"Easter Eggs: The Hidden Stories of Easter" Week 4

Pastor Jake closed out “Easter Eggs — The Hidden Stories of Easter” by looking at Judas Iscariot’s part in the Easter story. Judas’ betrayal, though heartbreaking, became the moment that moved Jesus toward the cross. His choice revealed how human weakness can still be woven into God’s greater plan. The message encouraged us to reflect on our own hearts, and the grace God offers even in our failures.  Join us this Sunday for a brand-new series!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Manna Church Stafford Podcast, where we're all about equipping God's people to change their world. We're thankful you're here, and we're praying that this message encourages you to love God, love others, and love the world more fervently than before. Now, let's get to it.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Jeremy, that was the weakest laundry list.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Man, you gave it to me.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

And trust me, I know laundry. My wife is out of town. I have six kids, like Jeremy said, and laundry is piling up. So that was not a laundry list. Um, hey, if I haven't had a chance to meet you, my name is Jake. I get the privilege of being the pastor here at Mana Church in Stafford, Virginia. And um, you know, one of the cool things about our church is that we are uh one church, many locations planted all along what we call the military highway. And so we've got tons and tons of manna folks all over the world. And one of the blessings is we minister in so many places, one of the frustrations and heartaches is that so often we have so many of them that move. Just about every six months, we have a crop of Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen who transition, they do a permanent change of station, move from wherever they are to somewhere else. And so we've got several people who are moving, and uh a lot of folks, we've got, you know, the Thompsons, the Robinsons, the Piqu's, there's a, and I'm sure I'm gonna forget some families, so so my apologies, but we do military prayer about once a month. And so this this month, what I'd love to do is just pray for those families as they transition because it's a hard thing to do. It's one of the one of the unique blessings we have as a church is to be able to be that consistent connection for people as they transition. And so being a military guy myself who moved several times, I know finding a church was hard, and um finding community was difficult. So can we just pray for them? Can you join me as we pray for our military families that are moving during this season? So, Heavenly Father, I thank you for all of our Marines. I know we've got some microsite Marines even who are transitioning and moving, um, getting out of the Marine Corps, moving to a different duty station. We've got families moving to Oklahoma, families moving to California, families moving to Camp Lejeune, families moving all over the place, God. And um Lord, we love them. We thank you for the time that we've got to enjoy them here, Amana Church in Stafford, Father. I pray, Lord, that whatever it is that your spirit has deposited in them while they've been here, Lord, would you complete that work, God, as you promised to do? Lord, would you complete it? Would you continue to grow and mature them, God? Make their family strong, Father. I pray for kids and spouses as the transition happens, God, that they won't just kind of get lost in the mix, but that there would be care and concern for their needs and and and them, you know, having to meet new people in a new strange place. God, I pray that they make connections quick, that they're meaningful connections, God. And um, Lord, we pray all their stuff that as it gets moved, that it won't get broken, that it all arrives where it's supposed to arrive, and it arrives there on time, that um the move-in happens easy, God. Give them get them give them great homes to live in for the space where they're there, God. We pray that you give them great neighbors to connect with, Lord. And Father, um, I pray that you just give them confidence that your spirit goes with them, Lord, that you're not bound to this building here in Stafford, Lord, that you dwell in them and you love them, and that wherever they go, God, they can't escape from you, Lord. And so bless them, bless them, bless them in Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen. Well, listen, we had a great Sunday last week. It was Easter. We celebrated. So glad uh for those of you who maybe that was your first Sunday and you've come back. Uh, we are in a series called Easter Eggs, where we're unpacking like some little nuggets that that maybe you you you might find them hidden in the Word. And so we're trying to mine them out. And you know, just like if you hit Easter eggs and the kids don't find all of them, um, some of you are gonna be finding Easter eggs this week. You're gonna do that first mow of the spring. My yard is getting pretty high, and you're gonna find that one Easter egg that was left over that the kids didn't catch. And so today we're gonna finish this series with that one Easter egg that I really wanted to talk about, but we didn't get to talk about before Easter. And so um it's it's