Change the Game // Power

In the second message from John 18, we step into a tension-filled moment where power seems to shift from soldiers to priests to governors—but beneath it all, a deeper reality is unfolding. As we continue working backward from the resurrection, we’re challenged to reconsider what power באמת looks like in light of eternity. While the world operates on a finite mindset—grasping for control, status, and security—Jesus reveals an entirely different way, willingly submitting to the Father not out of weakness, but מתוך ultimate authority and trust. In contrast, Peter’s denials expose how fear drives us to cling to temporary power when we forget who truly holds it. This sermon invites us to wrestle with a defining question: will we rest in the goodness and sovereignty of God, or will we exhaust ourselves chasing fleeting power in a broken world?

Lifegroup Questions:

1. When you hear the word power, what’s the first image or situation that comes to mind?
2. Have you ever seen someone handle power really well? What made it stand out On the flip side, have you ever seen power “go to someone’s head”? What changed in them?
3. In everyday life (work, family, friendships), where do you most often see power struggles show up?
4. When Jesus says, “I am he” (John 18:5-6) and the soldiers draw back and fall to the ground, what do you see in that moment? Do you think of God's power in such a tangible way? 
5. Why do you think Peter moved so quickly from drawing a sword in the garden to denying Jesus around the fire? Have you ever experienced a moment when you felt like Peter—bold in theory but fearful in practice? What did that reveal to you?
6. When are you most tempted to “reach for the sword” — to grasp for control, defend yourself, or assert power?
7. What might it look like in a real-life situation you’re facing right now to “choose submission to a good God” instead of wrestling for fleeting power?
8. The sermon defines biblical power as “the ability and authority to accomplish God’s will." How is that different from how our culture typically defines power?
9. Where do you see examples today of “finite game” power — power that looks strong in the moment but doesn’t last?
10. Jesus remains calm and composed when struck. What does His response teach us about strength under pressure?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the Refinery Church Sermon Podcast. We're so glad you've joined us today. Our prayer is that this message will help you grow in your pursuit to love and follow Jesus for life. If you'd like to learn more about the refinery, find ways to get connected, share a prayer request, or explore resources to help you grow deeper in your walk with Christ. Visit us online at refineryohio.com. Now let's dive into today's message.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Good morning, y'all. You gotta be careful playing games. I'll tell you about that in a second. Uh but first, hey, big serve week this week. Super excited for this. Uh, number of opportunities to connect and engage. Um, if you've not yet found a spot, I would really encourage you to check it out. Uh, you can just pull up um the app to see what's going on there. Or if you're like, hey, I'm still not really familiar with the app, I really would encourage that. Best way to find out about events like with Date Night, my buddy Lamoris, he's the chaplain for the Panthers. He's gonna be here, as was mentioned already at the end of the month. Very excited for him and Megan to kind of just pour into us that evening. But all details are there. But for uh Big Serve in particular, there's one area where we could um especially use some extra help. Freedom Collective is one of our partners here in the community, and they're an anti-trafficking organization doing tremendous work throughout the year just to invite uh women that are caught in a in a broken institution to help them get out and find a new place. And so Parsons House is the home where they facilitate a lot of this uh relational engagement and connectivity, and so they're getting some new flooring installed, and actually a gentleman from the church is taking lead on that and doing some painting, but it's going to be kind of during day hours, Monday through Friday. So if you're like, hey, I've got a two-hour block or a one-hour block or three or four-hour block, and I love to paint, I'm good at painting, that'd be an option. Or if you're like, hey, I could be a runner grabbing boards or moving things that way, um, that would be an option. And then also um they've got some like sorting, some organizing, some things that way, that would be super helpful. And so those are just a couple of the opportunities. Bridge is one of my favorite uh things that we do. I had planned to serve this week. I don't know that that's going to happen uh with that organization, but a tremendous organization doing work, uh good work as well. So if you've not yet signed up, check out the app, just scroll through. Um, it's a great way to just kind of check out an organization in kind of a low threat kind of uh way, and we get to serve collectively in these ways. It's also a cool way just to connect with some other people. Um, and you may be like, I don't even know what I think about faith. That's all right. This is a way just to go and just love on and pour into some people in a way that's uh not attached to that specifically. Um, but if you are a follower of Jesus, then 100%, man, we know God has called us to go and serve, so I'd invite you to be a part of that. Um this week we're continuing