WEBVTT 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:18.240 I'm preaching today on God is King. 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:24.079 God is King, or maybe a better title, Is God your King? 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:26.240 Is God your King? 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:33.359 I've been fortunate, you can tell by my wardrobe, I've been to uh countries on the continent of Africa a number of times. 00:00:33.519 --> 00:00:40.960 And uh my wife Danish and I, we've been fortunate that over the last three and a half years, we've been to Ghana five times. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:01:00.960 And uh Ghana has become a very special place for us, um, not only because through our partnership with World Vision, uh we have seen uh over 400 children sponsored through this church, over 400 children in Ghana, in Sierra Leone, and Tanzania, and so we're grateful for that. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:01.840 Amen. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:17.920 But also through this partnership with World Vision and Sankofa U.S., we've been taking pastors and spouses from around the country to Ghana, and we go to the places that represent the beginnings of slavery. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:32.000 We go to the River of the Last Bath where enslaved Africans were forced to go in there and bathe before they were taken to the slave dungeons and auctioned off and sent to uh uh what would be the New Americas. 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:34.560 Uh we we go to the slave dungeons. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:47.120 We go to these places that represent places of pain to reclaim these places as places of healing and places of prayer and places of worship and places of reconciliation and restoration. 00:01:47.360 --> 00:01:58.400 And um, one of the times, actually the very first trip that we went to Ghana over three and a half years ago, we had an opportunity to go to the Ashanti Kingdom. 00:01:58.639 --> 00:02:10.960 Even though Ghana is a democratic republic, I mean it's it's they they vote for who they want to be their president, there still is a traditional monarchy that exists in Ghana. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:13.039 It's called the Ashanti Kingdom. 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:18.960 I guess it's their version of like the royal family in England, but there but the Ashanti Kingdom has a king. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:28.319 And while we were at the Ashanti Kingdom, it was around the time that the coronation for King Charles in England was gonna take place. 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:33.919 So while we were there, the king of Ashanti comes out. 00:02:34.239 --> 00:02:38.000 Uh, this is bigger than Wakanda, this is bigger than Zamunda. 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:40.479 This is big, big, this big, big. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:52.000 This is like a real kingdom with a real king on the continent of Africa, and and he was coming out to get in his motorcade, to head to the airport, to go to the coronation of King Charles in England. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:57.759 And really, I we we only saw him for like four seconds, but in that moment, I don't know what came over me. 00:02:57.919 --> 00:02:58.799 I don't I don't know. 00:02:58.959 --> 00:03:06.719 It's just like something came over me, and when I saw just for four seconds or so, that the the the king of Ashanti, I was in awe. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:08.719 I was awestruck. 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:11.359 I was like the king of Ashanti. 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:29.759 Wow! When when I've gone to other traditional villages in in Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, and we've been in the presence of the chief, who's basically the king of the community. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:31.359 I'm awestruck. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:34.239 I I mean I I know I put my head down. 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:53.840 I'm I'm I'm I'm out of respect and honor, but I know even if it's the smallest, tiniest, poverty-stricken village, there's still something about being in the presence of a king, in the presence of a chief, in the presence of one with authority. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:04:19.280 But I've had to ask myself, if I'm that awestruck by four seconds of the distant presence of the king of Ashanti, if I'm that awestruck and moved in the presence of a chief in a small village, what is it that keeps me from sustaining awe in the presence of God? 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:25.920 Because I don't need to fly across the ocean to be in the presence of God. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:30.240 I don't need a special invitation to be in the presence of God. 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:32.399 We're in the presence of God right now. 00:04:32.719 --> 00:04:38.399 I'm glad you came to church, but I just want you to know you didn't have to come in here to be in the presence of God. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:43.360 You were in your car, in the presence of God, you were in your house, in the presence of God. 00:04:43.599 --> 00:04:55.040 Oh, do we live a life of receiving the King of Kings, or do we sometimes, in the midst of frustration, live lives of rejection? 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:05.759 What does it look like to receive, to be in the presence of, to be in awe of God as king? 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:16.480 The Bible presents many moments where the people of God have an opportunity to receive God as king. 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:23.920 And yet there are multiple occasions where the people of God reject God as king. 00:05:24.719 --> 00:05:31.120 So this raises the question Is God your king ear day? 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:34.639 That covers all of them, I think. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:36.800 Like every but like ear day. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:38.639 I mean it's all of them covered. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:39.759 All right? 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.159 Is God your king in season? 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:46.959 And when it feels like you out of season? 00:05:47.599 --> 00:05:54.560 Go with me to a couple of scenes of a people rejecting God as king. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:58.000 The first is 1 Samuel chapter 8. 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:03.279 1 Samuel chapter 8, beginning with verse 1. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:11.599 It says, When Samuel the prophet grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel's leaders. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:16.560 The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah. 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:22.159 And they served at Beersheba, but his sons did not follow his ways. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:28.159 They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:33.759 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:39.040 They said to him, You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways. 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:44.480 Now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have. 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:32.959 No, they said, We want a king over us. 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:40.480 Then we will be like all the other nations with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:44.879 And Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:47.279 I don't know why he repeated it like God didn't hear it. 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:55.360 The Lord answered, Listen to them and give them a king. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:05.680 Just in case you thought this was the only scene where people reject God as king, go with me to John chapter 19 in the New Testament. 00:08:06.159 --> 00:08:11.279 Beginning with verse 16, Jesus is about to be crucified. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:16.480 Finally, Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:20.480 So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:27.279 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the skull, which in Aramaic is called Gelgotha. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:35.279 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the middle. 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:38.720 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:44.320 It read, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:53.920 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. 00:08:54.160 --> 00:09:04.080 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, Do not write the King of the Jews, but that this man claimed to be the King of the Jews. 00:09:04.560 --> 00:09:08.800 From all that text, I want to preach to you on the title, God is King. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:11.120 Or is God your King? 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:14.560 God, I pray you would preach, you speak. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:17.200 I just desire to be your vessel. 00:09:17.520 --> 00:09:20.320 Say what you want to say to your beloved children. 00:09:20.560 --> 00:09:28.000 And I pray that it would rain on the inside of our souls, that you are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:30.400 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:40.240 There seems to be obsession with a particular royal family coming out of England, Great Britain. 