teaching/sermons/col-1-15-20/expansion/icoc_alpha_omega/clean/31-rooted-in-christ-esteban-amber-rodriguez-icmc-2025-friday-afternoon-sermon.md

Rooted in Christ | Esteban & Amber Rodriguez | ICMC 2025 Friday Afternoon Sermon

Col 1:15-20 prep relevance: KEY

Why kept: Most direct Colossians 2 sermon of the conference. Full reading of Col 2:1-23 at the open, then sustained exposition of Col 2:6-8 (rooted in Christ, beware hollow and deceptive philosophy), the elemental spiritual forces, circumcision/Sabbaths, the Colossian situation. Essentially the runway into Week 3.

Key excerpts:

00:00:00 ICMC. Oh my god, >> man. I had a lot of people tell me that this was a rough slot to preach in because apparently you all had two breakout sessions, you had lunch, and I was like, now if I'm 37 years old and I can have this much energy, surely you all can give me more energy, right? I want to say thank you so much to uh u the readers of the of of you know yesterday and today uh Jameson and um

00:00:33 you know ICMC's always been so special to me um but you know and especi the special ICMC was in 2014 that was in St. Lewis actually and um that was my first year as a full-time minister and I remember I got a call from Jeff Henderson and he's like I have a he was like I got a really really important assignment for you at ICMC and I'm like oh man what is it? It's my first year in full-time ministry, right? I can't blow it, right? So, I was like, "What is it, bro? I'll do it." He said, "There's this

00:01:03 red head you need to take on a date." And and let me tell you guys, it was the Lord cuz I've always been I've always loved red heads. In my head, when I look guys, in in 2012 when the WDS was happening, I was like, I need to find someone from Ireland, right? Like, it's just that's how it was, right? And so, I took her out on a date and man, I just saw her. All I needed to know was she loved natural libé. Her favorite movie was Inception and she minored in Spanish and I was

00:01:34 like, she's the perfect woman ever. The thing was I was convinced she was way out of my league. She is way out of my league. And so I told Jeff, Jeff was like, "How'd it go, man?" I was like, "Bro, she's literally the most perfect human ever, but she's way out of my league." And he he, you know, I'm not dogging on Jeff, but he's a he's a smaller stature man, you know, and and he went like this. He went like and I went, "What's up, man?" He went

00:02:05 and he went I was like, "I she's way out of my leash." She only you and me know that, man. And I was like, "That's true. That's true." And uh so I gave her a call and here we are now uh many years later, 11 years later. >> And I I remember that ICMC. That was a special ICMC for me, too. But I will say after that first date, I didn't quite walk away with the same impression. I I'll be honest, I'd been around the kingdom a long time and I was dated and

00:02:36 I was very tempted to sideline and friend-zone him, but I didn't. I came back. I said, "All right, I'm going to give the man a chance. Give the man a chance." And here we are, four children later. This is our family. our beautiful family. There they are. >> Our beautiful kids. And if you're looking at the picture on the right and you're thinking, "Wow, those those kids look really similar age." That is because they are triplets. And all I can say about that, it is it

00:03:07 is a great testament of God's faithfulness that those babies are here in our lives. So, I'll share more about that later. >> Awesome. Um awesome. Well, it's great to be here and um I really appreciated Jameson reading all of chapter 2 because you know when you read all of chapter 2 today we're talking about being rooted in Christ. And when you read chapter 2 of Colossians, one thing gets really clear really fast and that is that Jewish

00:03:38 practices are really at the center of what Paul's rhetoric is against. In Colossians, he talks about circumcision. He talks about dietary restrictions, right? What you eat, what you don't eat. He talks about Sabbaths, festivals. He talks about these like really aesthetic practices that are harsh on your body where the the more mystic side of Judaism would have done. And even things like visions and the worship of angels, this idea that you can somehow just transcend into heaven and join in on the

00:04:08 worship that angels offer to God. And, you know, all of these things. The reason these things we may be wondering like how did these things ever become an issue? Have any of us ever wondered that? Like why would anybody ever want to like I love bacon as much as the next person? Why would you like willingly put these practices on yourself, right? Why would you want to do you know Sabbaths and circumcision and all these things? And it's it's so important that we understand why for today's lesson because these things

00:04:39 became an issue because they offered a sense of security and assurance. You know, the idea was now you're a complete mature person of God because you took on these ways. They would wonder, you know, is Jesus enough or is he a starting point and more is needed in order for me to be mature and complete? The Greek word is telios. You

00:05:09 know, it could be translated complete, perfect, mature. But Paul knew that in these vulnerable states of just wondering, was Jesus just a starting point or is he enough? Now you know why in chapter one, it's so important that we understand the supremacy of Christ. And so he said, you know, it's Paul knew that in these vulnerable states of wondering, there were people that were all too eager to provide a teaching that said, you're not really a you're not

