All right, hey everybody. Welcome to Valley Creek. We are so glad you are here with us today. And last week we started a new series called Kingdom Culture 101: Learning to Live a Life of Values. This is a big series. It's an important series because, as followers of Jesus, it's so important for us to understand what the kingdom culture looks like, what the values of the kingdom are like, because we not only have the privilege, we have the responsibility of seeing God's kingdom come and His will be done in our lives and in the world around us. And so it's important for us to know what the culture is, what the value is, and how we can align our lives with that. And I told you last week that there's really two hopes for this series. One is, my hope is to remind you of who we are. We have so many new people that have joined us over these last couple years and so many people that have been with us for years. I want to remind you who we are, what are our values, what is the culture, the atmosphere, the environment we're trying to create. And then the second thing is, I hope to interrupt your life. I hope to disrupt your life. I hope to make you have to think and examine and look at yourself and ask yourself an honest question, like what kind of values do I really have? What kind of culture is really flowing out of my life?

Is it the culture of the world? Or is it the culture of the kingdom? You see, so much of what we would call the culture of the kingdom is really just religion, old school church upbringing, or good morals and ethics. But the kingdom of God is so much bigger and better and beyond all of that. You see, everything has a culture. Every business, every home, every family, every city, every team, every school, everything has a culture, and culture is really easy to experience, but it's really hard to explain. Culture is really hard to put in words, but when you step into a culture of something, you see it, you sense it, you feel it, you experience it. Why? Because culture is a shared set of beliefs, behaviors, values. It's how people talk, it's the way they do things. It's how they think. It's what they celebrate. It's what they grieve. Culture is the atmosphere, the ethos, the DNA, the identity of something.

And culture is incredibly powerful. It has the ability to shape and mold you. Culture can lift you up or culture can push you down. Culture can help people become who they were created to be and help people do things they were created to do. But culture can also keep people from becoming who they were created to be, and keep people from doing the things they were created to do. And this is why the Bible talks so much about kingdom culture, and why we put such an emphasis on culture here at Valley Creek, because it has the ability to lift you up and help you become everything God has called you to be. And so the question you have to ask is, then where does culture come from? If everything has a culture, it's created either intentionally or unintentionally. Where does that culture come from? From the values of your heart. The values of your heart will determine the culture of your life.

In fact, this is why Jesus says, "What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight." He says, you want to know why the world and the kingdom have such different cultures? It's because they have such different values. What the world values I detest and what I value the world detests. What does the world value? Self, pleasure, happiness, comfort, convenience. What does the kingdom value? Servanthood, grace, forgiveness, kindness, unity. And because those values are so different, they release a different culture into the world around. In fact, this is why Jesus says, He says, "The greatest command is: love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." All of the law and the prophets hinge on these two commands. In other words, Jesus says if loving God and loving your neighbor is a value in your heart, you will naturally and effortlessly fulfill all of the other commands.

Why? Because the values in your heart will become the culture of your life. "Above all else, guard your... heart... for it's the wellspring of life." Whatever is in here is ultimately going to flow out into the world around us. And so it is so important for us to know, what are the values in our heart, because they dictate the culture of our life. And if you live by values, you will always live above the standard. But if you live by rules, you will always try to find a way around the rules. If you have values in your life, you'll live above the expectation, above the standard. But if you try to live by rules, you're always going to find a way around them. So, parents, can I ask you this question? Do you parent by values or rules? Do you parent by rules? Is it about all these rules you place on your kids to shape and mold their behavior?

Or are you trying to impart values into them to change the way they think and the way they live? Come on, bosses, supervisors, managers, leaders. Do you lead by values or do you lead by rules? Because if you lead by rules, the people you lead are always going to try to find a way around those rules. This is why we have to put signs on the microwave in the office and on the fridge and on the counter saying "Clean up after yourself," right? Because it's not a value in our hearts. So we place rules upon rules upon rules. Listen to me, values don't teach you what to think, they teach you how to think. That's why we don't want to give people rules, we want to give people values. And the question you have to ask yourself is, well, what do you value? Well, what you value, it will cost you something. It becomes easy for you to do. And look at what you celebrate and what you grieve. If you want to know what you value, your values cost you something.

