No More Games - Religion to Redemption - Matthew S6E4

🎵 upbeat music 🎵 🎵 upbeat music 🎵 Hey! Welcome to the Church of 1122. Thanks for visiting us. 🎵 upbeat music 🎵 🎵 upbeat music 🎵 Hey everybody! Welcome to the Church of 1122. We are a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. My name is Jacob and this is Amber. Hey Church! Hey and we are so glad you're here with us wherever you're tuning in from, whether it's church online, YouTube, Facebook, doesn't matter. We're so glad you're here. You're a part of this family. You know what's cool? We're heading into a really cool season. We're in the fall season. Doesn't really feel like fall though. It doesn't. We really love the endless summer here in Florida. Maybe it feels like fall where you are, but people are still loving their pumpkin spice lattes. I know I like mine. You are. I'm not so much of a pumpkin spice person, but people are loving their ice pumpkin spice lattes here because it's still very hot here in Florida. But here at the Church of 1122, we have something much more exciting than pumpkin spice lattes to look forward to this fall and that is saturated. That's right and hey, we're not just waiting for saturated. We are preparing for saturated. We just did elder-led prayer and it was amazing. It's where our elders have led us into a season of prayer and fasting for 21 days. And what that means is from Tuesday sundown to Wednesday sundown, we're going to be fasting. And so if you're able, we would love to invite you into that to join us. And then also on Wednesdays at noon, we're going to be doing hour of prayer and that's where we're gathering together to pray. So no matter where you're at in the world, you can be a part of this. And you may be asking yourself,

why prayer and fasting? Well, it's because we want to turn down the noise of the world and turn our ears towards what God is calling us to do in us, through us, and honestly what he's doing here at the church. That's right. And if this is your very first Saturated, I am so excited for you to experience Saturated. Saturated is something that we look forward to all year and this year it is going to be September 16th to 20th. It is a time that we gather as kids, students, families, and online and we are going to lean in and worship God together. We are so excited to see what God's going to do over the next few weeks as we prepare for Saturated. That's right and we're actually doing something brand new. So college students, I need you to listen up. We are doing college watch parties. And so if you're a college student, we need you to invite your roommates, your classmates, your teammates, whoever's on campus. Everybody. We want you to sign up to lead a watch party. So text the word college to 44-1122. We'll get you all the information you need. And we know that you are excited about getting your Saturated merch. That's right. Let's go. That's right. And so you can, for the very first time, you can actually order your merch online early and have it before Saturated even starts. And so whether you're gonna join us live or whether you're joining us online, you can go ahead and order your merch. You can text the word next to 44-1122 to get the link to order today. That's right. God's doing a lot of big things here. But hey, as for right now, we need you to grab your Bibles, grab your pens, remove any distractions, and let's go ahead and continue in our time of worship together. Let's go. Let's worship, church. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Good morning church family. Come on, go ahead and stand with us.

It's good to be in the house of the Lord. We're here to worship King Jesus. He is worthy of our praise. Come on, we'll sing it. ♪ Praise, praise, let everything be high praise ♪ ♪ Praise, praise, let everything be high praise ♪ ♪ Sing a new song to the Lord ♪ ♪ The Lord, all praise is yours ♪ ♪ Praise, praise, we praise the Lord, yes ♪ ♪ We lift our hands to the heavens ♪ ♪ We are here for you ♪ ♪ We reach for the heavenly morning ♪ ♪ We know what you can do, we know what you can do ♪ ♪ We refuse to go through the motions ♪ ♪ When the King is in the room ♪ ♪ Hear the sound of our devotion ♪ ♪ Let Him build a throne for you, let Him build a throne for you ♪ ♪ Let everything be high praise ♪ ♪ Praise, praise, let everything be high praise ♪ ♪ Praise, praise, let everything be high praise ♪ ♪ Sing a new song to the Lord ♪ ♪ The Lord, all praise is yours ♪ ♪ Praise, praise, we praise the Lord ♪ ♪ We've come to pour out of you ♪ ♪ To wash our Savior's feet ♪ ♪ Every drop from every bottle ♪ ♪ Can't compare to your glory ♪ ♪ We refuse to bring it all for me ♪ ♪ It doesn't cost us anything ♪ ♪ Cause you're worth everything, everything in high praise ♪

♪ Praise, praise, let everything be high praise ♪ ♪ Praise, praise, let everything be high praise ♪ ♪ Sing a new song to the Lord ♪ ♪ The Lord, all praise is yours ♪ ♪ Praise, praise, we praise the Lord ♪ ♪ We praise the Lord, you're worthy, you're worthy of me ♪ ♪ We'll perform a new reference ♪ ♪ Where it's dancing with joy ♪ ♪ They'll sing songs never ending ♪ ♪ We love to breathe praise ♪ ♪ Lift this face down before you ♪ ♪ Or a victory shine ♪ ♪ With our hands raised to heaven ♪ ♪ We love to breathe praise ♪ ♪ We love to breathe praise ♪ ♪ You're the God of salvation ♪ ♪ You're the great, oh yeah ♪ ♪ You're the Alpha Omega ♪ ♪ We love to breathe praise ♪ Come on, shout it out, hey! ♪ Praise, praise, let everything in high praise ♪ ♪ Praise, praise, let everything in high praise ♪ ♪ Praise, praise, let everything in high praise ♪ ♪ Praise, praise, let everything in high praise ♪ ♪ Sing a new song to the Lord, oh yeah ♪ ♪ Let our praise reach the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise, praise, we praise the Lord ♪ ♪ We praise Him, we praise Him, we praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, let it reach the Lord, we praise the Lord ♪ ♪ We praise the Lord, we praise the Lord ♪

Come on, aren't you thankful for the love of Jesus that was poured out for us on the cross? Aren't you thankful, church? We have so much to be, come on. ♪ You could have called 10,000 angels ♪ ♪ Bear you the agony ♪ ♪ The weight of the world on your shoulders ♪ ♪ As you hung on that cold and deep ♪ ♪ The light gave way to the darkness ♪ ♪ As you bore our suffering ♪ ♪ Crushed for our iniquities ♪ ♪ I believe it counted for me ♪ ♪ Praise God it counted for me ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the lamb of God ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ The cross said it all in His presence ♪ ♪ Death defeated Christ was overthrown ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ The blood of Jesus shed for me ♪ ♪ Spilled without reserve ♪ ♪ Makes guilty sinners holy ♪ ♪ I believe it counted for me ♪ Come on, can you testify? ♪ Praise God it counted for me, yeah ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the lamb of God ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪

♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ Death defeated Christ was overthrown ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ Hell defeated Christ was overthrown ♪ ♪ Shout the song of the redeemed ♪ ♪ I am free, I am free ♪ ♪ The cross declares victory ♪ ♪ It counted for me, it counted for me ♪ ♪ Shout the song of the redeemed ♪ ♪ I am free, I am free indeed ♪ ♪ The cross declares victory ♪ ♪ It counted for me, it counted for me ♪ ♪ All glory to the redeemed king ♪ ♪ I am free, I am free indeed ♪ ♪ He is alive and I believe, and I believe ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the lamb of God ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ The gift of freedom Christ has overcome ♪ ♪ The gift of freedom Christ has overcome ♪ ♪ The gift of freedom Christ has overcome ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the lamb of God ♪ ♪ The cross said it all ♪ The cross said it all. Death defeated, Christ has overcome. The cross said it all.

Jesus, Jesus. He is jealous for me. Love's like a hurricane. I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory. And I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me. You know how He loves us all. Oh, how He loves us. How He loves us all. He is jealous for me. He loves like a hurricane. I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory. And I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me. You know how He loves us all. Oh, how He loves us. How He loves us all. Thank You, Jesus. Oh, how He loves us all. Oh, how He loves us. How He loves us all. He loves us. Oh, how He loves us. Oh, how He loves us. Oh, how He loves. Thank You, Jesus. He loves us. Oh, how He loves us. Oh, how He loves us. Oh, how He loves.

And we are His portion. He is our prize. He is my redemption. By grace, He died. With grace, He's an ocean. We're all saved now. And so heaven beats at my feet. So I'll be with His hands. My heart turns violently inside of my chest. And I don't have time to think. Take these regrets when I think about the way. He loves us. Oh, how He loves us. Oh, how He loves us. Oh, how He loves. He loves us. Oh, how He loves us. Oh, how He loves us. Oh, how He loves. He loves us, oh how He loves us. Oh how He loves us, oh how He loves us. Thank you, Jesus. We thank you for the gift that it is to just worship you and to sing about your love, your perfect love, your never-failing love. We thank you that your love is always with us. It's always accessible. All we have to do is receive it. We thank you for the cross that made that possible, the ultimate sign of your perfect love. That while we were still sinners, completely dead and weak in our sin,

you died for us so that we would know you and have access to you and receive your love freely given. What a gift and what a joy and what an honor it is to bring you glory, to sing of your love forever and ever, and to tell you we love you too. So we love you, Jesus. It's in your name we pray. Amen. You all can have a seat. Amen. And welcome to the Church of 1122, where we are a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. It's a joy to get to worship with all of you here at San Pablo and with all of you worshiping with us online or at our outposts. I hope you were here on Monday night for Elder-Led Prayer. If you were not, you messed out on one of the most amazing nights of worship and time of prayer as our elders prayed over us. I left here so unbelievably thankful for the men of God who are our elders at this church that were interceding for us. And really they were just kicking off a season of prayer and fasting for us as a faith family as we head towards saturating. So I want to encourage you to lean in. We're going to be fasting from sundown on Tuesdays to sundown on Wednesdays, and then we're going to be gathering in here from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and noon to 1 to pray. We want to turn down the noise of the world and lean into the voice of the Good Shepherd. I don't really have a voice right now because I was being a really good dad yesterday. It's Judah's out there, my little middle linebacker, and there's so much noise. You know what I was doing? Get him, 42! Right tackle! Get him, Judah! Forced a fumble, recovered the fumble, stood up and turned to the sideline,

just flexed that. What do you think God wants to say to you? He wants to tell you how much he loves you. Turn down the noise of the world and lean in because we're going to get to saturate at September 16th to 20th, and we're going to be saturated in the Word of God. And we've got some of the best Bible preachers and teachers in the world coming in here. You're going to want to be there. It's an incredible time of worship, and it's going to culminate on Sunday the 20th with baptism. And I know every time I say that word in this room, there's some of you and some of you online that you know that is your next step to take, that you've trusted in Jesus to save you from your sins, and you need to go public with that. I want to help you do that. I'll be out in the lobby after the service. There's chat hosts online who are going to help you get signed up to get baptized and saturated. And because we care about you, we have put all the saturated merch online for presale so that you don't have to stand in line and you can show up night one in all of your saturated gear. And you can get that by texting the word NEXT to 44-1122, and you can see everything else happening here while you're there. Right now, we're going to continue to worship. So grab a Bible, a pen, and something to write on. I want you to listen to my friends TJ and Lisa. The first time I walked through the doors here, I was intimidated. I thought, it's so big, and how are we ever going to feel like we're in community here? That's when we started getting plugged in to Disciple Group, and started our journey of making this big place feel smaller and more intimate. I saw the Discipleship Group signs, and I signed up, and it was a women's only group. And I started going to it and loved it. After my wife had joined a women's Disciple Group, I followed suit, and I did the same thing. And I joined a men's Disciple Group. I started making friends.

And the next thing you know, I'd walk in on a Sunday, and I'd get a bro hug here, a bro hug there. And my wife's like, wow, you know some people. And I'm like, yeah, it's pretty cool. We started serving and doing things and holding Disciple Group signs, and making even more friends. So now this big place got even more intimate. There was an invitation to Discover Groups, and if you wanted to start a Disciple Group, for your own disciple group. And my hand went straight up and I said, yes, I'm in. It changed everything about everything. Because I wasn't qualified before. And I still wasn't, but God was qualified. And I had finally fully surrendered so he could work through me. And I started my men's disciple group. I make dinner for the guys every Tuesday night and we all sit around the kitchen and talk and eat and fellowship. And then we break down and get real with each other. Because it's the one place where you can come and you can let your defenses down. It's something that's just so real that you can really be there for each other and God can pour through you into them. And our mess can really become our message because each of us have different pains, different things that we're gifted with and different things that we struggle with.

