This Is My House

That's going to help you kind of stay focused where we're going , and for me it's called this Is my House . Everybody say my House . How many of y'all have a house ? How many of y'all maybe have like an apartment ? Okay , how many of y'all live somewhere in this state ? Yeah , every hand should be up right .

Somebody lives somewhere , it doesn't matter where you live . I want to share a little story . When I was in my sophomore or junior year of high school , I went to this real Jank school . I've told that story before . It was a weird charter school that had like 60 kids in my class , maybe like 300 total kids .

It was real small and next to our school they were building this really huge apartment complex building right and it was under construction . So one night me , being my idiotic brain , decided to come up with an idea to go and break into this construction site and climb around in a construction zone . Anybody ever do that before Y'all , seriously , seriously .

Okay , don't do it . That's not a good idea , but I've done it . And so we broke into this building and we were driving around , me and my friends there's like five of us , me and my friends . We drove around , we were looking for an opportunity to get into this construction zone right , it's fenced off , right , like normal construction is .

And we found the spot where the cars would go in and out and where the people would walk in and out , unlocked , just open . I was like all right , this is going to be easier than I thought . So we literally parked our car , like in some weird parking lot , walked the rest of the way and we walked in , looking for just . It was the easiest thing .

It was dark , no lights on . We walked straight in , looking for a spot just to climb into this construction zone . Right , so it's an apartment complex , it's just wood , like it's the frame you all see construction , it's just the framing of said apartment complexes .

And so we walk in , we climb up some weird side of this building , we get inside and we just start walking around . Right , it's completely open , we can see if people were coming . We can see the street , we can see everything . We just started walking around . We finally got to , like , I think , the second or third floor .

And when we got up to the second or third floor , we started walking down this hallway and just remember , like it's all open , all right , so the moonlight shining in , like everything's just open , there's no real walls , there's no real windows yet , so it's all open . And we're walking down this hallway .

And as we were starting walking down this hallway , at the end of the hallway , me and my friends , we just like frozen our tracks and we like gas really loud . We're like , and down at the other end of the hallway was like a figure that looked like a person . It looked like somebody was at the end of the hallway and we just like froze dead in our tracks .

All right , we were just stuck Our hearts everybody ever done something and your heart just like races really fast , like you're about to like get in trouble or drivers in the room you're about to get pulled over or you think you're about to get pulled over , that kind of feeling . That's what we had . We could not move .

I was like deer in headlights , all right , and we were looking and it took us probably about like what felt like an hour , but it was probably like 30 seconds , to figure out if this was an actual person or not .

Right , because , again , we're not supposed to be in this place , we're not supposed to be here , and so we're staring and we were freaking out and eventually one of us I don't know who did it , but we're like , okay , the person's not moving either , like they're not moving , we're not moving , it's like a Mexican standoff . Right , we're just standing there , okay .

And eventually somebody in our group just decided to like , just like , do a little like move , and we realized it was just a shadow that looked like a person , y'all . I never crapped my pants almost as fast as I did in that moment . Okay , it was bad , all right .

It was the most scared I have ever been in my entire life and I can tell you this with honesty I don't get scared very easily . Okay , I go to haunted houses and I think it's funny . Okay , I don't get scared at haunted houses . Anybody get scared at haunted houses , terrified . Okay , I think it's funny . I laughed when I went to a haunted house .

I laughed at the dude with the chainsaw . I was like you think you're scary . You're actually not , anyway , so I don't get scared , but at this moment I was terrified , all right , terrified . I literally probably wet my pants , I can't remember , probably did . But I tell you this story because it was so easy to break into this building .

It was so easy the doors were open , there was no lock , and the title of our message tonight is In my House or this Is my House , because I believe it is so easy nowadays for us to allow other people into our house . Now I want to put this into perspective . When I'm talking about a house , I'm not talking about a physical house that you live in .

I'm not talking about a thing with . I'm not talking like this building could be considered a house . No , I'm talking about you as a human being . Your soul and your life is a house , your house , this is my house . This is my house , this is your house .

