SPEAKER_02: If you're in this room and you think I'm a long way from God, I don't know God, I don't even believe in God, let me tell you this: He knows you already.
SPEAKER_01: This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: Father, because you've overcome, we don't have to use inappropriate language like we're soldiers and warriors and we're in a battle.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: We're the recipients of a battle that's already been won.
SPEAKER_02: And so we overcome the way because you've overcome.
SPEAKER_02: And we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.
SPEAKER_02: And the word of our testimony today is that Jesus is king.
SPEAKER_02: And he's who reigns over us, he's who we submit to.
SPEAKER_02: And so we are, we're not here to elect you, we're not here to cast our vote in favor of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: It is not a democracy.
SPEAKER_02: This is the monarchy, and you're the king.
SPEAKER_02: And so, and you're a good king, and the king is one.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're heralds of good news today that the king is one.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Lord, increase our capacity today, from your word and by your spirit, to understand that news and all of its ramifications.
SPEAKER_02: There is no king without a kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: And so we want to understand both of those realities today.
SPEAKER_02: And we want to speak truth to all the questions that rise up around that.
SPEAKER_02: Show us how to do that from your word, God, we pray.
SPEAKER_02: We ask for this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You can have a seat if you've got a Bible.
SPEAKER_02: I invite you to take it and open it up to John chapter 18.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guest, we're preaching through the gospel of John.
SPEAKER_02: Starting in chapter 1, verse 1.
SPEAKER_02: Today we're up to chapter 18.
SPEAKER_02: I'll start reading verse 33.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to talk to you about how to have more interesting conversations.
SPEAKER_02: How to have more interesting conversations.
SPEAKER_02: And let me just start with a question.
SPEAKER_02: You say, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: How many of you this week would you say, I had a conversation that was very interesting?
SPEAKER_02: Would you raise your hand?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe 12?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: So sense and need to have more interesting conversations.
SPEAKER_02: You say, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: And here's how you have interesting conversations.
SPEAKER_02: This is what we're going to see in the text.
SPEAKER_02: You need to look and listen for three things when you talk to people: king, kingdom, and question.
SPEAKER_02: King, kingdom, and question.
SPEAKER_02: King, who or what does this person submit to?
SPEAKER_02: You say, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: What?
SPEAKER_02: And then who?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes people submit to their addiction, and so they just can't say no to that.
SPEAKER_02: And so, who's the king?
SPEAKER_02: Who or what does this person submit to?
SPEAKER_02: Kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: What reality governs this person's life?
SPEAKER_02: Is this person a part of anything bigger than themselves?
SPEAKER_02: And then question.
SPEAKER_02: And the question that in the text this morning, God named Pilate will ask Jesus, what is the truth?
SPEAKER_02: What is truth?
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't ask it in a really sincere seeking way.
SPEAKER_02: He is scoffing, much like people in our current culture do.
SPEAKER_02: They just kind of like, oh, what is truth?
SPEAKER_02: That's got nothing to do with my life.
SPEAKER_02: And so, whenever you listen, because that's why you have more interesting conversations.
SPEAKER_02: For example, uh, because I'm a Christian, I've been watching Ken Burns' documentary on country music on PBS.
SPEAKER_02: My wife's like, Really?
SPEAKER_02: Again?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, geek, say everything you're gonna say, woman, because for the next two hours, I'm gonna have my quiet time.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so I had a conversation a couple days after I saw the episode about the Hillbilly Shakespeare.
SPEAKER_02: Who is?
SPEAKER_02: Hank Williams.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all need to, y'all need to get your Bible knowledge up in here, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Uh Hank Williams was called the Hillbilly Shakespeare.
SPEAKER_02: Watch the episode about him, and it was great because his mom was driving into one of his early gigs.
SPEAKER_02: He was in the back seat of the car asleep, and she said, Hank, wake up.
SPEAKER_02: We're close to home.
SPEAKER_02: I just saw the light.
SPEAKER_02: And she was talking about the beacon light at the airport that was close to their house.
SPEAKER_02: That indicated when you saw that light, it was dark, it was like dusk.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I mean dawn, just still a little bit dark.
SPEAKER_02: She said, I just saw the light.
SPEAKER_02: Hank reached over, grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper, and by the time they'd gotten home, he wrote a song entitled, I saw the light.
SPEAKER_02: I saw the light.
SPEAKER_02: No more darkness, no more night.
SPEAKER_02: And so it became a famous country song, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Now, fast forward towards the end of his young life.
SPEAKER_02: He died, I think he was 29 years old.
SPEAKER_02: I maybe barely 30.
SPEAKER_02: But anyway, he's in the backseat of a car.
SPEAKER_02: He's traveling all around the country.
SPEAKER_02: He's suffering from chronic back pain.
SPEAKER_02: He's addicted to morphine, other drugs, and he can't leave the whiskey alone, okay?
SPEAKER_02: And they're concerned about him.
SPEAKER_02: And so they're like, Hank's in a bad way.
SPEAKER_02: He'd been fired, and he just wasn't in a good way.
SPEAKER_02: His addiction, see, he was submitting to something he wasn't created to submit to.
SPEAKER_02: And so here's one of the reasons I love country music.
SPEAKER_02: It's not just the music, it's the people, how they care for each other.
SPEAKER_02: Minnie Pearl.
SPEAKER_02: Remember when Minnie Pearl is?
SPEAKER_02: Minnie Pearl goes over to Hank Williams' house and sets with him and just to help him sober up.
SPEAKER_02: And she said, I want to, I wanted to comfort him, so she started singing his song, I saw the light.
SPEAKER_02: I saw the light, no more darkness, no more night.
SPEAKER_02: Hank Williams looked up at her and he said, Minnie, there's no there's no light for old Hank.
SPEAKER_02: But I tell you that, I'm talking to a guy a couple days ago.
SPEAKER_02: He's going through a really hard, difficult period in life, and I said, Hey, can I ask you a weird question?
