Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Almighty God, you welcome you.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Hey there. If you're new to Restored Church, we want to welcome you and thank you for tuning in. You're listening to a portion of our Sunday worship gathering. We believe the church is not an event, but a family you belong to. So we would love the opportunity to connect with you. If you want to learn more about our church or if we can help you in any way, please Visit our website, www.restoredtemecula.church and click on Contact. With all that said, we, we hope you enjoy the message.
[00:00:35] Speaker C: You guys really are just a wonderful group of people, man.
Goodness.
I don't know, sometimes I just kind of look around and I'm just in awe of genuinely of what God's done among us and how he's brought this different but beautiful group of people together. And the way he's.
I don't know, just the way that he is making us more like Him. It's really special. It's really beautiful.
I just want you to know I love you.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: We are together right now.
[00:01:10] Speaker C: One of the things you'll hear me
[00:01:11] Speaker A: say oftentimes when we gather is there's
[00:01:13] Speaker C: a difference between being in church and being in Christ.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: And at the chance that there's anybody
[00:01:19] Speaker C: in the room, whether you've been around the church for a long time or you haven't any church really, like, if
[00:01:25] Speaker A: the chance there's anybody in the room
[00:01:27] Speaker C: and you're not in Christ right now. My prayer is that you would encounter him this morning.
You'd encounter him as we praise Him. You'd encounter him as we open up God's Word together.
And that through, like a legitimate coming to grips with who he is and who you are, that there'd be like a. There'd be a deep experiential feeling of his grace and his love and his mercy and his power and his presence, that would encourage you and it would strengthen you and that you'd yield more and more to his lordship in your life, and it would drastically change everything for you. I want that for my life. I want that for all of us. I want every single one of us in this room to experience the pleasure and the joy, every single, every spiritual blessing of being in Christ, enjoying Him and obeying him and operating like Him. And so this morning is all into that end, us being able to enjoy what it means to be in Christ together. And that that would infiltrate every single
[00:02:27] Speaker A: area of our lives. And so, that being said, go ahead and grab your Bibles.
[00:02:29] Speaker C: We're gonna open up to Matthew chapter 23. This morning, Matthew chapter 23.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: We're continuing on our series called the King and His Kingdom, where we've been going through Matthew's gospel, trying to learn as much as we can about the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God.
[00:02:44] Speaker C: Those phrases are synonymous.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: And when we say the kingdom of heaven, what we're talking about is we're talking about the rule and the reign
[00:02:52] Speaker C: of the King of the universe. Jes.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: It's what does things look like when
[00:02:58] Speaker C: God gets His way.
That's what we're exploring.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: And I think that oftentimes, if you're anything like me, I can tend to compartmentalize God's kingdom, like, oh yeah, God's getting His way on a Sunday, or God getting His way in this area of life. But his desire is that he would rule and reign in every single area of our lives. And as a result to us, yielding to his lordship because he's so good and so, so great that we would flourish as the human beings, that we are made in God's image and that it would take that with us into every single sphere of life that we walk into.
And so I wanna give you a little bit of context before we jump in this morning. You can put your finger on verse 13.
[00:03:35] Speaker C: That's where we're gonna start.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: Where we pick up here today is we're still in what's called Holy Week. We're still in the final week of Jesus life. And this passage is gonna take place in the courtyard of the temple, okay? So picture it in your mind. You can see the pillars, you can see the big open space, you can see the walls, you can see the temple itself.
This passage takes place in the courtyard of the temple. And there's this crowd of people that have kind of gathered around Jesus and he's speaking.
[00:04:04] Speaker C: And you can imagine the kind of
[00:04:06] Speaker A: diversity represented in any crowd. But specifically this crowd, you had like genuine followers of Jesus in this crowd.
People who were like, who were trying to learn as much as they could about his teachings, about the kingdom of God and about the scriptures and what that meant for their lives. So you have genuinely people who are, who are trying to follow Jesus. And then you have. So you have followers in the crowd. You also have like fans, you know, people who are like, wow, this guy Jesus is performing miracles.
His words are really like, powerful. Like I kind of, I'm investigating or I'm interested or those kinds of things. So you have followers, you have fans, but you also have a contingency of people in this crowd that are full
[00:04:43] Speaker C: on opposed to Jesus.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: People who, some kind of more loudly than others, are against the way of Jesus because Jesus would teach gnarly things like, hey, forgive your enemies.
Pray for people, Pray for those who persecute you. Like, think about that for a second. I don't think anybody in this room would raise their hands like, yeah, I'm against the way of Jesus.
However, inside of our hearts, at an internal level, sometimes when we're confronted with the teachings of Jesus, that is, forgive your enemy.
[00:05:19] Speaker C: Goodness, man, I don't know how I
[00:05:22] Speaker A: feel about that sometimes.
And so I want you to see that this crowd is a diverse group of people, very much similar to anytime the church gathers, people are visiting with
[00:05:31] Speaker C: us, those kinds of things.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: But you have followers, you have fans, you have those who are opposed. And specifically the people in this passage that are opposed, that are in the crowd that are opposed to Jesus, who are guys known as the scribes and the Pharisees. What you need to know about the scribes and the Pharisees, they are the spiritual leaders of the people of Israel, right? And what happens here, and we're about to jump into it, but what happens here is Jesus addresses this crowd and he basically says, don't be like those spiritual leaders, those scribes and those Pharisees. Don't be like them. They are ungodly leaders, he says. And he does this publicly, which is pretty gnarly.
And Jesus teaches them. And he basically says, we talked about this a couple weeks ago, how godly leaders focus on serving and ungodly leaders focus on self.
So Jesus, he's making these really bold claims, and he's doing it publicly. And then what he does is he turns his attention from just addressing to the crowd, and he starts and he, like, hones in. He goes directly to the scribes and Pharisees. So he's talking about them, right? They're ungodly leaders, all these kinds of things. And then what we're gonna pick up now is he goes and directs his attention directly to them.
[00:06:40] Speaker C: And before we read the passage, I have to warn you, This section of scripture is terrifying.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: And I don't say that lightly.
