Jesus Is King

What does it look like when a king leaves his throne and comes to live among us? Jesus is that king. The Book of Mark is one of the first accounts, a vivid, fast-moving portrait of how he lived, how he loved, and how he led. Healing the broken, silencing the storms, and raising the dead. Come discover the greatest king who ever lived and the greatest servant who ever served. We're excited about all summer long, diving deep into the Book of Mark and grateful to see you. And of course, if you're here again for the first time or just new to the church, we've been doing what we've been doing for 25 years, waiting on you to get here. So we're glad that you are. And in the words of the Motel 6 commercial, we've lit the light on for you there, somebody. Well, today, across all of our campuses, we have what we're calling Next Generation Leaders Communication Day. So at all of our campuses, all of our services, in fact, some churches are having different communicators from the next generation. And we are a church that is all about the next generation, and we don't just say that. A lot of churches say that, but they don't have any babies in the nursery. They don't have any youth in their youth programs. We make sure that in the next 25 years, our church doesn't get older. It gets younger at the same time. The Bible says in the book of Isaiah, look at these words in Isaiah 42, 23. He says, Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? When he says this, what he means is, who is going to listen to what I want to say concerning the future? Your present day may be hard. What he's saying is, but the future is always better. And you've got to lean in. In fact, you've got to prepare yourself to hear what God is saying concerning today so that you can live for tomorrow. God's tomorrows are greater than our yesterdays. In fact, that's the plan of God. The wine was sweeter at the end of the wedding than it was at the beginning of the wedding. Your life is to get sweeter. Our church is to get sweeter and younger at the same time.

And today, our young communicator, our young leader that's going to be speaking today is a young man I've known for about three weeks. His name is Jackson Champion. He may or may not be my son, but he is. And today, as we have three boys, Mason, Connor, and Jackson, all married amazing girls. In fact, we love our daughter-in-laws more than we love our sons, I will say. Somebody asked, well, who's your favorite of the three? Well, Jackson's speaking today, so he's my favorite at this particular moment. And I'm just honored to introduce to you today's communicator from the next generation. Would you please welcome Jackson Champion as he comes today? Hey, can we just give Jesus all the praise today? Come on, is anybody excited to be in the house of God tonight? I said tonight because we have youth tonight. I'm excited for youth. I'm excited for youth. So if you hear some weird jokes, I'm thinking about the youth. My name is Jackson Champion. I serve as the youth pastor here and also help with our Georgetown team. I do want to give honor where honor is due to our pastors, but my parents, Pastor Joe and Lori, what a dumb thing to do to give a bunch of young communicators an opportunity, you know? This is crazy. Well, I'm honored that y'all would believe and take a chance. And we just honestly, we could tailor this one up to nepotism, okay? So we could call a spade a spade. Anyways, that was a joke, guys. Don't worry. Well, I'm excited because today we get to start a new series out of the book of Mark, the book of Mark, and the series title is King Jesus, King Jesus. And we are excited because we get to talk about this idea that Jesus is king, not just in our life, but in general, Jesus is king. I'm excited because we're about to get into God's word in Mark chapter one,

so you could flip your Bibles there. And the simple goal as we go through a summer in the book of Mark is this. We want to discover who Jesus really is through the gospel of Mark, not just to know about him, but to know him personally, know him accurately. How many of y'all know there's a difference between knowing about somebody and knowing somebody? And so today we're going to read in Mark chapter one in just a minute. I do want to pray for a group of people before we get into God's word. We have a bunch of students in Mozambique, Africa right now on a mission trip. So we can thank God for that. And I'm just so proud of them. They raised a lot of money to go and take time out of their last summer as high schoolers to really just be the hands and feet of Jesus. And then we also have a group in Italy right now. They're also doing the work of God there. So we can thank God for that as well. Amazing. I wanna pray for them, and then I wanna pray that God's word would do something in us, okay? So let's pray together. Father, we come before you, honored that we could gather in your name peaceably, could gather in your name freely. God, we don't take that for granted. We could worship you. God, we just pray, God, as we read God's word today, that it would do something in us and do something through us. God, I lift up all of those students and church members

