Hey, this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu from PNEUMA Church in Houston, Texas.

Thank you for listening to the message today.

I hope that it blesses you and all those that you share it with.

God bless you.

You can be seated for a moment.

God is good.

All the time.

Praise God.

Welcome to PNEUMA church.

This beautiful Sunday morning, man.

It feels, it feels good.

It feels good outside today.

Yesterday and today it felt beautiful, but ain't going to last very long.

We are about to get into the summer months and it's going to feel like hell outside.

That is a reminder that you do not want to go there.

So, amen.

I want a quick, quick announcement that I want to make.

Um, we have a, we have a meet and greet this, uh, this Tuesday night, um, for anybody who's been here for, you know, six months to a year, maybe you don't know who, who is who yet you haven't met our leaders, you, you, you don't know what the history of the church is.

We're, we want to feed you on this, on this night.

If you've already been to a meet and greet, can't come.

Okay.

Um, but, but if you're, if you're new or fairly new, we would love to get to, to know you a little bit.

There's a QR code.

You can register there on that's this Tuesday night.

We want you to be there.

Um, that's the only announcement that I have.

I want to go to the word this morning in second Timothy chapter four, we're going to be reading one through five.

Anybody ready for the word this morning?

Come on.

Second Timothy four, one through five.

Um, so Timothy and, and, uh, Titus, these are known as the, the, the pastoral letters and they're, you know, they're filled with wisdom.

They're filled with advice.

They're filled with encouragement.

Uh, for all those who labor in some form of ministry, Timothy is a young leader in the church that is plagued with false doctrine, false teachers, persecution, sin.

There's a lot of slander.

Uh, apparently Paul, uh, apparently Paul had to address some of the negative talk that was happening, um, from people about other people, a lot of hate, a lot of animosity.

All of this was happening in the church.

You can go ahead and stand.

Cause some of y'all don't know what to do.

You go ahead and stand.

You're like, this is all I see and it's distracting, but all of this is happening in the church.

And so, as you can imagine, Timothy at times was probably distracted, right?

He's distracted.

And so Paul writes him this letter to encourage Timothy, to keep going, to keep enduring, to keep suffering.

If it's for the gospel, it's worth it.

Somebody say it's, it's worth it.

And so in chapter four of Timothy, Paul is wrapping up this very personal letter to his friend and his disciple.

And this is how he sums everything that he has just said.

So second Timothy four, one through five, he says, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the And by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves, teachers to suit their own passions.

And they will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

As for you, somebody say as for me, always be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of the evangelist and fulfill your ministry.

Let's pray heavenly father.

I thank you for this word that you've spoken over your servant.

My God, I pray that as I have received it, your people would receive it today.

Holy spirit be on my lips.

Let nothing I say be of me, my God, because I have no power, but you have all the power father in Jesus name.

Amen.

Amen.

You can be seated.

I entitled the message this morning.

This is serious.

This is serious.

And I want to, I want to speak today to everybody, the whole church today, no matter your age, no matter how long you've been a Christian, whether you're a leader or not.

I don't want you to think that this, uh, just because this is a pastoral letter, it's not for the whole church.

It is for the whole church.

And, and Paul begins this summary of the letter with the Greek word.

My, uh, three, uh, Rome, my, and it means, uh, it's translated.

I charge you.

That's that's, uh, that's the very first word that Paul uses.

I charge you.

And my Greek dictionary defines that word as a word used to exhort with authority and matters of seriousness.

This is a serious charge that Paul is giving to Timothy in this moment of frustration and persecution.

He says, I charge you in the presence of God.

He's bringing God in as his witness.

And he says, Timothy, preach the word, despite everything that's going on, preach the word and do the work.

You know, sometimes all God needs to do is give us a serious word to get you out of the funk that you're in.

Like in moments of tiredness of life, you know, sometimes we heard a lot of people just going through this week and, and the week was beating down on them.

Sometimes when you're going through the tiredness of life, all you need to hear God say is get up and get to work, get out of bed, wash your face, put your shoes on and seasons of discouragement.

Sometimes the only thing that God needs to say is keep going.

It's not time to quit yet.

A lot of times we're looking for the explanation.

We're looking for the wisdom and the profound counsel.

We want revelation.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like I deserve a reward to keep going.

God, I've been striving and I've been struggling and I've been doing this nonstop for so long.

I feel like I need you to throw me a bone.

Maybe Timothy was really feeling the weight of his ministry.

