Identity Series: Committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ - Steve Henry

1 (2s): Good morning 2 (3s): Everyone. We're so happy to see you here this morning and seeing the kids in here is Family Sunday. What a joy it's gonna be to worship together as a whole body of Christ. Just invite you to stand with us as we sing. 1 (24s): Who am I that the highest? Oh 0 (2m 4s): You. 0 (3m 2s): Yes. 1 (3m 10s): There's a 0 (3m 11s): Place for 1 (3m 18s): God. 1 (3m 60s): All these pieces broken and scattered in mercy. Gathered I've, I can see yourself. 0 (5m 20s): Oh, 1 (5m 42s): You said your, So take this Lord, I'll be oh. 1 (6m 35s): Oh. I can see the love your eyes laying yourself. 0 (7m 25s): Amazing. 1 (8m 25s): I The 3 (8m 51s): We praise you, Jesus, We praise you in this place this morning. 0 (9m 8s): Come 1 (9m 9s): On. We sing together. If faith can s lets move. We come with the expectation waiting here. You're the Lord of our creation. Still know my found from, We're waiting here. 1 (10m 42s): You everything promised your, 0 (11m 3s): We're 1 (11m 4s): Waiting 0 (11m 4s): Here. 0 (12m 32s): We're 4 (13m 15s): Lord, we love you so much. We can't do anything without you, Jesus. And we don't want to. We love you. And we just want to glorify your name this morning. We're waiting here for you. Holy Spirit. You are the one that we are waiting for because we can't do anything without you. Jesus, we just want to honor you this morning. We just ask that each heart and each mind would be open to you this morning, that we would be sensitive to your spirit this morning. That, that we would have soft hearts to hear the message that you have for us this morning. Jesus. 4 (13m 55s): It's a challenging one. It's, but it's one that we want to absorb. It's one that we want to live up to Jesus. And so we're, we're here for you. We're waiting here for you. Jesus, we love you so much. Jesus name. Amen. Amen. All right, you can go ahead and take your seats. My name is Curtis and we've got 5 (14m 16s): My name's Greger Wade 4 (14m 17s): Greger, we're glad to be here with you this morning. If you're new here, we just wanna welcome you and let you know that we've got coffee and donuts out on the patio. So check those out. We've also got bathrooms behind the stage. While you can head down these hallways here and find those. Yeah, I think 5 (14m 38s): One second before we get into the announcements, if we have a seat next to us, could we squeeze in a little bit? We're all part of the body of Christ. We should all be comfortable next to each other, right? 4 (14m 48s): Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Jump squeeze in, you know, move to the middle if you need. Is anybody at the back looking for a spot? 5 (14m 56s): We got a few seats in the middle up here. 4 (14m 59s): Yeah, we got some 5 (14m 60s): On 4 (15m 0s): That row. Yeah, yeah. Come on, come on up. Got a couple people coming down if you wanna raise your hand, if you've got an open seat by, Yeah. Cool. 5 (15m 14s): Well welcome. Today is Family Sunday. Everyone first grade and up will be in the sanctuary here today with our family. This happens one every four Sunday, four Sunday of every month actually. So it's really special to just have the youth come in and be able to hear a message from Steve and just learn with their parents what their parents are learning. It's really nice and it's just a great way to grow in the faith. So, 4 (15m 44s): Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And learn from your parents and they can set an example for your kids and it's just an amazing thing. We really value that around here. If you need anything, if you're new here, we've got an info center at the back and two lovely people there who would love to help you. So yeah, Jo, head back there if you need anything at all. And then also we've got a worship and prayer night coming up. So that's not this, or not night, it's a morning. I did the same thing Jeremy did. Usually worship and prayer happens in the evenings, right? Am I just is it just comes out as a night. It's a morning. Okay. 8:00 AM is not the nighttime. That's the morning. So worship and prayer next Tuesday, not this coming Tuesday, but it's October 4th. 4 (16m 29s): Come check that out. It's gonna be really sweet. Just a great way to, you know, kick off the week, the second day of the week and it'll be really good. Yeah. 5 (16m 37s): And then on October 9th we have Pastor Appreciation Day. I messed this up. Last service. So glad I got it right this time. So we are going to be celebrating our pastors here and everything they've done for us, we thank you for Steve and Jeremy. So just give them some love in a few weeks on the ninth. Just appreciate them. Yeah, 4 (16m 59s): It's gonna be good. Yeah, bring a gift, you know, if you feel so led or a card or something, they're great. They've, they've been amazing. So also, the last thing is that we're gonna have Darren from Child Evangelism Fellowship come up and he's gonna share a little bit about what they're doing in their ministry and it's gonna be great. So let's, let's give Darren a warm welcome here. 7 (17m 26s): Hey, thank you so much. I just wanted to start out by just thanking you for all your, your support and partnership and reaching the children of the central coast for Jesus Christ. And that's what we're all about and helping people do that. I wanted just to share a little story with you this morning, and it really just starts with a couple who loved the Lord very much. They had a son and they tried to point him to Jesus. They tried to raise him up the way they thought God wanted him to do, but he made some decisions in his own life to, to not let God be a part of it. And that was just a heartbroken thing, you know, as a parent, that's the, the hardest thing you can have happen is to have your child reject the one that you love so much. 7 (18m 9s): And so he grew up, he got married, he had two wonderful girls of his own. And those parents, now, grandparents' hearts went out again because they're seeing these two precious girls be raised up, not even necessarily being pointed to the Lord at all. And so they started having some conversations with their son just asking, Is there any way we can bring the girls to church with us? And every time they brought it up, it was a point of contention and every time they brought it up, he said, No, but more time passed. The girls got a little bit older and they brought it up again. They said, You know, there's this, this program that's going on, it's called Good News Club. 7 (18m 52s): And would it be okay if the kids went to that? They will learn about the Bible and they will learn about God, but would it be okay if we picked him up each week, took him to that program and brought him home and they gave the green light. They said, Yep, you know what? We're okay with that. You can take him to the Good News Club. And those girls came, an older one in particular was just super eager to learn. Every week in Good News Club we're sharing a Bible story, something right out of God's word, that the stories turn into lessons. And because God's word is meant to instruct us, and there's a little memory verse that they'd learn every single week where they actually hide God's word in their heart. And there's, there's songs that, that are based in biblical truth that the kids get to learn. 