The Authority to Submit

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All right, as the kiddos are coming back to sit down, I'm going to just dive right in because last week I went over 50 minutes. And if I do it consecutively, I will hear about it from Brent on how Brent has successfully mastered teaching shorter than I have. And Brent's already smarter at the Bible than I am, so I can't have Brent beating me at all areas of things that. Plus I have eight pages of notes today, so you're welcome. For all of you who are hungry and ready to get to table fellowship, the food will taste so good by the time you get there.

Last week, we followed Jesus down the mountain at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, what we call the Tour of the Kingdom series. And we saw him immediately go into what the Kingdom in action would look like. What does the Kingdom, the teachings of the Kingdom now mean through the actual walk of people? This is where we get our faith, we get our words and we get our works. All of them have to align with each other.

So before we get into weird space, you cannot be saved. You cannot find salvation in anything that you can do. I can't build it, I can't renovate it. I can't do any of that. Salvation comes by grace, through faith in Jesus as the Messiah.

It is a free gift that only he can give. I cannot earn it. It's kind of. What is it? Corey Asbury?

The reckless love of God. And then some people will fight over the theology, like, well, God's love is not reckless. And it's like, you're missing the point, bro. You're missing the point. There's nothing you can do to earn your salvation.

But. But one of the cool things about salvation is then it comes with stuff. It says, okay, repent and be baptized. Okay, so when we repent, then we should be baptized. So there are things we should do.

And then, of course, as a Saturday loving church. A Saturday church, there's a lot of. We get down in the weeds and we're like, oh, we have to keep all the Torah until we figure out that, well, a lot of those commandments are for women. I'm not a woman. Be awkward if I try to keep women's commandments.

Some of them are for men, like, really awkward if women started keeping them. A lot of them are for the land and for the temple. Guys, don't walk through here and act like it's the temple in Jerusalem. It's not. I'm not a high priest.

I'm not from the priesthood. I know a lot of People will say, oh, I think I did my bloodline. I'm not. I'm not. I'm a dude with a man bun who's got cheap glasses from ibuydirect.com that's it.

That's all I. I'm a child of God just like everybody else. But as we continue to strive to learn what the works, thoughts and teachings of Messiah should look like in practice in our life, we have to remember last week, the mission's not ours to decide. You don't get to decide what the mission of the kingdom is. Only the king of the kingdom gets to do so, and he's already done so.

So Jesus is the only one who gets to decide what is the mission. The moment we start to try to twist Jesus's words or take issue with Jesus's words, and we try to turn that into our mission, the moment we have decided that we're going to take something that is not ours, it's not our kingdom, it's not our calling, we don't get to do those things. We do, however, get invited on mission with Jesus. No different than what we see in the text of Matthew, chapter 8. Jesus goes up on the mountain.

He teaches, he speaks. They say that he spoke with an authority they had never seen before. And he immediately comes down the mountain. The crowds follow him and he says, now follow me. Let's go look at what this looks like.

Last week we talked about the cleansing of the leper and the responsibility of the priest to testify of what they had seen. We spent a lot of time talking about clean and unclean. Did Jersey Mike's clean off that thing before they put our turkey on there? And we're very worried about these types of things. A lot of people who have come from the Hebrew roots, Messianic, our origin stories, very worried about that.

Oh, was there bacon grease at any point in time that ever hit the fryer? We're very worried about that Steve stuff. Did that cause us to become unclean? But yet, before we get to clean and unclean, it starts off with what? An obligation to testify.

If you have seen something and you are called as a witness to testify, you are obligated to bear witness of what you've seen. Also, if you testify of something you did not see or you testify of something that is incorrect, then you are bearing false witnesses. Then it talks about clean and unclean. There's an obligation of the priesthood. We talked about last week about how the priest would set up the concept Jesus is here to nullify the Torah and the prophets.

He can't be Mashiach, he can't be king, because he's here to do away, nullify, take issue with the Torah and the prophets. This is what he would been he was accused of. Yet the healing of the leper provided these two testimonies. One, to the priesthood, which was required in the oath of their office to confirm the testimony of healing.

They were required to confirm the testimony that these lepers had been healed.

That would also have proven that Jesus was not there to nullify the Torah or the prophet. Because if they would have testified, Jesus gave them the opportunity to what, Fulfill the Torah. Jesus healed, sent them to Moses. What Moses said, go to the priesthood. So you have this juxtaposition again.