that are a part of our mission trips right now, God, in Mozambique and Italy. Father, I pray that every single person that they come encounter with, Lord, that they would be and experience the loving nature of a father who loves them so much. God, that our students, God, that our family, our church family would be the hands and feet of Jesus everywhere they go. God, I pray protection in Jesus' name. God, I pray that everywhere they go, Lord, you will give them favor. And God, we thank you, Lord, for all that you're doing. God, I pray that you would pierce our hearts. And in Jesus' name, everybody said, amen. I'm excited about today. And before we get into the text, I have a story that I heard the other day about a burglar who came into a house on a Friday night. The family was gone. And so the burglar came in. He had an all black mask, he had a black bag. He had all the things that you would see in a movie. So he shows up, he breaks into the house, he's in the kitchen. And so he's putting stuff in this bag and he hears a voice all of a sudden. It's completely dark, he hears a voice. The voice says, Jesus sees you and so do I. It's a pretty scary thing to hear

when you're robbing a house. I don't know if you've had experience like I have. You don't wanna hear that, personal experience. It's not a good sign. So he turns his flashlight on, he looks around, he's like frantically and he's panicking and he's doing all these things. He's worried about who's in the house, who sees him. And he looks around, he sees nothing. So he turns his flashlight on and gets back to work. Well, a few seconds later, he hears the same thing. Jesus sees you and so do I. So this time he's like, maybe I'm hearing it in my head. He pulls out his flashlight again and looks around. He can't find anything. So he turns his flashlight off and he goes back to work. Well, a third time he hears, Jesus sees you and so do I. Finally, he's like, this is not made up in my mind. I'm actually hearing somebody talk to me. So he turns on the kitchen light to his surprise. He sees a parrot on the countertop. The parrot says again, Jesus sees you and so do I. Well, he begins to laugh, sigh of relief. And then he hears a dog growling at him. He looks down, there's a giant German shepherd ready to take his face off. And the parrot then says, get him, Jesus. The idea of Jesus in his mind was different than the Jesus that he faced. And today I'm excited because the truth is,

everybody, when you say the name Jesus, has a different opinion, has a different idea. Who is Jesus? What does Jesus do? What does Jesus say? What is the purpose of Jesus? Is this real? Was Jesus a real figure? Was he not a real figure? Who is Jesus? And for all of humanity almost, people have been asking this question. Who is Jesus? The truth is, a lot of us had the wrong idea of who Jesus is. Maybe you have an inaccurate version of who Jesus is. Maybe you have an incomplete version of who Jesus is. You see, we all have an idea, all of religions outside of Christianity have an idea of who Jesus is. And some say he's a prophet. Some say he's this. Some say he's that. But the truth is that there is a definition to Jesus. Jesus is not what we make of him. Jesus is who he is and who he says he is. Today I'm excited because Mark is going to help us unpack who Jesus is. My question to you, before we get into God's word today, who is Jesus to you?

If I were to sit across from the table, we're not a church, who is Jesus to you? I'm sure if I were to ask every single person. person in this room, we would have an idea of who Jesus is and they may not all align. Today I want to talk to you about who Jesus is to you because maybe Jesus to you is your healer. Maybe you got a diagnosis years back or maybe recently. So Jesus to you is your healer. Maybe years ago or maybe recently you were walking in to these doors with addiction, walking in facing something that had captivated you all in all and you're in this place of saying, well, Jesus delivered me from that so now Jesus is my deliverer. Maybe there was a season financially where you couldn't provide for your family and Jesus showed up in a mighty way so therefore he's your provider. All of these could be true for your life but here's the truth of it all, that we all have an opinion on Jesus. There's this idea of this soft Jesus. He's all love, no standards. He's all grace, no truth. And this is the idea of Jesus that you have, he's all inclusive, he's this and he's that, he's all things to all people, therefore he bends the rules to fit certain people in and you have this idea that Jesus