That's what I'm talking about when I say house , and today I want to say this it is so easy for us to allow ourselves to keep the doors open and just let anything in . What do I mean by that ?

It's so easy for us to allow people into our life , so easy for us to allow people to say things to us and maybe us accept them or maybe us believe them about ourselves . It's so easy for us to allow feelings to come into our life . It's so easy for us to allow emotions to just take over our house and a lot of us .

I think in this room , if we're being honest , we are like that construction zone . We're like the construction zone and our life is just open to everybody . I don't know if anybody can relate to that , but I think in this generation for us it's so easy to allow things to enter in .

It's easy to allow emotions and feelings and words that people speak about us to enter into our life . Because of this , I think you have left the door open for emotions and feelings

. And tonight I want to talk about something specific and I know this isn't talked about enough , probably in church . I haven't shared it enough in church , but I want to talk about two specific topics . I want to talk about the idea of fear and anxiety . Everybody want to be honest and say they have those two things or one of them .

I'll be honest , I do , I do . I think we deal a lot of times with fear and anxiety , whether it be with school life , decisions , choices . You all are getting older .

You got choices to make , things to do , places to go , and so many of you in here , I believe , are facing the reality of the fear and anxiety that you have allowed in or that has found a way to creep into your life .

So , you know , I want to encourage you tonight and there's going to be a lot of things I hope you can take away from this is , just because anxiety comes knocking at your door doesn't mean you have to allow it to come in , and I want you to think about that for a second , because we get to choose the emotions that we feel .

You may not understand it , but we get to choose to be sad , like we might have a sad situation happen to us , but we choose whether we want to continue to stay sad . Maybe you have been in a frightful situation like I was . I was terrified out of my mind , but I didn't go home . Two hours later I didn't go home and was still scared .

I chose to let that go . I wasn't scared . In the comfort of my own home , I chose to not be scared anymore , and we can choose what we want to feel and how we want to feel . These things , see , and just because emotions come doesn't mean you have to allow them to stay .

See , I'm sure a lot of you in this room your parents have probably had guests over at your house . Maybe you've had a friend stay the night . Anybody ever have a friend stay the night at your house , or maybe you've gone and stayed the night at somebody's house . Have you ever stayed there for longer than a night ?

Maybe longer than two nights , three nights , four nights , five nights A week , two months , three months A year ? No , okay , wow , we got like three months . Most of the time , elizabeth , be real . If you're at somebody's friend's house , you're probably either A staying for the weekend or staying a night .

You're not going to go and live with your friends for the rest of your life . That probably isn't happening . Your parents want you back , your grandparents want you back . Whoever you live with is like yo come home sometime .

We want you to come home , and probably the people that you're staying with is probably like maybe it's time you go see your own family for a chance . The same thing is with what we choose to allow in , what we choose to bring into our life , what we choose to accept inside of us . We get to choose whether it stays and how long it stays for .

You get to choose if you want your anger to stay for a year or your lifetime . You get to choose whether you want that anger to stay for three hours or three months . You get to choose , see , and we attend to allow these things to stay longer than they need to .

And I know a lot of you know what I'm talking about , because we all get emotions , and that's what this whole series is about . We all feel things . We all go through sad situations , we all go through happy situations , we all go through fearful situations , we all worry about different things .

We all have stuff that we walk through and in those moments , we get to choose how long they stay . See , and I want to encourage you with this See , jesus doesn't want to change how you feel . He wants to redirect your thoughts . Jesus doesn't want to say to you yo don't be sad . He doesn't want to say to you yo don't be angry .

Nah , you're allowed to feel emotions Because , see , the beautiful thing about Jesus and I'm going to tell you more about this guy if you don't know who he is Beautiful thing about Jesus is that he was a human who felt all the emotions that we feel .

So if you have ever heard a Christian or somebody in a church atmosphere say to you , hey , you're not supposed to feel sad , you're not supposed to be angry , can I tell you they're lying to you , because Jesus felt all the emotions that we feel . But see , what he wants to do is he wants to . He doesn't want to change those feelings .

