Be Encouraged, Die to Self (Vlog)

Well, hey, how's everyone doing?

This is James and I'm in
the I'll Be Honest office

I guess you could call it,

and I just wanted to record something

to encourage everyone out there.

Do not give up.

The devil - he is real.

He really is waiting for
an opportune moment

to get all of us to fall away,

to harden our hearts,

to have unbelief in our life,

to get us to be lukewarm.

He wants us to slow down.

And we've got to press on.

We've got to be hot for Christ.

He's worthy of our lives.

I'll tell you, going and
doing things for the Lord

is a terrifying thing to do.

Even recording this is terrifying

because self always tries to intrude.

Approval of man always
tries to get in the way.

Even a brother a minute ago

was talking about praying
at prayer meeting,

how he struggles to
pray at prayer meeting

because approval of
man gets in the way.

And to start to construct your prayers

on how they're going to sound

so others think highly about you

like you're spiritual.

It's just amazing.

This is a war and we must

put to death the deeds
of the flesh every day.

We've got to die to self.

We've got to have Christ living in us

and not us living -

I don't want James Jennings to be alive.

I want Jesus Christ to
be living through me.

And it says in 2 Corinthians 5:14

that the love of Christ controls us.

Why? We've concluded that Christ has died,

therefore all have died.

And I want to be a dead man walking.

I want to be as Paul said -

I die daily.

I pray that constantly to the Lord.

I pray, "Lord, search me, oh God.

Know my heart, Lord. Try my ways.

Lord, if there's any
way grievous in my life,

Lord, break me of it and lead
me in the way everlasting."

And the way everlasting is to conform

to the image of Jesus Christ;

to conform away from our own self.

It really isn't about us at all.

It really is all about Him.

And with all of that said, I just ask,

keep praying for the
I'll Be Honest ministries.

I try to put videos out and
things to encourage others

and to see people saved.

And we get a lot of feedback,

a lot of people who are
struggling with pornography;

a lot of people who are struggling

with assurance of their salvation.

I'll tell you, there's one
answer to every problem.

No matter what you're going through,

the answer is always going to be Christ.

And that's always the issue.

Are we being satisfied in Jesus Christ?

Or are we going to an idol?

And one of the biggest
trials in my own life

has been the idol of performance.

I can sit here and make a video,

and people can see it,

and I can get praised for it,

and then I start to idolize that.

I start to get my joy

from what I'm doing

and not what Christ has done.

And it's so important that we examine

our own hearts, that we see,

are we really being
satisfied in Jesus Christ.

Is He really the treasure

that in our joy, we're dying daily

to have more of Him;

to be satisfied in more of Christ,

and to be with Him more.

I'll tell you, the minute
you stop praying,

the minute you stop being
in the Word of God daily

and feasting on those things,

your heart gets hardened,

you start to go to other
idols and other things.

And no matter what gets in the way,

just flee away from it.

Even today, I had to come
to grips with the reality

that I needed to get rid of my Facebook.

I mean, it's incredible the time

that was getting taken;

the compulsion to log on and check

if there's messages or notifications,

and then you get lost just being

a busybody on the Internet.

It's so easy to browse.

And a status we put up recently,

are you spending more time
browsing your Facebook

or your Bible?

And we need to ask that question.

Are we spending more time
communing with others

or with the Lord Jesus Christ?

And the reality is,

the one we commune with the most

is the one we love.

And I'll tell you,

there's much reason to love Christ.

The fact that He would
save us is incredible.

Even today, downstairs in the Grace House

talking to a guy who just moved here,

the Lord it seems is moving in his life.

I mean, to see him be saved,

if God is really saving him,

the joys that will bring.

It's just unspeakable to see someone

come from darkness to light,

from a child of the
devil to a child of God.

I mean what more could you ask for?

What more could you pray for

than to plead with
the Lord to save people,

to open their eyes, to
rip the blinders off?

I mean, what would we
not give up to see that?

What will you not give up?

What in your life, what in my life

still hinders me from serving the Lord

full of zeal, full of a love for Christ?

I mean, what gets in the way?

Hebrews 12:1 says to
let go of every weight.

Let go of every sin.

I mean, ask yourself, what is that?

It could be anything. It could be music.

It could be anything that
would get in the way

of us knowing Christ more.