00:09:40.400 --> 00:09:43.920 At least all the news outlets seem to think we're interested. 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:57.680 Because whether it's cable news, whether it's the local news, entertainment tonight, the Ricky Smiley morning show, they talk about the royal family. 00:09:58.160 --> 00:10:01.600 As if we are interested all around the world. 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:09.200 They want us to know what is going on with the monarchy in Great Britain. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:14.080 People will stay up all night to watch a royal wedding. 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:17.760 They will throw a party, they'll get up at 3 a.m. 00:10:18.160 --> 00:10:22.879 to pay attention to what is going on with royalty. 00:10:23.520 --> 00:10:26.400 But what about God? 00:10:27.680 --> 00:10:30.640 What kind of attention do we give God as king? 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:32.080 What kind of surrender? 00:10:32.160 --> 00:10:33.040 What kind of commitment? 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:37.520 What kind of attachment do we have to God as king? 00:10:37.680 --> 00:10:40.160 Are we awestruck in the presence of God? 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:50.320 I've had a couple of opportunities to go to the National President's Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:56.640 And the first time I went, um, I was thinking, you know, this is an awesome opportunity. 00:10:56.720 --> 00:10:58.000 I was glad to get invited. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:00.320 But I mean, he's this president, he ain't all that. 00:11:00.560 --> 00:11:02.320 He's president of the United States, okay. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:12:10.520 But I have to tell you, when the voice came out and said, ladies and gentlemen, the president and the first lady of the United States, and George W. 00:12:10.680 --> 00:12:13.480 Bush and Laura Bush came out. 00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:14.759 I was like, yeah, Joe. 00:12:20.680 --> 00:12:21.800 I don't know what happened. 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:25.160 You have to be in the room to feel it. 00:12:25.639 --> 00:12:31.240 A few years later, I was invited again to the national president's prayer breakfast. 00:12:31.560 --> 00:12:45.639 And they were like, ladies and gentlemen, the president and the first lady of the United States, and President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama came in, but Barack Obama's walk was a little different. 00:12:52.680 --> 00:12:54.520 And again, I was awestruck. 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:59.000 I was I was like, that something I I wasn't expecting it to happen. 00:13:00.280 --> 00:13:08.360 But I felt something being in the room with the President of the United States and the First Lady. 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:15.160 But it begs the question: what happens to my soul? 00:13:15.639 --> 00:13:17.960 What happens to my behavior? 00:13:18.920 --> 00:13:32.600 What happens to my allegiance when I realize I'm in the presence of God, who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? 00:13:34.040 --> 00:13:38.680 I am I in greater awe of God. 00:13:40.520 --> 00:13:45.000 Here we're in 1 Samuel chapter 9, chapter 8, I'm sorry. 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:55.800 And it's this this text, along with the others I'm gonna share with you today, really raise the question: is God your king or not? 00:13:56.680 --> 00:13:58.040 Is God your king or not? 00:13:58.120 --> 00:14:04.280 So let me just go back to that that first text that I read to you, 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 1. 00:14:05.400 --> 00:14:10.520 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel's leaders. 00:14:10.759 --> 00:14:15.320 The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah. 00:14:15.800 --> 00:14:20.920 And they served at Beersheba, but his sons did not follow his ways. 00:14:21.160 --> 00:14:25.879 They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. 00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:30.440 So all the elders of Israel gathered together, came to Samuel at Ramah. 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:34.680 They said to him, You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways. 00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:41.960 Now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have. 00:14:43.160 --> 00:14:48.360 Now, before we judge them too harshly, I get their frustration. 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:51.720 Samuel is a prophet. 00:14:52.600 --> 00:15:07.000 Samuel is supposed to be a servant of God before the nation, before this people, before the Hebrew people, before this developed by God nation of Israel. 