Connected or Cut Off - Pastor Brad DeLong

The fact that the father is looking for persons who will do that is sobering to me and all the more reason for me to engage in it. So thankful for the Lord's presence and thankful for every guest who's joined us today at Apostolic Pentecostal Church. It is an honor, a true honor that you would come and worship the Lord with us. And we're so grateful that you would come and join us in our mission. Our mission is to connect with God and others.

Every time we show up, you'll see us connecting with one another. But when it's time to connect with the Lord, that's what we're doing. That's our priority. And we welcome you to join us. So thankful to have Pastor Thompson, brother Billy Thompson and his family with us. Uh newly installed pastor there in Perry, Ohio. And the bishop is here as well. They just got a whole row of Thompsons and a couple Walmarts mixed in the middle. So glad that you all are here.

One of the primary ways we connect with the Lord day in day out and of course on Sundays and each week is through the power of the word. We're going to turn together to the book of John 15 and verse one. Today Jesus has given the words of life in this passage. He's communicating specifically both the value of a true and a firm relationship with him as well as the path to eternal life, the path to salvation. As he's done in other teachings and passages, he he offers to his hearers and to us the way forward, the way to life and life more abundantly.

How many of you want that kind of life? If you don't have it yet, you ought to have it today. Life and life more abundantly. But he also makes sure to insert the only other listed alternative to his way and his command, which we'll see in this passage. We're all about being connected to God, which is why it's fitting for us to read Jesus say this that I am the true vine and my father the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes. There's going to be a little bit of that pruning today. And he does it that it may bear more fruit. You're already clean because of the word which I've spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I'm the vine. You are the branches. He says again almost to remind us, he who abides in me and I in him, you'll bear much fruit.

For without me, you can do nothing. But then he gives us the alternative. If anyone does not abide in me, he's cast out as a branch. He's withered and they gather them and they throw them into the fire and they are burned. He gives us two options. Abide in me or don't. If you abide in me, my words abide in you. You'll ask what you desire and it'll be done for you. By this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit so you'll be my disciples.

In verse 11 he says these things I've spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. As you see he gives two options. Abide in me and bear fruit or don't and bear no fruit. Apart from me he says you can do nothing. You you'll wither and eventually you'll be earmarked for destruction. I recognize that that's blunt and they're pretty straightforward and even some severe ramifications, but I aim to present the word of God at face value with you today.

And I'm going to do that through a straightforward title, connected or cut off. Before we pray, I want to remind you that the Lord has been circling this in our hearts to love him, to love others here of late. We've heard messages on Deuteronomy 6 and4 that these words need to be in our heart. We were reminded about who our neighbors are and how we should treat them. And two weeks ago, we had a powerful move of the spirit of God, a word of faith last week.

And I believe, like brother Christian said, that the Lord is our healer. He can heal bodies. But I also believe that he's after hearts. With that in mind, I'm going to share some hard truths today. Not to shame, not to condemn anybody, but in an effort to get a hold of someone's heart. maybe someone that's still not fully postured towards the Lord and fully connected with him. I'm going to share with you the alternative to that connection. And I do it from love and I don't do it from condemnation.

And lastly, before we pray, I admit that I need the Lord's help just as I do every Sunday and especially today. So, I'm going to ask you to put your Bibles down, lift your voices, lift your hands in this holy moment and invite the Lord to speak to you and invite the Lord to help your pastor as he does that. Oh God, I thank you for the word of truth. I thank you for the honor and the privilege to present that word to wonderful people that I love, to guests that we love.

Oh God, to all the people that you knew would be here today. And I ask for your help, Lord. Not only to present it, but I ask for your help that we would all hear it. And that we would not just hear it, but we would heed it and we'd walk in it. And we would be doers of the word. that we would not look at ourselves in the mirror like James says and then turn away and and turn aside but we would walk from this day forward in connection with you and let it be our aim and priority and we pray it in the name of Jesus.

Amen. Amen. You may be seated. If you've been around longer than about a week or so ago, maybe a few months, you've likely heard me or another preach about the benefits and the power and the wonder of a life that's abiding with Christ and truly connected to the lifegiving vine that is Jesus Christ. It's I'll tell you it's one of my favorite subjects to preach about because I have experienced what it's like to abide with him and to rest in him, to walk in him, to remain in him, which may be the closest approximation that we have with the Greek word abide, to remain in the vine and with Jesus.

That word and that pursuit is characterized by constant communion, affection, worship, and connection. And I need to tell somebody that it is a connection that goes well beyond a service, well beyond a Sunday. It reaches into homes and hearts. It reaches into families, beyond our regularly scheduled services. That kind of connection will disrupt your routine each day. And not just disrupt a probably poor choice of wording. It will anchor your routine. It'll be the center of your routine if you are really connected with the Lord.