gonna be good. Um, you know, we've all we've all got examples that we follow in life. We've got people that that we look up to, you know, that maybe they were successful in a specific endeavor or a specific area, and we want to to achieve that same kind of success. We want to we want to have that same same blessing on their life. And so we you know, we want to capture what lessons it is that that they've learned so we can get where they got. And um, there's some times where it's kind of easy to see what the what the steps were, and there are other times where it's harder to figure it out. You know, it's almost like they made it there on accident. You ever you ever met somebody like that? It's like, man, how did you achieve the success that you achieved? You know, like like four scump, kind of, you know, the dude just like falls into everything and he had all these amazing experiences. Um I've been in business with people who they they they were just at the right place at the right time. You're like, man, there's no way you should be as successful as you are. Or maybe you see somebody like me who has a really amazing spouse, and you're like, did you drug that person to get them to marry you? No, no, actually. Um but today we're actually going to talk about an individual who was in Jesus' orbit for most of his earthly ministry, and he's not somebody that we get any kind of really deep theological revelations from in the word. He's not remembered for being a great example or a great success, and for what it's worth, I actually think that it's easier to learn from people who aren't successes, who made a lot of mistakes. It's easier to learn about the potholes that they've hit, so that way we cannot follow them. And so what we do have from the person this morning is actually significant. And so, what I'm encouraged and excited to teach you today from this person's life are five things that aren't enough to get you into heaven. All right? Sound exciting? It's gonna be good. All right, we're gonna start off in Luke chapter 6, verse 12. It says this In these days he, meaning Jesus, went out to the mountain to pray. And all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles. Simon, whom he named Peter. We all know Simon Peter, Andrew, his brother, and James and John, these are Jesus' besties, and Philip and Bartholomew, don't hear much about him, Matthew and Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus, Simon, who was called the zealot, different Simon, not Simon Peter, and Judas, the son of James. And then, of course, we've got the person we're gonna talk about today. Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. We're gonna talk about Judas this morning. Um, a lot of times when people mention Judas, they do it with a little bit of disgust in their voice. He's synonymous with betrayal and treachery. He's looked at as the villain in the biblical narrative. You never want to be called a Judas. But this morning, what I want to do is I actually want to kind of peel back the curtain and see a lot of the things that we miss about Judas. A lot of these little Easter eggs about his life that are very, very interesting because it's easy to demonize him, but but this might scare you. Frankly, a lot of us have a lot in common with Judas. Yes, I just said that. If we're not careful, we could actually mistake some of the same things and patterns of Judas' life for real salvation or real conversion realities. And so this morning, what I hope to do is just make you a little bit uncomfortable. So you're gonna get uncomfortable with some of the things that I share, but we're gonna land in a good place by the end, okay? So you guys with me? Great. First thing that's not enough to get you into heaven: proximity to Jesus. Proximity to Jesus is not enough. Judas was already around Jesus when he got called to be an apostle. So people don't realize there were more than 12 people. A lot of people think that Jesus just kind of handpicked randomly as he's walking down the street, like, oh, you come follow me. You come follow me. And when he got to 12, he's like, we're done here. That's not what we have from the biblical narrative. What we know is that there were dozens, maybe even hundreds of people following Jesus. We know this because at one point he sent out 72 of them. So there were lots of people following him, and he picked from among his disciples, among those people, 12 specific ones who he was gonna be a little bit, well, a lot closer with, in fact. These were the folks that were gonna be his staff, if you will. They were the folks who were gonna be really, really tight with him. They were gonna sleep with him, they were gonna eat with him, they were gonna see Jesus at his his absolute best, like his most peppy, most energetic, and they were gonna see him when he was drained and exhausted and maybe starting to feel a little bit of hanger pains coming on, right? They were gonna see him with bed hair, bad breath. They were gonna see Jesus with all of the humanity that most of the other people in the world didn't get to see, and Judas was one of them. Now you might argue and you might say, Yeah, Jake, but listen, Judas was always looking for a way to betray Jesus. No, he was not. At least that's not what the Bible says. In fact, that verse I just read, if you go back