Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton,
the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship,
Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're
here. Father, we thank you for this day, this
time together, this time in your word. We ask
that you open the eyes and the ears of our hearts
and minds to everything that you have to speak
to us and teach to us today in Jesus' name. Amen.
It's good to be back here in the sanctuary. While
I was gone, can we give Brian a round of applause
for filling in? He's coming a long way. It was
also great to hear Pastor Mike's voice up here.
Although with the announcements, all we saw were
the announcements. We didn't get to see his pretty
face, but we got to hear his beautiful voice,
and that was exciting too. Tess and I were like,
oh, it's Pastor Mike. We're getting all excited
at home as we're hacking and all that good stuff.
So thank you guys for taking care of everything.
That's the beauty of the church is we have lots
and lots of people that help to support things,
right? So thank you, gentlemen. Well done. On
that note, we're on the road to Easter. It's
exciting, right? It's coming up in just a few
weeks. And we're starting a series, working our
way to Easter. So, you know, you go someplace
and they have like an Easter service. It's one
and done. And now we're going to try it out because,
you know, we like to praise our Lord and talk
about our Lord, all that good stuff. And for
the next few weeks, what we're going to be doing.
is we're going to be taking a look at how, while
the world longed for a king, it was also in dire
need of the suffering servant. We're going to
be looking at the kingship of Lord Jesus, as
well as the victory that came through his life,
his death, his resurrection. It's a little bit
to look forward to as we go through here these
next few weeks. We see that... Not only through
the throne, his crown, though, is what we see,
the true kingship of Jesus. And this week, what
we're going to be starting with is the fact that
Jesus is the promised king born of. Now, before
we jump into this passage, I'd like to remind
everybody that we should be coming to Jesus as
little children. That's what the word tells us,
right? We should be coming to him as little children.
And it's actually spoken of in Mark 10, Matthew
18, and in Luke 18. Matter of fact, for our first
verse of the day, to kind of get us in the right
mindset, let's open up our Bibles or apps to
Luke 18, verses 16 through 17. Luke 18, verses
16 through 17. A little low? Okay, can we turn
me up over there? All right, so Luke 18. verses
16 through 17, the word says, But Jesus called
them to him and said, Let the little children
come to me, and do not forbid them. For of such
is the kingdom of God assuredly, I say to you,
whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as
a little child will by no means enter it. Jesus
said this to emphasize the fact That the faith
of a small child is so much different than those
of us as adults. Right? It's a lot different.
Children, they trust a whole lot easier than
we do. We've already had things happen in our
lives where we become jaded. Right? We put up
those walls. We put up those barriers. We're
very much, show me. Move it to me. Right? Whereas
children, they have a very blind faith. And that
faith is often led by love, which is a beautiful
thing, right? So he's encouraging us to step
out and to believe wholeheartedly, just like
a child trusts their parents and their parental
figures. You think about it, when you were a
child, you had your parents or your parental,
I like to say parental figures because I don't
like to leave out the fact that there are those
people out there, you know, foster children or
those adopted children or those people who just
lost them, but they had that parental figure
that they're able to go to, you know, or maybe
they had that parent that's hooked on drugs or
alcohol or whatever, so they're just not there,
they're absent. But we still have those parental
figures, right? So it's important that we recognize
that because the Lord put them into our lives
for a good reason. You know, I think of my mom
and my dad when I was younger. They went and
they took classes and they were foster parents
themselves. So I had foster brothers in the house,
right? So it's important that we think about
these things. You know, and so we need to think
of what it is when we were children and how trusting
we were. openly we went, right? That blind faith,
as we like to say, that blind trust, our hearts
wide open. Like, hey, they're going to do the
right thing by me. I know they are. Right? So
you hear little kids, they start playing and
then something happens. They start kind of arguing.
My dad will beat up your dad, right? They had
that faith. They see them as larger than life.
They really do, right? So yeah, my uncle's in
the military. He could beat up both your dad
and your mom, right? Kids are funny like that.
