Jesus Is Greater | Donovan Rillion | Listen To Him

Speaking of news, I do want to talk about something

that I believe is one of the greatest maybe downfalls

of society, and that would be the 24 -hour news

cycle. Now, all my life, I'm young enough to

have only lived in the world of the 24 -hour

news cycle, but I'm also old enough to have lived

in a world where around like 8 o 'clock, once

the 8 o 'clock news went off, the TV went off,

and that was it. No more news for the night.

And you didn't get news until the next morning

when you finally at some point turned the TV

on or got a newspaper. Anybody seen a newspaper

lately? I haven't. You got a newspaper or on

your drive to work, you maybe had the talk radio

on. But in recent years, it's 24 hours. Voices,

noise, telling you. what's going on in the world,

telling you what to worry about in the world,

telling you what to be afraid of, telling you

what to think about what topic, 24 hours, you

don't even get a chance to rest from it. And

if that wasn't bad enough, if it weren't for

the TV stations constantly rolling with the news

and the radio constantly rolling with the news,

about 20 -something years ago, this thing called

social media became a thing. And what happened

was this great thing in Facebook or in MySpace

where it was just a way to connect with people,

you know, these social networks, these places

to connect with friends from college or friends

from high school that you haven't seen in 10

years. This thing that was really good in the

beginning, for some reason, they let news stations

get on it. And so now... I get on Facebook and

I'm scrolling and I'm scrolling and I'm seeing,

oh, they had a baby. Oh, that friend got married.

Oh, that friend. And then all of a sudden, Fox

News, CNN, MSNBC. And all of a sudden, I can't

escape the news because it's there. And then

our phones got this cool thing where now they

can send you notifications from social media

and from the news channels. And so now you get

notifications. So the first thing you do when

you wake up in the morning, if you're like me,

is you roll over and you reach for the nightstand

and you grab that stupid little rectangle and

you pick it up and as soon as your eyes open,

well, first you silence your alarm. If you're

like me, you silence your alarm before your eyes

ever open and then you wake up 30 minutes later.

But you open your eyes and the first thing you

see, is breaking. I won't fill in the blank.

You know what I'm talking about. Or from Facebook,

your favorite influencer just posted. And in

the middle of the night, for some reason, because

these people don't sleep, you got 20 notifications

from social media, from the news, from people

texting you, from all kinds of advertisements

coming in in your email, and you have all...

of these things clouding your mind before you

ever take your head off of the pillow. And I

bring up how awful this is. It's a plague, really.

I bring that up to make the point that we all,

we all, every one of us, whether you like being

on your phone or if you just constantly have

the talk radio going, if you always have the

TV on, every one of us is plagued with competing

Voices, vying for our attention. Do you know

why the news stations went 24 hours? Because

if I can give you constant access, you'll choose

me over them. This is why sports reporters, they

don't have social lives because all they do is

they spend their life on three phones waiting

to get a text from a source, waiting to get the

breaking news so that they can break the news

first. Because if I can give you the information

before they do, you'll listen to me. Or this

is why influencers are such a big deal. Because

if I can tell you how to fix your life, if I

can tell you how to make everything better, if

I can tell you how to be a better parent, how

to be a better spouse, how to be a better businessman,

if I can tell you this in a better way, in a

more efficient, in a more marketable way than

they can, you'll choose me. And it's the world

competing for our attention. They are clouding

our minds. These people, these things, these

problems are wanting. our attention and our allegiance.

See, we've got algorithms that know exactly what

to show us next based on what we've looked at

and what we've interacted with. We have influencers

who don't know us, but they're telling us how

to parent and budget and feel about our bodies

and vote and grieve and everything in between.

We have these self -proclaimed self -help gurus

that they believe that if you'll listen to them

and you'll buy their product, that they can solve

every issue that you'll face, or at least that's

what they claim. And I could go on and on, but

my point is simple, that there's a lot of noise.

