16th July 2023 Infill Service - Olu Osinoiki - Keeping Jesus Lord

Amen. Amen. So as Dave said, I'm olu. If anyone knows

Shalah, I am that wonderful man's son. So yes, I'm not afraid

to identify in that way. A lot of people, a lot of people

run away from that. No, but we love Dad and I get to

speak today, which is really exciting. I want to speak on keeping Jesus

Lord. So just a bit of context for who I am for those of

you who don't know me. I'm a youth pastor currently at an Elim church

in Bristol called E five and I've been doing that for the last few years.

And yeah, it's just a privilege to be here this morning. So

I'm going to start in Exodus fourteen Versus one to four. I just want

to read it. Yeah, it was when the Israelites were leaving Egypt.

Finally, if you're not familiar with the chapter. But then the Lord said

to Moses, tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pai Hiroth,

between Migdalol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea directly opposite

Bio Zephyon. Pharaoh will think the Israelites are wandering around around the land in

confusion hemmed in by the desert, and I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he

will pursue them, but I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all

his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. So

the Israelites did this. Amazing, isn't it that last line? So the

Israelites did this. For those of you online, you've tuned in this morning,

You've done that. For those of you that have come in to this

building, you've done that. You've decided that Jesus is your priority this morning.

So I've been reading through the Old Testament recently. I'm trying to do

It's not gonna be quite thirty days now, but I'm trying to do the

whole Bible in thirty days as to get that kind of macro view of what

God has done throughout the Holy Scriptures. And I learned a lot of things

from kind of this bird's eye view of the Bible, if you like,

and watching how people through Genesis have treated God as Lord and how they haven't,

and how that mirrors our own lives in very varied ways. So you

read about Cain. Cain is someone who offered sacrifices, but he did it

to keep up appearances. This is an example of doing the right thing for

the wrong reasons. And you see other leaders like Noah and Abraham, and

often they would want to see God's promises fulfilled, but they would do it

the wrong way. And there's this thing about being a human which means that

we can't follow Jesus perfectly. We often try to do the right thing for

the wrong reasons, and we often try to do the right thing the wrong

way. The only way is Jesus' way. The only way is Jesus' way,

and the only way that we can live for Jesus is with Jesus.

And I think too often we get into habits as Christians. We get into

this idea that actually, I know, I know, I know, I

know, I know because I've read, because I've been there, because I've

heard it before. But every day, every day, give us today our

daily bread. And I think that's the kind of mindset that God is calling

his church to, not to become experien sperience, or to become veterans,

or become know it alls, or become practitioners or experts, to become people

who keep Jesus as the Lord. That's why I'm titled this Keeping Jesus Lord.

It's one thing to accept Jesus's Lord, but to keep him there is

a different struggle altogether. So I want to tell my story a little bit

about how this has happened in my life, and I'm going to use it

in the context of my business, which is called Olimedia. It's a very

revolutionary name, but I'm a photographer and I do freelance portraits for people,

and straight out of Uni, I was making five figures and it wasn't an

amazing amount of money, but it was enough to sustain me. And for

me, that's a huge testimony because when I first came to E five,

my life was kind of in a bit of a messy place. I'd come

to university and I'd been in that mindset of I can do this, I

can sort this out by myself. I can figure it out, and it's

easy to get there. And I don't want anyone to feel shame, because

we're human and God already knows we're gonna fall down. So we need to

get over that a little bit and stop getting in our own way, but

leave the shame to one side and walk with God again. So that's what

I was doing in this season. I was back in church, and I

felt like this business had become kind of what's the word, It'd become something

I was too attached to, something I was struggling to let go of.

And I'm sure if we all stopped for ten seconds this morning, we can

think of one area in our lives that actually I should probably release that to

Jesus a little bit more. But there was one service. It was I

think it was the second service that I'd attended at E five, and they

were praying for people's businesses and people's creative endeavors and releasing that to the Lord.

And that Sunday I did. And I believe that's the reason that I

was able to make the money that I did make when I left university.

I think if I hadn't done that, the whole thing would have fallen to

pieces because I was striving and trying and rushing and hurrying, and all the

opportunities that came along the way, mentors, big contracts, things like that

all came because I was trusting each day that Jesus was the one filling my

cup. So I want to do an exercise with you later on, and

I'll for the introverts who need a bit more time to think, I'll prepare

you now. But we want to give Jesus lordship of one hundred percent this

morning. One hundred percent. That's the goal. That's the aim, and

there's something in your life each day. We've got to do it. Otherwise

that one hundred percent quickly becomes ninety percent, comes, eighty, comes,

seventy becomes fifty, start to feel empty, comes thirty becomes where is God?