is moldable to your convictions. Jesus is moldable to what you believe in, to your political party. Jesus is who you shape him to be and let me just say that's an inaccurate version of Jesus. Jesus is not who you mold to be, you are who he mold you to be. Let's get it very clear. Maybe your virgin isn't angry, Jesus. He's like the dog, Jesus, ready to rip your face off, Jesus. Pointing a finger at you, Jesus. Always waiting for you to make another mistake. Always frowning, always pointing that finger at you. He's the big guy in the sky. He's just looking at you, waiting for you to make your next wrong move. Maybe he's a good teacher. He's just a good teacher to you. He's a good example, he's inspiring, but he's not God. He's definitely not the only way to God is what some of our views could easily become. We have an idea of Jesus. Maybe you're like me and sometimes you're, it's the Ricky Bobby Jesus, you know? The eight pound, six ounce newborn infant Jesus. You know, like Jesus is still a little baby in a manger. That joke did not land as well as I thought. You understand that way, students? You better not.

If you watch that movie, it's gonna be bad. You're gonna have to meet Jesus early. Anyways. Everybody has an opinion, an idea of who Jesus is, and that's what Mark is here to fix. Because the truth is, he could be your deliverer, he could be your provider, he could be your healer. He could be all of these things. He could be the person that meets you in the middle of your gap. He could be all of these things, and you could still have an inaccurate or incomplete view of Jesus. Because let me just say this, if he is just your provider, it's incomplete. If he is just your healer, it's incomplete. If he is just your genie in the bottle and you throw up a prayer, then it's incomplete. The only complete view of God is this, that Jesus is king. The only complete version. Say, well, he is my healer. Well, of course. But if he's also not your king, then you have an inaccurate view of who God is. A half-truth is still not the truth. We have to make sure that we have a right view, and this is what Mark is trying to convey. Mark doesn't want to just give information and traits about who Jesus is,

or how he acts, or how he does these things. Of course, we talk about that, but more importantly, he wants you to know and the reader to know who Jesus is and why did he come. And we see in verse one through 15, this is Mark portraying what Jesus came to do. We're gonna start in verse one. It says this, the beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet. It says, I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way, a voice of one calling in the wilderness. Prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight paths for him. So John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him confessing their sins. They were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist and he ate locusts and wild honey. This sounds like Austin, Texas. John was from Austin, like super granola, you know? Like, what are you doing, dude? Just eat a hamburger, you're fine. I just started working out again. Thought I'd want everybody to know that.

Because in six months, you're gonna look at me and you're gonna be like, wow, who's that guy? And I'm gonna tell you who I am, okay? I'm Jackson Champion and I'm buff. I'm strong. I say those things to myself in the mirror every day. And I started yesterday and so now maybe my diet should look like locusts and honey. All these CrossFit guys, you know, I snuck in the CrossFit thing because I just joined a new gym. Shout out Adam Klink, his new gym, awesome, whatever. So John's wearing this stuff. He's eating locusts, wild honey, he's getting fit. I mean, this guy is totally a nature dude. And this was his message. After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am, what? Not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, John says, but this guy, this guy named Jesus is gonna baptize you with the Holy Spirit, verse nine. And at that time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open. The Spirit descending on him like a dove and a voice came from heaven. Said, you are my son whom I love and whom I'm well pleased in.

At once, the Spirit sent out, sent him out into the wilderness. He was being tempted in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals and the angels attended him. And then we see verse 14 and 15, which is gonna be our main text today, where Jesus announces the good news of the gospel. Verse 14, after John was put into prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come, he said, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news. Repent and believe in the good news. Why, because the kingdom of God is near and the time has come. Before we unpack what Jesus says in verse 14 and 15, I wanna take you back because these two verses do not make sense without understanding the world that Jesus was stepping into. Let me start from the very beginning of Genesis, is where Jesus, or God, gives Adam and Eve dominion over the earth. We all know what happens there, is Adam and Eve were tempted, which by the way, the same temptation that we see, few verses earlier, is the same temptation, it's undoing what we did in Genesis. Is that Jesus came, he was tempted the same way that Adam and Eve was tempted.