[00:07:06] Speaker C: And I have to warn you, before
[00:07:08] Speaker A: we get into it, it's like I was watching the Laker game the other
[00:07:11] Speaker C: day, and I try to avoid commercials at all costs than anything that I remember watching.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: But when you're watching sports, you can't avoid it because it's happening. And out of nowhere, this super creepy horror film trailer came on. And I'm just like, dude, my kids are in the room. This is terrifying. There's no warning. You know what I mean? Have you ever been in that space where you're like, something just came on a commercial that's either inappropriate or horrific or terrifying, and it just went, boom, there it is. And I'm like, I'm not disturbed.
[00:07:38] Speaker C: I didn't want to watch that.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: That was weird.
They should come with a warning. It should be like a five second thing, like, hey, there's about to be a really creepy movie trailer. Just brace yourself or walk out of
[00:07:47] Speaker C: the room for a second.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: But they don't do that.
[00:07:48] Speaker C: They paid their ad money. They're gonna show their trailer for their movie.
But, like, I have to warn you, I have to warn you, because this section of Scripture is genuinely terrifying.
I would go as far as say it's more terrifying than any horror movie ever made.
And so with that warning, I want to pray for us before we read today's passage. Okay.
All right, let's pray together.
Father in heaven, thank you for.
Everything that you are.
You're transcendent and yet you're near.
You're holy and just and loving, yet patient and kind.
Father, I just simply ask you to help me.
Help me to honor your word.
Help me to love my brothers and sisters and serve them faithfully.
And Holy Spirit, we ask that you would give us a fresh revelation of your holiness, of your goodness, and of what that means for our lives.
I get a strong impression this morning that there's people that need to be set free in this room right now. People that need to be set free. I'm asking you to do that by the power of your spirit and help me not get in the way of anything that you want to do. I love you. I trust you. I'm so thankful for these precious men and women I get to call.
Brothers and sisters, bless us, we pray. Show us the glory of Jesus. It's in his name that we pray and all God's people said together.
Amen.
All right, brace yourself. Matthew 23, starting in verse 13, says this.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.
You shut the door of the kingdom
[00:10:15] Speaker C: of heaven in people's faces, for you don't go in, and you don't allow those entering to go in.
[00:10:23] Speaker A: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.
You travel over land and sea to make one convert.
And when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a child of
[00:10:36] Speaker C: hell as you are.
All right, so that is the first
[00:10:42] Speaker A: two of seven woes.
That Jesus directs at these scribes and Pharisees. Okay, we only have time today to
[00:10:50] Speaker C: cover the first two.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: We'll cover the remaining five in the weeks to come. But for those of you with a physical Bible on you, let me just, like, hear your pages for a second.
[00:10:59] Speaker C: I want to see how many people.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: Okay, but beautiful. Bring your physical Bible.
[00:11:02] Speaker C: It's awesome.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: If you don't have one, no worries.
[00:11:04] Speaker C: The words are up here for you.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: But I want you to locate verse 14 in that passage.
[00:11:07] Speaker C: See if you can find it.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: Oh, weird.
Where'd it go? Did the guys who, like, put this thing together, they forget how to count? They just, like, skipped verse 14?
[00:11:18] Speaker C: No, they didn't. I just.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: If you're anything like me, I want to address something really, really quickly because I don't want your. Some of you, like, have an inquisitive mind, like I do. You're like, wait, where's verse 14? And you're not going to hear anything
[00:11:27] Speaker C: else I say the rest of the morning.
[00:11:28] Speaker A: Really quickly, I want to address this. You're not going to find verse 14 in the main text there.
[00:11:33] Speaker C: Okay?
[00:11:33] Speaker A: What you'll do is if your Bible has footnotes, you'll see it down in the footnotes. And there's a reason for that.
The reason for that is that the earliest manuscripts that we have of Matthew's gospel didn't actually have verse 14.
But then some of, like, a little bit more recent ones that they've discovered had verse 14. So what they did was they decided, hey, it wasn't in the earliest copies we have. Doesn't mean it wasn't there in earlier copies. But the earliest copies we have, it's not there. And so we're. Put it in the footnotes. And so just so you know, verse
[00:12:03] Speaker C: 14, it's in your footnotes, okay? It wasn't included in the main text, in case you're wondering. Now, this intense passage, these first two woes.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: For us to understand this kind of section of Scripture, we have to understand what that word woe means.
[00:12:19] Speaker C: Okay?
[00:12:20] Speaker A: It's not just like when you're like, the ocean right now in Orange county and how crazy the waves. Whoa.
It's more than that, okay? It's different.
[00:12:29] Speaker C: What's going on here is something much more, much more intense. Honestly, that word woe in the original
[00:12:37] Speaker A: Greek, it's not the simplest word to translate. It's actually kind of a difficult word to translate into English because it's kind of a mixture.
It's a mixture of judgment.
It's a mixture of sorrow and, like, a mixture of anger. So it's kind of this, like, stew of all of these things. I'm giving you three quotes this morning that kind of hit help you understand this, because it's important for us to understand it.
[00:13:02] Speaker C: William Barclay says this quote, the Greek
[00:13:06] Speaker A: word for woe is hard to translate, for it includes not only wrath but also sorrow.
There's a righteous anger here, but is the anger of a heart of love broken by stubborn human blindness.
[00:13:23] Speaker C: End quote.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: Okay, so again, kind of get the picture here. Woe, a mixture of wrath and so sorrow and anger. And in this case, who is it directed towards?
These scribes and Pharisees, these religious spiritual leaders. Okay, one more for you. Michael Green says this.
This one's really helpful.
[00:13:46] Speaker C: Tune in.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: Woes were really a funeral lament.
[00:13:51] Speaker C: Ever been to a funeral?
Okay, a lament.
Look what he says.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: A mix of music and literary convention for mourning the dead.
[00:14:04] Speaker C: How apt. Apt is like, how appropriate.
The very word for woe has a mournful sound.
[00:14:13] Speaker A: And Jesus utters this wailing lament seven times over. These Pharisees who appear to be religious
[00:14:19] Speaker C: but are dead in sin.
End quote.
[00:14:23] Speaker A: Okay, so get the picture here.
[00:14:25] Speaker C: There's this mourning component to this.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: Like a deep mourning, like a woe. And did you see that? When he says woe to you scribes and Pharisees. Did you see that? It doesn't have a period at the
[00:14:35] Speaker C: end of that sentence.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: It has an exclamation point.