SPEAKER_02: I said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: And I told him I said, I was watching country music thing and documentary, and he's like, I said, Is there any light for you?
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Do you feel hopeful?
SPEAKER_02: He said, Not really.
SPEAKER_02: I said, You're not hopeful just because you don't think there's any hope or you've yet to experience it.
SPEAKER_02: He said, What are you asking me?
SPEAKER_02: And I got to just explain the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, Oh, because I feel like I was talking to Hank Williams.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, man, and I'm just trying to wake him up and say, Hey, hey, I just saw the light.
SPEAKER_02: There's hope out there.
SPEAKER_02: You ain't got to live in subjections, subjection to all this stuff you live in subjection to.
SPEAKER_02: So when I say how to have more interesting conversations, this is what I mean.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna start reading verse 33 of John 18.
SPEAKER_02: Listen for king, kingdom, and question.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 33, so Pilate entered.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, they've got him arrested.
SPEAKER_02: He's being passed around to different people, and he's now talking to a guy named Pilate, who, quote unquote, holds the fate of Jesus in his hands, if that's possible.
SPEAKER_02: It's not, but we'll play along.
SPEAKER_02: So Pilate entered his headquarters again, and he called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus answered, Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?
SPEAKER_02: Pilate answered, Am I a Jew?
SPEAKER_02: Your own nation and chief priests have delivered you over to me.
SPEAKER_02: What have you done?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.
SPEAKER_02: If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from the world.
SPEAKER_02: And then Pilate said to him, So you are a king.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus answered, You say that I'm a king.
SPEAKER_02: For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate said to him, What is truth?
SPEAKER_02: After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, I find no guilt in him, but you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover.
SPEAKER_02: So do you want me to release you the king of the Jews?
SPEAKER_02: They cried out again, Not this man, but Barabbas.
SPEAKER_02: Now Barabbas was a robber.
SPEAKER_02: Did you hear it in the conversation?
SPEAKER_02: King, kingdom question.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, King.
SPEAKER_02: What how do you have more interesting conversations?
SPEAKER_02: You listen for King, who or what does this person submit to?
SPEAKER_02: It's verse 33 to 35.
SPEAKER_02: And because he starts off and he asks Jesus very plainly, Are you the King of the Jews?
SPEAKER_02: And off they go.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, Do you ask me this question of your own accord?
SPEAKER_02: Or did somebody else ask you?
SPEAKER_02: Because he's trying to gauge how how does Pilate understand me?
SPEAKER_02: Does he just go in on hearsay?
SPEAKER_02: Does he have a frame of reference for who I am and who he's talking to?
SPEAKER_02: And you say, What do you mean, king?
SPEAKER_02: This language has been the water around Jesus from the very beginning.
SPEAKER_02: Almost every time he would perform a miracle when he first shows up, John chapter 1, about verse 48, he sees a guy named Nathaniel walking to him.
SPEAKER_02: That another guy who Jesus called as one of his disciples went and found Nathaniel, brought him to Jesus, and Jesus knew him already before he ever got there.
SPEAKER_02: Now, could you say, how do you know that?
SPEAKER_02: John 1, about verse 48 and 49, actually starts about verse 47, uh, kind of given the background.
SPEAKER_02: But basically what it is is the guy's walking up, and Jesus sees him and said, Hey, here's a right, here's an Israelite in whom there is no guile.
SPEAKER_02: And Nathaniel's like, How do you know me?
SPEAKER_02: You've never met me.
SPEAKER_02: Now stop right here.
SPEAKER_02: Look at me.
SPEAKER_02: If you're in this room and you think I'm a long way from God, I don't know God, I don't even believe in God, let me tell you this: He knows you already.
SPEAKER_02: He knows you, he sees you afar off.
SPEAKER_02: And so Nathaniel's kind of like, oh, it'd be like you meeting somebody at lunch today and they go, Oh, yeah, your name's Bill.
SPEAKER_02: You're married to a lady named Irene.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, okay, where's my bill flow?
SPEAKER_02: Get away from me.
SPEAKER_02: It'd be a little unnerving, but Nathaniel, this guy, when Jesus, he realizes Jesus kind of knows me, he responds to him and says, Rabbi, you're the son of God.
SPEAKER_02: You're the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: You're not one chapter into John's gospel, and people are already trying to crown Jesus as king.
SPEAKER_02: Five chapters later, after Jesus feeds the 5,000, the people go crazy.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, Oh yeah, we need this guy running the world.
SPEAKER_02: We need him to be in charge of affairs because our life will be better.
SPEAKER_02: Yet the Bible says this in John 6, verse 15, of Jesus perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
SPEAKER_02: Now, one of the things we see early on in Jesus' life and ministry is that he's not going to be king on your terms.
SPEAKER_02: He's going to be king on his terms.
SPEAKER_02: This is one of the things that distinguishes him from all the other kings.
SPEAKER_02: When you think about King Herod, different kings in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: The way he reigns and rules is totally different because kings are known for three things in the Bible: power, wealth, and control.
SPEAKER_02: Power, think of King Herod.
SPEAKER_02: He commits infanticide, he kills thousands of young male babies because he fears that the Messiah has been born.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, the king, comes and offers himself.
SPEAKER_02: Wealth.
SPEAKER_02: The Son of Man, the Bible says, has no place to lay his head.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus would do things like they would say, Hey, you got to pay taxes.
SPEAKER_02: You and your disciples got to pay taxes.
SPEAKER_02: No one's exempt from the law.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus has already said, I didn't come to abolish the law.
SPEAKER_02: I came to fulfill the law.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, well, pay the man.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody's got to pay taxes.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, I tell you what, go down there, cast your rod in here, get this fish, open his mouth, and in there you'll find a gold coin.
SPEAKER_02: They're like David Blaine's street magician.
SPEAKER_02: They are freaking out.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus would send his disciples out and say, Take nothing for your journey.
