're following the way of Jesus, and we wanna be known as disciples that, that don't, that that doesn't just kind of follow the way of the church, but yet follows the way of Jesus.

Now here's how we've said it. This is our mission statement. So that just to kind help, you know, we're all on the same page. This is our mission statement adventure. And I think it's gonna come up on the screen and it says, our mission is to lead people to know, love and follow Jesus. Now, here's, I started thinking about this, and, and let's leave this up here for just a second, because I think, I think, and I I hate to evaluate like our, our own job. So you need to tell me more about this. If this is true, I think we do a really good job of leading people to know. I mean, the, the gospel, I feel like you know, the gospel, like, you know the truth. Maybe it's because you, you've grown up in our church. Maybe you just grew up in the south and you heard about the gospel. You've got the head knowledge. I think we talk a lot about love and the fact that I want you to have a relationship with Jesus, that it's not just head knowledge, but it's, it's a connection there. It's a, it's a relationship. But where I think we've maybe dropped the ball a little bit is on this one, follow that it's more than just head knowledge. It's more than just feelings, but it's a choice to follow Jesus.

Now, here's what Jesus said about that. Lemme show you the verse that we're gonna kind of work off of a little bit. And Jesus said to them, really simple. So this word isn't just a, a venture word. He said, follow me and I will, I will help you. I will make you become fishers of men or people. Now here's the tension I wanna talk about today. Who or what are you becoming? You ever thought about that? Like at this season of your life, at this stage of your life, at this stage of being a granddad, who have you become? Some of you are wondering that as soon as I said that you thought, you don't know me. I'm in my sixties, I'm in my seventies. Look, I'm in my forties. I've already become who I'm gonna be. And there's a part of that that's true. Like, like we've all had influences in our life that have formed us. Your education, your family of origin, your childhood, your habits, your decisions, your relationships, your attitudes, your environments, all those things have formed you to some degree. And, and then there's a reality that we're, we're still being formed. I mean, my hope, I hate to kinda share the secret, but I I hope you walk outta here today, changed a little bit so that you're still being formed. And so you've been formed, you're being formed, and you know this, you're, you're gonna be formed. You ever seen a, a granddad and you think, oh my gosh, who is that? I don't even recognize him. He was so different as a dad, but now as a granddad, he's totally different because he's still being formed.

Now here's what Timothy Keller says about this. He's very wise. He says, God sees us as we are. Okay? He sees you and me, and and you need to know this, that he loves us as we are. There's no question about that. He even accepts us just as we are, but by his grace. And that's so important. I mean, right? Come on. My amen corner down here is already amen. And it's by his grace. He does not leave us as we are. That's so incredibly important that we are becoming more or less of something we're all in this process of becoming. But the question we're asking today is, what or who are we becoming?

Here's what I want you to do. I want you to see what God's word says about it. And this is one of those passages that if I could just give you one this, I'd have to give you something about his grace. And, and, and I, and I gotta, I gotta get south. I mean, there's so many good passages, right? There's so many I want you to be passionate about. But this one, Romans 12, one and two, this one is one you wanna store away in your mind because this is a key passage. So here's what I want you to do. We, we've been doing this a little bit. I want you to stand up for this because I just don't want you to miss it. Uh, you're gonna get a lot from today, but if you don't get God's word, then it, it's, it's no good. So here we go. I'm gonna read it to you just real quick. Thank you for staying at all of our campuses. Here we go. Romans 12, one says, therefore, I urge you, brothers. So that's, that's pretty key language. Paul's bagging you in view of God's mercy, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. Now, that's important because he says it's more than just a love relationship. It's more than just head knowledge. You're gonna, this is gonna be a living sacrifice. It's like being a parent, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Here's the verse. You ready? Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You may be seated. That's our verse for today. And the big question is, uh, what or who are we being transformed into?

Now, here's the reality for this church, but did you, I thought this was really interesting. Uh, believe it or not, Paul had never even been to this church. This church was over in Rome, and they were full of new believers. And so if you're a new believer here, man, welcome. We're so glad you're here, Paul. He was giving them some truth because he was, he was concerned for them because where their church was located, they were in Rome. Now, I, I, I read this as I was studying up. It said that Rome, in that time, I think this is such a cool word, was a formation station. It was a place that if you lived in that community, you would be formed kinda like Nashville, kinda like Austin, uh, kinda like la uh, maybe a lot like Wiggins. Just making sure you're listening down there. It's a place that when you go there, Paul is concerned for him. But he said, because something's gonna happen, you're either gonna become more like Rome or you're gonna become more like Christ. And in this area where you're located, I'm really scared about the influence that is gonna be on you.