It's embodied in in scriptural admonitions like the one Paul gives when he says you ought to pray without ceasing. Not literally pray every second. We have other things that scripture tells us to do, but be in a continual state of prayer. And he tells the Ephesians that he prays that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith. Synonyms of the word abide, include remain, stay, reside, dwell. And Jesus prayed to this end. Two chapters later, he prays that he desires for I and them and you and me that they may be made perfect in one that the world would know that you've sent me and have have loved them as you have loved me.

True connection with God is more than a momentary experience. It's more than a passing wave of his presence. It's more than even the accompanying emotion of that moment. True connection is loving God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength. obeying his commandments, being rooted and grounded in him, being strengthened with might through his spirit in your inner person and in your inner self. And of course, it's producing spiritual fruit as a result. True connection with God is his all-encompassing uh connection and relationship and covenant as there is.

It starts with the plan of salvation that Peter offered and the apostles later conveyed. If you've never experienced this, I'm telling you, there's no greater connection than when you repent of your sins and and you turn away from sin and darkness and you turn towards God and you ask for forgiveness and and he forgives you and then you're baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of your sins AND AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY Ghost with the biblical evidence of speaking with other tongues.

THERE'S NOTHING LIKE that connection along with prayer and worship. This is where we begin our relationship and journey with the Lord. And it's just the beginning OF ONE OF THE GREATEST LIVES YOU COULD EVER LIVE. If you're a guest with us today and and you want to connect with God and you're saying, you know what, I want that. These are the first and the most important steps and you can be well on your way to a new life with the Lord and you can be connected with him in the absence of sin and with the power of his spirit.

And I urge you to do this. You can begin to live an overcoming life, one free of PAST MISTAKES AND PAST SINS. WITH A FEW SIMPLE steps toward Jesus and his forgiveness, you can start that journey today. The one of abiding and living and walking with Jesus. And as I said, it's it's just the beginning. You'll find that the longer you're connected with Jesus, the more of your old way of thinking and your old habits and your old lifestyle that you start to lay down.

And the more of Christ you tend to put on, the longer you spend time with Jesus, the more like Jesus you'll start to think and and speak AND AND ACT. YOU'LL BE IMITATORS of of Christ as dear children. Paul says, you'll walk with him in newness of life. You'll start to be more about others than you are yourself. That's the mind of Christ Jesus. You'll think about others more than you think about yourself. You'll you'll start to show spiritual fruit like love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, KINDNESS, SELF-CONTROL.

AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW. YOUR LIFE IS going to be different as long as you're truly abiding and dwelling and living your life with Jesus. Of course, you'll do that mostly by the things we're talking about today. the way you connect some of these anchor points of connection. A life of prayer, a life of reading and obeying the word of God, uh times of fasting, listening for his voice, being faithful to him and to his house and and to his kingdom, living and giving sacrificially, walking in him, Paul says, being rooted and built up in him and ESTABLISHED IN THE FAITH AS you've been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm just giving a crash course in connection today. If this is your first time here, you might notice that it takes time. It takes intentional effort and obedience. Sometimes it takes sacrifice. It may not feel good. It may not always feel good, but it always is good. It is good. That worship that you gave today may not have felt the greatest. Maybe you're tired, but it was good. No matter what, when you lifted those hands, you begin to worship the Lord.

That's one of the best ways you can connect with God. And if you this IS YOUR FIRST TIME, YOU OUGHT TO LIFT your hand at some point and begin to worship God in freedom. And then if you've been around a while, you ought to do the same. You know, and you've heard that connection with the Lord is daily. It's a daily pursuit. Just as any of our other relationships are worth daily moments and time in and dedication to those who are new, to those who are not.

We have to see that abiding with Jesus and and connection with him is characterized as a continual connection with the vine, walking with him, constant communion and communication with him. If you use Jesus's analogy of that plant in that vine, it's a continual, it's an unending connection with him where there is no room for the lack of connection, for a severed connection or even to be temporarily cut off, especially not intentionally through sin or disobedience. And I know there's some green thumbs in the room who like to that's a one of our expressions for those who like to plant and those who tend gardens and gardeners in the room you know that to be cut off from a plant in a vine is usually detrimental to that cut off portion unless it's immediately grafted back in.

There's a way to get it back in. Jesus uses this analogy and mentions that the cut off parts are usually withered. Doesn't take long for them to wither. If you're cut off from Jesus, it doesn't take very long. They start to wither and then they're gathered and then they're tossed into the fire on account of they have no use to him in the end. So, we see that our connection with him instead has to be sure and fixed and immovable and it results in fruit that's directly from him.