SPEAKER_02: Just let that in for just a minute.
SPEAKER_02: Take nothing for your journey.
SPEAKER_02: Don't provide for yourself.
SPEAKER_02: Just trust me, I'm going to provide for you.
SPEAKER_02: Now, by the way, Jesus didn't have a problem with wealth.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible has some strict warnings.
SPEAKER_02: It says, hey, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_02: Look at me.
SPEAKER_02: That's not a biblical command to hate the rich man, okay?
SPEAKER_02: That's a biblical command to not put your hope in wealth.
SPEAKER_02: Control.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus surrenders control because someone else was in control.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is the only king.
SPEAKER_02: Most kings sent their army out to fight for them and sacrifice themselves for them.
SPEAKER_02: He sacrifices himself for his army of believers.
SPEAKER_02: So when the Bible talks about king, and Bible says, Are you a king?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus doesn't disagree, but he goes on and just kind of says, Hey, my kingdom is not of this world.
SPEAKER_02: So when he dies and he ascends into heaven, like we just sang about, when he ascends to the throne, all creation bows down.
SPEAKER_02: The ascension is this coronation is king.
SPEAKER_02: And the coronation comes with this designation from God the Father of the realm over which he rules.
SPEAKER_02: That realm is all of creation.
SPEAKER_02: It's not if you've gone to church five times in your life, much less five years or 15 years, you've heard this phrase before said of Jesus, that he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
SPEAKER_02: If you've heard that phrase before, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: If you understand what it means, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: When the Bible says he's king of kings, let's just take that for example.
SPEAKER_02: When the Bible says that Jesus is king of kings, that does not mean that he's king over all the lesser kings in the world, like King Herod and all these other people.
SPEAKER_02: It basically means he's a king in a way that no one else has ever been a king before.
SPEAKER_02: It also says, and he doesn't just rule over kings, he rules over everything.
SPEAKER_02: So when you say king, Pilate says to him, Are you a king?
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, before you, I'm not here to give you tips and techniques for having just interesting conversations, because before you ask anybody else of anybody, who or what do they submit to, you gotta ask yourself, who or what do you submit to?
SPEAKER_02: You see, there's king.
SPEAKER_02: Secondly, there's kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: It's unthinkable to have a king without a kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: Now, when I say kingdom, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: Uh I mean the kingdom of God, the Bible talks about it's all through the gospels, it's all through the Bible, the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus kind of he told people in Matthew chapter 6, about verse 33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
SPEAKER_02: All these things he's talking about, food and clothes and shelter and worrying about your life and all this stuff.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus says, hey, prioritize above everything else the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: It was that tangible, that real.
SPEAKER_02: Now, when I say the kingdom, what I mean is it's the realm within which what God wants done gets done.
SPEAKER_02: Dallas Willard said it like this.
SPEAKER_02: He says, the gospel is a spiritual reality about a spiritual reality.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the spiritual reality that the gospel's about: the availability of life under the rule of heavens.
SPEAKER_02: The availability of life under the rule of heavens.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 36.
SPEAKER_02: After Pilate asked him, Hey, am I a Jew and all this stuff?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus answered and says, My kingdom is not of this world.
SPEAKER_02: If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.
SPEAKER_02: Remember a couple chapters ago when they came to arrest Jesus in the garden?
SPEAKER_02: Peter pulls out a sword and cuts a guy's ear off, and Jesus' like, put that up, dude.
SPEAKER_02: You don't think I can call down legions of angels and just obliterate these people?
SPEAKER_02: He's not fighting because he's not like every other king that's ever existed who has an army that defends him while he sits back in a castle and does nothing.
SPEAKER_02: No, he's like, hey, I'm fully submitted to the Father's will.
SPEAKER_02: Put your knife up.
SPEAKER_02: I don't need you to help me.
SPEAKER_02: I need you to understand me.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, My kingdom is not of this world.
SPEAKER_02: He says, But my kingdom is not from the world either.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 37, then Pilate said to him, So you are a king.
SPEAKER_02: So, so so just trying to establish what's going on here.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have a king without a kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: Very early on, like Matthew chapter 4, Jesus shows up, he gets baptized by John the Baptist, and then he began to say this: Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_02: Repent.
SPEAKER_02: Change the way you think about yourself, your life, your money, your sex life, your food, your car, your truck, the grass in your front and backyard, everything in your life.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because the kingdom of God, a reality that is bigger and better, is at hand.
SPEAKER_02: It's here, right here, right now.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus talked about it all through the Gospels.
SPEAKER_02: And no more did He talk about it more vividly, and I'll warn you more graphically than in Luke chapter 19, starting in verse 11.
SPEAKER_02: I just want to read what the Bible says, and I'll kind of give you a little explanation along the way.
SPEAKER_02: But hear this, okay?
SPEAKER_02: This is Luke chapter 19, verse 11.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus has been talking, and it says, as they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.
SPEAKER_02: Let me stop right there.
SPEAKER_02: Religious people have the greatest capacity to get it wrong.
SPEAKER_02: He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going, could happen tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, this is all gonna go down.
SPEAKER_02: And so Jesus is like, hey, I want you guys to understand.
SPEAKER_02: So verse 12 says, He said, therefore, a nobleman went into a far country, a nobleman, Jesus, went into a far country, heaven, to receive for himself a kingdom and then return, the second coming.
SPEAKER_02: Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minors and said to them, Engage in business until I come.
SPEAKER_02: But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, We do not want this man to reign over us.
SPEAKER_02: That's you and me.
SPEAKER_02: By nature, that's our heart towards God.
SPEAKER_02: We do not want this man to reign over us.
SPEAKER_02: However, when he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to call to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business.
SPEAKER_02: The first came before him saying, Lord, your mind has made ten minors more.
SPEAKER_02: And he said to him, Well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.
SPEAKER_02: And the second came saying, Lord, your mind has made five minors, he said to him, and you worked to be over five cities.