It's a it's a slow process, but that bar goes down. So

let's let's keep that bar up this morning so you can start thinking about that

area. As as I read from Isaiah, who who was Isaiah? Isaiah

was a prophet. A prophet was someone who carries the message of God to

God's people. And I want to open Isaiah six versus one to seven.

I believe. But yeah, we'll start invest one in the year King as

I died, thank you. In the year King as I died, I

saw the Lord high and exalted. So my first point is here in the

year King Usiah died. For those of you online, you can reflect on

this as well. With us here in the room. Who's the king?

That's the question, who's the king in our lives? For many people,

materialism means that greed is the king. We need more money. We live

in a capitalist society, right earn as much as you can. Earn as

much as you can, even if it doesn't have a purpose anymore, just

keep getting money. We see this with big corporations. I saw a story

on LinkedIn recently. McDonald's they cut their sustainability commitments, things that they'd promised

their customers in order to give themselves a bigger bonus. And someone on the

board said, you know, this is a tough time for people. Are

we sure we should we should be doing this, And they went on to

be greedy and to acquire more money for ourselves. And I think it's easy

for us to judge people on a high level, but sometimes we're just as

guilty in smaller ways. So materialism is something that can really overcome us,

especially in this age of capitalism and humanism. It means that our ego is

king. We can be virtuous. We don't need Jesus, we don't need

the scriptures. And I'm not saying that anyone in this room wholeheartedly subscribes to

either of those philosophies, but at least I hope not. I know Dave's

are great passers, so I'm sure he's been teaching us not the way.

But it's easy to fall into cycles of those thoughts. It's still possible to

fall in to the temptation of those ideas. And for Isaiah, king Usiah

died and his world was rocked. And the way to identify a king in

your life is where your hope comes from. Sometimes we put our hope in

our own standards of virtue. Sometimes we put our hope in the money that

we've received. Sometimes we put our hope in the status that we have.

Sometimes, especially you know, people online, you might get this one.

If we are looking at our follow account, if we are looking at our

subscribers, if we are looking at how many people liked us. That's what

it is, not the posts. It's like do you like meat? That's

what it's really about, isn't it. And when we're rocked by those things,

it's an indication to us, a symptom that maybe their priority is too

high in our lives. And this is what happens to ours. I in

this very first verse, King Isiah died, this great leader for him,

someone who he really looked up to, you, you really respected. He

died and it made him contemplate, it made him think. I think it

caused him to be still. I think it allowed him to see who his

true king is. So the verse goes on to say, I saw the

Lord. I saw the Lord. This is my point. Your king needs

to die before you see the Lord. Your king needs to die before you

see the Lord. In twenty twenty two, twenty twenty one, even twenty

twenty, I really had a struggle with video games. Guys, video games.

I was in that season of my life where we were engaged and there

was a pandemic and there was loads of time and a big old screen in

my bedroom, and I spent a lot of time gaming. It was something

that initially was harmless, was just a way to pass time, but developed

into something that I depended on and I could tell because of that symptom I

was talking about. When I couldn't game, when I couldn't escape it all,

I felt uneasy, I felt rocked. I felt like something was missing.

And it might not always be as extreme as addiction. It might be

a person in your life, someone that you rely on heavily. If this

person stops giving me the affection that I need, how will I be okay?

And that's all right to an extent, because we're meant to do this

in community. But dependency is a different thing. Our dependency, our reliance

needs to be holy on the Lord. So as I saw the Lord because

he let his king die, and that's a holy moment. The verse goes

on to speak about holiness. I think it's verse two. The seraphim covered

their faces and hands and use wings to fly. God is too good to

behold. These seraphims are with God all the time, they serve him.

They're in the heavenly realms. They know who God is, they get it.

But still they cover their eyes, they cover their faces in the presence

of God. They can't acclimatize to that kind of glory. Verse three,

Holy Holy Holy. This kind of repetition was the way that Hebrews placed value

on something. Not only that, but theologians argue that this further evidence is

that God is three persons in one Holy, Holy Holy. But that repetition,

that value that's placed, that's something that we need to do today.

We can't get tired of those reps that repetition. God is holy, God

is holy, God is holy, God is holy, God is good,

God is just. God is loving in the face of trials, in the

face of things that want to make us believe otherwise, Repetition is a device

to keep Jesus Lord and relationship. You can use this illustration of unclean lips

to communicate many things about the character of God. But through verses five and

verses seven, today I want to highlight our relationship with God. Verse five

says about unclean lips. Woe to me, I cried, I am ruined,

for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a

people of unclean lips. And my eyes have seen the King, the Lord

Almighty. There is a distance that is created when we see God for who

he is naturally holy, perfect, righteous, an incredible standard that we could

never uphold. But if you skip verse six and come down to verse seven,

something wonderful happens with it. He touched my mouth and said, see

this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned.