And so here's the very first thing we wanna do. If we wanna be more like Christ, we've gotta recognize that you and I are being formed. Now, it really doesn't matter what stage of life you're in, and I don't know that it really even matters totally where you live. The reality is, we're all being formed into something now, Play-Doh, has anybody ever tempted to smell Play-Doh? I feel like that's the first thing. You guys are weird. But anyway, here's the reality about Play-Doh. As soon as you get Play-Doh out, right? And no matter what age or or or season or stage, you, I mean out, you always make a, you just, you just begin to form it into something. Typically, the first thing you form is like a ball, right? That's just what you do. The next thing that you do is you gotta make a snake. I mean, it's just natural. Like you can't help it. Every time you get Play-Doh, you just, you naturally form it into these things. And what I'm, my snake just broke, but what I'm, what I'm challenging you with, or what I'm telling you is I don't think this is necessarily true of, I, I think this is a truth. These are, I'm gonna come back to these, don't worry. I think this is the truth of all of us, like every human being is in process of being formed. The catch here is, as a follower of Jesus, are you paying attention to what is forming you? Because we're all being formed, we're all in process. We're, we're all, we're all just like this, Plato. I mean, the world does this to us. It, it makes us into something. But as a follower of Christ, what we're saying is we've gotta be informed about what's forming us because there's no accidental disciples. You, you don't just all of a sudden show up and go, oh my goodness, I rolled over at 50 and I was so much more loving and kind and patient and joyful. I don't know what happened to me today. I've just become so forgiving that doesn't happen on accident. And that's what Paul's so passionate about, and that's what he's sharing to this church in Rome. He's saying, you've gotta be intentional with your time and with your energy to become a disciple, because you're not gonna just naturally look up and be closer to Christ.

And in fact, the way that Jesus said it was really simple, he, he said, you've got two big paths to choose, and I want you to see this passage. He says, you're going to either enter through the narrow gate. That's one option for wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction. So, so that's not the option that you want. And many are gonna enter through that. And another way, that's the way of the world, but small. So in other words, that doesn't have to be you. If you'll pay attention to what's forming you, small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life. And then he says this, and this is so discouraging, but only a few find it. I I am asking you, which road are you on today? And the chances are we've got a pretty broad audience. And according to this passage, most of us are on the broad road, the wide road. And the fear for you and for me is if that's where you are, he says, really clearly Jesus does that, that's gonna lead you to destruction. But he says there's good news. You don't have to be formed by the world. You don't have to stop right here. He says, there's another option for you and for me, you can be again, to be formed by Jesus.

Now, the second thing, if we're gonna be more like Jesus, here's what I want you to do. I want you to stop today, and I want you to do a life audit. And you go, that sounds so exciting. I love tax season. And I I love it when I get to pay for an audit. Well, you can just Venmo me. It's very affordable today. I the audit is already back. Your results are the same as my results. Okay? I studied all of mankind, and your audit revealed something that's, that's universally true. There's three things that are forming you and me. Okay? Here they are. It's these three things. And the first one is the stories. Now look at this little tagline about stories, because this is, this is really powerful. The story that you live in is the story that you live out isn't that good? You start thinking about what's the story that you're living today? Are you thinking, yep, we're gonna get divorced. I know we're gonna get divorced. There's no chance we're gonna make it. My mama didn't make it, my daddy didn't make it. We're the second generation people getting divorced. Of course you're addicted. You've always been addicted. You're never gonna not gonna be addicted. Your daddy was addicted, your granddaddy was addicted. All they were, were drunks. You're gonna be a drunk. It's the story that you're hearing. It's why we do things like we did on Sunday night that are so incredibly important. When we fill this room with over a thousand students and we begin to tell them a new story, and it's not the same old story that they hear every day. It's a story about God's love and about his grace.

Jesus was the best at this. Jesus told people different stories than what the world told them. Look at this interaction with Peter. I love how Jesus did this. I wanna be this person. I want you to be this person. Jesus did that. Jesus replied. So this is Jesus talking to Simon. He says, blessed are you. Well, that's a good way to start the conversation. I'm telling you a new story, Simon. He said, look, I don't know if you've heard this, but you're blessed. And then he says, you're the son of Joan. Okay, so, well, good. He probably knew that for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood. So what I'm about to tell you, you're not hearing from flesh and blood. You're not hearing this from the world. You're not hearing this from your friends. You're not hearing this from everybody else, but my father in heaven has a word for you. And here's what it is, Simon. And I tell you that you are Peter, what thought I was Simon. No, no, no. Uhuh teenage boy. You're gonna be Peter and lemme tell you about you. You're gonna be a rock. You're gonna be such a rock, Peter. You're never gonna believe this, but I'm gonna build my church on you to the point that hell itself will not overcome it. That's a message from Jesus to a teenager. Can you imagine how ready he was to take on the world because of what he heard from Jesus? Because Jesus changed the story that he had been told. And I don't know what story you're telling yourself, but I'm asking you to stop and be sensitive and begin to change the story.

