Thank you. saw as you went along serving God?
Who wants to go first? Alright, Tyson, you go
first. Tell us something about God today. God
really does. He loves us so much. Now, he would
exist without us, of course, but he doesn't want
to. Good. Alright, go. So, there's a person that
I've been listening to a lot of his stuff on
Facebook. His name is Cliff. He's an older gentleman,
and he goes to a bunch of college campuses and
talks about the gospel and the Bible. And from
everything I've seen, everything he's ever said
has been very biblical, and he is extremely knowledgeable.
And one of the things I watched recently was
about how we're supposed to not purposely live
in sin. And he brings up, I think it was 1 John,
when he talks about how we shouldn't. purposely
live in sin, and if that's what we're doing,
then we really need to check our salvation. So
one of the things that I really was thinking
hard about that is, he got asked the question,
so if we're not supposed to live in sin anymore,
then why is it we still sin? And that's when
he goes into the description about how we are
still going to sin. We're still going to fall
short from Romans. Everyone falls short of the
glory of God. So we are all sinners. We are all
going to fall short. However, when we accept
Jesus and we start living for God and we truly
accept Jesus into our heart and we truly want
to live for God, we should not be willing to
purposely live in sin. We should be willing to
repent, turn to God, and try to give up that
sin and do something godly instead. So the problem
that we face a lot is we don't want to change
that because, for instance, and this is where
the example comes in that he gave, and it's such
a great example. So we get offended because we
don't want our ethics to be changed. We don't
want the way of our thinking to be changed. So
if somebody's cursing you out and yelling at
you and they beat you to a pulp, The world says
you should hate that person. And you have every
reason to hate that person. So then when we accept
God and we start learning from Jesus, Jesus tells
us, no, don't hate that person. You have to love
that person. Regardless of what they're doing
to you, regardless of what they're saying to
you, you have to love that person. So then we
get offended because we feel deep in our soul
that we should hate that person for what they
did. And one of my issues is I... am very protective
of children. I've always been very protective
of children. And for years and years and years,
I struggled with that about anyone who hurts
children, sex pedophilia. Years ago, I always
thought that all those people should just be
executed. And that's not how it is. That's not
how I need to think. I should be loving that
person, praying that they... turn from their
ways and accept God and start living for God.
Instead of knowing, no, that person just needs
to die. Because that is not what God calls us
to do. God calls us to love. He calls us to be
that light when there's so much darkness. That's
a good word. Alright, who else? So, a really
popular saying that everyone believes is true,
and even I believe it's true, is mistakes happen.
And when I was driving back from gymnastics on
Saturday, I was pretty tired, so a lot of times
I just think. And while I was thinking, this
topic came up in my mind. People know mistakes
happen, and people sometimes learn from them
if they choose to. People may forget too many
times in their life because they simply keep
saying too much. People say, this didn't happen.
No one's hooked. But they always forget to say.
They don't just disappear because they're not
perfect. If you sin against God, you have to
go, I sin. I'm sorry. It doesn't disappear. they
forget the end of that saying, which is, if you
don't do anything about it, it's not going to
change. Jesus uses a description where you have
light garments, and when you stand, it's like
a crimson stain on the garments. If you get a
crimson stain... On the dominance, he's the one
who's supposed to wash it away. If you want someone
to wash it away for you, how do they know to
wash it away if you don't ask them? So when you
sin or make a mistake, you don't want to forget
that it's not just going to disappear. It's still
there until you tell them and apologize to them
that you did something wrong. Talk about the
power of confession. 1 John 1 .9. Good work.
Do you have a hand for this? Yeah. All right,
Michaela, go ahead. So I've been looking for
a church home since my grandparents. My grandfather
passed away last October. And I feel like God
has really spoken to me about being in this church.
Amen. And I feel like God has just been really
pushing me to do, be my best and finish my schooling
so I can, even though I can't have biological
kids, so I can foster kids and adopt and get
them out of the bad situations that I was put
in and just help others. What a exciting commission.
Wow. I just... I'm really happy that I found
a good church home. And we're happy, too. If
you're happy that Michaela found a good church
home, say amen. Amen. Amen. You are happy. Thank
you. Good testimony. All right. Back here. Hi.
Yeah. So for the women's Bible study that we
just started, we've been doing a Bible study,
and it's called They Fall Under Control. And
I've been reading the book that accompanies it
in addition to that, and we haven't gotten through
a lot of it. I got to kind of break it down because
it gets kind of emotional for me, but I want
to share this activity with you. I think it's
done a lot for me. Sorry, this is going to be
very distracting. And the intro to the activity
starts like this. It says, you have a race to
run, but first you must strip off every weight
that slows you down from running the course God
has set out for you. Consider everything you
feel responsible for at this time in your life,
the good, the bad, the beautiful. The ugly, the
hard, and the effortless. And then take an honest
assessment of where you are now. Consider your
work, household duties, children, relationships,
volunteer assignments, church commitments, personal
struggles, and parents, for instance. And consider
other weights you carry. Are there areas where
you said yes because you don't want to disappoint
people? Are there weights you carry simply because
you were trying to please people? Do you employ
coping mechanisms such as exercise, food, or
addictive substances to give you a sense of control?
Now you're ready to begin creating your list.
And this is the activity. It says, write this
file versus the top of the page. Let us strip
off every weight that slows us down, especially
the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us
run with endurance the race God set before us
in his Hebrews 12 .1. Sorry. It says, draw two
columns. Label one, my race, and label the other,
junk in the trunk. And as you consider every
weight you have identified, Ask God to help you
discern what you were meant to carry and what
you weren't. Under my race, list the items that
you consider yours to carry on this journey with
Jesus. This list will likely include many things
you love. It will also include items that you
feel especially heavy right now, responsibilities
that you can't avoid, or difficult circumstances
that you are facing today, such as grief that
you must carry for a time. Under junk in the
trunk, list items that you were never intended
to carry. These are items that God may be calling
you to strip off to slow you down. This list
may take longer, Kyle, and it will involve ruthless
honesty with yourself. The items on this list
may include coping mechanisms, protective relationships,
approval -seeking behaviors, duties that are
no longer yours to perform or may have never
been, and commitments that exhaust you. Look
over your list, and as you do so, thank God for
the race you're running, praise Him for the beautiful
parts, and ask Him to help you through the hard
parts. then seek his help in removing and having
Trump fit by bit. This is where the real change
begins. Let us strip off every weight that slows
us down. We have a race to run. And I don't know
if you've ever had this experience, but I read
through this book feeling like the author was
talking to me directly. And I was really very
convicted of using other people's opinions as
a motivation to do something. I've been, and
I'm making this commitment today. I'm really
smart. I didn't intend to get emotional about
it, but I clearly have this very adorable support
system. Well said, well said. Anyone else? President.
Yeah, going, like, what our thing is, you know,
I, you know, I'm not perfect, and there's a lot
of things I do make mistakes, but One of the
things that I'm trying to do is when they get
a discussion and they want to tolerate, I want
to walk away, you know. Or before I would tolerate,
I would sit there and I would tolerate it back.
But, you know, and like you said, this is a good
church. When I walked in this church, so much
love. Everybody treats everybody like family.