Maybe he was starting to question some things.

Maybe he wasn't seeing the fruit that he felt like he should be seeing.

Paul says, Timothy, preach the word, do the work.

This is serious.

We, uh, we continue to live in times just like this, what Paul describes.

And, um, you know, when we read this passage, I think that we think it only applies to the world.

Like the world goes after other gods.

The world goes after other religions, other philosophies.

They follow myths.

They follow all these teachers that tell them what they want to hear.

But Paul was talking to a pastor of a church.

These things weren't just happening in the world.

They were going on in the church.

There were, there were people in the church.

Listen, this is serious.

There were people in the church who did not endure sound teaching.

This is still true today.

By way of pride, pride, pride has that way of prohibiting us from seeing what we need to see in order to be better Christians.

Some people have been into the church for so many years, listening week after week to the word of God, reading the word of God, engaging with the word of God, fellowshipping with believers, but they have not yet matured to the degree that they should have matured by now.

You're, you're still, you're still dealing with baby Christian things and you're a 20 year old Christian.

Been a Christian for 20 years, 30 years, still dealing with little things, little pettiness, and maybe it's got nothing to do with, with these people not knowing the No, they know the truth.

They've heard it.

They've read it.

Maybe it has something to do with their unwillingness to endure the sound teaching.

And then when somebody calls them out on it, they, as Paul says, accumulate for themselves, teachers to suit their own passions.

Well, I'm just going to not go to that church anymore.

I'm not going to listen to that pastor anymore.

I'm not going to associate with, with that group anymore.

I want a group of Christians who think exactly like me, who validate me, who affirm me, who approve me and don't judge me.

Pastors always talking about holiness.

Why is he always can't, can't he lighten up, give me a funny story every now and then it's too religious.

So everything that Paul is speaking to aren't just worldly problems are also problems found in the church.

And let me tell you, as a pastor, I'm speaking as a pastor, it is frustrating when people don't get it.

It is frustrating, man.

When you preach against gossip and then the next week there's gossip.

I didn't, they didn't, they just hear the sermon.

When you, when you, when you try to work so hard to create a spirit of unity and then somebody wants to come in and cause division, it's frustrating when you invest in people through discipleship and counseling and teaching, and you spend hours with them on the phone and you take time out of your day to go and have lunch with them and they just throw it all away in a single moment.

I bet you, Timothy told himself, what's the point?

What is the point?

This church, what is the point of me doing all of this work?

It's like, it's like we, we spend so much time building for just somebody to come and vandalize.

What's the point?

I can't tell you how many people I've baptized who didn't return to church this following Sunday.

What's the point?

What's the point of going after the one, leaving the 99 going after the one just to bring them back and he's squirming to get out of your arms to go back into the, to, to, to leave the field.

What is the point?

If you've ever discipled somebody or minister to anybody, if you've shared what God has done in your life, if you've tried to raise godly children, then you've wondered to yourself, what is the point?

You're not alone.

It's frustrating.

It's tiring and it's discouraging.

But Paul tells Timothy, keep going, keep speaking Jesus, keep praying over people, keep witnessing, keep inviting them to church.

Keep preaching.

See, we have to understand you and I, we're simply servants of God.

That's it.

I'm a servant.

I have no control over how people respond.

I have no control over how many people are going to raise their hands for salvation.

I have no control when I make the altar call.

If anybody's going to come to the altar call, we have no control how people are going to respond and react.

We don't know if they're going to be able to listen or not, if they're going to get it or apply it.

But that is not our job to have control.

Our job is to keep doing the work and keep tilling the soil because I am a servant.

And so if God says, go, I got to go.

And if he says, speak, I've got to speak.

We get in our own way because we get discouraged while we're doing the work that we were called to do.

And God didn't say you're going to get results every single time.

God didn't say it's going to be glory every single day.

It's not going to be a beautiful service with 30, 40 salvations every Sunday, but you got to keep doing the work.

Your job is to not have control over the results.

Leave that to me.

Says the Holy spirit.

I just need you to be the vessel this past Wednesday.

I, uh, I went to preach to a group of high school students on a football field.

It was cool, man.

It was really cool.

But you know, I don't, I don't get nervous whenever I speak in front of audiences.

I've been doing it long enough.

I do get nervous still when I preach in front of young people, like it could be a group of 10 of them.

It could be a group of a thousand of them.

I get nervous when I'm speaking to young people.

