Did You Move? | Pastor Earl McClellan

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, if you have your Bibles, I want you to open up with me to the book of Acts. Acts chapter number one. In the month of June, we were going through the book of Joshua for the month of July. We'll be walking through the book of Acts. This is all connected with our summer strong. For the summertime, we're not taking steps backwards. We're taking steps forward. We want to become all that God is calling us to be. We want to develop and grow and mature and really see what God can do in us and through us. So I'm encouraging you on your own time at home, whether you're driving or in your apartment or in your house, take some time out. Listen to the scriptures together. Let it wash over your heart and your mind so that you can begin to grow as you and I lean and learn the word of God. Okay, go with me again. Book of Acts, chapter one. If you're not sure where it is, just look it up. You don't have to fake it. But Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, then Acts. Acts is the fifth book of what we call the New Testament. Acts chapter one, beginning in verse number one, it says, In my former book, Theophilus, Theo, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven. After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then they gathered around him and asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. That's Acts chapter 1, verses 1 through 8. If you'd like to take notes, the title of today's message is Did You Move? Did You Move? Um Before I continue on with this message, I I gotta give a shout out to Old School here in the front row. It's his birthday today. His birthday. 82. 82 years old, Brother Hammer is 82 years old. Stand up, Brother Hammer. You're looking so good. He's got his ping em um. Can we get him on the camera tier? How about we sing happy birthday to Hammer? Say keep standing, Hammer. Keep stamming. Happy birthday. This is awesome. Happy birthday, happy birthday. He was wearing kangos before LL Cool J. Some of y'all will not get that joke, but some of you old heads will. We love you and honor you so much. Uh again, back to Acts chapter 1. Uh, you see in this text here, Jesus uh is speaking to his disciples, and we get some insight about the conversation Jesus is having with his disciples after his resurrection. Uh and the apostle, uh the writer, the gospel writer Luke here, he's the same one who wrote the gospel of Luke, is the one who wrote the book of Acts. He was a physician, uh, and he is writing and giving us some insight into what that conversation was like that Jesus was having with his disciples. If I were to ask you what was the message of Jesus when Jesus was on this earth, some of us would say something like love, or we might say something like hope or faith. And none of that would be totally wrong. I just think it would be a little bit incomplete because when Jesus was with his disciples, he had an overarching message, and his message was this the kingdom of God. This is what he talked about. So when he's speaking about love or faith and the Holy Spirit, all of this is within the kingdom of God. When you read Acts chapter 1, again, verse number 3, you can put it on the screen for me. It says this is what he was talking to them about. This is after the resurrection, after the greatest moment in human history, the thing that reconciled all of humanity back to God, gave us a way to have a relationship with God as Jesus is walking and eating and connecting with his disciples. He is talking to them about the kingdom of God. Now, I was I left uh my home when I was about 17 uh years old, not about, I was 17 years old. That's when I went off to college, not because I was uh skipped the grade or anything. My birthday just happened to be in October. So uh I went to college when I was 17, and I'm from Providence, Rhode Island. From Providence, Rhode Island, I went to Oklahoma. When I'm in Oklahoma, uh, this is where I meet my sexy piece of dark chocolate. This is where I meet my wife. Uh I love her uh so much. She's from California, and she went from California to Oklahoma. Again, we met there in school. When she was leaving California, her friends are like, Why are you leaving California to go to Oklahoma? Uh there are no guys there. Wrong. So she and I meet there in college. Uh, but the world of Oklahoma is very different than California. And definitely different than Rhode Island. I actually had not experienced heat like that. Uh I was used to the cold, but I was not used to the heat when I got down to Oklahoma. But then after we got married, after we graduated, we got married, we then moved down to Texas. Now, Texas, this is its own country, okay? I didn't know this. I remember in college, like a guest speaker would come in and they would say something about like, I'm from Texas. Then everybody from Texas would erupt. They'd be like, Yaa! And all they did was just mention the state. And then I got down here and I realized it's a cult. Texans, I mean, it is so