teaching/sermons/col-1-15-20/expansion/icoc_alpha_omega/clean/27-christ-is-your-life-kyle-lounsbury-max-plager-ruay-thot-icmc-2025-mens-session.md

Christ is Your Life | Kyle Lounsbury, Max Plager, & Ruay Thot | ICMC 2025 Men's Session

Col 1:15-20 prep relevance: RELEVANT

Why kept: Three-part exposition of Col 3:1-17 — set your heart above (3:1-4), put to death the earthly nature (3:5-11), put on Christ's character (3:12-14). The immediate application of the Col 1:15-20 hymn for the Week 3 sermon ("raised with Christ" → life shaped by the supremacy).

Key excerpts:

00:00:00 Amen. Well, good morning, man. How are we doing this morning? [Applause] It is so great to be with you all. I want to welcome you to Orange County. This is my home church and it's so great to have you guys in our backyard. Amen. And uh like Josephus mentioned earlier, my name is Kyle Lounsberry and along with my wife Jasmine lead, we lead the campus ministry here in Orange County. That's our family there. That's our ministry. And the title of today's message is

00:00:32 Christ is your life. >> Tell your neighbor, Christ is your life. >> I want to start this morning off with a story. Can I do that? >> I want to tell you about a young man. There was this young man that I knew that was very gifted. He had it all. He was talented. He was an athlete. He had good grades. People looked up to him. Teachers praised him. Coaches loved

00:01:02 him. And deep down, he loved the worldly praise. He thrived on it. He built his identity on it. Yet there was an insecurity from the secret moments of his life that nobody knew about. You see, he would hide his impurity, hide his lust, hide his ego and his pride. He would hide from the insecurity of failing.

00:01:34 So, he began to buy into the idea of holding up the image of being a somebody. He thought to himself, "I'm somebody. I'm going to go somewhere. I'm going to do something with my life. My future's set. I'm going to be a division one athlete. I'm going to go somewhere and succeed. But one day, one ball game, everything changed. You see, he was warming up for his basketball game that he had that evening, and then he got a phone call that would change his life. His best

00:02:08 friend, who happened to be an old teammate of his that had gone off to play college basketball, was up late studying one night and had a seizure, hit his head, and there was no one there to help him. His best friend had passed away. You see, the news of this emotionally wrecked this young man. But that same night, he wanted to go play in his basketball game in honor of his teammate. So he goes out, he plays,

00:02:39 he's playing well. He goes up for a shot. He comes down and lands wrong on his foot. His dreams, his plans, his identity in that moment were cracked, broken, and gone. That night, he laid in bed staring at the ceiling, realizing if my identity can fall apart this fast, what was I really standing on? Now, here's the truth, brothers. I'm sure you're figuring that wasn't just

00:03:10 some guy. That was me. And that was my senior year of high school. That was the moment where I knew I'm doing it wrong. And I'll be honest, I wasn't just grieving my friend in that moment. Although that was hard, I wasn't just hurt by my injury. I was searching for my identity, I was lost because I wasn't living from who God said I was. I was living from what the world said I should be.

00:03:41 And if you're honest this morning, brothers, some of you may be feeling similarly. Some of you may be feeling the daily void of living for something meaningless. And you lay your head at night asking, "Is this really it?" >> I know some of you are living right now in search of validation because you didn't have a father in your life who could give it to you. Maybe some of you are hiding behind pornography

00:04:11 because you don't feel like a man with the ability to change and be free. Some of you may think your worth is in your GPA or your physique or your relationship status. Some of you walk into this room today at ICMC and you think you're solid, you're strong spiritually, but deep down you're insecure because you've built your identity on shifting sand. Brothers, Satan wants nothing more than to confuse

00:04:43 you about who you are. Because confused men don't change the world. >> And if we're going to be men of impact, we cannot be confused. You with me? >> Colossians chapter 3, verse one is where we're going to look at here. Since then, you've been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden

00:05:13 with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. You see, Paul starts off Colossians chapter 3 reminding us that we've been raised with Christ. He's reminding us, men of who we are. We've been raised with Christ. You see that means your identity it's not in your past. It's not in your

00:05:43 performance or your popularity. Your identity is in your resurrection with Jesus. >> Therefore, I got one point for you guys this morning. >> My one point is to set your heart above. >> Set your heart above. The Bible doesn't say, "Hey, think about heaven when you have the time." No, the Bible's very clear to set your heart and your mind on things above. Why? Because if we don't set our heart and our mind on things above, the world

00:06:14 will set it for us. >> The world will set it for you. If you don't set your heart above, the world will set it below on lust, on greed, on pride, on your self-image. If you don't set your mind on Christ, the world will gladly fill your mind with worldly things. You see, what consumes your heart, I believe, controls your life. What you're consuming on your dayto-day is going to be how you live

00:06:44 and who you are. So, imagine for a minute, you see you, we're here in we're here on the West Coast in LA, and I love me a good In-N-Out cheeseburger. All right. Who's had In-N-Out so far? Anybody? Okay, good. You got to check it out if you haven't had it. It's pretty solid. All right. I know a lot of people hate on it. Whatever. I don't care. It's good. >> In-N-Out's awesome. But imagine, hey, think of whatever your favorite cheeseburger is. Imagine if all you did was eat cheeseburgers for breakfast, lunch, dinner, rinse and repeat. You

00:07:15 just eat fast food every single meal. >> Imagine if that's what you did. Sounds pretty awesome at first, right? It tastes good in the moment. You love it. Hey, but over time, what begins to happen? >> Your body breaks down. You get unhealthy. Your heart clogs up. Your energy tanks. You get sluggish. You get weak. You get sick. See, that's what happens when we consume ourselves with garbage.