And we can be there for each other in a very unique way. You know, there's people that are going to hold you accountable. You need that community to be able to have those mat carriers, you know, for you when times are good and when times are more difficult. The whole point is to not be alone. It's easy to get distracted in life. It's easy to get too busy. But there's something that happens when you take that little step of obedience. How can I be a part of something else that's greater than me? There's something that happens, that little act of surrender, that little act of faith. Just say, yes. Give me 30 days of going to a disciple group once a week and see what happens. Amen, amen. Good morning, church. I'm Pastor Britt, excited to be here. If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, we're gonna pick up where we left off last week in Matthew chapter 22. For many, many months, we have been working verse by verse, chapter by chapter through the New Testament book of Matthew, and we're gonna pick up today

right where we left off last week. And where we are in context is that for Jesus the Christ, the things in the kitchen are just getting hotter. We are on a fast track toward Calvary's Hill, toward a Roman cross where Jesus will be crucified. Jesus' adversaries are getting more and more combative, more and more confrontational. His adversaries happen in four groups. One is the Pharisees. This is his primary adversary. These are men who feel like they've been assigned to keep everybody accountable to the law of Moses. These are the religious elite, the fundamentalist, if you will. The second group would be the Sadducees. These are like the wealthy aristocrats. They don't believe in the same things that the Pharisees believe in. They only hold to the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Pentateuch, and they hold to that loosely when it's convenient to them. This would be the modern equivalent of evangelical liberals who believe that they get to stand over God's word and tell it what to say versus under it and let God tell them what it says, right? And then the third group are the Herodians. You don't see them a lot in Scripture, but these are Jews who are pro-Rome, thus the name Herodians.

They're a big fan of Herod, and ultimately they're just trying to get paid and they're just trying to get power. The fourth group is the Scribes. The Scribes are lawyers. If the Pharisees' job was to help everyone apply the law, the Scribes' job was to interpret the law, and a lot of times we see them working together with the Pharisees. I tell you all that to say we're gonna run into every one of these groups today in our text, so it's just important to know where we are. Before I dig into the text, though, I do have to make a pastoral confession. I've been here serving at the Church of 1122 for the last 11-ish years. My family's been raised here. It's been my life's honor to serve here under Pastor Joby and the elders, and just over the last few months, something's really been weighing heavy on me, and man, I just thought as family I would share it with you. The Bible talks a lot about qualifications of the pastor, and I don't think what I'm about to share puts me in any disqualifying terms. I hope Pastor Joby and the elders agree as well. Not only is it about posting a picture of yours yourself or yourself or whoever it is, but about military things, and that brings me to number three.

Number three is processing, but is there an outward or an inner thing that really's important to us as parents to be just doing pronunciation? In fact, you know what? I just love my kids so much, and I tell you right now. Some at least are going to be three days sharp there off the bat. Some of you are not going to be. I mean, something's jacked. Y'all know what I mean? Like something at the core is just all together. Y'all were nervous as heck just then. You should have seen your faces. You're like, what is going on? Look, maybe if y'all know me, y'all know I'm a Chick-fil-A guy. I have 100,000 Chick-fil-A points. That's that's a fact and I'm trying to lead my kids in the paths of righteousness glory of God on a bun You know what? I mean, but no you could put a filet mignon on a plate next to a crunchy gordita crunch wrap a Cheesy gordita crunch wrap and a bean burrito. My kids are going for the bean burrito every time. Can y'all help me in Jesus name? It's jacked up. Here's the thing man What is it in charita? Anyway, nobody even knows My kids walk around and I'll say like yo quiero Taco Bell. They wake up in the middle of night live Moss I'm like, what are we doing? Here's the thing when you go to Taco Bell, you know, you're a Taco Bell Because it has a very distinct culture It's got its own words. It's got its own value system. It's got its own smell

It's got its own product It has a very distinct culture if you go to Chick-fil-a and you order a chalupa everybody's gonna look at you like you're crazy Why because Chick-fil-a has a very distinct culture This is the picture that Matthew has been painting for us the entire book that in this world There are two completely different kingdoms at work There is a kingdom of this world and then there's the kingdom of heaven the kingdom of this world It's invitation is one of two roads One road is religion. That's mostly what Matthew's been been about Religion is an invitation to try to negotiate and barter with God and based on your behaviors Try to get out of God what you want. That's that's the road of religion The other is rebellion where you just say forget God forget morality forget anything else in this world except for me I'm gonna be about me mine and more and do whatever I want and I'm gonna go that path That's the two invitations of this world But they both end in isolation and they both end ultimately what the Bible calls destruction and separation from God The invitation of Jesus is a completely different invitation His invitation is an invitation of grace first And the reason that Jesus invitation is grace is because he's inviting you to surrender to Jesus Right. So religion its invitation is to do your best for your own sake and point at God Jesus invitation is not a negotiation Jesus invitation for you and for me is for us to surrender His first words in his ministry will repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. It is a completely different Invitation. Let's just look at some of the words that Jesus has shared with us so far in Matthew Chapter 10. He says whoever acknowledges me before others I will also acknowledge before my father in heaven, but whoever Disowns me before others. I will disown before my father in heaven Do not suppose that I came to bring peace to this earth I have not come to bring peace but a sword for I have come to turn a man Against his father a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law A man's enemies will be in his own household Anyone who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me Anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me

Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me Whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it Matthew chapter 16 and then Jesus said to the disciples if anyone would come after me if Anyone would follow me let him deny himself Take up his cross and follow me now These words all have a very specific meaning in a very specific context, but context, but let me ask you this Do these words sound like the words of a man who came here to negotiate? Do these words sound like the words of a man who came down here to negotiate Absolutely, not Jesus did not come to negotiate. He came to take over He came to take over Religion is if I then maybe God will I've tried to play the game I've tried the negotiation game with God. I'm not sure about you I don't know if you are aware that you've done this or not But I have and it normally happens right around the time that I'm starting to feel sick. Y'all know what I'm talking about Right when you get a little stomach bug, maybe you get a little food poisoning I don't even know if a little food poisoning is a thing, but you know what I'm saying All of a sudden you start to sweat a little bit Right your thighs start to quiver. You're getting clammy. What do you do? First thing you do you go willpower? You do you just try to hunker down. You're like I can talk myself out of this. I am mentally strong It's just pain. That's what you start telling yourself until you realize wait I can't get myself out of this on my own strength. Then. What do you do? You start negotiating with God? You're like dear God if you will just take this demon out of me Then I will never I will never cuss again. I will never judge anyone to their face. I will do only what you want for you, right? You know, it's a negotiation. This is the religious spirit at work. If God, if you do your part, I'll do my part. If I do my part, you'll do your part.