If integrity is a value of yours, it will cost you something. Values are costly, but over time, it becomes easy for you to do, because it's so deeply embedded in your heart. And you will celebrate when other people have integrity, and you will grieve when they don't. That's how you know what your values are. And here's the interesting thing. You will always gravitate to cultures that demonstrate your values. In life, you will always gravitate to cultures that demonstrate your values, and you will be repelled by cultures that don't. For example, if you have the value of excellence, you will always be drawn to cultures that do things with excellence, and you will despise cultures that do things chaotic and sloppy. If a value of your heart is passion, then you want to be around cultures that are full of passion, and you can't stand being around apathetic cultures. If the value of your heart is relationship, then you love being around relational cultures, and you can't handle being around transactional cultures.

Does that make sense to you? Why? Because culture is actually the most genuine, authentic reflection of who we are. If the values of your heart determine the culture of your life, the mouth speaks out of the overflow of the heart, then the culture that's created around you is actually the most accurate view of who you actually are. And other people enter into that space and experience it, and it either draws them in because they have the same values, or it repels them and pushes them away. Come on. Like, you love our church because you have the same kind of values that we have. Or you're like, "I'm not sure I like this church today," because you don't have the same values in here that we have. It's true in any area of life. And so the question you have to ask yourself is, what kind of culture is being created in your life, in your home, in your business, in the places you go every day? Not what do you declare it to be, what the other people experience it to be. Are you with me on this?

So what we're doing in this series is we're looking at our values that are really kingdom values and how we can embody them in our heart. And the second one today is simply this: We are quick to repent. The value of the kingdom is that we are quick to repent. We want to think like God. And so we're quick to repent. Matthew 4:17, "From that time on, Jesus began to preach, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" I don't know if you know this or not, but Jesus only had one message. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Some of you are thinking, "One message, bro? Have you read the Bible? There's four gospels, lots of red words. Jesus said lots of things." You're right, he did. And they were all this, "From that time on, one message, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And the moment I say our value is quick to repent, I know I've lost a whole bunch of you in this room because we have a broken view of repentance.

Our view of repentance is sitting in a church service, listening to a message of hellfire and brimstone, judgment, condemnation, shame, making you raise your hand, publicly humiliate yourself, come down to the front, weeping and gnashing of teeth. Yeah, I'm good, I'll pass on that value, right? Okay, but that's not repentance. We need to repent about repentance. Repent. What does it mean? Break it down. Repent. Re, go back. Pent, think penthouse, top floor view. Repent means to literally go back and get God's perspective on that situation or that circumstance. To repent means I need to change my thinking and come into agreement and alignment with God. It means I start looking at things from a heavenly perspective instead of an earthly perspective. It literally means to change my thinking and change my direction.

Repentance is simply coming into agreement and alignment with God, regardless of how I feel. And repentance is not a one-time event, it's an ongoing lifestyle. Look, He says, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Repentance is how we take a hold of the kingdom and bring it into our life. So repentance is not only how we get into the kingdom, it's how we actually live in the kingdom. And most of us repent enough for salvation to get in, but not enough to experience the fullness of the kingdom life. We repent enough for the forgiveness of our sins. Oh, I have repented, I've been forgiven in Jesus, but we don't continue to repent, change our thinking, get God's perspective to actually experience the culture of the kingdom in our daily reality. And it's almost like what Jesus is saying here is, He's almost saying, "If you don't repent, you will spend your life living in an inferior reality.

You will spend your life believing that what you see with your eyes is reality, when my kingdom is superior in every way and has so much more in store for you." Repentance is about grabbing hold of the kingdom of God and bringing it into our life. This is why free people repent, mature people repent, healthy people repent. The only people that don't repent are the people who are living like the world. Come on, like think about the disciples with me for a second. Do you realize their three-year journey with Jesus was a journey of repentance? The moment Jesus called them in, they repented, they stepped into the kingdom, but then for three years they had to keep changing their thinking. They had to repent about what they thought about kids. They had to repent about how they viewed women. They had to repent about who they were, who God was, and what they were created to do. They had to repent about what they thought was impossible. They literally had to repent when the resurrected Jesus is standing in front of them and they're still convinced he's dead.

