WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.640 This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.839 For more information on our church, please visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:13.359 We are uh finishing today, this Sunday, um, the 11th of August, is um kind of the end of the summer for us here at Grand Parkway. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:17.920 Um we have gone through um a sermon series called the Parables. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:21.920 Um uh you've you've seen the art all around the church over the summer. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:29.839 Um today is is our last Sunday of the Parables, which means uh next week uh Neil will be back in the pulpit. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:38.960 Um I had some friends this weekend, he is doing a uh he's doing a uh a family retreat uh for uh a couple churches up in Missouri. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:42.560 And uh I said, I was talking to them, I saw him, I said, Well, how do you guys feel? 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:46.159 And the and the wife of one of the pastors said, I'm scared to death. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:48.799 And I said, Why are you scared to death? 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:56.799 And she says, Neil hasn't talked to anybody for 11 weeks, and he's gonna come here, and some of our people might die. 00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:02.960 Uh and so I texted and I said, I texted the guy, I said, Were your wife's fears uh realized? 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:05.439 He hasn't texted me back, so I don't know if that's a good sign or a bad sign. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:08.400 But um we are uh we're we're glad, we're excited to have Neil back. 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:10.560 We'll have one more week of his sabbatical, and he'll be back. 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:14.319 But this morning, um, we're gonna finish up our parable series. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:35.760 Um as we talked about these parables going into this planning this last fall, knowing we're gonna do this, um, as we have talked and prayed as a staff, as a church, um, a few things that we were um actually several things that we were praying that we would understand more about Christ, more about God, more about um who he is, what his word says, what his purpose is for us. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:47.840 And so this week, as I was going through, I just jotted down a few things that I've walked away, not even uh the sermons that I preach, sitting there, being a member of this church, the things that I walked away with when it came uh to the parable series. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:51.040 One is that Jesus was a phenomenal storyteller. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:55.599 Um, Jesus did amazing and continues to do amazing things. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:06.959 And Jesus enacted phenomenal miracles and preached um ridiculous sermons and did things that turned the world upside down, but he was also just an incredible storyteller. 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:11.360 And something that struck me this week is he continues to be an incredible storyteller. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:15.360 Um and hopefully today we'll we'll understand that a little bit more. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:18.639 Secondly, Jesus was intentional and patient. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:22.479 Jesus continues to be intentional and patient. 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:29.759 As you read the parables, and today is is no exception, as you read the parables, you see a lot of repeated themes. 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:35.360 And that is one, Jesus being intentional, and two, that is Jesus being patient with us going, you just don't get it. 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:39.759 And I've been with you, and he even says, I've been with you this long, and you still ask questions. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:43.280 But in that, he's just patient and continues to reveal himself. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:48.240 And lastly, Jesus used the parables for us to better understand the character of God. 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:55.919 And this morning, um uh pray that I don't get in the way, and so that that way God can continue to reveal who he is this morning. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.439 So this morning we're gonna be in Luke chapter 19. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:02.879 Luke chapter 19 for our last parable. 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:05.919 Um if you don't have a Bible, if you didn't bring one with this morning, you have two options. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:10.879 Most of the scripture will be on the screens behind me to your left and your right, but there are also Black Pew Bibles. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:12.719 Um around you, you can grab one of those. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:15.439 We're gonna start out on page 878 this morning. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:20.319 That's where you'll find Luke chapter 19, page 878 in the Pew Bible. 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:25.120 I want to start reading in verse eleven. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:30.879 It says this as they heard these things, we'll get back to these things in a minute. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:39.599 As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:45.599 He said, therefore, a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and then return. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:51.680 And calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minutes, and he said to them, Engage in business until I come. 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:57.280 But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, We don't want this man to reign over us. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:07.039 Verse fifteen, When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:11.599 The first came before him, saying, Lord, your minor has made ten minus more. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:19.759 And he said to him, Well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:26.240 And the second came, saying, Lord, your minor has made five mines, and he said, And you, you're to be over five cities. 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:34.639 And another one came, saying, Lord, here is your minor, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you're a severe man. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:38.079 You take what you did not deposit, you reap what you did not sow. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:43.439 He said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant. 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:49.519 You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit, reaping what I did not sow. 