The Cost of Commitment In A Culture of Compromise

You can probably recall an era of time where it was the custom of probably every church to gather on a Sunday morning and a Sunday evening. That's because it was the Lord's day and no part of that day was given to work. In fact, you only have to go back a few decades ago when stores were not open. It was uncommon for even restaurants to be open. It was the Lord's day. And I know we have busy schedules and many things that we could do and made desire to do. But I still think the best decision we can make is to leave Sunday as the Lord's day. And if you recall that era of two services, you probably remember that each one was uniquely defined. And it was most customary that that Sunday morning was what they called Sunday school. If you came, you would hear teaching most often.

And then you would come back Sunday night for what they called the evangelistic service. And I understand that time and culture has changed somewhat, that it would be most customary for us to have the majority of our visitors and guests on a Sunday morning. And I can tell you, after having traveled many places, I think that's common everywhere. And so I want to take advantage of this Sunday night. And I know the Word can speak to anybody at any place in their journey with the Lord, whether this was their first service or their thousandth service. But I want to take advantage of this Sunday night and I just want to preach to the church. Amen. I'm going to invite you to pray with me and then I'm going to let you be seated. But would you pray that God would give us ears to hear tonight?

Lord Jesus, we love you. Father, we can do nothing without you. I'm asking that you would help me communicate your Word. And I'm praying that as individuals and families and as a church body, but you would give us ears to hear, for you taught us in your Word that we are to take heed how we hear. And I'm asking that you would help us hear with ears of sincerity and hearts that hunger for truth and for you. I ask this now in the only name that has any power. So we pray this in Jesus' name and the church said, Amen. Amen. You can be seated tonight. I will not open with the text, but if you have a Bible, I invite you to grab it now. And I'm going to preach in a somewhat different manner this evening. I'm going to preach expositionally, which means verse by verse,

the Revelation chapter 2 verses 12 through 17. If you are familiar with these opening chapters of the Book of Revelation, you would know that this is what they call the letters to the seven churches. These were seven actual churches in seven towns. They are mentioned in Revelation 1. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, or Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodiceum. Seven towns on what would have been the common postal route through Asia Minor. And the author of the book from which I'll draw our thoughts tonight is the Apostle John. He's deeply familiar with these churches because he had been the pastor in the city of Ephesus. And more importantly, as he tells us in the opening of this very profound letter, he said, I got in the Spirit on the Lord's day. And he began to reveal to him things concerning these seven churches and for our learning here tonight.

Two of those seven churches get only commendations from the Lord. There's no criticism given, no constructive word. This is given to Smyrna and Philadelphia. One of the churches gets only criticism and no commendation. This is Laodicea. And then there are four of the seven that remain. Each of these gets somewhat of a mixed review. The Lord would approve of some things and then he would disapprove of others. These were the churches at Ephesus, Pergamus, Thyatira, and Sardis. And each of those four churches, he calls them to repentance. I trust you know this tonight, but every church of the Lord Jesus Christ is saturated with promise. We are blessed to be a part of a church here tonight that is sitting in the fulfillment of many promises and still yet is pregnant with prophecy and promise of things that God has said he desires to do and he will do

but have not been done yet. And I thank God for each and every promise he has spoken. But well every church has a promise it bears saying tonight no church is perfect. I know we may not like to hear that. It's kind of like your spouse looking at you and reminding you that you are not perfect, but no church is perfect. If carnality or error is to exist among the people of God unchallenged the existence of that church can be threatened. The Bible gives us so many scriptures. Jude speaks of ungodly men that crept in and turned the grace of God into lasciviousness and people began to deny the Lord Jesus. Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter 4 of winds of false doctrine and the slight of men and the cunning craftiness. Peter wrote in his epistle that there were false teachers among the church and each in every instance the author is different