Repentance, changing their mind, a constant journey. And what you have to understand is that it is impossible to be a disciple without the spirit of repentance. Impossible. You say, why? Because a disciple is a learner, a follower, a student, one who becomes like the one they're following. And if I'm not changing my thinking to come into agreement and alignment with God, then I'm not being shaped and molded into His image and His likeness. And the disciples figured this out. That's why the first time the gospel is preached and people don't know what to do, it says, the people heard this, the gospel. They were cut to the heart. There was the sense of conviction. "I know I'm off with God. What do I do?" And they said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent." Repent. No hellfire and brimstone. No shame, judgment and condemnation. No. This is what we've been doing for three years. And this is what you should do.

And be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. This is how you get in. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The kingdom is at hand and you can have as much of it as you want. If you will keep changing your mind, you will be able to grab the fullness of the culture of the kingdom and experience it in your daily realities. You with me on this?

Trying to set up this whole concept because we need to repent about repentance. We need to change our thinking and go back and get God's perspective even on the word repentance because it is such an invitation to freedom in Jesus' name. In fact, track with me on these verses. These are really important. God says, "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" God says His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. In other words, worldly thinking is limited.

It's finite, it's oppressed, it's darkened, it's small. And so repentance is how we get rid of that small thinking and start thinking higher, bigger, broader and beyond. It's repentance that helps us pick up God's attitudes and God's perspective on things. And when we think like God, we'll live like God. Why? Because right thinking leads to right living, but wrong thinking leads to wrong living. So God's inviting us to take on the mind of Christ. How? Higher thinking by repentance. And you'll never walk in His ways until you first think His thoughts. You'll never walk in His ways until you first think His thoughts. What are you thinking about right now? The Cowboys' game. I know. This will change your life if you get it.

"Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will." Listen, he says, don't be conformed to the pattern of this world. Don't think like the world. Don't let the world put pressure on your mind and make you think in agreement and alignment with the world. Instead, no, no, no, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Repent, change your thinking and it will change how you live. Change the way you think, it will change the way you live. And I love that, he says, "This is your act of worship." Repentance is worship. When I change my mind and choose to agree with God, regardless of how I feel, He calls that worship. And when I repent and I renew my mind, I start thinking God's will, so I start seeing God's will, and then I start experiencing God's will because His kingdom has come.

I mean, if you just think about this verse with me for a second and you think about the mental health epidemic that's in the world around us. Maybe, just maybe, the mental health epidemic we're experiencing has nothing to do with COVID or social media. Maybe it has everything to do with the fact that we're not quick to repent. "Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world." Well, if we're conformed, if we think like the world, what happens? We're thinking according to darkness, and Satan has come to steal, kill, and destroy. And if I think in agreement with darkness, should I be surprised if my mind is being stolen, killed, or destroyed? And if I was quick to repent and choose to agree with what God says and think like Him, what happens? I renew my mind. Not only physically it changes, but spiritually. And then I start to experience what is good, pleasing, and perfect in Jesus' name.

Come on. If you've got mental health or, you know people with mental health struggles in your life, meditate on this verse. Could it just be that because we think like the world, we're allowing Satan to steal, kill, and destroy? In fact, one more for you, Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan, you are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." That's a strong verse. Jesus says, "I'm about to go to the cross," and Peter steps up and gets in between Jesus and his future and basically says, "No Lord, I will never allow that to happen." "Get behind me, Satan." Wait a second. Is Peter Satan? I mean, I know he does lots of dumb things, so like. No. What is Jesus saying? "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." In other words, Jesus is saying worldly thinking is agreement with darkness. Worldly thinking is agreement with the devil.

We say it's worldly thinking. It's not that big of a deal. Jesus says it's agreement with the devil. And when you believe a lie, you empower the liar. All authority on heaven and Earth has been given unto Jesus. If Jesus has all authority, it means Satan has none. So how is Satan empowered in my life? Through my agreement. When I choose to agree with what Satan says is real, I have deceived myself and I've empowered him to steal, kill, and destroy in my life. But when I repent and get God's perspective and agree with Him, I empower God's kingdom to come and His will to be done in my mind, in my heart, in my life, and my family, in my business, and beyond. This is why we want to be people who are quick to repent. Hopefully I'm super disrupting your life today. We want to be quick to repent. And there's two types of repentance, okay?

