When you hear what God is doing, right, it creates a culture of expectation. I need you guys to understand that Christianity is culture, right? Christianity is culture. It's not a belief. It's not something that stays inside. It's something that is poured out. And what does it do? It goes out and creates a culture that doesn't exist anywhere. How many times did they say that? This didn't exist. This didn't exist before. This didn't exist. Well, that is purposeful because that is what Christianity does.

Christianity is not stagnant. It does not stay inside. It is not hidden. But what does it do? It goes out. It expands. It marches on. It creates a culture for people to live by. Otherwise, Christianity is dead. That is what it is meant to do. That is the power in Christianity. That is why we do what we do and who we serve. Because of stories like this, of God going out, doing things, and changing the atmosphere. Changing the culture. That is what God is looking to do. Thank God He is moving. Thank God that He is changing things. Thank God that our children have somewhere to grow up in that is not the world's culture, but is God's. Amen?

And we've been talking a lot in the church about culture. We've been talking about coming in and assimilating to the culture. And we've talked a lot about that. And I was always praying this week. That's what God kept hitting my heart with. As I hear these stories and I hear about things changing and they've never heard. How have you never heard a message as a pastor about marriage, right? How is that not something you know? But yet it is so countercultural what the church is teaching that it doesn't even go through people's minds. Because it is so normal. But praise God, we don't do things the normal way. Praise God that God does not do things the way the world does things. Praise God that he has a separate way and he builds a separate culture. Amen?

And that is what we need to protect. When you talk about war and conquest, what do they try to do? Even in the war in Iran, they don't just try to go and destroy military bases. They have to instill new leadership who's going to bring about a new culture. Otherwise, what's going to happen? They're just going to build things back up and we're going to be right where we started. Culture has to be changed. Culture has to be changed.

And when I think about the war on Christianity and what that is, you see, there's no war on what you believe inside of your heart. Nobody cares about what's inside. There's no war on that. The war is on you going out and creating a culture that stands in opposition to the way the world does things. That's what the war is on. And the war on Christianity wants to come in, not change what you believe inside of your heart that never leaves your heart. It wants to come in and stop you from doing something that is countercultural, that is different from the way the rest of the world does things. It says, stay silent, be quiet, keep it inside. What you are speaking is not fit for public consumption. It's not fit for polite conversation. Just keep it inside. Don't let it come out and don't let it affect anything else. Maybe you can keep it inside. Maybe it can affect you. But do not create a culture that worships and honors God.

This message is about, you know, when we talk about what culture is, it's about mixing and tainting and absorbing Christianity until it no longer stands opposed to the world's views. But we people of God must rise up. Must rise up. You guys should be creating cultures. We have created one inside the church. There should be cultures being created inside of your homes. There should be as you go out and do things, you should not be assimilating into the culture of the world. But you should be standing your ground and saying, no, this is what we are doing. Amen. Because the world wants to taint it. It wants to mix it. It wants to absorb it. But people of God, we must stand.

I need you to understand this today. Christianity does not dissipate when it's attacked. Christianity has always been attacked. In fact, it's grown through some of the attacks. Christianity dissipates when its followers willfully agree to be silent for the sake of comfort. When I say silent, I don't just mean through speech. I don't just mean through talking. I mean that Christianity, the thing that God has done inside of you, is staying inside of you. Where it's put in a little box inside of a little shield and it's kept inside of your heart. And it never comes out. And it never affects anything. And it never causes change. And it never affects your actions or the decisions you make. Or how you think or how you speak or how you feel. Those things, that's an expression of Christianity. That's coming out.

But when we as Christians decide to remain silent for the sake of comfort, whether it be our comfort or somebody else's, well, that is when the culture dies. That is when the war on Christianity is won. That is when the enemy wins. Because now it's just something that you believe inside of your heart. But I tell you, belief inside of your heart without action, without transformation, without change is dead. The foundations of culture have been laid by the Lord Jesus Christ in his blood. And we today have to protect that culture.

So if you have your Bibles, I'm going to be reading from Acts 4 today. Acts chapter 4. The last time I preached, I went all over the Bible. Today I'm going to be staying in one chapter. Nice and easy for you guys. I felt bad. You probably had finger burn from all those pages I made you turn.

So as you're turning there, let me tell you about where we are in the Bible. Peter and John, right? They go out and they heal. They begin to heal in the city. And they heal a lame beggar. And I believe Pastor Janeth actually preached on this not too long ago. And what did Peter say? Silver and gold I do not have. But what I give to you, I give to you in the name of the Lord. And they begin to speak boldly to all the onlookers. And they're talking about what's going on. And he turns to them and says, why are you so surprised? And he gets really brave. And he says, why are you so surprised? We do this not in our name, but in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that guy, right? He's the one you murdered. He's the one you killed. He's the one that you put on the cross.