00:07:45 That's what happens when you set your mind and your heart on things of this earth. It's like consuming garbage every day. And the truth is some of you are feeding on garbage all week long and you wonder why you feel far from God. So I want to ask you, what are the pieces of garbage that you are feeding on? Brothers, what are the pieces of garbage we're eating and consuming and then expecting to miraculously still be men of God? I know some of you care more

00:08:16 about how you look in the mirror or on social media rather than whether you reflect Jesus to the world. Some of you care more about how many points your fantasy football team has and how many Bible studies your ministry has. >> And then you wonder why you're making zero impact on campus. >> See, others of you are hiding in sin like pornography, masturbation, sexual immorality, and you're afraid of what others may think about you when you're open about it. Come on, God. >> And some of you may be starving for

00:08:47 attention or validation from a woman instead of God. And you're scrolling hookup apps without shame. Or you're stashing those dating apps in a secret folder on your phone so no one else knows what you're doing. >> And then you wonder, why am I so empty? >> You can't set your mind on garbage all week and expect to walk in God's glory. You can't feed on the world and expect to proclaim the kingdom with power. Brothers, it's time to set our hearts on

00:09:18 things above. Amen. >> This is why this matters because the Bible says in verse three, "For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Brothers, do you see what it's saying? The old you, the man that's obsessed with himself, the man that is feeding off the garbage of this world, the man

00:09:50 searching for status, that man was crucified with Christ. >> When you said Jesus is Lord, you crucified your old self. You don't belong to this world any longer. You don't belong to your ambitions, to your lust, to your ego, to your pride or your career. You belong to Christ. Your job is not your life. Your career is not your life. Your degree is not your life. Your girlfriend is not your life.

00:10:20 >> Your friends, even the brothers in this room, they're not your life. Your success is not your life. Your muscles are not your life. Your social media is not your life. Christ is your life. Amen. [Applause] And if Christ is your life, everything else is second. >> That means the applause of men doesn't have to define you. Failure doesn't need to destroy you. Temptation doesn't own you. So, brothers, is Christ your life?

00:10:54 >> As you're sitting here this morning, is Christ really your life? You see, my fear is some of you claim Christ is your life, but you're living like he's just a piece of it. >> You're living like he's just a piece, just a part. Some of you claim he's your life, but you're chasing your own glory. Some of you say you've crucif you've been crucified with Christ, but I look at your life and you're trying to dig up the old you and put him back on the throne.

00:11:24 Men, we got to stop trying to resurrect what God put in the grave. >> If you died, act like you died. If Christ is your life, then live like Christ is your life. We cannot be hypocrites. So, I'm asking you today, what is your heart set on? Is it garbage of this world or is it on things above? You see, I can get up here and I could tell you all about this, but sometimes when you're in the crowd, you may feel

00:11:54 like, Kyle, that's unattainable. How am I going to do that? I'm here to tell you there are men in our midst who have made Christ their life. And I want to share about a few of them. Amen. The first I want to tell you about is Dallas, Kawaii. >> Amen. >> Let me tell you about Dallas. See, Dallas was a D1 soccer player. Super talented dude. He's a musical artist. He He helped write the Proclaimed worship song we're singing up here. Amen. >> He's even currently getting his master's degree. And you know what? For a time, Dallas

00:12:25 allowed the talent, the recognition to get to him. He allowed the success to get to his head. He had some tough challenges in his walk, some refining moments like many of us have. And he had to identify the garbage he was feeding on. He had to be open about it, repent. And you know what? Dallas chose to set his heart above. >> Dallas chose to make Christ his life. Instead of chasing his own glory, Dallas now is a campus minister in Orange

00:12:55 County with us. He's helping dedicate his life to building up God's church. Amen. See, Dallas is reminding us that no amount of success down here compares to living for what's above. The next guy I want to tell you about is Evan Gepper. All right, Evan. Evan's going into his senior year at UC Irvine. And you know, Evan grew up in our church, got baptized as a teen. And when college hit during his freshman

00:13:26 year, Evan came in very fired up. But then as soon as he got to college, he started to struggle. Life hit him quick. He was wrestling with his identity and he started acting worldly. He was eating the garbage that everyone else on campus was eating. Eventually, Evan stopped consuming that garbage and started consuming himself with God's word. God transformed Evan's heart. Amen. And he decided, I'm going to go all in and I'm going to recommmit my heart to Christ. He set his heart

00:13:56 above. He set his mind above. He made Christ his life. And now Evan has made an impact at UC Irvine, baptizing many men. In fact, he's got a couple of men from his campus that are visiting and here with us today. Amen. Evan shows us that feeding on the garbage of this world isn't fulfilling, but it's never too late to reset our hearts on God's word. The last one I want to tell you about is Philillip.