If you didn't like all that, you're going to like this even less. So that's cool. Just check out. Two types of repentance. There's sin repentance and there's revelation repentance. Let me just pause. Let me just stop. Listen, this is -- Jesus-focused is the number one value. This is number two. If you literally don't get this one, the rest of it, like, literally doesn't matter. So, like, let me challenge you today. Say, Lord, I want to be quick to repent even about where I'm at right now, even about what's going on in my heart and in my spirit and in my life, I want to be someone who repents. Show me, Lord, what repentance looks like. Holy Spirit, I invite you. Come and cut us to the heart. Show us this truth and how much we need it in our lives, that we may hunger for humility and holiness and purity in Jesus' name. There is sin repentance and revelation repentance. Sin repentance is what you know. It's we've sinned, we've rebelled, we've disobeyed, we've gone against God in some way.

Sin literally just means to miss the mark, like an archer shooting at a target misses the mark. And when we realize that, when the Holy Spirit convicts us, when we've been confronted by somebody else, our conscience feels violated, we're grieved in our soul, what do we do? We repent of that sin. We change our thinking. 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." When we've missed the mark, we confess and repent. We got to confess. We got to own it. We got to take responsibility. We've got to take ownership to say, I was wrong, I messed up, and then we bring it to the Lord because He is faithful to forgive us and He is just. He has already punished Jesus for that sin, so He can now not punish you for that same sin if you confess and repented of it and submit it to the cross. So I never have to be afraid of being punished by the very thing that Jesus was punished for.

When I confess and repent and submit it to Him, He will forgive us our sins and purify us from all. He has forgiven your wickedness and remembers your sins no more. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed your transgressions from you. See, we should be, we should be hopeful in repentance, because we know He is cleansing us and purifying us in Jesus' name. This is why it says, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret. But worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you, what earnestness and eagerness to clear yourselves. What indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done." He says, there's godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow is, "I'm sorry I got caught and I'm sorry there are consequences." Godly sorrow is, "I am grieved that I sinned against God and against you. And I have a heart for humility and holiness.

And I want to be quick to repent and own it in Jesus' name, so that God's grace can flow into my life." Listen to me. You will repent to the level you believe in the grace of God. You will repent to the level you believe in the grace of God. If you think God's grace is limited, finite, stingy, stoic, you're not going to be quick to repent. But if you get that God's grace is limitless, abundant, He lavishes upon you, you will be so fast to confess and repent because you don't want to go that way. You want to go God's way, and you need His grace and His forgiveness in your life. This is why Isaiah the Prophet, a good man, when he's brought in front of the Lord in the presence of the Lord, the first thing he does is say, "Woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips." Like, he confesses and acknowledges sin. But no one's preached a message, no one told him he was off. Why? It was God's presence that convicted him. And he quickly repented and responded because he knew the grace of God.

Or how about David? The man after God's own heart who literally sees a beautiful woman, sleeps with her, gets her pregnant, has her husband killed to cover it up and so that he can have her. The moment the prophet Nathan walks in and confronts David over that, he hits his knees and he is so quick to repent. "I have sinned against the Lord." No defensiveness. No trying to validate himself. No, no. Just owns it because he knows the grace of God. Or how about Peter, who barely knows Jesus at this time. And Jesus says, "Throw the net over the side of the boat." He pulls it in. It's so full of fish. Kindness leads Peter to repentance, hits his knees. "I am a Sinner, Lord, away from me." Who told him he was a sinner? No one has to tell you you're missing the mark when God's kindness is flowing into your life. You're just aware of it because His presence is so good and it draws it to the surface so that He can heal you and forgive you and say, "Don't be afraid, Peter, I have come to set you free."

Come on. This says repentance from dead works and of faith towards God. Remember, repentance is turning from something towards something else. I was thinking this way and going this way, but now I'm thinking this way and going this way. And what you repent from isn't nearly as important as what you turned towards. Repentance from sin is one thing. Turning towards God is the whole other thing. You can repent from stuff all day long. Who cares? What are you turning towards? Are you turning towards Jesus and His grace and allowing Him to set you free? And hear me, if there's no change of direction, there was no repentance. If you do this, I'm so sorry, I was wrong, I feel so bad, oh I got, dah, dah, dah, blah, but you do it again, that's not repentance. That's called deception and manipulation.

