Palm Sunday | Sent To The Uttermost - Pastor Scott Silcox

We wrestle with why Palm Sunday swings from celebration to crucifixion, and we let that tension expose how easily our expectations can distort who Jesus is. We choose surrender over control so the Holy Spirit can empower us to live as bold witnesses to the ends of the earth. 

• Palm Sunday as a test of expectations and allegiance 
• Psalms 2 as a warning and a promise about the nations 
• Jesus on a donkey as humility over domination 
• Unmet expectations turning into rejection and distance from God 
• “We have no king but Caesar” as replacing Jesus with substitutes 
• Acts 1:8 as the call to wait for power and then witness 
• The Holy Spirit’s power as fuel for testimony not performance 
• Purpose requiring surrender not full understanding 
• Giving away what God has done to be filled again 
• Practical mission paths through work, serving, and church outreach 

Transcript

Welcome And Message Setup

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Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week. For more information about our church, please visit therockfamily.tv. Now join us for a message from Pastor Scott Zilcox.

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Talking about what it means to be sent to the uttermost. What does it mean to be sent? And uh my wife did a fantastic job last week. And uh what an absolute rock star my wife is. If you have not heard that message, I encourage you to go back and check it out. And uh, for those of uh you wondering what happened to that guy, uh I know you're asking it. We've been asked so many times. Uh the the we do not train our disciples here to disciple people like that, where you just leave them uh abandoned in the other gym. Uh just joking. Just joking. Um I won the day that day. I'm just gonna tell you. Yeah, yeah, I won the day. Yeah, she acted like it was ministry, uh, like all good Christian people do, you know. It was ministry. Um but that dude had a different agenda, and uh and the Lord sent a ram in the thicket right here. Huh? And here, there I was. Here I am. Here I am. The ram in the thicket. I was there. A way of salvation for the lost Brit. Um I don't know. I don't know what happened to that guy. I'm sure he's fine. I'm sure he's fine. No, there's that's funny, but it's anyway. It's an inside joke. For anybody who doesn't know, you have to go back and listen to the message.

Palm Sunday And A Mandate

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It is gonna make complete sense after you see and hear that. She opens up with it. So, anyway, it's an honor to be with you today. I'm excited about um Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday. What a fantastic day to celebrate this week uh as we get ready for Passover. We get ready for um uh uh an entire week dedicated just celebrating the the steps of Christ as he goes to the cross and as he is victoriously risen. Uh and and I'm just telling you, I can't wait to be with you on Easter. It's gonna be fantastic for the worship nights. Don't miss that. I think you will not want to miss that. Just have a really great sense about that. Praying, the rain goes away. So if you could, if you are praying, just start that now. That'd be nice. We'd like the rain to go away. Uh so we'll pray into that. But it's gonna be a great week. But I'll be honest with you, I am torn between two worlds right now. I am in this Palm Sunday uh time period, and I'm also in this place where I know that God is equipping us as disciplers and to be ready to be sent out in his namesake, because how many know that the king is going to inherit nations and he's gonna inherit it through us? That's very important to note because like we know that Christ gave his life and he's died for the world, but the way the world is won is through the testimony of Christ's blood applied to our life, and then us testifying of the goodness of God and doing that consistently again and again and again and again and again until all have heard. That's how the nations are restored back. If he wasn't gonna use us to do that, he would have done that at the beginning, and there'd be no need for us. There's a partnership he's inviting everybody in this room into. Then you can't just say, like, no, this is for my weird neighbor that thinks she's called to the mission field. This is for that person who answered the call in youth group when the missionary came through, told a sad story. This is for them. No, this is not for them. This is for everybody. Everybody, it's a mandate for us. Come on, everybody. I know that's maybe not good news for somebody here, but it it's it is good news. It is good news, is that he's calling us to reach the world, and we get to do it together. Now, I'm gonna attempt to pull these two worlds together because I think I as I just prayed into this and was thinking through, God, what it what is it that you're trying to tell us, and what is it you're trying to develop in us as a church? And also to recognize that this cultural moment that we live in is really conflicted between what we teach and what we want and what God wants, and then what the world and culture is really driving us to, and those two things are in tension. And so, because I've kind of sat in that tension for a little while, just been praying, God, I'd I'd like I'd like for you to give me some help with this. Help me to see it. And so, when I'm reading through the book of John, and I'm trying to get my head around this about what God is actually doing, and so as this week is in preparation, I can I would highly encourage you to take some time and read through the gospel message, read through the life of Christ, familiarize yourself. Like I know you've read it a thousand times, I know you know the story, but do it again, afresh and anew. And and and get your heart ready to respond to the love of Jesus. It's very important this week for you to take time to do that. As I'm doing that in the book of John, I come across some wild uh scripture, things that I I just felt like it needed to be um to be addressed,

Psalms 2 And The Nations

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as well as in Psalms 2. So if you have your Bibles, I want you to open up to Psalms 2. And I'm I'm going to I'm gonna go into these kind of like extremes for a second, but I think I think I think we're gonna get somewhere at the end of this. But Psalms 2 is passage of scripture script scrippers. Well, I mean, what kind of scripture are we talking about here? Sent to the uttermost. Alright, now, anybody familiar with Psalms 2? Thank you. Brian is the only one familiar with Psalms. I got you, my man. Thank you. Yeah, it's not maybe your most popular message, but it is one that needs to be mentioned today, and we're gonna just read it together. Alright? And it says, Why do the nations rage at the people's plot in vain? Why? Why do the nations rage at the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs, and the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, Ask for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree, the Lord said to me, You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will what? Make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now, therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. It's a strong passage. There's a lot going on here. But it's one I think that we can kick off with because I think it's super important for us to recognize that that it's it's not just

