Be The One: Righteous Living And Intercession Amongst Wickedness

Today, I deliver the first sermon of 2026 through the Radiating Faith ministry series, titled Be The One. This message is rooted in a simple but confronting biblical pattern: God repeatedly searches for just one righteous person among overwhelming wickedness. I open by grounding this sermon in Jeremiah 5, where God declares that if even one honest, truth-seeking individual can be found, the entire city will be spared. This passage sets the foundation for understanding both the depth of humanity’s rebellion and the breadth of God’s mercy.

I then connect this pattern back to Genesis 18, where Abraham intercedes for Sodom and pleads with God to spare the city for the sake of the righteous. As the numbers are reduced from fifty down to ten, the contrast becomes clear—human corruption increases while God’s mercy remains steadfast. In Jeremiah, however, the indictment is even more severe: not even one righteous person can be found, including among the leaders who were expected to uphold God’s law. This failure of leadership mirrors many modern communities, churches, and institutions today.

From there, I walk through additional biblical examples that reinforce the call to be the one—Noah finding favor in a corrupt world, Job standing blameless before God, Daniel remaining faithful under cultural pressure, and God’s lament in Ezekiel that no one could be found to stand in the gap. These accounts reveal that righteousness is not passive; it requires resolve, separation from corruption, and a willingness to intercede on behalf of others.

I conclude by challenging listeners to examine their own communities, families, habits, and compromises. Being the one means refusing conformity, breaking generational patterns, and living in a way that invites God’s mercy and blessing—not only for yourself, but for those around you. This sermon is a call to personal responsibility, spiritual courage, and daily obedience, reminding us that transformation does not begin with crowds or leaders—it begins with one.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spiritual-warfare-sobriety-scripture-against-drugs/id1657865479?i=1000737069911

Website: https://coupleonukes.com

Exodus, Honor Your Heart, & Nulu Knives: https://www.coupleonukes.com/affiliates/

Want to be a guest on Couple O' Nukes? Send me a message on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726279485588093e83e0e007

Sign Up For A PodMatch Account: https://www.joinpodmatch.com/coupleonukes

*Couple O' Nukes LLC and Mr. Whiskey are not licensed medical entities, nor do they take responsibility for any advice or information put forth by guests. Take all advice at your own risk.

Transcript

 Ladies and gentlemen, this is Radiating Faith. The Ministry Subseries on the Couple ucs podcast, and I am so excited for this. It's the first sermon of 2026, and. You know, my original sermon that was gonna be the one to start off the new year was an anti New Year's sermon, and mostly what that was gonna talk about was essentially how we set all these goals and desires for the year.

But not many of us start the year by talking to God. Asking for alignment and discernment with him for what we should be doing with this new year. And also so many people get so restricted and constrained mentally to these new year, you know, resolutions to the periodization of the calendar and to the seasons that they end up procrastinating a lot of people.

You know, I can't remember the name of it. I think it's Gates Law. We'll have to fact check that. But basically, I think it was made by Bill Gates ai or named after him, and it was the idea that people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in a decade. I'd have to double check those, those numbers right there.

But I'm not gonna edit this, so feel free to research it on your own. But a lot of us also fail to realize that God can. Make it a new year, any day of the year, right? And what I mean by that is God has the ability to transform our lives in tremendous ways, ways that we typically save for a new year or for after summer or winter or spring.

And so that was the original sermon. I just never got to it. You know, speaking of procrastination the new year, my travel plans got completely changed. All that being said, it is in my heart. I believe it is from the Lord to do a lot more sermons this year. I wanna do a lot more solo sermons about once a week if I can maintain that cadence, if not more.

And most importantly, I have in my heart to at least speak at some kind of public event or be on stage and preach a sermon live. I think that would be really awesome, a different kind of energy and reach people in a different way than I do online. Of course I am super grateful for anyone listening and anyone under the sound of my voice across this microphone.

Thank you for listening and I hope that you know God is using this to bless you in some way. Whether you stumbled upon this by accident or if it was something you were researching. Today's sermon, it's titled Be the One. I spent a lot of the beginning of this new year already talking to God about.

How this year is going to look and aligning with his will. And I was asking for a sermon and lo and behold, you know, God delivered it right away. I was on the elliptical at the gym and I opened up my Bible app to do some reading while on the elliptical and boom, right there in my face, Jeremiah five, where I had left off quite a while ago.