to it, it says he became a traitor. Didn't start off that way. At least, not what we can see. Listen, Judas was a friend of Jesus. He was one of Jesus' bros. You know, I don't know how much time you can spend with somebody that um and just not cut ties with them if you're not gonna consider them a friend. Jesus spent three years with this guy. Three years with him. He handpicked him to be in his inner circle and he kept him there. Judas was a friend. In fact, the psalmist prophesies about it. John recounts this prophecy when he talks about Judas. Psalm 41, 9. And look at the distinction it gives. It says, even my close, it's on the Sky Bible. If you got your own Bible, you might want to underline that. Close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. Judas was a close friend of Jesus. Matthew 26, 48 and 50. Now this is when this is when Judas is actually doing the betrayal. It says, Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying, The one I kiss is the man. Seize him. And he came up to Jesus at once and said, Greetings, Rabbi. And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, Friend, do what you came to do. Up to the moment of betrayal, Jesus still called him a friend. Here's what's concerning to me about Judas, and where I can see the potential for so many people today to relate to Judas in a moment of trial. Coming to church is not what saves you. Having proximity to the people of God doesn't save you. Alright? Just because you're in this building doesn't make you any more a Christian than being in an oven makes you a biscuit. Alright? For real. There are some people, man, they they do all the things. They show up to church and they're about as saved as an Easter egg. Because in their life, the fruits of the Spirit aren't necessarily there. Just because you're in the room, just because you have proximity, does not get you into heaven. It's not enough. Judas, man, Judas spent more one-on-one time, face to face, knee-to-knee time with Jesus than anybody in this room. Think about that. Think about that. And in America, we we go to church about 1.4 Sundays a month. That's the average in America. I think our church does a little bit better than that, but that's the American average. So we better hope that proximity isn't what it is that gets us into heaven. Because we fall woefully short even of Judas' standard. It's rough. Listen, you might say, okay, okay, listen, Pastor Jake, I not only come to church, like I come to church, okay, so I do that. I'm around Jesus. I'm a friend of Jesus, I think. I believe in the mission of the church, though, too. Like I believe in the values. I love the values. I agree with the position the church holds when it comes to right versus wrong, or maybe what you think is right versus left sometimes, right? Like I'm a church guy. Here's what I'm gonna tell you. Our church, manna church here, this is by far the single most missional church I have ever been a part of. It is an amazing church. We do outreach all over the planet. We send missions teams, money, we pray faithfully. We're deeply engaged in the mission of Jesus Church as he defines it in his word. Locally, we care about our community. We do tons of stuff for the people in Stafford, Fredericksburg, and up north and on base. We bless people that don't have the same means or the financial stability that we have. We welcome people who are new to the area or new to the country. We help them find community, we help them find family. And listen, we give loads and loads, hundreds of thousands of dollars away from this church location. We believe in the mission. There's so many people, so many families who come to Manna Church here in Stafford because they're excited about the mission of this church, because we're an outward-focused church. We want to make it hard to go to hell in Stafford, and we want to plant a life-giving church near every single military base, post, and station all over the world. Yeah, that's something we can clap about. That's a good mission. That is a great mission. Here's the scary part though. Agreeing with the mission and values of Jesus is not enough to get you into heaven. It's just not. In fact, there are people who've asked me, they've said, Pastor Jake, I'm not a Christian, but I really love what your church does. Can I still come to your church and be a part of it? To them, I would say, absolutely. Because I'm hoping that they'll actually make the decision to follow Jesus and make him their Lord and Savior. So we're not excluding people based on that, but it's not enough to get you into heaven. Listen, you know Judas went on mission? Did you know that? Judas even talked about the values of giving to the poor. It's kind of crazy. He wasn't just a random bystander in this gospel account. He's heavily engaged. In fact, there's one point in John, we're not going to read the passage, where um they're breaking uh uh perfume on Jesus' feet. And he says, whoa, whoa, whoa, can't we use that money to give away to the poor? That's expensive. He talked about missions. Now we know that that he wasn't 100% being honest there. We know that it's because John recounted later, it's because he used to steal money from the offerings that they would have. But he actually said some really reasonable things that made people believe that he