King Of kings
I Am Jesus – part 5
I want to start off this morning with a few snapshots from Scripture (in your mind try to see the people, the places, the sights, the sounds…)
1Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2"Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star as it arose, and we have come to worship him." - Matthew 2:1,2 (NLT)
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 14After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. – John 6:12-15 (NLT)
1As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2"Go into the village over there," he said, "and you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them here. 3If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, `The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately send them." 4This was done to fulfill the prophecy, 5 "Tell the people of Israel, `Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey--even on a donkey’s colt.’ " – Mt 21:1-5 (NLT)
"35After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. Then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there. A signboard was fastened to the cross above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. It read: "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." Two criminals were crucified with him, their crosses on either side of his. And the people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. "So! You can destroy the Temple and build it again in three days, can you? Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!" The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders also mocked Jesus. "He saved others," they scoffed, "but he can’t save himself! So he is the king of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him!
- Matthew 27:35-42 (NLT)
Prayer…
Today is week 5 in our message series I Am Jesus… A year long message series where we are trying to see, know and understand Jesus better. A message series where we are taking Jesus out the little box that we have for Him in our own minds… (YOU KNOW – that little box where Jesus never asks us to do anything uncomfortable and where He always agrees with us)… A message series where we are taking Jesus off the flannel board of our current understanding… AND – are looking at Him WITH fresh eyes, open hearts and eager minds.
LISTEN - 2005 is going to be an amazing year for some of you. I MEAN – when the ball drops in Time Square in 06’ some of us… will not believe who we have become… I for one plan on being one of those people
QUESTION – who here wants to know Christ? WHO – here really wants to know Him better? OKAY – good answer… ONE MORE – question… AND – you really need to be honest with yourself on this one…(R U ready?) WHY – do you want to know Christ?
UNDERSTAND – for God to really move us forward in our spiritual journey He first has to get us to see where we really are… (HEY – have you ever gone to the mall and tried to find a store and you couldn’t… SO – you go to the big map. You find the store you want to go to…and then you look for the little red dot that says, ‘You are here.’) WELL – in like manner, before God can get us to where we need to go (knowing Christ) He has to first show us the red dot on the map of our spiritual life – that says, “you are here” AND FRANKLY – where a lot of us are is at a place where we (enjoy, desire & pursue) God’s blessings more than we pursue God.
YOU SEE - in many ways we are like the prodigal in Luke 15. YOU - remember the story Jesus told of a rich man whose son came up to him one day and told him – that he didn’t want to wait for his inheritance – that he wanted it now… (YOU SEE – this son didn’t want his father presence, he just want his father’s presents/ blessings)
AND – once the Father gave it to him the son left home and went to a far off land, far away from his father’s presence. LISTEN – far too often we have treated God the same way. “God bless my life and make things work out the way I want.… FIX - (my marriage, health, finances, job, relationships…) Father, I really don’t want to know you – I don’t really care to have a deep relationship with you (I can’t spare the time), I just want you to take care of the stuff I mentioned earlier). Father I need your blessings… BUT – your presence is not really necessary.
NOW - Jesus encountered people who were just like that in John chapter 5. In John 5, Jesus is talking with the Jewish leaders who were upset at Him because He had healed a guy who had been an invalid for 38 years…(now like the blind guy Jesus healed that we talked about last week… I would call healing this invalid a good thing.. but the leaders, the shepherds of God’s people didn’t) WHY? Because Jesus had the nerve to heal the guy on the Sabbath. (Like I told you Jesus seems to always be picking fights with these guys).
AND BECAUSE – Jesus did not fit into the nice little box that they had carefully prepared for their Messiah they had a heard time accepting that Jesus was who He claimed to be… CHECKOUT – what Jesus says to them…
“The things I do, which are the things my Father gave me to do, prove that the Father sent me. And the Father himself who sent me has given proof about me. You have never heard His voice or seen what He looks like. His teaching does not live in you, because you don’t believe in the One the Father sent…You search the Scriptures, because you think you will find eternal life in them. The Scriptures tell about me, but you refuse to come to me for eternal life.
