Restoration Only Happens Without Compromise

Pastor Stan Mons

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Sermon Transcription:

I want to talk to you about a topic that the Lord began to put on my heart. It's bigger than today. It's going to be a journey looking at the life of Daniel and everything that we learn from his life for our lives today. And not only that, also seeing what the scriptures are seeking to reveal through those stories about Christ the Lord to each and every single one of us. And the title of this first part is this: Restoration only happens without compromise. Restoration only happens without compromise. Now, the definition of restoration, I'm going to give it to you, is this—the biblical one: bringing back to wholeness and bringing back to its intended purpose.

And if there's one thing that we've seen traveling and living in so many different countries, sharing the gospel, planting churches, it is this thing that people often long for—people that maybe already are Christians. They already believe in Jesus, but the desire for complete wholeness and living out your purpose.

In other words, having, living a satisfied life—a life that you know with every fiber of your being, when you come home, you're going to hear the words, "Welcome home, good and faithful servant." We've seen so many Christians from every denomination and every country where we've ministered struggle with this—arriving into wholeness in Christ. Yes, they believe, they've had experiences with Jesus. Maybe they have peace about their sins being completely forgiven and washed away. Maybe they have been filled with the Spirit and giftings are present. The fruits of the Spirit are present. And yet there can be a journey, a search, a desire for wholeness in Christ. Still something missing in the heart. A drive. Still being a driven person. Driven to see yourself loved. Driven to see yourself accepted. Driven to see yourself achieve something and do something with this life and get some meaning out of it. Still driven. Not made whole yet. There's still something incomplete. Some room to be filled up. And that's where that title comes in: Restoration only happens without compromise. I've seen it so many times.

People in love with Jesus, but there's compromise in their life. And I'm not calling sin compromise. Sin could be you living in compromise, but that's not necessarily what I'm pointing to. I've seen so many people know deep down in their heart what Jesus is asking of them, but because of parents or because of friends or because of finances or because of preference or because of spouse, there's a compromise in how wholeheartedly they follow after the directions that the Holy Spirit has given them. I've seen people have clear direction from the Holy Spirit. They go hard and committed at it for a year or three, and then they get married, or they have kids, or they start their company, or life gets busy, and they explain away as to why that was for a season and they no longer are fully and wholeheartedly committed to whatever word of the Lord the Lord spoke to them personally when they were in prayer or when they were reading their Bible and the Holy Spirit revealed the word to them.

They can explain away why that was temporary. Even though the word of the Lord endures forever, church, there's not a word God will ever speak to your heart that'll ever grow old.

There's things the Lord has told me over 10 years ago that I live by every single day, and the Holy Spirit doesn't let me take it easy on those words, so to speak. Still today, the Lord expects wholehearted commitment from me to every word he has ever spoken to me since the day I was saved. You see it back in biblical stories as well. I'm not making it up. When Abraham abandoned the word of the Lord after 25 years of waiting and tried to figure out how to get descendants for himself by taking his other wife, his servant wife Hagar, and have a baby with her, the Lord didn't say, "Well, it was 25 years. I let you wait pretty long. I understand that you got a little impatient." No. The consequence of that uncommit, that compromise to the word of God, still bears ugly fruit today in the life of Israel, in the life of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so today, I want to talk to you about restoration and that restoration only happens without compromise—coming into wholeness and coming fully into your purpose. That's what restoration is. Only happens without compromise.

Lord, I bring this word before you at this time. Lord Jesus, you've shown me this, Lord God. You've taught me this, Lord. And for today, Lord, you've given me a word to share on this topic.

Lord Jesus, I pray that every single one of us online and in person can hear your word with all of our heart and all of our mind. Father, I pray that none of your people would live without restoration, without wholeness, and without coming to its rightful purpose in Christ. Lord, I pray that no one may miss out, Lord, and live a life that is neither here nor there. A little with Jesus, a little seeking satisfaction in the world. A little with Jesus, committed to making money the way the world does. A little with Jesus, yet the heart is unsatisfied and forever draws me to a struggle with sin. I pray, Lord God, that restoration may be found in the body of Christ—a wholeness, a sense of being fully completed by the Lord, put back together the way I was designed, brought to my purpose in Christ fully.

