Welcome to Strong Tower Youth Camp 2024!

as you return to your seats thank you so much to the praise team the music team having they done such an awesome job won't you give them a hand leading us into his presence amen while you're going back to your seats I just want to say what an absolute privilege it is to be ministering today to be standing here God has been so good so good to me and my family and to be here as a student to be here as a youth leader and now to be able to minister and give back is such an incredible privilege and really hard to believe at times but I am so thankful that God has blessed me much like most of you God has done some incredible things in your life hopefully this week I know I have been challenged and convicted but I am so thankful to be there as you return to your seat you can go ahead and be seated for a moment I want to say great big thank you to to brother Zach camon and the entire Strong Tower Youth Camp staff putting on such an awesome conference don't you love your youth president come on we can do better than that isn't he doing an awesome Stellar job so thankful for the team what this Camp does every year for each and every student I want to give honor to where honor is due of course our leadership with brother Zach I want to give honor to the leadership of our organization Bishop Carpenter who has been here this week won't you give it up for our general superintendent to all the ministry here represented the pastors the student pastors District officials won't you put your hands together and honor them today I honor you as well it's a pleasure and appr privilege to me to represent the Georgia District today I am so thankful to serve the greatest District in the assemblies and I will fight you over that where's my Georgia people at won't you give it up for our stay there we go usually when they call out for Georgia they call the dog so I'm glad that didn't happen probably cuz I'm usually the one doing it so uh maybe we'll save that for next time have you not enjoyed the preaching so far this week my my my brother Porterfield brother Gore brother Roberts I can't wait to hear Brother Nolan Carpenter one more time won't you put your hands together in hon to them it's a privilege to be ministering alongside them for me personally I just want to say a great big thank you to my pastor Pastor Tim Hammond the greatest Pastor the greatest preacher in the entire world I'm thankful for what he and sister Dorcas mean for my wife and I and ministering to us and in developing us of course my family uh my parents I give them honor today um sending me to a to a youth camp um students I know not everybody comes from a good family situation but if you have parents even if they're not Apostolic who try their best to train you ought to be thankful for that and I'm thankful for my parents I'm so so thankful to have my wife and my baby girl here this week I could not could not do what I do without them I have a really really I'm looking forward to a date after this with the prettiest girl in the room Miss Katie vau I'm so excited to uh to go on a date with her I asked her out at camp and she said yes so that's a win for me this week I'm kidding but I really am so thankful for her she is so passionate loving caring encouraging I wouldn't be who I am without her today I want to say uh give honor to our youth staff today from New Life both uh Jason and disa hagwood Derek Jennifer Barnett they lead our adultish group at New Life they're doing an incredible job and uh all the staff that we work with for nla youth back home those are not able to be here I'm so so appreciative of their uh help and everything they do for our student Ministry and to the greatest youth group on the entire planet I love you guys n La Youth and adultish you guys are awesome I'm proud of you guys each of you have taken great steps in your walk with God and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the week holds in store if you would stand with me all over the over the place strong tower has been such a blessing to our student ministry as you're turning we're going to start at Matthew Chapter 6: 2 as you're turning I I just want to say we've celebrated some physical birthdays in the youth group the last couple weeks [name redacted] turned 16 couple weeks ago Lon hagwood turned 20 you guys heard about [name redacted] last night he turned 16 yesterday that's right give it up for him but what he did not tell you is that he has a twin brother so I want to give credit to [name redacted] he turned 16 yesterday we love celebrating birthdays but you know what I love celebrating More Than Physical birthdays is spiritual birthdays last year at this camp we had seven students filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking with other tongues many of them are celebrating their first spiritual birthday and I think that's worth celebrating don't you many of you have been filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost this week many more to be filled for the rest of the week and I'm excited to celebrate with you next year for your spiritual birthday amen Matthew chapter 6 verse 2 the Bible says therefore when thou doest thine arms or when you give your offering do not sound a trumpet before thee as the Hypocrites do somebody say Hypocrites don't do it like the Hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have the glory of men verily I say unto you they have their reward my title today there's been some great preaching already this is just my contribution to what has already been given across this sacred desk but my title today is the masked student because here we are on the third day of strong tower many of you have shouted many of you have danced many of you may have received breakthroughs and yet many of you are still wearing a