This is the negotiation of religion. Here we are. There's two areas where people find it convenient historically to try and negotiate away from what God has clearly said. These two areas are money and sex. We are in a shame and honor culture in the first century in this text, and so it wasn't the best option for the Pharisees to debate sexual things publicly, so they went with money instead. We pick up in chapter 22, verse 15. Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle Jesus in his words. Now you gotta hear a tone in verse 16. Last week, the Pharisees came frontal assault at Jesus. They're like, who do you think you are? Whose authority do you think that you're operating on? They came right at him. Jesus just kind of golf slapped him around a little bit and sent him on their way. This week, they're trying a different tactic. They're gonna try a flattery. Here's how it sounds. Oh, and the disciples sent to them along with Herodians, and they said, teacher, we know that you are true and that you teach the way of God truthfully. You don't care about what anybody thinks, for you are not swayed by appearances. Now, the crazy thing about this

is that Jesus' adversaries, they don't like each other, but they like him less, and so they're trying to work together, and so they're just buttering him up. It's just flattery. I coach my youngest daughter's fast-pitch softball team, and the girls on our team, they do this all the time. They'll be like, oh, Coach Britt, that's a really nice shirt. Coach Britt, I've actually never seen your eyes before. Why don't you take your sunglasses off? Those are some pretty green eyes. Coach Britt, have you lost some weight? That's what they'll say, and then right on the heels, they'll be like, Coach Britt, you're looking good today. Thank you so much. Can you rent us a party bus to go to our next tournament? That's how it goes. Yesterday, they were negotiating trying to get me to be in their TikTok video. I'm like, no, I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. Why? Because from their perspective as adolescents, our relationship is transactional. They think if they can butter me up, then they can get out of me what it is that they want. This is the Pharisee's tactic, verse 17. And so they ask a question. They say, okay, tell us then what you think.

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? The question specifically is this. According to the law of Moses, is it lawful for us to pay taxes to a foreign ruler, which is Rome? This is double trouble for Jesus. Because if he answers yes, then the Jewish crowds and the Pharisees will stir up against him and say, he is for Rome, he is a traitor to the Israelite people. That's trouble number one. Trouble number two is if he says no, then the Pharisees can go to the Romans or the Herodians can go to the Romans and they can say, look, we told you, he's a dissenter. He's trying to start an uprising by getting people to not pay their taxes. And it was nothing to the Romans to just have somebody killed. So Jesus is in what's known as a leadership double bond right here. What we try to negotiate with God around tells us a lot about what we care about. What we try to negotiate around tells us a lot about what we care about. Here, the topic is money. Now, why do you think this specific law would be the one that they choose to trap Jesus in? Well, do you think that we're the first culture in the history of the world to love money

and to look at it for significance? No, man, this has been going on for a really long time. Here's the thing about religion. And anytime I say the word religion, I just wanna be really, really clear. I'm not talking about it in the like culturally accepted, positive kind of category of self-help that you can add to your life if you wanna be a little bit happier and a little bit more moral. In fact, I have never heard anyone from this stage contend, and I am certainly not contending today for you to be a more religious person. Hear me, we are not up here trying to convince you to be more religious. We're not trying to convince you to be trapped in the behaviors of religion to do a little bit more, to try to get a little bit more. We don't want you to be trapped in the spirit of religion. We want you to love God. We want you to love him, to see him as the highest and the best, to be overthrown with the reality of his grace that he has done for you, what you cannot do for yourself, that he has sent Jesus Christ to live your life instead of you, dying a sinner's death in your place. paying the just and full penalty for sin so that your sins could be forgiven

and by grace through faith you could be accepted into the family of God and you could have a seat with Jesus Christ the King for all of eternities and enjoy him and the riches of heaven by God's grace. That's what we want, for you to be captivated with God. That's what we want. So I'm not talking about man-made, man-centered religion, I'm talking about loving God. Religion says I give God something so that God will give me something. It turns our relationship with him into a transaction. And money is a perfect example to use in context because it's tactile. You either pay your taxes according to the laws of the land that you live in or you don't. You either pay them the right way or you don't. You are either biblically faithful in money's use, you are a cheerful giver, as the Apostle Paul writes, you give according to your means and beyond, as the Apostle Paul writes, you bring your first and your best to God and you use everything else in your life as a steward unto God's glory. You're either that or you're not. Generosity is not a feeling, it is a measurable, tactile fact. And so it's a fascinating illustration that they have here. See, the difference is not so much the what as it is the why. Religion says I give obedience to get a blessing. The kingdom of God says giving is the blessing.

You see how they're different? I give money, is what religion says, to get prosperity. I give morality to get God's approval. I give religious activity so that I can have a clear conscience. I give sacrifice to get God to owe me. I give God my best behavior because I'm trying to get control back over my circumstances which feel out of control. This is all religious transaction. Religion, at its best, is a habit swap. You're swapping one set of habits for another set of habits. Religion is, at best, a habit swap. Hear me today. We've said this many times. Jesus did not come first for your habits. He came for your heart. He did not come first for your habits. He came for your heart. If religion is a habit swap, the invitation of Jesus Christ is a heart swap. You just get a different heart. Jesus, verse 18 says, but Jesus, aware of their malice, said why put me to the test, you hypocrites? You see, he knows what's in their hearts. Mine too. Yours too. Jesus says there are two things that reveal what's going on in someone's heart.

