Transcription
[Applause] [Music] Your this temp [Music] could but re good morning church. Let's stand and let's worship together. [Music] Faithful forever, you are faithful. Generations sing your grace. You never fail. Able forever, you are able. All creation will proclaim. You never fail. I will not fear, 'cause you're still the Great I Am. And I'm still within your hands. I stand on your promises. Yes and amen. Yes and amen. Power, power, there's wonder-working power. For those who call upon your name. You never fail. Will not fear. I will not fear, 'cause you're still the Great I Am. And I'm still it in your hands. I stand on your promises. Yes and amen. Let me her eyes, my God brings the dead to life. I'll see you with my own eyes. I stand all your promises. Yes and amen. Yes and [Applause] [Music] amen. It's your I'm standing on your prise, my God. You never fail. You never fail. You'll finish what you started, my God. You never fail. You never fail. I'm standing on your promise, my God. You never fail. You never fail. You'll finish what you started, my God. You never fail. You never fail. I'm standing on your promise, my God. You never fail. You never fail. You'll finish what you started, my God. You never fail. You never fail. I will not fear. I will not fear, 'cause you're still the Great I Am. And I'm still within your hands. I stand on your promises. Yes and am. LIF eyes, my God brings the dead to life. See you with my own eyes. I stand on your promises. Yes. I'm standing on your promise, my God. You never fail. You never fail. You'll finish where you started, my God. You never fail. You never fail. I'm standing on your promise, my God. You never fail. You never fail. You'll finish what you start, my God. You never fail. You never fail. Your promise never [Applause] fail. Are God, your holy Lord. [Music] Thank you Jesus. We worship You. [Music] Lord, thank you. [Music] Jesus. [Music] Hallelujah. Thousand Generations falling down in worship to sing the song of ages. To the men and all who've gone before us and all who will believe. Will sing the song of ages to the land. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all. All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions. Your name stands above them all. And the angels cry, holy. All creation Christ. Oh, holy. You are lifted high. Holy, holy. [Applause] Forever. And if you've been forgiv. And if you've been redeemed. Seeing the song forever to the land. And if you walk in freedom. And if you bear his name. Sing the song forever to the. We'll sing the song forever. And amen. And the angels cry, holy. All creation Christ. You are ho. Holy. You are lifted high. Holy, holy. Forever. And he your people sing. Holy to the King of Kings. You are holy. You will always be. [Music] Holy, holy. Forever. Your name. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all. Above all the roads and dominion, all power and position. Your name stands above the Lord. Your name. Your name is the highest. Your name is the great is. Your name stands above the all. All into dominion, all powers and positions. Your name stands all the. All the angel cry, holy. All creation chrry. You are holy. High, holy. Forever. [Music] You. Your people see. Holy to the King of Kings. You are holy. You are be. Holy, holy. For be. Be holy, holy. Forever. You will always be. Holy, holy. [Music] Forever. Oh, holy, holy are you, Lord God Almighty. Worthy is the man. Worthy is the man. Sing holy. You are [Music] holy. Holy are you, Lord God Almightyy. Worthy. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. For you are holy. [Applause] Holy are you, Lord God. Oh my. [Music] Worthy is the. Worthy is the. Sing worthy. [Music] Worthy. You are. [Music] Holy. You God almightyy. Worthy is the. Wory is a l. Wory is a l. [Music] Is so worthy, Lord. So worthy. [Music] Was a. I remember who I was. I was lost. I was blind. I was running out of time. Sin separated. The reach was far too wide. From the far side of the C. You had me in [Music] your. So you made a way to cross the great divide. Left behind heaven's throne to build it here inside. And there have the cross, you paid the debt I ow. Broke my chains, freed my soul. And for the first time, I had hope. Thank you Jesus for the blood of. Thank you Jesus, it has a wash me. Thank you Jesus, you have saved my life. Brought me from the darkness into glorious [Music] light. You took my place. Laid inside my tomb of s. You were buried for 3 days. But then you walked right down again. And now death has no Steed. And life has no wind. For I have been transformed by the blood of the Lamb. Thank you Jesus for the blood of. Thank you Jesus, has was me. Thank you Jesus, you have saved my life. Brought me from the darkness into glorious. There is nothing stronger than wonder-working power of [Music] the CL. The Suns and darks. We are rom by our follow [Applause] through. There is nothing strong and the wonder-working power of the sons and daugh. We are re by Our Father through [Applause] thank you Jesus. We thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Me than you Jesus. You have saved my life. Me from the darkness into [Music] glor. Amen. Amen. Hey, come