From Hosanna To Confusion

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an accident that we're talking on Palm Sunday. Does anyone ever just think about how confusing Palm Sunday might have been for the disciples the day of? I mean, I just want you to get the image in your mind. Christ is victoriously riding into Jerusalem. A crowd that has already seen him do miraculous things are standing there putting palm branches out, and they're singing what? Right? Here he comes, the king of the Jews. How in this moment, I I can only imagine the disciples are thinking, like, this is not what I was thinking was going to happen today. Right? I don't know. We've been hiding, we've been slipping in and out, we've been on the scene. Jesus has been threatened many, many times, and here we are walking in Jerusalem, and now they're just putting us in center stage on this thing. Now I would imagine some are some of the disciples are thinking, yeah, that's right. That's right. I could see them as like a mighty entourage, just leading the way. That's right, back up, king of the Jews. Right? A little pride building up on their chest a little bit, shoulders back, neck up. You walk a little differently when everyone starts to recognize something in you you can't see yourself. And there they are moving into this, but there's got to be a sense of confusion because this is kind of what they thought was gonna happen, because surely we're gonna come into Jerusalem and Jesus is gonna be enthroned as king, we're gonna rule over Rome, we're gonna be the ones in charge, and all will be right in the world again, right? This is what Palm Sunday was, at least in the hearts of many. But the confusing part is that in in one day, he went from hero to villain. In just moments, Christ went came in as the king of Israel to a criminal. What in the world happened? What what kind of what kind of distance had to be ground had to be taken for him to go from king to criminal? The question is, what what changed? Jesus didn't change. When you go back and look at it, nothing in Jesus' life did he change in that moment. There was no transformation in him. He has been consistently himself. What changed? It was the expectation of the people. Expectations were changed. What people wanted him to be and who he's showing himself to be are two different things. And all of a sudden, expectations begin to change the way we think about the Savior. I wonder how many of us have allowed expectations or unmet expectations to change the way we see Jesus. So I've begin to think about this like it's not an accident that we're seeing this consistently again, even in our lifetime. This isn't like an old idea. This is one that we actually carry very near and close to the vest today. People really are looking at what Christ offers and then realize it's not what they want. And because it's not what they want, there is a sense of it is never overt necessarily, and sometimes it is, but there is an rejection to who he is because he's not who I want him to be. Come on, tell somebody, oh me. I'll say it like this: if we misunderstand the king, we'll also misunderstand the calling. If we misunderstand his intention, then we will we'll misunderstand his calling to go into all the world. That's because our world is consolidated to me and about three other people. But that isn't the calling. That isn't what God's actually doing. That's just part of it. Let me add this. Umday answers this response right here. Palm Sunday will answer Psalms 2, which starts with, why do the nations rage? And this is the response of Palm Sunday. This is the response of Jesus, because we want a king, just not that king. We want a king, just not that one. And so I'm gonna go through a few things today that I think will be helpful for us just to identify this, because I I do believe God's calling us to be sent, but also with the right, proper context of what it is that we're trying to do here. So uh let's go through this. I'm gonna skip this slide because I put it in the wrong spot. Is that okay with you guys? Is that good? I looked at it earlier, I was like, whoops, wrong spot, I'm moving it. Um so I want to read this first uh statement here. It says this. I I did this the last time, I made them real big so you would remember them. We celebrate a king who fits our expectations. You know the thing that worries me most about the church today is that we have a really high level of expectation of what God's gonna do for us with our hands out. We're expecting if God doesn't heal me, if he doesn't do this, if he doesn't do that, then he's not worth following. There's a tendency, if we're not careful, we can get in a place where we can say Hosanna in one second and crucify him in the next second, and that's simply based off of your opinion or your engagement or your satisfaction with his work ethic. He's good, but he's just more good to the Jewish people, so I'm upset as a Gentile. Crucify him. Hey, he's doing real good by the poor people, but he's isolated all of the religious elites, and so what we say, hey, he's not worth having around. No king would submit themselves to Gentiles. He would he would make himself holy like us, the religious people. And so we take the king and try to draw comparisons to ourselves. Versus the other way is to say, who is he and how can I align up to it? And I know this is hard, but this is true. What started out as a massive celebration would turn around and end in complete and total disarray. People that thought they knew him, thought they wanted him, had been praying diligently for a king, have now sacrificed the idea of having him be that king because it didn't look right. Here's something to be said about what what we perceive versus what we sense in the spirit. People say, I don't know why the uh we we uh why do y'all put such an emphasis on the Holy Spirit? Because I believe if you will be in tune with the Holy Spirit, you won't let your visual or your eyes play tricks on you or tell you a lie about what he's doing on the earth. Because the spirit will confirm it. But if you're just looking with your fleshly eyes, you can look around in our society and say, where is he? He must not be true. It must be someone else, it must be something else. I'm gonna say that's a real danger for us to be in. Now, it's not as overt as that, but how many know that it shows up on your social media a lot? When we give more credence and more authority to opinions of all those talking heads out there, but none of it lines up or it loosely lines up to the word, and we don't know how to correct that or bring autocorrection to it. Amen? Alright, we're going somewhere. Just trust, trust, it's not as scary when we get there. I want to read this scripture right here. John 12, 12. You guys remember this, and this is where this passage comes from. It says the large crowd drew uh uh uh come to uh to the feast, heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, so they took branches of palm trees, went out to meet him, crying out, Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, Fear not, daughter, the Zion, uh the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey cold. Come on, your king is coming. This is interesting to me, is because they're using they're using language that is ancient prophetic language. So they have raised their entire lives learning prophetic language, looking for a king that's gonna come on a donkey when he shows up, they can't believe it's really him. How is it that you can be in preparation for something your entire life and it shows up at your doorstep and you still miss it? I'm talking about your life right now. I'm talking about how many prayers have gone up in your personal life, how many things you've prayed for, asked God for, contended for. What happens is if it doesn't happen in our timing, our expectations get dismayed. They get frustrated, and then we we can't hardly see when he's actually doing something great. This also looks like when when God is doing something in your life and you can't even see it because you've been looking at something negatively for so long. This is like when you look at your spouse who you've been praying for, who actually makes a pivot, but you don't recognize it because you've already made up your mind they're gonna fail you. And so when there is progress, you can't see it anymore. This is this is proof that you've lived in a place of thinking negatively about something or someone so long that even their good is evilly spoken of. This is what Jesus is facing today. He's been healing, he's been delivering, he's been doing everything he said he was gonna do, he's fulfilling all of the prophetic words that are going out. Everyone can see it if you've been just like awake and paying attention, and yet in a moment it turns on him in a very, very dark way. But what are they looking for? Well, good question. Uh oh, I'll go back to my uh