7 (19m 34s): And so why I'm sharing you with this this morning is I got a little snippet into something I wouldn't normally get to see, but it's so exciting and encouraging to know that God's working in ways that we can't plan or make happen on our own. And the, the grandparents were invited over to dinner one night and they're there at the, the dinner table with their son, his wife, and two daughters. And they've been coming to Good News Club for a little while. And the interesting thing was, this wasn't even a song that I normally even teach in Good News Club. So I know God was doing something, I, I don't think I was just feeling nostalgic. I think God just said, Hey, let's do this. This week. 7 (20m 15s): And out of nowhere this little girl turns to her dad and looks at him and she sings, Oh friend, you love Jesus. This is his little girl. He loves her. He cares about her. He doesn't want her to feel rejected and he knows the song cuz he was raised learning it. And he got kind of red according to the grandparents. And then he kind of muffled out, Oh yes, I love Jesus. And his daughter jumped right on it. She says, Are you sure you love Jesus? 7 (20m 55s): And, and there's dad and it's a awkward, but he is like, Unfer, I love Jesus. And then the song goes on and she didn't miss a beat. Why do you love Jesus? And here he goes, because he first love me, right? And then there's a whole chorus and they sing it all together as a family at this table. Half of them believing what was sung and half of them not. But that was still God at work in a way that I could never plan for or make happen. But the Holy Spirit could do mighty and incredible things. And so that girl put her trust in Jesus Christ in Good News Club. 7 (21m 36s): And a couple years later, her younger sister did the same thing. And we kept in contact for years and they came back and would visit the club even as teenagers and came back and asked for tools and resources on how to share their faith with their peers when they got older too. And so there was just a a really cool ongoing thing. I got to see them grow up and and embrace God with their whole hearts and lives. And so that's why we do this. That's why we were out there because you know, those two girls and so many others don't get to decide whether or not they're brought to a wonderful place like this on Sunday morning. They don't get to make the choice on whether they go to Sunday school or sit out in a congregation with their parents. 7 (22m 18s): Like so many kids are here today, they're, they're stuck at home, not because they want to be there because they're not allowed to come. And so that's why we're taking the good news to them. That's why we're trying to take Sunday school to the public school and have a little Bible class right there where they are because so many parents are willing to let their kids go to that club, but they're not willing to bring them here on Sunday morning. But the good news is God's not finished when they receive Christ. They go home and they start bugging them to come to a place like this on Sunday morning. And we've seen that happen. Our whole families end up in church because of one child receiving Christ and God working through that child's life and the lives of their families and the lives of their parents. 7 (23m 0s): But on those school grounds, we, we want take the gospel to kids, but we also want to give the kids that are there that know Jesus an opportunity to share their faith with their unsafe friends and invite him to a club that they'll be more likely to attend. And so we appreciate your prayers and support. If that's something you'd like to actively get involved with, I'll be back there at the table in the back. If you feel God's calling you to help make that happen and move that forward, let us know. You don't have to be like this incredibly skilled Bible teacher. We need people that can walk kids to the bathroom and serve snacks and hand out prizes. So we come alongside you, we equip you, we give you everything you need because God's given all of us, everything we need. 7 (23m 41s): He's given us himself. So we thank you for helping us to share him with others and for being a part of it in whatever way God has called to. 8 (23m 49s): Thank you. 4 (23m 51s): Thank you Darren. Appreciate it. Appreciate you. All right. Yeah, if you wanna get more information from Darren, yeah, he'll be at the table at the back like you said. And now we're gonna be dismissed to get up and mingle with people around you. And we'll be back in just a minute. Thanks. 0 (25m 9s): The in Jesus the you 9 (28m 7s): Come on back. Come on back. Hey, welcome. It is Family Sunday. You know what that means, don't you? That means young people share with me their jokes and I have the privilege of sharing with you the jokes. And so this is from Olivia Harvey and she says, What has nobody and no knows, nobody knows. Nobody knows. So I owe Olivia five, but I actually gave, where is she here? 9 (28m 47s): Somewhere I gave, there she is. I gave $10 away already today. Cuz the deal is I pay for jokes for little guys, you know, little kids. I gave 'em five bucks per joke. So I, I owe Olivia. So come see me next week. And there might even be interest involved. There might be, I don't know, I can't make any promises, but I got another joke that I actually paid 10 bucks for cuz now he owes me a joke. I only had a $10 bill. He said, why was the diver embarrassed? Because he saw the oceans bottom. That'd be embarrassing. There's just no question. It's be embarrassing. 9 (29m 27s): It'd be embarrassing. Hey, I just wanna say thank you to a few people. I wanna say thank you to Jeremy who's just been doing a great job last couple Sundays. I don't know where he is, but yeah, you provide you some great messages. Wanna say thank you, say thank you to so many Harvest Church people who, like dozens of people volunteered for the Lifeline Bank. We had filled up three tables and then dozens of volunteers helping to serve and kinda make that night possible. And I'm so just in a humble way, so proud of you all and so thankful that Harvest Church. You're just people that just want to serve and take care of business and I'm so just so thankful and so grateful to be a part of who we are and what we're doing. 