He Is Good | Mark 1:14-15 | Coleton Segars

The teaching text for today is coming from Mark, Mark 1.

We were in a series titled He is Good at Looking at Mark's Gospel, because he titles his own gospel.

This is, he says, the beginning of the good news, and then he walked through all of his gospel, basically telling you why Jesus is good and showing us that.

So we titled our series that as well, He is Good.

And we're just marching through his gospel here.

So two verses today, Mark 1, verses 14 and 15.

Mark 1:14

Mark writes After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God.

The time has come, he said.

The kingdom of God has come near.

Repent and believe the good news.

Let's say this together.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Ray and I were talking last week about if you had to convince somebody of one thing.

Like if you could, like, what is one thing that you would want people to know?

And it couldn't be about the Bible or whatever, like just one random thing that you just think that they need to know.

And she mentioned that like going to therapy would help.

Like if they just everybody just knew that in their minds, like going to therapy will help.

That would be like versus a stigma on it or whatever.

And I thought it was really interesting.

To me, it was like, I feel like everybody needs to know like marriage is just hard, regardless of how good it is.

Which has nothing to say to her, it's probably mostly my fault.

But like marriage is just challenging.

And I feel like sometimes people are like, nah, once I get married, it'll fix all my problems.

And it's like, man, you have never been married.

So there's all those different things, but it got me thinking about this message because I don't know what your thing would be.

I don't know what your one thing would be.

But as I was writing this message, I was going, and we weren't allowed to choose from the like the gospel and the Bible and that kind of thing.

Um, but as I was writing this, I was like, if I could help people, if they understood this better, uh, this message, I feel like it would make Jesus um more beautiful in our lives.

Um and so a lot of pressure going on in one talk, but that is what I want to talk about today, because this, if I could give like one message and like, what are you gonna preach for the rest of your life?

I think I'd preach this for the rest of my life.

So this is uh what Jesus is proclaiming for us, uh, the good news.

Now, in my experience, this is primarily the modern proclamation of good news.

Go to the next slide here.

The modern proclaimed gospel is this.

You are a sinner, destined for hell, but Jesus died to forgive you of your sins, and if you believe in him, you can have eternal life in heaven when you die.

This is the modern proclaimed good news.

And I don't disagree with that.

Um, I think that's all of those things are true.

I just think it's incomplete.

I don't think that's the gospel, uh, and yet that's what's been proclaimed to us.

And the reason I don't think that's the gospel is because Jesus proclaims the gospel and he doesn't say any of this.

And so it can't be what we call the gospel if the man who is the good news himself is the word made flesh, if he is proclaiming a gospel and it's not this one, this is Jesus' gospel.

Jesus proclaims, and he says, he doesn't proclaim the good news of modern America, he proclaims the good news of God himself.

Here is the good news of God.

The time is now, has come, the kingdom of God has come near.

The time has come today, in their time, the kingdom of God has come here now.

Our news, normally, the news that we hear is there's good news for you one day in the future.

Jesus' good news is there's good news for you right now and one day in the future.

And so what I want to do today is really answer two questions that I think will bring some clarity to the last 60 years of, and maybe a little bit longer, um, but the last couple of generations of the way the gospel has been presented, uh, to try and bring some clarity to that two questions, if we answer those well and understand them, I think it will help us understand what Jesus is saying for us, and then what it should do in our lives based uh on what Jesus' good news actually is.

Because those two, you can see them, those two are very, very, go back to the last slide, those two are very, very different.

And again, it's not that one is untrue.

I'm not saying that you're not a sinner.

All of you are.

Congratulations, you make it into heaven because you're a sinner that loved by Jesus.

If you love, you know, whatever.

The destined for hell.

I mean, like all those, I'm I'm not suggesting any of that's not true.

I'm just saying that it's not the good news that Jesus proclaims.

Okay, so the first two are the first question, one, is what is eternal life?

We need to understand what is eternal life.

Most people believe that eternal life is about quantity of life, length of life, length of days.

You often hear, where will you spend eternity?

That was the question, uh, and that's the EE, the whole thing where it's like, if you die tonight, would you spend eternity there?

And I loved EE.

I went through it, taught me how to share my faith, it taught me how to share my faith in one capacity, in one way.

But the way that we think about eternal life normally is a length of days.