mask you want to hide some things some things you're insecure about some things you're afraid to share to other people and most importantly to God but my hope and prayer is that by the time we're done this morning that you'll have the courage to take off the mask and surrender it to the feet of Jesus Christ would you lift your hands and pray with me today dear heavenly father Lord I Thank you for this opportunity to be gathered in your house once more I thank you for the great preaching the great Services we've already had I thank you for the incredible worship and the spirit that we have felt in this room this morning Lord I pray you to anoint me my lips of clay to deliver the word you put in my heart and I pray that people would receive it with Faith Lord break up the F ground and let the good seed go forth and become fruitful and I pray that we would all leave changed in trusting in you in Jesus name amen before you're seated I want you to turn to your neighbor and say you look good this morning now turn to your other neighbor that you did not go to the first time and say you tried your best now turn to the person behind you and say I could tell you did not try your best and if you have somebody in front of you or somebody you had talked to just look at them and don't say anything just like everybody friends now right I think I just stirred some things up I didn't even mean to stir up you guys can go ahead and be seated in Jesus name there is a uh there's a popular TV show called The Mask singer has anybody ever seen that or heard of it maybe you seen clips of it oh we got a fan in here okay if you're not familiar with this show it's uh they take celebrities and athletes you know very well-known people and they put them in a full body costume with a microphone inside and they distort their voice and they come out and they sing a song and the objective is you have to try and guess who's behind the mask who's in the costume uh the idea is really cool Katie and I tried to watch it the way they present it was a little silly so we turn it off but the idea was really interesting to me that you know you have no idea one time it was some basketball player you didn't even know they could sing That's The Masked Singer masks have been used in performance for a very long time it's not a modern idea in fact it's as ancient as theater and the idea of drama is itself the ancient Greeks are credited with inventing the theater they created plays and the idea of acting they also pioneered the use of masks and costumes during the performance to enhance the performance they had many different terms for the theater world and one of the terms they had for an actor who wore a mask is a word you're very familiar with and you probably didn't even know that this is where it came from they had a a word that they actually put two words in the ancient Greek together one of them meant interpreter the other word meant underneath so you compound these words together in the literal translation is one who interprets from underneath meaning if you're wearing a mask you were telling a story about somebody else's life from underneath the mask does that make sense the word translated to English is the word hypocrite everybody say hypocrite the Greeks were very very uh uh serious about their culture and and everywhere they went they spread this culture Alexander the Great when he conquered the entire ancient Known World he built amphitheaters in fact they'll show you a picture of one here in a moment they built amphitheaters all throughout the ancient world and what they would do the idea is if he's like if I can get people addicted to Greek culture if I can get them addicted to coming to the theater and seeing the performance then maybe I can keep them submitted to my rule isn't that just like the devil if I can just get them addicted to the wrong culture then maybe they won't want to go back to what was working in the first place amen so he went and built these amphitheaters and of course he passes on in some 300 years later Jesus starts preaching and by this time there were amphitheaters all throughout Jerusalem and so people were familiar with going to the theater and watching a play and they were familiar with this term hypocrite so in Matthew chap 6 Jesus did not invent the word hypocrite he T he took a word out of popular culture and he repurposed it in Matthew chapter 62 our opening text he said therefore when thou doest thine arms or when you come to give your offering don't sound a trumpet before yourself as the Hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have the glory of men verily I say un you they have their reward now when we hear the word hypocrite we think double stand standard right somebody says something but does something different if your friend you ask him hey what do you have you been to that new Mexican restaurant in town I think I'm going to try and they say oh no do not go there it is horrible we went there we sat for an hour waiting waiting to get sat for an hour and then it took an hour and a half to get our food once we got it was nasty the waiter was rude he never gave us a refill and then we were sick for 3 days do not go there and you're like wow okay thank you I will you seem very attached to that they they steal your girlfriend or something I don't know what happened there but this is a problem thanks for telling me I'm not going to go there but then the next day you drive by and you see their car outside so you peek in and they are just chowing down on a burrito like it's their last meal you might walk in there and be like what's going on you told me not to come here and here you are eating it you might call that person a a hypocrite because they told you to do something or not do something but they did it themselves there many times when Jesus