← The Church of Eleven22
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- [00:03]
A
Church. How you doing? Merry Christmas. Wow. All right, maybe it wasn't that merry. We'll try to fix that today. Hey, I want to introduce you to some of my friends. This is Pastor Warner and his wife Gabby. And this is their son, Santiago Santi. And down here is Spencer Bolter. Spencer is the founder of Six Eight Ministries down in Costa Rica. One of our partners, and then one of our elders, Barry Chandler is. And one of the great joys that we get as a congregation is we get to walk alongside of church planters as they step out and start new churches all over the world. Scripture says in Habakkuk 214 that a knowledge of the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the seas. And the way that God has chosen to do that is by planting churches in every corner of the earth that Jesus would be named and known among every nation. And so Warner and his family spent some time here in the States with us. And then they have headed back to Costa Rica where they are from and in partnership with Six Eight Ministries. Man, I said this before, but I wish we had like half an hour to tell you this 15 year old story that you guys now are getting to see a piece of. And it's just amazing to see God's grace in all of this and the way that he's worked through you guys and through Six Eight. And so it's such an honor to be with you. But I've got two gifts for you. Two little reminders. So this one is some doorstops. So my mom sewed this bag, my dad cut these beautiful doorstops. But my dad started doing that back when we planted a church. And they just seem to walk off. So practically you'll have some doorstops. But what we really want you to remember is keep the doors open to people, to come to know Jesus. There are people that are far from Jesus, have never heard of him, don't know them. They are living in darkness and they are dead in their trespasses and sins. And they need somebody to fling wide the heavenly gates to them. And so you guys, in your life, in your church, as you teach your people to keep their lives open to people. So I want to give you these as a reminder of that. And then the second one is this. We got you a watch. And yeah, look so surprised. Like this hasn't happened in two other services. And. But we got you a watch. You really get to keep it this time, which is really good. But this watch is a watch back in the 80s was designed to be the Official watch of the Navy SEALs for the U.S. navy. And what those guys represent in some ways are they go behind enemy lines. They go first, and they're there to try to defend and bring freedom to people who otherwise couldn't do that. And so I want to give this to you so that you can wear it. Remember, here's the thing, is that what you're doing is you're not just bringing temporary freedom or national freedom, you are bringing eternal and ultimate freedom in the name of Jesus Christ and his gospel to these people. And when you do that, you're gonna step across enemy lines and you're gonna take enemy territory and you're gonna go into darkness and bring light, and the force of evil will push back against that. And it will be hard and it will be tiring, and it'll feel like you wanna give up. But what I want you to do is I want you to wear that and I want you to see it. I want you to see it and I want you to remember that you've got a big family here in Jacksonville that loves you guys. Is for you, is praying for you. Amen. Yep. And all you have to do is call. All you have to do is text and say, come, and we will load up planes full of people and come down and surround you guys and support you and do whatever we can for you. So, Elder Barry, would you pray for this sweet family and lead us in some prayer?
- [03:54]
B
I'll do it. Pastor Adam, you know how dangerous it is to give me a microphone, right?
- [03:59]
A
You're the elder.
- [03:59]
B
Yeah, I'm the elder. Okay. Yeah, I am. Well, I just wanted to say, you know, in Matthew, Christ gives us the great commission. And these guys took it seriously, you know, and praise God for that. Praise God for that. And then I was reading in Acts, Christ ascends to heaven. And the angels are standing there and he's. They're looking around at the disciples and the other followers of Jesus and they say, you know, why are you looking up? You know, that same Christ that is ascending is going to descend one day and set up his eternal kingdom on the earth. So, you know, get busy, get busy. And so they all went back and stayed at home. And persecution launched the church. And it dawned on me on the way over here, Adam, you know, and Pastor Brett hit on this A few weeks ago, the Apostle Paul took a left hand turn and went in the Mediterranean area and spread the gospel. And then it goes into Europe and then it comes over here. Amazing that we are that mission field that Christ was Talking about when he said, go and spread my gospel. So let's pray. Father. God, we love this couple. We love Santiago. I just thank you for empowering them and enabling them and challenging them to take your word seriously to spread the gospel to Costa Rica. God, there will be challenges, but help them to realize, God, that the same spirit that raised you from the dead will empower them in their daily walk. I pray that you would grow them close together. Their marriage needs to take first priority, except for you, in their lives. And then you will build your church.
