Jesus the Greater Moses
Here is the auto transcript from this week’s sermon on the Gospel to the Hebrews, Jesus the Greater Moses
Y'all doing all right?
Man, it's good to see.
So this is the first time in a long time that my family has joined me for a trip.
I didn't tell April, I told April when I got here, I said, I have a surprise for you, and so the surprise is that my family's here.
So I'm so grateful for the Harris-Casadas to be in the house, man.
It makes me feel good.
Maybe y'all don't feel good, but I feel great that they're here and that they're sitting right behind my brother and sister.
And so I don't know if y'all look, but y'all actually, Michael and Delilah, everybody all sat in the same place.
Well, it's good to be with you guys.
Everybody doing good?
>> Yeah.
>> Look, I don't know how much time he gave me, so if you need a pillow or something, if you gotta leave, that's fine.
But I'm gonna tell you this, when we come to gather together as a community, that's a big deal.
It's a freedom that I think sometimes we take for granted.
And I could just go on a tangent and not deal at all with the scripture and the text, and we're gonna get to it here shortly.
But I just wanted to tell you, anytime we get the chance, and if you had to drive an hour or longer, or if it's closer, this right here in the present, us being together, echad, as a unit, a community, is powerful.
So don't take that for granted.
You get to be with other people every week.
Sometimes we start looking at things and we look at what is not instead of what it is.
This is really good.
Amen?
It's really good.
And if you don't think it's really good, what are you gonna do whenever he returns and he gathers all the people?
>> (audience laughing) >> Right?
I mean, so like, he's like, "Oh, well, I'll wait to celebrate as a community, and we'll be together, all nations, kindreds, and tongue, when he comes back to get us.
But in the meantime, I'm too tired to go out there and get.
" This is not my message, April.
I don't know what's happening right now.
But I think it's important for us to not take for granted the assembling of the brethren, right?
So if you're watching from home, this probably is for you.
That's probably why I'm off script, and you need to be here at the church.
>> (audience laughing) >> Okay, that part's over.
Amen.
Lord, thank you so much for being together for us gathering.
We ask your blessings over these words.
May the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord.
You're my strength, my redeemer.
In Yeshua's name, amen.
All right, so I gotta check some stuff.
All right.
I'm known for, like, call and response.
I'm not gonna do a bunch of that, 'cause y'all are scared.
What is he-- he's gonna make us say stuff.
So I'm gonna give you a break.
No, I'm not.
(audience laughing) So here's some things, here's some rules of the road.
We're gonna read some scripture here.
It's okay to say "Hallelujah.
" That means "Praise the Lord.
" Is there a bunch of people who love Jesus in here, yes?
>> (audience) Yes.
>> Okay, so.
.
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as long as we all love Jesus, here's some rules of the road.
It's okay to say "Amen.
" I heard that a couple times.
It's okay to say "Hallelujah.
" It means "Praise the Lord," right?
Come on, somebody say, "Hallelujah.
" Okay, that was.
.
.
that wasn't that good.
(audience laughing) Do y'all love the Lord?
>> (audience) Yes!
>> All right, so.
.
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occasionally when I'm talking, I'm not gonna be trying to get this out of you, but if you love the Lord Jesus, and you love His Father, and we're all a family, and you love the Holy Spirit, and you feel inspired, I think it's okay with the elders and Pastor Chris.
I think it's okay if you just say "Hallelujah.
" >> (audience) Hallelujah!
>> (laughing) We'll work on it, okay, all right.
All right, Hebrews chapter 3.
We're gonna pick it up in verse 1.
Understand we're in a Hebrew series, and so I'm just asking that the Father continue to bless you as you seek after Him.
I'm gonna start verse 1 here.
I'm in the King James Version, and I'll kinda jump around different versions.
I'm praying that, as I share here, that the things that you need to hear, that the Holy Spirit will highlight those, 'cause I'm gonna cover a bunch of scriptures that connect, but it may not connect for you.
There's gonna be something today, if it hasn't already, gonna jump off the page for you.
Is that fair?