9 (30m 7s): Yeah, Paul 10 (30m 8s): Set the banquet. 9 (30m 9s): Yeah. 10 (30m 10s): Not only did Leslie and Carson set it all up for all the volunteers, it was on volunteer-wise it was probably 80% Harbor's church. Wow. And 20% the rest. Yeah. So big, big thank you to all of 9 (30m 27s): Them. Wow. Yeah. Thank you. 80% of the people. Yeah. Kathy, go ahead. I guess we're sharing. Go ahead. Kathy. What's this for? This for? For Olivia? Yes. What about the interest? I did very interested. No, no, no. I said that I would give her interest. Who else has got a $5 bill? Olivia, come on up here. Your 10 (30m 48s): Mother. 9 (30m 49s): Who else has got a five? This I promised interest. Anybody else got fives? Nobody's got five bucks. There it is, Olivia. Thanks Amanda. Best for you. Thanks for the joke. You're amazing. Thank you Olivia. I love giving kids money. It just makes their whole day, they're so happy about it. They can go to in and out and buy a hamburger. They can go buy whatever they want. It's just so much fun. Hey, also, thanks to everyone who came out yesterday for the Harvest Festival. We haven't had the Harvest Parade, the festival for a couple years and so things are kind of back to normal. 9 (31m 32s): And I, as I walked around the parade route, talking with people, everybody was so happy. Everybody was like so grateful to be back outside and nobody was wearing masks, everybody was just enjoying each other. And so thanks to everyone, we had dozens of people coming out for that, gave out hundreds of bottles of water and hundreds of balloons and, and we were just, just engaging the community and just loving on people and so much fun. So thanks to everyone who is just a part of what we do around here, you're having an impact in wonderful and supernatural ways, ways that we won't even be fully understanding until we get to the other side and, and, and have experienced an encounter and conversation with people who've been touched by what you've done. 9 (32m 15s): So thank you very, very much. Hey, we're taking a little break from our study and first Peter today taking a break from that and it just makes sense. Jeremy took a break from it for the last couple weeks. And so we're in what is called the Identity series. Our identity series. And so in this identity series we're gonna be talking about our core values. We're gonna be talking about our mission statement, our purpose statement. We're gonna be unpacking a little bit, not all of it, but our statement of faith. And the idea is just to kind of remind us, the last time I talked about these things were back, it was back in 2014. So it's important that we kind of revisit these core values from time to time. We're actually working on getting the core values posted in here. 9 (32m 56s): We just haven't done it since we've opened this space. We've got our mission statement on the window out there that says, impacting our community and our world with life changing message of Jesus Christ. That's just what we're all about. And so as we talk about our core values over these next four weeks, the core values are kind of what they act as the wheels on which we move forward as a church. And so who knew, who remembers the first core value? Mike Ferris We're committed to the lordship of Jesus Christ, right? We, what's the next one? Confident in the word of God. This is gonna be like rote here pretty quick. 9 (33m 37s): Confident in the word of God. What was number three called? Love All people. And number four created to serve God and others. And so they're all sea words in the beginning. So it just kind of helps us to understand what got us called us to. And the, again, these are kind of the wheels that we move forward on. We've got an old trailer at the house and we've had this trailer for years and it's just a small trailer, but we used it for making dump runs and just moving stuff. And we realized just in the last, I don't know, couple month or so that the wheels are really getting bad, the tires are just pretty worn out. And so we're actually gonna be loaning it out to a guy who's gonna take it down to Southern California. 9 (34m 17s): And we're like, we gotta get new wheels on this thing. If we don't, if you don't put new wheels on the trailer's gonna become pretty worthless, right? And then what happens with the trailer kind gets put to the side of the property and it becomes kind of a catch, it becomes worthless. It's not really being used for what it has been created for. And so we have to be careful as the church that we're doing what God has created us to do, that we're, that we're completing the work that God has called us to complete. And so if we don't keep focused by moving forward on truth, that truth helps us to make wise choices about how to move forward in ministry. Because as you know, there's probably a thousand different things that we could be doing in the ministry, but these core values help us to decide is this the right thing? 9 (35m 3s): Does this align with our core values? Does this keep us moving forward with our purpose and our mission and what God has created us to do some 20 years ago, almost 20 years ago? And so we're gonna be talking about core values for the next four weeks, again taking a break from the series, and I think it's just gonna be really, really good. And so we're gonna be in Roman chapter 10. I plan first service to get through all of the message. I just could not, I got 28 minutes and I just will, I will get through one point if it's turned out to be like first service. So that's all right, then we'll make the point and God will have his way. So with that, let's take a moment, pray and then we'll jump in. Thank you Lord, thank you that you are faithful to speak truth to us. 9 (35m 43s): God, we want to be faithful, to have ears to hear and eyes to see God. We wanna listen, we want to hear, we want to see, we wanna respond in Jesus name. So Lord, teach us, Lord help us to honor you with our attitude, with our response, and with our lives. Lord, we love you. We bless you Lord. In Jesus name, Amen. Committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 10, genuine Christianity begins. It actually begins and ends with the simple and sincere acknowledgement of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives. This is where it all begins and ends. 9 (36m 25s): Where is Jesus in our lives? Does he hold the place of authority? The position of authority in our lives is Jesus the Lord of our lives. This seems like a small thing. This attitude though represents the greatest of all miracles. It's a supernatural thing for us to realize that we have a desperate need for the Lordship of Jesus Christ. While it cost, while it cost God nothing to become Lord of creation over creation, it