– John 5:36-40 (NCV,CEV)
LET ME – read those last 2 verses again… You search the Scriptures, because you think you will find eternal life in them. The Scriptures tell about me, but you refuse to come to me for eternal life.
MAN – that is powerful… I read those words this past Friday in my ‘Hang Time’ with God. AND – I wrote these words in my journal;
Wow – your teaching will NEVER ‘live’ in me, IF – I go to the Scriptures to find formulas for living… RATHER – then finding you. So many people know the Word and not the Savior…
LISTEN – far too many people approach Christ in this way…”Come on Jesus, just give me the methods & formulas that will make my life better… AND - could you please hurry up so that I can be on my way…” THOUGH - not a pretty picture it’s an accurate one of most of our lives at times…
BUT UNDERSTAND – the greatest thing in life is not the blessings of life… NO – the greatest thing in life is that you and I can know God. LISTEN - the all-powerful, all knowing, all present GOD - the God who carved the entire universe with just a spoken word wants you to know to Him… YES {Tim…] – God really wants to hang out with you… AND - with me.
AND – because of Christ we can draw close, the barriers are gone… BUT INSTEAD – of drawing close… WE - choose the creation over the creator, the blessing over His presence. We are like a small child who is offered a 1,000 bill… BUT – who chooses a bright shinny dime instead… BECAUSE – it appears to be the better deal.
GUYS – I really need to be straight with you, with me, with us… BECAUSE - the truth is that it is very hard for us to believe & accept that knowing Jesus is better than having life workout the way we want it to.
I MEAN – having; your marriage, your family, your relationships, your health, your job…your finances… HAVING your life work out the way you want - sounds pretty good… IN FACT – it sounds awesome, doesn’t it. SO – how could ‘knowing Christ’ really be better than all of that stuff.
TO – be honest I don’t know how… YOU SEE – this is just one of those things that we just have to take by faith… AND – that we have take Jesus’ word on it;
“Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent.” John 17:3
YES - the journey we are taking together in 2005… IS - a journey where we are pursuing the higher dream (the presence of God) AND – having that presence be enough. IN - his book, ‘The Pressures Off, There’s A New Way To Live,’ – the author Larry Crabb talks about a guy who had traveled a pretty good distance on this same road that we are on… Larry writes;
It was a Sunday, about 2,000 years ago. As John wrote about what happened, he tells us that he was “in the Spirit” – indicating I think, that a sense of expectancy seized him, likely after many desperate days of waiting on God to meet him on the rock he called home. The apostle was an old man, living in the prison of a barren island, exiled there for the crime of preaching Jesus, eating poorly, sleeping uncomfortably, performing hard labor that not even a 20 year old should be forced to do, aware that the band of disciples was gone (most of them martyred), and discouraged by the spiritual condition of several local churches.
If he had followed the hopes of enjoying a better life, he would by now have been sorely disillusioned. But then Christ appeared to him. NOTICE – however, what didn’t happen when he appeared. Christ did not bring John a mattress. He did not spread a table with good food. He did not magically lift John off Patmos and set him on the mainland to hold seminars in Sardis & Laodicea.
What did happen was far better. The Spirit revealed Jesus Christ. I can hear John saying, “My life is miserable, but I ask not for sympathy, not for help, and not for a miracle. Just give me Jesus!” AND – that’s what the Spirit did. It’s a prayer God always, eventually answers.
NOW - the Jesus whom John met that day did not appear as the gentle carpenter, the loving teacher, the good friend who had once invited John to lean on his chest after dinner.
LISTEN – to John describe the Jesus he saw that day:
His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were bright like flames of fire. His feet were as bright as bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was as bright as the sun in all its brilliance.
Small wonder that when John saw Him, he fell at His feet as dead. NOT EVEN for a moment did it occur to him to say, “Could you get me off this rock? And I really would like a cup of hot coffee. It’s cold in this miserable place.