is using this word that's what he's talking about we'll get to that in a moment but right here he's using this word hypocrite to describe somebody as an actor who was wearing a mask he said when you when you go to give your offering don't sound a trumpet back then if a famous actor actress came to do a play in your local theater if they were in a costume of course you wouldn't be able to tell who they were when they walked onto the stage so to announce to the audience that a very important person some famous actor or famous actress had now come on the stage there would be somebody off to the side who had a trumpet and when that person that actor would walk onto the stage that person would sound the trumpet and it was a signal to the audience that somebody important had just appeared so Jesus said when you go and give your offering at church don't have somebody sounding a trumpet and say well this important person just walked in the room this important person is now here he said don't make yourself out to be something like that because if you do you're acting and the purpose of acting is to get the Applause that's why Jesus said if you do that like the Hypocrites do like the actors do they have their reward because all they want is the Applause he said don't be like the Hypocrites three times in this famous Sermon on the Mount Jesus uses this word hypocrite and each time he uses the phrase soon after this phrase for they have their reward because they're acting they're pretending to be someone they're not and they're doing it with the wrong motive to be a hypocrite is to hide your real s behind a mask and how many times do we as individuals and particularly as students do you hide your true self behind a mask trying to tell a story of somebody else's life that you want to have but you're hiding yourself you want the affirmation you want to be included you don't want the true nature inside to be discovered and if we are not careful you can be baptized in Jesus name filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost and still walk around with a mask on today I'm going to talk about three masks that students easily use to hide themselves and I'm going to do it not to berate or belittle you but hopefully in an effort to get you to take it off so the first mask we're going to talk about together is the mask of self-righteousness self-righteousness is the tendency to appear sinless and look down on your fellow Sinners Jesus did use the word hypocrite to describe someone with a double standard and he used it to describe self-righteous people in Matthew 15:7 he calls the Pharisees from Jerusalem Hypocrites for twisting the intention of the law of Moses through their traditions in Matthew 16:3 the Pharisees show up with their political enemies the Sadducees to tempt Jesus by asking him for a sign from heaven and he calls out their hypocrisy in Matthew 22 and18 the Pharisees show back up with some different political enemies of theirs the herodians and they try to trap Jesus by asking is it lawful to give to Caesar so he calls them Hypocrites and said render therefore to Caesar the things which are Caesars and unto God the things that are gods and then in Matthew 23 verse 27 he says woe unto you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for you are like unto wided seers which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of Dead Man's Bones and of all uncleanness even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity now for the Jews it was very important that you never touch a dead body and if you have to for funeral purposes you were unclean until the evening it was very very important to their culture it was very important to their religion so so to make sure if you are walking through a cemetery that you accidentally didn't brush up against a grave or a tomb or a tombstone or something like that which would make you unclean what they would do is once a year they would take some Limestone and they used it kind of like chalk and they would paint the outside of that tomb or that headstone to warn you do not come near because if you come here there's something dead inside Jesus said you hypocrite you are pretending to be something you're not because your motive is wrong on the outside you look like you're all put together and you've never made a mistake but on the inside there's dead and there's Decay going on he used the reference to get the point across to the Pharisees who looked religious that they may have looked good on the outside but it was just a mask this tells us that self-righteousness is a mask and every mask students hides the truth the mask looks good self-righteousness can appear that someone has it all together that they are the ideal perfect Christian but every mask hides something so the mask of self-righteousness hides sin and here's what is on my heart for this point for this message today if you serve God long enough you can learn how to hide your sin really good you can dress the part you can have the best suit the best tie young ladies you can have your hair looking so good you can dress it up you can be involved in every Ministry at your church but just because the mask looks good on the outside that does not mean that there is life on the inside because self-righteousness can cover up the bad habits and the bad decisions but it's only for a little while you can get clever enough over time to hide behind the mask of self-righteousness and keep your sin hidden even from your pastor and your student pastor and your parents but only for a little while because eventually what is done in secret will be brought into the open most of the students here I imagine are either either Millennials or gen Z any any Alphas J alpas is in the room yet probably not gen Z and Millennials it's no debate you guys have it tough