- [06:00]
A
That's right.
- [06:01]
B
And the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So thank you for this couple, for this young man. We look forward to what they're going to do in your name. We love you, Lord. Thank you for the many blessings of knowing you as our Lord and Savior, Christ's name. Amen.
- [06:17]
A
Amen. Love you guys. Thank you so much. Yep. Give me a hug. Yep. Gabby, give me a hug. All right, you guys. They will be here after the service, either down front, here, or out in the lobby. We have been in a series now for six weeks. The seventh week we've been in a series called When He Asks. And we've been asking, looking at questions that Jesus asked. Jesus asked about 307 questions that we have recorded in the gospels. Questions like, why do you call me Lord, Lord? And then don't do what I tell you to do? Or why do you doubt? Why do you fear? Why do you have anxieties? Today we're going to look at the seventh of these questions, and what I want to do is I want to give you the question. I'm going to give you the answer. So then if you need to duck out or zone out or whatever, you can do that. You'll have the answer right up front. Then we're going to dive into Matthew chapter 10 and see this question. But here's the question Jesus asks. He says, what do you want me to do for you? Like if Jesus looked at you right now and he said, what do you want me? What do you want me to do for you? How would you answer that question? Maybe there would be things you want, things you didn't get for Christmas, things on your wish list. Maybe there's healing that you want or a relationship restored, or there might a new job, whatever it is, what would you say if Jesus said, what? What do you want me to do for you? Now, here's the way I want to answer this today, and we're going to see it in the scripture. Is that underneath all of those answers, the ultimate answer is Jesus, I want you to be you for me. What we really need is for Jesus to be Jesus to us and then stir in us an awe and an amazement and an affection. Affection for him like we have never had before. If you. I don't know when the last time it was that you were really in awe of something. Not just like, it's really cool or this is interesting, or I find that really fascinating. But when were you like in awe of something? It was about two weeks ago. I got up, it was about 4:30 in the morning. I was going hunting. I pulled out. I was driving north on A1A. It's pitch black, it's dark, there aren't any lights out. And I turned out on a 1A. I mean, there was a meteor shower. And not like one little, you know, shooting star. It looked like it was raining lights out of the sky. And I was stunned, stunned. I was in awe of what was happening there. When's the last time you were in awe? When was the last time you were in awe of God? Like, not just, oh, that's some neat facts. Or I like the miracle that you did, or that's really interesting. But when was the last time you were really in awe of God? I've been reading this book and I'm only about halfway through it. So don't ask me to recommend it to you because I don't know if I can recommend it yet. But so far this book has been fascinating. I am completely sucked in this book. It's called the Anatomy of the Soul. Listen to this. Surprising connections between neuroscience and spiritual practices that can transform your life and relationships. I love this book. Cause it's got pictures in it, which is great. But I mean, you can see like I'm underlining like every other. I mean, it's just. There's less underlined than there is more. You know, it's just crazy. But the whole way your brain is half your. You got a right hemisphere and a left hemisphere and top, bottom, and in and out. How all these things. God created our brains to love him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength that he would. God would think up neurons and synapses and things would fire and jump across. And I mean, it's unbelievable. I'm in awe of God that he would design our brain the way he designed it. So when was the last time you were in awe of God? I think a bunch of us will say, well, I mean, I don't really get in awe. I think things Are cool, but I don't get in awe. Yes, you do. You're like. Well, I mean, I don't really get all you have. I don't really have the capacity. Yes, you do. You have. We have virtually infinite capacity. I just don't have an excited personality. Yes, you do. I've seen you watch football games. You get super worked up. You have the personality to be in awe. We all do. I think there's. We don't. We're not in awe often because honestly, we're really distracted. Like, as amazing as this thing is, it's so distracting, isn't it? I remember it was about six months ago, I was preaching down in Fort Lauderdale, one of our church plants, and we were in the middle of selling our house and trying to buy another house, and I'd accidentally left my phone on. I had it up here so I could have a little clock on to see what time I needed to finish up and