I love it so much. And then, hey. I do know,
and another thing you were saying, you know,
is if I want forgiveness, then I better give
forgiveness back as well as accepting it. You
know, sometimes I want, you know, I want everybody
to love me in the world the way it's supposed
to be. But there's going to be some people in
Milwaukee, there's going to be people in the
world, there's going to be some stuff. It's how
I react to it. You know, God wants me to be a
better person. What would he do? Walk away. You
know, shave away from it. I'm trying. There's
some stuff I need to work on. But, you know,
I don't feel nothing. I feel really good when
I'm out of that picture and I'm doing what God
wants me to do. And then I don't have no feelings
of doing it for bad. You know, you did bad so
long you get used to it. Not really bad, but
you did miss it all your life. And, you know,
some of the things are hardly changing the way
you act, changing the TV, changing the, you know,
the different radio stations, changing the different,
you know, it is. It's hard, but I figure if I
walk towards him and I do what he wants me to
do, then I'll choose a better person. I come,
I get on my knees, I pray, I walk out the door,
and I'm good. You know, I feel, if Bob broke
me that night before, and I'm really, I'm just,
nobody can be around me, and I'm just, I'm just
a stubborn. And I don't do nothing about it before
I walk out the door. Chances are, I'm going to
take it up. somebody I work with, somebody I
say. And I don't mean to, but the culture of
me being centered, I'm going to get back that
old gentleman. I'm going to let it out, you know.
So I have to check me. I have to do what he wants
me to do in order for me to come out and be a
better person for people. And I respect that
because learning from here, you know, I don't
know much, but I'm willing to try. Amen. Good
words. Alright, anyone else? We're going to wrap
it up. You were saving for the last minute. Now
is your time. Alright. I'm going to ask that
this time we pray together. Alright, so here's
what's on our agenda. We're going to pray together.
In a moment we're going to take up our tithes
and offerings. Then we have another song, another
presentation. The song is a special song that's
been prepared in honor of Mother's Day. And then
we have the first thing we're going to do is
some Mother's Day gifts that we're going to present.
And then... we'll sing one more song and release
the children from the rapture. So that's pretty
much the plan, and then we'll go to God's Word
and let Him change our lives, as we've been trying
to do ever since we got here, I hope. All right?
So I'll ask Brother Tony Tate, would you lead
us in this prayer, and we'll pray along with
you? Lord Jesus, I want to thank you for this
time. I want to thank you for this testimony.
The thing is, God, we testify already these statements,
but it's after the testimony. That is what people
have seen in their daily lives every day, what
you're doing in everybody's daily lives. Think
of your word. It says, Surely goodness and mercy
follow me all the days of my life. And you're
the one that follows us with goodness in person.
And also in James chapter 1, it says that every
good and perfect gift comes from the Father and
the life that comes from above. It does not change
like shifting shadows. And any time you shift,
that shadow shifts. You don't change like us.
You don't move like us. You don't sin like us.
You don't make mistakes like us. You truly are
God. And you're the real God. The one that loves
us. The one that died for us. You want to rose
for us. God, as we do tithes and offerings and
bring worship and thank mothers for what you
do and the service of everything is according
to your love, your purpose, your plan. We thank
you for the strength and grace that we have to
go do these things because it comes from you.
In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
you. Thank you. I push the button or not. Every
time. I push the button or not. Every time. I
never remember. I push the button one time. I
can't remember, like, two minutes, how long I
push the button. Anyway, one day I'll remember.
Somebody's going to keep tracking me. They're
like, if I stand up, they'll... Somebody's got
to do it. Yeah. Except it started, like, a long
time ago. I think it was early Mountain Dew consumption
is what did it to me, I can't say. All right.
So this is just a poem. It says this. It says,
A mother's heart is gentle. Like a calm and steady
stream, she nurtures every moment and supports
our every dream. Her hands have held us tightly
since the day that we were small. Her prayers
have formed a shelter, a refuge through it all.
She walks in quiet courage with faith in Christ,
her guide. She teaches love and mercy with Jesus
at her side. So here's to you, dear mother. With
grateful hearts we say, your faith and love sustain
us and bless us every day. This time, I'm going
to do this, but we're going to distribute Mother's
Day gifts. So actually, you know what? The hoister
is saying something a little different. So if
you're in the room and you're a minor female
or an adult female who has aspirations of one
day being a mother and you're not currently a
mother, would you stand? Adam, you want to be
a mommy someday? You can stand up. So what we're
going to do, see, listen. The mothers that are
in the room know that this is tough work. It
is not an easy assignment. In fact, it's frankly
heartbreaking. And so we're going to pray a prayer
of commission. Normally we pray for the mothers
who have. We're going to pray a prayer of commission
for these who will soon or one day be, or for
some of them not very soon, right? We'll one
day be mothers. Let's see. That was something
I felt proud to do. Father in heaven, we do praise
you and thank you for, let's just call it this
institution. It is so much more. It is a way
you have written the history of men and women.
It is part of the rules of this life. We know
that in this room, there are a number of young
people from Adeline and Zoe all the way up to
those who are staying and will descend someday
soon, perhaps. And Lord, We just ask you to commission
them. And if it should be your will that they
should have their children, that they would do
so as proficiently and as often and as eagerly
and as strongly and as powerfully and as creatively
and as lovingly. And we could just go on and
on with all of the good adverbs that are in.
the entire dictionary, Lord, that you would pour
into them the power of your mother. I guess they
could look around the room and see some of the
mothers that we have in the room and be the effect.
The power that you've already brought to bear
our lives in this church. We have ladies in this
room who are not mothers and maybe can't be for
one reason or another. And yet, they have the
opportunity inside the church of God, inside
the kingdom of God. to help to fulfill that role.
And they will. Because they love you. Because
they know you. Because they know that our young
people need those kinds of figures in their lives.
So I ask your Lord to commission those who are
yet to be mothers and bless them in such a powerful
way. And they'll look back maybe on this day
and say, you know, back on the 10th of May. In
2025, we pray for this very thing. And man, God
sure has done it. And we are grateful. And I
thank you for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay,
so we're going to need a representative from
each family. So you can wrestle amongst your
siblings if you want. Because that would be true
of Mother's Day. I say go right to the top. Thank
you. Mommy's got one. Look, your brother beat
you to it. You should have wrestled him before
he came up here. Let's do the wrestling. All
right. I hope we did it. I don't know. Welcome
to my chaos. All right. Praise the Lord. We're
going to sing another song. One more? This slide.
This slide, the children are leaving with their
leaders in the classroom. And then we have one
more song? Two more songs before they work. All
right. Praise the Lord. If the children are paying
attention to the PowerPoint slide, they might
know that they're supposed to leave now. Bye.
Children, release. Release means get to go. I
pushed the button, by the way. Push it again
later. Come on. When I'm Thank you. Can you hear
me now? Yeah, there we go. Okay, we got it. I
did push it. I remembered I pushed it. It's not
new to push it, but it is new to remember that
I pushed it. How exciting is that? Today's sermon
title is entitled Breaking Up the Royal Family.
And if it doesn't sound like a good thing, in
some cases, it's not a good thing. When I was
in junior high, Had the distinct opportunity
for just less than, well, really for one entire
practice season, because I never actually competed
in a track event, I ran in track. You know, they
got that big oval thing out there behind the
school, and we would go out there and we would
run around that. And pretty much by the time
we got through to pretty close to the first meet,
I determined that I was probably almost the slowest
guy on the team, even though I was pretty fast,
but I was almost the slowest guy on the team.