Right? Matter of fact, most of us probably said
those very things when we were little. Yeah,
I see a hand over here. I see a couple of heads
bobbing. Yeah, it happens. It happens. But we
need to approach Jesus the same way. We need
to have that blind faith. We need to let down
those barriers. And as we get started, I kind
of want to paint the picture a little bit more
here for you to set the tone for the next couple
weeks. You see, in awaiting the birth of Christ,
the Jewish people, they were waiting for a king.
They were waiting for a king. And this is that
place in the movies and the stories where they
start kind of panning in, they're zooming, like
the marketplaces and all that, right? And they're
showing how the people are just downtrodden.
Things are hard. They're being abused. They're
being oppressed, right? They're out there and
they're fighting just for something to eat. This
is very much what we're looking at. Those people
in power sitting up high, taking what they can.
People are struggling to make ends meet. And
they're waiting for that one person. That one
person is going to come in and they're going
to set the wrongs right. They're going to take
out those people who are currently in power and
doing wrong, right? Looking for the hero of the
story. In our life, we look for heroes. We do
look for heroes. In fact, I'm going to kind of
rabbit trail this for a second. Back in the 80s,
yeah, I heard it, yeah. It's like, oh, pastor's
doing it again, knock it off. Back in the 80s,
there's a movie, Willow. Who remembers Willow?
I see a few hands, cool. Who remembers how it
began? Well, there's a sorceress. She's the evil
person in charge. She's the villain of the story,
right? And she, that's right. And there's a prophecy.
So there's just gonna be a baby who's born with
a birthmark. And this baby, when they're born,
is going to set off a chain of events that are
going to change everything that's going to take
her out of power. So what does she do? She sends
out a decree. All the pregnant women are to be
brought in and basically imprisoned. And then
when they give birth, those babies are taken
and they're sacrificed. Well, of course, here
comes the mom of the chosen child. She gives
birth and the midwife is convinced, hey, this
baby cannot die. So she... flees and escapes
with the baby. The baby gets out into the world
and starts setting, you know, everything starts
setting in motion for the rest of the story,
right? Sounds a little familiar, doesn't it?
Sounds a little familiar. We look at the birth
of Jesus. In fact, we look at the birth of Moses.
Very similar. Midwives rescued the baby. Midwives
put him in a little battle, sent him down the
water, right? Sent him down the river. Beastmaster,
there you go. I'm not alone here, all right?
How about Robin Hood? We've all read or watched
Robin Hood in one shape or form or another. There's
dozens and dozens of them, right? There's various
iterations. There's a take after take on it.
Who doesn't love Robin Hood? It's a good, wholesome
English folklore, isn't it? It's a little piece,
but it follows the same line. Robin is a hero
outlaw, right? He's going along with his merry
men and they're raiding and harassing all these
people in power with money and they're robbing
from them and they're taking care of the common
man. And he's just stepping in though. He's like,
hey, I'm not here for the glory. I'm just trying
to take care of the middleman. I'm trying to
take care of my people until the one true king
comes back because when the one true king comes
back, he's no longer going to be an outlaw. All
the wrongs are going to be set right. That's
what we're talking about here when we look at
Jesus. We're looking at a hero. We're looking
at the hero, the ultimate hero, right? The best
hero. I love the Bible. There's lots of action
and stuff in there, right? A lot of good stuff
in there. Looking after the common man. And that's
what we're looking at. We're waiting on the return
of our king. The return. Our king has already
come once. And he's promised he's going to come
again. We know he's going to come again because
he's true to his word. The Bible's been proven
infallible time and time again. And being his
followers, you know what that makes all of us?
Dangerous. You are very, very dangerous. Kind
of like Robin Hood's Merry Men. You are dangerous.
Why? Because you know the light. You know the
king. You know the truth. And you take that out
into all the world and all the dark places and
all the places where the enemy is trying to keep
it away. Trying to press it and push it down.
The enemy is going to keep attacking you time
and time again. Right? Coming after you and your
family, your character. Over and over again.