And there's a guy that's watching and is the captain of the temple guard. The temple guard is like the Jewish police. And he hears what's going on. And if you really dig into the word, it says he suddenly makes a decision. And he goes and grabs Peter and John and puts his hands on them. So he doesn't say you're coming with me. He puts his hands on them, grabs them, and throws them into jail for the night. The next morning, they go before a gathering of 5,000 people. 5,000 people.

Now, I need you to understand who these people are. They're not just nobodies from the street. They make up a huge group of the ruling class of all of Jerusalem. Listen to some of these. These are just the ones that the Bible says. There's no overlap here. These are all different groups. Priests, Sadducees, rulers, elders, scribes, families of the high priest. And it goes on and on. It talks about different groups. All of these people make up 5,000 people, and Peter and John get sat right in the center of them. Now, you have to understand that these people are the same people that just crucified Jesus Christ. They are the same people that just got him killed. So what do you think they're doing? They're flexing their authority.

So Peter and John go before these 5,000 people that just killed Jesus. They sent the temple guard, grabbed Peter and John, and showed that they had authority over them. There's nothing they could do about it. Ripped him out of where they were, put him in prison, made him sit in the jail overnight, and then bring him out and then seat him in front of the 5,000 of the most influential people that just murdered Jesus Christ. And they begin to question him. And this is their response in verse 10. “Know this, you and all the people of Israel. It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Wow, right? Wow, that is some boldness. That is some boldness. We need to understand that there's pressure from the world to remain silent. Again, I say silent, I don't mean just our words. I'm not telling you guys to go out and start, you know, just every person you see in the world, just start hammering them. I'm not telling you to do that, right? But what I am telling you is that there is a call to be silent to keep your Jesus inside. Do not allow it to come out. Do not allow it to affect your family. Do not allow it to create rules over your home. Do not allow it to filter how you speak or how you think or what you do, your actions. Right, this is the call to remain silent. But God's word must be expressed.

I look at these guys and they come up and they begin to speak about who God is and what He is doing, and all God is doing in Honduras, and it's such an amazing thing. What does it take to create such transformation in a place like that? What does it take to get somebody to go somewhere in the middle of the city, right in the middle of when I went, it was broken down apparently. It's very much changed from the last 20 years. But to go to this mountain and begin to change the culture, to all of a sudden things like marriage become a normal thing when it has never been before. Or God begins to feed the people. Or God begins to transform people to no longer be about themselves but to be about Christ. What does it take for something like that to take place?

Well, I'll tell you. It takes someone who is unwilling to take it easy. Unwilling to mix with the world's culture, to shy away, unwilling to be scared about speaking who God is, to be nervous about going to a place and transforming it. It's someone who is willing to broach subjects that others won't. And this has been my salvation. Somebody was willing to come and talk to me and begin to give truth when I didn't want to hear it. Or honesty when I wasn't ready to receive it. And they began to speak to me. And I would say, wait, wait, wait, slow, slow. And no, God has something for you. God has something for you. And you must come out of the world's culture and come into Christ. Amen.

See, the culture of Christianity can be changed. But it takes someone who is willing to stand up. The world hates and desperately wants to shut up that person. Because it is by that person that people can be rescued from the clutches of hell and be brought into Christ. But I tell you that will never be done if we are in the world's culture doing things the way the world does and going about things in the set of norms that we receive from the world. It must be based in faith. It must be based in truth. It must be based in the power of the Holy Spirit. It must be based in a culture of expectation, where you come and you hear these stories and hopefully it is contagious. And God begins to speak to your heart and you come in and all of a sudden start to believe God, that He can do amazing things. And it creates a culture of expectation of what God can do.

Let's go on in our verse in Acts 4 verse 16. “What are we going to do with these men?” This is the Sadducees. “They asked. ‘Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.’” Now listen, there's a very easy solution to this. Just don't do it in the name of Jesus. He's not telling them not to talk. He's not telling them to not go preach. He's maybe even insinuating, you could be one of us. Just drop the whole Jesus thing, and I'll let you preach. I'll let you talk. You can come in. Maybe eventually you can be one of us. There is a call there. All you have to do is drop that name, Jesus Christ, and no longer, you know, you can go do whatever you want. The Sadducees felt that the culture that they had made, the worldly culture where they were in power, was starting to slip. And they were getting nervous. They were the ones that were respected and revered. So they say to them, you can feel however you want to feel. You can do whatever you want. Just keep it inside. Keep it inside. Don't go out and use that name anymore. Keep it personal. It's not fit for polite conversation. It must be kept inward, not outward. Don't express it. Leave it in there. You can talk. Just don't talk about that guy. Don't talk about the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't bring Him into the barbecue. Don't bring Him into ShopRite. Don't bring Him into raising your kids. Just keep it inward.

