What Side Are You On?

In this episode, Kevin discusses the importance of choosing which side we are on: Team Jesus or Team World.

Transcript

Kevin (00:01.724)
One of the things as a kid growing up and anyone who ever played sports when you were a kid, you knew when you were getting ready to play basketball or football or something, you had to pick teams. You had to pick a side and you used to have a lineup of people and you say, okay, I'll take Joey and I'll take Mark and I'll take Sam and I'll take Kevin and you, you choose sides and then you determine who's going to play on what side. And even as you get older, if you were ever going to play

pick up basketball or somewhere, the gym or somewhere. Sometimes you would still pick teams and sometimes you would just be drafted on a team. If someone's short, it is an uneven number. Okay, I'll just take him. You you kind of just accept whoever is going to be on the team and you play the game and just with the teams that you have. But when it comes to God and when it comes to the things of God, we have a lineup and God ultimately does choose us.

but we have to decide whether we want to be on his team or not. You probably had that happen before when you were picking teams and you had to just keeping it 100. You had the kid that was not athletic that might not have been in the best shape and they would last. He like, I guess I'm stuck with Larry. You know, Larry's the one who can't play, who can't catch, who can't run. So you kind of just stuck with Larry. Well, sometimes we treat

like that leftover kid in plan picking teams. We don't want to pick God. We don't want to pick his side because maybe we don't pick Larry because we don't think Larry is a good player. Or we don't want to pick Susie if it's the girls. I don't want to make this a sexist thing. We don't want to pick Susie to play hopscotch or whatever because we just don't like Susie. Susie, she get on my nerves. I don't like her dress. I don't like her socks.

You know, I don't like her family. So you don't like Susie. So for whatever reason, we choose the right side. And sometimes even as we get older, we choose people based on our own personal preferences. You choose to be around the people you like. You choose to be around the people who have your same complexion. You choose to be around the people who have your same desires and things like that. And on the surface.

Kevin (02:23.722)
Nothing's wrong with that. know, to some degree, you know, you want to be around like minded people as Christians. We want to be around other Christians. But when it comes to the things of God, when it comes to God himself, there are a lot of times as Christians and I use the word Christian loosely because everyone who says that Christian is it really well, we think we've chosen, we've chosen team Jesus, but we're really team world. We're really team self artists.

phrase a long time ago, and it's kind of corny, but it kind of fits. You know, they said that I heard this at this job I had years ago, this guy said that every person's favorite radio station is WIFM. What's in it for me? And a lot of times when it comes to God, we don't choose God, we choose what's in it for us. We choose what's in our best interest at that particular time. Will this advance my

Will this put me in the right circles with the right people? Will this make me popular? Will this make me famous? Whatever it is, we choose so many other things. And I realize that by choosing that thing, we've chosen to not choose God. We've chosen something else. And the Bible makes it clear that when it comes to God, there's no straddling offense. There's no, I'm sometimes team world and sometimes team Jesus. I'm sometimes Christian and sometimes I put down my religion.

Some of us have probably said that we get into a issue, an altercation, we get ready to get physical or somebody says something wrong and cut you off. Well, I got to put down my religion for a minute. There is no putting down when you are team Jesus, when you're part of the body of Christ. And it's some of those things that, you know, when you talk about church circles, church doesn't prepare you for that. This doesn't tell you that this is a lifelong binding agreement when you've chosen.

to side with Christ. So the question is again, what side are you on? I got three different things we're going to do this or this three different things I want to talk about this week's episode and some of them might ruffle your feathers. Some of them might make you uncomfortable because it might step on your toes. So if you are watching this and you barefoot, you might want to put on shoes because I'm probably going to step on your toes. I'm doing it love. love you.

Kevin (04:46.932)
I gotta say it how I believe that I prayed and how the Lord wants me to give it. So we're talk about it. What side are you on? So the first side you gotta choose in terms of what side you're whether you're with God or with the world, is are you on the popular side or the obedient side? Now, those two things can sometimes intersect.

When you're popular, you can be popular even though you're being obedient. But what I've found, family, and I think scripture would bear me out of this and back me up, and I've got to share scriptures, of course, is that usually, if you're obedient to God, you're not gonna be popular in the world, and vice versa. If you're obedient to the world's trappings or to your flesh,

You're not going to be popular in the world. You're not going to be like you cannot again straddle the fence. You cannot have your toes in both sets of the sand. So to speak, and just try to get a little bit of this, a little bit of that when it comes to God and the things of God. This is not a, this is not a buffet. This is not why I get a little bit of Jesus and a little bit of popularity. I'll get a little bit of holiness and a little bit of ambition.