And so every time I get asked to speak at a, at a youth conference or a, you know, some type of youth service, I, I hesitantly say yes, because I don't want to say no, but I get nervous and I have to begin every sermon with the words, Hey, I'm not cool enough to be here.

I let them know I'm not, I'm not cool enough for this.

I don't speak your language.

I don't, I can't relate to them.

I felt the same way when I went to minister at a prison, what am I supposed to say to these people?

I don't relate to them.

And so anytime I'm talking to young people, I have to check with Laila, I have to ask her what words I can use, what words I should avoid.

Like, like is busing still a thing?

They still say busing because I'll say that's tight.

I'll say that's tight all the time.

And they're like, what's, what's that?

What's, what's tight?

Your pants passing around?

Yeah, your pants, that could probably be bigger.

It's kids, man, these days wearing parachute pants.

So I'm like, so I'm, I'm constantly, constantly having to ask Laila, what is it cool?

And she just looks at me and she's like, don't say anything.

She says it's too cringe.

And so this past week, you know, I was going to preach at a football field to about 200 to 300 students, and I didn't, I tried not to worry about any of that stuff.

And I even told them I'm not here to be cool.

And so I called this group of young people to holiness, you know, God has been ministering holiness over my life.

We've been preaching it here.

And so that's what I just brought that to them.

I said, God wants you to be holy.

He wants you to reflect the image of Christ in your lives, at your schools, in your social groups.

I told them, I called them to look to Jesus, to become more like Jesus.

We, we need more of that, right?

We need people who look more like Jesus, not just who look like Christians.

And so that was my message.

And it was also pretty Pentecostal, you know, because that's just, I wasn't going to hold back.

Like, all right.

I was like, God, all right, you calling me for this moment?

I'm going to, I'm going to do it.

There were some Catholics there that I, that I prayed with afterwards.

There were some Baptists, there were some Methodists.

I'm, I'm, uh, I just, I just went in and I brought the gospel and I tried really hard not to overthink it.

I didn't have any stories.

I didn't have any cool illustrations.

I'd have anything funny to say.

And so I was preparing the message.

I was like, God, this is kind of boring for young people.

What if I can't relate to them?

What if I try to tell a joke and they don't think it's funny?

What if, what if they don't get it?

What if they just see this guy's twice their age coming in to lecture them and they tune out immediately?

And I, and I felt such a peace when God whispered in my ear, just preach the word.

He said, just preach the word.

He said, it's not time to be entertaining.

It's not time to be relevant.

It's not time to be cool.

It's not time to focus on eloquence and funny jokes to keep people's attention.

As a public speaker, there is importance when it comes to that, but that has been the focus behind way too many pulpits in America.

And God is saying, just preach my word.

Don't worry about what you think they're going to think.

Don't worry about the wandering eyes.

Don't worry about the people who get up mid sermon.

Don't don't worry about people not seeming to care or listen.

You just do the work of the evangelists.

Why?

Because this is serious.

We have lost seriousness for the things of God.

How many people don't take this sacred time on Sundays?

Seriously.

Some people wake up, they don't even know if they want to come to church and then maybe they decided to come to church and they show up late and then they want to get in a fight with somebody in the parking lot because somebody parked wrong.

People don't take the word of God seriously.

People hear it, but they don't listen.

They read it, but they don't consume it.

They know it, but they don't do it.

People don't take the ministry seriously.

You commit, you quit, you receive the criticism, you're done.

They don't get the results.

And then all of a sudden they're uncalled.

This is what Paul says.

That's for you, Timothy, be sober minded.

You got to have some mental toughness.

You got to be able to endorse some suffering.

You got to be able to do the work.

If nobody else takes this seriously, you man and woman of God need to.

The church is not supposed to have potential.

It's supposed to have power.

Are you hearing me?

I'm going to talk to the serious ones today.

Okay.

The church is not supposed to have potential.

It is supposed to have power, but because so many Christians don't take their calling seriously, all it is is potential.

God has called some of you into the ministry, but because you haven't taken your anointing seriously, God is going to take it away and give it to somebody else.

You may have the talent, but you have no urgency.

You were called to preach, but you never study.

You were called to lead, but you're always hiding.

The reason that God took the throne away from Saul and gave it to David was because Saul didn't take obedience seriously.

He didn't take reverence for the things of God seriously.

He didn't take the power of Yahweh seriously, but God saw in David a man who treated his calling with the utmost honor and respect.