And I really didn't want to run any races and
go out there as the almost lowest guy on the
team and run against everybody else's fastest
guy and lose by half a lap or a lap. And so I
made up some excuse and quit, like I did a lot
of things. But before I quit, I learned a valuable
lesson. And that is that the inside track, the
part of the track that is nearest the grass inside,
like where all the people are gathering, they're
on the teams. Maybe like where a couple of events
are taking place, that kind of thing. That inside
lane is the shortest lane. Now that's why they
stagger the runners because the runner that's
on the inside lane has to start further back
because that distance to get to that first corner
is less for them as the corner starts to come
around. And so they stagger those lanes so everybody
has the same distance to run if they stay in
their lane. But back then, you didn't have to
stay in your lane for long -distance races. I
don't know if you do now or not. So the point
was, by the first turn, the coach said, get over
to the grass. Because you've got to be on the
inside track. The inside track is the shorter
track. In Jesus' day, being born into a Jewish
family was definitely the inside track. From
the very beginning, when Jewish boys could read
or understand a language, they were memorizing.
whole passages of Scripture, not just a few words
here or there or one Bible. The verses didn't
have references to them. So they weren't memorizing
things like that was in chapter 33, verse 1,
or anything like that. It was the book of Genesis,
right? The story. They memorized the whole story
of Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah or whatever. And
ultimately, as they got older, by the time they
reached manhood, which was considerably older
for them in a... Jewish family than what we might
think of manhood. They would memorize the entire
book of Genesis, for example. So to be in a Jewish
family was definitely to have the inside track,
knowledge of the word of God, knowledge of what
it meant to be a godly man, knowledge of who
God was, knowing about the prophets, knowing
about Moses and Joshua and Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, and all of those interesting characters
of the past, King David and so on. So to be born
into a Jewish family was to have the inside track
to knowledge about God. Today, in our day, being
born into a godly church family seems like the
inside track. You have the best chance that your
parents will do a pretty good job of raising
you. You have the best chance that your parents
will do a pretty good job of introducing you
to Jesus, maybe teaching you some Bible verses
as you're growing up, teaching you a little bit
about memorizing the Word or studying or being
faithful to church, that kind of thing, being
in worship, serving in the body. You have the
best chance of an inside track if you're born
into a godly church family. Now, in this room,
some of us were and some of us weren't. And probably
what you're thinking is those of you who were
born into a godly church family are thinking,
yeah, I'm not sure if I had the inside track
because my parents were human and they made mistakes
and things like that. But I see kind of maybe,
right, because my parents didn't do this or that
to me. The other families that don't know the
Lord may have done. I don't know if I had the
inside track for sure, if it was any way easier.
Or if you're born in a family that was not a
godly church family, then you might be saying,
well, I don't really know that that's true because
I feel like God really kind of stepped into my
life and he took care of it and whatever. And
even though I didn't have a godly church family
growing up, it seemed like I had a pretty fast
track into the kingdom. God made it all work
and so on. So you might not for sure agree with
those statements depending on your specific situation.
But I will say to you that From an outside point
of view, observing, it just makes sense that
if a person has a godly church family and they're
encountering the word of God, even if their parents
aren't very godly, but they're encountering the
word of God and memorizing it as a kid or things
like that, that they have good access to know
about God. They have better access to know about
God than somebody that's born out there in the
world, if you will. Nobody in their family is
Christian. There's no Bibles around. So when
I was a young child, At five years old, I got
my first Bible, went to church for five months,
and then my parents pulled us out of church,
and I was never in church again for over 20 years.
And so my dad was a backslidden Christian at
the time. He was a Protestant Christian from
being a kid, but at 17, he walked away from the
Lord, and my mom was not a Christian. She didn't
get saved until she was 56. So we didn't have
God or Bible in our house, per se. We didn't
pray before meals. We didn't talk about God.
I never heard the phrase, what God would want
you to do, not once in 20 years in my house.
And the truth was, my grandfather was a preaching
deacon, and I never even heard it from him. And
I think it was because my dad had asked my grandfather
not to do that. Does that make sense? It makes
sense, right, Kenny? He would say, don't do that.
Don't mess with my house. And so they didn't
do that. And so it wasn't there. I'm telling
you, in that sense, I did not have the inside
track. So just buy into that enough with me to
see it from Jesus' perspective. And grab your
Bibles with you, if you will, and go with me
to the book of Matthew, chapter 23. Thank you
very much. This is God's Word. What I'm about
to read to you, it doesn't take a long time to
read it, but I will tell you that theologians
have been working on digesting this short passage,
four verses I'm about to read to you. I'm sorry,
three verses I'm about to read to you, for a
really long time. And I'm going to give you kind
of a summary, or I think it's a Holy Spirit -led
understanding of that, and cut out years of effort
for you. Okay? If you would want to do the same
steps that they took. So that's good. That would
be worth your time if nothing else was. Okay?
So Matthew chapter 23, I'm going to begin reading
in verse 37. Some of you will recognize a little
bit, and maybe just, in my case today, as I studied
this, and this week as I looked at these verses,
I had really not dug deeply into what's being
said here. I took it on the surface. I'll show
you the surface, and then I'll show you the deep.
So verse 37 says this. This is Matthew 23, 37.
It says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the
prophets and stones those who are sent to her,
how often I wanted to gather your children together
the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,
and you were unwilling. So Jesus is in the middle
of kind of like a woe passage. He's talking about
how people have screwed up. And here he directs
his statement at Jerusalem. Now because it's
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, we kind of recognize that.
If you read a lot of Bible, you kind of recognize
that formation. And it's an Old Testament formation.
You don't find it much in the New Testament at
all. But you find it in the Old Testament quite
regularly in the prophets. So those who were
there, again, Jewish men inside track a lot of
times. would recognize that phrasing, Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, as an Old Testament prophet phrasing.
So Jesus is likening what he is saying to an
Old Testament prophecy. And he says this, he
says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets,
that's what they had done, and stones those who
are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather
your children together, the way a hen gathers
her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
He's going to go on a little bit further. But
in this first part already, we can see that there
is a major breakdown in what it means to be,
quote -unquote, the people of God, or to be Jewish
and have the inside track. He is accusing them,
and rightfully so because we know their history,
of persecuting the very people that God sent
to them to call them to himself. So Jesus is
saying, you did this. Now, when you get right
down to it, we do not have a lot of stories.
of them killing the prophets or stoning those
who were sent to her. So we're not necessarily,
when we say stoning those who were sent to Jerusalem,
not necessarily talking about prophets. We don't
have a lot of stories of that in the Old Testament,
so they wouldn't have been studying a lot of
that. But we do have stories of prophets being
persecuted for sure, and at least one story of
a prophet who was killed, even though he was
clearly not a false prophet, and they were supposed
to kill false prophets. That was what the Old
Testament said. So we don't have a lot of stories
of that in the Old Testament, but historically
speaking, they had not listened to the agents
that God had sent to call them to righteousness.
That's true. We know that. We do read that in
our Bibles. And what he was saying was, I have
longed to draw together your children, that is
to say, the offspring of Jerusalem, not just
a man or a woman, although that would be included,
but all the men and women that lived in Jerusalem.
And by the way, all the men and women that live
in Jerusalem are also the offspring of Jerusalem,
right? Unless they came from somewhere else.
But at this point in time, they are the offspring
of Jerusalem. So this is not just saying when
he says the children, and we talked about this
on Tuesday night a while back, but a child of
God, for example, is someone who loves the Lord
and wants to learn from the Lord. And so, for
example, my grandchildren are kind of like my
children, even though they're biologically one
step. And I am their children because I love
them and want to learn from them. So it's not
as simple to say that a child is someone who
is born an offspring. But very generically saying,
everybody that was living in Jerusalem was the
offspring of Jerusalem, whether they were a child
or an adult. But he's saying, the offspring of
Jerusalem, I have yearned to draw you together.