cost him greatly to become your Lord. He died on the cross so that he might become your Lord. 9 (37m 7s): He sacrificed himself so that he might become your Lord. And so it cost him greatly to become your Lord. And he's challenging us today in the scriptures really of in the old and the New Testament. It's all the same message. It's all the message of Lordship and leadership as God in charge of our lives. And are we allowing him to be in charge of our lives? I was talking to a guy, young guy, 22, 23 years old after first service. And he said, You know, I've heard this message about Lordship a lot, but I don't, I don't understand it. What does it mean? 9 (37m 47s): You know? And that's a great question. I thought, Well, where in your life do you think that Jesus is not the Lord? And so he began to think and he's like, Oh yeah, I can think of some areas. I said, Well, so what are you gonna do about that? I, I said, You know, life is about deciding that Jesus is, you know, the Christian life is about deciding that Jesus is Lord and then getting up every day and doing something about it. So in your life where you are pretty sure that you're not following the Lord, you just make a course correction. 9 (38m 27s): You open up the scripture, the word of God, and you allow the spirit of God to direct you. And you say, Yeah, this is not actually, as I read the word, it's not properly reflecting my actions, my words, thoughts, deeds, I, there's actually some things in my life where I'm not following Lord. So I challenge this you man, I said, Well, so if there are things in your life, Lordship means that you're saying yes to the change. It's just that simple. It's not, yes, I said, You don't have to get up and pray about what socks you're going to wear. I said, You can do that. But that's not what we're talking about, right? We're not talking about that. We're just saying, Hey, in the arena of your life, does God get to direct you? 9 (39m 7s): Does he get to lead you? Is he the Lord of your life? And he said, Okay, I'm starting to get it. I said, Well, what are you gonna do about it? It's like, well, I guess I'm just gonna begin to let the Lord lead in every area of my life. And that's all we're talking about. We sometimes compartmentalize God and we say, Well, God can be Lord leader over this area, but not the other areas. Is is Jesus. Is Jesus the Lord of your life? Is Jesus the Lord of your life? Does Jesus have first place and first priority in your life? 9 (39m 51s): In a scene from CS Lewis's spiritual allegory, the Chronicles of Narnia, a young girl named Lucy is sent on a great mission by the Christ figure, Aslan the lion. As she travels by night, she notices this great beast sitting on a hill illuminated by a full moon excitedly Lucy runs to him and throws herself into his soft and silky Maine. Aslan rolls over and Lucy finds herself flying between his past looking up into his large face. 9 (40m 34s): Aslan, your bigger, bigger. Lucy says, In close proximity, you're really, really big. The me majestic creature answers that is, well that's because you're older. Little one Lucy confused by this remark asks, Not because you are not, because you aren't bigger. As Lynn assures her, I am, I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger. Isn't that interesting? 9 (41m 14s): And that is just a powerful reality. It so the part of the process in our lives as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ is this process of sanctification where we become more and more like God and less and less like our old selves. And so in that process of sanctification, we realized, recognize evaluating your lives that hey, God's not got Lordship in this area of my life. And so as we grow in faith, trusting Jesus over the course of our lives, believing God over the course of our lives, we have a greater capacity to see the bigness of God. And so in seeing the bigness of God, we have the capacity to trust him and allow him to be the Lord of our lives in a more significant way. 9 (42m 0s): And so every time we're made aware, an area of our lives where he's not the Lord, we're able to say, Hey, I think maybe in days or weeks or months past, you didn't have the grace or the faith for it. But now you see the bigness and the capacity and the strength and the power of God. And you're saying, You know what? I know that I can trust Jesus with this area of my life as well. And in that area of your life, you're able to grow in, in maturity. And the lordship of Jesus Christ becomes more obvious and more evident in your life. You may be struggling to believe that God is big enough to be Lord. 9 (42m 44s): Maybe in some areas he's big enough in your mind and understanding, but in other areas he's not big enough. You don't think highly, you don't have a great, a clear perspective on about who he is. I, I would just encourage us, and it's all part of the process for every single one of us that we would grow into a place of maturity whereby we're able year after year to trust him more and more too. Allow him to be Lord, maybe it's Lord of your marriage, finances, time, hobbies, relationships. 9 (43m 28s): You pick, there's probably thousands of things that we can kind of evaluate in our lives and ask this question Is, is Jesus Lord? Is he Lord of this area of my life? Is he Lord of that area of my life? Is he Lord of every area of my life? And so when Jesus is the Lord of your life, there's an amazing piece that follows that decision. You know, the world's trying to sell us all kinds of ways, you know, to find peace or joy, contentment, happiness, and it's all dead end roads. It's all a distraction to keep us from really trusting the lordship of Jesus Christ. 9 (44m 9s): The Bible says there's a way which seems right to a man, but the in there of is the way of death, right? So if we're not careful, we're following the wrong path, the wrong way. And it's gonna take us down a path of destruction. So when Jesus is Lord of our lives, we begin to experience all of the things that the world is trying to cram down our throats, convince us that will make us happy and satisfied and content. We have peace, we have direction, we have joy, joy, unspeakable, and full of glory. I've been talking with a few people this week who have lost a loved ones in their lives and yet they still have the joy of the Lord and the peace of God and the confidence in God. 9 (44m 57s): There's a sadness for sure. But the Bible says we don't weep as the world weeps without hope. We have, we have hope. And so there's problems that will come. There are circumstances that are gonna be unfavorable in our lives, but when Jesus is Lord, we can trust him because we're not in a bad place, because we made a bad choice. We're in a bad place just because it's life and bad things happen. If I'm in a