the audience is different but the truth is the same. The enemy will use people and their influence as leaven in our lives. Whether it is at dinner tables, through TV screens or the smartphones we hold in our hand. People, human beings become the channel of evil influence and unbiblical concepts that contradict truth and deceive the saints of God. And so it is the scripture speaks so boldly and so clearly that we are not to love the world or the things in the world. To love is to develop that affinity for the thing and it is in that state that one can become so easily seduced overlooking the thing they know is wrong. And so now tonight we come to Pergamos. The third church along that postal route in Asia Minor it's about halfway along the trade route of the seven churches. Ephesus had some good saints in it

but the Lord said you had left your first love. Smyrna, a church that was desperately impoverished in material things but the Lord said they were incredibly rich in spiritual things. All of these churches were living under the cruel hand of a Roman Caesar. All of these churches were dealing with persecution in some form but all of these churches responded or were caused moved to a response in a deeply different way. In Ephesus their circumstance caused them to lose their first love but in Smyrna it led to a deeper devotion than they had ever known before. Pergamos, the unfortunate reality is the pressure caused them to compromise to worldliness. Pergamos wanted to do something that would lead to their acceptance among their world and regretfully Pergamos is no more. Revelation 2 and 12 is the beginning of the Lord's words to this church. He said to the angel of the church in Pergamos,

write these things sayeth he which hath the sharp sword with two edges. That sharp sword with two edges was the construct of the Roman Empire. The words are chosen with divine wisdom in the inside of God for the Caesar would rule with that sharp two-edged sword but by the proclamation of this statement what God was telling the church under the cruel hand of a crooked government was there is an authority higher than Rome and it is I. And so to the angel of that church that word means messenger. He is saying I'm speaking to the pastor, the elder, the overseer and I need the leadership of the church to disseminate this word through the body because this is what he says who has a sharp sword with two edges. It calls to mind the word of Hebrews that there is a word that's sharper than any two-edged sword

and what Paul would write in Ephesians chapter 6 that the sword of the Lord is the word of God. And so it is God was telling his church that the word is your weapon against worldliness. Jesus used it in his own earthly life and ministry three times he is tempted of the devil in that wilderness temptation and each and every time he responds with the same thing it is written a word properly quoted knowing the context used against his adversary. You wonder what do I fight with? What is my weapon? What can I use to stand against the forces of hell that come against me in this present age? You use the same thing he used. I'm preaching tonight that this word is powerful. The word of God is sufficient. It's sufficient for your every need. If you need wisdom, it's in the word. If you need counsel, it's in the word.

If you need direction, it's in the word. If you need healing, it's in the word. If you need save, it's in the word. All that you need is in the word. The word of God is sufficient to save you, to deliver you, to heal you, to renew you, to guide you, and to give you strength. So if you're wondering what to do, read the word. Read it every day. Read it privately. Meditate on it in the morning and meditate on it in the afternoon. And before you go to bed at night, meditate some more. And when you come to church and you're hearing the word, you ought to amen the word. You read it privately. You meditate on it internally. You amen it publicly, but you've got to live it daily. The word. The word is our weapon against worldliness. All of the constructs of the church have their place

and they have their power because we do them at the direction of the word. He goes up here, beating that drum like a wild man, praising God with his ugly face. But it works to the glory of God because it's in response to the word. All of this has a place and power in response to the directive of his word. Hear me now. When you are standing toe to toe with the spirit of the age, a drum kit's not going to help you. A piano is not going to help you. A guitar and a bass and an organ's not going to help you. An LED wall and theater seating is not going to help you when the devil shows up in your hour of weariness and weakness and worldliness is tempting and enticing you. You need a word! That's why David said, Thy word have I hid in my heart

that I might not sin against thee. Verse 13, he said, I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is. Thou holdest fast my name and hast not denied my faith even in those days where an antipist was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth. First, he commends them. I know your works. I know where you live. Just a few words. But a powerful concept. Think about it now. To be known by God! I believe he says he knows the number of hairs on your head. That's more work for some of you than me. I'm just trying to alleviate God of any unnecessary stress. He says, I know your works. I know what you've been doing. I know what you've lived through. I know what you're facing. I know where you are. I preach tonight that to be known by God