When really, it actually refers to a different kind of quality of life more than it does a quantity of life.

So we think quantity of life, but eternal life really references a quality of life more than quantity.

The reason we know that, and I'm not making this up, is because Jesus says this himself.

He says it in John 17, 3.

It's the only definition of eternal life that we have.

He says, this is eternal life.

Strong start when we're talking about eternal life.

This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, in Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Jesus doesn't mention length of days, he doesn't talk about a quantity of time, he is talking about a type of fullness of life that exists in knowing God personally, not length, but an eternal kind of life.

You can experience an eternal kind of life, not quantity, quality.

In her book, Images of Salvation in the New Testament, Brenda Collagen writes this that eternal life is not primarily marked by its duration.

Eternal life is qualitatively different from mortal human life.

It is the life by which God Himself lives.

He is called the eternal one, but he lives outside of time, so it can't be based in time.

It's the life that God himself lives.

It is primarily qualitative rather than quantitative.

Eternal describes the kind of life one has in Christ.

And so that question to understand what is eternal life is important for us to grasp because if we just think, oh, it's about living forever when you die, we miss out on what Jesus is actually saying here, and we'll get to that in just a second.

But eternal life is describing the quality of life you can have with God in God's kingdom, that you will have one day, and if God's kingdom has come, given a little bit into the message, but if God's kingdom has come now, then there's something for us now as well.

So that is what eternal life is: qualitative, not just quantitative and primarily qualitative, a different quality of life and an eternal kind of life.

The next question is when is eternal life?

When is it?

And because most people have thought that eternal life was about length of life, they normally conclude that eternal life can't begin until after we die.

And so we know that this life ends, and so eternal life must begin later because it goes after the death.

And so we normally believe that eternal life can uh begins after we die.

But going back to Jesus' definition of what eternal life is, we know this, that we can know God here and now.

And if eternal life is a knowledge of Him and an experience with Him and a relationship with Him that's that's flowing and flourishing and growing, we know that we can experience that now.

And so for us, we can experience this fullness of life, we can experience an eternal kind of life now in part.

Paul says we we know in part, we see in part, like those things like we know in part, but one day in fullness, like we will experience those things.

And he's referencing you can experience an eternal kind of life that you will experience there, you can experience that here and now in part, and then one day fully.

John Ortberg, who I will quote a ton in this sermon, just so you know, in his book, Eternity is Now in Session, which I would commend to all of you.

It's an incredible book on this exact topic.

Uh he says this.

He says, eternal life isn't just about the future.

It is, but not just about the future.

We can have eternal life now.

We can have it here.

Eternal life is not something far away in outer space that we can only hope to experience after we die.

The gospel Jesus preached is the good news that this eternal kind of life is available to us now.

It does not begin after death, but at the point where God touches the individual with redeeming grace and draws them into a life of interacting with him in his kingdom.

It begins when God touches the person's life with redeeming grace and then draws them into a relational dynamic with them, interacting with him, interacting inside his kingdom, and all of those things.

And so we can experience eternal life, an eternal kind of life now.

It is a qualitative difference than the normal life that we are just broken into in birth.

That he calls us into this space where it's like you can walk into eternal life now, and you can be experiencing this dynamic with me, and you can actually do that now.

You don't have to wait till later.

And then what eventually happens is after death, then we experience it in full, in part now, in full later.

So those two questions.

Understanding those two things, that it's that it's not quantity but quality, that it's not later, but it's now, helps us understand what Jesus is announcing when he announces the good news of God.

He says, The time has come now.

It's right now.

The time has come.

It wasn't before this time, it is now.

And there was a time when they couldn't experience this, that like what we just said and talked about, like it did not exist for them, they could not do it.

But he's going, something new has happened.

I have started a new thing.

And so the time has now come.

And I think in Matthew, it says the time has been fulfilled.

All the space before we could get into this space that I'm about to offer you, it's that that time is done now.

It's in the past, and so now a new thing exists.

And so what he's saying is the time has come, the kingdom of God has come near.

Repent and believe the good news.

And so what he's saying is that the eternal qualities of heaven's kingdom that exist, that those things are able to be experienced.

They're no longer just there.

They are there, but they're no longer just there.

I have ushered them in here.

And so the eternal qualities of heaven's kingdom are able to be experienced and enjoyed now in this life because God's kingdom has come to earth.