So Jesus steps in, we see that Adam and Eve, they could not do it, so when they sinned, dominion and the keys of this world was given back to the enemy. And then for thousands of years, sin reigned, death reigned, darkness covered everything, and it's a whole story of man trying to fix man's problems. Does anybody know that sometimes it is hard to get yourself out of a hole that you dug yourself into? We see all throughout the Old Testament, it is man messing up and man trying to make way back to where they were supposed to go. And let me just say, that never works. I'll tell you why it never works, I'll tell you why my dad says I'm the favorite son. Very easy, Mason, too nerdy, you know, Mason's a little nerd guy, whatever, you know, he's in D.C. doing his thing, that's awesome, kudos to him, big deal, awesome. Congrats, you know, like. Then you got Connor, and Connor was like the rebellious one growing up, okay. He'd be mad, but he's not here, he's in Europe, so it's fine. So Connor, one day was, he got himself into a little bit of a mess. My dad had a Jeep back in the day, and my dad's only rules were this, don't take the Jeep out back to go mudding. We had this big mud pit, and so Connor hears that,

and goes, I've got a great idea. Let's go to the back, and let's go mudding in the mud pit with dad's Jeep. So Connor takes it back, and Connor's like most city boy man you'll ever meet. So Connor takes the Jeep mudding, well what happens is Connor gets stuck in the mud, so what does he do? He calls his friend. His friend shows up with his truck, and long story short, the friend was like, hey, your Jeep's overheated, you'll be fine. He's like, just open up the hood. Well, Connor opens the hood. up the hood, well this Jeep doesn't have anything that prevents the hood from hitting the window, and he shatters the window of my dad's Jeep. So to make things worse, this truck tries to pull him out and we'll figure out the rest later. Well this truck overheats, now we got a truck and a Jeep stuck in the mud, so then they call a real country boy, this real country boy brings his real truck, gets him out, well Connor goes, well what do I need to do? Well I need to go get my car washed, there's mud all over the place. So Connor goes and takes the Jeep to the wash tub on Williams Drive, and as he's driving to the wash tub, Connor gets pulled over because he doesn't know how to drive the speed limit.

Well as he's pulled over, isn't this like God? Dad is driving on Williams Drive and sees the Jeep. Let me just say, there are some messes in your life that only God can pull you out of. There are some messes in your life that you need to stop trying to get yourself out of, and let me just say, the Old Testament is a picture of man trying to fix man, and let me just say, it's not gonna work. It's not going to work, so what happens is all these prophets begin to point to this man, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, all saying that somebody is coming to save us. And then what happens? 400 years of silence, no prophets, no word from God, nothing, silence, 400 years of waiting, reading what these prophets had to say and experiencing nothing of what they had to say. Can you imagine the feeling? After all that waiting, all that darkness, silence, these two verses appear and they change everything. These two verses are the hinge of all of humanity, of where God begins to take back what is rightfully his, and this is where we get 14 and 15, but here's what I'm here to tell you. There's somebody in the room that is walking in and it feels like you for 400 years have been waiting in darkness. 400 years of waiting in silence. 400 years asking to yourself,

is there more to life than the life that I'm living? 400 years of asking, is anybody gonna come to help? Because this is what they were thinking. Is anybody coming to help? Maybe there's somebody in the room that is asking the same question. I'm here to tell you today that the same God then will step into your life now. And let me just say this about God, and it may not look like your right timing, but God is always right in his timing. Let me just say today could be the day where your life begins to shift. Your life begins to be on this hinge of saying, I was once in the darkness, now I'm in the light, and this is where we find ourselves. The good news is this, that the truth then is still the truth. Now I wanna read this one more time. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming what? The good news. The gospel. The time has come, he said. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news. This is the most important moment in all of history. Why? Because the kingdom of God basically just means the rule of God, the reign of God.

