When the Gospel Gets Watered Down

Speaker A00:00:00

Something is off, you can feel it. Today, churches are louder than they've ever been. A conviction just feels quieter, doesn't it?And sure, we've got bigger stages, but for so many of us we just got weaker spines. Yeah, there's more content, there's all kinds of Christian content today. But thinking about this, I think there's just less clarity.Yeah, there's more affirmation, but there's less repentance. There's more branding, lots of branding out there, but less brokenness. And the question pressured on my spirit is this.When did the gospel become negotiable? When did sin become just struggle? When did repentance become processing? And when did surrender become self expression?Now I'm not here angry today, but I am here burdened because I love the Church. What I've known about love is love confronts drift. So this isn't a rant today, it's a return. Hey friend.I'm Ralph Estep Jr. And this is Truth Unveiled with Ralph. My assignment here every week is pretty simple. I want to open the word and I really want to let scripture speak.And I want to refuse to soften what God has made so very clear in the scriptures. And I'm not here to attack the bride of Christ. I'm here to call her back to purity. So let's get right to the Bible. Now I want to speak carefully.The Church has not abandoned Christ, but in many places it has adjusted him. And it's adjusted him because we fear losing attendance, butts and seats as they.We fear being labeled intolerant, those radical Christian intolerance. We fear being on the wrong side of history. So we soften edges, we remove those absolutes and we avoid confrontation. But here's the danger.Culture doesn't just influence language, it influences theology. Because so many of us are being told truth is evolving.Identity, that's swell, that's self defined morality, that's personal Christianity is this kind of update, Ralph. It's got to stay updated. But truth does not update. Truth stands.See, throughout church history, whenever the Church blended too deeply with culture, revival became necessary again. Let's look at the 4th century after Christianity became legal. Under Constantine, the Church gained incredible power, but it lost some purity.And then in the Middle Ages, institution replaced intimacy and reformers rose up. In the 1700s, the church in England became cold and John Wesley began preaching repentance. And then revival followed that.See, when truth turns cold, God raises voices. This is not accusation, it's an invitation. When I want to get right to the Bible if you've got a Bible, I would love for you to get your Bible out.We're going to go right to the Bible. We're going to go to the Book of Revelation, chapter 13, or chapter 3, verses 15 to 17. And this is what it says.It says, these are the words of me, the Amen, the faithful and the true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds. I know you're neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other.So because you're lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, I am rich. I've acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.That's strong. And we're talking about here, about a town called Laodicea. Complicated term. It took me a little bit to figure out how to pronounce it.But Laodicea, they were rich. They needed nothing materially. In fact, they have rebuilt their city without Rome's help. So independence was their very pride.And that pride, it seeped into church life. And they didn't depend on God anymore, they just depended on themselves. And Jesus says something shocking here, doesn't he?Says, you say you're rich, but you're poor. See, this is that spiritual blindness. And this isn't a message against resources. It's a warning against self sufficiency.Because when you need nothing, you stop seeking God like you used to. And this parallels where we are today. See, in so many churches, we run church like a brand. We build an experience.We polish every single detail and listen. None of that is automatically sinful. Those are fine things. But it can become a substitute.It becomes a substitute for prayer, a substitute for repentance and a substitute for holiness. Let me ask you this. Do we have a strong service but a weak altar? That's a tough one, isn't it? Do we have a crowd?Sure, we have a lot of people in the church, but not consecrated people. I want you to picture this. Picture a Sunday, probably in your church. The lobby's full, coffee's flowing, that worship band is tight today.The message is smooth. People are clapping, people are posting clips. And people say at the end, oh, that was so good today. Would you look around?Nobody's weeping, nobody's repenting, nobody confesses sin, and nobody trembles at the word. And sure, everyone leaves feeling uplifted, but unchanged.And then Monday rolls around and porn returns that bitterness amongst each other, returns that pride, returns Anxiety returns because inspiration is not transformation. And