You know, so I'm just kind of have this mix. got this plate of all this stuff. You know, one of the things that when it comes to fake religions or false religions or bad religions, one of the things that makes a religion false is this word called syncretism. Syncretism means that when you're compiling different parts of religions together and making one religion, so a little bit of Islam, a little bit of Christianity, a little bit of Buddhism.

little bit of Jehovah's Witnesses, all that stuff, you put it all together. So it's like a debarring a little bit of everything to make one thing. So long as God is God, it doesn't matter if you believe his name is Allah, if his name is Buddha, if you believe in Jesus, if you don't believe Jesus is the son of God, it doesn't matter. So, but when it comes to God, and again, scripture bears this out, that we can't straddle the fence. We can't just say, well, it doesn't matter what you believe or what I believe. I believe the truth.

Kevin (07:05.138)
and my truth is what it is and I'm just going to deal with it. No, that's not how it works. But you'll be surprised how many people again call themselves Christians. And if you were to ask them, they will say they believe in Jesus. They will say that they trust Jesus. They believe that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. But when the rubber meets the road, they cater to the populace. They want to be Jesus just as long as people are OK with me, like in Jesus.

They're okay with me being a Christian as long as me being a Christian doesn't make the people who know I'm Christian uncomfortable. So my Christianity, my spirituality, my walk with Christ, if it makes you uncomfortable, then I'm uncomfortable. So that means I have to not maybe walk as boldly in Christ. Now that doesn't mean you go out of your way to be, you know, to run for someone's feathers or to be antagonistic, but at the same time, what did Jesus say?

He said in his word that if you're going to follow me, you got to count the cost. If you want to follow me, first of all, obedience is not. It's not something that's a suggestion. It's a requirement. You have to follow me. I am your Lord, which means you do what I say. We use the phrase landlord, right? If your landlord tells you certain things about where you live, guess what? You're going to do it for if you can do that for your landlord, you definitely can do that for the Lord of the land.

Who is Jesus himself? If you claim he's your Lord or do you, like I said in introduction, once the benediction is given, now you kind of cater to, well, now I want to make sure I don't get nobody to feel uncomfortable. I don't want somebody to say something bad about me. I don't want someone to think something's wrong with me or think a certain kind of way about me because now I believe in Christ. And part of that is because

If we want to really go there, we are more concerned about how many people following us than that fact that whether we're following Jesus. I want to make sure when I do my podcast, when I go online, I want to check how many followers I got. Even if that means disobeying God. At the expense of God, I want those followers. Let me take it another step further. Even though this organization, fill in the blank,

Kevin (09:32.586)
may not have things and doctrines and perspectives that are necessarily in line with God, but I want to be a part of it. I want to be part of this organization, this crew, this whatever it is. I'm willing to do that at the expense of being obedient to God. The Holy Spirit can be convicting me right and left, red flags all over the place about this particular organization or group, but because...

I want to be popular. I will go ahead and ignore the parade of red flags that the Holy Spirit has given me because that's the side I want. I want to be popular. I want to be on the side of popularity, the side of those being liked versus the side of following the Lord. And it goes even further than that. We have people who will give their very last.

to follow a celebrity just because they're famous, even if they've said and done things that you know are anti -Christian. But because that person's popular, because that person's music is good, because they're a good actor, because they're a talented athlete, because they have some kind of skill or gift from God, the way, but you and I will follow that person to the T and defend them to the death, even though

They're not obedient in their life for Christ. Sometimes as Christians, we are so eager for people to become Christians that the smallest thing that seems like is Christian from a celebrity, we feel like we need them to substantiate our belief. Like our belief system ain't good unless somebody famous believes it. And when someone famous says anything remotely Christian, we automatically stamp them as Christians.

I saw a singer, I'm not going to say any names, and they were performing a clip. They were performing in concert and had a moment where they were singing, you know, some gospel songs that seemed like they were in worship and they pan to the crowd and they were people was having their hands and worshiping supposed to suppose the worship praying and the captions you should have saw it. this person, they they know the Lord. man, they they know how to worship. You could tell they know the Lord now.

Kevin (12:00.906)
You might say that's nothing wrong with that. But if you were to go back in this person's history, they've said many things that let you know they don't believe in Jesus. Not only that, if you look at the songs they sing at their concerts, the way they dress at their concert, the dances they do at their concerts, everything else about their life was not Christian.

