King Jesus: Always In Control - Pastor Denny Rodney Duron

Welcome to SC Church Podcast! We’re so glad you could join us. Today Pastor Denny Rodney Duron shared with us his message:

“King Jesus: Always In Control"

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Man, I'll tell you what, you're looking good out there. You're looking good on this Easter Sunday morning, and I want to tell you, my Grammy is proud of me. I got a suit on. She said, You got your big boy clothes on. Come on. I see some of y'all got your big boy clothes on. You're looking good. We're ready for this. Um, I want to tell you something. Next week we start a brand new series, and that series is titled Juicy Fruit. Come on, somebody. Juicy fruit. We're starting next week. Hey, what is the word of the year? Say it with me. Harvest. Say it again. Harvest. And this year, God has called us to produce the spiritual fruit, to live the abundant life, to live the greatest life. We're gonna get into that. Make sure you come back for juicy fruit next week. It's gonna be amazing. But today, today is Easter Sunday. Come on, somebody. We're celebrating all day long. And all week, I just so enjoyed reading the account of Jesus, what Jesus went through every single day during Holy Week. And it all started on Palm Sunday. Jesus rode in on the donkey on Palm Sunday, and they said and proclaimed, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna. And everything looks so good. He had the momentum. It started off great. But then in just a few days, everything changed. There was betrayal and tension and confusion. By Good Friday, Jesus is arrested. He's beaten, and he's crucified. What all of us call the greatest victory. At first, it looked like defeat. They gave him a cross to carry. They took him and nailed him to that cross. They lifted him up. They beat him. He was agony. And the sky was dark and the clouds were there. And Jesus breathed his last breath. And then they took his precious body and they laid his body in a tomb. It looked like it was over. It looked like there was no hope. It looked like the enemy had won. But I'm here to declare to you today. Come on, somebody. Three days later. Come on. Three days later. Jesus, he got up out of that grave. That tomb is empty. And Jesus is alive. Let that sink in for just a moment. Jesus is alive. He is risen. He's above everything. And our God has changed it all. Come on, put your hands together. He's alive. It's Easter Sunday morning. You better get more pumped up than that. Come on. Put your hands together for the risen Savior in this place. Jesus is alive. Come on. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Thank you, God. And we celebrate that He's alive. Yes, we do, but we miss it sometimes. Because we kind of made this the greatest comeback story of all time. Jesus was down and out. There was no chance. And somehow the underdog he pulled it off in the last second. It's like we make this the Muhammad Ali versus George Foreman fight, the rumble in the jungle. Ali was the greatest underdog, had no shot to win, but he rope-doped it, right? He got in the corner, he didn't fight back for eight rounds, and then he came back and he knocked Foreman out the greatest comeback. He was the underdog. The underdog has no chance. You gotta play your cards right just to survive. I'm here to tell you something and to make it very clear to you. Easter is not a comeback story. And Jesus has never been the underdog. Our Jesus is king. It's honestly like when you're watching that movie and there's chaos in the movie, and everything's kind of crazy. There's ups and downs. And there's like 10 minutes left in the movie, and you're on the edge of your seat. You're like sweating. You're saying, My character, they better survive and win this, or I'm going to get my money back. I'm leaving a bad review. And I, this better. Can I tell you who's not sweating during that movie? The director. Because the director orchestrated every inch of that movie and knows how the movie ends. And that is Easter. Jesus was never out of control, not for one moment, not once. It's the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. Jesus was never behind. He was never outmatched. He was never trying to pull off a miracle in the very end. I'm going to talk to you all day long about King Jesus. He's always in control. I want to say it again. There's never been one moment that Jesus lost control. Not when he was hanging on the cross, not when he gave his life up, and not when it looked like he was down and out. It looked like loss, but it was never lost. And in the history of humanity, it's never been lost. And it's never been lost even in your own life. When it's chaotic and crazy in your own life, he's always been king. Here's how we get it wrong. It's because we've misunderstood who Jesus really is. Yeah, we know he's savior, he's teacher, but we don't truly understand him as king. And until you put him in his right place as king, well, you won't fully understand the cross or the resurrection. You'll always have questions about what the authority is in your life. We've got to make him king. You might say, I don't need a king. You might say, Why do I need a king? Everything is going great in my life. Well, I'll ask you this. Have you ever had something happen in your life and everything's going great and everything's wonderful? Like life couldn't be better on the outside, but somehow on the inside, you're just down and out. It feels like you're under pressure. It feels like something is just missing. There's a void that cannot be filled. Well, that's that's what we call sin. And sin is doing life your way instead of Almighty God's