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:15.000 Samuel is the voice, the representative of God and God's agenda. 00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:22.360 He's old now, so he puts his sons in charge of his responsibilities. 00:15:22.680 --> 00:15:35.160 But his sons are wicked, they're evil, they're perverting justice, they're taking bribes, they're not being a representative of Yahweh, of God. 00:15:35.560 --> 00:15:42.280 They are not representing who God is as a king, as Lord to Israel. 00:15:42.520 --> 00:15:44.759 So I get the people's frustration. 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:53.160 Sometimes you can get so frustrated with what is supposed to be spiritually right that has gone wrong. 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:56.280 You can get so frustrated with religion. 00:15:56.520 --> 00:15:59.080 You can get so frustrated in church. 00:15:59.320 --> 00:16:08.360 You can get so frustrated because you've been praying about this and you've been worshiping and you've been fasting, and now we got to deal with this. 00:16:08.520 --> 00:16:10.520 I thought this was supposed to be God. 00:16:10.680 --> 00:16:12.600 I thought God's hand was on this. 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:14.680 I thought God was working through this. 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:16.600 I thought God was present here. 00:16:16.759 --> 00:16:21.960 And so it it makes sense to me that the people are frustrated. 00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:25.160 It's what they do next that's the problem. 00:16:25.639 --> 00:16:33.000 Don't let your frustration, even with godly people, take you from your faith. 00:16:36.040 --> 00:16:37.960 That's the problem here. 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:45.639 They're frustrated with the spiritual, so now they turn their attention to the natural. 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:48.200 They turn their attention to the worldly. 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:49.160 You know what? 00:16:49.400 --> 00:16:53.080 Maybe we need a king like the Philistines. 00:16:53.400 --> 00:16:56.440 Maybe we need a king like the Amalekites. 00:16:56.600 --> 00:16:59.240 Maybe we need a king like the Hittites. 00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:02.360 Maybe we need a king like the Afroites. 00:17:02.680 --> 00:17:03.960 There ain't no Afrowites. 00:17:04.040 --> 00:17:06.920 I'm just trying to see if y'all, if y'all rolling with me. 00:17:07.080 --> 00:17:15.160 If y'all, some of y'all used to be Afrowites in the 1970s, and then you became a jerry curlite, but that's neither here nor there. 00:17:15.320 --> 00:17:17.720 Some of y'all are wondering what I'm talking about. 00:17:18.040 --> 00:17:20.040 Coming to America, soul glow. 00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:44.680 But anyway, what I'm really trying to talk to you about is don't let your disappointment in church stuff, don't let your frustration in what should be spiritual cause you to separate yourself from God, to separate yourself from your faith. 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:54.840 Don't let your frustration cause you to seek another agenda outside of God's agenda for your life. 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:57.080 That is the trick of the devil. 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:06.759 The devil wants to get you so mad about religion that you leave your relationship with God. 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:08.119 Don't you do that? 00:18:09.319 --> 00:18:11.319 Because I'm gonna disappoint you. 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:13.799 Church is gonna disappoint you. 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:17.720 But don't let disappointment lead you to disconnection. 00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:18.919 That's what I'm trying to say. 00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:20.359 That's what I'm trying to say. 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:24.279 Don't let disappointment lead you to disconnection. 00:18:25.159 --> 00:18:27.720 I'm trying to preach this thing to y'all, if y'all let me. 00:18:29.559 --> 00:18:34.039 How did Israel come to have a human king? 00:18:34.679 --> 00:18:45.960 A real issue of corruption and injustice and brokenness led them to seek a solution other than God's solution. 00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:54.039 They sought a solution from the pagan nations around them, from the broken flawed systems around them. 00:18:54.279 --> 00:19:07.720 Now that we got that out the way, what is God trying to teach us so that we understand the difference between a human king, God as king, and a king working on behalf of God? 00:19:07.879 --> 00:19:08.919 There's a difference. 00:19:09.159 --> 00:19:15.720 A human king, God as king, a human king working on behalf of God's agenda. 