00:14:26 This is Philip Garcia right here. All right. Philip Garcia was in an identity crisis. He was searching for meaning. He was empty and he was lonely. And in his desperation, he started begging God to reveal himself. And God answered. Amen. You see, no one in particular was on campus that day reaching out to Philillip. It was the Holy Spirit and God reaching out to Philillip. He somehow got connected with one of our other churches in the LA

00:14:56 area, but he went to school in Orange County and then got connected with us, started studying the Bible. And he didn't just show up to the Bible studies. I believe Philip soaked up God's word and he built his these life-changing relationships with the brothers and Philip began to set his heart above and last year he was baptized into Christ by Dallas and Evan. Amen. Philip has been so impactful and now

00:15:26 he's contemplating and and feeling like God's leading him in the direction of going to serve in our high school teen ministry. giving back and helping other young men find their identity in Christ. >> Philip shows us when we search for God with all our heart, he'll change our lives. Amen. >> So, brothers, as I close out here, these men were at one point eating garbage, just like all of us at one point have probably eaten some garbage, but they've set their hearts above.

00:15:56 They've chosen to make Christ their life. And so, what about you this morning? How are you going to make Christ your life? I'm going to leave you with three practicals as I pass it back over to Max. The first one is be open about the garbage you're feeding on. See, Dallas, he was open. He said, "I got to be real about where I'm at." He was open about what he was doing. The second thing is dedicate yourself to God's word daily. What brought Evan back and recommitted is he was in God's word. And lastly, I

00:16:27 want us to surround ourselves with men who remind us of who we are. Philip and his relationships in the men's ministry have transformed him and he's transforming others. Brothers, stop living for things that will fade away. Set your heart above because the world doesn't need more confused men who are chasing false identities. It needs men who make Christ their life. Max is going to come on up. He's going to share about how to put to death our earthly nature. Let's give a round of

00:16:58 applause for Max. Great stuff though. Hey, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. What's up, guys? If you don't know me, my name is Max. I am from Ann Arbor, Michigan. >> Slides. Here we go. This is my wife, Sabrina. This is our ministry. We started out as just five people two years ago, and God has been amazing. We've seen 22 people baptized into Christ. We were able to host an awesome campus connect and just be hospitable

00:17:28 for Jesus, right? And so two years ago, I hop in the car in Gainesville, Florida. February 1st, 2023, it's 75°. It's Florida. You know what I'm saying? And I'm moving to Michigan. And so I drive up. I split up the drive. I see my sister in Atlanta. It's 55°. Okay. We drive the next 10 hours. Kentucky, 40. Cincinnati, 25. We cross the border to Michigan, 10.

00:17:58 I'm like, "Surely it's going to stop, right?" Like, "This thing's broken." I'm tapping the dash and I was like, "Are you actually doing this?" That week it was 0 degrees in Michigan and I said, "What am I doing here? The sun did not come out for 3 weeks. The first time it did, this was me. I was laying there in the yard soaking up the sun saying, "God, what have I done?" But it's not just gloom and doom. We have learned to

00:18:28 love Michigan. That is home for me. I've noticed it's colder. I'm pretty observant. You know what I'm saying? Uh there's actually seasons like trees change color, flowers bloom. I thought I knew what allergies were. Now when things live and die, I know what allergies are. It's crazy. And as I I go up, I realize like this is an unbelievably different world. I'm used to gators on the side of the road. Now

00:18:59 there's just a shocking amount of roadkill. Deers, skunks, raccoons, all having a very bad time, you know, and that's that's my home. I love it. The coldest temperature I've shared my faith in is 18°. But the sun was out. And if you're from the north, you know that's all that matters, right? There was two polar vortexes. It got to the negatives. I'm like, I'm going to share my faith in the negatives. Jesse called it ice fishing. I'm like, I like that. I I didn't go. I was a coward. They canceled classes. I'm like, ah, no one's outside.