I want to do that like a hen gathers her chicks.
So what does a hen do for her chicks? Well, she
gathers them together. She protects them from
predators. She provides for them. She provides
warmth. So we're talking about protection and
provision. So he's saying, I want to give protection
and provision to the offspring of Jerusalem,
but you were unwilling. So the you were unwilling
means not only that the city was collectively
unwilling, which we find to be very true, because
in just a very short period of time after this,
the city will go together, essentially. They
will form an unholy allegiance to crucify the
Christ, to crucify Jesus that's coming right
after this text. So we're going to see the people
crying out, not just the Sadducees and the Pharisees
and the upper echelon, right? But the common
people crying out, crucify him, crucify him.
So it becomes a unity. So it is everybody in
that sense that the city was unwilling. But also
notice the way it's phrased, and you were unwilling,
is to say that you might be the offspring and
be unwilling. So you could be from Jerusalem
as a child, an adolescent or an adult, and be
unwilling to be gathered in. Or you might have
offspring and be unwilling that your offspring
would be gathered in. Then verse 38 says, Behold,
your house is being left to you desolate. That
just sucks. God is saying to them, remember this
is in a woe passage. He's not declaring good
things. He's saying to them, though you are from
Jerusalem, I have yearned to grab you up and
protect you and provide for you, but you have
been unwilling, even having killed the prophets
and stoned those who were sent to you, to declare
my love and draw you in previously. He's saying,
basically, y 'all are villains, and you're comfortable
being villains, and you want your children to
also be villains. You're comfortable, even though
maybe your parents or those who went before you
might have even been godly, you're comfortable
in your wickedness, and you're comfortable that
your children would be wicked. And the question
is, are your children comfortable in their wickedness?
And that's essentially what he's saying. He says,
behold then, the result of that is your house
is being left to you desolate. Now this is where
the big theological debate kind of comes in.
And there's about three schools of thought. The
first one is that the Lord's temple, which was
in Jerusalem, that God was withdrawing his presence
from the temple. So that it's kind of referring
to the house of the Lord, which was also their
house. And that's true. God does do that after
Jesus is crucified or at the moment of his crucifixion.
He withdraws his presence from the temple. You
don't go into the Holy of Holies anymore to worship
God. But in some sense, That's because God makes
his presence available to everybody individually
instead of it just being the house. And who owned
the temple? It ought to should have been God.
Right. But it really wasn't. It was the Jewish
people owned the temple. Right. And so the theologians
would say, well, that means their house, the
house of God that they own, was becoming empty.
God's presence no longer going to be in it. That's
one theological meaning there. And that's true.
It's not the only thing that could be there,
but it's true. The second one, then, is to say
that the house of the city, that the city was
losing something that it had always had. Being
known as a center for God's people. Being known
as a center where the diaspora, Jewish men, and
people who had converted to Judaism, came from
all over the place. Hundreds, maybe a thousand
miles to come and worship at Jerusalem, especially
at the temples. They were crossing state boundaries.
Leaving their country, crossing through three
other states, and coming there to worship. Because
everybody in the world knew that if you wanted
to know God, that's where you had to go. And
so theologians argue they were losing that. They
were losing that presence of being called God's
place. And that's true. They did lose that in
some sense. In some sense, they still retain
it. But the temple is no longer there. You can
go stand at the wailing wall and cry. That's
why it's called the Wailing Wall, because it's
the only wall of the temple still standing. And
that's where they go and cry over the loss of
the temple. Because it is not there anymore.
So you can go and see where Jesus walked. You
can go and see about the people and how they
lived and how they lived. And there's historical
things you can study and look at, all that kind
of thing. But there's no necessity anymore. There's
nothing urging us anymore to go to Jerusalem
to meet with God. And so that's true. And some
theologians believe that's kind of what he was
getting at. And then the final one, which hurts
a lot more, is to say that they, because they
were not interested in having their children
have a right relationship with God, or their
offspring, or the younger generation, if you
will, have a right relationship with God, that
their house, their personal house, where they
lived, and it's a metaphor, I understand, but
their personal house was being left empty. That
hurts. To think that as Christians, Because we
are not willing that the next generation, our
nieces, our nephews, our children, our boys and
girls, our grandchildren, even our spouses or
people where we work or whatever, because we're
not willing that people would be drawn in by
God, though God clearly wants to do that, because
we're not willing that people should do that,
that our house would be left desolate. I'll break
down desolate in a moment. Verse 38 then said,
Behold, your house is being left to you desolate.
basically what we know for sure is that there
would be a loss of status, a loss of wealth,
a loss of family. That they would be left alone
in the dwelling place given them by God. Look
here and realize that you can lose everything
and be left empty. That's what Jesus was saying.
Verse 39, then the last one we're going to read
right here right now. It says, From now on, and
that little phrase there, that little phrase
there we're going to come back to and look at
in a second, is so cool. In Matthew, you can
see it three times. I'll break it down for you,
but I would like to suggest you want to look
at that later, like tonight or tomorrow or over
throughout this week. Look at those three passages
of Scripture and what Jesus says from now on
about it. I'll show you how important it is in
a minute. He says, For I say to you, from now
on you will not see me until you say, Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Does
that sound kind of familiar to anybody? Remember
on the triumphant walk into Jerusalem and they
were crying out, blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord, right? But it didn't last,
right? Because some of the same people probably
who were there were later crying crucify him.
But there was a moment in which that, I submit
to you that that was a teaching moment. It was
a moment for them to realize that this is the
way it's supposed to be. And yet they would crucify
him not much later. So he says, From then on,
they would not experience God. Remember, these
are the Jewish people. They are the people of
God. If you think just very briefly about the
commission of Jerusalem and the Jewish people,
the people of God, they were given to have a
relationship with God and then to show it to
the entire world. The idea of forming Israel
originally was that Israel would then show the
entire world what it means to be a people of
God. That's why they had commands that were kind
of strict. tattoos, and clothing, and the way
they were supposed to act, and what they were
allowed to do and not allowed to do, and they
continued to drift and breach those commands,
and then return back to God, repent, return back
to God, and then drift and breach those commands
again, which is what the book of Judges is all
about. The spiral down into sin, repent, turn
back, a judge, he dies, she dies, spiral down
into sin, and it goes on and on and on until
eventually they need a king. Someone will call
them so they can have righteousness, at least
for more than one generation. And they do call
a king, and they do get righteousness. For a
number of generations throughout the time when
a king is ruling the kingdom. Bottom line is
this. They would lose that coveted position of
being able to experience God even intermittently
until a certain thing would transpire. And he
tells them what that certain thing is. Until
they say, blessed is he, who is he, by the way,
who comes in the name of the Lord? Jesus Christ.
Until they say, blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord, they would not see him. They
would not know God. And they have. There have
been prophets, there have been priests, there
have been visions, there have been miracles.
They have intermittently experienced God in a
very powerful way up until this moment in time.
And Jesus is declaring, that's done. That's over.
So that phrase that I pointed out to you that
was super, that I think is super cool and important,
is the phrase in the Greek, it said, ap arti.
It's two little words, ap and arti. It's A -P,
like you'd say app, like an app on your phone,
and arti. A wrote, so it's A -R -T -I, essentially
in English, that sound. And Jesus says it twice
else. Matthew records him saying it twice else.