was aligned with the mission. In fact, this is kind of crazy. Um if Judas was out of step with the mission, if Judas was someone who was always a fly in the ointment, who was always causing trouble, who was always the negative Nancy, like, I don't know if we should do that. That outreach seems a little bit too crazy. Should we really go to this other place? Should we really cross the river again? Should we really cross the sea again? We don't get any of that from the word, do we? There's literally no record of Judas being a negative Nancy. In fact, this is crazy. Many commentators, I'm not saying this is where I land, many commentators would say that Judas' betrayal was actually frustration that Jesus' mission wasn't advancing quick enough. And so he was trying to bring it to a culminating point. And by betraying Jesus and turning him over, he was trying to force Jesus' hand to get his mission accomplished. Think about that. That's a crazy take on Judas. It's like, man, I agree with the mission and I want to redefine it to make it my mission. I want it to be my agenda. You can follow Jesus and still expect him to serve your agenda. This is this is actually a real issue. This is where religion and politics start to get too conflated. Because you're like, that's my politician, and you start to follow him. Y'all, I do not align with a single political party because I follow Jesus. That's who I follow. He's my Lord, he's my savior, that's the mission I'm on. All the time. There's only one negative writing in the Gospels about Judas, and it was this one moment where they kind of corrected him for stealing some money. Peter. Peter gets dimed out more than Judas in the Gospels. Think about that. Judas is the betrayer. He's the villain of the story, and we don't ever get him getting dimed out in the Bible. He wasn't causing a problem fighting the other disciples. He wasn't a troublemaker that we can gather. And what I think is interesting is while we live life forward, we remember it in reverse. We always remember things backwards. And sometimes you'll have an event or an experience, and what you'll do is you'll start to re-remember all of the things that happened in light of this new revelation, don't we? Like, you ever had somebody who you thought was a good friend, and then you found out that they were actually saying stuff behind your back, and you're like, man, I you know what? Now I remember. They all they did this one thing that one day, and I felt kind of weird about it, and I trusted them. I I now I remember. And then you go back and you kind of like rewrite the story of your relationship with them. Sometimes you've done this, you've had a deep betrayal, like in your marriage, maybe. And you re-remember all the other things. You're like, I thought they were faithful, they actually weren't. It can happen with other things too, like sickness, you know. I know dementia takes years to happen, and when you finally get the diagnosis, you're like, oh, I saw the signs earlier. Notice with Judas, the greatest single betrayal that we see in the Gospels, we have none of that. None of it. And listen, you best believe if I'm writing Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, I am wanting to disassociate what I lived and what I experienced with Jesus from what Judas lived and Judas experienced with Jesus. I'm wanting to say, this was a fraud, I was real. And they don't do it. I think that's really, really telling for us. And here's what's here's what's crazy too. Another just a little nugget. See, Jesus knew who Judas was from the beginning, but he didn't treat Judas any different. In fact, Jesus treated Judas so well at the end of his ministry, up to the moment of betrayal, everybody was clueless. Imagine that. You have somebody who is so deeply, deeply in sin and gonna send you to the cross by their betrayal, and you treat them so well, nobody knows that they're a snake. The night he's betrayed, Matthew 26, verse 20, when it was evening, he reclined at the table with the twelve, and as they were eating, he said, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me. At this point, you're like, everybody's like, Oh, yeah, that's Judas. For sure. That's not what they do. Here's the question they ask. It says they were very sorrowful and begin to say, one after the other, is it me? Think about that. Your relationship with Jesus is such that when he says, one of you's probably gonna fail on this mission. One of you's gonna backslide, you're gonna, you're gonna, you're gonna take a totally different turn. And your first thought is, oh no, is it me? Not it's probably him. So many implications of that. Man, none of the rest of the 12 knew who it was. Judas was so aligned with them on their mission that they couldn't tell that he was off three years, and none of them have a clue. Here's another crazy thought. Of all the disciples who follow Jesus, you know the only one to get an official role, an official title? Judas. He's the only one that had an explicit duty. Judas was the treasurer. Peter didn't have a title. John doesn't have a title. Bartholomew, we don't hear anything about him. He doesn't have a title. Right? Nobody's got a title. Guess who does? Judas. In your business, if you have a business, or even here at church, you probably have a very select few people