way. And when we live that way, well, there's distance between us and God. Not because God pulls away from us. No, that's how sin works. So you can have everything going great on the outside and everything looks wonderful, but on the inside, if you're not connected to the king, you're missing everything. Here's the reality: we don't talk about it enough. It's not just about this life, it's about eternity. So the Bible says this for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. We're talking about your eternal soul. So it's not just about right now, we're talking about forever. Forever. It's your eternal soul. And with Jesus, well, with Jesus, we're with Jesus for all of eternity. But separated from Jesus, we are separated from him for all of eternity. So don't miss this. This is only possible with him getting up out of that grave. And because he defeated death on the grave, well, from us to eternity with God, he made a bridge. So whoever accepts Jesus, we live for eternity with him. Not just in this life, but in the next. Right? I'll just, I'll just leave you there when I'm no. Jesus is above it all. And there's a word that describes the very nature of Jesus. It's omnipotent. Omnipotent is there's nothing above him. It's not just powerful, he's all powerful. Can I get an amen? And there's never been anything above him, not once. And this is where people get it wrong. People get it wrong and they think Jesus, you know, he became powerful. Jesus earned authority. No, no, no. No, he's always been. From the beginning, he was. Before time, he was. And then God made a promise from the line of David, there would be a king whose throne would last forever. The king above all other kings. If you want to understand who Jesus is, don't start in Bethlehem. No, start at the very beginning. So I want you to turn with me to John 1 1. Turn with me to John 1 1. The Bible says, In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. And was with God in the very beginning. Through him all things were made. Without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Verse 14. And the word became flesh. Come on. And made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and full of truth. Can I get a big amen? He didn't become powerful. He's always been all powerful. He created everything. He holds all of it together. And there's never been one thing that was not under his rule. Not death, not sin, not hell, not even your situation. Nothing has ultimate power over Jesus. I'll say it this way: Jesus created the game, created the board, all the players, and then he decided to step inside the game. From the very beginning, from creation, when Adam and Eve were created, he was there. When the world was covered in a flood and the providence of God saved a family on a boat, he was there. Whenever Moses came up to the Red Sea and there was no way, he was there making a way. Whenever the prophets began to speak and say, one day a savior, a messiah is coming, he was there preparing the way. And one moment the King of Kings stepped into the story. He stepped in beautiful. He stepped in perfect. And they took him, they beat him, they crucified him. But don't get me wrong, at any point in this process, he never lost control. He has all authority. Jesus, he rules and he reigns. Come on, put your hands together for Jesus. But we get this wrong. We look at our lives, things go wrong. Prayers don't always get answered the way we hoped. Situations don't make sense. And the question comes up: if God is in control, why would he allow this? If we're honest, it feels very confusing. Like I believe in God, I believe he's all powerful, but what I believe in my situation, they don't just match up. We think if God is good, well, life should feel good all the time. If he's in control, nothing should go wrong. But friends, that's not reality. We live in a fallen world, the world, the flesh, and the devil. And God, well, he doesn't cause pain, but he hasn't lost control either. We live in a broken world, but we're still held by a sovereign God. So when it doesn't make sense, he's still there. When you're going through tough times, God is still working. And what feels like everything is falling apart, maybe God's putting together something greater than what you could imagine. Years ago, Sarah and I, we lived in um Lakeland, Florida. We were close to the beach and to Disney World. Thank you, Jesus. Everything was just wonderful. And then she started having some symptoms in her body. So we went to a doctor and they couldn't tell us what was happening, and went to another doctor. Still, they didn't know. And after months, we finally go into a doctor's office and we sit down and the doctor says, This isn't good news. The doctor said, Sarah, what you have is multiple sclerosis. You have MS. And you'll have this the rest of your life. Can I tell you, in that moment, our hearts, our hearts sank. We had questions. It was confusing. I had questions like, well, what is this going to look like for my wife? Is she going to be okay? What's going to go with our future? Like, is our family? And there were questions at that very moment, whenever we were walking out of the door from receiving this news. We didn't know it, but my dad had flown from Shreeport, Louisiana to surprise us that day. And when we walked out with the worst news, he was walking in that office, not knowing what just happened. And he embraced us, he encouraged us. And it was as if God was saying, This you don't have to have questions, you don't have to be confused, but I'm going to be your authority and I'm going to be with you every step of the way. And I tell you, there's been some tough years. There's