on. Doesn't singing that song do something to you in your heart? When you think about where you were, when Jesus saved your life, the hope that he's given you, the life that you now have, the freedom that you found. Come on, it's got to do something for us in our hearts. And we've been watching God move in such an incredible way in our church. And this and this week, as a staff, we're reminded a story in the Bible when Jesus healed 10 lepers. As they went on their way, and one came back and said, Lord, thank you so much for what you've done for me. And Jesus said, but wait, wasn't there 10 of you? Why did only one come back? And come on, this morning, can we remember where we were and say thank you to the Lord and give him praise this morning for what he's done for us? Come on, lift up your voices, lift up your praise today. This should be the loudest evation we give all day. The Super Bowl will not get the loudest cheer today. He's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Jesus, we are thankful. Oh, we're thankful for you, Lord. We're thankful for your sovereign hand. We're thankful that the blood of Je that your your blood has washed us and cleansed us and renewed us. We're thankful that we have a brand new life and that we get to live a life of freedom. And and Lord, we just say thank you for your faithfulness. And even as the Teen Challenge, the young man that I talked to this morning, he's just been there for 48 hours and it's so fresh. Lord, the the same work that you've done in us, that you do it in him. Lord, we say thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. And so this morning, Lord, we've come here gathered not just to check a box, but we come here because we love you and we're thankful. And Lord, we want to leave here different than the way we came in. Church family, if that's your prayer, say amen. And come on, one more time, give God some praise this morning if you're thankful for him. So good. So good. Listen, on a great day and you got some wonderful people around you. Get around, give someone a handshake, high five, hug, and tell welcome to church. [Music] [Music] You. [Music] Good morning, LFA. Come on now. Good morning, LFA. Are we glad to be in the house of God? Amen. Whether you're joining us online or you're here in person, we just want to welcome you at this time. We want to take up offering. I'm ask ushers to come down and bring those buckets so we can do that. Amen. Amen. Hey, listen, this is our intentional opportunity just to bring our gifts to the Lord. And if you're visiting here with us for the first time, please don't feel under any obligation to give. We are just grateful that you're here. But if you call LFA your church home, this is our opportunity to bring both our ties or our offerings to love your neighbor. If you're watching online, you can join with us in this special moment. You can go to our website at lonf first.org and there's a giving link there. You can always go to the LFA Church, the LFA Church app. You can find in the Apple Store. Maybe that's the best option for you. Here in person, those are both very safe and secure ways to give. Let's take a minute and pray and thank the Lord for all that he's given us. Father, we say thank you. We're so grateful because you're so faithful, Lord. We're we're thankful that you take care of all of our needs. And this morning, this is a continuation of our worship. And right now, we worship you with the giving of our finances, Lord. And we just say thank you for doing with these what only you can do. We pray that you would use these gifts to further your kingdom in Jesus' mighty name. And everybody says amen. And amen. Amen. Well, hey, listen, while the ushers are going through collecting the offering, we got a lot of really great things happening on campus. Tony, tell us about some things that are happening. Well, first of all, Pastor James, can you believe we had over 400 people at our Wednesday night prayer meeting service? Come on now. Amen. We had we had close to 500 people come and eat dinner, and then we had almost 800 people on our campus. Come on, give God some praise today. It was amazing. An amazing time. And if you came for dinner, we want to say thank you for your patience. We learned a lot from Wednesday night, and we've been working hard, strategizing to make sure when you come, those lines are going to move fast, and that food is going to be hot. So come again on Wednesday. We're going to run the same menu back. Back by popular demand, we're bringing Chick-fil-A and pizza and salad. Come on, say amen today. And just, just something to take note of, if you've been paying attention to the weather, there is a chance that it's going to snow on on Wednesday morning. If it does, just stay tuned. We'll make an announcement by 1 or 2 pm on Wednesday if we feel like it's going to be safer to cancel services. But we'll we'll make that announcement. But Tony, what else we got happening on Church campus? To a few things, a few more things. So we got small groups starting up February 16th. So today after service, after both services, make sure you go to the Garden Room to our uh small group fair back there and get some