And so, as you're listening, Holy Spirit, reveal to your people the part they need so that they can get what they need to get, so we can continue with the daily bread, all right?
"Wherefore, holy brethren, "partakers of the heavenly calling, "consider the apostle and high priest "of our profession, Christ Jesus, "who was faithful to him that appointed him, "as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
"For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, "inasmuch as he who hath builded the house "hath more honor than the house.
"For every house is built by some man, "but he that built all things is God.
"And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, "for a testimony of those things "which were to be spoken after.
"But Christ, as a son over his own house, "whose house we are, if we hold fast, "the confidence in the rejoicing of the hope, "firm unto the end.
" First, I just wanna check.
This first part of the verse, I really like.
It says, "Wherefore, holy brethren, "partakers of the heavenly calling.
" That's really captive language.
I don't-- we don't have time to unpack it, but the goal for us as men and women is to have not only an earthly calling-- you do, we walk around, we do stuff-- but to also have a heavenly calling.
I would challenge that literally the Hebrew lends itself if we had time to unpack it, that we, after Christ Jesus and according to his promise, we're supposed to be the ones that bring heaven down to earth.
So we don't have time to really go through it, but we are the called.
That's why this language, "Wherefore, holy brethren," "Wherefore, holy brethren," and the only way we're holy or set apart is through Christ Jesus.
"Wherefore, holy brethren, "partakers of the heavenly calling.
" Somebody's gonna get this and say, "He's calling, 'Wherefore, holy brethren, "'partakers of the ho--'" I think we've spent too much time on things that are not holy.
I've almost found no use-- and when I say "almost," I'm talking about 99.
99999999% use for the media.
(audience laughing) They're not talking about Jesus!
"Partakers of the heavenly calling.
" Some of y'all need to fix your eyes on Jesus.
Say, "Fix my eyes on you, Lord.
" The heavenly-- you-- some of us are paying way too much attention to what's going on down here.
It's preoccupying us to the degree that we forgot we got a heavenly calling, and it's preoccupying us and stopping us from being.
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what he's called us to be.
"Wherefore, holy brethren, "partakers of the heavenly calling, "consider the apostle--" you know, in Hebrew, like Hebrews 101.
Apostle-- what is that?
"The sent one.
" The "sheleach," the one who was-- "Consider the one who was sent, the high priest.
" The language is temple language, but it's elevated, because the one who they're talking about here is the one who wrote all the stuff.
Right?
He's the framer, he's the one who made it all.
"Consider the high priest, Christ Jesus.
" The one who appointed Moses.
You know what I find interesting?
And Mike will be able to testify.
Some of y'all have been doing-- you know, walking in some form of like-- I don't even like to use this language, 'cause we don't do a good job of walking in any Torah.
Like, yeah, we're walking in the Torah.
But it's interesting to me.
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that those of us who walk in Torah seems to, for a season, forget who gave us the Torah.
If Jesus is the Word of God, and we're followers of Jesus.
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I think he wrote the Torah.
That's crazy.
The Word of God manifested in flesh, wrote the Torah.
This is how we can get the testimony of him who appointed him.
It's like this.
It's like this.
There is a door.
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and there's a doorkeeper.
I sort of see Moses as the doorkeeper, the testimony of Jesus.
But I see Jesus, the Word of God manifested in the flesh, I see Jesus as the door itself.
Hmm, let's look at some script.
Go to John.
Go to John chapter 10, verse 7.
Go to John 10, 7.
I'll wait just a few seconds.
So, "Jesus again said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, "'I am the door of the sheep.
'" I'm not discounting Moses.
Moses gave us Torah.
Moses gave us some-- kinda helped to guide the codification and laws and things like that.
But he got it from the Word of God.
The doorkeeper got his information from the door.
We know Moses was a blessing in all things.
I think we sometimes just become enamored with things that these things down here too much.
These rules that won't help us if we put the rule before the rulemaker.
The law before the lawgiver.
(scattered applause) Try to make sense of something without understanding what it is.
So, there's an architect understands the plans.
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at a level when he draws them that's far greater than the implementer of the plans.
Does that make sense?
