WEBVTT 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:06.959 Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:08.160 My name's Clayton. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:10.160 I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:18.000 And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:20.559 I hope that you enjoy today's message. 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:38.960 After a couple of weeks off, I'm so thankful for all of the people and the leaders who make it possible every once in a while for me to have some time to invest in my family, to get filled up and to hear from God. 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:45.119 It is a little bit of a wait, uh preaching and preparing every single week, and so uh a little bit of time. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:48.399 Uh I want to honor um our Holotus venue. 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:52.799 First of all, God is taking our first step to the ends of the earth, and things are happening. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:55.920 So give it up for Holotus and all that is happening. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:12.319 And uh and I want to honor our Holotus Venue pastor, who is not only a man of God, uh, who is leading with such integrity and intention out there, but also did an amazing job passionately and clearly preaching the word as he closed out Luke chapter two for us. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:14.400 So would you guys give it up for Pastor Tony? 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:22.799 Uh it has taken us, I believe, 15 weeks, but guys, we did it. 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:23.840 Chapter three. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:24.799 Look at that. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:25.519 Yes. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:29.359 At this rate, it will only take us 76 years to get through the book of Luke. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:30.799 So I'm excited about that. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:44.480 Uh, I'm very excited because um we have been in the birth narratives and we have been uh learning all about for 14 weeks uh baby Jesus and baby John, and we love baby John, and we love eight pounds, six ounce baby Jesus. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:51.599 We love, but they are grown up now in chapter three, and there is this parallelism where it went John, Jesus. 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:55.840 We walk into chapter three and we're anticipating the ministry of Jesus. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:10.400 But we're gonna get three weeks on the ministry of John, the forerunner of the chosen king, the one who was sent with the spirit and the power of Elijah to prepare a way for the king, to prepare the hearts of the people for the king. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:12.560 And uh I'm I'm so excited to dive in. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:14.479 Listen, if you're new with us, my name's Clayton. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:16.639 I'm the lead pastor here at Meta. 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:19.039 I'm very humbled to get to serve in that role. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:21.199 Uh, we are going through the book of Luke. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:24.800 We are learning how to submit our lives to King Jesus. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:27.199 To do that, we have to know who the real Jesus is. 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:29.680 Uh, we are becoming investors in the Word of God. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:34.639 So we've handed out hundreds and hundreds of books of Luke that you can not only read but take notes in. 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:36.800 And so I hope you will have that open and take notes. 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:41.759 Uh, I think we have bought every one of those books of Luke in existence in the world. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:43.680 And so we're waiting for them to restock. 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:45.039 We are almost completely out. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:48.479 We've handed out uh almost we might have handed out all of them that we have at this point. 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:49.759 I've got good news though. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:55.120 Um, you can get a Bible in the CSB translation that I preach out of on Amazon for about$2. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:57.199 Just a paper bag, very easy. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:16.800 You can get a small sum notebook for about 99 cents, put it in your Amazon cart, start bringing the word of God, opening the word of God, taking notes like this movement actually matters, and like we believe that revival could come, and like we believe it could happen in our lifetime, and like we are living like Jesus is actually promised to return, and that our lives are not promised, and we may not get tomorrow, and we might as well make the most of today. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:17.919 Amen. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:22.560 I uh I spent this last week in Atlanta. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:36.800 We have uh a young man uh from our church, college age, he's in an accident, and um paralyzed from the neck down, and I went up to visit him and and um and to do what we're told to do uh in the book of James, which is you call the elders of your church and they anoint you with oil and they pray for healing. 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:41.439 And so we did that, and we're continuing to pray for healing, and um his faith uh astounded me. 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:42.639 He's 19 years old. 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:45.439 Uh a lot of his identity was in his athleticism, his strength. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:46.400 He's a very strong kid. 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:49.120 Uh last summer I would see him, we went to the same gym. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:51.199 Uh, he benched 315, right? 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:54.000 So he's 19, he's outbenching me, he's very frustrating. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:04:00.560 And uh it's a big part of his uh identity, and of course, now that is in jeopardy, and we believe in healing in Jesus' name. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:02.960 And uh his faith, it just inspired me. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:04.240 It's unbelievable. 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:12.159 And I stayed the night, I went to a church called 2819 church, and I do believe there is um a certified revival happening at 2819. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:14.960 I went to uh a three-hour baptism service. 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:18.800 I watched 1,400 people get baptized on Sunday. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:24.240 Um I still honestly have not been able to like unpack it all and understand it all. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:27.439 What I do know is three years ago, uh, they were us. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:28.800 No one had ever heard of them. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:32.319 They were about our size, and um, their preacher is amazing. 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:35.040 Uh, I get accused of being an intense preacher. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:38.160 Um, if you want to put that in context, you can go listen to their pastor. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:41.600 I am like a little tame uh house cat compared to him, right? 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:54.560 Um and uh and and God is really on the move, and I really believe in faith that they are kind of a big brother in the ministry to us, and uh that God has us in a season of incubation, and he's grown us significantly in the last five years. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:00.399 Uh, we're now in in two locations with four services, and uh so many people, so many people have been baptized here. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:11.759 And I think that uh that that period of incubation is big, and that before God grows our platform significantly, he's got to get some things in us and get some things out of us, and we have to learn how to surrender to Jesus as King. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:16.160 And good things are happening, we're we're growing, and people are raising hands to put their faith in Jesus. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:17.680 And I mean little things, right? 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:22.800 Like uh so many people are watching on YouTube now that YouTube reached out, and we get to be a partner, and so I don't want to brag. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:25.439 We've made 47 cents on YouTube so far, which is free. 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:27.920 Yeah. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:31.439 Uh if you're watching online, you could you can make it 48. 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:32.000 I don't know. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:36.800 Um, but we'll take every little win on our steps towards revival. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:44.959 And uh we're digging into John, and if if you haven't been in this series with us, uh, I encourage you to spend some time to get caught up. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:52.959 And I know we're we're you know 15 sermons in, and and the sermons can feel a little long sometimes, but I I just know I know the world you're living in. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:59.839 Um, you are filling your minds, your ears, your eyes, your hearts with so much crap every single week. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:05.759 And you could carve out some time to just dig into one of the historical accounts of the life of Jesus, it will edify your life. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:10.240 You can start taking it seriously, you can get caught up on what we're doing here because what we're learning. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:15.360 And one of the things we've learned is that John embodies the mission of the church. 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:26.160 And what I mean by that is John was sent to prepare the way for the first coming of the King Jesus, and the church is now sent to prepare the world for the second coming of King Jesus. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:26.800 Amen? 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:31.839 So we see our mission in John, and we're gonna spend three weeks on John. 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:35.680 Uh we are going to look at the highest perspective on his ministry. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:46.000 Next week, we're gonna look at his actual preaching, and then we are going to see his perspective that he held about himself in his role, and it is going to leave us without excuse. 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:57.360 The next three weeks, I am so excited and I'm a little nervous because these are the type of sermons that can preach you from a church of a thousand to a church of a hundred. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:03.600 Because they don't make room for excuse, they do not make room for soft application of the word. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:14.800 John is serious, he is focused, he's not playing around, and his message to those who consider themselves the children of God in Israel is you have to change. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:21.519 It cannot be superficial, it cannot be inauthentic, it cannot be based on convenience, you have to change. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:25.519 And if you do not change, the king will come, he will be standing in front of you. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:35.680 Not only will you miss the king, you will cry out, crucify him! And so either Jesus is real to us or he's not. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:39.279 And either he's coming back someday or he's not. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:43.120 And either he will establish his kingdom on the earth or he won't. 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:47.519 And we can say that we believe it, and we can sing that we believe it, and we can pray that we believe it. 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:52.319 But if we do not walk out in our everyday lives like we believe it, we won't miss revival. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:54.000 Revival will miss us. 00:07:55.519 --> 00:08:00.639 Revival did not happen because a church has an unbelievably talented pastor in Atlanta. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:06.480 Revival happened because the people of God took their job seriously. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:09.120 There are no empty seats at that church. 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:12.240 I stood in a three-hour line to get into service. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:15.120 Every week that happens. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:16.319 You know why? 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:22.959 Because a group of people looked around a room someday and took every single empty seat personally. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:34.480 They stopped waiting on a preacher to preach people into the seat, on singers to sing people into the seat, and they allowed people to experience the movement of Jesus through their everyday lives. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:37.679 This is how we prepare the way. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:45.120 And so, Luke, we know this, he is a historian of the first rank, not just based on biblical standards, but in all the standards of the ancient world. 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:46.639 Luke is a first-rate historian. 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:49.600 And so I want to walk through how he opens this up. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:50.799 This is so deep. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:52.080 It's so deep. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:53.759 And I feel it. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:56.639 Some of you are like, you know, I'm trying to read, man, but I don't have time like you. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:58.639 I'm not, I'm not like a professional pastor, you know. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:00.480 And you're bringing in all this Greek and all this. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:01.840 How am I gonna learn all that? 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:10.240 And at the same time, bro, I know there's about half of the men in here who could tell me in the 13th game of the 1998 season exactly how many rushing yards Emma Smith had. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:12.799 Like, you have time to learn what you're interested in. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:20.720 Some of you are on the little bit nerdier side, and I identify with that a little bit, and you could tell me every single version of every single Pokemon that has ever been. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:24.000 You're like, well, technically that's a platinum level, you know, jiggly poof or whatever. 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:35.360 Like, some of you women could tell me, and some of you men too, honestly, but some of you women could tell me every single contestant from every single year of bachelor and bachelorette, and who they married and where they live now. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:38.159 Well, they're actually in Montana now, they have three daughters, they homeschool. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:42.960 You know, the whole thing, because you will make time to learn what you want to learn. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:46.639 And so we get under the word, and we're gonna go in two verses. 00:09:46.799 --> 00:10:01.200 And what happens is you take the intelligence of someone like Luke, a Gentile physician, and then you take the inspiration of God Himself, and what you end up with is two verses that are so deep you cannot find the bottom of them. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:22.960 And so, uh, Luke chapter three, we made it to three, verse one in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea, Herod was Tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip, Tetrarch of the region of Ituria and Trachonidas, and Lysanius, Tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, here it is, God's word came to John, the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:23.759 Now we know this. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:25.919 There's been 400 years of silence. 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:33.200 Israel's rebellion and idolatry and empty spiritual practices and refusal to submit to God, over and over. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:42.399 For like over a thousand years, God extends his hands of mercy, he rescues and rescues and rescues, but he warns them someday you are going to wander so far from my voice, you will stop hearing it. 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.120 400 years of silence is broken in this moment. 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:50.480 Now we've seen in Luke the Spirit of God has shown up to individuals, showed up to Zechariah, showed up to Mary. 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:51.840 We know he showed up to Joseph. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:58.240 However, this is the first time in over 400 years that God has called a prophet for the nation of Israel. 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:03.919 It is John who was prophesied 800 years before this that he would come and prepare the way for Christ. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:05.679 And so we see a couple things happening. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:09.840 We see the declaration of the prophetic ministry of John the Baptist. 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:12.799 This reads just like in the Old Testament when a prophet was called. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:13.919 That's not all we see. 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:19.519 We see Luke, the historian, pinning this moment down to within a two-year period. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:30.639 We know, based on the rulers that he lists and the number, five governmental rulers, as well as two religious rulers, this had to be either 28 or 29 A.D. 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:32.720 We know that because he's pinpointing this. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:37.200 And for the skeptics in our rooms, for the skeptics online, I'm so glad that you're here. 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:39.200 I'm so glad that you can come and lean in. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:41.600 These are the most important things to wrestle with in life. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:45.919 What you need to know about scripture is it is not telling a mythological tale. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:48.399 It is not written as a fairy tale. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:53.120 The gospels do not start out the stories of Jesus once upon a time. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:56.559 It does not start in a galaxy far, far away. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:04.720 It is not telling you fiction, it is recording historical events, and Luke is setting it in that historical context. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:07.279 But there's more. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:11.600 You see, John talks about five governmental rulers and he cascades them. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:14.480 He starts with the emperor of the entire Roman Empire. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:15.440 We know this. 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:18.080 The Roman Empire had taken over Israel. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:22.080 They had taken their freedom, their future, their autonomy, their rights. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:24.559 They were bleeding them dry of their resources. 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:32.399 Most people were living sustenance day by day, trying to fill their belly that day, praying to God they could wake up and find enough food to fill their belly tomorrow. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:35.360 All because of the occupation of the Roman Empire. 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:36.399 We know that. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:39.039 Now he starts talking about the federal leaders. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:40.000 Rome is corrupt. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:41.519 The federal leaders are corrupt. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:44.159 He then points to leaders outside of Israel. 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:47.679 These are non-Jewish, what they would call Gentile leaders. 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:51.200 Then he talks about their religious leaders, the high priest. 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:58.720 The high priest was at the height not only of the religious part of Israel, but also the social part and also the political part. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.840 They were the central figures in all of Israel. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:04.559 And as we know, the high priests were corrupt. 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:08.240 They were in bed with Rome to maintain their power, and the temple system was corrupt. 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:09.759 Many of the priests were corrupt. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:11.919 The Pharisees and Sadducees were corrupt. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:13.360 The scholars were corrupt. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:15.840 Everybody was trying to just get a leg off. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.320 Everybody was just trying to survive. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:39.200 And so not only do we get the declaration, a new prophet is in town, the word of the God came to John the son of Zechariah, not only do we get pinned down in history, but in this magnificent opening of chapter three, we get the key aspects, the key pain points, the key tensions that John is going to address in his ministry. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:49.440 And so as you guys are becoming scholars of the word so that you can take it seriously, I want you to write down Rome, race, and religion. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:14:00.480 John in his opening is pointing at Rome, he's pointing at race, and he is pointing at religion. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:04.320 You see, here's what had happened. 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:13.519 Because of their Roman occupation, and furthermore, because of a history, millennia of occupation. 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:19.200 Occupation by Egypt, by Assyria, by Babylon, and now by Rome. 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:21.120 This is Israel's history. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:31.600 They had grown so weary of going through cycle and cycle and cycle that they became focused only on their pain. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:35.840 And their pain was represented by Rome, by the Roman Empire. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:39.679 And so here is the danger of pain. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.480 The danger is that when you give into pain, the first thing you lose is perspective. 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:48.399 When you give into pain, the first thing you lose is perspective. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:54.720 And so we can allow our pain to stop us from pursuing the purposes that God has placed on our life. 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:58.960 And instead, all we want God to do is get us out of our pain. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:01.840 We see this in Israel at this time. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:16.240 As a matter of fact, you can come under so much pain and so much cultural pressure that you take the very words of God, and instead of seeing your culture through the lens of the word of God, you begin to see the word of God through the lens of your pain and your culture. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:22.960 And so there's all these prophecies about the Messiah who would come, the last and final chosen king. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:29.840 And the very first prophecy is when God calls Abraham and says, You will become a nation, and you will be my chosen people. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:32.480 And it will be for a specific time and a specific purpose. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:33.840 And he does not hide the ball. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:41.919 He says, I am calling you to be my nation, so that one day all the nations of the world will be blessed through you. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.559 That is Israel's purpose. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:46.080 But they can't see it. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:52.000 They hate the other nations the Egypts and Assyrians and Babylonians and Romans. 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:53.600 They do not want to bless the Romans. 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:55.919 They do not want to bless the Greeks. 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.240 They do not want to bless the Babylonians. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:01.200 What they want to do is defeat them. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:09.120 And so even though the promise of the Messiah is he is the one who comes and opens the door of salvation to all nations, instead, they reread it. 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:17.120 And the Messiah they are looking for is a Messiah who is a king and a warrior, who will gather the troops and go into battle and defeat Rome. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:18.399 That's all they want. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:28.799 Pain will make you so short-sighted that you miss out on what God actually wants to do in your life and how He actually wants to use your pain for his purposes. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:34.799 Now you imagine conquered, conquered, conquered, conquered. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:38.080 One of the things that does to us is we turn in and we find our in-group. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:40.799 And the in-group were their fellow Israelites. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:42.720 And so they became ethnocentric. 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:44.639 We have Rome and we have race. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:47.759 And they said, We are the ones that God loves. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:50.080 All these Gentiles, those are the ones God hates. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:52.399 We are the ones who are blessed, they are the ones who are cursed. 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:53.200 Look what we got. 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:54.080 We are from Abraham. 00:16:54.159 --> 00:17:02.240 They're not we got Abraham, we got Isaac, we got Jacob, we got the temple, we have the presence of the Lord, we have the Ark of the Covenant, we have the priesthood, we are Israel. 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:03.519 Everyone else is nothing. 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:05.759 God loves us, God hates them. 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:16.000 In this context, they turn to the rituals and sacraments in the temple, and they do not understand the heart of them. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:19.599 They are empty rituals, they are empty sacraments. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:22.799 This is what pain and cultural pressure will do to you. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:28.000 You will approach God to bargain with him, not to surrender to him. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:40.079 And so if I get to the temple enough and I make my sacrifice enough and I pay my tithe enough, then God surely will show up and he will send the Messiah that I want, which is a king and a warrior, not the one that he has promised. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:42.400 We have Rome and we have race and we have religion. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:44.480 And they are off track on all of them. 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:51.200 And this is the context that we learn about the highest view of why John the Baptizer is on earth. 00:17:51.519 --> 00:18:07.359 In Luke chapter 3, verse 3, it says, John went into all the vicinity of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism for of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:12.720 Now, next week, we are going to actually hear John preach. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:17.119 And I'm just gonna let you know it's a lot. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:21.920 John was a wild man, and he did not have time to play around. 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:32.480 But for right now, we need to understand the heart of his ministry, and that is calling people to baptism as a symbolic act of repentance for the forgiveness of their sins. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:36.319 Now, we baptize in the church today, it is different. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:41.519 We are baptizing those who have put their faith in Jesus. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:48.880 John is baptizing those who need to repent so that they will see Jesus and accept him. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:51.920 He's preparing the way for them. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:56.240 And we can watch this through history during the life of Jesus. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:09.119 Those who were baptized by John and who truly repented are the ones who, when Jesus walked on the scene right behind John, received him and followed him all the way to the grave. 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:21.599 And those who would not repent or who got baptized by John but didn't truly repent were the ones who, when Jesus did not come to defeat Rome, cried out, crucify him. 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:30.799 John embodies our mission. 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:34.079 Repentance to prepare the way for the king. 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:36.240 Now here's where it's hard. 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:44.480 Many of us did not grow up in church, and you might actually have an advantage because you don't have a bunch of incorrect lenses on how you approach scripture. 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:56.880 Many of us did grow up in the church, and if you grew up in the church, odds are in the last 200 years, you have heard repentance defined as to turn around. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:19:59.440 And this is the picture. 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:03.359 I'm walking down the wrong path, a path of unrighteousness. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:08.960 I feel guilt, and so I turn around and I go the other way. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:12.160 I walk away from my sin and I walk in the path of righteousness. 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:16.240 Here's the only problem with that: it's not what the word means. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:20.240 Repentance is the word metanoia. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:22.799 Now you should recognize the first four letters there. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:28.000 We chose the name meta church because meta means change. 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.759 And we are not a church here to check religious boxes. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:38.079 We want to see change in our lives, change in our families, change in our community, change in our city, change in our state, change in our world. 00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:39.759 We're about it. 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:41.119 Meta church. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:44.799 Meta noia means to change your mind. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:49.359 Now we understand the mind kind of. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:52.000 This is a pre-scientific community. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:54.720 The mind kind of represented your internal life. 00:20:54.880 --> 00:21:00.400 So really, this is like a change of what we would say metaphorically, a change of your mind and your heart, even your soul. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:03.200 This is an internal transformation. 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:06.000 This is a real problem, a real problem. 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:07.599 And you have to get this. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:16.480 When we incorrectly define the word repentance, number one, it signals that we know better than God. 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:22.400 We're gonna take a word inspired by God Himself and redefine it to help y'all out. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:34.799 You see, to turn is about your behavior, your power, your ability to white knuckle and make better decisions and do better and be better and act better and react better and make better decisions. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:37.680 It is behavioral modification. 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:43.680 This has been the call of the church for about 200 years now, and it is not the call of scripture. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:51.680 The point of God's word is not to help you change your behavior, it is deeper than that. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:57.920 You see, we can understand metanoia, repentance, by another helpful metaphor. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.839 The word metamorphosis. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:06.000 Metamorphosis is what happens when a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:14.160 Now, um, I was very scientifically thrown off because when I was still pretty young, I watched a documentary, and uh you might have seen it. 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:15.839 It was called A Bug's Life. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:23.039 Um and there was a caterpillar, and he was sloppy, you know, and he all he wanted was to be a beautiful butterfly. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:36.160 And uh, and at the end of the movie, you might remember, end of the documentary, I'm sorry, uh, he gets his he gets his wings, and the way he did it is he kind of held his breath and just like and then and then the wings popped out. 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:51.200 And so in my mind, you know, a caterpillar goes into its little chrysalis and like takes some Osimpic, you know, and then just you know, and then pops out. 00:22:51.839 --> 00:23:05.599 When I learned what actually happens, when when a caterpillar goes inside its chrysalis, cocoon, um it disintegrates into goo. 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:10.319 I mean, it's like a violent transformation. 