Expectations That Turn Into Rejection

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one I was skipping. There it is. What they expected was a political overthrow of Rome. What they expected was what? Immediate freedom. What they expected was national restoration. This sounds familiar. The same pursuits that we have in America today that we've been celebrating all weekend, trying to figure out who's right, who's wrong, what do we get? When do we get it? How do we get free? How do we get that? And then here's what they got: a donkey, not a war horse. That's encouraging. What do they get? Humility, not domination. The way of the kingdom is to humble ourselves. The king humbled himself. He made himself lowly, learned how to serve people, love people. This was the call of the people. And this is what else does he get? He doesn't get a throne, he gets a cross. No, this isn't God. This isn't our God. Our God's victorious. Our God's gonna make this, our God's gonna make us the best in the world. Or maybe God is restoring all of humanity through a humble, simple, clear, loving. It's hard when the gospel, it's easy to look at the gospel and be like, that was back then. The problem is, is it's reflecting on today. And so it hits different. It hits different when it's so close. Why, why, why do these things matter? Why do they matter? Well, I'm glad you asked why they matter. I wrote this down. I I I every time I read about Palm Sunday, I always think about the the kings coming into Jerusalem, and I'm always got this soundtrack in my head. Uh, and then it didn't help that I was with young adults last night, which was, by the way, young adults had a bang up uh thing last night. Pastor Sicily spoke, crushed it, knocked it out of the park. They were at Stovehouse and had a 150 or so there, and it was awesome. They're just jammed in this room, worshiping, preaching. It was ugh, it was so good. I got to do the leadership session, and all of their graphics were built around Muhammad Ali, which is already inspiring. You know what I'm saying? And so I went I went home and I got into a track I always listen to. You you may have I've heard I I I didn't play it for you today, but I wanted to. And it it it it basically is the champ is here, the champ is here, and they just and it takes little bits of what Muhammad Ali did. The champ is here, and he just keeps repeating it. I'm gonna tell you what, I got so jacked up last night in my house. I'm such a kid, I'm such a little kid. I started with the champ is here, and then I'm just like, man, it I wish I wish me and Jesus could take to the streets right now, you know. Just like I felt so inspired, and so I've created these slides today with this in mind. I want you to think the champ is here. So you say it with me. And this is the statement it says, We love. Jesus as king until his kingship confronts our expectations. We love him as king until. Right? This is that idea where he's dodging out of the way. I think I know what I'm talking about, but the truth is I don't, because this is more true than my problem. Is that I don't see him as the true king. Let's let's talk about um let's talk about this. Oh jeez. Am I are we just that bad at this or what? Rejection happens when the king doesn't serve our agenda. The problem with unmet expectations is this word down here, up here rather, is you start to feel rejected. Unmet expectations, how many know that there have been many a times? I love my parents who are sitting here on the front row, there have been many times that I wanted things and I didn't get what I wanted. Come on. Unmet expectations. I want these shoes. Great, you get these shoes. Yes, but I asked for these shoes, not those shoes. And they're like, great, you asked for shoes. Are there shoes on your feet? Check, we're winning. I remember my first set of basketball shoes. Everybody's getting Nikes. I got Fila. Huh? I'm serious. I was just like, and now I have to go to freedom to get that deliverance. Freedom 101, don't take care of that for me. But it but it it's just in your mind, you have an expectation. If you're not careful, that that unmet expectation will turn real quickly to rejection. An unmet expectation can bring disappointment, but it doesn't have to bring rejection. It turns into rejection when you can't let it go or you can't get into line to what the father wants. That's when rejection hits. And when rejection comes, it seeds way deeper, creates a cavern between me and what the father's trying to do. Because now I no longer just feel like he didn't hear me, I feel like he's against me. So you begin to put the father in a place where he's against us. And I'm telling you, this is what happens with the people who should be accepting him. Now he didn't do it the way we wanted to. They're starting to feel rejected. And so out of a reaction, they distance themselves from the king. This is me trying to say, God, I don't ever want to be in that place where I draw that kind of separation from you. Amen? Let me show you one scripture that I think is really tough.