Jesus is good about juxtaposition. Everybody's like, why are you always talking negatively about somebody? It's not negative. It's juxtaposition. And it makes it all better.

Why? Because the priesthood, if they were truly Torah observant, would have testified that these people were clean. Shocker. They didn't. They didn't.

But it was their obligation because they were the only ones in that system who could testify and confirm to the community. The power of your testimony is important. Jesus was on mission to fulfill the law and the prophets, even when the priesthood had the opportunity to do so and refused to do so. Number two, to the people, which would be a testimony of God's power manifesting in their midst, which was the definition of the kingdom of heaven that Jesus used, the people would testify and have a testimony of God's power manifesting in their midst. We've talked about this a lot over the last three years.

Life's hard.

I think Israel is going to bomb Iran's nuclear site. It's going to be World War Three. Come, Jesus, come. You know, when you walk around with the testimony that God is not manifesting in your midst, that God doesn't have the power, what are you testifying of? What kingdom are you testifying of?

What about the fact that I can tell you that for two years of my life, I dropped out of college. Nobody was happy with me, but my parents weren't happy with me. I dropped out of college. Then I was smoking pot every single day. Sorry, kids, pot is oregano that is grown in the raised beds of your crunchy mom's house.

For two years straight, my boss at the music store actually would bum marijuana off of me. That's how cool my life was at that. Or so I thought. Yet it was in that moment of that span of Life where I did not look like a Christian. I did not look like anything.

I didn't look anything holy. That the Lord changed the trajectory of my life. And so now I can sit here and people can say, man, Chris is a real butt face.

You should have known me then, man, Chris is really hard on people. Should have known me then. Oh, man, Chris isn't compassionate. Should have known me then. Everything is relative to what's happening in life.

And so, like, if you're gonna quit, if you're gonna take JT over here and you're gonna say, hey, man, Chris isn't as compassionate or kind as jt, you're absolutely correct. This dude's always smiling, always trying to help people. Sometimes I have a bad day. I've not seen him have one yet. Maybe it's true.

I haven't witnessed it. I have.

The power of. Your testimony should be that Jesus changed your life. And because he changed your life, you want to do things differently. Because the kingdom of God is manifesting in your midst. This is the power of the kingdom and the power of Jesus.

Yeshua, the king. It's not that I'm observant. It's not that I'm holy. Cause I'm not.

I don't care how long your tassels are. I don't care how kosher you eat. You, you're not holy. God is holy. And we need to recognize whose power and whose kingdom we walk in.

It ain't mine. Because if you're walking in mine or the elders of this church, you have a very finite limited of power. If you're walking in the power of Jesus Christ in the kingdom of heaven, there is not a single thing that can stand in your way from manifesting God's power. Except for God in his timing and his perfection.

He was accused of nullifying the Torah and the prophets. But yet, being on mission with Jesus, would bear witness to the heart of God by practicing acts of righteousness as found in the words and the promises of God. Number two, bearing witness to the power of God. And how the power of God has given us a new heart so that we are now the living testimony of the kingdom of God. After all, it's written many times over, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Yet obedience without fruit is only partially upholding the standard. And Jesus not only came to a world that had a pretty high standard, the Pharisees put a pretty high standard according to the scriptures. But then Jesus elevates the standard. Yeshua says, hey, Mark, man, I'M never gonna physically murder you unless I have a mental health breakdown and I snap. I'm just not that type of a violent guy.

You don't have any worry about that. So under the law of Moses, I'm okay. I'm not a murderer. Jesus comes and says, the moment you and Mark get sideways with each other and you think ill of him and you want harm of him, you might as well pull the trigger. The new heart, the new mind, the standard is elevated by Jesus.

And with the standard being elevated comes an elevated power. But it's not Mark's and it's not mine. It's his and it's accessible to every person. This is what the kingdom in action is showing you. It doesn't matter what you can do with your own hands.

Jesus Christ is here and the kingdom power is yours if you walk with him to bear the witness of the power of the testimony to produce the fruit of the kingdom of heaven. This is what Jesus offers. This is revolutionary.

And yet sometimes we also forget that the prophets that it's written that God hates our celebrations. He hates our new moon gatherings, our feasts and our fasting just to have the right date or the right terminology or the right Hebrew word or the right Greek word or somebody else claiming that they're the real deal. Or if you do it this way, you're holy and if you do it this way, you're not holy and all of those things. None of that gets us on mission with Jesus. Because if it's all about what you can do, then where is Jesus role in any of this?

