Luke 20:1-19 Servant & Tenants

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Man, emotionalism is one of the biggest threats to your faith that you will ever face. I'll say that again because I didn't say that on accident. Emotionalism will be one of the biggest threats to your faith that you'll ever face. Because you will only line up with God when you feel like lining up with God. You'll only worship him when you feel like worshiping him. We have a wildly terrible theology in the states for suffering. Because we want to talk about victory, and I do believe that the greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. And I do believe that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. But I also know that I get to know Jesus and his suffering when I walk through suffering. There's an aspect of him that I get to know that I get to learn about when not everything's working well, but it's not fun to talk about that because you're like, well, that doesn't feel fun. That doesn't feel good to me. But there's an aspect of suffering that gets purified. There's a fire that happens when we're suffering and we're going through hard times. Rather than saying, well, God, you must not love me right now because things are difficult. Why do we equate that? Why do we equate hard times with the with the love of God? His love's unchanging for you always. He loves you the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. With me on that? Cool. All right. So listen, I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna, I'm trying to do my best to not come in hot this morning because this week is just like the I I'm not gonna, I don't know a good way to say this. Um man, I just my heart has been just open, and I feel like the Lord just we've been going through Luke for a minute, and right now I feel like it's the point where my heart's just getting cut open, and God's like, now I'm about to. A year and a half later, right? I've gone through Luke. These are passages that are um uh they're wrecking me. So right now I feel like I'm going down the interstate at 80, and I'm trying to grab your hand and bring you in the car. And so I don't want to rip your arm off, right? I'm gonna try to pump the brakes, make sure that you onboard well, but we're going somewhere together, and I believe that it's good. And uh so, so, man, so Holy Spirit, I just thank you that you would give me the words. I want to know what you're thinking, I want to know where you're going, I want to know what you're doing. And uh, and just use this time together to speak your life, your love, your peace in Jesus' name. Amen. Luke chapter 20. Now, uh, as we get into this, we recognize and we'll remember that Jesus has just flipped the tables in the temple. Uh, another passage, another gospel account uh has him having a whip and he's cracking it Indiana Jones on the people, right? Like he's driving out the animals that were used to and listen, you can go back and listen to the sermon. I don't know if you guys know it, but we have Hope City Spotify. You can listen to every single sermon, almost every sermon, except there's a few that got filed corrupted, so please forgive me on that. But you can go back and you can listen and you can find out where we've been and what's been going on. But we know that that that whole place is shook because he came in. And listen, it's you don't get away with throwing over tables quietly. What he did, the purpose was not quiet, the purpose was not meekness. He was establishing right order in his father's house. And then he stays and he starts teaching there daily, it says, and it says the people are hanging on his every word. And now we're in verse 1, chapter 20. One day, as Jesus was teaching the people and preaching the good news in the temple, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him. It's important that you recognize who comes up to him. Um, because this is like the whole crew of the authority structure in that place. This is like uh the the uh the council of elders, if you will. These are the guys that are in charge of what's happening at the temple. So the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him. These are the sort of the big dogs in the temple. And when they bark, people listen, right? That's how it's rolling. And they're coming up, and this is what they say. They demanded. Now, it's crazy when you realize, and like maybe they weren't, obviously, they weren't catching it then. This is Jesus. They demanded of the Son of God, they demanded of God. Okay, I just it's something that strikes me. Sometimes I see the word they demanded. Wow, that's that's audacious. By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right? Now, uh, the word authority there uh is the word we talked about it um a few months ago. I feel like it's a Greek word exodusia. It implies not just permission, but legitimate, divinely sanctioned power. Okay, so that they're not, this isn't curiosity that they have what they're doing with these original religious elite, they're trying to bait Jesus into claiming his authority was from God so they could charge him with blasphemy. That's wild, right? Trying to charge God with blasphemy. By what authority? Uh let me rewind, I want to read that one more time. By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you the right? Okay, they're baiting them right now. Let me ask you this