ignore it. And so as I'm preaching, all of a sudden text messages start coming in and coming in and coming. And I can't shut it off. So finally I just took it and threw it in the front row. It was so distracting. Me right now in here, somebody's phone is buzzing and is distracting them. We just get distracted. Or if it's not distraction, it's familiarity. Right? You just. The reason you don't see the hole in the wall in your dining room is cause you've lived with it for 20 years. I have a good friend who lives not too far from me or down. They have a house down on the beach. And we go over to their house over there. And you walk in and it's kind of an unassuming house. And you walk in down on the garage level, but you walk upstairs. And as soon as you walk upstairs, the entire side of their house is glass looking out over the ocean. I remember going over there the first time, and I walk upstairs and there's my friend, he's over doing dishes at the sink. And he's like, hey, how you doing? And I'm like, how do you ever do dishes? And he's like, what do you mean? I'm like this. How do you do dishes? He's like, oh, yeah, yeah. He's so familiar that he just see it. I mean, have you ever read something in the Bible where you're just. You're reading through, you're going along, you're reading and you're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've seen that. Give me just something else that's something new and you want to skip it because you're familiar with it. And familiarity can cause us to lose our awe. Or we just settle. CS Lewis said that we settle for mud pies. When God has a holiday at the sea for us, you just think, well, I get used to the ordinary and the lesser, and we just get so easily amused. It's not that we have so much awe. We just don't have enough awe in the right places. And we settle. We have a Christmas tradition in our house where every Christmas day for dinner, I make a beef tenderloin. And you I take it to. And I crust it in cracked pepper and I roast it to ju just past rare the way God meant it to be cooked. Amen. You take it, you let it rest, like way longer than you think. Soaks all those juices back up into it, and then you slice it just right, just nice and thick, and you get it on your plate. And I mean, you don't even need a knife. You just. With the side of your fork, you can just cut into that. It's so good. But sometimes we can settle for that being the thing instead of our eyes lifted up from the thing that was made like the beef tenderloin to the one that made the beef tenderloin. Like, we settle for creation instead of the creator of the creation, and we just settle. And when we do that, we lose our awe. You know there's a war for our awe, don't you? We have an enemy that would love to nothing more than to steal your awe and kill your awe and destroy your awe in God. You have an enemy, and you have a culture that would love for you to be in awe of you and me to be in awe of me, and that to be the ultimate amazement in our lives. Then we have sin in our life. What sin does to me sin diminishes my awe in God. And so what do you do? If you've never had awe before, you would go, well, at one point, I was in awe of God, but I'm just really not in awe anymore. What do you do? The author of Hebrews says it's fix your eyes on Jesus. Fix your eyes on Jesus. And so that's what we're gonna do today. We're gonna fix our eyes on Jesus, and we're gonna see how amazing he is. Now, every sermon is one of three kinds. There's three kinds of sermon. They have at least one of these in every single one of them. I'm gonna teach you how to listen to a sermon all right, it's either a head sermon, meaning the goal is I want you to think something differently. I want you to be transformed in the renewing of your mind. You need to leave here knowing something different, thinking something differently, or it's a hand sermon. I want you to leave here doing something different. Like compassion Sunday. A few weeks ago, the doing different, the hands part was go, go sponsor a compassion kid. And then there's a heart sermon. I want you to feel something. I don't need you to, I don't need you to overthink it. I don't need you to do it. I just need you to feel something about this. And this is a feeling sermon. I want you to be in awe of Jesus. So Matthew, Mark, chapter 10 says this starting in verse 32, they were on the road since the disciples with Jesus. They're on the road going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them. So they're kind of walking, he's right there. And they were amazed. There it is. They were amazed. And those who followed were afraid. Now here's what's so interesting about this situation, is this is something they probably were doing every day of their life. They're just walking along the side of the road, they're walking up to Jerusalem, they're just commuting. They're just doing the everyday, ordinary thing. But as they're doing it, God in the flesh is with them. Think about that. How amazing is Jesus that in the