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:51.759 Why then did you not put my money in the bank? 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:55.040 And at my coming I might have it collected it with interest. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:59.920 And he said to those who stood by, Take the minor from him, and give it to the one who has ten minus. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:02.879 And they said to him, Lord, he he has ten minus. 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:13.759 And he says, I tell you, to every one who has more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:21.120 But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:27.040 And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:35.439 I'm aware that verse 28, probably in most of our Bibles, it doesn't fall under the parable of the ten minus, if that's what it's listed in in your Bible. 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:39.839 Um but I included it intentionally, um, and it is not my idea. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:45.759 It's it's the same reason that Luke places the story of the ten minus in his gospel where he does. 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:47.680 Um I told you that we get back to the beginning. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:48.480 Look at the very beginning. 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:54.000 It says, after they heard these things, look up, and what story is right above the ten minus? 00:05:58.240 --> 00:05:59.439 Mumbling, mumble, mumble. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:02.480 Zacchaeus, we little man, and we little man was he, right? 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:04.399 Climb up in a sycamore tree, see what he could see? 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:04.800 Is that right? 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:05.680 Did I just butcher it? 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:06.240 Was that correct? 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:06.639 Okay. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:14.319 Uh and so Jesus had done this, and Jesus is rounding the corner from Jericho, and he's going into Jerusalem. 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:19.360 At this point, the crowd following Jesus is phenomenally huge. 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:21.279 I mean, it is, it is it is gigantic, right? 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:25.600 And they're following Jesus, and Jesus is walking and he's talking, and Zacchaeus is up in the tree. 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:37.040 Zacchaeus come down from that tree, he goes to Zacchaeus' house, and he has a conversation that's supposed to just be for he and Zacchaeus, but there are people surrounding the house listening to everything because they cannot believe that Jesus is gone to spend time in Zacchaeus' house. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:45.360 Jesus goes immediately from Zacchaeus' house after Zacchaeus just conviction, the beautiful gift of conviction, falls on him, and he says, I'll give half of everything back. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:49.920 And if I've cheated, if I've done anything wrong, and God says, kingdom has come to this house today, right? 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:51.839 So that's when it says after these things. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:58.480 I do that, I say that to set the stage because Jesus obviously never wastes a word, never wastes a parable. 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:00.639 And he's telling the story, piggybacking on this. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:05.120 And the other reason he's telling the story is remember there's this giant crowd following Jesus? 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:10.560 This giant crowd following Jesus is thinking, okay, he's the one who's claimed to be the Messiah. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:15.839 And I remember back in school in the Old Testament, they said the Messiah was going to be the one who's going to come and overthrow the government. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:20.480 And so they are on the march to follow Jesus as he comes into Jerusalem. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:21.680 He's going to overthrow Rome. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:24.000 He's going to be the conquering hero. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:30.160 And what Jesus is doing is he's making it clear, he said, Hey, I'm not going to be the God you want me to be. 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:32.240 I'm not going to be the God you want me to be. 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:33.839 I'm going to be the God that I am. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:35.759 And that's going to look different. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:45.120 And so Zacchaeus, he says, um, and I think it's verse 9 of Luke, he says, Today salvation has come to this house. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:48.319 He says, For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:51.120 They're wanting Jesus to come and overthrow the government. 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:53.839 He says, I'm going to come and seek and save the lost. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:08:02.000 And let me explain to you how that's going to work, which is how we find ourselves in Luke 19, starting in verse 11 with the parable. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.920 Just a couple thoughts to kind of shape our minds for this. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:11.120 We talked about this when we did the parable of the lost son or the prodigal son on Father's Day. 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:12.639 I'm not the best storyteller. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:16.079 I kind of ruin stuff and give plot points away before we ever get there. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:19.920 But I think in understanding this, it's good to know exactly what we're reading. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:22.959 When you see the nobleman in this story, it's Jesus. 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:24.079 It's Jesus. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:26.639 The distant country, it's heaven. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:29.360 It's our eternal place. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:31.920 And the place he would return to is earth. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:35.200 Jesus went to heaven to receive the kingdom from his Father. 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:47.600 And in knowing these, the correctness of this, the understanding of this really comes into play as God lays out these three things for us this morning that I think that he wants us to see. 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:48.960 Three things. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:51.120 The first being potential. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:53.200 The first being potential. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:09:04.559 And I am well aware when we hear the word potential in church, when we hear it in the context of the gospel, for a lot of us it brings up maybe some not great thoughts. 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:18.080 A lot of us maybe that is tied to an experience with or an understanding of prosperity, prosperity gospel, an experience there, or maybe it's one of the hundred times we tried seven steps to be a better blank. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:24.000 And I won't out us all in here for how many of those we've done to be a better blank seven steps. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:29.759 And so you got this potential and you've got to sow it, and you got to name it, and you got to claim it, and you've got to do all these things. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:43.200 And the reason that a lot of our minds immediately go there is for the same reason in this parable when Jesus is talking to them is because we have an unlimited ability to corrupt the gospel. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:49.600 We have an unlimited ability to make the gospel sound like what we want it to sound like. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.960 And for the truths to be applicable to how we feel and our worldview. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:57.840 But what Jesus is going to say is said, Hey, I know what you want from me. 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:01.840 And I know you want me to overthrow the government, you want me to be the conquering king, and that'll come. 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:04.480 But my timing looks a lot different than your timing. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:07.840 And what I've come now is what I just said in Zacchaeus' house. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:11.679 I've come to seek and save the lost, and salvation has come. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:19.519 And so the potential we talk about this morning is not our understanding of our potential, it's the potential that God has sown within us. 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:23.039 It's the calling to which God has sown within us. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:32.399 Picked up a book I hadn't seen in a while, I hadn't seen in a while, knowing the sermon was coming up, written by this guy named Chip Anderson, just a brilliant theologian. 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:35.600 And I love the fact that he is smarter than I could ever hope to be, and his name is Chip. 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:36.720 I just think that's phenomenal. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:38.480 And so there's a guy named Chip M. 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:48.080 Anderson, and there's a quote I want, it's going to come up on the screen that I want to read you, and it just speaks to our unbelievable ability to corrupt the gospel and try to make it look like us. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:58.240 He says this we have refashioned God into the image of an omnipotent friend or divine psychologist who champions our full potential. 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:04.000 This, in turn, has led to a new focus for measuring spirituality. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:09.759 Rather than for Christ's likeness to be our goal, we now strive to reach our full potential. 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:12.320 This is the new aim of spiritual growth. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:19.279 Much that passes for evangelicalism today is only a disguised form of self-worship. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:24.960 God is little more than a narcissistic projection of our own needs and desires. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:30.240 We are preoccupied with self-fulfillment, self-fulfillment, not self-surrender. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:34.799 I have read that no less than 20 times this week, and every time I get sick to my stomach. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:53.600 Because we fashion God based on our worldview and what we think and what our preferences are, and we'll get to this in a little bit, our list of aspirations and desires, instead of it being the other way around of us shaping everything that we want and desire in the world being based around God. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:12:00.879 I just want to highlight three of these and just maybe uh kick myself in the stomach even more with this quote. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:07.679 Much that passes for evangelicalism today is only is only a disguised form of self-worship. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:08.799 Here's what it says. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:11.200 This says it starts from right here. 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:13.759 And it starts from right behind here. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:15.519 And it starts in the classes. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:30.559 All right, because it's easy for me to get up here or Neil to get up here, or Lance get up here, or one of our guest pastors to get up here, or even a Bible community teacher to get up and begin to say, Well, you people all got to get it right, and you gotta understand that God isn't driven by your circumstances and your preference. 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:35.600 The reason that a lot of us believe this in the church is because it's taught. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:40.879 And we've been taught it, that God's number one desire is your happiness. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:55.039 And so then we begin to pass that on to our kids, and then our kids begin to believe that God's number one goal is their happiness, or them getting what they want, or us getting what we think we need. 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:55.600 Right? 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:15.759 And I'm not gonna stand up here and and use this to berate anything that we desire or that we want, but we we do need to set the stage for what God is teaching us here, and what Jesus is doing and teaching this crowd is that He's saying, Stop making it about you and understand who I am, and then you'll understand who you really are. 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:20.799 And it needs to start from right here behind the pulpit, as you teach my word. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:27.039 God is little more than a narcissistic projection of our own needs and desires. 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:39.679 We're like, well, we don't do that, but yet somehow we fashion our head that God's a Republican, or God's a Democrat, or God's a socialist, or God is this, or God is that. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:47.440 And then we begin to believe and we begin to put so much, and I don't I don't I don't mean to spend too much time on that on a quote and not in the text. 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:57.279 There's a reason for this, is because what we do is we put more faith in what our corrupted belief about God is than what his word says about him and what he says about himself. 