Transcription
Hey, good morning everyone. Um, I don't always introduce myself. I, I, I suppose I should do it a little bit more. So, if this is your first time here, my name is Jake. I get the wonderful privilege of being the associate leader here and uh, I get to wear a lot of hats as needed as the Lord guides. So, but this morning, I get to bring you the word of the Lord. And I do believe it's the word of the Lord, and I'm very excited for that. So, we had a great first gathering. Now, now we've got a second great and even greater one. Don't tell the first gathering I said that, right?
But hey, um, where have we been this year? Our Sabbath year? The Sermon on the Mount, right? So, we've got a great topic today that, personally, I feel like it's a part of my fabric. Like when God thought of me before the foundations of the earth, uh, he, he wove the kingdom narrative into my being in so many different ways, and now I get to release that to y'all. And so, I hope that this is a great blessing um, and it helps you take a further step with the Lord in pursuing him and pursuing what kingdom lifestyle looks like.
So, with that being said, our opening verse today is Matthew 6:33. We'll pull it up, we'll all read it together. All right, so read it with me. "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you."
So, uh, if you have been in church sometime, you may have heard this passage, but it is typically misquoted. And I know that because I'm one of the people that misquoted it for a long time. It's, it, it look, but seek first his kingdom and a lot of people say, "and its righteousness," right? But, but what does it say right there? "His righteousness and all these things will be added to you." Well, we're going to talk a little bit more about that, but let's, let's zoom out and look at the context of what Jesus is saying here.
So, we're going to read uh, Matthew 6:30-34. New American Standard. "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? Or what will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. So, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
So, so right off the bat, let, let's just, I, I want to, I want to give us a holistic perspective and um, and maybe you haven't thought of it this way. I have always read this in relativity solely to provision, right? Like, you know, almost like it's a survival thing of like, you know, I, I can't pay my bill tomorrow and I'm like, "Okay, Lord, you know, I need help, right?" And you can definitely apply it there. I would argue that it's also speaking to uh, a really unhealthy part of our American culture. We, we've got a greedy measure of consumerism, right? So, so you could even read it through that lens. Um, you know, oh gosh, you know, I remember growing up in, in high school, I was like, "Oh man, I don't have Hollister clothes, right? Hollister, like you had to have Hollister to be cool." And hey, if you like Hollister, I'm not, I'm not downing on you, but if you didn't have Hollister, you were looked upon, you know, like you were looked down upon it, and I was embarrassed that I didn't have nicer clothes, right? Um, you know, "What will I eat? What will I drink?" Oh man, I don't, I don't get the good stuff. I got to get the, the Great Value Walmart brand, you know, but I go to Timmy's house and he's got the real Oreos, right? Okay? So, so, so you can look at it through the uh, you know, some things just come out of, out of your mouth, right? But, but so, so you could even look at it through this lens, right? Of like, "Hey, we don't need to worry about where the path is leading us. We just need to seek first the kingdom and his righteousness. His kingdom and his righteousness, and the rest of these things will be added to you, right?" So, as we go further on, we're going to, we're going to explore these things a little bit deeper.
So, all right, moving on. What we've got to understand is, you know, uh, uh, maybe kingdom is not foreign to some of you, but I would, I would probably say it's foreign to a lot of us here, right? What? And that's for a couple of reasons. Number one, do we live in a kingdom here in the US? No, we live in a republic, right? And not only that, even if, say, we lived in a kingdom, like maybe historically you're living in a kingdom, your kingdom would be so radically different than what the kingdom of heaven is, it would, it would still be a foreign concept, right? But the, but that gap is a little bit wider for you and I being here in the US, growing up in the US, right? Because we're not used to kingdom language. We're not used to kingdom governance, right?
Because see, what kingdom is, is you have a monarchy, right? Typically a king, it could be a queen, but that king, he is dominating, right? There is a domain that that king rules over, and that domain includes uh, physical land, right? Territory. It includes the people, the culture, right? Because see, if the king allows it, then it influences culture. If the king says, "Mm-mm, it's not, it's not going to touch the culture, right?" His word becomes law. If the king decrees something, right? It is actually enforced by his kingdom as law, okay? And now, the thing about this is that can be great if you have a good-hearted, righteous ruler who desires the prospering of his people, but if you have an evil king, it can, it's, it's probably the worst form of government, right? Because his word is absolute, okay? But praise God that our king is the righteous one. He is righteousness, right? He's the eternal one. He's, in fact, he's the only one that knows how to perfectly demonstrate judgment, right? And perfectly demonstrate what true mercy looks like, right? He is, his throne is filled uh, is, is established upon what? Justice and righteousness, right? So, the negative attributes of kingdom should not intimidate us because they actually don't influence us because our king is good. He's pure, he's righteous, and he's true.