who were able to touch the money. And you probably have a pretty high threshold of trust for that person, don't you? Judas had the most trusted position. Not Matthew, who was a tax collector. Dude knew how to handle cash, right? That would be who I would pick, probably. Jesus is like, nope, Judas, why don't you handle the money back for us, bro? We can trust you. Everybody else is gonna trust you. Yeah. Here's what's concerning. And the third point, filling a role in the team or having a title on the team is not enough to get you into heaven. It's not enough. We've got all kinds of people who come here to man a church and they they serve, they do so well. I actually did a count a couple of weeks back just to see how many people are on our serve team who who bless us. We have 137 people in our church who serve. That's a lot. You know the average church in America is 64 people. So we have two full average churches in America that just serve here at Manna Church in Stafford. That's amazing. Like love you guys. That that is so good. A lot of people. And when someone does that, when they step up, they start serving on a team or even leading on a team. Does that mean they made it? That's it. Like, bam! You're good now. Of course not. Sometimes we mistake a title in the house for an inheritance in the kingdom, and they are not the same thing. Not the same thing at all. It's not enough to get to you there. Judas had a title. He didn't make it. It wasn't enough. Telling somebody that you're on our Levites team or you're on our events team or our production team, listen, it's gonna be enough to get you a high five, and that plus five bucks will get you a cup of coffee out in town, but it's not gonna get you to heaven. What if, what if, what if though, like, okay, the Levites, maybe that's not really spiritual work. Okay, I think it is, but let's just say, what if you're on one of the spiritual teams, though? Like I'm not in the production booth, I'm here on stage worshiping. I'm leading worship, I'm playing the keys, I'm dancing around. That's one of the teams. I lead a small group, I teach people about the Bible, I I lead mana kids, I teach little kids what's in the gospel. How about that? Is that enough? Nope. Even doing all the spiritual activity, doing all the supernatural stuff. You want to heal the sick and cast out demons? Not enough to get you to heaven. This is gonna blow your mind. Some of you have never thought about this. Judas performed miracles. Huh? Judas cast out demons. He did? Where? Check this out. Matthew chapter 10, verse 1. And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them, all 12 of them, authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these. Just in case we forget who it is. Simon, who is called Peter, Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebede, John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew again, Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector, James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus, Simon the zealot, Judas his chariot, who betrayed him. Judas is on the list. These twelve Jesus sent out instructing them. Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and proclaim as you go, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Hey, Judas, preach the word, Judas. Preach it, man. And you know what? Judas did. We don't have any indication that he didn't. Verse 8, heal the sick. Man, heal sick people. Come on. That is powerful. Miracles. Listen, anybody here ever done a miracle? Some of you, some of you have. Anybody ever seen a miracle happen? Judas did? Not only that, look at the next one. Raise the dead. Any of you ever raise somebody from the dead? Judas might have. Cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Listen, demons are even gonna obey you, Judas, as I send you out. They're gonna release their hold on people. This is good stuff. It's great work. Jesus trusted Judas with this. Listen, you're like, yeah, but that's all the glamorous stuff. Judas was just there for the hype. He was there for the clout. That's what Judas wanted. No, let's go on. You receive without paying, give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belt, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or your for staff, for the laborer deserves his food. Live in hardship, Judas. While you're going out and doing this, don't do it on easy mode, do it on hard mode. Suffer. Suffer for the advance of the gospel. Listen, y'all, Judas did all the supernatural stuff, all of it. And it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough. I I believe in the supernatural works of God. I believe in healing and miracles and liberation from evil spirits. I love it when I get to see Jesus do the things that we read about in the gospels and the book of Acts and in all the epistles. I love that. It's not enough to get me to heaven though. You're gonna get to heaven? You're gonna say, look at my resume. Isn't it impressive, God? Look at all the stuff I did. Jesus gonna look at it and say, No. Not impressed. Not impressed with your resume. In fact, I will tell you this: if getting into heaven depends on your resume, you should give up right now. It's what makes Christianity different from every single other faith on the face of the planet. It's not about what we do, it's