"And I tell you, the culture begins to degrade when Christians are convinced that Christ is not fit to be brought out"

And I tell you, the culture begins to degrade when Christians are convinced that Christ is not fit to be brought out. And that is how we have ended up with a country in the state that it is in. So let's see the answer that they give in verse 18. “Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, ‘Which is right in God's eyes, to listen to you or to Him? You be the judges. As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and what we have heard.’” What have you seen? What have you heard? It's going to be different for each one of you. What have you seen and what have you heard? I tell you, if you haven't seen anything, if you haven't heard anything, please don't talk about them. Don't talk about them because it's going to be powerless. But if God has done something in your life, if you have seen the power of God at work, if you have heard it with your ears and seen it with your eyes, well then let that testimony come forward through your life. Amen?

It must be on the tip of our lips. When appropriate, we should be able to stop and speak about all we have seen and all we have heard. And God should be expressing Himself through your life. Christianity is not a belief inside of the heart. Christianity is an expression of God's love and power. Salvation may be inside. The movement of Christianity needs to be expressed. Through your life, through your actions, through your mind, through your kids, through your rules, through your job, whatever it might be, let Christianity be expressed in you. Jessica spoke about hope being intrinsic on Wednesday and she said it's something on the inside. You can't see it, you can't feel it, you can't touch it, which are those things that she said I don't like, which is absolutely true, right? I need to be able to measure it for me to understand it. Hope inside is nothing if it is not being expressed, if it is coming out. And it doesn't matter what tenet of Christianity you grab onto, whatever it is, that thing must be expressed. If it's hope, if it's faith, if it's love, if it's your salvation, it does not matter if it stays inside. Faith without action is dead. It must come out. It must be expressed. It must be seen. And it must move.

And that is how you get a culture of truth. A culture of truth. Again, I keep bringing up these guys coming up and speaking. The reason I had that is that they would begin the culture that they're affecting out there, that you guys would jump on board here. And you guys would hear and see and know, and there would be an expectation of who God is and what He can do and His power. And all of a sudden, if God's not moving in power like He is with you, like He is with everyone else, well, something's wrong. Now you stand out. We can't hide it. We can hide in the world if it's just a belief inside of our hearts. But the minute that it becomes an expression, you begin to stand out. We see it with sports athletes all the time. Every sports athlete's a Christian, but you can tell the ones who begin to express. And you know it, not based on what they said, but just how they live. And all of a sudden, they're not identified as football players or basketball players, but there becomes an identity surrounded by their Christianity.

God is asking us to live counter-culturally. I need you to understand, the church wasn't always countercultural. There was a time where the church set the culture of the nation. And people lived by the culture of the church. And they went, and you were outlandish if you didn't come and worship on Sunday. You were living counterculturally. But somewhere along the line in this country, going down, a few people began to live counterculturally to everyone else. And then somewhere along the line, they became the norm. I don't know when it happened. I think it was the 60s and 70s. You know, for you that lived during those eras, it's your fault. You know? But somewhere it happened. And it did.

But I tell you, I don't really mind it as much. It's okay if the church lives counterculturally. You know why? It kind of makes it a little bit easier. Because you can look, and when somebody goes down the world's ways, and goes and does things the way the rest of the world does them, and things start to crash, and things start to fail, It's very easy to go up and say, listen, I know how you've been living, but let me tell you about a different way. Let me tell you about a different culture. Let me tell you about a different set of norms that you can live by, that God's power is expected to come in and do amazing, miraculous works. That is Christianity. That is the house of God. That is the church.

"Your expression of Christianity is going to be what stands countercultural to the rest of the world."