David had so much seriousness for his role as a shepherd that he didn't even bother going inside when the prophet, the man of God was coming in looking for the next king, David said, I have sheep to feed.

I'll take this seriously.

David took the power of God seriously.

And so when the, the giant Goliath comes over, taunting the people of God, mocking the people of God, David knew that it was all over for this uncircumcised giant.

God is looking for a church.

Listen, please listen.

That doesn't play around.

That doesn't play church.

He's looking for a church that doesn't take its power for granted.

He's looking for a church that will pray when it's time to pray, that will fast when it's time to fast, that will serve when it's time to serve.

He is looking for a church that would take their anointing seriously.

This is not time for funny stories.

It's not time for entertainment.

We haven't taken sin seriously.

Too many Christians are playing in fields with too many serpents thinking they're not going to get bit, thinking if they do get bit, they can handle it.

And the problem is not sin itself, it's temptation.

It's, it's a flirtatiousness with the things that can lead to more serious doors being opened that we don't take seriously.

We need to stop flirting with the wrong groups of people and the wrong environments and the wrong substances that can potentially take the people of God to places they were never meant for.

We need to take our Christianity seriously.

The Bible says that many are called, but few are chosen.

You know why that is?

Because of the many who were called, only a few took the call seriously.

And I think about that verse every time I think about, I've been, I've been at this church all my life.

I have seen people come through these doors.

I have seen people accept Jesus, take communion, get baptized, get discipled, come to Wednesday nights, and then at some point walk away from the faith.

I've seen that too many times.

That hurts.

That hurts as a pastor, but it also hurts as a Christian to think that if every single person who came into these doors, if they would have just stayed, we would have had a, we could have had a stadium to fill and our G, but because not enough took the call of God seriously because too many of them raised their hand, but they didn't really mean it.

They came and they went.

And I understand people leave churches and you know, God, God calls you to other places.

I'm not, I'm not talking to those people.

I'm talking to the ones who answered the call, who said yes to Jesus on a Sunday.

You did the Christian things for a season, but they didn't remain.

The Bible talks about these people in first John chapter two, he says, children, it is the last hour.

And as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, therefore we know it's the last hour.

He says they went out from us.

He's talking, he's talking to the community of believers who was once in the church doors, in the family of faith.

And he says, they went out from us, but they were not of us for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that it might be complained that they are not all of us.

Does that not sadden you?

It saddens me when I think about this verse and wonder if any of these same people are here today.

They look like a Christian for a season.

They raise their hands for a season.

They got to know some of the scriptures for a season, but they were not of us.

They were called, but they didn't take the calling seriously.

Who am I talking to today?

Who am I talking to?

There, there came other things that called their attention.

Life got too hard.

They didn't want to keep enduring.

They played with temptation for too long.

They became comfortable.

They didn't take their relationship with Christ seriously.

There were too many people.

There were too many things that came before Jesus.

And so Jesus would always get the leftovers.

Maybe that resonates with somebody today.

I hope it does.

Because if there's anything that God has called my heart to is for people to receive transformation.

Yes, I want to feel this house, but I want to fill it with people who are being transformed.

I don't care.

I don't care about the numbers as good as the numbers feel.

And it feels nice when we get to post a picture of a full church.

It feels great.

When we got, when I get to talk to other pastors about what God is doing and God is bringing people, but more than anything else, I want to know that people are being transformed.

I want to know that marriages are healing.

I want to know that there's restoration.

I want to know that people are forgiving the people that they need to forgive.

I want to know that people are stopped.

They're stopping the hatred that is in their heart.

I want to know that people are becoming more like Jesus.

I want to know it.

Maybe Jesus is top five at best in your life.

Kids come before Jesus.

Business comes before Jesus.

Work comes before Jesus.

Your lifestyle comes before Jesus.

What does that say?

It says that you haven't taken the kingship of Jesus seriously.

He's not King.

He's not King in your life.

If you've made somebody else King, and that could be your spouse.

That could be your children.

It could be things that are good and that you need, but Jesus is coming to be King.

And if he's not King in your life, he's nothing in your life.

Take the Lordship of Jesus seriously, that when he tells you to go, you go without hesitation.

Even if you don't want to, even if you're uncomfortable, you do it because he's King.

When God says, stop doing that stupid thing that you've been doing, you stop it.

You take it seriously.

You give it to God and you might stumble again, but that stumbling makes you feel, makes you feel ashamed.