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:16.880 There is no more caterpillar, it's gone, and out of that goo, it reforms. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:25.119 Paul said to the Corinthians, those who are in are in Christ are now a new creation, total metamorphosis. 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:28.960 Behold, the old has died and the new has come. 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:31.759 This is not a change outwardly. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:37.920 You can't just hold your breath and white knuckle it and hope that you will finally change for good this time. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:51.519 John is going, look, you guys have been praying for a Messiah to deliver you from temporary pain forever, and you have misread and misinterpreted and confused and corrupted the scriptures. 00:23:52.240 --> 00:24:00.079 You guys hate all Gentiles, and the promise to your forefather Abraham is that you will bless all Gentiles. 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:05.599 You guys follow every letter of the law, you don't understand God's heart in the law. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:07.920 It's empty religious ritual. 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:15.599 And so, what's gonna happen is my cousin, who is six months younger than me, he's at the door. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:34.400 Jesus, the Messiah, the king, is at the door, and he's about to walk in, and you're gonna have a misunderstanding mind, misunderstanding eyes, confused ears, corrupted heart, and Jesus himself, the King of Kings, will be standing in front of you, and you will miss him. 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:42.960 He's warning about Rome, he's warning about race, he's warning about religion. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:45.119 And he knows this. 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:48.319 Repentance cannot just be turnaround. 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.960 And many Christians have been taught this simple behavioral modification. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:25:04.079 And so, what we do is we walk the unrighteous path because we are fallen, sinful humans, and eventually we incur enough guilt that we're like, God, my bad. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:05.519 Let me turn around. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:11.599 Let me do better, I will work it out, I will get it under control, I will white knuckle it. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:14.880 The problem is you have not changed your mind. 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:17.200 You have not changed your heart. 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:32.079 And so when suffering comes, when struggle comes, when temptation comes, when lust comes, when you don't have the money, but your insecurity comes, so you put it on more debt on top of more debt when you make unwise decisions, when it all comes, then you just turn back. 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:36.559 And here's what happens: you come, you feel even more guilty. 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:38.480 You're like, God, I'm really gonna do it this time. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:39.920 And so you turn back. 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:41.359 And then you're like, you know what? 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:42.799 I haven't been living right relationally. 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:45.599 I know what God requires of me, I know what purity means, I know I'm not married. 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:46.640 Oh, what's up, girl? 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:47.920 And then you're back. 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:52.480 And then you go further than you should, and then you're guilty, and then you're back. 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:56.480 And pretty soon, pretty soon, that little cycle gets tight. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:59.039 You're turning, you're like, No, no, no, I got this. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:00.960 Ten minutes later, you've turned back. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:03.440 You're Michael Jackson, you're just here. 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:08.240 You're just like, and I'll tell you what happens because I have been there. 00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:12.480 You know the Lord, and you cannot get it under control. 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:26.960 And every time you go back, the guilt compounds and compounds, and this is how believers who are certified children of God become suicidal because they cannot get out of a cycle. 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:34.240 I was 17 and ready to give up on every single thing in my life. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:37.279 Everything in my future. 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:39.519 I hated myself. 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:52.480 And it was another night of like, God, if you will get me out of this one, if you will get me out of this traffic, jammy, if she won't find out, if I can keep the lie going, I'll never lie again, if I'll never drink again, I'll never do drugs, I'll never again and again and again, every night, again and again. 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:53.359 The same guilt. 00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:54.480 You need to know this. 00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:57.599 Guilt is not from the Lord. 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:02.400 Guilt does not push you forward, it cycles you back. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:06.400 What the Lord brings is conviction. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:12.880 And conviction does not tell you to change from the outside in, it tells you to change from the inside out. 00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:18.079 Here's what you can call the guilt cycle. 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:25.519 The guilt cycle is trying to change your behavior before you have changed your mind. 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:36.079 Trying to fully live out your redemption before you have undergone repentance. 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:40.559 I think I'm gonna preach about it in a few weeks. 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:43.519 By a few weeks, probably a couple months. 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:50.640 There's this passage in the Old Testament book of Joel, and God is calling his people to repent. 00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:53.200 And he says this incredible thing. 00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:55.359 It broke me. 00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:57.359 Last week, I was reading this, it broke me. 00:27:58.960 --> 00:28:03.759 He said, tear open your hearts, not your robes. 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:22.319 See, the great men of God in the Old Testament, they'd be so overcome with conviction, their repentance would be so deep that some of them would tear their robes and they would cover themselves in ash, and they would fast and they would weep and they would cry out to the Lord. 