00:05:40 really a person of God unless you follow these Jewish practices. And Paul makes it very clear, this is what we want for you. We want maturity for you. If you remember yesterday in chapter 1, he says, "I strenuously contend for this to present everybody mature telios in Christ." He's like, "I work so hard. Trust me, I want that for you also." He says in chapter 4,

00:06:11 Epapharis, the guy that shared his faith with you all and started the church there. He prays that you would be tell mature and complete. But Paul knew that they don't get there by taking on these teachings that the world was offering them. That Jews may go there and offer them. Those teachings and those practices, they're a part of the current age. They rule the current present age.

00:06:41 And so that's why he says, "But you've been baptized. You've been baptized. And because you've been baptized, you are now in Christ. You have entered new creation and that's a whole another world. You belong to the age to come. Imagine the world that Jesus is going to bring in when he returns. Guess what? You don't have to wait for that. It's already a reality in Christ right now because you have been baptized. You're a part of the age to come. These

00:07:13 circumcision, all that, that's present age stuff. That's not what you're a part of. It's like moving backward in the story of God. You know, it's like if all of a sudden you got a job offer in Europe, you're like, "This is the next phase of my life. I'm going to go to Europe. It's going to be awesome." And and you move to Europe. And when you move to Europe, you insist on thinking in terms of miles, Fahrenheit, pounds, the US dollar. I know some of us are here like, "Yeah, what's the big deal?"

00:07:43 It's because they don't go by those measurements. They go by kilograms. They go by Celsius. They go by the euro. They go by kilometers. Those terms don't make sense in that world. Well, guess what? You're in the age to come. Those things, those things that they're pushing on you, those are old things. In no world do they make sense in the age to come. And that's why Paul says, "I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by

00:08:15 fine sounding arguments." He says again in verse 8, "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the elemental forces of this world rather than on Christ." He says that because under no circumstances do these things make you mature and complete. And it's clear from verse 5 that the Colossians, they're not

00:08:46 currently struggling with these issues. But Paul knows these ideas are out there. You've read Galatians, right? The first letter that Paul ever wrote. And Paul knows, man, this stuff is out there and it's going to find its way knocking right there in the church in Colasse. And if they're not going to go down the same route as the as the Galatians, it's going to be because they are rooted in Christ and in the age to come. Not in what these people are

00:09:17 offering, but in Jesus. But that's hard because these teachings, they sound, they almost make sense. They sound good. They sound good. They look really spiritual. I mean, just think if you're a Christian Gentile trying to figure it out. You're like, "Well, all of this has its roots in Judaism. Jesus was a Jew, right? Just makes sense that we would take on the traditional markings of being a Jew, right? Circumcision, all this stuff." And it's like, no. That's why he says in verse 23, they have an

00:09:47 appearance of wisdom. They do. They have a facade of religiosity, a veneer of it. and Jesus even it it's a it's a veneer of sorts, but they're they're completely based on the wrong thing. And just like Paul wrote to the the Colossians to warn them because he knew they would be prone to eat this stuff up whole, I'm here to warn you that there

00:10:17 are still modern philosophies that may seem to make you more mature and complete that have a facade of Jesus. Even they lead with Jesus, but you just go behind the curtain, you're like, "This is not rooted in Christ at all." We are prone to the exact same thing. And if we're not purposeful and fighting quite literally every single day, day in day out to stay in line with the wisdom

00:10:49 as we see it played out in Christ that is there. Then present age worldly thinking creeps in and we suffer for it. Our churches suffer for it. Our campuses suffer for it. our Bible talks suffer for it all because we stopped being rooted in Christ and thought that sounds about like it makes sense and they mention Jesus and yeah and we listen to those philosophies and we go down the wrong path.

00:11:21 You know, speaking of going down the wrong path because it sounded good. You know, I wasn't always a Christian. And um when I was 16 years old, I grew up in a small town, Larredo, Texas. It is uh it's a it's a it's a relatively small town about 200,000 people. It's on the border over there in Texas. And uh so I I yeah, I'm a border kid through and through. I literally grew up four blocks from the river. And um you know, I I used to be a lot I say I used to be a lot of trouble. I still am a lot of

00:11:51 trouble. You can't be a Christian and not cause be causing any problems. you ain't doing it right if that ain't the case. But I just learned to be a lot of trouble for Jesus. You know what I'm saying? And so, but man, I remember when I was in high school, when I was 16 years old, there's not a lot to do in this city. So, you got to kind of find your own ways to be entertained. You know what I'm saying? And there was this really famous intersection where we lived. Let me see if it's here. Sorry. So, this is a this is a a Google Maps of where I used to live. And that red line is like this really famous intersection.