But, okay. So, to, to elaborate a little bit further, what we've got to understand is that there is not a kingdom without a what? King. So, if, if the concept of the kingdom of heaven is foreign to you, here's your gateway. Here's your key into learning kingdom. You get to know the king. You relationally get to know the king, and as you spend time with the king, then you begin to understand the ways of the kingdom of heaven. And see, this is why we have to be reborn, right? You have to be reborn. I say it all the time. Yeah, I'm, you know, and I'll say it a million more times, right? You have to be reborn because you have a new nature placed inside of you, right? You have the life of Christ. You have his spirit filling you. And you, like a baby, like my son, he has to learn. He's saying, "Mama. Mama." He's trying, he's like walking, right? And soon he'll be able to speak fully and walk fully. That's us. We've got to learn the king. We've got to grow relationally with the king that we might know his kingdom ways. And, and, and then, and then what happens as we obey and we walk with the king, his righteousness begins to become tangible upon our lives.
So, and just breaking down that word righteousness in very simplistic terms, there is man's way of doing it, which even the best of man's way is like filthy rags before the Lord, right? That's what the Bible says. But then there's God's way, heaven's way, the kingdom way, right? And, and there's a reason that Jesus had to distinguish the fact that we must be born again because you are being brought into a kingdom realm that is initially foreign to you, but it is actually your eternal home. It is going to be where you forever reside, and you have an opportunity right now through relationship with the king to actually begin to grow in kingdom mindset and to release kingdom into the earth even now, right? Okay, and that's exciting.
But what happens in a lot of our churches is uh, you know, I, I love this picture. Uh, I heard, I think it was Dr. Myles Munroe. Um, uh, he's gone on to be with the Lord, but, but he, he uses analogy of the kingdom. A lot of us in, in Christianity, right? We, we get saved in our salvation experience, we're excited and like, you know, woohoo! And then it just stops right there. And then it's like just a downward trend of like just white-knuckle IT, HOLD ON TILL THE END. He's coming, you know? [clears throat] And uh, but, but that's not kingdom, is it? That's not what the Lord told us to do. "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy..." All right. Well, hold on. We're going to do it again. "Thy Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, right?"
So, if someone, if you're a little kid and Disney World is like your thing, right? And you're like, "Oh gosh, Disney World." And then your parents give you a ticket to Disney World. Are you, is it, is it the physical paper that you're excited about? No, it's what the physical paper gives you access to, right? It's, you go to the gate, you hand them the paper, and then you get to enter in to, to, you know. Some of you don't like Disney, that's okay. I, I'm not the biggest fan of it either, but it's a, just a good example, right? Okay. So, so, so salvation is amazing and we'll never get over it. We'll always be looking at the cross. We'll always be in wonder that the God, uh, that the God of the universe became one of us and died for our benefit, right? So, I'm not saying that we've graduated beyond it, right? It's our foundation, but there is more to be built upon that foundation. There is a kingdom lifestyle that we get the opportunity to walk in, to live in, to breathe, to eat. It makes us otherworldly. It makes us stand out in a society that doesn't understand our king, right? It's, it's the righteousness of God that's needed in this hour, right? It's not more legislation, it's not more, whatever you, you fill in the blank, right? It's kingdom. We need the king and we need his kingdom present in our cities, in our homes, right? In our governmental systems, right? Okay.
So, so we've got to understand that you cannot separate the king and his kingdom, okay? And, and so that's why this passage says, right? "Seek first the his kingdom and his righteousness and the rest of these things will be added, right?" Because the way that the world wants to go about it is not the way that the kingdom does. Okay? The Lord will add greatness to your life. He will add prosperity in every measure, including financial. Let's just say the, the, you know, you know the thing we're always awkward about. He wants you to be really wealthy, right? But he wants you to be wealthy in accordance to your purpose, your assignment. So, what Peter, Peter might need more than I do, right? But I don't get caught up into this comparison because what I know that he's going to give me more than enough to do what it is that he's called me to do, right? And he's going to do the same for Peter. If we're both seeking him first and his kingdom, then uh, then we get the benefit of his righteousness and the rest of these things get added to us, right? Okay. [snorts]
So, we just, just last, last thing I'll say to you. We've got to really begin to understand this. I, we have an incredible government system here in the US. It's probably the best that will exist until the Lord comes and fully establishes his kingdom, but it is not top tier. It's not perfection. It is not the pinnacle. It has its flaws. We're seeing those flaws, and we have to understand that there is a superior government that you and I abide by. And we do our best to live by the laws of the land, but when they come to conflict with the laws of the kingdom, we are going to adhere to a superior kingdom that is eternal. Okay? Does that make sense? You are not an American citizen first. You are a kingdom citizen first who has been birthed and planted into the US, right? Okay.