Where is the spirit of Jesus, as Paul says, where is his role in any of this? If I can heal without the power of Jesus, why do I need Jesus? If I can overcome without the power of Jesus, why do I need Jesus? Well, then we're all running around manifesting our own kingdom. And sooner or later, we have what we have in the world.

We have the kingdom of Burke at odds with the kingdom of Frankie. The kingdom of Frankie is toppling the kingdom of Castellano. The kingdom of Castellano is locking arms in treaties with the kingdom of Davis. The kingdom of Davis is threatening the kingdom of Wallace. The Wallace community is laughing and smiling and sitting on the fence with the days.

And all of these kingdoms manifest their own power, their own might, their own authority. Jesus comes and says, the kingdom of heaven is here. One power, one spirit, one might. If you want to be a part of a family, you come be a part of mine. It doesn't matter what Your last name is.

It doesn't matter how screwed up your spouse is. It doesn't matter how bad your mommy or dad was. I can make it all right. And I'm literally the only one who can. Will you come join me?

I don't know about you.

Yes, Lord. I need help.

Yes, Lord. I want to be a better father. Yes, Lord. I want to be a better pastor. Yes, Lord.

I want to be a better American. Yes, Lord. I want to be a better chairman of a board. Yes, Lord. I want to be a better carpenter, an electrician and a mom and a dad and all these things.

Yes, Lord. I want to do those things. By the way, I can read all the self help books I want. They all have really great things. But in the end, it's only Jesus who can give you a different spirit and a different heart and a different mind.

You can learn everything you want. But if the root of where you're learning, where you're thinking doesn't make an adjustment, you're going to struggle with the application. Lord, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for your kingdom. We thank you for everything that you've done.

Lord, I ask that you would continue over these next weeks to open our hearts, open our minds, to radically alter anything that we have tried to say. You're not allowed to lead us in. I ask for deliverances. I ask for healings. I ask for changed minds, changed hearts, whatever it is you see, Lord, that is inhibiting us from being able to be in your presence, understand your word, and to manifest your kingdom in this community.

Lord, I ask that you would radically alter it and change it, and that at the end you would be on the throne of each and every one of our lives. And that our testimony would speak of what you have done so that we could help other people get closer to you, so you would be able to help them thrive and overcome the things of this life. Lord, you're the only one who changes hearts. You're the only one who changes and puts new hearts and minds in people. And we need your help to put the hearts and the minds of you inside each and every one of us.

And so, Lord, we love you, we thank you, and we bless you in the name of Yeshua. Amen. As chapter seven of Matthew's writings were ending, we're reminded that when Jesus had finished the words of his Torah, that he had come down the mountain and he immediately went into action. They testified that his teaching had an authority, not as the scribes. There's a juxtaposition the scribes were considered to have authority of that day, especially in the interpretation of the laws and what that should look like his kingdom.

His teachings had authority that theirs did not have. They recognized that. And in that authority, they chose to come off the mountain and to go and to walk with him and to be followers of his, not just at the mountaintop, but into the actual practical, real life application. Jesus didn't transgress the Torah by healing the leper, as some might speculate. The moment that Jesus touched the leper, he became unclean, and thus he transgressed the Torah.

We talked last week about the Jewish concept that is above all commandments, which is pekuak nefesh, which is the preservation of life.

Jesus speaks in and heals a leper for the preservation of life, which trumps clean and unclean. He also then tells them to go and to show themselves to the temple priesthood, who was part of the governing body, so that they would testify. Mashiach is here. On YouTube, they have this video that's been popular for many, many years with Messianic Hebrew roots individuals, where it's a bunch of people dancing like, we want Mashiach now. We want Mashiach now.

Mashiach. They wanted Mashiach back then, too.

He gave them the opportunity in the priesthood to testify that he was there. This should have been a party. One thing Jews love to do is they love to eat and celebrate. Mashiach is here. Let's celebrate.

But in that moment, they chose not to testify who it was. Jesus submitted himself under the authority of the very commandments that had been given from God at Sinai in those moments. Even though all of the authority that Sinai had and everybody else had through the Torah and the prophets was delegated authority from him, Jesus was there at the creation. Jesus was there at the giving of the Torah. Jesus was there at the calling of Moses.

Jesus was there at the calling of Aaron. And yet Jesus chose to submit himself to the authority by which he had spoken into existence, the Mosaic covenant and the practice at that point in time, while also showing and giving the opportunity that a greater kingdom is here.