Lord Jesus, have your way today, Lord God. Let your will be done in the heart of every hearer. In my heart, Lord, teach us, Lord, your word. In Jesus' name I pray. Thank you, worship team. We're going to get into the word as we begin to look at the life of Daniel and the things that God wants to teach us for our lives today. Just recently we looked into the story of Ehud, and we went a little deeper into studying all the scriptures that teach us that every story in the Old Testament is designed for us to receive understanding today. And not only understanding, but to be filled with hope today. I'm not going to go into all of that again. If you feel you want to learn that or hear about that, then you can go back online on our website or on our YouTube channel and check out that sermon titled—what was the title, guys? Was it last week about Ehud? Yes, The Devil's Blind Spot. There you go.

If you're watching online, that's the one you want to look for—The Devil's Blind Spot. And today, we're going to look again in the Old Testament. In this case, we're going to look at a figure—Daniel. There's a couple of them. This one is arguably the most famous one. We're going to look at his life. And before we get into that, we want to look at a little bit of the context of his life as we jump into the story. 2 Kings 24, verses 1, 2, and 3: In his days Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up, and Jehoakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. And the Lord sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and the bands of the people of Ammon. He sent them against Judah to destroy it according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by his servants the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from his sight, because of the sins of Manasseh according to all that he had done. So here we jump into a story that kind of sets the tone for the beginning of, or rather the introduction to, the story of Daniel. And here we see that God is beginning to respond to his people because of sin. The Bible says sin of Manasseh.

Now let's read 2 Kings 21, verse 2, because that's where it describes it. Verse 2 of chapter 21: And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. Here's what happened. The children of Israel received in a picture a new life. God cast out all of the enemy activity and God cast out everything that the nations around them—the enemy nations at that time to the people of Israel—were doing. They were doing child sacrifices. They were completely engaged in sexual sin that was part of the ceremonies of worship to their false gods. And here the word tells us that this group of people, called after the name of the Lord, receives this new life, this new entry into this new land, and they end up living again in the same sins or the same lifestyles as the very thing that God cast out.

God made room for his people by removing this stuff. And then his own people go back to loving money the way the world did and to worshiping what the world worships and committing to the things that the world commits to. And God responds. He had sent a spirit of renewal, if you will, into their time. But Manasseh actually goes backwards. He lived in compromise. He didn't want what God had prepared. He didn't want what God had made room for. And then the Bible tells us Jehoakim was the same. He's similar to Manasseh. He looked at the people around them and around him, and he did the same stuff. In other words, if you looked at Jehoakim or Manasseh, you couldn't—they weren't really different than the people of the world. They may have had a temple. They may have had a house of worship extra. The world didn't have that. But when it came to their daily actions, that's what the word is talking about. When it came to their daily lifestyle, there wasn't really a difference between the people around them and they themselves.

They lived in compromise towards God, and they lived in acceptance towards the world. Jehoakim being the same. And then we read later about his son, very similar name. They're often confused—Jehoachin, his son. The word says he did evil according to all of the ways of his father. So here we have generations down still living the same. Still living in compromise. Still seeking to live life two ways. "We want to be the people of God." That's what was in their heart. They called themselves after the Lord. The name Israel literally means princes with God. And they want to be called the people of God. And at the same time, they live in this compromise where they don't really want to live for eternity, if you will. They really want to live on earth their life, their way. And they're fine to visit the temple from time to time, but their life is very little different than the very nations that God drove out—the very things that God drove out in order to make room for his people. And God begins to deal with that sin. We just read it. It is because of those sins that God desired to destroy Judah, that God desired to press the weight of sin on Judah.

Let me continue reading to you in chapter 24, verses 11–13, and then verse 20 as well: And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came against the city as his servants were besieging it. They were attacking it.Verse 12: Then Jehoachin, king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his princes, his officers, went out to the king of Babylon. And the king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, took him prisoner. And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house. And he cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. Here we see a process begin to take place. God desired to put Judah out of his own presence. He desired to bring the weight of sin upon Judah. And even what God had said needed to be done now begins to be broken and destroyed and removed from the people of God. In other words, the testimony and even the work that God was doing in their life is now taking a step back. It's going backwards. And God is the one allowing it. God is the one doing it.