I think sometimes we get too impressed with the do's, the don'ts.
Sometimes, it's not even impressed.
We just-- we feel the condemnation.
I'll give you an example.
I'll make it plain.
Some of y'all love the Sabbath.
How many of you love the Sabbath?
I hope it's everybody.
This is-- that was risky.
(audience laughing) Somebody's sitting there, "I don't love no Sabbath.
" (audience laughing) What if there were people who came here today or came to Saturday Church but they didn't know about the Sabbath, they didn't love the Sabbath?
But we place such an emphasis on the Sabbath that they felt like when they came here, they felt some kind of way.
The Sabbath is good.
Amen?
I mean, it's really good.
But what if we made the Sabbath greater than the Lord?
Not good.
See, in this church, and this church is growing, and Pastor Chris, Pastor April, doing a fine job.
Amen?
And the leadership doing a fine job.
You wanna grow in the Lord, be a pastor of a church.
(audience laughing) See, it'll fast-track you.
It'll fast-track you.
But some people-- and I think this is the heart of the ministry-- there are people who are walking in the door and are coming in 2024 in the calendar year that they will not have that kind of experience that you have with the Sabbath.
Some of y'all got a PhD in the Sabbath.
And there are people coming that they ain't never even kept the Sabbath, but they love Jesus.
So, what's greater?
Jesus, the Creator, and the Word of God, who gave us by His Word the Sabbath, or the Sabbath.
So when someone shows up, they may not know about the Sabbath, but because of your love of the one who is the partaker, because you're a partaker of the heavenly calling, they should learn and be able to learn about Jesus and the Sabbath through you.
Is that too slow for you?
Too fast in the middle?
Okay.
I pray that in the few minutes that I'm here, that you get a renewed desire to fall in love with Jesus.
I did it this year.
My wife-- we're about to finish the calendar year 2023 and go into 2024.
My wife and I, we were doing family church, which is actually going on right now.
So we-- all the Harris's and the Casadas and the Chafferas and the Alanises and the Vridans, we all jump on this Google thing, Google Meet, and we read the Scriptures together and pray together, and it's cool.
And then-- which that's something we do, but then also we go to church together on the Sabbath.
And I have to blame my wife 'cause one week, the pastor where we go to church, he did this to the Bible.
He had it in his hands, and he-- and you just-- he's very enigmatic.
He's a very enigmatic teacher.
But he had the Bible in his hands.
And the way it just kinda flopped in his hands like a delicious-- all of a sudden, it started looking delicious.
Y'all know what I'm talking about?
It just-- it started flopping.
And it-- and y'all's mouths-- some of y'all's mouths are like.
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"I know-- you know what I'm talking about.
" And so, my wife brought that home, you know, in the middle of all of our family.
We had-- at the time, that was before my mom died.
My mom died-- our mom died in July.
So this was way back up in the year.
Early in the calendar year, almost a year ago.
And my wife said, "We're at a table eating.
" She said, "The pastor was teaching, "and then he started talking about the Word of God.
" Who's the Word of God?
And he was saying-- and she was describing it, and I'm not doing any justice.
And when she was doing that, my mouth was going, "Yeah, uh-huh, I'm hungry, too.
" And I realized that up to that point in time, I spent vocationally-- her and I-- about 20 years or so pastoring congregations, Messianic congregations in the United States.
And in order to pastor a Messianic congregation-- and y'all know something about this-- you have to be up on yours.
You gotta know the Word.
You have to know it at a level that's probably a little intimidating to people who don't study it.
Traditional Christians would end up coming to us for research, like, and we were giving them our papers on Passover and this.
That's the level that we had to study is at a level that most people would become uncomfortable with.
So I spent a lot of time studying.
And guess what else?
I spent a lot of time trying to look good, and I spent a lot of time being a brother.
I would show up, it'd be a lot of white men with long beards looking at me like, "What are you doing here?
"You need to get on in.
" I'm like, "No, I'm here for it.
"I'm here for the Word of God.
" And so, I had to show up-- this is my flesh speaking.
Listen to me.
I had to show up and look good because I didn't wanna look bad.