Number one, he says, out of the heart, the mouth speaks. And number two, he says, where your treasure is, your heart will be also. These are the two telltale signs to see who is first, what's priority in your life. The words that come out of your mouth and where your wallet is. These are Jesus' words. First Samuel 16 says, for the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Inside the context of the topic of money, it says the world would say, be rich. And hear me, Jesus doesn't just offer a different what, he offers a better why. It's not just a different what, it's a better why. The world says, be rich. And Jesus says, and I quote, be rich towards God. It's different. It's different. The world says, money makes you matter. Jesus is like, nah man, nah. You should use money as the tool that it is while you live your life for what God says matters. The world says, money is your security. If you can just get to that number in your bank account, then you'll be able to rest easy at night. Jesus says, absolutely not. I am your security. You trust in me and you seek first the kingdom of God

and all of these things will be added unto you. Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, but store up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and thieves cannot break in and steal. Do you see, it's just different. It's a different economy. It is a different way of looking at it. Verse 19, Jesus continues. And he says, show me the coin for the taxed. He's like, hey, right here, give me one of those coins. And so they brought him a denarius, a Roman minted coin. And Jesus said, whose likeness and inscription is on this coin? And then he said to them, therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. He grabs onto the coin and he says, hey, whose picture's on this thing? And on one side, it would've been Tiberius Caesar, who was the emperor of Rome. And right above his head, it would've said, it said, son of the divine. That's what it said. You flip that coin over and on the other side, it says Pontifex Maximus, which means high priest. Think about the paradox. The king of kings, our great high priest, is standing there holding a coin

with somebody else's face on it that says he's the son of the divine and he's the high priest. Jesus says, whose picture's on this? And they go, well, it's Caesar's. And he's like, all right, well, then give the Caesar, what's Caesar's? Romans chapter 13 explains it like this. Let every person be subject to governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God. For because of this, you also pay taxes for the authorities and ministers of God attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed. This is written in the context of the Roman Empire, which was completely brutal, but the key word you have to grab on in Jesus' explanation here is the word render. You see, render doesn't just simply mean to give. It means to give back what is rightfully owed. It doesn't just mean to give something, it means to bring back what is rightfully owed. And so Jesus doesn't just stop at the government. He goes to a higher authority. He says, give to Caesar what's Caesar's

and give to God what is God's. And so the question is, what things are God's? If I'm supposed to render unto God the things that are God's, what things belong to God? Well, the answer is this. Everything. Everything belongs to God. To the Lord your God belong the heavens and the heavens of the heavens, the earth and all that is in it, Deuteronomy chapter 10. First Chronicles 29, yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the majesty, the splendor for everything in heaven and on earth is yours. Colossians chapter one, in him, Jesus Christ, all things were created for him, through him, by him, and everything one day is coming back to him. It's all his. It's all his. We cannot give to someone what already belongs to them. We can't give to somebody what already belongs to them. We can only bring it back or we can give it to someone else in error. So Jesus grabs the coin and says, so Jesus grabs the coin and says, whose image is on this? They say Caesar. Okay. Now, I wasn't there and this is not in the text, but in my mind's eye,

Jesus puts his hand on somebody he knows' shoulders and he looks at them in the face and he says, and give to God what is God's. What's he asking? If Caesar's image is on this coin, whose image is on you? Whose image is on you? Genesis chapter one, in the image of God, we were created. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. This is at the heart of surrender. I have to realize that I have to surrender to God. This is at the heart of surrender. I have to realize whose I am before I can begin to realize who I am. I have to know who I belong to before I can ever begin to realize what I was created for. Whose I am is a far more important question to answer than who I am. God, let me encourage you with this today. God created you in his image and the lengths that he's gone through the gospel to win you back. And I wanna be theologically clear about it. God didn't come to get you, he came to get you back. What was lost at the fall, what has been lost in man's separation from God because of our rebellion against him called sin, our resistance to his ways, our resistance to his word,

our man-centeredness, when we decided to put ourselves at the center of the universe instead of see God as the ultimate and the highest good, in that something was lost, fractured, shattered, and we have been wandering around trying to find all of the things that we were created for. And by God's grace, Jesus Christ came to show us and to give us the abundant life that only can come from heaven. That's what he came for. and we now look to God as the source of our purpose and meaning, God wants you back. Listen to me, with all of your insecurities and with all of your worries, with all of your anxiety and with all of your past and with all of your sin struggle, it's not a struggle, it's sin, with all of your sin and life struggles, with all of the things that make you, your successes, your hurts, your trauma, your loss, your wins, everything that makes you you, listen to me, God wants you back. You are as unique as your fingerprint, think about that for a second. There is nobody on the earth who can glorify God in your time and space other than you. You're the only one who can do it. You are the only one who has your testimony, who has your story, who has your distinct purpose, you're the only one that has the opportunity

to glorify God and to make much of Jesus on this earth in your lifetime, you're the only one, it is unique to you, what a gift. Are you walking in that gift? Are you walking in the gift that you are as created by God in his image? Jesus, verse 22, it says, when the Pharisees and the Herodians heard it, they marveled, and they left him and went away. The same day, the Sadducees, okay, there's some jokes about the Sadducees. She's heard it. The Sadducees are very sad, you see? And this is how you remember, this is how you remember. Why are they sad? Well, because they don't believe in the resurrection. They don't believe in life after death. They only prescribe the first five books of the Old Testament, kind of, and most of the eternal life, everlasting life commentary in the Old Testament comes from the prophetic writings, namely the book of Daniel. And the Pharisees would have seen the prophetic writings as core doctrine, like the book of Daniel, prophetic writings as core doctrine, like these are tenets of their faith, but the Sadducees, not so much. And it's important to know that because of the ridiculousness of the exchange that's about to happen.

So the same day, the Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they ask him a question. Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. And it kind of gets auction-y here, like an auctioneer. It's like, now there were seven brothers among us, the first Mary died, and having no offspring, left us a brother. The second, the third, and down to the seventh, all of the women died in the resurrection, therefore the seventh, like that, you know what I mean? Y'all impressed? All right. The second dies, the third dies, down to the seventh, a husband dies. After them, the woman dies. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her. Now, it's a fascinating question, considering they don't even believe in the resurrection. Right? They're asking about something known as leveret marriage. It's outlined in Deuteronomy chapter 25. Now, I don't know why they picked this one specifically, because they could've kept reading in Deuteronomy, which, if you just wanna have a wild time this afternoon, go home and read Deuteronomy.

It's the next law, I can't believe I'm about to tell y'all this, but the next law is if two men get into a fight, and the wife gets involved in the fight, and she grabs on, well, I just can't even, if she grabs things that she's not supposed to grab to try to stop the fight, you can cut her hand off. That's what the next law says. Why not pick that law to go after Jesus, huh? Everybody's got a line somewhere, I guess. Seems that mine and the Sadducee's line's different, you know what I mean? But. Why this law? Well, here's the thing. The absurdity of their question is because they believe the idea of a resurrection after earthly death is absurd. They are trying to make Jesus look foolish. And Jesus, look, I love a good parable. I love it when Jesus paints these word pictures about what the kingdom of God is like. Of course I love it. But I really love it when Jesus just talks straight. When he just goes right at it. And it says in this verse 29, he says, but Jesus answered them, you are wrong. You wrong. Here's why though. You're wrong because you neither know the scriptures nor the power of God.

What an indictment. What about you? Do you know the scriptures and the power of God? We live in a culture where the narrative right now is, well, I think God is like. I think God is like. I just don't think God would ever do that. I mean, I can't serve that God. My God looks like this. And all we're doing is just trying to create a God in our own image. It's terrifying. Listen. The only. place that we know and can go to to find what God is actually like is this book. Anything else is an opinion and frankly a terrible one. A terrible one. This book is the authority on who God is, what he's like, what he's done. If it's here, it comes from heaven. This book is the authority. Jesus said you're wrong. You don't know the scriptures nor the power of God. Let me ask you this question. What is the decision that you have made in your life that makes all the other decisions? What is the decision that you've made that makes all the other decisions? Is it feelings? Is it popular culture? Is it family traditions? Let me remind you today that there is a greater power than anything at work in this world that can drive your life. There is a greater power. Romans chapter 1 verse 16 says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who hear and believe. Anyone who places their faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ can be set free from anything at any moment in time. Jesus can break any chain, any bondage, any generational sin. One drop of Jesus' blood from the cross applied by grace through faith can set people from ten generations of oppression completely free. It gives feet to the lame. It gives

sight to the blind. It gives new hearts to dead sinners. It wakes the dead. It opens people's eyes. It sets the prisoners free and today you and I can be overthrown with it and we can live in and under its power. The gospel is the most powerful force at work on the earth because it doesn't come from this earth. It comes from heaven. This gospel is worth our very lives and it is certainly the only thing that our lives can be built on that will last. Now it gets super interesting right here. Verse 30. I hope you brought your church seat belt for this. Verse 30 it says this, you don't know God. That's what he just said. You're wrong. You don't know the scriptures nor the power of God for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven. Leverant marriage, the idea was simple. You lived around your brothers and your sisters, probably shared land with your family. If a man dies, the widow became the responsibility of the brother. He was supposed to take her as his wife. If he didn't do that, then the wife could appeal to the town elders and the elders would try to negotiate with that man and if the man still wouldn't take her, then she could take his sandal off and spit in his face. That was the law. It was this very shameful thing. Jesus is like, you've missed the entire point. In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but they're like angels in heaven. Alright, there's two groups of people here. When they hear Jesus say, we won't be married in heaven. Some people are like, really? I never heard that. The other groups like, oh thank you God. If that's you, just know we're here for you. You can text CARE to 441122. We want you to have a God-honoring, joy-filled marriage. We're here to help. It's important to note that Jesus doesn't say that we are going to become angels. He says we are going to be like angels in the context of marriage. Nobody here is getting their wings or becoming someone else's guardian angel when you die. That's just not what the Bible teaches. I've done a lot of funerals as a pastor and I'm always honored to be a part. One of the things I've heard a lot over the years at funerals, and I do appreciate the sentiment, I do appreciate the sentiment, but you'll hear people say

some version of when they're giving testimony in behalf of the deceased they'll say, well I guess God needed another angel. After it's over, I just want to walk up to him and hug him and be like, he didn't. He didn't. It's infinitely better. You see the Bible says for anyone who's in Christ that they are far superior to the angels. That man being created in God's image is the highest of his creations. That we are God's treasure. For the joy set before him which was of us, Jesus endured the cross despising its shame. Right? It is infinitely better because of what Christ has done on our behalf. When we are revealed this by grace, through faith, and we surrender our lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ, we get all of the riches of heaven that Christ has earned. We are now seated with him in the heavenly places and so everything that's coming due to Jesus, all the glorious riches of grace, he freely shares with his brothers and sisters that are you and me and we get to enjoy the riches of heaven forever and ever. That's the better invitation. come angels, we're like sons and daughters in the kingdom of God, it's a completely different thing. But what does it mean to be like angels in the context of marriage? Well, it means that we are eternal and complete. In context, it means angels aren't married and neither will people be. Now, and I do put this in the category of Jesus's tough teachings because, and this is the reason why, and you're gonna write this down because it is easy to think about heaven from an earthly perspective and it is hard to think about earth from a heavenly perspective. It is easy to think about heaven from an earthly perspective it is hard to think about earth from a heavenly perspective. Have you ever heard the statement,

I used to hear this all the time when I was a kid, well, that person is just so heavenly minded they're no earthly good. They're just so heavenly minded they're no earthly good. Well, if that's true of someone, I've never met them. I've never actually met a person who is so obsessed with heaven that they're no good on earth. I don't think it's actually a possible thing. I don't think it's possible. It still raises the question, what happens? After we die, what is Jesus specifically talking about? Well, I heard a part of a sermon from an old Irish minister and I can't say it better than he did so I'm just gonna read it to you. It's a long quote and so I'm gonna put it on the screens because I think it's that rich. So the question is, what about those who are nearest to us on earth? If we don't marry in heaven, what will happen to these relationships? Will I still have a special relationship with my wife in heaven? Will I still treat my parents as father and mother? Will our close friends here be our close friends there? It's all very well to look forward to meeting tens of thousands, but are we not created in such a way as to still want an inner circle? Such questions are natural, but they're not easy to answer.