bad place because I made a bad choice, then I'm just beating myself up. I'm like, ah, whatever. But if I'm in a bad place just trying to follow Jesus and I'm like, Lord, this is your deal. I'm gonna trust you. I believe you. You're the Lord of my life. And so what do you want to do with this? What do you want to do with this? 9 (45m 37s): There's just a great confidence that a company's not arrogance. There's no place in the kingdom for arrogance, but there's plenty of space in the kingdom for confidence. Confidence in who God is and what he's all about. When Jesus is the Lord of our lives, we can have a great deal of confidence. So without Lordship, we, we kind of act as a a maverick. We're kind of on our own. Last night, Joel and I were watching this Alaska. I love these outdoor shows. You know, these guys, all these people there, they're trying to create like a community in, you know, deep in Alaska, 200 miles from civilization. And it's all of these people trying to come together and they're all trying to work together for a common good to create a place where they can live. 9 (46m 23s): And so they've got a hundred days before the winter sets in. And when winter sets in in Alaska, you can't be like in a pub tent, right? You have to be like prepared. Like you don't want to be in a lightweight little bag and a pub tent because you will, you will freeze to death, right? And so they're trying to work together, but there's this one maverick guy who's just, just irresponsible and he's only working for his own gain and for his own purposes. And, and it's so frustrating to watch because you know, winter's coming. You got a hundred days to get ready for winter. And if you're a maverick separated from the Lordship of Jesus Christ separated from the body of Christ, when winter comes, you're gonna be all alone. 9 (47m 4s): So we were watching this, frustrated this guy, we're like, Dude, get a clue. Right? But we do the same thing in the church. We're like, act as mavericks independent spirits. We want to do our own thing. We don't want submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. We don't want, we don't wanna be a part of the body of Christ because we kind of gotta figure it out until we wanna do our own thing and we don't want somebody else to tell us what to do, right? That's just humanism. Human natures the root of all sin, right? Don't tell me what I gotta do. Jesus asked in Luke 6 46 appointed question, He said, Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I tell you to do? 9 (47m 54s): Right? Jesus can ask those hard questions, right? Why do you call me Lord if you're not gonna do what I tell you to do? It's the fundamental essentials of our faith. If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead, if we shall be safe. So the the gateway to our faith, to our understanding is followers of the Lord Jesus Christ is lordship. We can't move forward as believers without lordship. We will stagnate and we will backslide and we will get Luke warm and we will follow away. If Jesus is not the Lord of our lives, this is the only way forward. Now we can look religious and do all kinds of things that look pious, but if Jesus is not the Lord of our lives, it's, it's, it's a pointless journey. 9 (48m 40s): It's an empty pursuit. Without lordship, we are left with a system with without salvation. And this is what Jesus was up against in the first centuries. We read Romans 10, we see that Jesus was immersed in a system where religious activity was happening all around him. But the salvation that came through Christ, the Lord was, was not being experienced by the religious people of his day. Paul Wrotten, Romans 10, one, Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to goddess for the people of Israel to be saved. 9 (49m 22s): I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it's misdirected zeal. So if you travel anywhere in the Middle East and go to Israel, it's just a very religious part of the world. And so you walk around, you see religious activity happening all over the place. People have religious hats and clothes and beards and sideburns and and decorations on their bodies there. There's religious activity happening all throughout the Middle East. Lots of praying, lots of religious activity, lots of is of enthusiasm and zeal. 9 (50m 3s): But as Jesus confronted the religious leaders of the day who were much like the people in the 21st entry in Israel in the Middle East, there was a lot of enthusiasm in ze. But enthusiasm and zeal don't lead to salvation. Enthusiasm is zeal it. It leads to dutiful religious activity due to full religious activity. Like I'm just wanting to kind of be looking religious, but I don't want my life changed because in order to get my life changed, I need to submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. And that seems like a big leap. 9 (50m 44s): And so we fall into this trap of dutiful religious activity and we measure our spirituality by church attendance and by giving and serving. And those things are all okay as long as they're put in their proper order. So if we're going to church and giving and serving because our lives have been transformed because we've been born again because Jesus is changed us and saved us and redeemed us, then, then that's the right path. But if we're trying to put the cart before the horse and try to go to church and give and serve because we're trying to get the favor of God within, we've just got it all backwards. We've got a system of religion without salvation. 9 (51m 25s): None of these things apart from Christ lead to salvation. They may be good, but they can't save you. In fact, some of these religious things that we end up doing can actually keep us from a right relationship, the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives. Because we're looking at things backwards. We're like, Wow, I'm, look at all the good things I'm doing. Look at all the activity, look at all my busyness. We say, Well that's good enough. And so we miss like the first century Jews, we miss what Jesus was trying to communicate. The good news says, My grace is efficient. You can't actually earn your salvation. 9 (52m 7s): We'll see that here in just a moment. So the truth is, salvation comes to those who recognize their inability to impress God or gain his favor through their own works and then come to God through the finished work of Christ. And even as I think about that and communicate that any burden to perform is lifted, right? Because we're not here to perform. We're here to live in relationship with Jesus where he gets to lead and be Lord of our lives. 