I'm a millennial myself and even the world that I grew up in and with was developed as a teenager is very different than the world we are in now you guys no doubt have the cards stacked against you you are surrounded by Temptation on every side and sin has become more accessible than it ever has before based on statistics I want to slow down here for a second based on statistics it is very likely that many of you have sinned on this campus and you have viewed inappropriate and explicit images and videos this week maybe after you shouted and got a breakthrough well I'm talking to somebody I feel it right now many of you have danced and you thought finally this is it and I'm free and you got back to your dorm and it came right back and you found a private time in a private area and you indulged in things that you either cannot or you will not let go of because you are hiding behind a mask Sin becomes a burden that eventually gets too heavy to carry much less hide and you spend so much time and energy worrying about who will find out what you're really up to and you worry what people will think of you if it ever does get out into the light and the devil has has convinced you that your pastor your student Pastor your parents and the people you trust and look up to will be disgusted and so disappointed with you if they find out so it's so much more comfortable and easy to hide behind the mask but I've come to preach this morning that the devil is a liar and he is the father of lies and he may have convinced you and got you so scared to think that there's not going to be a way out and that when it does come out it's going to be ugly and nasty and people are going to look down on you I've come to preach Deliverance today in this house uh I've simply come to offer you the chance to to take the mask off come on Jesus's Grace is more than enough if you believe that he died you must believe that he can forgive you Jesus loves you and he wants to forgive you because he already knows what you've done he knew what you would do before you were ever born as he was walking to the Cross he did not turn around and set the cross down while he was thinking about what you were indulging with but rather Romans 5 and8 says but God commendeth his love towards us uh in that while we were yet sinners uh Christ died for us you see the devil wants you to think that because you've got it all wrapped up and it's a secret that nobody knows but Jesus already knew what you would do and he still went to the cross and he died for you and if Jesus still loves you and forgives you the people in your life that are Christlike will love you and forgive you too there's hope today there's hope today you don't have to hide behind a mask self-righteousness says that I'm too afraid to admit that I have a problem and I need the help but I'm too afraid to ask for it so instead I'm going to wear this mask and I'm going to point to other people's sins the psalmist David gave us good advice on how to deal with this in Psalm 51 because he had sinned by committing adultery and then murder and he tried to cover it up and appear righteous before everybody around him but God saw it he sent the prophet Nathan to confront David's sin and to bring him out from hiding behind the mask David uh stood before Nathan and the prophet looked at him and said Thou Art the man God loved David so much and he knew what was in his future and he knew what was in his lineage the Messiah that he loved him too much to let him stay hidden behind the mask so he sent a preacher he sent a man of God to take off the mask and I've come to offer you the same opportunity today it is time to take off the mask it's time to find an altar and say Jesus I am so sorry I cannot stop doing this and I need help uh I've come to confess to you that I do not have it all together is somebody hear me in this house uh it's time to take off the mask of self-righteousness it's time to take off the mask and surrender it to Jesus nothing rather not everything that keeps us from God is sin however and one final note before I move on if you are struggling with a habit of sin that you have tried but you cannot break the key is repentance and accountability amen you need to find a chaperon a pastor a student pastor this week and you need to find a time to talk to them say look I need help it's going to be awkward it's going to be tough because the devil's convinced you that they're not going to love you and they're going to kick you off the platform and they're never going to invite you over for dinner anymore no my friend it's the exact opposite they're going to love you and you're going to feel Grace like you've never felt grace before you are going to feel the mercy of God that is new every morning and yet it is restored through a man of God or a woman of God in your life you need accountability but not everything that separates us from God is sin the Bible also talks about weights weights are things in your life that even though they're not sin they can still separate you from God and from your purpose they are things we carry that weigh us down they could be distractions that keep you from church they could be dist distractions that keep you from loving and knowing god or they simply could be distractions that keep you from letting God know who the real you is so let's talk about one of those weights today because the second mask that a lot of students struggle with is social media social media is not a sin I'm not here to preach about it and against it I social media is not evil if you have social media and you use it the right way that's fine and I know that this is an easy thing to pick on but we need to talk about it because even though it's not a sin it can become a weight that can carry you and weigh you down for many social media becomes a mask