We will certainly know one another in heaven. King David looked forward to being reunited with his dead son there. I shall go to him is what he said. Paul urges bereaved Christians not to sorrow as others who have no hope, for God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. The reason for not grieving like unbelievers is that their parting is not permanent. We will meet again. This is it right here. We cannot know less in heaven than we did on earth. We cannot know less in heaven than we did on earth, and so we will recognize there those known to us here that is surely comforting. We're also told that many aspects of marriage will no longer be appropriate in glory. We're to quote from Jesus, they neither marry nor are given in marriage. There will be no reproduction. The husband will not need a helper, nor the wife someone to cherish her protectively. Children will not require parental care. The relationship between Christ and his church will be so obvious as to render unnecessary a human illustration. Does this mean that your husband or my best friend will be no more to us than anyone else among the multitudes of the redeemed? I don't think so.

For every good thing will be better in heaven than on earth. If God has given you a Christian husband or wife, parent or child, brother or friend, you can be sure that whatever the parameters of our future relationship with them may be, the friendship will be closer there than it is now. You will know them more intimately, love them more intensely, delight in them more fully. It is impossible that we should lose anything good in that place where good abounds. We can look at Christians whom we love and especially and praise God that we will continue to love them more and more forever and ever, amen. Verse 31, Matthew 22. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what it was said to you by God? I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Isaac. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, he is the God of the living. And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. Jesus is referencing Exodus chapter three. This is when the Lord shows up to Moses in a burning bush and calls him to go and confront Pharaoh. This is what Jesus is, this is what he's referencing. And he talks about this, he talks about this

in the present tense. I am the God of Abraham. As Moses describes it, 500 years from Abraham to Moses. He says, when he's talking to Moses, he doesn't say I was the God of Abraham. He talks about it in the present tense. I am the God of Abraham because he is the God What Jesus just did right here is he went to the first five books of the Old Testament of the living, not the God of the dead. to prove them wrong about the thing that they don't believe in. And the genius about what Jesus says is this. Some verses. To be away from the body is to be present with the Lord. John 3.16, the most famous verse in the history of the world. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but will have eternal life. Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. John 17, now this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God and believe in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Whoever hears my word and does it, believes him who sent me has eternal life. He will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Eternal life. We will spend it somewhere with someone. It is a guarantee. Jesus the Christ, the son of the living God, the one who was and is and is to come, the king of kings and the Lord of lords. What Jesus is getting at here, the heart of this is this, is he your Lord? The central issue of the New Testament is lordship. He is either the Lord or he is not.

Verse 34, but when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law and he said, you shall love, you shall love, you shall love the Lord God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. This lawyer or scribe walks up to Jesus and says, okay, of all the words that God has ever spoken, what are the most important ones? Of everything God said, what do you put at the top of the list? And Jesus quotes the Shema from Deuteronomy chapter six. We've studied it hundreds of times as a church. It's the most prayed prayer in the history of the world and at the heart of the Shema, there are some questions that we have to answer when we take the audit of our life. When we look at where we spend our time, when we look at what our life really is about, the Shema puts us down at the crucible of our own existence and we begin to ask these questions. Is God the one thing that drives everything in my life? Is he a priority on my list or did he write the list and is he the page on which the list is written? I love it that Jesus doesn't say, hey, you know what? Verse 37, he doesn't say, and you shall agree with right ideas. He doesn't say you shall be able to articulate your beliefs. He doesn't say that you're to be a good dad or a good mom or a good investor, that you're supposed to be a good employee or a good boss. All of these really good things are fine, but what we do is we take good things and turn them into God and for the sake of the gift, we miss the giver. He doesn't say that. What does he say?

He says, you shall love God. And you know, you wake up every day and you're doing it, man. You're living your life. You're out there doing it. Let me just ask you this question. When you take audit, when you really look around your life, do you love him? Do you love him? You would say, I think so. I mean, maybe I want to. How would I know? Jesus says it like this, John 14, 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. First John chapter two, verses three through six says, and by this we know that we have come to know him. If we keep his commandments, whoever says I know him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word in him, truly the love of God is perfected. By this we know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. To know Christ is to love Christ. To love Christ is to trust Christ. To trust Christ is to do what he says. Verse 41, whose son is the Christ? While the Pharisees were gathered together, and we're going to close here, Jesus asked them a question. This is where the soundtrack in the movie turns. The violin starts to rip in minor key, you know what I mean? It's like, you're getting a little nervous. Jesus is like, all right boys, I got a question for you. What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?

And they said to him, the son of David. And he said to them, how is it then in the spirit, he calls him Lord saying, quotes Psalm 110, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. I love that so much. Everybody knows David, he's the greatest king in the history of Israel. Everybody knows him. And in Psalm 110, in the spirit, David prophesies about the Messiah, who is the Christ. The Pharisees, the religious leaders, held onto the belief that a king, a Messiah, was coming in the line of David, which Jesus was born in the line of David, and it was no secret, in the line of David, but he was going to come as an earthly ruler, and this is it. He was going to reestablish Israel back to the dominance and the prominence that it had when David was king. They were looking to the Messiah to do for them what they wanted, which is to be back in charge. Jesus came as a completely different Messiah, with a completely different agenda.

He didn't come to give people what they wanted, he gave to do for people what they needed. He came to do what they needed. It's a completely different offer. Why would David, if it was all about his lineage being the king, why would he, the king, call his son the Lord? Jesus is like, it just doesn't make any sense. The truth is, they were looking for a political solution to what they considered to be a political problem. Jesus is looking at his adversaries and saying, you don't have a political problem. You don't have a leadership problem. You have a lordship problem. You have a lordship problem. You love and are trying to preserve your preferred way of life, and you want the Christ to do it for you. That's not how it works. Religion's offer is do this and that to get what you want from God. Jesus' invitation is surrender. Religion says, try this, and maybe you'll have that. Jesus says, forget all that. Surrender. Surrender. Surrender what? Everything. Surrender everything. And when you do, you will find that true life is right there.

That this is what life was always supposed to be about. Jesus says, give me your life. Give me your hopes. Give me your dreams. Give me your past, your sins, your future. Give me your family. Give me your finances. Give it back to me, and you will see what it means to truly live. So I'm gonna close, and I'm gonna ask you the same question. What do you think about the Christ? What do you think about the Christ? What do you do when you get to the place where there's no more questions to ask? When you get to the end of playing games with God, trying to negotiate terms, what do you do when God decides the negotiation is over? Well, you either walk away, or you worship Jesus Christ. Those are the two choices. So I'm gonna ask these questions, and then I'm gonna pray for us. Who do you think the sun rises for every day? What's that about? Who do you think the stars are shining for? Who do you think the birds are singing to? Do we get to enjoy that? Yeah. Is that about us? I mean, who's the sun up there for? Who's the stars shining for?