All right. So, let's continue. So, I think the story of Esther is such an incredible, it's a, an incredible historical story. It's an incredible prophetic, symbolic key, right? There's so much that you can get from the book of Esther, and I just want to break a few things down that I think are going to be keys that will help you and I as we're seeking the king of the kingdom and his righteousness, right? Okay.
So, so um, let's just, let's just pull back for a second historically. If you don't know the book of Esther, I'm just going to quickly give you some context. So, at that time, the nation of Israel had been horribly disobedient to the Lord for hundreds of years, and they were by God himself pushed into exile, right? And at this point, um, the Jews are in Persia, right? Uh, she's, uh, and there's a woman, a Jewish woman named Esther, who's in the city of Susa, their capital, right? And uh, what's happening in that day is, is uh, you know, in 300, like the, the king, like King Xerxes, and he's like, you know, in the movie, they've got him like he's like massive and everything. It's that king, okay? So, just keep that in your brain, all right? So, it's King Xerxes has a a wife named Vashti, and she has openly um, embarrassed him, right? And totally rejected his rule. So, she's, you know, gone out of the picture, and so now they're looking for a new queen, okay? And I mean, the Bible doesn't say what happened to her, but I'm just going to assume, right? Okay. But so, so you've got the king who is the superpower. He's a leader of the superpower of that day of the known world, and he's looking for a queen. And so he had emissaries. He had, he had people come from the royal court, and they went into all of Persia, and they picked the most beautiful women, right? And they brought them to uh, brought them to Susa, and they prepared them, and each one of them would have an introduction to the king, right? They would have a day with, with him, a day and a night, right? And if they impressed him, they would be put um, into a very nice housing situation, and if they didn't, they would be, they'd still be in the court in the kingdom, but in like a lesser, and they'd be forgot about pretty much, right? But, but in the midst of all that, he's looking for one that will be his queen, right? So, he had a harem, but he's looking for one that would be his queen, his equal, right? And so, it's in the midst of this. It's been going on for like 10 months, quite a while. Every day there is a a new, and I'm, I'm, I'm trying to not make this graphic, okay? So, just keeping it high level, but every day he's meeting a new supermodel, right? Okay, but then he meets Esther. And Esther is chosen.
So, what was it about Esther that distinguished her from all of the others? Well, we can find that. We can go. So, come with me to Esther 2:13. So, what we have to understand is that when these young ladies who had been picked came before the king, they could pick any type of clothing that they wanted to. They could pick like the, like the top, like, it could be, you know, the suit could be like whatever, $50,000 if they wanted. So, they would pick what they liked the most, and then they would go before the king, and they would hope that he liked them and would pick them, right? But so, all right, we can read it just to prove what I'm saying. "Then in this way the maiden came to the king. Whatever she desired was given her to take with her from the harem into the king's palace." But you find a couple verses later, Esther did something different. In Esther 2:15, "Now when the turn for Esther, the daughter of Abihail, um, the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his own daughter, had come to go into the king, she required nothing but what Hegai, the king's attendant, the keeper of the women, suggested. And Esther won favor in the sight of all who saw her."
See, a lot of us have probably read this and it would be easy to go beyond it, but this is a, this is a prophetic picture right here. See, the attendant, the king's servant Hegai, had probably known him from the time that he was very little. He, he, he, he had probably known Xerxes his entire life. And so he knew what the king liked, right? He knew the, the, the, the type of clothing. He, you know, if Esther could maybe play something, he probably knew the instrument and the songs that he liked, right? You fill in the blank, right? He knew what the king liked, and Esther in wisdom went to the attendant and said, "What does the king like?" She didn't ask, "What do I like?" and hope that she'd get picked. She went to the attendant. And see, the attendant, Hegai, is like a prophetic picture or symbol of the Holy Spirit. See, the whole, see, Xerxes in, in this picture is Jesus, right? And, and the, the attendant is the Holy Spirit, and you and I are Esther. And there's lots of people that come with a preconceived notion of what they think Jesus wants, right? Their works, their striving, their, you know, you fill in the blank. He wants 10 Hail Marys and, and uh, you know, he wants me to live in poverty and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? But in fact, he might want something different. And wouldn't it be wisdom for us to go to the Holy Spirit and say, "Holy Spirit, what does King Jesus want? What should I be adorned with? Will you provide for me what I need to be pleasing to the king, right?" And, and, and, and so, so, okay.