There's a lot of people, a lot of things claiming

to have the answer for our lives. And somewhere

in the middle of all that noise, most of us,

I would actually venture to say all of us are

tired. We're exhausted. I'm tired of getting

online. At some point, I just need to get offline

because I'm tired of getting online and seeing

the next thing that I need to be worried about

or the next thing that I need to be scared about

or the next thing that I need to be up in arms

about. I am tired of that. And I imagine you

are too. You're tired of trying to figure out

which voice is the one that you should listen

to, which voice, which thing is the thing that

you should give your allegiance to. And hopefully

we're all aware of this tired, exhausted, worn

out feeling. And hopefully we're all also aware

that this is nothing new. People have always

had things to worry about. People have always

had voices in their ear plaguing them. fighting

for their attention. This is a problem that we

have been facing since Adam and Eve were in the

Garden of Eden, wondering, should we listen to

God or should we listen to the serpent? Because

the serpent had words to say, and he was using

his words very craftily to get Adam and Eve,

to get humans to listen to him and not God. And

then Adam, he's not only listening to the serpent

and listening to God. He's now having to listen

to his wife. And men, you know how important

it is to listen to your wife, right? And so he's

got all of these people that he's competing,

that are competing for his attention. So these

competing voices, they've been there from the

beginning, but the God that we worship, this

is the good news today, the God that we worship,

the God that we serve, he is not one, he has

never been one to leave his people out to dry.

Yes, we have a problem that we face with people

and things trying to get our minds in their possession,

but our God does not leave us helpless. He's

always been there. He's always been there to

help guide us. He's always been there to bring

us back to the truth, to bring us back to the

right voice. Now, this has often been through

the words of other people. And for us, it's mainly

through the words that he's given us in the Bible.

And so I want us to talk about the Bible this

morning. One of my favorite books of the Bible,

the book of Hebrews. In this book, it opens by

telling us what we just established, that there

are people that are competing. These competing

voices have always been a part of the human condition.

The question is, whose voice do we trust? And

I want you to listen to how Hebrews starts in

verse 1 of chapter 1. If it's underlined, I would

love for you to read with us. Listen to how long

ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke

to our fathers by the prophets at many times,

in many ways. He said all the time. There used

to be a time where God was always, always speaking

to his people in many ways, mainly through prophets.

I want you to think about these guys. Maybe you've

heard of them like Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,

these voices, these mouthpieces of God. all living

and speaking in different chaotic and unideal

times, all dealing with different circumstances

in human history. But in all of that, God spoke.

But he spoke in pieces over centuries through

ordinary men. And because those men were ordinary,

just like us, and because the message they preached

was often not in alignment with what the world

wanted to hear, these men faced... They faced

pushback. People didn't always listen. They didn't

always take the advice of these prophets. They

didn't realize, or maybe they did, but they didn't

believe that these men were speaking for God.

And even if they did believe they were speaking

for God, the sad reality is so many people did

not care because someone or something else had

already gotten their allegiance. So even in the

ancient world, Figuring out which voice to listen

to, figuring out who you should give your attention

and who you should give your allegiance to, that

wasn't always easy. And people didn't always

choose correctly. Now, we know that people still

don't always choose correctly. We don't always

choose the right voice to listen to. And see,

for us, I would argue that we have way more competing

voices than they did in the ancient world. I

would argue that... We have more issues than

they did. The same issues, it's the same type

of issues, but we face them more because we have

phones that go with us everywhere we go all the

time. I don't know about you, but my phone is

literally, like it could be a part of my body.

It goes with me everywhere. If I get up off the

couch to go get a drink of water, guess what

I'm doing? I'm grabbing my phone and bringing

it with me. If I go to the bathroom, guess what?