is a powerful concept. Because in moments like this when your mind is under attack and the uncertainty of the circumstance is overwhelming, we all have this proclivity to doubt the goodness of God. And so we find ourselves asking and waiting for answers. Searching, but not finding. Perhaps that's why Isaiah said that his ways are higher than our ways. Even Job knew what this was like and Job 23, he said, behold, I go forward, but he's not there and I go backward, but I cannot perceive him and on the left hand where he does work but I cannot behold him and he hided himself on the right hand that I cannot see him. He said, I've looked for him in every direction that I know to look, but I cannot find him. I cannot perceive him. I cannot know him. But then in Job 23 and 10

he said, but he, but God knoweth the way that I take. And I know sometimes we have been led to believe that the power of our confidence in God is in our ability to know him. But I would tell you tonight the power of our faith in God is actually in our knowledge that God knows us, not that we know him. Because I confess to you as a preacher, as a child of God who's done this for a little while I can't always make sense of him. I can't always find him and I don't always like the way that he chooses to work. But when I can't find him he still knows how to find me and when I can't make sense of him he still knows where I am. He knows where we are. My confidence tonight is anchored in that he knows me.

He knows the trial I'm walking through. He knows the questions in my mind. The dilemma in my family. The pain in my body. He knows. He knows where I am. Even where Satan's seed is. Pergamos. The seat of Satan. It was home to the first temple ever dedicated to a Roman Caesar. A deeply educated society. A volume of 200,000 books. Second only to Alexandria, Egypt and all the world. The temple of Euclapius. The Greek god of healing. Copied from that Old Testament story. Serpents placed upon a pole. The idolatry that they would make of it. They would lay the one sick and body on the floor of a temple and allow live snakes to crawl over top of them. Believing this to be some avenue to the spirit realm where they could be healed. It contained the massive altar to Zeus several thousand square feet in size.

It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. This is Pergamos. And the Bible says that this is the place where you dwell list. That word is only used in context to a permanent residence. This means that in the mind of God there was no indication that God expected them to leave where they are. Unlike Abraham who heard the voice of the Lord well laboring in the shop of an idol maker with the Ur, the Caldees. And God said, come out. Follow me. But not to the church at Pergamos. God acknowledged that he knew where they were but he was not calling them out of that city or that place or that location instead. He was acknowledging their battle but also reminding them that they were on assignment. What he was saying was, yes I know where you live and I know what it's like where you live

but I need you to know that there is no place so wicked that God cannot have a church. That's what he was trying to tell them. Yes, it's a wicked city. Yes, it's an evil people. They're corrupt. They're immoral. They're vile. It's a dark and demonic place but you are there in my will and there is an assignment for you. He was reminding them there is no place so evil that I cannot establish my kingdom and I'd like to remind us tonight. There is no town. There is no city. There is no nation that is so evil or so far gone. Let me make it more personal to you. There is no family that's so far gone. There is no life that's so messed up. There is no sin that is so bad that God cannot save and God cannot redeem. He was saying, I have a work

that must be done. Even here in those days were antipas. My faithful martyr was slain among you. Antipas was the faithful servant of the Lord laboring in the church in Pergamos. Took a stand against worldliness and would not compromise. Tradition tells us that he refused to bow and acknowledge the Roman emperor as Lord confessing only Jesus Christ as worthy of his allegiance. So it is believed omission sentens him to death by placing him in a brass bowl and burning him over open flame. Verse 14 But I have a few things against you. The commendation quickly turns to correction. He said, you have them there that hold the doctrine of Balaam who taught Baelic to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel. Eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication. So has thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaotans which thing I hate.