So there's this, like, this lament. It's like, woe to you scribes and Pharisees. Like, it's intense, it's guttural, and it's not for show. It's not an act. It's like a. A deep, sorrowful thing. Some of you young people, if you have a sibling, your brother or your sister, when they make you really angry, and you respond, and your response is
[00:14:58] Speaker C: not like, dearest brother, dearest sister, please don't hurt my feelings any longer.
[00:15:06] Speaker A: Like, it's not that. It's like a deep, like, thing where, like, I'm angry and I'm sorrowful and I'm lamenting and I'm, like, directing judgment at. So this is an intense thing. This is not, like, woe to you scribes and Pharisees.
Whoa. Like, it's like a deep thing. It's a lament thing.
And Michael Green says it's tied to recognizing when someone is spiritually dead.
[00:15:41] Speaker C: We see people all the time.
They look alive on the outside, But on the inside, they're not.
One more quote for you. John D. Barry says this a woe was a prophetic indictment for behavior that will lead to disaster.
End quote.
So Jesus, he's expressing judgment as the King.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: Sorrow,
[00:16:25] Speaker C: mourning, right?
[00:16:27] Speaker A: And anger directly at these scribes and these Pharisees. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Like, it's a deep thing.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites.
Like, can we just put ourselves in the text for just a second?
[00:16:46] Speaker C: Like, imagine being on the receiving end
[00:16:51] Speaker A: of that and not like in a one on one meeting,
[00:16:59] Speaker C: like there's a crowd gathered, right?
[00:17:03] Speaker A: Like, imagine that actually was directed toward
[00:17:06] Speaker C: you in an environment like this.
What are you? Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites.
[00:17:13] Speaker A: Now that word hypocrite, we've talked about this often, but in case you've forgotten or in case you've never heard this, what that word literally means is it means one who wears a mask.
And so what it's talking about is it's actually referring to like an actor in like a play, right? Because back then, actors, when they would perform, they would wear masks as kind of like their, I don't know, their, their costume or their, or their.
[00:17:39] Speaker C: What are you, what do you call it?
[00:17:40] Speaker A: Yeah, like their character. Like, right, so they'd wear the mask and you know, that person's playing that character, whatever. So when it says one who wears a mask, like hypocrite, it's literally, it's like referring to someone who's playing a role, who's wearing a mask, who's essentially acting.
Hypocrisy is when the outside doesn't match the inside.
The outside that's being presented is not matching what's actually going on on the inside.
It's sort of like if you were to wear a Halloween costume like year round.
Okay, I know Halloween's coming up. Many of the kids love trick or treat, you know, cute costumes.
[00:18:21] Speaker C: It's fun, it's great, it's fine.
[00:18:22] Speaker A: But like, imagine if someone wore Halloween costume year round.
[00:18:28] Speaker C: You'd be like, what are you doing?
[00:18:31] Speaker A: It's kind of like that spiritually.
I remember I've just to confess to
[00:18:37] Speaker C: you and honestly, just to demonstrate how much I love my family, my wife
[00:18:41] Speaker A: and my two children have dressed me
[00:18:42] Speaker C: up in some of the most ridiculous Halloween costumes that anyone should ever be dressed up as.
And it's proof that I love them and that I've gone along with this.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: One year.
[00:18:53] Speaker C: Is Robbie in that room?
[00:18:55] Speaker A: One year. Okay, so one year, you know, where
[00:18:57] Speaker C: I'm going with this.
[00:18:58] Speaker A: One year, I show up to a Halloween get together and I'm dressed as Peter Pan.
Okay?
Never in my life have I ever wanted to dress up as Peter Pan. But my family wanted to do that, and I love them, so I did it. I show up Robbie, your boy, doing the same thing, serving his wife and children dressed up as Peter Pan. We both connected. We both feel. I. I felt foolish. I can't speak for you.
[00:19:22] Speaker C: It was weird.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: So I've dressed up as some silly things. I have. But here's the thing. How many of you know that me dressing up like Peter Pan doesn't make me Peter Pan.
Me dressing up as Peter Pan doesn't make me meet Peter Pan. Listen to me.
[00:19:39] Speaker C: Dressing up like a disciple of Jesus doesn't make someone a disciple of Jesus.
Jesus. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites.
You're playing dress up as grown men. You're playing dress up.
[00:20:05] Speaker A: The outside doesn't match the inside.
[00:20:08] Speaker C: You have to understand something about God.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: He sees past the mask that we all put on.
[00:20:15] Speaker C: He sees past it, and he sees
[00:20:19] Speaker A: the reality, the true condition of your heart.
[00:20:23] Speaker C: He sees past the act.
[00:20:26] Speaker A: And what he did here with these Pharisees, Jesus, he saw the true condition of their heart.
[00:20:30] Speaker C: If you're a note taker, my first point for you is this.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: Jesus sees the condition of our heart,
[00:20:35] Speaker C: and he's not indifferent to it.
Like, he sees it and he's not indifferent to it. Now, for some of you, that should
[00:20:49] Speaker A: hopefully be very comforting to you.
Because oftentimes, maybe you're misunderstood, people judge you unfairly, and you're like, man, that hurts. I don't like that. It's not fun. Some of you, hopefully, that comforts you. God sees the true condition of your heart, and he's not indifferent to it. Some of you, that should hopefully cause you to feel a little bit of comfort.
[00:21:13] Speaker C: But for others of you, like, that should be really uncomfortable.
It's not just what you're dressed up as or how you try to present yourself.
God cares way more about what's going on in you than what you try to put on.
So. Woe.
[00:21:46] Speaker A: Equal parts grief, equal parts anger, equal parts sorrow, equal parts judgment.
[00:21:56] Speaker C: Jesus sees the true condition of your heart.
Can you see the true condition of your heart?
Like this morning, even right now, this week?
What's going on in there?
Like, what's really going on in there?
Jesus sees the condition of our hearts, and he's not indifferent to it. Look again at verse 13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites.
[00:22:30] Speaker A: You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces.
[00:22:35] Speaker C: Look what he says.
[00:22:36] Speaker A: For you don't go in.
[00:22:43] Speaker C: You don't go in.