our series called Change the Game. And so this past Thursday I was playing a game. Um, it's called Kickball. I don't know if you've heard of it. It's where there's a giant red rubber ball that you kick. And so we've uh been in a transition with our youth pastor. Uh you should or I think everybody knows that Ben he stepped out of that role at the end of December. His family's still active here, part of the church. Miles' son is in the youth group, and man led us effectively for eight years. We're excited to have Drew and Alyssa come come join us. Drew's gonna be on staff as our youth pastor, Alyssa, uh his wife, and so they're actually with us in the service today, but they'll be joining us officially in May. And so we're pumped to get them here. Yeah, you can clap if you want. They didn't do anything, but yeah. Yeah, I mean, he didn't do anything. If he would have been here, I wouldn't have hurt my ankle, but it's no big deal. It's neither here nor there. You know, uh getting started off on the wrong foot, I feel like. Thank you. Thank you. That listen, first service didn't get that one, y'all. Okay, this was just off the cuff. Um, but no, for real. So we're playing kickball, and uh, I'm doing all-time pitcher, and I mean I'm cooking, like there's no doubt. I mean, my my all-star game days are coming back to me. And uh one of the adult youth leaders like, hey, if you want to kick one, I can be the pitcher this inning. And I was like, sure, yeah, that'll be fun. What's the worst that can happen? And then one of the students was like, Hey, you want to kick for me and I'll run. And I'm like, that's even better, right? Because you get to kick. But what was weird was she said, hey, stand right here where you kick, which I didn't understand, and then I snapped my ankle, and so I think it was a setup. Just kidding, I know it wasn't. No, but it was a ton of fun. Turned out to just be a sprain. Urgent care thought it was a break. I go to Ortho the next day. Ortho says, You did break it, but that was in the past, and it healed on its own. That's what they saw, which I never knew I had a broken ankle, so apparently I did at some point. Um, but I'll be rolling for a little bit and then uh walking and running and playing and forgetting my age once again in the near future. But the focus for us in this series is this idea of how we look at life, and particularly through the lens of this imagery of the finite versus the infinite game. The finite game has fixed players, it has a fixed time. There's very clear outcome of who wins or loses the game. In an infinite game, the idea is that the players can change, the rules can change, the objectives kind of shift, and you're trying to perpetuate the game. So a race is an example of a finite game. You run the race, but being a racer to compete over a longer time is more of an infinite game. You're growing as an athlete. In business, a quarterly sales objective, like a sales goal, or you're having a competition for who can get the most sales in a quarter is a short-term finite game. But just being in sales, being in business is an infinite game. You're trying to extend the life of what you do, the meaningful work that you're about. Are you familiar with the phrase or the idea that, or maybe you've said, you man, the power really went to their head. Have you ever had that thought? Or maybe it's been accused of you. Um you ever work with somebody and all of a sudden they got to head up a project or they got promoted in the company or in the organization, and they'd kind of just shifted. Like they were just almost a little bit different, you know. It's they they seemed more sure of themselves, more confident in a positive way, or maybe in a negative way, they became more dismissive others, something like that. Uh, maybe uh anybody grow up as the older any older kids in the room, maybe oldest children? Okay, yeah. Um, do you ever have, do you guys remember when mom and dad left for the first time and they left you in charge? What's the worst that could happen, right? A lot of bad things. A lot of bad things. I'm the third child. You get it. Or uh my sons play a number of sports, and uh we've had, man, we've had a number of great officials through the years that uh keep the game flowing and keep the kids safe. In fact, one of our members here at the church actually officiated one of my sons' games last year, so that was a lot of fun. I yelled at him. Um but then we've at other times had officials, and this is, I say this in a completely unbiased, totally objective way, that were terrible. Um and I really disagreed with some of their officiating of the game, right? And I'm like, man, the power went to their head, you know, kind of a scenario. It's that kind of a thing. Power can bring out the best in people, but it can also bring out the worst. Power can, man, afford an opportunity for people to leverage it for the good of others, particularly for those who lack, but power can also be leveraged in selfish ways to the gain of an individual or to their own selfish priorities. And when you think about like people you respect, uh power is not always connected to position. You have people with positional authority in your life, and you maybe respect or whatever them because you have to, but then there's other people in your life that they just have relational authority. They have power in your life. Some people recognize that they have power and they leverage it or well or poorly. Other people don't realize they have power, but yet when they say something, when they do something, all of a sudden it