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:04.960 And then we become members, and I'm not bagging on anybody, it's just maybe this is low-hanging fruit, and if it is, come see me after the service, we can talk about it. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:16.639 But we become the church of the homeschool, or we become the church of the tea party, or we become the church of the public school, or whatever it is, whatever our leanings and preferences are, and we miss, and God's saying, no, no, no, no, no. 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:19.440 Don't wrap it up in a handkerchief and hold on to it. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:22.240 Let's let's let's let's take this thing for a spin, right? 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:31.600 My wife, I have said for years and years and years, before I was married, after I was married, four days ago, I will not own a minivan. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:37.840 All we've been talking about at my house is a minivan for like a week. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:41.919 And I get home last night, I came up here to do something, and my wife's computer is open. 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:42.960 I was like, I have to look. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:48.879 You're researching minivans right now, and she starts to tell me the difference between the toy, and I don't don't come up to me afterwards, grocery grabbers. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:50.480 I don't care about your swagger wagons. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:51.200 All right. 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:58.480 But she came up and she's telling me the difference between the Toyota Sienna and the Hana Odyssey and how they're rated and all these things, and I'm just like, can I just get a new truck? 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:01.440 I was promised a new truck, and all of a sudden, now we're gonna get a minivan. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:02.080 What in the world? 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:04.799 My car's falling apart, the headliner just wraps around my head. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:11.759 It's like I don't even know how I got caught off on that. 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:21.440 Lastly, and I'll move on, is where was I going anyway? 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:24.799 My wife's not in the service, so I get to rant in this one. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:26.799 The next one I have to behave myself. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:31.440 We're preoccupied with self-fulfillment, not self-surrender. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:34.879 And I'm gonna let the text talk for that one. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:40.720 Um but I gotta be honest, I don't know if I've read a more poignant commentary on maybe it's just me. 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:48.000 Maybe it's just my incredible ability to miss Jesus and make my own God and make my own Jesus that fulfills my needs. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:52.320 But hopefully, um me, hopefully us, hopefully all of us can walk away. 00:15:52.480 --> 00:16:01.200 Um so we're inundated constantly at every turn with an with with the ability and the options and the tools to serve self. 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:04.960 But in this text, God is calling us to use what he has given us to serve him. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:07.120 Says therefore, verse 12. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:13.279 He says, therefore, a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:19.360 Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minus, and he said to them, Engage in business until I come. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:24.320 I don't get caught up in this, I don't get caught up in something you don't care about, but I do want to just point something out so we kind of understand. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:26.720 It says ten servants, but we only hear about three of them. 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:29.279 Ten is just complete. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:32.080 Just know that using that number ten is just completeness. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:33.200 That means it's all of us. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:34.960 God is calling all of us. 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:40.720 The story is for every one of us, all right, that claims to be a member of his kingdom. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:46.960 And he says, I'm gonna give you a minus and do business with it, engage ten minus and engage with them. 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:48.960 Um a minor, it's a Greek corn. 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:49.840 Greek corn? 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:50.879 No, Greek coin. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:52.879 Um it's worth about six months' wage. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:56.000 Take this six months' wage and do business with it while I'm gone. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:00.000 Jesus is saying, Take what I've given you, use it for my profit. 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:01.360 For my glory. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:02.320 It's my money. 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:03.919 I'm putting it in your hands. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:07.200 It's my glory, I'm putting it in your hands. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:08.640 Now go do business with it. 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:17.759 No does he ever say, hey, here's your aspirations, here's your desires, here's your list of things that I'll follow God once I do this. 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:21.519 I'll start trusting God once my 401k is just cherry. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:24.160 Once it is there, then I'll start following God. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:27.680 Once my kids meet this level, then I'll really start to. 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:28.559 He doesn't say that. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:33.359 He says, take what's mine, take my glory, and go do business with it. 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:36.319 Invest with it, be good stewards of it, handle it well. 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:37.519 And don't get caught up on the money thing. 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:41.279 Because some of you are like me and you're like, I don't have two pennies to rub together, right? 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:42.559 It's not the money. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:45.119 He's saying, This is this is this is my kingdom. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:47.200 Kingdom come on earth as is in heaven. 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:50.079 I'm gonna put it in your hands, go do business with it. 