Here's the second thing. It's the habits. What are the habits that you're doing? What we do is what we become. Now, lemme just kinda be a little more personal with you on this one, because I, I I, there's habits in my life that are good and there's habits that are bad. And, uh, one of the habits that I've had to come back around, I have fomo, alright? I just do, I have a lot of fear of missing out. And when I hear stories and I jump on and I'm on social media, okay? I'm, I'm on social media and I have a Facebook account and an Instagram account. So I'm not hating on you, I'm one of you. But for me, I realize that when I start scrolling, I think it's called the doom scroll, when I start scrolling my mind, my FOMO races, and instead of looking around and seeing this beautiful family that God's given me in this incredible home and this awesome church, I start getting jealous. This is just me. I don't know if you struggle this way, but I'll see people skiing and then I'll think my life is terrible. I'll, I'll see people at the beach and I go, golly, how do they afford that? I can't afford that. I'll see people doing things nice for their wives or their kids, and I'll think I'm a terrible husband. It's a death scroll for me. And so I have gotten in the habit of doing that, and I've had to change my habits because it, it, it draws me into comparison. And, you know, this comparison kills. And because comparison kills, it's a habit that I've had to grab hold of and say, I've gotta change this habit. This is not a good habit for me because what we repeatedly do, I was repeatedly scrolling. We repeatedly become, which means you take my joy, which means comparison, which means feeling sorry for myself, which meant being jealous. And those are not who I wanna be. So it was a habit I had to change.

Now here's the third one. The third one is the relationships. And you know this, I mean, every one of you have told this to your kids. Watch out who you hang out with. You become the average of your five friends. It's in Proverbs. Proverbs says it this way. Iron sharpens iron. So one person sharpens another. See how important it is to be sensitive to that, to begin to watch and see who it is that you're hanging out with, because it's not a, it's not a kid thing. I think that's where we've missed this. Like we preach this to our children. We, we harp on this to our teenagers. This is true of all ages. You guys have walked into your parents or your grandparents' home and you've left going, they've been watching Fox News again, I can just tell. And they're in their seventies or in their eighties. This isn't just true of teenagers. Your relationships are so important. I, we hired, we have a, a new person on our staff team and um, uh, his name's Zach Ross. And I love Zach. Been, been so thankful for Zach and he's leading our finances and our operations. And, uh, one thing that's different about Zach is he's from Tennessee. And the more I I, I've noticed, I've, I've kind of been listening to him in the way that he speaks and he says things like night and right, and really carries those and he's kind of a hillbilly. And I, I've started, I'm losing my southern accent and I'm turning into more of a hillbilly and going like, right? And I'm go, where did that come from? You don't speak like that. Well, it comes from the person I've been hanging out with. It's all of us. We've gotta be careful about that because it, they're, they're forming us. Your stories, your habits, your relationships.

So here's what I'm asking you to do. Now, this is a hard ask. I want you to work through these questions. You have homework this week, okay? We do this in house search. We say this, I want you to talk about this on the way home. I want you to talk about this on the way home. Here it is. Ask yourself, is there a story that I'm telling myself about myself that's not true? And you may need someone to speak into this. Like you may need to ask your wife this or your, you may need to ask your, you need to ask your best friend. I hear you say this all the time. That's not true of you. Someone needs to speak that into you. Someone you trust. You may need to be, this is a hard one to ask, but you may be open for the feedback. Is there a habit that you see in my life that's just not helpful? I shared with you mine, it just wasn't helpful for me to scroll relationship. Is there a relationship that I am in? I love this. You ready? Watch this wording that just may not be the best for me. It just, it just may not like I watch you when you go hang out with them. And when you come back, it's not the same. That, that, that would mean it's not the best for you.