It was just there, and now he is breaking it into here and going, if you want it, you can have it.

It's available to you now.

Trimper Longman, which is just an incredible name, Trimper Longman.

Let's go.

Says this, I love this.

It's a short quote.

He says, The kingdom of God has come near because the king is present.

I like that.

I think that's really good.

The kingdom of God has come.

The reason Jesus is saying, hey, the time has come, the kingdom has come.

It's like, why'd the kingdom come?

It's like, because I'm here.

Like the king has come.

Like I'm doing this thing, I'm bringing it in myself.

And so that's what he's saying.

The eternal qualities of heaven that exist out there after death that you could experience in full.

I have ushered that here and you can experience it now.

In essence, what Jesus is announcing to these people and to us, the announcement is still the same, is that he is saying, My kingdom in heaven is a kingdom of unprecedented peace.

And that unprecedented peace that you will experience one day with no more tears and sorrow and sadness and all that, you can experience that type of peace here and now.

And that's why Paul says that you can experience a peace that doesn't make any sense.

It is like I don't even understand how I feel peaceful in this space.

And it's like, because it's eternal.

It's something that exists there that now you get to experience now.

And so he's saying you can experience the peace of my kingdom right now in your present in a little way, in a little bit, and then after death, you actually walk into that and you'll experience that in my kingdom in full.

But you can experience me in part and you can experience me in full later.

He says, My kingdom is an unending, uh, a kingdom of unending eternal joy.

I have brought that joy here.

I've made that joy available to you here.

My kingdom is a kingdom of life-giving love that fills you with abundance and contentment and the just wonder.

It's like that exists out there, but I I it doesn't just stay out there now.

Now I've brought it here, and so if you want it, I've made it available to anybody who wants it.

And so, whatever heaven is like, Jesus is saying, whatever his kingdom is full of out there, he's saying that you can experience those things in part now.

You can actually walk into those things.

And so, to any who want it, he's saying, if you will turn to me and choose to believe me, choose to believe that the kingdom isn't just some faraway thing that's that's impossible to get to, but you believe it's here now, you can actually walk in and experience these things that will blow your mind right now, but and be something that sets you apart, makes you a completely different individual, experiencing a very different type of life.

But then you'll walk into it after death, and you'll experience it more and more in full, but you begin it now with him, and then ultimately walk into this space where you experience it with him in full after death.

So John Ortberg again commenting on this passage specifically says Jesus' gospel is simply this the kingdom of God has now become available for ordinary human beings to live in.

It's here now.

You can live in it now if you want to.

You can revise your plans to daily experience God's favor and power.

You can revise your, it's just like you can repent and turn and experience this life that has never been able to be existed before, uh except Adam and Eve.

Like their edhenic life was available for a moment, and then it was broken.

And the kingdom of God, they were kicked out basically.

God's rule and reign, his kingdom, they were kicked out of his kingdom and ushered out because it's like you sinned, you can't stay here anymore, and angels guard the door.

And what Jesus is saying is like, I have ushered Edenic life back in.

Eden has come here.

I have brought God's kingdom here, and so now you can experience Eden life.

And so that's what he's saying.

It's it's available if you want to daily experience it.

Um, I think to me, understanding this helps us understand why Jesus is constantly telling us not to just convert.

He's not telling, convert to me, convert to me.

He does want us to change our minds and our beliefs on him, but he primarily is saying, hey, why don't you follow the king so that you experience the kingdom?

Like, follow me.

Come after me, put my put my words into practice into your life, be obedient to the things that I'm asking you to do.

He's not doing that because he's trying to get us to act better.

He it's not about behavior.

The king is trying to get us to experience what his kingdom is like.

And he's like, I'm the king, I know how to run this, and if you will do what I say, it's not it's not that I will love you more, you'll just experience more of what I'm like.

If I say to follow me, the only reason I'm calling you to follow me is so that where I'm going, which is an awesome experience, I want you to experience that too.

And so that's why I'm calling you to follow me, so that the life that I'm leading, you will actually experience that life breaking into your life consistently.

It's not about behavior.

He doesn't call you to be obedient because he's like, you just need to be good.

Like it's not that.

It's so much better than that.

Uh, I get asked this question a lot.

Um, if God is just going to forgive me of my sin every time, and I'll still get into heaven when I die, uh, even though I sin, what benefit is it to be obedient to Jesus now?