question first, he replied. This would have been a common thing in uh rabbinic conversations. To you get a question and you're gonna answer that question with a question. I think we should bring that back. That sounds fun, right? So um they ask him a question and he pops back. Now, the reason this would happen in these kind of debates, a counter question, would be to expose the heart of really what's going on in the person that's challenging you. So that's what Jesus is doing. He's not being evasive, he's trying to put on display because this is happening publicly, by the way. They're challenging him publicly, and so he's trying to put on display what their heart is and what their intent is. With me? He's not like trying to shy away from confrontation. Let me ask you this question first, he replied. Did John's authority to baptize come from heaven or was it merely human? They talked it over amongst themselves. Why do you have to talk it over? Hey guys, we better get on the same page with this. We don't want to look like idiots, you know, like crazy Bob. He's gonna say something wild. We know he will, right? And like we've got to be on all on the same page. This is what we call cahoots. We've got to be in cahoots. They talked it over amongst themselves. If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn't believe John. But if we say it was merely human, the people, check this out, will stone us because they are convinced John was a prophet. Now they're they're in a pickle, right? Because they're looking at this situation and they realize this is a no-win scenario. There's not anything we can do, there's not anything that we can say. He has, with his wisdom and his questioning, he's painted us into a corner. Right? And everybody in that place, their ears perk up when Jesus mentions John. Why? Because they love John clearly. Now, John might have been a crazy guy, right? Eating locusts and wild honey and dressing with like the craziest of outfits, the craziest of garbage for that day. Can I tell you something? You don't have to look all the way right if you're doing things all the way right. There's a lot of us that, man, you may feel like that you you march to a little bit of a different beat, but if it's in line with what God's called you to do, the way that John did it, he was kind of a weird guy. I look forward to meeting him in heaven. I feel like John was a close talker. I don't know why I feel that way. You ever have a friend that's a close talker? You're like, I can hear you. You don't have to breathe on me, right? Like, but he was just something different about John. And everybody loved him. And so these, the, the, the, all these are, listen, these are the best of the best. This isn't some bunch of like just dropouts, failures. These are the leading priests, these are the heads of thought about religion, and they are fully stomped. And everybody's eyes are on them. Can you imagine hundreds of people just their eyes are on your group and they're like, okay, boys, huddle up. Right? Like this, the Green Bay Packers, right? Like, we we better not screw this up. But if we say it was merely human, the people will stone us because they are convinced John was a prophet. Let's go to the next verse. So they finally replied, they didn't know. These are the best of the best. Um, and Jesus responded, Then I won't tell you by what authority I do these things. This is um, again, Jesus is not evading uh uh a hard conversation. This is actually a judgment on not allowing them to have revelation because they're denying him. Right? I'm not gonna give you revelation because you can't like comprehend what even this stuff is going on. Your heart is so turned, it's so it's so jaded, right? So I'm not gonna tell you by what authority I do these things. Check this out, verse 9. This is my favorite part of this section. Now Jesus turned to the people again, right? Imagine you got the crew of knowledge, they are fully stoned, they are now embarrassed, they their knowledge is like right, Jesus now turns away from them, back to the people. And now, listen, he's about to start talking to the people, but who can hear? All of these guys are still there. The scene has not changed. So Jesus is about to present a parable to teach. Now, listen, a lot of Jesus' parables, when he would teach, people would walk away and they'd ponder and they would wonder and they would contemplate and they would think and they're they're trying to. You remember growing up, you ever have a class where you got a paper and it was all the little dots, and it's like numbered one through like whatever, and you had to connect them, and at the end you had a pony, right? It's something cool. You didn't know what you were going to get out of that, all those dots. Some of the parables is really hard to connect the dots. Listen, this parable is not hard to connect the dots. And he's talking to the people in earshot of all the leading priests. Remember, he is on his way to the cross. We are days away now when he's having this conversation. He turns to the people, you got the scene in your mind. He turns to the people again and told them this story. A man planted a vineyard, he leased it to tenant farmers, and moved to another country to live for several years. At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop, but the farmers attacked the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. So