deep. Now, now, now I'm one of us, right? I'm one of us. Okay, I mean, it's like we are, I'm we're Texas, right? I mean, we're the best of the best, and every other state bows. You know, the Texas is kind of the mindset that we have here. It's a little bit warped, but it feels right. So we we have this whole this whole mindset here in Texas. Now, I'm again I moved, so I used to kind of think a certain way and operate a certain way in Rhode Island. In Rhode Island, people don't wave at each other, they don't talk to each other when you walk. Everybody's sad. We all walk around sad, not everybody, but it feels like it's in the air. It's just like we're the smallest, we're just nobody cares about us. But Texas, you're like, hey. You know, people are looking up, their shoulders are back, there's a different confidence that's just in the air. You moved and you start to pick up a different feel and flow depending on the culture that you are in. Jesus here is speaking about the kingdom of God. And what he's telling us is once you become a follower of mine, you move. You had an address, you had a place that maybe you were raised. And in that place you were raised, they talked a certain way, lived a certain way, carried themselves a certain way. But once you're now mine, I need you to understand. You move from where you were, and you're coming into a different place. Go with me to the book of Colossians, chapter one. Colossians chapter one, verse number 15. I got a little definition here. I'm gonna share I'm gonna share with you all about the kingdom of God in just a moment. But first, before we get there, Colossians chapter 1. Oh no, not verse number 15. Go with me to do I have verse 12 or verse 13 on there? Which one is this? I'm gonna read verse 12 and we'll get to 13. And giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us. Now I'm in verse number 13 of chapter one of Colossians, for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, meaning we had a ruler, a dominion of darkness, and brought us into the kingdom. Everybody say kingdom, kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. You'll read terms like kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, kingdom of light. All of these are interchangeable in scripture. When you read through the gospels, you'll see that Jesus came preaching the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is at hand. All of this is his message, it's his language, it's what he is about. He's letting us know that a new rule has showed up, that there is a way that God wants things to be done, and you're used to another ruler, but you need to understand that now that I'm here, things are shifting and things are changing, and you're not where you used to be anymore. And this verse of scripture tells us you used to be in the kingdom of darkness, under the dominion of darkness, but Jesus, through the finished work of the cross, took you from the dominion of darkness and brought you into the kingdom of life. You are no longer the slave to fear or to anxiety or to doubt or to sin. You have been made new. You have a new passport, a new identity. You now have a new king that you are following. Jesus is inviting all of us into something so special. And I think one of the ploys of the enemy is to just make us think I gave my heart to Jesus, and now I'm a better person. Or let me go get baptized so I can feel good. Or I'm looking for another spiritual hit where I get some goosebumps. No. No, you were brought from the kingdom of darkness, separated from God. And by grace through faith in Jesus, you went from darkness to light. You're not who you used to be anymore. And you don't belong to what you used to belong to anymore. You're new. You're new. Let me give you a definition of the this is meaty. Okay, let me just tell you. The theologians, or under the sound of my voice, you're gonna like this one. This is meaty. You can wrestle with this later. Uh if you don't have time to write it down, you can take a picture of it if you want to. I'm gonna define the kingdom of God for us here. It says this is God's sovereign rule exercised through Christ to defeat evil, transform people and creation, and restore his original purposes. There's a now and a not yet aspect to the kingdom of God. It is you and I understand that God is the ruler, is the supreme, is the one in charge. So I want to, for a few minutes today, and hopefully we can make this practical and can grab a hold of our hearts and help us move forward in our walk with God and become the men and women that God has called us to be. Because I recognize here at Shoreline City today, some of us have some really heavy hearts for a bunch of different reasons. Uh, we got even a text message last night about some friends that were in the hospital and didn't expect to be in the hospital, just their holiday weekend turned, you know, on a dime. I've got friends that have surgeries, you know, coming up this week. Have other friends that are navigating the ups and downs of life. You probably have some things that you're