Replacing Jesus With Another King

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I think I got it in the right order here, but let me just check it here. Yeah. John 19, 15. When you read this, this is that two I was talking about from Psalms 2 to John 19. But listen, it says, they cried out, away with him. This is he's he's with Pilate. Jesus is with Pilate, and Pilate's trying to figure out, I don't want to kill you. I I in fact, there's something going on that makes me feel like I probably shouldn't get my hands involved in this thing. And he appeals to the people a couple of times even, just to say, like, hey, are you sure you really want this to happen? But his last attempt at this, this is their response. And it says they cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king? And listen, what the chief of priests answered. We have no king, but who? I just want to, I just want to just like I I probably stayed on this last night. I didn't get off of this. I just even went to bed with this on my mind. Like, we have no king. You here's something that didn't change. Their pursuit for a king is still there, isn't it? So how do we know that? Because he didn't say we have no king in period. He says we have no king but Caesar, meaning we got to fill the placeholder. His rejection of Christ, you're not my king, but in order for me to manipulate the situation, I've got to put someone in that role. Here's the problem that many people are trying to have the kingdom without the king. They want all the benefits of the kingdom, they want everything that comes along with the kingdom. They want all of the attitude of the kingdom, the miracles of the kingdom. They want all of that, but nobody wants to give the lordship to Jesus Christ as king. Here's the misconception. You're never going to dethrone some. I'm just going to say, I gotta say it. You're never gonna be able to dethrone the role of king in your life. You're only at best going to replace it. There's never gonna be a place or a time that humans can ever separate themselves from who the king is. You will replace it with somebody. You will replace it with something. There will be something that's the Lord of your life. The question is, is what? What will it be? Who will it be? Who will you allow it to be? This is what is happening, and they're dissing themselves. The the the the the um the uh the the chief of pre the chief priest, he the head of the church is the one making this declaration. Nobody knows the word more than this guy. The religious elites, they're making the statement. No, this we don't have a king, we only have one king, his name is Caesar. He manipulates Pilate by saying, You know good and well, anyone who claims to be king above Caesar is sentenced to death. So he uses and manipulates the situation to get Christ crucified. And I'm just here to tell you today that we have a responsibility to respond appropriately to who's Lord of our life. The same people who shout at Hosanna are the same people who say, I don't want him. Psalms 2, 3, it says, Let us break the change. Let us break the chains that are binding us. Let's let's do this. What does that mean? It's the same spirit, it's re it's a reject of authority. It's just we want control, choosing control, and to redefine truth. That's what we want. That's what they're saying. We reject authority, we want to choose our own way and control, and we want to redefine what truth is. The real tragedy, it's not the pagans that rejected Jesus, it was the religious elite. Right? I like this. They didn't stop wanting a king, they just chose a different one, right? What does this mean? Rejection happens when the king doesn't serve my agenda, but the champ is here. When we reject God as king, we don't become free, we just crown something else. What are you crowning this morning? What have you crowned in your life? What have you allowed rejection, disappointment, to cause you to crown as this supreme authority in your life? Is it the person you're sitting next to? Do not look to look at them. I suggest not doing that. Is it your work? Is it your title? Is it your money? Is it your political makeup? Is it is it the agenda? I mean, am I the only one that it's not lost on that that that that the state of humanity right now is in such a way that even right now, this weekend, we have all of the the what? No kings stuff that's happening, riots on on palm Sunday weekend. I I this is not this is not a political statement. This tells us where we are in humanity. The questions are still there, is my point. We're still fighting that idea of like who will be the Lord? That's that's all this is over. Who is Lord? And there's justification from everybody for everything, but but I I'm I've I find that it's still empty. The invitation is to come up and to allow Jesus to pull you higher into something. Everybody, every one of us. And yet we're we're we're we're completely content with duking it out out of opinions and our feelings. But but the king is inviting us to something different. We can't avoid kingship. You're not going to be able to avoid kingship. I knew that would be so popular. I I I hope you can hear what I'm saying today. Like it's so it's so critical that you and I understand who we are in Christ. If not, we are gonna be dragged into everyone's opinion about what they think and think. And I'm just here to tell you, God is calling the church higher. He has provided something that is the light of the world. We get to be the light

Acts 1 Waiting For Power

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of the world. Amen? Alright. Alright, so check this out. Sent to the uttermost, Acts 1, 6 through 8. It says, so when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? Is that interesting? They're still asking this question. From Palm Sunday, hey, he's gonna do it till he doesn't do it. Donkey, no throne, cross, resurrection happens, he appears to them, and they're still asking the same question. Oh, okay, cool. That was really weird, all that kind of stuff that just happened, but thank God you're back. So when do we rule and reign? Right? Life's oldest question. When do we rule or reign? What is that? That is man's desire to have power. Man's desire is to feel powerful and to have the power. All men. We want to know when we're in charge. Anybody like to be in charge in here? Yes. Like, so honest. People are like, I want to be in charge. And I want it now, Daddy. Um, just like get you a golden egg. Why don't you do that? Like, look at we just want these things. That's sorry, that's a Willy Wonka joke. Um, yeah. Who knew that when I said that? Okay, that's the majority. I don't feel bad. Everybody else watch the movie, right? It's like the better version of it, right? Like the T version of it or something, right? Do you remember? Anyway. He said to them, it's not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. Can we just can we just stop right here and see what Christ is doing? He he is letting us know that you can waste your time trying to figure out when you're gonna get yours, or you can just trust that he's the supreme authority. And don't you love it that Jesus actually doesn't take that from God either? Do you want to see how he modeled that? Anyone else? Um, I'm gonna say this. I'm gonna say this. I'm out here on this, right? But you know people who like like to be in the know? Let me say it like that. Like um, when a uh a little juicy bit is out there and they like that little juicy bit, and then that and you know they're gonna use it, right, when they're in a conversation? Right? Did anybody know what I'm talking about? You've all been around it, and there's always somebody that likes that little thing, and and they like to wield it because they had the inside track. So you're in a conversation and they're like, Pastor Brian, I don't know what we're doing this weekend, and then somebody's like, Well, I I mean I was I had lunch with I I just had lunch with Pastor Brian. I don't I don't know. Um yeah, and then yeah, he told me kind of what we were gonna be doing, and right, and they use it, and then they're like, Oh, really? Well, what is it? Oh, well, I mean, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I'm sure it's fine for me to talk about. I'm sure it's fine. I'll just listen. You didn't hear it from me. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Right? And and again, let's just be honest. How many of us have all done this? And the rest of you, hey, y'all need to take some of these rows out. The altar is open. Lies. Lies. Because it's power, right? It's power, it's the desire to have the no, right? But watch Jesus model something. Just not that Jesus doesn't really know. He just says this is the father's business. I don't worry myself with the father's business because the father can be trusted with what he said. Boy, that just that position in Christ alone, you can just stay there for the year and just try to learn how to posture yourself like Christ does with the Father. I trust the Father. I don't need to know. Here's what I do need to know, and what you need to know. He's empowered me, giving me authority of which I'm now giving and investing into you. Do not leave Jerusalem until you get the power. Yeah, but we want, we, we want to be in control. He's like, right, right, right, right. That's the Father's. Yours is be obedient. Wait and wait until you receive the power. Right? That's what you have to do. How is it that we are so bad at waiting? Oh, I don't like to wait. Anybody like to wait? You know what drives me nuts is to wait at a fast food restaurant. I just even I said it out loud, and and some of my flesh rose up. I just can't stand it. You can't call it fast food and wait 20 minutes. You that's not fast food. You should call moderately fast, occasionally fast food. If we feel like working, we'll get it out to you. Something. But I just get that way. I just can't take it. I just can't take that. And then I try to have great. My wife is so good. Just relax. Just relax. She always sees the best in there. They're working so hard in there. I said, they're working hard at not working. That's what they're doing. That's what they're working hard at. But you understand this idea, we we do not wait well naturally. But this is what he says. I want you to do this. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be what? My witnesses in Jerusalem and all of Judea Samaria and to the ends of the earth. He takes Psalms 2 language and starts to solve it with Acts 1.8. Psalms 2. I'm giving you the nations. I'm gonna fast forward now. Christ is doing the work and he's gonna do it through the disciples. I'm going to empower you to reach the nations for the kingdom's sake. Why do we mention it? Because we are a house who understands the responsibility that we must take to reach the lost. We cannot be believers who just sit on our hands and hope somebody will preach the good news. No, it is our job and responsibility. The church was birthed this day. It was ignited in them this day to go, to be launched out. Go wait when I come, then you will be what? And

