The Chosen King: He Will Be Great with Pastor Clayton Tyner

Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast.

My name's Clayton.

I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch.

And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you.

I hope that you enjoy today's message.

Well, I want to welcome you in to our fulfilled series.

If you're new with us, my name's Clayton.

I'm the lead pastor here at MetaCurch.

We are going line by line through Luke's gospel.

Our goal is to take our time and to get to know the real Jesus because we believe that the real Jesus will change our lives.

Now we are in the first section of Luke.

We are calling this section the Chosen King.

I'm so excited about our passage today.

Um but first I want to tell you about something very exciting coming up.

I want to acknowledge that it is summertime, so congratulations to our students and especially congratulations to our teachers.

You did it.

It's summertime.

I want to especially shout out any of our high school seniors who have now graduated.

I'm so proud of you.

Um, this is your movement.

Every time I talk to the youth here at MetaCurch, that's one of the things I always make sure to tell them.

This is not your parents' movement that you get, you know, dragged along to.

This is your movement that you have a calling on your life as well.

So I want to let you know about something that's happening this summer.

Uh, an email went out, but if you didn't see it, um, tonight is Sunday night meta youth.

It's next wave, which is huge.

So if you're in 6th through 12th grade, you gotta be here at the Petrenko location um tonight, 6 to 8 p.m.

However, starting next week, youth will move to Wednesday nights.

So there will be no youth on June 8th, June 11th.

And what's really cool is the youth are going to open up this event for the entire church.

And so all ages, all stages of life are invited to what we're calling summer nights.

The whole church is gonna come together uh at our Petrenko venue in the auditorium.

Uh, throughout the summer, we're gonna watch all of season one of The Chosen.

And I love that because uh we're in Luke, learning the real Jesus.

Dallas Jenkins and his team on The Chosen have done a wonderful job of kind of portraying the story of Jesus in a visual format.

And it's just amazing because Meta Youth is putting this on, they're leading it.

I love seeing our young people take this active leadership role.

It's for everyone.

So starting on June 11th, we'll go all summer long.

We'll take one week off on July 2nd for July 4th week, while youth is at camp.

We won't meet.

The rest of the Wednesdays plan to be at summer nights.

We're gonna come together, we're gonna watch together, we're gonna get in community with one another.

I hope you will make time for that.

Now, uh I'm excited to get into my message, but we're learning, you know, it's like amazing.

It's 2025.

There's record numbers of people at MetaCurch carrying in the Word of God to service, record numbers of people learning to take notes as they are hearing from God, learning to feed ourselves and not just rely on a preacher or a podcast.

And remember, I said last week, one of the things we're looking for are the questions that hit us.

And so as I'm studying this passage, here's one of the questions that came to mind.

What would it look like if God came to earth?

Now, it's very difficult for us to answer this question because we have the curse of knowledge.

Even if you're not a believer, if you live in the West, especially in the Bible belt, which Texas is, you know, probably in its right place as like the belt buckle of the Bible belt, you know?

Like, you know at least the major parts of the story of Jesus.

And so because we have that knowledge, we think we know how to answer this question.

Well, if God came to earth, obviously he would live in poverty and he'd be very humble and he wouldn't come to be served, but to serve others, and you know, he would probably give his life for the entire world and then rise again.

It's like we know that, but what if you didn't know that?

Like, as challenging as it is, if you were to walk in to this hypothetical where you've never heard the story of Jesus, and someone asked you, you know, if there is like an all-powerful God, what would it look like if they came to earth?

What would you think?

I think we have a framework for this in the Old Testament Jewish expectation of the Messiah.

Now, they did not believe the Messiah would be God in human flesh, but they did believe it was God's chosen king, the last and final king of all kings.

And so the expectations that were developed over the centuries is that this person would obviously be born to parents who mattered.

They had a high standing in society, they had earned the right to give birth to the Messiah, they would be wealthy and they would have means, they would probably live in the center of cultural power, of political power, of military power, which in Israel would have probably been Jerusalem.

That he would have been born in power, probably raised around royalty, everyone would have known of his coming, he'd be a political dynamo, he'd be a military strategist, and if we were honest, we might answer that question the same way.