Why do anything that he says if he's just gonna forgive me anyways, and I get to go to heaven when I die?

What benefit is there for me to do it right now?

And for them, they're still thinking that eternal life is about behavior.

They're still thinking that it's out there somewhere.

They don't realize that, like, oh, it's in the obedience.

It's the things that we that he tells us to do.

It's in that that we experience an eternal kind of life snagged from heaven, breaking into our lives now.

And so we're longing for joy, we're longing for peace, we're longing for all of this stuff.

And he's calling us to be obedient so that his peace, his joy, his hope, his love, all that stuff is snagged from where it actually exists in full and is brought to earth so that his kingdom breaks into earth as it is in heaven.

This is why he's calling us to be obedient.

It's not like to the question when they're saying, why do I need to be obedient, what benefit is there to me if I get to go to heaven or that?

It's like you'll live hell on earth without experiencing what heaven is actually like.

But if you do what he says, it's not that he's gonna love you more or anything like that.

It's just like you're gonna experience the life that he has for you.

It's the idea is like that he is like packed into his words heaven, like just eternal things into his words.

He's just packed them in.

And so when we take eternal words and we put them into our lives and practice them into our lives, eternity begins to break out into our lives.

An eternal kind of life starts taking shape in our lives.

Peter says that.

He's like, You have the words of eternal life.

The scriptures testify that, like, your word, O Lord, is eternal and not long.

I mean, it is long, the Bible's super long, but it's not long.

That's not what he's talking about.

He's like, there's something in there that doesn't exist anywhere else.

And so when you take an eternal thing and you stick it into your heart and your soul and your mind, then all of a sudden eternity begins to take shape in your mind, and it's not time, it is quality.

Something breaks into our story and into our lives that isn't just for later, it's actually something now.

And Jesus is just trying to make this thing to us and go, yes, I do want you to be obedient to me.

I want you to follow me.

I want you to practice my word.

I want you to put it into play in your life, not so that you're just better behaved than the other people.

Not that.

So that my life and the things that are true of me there now are something that you experience here.

It's not do these commands so that you'll go to heaven when you die.

It is do these things that I'm asking you to do in your life so that you experience what heaven will be like one day.

You'll experience that now.

You'll snag it from there, you'll experience it here, and then you will long for the fullness of that one day.

Like, man, I've experienced this peace and love and joy and security and safety and contentment.

And it's like, why?

And it's like, because heaven has come to earth in these in these spaces and he's made it available.

And with him, life with him, practicing his way and doing life his way, you experience those things breaking in.

And it's not, I'm just better behaved, I'm just trying to be good.

No.

My life is qualitatively different than what I was doing before.

And it's not because I'm just crushing it and doing great doing it.

It's like he is breaking in and doing something completely different in our lives, and it's available to us.

Ortberg, one more time.

Says eternal life is not simply our future destination.

Eternal life is the type of life we experience through following Jesus.

Eternal life is the type of life we experience through following Jesus, which death then is unable to stop.

And I love that idea.

Just it's so helpful just to see as like he wants to begin something in your life now, in part, that you will experience one day in the future.

And if we just see eternal life, we just see the gospel as like, I just get to go to heaven when I die.

It's like, well, great, but what about the other nine-tenths of your life?

Like, what about all the stuff that happens here?

Dorothy Sayers, I'll probably use this quote next week when we talk about work, but she says that.

She goes, Who could remain interested in a faith that only concerns one-tenth of a person's life?

And I think she's right, because I think so many people have been like, here's the good news, you can go to heaven forever when you die.

And they're like, Forever?

Forever scares people.

Like, I don't know if y'all ever dealt with that fear of like, I gotta live forever.

Like, I don't even know.

Like, there's an actual phobia about this.

What's it called?

A para go to the next slide.

A paraphobia, the fear of unending existence.

I've talked to Christians who are like, I don't want to go to heaven when I die.

I'm nervous.

And I'm like, well, I don't, I think you're understanding eternity wrong.

Like, I don't, I don't think you're really understanding what it is.

It's not this, not this unending existence.

It is this fullness of life.

Like we've experienced eternity break into our stories in times where you've been just the most joyful you've ever felt.

When you've experienced just God, just like just this thing happening in your world, and you're like, I don't want this moment to end.