information and get signed up and talk with the group leaders that are doing that. So make sure you sign up. I'm excited about small group. Shameful plug, I got my own small group, coffee or bros. So, you know, come hang in with me. I had to do that. Yeah. Other than that, we have child dedications coming up on February 26th. Listen, parents, dedicating your children to God is the best thing you can do. God has blessed with the kids that we had, even though sometimes you want to, you know, but praise God for our children. But child dedication is an opportunity for us to give our children back to the Lord and just bless him with that. And you can uh scan the QR code in the back of your program if you want to sign up for that. Yeah. Yeah. Amen. We're we're excited for that. Children are a gift from the Lord. And so we want you to be a part of that. Hey, listen, how many you guys are excited here the word today? Amen. Amen. Let's take a moment and just pray as Pastor comes. Lord, we just say thank you for this day. Lord, we thank you for your presence. It's here today. And we thank you for your word. Right now, Lord, we want to prepare our hearts. There's lots going on later today, but right now, this is your time. And so, Lord, we give you all of our heart, all of our attention. We pray that our hearts will be a fertile soil, ready to receive all that you have for us in Jesus' mighty name. And everybody says amen. Come on, put your hands together for our pastor as he comes. [Applause] Today. Hey, uh, there's there's a game on television, I've heard, later today, Super Bowl. Hey, I just want to take an internal poll here. Uh, if you're rooting for the Chiefs, make some noise. [Applause] If you're rooting for the Eagles, make some noise. Yeah, that's that's kind of what I figured. Hey, everybody wearing their jerseys or shirts today? I'm representing OU, so the Lord, the Lord's brought me a long ways in two and a half years. Um, but hey, we want to start out the service by welcoming you. If you're visiting, we get visitors every week. And so I know we've got people here for the first time, and we just want you to know from the bottom of our hearts that we are honored that you're here worshiping with us. And I pray you keep coming. And as you keep coming, I pray that you feel like, if you're here with your family, your family feels like this is a place where you can grow in your faith. And so LFA family, I'm going to ask you to get loud and make some noise for our first time guests this morning. Hey, to to kind of tag off or echo off of what the guys said just a moment ago, I'm super excited for our groups that are launching here in the next week. Um, you're going to be able to get information after the service on all of the groups that are available. But let me tell you why we do groups. It's not because it's a fad. It's not because it's something cool to do that other churches are doing. The reason we do them is because here at Lawton First, we take the mandate from Jesus to be discipled, be disciples of him, and to make disciples. We take that very seriously. And the opportunity to ask questions and to go in deeper into God's word and to grow discipleship, the opportunity to do that in groups is far greater than on a Sunday morning. So we do groups because we believe that they're biblical and we believe that they're effective. Now, I know everybody's got an opinion on groups. Some people are like, yeah, I'm not doing that. Um, some people want nothing to do with groups. Listen, if you're on the fence about whether or not to join a group, I want to ask you, just pray. Just pray and ask the Lord. Talk to God about it. And then I'm going to encourage you, do whatever God tells you to do. Amen. But I'm so excited for all the groups that we have. We have a Spanish group that is launching that I'm pumped for. And, um, you know, we have thousands of Spanish speakers here in Comanche County, here in Lawton. And we've got some good Spanish churches, but how many of you know we need more? And so as this group begins to meet, we are praying that God would bless it, God would multiply it, and we would make more disciples as a result of it. So all of the groups, if you want information, you can get it out in the atrium after the service, or you can go online. Um, this morning, we're beginning a new series that I'm excited about. I'm pumped. And we've called it the Upside Down Kingdom. And I'm excited because I really believe if we'll all hang in there, if we'll stick with it, this is going to be an opportunity for us to really be challenged and to really grow. How many of you want to grow in your faith? I think that's going to happen. And I'm super excited about this new series, Upside Down Kingdom. Um, you hear me talk about being students of God's word. In fact, I mentioned this at midweek last Wednesday. Here at Lawton First, as long as the Lord empowers us and enables us, we want to be students of God's word. Amen. Okay, so to be a student means we have to study. If you want to be a student of anything, you've got to study. So we don't ever want to get in the habit of just reading a few verses a day and then throwing our Bible aside and going