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:25.279 Well, it's like so many good, useful things. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:28.880 Over time, we contort and pervert them. 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:40.640 And so now you could tear your robe as a social signal, as a virtue signal of how repentant you are, but it's outside in. 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:45.839 God is speaking through the prophet Joel, like, you think I care that you rip a robe? 00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:55.039 Tear open your hearts, tear open your minds, let me in to the deepest, darkest, most dangerous parts of who you are. 00:28:55.200 --> 00:29:01.279 Expose it to the light so I can redeem it and transform you, caterpillar to butterfly. 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:02.799 This is baptism. 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:07.359 When we go into baptism, we put you all the way under because it's a grave. 00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:12.480 It is a signal that you are dying so Christ can raise in you. 00:29:12.799 --> 00:29:14.160 Inside, out. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:16.400 The water is your chrysalis. 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:18.400 You are the caterpillar. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:20.880 You must disappear and reappear. 00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:23.119 Not who you want to be, but who Christ made you to be. 00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:23.920 New creation. 00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:27.759 The old is gone, the new has come, and now you're not stuck in a cycle. 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:32.000 Sinning, sinning, sinning, feeling bad, guilty, guilty, guilty, sinning, sinning, sinning. 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:33.440 Around and around and around. 00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:35.680 It starts from the inside. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:38.319 We want something we can control. 00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:44.400 I feel like I have some modicum of control over my behavior. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:45.920 So I want to earn it. 00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:47.519 I want to control it. 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:51.119 We must surrender to the fact we cannot do it. 00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:56.400 As Christians, we surrender to the fact I cannot get myself to heaven. 00:29:56.720 --> 00:29:58.079 I cannot do it. 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:01.920 I cannot reach God's glorious standard. 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:05.200 I must put my faith in the one who could do it for me. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:07.279 We know that. 00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:13.359 But then we try to live out our time on earth as if it's us. 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:21.440 What we need is a transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our minds, and our hearts, and our souls. 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:25.759 And to get there, you have to surrender. 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:30.799 It's hard work, but it starts on the inside. 00:30:31.279 --> 00:30:33.839 It moves its way out, it changes things. 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:36.880 John doesn't have time to play games with the people. 00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:45.759 And so Luke is going to clue us in about an 800-year-old prophecy that John is getting ready to live out right in front of us. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:56.559 And so it says this in verse 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight. 00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:09.920 Every valley will be filled, every mountain will be made low, the crooked will become straight, the rough will become smooth, and everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone will see the salvation of God. 00:31:11.039 --> 00:31:14.480 This is this uh incredible metaphor. 00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:19.440 We do make a mistake sometimes as we approach scripture, though, is we over-allegorize. 00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:22.960 We turn everything into allegory, we turn everything into metaphor. 00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:32.319 And the people who who heard Isaiah's prophecy, they did not first understand it as metaphor, they first understood it as tangible reality. 00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:37.359 See, this is what happened in the ancient Near East is uh kings conquered. 00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:42.079 Now, we're very uncomfortable with this, very uncomfortable, and probably rightfully so. 00:31:42.319 --> 00:31:48.480 But in today's world, we have a map and the boundaries are drawn, and we do not like for those boundaries to change. 00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:54.880 As a matter of fact, there are a couple of wars that are trying to change boundaries right now, and we have a whole bunch of feelings about it. 00:31:55.119 --> 00:32:02.400 But we are are uh very isolated from the reality of human history, which is for all of human history, kings conquered. 00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:03.839 They took land. 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:08.000 If they were bigger, they came and they got your land and they expanded their territory. 00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:13.279 If you had a king, you expected of your king to conquer and to expand your kingdom. 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:14.720 That was expected. 00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:18.720 And we don't like that, but we're also called to it. 00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:26.000 We represent the kingdom of God, and we are called to take territory. 00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:28.319 And we're timid. 00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:34.799 So feel feel how you should feel about Ukraine and Gaza and everywhere else on the earthly side. 00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:38.240 But on the spiritual side, we are called to take ground. 00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:44.720 We are in Holodas to take ground, we will open more locations to take ground, we will infiltrate our neighborhoods to take ground. 00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:47.279 That is what we do for all of human history. 00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:48.640 Kings conquered. 00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:51.359 And when they would conquer, they would conquer militarily. 00:32:51.519 --> 00:32:52.880 And so the warriors would ride out. 00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:57.519 They would ride out on horses, they would ride out on donkeys, they'd ride out on camels, over rough terrain. 00:32:57.599 --> 00:32:58.559