middle of our ordinary, mundane, average lives, God would break in in the flesh and be with us? How amazing is that? That's what we just celebrated at Christmas. All the gifts, all the, everything we do, all the beef tenderloin, everything you eat, do, give, all of it is pointing to signify that God came to be with us. How amazing is that? It's the thing that sets Christianity apart from every other world religion. See, every other world religion will tell you, hey, you know what you need to do? Get your act together. You need to be moral enough to be with God. You need to do all the religious things to work hard enough to earn your way up to God. You need to show up at the right time and do the right things and be impressive enough in order to earn your way to get up to God. The entire storyline of scripture is God coming to be with us. That God would send his son into this world to be with you and me at the end of all of this. The end you read back into the end of revelation. The end of it is that God will make his Dwelling place with man again, that he will come and be with us. That's Emmanuel. God with us. How amazing is Jesus. And then he promises, I will never leave you. Yeah, I came, but I will never leave you. And I will never forsake you. You will never be alone. I will always be with you. How amazing is Jesus. Verse 32. And taking the 12 again, he, Jesus began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, see, Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, deliver him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him, spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days, he will rise. Do you see what Jesus is doing right here? He's laying out for them the plan of God that will play out in his life. He's showing them the way that he is going to fulfill all of the prophecies and promises of God. We've talked about this before, but the probability of Jesus fulfilling just eight of the Old Testament prophecies about him is one in ten to the seventeenth. That's one in ten with seventeen zeros after it. It's as if you were to take silver dollars, fill the state of Texas two feet deep with all of those silver dollars. Take one of them out, put a red X on it, put it somewhere, bury it somewhere out there in the two feet deep of silver dollars in the state of Texas. Blindfold somebody, tell them, go out there somewhere. You get one chance, reach down, pick it up. What are the odds that that person is going to grab the one with a red X on it? That's the odds of Jesus fulfilling one in eight. But there aren't eight prophecies about Jesus. There are 435. Paul says in Second Corinthians 1:20, all of God's promises are yes in Jesus Christ. That Jesus fulfilled every plan and every promise and every prophecy there ever has been about him. He is the fulfillment of every. How amazing is Jesus that he would fulfill every promise of God. They all find their yes and amen in him. Verse 35. And James and John his son Zebedee come up to him and said to him, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you, okay? And he said to them, here's our question. What do you want me to do for you? What do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, listen to their response. They said to him, grant us to sit one at your right, the other at your left. In your glory. That is the dumbest request ever. It is completely idiotic. It is stupid. I would get in trouble for saying stupid around my little kids, right? It's the dumbest thing they could have ever asked for. Think about it. Right now, Jesus is at the right hand of God the Father. He's seated at the right hand of God the Father. So what these two brothers are asking is one of two things. Hey, Jesus, could we either take your spot in glory? Could you scoot on down the line of importance? Could we be more important than you in glory? Or could we sit at your left, which would be the throne of the God the Father? Could we bump him down a little bit? Do you see how ridiculous their request is? And yet Jesus hears him. He listens to him. How amazing is Jesus that every time you and I, no matter how stupid and ridiculous our requests sound, that he would hear us right now? Do you know what Jesus is doing right now? He is interceding for his people. The reason our whole world is still spinning on its axis. The correct way is that Jesus is before the Father's throne. And what he's doing is he's taking our requests, and then he is delivering them to the Father. He's interceding for us. It's why you don't need another priest. Why don't you need a holy man? You don't need special services, any of that. So that you have direct access through Jesus, your great high priest. And he hears every single one of our prayers. He does not turn a deaf ear to us. Verse 38. Jesus said to them, you don't. You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? And they said to him, we're able. Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you will drink. With the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant. But it is for those for whom it has been prepared. Jesus answers them, I know you're looking at me and you're like, no, no, he didn't. He said no. Exactly. He answered them. You know, I mean, this is Jesus. He answers every one of our prayers. There is not an unanswered prayer ever. He just answers them one of three ways. He either says, yes. Like, you make a request and he goes, okay, yes, you may. That thing may happen. You may have that thing, whatever it is. Or he can go, no, no. Now you may not like it, but it's an answer. Or he'll say, wait, hold on. What's best for you? What brings God the most glory is later. And Jesus always answers, what is best for you and me, and what brings God the most glory. So if you don't get what you want, or you don't get what you want now, you can rest in the fact that you are getting exactly what you need and exactly what brings God the most glory. And how amazing is Jesus not only that he listens to them, but that he hears them and then he answers them. When the ten heard it, verse 41, they began to be indignant at James and John, right? They're just prideful. Like, I can't believe they would actually ask him to be the best. We're so much better than them. Who do they think they are? Jesus called them to him and said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. Do you see what he does to him? He doesn't. He doesn't kick James and John out because of their dumb request. He doesn't run the rest of the disciples off because of their indignation, their pride and their arrogance. Look what it says that he pulled them. He called them to him. How amazing is Jesus that he doesn't take us when we sin. Think about this. I have given Jesus infinite numbers of reasons to run me off, even since I've become a follower of Jesus. You have to. And yet he doesn't do that. He says, no, you're mine. I will keep you. I will never lose you. You will never run off. You will never be a lost sheep for me. I got you. You are kept by me. And he doesn't run them off. He doesn't run you and me off. What he does is he starts shaping them, discipling them. Look, he tells, nope, that's not what it's like to live in the kingdom of God. That's what people outside the kingdom do, inside the kingdom of God. Here's what it looks like. Here's how you look more like me. And he begins to shape them and mold them and form them to look more like Jesus. And how amazing is Jesus that he does that for us, that he wouldn't run us off, but he would say, no. Come here. Come here. We got to sand some of those edges off. Got to bring a little more peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. We're going to get there. Hold on. It's why you and I are still drawing breath in our lungs. How amazing is Jesus that He does that? It's called sanctification. If you are a believer in Jesus, justification, like being made right with God, happens. It may take you a minute to figure it out that it happened, but it happens. Sanctification is this progressive thing there. We grow in Christ over time to become more like Him. And this is what you're seeing Jesus do. And how amazing is Jesus that He's so patient and kind to do that with us. In verse 45, it says, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. You know, Jesus doesn't need a single thing from you and me. Jesus didn't need this sermon for me. Not that he doesn't enjoy it. Maybe he doesn't need it. He doesn't need anything. Like he created everything there is. Colossians says that it's from him and through him and to him that everything came into being and everything exists. He's the Word. At the beginning we sang it. He's the Word that spoke all of this into being. He is the Creator. He is king over all of this. He. He has a thousand cattle on a hill. He doesn't need anything. And he comes to serve. He does what what Philippians 2 says, like he's on his throne. He has every right to leverage his eternal kingship. And he sets it aside to take on flesh and to come and serve you and me. How good is He? How amazing is Jesus that He would serve us? He says this in verse 45. For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. And here's the line. If you write in your Bible, which you should, you should circle this and star it and underline it and highlight it, and to give his life a ransom for many. You know what a ransom is? A ransom is a price that's paid for somebody that's been taken captive. That our sin holds us captive. The last enemy is death. The wages of sin is death. Ephesians 2 says that we are dead in our trespasses and sins. It's not just that. We're kind of bad versions of ourselves and we need some tips and tricks to be better at life. No. We are held captive in our sin to death. And it is an enemy that we can't escape. None of us will overcome that Enemy. But God. But God said, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to come on a rescue mission for you. I'm going to send my son, and he's going to live life in such a way, perfect life, where he will never be