not about how good we are. It's real quiet. You guys still with me? Matthew 7, 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who's in heaven on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. There is a disconnect between some of the activities of the faith and the heart that God is looking for. And it can be a terminal disconnect, a fatal one. You can get all the activities right, but if the heart is missing, Jesus is gonna equate you to a lawless person. And you may say, Well, well, then surely that's the key. That's what I've got to get right. Like I just need to know his word. And once again, you're gonna be mistaken. Studying his teaching isn't enough. Not enough. You know, Judas considered him rabbi. We have him calling Jesus rabbi in a few different places in the word. Rabbi wasn't just like, hey, good TED talk. That's not what it meant. Rabbi was something very specific. It was total submission and and imitation. Disciples' roles, like they're the what they wanted to do was they wanted to be covered in the dust of their rabbi's feet. Rabbi literally means master. So he was saying, like, yeah, like you're you're you're you're a master teacher to me. Sometimes the disciples of a rabbi, they would show a higher devotion to their rabbi than their own fathers. And Judas was giving Jesus this honorific. Listen, Judas, he heard all the sermons, he was with Jesus, he heard every single good one-liner. Judas could probably preach Jesus' sermons. He probably could stand up here and deliver a fiery word. No anointing but a fiery word. Satan even knows the scriptures. How else could he twist them? You might say, yeah, but Judas didn't really consider Jesus his rabbi. He was faking it. If he was, where's the evidence? Where's the evidence in the word that that Judas was faking it? Because I don't see it. And I'm telling you, if I was one of the disciples, I would want people to know. I would want to, I would want to make sure everybody understood that. Here's what concerns me. Here's what like unsettles me, and I hope, I hope that it unsettles you too. Did Judas know Jesus better than me? Did you really know him better than me? Was he more of a friend and a companion to Jesus than me? Does Jesus consider Judas a friend and Judas is in torment right now? And that's not a place where I want to end up. If you're wondering if that's you, if you could be that person, you're in both good and bad company. Because this account in Matthew, and it's it's it it it's it's super important. And this is the this is the big takeaway that I want you guys to get today. Super important. Let's go back to Matthew chapter 26, starting at verse 20. When it was evening, he reclined at the table with the twelve, and as they were eating, he said, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me. And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, Is it I Lord? Is it me? They were very upset. They said, Lord, is it me? One right after the other. He answered, He's dipped his hand in the dish with me and will betray me. The Son of Man goes, as it is written of him, but woe to the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he hadn't been born. Then Judas, who would betray him? Again, look at this distinction. Judas says, Is it I Rabbi? They said, Lord. Judas calls him Rabbi, not the same thing. There is a difference. Judas he had proximity to Jesus. He believed in the mission, he had a title, he even did spirit-filled work. All of that. He he he studied what it was that Jesus taught. But at the end of the day, what it boils down to, the important question that you have to answer, and this is enough, is he your Lord? Is he your Lord? There's a difference. See, rabbis, they they are teachers that you learn from. You're gonna listen to them, you're gonna evaluate them, you're gonna apply what they're telling you if it makes sense. You can agree or disagree, but you're still in control. The difference with the Lord is the Lord is an authority that you submit to, whether you like it or not. He's the one that defines right versus wrong. He's the one that sets the rules. You don't edit his command, you obey his command even when it doesn't make sense. I'm gonna tell you, parents, this is really important. Teach your kids to listen to you even when they don't understand it. In fact, sometimes don't give them the reason why you're telling them to do something. You know why? They need that reflex in their soul. They need to be able to obey without having all the answers to the questions. Just be obedient to my voice. My kids have my kids are learning this, and there's a point where I set them down and I say, Listen, you followed my voice because I'm your father up to this point. Now, what I want you to do is what I've trained you to do with my voice, do it with his voice. Because you don't get to question him. He's not just a good teacher, he's your Lord, he's the boss. Rabbis, man, they have lots of wisdom, they have lots of insight for better living, all those great things. But but a Lord, you have loyalty and allegiance to him that is totally different. Rabbis, man, you're gonna follow them as long as your mission is the same mission as theirs. But once their mission starts to deviate from what you like, you're like, okay, I think I'm out. You told me to do something