That's the beauty of those. We're all outlaws
in the world. Spiritual outlaws. Speaking out
against Satan and his ministers as fallen angels.
Bringing light into the cold darkness. Planting
seeds and introducing people to Jesus and letting
the Holy Spirit do its work. Right? Shouldn't
even say do its work, do his work. We have that
pronoun in the Bible. We know who he is and he
lives in us, right? We get to go out into the
world and work in all the ministries that we're
all called to. Several of us work in more than
one, matter of fact, right? We got Rose over
here. My goodness, she's got so many hats on.
She's not even in here to defend herself. And
one, she's pregnant. All right. Along with dad
over here, right? James right here. So there's
one job. And then she works for APS. So there's
another job. And then she has her side gig on
top of that when she's able to. She goes out
and she's making mugs and all that kind of stuff.
She wears a lot of hats. She's a busy, busy lady.
She's been a busy lady as long as I've known
her. Right? She's not alone. There's other people
in this room. Same thing. Lots of hats. And that's
okay. Because it's what we've been called to
do. It's what we have been empowered to do. See,
people look to other people for empowerment.
No, no, no. You don't need empowerment from anybody
on this earth. The only empowerment you need
comes from the Holy Spirit. It comes from Jesus.
You want to feel pretty? You want to feel wanted?
You want to feel needed? Go to Jesus. Jesus will
not fail you. He will not let you down. And you
will feel love like you've never felt it before.
Which is going to bring us to today's... the
heart of what we're looking at. It's a little
bit of a long read, but I want you to keep all
these things in mind as we go through here. We're
going to flip back to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter
2. We're going to be going specifically through
verses 1 through 20. So Luke 2, 1 through 20.
While you're turning there, because it is so
far, I'm just going to go ahead and start reading,
so catch up to me as you can. And it came to
pass. In those days that a decree went out from
Caesar to Augustus that all the world should
be registered. This census first took place while
Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to
be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph
also went out from Galilee out to the city of
Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which
is called Bethlehem. Because he was of the house
and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary,
his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it
was that while they were there, the days were
completed for her to be delivered. And she brought
forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there
was no room for them in the inn. Now, there were
in the same city, excuse me, in the same country,
shepherds living out in the fields, watching
over their flock by night. And behold, an angel
of the Lord stood before them, and the glory
of the Lord shone around them, and they were
greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them,
Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.
For they're the Lord. and his will be the sign
to you, you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly
host praising God and saying glory to God in
the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward
men. So it was when the angels had gone away.
And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph
and the babe lying in a manger. Now, when they
had seen him, they made widely known the saying
which was told. them concerning this child and
all those who heard it marveled at those things
which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary
kept all these things and pondered them in her
heart. Then the shepherds returned glorifying
and praising God for all the things that they
had heard and seen as it was told them. I love
the book of Luke. I love it, right? It's very
poetic here, isn't it? There's a reason why a
lot of pastors turn to this passage at Christmastime.
It's very poetic. However, we need to see it
for what it really is. For as poetic as it is
and as beautiful as it is, this is not a storybook.
This is not some grand, happy opening to a fairy
tale, right? It's not like Shrek where it's opening
and he's happy in his swamp. You know, sitting
there in his mud and all that kind of stuff,
making a mess and scaring people with a big old
smile on his face. No, this really happened.
It's not this fairytale opening. We need to see
it for what it really is. This is a land that's
not filled with joy. This is a dark, cold time.
People are suffering. People are hurting. People
are being dominated. by ruthless leaders. They're
being oppressed. They're being abused. They're
being taxed to death. That's what's happening.
Right? And because of prophecy, they have to
go and register. They have ruling classes. Classes,
plural, right? There's multiple classes. And
these leaders, they don't care about the people.
They care about their dinero. They care about
their status and how to elevate even higher.
Right? That's all that they care about. Anyone
that's beneath them, anyone, even if they're
a leader themselves, but they're leading in a
higher position, if they're below them, they're
looked at as less than. They're not even rated
as human most of the time. And it's sad because
in that respect around the world, a lot of things
haven't changed, have they? We see a lot of that.