I've been jumping around and I went back to Jeremiah and Jeremiah five was right there in my face. And we'll go ahead. I'm gonna read this. Verbatim from the new international version right now. Just to start things off, because the title of this chapter in the Bible, it says, not one is upright, and that's the title of this section at least.

And I'm gonna go ahead and read that for you because this is what I read and where this sermon was inspired from. So it says. Go up and down the streets to Jerusalem. Look around and consider search through her squares if you can find. But one person, one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.

Although they say, as surely as the Lord lives still there, swearing falsely. Lord, do not your eyes look for truth. You struck them, but they felt no pain. You crushed them, but they refused. Correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. I thought these are only the poor, they are foolish for.

They do not know the way the Lord, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. But with one accord, they too had broken off the yolk and torn off the bonds. That is so beautiful. We're gonna get into that in two separate parts.

I wanna start first with what God says because it's what God says in this. What you know, Jeremiah says. And so looking at what God says specifically right here, if you can find, but one. Person who deals honestly and seeks the truth. I will forgive the city. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I just want you to reflect upon this.

If you're not an avid Bible reader you might wanna, you know, just wait. I'm gonna give the answer real quick here, but I want you to reflect if you are familiar with the Bible at all, in any degree. Does this sound familiar? Does this message of if there is one righteous person, I will forgive the city.

Sound familiar at all? And if it does. It should because there are actual multiple instances where God uses and searches for a single righteous person. The big one that should have came to your mind is Genesis 18. Now, in Genesis 18, this is when Abraham pleads for Sodom. After the three visitors come and announced that he and his wife Sarah will have a child the following year.

And so I want to read that real quick as well. And then we'll get into the bulk of the sermon. And then we'll also get into Ezekiel Chronicles job, Daniel, and some more genesis, all in theme in line with being the one. And we're gonna unpack that in a couple different ways, and so I highly encourage you to stick around for all of it.

We're gonna get into leadership. We're going to get into family routines and quote unquote generational curses. I think this is gonna be an awesome sermon to start the year, and essentially I want the takeaway to be be the one. I just want you to think about that and what that means at the end of this and how you can live that out this year.

As we move into this new year, how can you be the one this year in your local community and on the larger level and impact, but let's go all the way back to Sodom and Gomorrah and the three visitors are talking to themselves and they're saying, we're gonna tell Abraham what we're gonna do, and here's where we'll start.

The men turned away and went towards Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and said, will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are 50 righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the 50 righteous people in it?

Far be it from you to do such a thing to kill the righteous with the wicked. Treating the righteous and the wicked alike far be it from you will not the judge of all the earth do. Right? The Lord said If I find 50 righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake. Then Abraham spoke up again.

Yeah. Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than 50? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people? If I find 45 there, he said, I will not destroy it. Once again, he spoke to him. What if only 40 are found there?

He said, for the sake of 40. I will not do it. Then he said, may the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only 30 can be found there? He answered, I will not do it if I find 30 there. Abraham said, now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only 20 can be found here? He said, for the sake of 20, I'll not destroy it.

Then he said, may the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only 10 can be found there? He answered for the sake of 10, I will not destroy it. When the Lord has finished, finished speaking with Abraham, he left and Abraham returned home. So again, we see that same kind of pattern as well, which is essentially being.

The one in this case, the one is a group and sometimes it will be a group. Sometimes God leaves a remnant or there is a faith-based group, and we're gonna get into that as well. Abrahams please. First of all, really important for us to understand because it shows the broadness of God's mercy. By continually scaling down, the fewer the people, the greater the mercy essentially.

And then on the other side, the continually scaling down that Abraham does, emphasizes that wickedness of humanity, right? Abraham doesn't doubt. God is merciful, nor does he doubt or not understand God's position. He says, I'm nothing but dust and ashes. May the Lord not be angry. He understands very well, unlike a lot of humans today, his place before the Lord, knowing that the Lord is as he calls him, the judge of all the earth.

Right? Right. This is the, this is goes hand in hand with a kind of counter. Jonah who felt like God should have killed an entire city in God's spare the entire city. They're almost counterparts to each other, and that's the whole sermon on its own. But through both of those stories, we see the vast wickedness of humanity.