God commanded those who had overcome. But yet somewhere in that body there was a small presumably small faction of the church that grieved God. One translation says you have some there that hold the doctrine. It's not the reality of the whole but the truth is it only takes a few to jeopardize the future of the whole. In case you're wondering you can ask Shemua or Shaphat. You can ask Ilgal, Palti, Gadiel, Gaddy, Emiel, Sether, Nabbi, or Gyul. If you are with child and looking for names you got a list of ten now. These are the ten spies who came back from the land of promise. Their eyes having seen all that God said. Their hands carrying the grapes of which he spoke of. But still their words are negative. And so the Bible would tell us that because of that dichotomy of opinion and the lack of unity concerning

the Lord's vision, fear begins to paralyze the people. They toss and turn all hours of the night and by the end of the story plagues kill all ten spies. And for the next 40 years the people of God wander in the wilderness. So in case you're wondering does unity matter? I say oh yes, unity matters. I'm not certain but I like to think to believe if they could have at least got majority then perhaps God would have chosen to work with the majority. But what we see in that story is they were sentenced to the outcome of the majority which was unfortunately the voice of a negative report. So it is in Pergamos that God begins to speak to the prevailing heresies moving through that church and through that city. One is characterized by an Old Testament character and one by a New Testament character.

First, the doctrine of Balaam. He's that Old Testament prophet for hire which by my estimation is a weak man and a weak leader. Balak the king of Moab decides it is time to get rid of his long fought enemy Israel so he does what any reprobate would do. He goes looking for a preacher for hire. Somebody I can pay to do what I want and say what I want and he says I need you to curse Israel. And three times he tried and he was unable to do it each and every time. But a preacher motivated by money alone will not stop at any cost. So he finds another way. Moabite women move among those Israelite men begin to seduce them into a life of immorality. Soon immorality becomes intermarriage and eventually complete idolatry. His plan worked to a T. When he realized I cannot conquer them

from without I'll have to corrupt them from within. The church at Pergamos was practicing the doctrine of Balaam which allowed them to eat things offered to idols and permitted fornication. Unless you think this had not been addressed go to the Jerusalem council in Acts chapter 15 the government of the New Testament church had already addressed this. So what was happening is they were drifting farther and farther away from the precepts and the principles that had been established as oversight of the church. And then the doctrine of the Nicolaotans so similar in practice to the doctrine of Balaam. Essentially it allowed people to participate in pagan practices and lifestyles of immorality. Nicholas was a proselyte of Antioch. He has mentioned in Acts 6 but eventually backsliding goes to the opposite extreme that the church had come out of and introduces not a bondage but a false liberty

into the church. Balaam made provision for the Israelites to mix godliness and worldliness together and they cursed themselves from within. The same spirit was behind the doctrine of the Nicolaotans who was based on the thought called Greek dualism the separation of spirit and flesh. They began to teach that well if you are a sinner saved by grace your spirit is saved so as long as you have been saved spiritually you can live however you want physically. I'm saved on the inside I can live however I want on the outside. And from this erroneous doctrine came this more prevalent modern doctrine which you may have heard of called the doctrine of eternal security. Live however you want to live it doesn't really matter. Act however you want to act. Talk how you want to talk and look how you want to look because if you're saved on the inside

you can do whatever you want on the outside. And I tell you tonight this is an erroneous doctrine it is not the word of God it is not biblical and I lift my voice on this Sunday night to declare to our great church that doctrine matters. Paul told that young man Timothy in 1 Timothy 4 he said take heed unto thyself and unto thy doctrine and continue in them it's not enough to have an experience once in your life it's not enough to say well I did it then or it happened there or tell me about some distant memory in your past he said take heed be careful be alert don't be passive don't be weary don't be happenstain no you got to take heed to the doctrine and continue in them for in doing this you will save yourself them that hear thee but I know the day we live in