But because, because you are so connected to the father, God says the kindness of God leads us to repentance.

And so we can grieve, but it's a holy grieving because the Holy Spirit is in us because we take it seriously.

And every time I hurt you, God, I hate that I hurt you.

Take this seriously.

Sometimes I get, sometimes I get to my desk, you know, to prepare a sermon and I'm like, just honest, being honest, I'm like, are we just, is this just a routine?

Like what, what's, what's happening here?

What if, what if there were a Sunday where I didn't prepare anything because God just wanted to shock the congregation?

We need to take this seriously.

We need to take our Christianity seriously.

Listen to verse 20 of that same, that same passage.

First, John was talking about the people that left, they weren't serious, but now he's talking about the serious ones.

He says, but you have been anointed by the Holy one and you have all the knowledge.

I love verse 24.

It says, let what you have heard from the beginning about the Lord be known to you.

If what you have heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the son and in the father.

And this is a promise that he has made to us eternal life.

He's saying that the word that you have heard from the beginning, that word that originally drew you into the presence of God, that word that Jesus loves you, the word that Jesus wants to lead you to repentance, that, that word that Jesus died for you, that he wants a relationship with you.

If you let that word of truth abide in your heart, then the son of God will abide in you.

This is serious.

Listen, church, if you ever leave PNEUMA because God is calling you somewhere else, I bless you.

I bless you.

Come, please come talk to me before you do that.

Because, because if God is leading you somewhere else, I want to support it and I want to anoint you and I want to pray for you.

I want to bring you to the congregation.

I want everybody to lay hands on you.

I want that.

I told, I told God, I told God once I said, Lord, let this be ascending church.

Let us not be a church that struggles for servants.

Let us not be a church that has to outsource help.

There was a time when we had to, there was a time where if I wasn't going to be here on a Sunday, I had to get somebody from another church.

There was a time where we had to hire musicians because we didn't have any.

And so I prayed, Lord, let this be ascending church.

Let this be a church that will help other churches, other ministries that when we raise pastors in here, if you call them somewhere else, I pray that they would go.

I don't want you to all leave at once.

I don't want you to leave at all.

And it's a, it's a, it's a prayer that even pains me to pray, but I know that it's the right thing to pray.

And so if you ever leave, come talk to me.

If God is calling you somewhere, I want to bless you, but I never want to lose people to the other side.

I never want to lose P I don't want people to leave the church because they're leaving the faith.

And this is why I talk about holiness so much.

This is why I talk about fear of the Lord and love for God, the basic things, because these are the things that will keep you faithful come hell or high water.

I love our church.

I think it's the best church, but you know what, if you come here just for a service on Sunday, I'll tell you, I'll tell you the truth.

You can probably find a better church service.

You could probably find a church with better audio quality.

You could probably find a church with world-class musicians, the most eloquent speakers, the pet, the best kid centers, a fellowship hall that is not falling apart.

You can probably find a church with a decent parking lot.

I went to a church yesterday.

I went to a church yesterday.

I got asked to, um, to offer salvation to a group of the group of men and do communion.

And the first thing, you know, pastors, when, when pastors go into other churches, they notice like the led wall and all the lights and all this stuff and all the, all the stuff behind the seats are like, Oh, like it's got a QR code.

We just tap here.

You know what I noticed the parking lot.

I was like, this is a nice parking lot.

What I'm saying, what I'm saying is that this isn't about a church service.

If you're here for a church service, this is about your Christianity.

This is about your faith.

Take that seriously.

Take it seriously.

I want to focus real quick on the exhortation that Paul gives to Timothy, because now I'm going to, I'm going to pass this on to you.

The task that he is obligated to do as a disciple of Christ, Paul says, preach the word.

The Greek word for preach is Caruso.

It means to make a public declaration.

The people of God are called to take the good news of Jesus and make it known.

I don't care how you do it.

You can preach from the pulpit.

You can preach from the streets, like street preacher, Mike here.

You can, you can preach from Instagram.

You can preach at home.

You can preach through a song.

You can preach through writing.

You can preach through a meal with a friend.

You don't need to be a preacher to declare the word of God, but you do need to declare the word of God.

That's on you, Christian.

That's on you.

That's not just on the ministers.

That's not just on the pastors or the leaders that is on you.

And you might struggle with not knowing what to say.

You might, you might not have all the verses memorized and all the theology worked out at the very least.

Tell somebody what Jesus has done in you.