Sadly, I'm bringing my phone with me. That's

pretty unsanitary, I know. There are issues.

that go with us everywhere we go. We have our

phones. We have our computers that we spend eight

to 10 hours a day staring at. We have TVs that

are constantly on. We have books that we're always

reading. We have these things that are always

with us, all feeding us more and more and more

voices. Now, on Hebrews. I want to give you some

background before we get into the meat of the

chapter. So Hebrews, we have no clue who wrote

the book. We have our guesses, but we don't really

know who wrote the book of Hebrews. We can make

these scholarly guesses, but we don't know for

sure. But what we do know for sure is who it

was written to. The book of Hebrews was written

to Christ followers or Christians who came from

a Jewish Hebrew background. And it's not just

that these were Jewish Christians. These were

Jewish Christians who, like us, were tired. And

they were discouraged. They were worn out because

there were all of these people trying to get

them to think differently. There were all these

voices swamping them. These were people who had

put their faith in Jesus. They had given their

lives to Jesus, yet life didn't get easier. This

is why I'm like so opposed to self -help gospel

because the truth is that it doesn't always get

easier. It doesn't always feel good to be a Christian.

So these Christians are facing a life that frankly

got harder. Their friends and their families

had turned on them. Gathering like this to worship

God was very risky. And for these Christ followers,

going back to their old life, the life before

they became going back was starting to be very

appealing. It was starting to be very enticing.

They started thinking that maybe if we go back

to the old, that familiar system, maybe if we

go back to that, the one that didn't really ask

as much or really didn't cost us as much, if

we go back to that, maybe things will get better.

Maybe life will get easier. Does that sound familiar?

The idea. That if I just go back, if I back away

from the challenging, if I move toward the things

that ask less of me, the things that are less

costly, if I go to that, if I leave this, maybe

life will be better. And so the writer of Hebrews,

he sees this problem and he feels like, I need

to do something about it. I need to say something

about this. So he looks at these distressed and

exhausted Christians and he makes... One argument

over and over and over again in the book of Hebrews,

and that is that Jesus is greater. And so for

the next few weeks, we're going to be walking

through this argument that the Hebrew writer

makes that Jesus is greater. He's greater than

the prophets and the angels that you yourself

used to hold in high esteem. You maybe still

hold in high esteem. He's greater than the priests

that you grew up under, those guys that taught

you, those guys that told you what to think and

how to think, those guys that taught you. Those

guys, Jesus is greater than them. The religious

system that you grew up in, the thing that told

you if you keep these traditions and if you honor

these commandments, you'll be okay. Those things

are not greater than Jesus. And because I see

the same thing facing Christians and non -Christians

so prevalently today, I've wanted, I felt like

we needed to spend some time in this book. And

so we're going to follow this argument all the

way through the book of Hebrews. Because I do

believe that sitting in this room right now,

Somewhere in a chair in here right now is someone

who is facing that same exhaustion. Feeling like

I want to do the right thing, but doing the right

thing makes life a lot more difficult. I want

to do the right thing, but doing the right thing

makes me scared. Doing the right thing takes

away from my pleasure. Doing the right thing

takes away from my comfort. And so you may be

feeling tired. You're tired of searching, tired

of comparing, tired of competing, tired of wondering

if what you're doing is following the right voice.

Which is why I think it's cool that the Hebrew

writer starts where he does with who's doing

the talking. It's not the prophets. It's not

the angels. It's not the priests. It's none of

them. That's how God used to speak. But now.

Look at what he says in verse two. But now in

these last days, he has spoken to us by his son.

Notice the Hebrew writer says in these last days.

That's important because it tells us where we

are in the story. He said before, long ago. This

is how God spoke. But in these last days, this

is how he speaks now. They're not in a period

where all of these voices spoke to people on

behalf of God. They are in a whole new chapter.

And we are in this same chapter today, this chapter

where nobody else speaks for God except for his

son, where Jesus is the only one who gets to

declare words, who gets to declare being the

mouthpiece of God. And to help us know exactly

who that son, to help us know exactly who Jesus

is, the writer doesn't waste time. He gets right

into it in verse three. He says, he is, the son

is, the radiance of the glory of God and the

exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the

universe by the word of his power. After making

purification for sins, he sat down at the right

hand of the majesty on high. Jesus, the son of

God. The man that all of history, all of history

corroborates the truth that he did exist. That

man, he is the glory. He's the radiance of the

glory of God. He's the exact imprint of his nature.