Even here in the US with the freedoms that we
have, we see a lot of that, don't we? Now today,
I bring that up because we have considerable
freedoms. We have considerable freedoms. We have
freedoms that they wouldn't have even pondered
back then. They couldn't have even imagined.
But we take them for granted. Look even just
at the simple things. Our daily living. Man,
you talk about blessings. Look at the buildings
we live in. Our means of transportation. Right?
The food we eat. Because even for... All the
stuff that's out there and all the chemicals
and the processing and all that kind of stuff.
Even the food we eat is a lot healthier in a
lot of respects than what it used to be. We know
where it's coming from. We know it's been dewormed.
Right? And free of disease. Hopefully. Right?
Sometimes there's recalls. Nobody wants salmonella.
Right? But we take it for granted. Our water.
Our drinking water. Right? I mean, it's easy
for us to go and be like, yeah, I got a bottle
of water. I'm good to go. You go someplace like
Flint, Michigan, I hope you have bottled water.
Even the water coming out of our taps, though,
it's been filtered. It's been cleaned. It's been
purified. Right? How about plumbing? Here's a
big one. Plumbing. Has anybody had to go out
to the edge of their neighborhood to take care
of their business and bury it in a hole? No?
That's a big one. How about a chamber pot? Anybody
in here had to use a chamber pot lately? No.
I'm not saying it to be gross. It's just those
things that we take for granted. You know, with
our indoor plumbing. We are blessed in so many
ways. Boiler paper, yeah. What's that? Yeah.
We don't even have outhouses around here anymore.
Maybe a porta potty once in a while, but you
know. Even those are a heck of a lot cleaner
than what people used to have to do and what
they used to have to put up with. How many of
us have enjoyed at least one shower this week?
Yeah, several. There it is. That's the truth
right there. Several. I knew I smelled something
when you walked in. I love you, brother. So just
thinking about these little things, though, it
makes it a little bit harder for us to imagine
what it was like for the Jews who were waiting
for freedom and liberation from Rome. Let's revisit
taxes for a minute. Who in here enjoys paying
taxes? I don't see a single hand going up. I
believe that too. Nobody really wants to pay
taxes, right? Nobody looks forward to it. But
how about this? Have you thought about the fact
that we do get a little bit of say when we go
to vote and how some of our taxes are used? Not
all. We know some of our taxes aren't going to
be used in ways that we agree with or want at
all, right? But we do have a little bit of say
in where some of our roads, our schools, our
libraries, right? Taking care of our service
members and our public servants? Most of the
time we agree with that kind of stuff. We want
that to happen, right? We get to complain about
paying our taxes. Anybody in here never complain
about paying taxes? I didn't think so. We go
to the grocery store, we're buying one thing,
we're like, what? The tax on that is what now?
Oh my goodness. That's outrageous. But in general,
like I said, we know a lot of it's used for good.
So I want you to kind of imagine this now. Let's
open up our imaginations a little bit. Imagine
you're paying an exorbitant amount of taxes.
And we think the taxes that we have now, but
it's exorbitant, right? And you have no say whatsoever
where those taxes are going to be used, where
they're going to go to. None. Matter of fact,
and if you don't pay them, you're facing a very
harsh punishment. Imprisonment, beatings, possibly
even death. You may have to give up property.
You may have to give up your home. It means transportation.
Your farmer, your livestock, or whatever it is
that you grow, right? You might have to give
all that up just to pay those taxes, lose your
livelihood or where you live. Oh, but it gets
worse. Not only are you having to do this, but
that money is going to a ruler who has conquered
you and your land. Right. It's like we have these
fictional stories out there like that. Was it
the man in the high tower or whatever, like where
Germany won the big war? Right. Imagine that
for a second. You have to pay these exorbitant
amounts of taxes or you face, you know, harsh
punishments up to and including death and say
it's going like to like a Nazi regime. How exciting
does that sound? You know, or the old empire
of Japan. Let's fast forward a little bit to
today and the wars that we're seeing now. Who
wants to pay taxes to Iran? Live under Sharia
law? No. And the sad thing is, is a lot of our
taxes with past presidents have gone straight
over there. Millions and millions of dollars
that have funded them and their genocides. And
I will say genocide. Because they want to wipe
out other people. They want to wipe out the Jewish
people. They will wipe out their own people for
not falling in line or questioning them. China
too? Absolutely. China is a dangerous place to
be a Christian. We're talking about Robert Smith
and his family over in the Philippines. Well,
you know what? In some parts of the Philippines,
it's great. Good place to be a Christian. A lot
of Christianity over there. Until you go down
south. Places like where I was in Zamboanga.