If you want to KNOW WHETHER OR NOT YOU'RE CONNECTED, truly connected with the Lord, Jesus said, "Look at your fruit. You'll know them by their fruits." the fruit of your life or maybe the lack thereof is always a tell. Jesus himself speaks about this. He says, "If you abide in me, you will bear much fruit, a whole lot of fruit." And then he promises, "If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you'll ask what you desire and it will be done for you."

This is part of why I love to preach uh about and to live this connection because it amounts to life and life more abundantly today. Uh and someone will amen me when I say that. And in his presence there is fullness of joy. You are complete. You're filled to the full in him, THE HEAD OF ALL PRINCIPALITY and power. I've never felt fuller. I've never felt MORE FULFILLED THAN WHEN I'M IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD. THAN WHEN I KNOW THAT I'M CONNECTED with him.

THAN WHEN I KNOW I'M HEARING his voice. AND I KNOW THAT I'M WALKING with God. Isaiah 40 says he gives power to the weak and to those who have no might. He increase his strength. Even the youth will be faint and weary. And the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord, THOSE WHO ABIDE in him shall renew THEIR STRENGTH. THEY'LL MOUNT UP WITH wings like eagles. They'll run and not be weary. They'll walk and not faint.

Those who seek the Lord, the psalmist says, will not lack any good thing. This is what's on offer today. To connect with God, you will not lack any good thing. Built into our connection with him and our abiding the vine are endless blessings and benefits and promises. This is this is what's on the table today. Those who've heard it a thousand times, those who are hearing it for the first time, you can connect with Jesus Christ himself. You can abide with him.

You can walk with him every day. You can live with him. You can connect with him every morning. And with God, it says nothing shall be impossible. I believe that this is the request and the admonition of the Lord this morning from his word and from his spirit, the one he made in John 15 to the people of God that we ought to remain and dwell and have our minds fixed on him. That there shouldn't be a day or a gap or a breach in your walk with God.

Not even a moment when you're intentionally separated from THE LORD. AND IF you ever realize that you are separated, you ought to run back to the presence of God as soon as you can. YOU OUGHT TO BE FAITHFUL TO HIM AND TO HIS COVENANT. WE WANT TO FOLLOW HIS WORD. We want to keep his commandments. WE WANT TO POSITION OUR HEART, OUR DAYS, OUR LIFE, OUR SCHEDULE, our priorities around him and church and people of God along with those noteworthy admonitions and the benefits, those that should compel us in and of themselves.

I also add from the word of God that we should be sure and certain c certain and and convinced by our daily disciplines by our following of scripture by the fruit of our life that we are truly and undoubtedly connected with the vine and the eternal life that he provides. And I today, I just hear me. I implore you, the people of God that I love, whatever you do, be sure that you are connected with God every day, not out of compulsion, but out of love and reverence and obedience to him.

You see, I've already talked about the benefits and and I talked about the blessings. I I could talk about them ALL DAY. I TALK ABOUT THEM all the time. But but I also admonish you today to seek the Lord continually not only for the benefits and and the blessings and THE PROMISES WHICH WHICH SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO CONVINCE US any and all of us but also for the sake of avoiding the alternative. One that I will carefully and soberly present to you today in the fear of the Lord and obedience to his word.

I want to be the first to say this. We should not be a people who seek the Lord only for the sake of avoiding his judgment. I should not seek the Lord just because I I I want to avoid judgment. That should not be my primary motivator. If you're seeking him only to avoid eternal destruction, you've missed it. You've missed the point. That said, I I still have to convey to you that there is a judgment and there is a consequence and there's an alternative to connection and to all the blessings and the benefits that stem from your conviction and your discipline.

Paul tells the elders at Ephesus that he said, "I didn't shy away from preaching to you the whole council of God, all of scripture. And as much as I'd like to only focus on the promises and and the perks, we also have to focus on the cautions against the consequences of sin and disconnection from the Lord, I need you to hear me clearly. To be connected with the Lord is everything. It's everything. It's life and life more abundantly. IT'S JOY UNSPEAKABLE.

IT'S PEACE THAT PASSES UNDERSTANDING AND THERE'S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR CONNECTION WITH JESUS CHRIST. BUT THERE IS AN alternative to it. There's another option that's on the table. See, the same scriptures that are filled with promises and pleasantries about what it means to be connected with God are are clear about another path. One that's wide and it's broad and it's filled with people, even even well-meaning people. Matthew 7, one of Jesus's most famous sermons, includes the words that that ought to sober us anytime we come across it, speaks of the two paths that are before us today.

They're before us every single day. Jesus says, "Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is THE GATE AND BROAD IS THE WAY THAT LEADS to destruction." And there are many, many, that word hit me right here. many who go in by it because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few many few who find it. Later in John 15, Jesus reminds us of and he reframes this broadway and another option to your life of consecration to one of discipline and connection.