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:55.920 And God's calling us to relinquish our idea of potential so we can focus our soul to his glory. 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:05.359 It's our nature to make our needs paramount, to make what we think is most important paramount. 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:10.960 Just thinking about that, keep your finger in Luke and turn over to the right to Philippians. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:12.400 It'll be on the screen as well. 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:18.720 And unless you carry around the message version of the Bible, it's gonna look a little bit different in your Bible than what's gonna show up on the screen when I'm gonna read to you. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:32.720 Because our potential that Jesus lays out in front of the disciples, that this nobleman puts in front of his people, this parable in Luke 19, it's offered to the servants as minus. 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:37.119 It's clearly laid out for us in Philippians 2 what this is, what God is handing over to us. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:44.480 Philippians 2, beginning in verse 5, it says this think of yourselves the way that Christ Jesus thought of himself. 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:51.680 He had equal status with God, but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:53.519 Not at all. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:59.519 When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and he took on the status of a slave. 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:01.119 He became human. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:04.319 And having become human, he stayed human. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:07.680 It was an incredibly humbling process. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:17.359 He didn't claim special privileges, instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:20.319 The worst kind of death, a crucifixion. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:27.839 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything ever. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:41.680 So that all created beings in heaven and on earth, even those long ago dead and buried, will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ and call out in praise that he is the master of all. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:45.359 To the glorious honor of God the Father. 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:50.319 Reading this, grasping the bounty of God's potential for us. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:52.799 We need to reconcile one thing this morning. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:54.160 Easy. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:55.200 You ready? 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:56.640 Hello? 00:19:58.160 --> 00:19:59.759 Lay down your rights. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:02.559 Your faces. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:03.200 Beautiful. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:04.799 Lay down your rights. 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:06.400 I'm coming after you. 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:09.519 I'm not I'm not scared of you, Tea Party, libertarians. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:10.640 Lay down your rights. 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:11.839 Has nothing to do with that. 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:18.960 But living, living in a great country like we do, we are instilled from very early that we have rights. 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:20.240 We have rights. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:23.359 And we have rights that no one can take away from us. 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:29.920 And we we we we we try to apply that to our life with Jesus, that we still get our rights, right? 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:32.480 That we still have our own way of doing things. 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:40.480 And even though we might be called to do something else, even commanded and mandated to do something else, we still get caught up in our own rights. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:46.960 Um my folks are in town and they'll be in the next service, so I have to amend this story as well so I don't get in trouble with my mom. 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:53.920 But my mom, her middle sister, my mom, I think I brought this up last time, where my mom and her family grew up. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:54.640 They're not in here, right? 00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:55.920 I gotta make sure I don't want to get in trouble. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:57.279 That'd be a long ride home. 00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:08.079 Um my mom and her family are if you go up to like Hooterville and hang a left where the banjo music is, you know what I'm saying? 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:09.119 Some of you people have been here. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:10.240 That's where they're from, right? 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:11.359 So they're they're an interesting group. 00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:16.160 So my mom, she has uh her middle sister, very eccentric um woman. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:18.000 And um, but we loved her growing up. 00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:20.480 She uh she she never married, never had kids, she was always around. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:23.599 She traveled the world, always brought us just great gifts. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:28.880 Um but then for at some point I was perpetually eight years old, so at 16 she was still sending me small t-shirts. 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:32.400 Um like I don't think half shirts are in style, and no one wants to see that. 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:37.599 Uh but I remember um I remember when I was a kid, I remember I was in third, I don't remember what grade, but it was 1987. 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:42.000 It was right when um Texas passed and got serious about the seatbelt law. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:48.319 And we were up in Oklahoma, and she had um uh uh it was one of the first Honda cords, and this thing was sweet. 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:49.599 And you get in and it would talk to you. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:51.039 And I'm like, is this kit from Night Rider? 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:52.160 This thing is amazing. 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:58.960 Um and it would say, fasten your seatbelt, fasten your seatbelt, fasten your seatbelt, and she would just drive without fastening her seatbelt, and the thing would just talk to her, talk to her. 