But also the vast mercy that God has and they're inversely proportional. The more wicked we see humanity, the more that God's mercy is highlighted. It's kind of like that saying that A, you know, the darker a room, the brighter a light will see in it or something like that. I don't know. You know, I'm not a sayings expert, but that being said, we look at Abraham.

I going down from 50 all the way down to 10. But in Jeremiah, we see God's mercy at full display when he says, if you can find just one. However, God doesn't say it for the sake of mercy. He doesn't need to prove to us how merciful he is. Right. If you can find, but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.

This is God speaking

about a city that has just gone too far to the point that God is bringing judgment, right? Babylon is right around the corner, and so what we see here is God not emphasizing mercy, but humanity's wickedness saying you could not even find one person, and Jeremiah didn't. We know that because Babylon came and the judgment fell upon the city and we saw the, and heard and have read the Lamentations of the people and of Jeremiah.

What I think is so interesting about this and what can be so relevant to America today, as well as whatever country you're listening in from, Jeremiah s. In an attempt to justify humanity in an attempt to try and find the good he, he says, I thought these are only the poor. They are foolish for. They do not know the way to the Lord, the requirements of their God.

So I will go to the leaders and speak to them. Surely they know the way the Lord, the requirements of their God. So he's saying to himself. Well, these are just common folk who, you know, blah, blah, blah. But the leaders, the ones who were supposed to be educated in the word, following the word, enforcing the word, surely they are doing so, but it is written.

But with one accord. They too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds. I. The reason I bring this up is because we can look at this a couple different ways, and here's the way I wanna look at it. A lot of us, when we feel like we are the only one and we want to find company, and I, I wanna start, I wanna focus on a faith-based environment.

So that could be a church, it could be an online community, it could be whatever it is, if it's just a youth group. When you feel like the people at your level are not holy or righteous, let's say you're at a youth group and instead of reading the Bible and conversing the word, it's become a spot for dating and hookups and drinking and indulging in social media rather than the word.

And I don't mean to villainize dating within a faith-based community. That's a conversation on its own. But let's say it has just become a dating spot and a hookup spot and a. Place of indulge in those things of the world to that excessive degree or that they are detracting away from the word in the study of the word, in the prayer time that you're supposed to be having at that youth group, whether it's a men's group, a woman's group, or a mixture of both, whether it's for teenagers or young adults.

Where's the first place you're gonna go? You're gonna go to the leaders. But what happens when you go to the leaders and they too, have broken those accords? They too are indulging in that behavior or perhaps even encouraging it and putting it forward. So je Jeremiah's Lamentations and his frustration and his methodology of going to the leadership and finding that they are wrong as well is something very common here.

We look at our political leaders and, you know, other leaders in our communities, whether that is a pastor. Or a teacher or any kind of leadership position, we truly might be just a one. And it is so difficult to be the one when the leadership as well has turned against us or against God, but be the one.

What does being the one mean? We'll, look at what Abraham and Jeremiah ask God, right? They're, they're saying, and Jeremiah didn't ask God, God put this forward. But essentially in Jeremiah and Abraham's story, they're saying, God, look at all this wickedness. Surely there's a, there's a good person there and you are not a God who will wipe out the righteous with the wicked.

Be that one, be that one person who is righteous and deals honestly in searching, is searching for truth that spares the whole city. Be that one. It can be difficult. I'll give you an example, a real life example from my time as a naval nuclear operator. That is one of the most atheistic communities you will ever find.

It is a community that mocks the faith. That gives a hard time to believers the military in general. I know that in media we see a lot of intertwining between the faith and the military service. We see a lot of military members praying before combat or deployment or talking with God about their struggles, but in real life, not in fiction, not in those books and movies.

This is just the impact of our declining society in this fallen world. That a lot of people in the military do not believe in God. In fact, moral injury is one of the main causes behind veteran and active duty suicide and moral injury is the loss of faith during military service in this particular example.

And so what we see with that is a huge atheistic community, especially people who have. A weaker foundation of faith if it was something routine from their family or they have not a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. What we see is that a lot of people will give up the faith during the military service because of the hardships they endure during that time.

As a result, the naval nuclear operator community was part of that. In fact, even more so because of the vast intelligence of these nuclear operators who thought they were smarter than God or had all the signs figured out. Being the one among that was not easy. Being the one in any group of unbelievers or among people who are extremely wicked is not easy.