I'm well aware of the day we live in people choose their church like they do the restaurant what pleases my palate what do I feel like eaten today while the music was too loud there they didn't sing enough fast songs or they sang too many fast songs I like the old slow stuff or I don't like the old slow stuff or well that preaching was too direct or the preacher wasn't really my personality of choice you know I was a good service but the department ministries in the church were insufficient for what I think my family would like and the fact is that far too many make light of basic doctrine and perceive it as being boring and even unimportant and I say biblical truth and theological error are such rare considerations in our day that churches could drift several miles off course I fear before anybody

even realizes that there's false doctrine among us preachers making concessions in the interest of members and money we are living in the day of which Paul spoke he said people will not endure sound doctrine but they will gather to themselves teachers who scratch their ear like an owner would its puppy pleasing them telling them what they want to hear but I say don't preach to me what I want to hear preach to me what I need to hear I can stand here tonight cause as an 18 year old kid a preacher got up in a pulpit and started preaching what Dan McLeod needed to hear called me to a place of repentance called me to a place of life change and so I say if you want to know what I'm looking for if you want to know what I want my children to hear

I want pastor rising up in this pulpit and calling sin, sin I want him rising up and calling carnality, carnality I want the preacher to preach to my family and my house not what I want to hear not what I'd like to hear not what makes me feel good but I want word I want word that makes me live good a writer of Hebrews said we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip he said I'd never mess up I wish that was true but you don't know how quickly the thing that is so precious can slip from your hands the same preacher called me to a place of repentance that laid his hand on my forehead and prayed me through to the gift of the Holy Ghost today denies the oneness of God

doesn't baptize in Jesus name he's not speaking in tongues anymore and I still remember the day you kids wouldn't know what this is but there used to be a thing called Skype I still remember the day when I sat on a Skype call and he began to tell me why he was leaving the united Pentecostal church and he made it sound good I just to have a different personality and I don't want to cause confusion and oh his words were so well such a gifted orator and I was so much more naive in my early 20s than I am now it sounded so good but it was just a little while and the pictures on social media started looking different they weren't clothed modestly and they'd be at the restaurant and there'd be alcohol on the table and then all of a sudden messages about the trinity

started showing up on his church website and I'm thinking God how this is the man that laid his hand on my head and prayed me through to the Holy Ghost this is the man that put me on an airplane and flew me to district youth conventions and took me across the pacific ocean to another country this is the man that opened doors for me how? I'll tell you how he did not take heed to the precious thing and it slipped it slipped it slipped right through his hands and this is the problem in Pergamos it's the same battle they'd always been fighting it comes in many forms of fashions but the fundamental issue in the spiritual battle has always been concerning spiritual and moral compromise and if you begin to dilute the doctrine of the church and if you allow your morality to become corrupt

then inevitably we reduce conversion to nothing more than confession that is to do what pal said and make vain the grace of God because I stand tonight with a firm conviction that God still changes people God still changes people you wonder what pastor keeps calling out Tyler's name and he pulled Todd tell you why because there's change happening in his life God still changes people my kid just stand up here in the altar a few minutes ago as we were worshiping and I looked over I said I bet you didn't think 20 years ago tonight you'd be in the altar of an apostolic church holding your granddaughter no I didn't but God still changes people and I preach tonight in defiance and rejection of every doctrine that reduces salvation to a mere confession yes I know what the scripture says but you better rightly divide the word

and put it in its proper context because this salvation experience is about so much more than a little verbal confession it'll change your life it'll mess with your calendar it'll mess with your finances it'll change your social circle this word will change your life come on if you've been changed by it I think we all just lift up our voice and give God praise right now come on I've been changed I'm not the man I used to be and I'm still not the man that I will be because his grace is working in my life he he yeah yeah I've been changed I've been changed if I don't preach the whole council of God then I deny people the ability to experience a grace that will change them I'm talking I'm talking about a grace that'll change my wife and I have a friend he was doing 300 dollars of cocaine a day