the owner sent another servant, but they also insulted him, beat him up, and sent him away empty-handed. A third man was sent, and they wounded him and chased him away. If you go and study the Greek, every single one of these beatings uh in the Greek, you will read that it's progressively more intense. They are escalating, they are not uh de-escalating. Thank you, Adam. Uh I was looking for something a little bit more heat on it than de-escalate, but that but that's the proper word. They are amping it up each time. It's more severe, it's more severe. You with me on that? Uh, you look in, and I believe it's in Matthew's account. Like you see a beating, and then somebody gets stoned, and then somebody is killed, right? Um, so the owner sent another servant, but they also insulted him, beat him up, and they sent him away empty-handed. A third man was sent and they wounded him and chased him away. Okay, next verse. What will I do? The owner asked himself. I know I'll send my cherished son, my cherished son, surely, surely they will respect him. At this moment, everybody knows what's going on in this story. Because um, what happens is they're in a uh temple, and Old Testament is very familiar to these people. And one of the things, when they say a man planted a vineyard, immediately they're going to shoot back to Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5 speaks about a vineyard, the Lord's vineyard, right? So everybody that's there, we kind of miss that in American context, if you haven't uh had the time to learn this. But everybody hears vineyard and boom, they rewind to Isaiah 5. God has a vineyard. And now they begin to say, listen, uh and when Jesus is telling the parable, the master sends his servants and they're beat up. And you're like, what is that about? What is that about? Zachariah, there's two Zachariahs, more than one Zachariah in the Old Testament. This is not the Zachariah that wrote the book of Zachariah. Zachariah Ben Jehoida. That's my best. He was it, but if you go back and look, he's stoned to death uh by order of the king Joash, right? Isaiah, tradition uh holds that Isaiah was sawn into by King Manasseh. Jeremiah tradition holds that he was stoned in Egypt. Uh Uriah was killed by King Jehoiakim or Jehoiachim, however you want to say it. Uh Elijah mentions that many prophets were killed by the sword during Jezebel's time. First Kings holds that account. Like when he's saying servant has come and another servant has come and another servant has come, everybody's recounting these prophets of old that were servants of God, that when they brought the word of the Lord, they were denied, they were rejected, and they were killed. They suffered for bringing the king's message. And every time they showed up, the the the tenants, the farmers, they're they're they're in the this this vineyard that they did not grow. And by the way, this would have been a familiar scene to everybody there because vineyards were plentiful, and this would not have been an uncommon scenario where there would be a person wealthy somewhere else that owned a vineyard and had it rented out, and he would get part of the crop and part of the share, right? This was so this was like familiar, and everybody hearing the story about the servants that are coming being beaten, they would have been in shock and in horror because this would not be done in their community. This would not be like uh accepted. And everybody's listening, and listen, the dots are getting connected so quick. There's a garden, boom, Isaiah. There were there there's servants that were sent to get the crop, boom, they were killed. Okay, this is this is going back to all these different Old Testament prophets that were killed. People were familiar, the dots are getting connected. Now, listen, in this story, everybody that's listening are recognizing the vineyard, they're recognizing the servants, and also check this out in real time, they're recognizing who? The tenants. Who are the tenants? They're the ones in charge of the vineyard. Who's the ones in charge of the vineyard in this scenario? This group of people that's standing over here back over Jesus' shoulder that just tried to trip him up. And listen, verse 19 shows you that all the priests they looked dumb a minute ago, but they're clicking in now. Oh my gosh, he's talking about us. And they're furious, yet they can do nothing because the people are hanging on Jesus every word. So the story's progressing. What will I do? The owner asked himself. I will send my cherished son. Surely they will respect him. In this moment, everybody is now identifying who Jesus is in this sort of story. The cherished son is standing here. But when the tenant farmers saw his son, they said to each other, Check this out, how diabolical. Here comes the heir to the estate. Let's kill him and get the estate for ourselves. The the master didn't have anybody else to send. He's sending a son. If they kill the son, nobody else is going to get the land, but now they get to own it. Let's kill him and get the estate for ourselves. Check this out. This is prophetic. So they dragged him out of the vineyard. Was Jesus killed in the city or outside of the city? Outside. They dragged him out of the vineyard and murdered him. What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to them? Jesus asked. I tell you, he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others. So