moves people. And power is neither inherently good nor bad. You can have a lot of power and use it for good, you can have a lot of power and use it for bad. You can have very little power in your life and use it for good, you can have very little power in your life and use it for bad. Power is neither good nor bad. In a finite game, who holds the power is rather obvious. So if I go to my son's track meet, for instance, whoever the official is that are uh this are kind of early stages of track, so I don't know all the things, but um, you know, the the officials, like they get to time things and call what's what, and the coaches have the authority of who's running what race and all those things. If I were to go to a football game, like the official, the coach, like those folks, um the NFL draft, the GM, the owner, they get a pick, they have the power of what to do. And in a finite game, that's how it works, but in an infinite game, it's a little bit harder at times to identify who has power, like who's in authority. And so that's important to recognize of how we navigate this. And this week I want to look at John 18. So we're actually working backward a little bit from our story last week when we look at the resurrection of Jesus. We want to look at the situation that leads up to the situation, and it's really this question of who has the power in these moments. And it's a question that's relevant throughout our lives because if we can't answer it well, it leaves us in a precarious position. If you've ever been in a business sitting setting and you didn't know who actually held the authority, who held the power, you're trying to conduct a meeting, you're trying to leverage an opportunity, it can be a problem. I have a leader, an author, a respect or a speaker that I've got tremendous respect for through the years, and he talked about in his first assignment, he uh was getting ready to conduct his first meeting, and he'd set some priorities and some objectives of what he thought they needed to get done, and he goes to the meeting and he says, Hey, here's what I'm thinking really matters, here's what's important. He said, and and I would say, Here's what I think, what do you guys want to do? What do you think? He said, Everybody in the meeting would look to one gentleman at the other end of the table. And he would speak, and then everybody'd say, Yeah, yeah, I'm with him. I think what he says is good, I'm I'm with him. And then the leader of the organization would say another thing, and the same scenario played itself out over and over again. And this individual who I respect a great deal said he realized the one with the power in the room was this other gentleman. And so before every meeting, he would go and he would meet with this other gentleman to say, Hey, what do you think about this? And how do we do this and how do we conduct this? And it's one of those things, if you don't know who has the power in a situation, you can get yourself in trouble. And similarly, if you don't know who has the power in the situation, you can miss the opportunity to do a lot of good. And so, with that in mind, um, to give us kind of a basic starting point, in simple terms, biblical power is the ability and the authority to accomplish God's will. It's not just raw strength, it's purposeful. It's purposeful strength, aligned with God's character and mission. So when we're thinking about power from this infinite landscape, when we're thinking about power from a biblical landscape, that's what it looks like. It's not just the strongest person in the room, but it's the one that's able to work things to the way that God would have them to go. So with that, I invite you to look with me to John chapter 18, verses 2 through 5. And this is Jesus is about to be arrested in this text, so again, we're leading up to crucifixion, leading up to resurrection, and this is how it reads. It says, now Judas, this is one of the twelve, who betrayed Jesus, knew the place because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the garden. Again, Judas is one of the twelve. He'd been as close to Jesus as possible. So Judas came to the garden guiding a detachment of soldiers, and we don't know how many a detachment is. It would have been a significant number that would have been there, but this may have been a dozen, two dozen, three dozen. It's probably more than two to three. There's a crew that they're coming. And some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they were carrying torches, lanterns, and weapons. Like this is a show of force, a show of power in the traditional sense. To arrest, mind you, a singular man who would have had eleven guys with him that came from an assortment of spaces within their culture. Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, notice that phrase, knowing all that was going to happen, went out and asked them, Who is it you want? Jesus of Nazareth, they replied, I am He, bless you, Jesus said. And Judas the traitor was standing there with him. Now, in this moment, who has the power? Your tendency, my tendency often is we we jump to the end of the story because we know the end of the story. It's like, well, obviously, but but just think for just a second. If you're reading a story, it's like, okay, there's an armed crew filled with officials and power figures that are walking into a spot to arrest somebody who uh travels around and speaks and has a crew of eleven with him from a mixed bag sort of space. Who has the power? I mean, Judas, you could maybe say. After all, he's the one that knows Jesus, he knows