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:06.640 And I and we Called her Aunt Pip because my grandfather called her a hippie, and we didn't know how to say hippie, so we said Pippy and then Pip. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:07.119 And I don't know. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:09.039 I said, Pip, I said, don't you want to fasten that? 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:12.160 And she, I mean, I mean she makes Ted Nugent look mild. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:14.880 I mean, she is serious about her rights. 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:20.480 And she would tell me that there is nothing that's gonna make her put her seatbelt on, and it wasn't a law in Oklahoma at the time. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:24.319 She goes, You backwards people down in Texas think you're gonna have people tell you how to be safe. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:26.000 You can't do that, and you you can do it on your own. 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:27.519 I'm not gonna wear a seatbelt. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:34.400 And I remember the next year going back, and the next year, 1988, I think I had my years right, Oklahoma then passed the law that you'd have a seatbelt. 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:37.759 Get in her car, go to the store, fasten your seatbelt, fasten your seatbelt, fast. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:40.559 I know it surprised you, I was incredibly sarcastic as a kid. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:53.039 And so I shot off at the mouth uh to my aunt and I said something, and gee, I mean, I think she pulled the car over and gave me like a constitutional law lesson right there on the side of the road, and you can't make me wear a seatbelt and all those things. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:23:04.559 And I was reminded of that this week because I thought, okay, maybe some of us in here aren't as blatant to read what God says when he says, take my glory and do business until my return. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:06.720 And then go, I'm just not gonna do that. 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:09.519 Maybe we're not as blatant as that. 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:23.680 But there are things, there are core doctrines of what Jesus calls us to do, core black and white things in the Bible, that we put off and maybe spiritualize it, shrink a little holy. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:25.039 I'll pray about it. 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:26.480 I'll just pray about it. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:27.200 Right? 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:30.720 God clearly commands us to do something. 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:31.920 I'll just I'll I'll think about it. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:37.839 I'll get I'm getting with my accountability group this week, and then we'll pray if God really means what he says. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:42.240 Let me go take this and wrap it up in oh, I think I hit home with a few people. 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:48.640 I'm gonna I'm just gonna wrap this up in a handkerchief and then tuck it under my mattress, and then and then we'll see how it pans out later. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:52.400 God says, No, do do business with me, right? 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:55.599 So we gotta lay down our rights. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:23:59.519 And then look at this again. 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:05.680 Calling the ten servants, he gave them ten minus, and he said to them, Engage in business until I get home. 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:08.079 We've got to lay down our rights. 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:09.200 And what does it say? 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:11.200 It says calling ten of his what? 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:15.599 I'm gonna treat you like the teenager. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:16.799 Trying ten of his what? 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:17.759 Servants. 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:25.519 You know, you know servants with a lot of rights get to do what they want, play how they want, spend their money how they want, go where they want. 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:29.759 That is not a message we want to hear on Sunday mornings, but look at me. 00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:31.839 We are servants of God. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:34.079 God gets to tell us what to do. 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:35.920 And you know what we get to do? 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:36.880 Do it. 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:39.519 Sermon's over. 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:40.079 Let's pray. 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:41.119 Go home, right? 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:42.799 Not so lucky. 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:47.279 Servants have no rights. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:50.880 The role of the servant is to do the will of the master. 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:52.720 Remember how you look in Philippians? 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:57.119 With that understanding that the servant is called to do the will of the master. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:24:59.039 I feel very Baptist right now, leaning on this pulpit. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:24:59.680 I want you guys to know. 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:00.960 I'm serious about this. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:06.319 With the understanding that we are called to do the will of the Father. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:09.119 Look at Second Philippians, look at Philippians 2, rather, again. 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:10.079 I don't think there is a 2. 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:11.599 If you find 2 Philippians, let me know. 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:14.559 Philippians 2 5 and 11. 00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:15.839 Think about this. 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:22.000 No rights as humans, but our only thing is to do the will of the Master. 00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:25.039 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:32.640 He had equal status with God, but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of the status no matter what. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:33.759 Not at all. 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:42.960 When the time came, when the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave in the garden. 00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:48.079 Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:50.319 I don't want to get up on the cross. 