And of course, I'm studying and studying and studying, and I'm teaching during the week, and day and night, night and day, but it was, you know, the Scripture.
I was doing it.
I was getting it.
I was all about it.
(audience chuckling) But it wasn't delicious to me.
So when she said-- I had retired from pulpit ministry-- this was just a year ago, and she just-- "Oh, it's--" And I saw-- I remember what she was explaining to me about the pastors.
I had a vision for it, and all of a sudden, I'm thinking, "Oh.
" (inhaling) Man, I was awfully in love with showing people the right thing to do, but I felt.
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I might need to revisit my love.
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for Your Word.
I'm doing all the right things, teaching all the right stuff, got all the things, the people-- I can quote the things, I can go over in the extra-biblical books.
You wanna go over there?
I can go over there-- ooh, I can go over there.
You wanna go over here?
You wanna-- (inhaling) So when she showed it, I said, "I've forsaken my first love.
"I'm too in love with Moses.
" And I wanna tell you, Moses is dope.
(audience laughing) Moses is dope.
I'm not stunting on Moses-- Moses is good.
But Moses had a teacher, and his name is Jesus.
Amen?
And so, I just-- I wanna encourage you that as Pastor Chris works hard, I think he's got 2025 all planned out, guys.
(audience laughing) But not without consulting Jesus.
And I wanna encourage you that as you come here and as you grow and as you do your thing, that you don't become distracted with teaching.
All that stuff's important.
Your relationships-- super important.
But you know what's more important than that?
Jesus.
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
Revelation 3:20, he says this.
He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
" And I felt like-- and I'll finish the verse in a second.
I felt like my coming out was when she showed-- my wife showed that Pastor made-- it looks so delicious.
I work with guys sometimes, and they say, "I would study the Word, but I just don't have time.
" I was in the office Friday, there was a guy, and he said, "You know, I haven't worked out in four years.
" He's in shape, too.
Looked like he could tackle-- like linebacker, like big muscles.
I decided, man, I'm just gonna work out, and I mean, I feel bad 'cause it's cutting into my time with the Lord.
And I knew what he meant.
"But blessed are they who do hunger and thirst "for righteousness.
" You know, our physical bodies, I'm into that, I like that.
Let's go walk, let's go hike, let's go run, let's go work out, that's fun.
But it's not gonna save us.
I love studying Moses, I love looking at the great rabbis, I love-- but they're not gonna save us.
Guess what, Moses is not gonna save us.
You know who the one that's gonna save us?
His name is Jesus!
Amen?
I heard some "amens," Philip, I'm getting excited out here.
(audience laughing) Jesus is the one that's gonna save us.
And when my wife showed me that, I went, "Perhaps I should study the Bible not to teach someone.
"Perhaps I should-- perhaps I should study it.
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"for me.
" God so loved the world that He gave His only-- but He gave Him also for me.
Do y'all know that?
That God had a purpose for you?
Life may not be exactly what you want it right now, but know that there is a Father in Heaven that loves you so much that He agreed that it was okay for His Son to come.
Live, teach, and then die.
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to be resurrected for me.
How be it for me to run away from the gift that God is?
Says, "I stand at the door and knock.
"If anyone hears my voice--" all of us in here qualify as "anyone.
" If anyone hears my voice over the voices of torment, over the voices of discouragement, over the voices and ideologies and any type of other voice, "Shema," that's why I always sing that.
You're like, "Please don't sing the 'Shema.
' "I'm not going to.
" But it's an important prayer for us.
Amen?
Hear, O Israel.
Replace "Israel" with your name.
We won't do the "Shema," but on the count of three, we'll go, "Hear, O," and then whatever your name is.
Is that fair?
I'm gonna do it whether you-- we're gonna do it.
You know, just-- (audience laughing) just-- I'll be gone in a few more minutes.
Just indulge me, okay?
On the count of three, we're gonna go, "Hear, O," instead of saying, "Hear, O Israel," we're gonna put your name and insert your name there.
Can we do that?
All right, one, two, three.
Hear, O, Eddie.
We'll go again, one, two, three.