So, pulling back to the historical context, right? Here's what happens, right? Esther 2:17, we see it. "And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the maidens, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti." So, what we see here is because she was not selfish and instead selfless, she obtained the very thing that all the other girls were trying to obtain through selfishness. Isn't that ironic? By being selfless, she got what she wanted anyways. And in fact, she has to at some point, God actually used Esther to protect the Jews, right? In the Persian kingdom, right? And you need to go read the story for yourself. I'm not going to get into all that, but what the last thing I'll say to this is she had to come before Xerxes, the Persian king, unannounced, and this was taboo. It was not okay. If you did this, you're done. You're done. You're gone, okay? If you came in, it would be by the mercy of the king alone that you survived, right? And, and, and Esther at one point realizes that God has placed her in this place to protect her people, right? And this is what she says in Esther 4:16, "Go gather together all the Jews that are present in uh Susa, and and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink for 3 days, night or day. I also and my maids will fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish." Right? So, she understood the will of God. She understood the real threat, and she said, "Regardless, I'm going to go because I know that this is what I've been made for and called to." And the, and, and the funny thing is when she actually goes before the king, here's, here's what he says, right? This is Esther 5:3, "Then the king said to her, 'What is troubling you, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you up to half of the kingdom.'" Whoa. So, again, it's emphasizing this point that by not being selfish and choosing to love the king and find out what he desired, she obtained everything that she could ever possibly dream of, including the salvation of her people, right?
So, so what, what, you know, what is this? It's funneling into this, this concept, and I wrote it out, and I, I worded it a couple times until, until it really sounded right. And, and just, so, let's take it back into the spiritual application to Jesus. "Seeking the heart of the king with singular devotion is the key to bringing the kingdom and his righteousness to the earth, okay?" It's a singular devotion to the king and what the king desires. It's an abandonment to what I think it needs to be, what I think my life needs to look like, and it is saying, "You, Jesus, are the Son of God, and you have lavished upon me great mercy, and I love you for that. And with singular devotion, in the same way that you gave your life to me, I give mine to you, and I say, 'Lead me in the path that you have called me.'" Right? Okay.
And why this is so important, y'all, is because a lot of Christianity in today's world is the self-help, how can you apply spiritual principles to make your life better? And let me tell you, you can apply spiritual, you know, you know, you can apply those things, and they, your life probably will get a little bit better. But you know that it's so much better when you have those spiritual blessings in context, when you're pursuing the king and you, you let him show you how to apply those things and bring you to the path that he's called you to. You know, Jesus said it in Matthew 22, he summarized all the law and the prophets, and he said to him, this is Matthew 22:37-38, and he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and foremost commandment." You know, David in, in Psalms 22, he said, "Make your ways, make me to know your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are doing, for you are the God of my salvation. For you I wait all day." Jesus said in John 14, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments." Meaning, if you fall in love with me, you will obey. You will be empowered to keep my commandments, right? Okay.
So, so that's a great, Esther is a great introductory example. Wow, time has gotten shredded. But here's, here's the, here's the better example. It's Jesus. Right? And Jesus modeled us. He modeled this for us perfectly, right? So, we're going to read a, a bunch of verses. I'm going to share a brief story, and then we're going to get out of here, okay? So, Esther's example is amazing, but Jesus lays it out clear. Matthew 6, we're going to go quick. Matthew 6:9-11, "Pray then in this way, 'Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.'" John 5:19, "Therefore Jesus answered them answered and was saying to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in a like manner.'" John 5:30, "Lean I can do nothing on my own initiative. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me." John 8:28-29, "So, Jesus said, 'When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father has taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.'"