One is in 26, 29, so it's a little bit after
this. And then he says, Hereafter I will not
consume this drink ever with you again until
we do it in the kingdom of God. You might recognize
that one, maybe, I don't know. And then also,
he says it a little later, he says, From now
on, the high priest stood up and said to him,
Do you not answer? This is while he's being accused,
right? Do you not answer? What is it that these
men are testifying against you? But Jesus kept
silent, and the high priest said to him, I adjure
you by the living God that you tell us whether
you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said
to him, You have said it yourself. Nevertheless,
I tell you, hereafter, there it is, ap arti,
you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right
hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.
Then the high priest tore his robes and said,
He is blasphemed. What further need do we have
of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the
blasphemy. What do you think? They answered,
He deserves death. And so how important is the
apartheid? The apartheid is so important that
it was pretty much the last thing that Jesus
said before they sentenced him to be crucified,
at least in the Jewish courts, which were not
right anyway, but the bottom line is he says
that. And what did he say? Hereafter, you will
see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand.
of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.
Now they understood that, not without getting
deeply into it, they understood that as a reference
to Daniel chapter 7, where the prophet Daniel
points out that God will send, someone will come.
And he's pointing out a Messiah, a Christ, an
anointed one of God that will change everything
forever. And Jesus is here telling us by op arti
that he is the one who will change everything
forever. And then back in 23, when we read it,
he said, from now on, you will not see me until
you say, blessed is the one who comes in the
name of the Lord. So they will lose the Christ.
They will lose the Messiah. They will lose the
presence of the living God until they say, Jesus,
blessed is the name of Jesus. There is no other
name under heaven given among men by which we
must be saved. All right, so there are three
things in this text, and I broke it down for
you kind of like, what does it mean, theologically
like that. There are three things that the Lord
really laid on my heart that we need to see,
and they're pretty rough stuff. So if you're
squeamish in your faith, I apologize for where
we're about to go, because it's pretty rough
stuff. I'd say put your dentures in and let's
chew on it, because it's a pretty big deal. First
one is this. Falling far from the tree. You remember
who that's saying, right? The apple doesn't fall
far from the tree, right? So falling far from
the tree would not be enough, especially if it's
in word alone, which for them and many since
them is all it has ever been. So if your dad
was a drunk and you said, the apple's going to
fall far from the tree, I'm not going to be a
drunk. If your mom was foul -mouthed, she smoked
marijuana. 15 hours a day. Or your dad quit every
job he ever had before he had a new one. And
the family would suffer for weeks or months with
not enough money to put food on the table. If
that was what your parents were like, you'd say,
no, apple's going to fall off the tree. I'm not
going to be like them. I'm here to tell you today
that Jesus was saying ever so clearly, that's
not enough. Denouncing the faults of those who
have gone before us will not make us right. Each
new generation sees very clearly the errors of
those who went before. Teenagers in the room,
we know you can see us. We understand that you
can see the weaknesses, the failings, and the
faults of your parents better than we can see
them ourselves. It's a fact. The next generation
will look at you in the cold light of day. And
that applies not only in the biological family
in the home or in the family of foster children
or adopted children, but it applies also in the
church. Understand that the God's kids that are
meeting over there right now studying the Bible,
they're going to hear things about what it means
to be a Christian. And then they're going to
look at you and they're going to say, are there
any Christians in the world at all? If indeed
you are living the hypocritical life and not
actually looking like a Christian. And falling
far from the tree, being different than your
parents who lived a hypocritical life and didn't
actually look like Christians if that was the
case, will not suffice for them to look at you
and say, oh yeah, that's what a Christian looks
like. Every new generation sees very clearly
the errors of those who went before, whether
they want to or not. It undermines their ability
to do the right thing when they see their parents
lying, deceiving, not showing up, not keeping
their commitments, not stretching themselves
to serve God, not working hard to give and give
more, give above and beyond what they're comfortable
with giving. That's the New Testament standard,
to give sacrificially, not just to tithe and
give an offering, which is the Old Testament
standard, but above and beyond that, to give
sacrificially of time and money, whatever you
got. And they see that and they know that Jesus
said they've heard the story of the widow and
her two mites and how she put in and the two
tiny pennies that she put in was more than the
big suitcases of money they were dumping into
the trumpets. Try to say that twice fast. Dumping
into the trumpets and all that money's laddering
down and there into the offering plate. And all
those guys looked so good and that widow gave
her two little coins. And Jesus said that she
gave out of her need. She pushed herself. She
sacrificed to give. And she gave more than those
suitcases of coins. And they hear that story,
and then they look at us and they say, why are
they not sacrificing that much? Why do they not
push that much? If the Jesus that I want to follow
at 10 or 15 is the Jesus, that I see in scripture,
then why are my adults not following him that
way? They see us very clearly. I saw my parents
very clearly. I was not saved. My dad was a backslidden
Christian. My mom was not a Christian. And yet
I could see my parents' hypocrisy very clearly.
And my mother would talk about her mother and
the things that went on in her home when I was
a kid by way of telling me how good I had it.
because her apple fell far from the tree by her
own estimation, and it was not sufficient. I
could see her hypocrisy. I could see her lies.
I knew something wasn't right. My dad was a man
of integrity, and the closest thing that I knew
to a man of integrity when I was growing up,
and I didn't know my grandfather all that well,
but he also was a man of integrity, and I later
in life found out that he was much more so than
my dad, because my dad didn't follow in his dad's
footsteps until he was in his 60s. And so the
point is, My dad was a man of integrity, but
I knew that his integrity had all these holes
in it. It was things that weren't right. Why
wasn't he doing that? Why would you do the one
thing with my brother and have a different standard
for me? Have a standard with my mom and a different
standard for his family and so on. It wasn't
quite right, and I could see that. And I'm telling
you, when you were a teenager, when you were
an adolescent, you could see it. And in fact,
you probably can see it now. You can see it now
of people who are in the faith who... seem to
be a little further along or whatever like that,
and you look at them and you go, but if they're
a little further along, then why doesn't this
add up? We can look at the generation that goes
before us, whether it's biologically or in the
city or in the government or in the town that
we live in or the town that we look at from afar,
from our national government, into the church,
in the kingdom of God, wherever, and we can see
the faults. And I'm telling you. Denouncing the
faults of those who have gone before you will
not make you right. That's what Jesus is saying
when he says, I long to bring you in. I sent
representatives, God says. I sent prophets. I
sent people to tell the story the way it really
is. What you are supposed to do is not what you
are doing. Far from making you innocent, then,
when you look at their mistakes and you can see
them clearly. Far from making you innocent. Even
if you denounce. You say, well, my dad did this
and it was wrong and I recognize that and I'll
never be like that. Far from making you innocent.
It actually makes you the offspring of a person
who's guilty. That's what it actually does. When
you can see the weaknesses of the people who
have gone before you. you're actually guilty
of those to some extent. In fact, he says it
very clearly. A little before this when he's
talking, he says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you build the tombs of the prophet
and adorn the monuments of the righteous. In
other words, they knew who went before who was
right. They built the tomb of Isaiah. They adorned
the grave of David. And he says, And say, if
we had been living in the days of our fathers,
those who had gone before us, we would not have
been partners with them in shedding the blood
of the prophets. See, they were denouncing what
had gone before them. And then 31, he says, so
you testify against yourselves that you are sons
of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then
the measure of the guilt of your fathers. It
doesn't just go away. Generational sin is a very
real thing. When you screw up, your kids will
follow you in some of your screw -ups, no matter
how far from the tree they fall, and they will
own the pain. They will feel the guilt. They
will suffer under our mistakes. And so it is
a responsibility then that we embrace the teachings
of Jesus and find another plan, because it is
not good enough. If I teach my son to follow
in my footsteps, that will not get him to heaven.