about our business. We want to know the verses, read the verses, but we we want to understand the heart behind the verse. Amen. We want to know the who, the what, the where, the when, the why. Because when we become students of God's word, the Bible says it this way, when we meditate on God's word, that's when we get the most out of it. What we're getting ready to dive into is called The Sermon on the Mount. It really is Matthew Chapter 5, 6, 7. If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Matthew Chapter 5. But this message, this teaching, is considered by most scholars, most theologians, to be the greatest teaching the world has ever known. It's really a lot of uh historians or theologians, they don't really argue. What we're going to be diving into over the next several weeks is the richest, the most beautiful, the most powerful teaching that the world has ever known. But there's some things that we got to know. And as I was preparing this message and this series, I really felt in order for us to get the most out of this message, this teaching from Christ, we got to have some background. We got to have some context, which includes historical context, background, setting. Because I think there's some things that we need to understand so that moving forward, we can get the most out of these teachings from the Lord. And so today, we're going to be students. Today, we're going to study. Today's not a sermon of a lot of hooting and hollering. Amen. Amen. Well, you can yell amen if you want to. I uh, but we're going to dive in. And there's some things that we've got to establish and have an understanding of so that we can fully appreciate this message from Jesus. When Jesus delivers this message, this teaching, it was something people had never heard before. It was unlike anything that they had ever heard. It was difficult for them to hear. So what a lot of people have done is it has become a forgotten message, a forgotten teaching, simply because not only was it difficult to hear, but it challenges every human emotion, every human instinct, and it challenges how we think, how we feel, and how we live. And so over the last 2,000 years, what a lot of people have done is they have taken this message and they've put it on the back burner because Jesus does not pull any punches here, and he deals directly and decisively with our sinful human nature. What Jesus does in this sermon, this teaching, this message, is he flips things upside down. For the people that want to follow him, it's the total opposite of everything they had known or everything that they feel or think. And we've talked about this before, how what God requires of you and me is opposite or upside down from what the world requires. What God requires of his children is going to be the exact opposite or upside down from what our human instinct or nature tells us to do. It's totally different than what the world says is good, pleasing, and acceptable. Any topic, pick a topic, marriage. Here's what the world says. Here's what God says. When it comes to how we live our lives and the decisions that we make, here's what the world says. Here's what God says. When it comes to finances, spending, saving, going into debt, however you want to put it, when it comes to finances, the world would tell you and me, it's all about you. So you do you, spend your money on whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want. And God has a very opposite or upside down mandate for his children. And what we're getting ready to dive into over the next several weeks is another example of that. Jesus was saying things that cause people to kind of scratch their heads, things that are different. Like he, he talks about blessed are the peacemakers. What peacemaker? I'll tell you what I like to do is give people a peace of my mind. But I don't, I don't know about peacemakers. Jesus says some radical things like love your enemies. What? He says things like, bless or pray for the people that persecute you. Now, everything that Jesus did was strategic. Every place that he went, every conversation that he had, every message that he taught, there was a divine strategy built into it. Even where he went, when he went, there was a part of a divine strategy. And we see that here in this Sermon on the Mount. Jesus decides to give the greatest teaching the world has ever known on the side of a hill. Now, some of you have probably been there in Israel. I've had the pleasure of being there. It's called The Sermon on the Mount, but it's not really a mountain, it's more of like a hill. Jesus could have delivered this message anywhere he wanted, any time he wanted, but he chooses a hillside. And there's a reason for that. When Jesus teaches this, you have to understand who would have been there. So you have the disciples. You also have some Pharisees, who were religious leaders and experts in the law. But there would have also been day laborers, there would have been indentured servants, there would have been farmers, people who worked hard, and they were working to put food on the table, but they were also working to pay debt and to pay taxes to the Roman government. This is who Jesus decides needs to