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:52.079 I don't want him to beat me. 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:56.640 I don't want him to say the things about me they're going to say about me in front of my mom. 00:25:57.440 --> 00:25:59.039 I don't want those things to happen. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:02.720 But not my will, but your will be done. 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:04.079 Have the mind of Christ. 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:07.519 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thinks of himself. 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:13.680 When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and he took on the status of a slave, became human. 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:16.640 Having become human, he stayed human. 00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:19.839 It was an incredibly humbling process. 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:25.200 There are some of you in here that have lived and defended the faith longer than I've been alive. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:31.119 And you could get up here and you could preach this sermon better than I do because you understand what it is to be humbled following Christ. 00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:34.960 It is a humble experience when you trust Christ with every area of your life. 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:37.119 Because it means you don't get what you want. 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:40.160 It means you've got to do things that you don't want to do. 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:47.839 This has struck home with me in my house because before Sally and I had kids, we had a lot of preconceived notions. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:52.640 I know none of you did that, that you would look at people before you had kids in the restaurant and you're like, man, why don't you make that kid shut up? 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:55.039 None of you have ever thought that before, right? 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:58.000 And we're like, my kids are never gonna do that, man. 00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:02.960 And I love, I love, and I know there's a lot of young people because they're in my class, and I see you guys sitting out here. 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:05.599 I love when you post and you write on your blog, you post on Facebook. 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:07.680 Why do these people bring their kids to restaurants? 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:09.599 I mean, can't they have more respect? 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:16.319 And dude, when you get to take your kids to a restaurant, like get out of your house and have sanity for like five, it's beautiful, right? 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:22.640 But we had all these preconceived notions of what we're gonna do as parents, and then um, we had people speaking in our lives going, you have no idea what you're talking about. 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:29.519 What you need to do is go talk with some people that have had kids and raised kids and made bad decisions and have learned how to make good decisions and go ask them. 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:30.240 And we did that. 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:39.759 And I would encourage you, if you got babies, if you're gonna have babies, go and get around people with gray hair and ask them about how to be a parent, right? 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:42.319 Ask grandparents how to be a parent. 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:46.400 And so we did that, and I remember we heard a lot of great stuff. 00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:47.920 That was from our own parents. 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:48.960 Shocker, right? 00:27:49.200 --> 00:27:50.400 You get advice from your own parents. 00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:51.359 That was our own parents. 00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:54.160 That was we went back to the people that did our premarital counseling. 00:27:54.240 --> 00:28:02.160 Um, a lot of you in this room we spent some time with before we had Sophie and circle back around, knowing we're gonna have a boy, how to how to raise a son, and all those things, and talk to some of you men. 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:11.440 I got some great advice, but the one that kind of rose to the top in my mind looking at this was um, it's okay to admit you're wrong to your kids. 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:14.480 Hello? 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:18.319 Some of your parents are like, I've never been wrong, I have no idea what you're talking about. 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:21.519 And the teenagers are like, My parents aren't wrong, just ask them. 00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:22.799 They never said it, right? 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:25.440 I've been at this about five minutes being a parent. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:27.359 All right, my oldest is four and a half years old. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:30.160 So I I've you probably guys have socks older than my kids. 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:38.079 But um I have uh I have I I I've spent some quality time in my in my daughter's room saying, Hey, I'm wrong. 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:39.599 Daddy, daddy was wrong. 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:43.039 Dad, dad um didn't know what he was talking about. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:51.440 You and your mom had a conversation I didn't know about, and I came in as as uh Conan, the conquering father hero, right? 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:52.720 New sheriff. 00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:55.599 Because here's the deal, and some of you, some of you wives can relate to this. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:59.519 I travel a lot, and I'll come in with all the ideas of how things should be done in the house, right? 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:02.799 And how things have been falling apart at the seams while I've been gone, right? 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:06.559 Not a good idea, by the way, husbands, let me tell you. 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:09.279 But I'll come in and you know try to straighten the kids out. 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:13.039 And my daughter now she knows, and she's respectful that most of the time about it. 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:14.559 Well, mom said this, this, and this. 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:17.440 I'm like, oh, well, that just trumped everything I just did right then. 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:23.119 Uh but that is humble, that's a humbling experience to point your kids towards Christ. 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:26.960