Now, I want you to realize that there's incredible significance in this story to the fact that it says here in verse 2 and 3, I'll read it to you again: And the Lord sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and the bands of the people of Ammon. He sent them against Judah to destroy it according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken by his servants, the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the Lord, this came upon Judah to remove them from his sight because of the sins of Manasseh according to all that he had done. And we know that the Bible's referring to Manasseh and talking about everything they've been doing for generations. There's such significance that the word says this because Jesus came from the tribe of Judah, and all of this sin of other people—not this generation, the generations before—is now being pressed on the tribe of Judah and is being, if you will, almost forced, the consequences of sin being forced on the tribe of Judah.

A foreshadowing of what God was going to do through the tribe of Judah. Jesus would be our high priest. But there was never a priest that came from the tribe of Judah. Priests only came from the tribe of Levi. And when God sends his wrath upon Judah, he sends his wrath upon the Lion of Judah and allows him to take all of the blame, all of the destruction, even to be removed out of the Lord's sight, out of the Father's sight, to where Jesus cries out, "Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?" All of a sudden, we begin to see God is using this story to teach us something. He desires for the consequences of sin to have an effect. He doesn't just miraculously blow them away and make them disappear. They have to go somewhere legally. They have to go somewhere. And God, already here in Second Kings, begins to show us that he wants to press sin on the tribe of Judah. That he wants to press sin on the descendants of Abraham, but only on one that would come from the tribe of Judah. And he's beginning to unfold this incredible story where he's going to raise up someone that will bring in restoration from the descendants of David.

Daniel came from the lineage of King David. And we know that it has been prophesied time and time again that through the lineage of David, restoration would come. When we look at a man like Daniel, church, there is so much we can learn about Jesus because guess what? The entire book is about him. Every story is full of things God wants you to understand so that you have a clearer picture of who Jesus really is, what he has done, what he is willing to do for you, and why he is so worthy of your worship and you talking about him all the time to other people. Amen. Amen. Let's continue in chapter 25, verses 8 to 11. Remember, the actions and the compromise of the people were causing God's activity, God's work in their life, to kind of take a step back.

I've met many Christians—they feel that way. They started off with the Lord, and then somehow, someway, they find themselves in the temple still or in the house of worship still. But it feels a little empty. It feels a little dry. It feels a little different. Feels like they're not getting that much out of it. Restoration is not taking place. They're not continually becoming more whole. They're not continually being launched into their divine purpose that God had in mind over them before the world was made. All those things seem to be slowing down. And even the things that God was doing, some of them they've grown lukewarm towards. Some of the growth opportunities they've lost. And there's a desolation that sets in, and it feels like something is wrong. I've seen people—they still feel something is wrong. They can't really put the finger on it. It's about the last place you will be before you fall away from the faith. You still feel something is wrong. You don't quite know yet what it is, but you're about to make peace with the fact that you're okay with that. And the moment you do, a blindness begins to settle in, and an acceptance towards the things of the land will find room in your heart very, very quickly.

The enemy is always trying to draw you into compromises in your faith. Again, I'm not talking about sin mistakes—compromises. Willing to abandon direction from the Lord. Willing to worry about money, even though God said the kingdoms of the world seek after these things. The people around you seek after these things. You seek my righteousness. You seek my kingdom. All these things will be added on to you. And here we read it, and we take it with us. And before we know it, we are running after the things of this world. We don't believe they'll be added on to us. We have to make sure that we work hard and make things happen so we can add them onto our lives. And so quickly believers look at the scriptures, look away from it, and look around themselves and say, "Well, clearly I'm going to live like this." And the simplicity of worldly wisdom comes into their heart. And all of a sudden they find themselves in a life wondering why wholeness is not coming, why restoration is not continually growing, why testimony is not constantly being a part of their life, why they're not vibrant and excited and passionate to share about Christ the Lord to others—because he's become not so real to them. He doesn't work in their heart as much. He doesn't launch them into their purpose as much. It seems to have been replaced.