That man. So what the Hebrew writer says is when

you look at Jesus, when you listen to Jesus,

when you talk to Jesus, who you are looking at,

what you are seeing and hearing is not just somebody's

best guess about God. It is God. It is not a

prophet relaying a message. It is the source

directly. This is God himself made visible to

man, made audible to man. This is why I tell

people if you've ever wondered what God was like,

Just read the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and

John. Read those biographies of the life of Jesus,

and you'll find exactly what God was like. You'll

find exactly what God believes, what God thinks,

how God operates. And more than that, the Hebrew

writer says, he's not just the radiance of the

glory of God. He's not just someone who is imprinted.

He's the nature of God. He is the one who upholds

the universe by the word of his power. He upholds

it. Think about this. The atoms in your body,

every particle that's on this planet, every star,

meteor, asteroid in the sky, every single thing

in this universe, it's all upheld together by

the word of Jesus. The words that we have in

a book. that we get to read whenever we want,

that we get to listen to whenever we want, that

we can take with us wherever we go. Those words,

those same words, the universe is held together.

And I love that it says word. of his power. Because

the Greek there for word, I'm no Greek scholar,

I won't pretend to be, but I have Google. I think

I said that last week, same joke still applies,

you can laugh. I have Google. And Google says

that the word for word there is the word rhema.

Rhema is the word we get our word rhetoric from.

It's the, when we say we have rhetoric or it's

a rhetorical question, rhetoric. which implies

or refers to the active spoken word. So it's

not just words on a page. These are Jesus' words

constantly living, active, speaking. That's what's

holding the universe together. And that's...

how God speaks to us. See, in a passage talking

about who we need to listen to, who's speaking

to us, the Hebrew writer essentially says the

same voice that is holding the universe together

is the voice trying to guide you through life.

The one who is the reason you're alive is trying

to help you thrive. And yet we have trouble deciding.

We have trouble... deciding who we're going to

listen to, if that's the voice we need to listen

to. We struggle knowing if we should follow the

words that he speaks or do we follow the words

of the world around us. And I'm just going to

be honest this morning. I don't feel like this

should be a competition. I don't think there's

any contest there. This is like Georgia playing

East Tennessee High School Collegiate Academy.

You should win 80 to 4. There should be no contest

here. Jesus' voice is in a whole different league.

Yet, we still give the other voices a chance.

You know, if that proclamation that the Hebrew

writer makes in those first three verses wasn't

enough to get you to listen, he then goes on

and says, this Jesus, the radiance of God's glory,

the imprint of his nature, the one whose words

hold the universe together, this son, after doing

what was necessary to purify us of our sins,

which we just reflected on in the Lord's Supper,

after doing what was necessary, dying on a cross,

being buried, rising from the grave, this Jesus

ascended into heaven and he sat down at the right

hand of God, of the majesty of heaven. He sat

down. And something of note there is the fact

that in the ancient world, you didn't sit down

until the job was done. You didn't sit down until

the work was finished. There wasn't a lunch break

in the middle of the work day. There wasn't a,

I need my break just to clear my mind and have

a chance to just veg out for 15 minutes. There

wasn't a smoke break. There wasn't a bathroom

break. You kept going until the work was done.

And so when he says Jesus sat down, what he's

saying is that the job was complete. Just to

give you an example, the priests in the old Jewish

way, they never sat down in the temple. There

weren't chairs for them to sit down on. They

kept going because the work of sacrifice was

never done. So when they were on the job, they

were standing. But Jesus, now having completed

the work, he sat down because it's settled. The

word is settled. The job of making it possible

for us to be reconciled to God, it's done. And

so now the writer turns and he asks this question.