He wants to redirect your thoughts . Because see what happens when we're sad ? What do we do ? We go to our room . Maybe we cry . Maybe we think negatively about ourselves . God wants to take those thoughts and redirect them towards him . Yes , you can cry , but he doesn't want you to be sad and think negatively about yourself .

He doesn't want you to talk bad about yourself , maybe when you're angry . The Bible says you can be angry , but it says what you do with that anger is what is sinful . So if you're angry and you decide to cuss somebody out because you're angry , you're sinning . But God wants to take that anger and he wants to redirect it .

He wants to take that anger , maybe the option of you cussing somebody out , or maybe the option of you breaking stuff or flipping tables , like . He wants to take that and he wants to redirect it towards him . See , jesus is not looking to change your feelings . He's looking to redirect them back to him . He's looking to redirect them to him .

So you can still have fear but still trust in Jesus . You can have anxiety but still rest in who God says you are . See Philippians 4 , 6 through 7, . I love the scripture verse . It says do not be anxious about anything . I'm just gonna pause right there . How many of y'all in here are anxious ? My hand is up because I am an anxious person .

Y'all All right , I worry about stuff too . Okay , I may not look like it my wife would probably say I'm lying right now but I actually do get anxious . Okay , I get stressed out .

But the scripture verse says do not be anxious about anything , but in everything , by prayer and supplication , with thanksgiving , let your requests be made known to God , and the peace of God , which surpasses all understanding , will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus . See , god will give you peace that you will never understand .

In those moments when we redirect our thoughts to him , when we redirect our actions towards him , he will give you a peace about your circumstance and your situation that you will never understand where that peace came from . I felt it y'all .

I've experienced his peace before in a situation where I should not have had peace , in a situation where I actually should have been angry , in a situation where I actually should have left the church , in a situation where I should have gotten so mad at other people , where I would have been so mad at God , I chose to .

Instead of taking that anger and getting mad at God , I redirected and said you know what , god , even though I'm angry , I'm gonna trust in you . And he , in return , gave me a peace about my situation that I can still , today , never grasp . How I'm still okay with said situation .

See , when we redirect our thoughts and give it to Jesus , he will give you a peace like no other . See , the beauty of a relationship with God is that he wants to give you so much , and yet the best thing ever is we don't have to give him anything but our life .

And see , that might sound like a lot , I have to give my life up , but see , god wants to give you so much more than he wants you to give him . See , god , he sent his son Jesus . I've told you the story about Jesus before , but if you've never heard the story of Jesus . He sent his son , jesus , to this earth to be a human like me and you .

The story of Jesus is that he was born of a virgin . Y'all probably know what that means . I don't need to go into details . He was born of a virgin and he was raised by two parents , mary and Joseph . He was raised all the way . He died when he was 33 , so he was raised up until 30 . And when he became 30 years old , he began his ministry .

So it'd be like me waiting until I'm 30 years old I'm 25 right now . It'd be like me waiting five more years before I ever became a pastor and ever talked about Jesus or did anything . He waited until he was 30 , and then he started his ministry . He started walking around the earth telling people about who God was .

He started telling people how they could be saved . He started telling people how they should give their life to him . He started doing miracles . He turned water into wine , one of his first miracles . Could you imagine that ? Going to a party and Jesus shows up and he's like yo , y'all don't have any wine . I'm gonna take this whole river and make it wine .

I'm just saying that would be a lit party , okay . And I want all of us to say this Listen , anybody can fight me on this one , okay , church believers will argue this all day long and you're probably thinking the same thing . He's like whoa , josh was talking about wine and church alcohol . What , listen ? The Bible says do not get drunk with alcohol .

It says actually , technically do not get drunk with wine . Jesus does not say anywhere in the Bible do not drink alcohol . He says do not get drunk . So can I tell you this ? I'm just gonna give you some wisdom . You'll hear a lot in church that pastors and leaders will tell you you're not supposed to drink .