So this is the moment where God begins to reign over the earth, and let me just say, we're still in it now. And it started here when Jesus stepped onto the scene. So Jesus comes preaching and proclaiming, and he gives two verses. There's two verses, but there's three truths, and let me just say, if we grab ahold of them today, everything can change. I don't know where you are in this room spiritually. I don't know where your walk is with God. I'm here to tell you that everything in a moment with Jesus could change. Here's why I know that. It's because the Bible says where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And the moment God sent his son Jesus down to the earth, and then Jesus goes back into heaven, and he leads us in spirit, there's freedom in the room. There's freedom in the room because the spirit of God is here. The first truth that we see in these two verses, number one, the kingdom of God is good news. The kingdom of God is good news. news, that all of history was pointing to this moment of good news. And all of history flows out of this moment of good news. It is the hinge of all of history. The kingdom of God is good news. And the gospel isn't just good news for later,

it's good news for right now. It's not just good news for when you die and you go to heaven, that's obviously good. But it's good news for you right now. This is why Jesus says, the time is what? Now. The time is now. It's good news for right now. Some of you need to know that you could change now, that your life could turn upside down, now that you could start living in freedom. Now you don't have to live the way you used to live. You could change now. Why? Because God's word says so. Because God's word says so. The time has come, is what he says. Not the time is coming, not one day, but no, it's here now. Victory is here now. Salvation, forgiveness, a new life, a new way of living. All of it, right? Now I'm here to tell you, some of you have been walking with God for so long. Or you've been walking, you've been having the appearance of walking with God for so long. And you're in here and you said, I'm in still in the same sin struggle. I'm in the same situation. My family still feels dysfunctional. I still don't have what it feels like it takes.

And I'm here to tell you that in a moment, in the presence of God, it could change. And this is what he's saying, is that the time is right now. The time is right now. Because here's the truth. Here's what we don't preach here at celebration. Hang on, it gets better when you die. What kind of church would that be? You know, it's like, hey, hey, I know your life sucks. Hey, but hang on, dude, it's gonna be good. And you're just, I had a friend last week, he's way too old to be on a tube, be on a boat. He dislocated his entire shoulder, just hanging on for dear life on this tube. I'm like, number one, you're an idiot. Number two, you know, you play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I'm like, why are you doing that? He's like, I don't know, I just like the thrill of hanging on. And I think when I hear that, I'm like, I think that's true for a lot of Christians. You like the thrill of just hanging on for dear life. And let me just say, that's not necessarily how God made you to live. You don't just have to hang on for dear life just to get to heaven. You can begin to live now. Christ said, I came to give you life in what? Life abundantly.

Live in the abundance now. The good news is that things happen now. Things can change now. And here's what makes the good news even better. It's not good news from a distance. The king didn't just send a message. No, he could have done a PA system throughout all the earth. Been saying, hey, the good news is here. He could have used any message. He could have written it out in the stars. He could have written it out in the clouds. He could have used any method. But what was the method that he chose? He chose to give his son not just the message, but a messenger. That's the difference between this king and other kings. Other little g gods and our God are not the same. The kingdom of God is near to us. The kingdom of God is near to us. What is he saying when he says this? He's saying that the king has arrived. The king has arrived. This is a takeover announcement, not in the physical yet, because we know one day where it will be a physical reuniting of the kingdom. But right now we know that it is spiritual. So you may not be able to see the kingdom of God. Now, of course, you look around, this looks like the kingdom of God right here.