And I need you to know and notice that these are the only two options he gives. YOU'RE CONNECTED OR YOU'RE NOT. YOU'RE YOU'RE EITHER HOT OR you're cold. Like Revelation says, YOU'RE YOU'RE ABIDING IN AND you're communing with him or at least you're oriented towards the Lord in your heart and in YOUR POSTURE OR YOU'RE NOT. And and the lack OF CONNECTION CARRIES WITH IT A very steep consequence. If anyone does not abide, remain, dwell, live in me. He's cast out as a branch and is withered.

And they gather them and they throw them into the fire and they are burned. Part of me church wishes there was some kind of middle ground. a place where those who aren't connected with God, maybe they could get a second chance to reside. I don't see a place there in scripture. You're connected with him in this life and you're headed on a narrow way. Or you're disconnected, maybe disengaged, maybe double-minded, maybe disjointed, distracted, and ultimately cut off from the vine and eternal life with him.

And I I can hear the question in my own mind. Can't you just preach connection, just paradise, and just promises, no cold, no lukewarm, just just closeness with God, pastor? Can't you just preach the the benefits? I cannot BECAUSE JESUS DOESN'T GIVE AN in between in John 15 or Revelation or Matthew 7 or elsewhere. YOU'RE EITHER CONNECTED TO THE VINE or you're cut off and you're withering and you're disconnected from the same. That biblical phrase cut off has been turnurning in my heart since last year, ever since the Lord began to deal with me about this day.

It's a phrase that gives us a glimpse into where that Broadway of destruction that where it leads, what it means to be gathered and tossed into the fire. At face value, it sounds harsh already, especially especially in a room full of people who have come to worship the Lord. I know why you're here today. You've come to worship God. It may sound too cut and dry to be cut off. sounds like it's reserved only for the worst and only only the chiefest of sinners.

And again, a part of me wishes that were so. But in my study and preparation for this day, I found it's a phrase that's far more alarming in scripture than when we read it at face value. It's one that pertains to anyone who doesn't know and pursue the Lord. Anyone who's continually or even consciously or maybe EVEN SUBCONSCIOUSLY NOT obeying his commands. 1 Thessalonians 1 talks about it. It says that the Lord wants to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and that day in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He says these shall be punished with everlasting destruction. Where? Where? What do you mean? From the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. when he comes in that day to be glorified and the saints to be admired among all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed. Destruction here doesn't mean annihilation. It means complete ruin. It is the loss of all that makes life worth living. And when you couple it with the word everlasting or eternal, it is the opposite of eternal life.

One writer says it is being shut out from the presence of the Lord. And he calls it the final horror of sin. That it separates the sinner from God. With this passage and other in mind, I remind someone today that there there's a wide path leading to that end. One full of people who maybe thought that they were connected or maybe have every intention of connecting on some future date but are not. Sin separates. And we often think that only the sin with the worst consequences qualifies us for separation.

But even the habitual sin of omission, just not doing what you know to do can send us on a path like that. Galatians 5, there's some stark words here. It says, "The works of the flesh are evident. adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lwdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envys, uh murder, drunkenness, realies, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told YOU IN TIMES PAST that those who practice, those who remain in such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

AND I KNOW I I GRAVITATE TOWARDS THE WORDS THAT are really stark on that list, but it so me to read that if I PRACTICE OR HAVE A KNOWN HABIT OF OUTBURSTS of wrath, contentions, BEING SELFISH, BEING ENVIOUS, ANY KIND OF UNCLEANNESS, IDOLATRY OR LWDNESS, and I am in danger of being cut off from the inheritance of God. Psalmist said this in Psalm 37, "For evildoers will be cut off, BUT THOSE WHO WAIT on the Lord, they will inherit the earth."

I don't think anyone in this room would think of themselves as an evildoer. I don't think of anyone in this room as an evildoer. But I have to remind us that intentionally not loving our brother is comparable to not loving the Lord. And not loving them both puts us on a path of being separated from him. In fact, even the nature of that Hebrew word of evildoer has to do with how we treat others and how we do right by them and how we do right by God.

It's it's a harsh reality. I know. But Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16, if anyone doesn't love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Oh Lord, come. He says one writer said the strong expression shows the depth of the apostles feelings on the importance of a right attitude or here's this word again, a right posture towards the Lord. If anyone's heart is not affl he says the root of the matter is not in him. John said in 1 John 4, beloved, let us love one another for love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

He who does not love does not know God for God is love. And Jesus says if you really love me, you ought to keep my commandments. The simple sin of omission and and practice of not loving the Lord with all of our hearts and not loving our neighbors and our brothers as we should. This indeed qualifies as sin which makes for separation from the vine and from the Lord. The fruit of that vine is love. And if we don't have it, we don't have him.