Restoration only happens without compromise. Let's continue in verse 8: And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebaradon, the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the Lord and the king's house. All the houses of Jerusalem—that is, all the houses of the great—he burned with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around. Then Nebazaren, the captain of the guard, carried away captive the rest of the people who remained in the city, and the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude.

Now all of a sudden what represented the glory of God in the earth—that’s what Jerusalem represented among the nations at that time: God being with his people, God making room for his people, God giving testimony to his people—all of a sudden it is free to be under attack by the enemy. All of a sudden, the walls come down. There's no protection, so it seems. And people are carried away captive. Now, the people of God—every single one of them—seem to be going into bondage left and right. No matter where you look, everyone you would have known, everyone that was named after the name of the Lord, was going into bondage. It wasn't a secret anymore. You could now plainly see it in their life. The presence of God didn't seem to carry any weight. The testimony of God was not being built. Bondage was just being brought upon the lives of the people by the enemy. And there seemed to be nothing they could do about it. And in the meantime, in the background, God is already working on restoration. Now remember, restoration only happens without compromise. Restoration God was already working on in the background.

Let me take you to Daniel chapter 1. Now that you understand what the land was feeling like in this time: In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar, to the house of his god. And he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god. Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of the eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel, some of the king's descendants, and some of the nobles—young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the language and the literature of the Chaldeans.

Let me stop right there for a moment. This is you, church. This represents you in every way, shape, or form. God begins to raise up deliverance in a situation where many live in compromise. Now, there’s many things we can learn from this story, but here’s what I want you to see: What does the Bible say about Jesus living in your heart? Christ in me, the hope of glory. Christ in me, the hope of glory, when the deliverer that came from the lineage of David, that came from the lineage of Judah—are you seeing it in this story? First the sin gets pressed on Judah, but also a deliverer from the line of Judah and from the line of David is beginning to be raised up in this story. It’s all pointing forward, not only to Christ, but also to what Christ would do in you and through you after coming to live in your heart. When your generation is in compromise, when church friends or beloved that you absolutely love are in decay and crisis and compromise and religion and emptiness in their heart—calling themselves still after the name of the Lord—God is intending to fill you with Christ and to send you into that situation, not to judge and to blame and to point out all of the wrong.

He's sending you into that situation because God wants to bring restoration through Christ Jesus who is poured out into your heart. He wants to bring it to places that don't deserve it. He wants to bring it to people that are not asking for it. God always seeks to raise up restoration in a way that nobody deserves. But he's seeking to do it in this generation through somebody like you. But you may have to learn some new language to reach the land. You may have to learn some new ways of living. You may have to learn some wisdom. You may have to serve in a king's palace that you really would rather not have over you. You may have to be good to a boss that does not represent the way you want to follow Jesus. You may have to serve in a household where your parents or grandparents or children may cause very much difficulty for your journey with Jesus. You may have to serve in that place—but not without power, church. Not without purpose.

But if there is no restoration in your life, I promise you now, you'll be completely powerless. When there's compromise in your life, there will be no ongoing restoration in your heart. There's people, church, they get saved, they get washed by the blood, a joy comes into their heart, and they never start the restoration process because of compromise. Compromise often looks like disobedience to the Lord and his direction for your life. I've seen so many people, they get saved and they say, "Lord, whatever you want to do, as long as I don't have to leave my church, I'll do whatever you want me to do, but you're going to do it here. Lord, whatever you want to do, but I know you're going to do it in my country. I don't have to leave my country, Lord." And we may not say it to him like this, but that boundary is firmly planted in our heart. We're praying about everything the Lord wants us to do, but he would never ask me to do this, that, or the other thing. And I've seen it time and time again. Restoration will come to a halt.