hype cannot replace holiness. And here's the warning, friend. You can have church growth and still have spiritual drift.Yeah, you can have full seeds, but empty hearts. And yeah, you can have a big budget and a small prayer light. You can look alive and still be half asleep.Lukewarm is not hatred, it's self satisfaction. And that self satisfaction kills hunger. But here's the good news. Jesus didn't write this letter to destroy. In many ways, he wrote it to awaken.And if you feel conviction right now, that's mercy, that's love. It's a beautiful thing. And that's the Lord saying, come back to me. Because revival begins when comfort finally gets disturbed.Well, let's look at our second scripture. Now, this one is going to come to us from the book of Timothy, actually. Second Timothy, chapter four, verses three and four.So let me get right there now. Chapter four, verses three and four. And I'm actually going to start at verse one.It says, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge. Preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season. Correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction.For the time will come. And this is the part I really wanted to get to. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what this itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside the myths.But you keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. Now, I just want you to think about this for a second. Paul wrote this before his execution. He wasn't guessing, he was warning.He was warning people who prefer comfort over correction.It talks about those itching ears, meaning selective listening, that preference driven truth, that hunger for messages that feel good, sound familiar. Not messages that make you holy. And think about what that looks like today.See, right now, we curate truth, we follow truth, we unfollow conviction, and we scroll until we find a teacher who agrees with us. This person agrees with me. I'm going to follow them. Well, this person doesn't agree with me. I'm going to unfollow them.And we've turned our sermons into playlists. And we want the gospel to just fit our mood for the day. So ask yourself, are we choosing teachers or choosing Truth. And there is a difference.Do we want a savior or a speaker who just validates us? Think about this. The modern movement of Christianity right now. A person hears a sermon about repentance and they feel uncomfortable.So what do they do? They label it toxic. They say, oh, that's legalistic. They say, oh, that's not loving. And they leave the church.And of course they find another church, because I still believe there's conviction.And then they find another, and they find another until they find a place where nothing presses them anymore, nothing confronts them, nothing calls them to change. They just feel safe. But what if safety is actually sedation? And what if comfort is slowly numbing their soul? Because here's the warning.When truth stops challenging you, your flesh will feel relieved. Yes, it will. But your spirit's going to grow weaker. See, the gospel does not exist to protect your preferences. Sorry to tell you that it doesn't.It exists to transform your heart. And if you realize you've been avoiding correction, you don't need to hide. You can return and you can ask God for a teachable spirit.Ask God for humility. Say something like this, lord, I want truth even when it hurts. And friend, he'll honor that in prayer. Well, let's get to our next verse of the Bible.We're going to go to the book of Galatians. We're going to go to Galatians chapter 1, and we're going to go to verses 6 to 9. So here's what it says in Galatians 6, 9.I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all, Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let him be eternally condemned. Why so strong?You think, here's why. Because the gospel itself is life, and if you dilute it, you poison it. So think about what's going on today. Today we add culture to grace.We don't add works. We had approval. We had don't offend anybody. We'd never add confronting sin. We had keep it positive. Got to keep church positive.Don't want anybody talking about blood or bad things. And the gospel becomes this wicked sense of therapy instead of a rescue. Consider this for yourself.If the cross never confronts you, is it the real cross? If Jesus never becomes Lord, is it the real gospel? And see here's what it looks like today. Person comes to a church broken. That's what led him there.But instead of hearing, repent and believe, they hear, just love yourself more. That's all you got. Just love yourself more. So they try. And yeah, they affirm themselves.They speak positive words, they make those fancy vision boards. But that sin still chains them in and that addiction still grips them, anger still rules them. Because self love is not salvation.An affirmation is not deliverance. And then they say, this Christianity didn't work for me. How sad. But friend, they