[00:22:46] Speaker A: Remember how I said this is one
[00:22:47] Speaker C: of the most terrifying sections of Scripture? Like, period. Like, this is terrifying. Do you see it yet?
[00:22:54] Speaker A: This is it.
This is utterly terrifying.
Because these scribes and Pharisees listen to me. They sincerely believed they were doing God's work.
Like they sincerely believed they were obeying God's word.
They sincerely believed they were accomplishing God's will.
And yet Jesus says, woe to you.
Like guys. They even evangelized like, look at verse 15. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites. You travel over land and sea to make one convert.
And when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as you are.
Listen to me, suburban Christians, I'm one of them. Suburban Christians struggle to share their faith with people across the street
[00:23:55] Speaker C: or across
[00:23:55] Speaker A: the office or across the classroom.
These guys are traveling across. Listen to me, the known world to share their faith.
[00:24:12] Speaker C: David Platt says this quote.
Buckle up, okay?
The warnings in Matthew 23 apply not
[00:24:24] Speaker A: just to scribes and Pharisees, but to anyone who professes Christ.
One sobering reality stands before us in this passage. It is possible for you and me to believe genuinely that we are doing God's work, obeying God's Word and accomplishing God's will, yet to be deceived and to experience eternal damnation.
The scribes and Pharisees genuinely believed that
[00:24:53] Speaker C: they were doing God's work, obeying God's
[00:24:56] Speaker A: word and accomplishing God's will. Yet listen to this. Despite their sincerity, they were deceived.
[00:25:07] Speaker C: End quote.
Do you understand why this is so terrifying? Yet.
Here's why it's terrifying.
Sincerity doesn't save you.
[00:25:33] Speaker A: Sincerity doesn't save you. These guys, they sincerely believe they were obeying God's word and doing his will. And yet Jesus says they're headed to hell.
[00:25:52] Speaker C: Do you know who else believes they're obeying God's word and doing his will?
Go over to Nigeria, the radical Muslims that are beheading Christians in that nation.
Do you know who else believes they're obeying God's word and doing his will?
You know, the Mormon teenager who is
[00:26:23] Speaker A: studying the Book of Mormon, who is studying false doctrines before school and after school, and then they go to practice, and then they study it some more, like they're serious about their Book. Of Mormon.
You know who else believes they're obeying God's word and doing his will?
That Jehovah Witness couple that knocks on your door, right? That wants to pedal like a works based righteousness.
[00:27:00] Speaker C: Do you know who else believes they're obeying God's word and doing his will?
The cultural Christian living in the suburbs, just trying to have a comfortable, normal life.
[00:27:20] Speaker A: Maybe you just like, if I could just get a taste of that American
[00:27:22] Speaker C: dream
[00:27:26] Speaker A: that everyone's freaking out about because it's seemingly you. You look at the economy, you look at the situation and everyone wants to pick on boomers and do all the things because it's like the American dream is just not a possibility anymore.
[00:27:39] Speaker C: Okay? It wasn't a possibility for like thousands and thousands and thousands of years.
[00:27:46] Speaker A: Like, do you friends cultural Christianity is
[00:27:49] Speaker C: different than biblical Christianity.
Like they're two totally different things.
This passage is terrifying to me.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: It's terrifying because it's clear that sincerity doesn't save you.
You can sincerely believe that how you're living is acceptable and pleasing to God
[00:28:22] Speaker C: and be completely deceiving Jesus.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: He saw the true condition of the heart of these scribes and Pharisees, that they didn't actually want the kingdom of God.
Like they were dressed up like it, but they didn't actually want the rule and the reign of God. They didn't actually want God's ways. They didn't want the kingdom of God. They wanted kind of their own version of it.
[00:29:05] Speaker C: I asked myself a question this week and it was really sobering for me.
Do I really want the kingdom of God?
[00:29:20] Speaker A: Like in all of. Like, it's kind of binary. It's a yes or no, like in every area, not just some areas.
Like, do you actually want the kingdom of God? Like, do you want the kingdom of God in your marriage?
Like, do you actually want it? Cause the kingdom of God is like, it's like you exist for your spouse, period, full stop, regardless of what they
[00:29:48] Speaker C: do or don't do.
[00:29:50] Speaker A: Like, you exist for them, not the other way around. Not. Like, if she could just get her act together and like, if she could just meet my.
[00:29:57] Speaker C: No, no, no, no, no.
[00:29:59] Speaker A: Like, do you actually want the kingdom of God in your marriage?
Do you actually want the kingdom of God in your relationships?
Like, where you consider the needs of others? Get this as more important than your own.
Do you actually want the kingdom of
[00:30:19] Speaker C: God in your relationships?
[00:30:21] Speaker A: Do you actually want the kingdom of God in your finances?
Like, do you actually want God to call all the shots for like every cent that he entrusts to you. Cause, like, the Bible's clear. Like, we're not owners. We're stewards of that which is entrusted to us. Do we actually want God's lordship in our finances, where we do whatever he tells us to do because it doesn't belong to us?
Do you actually want the kingdom of God in your sexuality?
Do you actually want the kingdom of God in your job and your workplace? In everything? Like, nothing's off limits. Like, please, I'm not trying to pander you or speak down to you, but do you actually want it?
Because the answer to that question is actually happening inside, whether you can see it or not.
There is an answer going on inside of you.
The Pharisees, they wanted their own version of the kingdom.
[00:31:28] Speaker C: What about you?
[00:31:34] Speaker A: And listen, I get it.
Like, I totally get why people don't
[00:31:39] Speaker C: want the kingdom of God.
In Luke, chapter 14. I don't have time to. I'm just going to paraphrase it for you. Jesus, he's teaching people about what embracing
[00:31:51] Speaker A: the kingdom of God will cost them.
[00:31:56] Speaker C: Let me summarize it for you.
[00:31:57] Speaker A: The kingdom of God will cost you everything.
Like,
[00:32:05] Speaker C: everything, dude.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: It will cost you absolutely everything. It's handing over complete control of your life.
Like, every single element of who I am handed over to a new.
[00:32:23] Speaker C: Listen to this word called Lord.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: Like, Lord, there's a new one. Not me. You, like, it's handing over your entire life.
[00:32:36] Speaker C: Yet it's been famously said that he is no fool who gives away what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
So when you have a revelation of
[00:32:47] Speaker A: who God is, that he's supreme, he's infinitely wise and loving and good, and has your best interest at heart. He's the best father.