We are either connected or pursuing connection or at least eventually we're cut off. We have a window of time and grace to be sure of which one we are. And the Broadway of destruction is not filled solely with persons who hate God and who hate their brother. It is marred with persons who had a form of godliness but denied its power. Who honored God with their lips but their hearts were far from him. It may be traversed by persons WHO WHO LAID DOWN THEIR CONVICTIONS about the word of God and the whole of scripture when it was convenient.

IT IT'LL BE RESERVED FOR THE ONES THAT PAUL SAID, "RECEIVE NOT A LOVE FOR THE truth and the word of God." And it will be occupied sadly by those who do not know the Lord and do not seek the Lord, even those who are used in his kingdom mightily, but we're not in communion with him. These are the passages that sober me the most, and they churn my heart. THEY DRAW THE LINES FOR US TODAY. WHEN Luke 13 says that Jesus went through the cities and villages teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem and one said to him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?"

He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate for many." For many, there it is again. For many, I say you seek to enter and will not be able. But once the master of the house has risen up and he shut the door and you begin to stand outside and you knock at the door saying,"Lord, Lord, open for us." And he will answer and say to you, "I don't know you. Where are you from?" That's that's a phrase reserved for a stranger.

Then you will begin to say, "We ate and we drank in your PRESENCE AND YOU TAUGHT in our streets." But he'll say, "I tell you, I do not know you. WHERE ARE YOU FROM? DEPART from me, you you workers of iniquity." Again, sounds harsh. He says there'll be weeping and nashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God. He says you'll see yourselves thrust out. They'll come from the east and the west, from the NORTH AND THE SOUTH WILL SIT DOWN IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

AND INDEED there there are last who will be first and first be last. Jesus wasn't shy about this people of God. He says this in Matthew 7. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven. How do you know what his will is? It's right here. It's right here. Many. Ah, I wish that word wasn't in there, but it is. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name?

Big deal. WE CAST OUT DEMONS IN YOUR NAME. Only a few did that IN THAT DAY. WE'VE DONE MANY WONDERS IN YOUR NAME. AND I WILL DECLARE to them, I I never knew you. Depart from me who practice lawlessness. In other words, you don't keep the law. Those who know me know I'm a more the marrier guy. I want everyone at the table. I want us all to make it church, which is why I have to communicate to you the importance of connection with the Lord and knowing him and knowing his voice.

He said, "My sheep hear my voice and they know my voice." Which means if you don't, the implication is you're not his sheep. You're not connected with the vine. You've got to shore up that connection today. All it takes is a slight and dis continued disconnect, a severed tie, a prolonged apathy, a routine sin of omission. James said, "Therefore, TO HIM WHO KNOWS TO DO GOOD AND DOES NOT do it, to him it's sin which separates. It cuts us off." And I'm here to remind you that this is arguably the greatest judgment and the greatest horror and fate that one could endure to be separated and cut off from the Lord.

I know that the fire and the brimstone, the unending physical torture get all the press and they should should be one of our greatest concerns outside of getting to be with Jesus. But we often forget the simple truth that separation from the presence and the goodness and the grace of God. These are enough in and of themselves to compel a man and a woman to an altar, whether they're connected right now or not. Hear me. I I know where I stand today.

I'm not in a mode here with a motive of of fear-mongering and manipulation. I'm not pedalling fear and anxiety. Those are not from God. Nor do I believe that those who are continually seeking the Lord and they're doing their best to obey his word should walk in constant fear of judgment, especially when their hot hearts are are postured towards him. But Peter Wright said it recently. He said, "It's not about perfection. It's about direction. Where are you oriented? Where is your heart oriented?

It's about the pursuit of righteousness defined again as doing right by God and others. And I may not get it perfect every time, but I am pursuing it in him all the time and every single day. So I'm I'm not attempting to elicit some kind of existential crisis, especially not in THE HEARTS OF THOSE who are faithful, but imperfect vessels of honor. But I am standing flatfooted in the word of truth. the one that describes this reality, an alternative to connection in the most hellacious and terrifying terms imaginable.

You just take the words at face value, they ought to sober us. But then you read in Matthew 25, and you also say to those on the left hand, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire, prepare for the devil and his angels, FOR I WAS HUNGRY and you gave me no food, and I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. And I was a stranger and you didn't take me in. I was I was naked and you didn't clothe me.

I was sick and in prison. You didn't busy. You didn't do right by others. And then they'll answer saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, or in prison, and not minister to you?" And he'll answer them, saying, "Assuredly I say to you, in as much as you didn't do it to one of the least of these, he didn't do it for me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

The ultimate sentence that God gives is depart from me. Those are the strong but true words of Jesus. And I need us all to hear them and heed them. Being cut off from God is an indescribable awfulness in and of itself. Adam and Eve experienced it in the garden and their subsequent pain and death. Moses contemplated that fate in Exodus 33. Just the absence of God's presence. He told the Lord, "I'd rather stay in the wilderness with your presence than go to the promised land without it."