However, being the one could spare the whole community and can, it can lead to change for another character. And by character, I mean a historical figure, which is Noah. And in Genesis six it talks about the wickedness in the world. And right here we have the Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth and his heart was deeply troubled.

So the Lord said, I will wipe from the face of the earth, the human race I have created, and with them, the animals, the birds, and the creatures that move along the ground for, I regret that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, and it was because of that in which all the animals and the creatures that move along the ground were spared in the Ark.

Noah and his family, he was one. Then you go to job. And Satan is conversing with God, and he says that he was roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it. Then the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant job? There is no one on earth like him. He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.

And then again in Ezekiel. In Ezekiel chapter 22, verse 30, I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land, so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one someone who stands in the gap. See, let's talk about intercession. When God was angry with the people after the exodus, or rather during it along the journey, Moses got in between God and the people and interceded on their behalf, and God was merciful and listened to Moses' pleads in cries.

In fact, we've seen historically a lot of people who have interceded for wicked individuals or nations. On their behalf and God has listened. So when I say be the one, it has multiple parts to it. The first is just be a righteous, good, holy person so that when God is searching for that righteous person to have mercy on among the wicked that you are found.

That's part one. Part two is intercession. Be the one. Who is righteous and deals honestly and seeks truth, who can intercede on behalf of those wicked people? It is not wrong to live among wicked people so long as you're not tempted into the same sins as them. Because you are a beacon of conversion. It may not be overnight, it may not be something that you witness.

But your presence among them could be bringing mercies and salvation and blessings that you don't even know about. So it's about one meeting that billet of, of God delivering mercy upon people because you are there. So you're having a presence that. Say a presence that is worthy of God's mercy and ultimately, none of us are worthy of God's mercy.

We are his creation. He can do with us as he pleases, but be that one who moves his heart towards mercy. That's part one. Part two is intercession, as we've seen it throughout the Bible. And then the third part I wanna talk about is being that righteous tool that God can use. So you look at, I want to talk about Second Chronicles chapter 16 verse nine.

For the eyes of the Lord ranged throughout the earth to strengthen those who hearts are fully committed to him. God is searching. I mean, in, in all of these stories that we're talking about, and by stories I mean historical accounts in all of them, we see this pattern of God is looking right. God is not just saying, all right, I'm gonna destroy A, B, C, and X, Y, Z, and I'm not even gonna bother to see who's there.

God knows. God knows where the righteous and the wicked are, and he's searching because he wants us. He wants to be merciful. He wants to spare the city. He wants to believe that humans can be good. I mean, I don't know about y'all, but when I read that the Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth and his heart was deeply troubled, I mean, do you feel some kind of shame or disappointment, like, I hate sin.

Like Philip Anthony Mitchell says, I hate sin. It is. It is just all the terrible things and sin has been glamorized, but. I hate sin and I hate that human beings made God regret creating us, that his heart was deeply troubled. I mean, hearing that as someone who, you know, sees God as a, a father and, and as, as creator, I mean, that is really upsetting to me, brings me Lamentations that people have broken his heart and reading, actually just reading the book of Ezekiel.

I mean, really brought that into light about God, talking about how. You know, he found us, quote, and he used the analogy of, of women how he found us naked and abandoned. He gave us fine clothes and jewelry and perfumes, and then we went and hoard ourselves out to idols and false gods and other nations with what he had bought us.

I mean, that is such a deep betrayal, and I reading that it was just heartbreaking. In fact, I used to have a sermon back in the day called the Most Heartbreaking chapter in the Bible, and it was about. The historical accounts of Ezekiel. Yeah, and it just, it just, I hope I'm not the only one. All that being said, I want to bring up another example as well before we bring everything together here, which is in first Daniel.

I'm gonna read from verse eight and then jump down to verse 15. But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Then you fast forward at the end of the 10 days, they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food, and basically to go over that.

It was about maintaining the kosher diet and that, you know, the, essentially the king wanted them to eat what he was providing. And the official was worried that Daniel and the young men that were taken with him would look worse than the other young men their age, and that the king would kill him because of it.

But he said test, you know, Daniel said, test us for 10 days. Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and order to drink. And then compare us to the young men who eat the royal food and, and then, you know, make your assessment based off of that. And as I just read. At the end of the 10 days, they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.