Hear, O, Eddie.
So.
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hear.
Hear.
If anyone hears my voice, if you hear his voice.
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and open the door, he'll come in.
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and have a meal with you.
It doesn't say.
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you have to have it just right.
"I gotta set my candles just right for the Sabbath table.
"I gotta get my beef just right from the butcher.
"I gotta make everything just right.
" That's nice, but he said, "When I'm knocking, "if you open the door, it's okay if the meal's not ready.
" Amen?
He wants to sit with you, and I didn't read that you had to somehow qualify.
'Cause we make all these Moses rules and fence laws-- how many of y'all see-- this may be too much, Pastor Chris, but some of y'all got fence laws as Christians.
"Oh, yeah, but he didn't do this.
"He gotta do this, he didn't do this.
" And it ain't even in the Bible.
When I say "fence laws," I'm saying stuff we made up that's not in the Scripture.
But we're convicted about it.
Guess what?
He's standing at the door and knocking.
If you open the door-- this is all parable language based on your heart.
If you open your heart, open the door of your heart, and let him in, he'll come in.
If you want your heart healed, I think that the one who created all things can heal your heart.
Somebody can say "amen.
" I think if you need help, I think that the Lord will help you.
Come on, say "amen.
" I'm gonna help you.
If you need something, the Lord can give it to you.
You ought to say "amen" on credit.
There are some things that God is doing that haven't happened yet, that when he does it, you just say "amen.
" It's gonna happen-- "amen.
" But you gotta open the door.
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to let him in.
Come on, say, "I'm gonna fix my eyes.
"I'm gonna fix my eyes.
" It wasn't Moses in the beginning.
It said, "In the beginning, the Word.
" The Word-- who's the Word?
Jesus.
Now, I have to share with you-- Pastor, I'm gonna get in trouble, but Hebrews chapter 10, it called, and it wanted to testify, and so, like, who am I to deny Hebrews chapter 10?
It wants to testify.
I should let it testify!
I mean, it is-- it's the Word of God.
I know it's chapter 3, but please, indulge.
He wanted to, so it says in verse 5, Hebrews 10, 5 says, "Consequently, "when Christ came into the world, "he said, 'Sacrifices and offerings "'have not been desired but a body you've prepared for me.
"'In burnt offerings and sin offerings, "'you've taken no pleasure.
' "Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,' "as it is written in the book--" in the scroll of the book.
Y'all, we knew it before we read Hebrews 10.
He is the Lamb of God.
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that does what?
Takes away sin.
But not if you don't open the door.
Hebrews chapter 3, verse 7 picks up.
It says, "Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, "today, if you hear his voice--" I wanna finish with these.
"If you hear his voice, don't harden your heart.
" (audience laughing) You know, sometimes, I'll let you in on the sauce.
This is whenever I would be speaking, and I would start with a melody or a chorus.
It came from two places.
Number one, we would sing a chorus.
It's called "Nigun," N-I-G-U-N.
And so, you would sing a chorus because in Hebrew school, you didn't really do anything until after the room had to come into an agreement.
And God-- and so, the way the rabbis or the teachers would get the room in agreement is they start some melody.
I'm not gonna do one today, I'm just telling you.
That's what I would do it.
Whether the room was big or small, I would do it.
The second thing is there's something powerful about us unifying and having that one voice.
And if you do things long enough, then actually then, like, the inhibitions and the "I'm not here alone," all that noise that is in our brains, it starts to settle down.
And once that noise of the world and all those things and all that stuff, because we let go and we let God and we sang a song, a melody, a chorus, that's what praise and worship is.
It's doing the same thing.
And so, what would happen with that is it would cause us to be able to hear His voice.
Then, here comes the "chazan," here comes the "exhorter," or here comes the "rabbin," or the "rabbi.
" Here comes somebody, they're gonna come to the microphone or come to a podium, or they're gonna be usually sitting around-- when we were in yeshiva, you'd be sitting around, like, we weren't standing up.
You'd be sitting at a table.
Everybody's sitting down at the table.
Everybody got 65 books.
Nobody's gonna read 65 books at the table.