More is available to us in Jesus Christ than we dare to imagine. There’s more to Jesus Christ than we’ve ever dreamed. WE EXPERIENCE so little of Him when we approach Him only with requests. WE TASTE so little of the mouth stopping, complaint-ending, desire-deepening awe that His presence creates when we think more about our problems and how to solve them than about meeting Him. WE EXPERIENCE so little of the joy that sustains us in suffering and the hope that anchors us amid shattered dreams when we come to Him looking for the pathway out of hardships INTEAD of the pathway into His presence.
YES – this journey that we are on is a journey into His presence… A quest to know Him and have that knowledge be enough! AND GUYS – here’s the bottom line, if the only reason you want to know Him is in order to make your life better – you won’t find Him. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD- Jer 29:13,14
I love what John Piper writes in His book ‘Seeing & Savoring Jesus’
Christ does not exist in order to make much of us. We exist in order to enjoy making much of him…To know the glories of Christ is an end, not a means. Christ is not glorious so that we get wealthy or healthy. Christ is glorious so that rich or poor, sick or sound, we might be satisfied in Him. (page 21)
OKAY – I know that I spent a lot of time on this… BUT – I will frequently throughout this journey remind (you & me) of what this journey is really all about…
NOW - the last 3 weeks in our effort to know Christ better we have been looking at the names or titles that we find for Him in the New Testament. SO – far we have unpacked the names; ‘Son of God,’ ‘The Word Became Flesh’ and the ‘Good Shepherd.’ This morning we will look at the name; ‘King of kings.’
AND – by the way… This will be the last title or name that we will look at for now… (BUT – I am pretty sure that we will come back and do some other names later on in 05’…like ‘Son of man’ ‘Lion of Judah’ ‘Lamb of God’ ‘The Way’ ‘The Nazarene’) HOWEVER - next week we will begin talking about Jesus, His purpose… About what Jesus came to do. IT – is a series of messages that will take us to Easter. I am calling next weeks message, ‘He Came To Demonstrate God’s Love’
OKAY – Jesus is ‘The king of kings…’ Let’s do a little unpacking of those familiar 3 words… AND – I’ve put 2 statements in your notes to help us do just that… THE FIRST IS;
Jesus Was A Different Kind Of King
QUESTION – when you think of a king what do you think of?
• Power
• Palaces
• Pleasures
• Popularity
• Pomp ( ‘a show of magnificence or splendor’)
NOW – we need to understand that God’s people at the time of Christ’s arrival in Bethlehem knew a lot about Kings. I MEAN - kings had been a part of their history for centuries. THEY - had their own kings (Saul, David, Solomon and about 30 or so more)… AND THEY – sometimes they were even ruled by Foreign kings or emperors… (Nero, Caesar, Augustus, Neb)
AND – for the most part the kings who were over them were of the; power, palace, pleasure, popularity and pomp) type. BUT HERE’S – the crazy thing… THESE – people wanted a king over them. IN FACT – in 1 Samuel chapter 8, they asked Samuel to give them one. GO – ahead and turn there in your bible or follow along on the screen.
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel… They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have."
But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD . 7 And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."
10 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." 21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD . 22 The LORD answered, "Listen to them and give them a king." Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Everyone go back to his town."
AS – I read that passage this week and as I thought about the ‘typical king’… I NOTICED – a phrase that was used 6 times in those 18 verses to describe this king. It’s just 3 words; ‘He will take.’ HE WILL TAKE;
• Your sons, your daughters,
• The best of your fields, your vineyards and olive groves
• Your grain, your vintage
• Your menservants, your maidservants
• The best of your cattle and donkeys and flocks
• You… AND - you will become his slaves
LISTEN – that is exactly what earthly (kings and rulers) do, they take… AND – they feel that they have a right to… I MEAN – after all they are THE king…
My all time favorite movie, ‘Brave Heart’ is full of power scenes. There is one scene after William Wallace has helped lead the Scottish army to their first victory over the English, that illustrates the attitude of the typical king. Wallace is in a room and all the Scottish nobles are there and they make him a knight. AND – recognizing the influence that he has over the people they try to get him to join them in making a deal with the king of the English…
YOU SEE – these nobles, had a long history of making deals that gave them wealth & land.. BUT – that hurt the people and kept them in poverty… I love how Wallace responds to them;
“There is a difference between us. YOU – think that the people of this country exist to provide you with position. But – I think your position exists to provide the people with freedom…
Jesus was a different kind of king… A different kind of ruler… AND LISTEN – that difference was made readily apparent from the moment His life was conceived in the womb of a young peasant girl who was engage to a poor blue collar carpenter (with dirt under his nails and blisters on his hands…)
UNDERSTAND KING JESUS:
• was not born in a palace (though that was the first place the wise men from the east went) He was born in stable – place in a feeding trough.