A lot of Muslim territory there. They find out
you're a Christian. That's a death sentence.
Yeah. It's a death sentence. And that's what
you would be paying for. I don't think anybody
really wants to imagine that, do they? It's not
a good thing to think about. Nobody wants to
have to pay to be enslaved and abused. Now, with
all that in mind, realize we're just starting
to scratch the surface of what the Jewish people
were looking at at the time, what they were feeling
and what they were suffering with. Craig S. Keener
once wrote, because the king was the anointed
one, Jewish people often labeled this ultimate
king the anointed one or the Messiah, which in
the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, regularly
renders the Christ. Later, Christians and Jews
outside of Palestine were far less interested
in a Messiah than the Gospels were, which indicates
how unlikely it would have been for the Gospel
writers to have simply invented the tradition
of Jesus' Messiahship. That's some pretty good
proof to the validity of the Bible there, because
it's true. Even today, we see the same thing.
People are less interested in the Messiah than
what they should be. And even in the earliest
days of Jesus' ministry, when he was out with
the disciples, he taught that they would have
a place, a role, a role in the Messianic kingdom.
He taught these things. He spoke out. He told
the hard truths. Not just truths, but those hard
truths. So we have to remember, he was fully
man as well. He's fully God, but he's fully man.
And you know what? Sometimes telling someone
the truth is hard. Depending on what's going
on for a number of reasons. And just the fact
that he did that, that he told them, you are
going to have a place. You are going to have
a role. You're going to have a place. With me.
That in itself tells us, since we know Jesus
is already in a place of authority over us, that
he would be on the throne over us as well. So
he was already laying out the fact that he would
be the king. The implication that he was going
to be the king of Israel was very strong. Not
just the king of Israel though, right? The king
of the world, the king of all. The implication
was there. They took it to just mean Israel.
And what he was saying is the world. So with
that mind, it understands why a group of marginalized
and desperate people are not only so desperate
for a king, but a conquering king. That's what
they expected. That's why they turned on him
so easily. They wanted a conquering king. They
stopped paying attention to the word and what
it would be to have a messianic king. They stopped
looking at God's character and bought a hook,
line, and sinker into the world and the world's
ways, which is why they wanted a conquering king.
They had enough. They said enough is enough and
it's time for change. Right? That's where they
were in their lives. They needed a change. They
didn't just want it. They needed it all the way
in their hearts. They needed change. And because
the way they'd been living, the way they'd been
oppressed for so long at this point, they were
losing hope. They were losing their trust. They'd
been taken from their land. They'd been enslaved.
They were seeing the ugliest of the ugly, the
worst that the world had out there. The absolute
worst. So I heard Jesus in his birth. Prophecy
in that alone fulfilled. He was a spiritual rebel.
He was a spiritual outlaw. Bringing the truth
of God. Not just scripture that could be twisted
and taken out of context. He was bringing the
truth of God. to the people. He was going into
those dark, cold, desperate places to those people
that were in pain and hurt and suffering and
giving them a hand up. Not a handout, a hand
up. We forget about that. People talk about giving
a hand out. What we need to be doing is giving
people a hand up. Because that's what restores
hope. That's what restores their faith. And if
they don't know God, that's what brings them
to him. He's bringing the word of God to the
people. He was taking control back from the rulers
in a gentle way. And not just those in a castle.