been a lot of struggle and pain, but God has been with Sarah every step of the way. And I'm here to give you a praise report. The past two years, Sarah has been symptom-free. Thank you, Jesus. And we've got a seven-month-old fat little baby boy at home. Come on. God is in control. Give God some praise right now. He has all authority. God's got all authority. Here's the second thing I want to tell you. The king, the king won the battle. Jesus, come on. He won the battle. The cross was victory, not defeat. You might say it doesn't look like victory. It looked like a pretty big defeat. And it does. The cross is ugly. The cross is chaotic. The cross, Jesus is hanging between two thieves. He doesn't deserve to be there. My Jesus is beaten. He's being killed. It looks like loss. But Jesus says otherwise. This is what Jesus said. Jesus says, No one takes my life from me. I lay it down voluntarily. That changes everything. They did not take his life. This was on purpose. And you can see it with all of the prophecies and predictions. Because hundreds of years before this moment, hundreds of prophecies, they like in Psalms and Isaiah and Zachariah, hundreds of years before there was even crucifixion, they were saying things like, He will be pierced for our transgressions. This is part of the plan of Almighty God, the king choosing to give his life. And as he hung on that cross, he's getting ready to voluntarily give his life up, his soul to God. And he says, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. It is finished. And he breathed his last breath. And you might say, Well, there it is. He lost control right there. I beg to differ, my friend. Whenever you surrender your life to Almighty God, that's the most controlled posture you can ever take. That's the posture of strength. And he gave it. And then he chose this. You might say, well, why would why would a king with all authority choose this? Why would he, why? Well, he tells us in John 15, greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for one's friend. He loves you more than anything you could ever comprehend. Romans 5.8 says, God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were sinners, Christ died for us. So when you're at your worst, while you're sinning, that's when Christ came after you. If you're a parent, you can understand this because you understand those kids aren't always going to do what you're telling them to do. And sometimes those kids are going to go against what you're saying, and you are struggling with that kid, and things are going haywire and things are struggling. What do you well, a good parent doesn't say, well, forget you, I'm done. No, a good parent stays and they love and they figure out a better way to get the kid where they can walk in the right way. And you might say, that wasn't me. You might say, I lived a life of abandonment. I lived a life where people didn't choose me. Can I can I say this? That was never the intention of Almighty God. That was never the plan of Almighty God. But before you chose him, he chose you. Before you got it together, before everything looks like you deserve it. No, when you were at your worst, the king with all authority, he gave his life and he won on that. He chose you. The cross is a battle. I mean, the cross, he is warring. The Bible says this in Colossians. He disarmed the powers and authorities. The cross was not weakness, it was warfare. He's warring. All you can see is what's happening on the outside. It's ugly. He's losing. No, behind the scenes, he's defeating death, hell, and the grave. He's warring for you. The Bible, kings would choose champions. So a champion would fight on behalf of the whole nation. If the champion won, the whole nation won. So when David fought and he defeated Goliath, it It wasn't just David that won. All of Israel joined in that victory. And we see nothing but the cross, but behind the cross, Jesus is warring for you. He's warring for me. He's kicking down the door of death, hell, and the grave. And he didn't just walk through. Friends, he made a way for every single one of us to walk through. He is our champion. He's our victor. But all we see is a cross. And the same thing in our life. All we see is our situations. Right? All we see is, man, a financial setback, a diagnosis, a closed door, a broken situation. And we see what's going on, and we say, we're losing. We're losing. It's not. But what if what you're looking at, what feels like defeat, is actually where God is working the most. Inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all. So here's what I'm telling you fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. So it may look like you're losing on the outside, but I'm telling you this: God is doing something deeper. He's doing something stronger. He's setting you up for the greatest comeback of all time. So if the cross was not defeat, if it was victory, well, I want you to receive this today. That setback that you're going through, Jesus is still in control. Do you believe it? The diagnosis. Well, God is with you, and Jesus is still in control. That battle that you did not choose, you don't even want to be in. Well, Jesus is your champion, and he's warring for you where you can't even see it. So the battle is not up for debate because the king has already won. If you believe the king's already won, put your hands together for Jesus today. He's already won. Jesus is already won. And here's my final point in the band, you can make your way up here. The king still reigns. Can I get a hallelujah? The king still reigns, and he's reigning right now. So he defeated it on the cross, and they they took his body and placed him in the