going through right now. Maybe something that you wrote on a prayer card. Uh maybe there's a relationship that your hope starts, or shoot, maybe one that's one you hope ends. There can be a lot of different things going on in our head and our hearts, and I want to help connect the idea and the truth and the principle of the kingdom of God to where we actually live. So you don't think this is just church stuff, this is life stuff. This is for all of us to mature and develop and become who He's calling us to be. So a couple of principles, real quick, on the kingdom of God. Number one, there is a king, and you're not him. Okay? Alright? Some of us, this is revelation. We're like. Wait, no, yeah, there's a king. But you're not the king. It's not you. Let me say it again. It's not you. Let us say again. It's not you. We've got some brilliant people in our church. You're still not the king. We've got people that have been through a lot of difficulties in life. Well, I just want you to know your pain doesn't make you king. We got some people that have some fantastic accomplishments in life. You're not the king. There's individuals that have graduated from some of the most prestigious schools. You're not the king. It doesn't matter, money in bank account, not in the bank account, car you drive, neighborhood you're in. Doesn't matter who you connect it to, who you can text, who you know. Doesn't matter how many people have patted you on the back. Doesn't matter how tall you are, how short you are. This is for married people, single people. It does not matter for every one of us. There's a king, it's not you. This might be the revelation that some of us need to actually get our lives in order. Because we're operating currently like we are the king, and you need to understand you're not the king. Go with me, keep on reading in Colossians chapter one. I want this if you ever want to memorize a passage of scripture, here's a great one to memorize. Colossians chapter 1, beginning in verse number 15, speaking about Jesus. It says the Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together, and he is the head of the body of the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. In everything, he might have the supremacy. In your money, he might have the supremacy. In your single life, he might have the supremacy. In your marriage, he might have the supremacy. In your business, he might have the supremacy. In your thought life, he might have the supremacy. With you as a parent, he might have the supremacy. In your grad school, he might have the supremacy. In every single area of your life, from elementary school to the grave, he might have the supremacy. There is a king, and it's not you. There's a king.

unknown 17:52

Is it good?

SPEAKER_00 17:52

It's not you, it's not me. Go with me to Revelation, the book of Revelation. This is the last book of the New Testament. Revelation chapter 4. Beginning in verse number one. We're gonna read verse 1. And verse 2. Later on, you can read the rest of it. It's so good. After this I looked, Revelation chapter 4, verse number 1. After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. There's a throne, and there's someone sitting on it. And it's not your grandmother, it's not your wife, it's not your husband, it's not your business. There was someone sitting on the throne, and his name is Jesus. That's who's sitting on the throne. Let me tell you this, this is random. Okay, when I was uh about 15, 16 years old, you know, dark ages, uh I I loved basketball, you know, back then, and this is you know in the days of Michael Jordan, right? So I you know I wanted to be like Mike, like every other kid, and I was hoping to go to the league, uh go to the NBA one day. That was that was you know my my prayer. And um so I'm I'm playing basketball, and I remember God asking me to fast basketball. Okay? I'm 15, 16, 17 years old. And it wasn't the whole time, it would just be some moments you would say, uh, I would just feel a little nudge in my heart. Earl, instead of going a hoop with your friend, I want you to stay back, and I want you to read your Bible and pray. Again, I'm 15, 16 years old. Oh, I still remember doing that. No, there are times I mean I didn't. I was just like, well, I'll pray on the court. Uh you know, you figure out a little loophole. It's like, well, he didn't mean like not play. I mean, so I there were times I didn't do it, but then there were times. I remember being at home on my knees or on my bed, and I have my Bible open, and what God was trying to do in those moments is make sure basketball was not on the throne of my heart. He's trying to remove an idol. Because the Lord speaks to 15, 16, and 17-year-olds, too. He has a plan and a purpose for their life. Fast forward to years later, and I'm a dad. And I mean, when you become a parent, you you've never loved someone so much in your entire life. Now, you love your spouse. Oh, nigga's my best friend. I tell my kids I like her more than I like them. Okay, I let them know this because they're