It will not get him into a right relationship
with Jesus. In fact, we already heard what the
only way to do that is. So the point was, falling
far from the tree and being able to denounce
the faults of those who went before you, that
is not enough to make you right. In fact, it
makes you culpable in their guilt because you
can see what they did wrong means you need to
do right. Point two, to deny God's request for
a relationship is to run from his provision,
his protection, his power, and his purpose. As
those before us did. In every generation since
Adam and Eve, there have been those who declined
the purpose, power, protection, provision, all
of God's presence. Adam and Eve themselves did
it. It is the sin of man. It is what we do. To
deny his request for relationship is to run from
his provision, his protection. Provision is when
he takes care of you. Protection is when he...
shields you from the world, shields you from
the things that you face. His power is when he
gives you the ability of God to do what you need
to do, and his purpose is when he sets you on
a course to do what it is, and you're running
from all of that, as those before us did. Moreover,
he has tried to call his people from every generation.
God has not stopped. The church is still present.
Prophets were before. The lesson, the word of
God has been protected. It's always been available
to us. He's been calling us all the while. God's
never stopped calling. He has tried to call his
people from every generation, and those who failed
to come hated those who did come. That's how
it always goes. Think of the story of Cain and
Abel. Why did Cain kill Abel? Because Abel's
offering to God was acceptable, and Cain's was
not. And in every generation, those who truly
come to God and follow Jesus wind up being hated
by those who refuse God's call. We talked last
week about how it's kind of because it almost
doesn't seem fair. But it is just because it's
available to all of us. He has tried to call
his people from every generation, and those who
failed to come hated those who came, killed them,
and they raced through their own lives over way
sooner than they expected and right into hell,
despite the offer of God. Many have wanted the
resources of the kingdom without the relationship
with God that is offered, and the results are
always the same. Think about Cain and Abel. Cain
killed Abel. Think about Esau and Jacob. Esau
gave up his birthright, gave up his inheritance.
And the list just goes on and on and on. People
want the resources of the kingdom of God, and
they'll even rush to get it. They'll do whatever
is necessary to say, I'm going to fall far from
the tree. I'll denounce all of those that I don't
like, all of those who said things I don't like.
They'll pick on anybody who's actually doing
whatever it is that God wants them to do so that
they have an excuse not to do exactly what they
are supposed to do in the Lord. They want the
resources of the kingdom without the relationship,
and the results are always the same. To deny
God's request for relationship is to run from
his provision and protection, his power and purpose
as those before us did. The third thing to see
in there then is the now on. From then on. From
then on, they would either accept Jesus gratefully
or be left with an empty, earthly domain. You
get it? This is the Son of God who came from
heaven. who lived a sinless life and would die
on a cross just a very short time after he's
speaking here. And then rise again and institute
the church. And those who will not have him cannot
have God. And it's right that it should be so.
He came from heaven and lived a sinless life
and died on a cross and rose again. It is right
that those who reject him cannot have God. From
then on, it would be that either you accept Jesus
gratefully or be left with an empty, Earthly
domain. Purpose. All gone. Provision. All gone.
Power. All gone. Presence. All gone. Hold on.
Family. All gone. I have a good friend of mine
who's a brother in the Lord. His name's David.
He told me I could share this testimony. As David
was a young parent, His first child was born
when he was in his early 20s. David was a drinker.
He drank quite a bit. So on Sundays, he had to
work Monday through Friday to provide for his
family. On Sundays, he'd stay home and drink.
Seen a lot, a lot of men who would do that. Stay
home and drink. But he sent his kids to church
faithfully every Sunday. Most times in the morning,
most times at night, most times in Wednesday.
So as they were growing up, he was doing what
he could to give them the inside track. He was
trying to expose them to God. In his own heart,
he kind of wondered whether God existed or not.
But he knew that if God did exist, he wanted
what was best for his kids. So he tried to send
them to church at every opportunity. As they
got to be older in their late teens, one by one,
they pulled away from their profession of faith,
if they'd been baptized, whatever they were doing
in the church. David's now in his early 60s.
He's a faithful attender. Every time the church
is open, he's there. He serves, volunteers on
all the work days. He teaches at the devotional
breakfast that they have once a month. He teaches
the word. And to do so, he reads his Bible every
day, an hour or more. Studies it. Looks for what
God would have him to say. And then once a month
sits there for 20 minutes and teaches out of
the storehouse of the goodness of the word. David's
kids have never come back to the Lord. They never
do anything with the church. He says, in fact,
they all pretty much say they don't believe in
God. They don't pray. They just don't believe
at all. He prays and his heart is broken. He's
like, I can't do it. I know now. I met Jesus.
I've had a personal experience with him. I've
had a relationship with him for this many years.
There's nothing I can do. There's nothing I can
do. So after Bible study, he goes home to an
empty house. No kids. No grandkids. They don't
come to special events at his church when he
invites them. None of them have ever heard him
teach the word. From now on, they would either
accept Jesus gratefully or be left with an empty
earthly domain. Purpose gone. Provision gone.
Power gone. Presence gone. Family gone. Not my
words. Jesus' words. But it could be right in
your face and you still not get it. Worse, you
could begin to get it. You could start to believe.
You could start to follow and still have it stolen
from you before you really get it. The disciples
came to Jesus and said, why do you speak to people
in parables? And he replied, because the knowledge
of the secrets of the king of heaven has been
given to you, but not to them. Pardon me. Whoever
has will be given more and they will have in
abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they
have will be taken from them. Talking about,
The knowledge of the word, the knowledge of God's
presence, all coming through Jesus. This is why
I speak to them in parables. Though seeing, they
do not see. Though hearing, they do not hear
or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy
of Isaiah, which he then quotes. But blessed
are your eyes, because they see, and your eyes,
because they hear. For truly, I tell you, many
prophets and righteous people longed to see what
you see, but did not see it. And to hear what
you hear, but did not hear it. Listen to then
what the parable of the sower means. When anyone
hears the message about the kingdom and does
not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches
it away. What was sown in his heart? This is
the seed sown along the path. The seed falling
on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the
word and at once receives it with joy. But since
they have no root, they last only a short time.
When trouble or persecution comes before the
world, I'm sorry, because of the word, they quickly
fall away. The seed falling among the thorns
refers to someone who hears the word, but the
worries of this life and the deceitfulness of
wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone
who hears the word and understands it. This is
the one who produces a crop, yielding 160 or
30 times what was sown. It's possible to be that
close. To be so close. To be able to call yourself
a Christian. And yet, to not actually have it.
Have it snatched away from you. Or burnt off
by worries and anxieties or persecutions. That's
what Jesus said. Furthermore, he said that titles
and wealth and education, none of these affect
whether you get it or not. For there is no partiality
with God, Paul writes in Romans 2. He will divide
families to deliver one willing and not to another
who's not. Matthew 10, 34 -39, Jesus says, Do
not think that I came to bring peace on the earth.
I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For
I came to set a man against his father, and a
daughter against her mother, and a daughter -in
-law against her mother -in -law, and a man's
enemies will be the members of his household.