9 (52m 52s): So God has prescribed a way of welcoming people into his kingdom. And his name is Jesus. It's just Jesus. Jesus told Thomas and John 14, six, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the alive. No one comes to the Father except through me. Back to Romans 10, Verse three says, Were they the Jews? They don't understand God's way of making people right with themself, refusing to accept God's way. They clinging to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law refusing to accept God's way. 9 (53m 37s): They come up with their own way trying to get right with God. There's only one way to be right with God. And that's through the person, the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. James two 10 reminds us, for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble at one point is guilty of it. Also, if you keep one through nine but don't get 10, you're guilty of breaking the whole law. So the law was given so that we would recognize our desperate need for grace. Romans 10, four, For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God. So what's the purpose of the law? 9 (54m 17s): Romans three 19. Obviously the law applies to those to whom it was given. It's purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to show that the entire world, the entire world, the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God. By doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. So take the 10 commandments off your wall and get it in your heart. The greatest commandment, love God and love others. It's all of the commandments, the law and the prophets. 9 (55m 1s): Hang on these love God and love others. So God first and out of your love for God, you will love others. Really, really so much, so much, so much better for the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So without Lordship, we are left with a system without salvation. So Jesus came that we might have the fullness of abundant life. A religious system apart from Lordship is a broken system. And brokenness always begets brokenness. 9 (55m 43s): So we can't rely on a broken system to bring healing and wholeness to our lives. A broken system will always spring brokenness into our lives. So where in your life is Jesus not Lord? Where is Jesus in your life? Not honored as first and priority king leader, The one who can declare to us the way forward. Where in our lives sometimes we compartmentalize God and say in this area, God, I trust you, but not in this area. So what are you gonna do about that revelation when you realize it's in this area that I haven't been trusting him to be? 9 (56m 25s): Lord. Well I'll tell you to do what this young man, I told this young man to do after first serve. I said, just, just get up in the morning. Open up the Bible, right? Like open up. I said, because you'll get the same message in the old, in the New Testament, 66 books of the Bible with one message. And that one message is pointing us to Jesus. Same God in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament, not two separate Gods, one God, eternally existing in three persons of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. His truth is immutable, God is immutable. 9 (57m 5s): He changes, not he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So what is the Old Testament telling us about Lordship? Well, we can look at Moses life and say, well, Moses was a stutterer. Yeah, God called him to go to Pharaoh and to deliver the people of God out of Egypt. That just doesn't make any sense, right? Moses was adopted into Pharaoh's household. He had the riches and the wealth and the power and esteem, prestige of, of royalty. And yet he chose to honor God and to be a, an instrument in the hands of God. 9 (57m 52s): So what do we, what can we glean from that? Well, God uses broken people. Huh? Good. All right. Is that today? Is that true? Today? You better be. I'm not up here because I got something going on. I'm broken all together. What else can we learn about that? He equips What else? Go ahead. I'll just let somebody else speak up. Go ahead Neil. He equips. He equips. So who equips? Oh God, He equips, right? So Moses is a stuttering guy and shepherd. So what happened? God equipped and released into the work of ministry. What about Joseph? When he is in prison falsely accused, right? 9 (58m 33s): Falsely ac accused of inappropriate behavior. And so he's in jail because he's been falsely accused. So where's the, how do we see Lordship in that scenario? What did Joseph do when he was falsely accused sitting in a jail sale for no fault of his own? What did he do? Well, we know that he honored the Lord and, and every responsibility that he was given, he like cream rises to the top. He did it with excellence. And he was given authority over the jail. Jail. And he just kept a tender heart, right? When things were unfair, he kept a tender heart could have gotten hardened up. So what can we learn in the Old Testament? 9 (59m 15s): Lordship tender heart keeps us usable. Applyable heart makes us capable of being used. My God, what about the fishermen? The on the sea, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, They're fishermen. These guys are blue collar fishermen. They're untrained, uneducated. And Jesus walked by and said, Come and follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. What do they do? Why did it make any sense? Often we're trying to make sense of what God's calling us to do. We're making our decisions out of here instead of out of here. We're deciding on what will do for God based on what we can calculate or understand or make sense of in our brains. 9 (1h 0m 2s): Instead of asking this question, Lord, is this what you're calling me to do? And out of that awareness and out of that clarity, Because when Jesus is Lord of our lives, we get clarity about things that we've never had clarity about. And so when we sense it calling and an urging in our soul, we, we can press in and say, Lord, is this what you're calling me to do? Is this what you're asking me to do? It makes no sense. He didn't make any sense for Jesus to call the 12 that he called. He just made no sense. Who did he call though? He called those that were willing and he equipped and he sent them out. 9 (1h 0m 43s): And we're still talking about them. 2000 years later. Some 6,000 years. We're still talking about 'em. Why? Because they didn't, they didn't decide to make a what about Abraham? Abram? God said, Hey, I'm gonna take you somewhere you've never been before and you're gonna become a great nation. FM said, Well, I don't have any kids. I'm getting old. I don't really want to leave because I'm pretty comfortable here how things would've been different here in the 21st century. 