be in this audience when he teaches the greatest sermon ever known. And when you consider what we're going to be going into over the next several weeks, what Jesus taught, the fact that he's speaking to this particular demographic makes this message even more amazing. Jesus is speaking to people who were abused, people who were mistreated, people who were overlooked, people who were tossed aside, people who had experienced trauma. But yet they gathered on this day to listen to Jesus teach. At this point in his life, Jesus is beginning to develop a following. He's beginning to develop a reputation. And so whenever Jesus speaks, when he would travel from town to town, there would be people, including the Pharisees, that would hear that he's coming to our town and they would go and listen to what he has to do or what he was saying. Now, let me tell you, in a nutshell, what Jesus was doing here in this Sermon on the Mount. He was teaching what the ethics of the kingdom of God are. Okay? So what we're going to be going over the next several weeks, Jesus is teaching us, those who are in the kingdom of God, a part of the kingdom of God, this is how you're supposed to talk if you claim to be a part of God's family and a part of the kingdom. This is how you're supposed to handle conflict if you're going to claim to be a part of God's family and a part of the kingdom of God. This is how you treat people. Now, I'm going to bounce around a little bit this morning, and we're, I told you, we're going to study, okay? We're going to be students. But if your neighbor's sleeping, I would like you to lovingly tap them, okay? Because this is stuff moving, moving forward, that you're going to want to understand because it gives you full context, but it also allows you to fully appreciate this teaching from Jesus. There's a lot of background and things that we have to understand in order to get the most out of this message. For example, if you were to pick up Matthew Chapter 5 and start reading through it, you will read the word blessed, or blessed, over and over and over again. Blessed are they, blessed are those, blessed are the. That word blessed, a simple translation means happy. Now, not the human emotion happy, it's much deeper than that. When you read that word blessed, or blessed, it [Music] means satisfied, fulfilled, at peace. Really, what it means is the good life. So we also have to have an understanding of what the kingdom of God is. What is Jesus talking about when he talks about the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven? Now, as we go through this, those two words or terms are used interchangeably, okay? So they mean the same thing. Jesus is referencing the same thing. But let's, let's just unpack a little bit of what we've just discovered or just what what we've just learned. Matthew 5:6 says this: Blessed, there's that word, are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Amen. That word for righteousness, the New Testament was written in Greek. That Greek word that is used there, you know what it means? It means someone who is right relating to others. Another way that we could say that is treating people the right way. So what Jesus is saying is, for you and me to be righteous, we have to treat people the right way. What is the right way? Well, Jesus was getting ready to tell us. But it's opposite of what the world teaches. It's opposite of how people treat us. It's often opposite or upside down from how we sometimes treat other people. Another way Jesus says this is, it's loving your neighbor as yourself. Now, remember the audience who Jesus is speaking to. They're hurt, they're tired, they're frustrated. And a more complete translation of Matthew 5:6 here is what Jesus is speaking to these tired, frustrated, worn-out people. He is saying, blessed, for you to experience the good life, for you to be satisfied, for you to live a fulfilled life, the good life, you got to treat people the right way. When Jesus talks about the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, moving forward, as we move forward, I want you to think more of culture than a place. So again, Jesus is teaching us the behavior, the attitude, the ethics of the kingdom. Now, we know the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, is where there is no more pain. Amen. No more suffering, no more drama, no more gossip, no more bad attitudes, no more wrong motives, no more, um, divisiveness. And when Jesus comes to Earth, one of the reasons why Jesus came was to establish the kingdom of God here on Earth. Jesus came to establish the kingdom of heaven here on Earth. This is why Jesus prayed and taught us, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven." As we get to chapter six in Matthew, we will read how Jesus encourages us to seek first the kingdom of God, seek first the behavior in the kingdom of God, seek first, put first the things of God, and how he requires and expects us to live. In other words, I know I'm rambling. I told you we're studying this morning. In other words, Jesus wants you and I to know we can experience the kingdom of heaven right here on Earth. And what he's going to do is he's going to go through