But the spiritual kingdom of God, when I'm talking about it, is the kingdom of God that is only expanded by souls. One soul at a time, one salvation at a time, one unbeliever coming into belief at a time. This is how the kingdom of God expands and Jesus comes down to what establish, to expand the kingdom. The truth is the kingdom of God is near to all those who are near to Jesus. Wherever Jesus is is where the kingdom is, because Jesus is the kingdom and he's also the king of the kingdom. For he has rescued us, Colossians 1.13, for he has rescued us from what? The dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son whom he loves. Come on, isn't that good news today? That he delivered us from darkness. Come on, can we just give God all the glory for that? That he delivered us from dominion of darkness. Unlike other kings, Jesus did not only arrive to take dominion, but to share communion with you and I. Other kings come to dominate, to force. Jesus comes as a servant. The Gospel of Mark portrays Jesus as the servant. So he comes as a servant, not just to dominate. Let me just say, he will. Our God doesn't lose. Our God, we already know the end of the story.

He's going to win. My question to you is, are you gonna be on his side or not? Because he's going to win in the end. But he wants to take you with him. He wants you to commune with him. He's a relational God. He's not a God that is far off, the big guy in the sky pointing the finger. He's the God that came down to die for you and I. That's the God we serve. That's the God we love. That's why he's not just our God, our Lord, our King, but he's also our Father. He's relational. Some of us need to have the right view of who God is. Yes, he is our King. Yes, he is our God and our Lord and Savior. Yes, he's all, but he's also a father, a good father, who wants relationship with you and I. The kingdom of God is near to us. The third one, now that the kingdom is here, the kingdom is now near, the only question left is, what are we gonna do with that? So he's going to the third truth of this text, the kingdom of God demands a response. Mark 115, repent and believe. So if you wanna know how do we get to the kingdom of God, is that we would repent and believe in the good news, not the bad news. There's a lot of news out there that's bad.

Here's the beauty, we get to believe in the good news. What's the good news? That he died for you and I, that he took our place on a cross, and we get to believe that? That's our end of the deal is believing and repenting and turning towards him. So we exchanged and we received salvation in exchange for our death on a cross. That's the good news, is that you don't have to die the way that he died, because he died the way that you can live. That's the good news, but it demands a response. The response ultimately comes down to this, making Christ your king and joining into his kingdom. Jesus gives two commands here and then he'll give a commandment as he departs, but the first commandment is this, repent. Repent, stop living your way and start living God's way. Not be perfect, no, just you're living this way, you're walking this way, to repent means to literally turn directions, change of mind, change of course, and walk the other way. Here's what I know, I may go to the left or the right, but I'm still facing Jesus. Never take your eyes off Jesus. I'm not going backwards when I'm going forwards, I can't go backwards and go forwards at the same time. The truth is today for all of us is that you cannot be neutral with the man named Jesus.

You can't be neutral with Jesus. And so many times we've tried to be neutral with Jesus. I want my life in your life, Jesus, you can't have both. But that's still the good news is that your life's gonna lead you to a dead end, but his life leads you to eternal life. Must repent. Jackson, how do I know if I'm in the kingdom? Have you repented? I'm not talking about feeling bad, I'm not talking about saying sorry, I'm talking about have you turned your life into a different direction towards Jesus? When I'm talking about repentance, I'm talking about your life has made a 180 change. No, it's not always easy. No, it's not always easy. It's not always the most fun thing to do. That's the point. Repent. Repent. Let me ask you this. What has to come off the throne of your life in order for Jesus to sit on the throne of your life? What has to come off the throne? Because to repent means that you can't have both. So you can't have, you can't have the God of, you can't have a little God of money, the king of money, and he's, money's sitting on your heart, on the throne of your heart,

and then also have Jesus sitting on the throne of your heart. You can't have success on the throne of your heart, and Jesus, you cannot have anything other than Jesus sitting on the throne of your heart. I'll tell you why. Our God's too big to share a seat. Our God's too big to share a throne. He's not interested in you being lukewarm, he's interested in you being all the way in, all the way out. Today, you have an opportunity. You cannot have two kings on one throne. Repent. Put him on the throne of your heart, number two. Second thing that he's asking is that you would believe. I'm not talking about just that he existed. Even the devil believed that he existed. That's, nobody's questioning that. I'm talking about the full weight of your life, fully trusting him with your life. The same way you're sitting in a chair and you trust that chair to hold you up is the same way I'm asking you to trust God with your life. I don't think anybody has strong enough legs, I might in like six months, so don't worry, but to just hover over the seat. Like port-a-potty Christianity, right? You just hover, you just don't get, I made that up on the spot, that was good. You could take that home with you.