00:12:22 And I wanted you to see it on a map to try to understand it. And this intersection was really famous because where that blue line is, there was like a natural ramp in the roads. Like literally the road went like this as you were going south and then out of nowhere it just dropped and it was like this. And we knew about this. And of course my friend Beetto at the time he gets he, you know, he's 16. 16 is when you're supposed to be getting licenses. You

00:12:52 guys know that, right? I just want to make sure. And so, you know, you got a license at 16. And my buddy Betto's like, "Bro, I got my license and my parents got me a car." And I was like, "Dude, what's the car?" And he said, "It's a Ford Bronco." And I said, "A Ford, it was a '9s Ford Bronco." Okay, this is this is way back in the day. Again, I'm 37, guys. So, this is like 2004, so it was a '9s Ford Bronco. And if you've never seen one, guys, I tell you what, this is just a fine piece of American

00:13:23 machinery, okay? I mean, this thing, you turn it on, it just goes America, right? Like, it just it's the best, man. It is amazing. And so, you give this car to 16-year-old guys, like, come on. That thing looks like it was It's a mini monster truck. It was built to go and get some air. Am I right? It's like, you know, every I mean, the vast majority of the guys here, I'm sure, can relate to like playing with Hot Wheels. It's like this is big boy Hot Wheels, you know what I'm

00:13:53 saying? Like, you get behind the wheel of this Hot Wheels, you know what I mean? And and so what do 16-year-olds think when they get a Ford Bronco and they know about this famous intersection where if you get enough speed, you can get some good air, you send it. You know what I'm saying? like you just you're like, "Let's go there and let's just book it and go get some air." Right? So, it's the middle of the night one night and we're like, "Let's go." And so, we go and we set up like way down the road and um and we're like, "All right, let's

00:14:25 do this." And I'm like, "All right, you know what? Before we go, I I I I don't even want to be in my seat belt. I want to get in the back. Like, I want to be in the back with no seat belt, no nothing. It's like this is I want to feel the weightlessness. You know what I'm saying? Cuz I'm confident we're going to get some air. So I do I take my seatelt off. I go to the back and then I don't know if it was just cuz all my friends saw me do it, but they all they were all like that's a great idea. And they all took their seat belts too,

00:14:55 right? Off except for Betto. We made sure Bethto kept his seat belt on because he was behind the wheel, right? But we're like dude yes. And so we went and we just sent it and you know we got what feels like so you know it's hard to know exactly what it was because it's you know you're in the car but it felt like we got some serious air but then of course the car needs to come down right and uh the things you don't think about. So when I went up in the air the whole

00:15:26 car's weight starts coming down on my head and I felt it in my neck. Guys, I tell you what. So, it smashes me on my head and then of course I land at the bottom and then my back I feel it in my back and it's like it's like if a giant came up to the car and just went, you know what I mean? And and my neck hurt, my back hurt. And then the problem is that if you paid attention to that intersection, when you land, you're faced with this

00:15:58 immediately. And when I say immediately, I mean you're literally pressing on the brakes in the air, okay? Because you need to stop immediately. [Music] We knew that going into it, but we didn't care about it, right? And you know the whole physics thing. I know Isaac Newton tried to warn us 300 years in advance about inertia, but we didn't pay attention to that, right? So, so we went and man, so when we landed, Beto hit the brakes and my friend Angelo in the front seat kept going, right? Cuz

00:16:29 physics and his head just smacked the windshield, cracked it. Beto had to turn it really fast to the right. Just made it in time. And that all happened in the matter of about a second. You know what I mean? It was a bad It was a bad night, guys. I was hurt. Angelo was hurt. We thought he had a concussion. He probably did, but we didn't go to the hospital. He was fine. And um I'll be honest with y'all. And uh it's hilarious cuz now if you go

00:17:01 now, if you go to that to that that road, they put up a light that's flashing at you, telling you to slow down. They put a stop sign. They put speed bumps, another stop sign, another lights, and then they smoothed out the road. They were like, "That's enough." And I think some of it was because So, we ended up finding out actually a couple weeks later, one of the guys in my high school went to the same spot, did the same thing with a similar vehicle, except he didn't stop in time, and broke the

00:17:32 mailbox from that house, which I don't even see it there anymore. So, they probably moved it. You know what I mean? And so talk about going down the wrong path because you're like, "This is a great idea, right?" No. And I just think just because something sounds right and beneficial, it doesn't mean it is. Just because something has an appearance of wisdom doesn't mean that that wisdom

00:18:02 is rooted in Christ. You know, there's so many modern philosophies of maturity that have a facade of Jesus that are even I would even say they are well-intentioned, but that I've even needed to guard against that I've needed to warn my ministry against believing and taking up. Because somewhere down the road, Satan gets us thinking you're not really a mature Christian unless I think the most popular one these days that I want to talk about today

00:18:34 is to be a mature Christian, you must stand with the oppressed and the hurting and aggressively against the oppressor. And you see it playing out in our world when you walk out these these doors, don't you? Minorities against white people, minorities against cops, rich versus poor, men versus women. Well, they're the problem. No, they're the problem. You even see that social aspect play out in politics. Oh, yeah. Can you really be a rep? You if you in order to be a Christian, you need to vote Republican. Democrats saying, "How can you be a Christian and vote Republican?"