SPEAKER_02: Then another came saying, Lord, here is your minor which I've kept laid away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you because you are a severe man.
SPEAKER_02: You take what you did not deposit, and you reap what you did not sow.
SPEAKER_02: He said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant.
SPEAKER_02: You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit, reaping what I did not sow.
SPEAKER_02: Why then did you not put my money in the bank?
SPEAKER_02: And at my coming I might have collected it with interest.
SPEAKER_02: And he said to those who stood by, Take the minor from him and give it to the one who has ten minors.
SPEAKER_02: And they said to him, Lord, he has ten minors.
SPEAKER_02: That rich weasel, he's got enough.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 26.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, it's so easy to hate the rich.
SPEAKER_02: Have you noticed that?
SPEAKER_02: And when I say rich, I mean anybody that's got a little bit more than you, you think, is rich.
SPEAKER_02: It's just so easy to pile on.
SPEAKER_02: And God says, Hey, I trust that person with more than I trust you with because you're ruled by fear.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 26, he says, I tell you to everyone who has more will be given.
SPEAKER_02: But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
SPEAKER_02: Hear verse 27.
SPEAKER_02: Unbelief has always been an expensive thing.
SPEAKER_02: But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.
SPEAKER_02: It's always been an expensive thing to not believe.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I don't say that to scare you, I do say that to warn you that our nature is, I do, my nature and your nature is we don't want anybody to rule over us because we want to be king.
SPEAKER_02: And that's why when you have conversations with people, you need to be listening for king, and then secondly, you need to be listening for kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: What is the governing reality that kind of leads in their life?
SPEAKER_02: Are they a part of anything bigger than themselves and their naturally occurring appetites?
SPEAKER_02: Dallas Willard, who uh was a seminary professor, but excuse me, what he was a professor at USC, University of Southern California, taught philosophy.
SPEAKER_02: Godly, godly man.
SPEAKER_02: He said this.
SPEAKER_02: He said, consumer Christianity is now normative.
SPEAKER_02: The consumer Christian is one who utilizes the grace of God for forgiveness and the services of the church for special occasion, but does not give his or her life and innermost thoughts and feelings and intentions over to the kingdom of the heavens.
SPEAKER_02: Such Christians are not inwardly transformed and not committed to it.
SPEAKER_02: Just not.
SPEAKER_02: Now, when I talk about the kingdom, uh let me say this there's two gross errors in modern theology when it comes to this biblical concept of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, there's two gross errors, and then there's a biblical answer.
SPEAKER_02: The two wrong ways of thinking are first of all, an overrealized eschatology.
SPEAKER_02: An over-realized eschatology basically says that we've realized the fullness of the kingdom of God now.
SPEAKER_02: When I say eschatology, that's just a big church word.
SPEAKER_02: Don't check out on me like, I don't get it.
SPEAKER_02: That just means the last things, the end times.
SPEAKER_02: How's the world gonna end?
SPEAKER_02: What's gonna happen with all that stuff?
SPEAKER_02: And when I say an overrealized eschatology, basically there's some people that think, hey, whatever happens in heaven, because when Jesus taught the disciples to pray, he part of the prayer was, you know, uh, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_02: People have an overrise, overrealized eschatology.
SPEAKER_02: They teach and they think and they act like everything that's in heaven can be had here on earth.
SPEAKER_02: Probably the biggest proponent of this is a man named Bill Johnson.
SPEAKER_02: Now let me stop right here.
SPEAKER_02: I don't hate Bill Johnson.
SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't I don't think he, I mean, I'm not out to get that guy, but my responsibility, he pastors a church called Bethel in California.
SPEAKER_02: My responsibility as your pastor is to tell you what the truth is, but also to tell you what the truth isn't.
SPEAKER_02: And it's not a biblically sustainable belief to think that everything that happens in heaven can happen here on earth.
SPEAKER_02: Because why do I bring up his name?
SPEAKER_02: Because Bill Johnson makes people feel like, hey, there's there should be no sickness.
SPEAKER_02: He said he declared his city a cancer-free city.
SPEAKER_02: Someone said to me, Would you ever get up and declare our city a cancer-free city?
SPEAKER_02: I said, No, I wouldn't do that because in this world that is under the penalty and the price of sin, there's always going to be an M.D.
SPEAKER_02: Anderson.
SPEAKER_02: It's a cancer research hospital down the Med Center.
SPEAKER_02: Would I like there to not be cancer?
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02: But it's an overrealized eschatology because here's what happens: if you live in Bill Johnson City and you get cancer, what they tell you is you just don't have enough faith.
SPEAKER_02: And if you had enough faith, you would exercise your faith and believe God and be healed.
SPEAKER_02: So a lot of people die of cancer and shame.
SPEAKER_02: That's an overrealized eschatology.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, the prosperity gospel preaches this everybody gets healed, everybody gets rich, and everybody's always happy.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I I when I read the Bible, I see a Jesus who on occasion got sad.
SPEAKER_02: He wasn't always happy.
SPEAKER_02: So if you're not happy today, that's a very Christ-like emotion.
SPEAKER_02: Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say smile all the time.
SPEAKER_02: An overrealized eschatology.
SPEAKER_02: The second era, just as deadly, is an underrealized eschatology.
SPEAKER_02: This says the kingdom of God is something totally futuristic.
SPEAKER_02: In no sense does the kingdom of God exist already.
SPEAKER_02: And basically it's life is hard, but you get to go to heaven when you die, so just suck it up and endure.
SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you this how many times can you hear that and look forward to it?
SPEAKER_02: How many times can you come to church and the preachers just say, hey, life's hard, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: Well, we get to go to heaven, hunker down.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, after a while, you're just like, I'll sleep in.
SPEAKER_02: Honey, you go for me.
SPEAKER_02: Let me guess.
SPEAKER_02: It's hard and we're just gonna get to go to heaven.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then this is I think is the biblical response.