People are so caught up with being popular or following what's popular that even if it means turning their back on the side they claim they've chosen, that's what they do. And this is one of the biggest problems we have in the Christian church. You know, I say church, I don't mean the building. I mean the body. We have so many people who claim to be Team Jesus, but they're really Team World. And it's like going to a restaurant. Let's say you go to Burger King.

and you see someone behind the counter and they got on a Burger King uniform and you go up to them and say, Hey, can I, can you take me? And they say, you know, can you take my order? no, I don't work at Burger King. What you mean? You behind the counter Burger King, you have on a Burger King uniform and you got a name tag and they say Burger King. What? No, I have all this on, but I really work at McDonald's. Well, doesn't make any sense, right? You got all the look of a Burger King employee, but no, we don't sell Whopper's here. We sell Big

You would be like, OK, either this person got a mental problem or maybe something wrong with me. Am I wrong? You take the sign. Maybe I'm really at McDonald's. Sounds crazy. That's what Christians do sometimes. We're supposed to be Christians. They look like a Christian. They say they're Christian. They act like Christians while they're around you. But in actuality, they're not obedient. They're just doing what's popular. I got a scripture. I got two scriptures first. I want to talk about one.

about the issue about why you should not be worried as a Christian about being popular. This is Luke chapter six, starting at verse 22. And this is a very good one. It says, happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and say that you are evil all because of the son of man. Be glad when that happens and dance for joy because the great reward is care for you in heaven.

Kevin (14:24.524)
for the ancestors did the very thing to the prophets. But how terrible for you who are rich now, who have had your easy life. How terrible for you who are full now, you will go hungry. How terrible for you who laugh now, you will mourn and weep. How terrible when all people speak of you, their ancestors said the very same things about the prophets. So we're seeing that first of all, trying to be popular.

is not good for the long haul. Because again, if you're popular in the world, that means you're not obedient to the Lord. ultimately, if you look at what the scripture is saying, the prophets back then in the Old Testament specifically, and even in the New Testament, the ones who were false prophets were the ones who were popular. The ones who said what every people wanted to hear and apply appeal to the itching ear crowd, who were not sent by God.

That's the popular crowd. But the obedient prophets, your Jeremiah's, your Ezekiel's, your Isaiah's, the ones who God really this in, not so popular. And think about it, whenever you see, and this is not the issue about prophets per se, but modern day prophets, and I use air quotes specifically. Why is it that the only prophetic word you get

is one of the positive. The only prophetic word you get is about God going to bless you. God got a plan for your life. It's going to turn around. This is your season. You mean to tell me that God in all his infinite wisdom never sends a prophetic word of correction. He never sends a correct, a prophetic word about obedience.

There was a sense of corrective word about changing your behavior, about convicting you about that thing you said, thought did. None of that's prophetic. The only time it's prophetic is when God's going to bless you. I even saw this guy and it broke my heart. This guy, he was in a church setting. People were walking up to him, handing him envelopes with money. And every person that handed him an envelope, he gave a prophetic

Kevin (16:46.622)
And every prophetic word was a cliche. It was trite. was, you know what? Somebody gave him an envelope. He said, okay, get ready for God to make a big move in your life. Next person. You know what? You need to start looking because it's time for you to move. You know what? God told me to tell you that your job is going to, you're going to be promotion this week. I mean, it was just stuff like that. And it was like literally a sentence for each person. And the people were lining

because they were concerned about saying what was popular, going to the proper, the popular person. They were not trying to be obedient. They were not trying to hear what God was truly saying. They were trying to be popular. And the people who were given these prophetic words, they're the ones who are more guilty because they were not trying to be obedient to doing, to saying what thus says the Lord. They want to say what thus want the people.

And the people, as Jeremiah would say, love it that way. But look at what the scripture says. If you are being obedient and you are being criticized, which you will be, rejoice. Like this one of the things that I kind of, thankfully to this point, my channel is not hugely popular. But I think about other people like Alan Parr, some other people. I can just imagine the amount of people who email

respond to the videos and they're just negative, calling false teachers and all kinds of stuff. And I can imagine that to some degree, I probably, when they first started, it probably hurt because anybody who puts something out, you think you're building the kingdom for people to downplay it. It kind of, it would hurt. It would bother you. But as I look at the scripture and as I look at the state of world, if I put something out and I get backlash from

That means I'm doing something. That means I must be saying something right. Because if the world is not listening, and it kind of helps me too, even when those moments when I talk about some previous episodes, when you do an episode and maybe you don't get all the likes, it doesn't get all the downloads. Some of it just maybe, you know, maybe I need to do a better job. Could be that. I can own that. What could be that you're giving a word to a word, a world? It doesn't want to be obedient.