If you're a Christian , can I tell you that is actually a lie . You guys are all underage so you can't drink at all . So if you are drinking , you're sinning and you shouldn't be doing that because it's bad for you . Can I just be honest with you ? So this is irrelevant to you at first . But if you are drinking alcohol , guess what ?

You should probably stop because it's illegal . And God says don't do anything . That's illegal . Right , I did illegal stuff , don't do illegal stuff . Okay , I just had to throw that tidbit out there because it makes me angry every time Christians say you can't drink because it's such a lie . Anyway , we're gonna continue back on this .

So we get into the story of Jesus .

He did all these miracles right Turned water into wine , healed the blind man who made people walk , raised people from the dead Like he did amazing things that in today's day and age like if I was in this room right now and somebody had a broken leg and I just walked up to him and said yo , you're healed , and they just got , took the cast off and walked

everybody would freak out . Like Jesus did these things back in the day . He healed people , he did amazing things . And then , three years into his ministry , some people started to get angry with him .

I don't know about you , but if I probably healed somebody in this room , or somebody in this room healed somebody from a sickness or a broken bone , I don't know how many of us in this room would probably be mad at them . I think all of us would be like amazed and confused on how they did it .

They'd probably be like , oh , don't touch me , I don't want anything happening . But these people got mad at him Three years into his ministry

. They got mad at him . And so what did they do ? They came , they brought their pitchforks , their axes . They came , they got Jesus , they took him , they whipped him , they beat him and they hung him on a cross For doing good things , for healing people , for fixing people's lives . And they hung him on a cross to die .

But you know , you're fine , that's Jesus calling , though . Just kidding , wow , y'all laughed at that . Okay , just kidding . They hung him on a cross and Jesus lived a perfect life .

And see , jesus , he lived a perfect life so that we could look at his life and follow in his footsteps , so that we could make the choice to follow in his path , to follow the direction that he lived . See , and the best thing about Jesus is when he was hung up on the cross and he died three days later . And we celebrate this on Easter .

This is why we celebrate Easter is because three days later , god raised him from the dead . He basically raised himself from the dead , and then he went and he went to be with the Father and now he's in heaven and now he wants us to follow in his footsteps .

And see , there are so many of you in here that maybe you've heard this story , maybe you know about Jesus , maybe you don't . Maybe you're hearing it for the very first time .

Can I just say this Jesus is the best way to the best life , and I don't know how many of you in here actually following Jesus , I don't know how many of you in here actually have a relationship with Jesus , but can I tell you that it is actually the best life that you can possibly live .

And tonight's message is not flashy , it's not cool , it's not fancy , but it's a message that I feel like is speaking to some of you where you should get your heart right with Jesus . And so , if you're not paying attention which I know there's a lot of you that aren't I think you should . I'm just gonna be honest .

I mean , you can distract yourself all day long , you can look at your phone all day long , but you're doing yourself a disfavor .

And I'm not saying just listen to me because I want you to listen to me , but I'm preaching this because I want to tell you about who Jesus is , because I know he's changed my life and I know he can change your life if you let him .

And this man , he did wonderful things and Jesus is the best way to the best life that you can live , and many of you in here I know have been hurting . I know many of you in here . You have been suffering and going through things in your life . I know many of you . Life has not maybe turned out the way that you thought it would .

Let's just put it that way my life has not turned out the way I thought it would . Things have not gone my way . And maybe some of you , you just wish your life was different . And see , I believe the question is whether you believe that God can change that for you . See , god wants to free you from everything that you walk through .

God wants to restore you back to who he wants you to be In him . See , there's a scripture verse in Romans 10 , nine through 11, . It says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe it in your heart that God raised him from the dead , you will be saved .

For with the heart one believes and is justified , and with the mouth one confesses is saved . For the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame . See , I love the scripture verse because it's that simple . I don't know if you've ever been to a different youth group .