at that point, there's a there's an implication of I came to the Jews, they've rejected me. The farm is about to get leased to somebody else, and that's going to be the Gentiles, right? And so listen, there are people you are in this text right now. Because now you are the servants on the farmland. And you are responsible for what's going on in the vineyard. And the king still calls for what he calls for, his fruit. You tracking with me this morning? Okay, I just want to make sure you're riding with me. That was good communion. I don't want you to get sleepy on me. And by the way, let me just back up and say we don't ever look at communion and say, hey, we're doing this symbolically. We believe there is something powerful that happens when you receive the body and the blood of the risen Lord. We're not going through the motions. We're not making light of this. We believe that this is not transubstantiation where it turns into the actual body and blood of Jesus, but we believe that on a deep level, something spiritual happens in this moment. Something significant happens in this moment. There are people that have received with expectation the communion and they have walked away healed from disease. Do you come with that expectation when you step up to communion? Because if it's his body broken for you, it was it was beat up so that you would have healing in yours. Okay. It doesn't have anything to do with the sermon. So I need to, I need to, before we get into the stone, the the builders rejected. Here's what's been uh challenging me all week. I look at the servants that the master's sending and they're suffering. And then I look at those that are that are attending the vineyard. And these tenants, and they are thriving. And they have control, and they're getting all the harvest, and they have and they have what they want. And there's a concern in my heart when I read this, and this is where the Lord just began like open heart surgery this week. Does the church right now look more like the servants or more like the tenants? I would I would say to you, at least in America, the church uh by and large, now there are pockets that differ, but by and large, you see, this morning there are a lot of places where there are church happening, but it's full of tenants, where they would rather have control than surrender. Right? Can I just listen? I said it last week, and I don't you think I tripped over my words. I'm not gonna address sheep like I address wolves. And even within our community and in our nation, there are people that are wolves and they need to be dealt with because it's leading people astray. And there's somebody that's gonna be held accountable for that. And in this place, in this house, man, there's an accountability that's on my shoulder to tell you the best I can what I see the word of God say. And so I and so I gotta I gotta keep it real with you because there's places right now where they've got an altar that has fog but no fire. And we're trying to, we're trying to get this experience to where it's like people can have control, and it's like this is what I want out of my service. I want it to be this long, I want it to have these songs, I want to have this kind of message, I want to have control over this service. I want to have control, and if I'm not happy and I don't have control here, I'll go to someplace else that I can get control. And I've had people, and it's been a while now, but I've had people come up to me. Actually, it wasn't just a couple months ago, people come up to me trying to instill control because they didn't have it. And shortly they found out that they weren't gonna get it, and so they went somewhere else. And I invited them to do so. Because listen, we are gonna submit our hearts to the king. We are gonna be guided by the Holy Spirit, and we're gonna believe that God the Father is gonna lead us into all he has for us. Amen. And so I'm we're not gonna apologize about that. And so what we're looking for in this place is not control, we're looking for submission. Because servants will suffer and they won't begrudge it, but tenants will whine when pain comes. I love how the the the Lord works. Uh, I love how he uh if you're if you're seeking after God, there's things he'll do in your week that he's like giving you like a wink, like, hey, I see your heart, I see your pursuit. And he did that for me this week. I was studying this, I was wrestling with this, I was concerned about, man, like, are we looking more like servants or tenants? And and God, we I just want us to look like how you want us to look. I want to give you what you call for. And and and and I'm like voraciously, I'm not a voracious reader. I try to be, but man, listening to messages and and and podcasts where theologians talk and help bring the cookies to the bottom shelf, because I need that. And just by a roundabout way, I I found my my myself watching this documentary on the church in Iran. And you're like, there's a church in Iran? I thought Iran was the uh the Islamic Republic of Iran. But the kingdom of God is spreading like wildfire in Iran, where there's persecution that it opens. With a woman and her voice has to be monitored and her face covered so she could be safe when this video could get out. But the reality was she wasn't safe to begin with because the video starts with her saying, Listen, I know that if