supposed to leave one day. Bye, Felicia. There I'm gonna I'm gonna be with her for the rest of my life. So, so so we're we're connected, right? We're bonded, we're best friends, no doubt about it. We're not letting the kids get in the middle, but it's interesting when you have a child and you're like, oh man. I mean, you have parts of your heart that open up that you didn't even know existed. And I heard it gets even more intense as a grandparent. That's what I heard. I ain't there yet, but that's what I've heard. So, what happens? Is the throne that's on your heart? You and I, I don't know when we do it, but we kind of push Jesus off. And we let something else or someone else sneak onto it. And we begin to orient our lives around who's on the throne of our heart. When I was 15, 16, that would have been basketball. As a parent, it can become my child. But it might be your work, you can put that there. It could be your dreams, you can put that there. It can be a desire or whatever. And you begin to orient your life around what's on the throne of your heart. So your thought life, your language, your time, your money, all of it starts to revolve around this thing that's on your heart. Now, what we want is we want we want Christ to be at the throne of heart. That's what we want. And that's what we might say. But just let the Holy Spirit speak to you. And show you who or what is actually on the throne. I know this might be a lot on a 4th of July weekend. Can't believe America's 250 years old. Wow, it's crazy. Wonderful. I love living here in the States. I was thinking my grandmother, she died just last year. Yeah, around she was like 100 years old, so she's like been around for most of America. That was crazy. That was crazy. I was like, are you serious? Um so we in the States here, we have a lot of different options for things that can sneak onto our hearts. We're a blessed nation. Thankful for this nation. I'm thankful for all the opportunities and the open doors. I'm so thankful. But man, there's a lot that can get onto our hearts and sit there and become the ruler of our life. But there's really only one that should be sitting on the throne. And it's Jesus. So this week, um, from the balcony to the floor, everybody online at every location, maybe on one of those summer party walks that you're on, or a run, or when you're reading through the book of Acts and you read about the kingdom of God, we have to ask ourselves who is actually ruling my life? Because Jesus is not just interested in being the center, he wants to be the center and all the way to the peripheral. He wants it all. This is what Christ is calling us into. So there's a king, and you and I. We're not that king. Let me give you another principle here, okay? This is an important one. Everything, I'm talking everything. We don't own a thing in this kingdom. We own nothing. We only manage for the king. In this kingdom, we don't own anything. We only manage for the king. Um back to the kids for a second when they might say something like, and maybe you said something like this to your parents. Get out of my room. Okay? Now, if your family was black, you're dead. You didn't even make it this far. Um get out of my room. Wait, wait. Whose room? Your eight. Okay? Your bed, your sheets, your toothbrush, your shoes, your drawers, everything I gave to you. That's my stuff. Now, when it comes to God, we still like, get out of my room. And God goes, I'm about to whoop you behind. Okay, I'm about to whoop you behind. With love, with love, with love. Really? Who gave you the mind that you have? Who gave you the people skills that you have? Who put you in the family that you were in? Who carried you through all the mess and the difficulties that you've been navigating for your entire life? Who connected you with that person? You're gonna tell me that now it's yours? No, my no, my son, no, my daughter. No? No. No, I'm sorry. You're not thinking kingdom. And if you are, you're not thinking kingdom of God. You're thinking kingdom of self. So I did not ask you. You don't own a thing. You manage what I have put in your hands. And I'm coming back. And I'm going to ask you, what did you do with what I gave you? I'm coming back. And I want to find out. What did you do with the wife I gave you? Okay? Because it let me read this first. Let me read this. Go ahead with the Gospel of Luke. Let me read this. Matthew, Mark, Luke, Luke chapter 19. Again, if you don't have the the your Bible, we're gonna put the verses on the screen so you can follow along with us. Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19, verse number 11. While they were listening to this, uh while they were listening to this, he wanted to tell them a parable because he was near Jerusalem, and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said, A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minors. This is like three months' salary. Put this money to work, invest it, he said, until I come back. But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, We don't want this man to be our king. This is what some people are saying in our day and age. He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money in order to find out what they had gained with it. The first one came and said, Sir, your minor has earned ten more. Well done, my good servant, his master replied, because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities. The second came and said, Sir, your minor has earned five more. His master answered, You take charge of five cities. Then another servant came and said, Sir, here is your minor. I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow. I'm gonna stop right there, just for the sake of time. Jesus is actually giving reference here to uh like a cultural thing that had gone on with Herod the Great's son, uh, who was gonna become king, but everybody did not want him to become king, but he was made king anyway. So that's what Jesus is actually doing here. He's kind of giving a little bit of a cultural commentary or taking something from the culture and he's using it in a parable. It's kind of like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey just got married, and I was like, hey, there was a country music singer, she got married to this football guy. So it would kind of be kind of like that. He's taking something from culture and he's using it. But the principle here that I want us to grab a hold of is this the the king says, I am putting this in your hands. When I come back, I want it to be better, I want it to increase, I want there to be more of it, I want it to be blessed. When I put it in your hands, if you go and put it in a piece of cloth and you hide it and you don't do anything with what I put in your hands, that is called a wicked servant. That is called someone that's not understanding the way the kingdom is supposed to work. The way I want my kingdom to work is when I put it in your hands, you do something with it and you make it better, not for your own glory, but for my glory. That's why it makes no sense for a Christian to be lazy. Because for a Christian to be lazy, it is a Christian to spit in the face of the opportunities and the gifts that God has put in that follower of Christ's hands. When we get something in our hands, we understand that God put this in my hands, and since God put it in my hands, that means God wants me to do something with this and to make it better and to increase it. That's what we are called to do. But time and time and time and time and time and time again, we keep thinking I'm just gonna go and bury this thing. So, again, let me get back to the husband. Husband, when God gave you your wife, he did not give you your wife so that you would keep her at a five. You make her a ten. And if she's not a ten yet, it's not on her, it's on you. I want to tell you to pray for her and to cover her and to have her back and believe the best because your marriage is not about you getting your needs met, it is about you loving her as Christ loves the church, and now your marriage is a light and a shining example to everyone else around you. I'm talking kingdom here, okay? I'm talking kingdom. If you want to talk culture, culture will tell you something different. I'm talking kingdom. When you get a husband, you God has given you a gift. This is someone that you have been called to steward, someone that he is putting in your hands to help that man become all that God has called him to be. This is not, I can't believe you're not, and why are you not? No, no, no, no, no. You are there as a wife to help this man become all that God has called him to be. If he's a five, you're helping him become a ten, if he's a ten, you're helping him become a twenty. That's what you're called to do. Parents with your kids, if entrepreneurs with the gifts and the talents God has given you. He put something in your hands, not for you to bury it, but for you to think kingdom and kingdom thought is oh my goodness, God gave this to me. Since he gave it to me, I need to make this better for his glory. I I gotta get ready to get done here, but I do want to share this real quick. Um, let me show a picture of show that picture of my my son and his wife, uh, our oldest son and his wife. This is uh uh Parker and Angel. They just got married in December. It's awesome. She is a fantastic daughter-in-love. Uh love her so, so very much. I mean, the two of them together, powerhouse couple. I mean, they're learning and growing and leaned in and serving. And uh I'm just I'm just really, really, really, really proud of them. Of course, they got a long way to go, like all of us do. I know I got a long way to go still, but it's been beautiful to see the track uh that they are on. Um, she her name is Angel, and she's from Australia, and Parker is from the States. So uh these two countries are similar but different, and so it is with the kingdom of God. It's similar but different. Like in uh Australia, they drive just like they drive in the States, but just in Australia, they drive on the other side of the road, or they think we drive on the