Earlier I talked about being the one for the blessing of others, right? For the salvation and mercy, God puts upon the wicked, right? Looking at Jeremiah, looking at Genesis with Abraham and Sodom, right? That's the message that. Being the one is blessing and saving for others. I wanna look at Daniel. In partnership with Noah Being the one is also a blessing upon your life.

Daniel chose to be the one, him and his comrades. They chose to be the one, a group of loyal men to God amongst. A nation that did not agree with it, and they were blessed. They looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who were indulging in what was of the world. Not only that, but when they were the one, God was merciful toward them, when they were put into the fire, when they were put into the lion's den, when Daniel was, that's not to say you won't be martyred for being the one.

And I could go into the New Testament and break down a whole bunch of examples. But that's not the main point here. What we see throughout the historical counts of the Bible is God is looking through it just as we are looking for those righteous individuals, looking for the people inside him, looking for the people in Jerusalem, looking for the people in just the whole Earth.

And I think it's just so beautiful that God is so merciful and looks for this one, and I think that we have a clear message here throughout the Bible to be that one. So I want you to look at the Bible and think this sermon was telling you be the one. Right. Be the one who gets a community saved that has mercy upon them.

Be the one who gets blessed for being the one, be the one who intercedes on behalf of a community toward God. That's what this sermon is saying. What I want y'all to do now is look at your Bible and pray and discern how can you be the one? The Bible clearly tells us how to be that one right. What actions to take the relationship with Christ to have.

But I want you to go deeper than that. On a more personal level, how can you be the one in your community today? What kind of community are you in that you're a part of, and maybe you're indulging in something that you can step away and be the one.

I'll give you some examples from my life. I am the one where. I don't listen to demonic music or anything secularized or that has anything possibly demonic or pagan wi in it. And I don't play that in my car. I don't play that at events I'm at. I am being the one who does not partake in that. I am the one who in a group of people who all smoke and drink, I won't partake of that.

It's about, and I, I do drink socially depending on the motivation behind it in the atmosphere. And I have a sermon about alcohol and drugs and other mind altering substances that you can check out in the description below to get the biblical background on and understanding of that.

I mentioned in the very beginning of the video in tandem with what I'm saying right now about being the one, how can, how can you be the one about generational curses and family routines as well? Some people will say, well, everyone in my family was an addict, so I might as well be one. Or, everyone in my family has always been atheist, or everyone in my family has always been Pagan, or Everyone in my family has always gotten high, or all the men in my family, or all the women in my family, or.

All my friends, whatever group you're part of. These ideas of habits being permanent, of being routine, of being glamorized, be the one. Who does not partake in that? Who calls it out or who holds people accountable? I know this is overall a very simple and redundant message, but I think it's so important because a lot of us conform to the pattern of this world.

We don't renew ourselves through the transforming of our mind with our relationship with Christ. You know, paraphrasing there, but a lot of us conform to the pattern of the world, or we give into societal or family pressures. To be a certain way instead of being the one that God is looking for, one to intercede, to bring blessings upon others and their community.

So overall, like I said, the message is pretty straightforward. I just want to give a little bit of biblical examples and background, and I call everyone to think about how they can be the one today in your community, online, in person, and pray to God about that. In fact, you know, I also pray to God about how can I be the one, how can I be more righteous or more truthful, or how can I expand?

From me being just the one to a couple of us being the one, how can I best serve the people around me in a way that they turn towards righteousness and truth as well. It starts with you being the one. Don't wait on someone else to be the one. Don't wait for the leadership that is supposed to be good, to be the one.

You need to be the one, and then you need to expand that one into two or three or four or into hundreds or thousands. But it all comes back to being the one. So I hope that this has given you a little bit of historical accounts and biblical background. On God's mercy, on the righteousness, on righteous among the wicked, and on intercession, we have the ability to impact our communities and to invoke God's mercy on behalf of others, but we need to be the one, and that starts with reading our Bibles and praying with God and having a relationship with Christ.

So as we move into this new year, what do you need to change about your prayer life or your Bible life? Your scripture reading time or your communities in order to be the one, to not just be one that meets the bare minimum, but to be one who is so righteous and so truth seeking that God says, have you considered my servant so and so?