I'm captured as a Christian in this country, I will first be raped, I will then be beaten, I will then be killed. And I know that when I leave my house every morning, I might not open that door again in the evening. I might not ever come back. And my husband and I are in agreement that this is what we want to do. We want to offer our bodies as sacrifice. These people like radical obedience to the word of God. And the states were trying to convince you just to read it. I'm like, right? I mean, I grew up and I remember people trying to convince me, Joey, just get in the word again. I shouldn't need any convincing. It's the word of God, right? Like just get in it. It doesn't matter if you're a reader or not, just get in it. And and and and there's so like this this woman's telling her sharing her story of how she grew up and just lived her life being raped by her father. And she's reading Genesis 3, Genesis 3 about how God forgives Adam and Eve. And she's like, if that's what she reads, and she's like, if God can can forgive Adam and Eve, then I can forgive my dad. I never heard anybody walk out of Genesis 3 with that, but there's a radical obedience saying, He does it, he forgives, so now I forgive. It doesn't condone what had happened, but it's valuing relationship over justice. I'd rather rather have relationship with you, God, than justice and being right in this moment. You with me on that? And and and then and then and this is this is the part I got shook because man, I I would have to listen for 30 minutes and then walk away and just process and think. And there's a couple that share, and they they had an opportunity to leave Iran, come to the states. They come to the states, and within a short time, the wife begins begging the husband and then pleading with saying, We need to move back. What do they have here? They have complete religious freedom. There's not any persecution on the farm. She will not have to worry about going to church and when she leaves, getting captured, raped, beaten, and killed. She doesn't have to worry about any of that. She can read her Bible anywhere, she can worship God anywhere. She doesn't have to worry about any of the things from her country. Yet she's begging her husband, we need to go back there. And these are her words. I had to write it down. She pleaded, can we go back? She said, There's a satanic lullaby here where all the Christians are asleep and I am getting sleepy. Spiritual sleepiness to her was more a threat of her faith than rape, abuse, death. What do we know that kind of relationship with God in our country where it's like I'd willingly go back into that because the relationship is so deep there? Or is it the desire to cling and have so much control? Then when the Holy Spirit wants to move into service, we won't let it happen because we get nervous if this looks weird. Man, just read the Bible. Things looked weird. We talked about the other week with Jesus spitting in the dirt, rub mud on a dude's face. Like it might get weird. But if what God wants is something, anything, I mean, we just give it to him. Listen, I'm trying to pump the brakes so y'all get in the car with me, but I can only go so much slower, so I hope you're jumping on right now. I'll get back into Luke's text in a second, but there was one last one. One leader said, Persecution keeps you clean. Because you are constantly leaning into God. You're constantly running to him as your refuge. Persecution keeps you clean. Are you praying for persecution in the States? I'm like, man. I'm praying that I would look like a servant and not a tenant, and whatever God's got to do to get me to that point. Whatever God needs to do, listen. I'd rather not have my daughters have to leave the house afraid that any of that would happen to them. But the mosques are going empty in Iran. And they're filling here. It means to be set apart. Another word for set apart is holy. But to consecrate yourself and saying, I consecration is not what are the minimum requirements for following God? Consecration is God, what could you do with me if I just gave you everything? That's consecration. If you're in here today and you're visiting, and I don't know everybody in the room, and so if you're looking, you're searching for Jesus, or you're searching for answers, maybe you're not a believer. I'm just trying to tell you how it needs to be with believers because there might be some places you go, and this is not how it is. So I'm not going to try to sell you on something like life's going to be dandy if you say yes to Jesus. But I'll tell you this my heart was like just crushed this week. And it wasn't, I wasn't crushed because these people were being persecuted. I was crushed because I didn't know Jesus like the people that are being persecuted do. I don't know him like that. Every night I my son likes me to lay next to his bed at night while he's falling asleep. So I would put my little ear pods in and I lay down and I watch on my phone. I'm watching this while he's sleeping. And I walk into the living room and I sit down next to my wife, I'm like, just speechless. And maybe you would watch it and you'd be like, uh, it's called Sheep Among Wolves. Maybe you'd watch it and you wouldn't get hit the way I did. Maybe it was just a Holy Spirit thing that was happening for me. But the fact that I'm I'm this is hitting me while I'm studying servants and tenants.