a whole list for how we do that. Now, again, remember who Jesus is speaking to. His disciples are there. There are Pharisees that are there. But there's people who are angry, Ry, and frustrated. They're worn down because they've been worn out, they have been mistreated, they have been abused, they have been taken advantage of. And this is on a side note, I want you to notice as we go through here or this message, nowhere does Jesus promise to remove them out of their current situation. That's really important to know. Nowhere in this, the greatest teaching we've ever heard, the world has ever known, nowhere does Jesus say, "If you do what I'm telling you to do, you will never be mistreated again. If you'll do what I'm telling you to do, your situation will completely turn around and you will never suffer mistreatment or abuse again." Nowhere does Jesus say, "If you will follow my commands, you you will become wealthy and live the easy life." Jesus doesn't teach us how to live the easy life. What this message is, is its instructions on how to live the good life. There's a lesson in this for us that I think Jesus is trying over and over again with his life and with his ministry. He's trying to get us to see that joy and fulfillment, peace, all of that does not come from anything this world has to offer. We're going to see in just a moment how that ties into this group of mistreated and abused Israelites. But what Jesus wants his people to understand is, quit looking to your status to bring you fulfillment. Don't look at your title or your position or a relationship or a bank account to bring you joy and peace and fulfillment. He was trying to teach us the good life only comes when we are committed to bring God's kingdom here on Earth. The blessed life, the full life, the peaceful life, the joyful life, the good life, only comes to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. This original audience, these Jewish people that were here, they viewed the kingdom of heaven as a physical place, which is accurate. But they viewed it as something in the future, like it's not now, it's not here, but it's coming. Okay? I don't know when, I don't know how, but it's coming. But there was a very, um, step-by-step process that the Jewish believed things were going to happen before the kingdom of God was established. They believed that the Messiah was going to come, and they believed that the the Messiah, when he comes, would raise the dead, and he would provide righteousness and redemption for his people. But he was going to do it through war and force. That's what the Jewish people were taught and what they believed. So you got to understand from their perspective, Jesus is standing there telling them, "You can experience the kingdom of heaven right now." That's hard for them to listen to. That's hard for them to understand. But then when he goes one step further and he says, "The way that you experience heaven on Earth is not through war, it's not through force, it's through humility." Amen. It's through peace. It's through love. And you have to understand for this, this original audience, not only was that difficult for them to listen to, it was a little disappointing. Jesus, Samuel, I'm, I'm sorry to interrupt you. I gotta, I, I need you to clarify something. Um, you mean to tell me after all we've been through, you know, that our ancestors were exiled, right? And we've been through war after war, and now we're basically slaves working for the Roman government? Do you see that we have been mistreated and abused? And you mean to tell me you're not even going to get revenge on our behalf? Uh, Thomas, that's, that's a good point. Samuel, I've got some, a point of clarity. Jesus, um, I want to make sure that I'm hearing you correctly because did you tell us to love our enemies? And if you did, which you might have, I'm sure the next thing I heard, I, I misheard you because I'm pretty sure I thought you said that we're supposed to pray for those who persecute us. Jesus was letting them and the world know the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, is here. But it's not going to be what you think, and it's not going to be how you think. Jesus was telling the disciples, the Pharisees, the day laborers, the farmers, and anybody else who lives or or who was there. Jesus was telling them, "How I'm asking you to speak, how I'm asking you to behave, how I'm asking you to live is radical. It's different. It's upside down from how you feel or how you think or the way the world lives or behaves. I'm calling you to live a life where you are not ruled or led by feelings or emotions or your sinful nature. I'm calling you," Jesus said, "to live radically different. I'm calling you to live in a way where people on Earth are shocked by how quick you are to forgive. I'm calling you to a better way, a radical way, where arguments will cease because of how you choose to respond." And so Jesus begins to teach, and we'll look at this in the coming weeks. This radical way of living. Can I tell you one of the things that Jesus was trying to teach us? He was trying to show us the world is not fixed by Christian isolating themselves from sinners. Jesus