I don't know if you've ever had a Christian tell you you have to do all of these 17 million things to become a believer . Can I tell you this scripture verse right here Romans 10 , nine through 11 . Basically , romans 10 , nine through 10 probably is all you have to do to become a Christian .

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe it in your heart that God raised him from the dead , you will be saved . That's it . There's no magic touch to it . There's no abracadabra . You have to do all of these different things . That's it . See , in giving your life to Jesus , though , is a journey .

It may be super easy to confess something and to believe something , but to live a life worth following somebody is harder , and so you're giving your life to Jesus is a journey . It's a constant uphill battle , constant uphill battle , but can I tell you , it is a battle that is worth fighting . It's a battle that is worth fighting every single day .

Can I tell you , it's a life worth living every single day . See , a life with Jesus is better than a life without him , and I know that there's some of you in this room . Yes , you may have accepted Jesus into your heart , but the reality of that is , you have not lived a life of following Jesus . I'll put it this way for you you did what I did .

You're doing what I did . When I was your age . I said I was a Christian . If somebody were to come up to me and ask me , hey , do you go to church and are you a Christian ? I would have said yes . But then my lifestyle completely said otherwise . I made mistakes , I sinned , I made choices that I knew I shouldn't have made .

I hung out with people I knew I shouldn't have hung out with and my lifestyle didn't match up with what I was speaking and what I was saying . And I guarantee you there's some of you in here who have made the same choice and are making the same choice . I'm not saying you gotta come to church Monday through Friday and on Sundays .

I'm not saying you have to go around and tell everybody you know about Jesus and confess it 24 , seven , seven days a week . Can I tell you I don't even do that . I'm a pastor and I don't do that . God is not asking us to be crazy . All right , you'll see . You go to some big cities . You go to like .

I went to New York one time and they were having like a whole church service of . Like it was weird . It wasn't even like a church service , like our church services are fun . The church service I saw in New York in Times Square was like crazy y'all . It made me , as a pastor , not wanna go to church anymore . Like it was just weird .

Okay , you'll see your weird people proclaiming who Jesus is . I'm not asking you to go stand on the corner of the street and hold a sign that says follow Jesus or you're going to hell . Like I'm not telling you to do that .

But what you can do , starting right here , right now , is choose , when you go to school tomorrow , to make different choices that you know you should be making . Do things that will honor God in an honoring way , instead of making choices that you know if somebody was else was standing there , you wouldn't do it .

Let me put it this way , plain and simple , before we close and we pie some leaders in the face . I've seen this before and I believe this might put it into a perspective for you .

If you would , when you go to school tomorrow and you're confronted with a decision to make , or maybe the lifestyle you live , can I tell you this If I was with you all day long . If I was with you at school , in your classroom , when you go home , if I was with you , I want you to ask yourself in the moment if Josh was here , would I do this ?

You can say what would Josh do , or do it this way , what would Jesus do ? I want you to think about that . With some of the actions and choices and things that come out of your mouth , if I was there , would you do it ? And if the answer is yeah , I still would do it .

Okay , good for you , maybe it's good , maybe it's a good thing , maybe you're helping somebody . Okay , if it's not a good thing and you would still do it , you might want to check your heart . Okay , but I really want you to think about that .

Take me out of the picture , seriously , if Jesus was with you himself the long beard , the long hair , the coat and like whatever I don't know what Jesus wears , maybe he's got some Jordans on , like Michael does , I don't know If Jesus was with you himself and you were hanging out with Jesus at school , what would you do ? What choices would you make ?

Can I tell you this If you wouldn't do what you normally do because Jesus or I am with you , then you probably shouldn't do those things that you would do if we weren't there . And I'll just put it this way Jesus is always watching you . You ought to be real honest . You ain't getting away with nothing .

You ain't getting away with nothing because Jesus sees everything , and I believe some of you in here tonight need to maybe redirect your thoughts and redirect your life back to Jesus , and so I'm going to give you that opportunity . For those of you who are listening and want to pay attention , I'm going to give you that opportunity .