That the first century audience, these people

that are reading this letter or hearing it preached

for the first time, that they would have been

taken aback by. The reason that this is, is because

angels were about as high up, the chain of authority,

obviously besides God, angels were about as high

up as you could get. But I want you to look at

what the question was in Hebrews 1 verse 5. For

Hebrews 1:5

to which of us, or for to which of the angels

did God ever say, you are my son, today I have

begotten you. Or again, I will be to him a father

and he shall be to me a son. He says those angels

that everybody holds in such high esteem, did

God ever look at them and declare them to be

his son? These angels, did God ever look to them

and say, I'm gonna be a father to you and you,

You'll be like my son, and I have two sons. I

know how I feel about my sons, and I know how

I feel about other people. I think I love my

sons. No, I don't think. I know I love my sons

more than I love anybody else in this world,

except my wife. Gotcha, honey. I love those boys.

And if you have kids, you know how much you love

your children. You love them more than anything

else in this world. There's a special relationship

where you will do anything for them. You will

go to every depth, any length to make sure that

they have what they need, that they are taken

care of, that they are where they're supposed

to be. You will make sure that they are okay.

And so what he's saying is, did God ever look

at the angels and hold them in as high esteem

as his son? Did he ever look at Gabriel, Michael,

these angels that we know about, that they would

have known about in this first century, to any

messenger and say, you are my only begotten son,

I am your father? No, he didn't. There's only

one person that God declares to be the son, and

that's Jesus. And he goes on because what he's

doing here, he's not simply making the case for

Jesus being better than the angels. He's making

sure we understand, again, that Jesus is in a

league of his own. Nobody can compete. And he

says in verse 8, But of the Son, he says, Your

throne, O God, is forever and ever. Now did you

catch the fact that he's speaking for God here?

He says, God looks at the sun and says, your

throne, oh God. God is putting some respect on

Jesus' name. And he says, this is your throne.

It's your throne. Oh God, we're in the same league.

God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, they're in the same

league. And so God looks at Jesus, he says, your

throne is forever and ever. It's not borrowed.

This is yours, and it's not temporary. It's forever

and ever. Every other voice that you have ever

heard, every other voice, even the good ones,

even the wise ones, your parents, your mentors,

your preachers, every other voice has an expiration

date. All of your favorite influencers, your

favorite podcaster, your favorite teacher, expiration

date. Your favorite authors, expiration date.

Every voice has an expiration date, but Jesus

does not. His throne, his power, his majesty,

he sits on his throne forever and ever and ever.

And I don't know if you know what forever means.

I'm pretty sure it's a simple word. It means

forever. And so Jesus sits on his throne. Forever

and ever. So the Hebrew writer spends the rest

of chapter 1 emphasizing this point that Jesus

is in a whole different category. He's in a whole

different league from everyone else. But I want

you to see how the text kind of shifts us to

two different places. On one hand, there's this

thing where, you know, having this truth, it's

liberating. It's freeing. Because if God has

spoken fully through His Son, then that means

we can stop the exhausting search of who the

next voice is that we need to listen to. We don't

have to keep trying out new gurus or guides.

We don't have to keep giving our attention and

allegiance to influencers. After all, we have

the final word of God, so we can rest now. But

on the other hand, the truth brings urgency.

It requires something of us. It's not just liberating.

But it brings a response, or at least a necessary

response. I want you to look how the Hebrew writer

starts chapter 2 in verse 1. Therefore, we must

pay much closer attention to what we have heard,

lest we drift away from it. After all the things

he just said in chapter 1, the first thing he

warns about is drift. He says, therefore, which

just means everything else I've said, this follows.

Therefore. We have to pay attention. We need

to pay much closer attention to what we've heard.

What he's saying is, to the good news we've heard,

to the commandments of Jesus that we've heard,

to the teachings of Jesus that we've heard, we

have to pay very close attention to that. Not

the words of some teacher, not the words of some

preacher, although I do love when you pay attention

to what the preacher says. But if the preacher

says something that is not what Jesus said, Exit

out, cancel it, don't listen to that. If the

angels say something that Jesus didn't say, cancel

that. If some priest, if some great teacher says

something that Jesus didn't say, cancel that.