was going to show us that this world's problems are not fixed by, um, just tolerating sin and hiding out until Jesus comes. Can I go one step further and please don't read in? I know some of you, um, love politics. But can I go one step further? It doesn't matter who's in the White House. They are not the answer to the world's problems. And what Jesus was showing here, you got to understand, the the Jewish people wanted the Messiah to come and wipe out sinners. Take them, Lord. I'm sick of them. You see how they're abusing me and my children? Lord, just come and wipe out sin and wipe out sinners. But Jesus came to teach us a better way. It was something new. It was something difficult for them to hear. Now, let me tell you, over the next few weeks, as we dive into this, I want to encourage you, as we look at the fine print, the the details of what Jesus says, do your best not to miss a Sunday. Do your best to be here. Bring somebody with you. But what I wanted to do today is there's some things before we dive into the greatest teaching the world has ever known. There's some things that we need to establish. And what we're getting ready to go into over the next several weeks is the answer. It's the solution. It is the key to seeing heaven combined with Earth. We don't have to wait and hold on until Jesus comes to see this world changed. We don't have to wait and hide out from sin and evil and pray, "Lord, come. Lord, come." Keep praying, "Lord Jesus, come." But what Jesus was showing us is, you can do something about it right now. What we're going to see is, is the the key to seeing heaven here on Earth has everything to do with how we live, behave, and respond. The way to see God restore and renew creation has to do with how we treat one another, how we treat people. Now, most Sundays, I shouldn't say most Sundays, but there's a lot of Sundays I'll say something and somebody will send me an email or or something, "Hey, you, you messed that up, Pastor. You said that wrong." It's just a part of ministry. But I want to make sure that I'm clear. Jesus came to usher in the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God will not be fully established until Jesus Christ returns. But as we go through this series, I believe it's going to challenge us, just like it challenged this original audience. For some of you, it's going to be a rehearsal. For others of you, it will be eye-opening and life-changing because you've never heard it before. But I really feel like this is a word for the church today. I really feel, as I'm praying, Lord, what do, what do, what do you want to speak to your church? This is your church, not mine. Or what is it you want to speak? And I really felt the Lord direct me to go through this. And I feel like this is a word for the church today because, just like many of these Israelites were doing, there are a lot of Christians today that have isolated themselves. They have insulated themselves. And instead of reaching sinners, we hide from them. There are a lot of Christians today who take what they've been given, salvation and joy and forgiveness and peace, and what do they do with it? They hold on to it and keep it to themselves. There are some that have become so disgusted with the state of our planet, they're so sickened by the sin and the evil that maybe, just like these Jewish brothers and sisters 2,000 years ago, they are praying, "Lord, just come and wipe them out. I can't take it anymore. This world is filthy. This world is disgusting. So just come and, Lord, we want revenge. We want, want, uh, vindication. So just come and wipe them out." There are others in the church today that have heard Jesus' message of love, and they agree with it. Love your neighbor, love your enemy. But they've twisted the words of Jesus, and the way that they choose to love sinners is by justifying their sin. And so what's happened is now, and you know the different groups or even denominations, we have people who are proclaiming to be followers of Jesus, but they are doing things and accepting things that the Bible clearly calls sin, and they are justifying them and accepting them in the name of love. And what we're getting ready to dive into over the next several weeks is Jesus is going to show us. He's going to teach us the way that we reach the lost is not by accommodation or compromise. It only happens when followers of Jesus keep pursuing God's kingdom by practicing it here on Earth. Amen. I want to invite you to stand. And as we go through this series, I'm praying. I'm praying that every single one of us would be challenged. I'm praying that hearts and minds would be open, that we would be changed. I'm praying that we would allow God to change the way that we think, change the way we behave, change the way that we live. I'm praying that God would give every single one of us a passion to experience heaven on Earth. But for us to do that, we're going to have to do things God's way. We're going to have to do things God's way. And what we're going to see is God's way is radically different. God's way is the opposite. God's way is upside down from the rest of the world. So let me tell you what the challenge is for each