Everybody got briefcases of books.
But it looked nice, but nobody was doing anything until after that song was sung.
And sometimes-- and Hava knows this from her synagogue that she hails from-- sometimes, the song was the message.
Sometimes, you sit in a song for 15 to 20 minutes, y'all think, "Oh, that's charisma.
" It is!
It comes from certain sect of Jews.
They do it.
Some black churches do it.
Charismatics do it, right?
And when they would do it, then, all of a sudden, it would give space where the people start to relax, and now, you could receive this word.
What I'm saying to you is when we hear His voice, we need to-- don't harden our hearts.
This is what this verse is dealing with in Hebrews chapter 3, verse 7.
If you are having trouble receiving the word, it's 'cause you're putting something before the word, 'cause the word is designed for you and you're designed for the word.
So, here's a little thing you can do.
When you get ready to read your word at home, how many of y'all are gonna read your word but in the next 24 hours?
You're gonna pick this Bible or a digital Bible, pick it up-- okay, not nearly enough people.
Hands went up.
(audience laughing) But I appreciate the honesty.
Here's the goal.
When you read this word, I'm asking you, if this is for us and He is for us, and this is His word and this is His will, the will is His word, His word is His will, when before you read this, can you just humble yourself and sing a couple bars?
It can be the Shema, it can be something, but don't harden your heart.
Open your heart to receive God's word, amen?
His word will do things in you and for you.
Short story short, my wife, who is a Bible nerd, loves the Bible, loves to read, loves to ask us questions that we don't know the answer to.
I love that about her.
I love her curiosity and-- well, girl, I just love everything about you.
I mean, I know it's the Sabbath and everything, but some of y'all are not romantic like that.
You're like, "Just get on with it.
" But she would ask a question and we'd start reading and so she's reading, I'm reading, "What are you reading?
" And so, we start talking about it.
And so, I said, "I'm gonna abbreviate "my little studio study plans.
"I'm gonna start reading this Bible.
" All of a sudden, it just got more and more.
All of a sudden, I realized that before I knew it, guys, ladies, I'm head over heels.
In love with a God that does so many things.
Each page, I'm-- "Wow, you did what?
" All of a sudden, you don't see an Old Testament or a New Testament, you just see a whole Testament.
You see a loving God that is faithful and loves his people despite all the Bible things we've done in here.
We'll be reading the Bible and my wife will say, "But it's a Bible story.
" That's code word for somebody-- something happened in the Bible and a little interesting.
Because through all the things we read in the Scriptures, what we should see, what we can gather is that there's a loving God.
That if we don't harden our hearts, has a message of redemption for every single one of us.
Don't harden your hearts as they did in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
When your fathers tempted me, they proved me, they saw my works for 40 years, wherefore I was grieved with that generation.
And I said to them, "They always err in their heart.
"They've not known my ways.
" So I swear in my wrath, they won't enter into my rest.
Take heed, brethren.
Take heed, brothers and sisters, lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief departing from the living God.
Hebrews 3:13, "But exhort one another daily "while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened "through deceitfulness of sin.
"For we are all made partakers of Christ.
"If we hold the beginning of our confidence, "step fast unto the end.
"While it is said, 'Today, if you will hear his voice, "'harden not your hearts.
' "For some, when they had heard, did provoke, "howbeit not all that came out of Egypt with Moses, "but with whom he was grieved 40 years.
"Was it not them that had sinned, "whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?
"And to whom swear he that they should not enter to his rest, "but them that believe not?
"So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.
" Some of us don't believe this.
We believe we gotta perform a certain way, do a certain thing.
(knocking) Knock, knock.
>> There.
>> It's the Lord.
I wanna come in, but I'm not gonna barge the door down.
But if you open the door, I'll let you in.
You can come in and we can fellowship together.
>> It's not worth it.
>> 1 John 4:15 says, "Whoever confesses "that Jesus is the Son of God, "God abides in him, and he in God.
" What else does he have to do?
>> (indistinct speaking).
>> What's more than giving everything?
>> (indistinct speaking).