Pay close attention to what Jesus says so that

you don't drift. He doesn't say so that you don't

run away. He doesn't say so that you don't willfully

rebel. He says so you don't drift. The way a

boat drifts when it's on the water and there's

waves coming in, and one little wave at a time,

without anybody really noticing, if you're not

paying attention, the boat then finds itself

way off course. That, that's what he's warning

against. And sadly, that's what happens. Even

still today, even though we have this book, even

though we have the teachings of Jesus, even though

we have the teachings of someone like the Hebrew

writer saying, pay attention to what Jesus says

so that you don't drift. Sadly, we drift. Most

Christians don't wake up one day and say, you

know what? I'm done. You know, I'm done with

this Jesus thing. I don't want to follow him

anymore. I'm done going to church. I'm done having

my allegiance in Christ. I'm done. Most Christians

don't do that. What happens is, is most people,

or I guess some people, stop listening. They

stop listening to Jesus. Life gets busy. Things

happen. We start hearing other voices, those

competing voices. We start listening to them.

We start giving our attention to them. And the

next thing we know, we're really far away from

our great shepherd. We're really far away from

our great teacher, our great high priest. We're

really far away from Jesus. I want you to think

about marriages. You know, so often when marriages

fail, the thing that is mentioned is we love

each other, but we just kind of drifted apart.

Over time, we just kind of grew apart. Or like

friendships. You know, my best friends in elementary

school weren't my best friends in middle school.

And my best friends in middle school weren't

my best friends in high school. And my best friends

in high school, I have one that I still talk

to like once every couple of months. The reason

is, is because we drift. We stop talking to them

daily. We stop spending time with them daily.

We stop paying attention to them daily. And the

next thing we know, We're far off. So where do

we want this truth about Jesus being the final

word, the only word we should listen to, the

only word that should have our attention? Where

do we want this to take us? Should we rest or

do we live with urgency? Trick question. It's

both. It's both. We can rest because the only

voice that matters, the only voice that we need

has already spoken. But we have to stay alert.

We have to keep our minds fixed on that voice

because it is entirely possible. In fact, it

is way too possible, way too common to have the

right voice available to you and unknowingly

stop listening to it. I want you to think about

the 12 men that followed Jesus. He had these

12 friends, these 12 disciples that followed

him. They learned from him. They listened to

him. They lived with him. He walked this earth

with these guys. For years, they followed and

learned from him. Well, on one day on a mountain,

this is at the end of their journey walking with

him. Jesus has these three disciples go with

him, Peter, James, and John. And they get a glimpse

at exactly who this son of God is. This man that

we just said is the exact imprint of God. He's

the radiance of God's glory. He sits down on

a throne next to the majesty on high. This man

that they've been spending these years of their

lives with, this man takes them up on a mountain

and they get to see. And what happens is Moses,

this great Jewish leader from way back in Jewish

history, he appears to them. And Elijah, this

great prophet from way back in Jewish history,

he appears to them. The law and the prophets

standing right there in front of them next to

Jesus. And Peter, this disciple who kind of pops

off at the mouth a lot, he doesn't really think

before he speaks. He just kind of does stuff.

Peter starts talking about building shelters

for these three men as if Jesus belonged in the

same category as the other two. And then a voice

from heaven interrupts Peter in his little, I

don't know what you want to call it, spout. God

speaks through and he says this, this, this Jesus,

this man that you've been following for years,

this one man, not these other guys, this man,

this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him. Not listen to them. Not take some

advice from each of them. Not pay attention to

each voice. Just listen to Him, to Jesus. And

so in a world... drowning in voices in a world

where everyone is trying to get our attention

and our allegiance in a world where people are

pulling us in different directions and trying

to push us in different directions in a world

like that. Choose one voice to listen to. And

I need you to know that choosing one voice to

listen to isn't limiting. It's liberating. Because

if I've got one person holding my arm and another

person holding my other arm, and one person holding

my ear and another holding my other ear and one

holding my leg and they're all pulling me in

different directions, that is exhausting, constricting,

it's painful, it's not a good way to live life.