00:19:15.879 --> 00:19:16.279 All right? 00:19:16.359 --> 00:19:18.759 So here's a definition of a human king. 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:30.439 A human king is a sovereign ruler who possesses the highest authority over a kingdom, exercising the right to govern, protect, judge, and lead. 00:19:30.599 --> 00:19:44.759 If you put yourself under an earthly king, you're saying they have the highest authority here, and they can exercise the right to govern me, to protect me, to judge me, to lead me. 00:19:45.159 --> 00:19:58.199 The Bible, though, presents God as the ultimate king, whose reign is eternal, whose agenda is righteousness, and whose governance is the entire universe. 00:19:59.480 --> 00:20:08.599 God's territory of authority is not limited to a state, to a nation, to a to a to a world. 00:20:11.319 --> 00:20:14.679 Galaxies are under the authority of God. 00:20:15.639 --> 00:20:22.599 The moon, the stars, under the authority and governance of God as king. 00:20:23.159 --> 00:20:37.000 So in the Bible, when the people asked for a king, which was not God's ideal for them, not God's agenda for them, then you have the option, hopefully, of a godly king. 00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:38.759 What does that look like? 00:20:39.159 --> 00:21:00.279 A king who's expected to rule not as the highest authority, but under the authority of God, to administer justice and righteousness, to protect and shepherd the people, to defend the weak and the vulnerable, and to lead the nation in faithfulness to God. 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:03.720 And the king should do this in humility. 00:21:03.879 --> 00:21:24.119 Let me say this again a godly king is expected to rule under God's authority, not their own, administer justice and righteousness, protect and shepherd the people, defend the weak and vulnerable, and lead the nation in covenant faithfulness to God by operating out of the behavior of humility. 00:21:25.639 --> 00:21:37.319 But most of the kings we read about in the Bible don't live up to that standard, which is why it's better to claim God as your king and not a human being. 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:49.319 If that is true, then I want to spend the last few minutes of this sermon answering the question: what kind of king is God? 00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:52.599 Like, why would you want to surrender to God as king? 00:21:52.919 --> 00:21:55.720 How is God different than Pharaoh? 00:21:56.359 --> 00:22:03.240 Different than Caesar, different than the prime minister, different from the kings and queens of the day. 00:22:03.399 --> 00:22:07.159 How what kind of king is God? 00:22:07.879 --> 00:22:09.720 I'm glad y'all want to know this. 00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:12.679 You're quiet about it, but it seemed like you want to know. 00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:14.759 Point one. 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:17.000 What kind of king is God? 00:22:17.399 --> 00:22:20.359 God is creator, not conqueror. 00:22:21.319 --> 00:22:23.879 God is creator, not conqueror. 00:22:24.199 --> 00:22:26.519 I'm gonna go to Genesis chapter one, verse one. 00:22:26.919 --> 00:22:30.759 It says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:22:31.159 --> 00:22:38.519 Later in Genesis chapter one, it says, and he made human beings in God's own image. 00:22:39.079 --> 00:22:43.399 In God's image, he made them male and female. 00:22:47.480 --> 00:22:50.359 And God created human beings. 00:22:51.159 --> 00:22:54.759 God doesn't have to operate like an earthly king. 00:22:55.079 --> 00:23:01.079 Earthly kings, whether they want to admit it or not, that their power is limited. 00:23:01.319 --> 00:23:09.960 And so they try to increase their power, increase their authority by conquering people and places. 00:23:10.199 --> 00:23:10.679 So they do. 00:23:11.319 --> 00:23:17.639 Grow their power, they grow their authority through conquering, through taking territory. 00:23:17.879 --> 00:23:21.480 Earthly kings conquer places and people. 00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:25.559 God doesn't have to conquer anything because God created it all. 00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:29.399 God don't have to conquer the sun and the moon and the stars. 00:23:29.720 --> 00:23:30.519 God created it. 00:23:30.679 --> 00:23:33.960 God don't have to conquer no nations because God created it all. 00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:39.399 God don't have to conquer human beings because God created human beings. 00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:43.799 So you can surrender to God because God's not trying to conquer you. 00:23:43.960 --> 00:23:48.759 Even though God has all power and all authority, God's not even trying to control you. 