Spirit Power For Witnessing

SPEAKER_01 39:25

this is very important. It's that the power did not come for you to put on a display. The power doesn't come so that you can be seen. The power doesn't even come. It's not even being given to you. It's like uh how many of you have seen somebody use a tool the wrong way? Wives, don't look at your husbands on this right here. Especially the young husbands. And I know this because I I was one at one point, and I remember using all kinds of things as a tool that weren't really the tool. Take you a hundred hours to do something with something if you'd just had the right tool. Come on, somebody, you know what I'm talking about? If I actually knew what it was for, it's like when you use the back end of a screwdriver's a hammer. I didn't mean to get so personal with you right there. But boy just got yes! That's me. Well, I got a hammer for you today, dude. I got you something, man. But do you understand what I'm saying? Like you do things out of necessity, right? But really, you you things have been designed for a purpose. The power Christ is saying you're going to receive is designed for you to be a better witness. Why is it that the power that we receive makes us better at creating a good environment in the church service? Oh, I I got the power. I got the Holy Spirit. I got the power. I got the power. Now, I ain't telling nobody about Jesus, but you know what? I'm very perceptive. I know when things are wrong. Yeah, that's the kind of power I got. Where like when things break, I'm like, I got the I told you so power. Huh? Anybody else got the I told you so power? That thing's powerful, isn't it? Something happens, they're like, I told you that right there, I could see that coming. Could you? Could you have prevented it? If God had given you the power to see it, probably gave you a voice to add to it, but you didn't. And that's probably because it's the wrong power. I'm simply saying this. God is calling the church to use her voice with power to witness of his salvation. Not of, oh, we have good programs, not of none of that. That is extra. The whole purpose of being filled with the Spirit is that it empowers me to speak the truth. Like, we don't want that though. I can tell, even now, we're just like, yeah, that seems so hard. Because why? I'm gonna tell you why you need power to do it. Is because you're naturally bent towards rejection. Your humanity and your expectations, because you think if I have the power, every time I open my mouth, I should be seeing signs, wonders, and miracles. And when I don't, it makes me question if I have what it is he paid for. And I would say that's a bad metric. What he's looking for in the body is obedience and faithfulness. He will do the work. He's only empowered you to overcome the rejected spirit, to be able to share your testimony and to say, I have something that can change your life. This is why it's important that when you do have an experience with the Lord, that you don't just sit on it. Tell somebody. Do you know how many people are around you every single day who are desperate for a life-giving message? Somebody that will come in and encourage them, who will see them, who will minister to them. The invitation to every believer is to partner with God in power. To be a witness. Come on, touch your neighbor, say, be a witness. Be a witness. Tell them, Acts 1.8. Be a witness. So you can see why the disciples are a little confused, right? Palm Sunday, it brought misunderstanding. The cross, it's an apparent defeat. Right? Resurrection is clarity, and then what? You get a commissioning full of purpose. That's a lot going on in a few days. Right? But they are commissioned. How do we we know this? The disciples are fully commissioned after the resurrection, but they've been in. Training all the way. God has been discipling them, preparing them for the commissioning. Amen? So they're walking with Jesus, they're confused about Jesus, and they're being shaped by Jesus all at the same time. How many know it's fun to follow Jesus? Can I just tell you something? That's actually not too foreign for us. I'll say it like this you can be called by God and still be confused. And I'm saying that, I only wrote that down to say this because I want to bring freedom to some people who feel like they don't have all the clarity that they're looking for right now. But I'm saying you can still follow him and not fully understand all the things that are happening. You do not have to be the theologian that Reese and Christian and many or Brian is and his wife, and they're amazing, fantastic people who translate the Bible in foreign languages. What an incredible gift these two have been to the body of Christ. You might not know it like they know it, but can I tell you you can still trust the Lord? Just because you don't have the full understanding, you need to understand something. Following Christ, you're not going to have all the answers. That's why you get around people like Paul. Paul makes you feel better about yourself. Because he doesn't have all the answers either. You surround yourself with brothers in Christ who are in love with what God is doing and not hung up on what we do and what we don't know exactly, the fullness of what he's trying to do. We don't know. We don't know the hour. That's his to know. What I do know, he can be trusted. That's the encouragement that we draw off of one another. He can be trusted. He is faithful to his word. Amen? Alright. So the king, we re the king we reject the king who sends us. The king we reject is the king who sends us. I love this concept. The idea that the same God that has been rejected by all of his people is going to be the same people that he sends out to be his witness. You know, have you ever heard us talk about this? How God, we talk about this in communion a lot. He's both parts of the covenant and both parts of the commitment, right? He's the weaker side of covenant and the strong side of covenant. You've heard us talk about that. There's always a weaker and a stronger. Meaning Christ is both the question, the answer, the solution, the He's all of it. And in this case, in the middle