But if I just give my ear to one, and if I just

give my ear to the one that I know is going to

lead me where I need to go, if I just listen

to the one, I'll be okay. So here's what I want

you to walk out of here with this week. The next

time one of those voices shows up trying to get

your attention, the next time somebody shows

up with some new information, another breaking

news thing that wants you to get freaked out

or get worried, the next time someone, one of

those voices, shows up trying to take your attention

away from Jesus, know what to do. And you know

what to do. Block out the noise and listen to

him because he is greater than all of those other

voices. He is greater than any other mortal and

temporary voice. His voice is not only eternal,

it is all powerful and it goes on. It sits at

the right hand of God forever and ever. In fact,

let me give you one tool for application this

week, just one thing that I believe will bless

your life if you'll do it, and I'm going to do

it with you. So don't let me do it alone because

that would be lame. We do this together. When

you wake up, I want you to let the first thing

you do be knees before feet and Bible before

phone. So when you scramble on your nightstand

to pick up your phone and you finally get your

hand on it, Hopefully, in your scrambling, you

felt a Bible. And you'll touch that Bible. And

you'll go back to the Bible. You'll let go of

your phone. You'll go back to the Bible. You'll

grab it, and you'll let your eyes adjust. Maybe

you'll turn on the lamp and wake up your spouse.

They can't get mad at you if you're reading the

Bible. Okay? Lies, I'm looking at you. You can't

get mad at me if I'm reading the Bible. So you'll

turn on the light. You'll open your Bible, and

you'll read it. And you'll let God be the first

voice. The first words you hear for the day.

Not Fox News, not CNN, not Facebook, not Instagram,

not TikTok. God's words will be the first words

in your mind for your day. And so you'll listen

to him. And then when you slink out of bed, because

you're not going to just pop up and run to the

shower. You're going to slink down into the floor.

You're going to put your knees on the ground.

And I do believe there's something special about

praying. on your knees. You'll get down on your

knees, and the first person you will talk to

will be God. And so the information you take

in first thing in the morning, the direction

for your life that day will come directly from

God, and the first words you say will be words

to God. Because if you're like me, I have a lot

of issues if you haven't figured it out yet.

If you're like me, The first thing you do is

you grab your phone, you scroll for a minute,

then you realize, I'm 20 minutes late, you'll

put the phone down, you'll pop out of bed, you'll

run to the shower. As you're running to the shower,

you'll yell at your wife, it's time to get up,

we're late, get the kids going. And that's not

a good way to start the day, is it? It's a pretty

lousy way to start the day. But if the first

words you say are, God, Father, help me, guide

me. Direct me. Forgive me. Light the path for

my day. If those are the first words you say,

and if the first words you hear are the words

of God, how could you possibly have a bad day?

Now, you might have bad things happen, but if

God's voice is in your ear when those bad things

happen, you're going to be okay. And if you're

talking to God when those bad things happen,

you're going to be okay. So knees before feet

and Bible before phone, if you will start your

morning. Like that, I promise you, you will feel

it is so much easier to navigate life. Even better,

let the Bible passages you read come from one

of the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

I recommend my recommendation for you today,

Matthew 5 through 7, the Sermon on the Mount.

Because I believe that is where Jesus does his

best teaching on how we ought to live. And so

this morning, I'm challenging you. To listen

to God first because his voice, Jesus' voice

is so much greater than anything this world has

to offer. And talk to God first. And today, if

you have drifted because you stopped listening

to the voice of Jesus, or if you've never heard

the voice of Jesus, but today you started listening

for the first time, I'm offering the invitation

for you to come to him, to open your life up

to his teaching. If you need to repent and return

to Jesus, if you're ready to learn more about

him and his word, or if you are ready to give

your life to him and commit to listening to him

until he returns, whatever it is you need, we

offer a time at the end of the lesson before

we depart of invitation where we invite you to

come and lay it all down at the feet of Jesus,

to come and speak with me or one of our shepherds,

to speak with somebody, to pray with somebody,

to lay everything down at the feet of Jesus.

So if you need to do that today, We would love

to help you. We would love to help you better

trust and follow him. So whatever you need, please

come now as we stand and as we sing.