Now, I'm not saying that God always asks you everything you don’t want him to ask you, but I know God works with a surrendered heart. I know God works with a heart that knows no compromise when it comes to his desire, when it comes to doing his will, when it comes to following him completely. I know that I've never seen a heart rebel against their authority when they have no compromise in their heart towards their Lord and Savior. I've never seen it. But I've always seen restoration. God will always move for a man or a woman that places themselves completely in the care of Christ Jesus. No backup plan, nothing held back. And here is where Daniel is at. Verse 5: And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king's delicacies and of the wine which they drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king. Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. To them the chief of the Eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the name Beltsar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; and Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-nego. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore, he requested of the chief of the Eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Here we have Daniel, and we know that Daniel stood on the direction of the Lord. That may be different for your life today. That's not the point. The point is you have directives for your life that Jesus has spoken into your heart. You have limitations on your life that Jesus has spoken into your heart. You have assignments Jesus spoke into your life, just like Daniel had. And Daniel said right here, "I've moved out of my country. I have no clear hope of things going back to normal. I may never see the temple again." And yet there's no compromise found in him. He's among other people. He's in a new kingdom. He kind of, you could argue, lucked out, and he gets to serve in the king's house, even though everybody went into captivity. And yet he doesn't abuse any of that, if you will, newfound freedom in a funny way.

He doesn't use any of it to get ahead or to please the people around him. Remember what the sin of Manasseh was—living like the people around him. And Daniel, even though he has the perfect setup to compromise a bit and fit in and make the most of his situation, he says, "No, I already have direction from God. I need to pass on this one. I don't need all the good stuff. I don't need everything from the king's table. I have direction from my Lord. And I'd rather do what God wants me to do than to get ahead in life. I'd rather please my Jesus than to ever have people be happy with me." Verse 9: Now God had brought Daniel into favor. Who did that? God brought Daniel into favor. Church, if you want people to like you, serve God. He will surround you with people that he will bring you in favor with. The world will hate you. You won't fit in—that we know is absolutely true from the word of God. But if you want some true wholehearted friends in your life, serve Jesus.

God brought Daniel into favor and goodwill of the chief of the Eunuchs. And the chief of the Eunuchs said to Daniel, "I fear my lord the king who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men that are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king." Little conflict of interest that the Eunuch is facing here. And then verse 15 gives him a chance. And at the end of 10 days, their features—talking about Daniel and his friends—their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portions of the king's delicacies. Now remember this: "all the young men" is referring to all the other descendants of David and Judah and Israel that also were brought to this place, and they were already all living in compromise all around them. And here Daniel and his friends are the only ones that say, "I don't want to live in compromise. I want Jesus. I trust Jesus. I want to obey him. I want to obey the Lord." And then verse 19: Then the king interviewed them, and among them all, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore, they served before the king.

Church, I want you to understand—Daniel did not compromise when reasonably he had every reason to and every chance to. There's some Christians I know, they go on vacation for two weeks and they compromise. They leave their social accountability, just like Daniel did in Jerusalem, and in two weeks' time they compromise. It's not about Jesus. It's not about following him. It's not about loving your neighbor. It's not about seeking out who Jesus is in the Bible. All of that goes out the window in just a matter of weeks. But here we see a guy, a boy, that says, "I just want to do what God wants me to do. I just want to follow my God." And all of a sudden, the favor of God settles upon him while he's a prisoner. And before you know it, the favor of God settles upon him. And now he's in the palace.

And then we read Daniel 9:1–3. In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the book the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplication, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. Here we have that same Daniel. He has an intimate relationship with the Lord, and he lives without compromise in his relationship with the Lord. He’s living a life full of restoration, wholeness, and being brought into his purpose. All by God’s favor. All undeserved. All miraculous.

We’re going to look at some of those stories in the coming weeks—all miracle stories. Daniel didn’t have it all together. Daniel wasn’t without sin. But Daniel was without compromise to the things that the Lord placed before him, the things the Lord had spoken to his heart, the things the Lord had made clear to his understanding. And even though Daniel had sinned, he’d come to the Lord with all of his heart. And God would speak to him very much like our new covenant relationship with the Lord, after Christ has washed us with the blood. A picture of the new covenant believer is right here in Daniel. Daniel wasn’t supposed to hear from God under the old covenant, the covenant of Moses. Daniel wasn’t supposed to have intimate relationship with the Lord. It is a foreshadowing of your and my life. After the blood of Christ has made us righteous before the Father, the Spirit of God has filled our heart. Compromise—we have crucified it and put it aside, to do the will of the Lord with all that God has made possible. He’s driven out the evil powers and the enemy out of our life to make room for a whole new life where we can live without compromise to God, to God’s direction, and to God’s desire over our life, and enjoy all of the wholeness that God makes possible.