weren't given Christianity. They were given a substitute for it.Some deluded gospel, a powerless gospel. Because here's the problem. If we remove sin, we remove the need for a Savior. And if we remove repentance, we remove transformation altogether.And if we remove lordship, we remove discipleship. And if there is no sin to repent of, what did Jesus die for? But here's the hope. The real gospel still saves.The real gospel still breaks those chains of sin. The real gospel still raises the dead. You can come back to Jesus as you are, but you can't stay where you were.And that's good news because change is possible. Well, let's go look at the Book of Romans. That's going to be our next Bible verse for today.We're going to go to the Book of Romans, chapter 12, verse 2. As I've said on the show many times, Romans is probably one of my favorite books of the Bible. But here's what we're going to.We're going to Romans chapter 12, verse 2. And it says this. I'm going to start at verse one, actually.Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. And here's the important part.Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good, pleasing and perfect will. I just want to paint a little context here.Rome was pagan at this point. Immorality was normalized all over. Idolatry was public. There was constant pressure. And Paul says something. Do not conform.The original idea is molding or squeezing, shaping the cultural pressures. And transformation requires renewal. And that renewal requires scripture. Just think about what's going on right now.Culture pressures, all of us, daily, not once a week. I'm talking about daily. It does it through your phone, through entertainment, through those work, pace Policies you disagree with, school messaging.Your kids are seeing this online. Outrageous things in this viral morality all around us. Take a moment right now and ask yourself, what is shaping your mind more?Is it scripture or is it scrolling? And then ask yourself this. Are you being renewed or are you being molded? Because here's a real scenario, and you may fit right into this.A believer says, I don't want conflict. I just don't want conflict in my life. So they stop speaking truth. They stop mentioning Jesus. They stop disagreeing with those who they disagree with.They stop resisting. And they don't change their beliefs. They just go quiet. And then slowly, over time, they begin to absorb assumptions.They begin to adopt a language that. And they begin to adjust their own convictions. And it wasn't because they hated God. It's just because they're tired. They just want peace.But, friends, silence doesn't always create peace. Sometimes it just creates erosion. And if you know anything about building, when erosion happens, foundations collapse.Because if you don't renew your mind, you will conform by default. See, neutral is not real. There's no such thing as neutral in this. You're being shaped. The only question is, what's shaping you? But there is hope.You can rebuild. You can start small. Just one chapter of Scripture a day. Just one prayer a day. Just one honest confession. One act of obedience.And when you do those things, the mind can be renewed. And yes, your heart can be restored. You're not stuck. Well, let's go to the Book of Jude.I don't think I've ever used the Book of Jude here on the show, but we're going to go to the Book of Jude. And we're going to go to chapter one, verses three and four. And this is what it says is.Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all, entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you.They're godless men who changed the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ, our only sovereign and Lord, false teaching. And see, the thing about false teaching, it rarely announces itself. It doesn't walk in and say, hey, this is false teaching. It slides in gently.Yeah, uses Christian words. We're all familiar with it. But when it does that, it changes Christian meaning. So what is Jude telling us here?He says, contend, fight, guard, protect, not people, truth. See, grace is not permission. Grace Empowers holiness. Fast forward to today. False teaching today. Often wears a smile.Sounds compassionate, sounds reasonable to people. It's. Modern Christianity says things like, that's outdated, that's harmful, that's just too narrow. God wouldn't expect that.And it creeps into our churches unnoticed. Think about it. Have we confused compassion with compromise? And if we confuse kindness with silence?And so many of us have seen it, A church stops preaching repentance because it might trigger people. Church leaders stopped using certain verses because they might offend the donors. Oh, heaven forbid. We don't want to offend the donors.And a parent stops correcting their child because they fear being disliked. Everybody, every parent, wants to be their kid's best friend. That's not your job.And slowly, we're raising a generation that believes holiness is optional. I