00:19:30 So, thank you for letting a coward like me talk to you guys today. You know, I really appreciate Kyle just sharing the heavenly perspective we need to have, right? Christ is our life. He is everything. And if you're still taking notes, the the second point that I'm going to be talking about today is radical, not reasonable. You have to be radical in your fight against sin. If you are reasonable in your fight against sin, you will not make it. We have an enemy. And I promise you, Satan is not

00:20:01 reasonable in his pursuit of you. Let's keep reading in Colossians chapter 3 here verse 5- 11 says, "Put to death therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourself of all such things as these

00:20:33 anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator. Guys, we have to be radical not reasonable. The call from Paul here is to die to yourself. To put to death the things of the earthly nature, not to wrestle it

00:21:05 into socially acceptable. put it to death. And this can be challenging, guys. This is hard. And we realize like to have a heavenly perspective is really challenging if you have not put to death your earthly nature. But it is really hard to put to death your earthly nature if you do not have a heavenly perspective. These things work together. Paul was a mastermind. He the spirit is flowing through him. We need both things. And what does it mean to truly

00:21:35 put something to death? Well, let's look at some of this roadkill from Ann Arbor. Uh, bro, you looked real quick. I'm not putting dead animals up there. You're crazy. I saw you. No. So, look at this. Close your eyes. Imagine you're in Ann Arbor with me right now. Okay. You come up. You finally want to see some good college football in your life. So, we're walking around Ann Arbor, Michigan. I promise you, we'll find a dead deer on the side of the road. And if we walk up to that deer and you start talking to it, for one, you're weird. Think about your life. For two, is it going to

00:22:05 respond to you? >> No. That that deer is dead. >> It is not going to talk back to you. If you try to tickle it again, pretty weird. But like, is it going to respond? Will it move? Will it fidget? No. It is dead. If you put on a suit like a deer and you said, "Bro, the cars are gone. We can go. We can run. Come on. Let's scram." Is it going to get up and run with you? No. That deer is dead. And this is what it needs to be like with

00:22:35 our sin. Our sin needs to be dead. We need to hear Satan whispering and talking to us and not respond to try and entice us and lure lure us away and to ignore it. When sin dresses up as socially acceptable or culturally relevant and tells you it's time to go, the coast is clear. You need to reject it. You have to die to your earthly nature. And guys, if we're being honest, some of us in this room are keeping our

00:23:06 sin on life support. It might not be up and walking around, but it is by no means dead. >> You need to put it to death. Socially acceptable sin in the church should be dead sin. That's all it is. You know, Max, I used to watch porn every day. Now it's just once a week. Awesome. Congratulations. Job's not finished. We're not done. We are not done. Amen. What a victory. Let's keep going to work. You know, if you want to put to death a 10-year porn addiction, you're

00:23:36 going to have to be radical. There is no way you can live the life you are living and expect it to change. Expect it to magically disappear. And right now, like men of God, I want you to hear me like, if you're wrestling with purity and you have unrestricted internet access, what are we doing? Like what are we actually doing? There are atheists out there who do not believe in the risen Christ, who are stopping watching porn because it lowers their testosterone. And they would look at us and be like, "You don't

00:24:06 even have a blocker. Are you sure? You think it's wrong?" >> Like, you're not even trying. >> Guys, men of God, disciples of Jesus, this can't be us. You know how much more as disciples of the most high, the supreme Jesus beaten, murdered, bloody on the cross, and we draw the line at blocker. Come on, guys. This is like trying to live with a grizzly bear in your home. You know what I mean? Like, you hear this on the news, no one is

00:24:36 surprised to hear, "Yeah, Florida man murdered by pet grizzly bear." Like, we're like, "Okay, yeah, like that makes sense." Like, "What are you doing?" Right? No one is surprised. But guys, some of us are choosing to live with our sin. We are pretending to domesticate an addiction. And guess what? No one is going to be surprised when they hear, "Hey, bro. Turns out Bobby's family imploded. Yeah, he walked away from God." Remember in college how he struggled with his purity? You know,

00:25:08 I guess it never got better. Yeah, I remember he never got that blocker. He never deleted his social media. I I always heard him say, "Yeah, I'm going to try harder. I'm just going to white knuckle it into submission." Looks like he never really took it seriously. >> Guys, I I wrestled with porn for a long time. I was exposed in fifth grade, instantly addicted. And in high school, it was it was every day, multiple times a day. I was so deep. I was so insecure. I was always dating someone just to feel

00:25:38 something. And porn was my way out. And you know, I got to college and I took it more serious, right? I got accountability in my life. I read a book. I got a free blocker that everyone knows how to get around. And I worked it down to about once or twice a month. And I said, "You know what? I'm comfortable here. I'm going to pitch my tent right here cuz if I tell two different guys about my purity, they think it's once a month. And that's really good considering what it used to be. I think this is where I'll stop,

00:26:09 guys. It wasn't until I I got off my long shift at Sherwin Williams. Shout out Sher Willie. I was slinging paint in in college. Um, you know, and I I walk down the street and I go and I'm donating plasma. I I'm I'm saving up money for a ring for my wife. And so I'm sitting here and it's crazy, right? It's in a sketchy area. There's crackheads rocking back and forth. I'm here like it's If you've ever donated plasma, it's a crazy place to be for 70 bucks. you're down bad if you're donating plasma. And

00:26:40 and that was me. And I would always laugh and joke with my friends. Yeah, blood, sweat, and tears are going into this ring. Haha. And then later that week, I fell on my purity. And I was like, whoa, what is going on? Look how willing I am to embrace uncomfortability for my wife, but not for the Lord of my life. I'm sitting here with an inch long needle in my arm taking my blood. I started thinking of Hebrews 12:4. In your struggle against sin, you have not