of his deepest rejection as king, he still turns around and chooses to empower you. You said it right during the worship set. Right? She said it, she said it so good. He he he he died for you and chose even when you weren't worth dying for. And he did it anyway. Beautiful, beautiful way of expressing that today. This is what I'm talking about here. The people who rejected him, he's gonna turn around in power. Come on, somebody ought to touch your neighbor and say it's hard to be like Jesus. Tommy, it's hard to be like Jesus, my man. Like, I I'm just not that patient with people. I get rejected or I get, I get, I get like, you know, I'm just saying I'm not I'm not like that. I'm not being like, God bless you. How can I empower you to do more? It's like, heck no. Like, no, you can take that rejection to somebody else, right? Our humanity. So the so this is a constant drive for us to be more like him because he has actually got a purpose to this entire thing. And so uh it's the champ is here. You're missing your opportunity. I can hear it every time I say the phrase, the champ is here. This is a rhythm that bangs in my head. You'll go look it up later. The same king that rejected is now sending his followers to the very people who rejected him. Who rejected him. I've got to hurry. I'm gonna blow through this next piece right here. Psalms 2, 7 through 17. I will tell you of the decree of the Lord says, said to me, You are my son today, I have begotten you. Ask me, and I will make the nations your heritage. Now, this portion of scripture, I highlighted this at the bottom because I want to just make this uh apparent to you. It says, Kiss the sun. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Kiss the sun. This statement is a statement that I'm I'm saying to each of us that this is the um, how do I say it? This is the authority and this is the humility needed to submit yourself to the Lordship of Christ. This is what he's saying. Kiss the Son. Kiss the Son. Every single one of us are gonna yield our will to someone and something. This is the invitation to do that with Christ. You guys follow? You guys follow? Uh I said earlier that there's there's something or someone crowned in your life. This is this is a call of the need for submission to Lordship. Um, Pastor Sicily, you talked about holiness last night, right, with our young adults. What a wonderful message for all of us. And that is that's this is that there is a way, not not just a way, there's the way. The way is Christ. It's not it's not some some kind of a way. It's there's only one way to salvation. There's only one Lord, there's only one King, there's only one in authority, and the faster, the quicker that we can get to that revelation, we can humble ourselves, submit ourselves, and to kiss the Son, to submit under that Lordship. These are languages that we don't like to use, right? We're just like, whoa, that just seems like a lot of submission to God, and we can't even see him. But you see him all the time. He's been at work in you. He's doing things even in this service today. He has opened and softened your heart to receive him today. There have been people who came in here desperate looking, like, where do I stand with Christ? Where is this salvation that I hear people talk about? Where is my salvation? Where is my deliverance? Where is it? The invitation today is it's right here and it's in Christ. It's not going to be in anything that you're putting your hands to that is uh gonna feed your flesh. And I know that that's a temptation to do is to constantly quiet the demons by just feeding it with stuff that is just a waste of time and money. The invitation is to allow the king to sit on the throne of your heart today. That's that's what he's looking for. That's what he's inviting you to be a part of. And so this idea that we're sent, but you can't here's the problem. If you don't get that revelation, hold on, let me go back this. If you do not get this revelation of kiss the sun, then you will not hear the go to the uttermost message. It's impossible for you to take that seriously if if you don't have the lordship thing fixed yet. You will not have a compassion for the lost if you if you cannot find a relationship with the Lord that is compelling you to say, if he loves me, he'll love others. Does that make sense? Come on, I'm just trying to get us there, man. I'm I I I want so bad to see the church raised up and to be soul winners again. Come on, somebody, soul winners. Isn't that what we want, Nate? That's what we've been praying for. Soul winners. We've been praying for people to get a compassion, to get out and to tell their story and to bring souls, souls, souls. How many of that's God's motivation? It's for his people. And he wants to use you and I to partner with him, but you can't do that unless you can kiss the sun. If you're gonna be more loyal to a political party than you are to Jesus, then we have a problem. You have a problem. I'm just saying it. You have a problem. It's a problem. Here, here, here your your your sweet pastor loves you to death, but I'm just telling you, it's a problem. It's not just a problem that's gonna affect one thing, it's gonna affect everything in your life. And I'm not I'm I'm not just saying, I'm saying if you are if you're holding anyone else in position that he's supposed to hold in your life, if that's the success of your life, if that's you looking back and saying, like, my success defines me. Well, I hope not. I sure hope not. I sure hope not. Because what will last when we are in eternity? What will be there? Come on, man. His word will sustain there. He he what he has done in us, that that's that's fleshly will burn off, and that that will remain is what we'll have. You know what I'm saying? And that doesn't have a selfish motivation. That's that's one who's humble. That's one who's allowing the Holy Spirit to move. Are you following me today? Can you hear it today? I hope you can. I'm not trying to be mean, but I just I feel like if I'm not honest, I'm not pastoring well. I don't feel like I'm leading well, if I'm not just telling you the truth. Kiss the Son. Kiss the Son. He made