• did not surround himself with the rich & the powerful (with ‘lords & ladies’) – but rather with the poor, the sick, the leper, the sinner, the tax collectors and the prostitute.
• did not lead a great, well trained, powerful army – instead He led a motley crew of fisherman, zealots and other misfits
• did not live in a beautiful palace with all the comforts and luxuries of royalty – in fact He himself said that he had nowhere to lay His head
• did not wear fancy robes and sparkling jewels – he had only one outfit which they ripped off his body before they killed him
• did not come to be served – but to serve, to wash the feet of even those who would betray him. He was of all things ‘a servant king.’
• did not come promoting himself – but rather He continually emptied himself
• did not live for the praise of men or the popularity of the people – in fact when his poll numbers were up and His approval ratings were off the chart and the wanted to make Him king – he took off on to the mountains to be by himself.
• did not spend his time in castle high up on a hill with the moat dug and the draw bridge closed separated from the people – instead King Jesus filled the moat with concrete, welded the draw bridge open and walked and lived among the people.
• did not travel around in the latest model fully loaded chariot, but rather He walked the dusty streets of Jerusalem in a pair of pay-less sandals..
• did not come into Jerusalem announcing His kingship – riding proudly on a powerful white stallion but He came riding humbly on the colt of donkey.
• though he had all power, though he had legions of angels at his command – did not use that power to promote, provide or even protect himself. I MEAN - he could have called ten thousand angels but this all powerful king choose instead to die on a cross, for you and me.
UNDERSTAND – King Jesus did not send His soldiers to the battlefield as he watch from the safety of the hillside… INSTEAD – King Jesus fought the battle himself on a hill called Calvary!
AND GUYS – here is the bottom line, let me sum it all up for you… Jesus the true King… Jesus, the king of kings… Is not a king who takes… BUT RATHER - a king who gives & gives & gives… Jesus is a king who used his power & position to win our freedom!
Jesus was a different kind of king… AND;
He Established A Different Kind of Kingdom
NOW – it should not surprise us that a different kind of king would establish a different kind of kingdom… AND – the kingdom that Jesus established is called the church…
I want to close off our time together this morning by talking about the church. I kind of want to do what President Bush did last Wednesday night in his State of the Union Address. I want to talk about the state of our church… The state of our union with Christ. I want to talk about where we are as a church and where God wants to take us…
[Tim…] - when I look at Central – I see two churches. FIRST – I see the church that we are and I thank God for that picture… LISTEN – I am so grateful for the church that we are…
•
I am thankful for the heart felt & energized worship that we have here – a worship that though we have an awesome praise team – is pleasing to God, NOT because of what happens here, but because of how we worship out there…
• I am thankful for the growing hunger for God, the many prayer warriors, the workers, the servants heart, the joy, the acceptance of all people…
• I am thankful that we are becoming a church that is more diverse which the way God has always intended His family to be.
• AND – I am thankful that so many are taking their spiritual growth seriously – and have invited people into their live’s to help them become all they can be in Christ.
YES – when I think of Central I see a picture of who we are (and I’m thankful) – BUT I also see a picture of who God wants us to be… Jesus spoke these words in John 4:35;
“Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! vast fields are ripening all around us and are now ready for the harvest.”
UNDERSTAND - Everybody needs Jesus! Everybody has a right to know what we know. AND LISTEN –we are so fortunate to be living in this moment of history where people are looking for the answers to life like never before. In the book ‘The Jesus Proposal’ the authors write;
At the beginning of the 21st century, there is a longing for spirituality and community that wasn’t present just a few years ago. There is a hunger for God and the experience of relationship with God and God’s people that is breaking through cultural, social and denomination barriers… People want to believe in the God who is not far from each one of us.