other side of the road, both driving similar, just different. In Australia, they have breakfast, they call it brecki. Okay, we don't do that here in the states. If somebody said that to you, be like, wait, what? They use the word mate a whole bunch. They speak English, it's similar but different. Even football, they have football in Australia. It's similar but different. Theirs is rugby, ours is this with all the pads and the helmets. They're crazy. There are no pads and helmets, similar but different. I'm concerned that when we become followers of Jesus, we think maybe I just kind of got some Jesus bumper sticker on my heart, but I'm still living in my old country. No, no, no. It's similar, but very, very different. If you if you're in the States and you go over to Australia, you start driving on the wrong side of the road, it creates accidents. And this is what has happened with some of us. We left the kingdom of darkness, came to the kingdom of light, but we're still driving like we're in the kingdom of darkness. And we're like, why do I keep banging in and hitting? You didn't understand, you moved, you move. It's it's a yeah, you used to talk and listen to music here, yeah. Yeah, there's some things that are similar, but it's different now. Because now you you you used to be at the center, but now Jesus is at the center, it's similar. We're both living life, you're still living life, but you used to live life for yourself. Now you're living life for God's glory. It's similar, but very, very different, and these differences really matter, they really matter. So, for us as followers of Jesus, those of us who have by grace through faith in Christ, become who God is calling us to be, been changed from the inside out. There is a kingdom that you are part of, and this is the Bible uses the term you're in the world, but not of the world. You and I, we have to still be here because the reason we're here is to share hope and life and light and love with the people around us. So when you go to work, you're going to work, this is a gift that God gave you. You're not waiting just for Sunday to be a Christian. You're being who God has called you to be in the marketplace so that you can bring hope and life and light of Christ to everybody that's around you. It changes how you function. There's a lot of similarities, but the differences really, really matter. I want to help elevate us. I'll say it like this I think the enemy of our souls is very content with us being having given our hearts to Christ, but still operating like we're in our old kingdom. Very comfortable with that. Matter of fact, I think he might even be trying to dumb it down a little bit in our souls and go, okay, you're good now, you're good. Just stop right there, just stop right there. Function with your money, function with your mouth, function with your time, like you're still in this kingdom. But if our eyes can actually be open to the beauty of who Jesus is and our hearts can be captured, and we go, Oh my gosh, there's actually light over here. There's something I've been called to that is greater than anything I even thought possible. I can't believe God is inviting me into a different story. What would marriages and single lives and businesses look like if we understood I'm operating as an ambassador of the kingdom of heaven? If you wouldn't mind, bow your heads for just a moment, fam family. If you're under the sound of my voice today and you've never given your heart and your life to Christ, you never made him first, you never made him number one. You've never said, Jesus, be first in my life. I'm not asking if you were confirmed as a child or if you were baptized or if you have a Bible, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying, have you surrendered and yielded the authority of your life to the person and the path of Jesus Christ? Have you turned, the Bible uses the word repent, turned from your own way, and now you're going God's way. If that's you, you've never given your heart to Christ. So at one point in time you did and you slipped away. And today you're saying, I don't want to go my own way, I want to go his way. I'm a count of three. I want you to do something simple but bold. I just want you to throw your hands in the air and say, Yes, that's me. I want to give my heart and my life to Christ. Ready? One, two, three. Just throw your hand up. You're saying, yep, that's me. This is beautiful. Friends in the balcony on the floor, you say, Yep, that's me. I want to give my heart and my life to Christ. I want to make him first. I want to make him number one. This is beautiful. We celebrate this holy moment. I'm asking everyone to do me a favor, put your hand over your heart if you would not mind. And I want everyone to repeat this prayer out loud after me. Say, Dear Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of all my sins. I admit I've made mistakes. And today, I give you my heart, I give you my life. Give me the power to live for you in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Can we live?