that doesn't align with my politics, so sorry, I'm on a different mission. It's to make the state a certain color. Now we should we should be involved in politics. We should absolutely Christians should be the most politically involved people in America. Absolutely. Because we want to see the gospel advance, because we want to preserve freedom, because we want to preserve the good rights that we have to see Jesus' kingdom move forward. That's the purpose. And when that mission starts to fall out of step with Jesus, guess what? Who loses? Not Jesus, because he's my Lord. Rabbis, they they have this, you would follow them externally, but you can do that without having an internal heart change. A Lord man, he owns your heart. It's totally different. What concerns me about the church in America, it's part of the reason why we have so many divisions, is you can sit under Jesus as a rabbi and still not revere him as Lord. And as soon as, as soon as he starts to disagree or grate up against some of your preconceived ideas, you're out. See you later. Thanks, Pastor Jake, for the ministry time we had at church. That one time you prayed for me, that was good. I like that one sermon. I didn't like the other one. So, see you later. Listen, y'all, I don't preach so you guys like what I say. I preach because it's in the word, and I want to make sure that I'm telling you what God's word says. If you get offended, like I don't take it personally unless it was just a moment of me coming out.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

If you get offended, uh man, that's probably good for you sometimes. We all need to get offended sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

So, most of the people in the room, I'm I'm preaching at you here, I'm making you uncomfortable. You would say Jesus is your Lord, I think. And honestly say that, and it would be true. And so, so what's your takeaway? Like, what do you do with this? I just told you Judas might have been a better believer than you. What's your takeaway? Here's the first thing I would say: don't get complacent. Judas had access to Jesus for three years and still did not make it. Don't get complacent in your walk. Don't get complacent in the disciplines that that that you live in. Like, don't, don't just, man, be serious about your walk with Jesus. Because if Judas didn't make it, and he had the deck was stacked in his favor, but for the grace of God, there go I. Number two, don't mistake what it is that actually makes you a follower of Jesus. Don't don't get the cart before the horse. All of the things we do, we do as a result of following Jesus. Listen, you can you can date somebody without being married to them, right? Hopefully you do that before you get married. You can date somebody, you could actually live with somebody before you get married, you could own a home together, you could have a joint checking account with someone, you could make a baby and raise a family with the person without getting married to them. You can do all those things. Does that make you married? No, it doesn't. You still have to make a covenant agreement with that person. That's what makes you married. Is that covenant that you you enter into with them. And then you do all of those things from that place of covenant. You take them on dates because you love them. You have you you one flesh, the two flesh becomes one, and you join everything, your bank accounts, your all the stuff, your lives, your families get joined together. You live together, you get a house together, all those wonderful things. They aren't the things that make you married, though. I'm gonna tell you, like, I'm at church more than every single one of you. I I eat, breathe, sleep, church. When it comes to proximity, I probably have more proximity than anybody in this room. Church is not my God. There's this building that we meet in, the building that we rent, this organization, it is not my Lord. Jesus is my Lord. And just because I'm here all the time doesn't mean that I'm a Christian. Jesus being my Lord is what makes me a Christian. I believe in the values, I believe in the mission. I'm staunchly uh conservative. And when it comes to all the things that I think about, there's no politician that gets equal footing with my Lord Jesus. Absolutely no politician. Jesus is my Lord. Jesus is the one that I'm on this mission to see churches planted. I'm on this mission to see make it hard to go to hell in Stafford. But guess what? If Jesus says, hey Jake, we need another church over somewhere else, I'm gone. No, I'm not. That's not what he's saying. But if he did, I would do it because I'm here for him. It's his mission I'm on. I'm giving my life for whatever he tells me to give my life for. Being the pastor at Manna Church doesn't make me saved. I love the title. That's it's nice, I guess. Doesn't really matter though. God's not checking my credentials when I get to heaven. Miracles are amazing. Like I've seen sick people healed, I've seen my kids, my son healed from a genetic disorder, my daughter who was dead in the womb, God raised to life. Another one of my children had a crazy, like, chronic diagnosis. God healed it. I've seen people who were on their deathbeds, God raised up, tumor dissolved, like God has done crazy, amazing miracles. Don't none of