Not just those ruling over an empire. But those
spiritual leaders that people look to as well,
those people who bought and paid their ways in
to being a spiritual leader, because that's what
most of them were at the time. They were bought
and paid for. So money was a big thing to them.
So he spoke out against all of them. He spoke
out against false leaders. He spoke out against
how we should be responding to leadership. How
we should put, yes, given to Caesar what is Caesar's,
but you know what? Only up to the point when
he starts saying to do something that is not
in God's will or goes against what God has directed
us, that's where we get to draw that hard line
and be like, nope, my God said no, I'm not. You
see, we don't have to agree with our leaders.
There's a lot of people in here that were very
upset when we had a Democrat for a president,
right? I'm not going to put anyone joining on
the spot. I'm sure there's people in here that
are also very unhappy that we have a Republican
president. It goes both ways. But you know what?
The Bible didn't say anything about us having
to like them. He said, the Bible tells us we
need to pray for our leaders and we still need
to follow them. We still need to follow them.
Pray for them and do everything that they say
because they've been put into a position of authority
for a reason all the way up until they start
saying something that goes against the will of
God, that goes against the word of God, that
goes against the character of God. And then you
know what? That's when we get to put our foot
down and go, uh -uh, nope, not doing that. Because
my God is better. My God is higher. My God is
the ultimate power, the ultimate authority over
all. And I'm not going to go down that little
path that's going to take me down to hell no
matter how well -intentioned it may be. Plain
and simple. He spoke against false teachers.
He spoke up against those who would have you
place the will of man before the will of God.
He was a man of the people. He was a man in the
people. He was working class. He was not a silver
spoon preacher. Not even close. He was not putting
anyone on their knees. Submits. Off with their
head. None of that, right? He acted in love and
kindness and mercy and grace. Even when he was
chasing people out with a whip and flipping tables,
he was still doing it in love. Because was he
looking to hurt anybody? No, he was looking to
make a point. Kind of like when your dad would
walk in when you were younger and he's cracking
that belt. Keep it up, you're going to get your
lick. It says my dad and you got your lick anyway
because you had to get in the belt. That happened,
right? That's his attention getter. In fact,
if we turn, so we need to keep in mind that the
birth of Christ was a means of making no mistake
that he understood all that it was to be man.
Let's turn to Isaiah 53 verse 2. Isaiah 53 verse
2. We're getting close to the end here, I promise
you all. Isaiah 53, verse 2, the word says, For
he shall grow up before him as a tender plant
and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form
or comeliness, and when we see him, there is
no beauty that we should desire him. Jesus was
a very... Plain man. He was very common. He wasn't
some good -looking dude, you know? Nobody was
going to take a look at him like, look at that
stud. Wow. Right? He came into the world very
plain for a reason, though. Right? He wasn't
striking. He was common. He wasn't charismatic.
Nothing was going to come easy to him. Nothing
was going to come that hard either, though. He
came into the world this way so that he could
come and go as he needed to. Right? Now, of course,
as he rose in popularity and people began to
recognize who he is, yeah, then he started to
have the crowds. But you know what? Up until
that point, he could walk into a room and nobody
would be the wiser. He could walk right out and
nobody would be the wiser. Why? Because that's
what he needed to do. He needed to be able to
come and go. Not only that, but we see... It
was no different back then. The same thing we
see today. Somebody is really good looking. People
are going to be that more likely to go, hey,
you know what? Here, take this. Have this, right?
Here's a fun one because guys are stupid. Man,
we're stupid. We walk into a bar or someplace
and we see that really pretty girl. We don't
even think, hey, maybe she's got a boyfriend.
We don't look at her finger to see if she's married
or anything when we're young because when we're
younger, we're even dumber. Right. Is this right
away? Hey, how you doing? What's your sign? Right.
I get you something to drink. What are you drinking?
What would you like? You know, right. We get
stupid. We really do. Hmm. And as much as I pick
on the guys, you know what I can say? There's
a lot of ladies out there. They see some really
good looking guy. They get just as silly. I'm
not going to say stupid. Guys, we're stupid.