that we use to hide our insecurities Pastor Ken borren says social media is representative but not reality it represents a person but often does not tell what that person has really going on we can find it very easy to post about only the good things in our lives you'll post about your new clothes and you'll post about your family's new car and you'll post about the 16th Starbucks you've had this week and show everybody the same picture and the same filter you want to post about the good things and when you're hanging out with people post pictures with people so they think man this person has a lot of friends but there are a lot of things you don't post about you don't post about the things you're insecure about you don't post about the things you don't other want others to know the things you struggle with you don't post about the issues and the trauma and the stress and the abuse you don't talk about those things because you want people to know how good you got it what you're doing is you're putting on a mask social media is representative but it's not reality you post the opposite because you want to hide the truth of what's really going on in your heart while everybody else thinks that everything's not just fine but doing great it's easy to post the highlights and let people people think that you're okay but when it comes to social media nothing is truly as it seems for many of you in this room social media has become a weight it has become a mask you are using to hide your reality and you think if you can hide your reality from people who follow you on Instagram you think you can hide your reality from God as well social media has become so concerning that even experts outside of the church are beginning to speak out last year the US Surgeon General released this warning he said the most common question parents ask me is social media safe for my kids the answer is that we don't have enough evidence to say it's safe in fact there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to Young people's mental health we are in the middle of a National Youth mental crisis he goes on and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis one that we must urgently address he says increasingly evidence is indicating that there is reason to be concerned about the risk of harm social media use use poses to Children and adolescents and those who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of poor mental health including experiencing symptoms of depression anxiety and then he goes on to say say this is deeply concerning it's one thing to hear that from the pulpit it's another thing to hear that from the world social media in moderation is fine but when it is used to feed ego and cover up insecurities it can be harmful to your spiritual walk with God Amen I know they didn't have social media in the Bible but one of the best examples you can look to is in the Old Testament at King Saul because the issue for many people's social media is so deeply rooted in deep insecurities it's not a new thing for people to hide their insecurities behind a mask in fact King Saul was probably the best example of it because when the people decided they wanted a king in Israel God told the prophet Samuel to anoint Saul as the king and when Samuel spoke with Saul you can see his insecurity surface in first Samuel 9:21 he says and Saul answered and said am not I a benjamite of the smallest tribes of Israel and my family the least of all the families of The Tribe of Benjamin wherefore then speakest thou so to me Saul could not believe that God had chosen him because his family was the least significant family in the smallest tribe in all of Israel as the story goes on when it comes time for the prophet to introduce Saul before the children of Israel as the king he had disappeared nobody could find him so finally the Lord had to tell the people where he was hiding 1st Samuel 10 the Bible says when he had caused The Tribe of Benjamin to come nearby their families and the family of matri was taken and Saul the son of Kish was taken when they sought him he could not be found therefore they inquired of the Lord further if the man should yet come thither and the Lord answered beh hold he hath hid himself among the stuff Saul went and hid himself among the stuff amongst the possessions he was so insecure about himself that he went and hid himself when it came time to announce him as the king and no matter what you hide your true self behind the lord always knows where you are hiding and some of you have danced in worship but you're still hiding behind the stuff you're still hiding behind the mask of what you think is a reality you can live in and it can be fulfilling but the truth is that whether it's social media or you're just talking with other people trying to make yourself to be something you're not the truth is that you cannot hide your insecurities and find fulfillment you must find Jesus because the problem is if you don't trust your insecurities to God you will do what Saul did when he became king and the Bible says the anointing would fall on him and he would begin to do Great and Mighty things the Bible says he got drunk on that success because people started worshiping and applauding and praising him and he got it backwards he thought because I'm doing these things people love me and so what happened is he started doing what only pleased other people he started doing what would get him the affirmation he was so desperate for and eventually that weight became so heavy that it began to lead him away from God to a point where he disobeyed God so much that God said I can't use him anymore I'm going to find me a new king and when you use your insecurities and you try to find affirmation in other people people in other places besides Jesus Christ you will do the same thing