Surrender Creates Purpose And Fruit

SPEAKER_01 53:40

himself available for us today. Purpose requires surrender, not understanding. Purpose requires surrender, not understanding. I and I'm not saying that we don't seek understanding. Please hear me yell. But I'm just saying surrender can't be predicated on what you understand. If that's the case, how many are in trouble? There's a few of us in trouble. Well, I won't do that because I don't understand it. Well, okay. But we're happy to be doing it. Where does it come from? I don't know, but I'm glad it's here. Come on, somebody. Little things. It's silly, it's silly things, but sometimes you have to be reminded in simple ways, right? To just trust the Lord. Right? It can't just be on what you understand. It really, purpose is hinged on what surrender. Surrender. That's what we learned in abide, didn't we? When you abide in Christ, it's a surrender. It's a yieldedness towards Him. This is a posture I'm getting comfortable keeping right now. People are like, why are you raise your hands? Like, this is just surrender for me. Like, I've got nothing to hold on to anymore. Just surrender. God, what do you want to do? How do you want to do it? You know, there's things that He is constantly blowing my mind. There have been things that happened on that trip in Honduras with our kids that you just walk in, you're here, you're faithfully saying yes, we'll go to another country, we're gonna show up at this place, and then you just keep your hands open, all of a sudden God just shows up in the room. And then he awakens all these young people. I was so proud of our kids, man. I'm watching them jump into the altars and I'm watching them lay hands on people and pray, and I'm just thinking, what? If I had gone on my own understanding, I know enough about half of those kids to think that's not possible. Am I right? Dr. Ballard, right? You know enough about these kids. There ain't no way God's using this vessel. This vessel is because you had you had got to be so careful to say you think you understand, but but but you'll be shocked at one yielded heart. One yielded heart in the moment, and pow, Jesus will use it to transform a tiny community tucked off in the dusty hills of Honduras. You may never show up there again, but I'm gonna tell you what, that hillside we had worship on that night will never be the same again. Those people that got delivered, those people that got set free, all because a bunch of kids got on a plane, their parents helped get them there, thank you. And watched God use your kids miraculously. It's amazing. One act of surrender. Not my will, Lord, but yours. And pow. The power comes. Amen? The testimony comes. Alright. Champion is here. Champ's here. If your faith is built on expectations, it will collapse in confusion. But if it's built on surrender, it will stand what? In purpose. It will stand in purpose. That's my heart today. I want the will of the Father. And I want to be able to stand with him in purpose, in destiny. That's what I want. I want to be fit. You know what? I'll say this to you. Sometimes you can read a statement like that and be like, well, where I work doesn't really give me that sense of fulfillment. And it might be because you still think work is one thing, but I actually think oftentimes if you could position yourself to understand that God has actually assigned you and put you there, He's actually placed you in this place to live this out in such a very convicting way that it causes other people to get hungry about what it is that you have. And in the meantime, you get to make money. But if you come in every single day thinking I'm here to make money, and then I'll accidentally spill out on somebody in my Christian life, maybe if they ask me at lunch, or are they able to see how you do work and it causes them to say, why do you work so hard for a place that doesn't like you that much? Great question. Let me tell you why. Because I'm not here for the money. Although I'd like to get paid more. But while I'm waiting on the promotion, maybe I'm just here to have this conversation. Let me tell you what motivates me in the morning. Let me tell you what motivates me when things don't go my way. I want to tell you what motivates me when they overlook me for a promotion that I feel like I earned. I'm going to tell you what grounds me. This it's not my will, it's his will in my life. He provided an opportunity and I'm happy to serve and do my part. I want to live a life of service. I want to live out my life of service in all of the ways that he's provided for me. I know this sounds nuts to people. People are like, why are you in delusion? I'm not saying you stay in an abusive situation. Hear what I'm saying. But I am saying that where you are can feel like this. But if it's built on surrender, it will stand what? In purpose. Anybody else tired of living a life out of purpose? And while you're waiting for somebody to do an altar call so you can respond to a sense of purpose, you've already responded to a hundred altar calls of that. Just live out the one he put in you. And don't leave till he gives you the power to be his witness. Amen? That's what you're looking for. Alright. Alright. Stand up. Stand up. I'm an end. I'm done. Done. I can tell you. Plus, listen, I'm ending early because I have to start stretching right now. I'm on a stretch routine right now, and I'm just telling you what. If that don't happen, I'm, I mean, yeah. We ain't gonna say things in the atmosphere, but I'm just saying, could get ugly. Alright, I I know everybody's ready to go eat. Could you just pause with me for a second? If you can. If you can't, you're in a rush, and I held you too long, please go. I'm not I'm not mad at you, but if you can just be still so I can pray over you for just a second. If you don't mind. If you don't mind. You guys tracking with me today?

Go To The Nations And Give

SPEAKER_01 1:00:36

You guys tracking with me today? This idea that we're sent to the uttermost. Christ is gonna use us to reach the nations. There's so many great opportunities to get involved with that. We have Honduras trip coming up in October, which I think is full already, actually. We have one slot left. We have one slot. We're gonna bid that off today. I'm just kidding. We're not. We have one slot. I got one. It's like holding up tickets. I got one, I got one. Uh we still got one to for Hunt. We're gonna be taking many trips to Honduras. Great place for us to do ministry there with uh Pastor Danny Dyer. But we have another trip coming up in uh uh July, fourth, uh the July 4th weekend, I think is when it falls. Uh, and it's actually in Washington, D.C. We're partnered with a ministry there, a church that is established, and it is fantastic. You know, they translate their service into 18 different languages. That's how many people, different people. So I want you to think like this. Like sometimes you got to get out of your head when you don't understand. How do we get to the nations? I don't know, maybe God is smart and will bring the nations to you. It's impossible. We can never do it. I think God's just like, okay, all right, guys, seriously. I'll send them to you. And in this case, it's exactly what he did for Chris. He sent 18 different languages, groups of people to his church. He translates every single week his message, and he gets a chance to disciple totally different regions of the earth. And what do they get to do? From there, they're discipling their family members. From there, the family members are discipling their communities. Come on, somebody. We get to partner with that. We have a whole crew going to be a part of that. We're gonna be doing some outreach ministry to the community. We're gonna be reaching out to those families, and we're just gonna get involved in it. We just feel like it's God's on it. Amen. One thing I love about this house is that we have a heart to do this. It's in us. And and not because we're special, it's because we understand the mandate that Christ is given to go. To go. What I don't want to do, and what I'm afraid of sometimes, is that that message of go gets gets duded because we haven't quite figured out how not to get offended when things don't go our way. So my natural setting doesn't match what my heart wants to do, and so that means he must not be a good father. That's what I was talking about. All of a sudden there's a sense and a spirit of rejection. He's doing it for them, but he's not doing it for me. And I find that most times that I get in that place, it's usually because I have yet to give something away to someone else. Let me say it like this. Has anybody ever noticed this? That when you serve like in Manna House or in your community, have you ever noticed that there's so much life that comes from that, right? It's just like, man, I just get to serve somebody who's in need. And this is why that is, is because you can't, and I wish I had an example, but you can't continue to fill something that's already full. So many times what feels like God's rejecting me is really just you not actually giving what he's already given you away. So that that results in showing up to church services thinking you've already heard the message and it didn't change your life, and this didn't really move me, and that song didn't do it, and that person didn't really smile at me, and that felt like I'm being rejected now. I don't know that I like the church. I think the church is mean. And I think Pastor Britt doesn't like what I'm doing here, and I'm just gonna have to leave. Well, geez, well, how fun. I mean that that took you from here to lunch to get there. And that's a pretty slippery slope when when I would guarantee, I'm gonna challenge you if maybe God has actually done something really special in your life, but you've you've been holding it and not giving it away. We want more, but he can't give you more of what you already have. You already got it. So you gotta be able to distribute it. That is the go and tell, go share, empower through the Spirit to give your witness. When we will get more comfortable with that, I think you'll be shocked at every single time you stop to even pause and read the Bible, you'll find out he just starts filling you like this. Just like this. In your prayer time, all of a sudden, heavens are open. I there's no breast. It's like when I pray, things are coming. Why? Because the faster they can get through you, the quicker he can get them to you. Does that make sense? And I know that sounds like such a I don't know. It's the way I grew up, it's the way we were taught. For some reason, we've separated ourselves from those types

