Amen. Hey, what's going on, Alex here. So popularity is a problem in the American church.

Look at Matthew 13, verse 34. All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables.

Indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. Jesus' life and his ministry would have been

a lot different if he didn't speak in parables so much.

In verse 13 of Matthew 13, he tells the disciples why he speaks to them in parables.

Why he speaks to the crowds this way.

He says, this is why I speak to them in parables.

Because seeing, they do not see, hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

If Jesus spoke to them without parables, he would have been a lot more popular.

And the disciples actually come to Jesus asking him, you know, why do you do this?

Why do we can have way more success, way more popularity if you just didn't do this one thing.

And he shows us the need to not live for

popularity the problem with popularity and the solution to living for God living free and not

living for popularity so what is the need the need to not live for popularity comes from

this simple statement catering to the crowd only leads to lack of clarity abound. Catering to the crowd is only going to lead to lack of clarity. If you live for what the crowd wants to do, what the crowd wants to hear, what the crowd wants to see. If you live for that, you're going to lose

everything. By trying to gain your life, you're going to end up losing it. Luke chapter 6,

verse 22. Luke chapter 6 verse 22. It says, blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you,

and revile you, and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man,

following Jesus is not about following popularity.

That's why the American Church is a really bad picture of Christianity today because the American Church is what?

Popular.

The preachers and the leaders of the American

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