00:27:12 yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And I'm willingly giving mine for a ring and I can't use 20 of that for a blocker. I was sitting there like, what am I doing? A Christian Lord of my life, Jesus. And not even 20 months, 20 bucks a month for a blocker. In that moment, I decided to be radical. In that moment, I finally joined the fight against my purity. I deleted all social media from my phone, not just the one that led me to sin, because guess

00:27:42 what? If it's Instagram and you delete it, now it's Snapchat. Now it's Facebook. Now it's Tik Tok. I've proven I can't handle it, so I get rid of it all. Right? I bought the highest tier blocker available from Covenant Eyes. It would automatically email a report of every website I visited to the three most spiritual men I knew. the guys that scared me the most that would talk to me if I messed up. Guess what? The sketchy stuff is highlighted in red. It prints it out for you. You want to be accountable? Let's be accountable. And I

00:28:12 texted my buddy every day for 31 days just to get over the initial addiction. It's been over 6 years since I last looked up porn or masturbated. >> Amen. And it all started when I finally decided to be radical. I had to get radical with my sin. And my fight against purity is not gone. It's just morphed. You'll find this. It's no longer masturbation and porn. Now I

00:28:42 fight double takes. I I fight lingering eyes. I drive to the gym. I take off my glasses and I go work out cuz I don't want to see gym girls in HD working out. That's not me. That might be a dude on the stairm. I don't know. I'm chilling. I'm minding my business. That's not me. That's not me. God blessed me with bad eyes to overcome my lustful heart. >> But guys, the sin you are fighting today could be the same sin that takes you out in 20 years. >> If you are not radical, if it is not cut

00:29:14 from your life, it will take you out. >> The pride that keeps you from being open and confessing your sin is the same pride that will hide a double life. and you'll sit in the pews every Sunday and stand before God and he will say, "Get away from me, for I never knew you." The same lust you pray about, but you won't get a blocker because you're embarrassed to tell your friend, "I can't get the movie tickets Fandango's blocked for some reason." The same lust that you you white knuckle into submission, but you won't delete your social media for

00:29:44 because what if they don't see me post every now and then? The same lust you are managing instead of murdering will shatter your family. It will destroy your marriage. The things you fought so hard to build. The things you pray for now you will tear down with your own two hands. You desire to be liked. Your image is king. So you gossip. You twist the truth to be funny. To just be on the in. And when fully grown, you will be the man with no

00:30:14 integrity. who never means what he says. You will break other people's trust. You will push people away. And you'll wonder why you're always with people but always feel alone. You say, "I've got my sin in a good spot." Guys, the only good spot for sin is in the grave. No life support, no under the bed just in case. No save for a bad day in the grave. Sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must rule over it. But there's

00:30:46 good news. Jesus died to redeem you, to restore you, to set you free from shame, from guilt, from addiction. If it's been 10 years of addiction or 10 days, every day is an opportunity. Read with me in verse 9. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator. Every day is

00:31:17 an opportunity to be renewed in the image of Christ to be at the throne room of Jesus. to be before the cross, to be in your word, to transform your heart. Every day is an opportunity to overcome temptation, guys. But you have to fight for your life. It is not a reasonable fight. We do not have a reasonable adversary. >> If we were to put on your fight against sin, a little UFC title fight, are

00:31:48 people demanding their money back? Like, is this just another Jake Paul, Mike Tyson? Right? Are you in the ring because you know you're supposed to be or are you fighting for your life? Guys, we need to stop like measuring our success from how long it's been since I last gave in. >> No. No. Like, how many times are you overcoming temptation? >> Max, I only gave in once last month. Bro, you were only tempted once last month. We're 0 for one. Let's lock in. Like, what are we doing? There's people who might give in three times this week, tempted 30 times this week, having more

00:32:19 victory over sin than you. We need to have victory over temptation be celebrated, not the absence of temptation. We need to look temptation in the eyes and say, "Jesus is better. Christ is better. Christ is my life. What you have to offer, I do not want." Celebrate purity. Celebrate sobriety. Celebrate overcoming sin. Because every day we are renewed in the image of Christ. So with a heavenly perspective,

00:32:50 with Jesus on the cross fresh on your heart, we are given the power and the hope to become something new, to become something beautiful. And once we have fought to remove our earthly nature, there's still something else to do. There is still something else that we must put on. And Rey is going to come up and tell us all about it. Give it up for Ry, guys. Come on now.