SPEAKER_02: It's a biblically balanced eschatology.
SPEAKER_02: It says this: the kingdom of God is already and not yet.
SPEAKER_02: The kingdom of God is already and not yet.
SPEAKER_02: Let me demonstrate.
SPEAKER_02: Now look at Me just for a second.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you are in this room?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand if you're visiting, but if you're visiting today, let me say this because you may be thinking, Oh man, you said a lot of things I didn't really understand.
SPEAKER_02: If you go to this church pretty consistently and I say things sometimes that you don't understand, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: See, you're in good company.
SPEAKER_02: And some of these little weasels said that with gusto.
SPEAKER_02: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, you moron.
SPEAKER_02: Wait till we get to the last part about truth.
SPEAKER_02: Your eyes are gonna roll back in your head.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna be like, Stop! We'll get to that in just a minute.
SPEAKER_02: When I say the kingdom of God is already and not yet, if you've ever been to a wedding, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: Now let me ask this: if you've been married over 25 years and ever been to a wedding, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: Now, here's the thing for you old married people like me, okay?
SPEAKER_02: You go to a wedding, and now those people walk down the aisle and you're kind of like, oh, this is cute.
SPEAKER_02: And then they're kind of married.
SPEAKER_02: They're married already, but not yet.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: That's why you old married people are just looking like, yeah, enjoy it now.
SPEAKER_02: And you don't want to write on the parade because they're having a Pinterest moment at their wedding venue and they're doing things no one's else has done, coming down the aisle to a black-eyed pea song.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, we've never seen that before.
SPEAKER_02: All the old married people drinking that free beer you're paying for, can I like, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: You just give it a little bit of time.
SPEAKER_02: And it's not that we're not hating on you.
SPEAKER_02: You're married already, but not yet.
SPEAKER_02: Not yet at all.
SPEAKER_02: I tell people in premarital counseling, hey, you let's talk about why you're here.
SPEAKER_02: This is the last woman you want to kiss the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_02: And I tell them this, you're signing on to bury each other's parents.
SPEAKER_02: And they always are like, it's not good news.
SPEAKER_02: See, that's the not yet part of marriage.
SPEAKER_02: People walk down the aisle and they're like, hey, yeah, that was awesome.
SPEAKER_02: All the friends are high-fiving and we're like, okay, great, great.
SPEAKER_02: Is there an open bar this thing?
SPEAKER_02: Because already you're married, but not yet.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you understand what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02: Say amen.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're not making fun of you, nearly weds.
SPEAKER_02: We highly recommend marriage.
SPEAKER_02: But there's gonna be times you're gonna be laying there in bed looking at your husband, just thinking, if I just took this pillow and just held it over his face, just for a little bit.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: See, that's the not-yet people in the room.
SPEAKER_02: And grooms, you're gonna say some things, you think this is black and white, cut and dried, and she's gonna get something from that that is so impossible, according to the laws of logic, to get that, and then she's gonna make you emotionally responsible for what it made her feel.
SPEAKER_02: And you're gonna be in the garage, it's like, oh, for the love of God, are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_02: How did you get that?
SPEAKER_02: And she's gonna open the door.
SPEAKER_02: Is everything okay?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, hey, baby, good.
unknown: Good.
SPEAKER_02: I just straightened in my garage.
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's real important to me to clean up my garage.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, so I saw, whoosha, hoosha.
SPEAKER_02: That's not yet.
SPEAKER_02: So, the kingdom of God is already, and it's not yet, in other words, that when Jesus comes, he inaugurates the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: When he comes again, he'll consummate the kingdom in fullness.
SPEAKER_02: You see, if the kingdom of God, if this way of living under the rule of heaven is not available, why on what basis did Jesus tell people to repent?
SPEAKER_02: Why does he say repent?
SPEAKER_02: For the kingdom of God's at hand.
SPEAKER_02: Is he lying?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: That's why you got to have a biblically balanced eschatology.
SPEAKER_02: It's already not, yeah, it's a privilege of the Christian and the church to bear witness to the invisible kingdom and make it visible.
SPEAKER_02: And here, that sounds crazy.
SPEAKER_02: The invisible kingdom and make it visible.
SPEAKER_02: Here's how you make it visible.
SPEAKER_02: It's real simple through obedience.
SPEAKER_02: Talking to a guy on the phone, and we're negotiating something, and he says, Well, you know, I need you to sign a contract.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, I'm really not a contract guy.
SPEAKER_02: I just give you my word.
SPEAKER_02: I'll do it, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, bean counter's gonna want a contract.
SPEAKER_02: Let me just send that over.
SPEAKER_02: Let me scan that and send it over to you.
SPEAKER_02: Don't send me a contract.
SPEAKER_02: My yay is yay and my nay is nay.
SPEAKER_02: Well, sir, that's not how things get done in the business world.
SPEAKER_02: I don't care how things get done in the business world.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Do you trust me?
SPEAKER_02: He goes, I just met you.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Can you not trust me enough to know that I'm gonna do what I said I was gonna do?
SPEAKER_02: Well, sir, I wish that's the way the world worked.
SPEAKER_02: And and and and sadly, he's right.
SPEAKER_02: And so I said, we kept talking, he's like, Well, you're kind of an interesting person.
SPEAKER_02: And I just set the drag a little bit heavier.
SPEAKER_02: He he sounded heavy on the phone.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna put that sweeping hook set on him.
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
SPEAKER_02: I said, uh, here's the thing, I'm not asking you to trust in me, I'm asking you to believe in something bigger than me.
SPEAKER_02: Well, now I don't know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to make, and I didn't tell him this, but I'm trying to make the invisible kingdom visible.
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to help him understand, hey, that God works in people's life in such a way that they're just honest.
SPEAKER_02: That they just tell the truth.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to legally, contractually obligate me to keep my word.