Kevin (19:15.99)
So if they don't want to be obedient, then this is not going to be popular. And guess what, Christian? If you want to be obedient, it might be nice if sometimes you're popular, and sometimes you might be. But don't let that be the prerequisite for your obedience. Don't bank your obedience on possible ovations from people. Don't bank your ability to be consistent based on the reception.

because God's obedience is not determined by how they respond. God's obedience is determined by how you've responded to the call on your life. And every one of us, if we say we're Christian, have a call on our lives. And we can't decide when or not we want to be obedient. But I got another scripture. So these are for the ones who, obviously, who think it's OK to be popular because if you're popular, that means you're good.

And it doesn't matter if you'll be there. As as people like it, as long as I got lot of downloads, I got a big crowd, I got a big congregation, it's good. Here's another scripture. Matthew chapter seven, starting at verse 17. And it says, good fruit grows on a tree that is good. Bad fruit grows on a tree that is not good. A good tree cannot make bad fruit. A bad tree cannot make good fruit. A farmer would cut down any tree that does not make good fruit. He will burn it on a fire.

in the same way, look at this, look at the way people live. Then you would know what they are really like. Some people say to me, master, master, but not all of them will come into the kingdom of heaven. This is the drop the mic. Only the people who obey God, my father in heaven will come in. They do what he wants them to do. Wow. That's a script you probably heard a bunch of times. I found that in a different version.

But you see that obedience as the scripture says is better than sacrifice. So you and I as Christians, we can hold on to the idea that I want to be liked more than I want to be holy. That I want to be popular more than I want to be pleasing in God's sight. We have to draw a line in the sand, even if that means they were ostracized, even if that means that we're lonely, even if that means that people

Kevin (21:38.41)
lie on us and backbite and do these things. Because guess what, Christian, you're following Jesus, right? Didn't they do that to Jesus too? Didn't they lie on Jesus? Didn't they conspire on Jesus? Didn't they deny Jesus? Didn't the disciples flee and were cowards towards Jesus? Didn't Judas betray Jesus? Didn't Jesus die for what he believed?

is something all of us have to face as Christians. We like to talk about being a Christian and all the great things that God can and will do. And we know that we're on the winning side. But before we get to that final bell, people are going to lie to you. People are going to betray you. People are going to scandalize your name. And if you come into this Christian walk,

expecting anything less than that, somebody told you wrong. So be ready. Obedience is better than popularity, but it is a harder walk than being popular. That's the first thing, the first versus. So whether you want to be popular or obedient. The second thing about choosing, which side are you on? This one's going to get real interesting.

Have you chosen to be for your cultural identity or Christian identity? Now I'm going to dig deeper to this one. Obviously, if you look at this screen, and probably if you heard my episodes before, and if you hadn't heard it by now, I know it by now, I am an African -American male, right? Now, being an African -American male, I absolutely have had brushes.

and incidents with racism. I've had people say things to me. I've had people treat me in ways just because I'm African American. And guess what? As long as I'm on this planet, there are going to be people no matter how much I can profess how much I'm a Christian, no matter how erudite and respectful I am in scripture, no matter how intelligent I may come across, no matter how well dressed and well represented I can be.

Kevin (23:59.136)
they won't see past the fact that I'm black and they will look at me as less than because of that. We're dealing with bad people, evil people in the evil world. I can't escape that. The problem becomes with this and it goes on both sides, but I brought that up because that's an obvious thing that happens a lot, especially in this world. What happens a lot of times is we tend to put our entire identity in our skin

or in our racial makeup or in our ethnicity, that our total whole definition of who Kevin is is because he's black, or because she's white. And we paint our lives totally through the lens of our skin color, our culture or background or where we come from. But the problem becomes family. Our culture is not sinless.

Our racial makeup is not perfect. A black person is just as sinful as a white person. A white person is just as sinful as someone who's Latin. A Latin person is just as sinful as someone who is Asian. And go down the line of every ethnic group. Sin does not have a monopoly. No race has a monopoly on sin and evil. Every race, every culture,

background has sinned. Every background, regardless of where you are from, deserves hell. It does not matter your skin color. It doesn't matter how much melanin you have in your skin, the color of your eyes, the color of your hair, where you come from. None of that matters to God because all of us are his children. All of us are his creation rather. Not all of us are his children. But what happens is we define everything through iracial

And I got to be honest, this is so prevalent in my experience with a lot of us who are African -American. And because we have faced such racism and such evil historically, we have allowed the enemy to let pride in our race, pride in our race now define us be in the face of the evil. Well, you know

Kevin (26:25.674)
Those people told us we was less than, so we're going to be so proud of who we are to the point to where it supersedes everything else. That my blackness, my Hispanic roots, my Indian roots, my African roots, my Asian roots, those things are what define me. But when it comes to God, when it comes to Christ, aren't we all?

now identify with him now? So you mean to tell me as a person of color who's endured racism for many years that my blackness supersedes my identity in Christ? That I'm not a Christian first, I'm black first. I'm not a Christian first, I'm white first. I'm not a Christian first, I'm Asian first.

