There is a push right now in the earth that is unlike anything I've ever seen.
God is drawing people unto himself.

In Revelation 14, John writes about a great harvest that will come right before the end. I'm not here today to tell you that the end is near. I don't know when that's going to happen. I do know this though: the harvest is ripe right now and something has shifted in the last two weeks on this earth.

People are coming to Jesus in droves. Hundreds of thousands of people attended Charlie Kirk's memorial and millions watched it online around the world, and tens of thousands have turned to Jesus since September 10.

Social media is abuzz with people confessing Christ for the first time, returning to faith. They are returning to church, engaging in a relationship with God. They are abandoning their sinful lifestyles, they are walking in repentance and forgiveness.

Something has shifted.

I probably don't even have to tell you this. I bet you feel it in yourself as well. I bet you've been feeling this energy inside of you that's caused you to yearn for godliness and righteousness, to abandon wickedness and sin, to embrace godly discipline, and have an intimate relationship with Jesus.

So many of you in this room right now you can't deny that there is some kind of holy stirring in the earth where peoples’ hearts are being turned towards God.

Reminds me of Malachi 4:5-6
5 “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. 6 His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers.

But it also reminds me of Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Will you recognize it?

I know you feel it, but are you recognizing it? Are you responding to it?

The message you are gonna hear today is not one where I take some passage or some ideal or principal and teach you how to apply it to your life. Most Sundays we do that. Most of you in here have some sort of relationship with Jesus, and it is important that we teach you how to grow your relationship with him. This is discipleship. This is development.

But today, I want you to understand that as you sit now in your chair, you are in one of three places. You are either all in, half in, or far from God.

We live in a time where more and more you need a relationship with Jesus Christ. The culture won't fix what's wrong with you. A new hobby won't help you. A new drug won't numb the pain. You need Jesus, and deep down you know it.

There is an awakening to faith in Jesus Christ in the Earth right now. Do you recognize it? Better yet, are you going to respond to it?

All in, half in, far from God. Which one are you?

1. All in
If you are all in, I’m not talking to you today. Love you, but if you’re all in, you know what you need to be doing. Keep doing it.

It might be time for you to get off the bench though.

There are many times when people come in and what they really need is time to heal, get refreshed, get poured into. That's great and we are for that! Whenever Tony first came to us, I desperately needed someone to lead worship because I was doing it, but rather than just throwing him into the fire, I told him straight up, "If you need six months to heal from whatever happened before you got here, I'd rather you do that."

Sometimes though, we get real comfortable in our seat. We love being fed, and that's great, but we have to be careful that we are not being fed so much yet never taking the opportunity to exercise what we've been fed. When this happens, we end up looking spiritually like this cat named Fat Harvey from League City, Texas. This is a 30 pound rescue cat they found after Hurricane Harvey and it now has 57,000 Instagram followers. By the way: this is unhealthy for a cat, and it's spiritually unhealthy for us as well whenever we are constantly fed, but never use our gifts, talents and abilities to move the Kingdom forward.

Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her

The church isn't perfect, but Jesus loves the church. And if you love, Jesus, then that means you love what Jesus loves. And if you are all in with Jesus, that means not just being all in in terms of your relationship, but all in in terms of your service, as well.

Romans 6:13
13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

God can’t use what you won’t surrender, including your time talent gifts, and abilities.
Go to www.freedomdl.com/serve and let’s get with it.

And one more thing:
If you are all in, start interceding for the people to your right and left who aren’t. We need to bathe this sanctuary in prayer for people who need to get serious about their relationship with Jesus.

I guess I was talking to you guys a little. All in is the goal, but some are only half in.

2. Half in
Half in and half out. We do the Hokie Pokie with Jesus and wonder why nothing is working.

I am not trying to be mean, but you need to hear the truth. We are too late in the game for you to have a halfhearted relationship with Jesus Christ. Christianity doesn't work only when it suits you. A relationship with Jesus does not bring fruit only when it's good for you. The Word doesn't work only when you agree with it.

Some of you under the sound of my voice right now are half in with this relationship with Jesus, and I've got some really bad news for you about that. In the same way partial obedience is disobedience, half in is all the way out.

And I can hear your wheels turning right now: "If the glass is half empty, it also means it's half full." Praise God for you positive people.