It's normally those times when when when time goes real fast.

And it's like, man, how is it over already?

We just got together.

I just started this dinner with you, I just had this thing.

It was like the most joyful I've ever felt.

How in the world is it over?

It's like because time just went super fast.

And I'm not saying eternity works like that.

I'm just saying we've experienced that feeling and that thing, and God is like, that's eternal life breaking into your story, and that's what I want to break into your life.

That's what I want it to look like.

Eternal life is not simply a future destination, it is the type of life we experience through following Him.

So thinking that eternal life is only available, made available to us later, uh, can make people just interested in it.

And I want us to understand that it's available to us now.

So, for us, a couple of things that I think we need to do.

The first is we need to change our thinking about eternal life.

I just realized, Colin, I jumped ahead one.

Thanks for doing that.

You're awesome.

Um we need to change our thinking about eternal life.

This is super important.

If we think it's just about heaven, uh, we're gonna wind up in this space where it's like, man, that's great.

And if you're on your deathbed, it's the most important thing you need to know about.

I'm about to, I'm I'm about to be ushered into an incredible thing.

It's very important.

But here and now, in this space, does God have anything for me until death?

Yes, he has a lot for you.

He wants to actually give you eternal life now, he wants to place something into Your soul and into your life.

So we need to turn from thinking that eternal life is about length.

We need to turn from thinking that eternal life is about later and just about later.

We got to turn from thinking that God's commands are just ways that He wants us to behave.

And again, that's hard because I think over the last couple of decades, that's the way it's been presented.

Will you go to heaven when you die or not?

That's eternal life.

It's like, man, it's made people go like, I don't, well, I guess I'll just talk to God in 70 to 80-ish years, I guess.

Like I don't really need him until then.

Or what other a lot of my friends say is like, why don't I just wait?

I'm not near death.

Why don't I just wait to make that decision later?

And then, pastors, we got real smart and we're like, but you don't ever know when it's coming.

And everybody's like, oh yeah.

But it's still about that thing.

It's still about something later.

And so then it's fear-based.

You could die tomorrow.

You know that, right?

And it's like, you could die right now.

It's like, what is this?

Is that what Jesus said?

Like, no, that's not what he said.

Something that's available now.

And it wasn't like, be afraid, the kingdom has come.

It's not that.

It's like, there's good news.

You can walk into this thing.

I've made this awesome thing available to you.

You can come in if you want.

You'll love it.

But you do need to turn and repent.

And I think for us, repentance for us looks like changing our minds on what we actually think eternal life actually is, and understanding that it is an eternal life that He offers that is rich and full, that we get to experience here in part, that one day in the new world we will experience in full then.

So we need to change our thinking about eternal life.

The second thing that we need to do is that we need to, if you want to experience an eternal kind of life now, I would encourage you to follow Jesus and do what he says.

And I'm not saying like be good.

I'm not saying that.

I'm just saying what he says.

One day you will experience God's kingdom in full.

Like you'll exp one day you'll experience that in fullness, and you will be completely obedient to God in that moment.

And because you are completely obedient to God in that space where there's no sin, sickness, death, whatever, because you're completely obedient and just focused on him, you will in that space begin experiencing an eternal kind of existence, an eternal kind of life, filled up, full.

And what he's saying is the kingdom has come here now.

You can experience that in part and through obedience to me.

It's not do this and then I'll love you.

It is through obedience to me, you experience eternal life breaking into your story and into your life.

That's what he wants.

He says this himself.

Jesus says this himself in Matthew 7.

He says, Everyone who hears, and notice what he says, who hears the words of mine, but then notice, but then he puts them into his life, puts them into practice, is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it was its foundation was on the rock.

But then he says, But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into his life, heard them, but did not put them into their life, is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

The rain, rain came, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

He is talking about a qualitatively different life.

One had this, I mean, same struggles, same struggles.

The quality of life is completely different for one person and not another person.

And what?

The word was given to everyone, but only one person took the eternal words, shoved it into their life, and it led them to walk in a certain way.

And then all of a sudden what they experienced was a completely different kind of life, available to the other person.

Just not something they experienced because they didn't take the word and practice it.

And so he's notice he's not saying, and then they this guy who didn't do it burned in hell forever, and that was awful.

Like that's not maybe that's true.