So, the irony in all of this is that God knows the desires of your heart better than even you do. He knows what he created you for. He knows what he, he knows when he invested your life in the earth, what he wanted the return to be, right? A lot better than you. And it would, it would do you good to potentially endure temporary suffering to follow his path that leads you not only to joy and glory and everlasting love in this life, but in the one to come in a much greater measure, right? Um, you know. >> [snorts] >> Man. Yeah. So, he made us a promise, right? With a warning in Matthew 16:24-27. These are one of my last few things I'll read. "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If you truly want to follow me, you should at once completely reject and disown your own life, and you must be willing to share my cross and experience it as your own as you continually surrender to my ways. For if you choose self-sacrifice and lose your lives for my glory, you will continue continually discover true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves.'" So, that's a warning, right? If you choose to cling to the little, you're going to lose it. "But if you choose to give it up for my sake, right, you will continually discover true right." That's a promise. And then I just said the, the warning, "But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will forfeit what you try to keep. For even if you were to gain all the wealth and power of this world at the cost of your own life, what good would that be? And what could, could be more valuable to you than your own soul? I, the Son of Man, will one day return with my messengers and in the splendor and majesty of my Father, and then I will reward each person according to what they have done.'"
So, listen, you know, here's the promise. It's not a promise of a life of ease. It's not a promise of a life, I'm sorry, I'm, I'm going to take like 2 more minutes. It's not a promise of a life without suffering. It is, it is actually a promise of suffering, but it's suffering unto eternal glory. It's suffering unto his beautiful life being revealed to you in a greater measure and revealed through you to those around you, right? Uh, Psalms 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
I'll close with this. You know, this is a LEGO magazine. It's my LEGO magazine from July 2004. I was 9 years old, okay? God was preparing me for my destiny even before I knew him, right? I've loved Africa my entire life. I've loved LEGO my entire life. And 11 years ago, I chose to give my life to the Lord. And he's taken me in unorthodox paths. He's taken me in paths that did cause great suffering temporarily, but they have prepared me to now be in what he's called me to. I've got an incredible LEGO business, right? That has, it not only provides for my family, but it provides an abundance to be a blessing here. It provides an abundance to build schools in Africa, right? And to do these beautiful things. And I wouldn't have chosen that path. I didn't know that that laid before me, but he did. And, and when that journey started 11 years ago, I just, I saw this and said, "Lord, help me to seek your kingdom and his and your and your righteousness, and you bring to me what it is that you've called me to."
So, okay, with that, we're going to invite Caleb up. I love y'all. Thank you for your time. Let's say thank you to Jake. Listen, that was the Lord because when he said he's taking a couple more minutes, I'm, I was already over, I was ahead of you. I was ahead of you. I was, Jamatic can tell you, I had Romans 8 pulled up on my phone. I'm like, "I feel like I need to go to this passage to close the gathering." I'm like, "But I don't know why." And then he starts talking about suffering, and I'm like, oh, now I get it. So, listen, this. Romans 8, I'm going to make a couple quick points here. "I consider Romans 8:18, I consider the sufferings of this present time worth nothing compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us, right? For creation is waiting for eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, right?" And then it, and if you jump to 22, it says, "We know the whole creation has been groaning. Say groaning. Together in pains of childbirth till now. Not only creation, but we ourselves are groaning, right?" And then it says in verse 26, this is the point. It says, "Likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray as we [music] ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deeper words. And the, and he who searches hearts know what's what is in the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
What is it saying? It's saying the spirit knows the desires of God. And the spirit's groaning for us to get in line [music] with those desires. I looked up the meaning of the name of that attendant in Esther, Hegai. [music] You know what it means? To groan. It means to murmur or groan as in a fire that's sputtering and groaning. >> [music] >> I'm just confirming and amening with the text saying that's a picture of the Holy Spirit. >> [music] >> The spirit himself is groaning. Hegai, it means to groan or murmur, meditates like blazing in a fire, a fire that murmurs >> [music] >> and groans. So, what if we went from groaning about our suffering [music] to entering into his groanings? What if we went from complaining about our situation to [music] staying in step with the spirit and saying, "What makes you groan, God?" Some of us are the reason God groans. >> [music] >> I don't want to be the reason God groans. That was a little joking, but not really. Like, come on somebody. Amen? Amen. [music] My children make me groan sometimes. I doesn't mean I don't love them any less. Come on, any parents in here? Can I get an amen? That's my murmuring, my groaning. What if we get, we transition away from saying, "Here's what I need, oh God, please Lord," to saying, "What are your desires for me?" I know you're groaning over the, the manifestation. I know you know what [music] the Father wants. I know you search the whole mind of God and you're looking at me, and we can be like Esther. And we can say, "I'm not just going to go in and do my best." [music] "I'm going to step into his intercession for me. I'm going to say, what do you want of [music] me? How should I go? How should I live? How do I seek first the kingdom?" Jake said that a singular devotion is the key to seeing the kingdom and his righteousness [music] come. A singular devotion. So, the question is this, where has our devotion been divided? Where have we had our devotional energy [music] split? Where is it the kingdom and or Jesus plus? Right? And where is it a need to single just focus [music] in and trust everything else? He's already groaning on your behalf to bring [music] you all that you need. Amen? Amen. Would you stand? That was pretty good, huh, Jake? That was pretty good. [music] Just, just so good. So good. Amen.