NOW – I’ve done a lot of reading on our culture. AND – from what I’ve read, from what I’ve seen… WHERE WE ARE – now in history is pretty much at the same place as when the church exploded in the book of acts…
YOU SEE – just like the first century. People today are finding that the real answers to life are not found.
• In religion
• In human philosophy
• In human governments
• In education
AND LISTEN – just like 2,000 years ago… People who have put their faith in those things have come up EMPTY and they are desperately looking for something to fill that emptiness… AND GUYS – just like 2,000 years ago we HAVE the right answer… Jesus Christ!
AND – I say what a great time it is to be the church…
The Spirit and the bride (whose the bride?) say “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” Rev 22:17
When I look and dream of Central’s future; I see a place where the beaten, the tuned off, the weary and the broken are put back together again… AND - I see place where people with fears & skepticism about organized religion can come as they are – and discover maybe for the first time that they really matter to God! And find new & living hope in the person of Jesus Christ.
AND – Jesus will never turn away a thirsty person who is humbly seeking after him. AND GUYS – our world is full of thirsty people. A few years back… Dick Alexander wrote an article called;
‘Raw’
It’s a word I never liked
Raw carrots are too hard
Raw oysters too slimy
Raw humor is too dirty
Raw skin is too painful
In fact raw applied to anything human sounds painful
But we live in a world of raw human need
It’s all around us
Do you ever wonder how many people struggle with homosexuality in your church
How many alcoholics
How many families with incest
How many addicts, how victims of violence and abuse
Will they find help
With the raw human need touching us every day
The church can scarcely afford business as usual
In practice many traditional churches view their mission
As holding Sunday services
Satisfying the members and doing a little good here & there
Such churches are on the way out
Within a few years they will be dinosaurs
Not because their doctrine is bad but because they lost their mission
Only churches serious about rescuing the hurting will survive and make a difference…
AND FRIENDS – I dream of a church like that. I dream of a healing fellowship where the raw/broken/beaten/ and hurt can be healed. I dream of a place where the discouraged can be lifted up – a place where people looking for love, can find the unconditional love, grace and acceptance of God.
I dream of a church that will totally outgrow this room 2,3,4 services every weekend, services full of believers and seekers alike who are learning to become worshippers and who are growing together in the knowledge of God. AND - who are being equipped & empowered to live life and to go out into the world and dispense the grace of God that they have just received…
I dream of a church that has become an authentic Acts 2 community… A church that not only worships together on Sunday but a church that does life together. A church of 10-20-30-50 or more small groups, that meet in homes, restaurants, schools campuses, office buildings, parks, class rooms, hall ways wherever – but real communities… where masks are taking off, and we quit pretending… where we get real and we get better – where we grow more like Christ. Real communities where we ask the tough questions – that help us become fully devoted followers of Christ!
I dream of a church full of people who are no longer hunger or thirsty ever again, because they came to Christ and springs of living have welled up inside of them…AND – the bread of life is raining down of them. I mean you can see it their face – you hear in the way they talk and you observe it in the way they live!
AND - I dream of a church where the burden for the lost is so real – that instead of laying awake a night worrying about how to pay the gas bill or if we’ll pass the test – we lay awake at night worrying about reaching the people who we know that are lost. YES – I dream of a church where the most important thing in the lives of every believer – (and you can see it in the way they use their time, their talents and even their money) is to seek and save the lost and make disciples of all nations… I mean it consumes us - we see their faces before us constantly – we know their need – we feel their pain – and we tremble at the though of them leaving this life without Jesus!
I dream of a church with a burden like that… A church who sends out missionaries all over the world and who live as missionaries in their world…A place where we people pull me aside not to talk about who hurt their feelings or what they don’t like – but a place where people pull me aside in tears and ask me to pray for a lost family member, friend or co-worker!