00:33:27 >> Perfect. >> All right, man. How we doing? >> All right. How you guys doing? My name is Ray Thought. I'm from San Diego holding it down at the campus ministry there. I'm just super grateful to be preaching this morning. Um, has heard from uh Max about putting to death our sinful nature. And for a second, I just want to look at all the men in this room. In this room, we have tomorrow's graduates. We have tomorrow's professionals. We have tomorrow's bluecollar workers. We have tomorrow's

00:33:59 husbands. We have tomorrow's examples of Christ to the generation coming after us. We have tomorrow's Bible talk leaders. We have tomorrow's evangelists. We have tomorrow's campus ministers. And I think what we need more in this world more than anything is Christlike men. >> Is Christ like men? With that, who is God calling us to be today? Is to be like Christ. And so we put to death our sinful

00:34:30 nature. Let me see how this works. All right. If we can get Oh, so I'm sorry, my my guys. Uh the title of my my portion, my lesson is suited for glory. suited for glory. All right, so here we have this is a picture of me uh September 21st, 2024. I spent my morning getting ready for the best day, one of the best days of my life other than making Jesus Lord. I woke up that morning excited and

00:35:01 nervous, but ready to marry the love of my life, Lesie. The wedding was at 3:00 and there was no fit in my closet that I had ready for this wedding. There was no fit. I could go through my closet and I'm like, "All right, you know, I could probably, you know, put this these pants on. I can put this shirt on and then show it to the wedding wearing that." No, I had to go to men's warehouse. Had to lock in. Had to go get a suit. There was no there was no fit I had in my own person that was fit for the glorious occasion of being wed to my

00:35:34 soon tobe bride. Why I share this and why I share these pictures um just grateful one grateful to God uh because my wife's amazing but why I share that because in the same way one of the biggest days of my life I needed a fit suitable. Similarly, as men who want to be like Christ, we need to be clothed correctly. We have to be clothed correctly. There's no fit in your closet. If you're looking within yourself, there's nothing there that can fit you properly to be like Christ.

00:36:08 And so, just like Kyle was saying, we have to look upward. We have to set our hearts on things above. So, what are we going to be clothed with? What are going to be when am I going to be wearing? Like when I showed up to my wedding, I had my suit jacket. I had my white shirt under. I had my bow tie. I had my dress shoes. I had my pants. What are we going to be clothed with in this room to represent Christ? >> Amen. >> Colossians 3:12. It says, "Therefore, as God's chosen

00:36:40 people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity." As we see here, Paul is calling the church here in Colasse to clothe

00:37:10 themselves with these qualities, right? Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. And it's funny cuz as I was reading this, I was like, man, what type of man is God calling me to be? I'm always thinking courageous. I'm thinking bold. I'm thinking outward, doing these crazy amazing things. And what I see here is just inward transformation. real deep moving relationships. God desires for his church to emulate these

00:37:41 types of relationships. And here's the thing I love. Actually, Josephus said it earlier. He says, "So, as the as the men go, so does the church." I literally had that in my lesson. So, I guess we're we're we're one in the spirit here. But Paul in his fervor for Christ was aware of the qualities needed for Jesus's name to be lifted up in this church. As we continue in the scripture, we are called uh to this bearing of one another, right? Bearing with one another, forgiving each other because we have grievances toward

00:38:11 one another. There's probably a brother you're sitting next to and you guys are closed cuz you guys probably had some previous grievances that you worked through. That's Christlike character. >> Lastly, the church of the living God. You men in this room are meant to put on love. Meant to put on love. We think of these emotions and they don't come first or natural to men, but that's the that's the standard that we're called to have. That's the standard we're called to have to really represent the church of

00:38:42 Christ. Love is like the bow tie I had for my wedding. All those qualities that that Paul was sharing, they don't come together if there is no love. It's like me showing up to the altar, no tie on. It's like, bro, where's your tie at? What are you doing? You have all those qualities, but if you do not have love, if you're not embodying love for Christ, his church, and his people, then what do you really have

00:39:14 here in this church? He desired a high standard of mutual affection. Because if you look at the qualities, what is how do you really see those things embodied? Do you see them with each other? And so, naturally, it's like, all right, you know, what do I just need to do so I can be the best me I need to be? That's not how we think here. We don't think about self. And that's the problem with our generation. We always think about self. This whole scripture is about others. >> Is how can you be compassionate towards

00:39:44 others? How can you love others? How can you be kind towards others? Why? Because it's not about us. >> And why isn't it about us? Because when Jesus came to this earth, he didn't think about me. Jesus didn't think about just Jesus. He thought about you, right? >> So then what do we do as we try to emulate him? We think about others. We think about others. We currently live in a world that tells you, man, to just clothe yourself with strength that stems from

00:40:14 self and not from God. Live in a world that tells you to clothe yourself with stoicism and to be nonchalant. I guess if you want to be nonchalant, go ahead. But that's the world. That's what that's what this world is telling you men to do. That it's cool to not have feelings. It's cool not to be emotional. It's cool not to connect with others in that deep way. This this attack for men to be rid of emotion as they indicate weakness or vulnerability and that men

00:40:45 nowadays need to have the world on their shoulders but live like there's nothing heavy on it. That's what we see communicated and it is destroying us as men as we read this scripture and as we look in this world today. Are you clothed with the qualities of the culture or are you clothed with the qualities of Christ? Are you clothed with the quality of the culture? Are you clothed with the qualities of Christ? The need on your campuses guys is Christlike character.