How he did that, I don't know. God is smarter than we are, but he perfected it and executed it beautifully. All authority on the earth is Jesus and delegated through Jesus. I keep stressing this word authority, and I need to qualify this because authority, a lot of times in a religious standpoint has been used to be abusive. We've seen people to talk about being the authority of the Torah to be authority of movements to be the authority of Sabbath, to be the authority of these types of things.

And in the end, when we talk about authority, they have then used that authority to, to then manipulate and abuse people.

Jesus authority never manipulated, never abused, but it set people free. I want you to understand this when we're talking about authority and the kingdom's authority today. Jesus authority and request for submission to his kingdom was not so you would be locked in a box. It was so that you would live more than you've ever lived before.

Jesus didn't come and ask you to submit to his authority, to submit to his teaching so that you could somehow be in a cult in the corner of the world. He called you to thrive and to go help others thrive.

This is a war of spirituality. Anything that is not of the spirit of Jesus or wants to diminish you, wants you to die, wants you to sit in places of infirmity. And Jesus says, that's not my kingdom and that's not my authority. You will live and you will live abundantly. So if you feel locked in this moment to something, if you feel oppressed in this moment, if you feel like something is happening in your life that you can't get outside of, that's not Jesus.

I don't care what they tell you. The Bible says Jesus came to set you free. And that is authority that none of us have. Only he has.

The crowd of Torah, observant Jews and mostly strangers recognized Jesus authority just like they knew the Torah better than any of us. But do we in our 21st century, as we look to keeping the feast and the festivals and honoring the Sabbath and walking as a church, do we honor and respect the authority that Jesus, the King of K in the Lord of Lords has?

We should never be impressed with somebody else's testimony if the testimony ignores Jesus.

I don't care how much money you gave. I don't care how kind you were. If Jesus isn't a part of the testimony, then you did it on your own. And Jesus wasn't a part of it. Was.

Which means it's a dud Burger Dud. Because Jesus could have done more. Why? Because his power and his spirit and his might are far more than what we can ever do. So even when you think, I can do things through Christ who strengthens me, you can.

But what happens when you get that and then you get out in front of Jesus Dud Burger. I'm trying not new words. Because the elders have told me to stay away from certain terminology. So I'm trying out dud Burger seems. I mean, it's, you know, Smilovichi will have a shirt next week.

Dud Burger. That's what I love about you, Danielle. If Jesus words don't radically change your life, then you can expect his power won't either. That's right. If the words of Jesus don't radically change your life, you can expect that the power of Jesus will not radically change your life.

You can read, you can see, and you can operate in the words. The words are there. If you don't believe what Jesus has spoken and what has been recorded about him, then how can you ever believe in the power that doesn't get recorded? Because again, the Bible says there were so many miracles and so many things that happened that there wasn't enough paper or pages in the whole entire world for us to be able to record them all.

If Jesus's teachings and words and actions are not what you are in submission to, then our passion, our pursuit and our works are misplaced. And they have no spiritual authority or power.

None.

Matthew chapter eight. Continuing on in verse five, we stopped in verse four last week with the leper. It says, and when Jesus entered to compare, a centurion came to him and saying, lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented, Jesus said to him, I will come and I will heal him. But the centurion said, lord, I am not worthy for you to come and to come under my roof, but just say the word and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.

And I say to this one go. And he goes, and to another come, and he comes, and to my slave do this. And he does. Now when Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who were following, truly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.

Immediately following the story of the testimony of healing the leper who was ostracized due to a physical ailment to the community for some period of time, we now see that Jesus interacts with the Roman centurion who was excluded by his nationality and his political office.

1 It was because of the skin ailments. Now it's because of their nationality and their political office. Do you see the ironic nature that the first testimonies that we have after the Sermon on the Mount is that Jesus had come on mission only for the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Anybody ever heard that? I've only come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

And yet one of the first testimonies that we see with Jesus after the sermon to mount is that he didn't just come to people who consider themselves, hey, if I've become a part of Jesus kingdom, then I'm immediately a bloodline Benjamin or I'm immediately a bloodline Ephraimite or I'm immediately a bloodline this or a bloodline that. He's using individuals who were considered to be a part of the nations, who were considered to be the outcast, and he's helping and saving them. I have a theory as to why I believe Jesus told his disciples to first only go to the house lost sheep of the house of Israel, and then he later tells them to go out. But it's not necessarily relevant for today's teaching. Your bloodline doesn't matter.