don't have to do. It's optional. Truth, that's negotiable. Jesus, that's a preference, not a king. That's not compassion. That's surrender.And when we stop contending for truths, we don't become more loving. We just become more confused. And that confusion spreads like a wildfire. It fractures families.Young believers drift away because the church refused clarity. But there is hope. You can contend lovingly. You can stand without being cruel. You can be compassionate without compromise.Jesus modeled that perfectly. Grace and truth together, always. Well, let's look at Matthew, chapter 7, verses 13 and 14.So we're going to go to Matthew, chapter 7, and we are going to go here to 13 and 14 and says this. This is one of my grandfather's favorite verses of the Bible. That's what I was raised to believe. It says this again. Matthew 7, 13, 14.Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life. And only a few find it. See, Jesus is saying something really profound here. Jesus is saying the gate is narrow and few find it.He's telling us the way is hard. But the wide gate, that's easy. And so many people go that way. And in my view, this clashes with modern inclusivity right now. Truth is specific.Reality is defined. Gravity does not apologize. Truth doesn't adjust. Jesus said this. He says, I am the way. He didn't say, he is a way. He says, I am the way.But, see, culture tells us something else, doesn't it? I hear this all the time. Hey, all paths lead to God. Pick your path. It's all good. Truth. Well, that's personal. What is your truth? Live your truth.Spirituality, that's customizable. But that's not what Jesus says. There's one gate, one way, and just one savior, and that's Jesus Christ, I believe. So, tough questions.Do we want a Jesus who saves or a Jesus who? And are we following Christ or are we just creating a Christ we prefer? And here's what the wide gate looks like today.You're probably hearing this in your churches. It's all over social media. Be a Christian, but don't change. Believe in Jesus, but keep your sin. Have faith, yes, but don't surrender. Avoid that.Surrender and have spirituality, but avoid lordship. It's comfortable, it's popular, it's simple, it's easy. And it produces a church that looks alive.There's a lot of people there, a lot of coffee being poured. But that church never walks in power because what we see is the narrow. It cost you. So my grandfather admonished me to. It cost you pride.It costs sin, it costs control. It's a hard thing. It's narrow, but it's the only thing that leads to eternal life.And see, if we remove that narrow gate, we remove urgency, we remove the cross, we remove repentance, and we remove real salvation. Now, a lot of people would say, wait a minute, Ralph, but the narrow way, that's cruel. No, the narrow way is not cruel. It's mercy.Because you don't have to guess when you're doing that. You don't have to perform, you don't have to earn it. You come to Jesus, you surrender, you're saved, and then you're finally free.And, friend, that's the Bible. That's not my opinion. That's the Bible. And if this message today is convicting you, that's not condemnation. That's invitation.That's the Lord calling you back. This is not about panic today. It's about a return. See, revival doesn't start in stadiums. Yes, there's a place for that. But revival starts in hearts.It starts in homes. It starts in ordinary obedience. And it starts today. So how do we get there? Here's what I think we got to do.Number one thing, we've got to restore scripture as final authority. Not some opinion, not some culture, not some. Not some feel good emotion. Scripture is not a suggestion. Scripture is a standard.And see, that's where the modern drift starts. Sure, we don't reject the Bible outright. We just demote it quietly. We treat scripture like, oh, that's a good quote book.It's a mood Booster when I'm feeling down. It's a spiritual Instagram caption. How many of those have you seen in the last 24 hours?But it's not a ruling authority because see, if the Bible only comforts you but never corrects you, you're not being discipled by it. And this is what it looks like today. You read what you already agree with. Well, I agree with that.I'm going to read that, I'm going to look at that meme and you avoid what confronts your lifestyle and you get those hard passages. But you see, explain those hard passages away you your place. What does God say? With what do I feel? How do I feel about this?And friend, your feelings are real. But feelings are not the Lord. Only Jesus is Lord. So here's something you can do today.I want to encourage you right now, if you're feeling this way, open your Bible. Today. I got my Bible out today. You notice I did all the scripture reading right from the word of God today. Get that Bible out.Not some app, get the Bible. If you don't have one, let us know, we'll send you one. And ask yourself three questions. What does this reveal about God?What does this reveal about