I'm going to have our prayer team come forward. [music] And maybe you're here and you, you literally, you're like, okay, king, kingdom, [music] spirit, Jesus. Maybe you've never actually met the king. Maybe you've actually never met the Lord. [music] Today is your day. Today is your day. Why can I say that confidently? Because it says today is the day of salvation. It's always today. It's always [music] today. Amen? That's what the scriptures say. He always wants [music] us to come home. So, if you're here and you never actually received God as your king, you, maybe you've just been living as the lord of your own life. Maybe you've been living as the, you know, the one who's in charge of everything, and you, you know how well that's working out. Amen? I tried that, didn't work out so good. >> [music] >> Right? And then there was a moment where I said, "I'm not going to be in charge anymore. I'm going to give charge to Jesus. I'm going to say, yes, Jesus is Lord of my life," and [music] everything on the inside changed, and the outsides are still changing. Amen? >> [music] >> That's how it works. It's not about like getting, uh, you know, all together perfect in one moment. It's about the perfect one coming into our heart in a moment, and us living from him, seeking his kingdom, his righteousness. If you're here and you never believed Jesus [music] is God, that he lived a perfect life, that he died on the cross for [music] your sin and for mine, and that he raised himself from the grave 3 days later, ascending into heaven, waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. If you've never believed that, I want to say something to you right now. >> [music] >> You may be at odds with God, you may be at enmity with God, but he's not your enemy. >> [music] >> And you're not his. It's time to come home to Father today. So, if you're here and you've never made Jesus lord of your life, that's the primary purpose of this team right here. Okay? We trust them. They're trained. They're loved. They're, they're correctable. This is what I love about them. They're teachable. We've told them, "Hey, don't do that," and they're like, "Why? What is it?" Because they say, "Okay, you're right." You know, this has happened. Like [music] they're, we're in relationship with one another, right? And we're, we're doing this together. So, they, I'm just saying, you can trust [music] them. If you never made Jesus lord of your life, today is the salvation day of salvation. Come down and say, "I want to make him king." >> [music] >> "I want to make him king of my life." Amen? The spirit draws people to that. So, >> [music] >> if that's you, come. If you have pain in your body, come. If you've had, and you need a miracle, we want to pray for you. If you've had a divided focus and you know you haven't been, you're a believer, but you haven't been keeping Jesus and his kingdom as the singular focus of your life, come. Confess it. Confess it to your brothers and sisters, and let them pray with you and set you on a new path. Amen? Amen.
So, we're going to pray right now. We're just going to go in the spirit today. Amen? So, I want you to, you know, I'm going to pray, [music] but as we do this, I want you to make this your own prayer. Put it on your own lips, okay? So, Father, thank you for this word. Thank you, God, for Jake. Thank you for preparing this word today. Thank you for >> [music] >> giving it to us as a gift. Lord, we're not going to mistreat it. We're going to, we're going to move as you're moving. We're going to walk as you're walking. [music] So, Lord, we say send us now. Send us. Send me, Lord. Send me, Lord, into my family, into my home, into my workplace. [music] Send me as one who seeks your kingdom first. Come on. And show me what makes you groan. Show me your holy groans, >> [music] >> and show me the things that I do that make you groan. Show me what you love and what you hate. And Lord, give me a heart for those who are in, in >> [music] >> in abject poverty. Give me a heart for those who are being degraded right now. Give me a heart for the broken, the lost, the hurting, the ones who are groaning now because of their circumstances. Lord, give me a heart for them, the lost. Come on, make this your prayer. Maybe you're like, "I'm not evangelistic." We'll pray until you are. Give me a heart for the lost, Lord. Give me a heart for those who don't know you. Break my heart for what breaks yours, Lord. You desire that none would perish. Make it my desire that none would perish. Lord, help me to do it. Lead me, Lord. Help me to care for my brothers and sisters around me and receive care from them as well. And Lord, as always, lead us by your word. Come on, lead me by your word, Lord. Teach me your ways by your truth, your written word. Lead us in your truth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen? Amen. Amen.