You have to be born again. I was born this way. I was born a Benjaminite. Got to be born again. I was born rich.

Got to be born again. I was born mad. Got to be born again. I was born this. Got to be born again.

It doesn't matter. You have to be born again. In the kingdom of God, there is no authority in the entirety of Scripture that is greater than the authority of Jesus. So as we analyze whether it's on Wednesdays and we're doing the Jesus and the Torah broadcast with Dr. Jones or whether it's the blogs or the building blocks with Matthew and Isaac, notice that Isaac is at home with the girls while Grace, 40 weeks pregnant, is here like a soldier.

The power of Jesus is even stronger than that power. And that's some strong power.

There is no authority in the Bible greater than Jesus Christ. I need you to understand that. Not Moses, not David, not not Esther, not Deborah, not Zephaniah, not Jeremiah, not Isaiah. Jesus is the final authority and the greatest authority of all. Just like Jesus is the final authority over this church.

Not I and not the elders. The elders and I have been entrusted to seek after Jesus, to hold each other accountable, to pursue Jesus, to create a healthy atmosphere that should be Jesus centered and family focused. But think of how unique of a situation this is. A Gentile officer under the authorities of the ones who were currently oppressing the Jews.

Gentile officer under the authority of the military army of Rome who was oppressing the Jews and occupying the land where the Jews were at goes to a Jewish preacher to ask for healing for a servant. He could have said a letter to Caesar, Hey Caesar, you're the most powerful man in the world. My, my servant is dying. He's tormented at home. Can you come and set him free?

And save him. No, he knew Caesar didn't have the power to do that, but he had faith that Jesus did.

He doesn't even come to test if Jesus has the power or the authority. Sometimes we're worried, like, does Jesus have the power and the authority to heal or to set free or to restore my marriage or to break my addiction or to break this generational curse? This gentile, this goy, has no question whether Jesus can do this.

It's not a question whether Jesus has the power to do this or not. He recognizes that Jesus has the power to do this, that Jesus can do this. He says, lord, I am not worthy to have you come to my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.

Should be convicting.

It doesn't mean you can name it, claim it. God is not your personal genie, Robbie. Hey, God, can you paint the trim on my house? Hey, God, can you. Can you help me get $5,800 so I can go on a Mediterranean cruise with Chris and April and their kids?

Hey, God, I heard you. That's coming from a deacon, too.

Matthew, you can testify later about how you got your wife in check.

Hey, Jesus. Hey, Jesus. I'm in my 40s. I need to look like I'm in my 20s again. That's not how this operates.

That's not how this works. Jesus had the authority, and the centurion knew it. The guy who was technically over the Jews knew that this Jewish preacher had the ability and the capability to heal. And he just says, I'm not even worthy for you to come to my house.

Speak it and it'll happen.

The centurion doesn't argue or debate whether the Jews should even enter his house. This was an issue at that point in time. We talked about last week that the rabbis would teach that if you had a gentile individual, that the gentiles would be walking down the road. And the rabbis would teach the Jews to be the religious ones, to be on the other side of the road. They had to separate the clean and unclean.

They were considered to be lesser human beings. So here we have in the next passage, the gentiles, not arguing whether or not that he should allow this Jewish person, who is not his peer, they are inferior to them in their mindset. Doesn't even argue whether he should be allowed in his house or not. It's not even a point of contention. He immediately says, I don't need you to touch him, Jesus.

It's not like I need that ET Phone home power Here, he doesn't need him to touch him. It's not like, hey, Jesus, hey, if you touch him and you do this and if you come to my house, like, none of that. He already believes that Jesus has the power, doesn't care if he comes into his home, doesn't care about any of that, because he believes that Jesus has the power to speak it. And it happens.

He states with certainty that Jesus has the power to utter words into existence and somebody can be healed from a distance.

This was especially interesting considering the context of military language from that time period. A president can give an order from Washington, and troops, wherever they might be around the globe, will hear it from a lesser person, a general, whoever it might be. Most of them will not hear it directly from the President of the United States. They'll hear it from some other military member who will speak it, and they'll act. It's an official decree, and they will act using the same military concept the centurion has no question about.

Jesus can speak a word, and through that word somebody else can pass from sickness to healing.

Why is this so important?

Why is it important to understand and recognize what the Gentile is doing here? Because up to this point in the Gospels, we have no recorded testimony of Jesus healing anybody from a distance or by Jesus, by word, only healing. This was profound before it was an intimate healing. There was touch, there was something that was happening. This is the first recorded testimony that we have that Jesus healed from a distance by speaking words.