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, my my my supervisor, I mean, he's gonna want us to sign something.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not signing anything.
SPEAKER_02: What if I get in trouble?
SPEAKER_02: The only way you'll get in trouble is if I don't keep my word.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not gonna keep my I'm gonna keep my word.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna go back on my word.
SPEAKER_02: Sir, this is a lot of money.
SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't sell my integrity for ten times as much money.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, sir, could you just please sign?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: So if we're gonna do business, we're gonna do it on a handshake.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not asking you to trust me, I'm asking you to trust in something bigger than me.
SPEAKER_02: I have no idea what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_02: And I blame all the Christians in Fort Bend County for that.
SPEAKER_02: Because we're letting the kingdom be invisible to these people.
SPEAKER_02: You listen for king, kingdom, and third day, you listen for the truth.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 37, hear this.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 37.
SPEAKER_02: Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus answered, You say that I'm a king.
SPEAKER_02: For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I've come into the world.
SPEAKER_02: What is the purpose?
SPEAKER_02: To bear witness to the truth.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone is who is of the truth listens to my voice.
SPEAKER_02: And Pilate said to him, What is truth?
SPEAKER_02: This scoffing, dismissive, just like our culture.
SPEAKER_02: What is truth?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, come on, dude.
SPEAKER_02: This is the 21st century.
SPEAKER_02: What is truth?
SPEAKER_02: Now, by the way, I was greatly helped by a writer named Joe Heshmeyer in my understanding of what I'm about to tell you.
SPEAKER_02: I just want to give credit where credit's due.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but before we get into that, I just want to, here's four core beliefs of the modern mind.
SPEAKER_02: I'll just put them up here.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, don't try to write this down.
SPEAKER_02: Just take a picture if you want to.
SPEAKER_02: I don't care.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, four core beliefs of the modern mind.
SPEAKER_02: And it sounds like this.
SPEAKER_02: The first one is simply this.
SPEAKER_02: This is what our kids are taught.
SPEAKER_02: My kids go to public school, uh, and this is what my kids get indoctrinated with, starting in the first grade.
SPEAKER_02: First of all, nothing exists.
SPEAKER_02: We are teaching a generation of people that nothing existed before you got here.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, you get to decide what is truth, what is right, what is wrong.
SPEAKER_02: That's why we deconstruct history, we tear down statues.
SPEAKER_02: We're in charge by God, and nothing existed before we got here, and now that we're here, everyone get out of the way.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, by the way, look at me.
SPEAKER_02: Isis does the same thing.
SPEAKER_02: So you got these college kids going around lassoing statues, kind of going, oh, we're gonna, okay.
SPEAKER_02: That sounds really empowering.
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna come back and bite you, folks.
SPEAKER_02: Because the second expression of the modern mind is even if something exists, nothing can be known about it.
SPEAKER_02: We've killed certainty in our culture.
SPEAKER_02: And the person who's right is the first person who's offended.
SPEAKER_02: Someone said to me this this week, well, that offends me.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Well, that's because you're wrong.
SPEAKER_02: And they were like, What's it?
SPEAKER_02: It's like clarification.
SPEAKER_02: What did you say?
SPEAKER_02: I said, Oh, you should be offended because you're wrong.
SPEAKER_02: If you weren't offended, I'd be concerned.
SPEAKER_02: But I'm hopeful because you say offended, I say convicted.
SPEAKER_02: Same thing.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, the reason we're in offense culture, uh-huh, time for this sermon, look at me.
SPEAKER_02: The reason we're also offended is because we've done away with objective, absolute truth, and so no one's convicted anymore.
SPEAKER_02: Because if you're convicted, then you have to have an unchangeable standard which convicts you.
SPEAKER_02: Because you kill that, people are just offended.
SPEAKER_02: They're just ruled by the biggest, most uncomfortable feeling they have.
SPEAKER_02: And the person said to me, So I need you to value my feelings.
SPEAKER_02: I said, I this is not about your feelings, this is about the fact that you're wrong.
SPEAKER_02: And that's not a feeling, that's a state of being.
SPEAKER_02: You live in wrongness, you should pack up and move out.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think you get to talk to me this way.
SPEAKER_02: Says who?
SPEAKER_02: Now, I know.
SPEAKER_02: Say with me.
SPEAKER_02: If you're visiting right now, you're like, ah, what a jerk.
SPEAKER_02: No, not at all.
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: I just don't believe that even if something exists, nothing can be known about it.
SPEAKER_02: When you kill certainty, you obligate yourself to uncertainty.
SPEAKER_02: Number three, even if something can be known about it, knowledge about it cannot be communicated to others.
SPEAKER_02: You kill evangelism.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we really can't know about God.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you got your truth, I got my truth.
SPEAKER_02: My God's a God of love.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, and the beauty of that is he loves everything you love and nothing else.
SPEAKER_02: And fourthly, even if it can't be communicated, it cannot be understood.
SPEAKER_02: And there's just no absolutes.
SPEAKER_02: We can't know with certainty.
SPEAKER_02: So let's just leave, live and let live.
SPEAKER_02: Sound familiar?
SPEAKER_02: This is what is taught in a public school.
SPEAKER_02: That my kids go to.
SPEAKER_02: Now, by the way, a lot of you work in public school.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not mucking public school.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think it's bad.
SPEAKER_02: I tell my kids, you gotta learn to defend your faith.
SPEAKER_02: You gotta stay, you gotta stick up for the truth.
SPEAKER_02: You gotta be in class and go unamen.
SPEAKER_02: Now, this should sound like, oh, that that's exactly it.
SPEAKER_02: Actually, this is who said these four things.
SPEAKER_02: Gorgias.
SPEAKER_02: He lived from 483 to 375 BC.
SPEAKER_02: He was a Greek philosopher, a nihilist, one of the first sophists, uh, brilliant man with no hope and dead wrong.
SPEAKER_02: Because when you think about it, each one of these things that can they contradict themselves.