one of us. As we commit over the next several weeks to dive into God's word, let's commit. We're going to let God change whatever God wants to change. Amen. Will you commit to that with me? We're going to let him change us. Like church is not just something we do or a place that we can show up and fall asleep because it's nice and dark and they keep the heat up. This isn't just about religion. And so as we go through this, the words of Jesus, the Savior of the World, God the Son, let's commit. Lord, you do in me whatever you want to do, how you want to do it, when you want to do it. And if we will commit to that, allowing God to speak to us and change us, when we choose to respond in obedience, you know what's going to happen? LFA is going to start bringing heaven to the addict. We're going to start bringing heaven to the orphan, heaven to the outcast, heaven to those who are mistreated, heaven to those who are abused, heaven to those who are depressed, heaven to those who feel like they have no hope. And as we continue to do our part and respond in obedience, we will play a part in seeing his kingdom come, his will be done on Earth, just like it is in heaven. As we close this morning in worship, I want to encourage you. If you need prayer about anything, come forward. Listen, if you're new here, today's message is very different. We went to school today. We went to class today. But I really felt like for us to get the most out of this message, this teaching, there are just some things that we need to understand. God wants you and me to bring heaven to people. Now, we don't have to wait for some magic, uh, service to take place for revival to happen. But what Jesus is going to show us is it has everything to do with us. How do we respond? How do we act? How do we decide? How do we entertain? How do we live? As we close and worship, if you, if you need prayer about anything, listen, don't carry it out with you this morning. Don't be ashamed. Don't be embarrassed. Come upfront. We believe in the power of prayer. Amen. But maybe you've heard me talk about the good life, and you think about your life, and that's not at all how you would describe your life. Listen, if, if you've got a need, if you've got a problem, anything, nothing is too big for our God. Amen. So as we close and worship, come down and let one of these brothers or sisters pray with you this [Music] morning. Christ is my fir found on. I stand when everything around me is Shing. I've never been more. I put my fa in Jesus. He's never let me down. He's faithful through generations. So why would he fail now? He won't. He won. I've still got joy in chaos. I got peace that makes no sense. So I won't be going under. Come help by my own st. Cuz I built my life on Jesus. He's never let me down. He's faithful in every [Applause] season. So why would he fail now? He won't. He won. He won't fail. He won't fa. He [Music] won. He [Applause] won't. He won't F. He won't fail. Christ is my firm foundation. He's the rock on which I stand. When everything around me is shaking, I've never been B Al. And I put my faith in Jesus. He's never let me down. His faithful group generations. So I would he fa now. He won. He [Applause] won. He won't fail. He won't fa. You won't [Music] he bu for you. [Music] Jesus came and but my house was built on. I'm safe with you. I'm going to make it through. Came wind BL. But my house was built on you. I'm save with you. I'm going to make it through. Came wind wo. My house was built on you. I stay with you. Are going to make it through. I'm going to make it through. I'm standing strong for you. I'm going to make it [Music] cuz my house is built all you. Christ is my Foundation. The Rock on which I stand. And everything around me is shaking. I've never been B Al. And I put my faith in Jesus. He's never let me down. Take through [Applause] generations. So why would he now? [Applause] He. He [Applause] [Music] Won't. He won't. Come on, let's give God some praise in this house. Come on now. Is he not worthy of all the praise? God will never fail us. Praise God. What a powerful word today. Wanting to see the kingdom of God here in this earth. And you and I are all part of that. Praise God. Come on, let's give God one more big hand. Come on. He is worthy. He is worthy. If you can shout out a football ball game, then you can give God praise. Come on now. Hallelujah. Praise God. Well, to all those that have joined online and watched, and, uh, you that are here, have you made a decision today to give your life back to Jesus? To get back on the right path? We want to know about it. If you're here in person, reach out to the to the seat in front of you, grab the card, fill that out, and take that out to Guest Central. There's an awesome team out there. We like to take you on those next steps. If you're watching online, text the word decision to the number on the screen. Just a quick reminder, we do have our small group fairs. Uh, our small group fairs are in the back in the Garden Room. So if you want to know more about the small group you'd like to attend, make sure you go and check that out. Other than that, God bless you guys. Love you guys. Have a good day. [Music]