Maybe that's what this man's, we don't know, it's you know, it's a story he's telling.

But notice his his motive for telling this story is not hell, like be afraid.

It's not that it's like something exists for you that's available if you will be obedient to me.

I'm not trying to scare you into obedience, I'm trying to invite you into it so that you experience life with me.

I want to do something qualitatively different into your life.

And that's what he's saying.

Practice my word.

On our websites, practice the way of Jesus.

And I just went in there and changed it because I care so much about that.

Because I think to me, I want to see the fame and deeds of God renewed in our time.

Like the famous, the things that make God famous, I want to see that renewed in my time.

And to me, I understand through the scriptures, the only way to see that happen is for you to follow in the footsteps of Jesus in order for us to do that.

If we're when we get to August and we do our vision series of what I care about, what I want this church to be, it will be I want us to follow the way of Jesus to experience the fame and deeds of God renewed in our time, in our lives.

Because that's how it happens.

You take the eternal qualities of heaven, you snag them here, and through obedience to him, you experience them in your life.

That's what Jesus is talking about here, and that's what he wants for us.

He is not telling us simply to be good, he's inviting us to experience an eternal kind of life now.

So, for us, follow him.

And here are a handful of ways.

The first, Larry Ray will love this one.

Read the scriptures.

If eternal life is experienced in knowing him, if that's what Jesus' definition, the only definition that exists, and it's given by the man himself, God himself, if eternal life is experienced in knowing him, the scriptures tell you who he is, they tell you what he's like, they tell you what he cares about, it tells you what he sounds like.

Read it out loud, that's what he sounds like.

You will learn his voice by reading his voice.

And so you will get to know him.

Read the scriptures.

Pray.

This is my favorite.

Pray.

If eternal life is experienced by knowing him, prayer intentionally places you in his presence.

We have access before the throne room of grace.

To step in at any time, eyes closed or not, driving down the street or using the bathroom, wherever, you get to enter into the presence of Jesus at all times.

You get to walk into the throne room and just sit there and do nothing or talk a lot.

Um, one of the things that have transformed my prayer life is my son, uh, every now and then, because he's eight and full of energy, uh, but every now and then I'll be sitting on the couch and he'll come and he'll just like rest his like head on my shoulder and just sit there.

And I'm like, hey man, you want me to read you a story?

You want to do something?

You know, what do you you know, what do you want to do?

Normally video games.

And uh and he's like, No, I just want to sit here with you with my head on your shoulder.

And I'm like, like it, like I weep.

I'm just like, this is the best day of my life.

And it's one of those things where like you're like time, that's eternal life, right?

Like time flies.

And I'm like, please let this stay just a little bit longer.

A little bit like, don't, I don't want anything, the dog to distract him.

I don't want anybody to come over.

I want this moment to last.

He's just he's doing nothing and saying nothing, contributing nothing, producing nothing, but he is blessing the heart of his father.

And so one of the things that happens now in my prayer time is I just go and sit for 15 minutes or however long, I just sit in silence and I tell him, I'm like, I want to intentionally just sit with you with my head on your shoulder and have this space with you.

Because like, and it feels it's so hard because I'm like, I'm doing nothing.

I got people to pray for, I got stuff to do, I'm doing nothing.

But if if if that blesses the father's heart, the way that my son just sitting with me blesses mine, man.

And he loves me more than I love my son.

And so it's one of those things that's like pray.

If eternal life is experienced in knowing him, just sit with him.

Sit with him in prayer, posture yourself in this space where you experience his presence.

Commune with other believers.

This is probably Rainey's favorite.

If eternal life is knowing him, other believers reveal more of the nature of God.

They also reveal a lot of the brokenness of the fall.

But other believers reveal more about what God is like, who he is, they'll teach you about him.

You'll get to see his image reflected from their life because he, she is the image of God, either one of them.

And so you get to know them in that particular space and get to know more about him.

Follow him.

Follow him.

If eternal life is knowing him, then be with him, live life his way by putting his words into your life and doing what he wants you to do.

Not, and again, it is not because you're supposed to just be good.

It's not, and you have to remember that that it's not, it's not that thing.

It's not just do better, it's not that.

It's spend time with him.

Um, I would encourage you if you're wondering like what scriptures to read and all that stuff, if you're like, how do I take the eternal word and put it into my life?

How do I practice it?