the place they're gonna be, he's leveraged this opportunity, so there's some power there, though maybe tenuous at best, because his the necessity of him will quickly evaporate. You could perhaps say it's the officials that have the power because the officials were one that had the money to afford to pay Judas, to betray Jesus, and they're the ones that are able to get the detachment of soldiers to travel with them. But regardless, like they're coming in force. There's a show of power that honestly seems incredibly unnecessary. In fact, we'll read later that Jesus kind of points out the irony, like, why are you coming this way? There's other ways you could have done this. Like, why the clandestine arrest at night? Like, what were you afraid of? If they had the power to do what they legitimately wanted, why not just do it in broad daylight? Anytime you work behind the scenes to try and um finagle things to kind of work to your advantage, it's because you lack power. So if uh you've got a situation with the CEO or the boss or somebody over you in the organization at the company or the firm or wherever it is that you do your work, if you have power in the situation, you just tell them. You just speak your mind. But if you lack power, what do you do? You speak your mind to somebody else, but you don't tell them. There's kind of this play that's that's working out here. The disciples and Jesus, like they don't have any real power, right? But if we continue reading, we pick this up in verse six. Judas should have power, he's a key cog, but it's fleeting maybe at best. The soldiers should have power, but maybe they're just paid by the state anyway, they're not calling the official the shots. The officials definitely have power, and yet all of them are operating in this clandestine way. And then we read this in verse six. When Jesus said, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. There's this moment that we don't fully understand exactly all the implications of what's going on here. But if you were to go to the Greek of what this says, it's ego-ami. And why that's unique is it's not a phrase that you would have normally used to identify yourself. Um, when we read the Bible, we're always reading as it's a translation. There's dynamic translation, literal translation, all this kind of stuff, trying to understand. And there's scholars, no matter what translation you pick, there's amazing scholars that have done this. And there's different ways to say it. Ego Amy, if you were to literally translate it just word for word, which is not what a lot of the Bible does, would just say, I am. Here's why it matters. Hey, we're looking for Jesus, I am. In the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus, the Israelites are caught in captivity and slavery to Egypt. Moses is called by God to go and to set them free. Go proclaim to systems of power that they're not going to continue to operate in the way that they've always operated. Instead, tell them God has told you to set my people free. And Moses is like, but listen, if I go to Pharaoh, he's in the seat of power, he's got the authority, I have no power, I have no leverage. Who do I tell them sent me? And God tells them, said, tell them I am who I am, has sent you. Who's this Jesus of Nazareth? I am. There's this power that Jesus carries, there's this power that Jesus wields. But it's most greatly shown through his restraint. And in this moment, something is seen, something is understood a little bit different. The people literally fall to the ground, like they're kind of taking a step back. They understand, while it looks like they're the ones in power, they know they're not. The text continues to unfold. Power seems to have shifted, or maybe it's just revealed more clearly. Verses 7, 8, and then down to 10. Again, he asked them, Who is it you want? Jesus of Nazareth, they said. And Jesus answered, I told you that I'm He. Or I told you that I am. If you're looking for me, then let these men go. And then skipping down to verse 10. Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, that's an instrument of power. You've heard the phrase, the pen is mightier than the sword? Comes from this old play in the 1830s. And yet I've never seen, like in a movie or something like that, when like a major battle sequence breaks out that they grab like a pen. Like, quick, get the pins. The pen is mightier than the sword. The idea is basically that communication words are more powerful, and we know this is true. Sticks and stones may break my bones, words will never hurt me, but we also know that's nonsense. Because there's words that have been spoken over you, spoken about you, that continue to linger and wound, and you're trying to outlive, even though maybe the person who spoke them forgot they spoke them or is long gone. So Peter does what Peter thinks you're supposed to do in a situation of threat. Psychologists tell us, right? Fight, flight, freeze. Most likely the other ten disciples have frozen at this point. Peter grabs a sword. He's gonna fight. He's not running. Simon Peter, he grabs the sword. He drew it, he struck the high priest's servants, cutting off his right ear. My guess is he wasn't aiming for his ear. If he was, well done. The servant's name was Malchus. Jesus commanded Peter, put your sword away. That's not how power works. I kind of wonder if there was a moment that Peter froze, though. Because there's a tension in the space. Again, they're well out-armed on the other side. Even if Peter keeps his sword, like they'll quickly take him down. He's not a professional soldier. He's like, I can't give up the power that I have. And yet Jesus says, put it down, that's not what we're gonna do. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? Peter did what you and I might have done. You feel threatened, you go to fight. Maybe not physically, maybe maybe you've never thrown a punch, but you've haven't you said something, lashed out, shut down. In this moment, Peter just kind of lashes out. Again, who has the power in this moment? Is it the soldiers armed to the teeth? The officials who no doubt, when Peter draws the sword, take a step back. There's a reason the servant struck. The servant gets close enough to get hit, but the others don't. Who has the power? Jesus seems to command the moment, even though Peter's the one that wields the sword. And Jesus calls out, who has the power in the moment? He says, God is still in charge. He says, Should I not drink from the cup that the Father has given me? You don't think this is surprised, God, do you? I know you think things look rough because you're playing what you think is a finite game where, well, we've got a limited amount of time, we've got to grasp after everything we can get, we've got to do all these things, but there's more going on than meets the eye in this moment. God is still in charge, none of this is surprising him, and God is still working all things to the good. And so at this, we understand from the text that the disciples would have left. They run, the fight doesn't work, they're not allowed to. And so they take to flight. Do you realize how different this view is of power than the traditional understanding of it? Lashing out, that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to flex, we're supposed to posture. If a bear attacks you, right, you make yourself real big or something like that. At least that's what I heard. I don't know if it's brown or black bears. If you ever get charged by a bear, you're probably just gone. I'm just gonna be honest with you. In this moment, like they've tried the flex, it doesn't work, and so they take the flight. In our world today, when we talk about power, power is associated with position, power is associated with wealth, power is associated with gender, powers associated with race, powers associated with so many various things, but then it shifts constantly. Depending on where you are, when you are, what you're doing, who you are, who you know, who you don't know, what you once did, what you've never done. The designation shifts so rapidly. So, what kind of power is that really? If it only applies in certain circumstances at certain times when the certain conditions are met. God's power is something altogether different. It's fixed, it's secure, it's set. Dare I say, it's powerful. We can choose submission to a good God, or we can wrestle for fleeting power in a broken world. It seems to be kind of what's presented here in this moment. This time in which Peter goes to do what he would always understand that you're supposed to do, you wrestle for power. You listen, I'm gonna take this moment. If I if I go down swinging, at least I go down swinging, but Jesus says that's not the way it works. Like everybody thinks they're grabbing after power, but it's not really there. I choose submit. To a good God. This is what you're to do in your life, in the good, in the bad, in the heart, in everything. Choose submission to a good God. He's the one who has the power. Look with me to a bit more scripture. I'm going to intentionally skip over some, though. It's going to be John 18, 15 through 18, then I'm going to jump to 25 to 27. We'll come back and catch what I skip. It says, Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. So credit Simon. The other nine disciples take to running. Peter and the other disciple, they just step back just enough to maybe avoid the mess. But then they follow, they want to figure out what's going on. Because the disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard. So he has some kind of relational authority, some kind of power in the system that Peter doesn't have. But Peter had to wait outside the door. The other disciple who was known to the high priest came back, spoke to the servant girl on do thee there, and brought Peter in, so he leverages his power for the benefit of others. Now listen to this. You aren't one of the man's disciples, too, are you? She asked Peter. He replied, I am not. Who has the power in this moment? A servant girl? Or Peter, the man who was wielding a sword just moments before. Like surely Peter is not scared of a servant girl, right? But yet that seems to be what the text indicates. A servant girl unsettles Peter. Peter, remember, he walked on water. Jesus, if it's you, tell me, I'm gonna come out and walk on the water with you. I'm not afraid. All the other disciples stayed in the boat. Peter casting out demons, Peter healing broken people, Peter saying, Yeah, I'll die with you if that's what needs to be. And ultimately, from church tradition, we understand that that is what he did. And in this most intense moment of his life, he's challenged by a servant girl who has no power in their culture whatsoever. And he caves. Jump to verses 25 to 27. Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself, so they asked him, You aren't one of his disciples, too, are you? Oh, sorry, I skipped over some text. He had gone and he was standing with some servants and officials. He denied it, saying, I am not. Again, opportunity, opportunity passed. A third time, one of the high priest servants, another servant, not the high priest, a servant. A relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off. Awkward. Heard what you did. Nothing? Okay, okay. That's just for a few of us, I guess. Didn't I see you with him in the garden? Again, Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow. Jesus had told him shortly before this, after he declared he would die for Jesus. He says, You'll betray me three times before the day's done. Peter's given so many opportunities, and his power wanes every time. In the face of a servant girl, in the face of a servant, in the face of some nameless officials. Now, listen, we shouldn't fault him because he's kind of placed in an impossible situation and we don't know what we would have done. We maybe would have done the same thing. Because maybe if he says, Well, yeah, I'm with Jesus, then the servant girl, well, you can't come in here. You've got to stay out. And then he's not close enough to know what's going on. The other disciples kind of stranded on his own, so maybe he's leveraging it. He's acting a bit duplicitous, but it's with good reason, perhaps. Perhaps he fears for his own life. Like Jesus has just been arrested by an angry armed mob. Like, this is maybe not the time to be bold and maybe to step back. We don't know exactly what's going on there. Regardless of what it is, Peter felt like he lacked any real power in this situation. Jesus didn't declare, yes, I'm one of his disciples. Take me to him, I'm gonna sort this stuff out. He shrinks back. Now jump back to the text in between where we read this. It's uh John 18, 19 through 24. He says, Meanwhile, while this is unfolding in Peter's situation, the high priest, not the high priest servant, the high priest, not the servant girl, the high priest, questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. I've spoken openly to the world, Jesus replied. I always taught in synagogues or at the temple where all the Jews come together. Like I have always done everything like where everyone can see it, everyone can hear it. In fact, I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me, surely they know what I said. And when Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. That's a power move, isn't it? Is this the way you answer the high priest, he demanded? If I said something wrong, Jesus replied. Testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me? Danana sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. While Peter shrinks back from a servant girl, Peter stands, or Jesus stands boldly in the face of the high priest. Who has the power in this situation? He answers his accusers by shining light on the brokenness of what they're doing. He's like, listen, why all the theatrics? You know what I've always taught and said. Like I've done this out where everybody can see me, everybody can challenge me. In fact, like we both know, right? You've even sent people to challenge me openly. How did that go for you? And if you were to read the gospel accounts, like you'd see these occasions where people came and they would ask Jesus a question, trying to trip him up, trying to put him in a spot, and every time they end up embarrassed. Why? Because Jesus has real power. Real power doesn't shrink back from challenge. It doesn't need to, because it's real power. And then in this moment when Jesus calls this out, this official just slaps him, like strikes him in the face. Why? What's that look like to you? It's like a child having a tantrum. Years ago, I had a buddy, uh, we he was playing basketball. I wasn't with him at the time. Uh he had a bit of an anger issue. I think I told a story about him one time. He managed, he got pulled over for like a broken tail light, and he got like five tickets out of it. He uh had encouraged the officer with different words that he shouldn't have been pulled over, and he learned who had the power in that situation, justifiably so. It was helpful to my friend. But it didn't prevent him from this other situation where he's playing basketball and things weren't going well, and he got angry. This was an old gym, kind of like ours, before we put the padding up. You know what those wall, that's cinder block. Well, he got angry. What do you do when you get angry at a cinder block wall in the midst of a basketball game? You punch it. He broke his hand. Like, what are you doing? You're throwing a tantrum. This is the same thing the official. He just hits Jesus. Jesus, like, what's that about? Listen, if I spoke something wrong, go ahead and call me out for it. But if not, why are you hitting me? Again, Jesus commands the situation. Why the theatrics? Like I've taught in public spaces, you've challenged me on multiple times, it never works. What's happening here? You guys are desperate. You're trying to do anything you can to hang on to whatever little bit of power you think you have in this moment, and it's foolish. Jesus is modeling for us how we're to engage the power structures of our day. It's simple, but it's not always easy. We choose submission to a good God, or we wrestle for fleeting power in a broken world. Is my view of life finite where I have to wrestle for anything I can get, leverage whatever position, whatever opportunity, whether it's in my marriage, whether it's in my family, whether it's in my neighborhood, whether it's in my workplace, whether it's in the culture, am I leveraging whatever I can get in this moment? Because listen, clock's gonna hit triple zero soon. There's only so many pieces of the pie, I've got to grab everything I can. Or are you playing, am I playing an infinite