For I believe this coal represents our relationship with Jesus, and this lordship

is not a lofty, dictatory, kind of oppressive situation that we're used to

seeing in the world. This Lord is actually he's still in charge, he's

still the top person. He is still a dictator, but he's a loving

one. And that's the difference. His grace is complete, his forgiveness is

complete, his love is complete. It's past anything that we can imagine.

And that's why it's so unfortunate that we would consider for even a second not

having him steer the boat of our lives. Although it's so easy to do.

When you come to this realization of holiness, this realization of a relationship,

why would you not run to the Father and have him guide and steer

you on all the things that you're so strongly attached to, On all the

things that you're struggling to let go of, On all the things that are

plaguing you and worrying you at night. This Lord wants to make you holy

and have a relationship with you. So I have a question that I want

us to meditate on. Can you slow down long enough to see who's on

the throne. It's something I actually want us to do. I think it's

easy to speak, it's easy to say the words, it's easy to remind

of the standard. It's harder to practice. So for genuinely, five whole

minutes, if you'll, if you'll indulge me and follow me in this exercise.

I want us to be still, and I'll put the timer on so

you know I'm keeping to my word. M But just five minutes to sit

and see who who is on the throne of our hearts? And where can

we make more room for Jesus. We thank you that you're always present.

We thank you that you're always with us. We thank you that you always

care, and we thank you that you're gentle and you don't force us into

relationship with you, but you invite us continually to pay cap our cross and

follow you. I don't know how I'm doing for time, but I have

a few more points, David, that's all right. This submission is is

the fight. Submit yourself, then therefore to God, flee the devil.

Resist the devil, sorry, and he will flee from me. Submit yourself,

resist, and he will flee. This promise of submission being the way

in which we resist, is so powerful to me in the season of my

life because increasingly. It feels like the dark spiritual forces of this world are

growing, int growing in popularity, growing, growing, growing, But we

need Jesus, We need the Father. We need the Father, and no

one gets to the Father except through Jesus. I think sometimes we face an

enemy we can't manage in our own strength, like the Israelites did when they

were fleeing Egypt. They were facing a mighty nation. Not only that,

but the trauma of having been enslaved, a wicked type of slavery. The

Bible says that they were under It's so powerful to leave someone who has abused

you. It's so powerful to have this strength to find freedom. And in

that moment, that strength came from a submission to exactly what God was saying.

If you go back to Exodus fourteenth, verses one to four, God

laid out his instructions to Moses in the final verse, verse four, so

that Israelites did this, did this. Obedience is such a powerful weapon in

a world that wants to be consumed by darkness more and more. The only

way to continue to be a light is to consecrate ourselves, is to set

ourselves apart and be completely unashamed in doing so, I'm not shamed of the

Gospel. It's the power of Christ to all men that may believe. And

I believe that more and more than ever, maybe in a world of people

who have loud voices, loud lifestyles, that our lifestyle should be the loudest,

in a world of white noise, that we would cut through with the

truth of the Gospel and the truth of what Jesus says. And recently I've

been struggling with this and wrestling with God, because even a simple thing like

an Instagram bio or your Facebook status is a way to cut through and bring

light and to just be a mouthpiece for God. And through our submission,

through our obedience, through our carrying the cross, we can bring light to

this world. And it's not in our own strength, and we don't need

to define the results. We just need to show up and let God work

and be amazed at how we are delivered from dark forces and the people that

we're praying for are delivered from the dark forces of this world. That people

are set free from sin, people are healed, That we prophesy and give

guidance to people's lives, We bring encouragement to their spirits when they're broken.

Church. This is who we're called to be. This is what we're made

to do. Everything else is an extra, everything else is a side hustle.

Our main job as Christians is to be disciples and make disciples, and

that's what we get to do. That's the privilege that we have when we're

in relationship with Jesus is he makes us holy and he gives us all the

tools and all the strength that we need. So I don't know if there's

anyone online or even in the building that's watching this. And Jesus is not

your king today, whether you strayed away from him, or you've never known

him, or this is your first meeting with him. We all come under

different categories, but those categories have the same answer in needing Jesus. So

I want to pray and close with this that if anyone needs Jesus to be

the Lord of their life, if any's tired of being ruled by or passion

or pride, that they would come and kneel before a holy God and receive

his forgiveness, receive his love, declare that he is Lord. Turn from

their old ways and follow a new way, empowered by a Holy Spirit,

and a loving Father and a sacrificial son, the ultimate Trier, the ultimate

God, the only one who offers us salvation through grace, not our own

works. And we thank you for that distinct difference, God, in who

you are and how you operate, and that we would continue to lean on

your grace as we submit to you in Jesus name. Any man, no,