SPEAKER_03 29:40

And I'm wrestling in my heart, I'm like, God, how much do I do I seek control?

SPEAKER_01 29:48

I think it's a lot more than I want to admit. How much do I want that control to look like comfort? Because can I tell you this? There are many places within our county, within our city, within our state, where people gathered together this morning and songs were played, and the majority of the room sat there with arms crossed. And they might call it piety, but really what it is is mislabeled apathy. Just stand there, going through the motions, waiting to be entertained. Can I just say, listen, not trying to entertain anybody? Our worship, when we just had music up here, we're not trying to entertain anybody. Trying to glorify God. We talked about this weeks ago. The pillars of the church are this that we are here first and foremost to worship God, glorify his name, honor God. Secondly, we will equip the saints, and thirdly, we will reach the world, but we are not going to get those things out of order. So worship is not an experience where you're like, wow, that was so great today. It sounded so beautiful. I hope that it does come across and it does sound beautiful because there's effort put into it. But that effort's put in not to have perfection sound, but a sacrifice of praise that cost us something.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

Bro, I am so far from my notes right now.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Mika, would you Mika, Mika, would you come up for me? Let's go to uh verse 16. I tell you, he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyards to others. How terrible that is such that such a thing should ever happen, his listeners protested. Jesus looked at them and said, Then what does this scripture mean? The stone the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. What's a cornerstone? Cornerstone is a perfectly cut stone that all the rest of the building is built off of. It's the first stone that's sat down. It's the first stone, and once it's laid, it aligns the entire structure and it bears the weight of all the walls. The building's gonna collapse without it. And he says, listen, what does it mean? The builders reject, excuse me, that the builders have rejected has now become the cornerstone. The stone the builders reject has now become the cornerstone. Everyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces and it will crush anyone who falls on it. The teachers of religious law, check this out, and leading priests wanted to arrest Jesus immediately because they realized he was telling the story against them. They were the wicked farmers, but they were afraid of the people's reaction. He said, There's people that are gonna stumble and they're gonna be crushed over this stone. And immediately, the next sentence, the whole leadership stumbles over the stone standing in front of them. Instantly, they trip over the one that they want to kill him now rather than repent. And here's what I believe has happened. Apathy is trying to put to death Christ in our way so we're not convicted of our sin because it feels more comfortable to have control than release and have submission. And so we come into an environment, it's like I'm gonna navigate everything, I'm gonna dodge every bit of conviction that I need to dodge so that I don't feel uncomfortable or that I need to change. And listen, loved ones, I want to say this to you. I'm standing as a pastor in front of you. There's things in my life that need to change. I need to look more like Jesus, less like Joey. You need to look more like Jesus and less like you. This is the process of being a believer. But here's what I want for our congregation is that we would come weekly and bring a sacrifice where the fire would come and consume it. And it cannot come if we're in control. I kind of just been like over the last couple weeks, I feel like I get to the end of preparing. I'm like, I think I'm about to say the same exact thing I said last week with a little bit of a different spin. But here's what I believe: I don't want apathy, control, or pride to have any space in this place. So we're gonna deal with it till it's gone. Talk about it till it's gone. I wonder this morning, is Jesus in your life the cornerstone? Or is he just another stone? You can go to Bible studies, you can go to church meetings, you can read Christian books. But if Jesus is just another stone, he will not accept second place. Is he the cornerstone? I listened to the stories of these people in persecution yet thriving in their faith. And they could thrive because they had found the cornerstone. By the way, the the leadership is uh they don't have any assets, they don't have any buildings, they don't have any real structure of leadership. Everybody they meet, they immediately begin to disciple. They said the church that was built on converts died, the church that was built on discipleship thrive. Because converts will run when persecution comes, but disciples will die for the Lord. Not trying to have converts, trying to be disciples. And she said that the challenge she faces when she goes and ministers there, and she's humbled by the heart that these people have. She said, The thing I recognize is when I'm in the West, everybody's about making the best life they can make now. Everybody in that church in Iran is fully focused on the life that's to come. Whatever happens in life, in this life, it's what's coming next. There's eternity coming. Right? We don't think that. And these things aren't like innately wrong until you begin to worship them and you sacrifice obedience to God to get those things. You with me on that? Oh man. Man, I'm just I'm just like, I'm just dealing with sin in real time in front of you right now.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