you will first hide yourself among the stuff and you'll get drunk on how many likes you can get on a picture and you'll get drunk and you'll get addicted to that affirmation and that Rush of adrenaline you'll get addicted because you are finding affirmation in places that ultimately cannot be fulfilling cuz as soon as that picture doesn't get enough likes you take it down and you post a new one and when you get enough likes that that Rush is fleeting and it's gone so you got to post a new one and it's a NeverEnding cycle where you're just trying to get that dopamine hit over and over and over and eventually if you don't get the affirmation you get and you need you think well there must be something wrong with me maybe I'm just ugly maybe I'm just weird maybe nobody likes me because I'm not worth liking I've come to tell you that is a Lie from hell today the devil has convince you to look in places other than Jesus Christ for your affirmation and if you continue to stay behind the mask you will always search for something that can fill your heart but my friend I'm telling you today is the day to take off the mask and say you know what Jesus I know I don't have it all figured out but I'm surrendering to you the things I don't want other people to know about I'm surrendering my insecurities and I want to get affirmation from you and you alone am I helping anybody today you got to know what Jeremiah 1:5 says he says before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee Psalm 139 says I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well see the some of the things you guys are struggling with is you're trying to get affirmation from people but you don't understand you're still developing you're still discovering yourself you're still discovering your talents and your personality you're still discovering your calling in your your giftings but when you put it out there on social media and nobody responds you think well this is I'm just not doing it right and maybe I'm not good enough and so you just cast it away but Jesus loves you too much he created you just the way you are he's given you everything you need to be successful in life it's time to take the mask off The Third Mask and this is the one I really want to talk about today is the mask of church culture the mask of church culture now let me say I I love being Apostolic I love it I love coming to church and people are running aisles people are shouting people are praising God I love everything about being in this truth I love the truth I love being Apostolic so don't misunderstand what I'm saying here but I have noticed something over time I've come to realize that there are a lot of apostolic people who look the part and sound the part but they are acting cuz when you act Apostolic it's all about appearances because after all a mask is all about performance I have learned that if you're not careful then acting Apostolic can become only your cult culture and not your convictions I love our culture I love everything about being Apostolic but just like everything else if you come around the church long enough especially if you were born into this and that is a privilege there's no question but if you're around the church long enough you can go through the motions of being Apostolic without truly becoming Apostolic you can know how to look right you know how to dress at conferences you know how to behave you know when to stand up and when to clap during service you know how to greet other people with a brother or a sister you know how to do a handshake or a bro handshake or a side hug if it's obviously young young lady you know all the culture you know all the apostolic influencers and singers and preachers out there and if somebody takes off running during worship doesn't scare you so bad like as if you were somebody who was there for the first time you know all about the culture you know about speaking in tongues so when by someone starts speaking in tongues you don't even notice it doesn't freak you out you know about the culture you know all the apostolic references you know exactly what to expect in a church service you know how to act Apostolic but if you're not careful you will substitute convictions for church culture convictions are what you believe you believe the biblical convictions the word of God you believe the truth of repentance baptism in Jesus name and the infilling of the Holy Ghost you believe the Oneness of the godhead and you believe in a separated Holiness lifestyle convictions are unchanging beliefs that you hold and no one can talk you out of not just biblical convictions but personal convictions that you believe to your core because they're part of your identity and if you compromise your convictions you compromise your identity convictions are things you can explain to others you believe it for yourself because you've studied the Bible you've believed it to be true and you can explain it to somebody else my friend convictions come from a personal relationship with Jesus but if you're not careful you can allow Church culture to become a mask and to hide the lack of convictions you can allow Church attendance to take the place of daily disciplines you can allow Church culture knowing how to act Apostolic to replace your convictions which is becoming Apostolic you can know when culture has replaced your convictions when you live a certain way but you can't explain expin it to anybody who doesn't live that way if you've ever said things like well this is just what I've always done that's just what my my church teaches that's just what my pastor teaches but you don't know it for yourself you might be wearing a mask you look Apostolic but you really don't believe it to your core because you don't have the convictions in your heart and you may have received the Holy Ghost