But the Bible I read, more specifically Revelation, it talks about how on that day it says every person of every nationality, every race, every tongue is going to stand before the Lord. And heaven is going to be a multicultural thing. And I want to talk about that in a minute because it's really no, this thing is a multicultural heaven because we're all brothers and sisters in that sense. But the problem becomes, and I thought I wasn't going to go here with this.

But I guess I might as

Kevin (27:57.184)
The thing is, even when it comes to the election, I wasn't going to talk about it, but I kind of feel like there's no point of me not saying it. We have people on both sides, whether you're Team Trump or now Team Kamala Harris, who only voting for each respective person because of their race or because of their gender. Now, you're free in this country.

to vote for whatever you, whoever you want. If you think Harris is the person for you, by all means. If you think Trump is the person for you, by all means, you can vote for everyone. But if you're a Christian, don't you think you need to scrutinize a little bit closer than just their race or just their gender or just their political affiliation? Because this is just my

Neither party is actually a good party. Neither party, neither side is the side that's gonna save this nation. Neither side has everything correct. As a matter of fact, let me say this too. Now I'm mentioning this to some friends personally. There are roughly 300 million people in America, roughly. I'm give or take for you. 300 million people. You're gonna tell me out of 300 million people, these are

best two we got out of all these people who could possibly run for president, the most influential, I won't say powerful, influential position in this country, maybe even a planet. These are the best two we got. Not only that, these are the only two parties, choices we got. As a Christian, can you honestly say that you think either side is better?

When you look at the platforms of both sides, if you look at the candidates of both sides, now this is something I hear people say all the time. Well, I'm just voting for the lesser of two evils. Hmm, okay.

Kevin (30:12.382)
If that's your perspective, think what you're doing. If I'm voting for the lesser of two evils, I'm still voting in evil. It's not like, you know, good versus evil is evil versus evil. And depending on your lens, one is slightly less evil, but it's still evil. Now you might be saying, all right, Kev, but I mean, what you want me to do? This is the way the system is set up. We got these two people.

There's nothing I can do about it. Well, there is. There is. One, go back to the previous point. When you vote, there's more than two people in the ballot. First of all, you don't have to vote for one of these two people. And guess what? If enough of us did that who said we're Christian, things would be different. The problem because again, cultural identity.

I've been doing this for so long. This is what I know. This is what my people been doing. My family has always been Democrat. My family has always been Republican. And all of that, here's what you're saying. You're not choosing God. You're choosing the popular. You're choosing the culture over Christ. If you look at what these parties stand for and ask yourself,

through the lens of scripture, do they represent Christ? Why isn't that a determining factor of who you vote for? I've had many people and I gotta keep it a buck, especially people in my community, in the black community. If they'll tell you right away, if you not voting a certain way, you ain't black. And I'm sure the other way around too, if you don't vote a certain way, you're not white.

But I thought we supposed to be doing what's right for Christ. Well, are we doing what's right for the culture? What are you going to do for my group of people? What about are you going to follow Christ? What about does this particular party slash candidate? Do they believe in Jesus? Do they uphold the words of Jesus? Do they live by Christian principles? Or do you just care because this is what my culture.

Kevin (32:37.181)
This is what I've been trained to believe because this is what me and my people, not God's people, my people, we've always done. And I've seen people on both sides who otherwise are very intelligent people, well read, well respected. But when it comes to this, the intellect is thrown out the window and whose side they really on is revealed because

They'll tell you they believe in Jesus, but I'll accept the party, this party, even though they believe in abortion. I'll accept this particular candidate, even though they support gay marriage, because at least they don't believe in this. Well, this person believes in this, but this one is this. This one's not as bad as this, so I'll go with this side. But both parties.

have issues, both parties, both candidates have shown themselves to not be Christian. But here we go. Every cycle compromising and showing what side we're on because we don't vote for the gender of Christ. We vote for the gender of what we want in the gender of our culture. Here's the first scripture. And again, dealing with the culture identity. Romans chapter

verses nine and 10. There will be sorrow and suffering for Jews and Gentiles alike who keep on sinning, but there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who obey him. This is the key. Whether they are Jews or Gentiles for God treats everyone the same. You see that? So are we dealing with the culture and catering to a culture that God won't even cater to? Well, Kevin,

You wanted to be a Christian. You read the word, you studied, you served, you prayed, you had a podcast. But you know what? Black folk wasn't really feeling you, so ain't gonna work for you, bro. You know what, Suzy? You know what, were doing your part. You were studying, you went out, you evangelized, you read the word, you led a prayer group, but the white folk wasn't feeling you, so you're not gonna make it. You know what, Jose?