00:41:15 Not cultural Christians. Not cultural Christians. The need on your campus is Christlike character, not cultural Christians. >> When Christ is not the essence of your life, it shows in your clothing. >> It shows in your fit. When you pull up on the scene and it's like, "All right, I'm I'm wearing a If I came today and I was like wearing maybe some shorts, a busted shirt that I take to the gym, he goes like, he did not

00:41:46 come ready. He did not come clothed with the right clothing. And so when you are in the in that conversation or when you're you're at your churches back in whatever state you are from and you're not clothed with the qualities of Christ, you are not showing up correct. >> You are not showing up correct. And I think as I look at this, it's this is not a suggestion. This is not hey, you know, you should it'll be good to be, you know, to have compassion. It'll be good to clothe yourself with with kindness. This is not

00:42:17 a suggestion. And I think we can't read God's word like it's a suggestion. This is a command from the inspired word of God. And if we don't take this seriously, if this is just only a suggestion to us, then it's going to be a suggestion to the world. >> It's going to be a suggestion to the world. Here's the thing as as and that's why I love this lesson because it goes far past campus ministry. It's not about just being campus kings. It's about being men of God. And at every point you

00:42:47 guys are going to graduate. You guys are going to walk across that stage and you're going to hit the next stage of life. And it's not going to be this circle around you. It's going to be you and your character and your walk with God and your conviction. Is this what is this what's going to be shown in your life? Or is the hype blinding you? As we look in this world, we see broken homes, broken marriages, full of shallow and fragile relationships, a world full

00:43:18 of pain, sorrow, and isolation. And maybe you are in this room and you grew up in that broken family, in that broken home. And just think about for a second, how might some compassion changed their environment? How might some humility change the strenuous relationship between your parents? If you think about how broken this world is and every quality that was mentioned

00:43:49 in this scripture, it changes the entire dynamic of what is going on in this world. In that broken home, in that broken relationship between your siblings, it changes everything. The kindness, the compassion, the humility, the gentleness, the patience. It changes everything. There's nothing greater that needs to be emulated in your life other than the character of Christ. There's nothing greater.

00:44:19 There's nothing greater. Campus days will come to an end. Career days will come to an end. Your family life when you guys become husbands and fathers one day will come to an end. and you'll be breathing your last breath. Would you say you lived a life that that represented the character of Christ? Or would you say you reflected the culture? If Christ is truly supreme in your hearts this morning, what is being said

00:44:50 needs to be taken seriously. This is a standard given by a holy God. Being men that reflect the nature and character of Jesus will turn your campuses upside down and will turn your churches upside down. Every single one of you, ICMC is going to end. What example are you setting in your home church? What example are you setting in your campus ministries when people come into your campus and

00:45:21 they're coming for the first time? They're visiting. They're coming to a midweek where they say you are clothed with these things. Because if it's anything else, then you're not being clothed with Christ. You're not representing Christ. And if that is the case, then what are we doing? If nobody is seeing Christ at your midri, then what are we doing? Isn't that why we show up? To represent Christ to a lost generation, to a lost school, to a lost campus, to a lost

00:45:51 world. This can't be merely suggestion >> or you guys are going to play church >> and people are going to miss out on the power of God. I want to share how somebody embodying these examples really changed my life. So, um I went to Cal State San Marcos. Josephus shared I became a disciple December 15th uh 2019. And um as I was studying the Bible, I was deeply entrenched in the world. Um,

00:46:22 and Kyle Kyle Plum was the one that studied the Bible with me. And so there's this one day we studied, we're studying the Bible. Um, I forgot what it was. It might have been disciplehip or something like that. And I go back to my my apartment, like literally straight from Bible study to my apartment. And my roommate was there and he was smoking. So I started smoking, too. And I I literally right after a Bible study, you know, I started smoking. To this day, I still think it's insane. But I remember calling Kyle like right after I was

00:46:54 like, "Bro, I just blew it. Like I I just smoked right now. Like I just came from the Bible say I I don't know what I'm I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm an idiot. Like I don't know what I'm doing." And what I felt in that moment was compassion, was gentleness, was patience, was kindness. Bro, growing up in a family with with an African father, there was not a lot of gentleness. Now I love my dad. He's great. But there was not a lot of gentleness. There was not a lot of patience and I felt something that I never felt a lot in my life. And

00:47:25 in that moment before even becoming a disciple, I felt Christlike character and I felt Christlike love. That's the impact that you can have to the people around you, to the people in your lives, to the people on your campuses when you represent Jesus. >> It's not always in a Bible study. Sometimes it's after the Bible study. Sometimes it's in the car ride. Sometimes it's in the walk to class. Sometimes it's on the walk to the library. Are you representing Christ every day of your life?

00:47:57 >> That example changed my life and many examples after that. We need to be Christlike men. We need to have Christlike character. It is so so essential. It's going to show in our clothing. If you look there in verse 14, it says, "Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them together in perfect unity.