He who loves father or mother more than me is
not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. Jesus said,
from then on, very real efforts of the world
system to keep persons from coming to the one
and only available salvation must be seen for
what they are. That includes your mother, your
father, your brother, your son, your sister,
your wife, your husband. Any attempt. To stop
a person from embracing God, from being brought
together as a mother hen brings together her
chicks, to missing out on the power and the provision,
the purpose and the presence of the Lord, must
be seen for what it is. Decide this day whom
you will serve, Joshua said. And in that same
passage of Scripture that I just read to you,
Continuing into verse 38, it says, And he who
does not take his cross and follow after me is
not worthy of me. He who has found his life will
lose it. And he who has lost his life for my
sake will find it. And then Peter writes, When
the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation
and to keep the unrighteousness under punishment
for the day of judgment. and especially those
who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires
and despise authority, daring, self -willed,
they do not tremble when they revile angelic
majesties. In other words, in your very house,
on your pew, in the row of chairs with you, may
be somebody who will make it in because they
are willing to be... received by the Lord Jesus
Christ. While you personally might not make it
in because you will receive only the Christ that
you choose. The Christ that's your way. The Christ
that's not inconvenient. The Christ that is just
different enough to be different from your dad
or your mom or your family or whatever. Just
different enough to be what you want him to be.
Jesus said, you will not see me anymore unless
you come. Saying, blessed is he who comes in
the name of the Lord. You get the Jesus that
God sent, or no Jesus at all. Which means you
could be sitting right next to somebody you love
very deeply. That you would give anything, your
whole self, everything that you are to see that
person in heaven when you get there. And then
they do go, they go to heaven, and you're not
there. Because instead of focusing on the Jesus
whom God sent, you focus on making sure they
get the Jesus whom God sent. Does that happen?
Oh, you better believe it happens. People get
real wrapped up in the people that are around
them. The situations that are going on in this
life. Jesus came to rightly divide. There will
always be those who wind up desolate so that
there may also be those who are adopted as sons
and daughters of the king. But there is hope.
There is hope in the opportunity. It's interesting.
As I was thinking about that, I thought, you
know, we are capable. Sometimes we feel like
we're not, but we are capable of learning how
to work just about any kind of machine or process.
You know, like, I don't like computers. I don't
want to program computers. But the truth is,
if you took the time, got with the right teachers,
you could program HTML or whatever. You could
program computers. You could learn how to work.
Some of us, it would take longer because that's
not our mindset or whatever. But the bottom line
is you could learn how to work any machine. You
say, I don't know how to drive. But you could
learn how to drive. It might not be convenient.
It might take a long time. You might not even
be very good at it, but you could do it. You
say, I don't know how to change spark plugs or
points. To replace a fuel injector system. You
could learn how to do it. We can learn how to
do it. If there is a system, if there is a set
of instructions and guidelines, we can learn
how to work it. That's the nature of human beings.
Now let me tell you what the system is. Do not
live your life as a response to past examples
of your family, your city, or even your church.
If it leads to right living, you will at best
be making a God of men, but you will die for
sure and wind up with a desolate house in the
meantime. Don't follow the people who went before
you. Follow Jesus. It doesn't matter if they
were a worldwide evangelist sharing the gospel
and you're like, I'm 100 % sure that my dad,
the pastor, or my dad, the deacon, or my dad,
the evangelist is saved because look at all the
people who professed Christ. Paul said that he
was concerned that after all the people he had
preached to, he might arrive at the end and not
receive the very salvation that he preached.
And he was making sure, by coming to God through
Jesus alone, that that was not going to happen
to him. That's what he said. You do the same.
You come to God through Jesus. Blessed is he
who comes in the name of the Lord. You do not
live your life as a response to past examples
of your family, your city, or even your church.
Even if it would lead to right living, you would
at best be making a God of men. And then die,
for sure. Meanwhile, winding up in a desolate
house. Either for generations to come, or God
will adopt your children through Christ. In other
words, if you cannot be following the Lord Jesus
Christ in earnest, then your children, your grandchildren,
whatever, they still have a chance to get saved.
That's the beauty of the apartheid. They can
still come to God in the name of the one whom
God sent. They can still cry out, blessed is
the name of the one whom God sent. Blessed is
he. They can still cry that out. And if they
will do that, even though you raised them to
be disciplined or not, even though you raised
them to be fixed up or not, even though you raised
them to be able to run the machines or not, even
though you raised them to eat right or not, if
they will cry out in the name of Jesus and be
truly saved, they will do so over your corpse,
if they must. Because that's the only way it's
done. One person at a time. No grandchildren
of God. The generations to come will leave us
in distant memory if we do not also come to God
through Jesus Christ in earnest. If you love
God, you will encourage your followers, whoever
there are, there's people that's looking at you.
Your children, your grandchildren, nieces, nephews,
friends, younger people in the church, younger
people in the faith, people at your work, whatever.
You encourage your followers in every context
to follow him through Jesus, not you. You'd have
to be pretty arrogant to think that you're getting
it so right that if they follow you, they'll
get saved. But if you teach them to follow Jesus,
Go ye therefore and make disciples. If you teach
them to follow Jesus, not disciples of me, not
disciples of you, not disciples of you, not disciples
of you, but Jesus. If you make them a disciple
of Jesus, the best you know how, and if they
earnestly call out to God through Jesus, then
they'll make it in. Their calling out to God
through Jesus will in no way ensure that you
will make it in. You will still have to do that
yourself. No matter how many people you tell,
you will still have to do it yourself. You will
still have to come to God through Jesus alone.
Blessed is the name of Jesus. Blessed is the
one whom he sent. Seek ye first always the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things
will be added unto you, Jesus said. He was talking
about needed things. But I submit to you that
there are also kids. Do you realize that it is
entirely possible, for example, if you have a
child, that you could call out to God through
the name of Jesus, that you could earnestly follow
the Lord with all that you are? And then, wait
for it, as if that wasn't incredible enough,
your child, as soon as they're old enough to
understand, could cry out to God through Jesus
and become a follower of the Lord. And wait for
it, you could be in the kingdom of God with an
actual child that's a Christian, that's actually
following the Lord too. And you're like, if you
sit there, you're like, I think I'm going to
do this. And you're like, I don't know if I should
do that. You're going to go to your daughter,
as I often do with Arianna. I say, well, what
do you think about this? And they'll be like,
oh, I guess what God would want. And you're like,
you know what? I think you're right. We're not
going to do that. Or let's get the family together
and pray. And y 'all can sit there and pray and
have every reasonable certainty that everybody
that's sitting there is praying, seeking the
face of the Lord to do what God would want through
Jesus Christ the Son. Blessed is He. And the
truth. And the truth comes. And it actually happens.
Boy, that would be awesome. Or you could try
to seek the kingdom of God through your own power,
by your own might, by someone's teaching, by
something you heard, even by the word of God,
the written word, and you'll never, ever, ever
see it. You will never see it because no one
will ever see it unless they see it through the
blessed name of the one whom he sent. So saith
God. And then finally, from now on. Come to God
through only Jesus and welcome him every day.