Now here's the third thing. If we're gonna push back, okay? If we're gonna push back against being conformed, then we've gotta push back against the world here. Here's the verse that we read. You stood up for it and, and you said, do not conform. So if that's not what we wanna do, then we've gotta push back. Because I told you, remember, this is the way the world does us. It forms us, all of us. This is a universal truth. So what we're saying is believers is we are gonna be transformed. How? By the renewing of your mind. Here's how this looks. I love this. I've been waiting on this. Hope this still works with my wounded snake. So we've got what the world does to us. That's unfortunate. And it forms us, right? You remember all of us, it takes us and it forms us. Remember, it just does this. But it also, if it's not that, then it forms you into like a little snake because everybody does that when they get Play-Doh. But what happens is, when, when you and I are following Christ, it's like we dadgum it. It's like we take our life and we form it around Jesus. Okay? So where we're no longer the same. And then when the world begins to form us, watch what happens. When you begin to come back out to the world, you're no longer the same. And, and I want you to see what's different, because you're still getting formed. I'm still forming this. But now there's something different inside of you. See, that's, that's the visual I want you to see. You're, you're, you're always gonna be conforming, there's always gonna be pressure on you and me. But the transformation happens when Jesus is inside of us and we no longer look the same or act the same. And it's, it's like a butterfly. You know how the butterfly does? He's being formed in this cocoon. And then when he comes out of the cocoon, you're going, what in the world has happened? Who knew that that cocoon was forming and transforming? I thought it was gonna look like this, but it came out looking like this. That's what the gospel does in you. When it begins to take root in you, it leaves you not the same, it changes you. But the way that it changes you is from the inside out because you and I are constantly becoming something.

Now, here's where this whole message series kind of comes into play. We've given you a picture of all the different things that Jesus did. And we're saying if we wanna become like him and we wanna follow like him, and we want our life to not look like this, not look like the rest of the world, not look like everyone else, but we wanna be transformed, then we've gotta do these things because these are the things that Jesus did. And this week we've made it to this one right here, corporate worship. We've made it to what you and I are doing right now. We've made it to this moment where we're beginning to ask ourself why do we do what we do? And I think, and I'm pretty sure about this, that we've gotta begin to reshape our mindsets about this time you're going. So what do we need to do? We need to go back to the very first century. I mean, they couldn't read and write like they had no technology is it, is the problem the lights? I mean, what, what do we need to do? No longer use the, the written word 'cause they didn't have the written word. What do we need to do? Show up in a robe and sandals. Well, of course not. The method will always change because society and culture we're changing. But the message can never change. And, and I don't know what you think the message is for these experiences are like why we do what we do. But we know this from God's word. Here's what he says. This is why you get together. This is why you do what you do on Sunday mornings. At every campus, at every church. This is the point. Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Oh, wait, we're we, you mean we're here for one another? I thought we were here for me. I needed this song. I want this to be this way, bro. That ain't even why we're here. We're here for one another. You're supposed to be encouraging each other. This is a, who knew? We've gotten so far off of this. We've gotten so good at being critical of people. We've gotten so good at walking out and saying, I wish they'd have done that at being critical of the preacher and the staff and the worship. That's not even why we're here. We're supposed to be encouraging and spurring on one another, not giving up meeting together. Don't, don't give up on this because when you give up on this, you give up on one another. It's not that you're giving up on me, you're giving up on the person you're sitting next to. You're giving up on your community, you're giving up on your school, you're giving up on the next generation in your family. When you give up on the local church, not giving up, meeting together somewhere in the habit, habit of doing, but encourage one another all the more as you see the day approaching.

Now, what's he talking about when you says you see the day approaching? Well, that's obvious. He's talking about the day that Jesus comes back and he's saying in between now and then, this is the fourth thing. Don't give up. Don't give up on this meeting. I, I need you to be as passionate as I am about this because you are the church now I'm the leader, so it's on me to be passionate and be creative and continue to spur you on too. But, but you're the church. And I want you to think about how Jesus saw the church. You remember how passionate he was about the church. Remember when he walked in the church and the money changers were in there? And he walked in, he goes, this is not what it's supposed to be. And he throws over the table and he gets the whip and he drives everyone out of there. He was passionate about what you're doing today and what I'm doing today.