00:19:04 So, we say terrible things about the oppressors, however we see it. We share all these terrible things about who we see as being the problem. We tear everything about them down. We make them look dumb. We make their life and their job difficult. Look at how dumb Trump is. Look at how dumb Biden is. Look at how dumb they're the Democrat. Fill in the blank and you think, "Oh, yes. This is what a mature Christian does because they stand for what's right." Right. And it's because there's this deep-seated culture of wanting to

00:19:34 identify the hurt, find the bad person that caused it so we can go and fight and blame them because we think our purpose is somehow found in that. And we end up getting angry, frustrated. We post terrible things about this person or group of people. and what they did because we're just so fed up and tired of them not acting in a Christian way. So that's what a Christian does, right? Let's expose them. That's what a mature Christian does, right? Or is that just me?

00:20:04 You know, let's just let's just let's call a spade a spade, guys. With the way this world is, do you think I've been pushed to try to believe some of these philosophies when I'm a guy from the border that grew up four blocks from the river? Do you think I know it's not just me who feels the pressure of, "Hey, you're a Christian, so you should be here, right? This is what a mature Christian thinks and how they act." And we buy in, we don't even realize it. We don't even realize it because of how

00:20:34 sound the argument is. And we end up buying into the world's way of dealing with injustice because Jesus cares about the oppressed, right? A sentence none of us disagree with. That's the facade. That's true. That statement is true. But we end up with everything chapter 3 of Colossians tells us is a part of the earthly nature, this present age. We end up with anger. If we're honest with ourselves, when we start going down this route, we end up with anger, rage,

00:21:06 malice, wishing terrible things on these people, slander, and filthy language from our lips. And Colossians 3 says that's the earthly nature. And we excuse those sins and we justify those sins because we got to stand up for what's right. Right? And we end up confusing justice for vengeance all because we need to stand up for what's right. But that's not being rooted in Christ.

00:21:37 Chapter 3 makes it very clear what being rooted in Christ looks like. In chapter 3, he says, "Put on your new nature." You know the nature that you took on when you were baptized into Christ. Put that on. What does that look like? Being rooted in Christ. True maturity. It looks like more compassion, more kindness, more humility, more gentleness, more patience.

00:22:07 It looks like more sacrifice. And I'm here to say, if you think you're a mature Christian because of your social media posts against that political party and those posts, inevitably you are naive to think that they don't lead to more frustration, why else post it? You're hoping to rile people up, aren't you? Well, you want to make them angry and full of rage. Guess what? You want them to get more entrenched in the earthly nature, not in Christ. I'm here to tell you that.

00:22:37 and you've fallen for a well sounding argument that's not rooted in Christ. Because guess what? That compassion, the kindness, the humility, the gentleness, the patience, that's not just for the oppressed. Not one person in this room would disagree that all those things should be with the oppressed and the hurting. The question is, do you believe that should be for your the oppressor and the one who's hurting? The true measure of your maturity and

00:23:08 your growth as a disciple is not in how you treat the oppressed. It's in how you treat the oppressor. Matthew 5 says to love your enemies. Love your enemies. To pray for those who persecute you. And I want to make it exceedingly clear that when usually when we say we're being persecuted, it's like a 0.1 on a level from 1 to 10

00:23:39 compared to what the first century Christians went through. He goes, "The people who are beating you in the street, love them and pray for them. >> Love them and pray for them. The people who are leading you to the coliseum to be eaten by lions. The people who are crucifying your very literal and spiritual brothers and sisters all the way to the coliseum to see more of them get killed. Guess what? Love them. Pray for them. Romans 12 says, "Do not take revenge.