9 (1h 1m 24s): We gotta get out of what we can't do and our limitations about what we're capable of doing. And just in our soul and our guts do what God has asked us to do. It's called Lordship. It's called Lordship. There are plenty people who told me I couldn't plant the church cuz I didn't know how and I didn't. And they were absolutely right. But I said, Well, if God's doing something, we might just try it, right? We might just, why not just try it? Why not? What is call God calling you to, to right now that you're calculating in your head? 9 (1h 2m 6s): Get outta your head, right? Like get, get outta your head. It will trip you up and stumble you all the days of your life. Cuz you'll read the scripture and you're like, Yeah, I, I don't think I can do that. And you're right, you can do it. And that's the whole idea. Lordship declares that he will do it through you and in spite of you, that's lordship. That's, that's the gospel. That's, that's what we see in the old and the New Testament. God using regular people, some very smart, The Apostle Paul was brilliant but broken, Incredibly smart, but on the wrong path. 9 (1h 2m 48s): Knew more than anybody else in the room but knew nothing about God. So he takes smart people and he takes dumb people. So I'll be on the dumb end and Paul will be on the smart end. And then everybody in between God will take dumb people and make 'em pretty, pretty brilliant. Others, not me. He will take. But this is the reality of who God is. So what, what are you not doing with your time, talents and treasure that you know that God has called you to step out and to do? What are you, what are you not doing? 9 (1h 3m 28s): And then why not? So get up. I'll tell you what, I told that 22 year old and I'm outta time in 10 seconds. Get up tomorrow. Now don't start tomorrow cuz you might forget it. Like do it right now. You say, Well does it make sense? I've got a plan for my time. I've got a plan for my talent and I've got a plan for my treasure and I like my plan better than God's plan. If that's your perspective, then just acknowledge Jesus is not the Lord of my life. Right? But don't lie about lordship and betray yourself and betray the don't, don't say just be intellectually and spiritually honest. 9 (1h 4m 21s): Think God's got, you know, he's got something to work with. But don't say, I'm a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's my Lord and savior. But there's no such thing as a butt except for in my joke where the diver was embarrassed because he saw the bottom ocean's bottom. Is that what it was? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jojo's the man. He got the 10 bucks today by the way. So what have, what have we learned? We're kind of wrapping up here. What have, what have we learned and what are we gonna do about it? So it's a twofold question and maybe you're like, I've heard this before, but I've like never done anything about it. So what are you gonna do about it? 9 (1h 5m 2s): How, how is this challenge your perspective? Who wants to go first? I can pick somebody. I mean, it's not hard. I actually don't mind putting somebody on the spot. 11 (1h 5m 15s): Just kind not 12 (1h 5m 18s): Fill my calendar with all these things I have to do and then make room. 9 (1h 5m 23s): Yeah. You 12 (1h 5m 23s): Know, to do what I should do. 9 (1h 5m 26s): Yeah, just let God fill your calendar. I mean, there's things we gotta do. You gotta buy groceries, you gotta do whatever. You gotta get your car serviced. And so you're not saying, Lord, should I get my car service? You're, you know, like I, maybe you're saying, Lord, is this a good day or whatever. But you know, there's just regular response. We're not, it's not mystical. It's like, you know, you gotta take a shower, you know, you gotta eat. You know, you gotta, you know, do all of those things. So, Lord, what, what is it that you want to do with my day? And so if you've got people in your calendar that you've gotta connect with, connect with them, but then say, Lord, I don't wanna just operate outta my own understanding or wisdom. Lord, if there's something that is life giving that you want me to speak to this person, would you just show me what to speak? 9 (1h 6m 7s): And then by faith I'm gonna step out and say that, or pray for that or whatever. But Lord I you're leading. So I just wanna follow, See you doing it. I want to do it. Hear you saying it. I wanna say it. So it's not mystical, it's not hard, it's just, but it does require that we submit that we submit. Who else? Jolene, what have you my beloved. Just putting her on the spot again. Second service. What have you learned and what will you do about it? 12 (1h 6m 40s): Yeah, well I think for me, like the default is always fear. You know? Cause I like to be how I know they're gonna be and be predictable and be prepared for what's coming. And so I think just laying down that, that fear the lie that that God's plan is something for, to be feared when all he's ever done is be faithful to me. When I step out. He always shows up. It's the most exciting and awesome and powerful, amazing place to be. And yet I think the enemy just turns it around. Oh no, it's scary, it's different. It's gonna be, you know, it's not the same as it was last time. And so, you know, I'm stepping out of this different way in faith. 12 (1h 7m 21s): And so I think just acknowledging, I don't want agree with the enemy. He's lying to me and saying, this is a scary thing when God has never been anything but someone I can trust someone who has the best plan. I'm gonna miss out if I don't step out and walk in with this plan has, 9 (1h 7m 40s): You know, who the most godly person in our household is, is Jolene. She's the reason, that's the reason I fell in love with her right there. The fear in our culture dominates our decision making and our process. We, we are fearful about everything. And so we allow that fear to dictate to us what we will and will not do. So remembering that God has always been good, he will always continue to be good. And when things are hard, because things always get hard in different seasons, He will be faithful. 9 (1h 8m 25s): He will be faithful. 13 (1h 8m 31s): Just being obedient to when the Lord is putting on your heart, just step out in faith is what I found the biggest. And I've seen opportunities when I felt the timing of my from the Lord and I missed out because of fear. And then I see how what came to pass a bit. And the Lord could have used me for that, but yet I didn't. So the biggest thing is when the Lord, and if you step out in faith and it doesn't, you don't see anything but you, you are obedient to the Lord. And that's just what he wants from you. The but wants. 