Read, start in Matthew 5 and just read the Sermon on a Mount.

And then just find spaces where your life is like, I don't know if I actually practice that.

Do you practice it?

No guilt, no shame.

Just I actually practice that in my life, and then find a practice and then go harden the paint doing that thing and put it into your life.

I'm not loving my neighbor as myself.

Then do that thing.

Do that, align your will to his and say, your will be done, not mine, because when you do that, you shift from your kingdom come on earth and versus his kingdom coming on earth in your time and your space.

And you get to experience not more of your kingdom and the brokenness of that, but his kingdom breaking into your story.

So you can start in Matthew 5.

Uh, one of the things that I think you should do is just practice the one another's.

Like, there's tons of commands in the scriptures.

Go to the next slide.

Tons of commands in the scriptures.

And again, they're not like, I hope you're good.

It's not that.

It's not be good.

It is like, I have I've given you my word.

You can do these things and experience life with me now.

Like you can experience the things that you long for, that you will one day be filled with in heaven.

Though this will break into your life by doing these things.

These commands are for our good.

That's why people say, that's why John says, Your commands are not a burden to me, because they're not burdensome, they're not supposed to weigh me down, they're supposed to be life-giving that I do them, and then life is poured in.

And so I'm not going to read all those because good Lord, there's a ton of them.

Um, but the one another's find a one another that you don't do.

Greet one another.

We just did that one, eternal life, folks, right there.

Greet one another with care for one another.

I mean, there's just tons.

Show hospitality to one another.

Invite people over for dinner and around the table, experience the kingdom of God, breaking into your story.

Pray for one another.

I mean, just tons.

There's tons of those things.

Um, but I would find these things and practice them.

Put his word, put his eternal word into your life so that eternity, an eternal kind of life begins taking shape in your life.

To me, whenever we do these things, we're grabbing a little bit of heaven and just snagging it and bringing it down here.

And if you practice this in your family, then you will experience an eternal kind of life breaking into your family.

You practice in your in your job, you'll experience an eternal kind of life breaking into your job.

You will begin experiencing what you will one day capture in full and experience in full.

You will begin experiencing that breaking in.

That's what Jesus, the kingdom has come now.

It has come here.

You can experience these things, and I want you to.

And so put these things in your life.

The good news is that Jesus the good news that Jesus has for us isn't just about life after death.

That is good news, and that's a piece of it.

But the good news is that he doesn't just want to change your future life, he wants you to begin experiencing the qualities of his kingdom in your life right now, and that's why he calls you to follow him.

So my encouragement is to do that thing.

Please don't hear this as a way to earn your way to heaven.

It's not that.

Your justification is by grace through faith.

He justifies you.

And then he calls you from that.

He has blessed you with salvation now.

And then he's filled you with his spirit.

He's like, now go and do these things so that you begin experiencing my kingdom come on earth, my will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

It's not about getting you there.

It's about getting heaven to be experienced here so that people are thrilled to experience it there.

Like it's this whole thing.

So make sure that we just understand that idea that like salvation is purchased by Jesus and his commands are a gift to us to go now.

Practice these things so that you experience my life breaking in.

Let me pray.

Father, I do pray.

That your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And I pray that our vision of eternal life in your kingdom.

I pray that you reshape it.

Help us to believe your word.

Help us to see these spaces that you're calling us to be obedient, not to change our behavior, but in order to bless us so that we experience your joy, your peace, your hope, your love breaking into our story, into our families, into our homes, into our friendships.

And so, God, I pray that you would help us with that in Jesus' name.

Amen.

We're gonna take communion, um, and we get to do this every week, which is a real gift.

We're gonna take communion, we're gonna sing, and then we're also gonna celebrate three seniors that graduated this year as well.

So a little bit, that's why the sermon was a little shorter, hopefully, I think it was.

Um but if you helped set up communion, please come uh and and pass out the elements.

Um, we'd love for you to come forward, uh, grab uh bread and juice and take them back to your seats, and then we will actually partake uh communion together.

We will do that together so that we experience that together.

But uh take some time in your seats, spend this time.

You can confess sin, you can talk to the Lord, you can just sit with him with your head on his shoulder.

He loves that if you want to just sit in silence.

But uh then we encourage you to come forward, grab the elements, and then head back to your seats and we'll take communion together.