00:24:13 Is your main priority that those oppressors pay for what they've done?" The word says, "Do not take revenge, my dear friends. But leave room for God's wrath. It is written. It is mine to avenge. I will repay, says the Lord. On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry,

00:24:43 feed him." Do not just skip over that. If whoever you're upset with was hungry, would you lovingly invite them into your home to give them food? If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

00:25:16 This is being rooted in Christ. This is what scripture says. And I would tell every single one of us, maybe instead of getting angry and putting something up on social media about that news that you just read that really riled you up, you should get on your knees, wrestle with your heart, pray for them, and offer them something to eat instead. Serve them, bless them. Come on, Estan. You can't expect that. Romans 12 to be literal eston if you if

00:25:48 you don't you can't really change the world if you're just always serving the evil people right that enables them where are they going to go yeah that makes sense if you're thinking in current age terms not in age to come terms not not in the age to come because as Colossians 1 says and as we read Yesterday you were enemies. You, every single one

00:26:18 of us in this room, myself included, we were enemies of God because of your evil behavior. But he pointed out all your mistakes, made sure everybody around you knew all of your mistakes, made sure you paid for your transgression. Oh, wait. That's not what it says, is it? You were his enemies, but he reconciled you. How? Through his own death and

00:26:48 sacrifice. That is the gospel. That is rooted in Christ. And early Christians got this. Early Christians got this. You know, this is why they could have stared somebody who literally ratted out their brother and sister and cousin that they were a Christian and they ended up getting murdered. And guess what? But when a plague breaks out in the city, they'll go up to that person and say, "What do you need? How can I serve you?" Oh, but you can't you can't enable that, right? I mean, they're a pagan. They're

00:27:18 really against Christianity. You're thinking in present age terms, not age to come terms. And then we and then we wonder why they grew so fast. Maybe it's because no matter what evil was done unto them, they never slandered. They never went about pointing out all these flaws. They just said, "I'm gonna put my head down. I'm gonna be like Jesus, and I'm only going to do good. Period.

00:27:48 I'm going You can slap me in the face. You can kill all my family. I'm still going to serve you." That is being rooted in Christ. That's why the early church grew so fast because it was so exceedingly clear to pagans. These are a new this is different. These people are human in a way that we've never seen or can we comprehend. Why are you like that? Why would you

00:28:20 willingly not just die, but why would you serve the person who killed that person? Does not make sense. if you're not thinking in age to come terms. And we've got to see that. That's why they grew. And it begs the question, what are you missing when you get all riled up about that church leader, that politician, rather than wanting to serve them and love them? What are you missing?

00:28:52 I'm willing to bet it's because you've been listening to the wrong gospel. You've been listening to something that sounds and it has a a very nice appearance and it has Jesus on the front, but it's not the gospel. And that's why we need to stop listening to this social justice gospel that has made that has an appearance of wisdom, but it inevitably fills many hearts with frustration, with anger, with malice,

00:29:22 and with hate. And it's so clearly it goes against the wisdom of Jesus, against the scriptures, and it has a greater effect than you can ever imagine on whether or not you buy into that. It does. When you tell people to serve the one who's oppressing, it stands out. You may not always get the response you get because according to the present age, they might just see you as an enabler. But we trust that by being age to come

00:29:52 people, we will change the world. But it also matters if we decide to buy into it and start to try to convince our whole ministry to buy into it. And it hurts them. And I know that I I know inevitably when I'm speaking this emphatically, it's like, man, so are you just not supposed to care about what's going on in the world? Of of course you're supposed to care about what's going on in the world. And that's not this sermon. We should care. We should help. We should be compassionate, but not just with the

00:30:22 oppressed. It's universal. It's also with the oppressor. And we leave room for God's wrath. We trust God's got this. God's going to take care of this one. My job, my job is to love, serve, bless, pray for the universally. I don't care how terrible of a person you are. My job is to serve, love, bless, feed, give, drink to. God's gonna figure this out.

00:30:52 And we leave room for God's wrath. Amen. >> You know, and I think I think the bigger reason why I wanted to preach on this was because I think this way of thinking, it takes on different forms in our culture. It runs so deep and it's so embedded that it takes on different forms and it has different veins and we it starts to give rise to little sayings and beliefs that in some ways we've brought into the church and we've kind of Christianized it and put Jesus as a sticker on it like we shouldn't judge people. Only God can

00:31:24 judge, right? We've heard that, right? Only God can judge. Yeah. The problem is that that's not Bible. But I think even before we talk about that, why have we bought into that? Well, it's because the idea is that if you judge somebody, well, that's bad. You hurt their feelings and you're oppressing them now. And you don't want to be caught on the oppressor side, right? So, don't judge. Just look at yourself. But that's not what 1 Corinthians 7 says where it says

00:31:54 you're supposed to judge people in the church. You're supposed to judge age to come terms. But you are you are supposed to judge in the church. Matthew 6 doesn't say don't judge. It says that whatever measure you use to judge it will be used accordingly to you. He's not saying don't judge. He's saying don't be a hypocrite when you're making a judgment. That's what he's saying. And I think when we start buying into this whole idea of don't judge and that we we wonder we start to buy into it and then we wonder why are we struggling

00:32:24 with disciplehip in our campus ministries? What are you going to disciple someone about when you can't make a call about anything? >> What? When you're allergic to saying, "Oh, no. That's wrong. You shouldn't be doing that. That's not wise. You're going down the wrong path." When you're allergic to saying those things, then guess what? It completely eats away at the healthy culture that God intends to be in every single one of our campus ministries that says, "You're going down the wrong path."