had snorted so much cartless cocaine he had no cartilage in his nose you could bend his nose sideways he went down in the waters of baptism and when he came up out of the water not only had his sins been remitted but God put the cartilage back in his nose why? because it'll change you I had a phone call with someone the other day about a marriage and a family nobody in this church somewhere else in the country it's just in the brink of falling apart Haley said well what are you going to tell him I said tell me what to tell him I'm getting on the phone and tell him I'm not your marriage counselor I'm not trained and I don't want to be trained I'm just a preacher of the word so all I have to offer you is God if you want to get this thing fixed

then you better get in the truth you better get to church no more days go by with your Bible not being open no more weeks go by without you being in the house of God you got to get in the truth God's tolerance for false doctrine and so in verse 16 he said repent or else I will come to you quickly and we'll fight against them with the sword of my mouth with my word so what are you preaching tonight what I'm preaching is that change is proof of repentance I hope you feel sorry I hope you cry some tears I hope you shake under the power of God I hope you're talking tongues but if your life doesn't change I'm talking about change I don't know I tell my wife often maybe I have such strong feelings and opinions because there was some time in my life

when I wasn't in the church when I was being pulled away drawn by my own lust caught in the worldly drift so I'm not so naive to the lyrics of a song or the content of a movie I'm not so passive towards what's happening on smartphones I've been there I know what the world will do I remember being teenager at a Super Bowl party on a Sunday night with the Catholic priest who was so drunk it took three grown men to put him in the back seat of a taxi to get home making mockery of the name of the Lord and the idea of a church repent for what? things! you should not tolerate you have willingly turned your eye to things I'm trying to get you to address you've been silent where I'm asking you to speak or else I will have to come to you quickly

and I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth hear me tonight the reason doctrine matters is cause right living flows from right thinking and it's time we yield the word of the Lord he said be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind by the renovation there's some things you gotta take out there's some things you never should have learned there's some things you never should have seen there's some things you never should have been exposed to but you were living at the seat of sin you were seeing things I didn't want you to see doing things I wish you'd never done and now you're not thinking the way you need to think but if you're a pen you can tear out that old way of thinking and you can put on the new man but all of that begins

with the decision that I choose not to be conformed to this world conformity is yes it's a hard thing but it always surfaces in the image of the individual and so I wonder what is what is the predominant influence of your life that shapes your image let me get playing with you now sometimes was that Haley and I'll be somewhere and someone who's obviously not read the Bible walks by and Haley may say um you should turn your head don't look that way right now yes ma'am what is it I'll tell you what it is it's a spirit that works through that human will and conforms that individual to a certain image that's why some people just feel sensual and Paul said you cannot be conformed to the world you cannot allow yourself to take on the image or the appearance the mannerism or the tendency of the world

I know I know you were exposed to things that you never should have been exposed to you never should have heard that song you never should have seen that movie you never should have had that happen to you but when it did it made your thinking perverse it made your mind crooked but the good news is the word is sufficient that if you will repent you can take that out and you can be conformed to the image of Christ our keys can come back stand with me I'm almost done right thinking and right living does matter we are saved by the gospel the bible said it is the power of God unto salvation but when he declared that on the day of Pentecost he proclaimed to the crowd what God had done and the opportunity they had to have their sins washed away to be filled with the promise

of the Holy Ghost but then he continued he pressed on past the opportunity they had and began to tell them of the responsibility they had he said in Acts 2 and 40 save yourselves from this untoward generation holy God can save you from your sin but then you have to make the decision that I will save myself from this crooked and perverse world I'm preaching tonight about the cost of commitment and a culture of compromise compromise is all around us they cry tolerance not realizing that their cry for tolerance is intolerant of our intolerance G.K. Chesterton profound author he said intolerance is just the way of living for a man with no conviction James said to be a friend of the world is to be an enmity with God all wrote and he said sayeth the Lord touch not the unclean thing if only Eve would have had that word