The very least nobody can argue with your testimony is your testimony.

Preach the word.

Paul says, be ready in season and out of season.

If no other part of this passage calls us to seriousness, this one does be ready in season and out of right.

Right now we're, we've got our house on the market and man selling, uh, selling an occupied house is a lot harder to do than selling a vacant house.

I've sold a lot of vacant homes and it's great.

I get a showing request and boom, it's ready to go.

I barely even need to be notified.

But when you're living in a home with two kids and one of those kids is Ellie, Melissa calls her Tasmanian devil.

It's all, it's hard to always have it clean.

And so we try so hard to keep it clean.

Then when it starts to get too messy, we can't let it get too messy because we only have a two hour window.

If I get a showing request, I would hate for us to miss an opportunity, especially in this slow season of real estate to show our house because it wasn't ready.

So Paul says in every season, you've got to be ready.

Even when it's not in season, you've got to be ready.

You're still listening.

Okay.

So even, even when you don't have your Bible with you, you got to be ready.

Even when you don't have your prayer warriors around you, you need to be ready.

When you're not prepared with the right verses, when you didn't write down what you need to say, but there's an opportunity to witness somebody, Jesus Christ, you need to be ready, be ready in season and out of season.

Don't just be ready at church on a Sunday morning, be ready on a Monday morning when you barely even want to get to the day, be ready in season and out of season.

He says, be ready in season and out of season to reprove, reprove.

That means to bring light.

It means to expose.

It means to express disapproval for wrongdoing.

I read a, I read a meme this week that said, some of you are sitting at tables.

You were meant to, you were meant to flip.

You're sitting at tables.

You were called to turn over like Jesus did.

That was fire, man.

When I read that, there are too many things in your life that you have co-signed because you're too afraid to speak out against it.

You've, you've, you've let too many things go that you shouldn't be letting go.

I don't know who needs to hear it, but it's time for that conversation with that person to tell them, Hey, what you're doing isn't right.

What we're doing isn't right.

What we're doing is sinful.

Paul says, be ready in and out of season to rebuke.

Don't even get me started on that one.

I said this last week, we need to get comfortable rebuking things, rebuking mindsets and pride and spirits and people.

Some of y'all aren't afraid at all to rebuke.

And listen, you can, you can rebuke somebody gently and with love.

Okay.

Paul isn't saying you got to smack somebody across the head with the Bible.

Jesus, everything Jesus did, he did out of love and compassion, but he wasn't afraid to rebuke even his closest friends.

And so when Peter says, no, surely you Lord are not going to die.

Jesus says, get behind me, Satan.

I rebuke you.

Why?

Because Jesus took his call seriously.

He took his call seriously.

He know what he was here to do.

And so you got to rebuke some things that go contrary to the thing that God has called you to do.

You have to be able to discern it and ask yourself, is this from God?

Is this taking me away from the purpose that God has called me to?

And if, and if it is rebuke it, be ready in and out of season to exhort.

You can't be passive with people that you were called to influence.

You have to, you have to urge your family to come to church.

I have to urge them.

You have to urge them to live godly lives.

You have to urge them to avoid temptation.

You can't make them.

You don't, don't drag them to the altar call.

Don't force them, but you can exhort them.

Let people hear the seriousness of your words.

Mijo, mija, if you keep going down this path, it's going to end, it's going to end badly for you.

I don't, I don't want you to go to hell.

That was my grandmother's words to my, to my uncle.

I don't want him to go to hell.

This is serious.

Let people hear the seriousness in your tone.

When you're talking to them, we need more Christians who take their Christianity seriously.

That's really the message.

We can't get too comfortable with our faith church.

We can't become couch Christians.

I was telling pastor Danny the other day that it's as soon as I get home, as soon as I hit the couch, I'm done.

I don't want to do anything else.

That, that couch forms to my body.

We always have a blanket right there.

I'll put it over me.

I grabbed my laptop.

I start to do some reading.

I'll put some TV on in the background.

It's the best time.

Sometimes I'm so comfortable, I take a nap.

If, if I hit the couch, brother Mark knows this cause he's my gym partner.

If I hit the couch before it's gin time, I'm not even texting you.

You already know it's not going down.

So I've got to always be on my feet.

I got to always find something to do.

I got to keep my shoes on before I hit the couch.

And so many Christians have gotten comfortable on the couch of their faith.

You've gotten comfortable, not serving.