SPEAKER_02: And when you turn them back on themselves, they refute themselves.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and I want us to just I want to close this morning by affirming that knowable, non-empirically testable, absolute truth exists.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to apply it to three things that are very popular nowadays: relativism, skepticism, scientific materialism.
SPEAKER_02: Aren't you glad?
SPEAKER_02: I feel the energy in the room.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all are like, and now I will make a grocery list.
SPEAKER_02: Uh by the way, this is not for now.
SPEAKER_02: This is for then when you have the conversation with a guy at work that says, like someone, many people said to me, I don't believe in anything unless it can be scientifically proven and empirically tested.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, wow, that's very limited.
SPEAKER_02: You've obligated yourself to atheism or agnosticism, either one, whichever one feels most comfortable.
SPEAKER_02: Uh just uh relativism, they all make a claim.
SPEAKER_02: Relativism says, absolute truth does not exist.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, why is that self-refuting?
SPEAKER_02: Because the simple claim, absolute truth does not exist, is either absolutely true or it's not.
SPEAKER_02: But of course, if it can't be absolutely true, uh, since that would create a contradiction, we would have proven the existence of an absolute truth, and that's the claim itself.
SPEAKER_02: When someone says there's no such thing as absolute truth, ask this question Are you absolutely certain of that?
SPEAKER_02: Because that's an absolute truth claim, right, in and of itself.
SPEAKER_02: Uh so what can we know?
SPEAKER_02: We can know basically the absolute truth does exist.
SPEAKER_02: Skepticism.
SPEAKER_02: The claim of skepticism is this is that we can't know anything for certain.
SPEAKER_02: That's why we love journey language.
SPEAKER_02: Journey, by the way, is a great rock band from the 80s.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: It's not an overused word.
SPEAKER_02: People use all that, well, we're on this journey, and you know, everyone's got their own personal path, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: Like, stop smoking so much pot.
SPEAKER_02: It's affecting the synapses in your brain.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but skepticism says this we can't know anything for sure.
SPEAKER_02: Uh now, this sounds real subtle and actually humble, but really what it is is intellectual arrogance seeking to avoid accountability.
SPEAKER_02: That's what skepticism is.
SPEAKER_02: Uh you take the most mild sounding statement.
SPEAKER_02: It's this I don't know if we can know anything for certain.
SPEAKER_02: That sounds intellectually humble.
SPEAKER_02: It's one of the most intellectually prideful things people say.
SPEAKER_02: Here's why.
SPEAKER_02: What you're really saying is, I know that my knowledge on whether anything can be known for certain is inconclusive.
SPEAKER_02: So you're still affirming something.
SPEAKER_02: And what you're affirming is that you know your knowledge to be inconclusive.
SPEAKER_02: So what can we know?
SPEAKER_02: We can know that absolute truth exists.
SPEAKER_02: Secondly, that it's knowable.
SPEAKER_02: There's things that can be known in this life.
SPEAKER_02: Scientific materialism, this is my favorite, because educated people watch videos on the internet and oh, I believe this.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what they claim all truth is empirically or scientifically testable.
SPEAKER_02: Why is this self-refuting?
SPEAKER_02: Because we say we cannot know if anything is true outside of the natural sciences.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, what you're really saying is that I know that my knowledge on the truth of things outside of the natural sciences is inconclusive.
SPEAKER_02: But the natural sciences can never establish your ignorance of truths outside the natural sciences.
SPEAKER_02: So to make this claim, you need to affirm as certain a truth that you could not have derived from the natural sciences.
SPEAKER_02: Now, that is like Bill Nye Science guy nerdy right there.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, let me say it to you, as an as an uneducated person like myself, look at me.
SPEAKER_02: I had a conversation not long ago with a guy that said, you know, I'm I'm more scientific, you know, I'm and he's I think he's a mechanical engineer.
SPEAKER_02: Great.
SPEAKER_02: I love mechanical engineers.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you in the room right now, I'm not knocking engineers.
SPEAKER_02: He just said, unless you can prove to me with verifiable uh scientific, I mean empirical evidence, I will never believe in God.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, you believe in science as God.
SPEAKER_02: That's your God.
SPEAKER_02: You believe in a God, it's just the wrong God.
SPEAKER_02: He goes, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: I said, What's the first verse in the Bible?
SPEAKER_02: And he quoted it to me.
SPEAKER_02: He said, In the beginning, God created the heavens.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Stop right there.
SPEAKER_02: I said, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_02: And so in the beginning, God, before God created the heavens and the earth, God existed.
SPEAKER_02: Can you agree with that?
SPEAKER_02: He goes, Well, I guess by extension, yes.
SPEAKER_02: I said, okay.
SPEAKER_02: So what was what existed before God that empirically evaluated and tested God?
SPEAKER_02: Did science exist before God?
SPEAKER_02: And how do you have science without a scientist?
SPEAKER_02: Well, now you now now you're confusing.
SPEAKER_02: I said, no, now your logic is breaking down.
SPEAKER_02: You should go watch some more videos, because all he does is watch videos.
SPEAKER_02: And he sends me this, uh he sent me a refutation of my irreconcilable logic.
SPEAKER_02: I was like, dude, you read too many books.
SPEAKER_02: But here's the thing when it comes down to it, our culture's full of people that have just been raised on scientific materialism.
SPEAKER_02: And so here's what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_02: When Pilate says, What is truth?
SPEAKER_02: He scoffs.
SPEAKER_02: Look at me and we're done.
SPEAKER_02: He scoffs because truth has no bearing on his life.
SPEAKER_02: Because he's his own king.
SPEAKER_02: He thinks he has the power to decide what's going to happen to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He does not understand that it is a custom to release someone at Passover.
SPEAKER_02: Who do you want me to release to you?
SPEAKER_02: The king of the Jews or Barabbas?