00:32:54 >> Amen. >> You need to repent. That's actually the sign of a great healthy campus ministry when there's discipling that says you should not do that. That is sinful. That's making a judgment call. And we cannot buy into this, oh well, nobody can judge. You know, only God can judge. That's not Bible. But it's really a vein of the same, well, we can't hurt people's feelings and oppress them, right?

00:33:24 You know, I remember last ICMC I I I preached a breakout lesson and uh the title of it was from stuck to stepping up. And it was about how do we get unstuck? And I guess they gave me that that sermon cuz they knew I have a lot of experience being stuck spiritually. You know what I mean? And my whole point, you know, my whole point was basically if you're going to get unstuck spiritually, you need to be humble and get disciplehip. You need to love, man. You've got to get to the point where you

00:33:54 love getting rebuked. Like you just love it. Like you you live for it. You're like, "Thank you for where were where when someone corrects you, you go, "Thank you. >> Thank you for saying that to me." Not, "Okay, thank you." And so I say that to say the whole time I'm preaching, uh, there's a there's an older guy in the back that he just stands out because it's ICMC, right? A bunch of beautiful

00:34:24 young faces here, right? But this guy was he looked like he was 55 years old, right? Just older. And I was like, "Yeah, I wonder who he is." So after the sermon, we had we had a Q&A and and I was able to clarify more because I'm sure, as you guys can probably tell with how my preaching is, I came off very emphatic. And so I was able to clarify, look, I'm not saying just start going around your ministry just punching people in the face, right? Like no, like you got to have love, got to have compassion, got to ask questions, all of that, but you have to say the truth and you have to

00:34:55 hear the truth. And and um so, you know, after the Q&A, this this guy comes up to me. Turns out he leads a church in Kingston in Jamaica. and he was like, "Bro, I'm so glad we had that Q&A." Yeah. Go Jamaica. And um and he he came and he came up to me, he's like, "I'm so glad that you had that Q&A, you know, because it just seemed to me, you know, that it seemed like you were really advocating for like the old school way of doing things where you just really harshly discipled people

00:35:26 this and that." And I go, "Bro, this is what you don't understand. When you hear the word rebuke, you know what a rebuke is. You know what one is. These kids, you ask them to put on a more modest shirt and they're like, "Oh, I got so rebuked." Oh my gosh. How these kids, you go up to them, you go, "Where were you at midweek?" "Oh, I was doing homework." "What do you mean doing homework? You could do that at any other time. You

00:35:56 should be a midweek." Oh. Oh my gosh. He's correcting me so harshly. And I told him, you got to understand, you're using the same word. You're talking about two totally different things. The standard in our churches has moved so far because we're so scared to judge. Because we're so scared to oppress and hurt someone's feelings. >> And that is not rooted in Christ at all. At all.

00:36:26 And I think we got to realize that because of the culture that we have of oppressor and oppressing and all this, we love playing the victim, even if it means that the church is the perpetrator. And we end up getting mud and throwing it on Christ's bride. And I'll tell you what, you could talk trash about my wife and it could even be true, but you better know I'm coming for you. [Applause] So the next time you think about saying something terrible about Christ's bride,

00:36:57 the church, you better ask yourself, am I rooted in Christ, >> you better ask yourself that question. And you especially see it especially when it comes to communal standards in our campus ministries. Communal standards, expectations. When we stop being rooted in Christ, we start calling them rules and legalistic. Let me just say that. Oh, I'm really supposed to be at everything. I have to be at every event.

00:37:27 Come on. That's awfully legalistic and really rulesbased, right? You know what's so funny is we never say that about the football teams that are at our universities. We never say that. And actually, they're kind of expected like twice a day, Monday through Saturday or Sunday through Friday to be at at practice. But we would never think it's leg they think it's legalistic, would we? Well, no. No, but they signed up for that. They knew what they were getting themselves into. Well, what did you

00:37:57 think you were getting yourself into when you said Jesus is Lord? What did you think you were getting yourself into? What kind of world did you think you were joining? >> And it's we, you know, we start to go to these things that have such a nice appearance of Jesus. You know, purity culture started becoming a bad word. It's a bad thing to have a purity culture. Really? >> Really? It's bad to talk about modesty