Yeah, come on, we can thank God for that. Take that away, students, I am funny. You're just hovering though. I go to church a little bit, I read my Bible a little bit, but I still have to think, I have my little vices. I still like to do this on the weekend, I still talk like that, I still walk like this, but I do go to church, I do raise my hand, I do go to church, I do raise my hands. Let me just say, that's hover Christianity, when God only has a part of your life. No, no, no, put your weight in Him, fully put your trust in Him, and not just in Him, but on Him. Let's believe, believe that what He did on the cross actually saved you and I, so you don't have to work anymore for your salvation. You don't have to get yourself perfect. If you're hearing anything, do not hear me in saying this, that you need to be perfect, I'm not saying that, I'm just saying, would you continue to pursue Him? And your belief, believe that the cross actually worked and that He actually rose three days later, that is a testimony of Jesus. He lived 33 perfect years, died on the cross and rose three days later, and that's the good news. He lived a perfect life because He knew that we couldn't. Stop fighting to live a perfect life.

Stop striving to live a perfect life. Just climbing the ladder of how do I get to heaven, let me just, there's no way to heaven by your own doing. There's a lot of good people in hell and there's a lot of bad people in heaven. The poster child of our faith is the man, the thief on the cross who lived a bad life but is in paradise with Jesus, why? Because he repented and he believed. The third scene comes out of Matthew 28 because the kingdom was never meant to stop with Jesus, it was never meant to stop with you and it was never meant to stop with me but to be continued forward. Matthew 28 verse 18 says, then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, therefore, what? Go, as my dad always says, therefore, go, two thirds of God is go. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you and this, surely, I am with you always to the very end of the age. I think a lot of us have a theology of like, man, I wish I walked with Jesus, I don't think you do. I don't know if you know and just studied how the disciples died for walking with Jesus,

it wasn't pretty. But I love the thought behind that, which is, I wish I could have done life with Jesus. You can't read the scripture and say, you're not doing life with Jesus. Surely I'm with you always, to what? The very end of the age. He's still near. He's still here with you. And that's the promise, which means that now we must expand. The response of the gospel is this, to repent, to believe, and to expand. The kingdom of God, the spiritual sense, which means that it only expands and reaches to the ends of the earth once all the time. Who is it in your life that if they gave their life to Jesus, maybe it's you today and you're in this room, you're just giving God a shot. I'm here to tell you, this is your sign. You're probably wondering, is he talking to me? Yes, I'm talking to you. His plan all along was to now give dominion over us or to us through his power of the Holy Spirit to now go and expand the kingdom of God. And let me just say, his instrument is and will always be the church. The church is not a perfect instrument. I know your experience may be bad in church.

Maybe you've had something happen to you in a church. I'm not here to say that the church is always perfect. And let me just say, if you know that the church isn't always perfect, how much more does Jesus know that the church isn't always perfect? Let me just say this. We don't have more of a right to be offended by the church than Jesus does. If anybody has the right to be offended by the bride of Christ, it is Christ himself. The church is and always will be. What is he saying to the disciples here? Start a church. And upon this rock, Peter, I will build my church. That's his expansion plan. It's this house. It's the church. It's the growing of the believers. It's the gathering of the believers, the plan for redemption and God's kingdom to be established here on earth has always been and will always be the church of God. One coworker at a time, one friend at a time, one stranger at a time, one teammate at a time, God's plan is the church. It's you and I. He's not looking for perfect vessels. He's looking for empty vessels. Amen.