>> I just wanna ask y'all, is he not worthy?
>> (indistinct speaking).
>> You're worthy.
>> (indistinct speaking).
>> Stop putting requirements on the Lord.
When you recognize that you're worthy, because he says you're worthy, because you're a son and a daughter, you'll open up the door.
That in him, when he's knocking-- listen to this-- this is for someone, I don't know who, but he's not wanting you to open the door so he can condemn you.
>> (indistinct speaking).
>> I'll say it again.
He's not wanting you to open the door so he can rail at you and condemn you and tell you you don't belong.
Open the door.
He wants the door open so he can love you.
You are worthy of his love.
You know when it gets rough.
You know your life.
You know he's been there the whole time.
Amen.
You know he's the great "I am," the Alpha and Omega.
Amen.
He's here for you, he's here for me.
You know he's the offspring of David.
Come on, amen.
You know there's no searching of his understanding Come on, amen.
You know the one, the great "I am," who's knocking at the door.
Do you know that he's not trying to figure it out but he loves you?
Come on, say "amen.
" Say, "I know.
" Come on, say, "I know my Redeemer lives.
" Amen?
And that he loves me, he loves you, he desires to spend time with you, and if he didn't, he wouldn't have knocked on the door.
So if you hear the knock.
.
.
don't turn the music up.
If you hear the knock, don't go into chaos.
If you hear the knock, just know it's the one that he's not searching for any understanding.
He's not looking for you to do it the right way.
He wants to love you, and those who love him will keep his ways.
You'll be empowered with the power when you see the loving God.
Don't harden your heart.
Fix your eyes.
See the Lord, see his love.
He's been given a position higher than angels, than magistrates.
(applause) He's amazing.
I'm gonna close-- I wanna read a verse to you, just to lock it down.
Revelation chapter 5, and we'll go to verse 6.
Revelation 5, 6, and let's read a little bit here.
Some of my favorite verses here.
I really like these.
These-- everything here testifies, but listen to this.
Listen to John.
He says, "And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, "the four beasts in the midst of the elders, "stood a lamb, as it had been slain, "having seven horns, seven eyes, "which are the seven spirits of God, "sent forth into all the earth, and he came--" I like this in verse 7.
You with me?
Tell me you're with me.
Okay, four people.
Okay, so we're in Revelation chapter 5, verse 7.
If you weren't before, I want you to pay attention right now.
"He came and took the book out of the right hand of him "who sat upon the throne.
"And when he had taken the book, "the four beasts and the four and 20 elders fell down "before the lamb, every one of them having harps, "golden vials full of odors.
" Watch this.
"Full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints.
"And they sung a new song, saying, "'Thou art worthy to take the book "'and open the seals thereof.
' "For thou was slain and has redeemed us to God "by thy blood out of every kindred, "every tongue, and every people, and every nation, "and has made us unto God, kings and priests, "and we shall reign on the earth.
" That verse 8, all of that was amazing, but that verse 8.
.
.
do y'all pray to the Lord, anybody?
Do you know that those prayers are what is being described right here in verse 8?
Those elders have golden vials.
It says, "Full of odors, "which are the prayers of the saints.
" (audience laughing) Have you ever felt like your prayers weren't being heard?
Or didn't pray right?
It couldn't possibly be that he's hearing me 'cause if he heard me-- you know you're going to some human logic.
If my prayers were good enough, then I wouldn't be in this situation.
All your prayers are being heard.
'Cause this word is not lying.
Don't stop praying.
He's not gonna stop knocking.
You don't stop praying.
Amen?
Is it your focus?
>> (child shouting) >> The calendar year for 2024 will unpack festivals.
There'll be good times.
And y'all know we're gonna go through some tough times.
It's just what it is.
But will he be your focus?
Will he be your focus?
I'm gonna go to my seat, but I wanna share this with you.
We talked a little bit about this, Sarah.
I'm gonna open up my heart and share something with you.
I was with a leader.
I'm in his truck and we're riding out and we're doing some strategic work.
And.
.
.
he didn't have a knowledge of me to ask me what I'm about to tell you he asked me.