held to that enemy. He will never be taken captive. He should never suffer death. And then do you know what he does? He gives his life as payment for us in captivity. And he didn't just pay the price of what you and I are worth. He paid the price of what he's worth. And he has infinite worth. He fully paid the ransom for you and me. And what he did in his perfect life is that he trades his perfect life for our sinful life, his righteousness for our unrighteousness. And he takes on that enemy, death on the cross. And he subjects himself to that captivity, to death in our place, so that we might never be held captive. And then God raised him from the dead, resurrected him, meaning he defeated the enemy, defeated, Defeated the sin, so that it holds no more eternal power over those who are in Christ Jesus. And then he says, do you know how this becomes yours? Do you know how you get set free? By the ransom of my life. You receive it. You step into the freedom that has been bought for you. You walk into the freedom. You're not captive anymore. You don't have to live captive anymore. I paid the ransom for you. You're free. Walk in it. Walk in it and receive it. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to worship. And when we worship, here's what's going to happen. For some of us, we've lost our awe. Like, here's what you would say. You would say, yeah, at one point, I had it. Not just excited, but like, I was enthralled with Jesus. Jesus writes a letter in Revelation, chapter 2 To a church called Ephesians, Ephesians. And in it he says, you lost your first love. You lost your awe of me. And here's what he tells him. He says, do you want to recapture that awe? Here's what you do. Remember. Don't just remember the feeling. Remember Jesus. Remember his life. Remember his death. Remember his resurrection. Remember his rule, his reign. Remember his offer of salvation. Remember the freedom. Remember. And then it says, repent. All repenting is. Is being turned around that you and I would be turned from our sin and turned from our dullness and turned from our ho hum. Everyday life and fixation on it and ourselves and lesser things and be Turned from new life in Jesus Christ. He says, you remember and you repent. For some of us, we have sin that we need to repent of. Maybe what you need to do is not come down here and just beg God to restore your all. But you would come down here and you would repent of the sin that is diminishing your awe in Jesus. And then for some of us, that it would be to receive for the first time. Maybe, maybe you, you're sitting here and you're like, I've never been in awe of Jesus. If I really honest, like, I've been interested in some stories, I'm here. I kind of think he's a great teacher. But in the middle of this, something has stirred up in you. And what that is, is that's the Holy Spirit bringing you to new life, allowing you to lay hold of the freedom that Jesus has purchased for you. He's creating an awe in you that you and I, we can't create for ourselves. And if that's stirring inside of you, that's not just emotion, that's new free life in Jesus. And the thing for you to do is to respond. It's to receive that new life, to say, jesus, I accept what you did for me that you became captive so that I could be free. You became dead so that I could become alive. And you would receive that. And you would receive Jesus as your Savior and your Lord, the one who would lead you into freedom. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to pray and then we're going to worship like people who are in awe of Jesus. So would you bow your heads and if for the first time you are receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior, would you raise your hand right now, Raise him up high as a sign of awe in Jesus. Amen. Heavenly Father, we come to adore you. To adore you, to be in awe of you more than anything you would ever do for us. That's incredible. Anything you could give us, provide for us. We. We're here to just stand jaw drop in awe of you. You, because you're enough, Lord, you could give us everything we ever asked of you. But if we don't have you, it's nothing. You are more than enough. You are everything we need. And so we come to adore you and to worship you and to glorify you and to stand in awe of you. And so, Lord, would you restore to us the joy of our salvation? Would you set us free from the bondage of sin that plagues us? And Lord, would you be honored in the new freedom that you've given to people today. And so, Lord, we worship you in Jesus name. Amen. Would you stand? And we're gonna worship. We're gonna bring our tithes and our offerings because God gave his best and his first in Jesus Christ. And we're gonna. We're gonna sing. We're gonna sing like people who love the Lord and who are in earth awe of Jesus. And then we're going to pray. And maybe you need to come down here and ask to have your joy restored or to ask for repentance and forgiveness of sin. And we're going to worship. Let's worship in awe of Jesus.