Ultimately, the church is just walls. But when we come in and there is an expectation, there is a culture built around God and His power and His movements and His love and His goodness. Well, all of a sudden people begin to talk. People begin to speak. All of a sudden kids are getting rescued like me off of the street. Coming in and hearing God's Word and being brought into this different culture that I had never seen before. And I have to tell you, I remember that more than anything. Being a 17-year-old kid coming in and God touched me. And it was amazing. and then I started to be exposed to the culture of Christ. And that was so different to me. That was so different. I had never seen such a thing before. I had lived very much in the world and in the streets and doing my own thing. All of a sudden there was a different culture that I had never seen before and it became attractive to me and I wanted to be a part of it. I tell you people of God, we can't attract the lost by acting like the lost. You know, we're not going to attract the broken by living in a culture of brokenness. The church needs to be separate. And that happens based on your life, your house, your ways, your thinking, your mouths, your rules, whatever it might be. Your expression of Christianity is going to be what stands countercultural to the rest of the world. And that is not a bad thing. That is a very, very good thing. Amen.

So we know that there is a call to remain silent, but there also, there must be a culture. And how do we create that culture? That culture is created based on conviction. It's created based on conviction. Let's go back to our word in verse 23. I'm going to jump around a little here. “On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.” So what is the boldness creating? Unity, right? What is it creating? All of a sudden, it's creating a culture. It's creating something that they're coming together with. There's a separateness and a power in them coming together in unity. A separateness from the world, but unity together.

Let's continue. They go and they pray. I'm not going to read it because it's long, but I highly recommend you guys do because it's very good. But they conclude in verse 29 and say, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.” So the Sadducees tried to shut them down and tell them not to do two things. They said, don't talk like that. Don't talk with such boldness. And what are these people praying for? Great boldness. And they said, don't bring that guy, Jesus, anywhere around here. What are they praying for? Miraculous signs and wonders in the holy name of your servant Jesus Christ. Right? They tried to stop it. The culture tried to pressure it. The culture tried to put a call to remain silent on it. Tried to put it in a box and say, keep it inside. Don't let it come out.

And what did it create? It created strength. It created power. It created a culture of expectation. All of a sudden, these guys heard what had happened to Peter and John. Heard, like we heard with Katie and Marlene. Heard all that God had done. and said, I want a piece of that. I want to be part of that. God, you have to empower me. I want to speak with great boldness. God, I want to see your Holy Spirit move. God, I wanted to do it too. What are we seeing? We're seeing culture being built through opposition. And let's conclude it in verse 31. What do they say? “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly.” Peter and John, when they went before the meeting of the Sanhedrin, they brought their experience with them. They brought everything they had seen, everything they had heard, everything they knew of the Lord Jesus Christ. They brought their relationship with God into this meeting. And the Holy Spirit filled them. And they began to speak boldly. And if you read the verse, it says, as they were speaking, suddenly the people there realized that they had been with Jesus. Suddenly, based on how they were speaking, suddenly they realized that these guys had been with Jesus Christ.

My prayer to you, you know, people identify you in a lot of different ways. They might say, oh, there's Kris. I knew him from high school. Or, oh, there's Kris, the guy who is married to Jessica. Or, oh, there's Kris, the cop, or whatever it might be. Those are identities that people identify us with. And they look and say, that's that guy who does X. My prayer is that you go out and begin to speak about Christ as God begins to fill you. And that filling begins to work itself out of you. And begins to affect your surroundings. That people will look at you and no longer identify you with your job. Or who you used to be. Or what you have done in the past. And begin to say, no, that's that guy that was touched by Christ. That's the guy that had a transformed life. Amen.

"You'll begin to be identified as a Christian as you begin to embrace the culture of God. "

You'll begin to be identified as a Christian as you begin to embrace the culture of God. It comes in what you say, how you present yourself, what you allow, what you stand for. And people will begin to identify you no longer as Kris, but as Kris the Christian. One of the biggest problems me and Jessica had growing up doing youth group was when parents would come. And they'd always have questions. And it always boiled down to this. How far can we let our kids go into the culture of this world? They want to go to this party. Why can't they? Or they want to go on a trip with all their buddies, you know, is that okay? Jessica and I would always have to set the bar and say listen you're always asking about how you can assimilate into the world's culture. Stop doing that and start talking about how you can set the culture of Christ inside of your house. Start asking how you can set inside of your children the culture of Christianity, that they might be able to express their Christianity out. Stop asking me how far they can go, how far they can dip their toe in the water, and start asking me how you can set a culture of Christianity and identity inside of your children.

That conviction, when we embrace it, does all sorts of things but it makes us speak boldly. The work of Christ begins to come out of our pores boldly. I love the fact that these men report back and what do these people want? They wanted exactly the same, they wanted the peace, they wanted to duplicate what Peter and John did and they wanted to do it in their own lives.