You can trust him to the degree that you believe that's true. You'll hand him everything.
Cause you know he's not holding out on you.
[00:33:04] Speaker C: You know he's trustworthy.
[00:33:05] Speaker A: You know that the directions he gives you would be better than anything you could come up with for yourself.
[00:33:22] Speaker C: And in verse 13, Jesus says, Not only did these sincere scribes and Pharisees not enter the kingdom, he says they prevent other people from entering.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: They prevent other people from entering. And this, my friends, we talked about
[00:33:44] Speaker C: woe is kind of a difficult word to translate.
[00:33:48] Speaker A: This, my friends, is where Jesus anger comes from.
[00:33:50] Speaker C: Okay, note takers, here's the next point for you. Jesus wants people to enter into his kingdom.
[00:33:57] Speaker A: Like, he actually really wants people to enter into his kingdom. That means embrace his lordship in every single area of Life, not just some areas of life, he wants them to like. He doesn't want people to treat him like a consultant.
You know, Like Jesus is some consultant who shares kind of some cool recommendations of how you should live, of how you should think, of how you should act.
He's more than a consultant who shares recommendations or some good opinions or even just like, counsel.
[00:34:29] Speaker C: You know what I mean?
[00:34:30] Speaker A: No, no, no.
He's not a consultant. He's a king who gives commands. But those commands are not to harm you or to hold out on you or to ruin your life. His commands, get this, are for your good.
Because he knows better than we know.
And not just for your good, but for the good of the people around you.
And not just for your good and the good of the people around you, but for his glory.
Because when you experience the leadership and the lordship of God in your life that bears the kind of fruit that is kingdom fruit, you can't help but
[00:35:10] Speaker C: go, I couldn't have come up with that myself.
[00:35:14] Speaker A: Holy smokes.
Wow, you're really good at this leadership thing, God. You're really good at making decisions and providing guidance to your children who are whom you love.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: Jesus wants people to enter into his kingdom.
[00:35:36] Speaker A: He wants people to embrace his lordship and get this and receive his saving grace that frees them from the way that they're living.
And he gets really angry.
He gets really angry when people get
[00:35:55] Speaker C: in the way of that.
Some of you moms know exactly what I'm talking about.
[00:36:03] Speaker A: That mama bear thing comes out right when someone wants to prevent your child from experiencing something good, something godly.
What?
I've seen it. It's beautiful.
[00:36:19] Speaker C: It's moms, made in the image of God.
[00:36:21] Speaker A: Dads, you do it too. But that's what we see here with Jesus.
[00:36:26] Speaker C: You're gonna prevent.
[00:36:27] Speaker A: You're gonna impact people. You're gonna influence people in such a way that prevents them from embracing my lordship.
[00:36:35] Speaker C: You wanna make Jesus angry? Just get in the way.
Just get in the way. So can I ask you a question?
[00:36:42] Speaker A: Are you getting in the way of others embracing God and his ways?
Are you getting in the way?
If so, you need to know few things get Jesus more angry than that.
[00:36:54] Speaker C: Okay, now you might be sitting here
[00:36:57] Speaker A: and be like, I don't think so.
[00:36:59] Speaker C: Let's talk about it for just a minute. Okay?
I'll pose it as a question.
When you're around people.
Who
[00:37:22] Speaker A: aren't, like, intentionally following Jesus, like, you know what I'm talking about, they could be anything from, like, an atheist to a cultural Christian who's kind of
[00:37:31] Speaker C: like, yeah, I believe Jesus is real, but I'm not following him.
[00:37:34] Speaker A: Okay, Anywhere on that spectrum. When you're around those kinds of people, like, what kind of influence do you have on them?
Some of you, it's beautiful. I look around the room and I'm like, I can see some of you, like, genuinely, like, people are getting saved. It's awesome. Like, praise God.
But like, we gotta talk about this. Cause it's important.
Are those, let's call them unbelievers? Are those unbelievers? Are they maybe turned off by the
[00:38:00] Speaker C: way you act, by the things that you say?
[00:38:05] Speaker A: Like, they're like, other friends gossip.
So when they see the Christian gossiping,
[00:38:11] Speaker C: are they like, oh, I get that from these friends.
[00:38:18] Speaker A: Oh, that Christian, he's speaking poorly of that person.
[00:38:23] Speaker C: I wonder if he speaks poorly about
[00:38:25] Speaker A: me when I'm not around.
Like, the gossip, they're gonna get that elsewhere, right?
Or how about this?
[00:38:33] Speaker C: Like, the greed, the stinginess, the self
[00:38:37] Speaker A: centeredness, like, does that ever come out of your life in such a way that other people can observe it?
The answer to that is if it's there, if it's in the heart, if it's in the inside, it's gonna make
[00:38:47] Speaker C: its way on the outside. It's just a matter of time.
You tell the truth in business.
Let's just kind of fudge this a little bit.
[00:39:01] Speaker A: It's gonna help the bottom line.
Meanwhile, your unbelieving colleagues are like, I
[00:39:10] Speaker C: know you, like, go to church and stuff. Like,
[00:39:15] Speaker A: do you know what the potential conclusion that they might come to in their mind is?
[00:39:22] Speaker C: Are you like playing a role? Are you acting?
Are you wearing a costume?
When you pull secular people, that means people who like, don't belong to the church. One of the number one things they describe Christians as is hypocrites.
That's me, like, that's us.
[00:39:50] Speaker A: That's what we're in. Many regards known for.
Some of you, like, the way you operate around unbelievers, it turns them off. Like, I don't want any part of that. If that's what Christianity is, take me out, I'm out. I opt out. Some of you, you have received the gospel of Jesus Christ, like literally the cure for the cancer of the human condition.
[00:40:23] Speaker C: And you don't share it with people.
[00:40:27] Speaker A: Like, you received it. It's made its way from your head to your heart and it's changing the way you live.
But for whatever reason, fear of man or self doubt or fill in the blank, you don't share it with other people. Some of you, you've met Jesus, like, in ways that you can't deny. You've met Jesus and you don't tell people about him.
[00:40:55] Speaker C: No Alpha invites, no inviting them to be with you on Sundays.