game where we understand that God sits on the throne of all creation? And even in the hard times, God is with me. Jesus wasn't captive to the moment. He wasn't stuck. He was well in control in all those spaces, and we're not to be captive to the moment either. And so the question begs how. Again, we recognize that in life that a chess match has a clear start and a clear end. A football game, a soccer game, a basketball game, a cheerleading event, a meet, like they all have clear objectives. Who wins and who loses. A sales competition, clear winner, clear loser. But the resurrection of Jesus changes the way we approach life, or at least it should change the way we approach life. It's not this finite subset where you gotta grab everything you can get, leverage everything you can get, because this brief little moment that we're gonna have, listen, life's gonna be full of highs and full of lows and a ton of stuff in between. Jesus says, choose submission to a good God. And because Jesus does this, what looked like weakness was actually power. What looked like a loss ended up a victory, the greatest victory in all of human history. We don't need to grasp after control or reach for the sword in our world. We can choose a different way. We can choose the way of Jesus. When it comes to your life and my life, how do we view power? Am I trying to leverage whatever I can get for my moment, for my cause, for what I think is important, or are we just saying, God, I choose to submit to you. If you bring me good things, I'll leverage them to your good. If you bring me bad things, give me the strength to endure. I choose you. I choose to submit. One of the best just kind of visual images I think of this is the waters of baptism. Here in a few weeks we'll be celebrating baptism again. And if you don't know what baptism is, it's literally, it comes from the Greek baptizo, and it's this idea of literally basically being laid down in the water like buried and then raised to new life. There's imagery of the Israelites coming out of captivity through the Red Sea, passing through the waters, all this stuff that goes on. If you've been baptized, that's the story that it is. It's this idea to say, man, I'm gonna choose to follow Jesus, I'm gonna choose to chase after him all of my days. Like that's my story. Is that the story we're each living? When you think about power in our world, is it something you're trying to wrestle control of, or is it something that you recognize is already in the hands of someone you can't wrestle it away from? A lot of people have a brief sense of power. You and I will have amounts of power in varying degrees and varying spaces. But it matters how we see it. The resurrection changes the game. We don't have to wrestle after it. We don't have to draw the sword, we don't have to speak an angry word, a harsh word, we don't try and have to put someone down or win the day. We choose submission to a good God who works good for all things for all people according to his purpose. Is that how you'll choose to view power? I'd like to stand and pray. If you'd like to join me in standing, try not to put too much foot pressure on your right foot. Um, if you would like to be baptized, if that's not a step you've taken, we'd invite you. You can scan the QR, stop by the connection hub, reach out to a member of the staff. Such a powerful image of submission. Are you grasping after power? Or are you reaching out for the one who holds it? They're two very different tactics in life, and they lead to two very different ways of living. Jesus chose submission to the Father to model for us what it looks like to choose submission to the Father. I commend that way to you. Pray with me. Father, we thank you for this day. Your love, your grace, your kindness, for an opportunity to gather together. Lord, and you afford each of us power to manage in different measure in different seasons of our life. And the culture would seek to tell us when we have power, when we lack power. But Lord, I pray that we wouldn't get caught up thinking life is this finite game and we're trying to grab and grasp everything we can, or we're quick to draw the sword, not literally, Lord, but we're quick to leverage opportunities and manipulate and man speak an angry or a harsh word. Lord, help us to instead choose what Jesus modeled. To submit to you. God, help us to know what to say and what to do. Lord, guide us in the way of humility and kindness and goodness and generosity and faithfulness. Lord, might we leverage our resources not in a way that it's a zero-sum game where I have to get as much as I can, but instead we just trust that you're gonna pour out things into us and we'll leverage them for the kingdom of God. Lord, if if we have the opportunity to speak in ways that are heard, Lord, may we speak wisely in alignment with your word and with your kingdom and with your ways. Lord, as we head out today, whether we feel like we have a lot of power in this world or we feel like we have a little, might we leverage everything afforded to us in a way that is submitted to you? And in that way might we live a better life. Lord, go with us from this place. Help us honor you in all we do. In the name of Jesus, we always pray. Amen. Thank you so much for being here today.

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Thank you so much for listening to today's podcast. If you're ready to take a next step in your faith, please reach out to us through our website, refineryohio.com, or you can email us at office at refineryohio.com. We hope you have a blessed day.