Girls, they just get silly. Tell me I'm wrong.
So Jesus had to come into our world as a common
person. He was not meant to have everything handed
to him. He didn't need anything handed to him.
He's God. Right? He's part of the Godhead. He
doesn't need any of it. But he has to work. Why
does he have to work? Because he has to earn
people's trust. Once he has their trust, people
will listen to him. They will listen to him.
They will ask him questions. Right? Teacher,
what about this? Teacher, what about that? And
that's what they did. He'd go to all these places
and he would preach. They would hear it. They'd
be convicted and be like, hey, what about this?
What about that? And everything he did was out
of love, grace, and mercy. It wasn't one of those
where somebody sticks their hand up and say,
oh, I don't want to hear the stupid question
today. No, stop. Right? Or he says to someone,
did I stutter? Where were you five minutes ago
when I was talking about this? No, none of that.
Right? It's the plain Jane, regular Joe, working
class man. All of his power, the power of his
voice came from the father. From the father.
Which is why the Pharisees deemed him dangerous.
Dangerous. They couldn't control him. They couldn't
disprove him, and they tried. Man, did they try.
And because of that, as a follower of Christ,
the world deems you dangerous as well. Right?
We just spoke about that a little bit. To be
a Christian is to be dangerous. To be a dangerous
person is to be a Christian. Why? Because the
truth of God breaks chains and shakes the world.
It shakes the world. People look at you and you're
truly walking with the Lord. People know there's
something different about you. You're a different
kind of guy. You're a different class. You're
a different breed. What is it that makes this
person so different? I want to get to know that.
I need to have a conversation with this guy.
What is it that makes them different? What makes
them unafraid? What makes them okay to go and
stand up to the boss like that? Right? We've
all worked with those people. We've all worked
in those places. Right? Boss says something and
you're like, uh -uh, no, that's wrong. And you
got everybody, you can't talk to them like that.
Are you kidding? I've worked in some fun places.
He laughs because he knows. She laughs because
she knows because we've worked in some of the
same places. We've had some of those bosses.
Matter of fact, we worked out at Intel out near
Rancho. We had guys way up in the Intel hierarchy
and all that. People were walking on eggshells
around him. I come to find out he's a fellow
vet, so I struck up a conversation after that.
We were pals, right? We would rib on each other.
I mean, we would rib on each other. We had some...
We had some fun things to say. And we'd be laughing
at each other the whole way, right? Sibling rivalry.
Different branch. It happens. He laughs because
it happens to him quite a lot. Right? Right?
Exactly. He fires back. Absolutely. But you get
all these people, you can't do that. Why not?
That's another human being. I'm going to treat
him as another human being. They're not God.
I'm not going to fear them. I have God on my
side. Why should I fear them? God's going to
take care of me. As long as I'm not doing something
stupid, I'm not doing something out of line,
I'm not doing something ignorant, guess what?
I'm safe. And you know what? The fact that I
had the gall to go up and treat them as another
human being and just sit there and jawjack with
them, guess what? They're going to respect me
for it. Now, if they're so high up on their high
horse, if they have a problem with it, they're
going to say something really quick. Like, you
know what? Cool. I know where your boundary is.
And the respect is still there. When you have
God on your side, you are dangerous. You can
walk up to people. You can talk to them about
whatever it is you need to talk to them about.
No matter how hard it is. You get that little
piece in there, that little piece of fear, that's
the enemy trying to reel you back and pull you
away. All the more reason to step forward in
faith, be like, Lord, guide me through this.
Give me the words, give me the knowledge, give
me the wisdom. Because all three of those are
three different things. And he will guide you
through it. He wasn't just a, you know, when
we look at Jesus, he wasn't just dangerous, he
was a threat. That's why they wanted him to be
quiet. They tried to silence him. And he wasn't
just a threat to the king or the emperor who
was ruling over people, but to those false teachers
that people looked at as spiritual leaders. He
spoke truth that was convicting. And they didn't
like hearing what he had to say because it put
them in a limelight that they didn't want to
be in because it didn't look pretty at that point.