My prayer is that as you see God doing things, and I could bring people up here all day long. Just grab some of the men from the different families and bring them up and they can tell you all about the different things that God has done in their lives. I could grab some of the women in here and they could tell you how God has transformed them. I could tell you all sorts of stories. I could bring testimony after testimony. My prayer is that the culture begins to change and as you hear it you want to invest into this culture. You don't want to be part of the world and see how far you can get into the world without crossing some invisible line. No. Start to maintain, start to cultivate Christianity, a culture of Christianity in your own lives and in your own homes and see what God does.

" In Christ, all cultures fall away, and it's just Christ. "

There is a call to that cultural compliance that lives in this world. And listen, I'm not saying every single interaction that you have is going to be adversarial. I'm not saying you're going to go out and be like, no, I'm not living like you, you know, and I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is that God will begin to define who you are based on identity. And that's what Pastor Janeth had preached about a couple weeks ago, right? Identity. Who do we identify with? What culture are you identifying with? The cultures you come from, do you identify with a Hispanic culture or a culture of the world? It doesn't matter. In Christ, all cultures fall away, and it's just Christ. It's just Christ and who He is. I'll take some of the food. I'm not going to lie, but everything else, right, my white ancestors aren't known for their cooking skills. You know, I'll take some of the food, but that being said, the culture of our set of norms has to be set from Christ.

They look and they say, you judge. Judge for yourself what is right. Do I obey you or do I obey God? This is what we are meant to do in the world: go out. Affect change. Change the norm. Stop acting like everything is normal in the world when it constantly leads to destruction. There seems a way that seems right to men, but in the end, it leads to destruction. It's one of my favorite verses because it really portrays exactly what lives inside of this world. There is a normal way of doing things. Then, there is a God way of doing things. Invest into the culture of God like Peter and John, and you will see amazing things.

The Sanhedrin had a very easy goal over Peter and John. Silence the message, and the movement dies. Silence the message, and the movement dies. Very, very simple. But they could not stop speaking about their why. They could not stop speaking about their why. In policing, we have a thing called know your why, meaning like know why you do this job because it gets stressful and it gets hard and at times you're going to question why you do it. Know your why. Is it your family? Is it what you're doing? You're setting your kids up? What is it? Why do you do this job? Know your whys. People of God, know your whys. Know your whys. Why do you live this way? Why are you here right now? Why do you choose to take this lifestyle over the way of the world? Why are you here? Is it for your kids? Do you know what the world brings? Why are you doing this Christian thing? Know your whys and take those whys into the world and begin to change the culture.

That's not going to happen by speaking and not living it. That's not going to happen by saying something and saying Bible verses, unless they are changing your homes and your heart and your mind, and they're doing things and effectuating change in your surroundings. When it's done in your homes and you begin to move, it becomes normal to you and then you bring that normal out into the world and all of a sudden things begin to change. That person went and tried to talk about Christ, but it wasn't normal to them. And so because it wasn't normal, they struggled through it. But when it becomes normal to you, when your culture changes, when your home changes, when things begin, it's just a set of norms of the power of God moving, and yours is an ex-power, a culture of expectation of all God can do. When that becomes your norm, you'll go out into the world, and it'll just come out and be normal because of what you have embraced, because of what you have cultivated inside of your own homes.

This world wants us to believe. It wants us to believe that we can just keep the belief inside. That it just has to be inside. Never leave here. Never leave the center of your chest. You know, you can believe it inside of your heart, but don't let that stand countercultural to the ways that the world does things. Don't let it be normal. You know, you want to live like a weirdo, that's fine. You live like a weirdo, but don't make it normal. And I tell you, people of God, the church needs to come back into the truth of God. The Bible is what tells us how to be successful. The Bible is what leads us into heaven. The Bible is what shows us a way that our kids can grow and be saved and live in heaven and eternity. But it takes us embracing the culture.

Christianity is a movement. It's not a belief. It's a movement. And that movement needs to go forward. It needs to advance. It needs to move. It needs to march on. It needs to go forward. It can't sit still. Christianity can't sit still. If the culture is not being cultivated, if it's not moving, and if it's not growing, then this is just a place for you to come on Sunday and give a little praise to God, to pay your due and then leave. And that is the American church today. It is a place where you can go, you can give your penance, you can give your dollar, and then go home. But people of God, that is not the church. The church is Peter and John going and speaking about how the Holy Spirit moved in them and then the people hearing it and praying and said, I want a piece of that. I want a piece of that. And then a growing and duplicating and moving and all of a sudden you have a movement on your hands. Church is a movement. It's a movement and it needs to move forward.