But what does Jesus say about this?
Revelation 3:14-19
14 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation: 15 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! 16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. 18 So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. 19 I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

Spew: eméō – to vomit, to be repulsed, to show utter rejection desiring total separation, to reject with extreme disgust.

Let me give you some historical context:
“Laodicea lay between hot springs in Hierapolis and the cold, refreshing waters of Colossae. By the time water reached Laodicea through aqueducts, it was tepid and mineral-laden—useful neither for soothing baths nor for drinking. Residents regularly spat it out. Christ employs local experience to expose the church’s condition: outwardly prosperous yet spiritually insipid.”

Insipid is lacking energy, excitement, enthusiasm.

If this does not describe the current state of the church and so many Christians today, I don't know what does. We live in a comfortable, rich, easy time where is the norm is tepid Christianity rather than passion and enthusiasm for Jesus. That's why we get so fired up about a guy like Charlie Kirk who every time he spoke, he pointed to Jesus. He shared the Gospel, he tried to direct peoples’ attention to godly values and principles.
That's when we get so excited about people like Philip Anthony Mitchell at 2819 Church who are so passionate and on fire for the Word. Why? It's the same reason we love professional athletes at the top of their game, musicians at the top of their craft, artists at the top of their skill: We love top effort, passion, and enthusiasm. There is something about being on fire that calls to something deep inside of us.

And what is so amazing about being half in, is that there used to be that oomph in you. There used to be a fire, that's what got you in to begin with. There used to be something deep inside of you that craved everything of God and longed for a relationship with him, but either something happened or you began to drift.

Maybe you're just like Laodicea and you're stuck between the hot springs of Heiropolis and the cool waters of Colossae. You're stuck between the fire and passion of a relationship with Jesus and the cold waters of the culture of this world. FYI: Water cools naturally, but it takes effort to heat it up.

So you've come into church and you've gotten in this comfortable environment and what's happened is the fire that was in you before began to wane and rather than stoking it every day through the word, prayer, interaction with God's people, you let the culture and cares of this life quench the fire and produce the lukewarm deep inside of us.

FYI Lukewarm happens when you mix hot water with cold water. In our faith, it is when you mix the spirit with the flesh, the truth with lies, obedience with rebellion. You can't live for your flesh and Jesus at the same time. You can't be on fire for Jesus and keep some of those activities or friends. You've gotten comfortable with lukewarm and turns out, you've gotten comfortable with the one thing Jesus said he'd spit out. So what do you do? Obey even if you don't understand. Embrace truth even if it makes you change your mind. Please the Spirit when it is easier to feed your flesh. These are the things that add fuel to the fire of God in you!

I'm not telling you today to leave the world and go find some commune somewhere out in the woods and never talk to anybody. I'm trying to get you to understand that God is calling us to stoke the fires within, to be fill to love the Word with our whole heart. He's calling fire to fall inside your heart again, so that fire and passion of that relationship with Jesus can bring life to you!

If you know you are lukewarm right now and you want God to stir that fire inside of you just ask him now, “God stir the fire within me. I don’t want to be lukewarm anymore.”

John said in Matthew 3:11-12
11 I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.

This is not a time to be lukewarm.
This is not a time to be half in and half out.
This is a time to commit, to go all in, to abandon your love of the world.
This is a time to be on fire for Jesus.
He is calling you.

All in. Half in.

3. Far away
Maybe you never grew up hearing this stuff. Maybe your family of origin was half in themselves. Maybe something bad happened along the way and you lost hope. Maybe someone hurt you at church and you've thrown up your hands and walked away.

You are far away from God, but even now you can't ignore that feeling inside of your chest. It isn’t heartburn. It is a heart burning. You want it to be real, for this Jesus thing to be true. You want the forgiveness and freedom and peace and life he promises.

So many people who are far away feel like the Prodigal Son.
Luke 15:11-32
11 …A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, “I want my share of your estate now before you die.” So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. 13 A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. 17 When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, “At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.’” 20 So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.”
22 But his father said to the servants, “Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.”

At some point, all of us were the prodigal.

Romans 3:23
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

From Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden all the way through this very moment right now, every single one of us have turned our backs on God. We forfeited our inheritance as God‘s sons and daughters and embraced a sinful nature.

It is interesting to me that in the weeks and months following the son’s departure from his father’s house, he went wild. The Bible says he wasted all of it on wild living. He probably had a blast. He probably enjoyed it. He probably had so-called friends around him encouraging him to keep it up.