Kevin (35:02.88)
I'm sorry, not gonna make it. You your Latino brothers and sisters, I was feeling you, they, no bueno. I'm sorry, bro, you ain't gonna make it. No, it says here, everybody's treated the same. So there's no pecking order culturally in God's eyes. Why do we have this belief that we have to cater to a culture

at the expense of coming to God. Now I'm not saying you should not be happy to fight. If you're black, that's cool. If you're white, you're cool. Whatever race God made you, that shows his creativity, his originality, his genes for making different races and we all come at each other. Fine. The problem becomes when that culture becomes the altar, that the culture takes precedent over all your decisions and not what God says. The word of God should have more power over

than the particular group that you belong to. And I talk about this at the first point. This is something as Christians we need to get used to. If you want to follow Christ, he said, count the costs. You might have some folk that look like you that ain't going to be rocking with you no more. Because to them, aw man, you selling out, I thought you was down. You supposed to be one of us. You out here selling out for the blank folks.

You can fill in the blank. It could go either way. Somebody who's white, who votes for Kamala Harris, voting for those blank people. Somebody's black, votes for Trump, man, you running with them blank people. Because all we're seeing it through is through the lens of the culture. Not even thinking about the fact that maybe this person could be your culture, but not be in Christ.

Have you considered that? Now isn't that the most important thing? What if that person you voted for is on, fits your culture, but was still

Kevin (37:13.344)
Let me say this too, I'm gonna go there. I remember as an African American when Obama ran for office and like a lot of us who were African American, we were so excited to vote for someone who was black to be president. And when he won the election, my gosh, it was amazing. And I remember the emotion I felt seeing someone who had my complexion at this powerful office and it was so exciting.

Yes, we got someone who maybe this is someone who can relate, someone who can associate, because he knows what it's like to be black. So now he's in position to where maybe he can make some real change. Believe was his slogan,

But you do realize that one of the things that he did, especially by the second time, he became very pro gay

That became, do you remember during the time when he was in presidency, his presidency? The White House was painting in rainbow colors, rainbow lights. That was never done before, unprecedented until he came in office. But see now, because of the culture though, the black person, I can't see nothing bad about Obama. Because I'm worried about how black folks gonna look at me. So I'm worried more about what black folks gonna say versus what God has said. And if you're worried more about

people who share your skin versus sin. You are telling me with your whole chest whose side you really own. And that's the part that you should be worried about. So now we're talking about again, those who are going into the culture, right? So let's talk about those who have a Christian identity. Here's the scripture. St. Corinthians chapter five, starting at verse 16. And it says,

Kevin (39:08.3)
So stop evaluating Christians by what the world thinks about them or by what they seem to be like on the outside. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way merely as a human being like myself, how differently I feel now. Verse 17, when someone becomes a Christian, you probably heard this phrase before, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun. You probably heard that script before.

know, things have passed away. Anyone to be in Christ is a new creation. So if you're a Christian and your identity is in Christ, you're not associated with the things of the world. And cultural identity is a worldly thing. It's a worldly concept. Racism is an evil, worldly concept. Racial pride on either side is a worldly...

Kevin (40:09.964)
So are you willing to stand before the Lord on that day? And when he asks you certain questions about why you said, why you did, why you thought, why you acted a certain way, I your response is gonna be because the culture was doing it, because it was popular, because I wanted to fit in, because people convinced me.

because I didn't want to be ostracized, because I didn't want to stand out, because I didn't want people to look at me funny. You think that's going to be a suitable answer to God? Because you're telling him the whole time you would choose the other side. And remember, when we make these decisions, or whatever side we choose, it's a decision. Nobody put a gun in your hand and say, you better choose.

decide. Now, you have to make a choice and the choice may not be easy because the consequences are severe. And we live in a world, at least United States, where no one's doing that. But in some countries, people are being killed for choosing Jesus and they still do. You and I have freedom to choose. And by our actions, as the scripture said earlier, look at the way people live. It's the way you live.

indicative of what side you're on? Or are you that person, like I said earlier, wearing that Burger King uniform, but saying you work at

So we got to make sure we're choosing the right side. And the last thing, God's side with the world's side. Very simple one here. Are you trying to do things your way or God's way? And this is another one that fits right into the previous two that we've discussed. Because what happens is this, even though you could be a Christian and you know what God said, you still have to do what God said.