[00:41:02] Speaker A: Some of you, there's people that you love in your life that don't know Jesus. They don't know the love of God. And you love them. You genuinely do. And you haven't prayed for them in months. That God would lift the veil of their spiritual eyes so they might see him clearly.
Like, if there's one thing I'm convinced of is preaching as long as I
[00:41:19] Speaker C: have, and I don't mean just in this sermon, I'm preaching long, but I
[00:41:22] Speaker A: mean, like, in general. It's like we could have the most eloquent presentation.
You could have a crafted message that's spectacular. And if the spirit of the living God does not lift the veil, the blindfold of someone's spiritual eyes to help them see Jesus, I can't do it. You can't witness to your friends and your family. Like, there's a spiritual thing that's necessary for someone to be. To come into grips with who God is.
It requires prayer. It requires a get this. A more powerful, potent weapon because there's powers and principalities that are in opposition to the human heart being set free by Jesus.
There's a war for souls happening all around you all the time right now in this room.
Most of it you can't see.
[00:42:14] Speaker C: Some of it you can.
Some of you are getting in the way of other people embracing God and his ways, and you don't even realize it.
That's terrifying to me as a pastor.
Because that's exactly what was happening with these scribes and Pharisees and Jesus.
[00:42:49] Speaker A: Straight to their face.
[00:42:52] Speaker C: Woe to you.
We have to understand that what we do or don't do doesn't just affect us.
Personalize that for just a second.
What you do or don't do doesn't just affect you.
[00:43:25] Speaker A: And so you could make the case that what Jesus does here to these scribes and Pharisees is actually a really loving thing.
But nonetheless, instead of, like, they hear this instead of agreeing with Jesus about their condition, instead of going, you're right, holy smokes, my heart is. There's stuff going on inside of me that's not okay. I'm kind of putting on an act. I'm kind of like, I'm not. The outside isn't consistent with what's going
[00:43:51] Speaker C: on on the inside.
[00:43:52] Speaker A: Like, there's hypocrisy going on here. Instead of them. Instead of them agreeing with Jesus about their condition and then repenting and turning
[00:43:58] Speaker C: away from it, they just continued to live life their way.
In other words, they continued to reject the kingdom of God.
They lived out their own version.
Here's my prayer.
I don't want any of us to follow in their footsteps.
I don't want any of us to rely on our sincerity.
[00:44:42] Speaker A: Jesus said.
[00:44:44] Speaker C: He said, the road is narrow that leads to life. It's narrow and yet the road is wide that leads to destruction.
I don't want any of us to follow in the footsteps of these scribes and Pharisees. Because hear me, your eternal soul is on the line. Some of you are like, tom, you're being too intense this morning. I'm not a huge fan of this.
I love you.
I don't care.
[00:45:12] Speaker A: And here's why. Because your soul matters more to me
[00:45:15] Speaker C: than your approval of me.
[00:45:18] Speaker A: Your eternal soul matters way more to me than whether you think I'm cool or I'm a good speaker or I'm a good pastor or I'm a good leader.
Those things matter to me. I want to do you well.
[00:45:28] Speaker C: Ultimately, I want to honor Jesus.
[00:45:29] Speaker A: But this is like his word.
This is not my opinion.
This is the Word of God. And if you allow the Word of God into your heart, I'm here to
[00:45:38] Speaker C: tell you it has the power to
[00:45:41] Speaker A: transform you more and more into the
[00:45:43] Speaker C: likeness of Jesus, which is what you were designed for.
So this begs the question, what do we do?
All right, I'm going to close with this. Ben, come on up.
Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah, chapter six.
Isaiah, chapter 6.
[00:46:16] Speaker A: One of the most beautiful, powerful chapters
[00:46:18] Speaker C: in all of Scripture.
Here's what you need to know.
[00:46:24] Speaker A: Isaiah has an encounter with God here.
[00:46:29] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:46:30] Speaker A: He has an encounter with God here. And here's the thing. Isaiah's encounter with God right here is not too dissimilar to our passage in Matthew.
Both were encounters with God. Jesus, God in the flesh, has an encounter like the scribes and Pharisees, that crowd. That's an encounter with God where God, like Jesus, God in the flesh, is teaching them and rebuking them, saying, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Right? So there's an encounter with God going on there.
Similarly, there's an encounter with God going on here. Now, again, another similarity. They both take place in the temple.
Our passage in Matthew takes place in the courtyard of the temple. The courtyard of the temple. This passage happening in the temple okay. But what's unique is that this encounter, Isaiah's response is very, very different.
[00:47:21] Speaker C: Let's pick it up here.
[00:47:22] Speaker A: Verse 5.
So Isaiah has an encounter with God.
Then I said,
[00:47:35] Speaker C: woe is me, for
[00:47:41] Speaker A: I am ruined because I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips.
[00:47:55] Speaker C: He's not just talking about, like, he sometimes says bad things.
Remember Jesus said, out of the overflow
[00:48:02] Speaker A: of the heart, the mouth speaks.
[00:48:06] Speaker C: He's not like confessing, cussing here.
He's saying, I'm unclean on the inside and it's making its way out of me.
[00:48:18] Speaker A: I live with people who are unclean on the inside, and it's making its way out of them. That's what he's saying.
[00:48:24] Speaker C: He's confessing this.
[00:48:26] Speaker A: Verse 6.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me. Seraphim is a heavenly creature. Six wings.
Unbelievable.
[00:48:36] Speaker C: It's amazing.
[00:48:37] Speaker A: Read this. Read this chapter later.
[00:48:38] Speaker C: Youth. It's unreal.
[00:48:42] Speaker A: This heavenly creature flew to me. And in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity sin is removed and your sin is atoned for.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking, who will I send?
[00:49:12] Speaker C: Who will go for us? And look what Isaiah says, here I am. Send me.
Here's what I need you to see.
[00:49:24] Speaker A: Two different encounters with God, Scribes and Pharisees.
[00:49:26] Speaker C: Isaiah.
[00:49:27] Speaker A: Isaiah has an encounter with God and immediately concludes, woe is me.
The scribes and Pharisees have an encounter with God, and he says, woe is you. And they disagree.
I disagree.
[00:49:45] Speaker C: I'm gonna do my own thing.