But you need to know something: sin might be fun, but it’s only for a season. At some point, whether in this life or the judgment, you are going to have to pay for your wild living. At some point, you’re gonna have a realization of the pig slop of a life you’ve created by following your passions and desires, your flesh and rebellion against God.

Yet, while the son was away, squandering his life, the father was constantly scanning the horizon. The Bible says his father saw him coming. That means his daddy was looking for him. His dad never gave up hope that he would come back. His dad knew that the love between them would draw his son home.

You out there who feel far away from God, the same goes for you. Your heavenly Father is looking for you. Your heavenly Father has not given up hope that you’ll come back. Your heavenly Father is even now by his love drawing you home.

The son’s head appeared over the horizon and the father, full of love and compassion and grace and mercy, ran to meet him. Culturally in a situation like this, the people in the town were allowed to go out and intercept the son and stone him for what he'd done. But they could not outrun the father. Whatever has kept you far away from God, God can outrun that, too. He can get to you before the judgment does.

In the story, the son had a speech prepared, and he was ready to grovel. His daddy wouldn’t even let him get it out. His returning was his repentance. The father didn’t need an explanation and he didn’t need an apology. He just wanted his boy back.

I am sure the father and his prodigal son had conversations later on, but the father didn’t need a reason to restore him. His love for his boy was enough. The boy’s job was returning and repenting. The father‘s pleasure was open arms and a grateful dad’s welcome.

Whatever the reason is that you are far from God, it’s not more important than you coming home to him. And the process wasn’t difficult. It was three steps:
A realization - realizing how he had sinned and needed forgiveness
A resolution - resolving to swallow his pride and do a 180
And a return - returning, step after step, back into the arms of his father.

If you look over this passage of scripture again, you will see something powerful. This passage is often referred to as the parable of the lost son, more often parable of the prodigal son. Prodigal means reckless or wasteful. But his father never called him that. He only ever called his son.

I know you feel it in your chest right now, the father drawing you to him. You’ve never been a prodigal to him. Only a daughter, a son.

If you are far away right now, realize how badly you need him, resolve that you’re gonna have the courage today to turn around, and simply return home to him.

Secretary, Marco Rubio at Charlie Kirk’s Memorial on Sunday gave such a beautiful and clear explanation of the Gospel:
“We were all created—every single one of us—planned before the beginning of time, by the hands of the God of the universe, the only all-powerful God who loved us and created us for the purpose of living with Him in eternity. But then sin entered the world and separated us from our Creator. And so God took on the form of a man and came down and lived among us. And He suffered like men, and He died like a man. But on the third day, He rose unlike any mortal man. And then, and to prove any doubters wrong, He ate with His disciples so they could see, and they saw His wounds. He didn’t rise as a ghost or as a spirit, but as flesh. Then He rose to heaven, but He promised He would return, and He will. And when He returns, because He took on that death, because He carried that cross, we were freed from the sin that separated us from Him, and by confessing in Jesus Christ as Lord, we are saved. When He returns, there will be a new heaven and a new Earth, and we will all be together, with God for eternity.”

This is God’s love for us in under 2 minutes. This is what he’s been doing. Restoration.

Where do you stand? All in? Half in? Far away?

I don’t know when the end will happen, and I don’t even know how it’s gonna happen. It’s not my job to know. My job is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and to tell others about him.

There are plenty of reasons people are half in or are far away. None of those reasons are good enough to justify not being all in with Jesus.

Philippians 3:8
Everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Those here who are half in, turn up the heat. Go all in. Fan that flame.
Stop thinking you can live all in with Jesus and the world at the same time. It’s time to repent and get serious about your relationship with him.

Those here who are far away, turn around. Realize the state you’re in. Receive Christ. In spite of your past, in spite of your pain, in spite of your doubt, Don’t miss out on what God has for you. Don’t be the one person banging on the ark door as the floodwaters come.

People, it’s time you get your life right with Jesus. Here’s your chance.

If you need to come to this altar and repent, give your life to Jesus, recommit your life, If you need a fire started in you again, come down.
If you are far away from God, let walking this aisle be your prodigal return home.

No one can decide for you. This is your chance to respond. Don’t miss it.

Let’s pray.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?