Who are the birds singing for? What is this breath in our lungs for? What are these words in our mouths for? What are these gifts and talents? What are these moments and these minutes? What is all of this for? The better question is, who is all of this about? The scriptures contend it is about one person, and it's not me, and it's not you. It is about Jesus the Christ, the son of the living God. Who is your Lord? Let me pray for us. Father, we love you. We thank you. We need you. Jesus, you are the King of kings and the Lord of lords. I pray that by grace, we would receive the revelation of truth, that as you have done for us, more than we could ever imagine. God, I pray that our response would be surrender. Maybe there's areas of our life where we're just trying to hang on, we're trying to negotiate. We believe, but help our unbelief. Father, we pray that in this place, we would receive the revelation of truth, that as you have done for us, that we would receive your words as an invitation more than we could ever imagine.

to draw near to you, to grow into deeper relationship with you. God, I pray that our response would be surrender. You wanna walk with us, you wanna talk with us. Maybe there's areas of our life where we're just trying to hang on, God, we know that we just can't muster up love, that love comes as a response to having seen who you are. So open our eyes, open our hearts as we respond. Christ, we want the songs that we sing, we want the prayers that we pray to be about you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. At all of our campuses, would you stand with me? We're gonna respond. We respond in three ways. One is that we sing true words about King Jesus, believing that when we say them out of our mouth that they'll grab onto our hearts and our minds and be a part of this takeover. We bring our first and best through financial generosity, our tithes and our offerings, bringing back to God because it is rightfully his and we want him to know that we love him and see him. And then we confess through prayer. We put our bodies in the posture that we want our hearts and lives to be in as we pray and surrender ourselves wholly and totally unto the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Let's respond. ♪ There was a moment when the lights went out ♪

♪ When death acclaimed the victory ♪ ♪ The king of love had given up his life ♪ ♪ The darkest day in history ♪ ♪ They're rolling across to make the sinners ♪ ♪ For every curse is but a taunt ♪ ♪ One final breath and it was finished ♪ ♪ But not the end you could have known ♪ ♪ For the earth began to shake ♪ ♪ And the day when Christ awoke ♪ ♪ What sacrifice was it made ♪ ♪ As they heard the Lord, the Lord ♪ ♪ I am Jesus ♪ ♪ I am the Lord of heaven ♪ ♪ I am Jesus ♪ ♪ I am the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ There was a moment when the sky lit up ♪ ♪ A flash of light was breaking ♪ ♪ When all was lost across eternity ♪ ♪ The King of life was on the moon ♪ ♪ For when God called you, you were there yet again ♪ ♪ And we're all here today ♪ ♪ On the rock in this place ♪ ♪ And we're forever today ♪ ♪ And I am Jesus ♪ ♪ And I am the Lord of heaven ♪ ♪ And I am Jesus ♪ ♪ I am the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ And I am Jesus ♪ ♪ And I am the Lord of heaven ♪ ♪ And I am Jesus ♪

♪ I am the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Savior of the world ♪ Come on, somebody, every... ♪ Lift everywhere we go ♪ ♪ Because I'll be calling truth ♪ ♪ Let it be done ♪ ♪ In trust in the Lord ♪ ♪ Lift up my arms high so I can fly high ♪ Oh, we're singing. Don't we cry out. We're singing. Oh, you are. Come on, everybody sing. ♪ Heaven and earth, all hail King Jesus ♪ ♪ All hail the Savior of the world ♪ ♪ All hail King Jesus ♪ ♪ And all hail the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ And all hail King Jesus ♪ Come on, sing to me. ♪ All hail the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ Oh, isn't he wonderful ♪ ♪ Isn't he glorious ♪ ♪ Isn't he powerful ♪ ♪ Oh, isn't he good to us ♪ ♪ Yeah, he's brighter than any sign ♪ ♪ So much greater than any storm ♪ ♪ Ever faithful forevermore ♪ ♪ Oh, let me see Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, isn't he wonderful ♪

♪ Isn't he glorious ♪ ♪ Oh, isn't he powerful ♪ ♪ Oh, isn't he good to us ♪ ♪ He's brighter than any sign ♪ ♪ He's greater than any storm ♪ ♪ He's faithful forevermore ♪ ♪ Oh, let me see Jesus ♪ ♪ From every people and tribe ♪ ♪ To every nation and tongue ♪ ♪ He has made us a kingdom of praise to God ♪ ♪ To reign with his song ♪ ♪ From every people and tribe ♪ ♪ To every nation and tongue ♪ ♪ He has made us a kingdom of praise to God ♪ ♪ To reign with his song ♪ ♪ From every people and tribe ♪ ♪ To every nation and tongue ♪ ♪ He has made us a kingdom of praise to God ♪ ♪ To reign with his song ♪ ♪ From every people and tribe ♪ ♪ To every nation and tongue ♪ ♪ He has made us a kingdom of praise to God ♪ ♪ To reign with his song ♪ ♪ Is he worthy, is he worthy, is he worthy ♪ ♪ Of our blessing and honor and glory ♪ ♪ Is he worthy, is he worthy, is he worthy of praise ♪ Come on, let's go with the tune. ♪ He is, he is, he is worthy, he is worthy ♪ ♪ He is, oh yes he is, he is, forevermore we sing, oh ♪ ♪ He is worthy, he is worthy, he is worthy, he is ♪

Amen, amen church. Aren't you so glad you don't have to negotiate? You don't have to swap habits. Jesus paid it all. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. That's what we're praying for you this week. I want to give you two challenges. One, you should do what TJ said. If you're not in a disciple group, when you... who leave today. There's men and women in the lobby, and there's hosts online. You need to get some people in your life to remind you of that. The second challenge, Pastor Britt, you should do the TikTok video. I think we all agree. We love you like crazy, church. We'll see you next week. Be free. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