[00:49:48] Speaker A: Isaiah's response, woe is me.
The Pharisees response, woe is thee, Jesus. Who are you to tell me how
[00:49:57] Speaker C: to live my life?
So I want you to see something here.
[00:50:06] Speaker A: Isaiah has an authentic encounter with God, like. And the result of that authentic encounter with God is a sober view of the true condition of his heart.
And he has a completely different response than we see from the Scribes and
[00:50:23] Speaker C: the Pharisees
[00:50:27] Speaker A: and guys like, please stay with me. I think we're okay on time. But I just needed.
[00:50:30] Speaker C: I need you to say that I
[00:50:31] Speaker A: was praying for us like a ton this morning, and one of the things that just kept coming up was I felt like God was like, some of us, maybe you in the room, you've actually never had an encounter with God.
You've had emotional experiences.
You've had your heart Touched, which is
[00:50:52] Speaker C: beautiful and awesome and wonderful. And the spirit of God will touch
[00:50:55] Speaker A: your heart and inspire you. And it's. I love that. It's so great.
[00:51:01] Speaker C: But that's very different than, like, an encounter with God.
[00:51:06] Speaker A: Like, the reality of who he is.
Not an opinion, not just an emotional feeling.
The presence of Almighty God.
Because when you have an authentic encounter, it looks very similar to what we see here with Isaiah.
Oh, you're holy. You're holy. You're different than, whoa, whoa, man. And not like, woe is you. Like, wow.
And his immediate conclusion, woe is me.
[00:51:39] Speaker C: Whoa, woe is me.
[00:51:42] Speaker A: And he starts confessing his sins. I'm a man of unclean lips.
My heart is overflowing in these ungodly ways. And my friends are like, he's exposed.
The costume's off.
Do you remember when Jesus calls Peter to himself? Do you remember what he says?
He performs this miracle, reveals himself to Jesus.
[00:52:06] Speaker C: I'm sorry.
[00:52:07] Speaker A: Jesus reveals himself to Peter.
[00:52:09] Speaker C: And Peter goes, depart from me, Lord, for I'm a sinful man.
In other words, woe is me.
You know what Jesus does?
Come, follow me, Peter. I'm making you fishers of men.
I'm going to transform your life.
[00:52:26] Speaker A: I'm going to deploy you on the mission of advancing my lordship all over the earth.
[00:52:33] Speaker C: Isaiah, here I am. Send me.
[00:52:36] Speaker A: I'll do whatever you want. But something happens in between there.
Did you catch it?
[00:52:45] Speaker C: Said the word atoned.
Do you know what atonement is?
[00:52:51] Speaker A: Oh, if you don't know what atonement
[00:52:52] Speaker C: is, if you don't know it off
[00:52:53] Speaker A: the top of your head, today's gonna be a great day for you.
[00:52:55] Speaker C: It's gonna be a wonderful day for you.
[00:52:57] Speaker A: Atonement, the word, what it literally means is making as one a t o n e 1.
So it's literally at 1 meant.
So the process, right? That which is separated is now one.
It's a reconciliation, right? Cause sin, it separates people from God. And So atonement, the at1ment, is necessary. Did you catch how it happened?
Did you see it? The coal, right?
Where was the coal?
[00:53:37] Speaker C: Where did it come from?
The altar.
[00:53:40] Speaker A: Do you know what the altar is? There's a reason why there's burning hot coals on the altar.
It's because there was sacrifices. Blood was shed and animals were put on the altar, burned. Like, because the wages of sin is death. So there were literally animals that gave up their lives to be a sin offering unto God. Because God is loving and just, and he's. He's. It's it's basically like us, like a scapegoat, like a. This animal in my. In the place of my sins.
And when that coal from the altar touched that with which was unclean, on Isaiah, it said that. That his sins were then cleansed and it was atoned. He was reconciled to God.
Not because Isaiah figured out the equation or he memorized his Bible, or he did all these awesome things, not even necessarily because he was really sincere,
[00:54:34] Speaker C: but
[00:54:35] Speaker A: because God, in His grace and in his kindness, saw a man humbled in his presence.
[00:54:41] Speaker C: Woe is me said, oh, I can deal with that.
I can work with that. I can transform that.
Do you see it?
Here's my definition of atonement.
[00:55:00] Speaker A: Atonement is when woes are washed away
[00:55:03] Speaker C: by the overruling grace of God.
Some of you need to be cleansed this morning.
[00:55:15] Speaker A: You need the very things that would cause anyone to go, whoa.
Sorrow, judgment, guilt.
You need your sins cleansed. You need atonement.
You need to be made one and reconciled to God. And I'm here to tell you, just because you're sincere does not mean you are reconciled to God.
[00:55:42] Speaker C: You need a touch of his grace.
The Lamb of God.
[00:55:49] Speaker A: We sung about it this morning.
Lamb of God anointed one worthy is the Lamb.
[00:55:59] Speaker C: You know, the cross is the ultimate altar.
[00:56:03] Speaker A: It's the ultimate altar where the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, willingly offered up
[00:56:09] Speaker C: himself to be your sin offering forevermore.
But here's the kicker.
[00:56:15] Speaker A: And here's. Here's what. What do we do? Here's the answer to that question. The answer to that question is this, friends.
Acknowledging your sin positions you for atonement.
You want to be one with God, you need to acknowledge and confess your sin.
[00:56:33] Speaker C: But people don't like to do that.
The scribes and Pharisees didn't want to do that.
[00:56:38] Speaker A: You and I don't like to do that. We like to downplay our sin, explain it away. It's not that big of a deal. It's not as bad as compared to that person.
Or we just want to deny it.
[00:56:49] Speaker C: I don't want to feel guilty.
[00:56:51] Speaker A: I don't want to feel shame. I already struggle with self hatred. I don't need anything more. I don't need more.
We downplay it. We dismiss it. We get defensive. We justify it all the time.
And when we do that, friends listen. When we do that, we please hear me.
We forfeit arguably the greatest source of
[00:57:09] Speaker C: pleasure the human heart can experience.
Atonement being reconciled to God through His grace and his love and his mercy.
I was talking about this this week with my kids.
I have a really silly analogy for you.
Ice cream is really good.
If you're in the room and you have like a dairy allergy or something like that, and you can't have ice cream. I'm so sorry.