00:48:29 In a world that tells you to to love self first, Paul calls you to love others so that you can be unified." Uh I I didn't have this in there, but I want to share about this brother. His name is uh Quali Williams. He's in our uh Sandy Sandy Ministry. He's in Sacramento right now. Um, but as I think about this scripture about putting on love and loving others, uh, this brother, he was studying the Bible and and his lifestyle and what he went through. Like, you guys can't even

00:49:00 fathom it. You guys won't even be able to picture what he went through in his life. But what was the number one changing thing that helped him see the love of Christ? It was us trying to love him through all the difficulties and all the hardships. And we were with him. And I remember all our car rides, we'll listen to Ry Wave and we'll just sing together and and it was just a great time. But but man, we're in the car and he's telling me about some really tough things to take in. Man, my my younger cousin was shot.

00:49:32 What do I say to that? What words do I give him to encourage him? And he can tell you this. I didn't give him any words, but he just vanted and he ranted and we drove for miles and miles and I just listened to him and I listened to his pain because I love him. And we got out that car after me barely saying any words to all

00:50:02 the hardship he was going through and all the things he was feeling and he said, "I love you, bro. Us men in this room need to put on the virtue of love and lives will be changed. >> Lives will be changed. Again, it's our character. Naturally, we think, okay, let me just be bold. Let me be courageous. Let me do all these amazing things. Let me share with a thousand people. Amen. That's great. But in your character, what are your

00:50:32 clothes with? Are you suited in Christ? Are you wearing the clothes that Christ desires for you to wear, or are you wearing something else? Will the world look at you and say that you put on love or that you have Christlike love? Will the sisters in your ministry say that you have Christlike love or is it selfish? Do the brothers, do you guys see Christlike love in each other? Do you guys see a Christlike love in each other or is it shallow?

00:51:03 The aim, guys, is to represent Jesus. Nothing else. Just like we heard on the first night, Jesus is supreme. There's nothing greater than the name of Jesus. So, what is the why? It's it's all Jesus. It's all Jesus. And and and I want to get to that. I'm going to share some practicals, but I want to get to Jesus because that's our why. And so, number one, study out the peace of Christ, the prince of peace. If you look there in verse 15

00:51:33 in Colossians, it says, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body, you were called to peace and be thankful." All these qualities will exude out of you when you remember that Christ has rescued us, that Christ has called us into a relationship with him. Says, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." Says, "As members of one body, you are called to peace. And so study out the peace of Christ.

00:52:03 How has how has Jesus brought peace to tension tensious situations. Number two, as men, we got to admonish one another. We've got to admonish one another. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly. Verse 16, as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Uh there's a movie, remember the titans,

00:52:34 and in the in that movie it says uh as attitude reflects leadership and something that's important. It's like, all right, as men, are we really admonishing one another? because we are tomorrow's like leaders. Like we are going to be the men that lead tomorrow's church. >> And so are we allowing others, are we allowing our brothers to fall short of clothing themselves with Christ? Cuz if we are, you are as much as the problem as he is.

00:53:06 If you are not speaking the truth and love to your brother. If you are not admonishing admonishing him, correcting him on the areas where he may be falling short, not lording it over him, not being rude, not being disrespectful, but calling him to the standard of Christ. If you aren't doing that, you are as much as a problem as he is. You are as much as a problem as he is. >> Number three, write down where you can grow in doing all things for Christ. Verse 17, it says, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in

00:53:36 the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the father through him." Guys, let's Where are the areas that God is truly calling you to grow in your character? In your character, not necessarily just your actions, but inside. Some I'm learning as a young disciple that more of the issues are in my heart as opposed to outwardly. more of the issues are in here. When I'm prideful, when I'm lacking humility, when I'm lacking love, it's more in here than it is outwardly.

00:54:06 Where are the areas that God is calling you to grow in your character? >> And ultimately, why do we suit ourselves for glory? Is because Christ came in glory. We are suited for glory because Christ is glorious. Right? The word became flesh. John 1:14 and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the father full of grace and truth. We clothe ourselves with glory because

00:54:36 Christ came in glory. There is nothing more important than reflecting the glory of Jesus as you aim to clothe yourselves with the qualities of his character. And so what's the motivation? Because Jesus is glorious. Think about me when I was getting ready for my wedding. What was the occasion? It was the second best day of my life. First was following Jesus, but the second best day of my life, marrying my wife. And so, we clothe ourselves. Why? Because when we look at Jesus, we see how amazing he is. We see how beautiful

00:55:08 and splendid and how powerful Jesus is. And we thank him for all the things he has done for us to be with him. And so, when you think about, man, okay, I got to do all these things. I got to clothe myself with all these character traits. Why? Because Jesus is so worth it and he is so glorious and he has done everything for us to be in a right relationship with him when we did nothing. So the kindness, humility, the gentleness, the patience, the forgiveness, the love, every piece of clothing, put it on. Put it on. Put it

00:55:41 on and our world will change. Your campuses will change and your churches will change. Amen. Amen. Thank you guys.