tomb. And while he's in the tomb, well, darkness it spreads over the land, and it felt like all hope was lost. But I'm here to tell you that Sunday is coming. Can I get an amen? I want you to turn with me to Matthew 28, 1 through 8. Is it okay if I read the account of the Easter story? Alrighty for this? This is Sunday morning. After the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven. And going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and they became like dead men. The angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. Here it is. Y'all ready for this? Come on. He is not here. He is risen just as he said. He is not here. He is risen just as he said. Let's stop right now and give God some praise. Come on. He is not here. He is risen. Our Jesus. Our Jesus. Our Jesus is alive. He is alive. And then they went and told everybody what they saw and what they heard. And then the resurrected Jesus showed up to his followers, and Jesus said this to them. He said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. He already had the authority, but for the first time, he's revealing this authority as the risen king and the risen Savior. Revelation says it this way: He's the King of Kings. He's the Lord of Lords. He's always ruled and reigned. Even when he came like a lamb, humble to the slaughter, he was ruling and he was reigning. And when he's returning one day like a lion, he's gonna be ruling and reigning. Nothing changes. Easter didn't change the game for him. No, he has always ruled and reigned, but he made a way. How many of you are happy that he made a way for us? Come on, put your hands together for Jesus. He made a way for us. He made a way. Why are we clapping so much today, Denny? Why are we clapping? Because our first pillar is exalt the name of Jesus. That's what we say here. We exalt the name of Jesus. You're gonna get excited about something, you better get excited about Jesus first in your life. We exalt the King of Kings, we exalt the Lord of Lords, we exalt the one that's above everything. And when we put him first, above it all, where everything else is covered and everything else is strengthened. So we exalt the name of Jesus. But I'm here to say the question, the question is not, is he king and did he win? We we've covered that. The question is this what's the ruler of your life? What is ruling and reigning in your life? I want you to sit with that for a moment. What's ruling and reigning in your life? Because here's the thing, he doesn't become king when you choose him, he already is. And you don't give him authority, you surrender to the authority that he already has. Why are you going through so many trials? Why are you so heavy? Why do you feel like the world is crushing you, like you're hopeless, like you're helpless? Why do you feel so confused and all well? I would say you need the king to take his rightful place. If you feel that way, hopeless and despair, like nothing is going right, I would say you're sitting in the wrong seat. You're trying to sit in the seat of the director, the seat of the king. It's time for you to get up out of that seat. And it's time for you to let the Lord take his rightful place for him to rule and reign in your life. And he's not ruling and reigning to take things away from you. No, he's freeing you to set you up to have the greatest life possible. So this is what I'll tell you. Stop trying to do it all by yourself. Stop trying to rule your life alone and fight alone and figure this out alone. Everyone say surrender. We got to surrender to the king. And the way that we surrender, it's right here. I want you to let this wash over you today. And whenever you're in trouble, I want you to go back to this. These are the words of Jesus. Jesus said this, Matthew 11, 28. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. Anybody weary and burdened in this place today? And he said this, I will give you rest. Everyone, breathe in, breathe out. Rest. You need rest. Jesus said this: take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Friends, rest is not just peace and quiet, it's the confidence that you don't have to live on edge anymore. In the Bible, God said to Joshua, Joshua, you will have rest. And this is what it meant in the Bible. He said, No enemy would be able to stand against him. And for all of us, that's what we get through Jesus. No enemy will stand against you. You don't have to wake up worried about what's coming against you because the king is already ahead of you. Everybody say rest. Rest. This past week I just had like all these things like stack up against me. Um came to work and we were dealing with like one of our buildings, something was going on, and they were putting out fires at work. Um, and then Sarah gets sick, the baby gets sick, I get sick. And then I go into my kitchen and I find like a little pile of dirt in my kitchen. I call the exterminator and he comes over and he looks down, and right in front of me, he pulls his phone out and he calls his manager. He says, You're never gonna guess what I found. This is crazy. I found dry wood termites. Can you believe it? Yeah, I can't believe it either. All right, and he hung up and he's like, I'm sorry, Mr. Denny, but this is just too crazy. You've hit the jackpot of termites, I'm gonna get to learn from stuff. Like, I'm right here, man. Like, wait a little bit. In that moment, I just I start laughing because I'm like, can anything else happen? It's like usually I have two pressure points or three. I had a whole catalog of pressure points in my life. Like I was just going through it. In that moment, I was so convicted because I remembered what Jesus, the pressure he