Yeah.
But I want. I want you to imagine something with me for just a second. I'm going to get out of the way. I'm almost done.
Imagine someone among us, someone in our church, they open an ice cream shop, and it's like the best ice cream you've ever had.
[00:58:45] Speaker A: It's so good that, like, even if
[00:58:47] Speaker C: you have like a, like a dairy allergy or ice cream messes you up, the ingredients are so good, the process that they make it with is so
[00:58:56] Speaker A: refined and wonderful that, like, it doesn't bother you at all.
[00:59:00] Speaker C: You just get to enjoy the taste of this ice cream.
[00:59:04] Speaker A: And I want you to imagine, like. And there's any flavor you can think of, and it's in town, it's near, it's like nearby. It doesn't take you. It's not hard to get to.
And I want you to imagine that he gets up here and he. He offers directly to you.
He goes, hey,
[00:59:26] Speaker C: I want you.
[00:59:29] Speaker A: I want you to have unlimited free
[00:59:33] Speaker C: ice cream, like for your whole life.
[00:59:37] Speaker A: Unlimited free ice cream.
The only condition is you just have
[00:59:44] Speaker C: to come into my store.
[00:59:46] Speaker A: You got to come into the store and you can take your pick. Have as much of. As much as you want, any flavor you want, unlimited. And check this out, too.
Tell all your friends, they can come too.
They can come and have as much as they want. But you just got to come to the store. Don't doordash it.
Just come into the store and you can have as much as you want, no strings attached. Free and unlimited.
[01:00:23] Speaker C: Friends, acknowledging and confessing your sin.
[01:00:28] Speaker A: It positions you for atonement, like going into the ice cream store positions you
[01:00:35] Speaker C: to receive the ice cream.
In the analogy, the ice cream is the unmerited favor.
[01:00:43] Speaker A: Grace, forgiveness, love, mercy of God.
[01:00:49] Speaker C: It's unlimited for you.
[01:00:53] Speaker A: There's more than you could ever eat. It's all there for you, and it's free at no cost to you. You just gotta come.
You just have to come. Psalm 51, verse 17. It says that God will not reject a broken and repentant heart.
Do you know what that means? Anybody who shows up to the ice cream store, anybody who acknowledges and confesses their brokenness and their sin in the presence of God will receive grace, mercy, forgiveness, his spirit to come upon you and transform your desires to. To live a different way. That's really pleasurable. I would argue it's even more pleasurable than the best ice cream you've ever tasted.
Acknowledging your sin and confessing it positions you for atonement. Like going inside the ice cream store positions you to receive ice cream.
[01:01:44] Speaker C: So, friend, listen to me.
[01:01:45] Speaker A: If you want the joy, like the supreme joy and the supreme pleasure of God's grace and forgiveness, if you want the un unparalleled joy of atonement,
[01:01:58] Speaker C: it
[01:01:59] Speaker A: starts with you
[01:02:02] Speaker C: acknowledging and confessing your sin. It starts with woe is me.
[01:02:11] Speaker A: God's assessment of the true condition of my heart is exponentially and infinitely more accurate than mine.
And according to his word and what he says is good and beautiful and right.
[01:02:23] Speaker C: There's some things inside of me that are not good and beautiful and right. Therefore, woe is me.
Woe is me. But gracious is he.
[01:02:35] Speaker A: Woe is me, but good is he. Woe is me, but merciful is he. Woe is me, but compassionate is he. Woe is me. But gentle and patient and loving and kind is he.
That's the difference between Isaiah, spiritual leader
[01:02:51] Speaker C: and the scribes and Pharisees.
Let me pray for us, Father. I lift up every single heart, especially mine, in this room before you.
Humility.
And we just confess we don't have it all figured out.
We want to be sincere. Sincerity is not a bad thing.
[01:03:24] Speaker A: But I just pray, Lord, that it
[01:03:25] Speaker C: would not become an idol for this church, for nobody sitting in here, that
[01:03:30] Speaker A: none of us would lean on and rely on just a sincere belief that, like, we're obeying your word and we're our interpretation and we're doing your will.
Let us be people who rely solely
[01:03:48] Speaker C: on your grace and your mercy poured out in Jesus.
[01:03:51] Speaker A: Let us be people who don't avoid acknowledging our sin and deny it and reject it and overlook it and dismiss it and downplay it. No.
Would we be people who embrace it? Like, we would? Like, let's go to the ice cream store. Cause when we go to the ice cream store, we know we're gonna get ice cream. Like, I know it sounds silly, Lord, but I just pray that that stupid story, like that stupid illustration, that people would be able to hold onto it and they'd go, like, oh, man. Like, my spouse is trying to show me an area of my life that is broken and in need of grace and sinful and selfish, and it's not consistent with your word or your desire or your kingdom. And we would go, oh, they're not trying to harm me. When a person in our gospel community, a brother or sister, loves us enough to tell us the truth about ourselves, we wouldn't deny it or dismiss it or justify it or explain it away. We would see it for the gift that it is, that it's the. It's the doorway into the unlimited grace that we have because of Jesus.
Because the Lamb of God, who presented himself on the altar of the cross to absorb all of the things that we should come into, that we should say, woke up me, God, in his grace and in his kindness, all of those woes, all the sin, all the brokenness that we're guilty of, he took it upon himself and you, Jesus. And so we just honor you and we bless you.
[01:05:10] Speaker C: Rid us of hypocrisy, I pray.
Cleanse us.
Let us have an encounter, not just an emotional experience.
And let your presence transform us. And let your grace and your mercy and your forgiveness empower us to embrace your kingdom and to see it advance in us, through us and all around us.
I love you, Jesus.
Lead us, we pray.
It's in your name, in amen, Friend.
No matter who you are, no matter what you're done, no matter what season you're in, your greatest need is atonement.
And it's available to you in Jesus Unlimited.
[01:06:02] Speaker A: Any flavor you need, any flavor you like.
[01:06:05] Speaker C: Come and get it.
Come and get it.
Prayer team, would you come up? Make yourself available. Band's going to lead us in a time of reflection. Response.
I encourage you be reconciled to God through Jesus. Love you guys very much. Enjoy him. And then one of the guys will be up in about 10, 15, 12 minutes.