Prayer For Lordship And Boldness

SPEAKER_01 1:05:20

of teachings. So this is our prayer today. God, give me the boldness to release what you've done in my life, to be a witness and a testimony to those around me. That whatever spirit of rejection that I'm holding, I'm asking you to forgive me for that. Because you haven't rejected me as father, you're a good father, you're doing great work. And even though you're a king, I don't understand all of it quite yet, but you are king nonetheless. And whatever I've crowned in my life that isn't you, I'm asking you to forgive me. And I'm asking you to sit on the throne of my life, and I want to crown you as the one who's in control, and I trust you. That's the first step. Second step after that is simple. This fill me with the Spirit so that I can be empowered to be your witness. Heavenly Father, we want the courage to say yes and the courage to move out from this place to be your witnesses. Amen? Would you just lift your hands if you want that today? We're asking that from Heavenly Father, we love you today. God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your people today. I thank you. Just as I was praying this morning for the people that would be in this service today, I know that you've called people here today. I know that people rerouted their life. Somebody in here wasn't planning to be in this service and then it got rerouted. I don't know. I don't know what happened, I don't know what's going on, but I was praying for you this morning, and the Lord just showed me I have purpose, I have destiny, and you are on an encounter, you are in an intersection right now where you're going to encounter the presence of the Lord. And it's an invitation. And today, for if you're in this room and you say, you know what, Pastor Scott, I don't have that peace locked up. I don't have that Lordship peace locked up. I'm here to tell you, you don't have to walk out of here empty-handed today. It's real simple. It says to just confess our sins, right? We confess to the Lord. Lord, I've I've tried to do it on my own, and I'm asking you to forgive me. I can't do it on my own. You know that, I know that. And I'm asking you to be the Lord of my life. I want to make you the Lord of my life. And that simple prayer, real fast, doesn't have to be, there's no fanfare, there's no thing, there's no magic bean. It's real simple. It's just you making a declaration of his lordship over your life, applying the blood that he paid for on the cross across your heart and on your life. And I'm telling you, you become a son and a daughter. And you become a part of a kingdom that's much bigger. And guess what? Your allegiance is going to change. You're going to find out in the days ahead that where you were you had allegiance to other things and other people and situations, you're going to find that those won't work anymore. And you're going to see that the only allegiance that we're to have is that of Christ. Him crucified and him empowering his people to win the nations. Lord, we're asking you for a fresh boldness and courage today. For those of us who have been faithfully following you, but maybe been silent, maybe quiet. We're asking for a fresh anointing to share the gospel message again. God, I pray that you would get beyond our inadequacies, our inabilities, our fears, our failures, the things that we think disqualify us from being used. And we invite you, Holy Spirit, to give us a fresh empowerment to be your witness. We are not afraid because you are with us. We are not afraid because you are in front, you're behind, you're on the sides of us, you're in everything, God. You're preparing it. You've brought people into my life, you're bringing them today and tomorrow and this week, and you're going to empower me to just be a witness of who you are, the way I live, the way I talk, the way I speak. God, we thank you today that in this house there's a fresh revelation of a saving grace and one that we believe is for everyone. And Lord, we thank you today for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to step out and be your witness. God, we lift up our missionaries today. We lift up those who are who are on the field today, those who are in uh uh little communities and villages all across the world right now who are sharing the gospel message. We thank you that you breathe fresh life on it, that it brings revival to every heart that hears. God, we give you the glory, the honor, and praise. You are the king of kings. They had it right. Hosanna. Hosanna. They had it right. Hosanna. Here comes the king of the Jews. Here he is. And God, we welcome you today. Palm Sunday in Huntsville, Alabama. We declare you to be the king. You are the king. You're not a king, you're the king. You're not a king, you're the king. And we put you in your rightful place, God. We we celebrate your rightful place. We can't even put you there, but we can celebrate your position there. And so, God, we thank you for that today. In Jesus' name, everyone said, Amen, amen, amen.

How To Join And Stay Connected

SPEAKER_00 1:10:22

We hope and pray this message was encouraging and impactful. Join us live on our website or Facebook on Sundays at 9 and 11 a.m. You can stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram at the Rock Family. Have a Jesus filled week.