me? What's it reveal about me? And what must I obey today?And I'm going to encourage you to write one sentence, just one obedient step and do it within 24 hours. Because friend, the Bible can't lead you if you keep negotiating with it. You got to accept it.So before bed tonight, I want to encourage you read one chapter in the Gospel of John. Great Bible for great chapter of the Bible. And then write one obedience step, write it down. And then tomorrow morning when you wake up, go do it.Nothing we've got to do. If we want to break this cycle of lukewarm church, we've got to restore repentance as normal. Repentance is not extremism.Repentance at its very nature is the definition of Christianity. So many people have said, well, repentance, that's self hatred. It's not that, it's spiritual honesty. See, repentance is turning.It's not just feeling bad. It's one thing to feel bad about something. I remember many years ago I had a disagreement with my wife and man, it was an ugly situation.I went and met with my pastor and he said, Ralph, he said, are you repenting? And I said I feel bad about what I said. And he says, no, no, no, Ralph, he says, are you repenting?And I said, what do you mean he Says, are you turning from it? It's not just feeling bad. It's turning.And when we do that act of daily repentance, it keeps our heart soft because sin hardens us quietly, sometimes, day after day, week after week. But see the promise today's culture calls repentance shame. We can't shame people. That's a horrible thing. But Scripture calls it something else.And today, we rename sin. We call it a season. Oh, sin's just a struggle. We call it who I am. That's who I am. It's how I cope.And we never actually turned, so the taint just stays on us. And here's what you can do. Here's something.I'm gonna encourage you to take five minutes today, get alone with God, just you and God, and pray this Holy Spirit, show me what I'm tolerating. Just ask that Holy Spirit, show me what I'm tolerating right now. Then answer honestly. Name one sin pattern you're living in. Not one, not 10. Just one.Just one. Then do one clean step. Maybe God, delete that app, the app that's causing you to sin. Block that contact that's leading you down a dusty road.Confess to a trusted believer. Maybe you got to move that device out of the bedroom. Cancel that subscription. Break the access. See, because repentance is not a feeling.It's not feeling bad. It's a decision. You won't drift into holiness. You return through repentance. So before bed tonight, I want to ask you to do this.Ask God to reveal one tolerated sin in your life. Write it down. Just take one concrete, cut it off, step and do that tonight. Next thing we've got to do, we've got to restore the fear of the Lord.I feel like in our culture today, it's completely gone. It's gone. The fear of the Lord is reverence. It's all sobriety. So many people have confused it. It's not terror, it's a weight. It's seeing God is God.Because for so many of us modern Christians, we reduce God to a mascot. I know that's strong. But we see him as a helper, some sidekick, a life coach. But friend, he's the king.And when you lose all in the king, you lose obedience. And then you just drift into this casual worship that produces casual disciples. Think about what's going on right now. We talk about God casually.My buddy God, my friend God. But we live like he doesn't see anything.And, yeah, we sing holy in church, but we tolerate unholiness yes, we claim his name on Sunday, but man, we sure do ignore his commands. If God never interrupts you, it may have made him too small in your life. Here's what you can do. It's what I call an all reset. Awe reset.Just five minutes. No music, no phone, no noise. Just sit still and read the book of Isaiah, chapter six one five. And I'm going to do that right now.So I'm going to open up the Bible here. I'm going to go to Isaiah chapter 6:1:5 in the year that King Uzziah died. I don't know if I got that right, but we're going to say it's right.I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted. And the train of his robes filled the temple. And above him were seraphs, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces.With two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling out one to another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory.And at the sound of their voices, the doorpost and the threshold shook and the temple was filled with smoke. Woe to me, I cried. I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among people of unclean lips.And my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. Just read that slowly and just pray. Lord, make me tremble again. Lord, restore the all that I see in you. And then worship with obedience.Because all without obedience is just emotion. All with obedience is fear of the Lord. Because when God becomes small, sin becomes normal.So before bed tonight, I want you to go back, get your Bible out and read Isaiah 6 