But when he asked me, I knew it was from God.
You tracking?
So he asked me a question.
He said, "Do you like--" we just had come from a meeting with a group of people, a lot of smart people, civic, civil planners, a lot of people with alphabet soup, PhDs.
It was a pretty cool meeting.
He said, "Did you like what so-and-so was saying "in the meeting?
" I said, "Golly, no.
"Ain't no way.
" He said, "Well, why do you think he's doing all that talking "like that, 'cause this guy was talking "and he had an answer for everything.
"You know the kind, right?
" And so, my intuition-- like, I don't know where he's coming from this-- but then, he looked and he said, "You do that, too.
" I said, "Wow.
"Why did I wanna ride in a truck with you?
" (audience laughing) He said, "Why do you do that?
"See, 'cause I see it as something that you have a skill, "but why do you feel like you gotta always "have something to say?
" I didn't have any answer for that.
He said, "Well, I want you to do this.
"I want you to go home tonight.
"I want you to pray about it, 'cause you-- "there is an answer.
" 'Cause I told him before we got off the truck, I said, "I think the reason why I have something to say "all the time is because.
.
.
"'cause I'm insecure.
"I lack confidence.
" He said, "That sounds right.
"But why don't you go home and pray about it?
" (soft, gentle music) And then, we'll talk about it.
But this is your homework.
You need to go home and pray about it.
And so, I said, "I will.
" So I went home and prayed.
And I had been praying with my wife, and I had been praying with my brother, and I had been praying with Pastor Chris, and I'd been praying, I said, "Why is it that every time I get to a certain place, "I feel like I get knocked down?
" I said, "Wow, and I'm not putting the pieces together.
" And I realized when I got on my knees that morning, you know, you do a lot of good things.
(soft, gentle music) But I wanna get to you about this.
'Cause you see, right here, this is where you're struggling, and that's the spot that you're not willing to give me.
(soft, gentle music) I said, "Well, what-- (chuckling) "what do you want me to do?
" (soft, gentle music) He said, "Open the door.
"I don't want you to do anything.
"But if you open the door.
.
.
"I'll come in, and we can sit down, "and we can talk about it, "and I promise I won't hurt you.
" (soft, gentle music) Okay.
(soft, gentle music) And don't you know he helped me, and he's healing me, and he's bringing me to a place of wholeness in that area that I resisted?
And some of us just don't wanna give him everything.
It's really cool to talk about how much we read.
But when I opened the Bible, some of you almost like, "Why is he telling me that?
" Because Jesus is good for everything in your life, not just the stuff that you're not-- some of y'all won't give him some stuff that you don't think he can handle.
And I wanna challenge you.
He can handle it.
He can more than handle it.
(soft, gentle music) So as I go to my seat, let's pray.
Lord.
.
.
we love you.
We're sorry for our obstinance, no matter how many times we hear certain things.
Our ego is content with running away and making up excuses and dodging you.
But we know you're faithful.
So thank you for showing up, even though we shun you.
And we tell you we love you, but we run the other direction.
And we look at Moses, and we sometimes give you the stank eye, 'cause we don't see you as altogether beautiful.
(soft, gentle music) You just don't have enough shine for us sometimes, so we turn away.
(soft, gentle music) We love quoting things, but we don't always wanna do hard work.
And our hard work is just to open up a door, an area, a thing.
So forgive us, Lord.
And bless us, Lord, as we conclude this calendar year.
.
.
to have a new year of delicious, amazing encounters with you.
The kind that only you could engineer.
The kind that would bring us shalem and shalom, and the kind of time with you that we won't have to tell people we spent time with you.
They'll know, they'll be able to see that you, your name, that your purpose is lifted up in our lives, our businesses, our activities.
We won't have to tell 'em that we're Christians or that we're Messianic or we used to be this and that.
They'll see you, Lord.
They'll see Jesus.
(soft, gentle music) Lord, help us to achieve those goals.
The goal of opening up the door.
Forgive us for being afraid.
There's nothing to fear with you.
You're safe, and you love us.
It's in Jesus' name, amen.
(applause, cheering)