Saul is cut off from the Lord and immediately he descends into darkness because of his disobedience and and turning away from God. David likely seeing Saul's demise, he prays this after he sins. HE SAYS, "CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART, OH GOD, RENEW A RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN ME. HE DO NOT CAST ME away from your presence. Oh please don't take your spirit from me." One writer seeing this said, "To have that presence removed, to be excluded from the communion with God is the ultimate punishment imaginable."

What frightened the psalmist more than anything is that God might abandon him because of sin. Jeremiah likened the torture of the pit and the threat of drowning in mud and darkness to being cut off from the Lord in Lamentations 3. And Israel later observes the glory of God leave the temple and they're cut off from communion with him. And I know we enjoy the unfettered closeness of the Lord in his spirit and then in this New Testament era, but Paul and others did their best to describe what is still a possible reality.

To be cut off from God, Paul says, is is to be a cursed. This is Romans 9. He uses the word anathema. When he does, for I would WISH THAT I MYSELF WERE ACCURSED or cut off from Christ, from my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh. HE ONLY USES THAT WORD A COUPLE TIMES emphasizing the seriousness of being cut off from the Lord. Seems like such a harsh alternative. And Paul reverences false prophets when he uses that word. But understand that that reality is not limited only to those who would twist the truth and mislead the people of God.

Instead, if you look back at our text, Jesus puts it like this. If if anyone does not abide in me, he's cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather them and they throw them in the fire and they're burned. The implication is those who just simply do not obey Jesus, those who have no fruit of righteousness, those who are not postured towards him in pursuit of him no matter the maturity of their journey, those who do not remain in him will experience the alternative.

To quote Galatians, those who practice and continually choose disobedience and sin over repentance and connection with God, they're in danger of this separation. This is why This is why connection is more than a word on a wall. People of God, it's more than something I say every Sunday when I get up to the pull pit. It's life and death. The writer of Hebrews speaks to believers. He says, "If we sin willfully after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

All it takes is sin spots neglect, denial, apathy, indifference, disobedience, unfaithfulness, cynicism, missing the mark, and a habit and a practice of the same for connection to be lost along with eternal life." These are the things that cut us off and they point us towards a certain and fearful expectation of judgment. Paul said if we deny him, he also will deny us. I never knew you. And that's what it takes. And to hear those words and be cut off from Christ, it will be the worst reality.

Imagine, especially for those who know him, have been in his glory and in his presence. I wish I could save him. Scripture and to be cut off from God is just not that bad. and we can endure it. It's just some sort of mild purgatory. But you heard the phrase used by Paul and the writer of Hebrews. It is a fearful expectation of judgment, a fiery indignation which will devour. It's an anathema, a curse. It's a designation for divine destruction, a place of weeping and torment and nashing of teeth.

Jude describes it as a place of blackness, darkness forever. Revelation describes the same and adds more superlatives than we even want to read today. For those who have known the presence of God in his fullness, there are few things that could be worse and a more of a torment than being cut off from that presence. Coming to a close in a moment. A couple years ago, I had an experience that I know and feel has marked me. One that I have wrestled with for a couple months now and up to this morning that I thought I don't want to share this for a couple reasons.

And again, I don't do this to set you up and stir emotions. I'm just being honest. Wrestle with the Lord because it's vulnerable as I'll ever be. And I don't typically share my God-given dreams unless I feel a direct mandate to do so. I don't have them often, but they're promised in scripture in Acts chapter 2 in the aftermath of the outpouring of the spirit. And they've been used by the Lord to speak to his people throughout scripture. Although they are not as authorative as the word itself, I'm careful about it today.

And I tread cautiously knowing that you will need to discern for yourselves and you'll need to study for yourselves whether what I say is true. And I encourage that. But I also say that I plan to practice what I preach and line up every word and thought and even dream from the Lord with the council of scripture. As you'll hear in a moment, you can tell I'm I'm being cautious, trying to use wisdom and obey the Lord as best I can as I tell you about this experience.

What I remember vividly was dreaming about a powerful outpouring of the spirit of God. It was in a district youth setting. There were thousands of youth there worshiping the Lord. There was a message in tongues there. I I still remember the words that were given and I recall being enthralled with the glory of the Lord and his presence in that moment. It was almost palpable how close the presence and glory of the Lord were. But then in a moment's notice the scene and the setting.

To this day, I don't know where I was or why I was there, what the Lord's purpose was for allowing me to experience this moment. I imagine that this day in my life sense or a part of that purpose, all I can describe was that for a short time, maybe five seconds, I was in a place where I could not feel the Lord. It was darker and hollowower than anything I could describe. And as soon as the realization came upon me that I was cut off from the Lord and from his presence, the sheer and indescribable horror overtook me.