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed, turning to those who were following him, and he said, I tell you the truth, I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel. And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world, from the east to the west, and they'll sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, Yaakov, at the feast in the kingdom of Heaven. But many Israelites, those for whom the kingdom was prepared, will be thrown into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. These verses are key to the entire testimony. The faith in the testimony of the Gentile was superior to any of that of an Israelite.

Jesus even goes further that the Gentiles will come from all over to dine with the patriarchs of Israel at the feast of the Kingdom of Heaven, where many Israelites and Jews who were considering themselves to be a part of the kingdom or the keepers of the kingdom would not be.

Not only would they not be that Jesus himself is saying that they would be excluded, it Wasn't because they weren't part of Israel. They were absolutely a part of Israel. They were more a part of Israel than this centurion. They had the bloodline, right? They per se, let's just use it in something we could understand.

They had a right to dine at my table because they were a Frankie. And Jesus says, I don't care if you're a Frankie, I don't care because Menchaka is coming over for dinner. Minchaka is going to be the preferred guest. And Jude, he's gonna, he's gonna get kicked out of the house today.

Don't get kicked out of the house today.

They didn't recognize the king or the king's authority. That's the difference.

They were definitely more Torah observant, more law keeping than the, the centurion. The centurion wasn't keeping the law in Israel at all. It wasn't even on his radar. It wasn't even thing. He didn't even care.

But he had more faith in who Jesus was and Jesus's authority. And Jesus takes issue that the patriarchs of the kingdom would be dining with this Gentile, while the others who just desired and had a passion to. Oh man, can you imagine if that's like your great, great, great, great great grandfather. I can't wait till we get to this kingdom and I get to eat with him. And Jesus says, not only is this dude gonna eat with him, you guys are gonna be out there.

The Greek for some of the terminology here of sit at the table represents a word of reclining. I've talked about this a little in other sermon series where there's really two potential fits here in the Greek word. One, it's a Passover motif, it's a Pasak language where it's a feast of freedom. It is one of the feasts where they eat reclined at the table. Why?

Because they were led out of Egypt, they were saved, they were delivered. It was a feast where they could recline and that they could rest in knowing that they were delivered. Or it's a posture for feasting that had Greek influence. See in the first century. And I don't know, it could be either one.

But the two most logical things that happened in that culture at that time was you had the Passover motif, which is a feast of freedom, and you had the Greek symposiums, which were banquets for the lofty and the high and those. But it was a posture at the Greek symposiums to sit reclining because it was celebratory. You Were somebody, I got a cool car, I'm popular. Like, like that was. That was the Greek influence there.

Either meaning means that Gentiles will either be set free or they will dine at a feast that will celebrate the kingdom with the king of the kingdom, Jesus Christ.

What? What?

Especially when we talk about where we've come from in our origin story, that when Jesus comes back, he'll come first to the Jew and then to the Greek. This is revolutionary because first he came to the lost of the house of Israel. He's operating. Jesus is putting on the Holy Land tour right now. And then he starts talking to the nations, to the people who are part of that group, and he starts to give them promises based upon what they're doing.

Why? Because they recognize the king and the king's authority. Guys, it's no different. It's no different. I don't care how observant to anything you are, if you can't recognize the king, then what are you doing?

Why are you keeping the king's decrees? I'm holy Jesus. Depart from me. I never knew you.

Well, I came to the Frankie's house and I stood outside and I did this. Depart from me. I never knew you.

When random people show up at your doorbell like, hey, I drove from Minnesota to talk to you about the end of the world. Depart from me. I never knew you.

Why? Because you don't recognize the king and the king's authority. So why does anything else matter?

Well, I went to Passover this year. Awesome. But Jesus isn't your Messiah. What are you doing?

It's a juxtaposition with the statement of outer darkness in the weeping and gnashing of teeth. All these things were symbolic Jewish descriptions of the fate of the ungodly. We talked about last week how the sages wrote, which they believed came directly from the Pharisees and the scribes, that leprosy or forms of leprosy were sins of the mouth for gossip and for slander and bearing false witness. And that, well, the Jews absolutely knew the description of the ungodly were linked to the outer darkness and the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

They understood what these phrases meant. Jesus statement here was a radical one unlike anything they had ever experienced. And this came from one that they had already recognized had a different authority. They've already testified. Also a little nugget here that Jesus is also making a reference towards the feast of Tabernacles.