00:38:27 cuz oh, you can't shame anybody. Really? >> It's legalistic to expect cold contact sharing for everybody in your in your campus ministry. That's legalistic. >> Oh, but you don't understand. I'm I'm a more mature person. I know that warm contact works better. That's really what That's really what it is. I want to I know it's really dark in here. I don't know if there's any way we

00:38:57 can do it, but it can everybody who was cold contact shared with stand up really fast for real. Everyone who was cold contact shared with [Applause] if the lights could turn on. And by cold contact sharing I mean you did not know the person who reached out to you. Okay. Now I want you to stand up if you're the person who reached out to you was cold contact shared with cold contact means you did not know the

00:39:27 person who invited you out at all. I think we wouldn't we wouldn't have so many people in this room. You can go ahead and sit down. I just I was cold contact shared with and I just think when we start to ascribe to these beliefs I I I think we don't even realize cuz we don't we don't necessarily say or or think it this way

00:39:58 but this is all because we've bought into the current age present age thinking that prioritizes people's feelings above all their comfort their happiness their good feelings And we've also learned to prioritize that in ourselves because and then we've Christianized it and brought it into the church by thinking mature Christians don't hurt people's feelings. Right? That's what oppressors do. And yet scripture tells a very very different story. My wife's going to share.

00:40:31 [Music] You know, it takes a lot of humility and maturity to really digest these things and really to wrestle with whether we ourselves are falling prey to these kinds of thinking. I mean, so many of these things that we're talking about, they they they feel we feel them so deeply. They feel so valid, right? Okay. So, let's talk about validation for a moment. We live in a world where validation is everything. I am entitled

00:41:02 to what I feel. It's my experience, my journey, my truth. You can't tell me how to feel about the things that I've experienced in my life. But you know who's at the center of that kind of thinking? It's you. It's rooted in you. And I thought we were rooted in Christ. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things." So what the scripture actually says is that your heart is inclined to believe and think the wrong thing. So why on earth would

00:41:34 you want someone to validate that? Why would you want that? If anything, we should be skeptical of natural inclinations of our heart because often times they will not lead us towards God. they will lead us into sin. Just because something feels so right doesn't mean that it is right. Like for instance, as a redhead, I got a lot of people on my feed saying, "I'm black now." And I love it. I love that. I love that.

00:42:08 But but look at me. I'm I'm painfully white. Okay? I I I know who I am. Mom, uh, it it feels so good. It feels so right. I love it. I I I want that. But but maturity is not being someone who just listens and validates that everything that people feel. I I think sometimes we we just want to be a safe cozy place to share and to listen and to hear what what another are feeling. But I

00:42:38 certainly hope we are not the kind of men and women that make it safe for one another to be unspiritual. This is what was so amazing about Jesus, was it not? He had this way of disarming people in such an amazing way that they were able to say and be who they truly were in front of him. The thing about him is when people interacted with him, they never walked away the same. Jesus didn't just sit and validate people. I think about the rich young ruler who

00:43:09 comes to Jesus and says, "Hey, look at all this stuff I done." And Jesus says, "Hey man, way to go. He's you're awesome." No. He says, "You're missing one thing. One thing you lack. Go and do this." I think about the woman caught in adultery. Does he have compassion for her? Yes. Does he protect her from this horrific situation? Yes. But at the end of his interaction with her, he tells her, "Go leave your life of sin." She walked away different after that

00:43:40 interaction with Jesus. I think what I'm afraid of is that all this validation is doing is creating a generation of weak willed women who are unable to have the emotional fortitude that it takes to grow and mature in Christ. We cannot be rooted in our emotion and rooted in Christ. Jesus Christ validation is the only validation that you need. Paul says it perfectly in verse 20 as as some as was read. You

00:44:12 died with Christ. Why as though you still belong to the world do you submit to its rules? Here's the thing. The world will always come up with problems or solutions to its problems. The world will always offer a solution. For instance, your generation is the most anxious generation than any ever before it. So what does the world say? Oh, what we need is therapy and we need books and we need resources and we need time and we need validation and after years of these things, everything is going so

00:44:43 much better, right? No, it's not. It's actually worse. And if we're not careful, we can get more rooted in therapy because we just trust it more than we trust Jesus. >> And now don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong. Some of you are always trying to tune me out. Therapy can be an amazing tool. In fact, for my own life, as I said, I have triplets. Our road to having children was a very painful one to walk. We went through years of infertility, and it was a devastating

00:45:13 time in my life. And then we conceived our miracle baby only to lose it at 10 weeks, and I needed some resources to help me heal. But what I'm saying is if we're looking for healing outside of Jesus, we're only going to get so far. Rooting ourselves in him will grant us and help us be secure, full of peace, and to heal. Start with Jesus. Then consider if there are more things that

00:45:44 might be able to help you. Rooting yourself in Jesus and his word will always be enough. Amen. You know, I don't know if you all realize it, but we're at a pivotal time in history. And what's so interesting is despite all the stuff that you read in the news and probably what you feel from the culture that you're in, people are coming back. Your generation is coming back to church in droves.