because she couldn't have eaten it had she not touched it boundaries matter someone told me in a conversation a while ago not all about the boundary if you get your heart right I said yeah that sounds like self-righteousness to me you trust so much in your heart that the Bible says is deceitful and wicked and no man can know it that you're willing to neglect the scripture God said Moses I'm coming down on this mountain don't touch it don't let the people touch it the question might rightly be asked where does the mountain star it seems God was letting the angel the shepherd the overseer establish a boundary in the interest of God's people so I say tonight conviction is to be cherished we don't hear a conviction preaching like they did back in the old times J.T.P.P. preaching your first night in hell

whole elder O.R. Foss they said he preached hell so hot people would crawl to the altar in the middle of his preaching I'm not advocating we just go around shouting about hell all the time but I can't help but wonder if we've become so familiar and church has become so convenient and the construct of our services and our lives have become so premeditated that we don't really live with the all and the reverence we should I'm here tonight because I've been preached under conviction time and time again I can tell you about a lot of Sundays as a new convert when brother Woodward walked to the pulp and I felt so challenged to change who I was conviction is to be cherished I don't want new life fellowship to ever become a church where people feel comfortable in their sin and I know I've already heard the meditation of your mind

sitting in my chair this afternoon someone right now is thinking well they have to know we love them you're right and when they're down here we're snot running down their face bawling like a baby because God is ripping that hard of sin out of them you ought to get down beside them throw an arm over their shoulder cause conversion happens when people are convicted but discipleship happens when people know their loved the city of Pergamos remain for one thousand more years but don't make a mistake God's patience after that prophecy was not to be taken as permission for their lifestyle he's loving and he's long suffering but if you were to go to that ancient city of Pergamos today standing atop a thousand foot hill stand the ruins of an ancient city no church no witness to the name of Jesus just a story about what was

and what could have been had it not been for compromise the cost of commitment is this he mentioned it in our earlier reading Antipas that faithful servant that martyr antipas what is the cost for commitment amidst the culture of compromise if he could answer tonight he would tell you it was my life and I tell you for us it's the same I don't preach tonight of an impending physical death though one day we all will face it the truth that we must wrestle within this moment is antipas had to give up his life in death but what God would ask of us is to give up our life in living if we grasp this there would not be an empty sea in the risers there wouldn't be a midweek that we weren't canceling plans and rearranging our lives to be here I'm not advocating that you must die the death that antipas did

but I do want to preach to you tonight that the cost of commitment in a culture of compromise is that we die by giving him our lives by living for him antipas had to give up his future through death but we have to give up our future through living for God that's all I'm asking is that you'd live for him like that matters more than anything my wife and I sat at a table with someone just a little while ago who began to speak to us some desires of their heart toiling with the desire for the kingdom but wanting to be close to family and to be comfortable I said well you're talking to the wrong people I'd love to raise my kids in your family I can tell you about all kinds of comforts and luxuries I'd love to pursue but to me this kingdom

thing's not a joke and it's not a call to half hearted living when I told God that I would commit my life into his hands I meant it and I've sold everything I own and move across the world and sold it again to move back and I hope that God never asked me to do it again but I'll tell you this if the Lord woke me up in the morning and said Dan McLeod it's time to go I'd call pastor and then we'd start back and I don't think it's gonna happen I sure hope that God don't happen but that's the kind of commitment I'm talking about someone was talking to me about our global missions director recently their friends of ours and they were talking about man what a missionary what a hero of the faith I said yeah it's true great mighty man of God

true apostle of the Lord but everybody wants to talk about Adam Hunley nobody wants to talk about Adam Hunley's parents nobody wants to talk about what it's like to open your hand and say I'm gonna release my kids to uncertainty but to the kingdom to war torn countries and Islamic republics isle cities that desperately need churches I hope to God I hope to God that if the Lord should tarry nobody's talking about new life like we're talking about Pergamos is for your commitment you said what are you asking for I'm asking for your whole life that's what I'm asking for oh God I don't know where he's gonna take you I don't know how he's gonna lead you I don't know all that the future will have but what I do know is the cost of commitment in a culture of compromise is giving God

our life our future our dreams our passion