So if you haven't signed up for the feast of Tabernacles, you should do so at feast of tabernacles. Okay.com Lopez family It's not a shameless plug. I was trying to walk like my messiah. He called people out. Jt.

It's a feast of the nations. That was spoken about by the prophet zechariah in chapter 14. This isn't just so that all of us who love each other, we're all one big happy family, can get together. This is a feast of the nations. A feast of the in gathering.

This is a time where all people who profess that Jesus is their Messiah will come and they will worship him and. And they will praise him and his name will go forth over all kings, rulers and authority.

It's kind of like a big deal.

I'mma hide in the darkness. It's kind of a bigger deal than the Oklahoma Thunder winning game seven. Brent, don't you hit me.

All the fanfare that's going to be here Sunday night to see if SGA can actually show up. Jesus showed up all the time. Jesus showed up and he still will. Don't get me wrong. I love the thunder.

I'm going to watch him on Sunday night. Probably going to drink a beer. But Jesus showed up every time. And he's asking us through his power to show up every time, too. So much greater than basketball or football or baseball or any of these things.

Worship team. You can come back. Everything Jesus did was to present himself to the people who should have known who he was.

I am the king. The kingdom is here. You have power in that kingdom. Transform the world over and over and over and over and over again. Yet how we have been taught for years in the messianic Hebrew roots movement seems to be shattered here by some paradigms.

Jesus uses an unclean to testify. Clean and unclean to the clean. And now Jesus is using a gentile, a goy, an outsider, to testify to Jews and the Israelites. Everything Jesus did was to fulfill the prophecies, the obligations and the testimony of the laws and the prophets. They were all written to foreshadow him, his mission.

And he stayed on. His mission was to testify. The fulfillment was here. It's Jesus.

He was the only one who could. He was the only one who was ever going to be able to do that.

Fully God, fully human, the perfect son of the Father, the King of Israel and the Savior of the world.

Last week we talked about the power of your testimony. And this week we stressed the power of your faith in the authority of Jesus as the king. You can't serve two masters. Can't Serve Moses and serve Jesus. You can use Moses to testify to Jesus.

You can use David to testify to Jesus. This is where we get out of. Out of whack on the other side. Or like, well, we're just going to use Jesus to testify to Jesus and we don't need to know anything about why he did what he did. He just randomly chose to do things.

No, Jesus was very, very calculated. He was perfection. Let Moses and David and Deborah and Esther and all these. Man. I love being able to be in a church where I can talk about the women's who were in leadership too.

Jesus didn't come so women could sit down and shut up. Jesus came so that they could be empowered just as much as the husband could be empowered to never forget that one of them drove a stake through a guy's head. Just saying.

I saw somebody fist pump back there. Who was that? Okay. All right. Y' all done?

Security. I'm just joking.

You can't serve two masters. Jesus is either your king or he isn't. He's either the authority and the final authority or he isn't. I'm not here to beat you down. I'm here to present you with the same opportunity that Jesus presented to all the people that he interacted with with that time.

You have a choice in the matter. You get to choose whether he's your king or not. You get to choose whether you believe in him or not. You get to choose whether or not you're going to walk in a manner that lifts him up as the king or not. But I want to.

I want to leave you with this testimony, a revelation that was given in the throne room of Heaven, that was given to John on the isle of Patmos.

Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne.

There was a writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel who shouted with a loud voice, who is worthy to break the seals and this scroll to open it, but no one in heaven or earth, Mind you, I was talking about heaven. No one in heaven or earth were able to open the scroll and read it.

Next time you're like, man, I have this revelation. It's better than anybody else. No one in heaven and earth were able to open the scroll and read it. No one. And then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and to read it.

But One of the 24 elders said to me, that's. That's A council, too. We talked about a minion being 10. Multiple minions. That's lots.

It's kind of like we're on, what, like Minion 17 now by Dreamworks. Like heaven's got them beat and their minions know what they're doing. I'm just saying.

And I began to weep because there was no one found worthy to open the scroll and read it. But One of the 24 elders said to me, stop weeping. Look. The lion of the tribe of Judah. A reference constantly to Yeshua being the lion from the tribe of Judah.

The heir of David's throne has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals. And then I saw a lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered. But it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings. And among the 24 elders.

Hey, Maya, are you in the back there? Can you throw up the Doxology image? It had seven horns and seven eyes which represent the sevenfold spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth. And he stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. And when he took the scroll.