00:46:17 Since 1900, every decade of the people who were born there, the percentage of them that identified as Christian has gone down. Every single decade. And this the two the people who were born from 2000 to 2010 is the first decade where that did not happen. People are coming back to church. The question I want to leave us with is

00:46:47 what kind of church will they find? >> A church that validates emotion or a church that is rooted in Christ. >> A church that goes down the current age way of thinking of, okay, I'll tolerate you and forgive you so far, but when you start getting this bad now, I'm going to fight you. Or is it somebody that says, "I don't care what you've done, who you are. No matter what, I'm going to love you, serve you, give you something to eat, give you something to drink, and

00:47:17 pray for you and bless you. That will when that is completely the standard, that turns heads, not when it's conditional." And I think it's so important that we get truly rooted in Christ. Because when we relentlessly hold to God's word, his standard, his wisdom, to Christ, and we truly have conviction, it changes everything about us and about our world. It has impact. It changes you

00:47:49 and it affects the cultures of your Bible talks and campus ministries. You know, I want to brag a little bit on Texas State, which actually I personally don't lead. Christian and Annie Armen lead that campus ministry. And I remember in January in January 2019 the membership the in our campus ministry was 17 people and we had been there for three years and I I just trusted God. We're not going to go for the cheap baptize a whole bunch of people really fast no matter we're going to build a solid foundation of people

00:48:20 who are rooted in Christ and I'm going to trust that God will multiply that. And since then we put Christian and Annie in the ministry. They actually were raised up there in the ministry. All the while, of course, as we train them, we're baptizing people. We're adding to the number. And today, we have 48 people in our campus ministry. That's uh that was from our last retreat.

00:48:51 And we've had we have 48 people. And we've put people in the ministry like Christian Annie. We even sent Cameron to UTSA. We sent William We sent William Eugene Yeka to uh to Cole to a chance of a lifetime. >> We have many people in our ministry. Many people who want to train to go in the ministry and we are training to go in the ministry. And I just want to say this, I didn't know where to fit this in my lesson, but I want to say this that

00:49:21 when we are rooted in Christ, we don't look for what's convenient and comfortable. And we need a new generation of people to stand up and want to go in the ministry. >> We have, if you go to disciples today, there are over a 100 job openings for campus ministers. We need people here that will say, "Great, I got an engineering degree, but I want to go in the ministry. Will I make half of what I can make as an engineer?" Yes. Good. You'll sacrifice. You know who else sacrificed? Jesus.

00:49:52 Everything of who he was. And we need people to do that and that stands out. You know, I love this other story of u I want to share real quick on the left there. That's Eileen Bonitz who got baptized. A girl in our campus ministry. I forgot exactly when, a few years ago. And she got baptized and in her baptism, her mom really shared about how impacted she was. And but then her family was there and her family, her siblings also shared about how big of a deal it was

00:50:23 for for them and how how they noticed. It just stood out how different she was. She was a new creation. And because of that, in the middle, that's her brother and her sister, one of her brothers and her sister who got baptized on the same day in Houston. And then that's not it. The their baby brother on the right on the right, he just joined us this la in the spring, this last semester. And the second he landed, he was like, I want to get baptized. Let's study the Bible. And he

00:50:53 ended up getting baptized. Her and all her siblings are disciples. You know, there's a girl named Serena and uh she she uh she got baptized. I can't remember exactly. I wish I would have put those those dates on my notes here, but she got baptized and her parents actually live in the city where we have our region. And um so she she shares she's always like, "Mom, I want

00:51:23 you to come out and meet these ladies." Like it's it's an unbelievable amazing community I'm a part of. And and what's amazing was she didn't just she saw how much she loved God and his and his people. And so she came out and she checked it out. And just a couple months ago, she was able to baptize her mom in our region. And it was incredible. And I think the big point that I want to make to us today is these people, they didn't get baptized because they

00:51:54 saw these people they knew and they thought, "Wow, look at how comfortable their lives are." No, it was because they saw an undeniable transformation of someone who was rooted in Christ and they wanted that for themselves. And I want to leave us with this. I believe in this generation. >> I don't just say that with empty words. Something that is deeply put in me is to

00:52:24 always look to the next generation. I believe in the young to not just be in the church, but to be a part of leading us. I want to encourage every one of us here. Take the baton and run. but lead us to where our church gets more rooted in Christ. Make sure that you are diligent in resisting current age ideas of maturity and are insistent on being

00:52:56 rooted in Jesus, in his teachings, on what God's word says, and you will change the world and your campuses. Thank you.