Panic is too soft a word. For that brief moment, I remember again short time I clamored for him. Lord, I see it reflected in in the gospels when they GET TO THE DOOR. JESUS. JESUS, let us in. And every time I think about it, the same horror overtakes me. In fact, that morning or when as soon as I woke up, it was the middle of the night and I went to the living room just to make sure. Oh God, I don't know why you showed me this, but I got to make sure that I'm okay and I got to make sure I find you.

I don't remember how long I spent. I just remember I didn't leave until I knew that that I had talked to the Lord and that he had talked to me and that he assured me. And that morning, I remember coming into the office and bishop was still pastor and I was so shaken. I went into his office. I said, "Pastor, I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON. WHY? I had this dream. I messed up over it a little bit. And I remember a time I was more motivated to seek the Lord.

I went from seeing what it was like to be in our district connecting with God, all the blessings and benefits to a place that was devoid of him. I can usually communicate those feelings with some level of clarity, but I have no hyperboles to describe the fear and the panic and the horror of that moment. Church, please hear me. There's nothing I've ever felt comparable. I awoke, as I said, went to seek the Lord. The best I can figure is that the Lord wanted me to experience it for my own sake and for others.

And to this day, I cannot recall a dream and a feeling without both the holy terror and an awe and an urgency coming on me. It did feel worse than death and the sting of grief. And I would not wish it on my worst enemy. I am not claiming some higher revelation today. I'm simply trying to warn us and I'm as motivated as ever to compel you to seek the Lord while he may be found and to be reconciled with him if you're not this THE SHEPHERD AND OVERSEER of your souls to abide and remain in him.

If if you're struggling WITH WHAT I'VE SHARED AND wrestling with that experience, I don't condemn you for it. I don't I don't blame you for wanting to align it with scripture. That said, though, I believe the words of Isaiah are able to articulate what I cannot. And when I read them, they they summarize the reality that I felt. Isaiah says in Isaiah 59, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save." And we believe that, nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

He says, "But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you. SO HE WILL NOT HEAR." IN VERSE 9, therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us. We look for light, but but there's darkness, for brightness, but we walk in in blackness. WE GROPE FOR THE WALL LIKE THE BLIND. WE GROPE AS IF WE HAD NO EYES. We We stumble at noonday as at twilight. We we we are as dead men AND IN DESOLATE PLACES.

WE GROWL LIKE BEARS AND MOAN SADLY LIKE DOVES. WE LOOK FOR JUSTICE, BUT there is none for salvation that's far from us. If you want to know what being cut off from the Lord will be like, that is it. Blackness, death, desolation, no light, no brightness, no righteousness, no salvation. You cannot summarize it even with words. And I would contend in light of it, the worst thing that can happen to me or you. It's not death. It's not bankruptcy. It's not even a lost job.

It's not a lost relationship. Those are horrible. Those are detrimental, but they do not come close to being cut off from the glory and the goodness of God. And you can choose for yourselves whether to believe that description or not. You can chalk it up to a dream propagated by pizza or just pure fiction. But I ask you to take the word of God at face value. And beyond that, recognize the hand and the grace of God that's extended for me and for you and everyone in this room in this moment.

One that underlines the purpose. This is why I'm here today, not to scare anybody. I I HOPE YOU KNOW BY NOW I DON'T BELIEVE IN SCARED tactics and shock and all for the sake of shock AND ALL. AND I DON'T relish spilling my guts and sharing those vulnerable moments, but whatever I can do in obedience to the Lord. James says this, "Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins."

Today, I've endeavored to do that, to give you the word of life and the poured out heart of a pastor. I want you to be connected with God, not just to avoid judgment, but because you love him. But I also have to warn you, and I don't share today from a position of fear or condemnation, but instead I feel the Lord reaching for hearts. Maybe it's just one. I hope it's just one or two, but hearts that still aren't fully postured towards him.

Hearts that may be postured towards a distraction or something that is entirely temporary. I feel the Lord reaching for persons who are cut off, reaching for ones who are ens snared, weighed down, distracted, drifting away even subconsciously. To the one disconnected, the one apathetic, the one knowingly or unknowingly disobedient, to the one addicted, to the one needing deliverance, to the one battling unforgiveness in your heart, even the one who's seing division, the Lord is reaching for you. Peter says this of God that he's longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but all would come to repentance.

And we have a window of grace this morning, an opportunity to be connected with him, which is the greatest ah the greatest life. It starts with prayer and a pursuit and repentance, an act of faith where you make your calling and your election SURE. WHETHER WHETHER YOUR POSTURE TOWARDS THE LORD HAS BEEN GOOD OR IT HASN'T, THIS THIS IS HIS POSTURE towards you. Ephesians says, "And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins." LATER IN THE CHAPTER SAYS, "BECAUSE OF THE GREAT LOVE WITH WHICH HE LOVED US, HE DIED ON THE CROSS.