you may have spoken in tongues at a young age maybe a year or two ago but it's been a long time since you prayed through and yet if people look at you they think everything's okay he looks the part she looks Apostolic you claim to be Apostolic but at the end of the day you don't have the convictions because you think that culture creates conviction but it's the other way around the beautiful culture we have in this church is because of convictions that were established first the convictions brought the culture the convictions established the culture but if you try to get it the other way around you will have culture without convictions and that will always lead to compromise there are a lot of students that hide behind the mask of church culture who look the part talk the part because they've learned to wear the mask but they don't have the conviction behind the mask and the thing is like the other masks that can work for a little while but if you don't get it for yourself if you don't get the convictions for yourself culture can only take you so far and you might Coast on the culture of your church but eventually you will either be led Away by sin or the delusion that thinking that the mask is what is real and it's supposed to save you so you look at somebody else who doesn't believe the same way and say I don't understand the difference they love God I don't understand why I can't date them I don't understand why I can't go to that church because it for you it's become about culture and it's not been about convictions you have traded substance for a substitute the mask of trying to be a church member so to speak takes the place of knowing Jesus because if culture comes from convictions then convictions only comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ the thing is if you'll only focus on loving Jesus then being Apostolic is a natural byproduct of that process being Apostolic instead of becoming the end of the means becomes the means for the end you just fall in love with Jesus you just fall in love with his presence you fall in love with his word you fall in love with coming to church and feeling the move of the spirit you fall in love with sharing that experience with somebody else and eventually the culture comes and the questions you wrestled with and struggled with you don't wrestle and struggle with anymore why because now you have the convictions I I'm trying to slow this down for you guys I don't want to rush through through this cuz I want you guys to get it the truth is this room right now should be full of people who were here last year and the year before that friends I grew up with coming to this camp and praying in this altar I remember right here in this spot got AO God got a hold of my life one night and I've never been the same but then there are people all along this road who were praying next to me that they're not here anymore because they thought it was all about a feeling and an experience and they thought well as long as I can get a good dose of Holy Ghost and as long as I dress the part and I'm involved in Ministry people will think I'm okay and they tried to Coast on culture until something came that offended them or confused them or there was something that brought an obstacle to their faith and culture was not enough because they tried to build their house on the sand and not the solid rock you need convictions and you need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ just cuz your best friends with your pastor or your student pastor's wife does not get you to heaven it does not get you to heaven wearing long pants it does not get you to heaven these are beautiful convictions but what gets you to heaven is having a relationship with Jesus Christ and if you can just focus on loving Jesus then the convictions will come throw your hands up for a moment let's talk to the Lord yeah I'm not done but I feel something moving right here some of you are feeling the courage and you're feeling the draw of the Holy Ghost in your heart you feel that heartbeat God's calling you to step out and take off the mask but there's that fear there's that Pride that's sneaking up again just like it does every time I rebuke that in the name of Jesus Christ I pray that you would have the courage and the faith to step out in your heart and to step out and make the decision to love Jesus if you remain standing I'm going to be drawing to a close I'm going to summarize the last passage Genesis chapter 2:15 Genesis chapter 3 the Bible talks about in the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve were in this perfect Paradise God gave them one commandment he said whatever you do you can enjoy everything but do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil so one day the serpent caught Eve hanging around the one tree she wasn't supposed to be around he says how come you've not eaten of this fruit and she said well we can't touch it or we'll die and he says you won't really die will you and as he's talking he convinces her that it's okay to take the fruit he convinces her that it's okay because for her the Commandment was passed on from Adam because God never directly told her not to eat of the fruit because the Commandment the conviction if you will was passed on to her and she did not have it for herself she eventually fell victim to the trick of the enemy and then she hands it to her husband who did know better and yet chose to follow the person he loved the Bible says when they sinned their eyes were open and they realized they were naked they were exposed so what did they do they took fig leaves and they sewed them together and they tried to cover themselves up they tried to put on the mask and hide who they really were their true nature the sinful nature that had entered in hide it from God you see Adam and Eve