Trying to make everyone else think that your heart has changed when it really hasn't. Repentance is also not, I've confessed and repented, and I'm going in a different direction, but I spend the rest of my life feeling full of shame and guilt and condemnation over that. No, that's called condemnation. Jesus has forgiven you and set you free. It's no longer applied to your account. See, maturity is not being perfect, it's simply being quick to repent. And when I have ongoing, unrepentant sin in my life, it hardens my heart. So we want to be people who choose to repent so we don't choose to harden our heart. Okay, that's sin repentance. The other kind of repentance that most of us are not aware of is called revelation repentance. Revelation repentance is something you didn't know that God reveals to you, and because you now know it, it changes how you think and the direction that you're going. "I will show you great and mighty things which you do not yet know." Do you know that you don't know everything?

I know some of you are convinced you do. But you don't know everything. You don't know everything about the kingdom. You don't know everything about the mysteries. You don't know everything about who you are, who God is, what you were created to do. God flat out says it, but He says He wants to share it with you. And revelation is this big word that simply means something was hidden and it got uncovered and you now see it and you know what's there. For example, if I took a big tarp and threw it over this monitor, it would be -- before service started, it would be hidden, it would be covered. You wouldn't know it was there, but if I took it, went whfft, revelation, haaa, the light bulb, boom. That's what revelation is. And even if I put the tarp back over this thing and covered it back up, you would still be responsible because you saw it and you know it's under there. You now have the revelation and you need to live differently based on the understanding of it.

So a silly example would be, let's say, that one day somebody calls you and says, "Hey, you had a great, great uncle who just died and left you an inheritance of $50 million and it is funded into your account today." Revelation. Something you didn't know that now, you do. Is that going to change how you live your life? Come on. Is that going to change how you live your life? Oh my gosh, it's going to change every minute of every day for the rest of your life. You would be foolish to just go back to living how you were living, right? Why? Because there's something so epic that's been revealed to you and it changes everything. That's biblical repentance. It's something I didn't know that gets revealed to me and because it's so great and mighty, it changes how I live every day of my life. Like I used to believe I was just a sinner saved by grace, but then God revealed to me that I'm a beloved son or daughter in whom He is well pleased.

I used to believe that there was a big distance between me and God, but then He showed me that Jesus has died on my behalf and I can be as close to God as I want to be and boldly approach the throne of grace. It's changed everything. I used to believe that I had to do life on my own in my own strength, and then God revealed to me that He's given me His Holy Spirit and His divine power has given me everything I need for life and godliness. I used to believe that I had to live a life of stress and being overwhelmed and wore out, but then God revealed to me that Jesus has already given me His peace. That's changed everything. I used to think I couldn't contribute, but then God revealed to me that I was a hope carrier sent by Him to bring His kingdom into the world around me. Do you catch it? Revelation and it changes how you live your life. This is the cycle. Revelation, repentance, faith. Something is revealed to me that I didn't know. Repentance, I changed my thinking, I now have faith to walk that thing out, and that leads me to want to get more revelation.

And that's how I keep a soft heart. Let me try to illustrate it for you like this. In Acts chapter 19, Paul goes to Ephesus and he runs into some believers and he asked them, he says, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" So these are disciples, followers of Jesus. And he asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they say, "We didn't even know there was a Holy Spirit." And he says, "Sit down," and he teaches them all about the Holy Spirit. Amazing message. If it was the typical American church on a Sunday morning, after about an hour, they would have said, "Paul, that was a great message. Super appreciate you sharing that with us. We got to go and next week we won't be here because Billy's got a soccer game and the week after that we're going to be on vacation at the beach, so we won't be there then. And the following week we heard the weather might be a little -- so, so probably not that. But the week after that, we'd love to come back and hear a little bit more about the Holy Spirit and what that looks like in our lives."

