God's Vision Will Change Everything – Are You Ready?

Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast.

We hope today's message is encouraging to you.

Well, today is Vision Sunday. Everyone say vision.

Yeah, Vision Sunday. What I hope to do today, the

goal of today is to show you what I believe the Lord has

given to us to give to you and really beyond you to give to you

so that you would give it to the region.

It doesn't end with us. The purpose of those people

around us, we just happen to be God's useful servants.

And not only just to tell you what the vision is, but also

tell you why vision matters and how to get it today so that you

don't just hear vision for my mouth for you.

You hear vision for yourself and for your relationships.

As I do every year, I went away in August for a week, a week

away, and I got a chance to pray with the Lord, worship the Lord,

speak to the Lord, mostly listening to the Lord, and I

repeatedly ask questions like God, what is it that you want

for the people? What is it that you want us to

grow? And what is it that you want us

to know so that our knowing becomes doing?

The most important question and the most often question I ask

is. God, what's the desire of your

heart like? Just reveal your heart to us so

that we can go and reveal your heart to others.

Like what is on your heart and mind?

Put it in my heart and mind so that I can put it on other

people's hearts and minds. And so he spoke.

He always does. He's never not speaking.

The problem is we're not listening.

Even in the 400 years of silence, do you think that God

was silent or the people were deaf?

Just wondering. So why does vision matter?

Well, this is the. Season turn to the calendar.

Everyone's thinking it's time to it's time to start something

new. We make these resolutions.

You know what resolutions are? They're vision.

Resolutions are vision. You say I want to see this in my

life, so I make this resolution so I can see this happen in my

life. It's vision.

But I want to tell you, and I say this gingerly to you, I

don't mean this to hurt. Anybody's feelings are hard.

But there's only one kind of vision that actually produces

that's actually effectual. You can find this in the

scripture. I'm going to show it to you in a

second. But it's a famous scripture, so

famous that people quote it not even knowing that it's

scripture. It's said in like CEO

boardrooms, you know, like the director, the whoever's the

leading the organization. They say these words.

People say it over themselves. But the familiar phrase is this

where there is no vision, the people perish.

You ever heard this before? Have you ever heard this before?

Yeah, so people say it. They look in the mirror like,

man, if I don't get a vision for my life, I'm just going, it's

not going to go well. If we have a vision for this

organization, it's going to go off the rails.

And we need vision, vision, vision.

And so organizations make vision statements.

You make vision statements, we call them resolutions or vows or

whatever you want to call them. We make them all the time.

But where the vision is, where there's no vision, the people

perish. That's from the King James

Version, and I don't think that they got it right.

Can I say that? I think they're missing an

incredibly important word that the English standard version,

the translation of the Bible called the ESV gets exactly

right because they add 1 adjective 1 adjective.

I want you to see it. Proverbs chapter 29 verse 18.

Proverbs 29:18

Look at this where there is no prophetic vision ever.

Go the people. Cast off restraint, but blessed

is he who keeps the laws. Did you see the adjective?

Come talk back to me church where there is no prophetic

vision, Prophecy, meaning from the Lord's mouth to us, the Lord

speaking to us through his word, through his Spirit, through

other believers full of the Spirit.

This prophetic word coming to us, it is from the Lord and from

the Lord only. It's not from a self help book

or a self help podcast or from any social media influencer out

there who's trying to disciple you with the rubbish vision that

is Spirit aided. And able to be accomplished with

the God of the impossible is vision that comes from the Lord.

All other visions you wonder why your resolution sometimes don't

work as because maybe they're not from the Lord and maybe

they're not spirit aided. And so even before you begin,

it's not going to work out. In the first service they told

me resolutions last usually till January 6th.

That's Tuesday. What's up with that?

It says that without prophetic vision.

So even if you have just earthly vision, that's without prophetic

vision. Without prophetic vision, people

cast off restraint. The old King James Version says

that where there is no vision, the people perish.

And it doesn't mean physical death, although it can be that.

It's more spiritual death, mental health death going

downhill. The people lose their minds.

To cast off restraint is to have no self-control.

It's what happened way back in the book of Exodus.

Moses, who's the leader of God's people, if you're not familiar

with the name, he's leading 2 million people.

They've been in slavery for 400 years and God empowers Moses to

lead them out of slavery. He leads them out and then they

come to the Red Sea. They got the army of Pharaoh

coming to chase him down and kill him and the the Red Sea

here and Moses through God's power parts the Red Sea.

They walk through the Red Sea, then the water, the Red Sea

crushes Pharaoh. You remember the story, the

Prince of Egypt. And then they get to the other

side and then Moses goes to Mount Sinai.

It's covered in cloud and Thunder and lightning.

God says Moses come up here and Moses goes up Mount Sinai to do

what? To receive vision, to hear from

the Lord, to inquire of him in his his temple.

This holy Mount Sinai. The rest of everybody else is

down in the valley, and as of yet they don't have vision.

So what happens down in the valley?

They cast off restraint. They go bonkers.

The reveling and the partying and Moses comes back down and

boom, the people have. Taken their gold, melted it down

and make a baby golden calf. A baby golden calf?

Is that redundant? Aren't all calves babies and

they're worshipping it? Can you imagine Moses, or even

more so the Lord God? Like, didn't I just get you out

of slavery and part the sea and now you're worshipping this cow?

You know the cows name Chick-fil-A.

That's not in the notes, clearly.

Yeah. They cast off restraint.

They lost their minds. They lost their self-control.

The people were perishing in that way.

Now, On the contrary, look at the rest of the scripture says.

But blessed is he or she who keeps the law.

Blessed Order and life come from the law.

Order and life come from the words that proceed from God's

mouth. This word right here, which has

been given to us so that we could live rightly.

Let me, let me say it to you this way.

Any anybody drive in here like a vehicle, a car.

Remember, we're, we're talking back today.

Yeah. OK.

Praise God, we're talking back every Sunday.

By the way. Can I count on you?

Can I count on y'all? How about y'all students?

Can I count on you? Hey, that was pretty, pretty

energized, you know. Can I count on the mezzanine

students? You want a second chance, huh?

Are there people in overflow? Overflow.

Can I count on you? Was that a sheep?

What was that? We are so lost.

OK, back to driving. Imagine with me.

You're driving. But it is a night, OK?

And at night you're driving and there you're going down the road

and another car comes in this direction.

This happened to you if you're a driver.

And suddenly their headlights, whether or high beam or not, you

come around a curve, whatever happens, at one point they're

pointed directly in your eyeballs.

Your pupils are huge, or they go shrink, dilate or whatever

happens. And you're like, I can't see.

And you're moving at a rapid speed.

You're thinking I'm in a car that's going to crash.

So when I was in driver's Ed class, I learned something way

back in 1990 if you want to do the math.

They said, hey, anytime you get blinded and you can't see, just

look for the stripe. You know what I'm talking about,

the stripe on the right. And if you follow the stripe on

the right, it will guide you to safety.

You already know what I'm trying to say.

Can I get kind of cheesy preachy with you?

We're talking back when life tries to blind you, when the

distractions come, when the defeats come, they're in the

fullness of the view of your scope and they're blinding you

right here. The Lord has given us a stripe

on the right that if you will look to the stripe on the right,

it will guide you to safety. Without the stripe on the right,

you're going to lose your bearings, lose your ability to

know which way is which, and the car you cast off your strength

be crashing, your life can be crashing.

The stripe on the right is God's word, and God's word is vision.

I'll say to you another way. And in our lives, we often do

look for vision. And we say, God, what do you

have for me? What do you want me to do in

this situation? What do you want to do with my

life? How do you want me to spend

2026? And he says, I'm glad you asked.

Here's the answer. No, no, God, I know you have the

Bible, and the guy on Sunday will teach me the Bible.

But I'm asking you, what's your vision for my life?

I've given it to you, you, you want a new word and you're

forsaking the always word. Thank you brother.

It wouldn't shouldn't surprise us that when we seek vision and

often just sound like scripture, it will often just be scripture

and use the word just feels like it's demeaning to the word of

God. In a world full of self help

visions. This proverb, proverb 2918

redirects us that true life, true order, true blessing and

happiness comes from the word of God.

Not our own dreams, not our determination to change what we

see in the mirror, but straight from the lips of God.

Keep the law in 2026 and you will live holy, Holy New Year.

Now back to the vision that God has given to illuminate church.

What I heard when I went away in August that he's been kind of

speaking over and over again from that day till this day

here. And it shouldn't surprise you

that the vision is Scripture. There.

If you would turn with me in your Bibles to Philippians

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 is where we're going to be.

If you need a Bible, just raise your hand and one will appear in

your hands out of heaven from one of the ushers.

You can keep that Bible. Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

It's one of the letters that Paul wrote to the churches.

Corinthians then you get Galatians, Ephesians,

Philippians, Colossians. I memorize that by saying go eat

popcorn. Just helping you out so you can

know your Bible. Galatians, Philippians,

Philippians, Philippians. Chapter 3, we're going to read

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

what Jesus was speaking through Paul to the church in Philippi,

verse 17. Are you ready to say yes, join

together and following my example, Paul says, brothers and

sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on

those who live as we do. In other words, he's saying this

is the vision. You see how we live, live like

us according to the law. For as I've often told you

before and now tell you again, even with tears, many live as

enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction,

their God is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.

Their mind is set on earthly fangs.

Paul is echoing a sentiment of Proverbs chapter 2918.

Where there is no vision, the people will perish.

Their destiny is destruction. Do you see the similarities?

We're talking back. Paul is doing some reverse

engineering here. He tells us the end and then he

tells us how it happens. The end is destruction,

destruction of your peace, your relationships, your mental

health, all of it. And how did it happen?

He says three ways and they're kind of all the same, just

different so that we get the full picture.

He says first, their God is their stomach.

The Israelites built a golden calf.

He's saying that most people in the world and the time of

Philippi, and I would dare say today, their God is not the

golden calf, that God is a stomach.

For some people, literally the stomach, but in general what he

means is the desires of the flesh.

I have made the desires of the flesh my God, and whatever's my

God orders my life. So whatever my flesh is crying

out for is going to order me, help me make my decisions, help

me tell me where to spend my money, help me tell me where to

spend my time based on who my God is.

And so if my God is my flesh, then my flesh is telling me what

to do. This is the instant

gratification culture. This is where flesh overcomes

spirit. And can I just do a side note

here until you come back next week, because next week we're

going to talk about fasting. And fasting is this incredible

tool that God has given us to help us learn that our Spirit,

His Spirit can overcome our flesh and He's given us a tool

to do it. So if you're struggling with the

flesh. You're constantly sinning and

you don't, you know you don't want to be.

You keep going back and back and back again.

It's because your flesh is telling your spirit what to do

and fasting will the Spirit will tell your flesh what to do.

We'll come back next week. You hear more?

He goes on to say their glories and their shame, meaning that

they were boasting in the disgusting practices as if they

were good. Look at these terrible things

we're doing as an affront to God.

Check us out. Aren't we awesome?

Let me blast it so the whole world can see my debauchery.

I'm proud of it. Their glories and their shame.

What we boast about often reveals our true identity, not

our true identity. Because your true identity is

Christ. Followers is in Christ.

But the enemy wants to confuse your identity and make you

believe a lie. What are you boasting about?

The things of heaven or the things of earth.

And then he finally says their mind is set on earthly things.

Very similar to the last two. I have this obsession, this

fixation with the things of the earth.

They drive me. Money, power, lust, ego, greed,

comfort, they drive me. Just want to do a little litmus

test today. How can you know what your life

boasts about and what your mind is set on?

What could you? How can you tell?

I mean, certainly you could ask somebody, but you could just

find out for yourself by looking at two things.

Number one, your checking account, see where your money

goes. That's what's important to you.

And #2 y'all love me? Will you still love me in 20

seconds? Look at your social media feed.

What are you boasting about? Because that's where we boast.

That's modern day boasting, right?

Social media. Show the best, hide the rest.

You heard it before. And so it's not a problem to use

social media to share what's happening in your life.

Here's where we went. Here's my fitness journey.

Here's what I'm changing to my outfit.

My fit check. Is that.

Is that a thing? My daughter was looking at me

like, shut up, dad. Shut up, dad.

Is that if it's fit check a thing?

OK, Bless you. But isn't Jesus part of your

life? Hope you said no, Jesus is not

part of your life. Jesus is the essence and the

fullness and the all-encompassing thing in your

life and yet your social media says nothing about him.

Are we ashamed of him? Are we boasting about him?

Do you still love me? Your social media feed will tell

you what you're boasting about. Does it say that you boast about

heaven or do you boast about earth?

Do you boast about God's Kingdom or do you boast about yours?

Now look at the juxtaposition. Paul goes on and he gives us

verse 20. This is the verse for the vision

of illuminate church. But our citizenship, say our

that's us, is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior

from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that

enables him to bring everything under his control, will

transform our lowly bodies, Hallelujah, so that they will be

like his glorious body. We're looking for physical

transformation. And Jesus says, follow me and I

will make the transformation that you really need.

He also says this. There's one place where the

Savior comes from, the Kingdom of heaven.

And we eagerly await the Savior from there.

The Savior. Is not the person looking at you

in the mirror? The savior Is not the person

sitting in the White House? The savior is not your favorite

football team, your Hollywood idol, your social media

influencer. There's only one savior, and he

does not come from earth. He comes from another Kingdom, a

glorious, holy Kingdom. And Paul says when you believe

in him, you become citizens of that Kingdom.

Do you know, maybe you got tripled dual membership or

citizenship, but if you only have one country that you're a

citizen, you actually have dual citizenship.

Your country of origin, USA for me.

And now I'm also a citizen of heaven, OK?

More about that in a minute, but I got to tell you this what Paul

is saying in this letter to the specific locale of people, it

matters intensely. It's no small thing.

Philippi was this Greek city that was led by ruled by two

guys named Brutus and Cassius. Anyone remember these names?

Yeah, in history, Brutus and Cassius at Tubutte remember this

line. These are the guys that stabbed

Julius Caesar in the back. A friend of theirs, but they

took him down and now they're leading Greece and they're

leading the city of Philippi. And along comes a Roman emperor

named Octavian, whose name eventually becomes Augustus

himself. And he defeats them and takes

over this Greek city called Philippi, a very important trade

city along the Via Ignatius, this important Rd. trade Rd. in

the old way, back when days. And he makes this proclamation.

I have to read it because it's not in English, but he says of

this area of land, he granted the area of land the title of

Eus Italicum. It's in Latin, the highest

status for a provincial colony, making this colony equivalent to

Italian soil, so that the people that live there now have become

Romans, which doesn't matter very much to us, but to them

it's like one in the jackpot. Rome was the jam.

Rome had everything that all the other countries didn't.

The best education, the best armies, the best

infrastructures. You all heard about the roads

that Rome built, the best wealth, the best buildings and

architecture, the best entertainment.

According to them, the best of the best of the best.

Everybody shouldn't say everybody.

A lot of people wanted to be Romans, just like a lot of

people want to come into the United States of America.

Do you understand? Do you understand?

And so these people were delighted to be Romans.

But the interesting thing is they're 1000 miles from Rome.

It's not like Rome just took over a little part of their

country and just added another little part to the what was

already here. There's 1000 miles away.

That's the distance between here and New York City, roughly.

We getting back and forth to New York City in 2 1/2 hours on a

plane ride. We go up there, eat Magnolia

Bakery. Chocolate cake, anybody?

Glory to God, you'll try and you'll you'll see heaven and if

you get a lot of it you'll see heaven quickly. 1000 miles away.

2 1/2 hours for us by planes, 8 weeks for them by foot, donkey

and boat. So it's worlds apart.

Didn't have any telecommunications.

The only way that a letter gets there is by 8 weeks foot, donkey

and boat. But yet in this little section

of Greece that's now Roman, these people are Romans.

The laws, the customs, the practices, the protection, the

affluence, all of it is given to them.

All rights and privileges, all the way where they lived as

Romans even though they were far away from their homeland.

And Paul says, I'm glad you like your Roman citizenry, but I have

something better for you. That same mindset that you have

as being Romans here now transfer it to the Kingdom of

heaven. And they're like, but we love

being Romans. We.

Proudly stand up next to you and Defenders Still Day.

Now listen, I'm not making a political statement here.

I love our country. My dad was in the Army 26 years,

my grandfather in the Air Force for 20 plus years.

I'm as patriotic as they come. This isn't really about the

United States at all. It's about earth and about

heaven. And we have been indoctrinated

with earthly citizenship as if it's paramount when Jesus has

given us heavenly citizenship. And here's what Here's why that

matters. Earthly citizenship is binding.

Heavenly citizenship is free. Earthly citizenship looks like

walking in darkness. Heavenly citizenship looks like

walking in light. Earthly citizenship looks like

walking in limited power. Heavenly citizenship looks like

walking in unlimited power. Riches of heaven, Presence of

God. Where am I at?

Here's the vision for 2026 for Illuminate Church based on

Philippians chapter 3. We're going to eject our earthly

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

citizenship and embody our heavenly citizenship by knowing,

living and exalting the Word of God.

That's what we're doing. Paul contrasted earthly Roman

citizenship with heavenly citizenship so that he would

reorient the believers identity and allegiance.

And I believe God wants to do the same for us, that we would

reorient our identity and allegiance from being earthlings

to being my friend. In Texas.

He calls it Heva Kins. Pastor Juan Martinez, you

remember him, Doctor Love? He's got a whole shirt brand of

things. Like all Heva kins, we're Heva

kins members, citizens of heaven.

What I'm going to do this year is I'm going to open the Word of

God and ask you to BYOB, bring your own Bible.

To church with you every Sunday. Then when you're walking in,

everyone's got a Bible. Like this everyone like I got my

phone, like, you know, actually get a Bible, right.

The Bible's for convene. I mean, the phone's for

convenience. I use it sometimes.

I get it. I'm not anti phone on the Bible,

Bible on the phone, but have this and walk in with it.

And together we're going to open the word of God and we're going

to look inside and we're going to see what does it look like?

What are the rights and the privileges of a citizen of

heaven? That's what we're doing this

year. We're going to open the Word of

God together. You're going to open your word

and read it of it yourself and learn from it yourself.

What are the duties and obligations of a citizen of

heaven? What power rests on and moves

through a citizen of heaven? What should a city of heaven be

doing on a daily basis here on earth, not awaiting some grand

departure? What does that look like?

And we're going to be studying that in 2026.

The goal at the end of the year is that you understand God's

Kingdom even more and that you would reveal His Kingdom to the

earth because it's here and it's growing.

And it's our job to do that. How are we going to do that here

at Illuminate Church? For essential things that I want

to give to you today that will help us understand and embody

our identity as citizens of heaven #1 the local church is an

embassy of the heavenly Commonwealth, The Commonwealth.

That's not the name we use very word we use here in the United

States, so that it was used a lot in like Britain, those kind

of places. But it's commonly together.

We are wealthy together, specifically as citizens of

heaven. We are wealthy because of our

king, for he shares everything from his throne to us.

We share in this Commonwealth. The Bible teaches us in first

Peter that we are foreigners, that we are exiles on earth.

Some Bibles use the word aliens. You are ET as citizens of

heaven. The earth is no longer our home.

We are foreigners here. Yeah.

So what does that mean? That we are the Bible teaches.

I'm about to read to you that we are ambassadors from a foreign

land living here in Florida on mission.

Listen to the heavenly mindset here in Second Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 S from now on, we no longer regard anyone from a

worldly point of view, I've. Transferred my citizens to

heaven. I'm looking to the eyes of

heaven. Though we once regarded Christ

in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in

Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone, the

earthly has gone, the new is here, the heavenly is here.

All of this is from God who reconciled us to Himself through

Christ and gave us all the ministry of reconciliation, that

God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting

people sins against them. Hallelujah.

And He committed to us the message of reconciliation.

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were

making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's

behalf. Be reconciled to God.

Jesus reconciles us by his ultimate sacrifice on the cross.

We put our faith in Jesus and he forgives our sins.

The debt is paid, we are reconciled.

And then he says, now that that's happened for you and me,

go and make it apparent to others that they too can be

reconciled. And that's why we're called

ambassadors. He's given us a mission to

accomplish. Every ambassador has a home in a

foreign land, like in the Japan. There's the American embassy in

Israel and Jerusalem. I've seen it with my own eyes.

The American embassy sitting there, the home of the

ambassador, I just said the word 600 times.

Isn't is embassy? Embassies are places where two

things happen. Number one, in an embassy, even

if you're in another country, within the walls of the embassy,

the laws, the practices, the customs of that of your

originating nation are practice there.

So in Japan in November, the Americans are celebrating

Thanksgiving in the embassy. They're speaking English.

They're practicing American customs, and from that embassy

the ambassador fulfills the desires of the one who appointed

them. Translate that easily to us.

Here we are as foreigners in this land, and your embassy,

your local church, is Illuminate Church.

And in this place we will speak the laws, the language and the

customs. Of our homeland of heaven.

In this place we will together learn our mandate and mission,

the desire of the One who is sent us.

His name is King Jesus, or call him President Jesus.

You ever thought of him that way?

Because we don't understand kingship.

How about General Jesus? It's easy for me to understand

because my dad was in the Army. But when the general said move,

you moved and we moved. North Carolina, Alabama, Alaska,

Alabama, Kansas, Germany, another Germany, Texas, Alabama,

Florida. By the time I was 14, we haven't

left 1987, the general has assigned you to Central Florida.

Do you not see that? Do you not recognize that God

himself has said, I want you in Central Florida as my

ambassador? I picked you.

There's other people in other parts of the world and that's

their job. But Central Florida, the people

here that are perishing outside of the gospel are your

assignment. I'm entrusting it to you.

The general has spoken #2 corporate worship, rehearses the

values and languages, language of our homeland.

Just going to summarize this again.

In Philippians chapter 3 verse 20, the Apostle Paul reminds us

Philippians 3:20

that believers, their true citizenship is in heaven, and he

does it in Philippi, which is a Roman colony where residents

adopted Roman customs, language, values, despite being far from

Rome itself. Similarly, as citizens of heaven

living here, as colonists on earth, Christians, followers of

Jesus, are called to embody and practice the priorities, the

values of their eternal homeland.

Corporate worship. What we're doing right here and

right now serves as the key arena for our rehearsal,

practicing our values and our customs.

Corporate worship, gathering as a congregation to sing, to pray,

to rear. Read God's.

Word and participate in stuff like not stuff, ordinances,

communion, baptism. All of this acts as a foretaste,

a dress rehearsal for the eternal worship in heaven.

We're praise to God as the central activity of all

believers. Corporate worship is training us

to align with heaven's values. I'm going to give you 3 of

heaven's values that we're training for every time we come

together on Sunday mornings #1 is unity and diversity.

You say it. Unity and diversity.

Yeah, in heaven. Our homeland, what they do and

what we should be doing here is they worship involves a vast

multitude from every tribe, tongue, every people, every

nation. They're all joined together in

perfect harmony surrounding God's throne.

So earthly worship rehearses this by bringing together

diverse believers in one singular pursuit, one body,

fostering communal bonds, fostering mutual edification of

one another, which is completely countercultural to what's going

on in the world. Hey blacks, you stay over here

and be black. Hey Browns, Latinos, y'all over

here, stay to yourself. Hey whities y'all, keep inside

your boundaries. Do not intermingle.

In fact, if you do intermingle, the rest of your tribe is going

to be like, what are you doing? They're not us.

Now look around this room man.

May the silos that us humans put on ourselves be broken down in

the name of Jesus. One body, 1 Lord of all, every

tribe, every tongue, every nation.

And when we gather like this on a Sunday, we gather with people

that you might not normally gather with, and maybe that

changes for you and your normals change and you're gathering with

people, not colors. We rehearse that in here because

that's what heaven looks like, Holiness and worthiness focused

on Christ. This is the other value, another

value that we practice every time that we gather on a Sunday.

Heavenly values Center on the exclusive worthiness of the Lamb

of God, who receives all power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor,

glory, and blessing. Because of His sacrificial

redemption, He deserves it all. Corporate worship like this

rehearses by directing all attention to God's glory, to

Christ's work in the power of Holy Spirit.

We do this by confession of sin, by the proclamation of the

gospel, by the expression of gratitude, all of this

cultivating a heart posture, and all of us of reverence, a heart

posture of dependence that mirrors eternity's unceasing

adoration of the King. Can I just say this?

None of this is for us. We come here thinking that

church is something for me and all of this is for Him.

We're coming here to become better, not for ourselves.

It's a byproduct. God's goodness that He blesses

us and does things in our lives. But the purpose of all of this

is to give Him glory. That His name will be known,

that His name will be heard, That His name will be called

upon holiness and worthiness focused on Christ.

That's what we're doing when we come here.

When we come here, we also learn about the enthusiasm and longing

for God. Enthusiasm means in pheos, in

God. Unlike apathetic or

self-centered earthly pursuits, Heaven's worship is marked by

genuine, loud, go read your scriptures and eternal praise.

There's no mixture of boredom and no mixture of distraction

when we are at our on our knees in front of the Lord.

In corporate settings like this, believers together practice this

by passionately singing, by reading together the Word of

God, by collective amens. All of this builds a deep

satisfaction and all of us of God and his goodness as he

prepares us for that moment that we're with him face to face.

And when you're with him face to face, you can't help but

worship. You'll say holy, holy, holy, or

look away because he's too holy. Then you look back again.

You're like a holy, holy, holy over and over.

You'll be stunned by his glory the same way you feel every time

you see a sunset. You ever get bored like seen it

before? You're like, whoa, look at the

sunset. Imagine seeing God face to face.

I told you there's four things that are essential to us

becoming citizens are living out our citizenry is heaven #1 your

local church is the embassy #2 corporate worship we rehearse #3

Church discipleship mirrors Kingdom standards.

Write it down, you'll forget it by January 6th.

Church discipleship. Church discipline mirrors

Kingdom standards. Discipline is an undervalued

word in our generation. Would you agree?

Discipline, according to the deceiver, is going to cramp your

style, hem you in, bind you up. Discipline, according to the

deceiver, goes against the prevailing notion that you just

need to do what feels good for you.

Do it because it feels good. Consequences.

But discipline is a hallmark of the Kingdom of heaven.

It's why Jesus's followers are called disciples, because they

are disciplined to follow the rabbi.

It's why we exist at the church. We help people find abundant

life in Jesus. Yes, but how?

Make disciples not Christians, not church country clubbers,

people who follow Jesus. How?

Meet God. Discover who you are in Christ.

Become like Jesus and lead others to do the same.

Meet, discover, become, lead. You say it now.

Say it like you actually care about it.

Praise God. Matthew chapter 28, Some of

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Jesus's last words. Therefore, go and make

believers, Christians, churchgoers, disciples of all

nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son of the

Holy Spirit, and teaching them, disciplining them to obey

everything that I have commanded you.

And surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age.

Jesus says that our job on the earth, my job as a pastor,

certainly everybody's job together out in whatever place

you working or live in, is to teach people to obey this word,

to obey His commands, to follow Him with discipline.

The world reviles it. We will live by it.

I want to show you very briefly the series that God put on my

heart back in August for this coming year so you can get a

picture where we're going and how all of this ties together

with the citizenry of heaven. Amen.

The first one, which is the first thing and the massive

thing that we would be doing in heaven, is a series based on

worship called Abandoned. What would it look like if this

church was a worshiping church? And worship, yes, is singing,

but worship also, according to Romans chapter 12, is to offer

Romans 12 · chapter mention

your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to him.

This is your spiritual act of worship.

What does it look like? Sometimes I'm back behind the

platform here watching the TV screen of all the cameras

because I can't see you all because there's a curtain there.

You know what I'm talking about. And I watched the crowd.

And I think, man, I wonder if this congregation cares as much

about Jesus as they do about the Gators or the other teams that I

cannot mention. Not that team is especially not

that team. Yes.

Yep. Were you that loud for Jesus?

I'm OK. I believe you.

I believe you and you. It's an overstated point, but it

it's just so true. We show so much passion for so

many things. And we come in for the House of

the God and we stand like statues.

We're no different than the chair.

What if we, with great fervor, came to Sunday morning ready to

pour out our offering of praise to the Lord, and you couldn't

keep me quiet. You couldn't get me to stand

still because I have so much gratitude in my heart for the

Lord. What would that look like?

That's what that series is about.

I didn't mean to talk that much about it.

The second series is called Community, because guess what?

In heaven, you don't live by yourself.

You have brothers and sisters in this room, brothers and sisters

that you're still treating, I'm still treating like strangers.

That person sitting behind you never met, that's your brother,

that's your sister, actual family.

And the reason it says restoring original design is because you

were always built to live in community.

So if you're living outside community, you're not operating

in your original design. You're flapping in the wind.

We're going to we're going to talk about that Citizens of

Heaven together. Then we're going to jump into a

massively long series, maybe the longest 1.

You thought Weeds in my Garden was long?

Thank God for that series. Was that a great series or what?

Hallelujah. It's a series called Meta, and

it's not that meta. It's the meta narrative.

It's the singular story from Genesis to Revelation that God

has put together for our sake and for his glory that we might

understand what he's doing. It's a three-part series that's

broken down into miniseries, I guess you would call them.

The first one is called Faith Begins the Genesis Story.

The book of Genesis is so profoundly important to our

faith and our heritage. How did it all begin?

Why did it all begin? And what's been set in motion

from the very beginning? That's being fulfilled in our

time and will be fulfilled certainly at the end of times.

We need to understand these things.

Citizens of heaven should understand these things.

Then we'll move on to a series called The Kingdom Unveiled,

which is a study for the parables.

When Jesus speaks the parables, these are teaching stories.

That's what a parable is. He begins them the same way he

says the Kingdom of heaven is like.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like, and so as citizens of the

Kingdom of Heaven, we ought to know what the Kingdom of Heaven

is like. So we're going to study the

parables and understand this great Kingdom that we're a part

of. And then we get to the last part

of this long series, many series called The King is Coming,

Living in Light. Of the Book of Revelation.

There's a lady in one of our life step two groups.

She said, man, when churches start speaking about Revelation,

I get like hooky, spooky, weird, terrified.