All of the purpose that God simply launches us into—because He’ll just give the favor undeserved. He’ll change people’s minds about you undeserved. He’ll make a way for you undeserved. And here’s Daniel in prayer. And God is about to raise up restoration for all the people around him as we go to verse 20. Now while I was speaking—this is Daniel speaking to us—while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, the sin of the people, the princes of God, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God. In other words, he’s saying, I’m asking something from God. He’s asking about this seventy years. Seventy, and I’m no scholar in the numbers in the Bible. Some people spend their entire life on it and they can still hardly figure it out. But we do know this: this seventy weeks represented seventy years.

But when we see the number seven in the Bible, we know this represents fullness. And again, this story is pointing forward for all of us, because there’s a consequence of sin that in fullness will come on Judah—again referring to Christ carrying it all to the cross. And then something is going to happen. He tells us, starting in verse 21: “Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. And he informed me and talked with me, and said, ‘O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplication, the command went out.’” I’m going to say that again: At the beginning of your supplication, the command went out.

And I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore, consider the matter and understand the vision: seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city—to finish the transgression,to make an end of sins,to make reconciliation for iniquity,to bring in everlasting righteousness,to seal up vision and prophecy,and to anoint the Most High. Now, here is why we know this story is not talking about a historical account. This never took place physically in Jerusalem at that time. There was no stop to sin. There was no everlasting righteousness brought in. None of that happened until Jesus came on the scene. All of this story—all of the life of Daniel—is pointing forward so that we may understand things that cause hope to arise in our hearts in our generation.

Let’s continue, verse 25: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.”

Church, when a man without compromise—not a man without sin—but a man without compromise prays, Jesus Christ is revealed to the heart by heaven, and restoration always begins. Restoration. A man coming to wholeness in Christ. A man coming to a place of intended purpose. A lifestyle where you can say, I was made for this. When a man without compromise comes to God, this is what happens: God begins to show what Jesus is willing to do in a situation like this. Not only for you, but for the people around you. A man without compromise that goes to prayer always has an answer. Church, always understand what Jesus would love to do in the people around him or her. They can openly speak of it. They understand it. The understanding is given. The favor is given. The revelation is given.

There’s nothing you do. All you and I do is cling to the very thing Jesus asked us to do, it’s never much. In the garden—oh boy, did we mess it up. God didn’t ask much of us. But Adam and Eve didn’t cling to what God had said. They became open to considering other ways of spending their time. And all of a sudden, wholeness and restoration were very far from them. We see it time and time again in the Scriptures. But here’s my question to each and every single one of you, online and here in person: How is that going in your life? How is restoration going in your life? How whole are you? How long have you been saved, and how whole are you? How much of your life can you say is fully walking in the purpose God made? He gave the favor. He made the way. I didn’t come up with any of the plan. My father wasn’t like that. My uncle wasn’t like that. God made a way—sent me out, brought me into the fullness of the life that He designed for me.

I live with no regrets. I live without any holding back. And I am enjoying all the purpose I was created for. God has made me fully whole. I get to share about the power and the resurrection and restoration power of Jesus monthly, for things that He does for me even though I don’t deserve them. All He has ever told me is that there’s a cross, and that cross is enough. And I don’t compromise in my trust toward that cross. I don’t compromise in my trust toward His Word. I don’t compromise in my willingness to follow Him, no matter the cost. And ever since I have decided that, God has always given me a story of restoration. Where is your life at when it comes to restoration? Restoration only happens without compromise. Here’s the question—and if you would stand with me: Is heaven doing it for you? Are you effortlessly seeing God cause favor left and right? Do you see God effortlessly produce inside of you things that set other people’s hearts on fire?