Because I know, man.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

I know there's I know. I know there's areas of control in my life. Can I tell you an area real quick? It's not gonna sound the most spiritual thing, but it deeply is. So there's like growth happening in the church, and like one of the areas like we recognize is like, man, we gotta have a bathroom. We need another bathroom. Right? Like, because God bless these little kids, but they're not in a rush. Love him. My man comes out, and all he's got left on is his t-shirt. I'm like, what happened? I don't know what to do. But I'm like, man, we need we need more space and just some things like need more space for the kids. Praise God. And uh I believe the previous month was a wake-up call to say, don't expect things to be the way they've always been. It's a wake-up call. So I'm like, man, this is this is where I'm wrestling. God, do you have control or am I taking control? Because God, I believe that everything that you want to do in this place, you can take care of. The funds are not an issue to you. And I'm wrestling with, man, if we look for a loan to do the improvements, am I taking control or is God in control? And I'm not saying one is right and one is wrong, but I'm saying I don't want to be fearful and try to get it done and end up with Ishmael. I want to be waiting and patient that we have Isaac in all of this. I don't know if you're familiar with that story or not. But when we do things our way on our timeline, then we end up with the wrong things. You with me on that? So just pray for me because we want wisdom on that. We'll search out our options. I'm not saying one way's wrong, one way's not. I'm just saying we want what God wants. And I don't want fear to have a seat at the table in the decision-making process, and I don't want control to have, I want to be submitted to God. God, however, you want to do, this is how we're gonna do it. So I'm gonna ask you right now, would you just close your eyes? Let's just have a moment where we talk about consecration. I'm not asking you if there's areas in your life where you have control. I know there is because there's, I man, I don't know if that's something we're gonna wrestle with until the day that we die and we get more victory and more victory and more victory. I believe that'll happen because God is sanctifying us and God is working in our hearts. But what I want to ask you today is this have you consecrated your life to Jesus? Is He the cornerstone or just another stone? Have you just said, like, I God, I'm giving you everything about me. I'm giving all of me to you. I I'm giving you, I'm choosing right now to say, like, I want to have the faith that if I leave my house in the morning and I don't come back in the evening because there's been persecution, then it was a sacrifice worthwhile because it was a sacrifice made for your name. And there's nothing that dies that you can't raise back up, and there's no pain that can happen that you can't redeem. I'm just asking you right now, is your life consecrated in a way that your primary focus is the life after this one? Or are you rooted and stuck and lulled to sleep by the satanic lullaby where it's just like, man, just do it the easy way, just go for the American dream. And if you've not consecrated your life, you're not hearing me stand up here saying, Well, you suck as a believer. You're terrible as a believer, you're terrible, you're not hearing me say that. I'm saying is may the Holy Spirit bring a conviction. If there is not a place, if there's a place in your life where it's not consecrated to God, maybe your Sunday mornings are, but not your Monday mornings. Maybe your week is, but not your weekend. Search us, search us and expose us for anywhere that's a tenant and not a servant. Show us guys. Yeah, I don't know what you need to repent for, but just let's just take a moment, man. This is like in your heart right now. Just begin to just share it with the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

If you've if you've if you've taken control of your family, so God, I just release control right now if you sought control in your relationship with God, God, I just released control right now. If you feel afraid to say, God, I'm going to consecrate myself to you.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

You invite in the presence of the Lord in a deep way because He's not giving you a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. Lord, we want to be a people that do what you're blessing, not ask you to bless what we're doing. We want to be a people that are relentless in our obedience, relentless in our belief, relentless in our faith.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

Thank you, God.