slowly again and write one area you've been casual about and then surrender it. Here's something else I'm going to encourage you to do. You've got to restore discipleship over consumption in your life.Stop consuming and start obeying. Because we've got a generation that knows sermons, but they don't know scripture. We know Christian content is all around us.We don't know Christian character. And sure we binge teaching, but we avoid the training part. Listen friend, discipleship is not entertainment. Discipleship is formation.It's becoming like Jesus, not just learning about him. Think about this. How many of us right now, we watch six sermons a week, but we never pray. And yet we listen to podcasts.Maybe that's one or others that I have. But you don't forgive people, maybe even take notes, but you don't take steps towards doing anything about those notes.And you're saying, wait a minute, Ralph. Consumption. That's productive. It feels productive. But dare I say, for so many of us, it's become a hiding place. So I want to encourage you right now.Pick one person, somebody you trust, and text them today and say, can we talk once a week for prayer and accountability? That's it. Something simple.And then pick one habit, whether it be daily scripture, daily prayer, weekly church service, sermon somewhere, and don't do it alone, because lone wolf Christianity burns out. And if all you're doing is consuming information, information without obedience produces inflation, not transformation.So before bed tonight, I want to encourage you, send one message, Ask one person for that accountability and schedule that call. And we've got to restore boldness. Look at the Book of Acts, chapter 4 verses. Verses 29. Chapter 4, 29. Grant to your servants boldness.See, the early church prayed for boldness. They didn't pray for comfort. They didn't pray for safety. They didn't pray for influence. They prayed for boldness.Now, a lot of people would say, wait a minute, Ralph. Boldness is being loud. No, boldness is not being loud. Boldness is being faithful, even when it costs you. Boldness is speaking truth with love.Boldness is obeying God over approval. And for so many of us, today's culture has trained Christians to whisper. They've trained us to hide, to soften our beliefs, to avoid.But Jesus didn't say that. Jesus said, if you deny me before men, you know how it ends. I'll deny you before the Father. So boldness matters.See, today, so many people stay silent when truth is mocked and we laugh at sin. To avoid tension, you don't even say the word Jesus at work. Oh, dad, you can't say that at work. You fear labels more than you fear God and friend.I get it. I feel that same pressure. But your silence is speaking volumes to your children. Dare I say it's disciplining your children?And that quiet compromise is shaping your future. So today, I want to encourage you to choose one bold act. I'm not telling you to go find 10, just one. You can share scripture with a friend.Offer prayer for someone. Say, I'm a Christian. Calmly. Think about that for a second. Just say, I'm a Christian. Refuse gossip, refuse compromise.Tell the truth kindly, and then pray, lord, make me faithful. Because boldness grows through practice. And let me just tell you right now, boldness isn't a personality. It's obedience under pressure.So here's what I encourage you today to do. Today, before bed, write down one Bold step you're going to take tomorrow and then do it before noon. Friend. Revival doesn't start with crowds.It starts when one believer, just like you and me, returns. So your simple step, we just went through five of those. Just pick one of those five, just one. And do the practice today.Because small obedience today breaks big drift tomorrow. Will you return? Now, some of you feel conviction today. That is grace. And maybe you've known about Jesus, but you've never surrendered to him.Salvation is not some intellectual agreement. It's a surrender. Look at the Book of Romans, chapter 10, verse 9. It says if you confess, you will be saved.Saved from sin, saved from judgment, saved into relationship, friend. Right now, this isn't about church culture. It's not about some theology debate. It's not about what other people are doing. This is about you.Your heart, your soul. Because right now, you're standing before God. And some of you feel it. You've been drifting and you didn't mean to.You didn't wake up one day and say, I reject Jesus. He just got busy. He got distracted. He got comfortable. He compromised. And somewhere along the way, the fire dimmed. The conviction softened.That hunger you once had just faded away. And right now, you realize something. You don't just need better habits. You need Jesus again. Not casually, not culturally. You need him fully.And maybe you've never truly surrendered to him. Not fully. Maybe you've been about Christianity, been around it your whole life, but never broken before Christ.And see, salvation isn't joining a church. It's