The one thing that we've talked about that I
haven't hammered yet, and I just want to make
you really certain that you understand this,
is everything here is about relationship. The
mother hen gathers her chicks because they're
her chicks. Jesus longs to gather you into relationship,
inside a relationship in which we'll have those
things and the purpose, the power, the presence,
the provision. And family. He longs to gather
us in that way. And if we will welcome him every
day and say, blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord. Jesus said this, he said, Matthew
10, 40, he who receives you, talking about the
disciples, he said to the disciples, he who receives
you, receives me. Boy, that would be cool. If
we could say to him, if God would say to you,
whoever receives Tim, receives Jesus, wouldn't
that be awesome? What do you think? That would
be awesome, wouldn't it? And that's what he said
to the disciples, to the believers. If you come
to God through Jesus, then this is true of you.
That he who receives you, receives Jesus. And
then we wouldn't stop there. It says, he who
receives Jesus, or Jesus said, he who receives
me, receives him who sent me. Do you want to
go to heaven or not? Do you want to be eternal
or not? Do you want to make the kingdom advance
or not? Do you want to be right or not? Do you
want to be healed or not? Do you want to be saved
or not? Did you screw up? You know you screwed
up, then this is how you get saved. You come
to God through Jesus Christ. Do you want to possibly
have children or family members or co -workers
or students do the same? Then you come to God
through Jesus Christ. And then you tell them
that they must come to God through Jesus Christ.
You know what? You really probably ought not
even get around to teaching anything else that's
in the Word until you've told them that they
need to come to God through Jesus Christ. Because
no matter how much they know, they know 99 %
of it, but don't know God through Jesus Christ.
They cannot know Him. That's what God says. That's
what Jesus said. And He said it to the people
who up until that moment had the inside track.
It's as if the track team went out to run the
relay, and the first runner ran and put the baton
in the hand of the second runner. And when the
baton was passed, they had half a lap lead. Running
on the inside track, half a lap lead. And they
went a whole other lap. And as they come around
and pass the baton, they had a whole lap lead.
They had a whole lap lead. The baton's with the
third runner, and the whole lap lead on the inside
lane. And the baton is passed one more time.
They're running around the inside of the track
with over a lap lead. And here comes a runner
coming up from behind. Not even running on the
inside of the track. Doesn't need it. Halfway
out the lanes. Four lanes out. But moving like
40 miles an hour. And runs that last lap so fast.
That that team, that last anchor runner that's
running the inside lap, just blows right on by.
And on the way by says, you'll never see me again.
That's our Jesus. You don't have the inside track.
The rich don't have the inside track. People
raised in a godly household don't have the inside
track. Jews don't have the inside track. Because
there is no inside track anymore. You win or
lose based on whether your daily life is about
your relationship with Jesus Christ. Because
through Him, we know the Father. Through Him,
we are adopted into the family. And if you will
do that, and begin to offer that to your family
and your friends and your co -workers and people
in your church and people wherever you run into
them, then the family will grow and more and
more people will be adopted in. But if you will
not do that, then you had better ask yourself
why. Do you hate them that much? I ask the praise
team to come forward at this time and lead us
in our final closing song. As we do so, I'm asking
you today, if you have not embraced God the Father
through Jesus Christ the Son specifically, if
you have not come to God by the way of Jesus,
do that now. And if you have said, you know,
I want my children so desperately to be raised
in the Lord. I want my friends or my nieces,
my nephews, whatever these people that I can
influence to be so desperately to come in a relationship
with God, but I've never done anything about
it. Not only have I not lived in perfect integrity,
which, by the way, nobody does that. Not only
have I not lived perfectly before them, but on
top of that, I haven't performed the thing that
they need more than anything, which is just to
come to God through Jesus, and that's the only
way. I have not adamantly presented that truth.
Can you repent today and just say, I'm taking
that truth with me everywhere I go? If you truly
have a relationship with the Lord and you're
spending time with him in the morning, you're
spending time with him in the afternoon, you're
spending time with him at night, you're spending
time with him 24 hours a day, then would you
eventually, would you have like an encounter
with a friend of yours where Jesus is not there?
And we're like, I don't need you right now, Jesus,
I'm going out to lunch. That's not how it works.
When you come into a relationship with him, he
comes and lives in you and you don't go anywhere
without him. And that's what I'm asking you to
do. Say, okay, Lord, I'm not going to go anywhere
without you. Would you stand with me and sing
this song and just respond however the Lord is
laying on your heart today. Thank you. ourselves
to Christ, by no means do we surrender any part
of our lives to the world. We are meant to stand
up. We are meant to do the work of the kingdom.
There are heavy loads to be borne. I know the
verses. The verses say, come unto me, those of
you who have any burden, and give it to him,
and he'll take care of it. But where's he at
when he's taking care of it? He's in you. There
are loads to be carried. There's trouble in the
world. Fear not, for I have overcome the world.
So there's trouble. You'll face trouble. As men,
we can stand up and face that trouble. We can
make a difference. I'm asking you to fight for
your homes. Fight for your job sites. Fight for
schools. Fight for conversations. Fight for your
wives or your brothers or your sisters or whatever.
He's the Lion of Judah. When the world was under
the sway of the evil one, he came and conquered.
Let's call his faith his faith. He did it alone.
Stand up. He did it alone. It's 2025. He could
come in 2025. I don't know how close it is. It's
time we stand up. Christianity is not a timid,
it is not a weak man's religion. If you say that
you have followed Jesus and yet you are not a
man of integrity, you're not keeping your word,
you're not standing up for what is right, you're
not telling the truth, you're not confronting
people when things are wrong. That's not the
Christianity of the Bible. Stand up. Let's pray
together and we'll be through. Father in heaven,
we praise you for being the kind of God who would
not let us go silently into that dark night.
For being the kind of God who would not let humanity
go to hell for eternity with the demons and those
who rightly deserve the abyss. We praise you
for being the kind of God who would take on flesh.
The truth is there are days with what I experience
and what I go through that I think if I were
in heaven and had the choice to become this man,
Dan Stevenson, I'd be like, no way. It's too
hard. It's too much. I don't want to ever be
sick. I don't ever want to be hurt. I don't want
to be tempted like that. I don't want to struggle
like that. I don't want to have to overcome like
that. If I could see that and see this, I would
take that and never take this. But Jesus took
it. He took the worst of it. He took the crucifixion.
He took the chastisement that he did not deserve.
The scourging. Persecution. They tried to kill
him before ever it was his time. But I pray that
we would be a people as the body of Christ, as
Christ's body that already suffered. Already
died and rose again. And if we are the church
and we are the body of Christ, then when it comes
to suffering, we ought to be really good at it.
And overcome it. And have joy during it. And
fight the battles that need to be fought. Stand
up for what's right. Am I talking about violence?
No. Am I talking about sometimes taking a hit?
Almost assuredly. Lord, I pray that we will be
your church. And as we go out, we will take the
gospel everywhere it can be taken. That we will
reconcile the lost to the God that yearns to
draw them in under his protective wings. That
we will listen to the teachers of old who proclaim
righteousness without also following their stupid
mistakes. That if we are a descendant of Jesus,
our apple will not fall far from that tree. Or
what tree? of the cross. Lord, help us and we
know that from now on, and that from now on came
back then when Jesus was crucified, dead, buried,
rose again. From now on, we come to you in the
precious name of Jesus. For what's been paid,
for what's ever been known, we will be your church.
and your people, and we will overcome. We will
overcome 2025 and every year that you yet give
us. We will overcome every notion that sets itself
up against God. We will be men and women calling
on the God of heaven and receiving his power
and purpose and presence, protection, and family.
To no end until Jesus comes again or until our
bodies break down and can't do it anymore. But
we commit ourselves to you. Thank you, Lord,
for paying to make it possible. This we pray
in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you very much. This
concludes our service.