AND YOU WHO ARE FAR OFF, HE came and he brought you near." That's what the Lord's doing today, bringing every one of us closer. And I implore you not to leave this room before you know that you're closer to him. Despite the sobering nature of the judging judgment of God, he has made a true and sure way for you to be connected. and if needed reconnected to him. This is why we have cause for hope because there's still a narrow way.

I've given the Broadway a lot of time today, but there's a narrow way filled with people who love God with all their heart, all their soul, with all their strength. There's a way to enter it through repentance and baptism in Jesus' name and being filled with his spirit. There's a way for those who are seeking the Lord and his face continually. for those who are trying their best to obey his word and love their neighbor. God's not looking to to to push any of us into judgment.

He wants us all on that narrow way. There's a reason and a cause for hope even on a day when we have to confront the truth about judgment. One that I'm hoping we all escape by the grace of God. And in light of both truths, grace and mercy coming judgment, I urge us to abide in him, remain in him, and have a connection with God that is stronger than ever. If needed today, return to the shepherd and overseer of your soul.

This is the entire appeal of the altar call today. Music. You all can join us in the altar. Would you stand with me? fighting the urge to just share more and more, but I've shared as much as I can today. The response is simple. It's our mission. Connect with God. Connect with God. Stay fixed until I don't know what the close of the service is going to be. I don't know if I'm going to get back up here. I don't know if we're going to have singing or announcements, any of that.

Here's what we're going to do. We're just going to connect with God and we're going to make sure that by the time we leave that we know him. I'm going to join you in a moment but I wonder if you want to make sure that you're connected. Just begin to step out of where you are and would you come and find a place to pray and I'm going to put this mic down and I'm going to find my own place. We're going to spend time making sure that it's more than words on a wall and more than a mission statement but it's our life.

It's our testimony. It's what we do. It's our response of obedience. Oh God, we want to be connected with you. Uh I don't know what this altar call is going to look like. I'm just imploring somebody to to join it. Everyone in this room that's willing to just get closer to the Lord, would you spend some time, however much time you need, and don't put a box in what you're doing right now. What we're going to do together, we're just going to spend some time connecting with the Lord.

I'd like us to pray at least one more prayer and then if you need to leave, you're welcome to be dismissed. If you want to stick around and linger, you're welcome to do that as well. Stand with me. Hebrews 12 talks about the chastening of the Lord. He chastens those that he loves. Immediately after it says strengthen the hands which hang down the feeble knees make straight paths for your feet. So what's lame may not be dislocated but rather be healed.

And then it says pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God. Any rooe of bitterness spring up cause trouble. He says once you're chasened, look to yourself. Make sure that your path is straight and then look around and look to others and look to your brothers and sisters. If necessary, make peace with them. Pursue peace and holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Strengthen one another. I'd like us right now this on these last prayers if you just find somebody in the room you can link up with and pray over them just as you prayed over yourself and I know we do this from time to time but don't let this be a protocol prayer this is a scripture inspired prayer if it's your family pray for your family pray that the Lord would help and strengthen that individual that person that family right now would you lift your voice Jesus I thank you Lord for making the way plain and making the path straight And now we don't just pray over ourselves.

And and we're not just making our own calling and election, sure, but we look to others. We look to the people on the pew next to us. We look to brothers and sisters and family members. You're not willing that any would perish. And we're not willing that any would perish. We want everybody to make it. Lord, if there's a root of bitterness, I pray for my brother and sister that they would uproot it. Uh Lord, if there's unforgiveness, if they're if their path isn't straight, if they're weakened, oh God, if they're prone and they're they're poised to fall short, I pray right now that you would uplift them, that you would strengthen and help them.

That you wouldn't leave them, Lord, the same today. That we would all change, that we would all be more like you, that we would all respond positively to your chastening, to your love, to the word of truth. Oh, that's all right. Lift that voice. We're praying together. Oh God, if I'm going to make it, I want them to make it. I want them to be connected with you. I'm not content for just me and my connection. I want to make sure my family's connected with you.

I want my brother and sister to be connected with you. I'm not leaving them, Lord, uh, weakened. I'm not leaving them frail in the fetal position. But, oh God, we're going to strive for that connection together. We're going to run this race together. Uh, we're not going to run the the race for ourselves. We're going to run it for you and for others, oh Lord. I pray you'd strengthen the body right now and edify. Build up my brother. Build up my sister.

Uh build up that family, Lord. Build up that person who's missing today. Build up that individual who's struggling, oh God. Strengthen them, Lord, and uplift them. Jesus. Jesus name. Jesus name. Oh God, we need you Lord. We need you Jesus. We need you Jesus. We need you Jesus.