So today we close. What is it for you that you need to respond to? Maybe it's one of those things. Maybe it's repent. You need to repent from the life that you're living. Repentance isn't a bad word. Repentance is a beautiful word. That a sinner like me could dwell with a God like that, a perfect father. Repentance is turning towards the Father. Maybe it's belief. Maybe you don't believe at all. Let me just say, if you're looking for proof, you could search all you want. You're not gonna find anything that disproves God, I'll tell you that. But trust Him. Trust Him. You cannot see it. It's part of the point of faith. You can't see it, but you can believe it. Maybe it's the third thing. You need to begin to expand this kingdom beyond just yourself. Start living it out in your job, in your workplace, wherever you are, wherever there's people you understand that if they don't know Jesus, that there is actually a hell to lose and a heaven to gain, that we could actually change the trajectory of somebody's eternity.

I don't know where you stand. Maybe you're all three and I'm here to tell you there's no shame and condemnation for those who are in this room who give their life to Jesus right now. But you have an option today. Is He going to sit on the throne of your life or not? Because it is not a matter of if Christ is King, it's a matter of if He's your King. What is Mark about? Christ is King. No, this past week, last week to the day, I get a phone call from a friend and I enter, it was a Sunday morning, I was about to go up on stage and he began, he's crying on the phone and I don't know what's going on. And he says, hey, Dylan, referring to my lifelong best friend and a brother, like blood couldn't have made us closer. He lives in Alabama and he said, hey, Dylan, last. Last night, tragically passed away from cardiac arrest, 30 years old. And of course, I begin to break down, I'm having this moment. Let me just say, eternity became really real in that moment. The fact that this life is but a vapor became really obvious in this moment. I was talking to Dylan on Friday, I was with him last month, hanging out with him, eating with him, laughing with him. And then the next moment he's gone,

I'm here to tell you, the time is now. Some of you need to get right with God. And getting right with God does not mean cleaning yourself up to be perfect. Getting right with God means to turn towards him. Say, Father, I'm all yours. You have my life, you have my throne, you have my family, you have my job, you have every part of me. That's what it looks like to get right with God, is to say, I want to be in relationship with you again. So right now, I wanna tell you that the only thing in this world that is worth living for is Christ as King. We bow our heads together. Thank you. Thank you. Maybe you need to make Jesus your king today. I'm glad that on days like today that I know my friend Dylan is in heaven. Why, because he made Christ his king. Was Dylan perfect? No, is anybody perfect? No, but I know that Dylan is with Jesus now. Why, because Christ was his king, and he lived that way. So right now, if you wanna make Christ your king, maybe you need to repent. Maybe you need to come into this place of belief from unbelief.

You need to leave the kingdom of darkness and step into the kingdom of light that Jesus is establishing throughout all the earth. I'm here to tell you, do not run, do not fight it, because he's going to win. So I'm here to ask, if anybody's willing to make the greatest decision of your life and of your eternity, I would love if you'd be so bold to raise a hand, to make Christ your king today. Thank you, Jesus. Come on, lift him up high. Come on, do not be ashamed of the gospel. Thank you, Lord. Put your hands down. Let's pray together. Father, right now, I just thank you for every single hand that just went up. God, I pray that right now that you would empower them to be the hands and feet of Jesus, that they would put you on the throne of their heart, that they would know that there's a God in heaven who came to be near with them to commune, not just to dominate, but to commune with us. And so, Father, we thank you. And I want you, if you'd just raise your hand, I want you to repeat this after me. Be my Lord. Come on, say it out loud, Jesus, be my Lord. From this day forward, I will live for you. I will serve you.

You could sit on the throne of my heart. I repent from my sins. And I believe in the good news of the gospel. For yours is the kingdom, the glory, and the power. And in Jesus' name, and all of God's people said, amen. Come on, can we just put our hands together?