9 (1h 8m 60s): Yeah. Yeah. We walk by faith and not by sight. Heather, 10 (1h 9m 7s): I can second what she's saying. Okay. I think you're called something and you do it. There's blessing Yeah. Out. 9 (1h 9m 17s): Hmm. Yeah. There's blessing in it, right? Yeah. So when you're called to do something and you step into it, there's blessing. Yeah. Jim Kessler, you Oh, 10 (1h 9m 31s): I was trying to hide behind 9 (1h 9m 33s): You got a bald guy hiding out of all guys. It's not good. 10 (1h 9m 40s): Oh gosh. You know what? I sitting next to my wife, but I, I gotta let the Lord be in control of my attitude towards my in-laws. 9 (1h 9m 54s): That's rubber meets the road reality, right? Yeah. Yeah. 10 (1h 9m 60s): I, I don't, I can't go in detail right now, but we don't 9 (1h 10m 5s): All like resonate, right? 10 (1h 10m 7s): I just daily. Yeah. So, 9 (1h 10m 11s): So lordship doesn't give you permission to harbor a bad attitude towards your in-laws, right? Yeah. Nailed it. Okay. Steven? 10 (1h 10m 37s): No, I think the first come 9 (1h 10m 39s): Up here does, Do we have a microphone? Yeah. Get get a microphone from your wife there. There we go. This is my MiniMe here, but he's actually bigger than me. You're a little whiter. I'm a little whiter. Yeah. Whiter. Yeah. Like w h I t Yeah, yeah, yeah. That one. Just call me fat in his own loving way. All right, go ahead. Tell us what you've learned and what you're gonna do about it. 14 (1h 11m 6s): I think it's weird being up here. I think, I think the first thing that you talked about when you talked about Aslan in, you know, the Narnia books and CS Lewis, I was thinking about how Lucy went up to Aslan and that, what I remember about Lucy in, in those books is that she was very, she was like the most committed to Aslan and the most believing in the strong, Her faith was the strongest in Aslan as that symbol of Christ in the books and the movies. And I think, you know, when ASN was like, Oh yes, I'm, I'm bigger because you're older, But she was older and and wiser and she had grown in her faith. 14 (1h 11m 46s): And so I think that that growth in her faith had allowed Aslan to grow in her life. So God was bigger in her life because her faith had increased. And, and so I think, and inverse of that would be, you know, like letting that fear take hold and not, and then I guess submitting to the fear rather than submitting to God. And, and, and then that, you know, as land within shrink and become smaller and, and so I think, and then it can be harder and harder to hear the Lord and to feel that conviction of, hey, this is what, this is what God's calling me to do. 14 (1h 12m 26s): And so I think just even those little things like you were saying over here about, you know, whether if you feel like God's calling you to do something, you'll be fearful of it and, and step out in faith because you could use it and you could see the, the rewards down the road and, and not doing it in, in seeking that blessing or seeking that reward, but doing it out of, out of that love for the Lord in that, you know, faith without actions. Is that 9 (1h 12m 52s): So, Yeah, that's, I'm enjoying this. What, what else in this season of your life, being married for the last seven, eight months, this wonderful lady over here and in transition a little bit with your, what, where's the Lord, Lord of your life and all of this decision making? 14 (1h 13m 11s): Yeah, It's been, as, as many of you who have been married and on an outside of marriage, we know the communication aspect has been very difficult. What's 9 (1h 13m 22s): Been, what's been difficult? Marriage, Sorry, go. I'm not, 14 (1h 13m 27s): Yeah, the communication aspect has been really tough cuz we're, we're very different people. We're like, we're pretty much exact opposites and so, and the way that we just communicate in daily life, so it can be like the simplest thing, but it's just, we, we see it in complete opposite ways. So getting to that conclusion of like, oh, this is how I see it. So then it's just like, Lord, we need your help. And, and just the simple day to day stuff, like how, like even what time to do the dishes, you know, it's like just all the little things like every, every, every little part of life. And so that's what, and then, you know, moving students, finding a new, new place to live. Just, just every little bit of our life, we're just having to continually over and over again be reminded. 14 (1h 14m 10s): It's like we need the Lord in this, this part of life is, all of life is difficult all of life. There's decisions to be made that affect the rest of your life every day. So have being able to submit those things to the Lord and, and, and say, hey, this is, you know, this may seem small, but it's going to affect us down the line. And so in that communication thing, being able to, you know, not let anything slide by or ignore things and, and just be on top. 15 (1h 14m 39s): Do it alone. Do it alone. Go ahead. 14 (1h 14m 40s): Yeah. Okay. So I'm gonna invite the worship team up. 15 (1h 14m 50s): Gonna 14 (1h 14m 50s): Go ahead and pray this out for the day, 15 (1h 14m 54s): Otherwise 14 (1h 14m 54s): My dad will just keep asking me questions. So thank you Lord, for this day, for this time, this awesome message that Pastor Steve has brought today. We're so grateful to be able to listen and learn and just take away all the little nuggets of wisdom and all the literal alliteration in the, in the, you know, circling back to the jokes about the ocean's bottom and just all, all the little things. They, they, they seem literal, but they, they keep our attention and they keep us focused on the message and focused on what, what we're learning through it. And so we just pray that throughout this week we just, our focus would remain on you, Lord, that that would be the first and foremost most important thing. 14 (1h 15m 40s): In that way we encounter those people that need to hear about you and you are telling us and urging us to communicate with them and to reach out to them. We pray that we would respond and be faithful and, And to, and just remember to love you. And then when we get that voice in our ear that's telling us, Hey, this is weird, or this is awkward, or this is, you know, this isn't what society does today. Like why, why would you do that? You're gonna be judged and they're not gonna appreciate it Cuz the reality is people love being loved and people need to be loved and we need to be love and light for the Lord, for Jesus cuz he sacrificed it all so that we could be that for him. 14 (1h 16m 27s): So I pray that we be that this week, Lord and Jesus, thank 0 (1h 16m 38s): You. Stand as we worship. 1 (1h 18m 34s): The song is. 3 (1h 19m 34s): Thank you Father, that this is just the beginning. This is just the beginning of saying your name, of praising you and lifting you high. Thank you for the authority we have in you. You never leave us and you never forsake us. 0 (1h 19m 55s): Would 3 (1h 19m 56s): You go before us this week? Would we remind ourselves to call on you at any moment, at any time? 0 (1h 20m 6s): It's 3 (1h 20m 7s): In your precious and holy name we pray. Amen.