Like, yeah, if God came to earth, it would be obvious.

If God came to earth, everybody would notice.

If God came to earth, it'd be unimaginable power leveraged against all of his enemies.

But we know that's not what happened.

And one of the things that I concluded preparing this passage is that when it comes to the story of Jesus, many of us know the story so well that we might miss the entire point.

And I realize that's a big claim to make in a room that's like majority full of believers in Jesus, venues majority full of believers in Jesus.

But I think I might be right.

You'll have to decide for yourself.

First, we need a little bit of context.

In Luke chapter 1, verse 26, it says, In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth.

Luke 1:26

Now, quickly, um, part of what Luke is doing is he's connecting this to the story that we looked at last week, the birth announcement of John the Baptist.

It says, in the sixth month, what it means is specifically in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, it's tying the story together, who comes to Mary?

It is the angel Gabriel, the same angel who showed up to Zechariah in the announcement of John the Baptist.

Now, remember, Luke is writing this uh not to be bound in leather in our Bibles in San Antonio 2,000 years later.

Luke is writing this as a letter to his friend.

And why did he write it?

So that his friend would know the real Jesus, would understand the historical events that unfolded around him.

Now, his friend would have understood the cultural context of that area a lot better than us, so we kind of miss this.

But at the end of this sentence, Luke's friend would have been baffled.

The angel Gabriel is sent not to Jerusalem, not to the temple, he is sent to Nazareth in Galilee.

Here's why he would have been so surprised.

Galilee was a region that was known as like the backwoods.

As a matter of fact, people talked down about Galilee.

The people there were seen as poor, uneducated, they had no real social impact.

People from Galilee actually kind of had these funny accents.

People would make fun of the way that they spoke.

It's kind of, you know how we do this to other states?

Like, I love Arkansas personally.

I don't believe this.

If you're watching online from Arkansas, I don't believe this, okay?

But like some Texans think that in Arkansas there's just hillbillies, right?

Like that's all.

And to be fair, people in Arkansas, some of them think that Texas is just rednecks, right?

So, like, everyone kind of has these things, and that was Galile.

The Galileans were like the rednecks of Israel, okay?

That's how they were seen.

And then what's crazier is Nazareth is a town in the region of Galilee, and Nazareth is like the Galilee of Galilee, okay?

So everyone outside of Galilee makes fun of Galilee, everyone inside of Galilee makes fun of Nazareth.

As a matter of fact, the best we can understand, the word Nazareth is from a Hebrew root that literally means sticks.

Like they're from the sticks, you know?

It's a town so insignificant, it's never mentioned in the Old Testament, it's never mentioned in the intratestamental writings in between the Old and New Testament, it's never written about in the Jewish Talmud.

It's a town of 500 people with no commerce, no education, nothing significant has ever come out of it.

As a matter of fact, in John's gospel, uh, when Jesus is starting his ministry, uh, one of his early followers goes and says, I think I found the Messiah.

It's Jesus of Nazareth, and you know what the response was?

There's no way nothing could come out of Nazareth.

This is really informative because Mary is from Nazareth.

Which means that Mary is a nobody from nowhere who's doing nothing significant with her life.

Mary is a nobody from nowhere doing nothing significant with her life.

I have this very active imagination when I read scripture, so I just want to say very, very, very clearly, this is not in the Bible, okay?

But in my mind, like angels are not all-knowing, right?

So the angel Gabriel was just six months earlier sent down to meet Zechariah in the sacred place in the temple.

That makes sense.

Six months later, God is like, Gabriel, I found her.

The woman who will bring God to the earth.

And so, look, it's time, it's time to head back down.

And Gabriel's like, nice.

To the temple, and God's like, No, um, we're actually we're gonna go to uh Galilee.

Actually, more specifically, Nazareth.

In my mind, Gabriel just busted up laughing.

Like, God, you are funny, bro.

You are funny, Nazareth?

Can you imagine, God?

Can you imagine?

You're always joking, God, and God's like, no, we're going to Nazareth.

This isn't actually the point of my message today, but God laid it on my heart so strongly that I felt like I should share this with you.

Part of understanding Mary's context, her background, her setting is informative.

And what it tells us is that where you've been has no say in where God may be taking you.

Where you've been has no voice in where God may be calling you.

Where you've been has no vote, gets no say in what God has purposed you for.

And we all have a Nazareth in our background.

I'm from a small town in the hill country, Lampasas, and sometimes growing up in Lampasas, we felt like we were the Nazareth of the Hill Country.

You talk like people actually say Lampasas is just a bunch of rednecks.

And I'm here to tell you and to defend my hometown because actually that's kind of right.

It is kind of just a lot of it's a beautiful town, but when you're in it, you get this feeling like nobody gets out of here.

Once you're in it, you're in it to say.

It's amazing to us when someone makes it out.

Could anything good come from Lampassas?

Maybe you feel that way as well, but I want to make something very clear.

Your Nazareth, the thing that you think disqualifies you, the thing, the thing that you think has not prepared you well enough, it doesn't just have to be geographical.

For some of you, your Nazareth is a relationship.

For some of you, it is the abuse and the abandonment and the manipulation.

It is your parent who walked out on you, it is your parent who withheld love from you, it is the abuser when you were a child that you had nothing to do with, but they came into your life and left a permanent scar on your life.

It is the person who broke your heart, it's the person that ran you around.

For some of you, you have a relational Nazareth.

And every time God calls you to something significant, your Nazareth tries to speak into it.

Man, you can't do that.

No one could ever love you.

You'd never be good enough.

You are damaged goods.

Why do you think they abused you?

Why do you think they left you?

And God is here to tell you, through the story of Mary, that your Nazareth does not get a say in where God is calling you into your future.

For some of you, your Nazareth is your mind.

It is your psychological and emotional past.

Some of you have dealt with depression and you have dealt with anxiety.

Some of you have been on the verge of suicide, and you feel it, right?

You're learning how to feed yourself and you're in the word and you're hearing from God, you're spending time in prayer, and God's calling you to something great.

And this little voice from your Nazareth is saying, Don't you remember the panic attacks?

That sounds like a big calling from God.

You know you get really anxious sometimes.

I think you should probably slow down on this whole thing.

And I'm telling you, if you're not careful, your Nazareth will have a louder voice than your creator.

And it is time to learn from the story of Mary.

Mary is a nobody from nowhere, doing nothing of significance, and God sees her and God calls her into this, and she changes the world forever.

Your Nazareth might be the sin that you have set up camp right in the middle of.

And your sin has become a habit, and your habit has become an addiction, and your addiction has sunk its claws into your life, and you have to decide to believe that you have a God who is bigger than your habits, you have a God that is stronger than your addictions, you have a God who has called you to something, and you may not be qualified for it, and you may not have the background, and you may not have the networking, and you may not have the education, and you may not have the degrees, and you may not come from the right side of the tracks, and you may have made too many mistakes.

But if God calls you ahead, you can leave Nazareth behind.

That's how it works, and we learn that from Mary.

Now that's free.

That's not my sermon at all.

But I felt like God set that on my heart and meant something to me, and so I was gonna share it with you.

I want you to see a little bit more context.

Gabriel shows up in Nazareth, verse 27, to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.

Now we're becoming Bible scholars, so across our venues, what I'd like for you to do is of the house of David underline it, or maybe even circle it, put a pin in it, we're gonna come back to it.

House of David, underline or circle it, we'll come back.

It says she was a virgin and she was engaged.

Now, this meant something very different back then.

When you were engaged, it was actually called being betrothed, and it was very serious.

As a matter of fact, it was the legal part of marriage.

It just wasn't the spiritual part of marriage yet.

We do that at the same time.

So when you get engaged, you can break off an engagement, right?

It costs you emotionally, socially, but you can.

Some of you get engaged way too fast, you know, and then all of a sudden you're already engaged and you realize they chew with their mouth open and you start looking at that ring really hard, you know?

Like, can I do this for 50 years?

Back then, once you were betrothed, engaged, it required a divorce to get out of.

You had already done the legal side of marriage.

And then, as good Jewish people, they would not have been married, uh, they would not have lived together, they would have saved up until they could have a wedding, they would make their covenant, the spiritual side of marriage, and then they would sexually consummate their marriage.

And that matters because it just shows you where they were at in their courtship, and it shows you that we can have confidence Mary was in fact a virgin.

And this matters because in the Old Testament, you might know there are hundreds of prophecies about the coming of Jesus.

And for one person to come and fulfill all of those prophecies is statistically impossible.

The odds require a number that we can't even describe in mathematics.

And yet, most of those prophecies are not irrational.

Him being born in Bethlehem is not irrational, him living for a time in Egypt is not irrational.

However, Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 7, Isaiah 7:14, he gives this prophecy.

Isaiah 7 · chapter mention Isaiah 7:14

The Lord Himself will give you a sign.

Here's the sign.

The virgin will conceive, the virgin will have a son and name him Emmanuel.

Now, this is a pre-science, pre-medicine world.

They don't understand the science of conception, but everyone knew one thing: virgins do not conceive.

Virgins do not give birth.

So this is a prophecy where God is pigeonholing himself into the impossible, and now the impossible is getting ready to happen in the life of Mary.

She is Mary of Nazareth, she knows who she is.

Just like you know who you are, it's very easy for all of us to list off all of the things that disqualify us from playing a major role in what God's doing on the earth.

She's no different.

And all of a sudden, an angel stands before her.

And every time an angel shows up in scripture, people are terrified.

I mean, some of them like faint, you know.

And I I think part of it is it's just so overwhelming when the veil between the natural and the supernatural world is lifted, even momentarily.

I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but there have been times where I've been in in worship through music or even in worship through the world, and it's almost like you start getting this tiny glimpse and it just destroys you.

You just weep.

You don't know what to do.

These these little glimpses of God, you know.

And the closer, I'm telling you, the closer you get to Him, the more you learn to feed yourself and the more time you spend, the more you're gonna see it.

It's life-changing, but it's specifically unique for Mary.

And so I want to hear what happens when the angel actually approaches Mary.

In verse 28, an angel came to her and said, Greetings, favored woman, the Lord is with you.

But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be.

There's several reasons for this.

Number one, she's Mary of Nazareth.

She is a nobody, from nowhere, doing nothing of significance.

Why has an angel come to her?

The other thing, contextually, that Mary would have known that we might miss as we're becoming Bible scholars, something you might learn today, is in the whole history of God communicating to his people, an angel has only appeared just to a woman one other time.

If you're curious, it was to Hagar, the mother of Ishmael.

She was the handmaiden of Abraham, all the way back in the book of Genesis.

It's the only other time, which means virtually every single time an angel shows up, it's to a man.

Mary is unique among this.

Now there's something else that happens in the greeting.

Remember what she says.

What kind of greeting is this?

Let's look very carefully at the greeting in verse 28.

The angel came and said, Greetings, favored woman.

The Lord is with you.

This is a very famous line.

It shows up all over the Old Testament.

An angel or a prophet will speak on behalf of God and will start the greeting with, The Lord is with you.

If you look at every use of this in the Old Testament, it is said either to a king or to a prophet, or most frequently to a warrior.

And when God starts his greeting by giving the affirmation the Lord is with you, what always follows is a significant assignment.

This is what God says to Gideon before he is gonna go fight the Midianites, a far superior army.

This is what God says to Moses before he has to stand up to the king of Egypt, the largest empire on earth at that time.

This is what God says to Joshua before he has to clear out all of the nations from the promised land.

This is what God says to King David before he ascends to the throne, and now he's saying it to Mary.

What kind of greeting is Mary's like looking behind her for an important man, you know?

Like Mary's Mary turns into a New Yorker.

She's like, Are you talking to me?

Like what's happening here?

Nobody's from nowhere doing nothing, don't get assignments on the level of Moses and Joshua and King David.

Highly favored.

The Lord is with you.

And she has no idea that she is about to get the biggest assignment of them all.

I hope you're seeing yourself in this story.

I hope you're recognizing what we say all the time at MetaCurch that God created you on purpose.

It's no accident that you're here on earth, that God created you with purpose.

He placed something inside of you, that you are meant to live out, to help build God's kingdom, to join with the creator in rescuing the creation I I you know I just wonder if you've ever felt like a nobody I have I wonder if you have felt like you just lack the credentials the qualification the background the family of origin the intelligence the good looks the charm the virality I wonder if you have felt like you've lived so much of your life years and years for many of us decades on decades kind of doing nothing if that's you congratulations you're Mary you're in the perfect position for God to lift the veil even momentarily and call you into something that will not only change your life but could change the world around you bless you I want you to see something says then the angel told her do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God for you Mary have found favor with God I want you to notice something very carefully it does not say for you have earned favor with God you have merited the opportunity to join with God so it's no secret uh we're in the San Antonio area which means uh we are a Catholic city and the majority of our congregation here at Metachurch are former Catholics who were dechurched left the faith and then came back to the faith and so you were raised with a very high view of Mary Mary the queen of heaven Mary immaculately conceived Mary who lived a sinless life Mary who was assumed to heaven Mary who is a perpetual virgin all things that scripture does not say and I get it right now you're going Clayton why are we picking a fight with the Catholics and I'm really not I I love our Catholic brothers and sisters my problem with their unbiblical view of Mary is that as soon as Mary's the queen of heaven which scripture doesn't say as soon as she lived a sinless life which scripture explicitly says the opposite of all have sinned Mary's included in that fallen short of the glory of God as soon as she is assumed to heaven she's so holy she doesn't even die like the rest of us she's just brought up to heaven all of a sudden she is deified in a way that separates her from us and that's not the point of the story the point of the story is Mary was a nobody she was from nowhere and she was doing nothing of significance with her life she would be unknown to history she was a sinner like you and I we can say that with confidence not because a man said it decades ago because scripture tells us that and it matters that you can see yourself in Mary because she did not earn favor with the Lord favor was given to her by the Lord and that's how your calling works as well God sees you he sees your Nazareth he sees your past he sees your lack of qualification he sees the things that have held you back and he calls you and equips you and empowers you and places a purpose on you anyway if we get Mary right we can get our own calling right she is not something altogether different than us she is like us in that she was broken and frail and fallen and God called her and used her anyway and he desires to do the same in your life finally we get to the prophecy the angel Gabriel starts verse 31 by saying now listen.

Now if an angel shows up to me bro I'm already listening if you're already listening to someone and they know that you're listening and then they lean in and they go now listen like something important is about to be said now listen you will conceive and give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus Matthew's gospel tells us Jesus means he will save his people from their sins and so we started with a question today what would it look like if God came to earth and the reason I'm asking this right here is because Gabriel is about to give the prophecy of Jesus's purpose here's why he came here's his end goal and when we think about this question what would it look like we know God came to earth in the person of Jesus so we think it will look like humility and kindness and servanthood and inclusion and so what did the angel Gabriel actually say he doesn't say you'll give birth to a son and name him Jesus and he will grow up and die on a cross you'll give birth to a son named Jesus and he will resurrect from the dead three days later here's how he starts verse 32 you'll give birth to a son name of Jesus and he will be great now we know he's great we know he defeats death itself we know he's our only hope for eternal life with God but if you were married and the angel told you you will give birth to a son he will be great what would you expect because when the time came for her to give birth to her son there was nowhere for them to stay she was incredibly poor and Joseph was incredibly poor they had no pool they had no means and when she gave birth in a barn surrounded by barn animals and laid him in a feeding trough I wonder if she thought won't he be great when they brought him to the temple eight days later and his father Joseph made the necessary sacrifice and you're supposed to sacrifice a lamb but Joseph was too poor to afford a lamb so he sacrificed turtle doves?

An actively humiliating thing I wonder if Mary thought where's the greatness after a detour through Egypt they land back in Nazareth nowhere that's where Jesus grows up Jesus doesn't even get to go to all the years of Torah school he has to apprentice become a carpenter in a town of$500 where he will barely make enough money to survive just like his dad did his dad Joseph who by the way died when Jesus was young when does the greatness start Jesus is 30 years old before he comes on the scene and he's only popular for three years.

You know what we call it when that happens to bands?

We call them one-hit wonders when Mary watched her son nailed to a cross and crucified publicly in John's gospel the very first chapter he says this in verses 10 and 11 he says he Jesus was in the world and the world was created through him and yet the world did not recognize him he came to his own and his own people did not receive him the prophet Isaiah the same one who made the prophecy of the virgin birth he says this in Isaiah 53 3 Jesus he was despised and rejected by men where's the greatness a man of suffering who knew what sickness was he was like someone people turned away from where's the greatness he was despised and we did not value him he will be great you know at the very beginning of scripture Adam and Eve are placed in perfection they're given one rule God says do not eat from the tree in the center of the garden if you eat from it you will die and they ate and they did not fall over dead it was worse you will you will die sin and death entered the world for everyone and all of creation has been crying for redemption ever since he will be will be future tense he will someday be what Jesus did that shocked everyone that should still shock our senses today is he showed us that the path to exaltation requires humility.

The New Testament doesn't hide this from us there's passages like this all over it in Philippians chapter 2 we have what is believed to be one of the earliest hymns one of the earliest worship songs of the early church it goes like this Jesus who being in very nature God did not consider his equality with God as something to exploit against us the hymn's like saying we know what you would expect if God came to earth all of his might and all of his power leveraged against the people no no no Jesus who was God did not use being God to exploit instead he emptied himself and became like a man and he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death the most horrific death on a cross the hymn ends like this for this reason he was exalted to the highest place scripture says that Jesus right now is sitting at the right hand of the Father He's given the name that's above every name and that someday every tongue on earth will worship that name that he is right now the king of all of the kings he will be great and right now his greatness is on display in heaven see we're short-sighted on this here's the full prophecy from the angel Gabriel it goes like this he will be great he'll be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Here's the problem with the story of Jesus we know it so well we miss the whole point of the story the first prophecy of Jesus from the angel to his mother is not that he will die is not that he will rise again the prophecy the end goal is he will be king and what you need to know is Jesus is the king right now the last and final king what we're calling God's chosen king here's the problem when we think about the life of Jesus we think about his birth we think about his life we think about his miracles we think about his death we think about his resurrection maybe we think about his ascension back to heaven and then in our minds we don't say this but in our minds we all know he's gonna come back someday and I guess for now he's like on vacation I don't know he did a lot of hard work he earned some PTO like maybe he's kicking it and so we stop there and so I want to tell you the question that put me under conviction this week because when we think of Jesus we think of him 2000 years ago on the earth and we love Jesus if you're a believer in Jesus you love Jesus.

It's like I love baby Jesus of that humility should have been in a palace was in a barn love baby Jesus I love miracle Jesus feeding of the 5,000 opening the eyes of the blind I love kind Jesus inclusive Jesus come sit at the table break bread with sinners prostitutes tax collectors we love don't hide the children from me hold the babies Jesus we love that Jesus very tender we love self-sacrificial Jesus we're almost forced to say we love dead Jesus we know when he died he took our sins with him we love that and we especially love it because we know he doesn't stay dead we love resurrected Jesus I mean there's like you know everyone comes on Easter we don't have enough seats for Easter services because everyone loves resurrected Jesus and then ascended Jesus in our minds the story of Jesus is over.

We're in like this weird pause until he comes back here's the question that the Holy Spirit laid on my heart do I love Jesus right now?

I love Jesus in the Middle East two thousand years ago no doubt do I think about Jesus right now because right now Jesus is king right now Jesus is on the throne of heaven and one day his kingdom will officially kick off when he comes back and sets up his kingdom on the earth.

You know what Jesus said towards the end of his life he told his disciples if you love me obey my commands that sounds like a king it's like I love forgiving Jesus I love healing Jesus I want Jesus to heal me.

I definitely want Jesus to forgive me because I need a lot of forgiveness you know I love graceful Jesus inclusive Jesus I love Jesus walking on water I don't know how to swim.

I love that Jesus it's like I love all of these Jesuses who were alive 2000 years ago do I love Jesus right now?

When I think about Jesus is he on the earth in Jerusalem in the first century or when I think about Jesus is he on his throne ruling and reigning in my life right now I think that's an important question.

Because if you want the power of Jesus unleashed in your life then you need to know King Jesus and you need to submit to King Jesus and so I thought a lot about this this week here's one of the ways I thought about it I asked this question is it obvious to others is it obvious to others that Jesus is king in my life here's one way I thought about it if I were put on trial and I was charged with Jesus being king of my life could they put together enough evidence to convict me?

If someone had full access they followed you around for a month they could hear all of your thoughts they saw all of your conversations they saw every bank statement they saw every relationship every way that you parented they saw how you treat your spouse if you claim Jesus is your king could you prove it by the way that you are submitting to him in your life do I handle my finances in a way that it is obvious Jesus is my king do I love my spouse in a way where it is obvious that I am obeying Jesus's relational commands?

Do I treat strangers and those who are different than me in ways that reflect the one who I claim my life is submitted to or is Nazareth having the main voice in the direction of my life see Jesus when he looks at you and he calls you calls you into relationship with himself tells you to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow after him he is calling you out of Nazareth and into purpose and God will never keep you from your purpose because of Nazareth but you might you might allow your past you might allow your sin you might allow your worst ways you might allow the difficult circumstances of your past to get the upper hand in your calling but God will not God will look at you as a nobody from nowhere with nothing significant happening in your life and he will put a calling on your life that will change your life and change the world around you and what he asks is to let the king be the king do I love King Jesus I know I love holding the lamb in one hand and the little baby in the other we all love that Jesus do I love Jesus sitting on his throne ruling and reigning if you love that Jesus you'll obey him and if you will submit and humble yourself and obey him you will walk into a life full of power and purpose that you simply cannot even imagine my prayers you'll wrestle with that question this week two questions do I love Jesus right now?

When I think about Jesus is he 2,000 years old or is he in heaven on a throne right now?

Question two is it obvious to others that Jesus is king you can claim it you can tweet it you can sing it you can pray it do I live it now what's interesting is the whole scope of the gospel is in our one passage today.

If you are in relationship with Jesus then his demand is not just to be your friend.

We love friend Jesus y'all remember that uh that song that went viral for all the wrong reasons a few years ago and it was like Jesus is a friend of mine he is a friend okay y'all didn't hit that one that's fine it's from like the 70s it's hilarious it doesn't matter we love that uh I went to a lot of churches growing up one of the churches we would um at the end of every service we would hold hands the whole everyone would reach across the aisles we'd all hold hands um I have really sweaty hands I don't know what that is I hated this you know um and we would sing a hymn it's kind of a newer hymn what a friend we have in Jesus that's the only I don't remember any of the other words the whole song was about Jesus we love friend Jesus what about King if you're a believer in Jesus and you want to follow him you follow him as King we're gonna learn how to do that.

Luke's gospel is going to show us now this begs the question what if I don't know Jesus?

What if I don't have a relationship with God what's amazing is in this same passage we have a template for how God brings you into relationship I told you in verse 27 to circle the house of David let me read it to you again the angel came to a virgin and came to engaged to a man named Joseph of the house of David.

Now go down to verse 32 in verse 32 it says he'll be great be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the throne of who circle that 32 his father David let me explain something lineage comes through the Father there are prophecies all over the Old Testament that the Messiah will be of the lineage of David.

Even here the angel Gabriel tells Mary that he will sit on the throne of his father David which means the lineage of David but we're about to learn next week this will be a virgin birth which means Jesus is born miraculously and he shares none of Joseph's genetics you might find it interesting as well that there is nowhere in scripture that tells us Mary is from the line of David.

And even if she was it wouldn't matter lineage comes through the Father now Joseph has a hard decision to make because the woman he's engaged to has become pregnant and he's pretty sure it's not his not only does he have to get over that hurdle and believe her story others now his family and friends they're definitely not going to believe that story he has every reason to divorce her he has every reason to go his own way but he doesn't he self sacrificially chooses Mary and by choosing Mary he chooses Jesus and to jump ahead in the story when Jesus is born according to Jewish custom eight days later Joseph takes him to the temple these are Father-led rights.

Joseph gives the sacrifice for his newborn.

Joseph prays for him.

And Joseph names him Jesus.

And in that moment, when he gives Jesus his name, he legally brings him in as his son.

I've always looked up to Joseph because, as many of you know, I am a stepdad to my two boys, and we adopted my daughter, Kimberly.

So I'm a stepdad and I'm an adoptive dad.

And Joseph is also both of those things.

And what he does ends up being a template for what God does for all of us.

This is important to know that Jesus' claim to the throne came through adoption.

Like all of the prophecies to come to pass, Joseph had to adopt him.

He made the decision to sacrifice of himself to become Jesus' dad.

He's called Jesus' father in Scripture.

He adopted it amen and gave him all the rights of lineage and legacy.

Let me read you what Paul wrote to the Galatians in Galatians chapter 4, starting in verse 4.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

It says, When the time came to completion, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

And because you are sons, God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father.

You need to know this, verse 7.

So you are no longer a slave, a slave to sin, a slave to the law, a slave to your Nazareth.

You're no longer a slave.

You are a son of God.

And if you are a son, then God has made you an heir.

An heir of what?

An heir of his kingdom.

I want to show you the parallel to make sure you don't miss it.

Jesus' claim to the kingdom came through adoption, and our spiritual adoption brings us into his kingdom.

You need to know this if you don't know Jesus, that he has done all of the work, that he came, he died to pay the price of your sins.

He rose again, defeating death itself.

God loved the world so much, he sent Jesus into it so that all you had to do is believe, and you would have all of your sins forgiven.

You'd be adopted into the family of God and you'll be given eternal life with your heavenly father.

And you know what scripture says?

It says someday when our lives are over, that our heavenly father will gather us up.

In the same way that Joseph walked Jesus into the temple and gave him his name.

Scripture says God will give us a new name.

And then we have the opportunity to follow Jesus.

Not just as Savior, not just as Messiah, as King.

And if you will allow Jesus to be king, then not only will you be saved from the penalty of sin eternally, over time you'll be set free from the power of sin right here and right now.

And one day, when your time on earth is over, you'll be glorified with your Father.

You'll be set free from the presence of sin itself.

As we close right where you are, if you pray with me across our venues, if you just bow your head and close your eyes, create a little bit of space.

For those who are believers, you have some questions to wrestle with this week.

I'm sure you love Jesus, but do you love the Jesus right now?

He's not on vacation, he's not abdicated his job, he's on the throne, ruling and reigning.

And what is happening in the heavenly realms in part will be made whole when Jesus returns and sets up his kingdom on the earth?

Do you love Jesus as King right now?

And could you make a compelling case with the way you're living that Jesus is king of your life?

If not, it's very simple.

What needs to change?

What are you not submitting to him?

In week one, we said the world has introduced all kinds of different Jesus: passive Jesus, permissive Jesus, political Jesus.

None of them can save you, none of them can improve your life.

Are you submitted to the real Jesus?

If you love him, if you love him as King, you'll obey his commands.

I want to talk to anyone who is at one of our venues or even online with us who has never had a moment in time where you have put your faith in Jesus.

You cannot answer the question, what happens after this life on earth is through?

If that's you, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Holy Spirit has gotten a hold of your heart already, is moving you towards repentance, changing your mind.

So if that's you and you're at one of our venues with everyone's eyes closed, if you're ready today for the first time to put your faith in Jesus, you are convinced and convicted that he is who he says he is, that Jesus has done what he says that he's done.

Right now, I want you just to raise your hand.

By lifting your hand, this is a symbolic gesture that says, Today I choose to put my faith in Jesus.

Amen.

For those who raised a hand, I want you to know that God sees and accepts your faith.

We can say with confidence your sins have been forgiven, that you've been adopted into God's family and given eternal life with Him.

And what I want to do is just very simply lead you through a prayer to acknowledge this moment.

So if you raised your hand, I want you to repeat this with me.

And I'm gonna ask all the believers across our venues to pray this out loud as well.

Let's pray like this: Jesus, today I choose to put my faith in you.

I believe you are God that you died for my sins and rose from the grave.

I thank you for loving me and forgiving my sins.

Thanks so much for listening to the message today.

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Man, I love you guys and I hope you have a great rest of your day.