So , real quick , here's what I want to do . Before we pie some leaders in the face , I just want everybody to close their eyes . I say it like this act like you're sleeping , all right , just close your eyes . I want you to think to yourself , man . Am I living a life that best honors Jesus ?

Am I living a life that , if Jesus was with me , he would be proud of me ? Am I making the right choices that Jesus would be proud of ? And I just want you to think about your own life just for a second . Just when you're at school , man , what are the choices you're making ? When you're at home , by yourself in the room ?

What do you Google in on YouTube Like , think about those choices . Just keep your eyes closed . And here's what I want to do . And maybe you're thinking right now of all the things that you do that you know you probably shouldn't do .

Maybe you're contemplating your life right now and , as you're thinking , if you feel like man , I just need to make a change , I need to give my life to Jesus . I need to do something different , and I tell you , the thing that you need to do . Different is you need to give your life to Jesus .

And so , if you A want to give your life to Jesus , keep your eyes closed . If you either A want to give your life to Jesus for the very first time or B you want to make the choice to re-dedicate your life to Jesus . Maybe you've done it before , but you've wandered off and you've made some choices .

Like I did , I just want you to raise your hand Just high in the air and I want you to hold it there for a second . Your arm might hurt for just a minute , but just go with me . You , raising your hand right now is making a declaration to yourself and to God yo , I want to do something different . I'm going to make some different choices .

I'm not going to do my life the same anymore . You can put your hands down . I'm not going to live life the same anymore . I'm not going to make the same choices anymore . I'm going to choose to try to live my life that honors Jesus , like he would be with me today Because , guess what ? You just invited him into your life . So he is with you now .

So now , every day , he is with you when you're making choices . And so , if you raised your hand , I want you to repeat this prayer after me . Keep your eyes closed . I want you to repeat this after me and declare it with your mouth we just made an action . Now I want you to declare it with your mouth .

Repeat this after me Dear Jesus , I invite you into my life . Jesus , I ask that you be Lord of my life . I ask that you heal what's broken . I ask that you guide me into a life with you . Help me to get rid of what isn't from you . Jesus , thank you for loving me . Show me how you are with me every day . In Jesus' name , amen .

If you prayed that and you actually meant it with everything inside of you , and you believed it , can I tell you , god is now with you and the beautiful thing of this is that you are now not the same person that you were before tonight . And it sounds so weird and cliche . Can I just be honest with you ? It sounds really weird . I'm just gonna be honest .

Wait , what do you mean , josh ? I'm not the same person . I didn't do anything physically different . Now , today , when you leave this building , you have the opportunity to live a life that's honoring to God every single day . And can I tell you , when you invite him , to invite him in , the dude's gonna change your life .

Like I've seen God move in ways that I can't even like . If I were to probably tell you , you probably wouldn't believe it . Like I've just seen God move and so I know God is gonna move in your life .

If you choose to continue to invite him in and make him Lord of your life and continue to do what he wants you to do , I promise you he will change your life and he will heal what's broken . But let's pray before we get into pying some leaders in the face . Lord , I just thank you for tonight .

Lord , I thank you for the opportunity to be in this space . I just thank you for the opportunity to just hear your words , lord .

And so , god , I just ask right now that you would just continue to speak to us every single day , lord , when we leave this building , god , we would not just forget what happened tonight , we wouldn't just forget what you've done in our life , but , god , you would continue to speak to us every single day .

And , god , I pray right now for every student that raised their hand . Maybe they dedicated their life to Jesus , to you , for the very first time , or maybe they're rededicating their life and , god , I ask that you would just speak to them .

God , I ask that you would just continue to love them , continue to show up in their life , continue to be there with them every single day , help them to see you every single day and help them to make the right choices that honor you every single day . Jesus , we thank you for tonight .

Lord , we just thank you for the opportunity to even get to pie leaders in the face . And , lord , just let them know that I'm sorry to my leaders . They didn't sign up for this , but they're forced to do it and they love me anyway , and in Jesus' name , amen .