had been in the garden they had the culture of being in in the garden if you looked at them even after they took of their fruit you would see pretty much nothing different you think well they're in the garden so they should be okay yeah they got some leaves on I don't know what that's about but they're still in the garden that's where God meets with them they must be fine even though they were in the garden the garden was no longer inside of them and many of you are still in the church and I commend you for still coming and attending and serving but some of you have worn this mask so long that you no longer can discern the difference between Church culture and church biblical and personal convictions and people by standards could have looked in inside the garden and said well everything's fine and they can look at you and say well everything's fine cuz they're serving and they're still coming and they're attending but you don't have the convictions here's the thing about these masks Satan wants to wants you to keep these masks on he wants you to hide your sin under self-righteousness he wants you to hide your insecurities by social media and he wants you to hide the lack of relationship and convictions behind Church culture he wants you to stay masked we as human beings have been hiding behind things from the very beginning just like in Adam and Eve they were hiding behind things they created they thought they could cover themselves with we do the same thing today just looks a little different when they confessed the wrongdoing yes they had to endure the consequences of their sin and they were expelled from the garden but before they were kicked out God made them coats of animal skins to replace the Fig leaves they covered themselves with in order to have animal skins that means an animal had to die this was a foreshadow of the sacrifice of the innocent lamb that covers Us when Jesus was crucified the Bible says that they parted his garments and cast lots for his coat says in another place that he was crucified to an open shame he was completely exposed there was nothing to hide behind there were no masks there were no fig leaves he was just there he was completely submitted to God's will completely surrendered to God not hiding anything and in Matthew 16:24 Jesus said unto his disciples If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me and if you were going to follow Jesus he asks you to take up your cross today that means not only crucifying your flesh but that also means exposing your heart because the thing about the cross students is the cross Dem masks us the cross removes the mask because when you decide to follow Jesus and you take up your cross you were not just submitting your flesh you were taking any mask that you have and you are casting it aside it is Satan's will today to for you to keep your mask on because he want you to hide your true self from God he does not want you to trust God he does not want you to know God he wants there to be things secret and hidden but I encourage you today to come to Jesus and to take off the mask cuz it's okay to admit that you're not okay that you're still working through some things and struggling with some things but it's not okay to stay that way today so here's what we're going to do I want everybody to come to this altar as quickly as you can because I don't want anybody to not come to the altar because they're afraid of what other people think about them what people are saying and imagining what they've done and what they're struggling with the truth is that we all wear masks from time to times we all become those Hypocrites that we talk about everybody in this room has an issue everybody in this room has something you're struggling with so this is a safe place this is a safe place where you can lift your hands and if you are struggling with something maybe I've not even talked about but God's been moving on your heart this this week this is your opportunity today this is your opportunity because Jesus loves you and he died for you he created you and formed you in in your mother's womb he loved you enough to give his life on Calvary for you and he wants nothing more than a relationship with you on a personal level he doesn't want you to pretend to be somebody you're not he does not want you to pretend to be something that you can never possibly be and never measure up to he wants you to be real so I want everybody to close your eyes and lift your hands God we invite you into this room right now Lord there are many students in here right now I have felt it all week that you have been moving and reaching for them to this point they've not for whatever reason had the courage but I pray right now that they would have the courage to take off the mask and if they are struggling with sin I pray that they would have the courage to confess to get a accountability and to repent of that sin if they are struggling with insecurities that are keeping them from their purpose and keeping them from fulfilling their god-given uh talents and abilities in their in this Walk of Life God I pray right now in the name of Jesus that they would surrender those things to you right now and instead of getting affirmation from other people I pray that they would trust and get affirmation from you those who are wearing the mask of church culture and trying to pretend like they got it all together but they are empty inside and they are desperate for change I pray right now that you would refill them with the gift of the Holy Ghost come on students I want you to lift up your prayer right now come on God is speaking and reaching right now it's time to take off the mask today don't don't let this moment pass by because your word about what other people are thinking about you come on lift your hands talk to the Lord right now