not improving your behavior. It's not trying harder. It's surrender. It's saying something pretty simple, I cannot save myself.It's trusting that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived the life that you could not live. And he died the death that you and I deserved. But he rose again in power and now offers you forgiveness.The best part is it's not partial forgiveness. Total forgiveness. Not behavior management, new birth in Christ, not inspiration, transformation.And if you feel that conviction right now, that's not condemnation. That's grace knocking. Jesus is not ashamed of you. He's inviting you. He's not waiting to punish you. He's waiting to receive you.And if right now your heart is pounding, if your eyes are filling, if you feel exposed, that, my friend, is the Holy Spirit drawing you. This is your moment. Don't scroll past this. Don't delay. Don't harden. Come home. Let's pray together. And let's really mean it. Just pray this with me.Lord Jesus, I come to you. Honestly, I've drifted. I've sinned. I've chosen my own ways over yours. But I realized something. I can't save myself.And I believe you are the Son of God. I believe you died for my sin. And I believe you rose again in power. So right now, Lord, I turn from my sin. I turn from my self rule.And I surrender fully to you. Lord, forgive me. Wash me clean, break the chains in my life. Make me new. Be my Savior. Be my Lord. Reignite my heart and restore my first love.Because I belong to you now. In Jesus name, amen. And if you just prayed that, I want you to stop for a second. I want you to take a breath. Because something eternal just happened.Heaven's not silent right now. Jesus said in Luke 15 that there is rejoicing in heaven. When one sinner who repents, one. Not thousands, just one.And see, that means that heaven noticed you. Your record is wiped clean. It's not reduced, it's not managed, it's wiped clean. Your shame is covered. Your guilt is forgiven.Your path no longer defines you. Your identity has changed. You're not trying any longer to do better. You are now in Christ. You've been adopted. You've been forgiven.You've been declared righteous. And that old version of you, the one that was chained to sin, the one stuck in drift, the one numb and distant, that one version just died.And something new has begun. So I want to be the first to welcome you to the family. Welcome to grace and welcome to life. And if you were already saved.But right now you're thinking, Ralph, I know I've drifted some. This is your revival moment too. I don't believe you need to be resaved. I don't think you have to do that. But you need to return.Because Revelation says, return to your first love. Just go back to that place of surrender. Go back to hunger. Go back to obedience. Today can be that line in the sand.This isn't about emotional hype, but a holy reset. You can say boldly, no more lukewarm for me. No more compromise. No more cultural Christianity. Jesus is Lord of my life again. Listen carefully.Don't let this moment fade. I want to encourage you to tell someone today. Text someone, say, I gave my life to Jesus. Or maybe say, I got. I recommitted tonight.I want to encourage you, get baptized. If you haven't, find a Bible believing church. Open scripture tomorrow morning, not next week, tomorrow. Pray daily. Even if it feels simple.Just talk to God. Growth is not some dramatic thing. It's Just consistent friend. The gospel cannot be softened. The church cannot remain neutral.Truth cannot be negotiated. And love cannot mean silence. Revival begins with honesty. Purity begins at repentance. And power begins with surrender. How about we pray together?Father, thank you for salvation. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for restoring the drifting in us. Thank you for awaken the comfortable.I just ask that you will protect every person who just surrendered, Lord. Guard their hearts, strengthen their faith. Surround them with truths. And Lord, I just ask right now that you would purify your church.Set our hearts on fire again for you, Lord. Break the complacency, break the compromise, break the spiritual numbness. Restore holiness, restore hunger.And as the early church, Lord, restore boldness. Make us a people who love truth, who walk in grace and who stand firm in Christ. And I ask this in Jesus powerful name. Amen.If today stirred you, I want to encourage you to join us at truth unveiled with Ralph.com join. When you go there, I want you to download our family digital wisdom guide. Because truth got to be guarded at home.Because as I said a little while ago, it's not going to start in stadiums. It starts with you. And it starts in your household. And that courage grows in community. We're not here to blend in anymore. We're here to stand.We're here to stand for grace. We're here to stand for truth. And we're here to stand together. Amen. May God bless you. I encourage you and I hope to see you again next week.Take care, my friends.