You've gotten comfortable coming to church every single Sunday for five years and not have asked, not have asked once, how can I help?

This is the Holy spirit.

Okay.

You've gotten comfortable, not praying every single day.

You've gotten comfortable, not, not worshiping outside of Sunday.

And so whenever God is calling you to come off the couch, it's like, but God, I'm so comfy five more minutes.

God is looking for a church.

Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen.

He's looking for a church that will stop playing around and step into the He's looking for a church who won't tolerate immaturity, who will stand for righteousness, who will commit to faithfulness, who will, who won't quit when they lose their job, who won't leave the church when somebody hurts their feelings.

He's looking for a church that doesn't seek entertainment, a church that doesn't clear that doesn't play near the serpent's den.

He's looking for a church that will preach the word that will do the work that will endure the suffering.

A church that knows that there is no greater privilege than to dwell in the glory of God.

Paul ends his charge to this young man.

Timothy, again, frustrated pastor.

And Paul ends it with years of experience and years of wisdom.

I'm gonna ask you to stand.

Paul is getting to the end of his life.

He's writing this, this, this letter to Timothy.

And he's, and he's coming at it with all the wisdom that he's accumulated over the years, he's, he's coming at it with all the experience that he has.

I remember when I, you know, got, got, um, planted here as, as, as the pastor.

I would ask my parents, I would ask my dad, I asked my mom, like, what, what, what were some things that y'all, y'all faced?

Tell me, I want to, I want to hear from y'all's wisdom.

I remember, I remember when pastor Danny and Maritza, we were transitioning them as a Spanish pastors.

I remember pastor Maritza asked my dad, what can you tell me?

This is, this is Paul in this moment to this young minister coming with years of experience, years of wisdom, years of hurt.

This is a man who was shipwrecked.

He was imprisoned.

This is a man who went head to head with, with some of the greatest authorities in his day.

This is a man who endured.

And so he's writing this letter to Timothy.

And at the very end, he says, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering.

And the time of my departure has come.

He says, I fought the good fight.

I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith.

I pray everybody in this place would one day be able to pass on these words to the next generation, your kids, your disciples, the next generation.

Maybe you don't have kids, but somebody younger than you should be able to look at you one day and be able to hear from your wisdom because you fought, you, you endured, you strived.

There were times when you cried, there were times when you fell and you didn't know if you were going to be able to get back up, but in your falling, you started to crawl.

And as you crawled, you regained a little bit of strength and little by little, you got back on your feet.

You need to be able to say at the end of your life, I have finished the race all the while keeping the faith.

I have kept the faith.

I have been beaten.

I have been discouraged.

I have had some loss.

I have had moments of doubt.

I have had pain points.

I have fallen into sin.

I have disappointed people.

But at the end of my life, I made it through to the other side with my faith in my hand saying glory to God for everything I've gone through.

Glory to God, because I still have the faith.

Glory to God, because all through it, I took this seriously.

I wasn't playing around with sin.

I wasn't playing around with people in the church.

I wasn't playing church.

I was here because I was focused on my father.

It's time to take your faith and your call and your ministry and your environment and the people in your life.

It's time to take that seriously.

Take it seriously, whatever God is speaking, whatever God has spoken, whatever he's saying right now in this moment, whatever you have allowed in your life, take this seriously.

I don't want to see a generation lost to the world.

I don't I don't know how to say this more eloquently than I wish I could right now, man, because this is such a burden in my heart.

And we need Christians who have a burden for God's heart, because I tell you what, every single day God is looking at his people and he is Jesus is interceding for that one to not leave that one who is going through the fire.

And Jesus is saying, I'm with you, I'm with you, don't don't give up on me yet, I know this is hard, I know this doesn't feel good, I know you're discouraged, I know your family's broken, but I'm with you.

Take it seriously, take the faith seriously, take your prayer life seriously.

I don't have an altar call to make today.

If you need prayer, I'm going to ask that you come forward and we're going to pray with you.

The altars are open.

I just want you to have a moment with God.

Some of you might need to have a moment in the presence of God, because there are some there have been some things that you haven't taken to heart and God is saying, give it to me and you've been holding on to or you have given it to him, but but not fully.

Holy Spirit, lead my God, lead in this moment.

Come on, these altars are open.

If you need prayer, we're here to pray with you.

Thanks for listening.

If you'd like some more information on PNEUMA Church, visit us on our website at mypneumachurch.org.

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Thanks again and God bless.