All the money, all the status, all the robes.
None of it meant a thing when people were suddenly
seeing them for the wolf that they were. He took
scripture and he put it in its proper context.
And the most important part of it was he wasn't
just putting it in context. He was speaking it
in a way that everybody could understand, the
most common man could understand, that a child
could understand. So that everybody could come
to know him. Everybody could come to know the
Father. That everybody would have that chance
to make that choice to accept that gift of salvation.
Little did people know at this time, though,
that it's because of all these things we see
the confirmation that Jesus is King. Prophecy.
Prophecy fulfilled in his birth. Prophecy fulfilled
in his life. Prophecy fulfilled in the way he
died and came again. 1 Samuel 8. We're not going
to get into it for time's sake. You're welcome.
But 1 Samuel 8, if you go to it, I recommend
it. Read through it. The people of Israel, they
were begging God freaking. They were begging
him. They were pleading with him. Lord, we need
a king. What they didn't realize was that they
were longing for the wrong kind of king. Like
I said earlier, they wanted a conquering king.
That was not the king that was being sent. God
was sending his only begotten son to be king.
They wanted a worldly king. God was sending him.
God was sending a piece of himself, right? They
expected somebody who would name and claim his
stake. That would reach out and take what was
his. And therefore, by proxy, what belonged to
the Jewish people back for the Jewish people.
Which is why they welcomed him so gladly. It
was such pomp and circumstance when he entered
Jerusalem. Walking, I'm sorry, not walking, riding
on a donkey, right? Really a cult, right? Young
donkey at that. Untrained, unbroken. Zechariah
9, verse 9, where it says, Rejoice greatly, O
daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just...
and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey,
a colt, the fowl of a donkey. Fulfilling prophecy
made more than 500 years before it happened,
before the birth of Christ himself. That prophecy
is fulfilled right before their eyes. Yeah, it
was a joyous moment. The king has arrived. The
king has come. The one true king is here. It's
exciting. Triumphant entry of the one true king
who they believed was the chosen one that would
lift them from their current lowly status and
elevate them to the highest place in the land.
That's what they were expecting. That's what
they wanted. They didn't understand what was
actually happening before them though. But they
didn't realize that before them was a king who
would soon hang on a tree, not cursed, but taking
on the curse that belonged to them, that belongs
to you, that belongs to me, that belongs to all
men. He took that curse upon himself for all
of us. to be free, to have the opportunity to
come to know him and to come and be reunited
with the father, adopted back into the family
as one of God's children. To open the people's
eyes, which had been blinded for so long by the
false hope and deception of the world. Jesus
wasn't just coming to rule over Israel. For a
short period of time, he's coming to rule over
all for eternity. King of the world, the king
of our hearts for eternity. Ruling over those
who would accept him and his gift as our Lord
and Savior. Not just here on earth, but in the
kingdom to come. On that note, let us pray. Father,
we thank you for sending us the one true King,
Jesus Christ, your Son. We thank you for him
taking the curse that was meant for us, breaking
its chains and setting us free and reuniting
us with you as your children. In this season,
we're reminded what Jesus has done for us and
ask that not only that you open our hearts, our
eyes, and our minds, Show us how we should also
respond to this as well. We ask that you show
us how to live those godly lives and not turn
from the truth when it convicts us, but embrace
it and accept it. We ask that you guide us in
being your anointed outlaws, taking your truth,
your word, your love, your light into this cold
and dark world so that others can come to know
you and your love. We thank you for being our
King, our Lord, and our Savior. And we recognize
that your kingship isn't about what you want,
but about your will and what we need. We thank
you for seeing to all of our needs. We thank
you. We love you. People said, amen and amen.
Remember, as you leave here, you are loved and
you are blessed. So go and be the church. Thank
you for joining us at Healing Scars with Pastor
Burton. If this message spoke to you or if you
would like to help us reach more people, please
like, review and share our podcast. You can learn
more about our ministry or how you can support
us at www .thecross66 .org. Until next time,
take care and God bless.