And and Gray reminded us of something last week. I thought it was so good. He brought up the fourth commandment. You remember the fourth commandment? He said, wait a minute. Hold on. Remember to observe that Sabbath day work six days, here's the whole thing. But here's the part I'm I'm asking you to focus on today. Last week was a little bit about rest today. He says, set it apart, Set it apart. Like every other thing you do this week is probably gonna form you into something. But this week is set apart. This moment when we come together is meant to speak to the white part of this little model. It's meant to in encourage you. It's meant to inspire you. It's set apart. It's different than a work, meaning it's different than a social gathering. This moment when you and I are together is meant to speak to who you are spiritually because it matters what's going on in you spiritually affects your family. What's going on in you spiritually affects your work environment. It affects your school. Look at this passage in Acts. This is one of my favorite passages. This is what I want to be true of us. So the so here, here they are, they just, they just see these two guys out in the community, watch what they say about 'em. It'd just be like me seeing you. I saw Steve Gandy a minute and go, it'd be like me seeing Steve out. And, and I'd have to say this, when they saw the courage of Peter and John. So I saw Steve when they saw these two guys, they realized that there was, they were just unschooled, ordinary men. So there's nothing, anything real special about them. These were just ordinary guys. They saw out in the community, but they were astonished. And they took note that you're ready. It's like these men had been with Jesus. How many times when you leave this place to someone, say, bro, what's up with you? You've been with Jesus. Your kids ever look at you and go, man, something's different about you, mom. You've been with Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. I just left church Dad, I I don't understand what, why you saying that to me? You, you've been with Jesus today. Yeah.

Here's the last thing. This is the last one. This is number five. We're gonna become like Jesus, We've gotta recommit to encouraging each other. Now, I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna step on your toes just for a minute because that's, that's part of what I'm supposed to do. When was the last time you were at church and you encouraged someone think about it. So, so now do this for me because let's get, let's, let me really make this personal. If you've got a kid in KXP or you've got a kid at movement, or if you go to a house church, would you just raise your hand if you've done any of those things? Alright. Alright. So that's a lot of us. So when was the last time you picked up your kid and you looked at that volunteer and you said, thank you. No, no. When was the last time really? When was the last time on Sunday night when you drove up on this campus and you saw all the cars and you had a sixth through 12th grader in your car, and you didn't just go pow, get outta here, but you, you walked into that campus and you looked at that person that was leading your student every Sunday night in their movement group. And you said something like, Hey, thank you. I tell you, it means a lot to me that you give up those Sunday nights to be with my child. What about at House church? Because I'm, I'm so man, I, I love it. I love what's going on there. But when was the last time that you, you walked in there and you look at that host and you just said, Hey babe, you know what? I'm taking the trash out tonight because I know how much work it is to prepare your home and you thank them. When was the last time that you just looked at the person sitting next to you? Have you talked to them today and you encouraged them? I had somebody that broke my heart. I, I had somebody gimme a little bit of feedback from, um, from what we did with our students on Sunday night. Man, I had people stop me all week long saying how amazing the night was and, and such good feedback. But I have one person that said, this traffic was awful. I I almost laughed in their face. Like, you mean we brought together a thousand students from 40 different churches and we began to give them a new story and we spoke to them and we encouraged them. And all you said to me was, the traffic was really bad on Sunday night. And I'm picking on this example because I think that's where the church has kind of eased over to like, you, you mean we're gonna have to stay late for baptisms? You you mean to tell me that their traffic was bad? You, I didn't have any words. But what I'm challenging you is to say, we gotta get back to this is why we come together. Don't give up on this time, and when you're a part of this time, speak into it because this is the moment that you, you and I have to be transformed. Nothing else that we do speaks to this. Everything else is just this. It's just forming you. But this moment is meant to transform you.

Now here's how we're gonna end today. And I, I love this because I've learned to look forward to moments where we worship together. And I don't know how you see worship, but, but worship isn't like a filler for the message. Uh, worship is where you, you, you try, you ask God, God, God, take all of my thoughts and help them align with you. Take all of my fears and I I give them to you. Begin to quiet my heart. And it's a moment that transforms you. It's just like opening up God's word. It's just like hearing God's word. It's like these one-on-one conversations when you get coffee and you leave encouraged. That's worship. And so we've got two songs that we're gonna sing, but I need you to prepare for battle because that's what you're going into when you leave here. And this is your moment to be transformed. So ask God to work in you. Let let's be a place that we worship strong. So I want you to stand up at all of our campuses. Go ahead and stand up. And I'm gonna pray us into a time that's meant to be a time to prepare you for battle. And I'm asking you to, to reshape or, or really refocus what it means to just show up here week after week. We're, we're becoming something. We're either being conformed or we're being transformed. This is a moment to allow God to transform your heart, to make you into a new creation.

Let's pray together. God, we, we prepare our hearts. We said it earlier, that we fall down and that we begin to choose you. That God, you are the way, you are the truth. You are the life. And no one comes to the Father, except through Jesus. And so God, when we worship, we worship in awe. We fall down, we lay our life down. And we choose today to follow the way, to follow your way, to become disciples that are no longer conformed to all the pressures and all the voices and all the stories that we hear nonstop. But yet we're, we're choosing today to lean in and to be transformed. So renew our minds, renew our hearts. God, help us fall down and receive your grace. And receive your mercy. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen.