A New Movement

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Today we're kicking off a brand new series called Ecclesia.

Can you just say that with me?

Ecclesia, it is the Greek word for what we call the church.

When Jesus named his new movement, he called it the Ecclesia.

Now, here's what I want you to do.

What picture comes to mind when you think about or hear the word church?

Take a moment.

What is that picture?

Visualize it.

Now, even distill it down into a single word.

What one word would you use to describe the church?

In fact, go ahead.

Why don't you just go tell your neighbor what that word was or what that picture is?

Take just a second.

There's a little slight murmuring.

We're starting to get it out.

You're starting to share it.

Okay, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

We're figuring each other out.

I gotcha.

Here's the interesting part.

When you hear the word church, depending on your background, depending on your experience, lots of different words come up.

Family, hope, home, life, Jesus, faith.

Some other words come up.

Maybe it's religion, maybe it's building, maybe it's institution, maybe it's hypocritical.

Maybe it's just an event.

Like you what literally you wouldn't say this, but is it just an event that happens on Sunday?

Regardless, here's what I'll invite us in.

Regardless of what word came into your mind, I believe that we actually have so much that Jesus longs for us to experience as a church.

What if our experience of church isn't fully what Jesus intended?

What if we settled for something less?

In fact, think about this.

What was the picture Jesus had in his mind when he established the church?

In our series, we're gonna ask and wrestle with how do we return to Jesus' vision for the church?

That's what this is all about, the ecclesia.

And I want to take you to the very first time Jesus ever uses the word church.

He uses the word ecclesia.

If we're gonna understand what was Jesus' picture for the church, we gotta go back to what Jesus said.

So if you got your Bibles, you can open up to Matthew chapter 16, verse 13.

Matthew 16:13

If not, it's in your notes, or you can follow along on the screen behind me.

We pick it up.

It begins this way.

This is really important.

We'll get to it in a minute.

He asked his disciples, who do people say the Son of Man is?

That's kind of like a key word or a way that he speaks about himself.

And they replied, some say you're John the Baptist, others say, oh, I just told others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

Jesus, he's this miracle worker, he's doing wonders.

It's amazing.

And then he's teaching with power and authority.

They're trying to figure out who is this guy.

Some are saying, John the Baptist.

Well, John was Jesus' cousin who got beheaded, you know, he's come back to life.

Or maybe he's one of these prophets of old, Elijah, Jeremiah.

The only way to explain what Jesus is doing is he is some prophet of old that has come back to life.

And then Jesus turns it.

Says, but what about you?

He asked, Who do you say I am?

It's not enough about what other people say.

And in fact, it's not enough what others think about me, but what do you say?

And then Peter steps up to the plate.

You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

This is something they whispered about.

Something they had conversations, I'm sure, in private about.

And then now, this in this moment, he gets the courage, the gumption, you are the Messiah.

And Jesus says, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was revealed to you not by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

I tell you, you are Peter.

And Peter's name literally means pebble or uh stone.

And on this rock, so Jesus has this wonderful little wordplay going on here.

I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it.

I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone he was what?

Isn't that the curious thing?

Peter gets it right.

He gets the answer right.

Who do people say?

You're the Messiah.

Peter, you didn't even get that on your own.

The Father told me.

Now don't tell anybody else.

Why in the world would Jesus say that?

Jesus' vision for the church.

How do we return to it?

And if we're going to return to it, we got to answer three questions.

This text uh answers for us.

First question number one is who is Jesus?

Question number two, what is the church?

And question number three, what is the purpose of the church?

If we want to return to the church that Jesus intended, the church that, by the way, was a just a fragmented group of misfits in an like obscure part of the Roman Empire of Palestine that ended up revolutionizing the world as we know it.

That church, if we want to return to that church, we gotta ask the question: who is Jesus?

What is the church according to Jesus?

And what's the purpose of the church?

First question: Who is Jesus?

Now remember, I said, had you repeat Caesarea Philippi.

Now, as you read the Bible and you see some of these locations and words, don't skip over them.

They're rich with meaning.

They don't just add these of, like, oh, this is a nice little place they visited.

It's actually shaped so much and impacts how we understand what Jesus is doing here.

Caesarea Philippi, located about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, was a city steeped in pagan worship and imperial power.

Jesus is on a staff retreat, and he's been doing most of his ministry right here in the Sea of Galilee.

Jerusalem's way down here.

That's the center of religious power.

And now he's starting to experience heat and pressure from religious leaders that is journeying on up to the Sea of Galilee.

They're plotting to murder him as a heretic right now.

And so he goes on a staff retreat 25 miles north from the Sea of Galilee, all the way up to Caesarea Philippi.

But what is notable about Caesarea Philippi?

Originally it's called Panaeus or Benius.

It was named after the Greek god Pan, who was the god of shepherds, fertility, and unrestrained desire.

His worship was marked by drunkenness, sexual immorality, and frenzied rituals in caves and forests.

This is like Jesus, or this is like today, us going on a church retreat to Las Vegas.

Okay.

In Panaeus, a deep cave and spring were believed to be the entrance to the underworld, locals called the gates of Hades.

Sounds familiar to some of the language he's teaching there.

Now, here's the interesting part.

The distinguishing feature of Caesarea Philippi, as you began to walk up to the city, was this massive, brilliant white marble temple that Herod the Great built in honor of Caesar Augustus.

He is blending his political loyalty with his religious devotion.

Then Herod's son Philip, he did even more work to beautify it and to expand it.

And so it is known as this place of both pagan worship and political power.

When Caesar Augustus became king, by the way, it instituted what was known as the imperial cult.

The imperial cult that they began to declare Caesar to be the son of God, the savior of the world, demanding loyalty, worship, and the confession that Caesar is Lord.

When a new Caesar ascended to power, a herald was sent with the edict throughout the entire Roman Empire.

And it was called the Uangelion or the Gospel, the good news.

And the Uangelian was sent to everywhere.

And this it was sent that all hell.

Caesar, son of God, Savior of the world, has ascended to the throne.

Does that sound familiar?

Yeah.

See, this language that we automatically just move to spiritual or religious is actually deeply revolutionary.

Peter shows up, the great confession.

Think about this.

This is amazing.

The great confession.

I can only imagine that the Caesarea Philippi is in the backdrop, this brilliant white marble temple.

Who do people say that I am?

And Peter steps up and says, You're the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and the shadow of empire, and the shadow of power.

See, Messiah or Christ, those are the same words.

One's the Hebrew word, one's the Greek word.

It's the same thing.

It means the same thing.

It literally means anointed one.

It always means king.

Messiah is God's final king.

The Jewish understanding of Messiah was that he would be a conquering king who would overthrow the established rule of Rome, the occupation of Rome.

They've spent 400 years, they haven't heard a word from God.

The people are desperate for someone to save them.

It's like a tenor box waiting to explode.

They're looking for anyone to follow.

He says, Don't tell anybody else I'm the Messiah because there's gonna be an uprising if they really believe in it.

He says, But you're the Messiah, you're the one that's come to redeem and restore us as a people.

It's political, it's a king.

Who do you say I am?

See, when you hear the word Christ or Messiah, I want you to replace it with the word king.

Christ is not Jesus' last name, it is his royal title, his rightful position in the universe.

Jesus Christ translates King Jesus.

That's it.

King Jesus.

And so who do you say I am?

Well, first, Jesus is not a personal messiah.

He's not just a personal messiah.

Peter didn't say, well, Jesus, you're my Messiah.

Oh, you know, you might not be everyone else's king.

You're not, but but you're my messiah.

You know, I really believe in you.

No, you are the Messiah in our hypo hyper-individualistic society.

What's true for you isn't necessarily true for me.

What's good for you isn't necessarily good for me.

Friends, Jesus is king, he is the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through him.

Jesus is good for every person on the planet.

Jesus is not just my personal Messiah, and he's not just a good teacher.

Listen, Peter didn't say, Man, you're a wonderful rabbi.

Think about this.

Jesus is renowned for his teaching ever since he was a kid in the temple.

They're like, in awe of his teaching.

Who do you say I am?

He didn't say, wonderful rabbi.

He's like, he didn't say, man, your TED talks are amazing.

We need to get your TikTok channel up.

It's gonna blow up.

You're not just a good teacher, and you're not just a spiritual life coach.

Because I think that's what we go to Jesus for.

He didn't say, Well, you're kind of a Yoda mixed with Tony Robbins, helping me live my best life.

What we need as the church is a vision of Jesus that is greater, that is grander, that is bigger than what we currently have.

Jesus is not just a kind man, a good teacher, or a picture of sacrificial love, the all true but woefully incomplete.

You can have good thoughts of Jesus that are incomplete of him.

And it is our small-minded thoughts of Jesus in the church that keeps us apathetic and anaemic.

Jesus, listen, Jesus is God's final King, Savior of the world, Son of the living God.

Period.

This is who we worship and gather to sing about on Sundays.

That is who we're singing about.

Jesus, King, holy, righteous, pure, almighty King who saved me, who came for me.

The way the Apostle Paul would say it in Philippians 2, he'd go this way.

He said, Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus.

Like you should put on the same attitude who, you know, being you know equal with God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but humbled himself, took on the very nature of a servant, became obedient even to death on a cross.

Then he goes on and says this therefore, in light of this, therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

That's what got Christians killed, by the way.

This is a polytheistic society.

You can hat believe in whatever God you want.

You can believe you are a God.

Who flippin' cares?

We don't.

But don't you dare not declare Caesar is Lord.

See, Christians, Christians would not bow the knee to Caesar.

They would not declare Caesar the Lord.

They said we have one Lord and King in the universe.

His name is King Jesus, and I bow the knee only to him.

And my tongue will confess in this life, but I know everyone at some point, whether in this life or in the next, we will all declare that Jesus is Lord.

We'll all come to that recognition.

And my hope and prayer, and their hope and prayer, is that every person would do it in this life.

The most important question in the world.

This is not like an overstatement.

The most important question isn't where you're gonna go to school, what your degree is gonna be, who you're gonna marry, what you're gonna do for work, will you be able to retire early?

Those are good questions, don't get me wrong.

They're not the most important question.

The most important question in all of the world is who do you say Jesus is?

How you answer it sets the very course and direction of your life and eternity.

Everything else flows from that.

How we function, what we do, what we think in response to who Jesus is.

And T.

Wright in his book, Simply Jesus, writes this.

Jesus, the Jesus we might discover if we really looked, is larger, more disturbing, more urgent than we, the church, have ever imagined.

We've reduced the kingdom of God to private piety and the victory of the cross to comfort for the conscience and Easter itself to a happy escapist ending after a sad dark tell.

Piety, conscious, and ultimate happiness are important, but not nearly as important as Jesus himself.

We want a religious leader, not a king.

Let me say that one more time.

We want a religious leader, not a king.

We want someone to save our souls, not rule our world.

Or if we want a king, someone to take charge of the world, what we want is someone to implement the policies we already embrace.

Just as Jesus' contemporaries did.

But if Christians do not get Jesus right, what chance is there other people will much bother with him?

So let me ask you.

Who do you say Jesus is?

Personally.

Not what others say about him.

Not what this guy up front's preaching about him.

But who do you say he is?

When I was 17, I had a life-changing encounter with Jesus, set the whole entire direction of my life.

I just want you to know, and my dad's sitting right there, so I gotta be honest.

I didn't want to be a pastor.

I saw him do that, it looked hard.

I'm not a pastor because it's the family business.

I'm a pastor because I had a life-changing encounter with Jesus that forever changed my life, and I want everybody else to have that same encounter.

I was 17, I'm in the middle of a field, and it's landscaping, and I encountered Jesus.

Now, at that time I grew up in the church.

I could answer the right answers.

I lived a double life.

I lived one way at school and one way at church.

In fact, there was a friend that showed up to church, saw me, and said, Huh, I didn't know you were a church-going person.

Like, oh, that hurts.

And then there's a moment, there's a moment where you encounter the king and you get a vision of him, and you experience his love and his kindness and his overwhelming grace, and you bend the knee and say, I'm all yours.

And you know what happens when that happens?

Like you can't stop talking about them.

Like you just start telling everybody, that's what I started doing.

I just started telling everybody about Jesus.

17-year-old Ryan at high school, just telling everybody about Jesus.

You know what happened to?

Man, that's when worship just took off in my life.

By the way, you'll always be able to tell what a church thinks about Jesus by the way they worship and the way they witness.

Who do you say Jesus is?

For some, you've been through the good teacher, the sacred buddy, you've been through all these life coach areas, and today is the day in decision of your heart as we continue, even as I talk, you can check out and go, Jesus, today I make you Lord of my life.

You are my king.

You have given everything to me.

You gave your very life.

You are the most trustworthy being in all of the universe.

How could I not give you everything in return?

First question.

Who do you say Jesus is?

Question number two.

What is the church?

If we're gonna return to Jesus' vision for the church, we have to have a grand, beautiful, big, accurate picture of Jesus.

And then we have to understand what Jesus meant when he said the church.

He says, I tell you, you're Peter.

And on this rock, I will build my what?

Church.

Let's try that again.

We I know you're with me, but I just didn't feel it, you know.

I'm Peter, and I will build my church.

Thank you.

The word ekklesia, it's the first time we see it.

It simply means assembly or gathering.

It's a compound word of.

Two Greek words, ek meaning out, kaleo meaning to call.

It literally means the called out ones.

In classical Greece, this is how it was used in ancient Athens.

It was a political, excuse me, guess not, a political civic assembly of citizens shaping the city and influencing culture.

This, by the way, by the way, ecclesia is not a religious word.

A political civic assembly of citizens shaping the city and influencing culture.

Doesn't this start to make sense?

Jesus' central message was the kingdom of God.

He is the king, and this new movement is the ecclesia, the assembly of citizens ushering in the kingdom.

In the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, this happened around 200 BC before Christ.

Ecclesia is the primary word used to translate the Hebrew word kahal, which refers to the covenant nation of Israel gathered to worship and obey God.

There is some religious or theological undertones here, but it's actually about the nation of Israel.

The nation that was a called-out people to be a blessing to all other nations.

Now Jesus is saying he is building his own people of called-out ones.

When Jesus said, I will build my church, he wasn't talking about a building, a brand, or a once-a-week gathering.

He wasn't thinking of pews or pulpits.

When Jesus used the word ecclesia, he was thinking of a people summoned, empowered, unleashed to shape the world through the ways of the kingdom.

He wasn't, by the way, starting a new religion.

He was launching a revolution, a new way to be human.

And this is amazing.

The context, remember, Caesarea Philippi, in the shadow of empire.

The kingdom of God is breaking forth under the noses of the kingdoms of this world.

So what is the church?

First, the church is Jesus established.

I will build my church.

He started it, he gets to define what it is.

It is his church.

You don't talk about I go to so-and-so's church or so-and-so's church.

I go to the church that Jesus founded.

I'm part of his church.

Secondly, it's Jesus centered.

It's all about him, it's all because of him.

He is King Jesus.

And our goal here isn't to be the coolest church in town, it is to make much of Jesus to introduce you to the one who changed my life and so many others.

Jesus established, Jesus centered, and then Jesus built.

Let's sit on this for a second.

Who is building the church, by the way?

Yeah, so here's a little cheat code, by the way, if you never grew up in Sunday school.

Like if you don't know the answer, you just say Jesus, and it's generally right.

You know?

So who is building the church?

Yeah, fantastic.

You're amazing, A plus.

I will build, in fact, the emphasis in the Greek here is literally my own church.

It's possessive.

I'm building it.

Jesus is building the church, and the question then, you know, throughout history is what does it mean, you know, upon this rock, you know, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build the church.

Well, if you grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition, uh, they would say, well, Peter is the rock and he is the first pope.

And if you grew up in the Protestant tradition, they said, no, no, Peter's not the first pope.

It's it's actually the confession.

He said, you know, you're the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

He's building his church on that confession.

And then others have said, well, actually, Jesus said, He's the rock, he's the cornerstone, he's making this, you know, parallel, Peter the pebble, right?

And this rock, this stone.

Well, what is it?

Well, let's let Peter tell us.

First Peter 2, he says, This, as you come to him, Jesus, speaking of Jesus, the living stone, hmm, rejected by humans, but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering sack spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

You know what Peter would say?

Not A, B, C, D, all of the above.

Peter would say, Jesus is the foundation who's built uh on whose the church is being built, and it's building his church of those who confess him as Lord.

And Peter has the honor of being the first stone Jesus picked for building his church.

It's Jesus built.

And so we're a part of something that he's doing, not we're doing.

And then finally, it's Jesus empowered, the keys of the kingdom.

Keys is about authority and access.

Jesus would say this in Acts 1.8.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses.

Like the church is the Jesus-empowered community of saints who are following him that lean in and realize, you know what?

It's all about him, it's all because of him, and I have all authority in heaven and on earth because he has given me the keys, the access, and the authority.

He's given me his authority.

And so we need a confident church that steps into the areas of our world, the areas of our uh college campuses, the areas of work, and I step into that place, not cowering or scared.

Certainly there's times for that, but I realize I am a Jesus-empowered follower, and He's given me the keys, He's given me access and authority.

And if I would just have that vision, I wonder what might happen in the world.

And said we often retreat back.

So what is the church?

The church is the subversive kingdom community living under the reign of King Jesus.

It's counterculture, it's this kingdom community who live and operate under King Jesus.

In the early church, there were these distinctive marks that defined them, that set them apart from every other gathering or group.

It was their radical generosity, their bold faith, and their sacrificial love.

Their radical generosity, their bold faith, and their sacrificial love.

In fact, we'll take the rest of the series.

We're gonna spend six weeks unpacking two weeks on each of these: radical generosity, bold faith, and sacrificial love.

They're the things that when you thought of the church, they're the things of the early church that jumped to mind.

This is what marks a follower of Jesus.

I was talking with my kids um last night, they kind of dared me, challenged me, and I tried at first service.

I don't know if it landed.

I'm gonna try it again.

Um, but I have something that is a distinctive mark.

Uh, and if you haven't met me before, uh, I don't normally wear a hat.

Okay, I normally have hair.

In fact, my hair is a distinctive mark.

I got a little bored uh this last week, and I here's the crazy part.

Here, I will walk past people I've known for years and they won't even acknowledge me.

Like, like won't even say I'm like, hey, and they're like, and they just come and walk on.

Like the distinctive mark for me is my hair, not me.

And I would just wonder, I'll put this back on, I know it's distracting.

I just wonder if we've missed the distinctive mark.

And oh, that we would return back, that we'd be a church of radical generosity, we'd be a church of bold faith and sacrificial life.

Three questions.

Who is Jesus?

What is the church?

And oh good, I left me four minutes for what is the purpose of the church.

Last service I only had two.

What is the point of it all?

Jesus said, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

The gates of Hades, remember, where are they?

Where are they?

Caesarea Philippi.

Hometown of the god Pan, right?

Believed to be this deep cave.

They had this deep cave that had down below it this massive like pool of water.

And in their minds, this was the entrance to the underworld.

And they called it the gates of Hades.

So when Jesus says this, what is he meaning?

The first thing that comes to mind is the power of death.

He says, the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

The greatest enemy that we've faced is death itself.

It has been victorious over and over until one.

And one person defeated the grave, and because he is the first fruits, then every person that follows in his ekesia are grave defeaters.

The death, the grave, no longer holds its power or its sting.

And then it also means the powers of evil.

We live in a fallen, broken world.

You look around and it's so easy to see.

Like just to feel overwhelmed and see evil on display.

The scripture talks about principalities and powers of this dark realm.

Now, here's what's interesting.

Are gates defensive or offensive?

Help me out.

Defensive.

So in Jesus' mind, the gates of hell.

Think about this.

He is talking about a called-out community that is storming the gates of hell.

Why?

To bring life, to bring hope, to bring rescue, to be a called-out people that rescue other people from the clutches of destruction and dismay.

When you see all the world around you, you just don't throw your hands up and go, oh well, sucks to be them.

I wish to have a better life.

You go, I'm a called-out one by the name of Jesus, full authority.

I am a church.

I am the Ecclesia with his collective group, and I'm called to be light and love.

The purpose of the church is to advance the kingdom of heaven here on earth.

The church is God's game plan for reaching the world.

There is no plan B.

And so what do we do?

We gather to worship.

We do.

We worship King Jesus to be formed by his word.

And then we scatter as ambassadors, bearing witness to the gospel and joining his work of renewal and restoration.

We gather, we do this.

But the problem is when we do this, we think church is over.

And we tell people, oh, I well, maybe you don't in Silicon Valley.

I went to church.

Um, yes-ish.

See, what happens is the minute we say amen, we leave, the church doesn't stop, the church is on the move.

Because you are the church, we are the church.

We gather to worship King Jesus, to hear and learn from his word, and then we scatter, we go, we are sent ones to bring healing and hope to the world around us.

And so the church is not a club or a holy huddle.

Some people think we should retreat from the world, create our own little safe environment.

It's a big, bad world out there.

I need our Christian Christian bubbles.

We do need space.

But we're sent ones.

It's not a club or a holy huddle.

Jesus said, You're the salt and light.

It's time once more for the ecclesia to be culture shapers and city influencers, not to reflect culture around them, not to retreat from it, but to influence it in the name of Jesus.

The church is not a religious organization either.

It's a rescue operation.

Do you ever wonder why, like you get saved and you don't just get zapped to heaven?

My gosh, that would be so much easier, wouldn't it?

No, it's not just this religious organization, it is a rescue operation.

The apostle Paul would say, he's given us the ministry of reconciliation, and that you're an ambassador, a representative, drawing others to Christ.

And the church is not a spiritual support group either.

Yes, the church is the kingdom community that builds one another up, encourages, exhorts, grieves, and rejoices with one another, but we've subtly turned it into a place that exists to meet my needs and help me feel good.

The church is the hope of the world.

It's the movement of his people on mission.

And this world to bring hope of King Jesus to everyone that they make.

This is the way the apostle Peter would say it.

Just shortly after The Living Stones says, But you are a chosen people.

That's who you are.

A royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession.

You are a holy nation.

You have been set apart by God.

You're chosen people.

He's just he's using words that were describing Israel in Exodus and Deuteronomy of the nation of Israel.

And now he's applying it to this new ecclesia to be a blessing to all people.

He says that you are a royal priesthood.

That's who you are.

We don't just have a pastor up front or pastors around.

We have a whole army of pastors.

It's called the priesthood of all believers.

You know what a priest did?

They just simply bridged the gap between God and man.

Hey, let me introduce you to God.

That you, why?

That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his glorious light.

We exist, this is the way we say it here, to awaken this generation to new life in Jesus.

How do we return to Jesus' vision of the church?

Three questions.

The first one's most important, though.

The most important question in the world is who do you say Jesus is?

And everything else flows from that.

And I just want to invite you to have a Lordship moment.

Maybe you've never said yes to Jesus ever.

Simply says, if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is the Lord and believe in our heart, you will be saved.

Today, Jesus, I long for you to be the king of my life.

You're the king of the universe.

Would you be the king of my life?

And for others, let's be honest, it's so easy.

Maybe you've been there, you've done that before, but it's so easy to just kind of live one foot, kind of 17-year-old Ryan, which has been repeated throughout the years as well, and one foot in the church and one foot in the world, and you're just kind of trying to do both things and doing your own thing, and and where you would just say, today, Jesus, you're king.

And even as we worship, you might want to just get on your knees.

Like, I have bowed the knee to the Silicon Valley gods of productivity, of affluence, of upward mobility.

I've bowed the gods to like the American dream.

I have bowed the knee to all of these things.

But today, Jesus, you are my king.

Would you come and reign in me?

And it scares me, honestly, because I don't fully know what that means, but I'm inviting you to have your way in me.

And you might just need that physical sign that at the name of Jesus, every tongue will confess and every knee will bow.

Declare, Jesus is Lord.

And so I just want to give you a moment.

Answer the question, and let's worship together.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

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