Anything can be an idol.

You know, when the Lord first saved me,

I thought wow, I'm free of pornography.

I'm free of the lust of the flesh.

I thought that's incredible, and it is,

but you know what's another big sin?

Idolatry. Idolatry of the heart.

It's not about are you only sexually pure.

It's about are you emotionally pure.

Are your emotions being
satisfied on Jesus Christ,

or are you going to another cistern

for those to be satisfied?

And so, I just wanted to make a short clip

and to put it out just to be honest,

to encourage you guys.

Everyone's going through a war.

I, myself, am going through
a war daily over here

to keep pressing on, to not give up,

to not throw in the towel.

I mean it's amazing,

the devil will slander,

it will feel like hell is crushing in,

and sometimes I just
want to delete I'll Be Honest.

I just want to get away

from the weights that are on me

and the reality is, the next morning,

there are new mercies every morning.

It's so encouraging.

And if you're watching this right now

and you're in the pit of hell,

know the reality is the Lord

will redeem you out of that.

It says in Psalm 25,

my eyes are ever towards the Lord,

for He will pluck my feet out of the net.

There is confidence there.

And we need to have that confidence

to know that He will
pluck us out of the net.

There's always a way of escape.

I'll tell you, be ready to give
anything up for the Lord.

If the Lord deleted I'll Be Honest

and the Grace House that
I run burnt down today,

I would still be satisfied
because I have Jesus Christ.

And I used to get too much
joy out of the ministry,

too much joy out of doing things,

but the joy only comes from Christ.

And for all I know, one day,

the house is going to burn down,

I'll lose all my video equipment,

I'll Be Honest will be completely gone

and I'll be satisfied in the Lord

because I have Christ

and that's what matters is Him.

We cannot be living for big ministries.

We cannot be living for
our names to be known.

We must be living for
Christ's name to be known

and to be proclaimed
to every end of the earth,

no matter what it takes

and what it's really
going to take is dying.

Are you dying daily?

Or are you compromising?

We must be beyond all reproach.

Do you have a clear conscience?

Do I have a clear conscience?

Do I have a clean slate?

If this video camera was watching

my mind, my heart, everywhere I'm at,

24 hours a day,

would you see someone striving to enter

through the narrow door?

Or someone compromising with the world?

And may that not be said of us at all.

I'll tell you, don't live for
the approval of man.

Live for God's glory.

It says in Galatian 1:10,

am I now seeking the praise,
the approval of man or of God?

If I was seeking the approval of man,

I wouldn't be a slave of Christ.

And I'll tell you, I am so happy

to be a slave of Christ.

I am so happy to have His love

binding me up and controlling my life.

And only abiding in Him can I endure.

And only with more love for Christ

will I be able to press on in this race.

So if you're out there and you've
been watching I'll Be Honest,

be encouraged, be challenged,

and press on. Don't give up.

Don't grow tired.

No, your labor is not in vain.

Whatever it is. No matter
if it's mopping a floor,

do it all for the glory of God.

Don't live for big ministries.

Live to know God much.

To be much with Him,
to be much with Christ.

That's what matters to know Him.

Nothing else really matters.

So, you know what?

I pray it now, Lord, whatever it takes

to break me of myself that I can

be more like Christ, to bear more fruit,

do it, Lord.

And I pray that we would all pray that.

You know what?

This world can really be
turned upside down.

If we really count the cost

and let go of every weight -
not just the sins,

but the weights that
so easily entangle us.

And we look to Jesus, the founder
and perfecter of our faith.

So don't account your life of any value,

don't count it precious to yourself,

if only you can complete this course

that you've received from
the Lord Jesus Christ

to testify to the Gospel.

That's it.

Testify to that Gospel.

And I'll tell you, that's what it's all about.

So be encouraged.

If you need help, if you need counsel,

I'm here to help.

And I'm here to serve.

Not to serve myself, but to serve others.

And so pray that I am doing that

to the extent that God
gives me the grace to do so.

So pray. Seek the Lord.

Seek to know more of Him.

And be less and less about
yourself in everything.

So may God help us.

May God help us indeed.

Well, the Lord, He died.

God actually sent His only Son

and slaughtered Him

for the sins of many.

If that doesn't motivate you, what will?

What will?

So Amen.