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:52.919 God is giving you the free will to make all the decisions you want to make. 00:23:53.079 --> 00:23:54.519 God's not trying to conquer you. 00:23:54.679 --> 00:23:56.519 God's not trying to control you. 00:23:56.839 --> 00:23:59.799 God is trying to set you free. 00:23:59.960 --> 00:24:01.879 Which leads me to the second point. 00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:05.720 God is a liberator, not an oppressor. 00:24:06.359 --> 00:24:07.799 What kind of king is God? 00:24:08.039 --> 00:24:10.359 God is creator, not conqueror. 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:14.919 Two, God is liberator, not oppressor. 00:24:15.399 --> 00:24:17.879 Go with me to Exodus chapter 3. 00:24:18.599 --> 00:24:20.519 God is talking to Moses. 00:24:21.159 --> 00:24:23.399 Exodus 3, verse 7. 00:24:23.799 --> 00:24:29.159 The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. 00:24:29.559 --> 00:24:35.399 I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I'm concerned about their suffering. 00:24:35.639 --> 00:24:50.199 So I've come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hibites, and Jebuzites. 00:24:50.359 --> 00:24:56.519 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I've seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 00:24:56.679 --> 00:24:57.559 So now go. 00:24:57.720 --> 00:25:03.079 I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. 00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:06.919 There's a difference between Yahweh and Pharaoh. 00:25:08.039 --> 00:25:13.960 God, the king of everything, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. 00:25:14.839 --> 00:25:18.199 Pharaoh is enslaving, not God. 00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:20.199 God is liberating. 00:25:20.519 --> 00:25:22.679 Earthly kings colonize. 00:25:23.879 --> 00:25:26.279 Earthly kings enslave. 00:25:26.679 --> 00:25:30.439 God is the king who empowers and saves. 00:25:31.079 --> 00:25:33.240 God is not trying to enslave you. 00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:37.399 God's trying to deliver you from whatever is enslaving you. 00:25:37.639 --> 00:25:39.960 Are you enslaved by your own pride? 00:25:40.119 --> 00:25:42.359 Are you enslaved by your own prejudice? 00:25:42.519 --> 00:25:44.679 Are you enslaved by your own bias? 00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:46.919 Are you enslaved to rejection? 00:25:47.159 --> 00:25:49.159 Are you enslaved to addiction? 00:25:49.399 --> 00:25:51.720 Are you enslaved to low self-esteem? 00:25:51.879 --> 00:25:54.039 Are you enslaved to self-centeredness? 00:25:54.199 --> 00:25:56.039 Are you enslaved to abuse? 00:25:56.199 --> 00:25:58.199 Are you enslaved to neglect? 00:25:58.359 --> 00:26:00.359 Are you enslaved to trauma? 00:26:00.599 --> 00:26:02.519 Are you enslaved to triggers? 00:26:02.839 --> 00:26:11.879 God is the God that liberates, that, that, that, that, for freedom, Christ has set us free. 00:26:14.759 --> 00:26:16.839 God's not trying to incarcerate you. 00:26:19.159 --> 00:26:24.439 God's trying to resurrect you out of whatever is leading you to death. 00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:29.480 God is a different kind of king, y'all. 00:26:30.199 --> 00:26:33.319 Not one of the kings of the world, not one of the kings of the earth. 00:26:34.199 --> 00:26:36.759 God is liberator, not oppressor. 00:26:37.399 --> 00:26:43.319 Three, God is provider, not a perverter of possession. 00:26:43.720 --> 00:26:44.919 God is provider. 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:46.439 That's Jehovah Jirah. 00:26:47.159 --> 00:26:49.000 You have to go back and watch that one. 00:26:49.399 --> 00:26:54.199 God is provider, not a perverter of possession. 00:26:54.359 --> 00:26:55.879 What do I mean by this? 00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:59.720 Well, I'm gonna go back to Genesis just for a second. 00:27:00.039 --> 00:27:11.960 In Genesis 1, when you get to verse 27, it says, So God created mankind in his own image. 00:27:12.279 --> 00:27:14.199 In the image of God, he created them. 00:27:14.439 --> 00:27:16.679 Male and female, he created them. 00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:24.839 God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, increase in number, fill the earth, and subdue it. 00:27:24.919 --> 00:27:34.759 Go flourish, go thrive, go find purpose, go find empowerment within what I've created. 00:27:35.159 --> 00:27:37.399 That's the kind of king God is. 00:29:09.559 --> 00:29:13.480 In verse 9 of 1 Samuel 8, he says, Now listen to them. 00:29:13.639 --> 00:29:15.240 They want a king, listen to them. 00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:23.240 But warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights. 00:29:23.559 --> 00:29:27.720 So if you get an earthly king, God is saying, This is what it's gonna look like. 00:29:28.119 --> 00:29:34.199 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking them for a king. 00:29:34.439 --> 00:29:41.639 He said, This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights. 