Scroll. The four living beings and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God's people. And they sang a new song with these words. You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals and to open it.

For you were slaughtered and your blood has ransomed for people of God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have have caused them to become a kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on Earth. You have caused them to become a kingdom of priests. Last week, what was one of the obligations of the priesthood you had to testify you were unclean.

I've examined you. You are no longer unclean. I am obligated to testify. A kingdom of priests to testify for our God. And they will reign on the Earth.

And then I looked again, and I heard a voice of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus. This image right here, which is somewhat blurred out, and that's okay. This image was a painting that a buddy of mine, John Diff, took, and he removed what was the painting of what was to be the throne in heaven. He removed it and put a lamb on the area of the throne with the crown.

It's beautiful. We use it every week for the Doxology as A subtle reminder that when you come together, you have an obligation to testify, but you're not just having the obligation to testify with some other American person. We're being invited every single week to come together and to stand in unison with the kingdom of heaven and to testify not only with the living creatures, but with the elders. We can testify that Jesus saves. We can testify that Jesus reigns.

We can testify that Jesus lives. We can testify that Jesus has done things in our life. Every week we're being invited into a church when we're like, oh, I don't know if I want to go to church or I want to go to church. That's your right. You have every right to go wherever you want.

But when we come together, we're not only coming together as people in a physical realm. Yes, that's obviously. You can see that we're coming together and we're joining with the heavenly host, of course. And that's happening in the heavenlies right now, which is what it will be like for all eternity, where the creatures and the elders bow down and they worship Jesus as king. It's so much more than just coming to church and being like, oh, hey, I came to church.

I checked it off my box. No, you're coming together with the power that is in the Kingdom of Heaven's throne room right now. And until God decides to bring that down to this earth, till God decides to manifest that here and all people are together. Every week we're coming together and saying, you're the one who's worthy. You're the one who's holy.

You're the one who can do this. All nations will bow. All tongues will confess that you are Lord. Because they sang, worthy is the lamb who was slaughtered to receive the power and the riches and the wisdom and strength and the honor and the glory and the blessings. How dare we try to take the honor, the glory and the blessings from the Lamb who was slain?

Who all of the heavenlies is declaring has the right to do so? Well, Jesus doesn't have the right to be the King of the earth at this point in time. Hogwash. You have the right to shut up.

Don't bear false witness about the king of all creation. If I'm wrong on that, I will gladly sit before the throne of God. I will gladly let him rebuke me because rebuke me that I said Jesus is the Christ. Your words testifies to it. And that's the authority.

That's the power.

All kings bow. The elders in the throne room bow. The living Creatures bow. Who are we to say? I'm not bowing to you.

You will. Trust me. You will. Because in the end, it says there's only one worthy and there's only one who does it. It Everybody bows.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the sun and in the sea, they sang. Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. This shall be a statute for you forever. We love to talk about that. This came out of the Torah portion last week.

It shall be a statue forever where you shall wear the tzitzio, the tassels on your garments. How about that? Forever and ever. Blessings and honor and glory and power belong to the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. Maybe we took some things and we made them a little bit more important, and we took the most important one, the most important thing, and we attempted to make a little bit less important.

One has some implications.

One has all the implications. If Jesus isn't the authority of your life, if Jesus isn't the king of your life, I don't care whatever else you do at that point in time, you are on sinking sand and you are in a spot where you will fall apart. I can promise you. Put it down. Don't call me a prophet.

I mean, it's not even a prophecy. It's literally written in the Bible over and over and over and over again. It is the story of the Israelites went after God blessings, walked away from God, judgment, came back to God blessings.

Jesus is too good to not testify of. He's too good to not believe. He's the king of kings, of the Lord, of lords. And so today, as we respond, as we go, and we have table fellowship, what is your testimony? Who is your king?

Because you can only have one testimony. Jesus is your king or he's not. And that testimony comes from a hard posture on who you've decided, who is your king or who is not.

There is literally nothing more important in your life ever than whether Jesus is your king or Jesus is your authority. And if you haven't made that decision while they're singing today, Brent will be down here in the front. You can come talk with Brent. There is no more important decision in your life. I don't care if you've argued over whether we're having chewies or pizza for tonight.

Not even close. I don't care if you argued over whether we keep Passover on the 14th to the 15th. Not even close. I don't care if you've argued over anything else. If you haven't made the decision that Jesus is the king of your life and Jesus is the authority of your life, you will never come up against a more important decision.

And we're here to walk through that with you. Stand with me and let's respond.