A lot of people are terrified and confused by the Book of

Revelation and God said that all scripture is useful and we know

like 90% of the Bible, we get the Book of Revelation like I'm

out right. We're going to do a deep dive

into the Book of Revelation. Be praying for me in Jesus name

and then we have one final series after this called answer

the question because the citizens in heaven.

You ought to be able to tell people that you're king and

people are asking you whether you know it or not.

They ask in all sorts of different ways, Why'd you do

that? Why do you feel great?

Why are you able to keep your head up when things are so

negative? Why is your household so

peaceful? Why your kids turn out decent?

They're. Asking.

You the question and we don't know how to answer it.

We're an unequipped church. So we're going to equip

ourselves, let the Lord equip us through his word and be able to

answer the question. And then, then we'll have a

Christmas series, but only God knows what that is at this

point. In Jesus name.

I told you there was 4 things. This is your embassy, the local

church. This is the place that we

rehearse the Kingdom values, the Kingdom ideals of of heaven.

This is the place of church discipleship where we're going

to discipline ourselves in the Lord.

And then finally there's this. The Lord's Supper reinforces the

interim status of all of us as pilgrims until the day of his

return. First Corinthians Chapter 11

1 Corinthians 11:26

verse 26 says For whenever you eat this bread and drink this

cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Meaning that from crucifixion to final victory that this is our

story, this is our Savior, this is our singular focus, our

crucified yet risen King who will one day return.

We're just in the middle. Community can mean a lot of

things to a lot of people, but one thing it certainly should

mean is that it reminds you that the King is not done yet.

The story's not over. He shed his blood, He bought

victory over sin and death, and one day he will conquer it

forever. So many things that come along

with this that are just blessing after blessing after blessing

his return. If you need communion elements,

just raise your hand and we'll bring them to you.

Might have missed you at the door in the mezzanine.

We'll get you as well. We're coming to you, Bella

Varis. If you need gluten free

elements, just wash the window like this and we'll bring you

those. I want you to know, and I don't

mean this in any other way except biblically, that

communion is a privilege of the citizens of heaven.

The Bible makes it clear that it's for believers.

We have an open table, which means if you believe in Jesus,

there's no other rituals or rites or anything you need to go

through to celebrate communion. However, it's reserved for set

aside for believers. Now what kind of rude church

will we be to have communion and talk about the citizenry, the

Kingdom of heaven, and not give you an opportunity to believe

yourself, to join the family, to become a citizen of heaven, to

place your faith and trust in the one who paid the price so

that you and I can live forever more.

So if you would bow your heads and close your eyes, I'm.

Just going to have the whole church pray this out loud and

maybe you're praying this prayer for the first time to receive

Jesus as Savior. Church, say with me, Father, in

the name of Jesus, I recognize that I'm a Sinner in need of a

Savior. And today I confess and I

believe that Jesus is Lord. I receive him into my heart.

And I ask you, Jesus, to live your life through my life, all

the days of my life. Hallelujah, just with your heads

bowed, your eyes closed. Somebody here today is making

that prayer for the first time. You're like, yes, I'm crossing

the line of faith. I'm all in Jesus, I believe.

And if that's you today, I have something I need to give you,

and I need to give it to you now.

So I'm going to ask you to do 1 bold thing.

I'm going to count the three. And if you prayed that for the

first time, you're going to raise your hand as high as it

can go so that one of these ushers can give you something

that's crucial to get to you right here, right now, today.

Don't be ashamed. You just made the best decision

of your entire life. 123, anyone believing on Jesus for the first

time today, we're going to bring that to you right here, right

now. And even the balcony, the

mezzanine, come on. Excellent.

Bless you, God, if everyone now would stand with me as we

receive community together. If you want to go ahead and

prepare the elements, opening the top layer and the the juice

layer, be careful. Take the bread and hold it up.

Let's pray with our eyes open. Father, we bless you and thank

you for the bread. We believe that you're a broken

body healed ours, and we know that it was no easy sacrifice

for you. We remember that you were

crucified, but we also remember you're coming again.

To you be the glory we remember, and we thank you for the cup,

the cup of the New Covenant, for the remission of sins, for the

wiping clean of our slates. That our sins you remember no

more by the shedding of your Son's blood, we remember with

gratitude. Thanks for joining us today.

We hope God is speaking to your heart through this message.

If you'd like to connect with us, you can text connect to

407-588-0115 or visit Illuminate dot church.

Have a great week.