AND - I dream of a church that breaks out of the walls of this fortress and becomes a visible force in this community… Meeting real needs healing real hurts in the name of Jesus Christ. Divorce ministries, Recovery ministries… WE HAVE – a recovery ministry that meets every Friday night at 7 pm/ SOME – of you need to be there (it’s not just for alcoholic it’s for anyone struggling with issues… with habits, hang ups and hurts)… AGAIN – some of you need to be there and some of you know people who need to there… …
I dream of being a church that has such in an impact on this community that we were ever to close the doors – the hurting, the lost, the seeking – of this community would not only notice but rise up in protest… We have a ministry called 25:40 Ministries led by Ozzie Giles that is helping us do just that.
I dream of place where hundreds of student & children pile into every Sunday & Wednesday night and throughout the week… And find a place that let’s them know that no matter how messed their life is that there is a God in heaven who loves, who thinks they’re pretty special and wants to do great things with, in and through their lives… A place that brings hope, healing, power and purpose to this next generation….
I dream of a church where every member has found his or her god-given talent and is using with passion and joy to build up the kingdom of God…
I dream of a church FULL of men & women who are like the leaders of Issachar that we read about in 1 Chronicles 12… WHO – understand the times and who KNOW what God’s people should do.
I dream of a church that takes risks, steps out, that puts it all on the line… that prays bold prayers, fears God, put others before themselves, is open to the Spirit and lives courageous life’s of adventure for God… ’
I dream of a church full of people who like – Abraham say; “Lord even if I don’t know all the details, even though I don’t really know where I am going – yes I will leave my family and all I have - to go with you..” people who like Joshua and Caleb realize – “that God’s church was not meant to merely exist in the wilderness of mediocrity – people who see the land of promise and want to conquer it and who fear no giants… a place full of people who like the little boy who gave up his lunch - who even though the need is great STILL bring all they have trusting in Jesus to multiply it…and fed the multitudes…
I dream of a church FULL of incarnational Christians…Believers who flesh out Jesus in the real word. Believers who live their lives just the king lived His, when he was here… Believers who fill the moat and lower the draw bridge and walk and live among the people of this world…
AND - I dream of a church that is more passionate about LIVING right then being right and always thinking they have the right answers. (guys I’ve walked that road in my past – but a will walk it no more)… I dream of being a church that is serious & intentional about being an answer to Jesus’ prayer in John 17…
20"I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony. 21My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father--that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.
– John 17:20,21
AND GUYS – here is the bottom liner…I dream of a church who lives for only 3 things;
• to see and know Christ
• to put His beauty on display!
• To redirect the eternity of men and women
AND LISTEN – I know that these dreams for Central are not just mine – YOU SEE - I know that a passion burns today in this church to be the church God wants us to be like it has never burned before! YES – the number is rising of the people of Central who are no longer content to GO to church, they want to BE the church… THEY – want to put the beauty of the king of kings on display!!!
11Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. And the one sitting on the horse was named Faithful and True. For he judges fairly and then goes to war. 12His eyes were bright like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him, and only he knew what it meant. 13He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. 14The armies of heaven, dressed in pure white linen, followed him on white horses. 15From his mouth came a sharp sword, and with it he struck down the nations. He ruled them with an iron rod, and he trod the winepress of the fierce wrath of almighty God. 16On his robe and thigh was written this title: King of kings and Lord of lords. – Revelation 19:11-16 (NLT)
YES – He is the king of kings…
AND – He established a different kind of kingdom
BECAUSE – our king is a different kind of king…
Video clip sermon spice “That’s My King…”
BEFORE – we sing. I want you to think about why God brought you here this morning…
UNDERSTAND - God brought some of you here today to say to you…
1. You need to choose another king… (the king that you have set over you is taking so much from you)
2. Stop you quest for formulas and methods that will make your life better… AND – start your quest for me and my presence.
3. Forget about the past… Forget about any bad taste that is in your mouth because of a past church experience. AND…today, this moment
• Embrace
• Believe
• Get pumped and get excited about the church – about the different kind of kingdom Jesus came to establish…
4. AND – to all of us… God brought us here to say that Jesus IS the king of kings and Lord of lords…