SPEAKER_02: Give us Barabbas.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate's so smart, but he doesn't understand that he is playing a part in fulfilling the will of God because the Lamb of God has to be sacrificed for the sins of the people of God.
SPEAKER_02: Now, so what can we know?
SPEAKER_02: We can know that there exists absolute noble truth outside the realm of natural sciences, and it's not subject to empirical scientific testing.
SPEAKER_02: Now, why do I go through all that?
SPEAKER_02: Just say this and we're done.
SPEAKER_02: If you're ready to be done, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: Sinners.
SPEAKER_02: The cowboys don't play until tonight.
SPEAKER_02: And one of the Saints fans wore his shirt to church today.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna pick him out after the service and beat him up.
SPEAKER_02: Now, why do I say all this?
SPEAKER_02: We'll be done.
SPEAKER_02: Because the purpose for which Jesus came was to bear witness to the truth.
SPEAKER_02: That's what he says right here in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Hey, for this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.
SPEAKER_02: So why does Jesus come?
SPEAKER_02: Not so that you would be smart, not so that you'd be the guy that has the pithy little answer.
SPEAKER_02: Look at me.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus come so you would be the freest person anybody knows.
SPEAKER_02: Because he says back in John chapter 8, you'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
SPEAKER_02: What drives the heart of God in all of this is for you and I to live in the freedom we were created to live in.
SPEAKER_02: Now ask yourself, if this is at the core of this king and kingdom, why would you not want to know this king and be a part of that kingdom?
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guest, uh, just what we like to do is we like to teach the Bible and then give you some soul space to think about it.
SPEAKER_02: Some questions come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_02: If you'd like to take a picture of those with your phone, you're more than welcome to.
SPEAKER_02: Uh we think the Bible is the most thought-provoking, inspired thing ever existed.
SPEAKER_02: We think it's the truth.
SPEAKER_02: So it engages head and heart and hand.
SPEAKER_02: And so anytime we teach it, we like to have some time to reflect on it.
SPEAKER_02: Let me voice a prayer and then we'll think just for a moment.
SPEAKER_02: God thanks that uh you come to us in ways that are familiar and sometimes in ways that are threatening.
SPEAKER_02: But we we never lose sight of the fact that it is the God of the universe who's coming to us.
SPEAKER_02: And we're like Nathaniel.
SPEAKER_02: You knew us before we ever got to you.
SPEAKER_02: And so I pray for the person in this room that doesn't know you yet, and they're just far off.
SPEAKER_02: Just even now, God, you just kind of whisper to the heart, I see you.
SPEAKER_02: I see you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not mad at you.
SPEAKER_02: I know everything, and I just want you to know I see you.
SPEAKER_02: That's why the gospel's whosoever will.
SPEAKER_02: So, God, before we listen to other people, let's listen to ourselves and ask ourselves, who or what do I submit to?
SPEAKER_02: Who is the kingdom?
SPEAKER_02: What's the governing reality in my life?
SPEAKER_02: What is the question my faith, my lack of faith, or my absence of faith asking me these days?
SPEAKER_02: Well, we want to apply the gospel to ourselves before we take it to anybody else.
SPEAKER_02: So brood over us while we do that now, in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we're mindful.
SPEAKER_02: We're mindful of it.
SPEAKER_02: And it's very hope-inducing to believe that there's something in this world bigger than us and our job.
SPEAKER_02: That's why, Jesus, you said repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_02: We don't have to be king and we don't have to try to build our little kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: We can submit to the king who's already established a kingdom and rules over it, unquestioned, unimpeded.
SPEAKER_02: So, Holy Spirit, lead us into the truth.
SPEAKER_02: The whole truth and nothing but the truth.
SPEAKER_02: So help us, God.
SPEAKER_02: We pray for this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for your presence.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guest, hope you had an opportunity.
SPEAKER_02: Fill out one of those guest cards in your seat back pocket in your row.
SPEAKER_02: As you leave in just a moment, if you would, just drop in these wooden boxes by the doors.
SPEAKER_02: That's also where we receive our offering.
SPEAKER_02: If you consider this your church, and today's the day that you want to uh practice obedience or generosity, that's where you do that as well.
SPEAKER_02: A few things I want to make you aware of by way of our video announcements, so give your attention to the screens, please.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: Moms on Mission is meeting October 3rd at 9.30 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: in the Fellowship Hall.
SPEAKER_00: Special guest Julie Barnhill will speak about parenting during the challenging toddler years.
SPEAKER_00: Men's Weekend registration is open in the lobby and online.
SPEAKER_00: The cost is$50.
SPEAKER_00: Once you register, pray about five other men you can personally invite to the weekend.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know five other men, that's another great reason for you to be here on October 18th through 19th at the warehouse.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new, be sure and check out our website at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you're on social media, you can find us there too.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like someone to pray with you or you have a question about anything you have seen or heard today, some of our pastors and elders will be available at the front of the stage after our service.
SPEAKER_02: Someone asked me after the first service if all those were Julie Barnhill's kids.
SPEAKER_02: No, that's a swim team.
SPEAKER_02: Uh some of you were like, oh my gosh, those all hers.
SPEAKER_02: Uh no, Julie and her husband Matt, they have a counseling practice here in town.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, very insightful.
SPEAKER_02: Ladies, she's gonna be sharing.
SPEAKER_02: I'm almost done, hang in there.
SPEAKER_02: Uh she's gonna be sharing just about, hey, what it's like to parent in this crazy uh uh uh uh preschool uh time of life uh when your kids are little.
SPEAKER_02: So that is this coming Tuesday.
SPEAKER_02: If you're not registered, uh be sure and get signed up for that.
SPEAKER_02: We'd like to close our service with a blessing, so if you would stand to your feet, hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_02: To the flat broke, the couch cushion gas money, the worker bee that ain't getting no honey.
SPEAKER_02: There's a king, and he sacrificed himself for you.
SPEAKER_02: And there's a kingdom, and you're invited to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Bless you.