those things make me a Christian. None of them. I love the word. I am in this thing every single day. There is not a day that goes by that I don't have this word open, and not for you. There's a day that doesn't go by that I have this word open for me. I love it. I listen to other preachers. Man, I got my my four or five guys that I listen to their podcasts. I listen to their sermons because they're better than me and they got great insight. And I just want to, I just want to drink it in. Not gonna give me to heaven. I do all those things because Jesus is my Lord. Because he's my Lord, he is also my rabbi. That's the place that we need to live. Third point. Don't let Judas be a better follower of Jesus than you. If I could incite just a little bit of jealousy, just a little bit, don't let him be a better follower of Jesus than you are. Don't let him follow him more closely, be more committed to the mission. I I just it I despise that that idea, that concept. If if this message unsettles you and it makes you feel a little bit worried about your your position with him, that's okay. It upset the disciples too. It unsettled them, it made them think, like, is it me? Here's the good news, okay? When you stand before the Lord at the end of the age, and you meet him and you say, He says, Why, why do you why do you deserve entry? It has nothing to do with you. If you start off with I, well, I, you're wrong. All you have to do is say, Jesus, Jesus was my Lord, he still is my Lord. If that if that's the answer to the question, you're good. You're there. You're gonna make mistakes in life. All of us make mistakes. Listen, what one of the things I tell people is live your life like it depends on you, but believe like it only depends on him, because that's the truth. It only depends on Jesus. He's the one that's gonna get you there, he's the one that's gonna complete the work in you and fulfill it. And man, I want I want to be a resource for you. I want this church to be a resource for you and help you get there. So we should just be a people that loves big and lives and loves our good Lord. Amen. Amen. Let's close. Let's close. Bow your heads, please. Heavenly Father, I thank you for every single person here in this room. The sound of my voice watching online, one of our microsites in Nebraska or here at Quantico, Lord. Um Father, I pray that you would just give us a revelation of what it means for you to be our Lord, what it means to really submit to your authority, to submit to your rule, to not just do the things and go through the motions, but to be fully committed to your Lordship in our life. And Father, um, I pray for anybody here who who has fear that's that's unfounded. It's like, man, I think I'm doing everything I can to make you Lord. God, would you give them a confidence in your goodness, in your grace, in your power, in your ability to carry them through. To the end, Lord. Would they know, God, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are their Lord? And for anybody in here who maybe hasn't made Jesus their Lord, God, I want to pray for them right now. Lord, that they would bend the knee to you, that they would yield their heart to you. They would submit their entire will and existence to you, God. From this day forward, whatever decision you say, the day six to it, no matter what. They don't even have to consider this and just say, oh, Jesus, yes, yes, because you're my Lord. Will they surrender their life to you now? Amen of church, what we're gonna do is we're gonna say a prayer. And I believe that if you say this, if you mean it, if you commit this, that there will be a life change. And all of these things will flow out of that life change of making Jesus Lord. So would you do me a favor? Everybody in this room, would you say this prayer with me? Say, Jesus, I need you. I repent of my failures and flaws, and I surrender to you now. You are my Lord. I know you lived, you died, and you rose again. All with us in mind. Save me, forgive me. Come into my heart and lead me in Jesus' name and his authority. Do me a favor, keep your heads bowed for just one more second here. One more second. If you said that prayer today, if Jesus is your Lord, that looks like something. And so I want to give you an opportunity to demonstrate that. To demonstrate that he is your Lord. So would you do me a favor, would you just put your hand up right now? Just be like, yep, you know what? Today, today's my day. Today I made Jesus my Lord. I'm submitting to him. I'm submitting to him. I'm making him my Lord today. Just lift your hand up. If you're online, just put something in the chat. If you're at one of our microsites, just do that. Yes. Yeah. Anybody? This is not something to be ashamed of. Y'all, and I'll tell you, all the people in this room are gonna celebrate you.

unknown 46:28

Praise God.

SPEAKER_00 46:32

Thank you for listening to the Mana Church Stafford Podcast. If you would like to connect with us, you can find us on the web at manastafford.church or download the Mana Church app to listen to our new episodes as they become available. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast. We would also love to meet you in person. If you are local, our services take place each Sunday at 10 a.m. We pray you have an amazing week and we'll see you next time.