Kevin (42:16.788)
You still have to believe what God said. You still have to respect and obey what God says. And it's so easy to just want to do it your way, to just trust what you think. This is what I think is the right way. Now, mind you, you're Christian, right? If you're Christian, you have the Holy Spirit. And if you're Christian, you have the Holy Spirit. Hopefully you're reading the

Hopefully you're going to church. Hopefully you're praying. So if you're praying, you're reading the word, you have the Holy Spirit, guess what all that means? God is talking to you. And he's making it clear what his way is. So that means if you're a Christian, guess what you and I are doing? We're ignoring all the ways God is telling us which way to go. And we're choosing to go our own way. We're choosing to trust what I feel. Now this works in conjunction with the first two, right?

Because first two points we talked about, whether you're being popular, obedient, or your cultural identity or Christian identity, the first two, being popular and going to the culture, doing that means you're going your way. And guess what? It's easy to go your way. It's easy to just do how you feel. Because usually, how you feel...

is not going to be met with much resistance. Because usually how you feel your way is going to go with the popular people and it's going to go with the culture. This is what everyone else is doing. This is how everyone else is progressing. This is how everyone else is going. So guess what? It's easy because on our own we want to do that stuff. no one doesn't want to be popular. No one doesn't want to be.

culturally in line with the people that they associate with. No one doesn't want to, no one wants to be unliked. We all want to be popular and liked and feel like we're part of the group. That's why we join certain organizations I mentioned earlier. That's why we do certain things because guess what? I want people to like me. I want to be a part of something. So guess what? We'll do it and compromise leaving God's way for comfort and for popularity and for simulation.

Kevin (44:45.748)
I think I mentioned this before on other episodes. It's a difference between you driving and God driving. And it's the issue of two things. The first is the issue of control. Because we want to feel like we're in control. We want to feel like I know where going, wherever I turn, if I got to go left, right, speed up, slow down. We want to feel like we're in control. We want to do it our way. So we want to be the

So it's control. But the second reason why we want to drive and let God drive, because if God drives, he's not going to take the scenic route. God's way isn't a leisurely stroll through a nice meadow of river and trees and no, God taking the back streets. God taking the streets with all the potholes. God taking the streets where

You know, it's rain and a storm and the visibility is low and the windshield wipers barely work and you in the passenger seat with your seatbelt on and you don't know and the speedometer don't work. It look like you're about to run out of gas and you in the road is bumpy and you can't see. That's when God is driving and it causes you to trust him even though everything around you looks like it's up here on this road. So we don't want to choose God's way because God's way is rarely the easy way. Now the difference between your way

the gospel is this, yes, your way may seem like a leisurely trail, but where is the destination going? Your leisurely trail, as we mentioned in scripture before, at some point it's going to end in a place that's not where you want to be. Conversely, God is going to get you through those

hot holes in the rough streets in the storm and the wind and the rain and it's gonna be bumpy but at some point you're gonna arrive at your destination and when you get there you're not gonna care about what it took to get there you gonna be glad you got there you're gonna thank God that guess what not only did I make it here you got me through these storms because guess what those same storms if you was driving you would have wrecked out but your way

Kevin (47:02.656)
God's way. Which way are you choosing? And which way in your life are you indicative of the fact that you're choosing God's way? Not just for him leading you, but in your decision making, in your life, the way you deal with people, the way you vote, the way you handle people, your job, with your family, how you raise your children. Are you doing everything the way you want to do it? Or are you doing it God's way?

Are you following the script of people or are you following God's ultimate script of His word? Give me a scripture about what happens when you do it your way. Very famous one, very short tweet. Proverbs 28, verse 26. A man is a fool to trust himself. I can stop right there. But those who use God's wisdom are safe. Look at that. A man who trusts himself is a fool.

The Bible said, I didn't call you a fool, God calls you a fool. And sometimes all of us, present company included, act very foolish. And we foolish because we want to do it our way. I mean, think about it. How foolish is it to tell God, I know what I'm doing? When you don't, you know what's going to happen in 10 seconds from now. And God can see the whole picture, but we going to tell God, got it. Think about how, I'm not foolish, but arrogant.