The Ephesian believers here at and they say, "Paul, we need the Holy Spirit now. We've just got some revelation. We're changing our thinking right now. We've got faith for the Holy Spirit to come." And so they lay hands on them. They get filled with the Holy Spirit and what happens? This is how I think the Church of Ephesus lives. Do you realize it's the only church in the New Testament that doesn't get rebuked in its letters? Why? Because I think they understood the revelation-repentance-faith cycle. So God poured out revelations to that church because they knew how to handle it and how to steward it. Now compare that to the disciples. One day Jesus is teaching. 5,000 people are there. People are hungry. Disciples want the people to go home. Jesus says, "Hey you guys give them something to eat." They panic. "Give them something to eat? We've only got five loaves and two fish. Like Jesus, that's not enough." He says, "Bring it to me." Prays for it, blesses it, breaks it, gives it to them. They go and 5,000 people are fed and 12 basketballs are leftover. Revelation.

But just two chapters later, 4,000 people are there. Jesus is teaching the crowd. The crowd is hungry. Disciples want the people to go away. Jesus says, "Let's feed them," and the disciples say, "Jesus, we only have seven loaves of fish. That's not enough to feed people." Revelation, resistance, unbelief. God gave them revelation. They resisted it. So in the moment that came around the next time, they didn't have faith. They were full of doubt and unbelief. They had a hard heart because unused revelation will harden your heart every single time. They should have come to -- Jesus, I bet you was waiting for them to come to him and say, "Jesus, let's do it again. Let's feed all these people. We got seven loaves today. We know what you did with five loaves last time. Let's make this thing happen." No, no, no, no. They resisted it, so they were full of unbelief, and it left them with a hard heart.

So here's the question. Are you more like this, or are you more like this? Let me let you in on a little secret. If you're in church for any period of time and you watch people get really excited about Jesus and then they disappear and you always wonder, where did they go? And they're really offended at God, at the church, at leaders, whatever the thing is, it's this. God was giving them revelation, but because they didn't apply it to their life, they became full of unbelief, their journey stopped, and they ended up with a really hard heart. Unused revelation will harden your heart. That's why Jesus says the kingdom belongs to little children. What do children do? They're full of awe and wonder and curiosity, and you tell them anything and they instantly believe that it is true. They have a faith to go walk it out, so they're even more inquisitive for more.

This is the cycle of how we see His kingdom come into our lives. This is how we resist it and end up with an incredibly hardened heart. Do you know the number one thing I say to our team is, what are people doing with all the stuff that we're sharing? Like what I care about more than anything else is what are you doing with the revelation that God's given you? I don't care if you like me. I don't care if you like the message. I don't care if you like the series. I don't even care if you like our church. What I want to know is what are you doing with what God's been saying to you? Because I know that if you don't use it, it's going to lead to unbelief and a hardness in your heart. This is the stuff that matters, guys. Like, do you value revelation? Do you take notes? Do you respond to what God's saying? Did you do anything with the It's Time series, with the Holy Spirit series, with the Follow the Cloud series, with the Ancient Future series?

Like, these are the questions. I'm saying I'm trying to interrupt your life. And I get it, today is a bigger interruption than any of us thought, including me. I thought we were going to be a little more hungry for this than we are. Maybe there's a little bit of this cycle that's stopped and we need to break it in Jesus' name. Come on, look at this. Paul is brought before Felix, a Roman governor. The Roman governor "sent for Paul, listened to him, as he spoke about faith in Jesus." Revelation. "Paul discoursed, gave revelation on righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come. Felix was afraid and said, 'That's enough for now. You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.'" That's terrifying. This is the American church. Because revelation demands something from me. It demands that I respond. It demands that I change. It demands that I acknowledge with humility and brokenness, a sense of, there was something I didn't know, and now it requires something of me.

Because it was covered up, but now I know it's there. So even if you cover it up again, I can't pretend like I didn't see it. This is why Jesus says, "Consider carefully what you hear. With the measure you use it will be measured to you. Whoever has will be given more --" even what he has will be -- "whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." In other words, whatever you do with what God said yesterday determines what you're hearing today. Whatever you do with the revelation God gave you yesterday determines what kind of revelation you're getting right now. So if you're like, "Nah, heard this message before, I know all this stuff," it's because you didn't do anything with the revelation yesterday, so God's not giving you fresh revelation today. It's got nothing to do with the speaker. Any church you go to for the rest of your life, any Bible study, any small group, any team, it has got nothing to do with the leader. It's got everything to do with the positioning of my heart.