00:29:43.399 --> 00:29:48.279 Now, God is king wants you to experience his righteousness. 00:29:49.079 --> 00:29:53.240 An earthly king wants you to know the rights they have over your life. 00:29:54.439 --> 00:30:03.240 He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 00:30:03.559 --> 00:30:14.919 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for chariots. 00:30:15.399 --> 00:30:28.439 So he's saying, if you have an earthly king, if you have this kind of earthly leader over you, just know he's gonna take your sons to fight his battles that might not have nothing to do with God's agenda. 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:46.119 This king you want over you is gonna take your sons, recruit them into his army, put them on his battlefield while he's staying up in the palace, and he's gonna put your sons on the front line and send them to wars that make no sense. 00:30:46.279 --> 00:30:47.240 Y'all don't hear me. 00:30:48.119 --> 00:31:00.199 We live in a democracy, but we still got a commander in chief that can take your sons and your daughters and put them out there for wars that ain't got nothing to do with God's agenda, ain't got nothing to do with nothing in the Bible. 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:03.319 He said, But this is what you want. 00:31:04.439 --> 00:31:06.199 He said, and he went from there. 00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:16.759 He said, verse 13, he will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers, and it didn't say it in this verse, but it's true, and concubines. 00:31:18.599 --> 00:31:23.480 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 00:31:23.720 --> 00:31:29.559 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:36.839 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys, he will take whatever you think you own, the king owns. 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:39.480 He will take a tenth of your flocks. 00:31:39.559 --> 00:31:41.319 Wait a minute, he just took a tenth of the grain. 00:31:41.399 --> 00:31:43.720 So this, oh, this is where income tax come in. 00:31:43.799 --> 00:31:48.279 He gets that this is a 20th of your flocks and your sales. 00:31:48.439 --> 00:31:50.199 It might be more than that today. 00:31:50.839 --> 00:32:03.799 When that now, and it says, now, when that day comes, when when you get the king you want, and the king you want operates like the king of the Amalekites and the King of the Philistines and the King of all these other nations. 00:32:03.879 --> 00:32:13.399 When you get what you're asking for, when that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day. 00:32:13.639 --> 00:32:15.960 Now, that's a complicated verse. 00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:19.720 Because at first glance it looks at man, God, why are you like that? 00:32:19.799 --> 00:32:23.240 So that means when they cry out, God, we changed our mind. 00:32:23.399 --> 00:32:24.919 We don't want no earthly king. 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:26.279 Now that's what you wanted. 00:32:27.240 --> 00:32:28.199 Deal with it. 00:32:29.480 --> 00:32:31.480 Let me go bless somebody that wants to be obedient. 00:32:31.559 --> 00:32:33.559 No, no, no, that sounds tough. 00:32:34.679 --> 00:32:37.159 But I don't think that's what that verse is really saying. 00:32:37.559 --> 00:32:40.359 I agree with theologian and pastor Dr. 00:32:40.439 --> 00:32:52.439 Greg Boyd when he says verses like this, these tough verses in the Old Testament, especially when it looks like that God is saying, kill everybody, take everybody out. 00:32:52.679 --> 00:32:54.839 When you call me, I'm not gonna answer. 00:32:55.079 --> 00:33:02.839 All these verses really are is God accommodating for what people want because God has given us free will. 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:08.279 So when you see a verse like this, and God won't answer them, because God is accommodating. 00:33:08.439 --> 00:33:09.960 You said this is what you want. 00:33:10.119 --> 00:33:14.439 I need to let you live into and live out what you asked for. 00:33:14.679 --> 00:33:17.319 Now, God was giving them an out here. 00:33:17.480 --> 00:33:21.639 They could have heard all that and said, We changed our mind, we don't want no earthly king. 00:33:21.879 --> 00:33:27.879 But verse 19 says, But the people refuse to listen to Samuel. 00:33:28.199 --> 00:33:32.359 No, they said, We want a king over us. 00:33:33.240 --> 00:33:48.119 What God is showing is this possession in the hand of an earthly king is defined radically different than possession in the hand of God as king. 00:33:48.759 --> 00:33:53.879 Possession with an earthly king means you are my subjects. 00:33:54.599 --> 00:33:57.079 With God, it's you are my saints. 00:33:58.439 --> 00:34:01.879 With with with earthly kings, you are my slaves. 00:34:02.279 --> 00:34:05.079 With God, you are my beloved children. 