Cause you ain't guaranteed to see the next day, but you gonna tell God I

But if you're on his side as opposed to the world side, when the world tells you to take initiative and just do what you want and plan what you want and go about it your way, God's way says, no, no, Scripture says use God's wisdom. And I mentioned it early in episode. The problem becomes it's not just that God's wisdom is not adhered to. It's ignored. If you're a Christian, he's talking already. When you and I make bad decisions,

Kevin (49:07.372)
Let's keep it at 100. It ain't cause God ain't tell us. We just ain't listening to what God said. We just wanted to do, I hear you Lord, but I think this is a better route or not a better route. I just don't want to do what you say. Sometimes it's just bold defiance. You might be right, but I still want to do what I want. I know it might not work out, but I still want to do it. I remember I was talking to this kid years ago and

We were having a good discussion about just life. Young man, nice young man. And I told him, said, hey, know what? said, one of the things he was having issues with his parents. Parents were good people, which he was at that age where teenagers, you can't tell them nothing. They think they know everything. And I remember I said to him, I said, man, you really need to listen to your mom and dad because they're trying to spare you some issues that, they were your age once before and they've been where you've been.

And they're trying to spare you some pain. Like, hey, if I can avoid some of this stuff, they want to help you avoid some of this heartache and hardship. He said, well, maybe I just need to experience it for myself. Maybe I need to just go through that. I thought about that thing. And I said, that's a conversation that we as children have with God a lot. Here's God, son, daughter. I'm God.

I know the end from the beginning, alpha and omega. We quote the script right, he's the alpha and omega, right? But then when he comes to tell us what not to do, just like that young man, I just need to experience it for myself. Then when it happens, when it falls apart, when it doesn't work out like we thought, when it goes exactly according to how God said it was gonna go, now here we go, woe is me, I can't believe this is happening. Lord, help me, Lord, help me, Lord.

And the whole time, thankfully he's not like us. He could be like, did not tell you, you know what? No, you know what? Deal with it. But guess what? Sometimes we do have to deal with it. But just like that young man, he's trying to spare us some heartache and hardship and pain that we don't have to go

Kevin (51:27.362)
what grief, what peace we often forfeit, what needless pains we bear, all because we do not carry that old song, everything to God in prayer. And not just carry it him in prayer, but let him tell us what to do. But how many of us going through stuff and we act like the victim, we're actually the one who chose that route. Even though God tried to tell us not to do it and told us plainly, don't go that

but we did it anyway. So when we face those repercussions, it's not just sometimes we just face the repercussions because we're bad, but sometimes it's because it's indicative we're not on his side. And one more scripture that says if you are on, if you're listening to God's way versus your own way, Romans chapter eight, starting verse six, it says, following after the Holy Spirit leads to life and peace.

but following after the old nature leads to death. Because the old sinful nature within us is against God. It never did obey God's laws and it never will. Wow. That's why those who are still under control of their old sinful selves, bent on following their old evil desires can never please God. Wow. Look at that. It says right there, when you do it your way,

You can't please God because you're not under God's guidance. Think about what that's saying, family. That's saying that we choose to not be led by the Spirit. Any moment that we do something that God does not approve of, we are telling the Holy Spirit, don't need you. We're telling the Holy Spirit, I got it. God who lives in us.

who can see all, can know all and do all, we ignore him totally. And we tell him, I'm good. But then when the things happen that we don't want to happen, we want to go back to that same God that we ignored. The same God whose way we didn't choose to take. So as a point, reiteration, I'm wrap up for this week. How you know what side you on? Are you on the popular side?

Kevin (53:51.614)
or the obedient side, or you really being defined by your cultural identity or Christian identity, or are you doing things your way or doing things God's way? I know I said some things in here I said earlier, probably stepped on some toes, maybe said some things, you might be like, I didn't expect you to say that, Kevin. Well, I feel like this is what God had me to say. But hopefully, it'll make you do some self inventory. The Bible says

Examine yourselves to see if you're in the faith. It's time to do some self -examinations. I think I mentioned before, there are certain health problems that can be diagnosed by self -examinations. Maybe you've been drifting to that other side and you didn't even realize it. You didn't realize that maybe I'm not as firmly entrenched on God's side as I thought I was.

Sometimes when we say backslide, that means we're sliding back to the other side, which when we were saved, we were brought from. We're being saved. God didn't just give us a ticket to heaven. He removed us from the other side. But every now and then, if you're not careful, you will backslide to that other side. So do some inventory. Ask yourself these questions. My decision making, how I'm living, am I catering to the culture?

Am I catering to popularity? Am I defined by who I am in Christ, or who I am in my people group, or who I am at work, or who I am in my organization, or am I just defined by Frank Sinatra? I did it my way, as opposed to God's way. Do some self -examination, because the worst place you could possibly be is to not be on the winning side when it's time to see what side you're on.

and they'll be too late to change signs. Thank you so much for watching and listening. Make sure you like, share, and subscribe to the YouTube page. And as always, make sure your light shines brightest for the Lord Jesus Christ beyond the benediction. Until next time, be blessed.