So whatever I do with the revelation God gave me yesterday determines the condition of my heart today. Have you ever had revelation and then when you wake up a couple years later and you realize you don't have that anymore? We used to have this super revelation about something of the kingdom of God, and then you wake up and it's gone. Why? Because you didn't use it, so God actually removed it from you. This is why Jesus speaks in parables. Do you know He speaks in parables for grace? Because if He would just flat out come and tell people revelation straight up, they would be responsible to do something with it. And if they didn't have a heart for it, it would make their heart even more hard. So He speaks in mysteries to draw you in so you will seek it and discover it, because you have a heart of humility to do something with it. I mean, have you ever seen these people that they say, I'm the same person I was 20 years ago? Like we say that as like it's a badge of honor.

The same person I was 20 years ago. That's sad, bro. It means you haven't grown, you haven't changed, you haven't matured. You shouldn't be the same person you were two years ago, let alone two months ago. In fact, you should delight in being wrong. Because when you're wrong, it means God's right, and it's an invitation for you to grow and change and see more of the kingdom of God come into your life. This stuff matters. Man, it matters. And you have to ask yourself the question -- you made me burn all my time today on the things I didn't want to talk about. Just hang on a second. Give me a second. Give me a second.

Okay, we're going to save it and we're going to do it next week as Part 2. I know some of you are like, "I'm not coming next week." That's cool. It's totally cool because I -- because none of the rest of the values matter if you don't get this one, because you can't get the rest of the values if you don't get this one. If you don't get this concept of, I have a responsibility to adjust and align my life to the very things that God are showing me, then you have to ask yourself the question, who are you following? See, repentance demonstrates lordship. Unrepentance demonstrates you are your own lord. If I repent, it demonstrates that Jesus is the Lord of my life, that He is the King of the kingdom, and I want to become a part of His kingdom and see His kingdom come into my life.

If I don't repent, it demonstrates that I am the lord of my own life, I am the king of my own kingdom, I am the king of a kingdom of one. So repentance actually tells us a lot about your heart posture and the trajectory of the life that you're living and the way that you're going. So, like, here's repentance for me, like live-time. This is repentance right now, because I prayed with -- a lot, with the Lord for this whole series and I had it all figured out. And it's not now anymore and we were going to -- our hope was to disrupt and interrupt lives. This is disrupting and interrupting all of us. That's great, that's great. Genuinely, if you can learn to say, I am grateful when God disrupts and interrupts my life, even when it's not convenient, now you figured out something about what being a disciple is all about.

So we say, Lord, interrupt and disrupt our lives because we don't want to be people of religion that just say the things. We want to have a heart of humility and holiness and hunger that moves towards the Lord. And so I hope that this creates a hunger and a humility. And my question for you then this week, as we'll go into Part 2, next week -- and so let me just tell you like, this is kind of fun today and we're totally off of the road. It's great. Let me just tell you, for some of you, you'll come back next week and you'll be like, oh, do we have to do like 10 minutes of setup? Yes is the answer. Number one, because most people will have forgotten it. Number two is, every service, every weekend is somebody's first time. So we need to have a humility to say, yes, let's bring them up to speed before we pick up the new path.

Why? Because one of the later values -- because one of the later values is, we will do whatever it takes to reach the lost and develop leaders. Sometimes whatever it takes just means having to hear the series set up again and hear all about repentance again, which is a gift. If it's -- listen. Ready? Okay. Went too far, there it is. No. Oh, I keep doing it. Garrett, what happened to my slides? "From that time on, Jesus preached, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" If that is Jesus's main message, it must be our main response. So that's cool. We just won't move on super fast from it, because we want it to be deeply ingrained into our heart. Okay?

So close your eyes with me. Actually, why don't you just stand up? Come on. Whatever campus you're at, whether you're online at any campus, why don't you stand up wherever you are? Jesus, thank you today that you interrupt our lives, that you disrupt our lives, that you disrupt our plans, because you have something better. Lord, we want to be people with the spirit of repentance. Not hellfire and brimstone, not shame, guilt and condemnation, but the grace of Jesus that wants to flow into our lives and set us free from the things that hold us back. Lord, I just declare that today is a turning point. It is the beginning of repentance, of old school religion, of old school church thinking, of good morals and ethics. But we will start to understand how we grab ahold of your kingdom and bring it into our lives with the spirit, the heart, the mind that longs to repent. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.