00:34:05.480 --> 00:34:18.920 Being possessed by God is to be loved by God, is to be gifted by God, to be liberated by God, to be healed by God, to be set out for something wonderful by God. 00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:27.800 To be, do you see the difference between being God's special possession and being a king's possession? 00:34:28.360 --> 00:34:29.320 You are mine. 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:37.000 That is different, and you are my beloved child, the one I love so much. 00:34:38.280 --> 00:34:39.960 We have a choice to make. 00:34:40.679 --> 00:34:42.679 Who are we surrendered to? 00:34:43.240 --> 00:34:46.440 Who is our king? 00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:54.360 The church is not supposed to be owned by the United States of America or any other country. 00:34:56.280 --> 00:35:09.240 The separation of church and state gives the church the opportunity to operate as a royal priesthood, as a holy nation set apart. 00:35:09.400 --> 00:35:13.160 The church should be an embassy of the kingdom of God. 00:35:13.400 --> 00:35:17.960 The church should represent the king of kings and the lord of lords. 00:35:18.200 --> 00:35:23.720 If this is the case, then why do we reject God as king? 00:35:23.960 --> 00:35:38.920 If God is creator, not conqueror, if God is liberator, not oppressor, if God is provider, not a perverter of possession, then why, as I come to my clothes do we reject God as king? 00:35:40.280 --> 00:35:43.880 Because he's not the king we were hoping for. 00:35:45.400 --> 00:35:46.280 That's why. 00:35:47.800 --> 00:35:52.920 Peter denied Jesus three times. 00:35:53.160 --> 00:35:54.600 You want to know why? 00:35:54.920 --> 00:35:57.240 He wasn't the king he was looking for. 00:35:57.800 --> 00:36:02.680 He was looking for a king of war, a king of the sword. 00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:11.480 He was looking for a king that would rally the Israelites and others to take on the Roman Empire and have an insurrection. 00:36:11.640 --> 00:36:16.440 That's why they said, give us Barabbas, because they wanted a real insurrectionist. 00:36:16.600 --> 00:36:26.760 They didn't want Jesus, they wanted somebody that was gonna storm the palace, they wanted somebody that was gonna go in and take down Caesar, bring him out and hang him. 00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:37.960 They wanted to put Caesar on the cross, and Jesus wasn't the king that they wanted, so they rejected him because he wasn't the conqueror. 00:36:38.360 --> 00:36:44.360 What kind of king is this giving health care to a diseased woman? 00:36:44.920 --> 00:36:47.960 What kind of king is this giving sight to the blind? 00:36:48.200 --> 00:36:55.320 What kind of king is this standing between a woman caught in adultery and people throwing stones? 00:36:55.480 --> 00:36:58.920 What kind of God is this giving sight to the blind? 00:36:59.160 --> 00:37:02.440 What kind of God is this giving mobility to the paralyzed? 00:37:02.600 --> 00:37:08.280 What kind of God is this going to Samaria and giving dignity to an outcast, unnamed woman? 00:37:08.520 --> 00:37:14.120 What kind of God is this, a carpenter's son coming from a hood called Nazareth? 00:37:14.280 --> 00:37:18.040 What kind of king is this that would wash people's feet? 00:37:18.200 --> 00:37:23.320 What kind of king is this that would let a prostitute anoint him for the cross? 00:37:23.480 --> 00:37:28.280 What kind of king is this that would allow himself to be arrested? 00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:32.040 What kind of king is this that would be whipped publicly? 00:37:32.280 --> 00:37:35.400 What kind of king is this that would go to jail? 00:37:35.560 --> 00:37:39.640 What kind of king is this that would hang on Calvary's cross? 00:37:39.800 --> 00:37:46.520 What kind of king is this that Malays from the morning would raise from the brain? 00:37:47.880 --> 00:37:49.800 What kind of king is this? 00:37:49.960 --> 00:37:54.920 That one day will return and create a new heaven and a new earth. 00:37:55.080 --> 00:37:58.280 What kind of king is this that brought you out of addiction? 00:37:58.600 --> 00:38:01.720 What kind of king is this that restored your memory? 00:38:01.960 --> 00:38:03.240 What kind of king is this? 00:38:03.400 --> 00:38:04.920 That brought your king's home? 00:38:05.160 --> 00:38:06.760 What kind of king is this? 00:38:06.840 --> 00:38:09.800 That suspended you from a military when you were coming in. 00:38:10.680 --> 00:38:12.120 What kind of king is this? 00:38:12.200 --> 00:38:14.920 That's helping you raise your kingdom to the same lava. 00:38:15.240 --> 00:38:16.680 What kind of king is this? 00:38:31.800 --> 00:38:35.320 Man has rejected you, but God has rejected you. 00:38:36.440 --> 00:38:39.000 You can talk about me if you want to. 00:38:39.160 --> 00:38:41.400 I'm here only to please my kid. 00:38:42.200 --> 00:38:43.880 Lie on me if you want to. 00:38:44.040 --> 00:38:46.920 I'm here to please and live for my kids. 00:38:47.160 --> 00:38:48.680 I've been doing this for y'all. 00:38:48.760 --> 00:38:50.520 I've been doing this for my kids.