faced on Holy Week. The weight of the world, past, present, and future, was on him. His best friends abandoned him. They beat him, they crucified him, he died, he defeated death, hell on the grave, and I was convicted. I said, God, thank you that I can join in some of the sufferings with you. Thank you that I can join in some of the pressure, but I'm finished with it. And I did what the Bible says. I went to Jesus. Come to me. I went to the Lord, and can I tell you that not only did the termites turn into ants, thank you, Jesus, they're ants, okay? Um, and my house is is healthy right now. Before all of those things, God gave me rest. Come to me. Are you weary? Cast your burdens on the king. The king can handle it, and the king is still in control. He has all authority, he's ruling and reigning, and he's already won the victory. So why don't you cast your stuff that you have on the one that has the victory, and you're guaranteed that you're gonna win. All week long, I'm saying, God, I cast my care on you. I'm giving it to the king. And the only way that this is possible is if he got up on that third day. If he didn't get up, well, we're not in this room. If he didn't get up, we're not gathering today. But he got up, he's alive and well, and Jesus, because he's ruling and reigning, well, he's coming back one day. Come on, somebody, and he's gonna part the sky, and every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, he is King Jesus. You better get excited in this place, you better exalt the name of Jesus in this place, his name is above every other name. Come on, let's give him some praise. Give God some praise in this place. It's Easter Sunday morning. You better act like it. Let's go. Hey, don't wait, don't wait for Jesus to come back. No, you do it right now. You make him king right now. He is the king, you make him ruler right now. This is Easter morning. Hey, what better day than to give your life to Jesus? Then on Easter Sunday morning, I want you to know I adore and I love each and every one of you. And when I speak this, I truly believe it. The best is yet to come for your life. The greatest days of your life are in front of you because they're with Jesus. Come on, let's attach to Jesus today. Let's make him the ruler of our life today. Just get that little cheat code I got right now. Anything happened, God, I'm giving it to you. God, I cast my cares on you. God, I can't see it, but I know you're still ruling. I know you're still there. I'm giving it to you. Today, if it was your very last day on this earth, and if you knew that you would be stepping into eternity, you do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you would be spending eternity with Jesus? If you don't, today you make sure. Bow your head. Bow your head. If you want to make sure, if you want to make sure, if you say, I want to make sure that Jesus is the Lord of my life. Today is the day of your salvation. We're gonna declare with our mouth and believe in our heart that He is the Lord. Today is your day. Don't wait, friend. Do not put it off, don't let something talk you out of it. Right now's your moment. If you're unsure, give him your life. Bow your head. If that's you, you say, I want to make sure, I want to give Jesus my life, raise your hand right now, all over this place. Say, I want to give Jesus my life, I want to make sure. Raise your hand, raise your hand. Thank you, Jesus. Everybody repeat after me, Jesus, come into my life. I believe in you, Jesus. I believe you have all authority. You're ruling and reigning, and you've won the victory. Be the king of my life. I believe in you, Jesus. I want to walk with you. Give me a life fulfilled in you. I want to live for eternity with you. Forgive me for doing life my own way. I want to do life your way. God, thank you for every person that prayed that prayer in this place. You just became the Lord and Savior of their life. God, thank you for this moment. I pray for everybody else that feels the pressure of this life where they've been trying to control it and rule and reign. In the name of Jesus, I pray we let you take your rightful place. You are king, you are sovereign. You have never lost control. And God, we give it to you. God, we understand that none of this is possible if you didn't get up out of that grave. We're so thankful that you're alive. We're thankful that you have risen and we celebrate you today. Right now, if you accepted Jesus, you gotta tell somebody. So we're gonna have our prayer workers right there in the back in the two tents. We got a Bible for you. We got some next steps. And I want you to go talk to them. But everyone else, lift your hands like this. Say, I've never done this before. Well, lift your hands like this. This is a sign of surrender. It's saying, not my will, but your will. Not my way, but your way. Come on, let's get Jesus in our mind. Let's focus on him and let's worship the risen Savior. Come on, let's worship.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

Thank you for connecting with us today. The first step to a new life in Christ is receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. If you have never received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, repeat this prayer after me. Jesus, I believe you died on a cross and rose again for me. I ask that you come into my heart and be the Lord of my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Whether you committed your life to Jesus for the first time today or are already on your journey of faith, we would love to stay connected with you. Please visit scchurch.com and follow SCchurch on all social media platforms. And remember, the best is yet to come.