You don’t even realize that you’re speaking under the anointing of the Spirit. You’re just sharing about your week. You’re just sharing about something difficult you went through. But you can’t help it—the Holy Spirit uses it. And people’s hearts are set on fire, and they begin to fall in love with Jesus. They begin to seek after Jesus. It doesn’t take your effort. Heaven is doing it for you. Jesus Christ in me—the hope of glory, wholeness, purpose. Whether you’re with us online or here in person, if you have been desiring restoration—if you’ve been desiring not only to be whole, to feel whole, but to live a life that is whole… not done by you, not achieved, not worked out in your head, but a miracle that heaven did and made you whole—if you’ve been desiring that wholeness, if you’ve been desiring to have the room to begin walking out your heavenly purpose, if you have that desire.

You’ve probably seen it in other people. And there’s a slight, soft, gentle, underlying jealousy in your heart that comes from the Spirit of God that says, That’s what I called you to live as well. That’s the joy I wanted in your life as well. That’s the satisfaction I wanted for your heart as well. That’s the kind of purpose I wanted you to experience as well. I purchased you. I resurrected you to newness of life. Now I want to bring you into restoration. Would you follow Me into it? Church, if you desire restoration, all that needs to go is compromise. If you are living in compromise to something God has shown you—something God has asked from you—and you’ve been putting it off… Compromise can sound like this: I’m going to do it. Except you’ve been saying that now for three months. I’m going to do it. I remember so clearly an old lady speaking into my life when I was just saved. God had given me a clear word to stop my company and not worry about the money, not worry about the customers. Companies had already paid my company to do work that still needed to be done. And there comes the word of the Lord: Stop the company. Don’t worry about the customers. Don’t worry about the money. And I was so excited to have direction. I did not like paperwork! So I was excited and sharing about this direction—but I had not started the process right away.

It had been at least a week. And I’m sharing with this lady that I have this clear direction. She had never spoken into my life before, but the Lord used her. And she said: “Well, did you do it?”

And those words went so deep into my heart. I couldn’t get home quick enough to get into alignment with the direction the Lord had given me. And ever since that time, the Lord allowed me to develop an eagerness to just jump on it right away. My wife knows. And I want to ask you: Is there something that you’re compromising in? And now you’re missing out on some wholeness? You’re missing out on some purpose? And you’ve been trying to figure out how come? I’m telling you now—it can be the smallest of things. I’ve told you the cleaning toilet story so many times. That’s what the Lord asked me. Still asks me today. I cannot walk in compromise to that ministry. Everywhere. Doesn’t matter if it’s the train. Doesn’t matter how public it is. The Lord asks me to always clean every toilet.

If I start walking in compromise to a word like that, church, I can’t expect to walk in the wholeness. I can’t expect to walk in the purpose. You can never treat a word from the Lord as if it got old. So I want to invite you today: if you need to make a commitment between you and Jesus, and say, “Lord, the compromise needs to go. I am in need of restoration. I want the wholeness. I want the purpose. And Lord, today show me what the compromise is. And if You show me, Lord, I will surely obey. I will recommit to You whatever direction You’re asking me to go.” If that is you, I want to invite you to come to the altar so we can pray together. And if that is you online, I want to invite you to pray with us when we pray as a church. Hallelujah. If you want and you desire the wholeness and the purpose, and you want to ask God, “God, what is the compromise that I’m living in, that I may understand and that I may commit to You again?” Maybe you already know. Maybe you have no idea. But you see—you recognize—that you’re on the missing-out side of things.

We’re here today. We’re here every Sunday to let the Holy Spirit do in our lives what the Holy Spirit wants to do. I want to invite you at this altar to have a conversation with Jesus. You can do it quietly by yourself. The prayer team will go around. You don’t have to give them any attention. They’re going to lay hands on you. They’re going to pray for you. They’re going to bless you. But I want to ask you to have a conversation with Jesus. Don’t leave this altar until you’ve got it figured out, because there’s restoration waiting for you. There’s wholeness and purpose waiting for you. And if the Lord brings it up, He wants to bring it out of you. So as you have a conversation with Jesus—either you already know the compromise and you know what to talk about, or you’re going to have to ask Him: “Lord, I see all the symptoms. Lord, if You reveal it to me, I will recommit.” As we worship, take your time together with your Lord. Amen.

-Pastor Stan Mons